"The existing literature presents several studies which show that the levels of press freedom can affect the state of the economy. What has not thus far been investigated is whether the economy can affect the levels of press freedom, the specific economic conditions that mainly affect it and the dif
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ferences among various countries. This study attempts to analyze the impact of economic conditions on the degree of press freedom, in 18 countries of the western world based on a quantitative analysis for the period 2002–2019, and advance our understanding of this relationship. We find that the state of the economy within a country can affect the level of press freedom while the effects of economic conditions on the degree of press freedom seem to vary among different media systems of the western world." (Abstract)
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"The Encyclopedia of the Social and Solidarity Economy is a comprehensive reference text that explores how the social and solidarity economy (SSE) plays a significant role in creating and developing economic activities in alternative ways. In contrast to processes involving commodification, commerci
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alisation, bureaucratisation and corporatisation, the SSE reasserts the place of ethics, social well-being and democratic decision-making in economic activities and governance. Identifying and analysing a myriad of issues and topics associated with the SSE, the Encyclopedia broadens the knowledge base of diverse actors of the SSE, including practitioners, activists and policymakers. Analysing the role of SSE organisations and enterprises in enhancing wellbeing, planetary health and democracy at various levels and their contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the Encyclopedia invaluably summarises knowledge about the key aspects of the SSE. Accomplished researchers depart from traditional nationalistic, Eurocentric and trans-Atlantic perspectives to explain the SSE from a global perspective with a focus on untold stories of its development in both developing and developed countries." (Publisher description)
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"Urgidos por los gritos de las comunidades afectadas por la minería y los gemidos de la madre naturaleza, en comunión con el llamado del papa Francisco y del CELAM, la Agencia de Cooperación Katholische Jungschar (DKA) y la Red Iglesias y Minería (IyM) animamos un espacio ecuménico para interca
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mbiar reflexiones en torno a las Teologías, Ecologías y Extractivismos. En este espacio ecuménico de reflexión, contamos con la participación de teólogos y teólogas de América Latina, Europa y EUA. Dispuestosas a escuchar, dialogar, aprender y compartir sus saberes, experiencias. Las reflexiones colectivas, ayudaron también a fundamentar teológicamente la Campaña de Desinversión en Minería, animada por IyM y el Proyecto Oro e Iglesia, impulsada por DKA. Metodológicamente este Grupo de Reflexión se organizó en tres Ejes Temáticos: 1) Perspectiva ética teológica: en el que buscamos iluminar las prácticas del modelo político y económico extractivista que se ha establecido, en la modernidad, como dogma para el crecimiento. Este modelo que se sustenta en una financiarización utilitaria de la naturaleza para salvaguardar el capital especulativo mediante el control de la Madre Tierra y del futuro [...] 2) Teología litúrgica: diálogos abiertos, sobre la Liturgia y la opción evangélica preferencial por los pobres ¿cómo entender la utilización del oro, la plata y los diamantes en nuestras personas y particularmente en nuestras Iglesias? [...] 3) Teología Poscolonial: reflexionó la sobreexplotación de la naturaleza, con la consiguiente devastación territorial por parte de la minería y las empresas multinacionales. Hemos avanzado en actualizar y proponer una versión “moderna” del colonialismo: asumimos que para compartir “un principio de esperanza” post extractivista, es urgente descolonizar nuestro pensamiento, el imaginario y los poderes/saberes que actualmente tenemos." (Presentación, página 2-4)
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"El Salvador’s experiment, though mired with fiscal and political issues from before, has shown that the adoption of public blockchain assets like Bitcoin are not taken in good regard by legacy financial multilateral institutions and are seen with great skepticism and concern. Although the adoptio
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n of Chivo has been impressive as a platform, bitcoin payments even for remittances are still not the majority. The separation of state and money, if it happens, will be an uphill and contradictory battle, especially if El Salvador’s government fails to properly manage the experiment. Central America is interestingly home to a wide array of financial systems as of the writing of this paper. Four of its countries have their own currency and Central Banks: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras. El Salvador has a Central Bank of Reserve which does not issue money but does manage the country’s reserves, serves as lender of last resort, and now has anointed Bitcoin as legal tender alongside the dollar. Panama does not have a central bank at all, uses the USD as subsidiary legal tender with substantial monetary freedom and is considering cryptoassets in general as means of payment and not legal tender. El Salvador’s results in the next 5-10 years and possible steps by other countries in the region will determine whether non-state-issued crypto assets could viably become functional legal tender in countries and whether relatively poor and small countries can lead the way in financial and regulatory innovation or if they will have to remain followers of the rest of the developed world." (Conclusion)
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"The first adopters of mobile money were economies in sub-Saharan Africa, and over time adoption rates have increased rapidly particularly in Asia and Latin America. As of 2020, there were 1.2 billion mobile money accounts globally, with US$ 767 billion in transactions during the year. Sub-Saharan A
