Search results for "POLITICAL ECONOMY"
showing 10 items of 637 documents
Is there a Nordic Approach to Questions of Democracy in Studies of Network Governance?
2009
Abstract The notion of democratic network governance has attracted growing interest among students of local and regional governance in all the Nordic countries since the 1990s. This article examines whether research in this area reflects a particular Nordic account of democracy. The Nordic countries have strong traditions of local autonomy, local networks and the inclusion of civil society associations. The authors find reason to expect that the Nordic traditions of local and regional governance may have stimulated a common approach to democracy questions with the features of an integrative perspective. At the same time, the differences in the history of democratisation are likely to have u…
Necesidad de gobernanza política: La esfera política como articuladora y garante en la teoría walzeriana
2014
Tomando como pretexto la teoría política de Walzer, el presente artículo pretende mostrar la necesidad de política en los tiempos y sociedades actuales. A pesar de lo depauperada y defenestrada que ésta pudiera parecer, sigue siendo necesario articular su papel en nuestras sociedades y mostrar su rol clave para librarnos de problemas tan omnipresentes como puede ser la corrupción en nuestros días. Para ello trataremos de indagar en cuál es el papel de la política y cómo es su relación con la sociedad civil y otras esferas de actuación, poniendo en valor su necesidad.
Informal Institutions and Democracy
2000
Informal institutions have grown in relevance for the analysis of new ‘third wave’ democracies. The research strategy receives its impetus from the debate on neo‐institutionalism theory, which offers a productive perspective for structuring the field of analysis. This article explains the distinguishing factors between formal and informal institutions. It addresses five basic types of informal institutions, examines the ways in which they function and discusses their relevance in terms of democracy theory. Each type is characterized by the way in which it enacts its respective means of political influence. The study distinguishes between forms of specific relationship (clientelism), of mate…
Climate Change and Energy Issues in the North
2011
Highly industrialized societies are mostly responsible for the emerging anthropogenic climate change. There are different ways to measure this responsibility (e.g., whether based on causal contribution or strict responsibility, see Muller et al. 2007). However, regardless of the specific method applied to measure the impact, presently, the USA and the EU are the global leaders in green house gas emissions with countries such as China, India and Brazil following closely behind. Globally, GHG emissions are still increasing among the highly industrialized countries, particularly in the USA – a country that never ratified the Kyoto Protocol. However, the EU has managed to curb its emissions, co…
Communication, Cohesion, and Corona: The Impact of People’s Use of Different Information Sources on their Sense of Societal Cohesion in Times of Cris…
2021
Solidarity among society is considered crucial to tackle the corona pandemic. With the crisis evoking a high need for orientation, the information people obtain from different sources may shape whe...
The Development of Territorial Cohesion Policies in Latvia
2011
Abstract This article examines how territorial cohesion policies have taken shape in Latvia in response to European debates on the subject. It argues that the conceptualization of territorial cohesion in Latvia is closely linked to the country's historical development path and primarily reflects national concerns with social cohesion. While Latvian national and regional level institutions rely on open processes of policy-making and stakeholder involvement, which were developed during the period of post-soviet transition when the country's planning system and regional policy approach were reformulated, the same open and consultative approach is not always evident during the drafting or consi…
“Managing the Impossible?” Comparing How Countries Address the Dahrendorf Quandary
2021
This paper examines the policy approaches and measures that developed market economies countries have adopted to “manage” what has become known as the Dahrendorf Quandary, a profound challenge facing globalizing economies: over time, staying economically competitive requires either adopting measures detrimental to the cohesion of society or restricting civil liberties and political participation. Examining a range of countries over time, it is found that their policy choices and subsequent performance are too varied to support the inevitable, almost mechanical, incompatibility the Quandary implies. While balancing the relationship between economic globalization, social cohesion, and democra…
Democracy as Action in Concert and Social State’s Future
2015
This article departs from the analysis of the two possible and opposing visions of politics that distinguishes Arendt: politics as a way of dominion and politics as action in concert. It presents the problem of the necessity to regenerate democracy on the basis of a greater political commitment of all citizens, going deep into the conditions under which democracies can effectively become channels for political action in the noblest sense of the term: as the ability of a group to act in concert, to pursue common objectives, to work for the general interest and the justice of institutions. These conditions for a civic democracy would be mainly: social cohesion, participation and inclusion
The Politicization of European Union Trade Policy: Radical-Left Euroskeptic Opposition to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
2021
This study aims to analyze the correlation between radical-left Euroskeptic (RLE) activity and European Union (EU) trade policy by focusing on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). At the beginning of TTIP negotiations, the agreement was not high on political agendas and was not a major concern within European society. Thus, its salience was low. This initial lack of interest stemmed from the fact that the TTIP, as an economic and technical issue, did not draw public attention. This study shows that RLEs profoundly affected public opinion on the TTIP by increasing its salience during the European parliamentary elections in 2014 in France and Germany. Second, RLEs involv…
Troubled Multiculturalisms and Disrupted Secularities: Religion and Social Integration ‘Crises’ in North Western Europe in Comparative Perspective
2013
These quotations give a sense of the range of themes addressed in this book. Since the turn of the millennium, European societies have been shaken by the re-emergence of religion as a contested factor in public life, arguably part of a worldwide pattern, but taking distinctive form in this most secular part of the world (Norris and Inglehart 2011: 85–9). In this introduction, and again in the conclusion, the European cases which lie at the heart of this book will be situated in the context of broader global developments, in order to better understand the politics of religion in today’s religiously diverse but differently secular societies.