scholarly journals PENSION REFORM IN AN AUTHORITARIAN STATE: A CASE STUDY OF EGYPT

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (5) ◽  
pp. 89-106
Author(s):  
Kawamura Yusuke ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Insurance ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
Defined Benefit ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Social Policy Reform ◽  
Insurance Funds ◽  
Parametric Change

This article focuses on two pension reforms in Egypt in order to understand the dynamics of social policy reform under authoritarian rule. One was supported by the World Bank and promulgated in 2010. It included drastic changes, such as the introduction of a defined benefit scheme, and ultimately failed. Another was successfully implemented in 2019. Compared to the 2010 reform, the 2019 reform involved only parametric change (such as increasing the retirement age and amalgamating social insurance funds), in order to mitigate the criticisms that had been made of the previous pension reform and to facilitate gradual, steady enhancement of the programme’s sustainability. The findings suggest that perceptions of authoritarian leaders as having wide-ranging discretion in decision-making concerning public policy and being able to more decisively implement harsh social reform compared with democratic political leaders need to be reconsidered.

scholarly journals Investment Selection Based on Bonferroni Mean under Generalized Probabilistic Hesitant Fuzzy Environments

Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Wenying Wu ◽  
Zhiwei Ni ◽  
Feifei Jin ◽  
Jian Wu ◽  
Ying Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Group Decision ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Bonferroni Mean ◽  
Investment Decision Making ◽  
Insurance Funds ◽  
Comprehensive Indicator

In investment selection problems, the existence of contingency and uncertainty may result in the loss of attribute information. Then, how to make proper investment decision-making will be a tricky proposition. In this work, a multiattribute group decision making (MAGDM) method based on the generalized probabilistic hesitant fuzzy Bonferroni mean (GPHFBM) operator is constructed, which enables decision-makers to select the proper parameters in decision-making process. Firstly, the GPHFBM operator is proposed by combining the Bonferroni mean operator and Archimedean norm. Secondly, five excellent properties of the GPHFBM operator are discussed in detail. In view of applications, we further develop some special aggregation operators for GPHFBM with the various values of parameters b, d and additive operators g(t). Finally, we propose a probabilistic hesitant fuzzy MAGDM method based on the GPHFBM operator to analyze the aggregated information. A case study of the investment of social insurance funds is given to depict the validity and reasonability of the proposed method. Ultimately, the company X4 is selected as the investment company with the best comprehensive indicator.

SOCIAL INSURANCE IN RUSSIA: STATE, CURRENT CHALLENGES AND RESPONSES TO THEM

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-95
Author(s):  
Lyudmila A. Migranova ◽  
◽  
Valentin D. Roik ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Insurance ◽  
Pension Fund ◽  
The State ◽  
Insurance Fund ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
Social Insurance Fund ◽  
Subsistence Minimum ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mandatory Health Insurance ◽  
Insurance Funds

The article deals with the issues of functioning of the social insurance institution, the organizational-legal and financial forms of which are presented by the state extrabudgetary social funds - Pension Fund of Russia, Mandatory Social Insurance Fund and Mandatory Health Insurance Fund. It considers the main characteristics of social insurance: a) scope of covering the employed population by insurance protection; b) contribution rates as related to wages; c) level of protection of population incomes (pensions and benefits as related to wages and subsistence minimum); d) availability of quality medical assistance and rehabilitation services. There are analyzed the present social risks and problems of the RF insurance system. The main problem is that the amount of financial expenditures on all types of social insurance per beneficiary is about half that of most developed and developing countries. The primary cause is lacking motivation of both employees and employers to participate in the mandatory social insurance and to legalize their earnings. In the conclusion there are formulated a number of proposals for improvement of the institution of social insurance in Russia. It is proposed to expand the range of insurance cases concerning unemployment insurance and care for elderly people, to increase the total amount of compulsory contributions to extrabudgetary insurance funds from 30.2% up to 42.5% from three sources - employees, employers and the state.

scholarly journals Spaces of Dependence and Emancipation in Architectural and Urban Narration, a Case Study: Plac Żołnierza Polskiego and Plac Solidarności in Szczecin

Arts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Izabela Kozłowska ◽  
Eryk Krasucki
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Urban Structure ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Urban Narratives ◽  
Eastern European Countries

Central and Eastern European countries were subjugated to the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century. In this new political environment, defined as the period of dependency, the concept of space gained a new denotation as a space of dependence, in both social and physical terms. The political changes that took place after 1989 enabled these spaces to be emancipated. In this work, we aim to delineate the complex relationship between architecture and politics from the perspective of spaces of dependence and their emancipation. Through a case study of two squares, plac Żołnierza Polskiego (the Square of the Polish Soldier) and plac Solidarności (Solidarity Square) in Szczecin, we gained insights into the processes and strategies that promoted their evolution into spaces of emancipation within architectural and urban narratives. Szczecin’s space of dependence was created by an authoritarian state that had a monopoly on defining architecture and urban planning in the country and the state as a whole. In a process orchestrated by economic factors, as well as the scale of architectural and urban degradation, the squares under discussion have transitioned from spaces of dependency to spaces of emancipation. As a result, an architectural-urban structure characterized by new cultural and identity values has been created.

