Core Institutions Research Articles

Knowledge is Power: An Explorative Study of Knowledge Work Among European Members of Parliament

The value of knowledge resources is widely recognized in both science and business, and knowledge management measures are increasingly being adopted in public authorities. However, parliaments, as core institutions of democratic systems, have thus far received scant attention in scientific studies. Furthermore, previous approaches fail to take into account the characteristics of the political system, such as elected offices, the relationship between government and opposition, or the lack of minimum qualifications for mandates. As a result, several studies consistently find that knowledge within parliament tends to be disorganized and lacking in transparency. This is unfortunate, as effective knowledge organization is crucial particularly for familiarizing oneself with unfamiliar topics without the necessary training. As part of an exploratory study, an international comparative study of knowledge management of all members of the 28 European national parliaments (including the EU Parliament) was initially carried out. Between May and June 2023, an online survey and several interviews were conducted as part of a mixed methods approach. Due to the very low response rate of only three percent, there is no claim to generalization and conclusions must be formulated with caution. Nevertheless, the results indicate that organizational and cultural barriers hinder effective knowledge work in parliament. The existing technical and human resources are insufficient to enable transparent and universal knowledge provision, while ideologies, career aspirations and electoral success further complicate the situation. A systematic approach to knowledge management has not yet been identified, leading to a shortage of resources and specialized knowledge to adequately process and utilize the vast amounts of information generated daily. Inexperienced MPs and opposition members, who are particularly dependent on reliable sources of information, are especially affected by these deficiencies. Without ignoring its limited power, this paper aims to make a modest contribution to the debate by presenting a first approach to a political knowledge management model. It highlights the need to raise awareness of knowledge management, develop a clear knowledge strategy and involve external expertise more. This research is of the opinion that a systematic approach to knowledge management can be established by integrating external expertise and IT-based solutions. Further research is needed, but knowledge management has the long-term potential to become a useful tool in parliamentary work by facilitating the necessary mentality change and thus contributing to a broader knowledge base.

Influencing Factors of Museum Self-Improvement in China: A Multiple Linear Regression Analysis

The purpose of this research is to explore the factors influencing the self-improvement process of museums in China and to conduct empirical analyses based on multiple linear regression models. As core institutions for inheriting and displaying cultural heritage and enhancing public cultural literacy, museums’ self-improvement is of great significance in promoting cultural development, optimizing the supply of public cultural services, and enhancing social influence. This paper constructs a multiple linear regression model for the influencing factors of museum self-improvement by integrating several key variables, including emerging cultural and museum business (EF), institutional reform (SR), research and innovation level (RIL), management level (ML), and the museum cultural and creative industry (MCCI). The study employs scientific methods such as literature review, data collection, and data analysis to thoroughly explore the internal logic of museum operations and development. Through multiple linear regression analyses, it quantifies the specific influence and relative importance of each factor on the level of museum self-improvement. The results indicate that the management level (ML) is the dominant factor among the variables studied, exerting the most significant influence on museum self-improvement. Based on these empirical findings, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of the specific factors affecting museum self-improvement in China, offering solid theoretical support and practical guidance for the sustainable development of museums.

Research on the Innovation of Management and Service Models of University Libraries in the Information Age

With the advent of the information age, university libraries, as core institutions for knowledge management and information services, face unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The rapid development of information technologies, such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, provides a broad space for the innovation of university library management and service models. This paper aims to explore the innovative paths of university library management and service models under the background of informatization, analyzing the profound impact of information technologies on library management, service efficiency, resource integration, and user experience. First, the article reviews the impact of the information age on university libraries, pointing out the limitations of traditional management and service models. It then analyzes the necessity of innovating management and service models through informatization, proposes directions for intelligent, personalized, and digitalized services, and discusses the practical applications of information technologies in resource management and services. Finally, the paper summarizes the potential challenges faced by university libraries in the informatization transformation process and proposes corresponding innovative paths and implementation strategies. The study shows that informatization can not only improve the management efficiency of libraries but also provide more personalized and efficient services to students and faculty, driving university libraries towards a more intelligent and modern direction.

