Dialogue Institutions Research Articles

Critical junctures, labour unions, and social dialogue in Tunisia and Lebanon: Implications for the social contract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the evolution of social dialogue institutions in Lebanon and Tunisia between 2010 and 2017. Both countries faced critical junctures, but their institutions pursued divergent courses. The national social dialogue institution was revamped in Tunisia to increase participation in policymaking, whereas it was reinstated in Lebanon without addressing its institutional flaws. By building on these developments, this paper makes two theoretical contributions. First, it argues that the nature of political interference in organized labour prior to the critical juncture influences its subsequent role. Labour neutralization in Lebanon was founded on sectarian politics that co-opted national leadership and bound rank-and-file to sectarian clientelism. Labour pacification in Tunisia harmed executives, whereas local unionists remained independent. After the critical juncture, Tunisian organized labour revitalized itself, aided by rank-and-file autonomy. It then made a strategic choice to reconsolidate the tripartite system with enhanced involvement of the traditional labour and capital organizations in policymaking. Lebanese organized labour was unchallenged by its rank-and-file. It maintained ties with political elites. Second, these paths illustrate the differences between social contracts. Participation in policy elaboration is among the deliverables exchanged between political elites and social actors in Tunisia but not in Lebanon.

Communication with young people through normatively fixed dialogue institutions in the regions of Russia

The study of the regional legislation of 85 constituent entities of the Russian Federation was carried out by the author in order to identify the normatively fixed channels of communication between the state and youth at the regional level, which could make it possible through formalized institutions to carry out dialogue interaction, stimulate the desire of young people to participate in the life of society, participate in the development of the agenda in the constituent entity of Russia. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that the created youth governments, youth parliaments, youth public chambers and other similar institutions in the regions are not a sufficient channel for full-fledged communication with young people. Formalized platforms involve rather loyal youth in a dialogue with the authorities, leaving behind those whose opinion, attitude to the political, economic, and social decisions taken by the authorities is sometimes quite critical.

The politics of post-developmentalist expertise: progressive movements, strategic localism, and urban governance in Seoul

ABSTRACT This article interrogates emergent forms of progressive ‘post-developmentalist’ urban expertise in Seoul, South Korea. We argue that a critical understanding of the nexus between political and civil society forged by pro-democratic activism is necessary to understand the politics of this expertise and the dilemmas it has encountered in creating alternatives to the legacy of developmentalist urbanization and promoting a more inclusive and emancipatory vision of urban politics. To illustrate our argument, we examine two cases: the first involves the incorporation of progressive labour, intellectual, and civil society activists to create urban-level institutions of social dialogue to upgrade labour relations. The second explores a community-empowerment movement, called Maulmandeulgi, initiated by local activists and later institutionalized in Seoul and other cities to establish a participatory model of community building. These cases detail how these actors have promoted progressive policies through engaging in strategic forms of localism, but also how their activity has risked becoming a policy fix for reconfigured neoliberal and developmentalist policy agendas. This risk is most apparent, we argue, as the political context at the national level has shifted between conservative and liberal administrations and the knowledge practices developed by these experts encouraged to move between places and across scale.

From gradual erosion to revitalization: National Social Dialogue Institutions and policy effectiveness

We explore the factors behind the long-term erosion of National Social Dialogue Institutions (NSDIs) to provide insights about the conditions for their revitalization. By applying policy analysis insights into the industrial relations field, we argue that limited policy effectiveness goes a long way towards explaining the erosion experienced by many NSDIs worldwide in recent years. Drawing on a global survey and on case studies of NSDIs in Brazil, Italy and South Korea, we show that these institutions’ policy effectiveness crucially depends on combinations of their problem-solving capacity, an encompassing mandate to deal with relevant socioeconomic issues and an enabling environment that grants the inclusion of social dialogue into decision making. With regard to rekindling their role, the article provides substantial evidence that two sub-dimensions of effectiveness are key: enjoying political support and having an ‘effective mandate’ as opposed to relying on just a formal remit to deal with socioeconomic issues of interest.

ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ МЕЖДУНАРОДНОГО ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО СОТРУДНИЧЕСТВА ПОСЛЕ КРИЗИСА 2020 ГОДА: ПУТИ К НОВОМУ РАВНОВЕСИЮ

The article presents an analysis of negative trends that significantly worsened the quality of international economic cooperation in 2018–2019. These trends sharpened in the context of the 2020 crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is noted that the contradictions and antagonism between the largest participants in international economic relations are structural in nature, and the institutions of international economic cooperation and dialogue have lost their effectiveness. An author’s view on the possibilities of developing international economic cooperation after the crisis of 2020 is proposed.

A Critical Analysis of Interfaith Dialogue Movement in Pakistan and its Future Prospects

In modern ages, the nations, faiths and communities are more in need of better relationship, tolerance and peace from any other phase of the human history. Therefore, interfaith dialogue has become a most significant activity in this age of the conflict and clash. Due to its importance, many religious, non-religious even political parties have deeply involved in it. In Pakistani perspective, the Christian Study Center, Rawalpindi, has a historical role to promote Muslim-Christian Dialogue. The Christian Study Center, Rawalpindi one of the major dialogue institute in Pakistan is busy in holding interfaith dialogical meetings, workshops, seminars and conferences on national and international levels from past 50 years. Definitely, this activity has some kinds of positive and negative impacts on Pakistani society. Therefore, Muslim scholars as well as some Christians show their concerns towards modern interfaith dialogue movement due to some reasons. In this situation, the basic question is, do these activities have some future hopes and impacts on the society and can be succeeded in Pakistan with their current position and direction? What do scholars think about future of interreligious dialogue in Pakistan? In this study, efforts are made to evaluate the interfaith dialogue movement in Pakistan from futuristic perspective in the light of Muslim-Christian scholarly views. The analytical and critical research methodology was adopted in this study with qualities approach. For data collection libraries, websites, journals, interviews and discussion methods were used.

The weakness of social dialogue in the Baltic countries: An employer-centric political economy perspective

Social dialogue is underdeveloped in the Baltic countries. This is often attributed to weak labour institutions and low mobilization, but I argue that employers’ motivation to engage in multi-employer bargaining is a crucial precondition for social dialogue. I build on scholarship in comparative political economy that links the long-run stability of collective bargaining to export competitiveness, and investigate why enterprises in the Baltic countries do not use multi-employer bargaining as an institutional instrument for wage coordination, even though economic growth is export-led. Until recently, employers lacked interest in coordinated wage-setting because of macroeconomic conditions: in particular favourable price trends in international markets which resulted in significantly higher value added without additional investments in efficiency, reducing structural pressure to align wages with productivity. Therefore, the strategies currently employed by Baltic enterprises are not complementary with social dialogue institutions.

Reflections by Participants in the Study of the United States Institute on Religious Pluralism

