This study explores Thailand’s pursuit of BRICS membership through the lenses of Teo’s middle power theory and Kuik’s theory of regime legitimation, based on archival and secondary materials. Methodologically, a case study research design with a process tracing technique is employed. The key findings indicate that internal and external conditions drove Thailand’s BRICS move. Externally, the stratified international structure has motivated the country, self-proclaimed as a middle power, to preserve, if not elevate, its international standing by differentiating itself from smaller nations through active engagement in multilateralism, including the pursuit of BRICS membership. Internally, maintaining regime legitimacy has shaped Thai foreign policy actions towards BRICS, thereby supporting the domestic agendas of the political party in power. The delay in becoming a full member of BRICS from the time publicly anticipated may imply that policymakers in Bangkok need to do more to distinguish the country and demonstrate its value-added to BRICS compared to other middle powers seeking the same status.
THEORETICAL, LAW AND POLITICAL CONTEXTS OF THE FUNCTIONING OF DE FACTO STATES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The issue of the functioning of de facto states in the international environment, its importance and the problems faced by the communities that create them, as well as other political entities, cannot be enfolded by one field of knowledge. Although the question appears to be within the scope of international law, disputes between legal theories do not address the political causes and effects of current recognition practices. States, as creators of international law, have no political interest in changing the ways of recognising new state entities, because they are afraid of weakening their own position and the international system that is based on them. Theoretical analysis in the field of international relations theory offer another important research perspective to this issue, although classical and critical theories differ significantly in their assessment and proposed solutions.
International actors are fundamental units of research in the field of international relations, with state actors being the primary focus. The political relationships between countries serve as the basis for current mainstream research in international relations theory. However, the author believes that with the evolution of the international system and the increasing complexity of the international community, the traditional Westphalian system and its derivative concept of absolute sovereignty have become outdated. This limits the effectiveness of the current paradigm used to describe objective reality and its ability to guide practical applications. As a result, it is necessary to redefine these propositions. In this paper, the author will use literature investigation and historical analysis methods to deconstruct the three mainstream views of the national center, rational countries, and single country perspectives. This will demonstrate that a variety of international actors and power centers have emerged in the field of international relations and are playing increasingly important roles. This highlights the need to move beyond the limitations of a single nation system towards a more nuanced understanding of international relations. Through a multi-center perspective and utilizing multidisciplinary research methods, including techniques from quantum mechanics, the author will work towards developing a more accurate theory based on the reality of the international relations system.
Priandhita Sukowidyanti Asmoro, Suresh Ramakrishnan, Sifa Arsyanda
et al.
This research examines the complex relationships among ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) disclosure, corporate governance, political affiliations, and tax aggressiveness (TAG) in basic materials and energy sector companies listed on the Indonesia and Malaysian Stock Exchanges. By focusing on expanding specific information essential to ESG disclosure, as outlined in the GRI Standards, the study aims to evaluate its effectiveness in mitigating TAG. Employing a quantitative approach, the research addresses gaps in previous studies by using Hierarchical Regression to systematically evaluate the incremental impact of each predictor on TAG, offering deeper insights beyond the general effects captured by linear regression. The study’s findings indicate that no combination of variables is universally effective in mitigating TAG across Indonesian and Malaysian corporations. Furthermore, the research highlights the nuanced nature of information disclosure, demonstrating that not all disclosed information is equally significant in curbing TAG. While not confirming legitimacy theory, the study identifies the GRI 2018 and GRI 2019 standards as containing crucial information for Indonesian companies to mitigate tax TAG. A key contribution lies in pinpointing tax‑related disclosures within the GRI 2019 framework as critical influencers, advancing the understanding of how ESG practices impact tax aggressiveness.
Background: The Namibian High Court’s judgment 2023 in favour of same-sex marriage has created significant volatility in the country, considering the Life Skills curriculum’s call for affirmative teaching of sexual diversity education.
Objectives: This study examined how the provisions made in the Life Skills curriculum to teach affirmative sexual diversity education could be affected by the tension created by the High Court’s judgment. Using intersectionality theory, the study explored how cultural, religious, political, and professional intersections influence teachers in implementing policy.
Methods: Qualitative data were collected over four weeks from 10 Life Skills teachers through semi structured interviews. Sampling was purposive because only 4 secondary schools in town schools and 5 in rural schools was selected were the teachers had at least 3 years teaching experience in Life Skills. Study employed a qualitative research design and an intersectional lens.
