Search

Deliberative democracy theory highlighted democratic deliberation as a modus operandi for facilitating group decision-making. In 2023, members of Romanian labor unions in several sectors took to the streets in strikes and protests, demanding higher revenues and better work conditions. Nevertheless, misunderstandings and internal ruptures shadowed their noble ends and fueled mistrust amongst unionists. This dynamic reminds rather of interest party politics as it employs vertical power relations, influenced by social and professional background segmentation. One question that reasonably arises in this context is how deliberative the decision-making process is within the unions in Romania. We specifically analyze elements of deliberative organizational leadership and the power relations within labor unions through a qualitative study in the form of interviews. Keywords: Labor Unions, Romania, Deliberation, Representation, Leadership, Context Neo-liberalism triggered more dynamism in the labor market and new work relations, forcing unions to reshape and adjust their working procedures repeatedly. Their efficiency in coping with capitalist interests [...]

Embracing national belonging strategically and redefining it with inclusive, progressive values can boost consensus and counter the Right's dominance. However, this approach is neither straightforward nor without risks, which must be carefully considered., National belonging has profoundly influenced politics over the past two centuries across much of the world, from the Americas to Europe and from Africa to Asia. Few major historical events [...]

'Airpower in the Second World War created winners and losers; either they had it or they didn't.' --Paul Kennedy (Engineers of Victory, 226) Airmen had dreamed prior to 1939 that [...]

The question of Hegel's views on Buddhism and its place within his system must be asked again as the history of effects, transmission, and reception continues to unfold. This unfolding highlights not only Hegel's effect on the Western European reception and understanding of Buddhism (and its sharp orientalist critique), but also the canny use of Hegel's philosophy by certain members of the so‐called Kyoto School of Japanese neo‐Buddhist philosophy, who, though primarily concerning themselves with Heidegger, were notable in their creative use of Hegel's philosophy of spirit (especially Nishida, Nishitani, Tanabe, and Abe). Our present task is likewise to look back to Hegel's own writing on Buddhism through the lens of the history of its effects—that is, to read Hegel again with his legacy in mind—so that we might, as strange as it may perhaps seem, see things more clearly. Our goal is relatively modest, as it aims only to seek out and coordinate Buddhism within Hegel's history of philosophy. Thus, as we have a proximate goal in mind, we also have an order of importance with respect to Hegel's texts, which, of course, brings the Lectures on the History of Philosophy to the fore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a growing body of literature has revived its interest in social democratic parties, emphasising their allegedly irreversible crisis in Western Europe. However, all such accounts focus solely on electoral results, thus neglecting governmental power, the decisive factor to realise social democratic parties' policy goals. To address this gap, the article tests whether the decline of social democracy is confirmed in terms of governmental power, for which an index that remedies the limitations of existing measures is employed. Through comparative longitudinal analysis on 20 Western European countries and more than 600 legislatures between 1871 and 2022, the article finds that the governmental power of social democracy has remained fundamentally the same as in the golden age of class politics. In particular, in contexts of high party system fragmentation and strong radical left competition, social democratic parties have still managed to secure relevant government positions despite their declining electoral performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains variation in governments' policy choices to protect jobs and incomes at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in Western Europe? Departing from existing literature that emphasises path-dependency, this article proposes a dynamic model of policy-making in a major emergency. Building on the idea that governments face a trade-off between targeting and reversibility, the article develops a framework that accounts for both continuity and change in governments' policies to protect jobs and incomes during the pandemic. Introducing a four-fold typology of ideal-typical policy responses (strong reinforcement, weak reinforcement, over-provision and under-provision), it is argued that the interaction between institutional legacies and political power of the beneficiaries of a given policy determines the response that governments opt for. Case studies of three policy areas (short-time work; unemployment insurance and social assistance) across the five largest Western European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom) support the proposed theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of Hegel's views on Buddhism and its place within his system must be asked again as the history of effects, transmission, and reception continues to unfold. This unfolding highlights not only Hegel's effect on the Western European reception and understanding of Buddhism (and its sharp orientalist critique), but also the canny use of Hegel's philosophy by certain members of the so‐called Kyoto School of Japanese neo‐Buddhist philosophy, who, though primarily concerning themselves with Heidegger, were notable in their creative use of Hegel's philosophy of spirit (especially Nishida, Nishitani, Tanabe, and Abe). Our present task is likewise to look