Suchergebnisse

The paper deals with the geopolitical choice of the Republic of Poland during the post-Soviet period. The main attention is focused on the national military policy over 1991-2011. The structure and powers of security and defense governmental departments - the President, Popular Assemblies (the Sejm and Senate) - are examined. The results of electoral preferences at Parliamentary and Presidential elections are chronologically presented. The first defence doctrine of Poland of 1993 and its revolutionary nature as well as the defence doctrine of 1993 are described. The implementation process of the national interest protection through the instrument of foreign policy is shown, specifically through the European integration and accession to the NATO military and political bloc. Interrelations with the European neighboring countries and a strategic partner - the USA within the military cooperation and economics are analyzed. The 'cold' international relations with the Russian Federation are pointed out.The Security Strategy and the basics of the Polish strategic defence of 2000 after accession of the country to the North Atlantic Alliance are examined and the main priorities in the then military policy are identified. The new National Security Strategy of 2003, adopted after the al-Qaeda terrorist acts against the USA in 2001, is looked into. The role and position of the Republic of Poland in the NATO, its willingness to establish a joint European security system as a complementary element of the global system are indicated. The economic and political benefits of the NATO and EU memberships are emphasized.The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland and their services are described. Economic steps of the Polish government over the recent 20 years, aimed at stabilization of its development and sustainable social policy, are analyzed. The main geopolitical conception of Poland is reviewed, which implies an active foreign policy in the East. ; Статья посвящена геополитическому выбору Республики Польша в постсоветский период. Проанализированы полномочия Президента и высшего законодательного органа (сейма и сената) по вопросам безопасности и обороны. Рассмотрены избирательные симпатии во время парламентских и президентских выборов за последние 20 лет. Дана характеристика оборонной доктрине, Стратегии безопасности и обороны. Описан состав и вооружение всех видов Вооруженных сил. Рассмотрены отношения с государствами-соседями, ЕС, США, Россией. Исследованы основные направления восточной политики Республики Польша. ; Стаття присвячена геополітичному вибору Республіки Польща в пострадянський період, її військовій політиці. Проаналізовано повноваження Президента та законодавчого органу (сейму та сенату) з питань безпеки та оборони. Розглянуто виборчі симпатії під час парламентських та президентських виборів за останні 20 років. Охарактеризовані оборонна доктрина, Стратегія безпеки та оборони. Дано характеристику Збройним силам. Розглянуто відносини з країнами-сусідами, ЄС, США та Росією. Досліджено основні напрямки східної політики Республіки Польща.

Modern transformation of the economic system of this country led to structural changes in the social environment. Movement of population and human resources inside and outside the country increased. The growth of the scale of international migration processes, their mixed impact on the development of the countries, qualitative transformation of the specified processes determine the importance of the study of demographic and employment dimension of the international migration processes in Ukraine, which is among the main donors of population. The aim of the work is to determine demographic and human dimension of international migration processes in Ukraine. To achieve the goal, we applied dialectical method of scientific knowledge, as well as general scientific and special methods of research. The current state of migration processes in the global economy was examined. It was determined that in the global migration system Ukraine happens to be the country of origin, of transit and arrival of migrants. We analyzed the regional structure of migration flows in the state. It was proved that in recent years the country continues to lose population as a result of emigration, and these losses are not offset by immigration from abroad. This leads to a rapid decrease of the population of Ukraine. In addition, we tackled the problem of emigration of highly skilled labour force out of the country while the main channels of immigration into the country were identified. One of these channels is educational migration because Ukraine is included into the top ten leaders in the international market of educational services. It was substantiated that the target guideline of the state migration policy of Ukraine should be keeping the country's intellectual potential, for which it is necessary to ensure the execution of the following tasks: provision of financial and material resources to the development of science and higher education; funding in full the salaries of teachers in higher education, research workers; development of programs to preserve intellectual potential of the country; development of a mechanism for stimulating research activities and training of qualified professionals. The scientific novelty of the obtained results is in the developing and clarifying theoretical and practical foundations of the research into the issues of demographic and employment dimension of international migration processes in Ukraine. The practical value of the research results is in the definition of the target guideline of the state migration policy of Ukraine, which should be the preservation of the intellectual potential of the country. The participation of Ukraine in the international migration of skilled people should include an evolutionary process of rapprochement with the scientific and technological environment, and this process requires coordinated actions of all branches of government and business, predetermining the need for further research in this direction.

