The Impacts of Politics and Ethnicity on Volunteering

This article examines how national and local ethno?politics impact on volunteering by taking a cross?country comparative perspective: Kenya and Mozambique. In both countries societal fragmentation along ethno?political lines is mirrored within the volunteer landscape and reduces the positive impacts of volunteering. The role of international volunteers (IVs) from the global North and, in the case of Kenya, national volunteers (NVs), to address these divisions is discussed. The effects of the support of the volunteering for development sector in such ethnically and politically fragmented contexts is also explored. The findings from the current research show that the perceived neutrality of the IV and NV means they may face less risk in attempting to step outside of existing political and ethnic confines than local volunteers or citizens functioning within these environments. Through this neutrality, IVs and NVs may be provided with a unique opportunity to use this position to assuage some of these societal fractions

Benefits of a multiple‐solution approach in land change models

Land change (LC) models are dedicated to a better understanding of land use and land cover dynamics. A fundamental aspect of those models lies in the calibration of spatial parameters underlying such dynamics. Although there are many studies on the calibration of LC models, current efforts have a common goal of seeking to find a single global optimum solution, even though land change dynamics may be inherently heterogeneous throughout a given space. This article presents a calibration approach for finding multiple optimal solutions. A crowding niching genetic algorithm (CNGA) is incorporated into a cellular automata LC model. The model is applied to simulate urban expansion in Wallonia (Belgium) as a case study. Our findings demonstrate the ability of the model to locate multiple solutions simultaneously. In addition, the CNGA performs better than the standard genetic algorithm—besides, the CNGA helps to better understand the properties of land change dynamics within a given landscape.Wal-e-Cities Projec

The EU and social protection What should the European convention propose?

In dem vorliegenden Beitrag diskutiert der Autor zwei zusammenhaengende Fragen: (1) Welche Rolle sollte die Europaeische Union (EU) bei der Entwicklung der Sozialpolitik spielen? (2) Verlangt die Rolle der EU in diesem Zusammenhang eine Neuformulierung des europaeischen Vertrages? Wenn die Antwort auf die zweite Frage positiv beantwortet wird, bieten die europaeische Konvention und die IGC (Intergovernmental Conference) eine einzigartige Gelegenheit, die gewuenschten Aenderungen in einem neuen europaeischen Vertrag zu integrieren. Das Ziel des Autors ist es, die Auswirkung der EU auf die typische Arbeit eines nationalen Ministers zu ueberpruefen, der fuer den Bereich soziale Sicherheit (einschliesslich Gesundheitspflege) verantwortlich ist, und zu fragen, wie eine EU nach dessen Vorstellungen aussehen sollte und wo Entwicklungen notwendig sind. Der Autor gibt einen kurzen Ueberblick ueber die sozialpolitische Agenda und macht einige Vorschlaege fuer die weitere Entwicklung dieser Agenda, die keine Veraenderung des europaeischen Vertrages noetig machen. Ausserdem werden die Erfolge und Schwaechen der Agenda seit dem Lissabonner Gipfel im Jahr 2000 aufgezeigt. Im dritten Teil arbeitet der Autor sechs Vorschlaege aus, die im Bereich der Sozialpolitik bei der Neuformulierung des europaeischen Vertrag beachtet werden sollten. (ICDUebers)'In this paper the author will discuss two interrelated questions: (1) What role, if any, should the European Union (EU) play in the development of social policy? (2) Does the proper role of the EU, as we would define it when answering the first question, require any changes to be made to the Treaty? If the answer to the second question is positive, the European Convention and the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) offer a unique opportunity to include the desired changes in a new European Treaty. The author's discussion of the EU's role in social policy will not be exhaustive. He will concentrate mainly on the development of social protection, thus not going into employment policy and related issues. Nor will he relate the discussion on social protection to the discussion on how member states can maintain the necessary funding for social programmes in a context of 'tax competition', nor to the debate on the future of the structural funds. This is not to say that these discussions are not important, quite on the contrary. However, his aim here is to examine the impact of the EU on the typical work of a national minister who is responsible for social protection (including health care), and what kind of EU such a minister would like to see develop now, and after the Convention. In the first part of this paper, the author will provide a succinct answer to his first question, concerning the role of the EU in social protection policy. In the second part, he will present a brief survey of the European agenda of 'social protection' ministers as it stands today, and suggest short-term proposals for the further development of that agenda, which do not presuppose changes to the Treaty. The second part will show that the social protection agenda has gained some momentum since the Lisbon Summit of March 2000, but also that it remains politically and institutionally fragile. In the third part of the paper, the author will elaborate on six proposals concerning the treaty. These proposals answer to the questions raised in the first part and to the post-Lisbon experience discussed in the second part.' (extract)German title: Die EU und die soziale Sicherheit: was sollte die europaeische Konvention vorschlagen?SIGLEAvailable from http://www.mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de/pu/workpap/wp02-6/wp02-6.html / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Energy governance in Belgium

This chapter reviews the conditions, policies, and institutions of energy governance in Belgium. Except for coal, Belgium has no indigenous energy sources. Nuclear energy accounts for around half of Belgium’s electricity generation but all nuclear power plants are scheduled to phase out by 2025. Energy governance in Belgium is characterized by a lack of a strategic and coherent vision. The responsibilities for energy policy in Belgium are shared among the federal government and the three regions (Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels). The distribution of competences is very heterogeneous and creates coordination problems. The main drivers of policy initiatives are European directives and international agreements. Belgium is currently not on track to meet its 2020 goals for energy efficiency and emission reductions. A major part of the explanation for Belgium’s weak performance is the dominant role of energy corporations in the Belgian energy sector