Koine formation in context

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randi Neteland

AbstractIn this paper, I argue that the koine formation process is better understood when placed in a national context of language norms and use. Researchers often state that in cases of koine formation, where a koine forms within the same speech community from which the speakers originate – for instance within the same nation – the process will be influenced by that same speech community. Yet, most research on koine formation focusses on the local level, such as the levelling between the language variants of the incomers or the negotiations of power between social classes in the new town. The empirical data presented in this paper, collected in the Norwegian industrial town of Sauda, show that the historical context of language norms and use on the national level has influenced the process on the local level. This influence can be demonstrated by the variants that go into the so-called mix, as well as by the direction on the formation and the outcome of the focussing process. The mechanistic view that the majority variant always wins does not fit the facts presented here. I also hypothesise that since the koine formation process stretches out in time, the context of language norms and use may change during that period, and this sociocultural change may cause the formation process to change direction.

Author(s):  
Oleksandra Demianenko

The article attempts to analyze the conceptual foundations of the study of civil society (theoretical and methodological foundations) comprehensively in order to generalize research material on this subject. Different approaches to the concept and phenomenon of civil society in the historical context of their formation are analyzed and systematized. Taking into account complex content and the form of a civil society as a subject of research, the author offers an approach to its analysis, providing three dimensions of the study: a theoretical; a historical; and a practical one. The emphasis is on the importance of the economic component in the emergence of the phenomenon of a civil society in the socio-political reality and the significance of changes in the economic realm to update goals and objectives, as well as the structure of a civil society. Contemporary investigation of civil society involves research of information technologies that affect the level of openness and mobility of any knowledge and information; globalization processes that shape the new economic landscape of the world and, therefore, become the subject of civil society due to inevitable social-economic conflicts and contradictions; migration processes that affect the value system of both migrants and settled population, which leads to the formation of completely new subjects and objects of influence of civil society; ecological problems, which do not have a pronounced nationality and directly affect humanity as a whole, which leads to the emergence of international environmental movements. A separate problem in considering the theory of civil society is the level of personal interactions in modern conditions. The emergence of planetary problems and, accordingly, the interests of people allow distinguishing three levels of social relations, which have their own characteristics and directly affect the approaches to the implementation of civil society. Such levels are local level of interrelations (within the framework of separate communities, professional or cultural communities); national level of interrelations (at the state level or interstate regional interrelations); supranational level of interrelations (environmental issues, war and peace issues, disarmament, etc.). Keywords: Civil society, capitalism, labor market, mass movements, economic inequality, justice, conflict of interests, institutionalization


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Conor O'Dwyer ◽  
Matthew Stenberg

Abstract Aspiring dominant-party regimes often institute major institutional and political reforms at the national level to ensure they retain control. However, subnational politics is an important, under-studied, component of regime consolidation. This study uses mayoral races in Hungary and Poland from 2006 to 2018 to examine two factors that may inhibit dominant-party regime consolidation in local politics: the use of two-round, i.e. runoff, electoral systems and strategic coordination among opposition parties. While we find little evidence that strategic coordination can lead to widespread opposition success in single-round systems, we do find that increasing the number of candidates decreases the likelihood of the nationally dominant party winning in the first round while not affecting the second round. As such, two-round mayoral elections may be an important buffer to dominant-party regime consolidation and may provide a training ground for the future opposition.


1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah M. Meltz ◽  
Frank Reid

The Canadian Government has introduced a work-sharing program in which lay offs are avoided by reducing the work week and using unemployment insurance funds to pay workers short-time compensation. Compared to the lay-off alternative, there appear to be economic benefits to work-sharing for both management and employees. Reaction to the scheme has been generally positive at the union local level and the firm level, but it has been negative at the national level of both labour and management. These divergent views can be explained mainly as a result of short-run versus long-run perspectives. Managers at the firm level see the immediate benefit of improved labour relations and the avoidance of the costs of hiring and training replacements for laid-off workers who do not respond when recalled. The national business leaders are more concerned with work incentive and efficiency aspects of work-sharing.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Koehn

At present, progress in mitigating global GHG emissions is impeded by political stalemate at the national level in the United States and the People's Republic of China. Through the conceptual lenses of multilevel governance and framing politics, the article analyzes emerging policy initiatives among subnational governments in both countries. Effective subnational emission-mitigating action requires framing climatic-stabilization policies in terms of local co-benefits associated with environmental protection, health promotion, and economic advantage. In an impressive group of US states and cities, and increasingly at the local level in China, public concerns about air pollution, consumption and waste management, traffic congestion, health threats, the ability to attract tourists, and/or diminishing resources are legitimizing policy developments that carry the co-benefit of controlling GHG emissions. A co-benefits framing strategy that links individual and community concerns for morbidity, mortality, stress reduction, and healthy human development for all with GHG-emission limitation/reduction is especially likely to resonate powerfully at the subnational level throughout China and the United States.


