Suchergebnisse

Explores the relationship between armed conflict & two types of resources: (1) commodities legally traded on international markets, & (2) extracted natural resources (eg, oil, minerals, & timber). Ways that resource exploitation & resource dependency between producing & consuming countries factor into the emergence & persistence of armed conflicts are examined, noting the influence of a country's place in the world economy & historical, political, cultural, & regional factors. The changing geographies of these relationships are discussed, differentiating between proximate/distal & point/diffuse resources & the types of conflict they typically give rise to; the role of resources in determining the course & duration of armed conflicts is explored. Also considered are the geographical construction & significance of resource dependency; the violence inherent in natural resource exploitation; the role of resources in war economies, warlordism, secessions, peasant rebellions, & the financing of coup d'etats within states. The role of businesses, acting as intermediaries between resources & markets, in inadvertently supporting autocratic regimes & war criminals is discussed, together with the impact of foreign intervention into resource wars. Tables, References. K. Hyatt Stewart

Global, cross-sectional, & mobilizing forces have risen to challenge the liberalizing forces of transnational capital, as evidenced by the contributions in this book. However, transnational civil societies may exhibit their own exclusionary practices & are rife with internal tensions & external limitations. Understanding tensions & barriers provide resources to promote greater international solidarity. Social conditions that enable transnational networks, conflicts over resources, organizational form, identity & coalition goals, & types of collective action that can facilitate coalition building are summarized. In the future, such coalitions must consolidate their power within global civil society & aggressively promote alternative agendas to neoliberalism. Research into the dynamics of cooperation & conflict & transnational identity formation, using comparative methods, is needed. References. M. Pflum

Value dimension of human life is considered in the article as a powerful resource for social adaptation since it provides the possibility of spiritual motivation of changes, required by objective conditions, while maintaining the identity of the subject himself. In order to manage the processes of social adaptation effectively, it is necessary for each specific subject of culture to determine the extent to which the changes, required by the objective conditions of life, are relevant to the content of value resource of this subject. The real difficulties that many people have faced in the process of social adaptation to the conditions of market economy in Russia had not demanded essential changes in their value orientations. On the contrary, social adaptation brought them freedom from the performance of "alien" roles and the opportunity to realize their genuine professional calling.

In the following study (chapter 6), Human Resources Management, Internationalization and Academic Staff Mobility, Grischa Fraumann and Işıl Güney analyze the relationship between international mobility, academic staff development and human resources management. Giving some theoretical information about the role of HRM in academic staff development and academic mobility, the authors focus on internationalization of institutional strategies and HRM. Institutional structures, processes, support and incentive mechanisms in higher education institutions are examined. Drawing attention to the lack of human resources support tools, they emphasize the role of human resources unit in international mobility of academic staff for staff development and conclude that an effective institutional strategy in collaboration with HRM and international office is needed to overcome obstacles and promote mobility.

In Belgium, lone parent families represent almost one fourth of the households with children, aside from the existence of regional differences in the phenomenon's prevalence. Zooming in on Flanders, the poverty risk for this type of family is significantly higher compared to couple-with-children households and the general population; thus, labour market participation represents a crucial resource for individuals heading such households to cope with the economic needs of the family and to avoid long-lasting poverty or to rely extensively on social assistance. We use data from the Crossroads Bank of Social Security (CBSS Datawarehouse) to study Flemish lone mothers' patterns of labour market participation and test the association between employment trajectories after lone parenthood and both individual and household characteristics. Flanders represents an interesting case because of (i) the relatively high diffusion of lone motherhood, (ii) the presence of welfare measures supporting a number of different types of recipients (even to different extents and not necessarily so generous to keep them out of poverty), and (iii) the availability of longitudinal data to observe lone mothers' employment trajectories over time. We find that differences exist among lone mothers, who thus experience different risk of social exclusion driven by family and labour market arrangements set up to resolve the potentially contradictory trade-off between the needs for care and for income. The age at which mothers have children is crucial in understanding their future exclusion from the labour market: selection into early lone motherhood is associated with lower employment opportunities. Furthermore, it is the number of children below 17 in the household rather than the presence of very small children that defines a lower probability of having a strong labour market attachment through full-time jobs, and that increases the likelihood of being unemployed/inactive and receiving welfare benefits.