Results: Amidst the volatile environment with varying intersections, teachers were conflicted and uncomfortable teaching gender and sexual diversity education while aware of the intersectional influences on them. Amidst the anxiety of inclusively address to discourse of sexual diversity. In the Life Skills classroom, teachers continued to present a message of affirmation, care and support as a duty to all learners.
Conclusion: This article calls for awareness of the intersectional challenges teachers face in delivering the Life Skills curriculum, specifically the sexual diversity topics. Teacher educators and staff development interventions should focus on creating knowledge about intersections to gain a better understanding and improve teaching and learning platforms.
Contribution: As educators dealing with children daily Life Skills must become conscious of existing intersectionality and how it affects their work. They must use this knowledge to create safe spaces for the learners.
Vocational guidance. Career development, Social Sciences
POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEMOCRACY IN THE WRITINGS OF CLASSICAL LIBERALS – JOHN STUART MILL AND HERBERT SPENCER
The main aim of this paper is showing mainstream economic theory as an important factor shaping the evolution of political liberalism. The role of the economic theory in this process seems underestimated. The paper analyses the writings of two classical liberal thinkers – John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer, the former a pioneer of egalitarian liberalism, the latter of laissez-faire liberalism. Both Mill and Spencer were the followers of the classical political economy accepting the classical theory of distribution. Both saw the distribution of wealth as a spontaneous process, seeing no possibility correcting it for the people’s sake without disturbances or damages. According to the classical theory of wage fund, workers would get higher incomes only through accumulation of capital by owners and repressing their own fertility. Such statement was fundamentally opposite to all postulates of the workers’ movement. Workers always claimed bigger share in social income and legislation favoring laborers. The inevitable result of this contradiction was a conflict between liberal and democratic ideas. Mill and Spencer proposed two different solutions. J. S. Mill found a specific compromise and proposed enlarging franchise on working class, but with a still dominant position of the educated classes. Mill was against equal franchise for the working class because he did not conceive them as liable, rational and sober people. This position results from the wage fund doctrine; according to it, abundant workers’ fertility is wasteful for them and only sexual restraint (or chastity) would make their wages higher. Spencer in his early writing was an enthusiast of democracy, supposing the working class’ affinity to free market solutions. His later disappointment with democracy turned him into a strong critic of democratic parliamentarism from the standpoint of laissez-faire individualism. The case of these two liberal thinkers shows fundamental difficulty in reconciliation between the ideas of democracy and free market. We could choose democracy accepting welfare state or choose free market solution and become unambiguous critics of democracy. Spencer was a forerunner of all later ‘neoliberal’ critics of welfare state. Mill’s opinion was halfway between laissez-faire liberalism and modern egalitarian liberalism. Democracy and equal voting rights became acceptable by mainstream economist only when they had abandoned the wage fund doctrine and other constructs of the classical political economy. Thus changes in the economic theory had a significant impact on the evolution of political liberalism.
Objectives
This article will attempt to analyse securitisation theory to explore the discursive features of cyber security, using a multi-actor approach that considers the role of state and non-state actors in the creation and management of cyber security discourses.
Material and methods
The paper aims to assess the contribution of securitization theory to the understanding of both traditional and contemporary security policy issues. More specifically, it is an attempt to reflect on the identification of the challenges facing the modern state.
Results
Growing dependence on digital technology is inevitable, making the future more threatening than the present. Cyber technology is inherently vulnerable and thus impossible to fully secure. The call for "greater security" becomes justified because the more a country depends on cyber technology, the more inevitable cyber threats become. They are consistently treated by government circles as a security challenge, meaning that the problem is presented as an existential threat, requiring emergency measures and justifying action beyond the normal bounds of political procedure.
Conclusions
As some conclusion and conclusion, it is worth reiterating observations about the multi-stakeholder nature of cyber security and observations about the co-creation of this security by a wide range of actors representing different and in some cases conflicting interests. It can be argued that there is no single discourse on cyber security or cyber threats, and it is simplistic to assume that there is even a single discourse that represents every securitization actor, be it government or the private sector. This diversity explains why the assumption and logic of securitization theory can only apply to some, but not all, cyber security discourses.
Rimsha Khalid, Mohsin Raza, Anusara Sawangchai
et al.