Absent the Silently Invisible: Rethinking Model Victimhood under the “Comfort Women” System

Abstract (Re)visiting the testimony exhibition part of Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace in Tokyo, I focus on one testimony in particular. This testimony was given by a survivor of the “comfort women” system, a state-sponsored regime of military sexual exploitation and core institution in the Empire of Japan’s expansion 1932–1945. The testimony was then withheld before the exhibition opened. I approach this “withheld testimony” as an invocation of rupture to the time, space, and positionalities informing the museum narrative. The paper interrogates the interplay of the survivor’s act of withholding her testimony, the curatorial decision to represent the absence that followed on the withholding, and the disruption to the museum narrative that the withholding prompts. By exploring the withheld testimony as a speaking silence, visible emptiness, and present absence, the paper offers a rethinking of model victimhood under the comfort women system.

VISUALISING TRENDS AND PATTERNS OF THREE DECADES OF RESEARCH ON MILLET PRODUCTION IN INDIA: A SCIENTOMETRICS ANALYSIS

This study analyses three decades of Millet Production research in India (1989-2023) with a Scientometrics approach, visualizing trends and patterns in scholarly output. India is the worlds largest producer of millet, with significant regional variations in millet cultivation. Major contributing states include Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. Scientometrics analysis, carried out on the Web of Science database using VOSviewer software, produced 600 publications with 12,028 citations. Development of millet research was found to be consistent with specific growth beginning after 2012, peaking during the International Year of Millets, 2023. Visualization of collaborative networks indicated the core institutions to be ICRISAT and ICAR. Prominent authors including Kumar A and Kumar S, and journals such as the Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences are also featured in the Table. Keyword analysis showed that the research focus was on pearl millet, which primarily connects to agricultureand nourishment. Co-authorship and co-citation analyses underscore a robust collaborative environment in terms of research spanning several disciplines, concerning agronomy, biotechnology, and sustainable agriculture. This research focuses on the millet production research arena concerning food security, sustainable agricultural practices, and environmental challenges.

Employee participation at company level: institutions, articulation and challenges

Employee participation at company level is one of the core institutions of what can be called the ‘European social model’, based on national regulations and regulations at EU level, such as the directives on European Works Councils (EWCs) and the Societas Europaea (SE). This process of institutionalisation coincides with fundamental changes in the current era of globalisation and transformation, which increase the importance of the company level for employee participation. We argue that this development highlights the problem of articulation within the multi-level system of employee participation. By comparing institutions of participation at national – we include the cases of France, Germany, Spain and Sweden – and at EU level we analyse whether and how these institutions create opportunities to influence company decisions by giving voice to workers’ representatives. In doing so we identify good practices and, on that basis, develop policy recommendations to strengthen the articulation of employee representation at company level.

Terrorism in Pakistan Impact on National Security

Terrorism presents a substantial obstacle in the current global political landscape, leading to changes in approaches to national security. The 9/11 attacks had a significant and far-reaching effect, on South Asia, notably in Pakistan, prompting leaders such as President George W. Bush to intensify worldwide counter-terrorism efforts. This research examines the relationship between terrorism and national security, focusing on Pakistan's experience with cross-border terrorism from Afghanistan, particularly in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The study argues that terrorism surpasses conventional conflict standards and poses existential risks to national security. The study also highlights the impact of terrorist spillover from Afghanistan on Pakistan's territorial integrity, political sovereignty, and core institutions. The study also highlights the degradation of civil freedoms, economic pressures, and social divides due to terrorism. The research advocates for strong counter-terrorism strategies and global collaboration to strengthen national security and maintain global peace. The research advocates for a comprehensive strategy to address terrorism, emphasizing self-sufficiency and global cooperation, aiming to successfully battle terrorism while preserving national autonomy and democratic government in international affairs.

Research on privacy protection in the context of healthcare data based on knowledge map.

With the rapid development of emerging information technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things, the world has entered the era of big data. In the face of growing medical big data, research on the privacy protection of personal information has attracted more and more attention, but few studies have analyzed and forecasted the research hotspots and future development trends on the privacy protection. Presently, to systematically and comprehensively summarize the relevant privacy protection literature in the context of big healthcare data, a bibliometric analysis was conducted to clarify the spatial and temporal distribution and research hotspots of privacy protection using the information visualization software CiteSpace. The literature papers related to privacy protection in the Web of Science were collected from 2012 to 2023. Through analysis of the time, author and countries distribution of relevant publications, we found that after 2013, research on the privacy protection has received increasing attention and the core institution of privacy protection research is the university, but the countries show weak cooperation. Additionally, keywords like privacy, big data, internet, challenge, care, and information have high centralities and frequency, indicating the research hotspots and research trends in the field of the privacy protection. All the findings will provide a comprehensive privacy protection research knowledge structure for scholars in the field of privacy protection research under the background of health big data, which can help them quickly grasp the research hotspots and choose future research projects.

