La condizionalità politica della European Bank for Recostruction and Development

Il presente lavoro è mirato a controllare l'asserzione sulla scarsa determinazione dei governi occidentali nel favorire la democratizzazione dei paesi dell'est Europa. L'analisi empirica mostra che la modalità principale di applicazione della condizionalità politica da parte della EBRO è stata lo sbarramento all'accesso verso i regimi autoritari. Tuttavia, non tutte le dittature sono state sanzionate. Un trattamento diverso è stato riservato alla Serbia e Georgia da un lato e ai cinque paesi dell'Asia e all' Azeirbaijan dall'altro

Political economies and decision-making processes in Latin America

In this article, political economies have been linked to the decision-making processes of Latin American countries, before and after 1989. Conservative and liberal reforms have usually been applied through neo-oligarchic decision-making processes. Social-democrat economic policies have often been implemented with neo-corporatism. When “soft” populism prevailed, partitocrazia was the typical political instrument of lef­tist governments, either if they governed or if they were at the opposition. Thus, they usual­ly vetoed rightist presidents’ market reforms. The political consequence of “hard” populism has been authoritarianism, like in Venezuela with Chavez and Maduro. In “hybrid” economic policies, combining different models of political economies, there is not a stable decision-making process, and political conflict is usually strongeru, Chile and Argentina.  In questo articolo, le politiche economiche sono state collegate ai processi decisionali dei paesi dell’America latina. Le riforme conservatrici e liberali sono state di solito applicate con processi decisionali neo-oligarchici. Le politiche economiche social-democratiche sono state attuate grazie al neo-corporativismo. Quando il populismo moderato ha prevalso, la partitocrazia è stato il tipico strumento politico dei governi di sinistra: sia al governo che all’opposizione (nel secondo caso scattava il veto verso presidenti filo liberisti). La conseguenza politica del populismo radicale è stato l’autoritarismo (vedi il Venezuela di Chavez e Maduro). Nelle politiche economiche ibride, cioè che combinano tipi diversi di politica economica, il processo decisionale non è stabile e il conflitto politico è di solito molto forte

Populism as the post-Marxist adaptation of leftist Manicheanism

Populism can be defined as the post-Marxist adaptation of leftist Manicheanism. In Western Europe, this process materialized after 1989, while in Latin America populism was applied before 1989. Populism is based on: a Manichean ideology with a binary cosmology of the world; the expansion of the public expenditure with damaging effects (high inflation rates) on the economy; charismatic leaders making plebiscitary appeals to the population, with a limited role of intermediate actors (interests groups or parties) and institutions; a high mobilization process from above leading to a movimientismo of the lower sectors of the population. The four cases of orthodox macro-economic populism were: Peron in Argentina, Allende in Chile, Garcia in Peru, and Chavez/Maduro in Venezuela. In partial populism, there is plebiscitarianism, but the increase of the public expenditure and of the inflation rate remains under control (Syriza, Movimento 5 Stelle, Correa, Morales, and Cristina Kirchner). Orthodox populism has always had negative consequences in politics, leading to authoritarian regimes, increased conflict and military coups; instead, partial populism has never endangered democracy and is usually coupled with hybrid/illiberal regimes. The political cultures of the right are not populist, because there is not the increase of public expenditure, but there is plebiscitarianism.  Antes de definir el populismo, es importante identificar las principales culturas políticas en las democracias contemporáneas occidentales. Las culturas políticas pueden definirse como conjuntos coherentes de ideologías, que están “un tanto” (es decir, de una manera diferente) vinculadas a la promoción de ciertos intereses. La forma concreta en que se vinculan las ideas y los intereses depende de la cultura política particular y no puede seleccionarse de manera abstracta para todos ellos (ver más abajo). ¿Cuáles son las principales culturas políticas occidentales contemporáneas? Hay dos enfoques para responder esta pregunta. El enfoque de los divisores es elaborar una clasificación (o tipología) de las ideologías de los partidos. La lista será larga, porque estos instrumentos analíticos deben ser exhaustivos. En cambio, el enfoque de los lumpers es el de idear modelos, es decir, los tipos ideales de Weber; la lista será mucho más corta, porque esas categorías no son exhaustivas e identifican solo aquellos comportamientos que obedecen a condiciones de simplicidad y coherencia. Los modelos se han utilizado con mayor frecuencia en la fase “moderna” de las ciencias humanas (1950 y 1960), y fueron aplicados especialmente por la escuela italiana de ciencias políticas

