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Topic Review
Olmec Influences on Mesoamerican Cultures
The causes and degree of Olmec influences on Mesoamerican cultures has been a subject of debate over many decades. Although the Olmecs are considered to be perhaps the earliest Mesoamerican civilization, there are questions concerning how and how much the Olmecs influenced cultures outside the Olmec heartland. This debate is succinctly, if simplistically, framed by the title of a 2005 The New York Times article: “Mother Culture, or Only a Sister?”.
  • 2.8K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Blank and Null Voting Paradox
The Blank and Null Voting Paradox or the Blank and Null Support is a generalized suboptimal support of invalid votes and deliberate abstentions misrepresenting the results in a plurality runoff (two-round) election by choosing a pseudo-Condorcet loser candidate. Nepomuceno and Costa (2019) provided some evidence of this suboptimal support in the 2014 Brazilian national elections by constructing a pairwise comparison with 3,010 voting intension interviews conducted in 204 Brazilian cities. The authors suggested that the 2016 historical impeachment of the Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff can be associated with this weak legitimate representation. This should not be confused with Fishburn and Brams (1983) no-show paradox, which states that the removal of a ballot, or the absence of a voter, might change the outcome of an election to a more preferable choice for that voter than if he or she decided to vote sincerely according to his/her preferences. In the Blank and Null Support, some results end up a worse outcome for the voter, and this outcome hardly could have been made by a strategic decision.
  • 2.8K
  • 02 May 2021
Topic Review
Resistance Theory in the Early Modern Period
Resistance theory is an aspect of political thought, discussing the basis on which constituted authority may be resisted, by individuals or groups. In the European context it came to prominence as a consequence of the religious divisions in the early modern period that followed the Protestant Reformation. Resistance theories could justify disobedience on religious grounds to monarchs, and were significant in European national politics and international relations in the century leading up to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. They can also underpin and justify the concept of revolution as now understood. The resistance theory of the early modern period can be considered to predate the formulations of natural and legal rights of citizens, and to co-exist with considerations of natural law. Any "right to resist" is a theory about the limitations on civil obedience. Resistance theory is an aspect of political theory; the right of self-defence is usually taken to be a part of legal theory, and was no novelty in the early modern period. Arguments about the two concepts do overlap, and the distinction is not so clear in debates.
  • 2.7K
  • 26 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Westfailure
In 1999, international relations scholar Susan Strange introduced the term Westfailure in her posthumously published article entitled The Westfailure System. The term Westfailure is a portmanteau (West + failure) and a pun on the term Westphalian system. Commonly used in international politics, the Westphalian system refers to the system of state sovereignty that emerged from treaties signed during the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. Strange describes the Westphalian system as one that perpetuates non-intervention, the universal recognition of state sovereignty, and the "legitimate use of violence within a given territory." Put simply, the Westphalian system promotes a system where each individual state has the inalienable authority to govern their own internal affairs (laws, market, resources, etc.) without interference from other states or non-governmental actors. The principal aim of Strange's article is to highlight how this system of international governance is failing and does not "satisfy the long-term conditions of sustainability."
  • 2.7K
  • 30 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Digital Rights
Digital rights are fundamental rights in the digital age related to privacy protection in smart cities. In this vein, it has encouraged the United Nations to take an advocacy role regarding the ‘right to have digital rights’ and create the Hub for Human Rights and Digital Technology: ‘Together, as we seek to recover from the pandemic, we must learn to better curtail harmful use of digital technology and better unleash its power as a democratising force and an enabler’.
  • 2.7K
  • 22 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Digital Public Services Evaluation
Digital public services evaluation consists of monitoring and evaluation of indicators to assess the effectiveness of public services provided by a government in order to allow services with high performance, with a more rational planning and to satisfy the quality expected by the users.
  • 2.6K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Neo-Ottomanism
Neo-Ottomanism (Turkish: Yeni Osmanlıcılık, Neo-Osmanlıcılık) is an Islamist, irredentist and imperialist Turkish political ideology that, in its broadest sense, advocates to honor the Ottoman past of Turkey and promotes greater political engagement of the Republic of Turkey within regions formerly under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor state that covered the territory of modern Turkey among others. The term has been associated with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's irredentist, interventionist and expansionist foreign policy in the Eastern Mediterranean and the neighboring Cyprus, Greece, Iraq, Syria, as well as in Africa, including Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh. However, the term has been rejected by members of the Erdoğan Government, such as the former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop.