Why Institutions Matter for Eco Currency

Abstract This paper analyses the feasibility of Eco currency to be introduced in fifteen West African states based on political, legal, social, and cultural factors. It aims to examine the core institutions underpinning the creation of the Eco currency and how they can best be designed to achieve the objectives of the single currency. The paper utilises a normative approach to analyse the institutions of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to decipher the strengths of these institutions in creating and sustaining the single currency. Most studies on Eco currency have analysed the feasibility of Eco based on economic considerations. While economic factors are pertinent to creating a single currency, this paper highlights the importance of effective political, legal, and socio-cultural institutions to harness economic considerations for the common currency to be successful launched. This paper postulates that only effective and well-designed institutions can lead to a successful launch of the Eco currency.

Contestation in a World of Liberal Orders

AbstractIt is widely acknowledged that the core institutions of the Liberal International Order (LIO) have in recent years been subject to increasingly intense contestation. There is less agreement on the sources of this contestation. This introductory paper to the special forum on “contestation in a world of liberal orders” makes two main contributions. First, the paper develops a theory of endogenous order contestation. It conceptualizes the LIO as a system of different types of suborders, which vary in the extent to which they reflect and promote liberal values and in the extent to which they are legally institutionalized. The paper explains how these different suborders generate their own types of order contestation. More liberally embedded and institutionalized suborders endogenously generate more intense and order-challenging contestation, while less liberal and less institutionalized orders are amenable to more modest and order-consistent contestation. Second, this paper identifies the specific endogenous mechanisms through which contestation shifts from order-consistent to order-challenging in especially these more liberally embedded and institutionalized suborders. It argues that not only liberal resistance to reform gives rise to order-challenging contestation, but even liberal accommodation and responsiveness can ultimately paralyze and ossify LIO institutions, which in turn lose legitimacy, frustrate would-be reformers, and drive them to order-challenging contestation. The different contributions to this special issue examine our core propositions across a range of economic, security, and social–political LIO suborders.

Institutional dynamics in inner city parking policy: a history of the Perth Parking Policy

ABSTRACT This paper presents a historical analysis of the Perth Parking Policy (PPP) and associated parking levy, exploring the institutional dynamics in inner-city car parking policy. The analysis draws on a range of archival material and interviews to identify four periods of the policy's history, each characterised by distinct dynamics in institutional logic and patterns of change. Since its introduction in 1999, the core institution of the PPP has endured, withstanding external threats such as COVID-19 and internal dynamics within the policy design. Proposed changes to the policy at the end of historical period investigated here point to the further influence of political dynamics in the PPPs future. The analysis reveals various institutional logics influencing the PPP’s history, highlighting the complex sets of relationships that shape parking policy in inner city areas.

Democracy's Core Institution: Clean Elections Across the World

Democracy's Core Institution: Clean Elections Across the World

Citizen-Led Democratic Change: How Australia’s Community Independents Movement Is Reshaping Representative Democracy

Many citizens are frustrated with their democracy, particularly with elected representatives and political parties. In some contexts, citizens have taken steps to disrupt the status quo and push forward their own novel democratic reforms. Research on these ‘citizen-led democratic innovations’ has focused primarily on how political crises mobilise citizens to form social movements that then go on to devise or co-produce novel participatory institutions. This article expands these existing understandings in two novel directions. First, it challenges the assumption that for citizens to lead democratic reform they first need to mobilise a large protest movement. Second, it expands procedural understandings of ‘democratic innovation’ by considering how citizens are innovating in and around the core institutions of representative democracy. The article draws empirical insights from extensive qualitative research into Australia’s Community Independents Movement, which reveals a place-based, locally led political movement pursuing democratic change to improve local representation in national politics.

