This research provides a picture of job quality in low-skilled jobs in France today. We focus on working, employment and pay conditions of lower-skilled workers in the least paid jobs. We first show that the incidence of low-wage work is reduced in France as compared to the USA, but also to other EU countries. This incidence has been decreasing in the past 15 years, but it remains concentrated on specific groups of workers. The reasons for this relative compression of wages at the bottom of the distribution have to do with the existence of a national minimum wage (the so-called SMIC) and with the existence of specific labour market policies. In contrast, working conditions have worsened in recent times, in particular in low-skilled, low-paid jobs. Mental strain has increased a lot, together with painful working conditions, due to work intensification. This trend is common to many developed countries, but it is particularly pervasive and persistent in France. This intensification generates increasing job dissatisfaction which particularly focuses on wages, the level of which is seen as insufficient with respect to the efforts that are required. Job quality in France is also affected by "professional precariousness" which concentrates on lower-skilled workers. Our research provides evidence of various forms of precariousness. It encompasses job security, of course, for temporary workers who are often much less protected than one would think when looking at aggregate EPL indicators. Beyond this, it extends to employment and pay conditions. Overall, the feeling of precariousness experienced by workers tends to raise the demand for employment protection and hence the attachment to the law in a country where trade-unions are weak and often divided. ; Ce travail présente un panorama de la qualité de l'emploi peu qualifié en France aujourd'hui. Nous nous intéressons en particulier aux conditions de travail, d'emploi et de rémunérations des salariés les moins qualifiés et les moins rémunérés. Nous mettons tout d'abord en ...
This research provides a picture of job quality in low-skilled jobs in France today. We focus on working, employment and pay conditions of lower-skilled workers in the least paid jobs. We first show that the incidence of low-wage work is reduced in France as compared to the USA, but also to other EU countries. This incidence has been decreasing in the past 15 years, but it remains concentrated on specific groups of workers. The reasons for this relative compression of wages at the bottom of the distribution have to do with the existence of a national minimum wage (the so-called SMIC) and with the existence of specific labour market policies. In contrast, working conditions have worsened in recent times, in particular in low-skilled, low-paid jobs. Mental strain has increased a lot, together with painful working conditions, due to work intensification. This trend is common to many developed countries, but it is particularly pervasive and persistent in France. This intensification generates increasing job dissatisfaction which particularly focuses on wages, the level of which is seen as insufficient with respect to the efforts that are required. Job quality in France is also affected by "professional precariousness" which concentrates on lower-skilled workers. Our research provides evidence of various forms of precariousness. It encompasses job security, of course, for temporary workers who are often much less protected than one would think when looking at aggregate EPL indicators. Beyond this, it extends to employment and pay conditions. Overall, the feeling of precariousness experienced by workers tends to raise the demand for employment protection and hence the attachment to the law in a country where trade-unions are weak and often divided. ; Ce travail présente un panorama de la qualité de l'emploi peu qualifié en France aujourd'hui. Nous nous intéressons en particulier aux conditions de travail, d'emploi et de rémunérations des salariés les moins qualifiés et les moins rémunérés. Nous mettons tout d'abord en évidence l'incidence relativement faible du travail à bas salaires dans notre pays, comparée aux Etats-Unis mais aussi à d'autres pays européens. Nous montrons que, bien que globalement décroissante depuis 15 ans, cette incidence se concentre sur des groupes de salariés bien particuliers. Les raisons de cette relative compression des salaires sont à rechercher du côté du SMIC, mais également du côté de dispositifs de politique de l'emploi. En revanche, les conditions de travail se sont dégradées au cours des années récentes, en particulier dans les emplois peu qualifiés et à bas salaires. Les différentes formes de pénibilité et de charge mentale ont sensiblement augmenté, reflétant une nette intensification du travail. Cette tendance est commune à de nombreux pays développés mais la France se distingue par l'ampleur et la persistance du phénomène. Cette intensification porte avec elle une insatisfaction croissante des salariés qui tend à se cristalliser sur les salaires jugés insuffisants au regard des efforts demandés. La qualité de l'emploi en France est également affectée par l'importance de la précarité professionnelle qui se concentre elle aussi sur les travailleurs situés au bas de l'échelle des qualifications et des salaires. Notre recherche souligne le caractère multiforme de cette précarité. Elle touche l'emploi par l'intermédiaire des contrats de travail temporaires de plus en plus nombreux et moins bien protégés que ne le suggèrent les indices agrégés de protection de l'emploi. Elle s'étend, au-delà, à l'ensemble des conditions d'emploi et de rémunération. Au total, l'importance de la précarité professionnelle telle que ressentie par les salariés tend à renforcer la demande de protection de l'emploi et donc l'attachement à la loi dans un pays où la représentation syndicale reste faible et fractionnée.
This research provides a picture of job quality in low-skilled jobs in France today. We focus on working, employment and pay conditions of lower-skilled workers in the least paid jobs. We first show that the incidence of low-wage work is reduced in France as compared to the USA, but also to other EU countries. This incidence has been decreasing in the past 15 years, but it remains concentrated on specific groups of workers. The reasons for this relative compression of wages at the bottom of the distribution have to do with the existence of a national minimum wage (the so-called SMIC) and with the existence of specific labour market policies. In contrast, working conditions have worsened in recent times, in particular in low-skilled, low-paid jobs. Mental strain has increased a lot, together with painful working conditions, due to work intensification. This trend is common to many developed countries, but it is particularly pervasive and persistent in France. This intensification generates increasing job dissatisfaction which particularly focuses on wages, the level of which is seen as insufficient with respect to the efforts that are required. Job quality in France is also affected by "professional precariousness" which concentrates on lower-skilled workers. Our research provides evidence of various forms of precariousness. It encompasses job security, of course, for temporary workers who are often much less protected than one would think when looking at aggregate EPL indicators. Beyond this, it extends to employment and pay conditions. Overall, the feeling of precariousness experienced by workers tends to raise the demand for employment protection and hence the attachment to the law in a country where trade-unions are weak and often divided. ; Ce travail présente un panorama de la qualité de l'emploi peu qualifié en France aujourd'hui. Nous nous intéressons en particulier aux conditions de travail, d'emploi et de rémunérations des salariés les moins qualifiés et les moins rémunérés. Nous mettons tout d'abord en évidence l'incidence relativement faible du travail à bas salaires dans notre pays, comparée aux Etats-Unis mais aussi à d'autres pays européens. Nous montrons que, bien que globalement décroissante depuis 15 ans, cette incidence se concentre sur des groupes de salariés bien particuliers. Les raisons de cette relative compression des salaires sont à rechercher du côté du SMIC, mais également du côté de dispositifs de politique de l'emploi. En revanche, les conditions de travail se sont dégradées au cours des années récentes, en particulier dans les emplois peu qualifiés et à bas salaires. Les différentes formes de pénibilité et de charge mentale ont sensiblement augmenté, reflétant une nette intensification du travail. Cette tendance est commune à de nombreux pays développés mais la France se distingue par l'ampleur et la persistance du phénomène. Cette intensification porte avec elle une insatisfaction croissante des salariés qui tend à se cristalliser sur les salaires jugés insuffisants au regard des efforts demandés. La qualité de l'emploi en France est également affectée par l'importance de la précarité professionnelle qui se concentre elle aussi sur les travailleurs situés au bas de l'échelle des qualifications et des salaires. Notre recherche souligne le caractère multiforme de cette précarité. Elle touche l'emploi par l'intermédiaire des contrats de travail temporaires de plus en plus nombreux et moins bien protégés que ne le suggèrent les indices agrégés de protection de l'emploi. Elle s'étend, au-delà, à l'ensemble des conditions d'emploi et de rémunération. Au total, l'importance de la précarité professionnelle telle que ressentie par les salariés tend à renforcer la demande de protection de l'emploi et donc l'attachement à la loi dans un pays où la représentation syndicale reste faible et fractionnée.
