At the very moment that humanity is facing a broadening ecological crisis, and that both policy makers and civil society are calling for a transition towards more sustainable societies, modern science seems incapable of providing operational solutions for managing this transition. In this context, both Noble prize laureates and high-level science officials have stressed the need of an in depth transformation of the modes of organization of scientific research for governing the transition to sustainable societies. However, existing analyses of on-going initiatives show that most of the barriers to a major, consolidated effort in sustainability science will not be removed without far-reaching institutional change. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an incremental institutional change approach, based on a gradual institutionalization process of existing initiatives. The analysis in this paper shows that strategic research for sustainability and reform of research funding mechanisms will only be effective if they are supported at the same time by reforms of career and training paths at higher education institutions. To promote this vision, the paper proposes a set of capacity building measures that can be undertaken at the level of research funding, higher education institutions and networking.
After years of political crises and negotiations, the deep-rooted conflict between Dutch- and French-speaking parties recently led to the 2011 agreement concerning a further reform of the Belgian state. This reform mainly furthers decentralises the – already federal – state structure, including the allocation of additional competences and fiscal powers to sub-national entities (Regions and Communities). But this new state reform also brings about a radical reform of the upper house: the Belgian Senate. Since 1995, the Senate was composed of three different types of members: Senators directly elected by two linguistically separated electorate (the Dutch-speaking and the French-speaking electorates), Senators indirectly elected by the Community parliaments and Senators coopted by the two other types. The French- and German-speaking linguistic minorities had a fixed amount of seats in this assembly. The reform of the state radically changed the legislative competences of the Senate and its composition as its members will now be designated by Regional and Community parliaments (plus 10 coopted senators). Broadly speaking, the appointment of the majority of the Senators moved from a system of direct and language-based election to a system of indirect and mixed regional and language-based designation. This change is not without consequence for the representation of linguistic minorities. In May 2014, regional, community and federal elections will be organised in Belgium, testing for the first time this new system of designation of Senators by regional and community parliaments. This paper intends to present the 2013 reform of the Senate in Belgium and its consequence for the representation of linguistic minorities. The situations before and after the reform of the Senate will be compared, not only in terms of the way Senators are appointed but in terms of its consequence on the linguistic aspects of the regional and community elections campaign and of the profile of the appointed Senators.
Ever since the 1990's, deliberative theory has been heralded as the most promising new theory on political legitimacy. Democratic deliberation, conceived as the rational exchange of arguments, is claimed to improve the quality of democratic decision making because it instigates a more considered judgment; it allows citizens to hear other perspectives to a problem and to question their own opinions. However, deliberation's beneficial effects do not come about easily. If deliberative mini-publics want to contribute to the legitimacy of political decision making, they have to reflect the principles of legitimacy in their own functioning. It is therefore crucial to assess the internal legitimacy of deliberative mini-publics before making claims about their contribution to the legitimacy of the political system as a whole. In this paper, we set out to assess the input, throughput and output legitimacy of four deliberative events, namely the British Columbia Citizens' Assembly, the Irish "We, The Citizens"-project, the Belgian G1000, and the Dutch Burgerforum. Based on a most-similar comparison of these cases, we argue that their internal legitimacy differs a great deal, and that this is due to factors relating to their process design, such as funding, recruitment and moderation.
While a great deal of attention is devoted to the Pacific region as the new chessboard of international politics, Pakistan remains a key actor in terms of both threat and potential. Two observations back this argument: first, Pakistan's fundamental roles as a state are challenged by its ongoing conflict with India and internal insurgencies. Second, due to a power-status gap, Pakistan experiences difficulties in holding specific self-conceived roles. In addition to hampering its socio-economic potential, these developments prevent Pakistan's quest for normalization in the system. As a consequence, we argue that engaging with Islamabad should be a priority for Washington so as to prevent the country from further aligning with Beijing, thus reinforcing China's regional leadership and status as peer-competitor to the United States. Indeed, as the potential for deviance in the international system arises from its normative dimension, the US, as the global leader, counts among its roles that of norm-setter and primary socializer for most states. Our research proposes to look at an old puzzle with new theoretical insights. By addressing the question of Washington's engagement towards non-conforming states, we aim to document a set of socialization processes as intervening variables linking American global role as leader and primary socializer to Pakistan's process of social integration (normalization/deviance). Drawing from sociology and social psychology, the paper seeks to explore the ability of the leader to act as a primary source of role location and status recognition towards non-conforming states so as to integrate them (back) into the US-led system.
