Hasil untuk "Political Science"

Addeo Felice, Fruncillo Domenico, Maddaloni Domenico

Recent changes in European countries have stimulated the search for multilevel policy interventions to restore citizens’ trust and engagement, focusing specifically on democratic innovations. Our paper presents the results of a survey conducted in 2025 as part of the Horizon TRUEDEM project, focusing on the views of civil society organisations’ leaders and activists on the Italian case. Despite positive experiences, such as local initiatives and referendums, the paper highlights the crisis of trust weighing on democratic participation in Italy, testified by rising abstention rates and disaffection with institutions. By analysing the opinions that emerged in focus groups, we identify significant differences between the various stakeholders and propose concrete actions to revitalise democratic practices, including the need for civic education and the creation of spaces for dialogue. The paper highlights the complexity of the interactions between democratic innovations and political trust in Italy and proposes an integration of perspectives from different levels of civil society to address the current crisis.

Clarisa Eugenia Pedrotti

La presencia de copistas musicales en instituciones religiosas puede documentarse desde tiempos medievales. El relevamiento de sus rasgos caligráficos particulares ha sido utilizado en función de datar las obras, indicar su procedencia y posibles vías de circulación. En este artículo propongo analizar la figura de los copistas de música de instituciones religiosas en Córdoba (Argentina), durante el siglo XIX, a la luz del concepto de “passeurs culturels”, postulado por Ares Queija y Gruzinski (1997), que posibilita dotar de espesor teórico al conocimiento de la labor de estos individuos. El análisis estará enfocado en el perfil social de los copistas y su intervención como “mediadores” en el complejo entramado que presentaron las prácticas culturales en su conjunto –y musicales en particular– en un contexto urbano, en las estrategias de participación y la visibilización que les otorgó el oficio de músicos-copistas.

Shumilin, A.I.

The article examines reasons for the increased «concern» of the states of the Middle East about what is happening around Ukraine. At the official level, they declare their neutrality and noninterference in the conflict, although some of them supply military equipment and ammunition to one of the warring parties. Under the current conditions, the Middle Eastern states are primarily concerned about their own security to a much greater extent than the countries of other regions, since over the past decades, the growth of tension between the USSR/Russia and the West has often been directly projected onto the Middle East, leading to a surge of confrontation between its main players. The concern of the states of the region with what is happening around Ukraine is connected not only with fears that a European war could «revive» muted conflicts in Syria, Libya, Yemen, increase tension in the Persian Gulf, but also with their involvement in global processes both in the sphere of economy and politics. For example, the latest moves by oil-exporting countries to protect their interests in the energy market are often interpreted in the West as «assistance to Russia». This forces some countries in the region to emphasize their neutrality with political gestures – such as voting in international organizations against the Russian Federation. The elites of a number of Arab states in these conditions are trying to offer intermediary services to Russia and Ukraine. Below we consider the reasons for such an approach to the crisis in Europe by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Sudhan Rackimuthu, Kapil Narain, Arush Lal et al.

Abstract Background With large swathes of the world’s population—majority clustered in low- and middle-income countries—still yet to receive the minimum of two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine; The need to address the failures of international solidarity to equitably distribute COVID-19 vaccines is now more urgent than ever to help curb the pandemic and prevent future variants. However, many high-income countries have adopted a “me first” approach, proceeding to offer COVID-19 booster doses to their entire populations, including those at least risk of severe illness, whilst the rest of the world is left unvaccinated or partially vaccinated with one dose for even their most vulnerable communities. Main body COVID-19 vaccine inequity places the health of the global population at risk and exacerbates socio-economic repercussions, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Initiatives launched to combat vaccine inequity such as the Fair Allocation Framework for the COVID-19 Vaccines (COVAX) have been unsuccessful as several governments, primarily from high-income countries, have scaled down their contributions to the initiative. Furthermore, COVAX has not seriously engaged with the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Health Systems Connector, as was originally intended, leading to crucial health systems components critical to vaccine delivery to be overlooked. Several strategies can be employed to help achieve the desired global immunization goals, such as Intellectual Property waivers, increased donations, and activation of new COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing hubs. In addition, continued advocacy for vaccine equity by all involved and affected stakeholders, as well as critical amendments to existing or upcoming legislation and funding mechanisms will help address the shortcomings of current inequitable vaccine distribution. Conclusions Global solidarity and collective action through pandemic governance mechanisms are urgently needed to ensure vaccine equity. These interventions are vital to rapidly mitigate ongoing health and humanitarian crises and ultimately curb the pandemic, sooner rather than later.

