Institutional History Research Articles

Chinese Language and Culture Pedagogy at the University of Latvia

The article gives a detailed analysis of Chinese language and culture studies at the Department of Asian Studies of the University of Latvia from the foundation of the department in 1991 and the enrolment of first students in 1993 up to the year 2023. The textis divided in six chapters: institutional history; students and graduates; local teaching staff; guest lecturers and Chinese-speaking language teachers; academic mobility; and research and international cooperation. This is the first in-depth introduction to Latvian Sinology studies in the English language, and its special value lies in the unique perspective of the author (former Sinology student and current associate professor of the Department of Asian Studies) who has witnessed and experienced nearly the entire history of the institutional development. The article combines a historical approach with biographical (at times autobiographical) descriptions, analyses of statistical data, and a personal case study.

Change in international order? An institutional analysis

AbstractMany are now discussing the possible demise of the so called ‘liberal international order’, but how can we know whether any international order is changing? This article argues for understanding order as maintained by institutions of international society and further theorises the role those institutions play in the stability or transformation of international order. To usefully put institutional analysis to work, this article, first, models the stylised evolution of a primary institution. Second, it illustrates this evolution with a discussion of the historical institution of trusteeship in order to historicise adaptation and transformation in international order. Finally, this leads to a generalised idea of how institutional analysis can be employed to study stability and transformation in international order. Beyond making a contribution to the wider debates about the possible demise of the current international order, this piece also fills a gap in English School theory, which is quite silent on the question of when international society furthers transformation, and when it furthers stability. Accepting the view of history that the future is contingent on today’s events, this study suggests possible points where push comes to shove for change and continuity in international order more generally.

Pre-Modern Institutions and Later Support for Autocrats in Democratic Elections

Abstract A history of local inclusive institutions is correlated with higher levels of democracy today. However, it is unclear whether this reflects the effect of historical institutions on democracy or a prior common cause. Using a geographic natural experiment, this letter demonstrates that historical experience with inclusive institutions is related to less support for autocratic parties in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Germany. This suggests that electoral support for political parties that seek to subvert democracy can be influenced by pre-modern institutions even when they were destroyed prior to the introduction of democracy.

Academic library science and its contribution to the development of bibliology and information science in Poland, 1945–2015

The aim of the study is to present the origins and development of academic institutions educat- ing librarians in Poland between 1945 and 2015, taking into account the institutional and scholarly aspects. In the first part of the paper the author presents the history of various institutions — university faculties, departments and institutes — arranged diachronically in three stages (1945–1974, 1975–1989, 1990–2015). She takes into account the circumstances of their establishment (including the legal framework), their organisers, staff, organisational structures and their changes. In addition, she points to other components of academic life influencing the work of academic library science centres, such as conferences and journals. In the second part, devoted to a discussion of bibliological and information-science research conducted at Polish universities, the author focuses on various issues, treating chronology only as an element organising descriptions of research processes at individual library studies centres. She identifies the areas of research, as well as changes in the thematic foci in the analysed period, citing selected scholars and their most important works. Like in part one, she also discusses the social, political and cultural determinants stimulating research processes, paying particular attention to the impact of new technologies and media. The author’s overview confirms the huge role the academic institutions engaged in library studies play in the consolidation of the position of bibliology as an academic discipline, but at the same time, she shows how the research profile of book studies has been changing in recent years, including issues associated with information science and new technologies.

The Institution of the Prefecture in Romania (1864– 1892): Between Social Relations of Patronage and Political Networks

Historical research on the institution of the prefecture in Romania (United Principalities) in the 19th century, as a fundamental institution of modern state administration, involves several levels of analysis, combining institutional, political and social history. Our paper will focus on several aspects, in relation to a number of historical features specific to the Romanian case. These features stem from the implementation of a Western-origin institutional model in Romania, after the union of the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, until the end of the 19th century. During this period, a maturation of the modern administration can be observed, both legislatively and functionally. In addition to the legislative framework of this period (the communal law of April 1864, amended in March 1872 and March 1883, the law on county councils of April 1864 and the law on the organization of administrative authorities of November 1892), other factors are also noteworthy, which made the prefect in Romania not only a government agent at the local level, but also a county administrator: the patronage relations of the Romanian elite – a legacy of the Old Regime, and the gradual consolidation of the power networks of the governing political parties, both of which had a relevant impact on the selection process of local officials and the conduct of parliamentary elections. Keywords: Institutional history, administrative reform, ispravnik, prefect

