Relative Prosperity Research Articles

Policy Learning for National Advantage and Sovereign Governance in Non‐Western Contexts: Comparing Public Management Reforms in Azerbaijan, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan

ABSTRACTPolicy transfer literature as a strand within policy studies highlights “national context” as crucial to understanding processes of transfer, convergence, and diffusion across contexts. While the policy transfer framework associated with it more specifically identifies “facilitators” and “constraints” of such national context as key to international policy learning based on doctrines such as NPM (New Public Management) and the like, policy scholars and practitioners have been struggling not only with the puzzle of “who learns what from whom” but also “how are policy lessons learned?” Based on these underpinnings, this paper attempts to compare public management reforms in Azerbaijan, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan, three “upper/middle‐income” countries situated respectively in South Caucasus, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia, which share in common features including post‐Soviet/post‐colonial legacy, relative economic prosperity, and Muslim‐majority populations. Relying on the policy transfer framework and ethnographic empirical research in Baku, Kuala Lumpur, and Astana during July 2022 to August 2023, the findings reveal an increasing “creativity” of these regimes in terms of adopting “policy learning” to fit their “sovereignty” agenda, often masking their autocratic nature and likely causing policy communication gaps between political principals, bureaucrats, and the citizenry. The latter coupled with evidence of an increasing influence of ethno‐religious dynamics on reform implementation might as well be interpreted as transfer constraints likely to undermine the effectiveness of lesson‐learning based on global administrative doctrines in order to sustain their national competitive advantages in the long run.

Greek Poetry in a Multicultural Society: Sicily and Salento in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Abstract In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, southern Italy experienced a period of relative political stability and economic prosperity under the Normans as well as the Hohenstaufen dynasty that succeeded them. These cultural conditions fostered a cultural resurgence, which included the composition of Greek poetry. Poets in Sicily wrote from within a multicultural context, including the presence of Arabic- and Latin-speaking communities. Many of their poems illustrate the generative intersections between the Byzantine-Constantinopolitan, Latin, and Arabic traditions. Later in Salento, poetry was written in a rather closed Greek-speaking, Orthodox society. Comparing Greek poetry from Sicily and Salento shows some differences between composition in the two regions. Whereas Sicilian poetry includes especially creative narrative poems, composed for the rich and sophisticated courts of the island, the Salentine poetry bears the stamp of the schoolroom. In fact, most poems from both Sicily and Salento survive in manuscripts that can be traced to a pedagogical environment. While the circulation of these poems was limited to their surrounding regions, their literary sophistication betrays remarkable creativity and the multicultural conditions of composition, further evidence of the vitality of Greek literary culture far from the heartland of the Byzantine Empire.

Embracing Liberalism’s Complexity

ABSTRACT Liberalism offers communities an eclectic set of core values and diverse institutions that may improve the chances that people with varying beliefs and life goals can live and work together in relative peace and prosperity. Yet liberal democracy is under threat, once again. Anti-liberal populists on the right and radicals on the left both dismiss core civil and political rights, but for different reasons: unrealistic expectations for moral consensus or equality of outcomes, respectively. Similarly, too many self-described liberals act illiberally, allowing their enthusiasm for a particular cause to justify sacrificing other core values. This essay has three purposes: (1) to counter recurring forecasts of the death of liberalism; (2) to clarify that liberalism’s normative, political, and institutional diversity has proven essential to its survival thus far; and (3) to suggest ways in which liberalism’s diversity may be further enriched by incorporating polycentric governance and other aspects of institutional analysis as developed by Elinor and Vincent Ostrom.

