The Happiness of Nations

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-236
Author(s):  
Milan Zafirovski
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Welfare Capitalism ◽  
Global Society ◽  
Illiberal Democracy ◽  
Democracy Functions ◽  
The Ideal

Abstract This paper reexamines the concept and determinants of happiness within global society involving Western and comparable societies such as OECD countries. The review of the literature suggests that it leaves a certain void with respect to the bearing of types of contemporary societies on happiness and its societal conditions. The paper argues that a particular type of these societies, denoted as the combination of welfare capitalism and liberal democracy, tends to create the best societal conditions for a happier society than do other types, such as those described as the compound of oligarchic-plutocratic capitalism and illiberal ‘democracy’ and mixed social systems. It then presents varied evidence in strong support of the argument demonstrating that this type of society is the most successful in creating objective conditions for realizing the ideal of the ‘greatest happiness to the greatest number’ of its members compared to its opposite and mixed alternatives. The paper concludes that the evidence strongly confirms that welfare capitalism/liberal democracy functions as the strongest determinant and predictor of the happiness of societies today.

scholarly journals Coastal and Marine Socio-Ecological Systems: A Systematic Review of the Literature

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Refulio-Coronado ◽  
Katherine Lacasse ◽  
Tracey Dalton ◽  
Austin Humphries ◽  
Suchandra Basu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Nutrient Runoff ◽  
Bacterial Pollution ◽  
Marine Management ◽  
Complex Environmental Problems ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Made In

The socio-ecological systems (SESs) framework provides cross-disciplinary insight into complex environmental problems. Numerous studies have applied the SES framework to coastal and marine environments over the last two decades. We review and analyze 98 of those studies to (i) describe how SES concepts were examined and measured, (ii) describe how the studies included feedbacks and thresholds, and (iii) identify and analyze elements unique to coastal and marine SES frameworks. We find that progress has been made in understanding key SES properties in coastal and marine ecosystems, which include resilience, adaptive capacity, vulnerability, and governance. A variety of methods has been developed and applied to analyze these features qualitatively and quantitatively. We also find that recent studies have incorporated land-based stressors in their analyses of coastal issues related to nutrient runoff, bacterial pollution, and management of anadromous species to represent explicit links in land-to-sea continuums. However, the literature has yet to identify methods and data that can be used to provide causal evidence of non-linearities and thresholds within SES. In addition, our findings suggest that greater alignment and consistency are needed in models with regard to metrics and spatial boundaries between ecological and social systems to take full advantage of the SES framework and improve coastal and marine management.

Comparing Learning Organizations with Static Organizations

2014 ◽  
pp. 165-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor X. Wang ◽  
Bernice Bain
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Learning Organization ◽  
Learning Organizations ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Organizational Leaders ◽  
Global Society ◽  
Corporate Leaders ◽  
Transitional Process ◽  
Strategic Approach

A major challenge for organizations is remaining competitive in today's global society where sustainability is the most pressing problem (Ramirez, 2012). This chapter compares the characteristics of static and learning organizations, explains the systems thinking (the root of learning organizations), identifies the components required for transition from a static organization to a learning organization, considers two examples of learning organizations, and explores various critiques organizational leaders should consider. Leaders who strive to turn static organizations into learning organizations by changing corporate leaders' and employees' mindsets (Bennis, 1989; Bennis & Nanus, 1997) should consider the transitional process of that change. Learning organizations can permeate various social systems and industries including those that seem to need static traits such as construction. Organizational leaders should consider benefits and critiques as they develop a strategic approach to sustainability and growth.

A Commons Perspective to Understanding the Development of Information Infrastructures

2012 ◽  
pp. 40-62
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Great Emphasis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Needs ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
Information Infrastructures ◽  
Institutional Analysis And Development

The critical review of the literature on information infrastructures has led to an identification of three key areas where future research needs to pay particular attention. These are: the multilevel context of infrastructural development, negotiations around that development, and intended and unintended outcomes emerging out of the implemented technologies. To understand the interdependencies between these three areas, this chapter explores research into other large-scale social systems (beyond information systems) to try to draw out some possible insights for information infrastructure research. In this effort, this chapter draws and adapts the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework–which was initially developed to study natural resource commons arrangements such as inshore fisheries, forests, irrigation systems, and pastures–while placing great emphasis on the complex problems and social dilemmas that often arise in the negotiations. The chapter concludes by highlighting the contribution of a commons perspective to understanding the development of information infrastructures.