This research provides a picture of job quality in low-skilled jobs in France today. We focus on working, employment and pay conditions of lower-skilled workers in the least paid jobs. We first show that the incidence of low-wage work is reduced in France as compared to the USA, but also to other EU countries. This incidence has been decreasing in the past 15 years, but it remains concentrated on specific groups of workers. The reasons for this relative compression of wages at the bottom of the distribution have to do with the existence of a national minimum wage (the so-called SMIC) and with the existence of specific labour market policies. In contrast, working conditions have worsened in recent times, in particular in low-skilled, low-paid jobs. Mental strain has increased a lot, together with painful working conditions, due to work intensification. This trend is common to many developed countries, but it is particularly pervasive and persistent in France. This intensification generates increasing job dissatisfaction which particularly focuses on wages, the level of which is seen as insufficient with respect to the efforts that are required. Job quality in France is also affected by "professional precariousness" which concentrates on lower-skilled workers. Our research provides evidence of various forms of precariousness. It encompasses job security, of course, for temporary workers who are often much less protected than one would think when looking at aggregate EPL indicators. Beyond this, it extends to employment and pay conditions. Overall, the feeling of precariousness experienced by workers tends to raise the demand for employment protection and hence the attachment to the law in a country where trade-unions are weak and often divided. ; Ce travail présente un panorama de la qualité de l'emploi peu qualifié en France aujourd'hui. Nous nous intéressons en particulier aux conditions de travail, d'emploi et de rémunérations des salariés les moins qualifiés et les moins rémunérés. Nous mettons tout d'abord en ...
This research provides a picture of job quality in low-skilled jobs in France today. We focus on working, employment and pay conditions of lower-skilled workers in the least paid jobs. We first show that the incidence of low-wage work is reduced in France as compared to the USA, but also to other EU countries. This incidence has been decreasing in the past 15 years, but it remains concentrated on specific groups of workers. The reasons for this relative compression of wages at the bottom of the distribution have to do with the existence of a national minimum wage (the so-called SMIC) and with the existence of specific labour market policies. In contrast, working conditions have worsened in recent times, in particular in low-skilled, low-paid jobs. Mental strain has increased a lot, together with painful working conditions, due to work intensification. This trend is common to many developed countries, but it is particularly pervasive and persistent in France. This intensification generates increasing job dissatisfaction which particularly focuses on wages, the level of which is seen as insufficient with respect to the efforts that are required. Job quality in France is also affected by "professional precariousness" which concentrates on lower-skilled workers. Our research provides evidence of various forms of precariousness. It encompasses job security, of course, for temporary workers who are often much less protected than one would think when looking at aggregate EPL indicators. Beyond this, it extends to employment and pay conditions. Overall, the feeling of precariousness experienced by workers tends to raise the demand for employment protection and hence the attachment to the law in a country where trade-unions are weak and often divided. ; Ce travail présente un panorama de la qualité de l'emploi peu qualifié en France aujourd'hui. Nous nous intéressons en particulier aux conditions de travail, d'emploi et de rémunérations des salariés les moins qualifiés et les moins rémunérés. Nous mettons tout d'abord en ...
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Something has changed in watching post-apocalyptic films in recent years. It is hard to pinpoint exactly when, and what exactly the cause might be, but at some point in the last few years the post-apocalypse has gone from an escapist fantasy to a figure of dread. The increasing rate of global warming leading to fires, droughts, and hurricanes; the ongoing Covid pandemic; and the rise of right wing nationalism has transformed the apocalypse from a subgenre of science fiction to a barometer of fears and anxieties. As Robert Tally argues the sense of the future has changed dramatically over the last decade: utopia has been replaced by dystopia in contemporary fiction and film and post-apocalypse has replaced predictions of a miraculous world of tomorrow. This is another way of addressing Fredric Jameson's old adage that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. To which we could add that this imagination is no longer an idle speculation about the future, but immediately lived, as apocalypse seems to inch closer, moving from the distant horizon to the lived present. Perhaps no film illustrates this more than Leave the World Behind a film less about the apocalypse as a distant event than the increasing permutation of apocalyptic fears and anxieties in daily life. Leave the World Behind is a film directed by Sam Esmail that was released on Netflix in December of 2023. It is based on the novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam published in 2020. The film begins when Amanda Sanford (Julia Roberts) makes an impromptu decision to rent a house on Long Island and escape the New York City with her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) and two children, Archie and Rose. Her decision is predicated as much on a general misanthropy, as Amanda states, "I fucking hate people," as it is on the specifics of their current work and financial situation. Their vacation is an attempt to get away from not just the city, but people altogether. The home they rent is miles from any neighbor or any contact with the world. Over the course of the film isolation goes from being the dream to the nightmare. As the family settles in their rental home they immediately lose WIFI, cable, and cellular phone service, cutting them off from the outside world more than they wanted. Later, when they travel to the beach, an oil tanker runs aground, smashing into the beach. These events do not immediately disrupt their vacation, they endure the first with frustration and watch the second with curiousity, snapping photographs. This changes when late in the night there is a knock at the door, Clay and Amanda open the door to find G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha'la). G.H. introduces himself the owner of the house that they are renting. He explains that they were attending a symphony in New York City when the power went out. They decided to escape to go to their vacation house on Long Island rather than return to their apartment in the city. The very same house that the Sandfords are renting. This leads to an awkward encounter, as owner confronts renter each claiming a right to the house. Because they have only interacted via email, and the entire arrangement of renting the house is through a third party platform, neither group knows or recognizes the other. As G.H., or George, as he prefers to be called, puts it, had they spoken on the phone they would have at least recognized the sound of his voice. Because their relation is mediated through apps and interfaces (Airbnb is implied but never mentioned) they do not know or trust each other even though one party has already exchanged thousands of dollars and the other has let them into their house. The mediation of their relations through technology, house renting apps and email, means that they do not have the base level of trust that could be established through commerce, a fact that is all the more ironic given the intimacy of their mediated relationship, they are sharing the same house. Amanda is initially incredibly distrustful of the Scotts, fearing that they might be trying to run some sort of scam, or worse yet, could be potential child molesters. That George and Ruth are black and Amanda and Clay are white only exasperates the issue. Amanda is for the most part polite enough to mention the issue, but it is implied in her suspicion of George even after he produces a key to the house's liquor cabinet. The distrust in some sense is mutual, later we hear Ruth chastise her father for so readily trusting "white people." The fact that this film is in part produced by Barack and Michelle Obama have led some online to see it as a film fomenting racial division and distrust. This is in part predicated on the longstanding belief on the right that it is mentioning race as a factor of social life that produces racism. However, in the film race is only itself one variant of the general breakdown of social relations. The racial divisions are only a sharper version of what keeps everyone seeking to escape the city and get away from everyone. As the two families bunker down together the events outside of the home get even more strange. All of the events gesture towards a different aspect of a potential apocalypse: the entire communication technology from television to satellite phones seems to collapse; planes drop from the sky and slam into the beach; a drone flies overheard distributing pamphlets that seem to say "Death to America" in Arabic; deer congregate in large numbers in the yard and flamingos arrive in the pool, suggesting that the natural world too is out of balance; a loud sound tears through house, smashing windows; self-driving Teslas smash into each other and pile up on the freeway; and the son, Archie becomes allegedly from a tick bite. Even his sickness takes on strange symptoms, most dramatically a loss of all of his teeth. The logic of the film is more akin to reading the daily paper or following a newsfeed in which there is less an apocalypse than the uneven development of multiple apocalyptic potentials. It is hard to see how these different events constitute one consistent narrative of an apocalypse; instead they seem to gesture towards the multiple possibilities for the world ending, political, technological, and ecological. With each of these events the gathered families discuss theories and speculate about the possible nature of the threat they are facing. It is less a