Same but different: On continuity and change in agricultural policy reforms

AbstractThis article contributes to the Historical Institutionalism literature on stability and change by unpacking how an institution has persisted for more than 70 years despite substantial contextual changes. The overall stability of the institution comes both through changes in policy instruments and their settings, and through the incorporation of differing, but aligned rationales. Ideational multidimensionality yields stability by providing leeway to recondition the institution in response to changing circumstances. This allows for different interests in the coalition to stimulate overall institutional stability by supporting incremental changes in policy instruments whilst avoiding institutional exhaustion and third order changes. This shows that policies initiated under a certain set of circumstances may be better equipped to persist when circumstances change if they are able to incorporate differing, but aligned, rationales and to respond to upcoming issues through policy instrument changes. The theoretical arguments are exemplified through a case study analysis of Norwegian agricultural policy.

Introduction: unoccupied air

ABSTRACT This introduction sets the essays in the special issue into context, and reflects on Laura Marcus’s contribution both to the development of literary criticism over the last three decades, and to the institutional history of the discipline.

Collegiate Athletes With Diabetes: Baseline Medical Comorbidities and Preseason Concussion Testing Performance.

People with diabetes mellitus (DM) are at increased risk for adverse health events and complications throughout their lifetime. Whether DM significantly affects collegiate athletes' concussion baseline testing performance remains unclear. To (1) describe the prevalence of DM and associated comorbidities and (2) compare concussion baseline testing performance between student-athletes with DM and student-athletes without DM (NoDM). Retrospective, cross-sectional study. University. Using the Concussion, Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium research database, we matched athletes with self-reported DM (N = 229) by institution, sex, age, sport, position, testing year, and concussion history to athletes with NoDM (N = 229; total sample mean age = 19.6 ± 1.4 years, women = 42%). Descriptive statistics and χ2 tests of independence with subsequent odds ratios were calculated. Independent-samples t tests compared baseline symptoms, neurocognitive testing, and balance performance between athletes with DM and athletes with NoDM. Effect sizes were determined for significant group differences. At baseline, athletes with DM had higher rates of self-reported pre-existing balance disorders, sleep disorders, seizure disorders, motion sickness, learning disorders, vision and hearing problems, psychiatric disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, nonmigraine headaches, and meningitis than athletes with NoDM (P values < .05). We found balance differences between groups (P = .032, Cohen d = 0.17) such that, on average, athletes with DM had 1 additional error on the Balance Error Scoring System (DM = 13.4 ± 6.5; NoDM = 12.1 ± 5.9). No other comparisons yielded significant results. Although athletes with DM had high rates of self-reported balance disorders, sleep disorders, seizures, and meningitis, their baseline neurocognitive testing results were largely identical to those of athletes with NoDM. Our findings suggested that nonclinically meaningful differences were present in concussion baseline balance testing but no significant differences were noted in cognitive testing; however, the effect of DM on concussion recovery remains unknown.

Structural Racism and Sexism in Settler Societies: Families at the Confluence of Colonialism and Neoliberalism

Abstract: This study problematizes the intersections of settler colonialism and neoliberalism with heteropatriarchy/heteropaternalism when considering the vast overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the Canadian child welfare system and Indigenous women in prisons. Using the lens of historical institutionalism, we demonstrate how heteropatriarchy and heteropaternalism provide the normative social order for settler colonial governance, including its most recent iteration, neoliberal governance. We argue that the neoliberal rhetoric of individual rights and responsibilities to assess fitness of families (and more specifically mothers) against a western European neoliberal ideal underpins Canada’s social policy reproducing the structural racism and sexism imposed by colonization. In Canada, there is growing awareness of system dysfunction; it is Indigenous women who are providing the leadership to resist this oppressive model. Resisting neoliberal family policies pushes back against oppressive colonial structures that exacerbate growing systemic inequities thereby negatively impact all families.

