scholarly journals Global online platforms, COVID-19, and culture: The global pandemic, an accelerator towards which direction?

2021 ◽  
pp. 016344372199453
Author(s):  
Antonios Vlassis
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Major Development ◽  
The Us ◽  
Media Platform

The article proposes to consider the COVID-19 global pandemic as new major development for cultural industries and policies and to highlight timely and crucial trends due to the lockdown measures. Thus, it attempts to stimulate the scholarship debate regarding the consequences of the pandemic to the action of global online platforms, as well as to policy and economic aspects of cultural sectors. Taking as case study the audio-visual sector, the article explores whether the US global streaming platforms are the winning players of the lockdown measures and emphasizes the multifaceted strategies developed by US-based platforms in order to strengthen their soft power. Focusing on China and the European Union, the article also argues that the overwhelming action of US-based online platforms triggers the potential emergence of media platform regionalization in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, it highlights the regulatory challenges and how the new empirical trends are expected to shape the current audio-visual policy framework. The analysis focuses on the period between the beginning of global pandemic in Asia-Pacific in January 2020 and the progressive easing of lockdown measures in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific in July 2020.

scholarly journals Explaining participation in undeclared work in France: lessons for policy evaluation

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 203-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Windebank ◽  
Ioana Alexandra Horodnic
Keyword(s):  
Policy Framework ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
French Population ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Social Actor ◽  
Tax Morale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Actor ◽  
Undeclared Work

Purpose France is a model of best practice in the European Union as regards policy to combat undeclared work. The purpose of this paper is to take the country as a case study to evaluate the competing explanations of why people engage in undeclared work which underpin such policy, namely, the dominant rational-economic-actor approach and the more recent social-actor approach. Design/methodology/approach To evaluate these approaches, the results of 1,027 interviews undertaken in 2013 with a representative sample of the French population are analysed. Findings The finding is that higher perceived penalties and risks of detection have no significant impact on the likelihood of conducting undeclared work in France. In contrast, the level of tax morale has a significant impact on engagement in the activity: the higher the tax morale, the lower is the likelihood of participation in the undeclared economy. Higher penalties and risks of detection only decrease the likelihood of participation in undeclared work amongst the small minority of the French population with very low tax morale. Practical implications Current policy in France to counter undeclared work is informed principally by the rational-economic-actor approach based on a highly developed infrastructure for detection and significant penalties alongside incentives to declare small-scale own-account work. The present analysis suggests that this approach needs to be supplemented with measures to improve citizens’ commitment to compliance by enhancing tax morale. Originality/value This case study of a country with a well-developed policy framework to combat undeclared work provides evidence to support the social-actor approach for informing policy change.

scholarly journals DIASPORA AS SOFT POWER A CASE STUDY OF INDIAN DIASPORA IN THE US

Soft Power ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 04 (02) ◽  
pp. 164-182
Author(s):  
Kamni Kumari
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Indian Diaspora ◽  
The Us

EU diplomacy 2.0: The European Union’s exercise in soft power in the Philippines through Facebook

2020 ◽  
pp. 280-299
Author(s):  
Manuel Enverga
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
European Union ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Social Networking Website ◽  
Digital Diplomacy

Digital diplomacy, also referred to as e-Diplomacy or Diplomacy 2.0, is a form of public diplomacy that entails the pursuance of foreign policy objectives using the Internet and social media. It is one of the ways that actors in contemporary global politics can exert soft power, thereby shaping a host country’s perceptions, agendas, and policies. The increasing use of digital diplomacy exemplifies a shift in diplomatic from purely government-to-government (G2G) relations, to one in which communication is directed towards publics (G2P), and can even encourage citizens to interact with one another (P2P). One actor that has become increasingly active in this area is the European Union (EU). However, unlike a country, the regional bloc is a coalition of twenty-eight member states. Consequently, the challenge for EU digital diplomacy specialists is to represent a group of countries to local audiences. There is minimal literature on this subject, and this paper hopes to contribute to it by presenting a case study of the EU’s digital diplomacy initiatives towards Philippines, which are communicated through the popular social networking website, Facebook. This paper argues that the EU exercises its soft power through its social media transmissions it creates. The individuals featured in its online content, the way that the European Union represents itself, and the issues it highlights in its posts are all geared towards shaping the perceptions of Philippine audiences.