film about a specific vision of social collapse than it is about the inchoate fears of such a collapse. Since the film focuses on the individuals in the house, individuals who are cut off from other social contact, not to mention any source of new or information, we only ever get a limited and partial image of what might be happening in the world beyond the house. What we are left with is just speculation based on very limited and partial information. Without spending too much time on the question of the book versus the movie, it is worth noting that the film never departs from the immediate present of the few days at the rental house. With the exception of the images of the Earth seen from space we never see anything that they do not see. The book which the film is based upon occasionally departs for a sentence or two, cutting forward to tell us that the neighbors die months later in a refugee camp outside of Los Angeles. The book then eventually confirms the reader's suspicions that we are seeing the beginning of a full on pandemic and social collapse. These passages appear in the final sections of the book, the reader eventually learns that they are reading about the beginning of a full on apocalypse in which regular life will never return. This is how the novel recounts Rose, Amanda and Clay's daughter's, visit to a neighbor's house: "She couldn't know, would never know, that the Thornes, the family who lived there, were at the airport in San Diego, unable to make arrangements since there were no flights operating domestically because of a nationwide emergency without precedent, as though precedent were required. The Thornes would never see this house again in their lives, though Nadine, the matriarch, would sometimes dream of it before she succumbed to cancer in one of the tent camps the army managed to erect outside the airport. They'd burn her body, before they stopped bothering with that, as the bodies outnumbered the people left to do the burning."The jump forward and to another context confirms what we have come to expect, that the world as we know it has come to an end. In the film the viewer never knows anything more than the characters, we do not know what will become of them or the world, even as the film gives us more spectacular images of crisis, such as an airplane crashing into the beach. A second major difference is that in the book, the Scott's appearance at the door of the house in the middle of the night happens before any real crisis has taken place. In the novel at this point the only thing that has gone wrong is that the internet does not work, which is hardly a major crisis. In the film the oil tanker runs aground on the first day of Amanda and Clay's family vacation. This not only increases the dread, it confirm the Scott's story that something is very amiss and they are right in seeking shelter. This makes Amanda's suspicion seem all the more anti-social or even racist. The film also proliferates the images of social collapse, adding the drone, and the pile up of self-driving and self-colliding cars on the freeway. There are other differences: Ruth in the book is George's wife not his daughter, and the film introduces Rose's obsession with the television show Friends, a point that will be returned to later. The major difference is how the book and the film utilize the strengths and limitations of their medium to depict the particular situation of dread and uncertainty. The book gives moments of a omniscient third person narrator in a viewpoint that lets us see the enormity of the crisis, letting the reader know what the characters do not, while the film presents more of a spectacle of the crisis, boats, planes, and cars crash and burn, while restricting our viewpoint to the limited knowledge of the central characters. In adapting the story form text to film we see more, we see carnage and explosions, and ultimately know less. The families are not initially in any immediate danger. They have food, water, shelter, even power despite the news of a blackout. The question of what to do is initially an abstract one. It is impossible to know if they should stay in the house or return home. It is hard to know what to do without knowing what is going on. Our daily lives and activities presuppose as their backdrop a world that is as predictable as it is taken for granted. We assume that the internet will work, that stores will be open, and that a house rented through a website will be ours and ours alone. The rationality or irrationality of our actions make sense against the background of a world, or the institutions and structures that shape and define our decisions. When that world becomes uncertain than one does not know how to act. Should one return home to the city, end the vacation, or stay in a place that is safe, stocked with food and has power. It is only Archie's sickness that drives them from the home in search of help. George suggests that they go see Danny, his handyman for help. Earlier Amanda saw Danny at the grocery store stocking up on water and canned goods. He is presented as someone who both knows how to do things, and maybe even knows what is going on. When George and Clay arrive at Danny's house he is less than happy to see them. He advises them to do as he has done, bunker down and protect his family. He admonishes George to do the same, and when George invokes the idea of a neighbor helping a neighbor, of Danny possibly providing medicine to help Archie, they have the following exchange: George, "C'mon now. It's me. We're Friends." Danny, "That's the old way, George. You're not thinking clearly." George, "Danny, What are you saying? You're telling this man not to take care of his son." Danny, "Nothing makes a whole lot of sense right now. When the world does not make any sense I can still do what is rational, which is protect my own." Danny presents himself as the person who has taken stock of the situation and adjusted to the reality of the new world. Although what he offers in terms of theories and explanations, including a reference to Havana Symptom and a Chinese or Russian attack on infrastructure, is not much better than the other speculations that George and Clay offer. His theories maybe more apocalyptic, more extreme in their consequences, but he is still speculating based on limited information. The one thing he does offer, however, is a decisive course of action, one he considers to be rational: protecting his own, protecting property. Friendship, neighbors, social obligations are dismissed as the "old way." The question remains, however, as to what extent this is a new ethos, a new way of living. While the shotgun might be new, "protect my own" has been the dominant mentality, and dominant idea of rationality of everyone in the film so far. From Amanda's vacation plan which begins with the realization "I fucking hate people" to George and Ruth's attempt to go back to their home, everyone is striving to protect their own. Danny's survivalist rhetoric is nothing other than a continuation of the logic of contemporary capitalist society by other means. George and Clay's confrontation with George is intercut with another confrontation; while searching for Rose Ruth and Amanda are confronted by a large, and surprisingly aggressive herd of deer. The deer are intimidating, even menacing, until Rose and Amanda drop their hostility towards each other to aggressively yell back. These two different scenes, one of the theme of man versus man the other as woman versus nature, also define two different ideas of what it means to be rational, everyone for themselves or join together in some act of solidarity. All of which raises the question of the film's title, Leave the World Behind. The phrase is first mentioned as part of the advertising copy for the rental home. It promises an escape from the world. As the film progresses, however, this phrase becomes the central question of the post-apocalyptic culture. At what point should one recognize that normal is not coming back, leave the old world behind, and begin to adapt to a new one. This is one way to make sense of the film's enigmatic, and for some viewers, frustrating ending. Throughout the film, the girl Rose is obsessed with the show Friends. She is watching the show on an ipad as they drive to the rental house. When the internet breaks down she is frustrated in her attempt to watch the final episode, to find closure. It is remarked upon that Rose is obsessed with a show that took place and was filmed before she was born. As Ruth comments on Rose's interest in Friends, "But it's almost... Nostalgic for a time that never existed, you know?" in the final scene of the film Rose ventures to the neighbor's empty house. There she finds their empty survival bunker, a bunker that is stocked with food, water, a greenhouse, and most importantly for Rose, a shelf of DVDs. She finds a boxed set of Friends episodes and finally gets to watch the final episode. Rose gets closure for her particular quest and her closure ends the film. The last image is her face as the familiar theme song begins. It is a fundamentally ambiguous ending. We could interpret this viewing of a final episode as an act of closure of leaving the world of screens and pop culture pleasures behind, preparing for a new world from a new survival bunker. Or we could interpret it in the opposite manner, seeing it as a retreat into precisely the kind of escapist entertainment that have made us all unaware of the mounting dangers, ecological, economic, and political that threaten our world of family vacations and unlimited screen time. It cannot be overlooked that this particular act of closure has to do with not only watching television, but watching a television show that is nostalgia for a world before Airbnb rentals and even before the dissemination of screens, before an acceleration of the isolation of capitalist society. The show's popularity with the generations that have grown up since it aired have as much to do with this nostalgia as they do with its ubiquity on streaming platforms. The object of this nostalgia is perhaps friendship itself. As Ruth says earlier in the film, "But as awful as people might be... nothing's gonna change the fact that we are all we've got." Leaving the world behind is perhaps less a matter of defending one's own than it is recognizing that it is precisely such a logic that destroyed it in the first place. Leaving the world behind is not a matter of giving up all connections to defend one's own, but of finding new forms of solidarity, new connections.
