Demands For Equality Research Articles

Strategies, Struggles, and Sites of Transformation in Korean Political Economy

Strategies, Struggles, and Sites of Transformation in Korean Political Economy

Second-Order Continuous-Time Algorithm for Optimal Resource Allocation in Power Systems

In this paper, based on differential inclusions and the saddle point dynamics, a novel second-order continuous-time algorithm is proposed to solve the optimal resource allocation problem in power systems. The considered cost function is the sum of all local cost functions with a set of affine equality demand constraints and an inequality constraint on generating capacity of the generator. In virtue of nonsmooth analysis, geometric graph theory, and Lyapunov stability theory, all generators achieve consensus on the Lagrange multipliers associated with a set of affine equality constraints while the proposed algorithm converges exponentially to the optimal solution of the resource allocation problem starting from any initial states over an undirected and connected graph. Moreover, the obtained results can be further extended to the optimal resource allocation problem in case of switching communication topologies. Finally, two numerical examples involving a smart grid system composed of five generators and the IEEE 30-bus system demonstrate the effectiveness and the performance of the theoretical results.

Autocracy or Perestroika 2.0

Russia seems to be unable to leave the trajectory of its historical development as a patrimonial power. Once again, an autocratic regime is in power. The state is the fixed point of all political activity. However, the ability of the centralist state to control politics and modernise the economy is highly limited. The supposedly strong state is in fact weak, and is repressive and despotic precisely for this reason. Society is powerless, and the economy is dysfunctional. Under President Putin, power and property have merged to a degree never seen before, while the political process is intransparent and hardly institutionalised at all. The state development model has run into the sand. Unlike under Gorbachev, reform from above is unlikely to occur. The analysis of the failures under Perestroika and the wrong directions taken under Yeltsin are an indication of what is needed: pressure from below and reformist forces that combine social issues with the demand for participation and equality before the law.

Investigating Q-learning approach by using reinforcement learning to decide dynamic pricing for multiple products

This article emphasises the benefits of using mutually dynamic pricing, as opposed individual pricing of product or services. By using mutually beneficial rating, the algorithm is able to use the information of various product or services to enhance the profit received from rating all the items in a consistent manner. This enables for quicker learning once the demand for the various product or services is powerfully connected. However, the range of mutually beneficial product will increase the speed of convergence decreases exponentially. Because the range of mutually beneficial product becomes large, the decision maker could take into account grouping product if they follow an equal demand pattern, or put together rating extremely related mutually beneficial product. Moreover, we analyse to behave the Q-learning with eligibility trace algorithm under different conditions without any explicit knowledge of client buying behaviour.

Online programming language—Learning management system

Today, college and university students find themselves with the need more than getting a degree. Work and social life commitments make equal demands on their time. The option of taking online classes and studying on their own is a must. However, many state institutions are unable to accommodate all those who want to take classes on campus, escalating the demand for online learning. The aim of this project is development of learning management system (LMS). You can be as a teacher and upload your course materials to all students in our LMS. With our LMS, you are online every time, you can get messages from all students and teacher, without e-mail, just by your username in our system. Also, you can compile your code and share the result with others by social media links using REPL IT online compiler. So, our LMS provide all facilities for taking online course. Keywords: LMS, compiler, cloud EC2, route 53, easy engine, learn press.

Questioning Market Aversion in Gender Equality Strategies: Designing Legal Mechanisms for the Promotion of Gender Equality in the Family and the Market

