Evolution Of Norms Research Articles

IT, Social Capital and the Digital Ecosystem: A New Approach to Online Content Co-Creation

In this paper, we explore how the dynamics of knowledge transfer within a community depends on social capital and how the synergies generated by social capital can positively impact the co-ordination between member-nodes. This could lead to the evolution of a more complex and multi functional ICT enabled socio-technical system capable of enhanced co-creation of knowledge. In this context, we present the Digital Ecosystem (DE) concept as a prototype for a sustainable knowledge synthesizing network. A Digital ecosystem describes an ICT enabled network that displays associative and autopieotic properties. In other words, not only is a so defined network capable of self sustenance, but also of expansion through heightened inclusion (i.e., increasing heterogeneity in the network composition) and growth (i.e., increase in the size and scope of the network). In simple terms, a DE is a web of interconnected and interdependent ICT enabled users who transact in the digital mode resulting in synergistic benefits for all. The strength of this system is that it enables a resilient, multi-user exchange relationship capable of adjusting to change. The sustenance of a DE depends on co-operation between member-nodes of the network. This closely rejects the social capital embedded in community relationships. We then look at the evolution of norms and extended social ties within a DE and the effect on content co-creation. Finally, we outline the case of the DEAL (Digital ecosystem for Agriculture and Livelihood) project as an illustration of the digital ecosystem model outlined in the paper, in terms of its projected content creation, validation and sharing systems.

The Contribution of Anatoly Fedorovich Koni to the Development of the Criminal Process at the Beginning of the 20th Century

Based on a set of archival materials, the article shows the evolution of the views of the famous Russian lawyer Anatoly Fedorovich Koni in the 1900-1910’s on the essence and principles of the criminal process. Koni developed his creative potential in three aspects: practical, theoretical and legislative. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the theoretical and legislative activities of the senator came to the fore. As a practical lawyer, he actively participated in the drafting of comments on the Charter of criminal proceedings (where he gave a scientific assessment of the final debate in court, the accusatory speech of the prosecutor, the private prosecution, the defense speech of the lawyer, the conclusion of the prosecutor in cassation proceedings, etc.). As a participant in the legislative process, Koni defended in the State Council (in the early 1910s) bills aimed at improving procedural law. He defended the preservation of the rite of trial, insisted on changing the clarification to jurors of the issue of punishment for the accused, limiting the powers of the justice of the peace, etc. The role of the senator was especially active in 1917, when, as chairman of the subcommittee to change the Charter of Criminal Procedure, Koni had a decisive influence to change the judicial process in the Russian Republic. A huge contribution to the development of the foundations of criminal justice was made by the work of Anatoly Fedorovich – Judicial Ethics. In it, he set a high ethical and legal standard of conduct for all participants in the process. The study analyzes in detail those legal institutions of the criminal process that have become the object of study by the senator. Including the principles of procedural law, the procedure for considering cases of crimes of the press, the procedure for the rite of passage to court, the procedure for explaining to jurors the consequences of their sentence, the status of a private attorney, the status of a prosecutor in court, etc. The senator's ideas about the evolution of procedural norms are considered separately. The purpose of this work is to establish the contribution of A.F. Koni in the development of criminal justice through his theoretical and legislative activities. In preparing the publication, the problem-chronological method, as well as the historical method, were used.

Reserved Seats and Cooptation in Burundi (2000–2020)

Using a lifecycle perspective, this paper analyzes the use of reserved seats and the evolution of cooptation norms and practices in Burundi between the signature of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement in 2000 and the 2020 legislative elections. Value-driven objectives, such as minority protection, only partly explain their use and design. The adoption, functionality and recent transformation of electoral cooptation were also determined by realpolitik, most notably by the elites’ struggle for positions and the balance of power. Cooptation had important effects on ethnic cohabitation within parliamentary factions. The paper contributes to the literature on the micro-institutions of power-sharing.