Reflections by Participants in the Study of the United States Institute on Religious Pluralism Rebecca Kratz Mays In each of the summers of 2017 and 2018, the Dialogue Institute hosted international scholars from twenty countries around the globe who had won U.S. State Department scholarships to spend six weeks in the U.S. to study U.S. history, society, and institutions, with a special focus on religious pluralism and interfaith dialogue. The Dialogue Institute program was designed to introduce participants to the key structures, ideas, and laws that support democracy and religious freedom in America, drawing on the rich historical legacy of the city of Philadelphia. The program highlighted training in leadership skills, especially as related to the challenges of religious and cultural diversity in their own countries. Trips to New York City, Arizona, Minnesota, and Washington, DC, gave participants firsthand experience with key historical and governmental institutions. Covered topics included basics of American democracy and government; the roots of religious tolerance in Philadelphia; the significance of volunteerism in a pluralist society; the interrelationships of immigration, race, ethnicity, religious diversity, and civil religion; the significance of the environmental movement as a context for social activism; and the principles and practices of interreligious/intercultural dialogue. As part of their discussions of what it means to be a public intellectual with the ability to write in order to help citizens build a civil society with respect for religion, the J.E.S. staff invited scholars to submit their reflections to the journal. In response to the invitation, Yosra Elgendi from Egypt discusses the differences she saw between a country that claims religion and state are not separate and the U.S., which claims that separation in the First Amendment. She examines a bill that in her view violates that separation and encourages the U.S. to keep its constitutional separation evident in such legal considerations. Roman Mička contrasts the U.S. democracy to Finland, Portugal, and, in more detail, his own Czech Republic. Calling the U.S. a "beacon of freedom," he cites his observations from [End Page 599] the summer study of where the U.S. is facing significant struggles. Finally, Luis Siveres from Brazil explores the power of perception in the process of interreligious dialogue, calling for clarifying different perspectives on an issue of politics, theology, or diversity as the heart of the dialogic process, in order to help establish peace and understanding. Rebecca Kratz Mays Education Director, Dialogue Institute Temple University, Philadelphia, PA Copyright © 2018 Journal of Ecumenical Studies

Religious Humanism and Interfaith Cooperation: A Tale of Two Congregations

Religious Humanism and Interfaith Cooperation:A Tale of Two Congregations Rabbi Jeff Berger Sabato Morais, Mikveh Israel, Mother Bethel, Islamophobia, Portuguese and Spanish Jewish congregations Introduction In August, 2018, Boris Johnson, the former Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom (a potential candidate for Prime Minister) wrote an article in the Telegraph1 that on the surface seemed to express tolerance toward Muslim women who choose to wear a niqab or burka but was perceived by many in the Muslim community as Islamophobic. Citing the Danish law that prohibited such clothing, he caricatured those who wore them but suggested that the U.K. was more accepting. That week at Friday prayers in a North London mosque, the imam spoke out, vigorously and angrily, criticizing the former Foreign Secretary and accusing the Tory Party of Islamophobia. It appeared to me while listening to the imam that we each have a subjective view about what offends our specific culture or religion and that it is essential to acknowledge when others perceive that something is offensive. However, there was vociferous debate in the media by those defending free speech. I could not help wondering whether Jewish people would be offended if a similar statement had been made about the extreme religious dress in the Hassidic communities. I think Jews have over time decided to take ourselves less seriously when making insensitive jokes about our own sub-sects, but we still bristle when unsolicited comments come from outsiders. This raised an important question. When should we take a stand in support of those of another faith who feel attacked or offended? After rereading the Telegraph article, I submitted an online essay offering a more balanced view, calling on the Jewish community to stand up for Muslims when they are targeted by hate speech.2 Not surprisingly, this drew some unpleasant criticism from within my own community. [End Page 572] All of this weighed on my mind when reading an article about Sabato Morais, a rabbi who served the Philadelphia Spanish and Portuguese community from 1851 to 1898. Born in Livorgno, Italy, in 1823, Morais worked in London for five years, from age twenty-two, as the director of the Orphan's School at the London Spanish and Portuguese synagogue, until making his way to Philadelphia's Mikveh Israel community. He was known to be an outspoken supporter of religious humanism and minority rights, as well as a strong critic of slavery during the American Civil War.3 Mikveh Israel, the synagogue that employed Morais, was established in 1740. Founded by Spanish and Portuguese Jews whose antecedents were expelled during the Spanish Inquisition, the community played an important role during the 1776 American War of Independence. Interestingly, it has also had an ecumenical relationship with Christ Church (Episcopal) in Philadelphia, dating to the late 1700's.4 This essay looks at some activities in Morais's life and seeks to draw lessons relevant for today's ecumenical faith leaders in standing up and speaking out for social justice. Motivation for This Exploration In early December, 2017, a group of American and European faith leaders, sponsored by KAICIID, the Vienna-based intergovernmental organization that promotes interreligious dialogue to prevent and resolve conflict, met with the leadership of the Dialogue Institute at Temple University to explore the theme "Addressing Urban Issues—Hate Crime, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia in the U.K. and the U.S.A." During the three-day KAICIID Fellows Trans-Atlantic Conference, we visited a number of houses of worship, including Mother Bethel, the oldest church property in the United States owned by African Americans. The property was acquired [End Page 573] in 1794 and was replaced by frame structures in 1805 and 1841 before the present building was erected in 1890. Upon entering, I was struck profoundly by the similarity between the main lobby and grand staircase of that building and a building with which I was quite familiar, Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York City. Shearith Israel is a historic community that first began in 1654 in what was called New Amsterdam. Over the centuries, as populations grew and new residential areas were opened, the community occupied in succession...

