Academicus International Scientific Journal

11-15

Authors: Carin-Isabel Knoop

The dislocation of the Pandemic caused social convulsions around the world. The middle and ruling classes seem to have rediscovered humans – essential workers, employees, members of underrepresented minorities, and children. In our rush to atone our sins and redress imbalances, we are not stopping to define words nor, as the pragmatists would want us to, think through what our moral precepts mean in practice. Nor do we have the tools in accounting, the “language of business,” to capture our efforts. However, teams that do not take the time to establish ground rules and standard definitions often get a faster start but don’t always do the best work nor have the most impact. Let’s give ourselves better changes.

39-59

Authors: . Fernando Lopez-Alves

What is the future of liberal democracy? Is the “liberal” ingredient of 21st century democracy compatible with its “demos”? Are developed democracies more equalitarian and less stratified than other regimes? Or are present day democracies evolving into something different that needs a new definition? By the early 1990s liberal democracy appeared to have become the dominant system at a global scale. The hope of citizens, scholars, and observers was that the stride toward broader democratization and inclusion would continue. It did, but as this paper argues, the forms adopted by democratic regimes, especially under the fourth industrial revolution, are not necessarily democratic. Rather, liberal democracies have created a new aristocracy that includes high tech monopolies, extremely skilled professionals, and a selected intelligentsia that from social media, conglomerates, and many times Hollywood, supports this new stratified version of the democratic polity. Family dynasties, clientele networks, and mechanisms of reward and punishment reminds us of the pseudo democracies of the late 19th century. Surely the dwindling middle class in developed democracies still have some consumer power based on credit. Global markets offer many more available consumer goods than in the past, creating the illusion that all is going well. Comparatively, however, democracies are doing worse. As this paper shows, 21st century liberal democracies have concentrated wealth in fewer hands than in the recent past, have favored power centralization especially in the executive branch, have stimulated the formation of giant high-tech monopolies, and have generated more rigid forms of social stratification. Liberal democracies, therefore, are weaking, in many cases as the logical consequence of the natural evolution of the liberal doctrine, and in most cases because of profound changes at the global scale. Citizens’ confidence in their elected representatives has been in the decline for a long time. The increasing influence of populist nationalism is an indicator that confidence in traditional politicians continues to deteriorate. Democracy could not be democratic without the popular vote, but it has been precisely the popular vote that has empowered populist nationalist leaders, both from the right and the left. There is not very much that democracies can do about the coming to power via the ballot box of leaders who can rework the system in their favor and, in some cases, destroy it. As the paper shows, changes in the international system of power have not been favorable to liberal democracies, adding to its burdens. They are no longer the optimal model of choice, especially in the less developed world. Finally, I claim that the broken promises of political elites that have traditionally provoked voters’ apathy and loss of trust, have, In the 21st century, created new unintended consequences. They have generated illusions of entitlement and deservingness that, especially young voters, have converted into a sort anti-democratic culture that cares less for the collective and much more for themselves.

78-84

Authors: Emanuel Pietrobon

The Balkans are one of the main stages of the so-called Cold War 2.0 between the United States and the Russo-Chinese axis, but, to a greater extent, they are also an important battlefront of the broader great power competition, a hegemonic confrontation fought by a number of European and non-European powers and only partly tied to the aforementioned Cold War 2.0. Just like in the past, the Balkans keep being the powder keg of Europe, but this time, due to a combination of historical events and demographic changes, the veridical beating heart of the region is no longer Serbia, it’s a rising geopolitical order based on and centered on Albania: the Eagles’ Belt.

109-123

Authors: Antonio Pehar

The article deals with the religious and confessional identity of the population in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time of Ottoman and then the Austro-Hungarian authorities, and it is trying to define the elements of nationality in their identity. The reasons for initiating the rounding-up of three national identities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Muslim/Bosniak, Croatian and Serbian) and not a common one are also highlighted. It identifies the external factors as well as the circumstances of the internal dynamics of society that have influenced the formation of the nation on the dominant principle of religious/confessional affiliation of the population.

