Crisis of volunteerism? : the analysis of the causes of volunteers resigning from volunteering

Voluntary work is mainly described as a vital contribution to more active civil society, community engagement - broadly defined - democracy. However, the abundant literature on non-governmental organizations has paid limited attention to inconsistency of volunteerism' leadership and management provided by non-profit sector. This paper reviews recent studies on volunteerism in non-governmental organizations, as well as provides commentary on them, based on the author's research. The main research question was: What are the causes of volunteers' resigning from working in the Third Sector? The method involving semi-structured interviewing covered the total of eighteen respondents. The research aimed at showing both the perspective of volunteers and coordinators managing voluntary work in non-profit organizations, describing the environment of ten non-governmental organizations. Conducted research proved that appropriate communication between non-governmental leaders and volunteers, based on mutual understanding of needs and incentives is the key postulate for efficient management in Third Sector. Even though the research did not provide evidence of a crisis of non-governmental leadership, the analysis showed significant changes in a way of thinking about voluntary work, the inconsistence of expectations and motivations as well as conflict situations on individual and institutional level. It led to concrete conclusions and a set of recommendations for NGO coordinators and leaders

Critical geography in Germany: from exclusion to inclusion via internationalisation

Critical perspectives have become more visible in German human geography. Drawing on an analysis of the debate around the German reader “Kulturgeographie” published in 2003, we suggest that this case provides new insights into the “geography of critical geography”. We briefly discuss the history of left geography in Germany, leading to a comparison of the conditions of left geography around 1980 and in recent years. The focus is on two factors in the changed role of critical perspectives in German geography: (1) the growing internationalisation of German geography, which opened new avenues and allowed new approaches to enter the discipline; and (2) the high citation indices of “critical” journals, which leads to an enhanced reputation and a high significance of international critical geography in the German discipline. However, we draw an ambiguous conclusion: the increased role of critical approaches in German geography is linked to a growing neoliberalisation of academia and a decline of critical approaches in other disciplines

Critical geography in Germany: from exclusion to inclusion via internationalisation

Critical perspectives have become more visible in German human geography. Drawing on an analysis of the debate around the German reader "Kulturgeographie" published in 2003, we suggest that this case provides new insights into the "geography of critical geography". We briefly discuss the history of critical geography in Germany, leading to a comparison of the conditions of critical geography around 1980 and in recent years. The focus is on two factors in the changed role of critical perspectives in German geography: (1) the growing internationalisation of German geography, which opened new avenues and allowed new approaches to enter the discipline; and (2) the high citation indices of "critical" journals, which leads to an enhanced reputation and a high significance of international critical geography in the German discipline. However, we draw an ambiguous conclusion: the increased role of critical approaches in German geography is linked to a growing neoliberalisation of academia and a decline of critical approaches in other disciplines

THE CIVIL AND POLITICAL SOCIETY DURING NATION BUILDING PERIOD IN ALBANIA: 1912-1939

The Albanian history is full of consecutive invasions that have continued for different centuries. The power has been in the hands of foreigners for different centuries. Therefore, the social and political conscience was mainly composed of the survival concept. The governance of the Ottoman Empire was based on the military and political power instead of a market's dynamics. This factor hasprevented for a long period of time the development of a middle and urban classthat is the base of every modern society. As the author E. Vlora highlighted thesociety was divided in two main categories: the nobles composed of landowners and some few bourgeois that have never been democrats and the massive population composed of peasants, shepherds, soldiers that used to follow their leaders.Due to these factors, after the declaration of the independence in 1912, the efforts for the development of a civil or political society were not easy to undertake. Thispaper will try to analyze the dynamics and the logic of the creation and development of a civil and political society in the nation building period. The analysis will be focused on the evaluations of different social, historical andcultural factors that have strongly influenced the process of the creation of the civil and the political class. In the framework of this paper the civil society will be assumed as a community based on communication, persuasion, consensus anddiversity (Almond and Verba, 1963). With the term political class will be intended the community of people that is or tries to be to be part of the political power and government

Geographische Ideologieproduktion – Kritik der Geographie als Geographie

Zwei Paradigmen werden üblicherweise angeführt, mit denen der Versuch unternommen wurde und wird, die Geographie als Geographie, d.h. in Abgrenzung zu anderen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen zu begründen: das traditionelle und das raumwissenschaftliche. Beide kritisiere ich als Ideologien, denen falsche Abstraktionen zugrunde liegen, nämlich Geodeterminismus bzw. Raumfetischismus. Zuvor werden die grundlegenden Begriff „Paradigma“, „Ideologie“ und „Abstraktion“ bestimmt

