United Nations Economic and Social Council

Abstract Motivation The article shows that the measurement of SDG attainment remains vague and incomplete and argues that participation‐based and inclusive monitoring must be an integral part of managing the SDG implementation process. Purpose Countries are supposed to review their progress of SDG implementation every four years, but the method of reviewing is left open. In addition, and even more urgent is the need to improve on the inadequate definition of monitoring methods that countries are supposed to deploy. Approach and methods The article reviews the various options currently available to conduct the four‐year review and the methods of on‐going SDG monitoring. Findings The analysis shows that the SDG monitoring methods have not yet been defined, leaving stakeholders (governments, business and civil society) without appropriate guidance. Policy implications The authors propose two types of monitoring: micro‐monitoring and macro‐monitoring, both of which are necessary to ensure effective and efficient monitoring in achieving process accountability, institutional learning, and innovation.

Enhancing the responsiveness of science and innovation programs to societal values is a critical element of responsible innovation. Distinct from laboratory-level research into socio-technical integration, this paper focuses on integration and responsiveness at the level of research priority setting. Taking the case of nanotechnology, it evaluates decision-making in the USA and the UK in the wake of novel policy initiatives for societal research and engagement. It asks to what extent decision-makers explicitly reflected upon societal considerations during priority setting and allocation. Interviews with key decision-makers and staff reveal limited integration of societal actors and considerations during research prioritization. In response to a pervasive history of institutional practices that preclude socio-technical integration, and in contrast to concerns that such considerations may slow down R&D, we propose that building responsiveness into research prioritization can support productivity, contribute to more socially robust outcomes, and possibly even enhance national competitiveness.

The events of January 6, 2021 gave new currency to the idea of brainwashing. Some claimed that Trump's followers had been brainwashed, while others insisted that a 'deep state' had brainwashed most Americans into accepting a rigged election. Scholars who explain that brainwashing theories have long been rejected by most academics and courts of law find it difficult to be heard. Brainwashing nevertheless remains a convenient explanation of how seemingly normal citizens convert to unusual religious or political ideologies. This Element traces its origins to the idea that conversion to deviant beliefs is due to black magic. A more scientific hypnosis later replaced magic and the Cold War introduced the supposedly infallible technique of brainwashing. From the 1960s, new religious movements, more commonly called cults, were accused of using brainwashing. Most scholars of religion reject the theory as pseudoscience, but the controversy continues to this day.

Abstract: In recent years, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) 1 as well as several Al-Qaida affiliates have used the systematic and large-scale looting of antiquities as one of their income streams. Due to the large-scale and organized looting activities of these groups, in particular, in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), following various reports and recommendations by the ISIL, Al-Qaida and Taliban Monitoring Team has adopted a range of measures, chiefly among them the landmark UNSC Resolution 2347 (2017) to counter this threat. These measures demand that both member states’ regulators as well as private sector stakeholders take specific action to ensure that the art and antiquity trading industry is capable of defending itself against the misuse of their services to finance terrorism. This article outlines the various challenges member states and private industry are facing in this regard and explains how the various new UNSC provisions, including the measures outlined in UNSC Resolution 2347 (2017), could be employed effectively to counter this threat.

The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the level of the existing attitudinal barriers towards disabled persons in four communities of Jordan. Jordan is a middle income Arab country, with a PPP-adjusted GDP/capita of US$ 4320. The study attempted to determine the present level as a baseline of prejudice against people with a disability in Jordan, and to examine the relationship between the randomly selected participants’ attitudes and their previous exposure to and experience with disability. The Scale of Attitudes towards Disabled Persons (SADP) was selected as the instrument. An Arabic translated version of the Scale was used for 191 participants. The respondents showed overall negative attitudes towards disabled persons, as illustrated by previous documented materials. The result of this survey was highly correlated with the collective opinion expressed by the focus group that was conducted by the author in Amman in January, 2005. Thus, the cross-cultural validity of this instrument has been confirmed, and the major findings of this pilot study could inform future policy directions and public awareness raising strategies to foster positive public attitudes.

