No War, No Peace: Northern Ireland after the Agreement

In 1998 a historic agreement, commonly known as the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, formed the basis of a negotiated settlement for the future of Northern Ireland. Since that time the level of violence in Northern Ireland has reduced but many problematic issues related to governance, sectarianism, and community relations remain on the political agenda and have destabilized the post-peace accord environment. Many of these issues can be viewed as either causes or consequences of the protracted conflict in Northern Ireland. This special issue examines some of these issues from a political psychology perspective. Economic, political, social, and psychological factors that have supported and hindered progress towards peace and stability are considered. While the paramilitary ceasefires have remained intact and certain aspects of life in Northern Ireland have been transformed, the road to peace has been hindered by both political and psychological intransigence. This paper offers an opportunity to reevaluate conceptualisations of conflict and its management in chronic situations, where divisions are deeply embedded within societal structures and relationships, and consider factors that may act as barriers to the development of a lasting peace.

The influence of gender in the direction of Spanish cooperative societies on profitability and indebtedness: an empirical analysis

In this paper the claim for the market for a new business management to ensure the presence of women in decision -making to respond to new social needs addressed. Thus, this paper analyzes the influence of gender diversity of the directors on the profitability and the level of debt for a sample of 5,199 Spanish cooperatives. Unlike capitalist societies, these organizations have a number of peculiarities in their government, and that the partners are themselves major time, agents and customers. The study focuses on the Spanish context, where there is an open debate on the importance of women's business management, as in other countries, driven by the proliferation of legislation on gender equality, being, in addition, Spain, the pioneer in having specific legislation on Social Economy. The results show that cooperatives with greater female representation in theirs Boards have higher profitability. On the other hand, those Boards with a higher percentage of women show a lower level of indebtedness.

Alternative financing instruments for Spanish cooperative

The search for funding is an ongoing task of the company, which is exacerbated, particularly in times of economic crisis, affecting also to the cooperatives. Cooperative legislation available to these entities various instruments of external financing through the issuance of securities (bonds, equity securities, special shares), to them accounts are added in participation, but without much detail in the legal texts. At work we investigate their potential, by looking, especially in those last; We seek to clarify their legal status and contrast their potential as a technical instrument, alternative for funding in the area of cooperative societies. Finally, we also see the impact of the recent Law 5/2015, of promoting business financing in the cooperative sector and ended up proposing some policy adjustments.

The Spanish social tariff and renewable energy cooperatives: situation and perspectives

Social tariffs are, along with transfer payments and energy efficiency measures, an instrument to alleviate energy poverty. The name of the Spanish social tariff is “bono social”, and it was established in 2009. To qualify for bono social, the electricity consumer should meet any of the socioeconomic requirements stipulated by law and contract the electricity supply with a “comercializadora de referencia”, companies that are required to offer the bono social by law.Renewable energy cooperatives, a recent phenomenon in Spain, are not comercializadoras de referencia, so they are not obliged to offer the bono social. This does not mean there are no cooperative members at risk of energy poverty or vulnerable consumers.This study has two objectives. The first is to sketch the socioeconomic profile of members of the renewable energy cooperatives. The second is to analyze if these members are entitled to the bono social, or would be to other subsidized prices with different requirements to those of the bono social.For this purpose, we conducted a survey to members of the largest renewable energy cooperative in Spain, Som Energia. The results show that the members of renewable energy cooperatives are exposed to energy poverty risk, although its reach depends on the definition of vulnerable consumer.

The Soviet Union and the International Brigades, 1936-1939

The International Brigades are typically viewed as a fighting force whose impetus came from the Comintern, and thus from within the walls of the Kremlin. If the assumption is essentially correct, the broader relation between Stalin’s USSR and the IB has received little attention. This chapter constitutes an empirically-based study of the Soviet role not only in the formation of the IB, but of the Red Army’s collaboration with IB units, and Moscow’s role in the climax and denouement of the brigadistas’ Spanish experience. This study’s principal conclusion is twofold: First, that the creation and sustenance of the IB was part of Stalin’s goal of linking the Loyalist cause with that of the Soviet Union and international communism, a component of a larger geo-strategic gamble which sought to create united opposition to the fascist menace, one which might eventually bring Moscow and the West into a closer alliance. The second conclusion is that the IB, like the broader projection of Soviet power and influence into the Spanish theater, was an overly ambitious operational failure whose abortive retreat is indicative of the basic weakness of the Stalinist regime in the years prior to the Second World War.