Endowments: Stable Largesse or Distortion of the Polity?

As ever more private resources are held in foundations and nonprofit organizations' endowment funds, more scholars and practitioners are demanding that these assets be put to good use immediately. Those favoring the preservation of capital—primarily representing private foundations—sound unnecessarily cautious. This article examines endowment conservation from a variety of critical angles, finding strong rationales for both conserving and liquidating endowments. Policy responses to the buildup of endowment assets include requiring a faster payout or regulating the amount and type of administrative expenses included in annual payout. This article reviews the relationship of the business cycle and wealth distribution to annual giving. The most prudent course, in view of the cyclical nature of giving as well as the substantial generational wealth currently held by elders, appears to be to conserve significant assets now in order to establish a stable flow of future social benefits.     

Deaths associated with electric shock injuries in children and adults: A 10-year retrospective examination in Şanlıurfa,Southeast Turkey (2012–2022)

Electric shock injuries (EIs) have high rates of morbidity and mortality in both children and adults. The aim of this study was to examine autopsy cases resulting from EIs and to compare pediatric and adult groups with respect to sociodemographic data, clinical characteristics, location of the incident, electricity entry–exit wound characteristics, current direction, pathological effects of the electric shocks on the body, and cause of death. A total of 8075 autopsies conducted between 2012 and 2022 were retrospectively examined. Şanliurfa is a city in the southeast of Turkey with the highest birth rate in the country. Of 123 cases of death resulting from EIs in Şanliurfa, 58 (47.2%) were children (age < 18 years). In the majority of children (81%), a low-voltage injury resulted from a domestic appliance while the children were playing at home in a rural area. In the vast majority of adults, a high-voltage injury (HVI) resulted from a workplace accident due to working with HVI materials in an area outside the home. The manner of death was accidental in all the electric shock injuries. The electricity entry and exit wounds formed as a result of EIs had similar characteristics in both children and adults, with no significant difference identified. In the province of Şanliurfa, Turkey, which borders Syria and where the main occupation is agricultural activities, there is a need to increase electrical safety precautions within the home, educate parents, and increase electrical safety conditions and worker education in the workplace.     

Women's participation in democratic innovation apparatuses: the case of the autonomous region of the Basque country,Spain

Since 1990, many democratic regimes have seen an increasing number of democratic innovation apparatuses that have been the subject of many of the reflections of democratic theory. Furthermore, the notion of participation has been a priority since the early stages of the institutionalisation of gender studies. Many analyses of the presence and the voice of women in representative spaces and in social movements have been made. However, both areas of study seem to have developed in parallel, giving rise to a knowledge gap when it comes to the participation of women in public affairs by the democratic innovation apparatuses. This article is situated at the intersection of those areas. It analyses the relationship between women's participation and the extension of the public sphere in terms of obstacles. Based on the analysis of the participatory biographies of 42 women and six men who participate in 15 democratic innovation apparatuses implemented between 1978 and 2014 in the Autonomous Region of the Basque Country (Spain), five discussion groups and two direct observations, the obstacles met by the women when carrying out their participatory project in those governance apparatuses are identified. The article concludes by highlighting the currency of the public versus private and reason versus emotion categories to explain the objectivized and incorporated structure of the obstacles. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

De-Europeanisation through Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis of AKP’s Election Speeches

Abstract

This article takes issue with the question of whether Turkey has been turning away from Europe in recent years, by adopting a critical constructivist lens to understand how, rather than why, Turkey’s presumed distance from the European Union (EU) is taking place. In doing that, it seeks to analyse the ways in which the political–societal transformation of the country as distanced from the EU is enabled by certain discursive practices which in turn contribute to the growing rift between Turkey and the EU. This is mainly conducted through a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of texts produced by former Prime Minister and now President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an on Europe and the EU during key election periods starting with the 12 June 2011 general election.     

Policy Transfer and Discursive De-Europeanisation: Higher Education from Bologna to Turkey

Abstract

This article analyses Turkey’s integration into the Bologna Process, concentrating on the questions of why and how Turkey is transferring norms in the area of higher education. As an example of policy transfer, the Bologna Process provides important insights into the question of why states choose to voluntarily adopt norms where there is no top-down pressure for change. Focusing on Turkey as a case study, the article identifies the narratives of the agents of change responsible for the reform process. The agents are the intermediaries in the Europeanisation process – they construct the discourses and they are the ones responsible for transmitting the process to the society at large. The article concludes that while institutional Europeanisation is taking place in the area of higher education, discursive Europeanisation is lacking.     

From AKP’s ‘Conservative Democracy’ to ‘Advanced Democracy’: Shifts and Challenges in the Debate on ‘Europe’

Abstract

Following the AKP’s victory in the 2002 general elections, ‘conservative democracy’ has emerged as a trademark in Turkish politics, focusing on cosmopolitanism and European integration. In the late 2000s, the party’s favourite notion was ‘advanced democracy’, this time underlining Turkey’s leadership claim in the region and displaying a more critical approach to ‘Europe’. In this paper, I aim to show how different narratives on ‘Europe’ emerged within the context of these empty signifiers. The paper claims that the difference in the two narratives on ‘Europe’ in two different periods does not point to a complete and fully fledged de-Europeanisation trend.     

Turkish–Syrian relations in the wake of the Syrian conflict: back to securitization?

This paper analyses the bilateral relations between Turkey and Syria since the breakout of the popular uprising in 2011, with particular reference to a securitization–desecuritization framework. The author inquires whether Turkish policymakers have securitized the Syrian civil war and framed it in security-laden discourse in the time period under review. Turkey extended strong support to the demonstrations and invested efforts towards a regime change. Assad’s response was unfriendly. Both the Assad regime’s policy vis-à-vis Turkey and the repercussions of the civil war in Syria posed serious threats to Turkish national security. However, based on the analysis of official statements by Turkish authorities during the crisis, the author argues that Turkey avoided framing the Syrian refugee crisis in security terms, whereas border violations, such as the downing of a military aircraft by Syrian regime forces, were defined as threats to national security. The paper further discusses the reasons for Turkey’s selective approach to issues concerning bilateral relations with Syria.     

Trading amnesty for impunity in Timor-Leste

In 1999, the United Nations made a strong stand against impunity for human rights crimes by prohibiting the inclusion of blanket amnesties in peace agreements. This article examines the impact of the UN’s anti-amnesty policy on one of the first states to be affected by it, Timor-Leste. It argues that even in the absence of an amnesty, more than 15 years after independence impunity still reigns in Timor-Leste, due a lack of judicial capacity, political interference, the persistent belief that amnesties facilitate reconciliation, and an unwillingness on the part of the international community to adequately fund the justice process. That is, this article argues that the UN has oversold its position on amnesties, and that although its anti-amnesty policy is taking hold, in the case of Timor-Leste at least, justice seems as elusive as ever.