An institutional perspective to bridging the divide: The case of Somali women refugees fostering digital inclusion in the volatile context of urban Kenya

This article examines the growing influence of Informational Communication Technologies (ICTs) in less certain refugee contexts and the role of civil society groups. Drawing on an empirical case study of Somali refugees in Kenya, the article explores the grassroots use of ICTs by refugee women and local socio-economic dynamics in processes of inclusion. Adopting a micro-institutional perspective, the discussion looks at the emerging influence of mobile technology on refugee women’s precarious norms related to mobility and work, and the evolution of new digital norms. The article highlights the strategic role of women’s groups and proactive group members as ‘institutional entrepreneurs’, in aiding levels of ICT adoption among group members, motivated by connection, protection and collective enterprise, with potential effects far beyond the group. In a transitory and fragile refugee context however, constraints on civil society may lead to the exclusion of more isolated populations without formal institutional support.

From Tools to Rules

The paper is interested in likely routes for the evolution of normative practice, which, it is here assumed, is a necessary precursor to the development of language. It argues that each normative practice requires a policing practice, consisting of, at least, moves of commendation, condemnation, and retraction, and it contrasts policing with mere monitoring practice. So the evolution of norms can be seen to be the development of policing from mere monitoring practice. It conjectures that a likely site for such a development to take place is in the active transmission of technology, notably, toolmaking technology. Using data and observations drawn from the archaeological record and the psychology of mimicry, it attempts to illustrate the likely emergence of policing practices.

Pre-existing fairness concerns restrict the cultural evolution and generalization of inequitable norms in children

Many social exchanges produce benefits that would not exist otherwise, but anticipating conflicts about how to distribute these benefits can derail exchange and destroy the gains. Coordination norms can solve this problem by providing a shared understanding of how to distribute benefits, but such norms can also perpetuate group-level inequality. To examine how inequitable norms evolve culturally and whether they generalize from one setting to another, we conducted an incentivized lab-in-the-field experiment among kindergarten (5–6) and second-grade (8–9) children living in Switzerland (4′228 decisions collected from 326 children). In Part 1, we created two arbitrarily marked groups, triangles and circles. We randomly and repeatedly formed pairs with one triangle and one circle, and players in a pair played a simple bargaining game in which failure to agree destroyed the gains from social exchange. At the beginning of Part 1 we suggested a specific way to play the game. In symmetric treatments, this suggestion did not imply inequality between the groups, while in asymmetric treatments it did. Part 2 of the experiment addressed the generalization of norms. Retaining their group affiliations from Part 1, each child had to distribute resources between an in-group member and an out-group member. Children of both age groups in symmetric treatments used our suggestions about how to play the game to coordinate in Part 1. In asymmetric treatments, children followed our suggestions less consistently, which reduced coordination but moderated inequality. In Part 2, older children did not generalize privilege from Part 1. Rather, they compensated the underprivileged. Younger children neither generalized privilege nor compensated the underprivileged.

THINKING ABOUT SOCIAL NORMS

AbstractThis article argues that it is a waste of time seeking to treat populists as examples of homo economicus when seeking to persuade them that the conspiracy theories to which they subscribe are big lies. But it does not follow that homo economicus is worthless in this context. He has a role in explaining the evolution of the social norms whose violation is the root cause of the rise of populist movements. Such an approach requires a willingness to entertain both proximate and ultimate explanations of human behaviour simultaneously.

Вовлечение без признания: новое измерение международно-правового статуса де-факто государств

The article is devoted to the analysis of forms of interaction with de facto states and tools for establishing direct ties with them. Special attention is paid to the practice of “involvement without recognition” introduced by the European Union, which is actively used today in Transdniestria and the South Caucasus. Basing on the example of the unrecognized states of the post-Soviet space, the author shows the evolution and expansion of their limited international legal personality, as well as the fact that the scope of legal personality is of great importance for partial recognition. The article concludes that the scope and content of external interaction largely determines not only the breadth of de facto recognition, but also promotes the inclusion of de facto states on the international agenda, ensures their status and, thereby, fixes a new quality of legal personality of unrecognized entities. According to the author, in matters of recognition, the geopolitical approach prevails over the normative one. Based on the evolving practice of interaction with de facto states in the post-Soviet space, the author identifies two levels of cooperation: the first is peace processes to resolve conflicts, which have led to the formation of these de facto states, and the second is international relations in the humanitarian, trade and economic fields. New realities make it possible for unrecognized entities to demonstrate to the world community their ability to fully participate in international relations, which, combined with the strengthening of internal sovereignty, qualitatively expands their compliance with the generally recognized formal characteristics of a state. Such orderly and, in some cases, legitimately regulated relations with de facto states form new rules, which, as a result of ongoing scientific and practical search, can also lead to clarification of the criteria for recognition and evolution of relevant international legal norms. Such new criteria may be: the ability to independently represent itself in multilateral international negotiation processes, participate in the achievement and implementation of international agreements, fulfil the obligations arising from them and have extensive experience of direct interaction with full-fledged subjects of international relations.

