Suchergebnisse

Revisiting South Africa's land and agrarian questions / Grasian Mkodzongi and Femke Brandt -- Broadening conceptions of democracy and citizenship : the subaltern histories of rural resistance in Mpondoland and Marikana / Sarah Bruchhausen and Camalita Naicker -- From material to cultural : historiographic approaches to the Eastern Cape's agrarian past / Elene Cloete -- South Africa's dangerous game : re-configuring power and belonging on Karoo trophy-hunting farms / Femke Brandt -- Gendered nationhood and the land question in South Africa 20 years after democracy / Kezia Batisai -- Farm worker 'development' agendas : what does sports have to do with it? / Tarminder Kaur -- Intricacies of game farming and outstanding land restitution claims in the Gongolo area of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa / Tariro Kamuti -- Inclusive business models in South African land restitution : great expectations and ambiguous outcomes explored / Nerhene Davis -- 'We won't have Zim-style land grabs' : what can South Africa learn from Zimbabwe's fast-track land reforms? / Grasian Mkodzongi -- Khoisan revivalism and land question in post-apartheid South Africa / Chizuko Sato -- The land-reform programme and its contribution to the livelihoods of poor people / Fani Ncapayi -- 'Disrupting spatial legacies' : dismantled game farms as success stories of land reform? / Mnqobi Ngubane -- Agency and state planning in South Africa's land-reform process / Femke Brandt and Grasian Mkodzongi

"This book is a critical exploration of the war on terror from the prism of armed drones and globalization. It is particularly focused on the United States' use of the drones, and the systemic dysfunctions that globalization has caused to international political economy and national security, creating backlash in which the desirability of globalization is not only increasingly questioned, but the resultant dissension about its desirability appears increasingly militating against the international consensus needed to fight the war on terror. To underline the controversial nature of the "war on terror" and the pragmatic weapon (armed drones) fashioned for its prosecution, some of the elements of this controversy have been interrogated in this book. They include, amongst others, the doubt over whether the war should have been declared in the first place because terrorist attacks hardly meet the United Nations' casus belli – an armed attack. There are critics, as highlighted in this book, who believe that the "war on terror" is not an armed conflict properly so called, and, thus, remains only a "law enforcement issue."The United States and all the states taking part in the war on terror are obligated to observe International Humanitarian Law (IHL). It is within this context of IHL that this book appraises the drone as a weapon of engagement, discussing such issues as "personality" and "signature" strikes as well as the implications of the deployment of spies as drone strikers rather than the Defence Department, the members of the U.S armed forces. This book will be of value to researchers, academics, policymakers, professionals, and students in the fields of security studies, terrorism, the law of armed conflict, international humanitarian law, and international politics."--Provided by publisher

"Most narratives depict Soviet Cold War cultural activities and youth groups as drab and dreary, militant and politicized. In this study Gleb Tsipursky challenges these stereotypes in a revealing portrayal of Soviet youth and state-sponsored popular culture. The primary local venues for Soviet culture were the tens of thousands of klubs where young people found entertainment, leisure, social life, and romance. Here sports, dance, film, theater, music, lectures, and political meetings became vehicles to disseminate a socialist version of modernity. The Soviet way of life was dutifully presented and perceived as the most progressive and advanced, in an attempt to stave off Western influences. In effect, socialist fun became very serious business. As Tsipursky shows, however, Western culture did infiltrate these activities, particularly at local levels, where participants and organizers deceptively cloaked their offerings to appeal to their own audiences. Thus, Soviet modernity evolved as a complex and multivalent ideological device. Tsipursky provides a fresh and original examination of the Kremlin's paramount effort to shape young lives, consumption, popular culture, and to build an emotional community--all against the backdrop of Cold War struggles to win hearts and minds both at home and abroad"--

"In the end, this book is a must-read for soldiers, scholars, policymakers, and citizens who would like to gain insight into the impact of social media in contemporary conflict and how the lines between the home front and the war front are becoming ever more blurred."--H-Net Review "Offers a comprehensive analysis of the role that social media play in the lives of an often-overlooked population: the US military, both deployed and domestic. The book is accessible to even novice social media enthusiasts yet deep enough to command the attention of advanced scholars."--Choice.

