scholarly journals Review: Demographic Research and Spatial Policy: The Dutch Experience, Spatial Divisions of Labour: Social Structures and the Geography of Production, the Atlas of British Politics, the Economics of Nuclear Energy, the Metropolitan Problem, Policies and Politics in Western Europe: The Impact of the Recession, Defense Planning in Less-Industrialized States, Planning to Care: Social Policy and the Quality of Life, Capital and Labour in the Urbanised World, the Political Economy of Coal, Political Parties in Western Democracies, a Question of Life: The Warnock Report on Human Fertilization and Embryology, Public Expenditure and Government Growth, Regionalisation in France, Italy and Spain, Gastarbeiter: Leben in Zwei Gesellschaften

1986 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-118
Author(s):  
P Rees ◽  
R J Bennett ◽  
P J Taylor ◽  
R Steinberg ◽  
P Hall ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
Stanisław Mazur

In the early 1990s, the Central and Eastern European countries (CEE countries) saw the collapse of communist regimes and an unprecedented political and economic transformation that resulted in the establishment of democratic, law-governed states and market economies. Administrative reforms, which became an important milestone in this transformation, were considerably influenced both by administrative legacies predominant in the countries and by the Europeanization processes associated with their accession to the European Union. The administrative legacies, which combine elements of various traditions (e.g., German, Napoleonic, and Anglo-American) are still strongly affected by what is left of the communist era. Conversely, the impact of Europeanization processes on public administrations in CEE countries has proved to be much weaker than initially expected. The process of building a professional and apolitical civil service in CEE countries has been plagued by discontinuity and inconsistency, owing to the specific administrative culture of the region, the weakening pressure to modernize EU institutions, and the consequences of the 2008 financial crisis, as well as growing populist tendencies in the region. All these factors encouraged the belief that political control over public administration needs to be tightened in order for the effectiveness and quality of governance mechanisms to be improved. The quality of governance and public management varies widely across the CEE countries. What they have in common—at least to some extent—is the fairly high dynamics of change, including the reversal of the effects of previously implemented reforms. The latter factor may be interpreted as a search for country-specific reform paths, partly due to disappointment with the values and models prevailing in Western Europe, and somewhat as a consequence of growing populist tendencies in the region.


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 229-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Vannitsem ◽  
F. Chomé

Abstract The impact of domain size on regional climate simulations is explored in the context of a state-of-the-art regional model centered over western Europe. It is found that the quality of the climate simulations is highly dependent on the domain size. Moreover, the choice of an optimal version is more complex than usually thought, the less appropriate domain having an intermediate size (about 3000 km × 3000 km), and the best versions nearly cover a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere. The use of periodically reinitialized trajectories does improve the climate of suboptimal models but leads to unrealistic dynamical behaviors. The implications for regional climate simulations are briefly discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Mehler

ABSTRACTThis paper analyses the declining importance of political parties in the Central African Republic (CAR). The country can be considered an extreme example of the lack of viability of a state in general, and democracy in particular. However, the quality of elections has exceeded the average in the sub-region over a substantial time-span. Hopes for a democratic future only faded in recent years. The paper hypothesises that both political parties and rebel movements are failing to adequately represent (ethnoregional) interests, but that parties are suffering more in the course of the enduring war and the peace process. Patterns of elite behaviour are presented as the main explanation for the resulting crisis of representation, with international actors' preference for inclusionary power-sharing deals seen as the main aggravating factor.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Qianqian Li

Nowadays, the search for identity in Taiwan has been more significant today compared to the past because political parties have been attempting to use Taiwanese identity to impact the political loyalty, the democratization as well as language. Based on current situation of tourism cross-Straits, this paper respectively analyzes its economic value, political value as well as cultural value on Taiwanese identity.  This paper finds that due to a series of strategies adopted by Tsai’ government, tourism does not make a big difference in Taiwan’s economy, hence, the interdependence of tourism does not remarkably diminish Taiwanese identity from the perspective of economic value. Furthermore, according to the current perceptions of Taiwanese to Mainland tourists, tourism across Taiwan Strait makes slight influence on Taiwanese identity. Consequently, the current effect of using tourism as an economic lever to encourage political unification is extremely rough and tenuous. Besides,  to some extent, currently tourism is likely to produce greater social and cultural alienation among Taiwanese, which makes a contribution to boost Taiwanese identity. However, the result can be reverse with the current improvement of education and the quality of Chinese and admiration of China’s remarkable development.


2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahid Hasnan

This paper examines the impact of the political party structure on the incentives for politicians to focus on patronage versus service delivery improvements in Pakistan. By analysing inter-provincial variations in the quality of service delivery in Pakistan, the paper argues that the more fragmented, factionalised, and polarised the party systems, the greater are the incentives for patronage, weakening service delivery improvements. Fragmentation and factionalism both exacerbate the information problems that voters have in assigning credit (blame) for service delivery improvements (deterioration), thereby creating the incentives for politicians to focus on targeted benefits. Polarisation, particularly ethnic polarisation, reduces the ability of groups to agree on the provision of public goods, again causing politicians to favour the delivery of targeted benefits.