Because of its very conception, the G1000 in Belgium cannot be categorized as a form of constitutional deliberative democracy per se. Its grassroots origin never indeed entailed to change the constitution. Yet this chapter contends that there are some constitutional deliberative democracy features in the G1000, which paradoxically were not thought of by its citizen organizers who sought in the first phases of the G1000 to avoid any political and institutional ties. In fact, their focus was much more on a high input and throughput legitimacy, rather than a high output legitimacy. Their goal was to demonstrate that ordinary citizens, randomly selected, had a say about major social and political issues and that they were wiling and able to deliberate about them, should a design conducive to deliberation be put in place. While the G1000 scored highly on the input dimensions – the quality of representation was good and the agenda could not have been more open – and fairly highly on throughput legitimacy – with a clear script and trained moderators, but with processes of aggregation insufficiently transparent –, the outputs were in the short term very limited, which was a major source of criticism as media had fostered a climate of great expectations about the outputs. The absence of formal links to the main political actors meant that the organizers could not guarantee any formal implementation of the results. So the design characteristics that increase input legitimacy also undermine output legitimacy. But on the longer term the political uptake and the social uptake of the G1000 are increasing as, on the one hand, most of the political parties are now advocating some forms of participatory and deliberative democracy and, on the other hand, several experiences inspired by the G1000 have sparked around in Belgium and in neighboring countries. This twofold output consequence of the G1000 seems to indicate that this experience has fostered some sort of constitutional deliberative democracy broadly defined.
What are the outputs and effects of deliberative mini-publics? This is probably one of the most critical questions for any deliberative endeavor. In the realm of large-scale deliberative experiments, the G1000 in Belgium holds a special place: it happened in the wake of the longest government formation ever, it sought to gather 1000 randomly selected citizens in Brussels to discuss key social and political issues, and, above all, it was a fully citizen-led initiative. Its organizers explicitly sought to avoid any political and institutional ties and their focus was much more on guaranteeing a high representativeness and a qualitative process, rather than generating strong political outcomes. While the G1000 did well in terms of representativeness and open agenda setting, the political uptake was very limited in the short term. In the longer term, however, it seems that the effects of the G1000 were larger than initially expected. A rich set of empirical data is used to analyze the interaction between the G1000 with the entire political system by looking at the relation with the media, public opinion, political parties and MPs, and other experiments in deliberative democracy. Such endeavor sheds light on the "so what" question which is key to the development of real-world deliberative democracy.
What are the outputs and effects of deliberative mini-publics? This is probably one of the most critical questions for any deliberative endeavor. In the realm of large-scale deliberative experiments, the G1000 in Belgium holds a special place: it happened in the wake of the longest government formation ever, it sought to gather 1000 randomly selected citizens in Brussels to discuss key social and political issues, and, above all, it was a fully citizen-led initiative. Its organizers explicitly sought to avoid any political and institutional ties and their focus was much more on guaranteeing a high representativeness and a qualitative process, rather than generating strong political outcomes. While the G1000 did well in terms of representativeness and open agenda setting, the political uptake was very limited in the short term. In the longer term, however, it seems that the effects of the G1000 were larger than initially expected. A rich set of empirical data is used to analyze the interaction between the G1000 with the entire political system by looking at the relation with the media, public opinion, political parties and MPs, and other experiments in deliberative democracy. Such endeavor sheds light on the "so what" question which is key to the development of real-world deliberative democracy.
