Search results for "Democracy."

Reassessing British Conservative Euroscepticism as A Case of Party (Mis)Management

2015

Much has already been written about internal party divisions and European integration (Hix and Lord 1997; Conti 2007; Szczerbiak and Taggart 2008; Conti 2014), with the example of the British Conservative Party of the 1990s often used as a textbook case of a mainstream government party expressing some forms of opposition to European integration. In a wider comparative framework, the party can also be located within a Eurosceptic drift across the centre-right in the EU (Best 2012, p. 140). The case of the British Conservative Party is all the more relevant as the history of European integration shows how party families on the centre-right initially played an active part in the setting up of …

The Determinants of the Volatility of Fiscal Policy Discretion

2014

We investigate the determinants of the volatility of fiscal policy discretion. Using a linear dynamic panel dataset model for 104 countries from 1980 to 2006 and a system-GMM estimator,we find that more government instability, less democracy and presidentialist systems increase the volatility of the discretionary component of fiscal policy. Additionally, we show that countries with a larger size, a smaller degree of financial openness, and a stable exchange rate system are more insured against the uncertainty about the conduct of fiscal policy. Our results are robust to various regional dummy variables, diferent sub-sets of countries and the presence of high inflation and crisis episodes.

Political, Institutional, and Economic Factors Underlying Deficit Volatility

2013

It is well known that fiscal policy can counter-cyclically smooth out the effect of unexpected shocks and public deficit volatility may reflect the (optimal) policy response to them. However, the welfare losses associated to fiscal instability are also an important challenge for many countries, as it typically implies an inefficient allocation of resources, higher sovereign risk premium and an inadequate provision of public services. In this paper, we empirically analyze the political, institutional, and economic sources of public deficit volatility. Using the system-generalized method-of-moments (GMM) estimator for linear dynamic panel data models and a sample of 125 countries analyzed fro…

Professor Dr Med Oskar Fehr: the fate of an outstanding German-Jewish ophthalmologist: an early contributor to cornea and external disease.

2014

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to recount the immense and abrupt change in the private and professional life of a prominent German-Jewish ophthalmologist in the transition from democracy to dictatorship in Germany during the first half of the 20th century. METHODS This involves a Retrospective analysis of Fehr's clinical and scientific work as the first assistant of Julius Hirschberg's world-famous eye clinic in Berlin; evaluation of Fehr's successful tenure as a chair of Virchow's Eye Hospital; the catastrophic influence of Hitler's seizure of power on the private and professional lives of German-Jewish physicians; and an analysis of Fehr's personal and professional will to continue the…

Federalism and Party Democracy in West Germany

2011

According to Gerhard Lehmbruch, there is a growing inconsistency in West Germany between the principles of a federal polity and party democracy, primarily because the former relies on bargaining, and the latter relies on majority rule as a mechanism of conflict regulation. However, comparative analyses have shown that federalism and party competition are not incompatible. Generally, federal structures are neither detrimental nor conducive to the recruitment function of parties. Competence and experience as a parliamentary leader or as a specialist is the most essential precondition for advancement to national executive positions. The integrative capacities of political parties may even be s…

Komunikācija: Kultūras un vēstures diskurss

2005

Democracy and Governance in Public Services: The Case of Residential Care in Lithuania

2016

Prijelaz u 21. stoljeće obilježio je uspon formalne demokracije u Litvi. Klasična demokracija koju se uglavnom poima putem izbora i sudjelovanja građana u političkim procesima proširila se na više instrumenata i na više razina. Građani sada aktivno sudjeluju u odlučivanju na svim razinama: na makro razini kao dio izbornog tijela, kao i na mikro razini kao korisnici javnih usluga. Cilj je ovog rada analizirati proces demokratizacije u Litvi iz perspektive rezidencijalne skrbi i sudjelovanja njezinih korisnika. Empirijski dio rada donosi analizu rezultata sociološkog istraživanja o institucijama rezidencijalne skrbi koja pokazuje koliki je značaj sudjelovanja i osnaživanja u organiziranju soc…

Crisis del Estado Social en Europa: efectos en la generación del constitucionalismo social en América Latina

2018

Crisis del Estado Social en Europa: efectos en la generación del constitucionalismo social en América Latina
 
 Resumen: En Europa el Estado social se está erosionando frente a una sociedad que por un lado está perdiendo la motivación, mientras que por otro intenta resistir. Fruto de la debilidad de las disposiciones del constitucionalismo social, el modelo europeo de Estado social experimenta un proceso de transformación del que puede salir absolutamente erosionado, o puede superarse a sí mismo a través de más democracia, una Constitución más normativa y la plena exigibilidad de los derechos sociales. En América Latina, la falta histórica de experimentación plena del Estado socia…

Innovations, Reinvented Politics and Representative Democracy

2020

"This volume focuses on the issue of change in democratic politics in terms of experimental or actual innovations introduced either within political parties or outside the party system, involving citizen participation and mobilization (...)"

Educación ambiental y para la sostenibilidad en las áreas protegidas

2018

Se ha realizado un análisis del proceso de incorporación de la Educación Ambiental (E.A) en las unidades de conservación en Brasil. Según la Política Nacional de Educación Ambiental (Brasil, Ley 9.795/1999, de 27 de abril), la E.A debe estar incorporada en todos los niveles y modalidades de la educación formal, en el ámbito de los currículos de las instituciones de enseñanza, como una práctica educativa integrada, continua y permanente (Artículo 10).  Al analizar las publicaciones sobre la E.A en las Unidades de Conservación (UCs) se observa que el debate está centrado en la Educación Ambiental no formal, buscando sensibilizar a la comunidad para la formación de los consejos de gestión ambi…