Environmental commitments in different types of democracies: The role of liberal,social-liberal,and deliberative politics

Since a more substantial recognition of environmental degradation in the 1960s, the scholarly community has looked at democracy with mixed feelings. Some assert that democracy is devastating for the environmental performance, some claim the opposite, while others suggest that certain democratic models are more successful than others in paving the way for sustainability. Both political theorists and empirical scholars add fuel to this debate, and neither has settled the argument yet. In this paper we make use of recently collected data from the Varieties of Democracy project on different conceptions of democracy and address both these literatures. We empirically test whether different features of democracies, i.e., liberal in its thinner understanding, social-liberal, and deliberative, are more or less beneficial for environmental commitments. We investigate which of these features make democracies more prone to produce environmental policy outputs – adopt climate laws, deliver on them, develop stringent environmental policies, and incorporate sustainability into economic policies. We find that democracies with stronger deliberative features adopt more, but not necessarily stricter or more effective, environmental policies. Instead, democracies with stronger social-liberal features adopt both stricter and more effective policies.     

Transformation in territorial concepts: from nation building to concessions

The transition to globalization, socio-cultural fragmentation and an era of peace all constrain Zionism to a restructuring in its territorial perspectives. In the nation-building era, Zionism made the territory the focus of Zionist activity, which necessitated seizing territory, controlling it, and creating an affinity and attachment and a bond of identity between the nation and the territory. Pure colonization as a central strategy for realizing these national goals originated mainly from the unique historical circumstances of Zionism and from the adoption of an ethno-national ideology. This also led to the Palestinian-Jewish conflict that concentrated on the control of territory. The national economy regime that influenced Israel in different ways also served the territorial ideology to a great degree. Peace borders will require Israel to cooperate closely with Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon in managing resources, external influences and additional common interests. The peace economy will integrate with the multi-national economy. Furthermore, in the reality of peace, Israel will have to abandon the internal colonization of areas populated by Israeli Arab citizens and give greater legitimation to their more prominent inclusion the Israeli identity. It will also become difficult for any elite group to dictate the national agenda to other marginal groups, such as Israeli Arabs, and Sephardic or Orthodox Jews, each group creates for itself considerable degree of autonomy in its own territory. In the main, the national periphery divides into an Israeli Arab periphery beside the periphery of the traditionally religious Sephardic Jews. The ultra-Orthodox Jews take control of increasingly larger Israeli space and expanding the horizons of their public involvement beyond their traditional ghettos. Each group creates for itself a different symbolic space with differing views concerning the limits of Israeli sovereignty.     

Nomospace and genospace: A spatial matrix

We are concerned here with the notion of space as a primary condition for building social relations. From this stand, we have created two analytical matrixes that can help us characterize two modes: that of ‘being-there-in-space’ and that of ‘being-of-the-space’; the nomospace and the genospace. While the nomospace is characterized by ‘cold’ connotations, which are ideally defined as a result of a logical option, the genospace is mainly characterized by emotional or ‘warm’ connotations, which originate from a feeling of shared nature and common destiny. We believe that these matrixes could help us to identify the meanings of some behaviours and, therefore, make us more capable of interpreting many dynamics that occur in modern societies. The importance of geography is justified by the existing relationship between these behaviours and their proper spatial form. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

“9.16”前后的断层水平形变

本文将前楼,朱坑的小三角观测资料通过亏自由网平差方法加以处理,用三倍误差椭圆曲线作为判定异常的基本依据。“9.16”地震前一年以内,断层的水平形变很好地呈现出了前兆异常信息,地震的发生与断层的水平形变表现两者之间有着极其紧密的联系。     

Ethnicity in Eastern Europe: Historical legacies and prospects for cohesion

Eastern Europe lacks cohesion partly arising from a history of ethnic tension. Ways are now being found to overcome historic conflicts over alternative political structures, as the enlargement of membership for European institutions requires greater equality of rights at the same time as support and security is extended. Thus while ethnicity, as a political, social and cultural entity, persists in Eastern Europe as an essential element at the local level, it is now being seen more positively as cultural diversity and thus more compatible with democracy and a positive asset to national well-being. Multi-ethnic states are proving to be viable and some of the most intractable inter-ethnic problems (linked with the Hungarian minorities) are being addressed constructively. Yet there are signs that the southern part of the region is being marginalised regarding foreign investment. Also there is unease that European values are not being embraced unconditionally in parts of the Balkans. Recent military intervention has created fresh problems, committing the West to continued economic and political support to strengthen its stance on democracy and minority rights. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

博雅教育理念下高校新型音乐教学模式的构建

通过对湛江师范学院公共音乐教学现状展开调研,分析了影响高校公共音乐教学的各种因素。结合博雅教育理念,提出构建以学生发展为本、激发学生学习兴趣、培养学生创造精神、增强学生实践体验的新型音乐教学模式。     

Populism,localism and the geography of democracy

This short intervention argues that mainstream politicians are increasingly adopting localism as a framework for public policy. This is, in part, a product of popular, and populist, disillusionment with the nature and practice of mainstream politics. While it has the potential to transform the political geography of the UK, as yet, the localism agenda remains poorly researched. This intervention makes the case for geographers to engage in this work.     

参考线法测设在大坝加高工程中的应用

阐述了参考线法,即建立一个自由平面直角坐标系,根据放样点位的相对位置进行放样.分析参考线法与传统放样方法的不同之处,介绍参考线法实施步骤,并以实例说明了参考线法测设在大坝加高工程中的应用情况.     

协商民主理论对我国民主政治建设的启示

兴起于西方的协商民主对选举民主的功能性互补,使其在我国的民主政治建设实践中形成了中国特色社会主义协商民主,党的十八大报告中又明确"社会主义协商民主是我国人民民主的重要形式",提出要"健全社会主义协商民主制度",而西方协商民主理论对如何在我国民主政治建设中健全社会主义协商民主制度有着重要的启示。