scholarly journals The experience of regional transformation in the EU: the precedents of Italy and Spain

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 31-40
Author(s):  
V. S. Plyasov
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Autonomous Communities ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
Administrative Efficiency ◽  
Political Hierarchy ◽  
Territorial Structure ◽  
Territorial Organization ◽  
History Of

This article analyzes the political transformation polysyllabic societies in the era of modernism in the Second example of institutional reforms in Italy and Spain. The territorial structure of Italy in its present form was constituted in 1970 (special status regions, including Sardinia, Sicily, South Tyrol, were identified earlier). Each region has a population of regional assembly, which in turn elects the executive (government) headed by the president of the region. Regionalization of the Italian political and social life in general took place. This that the «region» replaced «province» of the political hierarchy of the country. The process of reaching a consensus at the regional level was much softer and adjusted, aimed at a compromise. Concern «radical social renewal» changed worry about administrative efficiency and professional level – a change institutional priorities. In general, population and community leaders satisfied with the availability and much greater openness regional administrations versus national. Regional governments have become laboratories of policy innovation, largely determined the «new way of doing politics». Also analyzes the Spanish experience of institutional reforms. New model of territorial organization of Spain called State autonomy. The article notes that the Spanish Constitution does not specify either the number or the name of the autonomous communities, but merely indicates ways to individual provinces or their associations can create such communities (this right was implemented by all provinces and is now in Spain composed of 17 autonomous communities). In Spain, always in one way or another existing political and cultural regionalism, there is always special historical area. The history of the country is in this respect the history of vibrations, movements between centralism and regionalism.

Water institutional reforms in Morocco

Water Policy ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Doukkali
Keyword(s):  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
The Political ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Exogenous Factors ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Resource Limit

Using a teleological perspective and an analytical categorization of the history of water institutions in Morocco, this paper aims to review and evaluate the institutional reforms in the country in the light of the results and hypotheses presented in some recent literature on the subject. The review suggests that considering their overall thrust and direction, the institutional reforms undertaken in Morocco are truly remarkable. While these reforms have paved a solid institutional foundation for promoting an economically responsive water sector, there are still serious reform gaps, especially in areas such as groundwater regulation and supportive institutions for irrigated agriculture. The evaluation of the reform process suggests that Morocco has exploited well the political contexts of resource limit and economic crisis, path dependent opportunities provided by existing institutions and earlier reforms, and the synergetic influences of the countrywide economic reforms and changing political conditions. Clearly, the reform experience of Morocco indicates that although undertaking initial reform can be difficult, subsequent reforms are relatively easier when the political opportunities for reforms provided by both endogenous and exogenous factors are well exploited.

The Social Life of Opium in China, 1483–1999

2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yangwen Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Modern China ◽  
The Political ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Opium Trade ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Opium Wars

The history of opium is a major theme in modern Chinese history. Books and academic careers have been devoted to its study. Yet the question that scholars of the opium wars and of modern China have failed to ask is how the demand for opium was generated. My puzzle, during the initial stage of research, was who smoked opium and why. Neither Chinese nor non-Chinese scholars have written much about this, with the exception of Jonathan Spence. Although opium consumption is a well-acknowledged fact, the reasons for its prevalence have never been fully factored into the historiography of the opium wars and of modern China. Michael Greenberg has dwelt on the opium trade, Chang Hsin-pao and Peter Fay on the people and events that made armed conflicts between China and the West unavoidable. John Wong has continued to focus on imperialism, James Polachek on Chinese internal politics while Opium regimes: China, Britain, and Japan, 1839–1952, the latest work, has studied the political systems that controlled opium. But the political history of opium, like the opium trade and the theatre of war, is only part of the story. We need to distinguish them from the wider social and cultural life of opium in China. The vital questions are first, the point at which opium was transformed from a medicine to a luxury item and, secondly, why it became so popular and widespread after people discovered its recreational value. It is these questions that I address. We cannot fully understand the root problem of the opium wars and their role in the emergence of modern China until we can explain who was smoking opium and why they smoked it.