The need for smart sustainable urban solutions has never been greater than it is today. Master plan (MP) represents rather significant document for a city development and the City of Belgrade has a tradition and long history of development under MP framework (Djuric et al 2013). Current MP (Fig. 1), made by the Urban Planning Institute of Belgrade, has been adopted in 2003 and refers to the development period by the year of 2021 (http://www.urbel.com/default.aspx?ID=uzb_BG_planovi&LN=ENG). On the other hand the City of Belgrade is facing a rapid urban sprawl so suburbanization problem is particularly pronounced. Since MP is following the current needs of the city, active subjects of economic development as well as urban municipalities, there is strong initiative to expand its current extents for the suburb areas. Among other significant points of the MP, determination of the Land-Use Suitability (LUS) is considered to be one of the foremost planning references. LUS analysis is a tool used to define future land uses or their potential. Suitability techniques enable environmental managers, planners and engineers to analyze the interactions among various factors. Decision makers and developers can use the outputs to set policies and make decisions regarding the use of land. Contemporary environmental managers and planners are aware of the technological advancements in land-use allocation and suitability modelling. New methods of spatial analysis are now commonly used in the development of land-use plans, environmental impact reviews, and site selection studies for many different land uses and public and private facilities (Collins, 2001). The earliest applications of suitability analysis conducted by engineering geologists and civil engineers for Belgrade MP area, in form of hand-drawn sieve mapping overlays was done by Šutić et al. (1972). Later, numerous researchers performed similar suitability analysis for different purposes (urban planning, defining best/optimal road routes etc). First work involving suitability analysis in GIS environment has been done in 2009/2010 (Marjanović, 2009; Djurić, 2010), but none for Belgrade area. This paper introduces a new approach and represents in fact, a pioneering work performed for the City of Belgrade. It represents how available thematic data, processed in GIS environment, can be and was used for LUS assessment. One of the statistical methods involving the Conditional Probability (CP) approach with the Weight of Evidence technique, has been used. Conventional methods on the other hand, are still needed to validate the outcomes and to calibrate these GIS-based methods, which are still to be developed and perfected. There was a strong motif supporting this research, since in-charged City's government services have shown interest in extending the Master Plan (MP) to the Belgrade suburb areas.

The goal of this master thesis is to complete a research on the legal regulation peculiarities of food labelling and consumer protection. In order to achieve the set goal, following tasks were formed in this thesis: to analyze the legal regulation peculiarities of food labelling in legislation of European Union and Lithuania; to analyze legal regulation of requirements for labelling organic food and products that contain food additives; to provide insights regarding possibilities for consumers to implement their rights in the sphere of food labelling. One of the goals of the European Union food safety policy is to ensure the labelling of food. Therefore, after analysing the legal regulation of food labelling in the first section of the thesis, a proposition can be made that, the labelling of this sphere in the European Union is regulated by horizontal and vertical legislation. The new regulation No. 1169/2011, issued by the European Parliament and Council on the 25th of October, seeks to join, consolidate and simplify currently valid legislation regarding food labelling. The main legal document which regulates food labelling in the Republic of Lithuania is Lithuanian Hygiene Norm HN 119:2002 "Food Labelling". While the market of both organic food and products that contain additives continues to develop, the second section of the thesis analyzes the requirements set by legislation for labelling such products. The analysis of legislation that regulates the labelling of organic food shows that, the main objective of mandatory labelling of products with a certain mark that meet the requirements set for organic food in Lithuania and the European Union is to create an exclusive market for such products, and to form the perception among consumers about advantages of organic food production. Legal requirement to indicate food additives in the constitution of a product is designated in order to ensure that information provided to the consumer is sufficient to make an informed purchase, and, in some cases, to warn the consumer. Food labelling should be perceived not only as informing the consumer, but also as a part of national requirements for implemented and controlled food safety and quality. The third section analyses the possibility for consumers to implement their rights, and a conclusion can be drawn that, when an inadequately labelled food product is purchased, legislation enables the consumer to: 1) address salesperson who sold the product and, optionally, make a requirement to: replace the product with an item of proper quality; adequately reduce the price of the item; return the item to salesperson and demand to receive the spent amount of money; 2) address the State Food and Veterinary Service with a complaint (notice).

