Search results for "Fin"

People who run African affairs: staffing and recruitment in the African Union Commission

2020

AbstractThis study contributes to the field of International Public Administration (IPA) and the emerging area of Informal International Relations (IIR) by examining the politics of staffing and recruitment of the African Union Commission (AUC). Although the AUC has become a major political player in international affairs, there is a dearth of knowledge about the civil servants who work for the AUC and who run this paramount pan-African executive body. To address the void, this paper draws on a survey of 137 AUC staff, archival studies and interviews to explore recruitment of AUC staff. Combining organisational theory and informality as analytical lenses, the study demonstrates that, first,…

The content and potential of the right to social assistance in light of Article 13 of the European Social Charter

2020

This article explores the current development of the right to social assistance as well as its potential for improving income support policies. Focusing on Article 13 of the European Social Charter (ESC), it aims to shed light on the content of such provision by identifying a list of comprehensive defining standards from the monitoring activity conducted by the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR). Secondly, it asks whether the right can effectively enhance access to social assistance in practice by studying the implementation of the right in two national cases, the UK and Spain. The article concludes that Article 13 ESC imposes clear obligations on States Parties regarding aspects o…

Internal coordination of social security in Italy

2019

This contribution deals with the internal coordination of health care, long-term social care and social assistance schemes – covered by EU regulation no. 883/2004 – in Italy after the constitutional reform enacted in 2001, which significantly decentralised legislative and administrative machinery by strengthening the prerogatives of the Regions, especially in terms of organisation and funding of the services. This article seeks to demonstrate that, although the decentralisation of health care and long-term social care has been accompanied by mechanisms of internal coordination among the Regions (particularly in the field of inter-regional mobility), regional social assistance schemes provi…

Does Patriotic Vigilance Make Any Sense in the Transnational Arena? A Cosmopolitan Alternative to the Globalization Paradox

2017

We address the issue of the relevance in the transnational arena of the concept of patriotic vigilance, as expressed by French Minister Arnaud Montebourg in 2014. Firstly, we examine the globalization paradox with its underpinnings in the literature and its illustration through the recent Alstom saga. Secondly, we review the idea of a paradigm shift in world monetary affairs signaled by the recent crisis. Finally, drawing on Kant’s ideas on cosmopolitism, we sketch out an alternative to the globalization paradox.

Social interaction in management group meetings: a case study of Finnish hospital.

2016

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of management group meetings (MGMs) in hospital organization by examining the social interaction in these meetings. Design/methodology/approach – This case study approaches social interaction from a structuration point of view. Social network analysis and qualitative content analysis are applied. Findings – The findings show that MGMs are mainly forums for information sharing. Meetings are not held for problem solving or decision making, and operational coordinating is limited. Meeting interaction is very much focused on the chair, and most of the discussion takes place between the chair and one other member, not between members…

Another "French paradox": explaining why interest rates to microenterprises dit not increase with the change in French usury legislation

2015

Conventional wisdom indicates that the growth of credit may not materialize if credit rates remain capped by usury laws, as had long been the case in France. France therefore abolished usury ceilings on loans to microenterprise in an effort to increase financing for microentrepreneurs. This should have led to an increase in interest rates and increase in microcredit. However, we do not find any increase in interest rates and this is therefore a paradox. The paper provides a brief literature review and the salient features of the legislative changes in France. It follows this up with a presentation of interest rate movements. The discussion of possible explanations of the paradox includes cl…

Environmental problems and Geographic education. A case study: Learning about the climate and landscape in Ontinyent (Spain)

2021

AbstractCultural perceptions of the environment bring us back to elements and factors guided by “natural” cause-effect principles. It seems that academic education has had little effect on the manner and results of learning about changes in the local landscape, especially as regards rational explanations. There is considerable difficulty relating academic concepts about the climate to transformations in the environmental landscape. Teaching tasks are mediatized due to the use of rigorous and precise concepts which facilitate functional and satisfactory learning. This is the objective of the research this article aims to undertake, for which we have chosen the case of Ontinyent (Spain). This…

Anti-Semitism and Progressive Era Social Science. The case of John R. Commons

2016

This paper explores Common’s views toward Jews in order to assess whether his published writings contain assertion that today would be stigmatized as anti-Semitic. The evidence we provide shows that Commons’ racial characterization of Jews was framed within a broad and indiscriminate xenophobic framework. With other leading Progressive Era social scientists, in fact, Commons shared the idea that the new immigration from Eastern and southern Europe would increase competition in the labor market, drive down wages, and lead Anglo-Saxon men and women to have fewer children, since they would not want them to compete with those who survive on less. Within this general xenophobic context, Commons …

Intercultural Communication Study in Finland

2017

Documenting the indignation: Responses to the 2008 financial crisis in contemporary Spanish cinema

2017

ABSTRACTThe aim of this article is to analyze two Spanish documentary films that reflect on the 2008 financial crisis in Spain, Mercado de futuros (Mercedes Alvarez, 2011) and No estamos solos (Pere Joan Ventura, 2015). These movies could be marked as political for their choice of a collective protagonist and for dealing with the issues of inequality with the purpose of appealing to mobilization and resistance to the neoliberal Western agenda that have provoked social cutbacks after the 2008 crisis. Mercedes Alvarez and Pere Joan Ventura follow the tradition of political documentaries traced by filmmakers such as Dziga Vertov, Joris Ivens, Pere Portabella, and Basilio Martin Patino and open…