The electoral threshold may swing Israeli vote outcome

Significance For the first time since 2009, Netanyahu is facing a formidable challenge from a new centrist party, Blue and White, established by Benny Gantz, a former military chief of staff, and former finance minister Yair Lapid. The election can be broadly characterised as a battle between two main blocs -- the religious right and the centre-left. Impacts Blue and White will need to articulate specific policies to maintain its positive momentum. A merger of far-right groupings may shift voters towards the New Right party. The corruption allegations against Netanyahu could prove disruptive to voting intentions.

Subject The threat to ruling Fidesz from radical Jobbik. Significance With its popularity plummeting and competition increasing from left and right, Fidesz's chances of maintaining parliamentary dominance after 2018 seem much eroded, although a growing economy could benefit it. Its by-election defeat in April to far-right Jobbik, albeit by only 261 votes, carries symbolic weight. For the first time, the radical party won not only a single-member constituency rather than a party-list seat, but also one outside its traditional stronghold of eastern Hungary. Jobbik could become a direct electoral threat to the party in power. Impacts If Fidesz allied with far-right Jobbik, it would further tarnish its image abroad, adding fuel to already tense EU and US relations. Jobbik will further its attempts to moderate its ideology to widen its electoral base. Jobbik may start to pick up votes from both left- and right-wing parties.


Subject Prospects for Brazil to end-2021. Significance A Senate inquiry into the disastrous handling of COVID-19 by the government of President Jair Bolsonaro has further undermined his popularity, also affected by the pandemic’s social and economic consequences, including high unemployment and rising hunger. However, despite large anti-government demonstrations for the first time since the start of the pandemic, Bolsonaro retains the support of one in four and will likely double down on his bet on far-right populism.


Subject Dynamics within Congo's coalition government. Significance Vital Kamerhe, President Felix Tshisekedi’s chief of staff and main political ally, was on April 8 arrested on corruption charges, the first time since independence that such a senior official has been imprisoned. Should the charges stick, Kamerhe’s exit from the centre of power would seriously disturb the fragile balance within the uneasy coalition government between Tshisekedi and Kamerhe’s parties, united in the Camp for Change (CACH) alliance, and the Common Front for Congo (FCC) of former President Joseph Kabila. Impacts The arrest creates a political crisis when the nation already faces two health crises (COVID-19 and Ebola) and multiple security crises. Kamerhe’s arrest will weaken the presidency’s capacity to exercise executive power, as Tshisekedi is not known for decisive action. The judiciary’s lack of independence will fuel fears of politicisation and may limit the potential for a wider anti-corruption effort.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-22
Author(s):  
Ray Harper

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to summarise a number of presentations at Day 1 of the Internet Librarian International conference, London, UK (16 October 2018). This was the 20th conference in the series, and the three key themes included were the next-gen library and librarian; understanding users, usage and user experience; and inclusion and inspiration: libraries making a difference. Design/methodology/approach This paper reports from the viewpoint of a first-time attendee of the conference. This summarises the main issues raised by each presentation and draws out the key learning points for practical situations. Findings The conference covered a variety of practical ways in which libraries can use technology to support users and make decisions about services. These include developing interactive physical spaces which include augmented reality; introducing “chat-bots” to support users; using new techniques to analyse data; and piloting new ways to engage users (such as coding clubs). A key theme was how we use and harness data in a way that is ethical, effective and relevant to library services. Originality/value This conference focussed on practical examples of how library and information services across sectors and countries are innovating in a period of huge change. The conference gave delegates numerous useful ideas and examples of best practice and demonstrated the strength of the profession in adapting to new technologies and developments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-142
Author(s):  
Alberto Bueno-Guerrero

Purpose This paper aims to study the conditions for the hedging portfolio of any contingent claim on bonds to have no bank account part. Design/methodology/approach Hedging and Malliavin calculus techniques recently developed under a stochastic string framework are applied. Findings A necessary and sufficient condition for the hedging portfolio to have no bank account part is found. This condition is applied to a barrier option, and an example of a contingent claim whose hedging portfolio has a bank account part different from zero is provided. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that this issue has been addressed in the literature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-362
Author(s):  
Myungji Yang

Through the case of the New Right movement in South Korea in the early 2000s, this article explores how history has become a battleground on which the Right tried to regain its political legitimacy in the postauthoritarian context. Analyzing disputes over historiography in recent decades, this article argues that conservative intellectuals—academics, journalists, and writers—play a pivotal role in constructing conservative historical narratives and building an identity for right-wing movements. By contesting what they viewed as “distorted” leftist views and promoting national pride, New Right intellectuals positioned themselves as the guardians of “liberal democracy” in the Republic of Korea. Existing studies of the Far Right pay little attention to intellectual circles and their engagement in civil society. By examining how right-wing intellectuals appropriated the past and shaped triumphalist national imagery, this study aims to better understand the dynamics of ideational contestation and knowledge production in Far Right activism.