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frica accounts for 45.2 percent of all registered mobile money accounts, while South Asia and East Asia and the Pacific account for 25.2 percent and 20 percent of registered accounts respectively. A wide range of transactions are executed on mobile money networks, including person-to-person transfers (which account for the largest share), as well as merchant payments, mobile-bank payments, international remittances, bill payments, government transfers and payments, business-to-business payments and airtime purchases. The overall trend shows mobile money continuing to scale rapidly in a number of countries globally, although a number of implementations have been unsuccessful. This report details the key lessons from the mobile money experience in Africa that can contribute to the effective design, regulation and operation of central bank-issued digital currencies (CBDCs), based on the wealth of theoretical and empirical evidence on the social, economic and cultural impact of mobile money. The lessons are categorized into regulatory, technology, economic and socio-cultural." (Executive summary)
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"A pesquisa apontou que em 91% das arquidioceses, dioceses e prelazias da Amazônia Legal brasileira contam com espaços permanentes de comercialização de produtos agroecológicos, da agricultura familiar e economia solidária. A maior parte desses espaços são as tradicionais feiras que reúnem
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diferentes modalidades e produtos, abastecendo comunidades e até cidades inteiras com hortaliças, verduras, frutas, pequenos animais e outros itens produzidos pelos agricultores e agricultoras [...] Em 28% das arquidioceses, dioceses e prelazias existem Feiras de Economia Solidária, que reúnem empreendimentos solidários urbanos e rurais mas também cooperativas, redes de comercialização e outras experiências de economia solidária. É importante ressaltar que, apesar de parecer um número baixo, a existência dessas feiras em pelo menos 19 municípios indica a força da economia solidária na Amazônia, resultado da mobilização de pastorais sociais, movimentos sociais e das políticas públicas específicas implementadas no Brasil entre os anos 2003 e 2016." (Página 29-30)
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"Although it is increasingly well-known that mining generates a vast array of gendered impacts, less studied is how women in mining zones have turned to online social media to articulate concerns and mobilise for collective action. This article explores how gendered social media communication has co
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nveyed injustices experienced by women in Zimbabwe’s diamond-mining areas and produced spaces of feminist solidarity in navigating structural violence, offering mutual support, and sharing daily developments and strategic initiatives. While Zimbabwe’s diamond-mining controversies have transformed over the years, communication online has continued to occur under the gaze of online state surveillance, and online spaces are never risk-free spaces. Seeking equitable development and inserting into politically sensitive topics, sensibilities of ‘online’ community-building have been different across a range of contexts and for different people. We explore communication online, bringing together discussions of gender-focused critiques of mining megaprojects, state violence, and feminist research in online spaces." (Abstract)
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"Silke Helfrich und David Bollier legen überkommene Denkmuster frei und entwerfen ein Programm für ein gelingendes Miteinander, ein anderes Politikverständnis und ein sorgendes Wirtschaften. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei Commons-Praktiken. Sie zeigen, wie wir in Verschiedenheit gemeinsame Ziele ver
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folgen. Ganz praktisch können so Häuser und Fahrzeuge in ähnlicher Weise wie die Wikipedia entstehen. Das Buch stiftet zudem an, wie ein »Commoner« zu denken." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This book Globalance looks specifically at balancing values in global politics and global economics. Globalance, the title and topic of this book, is the alternative to the disorder of the world. ‘Globalance’ was in fact my main underlying passion and vision during the last four decades of my l
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ife and work in academic research, as journalist, in global development cooperation and the Globethics.net foundation." (Introduction, page 24)
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"The Panguna Listening Project (PLP) is an initiative of the Catholic Diocese of Bougainville (DOB), led by Bishop Bernard Unabali seeking to make the voices of the people heard and making the people safe in the Panguna mine-affected areas. It is a neutral project and does not take a position on the
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future of mining in Bougainville [...] Developing from the Bishop’s interest in supporting communities in the mine-affected communities, community consultations were held to engage further input. An initial 2-day scoping meeting was held at Tunuru Mission Station in 2017 and key stakeholders and local members were invited to discuss the potential of PLP. Based on the positive feedback funding support was sought by the Diocese of Bougainville from Misereor e V. from Germany. To launch PLP, a Stakeholder meeting was held at Manetai Mission Station in May 2018, led by Bishop Bernard Unabali and Project Manager Bonaventure Kenulei, bringing together stakeholders and community members to provide project information as well as to engage in collaborative planning. This book outlines the responses and comments from community members in the first two stages of PLP. It documents the main themes from the community data and meaningful comments from the Listening team from their experiences of listening to conversations in the mine-affected communities. It also includes individual stories and photos from the Panguna mine-affected communities which were collected through community "storytelling sessions." (Introduction, page 6)
