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Procedural justice, representation, and institutional trust in Mexico
Full text linkBoth theoretical and empirical studies suggest that confidence in institutions is crucial for the functioning of democratic political systems and is an important element of the citizen-state relationship. Trust in institutions has been mainly explained in terms of institutional performance or as an extension of interpersonal trust. Using data from the 2020 National Survey of Civic Culture (Encuesta Nacional de Cultura Cívica), we examined the determinants of Mexicans' trust in two institutions elected via popular vote: Congress and the Presidency. We focus on procedural justice and representation to account for trust in both institutions. We found positive relationships (of different magnitudes) between citizens' trust in both Congress and the Presidency and the indicators of perceived representation, procedural justice, institutional performance, and interpersonal trust. In addition, we found different and significant effects of party identification on trust levels in both institutions
Exploration von Forschungsfeldern mittels Aktenanalyse: Zugang, Sampling und Analyse am Beispiel der Fallakten von Förderschüler:innen im Prozess der Berufsorientierung
No full textIm Zentrum dieses Beitrags steht die Reflexion ausgewählter methodischer und inhaltlicher Besonderheiten einer qualitativen Dokumenten- und Aktenanalyse. Die Daten stammen aus einem Forschungsprojekt, welches die Bildungs- und Beschäftigungsverläufe schwerbehinderter Jugendlicher in den Blick nimmt und untersucht, wie es zu Zuweisungsprozessen beim Übergang von der Schule in (betriebliche) Ausbildung und Beruf kommt. Die - immer noch eher selten in der qualitativen Forschung eingesetzte - Aktenanalyse kommt hierbei als explorative Vorstudie und mit dem Ziel zum Einsatz, erste Hypothesen zu den bislang als Black Box geltenden Einflussfaktoren im Zugang zu beruflicher (Aus-)Bildung und Beschäftigung zu formulieren. Dies geschieht anhand von Falldokumentationen der Integrationsfachdienste (IFD), die Prozesse der Planung und Steuerung von Übergängen (in den Arbeitsmarkt, in Werkstätten für Menschen mit Behinderungen (WfbM)) sichtbar machen. Dabei stellen sich (auch auf andere Studien übertragbare) relevante forschungspraktische Fragen hinsichtlich des Zugangs zu den das Forschungsfeld strukturierenden Akten, ihrer Auswahl und Analyse am Beispiel absolvierter Praktika in Betrieben des allgemeinen Arbeitsmarktes. Der Beitrag versteht sich nicht als Anleitung zur Durchführung einer Aktenanalyse, er reflektiert jedoch methodische Entscheidungen im Hinblick auf die Einsatzmöglichkeiten einer Aktenanalyse zur Exploration eines Forschungsfeldes
At the Conceptual Crossroads of Politics and Technology: An Exploration Into EU Digital Policy
Full text linkAs the EU pursues digital sovereignty and defines its role in the global digital era, this article examines the conceptual politics that shape EU technology policy. By conceptual politics, we refer to how the meanings and applications of core political concepts are actively contested, shaped, and renegotiated within policy discourse and practice. While existing scholarship has examined discursive strategies and technocratic tendencies in EU digital policy in isolation, this article distinctively analyses their paradoxical interplay. We do so by employing a conceptual politics framework that emphasises temporality, drawing insights from conceptual history. We focus on how foundational concepts, including rights, governance, and agency, are being renegotiated at the intersection of EU politics and rapid technological change. Specifically, we examine the conceptual shifts related to two cases - fundamental democratic concepts (digital rights) and those prompted by specific technologies (blockchain) - to illuminate how the discursive framing of digital technologies performs political work. Through our analysis of policy documents, we identify a central tension: as the EU utilises expansive future‐oriented discourse to frame its digital policy, this simultaneously tends to narrow the horizon of expectations and make politics more technocratic. This dynamic risks obscuring the contested nature of politics by framing technological development as inevitable
Food‐Sharing Apps' Role in Mitigating Food Waste: Examples From Poland and Czechia
