The Development of Initiatives and Municipal Referendums in Germany

Direct democracy offers possibilities for citizens to influence political decisions especially at the local level. In Germany, the local political systems have been affected by the introduction of direct democratic tools such as citizen initiatives and local referendums since the Reunification. The state legislations defined new conditions for citizen initiatives and municipal referendums with a minimum number of valid signatures for initiatives and a minimum approval rate for referendums. The chapter evaluates the practice of local initiatives and municipal referendums in Germany and examines the routinization of these tools in local politics.

Conclusion: Strategic Learning and Situational High Reliability

Public authorities are not high reliability organizations per se but they need to act as one as soon as safety issues are at stake. When it comes to construction and public infrastructure, however, responsibility for human safety may compete with the perceived necessity to respond to quests for accelerated licensing, fostering the local economy and general urban development, cooperative relations with contractors and consultants, compromises in local politics and similar types of legitimate expectations of clientele and the general public. Strategic learning for the sake of sustainable prevention requires to realize the responsiveness versus responsibility trade-off in the first place and to acknowledge the consequences for personal conduct in office under specific situational conditions. In the essence, it is about the strength and strengthening of professional and institutional integrity for the sake of human safety as an integral part of good governance and mindful public management.

Persistence of The Tarekat Naqsabandiyah in Local Politics of Indonesia Post New Order

In the Indonesian context, tarekat is seen as a social movement with a broad impact. Its existence and activity need to be paid attention to by the State, society, and other political infrastructure. Many experts have carried out the discourse on tarekat with various points of view. This study focuses on the socio-political sphere of tarekat and its movements in local Indonesian politics after the Soeharto Era using a qualitative approach with interpretive data analysis involving the informants who understand the tarekat activity in Rokan Hulu in depth. The emergence of spiritual organs with various ideological variants, visions, and missions indicates the strengthening of civil supremacy in Indonesia. As part of a religious civil society organization, the Naqsyabandiyah order can grow and exert a strong influence on the dynamics of Indonesian local democracy, especially in Rokan Hulu - Riau. The existence of this movement strengthens Bruinessen's argument about the tarekat as a "storehouse of sounds," whose symbolization of motion is described by the gesture and commands of the teacher. After the New Order, there was a shift in the political orientation of this group; the nature of taqlid to master teachers was only for religious matters, while on political issues, there was a shift in direction that was more directed at the individual interests of the congregation. Even so, the Naqsyabandiyah Rokan Hulu tarekat could still maintain its existence and political power.

Analysis of the Influence of Local Politics on Implementation SDGs 4 Policy for Quality Education

SDGs-4, the quality education is one of the factors in achieving the goals of the SDGs. The problem is that the SDGs look ambitious in integrating local level policies that are responsive to political interests. The research used a mixed method of exploration, searching for interview data and questionnaires. The results showed that the implementation of the SDGs was strongly influenced by local democracy. The implementation of the promotion of SDGs requires strengthening local politics and democracy, including; the quality of the Pilkada, the role of the community, political parties, media control, and public meetings. The influence of local democracy on policy implementation is 51.5%. Policy implementation has a positive effect on the implementation of the SDGs with a value of 0.187. The influence of local democracy and policy implementation on the promotion of SDGs-4 is 64.2% and the remaining 35.8% is influenced by other factors.

Pemanfaatan Modal Dedi Sitorus Sebagai Pendatang Baru PILEG Tahun 2019 DAPIL Kaltara

This paper aims to determine the capital utilization of a newcomer candidate who wins in an electoral district that has just been expanded, the problem is focused on how aspects of social capital, political capital and economic capital of a newcomer actor. In order to approach this problem, the theoretical reference from Bordieu (1992) and Maridjan (2006) data collected through field data and documentation is used and analyzed qualitatively. This study concludes that Dedi Sitorus's victory was due to having more than one capital. There are several important fundamental considerations such as: first, Dedi Sitorus' social capital has a Social Network in the Nunukan community, Second, Dedi Sitorus' political capital has support from parties starting from the central level and also the DPC administrator at the Nunukan Regency level and also the support from regional authorities and also figures Local Politics, Third Economic Capital Dedi Sitorus has very large finances so he does not need donors to carry out his campaign and has the ability to rent air transportation to carry out mobility in campaigns. With the accumulation of all the capital owned, Dedi Sitorus can take advantage and use the moment well so that he gets a significant vote in the 2019 legislative elections.

Contextualizing Caves within an Animate Maya Landscape: Caves as Living Agents in the Past and Present

After groundbreaking work by multiple archaeologists in the latter half of the 20th century, caves in the Maya world are currently acknowledged as fundamentally ritual rather than domestic spaces. However, a more nuanced read of the anthropological literature and conversations with Indigenous collaborators in the past and present pushes us to move still farther and see caves not as passive contexts to contain ceremonies directed elsewhere but animate beings with unique identities and personalities in their own right. This article combines archaeological, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic documentation of Maya cave use in central Guatemala to build a foundation for examining caves as living beings, with particular attention played to the role they play as active agents in local politics and quotidian life. Through ritual offerings, neighboring residents and travelers maintain tight reciprocal relationships with specific caves and other geographic idiosyncrasies dotting the landscape to ensure the success of multiple important activities and the continued well-being of families and communities.