Communitarian Institutions Research Articles

Avaliação institucional integrada na educação superior comunitária: a experiência do Paiung

Este artigo tem por objetivo explicitar a história do Paiung - Programa de Avaliação Institucional das Universidades do Comung - Consórcio das Universidades Comunitárias do Rio Grande do Sul. Constitui-se de um resgate histórico de todas as ações de avaliação institucional integrada, desenvolvidas pelo conjunto das instituições comunitárias de educação superior, ao longo de mais de quinze anos. Além disso, evidencia o pioneirismo dessas instituições no reconhecimento do papel dos processos de auto-avaliação para a qualificação da educação superior.Palavras-chave: universidade comunitária; avaliação; qualidade.

Desafios para uma nova governação na Zona Euro

O avolumar de impactos negativos da crise económico-financeira nos países mais frágeis da Zona Euro tem despoletado aceso debate sobre a viabilidade da arquitetura da União Monetária Europeia (UME), cuja imperfeição pode pôr em causa os objetivos últimos do processo de integração europeia. Com efeito, esta crise tem mostrado de forma eloquente que a UME teve lacunas graves no seu desenho e no quadro operacional que a suporta, o que não evitou efeitos penalizadores para alguns Estados-membros e alimentou a exigência de alterações estruturais no paradigma de governação da moeda única. Assim, foram surgindo diferentes iniciativas das instituições comunitárias, ancoradas em posições de autores bastante críticos sobre o processo de integração monetária europeia, e que paulatinamente têm vindo a transformar o modelo de governação da Zona Euro. Neste contexto, este artigo prossegue dois objetivos: por um lado, identificar e discutir a racionalidade e os fundamentos das principais mudanças que têm ocorrido na Zona Euro nos últimos anos; por outro, refletir sobre os dilemas que em variadas ocasiões têm oposto a necessidade de maior legitimidade das decisões de cariz intergovernamental e a eficiência requerida pelo complexo processo de construção europeia. Finalmente, abordaremos as condições políticas e técnicas para uma governação eficaz que permita melhorar a resiliência da Zona Euro no seu todo e aumentar a sua eficácia.

Promoting Sustainability through EMS Application: A Survey Examining the Critical Factors about EMAS Registration in Italian Organizations

One of the tools set by the European Community (EC) to reduce the environmental impact of firms is EMAS Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009), setting up an Environmental Management System (EMS), which aims for a continuous improvement of environmental performances. Italy has the highest number of certified organization among all European Member States, accounting for over one thousand registrations. The paper presents the result of a survey conducted through a questionnaire about EMAS implementation and targeted to all Italian registered organizations. Of nearly 1000 organizations, over 500 answers were collected. The main goal is to understand how organizations experience the scheme, focusing on main drivers for its adoption, main difficulties encountered, and perceived benefits. In particular, survey results contribute to define a reflection on the difficulties regarding EMAS diffusion among European companies. Aspects identified as critical can lead to a contraction of registration requests, especially those formulated by SMEs, which constitute the majority of Italian companies. Moreover, perceived difficulties might affect the firms’ willingness to renew EMAS registration. Data provided by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) recently highlighted the increasing rate of firms who decide to withdraw from registration. This study offers interesting inputs related to main critical issues in EMAS implementation, which can be the baseline for future research on companies that abandon the certification scheme, in order to provide suggestions for the improvement of its effectiveness both for national and communitarian institutions.