Сотрудничество в области безопасности ЕС и Латинской Америки: история и эволюция

Introduction. This article aims to analyze the process of security cooperation between the European Union and countries in Latin America from the perspective of historical institutionalism and the methodological tools proposed by the Copenhagen School. The author covers the main stages of the development of relations between these two regions, starting with early initiatives in the field of political and economic support and moving towards deeper cooperation in the field of security. Methods. The main theoretical and methodological support of this study is historical neo-institutionalism, which focuses attention on the role of institutional choices made earlier in the historical past, i.e., the “path dependence” principle. The research uses the sector-specific approach to security analysis developed by the Copenhagen School. Analysis and results. In the historical context, three main stages can be distinguished in the development of relations between the EU and the countries of the LCA in the field of security. The first bipolar stage (1945–1991) was characterized mainly by political and economic support from the United States and NATO as the main structure of regional security. Relations between the EU and Latin American countries at this time were sporadic, largely complicated by multiple crises within Latin American countries. However, in the 1960s, relations in the fields of economic cooperation and economic security began to be built between the regions. In the conditions of the second stage, post-bipolar (1991–2014), the concept of strategic partnership begins to be actively developed between regions, not only in the economic but also in the political and military spheres. Also, the EU, trying to simultaneously institutionally build its own security policy and the European army, began to conduct peacekeeping operations during this period with varying success (since 2003). The current stage (from 2014 to present) is characterized by growing contradictions between Russia, Ukraine, and the collective West, consolidated around the United States, as well as the destruction of the newly created post-bipolar regional security system. The LCA countries, which are afraid of being drawn into a conflict, are trying to develop their own course in the field of security policy.

Understanding institutional layers and modes of change for energy transitions: Analysis of Norway's electricity sector reforms

AbstractInstitutions have significant implications for whether and how energy systems restructure, evolve, and successfully transition. Yet, literature analyzing energy sector reforms often approach transitions from economic or technical perspectives, with much less attention to the underlying roles and influences of institutions. This paper explores the roles and influence of institutions on the speed, direction, timing, and sequence of energy transitions. A conceptual framework integrating the hierarchy of institutions with an historical institutionalist approach is developed and applied to explore transitions in Norway's electricity sector as a case study. Results show that conversion followed by layering emerge as the dominant modes of institutional change in Norway's electricity sector reform, illustrating the importance of alignment between institutions in creating the conditions for large‐scale energy transitions and the importance of boundaries to maintain alignment between levels of institutions. Governments can minimize potential gaps between transition intentions and outcomes through effective conversion and layering of institutional arrangements, but layering challenges emerge when institutional change introduces new actors or energy arenas to existing policy paradigms.

Hegemony, capitalism and peace: A critique of the ‘armed peace’ in Urabá, Colombia

This article delves into the concept of ‘armed peace’ in the context of the social and armed conflict in Urabá, Colombia. The term ‘armed peace’ refers to the relative stability that was established in Urabá since the 1990s, when paramilitary groups took control of the region from subversive guerrillas with the aid of the state, local capitalists, Banana transnational corporations, and trade unions. This stability was achieved through a paramilitary rule that was based on capitalist interests and enabled by the suppression of subversion. The study explores the relationship between peace and consent, and how consent has affected social and production relations in Urabá. By examining the Colombian conflict as a hegemonic vehicle that has shaped the peace in Urabá, this article aims to shed light on how apparent social phenomena can be essential to capitalism in specific contexts. Hegemonic vehicles are historical institutions that restructure social relations and, through concessions, hinder class struggle. In Colombia, the conflict can be understood as such as it has been institutionalized to gain workers’ consent to the social order over time. In Urabá, this process allowed for the reorganization of interests and the establishment of the status quo’s armed peace, which overtook the old consent to the project of subversive peace. Our analysis could extend beyond Colombia’s specific case and seeks to critique social institutions that enjoy relative ‘consensus’ but serve to transport and enforce capitalism’s core values. These historically specific structures play a key role in achieving consent to capitalism in conflictive social relations, both in and beyond the workplace, and exist within specific social contexts that echo the hegemonic global political economy.