Wildlife trafficking threatens the existence of many plant and animal species and accelerates the destruction of wildlife, forests, and other natural resources. It contributes to environmental degradation, destroys unique natural habitats, and deprives many countries and their populations of scarce renewable resources. The more endangered a species becomes, the greater is the commercial value that is put on the remaining specimen, thereby increasing the incentive for further illegal activities. Preventing and supressing the illegal trade in wildlife, animal parts, and plants is presently not a priority in many countries. Despite the actual and potential scale and consequences, wildlife trafficking often remains overlooked and poorly understood. Wildlife and biodiversity related policies, laws, and their enforcement have, for the most part, not kept up with the changing levels and patterns of wildlife trafficking. Poorly developed legal frameworks, weak law enforcement, prosecutorial, and judicial practices have resulted in valuable wildlife and plant resources becoming threatened. The high demand for wildlife, animal parts, plants, and plant material around the world has resulted in criminal activities on a large scale. Considerably cheaper than legally sourced material, the illegal trade in fauna and flora offers opportunities to reap significant profits. Gaps in domestic and international control regimes, difficulties in identifying illegal commodities and secondary products, along with intricate trafficking routes make it difficult to effectively curtail the trade. Although several international and non-governmental organisations have launched initiatives aimed at bringing international attention to the problem of wildlife trafficking, political commitment and operational capacity to tackle this phenomenon are not commensurate to the scale of the problem. There is, to date, no universal framework to prevent and suppress this crime type and there is a lack of critical and credible expertise and scholarship on this phenomenon. As part of their joint teaching programme on transnational organised crime, the University of Queensland, the University of Vienna, and the University of Zurich examined the topic of wildlife trafficking in a year-long research course in 20182019. Students from the three universities researched selected topics and presented their findings in academic papers, some of which have been compiled in this volume. The chapters included in this v edited book address causes, characteristics, and actors of wildlife trafficking, analyse detection methods, and explore different international and national legal frameworks.

Abstract As a unique case in Asia, South Korea has developed for about 15 years a complex eco‐system for encouraging the promotion of various forms of social enterprises, i.e. enterprises pursuing a social aim and/or operating under a democratic governance. This paper analyses the institutional trajectory of social enterprise in Korea and its close relation with the concept of social economy. A socio‐economic analysis of this trajectory reveals that it is strongly driven by successive consensus towards socially useful organisational forms that remain first relatively unknown and local, and then tend to attract the attention of a growing number of stakeholders, including central and local governments, to eventually generate specific public schemes and laws. Through this analysis, one can understand how far an economic concept like social enterprise is the result of a social construct that depends on the involvement of the public side and the civil society and social movement. It also stresses how important is the decisive role played by relatively minor actors to generate a consensus between different stakeholders and disseminate thus social innovation to reshape public action and public/private forms of partnerships.

This article aims to define the degree to which values presented by groups representing Aboriginal interests in the Supreme Court of Canada have been integrated into the discourse of the Court and the decisions of political actors in Canada. The authors' analysis confirms the hypothesis that the Court, in contrast to its favourable treatment of private claims made by social minorities, is less receptive to the claims made by Aboriginals, a political minority whose claims are centered on political power and territory, issues that have been relegated to political negotiations. The significant difference between judicial and political decisionmakers concerning Aboriginal claims resides in the different boundaries they have drawn around political claims, and in the opposing ways they have treated economic claims.

Although lyrics mentioning Satan are present in different brands of rock music, in Heavy Metal and particularly in its subgenre known as Black Metal references to Satanism became a central feature. The article discusses connections with different forms of Satanism in the first and second wave of Black Metal, and how a third wave largely abandoned Satanism in favor of a Nordic Neo-Paganism. It also discusses the controversy on whether Satanism was really crucial in Black Metal, and whether it was simply an artistic metaphor or was lived by musicians as a religious experience.