back to Hegel's own writing on Buddhism through the lens of the history of its effects—that is, to read Hegel again with his legacy in mind—so that we might, as strange as it may perhaps seem, see things more clearly. Our goal is relatively modest, as it aims only to seek out and coordinate Buddhism within Hegel's history of philosophy. Thus, as we have a proximate goal in mind, we also have an order of importance with respect to Hegel's texts, which, of course, brings the Lectures on the History of Philosophy to the fore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature comparing journalistic roles around the world highlights different ways of understanding journalistic work across countries. One of the main differences in conceptualising concerns the journalist's propensity for intervention: where in some contexts it is common practice for journalists to intervene with commentary and interpretation; while in others there is a tendency to adopt a more neutral reporting style. Through the conceptual lens of journalistic role performance, this study investigates the performance of the interventionist role within its two analytical sub-dimensions (content-driven interventionism and style-driven interventionism), together with the specific indicators related to each of the two (interpretation, journalist point of view, call to action, qualifying adjectives, and use of the first person) across nine Western European countries. Contrary to expectations, our data show a higher level of interventionism—particularly content-driven—in Central and Northern European countries when compared to those belonging to the polarised pluralist model theorised by Hallin, D. C., and P. Mancini. (2004. Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge University Press). Moreover, in almost all the countries considered, when journalists do intervene with their own voice, they predominantly do so through rhetorical devices of interpretation and by expressing their point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between religion and politics is receiving increasing attention in political science, although the focus is often on voter attitudes. Despite secularization trends, scholars expect a resurgence of religion in Western European party politics, where Christianity as a native identity is opposed to non-native Islam by populist radical right parties. In this context, it is primarily hostility toward other religious groups that structures religious elements in political communication. In most Latin American societies, religiosity plays a much greater role for individuals, which is reflected in the discourses of political elites who use genuine religious references to appeal to religious voters ("sacralization of politics"). Using data from my own recent research on content analysis of parties' and candidates' Facebook profiles, this article compares how political actors in Latin America and Western Europe use religious references in electoral campaigns and how salient these discourses are. The results help to explain the different prominence of religious discourses in different democratic regions and religious markets. The article contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of religion in 21st century politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) are of great concern due to their impact on human health and the environment. In recent years, machine learning (ML) techniques have been widely used for surface NO2 estimation with rapid developments in computational power and big data. However, the uncertainties inherent to such retrievals are rarely studied. In this study, a novel ML framework has been developed, enhanced with uncertainty quantification techniques, to estimate surface NO2 and provide corresponding data‐induced uncertainty. We apply the Boosting Ensemble Conformal Quantile Estimator (BEnCQE) model to infer surface NO2 concentrations over Western Europe at the daily scale and 1 km spatial resolution from May 2018 to December 2021. High NO2 mainly appears in urban areas, industrial areas, and roads. The space‐based cross‐validation shows that our model achieves accurate point estimates (r = 0.8, R2 = 0.64, root mean square error = 8.08 μg/m3) and reliable prediction intervals (coverage probability, PI‐50%: 51.0%, PI‐90%: 90.5%). Also, the model result agrees with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) model. The quantile regression in our model enables us to understand the importance of predictors for different NO2 level estimations. Additionally, the uncertainty information reveals the extra potential exceedance of the World Health Organization (WHO) 2021 limit in some locations, which is undetectable by only point estimates. Meanwhile, the uncertainty quantification allows assessment of the model's robustness outside existing in‐situ station measurements. It reveals challenges of NO2 estimation over urban and mountainous areas where NO2 is highly variable and heterogeneously distributed. Plain Language Summary: Inferring surface NO2 concentrations is an effective way to monitor and mitigate NOx pollution which is of great concern due to its impact on human health and the environment. Machine learning (ML) techniques have been widely used for surface NO2 estimation with rapid developments in computational power and big data. However, such estimations can be uncertain due to inherent errors in the data, and this uncertainty is rarely studied. We develop a novel ML framework to estimate surface NO2 concentrations and provide corresponding uncertainty information. We infer surface NO2 levels over Western Europe at the daily scale and 1 km spatial resolution from May 2018 to December 2021. Our model's performance is reliable as verified by in‐situ station measurements and an independent physics‐based model. We observe NO2 hotspots over urban areas, industrial areas, and