The goal of this master thesis is to complete a research on the legal regulation peculiarities of food labelling and consumer protection. In order to achieve the set goal, following tasks were formed in this thesis: to analyze the legal regulation peculiarities of food labelling in legislation of European Union and Lithuania; to analyze legal regulation of requirements for labelling organic food and products that contain food additives; to provide insights regarding possibilities for consumers to implement their rights in the sphere of food labelling. One of the goals of the European Union food safety policy is to ensure the labelling of food. Therefore, after analysing the legal regulation of food labelling in the first section of the thesis, a proposition can be made that, the labelling of this sphere in the European Union is regulated by horizontal and vertical legislation. The new regulation No. 1169/2011, issued by the European Parliament and Council on the 25th of October, seeks to join, consolidate and simplify currently valid legislation regarding food labelling. The main legal document which regulates food labelling in the Republic of Lithuania is Lithuanian Hygiene Norm HN 119:2002 "Food Labelling". While the market of both organic food and products that contain additives continues to develop, the second section of the thesis analyzes the requirements set by legislation for labelling such products. The analysis of legislation that regulates the labelling of organic food shows that, the main objective of mandatory labelling of products with a certain mark that meet the requirements set for organic food in Lithuania and the European Union is to create an exclusive market for such products, and to form the perception among consumers about advantages of organic food production. Legal requirement to indicate food additives in the constitution of a product is designated in order to ensure that information provided to the consumer is sufficient to make an informed purchase, and, in some cases, to warn the consumer. Food labelling should be perceived not only as informing the consumer, but also as a part of national requirements for implemented and controlled food safety and quality. The third section analyses the possibility for consumers to implement their rights, and a conclusion can be drawn that, when an inadequately labelled food product is purchased, legislation enables the consumer to: 1) address salesperson who sold the product and, optionally, make a requirement to: replace the product with an item of proper quality; adequately reduce the price of the item; return the item to salesperson and demand to receive the spent amount of money; 2) address the State Food and Veterinary Service with a complaint (notice).

Accountability is a central feature of democracy. Governments must explain what they are doing, justify why they are doing certain things and not others. Moreover, accountability increases the likelihood of the improvement of public services if citizens have the political scope to hold politicians and administrators accountable, and potentially sanction them. Consequently, developing countries as well as the OECD-donor community have committed themselves to working towards the improvement of domestic accountability in developing countries. In many developing countries, ccountability is exercised through both formal and informal institutions. This paper summarises the results of an empirical study on accountability in Mozambique. It focuses on the Presidência Aberta e Inclusiva (PAI, Open and Inclusive Presidency), a legally not codified institution for accountability introduced by President Armando E. Guebuza. It provides a public forum for the president to engage in a dialogue with the population and the local administrations, in combination with an ongoing process of decentralisation. This study shows that the interaction between formal and more informal institutions has a mixed influence on policymaking and democracy. Overall, there is an untapped potential to improve the PAI as an institution for accountability that strengthens formal institutions. In analysing the interplay between the PAI and formal institutions in two Mozambican provinces, we assess it to be a relatively effective monitoring instrument. • The PAI fosters a top-down logic of coherence and implementation of development policies at all state levels. In doing so, it particularly contributes to aligning development policies to the government's strategic five-year plan. • The PAI has the potential to enhance the quality of democracy, as it offers the opportunity for the provision of accountability by different levels of the executive and a new venue for citizen participation in an environment in which other forms of participation are largely constrained. However, thus far, this potential for accountability and participation has not yet fully unfolded, because the process is dominated by the executive in processes of political decision making. • The PAI creates a structure with challenging consequences for a coherent planning and implementation process at the sub-national level. It potentially poses a threat to the development of effective independent institutions at the local level, such as district administrations, municipalities and Conselhos Consultivos (consultative councils) that are actually tasked with ensuring a coherent implementation of development policies. The PAI's contribution to the Mozambican decentralisation process can be improved by raising awareness on the functions and responsibilities of formal institutions at the sub-national level and by more closely aligning the PAI's follow-up process to already existing policy processes. For donors it is not recommended to directly interact with the PAI in development aid, but to focus on its effect on existing development programmes.

