Tax polici in new EU members: Estonia and othr Baltic states

The paper discusses the fiscal systems of Estonia, Latvi nd Lituania. Quentitative data and instuutionale features are given for the main taxes, and their development since the transition of the early 1990s. Recent tax reforms as well as that planned are examinated together with suggestion for the improvments of Baltics Tax systemsTax Systems Tax Reforms Baltic Countries

Baltic media in transition

http://www.ester.ee/record=b1643620*es

From liberal to predatory mass media in post-communist Lithuania

Referring to the concepts, communicative democracy is defined as free, open and democratic communication organized around three equally legitimate public sphere actors – politicians, journalists and public opinion, and populism is understood as good, entertaining and effective communication with people, eroding basic functions of the political parties (institutionalization of ideological conflicts) and politicians (representation), the paper provides insights about the dangers to quality of democracy if the free mass media gets utterly away from political parallelism. Special attention is placed on the tendencies of media personnel to be active in the political life. The paper conceptualizes a tremendous decrease (by one third) in public trust in mass media in Lithuania, observed from 1998 to 2009 and interprets this change as a cumulative result of the post-communist illstructured political field under pressing liberalization and democratization coupled with specific patterns of the Lithuanian political culture and public sphere. In the conditions of a still relatively high public trust in mass-media and scarce foreign ownership of the mass-media outlets in Lithuania, the local media barons are able to produce and impose their own public-agenda. The Lithuanian massmedia and government relations evolve along the lines of the zero-sum game: they seek to control each other, and at the same time try to avoid being controlled by the other, while any other pattern of inter-relations does not appear as viable and appropriate. INTUNE project survey (2009) shows that the media elite’s influence in the national decision making process is significantly higher in Lithuania than, for instance, in Germany or Hungary.Key words: populism, communicative democracy, mass-media ownership, public sphere, public trust

Baltic Media Health Check 2015/2016

Baltic Media Health Check is an annual journalistic snapshot study aimed at measuring the current ‘temperature’ of the media markets in the Baltics, identifying the present trends, leaders and threats, as well as examining the most significant common issues, which, in this year’s study, is the regional and hyperlocal media and their future scenarios in the environment of growing pressures - digital, political, financial and other. Conceived and designed by the Baltic Investigative Journalism Centre Re: Baltica in collaboration with the Centre for Media Studies at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga in the aftermath of the financial crisis, Baltic Media Health Check was reassigned to the Baltic Centre for Media Excellence (BCME) in 2016. BCME is a hub for smart journalism in the Baltics and beyond. Founded in 2015, this grassroots media NGO promotes professional growth, media intelligence and critical thinking and strives for positive change in journalism and communities it serves. Media research is one of the primary activities of BCME. https://baltic.media/in-focus/cross-border-consolidation-municipal-pseudo-papers-key-factors-in-the-baltic-media-marke

Electronic Resources Access and Usage for Scholarly Research Work by Postgraduate Students at Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta

This study investigated the extent of electronic resource access and usage for scholarly research work by post graduate students at University of agriculture in Abeokuta. The thrust of this paper is to discuss the points of accessing, frequency of use, usefulness and strategies to improve students’ use of electronic resources. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The target populations for this study are postgraduate students of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State. The participants sampled numbered 350 postgraduate students using stratified random sampling method. Out of 350 questionnaires distributed, a total of 210 were collected representing 60% return. Based on the analysis of the data, it was found that the postgraduate students use email as a means of communication while other electronic facilities that can aid their research works were not adequately used by them. Recommendations were made for improvement.  Data collected were analysed using simple percentage, frequency counts and the mean. Keywords: Electronic resources access, usage, scholarly research, University of Agriculture, Nigeri

The Media Challenge to Haredi Rabbinic Authority in Israel

Haredim, or ultra-orthodox Jews, live in cultural ghettos, withdrawn from the influences of modern life. To strengthen the hand of Haredi rabbis against their members being influenced by the outside media, institutional Haredi dailies newspapers were created by these rabbis - becoming in effect mouthpieces to their flock.Over the last thirty years an alternative Haredi media has evolved inside Israel - comprising independent weekly magazines, Haredi news websites, and Haredi radio stations - which have challenged the rule of Haredi rabbis. The challenge reached a peak with rabbinical bans on the Internet not adhered to by a considerable segment of the Haredi community. Today, many Haredim have computers and some of these have Internet. One of the major results is a loss of Haredi rabbinical hegemony. The article draws upon a survey of Haredi rabbis in Israel carried out by the author

Historical prerequisites for the formation of the foundations of the modern humanitarian policy of Ukraine

The purpose of the research is to study рistorical background of formation of basements of contemporary humanitarian policy of Ukraine. The subject of the study is the humanitarian policy of Ukraine at different times of the development of the country. Methodology. The following methods of scientific knowledge helped to achieve the objectives set in the Article: logical modeling, logical and semantic, historical and legal, comparative analysis, abstract and logical. Research results. The legal instruments, which determined the principles of policy in the humanitarian sphere of various state systems on the territory of modern Ukraine in historical retrospect are considered. Considerable attention is paid to problems and difficulties, as well as approaches to the periodization of the history of the state and law in Ukraine, the periods of policy implementation in the humanitarian sphere on the Ukrainian lands at different times. Practical implementation. The peculiarities of the historical aspects of the formation of Ukraine’s humanitarian policy, which are related to long stateless periods, when Ukraine was part of the state systems of various empires, are determined. Value/originality. It is proven that the Soviet period of totalitarianism could not destroy the progressive assets of the Ukrainian people in matters of State formation according to the Western model

Будућност историје музике; Међународни научни скуп Српска академија наука и уметности Београд, 28–30. септембар 2017; Књижица апстраката

The conference The Future of Music History is organised within the project Serbian musical identities between local and global frameworks: Traditions, changes, challenges (No. 177004) financed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbi

Immigrants as Americanizers: The Americanization Movement of the Early Twentieth Century

This thesis aims to prove that the Americanization movement was crucial in that it provoked immigrants to devise their own ways in which they could demonstrate their loyalty to America and forge links between Americanism and their cultural pride. Immigrants transformed themselves into a new type of American by exhibiting love for both their home and adopted countries. On the one hand, they were acutely aware of the ever-present demand to exhibit their dedication to America during the Great War, but they also took much of the patriotic ardor that was forced upon them and reshaped it in order to support and promote their own ethnic causes. The native-born Americanizers responsible for Americanization publications underestimated immigrant potential and desire to participate. Although immigrants did benefit from a certain number of opportunities offered by native-born Americanizers, what was expressed in the Foreign Language Press and other immigrant writings reveals that the immigrants were better suited to acclimate themselves rather than those appointed by the government, public schools, or private organizations. While native-born Americanizers sought ways to teach immigrants about America and its history, traditions, language, and government, many remained unmindful of the fact that the newly arrived Southern and Eastern European immigrants were practicing one of the earliest forms of cultural pluralism and were also interested in teaching native-born Americans about their own cultures. The following case studies are used to analyze various Americanization methods employed during the Americanization Movement: 1) The works of Frances A. Kellor and Americanization literature by John Foster Carr and the Daughters of the American Revolution; 2) The Carnegie Studies published during the early 1920s; and, 3) Foreign Language Press articles from The Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey as well as immigrant works, including those by Carol Aronovici and Israel Zangwill