Entrepreneurship is one of the growing trends, and studies are focusing on it generally. However, this study is mainly focused on women’s entrepreneurship. This study intends to measure the impact of work-family interference, socio-cultural support, access to finance entrepreneurial skills, and legal constraints on women’s entrepreneurial involvement through the mediation of self-leadership in the hospitality and tourism sector. This study has chosen a quantitative approach, collecting data through surveys. The snowball sampling method was used for data collection from women of Pakistan, and data was analyzed through the PLS-SEM method. The result of the present study affirms that work-family interference, social and cultural support, and entrepreneurial skills are significantly associated with women’s entrepreneurial involvement other than access to finance and legal constraints. Moreover, self-leadership significantly mediates between (work-family interference, socio-cultural support, and access to finance) and women’s entrepreneurial involvement except for entrepreneurial skills and legal constraints. The present study’s findings affirm that formal or informal institutions influence women’s entrepreneurial involvement. This study may help women entrepreneurs understand the factors and policymakers to make policies for women entrepreneurs in the hospitality sector.
Despite widespread recognition of an emergent politics of data in our midst, we strikingly lack a political theory of data. We readily acknowledge the presence of data across our political lives, but we often do not know how to conceptualize the politics of all those data points—the forms of power they constitute and the kinds of political subjects they implicate. Recent work in numerous academic disciplines is evidence of the first steps toward a political theory of data. This article maps some limits of this emergent literature with an eye to enriching its theoretical range. The literature on data politics, both within political theory and elsewhere, has thus far focused almost exclusively on the algorithm. This article locates a further dimension of data politics in the work of formatting technology or, more simply, formats. Formats are simultaneously conceptual and technical in the ways they define what can even count as data, and by extension who can count as data and how they can count. A focus on formats is of theoretical value because it provides a bridge between work on the conceptual contours of categories and the technology-centric literature on algorithms that tends to ignore the more conceptual dimensions of data technology. The political insight enabled by format theory is shown in the context of an extended interrogation of the politics of racialized redlining.
This article aims to elucidate the relationship between the ideas of state, constitution, and Parliament in the Spanish constitutional debate of 1931. It argues that Members of Parliament (MPs) made a valuable contribution when understanding the relevance of this interrelation in terms of political philosophy and legal theory. From a methodological perspective, this study pays attention to the arguments of MPs in the course of the constitutional sessions which took place between August and December 1931. In doing so, it portrays the ideological differences of left-wing, centrist and right-wing parties in that constituent assembly. In the first section (“European influences on the Constitution of 1931”) the intellectual links with interwar trends of public law, administrative law and European constitutionalism are highlighted. The second section (“Constitution and Parliament according to Spanish representatives”), shows the meanings given to this nascent constitutional democracy by MPs. Despite their ideological differences they were in favour of strengthening Parliament and the Constitution as a prerequisite for safeguarding democracy. The conclusions resume the argumentative thread, that is to say, that the regime, a democratic republic, was understood by a large majority of MPs as the confluence of three conditions founded on doctrinal and conceptual exchanges from interwar European constitutionalism: the acknowledgement of parliamentary sovereignty, the legal and administrative revamping of institutions, and state intervention in the economy.
ABSTRACT: This article compares the protagonists’ identity constitution in the novels
Og sådan blev det (2013) [And so it turned out] by Maren Uthaug (2013) and Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese (2014). Indigenous identity is historically and theoretically framed by political discourses and postcolonial theory. Indigenous concepts of land and story, concepts of cultural memory, western postmodern subject philosophy, and Indigenous research methods serve as a basis to explain the characters’ success in constituting their individual
Indigenous identity within ethnically and culturally diverse communities while finding
ways of mutual understanding, bridging the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
People. The novels suggest visionary but realistic ways of constituting Indigenous
identity in transcultural communities and convey ethical values fundamental to all
human beings—regardless of ethnicity and culture.