Wzorce kulturowe, formalne instytucje a partnerstwo i dialog

W artykule pada wiele pytań oraz pojawiają się próby odpowiedzi w sprawie kulturowej zdolności adaptacyjnej instytucji partnerstwa i dialogu, a zwłaszcza formalnych zaleceń Unii Europejskiej. W warstwie teoretyczno-metodycznej tekstu przeważa podejście celowościowo-funkcjonalne, zorientowane na analizę instytucji formalnych w ich kulturowym otoczeniu. Wątek empiryczny stanowi problematyka partnerstwa i dialogu w europejskich funduszach strukturalnych i inwestycyjnych. Tekst jest próbą uzupełnienia dyskusji nt. kierunku i kształtu polityki publicznej o kluczowe, a spychane niekiedy na margines, wątki dotyczące praktyki. Cel, metoda i styl narracji nawiązują z jednej strony do partycypacyjnych wzorców polityki publicznej, znanych z publikacji autorów zachodnich, a z drugiej do krajowych analiz empirycznych i uogólnień teoretycznych. Wiodąca teza to prymat instytucji kulturowych nad instytucjami formalnymi i wynikająca z niego potrzeba przekształcania ich wzajemnych relacji w sposób partnerski i deliberacyjny

Combating Islamophobia

Since September 11, 2001, the phenomenon known as “Islamophobia” has swept across the United States, reflecting the growing concern among many Americans that practitioners of the Muslim faith are fundamentally irrational, intolerant, and violent and that Islam has become inconsistent with the American way of life. Prominent among those who are fanning the flames of this particular narrative are elements within the American far- right, including evangelical Christians. In October, 2015, the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy in partnership with Peace Catalyst International and the Dialogue Institute brought together some thirty prominent U.S. evangelical leaders with selected representatives from the Muslim, Jewish, and non-evangelical Christian faiths to address the various dimensions of Islamophobia, how they manifest themselves, and what can be done to counter them. This essay captures the details.

New Steps in the “Cosmic Dance of Dialogue”