Research on the Development Trend and Evolution of the Chinese Animation Industry

Although China's animation industry has developed vigorously everywhere, but there has been no period of relative prosperity. On the contrary, China's animation industry has been in a situation of not rising, and the similarities and differences between domestic animation works and animation before and after decades are neither accidental nor coincidental. The animation industry in Europe, the United States, Japan, and other places have been vigorously developed. Their development is not overnight, including the innovative reform of the animation industry and completely free play mode, so that the United States and Japan animation has become the benchmark for the quality of animation works in the world. As a result of this phenomenon, China's animation industry is closely related to the national system, policy, market, and other factors. The reform of the talent training system is an important aspect, and national policy support is also a key link, and the most fundamental is artistic innovation. As a rising star, the animation industry is playing an increasingly important role in the global cultural industry. We should take advantage of the opportunity to develop the animation industry vigorously with Chinese characteristics. We should try our best to eliminate all adverse factors in the development of animation, adapt to the global development trend, quickly form a positive interaction between the government and the industry and the market, creators and audiences, achieve the revitalization of China's animation industry, and challenge high-quality animation from Europe, the United States, Japan, and other foreign countries.

Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities Exist in Patients Pursuing Peanut Oral Immunotherapy

BackgroundOral immunotherapy (OIT) is a promising treatment for food allergy. Prior studies demonstrate significant differences among food allergic individuals across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic groups. Disparities in OIT have not been evaluated. ObjectiveWe assessed disparities in the use of OIT in patients with peanut allergy based on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status at a single academic medical center. MethodsWe identified 1028 peanut allergic patients under 18 years of age receiving care in the University of Michigan food allergy clinics. 148 patients undergoing peanut OIT (treatment group) were compared to the 880 patients avoiding peanut (control group). Pertinent demographic and socioeconomic characteristics were compared. ResultsThere were no differences in gender or ethnicity between the OIT and control groups. However, Black patients comprised 18% of the control group but only 4.1% of the OIT treatment group (p<0.0001). The proportion of patients with private insurance was significantly higher in the treatment group compared to control group, 93.2% vs 82.2% (p=0.0004). Finally, the Neighborhood Affluence Index, a Census-based measure of the relative socioeconomic prosperity of a neighborhood, was significantly higher in the OIT group vs. the control group (0.51±0.18 vs 0.47±0.19) (p=0.015), while the Neighborhood Disadvantage Index, a Census-based measure of the relative socioeconomic disadvantage of a neighborhood, was significantly lower (0.082±0.062 vs 0.10±0.093) (p=0.020). ConclusionSignificant racial and economic disparities exist at our institution between peanut allergic individuals who receive OIT and those who do not. Efforts to understand the basis for these disparities are important to ensure patients have equitable access to OIT.

The Epidemic Situation of Tularemia in Karelia at the Present Time

Tularemia is a natural focal infection, characterized by the ability to maintain epizootic and epidemic potential for decades and periodically become more active. Since 2016, an increase in the incidence of tularemia has been observed in the Republic of Karelia.Aims. To evaluate the epidemiological situation with tularemia in the Republic of Karelia to determine the directions of preventive work in modern conditions.Conclusions. Analysis of the epizootic and epidemiological situation regarding tularemia in the Republic of Karelia demonstrates the possibility of intensifying the epizootic process after decades of relative prosperity. The increase in the incidence of the population was not only the result of the activation of natural foci of infection, but also of improved diagnosis of the disease and change in tactics for using vaccines in areas enzootic for tularemia.

Sour grapes and sweet harmony: Historicizing collective action problems in the South African wine industry

AbstractThe article addresses how merchants and wine producers interacted while oscillating between competition and collaboration in their internal relations. Spanning a period of more than a century, it addresses three chronological periods: 1900–1940, 1940–1994, and 1994 to the present. In the first, producers were able to forge a common front against the merchants in the shape of the Koöperatieve Wynbouwers Vereniging van Suid-Afrika, which was granted devolved regulatory powers over distilling wine in 1924 and then all wine in 1940. In the second, the antagonism between good and distilling producers was sublimated at a time of relative prosperity, while the merchants engaged in fierce competition. In the final phase, the regulatory system imploded while the export market re-emerged. Quality producers found common ground in appealing to terroir, whereas marginal producers supplied merchants and supermarkets with low-priced bulk wines.

