Suchergebnisse

This collection of essays by ten leading British and French Renaissance specialists explores, for the first time, differing conceptions of Europe in Renaissance France. Four essays concentrate on problems of definition in ideological, chronological, geographical and linguistic terms, concentrating on the relationship between Christendom and Europe, Antiquity and its Renaissance heirs, and Latin and the vernacular languages of south-western France. A further three essays address cultural exchange and political collaboration (and, inevitably, conflict) between France and England at the time of the Wars of Religion,exploring Catholic and Protestant reactions to the battle of Lepanto, Anglo-French Protestant espionage and pragmatic conceptions of the state based on geography rather than religion. The final three contributions focus on the construction of a European identity in the early modern period that defines itself in contrast to a significant other, be it Islamic or 'Atlantic', with particular reference to the presentation of Turkish characters in the work of Christian writers, exotic travel in the work of François Rabelais and the genre of the Livre des contrariétés . This volume will be of interest to scholars and students of French Renaissance literature and to those interested in the prehistory of our contemporary conception of Europe.

The office of the directly elected mayor has proved popular among national politicians as a means of modernising and strengthening local government but has proved less popular with local politicians and voters. A total of 51 referendums have been held since 1998. These have provided an opportunity for voters to approve or reject mayoral executives to ran their local authorities. In a clear majority of cases the referendum was defeated. Another characteristic of these referendums has been the relatively low turnout, boosted only when the referendum has been timed to coincide with a general election or when all-postal voting has been used. Only 17 areas have introduced mayors and in two of these the post was subsequently abolished following a second referendum vote. It is largely urban-based authorities that have elected mayors. A total of 44 mayoral elections have been held since 2000 and in each of these the winner has been determined by the Supplementary Vote method. Low turnout has again been a characteristic of these elections despite each contest attracting a relatively large number of candidates, although not many women candidates have stood. Labour has won most of the elections although Independents have also performed well. Although it was expected that the voting system might see winning candidates emerge with strong mandates, the reality is that few mayors have been elected with an absolute majority of votes cast. A close examination of eligible second votes shows that a large number are not transferred to either of the two runoff candidates. This suggests extensive voter ignorance about the system being used to select mayors. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractThis chapter presents a state agency's approach to developing and improving the self‐assessment and accountability of local progams overseen and funded by a large statewide program. Specifically, a self‐assessment approach to evaluating local tobacco control programs and projects in California is introduced as an example of "empowerment evaluation" in action.

Purpose. To compare the utilization rate of a statewide tobacco quitline by African-American smokers to that of white smokers. Design, Setting, and Subjects. Observational study of 18 years of state quitline operation in California. Subjects were 61,096 African-American and 279,042 white smokers who called the quitline from August 1992 to December 2009. Data from six California Tobacco Surveys, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2008 were also used. Measure. Callers' answers to the question how they heard about the quitline were grouped into four categories: media, health care providers, friends/family, and others. Analysis. The averaged annual quitline call volume for each ethnic group was divided by the total number of smokers in that group, based on California Tobacco Surveys, to produce the annual quitline utilization rate. Results. In five out of six periods of comparison, African-American smokers had a higher annual utilization rate than white smokers. The odds ratios [ORs] ranged from 1.44 to 2.40 (all p < .05). In the 1996 comparison, the OR was .90 (p < .05). The difference in utilization rates that is attributed to media, accounts for most of the difference in total utilization rates between the two ethnic groups. Conclusions. Within the context of California's comprehensive tobacco control program, which includes a strong media campaign, African-American smokers were significantly more likely to call the state quitline than white smokers were. Promoting the quitline as part of antismoking media campaigns can help reduce disparity in cessation service utilization. (Am J Health Promot 2011;25[5 Supplement]:S51–S58.)