INSTITUIÇÕES DE ENSINO SUPERIOR COMUNITÁRIAS: QUESTÕES ATUAIS

Since 2010, the Brazilian communitarian institutions for higher education are not included officially under this designation in the INEP’s microdata, with the extinction of the category “communitarian, religious and philanthropic”. Since then, the Brazilian private’s higher education institutions are classified according to their legal nature: for-profit or non-profit. Nevertheless, the new law 12.881 of 2013, enacted in November 2013, has changed this reality after the approval by the National Congress, establishing the definition and purpose of the Community institutions, and confirming, in particular, their characteristics of non-profit institutions belonging to civil society, and their organization into associations or foundations (BRAZIL, 2013). The recent expansion of the federal and for-profit higher education institutions has directly affected the so far called communitarian institutions, which present differentiated characteristics compared to forprofit private higher education institutions as well as public education. In this article, data and contemporary aspects related to the new scenario of Brazilian higher education are analyzed, with special focus on higher education institutions members of the Association of Community Universities (ABRUC), and were found better performance of these ones in comparison to the private for-profit higher education institutions. The obtained results, combined with the regional impact of the communitarian higher education institutions, justify the importance of these institutions to improve the consolidation of higher education in Brazil.

Child’s Life, Step-Family and Decision-Making Process

Step-families are included within the concept of “family” used by both Art. 8 of the Rome Convention for the protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Art. 7 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights of 2010. According to the OECD and EUROSTAT figures children that are living in step-families are between 8 and 12 years old, that is, they could be considered as preadolescents or in some cases adolescents at all. Thus, they are individuals with a certain grade of maturity that allow them to form their own views and express them. Today, there is an inevitable link between family and children’s participation rights (Art. 12 CRC; Art. 24 EU Charter). Nevertheless, European Law refers to the step-family from the “adult’s rights” viewpoint concerning the assignment of the parental responsibility to the step-parent neglecting children’s perspective. As said by Art. 6(1) EU Treaty of Lisbon and by Art. 52(2) EU Charter, the last legal instrument has the same legal recognition as the EU Treaties, which implies that the bedrock for direct and vertical application of the fundamental rights of children by both the EUCJ and national Courts is settled. Since 2006 one of the strategic objectives of the communitarian institutions is prioritizing the effective implementation of children’s rights.

Reparto de competencias medioambientales entre la Unión Europea y los Estados miembros

Cuando se firmaron los Tratados de Roma de la Comunidad Económica Europea (CEE) en marzo de 1957, en la CEE no existía una preocupación apremiante por la cuestión medioambiental, por ello, los tratados originales no contenían provisión concreta relativa a la protección del medio ambiente, y tampoco se había atribuido una competencia en esta materia a las instituciones comunitarias. No obstante, el Tratado Constitutivo de la Comunidad Económica del Carbón y del Acero (TCECA) de 1952, ya había tomado en consideración la investigación de ciertos aspectos de la contaminación causada por las industrias del carbón y del acero. Y posteriormente, el Tratado Constitutivo de la Comunidad Europea de la Energía Atómica (TCEEA o EURATOM) de 1957 introdujo, por primera vez, algunas normas básicas de índices de radiación ionizante. Afortunadamente la Comunidad Europea CE fue evolucionando rápidamente y en los años 70 la CE comenzó a desarrollar su primera legislación en este área, principalmente en forma de «directivas », iniciando así un camino imparable. De hecho, poseemos el cuerpo normativo ambiental más extenso del mundo y los Estados miembros (EEMM) basan más del 80% de sus normativas nacionales medioambientales en la legislación comunitaria. El presente artículo hace un recorrido por «las competencias» que tienen atribuidas las instituciones de la Unión Europea (UE) por sus EEMM para conseguir los fines medioambientales que tienen en común, asimismo, se compara el grado de atribución de la competencia medioambiental a través de las reformas de los Tratados comunitarios.When the Treaties of Rome of the European Economic Community (EEC) were signed in Rome in March 1957, it did not exist an imminent concern towards the environmental issue, for that reason, the original Treaties did not contain either a specific provision relative to environmental protection, or a recognized competence of this matter attributed to the communitarian institutions. However, the Treaty establishing the European Community of Coal and Steal (TECSC), in 1952, had already taken into account the investigation of some aspects of the contamination caused by the industries of coal and steel. And after, the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (TEAEC or EURATOM) in 1957, included, for the very first time, some basic standards of ionizing radiation. Fortunately, the European Community (EC) was progressing quickly on environmental contents. In 70’s decade, the EC began to develop its first legislation in this area, mainly in form of «directives », hence undertaking an unstoppable way. In fact, we possess the most extensive environmental normative body of the world and more of 80% of the environmental national norms of the Member States (MS) are based on the communitarian legislation. The present article mainly makes a route through «the competences », which have been conferred upon the European Union (EU) by its MS in order to attain environmental objectives they have in common. In addition, it is compared the degree of attribution of the environmental competence through the renovation of communitarian Treaties.