Lifecourse of Place, and Intergenerational Transmission of Health Determinants: A Long-Term View of Factors Affecting Health in two Deprived Areas in Malta

Abstract: Using an approach framed by health geography perspectives (including the idea of ‘lifecourse of place’ as a health determinant), this study explores how the wellbeing of residents interviewed in two parts of Malta between 2013–2015 were found to be influenced by the physical, economic and social aspects of their place of residence, which had been generated over the long-term life-course of the place. Both study areas are relatively deprived, compared with the country of Malta as a whole, for reasons which we show to be partly associated with long term political and economic processes influencing the ‘lifecourse of place’ in these neighbourhoods. However, we also demonstrate how historically determined processes such as development of the built structure of neighbourhoods, political events, development of labour markets and employment practices, together with evolution of cultural norms, social processes and features of social capital have developed in rather different ways in the two study areas. We argue that this helps to explain why the contemporary local conditions that are seen by local residents to be important for their health and wellbeing also differ in some ways between the two places. This study therefore emphasises how and why historic development of conditions in places matter for the contemporary determinants of health and wellbeing.

Assessing different historical pathways in the cultural evolution of economic development.

A huge number of hypotheses have been put forward to explain the substantial diversity in economic performance we see in the present-day. There has been a growing appreciation that historical and ecological factors have contributed to social and economic development. However, it is not clear whether such factors have exerted a direct effect on modern productivity, or whether they influence economies indirectly by shaping the cultural evolution of norms and institutions. Here we analyse a global cross-national dataset to test between hypotheses involving a number of different ecological, historical, and proximate social factors and a range of direct and indirect pathways. We show that the historical timing of agriculture predicts the timing of the emergence of statehood, which in turn affects economic development indirectly through its effect on institutions. Ecological factors appear to affect economic performance indirectly through their historical effects on the development of agriculture and by shaping patterns of European settler colonization. More effective institutional performance is also predicted by lower-levels of in-group bias which itself appears related to the proportion of a nation's population that descends from European countries. These results support the idea that cultural evolutionary processes have been important in shaping the social norms and institutions that enable large-scale cooperation and economic growth in present-day societies.

Risk and Vulnerability in the Analysis of Apartment Buildings

Abstract The real estate funds in Romania in the category of condominiums presents an important subject to be analyzed after several considerastions. Securing apartment buildings raises issues of high complexity. The present study focuses on the presentation of the criteria of analisys, the earthquake as a degradation factor of these buildings, the evolution of norms regarding seismic actions concluding with an important study case building – the Simu apartments block in Bucharest. The authors also synthesized information from several publications over time in Romania.

Elements of comparative criminal law regarding the crime of creating a criminal organization with a terrorist character

Lately, the international community is facing serious threats to security and world order, which is expressed through new forms of crime, especially in its organized and terrorist aspect. According to the criminal legislation of the Republic of Moldova, the purpose of committing one or more terrorist offenses determines the aggravation of criminal liability for the creation or management of a criminal organization, which contrasts against the background of the legislative provisions of other states. In the study, the comparative method of examining the criminal laws of other states was used as a priority. At the same time, in addition to the method of logical analysis and case study, the prospective method of studying law with reference to current trends in the evolution of legal and criminal norms has been widely applied. The study is oriented towards the comparative analysis of the norm stipulated in article 284, para. (2) Penal Code, in the light of the criminal laws of the neighboring states (Russian Federation, Ukraine, Romania), which allows highlighting the existing gaps, general tendencies of incrimination and the possibilities of perfecting the national normative framework. In addition, the improvement of the national normative framework, harmonized with that of the neighboring states, offers wide possibilities in the field of international legal cooperation in criminal matters, which determines repercussions on all areas of social life in the state.