1987 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 444-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

THE PORTUGUESE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS OF 19 JULY 1987 initiated a profound change in the Portuguese party system and in the system of government. From 1974 onwards, Portugal had moved peacefully towards a democratic political system, enshrined in the 1976 Constitution. This evolution lasted about eight years and culminated in the revision of the Constitution in 1982. From 1982 onwards the present political regime has been a democratic one, coexisting with a capitalist economic regime attenuated by state monopoly in key sectors and by public companies which were nationalized between 1974 and 1976. It is also since 1982 that the system of government has been semi-presidential. There is pure representativeness as referendums do not exist at national level and have never been regulated at local level. But the government is semi-presidential in the sense that, owing to French influence, it attempts to balance Parliament with the election of the President of the Republic by direct and universal suffrage.


2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-115
Author(s):  
Mathias Spaliviero

Due to its location, Mozambique suffers from cyclical flooding associated with heavy rains and cyclones. In recent years, extreme flood events affected millions of people, disrupting the economic recovery process that followed the peace agreement in 1992. Despite this natural threat, most of the population continues to live in flood prone areas both in rural environment, due to the dependency on agricultural activities, and in urban environment, since unsafe zones are often the only affordable option for new settlers. This paper presents a brief analytical review on different issues related with urban informal settlements, or slums, based on different project activities developed by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) in Mozambique. The aim is to identify applicable strategies to reduce vulnerability in urban slums, where approximately 70 percent of the urban population live. The implemented project activities target different organisational levels in an integrated manner, seeking for active involvement of the Government, local authorities and communities at each implementation stage, from decision-making to practical implementation. They consist of three main components: 1) supporting policy-making in order to ensure sustainable urban development, 2) delivering a comprehensive training and capacity building based on the mainstreaming concept of “Learning How to Live with Floods” as valid alternative to resettlement, and 3) facilitating participatory land use planning coupled with physical upgrading interventions at the local level. In the long-term, the intention of UN-HABITAT is to progressively focus on community-based slum upgrading and vulnerability reduction activities, coordinated by local authorities and actively monitored by central institutions, in improving and managing basic services and infrastructures (i.e. water supply, drainage, sanitation, waste management, road network, etc). This type of bottom-up experiences should then represent a basis for setting up a slum upgrading intervention strategy to be applied at the national level.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. E202141
Author(s):  
Oryna Detsyk ◽  
Natalia Fedorkiv ◽  
Olha Burak ◽  
Roksolana Kaluzhna

The Covid-19 pandemic has a substantial impact on socioeconomic, political, demographic, and other aspects of life. Effective healthcare is, however, a primary determinant of successful fighting against Covid-19. The analysis of local healthcare indicators serves as a source for estimating pandemic magnitude and the adaptation of healthcare at a national level. In this study, the rates of Covid-19 hospital admissions to the Ivano-Frankivsk City Hospital, Ukraine, from April 2020 to May 2021 were analysed. All cases were grouped by age, sex, and the type of admission; data were analyzed monthly and seasonally. The peaks of hospital admissions were observed in November 2020 and March 2021; however, the highest mortality rates were seen from August to November 2020. The analysis of age- and sex-disaggregated Covid-19 mortality data showed the predominance of elderly males (61.9%, 66.6 ± 3.9 years) over females (38.1%, 71.8 ± 2.3 years). The ratio of hospital admissions was unstable: the percentage of emergency, GP-referred and self-referred admissions was similar from April to May 2020; however, GP-referred admissions prevailed, and the number of self-referral patients decreased twice between March and May 2021. In conclusions, the trends in hospital admissions were similar to those reported in other studies. However, the differences in time frames and socio-demographic characteristics were observed that highlights the importance of considering regional, social and geographic aspects of the population when improving the capacity of healthcare system and establishing effective preventive measures against the pandemic at the local level.


