Rosvoromantiikkaa ja rasisminvastaisuutta

Luettua

Cultural leaders and the clash of civilizations

This article builds a micro founded model of the clash of cultures. The clash is defined as the parent's fear of a trait change by their child in an overlapping generations model with intergenerational transmission of cultural traits. The extent of the clash is manipulated by cultural leaders who benefit from the cultural education effort by parents. We identify three channels through which the leaders can affect the clash of cultures: (i) by providing beneficial cultural values, (ii) by claims of cultural superiority and (iii) by cultural alienation, i.e. by inducing cultural dislike towards their own group. We show that all three channels can be in the leader's interest but channels (ii) and (iii) reduce the utility of the leader's goup members. This hints to a strong conflict of interest within groups - between the population at large and the benefactors of radicalization. We further show how the use of alienation relates to the economic opportunities available to a group.

Kuluttajan ostopäätös freemium-mobiilipelissä – Tarkastelussa Clash of Clans

Mobiilipeliala on kasvanut viime vuosien aikana merkittävästi. Yli 90 % mobiiliapplikaatioista hyödyntää freemium-ansaintalogiikkaa. Freemium-ansaintalogiikassa käyttäjät voivat ladata ja käyttää applikaatiota ilmaiseksi, mutta halutessaan voivat maksaa lisäominaisuuksista. Pelialalla freemiumista on hiljattain tullut keskeisin ansaintalogiikan muoto. Tästä huolimatta freemium-pelien ja niissä tapahtuvien ostopäätösten tieteellinen tutkimus on rajallista. Tässä tutkimuksessa pyritään selvittämään, mihin kuluttajan tekemä ostopäätös perustuu freemium-mobiilipelissä. Ostopäätöstä tarkastellaan kuluttajan kokeman arvon näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään, mitkä arvot ohjaavat ostopäätöstä ja miten pelaajat suhtautuvat freemium-mobiilipeleistä maksamiseen. Kuluttajien tekemien ostopäätösten ollessa tutkimuksen kohteena, on perusteltua käyttää laadullisia tutkimusmenetelmiä. Aineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla Clash of Clans -pelin pelaajia. Puolet haastatelluista olivat maksaneet pelistä ja puolet eivät. Teoreettisena viitekehyksenä toimivat kulutusarvoteoria sekä mobiilipelien ostopäätökseen ohjaavia ominaisuuksia käsittelevä teoria. Tulokset osoittavat, että pelaajien ostopäätöstä ohjaavat samanaikaisesti useat arvot ja tekijät. Ostopäätökseen vaikuttavat sosiaaliset, emotionaaliset, funktionaaliset, epistemologiset ja konditionaaliset arvot. Pelin sosiaalisen luonteen vuoksi muiden pelaajien suhtautuminen maksamiseen vaikuttaa ostopäätökseen. Lisäksi kilpailussa pärjääminen sekä muilta pelaajilta saatavan arvostuksen tavoittelu lisäävät maksuhalukkuutta. Emotionaalisen arvon näkökulmasta pelistä saatava nautinto sekä turhautumisen lievittäminen ohjaavat ostopäätöksen tekemistä. Funktionaalinen arvo näkyy ostopäätöksissä pelaajien haluna parantaa kilpailukykyä sekä säästää aikaa. Pelaajien kokema uteliaisuuden tunne ohjaa ostopäätöstä epistemologisen arvon näkökulmasta, kun taas konditionaalisen arvon näkökulmasta väliaikaiset kampanjat vaikuttavat pelaajan kokemaan arvoon. Tulosten perusteella pelaajat suhtautuivat maksamiseen vaihtelevasti. Useiden pelaajien mielestä maksamalla eteneminen on huijaamista. Useat samanaikaisesti koettavat arvot sekä yleinen suhtautuminen mobiilipeleistä maksamiseen vaikuttavat ostopäätöksen tekemiseen merkittävästi. Freemium-mobiilipelissä pelaajia altistetaan ostopäätökselle monin ei keinoin, minkä vuoksi pelaajien itsekurin merkitys korostuu ostopäätöksen tekemisessä.

Clash of Civilizations in the Post 9/11 World: Myth or Reality?

Payam AKHAVAN est professeur à la Faculté de droit de l'Université McGill, ancien conseiller juridique aux Tribunaux pénaux internationaux pour l'ex-Yougoslavie et le Rwanda et président co-fondateur du Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre.

Commission v. Gazprom: The antitrust clash of the decade? CEPS Policy Brief No. 285, 31 October 2012

This new CEPS Policy Brief boldly asserts that the antitrust case launched by DG Competition against Gazprom on September 4th will turn out to be the landmark antitrust case of this decade, in much the same way that Microsoft v. Commission was the defining antitrust lawsuit of the last decade. The paper argues that, for a host of political and economic reasons, this case is likely to be hard fought by both sides to a final prohibition decision and then onwards into the EU courts. In the process, the European gas market and the powers of DG Competition in the energy field are likely to be transformed.

Supply, demand and a failure of understanding: addressing the culture clash between archaeologists' expectations for training and employment in 'academia' versus 'practice

A university degree is effectively a prerequisite for entering the archaeological workforce in the UK. Archaeological employers consider that new entrants to the profession are insufficiently skilled, and hold university training to blame. But university archaeology departments do not consider it their responsibility to deliver fully formed archaeological professionals, but rather to provide an education that can then be applied in different workplaces, within and outside archaeology. The number of individuals studying archaeology at university exceeds the total number working in professional practice, with many more new graduates emerging than archaeological jobs advertised annually. Over-supply of practitioners is also a contributing factor to low pay in archaeology. Steps are being made to provide opportunities for vocational training, both within and outside the university system, but archaeological training and education within the universities and subsequently the archaeological labour market may be adversely impacted upon by the introduction of variable top-up student fees.