Post-industrial economies are at a crossroad. On the one hand countries are dealing with the crisis of unemployment and underemployment, developing strategies to increase labor market participation of all adults, and increase productivity. On the other hand, the same countries are responding to demographic concerns regarding an aging population and decreased birth ratios. These concerns, coupled with a growing demand for gender equality in the labor market, and better work/family balance, lead to the development of new tax and welfare policies around child care, as well as restructuring the workplace to fit the needs of workers with familial care obligations. A storm of new legislation, regulation and voluntary initiatives attempting to address child care, parental leaves, and the structure of the work day, are sweeping through developed economies, with significant innovation, variation, and experimentation. The feminist policy and scholarly debate around these policies seem to presume that market based mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality are inferior to state based mechanisms, and that generally, those who care about gender equality should be suspicious of turning to the market for solutions, because it is an institution that tends to replicate rather than ameliorate gender inequality. In this paper we seek to question market aversion within these debates. In particular, we ask whether the theoretical premise of the discussion - the harsh dichotomy between market and state - is plausible at all, and particularly at the current moment in the development of the regulatory state. Using examples from the fields of welfare, tax and employment law from a variety of post-industrial “developed” economies, we seek to destabilize the dichotomy and explore the wide array of policy tools on the spectrum between pure market-based policies and strictly state provided benefits. We offer a systemic analysis that exposes the myriad possible legal and institutional configuration available to policy makers. Our analysis is grounded in an explicit and multifaceted discussion of the normative considerations that underlie policies aimed as regulating both the labor market and care work: namely, Distributive Justice (including gender equality); Efficiency; and Autonomy (including personhood and community). Part I of the article offers a rich account of each of these normative considerations and explains the complex (both positive and negative) effects of both market and state-governed mechanisms on promoting them. Good policy, we argue, should not sweepingly reject market mechanisms nor should it abandon state governed instruments but rather mix and match the advantages of both state and market mechanisms focusing on their potential real-life consequences. We use some examples from our comparative study in order to illustrate the potential for such hybrid mechanisms. We model the complex implications, seemingly technical legal mechanisms entail, and explain the unique mix of normative goals supported by each mechanism. In part II, building on the previous part, we offer a framework to analyze and develop policy that promotes gender equality in the family and the market, in the fields of tax, welfare and employment. In order to methodically decipher the different mechanisms available, and to be able to match them with the normative goals, as well as creatively think about possible institutional options, we build on existing literature to offer a typology of policy solutions along four mechanism-design criteria: (1) universal v. Selective (2) fixed sum v. income dependent (3) cash transfers v. in kind services (4) which institution provides the service (family, state, market, civil society). Each of these criteria reflect tensions between the underlying normative goals, and each represents a distinction between ideal type mechanisms that can, and we argue that should be, broken up and understood as a spectrum of modular tools to be mixed and matched in order to support varying combinations of normative ends.

A Cruzada Feminista Brasileira e a Cultura Política em Pernambuco (1927-1932)

Resumo: Este artigo investiga a importância da Cruzada Feminista Brasileira, criada por Martha de Hollanda em 1931, na construção de uma nova cultura política feminista em que as mulheres debatem na imprensa a desigualdade de gênero e defendem direitos políticos igualitários entre os anos 1927 e 1932. A Cruzada Feminista Brasileira fez uso estratégico dos jornais como principal veículo de comunicação de massa no momento em que se instituíam o sujeito feminino do direito e a opinião pública por meio dos periódicos. As feministas expandiram as exigências da equidade, questionaram as diferentes assimetrias da República liberal e pouco democrática, contestaram a naturalização da diferença entre os sexos e lutaram pela ampliação da cidadania e da democracia em solo pernambucano. Do legado dessas lutas feministas, pouco conhecido na História, todas nós somos beneficiárias.

Socio-Economic Inequalities, the Less Privileged and the Quest for Social Justice in Africa

This paper posits that the problem of political instability and social disorder is closely connected to the problem of unjustifiable inequality in the distribution of benefits and burdens in contemporary African societies. The paper argues that to effectively resolve the problem of socio-political instability and disorder in Africa today, adequate attention must be paid to the question of distributive justice. This work adopts John Rawls’ Theory of Justice as his theoretical framework with emphasis laid on his Difference Principle, which prioritizes the demand for social equality over that of liberty. This would reduce the problem of social inequality and its attendant negative consequences, which include widespread poverty and unemployment. Also, this version of the Difference Principle is designed to ensure that social benefits and burdens are distributed equally to the advantage of everyone in the society. The philosophical methods of critical analysis and conceptual clarification are employed, while the significance of this work is to show that equality in the distribution of benefits and burdens would undermine ill-will between the privileged and the less privileged, which is a source of tension that generates political instability and social disorder.