130-158

Authors: Carlos Parra, Nanci Geriguis-Mina

In reference to cultural patterns in collectivistic societies, teaching and learning are greatly influenced by the teachers’ collectivistic or individualistic cultural orientation (Kaur & Noman, 2015). However, in dealing with both audiences and their teaching platforms, a chasm appears between methodologies and their applications since collectivistic societies are reluctant to accept methodologies perceived as mere Western innovations. In other words, a seemingly pedagogical incongruence arises where direct individualistic Western influence is perceived as unsuitable to a collectivistic mindset. One must keep in mind that family members in collectivist societies, who view themselves as part of a group rather than independent individuals, seem to feel more interdependent and mutually responsible for each other. In addition to Vygotski’s assertion that children’s cognitive development is enriched through social interaction with more skilled individuals (1978), Bandura (1982) emphasizes that the degree to which learners believe in their own self-efficacy influences their functioning cognitively, motivationally, emotionally, and their decision making process. Also, self-efficacy is perceived to accelerate the process of adapting to a new environment while learners adopt new cultural practices and consent to norms and expectations. In our exploration, second-language learners (SLLs) from collectivistic societies advance academically—English as a second language included—within the frame of sociocultural theory, since they seem to be motivated by their culturallyinduced sense of obligation to honor their parents and other group members. These SLLs are positively influenced by their prior experiences with the group’s perceptions and expectations of their capability to learn an additional language (Bandura & Schunk, 1981; Schunk, 1991). Our research seems to indicate that this outcome is significantly affected by the self-efficacy and self-reliance produced by prior successes in challenging tasks that may have been mandated by the SLL’s elders. In addition, SLLs also seem to succeed in accomplishing more challenging goals as they observe their families’ values and traditions even when they are in a society that enforces individualistic values.

174-183

Authors: Jerca Legan Cvikl

Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel is a creative icon who has freed the ‘new’ woman from the millennium of dictated dress codes, stereotypical behaviors and clichéd sexual and status simplification. The little black dress has become synonymous of sophistication, to the femininity she gave the character flavor of relaxation and empowered women with timeless clothing pieces and equipped them with inspiring pieces of jewelry, distinctive decorative accessories and bold fragrances. Since then, with the Chanel fashion women were able to step sovereignly and freely aside of male. Coco resisted the reservation of clothing and decorative pieces and fabrics as exclusively masculine in order to help revolutionary women on their journey to a more a more useful elegance and a more noticeable fatality. Without any doubt she succeeded. She gave the new woman what she could not have before: practicality, youthfulness, timelessness and freedom, which was often scandalous at the time of her creation. But it has paid off with a revolution in the clothing industry and, more importantly, with a historic step in liberating the modern woman

199-213

Authors: António dos Santos Queirós

The contribution of the environmental philosophy to the XX and XXI centuries philosophy renovation and their capacity to be applied to all aspects of social life is the core of this essay. The history of philosophy on the West is focused on the human condition, the environmental philosophy drive its thought to a global view of biodiversity and geodiversity, enlarged by the concept of biosphere. The dominant perspective of the modern philosophy set the morale in the order of the rules and social conventions and leave the ethics on the field of personal experience. Analyzing the concept of Kantian reason, and its ethic’s corollaries, this essay propose develop them to a new concept, “Environmental Reason”. Conceptualized as a new categorical imperative to the men’s action, beyond the principle that prescribe that we must conform individual acts with a universal law, configuring the human conduct within the limits that safeguard the continuity of life, but also the intrinsic values of earth and its biodiversity and geodiversity. A new perspective ethics founded in the principles of the critique of anthropocentrism and the critique of ethnocentrism represent a new ontology, and.a new epistemology, that could lead to a new ethics universal theory.

226-229

Authors: Michele Marsonet

The Polish philosopher Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz adopted the notion of “conceptual apparatus”, which is very similar to the idea of “conceptual scheme” put forward by Donald Davidson, Willard V. Quine, Nicholas Rescher and others. Ajdukiewicz’s theses are, in this regard, very important although less known, and he treated cognitive processes as inseparably connected with language.

9-20

Authors: Franco Ferrarotti

Arriving to the «new world» across the Atlantic Ocean from England, the Founding Fathers, as an act of thankfullness to God’s guidance, called the United States the «God’s Country». On the other hand, serious scholars would call them the «unfinished country» and quite a few political scientists would talk about «our more perfect Union», touching on the variety and contradictions of the Two-centuries and a half old «nation of nations».