Actualmente, la conservación de los suelos (CS) en el medio rural puede ser considerada como una asignatura pendiente en España. Consecuencia de una intensa mecanización y tecnificación agrícola, junto a la puesta en cultivo de grandes superficies de tierra en las últimas décadas, en muchos casos, realizadas en suelos de mediocre o muy baja calidad agronómica y en laderas con pendientes elevadas, dejando de lado las prácticas y estructuras de CS tradicionales, se ha visto muy favorecida la erosión hídrica. Por otro lado, posteriormente, el progresivo abandono de cultivos marginales (no rentables) ha provocado, aún con mayor intensidad, la aceleración de estos procesos erosivos, especialmente en litologías deleznables y poco consistentes. Esto da como resultado pérdidas de suelo fértil muy cuantiosas, no admisibles para nuestros territorios, además de otros graves problemas colaterales aguas abajo en infraestructuras, poblaciones, cultivos y, en última instancia, afectando a todos los ecosistemas presentes en las áreas afectadas, y con gran impacto en regiones del sur y sureste de España como la Región de Murcia, caracterizadas por frecuentes episodios de torrencialidad. Para minimizar este grave problema, una de las herramientas más relevantes con que cuenta actualmente el estado y los gobiernos regionales son los denominados Programas de Desarrollo Rural (PDRs); instrumentos político-administrativos de la PAC, que movilizan una importante cantidad de recursos financieros (fondos FEADER). En éstos, se contemplan medidas (líneas de ayuda) entre las que existen algunas con potencial relevancia o repercusión en la lucha contra la erosión y la CS. Igualmente, a nivel nacional e internacional, existen también una amplia muestra de iniciativas y proyectos relacionados con la conservación y restauración de suelos degradados y, en concreto, muchos de ellos abarcan el problema de la erosión y/o las técnicas y prácticas de CS, utilizando diferentes metodologías y enfoques para su estudio y, especialmente, para la difusión, demostración y/o extensificación de dichas técnicas y prácticas, contando con los diversos agentes interesados: investigadores, expertos técnicos, agricultores, entre otros. En el presente trabajo, se expone el resultado de la investigación llevada a cabo con el objetivo general de aportar un mayor grado de conocimiento sobre los PDRs aplicados y proyectos e iniciativas relacionadas con la CS, con especial atención a la Región de Murcia. Para ello, se contempla el estudio y análisis de los PDRs de las diecisiete CC.AA., correspondiente al periodo 2007-2013, y del Marco Nacional que lo respalda, donde se incluyen una serie de exigencias (BPAs y BCAM). Todo ello, fue realizado y armonizado con la finalidad de identificar y evaluar las medidas y submedidas con potencial de cara a la CS, así como las técnicas y prácticas concretas y requisitos administrativos contemplados en éstas. Además, como un caso regional concreto de un área con alto riesgo de desertificación, se ha estudiado la Región de Murcia, con un horizonte temporal mayor, para realizar en último lugar, una validación de algunas de las líneas con impacto en la CS, mediante un estudio en campo de una muestra importante de expedientes de ayudas. Igualmente, se ha incluido como avance, un breve análisis del recientemente aprobado PDR 2014-2020, con el fin de poder valorar la tendencia con respecto a anteriores programas de esta región. Finalmente, también se han estudiado una extensa muestra de iniciativas y proyectos relacionados con la CS, evaluando por un lado, las temáticas y líneas de estudio y, por otro, las herramientas y estratégicas seguidas por éstos, para el desarrollo procesos colaborativos entre los diferentes agentes involucrados y los métodos para la aplicación estas técnicas y prácticas en el medio rural. Entre los resultados obtenidos resaltar que: (i) las ayudas destinadas a forestación, en sus distintas modalidades, serían las más efectivas por su duración y cobertura y, en general, por sus buena implantación; (ii) en las explotaciones agrarias donde se continua ejerciendo una actividad productiva, tendríamos otro grupo de ayudas con interés (ayudas agroambientales). Se trata de un grupo bastante heterogéneo de distintas líneas, en el cual existe un elevado número de ellas que muestran tener cierto interés, al estar claramente alineadas con la mejora de las prácticas agrarias, o bien, favoreciendo la implantación y/o mantenimiento de estructuras estables de CS; (iii) en el caso concreto de la Región de Murcia, destaca la línea denominada precisamente "Conservación de suelos", que contempla la ejecución de fajas de vegetación transversales a la pendiente, entre otros requisitos, aunque ésta sería sólo uno de los muchos ejemplos dentro de las distintas tipologías encontradas en toda España, tales como: sistemas de producción, prácticas agrícolas, ejecución de obras protectoras o de defensa, manejo de ganado, etc.; (iv) igualmente, se han hallado proyectos y acciones nacionales e internacionales de I+D muy relacionados con la CS, en los cuales existe información muy valiosa de las prácticas y técnicas estudiadas o evaluadas, además de las metodologías aplicadas para alcanzar una adecuada difusión e implantación a mayor escala, aspecto de gran importancia de cara a que todos estos trabajos tengan finalmente impacto real y supongan un avance social para el medio rural; (v) por último, gracias a todos los estudios y análisis llevados a termino en el trabajo, se han podido realizar una serie de aportaciones o sugerencias para la mejora de estos programas o de líneas de interés científico y social, pensando en la continuación de estudios relacionados con la temática de esta tesis. Palabras clave: conservación de suelos, erosión, medio rural, desarrollo rural, PDR, medidas agroambientales, forestación, buenas prácticas agrarias, condicionalidad. SUMMARY Nowadays, soil conservation (SC) in the rural areas can still be considered as a pending signature in Spain. The consequence of an intensive agricultural mechanisation and technification over the last decades, the cultivation of large surfaces of land with mostly mediocre or very bad agronomic quality soil, as well as high slopes hillsides, leaving aside the traditionally practices and structures of SC, has greatly favoured water erosion. On the other hand, the gradual abandonment of marginal crops (unprofitable) accelerated these erosive processes, specially on friable and inconsistent lithologies. As a result of that, an important quantity of fertile soil has been lost, which can not be permitted in our territory, besides others serious collateral problems downstream on infrastructures, settlements, crops and eventually, concerning all ecosystems in the areas affected, having a high impact on south and south-eastern regions of Spain like the Region of Murcia, characterized by frequent episodes of torrential nature. In order to minimise the consequences of this serious issue (water erosion), one of the more relevant tool currently available to the state and regional governments are the nominated Rural Development Programs (RDP); political-administrative instruments of the CAP that mobilises a significant quantity of financial sources (the EAFRD). These programmes include measures (such as grant lines), some of them with relevance or potential repercussions on erosion control and SC. At the same time, both at national and international level, also exist a wide range of initiatives and projects related to the conservation and restoration of degraded soil. Many of them cover the erosion issue and/or techniques and practices of SC using different methods and approaches for their studies, specially for dissemination, demonstration and/or extensification of these techniques and practices, counting with the diverse stakeholders: researchers, technical experts, farmers, among others. In the present study, the results of this research are presented with the general objective to contribute to a greater knowledge about the RDP applied and projects and initiatives related to SC, with special attention to the Region of Murcia. In order to do so, the RDP of the seventeen autonomous regions corresponding to the 2007-2013 period has been studied and analysed, as well as the corresponding national framework that supports them, including a series of requirements (GAP and GAEC). The whole study has been made and harmonized in order to identify and assess the measures and submeasures with emphasis to SC as well as the techniques, practices and administrative requirements included inside it. Furthermore, as a regional case of an area with high risk of desertification, the Region of Murcia has been studied with a longer time horizon to finally validate some of the lines with impact on SC, through a field study of an important sample of grant files. At the same time, a short analysis of the recently approved RDP 2014-2020 has been included as introduction to asses the tendency in respect to the previous programmes of this region. Finally, a wide sample of initiatives and projects related to SC has been studied assessing, on one hand, the topic and the lines of study and on the other, the tools and approaches followed to the development of collaborative process between the different stakeholders and the methods to the application of these techniques and practices on the rural areas. The following conclusions can be highlighted from this study: (i) the grants used to afforestation, in their different modalities, are the most effective measures due to the duration and coverage and in general for their proper implementation; (ii) the farms with a productive activity, could have another group of grants available (agri-environment grants). This is a rather heterogeneous group with different lines, in which a high number of them show to have a certain interest