Model of coexistence of annual plants in a heterogeneous habitat

We propose a computer simulation type model describing dynamics of a system of annual plants competing for just one resource and living in a heterogeneous habitat. Plants do interact via blocking a part of the resource in the nearest neighbourhood. Species differ in only one aspect – demand for the resource. Plant which has supply equal demand has the largest probability to survive, while any deviation diminishes it. Heterogeneity in space is introduced in two ways - by a gradient reducing supply along one axis and a system of patches, each having a different level of the resource. We show that without any trade-off mechanism, speciation or immigrants, coexistence of species is possible in a stationary state. We find out also that the two descriptions of the heterogeneity lead to nearly the same numbers of surviving species, although the spatial structures and order of abundance of the populations are different.

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF EVANGELICALS IN COLOMBIA 1990 – 2017

The political participation of evangelicals in Colombia has been the consequence of two waves of religious mobilization. I hypothesis is that religious mobilization in the political field has been based on the demand for religious equality(in the 1990s) and the defense of Christian morality (in the 2010s). My objective is to describe the two wave of evangelical political mobilization in Colombia and its implications for the political arena. I have used diverse documentary sources (internal documents of some parties, books, dissertations, journals) and interviews with political and religious leaders, as well as some years of participant observationin some religious services and political meetings.

РОЛЬ ЛЕСНОГО КОМПЛЕКСА В СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОМ РАЗВИТИИ РЕГИОНА (НА ПРИМЕРЕ РЕСПУБЛИКИ МАРИЙ ЭЛ)

The strategic goal of the development of the Russian forest complex is to significantly increase its contribution to the national economy by creating an economically sustainable, private and globally competitive group of industries. For this, the products of forest sector of Russia should enjoy equal demand both on domestic and foreign markets. The basic branch of forest complex is forestry, which provides protection, reproduction of forests, regulation of forest man-agement and control over the use of forest resources. The Republic of Mariy El is not distinguished by the presence of a large number of industrially significant natural resources. The main natural wealth of the region is forest, which covers more than 50% of its territory. The forest-growing conditions of the Republic of Mariy El in most of its territory are favorable for the growth of valuable coniferous species. Extensive exploitation of the republic's forests is a difficult period of the beginning and the middle of the 20th century, traditional ways of managing in the forest, aimed primarily at selecting the most valuable timber; insufficient financing of reforestation, forest protection measures; as well as cur-rent market situation of timber currently lead to negative changes in species and commodity structure of the country's forest resources. The locomotive of the growth of the forest complex of the Republic of Mariy El is JSC Mari Pulp and Paper Mill, which largely covers its need for wood raw materials by importing it from outside the region. Enterprises-tenants of forest areas carry out the harvesting of timber and subsequent sale of products with low added value, which reduces the contribution of forestry industries to the economy of the region. Forest recreation should be a strategic di-rection for the development of forest management in the Republic of Mariy El.

Riots or revolts? The legacy of the 2005 uprising in French banlieue narratives

The 2005 banlieue uprisings were the most important acts of contestation in France since May 1968, yet unlike the earlier student protests, they were largely interpreted as aimless violence rather than political dissent. While the authors of the upheavals remained silent, unable or unwilling to explain their motivations, social scientists and other commentators advanced the most divergent interpretations and made various claims on their behalf. This paper proposes to confront these readings with the analysis of three novels published in the wake of the 2005 riots by Mabrouck Rachedi, Wilfried N’Sondé and Rachid Santaki. Comparing these banlieue narratives with a range of scholarly readings proposed by sociologists will help us construct an alternative interpretative framework in which riots appear to be collective demands for justice, equality and social mobility. The conclusion will assess whether the riots are likely to leave a legacy comparable with May 1968.

Tensions and unity in the struggle for citizenship: Swedish disability rights activists claim ‘Full Participation! Now!’

This article analyses the claims of contemporary disability rights activists mobilising in a context where de facto second-class citizenship co-exists with legal and political declarations about the rights of disabled people. As an empirical case, it focuses on the blog ‘Full Participation.Now’, which was initiated by disability rights activists in Sweden. Drawing upon citizenship research, the article points to the tensions and dilemmas featuring the bloggers’ demand for participation and equality, as well as the challenges relative to their struggle. Although the bloggers formulate contrasting arguments, the article highlights that the activists share a common aspiration for ‘full citizenship’.