41-51

Authors: Enrico Gandolfi, Sofia Gandolfi

This proposal focuses on the multifaceted interplay between video games, connectiveness, and online communities in a time of emergency; COVID-19 has presented challenges for teenagers, forcing them to re-mediate their interactions with peers. Digital entertainment has been frequently accused to be a bearer of negative attitudes and anti-social behaviors, but there is also relevant evidence about how video games can foster bonding and inclusion. Nevertheless, updated lenses are needed for understanding the impact of the pandemic on playing and vice versa; in other words, video games can become a lens through which we can understand how teenagers and young adults experience and see the world around them, especially during these turbulent times. Moreover, video games are increasingly experienced in multiple ways, from watching live shows on Twitch.tv to discussing games on Reddit; as such, this additional layer must be investigated too for situating the impact of gaming practices on social and individual schemes. This article intends to provide a snapshot of how this medium can be used as a catalyst for social research, looking at its consumption but also at the social halo it conveys. More specifically, an ethnographic approach has been chosen for providing an intensive analysis of how the acclaimed video game Animal Crossing was perceived and used as a socializing tool by a teenager.

72-90

Authors: Markus Mykkänen, Neil Freshwater

This paper provides a comparative analysis of current Finnish and Scottish think tanks and reviews how think tanks in these countries have evolved, how think tanks seek to influence decision making and engage with their stakeholders. To address the ways of influence this paper looks how Finnish and Scottish think tanks describe themselves and how they use publications in their advocacy. Conducted content analysis indicates that usually registered association based Finnish think tanks are generally more research-focused organisations, who overall deploy more research publications for advocacy than the company based Scottish think tanks. Findings also reveal that the number of think tanks in both countries has greatly increased in the last two decades due to the political challenges with European Union and national politics. The paper provides a new approach to study think tanks in national contexts.

110-136

Authors: Nizamettin Doğar

The question of whether a single leader type will emerge as one of the possible effects of globalization has required research on the subject. In the context of culture, Hofsthede, Brodbeck et al, and GLOBE studies, revealing that different leadership characteristics come to the fore in different geographies with cultural influences, refuting the claim that a uniform leader model will emerge with globalization. Among the aforementioned studies, GLOBE studies went a little further and claimed that leadership is actually a function of culture. Leadership research in the Balkans, which is a tangle of cultures with its complex ethnic structure, is relatively less included in the literature. The main purpose of this article is; Despite this problem arising from the Cold War period, how the leadership styles are in the Balkans is to examine the relationship between Balkan style leadership and culture. At the same time, the article has a secondary purpose that questions whether the claim that “there is not a single Balkans” is also valid for leadership practices when it comes to culture. Literature review and observation method were used in the research. The observations mainly include the observations made in Albania between the years of 2012-2015. On the other hand,the literature review is based on the data obtained primarily from local studies about each country in the Balkans. The results obtained emphasize that when it comes to leadership in the Balkan countries, the first thing is that political leadership is understood, which draws attention to autocratic leadership from the socialist administration period. In the context of business leadership, it shows that autocratic leadership was effective in the 10-year transition period after the Cold War, and that transformational leadership began to come to the fore in the 2000s at varying speed and rate according to institutions and countries. As a result of the investigations, the article shows that quite similar leadership characteristics stand out for the Balkans, the culture of democracy has not yet fully settled in this context, the avoidance of uncertainty in social codes, the autocratic administration still has an important place as a reflection of cultural dimensions such as the distance of power, on the other hand, willingness to change with new generations, more democratic leadership expectations increase and transformational leadership comes to the fore with the change in geography.Although the article has limitations in terms of containing observations specific to one country, it supports the claims in terms of including the local research results of the countries and is considered to contribute to the literature for the Balkans where limited research is available.