major roads. The uncertainty quantification (UQ) techniques allow us to analyze the influence of different input data on estimating different NO2 levels. The UQ also helps to identify potential NO2 exceedances of the WHO 2021 limit, which have not been observed in previous research. Additionally, we assess the model's robustness outside of in‐situ stations and witness the challenge of NO2 estimation over urban and mountainous areas. Key Points: A novel and reliable machine learning model with uncertainty quantification is applied to infer surface NO2 levels over Western EuropeOur work uncovers how predictors impact model inference of various surface NO2 levels differentlyOur approach identifies areas of high uncertainty in surface NO2 mapping and potential environmental risks from overlooking uncertainty [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To facilitate a more definitive understanding of the usefulness of formative assessment, this meta-analysis examined the impact of formative assessment on student academic achievement in the K-12 classroom. The study analyzed 258 effect sizes from 118 primary studies published around the world. By applying a broad lens for defining and understanding formative assessment, the study confirmed the usefulness of formative assessment. The overall effect size was 0.25 (Hedges' g) for all studies included, and 0.22 for studies conducted within the US. The effect size was similar across different types of formative assessments (e.g., self-assessment vs peer assessment) and content domains (e.g., English language, mathematics, science, etc.). The mean effect size was significantly larger for studies conducted outside North America and Western Europe, for formative assessments for high school students, and for studies using the quasi-experimental design. No publication bias was detected for studies conducted in North America and Western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a democracy, it is the job of political parties to respond to the needs and demands of citizens. Yet for decades while migration was transforming West European countries, mainstream parties did not address these changes or grapple with their far-reaching social and economic consequences. This created a gap between many citizens' preferences and the appeals and policies offered by mainstream parties. Such "representation gaps" can disrupt party systems, particularly when the issues on which such gaps center become highly salient. This is precisely what happened in Europe. The representation gap that emerged between mainstream parties and voters on immigration created an opportunity for another party to capture discontented voters—which is precisely what right-wing populists did. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the demand for improved farm animal welfare (FAW) legislation in the BRIC countries and the USA. Results are discussed in comparison to Europe. Interviewees ranked their willingness to support or oppose introduction of more FAW-friendly laws in their country. A multinomial logistic regression was fit to the data (p < 0.001), with the parameters "country × gender" (p < 0.001) and "country × age" (p < 0.001) found significant. Americans, Russian women, and older Brazilian men are very supportive. The age effect is also felt in India, where older people are more supportive. Chinese, American men, and younger Indians are less supportive. Russian males are the group that oppose the most, followed by younger Brazilians and Indians. The law and its application vary a lot between countries. Nevertheless, the societal willingness to improve FAW legislation is high in all countries. The willingness is higher in Europe. The different cultural backgrounds, the socio-economic factors, and the social, economic, and environmental sustainability are enough reasons to create barriers to policy harmonization in the global trade of farm animal products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do leftist forces accept, support and adopt free-market policies? To answer this question, we carry out a comparative study of left-wing groups (both parties and trade unions) in France, Italy and Spain during the late 1970s and the early 1980s. This period is widely acknowledged in international political economy to have represented a paradigm shift from post-war Keynesianism to neoliberal policy-making. We employ in-depth content analysis of memoirs, interviews to the press, opinion articles and policy-papers to explain actors' positions on landmark policies implemented during such transition. In alignment with a developing literature in political economy (e.g. Mudge 2018), we find a proactive role of progressives in developing the ideological justification for the resort to liberal policies. However, we emphasise that widespread consensus among so-called progressives, rather than a leading role of technocrats or party experts, best explains such shifts. In this way, the paper casts doubts on interpretations of the liberalisation process that place excessive emphasis on the role of external constraints as well as on elite power. Drawing on Hall (1993), we argue that left-wing forces in the early 1980s have enacted a 'second order change', whereby policymakers use new instruments to meet existing policy objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimating the corner frequency (fc) of an earthquake is of fundamental importance to improving our knowledge of the physics of the rupture that gives rise to a seismic event, while also having important implications by providing information on the high-frequency radiation for seismic hazard studies. However, the estimation of fc through spectral-fitting methods suffers from trade-offs with the estimation of seismic wave attenuation, making the obtained values precise but not necessarily accurate. For this reason, after a