SARS: A Crisis Analysis Case Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan Xue ◽  
Kaibin Zhong
Keyword(s):  
Political Agenda ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
International Crisis ◽  
Radar Screen ◽  
Novel Virus ◽  
Decisive Action ◽  
Global Threat ◽  
National Governments

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis was the first epidemic caused by a novel virus in the 21st century, killing nearly 774 globally and 349 in China. Started in late 2002, it escalated from a localized outbreak into a national and ultimately an international crisis within just a few months, before the outbreak was finally brought under control in June 2003. The governmental actors were caught off guard before a timely and comprehensive response was put in place in mid-April 2003. As pandemics are becoming both more frequent and more devastating, it is important that efforts be made to intervene early in an outbreak to prevent a potential national and even global threat. The provincial and national governments did not take prompt and comprehensive actions, even after the disease began spreading quickly and taking lives. The Chinese government dramatically revamped their approach to SARS and took very decisive action to respond to the spread of the SARS virus in April 2003; this occurred only when decision makers had been informed of this crisis situation and put on notice to put crisis management on their radar screen and make it a “top priority.” Therefore, it’s necessary to understand what factors influenced the initial delayed response by local and national Chinese governments, from the perspective of information management and governmental political agenda.

Kämpfe um Bergbau und die Möglichkeiten demokratischer Transformation

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (189) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Dietz
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Mining Project ◽  
National Governments ◽  
The Relationship

The article explores the political effects of popular consultations as a means of direct democracy in struggles over mining. Building on concepts from participatory and materialist democracy theory, it shows the transformative potentials of processes of direct democracy towards democratization and emancipation under, and beyond, capitalist and liberal democratic conditions. Empirically the analysis is based on a case study on the protests against the La Colosa gold mining project in Colombia. The analysis reveals that although processes of direct democracy in conflicts over mining cannot transform existing class inequalities and social power relations fundamentally, they can nevertheless alter elements thereof. These are for example the relationship between local and national governments, changes of the political agenda of mining and the opening of new spaces for political participation, where previously there were none. It is here where it’s emancipatory potential can be found.

Confucianism as a World Religion

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Sun
Keyword(s):  
Vital Signs ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
World Religion ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Thoughtful Reflection

Is Confucianism a religion? If so, why do most Chinese think it isn't? This book traces the birth and growth of the idea of Confucianism as a world religion. The book begins at Oxford, in the late nineteenth century, when Friedrich Max Müller and James Legge classified Confucianism as a world religion in the new discourse of “world religions” and the emerging discipline of comparative religion. The book shows how that decisive moment continues to influence the understanding of Confucianism in the contemporary world, not only in the West but also in China, where the politics of Confucianism has become important to the present regime in a time of transition. Contested histories of Confucianism are vital signs of social and political change. The book also examines the revival of Confucianism in contemporary China and the social significance of the ritual practice of Confucian temples. While the Chinese government turns to Confucianism to justify its political agenda, Confucian activists have started a movement to turn Confucianism into a religion. Confucianism as a world religion might have begun as a scholarly construction, but are we witnessing its transformation into a social and political reality? With historical analysis, extensive research, and thoughtful reflection, this book will engage all those interested in religion and global politics at the beginning of the Chinese century.

scholarly journals Whose Landscape Is It? Remapping Memory and History in Interwar Central Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Nóra Veszprémi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Mental Maps ◽  
Habsburg Empire ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Place Memory ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract After the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the sanctioning of new national borders in 1920, the successor states faced the controversial task of reconceptualizing the idea of national territory. Images of historically significant landscapes played a crucial role in this process. Employing the concept of mental maps, this article explores how such images shaped the connections between place, memory, and landscape in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Hungarian revisionist publications demonstrate how Hungarian nationalists visualized the organic integrity of “Greater Hungary,” while also implicitly adapting historical memory to the new geopolitical situation. As a counterpoint, images of the Váh region produced in interwar Czechoslovakia reveal how an opposing political agenda gave rise to a different imagery, while drawing on shared cultural traditions from the imperial past. Finally, the case study of Dévény/Devín/Theben shows how the idea of being positioned “between East and West” lived on in overlapping but politically opposed mental maps in the interwar period. By examining the cracks and continuities in the picturesque landscape tradition after 1918, the article offers new insight into the similarities and differences of nation-building processes from the perspective of visual culture.

scholarly journals Classification and Estimation of Irrigation Waters Based on Remote Sensing Images: Case Study in Yucheng City (China)