142-155

Authors: George M. Aspridis, Louisa Pouliana

The period stretching from 1974 till now has been characterized as the most stable period of the political and administrative history of Greece. However, the appropriate organizational culture which can contribute to the creation of a strategic vision for Greek public administration has not yet been shaped. Therefore, the public sector is not efficient and productive. On the contrary, bureaucratic pathogenies are particularly prevalent. These pathogenies have been rendered even more intense during the economic crisis and the recent pandemic. It is necessary that the modern culture of public administration be focused on effective cooperation, the satisfaction of both citizens and administrative executives’ expectations, respect for the individuality and development of public sector executives, the enhancement of public services’ good reputation, assessment, communication and finally the implementation of the principles of ethics, integrity and legitimacy. The culture of a modern public administration should be based on the principles of new public management and electronic government. This article is based on the study of secondary sources, more specifically institutional texts, international and national organizations’ reports, studies, historical texts, as well as civil servants’ views. The conclusions are particularly significant and can spark off the change of the organizational culture in public administration.

9-20

Authors: José María Vázquez García-Peñuela

Modernity in the West had, among other things, the effect of encouraging people to distance themselves, especially from the more cultivated classes, from ecclesiastical structures, at first, and then from the Christian religion itself. This distancing had incidence on individualism, which also led to a modern vision of man and society. This paper discusses the main philosophical, political and cultural motives that directly influenced, especially after the French Revolution, the accelerated process of secularization. This process led to the skeptical and post-metaphysical attitude of the post-modernity of the 20th century. Unlike previous ones, it was a century in which atheism was not an attitude of few individuals among the intellectuals but it spread also to large groups of citizens. However, since the last two decades of the 20th century and the first decades of the 21st, some changes can be perceived that could indicate a return of interest towards religion in the West.

30-40

Authors: Geoffrey Ditta

This paper examines the international management of human resources. People have been one of the first challenges of any company wishing to work and develop an activity in other regions. The various movements of these human resources and competencies have implicated the phenomena of culture exchange worldwide. Intercultural conflicts, intercultural competencies, and intercultural management, are topics multinational companies did not face decades ago. Researchers worked on these differences and how humans can accept and cultivate the cultural differences in society. In recent decades, the global economic scene, and more particularly the European one, has increased international competition affecting both companies with an export profile and companies targeting the domestic market. International trade is a special case in general, it has the same principles as internal trade, but it suffers from certain changes related to phenomena caused by artificial and on the other hand natural barriers such as, distance, communication and interculturalism.

59-66

Authors: Natasha Paço, Spiro Paço

The years in which we live have been characterized by a strong dynamism in the development of the political spectrum in Europe, but also in the world. traditional spectrum, as populist. The main cases of populism in the period we live in range from traditional groupings, which were revived after the global economic crisis to electoral victories, such as the 5 Star Movement in Italy, UKIP in the UK and the election of Donald Trump in the US. What we want to address in this article is the return of a utopian idea that has not appeared since the period of the French Revolution.

90-102

Authors: Ilir Akshija

The sensitive topic of religion in the Albanian 2011 census and the coming one is the focus of this study. The country majority is composed of ethnic Albanians, sharing the same nationality; blood, language, culture, territory while religion differs. It was found a flaw in categorization under the category ‘Bektashi’, one of the Albanian traditional divisions historically a sub-category of ‘Islam’. Placing it as a separate category, while the main body category ‘Islam’ is the other option creates fogginess for the inquired person. Checking on ‘Islam’ excludes s/he from the possibility to choose ‘Bektashi’ and vice versa. Data retrieved from the official INSTAT Albania online web atlas and reorganized second study objectives. Maps show a shift from traditional religious categories, Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox and Bektashi with clear geographical connotations. Traditional religious nominations range from the lowest loss of 2.9% to 56.5%. With a range 53.6%, and mean and standard deviation 23.6±13.3%, change is statistically significant p<0.001. The whole country records a fidelity to traditional categories of 75.6%. The quest of separation from the main body of a religious affiliation is a special case of separation because the sub-division always pretends to save the original message, not bringing a novelty. The case of the Albanian religious census categories superposition constitutes a technical error that needs revision.