A Discussion of Péter Krasztev and Jon Van Til’s The Hungarian Patient: Social Opposition to an Illiberal Democracy

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 549-550
Author(s):  
Jan-Werner Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Illiberal Democracy ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
The Eu

In the wake of the Revolutions of 1989, Hungary was long considered one of the “success stories” of post-communist transition to liberal democracy. Yet in recent years the Hungarian government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has pioneered a new conception of “illiberal democracy.” In a July 2014 speech, Orban indeed declared that “the era of liberal democracies is over.” Similar declarations can be heard in other parts of post-communist Eastern Europe. The Hungarian Patient: Social Opposition to an Illiberal Democracy, is a collection of essays by Hungarian social scientists and intellectuals reflecting on both the sources of this emergent illiberalism and the sources of opposition to it. Because it is important for American political scientists to understand the way their colleagues in other parts of the world reflect on the challenges of democracy, and because the Hungarian situation is significant for the future of Europe and the EU, we have invited a wide range of scholars to comment on the book and on its topic—the significance of the emergence of “illiberal democracy” in Hungary and in Europe.

The Effects of Religiosity on Adolescent Self-Reported Frequency of Drug and Alcohol Use

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
John K. Cochran
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Female Adolescents ◽  
Parameter Estimates ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Equivalent Parameter ◽  
Drug And Alcohol Use ◽  
Drug Type ◽  
Moral Condemnation ◽  
Drug And Alcohol

Homogeneous effects cumulative logistic regression is used to examine the effects of personal religiosity on adolescent self-reported frequency of drug and alcohol use. Survey data from a sample of 3,065 male and female adolescents in grades 7 through 12 in three midwestern states are employed. While the existence of an inverse religiosity-substance use relationship is well documented, questions still exist concerning the nature of these relationships. A review of the literature reveals three rival hypotheses concerning variation in the strength of these relationships across drug types: the Anti-Asceticism hypothesis, which predicts stronger relationships among the “softer” drug types; the Moral Condemnation hypothesis, which predicts stronger relationships among the “harder” drugs; and the Hellfire hypothesis, which predicts stable effects across drug types. These data provide strong support for the more general Hellfire hypothesis, with equivalent parameter estimates for the effects of religiosity observed for each drug type. However, slightly weaker effects are observed for adolescentuse of alcohol.

scholarly journals “Belonging to a Homeland in Order to not Need it Anymore”

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-352
Author(s):  
Theo W.A. de Wit
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Free Fall ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Grand Narrative ◽  
End Of History ◽  
Illiberal Democracy ◽  
Political Theorist ◽  
Recent Movement ◽  
The End Of History ◽  
The Difference

Abstract In his book After Europe, the Bulgarian political theorist Ivan Krastev observes the ‘free fall’ of the dominant grand narrative in Europe after 1989, Fukuyama’s idea of the ‘End of history’. If we want to understand why we must pay attention both to the ‘periphery’ of this narrative, as well as to the periphery of Europe, where the recent movement of migration in the refugee crisis is experienced from a nationalist déjà vu mindset and not welcomed, we have to rethink the phenomenon of nationalism and patriotism, and the difference between the two. After a short phenomenology of the diverse combinations of ‘love’ (among other meanings the love for my patria) and ‘justice’, the author concludes that a strict separation of patriotism and nationalism is hardly possible. And even more fundamental, there will always be a tension between love and justice or, in philosophical terms, between the particular and the universal. Following Krastev, the autor holds that the contemporary rise of populist movements and of ‘illiberal democracy’ points to the crisis of a meritocratic idea of liberal democracy. One longs for a form of belonging that is not the result of our performance but that is unconditional, as Jean Améry argued in his reflections on the meanings of a homeland (Heimat).

scholarly journals From “The Problem of the Ideal” of E. V. Ilyenkov to research of ideas within the modern social philosophy

2020 ◽  
pp. 22-44
Author(s):  
Nikita Nikolaevich Ravochkin ◽  
Mikhail Itsekovich Baumgarten ◽  
Vasilii Nikolaevich Porkhachev
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Social Philosophy ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
Social Reforms ◽  
Philosophical Thought ◽  
Soviet Time ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
Modern Russian

This article analyzes the results of studying the ideal and ideas since the Soviet time (intellectual geritage of E. V. Ilyenkov) until the present. The authors examine a discussion between Ilyenkov and Dubrovsky that unfolded around the problem of the ideal. Special attention is given to the ideological reception and evolution of representations on the ideal in accordance with the historical framework. Depending on affiliation of the representatives of one or another intellectual tradition, the ideas was interpreted from the perspective of three approaches: activity (E. V. Ilyenkov), information (D. I. Dubrovsky), and ontognoseological (M. A. Lifshitz). It is noted that these trends are primary for the modern Russian philosophical thought as well. The scientific novelty consists in the establishment of coherence for development of problematic of the ideas in modern social philosophy. Emphasis is made on continuity of representations on the ideas of foreign and national researchers. The acquired results demonstrate that currently, there are very few works that in some way explore ideas; this category is predominantly used applicable to philosophical heritage of certain groups of intellectuals. The conducted review of the literature illustrates underestimation of determination potential of the ideas as the results of cognitive activity in the aspect of carrying out social reforms.