This volume examines Russian discourses of regionalism as a source of identity construction practices for the country's political and intellectual establishment. The overall purpose of the monograph is to demonstrate that, contrary to some assumptions, the transition trajectory of post-Soviet Russia has not been towards a liberal democratic nation state that is set to emulate Western political and normative standards. Instead, its foreign policy discourses have been constructing Russia as a supranational community which transcends Russia's current legally established borders. The study underta

Rehabilitation of abandoned quarry sites could alleviate the effects of environmental dereliction and could meet the social demand for improvement of the quality of life in urban centers. Nevertheless, reclamation benefits are often overlooked in assessment procedures, since they are hard to estimate, at least in monetary terms. This paper examines the economic value of rehabilitation works, using an environmental economics framework. The survey is based on the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), using as a case study an abandoned quarry site in the center of Athens, Greece. According to the estimates, recreation of the mined area produces an important economic value, which is associated with residents' preferences. The results provide quantitative information that may be used in a beneficial way to justify environmental policy and to provide additional Government funding towards environmental treatment of derelict land. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Background: In 2014, the governor of Washington State mandated that all hospitals publically post a reproductive health policy amidst concerns about the lack of clarity among the public how hospitals handled various aspects of reproductive health care. Methods: The objective of this study is to assess the clarity of abortion and contraception service provision in the hospital reproductive health policies for the public in Washington State. All Washington State hospital reproductive health policies (n = 88) were analyzed in 2016 using content analysis. Results were stratified by Catholic religious affiliation of the hospital. Results: There were more similarities than differences between the non-Catholic and Catholic hospital reproductive health policies; however, there were a few differences. Non-Catholic hospitals were more likely than Catholic hospitals to use legal language (except for emergency contraception), include conscientious clause for providers (44% vs. 0%), and were less likely to specify that emergency contraception use was available for sexual assault victims only (16% vs 54%). Most hospital reproductive health policies, regardless of Catholic affiliation, provided more confusion than clarity in terms of abortion and contraception service provision. Conclusions: The impact of Catholic, and non-Catholic, affiliated hospital care on patients who need abortion and contraceptive services is concerning. Given the difficulties in meeting the goals of increased transparency for the public through hospital policy language, the government should instead mandate hospitals use a standardized checklist. Additionally, patients are in dire need of positive rights to information about and services to avoid the potential gap in care that the negative rights afforded to providers and facilities to opt-out of providing abortion and contraceptive services have created.

This paper examines current housing conditions and housing policy in California, describes key issues faced by different regions and segments of the population, identifies the major mechanisms for addressing these issues, and suggests where attention should be focused in addressing future growth pressures. California's two key housing issues relate to affordability and location relative to jobs and transportation routes. These issues have been further complicated by the collapse of the housing bubble in 2007 and 2008, which led to extensive foreclosures and price declines throughout the state. State regions with the least affordable housing going into the housing bubble have not experienced the greatest housing cost adjustments during the downturn. Improvements in affordability that have occurred at the outskirts of metropolitan areas may lead to worsening congestion and transportation access as the workforce moves away from job centers to more affordable housing. The addition of "global warming" legislation—AB 32 and SB 375—also complicates efforts to resolve California's housing issues. Housing policy at the state level is dependent on funding that comes from federal and local sources and an implementation system that often requires interacting with multiple state agencies, other levels of government and the major private sector actors in the housing market (builders and financial institutions). Going forward, major roles for the state include providing coordination and direction for housing availability for all segments of the population, expanding funding resources for housing production and services for underserved income groups, and providing a venue for addressing the balance between housing needs and transportation planning.

For those of us who believe that the Chilean government should have resolutely supported the Anglo-American alliance in its military intervention in Iraq, we note that our diplomacy was zigzagging, contradictory, hasty, unable to articulate national interests with the principles of the country's foreign policy, and ended up imprisoned by public opinion, mostly opposed to the North American intervention. This critical vision is based on a debatable postulate: the national interest advised to support without delay the request of the United States to obtain the authorization of the Security Council of the United Nations that would contribute to the legitimization of the military actions in Iraq. To assume this position, there were sufficient grounds. It was possible to harmonize the national interest with the principle of respect for international law that Chilean foreign policy should promote. ; Para quienes creemos que el gobierno chileno debió haber respaldado resueltamente a la alianza anglo-estadounidense en su intervención militar en Irak, constatamos que nuestra diplomacia fue zigzagueante, contradictoria, precipitada, incapaz de articular los intereses nacionales con los principios de la política exterior del país, y terminó aprisionada por la opinión pública, mayoritariamente contraria a la intervención norteamericana. Esta visión crítica se basa en un postulado discutible: el interés nacional aconsejaba apoyar sin dilaciones la solicitud de los Estados Unidos para obtener la autorización del Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas que contribuiría a la legitimización de las acciones militares en Irak. Para asumir esta posición, había fundamentos suficientes. Era posible armonizar el interés nacional con el principio de respeto del derecho internacional que debe promover la política exterior chilena.