It has been our privilege to work (beginning in 2007 and 2008, respectively) with Leonard Swidler as colleagues on the staff of the Dialogue Institute (DI) at Temple University, the outreach arm, as it was envisioned in its earliest incarnation, of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies. These years have marked a crucial transitional period, when the DI was evolving from being identified largely with Swidler's individual initiatives (though always in collaboration with a cadre of partners around the globe) toward its establishment as a mission-driven organization contributing--through custom-designed training programs, networking, and resource development--to the ever-expanding twenty-first-century landscape of interreligious dialogue. Learning well from Swidler's mantras of deep and critical thinking, we, together with other DI colleagues, have continued to draw from the richness of his legacy, while examining its theoretical foundations and teasing out its applicability to new cultural and historical contexts. (1) In particular, the broadening work of the DI has afforded a kind of laboratory for designing and carrying out on-the-ground experiences of interreligious and intercultural engagement, affording a window into the interplay of theory and practice in these new contexts. I. The SUSI Program This essay explores shifts in emphasis and refinements that are called for by twenty-first-century global challenges and contexts by focusing on one of the DI's major programs. Since 2010, the DI has led eight five-week student seminars for international students on religious pluralism in the United States. These are part of a U.S. State Department initiative, the Study of the U.S. Institutes (SUSI), which teaches undergraduate students from various countries about American democracy and civil society through the lens of different topics--in this case, through the lens of religious pluralism. Each seminar group is comprised of twenty student leaders; in the summer session they come from four countries in the Middle East (Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey); in the winter session, from Indonesia. Through a wide range of experiential activities, complemented by workshops and classroom sessions, participants are given multiple windows through which to observe and experience U.S. religious diversity. The program is built around six stated objectives: 1. Increase understanding of democratic principles and religious liberty in the United States through the study of its founding vision and the evolution of its culture and institutions, especially as revealed through the rich historical legacy of Philadelphia. 2. Deepen knowledge of the key structures and principles of the U.S. government and society that set the context for religious pluralism: the rule of law, individual rights and freedoms/responsibilities, separation of religion and state, equality, and tolerance of diversity. 3. Expand understanding of the beliefs and practices of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Baha'is, and Native Americans in the U.S. and enable students to see and experience U.S. religious diversity and neighborhood coexistence. Deepen appreciation of both the strengths and challenges inherent in the positive practice of religious pluralism and demonstrate how the U.S. government guarantees religious freedom and safety for majority and minority communities. 4. Foster in students a stance of respect for religious and other differences and an awareness of the negative outcomes of a lack of respect, especially when it results in violence. Teach students the principles and practices of interfaith dialogue and provide opportunities for them to develop skills that will enable them to initiate and engage in interreligious and intercultural dialogue in then-home contexts. 5. Provide collaborative experiences that develop students' leadership skills in the areas of clear communication (effective speaking and discerning listening), community-building, project-management, and cooperative learning. …

Lectionary Selections and Ecological Concerns: A Contribution to Dialogue

Inspired by spirit and documents of Second Vatican Council (1962-65), Dr. Leonard Swidler, theologian and historian, became a leading voice in ecumenical, interfaith, and interreligious dialogues worldwide. Whether as sponsor, host, or participant in conferences, meetings, or symposia, Swidler has been a leading theorist for dialogue among religious and ideological communities. His Decalogue has become ideal for dialogical encounters. (1) His 4-H's of Interreligious Dialogues: Head, Hand, Heart, and Holy identifies areas for fruitful dialogical exchange. (2) To meet need for publication of serious discourse in these emerging fields in 1964 with his late beloved wife Arlene, he established this Journal of Ecumenical Studies. His graduate courses and Dialogue Institute for International, Intercultural, and Interreligious exchange motivated many students from Temple University's Department of Religion to engage in and foster dialogue. I am among these students. Although Swidler's extensive writings do not focus on ecology, in Toward a Universal Declaration of a Global Ethic (3) he called for multinational/religious/ideological dialogues to establish an ethic that is anthropocosmo-centric. This call recognized that future dialogues must address challenges to natural world. (4) I am convinced that ecological concerns are today's most essential dialogue. While Swidler has rightly insisted that goal of dialogue is to learn more than to communicate one's own perspectives, dialogue assumes one has a perspective to offer. I live and teach in Alaska, canary to a worldwide ecological crisis. Here, villages of Kivalena, Shishmaref, Shaktoolik, Unalakleet, Koyukuk, and Newtok are already seriously threatened, if not yet irreparably destroyed, by climate change. Those truly familiar with situation accept that in thirty to fifty years, 193 more Alaskan Native Villages will either to move or disband, their present locations having become uninhabitable. Alaska is not only locus of Exxon Valdez oil-spill disaster in 1989 that ravaged waters and marine life of Prince William Sound, but it is also home to an oil-based economy populated by a significant majority of voices who deny scientific evidence of ecological concerns. While scientific and technological knowledge as well as industrialization greatly enhanced human comforts, these come at the price of unexpected consequences that proved increasingly disastrous for rest of creation as well as ourselves. (5) Environmental concerns (air and soil pollution, resource depletion, loss of biodiversity, overpopulation, climate change, etc.) are most pressing threat to humanity and to all other living beings. While disputes over natural resources preoccupied human history, if we fail to arrest ecological degradation, there will be no resources at all. Ecological concerns entered Christian discourse in response to an important article published in 1967 by Lynn White, claiming that Christian anthropocentricity was culpable for growing ecological problems. (6) In response, biblical scholars identified biblical texts for earth-affirming insights. These efforts to respond to secular critics who minimized every religion also led scholars and practitioners of other religious to identify ways in which they or their traditions appreciate and affirm nature. (7) It is thus that ecology became a topic for ecumenical, interfaith, and interreligious dialogues. Today, many recognize that all religious communities that determine how people understand nature and establish moral imperatives and values have potential to mobilize sensibilities of people toward goals of Earth Stewardship, here defined as shaping trajectories of social-ecological change to enhance ecosystem resilience and human well-being. (8) Statements identifying related concerns and protocols that been issued by religious bodies throughout world are posted on Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale (9) Pope Francis is currently working on a much anticipated encyclical on environment, which will be an important addition to these statements. …

