The EU's promotion of external democracy: in search of the plot

While the EU has recently upgraded its external democracy promotion policies through a number of different initiatives, there is one challenge that it has not yet addressed: what exactly does it aim to support? This policy brief illustrates that both the conceptualisation of democracy and the means to achieve it remain vague, and explains why this is problematic. It points out the risks that stem from a lack of clear understanding about how human rights, governance, civil society and socio-economic development relate to democratisation. Among a number of recommendations, authors Anne Wetzel and Jan Orbie propose a ‘Green Paper’ debate on this topic that would take into account the views of different stakeholders, including those from the target countries, without neglecting existing international standards and agreements

The Efficiency of German Public Theaters: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis Approach

In recent years the economic performance of public non-profit sectors such as cultural services has become an interesting economic issue. This is due to the high dependence of cultural institutions on public funding on the one hand and the increasing cost-pressure on public budgets on the other hand. In order to achieve an efficiently, cost-minimizing resource allocation public authorities who decide on the distribution of public budgets need reliable performance indicators. Against this background, this paper analyzes the efficiency of German public theaters for the seasons 1991/1992 to 2005/2006. Using a stochastic frontier analysis approach, we test whether the assumption of cost-minimizing behavior is reliable in this sector. Moreover, several panel data models that differ in their ability to account for unobserved heterogeneity are applied to evaluate the impact of unobserved heterogeneity on the efficiency estimates. The results indicate that the cost-minimizing assumption cannot be maintained. Consequently, an efficiency analysis based on a cost function approach seems inappropriate in the case of German public theaters. Further, we find a considerably unobserved heterogeneity across the theaters, which causes a significant variation in the models’ efficiency estimates. This implies that failing to account for unobserved heterogeneity leads to biased efficiency values. Overall, our results suggest that there is still space for improvement in the employment of resources in the sector.Public theaters, efficiency, stochastic frontier analysis, input distance function, cultural economics

Small Voice Yields Racial Truth at Ole Miss Conference

Article describing James Silver\u27s speech at the University of Mississippi\u27s fourth Chancellor\u27s Symposium on Southern History, held in 1978, in which Silver expresses pleasure at the progress made toward racial equality in Mississippi; Source: Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss.)https://egrove.olemiss.edu/jws_clip/1155/thumbnail.jp

The substance of EU democracy promotion: concepts and cases

This book provides a comprehensive overview and explanation of the substance of the European Union's (EU) democracy promotion policy. With the promotion of democracy becoming an increasingly important element of European Union foreign policy, the contributors argue that the question of what is actually being promoted by the EU in third countries must come to the fore of academic and practical discussions. Dealing with the democratic agenda promoted by the EU, this collection focuses on elections, civil and political rights, horizontal accountability, effective power to govern, stateness, state administrative capacity, civil society, and socio-economic development as components of embedded liberal democracy. The conceptual part of the book includes an analytical framework and critical discussions from law, political economy, critical social theory and governance perspectives. The empirical part contains 11 chapters where the common analytical framework is applied to 22 country cases

Das Konzept der Pfadabhängigkeit und seine Anwendungsmöglichkeiten in der Transformationsforschung

Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit dem Konzept der Pfadabhängigkeit als wissenschaftlichem Instrumentarium in der Transformationsforschung. Im ersten der Teil der Ausführungen wird zunächst beschrieben, was sich hinter dem Begriff der Pfadabhängigkeit verbirgt. Nach einem Einblick in die Bedeutung des Begriffs in Zusammenhang mit der Verbreitung von Technologien wird gezeigt, inwieweit eine Verwendung des Konzepts auch bei Institutionen möglich ist. Im zweiten Teil werden vor allem die Anwendungsmöglichkeiten im Bereich der Sozialwissenschaften dargestellt, wobei hier zwischen politischen und ökonomischen Institutionen unterschieden wird. Zudem wird der potentielle Untersuchungsgegenstand der Korruption in Transformationsstaaten erörtert. Ferner werden die Stärken und Schwächen des Konzepts genauer betrachtet. Auf dieser Grundlage werden abschließend Schlussfolgerungen zur Weiterentwicklung des Konzepts der Pfadabhängigkeit formuliert. (ICG2