review of the source model proposed by Brune (1970), a new method of estimating fc, based on the phase fitting of Fourier spectra of the Brune's seismic pulse related to S-waves, called Fourier phase spectra fitting (FPS), is proposed and evaluated in this study. The method can be applied in cases in which Brune's model may be appropriate, while also considering the effects of propagation on impulse deformation, for which the synthetic tests have been conducted. The results, obtained first using synthetic seismograms generated under controlled conditions and then on a data set of recordings of real seismic events collected at the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands, showed the method to be promising (being accurate and precise) and at the same time pointed out its limitations, with its applicability being restricted to short hypocentral distances of <20 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regulation of surrogacy across Western Europe displays the overwhelming prevalence of a restrictive status quo, with only a few states having moved towards greater permissiveness. However, we know little about the determinants of such regulation from a comparative perspective. This article fills this gap, by mapping the variation in the regulation of surrogacy across Western Europe and determining whether the explanations offered by the morality politics literature to the attendant variation in the regulation of abortion, prostitution and assisted reproductive technologies also explain it, or, rather, surrogacy policy has its own determinants. It concludes that, while the factors that explain the variation in the permissiveness of the regulation of abortion, prostitution and assisted reproduction technologies across Western Europe also apply to surrogacy, their specific combination in the latter is unlike in any of the former. Hence, surrogacy policy has its own determinants, which require further research. In doing so, the article adds to the emerging comparative analysis of surrogacy policies across Western Europe from a morality politics perspective, which is unprecedented, and, in turn, to the literature on morality politics, by confronting it to an issue that questions several of its established conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Partisan dealignment in Western Europe has gone hand in hand with the decline of electoral participation and active membership in political parties. Yet political participation and activism are not necessarily a thing of the past, and scholars have for instance observed these characteristics in several contemporary populist radical right parties (PRRPs). Drawing on the analysis of 124 interviews with party representatives from four European PRRPs (the League, the Finns Party, Flemish Interest and the Swiss People's Party), we ask what motivates PRRP elites to foster the creation of tight communities of activists. Three reasons appear to stand out: campaigning prowess (to gain public support); legitimising the party; and organisational survival. The final section offers reflections on the wider implications of our study and suggests avenues for future research, questioning the assumption that parties are necessarily and uniformly shifting away from activism and societal rootedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precipitation in Europe significantly influences local agriculture and water resources. Numerous research endeavours have explored the influence of tropospheric variables on precipitation variability in Europe. Recent investigations have identified a connection between alterations in high-latitude stratospheric ozone levels and precipitation patterns across Eurasia. This study investigates the correlation between the high-latitude stratosphere and precipitation trends in Western Europe, utilizing observational data, reanalysis, and atmospheric models, yielding new insights that upper tropospheric and lower stratospheric (UTLS) ozone in the northern high latitudes notably influence spring and autumn precipitation in Western Europe, and explained the mechanism. Increased UTLS ozone tends to enhance the precipitation in Western Europe, and vice versa. Further analysis reveals that elevated UTLS ozone radiatively warms the local region, shifting the polar jet stream over Europe equatorward in spring and autumn, which results in a cyclonic anomaly over Western Europe. This enhances the convection over Western Europe and transports more water vapor from the Atlantic Ocean. The influence of variations in UTLS ozone on precipitation patterns in Western Europe has been further corroborated through the sensitivity experiments with climate model. An increase of 20% in UTLS ozone across Europe, relative to the multi-year average, raises precipitation in Western Europe by 2.6–8 mm/month and decrease it by 10 mm/month to the north. Overall, our findings highlight the significant influence of the UTLS ozone on modulating spring and autumn precipitation in Western Europe, offering important implications into the prediction of future precipitation changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Important in the dissemination of knowledge are the networks of editors and their editorial board members. These are crucial gatekeepers in maintaining contacts with their professional fields as well as identifying others to evaluate manuscripts submitted for possible publication. We examine the countries of editorial board members of twenty-nine major Anglophone journals and the regional sources of manuscripts and reviewers. The data reveal some journals have large numbers of board members and many submissions and others have much smaller numbers of both. North America (United States and Canada), Western Europe, and China were the major sources of English-language manuscripts submitted from 2017 to 2021. These results are useful for