123-126

Authors: Andrew J. Schatkin

The article considers the issue of what is sex and sexual orientation discrimination and should under the federal statute 2000 Esexual orientation be encompassed under the term sex. The statute has long been intrepreted as directed to physical sex and not read as including sex orientation as an aspect of sex. The article however traces and identifies a clear trend in the federal court system of the United States to interpreting and includng sexual orientation or homosexuality and lesbianism within this statute’s prohibition against traditional sex discrimimation. The author holds the view that homosexuality and sexual orientation should be given the same and equal protection as sex discrimimation in the federal courts of the United States and in time this statute will rightly be interpreted not only to include sex discriminataion as directed in its tradidtional understanding but be analayzed and interpreted to include protection against sexual orientation discrimination.

141-154

Authors: Davide C. Crimi

Starting from the images of the myth of the city of Shamballa, this essay intends to examine its sources and above all the power of vision which, by combining different exegetical lines, ends up assuming complete existential indifference with respect to the traditions of extraction. From this change of perspective derives a different vision of reality, a “today” gifted by instantaneous knowledge and simultaneous communication have become realities that prove more advanced than our actual progress in terms of awareness. The city manifests itself in this light in its ontological component, as a breeding ground for souls. This function, so simple and intuitive, is however far from being realized, so much so that we have to declare that we need an intellectual awakening, a liberation from oppression, both of religions and capitalism, that the ecological symptoms make us understand more and more clearly as a condition that can no longer be postponed and for which a spiritual and non-violent struggle must be fought, the only one that can lead to an effective and lasting expansion of consciousness, such as to assume the density, strength and substance of an idea of cosmopolitan, universal citizenship.

9-19

Authors: Maria Immacolata Macioti

A quick trip to some Mediterranean countries shows significant disparities, situations of inequality, different religious preferences, and struggling minority populations. The dream of a Mediterranean crossroads of cultures, which has taken up so much space in our past, seems today to retreat, leaving behind a sea that has become a kind of hard border, difficult to cross for many men, women, children, who too often have lost their lives. The European Union prefers to defend its own borders from migrants and also from possible asylum seekers. It defends itself, and the Mediterranean is an important pawn in these actions, from the flows of arrivals from Africa, viz. the role of Libya, from which people escape the Syrian tragedy. For this purpose, they use countries like Greece and Turkey. A notable reversal for Italy in particular, an Italy that experienced first-hand migratory phenomena.

38-45

Authors: Joseph C. Ebegbulem

Since 1999, Nigeria has witnessed an uninterrupted democratic experiment with many challenges. With the installation of multi-party democracy in Nigeria, the era of military authoritarian regimes were over as Nigerians were looking forward to a free society characterized by social justice, economic growth and free, fair and credible electoral process. But today, democracy sits on the horn of a dilemma in Nigeria due to massive political corruption by the leaders. Free and fair election which is one of the features of true democracy has eluded Nigeria since the advent of the country’s nascent democratic dispensation. The behavior of the political leaders has cast doubt on any consolidation of democracy in Nigeria. This paper gives a comprehensive definition of political corruption and democratic consolidation, and highlights the nature of political corruption in Nigeria. The paper also examines the impact of corruption on the consolidation of democracy under the prevailing socio-economic challenges in Nigeria. Finally, the paper concludes with the advice that for there to be democratic consolidation, there must be massive investment in the provision of the basic needs of the Nigerian people.

53-58

Authors: Michele Marsonet

What kind of realism - if any - are we allowed to endorse? It is often stated that, in order to provide realism with a solid foundation, we need having recourse to a reality that is totally independent of thought (and let alone of language). This is taken to be the key thesis of realism. But many philosophers reply that, even when we imagine a world totally devoid of human presence, we must use human concepts. From this point of view, conceptualization does not seem to be an optional we can get rid of, but rather a built-in component of the nature of human beings.

73-88

Authors: Laurențiu Gabriel Țîru, Mădălina Mohorâta

This paper uses a measurement scale to identify the vision of individuals in relation to online recruitment. The main objectives seek to identify what sources of recruitment respondents prefer, whether their opinions are differentiated by gender and age; the occupational status is an important variable which might change the participants’ opinion on the effectiveness of recruiting websites. The key objective of this paper is to emphasize the relationship between social media and recruitment, more precisely how is the entire process by the virtual environment. Based on the obtained results we may conclude that people who tend to use Facebook above the average are inclined to use and to have a positive attitude with respect to recruiting platforms. Furthermore, it can be noticed that people who would choose as a primary source of search of a job the recruitment websites display differences in perception compared to the other respondents. The conclusions drawn from this research are that age and gender are not a variable which displays differences in perception. Yet, based on the obtained results we may notice that the preferences for the use of recruiting platforms influence their opinions.

