Exploring interest intermediation in Central and Eastern Europe: is higher education different?

Higher education interest groups remain somewhat understudied from a comparative theory-driven perspective. This is surprising because political decisions regarding higher education must increasingly be legitimized to students, taxpayers, the academic community and society. This article aims to advance our understanding of higher education stakeholders in post-communist Europe. In our view, the region deserves more attention, not least because students and academics were very instrumental in bringing down communism and institutionalizing democracy. First, we draw on Klemenčič’s (EJHE 2(1): 2–19, 2012; SHE 39(3):396–411, 2014) distinction between corporatist and pluralist as well as formalized and informal systems of representation in higher education. Looking at survey data from four countries—Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia—we examine to what extent post-communist democracies have established corporatist institutions to facilitate the formal participation of various crucial stakeholder organizations, e.g. students’ unions, academic unions, rectors’ conferences, etc. Then we address whether higher education organizations enjoy privileged access to policy-makers compared to those from other policy areas, while engaging with the argument that higher education is a particular case of “stakeholder democracy” in a region otherwise characterized by weak civic participation and corporatism. To wrap up, we discuss different “mutations of higher education corporatism” in each country.

Externalism, Memory, and Self-Knowledge

Externalism holds that the individuation of mental content depends on factors external to the subject. This doctrine appears to undermine both the claim that there is a priori self-knowledge, and the view that individuals have privileged access to their thoughts. Tyler Burge’s influential inclusion theory of self-knowledge purports to reconcile externalism with authoritative self-knowledge. I first consider Paul Boghossian’s claim that the inclusion theory is internally inconsistent. I reject one line of response to this charge, but I endorse another. I next suggest, however, that the inclusion theory has little explanatory value.

Externalism, Memory, and Self-Knowledge

Externalism holds that the individuation of mental content depends on factors external to the subject. This doctrine appears to undermine both the claim that there is a priori self-knowledge, and the view that individuals have privileged access to their thoughts. Tyler Burge’s influential inclusion theory of self-knowledge purports to reconcile externalism with authoritative self-knowledge. I first consider Paul Boghossian’s claim that the inclusion theory is internally inconsistent. I reject one line of response to this charge, but I endorse another. I next suggest, however, that the inclusion theory has little explanatory value.

Performance Comparison of SSH Libraries

The business industry is evolving. Enterprises have begun a digital transformation path, adopting innovative technologies that enable them to move quickly and change how they cooperate, lowering costs and improving productivity. However, as a result of these technologies, the conventional perimeter has evaporated, and identification has become the new line of defense. New security concerns necessitate modern security measures. Passwords are no longer appropriate for authenticating privileged access to mission-critical assets. Passwords are notorious for being insecure, causing weariness, and giving the user a false sense of security. Enterprises must use password-less solutions, which is where SSH key-based authentication comes in. The Python language’s numerous applications are the consequence of a mixture of traits that offer this language advantage over others. Some of the advantages of programming with Python are as follows: To enable easy communication between Python and other systems, Python Package Index (PyPI) is used. The package consists of a variety of modules developed by third-party developers. It also has the benefit of being an Open Source and Community Development language, as well as having substantial Support Libraries. There are multiple SSH libraries in python and this paper focuses on each of their pros and cons as well as the time it has taken for each of them to perform.

Det sammanflätade intresset

This article focuses on the interaction between the state and Swedish banks during the establishment of two institutes for small business credit, AB Industrikredit and AB Företagskredit, between 1958 and 1962. These institutes were established as intermediaries between the supplementary pension system and the credit market. We have been able to elucidate this process by the Swedish Bankers’ Association granting us privileged access to archival material on these negotiations. It is demonstrated that the strong ideological conflict characterizing the parliamentary debate on the supplementary pensions system did not spill over into the system being implemented within the financial sector as this was organized through the examined credit institutes. Instead, the banks and the state were able to negotiate through established channels and arenas for business-government relations in the financial sector. Even if the parties initially exhibited mistrust based on different historical interpretations of the market for small business credit, they also recognized the degree of change that would be brought on by the supplementary pension system with regard to the financial markets and capital formation as a whole. Hence, they downplayed ideological differences and strived to reach an outcomethat was mutually beneficial in its final form. A crucial indication of this consensus is that fifty percent of each institute was owned by the state while the other fifty percent was owned by the banks.

Phenomenological Differences in Music- and Television-Evoked Autobiographical Memories

Music can be a potent cue for autobiographical memories in both everyday and clinical settings. Understanding the extent to which music may have privileged access to aspects of our personal histories requires critical comparisons to other types of memories and exploration of how music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) vary across individuals. We compared the retrieval characteristics, content, and emotions of MEAMs to television-evoked autobiographical memories (TEAMs) in an online sample of 657 participants who were representative of the British adult population on age, gender, income, and education. Each participant reported details of a recent MEAM and a recent TEAM experience. MEAMs exhibited significantly greater episodic reliving, personal significance, and social content than TEAMs, and elicited more positive and intense emotions. The majority of these differences between MEAMs and TEAMs persisted in an analysis of a subset of responses in which the music and television cues were matched on familiarity. Age and gender effects were smaller, and consistent across both MEAMs and TEAMs. These results indicate phenomenological differences in naturally occurring memories cued by music as compared to television that are maintained across adulthood. Findings are discussed in the context of theoretical accounts of autobiographical memory, functions of music, and healthy aging.

White Property Interests in College Athletic Admissions

Dominant cultural narratives position college sports as engines of racial integration and upward mobility. Previous studies examined the chances for low-income men of color becoming athletes in two sports: men’s football and basketball. While highly visible, these athletes represent the minority of participants. The majority of college athletes are White and middle class. In this conceptual article, I apply Cheryl Harris’ whiteness as property framework to identify the institutional conditions that prevent college sports from functioning as integrative and mobility engines and instead protect Whites’ privileged access to higher education via sport.

The Christian Politics of Identity and the Making of Race in the German Welfare State

The Christian Caritas and Diakonie are Germany’s largest welfare providers. They currently recruit abroad and in refugee shelters to fill staffing shortages in care. Yet, they also seek to preserve their organisations’ Christian identity. Drawing on interviews with facility managers, my research explores how these initiatives shape institutional life in care homes. Specifically, I examine meanings attributed to conversion, notably in relation to Muslim staff. My analysis shows that Christians, nominal (‘by heritage’) or observant, are seen to ‘naturally embody’ care ethics and have privileged access to permanent contracts and leadership positions. The churches’ politics of identity, I argue, racialises affiliation with Christianity into a category of belonging naturally inhabited by some, and only potentially – and always debatably – attainable for others. The analysis feeds into controversies about conversion in the sociology of race and extends scholarship on identity politics beyond its usual focus on minority or far-right activism.