Communication and democratic erosion: The rise of illiberal public spheres

In recent years, many once stable democracies have experienced various degrees of disruptive communication, along with the erosion of core institutions such as the press, elections, courts, and the rights of citizens. We propose a framework to compare the logics of illiberal and liberal democratic communication and contrast traditionally dominant communication norms of tolerance, civility, responsiveness, and reasoned resolution of differences in liberal democracies with transgressions of those norms by illiberal rightwing movements, parties, leaders, and voters. We suggest that unlike ‘counter publics’ that seek inclusion in liberal democratic systems, engagement with illiberal communication creates “transgressive publics” that attempt to exclude others in the process of promoting ethnic and religious nationalism. This framework offers a corrective to recent scholarship on democratic public spheres that focuses mainly on why the ideals of more inclusive and egalitarian communication are ever more remote. We shift the focus to the systematic disruptions of mainstream public communication and the authority of public institutions. Our analysis develops a broader theoretical context in which interactions between illiberal leaders and publics occur, with the aim of understanding national variations in how communication systems contribute to democratic erosion.

Research hotspots and trends on neuropathic pain-related mood disorders: a bibliometric analysis from 2003 to 2023.

Neuropathic Pain (NP) is often accompanied by mood disorders, which seriously affect the quality of life of patients. This study aimed to analyze the hotspots and trends in NP-related mood disorder research using bibliometric methods and to provide valuable predictions for future research in this field. Articles and review articles on NP-related mood disorders published from January 2003 to May 2023 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. We used CiteSpace to analyze publications, countries, institutions, authors, cited authors, journals, cited journals, references, cited references, and keywords. We also analyzed collaborative network maps and co-occurrence network maps. A total of 4,540 studies were collected for analysis. The number of publications concerning NP-related mood disorders every year shows an upward trend. The United States was a major contributor in this field. The University of Toronto was the most productive core institution. C GHELARDINI was the most prolific author, and RH DWORKIN was the most frequently cited author. PAIN was identified as the journal with the highest productivity and citation rate. The current research hotspots mainly included quality of life, efficacy, double-blind methodology, gabapentin, pregabalin, postherpetic neuralgia, and central sensitization. The frontiers in research mainly focused on the mechanisms associated with microglia activation, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and NP-related mood disorders. In conclusion, the present study provided insight into the current state and trends in NP-related mood disorder research over the past 20 years. Consequently, researchers will be able to identify new perspectives on potential collaborators and cooperative institutions, hot topics, and research frontiers in this field.

Knowledge mapping of research on securing the supply chain for critical minerals: A scientometrics and text mining approach

As clean energy technologies proliferate globally, demand for critical minerals has surged, sparking widespread concern about the security of the critical minerals supply chain. However, given the traditional scientometric methods lack of consideration of the importance of keywords and thematic analysis means cannot adaptively extract the core theme, this paper extracts the literature related to critical mineral supply chain security (CMSCS) from the Web of Science literature database system during 1995–2022. We first use scientometrics to analyze the publication volume, author collaboration, institutional collaboration, and national collaboration of CMSCS; secondly, we use cosine distance and nearest neighbor classification algorithms to analyze the dynamic development status of CMSCS, and finally, we utilize the TF-IDF algorithm and the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) text mining method to model the topics in this field. The results show that (1) global research on CMSCS is rapidly developing. China currently has the most literature in the field of CMSCS. The US, China, and the United Kingdom have the most influential research. (2) The authors collaborated to form nine core teams. The core institutions are the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Politecnico di Milano. Most collaborative teams or institutions have strong internal collaborative links. (3) The research hotspots of CMSCS are influenced by national policies, technological development, and social consumption demand, "circular economy", "lithium battery", "recycling potential", and "recycling technology" are the directions that need to be focused on in the future. (4) Supply chain risk assessment, resilience enhancement, and recycling are important topics for future research in this field. In addition, future research on CMSCS should focus on assessing the vulnerability, resilience, and robustness of the critical mineral supply chain from the perspective of the "whole chain" to ensure the security of the global critical mineral supply chain. The research in this paper can help researchers and policy makers to quickly understand the research status and trend direction of CMSCS and provide essential references for promoting the sustainable and resilient management of global CMSCS.

