This work is trying to establish and answer three questions about the concept of Intermarium: Which concepts of the Intermarium that were formed in the past, are still relevant in modern geopolitical circumstances? What political conditions force the country to become a potential participant of the Intermarium? What minimal number of countries is sufficient enough for membership in the Intermarium to provide its effective activity in the political arena? The questions are answered through the implementation of a comparative method. The chosen method is applied to the selected states of the specified region on the basis of two selected cases that correspond to analogical situations in the history of these countries and resulted in the birth of the concept of the Intermarium as one of the possibilities for solving the political crisis in the historical period, which is chosen for the case. This work with case studies will allow the researcher to obtain a high level of conceptual validity as well as to evaluate the indicators that fully explain the theoretical concepts. Since certain internal and external factors such as political system, political culture, state power, economic independence, defensive capabilities, cultural and historical mentality, membership in international organizations are...

Der Freistaat Sachsen unterstützt gezielt Engagement und Initiativen, Konzepte oder Strategien auf lokaler und regionaler Ebene, die dazu beitragen, die Anpassung einer Region an den demografischen Wandel positiv zu gestalten. Die Broschüre rückt 15 ausgewählte Beispiele in den Fokus mit dem Anliegen, bisherige Projekte bekannt zu machen, zum Wissensaustausch anzuregen und zur Nachahmung aufzufordern. Die Projekte wurden mit Mitteln aus der Förderrichtlinie Demografie der Sächsischen Staatskanzlei unterstützt. Im Schlussteil der Broschüre werden hilfreiche Quellen für weiterführende Informationen zum Thema präsentiert. Redaktionsschluss: 20. Dezember 2019

Direct democracy was adopted by states to balance the influence and power of corporate interests. Although corporate money has always been a part of American democracy, dark money expenditures have increased significantly since the Citizens United v. FEC case. Corporate money in elections poses a problem because it inconsistent with the tenants of direct democracy. Little published literature addresses the influence of corporate money on direct democracy measures. Using Kingdon's multiple streams approach as the foundation, the purpose of this case study was to investigate the perceived influence of corporate money on the 2018 ballot initiative and referendum measures in Arizona. The research question was focused on the perceptions of political professionals of the influence of corporate money on direct democracy. Data were collected through using a purposeful sampling that identified 10 political professionals. Semi-structured interviews with participants were supplemented with document review. Data were inductively coded, and then subjected to a thematic analysis procedure, producing 4 thematic elements. The key findings of this study indicated that access to the ballot, using an effective campaign strategy, running an effective paid media campaign, and the outcome all hinged on the money available to fund and support, or oppose, a measure. The implications for social change for the study include informing policy makers of the perceived influence of corporate money on direct democracy so they are equipped to implement policy aligned with the original goal of citizen participation in the state's constitution.

This study investigates China's international trade with North Africa from a small-sized tradersperspective, while referring to the Belt and Road Initiative’s (B&R) practical influence.Further, the research focuses on how the traders perceive the challenges related to trade withNorth African countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, etc. Moreover, the study explores thedifferent challenges related to international trade, international business, and at last, psychicand cultural distance with consideration to prior research. A qualitative approach was adoptedin order to answer the research question for this study. The approach consisted of a series of indepth interviews that were conducted with traders within different industries. The data collection process focused on gaining insights related to the trade challenges in an attempt to distinguish between their nature. The findings point out that the challenges perceived are four-fold: Trade Incentives, Business Development, Government Intervention and Culture’s Influence. Meanwhile, the impact of B&R is comprehended as a catalyst for bilateral economic development.

This study aims to establish an understanding of corporate sustainability and how companies communicate their sustainability. It also evaluates how sustainability reporting is addressed by various corporate companies by using GRI reporting guidelines and ISO standards, and also how these standards and guidelines are helping the companies to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. A literature review was conducted to understand the various approaches to developing a sustainability report. A theoretical relationship matrix was carried out to establish the relationship of ISO standard (clauses are the section in ISO standard which defines the action or requirements to be carried out, ISO in this research is used to represent the various important areas in a company) with the GRI guidelines (disclosure, are the section used to report contextual information about an organization and its sustainability reporting practices), and a list of the number of SDGs which each GRI disclosure and ISO standard achieves was developed. Four industrial sectors were selected and one company in each sector was used as a case study. The SDG impact assessment web-based tool was used to represent the information provided by the companies in their sustainability report/annual report. From the case studies, it was understood that, out of 4 companies, two companies employed GRI reporting guidelines i.e 2 companies used twin approaches for reporting their sustainability and 2 companies used inside-out reporting approaches. Whereas all the companies had ISO 14001:2015 certification, 3 out of 4 companies had ISO 9001:2015 certification and 2 out of 4 had companies ISO 45001:2018 certified. With this, we can understand a broad picture of corporate sustainability, and in-depth sustainability analysis of one industrial sector from the companies point of view has to be carried out in future.

