Typology Of Countries Research Articles

Overview of research related to science in society in Europe

We have carried out a cross-sectional analysis of the information on research in the science in society (SiS) field collected by the Monitoring Policy and Research Activities on Science in Society in Europe (MASIS) project. Based on the reports set up by national correspondents in the different countries, we were able to provide a picture of the type of research being carried out in Europe under national funding. It has provided a new picture, bringing in countries that do not often appear in the mainstream literature. A typology of countries has been set up according to their activity in the area and a description of research topics is provided. A number of integrated projects, sometimes cross-national, that examine a topic from different angles appear to be particularly promising. Most available information concerned dedicated SiS research projects. Very little information was available on SiS research ‘embedded’ in projects centred on other ‘hard-science’ topics.

Is there a paradox of lower job satisfaction among trade union members? European evidence

In most of the literature on industrial relations, union members are found to be less satisfied with their jobs than non-members. Analysts have applied various statistical and econometric approaches to try to resolve what seems like a paradoxical finding, with mixed results, using theories based on selection bias and ‘exit-voice’ considerations. We review this literature, and note that most empirical studies are from only a few countries – especially the US and the UK. Analysis of a wider range of 18 countries participating in the large-scale European Social Survey in both 2006 and 2010 finds that trade union members generally tend to express higher rather than lower job satisfaction than others, although results differ by country. We use regression models (ordinal logistic) to show that union membership is generally associated with higher job satisfaction, even after controlling for individual, job and workplace differences. Attempts to link the union factor in job satisfaction to typologies of countries, either by welfare regime or extent of collective bargaining coverage, have not been able to address the puzzle of why a negative link persists in a few countries, but not in most.

Three Worlds of Social Insurance: On the Validity of Esping-Andersen's Welfare Regime Dimensions

Esping-Andersen developed a typology of welfare regimes: conservative, liberal and social democratic, which are measured on the basis of seven indicators. We re-examine Esping-Andersen's data as well as replication data compiled by Scruggs and Allan to show that the seven indicators do not form valid measures of these welfare regimes. In addition to divergences in their measurement, the seven indicators are a mixture of institutional characteristics of welfare systems and outcome measures of social stratification. A measurement model based on the five institutional characteristics of welfare regimes that pertain to social insurance, however, does fit both the original and replication data. This article therefore proposes a three-dimensional model of conservative and liberal social insurance, which treats universal insurance coverage as the third dimension, instead of Esping-Andersen's ‘socialist’ regime. Although this does not fundamentally alter the typology of countries, it has implications for previous studies that employ country scores based on Esping-Andersen's method as independent variables in causal models. To illustrate these implications, this article re-examines a study by Noël and Thérien and calls into question their conclusions on the causal connections between the social democratic welfare state and levels of foreign aid.

The Capacity Continuum: Tracking the Capacity of State Institutions in Driving Human Development

This paper examines the relationship between a state’s institutional capacity and human development. After analyzing human development trends since 1980 and the state’s role in helping to explain variance, the paper carries out a series of empirical exercises using a proxy variable for institutional state capacity — the Government Effectiveness Index (GEI) from the World Governance Indicators — and human development as measured by UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI). The panel data, which captures more than a decade of performance, suggests a strong, positive relationship between a state’s institutional capacity and its progress on human development. Plotting the data further reveals a ‘capacity continuum’ in which countries seem to follow a common trajectory over time. The data trends suggest that countries with low institutional capacity and low levels of human development struggle to escape the capacity-deficit trap. Conversely, states that boast high levels of human development and low levels of institutional capacity remain highly vulnerable to shocks and are oftentimes those hardest hit. The data trends also suggest that countries characterized by strong state institutions and high levels of human development are those that are most resilient and best able to withstand and manage shocks even during short-term downturns. Given the context-specificity and idiosyncratic nature of institutional change, the paper provides illustrations of the different typologies of countries along the capacity continuum. The investigation concludes by offering the capacity continuum as an analytical tool to support policymakers in their prioritization of policies and investments.

