Party Meetings Research Articles

Navigating Energy Market Cycles: Insights from a Comprehensive Analysis

In this article, we investigate the dynamics the intricacies of fluctuations during periods of economic expansion and contraction, and examining the connections between the length of energy cycles and the influential factors could affect them. Utilizing the extended BBQ algorithm, we firstly identify turning points and, then apply the Cox hazard Model to analyze factors that affect the cycle phases, including geopolitical conflict and economic situations over the period from January 1990 to July 2022. The results reveal the presence of asymmetry in growth phases, highlighting the need for policymakers to understand the factors driving these phases. Market expansion is driven by positive interest rate and US dollar shocks, while stability relies on competent management. During economic contractions, energy costs are influenced by economic growth. Geopolitical risks and economic uncertainty require effective risk mitigation, and policy changes significantly impact the energy market during expansion phases. The study also suggests that Conferences of Parties (COP) meetings have a nuanced influence on the energy market, warranting further research.

Instagram as an Arena of Climate Change Communication and Mobilization: A Discourse Network Analysis of COP26

ABSTRACT Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings on climate change are opportunities for social movements and other non-state actors to engage in climate change communication and mobilization. We focus on Instagram as an online arena of climate communication and mobilization during COP26, held in Glasgow. Instagram is a distinct arena for eco-political communication and activism because of its visual focus and generally younger user base. Using a Discourse Network Analysis approach, we analyse 2417 posts to examine relationships and alignments across imagery, discourses, and actors. Instagram serves as a space to articulate critical counter-discourses of climate justice, Indigenous rights, and individual action as a response to perceived failures of COP processes and formal agreements. At the same time, images of celebrities and politicians structure much of the Instagram discourse network. This highlights how Instagram contributes to a celebritization of climate politics, with individual political actors positioned as climate heroes or villains.

Regional socialization and disarmament preferences: Explaining state positions on the nuclear ban treaty

ABSTRACT We bring nuance to the understanding of cleavages among states over the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). We measure the positions of the participants to the 2022 and 2023 TPNW Meetings of State Parties, employing text-as-data approaches. Our results show that the participants can be placed along a single axis, roughly associated with whether they view nuclear disarmament in an “old” way as primarily a security problem or in a “new” way as a humanitarian and emancipatory issue. We find that membership in a nuclear weapon-free zone—particularly in Latin America and Africa—has a statistically significant effect on state positions. We therefore debunk the idea that parties to the nuclear ban treaty are a coherent single block. Our article provides a new, quantitative way of measuring the positions of states vis-à-vis the TPNW and contributes to the emerging scholarship on the treaty.

Has process hijacked purpose? Outlook on food systems transformation in the global climate change processes

There has been growing interest in the Conference of Parties (COPs) meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in food systems, which account for a third of global emissions and are heavily impacted by climate change. While there has been much rhetoric about the need for transformation at recent COPs, we examine whether this solely remains at the level of rhetoric and ambition or is likely to deliver the climate action that is needed. Based on literature, documentation of UNFCCC meetings, and our own participation, we observe that progress in the past on agriculture has been extremely slow and has led to limited action, while the recent verbiage on food systems has not been matched by significant progress in the negotiations. The urgent action needed is not realised through the UNFCCC processes. New and radically different ways to catalyse action are needed, and the UNFCCC process urgently needs reform as part of wider multilateral reforms. We propose that the scale of the COPs is reduced and that the focus shifts to the results delivered through rigorous evaluation, accountability and transparency, and a shift towards less consensus-based approaches to drive action and ambition.

Learning from climate change news: Is the world on the same page?

Climate change challenges countries around the world, and news media are key to the public's awareness and perception of it. But how are news media approaching climate change across countries? With the problem of climate change and its solution being global, it is key to determine whether differences in climate change news reports exist and what they are across countries. This study employs supervised machine learning to uncover topical and terminological differences between newspaper articles on climate change. An original dataset of climate change articles is presented, originating from 7 newspapers and 3 countries across the world, and published in English during 26 Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). Three aspects are used to discriminate between articles, being (1) countries, (2) political orientations, and (3) COP meetings. Our results reveal differences with regard to how newspaper articles approach climate change globally. Specifically, climate change-related terminology of left-oriented newspapers is more prevalent compared to their right-oriented counterparts. Also, over the years, newspapers' climate change-related terminology has evolved to convey a greater sense of urgency.