Abstract. The Mw = 9.3 Sumatra earthquake of 26 December 2004 generated a tsunami that affected the entire Indian Ocean region and caused approximately 230 000 fatalities. In the response to this tragedy the German government funded the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) Project. The task of the GEOFON group of GFZ Potsdam was to develop and implement the seismological component. In this paper we describe the concept of the GITEWS earthquake monitoring system and report on its present status. The major challenge for earthquake monitoring within a tsunami warning system is to deliver rapid information about location, depth, size and possibly other source parameters. This is particularly true for coast lines adjacent to the potential source areas such as the Sunda trench where these parameters are required within a few minutes after the event in order to be able to warn the population before the potential tsunami hits the neighbouring coastal areas. Therefore, the key for a seismic monitoring system with short warning times adequate for Indonesia is a dense real-time seismic network across Indonesia with densifications close to the Sunda trench. A substantial number of supplementary stations in other Indian Ocean rim countries are added to strengthen the teleseismic monitoring capabilities. The installation of the new GITEWS seismic network – consisting of 31 combined broadband and strong motion stations – out of these 21 stations in Indonesia – is almost completed. The real-time data collection is using a private VSAT communication system with hubs in Jakarta and Vienna. In addition, all available seismic real-time data from the other seismic networks in Indonesia and other Indian Ocean rim countries are acquired also directly by VSAT or by Internet at the Indonesian Tsunami Warning Centre in Jakarta and the resulting "virtual" network of more than 230 stations can jointly be used for seismic data processing. The seismological processing software as part of the GITEWS tsunami control centre is an enhanced version of the widely used SeisComP software and the well established GEOFON earthquake information system operated at GFZ in Potsdam (http://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/db/eqinfo.php). This recently developed software package (SeisComP3) is reliable, fast and can provide fully automatic earthquake location and magnitude estimates. It uses innovative visualization tools, offers the possibility for manual correction and re-calculation, flexible configuration, support for distributed processing and data and parameter exchange with external monitoring systems. SeisComP3 is not only used for tsunami warning in Indonesia but also in most other Tsunami Warning Centres in the Indian Ocean and Euro-Med regions and in many seismic services worldwide.

An early-2008 Foreign Policy index found that 88% of active and retired American servicemen and women agree that the war in Iraq has stretched the United States military dangerously thin. Another 60% think that the US military today is weaker than it was five years ago. 74% of those surveyed hold low regards for the civilian leadership expressing that civilian policymakers set unreasonable goals for the US military to accomplish. With current military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan serving as backdrops, these inflections serve as the basis of a much-needed conversation on the evolving roles and responsibilities of civilian and military agencies in the post-conflict environment.
The immediate solutions to the military's frustrations have been logical if not only reactionary or temporary stopgaps. If the military is stretched too thin, then expand it. Over the next five years there will be substantial increases in the Army and Marine Corps by as much as over 90,000 troops. If the military is weakening, then strengthen it. The President's 2008 defense budget pushes defense spending to levels not seen since the Reagan Administration, bringing with it a slew of new military hardware meant to keep the US military on the cutting edge of technology and flexible in the face of emerging threats. If the military is lacking comprehensive training and doctrine to combat insurgencies, then revise doctrine. In December 2007, the US Army and Marine Corps revamped their Counterinsurgency Field Manual, the first time in over two decades either service had published a field manual devoted to counterinsurgency.3
The next President of the United States will face a dynamic range of transnational threats that will likely make us rethink the way modern wars are fought. From terrorism and counterinsurgency to combating the spread of weapons of mass destruction, from illicit trafficking of drugs, people, and guns back to traditional conventional warfare with rising superpowers such as China and Russia, the United States must maintain a variety of diplomatic and military responses at its disposal. As emerging threats in the twenty-first century appear to be rooted at the nexus of security and development, a single-sided military solution cannot fully resolve a multi-dimensional problem. There is a need to develop a more comprehensive civil-military approach to combating terrorism, insurgency, and asymmetric warfare, something that has not fully materialized on the strategic or on the operational level. In order to do this, there is a need to tear down the stereotypes and reintroduce the hippie (statesmen) to the snake-eater (soldier).