Regulatory capital requirements for market risk, also known as the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB), were disclosed by the Basel Committee on January 2016. This major overhaul of the Basel 2.5 framework challenges risk model specification and backtesting. Given the prevalence of historical simulation approach within large financial institutions, we focus on the Filtered (Volatility Weighted) Historical Simulation (VWHS) approach associated with a EWMA volatility filter. Volatility dynamics is then directed by a single parameter. We discuss how this decay parameter, chosen within a reasonable range, at banks' discretion, impacts capital metrics, backtesting statistics, as prescribed by the Basel Committee, and fouls the regulatory benchmarking of internal risk models. We show a trade-off between the resilience of risk models to periods of turmoil and the magnitude of capital metrics. Under the new regulatory rules, this would favour plain historical simulation, as compared with filtered or volatility weighed historical simulation. Understanding why, might be helpful for regulated banks, regarding the management of their market risk models, and supervisors involved in internal model approval.

Regulatory capital requirements for market risk, also known as the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB), were disclosed by the Basel Committee on January 2016. This major overhaul of the Basel 2.5 framework challenges risk model specification and backtesting. Given the prevalence of historical simulation approach within large financial institutions, we focus on the Filtered (Volatility Weighted) Historical Simulation (VWHS) approach associated with a EWMA volatility filter. Volatility dynamics is then directed by a single parameter. We discuss how this decay parameter, chosen within a reasonable range, at banks' discretion, impacts capital metrics, backtesting statistics, as prescribed by the Basel Committee, and fouls the regulatory benchmarking of internal risk models. We show a trade-off between the resilience of risk models to periods of turmoil and the magnitude of capital metrics. Under the new regulatory rules, this would favour plain historical simulation, as compared with filtered or volatility weighed historical simulation. Understanding why, might be helpful for regulated banks, regarding the management of their market risk models, and supervisors involved in internal model approval.

Regulatory capital requirements for market risk, also known as the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB), were disclosed by the Basel Committee on January 2016. This major overhaul of the Basel 2.5 framework challenges risk model specification and backtesting. Given the prevalence of historical simulation approach within large financial institutions, we focus on the Filtered (Volatility Weighted) Historical Simulation (VWHS) approach associated with a EWMA volatility filter. Volatility dynamics is then directed by a single parameter. We discuss how this decay parameter, chosen within a reasonable range, at banks' discretion, impacts capital metrics, backtesting statistics, as prescribed by the Basel Committee, and fouls the regulatory benchmarking of internal risk models. We show a trade-off between the resilience of risk models to periods of turmoil and the magnitude of capital metrics. Under the new regulatory rules, this would favour plain historical simulation, as compared with filtered or volatility weighed historical simulation. Understanding why, might be helpful for regulated banks, regarding the management of their market risk models, and supervisors involved in internal model approval.

This paper uses an original telepsychology European survey conducted by the EFPA (European Federation of Psychologists Associations) Project Group in e-Health between March 18th and May 5th, 2020, to consider online practices of psychologists. We set up evidence from France compared with other European countries. First, we observe that France is the European country where psychologists' perception of the concept of online consultations is the worse. It goes through the lowest rate of specific training concerning online consultations. Also France is the European country where psychologists have the worse experience (after Belgium) with online consultations, prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Second, we address the issue of determinants of the teleconsultation feelings. We take advantage of this survey panel of 13 European countries that allows us to consider within-country telepractice behaviour. Our results show that a specific training is a key factor for a positive feeling with the concept of online consultation practices. In addition, telepresence (feeling of being connected with one another) and positive overall experience capture the effect of the specific training. French psychologists differ from the other European countries telepsychologists by an absence of specific training effect on the feeling with online consultation that may be explained by the lack of specific training. However, as for European psychologists, French psychologists' perception of telepractice depends on their level of telepresence and on their overall experience in telepractice.

This paper uses an original telepsychology European survey conducted by the EFPA (European Federation of Psychologists Associations) Project Group in e-Health between March 18th and May 5th, 2020, to consider online practices of psychologists. We set up evidence from France compared with other European countries. First, we observe that France is the European country where psychologists' perception of the concept of online consultations is the worse. It goes through the lowest rate of specific training concerning online consultations. Also France is the European country where psychologists have the worse experience (after Belgium) with online consultations, prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Second, we address the issue of determinants of the teleconsultation feelings. We take advantage of this survey panel of 13 European countries that allows us to consider within-country telepractice behaviour. Our results show that a specific training is a key factor for a positive feeling with the concept of online consultation practices. In addition, telepresence (feeling of being connected with one another) and positive overall experience capture the effect of the specific training. French psychologists differ from the other European countries telepsychologists by an absence of specific training effect on the feeling with online consultation that may be explained by the lack of specific training. However, as for European psychologists, French psychologists' perception of telepractice depends on their level of telepresence and on their overall experience in telepractice.