  • 2.6K
  • 09 Nov 2022
Biography
James Connolly
James Connolly (Irish: Séamas Ó Conghaile;[1] 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was a Scottish-born Irish republican and socialist leader. Connolly was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish parents. He left school for working life at the age of 11. He also took a role in Scottish and United States . He was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World and founder of the Irish
  • 2.5K
  • 06 Dec 2022
Topic Review
President
The president is a common title for the head of state in most republics. In politics, president is a title given to leaders of republican states. The functions exercised by a president vary according to the form of government. In parliamentary republics, they are limited to those of the head of state, and are thus largely ceremonial. In presidential and semi-presidential republics, the role of the president is more prominent, encompassing also (in most cases) the functions of the head of government. In authoritarian regimes, a dictator or leader of a one-party state may also be called a president.
  • 2.4K
  • 10 Oct 2022
Topic Review
China’s Macro Control Policy
Macro control refers to the adjustment and control of the whole social economy in order to promote the development of the market and standardize the operation of the market. Output growth and technological progress show the performance of economic growth in gross and efficiency, respectively, which is the external performance and internal driving force of economic growth. To achieve long-term sustainable economic development, it is necessary to consider both the aggregate problem and technological progress. In this context, we attempts to explore the effectiveness of China’s macroeconomic regulation and control policy on output growth and technological progress under the economic policy uncertainty. Specifically, this paper analyzes the effectiveness of macroeconomic regulation and control policy on China’s output growth and technological progress in an uncertain environment, and then makes an empirical study by constructing a time-varying parameter vector autoregression model (TVP-VAR). Furthermore, the simulation test of the relevant results is carried out using the counter-fact analysis method.
  • 2.4K
  • 01 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Technocrat
Technocracy is an ideological system of governance in which a decision-maker or makers are elected by the population or appointed on the basis of their expertise in a given area of responsibility, particularly with regard to scientific or technical knowledge. This system explicitly contrasts with Representative Democracy, the notion that elected representatives should be the primary decision-makers in government, though it does not necessarily imply eliminating elected representatives. Leadership skills for decision-makers are selected on the basis of specialized knowledge and performance, rather than political affiliations or parliamentary skills. The term technocracy was originally used to advocate the application of the scientific method to solving social problems. Concern could be given to sustainability within the resource base, instead of monetary profitability, so as to ensure continued operation of all social-industrial functions. In its most extreme sense technocracy is an entire government running as a technical or engineering problem and is mostly hypothetical. In more practical use, technocracy is any portion of a bureaucracy that is run by technologists. A government in which elected officials appoint experts and professionals to administer individual government functions and recommend legislation can be considered technocratic. Some uses of the word refer to a form of meritocracy, where the ablest are in charge, ostensibly without the influence of special interest groups. Critics have suggested that a "technocratic divide" challenges more participatory models of democracy, describing these divides as "efficacy gaps that persist between governing bodies employing technocratic principles and members of the general public aiming to contribute to government decision making".
  • 2.2K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Smile
A smile is formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses delight, sociability, happiness, joy or amusement. It is distinct from a similar but usually involuntary expression of anxiety known as a grimace. Although cross-cultural studies have shown that smiling is a means of communication throughout the world, there are large differences among different cultures, religions and societies, with some using smiles to convey confusion or embarrassment.
  • 2.2K
  • 08 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Informational Social Influence
Social proof is a psychological and social phenomenon wherein people copy the actions of others in an attempt to undertake behavior in a given situation. The term was coined by Robert Cialdini in his 1984 book Influence: Science and Practice, and the concept is also known as informational social influence. Social proof is considered prominent in ambiguous social situations where people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior, and is driven by the assumption that the surrounding people possess more knowledge about the current situation. The effects of social influence can be seen in the tendency of large groups to conform. This is referred to in some publications as the herd behavior. Although social proof reflects a rational motive to take into account the information possessed by others, formal analysis shows that it can cause people to converge too quickly upon a single distinct choice, so that decisions of even larger groups of individuals may be grounded in very little information (see information cascades). Social proof is one type of conformity. When a person is in a situation where they are unsure of the correct way to behave, they will often look to others for clues concerning the correct behavior. When "we conform because we believe that others' interpretation of an ambiguous situation is more accurate than ours and will help us choose an appropriate course of action", it is informational social influence. This is contrasted with normative social influence wherein a person conforms to be liked or accepted by others. Social proof often leads not only to public compliance (conforming to the behavior of others publicly without necessarily believing it is correct) but also private acceptance (conforming out of a genuine belief that others are correct). Social proof is more powerful when being accurate is more important and when others are perceived as especially knowledgeable. In 2020, a young scientist from Poland , Michal Klichowski, proved that this phenomenon also applies to interactions with artificial intelligence. His results show a new AI proof mechanism: AI that people have more and more contact with is becoming a new source of information about how to behave and what decisions to take.