This paper will argue that within actually-existing neoliberal capitalism today there are crucial contradictions which cannot be overcome. Among these are the inability to generate sufficient employment, inequality on a global scale, the continuation of imperialism and imperialist wars, continued enclosure and pauperization, ecological crises, overproduction and under consumption, the enormous waste of human potential on a global scale, and the forging of a global working class which is in an ever more precarious position. At the same time, neoliberalism tends to fragment consciousness, drowning class awareness in a sea of consumerism, which is making organizing and class struggle more difficult. Resistance tends to take perverted or alienated forms as seen in religious fundamentalism, ethnic chauvinism and random terrorist acts, often in reaction to state terrorism. The ruling classes encourage these tendencies to help divert attention from the crucial contradictions of exploitation under capitalism and imperialism. At the same time, the tools of propaganda in the global media have become more pervasive. Unable to deal with these contradictions, the powers at the helm of the global economy, following the reigning ideology, claim that the solution is more and deeper neoliberalism, which can only further exacerbate the crises. Neoliberalism, as we know, is not liberal and not new. It is statist, in the service of capital. Its adherents recognize that democracy slows capital accumulation. It is class struggle from above against workers and poor around the world. Some indications of the unfolding global crisis of actually-existing capitalism will be observed below, followed by some observations about the process of class formation on a global scale. While the "essential product," the working class, is being formed on a global scale, the essential and unified class struggle has yet to emerge. While new and creative forms of class struggle are emerging, the theoretical historical process of transition to socialism, some superior and more rational economic system, remains uncertain. Clearly the seminal minds of socialist thought in the nineteenth century underestimated the difficulties of this dialectical movement. Actually existing capitalism, while brutal, bleeding and wounded, could not be brought down by the massive efforts to build alternative societies during the twentieth century. While this is the challenge of contemporary history, during and beyond the age of neoliberalism, and might prevent the onrushing demise of the human species, through weapons of mass annihilation, such considerations have today largely been buried beneath the 'end of history' ideology of the neoliberal era. The global population, it seems, is being herded, lemming-like, in an opposite direction, toward an unseen sharp precipice. Adapted from the source document.

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências da Comunicação. ; Pode a Internet acrescentar valor e induzir novas práticas na Comunicação Municipal e na Governação Local? Eis a questão de que se partiu para a elaboração desta Dissertação de Mestrado, que tem como pano de fundo a Sociedade da Informação e do Conhecimento e os novos paradigmas que lhe estão associados, bem diferentes dos arquétipos que guiaram as sociedades Industrial e pós-Industrial. E a constatação é que aos Municípios se oferece, hoje, a possibilidade de ocuparem um lugar no ciberespaço e de, tendo-o por referência, adoptarem novos modelos de governação, seja numa perspectiva administrativa, centrada nos serviços, seja no plano democrático, ao nível das interacções entre eleitos e eleitores, cidadãos e autarquia, ou ainda na promoção externa e no marketing do território. É sobre estas vertentes, feitas de fluxos no espaço virtual, que se escreve nas páginas seguintes. O trabalho que se apresenta está dividido em duas grandes áreas: a primeira corresponde aos Capítulos I e II e o seu conteúdo constitui o enquadramento teórico, caracterizando-se, sucintamente, a Era Digital; a segunda desenvolve-se ao longo de três Capítulos e centra-se na Comunicação Municipal e na Governação Local com recurso à Internet e às redes telemáticas. São palavras-chave desta Dissertação: cidadania, governação electrónica, democracia electrónica, literacia digital, acesso, proximidade, inovação, modernização, transparência, eficácia. Can Internet induce new practices and add some value to Municipal Communication and Local Government? This was the issue we took into consideration to write this Mastership Essay regarding the Society of Information and Knowledge and the new patterns that are related to it, very different from the archetypes of the Industrial and Post-industrial societies. And the fact is that Municipalities can at present hold a position in the cyberspace and, having it as a reference, they can adopt new models of governing, either from an administrative perspective, service centred, or on the democratic plan as to the interaction between the elected and the electors, citizens and municipality or still in the external promotion and marketing of the territory. Next pages are about these flux-made matters in virtual space. The present work is divided into two main areas: the first one corresponds to chapters I and II and its content is about theoretical framework and the Digital Era is succinctly characterized; the second develops in three chapters and focuses on Municipal Communication and Local Government with resort to the Internet and to telematics networks. In this essay the key-words are: citizenship, electronic governing, electronic democracy, digital literacy, access, proximity, innovation, modernization, transparency, effectiveness.

