scholarly journals Roles and Responsibilities of Teaching Staff in Promoting Interculturalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Roxana Constanţa Enache ◽  
Ana-Maria Aurelia Petrescu ◽  
Camelia Stăiculescu ◽  
Alina Crişan
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Intercultural Education ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Identity Strategies ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Way

Education can, without a doubt, be a long-term solution to the problems of a multi-ethnic and multicultural society. From a defensive and seclusion closure, schools can become places of openings and communication. From an instrument of assimilation and strengthening of nationalistic characteristics, school can become a tool for the formation of young people, which respecting cultural diversity. With the help of sensitization and training actions, of the representatives of the multiethnic institutions of education, as well as of the local public authorities and the representatives of the civil society, the achievement of these objectives and the prevention of possible tensions will be achieved. These actions can turn school into a true community center and allow them to better respond to specific needs. The intercultural perspective must be at the base of the learning process addressed to all, minorities and majority. The implementation of intercultural education activities, especially in communities with a multicultural character, within the part of the curriculum decided by the school, will contribute to a better knowledge among the different communities, but also to the strengthening of the social cohesion at the local level. Also, intercultural education activities should aim to strengthen the links between school and community - civil society, as well as better communication between school and local authorities.In this paper we want to identify the elements of intercultural education existing in the curriculum of the Romanian education and the way in which interculturality can be promoted as a European competence.Intercultural communication as a trainer’s competence should be considered as a priority both from the point of view of European standards and at national level. Therefore, the professors’ concerns should focus primarily on encouraging behaviors, attitudes and values so as to cause the individual to react desirably to fear, anxiety, curiosity, labeling, ethnocentrism etc.; the development of implicit or explicit hierarchical relations between groups and their impact on communication; on exercising the students’ competences to perceive time and space, the rapport between them, the system of values and beliefs, the way of feeling and thinking, the types of behavior, that is, the entire habitus that each individual accomplishes by socializing in the determined cultural environment ; on the development of identity strategies that participants put into practice to defend themselves against destabilization, to affirm their own identity, to integrate in the group, to make a positive image, to differentiate themselves, to individualize

CIVIL SOCIETY AS THE MAIN DRIVER SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITIES IN CONDITIONS OF DECENTRALIZATION

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alla Orlova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
National Security ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Community Sustainability ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Business Structures ◽  
The Impact

The article considers a set of issues related to the formation of sustainability in the state at different levels of government: national, regional and local, with an emphasis on the sustainability of territorial communities. The concept of "sustainability" is defined, the criteria of sustainability for national security and its components at the local level are analyzed, in particular, in the formation of affluent communities. Sustainability is considered in various aspects: as a component of national security and defense of the state, in relation to the concepts of "cohesion" and "national security". Financial stability is justified as an important sign of the viability of local communities. The role of civil society in shaping the sustainability of communities is revealed, as well as different views of scientists on the impact of civil society on sustainability are analyzed. The foreign experience of implementation of the basic principles of sustainability in the life of communities is studied. The most important component of sustainability is the ability of the community to consolidate to counteract harmful and dangerous external and internal influences. Open partnership of public authorities with business structures and the public should be a prerequisite for this. It is proved that in the conditions of decentralization and various internal and external challenges, civil society (active citizens and civil society institutions) can and should be a driver of community sustainability. It is assumed that the implementation of state policy to promote the development of civil society should create a solid foundation of democracy in Ukraine as a component of national sustainability. Since the systemic mechanisms for ensuring national sustainability in the Ukrainian state at both national and local levels are not yet fully formed, the development and implementation of comprehensive strategic decisions in this area requires proper scientific substantiation, which is why the author’s contribution to this topic.

scholarly journals Seducing for Truth and Justice: Civil Society Initiatives for the 1965 Mass Violence in Indonesia

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sri Lestari Wahyuningroem
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Mass Violence ◽  
The World

The article examines both civil society initiatives that seek to address the mass violence of 1965 and 1966 and the state's responses to them. Unlike other political-transition contexts in the world, a transitional justice approach is apparently a formula that state authorities have found difficult to implement nationally for this particular case. The central government has, through its institutions, sporadically responded to some of the calls from civil society groups and has even initiated policy reforms to support such initiatives. Nevertheless, these responses were not sustained and any suggested programmes have always failed to be completed or implemented. Simultaneously, however, NGOs and victims are also voicing their demands at the local level. Many of their initiatives involve not only communities but also local authorities, including in some cases the local governments. In some aspects, these “bottom-up” approaches are more successful than attempts to create change at the national level. Such approaches challenge what Kieran McEvoy refers to as an innate “seductive” quality of transitional justice, but at the same time these approaches do, in fact, aim to “seduce” the state to adopt measures for truth and justice.