A tale of reviews in two history of science journals

This paper examines the role of book reviews in the discipline of the history of science by comparing their appearance in two periodicals, Isis, the flagship journal of the discipline that was founded in 1913, and the Journal for the History of Astronomy, founded in 1970 to serve a newly emerging, specialized subfield within the broader discipline. Our analysis of the reviews published in selected slices of time finds differing norms and reviewing practices within the two journals. Despite important changes during the past century in the conceptualization of the history of science and its research methods, reviewing practices in Isis remained remarkably consistent over time, with reviewers generally defending a fixed set of norms for “good” scholarship. More change appears in reviews of the Journal for the History of Astronomy, as its audience shifted from a mix of the laity, working astronomers, and historians to a specialized group of professional historians of astronomy. Scholarly norms, reflected in the reviews, shifted with these changes in readership. We conclude that book reviews offer rich sources for analyzing the evolution of scholarly disciplines and norms.

Impact of European Norms Euro 6 on Usage of Polymeric and Composite Products in Automotive Industry with the Purpose of Reducing Pollution

This study presents the evolution of the European Norms of depollution and their environment impact. Therefore, starting Euro 1 Norms (1992), the European Commission defines and regulates the exhaust emissions of the vehicles produced and sold in the European Union. From 2014 until the end of 2020, car producers are under the regulations of the Euro 6/VI Directives. These regulations had a great impact on the process of vehicles engineering design as they influence the materials used during the manufacturing process such as metals, additives or plastic and polymeric composites. One key role in the development of less polluting vehicles is the usage of polymeric composites. Thanks to these materials, cars are now lighter, therefore they consume less fuel and they produce less pollution, and also they present an increased level of comfort and safety. One main target of the Euro 6 regulation is to popularize electrical, hybrid or hydrogen cars. Plastic and polymeric composites such as polyacetal, polyphenylene ether or other engineering resins are a key part of the evolution of car industry. This article is intended to summarize how using polymers on different car components impacts the quality of air.

Gender Inequalities Among Adults and Children: Exposure to Migration and the Evolution of Social Norms in Albania

This paper studies the distribution of resources within Albanian families in 2012 using a collective consumption model with two alternative specifications: the first enables the estimation of the intrahousehold distribution of resources among male adults, female adults and children; the second extends the analysis to girls and boys. In line with previous evidence on gender inequality in Albania, the results show that the female share of resources is substantially lower with respect to the male share, and that sons receive a larger share of resources than daughters. Considering that Albania experienced massive migration and return of young men in the 20 years before the survey, we further analyze the potential migration-induced transfer of gender norms. We find that the time spent abroad by the husband of the main couple has little influence on woman’s relative position within the households, however it does seem to favor a more equal treatment between daughters and sons. This result suggests that gender norms are more persistent in adult couples, however gender attitudes towards offspring are more elastic to social change.

Keeping it in the family: Female inheritance, inmarriage, and the status of women

While female property ownership is associated with positive outcomes for women, their right to inherit property in patrilineal societies may also result in more constraining marriage norms. I test the following hypothesis: Where a woman inherits property, her male relatives are more likely to arrange her marriage to a cousin in order to keep her share of property within the male lineage. The increase in unearned income due to female inheritance also reduces women’s economic participation, especially in blue-collar jobs where women’s work is subject to social stigmas. Using a difference-in-differences design that exploits exogenous variation induced by a reform of inheritance laws in India in 2005, the study finds that women exposed to the female inheritance law are more likely to marry their paternal cousins and less likely to work, especially in agriculture. The paper also discusses possible implications for the evolution of marriage and gender norms in Islamic societies, where female inheritance is mandated by Islamic law.