The Turkish invasion and partitioned occupation of Cyprus was the single most cataclysmic event in modern Cypriot history. It was a collective trauma for Greek Cypriot society, though not for Turkish Cypriots – at least then. It shook the economy, family relations, politics, and forcefully uprooted a third of the population turning them into refugees. The economy collapsed, but subsequently made a remarkable recovery. In the long run the society became urbanised and Cyprus was transformed from a largely rural-based economy to a modern, thriving service economy with all its attendant problems. The invasion re-formed the actual space, the geography and the landscape of the island, inserting a dangerous no-go area between the two communities. It affected time: how Turkish and Greek Cypriots visualise their past, present, and future. Something similar seems to have occurred in Latvia. In her study of people's testimonies in Latvia, Skultans noted that the 1940 Soviet occupation of Latvia came to play a leading role in defining national identity. Cypriots similarly talk about the 1974 events as the central reference point of their history, space, and identity. Michel de Certeau has perhaps rather grandly claimed that the quest for historical meaning 'aims at calming the dead who still haunt the present, and at offering them scriptural tombs' (1988: 2) This statement is useful in setting the aims of this chapter: how the missing still haunt the present in Cyprus, and how they are used by the state and society as a means to talk about the past. This complements two approaches to memory: as a strategy to cope with the traumatic experiences of the past (Antze and Lambek, 1996), and as a means to deal with ancestors and with death (Battaglia, 1992; Davies, 1994; Taylor, 1993). In his study of responses to the trauma of the First World War, Winter concentrates on war memorials 'as foci of the rituals, rhetoric, and ceremonies of bereavement' (1995: 78). I shall be looking at the memorialisation of the missing by the state as well as by political representatives of their relatives as foci not so much of bereavement, but rather of attempted recovery. It is worthwhile to visualize this within the context of Antigone. We shall look at how modern Creon memorialises the body of Eteocles – except that the body of Eteocles is missing. The concern here is with the missing as presences, as a series of representations. In a subsequent chapter I examine the converse: how the state and individuals represent the missing as losses and as absences. ; peer-reviewed