O lobbying europeu: cenário e bases para seu desenvolvimento

Este artigo apresenta uma visão das principais instituições comunitárias e de seus processos de tomada de decisões, os quais explicam o complexo entramado que constitui os sistema da União Europeia, para em seguida analisar os motivos para praticar o lobbying nele. O principal é, além dos interesses em jogo, a complexidade do sistema decisório, mais fragmentado organizativamente, menos integrado hierarquicamente e mais competitivo que os sistemas brasileiros, que favorecem uma acessibilidade muito maior. A análise dessa acessibilidade fecha o artigo.

Dark matters: Exploitation as cooperation

The empirical literature on human cooperation contains studies of communitarian institutions that govern the provision of public goods and management of common property resources in poor countries. Scholars studying those institutions have frequently used the Prisoners' Dilemma game as their theoretical tool-kit. But neither the provision of local public goods nor the management of local common property resources involves the Prisoners' Dilemma. That has implications for our reading of communitarian institutions. By applying a fundamental result in the theory of repeated games to a model of local common property resources, it is shown that communitarian institutions can harbour exploitation of fellow members, something that would not be possible in societies where cooperation amounts to overcoming the Prisoners' Dilemma. The conclusion we should draw is that exploitation can masquerade as cooperation.

The Primacy of Politics: Social Democracy and the Making of Europe's Twentieth Century

The Primacy of Politics: Social Democracy and the Making of Europe's Twentieth Century. By Sheri Berman. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2006. 238p. 23.99 paper.Sheri Berman has written an engaging book about the origins, development, and deployment of social democracy in Europe since the late nineteenth century. The central argument is that social democracy, as one of several movements that challenged liberalism and orthodox Marxism, ultimately prevailed over competitors. In Berman's view, the triumphant social democratic reconciliation of capitalism and democracy in post–World War II Europe cannot be understood as simply a muscular form of embedded liberalism; social democracy is a distinct ideology that undergirds a system of political control of capitalism and communitarian policies and institutions.

The Greening of America, Catholic Style, 1930–1950

This article examines the rise and fall of the “green revolution” philosophy developed by the National Catholic Rural Life Conference in the 1930s as a distinct strain of American environmentalism. After reviewing the evolution of the approach, its maturation around 1940, and its postwar marginalization, the article focuses on three aspects of the NCRLC. First is its ideology, as a “third way,” a distributist alternative to socialism and capitalism. Second is the attempt to foster sustainable agricultural technologies by creating communitarian institutions in which the parish priest was central and by bringing an agrarian curriculum into Catholic higher education. Third is the attempt to ground this orientation toward sustainability in a distinctly Catholic nature spirituality, based on cyclicity rather than space.

Islamic social capital and networking

PurposeThe Islamic social capital is characterised by a desire for moral values in production and networking which promotes opportunities for innovative interactions between sets of agents thus forwarding the Islamic ethics. The aim of this paper is to explore the factors that drive alliance formation between labour and capital in both financial and technological forms.Design/methodology/approachAn in‐depth study was made of developmental interventions within the Muslim community life of a village in the Birbhum district of West Bengal province in India.FindingsEvidence shows that the strengthening of informal co‐operative networks through the inputs of technology, financial, and human capital from across different sectors constitutes an essential element in forwarding sustainable development. When the focus of the development intervention is on livelihoods and Islamic welfare accrual from common (waqf) property resources, drawing on informal networks based on Islamic ethics helps to solve problems such as free‐riding and the bottle‐neck of networking.Orginality/valueThe study shows that Islamic economic theory not only identifies circumstances in which communitarian institutions can function well, but also uncovers a dark side.

