Rights and obligations in civil society organizations: learning active citizenship in Turkey

This is a comparative analysis of whether and how participation in different types of civil society organizations (CSOs) enable an environment for the learning of active citizenship practices. Active citizenship is conceptualized and defined around three dimensions: civic action, social cohesion and self-actualization. The potential to transform citizenship practices is critical to the Turkish context where, rooted in its strong state tradition, citizenship has been conceptualized and practiced in a passive manner. CSOs in Turkey have burgeoned over the past two decades and provide an important space to pursue a wide range of interests and provide services. This study is an in depth analysis of participant experiences in six CSOs in Istanbul. The study distinguishes between CSOs based on indicators that are expected to create variation in how the participant is engaged. CSOs are classified as either rights or obligations based, membership or volunteer based, and finally based on their types of activities. This article presents results on the effect of participation in rights vs. obligations-based CSOs on the development of active citizenship practices.     

Long Term Influences of Age–Education Transition on the Brazilian Labour Market

The objective of this study is to estimate the long term mean earnings of the male Brazilian population, taking into account the ageing process of the population and the increase in educational attainment. Using census data, household sample surveys, as well as population and education projections, estimates indicate that an ageing population and an increase in education will have a 2 percent impact on the annual growth of an average income in Brazil by 2050. The challenge for the future is to improve the proportion of the Brazilian population with completed college degrees.     

The Kosovo Demonstrations of 1981 and the Redefining of the Albanian Question

This analysis considers the impact of the demonstrations that occurred in Kosovo in spring 1981. They shocked Federal Yugoslavia and re-opened the Kosovo question as an issue in European and international diplomacy. They simultaneously intensified and consolidated the Albanian national movement in Kosovo, although activists held differing views as to the best solution to the problem. Another result of the demonstrations was a deterioration in Albano–Yugoslav relations over territorial and nationalist issues. The “Kosovo Spring” placed Albania in conflict with Yugoslavia, which declared a state of emergency in Kosovo on 2 April 1981 and suppressed the demonstrations by force. The events in Kosovo had the effect of redefining the whole Albanian question. The maturity of the Albanian response led international opinion to take Albania more seriously. For its part, Albania was impelled to evaluate more highly the response of Western countries to events in Kosovo and initiate a more realistic approach to the West—albeit tentatively—despite the persistence of deep ideological differences. The demonstrations of 1981 had a substantial effect on Albanian state policy regarding Kosovo.     

The Interregional Incidence of Central Budgets in Federations: Some Evidence from Canada

We review the evidence on the regional incidence of federal budgets in Canada, considering both aggregate results and some specific federal expenditure programs as well as some relevant issues (e.g., the regional effect of some regulatory programs) not captured in fiscal flows. The regional distributional pattern revealed in this analysis is both robust to various reasonable adjustments and relatively stable over time. However, although such studies may provide a useful baseline for assessing performance in some respects, they cannot be used to demonstrate that one region is paying (or receiving) “too much” or “too little” in a meaningful sense.     

Protection, Parity, or Promotion: Public Attitudes to Cohabitation and the Purposes of Legal Reform

Cohabitation law reform may be informed by different purposes. Three are considered in this paper: protection of parties at risk when relationships break down, parity of treatment between different forms of partnership, and the promotion of particular family forms. These are considered in relation to the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 in the context of recent evidence about public attitudes towards cohabitation. Public attitudes and the approach adopted in the 2006 Act are juxtaposed, raising questions about the alignment of public attitudes and the direction of law reform on cohabitation.     

Comparing public attitudes on EU membership in candidate countries: the cases of Croatia,Macedonia and Turkey from 2004 to 2011

Past enlargements of the European Union (EU) have demonstrated that public attitudes on European integration can influence the course of accession processes. Beyond the literature on public EU support in member states and former candidates, the dynamics that shape public attitudes on EU membership within recent candidate countries have not been systematically examined. Analysing nine Eurobarometer (EB) surveys from 2004 to 2011, we argue that evaluations of EU membership in Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey are shaped by utilitarian considerations, belief in various political institutions as well as the fear of losing national identity. The economic crisis of 2008 has changed public opinion towards EU membership in all three countries, but Turkey appears to have been affected the most compared to Croatia and Macedonia.