Public Service Obligation Levy in the Context of Energy Sustainability and Security: The Cases of Ireland, Greece, Denmark and Lithuania

Energy policy affects the functioning of the economic and financial systems of countries worldwide. This paper provides a theoretical overview of the economy–energy nexus and discusses the particular cases of the energy policy dynamics amid the sustainability goals. This paper integrates multiple perspectives on the energy–economy nexus, with a particular focus on the energy trilemma, 4As of energy security and PESTEL approach. This allows the development of a comprehensive framework for the analysis of energy security and the sustainability interaction. A review of manifestations of the different dimensions of energy security and sustainability is carried out to identify the most topical facets of the issue. Then, the cases of the selected European Union countries (Ireland, Greece, Denmark and Lithuania) are presented to highlight the effects and features of the recent energy policy changes there. Indeed, these countries apply a PSO levy mechanism on electricity tariffs and are diverse in their geopolitical situation, economic development, geographical situation and energy dependency level. The analysis of the situations of such different countries applying the PSO levy mechanism makes it possible to perform a broader and more in-depth assessment and comparison of electricity tariff regulations. Thus, the developed theoretical model is applied to identify the major outcomes of the energy policy regimes (with a focus on tariff regulation) in the selected countries.

The Governance of Charities in China

The passage of the Charity Law signals the beginning of a new era in the legal regulation of charities in China. Its provisions reflect the increasing autonomy of charitable actors in exercising their management rights and the reduced control of the government over the use of charity resources. The shift of the state's attitude towards its relationship with the charitable sector brings new insights into the governance of charities in China. This article highlights the public-private law hybrid nature of the new legislative arrangement for charities and outlines the policy dynamics underlying its operation and development. It argues that the hybrid nature of the Charity Law was intentionally created by legislators, and the design of the governance framework for charities should therefore be responsive to this new legislative arrangement. Following on this reasoning, the article explores the implications that analysis of the hybrid nature of the Charity Law has for the governance of charities in China. It identifies the parties relevant to charity governance, the way in which they interact, and the governance principles that can be applied to charities.

Rice- Fallows: A Destiny or Opportunity to Farmers from Bhagalpur District of Bihar

The study attempted to critically review the status and scope of rice fallows in India, specifically to the Bhagalpur district of Bihar. Technological progress and capital-intensive cultivation through conversion of marginal lands into mitigated the ever-increasing demand of food production for burgeoning population to some extent but a continuous expansion of fallow lands brought serious concern on policy dynamics. The changes in temporal and spatial distribution of fallow lands are mostly documented due to increasing variability in the precipitation and irrigation water, and low level of mechanization. However, this is not true in case of flood and drought prone areas, and state like Bihar, where farmers are financially weak and technological expansion is very limited. The results revealed that, the most important constraint for rice fallows was rainfed ecology, low soil moisture content after the harvest of paddy and lack of irrigation facilities. The farmers also identified lack of short duration and high yielding varieties, poor plant stand, no use of fertilizers and chemicals and severe weed infestation in the field as the other major constraints. The size of land holding was found positively significant with rice fallows area indicating that the income penalty of keeping land fallow could not be tolerated by marginal small farmers

A Historical Overview of the 21st-Century Protectionism

The main goal of this paper is to situate current trade policy debates in a proper historical context by analyzing the main trade policy milestones of the 21st-century. It does not attempt to offer an extensive historical overview of trade policy, which has been done masterfully by other scholars, but to analyze the events that have led to a stagnation of the multilateral trade system and rising protectionism. This paper begins with the winding road of trade liberalization since World War II, briefly tracing how we arrived from the early stages of the Bretton Wood System to the current moment of stagnation of the multilateral system and rising protectionism. It then turns to four key events to understand the current new reality: China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 to 2009, the trade war between the United States and China, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in trade policy dynamics. It concludes with some final comments on the relevance of understanding current trade debates from a historical perspective.

Garbage Can Model at Covid 19 Countermeasures Policy in Banten

The Garbage Can Model is a public policy model that is taken by the government when an urgent event occurs which requires a fast and populist policy. Covid 19 is a deadly virus that spreads very quickly and is transmitted through human intermediaries, data released by the Covid 19 Response Acceleration Task Force on April 24, 2020, at least 8,211 people tested positive for this virus, and those who died reached 689 people and recovered 1,002 people. As for cases in the world, 2,626,321 people have tested positive, who died reaching 181,938 people covering 213 countries / regions (WHO Data Last update: 24 April 2020, 07:00 GMT + 7). In tackling the spread of this virus, the state as the policy holder has a stake in protecting the safety of its citizens. However, there are several cases where the policy dynamics are very intense, resulting in policy actors not being able to fully utilize their rational capacities. This study focuses on a number of government policies in the response to covid 19 which especially occurs in Banten. This study uses a qualitative methodology with a descriptive approach to better describe how it is possible to understand all actors involved in the covid 19 prevention policy in Banten. Finding of this research garbage can model can’t runs well, the four element of garbage can such alternative choice (policy window), problems, solutions, and participants can’t go hand in hand. The very large role of the participants limits the roles of other elements that actually play an important role in shaping the garbage can.