Październik 1956 roku w Wyższej Szkole Ekonomicznej w Sopocie i Wyższej Szkole Pedagogicznej w Gdańsku

The Higher School of Economics in Sopot and the Higher School of Pedagogy in Gdansk were universities established just after World War II and strongly ideologized in the 1950s. The purpose of this article is to reconstruct the events that took place during the October transition at both universities and also to identify the changes these events led to at party meetings. The introduction discusses the history of the WSE in Sopot and the WSE in Gdansk from the time of their establishment until 1956 and outlines the elements of ideological pressure applied to employees and students. An analysis of the minutes of university bodies (staff meetings, Senates) and party bodies at the universities (POP and KU PZPR) and above the universities (KM PZPR in Sopot, KW PZPR in Gdansk), memoirs of students and employees, and newspaper articles were used to achieve the goal. The changes that took place at the universities were primarily concerned with democratization, greater openness in discussion (while remaining faithful to broad Marxist ideology), changes in the conceptual instrumentarium and criticism of both the USSR and national and university authorities. Virtually all groups comprising the WSE and WSP academic community were involved in the 1956 changes, albeit to varying degrees and in different forms. Employees were more involved at meetings of university and party committees, while students were involved at rallies and in the forums of youth organizations.

On the agenda of party meetings

Tema članka je Katolička crkva na sjednicama Centralnog komiteta Saveza komunista Hrvatske i njegova Predsjedništva u razdoblju od 1979. do 1988. U tom je vremenu o Katoličkoj crkvi raspravljano na više od četrdeset raznih sjednica, plenuma i sastanaka. O tim raspravama javnost nije informirana zbog ustaljene prakse da Savez komunista ne vodi javni dijalog sa svojim protivnicima. Za »dijalog«, odnosno službeni odnos bile su zadužene partijske transmisije, državne u vidu komisija za odnose s vjerskim zajednicama, te političke u vidu odbora za društvena pitanja religije Socijalističkog saveza radnog naroda Hrvatske. Cilj članka je dvojak, dati prilog proučavanju načina na koji je stvarno funkcionirao politički sustav u samoupravnom socijalizmu na primjeru odnosa prema najvećoj vjerskoj zajednici u Republici i najvećem ideološkom protivniku, Katoličkoj crkvi. Druga pobuda je bila istražiti u kojoj se mjeri Predsjedništvo CK SKH, kao najvažniji centar politički moći i središnje tijelo vlasti u Socijalističkoj Republici Hrvatskoj, bavilo Katoličkom crkvom od 1979. do 1988. godine.

Воспитание идеального коммуниста: дискурс о партийных собраниях в 1960-е гг.

The article examines the portrayal of party meetings based on the materials of instructional brochures of the 1960s. These pamphlets were addressed primarily to rank-and-file party members, factory workers or workers on collective farms. It should be noted that the 1960s saw an increase in the publication of such texts covering meetings. It was probably connected with the growth in the number of party members after Stalin's death. The entry of workers and collective farmers into the CPSU, as well as the parallel process of de-Stalinization, required party ideologists to convey to new communists the principles and rules of functioning of party organizations. The textbooks of the brochures did not represent real meetings as much, but rather created an ideal meeting. This was done to give the party’s members meeting an educational function. When analyzing the brochures, we can distinguish three main aspects of the construction of such ideal meetings: a description of their basic functions, criticism of certain shortcomings in their organization and conduct, and the educational component itself. The first aspect, a description of the functions of assemblies, largely echoed the party discourse of the Thaw era, that the CPSU had returned to "Leninist norms" of intra-party life and portrayed the assembly as a space of grassroots democracy. The second aspect, criticism of the shortcomings of the assemblies, also lay within the peculiarities of the Soviet political language. Within its framework, criticism was never meant to question the basic aspects of the system, but it was welcome to criticize some of its imperfections or individual party members who deviated from the accepted norms. When addressing the aspect of education in the texts of the brochures, the author of the article came to the conclusion that the main content of the education of a communist is not even the moral character of a Party member, but above all his attitude to labor. Party ideologues sought to influence the workers, and through arguments about what was acceptable to the communists, called on party members to strengthen mutual control over labor discipline at work.

ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТЬ ПОЛИТОТДЕЛА 4-ГО ГВАРДЕЙСКОГО ТАНКОВОГО КОРПУСА ПО ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЮ НАСТУПАТЕЛЬНЫХ ОПЕРАЦИЙ (ЯНВАРЬ – ФЕВРАЛЬ 1945 ГОДА)

The purpose of the study is to reveal, on the basis of archival documents, the forms and methods of party-political work in units of the 4th Guards Tank Corps in the period from January to February 1945. In their studies, historians focus on the combat path of the 4th (17th) Guards Tank Corps, determine its important role in the liberation of Kantemirovka, Voronezh region in 1942-1943. At the same time, there are not many scientific works that show the further advancement of the Corps and the party-political work carried out in it. The methodology of the research includes the analysis of archival documents (TsAMO fund 3402 - 4th Guards Tank Corps). Working with archival materials from the war years involves several key stages (identification of materials, assessment of their quality and reliability, analysis and interpretation of data) and principles: historicism, complexity and reliability. When working with sources, the emphasis was on the time frame of the topic being studied. This approach is based on the critical method in assessing the reliability of the data being studied. The political department played an important role in maintaining the morale and political conscious-ness of the personnel. The object of the study is to explore the features of the organization of the work of the political department, as well as party and Komsomol organizations, using the example of the 4th Guards Tank Corps in the period from January to February 1945. The result of the study is the definition of the main forms and methods of work of the Political Department of the 4th SCC. The main ones among them were the creation of party schools, the formation of company party organizations and the selection of communists and Komsomol members, mentors. Active work was carried out with the party personnel, acquaintance of new recruits with the heroism of the guardsmen and the history of the unit. In addition, there were organized comradely matches with order bearers. There was training in reading the oath of the Kantemirovsky guardsmen in front of the formation and a general transfer of combat experience. As group events, there were held party meetings and rallies, the exploits of fighters and officers were popularized through "lightning leaflets", the active functioning of the corps newspaper "On Storming the Enemy" was practiced, the work was organized to implement the growth of party ranks. Before the battles, the party political apparatus of the Corps had the task of ensuring a high offensive impulse of personnel, the successful solution of combat missions. In each tank crew, calculation, section there were communists or Komsomol members who ensured the implementation of party-political work in the units, by personal example inspired personnel into battle.

Minutes of Party Meetings of the Sarapul Raid of the “Kamlesosplav” Trust as a Source on the History of Water Transport

Minutes of Party Meetings of the Sarapul Raid of the “Kamlesosplav” Trust as a Source on the History of Water Transport

The role of digital technologies in global climate negotiations

Digital technologies are increasingly used in global climate negotiations to enhance interaction and participation. However, global climate negotiations are characterized by paradoxes and tensions that complicate the resolution of the problem. Thus, the use of digital technologies can only be effective if orchestrated with an understanding of underlying global climate negotiations paradoxes. The objective of this paper is to identify research needs related to the intersection of global climate negotiations, paradoxes, and the use of digital technologies. We propose a research agenda based on paradoxes of global climate negotiations at different levels of online interaction. Two streams of research inform our research agenda: paradox theory and research on online communities. We illustrate our reasoning by discussing digital support for the United Nation's Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings for climate negotiations. The research agenda contributes to the digital governance field by sensitizing the community of the underlying paradoxes in global governance. The combination of online communities research and paradox theory offer novel guidance on complexity and potential challenges when applying digital technologies in global climate negotiations. Our research agenda can be used to develop appropriate response strategies as it highlights challenges in need of attention.

Making Women Count: an Appraisal of Women-centered Policies of Nigeria Political Parties

This article examines the effectiveness of various policies and strategies aimed at promoting women’s participation in politics in Nigeria, implemented by advocacy groups, international organizations, political parties, and the Nigerian government. Despite the legal right of women to engage in politics and governance, cultural beliefs have hindered their active involvement in politics, leading to inadequate representation of women in politics. By liberal feminist theory, the study evaluates women’s responses to these initiatives, the challenges encountered in implementing them, and how political parties can enhance their effectiveness. The article suggests that legislative reform is necessary to enable women to achieve equal status to men in society, which will boost women’s political participation. Furthermore, it argues that Nigeria’s political parties have not done enough to encourage women’s participation in politics. Hence, political parties should establish a welcoming and inclusive environment accommodating women’s needs. To achieve this, political parties should organize party meetings at convenient and accessible times and places for women, eliminate obstacles that impede women’s par-ticipation in politics, develop gender-sensitive training programs to enhance women’s confidence and skills, and establish mentoring programs to support potential women candidates in navigating the political landscape.