Historically, India and Myanmar are neighboring countries and have maintained a close and friendly relationship. This has led to their similarities in the social systems, cultures and religions. After Myanmar had gained its independence in 1948, India – Myanmar relationship was officially established and went through certain bad times till 1992. Since early 1990s, to adapt to the new global situation and thanks to India's "Look East" policy, the relationship between these two countries has gradually been improved and reinforced. The two countries are now not only neighbors but also friends and associates. This paper aims to clarify India – Myanmar diplomatic relationship and, accordingly, draws conclusive comments on this relationship in the post-Cold-War period. ; Về mặt lịch sử, Ấn Độ và Myanmar vốn là hai quốc gia láng giềng có các mối quan hệ gần gũi và thân thiện, có hệ thống xã hội, văn hóa và tôn giáo tương đồng. Quan hệ Ấn Độ - Myanmar được xem như chính thức bắt đầu ngay sau ngày Myanmar giành được độc lập (1948) và từ đó cho đến trước năm 1992, mối quan hệ giữa hai nước đã trải qua nhiều biến cố, thăng trầm. Từ đầu thập niên 1990, trong xu thế của bối cảnh quốc tế mới cùng với việc triển khai chính sách Hướng Đông của Ấn Độ, quan hệ hai nước đã từng bước được cải thiện, củng cố và tăng cường, qua đó đưa hai nước xích lại gần nhau như những người láng giềng thân thiện, bạn bè và đối tác. Bài viết dưới đây nhằm làm sáng tỏ quan hệ Ấn Độ - Myanmar trên lĩnh vực chính trị, qua đó rút ra một số nhận xét trong quan hệ chính trị hai nước thời kì sau Chiến tranh lạnh.
Application of DPSIR framework (Drivers, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses) aims to assess the current impact of the environment through a process starting with "driving forces" through "pressures" to "states" and "impacts" eventually leading to political "responses" in mineral mining in Luc Yen district. Research results show that the main drivers in Luc Yen are resources consumption (Wi = 3.675), the demand for industrial development (Wi = 3.575), followed by diversification and size of mines (Wi = 3.250). The environmental pressures are solid (Wi = 4.025), dust (Wi = 3.900) and wastewater (Wi = 3.625). The current state of environment is the most affected by air (Wi = 3.400). The soil and water are almost unaffected. The current environmental impacts have positive and negative social, economic and environmental impacts. Specifically, the positive impacts are employment opportunities, income (Wi = 3.325) and an increase in state budget (Wi =3.000). There are no positive improvements of the environment related to mining activities, such as negative impacts on ecological landscape (Wi = 3.050) and infrastructure (Wi = 3.075). Improving environmental quality and mitigating environmental impacts have been applied, including innovative technology (Wi = 3.175), pollution monitoring and environmental quality monitoring (Wi = 3.400). Communication activities to enhance community participation in Luc Yen area were also highly appreciated by people (Wi = 3.375). ; Việc ứng dụng mô hình DPSIR (Drivers, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses) nhằm mục đích đánh giá tác động môi trường theo một quá trình từ động lực, áp lực, hiện trạng và tác động đến đáp ứng để giải quyết vấn đề môi trường liên quan đến hoạt động khai thác khoáng sản tại huyện Lục Yên. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy động lực dẫn tới hoạt động khai thác đá vôi trắng tại huyện Lục Yên là nhu cầu sử dụng tài nguyên (Wi = 3,675), nhu cầu phát triển hoạt động công nghiệp (Wi = 3,575), tiếp đến là sự đa dạng, quy mô các mỏ khoáng (Wi = 3,250). Áp lực môi trường là chất thải rắn (Wi = 4,025), tiếp đến là bụi (Wi = 3,900) và nước thải (Wi = 3,625). Hiện trạng môi trường tự nhiên hiện nay tại khu vực Lục Yên chịu ảnh hưởng mạnh nhất là không khí (trọng số Wi = 3,400), môi trường đất và nước gần như chưa bị tác động. Tác động môi trường hiện nay tại huyện Lục Yên thể hiện qua tác động đến môi trường xã hội và môi trường tự nhiên. Cụ thể, tác động giải quyết việc làm, tăng thu nhập (Wi = 3,325) và tăng ngân sách nhà nước (Wi = 3,000). Tác động tiêu cực tới cảnh quan sinh thái (Wi = 3,050) và cơ sở hạ tầng (Wi = 3,075). Các giải pháp cải thiện và giảm thiểu tác động môi trường đã áp dụng hiện nay là đổi mới công nghệ khai thác theo hướng tiên tiến (Wi = 3,175), giám sát ô nhiễm và quan trắc chất lượng môi trường (Wi = 3,400). Giải pháp truyền thông tăng cường sự tham gia của cộng đồng tại khu vực Lục Yên cũng được người dân đánh giá cao với trọng số (Wi = 3,375).