scholarly journals Globalization and Religion: Analysing the Impact

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-59
Author(s):  
Ikechukwu O Onuoha ◽  
Francis C Odeke
Keyword(s):  
Economic System ◽  
Information And Communication Technology ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Global Society ◽  
Secular Culture ◽  
The World ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Geographical Locations

Globalization is the interconnectedness of people and ideas across the globe. It involves the scaling of borders and the creation of a global society where events in far-flung areas reverberate uninhibited across great distances and geographical locations. Its agents are the information and communication technology (ICT), and the revolution in the modern transportation system. Globalization has affected everything and everybody and changed the traditional ways of doing things such that no region of the world can again boast of impermeability. Accompanying it are the values now known as modernism which includes a preference for change rather than continuity, freedom rather than restriction. This has led to the development of a secular culture which religious enthusiasts view as crude, sacrilegious, unacceptable and socially dangerous, and as threatening the very existence of traditional religious values.  This paper attempts an analysis of the interplay between religion and globalization. It uses the cause-effects theory, which discusses the impact of social systems as a result of their causes. The paper concludes that globalization as a socio-economic system should have nothing to do with religion which is solely concerned with the moulding of morality for the spiritual upliftment of man, his peace, and fulfilment in life.  

scholarly journals Management immunodeficiency from preuniversity educational system

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucica Cristea (Mitican)
Keyword(s):  
Global Solution ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The World ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Ideal

The educational system finds itself again in the middle of crisis. The quantic progress that people all over the world are waiting for, seems to have met the totally unprepared educational system. The globalization which has led to the increase of interdependence between economic and social systems makes this problem become a worldwide one and consequently, need a global solution. While the USA is looking for the „perfect” teacher and the „ideal” school, Europe is still trying to find methods for making the educational system more efficient. A contradiction rises therefore, between the role of school in society that is to form mature personalities, meant to contribute to the economic increase and, implicitly, to the development of society, and the decrease in importance of this activity to the level of any economic activity. The text aims at verifying the hypothesis according to which management immunodeficiency from the preuniversity organizations has the most powerful influence on the increase of crisis within the educational system. How was school plagued by this immuodeficiency? To what extent did the management of these institutions contribute to this? Can the efficient decision constitute a remedy in this situation? These are questions that we ought to address to ourselves, even if we are not be able to<br />find the best solution.

scholarly journals Estudos acerca da postura em crianças e adolescentes em fase escolar: relação com hábitos de vida

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lais Lie Orita ◽  
Daniel Vicentini de Oliveira ◽  
Maura Fernandes Franco ◽  
José Lima
Keyword(s):  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
School Children ◽  
Phase Relationship ◽  
Spinal Pain ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
School Activities ◽  
Postural Changes ◽  
Life Habits ◽  
The Ideal

As alterações posturais e dores na coluna vertebral em crianças e adolescentes são apontadas como multicausais. Um dos fatores mais destacados em relatos científicos refere-se aos hábitos relacionados às atividades escolares. Este estudo teve como objetivo apresentar estudos acerca da postura de crianças e adolescentes em fase escolar e sua relação com os hábitos nessa fase da vida. Foi realizada uma revisão de literatura por meio de buscas em periódicos nacionais e internacionais indexados nas bases de dados Scielo, Lilacs e Pubmed, bem como livros didáticos, sem limitação de ano para a busca. Os descritores utilizados foram: coluna vertebral, escolares, infância e adolescência, mochila escolar, hábitos posturais, no idioma português, espanhol e inglês. A maior parte dos estudos avaliados apresentaram dor e diversas alterações posturais em crianças em fase escolar, sendo que, alguns destes, conseguiram relacionar o uso de mochila com peso acima do ideal, com variáveis de saúde.ABSTRACT. Studies about posture in children and adolescents in school phase: relationship with life habits. Postural changes and spinal pain in children and adolescents are indicated as multicausal. One of the most prominent factors in scientific reports relates to habits related to school activities. This study aimed to present studies about the posture of children and adolescents in the school phase and its relationship with habits in this phase of life. A review of the literature was made through searches in national and international journals indexed in the Scielo, Lilacs and Pubmed databases, as well as textbooks, with no year limitation for the search. The descriptors used were: spine, school, childhood and adolescence, school backpack, posture habits, in Portuguese, Spanish and English. Most of the studies evaluated presented pain and several postural changes in school children, and some of them were able to relate the use of a backpack with weight above the ideal, with health variables.

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