Ecological risk assessment in the southern Indian Ocean: Towards better seabird bycatch mitigation

Abstract Fisheries bycatch has been identified as the most serious threat to many seabird species and there is an increasing awareness of the responsibility of fisheries management bodies to include the impact on non‐target species in their management and regulatory frameworks. In 2022, an ecological risk assessment (ERA) for seabirds and fisheries was presented to the Scientific Committee of the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA). This ERA identified 32 seabird species that regularly occurred in the SIOFA Area, of which 11 were determined as being at high risk. This high‐risk group included 10 albatross species that have the greatest likelihood of interacting with SIOFA managed fisheries in Subareas 1, 2 and 3b (west of 40° E) where they overlap with the pelagic longline fishery. Although the pelagic longline fishery for Ruvettus pretiosus is the largest fishery under the auspices of SIOFA, in terms of catch and number of vessels, the existing management measures of SIOFA focused on demersal fisheries and did not include any mitigation requirements for pelagic longlines. In response to the outcomes of the ERA, a proposed amendment to SIOFA's management measures was presented by France to the Meeting of Parties of SIOFA and led to the revision of SIOFA's seabird bycatch mitigation measures in respect of pelagic longlines, making them consistent with those agreed by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission. Regulatory diffusion, the increased likelihood of adoption of regulation by one agency if that regulation has been adopted by another agency, contributed to the relatively rapid transition from the identification of the risk posed by pelagic longline vessels to the change in regulations to address those risks in SIOFA.

Identifying species likely threatened by international trade on the IUCN Red List can inform CITES trade measures

Overexploitation is a major threat to biodiversity and international trade in many species is regulated through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). However, there is no established method to systematically determine which species are most at risk from international trade to inform potential trade measures under CITES. Here, we develop a mechanism using the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species to identify species that are likely to be threatened by international trade. Of 2,211 such species, CITES includes 59% (1,307 species), leaving two-fifths overlooked and in potential need of international trade regulation. Our results can inform deliberations on potential proposals to revise trade measures for species at CITES Conference of the Parties meetings. We also show that, for taxa with biological resource use documented as a threat, the number of species threatened by local and national use is four times greater than species likely threatened by international trade. To effectively address the overexploitation of species, interventions focused on achieving sustainability in international trade need to be complemented by commensurate measures to ensure that local and national use and trade of wildlife is well-regulated and sustainable.

Achieving the sustainable development goals through net zero emissions: Innovation-driven strategies for transitioning from incremental to radical lean, green and digital technologies

This work adopts a resource-based view for strategically managing firms’ tangible and intangible resources based on lean and green philosophies to explore the role of digital technologies in achieving NZE and the SDGs.This research outlines three contemporary issues. First, it assesses the theory-driven approaches and real-world datasets from conference of parties (COP) meetings. Second, adopting the VRIO (Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, Organized) framework, 25 identified digital technology-based values are obtained by digitalization-based integrated lean-green approaches that may enable manufacturing firms to pursue SDGs via net-zero emissions. Four scenarios of digital technology adoption and integration level of lean and green manufacturing pathways are proposed, differentiated by the degree of radical/ incremental interests in innovation and sustainable advantage types. Third, the study highlights that the achievement of NZE by SDGs may be possible only by adopting digital technologies and high-level integration of lean and green.

Climate Refuges in Nigeria for Oil Palm in Response to Future Climate and Fusarium Wilt Stresses.

The detrimental stresses of future climate change are well known and decisions are required to reduce their effects. Climate and disease stresses cause severe damage to plants and it is essential to understand how they will respond. Oil palm (OP) is an Fusarium important crop for many countries. The palm originated in Africa, where palm oil is produced in the largest amount within the continent by Nigeria. OP becomes stressed by climate change and wilt, a devastating disease of OP in Africa. Previous methods to determine the suitability of future climate on OP in continents and whole countries were applied to Nigeria, which is the first time an individual country has been assessed in this manner. Climate maps of Nigeria were divided equally into 16 regions from north to south and east to west to determine the future suitable climate for growing OP. CLIMEX and narrative modelling were used to determine suitability for growing OP and Fusarium wilt incidence for current time and 2050. Maps from published papers were employed directly thereby facilitating the procedure. A distinct latitudinal increasing trend from north to south in suitable climate was observed, which was unexpected. A decreasing longitudinal trend from west to east was also observed. These differences in suitable climates may allow refuges for OP in the future. The growth of OP in the south of Nigeria may be largely unaffected by climate change by 2050, unlike the north. The procedures allow policy decisions at state and national levels to be made from empirical data, which do not otherwise exist. States with low amounts of OP and where the climate deteriorates greatly, could usefully be abandoned. Other low palm oil producers, where the climate does not deteriorate greatly, could be encouraged to develop OP. Little requires to be done in the high producing states where the climate does not deteriorate. In all cases, the environmental impacts require thorough assessment. Climate change requires reduction as indicated in recent Conference of the Parties meetings.