From Philadelphia to Kamina: Bumuntu Interreligious Dialogue in the Heart of Africa

In the summer of 2010, Professor Leonard Swidler and Harry Halloran met with me in Philadelphia to discuss the root causes of violence in the Congo. The result was the creation of the Bumuntu Peace Institute, (1) the first African extension of the Dialogue Institute. This essay intends to articulate the challenges of interreligious dialogue in Central Africa, drawing from the field trips and the work of the Bumuntu Peace Institute over the last four years. I. Introductory Narrative It is January 14, 2015, and I am sitting in an hotel. This is not Los Angeles or Bombay, but Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The television screen that runs non-stop news from CNN, BBC, and French agencies shows the picture of Amedy Coulibaly, a black African involved in the Paris shootings connected to the Charlie Hebdo attack. I hear the reaction of many Congolese around me: These Muslims are crazy. As Africans we already have many problems: wars, poverty, tribalism, racism, dictatorship. Why get involved in Arab issues and fight wars that are not ours? Outside, in the streets of Kinshasa, Muslim robes are everywhere. When I left the Congo some twenty years ago for studies in Europe and then the United States, Muslims were believed to be about two percent of the population. Now statistics point to ten percent or even more. Moreover, it is a population of affluent businesspeople, soon to be heavily involved in competition for political power in this country where power was traditionally held by Catholics, Protestants, and Kimbanguists. (2) But, in this traditionally Christian country, Muslims are not alone in shaping the religious landscape. Street-radio (radio-trottoir) has it that many politicians belong to esoteric cults that require them to commit incest or perform human sacrifices to secure their jobs, positions, and power. Here, Indian are feared as malefic magic. As for traditional religions, they are viewed by most Congolese as mere witchcraft that should be eradicated as quickly as possible. The same opinion is prevalent in Lubumbashi and Kamina, where I have been teaching and doing research since 2011. Over the past four years I have regularly traveled to the DRC to teach and promote interreligious dialogue. After some attempts in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, in this vast land, we focused on Kamina. Thanks to the support of the Dialogue Institute of Temple University (Philadelphia) and grants from the Halloran Philanthropies, we have progressively established the Bumuntu Peace Institute in Kamina to prepare young generations for peace. In January, 2015, I was joined by Rene Sephton, a Greek-Australian woman who does research on the Bumuntu peace-making tradition. Together we have conducted several interviews among local people in various villages, while working with students from the Universite de Kamina, Institut Superieur Pedagogique, and the Methodist University of Kamina. It is the labor of these field trips and research that I would like to articulate here and to reflect on the state of interreligious dialogue in Central Africa, using Kamina as a paradigmatic case study. II. Context: Africa Matters In order to understand the scope of interreligious dialogue in Africa, let us observe the situation on the ground, that is, the religious landscape of Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, the DRC, and finally the city of Kamina where our Bumuntu Peace Institute is based. A. The Religious Landscape of Sub-Saharan Africa (3) Africa is now home to four major religious groups: Christianity, Islam, African Traditional Religions, and religions of Asian origin (largely practiced by the political elite, mainly Mahikari, Hinduism, and Buddhism). The fifty-four countries of the African continent have nearly a billion people (15% of the world population, versus 5% for the U.S.A.). According to a Pew Forum study, more than 1,300. …