Higher education, post-conflict democratization and the legacies of authoritarian rule: The Tripoli University Programme for Rebuilding Libya

2021 ◽  
pp. 174619792098136
Author(s):  
Sansom Milton
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Transitional Processes ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Relationship

In this paper, the role of higher education in post-uprising Libya is analysed in terms of its relationship with transitional processes of democratization and civic development. It begins by contextualising the Libyan uprising within the optimism of the ‘Arab Spring’ transitions in the Middle East. Following this, the relationship between higher education and politics under the Qadhafi regime and in the immediate aftermath of its overthrow is discussed. A case-study of a programme designed to support Tripoli University in contributing towards democratisation will then be presented. The findings of the case-study will be reflected upon to offer a set of recommendations for international actors engaging in political and civic education in conflict-affected settings, in particular in the Middle East.

Russia’s ‘fortresses of solitude’: Social imaginaries of loneliness after the fall of the USSR

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-309
Author(s):  
Sergei Akopov
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Social Imaginaries ◽  
Official Discourse ◽  
Specific Focus

Based on the distinction between three approaches to loneliness, and the development of the phenomenological and existential framework of loneliness studies, this article explores Russia’s discourse of national loneliness on three levels: a) the level of the official discourse of the Russian government; b) the level of political and philosophical concepts; and c) the level of popular media and cinema (with a specific focus on a case-study of the post-Soviet Russian blockbuster film Brother and its sequel, Brother 2). In this article I concentrate on the particular experiences of loneliness and their interpretations in Russia after the fall of the USSR. The case of the fall of the USSR has shown that social and political exploitations of different forms of national loneliness can become the flip side of the doctrine of autonomy, equal individual rights and freedom from authoritarian rule. This should be considered and never disregarded within our analysis of the contours and new transformations of emerging hegemonic discourses, including the different forms of nationalism in Russia, and in a wider cross-cultural perspective.

An Analysis of Political Rights Situation during Musharraf Regime (1999-2004)

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-31
Author(s):  
Manzoor Naazer ◽  
Amna Mahmood ◽  
Shughla Ashfaq
Keyword(s):  
Legal Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Meaningful Change ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Democratic Rule ◽  
The Government

The paper scrutinizes the political rights situation during the first five years (1999-2004) of Pervaiz Musharraf era. Musharraf had come into power after army had revolted over his dismissal as army chief by the prime minister. He strove to project soft image of his government to get legitimacy within the country and recognition from the outside world, particularly the West. He portrayed himself as a liberal leader and later also propagated his idea of “enlightened moderation” as a panacea for the miseries of the Muslim world. Despite his overtures, the political rights situation became bleak during his military rule and no meaningful change took place even during the first two years after country returned to “democratic rule.” Musharraf government denied people of their political rights to prolong his authoritarian rule. His rule was characterized by: arbitrary arrests and imprisonments of political leaders; repression of political activities; imposition of forced exile; political victimization in the name of accountability; attacks on rights to elect the government; military’s direct grip over affairs of state despite transition to the civilian rule; intimidation of opposition over legal framework order; and limitations on freedom of association.

Contingencies and Convergence in European Social Security

2013 ◽  
pp. 268-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido van Os ◽  
Vincent Homburg ◽  
Victor Bekkers
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Welfare State Regimes ◽  
Back Office

In Western European welfare states, one of the uses of ICT is the delivery of integrated public services in social security. In order to do this, the deployment of ICT (especially in the back office) requires coordination among various central and local levels of government, and among social insurance executive institutions, welfare authorities, and job centers. Viewing ICT-enabled integration as a technological and managerial “practice,” the authors analyze ICT coordination in various institutional regimes (in a decentralized regime like Denmark, a decentralized unity state like The Netherlands, and in a federal state like Austria). By a comparative case study, the authors investigate whether ICT coordination adapts to the institutional context in which it is shaped (contingency-approach), or whether in various institutional contexts coordination practices more or less resemble each other (convergence-approach). Two methods are used to gather data. First, for each country policy, documents and strategy papers are analyzed by using a structured code list. Second, in each country five key respondents at ministerial level and five respondents at local/regional level are interviewed. The authors reflect on the findings by discussing the role of ICTs in providing coordinated and integrated services in various welfare state regimes.

Mobilizing Diaspora in Turkey and the Dominican Republic

2020 ◽  
pp. 91-120
Author(s):  
Katrina Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Turkish State

Chapter 5 compares the cases of Turkey and the Dominican Republic, both of which have above-average turnout in homeland elections by their citizens abroad. In each case, the prior “export” of domestic politics under authoritarian rule sparked the transnationalization of political parties and created incentives for political leaders to court migrants as an electoral constituency. As a result, diaspora-making became a mobilizing project aimed at cultivating partisan loyalties. The chapter also reveals two key differences between these cases. First, the Turkish state has pursued more heterogenous goals with a wider range of policy instruments, including both state-based and party-based mechanisms of outreach. Second, Turkey’s contested identity politics lend more resonance to nationalist appeals to migrant loyalty while sparking counter-narratives. These differences help explain why extraterritorial turnout is so much higher in Turkey than in the Dominican Republic.

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