Conference of the Parties Meetings as Regularly Scheduled Critical Events for Global Climate Governance: Reflecting on COP 26 and the Glasgow Climate Pact

In this commentary, we reflect on COP26, its outcomes, and the UNFCCC processes. While the value and results of COP meetings are often contested by researchers and activists, we highlight three areas that deserve more attention in post-COP assessments. First, the COP process creates an arena where state leaders, researchers, climate activists, and private actors regularly meet, which facilitates cooperation over time. Second, COP meetings are sites of parallel multi-level games that often result in bilateral or multilateral side agreements or initiatives. Third, COP meetings are regularly scheduled critical events, where social movements and civil society actors shape the public discourse around climate change. Our brief analysis illustrates there is still an urgent need for COP meetings as spaces that provide transparency for global climate governance, as well as media and public visibility for civil society voices, which would otherwise be lost.

Chernovye stenogrammy regional'nyh partijnyh soveshchanij kak znachimyj istoricheskij istochnik (po materialam Kirovskogo obkoma VKP(b) 1952 g.)

The article discusses the possibility of using draft transcripts of regional party meetings as a historical source in the study of the post-war history of the USSR. For the fi rst time, archival primary sources introduced into scientifi c circulation refl ect the prevailing clan system in the political leadership of the Kirov region in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Methodological challenges in assessing loss and damage from climate-related extreme events and slow onset disasters: Evidence from India

Estimations of losses and damages (L&Ds) from climate-related extreme events and slow-onset disasters have received significant attention in all the Conference of Parties (CoP) meetings in the last two decades, particularly after the CoP-13 held in Bali in 2007. Society incurs two types of L&D, i.e., economic and non-economic, and the latter is mostly found ignored in L&D assessment reports, because it cannot be estimated directly, either in pecuniary or non-pecuniary terms. While the financial part of L&Ds has taken centre stage in international negotiations, estimations of ex-ante and ex-post L&Ds could assist policymakers in assessing unavoided and unavoidable L&Ds, provide inputs to demand compensation, insurance, and risk management options, and facilitate further progression of L&D scholarship. Although the computation of L&Ds is imperative, a few estimations are available from developing nations, including India, because of a lack of clarity in the existing definition, methods and several limitations associated with estimating L&Ds. Hence, this paper points out methodological issues that emerged while assessing post-disaster L&Ds in India from extreme events and slow-onset disasters, particularly cyclonic storms, floods, and droughts. This study, on the one hand, provokes scholarly communities and policymakers to address these methodological gaps to further increase the number of L&D studies, and on the other hand, furnishes suggestions to redefine L&D and to improvise estimation methods, so that both economic and non-economic L&D indicators may be covered to a large extent.

Mathematical Modeling and Review of Pine Wilt Disease

Pine Wilt Disease (PWD), caused by the pinewood nematode (PWN) Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, causes significant losses in coniferous forests in eastern Asia, including Japan, China, and South Korea, as well as western Europe, including Portugal. The results of the research papers given at the International Symposium on Pine Wilt Disease (IUFRO Working Party Meeting 4.04.03) in Nanjing, China, in July 2009 are summarized in this article. The basic themes discussed included pine wilt disease (PWD), the pinewood nematode (PWN) Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, and other PWN-associated microorganisms that play a significant role in PWD, such as bacteria (e.g., Pseudomonas fluorescens). The majority of the papers are based on PWD-PWN research in East Asia and Russia. The following are some of the specific topics covered: 1) fundamental concepts of PWD development, 2) pathogenicity, 3) host-parasite relationships, including histopathology of diseased conifers and the role of toxins from bacteria-nematode ecto-symbionts, 4) PWN life cycle and transmission, 5) B. xylophilus dissemination models, 6) associations (with other nematodes), 7) diagnostics, 8) quarantine and control of the PWN and 9) biocontrol of the PWN.