to be clearly aligned themselves with the improvement of the agricultural practices, or to favour the implementation and/or maintenance of steady structures of SC; (iii) in the specific case of the Region of Murcia, it just highlights the line named "Soil conservation", that takes into account the realisation of vegetation strips across the slope, among other requirements. However, this would only be one of the many examples within the different types of grant lines found in Spain, such as: production systems, agricultural practices, implementation of protective or defence works, livestock management and so on; (iv) it has been found national and international R&D projects and actions closely related to SC, in which exist information highly valuable about the practices and techniques studied and assessed, moreover the methods applied to reach a suitable large scale dissemination and implementation, that is a very important aspect for all kind of works with real impact and it supposes a social advance for the rural areas; (v) finally, thanks to the studies and analysis carried out in this work, a series of contributions and suggestions with regard to the improvement of these programmes or the lines of scientific and social interest has been able to made, for further study in relation to the subject of this thesis. Key words: soil conservation, erosion, rural areas, rural development, RDP, agri-environmental measures, afforestation, good agricultural practices, conditionality.
Es claro que el crecimiento de la población, la extracción de materiales, la producción alimentaria y el incremento de energía para todas las actividades humanas nos conducen a un estado de colisión con las capacidades de la biosfera y los ecosistemas en el proceso de asegurar la provisión de bienes y servicios indispensables para la vida (1). La producción de energía convencional y contaminante es hoy una de las más graves en este escenario, tanto que la comunidad internacional y las potencias ya han empezado a dar muestras de preocupación por la seguridad energética y, con ello por la amenaza del cambio climático.En el actual cambio climático por primera vez se viene demostrando que la humanidad ha cambiado decisivamente un ciclo liberando CO2 a la atmósfera a través de la quema de combustibles fósiles y cambios en el uso del suelo por más de 500 000 años. El origen del cambio climático se remonta a dos grandes transformaciones en el uso de la energía. En primer lugar, la energía hidráulica fue reemplazada por el carbón, una fuente de energía condensada por la naturaleza a lo largo de millones de años. Fue el aprovechamiento del carbón para nuevas tecnologías lo que propulsó la revolución industrial y desató aumentos sin precedentes en la productividad. La segunda gran transformación ocurrió 150 años más tarde. El petróleo había sido una fuente de energía humana durante milenios. En China, por ejemplo, se registran pozos petroleros ya en el siglo IV. No obstante, la utilización del petróleo para los motores de combustión interna a comienzos del siglo XX marcó el inicio de una revolución en el transporte. La quema de carbón y petróleo, junto con el gas natural, ha transformado a las sociedades humanas al proveerle la energía impulsora de grandes aumentos en la riqueza y la productividad, pero también ha impulsado el cambio climático (2).La economía humana ha crecido vertiginosamente, se multiplicó más de 60 veces desde la revolución industrial a la fecha, y entre 2010 y 2050 se multiplicará por cuatro. ¿Cómo proveer la suficiente cantidad de energía para tal crecimiento económico sin continuar acrecentando las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero y por tanto el cambio climático?Las respuestas tecnológicas y las propuestas globales están a la vista, pero no hay suficiente voluntad política de los grandes tomadores de decisiones para aportar en su solución. Una propuesta importante es abandonar los combustibles fósiles (carbón, petróleo) como fuente principal de producción energética, y migrar lo más rápido posible hacia fuentes de energías renovables como la hidráulica, eólica, mareomotriz, geotérmica y sobre todo la energía solar (1). De esta forma, la reducción de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero se prevé que estaría adecuadamente encaminada. Complementariamente, hay necesidad de incrementar la eficiencia de las plantas generadoras, el aumento del uso de tecnologías de energía renovable, reforzado con un uso más eficiente de la energía en el transporte, los edificios y los distintos sectores industriales (3).Al fin y al cabo, debemos tener en cuenta que prácticamente toda la energía que tenemos disponible en el planeta proviene del Sol. Los combustibles fósiles son tales porque alguna vez fueron seres vivos que, en grandes cantidades, quedaron sepultados y por procesos geológicos de millones de años se transformaron en petróleo y carbón. Es decir, son productos de la fotosíntesis del pasado. Asimismo, las energías eólica e hidráulica son producto de energía solar más gravedad. Salvo la geotérmica y la atómica, todas las fuentes de energía en la Tierra tienen que ver con el Sol de alguna manera (1).El Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD) promueve diversas estrategias de bajo consumo de carbono, que van desde el apoyo en la transformación del mercado de electrodomésticos eficientes en materia de energía hasta la ayuda a los países para que eliminen las barreras de acceso al uso de energías renovables. También promueve una transición a largo plazo hacia formas de transporte con bajas emisiones de carbono y sostenibles.El potencial acumulado de calentamiento del planeta que se ha evitado como resultado de la labor del PNUD en materia de sustancias que agotan el ozono en todo el mundo, asciende a 24,5 millones de toneladas métricas de CO2 (4). La clave, entonces, es influir sobre la conducta de las instituciones y las personas y alentar las inversiones en empresas y actividades inocuas para el medio ambiente.La Unión Europea, asumiendo el liderazgo mundial en la lucha contra el cambio climático y a la vez en su afán de protegerse de energía ante eventuales crisis internacionales, ha emprendido como reto una gran reforma energética común, considerada histórica, con énfasis en la protección del medioambiente a través de la energía renovable. Sus líderes, en marzo de 2007, se comprometieron a alcanzar la estrategia energética, conocida como 20-20-20, hasta el año 2020. Esta estrategia implica el cumplimiento de tres grandes objetivos: 1) reducir 20% el consumo energético mediante una mayor eficiencia energética; 2) incrementar el uso de energías renovables hasta alcanzar 20% el consumo energético total, y 3) reducir en 20% las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero en relación con las emisiones de 1990.De acuerdo con las tendencias de consumo energético, todo parece indicar que el cambio climático es y será inevitable, y la Tierra continuará calentándose. Solo basta imaginar que de llegar el incremento del consumo energético al 83,7% hasta el año 2025, tal como está previsto desde 1990, el planeta recibirá el 76,4% más de CO2 en este lapso (5).Mientras más tardemos en asumir las decisiones y en modificar nuestros patrones dominantes de generación y uso de energía, más altos serán los costos por adaptación a un futuro que, previsiblemente, se nos anuncia lleno de impactos adversos. ; It is clear that the population growth, the extraction of materials, food production and increased energy needed for all human activities lead us to a state of collision with the capabilities of the biosphere and ecosystems in the process of ensuring the provision of goods and services essential for life (1). Production of conventional and clean energy is now one of the most serious issues in this scenario; both the international community and the world powers have begun to show signs of concern about energy security and the threat of climate change.The current climate change has demonstrated for the first time that humanity has decisively changed the atmosphere by releasing CO2 through the burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use over 500 000 years . The origin of climate change can be traced back to two great transformations in energy use. First, water power was replaced by coal, a source of energy condensed by nature over millions of years. The use of coal for new technologies propelled the industrial revolution and triggered unprecedented increases in productivity. The second great transformation happened 150 years later. Oil had been a source of human energy for millennia. In China, for example, oil wells are recorded as early as the fourth century. However, the use of oil for internal combustion engines in the early twentieth century marked the beginning of a revolution in transport. The burning of coal and oil, along with natural gas, is a transformation providing the driving energy for great increases in wealth and productivity. The downside is that it is a prime contributor to climate change (2).The human economy has grown rapidly, multiplied 60 times since the industrial revolution to date, and between 2010 and 2050 will be multiplied again by four. How to provide enough energy for such growth to continue without adding to emissions of greenhouse gases and therefore exacerbating climate change?Technological responses and global proposals are obvious, but there is not enough political impetus of the great decision makers to contribute to its solution. One important proposal is to leave behind the fossil fuels (coal, oil) as the main source of energy production, and migrate as quickly as possible to renewable energy sources such as hydro, wind, tidal, geothermal and especially solar energy (1). By doing this, the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases is expected to be properly directed. In