Search results for "POLITICS"

Modeling the enterprising character of European firms

2003

In an increasingly globalized economy, innovation pursuing the speeding up of technological changes takes a renewed interest. In this study, we attempt to show those characteristics and variables that make businesses successful, especially innovative small and medium‐sized enterprises. The article focuses on this business sector because the contribution of it to employment generation, wealth distribution and economy appraisal is frequently set to the fore in current political and economic debate. A study of 408 businesses, according to data from the European Commission and the Spanish Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial – Center for Industrial and Technological Development – (y…

Historicizing Divergence: A Comparative Analysis of the Revolutionary Crises in Russia and Finland

2016

Beginning 1917, Russia and Finland both experienced revolutionary situations, the seizure of power by radical political groups, and civil wars. However, the ultimate outcomes of the revolutionary crises in the two countries turned out to be different: the Russian Bolsheviks won the struggle for power whereas the Finnish Red Guard suffered a defeat. Why did the radical socialists win in Russia but lose in Finland? This chapter argues that the Russian revolutionaries benefited from the existence of two coalition alliances that had not fully materialized in Finland: the workers–soldiers’ alliance, which was critical for the radicals’ seizure of power, and the workers–peasants’ alliance, which …

Academics as Politicians and as Operators of Global Governance

2018

In this chapter, the author scrutinizes the links between politics and academe in global governance. He analyzes two cases, those of former president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and philosopher Michel Foucault, that exemplify different types of political engagement. Social scientists play a key but concealed part in the steering of global governance. Under and beyond global institutions, they partake in the development of influential transnational professional groups. By producing practical knowledge for everyday or ‘banal’ global governance, social scientists shape the politically imaginable at more institutional levels. Yet others provide at a higher level of abstractio…

Review: Kaarle Nordenstreng, Ulf Jonas Björk, Frank Beyersdorf, Svennik Høyer and Epp Lauk 2016. A History of the International Movement of Journalis…

2017

From protest to parliament : The role of digital technologies within an online community

2020

Our teaching case introduces the story of how the Italian Five Star Movement used digital technologies in the growth from a personal blog discussing politics back in 2005 to the most voted party in the Italian election in 2018, becoming part of the government. The Italian Five Star Movement is among the largest eParticipation initiatives globally. It is (almost) totally organized through the use of digital platforms. Members form online communities and are continuously invited to discuss and make decisions that end up into Italian politics. Adopting a chronological perspective, we describe the development of the Italian Five Star Movement, focusing on their use of digital technologies at va…

Introduction: What Is Intercultural Dialogue and Why It Is Needed in Europe Today?

2020

The authors introduce the concept of intercultural dialogue and how it has been utilized as a policy by the Council of Europe and the European Union since the early 2000s. First, we explore intercultural dialogue’s relation to and differences from other concepts commonly used to describe different stances in the governance of diversity, ranging from assimilation to integration and from multiculturalism to interculturalism. These different conceptual stances are contextualized by exploring the recent transformations in Europe and their impact on the political aims, goals, and discourses of the Council of Europe and the European Union. Second, we review the previous research on the concept of…

Science and ideology: The case of physics in Nazi Germany

2016

Science is not «above» politics and ethics: it is intrinsically political, and constantly raises ethical dilemmas. The consequences of evading such issues were made particularly clear in the actions of scientists working in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 40s. The accusation in 2006 that Dutch physicist Peter Debye was an opportunist who colluded with the Nazis reopened the debate about the conduct of physicists at that time. Here I consider what those events can tell us about the relationship of science and politics today. I argue that an insistence that science is an abstract, apolitical inquiry into nature is a myth that can leave it morally compromised and vulnerable to political manipula…

European Union at a Crossroads: What Could the Next 60 Years Bring About?

2018

This paper aims to synthetize some of the challenges that the European Union faces during these troubled times and also to suggest some of the possible scenarios that might actually unfold in order to address them. Symbolically, this year should have highlighted the biggest achievements of the EU and its Member States, as it celebrates 60 years of joint commitment for a better Europe. Yet, the uncertainty regarding Europe’s future is at an all-time high, due to internal and external factors. On the one hand, internal challenges, such as the Brexit process and the refugee crises, led to the reevaluation of the EU’s current organization and structure, which, in turn, might lead to a Europe of…

‘George Mitchell’s Peace’: The Good Friday Agreement in Colum McCann’s Novel TransAtlantic

2018

The impact of the different parties and individuals involved in constructing the Good Friday Agreement has been much discussed. This chapter scrutinizes the role of the American negotiator George Mitchell, as it is presented in Colum McCann’s novel TransAtlantic (2013). It places McCann’s novelistic depiction of Mitchell’s role in the context of both Mitchell’s own autobiographical writings and other external political assessments. Mitchell’s domestic life—including his experience of fatherhood—is shown to play a crucial role in the fictional treatment of the negotiations. McCann’s own position as an Irish-American author with a globalistic bent is taken into account, as is the way in which…

Negative Party Identifications as Out-Group Perceptions in Multi-Party Systems How Do They Affect Vote Choice?

2015

Although negative party identification is part of the original party identification concept by Campbell et al., it has been rarely analyzed in empirical studies. Further, the few existing studies lack a coherent conceptualization of negative partisanship, and focus in their analyses almost exclusively on negative party evaluations. This paper clearly distinguishes between negative party identification and evaluation, conceptualizing both concepts coherently within the social identity framework. In addition, new insights are presented by conceptualizing and operationalizing negative party identifications as out-group perceptions of political parties (based on new German data from 2013). The …