Popular protests and political change in Latin America, Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East since 2000

A partire dall\u201989, la quarta ondata di democratizzazioni si \ue8 spesso accompagnata a rilevanti proteste popolari a favore di una qualche forma di mutamento politico. Ci\uf2 \ue8 avvenuto in alcuni paesi dell\u2019est Europa (come la Georgia e l\u2019Ucraina) con le rivoluzioni \u201ccolorate\u201d dei primi anni 2000, e nella Primavera araba, che \ue8 iniziata in Tunisia ed Egitto e si \ue8 poi (negli anni \u201810) diffusa a diversi stati del nord Africa e Medio oriente. Altre proteste si sono verificate nel 2018-19 in Armenia, Sudan e Bolivia. Le proteste hanno avuto successo in regimi ibridi o in governi autoritari poco repressivi, dando luogo a dei mutamenti di governo (con un ricambio di leadership) e/o di regime (democratico, ibrido o autoritario). A volte, vi sono stati cambiamenti solo nel breve periodo, che sono sfociati o in \u201critorni al passato\u201d, o in colpi di stato, o addirittura in conflitti armati. In altri casi (come l\u2019Iran e il Venezuela), le richieste di mutamento sono fallite. Way aveva collegato il successo di tali proteste a tre caratteristiche dei governi: la scarsa istituzionalizzazione dei partiti (o delle organizzazioni) al potere, la loro ideologia poco articolata, e il limitato controllo delle forze di sicurezza. L\u2019analisi comparata dei casi citati mostra che le proteste non possono portare alla democrazia, se c\u2019\ue8 l\u2019influenza della \u201cautocracy promotion\u201d. Infatti, ci sono state forti interferenze esterne: in est Europa da parte della Russia (con il sostegno dei propri alleati nei conflitti in Georgia, Ucraina ed Armenia); in nord Africa (Egitto e Sudan) da parte di alcuni regimi autoritari, come l\u2019Arabia Saudita o lo stesso Egitto (nel secondo caso); in Bolivia da parte del Venezuela. La Tunisia \ue8 rimasta immune da tali interferenze ed \ue8 quindi l\u2019unico caso in cui le proteste hanno portato ad una transizione democratica

Multidisciplinary design optimization of a sailplan

In this paper, multi-disciplinary optimization techniques are applied to sail design. Two different mathematical models, providing the solution of the fluid-dynamic and the structural problems governing the behaviour of a complete sailplan, are coupled in a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) scheme, in order to determine the real flying shape of the sails and the forces acting on them. A numerical optimization algorithm is then applied, optimizing the structural pattern of the sailplan in order to maximize the driving force or other significant quantities

L’evoluzione del conflitto in Ucraina e le proposte di risoluzione

Conflict between pro-Europe western and pro-Russia eastern Ukrainians started at the beginning of the 1990s and remained non-violent for 25 years. Western or eastern presidents usually won elections every 4-5 years. In 2004 there was the electoral ‘orange’ revolution and western Ukraine prevailed over pro Russia east, as Ukraine had remained a centralized state. In 2014 war started and both Crimea and Donbass declared a de facto independence. Crimea was annexed to Russia without any violence; war continued (even if at a lower intensity) in Donbass. In February 2022, Russia invaded eastern Ukraine and a war started between the two countries. 50,000 people died and there were 3 million and a half refugees. Any conflict resolution project was rejected by Putin and Zelensky, like an exchange (between Russian Crimea and Ukrainian Donbass), symmetric integration (federalism in Ukraine), single-nation separation (of both Crimea and Donbass, though a referendum). Conflict could evolve towards a de facto territorial compromise. Dominion of a single actor or subversion are less likely

