Eurasianism and geopolitics: Social mythologemes of space

The article considers the origins of Eurasianism as a Russian social doctrine that emerged as an answer to the Western geopolitical concepts, in particular of the Anglo-Saxon and German geopolitical schools. Both concepts serve to justify social institutions and associations based on the difference between the spaces of the Eastern and Western parts of Eurasia. The authors argue that geopolitics of both the Western-European and Eastern-European types is based on mythologemes which claim to be of scientific importance but are not capable of achieving this status. The article shows that both theories claim (1) the invention of an ideal timeless homeland of society on the basis of a mythological interpretation of space; (2) possession of sacred knowledge (through the sacralization of space) which is actually profane. The key difference between Western geopolitical schools (Anglo-Saxon and German) and Eurasianism is the proposed connection between space and a specific society. Geopolitics proceeds from the constant spatial opposition as a factor of social-political competition. The geopolitical assessment of reality is based on the need to attack the alien space due to its initial, natural hostility. The geopolitical hostility and even aggressiveness contradicts the defensive nature of Eurasianism which declares that space unites peoples with similar values; therefore, their societies should defend their space of development from the encroachments of the Western countries. Thus, Atlanticism as a global project of the contemporary Western geopolitics fundamentally contradicts Eurasianism which does not accept hegemonism and supports the principle of a multipolar world; today, the level of conflict between these projects is not high, although there are no prospects for this conflict resolution.

The NGO Moment

This book is a study of compassion as a global project from Biafra to Live Aid. Kevin O'Sullivan explains how and why NGOs became the primary conduits of popular concern for the global poor between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s and shows how this shaped the West's relationship with the post-colonial world. Drawing on case studies from Britain, Canada and Ireland, as well as archival material from governments and international organisations, he sheds new light on how the legacies of empire were re-packaged and re-purposed for the post-colonial era, and how a liberal definition of benevolence, rooted in charity, justice, development and rights became the dominant expression of solidarity with the Third World. In doing so, the book provides a unique insight into the social, cultural and ideological foundations of global civil society. It reveals why this period provided such fertile ground for the emergence of NGOs and offers a fresh interpretation of how individuals in the West encountered the outside world.

A global social sciences network for infectious threats and antimicrobial resistance

A global social sciences network for infectious threats and antimicrobial resistance The rise of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the last 20 years increases the need for improved prevention and response. The EU-funded SoNAR-Global project will establish a sustainable international social science network to attract the active participation of social sciences and advance complementarity and synergy in the governance of prevention and response to EIDs and AMR. The project is driven by social scientists specialised in EIDs and AMR, and aims to become an integral part of emergency response. SoNAR-Global will develop an open-access platform, adapt, test and assess vulnerability assessment tools and engagement models, and create and assess curricula for training social scientists and non-social sciences actors interested in working with them.

Engineering Students Learning Experience through a Unique Global Project-Based Learning

Current students must prepare themselves with the necessary skills for employment in the engineering industry. In addition, students should prepare themselves to work globally. Along with the needs, Shibaura Institute of Technology introduces a program named global Project-Based Learning (gPBL). Malaysian students from different educational backgrounds joined this pro-gram to experience new skills. The program was participated by 34 students from Malaysia and Japan. Current engineering education is focusing on a course that can foster students’ creativity and critical thinking. Therefore, this study explores students’ experiences in gPBL and what student skills developed throughout the program. Students reported their experiences through the self-reflective journal. Then, thematic analysis was used to analyze the students’ self-reflective journals. The results show gPBL promotes thinking and problem-solving skills, encourages students to work with peers in other fields, and encourages students to adapt to a new culture.

Reflections on “Psychotechnics”

In this article, I discuss the genesis of psychotechnics in Brazil, from 1920 to 1950, starting from narratives about the history of psychology and analyzing, in a comparative way, three psychotechnics courses held in the city of São Paulo. Although these courses respond to local projects aimed at industry and education, our analysis reveals that they also express the materialization of a global project, built on statistical tools, standardized equipment and international circulation of texts and intellectuals. Measuring human activities was in the core of the public recognition of Psychology as a field of knowledge. The critical review of this history is important in order to understand how Psychology took part in building our current way of life. Moreover, understanding this movement within the field can help psychologists today in their work to reduce suffering, but also to change this rationalized state of things, responsible for the suffering production. Such changes imply refusing consolidated models for thinking and research in Psychology, in favor of more interdisciplinary and critical approaches.

Unveiling the Dynamics of the European Entrepreneurial Framework Conditions over the Last Two Decades: A Cluster Analysis

Entrepreneurship is a theme of global interest, and it is the subject of investigations conducted by many researchers and projects. In particular, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project is a global project that involves several countries and years of surveys on entrepreneurship indicators. This study focuses on the 12 indicators of the entrepreneurial ecosystem defined by the Entrepreneurial Framework Conditions (EFCs). The EFCs are specifically related to the quality of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Using clustering techniques, the present study analyzes how European experts’ perceptions on the EFCs of their home country have changed between 2000 and 2019. The main finding is the existence of significant differences between the clusters obtained over the years and between countries. Therefore, in theoretical terms, this dynamical behavior in relation to the entrepreneurial conditions of economies should be considered in future works, namely, those concerning the definition of the number of clusters, which, according to the internal validation measures computed in this work, should be two.

Social dialectics of prehistory

The author of the monograph, written on the original material, restores the classical scientific social philosophy, which allows the means of dialectical methodology and materialism in sociology to predict the end of the prehistory of antagonistic epochs and the beginning of the true history of a single humanity. The new industrialization at the moment of transition from prehistory to history creates civilizational neo-industrialism as a dialectical synthesis of traditional civilization and progressive formation in the form of new socialism. The global project of neo-industrialism civilizes humanity — saves it from barbarism, wars, social inequality, and the destruction of nature. In historical Russia, civilizing development is realized at the expense of new industrialization and the solution of general democratic tasks with the transition to post-capitalist tasks. Conceptually, civilizational neo-industrialism acts as the fifth world theory, which makes it possible to understand the future of the dialectic of new social forces in the transition from prehistory to history. It is of interest to postgraduates, researchers and a wide range of readers in order to determine the worldview position, clarify the philosophical base of science and search for scientists, understand the dialectics of social existence and social consciousness.

Conservation of a 2nd century Roman barge from Lyon (France)

The conservation of a 2nd-century AD shipwreck represents a challenge in many ways: the amount of material, different ones such as waterlogged wood, iron, lead, textiles, pitch, among others. A global project has to be planned, meaning that scale adaptations had to be thought of taking into account the exceptional size and diversity matters. On top of it, a common thread with pyrite has to be taken into account to avoid acidification by little footsteps at each conservation care stage. To do this, a complete dismantling has occurred, allowing the removal of 26 meters of waterproofing material which happened to be pitched textiles. To explore the data embedded inside, a new unfolding protocol had to be elaborated; that respected their fragility. New issues arose from this work, allowing to link the textiles to the barge, and also opened new exploration fields of an exceptional set of roman textiles.