2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farinaz Fassa

Purpose – Discussing the Swiss case, the purpose of this paper is to examine how gender equality policies deal with the present requirements for scholars to be considered “excellent”. It aims to pinpoint the lines of tension or coherence between excellence, meritocracy and gender politics. Design/methodology/approach – In order to specify the norms of academic careers and their different renditions, the author draws on two studies (at local and national levels) to illustrate where the changes and resistances are taking place. Findings – The translations of a number of demands of feminist movements into the policies set up to favour equality between the sexes may combine to challenge the norms of academia as a gendered realm. Nevertheless, without strong pressure from feminists at local level and the conduct of research pursuing the enterprise of deconstructing norms, top-down policies may prove less “corrective” than affirmative action. This pressure is not only useful to build gender equality in science but also to broaden the spectrum of knowledge that can become a common good. Research limitations/implications – As neither the names nor the positions of the experts who select the candidates at national level are made public, we had to opt for other, less satisfactory means. Originality/value – The originality of the paper lies in the link made between the enhancements brought by Equalities policies and the changes they bring. It attempts to bring to light the extent to which gender equality policies conform to the neo-managerial order or challenge its norms to build a world that is more just.


Res Publica ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-262
Author(s):  
Marleen Brans

On the 24th of november 1991 the Belgian voters elected the 716 members of the nine provincial councils.The socialists are the biggest losers of this election, with the Volksunie as a close second. Also the Christian Democrats suffered a serious decline, mainly caused by the loss of the CVP in Flanders. The electoral gain of the Flemish Liberals is neutralized by the decline of the Liberal party in Wallonia. The Greens gain 32 seats, the Far Right 35. These national aggregates hide striking regional differences. The national success of the Green is mainly due to the spectacular growth of Ecolo in the Walloons. The success of the Far Right is the sole result of a multiplication of votes for Vlaams Blok in Flanders.  These results show that both the Flemish and the Walloon voters have sanctioned the traditional parties in a similar way. They opted, however, for totally different alternatives: the Flemish for the Far Right, the Walloons for the ecologists.The outcome of the provincial elections in the bilingual province of Brabant neatly mirrors these tendencies.In 1991 the outcome of the provincial elections showed a profile quite different from that of the national elections which were held on the same day. This is explained by the fact that the Flemish party Rossem, which won 3.2% of the votes, only ran for the national elections and not for the provincial elections. Hence, a considerable difference in voting behaviour on the national versus the local level. The comparison of the results of the national elections with those of the provincial confirms the claim that smaller parties generally score better at a lower level. In 1991 it can, however, not be said that the bigger parties did better on the national level.


Author(s):  
Giuseppe Franco Ferrari

- The energy markets are very complex, because, on the one hand, they imply several different activities and, on the other hand, they involve various levels of govern- 183 ment. The energy market is divided indeed in different segments: supply (generation or purchasing), transmission, distribution and sale, which are allocated at different levels of government, from the international and European level (with reference to the security of energy supply), to the local level (with specific regard to the distribution and sale). This complexity makes the energy sector particularly critical, under the pressure of political interests and economical needs. Another sensitive point is linked with the environmental protection, since the consumption of energy is one of the most polluting human activities, and the demand of energy is growing up together with the economical growth of the developing Countries. This problem is increasingly discussed at the international level, with reference to the climate change issue, in order to plan a sustainable development for the whole globe: because of it, the Kyoto Protocol was issued within the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change. It establishes legally binding commitments for the reduction of four greenhouse gases for all the 183 ratifying Countries, according the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and provides for the promotion of renewable energy. The European Union ratified the Protocol implementing the relative obligations through, for instance, the creation of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The European Union most of all addressed the competitive issue, since the 70s, in order to achieve the result to create a free energy market in Europe. The last results of the European energy policy were the directives on electricity and natural gas in 2004, that imposed the complete opening of the energy markets in almost all the European Countries (with few exceptions). The implementation of the European directives requires the intervention of the national level, since each Country has to modify its own regulatory framework, in order to comply with the directives. Everywhere in Europe, this process faces with several difficulties, but it is particularly hard in Italy, since the energy sector is traditionally public owned. Indeed, in our Country, the privatization and liberalization processes are strictly linked to another trend: the decentralization of legislative and administrative powers from the State to the Regions and Local Communities. Thus it is evident that the global governance of the energy sector, for its complexity and its sensibility, can only derive from a network of interventions by several levels of government, and different international, national and local actors, which realize a typical case of multilevel governance.Key words: Energy markets, competition, sustainable development, multilevel governance.JEL classifications: K21, K23.Parole chiave: Mercato energetico, concorrenza, sviluppo sostenibile, multilevel Governance.


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