Full text linkThe growing challenge of food waste is a frequent topic in international debate, as significant amounts of food remain unrecovered despite being a basic need. Digital platforms and mobile applications now play a key role in redistributing surplus food by connecting local entrepreneurs and catering services with consumers. While existing research has focused primarily on food‐sharing applications' (FSAs') business models and user behaviour, the spatial dimension of these platforms remains understudied. Our research examines FSAs as business‐to‐customer (B2C) solutions that directly connect catering facilities with consumers, analysing their role in supporting food waste mitigation across diverse urban contexts in Poland (Warsaw, Krakow) and Czechia (Prague, Brno). Through spatial analysis of FSA‐participating establishments' locations and the types of food saved, we investigate how the B2C model operates within different urban functional zones, from tourist‐heavy city centres to residential districts. Our findings reveal distinct patterns in how FSA adoption aligns with cities' functional characteristics, with higher concentrations in multifunctional urban cores and emerging presence in revitalized residential areas. This spatial distribution reflects both the business opportunities within the B2C model and the cities' varied functional roles, from tourist destinations to administrative centres. Our findings highlight how FSAs align with urban functions, offering insights for expanding coverage to underserved areas while adapting to local characteristics
Modern right-wing extremism as a challenge for the democratic security architecture: New approaches against extremism in social media with Computational Criminological Science
Full text linkThis dissertation examines the effects of digitalisation on processes of political decision-making and the resulting potential dangers in (and around) the phenomenon of right-wing extremism and places them in the context of their detectability by security authorities. The modern challenges to a functional early warning system of democracy are first developed theoretically and then analysed primarily on the basis of data-scientific studies of relevant social media profiles. The results of the individual research phases show that the basic framework conditions of the networking and distribution of information in social media already form a breeding ground for radicalisation, which arises in particular from the viral spread of emotionalising content and the automated connection of contextual entities. In this way, a formative influence is exerted on the perception of problems in society and processes of political decision-making are shaped by this. Feelings of fear, outrage, injustice or anger can be triggered and/or amplified in political communities and networks and channelled into enemy stereotypes. Under these conditions, extremist potential dangers often cannot be subsumed under the legal construct of extremism because the heterogeneous networks cannot be shown to have a "goal- and purpose-oriented endeavour". Potential extremist threats arising from this can therefore only be recognised late by the security authorities' early warning system for democracy. Narrowly defined legal mandates, a lack of overarching cooperation structures and limited information transfer as well as rigid interpretations of (legal) definitions based mostly on classic real-world experience form hurdles that need to be adequately overcome in order to successfully combat and prevent extremism in the present and future. Interdisciplinary structural approaches based on co-operation between science, civil society and security authorities, particularly on the basis of computational criminological science, offer new and promising perspectives for meeting the modern demands of a secure and free democratic society in an appropriate, flexible and transparent manner
Higher Education in Belarus after 2020: The Erosion of Academic Freedom
Full text linkSince the 2020 political crisis, Belarusian higher education has been facing unprecedented repression, ideological control, and international isolation. This article explores the systematic dismantling of academic freedom under the Lukashenka regime and examines its impact on students, faculty, and institutions. Drawing on the 2024 Science at Risk Monitoring Report on Belarus, it highlights the consequences of state control, the role of security services in academia, and the broader implications for the integration of Belarus into the global academic community
Neoliberalism, Religious Nationalism and Democracy