scholarly journals THE PRODUCT LIABILITY SYSTEM IN CHINA: RECENT CHANGES AND PROSPECTS

2014 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 755-775
Author(s):  
Kristie Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Product Liability ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Tort Liability ◽  
Asia Pacific Region ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Liability Law ◽  
The Us ◽  
Main Influence

AbstractFollowing the enactment of the 2009 Tort Liability Law the product liability system in China is largely complete. This article sketches the development of this system before outlining some of the main substantive provisions in force today and drawing comparisons between the Chinese approach and the US and European provisions. The Article will conclude that China's product liability system provides an interesting case study which enriches the study of global trends and norms in the product liability arena. In line with many other countries, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, the main influence on China has been the EC Directive rather than the US model.

“Selling” Europe on free enterprise

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inger L. Stole
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Business Community ◽  
Marshall Plan ◽  
American Business ◽  
Information Campaign ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Advertising Council

Purpose – A number of scholars have explored the US Government’s postwar efforts, often in collaboration with the business community, to “sell America” to Americans themselves; others have documented the means through which such information was aimed at audiences behind the Iron Curtain. Few scholars have explored the use of the US “propaganda” to secure political loyalty and financial markets among Western allies, and fewer still have studied the government’s use of commercial marketing methods for this purpose. Attempting to fill a void, this paper aims to explore the US State Department’s postwar collaboration with the Advertising Council, a non-profit organization funded and organized by American business, to “sell” the 16 countries that were receiving aid under the Marshall Plan on “the American way of life”. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing primarily from archival sources, the underlying research here is heavily based on various State Department collections housed at the National Archives in Washington, DC, and College Park, Maryland, as well as documents from the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, and the Advertising Council Archives at the University of Illinois. Findings – In contrast to its many successes during the Second World War, the Advertising Council’s first international project was plagued by erroneous assumptions and unforeseen problems, making the “Overseas Information” campaign far less successful than its previous projects. Thus, the case study holds lessons for the US Government in any future attempts to use the assistance of commercial advertisers in attaining its “soft power” objectives. Research limitations/implications – The study explores the “Overseas Information” campaign from an institutional perspective only. Future research should focus on public perceptions of the campaign and possibly a rhetorical analysis of the actual advertisements. Practical implications – The case study holds lessons for the US Government in any future attempts to use the assistance of commercial advertisers in attaining its “soft power” objectives. Social implications – The study reveals interesting, and heretofore, unrevealed information about collaborations between the government and US business in the postwar era. Originality/value – Up till this point, the Advertising Council’s “Overseas Information” has received very scant scholarly attention and few, if any, have recognized its importance in the ongoing quest for government “soft power” in the postwar era.

scholarly journals The Role of Political Culture in Shaping Canadian, EU and US Disarmament Initiatives

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rouba Al-Fattal
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Eu And Us ◽  
The Eu

Canada and the European Union (EU) share, to a certain extent, a similar political culture, one based on multilateralism and the use of soft power. Nevertheless, over the past fifteen years Canada has been sometimes adopting disarmament policies that are similar to those of the EU and different from those of the US, while in other times it has been adopting policies that are similar to those of the US and different from those of the EU. This indicates that similarity in political culture alone is not sufficient enough to create convergence on foreign policies and that certain conditions must first be met for political culture to take precedence over neorealist explanations when dealing with security issues. Using Canadian, EU and US decisions on the issues of anti-personnel landmines and Iranian nuclear proliferation dilemma as case studies, this article analyses the conditions under which political culture plays a role in forming similar security policies.

scholarly journals China’s Challenge to the Institutions of Global Governance and US Soft Power

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-83
Author(s):  
Evan Oddleifson
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Economic Governance ◽  
The Us ◽  
The International Monetary Fund ◽  
Global Economic Governance