Impact of socioeconomic prosperity and race on crowdfunding success

PurposePrior research treated entrepreneurs’ actions as purely opportunistic and voluntary, excluding social and economic systems’ influence on entrepreneurial actions. However, the applications of communication strategies, project management and social network are anchored in socioeconomic systems in which the entrepreneurs are rooted. To address the gap, this study aims to articulate – through the prism of institutional theory – how restaurant crowdfunding (CF) success is affected by socioeconomic prosperity according to entrepreneurs’ race and geographic area.Design/methodology/approachThe current study analyzed 2,008 restaurant CF projects launched in the USA through the Kickstarter platform from 2010 to 2020. By conducting one-way analysis of variance and multilevel mixed-effect logistic regression models, this study examined the relative socioeconomic prosperity and CF success according to the race of the restaurant entrepreneurs. The study also examined how socioeconomic prosperity affected CF success and how that relationship was moderated by the entrepreneurs’ level of restaurant experience.FindingsThis study finds that relative socioeconomic prosperity and CF success does differ according to race. Also in the CF context, lower socioeconomic prosperity does impede fundraising success. While the level of restaurant experience significantly increased an entrepreneur’s CF success, the impact was not so significant as to overcome the impact of socioeconomic prosperity.Research limitations/implicationsDrawing on institutional theory, this study examines the impact of socioeconomic prosperity on CF project outcomes. By uncovering the significant impact of socioeconomic systems on CF success, this study fills the research gap. Previous studies have generally treated minority entrepreneurs as an aggregated form. The authors’ results extend the literature by including major ethnic groups – whites, African Americans and Asians.Practical implicationsThe findings of the current study show restaurant entrepreneurs can raise the likelihood of CF success by doing two things: first, accumulate experience in the restaurant industry; second, use their CF websites to highlight testimonials about the value of that experience. Federal, state and local governments can institute policies to help improve racial minorities’ socioeconomic conditions and thereby promote startups’ fundraising success.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to examine unexplored institutional effect on CF outcomes. It examines how and why socioeconomic factors affect minority entrepreneurs’ funding success. It compares the prosperity and CF success of white, African American and Asian entrepreneurs.

Care and domestic work through crises. Juggling with space and time in Athens

The paper discusses changing conditions of care and domestic work in Greece in the context of the ongoing health crisis, which follows a long period of successive and simultaneous crises (financial, social, pandemic, refugee, war) and extreme neoliberal policies implemented to control them. The focus is on the burden that women (have to) assume in conjunctures which reinstate care (and domestic work) as “women’s work”, with particular emphasis in the periods of “lockdown” adopted by the government in order to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The general overview is supported by research in Athens and material from interviews with women who juggle with space and time as they struggle to care for the self and for others while adhering to personal goals and aspirations, as well as to the “social benefits” of previous decades of relative prosperity.

The “Outing” of Lethality: Using “Lethality” to Legitimize Military Violence in Israel

ABSTRACT Since the early 2000s, military violence has been legitimized using consumer marketing practices, particularly microtargeting. This responsive strategy invites various audiences to interpret military violence and thereby become its legitimation agents. The lethality concept recently adopted by the IDF has been central to such a strategy. Communicated in a deliberately vague manner, lethality served as an effective mechanism for legitimizing violence by allowing competing and dynamic interpretations, aligned with the values and interests of different social groups. The present study examined this mechanism by analyzing readers’ comments on lethality-related news articles, and found it to be highly effective in achieving legitimacy by marking the concept’s ethical boundaries and the sectorial interests bound up with it. Following this dialogue with the public, the military chose to highlight the relation between lethality and the relative security calm and economic prosperity achieved in Israel, marketing the IDF as the “largest startup in the country.” This responsive strategy, however, compromises the democratic process by shifting the choice of strategic concepts from elected representatives onto a direct dialogue between the military and its favored legitimation agents. It also erodes the military’s apolitical status and has a heavy ethical, operational and moral price.

