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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.
  • 1.4K
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Radicalism (Historical)
Radicalism (from Latin radix, "root") was a historical political movement within liberalism during the late 18th and early 19th centuries and a precursor to social liberalism. Its identified radicals were proponents of democratic reform in what subsequently became the parliamentary Radicals in the United Kingdom. During the 19th century in the United Kingdom, continental Europe and Latin America, the term radical came to denote a progressive liberal ideology inspired by the French Revolution . Historically, radicalism emerged in an early form with the French Revolution and the similar movements it inspired in other countries. It grew prominent during the 1830s in the United Kingdom with the Chartists and Belgium with the Revolution of 1830, then across Europe in the 1840s–1850s during the Revolutions of 1848. In contrast to the social conservatism of existing liberal politics, radicalism sought political support for a radical reform of the electoral system to widen suffrage. It was also associated with republicanism, liberalism, left-wing politics, modernism, secular humanism, anti-militarism, civic nationalism, abolition of titles, rationalism and the resistance to a single established state religion, redistribution of property and freedom of the press. In 19th-century France, radicalism had emerged as a minor political force by the 1840s as the extreme left of the day (in contrast to the socially-conservative liberalism of the Moderate Republicans and Orléanist monarchists and the anti-parliamentarianism of the Legitimist monarchists and Bonapartists). By the 1890s, the French radicals were not organised under a single nationwide structure, but rather they had become a significant political force in parliament. In 1901, they consolidated their efforts by forming the country's first major extra-parliamentary political party, the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party which became the most important party of government during the second half (1899 to 1940) of the French Third Republic. The success of the French Radicals encouraged radicals elsewhere to organise themselves into formal parties in a range of other countries in the late 19th and early 20th century, with radicals holding significant political office in Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. During the interwar period, European radical parties organised the Radical Entente, their own political international. As social democracy emerged as a distinct political force in its own right, the differences that once existed between historical left-wing radicalism and conservative liberalism diminished. Between 1940 and 1973, radicalism became defunct in most of its European heartlands, with its role and philosophy taken on by social-democratic and conservative-liberal parties.
  • 1.4K
  • 01 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.
  • 1.4K
  • 10 Oct 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.
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  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Hungarian Irredentism
Hungarian irredentism or Greater Hungary are irredentist and revisionist political ideas concerning redemption of territories of the historical Kingdom of Hungary. The idea is associated with Hungarian revisionism, targeting at least to regain control over Hungarian-populated areas in Hungary's neighbouring countries. Hungarian historians did not use the term Greater Hungary, because the "Historic Hungary" is the established term for the Kingdom of Hungary before 1920. The Treaty of Trianon defined the borders of the new independent Hungary and, compared against the claims of the pre-war Kingdom, new Hungary had approximately 72% less land stake and about two-thirds fewer inhabitants, almost 5 million of these being of Hungarian ethnicity. However, only 54% of the inhabitants of the pre-war Kingdom of Hungary were Hungarians before World War I. Following the treaty's instatement, Hungarian leaders became inclined towards revoking some of its terms. This political aim gained greater attention and was a serious national concern up through the second World War. Irredentism in the 1930s led Hungary to form an alliance with Hitler's Germany. Eva S. Balogh states: "Hungary's participation in World War II resulted from a desire to revise the Treaty of Trianon so as to recover territories lost after World War I. This revisionism was the basis for Hungary's interwar foreign policy." Hungary, supported by the Axis Powers, was successful temporarily in gaining some regions of the former Kingdom by the First Vienna Award in 1938 (southern Czechoslovakia with mainly Hungarians) and the Second Vienna Award in 1940 (Northern Transylvania with a significant Romanian population as well), and through military campaign gained regions of Carpathian Ruthenia in 1939 and (ethnically mixed) Bačka, Baranja, Međimurje, and Prekmurje in 1941 (Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories). Following the close of World War II, the borders of Hungary as defined by the Treaty of Trianon were restored, except for three Hungarian villages that were transferred to Czechoslovakia. These villages are today administratively a part of Bratislava.
  • 1.3K
  • 01 Dec 2022
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?”.
  • 1.3K
  • 14 Oct 2022
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".
  • 1.2K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
The European Labour Authority
On June 20, 2019, Regulation 2019/1140 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Under this Regulation, the European Labour Authority is established. The aim of the entry is to briefly explain the organisation and main functions of this new EU agency, using the relevant Regulation provisions and therefore underline its importance in the EU institutional system.
  • 1.2K
  • 30 Oct 2020
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).
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  • 11 Jan 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.
  • 1.1K
  • 08 Oct 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
  • 1.1K
  • 06 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Inequalities and Power in Digital Agriculture
There are several patterns of inequalities linked to the development and adoption of digital technologies in agriculture that can be observed across the globe: (1) in digital technology development; (2) in the distribution of benefits from the use of digital technologies; (3) in sovereignty over data, hardware and digital infrastructure; (4) in skills and knowledge (‘digital literacy’); and (5) in problem definition and problem-solving capacities. The existing inequalities are structural and represent expressions of corporate power. From such a perspective, digitalization in agriculture is not a ‘revolution’ per se; rather, digital technologies mirror and reproduce existing power relations. However, there are also emancipatory initiatives that are applying digital technologies to challenge existing inequalities and to advance alternative visions of agriculture. 
  • 1.0K
  • 16 Nov 2021
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.