Food Security and Fossil Energy Dependence: An International Comparison of the Use of Fossil Energy in Agriculture (1991-2003)

The serious food crisis in 2007 has reinstated the issue of food security. In particular, it evokes an old set of questions associated with the sustainability of an adequate food supply: are we facing a systemic shortage of arable land for food production? How serious is the oil dependence of food security in relation to peak oil (the point in time when the maximum rate of global oil extraction is reached)? To answer these questions one has to study the role of technical inputs in agricultural production, especially those inputs generated from fossil energy (how much fossil energy is used? for which inputs? in relation to which tasks?). This paper provides a synchronic comparison—e.g., comparing the use of technical inputs in 21 countries belonging to different typologies, at a given point in time—and a diachronic comparison, e.g., comparing the use of technical inputs in the same sample of 21 countries, over a time window of 12 years (1991–2003). The results confirm the conclusions of previous studies and include the following: (i) current pattern of inputs use reflects the existence of different typologies of constraints in different typologies of countries. Wealthier countries must have a very high productivity of labor, whereas poor and crowded countries must have a very high productivity of land. Different technical inputs are used for different purposes: irrigation and fertilizers are used to boost yield per hectare; machinery and infrastructures to boost the productivity of labor; and (ii) when looking at the changes over the period of 12 years we see a constant and worrisome trend. The pattern of energy use in agriculture associated with the paradigm of industrial agriculture (High External Input Agriculture) has been simply amplified, by doing more of the same, with only minor adjustments in special countries. For those looking for a major transition toward a different pattern of production more focused on rural development, ecological compatibility and quality food, this is a reason for concern.

The childcare triad? indicators assessing three fields of child policies for working mothers in the EU-15

This paper compares EU-15 members' public policies to help women have children while pursuing a career: public childcare, maternity/paternity leave, childcare benefits. Parental leave is assessed from a very critical stance. Based on existing theoretical and empirical findings on the effects of child policies on female employment and on previously built indicators summarizing quantitative and qualitative early childhood data (2003), the paper (1) assesses countries' relative positions in each of the policy fields; (2) draws up a new country typology by showing which type of policy is most promoted and whether countries choose either one policy or sequentially/simultaneously implement a bundle of policies. Results suggest three groups of countries.

Pour le développement humain : “le beurre ou les canons ?”

In different countries, military spending, in favor of guns, seems to be favored over those for butter, that is, for human development. And it is the civilian populations who bear the brunt of it, suffering excess mortalities and left to the state of relative poverty. A typology of countries giving high priority to guns is established.

Constraints to expanding access to health interventions: an empirical analysis and country typology

AbstractThis paper adopts three approaches to classifying countries by level of constraint, in order to inform the choice of strategies for expanding access to health interventions in different contexts. We find substantial heterogeneity across the 84 low‐income and (all) sub‐Saharan African countries analysed. Poor sub‐Saharan African countries are the most highly constrained; Asian countries, in general, less constrained; and the two Asian giants, China and India, consistently fall above the median. Former Soviet Union countries rank low in terms of governance, but high for health systems variables. Only 10 per cent of the total population of the countries included lives in countries with the greatest constraints. The potential applications of the analysis are discussed, as are the limitations of the cross‐sectional, macro level approach. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Internationalization of communication a view on the evolution of scientific journals

Starting from a characterization of the level of internationalization of SCI journals, based on their authoring scope, the process of internationalization of scientific communication throughout the period 1981-97 is described. The growth of the classes of international journals at the expense of national-oriented ones, appears as a general trend in all disciplines. A kindred measure of internationalization at the country-level is proposed, based on the balance of country-authored publications between national-oriented and international-oriented journals. A typology of countries is sketched. The general trend towards internationalization is also clear at the country level. It can be generally interpreted as a positive evolution, with some exceptions as Russia in the recent period, where it appears together with the output decline, a counterpart of the disappearance of many journals from SCI. Some other examples of shocks with a covariation of internationalization and output are given. Country internationalization indexes also express the sensitivity of the country output indicators to the possible restriction of SCI sample to the international fraction. Considering evolutions of internationalization may be helpful for a comprehensive study of scientific long-term evolutions at the country level.

Science in the eighties: A typology of countries based on inter-field priorities

This paper seeks to compare the research priorities of thirty three countries in five macrofields (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Engineering & Technology) in two time spans: 1980–1984 and 1985–1989. Comparative analysis is based on the distribution of publications in different fields. Since the raw counts of publications are confounded by the size of the countries and the size of the subject fields, a relative index — Research Priority Index (PI) — is computed for cross-national comparisons. Correspondence analysis is applied to the asymmetrical matrices of priority profiles to reveal the structure of multivariate relationships between countries and fields. The configurations for the two time-spans, obtained through correspondence analysis, are compared to reveal the dynamics of research priorities of these countries.

