scholarly journals On Security, Minorities, and Opportunistic Narcissism

Author(s):  
Stavroula Pipyrou

At a global level, the last two decades have consistently witnessed the encroachment of right-wing rhetoric and anti-minority logos, with several states clearly promoting a discourse of fear of minorities. Seeing minorities either as the ‘enemy within’ or a political necessity that must be endured, states are sceptical in how they recognise or incorporate minority identities that threaten ideologies of national homogeneity. Adopting an anthropological perspective and having engaged in long-term research on minorities in Greece and Italy, I argue that the state selectively recognises minority traits that are deemed ‘secure’ enough to be incorporated into the national body of policies and governance in what I term opportunistic narcissism; the process of highlighting minority differences, territorialising them, and finally claiming them for the national corpus.

2020 ◽  
pp. 096466392092476
Author(s):  
Gail Super

While there is an established literature on the relationship between political economy and state punishment, there is less work on how punishment is constituted from below in contexts of inequality. This article analyses the discourse around incidents of lethal collective violence that occurred in 2015 in a former black township in South Africa. I use this as a lens for examining how punitive forms of popular justice interact with state punishment. Whether via the slow violence of structural inequality or the viscerally corporeal high rates of interpersonal violence, my interviewees were intimately acquainted with violence. Although they supported long-term imprisonment, none of them came across as stereotypical right-wing populists. Instead, they adopted complex positions, calling for a type of punitive welfarism, which combined harsh solutions to crime with explicit recognition of the importance of dealing with ‘root causes’. I argue that when the state is perceived to be failing to both impose punishment and provide welfare, violence becomes a technology of exchange, which simultaneously seeks both more punishment and more welfare. The result is an assemblage of exclusionary penal forms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-193
Author(s):  
Aisha Naiga ◽  
Loyola Rwabose Karobwa

Over 90% of Uganda's power is generated from renewable sources. Standardised Implementation Agreements and Power Purchase Agreements create a long-term relationship between Generating Companies and the state-owned off-taker guaranteed by Government. The COVID-19 pandemic and measures to curb the spread of the virus have triggered the scrutiny and application of force majeure (FM) clauses in these agreements. This article reviews the FM clauses and considers their relevance. The authors submit that FM clauses are a useful commercial tool for achieving energy justice by ensuring the continuity of the project, despite the dire effects of the pandemic. Proposals are made for practical considerations for a post-COVID-19 future which provides the continued pursuit of policy goals of promoting renewable energy sources and increasing access to clean energy, thus accelerating just energy transitions.


Author(s):  
Dina V. Rusanova ◽  
Oleg L. Lakhman ◽  
Galina M. Bodienkova ◽  
Irina V. Kudaeva ◽  
Natalya G. Kuptsova

Introduction. There is a lack of knowledge of the pathophysiological mechanisms that form peripheral nerve disorders in mercury lesions of professional origin. The study aims to reveal the mechanisms underlying peripheral nerve damage in the long-term post-contact period of chronic mercury intoxication (CMI). Materials and methods. Fifty-one people had the diagnosis of a long-term period of CMI. The post-contact period was 8.5±2.6 years. The authors compared the results with a control group of 26 healthy men who had no contact with toxic substances. Stimulating electroneuromyography was performed. We studied the body systems that could contribute to the formation of disorders in the peripheral nerves. Changes in peripheral hemodynamics were studied using reovasography. The content of autoantibodies, neuron-specific enolase, serotonin, histamine, catecholamines (epinephrine, dopamine), metanephrine, and neurotrophin-3 was reviewed. The content of ceruloplasmin, secondary products of lipid peroxidation processes, reduced glutathione, the activity of superoxide dismutase and the content of nitric oxide levels were determined. Results. The study established pathogenetic structural links of peripheral nerve disorders. The autoimmune process's role was to increase the range of antibodies to the MAG protein and increase the level of antibodies to DNA. Violations of elastic-tonic properties of peripheral vessels could be associated with the functional state of motor axons. The increased content of neurotransmitters is related to the state of peripheral blood circulation; the most pronounced changes were on the legs, which could contribute to the occurrence and maintenance of vasoconstriction. The role of oxidative stress in the formation of demyelinating disorders in patients' peripheral nerves in the long-term period of CRI is possible. Conclusion. Neuroimmunological processes has an essential role in the development of peripheral nerve demyelination was shown, which consists in an increase in the content of antibodies to the MAG protein expressed on Schwann cells of peripheral nerves and in an increase in the level of antibodies to DNA involved in the formation of demyelinating changes when exposed to metallic mercury. The revealed pathological changes in the state of the peripheral blood circulation, characterized by a violation of the vessels' elastic-tonic properties, leading to demyelination of motor axons in patients in the long-term period of CMI. The increased content of neurotransmitters in the examined is of great importance in the state of peripheral circulation. Pronounced changes in blood circulation are established on the lower extremities, which may be associated with the predominance of α-adrenergic receptors in the arterial bed and may contribute to the occurrence and maintenance of vasoconstriction in the legs. The relationship between changes in indicators of oxidative stress, consisting of a decrease in the value of superoxide dismutase and reduced glutathione, and the formation of demyelinating disorders of peripheral nerves in patients in the long-term period of CMI has been proved.