"Harmonising regional disparities without giving up cultural identity is a fundamental prerequisite for peace and poses perhaps the greatest challenge of our time. Facing a wide diversity of both economic and social structures, the European Union meets the task of harmonising the development for future general improvement of living conditions. In spite of general progress in terms of GNP growth at national level, regional disparities show little convergence. Additionally, the integration of Eastern European states formerly marked by planned economies, poses enormous problems for HR development in the course of a transformation replacing authoritative regulations by market competition. First, in view of the need for complex relationship between human capital and regional disparities, the need for multidimensional approaches is stressed. Then an outline of the administrative framework for regional and cohesion policy, promoted by the EU Commission, is given. The focus is upon the European Social Funds (ESF), its objectives, related strategies and implementations. The factors contributing to success or failure of projects related to HR development are then considered within a broader context of evaluation results, presented for the Italian Mezzogiorno, the new Eastern German provinces and Eastern European transition economies. As an outlook, chances for a social dialogue to foster HR development, are discussed." (author's abstract).

"Harmonising regional disparities without giving up cultural identity is a fundamental prerequisite for peace and poses perhaps the greatest challenge of our time. Facing a wide diversity of both economic and social structures, the European Union meets the task of harmonising the development for future general improvement of living conditions. In spite of general progress in terms of GNP growth at national level, regional disparities show little convergence. Additionally, the integration of Eastern European states formerly marked by planned economies, poses enormous problems for HR development in the course of a transformation replacing authoritative regulations by market competition. First, in view of the need for complex relationship between human capital and regional disparities, the need for multidimensional approaches is stressed. Then an outline of the administrative framework for regional and cohesion policy, promoted by the EU Commission, is given. The focus is upon the European Social Funds (ESF), its objectives, related strategies and implementations. The factors contributing to success or failure of projects related to HR development are then considered within a broader context of evaluation results, presented for the Italian Mezzogiorno, the new Eastern German provinces and Eastern European transition economies. As an outlook, chances for a social dialogue to foster HR development, are discussed." (author's abstract)

"Um Informationen über die Lebenssituation von Kindern zu erhalten, wurden bis vor kurzem in der Regel die Eltern oder andere Stellvertreter um Auskunft gebeten. In jüngerer Zeit werden jedoch in standardisierten Befragungen immer häufiger die Kinder selbst befragt. Die methodische Literatur zur Befragung von Kindern zeigt, dass diese bereits ab einem Alter von etwa 9 oder 10 Jahren an standardisierten Befragungen teilnehmen können. Andererseits gibt es Hinweise darauf, dass sich der Frage-Antwort-Prozess bei Kindern dieser Altergruppe problematisch darstellt, was zu einem eingeschränkten Verständnis der Fragen bzw. zu Verzerrungen bei ihrer Beantwortung führen kann. Auf diese Probleme reagieren die Interviewer z.T. mit einem weichen, sozial orientierten Interviewerstil, der jedoch seinerseits Gefahren für die Datenqualität beinhaltet. Angesichts dieser Situation soll in dem Vortrag der Frage nachgegangen werden, welche Fragetypen sich für Kinder im Alter von 9 oder 10 Jahren eignen, welcher Interviewer-Stil zu den vergleichsweise besten Daten führt und wie sich die im Alter von 9 oder 10 Jahren unterschiedlich ausgeprägten kognitiven Kapazitäten der Kinder auf den Frage-Antwort-Prozess auswirken. Der Vortrag basiert auf der Analyse von etwa 150 auf Video aufgezeichneten standardisierten Interviews mit Kindern, die mit Hilfe der Methode des Behavior Coding analysiert wurden. Die verschiedenen Daten werden zusammengeführt und mehrebenenanalytisch ausgewertet, wobei die durch das Behavior Coding ermittelten Verhaltensweisen von Befragten und Interviewern - als Indikatoren für die Datenqualität - die abhängige Variable bilden, und die kognitiven und sozialen Merkmale des Befragten, der Interviewerstil sowie der Typ der jeweiligen Fragebogenfrage als unabhängige Variablen fungieren." (Autorenreferat)