The Autonomous Communities: Politics and Economics

1987 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
J R Lasuén Sancho
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Policies ◽  
Autonomous Communities ◽  
The Real ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
Future Policy ◽  
Nationalist Parties ◽  
Effective Integration

In this paper it is argued that there is a built-in dilemma in the 1978 Spanish Constitution which can be understood and solved only by comparing the ‘formal’ and the ‘real’ Constitutions of the country. The present shared quasi-federalism will prove inadequate in the long term because it fails to recognize that, for most of the time, political centralization and economic growth cannot occur together in Spain. This fact arises because Spain is a country with an ‘inverted centre-periphery’; the political and economic centres are at different locations. As a result future policy should be orientated towards greater decentralized powers, but with more effective integration of the nationalist parties of the Autonomous Communities into national policies.

History in Art

Antiquity ◽  
1931 ◽  
Vol 5 (19) ◽  
pp. 277-290
Author(s):  
Flinders Petrie
Keyword(s):  
Applied Sciences ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Of Knowledge ◽  
Moral Standards ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
History Of

When we look at the great diversity of man’s activities and interests, it is evident how much space they afford for reviewing his history in many different ways. To most of our historians the view of the political power and course of legislation has seemed all that need be noticed; others have dealt with history in religion, or the growth of mind in changes of moral standards, as in Lecky’s fine work. In recent years the history of knowledge in medicine, in the applied sciences, and in abstract mathematics, has been profitably studied, as affording the basis of civilization. The purely mental view is shown in the social life and customs of each age, and expressed in the growth of Art. This last expression of man’s spirit has great advantages in its presentation; the material from different ages is of a comparable nature, and it is easily placed together to contrast its differences. Moreover it covers a wider range of time than we can et observe in man’s scope, but it is as essential to his nature as any of the other aspects that we have named.

scholarly journals Geographical aspects of the changes of Hungary’s deconcentrated state administration system between 1990 and 2012

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (20) ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
Gábor Kozma ◽  
Attila Barta
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
County Level ◽  
Administration System ◽  
State Administration ◽  
Territorial Structure ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract One of the most important segments of the post-1990 transformation of territory-based administration in Hungary was the changing of the geographical structure of deconcentrated state administrative organisations. The study, on the one hand, provides a brief overview of the history of deconcentrated state administrative organisations in Hungary, and discusses the regional characteristics of the organisational transformations after the political changes, taking six moments in time (the middle of 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2012 respectively) as the basis. On the other hand, using the same six snapshots in time, it examines which settlements experienced favourable or unfavourable changes, and what factors influenced the selection of the seats for these institutions. The results of the survey indicated that the alignment of territorial structure of deconcentrated state administrative organizations to the planning-statistical, NUTS 2 regions has already begun at the end of the 1990s. The government formed in 2006 took significant steps in the area of aligning the spatial structure of the organizations with the planning-statistical regions; however, in the period after 2010 the significance of the county level increased again. In the period examined, no significant changes took place at the top and at the bottom of the list according to the number of seats: the largest settlements of the individual regions reinforced their leading positions.

scholarly journals Modern Political History of Bosnia and Herzegovina

2021 ◽  
pp. 20-39
Author(s):  
Ešref Kenan Rašidagić
Keyword(s):  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Political History ◽  
International Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War ◽  
Political Economic

Since Bosnia and Herzegovina’s declaration of independence in 1995, its path has been a rocky one. Unwillingness by the international community to stand by the central government and stand in the way of the neighboring states of Serbia and Croatia’s territorial pretensions, produced a succession of ceasefire agreements, culminating in the final, Dayton Peace Agreement. Each of these agreements espoused the ethnic principle as the guiding philosophy for the organization of the state. The post-war period demonstrates that despite the passage of time, the principle of organization of multi-ethnic state along ethnic lines presents a stumbling block to the functioning of the political, economic and social life in the country. The political history of post-independence Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) therefore reads as a history of protracted political paralysis, with no hope of rectifying the problems without another forceful intervention of the international community.

scholarly journals Comparison between the Polish-Lithuanian Constitution of 3 May 1791 and the Spanish Constitution of 19 March 1812

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 237
Author(s):  
María Ruiz Estévez
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Political History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
Short Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Ideological Context

<p>The purpose of this article was to make a brief comparative analysis between the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and the Polish-Lithuanian Constitution of 1791. With this intention, the most characteristic features of each constitutional text were set out, and both the historical and social context prior to its promulgation and the circumstances that led to the drafting of both legal acts were analyzed. The similarities and contrasts of the political models established with both constitutions were observed, as well as the rights and freedoms recognized. Reference was also made to the founding fathers of the Constitutions and the ideological context that influenced them. Finally, the author mentioned the fate of both constitutions that were only in force for a short period of time. The article aimed to present these two legal acts that were a milestone in the constitutional and political history of each nation.</p>