Author(s):  
Pippa Norris

The flaws in the American electoral process have become increasingly apparent in recent years. The contemporary tipping point in public awareness occurred during the 2000 election count, and concern deepened due to several major problems observed in the 2016 campaign, worsening party polarization, and corroding public trust in the legitimacy of the outcome. To gather evidence about the quality of elections around the world, in 2012 the Electoral Integrity Project was established as an independent research project based at Harvard and Sydney universities. The results show that experts rated American elections as the worst among all Western democracies. Without reform, these problems risk damaging the legitimacy of American elections—further weakening public confidence in political parties, Congress, and the U.S. government, depressing voter turnout, and exacerbating the risks of mass protests. This book describes several major challenges observed during the 2016 U.S. elections arising from deepening party polarization over basic voting procedures, the serious risks of hacking and weak cyber-security, the consequences of deregulating campaign spending, and lack of professional and impartial electoral management. This book outlines the core concept and measure of electoral integrity, the key yardstick used to evaluate free and fair elections. Evidence from expert and mass surveys demonstrate the extent of problems in American elections. The book shows how these challenges could be addressed through several practical steps designed to improve electoral procedures and practices. If implemented, the reforms will advance free and fair elections, and liberal democracy, at home and abroad.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Muh.Ulil S. Negara

Abstract— The background of this research is the increase of the distribution of fake news in cyberspace to coincide with the 2019 general election (Pemilu) campaign in Indonesia. Undergraduate students in Indonesia, most of whom are beginner voters in the 2019 election, are one of the most important campaign targets calculated by each political party. Fake news produced massively and structurally by political parties to get support from voters can break the unity and the harmony of the nation. Students as young people whose mindsets are critical and have idealism in fighting for their ideas must be able to distinguish between true and fake news for the safety of their own insights. The research method used is a quantitative method to understand the behavior of students in using mobile phones which is the fastest media for disseminating information through the internet. Understanding these behaviors will provide an overview of the impact of the application or information channel most often opened by someone to their ability to distinguish true and fake news. This study aims to get a strategy that needs to be done to improve student behavior in using mobile phones, which will affect the quality of information obtained from the internet via mobile phones. So that young person who are productive and have the right insight are not easily provoked by fake news from the internet


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
P Lombrail

Abstract The experience of France in the implementation of a frontof- pack label, the Nutri-Score, clearly illustrates the constant tug-ofwar between public health experts and the industry and provides a framework for an efficient strategy that could be replicated at the EU level. Dietary risk factors is in the top three leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Western Europe. Such high burden of diseases urges the implementation of strong and efficient public health strategies in order to curb the impact of poor diets. The public health community has long promoted strategies impacting both individual dietary behavior and the food environment, in a consistent global framework. However, the latter strategies imply to act upon the food and beverage manufacturers, to provide consumers with better information on the nutritional quality of the foods they produce and to ensure a shift in the nutritional composition of the food offer towards healthier foods. Among the various public health nutrition strategies that are considered efficient in both modifying consumer behavior and enticing reformulations by the food industry, front-of-pack food labeling has been identified as a key policy component in a global program.


2017 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-27
Author(s):  
Monika Szkultecka-Dębek ◽  
Mariola Drozd ◽  
Marta Bem

Abstract Introduction. The term “quality of life” has been present in the literature for a long time now. It was created in the middle of the last century in Western Europe and from the societal perspective the term initially defined the level of material life, gradually being expanded to other aspects of human life, like happiness, education, broadly defined individual freedom and health. Aim. To analyze differences by gender and place of residence in perception of quality of life based on data from the assessment of thrombocytopenia impact on daily activities using TSIDAV vignette among Polish patients. Material and methods. We assessed the impact of thrombocytopenia symptoms on patients’ daily activities using TSIDAV vignette. We wanted to understand the reason for different perception of symptoms and why visible symptoms are perceived as worse by women in comparison to men. We analyzed the groups by age and place of residence. Results. Within 48 collected questionnaires, 31 were provided by women and 17 by men. As many as 29% of men declared the biggest impact on daily activities due to petechiae and easy bruising. The same symptoms were assessed as having significant impact on daily activities by 68% and 65% of women respectively. The results in relation to the two symptoms were similar in terms of impact: both men and women assessed it as high impact, however in general, a lower proportion of men identified this as an issue. As many as 53% of the pre-menopausal women declared the thrombocytopenia impact on daily activities as very high. Similar results were observed in the male group. Those before retirement age assessed disease symptoms as very high in comparison to the group of older patients. No significant differences in relation to place of residence were observed. During literature research we found that depending on patients’ gender, the perception of the impact of disease on patients quality of life may often differ. Conclusions. We found out that the perception of disease symptoms impact on quality of life is different by women and men. That may be the result of different factors such as the influence of social roles determined for each sex. At the same time, the perception of the impact of thrombocytopenia symptoms on daily activity almost does not depend on age or place of residence of neither women nor men.


1986 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 456-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Inglehart ◽  
Jacques‐René Rabier

Throughout this century, the Marxist Left in Europe has emphasized an economic interpretation of history, with state ownership of the means of production as the key element in their prescription for society. Political polarization is depicted as a direct reflection of social class conflict, with the working class the natural base of support for the Left. This diagnosis has become increasingly out of touch with reality in recent years, which have seen the decline of orthodox Marxist parties in Western Europe and the diminishing credibility of the ideology on which they are based. For as advanced industrial society emerges, economic determinism provides a progressively less adequate analysis of society, and class-based parties and the policies they advocate become less central to politics. Economic development reduces the impact of economic determinism. Though economic factors tend to play a dominant role in the early stages of industrial society, in advanced industrial society their relative importance diminishes; and self-expression, ‘belonging’ and the quality of the physical and social environment become increasingly important.


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