junior and senior scholars who seek to publish in major geographic journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decades, the rising salience of new issues has transformed politics in Western Europe. How has this transformation affected citizens' left–right identities? This study shows how new issues have become integrated into the meaning of left–right among Western Europeans through generational replacement. Mechanisms of political socialisation and elite cue taking imply that how strongly an issue is associated with left–right identities should reflect this issue's politicisation during a cohort's formative years. In line with this, an analysis of the European Social Survey for 12 Western European countries from 2002 to 2018 reveals that environmental protection and immigration attitudes are more strongly associated with left–right positions among those born later. Attitudes towards redistribution tend to be less relevant within more recent cohorts in some countries, though period effects after the European debt crisis point in the opposite direction. This study enhances our understanding of the evolution of political conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how religion – particularly Islam – and anti-immigrant opinion climates influence the patterns of partisanship among first-generation immigrants in Western Europe. It suggests that Muslim propensity to become partisans and identify with Christian democratic parties depends on anti-immigrant opinion climate in their host country. The analyses based on individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2002–2019 in 19 West European democracies reveal that while Muslims are indeed less likely to become partisans in anti-immigrant host societies, the opposite is true in hospitable opinion climates. Moreover, compared to other immigrants, Muslims are less likely to identify with Christian democratic parties, but this relationship is substantively small and limited to highly anti-immigrant countries. In contrast, Muslims are more likely to align with socialist parties at all levels of anti-immigrant sentiment. These findings have important implications for debates on immigrant political integration and the future of electoral alignments in Western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates levels and determinants of in-work poverty (IWP) in Western Europe using EU-SILC longitudinal data 2004–2019. We compared IWP risk and their dynamics across fourteen countries by examining individual labor market positions, household total labor supplies, and employment patterns. We further explored the social class gradient in exposure to IWP, as well as drivers and patterns of longitudinal accumulation of poverty. Relying on a single (standard) earner is often not enough to keep families out of poverty, confirming the importance of dual-earner household arrangements, even if they entail non-standard employment conditions for one partner. This holds particularly true for countries with high levels of IWP and for less privileged social and occupational groups across all contexts. Analyzing IWP inertia, we examined the interplay between genuine state dependence (GSD) and unobserved heterogeneity in the accumulation of economic disadvantage over time. Previous experiences with IWP can lead to future IWP for some, yet this causal effect appears rather small. Our findings have clear implications for the social stratification of risk and policies designed to combat poverty accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how the ideological divide between the radical right and liberal left is anchored in the common sense reasoning of ordinary citizens. Across Western Europe, cleavage research has documented a divide in attitudes towards immigration and cultural liberalization which some view as a new cleavage of 'universalism' versus 'particularism'. Yet it is unclear how this squares with the fact that most citizens are non-ideologues with only moderate political interest and knowledge. Building on Clifford Geertz, Pierre Bourdieu, and recent research into the politics of group identities, we theorize how even in the absence of fully worked-out political ideologies, citizens mobilize forms of common sense reasoning based on group distinctions and moral intuitions. We apply this approach in a rare qualitative comparison of political reasoning on both sides of the new divide, analyzing narrative interviews (N=64) with groups positioned on its opposing sides: workers or small owners voting for the radical right; and sociocultural professionals voting for the liberal left. We show how 'common sense particularism' and 'common sense universalism' draw on distinct intuitions regarding the worthy self, the scope of solidarity, and the normative status of community. These intuitions resonate with class-specific social experiences and group referents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past two decades have witnessed a wave of research into the history of East Asian international relations (IR). Scholars seek to broaden the historical frames of reference in IR for both theory testing and theory generation. The article reviews this recent trend, examining its limitations and exploring future agenda. In studying historical East Asian IR, scholars have different expectations regarding whether their research would support, complement, or undermine mainstream Western IR. The spatial and temporal scope of their historical inquiries, as well as theoretical ambitions, therefore, differ significantly. Scholars no longer treat all East Asian history as simply one case, but as multiple cases with divergent patterns, and they recognize that the system consisted not solely of China but of multiple actors. In addition to contrasting East Asia with Western Europe, they explore also the similarities between East Asia and other non-Western