Finland’s Africa Strategy

The article analyzes Finland’s strategy towards Africa. The relevance of this topic does not raise doubts in the light of the growing interest not only of Finland, but also of the European Union as a whole in Africa, especially the countries of the Sahel. Finland’s strategy was adopted almost simultaneously with the EU’s strategy and can be considered as an integral part of it. The article analyzes the publicly available documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, which are relevant both to the policy of this northern country in relation to the continent as a whole and to individual African countries. The aim of the strategy is to set realistic but ambitious goals for Finland’s policy towards Africa, based on the common interests of Finland and African countries, to define the main directions of Finland’s policy towards Africa and to define concrete actions to achieve them. In addition, it is necessary to pay special attention to strengthening political and economic relations and expand cooperation in various forms. Thus, the research carried out can be useful for a better understanding of one of the most important directions of Finnish foreign policy today.

The Cross-Cultural Analysis of Australia and Russia

The chapter examines the comparison of the cross-cultural analysis of the green country, Australia (NSW), and the northern country, Russia (Republic of Karelia). Based on the results of the analysis, it shows how a small business from Russia, Green Roofs, overcomes barriers in Australia through the application of blockchain technology. The authors hope that examples of development and thoughts about the driving sources of these transformations, chosen by taking into account the interests of the development of the Russian digital economy, can be interesting and useful for Russian enterprises, small businesses that have begun their digital transformations.

Vanessa

When it was performed in 1958, Barber’s opera Vanessa was the first new American work produced by the Metropolitan Opera since 1947 and only the twentieth since the opening of the opera house in 1883. It took Barber two decades to find a libretto, and his search finally culminated in his own backyard, as it were, when his partner Gian Carlo Menotti offered to write the libretto. This chapter narrates how Vanessa evolved, from the creation of the plot to the actors and sets. Set in an unnamed “northern country about 1905,” the story unfolds about two women: Vanessa, a lady of great beauty, who for twenty years of winter after snowy winter has awaited the return of her only love, Anatol; and her beautiful young niece, Erika. The concluding quintet is considered one of the most brilliant climaxes in the twentieth-century repertoire. The opera’s critical success led to the production of Vanessa at the Salzburg Festival, the first American opera performed there. There have been numerous productions in the United States and abroad since then, including a brilliant one at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2018.

Job Security Across Europe

According to OECD statistics the unemployment rate in 2011 varied across Europe 10–20 per cent. At that time, European Social Survey Round 5 data was collected which showed that job security was highest in northern country cluster, moderate in southern country cluster, and lowest in the Visegrad country cluster. Our first research question addressed whether general, aggregated social indicators (unemployment and employment rate, and social expenditure) determine perceived job security in the three country clusters. The overall sample was comprised of three southern countries, four Visegrad countries, and four northern countries and consisted of people aged 20-60 who reported to be in paid work and working more than 30 hours a week. The main aim of the current paper was to examine the predictors of job security in the context of all three country clusters. Results indicated that the proposed model of job security predictors showed the best fit for the southern country cluster, explaining over 30 per cent of the variance of perceived job security (background characteristics explained there most of the variance there). Variation in the explanatory power of the job security variable in the northern country cluster was mainly explained by both job and organizational characteristics, while in the Visegrad country cluster it was mainly explained by job characteristics. The paper is a contribution to the discussion about job security in the current period of recession in Europe.

Assessment of Conformity to Areas under Permanent Preservation and Restricted Use within River Espinharas Hydrographic Sub-Basin

The changes made in the natural dynamics cause risks that influence the equilibrium, terrestrial and atmospheric. The aim of the study was to characterize the land cover and land use of the Espinharas river sub-basin, with emphasis on the Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) and Areas of Restricted Use (ARU). The Sub-basin of rio Espinharas is part of the Northern Country Depression, it has one of the most typical landscapes of the northeastern semi-arid region. For the analyzes, multispectral images of the Landsat 8 OLI satellites were used, from the orbits and points 215/65, 216/64, bands 3, 4 and 5. The delineation of the sub-basin began with obtaining the hydrological attributes in the Software QGIS. For the identification of the areas of land use conflicts in APP and ARU, the map algebra was used to perform an overlay of the land cover and use map with the Map of the APP and ARU, using SIG Idrisi Software. The classes of land use and land cover in the SBH of the Espinharas River has the predominance of the Open Arboreal Shrub Caatinga (OASC) typologies with 2,239.37 km² (68.13%), Closed Arboreal Shrub Caatinga (CASC) with 203.17 km² (6.18%) of the total SBH area. It was also verified that 752.67 km² (22.90%) of the total area corresponds to anthropism. The satellite images allowed to have a clear, comprehensive and current view of the use and land cover of SBH of the river Espinharas. Discrimination, mapping and quantification of land use and land cover areas through the Geographical Information System (IDRISI, QGIS GRASS) classification allowed us to obtain results with greater agility regarding the integration and manipulation of the areas. The data obtained will help recovery plans and planning of the area, since a part of SBH is not complying with the current environmental legislation.