EU Policies on Bioenergy and their Potential Clash with the WTO

The paper outlines EU policy on bioenergy, including biofuels, in the context of its policy initiatives to promote renewable energy to combat greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The EU's Member States are responsible for implementing EU policy: thus, the UK's Renewables Obligation on electricity suppliers and its Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation and road-fuel tax rebates are examined. It is unlikely that EU policy is in conflict with the WTO Agreement on Agriculture or that on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, but its provisions on environmental sustainability criteria could be problematic.

The Discursive double game of EMU reform: the clash of titans between French White Knight and German Iron Lady. Paper presented at the 9th Biennial Conference European Community Studies Association–Canada (ECSA-C), Ottawa, Ontario, April 27-28, 2012

From the Introduction. In the aftermath of the EU’s enlargement towards Central and Eastern Europe, many scholars and observers of European integration were proclaiming that the French-German “engine” of Europe had come to an end. The political legitimacy of French-German initiatives was contested by coalitions of smaller member states and the ‘new Europe’ was calling for new leadership dynamics. However, the experience of the Eurozone debt crisis provided dramatic evidence that no alternative to the Franco-German partnership has yet to emerge in the enlarged EU. In a time of existential crisis, Franco-German initiatives appear to have remained the basic dynamic of integration. However, unlike in the past, agreements on steps forward have proven to be particularly difficult. This is largely due to these countries’ contrasting political economic policy ideas, cultures, and practices....the paper analyses the ideational ‘frames’ of the two leaders while tracing their discursive interactions against changing background conditions since the European debt crisis was triggered by Greece in October 2009 until the last measures taken in 2012 before the French Presidential elections. The empirical analysis is based on a systematic corpus of press conferences and media interviews by Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel after European summits. It is complemented by a number of press interviews including some given by their respective Finance Ministers) and important speeches in that same period of time.

Clash of identities in South Florida: An examination of the complexity of racial and national identity and their impact on ethnic solidarity between black Americans and Jamaicans

Immigrants from the West Indies and other nations challenge the simple United States dichotomy of blacks versus whites. Many apparently black Caribbean immigrants proclaim that they did not know they were “black” until they arrived in the U.S. They seek to maintain their national identity and resist identity and solidarity with Black Americans. In response, many Black Americans respond that the immigrants are simply being naive, that U.S. society demands simple racial identity. Regardless of one's self-identity and personal history, in the U.S., if you look black, you are black, was their thinking. ^ This study examines the contemporary struggle of identity and solidarity among and between Black Americans and Jamaicans living in South Florida (Broward and Miami-Dade counties). Even though the primary focus of this study is to examine the relationship between Black Americans and Jamaicans, other West Indian nationals will be addressed more generally. The primary research problem of this study is to determine why the existence of common ancestry and physical traits are insufficient for an assumption of ethnic solidarity between Black Americans and Jamaicans. ^ In examining this problem, I felt that depth rather than breadth would provide insight into the current state of polarization between Black Americans and Jamaicans. To this end, a qualitative study was designed. A non-random snowball sample consisting of forty-seven informants was selected for this study. Realizing that such a technique presents problems with generalizations beyond the sample, this approach was, nonetheless, the most suitable for the current research problem. One of the initial challenges of this research was the use of the label “black” in discussing Caribbean immigrants. Unlike America, where distinctions based on skin color were at the bedrock of America's formation, this was not the case in the Caribbean. In the Caribbean skin color was an important marker as an indicator of class, rather than of race. Therefore, I refrained from using the label, “black Jamaicans,” but rather used Jamaicans throughout. ^

Interest Representation as a Clash of Unequal Allies

Organized interests do not have direct control over the fate of their policy agendas in Congress. They cannot introduce bills, vote on legislation, or serve on House committees. If organized interests want to achieve virtually any of their legislative goals they must rely on and work through members of Congress. As an interest group seeks to move its policy agenda forward in Congress, then, one of the most important challenges it faces is the recruitment of effective legislative allies. Legislative allies are members of Congress who “share the same policy objective as the group” and who use their limited time and resources to advocate for the group’s policy needs (Hall and Deardorff 2006, 76). For all the financial resources that a group can bring to bear as it competes with other interests to win policy outcomes, it will be ineffective without the help of members of Congress that are willing to expend their time and effort to advocate for its policy positions (Bauer, Pool, and Dexter 1965; Baumgartner and Leech 1998b; Hall and Wayman 1990; Hall and Deardorff 2006; Hojnacki and Kimball 1998, 1999). Given the importance of legislative allies to interest group success, are some organized interests better able to recruit legislative allies than others? This question has received little attention in the literature. This dissertation offers an original theoretical framework describing both when we should expect some types of interests to generate more legislative allies than others and how interests vary in their effectiveness at mobilizing these allies toward effective legislative advocacy. It then tests these theoretical expectations on variation in group representation during the stage in the legislative process that many scholars have argued is crucial to policy influence, interest representation on legislative committees. The dissertation uncovers pervasive evidence that interests with a presence across more congressional districts stand a better chance of having legislative allies on their key committees. It also reveals that interests with greater amounts of leverage over jobs and economic investment will be better positioned to win more allies on key committees. In addition, interests with a policy agenda that closely overlaps with the jurisdiction of just one committee in Congress are more likely to have legislative allies on their key committees than are interests that have a policy agenda divided across many committee jurisdictions. In short, how groups are distributed across districts, the leverage that interests have over local jobs and economic investment, and how committee jurisdictions align with their policy goals affects their influence in Congress.