Search results for "Government"
showing 10 items of 1098 documents
Representative bureaucracy and seconded national government officials in the European Commission
2015
The bureaucratic arms of modern international organizations increasingly consist of staff with ambiguous organizational affiliations. This article analyses the implications of this trend from the perspective of representative bureaucracy – using seconded national experts (SNEs) in the European Commission (Commission) as the empirical laboratory. Using a variety of datasets, we unveil Commission SNEs' profiles (to assess their passive representativeness) and link these profiles to their role perceptions (to evaluate their potential for active representation). This illustrates that Commission SNEs' background characteristics do not match those of their constituent population (i.e. the EU27 po…
Religion and Social Integration in France
2013
On some measures, France has the most integrated (and secularised) Muslim population in Europe. For example, attitude research shows that French Muslims share values closer to those of their non-Muslim neighbours than in other European countries (Connor 2010 391). While official sources of data are limited as the French government does not collect statistics organised by religion, ethnicity or any other form of collective identity, a number of private and international surveys have been carried out. Thus, the European Values Survey (2002–6 data) shows that rates of religious observance for Muslims in France are closer to those amongst the majority population than in either Britain or the Ne…
RISK ASSESSMENT IN ROMANIA: FROM LEGISLATION TO NEEDS AND POSSIBILITIES
2006
Ecological risk assessment (ERA) is an integral part of the environmental policy assumed by the Romanian Government, according to the standards of the European Union, to which our country hopes to be admitted in 2007. Even though very difficult, the negotiations chapter on environment protection was closed not long ago, the norms the Government has passed, inspired by the Community ones, being quite convincing. The paper presents the general ERA national policy framework, as well as some cases of where human health and ERA have been or should be applied: Baia Mare cyanide spill; Copsa Mica area, where the old pollution with Pb and Cd encompasses more than 40 km 2 , with high risks for popul…
Madagascar's independence jubilee: a nation's holiday in times of crisis
2013
The fiftieth anniversary of Madagascar's independence in 2010 took place in the midst of political crisis. The transitory government staged large public parties to mark the Jubilee. Despite a public discussion about legitimacy and justification of this fact, the national holiday was lavishly celebrated. In Madagascar, Independence Day is also an important family event and emphasis was put on private celebrations including family feasts and reunions. As a result, it enhanced the participants' emotional attachment to their personal and local face-to-face milieu. This article asks how the golden jubilee was celebrated against a backdrop of political illegitimacy. I contrast official state-led …
The COVID‐19 pandemic and government responses: A gender perspective on differences in public opinion
2021
Abstract Objective The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis has led to shutdowns of the cultural, associational, and economic life in many parts of the world and had a severe impact on gender relations in many societies. This study engages with gender differences in public support of severe infringements of personal and economic freedoms. Methods We use data from an original survey conducted by CINT in the United States and Germany in June 2020. Descriptive statistics both aggregated for the two countries and then split by country as well as multinomial logistic regression analyses gauge gender differences in support of COVID-19 related confinement measures. Results Men and wome…
From Cottesloe (1961) to Trondheim (2016): The journey of the Dutch Reformed Church back into the ecumenical family of the World Council of Churches
2018
This article presents an analysis of the journey of the Dutch Reformed Church (South Africa) back into the ecumenical fellowship of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The first part contains a brief historical review of the relationships between the WCC and the Dutch Reformed Church family, underlining the fact that the Dutch Reformed Church family in South Africa is a founding member of WCC and that it was never excluded from WCC fellowship; rather, this church itself resigned membership in the WCC after the Cottesloe Consultation (1961) at the pressure of the South African government of that time. The last part presents in detail the process of the readmission of the Dutch Reformed Chur…
The usage of digital marketing channels in SMEs
2015
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the utilization and goals of digital marketing, and examines factors that influence the adoption and use of digital marketing channels in SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – The data comprises semi-structured theme interviews in SMEs among 16 managers and 421 survey respondents in Central Finland. Findings – The results of this study reveal that SMEs seem not use the full potential of the new digital tools, and so are not deriving benefit from the opportunities they provide. Furthermore, the results also raise the question of whether SMEs have understood the fundamental change in the nature of communication brought about by di…
The PSOE's deliberation and democratic innovations in turbulent times for the social democracy
2020
In the midst of the great recession, the Spanish Socialists Worker's Party (PSOE) lost the Government and experienced a process of instability while trying to reconnect with its electorate. The party's strategic response was embracing highly inclusive deliberations on both key institutional and policy issues that eventually sparked tensions and division. These internal debates led to the introduction and implementation of other democratic innovations, such as direct votes and consultations that substantially transformed key features of the PSOE's organizational model. The article discusses the main features and problems of such deliberations and democratic innovations, and their wider conse…
Ethnic or Socio-Economic Conflict? Political Interpretations of the Rwandan Crisis
1996
AbstractRather than trace the political history of the conflict in Rwanda I will focus on the different interpretations of the conflict by the actors involved. The external identification of the Tutsi refugees as 'Banyarwanda' corresponds with the ideology and self image of the RPF who were recruited among the refugees and their descendants who fled to Uganda during and after 1959. The RPF presents itself as a democratic organisation speaking for all Rwandans and its anti-ethnic stance is designed not only to appeal to Rwandans but also to a Western audience. The RPF's opponent, the Habyarimana government in Rwanda, presented itself as the heir of the 1959 'peasant revolution' which had rep…
Telepsychiatry in the Romanian Health System During COVID-19 Pandemic
2020
Abstract With the covid-19 pandemic and the related restrictions to reduce the spread of the virus, the interaction between doctor and patient has changed, especially in the outpatients department. Thus, the need for remote consultations also appeared in the Romanian health system, especially in the psychiatric one. Although in other countries psychiatrists were familiar with this form of consultation, for Romanian psychiatrists, who were not trained either in residency or during medical school, it was a great challenge. If until March 2020 the patient’s consultation had to be performed only in the physical presence of a doctor, once the COVID-19 pandemic appeared, the Romanian government a…