К истории судебно-психиатрической экспертизы в гражданском процессе

In this analytical review, pursuing the aim of investigating the history of forensic psychiatric assessment in civil proceedings at the V. Serbsky National Medical Research Centre for Psychiatry and Narcology, we analyze the impact of the evolution of legislative norms on the development of forensic expert practice and the emergence of new areas of scientific research. Based on the dynamic changes observed over time in the indices of the work carried out by the forensic-psychiatric expert service, as well as the bibliometric analysis of the publications by the staff of the V. Serbsky Centre, which identified the change in the number of scientific works dealing with the theoretical and methodological issues, and various subject types of forensic-psychiatric assessment in civil proceedings, we show the ambiguity of interrelation between the evolution of legislative norms, the alterations in forensic expert practice, and the directions of scientific research.

Current Problems and Priorities of the Cultural Policy in Russia in the Context of the Neotraditionalist Ideology

State cultural policy has great impact in determining the content of mass consciousness, setting the boundaries of the social norm. The priorities of cultural policy are determined by its ideological foundations, which have become the subject of the analysis of this article. The research is based on the principle of historicism, since the concept of culture is ambiguous in its content and historical in its essence. The study of culture as a social phenomenon and a factor of social management correlate with the problem of state ideology formation, its indoctrination into the public consciousness and its implementation in practical forms. The materials of the study were the substantive provisions of the documents of strategic planning in the field of state cultural policy, understood from the standpoint of the theory of culture. Based on the analysis of the culture functions in society, the article characterizes the innovative potential of culture, which determines the transformation the way of life in the political, social, economic and technological spheres. The development of society, and with it cultural norms, has passed the stages of archaic and modern, entering the postmodern era. The evolution of socio-economic relations and cultural norms creates contradictions between tradition and modernization. The value-semantic foundations of the society development are caught between the Scylla of archaization and the Charybdis of anomie. The authors project this conflict on the semantic foundations of the state cultural policy in modern Russia, revealing the dialectic of continuity and innovation in the development of national culture. The author concludes that the strategy of reproduction of cultural norms dominates as a priority of the state culture policy. In this approach, the authors see risks for the effective performance of the culture of its functions in the postmodern era.

The UN Guiding Principles’ Orbit and Other Regulatory Regimes in the Business and Human Rights Universe: Managing the Interface

AbstractWhat should be the interface of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) with other regulatory regimes in the business and human rights (BHR) universe? This article explores this issue in relation to two specific contexts. First, the interface of ‘social norm’ with evolving ‘legal norms’: relation of Pillar II of the UNGPs and mandatory human rights due diligence (HRDD) laws as well as parent companies’ direct duty of care for negligence. Second, the interface of ‘soft norms’ and evolving ‘hard norms’: how the UNGPs should inform the proposed BHR treaty. It is argued that legal norms should align with Pillar II only in a ‘loose manner’. They should draw from and build on the HRDD concept under Pillar II, but not be constrained by it, because a hard alignment of Pillar I laws with Pillar II could undercut the independent but complementary status of the two pillars. Moreover, the UNGPs should serve only as a ‘starting point’ and not the ‘end point’ in the evolution of other hard or soft norms in the future. Such an approach would be desirable because the UNGPs alone are unlikely to be enough to challenge or confront the existing structure of irresponsibility and inequality.

Художественное воплощение судеб творческих личностей в башкирской драме 80-90-х годов ХХ века

The purpose of the study is to provide an insight into artistic vagaries of certain drama genres. The article deals with artistic representation of the life and work of outstanding representatives of literature and art to which the Bashkir playwrights devote a great deal of attention in their works. In recent years, interest in this topic has been growing due to our authors’ desire to reintroduce to the reader the good name of the people who left a profound mark in the memory of generations with their civic courage and masterful creative work. The study is novel in that it determines the drama genres with the help of which creative personalities’ images were formed in the post-Soviet period of the Bashkir literature, the said genres being dramatic novella and psychological drama. The results have shown that there is a trend for building conflicts based on evolution of ethical norms when forming creative personalities’ images.