101-114

Authors: Wei-Bin Zhang

The purpose of this paper is to study economic growth with family-based microeconomic foundation. It develops a neoclassical growth model of endogenous wealth accumulation and consumption of two-person families. Growth mechanism and economic structures are based on a generalized Solowian growth model with Zhang’s concept of disposable income and utility. Each spouse maximizes his/her utility function which is dependent on his/her egocentric utility function and the spouse’s egocentric utility function. One’s egocentric utility function is related to one’s private consumption of goods, consumption of family goods, and saving made out of one’s own disposable income. The couple’s decisions are interdependent and are modelled as a Cournot-Nash game. Our model endogenously determines intra-household wealth accumulation and resource allocation on consumption and saving. The paper make an integration of some basic ideas in neoclassical growth theory and family economics. We conduct comparative dynamic analyses to show how the movement of the economy is affected by different exogenous changes in gender relations, preferences, and technologies.

131-141

Authors: Karl-Siegbert Rehberg, Silvana Mirella Aliberti

The structure of scientific revolutions - if we follow Thomas Kuhn - is characterized by crises of knowledge and chances by changes of paradigm, a term that is mostly outside the natural sciences only used metaphorically. But also, in sociology, there are something like paradigmatic premises, questioning, research strategies, conceptual structures and perspectives of research in the competition between successful major theories. At least that could be said of Talcott Parsons’s system theory in the period after the Second World War, maybe also of the Critical Theory or later of the approaches of Niklas Luhmann or Pierre Bourdieu. Against this background, the publishers of the Max Weber complete edition, especially Wolfgang Schluchter and his students, were concerned with establishing a “Weber paradigm” more than half a century after the death of this “Myth of Heidelberg”. The essay proposes a combination of Weber’s concept of action with the development of (institutional) forms of order and their enforcement. The prerequisites of the Weber Renaissance since the 1970s are discussed and then a systematization of Weber’s questions based on its “basic sociological concepts” and their logic of grading are proposed. Aspects of a Weber Paradigm are developed from a presentation of the basic principles of the “Theory and Analysis of Institutional Mechanisms”, because the institutional analytical method was proven in various research contexts, especially in the interdisciplinary research of historians and social scientists.

10-11

Authors: Arta Musaraj

Every time we mention the word “Science”, an inner debate, which very soon breaks the borders of our mental schemas, comes out, and becomes the dispute topic. Why is science for and what is science for? The hermetical vision of science, which in different ages of human story testified on how easily, we, humans, can create the mechanisms whish suppress our nature, is challenged by the morality dimension of science a well as by the sentinel function and revealing mission science has in leading our lives in the paths of amelioration. So, science for life, and as life is the wholeness of everything and the unification of all diversities, science has no meaning if it is not comprehensive, as a fidelity demonstration of its mission.

34-50

Authors: Markus Mykkänen, Pasi Ikonen

This study examines how the media and journalists are used in lobbying processes. To explore the topic a systematic review of the literature in peer-reviewed journals published between January 2000 to June 2018 was undertaken. The findings of this paper indicate that lobbyists and interest groups engage with a plethora of various strategies and systematic methods when influencing or trying to advocate the work of journalists and media organisations. The findings shed the mystery of lobbyists and interest group’s communicative attempts. This study increases the knowledge of the relationships between journalists and lobbyists in lobbying processes. Based on the literature review, the paper presents a categorised model of media influencing strategies in lobbying process.

66-80

Authors: Gerardo Abreu Pederzini

Religion is a powerful phenomenon arising in and from society. Various efforts have been done to understand religion as a natural phenomenon, which could be framed in the language of science. In this paper, I forward a sui generis approach to the naturality of religion, where religion is explained as one of the next stages in broader natural processes of self-organization. Furthermore, having framed like this the naturality of the religious experience, the paper explores the contemporary debate of current religious expressions. It is suggested that the arrival of science and the modern society have changed some expressions of religious experiences; while, nonetheless, keeping their capacity to self-organize societies. The magical realist society, as the society capable of disguising the magic of religion within the realism of the scientific ethos, is presented and discussed as a modern secular expression of religion, capable to cope with the challenges of science through the dynamics of modernity and capitalism.