Este trabajo trata de la pervivencia de los valores republicanos en el régimen democrático actual, que se han analizado desde una doble perspectiva: el interés que despiertan los principios y valores activados por los gobiernos y organizaciones del centro izquierda durante la II República, y la presencia de esos mismos principios y valores en el ordenamiento democrático actual. Consenso, reformismo social, pluralismo político, descentralización del Estado y promoción de la educación y la cultura, aparte de ser valores y principios democráticos, están indicando una forma específica de entender la política y la actividad pública como respeto, proximidad y servicio a todos los ciudadanos. Existen, además, semejanzas entre ambos regímenes por sus antecedentes políticos inmediatos de gobiernos de dictadura, por su declarada intención de constituirse como democráticos, por el procedimiento consensuado para ponerse en práctica y por sus objetivos; pero entre ellos hay también importantes diferencias, y no sólo por la forma de gobierno sino por la atribución de los poderes del Estado, por el enunciado de los derechos, por la manera de ponerlos en práctica y por los límites del consenso. No puede hablarse de continuidad entre ambos regímenes pero la II República es para el régimen democrático actual un antecedente de corta duración que sucumbió ante la fuerza de intereses y organizaciones antidemocráticas. ; This study focuses on the survival of Republican values in our present-day democratic system, values which have been analysed from a dual perspective: on the one hand, the current interest in the principles and values fostered by centre-left governments and organizations during the Second Republic, and on the other, the presence of these principles and values in our present-day democratic system. Consensus, social reform, political pluralism, devolution, and educational and cultural advancement, besides being democratic values and principles, are currently pointing towards a specific way of understanding politics and public affairs, understood as proximity and service to, and respect for all citizens. Moreover, there are similarities between the two regimes; in both cases, the immediate political background was marked by a dictatorship, both expressly declared an intention to establish themselves as democracies and subsequently underwent a transitional process marked by consensus, and both had similar aims. However, there are also significant differences between the two, not only in terms of the system of government, but also the attribution of State powers, the declaration of rights and the way these were put into practice, and the limits of consensus. While we cannot talk of continuity between the two regimes, the Second Republic may be seen as a short-lived precedent to the current democratic system, and one which succumbed to the strength of anti-democratic organizations and interests.

This paper assesses recent theorising and empirical evidence on the impact of fiscal policy—taxes, public expenditures and budget deficits—on long-run growth. It considers the relevance of recent advances in growth theory for low-income countries and compares the evidence for low-income countries with that for middle- and highincome (OECD) countries. Recent advances in endogenous growth theory have demonstrated that fiscal policy can have long-run effects on economic growth rates where some taxes distort investment decisions in the private sector (negative effect) and/or where some 'productive' public expenditures compliment private investment (positive effect). Increasing budget deficits can be expected to reduce long-run growth rates, unless tax-payers fully anticipate fiscal policy changes and adjust their savings behaviour accordingly—a condition unlikely to hold in low-income countries. Recent theory particularly stresses the importance for growth of the following. The composition of taxes and expenditures—distortionary versus nondistortionary taxes; productive versus unproductive expenditures. — The government budget constraint (GBC)—growth effects of additional public spending inevitably must be balanced against the growth effects of the taxes or deficits which finance them. — Distinguishing the short- and long-run. Since most growth models agree that fiscal-growth effects occur in the short-run, an important policy question becomes: for how long do fiscal-growth effects persist? There is a great deal of empirical evidence on the effects of fiscal policy on long-run growth. Much of this however is methodologically weak rendering results unreliable. Research prior to around 1997 (and some thereafter) generally ignores the GBC when testing for fiscal effects and as a result produces non-comparable or apparently nonrobust results. More consistent evidence is found (though almost all of this is for the OECD) when the growth effects of taxes, expenditures and deficits are examined simultaneously—as the GBC suggests. Negative effects of taxes which distort investment decisions (e.g. income taxes) and positive effects of 'productive' expenditures (e.g. capital spending such as infrastructure; education) are generally found. Taxes on domestic goods and services and government recurrent and/or welfare spending appear generally to have, at most, weak effects on long-run growth. Evidence on the effects of redistribution (of which fiscal policy is a part) on growth is ambiguous, consistent with the ambiguous predictions from current theorising. There is very little reliable evidence available for LICs; limited evidence for LDCs more generally suggests the possibility that fiscal-growth effects could be quite different from those observed in OECD countries. Robust evidence of a negative association between budget deficits and growth is beginning to emerge, though interpretations differ.