The Importance of Dialogue in Turkey

Introduction As social beings, people need each other at every moment of their lives. In twenty-first century, mass media and technology have turned world into a global village. Globalization underlines and stresses global consciousness and dialogue. In this era, humanity needs to learn importance of coexistence and dignity entailed in being human. For this purpose, a significant attempt has been made by Christians to rebuild their relationships with different Christian groups and members of other religions. Even though dialogue among people of different religious traditions has continued throughout history in form of individual relationships such as friendships, neighborly relations, or business connections, formal and planned interfaith/interreligious dialogue started and became a worldwide movement in second half of twentieth century. The role of Catholic Church and World Council of Churches cannot be denied in this movement, along with help of technology and modernity. Christian scholars' positive effects on Christian call for dialogue should not be missed. Remaining freer from institutional barriers, these scholars could take significant steps for theology of religions and dialogue. Among them my doctoral program advisor, Dr. Leonard Swidler, holds a remarkable position. He understands dialogue not only as a theological, philosophical, or practical concept but also as an ontological concept. By stating a dance of universe, Swidler is convinced that everything in universe is naturally in dialogue. In this respect, he stated that the very essence of our humanity is dialogical, and a fulfilled human life is highest expression of cosmic dance of dialogued. (1) His numerous works and tireless efforts to create an atmosphere of peace at grassroots and academic levels are significant. The growing global role of Dialogue Institute at Temple University and Journal of Ecumenical Studies are among fruits of his efforts. In many of our conversations I was able to observe how Swidler is able to witness historical survey of dialogue, especially Muslim-Christian dialogue. He was among scholars who attended first institutional and organized Muslim-Christian dialogue event in Libya in 1976. Since then, he has been working to teach his Muslim students to have more accurate information regarding members of other religions. I should also note that Swidler's special stress on growing role of Turkish Muslims in interreligious dialogue encouraged me to explore Turkish response to Christian call for dialogue. The question of dialogue within Turkish context is an important question. Without a worldwide religious authority, every Muslim scholar and community has tried to understand and respond to Christian call for dialogue in their own way. Turkey, as one of most influential and modern Muslim-majority states, has joined discussion about interreligious dialogue, especially with Christians, since 1980's. Being very diverse in culture, religion, and thought, Turkish scholars' discussions and critiques of interreligious dialogue requested by Christian world have clearly contributed to such dialogue on a global scale in recent decades. In this respect, it will be helpful to show how issue of interreligious dialogue is significant in Turkish context. Given that Christian population of Turkey is only about 170,000, (2) in a total population of 76,000,000, one might think issue of interreligious dialogue is not significant for academic research. However, considering following points and ongoing discussions/studies in Turkey, importance of study is apparent. The Importance of Dialogue in Turkish Context First of all, cultural and intellectual heritage of Turkey provides a very broad sense of issue of dialogue. …

Economic crisis and municipal public service employment: comparing developments in seven EU Member States

This article examines the impact of austerity policies in seven EU Member States on municipal employment and the ways in which social dialogue can influence consequences for employees. It provides a comparative institutional framework, looking at municipal tasks and powers, and the social dialogue institutions available in the respective countries. In addition, the outcomes of austerity policies are compared with regard to wages, employment levels and the public service provision, as well as the influence of social dialogue institutions on these outcomes. Trade unions and workplace employee representatives face a dilemma, having to choose between concession bargaining and opposition to employer plans in order to preserve public sector employment. Between and within countries there seem to be significant differences in their success. Generally speaking, however, these are tough times for municipal workers, their representatives and citizens dependent on the services municipalities offer.

