Does Trust Associate with Political Regime?

Since trust correlates with economic development and in turn economic development associates with political regime, we conjecture that there may be a relationship between trust and political regime. Without looking for any casual inference, we investigate if trust aggregated on the country level correlates with the country's political regime. Specifically, we are interested whether trust correlates positively with the level of democracy in cross-sectional observations. We analyse data on trust from 76 countries using the Global Preference Survey and investigate the correlations with five separate democracy indices (Polity2, Economist Intelligence Unit’s Index of Democracy, Freedom House, MaxRange and Unified Democracy Score). We do not find any significant association, with or without taking into account other factors (e.g., regional location, economic development, geographic conditions, culture) as well. Trust does not correlate with cornerstones of democracy either, measured by five components of the EIU index. A robustness check using an alternative measure of trust from the World Values Survey reaches the same results. The present study supersedes the working paper version (Khayouti et al., 2020).

Competencias digitales: cómo se definen, entienden y miden

En el presente Working Paper presenta un estado del arte acerca de la definición, clasificación y operacionalización sobre las competencias digitales, así como un muy inicial análisis de su vínculo con otras competencias y con modelos de desigualdades socio digitales. Se presenta un desarrollo de las características básicas de las competencias digitales, así como de diferentes nombres y tipologías que se utilizan en cinco marcos conceptuales surgidos tanto desde ámbitos académicos como de hacedores de políticas públicas y la cooperación internacional: Media Information Literacy de la UNESCO, el marco de "Educación para la ciudadanía digital" (DCE) de la Unión Europea, el marco de competencias digitales para los ciudadanos (DigComp) de la Unión Europea, el marco de la Alfabetización computacional y de la Información (CIL) del Estudio Internacional de Alfabetización Informática y de la Información (ICILS) y el marco de competencias digitales de Van Dijk, luego ampliado por Van Deursen, Helsper y Eynon. Luego, el Working Paper gira hacia la pregunta sobre los avances y desafíos para la medición de las competencias digitales. Se discuten tres grandes enfoques para medir las habilidades digitales: i) soluciones tipo proxy, ii) observación directa o evaluación en entornos tipo laboratorio, y iii) una diversidad de estrategias de autoevaluación o autorreporte generalmente adaptados para encuestas a gran escala. Se plantean sus fortalezas y limitaciones para la medición del fenómeno. Finalmente, en base a lo discutido y a lo realizado por el grupo de investigación se plantean líneas de trabajo a futuro.

Keterkaitan antara pandemi covid-19 dengan eksploitasi alam

Pemanfaatan sumber daya alam tidak sepenuhnya mengedepankan prinsip lingkungan, padahal ekosistem memiliki keanekaragaman hayati termasuk virus berbahaya yang bersifat zoonosis. Kemunculan pandemi Covid-19 dipercaya akibat zoonosis yang menyebar dan menginfeksi jutaan manusia. Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk menganalisis keterkaitan antara pandemi dengan eksploitasi alam, menggunakan metode literatur review dari artikel, dokumen pemerintah, laporan lembaga, working paper, serta informasi resmi WHO dan Satgas Covid-19 RI. Terbukti ada keterkaitan antara pandemi Covid-19 dengan eksploitasi alam. Eksploitasi mempersempit habitat dan menekan kehidupan, organisme merespons dengan ekspansi mencari habitat baru yang sering kali lebih dekat dengan manusia. Eksploitasi memfasilitasi satwa liar sebagai host alami atau perantara virus zoonosis. Hasil analisis homolog SARS-CoV-2 memiliki kemiripan genom lengkap 93,7%, ORF1ab 96,5%, protein N 96,9%, dan spike protein 92,86% dengan coronavirus dari kelelawar (Rhinolophus affinis Horsfield, 1823). Spesies ini tersebar di Asia Selatan dan Tenggara, dipercaya sebagai obat tradisional penyakit pernafasan. Penggunaan satwa liar sebagai obat harus dibatasi, karena dalam praktiknya banyak perdagangan satwa liar secara ilegal yang berisiko zoonosis dan berpotensi memunculkan epidemi maupun pandemi. Hal ini dapat ditanggulangi apabila stabilitas ekosistem dijaga dan tersedia habitat yang proporsional untuk organisme lain, sehingga terjadi interaksi yang harmonis dan berkelanjutan.