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  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Digital Government
Digital Government (DG) may be treated as an umbrella concept, and engaged rhetoric may respond to different government priorities. DG does not have one settled definition; extracting the “perfect” one emerges as a scientific activity on its own, and circulating definitions vary in terms of scope—from information supply to e-democracy; subject—from citizens to all public stakeholders; and technology family—from personal computers to the Internet. To make things even more complicated, DG is also called by various synonyms or near synonyms, such as “electronic government,” “electronic governance,” “transformational government,” and others. In our paper, we stick with the “digital government” label and study its relations with governance. A clarification for readers not familiar with this nomenclature: DG does not refer to a “digital” variant of “normal” government; it is rather about the use of digital technologies by government. What is more, a distinction between “government” and “governance” should be made: governance is a multi-stakeholder process and government at any level can be a stakeholder in this process.
  • 991
  • 29 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Multi-Dimensional Concept of Sustainable Development and Urban Governance
Modern cities bear the entire burden and responsibility of operationalizing the concept of sustainable development, since they are the ones that represent the greatest threat to its implementation. The sustainability of cities largely depends on the form of public governance and decision making; in fact, this interdependence is a prerequisite for all the relevant progress in sustainable development that many European cities strive to achieve. An approach to governance in European cities that has proven to be the most effective in achieving urban sustainability is an integrated one, as it encompasses the coordination, cooperation and integration of sectoral policies and the participation of different actors at all levels of governance.
  • 984
  • 16 Jun 2023
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.
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  • 28 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Removal of Confederate Monuments and Memorials
For decades in the U.S., there have been isolated incidents of removal of Confederate monuments and memorials, although generally opposed in public opinion polls, and several U.S. States have passed laws over 115 years to hinder or prohibit further removals. In the wake of the Charleston church shooting in June 2015, several municipalities in the United States removed monuments and memorials on public property dedicated to the Confederate States of America. The momentum accelerated in August 2017 after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The removals were driven by the belief that the monuments glorify white supremacy and memorialize a government whose founding principle was the perpetuation and expansion of slavery. Many of those who object to the removals, like President Trump, claim that the artifacts are part of the cultural heritage of the United States. Detractors claim that the vast majority of these Confederate monuments were built during the era of Jim Crow (1877–1954) and the Civil Rights Movement (1954–1968) not as memorials but as a means of intimidating African Americans and reaffirming white supremacy. The monuments have thus become highly politicized; according to Eleanor Harvey, a senior curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and a scholar of Civil War history: "If white nationalists and neo-Nazis are now claiming this as part of their heritage, they have essentially co-opted those images and those statues beyond any capacity to neutralize them again". Civil War historian James I. Robertson Jr. referred to the current climate to dismantle or destroy Confederate monuments as an "age of idiocy" and motivated by "elements hell-bent on tearing apart unity that generations of Americans have painfully constructed" and the monuments were not a "Jim Crow signal of defiance." In some Southern states, state law restricts or prohibits altogether the removal or alteration of public Confederate monuments. According to Stan Deaton, senior historian at the Georgia Historical Society, "These laws are the Old South imposing its moral and its political views on us forever more. This is what led to the Civil War, and it still divides us as a country. We have competing visions not only about the future but about the past." As Southern novelist William Faulkner famously put it, in the American South "the past is never dead. It's not even past."
  • 949
  • 30 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Integrated Maritime Policy
Integrated and ecosystem-based maritime policy should be seen as a versatile multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral instrument for international dialogue within the region.
  • 945
  • 17 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Comparison of Electoral Systems
Electoral systems can be compared by different means. These comparisons can focus on different aspects: on suffrage or rules for voter eligibility; on candidate eligibility and the rules governing political parties; on the way elections are scheduled, sequenced, and combined; or on the rules for determining the winner within a given election (also called the "election rule" or "voting method"). Attitudes towards systems are highly influenced by the systems' impact on groups that one supports or opposes, which can make the objective comparison of electoral systems difficult. There are several ways to address this problem. For example, criteria can be defined mathematically, such that any voting method either passes or fails. This gives perfectly objective results, but their practical relevance is still arguable. Another approach is to define ideal criteria that no voting method passes perfectly, and then see how often or how close to passing various methods are over a large sample of simulated elections. This gives results which are practically relevant, but the method of generating the sample of simulated elections can still be arguably biased. A final approach is to create imprecisely defined criteria, and then assign a neutral body to evaluate each method according to these criteria. This approach can look at aspects of voting methods which the other two approaches miss, but both the definitions of these criteria and the evaluations of the methods are still inevitably subjective.
  • 936
  • 05 Nov 2022
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Human Resources Churning
The term churning is defined by a multifaceted approach and is quite a complex concept that has been gaining relevance in the field of human resources, due to the problematic loss of investment, originating from the voluntary exits of worker-associated costs. This phenomenon is a direct result of the rising competitive job market, causing employees to leave organizations and carry with them all the knowledge and experience acquired in the starting organization, an organization which invested in the development of its workers. Even though churning is aligned with human resource practices, it is considered a multifaceted concept because of the different contexts in which it interferes, such as economic context, per activity sector, clients, the type of organization, geographic location, etc. Although, despite its own complexity, churning is related to turnover; however, there are differences between these two concepts. While turnover is linked to the workers’ rotation within an organization, churning is mainly focused on the costs associated with voluntary exits from workers. It is simply linked to investment losses inside an organization, which has the main goal of creating mechanisms that allow the creation of awareness in organizations about the relevancy of action using strategic measurements of holding in order to minimize the churning rate, and in this way, reducing the unexpected costs, creating revenue, increasing proficiency, standing out in business activity, bettering nimbleness and expanding profits. This initial manuscript introduces the churning concept in human resources, the main causes of churning, as well as approaching how organizations take action in order to appease this event using literature, which lacks major advertising and given relevance to its pertinence in human resources. Through the analysis of the existing, this entry was guided with the objective of demystifying the subject of human resource churning.
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  • 15 May 2023
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