regions. To advance the agenda, however, scholars must scrupulously navigate three tensions. They are: the tension between the "East" and "West"; the tension between the two disciplines of history and IR; and the tension between past and present. Future studies, therefore, must broaden their horizons in order to better transcend ethnocentrism and exceptionalism, refine their methodology both to avoid selection bias and conduct more sophisticated comparisons, and to maintain a proper distance from contemporary politics. Most importantly, they should combine high-quality historical research with cutting-edge IR theoretical trends to construct dynamic theories that could be applied to other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on partisan positions on higher education policies has focused to date mainly on parties in sustained democratic regimes in Western Europe. This study compares these findings with Polish parties' positioning and investigates the extent to which parties' preferences in post-socialist Poland can be explained by their party family affiliations. Poland provides an interesting case because of its socialist heritage of strong government control in the higher education sector and the rather fluid party system with a comparatively large share of populist right parties. By means of a qualitative content analysis of 41 party manifestos from 1989–2019, partisan positions of Christian democratic, social democratic, liberal, agrarian, and populist right parties are categorized along the re-distributive and control dimension of higher education policies. While party families can explain Polish parties' positioning on the control dimension, there is a cross-party consensus to expand the sector and increase public funding due to strong popular demand after the transformation which contrasts with the positions of West European parties. Key results are a rising salience of this policy field in party manifestos and a detailed description of populist right parties' preferences for government control of higher education institutions and expansion of this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes an integration of the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) with prospect theory to investigate how the status quo and policy change are recounted in public debates. By integrating insights from prospect theory into the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), we investigate narratives in the policy domain of farm animal welfare, which is characterized by a strong polarization of actor coalitions. We compare public debates in France and Germany between 2020 and 2021. Our analysis shows that the NPF's analytical strength is enhanced by integrating the distinction between status quo and policy change in narrative elements. This distinction enables further empirical nuancing of actors' narrative communication, and in combination with insights from prospect theory, it allows for new conjectures about actors' use of narrative strategies such as the devil shift and the angel shift. In addition to the theoretical contribution, we shed light on debates surrounding farm animal welfare in Western Europe: Both animal welfare and agricultural coalitions are unsatisfied with the status quo, but they promote policy change of different kinds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to verify whether a relationship exists between partly laws and party organizational change. While the prevailing contextualist perspective enhances the weight of social, economic and technological factors in shaping party change, we maintain that the intensity of party regulation plays a major role in this respect. Based on some basic assumption of Organizational Institutionalism, the article adopts the rationale of the Political Parties Database (PPDB): we thus conduct an in-depth empirical analysis of three core party organisational dimensions (Resources, Representative Strategies, Structures), over a total of nineteen parties in four Western European democracies (Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK), from 1970s to 2010s. Our empirical findings show that, while a growing number of party laws have been introduced in the countries under consideration, their impact on party organizational convergence is far from univocal: we thus provide different possible explanations of these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a significant component of the global ocean system, which has so far ensured a relatively warm climate for the North Atlantic and mild conditions in regions, such as Western Europe. The AMOC is also critical for the global climate. The complexity of the dynamical system underlying the AMOC is so vast that a long-term assessment of the potential risk of AMOC collapse is extremely challenging. However, short-term prediction can lead to accurate estimates of the dynamical state of the AMOC and possibly to early warning signals for guiding policy making and control strategies toward preventing AMOC collapse in the long term. We develop a model-free, machine-learning framework to predict the AMOC dynamical state in the short term by employing five datasets: MOVE and RAPID (observational), AMOC fingerprint (proxy records), and AMOC simulated fingerprint and CESM AMOC (synthetic). We demonstrate the power of our framework in predicting the variability of the AMOC within the maximum prediction horizon of 12 or 24 months. A number of issues affecting the prediction performance are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Early Pleistocene sites of Orce in southeastern Spain, including Fuente Nueva-3 (FN3), Barranco León (BL) and Venta Micena (VM), provide important insights into the earliest hominin populations and Late Villafranchian large mammal communities. Dated to approximately 1.4 million years ago, FN3 and BL preserve abundant Oldowan