History of Northern Europe. Scandinavia, Language and Literature
Neluana Leuz de Oliveira Ferragini, Érica Danielle Silva
O presente trabalho tem por objetivo verificar os modos de identificação docente, a fim de compreender a multiplicidade de vozes que constituem a construção do ser-professor em práticas de formação inicial de um curso de Letras, habilitação única em Língua Portuguesa. A investigação decorre, em especial, da análise dos processos teórico-práticos pelos quais os acadêmicos do curso passam e da perspectiva político e sociocultural em que estão inseridos e que os permitem, ou não, construir uma identidade docente. Isso posto, o estudo em tela decorre de uma investigação qualitativa-intrepretativista, construído pela análise de documentos oficiais e das respostas dada a um questionário aplicado na disciplina Metodologia do Ensino de Língua Portuguesa I aos alunos do terceiro ano de Letras-Português. O texto é construído a partir de três eixos: a) o modo como os documentos oficiais e teóricos compreendem a identidade profissional de Letras; b) a abordagem dessa temática pelo Projeto Político pedagógico do curso e c) as formas de identificação dos próprios acadêmicos. A apreciação dos dados e a ponderação da análise realizada nos permite visualizar que professores estamos formando, abrindo espaço para reflexões e estudos futuros e encaminhamentos mais adequados às necessidades nos componentes curriculares.
Palavras-chave: Formação profissional. Professor de Língua Portuguesa. Identidade docente.
About being teacher: identification modes of teaching practice by pre-service portuguese teachers
Abstract
The present work aims to verify the identification modes of teaching practice in order to understand the multiplicity of voices that constitute the construction of being teacher in practices of initial formation of a Letter’s course, single qualification in Portuguese Language. The investigation derives especially from the analysis of theory-practice processes experienced by the undergraduate students and from the political and sociocultural perspective in which they are inserted and which allows them, or not, to build up a teacher identity. That being said, this study is characterized as a qualitative-interpretative research, originated from the analysis of official prescriptive documents and from the answers given to a questionnaire run in the discipline of Portuguese Teaching Methodology I to students enrolled in the third grade of the Letters course. The text is structured in three axes: a) the way official documents understand the professional Letters’ identity; b) the approach to this theme by the course’s Political Pedagogical Guidelines and c) the self-identification modes presented by the undergraduate students. The data assessment and the analysis weighting help to visualize the type of teachers we are preparing, opening spaces for reflection, future studies and more accurate actions towards the necessities present in the curriculum components.
Key-words: Teacher qualification. Portuguese Language Teacher. Teacher identity.
Sobre Ser-Profesor: modos de identificación de la práctica docente por profesores de lengua portuguesa en formación
Resumen
El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo verificar los modos de identificación docente, a fin de comprender la multiplicidad de voces que constituyen la construcción del Ser-Profesor en prácticas de formación inicial de un Curso de Letras, habilitación única en portugués. La investigación considera especialmente el análisis de los procesos teórico-prácticos por los cuales los académicos del curso pasan, así como la perspectiva política y sociocultural en la que están incluidos, lo que les permite o no, construir una identidad docente. Tras abordar todo, el estudio se basa en una investigación cualitativa e interpretativa teniendo en cuenta análisis de documentos oficiales y respuestas a un cuestionario aplicado en la asignatura de Metodología de la Enseñanza de Lengua Portuguesa I a los alumnos del tercer año de Letras-Portugués. El texto tiene tres ejes temáticos: a) la manera como los documentos oficiales y teóricos entienden la identidad profesional de Letras; b) el enfoque de esa temática según el Proyecto Político Pedagógico del curso y c) las maneras con que los estudiantes se identifican a sí mismos. La apreciación de los datos y la ponderación del análisis realizada nos permiten visualizar qué profesores estamos formando, abriendo espacio para reflexiones, estudios futuros y orientaciones más adecuadas a las necesidades de los componentes curriculares.
Palabras-clave: Formación profesional. Profesor de Lengua Portuguesa. Identidad docente.
З’ясовано, що зайнятість населення є важливим показником соціального прогресу суспільства. Зайнятість населення можна розглядати як сукупністю відносин, пов’язаних із забезпеченням працездатного населення робочими місцями, як безпосередньо процес забезпечення робочими місцями та як відносну категорію, тобто ступінь участі працездатного населення в суспільній праці, яка приносить дохід. Установлено, що з розвитком ринкової економіки і загострення проблем зайнятості у світовій економіці в умовах НТР нетипові форми зайнятості витісняють стандартну зайнятість. Визначено, що на рівень зайнятості впливають як макроекономічні чинники (соціально-економічний устрій, політика держави), так і чинники, які залежать від певного способу, мети форми організації виробництва, рівня розвитку продуктивних сил. Зазначено, що винагорода праці виступає однією з важливих передумов ефективної зайнятості людини. При цьому ефективною може визнаватися зайнятість, яка забезпечує ефективність використання наявних трудових ресурсів та їх найбільш повне залучення у процесі суспільного виробництва, забезпечуючи максимальне задоволення особистих і суспільних потреб населення.
