Search results for "POLITICS"
showing 10 items of 2266 documents
The 2010 independence jubilees: the politics and aesthetics of national commemoration in Africa
2013
In 2010, as many as seventeen African states celebrated their independence jubilees. The debates surrounding the organisation of these celebrations, and the imagery and performances they employed, reflect the fault lines with which African nation-building has to contend, such as competing political orientations as well as religious, regional and ethnic diversity. The celebrations represented constitutive and cathartic moments of nation-building, aiming to enhance citizens' emotional attachments to the country and inviting to remember, re-enact and re-redefine national history. They became a forum of debate about what should constitute the norms and values that make-up national identity and,…
Did We Miss the Social Commentary? Responding to Borat on Youtube
2011
Ever since the fictitious Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev became an icon of contemporary popular culture, many questions have arisen about the reception of Borat by the general public. Namely, how common people have created a shared representation of Borat and how the complicated character and comedic manner undertaken by Sacha Baron Cohen is being deciphered. To address these questions that, surely, also could be asked concerning other international media products, this article deals with the reception of Borat the character on YouTube. In particular, the viewers’ reaction to the YouTube video titled “The Best of Borat” is analysed. This video has been viewed more than seven million times…
Patriotism and pluralism: identification and compliance in the post-national polity
2009
The paper discusses the identity-building power and motivational force of patriotism. The basic idea underlying the discussion is that far from being a mere irrational and destructive force, patriotism is an expression of ‘existing human social identity.’ Thus, it argues that rather than dismissing patriotism altogether as an undesirable and/or irrational phenomenon, we need to understand how to discriminate between alternative forms of patriotism while investigating what constitutional reforms might be required to support those forms of patriotic identification that are morally desirable. I argue that to flourish, desirable forms of patriotism (what I call Ethical Patriotism) r…
Taxi Deregulation in Poland
2014
This text is part of the New European Study project to identify and analyze the best practices and strengths of industrial relations of self-employed workers: representation beyond administration, and the possible leadership of SMEs. It analyzes how the self-employed can create and take part in the process of social dialogue in Poland. Traditionally, social dialogue is defined as interaction and mutual negotiations by the government, employers’ organizations and trade unions. This traditional definition of social dialogue emerged in an economic reality very different from the current one — when large enterprises played a major role in national economies. In recent years, the economic struct…
Portfolio: Integrating Writing, Learning and Assessment
2001
This chapter examines portfolio assessment as a tool to support learning by integrating writing in various learning tasks and environments. The author argues that the constructivist and socioconstructivist views of learning necessitate new ideas also in the assessment where the learners have the main role and where the partnership between students and teachers has to be renegotiated. In particular, renegotiation is needed in making decisions on assessment criteria for writing and learning that respect learners’ individuality and diversity and empower students with regard to their learning. The learning, assessment and negotiation can take place in various ways and environments. Accordingly,…
Musicians--same or different?
2009
In the neuroscience of music, musicians have traditionally been treated as a unified group, as if the demands set by their musical activities would be more or less equal in terms of perceptual, cognitive, and motor functions. However, obviously, their musical preferences differentiate them to a higher degree, for instance, in terms of the instrument they choose and the music genre they are mostly engaged with as well as their practicing style. This diversity in musicians' profiles has been recently taken into account in several empirical endeavors. The present contribution will review the evidence available about the various neurocognitive profiles these different kinds of musicians display.
Submitting “Alternative Facts” to Debate: A Weberian Perspective on Post-truth Politics
2018
'Oxford Dictionaries' chose “post-truth” as the “Word of the Year 2016”, while the association of German linguists (Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache) did the same for '“postfaktische Politik'”. “Alternative facts”, launched by Kellyanne Conway concerning the attendance at Donald Trump’s inaugural, was a third variant in this cluster. In this article, I shall discuss Max Weber’s parliamentary perspective on the critique of given facts and of the powers of science in relation to the debates around post-truth politics. A critical assessment of Leo Strauss’s critique of Weber as a nihilist and relativist introduces the problematic. One aim of the article is to illustrate how even trivial sloga…
Opportunities and challenges of the opening of the Arctic Ocean for Norway
2020
Abstract This chapter analyzes the potential opportunities and challenges associated with the opening of the Arctic Ocean for Norway. Climate change in the Arctic is opening up access to sea routes of the Arctic region, and this could boost trade and consequently result in a sharp increase in shipping traffic in Norway. Specifically, Northern Norway would become a focal point for port- and shipping-related activities. However, these opportunities can only be fully utilized if the various stakeholders involved are able to manage the challenges of the opening of the Arctic Ocean. Like opportunities, challenges also cover a range of spheres, including environmental pollution, ecological damage…
Inside service-intensive projects: Analyzing inbuilt tensions
2015
The purpose of this research is to identify typical professional and occupational groups in service-intensive projects, and illustrate the inbuilt tensions among them through the lens of institutional theory. The cases used for the study are a wind turbine business and a content management system project business. Our findings suggest that there are two professional groups (problem solvers, technology developers) and two occupational groups (lead generators, relationship developers) involved in these businesses. More importantly, their intergroup tensions are related to different institutionalized logics toward the conception of time (project temporality) and prioritization of different asp…