China stands on the brink of surpassing the US in material capability and is pushing the world towards an increasingly multipolar order. This paper assesses the constraints on the growth of China's non-coercive influence in global politics. However, the constitutional groundings of global economic governance in US ideology and their institutional stickiness make China’s prospects of altering the mandates and structures of the IMF, WB, and WTO highly unlikely. Furthermore, by examining the outcomes of China's lending strategies in developing countries using Angola as a case study, this paper highlights China's inability to supplant growing IMF and WB agreements in developing countries and their failure to institutionalize their influence in partner countries. In sum, this paper concludes that liberal values, and by extension the non-coercive influence of the US, are likely to be upheld during China's rise by the institutions of global governance, namely the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organisation.

scholarly journals The Importance of Globalization in the Economic Integration of the Countries in the Region: The Case of Kosovo

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. Sc. Bekë Kuqi ◽  
Dr. Sc. Petrit Hasanaj
Keyword(s):  
Economic Integration ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Us ◽  
Harmonization Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Eu

Globalization represents an unavoidable phenomenon in the history of mankind, which is making the world smaller and smaller by increasing the exchange of goods, services, information, knowledge and cultures between different countries. Globalization is a process that has changed a lot in our everyday lives. This multidimensional and contradictory process brings to life the hopes and achievements that life can bring to it. The rush for greater competition is one of the main objectives of globalization. Such a thing can only be reached with market liberalization, economic integration and technology development. It is important for us to benefit from globalization. Therefore, during this paper we will discuss the importance of globalization for the integration and development of countries in the US and as a case study for Kosovo. Globalization is an unstoppable process for Kosovo, and a hope for integration and development that will impact on economic development and integration into the European Union. Following the Declaration of Independence of Kosovo on 17 February 2008 and the entry into force of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo on 15 June 2008, the same objectives, more than before, were introduced in Kosovo. Like other transition countries, Kosovo also declared membership in the EU not only objective of foreign policy, but also a strategic social and state goal. The definition of this decision puts Kosovo at the forefront of the transition, reform and harmonization process with EU criteria.

‘Meeting [our] domestic Communism problem’: Cold War governance and the public university

2019 ◽  
pp. 87-108
Author(s):  
Alice Garner ◽  
Diane Kirkby
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Liberal Party ◽  
Party Government ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
Government Interference ◽  
The Cold War

During the Cold War the Fulbright program was considered an effective arm of US ‘soft power’ and cultural diplomacy. The US saw Australia as strategically valuable in the Asia-Pacific region of the world and under the Menzies Liberal Party government, Australia shared the US military and defence agenda. How could the Fulbright program maintain its independence from government interference in the powerful force of Cold War geopolitics? Australia’s Fulbright Board held strongly to the importance of independence and the role of academics to ensure that.

scholarly journals Effects of short-term travel on COVID-19 spread: A novel SEIR model and case study in Minnesota

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0245919
Author(s):  
Michael W. Levin ◽  
Mingfeng Shang ◽  
Raphael Stern
Keyword(s):  
Virus Spread ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Seir Model ◽  
Viral Spread ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Spread Model ◽  
The Us ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

The novel coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 was first identified in Hubei Province, China in December, 2019. Within a matter of months the virus had spread and become a global pandemic. In addition to international air travel, local travel (e.g. by passenger car) contributes to the geographic spread of COVID-19. We modify the common susceptible-exposed-infectious-removed (SEIR) virus spread model and investigate the extent to which short-term travel associated with driving influences the spread of the virus. We consider the case study of the US state of Minnesota, and calibrated the proposed model with travel and viral spread data. Using our modified SEIR model that considers local short-term travel, we are able to better explain the virus spread than using the long-term travel SEIR model. Short-term travel associated with driving is predicted to be a significant contributor to the historical and future spread of COVID-19. The calibrated model also predicts the proportion of infections that were detected. We find that if driving trips remain at current levels, a substantial increase in COVID-19 cases may be observed in Minnesota, while decreasing intrastate travel could help contain the virus spread.

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