Kerntechnik ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. 513-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Hampel ◽  
A. Kratzsch ◽  
R. Rachamin ◽  
M. Wagner ◽  
S. Schmidt ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Lyudmila Nikolayevna Akimova ◽  
Alla Vasilievna Lysachok

The essence of such concepts is “financial service”, “financial ser- vices market”, and “participants of the financial services market”; determined the purpose of state regulation of the financial services market; forms of state regu- lation of the financial services market; financial services that are present in the financial services market; the structure of state regulation bodies of the financial services market in Ukraine is given; The role of state bodies in the regulation of the financial services market was studied; to characterize the regulatory le- gal regulation of the financial services market in Ukraine; the main problems of functioning of the domestic market of financial services are revealed; ways to solve existing problems. It is grounded that the state regulation of financial ser- vices markets consists in the state’s implementation of a set of measures aimed at regulating and overseeing financial services markets to protect the interests of financial services consumers and preventing crisis phenomena. It is concluded that the financial services market is an important element of the development of the economy as a whole, in particular, it concerns not only the state but also society. We must understand that when this market is settled, that is, all bodies that carry out state regulation are competent in their powers, only then will we make informed, effective decisions about the normal and effective functioning of the RFP. It is important that the data of the subjects of control do not overlap, their activities should be fixed at the legislative level. It is also worth bearing in mind that appropriate conditions must be created to create compensatory mecha- nisms in the financial services markets by developing a system for guarante- eing deposits and providing for payments under long-term life insurance contracts, non-state pension provisions, deposits with deposit accounts to credit unions, etс.


2000 ◽  
Vol 151 (3) ◽  
pp. 80-83
Author(s):  
Pascal Schneider ◽  
Jean-Pierre Sorg

In and around the state-owned forest of Farako in the region of Sikasso, Mali, a large-scale study focused on finding a compromise allowing the existential and legitimate needs of the population to be met and at the same time conserving the forest resources in the long term. The first step in research was to sketch out the rural socio-economic context and determine the needs for natural resources for autoconsumption and commercial use as well as the demand for non-material forest services. Simultaneously, the environmental context of the forest and the resources available were evaluated by means of inventories with regard to quality and quantity. According to an in-depth comparison between demand and potential, there is a differentiated view of the suitability of the forest to meet the needs of the people living nearby. Propositions for a multipurpose management of the forest were drawn up. This contribution deals with some basic elements of research methodology as well as with results of the study.


Author(s):  
O.P. Kovtun ◽  
S.V. Kuzmin ◽  
O.V. Dikonskaya ◽  
B.I. Nikonov ◽  
V.B. Gurvich ◽  
...  

The paper presents long-term experience of interaction between practitioners of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service (until 2005) and Rospotrebnadzor (since 2005), the institutions of science for Rospotrebnadzor, Ural State Medical University in preparing graduates of a medical-preventive profile, starting from pre-university work with schoolchildren to the introduction of modern technologies of practice-oriented training of students, specialists post-graduate training of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service and Rospotrebnadzor.


Author(s):  
E. G. Batotsyrenova ◽  
O. A. Vakunenkova ◽  
E. A. Zolotoverkhaya ◽  
V. A. Kashuro ◽  
T. A. Kostrova ◽  
...  

The article presents experimental data on the state of the antioxidant system in red blood cells of white outbred rats 1 and 3 months after acute mercury nitrate poisoning with a semilethal dose. It has been established that this form of intoxication is accompanied by pronounced changes in the state of the antioxidant defense system in erythrocytes of poisoned animals (a decrease in the concentration of reduced glutathione, a decrease in the activity of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase, and an increase in the concentration of lipid peroxidation products).It has been shown that the mercury content in the blood of experimental animals remains elevated during the entire study period.The results obtained indicate the importance of impaired functioning of the antioxidant system in the implementation of long-term consequences of acute mercury poisoning. The reasons for the occurrence of these biochemical shifts and their role in the development of the long-term cytotoxic effects of mercury nitrate are discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 048661342097642
Author(s):  
Juan E. Santarcángelo ◽  
Juan Manuel Padín

Argentina’s right-wing shift in the 2015 presidential election concluded twelve years of center-left rule. The elected president, Mauricio Macri, claimed that the economy would experience normalization of existing imbalances and recover its strength in a “new political era.” However, the new administration quickly restored the dominance of neoliberal economic policies through a comprehensive set of initiatives, which centrally included the return to international financial debt and equity markets and submission to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) rules. This article analyzes Argentina’s external-debt-growth process and discusses its objectives and long-term effects. This paper posits that the indebtedness process carried out by the Macri administration—and its modality—not only increased the relevance of financial capital in the Argentine economy but also structurally conditioned any future nonorthodox alternative path of development. This outcome cannot be understood without taking into account the deliberate role of the United States, the IMF, and the top companies that operate in Argentina, as well as the complicity of many political sectors. JEL Classification: H63, F34, F63


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