Maria Bevz

This paper aims to highlight some issues, challenges and trends caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the drug scene and the system of drug prevention in Ukraine. This article is based on the official statistics, available qualitative and quantitative studies conducted by the Institute for Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatric Examination and Drug Monitoring of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine (Ukrainian National Focal Point), the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and Ukrainian researchers. Of course, some studies are not representative of the general population; however, they give some information on the drug scene in Ukraine during the pandemic. The data used in the article were collected mainly in 2019–2020. Every actor on the drug scene had to adapt to the new reality caused by anti-pandemic measures. Drug sellers proposed “stable work” during lockdown; drug dealers dropped ordered substances closer to the customer’s place. At the same time, OST facilities implemented home-treatment, and many private facilities appeared. OST patients misused methadone and sold it on the illicit market, while drug users started to find substitutes of their main drug and notably increased drug-related deaths.

Eri Bertsou

Abstract Increasing political distrust has become a commonplace observational remark across many established democracies, and it is often used to explain current political phenomena. In contrast to most scholarship that focuses solely on the concept of trust and leaves distrust untheorized, this article makes a contribution by analysing political distrust. It argues that citizen distrust of government and political institutions poses a threat for democratic politics and clarifies the relationship between the distrust observed in established democracies and classical ‘liberal distrust’, which is considered beneficial for democracy. Further, it addresses the relationship between trust and distrust, identifying a series of functional asymmetries between the two concepts, with important implications for theoretical and empirical work in political science. The article suggests that a conceptualization of political distrust based on evaluations of incompetence, unethical conduct and incongruent interests can provide a fruitful ground for future research that aims to understand the causes, consequences, and potential remedies for political distrust.

Sandra Botero

Research on the determinants of institutional trust in courts that are part of transitional justice frameworks is scarce. This article relies on experimental evidence to explore whether features of the case and the ruling play a role in citizens’ attitudes towards the Justicia Especial para la Paz, Colombia’s transitional justice tribunal. I evaluate whether the profile of the accused and whether or not he is sentenced to the most lenient of restorative justice measures have an effect on trust. I find that support for the decision is lower for restorative sentences than for more punitive sentences, and that whether or not the acussed was a former guerrilla combatant or a member of the military does not influence evaluations. This research contributes to our understanding of how citizens in countries dealing with the aftermath of violence perceive the institutions devised to adjudicate on the atrocities of conflict.

Revista Migraciones

Anton Miglo

This article analyzes the patterns of financing for entrepreneurial firms in Canada. We compare the predictions of major theories of entrepreneurial finance and some more recent ideas (e.g., crowdfunding-related ideas/theories) with empirical evidence. Regression and correlation analyses were used to analyze the connections between firms’ financing choices (e.g., debt/equity ratio) and different variables such as firm age, firm owner origin, and the fraction of intangibles assets. We found strong evidence that the financing choices of entrepreneurial firms in Canada are consistent with flexibility theory and credit rationing theory. We did not find evidence that taxes play a significant role in explaining these choices. We also found that the likelihood of using crowdfunding is consistent with local bias ideas and internet access. We also provide an overview of literature related to entrepreneurial financing in Canada and discuss its major challenges and directions for future research.

Zepeng Gong, Zepeng Gong, Ziqiang Han et al.

