Knowledge,innovation and sustainability： The implementation of voluntary environmental policies in Greece： The case of environmental management systems

The paper focuses upon the issues of knowledge, innovation and sustainability concerning the implementation of voluntary environmental policies in Greece, and in particularly, through assessing the implementation of environmental management systems （EMS）. The first part of the paper refers to the theoretical background of EMS, presenting selected aspects from the approaches of the new economic geography and the new regionalism and from ecological modernization theory. In the second part, the implementation of EMS in Greece is highlighted, mainly focused on the profile of the enterprises, the sectoral and regional distributional pattern and the main problems during the implementation. The third part presents the main results of the empirical research on the impact of EMS implementation, concerning sustainability （e.g., water and energy savings, alternative renewable resources, sound waste management）, innovation （e.g., product or process innovation） and participation. The role of knowledge, during the process of implementation of EMS, is analyzed in the forth part of the paper. In the last part, recommendations for future policies are described, aiming at promoting strategies of EMS in urban areas and enchasing the role of local government.     

Characteristics of ＂East Turkistan＂ Terrorism and Future Prospects

The continuing threat of terrorism around the world has intensified interest in the perpetrators＇ characteristics to see whether a profile or type can be drawn from individual majority of today＇s terrorists features. Research has shown that a are young-to-middle-aged, male, psychological immature, insufficiently educated, and have a family of origin in which a religious atmosphere prevails. If motivations are studied, the studies find that individuals who commit extremist or violent terrorist acts are dissatisfied with the current situation but also convinced it can be successfully altered through their personal capability. Besides these factors of age, gender, education, and religion, a mastery of computers and the internet has been found to be a basic feature common to modern terrorists.1 The ＂East Turkistan＂ terrorists who instigated terrorist activities in recent years in Xinjiang and inland China closely resemble those of their international contemporaries. With access to the three sets of reports from the Ministry of Public Security of China and information from cases tried by national courts in 2013, this article analyzes the relationship between common individual features and terrorist activities, and estimates developments of ＂East Turkistan＂ terrorism.     

Normative Stakeholder Theory in Local Public Services in Italy： Ethical Profiles and Effectiveness Management

It is well-known that stakeholder theory plays a unique role among management theories due to its focus on the moral foundations of business. Under this theory, managers should always act in the interests of the stakeholders, and their actions should reflect the liberal notions of autonomy, solidarity and fairness. Normative stakeholder theory is usually linked to philosophical ethics. Whereas some authors see stakeholder theory as applicable to the private sector alone, normative stakeholder theory has found its way into debate on the public administration, because a number of studies affirm that it can contribute to the effectiveness of public organization. On this basis, this work analyses local utilities that are now one of the areas where citizens can better assess government policy in terms of quality of life and the satisfaction of their basic needs by evaluating their ethical behaviour. Thus, it may well be interesting to analyse some of the behaviour patterns of local utility entities to verify the link between ethics and the efficient use of resources that assumes special significance in this context because the two elements have to coincide in order to obtain true fairness. Therefore, using a deductive-inductive methodological approach, the study begins by analysing the different normative concepts of stakeholder theory, to find the possible normative core best suited to this context. In the second part, it examines the ethical behavior of local utility entities to make a comparison with the previous normative stakeholder theory. This study will also be a useful starting point for future empirical research.