Suchergebnisse

Since they appeared, the studies of Science, Technology & Society (STS) have been interested in education as the key to help the citizens of tomorrow to participate in the discussions dealing with the future of technoscience. In Spain, the STS subjects became part of the secondary school programs since the educational reform. Nevertheless, the analysis of the textbooks used in Catalonia shows that a deterministic vision of science & technology - both of them thought as entities with their own logic of development, independent from social reality - coexists with a neutralistic conception, which considers technoscience as a basic tool that can be used by humanity either in a correct or an incorrect way. The student has the perception that science & technology shape the social reality, but that are somehow independent from society.

Si bé les idees polítiques de Ferrater Mora no comportaren cap militància expressa, una lectura de la seva obra ens manifesta unes constants que s'expressen especialment posant l'atenció en la relació entre Europa, Espanya i Catalunya, relació que hauria de regir-se per un fort federalisme. L'article, a més, precisa la posició de Ferrater Mora respecte de la llengua catalana més enllà de l'ús que en va fer obligat per les circumstàncies ; This paper proposes that although Ferrater Mora was never militantly political, his writing reveals an enduring interest in the relationship between Europe, Spain and Catalonia and a belief that their relations should adopt a federal design. The paper also examines Ferrater Mora's opinions and feelings about the Catalan language beyond the use of it his circumstances obliged him to make

Violent conflict is very old in human society. The development of military technology brought with itself the worst tragedies loss of human live and material devastation in the second half of 20th century in the Horn of Africa. This region is one of the centers of various political violent conflicts in the world, according to length of these violent conflicts, the number of death of people, mainly civilian, refugees and internal displaced persons (IDP). This study elucidates the root causes of long wars in the Horn of Africa focusing mainly on South Sudan and Somalia. It also illustrates how the Super Powers during the Cold War helped their client states to prolong the suffering of people in the region. When Socialist system disappeared from Eastern Europe, Mengistu Haile Mariam's and Siyad Barre's regime ignominiously collapsed. In Ethiopia Amhara power elite, who ruled the Empire state from 1889 to 1991 lost their state power and Tigrian guerrilla fighters captured it through the power of the gun, Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia, South Sudan is emerging from long heinous war to independence. The violent conflict in Somalia transformed after the old regime demise in 1991 and the new leaders unable to build new central government. Somalia is fragmented and became the good example of failed state in the theory of contemporary political sociology. The paper tries to explain these complex violent conflicts in this part of Africa.

Agustí Nieto-Galan, professor i catedràtic d'Història de la Ciència de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), ha publicat el llibre "The Politics of Chemistry. Science and Power in Twentieth-Century Spain". Aquesta obra analitza el paper polític dels químics a l'Espanya del segle XX, i la seva col·laboració en projectes acadèmics, militars i industrials. Les molècules, en aparença neutrals i objectives, esdevenen mediadors flexibles, que uneixen les ambicions professionals a ideologies sovint contraposades. ; Agustí Nieto-Galan, catedrático de Historia de la Ciencia de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB), ha publicado el libro The Politics of Chemistry. Science and Power in Twentieth-Century Spain. Esta obra analiza el papel político de los químicos en la España del siglo XX, y su colaboración en proyectos académicos, militares e industriales. Las moléculas, en apariencia neutrales y objetivas, se convierten mediadores flexibles, que unen las ambiciones profesionales en ideologías a menudo contrapuestas.

The relation between the working of democratic systems today and the exploitation of "modern" forms of politically motivated extreme violence, especially the different types of subversive terrorism, has been an object of thorough study and discussion at most varied levels in the course of recent decades, often with contradictory results. This is not a surprise bearing in mind the diversity of bases for such study and discussion, as well as the complexity and changing nature of the subject matter itself, and last but not least, also the deforming impact of different political factors which in many a case predetermined both the horizon of discussions and the character of "politically correct" or at least acceptable conclusions. This does not apply just to decayed political and propagandist writings displaying a remarkable dose of cynicism and lack of shame in serving the interests of power which decided who would be labelled "terrorist" or "freedom fighter", or else. There is a number of scientific works defending the principles and values of democracy which also display apparent effort to a priori exclude raising a particular problem in full in order to prevent any doubt being cast on the purposefulness and justifiability of traditional approaches to and standpoints regarding the assessment of political violence and extremism. At the same time, polemics regarding terrorism had a large impact. Discussions about terrorism changed the way the public felt about both terrorism as a particular category of extremist violence, and politically motivated violence and extremism as such, propagating and reinforcing the view of political violence (acceptance of violent methods of political fight including terrorism) as an utterly undemocratic and anti-democratic behaviour and as a key characteristic of extremism. There is a growing tendency in substantial part of the public in democratic countries today to a priori associate manifestations of extremist orientation with acts of politically motivated violence, and to identify ...

The article focuses on the differences in political participation among post-communist countries. First, it explores the variation in the level of political participation among post-communist states. Second, it deals with the differences in the determinants that account for political participation in individual countries. The second objective is met by introducing a three-dimensional explanatory model of political participation: individual resources, motivations, and social networks. In an empirical analysis political participation in nine post-communist countries is examined using data from the International Social Survey Programme 2004. Results show that the countries under study vary in the level of political participation both at the aggregate and individual levels. The most active citizens are in the former East Germany and Slovakia. Polish and Hungarian citizens participate in politics the least. Further, two modes of political participation – protest activity and contacting – are identified and used as dependent variables in further analysis. In the second part of the article, the explanatory model is tested against data from individual countries. The analysis shows that there is a difference in the factors that account for political participation in various post-communist countries. Generally, the three-level model of political participation works best in Hungary, Bulgaria, and East Germany. It explains very little variation in Russia and Poland.