Socio-economic vulnerability to natural hazards – proposal for an indicator-based model

Hazard

Politicians’ Perceptions of Populism and the Media: A Cross-National Study Based on Semi-Structured Interviews

Why is it importam to study politicians' perceptions of populism? The way in which something is regarded and understood is of the utmost importance for its impact on politics and society in general. Given the complexities in defining 'populism' and understanding its meaning, and in view of it being commonly referred to as a 'vague', 'slippery', 'elusive' concept (e.g., Canovan, 1981, 1984; Taggart, 2000; Barr, 2009; Lucardie, 2009; Woods, 2014), this study addresses the concept and its potential implications through the views of politicians who represent some of the most importam politicaI parties in 11 European countries and who are therefore important opinion-makers. The main objective is to discern what politicians from the various countries and different types of politicai parties understand by populism and how they perceive the causes and implications of these phenomena in their countries, and, more broadly, in European and global contexts.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Natural and Conflict Related Hazards in Asia-Pacific: Risk assessment and mitigation measures for natural and conflict related hazards in Asia Pacific

Natural hazards, driven by geological and hydrological processes, affect many countries in Asia because of their geographical setting. According to a recent publication by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) in Bangkok, loss of life from natural hazards in Asia amounted to two-thirds of the total global mortality due to natural hazards in the period 1980-2000. Just in the past five years, the region has experiences two catastrophic tsunamis (December 2004 and July 2006), two catastrophic earthquakes (Pakistan in October 2005 and Sichuan, China in May 2008) and several catastrophic typhoons (e.g. typhoon Nargis in May 2008). In addition to the risk posed by natural hazards, many of the countries in the Asia-Pacific region are exposed to the risk of civil conflict. New data from International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) show that Asian countries accounted for 1/3 of all battle-related casualties during the past 25 years. Almost half of the on-going armed intrastate conflicts in the world today are fought in the Asia Pacific region. While the rest of the world has been experiencing a decline in the number of civil conflicts since the early 1990s, little discernable trend is evident in the Asia Pacific. This report presents the results of a study that aimed to quantify the risk posed by earthquake, flood (and storm surge), landslide, cyclone and tropical storm, tsunami, drought, and social unrest in form of intrastate armed conflict in the Asia-Pacific countries. The study was commissioned by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok; and financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

A survey of the research challenges and training needs in text analysis for political science research

This online survey assessed the research challenges, training needs and preferences of researchers and practitioners (of all seniority and skills level) that use or are interested in using text analysis techniques in their research. The survey has been conducted within the context of the Horizon 2020 OPTED project (http://www.opted.eu).European Commissio