Kemerovo Regional Medical Exercises Dispensary in 1949–1965

The establishment of the Kemerovo Region in 1943 marked the institutionalization of regional physical culture and sports management bodies. Regional sports competitions needed medical support and control. The Kemerovo Regional Medical Exercises Dispensary appeared in 1949 as an important structural component of the system of medical control and medical support of physical culture and sports in the Kemerovo Region. The archives of the Regional Health Department and the Kemerovo Regional Medical Exercises Dispensary made it possible to determine the advantages and shortcomings of the new institution. The author relied on the principles of historicism and objectivity, as well as on the methods of problem chronology and historical system, to describe the role of the Dispensary in the new system of medical support of physical culture and sports in the postwar years. In the mid-1950s, the Kemerovo Region developed an elaborated network of institutions of medical and physical therapy service, and the Dispensary became a core institution that organized its work. The early 1960s saw a steady increase in the number of medical control and physical therapy services. The Dispensary acquired new functions but suffered from poor facilities and staffing until the mid-1960s, which restrained its developmental potential. The state used the positive experience gained during World War II to improve the network of medical and physical therapy institutions. In 1949–1965, the Kemerovo Region introduced a fundamentally new system of medical support for physical culture and sports.

Democracy Therapy: Lessons from ThriveNYC

Abstract Despite massive unmet needs, U.S. mental health care systems and policy continue to aim too low. Laments about brittle foundations-including inadequate funding, fragmentation, stigma, lack of parity, ineffectiveness, unavailability, overmedicalization, and coercion-all share the same source. The mental health system is not working because it has been chasing the wrong goal: to treat illness, rather than to enable people to do nurturing things together. A focus on community nurturing and caring changes everything. It yields better treatment approaches while also engaging with the mutually reinforcing and desperately needed work of social cohesion, emotional well-being, participatory action, and communal learning and connection. In fact, the nurtured emotional health of individuals is fundamental to humane and resilient societies and to democracy itself. And in the face of environmental collapse and the related unraveling of core institutions, the stakes have never been higher. This essay makes the case for a paradigm shift in care and explores a recent effort to implement it at scale: ThriveNYC. The successes and especially the failures of ThriveNYC point to the possibilities and challenges of this essential mission.

Legitimizing Power Projection in the US Foreign Policy

International relations (IR) scholars have traditionally viewed military alliances as vehicles, serving to ensure the states’ survival under anarchy and to maintain the balance of power essential for the systemic stability. At the same time, alliances that include a dominant state are often employed by the latter as the means of attaining its core objectives and the tools of legitimizing its extraordinary might and ambitious policies. Apparently, this situation favors ambiguity and uncertainty in terms of developing proper theoretical understanding of the nature of alliances as the core institutions, which pattern the states’ interactions, sustain international order, and ensure smooth functioning of the power relations. Seeking to elaborate more comprehensive approach to studying “asymmetric alliances” as the tools of both wielding the dominant state’s influence and legitimizing its preeminence, the paper engages the insights borrowed from the theory of structuration that helps overcome methodological limitations conditioned by dual understanding of “power” as either “attribute” or “relationship”. Specifically, the paper examines the United States’ “asymmetric alliances” in Europe and East Asia as distinct social structures, comprised of “resources” and “rules” that sustain practices of U.S. engagement in regional affairs so as to ensure reproduction of inequitable relationships between the allies and to legitimize the United States’ hegemony. This approach allows to reach more integrative understanding of the role of these alliances as the tools of Washington’s influence and the means of reproduction of the inequitable relationships between the allies, as well as to identify contradictions inherent in these hierarchical arrangements, engendered by growing tension between “resources” and “rules” involved in the process of wielding and legitimizing the “American power”.

국내 문화예술 정보포털의 현황과 과제

The purpose of this paper is to propose an effective and appropriate organizational system and specific introduction plans for information portals based on the analysis of the current status of the organization and composition system of websites opened in existing cultural and arts administrative organizations and related facilities. First, the main core institutions related to cultural and artistic organizations and facilities were systematized and existing by various institutions by cultural and artistic organizations and facilities. Second, when the website components of each culture and arts organization and each facility are classified into specific areas, most of each organization applied the same website composition system with a standardized basic platform construction system applied. Third, the main core areas of culture and arts websites existed in similar types, and the data management and system systems of the current websites were all set similarly. Culture and arts websites should be systematically supplemented to activate them as useful information portal systems for everyone with a reasonable design that considers both the user-side effectiveness and institutional characterization.