IV. Persae, Septem, Supplices

1986 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 14-22
Keyword(s):  
Major Part ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Objective Truth ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Divine Retribution ◽  
Historical Fact ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Way

I make no apologies for devoting the major part of this survey to a discussion of the individual plays, and in consequence limiting the amount of space given to general topics of Aeschylean technique. So disparate are the individual dramas that to do otherwise incurs the risk of either reducing any comment that is made to valueless platitudes by preferring the commonplace to the distinctive, or creating the impression that the playwright’s works constitute but a single enormous play. Concentration upon the individual plays also serves to reflect the continuing emphasis that recent scholarship places upon this aspect of the poet’s work, and to underscore the fact – all too easily forgotten – that Aeschylus was a writer of dramas, not a pedlar of theatrical effects.Though the earliest extant tragedy, Persae is not an early play in terms of Aeschylus’ literary career; a simple, even ‘primitive’ play in its progression from prosperity to adversity and its emphatic clarity in depicting divine retribution following human pride, yet the successful conversion of historical fact into morally significant drama provides telling evidence of the playwright’s ability to control his material and exploit it for his own purposes that is not without importance for those plays founded on myth. Historical tragedy, however, presents its own peculiar difficulties: the need to balance retention of credibility by not straying too far from objective truth before an audience intimately involved in the events portrayed, with the equally potent need to emphasize, alter, distort, or repress those factors that run counter to the dramatic purpose of the play. In Persae we see this most graphically in the prominence given to Psytalleia as the counterpart to Salamis, the sparse attention to Darius’ own European campaigns, the implication of total Persian retreat immediately after Salamis, and the episode on the Strymon. No less important was the need to avoid converting the action into a celebration of Greek, or more specifically Athenian, victory - an inevitable factor (pace Kitto) in any depiction of Persian defeat, but by the same token one essentially inimical to the spirit of tragedy. That the playwright succeeded most commentators readily admit. Phrynichus had already shown the way in 476 B.c. by setting his own version of the war, Phoenissai, at the Persian capital of Susa, thus ensuring concentration on the Persian point of view.

Challenges for integrated water resources governance in Brasilia metropolitan area

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz Fernando Macedo Bessa ◽  
Marcelo Facchina
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Federal District ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons behind the difficulties in implementing proper participatory environmental and water governance systems in the metropolitan region of Brasilia, Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – This work is a result of a the qualitative analysis of documents and reports of local participatory arenas in Brasilia, and is complemented by a set of 13 interviews held between November 2009 and March 2010 with a variety of actors involved in the promotion of sustainability in the region. Findings – The findings reveal that impediments to the good performance of environmental governance in the Federal District are a consequence to two main factors: institutional framework poorly transferred from the national level and incompatibility between the set of regulations and local electoral power dynamics. Research limitations/implications – As a consequence of the deliberate choice of one specific case, the conclusions of this paper may erroneously overemphasize the perils of participatory local governance rather than its potentials. Practical implications – By identifying a series of mechanisms that threaten positive partnerships between governments and civil society at the local level, this work serves as an important tool for public managers and civil society to engage in more fruitful partnerships. Originality/value – The paper provides a power-based analysis of a case of ineffectiveness of participatory mechanisms. In doing so, it also demonstrates that policy planning must be analysed from a variety of perspectives, and often involve coalitions that cut across the traditional state-society divide. The identification of the mechanisms behind the creation of these obstacles constitutes the originality and value of this paper.

scholarly journals The Application of Gamification in Public Administration (the Technological Potential)

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 18-22
Author(s):  
Aleksandr V. Averin ◽  
◽  
Irina V. Pogodina ◽  
Danila A. Avdeev ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Technological Potential ◽  
State Administration ◽  
Governance Processes

Governments are showing an interest in, or incorporating, gamification into their governance processes and/or services to citizens. The article describes the concept of gamification, examines its potential from the point of view of using elements of the game in public administration, for example, on the websites of authorities and special platforms, as well as in offline mode. The conclusion is made about the goals of introducing gamification into the practice of public authorities. The state administration can not only be the author of these projects, but also assist civil society institutions (public associations, citizens) in their development.

scholarly journals Curricular policies and flexibility – anathemas and beliefs

2021 ◽  
pp. 97-114
Author(s):  
Maria do Céu Roldão
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
International Perspective ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Curriculum Changes ◽  
Term Change ◽  
The 1960S

This paper discusses some issues and concepts within the current curriculum debate in both a diachronic and international perspective. Recent curriculum changes have been mostly determined by massification of student bodies, bringing into the school system a  variety of social and cultural backgrounds. From the point of view of this analysis, the concept of flexibility is critical in this discussion as it explains the long‑term change of policies from 1990 on, with respect to levels of curriculum decision, namely the articulation between national level responsible for establishing the common core, and local level responsible for adapting curriculum to micro-social contexts. The author refers to this dialectic as curriculum binomial. Contributions from both curriculum research and international macro‑policies are mobilized, in order to clarify the response in our time to the classic curriculum question; What is worth to learn – and therefore to teach – in formal educational systems, so that they may meet the needs of our time, and why? In line with this problematization, we propose an analysis of Portuguese curriculum changes after the implementation of school massification (after the 1960s) and synthesize key‑concepts in international recommendations. Finally, we discuss some implications of this process for teachers and schools.

scholarly journals Self-government of territorial communities and the Constitution — the search for consensus or a conceptual revolution?