Kritische Geographie: Bildet Banden! : Einleitung zum Themenheft

Die Beiträge dieses Heftes unter dem Titel „Kritische Geographie“ gehen auf die gleichnamige Ringvorlesung zurück, die im Sommersemester 2006 am Institut für Geographie an der Universität Potsdam stattfand (vgl. Abb. 1). Die Idee zu dieser Veranstaltungsreihe war in unserer Gruppe „Kritische Geographie Berlin“ entstanden, in der wir zwar einerseits immer wieder gemeinsam Themen diskutier(t)en, andererseits aber – neben dem „Alltagsgeschäft“ der Lohnarbeit in der Wissenschaft und anderswo – kaum Zeit für tatsächlich gemeinsame Projekte hatten (und auch nach wie vor kaum haben). Weil wir alle zudem den Mangel an kritischen Inhalten in der universitären Lehre in der Geographie nicht nur aus dem eigenen Studium in schmerzlicher Erinnerung hatten, sondern auch immer wieder von linken Geographiestudierenden auf diese angesprochen worden waren, erschien uns die Form der Ringvorlesung als Möglichkeit, beide Probleme gleichzeitig produktiv anzugehen. Auf diese Weise war und ist es möglich, die Inhalte, an denen wir und andere „kritische Geograph/inn/en“ ohnehin gerade arbeiten, miteinander und mit Studierenden zu diskutieren, auch wenn diese Inhalte kein aufeinander aufbauendes oder sonst wie konsistentes Programm ergeben. Was die Beiträge der Ringvorlesung – und dementsprechend dieses Heftes – eint, ist vielmehr ihr „gesellschafts-, herrschafts- und machtkritischer Anspruch. Was damit gemeint ist, diskutiere ich nach einigen Anmerkungen zu Inhalt und Kontext des vorliegenden Heftes im Fortgang dieses Editorials

A study of commuter air service

A regionally oriented overview of the commuter air service industry is provided. A framework for an eventual assessment of potential technology directions that may be of benefit to the industry is presented. Data are provided on the industry's market characteristics, service patterns, patronage characteristics, aircraft and airport needs, economic characteristics and institutional issues. Using personal interview and literature survey methods, investigation of a considerable cross-section of the industry was made

Occurrence and Consequences of Surprise Internal Control Disclosures

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act mandates public companies to establish internal control systems and assess their effectiveness. Quarterly reports by all companies and annual reports by companies with less than $75 million public float (non-accelerated filers) do not require auditor’s attestation while annual reports by companies with$75 million or more public float (accelerated filers) do require such auditor attestations. Quarterly reports should provide early warning of any impending material weakness (MW) to be disclosed in subsequent annual filings. This dissertation explores three types of “surprise” MW disclosures—positive, negative and no surprise—and consequences of such surprise disclosures. In part one, I document the frequency of surprise MW disclosures and internal control factors that are associated with each surprise type by filer status. Results show that 78 (77) percent of accelerated (non-accelerated) MW disclosures are negative surprise MW disclosures during 2004-2016. Entity level MWs are more associated with no-surprise rather than negative or positive surprise MW disclosures. In part two, I examine some consequences of surprise MW disclosures. The results show that companies with MW disclosures are more likely to dismiss their auditors and CFOs, and experience more shareholder voting against auditor ratification, compared to companies that issue clean reports. Auditor dismissal and CFO turnover are equally likely at negative and no-surprise MW disclosure companies. However, negative surprise accelerated filer companies’ shareholders are more likely to vote against auditor ratification than no-surprise accelerated filer companies. The third essay investigates the association between MW disclosures and audit fees. The results indicate that there is a significant positive association between audit fees and MW disclosures. Further, the results show that audit fees are higher at no-surprise companies than at negative surprise companies. The fourth essay focuses on audit report lag. The results indicate that MWs are associated with increased audit report lags, for both accelerated and non-accelerated filers. Further, surprise MW firms are more likely to experience increased audit report lag than no-surprise MW firms. Overall the results suggest that adverse internal control reports have consequences, and that the consequences vary between surprise and no-surprise MW firms. The results provide relevant empirical evidence to the ongoing debate on the necessity and efficacy of SOX Section 404 requirements

Evicting the undesirables. The idealism of public space and the materialism of the bourgeois State

In political as well as in scientific debates, the concept of “public space” is invoked by both supporters and critics of the eviction of undesirables (beggars, drug addicts, prostitutes) from urban spaces. Both sides use the concept as a codeword standing for opposing interests, both directed at the state. Drawing on Habermas’s conception of the “public sphere”, the paper argues that any such notion of “public space” is necessarily normative and does not help to explain the eviction of undesirables. Instead of this idealism, an analysis of the concrete processes and the interests that drive them is sought. This is done by examining the nature of regulating the access to urban spaces, the rhetoric of “zero tolerance” and the concrete measures of law enforcement applied in various cities in the US and Western Europe. These are shown to be means of the state to control the “reserve army” and thus part and parcel of global social processes.Dans les débats politiques et scientifiques, le concept d’“espace public” est cité par les défenseurs comme par les adversaires de l’éviction des indésirables (mendiants, toxicomanes, prostituées) des espaces urbains. Les uns et les autres utilisent ce concept comme un slogan représentatif d’intérêts antagonistes mais pareillement opposés à l’État. A partir de la conception de la “sphère publique” de Habermas, l’article défend l’idée que toute notion d’“espace public” est nécessairement normative et n’aide pas à expliquer l’éviction des indésirables. Au lieu d’un tel idéalisme, une analyse des processus concrets et des intérêts qui les sous-tendent est proposée. La nature de la régulation de l’accès aux espaces urbains, la rhétorique de la “tolérance zéro” et des mesures concrètes appliquées dans des villes américaines et européennes sont examinées. Ces processus sont des moyens de l’Etat pour contrôler “l’armée de réserve”. Ils font à ce titre partie des processus sociaux globaux