Thesis Eleven ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 072551362110086
Author(s):  
Imogen Richards ◽  
Maria Rae ◽  
Matteo Vergani ◽  
Callum Jones

A 21st-century growth in prevalence of extreme right-wing nationalism and social conservatism in Australia, Europe, and America, in certain respects belies the positive impacts of online, new, and alternative forms of global media. Cross-national forms of ‘far-right activism’ are unconfined to their host nations; individuals and organisations campaign on the basis of ethno-cultural separatism, while capitalising on internet-based affordances for communication and ideological cross-fertilisation. Right-wing revolutionary ideas disseminated in this media, to this end, embody politico-cultural aims that can only be understood with attention to their philosophical underpinnings. Drawing on a dataset of articles from the pseudo-news websites, XYZ and The Unshackled, this paper investigates the representation of different rightist political philosophical traditions in contemporary Australia-based far-right media. A critical discourse and content analysis reveal XYZ and TU’s engagement with various traditions, from Nietzsche and the Conservative Revolution, to the European New Right and neo-Nazism.


Author(s):  
Robert Douglas Hinshelwood ◽  
Luca Mingarelli ◽  
Simona Masnata

Purpose Many people in severe mentally disturbed states do not use language or other symbolic media well or coherently. Therefore, the non-verbal medium needs to be understood by workers with such people. The “Learning from Action” experiential workshop was developed in order to provide an opportunity to learn about hidden messages in the relationships and roles occurring in activities. In August 2017, a workshop was run for the first time in Japan. The purpose of this paper is to report the experience and dynamics observed by the three consultants, who are here the authors of this paper. Design/methodology/approach After the workshop all the staff and members, including interpreters, were invited to give feedback. Findings Analysis of the feedback data showed certain important dynamics, concerning especially dependence, cultural defences and the defensive role of activity in a multicultural context. Research limitations/implications This is an initial experience to be followed up by later feedback and further workshops. Practical implications Workers awareness of non-verbal communication within the roles of work activities is a training possibility. It faces various resistances including the mental health assumptions of meaninglessness of any communication outside the verbal. Originality/value This is a method of training not widely used even in European countries, and is the first in a country in the far east.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-284
Author(s):  
Armen E. Petrosyan

Purpose The paper aims to present a systematic conceptual analysis of the problem of organizational goal and to reduce the insights into it provided by the main conceptions taken in their development from one to another, to break out of the ruling paradigm and outline a new solution. Design/methodology/approach The study has been carried out from the historical and critical perspective. Findings The paper discovers the logic of the evolution the approaches to organizational goals have undergone and portrays it in a matrix form in the heart of which is the “zigzag effect”: each posterior stage returns to the essential elements rejected by those preceding it, and the last stage, being diametrically opposite to the first, is, at that, as well as the latter, akin to the intermediate stages. The opportunities afforded by the current paradigm have been exhausted and it seems to run to an impasse. Instead, the author suggests a new frame of orientation: organizational goals are closely interknit with personal, but not reducible to them and bear fundamentally transpersonal character, while the mechanism of involving the preferences of individuals and groups in goal-setting is based on the self-contained interests of the organization they pertain to. Research limitations/implications The findings, conclusions and generalizations obtained can serve for a necessary ground to researchers getting deeper into the essence of what bonds organizational life and activity. Practical implications The material empowers practitioners to comprehend the difficulties of framing cohesive goal and find efficient ways to overcome them. It is of value also to the teachers seeking to present a more exact and elaborate view of teleological foundations of management and organization theory. Originality/value Both the conceptual analysis of the evolution of the approaches to organizational goals and the author’s exposition of its logic and vision of their nature are provided for the first time.


2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 681-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Androniki Katarachia ◽  
Electra Pitoska ◽  
Grigoris Giannarakis ◽  
Elpida Poutoglidou

Purpose Based on agency theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants on the dissemination level of corporate governance disclosure (CGD). Design/methodology/approach The sample of the study incorporates listed companies in Nifty 500 Index for the period 2009-2014. The Governance Disclosure Score calculated by Bloomberg is used as a proxy for the dissemination level of corporate governance information. In total, eight explanatory variables are uses, namely, board’s size, number of board meetings, CEO duality, presence of women on the board, company’s size, financial performance, Tobin’s Q ratio and financial leverage. Findings The results of study suggest a need for improvement in CGDs by Indian companies, as they fail to comply the majority of the proposed disclosure items. Furthermore, it is revealed that the number of board director, the value of company, the financial leverage and the presence of women affect negatively the dissemination level of corporate governance information. While, the size of company is the only determinant that positively affects the extent of CGD. Practical implications The results are valuable because they reveal the attributes that determines which companies needs less or extra monitoring by shareholders and investors regarding the applied corporate governance practices. In addition, the study can be valuable to policy makers responsible for the regulation of company’s accountability in relation to corporate governance practices. Originality/value The study extents previous studies by incorporating for the first time Bloomberg’s rating approach regarding the dissemination level of CGD in Indian context.


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