The "where" of mixed reality: some guidelines for design

This paper presents some early design concepts for urban mixed reality (MR) environments. The concepts are based on preliminary analysis of an urban MR game. The objective is to explore how to create a unified user experiences through a combination of real and virtual elements

Guidelines for designing augmented reality games

The growing popularity of augmented reality (AR) games in both a research and more recently commercial context has led for a need to take a closer look at design related issues which impact on player experience. While issues relating to this area have been considered, to date most of the emphasis has been on the technology aspects. Furthermore it is almost always assumed that the augmented reality element in itself will provide a sufficient experience for the player. This has led to a need to evaluate what makes a successful augmented reality game. In this paper we present a set of design guidelines which are drawn from experiences of three mixed reality games. The guidelines provide specific guidance on relationships between real and virtual space, social interaction, use of AR technologies, maintaining consistent themes and implicitly address higher level aspects such as presence within a particular augmented reality place

Polygon Interface Analysis: A Concept For Analyzing Production Site Interactions In Urban Areas

Urban production bears the potential to not only reduce the negative impacts of production processes and global supply chains but also to generate a positive contribution to society and the environment when integrated symbiotically into the urban context. However, especially in urban areas, production is often associated with negative impacts on the surrounding environment. Therefore, the interactions between producing companies and their environment need to be considered and analysed. Hence, we derive a conceptual model that allows the exploitation of the potentials of urban locations for production by focusing on the interfaces between urban production and the urban environment. For this purpose, the Polygon Interface Analysis [P.I.A.] is introduced. It makes use of the principle of a Rubik's Cube or a Caesar Cipher by altering layers for matchmaking and integrates the business, city and interface perspective into an applicable analysis approach. To conceptualize this model existing approaches from the fields of factory planning and strategy development are examined in regard to their suitability for applying those for a location analysis of urban factories. Based on this, a suggestion for the application of the P.I.A. is given. The application of the model allows for the improvement of manufacturing integration in urban environments by supporting factory planning decisions, production system design, as well as location and site analysis for urban production

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental burden and quality of life in physicians: Results of an online survey

BackgroundIn previous pan-/epidemics such as the SARS epidemic of 2002/2003, negative effects on the wellbeing and an increase in symptoms of depression and anxiety were observed in doctors due to social isolation and the threat they experienced. Therefore, it is feared that the COVID-19 pandemic will also have a negative impact on the mental health and quality of life of doctors.ObjectiveThe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of physicians. In particular, on the subjective anxiety and burden, depression and quality of life for the total sample and subsamples (work in COVID-19 units vs. no work in COVID-19 units).Materials and methodsIn an online survey, 107 physicians (23–42 years) were asked about their mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to socio-demographic data, pandemic- and work-related data were also included. For example, infection control measures, deployment on COVID-19 wards and the subjective perceived threat posed by the pandemic. The physicians were asked to rate their perceived anxiety and stress, retrospectively, at 7 different points in time during the pandemic. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to retrospectively assess symptoms of anxiety and depression before and after the onset of the pandemic. The quality of life of the participants after 2 years of the pandemic was assessed using the WHO Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF).ResultsBoth subjective anxiety and burden showed wave-like patterns with higher scores in autumn, winter and spring. We observed significant differences between the seven measurement time points for anxiety [Chi2(6) = 197.05, p < 0.001] as well as for burden [Chi2(6) = 106.33, p < 0.001]. Symptoms of depression and anxiety increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic (M = 14.16, SD = 7.83) compared to the pre-pandemic time [M = 7.31, SD = 5.14, t(106) = −10.67, p < 0.001]. Physicians who worked at COVID-19 units showed higher scores in quality of life related to social relationships (M = 70.39, SD = 17.69) than physicians not working at COVID-19 units [M = 61.44, SD = 24.55, t(90.14) = −2.145, p = 0.035]. The multi-factorial ANOVA showed that previous psychiatric illness (p < 0.001), greater difference in depression scores (p = 0.014), higher anxiety scores (p = 0.048) and less work experience (p = 0.032) led to lower quality of life.ConclusionHospitals should offer specific support, such as supervision, to prevent the development of longer-term psychiatric sequelae likely to lead to sick leave and high costs for the healthcare system.Trial registrationThe study has been registered at the German Clinical Trials Registry (DRKS-ID: DRKS00028984)