93-105

Authors: Michele Marsonet

In his works the American philosopher Willard van Quine constantly rejects the analytic/synthetic distinction claiming that it is not justified. This happens because, in his opinion, human statements about the external world face the tribunal of experience not individually but as a corporate body, which implies that the judgment on their validity ultimately rests on experience itself. Many problems arise at this point, since even language plays a fundamental role in the Quinean view, and it must be accommodated into the picture if the picture itself means to be coherent. Conceptual scheme and external world are both necessary, but language does not seem to be a factor whose ultimate legitimacy relies on something outside the conceptual sphere, and this means in turn that we face a dualistic situation. Conceptual schemes or world-views, like the ones provided by Newtonian mechanics or quantum theory, are the primary bearers of truth, and the truth of a statement strictly depends from the particular conceptual scheme one currently adopts.

119-127

Authors: Elena Gagliasso

The present paper aims at exploring the relation between organisms (Life) and environments (Earth), and at showing that nowadays we need new conceptual categories to account for such a relation. Over the last thirty years, indeed, the boundaries of what is meant by “environment” and “organisms” have been transformed, and, more precisely, “Earth” and “Life” must be grasped as a “combined system”. But this dynamic, which does not keep separate the organisms from their life-worlds, it is widely present also at the political and cultural level. So, what is well-known on a scientific level, i.e. that it is the life itself which produces the environment and, at the same time, is subjected to the effects of its modifications on the environment, has to be investigated also at the practical level. Here, a sample of such an investigation will be offered through the analysis of the common mediator of the relationship between Life and Earth, i.e. that metabolic exchange between external and internal bodies that consists of “Food”. Then, some reflections on the current forms of the relationship between environment and “Crime” will be provided and some open questions on the recent concept of “environmental crime” will be raised.

142-153

Authors: Biljana Popovska, Julie Darcq

Diverse from the Erasmus program, amongst other EU international interactions, Humanitarian and Developmental initiatives resulting in Nation Branding is a field that is hardly explored. This paper has tried to analyze the concept of supra-nation branding through the EU humanitarian and development program named EU Aid Volunteers Initiative, through focusing on how a supranational organization such as the EU would go about a nation branding initiative that promotes its collective values in Humanitarian and Development Aid. In order to explore the concept of supra-nation branding, it firsts gives a brief introduction about the initiative and identifies the key elements of EU nation branding as well as its humanitarian and development initiatives. Then, it analyzes it through Anholt’s lens and a SWOT analysis, followed by critiques and a conclusion. This analysis proved fruitful in terms of enabling a structural understanding behind the processes employed by the E.U Aid Volunteers Initiative and how it shall enable the E.U to advance its image as a supra-national entity both locally, regionally and internationally. In addition, as the European Union is an entity unlike any other it generates comprehension for future organizations motivated by a collectivity in idealisms and cultural identities, enabling the application of their country’s image abroad through a means of which embodies a form of cultural-humanitarian diplomacy.