addition, there is need to increase the efficiency of power plants, increase use of renewable energy technologies, reinforce with a more efficient use of energy in transportation, building and the different industrial sectors (3).At the end of the day, we must bear in mind that virtually all the energy we have available on the planet is from the sun. Fossil fuels are such because they were once living beings that, in large quantities, were buried by geological processes millions of years ago and were transformed gradually into oil and coal. Also, wind and hydro energy are solar energy and gravity products. Except for geothermal and nuclear energy, most sources of energy on Earth have to do with the sun in some way (1).The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) promotes various strategies for low-carbon, ranging from supporting the market transformation of efficient appliances energy to helping the countries to remove barriers to the access of renewable energy. It also promotes a long-term transition towards forms of sustainable and low-carbon transportation.The cumulative global warming potential has been avoided as a result of UNDP work on substances that deplete the ozone worldwide, amounting to 24,5 million metric tons of CO2 (4). The key, then, is to influence the behavior of institutions and people and encourage investment in businesses and activities which are innocuous on the environment.The European Union, taking global leadership in combating climate change and yet making an effort to provide energy to any international crisis, has undertaken the challenge of a common energy reform, historically considered, with emphasis on environmental protection through renewable energy. Its leaders, in March 2007, undertook to achieve an energy strategy, known as 20-20-20, 2020. This strategy involves the fulfillment of three major objectives: 1) to reduce energy consumption by 20 % through increased energy efficiency; 2) to increase the use of renewable energy up to 20 % of total energy consumption, and 3) to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in relation to 1990 emissions by 20 %.According to energy consumption trends, it appears that climate change is and will be inevitable, and the Earth will continue to warm. Just imagine that, to increase the energy consumption to 83,7 % until 2025, as planned since 1990, the planet will receive 76,4 % more CO2 during this period (5).The more we delay in making decisions and changing our dominant patterns of energy generation and use, the higher the costs of adaptation to a future that is expected to announce adverse impacts.
Hladni rat je predstavljao rat ideologija bez presedana u istoriji. Nijedan drugi rat, ni pre ni posle ovog višedecenijskog hladnog sukoba između Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i Saveza Sovjetskih Socijalističkih Republika, nije bio rat koji se vodio u tolikoj meri u sferi meke moći kao Hladni rat. Odsustvo neposrednog oružanog sukoba između Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i Sovjetskog Saveza učinilo je da se Hladni rat odvija kao takmičenje u sferi ekonomije, tehnologije i nauke, kao trka u nuklearnom i konvencionalnom naoružanju i kao svemirsko nadmetanje. Pored takmičenja u sferi tvrde moći, Sjedinjene Američke Države i Sovjetski Savez vodili su intenzivnu bitku u oblasti meke moći. Ovo je bio sukob između američke liberalno-demokratske ideologije i sovjetske marksističke ideologije. Svaka od ove dve zemlje težila je tome da ubedi građane one druge zemlje da je njen društveni i ekonomski sistem idealan i da je bolji i pravedniji od sistema njenog glavnog suparnika. Uzrok propasti Sovjetskog Saveza i komunizma u istočnoj Evropi nikada sa sgurnošću neće moći da bude određen. Okolnosti koje su dovele do raspada Sovjetskog Saveza, pada Berlinskog zida 1989. godine i urušavanja komunizma u Evropi ne mogu se svesti na skup vojnih, političkih, ekonomskih i društvenih činilaca koji su, nezavisno jedni od drugih, doveli do tektonskih promena u međunarodnim odnosima. Svi ovi činioci zajedno, isprepletani u kompleksnu mrežu poluga, učinili su da se Sovjetski Savez uruši i da Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama prepusti ulogu pobednika u Hladnom ratu. Pritom, Amerika nije bila samo vojni i ekonomski pobednik. Amerika je iz Hladnog rata izašla kao moralni i ideološki pobednik. Hladni rat predstavlja temu izuzetno velikog broja radova, ali mali broj tih radova se bavi analizom američko-sovjetskog sukoba u sferi meke moći. Stoga je cilj ovog istraživanja i rada rasvetljavanje, objašnjene i tumačenje poluga meke moći koje su Sjedinjene Američke Države institucionalizovale, pokrenule i upotrebile u ideološkoj borbi protiv Sovjetskog Saveza u vreme Hladnog rata. Međutim, Sjedinjene Američke Države nisu od svog nastanka u drugoj polovini 18. veka do Hladnog rata osmišljeno primenjivale svoju meku moć. Do Hladnog rata upotreba poluga meke moći bila praksa kojom su se Sjedinjene Američke Države bavile isključivo u vreme učešća u oružanim sukobima. Tek sa Hladnim ratom u Americi se javlja potreba za namenskom i osmišljenom upotrebom poluga meke moći. Odmah nakon Drugog svetskog rata Sovjetski Savez je počeo da vrši uticaj na druge zemlje šireći marksističku ideologiju i komunističke ideje. Osim širenja marksističke ideologije Sovjetski Savez je vodio i dobro osmišljenu kampanju protiv Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i američkog načina života. Američka administracija je kao odgovor na sovjetsku spoljnu politiku u periodu od 1946. do 1950. godine stvorila politiku obuzdavanja Sovjetskog Saveza i sovjetskog uticaja u svetu svim sredstvima. Ovo je podrazumevalo kako upotrebu poluga tvrde moći tako i primenu poluga meke moći. U to vreme u američkom društvu postojao je konsenzus o upotrebi političkih, vojnih i ekonomskih oruđa u borbi protiv Sovjetskog Saveza, ali je upotreba poluga meke moći bila predmet duge javne rasprave. Jedna od izuzetno važnih poluga meke moći su državni programi informisanja, odnosno ono što se u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama smatra propagandom, a propaganda se od nastanka Sjedinjenih Američkih Država do danas smatra nečasnom delatnošću autokratskih režima. Sjedinjene Američke Države su u periodu neposredno nakon Drugog svetskog rata sprovele zakonske, institucionalne i strukturalne promene koje su omogućile trajno ustanovljavanje poluga meke moći zarad širenja američkih vrednosti, ideja i kulture i zarad ideološke borbe protiv Sovjetskog Saveza i sovjetske marksističke ideologije. Zakoni doneti u to vreme su na snazi i danas i pružaju okvir za mnogobrojne programe i aktivnosti na polju primene poluga meke moći po celom svetu. ; The Cold War was a war without precedent in the history. No war before this prolonged cold conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was waged that much in the realm of soft power as the Cold War. In the absence of an immediate armed conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cold War was conducted as a competition in the areas of economy, technology and science, nuclear and conventional weapons, as well as the space race. Besides the competition in the realm of hard power, the United States and the Soviet Union pursued an intensive battle in the realm of soft power. This was a conflict between the American ideology of a liberal democracy and the Soviet Marxist ideology. Each of the two attempted to persuade the citizens of the other country that its social and economic practice was an ideal one, better and more just than the other one. The source of the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism in Eastern Europe will never be fully determined. The circumstances that brought about the break-up of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the fall down of communism in Europe cannot be summarized as an aggregation of military, political, economic and social factors that independently from each other led to the colossal changes in the world order. All of these factors, entangled together in a complex net, caused the implosion of the Soviet Union which left the United States as the winner in the Cold War. Yet, the United States was not only a military and economic victor, it resurfaced as a moral and ideological champion, as well. The Cold Was has been a theme of numerous papers but only a handful of these papers tackled the American-Soviet conflict in the realm of soft power. Thus, the objective of this research and dissertation is to shed the light, explain and construe the instruments of soft power that the United States institutionalized, put into motion and deployed in the ideological battle against Soviet Union in the Cold War. However, since its birth in the 18th century until the Cold War, the United States had not wielded its soft power strategically. Up to the Cold War, the soft power instruments were used exclusively during the times when the United States was involved in an armed conflict. Only in the Cold War, the need for intentional and thoughtful use of soft power instruments emerged. Soon after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union got set off to exert its influence by diffusing its Marxist ideology and communist values. In addition to spreading its ideology, the Soviet Union led a well-planned campaign against the United States and the American way of life. From 1946 to 1950, in response to the Soviet policy towards the United States, the American administration coined the policy of containment of the Soviet Union and the Soviet influence in the world. The policy of containment included both the use of the instruments of hard power and of soft power. At that time, there was a consensus in the American society on the use of political, military and economic means in fighting the Soviet Union, while the use of soft power instruments was a subject of a prolonged public discourse. Government information programs, perceived as propaganda in the United States, have always been a very important soft power instrument, and propaganda has been considered by Americans to be a dishonest activity of autocratic governments. In the period right after the Second World War, the United States implemented legislative, institutional and structural changes that allowed for permanent establishment of the soft power instruments. These foreign policy instruments made it possible for the United States government to diffuse American values, ideas and culture and to wage an ideological war against the Soviet Union and its Marxist principles. The acts adopted at that time are in place nowadays, and provide a legal framework for numerous programs and activities in the realm of soft power.