Education (General), Theory and practice of education
This paper examines the question about the nature of the US hegemony in the international system during the Cold War. In this paper I will analyze the US hegemonic model during the Cold War, by arguing that the United States promoted and exerted an inclusive hegemony. As theoretical basis for hegemony I will use a mix of theories on hegemony (Robert Gilpin and Antonio Gramsci) and new institutional economics (Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson).
Object. Modern Western European society to a large extent develops on the basis of theoretical views and practice of corporatism. The study of the origins of the theory and experience of corporate construction is important for understanding the features of the modern stage and the future development of the region. Corporatism, the new “corporate economy” in the national economic science has not yet become the subject of independent research. The purpose of the study is to determine the factors that contributed to the development of corporatist concepts, developed in the “neo-corporatism” theory, in the analysis of the historical experience of the use of corporatist practices, in the consideration of manifestations of this concept in the current thought and activities of Western European countries. Methodology. The study is based on the dialectical approach using historical-genetic, system-structural and historical-typological methods. Results. Corporatism organically combined religious and secular views. In the 1920s-1930s, a number of European States set the goal of building a corporate state. During this period, corporatism was seen as an alternative to Soviet socialism and Western European liberalism. In the middle of the twentieth-century interest in corporatism revived, there is a new “neo-corporatist” theoretical and practical reality. As history shows, Western Europe, corporatism is never left out of the political and economic life. Summary. Modern corporatism is not interested in the ideas of social Christianity, it is not associated with the ideology of fascist “corporatism”. Today, as an instrument of reconciliation of different social interests, it is organically integrated into the system of public administration, thus allowing balanced socio-economic policy, to have a positive impact on economic growth, to ensure a stable level of employment and income distribution. But this social model has shortcomings. In particular, it is unable to respond quickly and adequately to the need for structural adjustment of the economy, to increase requirements for management and labor. Negative aspects are the decrease in flexibility and openness towards innovation and the opacity of decision-making.
Raquel de Lima Mendes, Ivan da Costa Alemão Ferreira
This study aims to analyze the main routes, especially from the Marcelo Neves vision in his book “Between Themis and Leviathan: a difficult relationship”, which can be made and considered negative for the effective realization of the democratic rule of law in modernity peripheral. This is because, relate primarily to the limits to self-reference of political and legal systems. Luhmann and Habermas’s theories will be analyzed, made in central modernity of countries and their supposed applicability in modern peripheral countries. The study proposes a vision beyond the Marcelo Neves theory, because, it will address the context of the operation “Lava Jato”.
Law in general. Comparative and uniform law. Jurisprudence, Political science (General)
José Galdino Barreto Soares, Cleber Ori Cuti Martins
This article analyzes the perceptions of the politicalof the students of two schools in Santa Maria -RS, one public and one private. In theoretical terms, two approaches that integrate Democratic Theory, one that understands Democracy as a process of competition for the vote among political leaderships, are taken into account, where less-verticalized and more pluralistic decisions are related to the positive perception of politics; and another, on the other hand, argues that the more horizontal participation tends to engender greater involvement with policy issues. In methodological terms, questionnaires were applied, forming a quantitative non-probalistic sample. The data indicate that private school and public school students have a positive perception of politics and governments not reversed in participatory interests. With this, the theoretical assumption that relates the positive perception of politics with a greater involvement and participation was not verified in this study.
The papers discusses the views of Slobodan Jovanović (1869-1958) on several
phenomena of Serbia’s political and institutional development in the hundred
years between the First Serbian Uprising in 1804 and the fall of the
Obrenović dynasty in 1903, and on different political systems, looking at the
sources on which his thought drew upon, the ideas he was guided by and the
theoretical framework of his legal and socio-political thinking. His major
work, a legal theory of the state, as most of his other writings, was his own
contribution to what he held to be a national mission, the building of a
modern state based on the rule of law.
The present paper traces the development in inflation in Italy throughout the period following WWII, with particular emphasis on its relation to labour costs, productivity and import prices. Since the sliding scale mechanism has been operating at full power during the whole of the seventies, and especially in the second half of the decade, owning to the increased frequency of both domestic and imported destabilising pressures, this period is analysed in greater detail. The conclusions indicate that the sliding scale has played an important role in aggravating inflationary pressures during that period.
JEL: E31, N14