The Cross-Cultural Analysis of Australia and Russia

The chapter examines the comparison of the cross-cultural analysis of the green country, Australia (NSW), and the northern country, Russia (Republic of Karelia). Based on the results of the analysis, it shows how a small business from Russia, Green Roofs, overcomes barriers in Australia through the application of blockchain technology. The authors hope that examples of development and thoughts about the driving sources of these transformations, chosen by taking into account the interests of the development of the Russian digital economy, can be interesting and useful for Russian enterprises, small businesses that have begun their digital transformations.

Ces experts qui venaient du froid : Comment des Canadiens deviennent experts en développement de l'Afrique subsaharienne

Each year, hundreds of Canadian experts offer their opinions, their skills, their knowledge or know- how to implement, monitor and evaluate projects and programs aimed at developing communities in the Sub-Saharan African region. Canada is a northern country located roughly 5000 km from the nearest African shore, therefore it becomes logical to ask how foreigners can become experts in the development of African communities. Using Bourdieu's field theory, we analyze the interviews gathered in this research to show that experts must be able to accumulate, mobilize, trade or transform technological, organizational, social and expertise capitals specific to the western world. Because of that, the field of expertise in international development is in a constant struggle to reaffirm its autonomy next to the dominant fields of the western world notably the political and economical fields. /// Chaque année, des centaines d'experts canadiens offrent leurs avis, leurs compétences, leurs connaissances ou leurs savoirs-faire, afin de mettre en place, de suivre et d'évaluer des projets et des programmes destinés à développer des communautés d'Afrique subsaharienne. Le Canada étant un pays nordique situé au minimum à plus de 5000 kilomètres des côtes africaines, il devient logique de se demander comment des étrangers venus de si loin sont devenus experts du développement des communautés africaines. À partir de la théorie du champ de Bourdieu, l'analyse des entretiens menés dans le cadre de cette recherche nous indique que, pour devenir expert, il faut être en mesure d'accumuler, de mobiliser, d'échanger ou de transformer des capitaux technologiques, organisationnels, sociaux et d'expertises spécifiques à l'occident. En ce sens, le champ de l'expertise en développement international se trouve en lutte constante pour sauvegarder son autonomie vis-à-vis des champs qui dominent la société occidentale, notamment le champ économique et le champ du pouvoir.

The AIIB and China-ASEAN Relations: Shaping a New North-South Paradigm

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), one of the largest investment institutions in the world, was established in 2015. The launch of the China-initiated AIIB generated intense debate among scholars and politicians over the functions and potential economic and political implications of the institution. This paper aims to examine the AIIB from a normative perspective, investigating its role as a cursor for structural changes in China’s foreign policy conceptualization. It goes on to hypothesize that, over the past few years, there has been a gradual transformation in China’s relations with Southeast Asian countries, which indicates a shift from a traditional “South-South” model to a “North-South” model. It observes that as Beijing continues to promote its own brand of frameworks and institutions, the emerging North-South paradigm will likely be further emphasized, transforming China’s position vis-a-vis other nations and groupings. Nevertheless, China as an emerging Northern country will continue to experiment on and develop this new North-South interaction in a way that is distinct from the orthodox North-South dyadic relationship.

Confronting the North’s South: On Race and Violence in the United States

More than any other ‘Northern’ country, the United States is distinctive in the degree to which its social, economic, and cultural development has been entwined with the global South from the beginning: and we cannot adequately understand the state of crime and punishment in the US without taking that uniquely ‘Southern’ history into account. In this paper, I sketch some of the dimensions of one crucial reflection of that Southern legacy: the extraordinary racial disparities in the experience of violent death between African-Americans and Whites. These disparities contribute substantially to radically different patterns of life and death between the races, and constitute a genuine social and public health emergency. But their structural roots remain largely unaddressed; and in some respects, the prospects for seriously confronting these fundamental inequalities may be receding.