Use of Geoinformatics for the Digitization and Visualization of Sensitive Space in the Urban Landscape: A Case Study of the Gross-Rosen Sub-Camps Systems

Geospatial technologies enable accurate and detailed documentation of cultural heritage sites. They allow for the creation of digital representations of these sites that can be shared with interested audiences. Given the above, this paper presents the possibility of using archival data to reconstruct the topography of two German labor camps, Dyhernfurth I and II, which operated during World War II. To perform this task, multi-source archival data was obtained and interpreted. These data came from various sources: archives, historical institutes, and museums. The results of the study were presented to the staff of the Gross-Rosen Museum, who anticipated the possibility of using the proposed tools in the management of other labor camps. The proposed methodology can be replicated at other locations and easily implemented by other martyrdom museums involved in the preservation of cultural heritage.

Концепт естественного права в контексте теории антисистем

The article offers and justifies a new version of the origin of the theory of natural law. The authors suggest con-sidering the ideological origins of the concept of human rights in the context of the theory of anti-systems. After all, the ideological basis of this concept both in antiquity and in the Middle Ages was precisely heretical anti-systemic movements. Analyzing the concept of natural law, the authors show that this concept is revolutionary not only in social, but also in structural terms, since its position calls into question the structural matrix of civiliza-tion, all cultural and historical institutions. Thus, this concept represents a structural revolution against a formal-ized cultural-historical existence. Besides, the article reveals the relationship between the ideology of natural law and modern “eco-ideology”, attempts to introduce digital slavery and esoterism. It justifies the idea that the concept of “natural man”, as the basis of natural law, is an esoteric mechanism when, without publicly renounc-ing the content of a cultural tradition, the main worldview issues are interpreted directly opposite to this tradition.

Accountability in pan-European borrowing: mind the gap

The European Union (EU) is now borrowing on the scale of a large state to address challenges ranging from COVID-19 to the war in Ukraine. However, there has been limited comparative research on how pan-European borrowers can and should be held to account. This article offers a normative justification for why such borrowing should be accountable before showing how accountability practices diverge from a set of accountability expectations derived from three baseline theories: liberal intergovernmentalism, sociological institutionalism and historical institutionalism. Through elite interviews and online archival analysis, we show that the vertical accountability of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the European Stability Mechanism to national parliaments in six EU member states varies. Our findings also show that horizontal accountability has been constrained by the European Parliament’s limited involvement in borrowing decisions until recently and that patchy interest from national auditors has undermined diagonal accountability. As EU borrowing increases in importance, these accountability gaps urgently need to be filled.

Pemenuhan Hak Konstitusional Warga Negara Indonesia Beragama Yahudi Sebagai Penduduk yang Agamanya Belum Diakui Sebagai Agama Berdasarkan Ketentuan Peraturan Perundang – Undangan

This research explores the status and challenges faced by the Jewish community in Indonesia, particularly regarding the non-recognition of their religion by the government. The study aims to understand the impact of religious non-recognition on the constitutional rights guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia for Jewish believers. Using a normative legal approach and literature study method, this research analyzes various laws, regulations, and other relevant legal documents, as well as traces the history of legal institutions to understand its context. The findings reveal that although the Jewish community has been present in Indonesia since the era of Srivijaya, Judaism is not officially recognized by the government. As a result, Jewish believers face challenges in practicing their faith, including difficulties in establishing places of worship and obtaining legal protection. Nevertheless, they remain active in practicing their faith, making efforts such as establishing synagogues and communicating with Jewish communities abroad.

The case of Brexit: How to open a critical juncture without an exogenous shock?

The article examines Brexit through the historical institutionalist scholarship on European integration, critical junctures and institutional change. It finds that the concepts of path dependence, and critical junctures that emerge from exogenous shocks, as well as most processes of endogenous institutional transformation cannot fully account for Brexit. How can a Member State leave the European Union, if membership in the organisation produces path-dependent effects and there is no exogenous shock? To answer the question, the article introduces the concept of a hybrid critical juncture – a period of increased contingency and uncertainty that is created gradually by a combination of exogenous and endogenous causes and agency. The article examines the events that led to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU to demonstrate how the hybrid critical juncture concept explains Brexit. The analysis contributes to understanding potential future European disintegration and incremental institutional transformation broadly defined.