Demographic Theory and Population Ethics – Relationships between Population Size and Population Growth

Demographic theory aims at explaining how population systems regulate themselves given available resources. Population ethics is concerned with demography in the sense that the analytical objects of interest are births, deaths, and populations. However, demographic theory which explores theoretically when, how and why populations grow, based on empirically observed patterns, has up until now played a minor role in population ethics. Similarly, debates about population dynamics among demographers have seldom been concerned with ideas and concepts in population ethics. In this manuscript, I will give a brief outline of how population size, population growth, and welfare mutually affect each other. Theories on the endogeneity between population size, population growth, and welfare will be referred to as demographic theory. I will give a particular focus on how population growth responds with respect to welfare, as welfare, utility, well-being, and happiness are important concepts in population ethics. A key concept in demographic theory is population homeostasis (the dynamics of a system which maintains a population at a steady population size, or growth rate), in particular resource dependent homeostasis. I will also discuss demographic theory in relation to historical and future demographic change. This working paper was later published in Oxford Handbook of Population Ethics, and is available at https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/at5pj/

Land and Water Systems: Looking to the future and a more resilient and sustainable society and environment

Food, land, and water systems are facing unprecedented change. The world’s population is projected to grow to approximately 10 billion people by 2050, while aging and declining in some regions. Global average incomes are expected to keep increasing at a slow but steady pace. With increasing incomes and the ability of consumers to purchase more and better food in combination with population growth, food demand is projected to grow substantially over the next three decades. Meanwhile, demographic changes and economic development also drive urbanization, migration, and structural transformation of rural communities. At the same time changes to precipitation and temperature as well as the occurrence of extreme events driven by climate change are becoming more prevalent and impacting society and the environment. Currently, humanity is approaching or exceeding planetary boundaries in some areas, with over-use of limited productive natural resources such as water and phosphate, net emissions of greenhouse gases, and decreases in biodiversityMuch is published about food and agriculture and the supporting/underpinning land and water systems, but no single source focuses regularly and systematically on the future of agriculture and food systems, particularly on the challenges and opportunities faced by developing countries. This working paper is part of an effort by the CGIAR foresight team to help fill that gap. The effort recognizes that there is much to learn from past experience, and there are clearly many urgent and immediate challenges, but given the pace and complexity of change we are currently experiencing, there is also an increasing need to look carefully into the future of food, land, and water systems to inform decision making today.

The Construction of national identity in Germany: "Migration Background" as a political and scientific category

Migration has far-reaching effects on the construction of national identity. It can lead to established concepts of national identity and societal affiliation being questioned. In this working paper, it will be demonstrated on the basis of the contemporary German situation that the recognition of Germany as an immigration society does not come along with an overall recognition of migrants as equal members of society. Indeed it is still not sufficient to possess German citizenship to be accepted as a full member of society. It can be proven, that the distinction between "ordinary Germans" and "Germans with migration background" plays an important role in designating allegedly different elements of society. The paper discusses how the social sciences are involved in the process, which makes this differentiation appear plausible and acceptable. Keywords: Germany, immigration, construction of a national identity, societal affiliation discrimination, social and scientific categories

Taking risks the safe way: risk management and insurance practices of Ontario's Voluntary Sector

Taking Risks the Safe Way was developed as a knowledge‐building tool and research reference for nonprofit organizations across Ontario. The contents of this document will also guide the work of government in supporting capacity‐building among voluntary and community organizations, and provide a valuable resource for the insurance industry in serving the nonprofit sector. Keywords: CVSS, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Working Paper Series,TRSM, Ted Rogers School of Management Citation

Taking risks the safe way: risk management and insurance practices of Ontario's Voluntary Sector

Taking Risks the Safe Way was developed as a knowledge‐building tool and research reference for nonprofit organizations across Ontario. The contents of this document will also guide the work of government in supporting capacity‐building among voluntary and community organizations, and provide a valuable resource for the insurance industry in serving the nonprofit sector. Keywords: CVSS, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Working Paper Series,TRSM, Ted Rogers School of Management Citation

Evaluating complex interventions in international development

Complex interventions are those that are characterized by multiple components, multiple stakeholders, or multiple target populations. They may also be interventions that incorporate multiple processes of behavioral change. While such interventions are very common and receive a large proportion of development aid budgets, they are rarely subject to rigorous evaluations. The CEDIL Methods Working Paper, Evaluating Complex Interventions in International Development reviews promising methods for the evaluation of complex interventions that are new or have been used in a limited way. It offers a taxonomy of complex interventions in international development and draws on literature to discuss several methods that can be used to evaluate these interventions. The paper focuses its attention on methods that address causality and allow us to state conclusively whether an intervention works or not. It shows that several rigorous methods developed in different disciplines can be adapted and used to evaluate complex interventions in international development.