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Topic Review
Participism
Participism is a libertarian socialist political philosophy consisting of two independently created economic and political systems: participatory economics ("parecon") and participatory politics ("parpolity"). Participism is intended as an alternative to both capitalism and centrally-planned state socialism. Participism has significantly informed the International Organization for a Participatory Society.
  • 883
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Conservative Democracy
Conservative democracy (Turkish: muhafazakâr demokrasi) is a label coined by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkey to describe Islamic democracy. Forming as a modernist breakaway party from former Islamist movements, the AKP's conservative democratic ideology has been described as a departure from or moderation of Islamic democracy and the endorsement of more secular and democratic values. The electoral success and the neo-Ottoman foreign policy of the AKP that aims to broaden Turkey's regional influence has led to the party's conservative democratic ideals to be mirrored in other countries, such as by the Justice and Development Party in Morocco and the Ennahda Movement in Tunisia. In its broadest sense, the term conservative democracy highlights the compatibility of Islam with democracy, a Western-oriented foreign policy, neoliberal economics and secularism within government. Since the view has been reflected in several economic, foreign, domestic and social policy initiatives, the term conservative democracy has been referred to as a floating signifier that encompasses a broad coalition of ideas. In contrast, and because of its broad definition, the term has also been accused of being a red herring designed to conceal a hidden Islamist agenda but maintain public support. The main ideals of conservative democracy are best identified when they are compared to the Islamist ideology advocated by the AKP's preceding parties. A substantial contrast between the two exist, for example, on their position regarding the European Union, Israel, the United States , economic policy, and to a lesser extent social policy.
  • 856
  • 31 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Minority Influence
Minority influence, a form of social influence, takes place when a member of a minority group influences the majority to accept the minority's beliefs or behavior. This occurs when a small group or an individual acts as an agent of social change by questioning established societal perceptions, and proposing alternative, original ideas which oppose the existing social norms. There are two types of social influence: majority influence (resulting in conformity and public compliance) and minority influence (resulting in conversion). Majority influence refers to the majority trying to produce conformity on the minority, while minority influence is converting the majority to adopt the thinking of the minority group. Unlike other forms of influence, minority influence is often thought of as a more innovative form of social change, because it usually involves a personal shift in private opinion. Examples of minority influence include the Civil Rights Movement in America and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa .
  • 833
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Political Libel
The criminal statutes protecting nobility from criticism in 16th- and 17th-century England eventually evolved into various categories of political libel (see slander and libel for the modern incarnation of this law). Cases of political libel and eventually damages actions were handled by the infamous Star Chamber until its abolition in 1641. By the end of that century, many elements of the common law of libel had been established. Modern slander and libel law evolved since then to mostly eradicate the use of libel laws to intimidate active political participants during a public debate. Accordingly, this is now a matter of historical interest only in all jurisdictions other than Canada, where use of the law by government, political and religious groups is common, and often used against defendants outside Canada.
  • 828
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Objectivism (Ayn Rand)
Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer Ayn Rand. Rand first expressed Objectivism in her fiction, most notably The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), and later in non-fiction essays and books. Leonard Peikoff, a professional philosopher and Rand's designated intellectual heir, later gave it a more formal structure. Rand described Objectivism as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute". Peikoff characterizes Objectivism as a "closed system" insofar as its "fundamental principles" were set out by Rand and are not subject to change. However, he stated that "new implications, applications and integrations can always be discovered". Objectivism's main tenets are that reality exists independently of consciousness, that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception (see direct and indirect realism), that one can attain objective knowledge from perception through the process of concept formation and inductive logic, that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness (see rational egoism), that the only social system consistent with this morality is one that displays full respect for individual rights embodied in laissez-faire capitalism, and that the role of art in human life is to transform humans' metaphysical ideas by selective reproduction of reality into a physical form—a work of art—that one can comprehend and to which one can respond emotionally. Academic philosophers have mostly ignored or rejected Rand's philosophy. Nonetheless, Objectivism has been a significant influence among libertarians and American conservatives. The Objectivist movement, which Rand founded, attempts to spread her ideas to the public and in academic settings.
  • 828
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Power Posing
Power posing is a controversial self-improvement technique or "life hack" in which people stand in a posture that they mentally associate with being powerful, in the hope of feeling and behaving more assertively. Though the underlying science is strongly disputed, its promoters continue to argue that people can foster positive life changes simply by assuming a "powerful" or "expansive" posture for a few minutes before an interaction in which confidence is needed. One popular image of the technique in practice is that of candidates "lock[ing] themselves in bathroom stalls before job interviews to make victory V's with their arms." Power posing was first suggested in a 2010 paper by Dana R. Carney, Amy Cuddy, and Andy Yap in the journal Psychological Science, and came to prominence through a popular TED talk by Cuddy in 2012. However, in 2015 several researchers began reporting that the effect could not be replicated, and, in 2016, Carney issued a statement abandoning the theory. Cuddy, however, continued her research, claiming to have evidence that posture feedback can at least make people feel more powerful. Today, power posing is often cited as an example of the replication crisis in the sciences.