Genoa, Nebraska, Settlement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Development, Demise, and Those Who Remained

Genoa, Nebraska, Settlement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Development, Demise, and Those Who Remained

Leitha limestone from St. Margarethen (Austria) and Fertőrákos (Hungary) used in Slovakia as a natural stone

In Western Slovakia, especially in the Bratislava region and Trnava region, Leitha limestone of the Badenian (Langhian – early Serravalian) age from St. Margarethen in Austria was widely used for architectural articles and sculptures (200 realizations), alternatively a similar limestone from Fertőrákos in Hungary. 380 tombstones were identified only in Bratislava cemeteries. From the second half of the 17th century to the first half of the 20th century, the limestones were one of the most used in Slovakia due to their light dressing and relatively homogeneous appearance. The strongly porous coarse-grained to medium-grained the Leitha limestone has the appearance of sandstone and is composed of a predominance of red algae nodules over foraminifers, sea urchin, moss and shell fragments. The rhodoliths, pectenoids and oysters are scattered in the Leitha limestones up to a few cm size, which distinguish the limestone type from other the Leitha limestones and similar Sarmatian limestones. The limestone is dominated by rhodolithes in the St. Margarethen quarry and by bivalves and macroscopic quartz in Fertőrákos quarry. Porous limestones are exposed to weathering outdoors, leading to mass loss, flaking, sulphate efflorescence, black crusts from microscopic organisms and the colonization by lichens and mosses. The peak of limestone use for public buildings and sculptures was the years 1745 to 1780 (reign of Maria Theresa), and about 1880 to 1915, when there was relative prosperity and machine production began. The tombstones made of the Leitha limestones shifts to a peak between 1905 and 1925. In the 20th century, the Leitha limestones gave way to a competition from Czech decorative stones.

What is attractive rural landscape? Differences in the social and expert assessment of the changes in the rural landscape of the Carpathian region in Poland with regard to the need of its protection

Contemporary villages of the mountain region are subject to uncontrolled structural and spatial transformations, which cause deformation of centuries-old spatial systems of high cultural and natural value. The aim of the study is to confront the opinions of the inhabitants and experts regarding the condition of the cultural landscape of the villages in south-eastern Poland. This area belongs to the Carpathian region of Central Europe. The historical and economic conditions of the studied region, related to the functioning in the post-war period, and then its breakdown and the development of the free market economy, constitute an interesting background for the proposed research. Local communities still remembering the period of difficulties related to the period of systemic transformations, are currently experiencing a relative prosperity, many difficulties related to the period of systemic transformations, are currently experiencing a relative prosperity, which is also expressed in a completely new, previously unknown way of managing the landscape. Investments implemented in villages are associated by the inhabitants with the improvement of the standards and quality of life. They assess them rather positively. An expert assessment of these landscape transformations indicates their negative dimension and the risk of losing timeless values. The discrepancy in the assessment of experts and local residents creates difficulties in the protection of the rural landscape. Therefore, high-quality visual landscape features among rural residents is necessary from the point of view of its multi-faceted and effective protection. Local initiatives and actions in the field of industry policy should play a significant role in this respect by consolidating the images of a harmonious landscape in the public awareness.

