Zur Stabilität ungarischer Banken

The participation of foreign capital, mainly of foreign banks in privatization of Hungarian banks has been decisive for reaching of competitiveness and stability. But the process of transformation of banks is not yet over. Many banks have not yet succeeded to compensate the revenue shortfalls and higher costs by a bigger variety of transactions, especially expanding their off-balance-sheet activities. Merges could also help to solidify stability and international competitiveness of rhe banking system. Analyzing several indicators of Hungarian banking system, we found no sign of crisis. Comparing significant indicators of the banking systems between Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic, we found the Hungarian banking system as having been more successful.

Reflexivity: The Future of Tourism Experience Research Or, How do tourists achieve well-being?

This theoretical paper discusses the concept of self-reflexivity (i.e., “deliberations that take place through internal conversations” (Archer, 2007:3)) in the context of tourists’ strategies for creating their own well-being. It is suggested that this concept helps in understanding how moment-by-moment experiences can create transformational changes and as the tourist involves herself in activities. The concept is then applied to an existing model of experiencing (Gnoth and Mateucci 2014) revealing that its different modes correlate with different types of (no, recursive, participatory, disruptive) reflexivity. Using other descriptive criteria for transformational change, future research propositions are outlined

Zur Stabilität der Bankensysteme in der Tschechischen Republik, Polen und Ungarn

The EU countries are interested in stable banking systems of candidate countries, because any kind of instability of the financial sector could have serious consequences to the financial and exchange rate system of the whole Community. In the article the state of stability of the banking systems is analyzed, based on several important indicators. At present the banking systems of candidate countries still look fairly stable: weak competition among the banks, a high inflation rate and a low intermediation rate in terms of total assets / GDP have enabled banks still to reach a sufficient net interest yield. So they have been able to stand a relatively high share of non- performing loans and also a relatively high amount of foreign exchange indebtedness. In order to ensure a problem-free integration of the banking systems of the candidate countries in the EU they must still meet several conditions. They need to widen and refine the supply of services and to lower the share of non-performing loans, mainly in the Czech Republic and Poland. The foreign exchange indebtedness of the banking and enterprises domains in Poland and Hungary needs to be restricted. Successful integration in EU competition requires in general increase in the banks own capital.

EU-Osterweiterung: Sinkende Akzeptanz eines Beitritts in Bewerberländern

Approaching the end of the accession negotiations with the EU, the ratification of the accession contracts in the Central and Eastern European candidate countries gains in impoprtance. The article shows that the decreasing acceptance of EU-accession in the candidate countries is rooted in their increaing levels of prosperity, in the progress of negotiations and particularly in the role of agriculture. In several countries, a no-vote in a referendum seems likely, but could adversely affect prospects for future economic.

Suizidalität in den Lehrbüchern der deutschsprachigen Schulpsychiatrie vin 1803 bis heute

Die Dissertation arbeitet die verschiedenen Ursachen, Theorien und Behandlungskonzepte zum Thema Suzidalität von den Anfängen der Schulpsychiatrie bis zum Jahr 2015 heraus

Lost in translation: a comparative analysis of developing regions' receptions of the responsibility to protect norm

The way in which different regions are receiving the international norm of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has been attracting increasing attention within academia in recent years, most notably after the NATO led intervention in Libya in 2011. Academics have attempted to analyse the extent to which R2P has been diffused in various states and have argued that states within developing regions have begun to localise R2P to make it more congruent with their pre-existing norms and practices in order to increase its acceptance. These studies have utilised traditional theories of norm diffusion which conceive of norms as static entities with fixed content and as such they have not attempted to analyse how the norm has been changing as a result of this process. Furthermore these studies have tended to analyse the diffusion of R2P in isolation from other states and other regions and as such, no comparative analysis of how regions have received R2P exists. This thesis employs a discursive approach, seeking to look at how R2P has been received within three developing regions (Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America) and in doing so aims to find how regions receptions of R2P differ and whether the content of R2P has changed between them. It finds that since the 2005 World Summit, receptions to R2P have not significantly altered and that where R2P is being gradually diffused it is increasingly becoming a norm for prevention rather than response

Residential mobility and changing energy related behaviour

It has become increasingly important to use energy more efficiently, through the pressures on resource availability and the effects on climate change. This thesis studies how household energy related behaviour can or does change during residential mobility. Energy related behaviour is difficult to change because people become ‘locked in’ to practices that are framed by their material and social contexts. Residential mobility has been shown as a promising period to influence energy related behaviour because it causes a disruption to the embedded routines of everyday life. However despite numerous studies and theories supporting the notion that disruptions to everyday behaviour caused by changes during residential mobility provide opportune periods for intervention, there has been some difficulty in harnessing the seemingly enormous potential of this period. The thesis argues that residential mobility needs to be understood more holistically to encompass the ways householders interact with each other during mobility, and looks to literature on household mobility to inform this. However mobility literature does not address how householders behave in new dwellings well, so the thesis addresses new literature on household norm formation to address the changing dynamics of householders in a new dwelling. This thesis therefore explored how households’ energy related behaviour changes as they embark on the process of residential mobility, to find the most important elements that could or do stimulate changes in domestic energy consumption. It engages with 16 households before and twice after they move home in order to establish their reasons for moving. The interview prior the move focused on, why participants chose their new dwelling, and how they expected energy related behaviour might be different. Once they arrived in the new house, they were interviewed again, and again three to eight months after in order to establish if normal behaviour had changed, and the reasons why. The thesis has adapted existing methodologies to the study of dynamic moments between householders in a real world context. The investigation develops a framework by which to study energy related behaviour during residential mobility holistically. It establishes six stages where energy related behaviour can potentially be influenced. The thesis shows how each stage requires different considerations when approaching householders as they move through differing pressures and decision making procedures. The thesis finds that households with more experience, and a higher position along the housing ladder were more prepared to make swift energy related changes to a new dwelling and to make it fit better with their norms of comfort. Householders with less experience tend to take a longer term – wait-and-see approach. The thesis finds that householders in mobility try to improve their material culture, which inadvertently changes the way in which they use energy in a new environment. It also highlighted how the social context of the new dwelling can be even more influential in shaping norms, depending on the circumstances. New environments do provide opportunities to stimulate more efficient energy related behaviours, but they must be approached within the context of the housing ladder, and the social context of the household. Depending on these conditions, policy writers and social agencies need to address the types of interventions, and the timing of those interventions