By and large, we take our universities for granted. Indeed, the oldest have outlived political regimes of all kinds. This stimulating historical and comparative study exemplifies the importance of in-depth experience and engagement with the cultural and structural environments in which some of the world's greatest universities have over centuries incrementally developed and been embedded. This is crucial if we hope to understand the sources of their authority and myriad contributions to scientific knowledge and human flourishing. A neo-institutionalist scholar and multicultural citizen who fruitfully contributes to dialogues exploring core institutions in education and society on both sides of the Atlantic, Heinz-Dieter Meyer is uniquely placed to grapple with the complex processes of institutional learning and design that have made the German and American universities among the globally most productive. He also shows how they have influenced each other via the complex, yet crucial flows of inspired scholars and students carrying key idea(l)s with them for interpretation and application back home. The contributions of key actors, but also the outcomes of choices at critical junctures, such as the failure to establish a national state-funded university in the United States, take center stage in this engaging account of how the leaders of American universities adapted the German model, joining diverse concepts to design what has become the greatest uni-versity system in the world, yet one that remains nearly impossible to emulate due to the unique constellation of actors and institutional environment in which it developed. In eighteen chapters in four parts, The Design of the University: German, American, and "World Class" takes us from Göttingen and Berlin to Boston and to the world level as the scientific enterprise—and competition between scientists and the most crucial organizational form in which they conduct their experiments and make their arguments, the research university—becomes ever more global. Contributing to and inviting debate, Meyer's main argument is that the American university has suc-ceeded based upon an institutional design—or, perhaps, a non-design—that on multiple levels facil-itates self-government and the identification of a niche within an extraordinarily large and differen-tiated higher education system. This is not a full-fledged historiographic treatment of a subject fa-vored by academics (permanently searching for reputational gains) and policymakers (as they in-creasingly launch research funding programs and evaluation systems to foster competition). Rather than a full-fledged sociology of science, this book creatively sketches the trajectories of German and American university development, emphasizing affinities as well as crucial differences, to ulti-mately argue that in fact "Humboldt's most important ideas flourished in the American atmosphere of unrestricted institutional experimentation and vigorous self-government" (xiii). Interrogating what he calls the "design thinking" of eminent thinkers Adam Smith and Wilhelm von Humboldt, among others, Meyer traces the challenging, complex, and contingent learning processes in the adaptation of the German research university model to the American context, eventually becoming the most differentiated and "world-class" higher education system in the world. Asking about the reasons for the American university's success, especially in comparison to the recent insti-tutional crisis of the German research university, albeit still extraordinarily productive, Meyer argues that this American meritocratic success story has institutional design (of self-government) at its heart. Enjoying the patronage of not one, but three major institutions—state, church, and market—the American university attained true autonomy and global preeminence through unparalleled wealth of patronage and an intricate system of checks and balances. In this line of argument, chart-ing the ascendancy from humble origins of what can hardly be called a system due its extraordinary diversity, Meyer concurs with David Labaree (2017), who's A Perfect Mess [1] is a highly-suitable com-panion piece grounded in the history of American higher education. Contemporary architects of higher education policy globally, driven by the fantasy of "world class" labels, Meyer warns, have completely underestimated the "institutional, social, and political prerequisites that excellence in research and teaching require" (p. 4). Meyer begins his treatise, appropriately, in Göttingen, the site of Georgia Augusta University, where many leaders of American higher education, first and foremost Boston Brahmin George Ticknor, learned by doing, ensconced in a cosmopolitan center of learning and intellectual enlightenment. The blueprint included professionalized scholarship, the unification of research and teaching in seminars and lectures, freedom to choose among academic offerings, a vast library of scientific knowledge, and academic standing based on perpetual production of cutting-edge research judged by peers (p. 19). Instead of Adam Smith's preferred instruments of competition, choice, and tuition-dependence, Wilhelm von Humboldt's "design revolution" proposed "three unities" whose powerful integration could surpass the utilitarian logic prevalent then and now: "teaching and research; scien-tific discovery and moral formation (Bildung); scholarly autonomy and scholarly community" (p. 40). The book's second part, on institutional learning, charts the institutional migration of the blueprint; the contested design options of Gymnasium, college, and graduate school (the latter ultimately the key to global preeminence); the lasting influence of Protestantism (here Meyer follows the arguments of Max Weber, Robert K. Merton, and Joseph Ben-David) and extraordinary educational philanthropy; the battle between those who would centralize, by establishing a national university, and those committed to local control; and finally the contrasting answers to the eternal question of vocational-ism—e.g., how should business be treated, as a sibling to medicine and law or as their distant cousin? The more education-enamored, democratically-inclined patrician elites of the American East Coast were, Meyer argues, radically different institution-builders than German scholars, French state nobility, or even Chinese mandarins: "No other class combined their respect for, and grand vision of, the civilizing role of learning with their economic resources and the realism needed to put their plans into practice" (p. 113). Building on philosophical and historical elaboration, the book's third part on achieving self-government discusses the six American moves leading to institutional innovation. At organizational level, the German chair and institute give way to departments and discipline, the university presi-dent is no longer figurehead but chief executive, and independent boards of trustees, not govern-ment officials, have ultimate authority. The implications for individuals and organizations of these "design shifts" cannot be overstated. Anyone seeking to understand American higher education, with its phenomenal vertical and horizontal differentiation and on-going academic drift ("a snake-like procession" as David Riesman, to whom the book is dedicated, calls it), and its self-organized autonomy—supported by many philanthropists without the limiting control of a few state bureau-crats—will find this analysis illuminating. Embedded in civil society, "vigorous self-government is the historic design contribution of the American university" (p. 209)—and an achievement that must be guarded in an era in which university autonomy is at risk. In concluding, Meyer's American opti-mistic and laudatory tone shifts back to Germanic critique and foreboding, identifying challenges and the contemporary struggles that threaten the unintentional masterpiece of institutional learning and diversity. Such justified hopes and fears must now give way to empirical studies of the extraor-dinary outputs in terms of scientific production and societal capabilities and well-being brought about by the continuous process of university Bildung—in Germany, the United States, and around the world. [1] David Labaree (2017), A Perfect Mess: The Unlikely Ascendancy of American Higher Education. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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How does one measure influence and the effectiveness of legislators? This is not a trivial question, as voters have to make sense of competing claims during election years when deciding whether to return an incumbent for another two or six year term. Of course, incumbents seek to inflate their importance and influence, while their opponents attempt the opposite. Justin Grimmer wrote a fascinating account of how legislators attempt to puff up their credentials in press releases, claiming credit for government spending and appropriations which are routine--the legislator likely had little role in procuring.