The influx of irregular migrants as a challenge to security in Nigeria

The challenge of irregular migration has been a source of concerns to different countries, regional bodies and some international organizations. There is no doubt about the fact that irregular migration has political and security implications for host or destination countries. In most cases, irregular migration generates cross border crimes. This is essentially because the activities of individuals who engage in cross border crimes have been causing threats to the security of different nations. In Nigeria, it has been established that the porous borders and its relative economic prosperity compared to other West African countries have continued to attract many irregular migrants from the neighbouring countries. Over the years, in Nigeria, the government has been concerned on the effects of the high rate of cross border crimes in West Africa. Thus, the argument is that as a result of irregular migration Nigeria is witnessing cross border crimes, such as human trafficking, drugs trafficking, arms trafficking, child slavery, armed robbery, armed banditry, insurgency and other forms of conflicts. Also, it can be stated that as long as irregular migration continues to increase in Nigeria it will affect socio-economic and political development of the country. It is against this backdrop that this paper interrogates the influx of irregular migrants as a challenge to security in Nigeria.

Почвенный покров заповедников и национальных парков как отражение зонально-региональных особенностей территории Pоссии

The representation of the diversity of the main natural complexes of Russia in federal specially protected natural areas (SPNA) was assessed based on a comparison of their soil cover with the soil cover of territorial units of the Map of soil-ecological zoning of the Russian Federation (2019). A high representativeness in relation to the soil cover of the SPNA systems of the polar belt and a satisfactory one of the boreal belt was revealed. Moving southward, the representation of the diversity of natural complexes in the protected areas decreases markedly, taking the minimum values in the steppe and dry-steppe regions. In mountain protected areas the soil cover reflects the diversity of natural conditions of mountain soil provinces well and average, in most cases the soil cover of high mountains is well represented and significantly worse—of low mountains and the most fertile soils of the corresponding mountain provinces (soddy-calcareous, mountain chernozem-like, meadow-steppe). In spite of relative prosperity noted in the analysis at the level of soil zones (subzones), consideration at the level of plain soil provinces allowed revealing unfavorable regions in this respect. Six of the 14 plain soil provinces without SPNA are located in Western Siberia, where the flat relief, which determines the well-defined zonality of landscapes, allowed to trace the climatic trends of recent decades. This region has been chosen as a model to assess the need for additional SPNA due to climate change. Analysis of climatic trends in recent decades has revealed climatic changes most pronounced in the extreme climatic regions: the northern and southern flat soil zones (subzones). Moreover, in the coldest northern part of the region there is a maximum increase in air temperature, and in the arid southern part there is a maximum decrease in air humidity. The implementation of plans to create four new nature reserves in the south of Western Siberia will significantly increase the representativeness of the network of SPNA in relation to the soil cover and will optimize the state system of reference objects of background environmental monitoring.

Paristrion as Centre and Periphery: from Byzantine Border Province to Heartland of the Second Bulgarian Tsardom

In 1185, after a successful revolt against the Byzantine empire, the so-called second Bulgarian kingdom was established on the territory of the former province of Paradounavon/Paristrion, that had been the first area of settlement of the Bulgars who had crossed the Danube and established their state in 681, and had become a peripheral region of the Byzantine empire after the conquests of Tzimiskes and Basil II. Even before the 1185 revolt, however, Paristrion had already begun to develop an embryonal degree of self-consciousness, although not in a ‘national’ way, owing to its peculiar history and ethnic composition. During the course of the 9th–12th century it had experienced a constant influx of invaders from the north, many of whom had in the end settled, either forcibly or after reaching an agreement with the imperial authorities. Those mixobarbaroi, half-civilized barbarians (according to the Byzantine point of view) had gradually integrated with the local population, made of Bulgarians, Vlachs, and Byzantine soldiers, settlers and administrators coming from the various provinces of the empire. When the military presence on the Danube was strong the region prospered economically, and became integrated in a vast trade network managed by Cuman and Rus’ traders and raiders; but during the 12th century the empire gradually withdrew its troops and its interest in Paristion, and this relative prosperity began to diminish. Coupled with the remembrance, in popular traditions, of the past glory and abundance of the first Bulgarian empire, and with the increasing fiscal burden that oppressed the local traders, the Paristrians gradually became convinced that their future prosperity, much like at the time of the first Bulgarian kingdom, was in their independence from the empire. Once again, this peripheral region began the centre of an independent polity that traced its roots in the past Bulgarian kingdom, but exhibited also some radically different traits.

