scholarly journals «Zurück in die Zukunft» – Rolle und Bedeutung des Schweizerischen Forstvereins

2018 ◽  
Vol 169 (6) ◽  
pp. 315-322
Author(s):  
Bianca Baerlocher ◽  
Martin Stuber ◽  
Eva Lieberherr
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Societal Change ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Forest Society ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Forestry Society ◽  
The Future ◽  
Personal Level

“Back to the future” – role and meaning of the Swiss Forestry Society Associations can be described as public goods and “schools of democracy”. They enable their members to participate in the political sphere and accomplish public tasks. Beyond this, we can view associations as a means for holding society together; they foster common values and norms as well as reduce societal insecurity. The Swiss Forestry Society, founded in 1843, has taken a supporting role in the landscape of associations in the 19th and early 20th century. However, since the 1990s, this association has faced declining membership, which raises questions about its role in today's political landscape, its meaning for its members and how it can adapt to societal change. In the context of the Swiss Forestry Society's 175th birthday, we addressed these questions by analysing historical documents and conducting interviews with members and experts. Responses show that the Swiss Forest Society plays an important role for current members' career as well as at the personal level in terms of solidarity in advocating for the forest. In contrast, former members say that the association is a club of ETH forest engineers which is neither well known publicly nor does enough for the forest itself. In terms of the future, the Swiss Forest Society faces the challenge to become interconnected across sectors. To address this, it will be key for the association to attract young, active members from different forest-related backgrounds who will engage in the association over the long-term and thus enable it to keep up with today's and tomorrow's (ever more digital) world.

Is Age the New Class? Economic Crisis and Demographics in European Politics

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Erk
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
New Class ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Material Interests ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Welfare State

As the crisis turns into long-term economic downturn, younger age-groups in Europe seem to be hit with higher levels of unemployment while the welfare state is steadily shrinking. The young have suddenly become a social group united by collective material interests, but does this translate into a sense of a collective political interest? The paper examines to what extent the dominant class-based social science of the post-war years can help us understand the politics of age-groups. The analysis highlights four changes since post-war years: the workplace has changed, impacting socialization; modern media has changed, impacting mobilization; the political landscape is fairly institutionalized, tempering the possibilities for new political concerns to find voice; and those who would define and articulate the political priorities of the young are leaving the Old Continent.

Safe burn excision prior to military repatriation: an achievable goal?

2018 ◽  
Vol 164 (5) ◽  
pp. 358-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ojas Pujji ◽  
S L A Jeffery
Keyword(s):  
Patient Outcomes ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Standard Treatment ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
The Future ◽  
Achievable Goal ◽  
Partial Thickness Burns ◽  
The Military ◽  
Improve Patient

Burn excision is the gold standard treatment for full thickness and some deep partial thickness burns. Early burn excision (24–96 hours) has been shown to improve patient outcomes. However, in the military setting, transporting the patient to a centre which can provide this procedure can be delayed. Especially as control of airspace in the future may be hampered due to the political landscape. For this reason, focus on how to achieve safer burn excision prior to repatriation should be addressed. This paper considers the barriers to early burn excision in the military setting and offers potential solutions for the future.

Between the Waves: Building Power for a Public Option

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob S. Hacker
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Public Health Insurance ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Key Steps ◽  
The Waves

Abstract Given the close division of power in D.C., how might health reformers pursue their bolder aims? In particular, how might they pursue the robust public option that is a centerpiece of Joe Biden’s reform proposal? This ambitious plan, which would allow all Americans to enroll in subsidized public health insurance, is not in the cards right now. However, I argue for conceiving of it as an inspiring vision that can structure immediate initiatives designed to make its achievement more feasible. First, I explain just how far-reaching the mainstream vision of the public option now is. Second, I describe a self-reinforcing path to that endpoint that involves what I call “building power through policy”—using the openings that are likely to exist in the near term to reshape the political landscape for the long term. This path has three key steps: (1) pursuing immediate improvements in the ACA that are tangible and traceable yet do not work against the eventual creation of a public option; (2) building the necessary policy foundations for a public option, while encouraging progressive states to experiment with state public plan models; and (3) seeding and strengthening movements to press for more fundamental reform.

Getting to the Future

2021 ◽  
pp. 109-128
Author(s):  
Michael K. MacKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The Political ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Future ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Electoral Cycles ◽  
Shared Futures ◽  
Deliberative Processes

This chapter makes three arguments in support of the claim that we need inclusive deliberative processes to shape the future in collectively intentional, mutually accommodating ways. First, inclusive collective decision-making processes are needed to avoid futures that favour the interests of some groups of people over others. Second, deliberative processes are needed to shape our shared futures in collectively intentional ways: we need to be able to talk to ourselves about what we are doing and where we want to get to in the future. Third, deliberative exchanges are needed to help collectivities avoid the policy oscillations that are (or may be) associated with the political dynamics of short electoral cycles. Effective processes of reciprocal reason giving can help collectivities maintain policy continuity over the long term—when continuity is justified—even as governments and generations change.