The cyberspace plays an important role in improving the quality, equity, and efficiency of health services. Studying people's adoption of online health services, such as online health consultation services (OHCS) can benefit both industry and policy in the health service sector. This paper investigates influencing factors and paths of people's intention of adopting OHCS by employing the extended valence framework, with our new contribution of integrating subjective norm and offline habit into the model. Five hundred forty-three university students participated in the survey. Structural equation models and Sobel-Goodman tests were applied to test the models. The results show that subjective norm (β = 0.077, p = 0.041), trust in providers (β = 0.194, p = 0.002) and perceived benefit (β = 0.463, p < 0.001) positively affect the intention to adopt OHCS, while offline habit (β = −0.111, p = 0.026) has a negative effect. However, the association of perceived risk (β = −0.062, p = 0.315) and adoption is not supported. Moreover, trust in providers plays a mediating role between subjective norm and the intention of adopting, while perceived benefit mediates the relationship between trust in providers and the intention of adopting. This study highlights the importance of trust, subjective norm, perceived benefit, and persisting habits in promoting the adoption of OHCS.

Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy

Explaining what are the practicalities and the stakes of conducting fieldwork on illegal drug crop production matters since it is only through fieldwork that empirical data can be gathered. It is all the more necessary since this kind of research is often hindered, often because of preconceived ideas, by the difficulties and dangers that are inherent to conducting fieldwork on illegal drug production. This text delves into the conduct of this type of fieldwork by focusing on what it implies in terms of preparation, access to the field, and research in the field, without denying what the hazards and risks are. It addresses the methodological issues, strategies and techniques, that allow to prepare and conduct such a research, down to the ethical imperatives of the post-fieldwork stages.

Piotr Dutkewicz, Yu M Pochta, A P Kochetkov et al.

March 3, 2017 the Department of comparative politics, faculty of Humanities and social sciences held an international “Round-table” conference “The new US administration: perspectives for Russia”, which discussed issues related to the functioning of the new U.S. Administration after the election of Donald Trump.

Wilhelm Kavli

Fortjener det tyrkiske demokratiet å bli holdt frem som et eksempel til etterfølgelse for andre muslimske stater? Og hvor relevant er nasjonens muslimske identitet for videre demokratisering i Tyrkia i dag?

article Editorial

ICTSD, FAO, AND EAGC DIALOGUE, Nairobi

Dejan Đurđević

Alexandra Lewis

<p><span><em>Recent months have seen a seeming escalation in the international threat posed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a terrorist network that has taken Yemen as its regional base of operations. In light of recent attacks, and resulting embassy closures, Yemen is a rising priority in the Western-led War on Terror. However, this has resulted in a side-lining of other security threats in Yemen, which may cause serious challenges to the authority of the Yemeni Government. In reality, the role of AQAP has been heavily manipulated throughout Yemen&rsquo;s contemporary history: this was most evident during the 2011 Arab Spring, when both sides in the conflict claimed that Al Qaeda operatives were working with members of the other. Two years later, the true nature of the AQAP threat in Yemen is rarely questioned by external observers, yet remains largely shrouded in mystery. There is a need for more critical approaches to the AQAP challenges, which take the broader context of Yemeni security into account.</em></span></p><div><span><em><br /></em></span></div>

Reza Aghaee, Milad Aghaee, Asghar Aghaee

This study aims to consider the relationships between job fatigue, organizational citizenship behavior and organizational atmosphere. The evaluation of each variable is a kind of decision making problem which has systematic transaction between variables. So, Decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) is suitable for defining the cause and effect relationships between variables. We can use this method as a way for managing interdependencies in a set of variable. This study has applied the ideas of 10 experts and specialist of human resource management in Iran-Khodro Diesel. The results showed that job fatigue effects on organizational citizenship and organizational atmosphere, organizational atmosphere effects on job fatigue and organizational citizenship behavior, organizational culture effects on job fatigue, organizational citizenship behavior and organizational atmosphere. On the other hand, organizational citizenship behavior is the most impressible and organizational culture is the most effective variables.

K. Wald, Clyde Wilcox

Marijke Breuning, Kathryn Sanders

G. Almond