ХХІ ғасырдың басындағы Түркия мен Ресей арасындағы әскери қатынастардың кейбір астарлары

Today the Republic of Turkey and the Russian Federation have become influential actors in international relations in Eurasia and the Middle East. Over the past decade, both Turkey and Russia have achieved relative political stability and economic prosperity, which has increased the degree of interdependence between the two countries compared to the 90th year. At the same time, when Russia was experiencing difficulties in the transition to market relations, Turkey faced a number of economic and political crises. However, the growing economic strength not only contributed to the strengthening of bilateral ties, but also strengthened the desire of both countries to play an active role in the international arena. In this regard, the article examines in detail the significance and consequences of the increase in the level of relations between Turkey and Russia in the military-political sphere in recent years. The article does not ignore the political position of some leading states in relation to the relations of the two countries in the military sphere, the views of NATO on the actions of Turkey, of which it is a member

Modelling prejudice and its effect on societal prosperity

ABSTRACT Existing studies of the multi-group dynamics of prejudiced societies focus on the social-psychological knowledge behind the relevant processes. We instead create a multi-agent framework that simulates the propagation of prejudice and measures its tangible impact on prosperity. Levels of prosperity are tracked for individuals as well as larger social structures including groups and factions. We model social interactions using the Continuous Prisoner's Dilemma (CPD) and a new agent type called a prejudiced agent. Our simulations show that even modeling prejudice as an exclusively out-group phenomenon nonetheless generates implicit in-group promotion, leading to higher relative prosperity of a prejudiced population. This skew in prosperity is seen to be correlated to factors such as size difference between groups, and the fraction of prejudiced agents in a group. Our model is a step towards a deeper understanding of the origins, propagation, and ramifications of prejudice through simulative studies grounded in apt theoretical backgrounds.

Jeffrey L. Gould. Solidarity under Siege: The Salvadoran Labor Movement, 1970–1990.

Jeffrey L. Gould’s Solidarity under Siege: The Salvadoran Labor Movement, 1970–1990 is a fine-grained study of the working people at the heart of a little-known entrepreneurial success story in El Salvador when shrimp exports after 1960 came to generate one-third of the country’s export revenue and the port of El Triunfo swelled to over five thousand residents in 1970. This boom town proved an island of relative prosperity and peacefulness during the slide into an epic of popular insurgency, radical activism, and counterrevolutionary violence which saw eight thousand to eleven thousand civilians killed in 1980 alone (9). While facing arrests, raids, deaths, and threats, local unionists were spared large-scale killing because businesses and the military were making money while rebels and refugees used the port as a place of shelter and recuperation (21). “Among the more privileged in the country,” local workers were “politically conservative, sympathetic to management, and hostile...

Juliana Cummings, Medicine in the Middle Ages: Surviving the Times, Yorkshire and Philadelphia: Pen &amp; Sword Books, 2021, 197 pp., 16 pp. insert of b/w prints on glossy paper.

Abstract This account of late medieval medicine is unusual in being the first non-fiction book by the author of several historical novels set in the period, most recently of “a historical romance of Vlad the Impaler” (2020). Juliana Cummings has a long-standing fascination with her family’s history back to the time of Henry VII of England (1457–1509), when male ancestors fought in the king’s army, and with the medical perils people faced even in times of relative peace and prosperity. Responding to her treatment of medicine and mortality in novels and short stories, an editor from Pen &amp; Sword History reached out to Cummings and suggested she write this book. The aim is to instruct those who know little about medicine before the present day and to do so in a read­able fashion, with reliable background information about the development of medical knowledge since Greco-Roman times. Obviously, this is not a book for specialists, but a good gift for friends and relatives, especially younger ones who wonder what things were like in earlier times and how people managed to live through them. Hence the book’s subtitle, “Surviving the Times.”