Chapter La guerra pensata: narrazioni, teoria, prassi

The study of war and strategy has been at the core of the theory of international relations since the birth of the academic discipline. Strategy is a key factor in any conflict, first of all in violent conflicts. Military strategy is the bridge between politics and war. Strategic studies have mainly focused on military doctrines and the means to wage war for too long a time. Limited attention was paid to the cultural dimension of violent confrontations. Then, in the second half of the XX century the Western attention to the technological dimension of war became almost obsessive. However, if war is the continuation of politics by other means we must be aware that the human factor is of utmost importance among those “means”. The willingness of soldiers to sacrifice their life on the battlefield is the precondition to wage war. At the same time, it is also the basis of any political obligation. Hence, death is the continuation of politics by other means. Various “narratives” of war have been created in history in order to justify the individual commitment to fight and eventually die in war to attain political aims. Starting in the classical age the Western world has been developing two related narratives of war: the republican model and the decisive battle one. According to the first one the good citizen was a good soldier too, and vice-versa, while the second required the concentration of violence in space and time to break the enemy’s will to fight in the shortest possible time. The two concepts gave both moral and military sense to the violent, insensate, and chaotic environment of the battle. After the end of the cold war in most Western countries such a way of thinking on the relationship between war and politics has been undermined by several factors, first of all the unwillingness to sacrifice one’s life in war. The readiness to die in order to attain a political aim has almost vanished. On the contrary, the concept of the “decisive battle” has survived thanks to technological evolution. As a consequence, on the one hand, old figures of warriors reappeared on the battlefield: soldiers of fortune, God’s fighters, pirates, and criminals. On the other, the unwillingness to die coupled to the strategic archetype of the decisive battle is bringing more and more machines and AI into war, making it both post-heroic and post-human

Chapter Il coordinamento internazionale in risposta alla pandemia Covid-19

Collaboration is an intense cooperation aimed at realizing common objectives; coordination wants to avoid adverse interests. There is anarchy when governments make unilateral decisions. In conflicts actors have incompatible scopes. The World Health Organization implemented some standards to help governments to manage the sanitary emergence. The communication network of health technicians has informally pushed governments to apply those standards. Eastern Asian states were faster in their reactions than Western countries. Coordination worked with the diffusion of informal norms and not of codified and binding regimes of international law. Sweden did not fully apply those standards, but without deep objections and with ad hoc exceptions. Taiwan’s standards were even more efficient than WHO

Performance of eleven winter wheat varieties in a long term experiment on mineral nitrogen and organic fertilisation

There is an increasing awareness about the need for improving nitrogen use efficiency in crop production in order to meet economic and ecological standards. The present work provides insight into the varietal factors of wheat that determine nitrogen use in the plant. The performance of eleven winter wheat varieties in terms of grain yield and nitrogen uptake and use efficiency was tested within the framework of a 40-year long term field experiment of organic enrichment and mineral nitrogen fertilisation treatments. Globally, organic enrichment had a beneficial effect on the yield and grain nitrogen concentration and showed a strong interaction with the amount of applied mineral nitrogen fertiliser. Manure application generally had positive effects on varietal performances mainly due to indirect longterm effects on the soil properties. Varieties showed a broad range of responses to the treatments of the long term experiment, revealing significant genotype × environment interactions. Nevertheless, the varieties which performed well at high input levels were also the best at low input levels, suggesting that the genotype × environment interactions were not strong enough to inverse the performance ranking.Similarly, the varietal traits associated with high yielding or grain nitrogen concentration in high input conditions were the same as those identified under low input conditions. To conclude, these results suggest that the selection of wheat for nitrogen efficiency is possible under any nitrogen fertilisation regime.However, to be adapted to low input or organic agriculture, varieties also need traits other than nutrientuse efficiency, for example, disease resistance, resilience to abiotic stresses and competitiveness against weeds