tools, cut marks and a human primary tooth, indicating hominin activity. VM, approximately 1.6 million years old, is an outstanding site because it preserves an exceptionally rich assemblage of large mammals and predates the presence of hominins, providing a context for pre-human conditions in the region. Research suggests that both hominins and giant hyenas were essential to the accumulation of skeletal remains at FN3 and BL, with secondary access to meat resources exploited by saber-toothed felids. This aim of this study aims to correlate the relative abundance of large herbivores at these sites with their estimates of Carrying Capacity (CC) and Total Available Biomass (TAB) using the PSEco model, which incorporates survival and mortality profiles to estimate these parameters in paleoecosystems. Our results show: (i) similarities between quarries VM3 and VM4 and (ii) similarities of these quarries with BL-D (level D), suggesting a similar formation process; (iii) that the role of humans would be secondary in BL-D and FN3-LAL (Lower Archaeological Level), although with a greater human influence in FN3-LAL due to the greater presence of horses and small species; and (iv) that FN3-UAL (Upper Archaeological Level) shows similarities with the expected CC values for FN3/BL, consistent with a natural trap of quicksand scenario, where the large mammal species were trapped according to their abundance and body mass, as there is a greater presence of rhinos and mammoths due to the greater weight per unit area exerted by their legs. Given the usefulness of this approach, we propose to apply it first to sites that have been proposed to function as natural traps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The empirical literature is divided on whether job tenure has declined or remained stable in Europe in recent decades. We argue that three analytical decisions explain the lack of consensus: whether researchers focus on men or women, whether they control for changes in labour market composition and whether the period under study is marked by a recession or a boom. We show the influence of these three decisions by analysing change in job tenure for France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK using two leading surveys: the European Labour Force Survey 1993–2021 and the European Working Conditions Survey 1995–2021. The results show that the share of workers remaining with the same employer for 10 years or more was stable at around 50%. Similarly, the average job tenure remained constant over time – at about 11 years – between 1993 and 2021. Trends in job tenure differ by gender. While the tenure of men remained stable or declined, the tenure of women increased. The stability in job tenure was due to the ageing of the workforce. For a given age, job tenure was shorter in the early 2020s than in the early 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NATO has endured for over seventy-five years, facing the challenges of the Cold War and a difficult transition to counterinsurgency operations after September 11, 2001. Now, the Atlantic Alliance confronts [...]

In the 1990s, Turkiye's Balkan policy was heavily influenced by military and defense concerns, but it shifted towards economic, social, and cultural priorities in the early 2000s. Recently, however, there has been a noticeable resurgence of military and defense activities in the region. Turkiye has expanded and deepened its military presence and defense cooperation, actively participating in international operations and regional mechanisms, often assuming leading roles. Bilateral cooperation with Balkan states has been strengthened by new agreements, enhancing Turkiye's defense industry exports and contributing to the local defense capabilities. Driven by commitments to regional stability, advancements in military technology, and a desire to strengthen its regional influence, Turkiye's renewed focus on military and defense signifies a pivotal shift in its Balkan policy, re-emphasizing these aspects with new dynamics and motivations. Keywords: Turkiyes Balkan Policy, Military and Defense Activities, Defense Cooperation, Regional Stability, Defense Industry Exports, Introduction Since the end of the Cold War, Turkiye has pursued active diplomacy in the Balkans, establishing itself as a leading regional actor. During the 1990s, characterized by the uncertainties [...]

Keywords: October 7; Israel; Hamas; Middle East and North Africa region (MENA); Ashkenazi Jews; Mizrahi Jews; Zionism; Jewish nationalism; colonialism; Palestinian nationalist narrative; Arab nationalism; Western imperialism; Postcolonialism. INTRODUCTION IN [...]

'Thin in tone,' 'most disagreeable,' 'shrill,' 'an abomination,' 'dangerous,' and just plain 'evil.' (1) The object of such ridicule was a thin piece of metal--the steel E string--that, at the [...]

This article questions the persisting notion that the European Union's memory is fractured between East and West, a notion that contributes to the reification of states as legitimately embodying national collective memories. It does so by building on actor-centered examinations of the EU memory divide, which is manifested in a challenge to the EU's Holocaust-centered narrative by an antitotalitarian memory regime, defined as an institutionalized network of politically driven historiographic expertise. The article shows that the antitotalitarian memory regime reflects a political culture of remembrance centered on a 'politics of certainty' that disregards open historiographic disputes and contests the EU's hitherto prevailing 'politics of regret.' Keywords: European memory; memory politics; memory regimes; collective memory; expertise, INTRODUCTION In recent decades, European integration has been partly justified by the need to overcome the legacy of Nazism, and by the twentieth century the European Union (EU) upheld a [...]