I am drawn again to the topic of legislative effectiveness and influence by a recent post by Don Pogreba at his new website, The Montana Post. Pogreba contrasts the legislative accomplishments of Senator Tester with those of Senator Daines, suggesting that Tester is far more accomplished than Daines—inferring that Daines has little influence in Washington and does nothing of substance in the U.S. Senate.
Unfortunately, I thought the piece trivializes an important issue to sell a partisan point. Both parties are guilty of simplifying this issue to create a narrative useful to them. Let's elevate the conversation, and see what political science can offer. Who is more effective: Daines or Tester?
I addressed the issue of influence and effectiveness in Battle for the Big Sky, as a key argument Team Tester made about Congressman Rehberg was that he had accomplished little of substance during his decade plus in the House of Representatives. I wrote this in evaluating the effectiveness of Tester and Rehberg as lawmakers:
"On average, House members passed less than one bill in the 109th through the 111th Congresses that became law, according to data compiled by the Congressional Bills Project. In the Senate, it isn't much better: Senators passed fewer than two bills on average that were signed by the president over the same period.17 Of the 42 bills and resolutions sponsored by Tester during his first four years in office, two passed. Rehberg passed seven of the 82 bills and resolutions he introduced between 2001 and 2010.18 In neither case do Rehberg nor Tester stand out as successful legislators, but their efforts are less reflective of their individual abilities than they are of governing in an era of polarization and divided government. Senior members of both chambers tend to be more successful because they often have committee chairmanships that provide them with the opportunity and responsibility to advance legislation central to their party's legislative agendas."
A couple of points are important. First, it's really hard to pass a bill. Second, it's really hard for House members to be effective in sponsoring bills—but it is "relatively" easier for Senators to get their legislation made into law. Third, appropriators don't often sponsor bills and exert influence through earmarks instead. Finally, seniority matters: Freshmen simply don't pass bills they sponsor in either chamber often.
Let's compare apples to apples. In 2007, Senator Tester was a part of the new Democratic majority. According to GovTrack, the same source Pogrebra uses to assess Senator Daines' performance, Senator Tester did not have a bill sponsored by him (not counting co-sponsored bills) pass that year. In 2015, Senator Daines was also in his first year in the Senate as part of a new Republican majority. And, no surprise, he did not have a single bill sponsored by him become law.
But sponsoring bills is only one way to think about legislative effectiveness. Indeed, it is a measure that is not terribly useful when looking at freshmen legislators. I noted in Battle for the Big Sky that the Senate gives far more opportunities for senators to participate directly in the legislative process through floor amendments. This is the similar tactic that my Georgia State colleague, Jeff Lazarus, employed to compare the legislative effectiveness of Senators Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Read the piece here; Lazarus concluded that Clinton was the far more effective legislator, owing in part to the support she marshalled for her amendments.
Tester effectively used amendments to advance his legislative priorities, particularly for a freshman Senator in the majority. While he ranked second to last among his class in the passage of sponsored bills (in the first four years of his first term), he was the second most successful Senate amender among the cohort elected in 2006. Of the 38 amendments he sponsored, eleven were adopted on the floor. Again, this data is from my book.
Senator Daines, in the 114th Congress, sponsored 55 floor amendments (Data for this analysis was obtained from Congress.gov). Only five were adopted by the chamber—for a success rate of nine percent. How does that rank among Republican freshmen?
Eleven Republican freshmen were elected in 2014. Six had higher amendment passage rates than Daines, five had lower success rates. Senators Rounds and Sullivan had 32 percent of their amendments agreed to (about Tester's success rate), but both sponsored fewer amendments (19 and 41 respectively). At the bottom end of the scale, Oklahoma Senator James Lankford sponsored 34 amendments and had only one receive Senate assent (for a passage rate of 3 percent). Among freshmen, Daines also sponsored the most amendments—eight more than Colorado Senator Corey Gardner (17 percent success rate).
Legislative effectiveness is tricky to measure and must be placed both in career and institutional context. Daines' inability to pass legislation sponsored by him should not surprise given his relative junior status—and Tester found himself in precisely the same boat when he arrived in Washington. Looking at amendments, Daines is less effective than Tester was early in his career. Tester's experience as a successful legislator in the Montana Senate has carried over to the U.S. Senate. Daines, whose experience was in the private sector and not in politics prior to arriving on Capitol Hill, likely has had a steep learning curve when it comes to legislative maneuvering on the Senate floor.
One final and related point: political scientists have long argued that term limits are bad for legislatures. As David Mayhew notes in America's Congress, some of the country's most important, historic legislative measures were drafted and passed by members of Congress late in their careers. As the above analysis and discussion demonstrates, passing laws is the business of seasoned legislators and not those new to Capitol Hill. It is also not a particularly useful way to measure whether a legislator is effective or not earlier in their careers—especially not in isolation. There are also other ways to think about legislative effectiveness, including casework and pork brought back home. Both of these are hard to measure, and in the case of pork, ever more difficult to obtain given the recent ban on earmarks. Legislative effectiveness is multi-faceted and needs to be placed into comparative contexts.
This paper provides an overview of the major current debates on infrastructure policy. It reviews the evidence on the macroeconomic significance of the sector in terms of growth and poverty alleviation. It also discusses the major institutional debates, including the relative comparative advantage of the public and the private sector in the various stages of infrastructure service delivery as well as the main options for changes in the role of government (i.e. regulation and decentralization).
This article identifies how the United States can apply security assistance to support regional security in the South China Sea in order to counter China's assertive expansion strategy.
