Open Access Books

The official announcement of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative in September 2013 opened a new chapter, not only in the economic and political history of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), but also at least 60 other countries, including European ones. Therefore, the OBOR initiative can be considered as an instrument enabling greater Sino-European economic connectivity. There are a few different forms of high-level meetings, organized to create space for European-China discussions. The most significant are EU–China Summits, Asia–Europe Meeting (ASEM), and 16+1 Summits (China–Central Eastern Europe Initiative). The guiding documents, agreed during those events shape in a significant way, future political and economic relations. After September 2013, important conclusions, which are consistent with OBOR presumptions, were made. For example, the the EU–China discussion on a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) has started, EU–China Connectivity Platform, has been created. In October 2013, the Peoples Bank of China and the European Central Bank signed a bilateral local currency swap arrangement. Finally, at the beginning of 2016, China became the 67th member of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Despite those achievements, most of European Union’s (EU’s) countries represent different interests, what can hinder further developments. China’s B&R Initiative is undoubtedly a priority in Beijing’s foreign policy. European countries should make their best to capitalize on the opportunities it provides. It seems to be possible only if European countries would have a common position vis-à-vis Beijing.

Les contributions réunies dans le présent ouvrage ont été présentées lors d'une journée d'étude et de séances de recyclages organisées les 11, 18, 25 mai et 1er juin 1984 par la Faculté de droit des Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis. L'ensemble de ces manifestations a été essentiellement conçu à la suite de deux questions qui, pour l'instant, sous-tendent le rapport droit-psychiatrie : le dialogue entre juristes et psychiatres est-il possible ; quelle réforme apporter au droit des malades et déficients mentaux ? Les auteurs ont tenté, au niveau tant théorique que pratique, de fournir les éléments d'information et de réflexion susceptibles de contribuer à une meilleure compréhension d'un débat assurément difficile et qui demeure d'une grande actualité.

Published

Bridging analysis of political parties and political philosophy, Passions and Interests presents eight conceptual models of political parties with particular relevance to American democracy. Gerald Pomper, an internationally recognized scholar, asks three questions: What meanings are attributed to parties? Empirically, to what extent do American parties fit these concepts? How well do these different models serve democratic interests?The analysis encompasses a broad range of individuals, including party theorists from Michels to Downs, practitioners such as Martin Van Buren and Woodrow Wilson, and political philosophers from Burke to Lenin. Beginning with Madison's definition, Pomper views parties as varying combinations of passions and interests. He examines, both empirically and normatively, models of party as bureaucratic organization, governing caucus, cause advocate, ideological community, social movement, urban machine, rational officeseeking team, and personal faction.In further explorations, he analyzes these party models in the light of the historical record and empirical data on American voting behavior, then compares them to proposals for party reform in the United States. In conclusion, Pomper evaluates the contributions of U.S. political parties to democratic values and presents a program to strengthen the parties as institutions of American democracy."The growth of political parties and the extension of democracy proceed along parallel tracks," Pomper contends. "Competitive political parties facilitate, although they do not guarantee, a considerable measure of popular involvement, control, and policy determination. Without them, government is more likely to evidence authoritarianism, violence, and repression."

In 1966, seven years after the advent of the Cuban revolution, a new poetic group was born around the magazine El caimán barbudo, affiliated to the Communist Party of Cuba. Their writing is turbulent, original, combining adherence to the regime and playful distance. The evolution of freedom of expression in Cuba and the national and international repercussions of their works, will push some of them on the path of exile and dissidence, others to find a singular way on the island. In 1996, a final attempt to reunite the group through the pages of the Madrid-based journal Encuentro de la cultura cubana redraws their ties. Combining literary studies and social sciences, this book traces the untold history of this group during the second half of the twentieth century and analyzes the way in which literature reinvents itself according to the political upheavals.

This volume brings together a set of articles that aim to show how the texts written by European authors, strongly influenced by classical tradition, contributed to the definition and treatment of values and perspectives within a polyhedric cultural space across several centuries.