Austerity measures and municipalities: the case of Denmark

Danish municipalities have gone through a number of austerity-related government initiatives with consequences for job levels and public services. Moreover, the ‘regulation mechanism’, which ties public sector wages to wage development in the private sector, has worked as an indirect austerity measure leading to a quasi-pay freeze during the public sector collective bargaining rounds in 2011 and 2013. It is difficult, however, to isolate crisis-related consequences from other factors such as demographic development, outsourcing and pre-crisis reform. Social dialogue has played a very limited role in relation to the direct austerity measures, though case studies show that social dialogue at the local level has played a role in the implementation of austerity and restructuring measures. In the education area, working time was removed from the local bargaining agenda after a lock-out and government intervention in the 2013 bargaining round, but beyond this area no major changes in social dialogue institutions have taken place.

Austerity and politically motivated changes – wage bargaining in Hungarian municipal services

Salaries of public sector employees have been the number one target of austerity measures applied by successive Hungarian governments since 2006, and trade unions have found it difficult to influence government policies. Until 2008 the outcomes of centralized quasi-bargaining somewhat mitigated the harsh measures, but later governments, especially the right-wing one in place since 2010, abandoned such negotiations, implementing labour law reforms that weakened trade union bargaining power and concluding selective agreements solely with representatives of certain strong groups of employees. Social dialogue institutions have become especially weak at sectoral and municipal levels. Though decentralized collective bargaining is common in larger private sector companies, and though the legal regulation is similar in state-/municipality-owned companies, genuine collective bargaining within the latter is very rare. The article presents two case studies (on geriatric care and public transport) highlighting current developments and their impacts on employment relations.

Local government austerity policies in the Netherlands: the effectiveness of social dialogue in preserving public service employment

The financial and economic crisis has led to fiscal austerity measures and reform policies in the Netherlands that have had a direct impact on municipalities. Decreased municipal budgets have forced municipalities to cut public services and lower the employment conditions of municipal employees. It may be expected that in countries like the Netherlands, with stronger social dialogue institutions, decision-making will provide more room for effective employee participation. This study investigates whether and how social dialogue has influenced austerity policies in Dutch municipalities. The results indicate that collective bargaining at sectoral level resulted in moderate increases in nominal wages as well as support for workers who were made redundant. At the workplace level, the effectiveness of social dialogue through works councils has varied depending on the history of relationships between employers and employee representatives and their strategic approach in dealing with austerity.

The EU Soft Power in the Global Equilibrium

The paper analyzes the basic parameters of the soft power of the European Union in the context of the effectiveness of its foreign policy and comparison with the efforts of Russia's own resources capacity of non-violent political influence. To solve this purpose the author dissects the basic interpretation soft power, reviews the criteria to measure the effectiveness foreign policy, highlights the existing scholarly discussion regarding the applicability, relevance and accuracy of the concepts of hard and soft power in applied policy analysis. Particular attention is paid to the problem of trust in international relations in general and in the relations between Russia and the EU in particular. The presence of trust in international relations constitutes a prerequisite to solve any problems for foreign policy. Analyzing the practical expression of the basic values of Western European countries and Russia the article concludes that the efficiency of 'soft power' strategies exercised both by Russia and the EU vis-à-vis each other is rather low. The multi-faceted relations between Russia and the European Union with closely interwoven national interests of different countries do not make these relationships easier whereas a whole array of historical and psychological problems do not add trust. Therefore, it is reasonable to opt for formalized dialogue institutions. In conclusion, the author provides recommendations for medium-and long-term prospects of the bilateral relations.