Full text linkFollowing the inauguration of Presidency of D. Trump, global politics has undergone significant changes. Similarly, the internal situation of the United States has undergone changes resulting from the authoritarian shift in the presidency. Recent events, including the deployment of the National Guard in California to disperse demonstrations and the measures taken against Harvard University, demonstrate that Trump's presidency has challenged the liberal democratic principles enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The purpose of this blog, though, is to examine the concept of democracy that underlies Trump's policies. The objective is to show continuities and disruption between the discourse about democracy between the Neoliberalism in the Post-II-World War period and religion conservatism or Christian Nationalism, which is a social movement behind the US-Presidency of D. Trump using the writing of Any Rand and Ludwig von Mises as references for neoliberal thinking, and the Project 2025 as reference for the actual political programme inspired in the Christian nationalism. Any Rand was a neoliberal novelist and philosopher with considerable influence in the United States in the 1960s and 1970. The Rand foundation, which promotes here philosophy of Objectivism, is very active to promote neoliberal thoughts worldwide. L. von Mises was an economist on the line of the Austrian school and was a member of the Mont Pèlerin Society. The Mises foundation, which promotes his neoliberal thinking, but also anarcho-capitalist ideas, is as the Rand Foundation very active in promoting neoliberal though. The Project 2025, inspired in conservative Christian position, has been developed by a wide range of conservative and ultraconservative associations under the leadership of the Heritage Foundation. It is considered as a blueprint of the internal policies of the Trump-Presidency. The hypothesis is that the new US governmental programme is not based on neoliberal thoughts, but on the ideology of the Christian nationalism
Die unterschätzten Risiken in der US-Ökonomie: Trumps Zollpolitik ist fragwürdig, aber Handlungsbedarf besteht
Full text linkAm 2. April 2025 verkündete Donald Trump beispiellose Zollerhöhungen, mit denen die USA eine folgenreiche Kehrtwende in ihrer Handelspolitik vollziehen. Auf der ganzen Welt wurde der Präsident dafür kritisiert. Übersehen wird oft, dass die amerikanische Wirtschaft vor großen Herausforderungen steht. Nicht nur, dass die Staatsverschuldung immens ist und weiter wächst. Der US-Dollar ist überbewertet, die verarbeitende Industrie wird immer schwächer, und im Ausland nimmt das Land seit Jahrzehnten hohe Kredite auf. Damit ist das amerikanische Wirtschaftsmodell nicht nachhaltig. Trump hat die prekäre Lage erkannt und versucht, Gegenmaßnahmen zu ergreifen. Die EU sollte gerade jetzt den Dialog mit Washington suchen. Sie müsste Schritte einleiten, um die europäischen Leistungsbilanzüberschüsse abzubauen und die Unterbewertung des Euro zu reduzieren. (Autorenreferat
Prefiguring the Caring City: Everyday Practices and Postcapitalist Possibility in Neighborhood Living Rooms
Full text linkThis article brings an ethic of care into conversation with prefigurative politics to position practices of care as examples of everyday life beyond capitalism. Examining everyday practices in community spaces as prefigurative practices of care illustrates two distinct but interrelated ways these spaces function: firstly by facilitating cultures of care in the present, sustaining individuals and communities within an uncaring urban context, and secondly by making possible and visible other ways of caring, relating, and living. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in Dutch neighborhood living rooms, we show how participants in these spaces practice an ethic of care, how this transforms their everyday experience and their sense of future possibility, and how a desire for change motivates their continued care practices. Reading this through the lens of prefigurative practice reveals concrete examples of what everyday postcapitalist urban life might look like if cities were instead organized around an ethic of care. Finally, we call attention to the socio‐spatial infrastructures that make these practices possible in the present and would support an expanded capacity to care in the future
Carbon pricing and the affordability of residential heating: A theoretical model with endogenous technology choice
Full text linkThis paper analyses the impact of carbon pricing on residential heating affordability using a theoretical household model with endogenous choice of a renewable heating technology. We compare two compensation policies: a renewable heating subsidy and a lump-sum transfer. The subsidy is the most effective policy to reduce the household’s burden if the renewable heating technology is the optimal choice with carbon pricing alone. Otherwise, the relative effectiveness of the compensation policies depends on whether they shift the household's choice towards renewable heating. Overall, our study emphasizes the need of considering technological adjustment when analyzing how carbon pricing affects heating affordability