An Attempt to Survive from Paralysis: Epiphanies in Dubliners

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-187
Author(s):  
Petru Golban ◽  
Goksel Ozturk
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Urban Background ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Europe ◽  
Individual Existence ◽  
Different Levels

Amid the complexity of concern of the modernist literary discourse in Britain, the thematic nucleus of James Joyce’s writings is formed by certain basic aspects of life, such as individuality, art, religion, nation, language, and his work shows the two hypostases of the author himself as accomplished artist and Irish citizen. In a troubled period in the history of Europe and of his own country, Joyce grasped the sense and the atmosphere of frustration, alienation, futility, chaos, and confusion. The concerns of Dubliners, his first important book, published in 1914, consist in rendering the political and social life of Dublin, the misery of human condition, the theme of exile, the problems of the individual’s existence in an urban background which Joyce saw as paralyzed and, like Eliot, as an expression of a period of crisis in the history of humanity. Joyce intended “to write a chapter of the moral history” of his country, and he chose Dublin as it seemed to him “the centre of paralysis” on different levels which he presented under four aspects: childhood, adolescence, maturity, and public life. All the fifteen stories of the book express life experiences of the characters that are of unpretentious standing, incapable to fulfil inner potentialities and to establish communication with others. At moments they experience relevant epiphanic realisations, seemingly due to some trivial incidents – by which they receive an apparent perspective of accomplishment – and though they attempt to escape the bonds of everyday life and of their trapping circle of existence, all they get is an acute sense of frustration, alienation, and entrapment. To reveal and compare the thematic status of the epiphany in the short stories with regard to various issues of individual existence and to the use of motifs and symbols that create an increasing complexity of ideas and subjective human reactions represents the main purpose and the essence of the content of the present study.

The Elites of Solidarity: Prosopography of Delegates for the First National Congress of Solidarity

2020 ◽  
pp. 088832542094110
Author(s):  
Piotr Osęka
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
The Political ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Life Trajectories ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Congress ◽  
History Approach ◽  
Elected Representatives

The article aims at contributing to the social history of the “Solidarity” movement by tracing the collective biography of its elected representatives. It will focus on the life trajectories of the 900 delegates to the First National Congress of Delegates. The convention, held in Autumn 1981, is commonly perceived as a focal moment in the history of Solidarity and plays a crucial role in almost every academic narrative on the anti-communist opposition. Often seen as a first genuine Polish parliament since pre-war times, its main task was to forge the political and economic programme thus furthering the revolution. The projected research will draw on genuine methodology, combining prosopographical and oral history approach. The research will address mainly the following issues: what social strata the elites came from, what was their cultural and educational background, what motives/causes/expectations drove them to engage with “Solidarity,” to what generations did they belong, how did they embrace the character of political transformation of 1989, and to what extent and how did they get involved in the political, economic, and social life of post-communist Poland. In general, the paper seeks to shed a new light on our understanding of Solidarity’s social roots—for instead examining to what extent the contesting, revolutionary elites were a product of the Stalinist social advancement. It also tries to depict the level of continuity between the elites of 1981 and post-1989—thus testing the common theories whether the Third Republic is (or is not) rooted in the legacy of Solidarity.

scholarly journals How the Female Subject was Tempered. An Instructive History of 8 March and Its Media Representation in Naša Žena (Our Woman)

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-43
Author(s):  
Paula Petričević
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Female Subject ◽  
Media Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Socialism ◽  
World War ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

Abstract The author explores the socialist emancipation of women in Montenegro during World War II and its aftermath, using the example of the 8 March celebrations. The social life of this ‘holiday of the struggle of all the women in the world’ speaks powerfully of the strength and fortitude involved in the mobilization of women during the war and during the postwar building of socialist Yugoslavia, as well as the sudden modernization and unprecedented political subjectivation of women. The emancipatory potential of these processes turned out to be limited in the later period of stabilization of Yugoslav state socialism and largely forgotten in the postsocialist period. The author argues that the political subjectivation of women needs to be thought anew, as a process that does not take place in a vacuum or outside of a certain ideological matrix, whether socialist or liberal.

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