A armadilha da Europa neoliberal

Na França, a campanha do referendo, a obstinação das elites e das instituições comunitárias e, finalmente, a derrota do projeto de constituição européia revelaram todo o peso da ideologia europeísta, o fracasso e a renúncia da social-democracia, o caráter profundamente antidemocrático da construção européia. O projeto europeu está plenamente inserido no processo de mundialização, e busca, sobretudo, estabelecer uma integração transatlântica econômica e financeira em estreita parceria com os Estados Unidos. Essa Europa euro-americana reforça o modelo capitalista neoliberal anglo-saxão. Cerceando progressivamente os poderes dos Estados-nações europeus, a União Européia, desde sua origem, prepara o advento de um espaço de "governança", onde a democracia é esvaziada de sua substância, já que a tecnoestrutura institucional européia não organiza uma transfêrencia de soberania do Estado para um "super-Estado", mas dilui toda soberania na gestão racional dos homens e das coisas. Ao apoiar o avanço da globalização e a dominação da ideologia neoliberal mundialista, esse projeto europeu prossegue o desarmamento político e democrático de seus Estados-membros. Resgatar a modernidade do conceito de nação constitui, provavelmente, a alternativa para construir uma verdadeira Europa, entendida não como culto místico, mas como espaço de vida política.

Economics of Social Capital*

The literature on the idea of ‘social capital’ is now enormous. Offering an alternative to impersonal markets and coercive states, the communitarian institutions built around social capital have looked attractive to scholars in the humanities and social sciences. The literature in consequence has a warm glow to it. In this article, I first study the various contexts in which the promises people make to one another are credible and then suggest that the accumulation of social capital is a possible route to creating such a context. I offer a tight definition of social capital – namely, interpersonal networks – so as not to prejudge its ability to enhance human well‐being. The links between the microfoundations of social capital and the macroeconomic performance of economies are then studied. I also show that economic theory not only identifies circumstances in which communitarian institutions can function well, but that it also uncovers a dark side, namely, their capicity to permit one group to exploit another within long‐term relationships.

Regulación española sobre prevención y control integrado de la contaminación

En este trabajo se hace una exposición de la normativa española sobre prevención y control integrado de la contaminación que es consecuencia de la normativa sobre contaminación y medio ambiente aprobada por las instituciones comunitarias. El nuevo sistema de regulación incluye aspectos como la autorización de emisión integrada que suponen una notable evolución en el ordenamiento administrativo y medioambiental.

El Parlamento de la Europa comunitaria: organización y funcionamiento

Numero 98 Mayo - Agosto 2000 Nueva Serie Ano XXXIII ISSN 0041 8633 EL PARLAMENTO DE LA EUROPA COMUNITARIA: ORGANIZACION Y FUNCIONAMIENTO Cecilia Judith MORA-DONATTO The construction of the European Community has motivated the creation of many supranational institutions. However, the one that has undergone more changes than the others is the European Parliament. The pre-sent article describes not only those transformations, but also the way in which this assembly has become a decisive protagonist of the European construction. According to the author, the progressive importance of this Parliament is due to two fundamental factors, namely: a) the extension of its powers and competences, resulting from treatiesreforms, like the European Sigle Act and the Union Treaty, which reduced the powers of other communi-tarian institutions and have remarka-bly increased the participation of the European Parliament in the commu-nitarian decision-making process; and, b) the democratic legitimacy of the assembly, derived from the election of its members through universal, free and direct vote. This situation makes of it the only communitarian institu-tion directly linked to the will of the member states nationals, without the me-diation of state structures. * Nota: Debido que la traduccion es automatica podra ser inexacta o contener errores.