Energy cultures: A framework for understanding energy behaviours

Achieving a ‘step-change’ in energy efficiency behaviours will require enhanced knowledge of behavioural drivers, and translation of this knowledge into successful intervention programmes. The ‘Energy Cultures’ conceptual framework aims to assist in understanding the factors that influence energy consumption behaviour, and to help identify opportunities for behaviour change. Building on a history of attempts to offer multi-disciplinary integrating models of energy behaviour, we take a culture-based approach to behaviour, while drawing also from lifestyles and systems thinking. The framework provides a structure for addressing the problem of multiple interpretations of ‘behaviour’ by suggesting that it is influenced by the interactions between cognitive norms, energy practices and material culture. The Energy Cultures framework is discussed in the context of a New Zealand case study, which demonstrates its development and application. It has already provided a basis for cross-disciplinary collaboration, and for multi-disciplinary research design, and has provided insights into behavioural change in a case study community. As the conceptual basis of a 3-year research project, the framework has further potential to identify clusters of ‘energy cultures’ – similar patterns of norms, practices and/or material culture – to enable the crafting of targeted actions to achieve behaviour change

A crisis of criticality? Reimagining academia in international peacebuilding

Intellectuals, particularly within Western societies, occupy privileged positions which enable them to scrutinize the actions of those in power – having the time, expertise, and resources to analyse motives, expose lies, and imagine alternative futures. This ability is not a given however, and it manifests in a multitude of ways as academics’ epistemological and ontological biases, normative interests, and career security are continually renegotiated in the face of increasingly neoliberal rationales. Since the foundation of Peace and Conflict Studies over half a century ago, these pressures have played out along a problem-solving/critical theory dichotomy, in which problem-oriented scholars produce knowledge to improve the current system, while critical theorists seek to transform the entire paradigm and establish more emancipatory and positive types of peace. By assessing how this contestation has played out within the discourse of international peacebuilding, this thesis seeks to understand how critical theorists have challenged the status-quo by exposing and challenging the epistemic, discursive and institutional barriers to radical and transformative peacebuilding critique. To do this, it undertakes a critical discourse and citation network analysis of 111 prominent Peace and Conflict scholars writing on peacebuilding between 2005 and 2017, synthesised by observations drawn from over 40 interviews. It evaluates the scale and limits of critique by exploring the questions and problems that scholars concern themselves with, the extent to which their studies reflect on broader systemic and conflict promoting factors, the alternatives and possible futures that are envisioned, and the ways in which academia and surrounding institutions constrain and dilute radical critiques. By systematically unpacking and assessing the problems addressed by academics and the arguments they make, the thesis identifies a lacuna of radical and imaginative writing which is further diluted and gentrified from within the academy itself as ideas are disseminated, popularized, and utilized. It finds that studies on international peacebuilding are overwhelming focused on perceived problematic ‘post-conflict’ locales within the Global South, and while the actions of Global North actors in these operations are often scrutinized, this does not extend beyond the immediate post-conflict environment. Paradigm critiques and reflexive challenges to institutions such as violence, the Westphalian state, and the international economic system are exceedingly rare and are most often problematized only in relation to the post-conflict paradigm. Furthermore, very few scholars engage with or offer a conceptualisation of peace which extends beyond status quo systems of management and order experienced by those within the Global North. Consequently, the possible futures and types of peace that are envisioned by scholars are iterative rather than revolutionary, seeking to integrate states within the existing international order rather than finding ways to challenge and produce new international orders which are more adept at responding to issues of environmental degradation and social justice. Ultimately, the negotiation between critical and problem-solving theories has erred on the side of caution and reflected the interests of power and order in the face of uncertainty and change. Where more critical work has emerged, its emancipatory intent is overlooked and repurposed by the performances of academia itself which transmit realisable empirical findings and problematize operational elements of peacebuilding at the expense of fuzzy and difficult transformations. More broadly, the subservience of academia to power in the face of neoliberal pressures and self-regulation has relegated the role of speaking truth to power to the subaltern, and while critical scholars increasingly turn their gaze to these locales to amplify their voices and identify alternative orders, these efforts are continually subsumed into the status-quo as interventions delve deeper into the private sphere, placating resistance and reshaping transformation. A radical reassessment of pedagogy is needed that repurposes engagement with the post-conflict other in favour of sincere transformation and resistance, led by renewed and extensive reflexive critiques on the structures and systems of power within the West which exacerbate inequality and promote social injustice. The potential for peacebuilding to offer emancipatory transformation of the international system remains, but post-conflict societies cannot, and should not need to undertake this task without being met by equal reflexive and critical efforts within the Global North