Belgian Government Formation: Party System, Judiciary, and Territorial Organization
The high fragmentation of the party system means no single party achieves an absolute majority. Many of the patterns that characterize the process of government formation are not formal rules, but practices that have evolved over time.
Formal Aspects: The Head of State plays an important role in the process of government formation. After the election, they appoint an informateur (if no clear majority in parliament) to find a combination of parties eligible to form a government. The informateur evaluates
Read MoreRealism and Neorealism: Schelling and Waltz’s Theories
Realism and Behaviorism: Schelling
Achieving political objectives through self-interest involves scientifically analyzing politicians’ decisions. This assumes key underlying bases are unexplained. Why this concern? In the context of nuclear conflict, who presses the button? The concern lies in the decision-making mechanisms. The principal national interest objective is to determine tactics.
In the 50s and 60s, mathematics was used to explain the social sciences. Game theory, applied to the prisoner’
Read MoreTechnology, Science, and Perception: Key Concepts & Examples
Political Dimensions of Technology
I. Introduction: Langdon Winner argues that technology has political dimensions, demonstrating how artifacts enforce or shape power structures. Thesis: Technological artifacts are not neutral; they embody and reinforce political structures, intentionally or unintentionally.
II. Body:
- Robert Moses’ Low Bridges: Designed to prevent buses (and therefore lower-income and minority communities) from accessing certain areas.
- Nuclear Power Plants: Require centralized authority
Nordic Model: Welfare States, Globalization, and Social Policy
The Nordic Model
The Nordic Model represents a prototype of the welfare state with a societal and universal character. Through public policy efforts involving budgetary, political, and administrative measures, it aims to achieve the welfare of its citizens. Like other models, it has been greatly affected by globalization.
The Nordic countries are regarded as a distinctive group, representative of a social democratic system. This analysis draws on Kosonen Pekka’s (2001) work, “Globalization and the
Read MoreEarly Modern Europe: Crisis, Science, and New Philosophy
Responses to Early Modern Crises
Mercantilism
The mercantilist doctrine was an attempt to cope with economic crises by maximizing domestic production, protecting commerce, and industrializing the country.
Absolutism
Absolute monarchy was viewed as the best means of ensuring peace and security, which everyone desired. However, absolute monarchs often aggravated crises instead of resolving them.
Official Culture
The monarchy utilized culture as a tool to manage crises and reduce concerns and protests.
The
Read MoreDefining Research Objects, Delimitation, and Hypothesis Formulation
Construction of the Object of Research
The beginning and end of research are not always presented with the necessary transparency. The confusing path of much research stems from a faulty definition of the subject for investigation.
The epistemologist insists that the object of research is a product of the researcher or the research itself and not a zero outside the research. However, the methodologist assumes an external reality on which to develop joint procedures. Methodological or design, or the
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