In the Pearce Report three major goals of law schools were identified as similar to those of universities: to undertake research; to service the community; and to teach.1 Achievement of the last goal required going beyond the mere "imparting of knowledge" to include (among other things) an understanding of the law in operation as well as in context, and to develop in students practical legal skills and competencies that were essential to all types of legal work, notwithstanding the degree of separation of that work from the practice of law.2 The recommendation was made that this objective could be achieved by teaching specific practical legal skills such as advocacy, communication, counselling, drafting, interpretation of legislation, negotiation, and research and writing.3 One inference to be drawn from the above recommendation is that the teaching of law can be improved, and the perceived separation of the theory and the practice of law narrowed to some extent, by incorporating practical legal skills into the curricula of law schools. This hypothesis, that teaching and learning of law can be optimised by creating and maintaining a substantial and realistic nexus between legal theory and legal practice,4 finds support from recent research in general educational theory and methodology of other practice-based professions.5 However, research in Australia to support that hypothesis in regard to law in the interim since the publication of the Pearce Report appears to remain limited if special issues of periodicals,6 specialist periodicals7 and projects supported by the Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching8 can be relied upon as indicators of research. This alleged limitation exists notwithstanding attention being brought by the Pearce Report to the relative paucity of writing, and to the almost absolute absence of empirical data, on legal education.9 A movement towards incorporation of such a practical approach, endorsed at the time of publication of the Pearce Report by some commentators10 and subsequently supported by others,11 has occurred since the release of the Pearce Report, especially in newly established law schools which have been innovative to varying degrees,12 thanks in part to support from the Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching. This paper describes one such innovation in legal education, the teaching of interviewing skills as an addition to the mooting component of the criminal law course, adopted at the Law School of the Flinders University of South Australia and supported by a grant from the Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching during 1994. The mooting framework of the criminal law curriculum into which the interviewing project was placed is detailed before outlining the educational theory that justifies the choice of interviewing. The interviewing project is then briefly described.

Full list of authors: Amati, L.; O'Brien, P. T.; Götz, D.; Bozzo, E.; Santangelo, A.; Tanvir, N. ; Frontera, F.; Mereghetti, S.; Osborne, J. P.; Blain, A.; Basa, S.; Branchesi, M.; Burderi, L.; Caballero-García, M.; Castro-Tirado, A. J.; Christensen, L.; Ciolfi, R.; De Rosa, A.; Doroshenko, V.; Ferrara, A.; Ghirlanda, G.; Hanlon, L.; Heddermann, P.; Hutchinson, I.; Labanti, C.; Le Floch, E.; Lerman, H.; Paltani, S.; Reglero, V.; Rezzolla, L.; Rosati, P.; Salvaterra, R.; Stratta, G.; Tenzer, C.; Theseus Consortium.--This Open Access article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. ; THESEUS, one of the two space mission concepts being studied by ESA as candidates for next M5 mission within its Comsic Vision programme, aims at fully exploiting Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) to solve key questions about the early Universe, as well as becoming a cornerstone of multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics. By investigating the first billion years of the Universe through high-redshift GRBs, THESEUS will shed light on the main open issues in modern cosmology, such as the population of primordial low mass and luminosity galaxies, sources and evolution of cosmic re-ionization, SFR and metallicity evolution up to the "cosmic dawn" and across Pop-III stars. At the same time, the mission will provide a substantial advancement of multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics by enabling the identification, accurate localisation and study of electromagnetic counterparts to sources of gravitational waves and neutrinos, which will be routinely detected in the late '20s and early '30s by the second and third generation Gravitational Wave (GW) interferometers and future neutrino detectors, as well as of all kinds of GRBs and most classes of other X/gamma-ray transient sources. Under all these respects, THESEUS will provide great synergies with future large observing facilities in the multi-messenger domain. A Guest Observer programme, comprising Target of Opportunity (ToO) observations, will expand the science return of the mission, to include, e.g., solar system minor bodies, exoplanets, and AGN. © 2021, The Author(s). ; The authors, on behalf of the entire THESEUS consortium, are grateful to the ESA-appointed THESEUS Study Scientist Matteo Guainazzi, as well as the entire ESA Study Team for all their work and support across the mission assessment phase (2018-2021). Authors from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) are grateful for the support received through the agreement ASI-INAF n. 2n. 2018-29-HH.0. Open access funding provided by Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica within the CRUI-CARE Agreement. ; With funding from the Spanish government through the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence accreditation SEV-2017-0709. ; Peer reviewed