Search results for "POLITICS"

Final Reflections: Global Challenges from Innovation and Connectivity

2020

Lattemann et al. summarize the discussions in the edited book on Huawei goes Global—with Vol. I examining the major global threads caused by the rise of tech-giant Huawei. They recap the debate about the tensions between China and the Western world about global leadership, geopolitical power, national security, ideological, and economic threats, global connectivity, and about the shape of the upcoming technological world order. The culminating point is the question about the link between Huawei and the Chinese Government. The 5G standard, pushed by Huawei, has the power to change the world. The closeness of the ties between Huawei and the Chinese Government will decide if the world will end…

Parliamentary Actors as Politicians

2018

The chapter discusses the horizon of chances of elected parliamentarians as politicians. Parliamentary representation is based on the freedom from dependence with its four classical faces: free speech, free mandate, freedom from arrest as well as free and fair elections. Special attention is given to the dualism between the partisan commitment as the basis of electing members and the freedom from dependence as the basic of parliamentary operations of members. The professionalisation of parliamentarians provides a condition to master the rules of procedure and rhetoric of debate in order to control government and bureaucracy.

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2006

State, Politics and the Legitimacy of Religious Peacebuilders

2016

In this chapter, Steen-Johnsen shows how the failure of religious leaders to challenge the political strategies of the Ethiopian regime affects their legitimacy as spokespersons for peace. Steen-Johnsen shows how this makes the religious leaders appear as accomplices of the state among groups that they try to address with their message of peace. Steen-Johnsen acknowledges that conflicts which appear religious almost always have political dimensions. She shows how retorting to toothless messages of coexistence and appearing alongside government officials, the Ethiopian religious leaders lose legitimacy as spokespersons for peace. Steen-Johnsen suggests considering how relationships between s…

An Overview of Attitude Towards Selected Aspects of Electoral Programs of Polish Political Groups Taking Part in the 2014 Elections to the European P…

2017

Elections to the European Parliament (EP), because of its role in establishing the legal order in member states of the European Union (EU), should become increasingly crucial among all the direct elections in which Poles participate in our country’s political system.  But the results of analyses carried out by various research institutions indicate that, in Polish public opinion, the elections to the EP are the least important in terms of the meaning they have for Poles. Since the start of their organization, these elections have consistently come second (in terms of significance) to domestic elections – Presidential, Parliamentary, and local. Yet these elections, for many reasons, were act…

Squaring the welfare circle and government ideology: Greece and Spain in the 1990s

1999

This article examines the “squaring the welfare circle” thesis and its usefulness to our understanding of welfare developments in Greece and Spain in the 1990s. The welfare state in both Greece and Spain was expanded considerably in the early 1980s by the newly elected socialist governments, only to hit the buffers of diminishing resources and rising demands in the late 1980s as well as the hostile neo-liberal welfare ideology. The process of welfare expansion was halted in the 1990s, labour market deregulation was encouraged and containment of welfare expenditure became the dominant aim of government policies. This article concentrates on the actual policies of governments in the 1990s rat…

The governments' doctors: the roles and responsibilities of chief medical officers in the European Union.

2010

The regular meetings of the chief medical officers (CMOs) from the European Union's (EU's) 27 Member States provide an important forum to address issues of common interest affecting Europe's populations. Yet there is no universally agreed role for a CMO. This article describes the findings of a study, based on interviews with key informants and documentary analysis that sought to describe their diverse roles. For the purpose of this article, CMOs are defined as those sent by their governments to the regular EU meetings of CMOs. Four broad categories of countries were identified: those whose CMO is the most senior doctor in the health ministry, in some cases with responsibility spanning all …

Prudential Supervisorss Independence and Income Smoothing in European Banks

2018

We investigate the role of prudential supervisors’ independence in affecting income smoothing behavior in European banks. Powerful national supervisors are predicted to influence the accounting practices of their supervised entities, shaping the properties of the accounting numbers they prepare. In particular, we study whether greater independence of powerful supervisors from the government and from the industry is associated with lower income smoothing. We use the mandatory adoption of a single set of accounting standards in Europe as a shock to the influence of prudential supervisors over national banks’ accounting practice. Our results confirm that political and industry independence of …

Sports Cars, Sleaze and Gamma Rays: Rhineland-Palatinate Elects its First Red-Green Government

2012

The 2011 election in Rhineland-Palatinate was a political earthquake: Following a string of political scandals, the SPD lost almost ten percentage points of their support, while the CDU could hardly improve on their disastrous 2006 result. The FDP is no longer represented in the state parliament. The Greens more than tripled their last result, allowing them to enter a coalition with the SPD for the first time. Analyses at the municipal level show that the party improved most in their urban strongholds while still showing a (relatively) weak performance in rural areas. This will make it difficult to sustain the momentum of their victory. Moreover, the SPD is battered and bruised and needs to…

Breaking the Traditional Style of Finnish Civic Activity

2010

In this article, “the basic idea is to introduce the idea of style as an approach to (political) activity and, especially, as an alternative practice to ideological activity.” Using the example of animal-rights activism, the author posits something “decidedly new” in Finnish civic activity, which traditionally has been channelled through institutions: Finnish movements have been state-oriented, with demands being addressed to the government, and have emphasized knowledge-based rationality as the measure for competent activity. The author categorically rejects “the notion that, in politics, style is anything more than a superficial curtain, behind which the true contents of politicking can …