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The Russian Revolution was an explosion of mass democracy from below. It transformed the people who took part and inspired tens of millions across the world. Its global impact shook the capitalist system to its foundations and came close to bringing it down. But in the end, the revolutionary movement was destroyed by the most murderous counter-revolutionary terror in history. And because the real history of the revolution is so subversive of class rule everywhere – East, West, and South – it has been buried under a mountain of lies, distortions, and denials. This book sets out to nail every bogus argument about the Russian Revolution – from Tories, Stalinists, and sectarians – and to present the living reality of a mass movement of millions, organised in participatory assemblies, mobilised for militant action.

Die Modularisierung technischer Systeme bietet auf dem Gebiet der Mikrosystemtechnik im Bereich der Sensor- und Analysesysteme erhöhte Systemflexibilität bei sinkenden Herstell- und Entwicklungskosten. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt die Entwicklung, Realisierung und Charakterisierung aktorbasierter mikrooptischer Systeme anhand eines adaptiven Mach-Zehnder Mikrointerferometers in modularer Bauweise. Als Basis dient die LIGA-Technologie in Kombination mit kommerziellen Systemkomponenten.

Longtemps « le marché » a été le lieu public et visible des activités marchandes. Mais avec le développement du commerce, il devint invisible et abstrait. Se forme alors une grande confusion moderne : où le marché est pensé à la fois comme un équilibre naturel et comme un idéal utopique des échanges. Ce livre, issu d’un colloque de Cerisy, invite à rejeter les équivoques et les mythologies du « marché » car elles masquent la réalité et les mutations des activités marchandes. Explorations touj...

These proceedings represent a selection of some of the excellent papers and posters presented at the 45th annual Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) conference which was held in Atlanta, Georgia (USA). The theme of the conference, as reflected in the title of this volume, was “Digital Archaeologies, Material Worlds (Past and Present).” We chose this theme to highlight the varying ways in which digital archaeologies are now practiced and how these practices are leading to new and exciting ways to share our data with interested publics. The papers in this volume are divided into the following themes: GIS, Education and Dissemination, Databases and Collaborative Data Management, Networks and Modelling, and Virtual and Augmented Realities.

The content of this volume correspond to the desire to highlight the history of the re-founding of the University of Cagliari in the eighteenth century, through the publication of a series of documents related to the reform of university teaching, investigated both through the voice of one of the University's first and most illustrious professors, Liberato Fassoni, and in relation to the theme of book circulation and in particular to the bibliographic presences that characterize the eighteenth-century collection of the Scolopi Library. The investigations carried out show how unitary plots and connecting threads between the Library's layout and its most direct users can be reconstructed. On the occasion of the celebrations of the four hundredth anniversary of the founding of the University of Cagliari, it is worth emphasizing the importance of the sources presented, which show how articulate and complex the history of the University is and how much the eighteenth-century experience still offers.

The reprint focuses on artificial intelligence-based learning approaches and their applications in remote sensing fields. The explosive development of machine learning, deep learning approaches and its wide applications in signal processing have been witnessed in remote sensing. The new developments in remote sensing have led to a high resolution monitoring of ground on a global scale, giving a huge amount of ground observation data. Thus, artificial intelligence-based deep learning approaches and its applied signal processing are required for remote sensing. These approaches can be universal or specific tools of artificial intelligence, including well known neural networks, regression methods, decision trees, etc. It is worth compiling the various cutting-edge techniques and reporting on their promising applications.

Sustainable development and ecosocial work have become one of the most dynamic global debates of the social work profession. How can social work contribute to the sustainability transitions of European societies? Bringing together a diverse group of researchers from around the world, this book offers an analysis of the main theoretical insights on ecosocial work, the contribution of social work research to transdisciplinary research on sustainability and how social workers can already bring the ecological dimension into their daily practice. Incorporating new research evidence from the ASTRA project, the wide range of contributors dive deep into the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of ecosocial work, providing valuable insights for researchers, students, activists and practitioners.

The world today is at crossroads in terms of energy, as fossil fuel continues to shape global geopolitics. Alternative energy has become rapidly feasible, with thousands of wind-turbines emerging in the landscapes of the US and Europe. Solar energy and bio-fuels have found similarly wide applications. This book is a compilation of 13 chapters. The topics move mostly seamlessly from fuel combustion and coexistencewith renewable energy, to the environment, and finally to the economics of energy, and food security. The research and vision defines much of the range of our scientific knowledge on the subject and is a driving force for the future. Whether feasible or futuristic, this book is a great read for researchers, practitioners, or just about anyone with an enquiring mind on this subject.