Legal Ukraine ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 47-53
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Form Of Government ◽  
Management And Development ◽  
Territorial Organization ◽  
State Regime ◽  
Legal Understanding ◽  
Conceptual Revolution

The state begins a public discussion of amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine regarding decentralization of power. It is assumed that the system of local self-government and a new territorial organization of power will be consolidated, as well as the decentralization of power. The principles that are laid down in the text of the European Charter of Local Self-Government will also be introduced. These principles are basic for the implementation of an appropriate level of management and development of local self-government. Inadequate reproduction of the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government leads to the dependence of the institutions of local self-government, «second-rate» territorial communities and the declarative nature of municipal authorities, the growth of its dependence and accountability to public authorities. The existing legislative base of local self-government in Ukraine and the projects that were implemented in the field of formation and development of territorial communities are fragmented. Relevant is a comprehensive solution to the main problem of the organization and functioning of local self-government in modern Ukraine. Such is the creation of constitutional legal conditions for the formation of territorial communities as primary subjects of local self-government, the main carriers of its functions and powers. Different countries apply different management systems at the local level (within the respective administrative-territorial units), the choice of which is influenced by such factors as: state regime, form of government, different approach to understanding the essence and nature of state power, and delimitation of administrative-territorial units into «natural» and «artificial», national and historical features and traditions, and the like. Conclusion: the generally proposed position on replacing the term «territorial community» with «residents of the municipality», especially from the point of view of increasing the subjectivity of local authorities, should be considered an attempt at a conceptual upheaval of the constitutional legal understanding of the essence of local self-government in Ukraine. Key words: self-government of territorial communities, decentralization, local self-government, the Constitution.

Conceptual Principles of the Civil Society Research

2017 ◽  
pp. 214-221
Author(s):  
Oleksandra Demianenko
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
State Level ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Economic Landscape

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

Public Authorities and the Local Information Society

2011 ◽  
pp. 1370-1376 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Inkinen ◽  
J. S. Jauhiainen
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Society ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Local Information ◽  
Western World ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Relevant Today ◽  
Information And Communication

This article focuses on the role of public authorities in the creation of local information societies (LIS). The analysis is conducted with reference to strategies, policies, and actions of public authorities with the aim of promoting information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the local level. Although the article relates to broad issues relevant today throughout the western world, we narrow the empirical examples to Finland. To begin, we provide a brief account of documents that guide LIS policies. Our focus is on the discursive formation and strategic guidance of LIS. For example, several European Commission documents highlight the positive relationship between economic growth, competitiveness, and knowledge-intensity as a means for success in global competition. On the national level, we discuss the current Finnish government strategy for the promotion of the information society (Government of Finland, 2003). Second, we offer insights into how discursive strategies for the LIS are implemented through practical activities. Two examples discuss the relationship between public authorities and citizen, business and governance-oriented LIS. In particular, it is essential to consider the connections and disparities between written policy strategies and everyday practices. The first topic focuses on the Tampere Region, recounting a case of LIS promotion through enhancing interaction between citizens and public authorities. In the second case, we discuss the Multipolis technology network. It is an example of LIS policy targeted to support private-led technology development in the more remote localities of northern Finland.

Unions & Civic Engagement: How the Assault on Labor Endangers Civil Society

Daedalus ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-138
Author(s):  
Andy Stern
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Labor Movement ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
National Level ◽  
Union Density ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Individual

American trade unions are a crucial segment of civil society that enriches our democracy. Union members are stewards of the public good, empowering the individual through collective action and solidarity. While union density has declined, the U.S. labor movement remains a substantial political and economic force. But the relentless attacks by the political right and its corporate allies could lead to an erosion of civic engagement, further economic inequality, and a political imbalance of power that can undermine society. The extreme assault on unions waged by Republicans in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and at a national level must be countered by a revitalized labor movement and by those who understand that unions are positive civil actors who bring together individuals who alone have little power. Unions need both structural reform and greater boldness; there are moments in which direct action and dramatic militancy can bring about positive social change. The current assault on labor can be rebuffed, and unions can expand their role as stewards for the public good and as defenders of efforts by the 99 percent to reduce inequality and protect democracy.

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