Many Happy Returns? Investment Governance and the Political Economy of Time in UK Pensions Provision

2021 ◽  
pp. 209-246
Author(s):  
Craig Berry
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Pension Funds ◽  
The Political ◽  
Private Pensions ◽  
Pension Schemes ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Uk

We are increasingly conscious that private pension schemes in the UK are primarily financial institutions. UK private pensions provision has always been highly financialized, but the individualization of provision means this dynamic matters more than ever to retirement incomes. Furthermore, individualization has occurred at a time when the UK economy’s capacity to support a long-term approach to capital investment, upon which pensions depend, has declined. The chapter argues that pensions provision essentially involves managing the failure of the future to resemble the present, or more specifically present forecasts of the future. As our ability to manipulate the value of the future has increased, our ability to tolerate forecast failure has declined. The chapter details how pension funds invest, and how this has changed, and provides an original understanding of several recent attempts to shape pensions investment, ultimately demonstrating the limitations of pensions policy in shaping how provision functions in practice.

Social Policy in the Czech “Republic”: The Past and the Future of Reforms

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 496-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiří Večerník
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Work Motivation ◽  
Pension System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Scene

The article describes the development of Czech policy after 1989 and the controversies it caused. It first looks at the ambiguous nature of the communist welfare state and then proceeds to outline the theoretical alternatives. After early and energetic changes in the system, stagnation set in around the mid-1990s. Despite some problems, the current performance of the system is satisfactory, but its outlook in terms of long-term efficiency is unsatisfactory, as it will generate a rising debt into the future. In particular, the disadvantaged situation for families, the insufficient work motivation, and the frozen pension system are all causes for concern. The political shift to the right after 2006 ushered in reform measures and new reform plans. While reforms are necessary, their feasibility is uncertain owing to the fragility of the Czech political scene.

4 The Malay Rulers: A Royal Resurgence?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee HP
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
The Future ◽  
Power Base ◽  
National Coalition ◽  
Constitutional System ◽  
First Time ◽  
Democratic Constitution ◽  
Discretionary Powers

Episodes involving Malay Rulers and the constitutional dimension of their exercise of discretionary powers are evaluated. The future trajectory of their evolving role is discussed. After two major confrontations with the Mahathir government, by the mid-1990s, the Malay Rulers’ power was considerably diminished. The Rulers remained constitutional monarchs, functioning under advice unless permitted by the constitutional system to exercise discretionary powers. However, by 2008, the fortunes of the Malay Rulers had revived. The resurgence of the Rulers’ power is attributed to their decision to adapt to the requirements of a modern, democratic Constitution to preserve their powers. The changing political landscape has assisted the resurgence of the Malay Rulers. In the political vacuum left by the weakened national coalition, the popular vote lost or the first time since 1969. UMNO found it expedient to rehabilitate the Sultans for political uses; thus, providing opportunities for the Sultans to rebuild their power base.

TAHAR HADDAD AFTER BOURGUIBA AND BIN ʿALI: A REFORMIST BETWEEN SECULARISTS AND ISLAMISTS

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Weideman
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
State Feminism ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Religious Establishment ◽  
Status Code

AbstractUnder the Bourguiba and Bin ʿAli regimes, the early 20th-century women's rights advocate Tahar Haddad (1899–1935) was a symbol of “state feminism.” Nationalist intellectuals traced the 1956 Personal Status Code to Haddad's work, and Bourguiba and Bin ʿAli claimed to “uphold” his ideals and “avenge” the persecution he suffered at the hands of the ʿulamaʾ at the Zaytuna mosque-university. Breaking with “old regime” narratives, this article studies Haddad as a reformist within Tunisia's religious establishment. Haddad's example challenges the idea that Islamic reformists “opened the door to” secularists in the Arab world. After independence, Haddad's ideas were not a starting point for Tunisia's presidents, but a reference point available to every actor in the political landscape.

scholarly journals Domestication Will Shape Future Public Spaces. A Report from Rotterdam

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Maurice Harteveld
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Base Point ◽  
Societal Change ◽  
Corona Virus ◽  
Term Change ◽  
The Future

This commentary aims to provide a window on the future by studying actions, taken to control the spreading of the corona virus, while obviously affecting public space over a year. What has been the effects on public space directly linked to these actions during the pandemic; what values play a role, and what can we expect for the future? We have seen how immediate responses induced by the COVID-19 crisis influences traveling, gathering, and public live in general. Now, it is time to look further. Having a base-point in Rotterdam and taking The Netherlands as an example, the commentary argues that some shifts in using, appropriating and experiencing public space will remain. Yet, mainly those not just being immediate responses to sudden societal change, rather those which are embedded in long-term change.

5. Environmental futures

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Urban Pollution ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
The Political ◽  
Species Loss ◽  
Vulnerable Communities ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
As Species ◽  
The Future

Environmental politics is a feature of the political landscape, which, now that it is established, is likely to persist well into the future. In part this is because the problems that have given rise to it are not likely to be solved any time soon. Global warming is at present the most obvious example, but other environmental issues such as species loss, deforestation, and urban pollution are also proving long-lasting. ‘Environmental futures’ also shows that environmental politics has a future because of the way in which it is tied up with livelihoods, particularly in poor and vulnerable communities. The different approaches of reform and radicalism in environmental politics are also discussed.

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