The Shift of Philippine Architectural Media toward Digitalization (2018-2023)

This research examines how Philippine architectural communication experienced a renewal after the pandemic crisis. First, through a shift from the country’s flagship architectural magazine, BluPrint, toward a personally initiated digital platform, Kanto. Since BluPrint started to become digital in 2018, the publishers aimed at more aggressive targets for new articles. When Covid hit the Philippines in the beginning of 2020, it made BluPrint suffer and confused. The publisher company focused on the business side to diminish the encountered deficit. They started reaching out to a common lifestyle market but the journalists wished to continue addressing architects and the public interested in architecture. As the company wanted to broaden the target, the journalists felt that most of their content did not fit for that expansion. As result of the tension, in December 2020, most of BluPrint’s former staff decided to leave and “migrate” for Kanto. Kanto, a digital platform was created out of the former personal blog of one the migrant journalists to be an intellectual venue for art and architecture advocacy. Upon this departure, BluPrint’s publisher noticed that not only the magazine could not be published for a whole year in 2020 but also, it lost its journalists for a new competitor. Thus after a significant interruption, the publisher decided to renew BluPrint with a fully new staff. This marks the second shift, the complete digital transition of the originally printed, then blended BluPrint. These dynamic communication aspects of architecture, construction and built environment have not yet been sufficiently investigated, unlike their physical aspects. In order to elaborate findings, after a review of literature on worldwide shifts towards digital media, this paper matches observations on the institutional history and performance of BluPrint and Kanto with a second line of premises, qualitative statements. It reviews how former BluPrint, now migrant journalists are successful on the digital platform Kanto, in a fully different organizational and financial system. It also presents how BluPrint also experienced a renewal with its fully new staff. Behind both shifts, an underlying dilemma between financial success and content success became sharper in times of the increasing and now almost obligatory digitalization. Events and festivals are strongly needed by both online publications to create a tangible and interactive basis for gathering experiences of architecture lovers among themselves and with their “star architects”. In summary, the digitalization established a wider variety of journalistic forms which appear in more spontaneous, less focused presentations. While BluPrint strives after a wider viewership with an entertaining character, Kanto tries to deliver more depth in the profession embedded in a variety of artistic and cultural forms. As conclusion, in both shifts, content curation strategies prevailed over technological skills. The described genre shifts propelled deeper changes in both the content and nature of architectural discourse in the Philippines. The shifts also drew up a new relationship pattern between practicing architects, contractors and architectural media.

Europeanization and domestic governance of the RRF

This article analyzes the governance mechanism chosen by Italy and Spain to implement their National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The focus is on two factors that are crucial when it comes to downloading and implementing EU policies, which are the political and administrative systems. Thus, it is assumed that any divergence in the structure of governance can be attributed to political structures and the territorial political and administrative structures. To conduct the analysis, both rational choice and historical institutionalism are used as complementary perspectives, to explain which factors led to specifics type of governance.

Digital sovereignty as control: the regulation of digital finance in the European Union

ABSTRACT Crypto-finance is becoming increasingly popular, but the area is still unregulated in many ways. Its innovations promise to bring benefits by decreasing costs and increasing choices for intermediaries and customers. At the same time, and among other things, the breakdown of important exchanges and lawsuits against prominent figures illustrate potential challenges for investors, financial stability, and monetary sovereignty. How does the EU navigate the crypto verse? In this article, we analyse three regulations of the EU’s Digital Finance Package through the lenses of discursive and historical institutionalism to understand when and where concerns about digital sovereignty motivate action. We argue that EU actors aim to regulate digital finance and retain sovereignty by employing different narratives that justify their policy choices. EU regulators upgrade existing regulations to cover digital finance areas that resemble traditional financial services and justify it by existing rationales on investor protection and financial stability. Digital finance poses security challenges that are new to financial regulation. EU actors employ a narrative of security threats to increase control in areas traditionally dealt with in cybersecurity.