  • 819
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Biomass Supply Chains in Post-COVID-19 Recovery
Researchers investigates how biomass supply chains (BSChs) for bioenergy within the broader bioeconomy could contribute to the post-COVID-19 recovery in three dimensions: boosting economic growth, creating jobs, and building more resilient and cleaner energy systems in four future scenarios, in the short term (by 2023) and long term (by 2030).
  • 816
  • 17 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Gift
A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is meant to be free. In many countries, the act of mutually exchanging money, goods, etc. may sustain social relations and contribute to social cohesion. Economists have elaborated the economics of gift-giving into the notion of a gift economy. By extension the term gift can refer to any item or act of service that makes the other happier or less sad, especially as a favor, including forgiveness and kindness. Gifts are also first and foremost presented on occasions such as birthdays and holidays.
  • 804
  • 06 Oct 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.
  • 790
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
2015 Cash for Vote Scam
The 2015 cash-for-votes scam was a political scandal, the second scandal of its kind since the 2008 cash-for-votes scandal. The 2015 political scandal started off when the Telugu Desam Party Leaders of Telangana state were caught in a video footage, aired in the media, offering bribes to a nominated MLA for his vote in the 2015 elections of the Telangana Legislative Council. The Telugu Desam MLA Revanth Reddy was arrested by the Telangana Police when he was offering Rs. 50 lakhs to the nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson. Reddy was then presented before the court of justice and sent to jail. Similarly, the phone conversation, which was quoted as the voice of N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, with the same nominated MLA was aired in the news media. The Telugu Desam party alleged that the scandal, was a political vendetta, doctored by the Telangana State Government under the direction of K. Chandrashekhar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, alongside the YSR Congress Party. In a further development, The High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the States of Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, granted bail to Revanth Reddy and two other co-accused due to lack of substantial evidence.
  • 785
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
2017 Catalan Independence Referendum
The Catalan independence referendum of 2017, also known by the numeronym 1-O (for "1 October") in Spanish media, was an independence referendum held on 1 October 2017 in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, passed by the Parliament of Catalonia as the Law on the Referendum on Self-determination of Catalonia and called by the Generalitat de Catalunya. It was declared unconstitutional on 7 September 2017 and suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain after a request from the Spanish government, who declared it a breach of the Spanish Constitution. Additionally, in early September the High Court of Justice of Catalonia had issued orders to the police to try to prevent it, including the detention of various persons responsible for its preparation. Due to alleged irregularities during the voting process as well as to the use of force by the National Police Corps and Civil Guard, international observers invited by the Generalitat declared that the referendum failed to meet the minimum international standards for elections. The referendum was approved by the Catalan parliament in a session in which only nationalist parliamentarians participated on 6 September 2017 along with the Law of juridical transition and foundation of the Republic of Catalonia the following day 7 September, which stated that independence would be binding with a simple majority, without requiring a minimum turnout. After being suspended, the law was finally declared void on 17 October, being also unconstitutional according to the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia which requires a two-thirds majority, 90 seats, in the Catalan parliament for any change to Catalonia's status. The referendum question, which voters answered with "Yes" or "No", was "Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?". The "Yes" side won, with 2,044,038 (92.01%) voting for independence and 177,547 (7.99%) voting against, on a turnout of 43.03%. The Catalan government estimated that up to 770,000 votes were not cast due to polling stations being closed off during the police crackdown, although the "universal census" system introduced earlier in the day allowed electors to vote at any given polling station. Catalan government officials have argued that the turnout would have been higher were it not for Spanish and Catalan police suppression of the vote. On the other hand, most voters who did not support Catalan independence did not turn out, as the constitutional political parties asked citizens not to participate in what they considered an illegal referendum. Additionally, numerous cases of voters casting their votes several times or with lack of identification were reported, and the counting process and the revision of the census were not performed with quality standards ensuring impartiality. In the days leading to the referendum, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia ordered police forces to impede the use of public premises for the imminent voting. However, on the day of the referendum, the inaction of part of the autonomous police force of Catalonia, the Mossos d'Esquadra, allowed many polling stations to open. The National Police Corps and the Guardia Civil intervened and raided several polling stations after they opened. 893 civilians and 111 agents of the National Police and the Guardia Civil were reported to have been injured. According to various sources these previously reported figures may have been exaggerated. According to the judge from Barcelona who is currently investigating the accusations of police violence, there were 218 persons injured on that day in the city of Barcelona alone, 20 of whom were agents. According to the official final report by the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut) of the Generalitat 1066 civilians, 11 agents of the National Police and the Guardia Civil and 1 agent of the regional police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, were injured. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, urged the Spanish government to prove all acts of violence that took place to prevent the referendum. The police action also received criticism from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch which defined it as an "excessive and unnecessary use of force". Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena stated Puigdemont ignored the repeated warnings he received about the escalation of violence if the referendum was held. Mossos d'Esquadra are being investigated for disobedience, for allegedly not having complied with the orders of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. Including Josep Lluís Trapero Álvarez, the Mossos d'Esquadra major, who is being investigated for sedition by the Spanish National Court. Mossos d'Esquadra deny those accusations and allege they obeyed the orders but applied the principle of proportionality, which is required by Spanish law in all police operations.