Over the past few years, the expectations of stakeholders regarding Sustainable Development have strengthened the importance of CSR or Sustainable Development practices in companies. In France, NRE laws and more recently the Grenelle Environment Forum required from companies to disclose and publish information on environmental, social and societal issues. On the international level, the Global Reporting Initiative gives a framework for CSR reporting. Companies tend to improve their CSR policies by setting action plans, objectives, and publishing dedicated reports. Subsequently, to assess their performance, companies need to design specific indicators in order to measure environmental, social and societal information. It is all the more challenging that intangible information, such as biodiversity or human capital, are very difficult to evaluate. Still, when comparing the performance of companies, even in the same sector of activity, it appears that indicators are actually very hetero-geneous and do not allow to perform a proper comparison. This thesis will explore current practices of CSR or Sustainable Development reporting and more specifically the use of indicators in the private sector as well as their limitations and areas for improvement. A mutli-method approach, including a literature review, a case-study and an interview, has been used to perform the research.

This thesis examines the Chinese investment programme; the Belt and Road Initiative, through a post-colonial lens, to categorise whether it fits the postcolonial draining of emerging economies. The purpose of this research is to broaden the way we see post-colonial relationships and contribute to the notion that all advanced economies can have a draining relationship with emerging ones. This is done by examining the geographical and economical aspects of the BRI-projects in two states; Kenya and Sri Lanka, to detect draining. The thesis comes to the conclusion that China, through the Belt and Road Initiative, fits the post-colonial description of draining the examined states. The results hopefully mean a humble contribution to the broadening of what is included in the post-colonial theory.

The urgent issue of climate change has led to companies increasingly taking climate action by setting science-based emission reduction targets aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The purpose of this study was to investigate how Swedish companies are working to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through science-based targets. The study was performed through a survey to the Swedish companies committed to the Science Based Targets initiative, and by an assessment of progress against targets using public emission data. The results showed that science-based targets as a tool for climate action raises the climate ambition of companies and provides a good basis for climate strategy. Benefits of committing to science-based targets were primarily that it builds credibility and a good reputation. The main drivers were to improve company climate action, reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as to gain market advantages. Most companies reported climate results annually, but reporting practices were often insufficient or lacked transparency. Most science-based targets were on track to be achieved, though the results showed more limited progress against targets covering scope 3 emissions. The key activities for progress were primarily linked to energy, transportation and fuel, and product development. Overall, the study shows that science-based targets can play a significant role in companies’ efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and serve as a useful climate action tool. However, increased transparency is needed to strengthen the integrity of the targets.

Background: Despite the importance of vaccination in disease prevention some people choose to remain unvaccinated. Nurses are influential in the choice to vaccinate. Considering the possibility of poor public understanding of vaccines and need for continued improvement in vaccination rates, it is essential for nurses to be knowledgeable and adept at addressing vaccine concerns. Vaccination education formally begins in nursing school. Objective: To identify nursing students' vaccine understanding by exploring information learned from formal online vaccine education specifically the Nursing Initiative Promoting Immunization Training Modules (NIP-IT). Design/Setting/Participants/Methods: Nursing students enrolled in a Community Health Nursing course were required to complete three online, self-study, modules entitled Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Vaccine Concerns, and Nursing Roles. The nursing students who completed these modules responded, in writing, to an open-ended prompt asking them to identify what new piece of information they learned. Responses gathered from 244 nursing students between September of 2016 and April of 2018 were categorized and grouped according to theme using a first and second cycle coding process. Responses containing more than one idea were considered separate responses and categorized accordingly totaling 273 responses. Results: Nursing student responses revealed five major themes regarding new information learned from the online modules: (1) barriers to vaccination; (2) components of vaccines; (3) the influence of nurses; (4) vaccine-preventable diseases; and (5) community immunity. Conclusion: Formal vaccine education is a critical component of a comprehensive nursing program. The nursing students in this study described information they learned when completing the NIP-IT modules, thus it was inferred the nursing students did not have a full understanding of vaccine concepts prior to viewing the modules. Formal nursing school vaccine education is essential in developing nurses capable of navigating vaccine issues and promoting health and preventing disease through vaccination advocacy.

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