  • 2.0K
  • 28 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Objectivism and Libertarianism
Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism has been and continues to be a major influence on the libertarian movement, particularly in the United States. Many libertarians justify their political views using aspects of Objectivism. However, the views of Rand and her philosophy among prominent libertarians are mixed and many Objectivists are hostile to libertarians in general.
  • 1.9K
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
A Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) is a set of U.S. government financial statements comprising the financial report of a state, municipal or other governmental entity that complies with the accounting requirements promulgated by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). GASB provides standards for the content of a CAFR in its annually updated publication Codification of Governmental Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards. The U.S. Federal Government adheres to standards determined by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB). A CAFR is compiled by a state, municipal or other governmental accounting staff and audited by an external American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) certified accounting firm utilizing GASB requirements. It is composed of three sections: Introductory, Financial and Statistical. It combines the financial information of fund accounting and Enterprise Authorities accounting.
  • 1.9K
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
The Normative World of Memes
Social media has become a fundamental platform where users interact and promote public values. Memetics facilitates this phenomenon. Memes have three main characteristics: (1) Diffuse at the micro-level but shape the macrostructure of society; (2) Are based on popular culture; (3) Travel through competition and selection. The findings suggest that, during a public discussion, it is common to use humor based on popular culture to question authority. Furthermore, a message becomes a meme when it evidences the gap between reality and expectations (normativity).
  • 1.8K
  • 11 Jan 2022
Topic Review
European Court of Auditors
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) (French: Cour des comptes européenne) is the fifth institution of the European Union (EU). It was established in 1975 in Luxembourg in order to improve EU financial management.
  • 1.8K
  • 27 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Confederation (Poland)
A konfederacja (Polish: [kɔ̃fɛdɛˈrat͡sja] (listen), "confederation") was an ad hoc association formed by Polish-Lithuanian szlachta (nobility), clergy, cities, or military forces in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for the attainment of stated aims. A konfederacja often took the form of an armed rebellion aimed at redressing perceived abuses or trespasses of some (e.g. royal) authority. Such "confederations" acted in lieu of state authority or to force their demands upon that authority. They could be seen as a primary expression of direct democracy and right of revolution in the Commonwealth, and as a way for the nobles to act on their grievances and against the state's central authority.
  • 1.8K
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Participatory Politics
Participatory politics or parpolity is a theoretical political system proposed by Stephen Shalom, professor of political science at William Paterson University in New Jersey. It was developed as a political vision to accompany participatory economics (parecon). Both parecon and parpolity together make up the libertarian socialist ideology of participism; this has significantly informed the International Organization for a Participatory Society. Shalom has stated that parpolity is meant as a long-range vision of where the social justice movement might want to end up within the field of politics. The values on which parpolity is based are freedom, self-management, justice, solidarity, and tolerance. The goal, according to Shalom, is to create a political system that will allow people to participate as much as possible in a face-to-face manner. The proposed decision-making principle is that every person should have say in a decision proportionate to the degree to which she or he is affected by that decision. The vision is critical of aspects of modern representative democracies arguing that the level of political control by the people is not sufficient. To address this problem parpolity suggests a system of "nested councils", which would include every adult member of a given society.
  • 1.7K
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Bloc Party (Politics)
A bloc party (German: Blockpartei) in politics may refer to a political party that is a constituent member of an electoral bloc. However, this term also has a more specific meaning, referring to non-ruling but legal political parties in an authoritarian or totalitarian regime (most notably communist regimes) as auxiliary parties and members of a ruling coalition, differing such governments from pure one-party states such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, although such minor parties rarely if ever constitute opposition parties or alternative sources of power. Sometimes, a bloc party is called a satellite party.
  • 1.7K
  • 21 Oct 2022
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