165-181

Authors: Davide Crimi

This short essay will treat metric and free verse, with the awareness of the anachronistic quality of these topics. Notwithstanding, this is the purpose of this short essay which dares to start from the astral consideration of the meaning of poetry. The first paragraph is dedicated to these perceptions, reverberating in the most archaic compositions and consisting in the primeval task of poetry: to bring the light of the stars, to drive the voice of the gods, to lead them to the comprehensibility of the human ear. Here we have the original identity between poetry, magic and priestly function. The bond with the divine undergoes to a first fracture when it begins the anthropological evolution of the tribal communities: a ritual and institutional function is generated for poetry which is soon absorbed by a clergy understood as a priestly caste. The second paragraph highlights how the disagreement of some men of thought generates another category: the prophets, often opposed to official power but also with blurred and crossed boundary lines, both in the case of opposition and in that of contiguity, melted through by elements of fascination, that are always combined in the magical cup. The third paragraph shows how the association with the magic component will be for the reactionary forces a tool easy to use, when they wants to attack the parties opposed to institutional power and to ban them, or even eliminate them. The most obscure part of the Western Middle Age is imbued with these movements for compliance with the order, with consequent purge of those components that the established power considered to be foreign or hostile. The progressive emergence of the Age of Enlightenment, of which the fourth paragraph outlines some logical lines, will generate a return to the ideal of emancipation and awareness as inner function of poetry. The disengagement from religious expectations becomes substantial, although laicization also involves sometimes a fatal trivialization of content, with which modern poetry must struggle. The most authentically progressive members want to see in poetry an instrument of social advancement, of promoting awareness, of emancipation of the masses, crossing ferments that go from the first Socialism2 between the lines of early Alchemy3 and Rosy+Cross4 Manifestos5 , just up to the elaborations of the anarchist and communist movements, even if soon everything was swallowed up by the arbitrary construction of infiltrations and lies. The fifth paragraph tries to explain the courageous thesis that the two world wars of the twentieth century were caused, albeit not as a sole cause, by the choice to contain the workers’ movement by sending restless youth to the slaughter of the trenches. Under the smoky ruins of Europe in those years, we try to capture the movement of anxiety that comes from the America of the blacks, incubating the musical ferment of blues and jazz, and identifying this root as emanating source for the ‘68 protest, before even these idealistic hopes were get lost among the pitfalls of the newspeak and the soft dictatorship. Having reached this frontier of modernity, the sixth paragraph revisits retrospectively the invention of free verse and the successive folds (calligrammes, technopaegnion6 , arbitrary writings of avant-garde7 ) that slowly, from an authentic expressive necessity, degraded towards unconscious arbitrariness of glamour, with its corollary of individualist atomization. From this consideration, the concluding paragraphs arrive at the logical necessity of giving back to poetry a notion of form and of logical instruments that can distinguish it from unconscious arbitrary writing, aimed only at the vanity of those who exercise it. It is only through this process of formal reintegration that the writer can be led back to the obligation to reread what he has written. For the publisher this should sound as a moral imperative: not to stop his work to that of a printer. For the general public this should be able to recover the conditions for a social significance of the poem and, in this way, to amend and access the laically sacred function that is its own, which finally is finding non-obvious meanings, thus leading to untried and unheard-of thoughts, the only ones that can contribute to the development of the person and of society. Through this way, coming back to its inner metric and structure, poetry may compose the partiture of an urban renovation movement, creating conditions for a modern interpretation of urban spaces as common goods, where the ineffable power of the poetical word can introduce a new perception of life into the cities. O Luce pura che custodisci la mia anima, sia ringraziato ciascuno dei tuoi raggi dispersi nelle tenebre dell’incomprensione che regna tra gli umani! Fa’ che noi uomini di desiderio restiamo immuni dal giudizio di chi confonde la nostra attitudine a servire con debolezza e inanità. Fa’ che nell’animo di chi ci giudica con severità ed asprezza si generi la comprensione che quella severità e quell’asprezza non sono che lo sguardo intimo della coscienza che traspone in noi le loro inadeguatezze: e fa’ che i nostri Fratelli e le nostre Sorelle dispersi per il mondo possano trovare una sorgente di luce che permetta loro di conoscere e di elevarsi fino alla sfera delle cause profonde. Di fronte alle Sacre Luci vi giunga il nostro sincero saluto, e privo di ogni conflittualità possa rivelarsi in ἐγρήγορος nel giorno della Luna Piena.

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Authors: Laura Lorente Bayona, Aurora Ruiz Rua

Digital facilities are changing the way companies market to consumers. The use of smartphones and what we called Internet of Things (IoT) are changing the way citizens consume. In this article we perform a cross-country panel data study to analyze how the implementation of business Internet use for buying/selling goods and services, and for interaction with customers influences, for example, the international travel and tourism incomes. Our results show that the use of electronic commerce attracts international tourism and increases tourism revenue, as well as decreases the degree of tourism specialization in the country’s export structure, the relative capability of tourism in generating foreign revenues decrease compare with the other sectors that become more powerful. Besides, we present one of the main political and governmental inhibitor that in this issue the companies must deal with in an international context, the currency exchange control, not yet greatly studied in previous literature.