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3503
Author(s):  
Qingshui Lu ◽  
Shangzhen Liang ◽  
Xinliang Xu
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Groundwater Depletion ◽  
The Yellow River ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Irrigation Season ◽  
Groundwater Supply ◽  
Yucheng City ◽  
Irrigation Waters

The downstream plain of the Yellow River is experiencing some of the most severe groundwater depletion in China. Although the Chinese government has issued policies to ensure that the Yellow River can provide enough irrigation waters for this region, groundwater levels continue to decrease. Yucheng City was selected as a case study. A new method was designed to classify the cropland into various irrigated cropland. Subsequently, we analyzed data regarding these irrigated-cropland categories, irrigation norms, and the minimum amount of irrigation water being applied to cropland. The results showed that 91.5% of farmland can be classified as double irrigated (by both canal/river and well water), while 8.5% of farmland can be classified as well irrigated. During the irrigation season, the sediments brought in by the river have blocked portions of the canals. This has led to 23% of the double-irrigated cropland being irrigated by groundwater, and it is thus a main factor causing reductions in groundwater supply. These blocked canals should be dredged by local governments to mitigate local groundwater depletion. The method for classifying irrigated cropland from high-resolution images is valid and it can be used in other irrigated areas with a declining groundwater table for the sustainable use of groundwater resources.

Social work mobility in Europe: a case study from Ireland

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trish Walsh ◽  
George Wilson ◽  
Erna O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Worker Mobility ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Uk ◽  
National Governments

Social work has been viewed as one of the most nation-specific of the professions, ‘being closely tied up with national traditions, mentalities and institutions’ (Kornbeck, 2004, p 146). In addition, the political imperatives of national governments, austerity measures and managerialism drive approaches to service delivery which may supersede social work’s professional priorities. This militates against an automatic or easy transfer of professional knowledge from one country to another. In spite of this, there has been an enduring interest in developing international forms of social work that transcend national borders (Gray and Fook, 2004; Lyons et al, 2012). In this chapter, we present a case study of social worker mobility as it has evolved from the establishment of the first national social work registration body in the Republic of Ireland in 1997 with a particular focus on data from 2004-13 capturing the years leading up to, and in the aftermath of, the global financial crisis of 2008. We contrast this with the situation in Northern Ireland (NI), part of the UK and a separate and distinct political and legal entity with its own policies and practices. We draw on statistical and descriptive data provided by Irish social work registration bodies (NSWQB 1997-2011; CORU established in 2011 and NISCC, the Northern Ireland Social Care Council established in 2001) to illustrate (i) how sensitive contemporary mobility patterns are to changing economic and political factors; (ii) how rapidly patterns of mobility change and (iii) how much more mired in complexity European social work mobility is likely to be if the European project itself fractures, as is possible following the Brexit referendum vote in the UK.

scholarly journals Economic efficiency of national governments: case study of Poland and Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksander Kuczabski
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Free Product ◽  
Economic Efficiency ◽  
Government Size ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Unique Approach ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
National Governments

The article proposes a new unique approach to assessing the economic efficiency of national governments. The assessment is based on the indicator of gross free product per capita, which is a difference between GDP and government size per capita. This method was used to analyze the situation in two post-communist states – Poland and Ukraine. The author studied their economic development in 2009–2019, and the received data was used to draw conclusions about economic policies in the two countries in the period in question. A forecast has been made about the possible impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on economic processes from the perspective of changes in the gross free product per capita.

scholarly journals Is There a Need to Conduct Water Rights Transactions in the Water-Rich Areas of China? A Case Study of the Taihu Basin

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fengping Wu ◽  
Min Zhu ◽  
Shang Luo ◽  
Junyuan Shen ◽  
Xia Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Water Rights ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Water Management System ◽  
Taihu Basin ◽  
Total Water Consumption ◽  
Resource Endowment ◽  
Increasing Demand

To alleviate the contradiction between the increasing demand for water and the shortage of resources and to provide a favorable institutional environment for water rights trading, the Chinese government has strengthened the top-level design of water management system. However, the water-rich regions (southern regions of China) have good water resource endowment and a surplus of total water consumption indicators. Does this mean that there is no incentive and no need to conduct water rights trading in these regions? Through the investigation of water rights circulation cases in the Taihu Basin, a typical water-rich region of China, we established the existence of trading demand and some difficulties in conducting transactions. This paper argues that the needs of trading include alleviating the water gap in regional development, solving the water demand for large new projects, coordinating trans-jurisdiction water disputes. The plight of trading includes the lack of awareness, irregular process, excessive administrative intervention, and imperfect trading system.

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