  • 781
  • 07 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Court of Auditors (Spain)
The Tribunal de Cuentas (Court of Auditors) is the supreme governmental accounting body of Spain responsible of the comptrolling of the public accounts and the auditing of the accountancy of the political parties, in accordance with the Constitution and its Organic Law. The Court of Auditors is composed by the President and 12 counsellors. The Counsellors are appointed by the Cortes Generales, six of them by the Congress and the other six by the Senate. To be appointed Counsellor of the Court it is needed to be a person with knowledge in audit, judge, prosecutor, university teacher or a public servant in an office that requieres superior studies, lawyer, economist or trade profesor, all of them with recognized experience and with fifteen years of professional activity. The Court Account Counselors are independent and irremovable. Their term is 9 years.
  • 772
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Bipartisanship
Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing political parties find common ground through compromise. Partisanship is the antonym, where an individual or political party adheres only to its interests without compromise.
  • 769
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Probation Officer
Probation and Parole Officers are officials appointed to investigate, report on, and supervise the conduct of convicted offenders on probation and/or those released from incarceration to community supervision such as parole. Most probation and parole officers are employed by the government of the jurisdiction in which they operate, although some are employed by private companies that provide contracted services to the government.
  • 752
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Participatory Democracy and Sustainability
The crisis of representative democracy triggered democratic innovations. Endeavors for the qualification of democratic systems and democratic reforms are high on the agenda. Political participation plays an important role in democracies. With the Rio conference in the 1990s, the Local Agenda 21 strategies strengthened a new trend towards more deliberative political participation, focusing on sustainability. Political participation is defined as an individual and organized act to influence political decision-making. Democratic innovations focus on political participatory instruments, electoral reforms, etc. In contrast, civic engagement and all forms of communal self-help predominately concentrate on producing certain services and, in general, do not include any decision-making competencies. This social innovation is not primarily oriented towards the influence of decision-making, but focuses on civic engagement as co-production. Political participation and civic engagement are interdependent, but have to be differentiated.
  • 743
  • 28 Sep 2021
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.
  • 733
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Ecological Poverty Alleviation in Eco-Civilization Progress
Ecological poverty alleviation is a discursive and policy system with rich theoretical implications, comprehensive policy tools and multiple practical approaches, constituting an important dimension of contemporary Chinese poverty alleviation theory and practice, or a complete case of eco-innovation. Promoting green development, establishing ecological public-welfare compensation mechanisms and organizing ecological relocation are the three major modes or paths of implementing this policy. It is undoubtedly a historic success on the one hand and has still great potential for self-adjustment or self-transformation on the other from a perspective of eco-civilization progress or sustainability.
  • 720
  • 07 May 2022
Topic Review
Korea Green New Deal
Various developed nations, including the US (February 2019) and the EU (December 2019), have recently relaunched Green New Deals similar to the climate-oriented economic stimulus policies implemented after the 2008–2009 Great Recession; such green stimulus packages not only raise investments with short-term benefits for economic output and jobs, but also lay the groundwork for long-term innovation and economic development aligned with environmental constraints. The Korean government also considered reintroducing the Korean Green Growth Initiative of 2009 in response to the COVID-19 crisis as a national industrial strategy to promote green innovation and transform the industrial structure of key global industries such as motor vehicles, batteries, and electricity distribution systems; the aim was to make Korea a competitive leader in the future global economic structure. Eventually, the Korean government announced the Green New Deal as one of the three pillars of the Korean New Deal on 14 July 2020, and proposed a total investment of KRW 73.4 trillion (KRW 42.7 trillion from the treasury) over the next five years.
  • 701
  • 09 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Ukrainian Migrants in Poland during COVID-19 Pandemic
Economic and political crises have significant impacts on the situation of foreigners in their host country. Some of these impacts of such crises can be predicted, while others appear unexpectedly. Particularly challenging are those characterised by extreme unusualness and the absence of warning signs that suggest the possibility of their occurrence. The pandemic as an emergency situation entailing restrictions on mobility between countries did not significantly affect the migration decisions of Ukrainians. Disregarding the difficult epidemiological situation, they continued to make decisions on immigration to Poland, guided by individual profit and loss calculations. Others remained in Poland to wait out the crisis. The pandemic has exposed the dependence of the Polish economy on migrant labour and has also shown the deficiencies in migration policy.
  • 679
  • 23 May 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.
  • 656
  • 27 Oct 2022
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