Structure of international collaboration in science: Typology of countries through multivariate techniques using a link indicator

In this article patterns of international collaboration in science are investigated using a specific procedure to analyse data collected from theScience Citation Index. We develop an indicator based on the scientific linkages between countries established through internationally co-authored articles (COPs). The credibility, advantages and uses of this indicator are discussed. We apply the Correspondence Factorial Analysis method and the Minimum Spanning Tree classification to this indicator in order to observe the level of resemblance and the main characteristics of the collaboration structured by 98 countries in eight principal fields of science. The results shown summarize the diverse aspects of countries participating in collaborative works and bring into view the cognitive structure of international research. The use of these methods in the investigation of international collaboration contributes to the analysis of the complex structure of the scientific communities of different countries.

De la classification des partis politiques

This article is concerned with the epistemological and methodological problems related to the taxonomy of political parties whett based on noorganizational criteria.The study of parties represents a starting point for modern Political Science : i.e. the seminal researches of Bryce, Ostrogorski and Michels. However this important field of knowledge hasn't known that much progress since the classical Duverger's Political Parties. Why?Two kind of approaches are used in order to classify parties: individualistic versus holistic. «Individualistic classifications» often suffer from a lack of theoretical background. Same of them use a spurious criterium like party names : i.e. Radical means extreme-left in the USA and conservatism in Switzerland, secularist activism in Italy and evangelical left in the Netherlands etc.Some classifications are based on political platforms which is a meaningless criterium: «A general election campaign is about a choice between organizations, not ideas.» (Richard Rose) The third criterium is far better: policies really implemented by political parties. However when properly used it gives a typology of countries, not parties.«Holistic classifications» either functionnalist or marxist opposed each other : the first stressed on equilibrium, the latter on class warfare. One suggests Rokkan's four cleavages paradigm to classify parties : each side of a cleavage should correspond to a definite «Political Family».Which items to use in order to assess a party to a permanent cleavage line ? ( 1) The historical function performed by the party at its creation. (2a) The sociological structure of the party's : electorate, membership and inner group; (2b) The linkage structure between the party and a given network of pressure groups, movements and associations.

The socio-economic typology of countries and regionalization of the Earth

In this paper the author treats of the socio-economic typology and regionalization. He distinguishes 10 types of countries according to the national productivity (GNP), the proportion of industrial and agricultural production, the volume of foreign trade, the consumption of food-staffs, and the increase in the number of inhabitants. As a maximum number he distinguishes 13 macroregions of inhabited continents (oecumena). The table at the end of the paper includes their basic data. They are illustrated in the enclosed map. The next stage are regions, subregions being represented by states.

National Urbanization Policy in Developing Countries.

This report focuses on the need for national urbanization policy. First, it presents a worldwide perspective on urbanization and explains why the need for active urbanization policies is greater for developing countries than it was in the past for economies that are now developed. It then discusses the factors affecting national spatial development and gives a country typology for national urbanization strategies. It also covers the determinants of the growth of urban systems, touching on migration, rural-urban interaction, and the roles of transport and industrialization. Next, the current status of national urbanization policy is assessed. The report concludes with a discussion on appropriate national urbanization strategies. The appendices cover urbanization issues in Latin America and in large centrally planned economies, such as the Soviet Union and China.

Typology of Countries by Labor Force Participation Patterns

Comparative studies on labor force participation patterns between developed and underdeveloped countries could not be conducted on a large scale until recently because of a lack of data from underdeveloped countries. Most of the comparative studies done covered the field only partially from several points of view.1 A general overview of all the countries that have collected data on age-sex specific participation rates can be found only in the UN publication of 1962 which analyzes the results of male and female age-specific participation rates in the 1950 censuses.2 The substantive aim of the present study is an attempt to construct a classification system using the published data on the labor force participation patterns of various countries. From the methodological point of view, the aim is to point out some of the deficiencies of the data for comparative studies and to demonstrate the preference of a nonmetric multivariate method for such deficient data.

Country Typologies for the Multinational Corporation: A New Basic Approach

To group countries for purposes of designing alternative approaches to marketing, organization of subsidiaries, executive compensation and so on, by what criteria should the classification be determined? This article shows that intuitive pairing is often misleading and therefore may lead a firm to employ inappropriate strategies.