From Boss Crump to King Willie: How Race Changed Memphis Politics By Otis Sanford

Reviewed by: From Boss Crump to King Willie: How Race Changed Memphis Politics By Otis Sanford Elizabeth Gritter From Boss Crump to King Willie: How Race Changed Memphis Politics. By Otis Sanford. ( Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2017. Pp. xii, 276. Paper, $24.95, ISBN 978–1-62190–417-5; cloth, $29.95, ISBN 978–1-62190–322-2.) Otis Sanford provides a sweeping top-down overview of the intersection of race and politics in Memphis, Tennessee, in From Boss Crump to King Willie: How Race Changed Memphis Politics. It focuses on the years between 1902, when Edward Hull Crump, the longtime white political machine boss of Memphis, first became involved in the city's politics, and 1991, when Willie W. Herenton was elected as Memphis's first black mayor. Sanford's work provides a synthesis that fills a gap in the historiography on race and politics in Memphis after the sanitation strike and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968. In writing a book that is both memoir and academic history, Sanford, a former managing editor for the Memphis Commercial Appeal and a professor of journalism at the University of Memphis, provides his own invaluable perspectives and draws on secondary sources, newspapers and periodicals, personal interviews, court cases, government documents, and personal papers. [End Page 199] Although valuable as a top-down synthesis, this book is relatively lightly researched and would have benefited from drawing on more scholarship. For instance, Sanford lists only fifteen books in his bibliography, which misses some key books on race and politics in Memphis, namely, all of Michael K. Honey's books, Marcus D. Pohlmann and Michael P. Kirby's Racial Politics at the Crossroads: Memphis Elects Dr. W. W. Herenton (Knoxville, 1996), and Sherry L. Hoppe and Bruce W. Speck's Maxine Smith's Unwilling Pupils: Lessons Learned in Memphis's Civil Rights Classroom (Knoxville, 2007). Although this reviewer recognizes that From Boss Crump to King Willie is partly a memoir, she found numerous places where there should have been more documentation, to the point of surprise that the University of Tennessee Press sanctioned the publication. It is a disservice to scholars interested in exploring Sanford's sources that the book neglects to provide so many of them. It is thus unsurprising that the book contains some unsubstantiated claims and errors. For instance, Sanford incorrectly states that Eliehue Stanback ran for tax assessor on the Volunteer Ticket in 1959 (he ran as an independent). More serious, Sanford writes that the 1968 sanitation strike was the "first time in modern Memphis history" where "a demand for racial equality didn't spring from the black upper crust, the black clergy or the NAACP" (p. 110). This statement is not true. Michael K. Honey and Laurie B. Green, for example, have shown how black workers engaged in campaigns for racial justice in the labor movement. Sanford also leaves out black voter registration and other grassroots efforts of black women and does not sufficiently discuss the powerful Memphis NAACP. Also, he does not give an in-depth analysis of the influential black Shelby County Democratic Club, which mobilized black voters to support candidates who promised to meet its demands in local elections during the 1960s. Serious students of Memphis race and politics should thus consult this book in conjunction with other scholarship on the subject, including Wayne G. Dowdy's books and the reviewer's own River of Hope: Black Politics and the Memphis Freedom Movement, 1865–1954 (Lexington, Ky., 2014). One other contribution that From Boss Crump to King Willie makes is its analysis of the relationship between Crump and the press; however, Sanford narrows his analysis to the white press and does not discuss many of Memphis's black newspapers. As a former journalist, however, he fittingly focuses on the media, a subject that scholars, at times, underemphasize. Sanford may also have examined Herenton's long tenure as mayor in greater detail, but that will be up to future scholars to explore. Elizabeth Gritter Indiana University Southeast Copyright © 2018 The Southern Historical Association

The Evolution of Identity Politics

The Evolution of Identity Politics

The nationalisation of the Israeli ethnocratic regime and the Palestinian minority’s shrinking citizenship