We use a DEA analysis to compare the efficiency of the railways of Western and Eastern Europe and find while most railways of Western Europe are on the efficiency frontier, those of Eastern Europe are typically a long way from it. One explanation may be that the reform process only started much later in Eastern Europe than in the West, although it appears that Eastern Europe has largely caught up. Secondly, Eastern Europe suffered a significant loss of traffic after the end of the communist regime, and this may still be resulting in an excess of labour and assets. There is some evidence that this remains the case for labour and freight vehicles. Although the excess of freight vehicles may be largely vehicles out of service, they still contribute to the poor efficiency scores for Eastern Europe. It is also the case that the countries of Eastern Europe suffer some disadvantages in terms of population density. However, we believe that two aspects of policy play an important role in the poorer performance of Eastern European countries compared with Western. Firstly, is the poorer infrastructure quality associated with lower levels of investment. This shows up as less use of electric traction and slower train speeds, resulting in lower productivity of staff and assets. Despite the efforts of the European Commission to overcome this problem, there is still a long way to go. Secondly, is the strong use of public service obligations to maintain high levels of service with relatively low load factors. If it is desired to raise the efficiency of Eastern European railways, governments in Eastern Europe will need to consider whether they are specifying excessively high levels of service.

Despite a more volatile electoral landscape and in many countries also the electoral rise of niche parties, major mainstream parties continue to define the major political alternatives that citizens in Western Europe face when it comes to government alternatives. However, the voluminous literature on party competition in Western Europe mostly takes niche parties as the starting point to understand the consequences of the changing electoral landscape and also to understand the issue strategies of major mainstream parties. These parties should come to the centerstage. They pursue a common competence strategy which leads them to focus particularly on macroeconomics, health care, and education where they can document government competence to large parts of the electorate. This implies an increased overall similarity in their issue profiles. These findings are based on CAP coded party manifestos from seven countries since the early 1980s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic Nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO2 + NO) emissions are highly concentrated in urban area, and the weekly cycles, seasonal patterns and long-term trends of tropospheric NO2 columns over cities differ from region to region due to different emission sectoral compositions and human activities. In this study, we used satellite observed tropospheric NO2 column data to compare the long-and short-term NO2 column density time series over cities in the United Sates (the U.S.), western Europe and China. The results showed that in all the targeted cities, the outbreak of the Corona Virus Disease in 2019 (COVID-19) moved the December peak of the city-level NO2 columns forward to November and October or even earlier in 2020 and 2021. On weekly level, cities in the U.S. show the lowest NO2 columns ratio on weekend/work day, then come the western European cities, and a weak weekly pattern is seen in Chinese cities. For all the cites, we find a higher weekend/work day NO2 ratio in cold seasons than in warm seasons, indicating a higher contribution from NOx emission sectors of residential, industry and power plants in the warm seasons. In the long-term, NO2 columns over the U.S. and western European cities declined by a fraction twice that of the regional mean level from 2004 to 2021. In China, NO2 columns started to decrease since 2012, at a similar rate between the city and regional level. This work confirms the importance to quantify and control NOx emissions from cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rethinking Modernity Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination By Gurminder K. Bhambra Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023, 288 pages, $252.47, ISBN: 97803031215360 Decolonization involves dismantling European colonial rule and challenging knowledge systems [...]

Abstract The site of LuneryRosieres la-Terre-des-Sablons (Lunery, Cher, France) comprises early evidence of human occupation in mid-latitudes in Western Europe. It demonstrates hominin presence in the Loire River Basin during the Early Pleistocene at the transition between an interglacial stage and the beginning of the following glacial stage. Three archaeological levels sandwiched and associated with two diamicton levels deposited on the downcutting river floor indicate repeated temporary occupations. Lithic material yields evidence of simple and more complex core technologies on local Jurassic siliceous rocks and Oligocene millstone. Hominins availed of natural stone morphologies to produce flakes with limited preparation. Some cores show centripetal management and a partially prepared striking platform. The mean ESR age of 1175 ka ± 98 ka obtained on fluvial sediments overlying the archaeological levels could correspond to the transition between marine isotopic stages (MIS) 37 and 36, during the normal Cobb Mountain subchron, and in particular at the beginning of MIS 36. The Lunery site shows that hominins were capable of adapting to early glacial environmental conditions and adopting appropriate strategies for settling in mid-latitude zones. These areas cannot be considered as inhospitable at that time as Lunery lies at some distance from the forming ice cap.

AROUND THE WORLD Those Ancient Lands Where and when did this conflict begin? John Lorinc THERE IS ONLY ONE FORWARD-LOOKING question to ask about the excruciating horror in Gaza: How [...]

Geothermal Power Anywhere Heat percolates upward from the Earth’s core everywhere in the world. So why can’t it be tapped everywhere, too? By Gregory Barber Cover artwork by Erin Dollar [...]