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"La solidaridad, la búsqueda del bien común y el cuidado de la naturaleza son los elementos que desde las bases regionales sociales y eclesiales responden concretamente a las problemáticas y los desafíos que se presentan en la cuenca amazónica. “Alternativas nacen a partir de la resistencia
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plantea el autor a través de diversas experiencias que manifiestan un equilibrado desarrollo humano que tiene en cuenta la sana relación con la naturaleza. La lógica del progreso sustentado en un extractivismo de los recursos naturales y la invisibilización de las etnias poblacionales del Amazonas choca contra la lógica del cuidado común de la tierra y la propuesta fraterna de un mundo posible." (Resumen)
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"Globale Transformationsprozesse wie steigende Rohstoff- und Nahrungsmittelpreise, die Finanzkrise und der Klimawandel haben seit Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts zu tiefgreifenden Veränderungen in der Landnutzung und den Landbesitzverhältnissen beigetragen. Konflikte um Land und Rohstoffe stehen seit
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einigen Jahren im Fokus einer lebhaften wissenschaftlichen und zivilgesellschaftlichen Debatte und führen vielerorts - insbesondere im Globalen Süden - zu Protesten. Mit über 40 Essays von »Agrarbewegung« bis »Water Grabbing« präsentiert das kritische Handbuch zentrale Themen der Debatte und macht sie einer breiten Leser_innenschaft zugänglich." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"The informal practices revealed in this book include emotion-driven exchanges (from gifts or favours to tribute for services), values-based practices of solidarity and belonging enacting multiple identities, interest-driven know-how (from informal welfare to informal employment and entrepreneurship
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, often not seen or appreciated as expertise), and power-driven forms of co-optation and control. The paradox – or not – of the invisibility of these informal practices is their ubiquity. Expertly practised by insiders but often hidden from outsiders, informal practices are, as this book shows, deeply rooted all over the world. Fostering informal ties with ‘godfathers’ in Montenegro, ‘dear brothers’ in Finland and ‘little cousins’ in Switzerland – known locally as kumstvo, Hyvä veli, and Vetterliwirtschaft – as well as Klüngel (solidarity) in Cologne, Germany, compadrazgo (reciprocity) in Chile, or blat (networks of favours) in Russia, can make a world of difference to your well-being. Yet just like family relations, social ties not only enable but also limit individual decisions, behaviour and rights, as is revealed in the entries on janteloven (aversion to individuality) in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, or krugovaia poruka (joint responsibility) in Russia and Europe. The Global Informality Project (GIP) assembles pioneering research into the grey areas of informality, known yet unarticulated, enabling yet constraining, moral to ‘us’ yet immoral to ‘them’, divisive and hard to measure or integrate into policy. While typically unmentioned in official discourse, these practices are deeply woven into the fabric of society and are as pervasive as the usage of the terms, or language games, associated with them: pulling strings in the UK, red envelopes in China, pot du vin in France, l’argent du carburant paid to customs officials in sub-Saharan Africa, coffee money (duit kopi) paid to traffic policemen in Malaysia, and many others (Blundo, Olivier de Sardan, 2007: 132). While they may be taken for granted and familiar, such practices can also be uncomfortable to discuss and difficult to study." (Preface, page vii-viii)
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"This article examines trade relations in alternative food networks as a space where communication practices can prove empowering for rural communities. Drawing on a theory of diverse economies, the article offers an alternative view of the global market, highlighting the social relations that under
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pin market transactions. These relations are then explored through a case study of a farming community in South India and their interactions with private enterprises in North America and Europe. The findings demonstrate how a dialogical communication process between the two groups can contribute to farmers’ well-being beyond economic growth, creating opportunities for more permanent social change." (Abstract)
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"The Republic of Korea has been successful in investing in its people and its talents. It is now investing in the potential for the youth to be great entrepreneurs. We hope that this report will be useful to developing countries and encourage them to look into new growth opportunities and sustainabl
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e development based on creative new industries. There is no one single model for success in the creative economy. What really matters is what can be achieved by developing and investing in a creative and innovative economy, new jobs, new export opportunities and a more inclusive society. The Creative Economy report for the Republic of Korea is structured in five chapters. Chapter 1 gives a general introduction of the country's economic growth and success and the reasons for a shift to a new economic model and the creation of new jobs. Chapter 2 introduces the creative economy promotion strategy of the Republic of Korea that utilizes its science, information and communications technology capacity, all of which are the country's strengths. Whilst addressing strategic added value. Chapter 3 addresses the government strategy which is oriented to promoting small and medium-sized industries and start-ups, particularly in the creative content industries. Chapter 4 describes the 'creative economy valley' which is a government driven strategy to support the 'convergence of science and technology with industry, the fusion of culture, and industry and creativity and entrepreneurship. Chapter 5 provides conclusions and recommendations for future steps." (Executive summary)
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