The main issue this paper deals with is the status of the Palestinian minority in Israel (Referred to in the literature using different terms: ‘Palestinians in Israel’, ‘Arabs in Israel’, ‘Arab citizens of Israel’, ‘the Palestinian minority’ and ‘Palestinians inside 1948’.) as part of what Israel considers its national security. It will examine the centrality of Israel’s Jewish character, as a component of Israeli national security, representing a model for the expansion of that which is encompassed by the concept of national security. Within this context, the minority’s presence and demands for equality poses a threat to the national security of Israel and of the Jewish majority. This concept and trend has gained traction in recent years with the ascension to power of the right wing and the ‘rising threats’ to Israel following the Arab Spring events. Majority forces within and outside the Knesset have attempted to consolidate Israel’s Jewish character by passing laws and formulating policies that identify its Jewish character as a red line – a key plank of national security.

Punishing tax offenders in France and Great Britain: two criminal policies

PurposeSince 2008-2009, the governments in France and Great Britain have encouraged more rigorous penalization of tax evaders. This paper aims to investigate the implementation of these policies on the basis of an important and original empirical material.Design/methodology/approachThe study done in France relies on interviews conducted with representatives of law enforcement agencies on public statistics and on an innovative database compiled from nearly 600 cases submitted to the judiciary. The comparison with Great Britain is developed through interviews conducted with different participants in the fight against tax fraud and statistical information.FindingsThis paper describes the recent evolution of the machinery for screening tax-related wrongdoings in France and in the UK. It demonstrates that whilst publicly calling for harsh punishment against tax dodgers, in practice, both governments tend to seek a balance between the growing demand for tax equality and the belief that the State should not intervene in the economic realm. This strategy leads to the over-representation of certain categories of taxpayers. Despite the commonalities resulting from the numerous filters before prosecution, the penal strategy takes on two different shapes on either side of the Channel: whereas the British institutions support an “exemplary punitive” system, French regulatory system favours a “quasi-administrative” treatment. The French tax authority continues to use the criminal procedures mainly as a financial instrument for the improved restitution of stolen taxes. The policy of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, supported by the “Sentencing Guidelines”, aims much more at obtaining exemplary convictions.Originality/valueBased on a large empirical material, this paper highlights the different outcomes of the criminal trials against tax evaders in the two countries.

DEWEY ON CIVIL RIGHTS, TESTING, INTEREST, AND DISCIPLINE:DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATIONIN PERSPECTIVE

In this essay we consider how the principles evident in Dewey'sDemocracy and Educationwould have been evident in response to the civil rights movement that took shape shortly after his death, and to the major educational reform movements of today. While acknowledging that Dewey's views on race and human development were inevitably influenced by his social and intellectual context, we maintain that he was fundamentally opposed to racist ideology and related popular beliefs, and that his deep commitment to democracy as a social process would have made him a staunch supporter of the civil rights movement and associated demands for racial equality. We likewise argue that Dewey would have had deep misgivings about the standards-driven assessment regimes that underlie current national reform efforts. In the end we suggest thatDemocracy and Educationstill has much to offer students of education today, and can serve as a helpful guide to those who would seek to change educational practice for the better.

The Trump Effect

After a backlash against gay rights in 2012, LGBT Liberians have begun to organize and be more public in their demands for equality. But two presidential races—last November’s election of Donald Trump and the selection of a successor to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf this fall—threaten to undo that progress. Journalist Robbie Corey-Boulet reports on the challenges facing Liberia’s LGBT leaders as they contend with possible U.S. funding cuts and local politicians who are stoking homophobia.

Indigenous higher education in Mexico and Brazil: between redistribution and recognition

Indigenous groups in Latin America face a double exclusion from higher education, with low levels of access to institutions and little acknowledgement of their distinctive cultural and epistemological traditions within the curriculum. This article assesses current policies in Mexico and Brazil towards indigenous populations in higher education, considering the various responses to the challenge, including affirmative action programmes in mainstream universities, intercultural courses and autonomous institutions. These policies and initiatives are analysed using the theoretical frames of redistribution and recognition, focusing on demands for formal equality and material wellbeing on the one hand, and a distinctive cultural and educational space on the other. While state-sponsored policies focus primarily on the redistributive element, initiatives based on recognition come largely from autonomous organisations, raising a series of dilemmas and tensions around educational justice for indigenous populations in the region.