Book Review| February 01 2019 Review: A Pope of Their Own: El Palmar de Troya and the Palmarian Church by Magnus Lundberg A Pope of Their Own: El Palmar de Troya and the Palmarian Church. By Magnus Lundberg. Uppsala University, Department of Theology, 2017. Free online access only: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1098857/FULLTEXT02. Massimo Introvigne Massimo Introvigne Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Nova Religio (2019) 22 (3): 168–171. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2019.22.3.168 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Massimo Introvigne; Review: A Pope of Their Own: El Palmar de Troya and the Palmarian Church by Magnus Lundberg. Nova Religio 1 February 2019; 22 (3): 168–171. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2019.22.3.168 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentNova Religio Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2019 by The Regents of the University of California2019 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

La recherche présentée dans cette note a pour objectif d'analyser les rapports entre le changement social en ce qui concerne les femmes et les fictions contemporaines destinées au marché féminin. Quatre grands ensembles retiennent l'attention : les romans de séries édités au Québec en livres ou en fascicules depuis la guerre jusqu'aux années soixante; les nouvelles parues en magazines, en particulier dans La Revue moderne et dans Châtelaine; les best-sellers destinés au marché féminin et, enfin, les romans sentimentaux diffusés au Québec, soit les rééditions de livres d'origine française (Delly, Magali), soit les Harlequin en version française. Cette recherche s'enracine dans une problématique assez polémique car elle postule que les médias qui ont la plus grande audience participent activement aux transformations sociales.

Field-scientific and expeditionary studies were carried out in the White Aragvi river catchment basin in order to predict and regulate the movement of solid fractions on erosive-debris flow type rivers in the mountain landscapes of Georgia. Based on the above-mentioned research, the main hydrological, hydraulic, and energy characteristics of the movement of solid fractions in Mountain Rivers were determined. In order to regulate the volume of solid fractions transported by the debris flow, the possibilities of forceful impact on the structures are evaluated, and the reporting relationships for their evaluation are derived. The nature of the change of the lateral expansion coefficient during the movement of solid fractions in the river bed with the link currents is determined, and the possibilities of the change of the flow regimes and the movement in the channel are clarified by keeping the stationarity intact. Based on the theoretical and field-scientific studies, a methodology was developed, using which the working project of the rainwater catchment and debris flow regulating elastic dam was implemented. In the village of Kvemo Mleta, Dusheti municipality, in the riverbed of the river Mletis Khevi, 1650 m above sea level, an innovative construction of an Elastic debris flow-regulating barrage has been constructed, the scientific novelty of which is certified by Georgian patent certificate.

This paper examines the history, worldview, and legal problems of MISA, the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA), founded by Romanian yoga teacher Gregorian Bivolaru, as a form of radical aesthetics. In the first part, we summarize the development and doctrines of MISA. In the second, we present the legal controversies that accompanied the movement's history. In the third, we introduce five theoretical tools derived from the contemporary sociology of aesthetics. In the fourth, we use these tools to interpret MISA's worldview and societal reactions to it.

Book Review| November 01 2021 Review: Enchantments: Joseph Cornell and American Modernism, by Marci Kwon Enchantments: Joseph Cornell and American Modernism. By Marci Kwon. Princeton University Press, 2021. 272 pages. $60.00 cloth; ebook available. Massimo Introvigne Massimo Introvigne Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Nova Religio (2021) 25 (2): 118–120. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2021.25.2.118 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Massimo Introvigne; Review: Enchantments: Joseph Cornell and American Modernism, by Marci Kwon. Nova Religio 1 November 2021; 25 (2): 118–120. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2021.25.2.118 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentNova Religio Search Marci Kwon's book on American painter and Christian Scientist Joseph Cornell (1903–1972) is both a superb achievement and a missed opportunity. From the point of view of art historians, it emerges from what is now a significant production of studies of Cornell as the best treatment of the artist's career, milieu, and work to date. This is no minor achievement, as Cornell is an enigmatic character, and his work is not easy to decode. He is mostly well-known for his collages and boxes full of strange objects found in flea markets and bric-à-brac shops, with the occasional quality print bought in one of his beloved New York antiquarian bookstores. Historians have generally agreed that Cornell played a crucial role in a revolution leading to a new kind of modernist, or perhaps postmodern, art. But the ultimate meaning of his works often remains elusive to the general public, and Cornell has... You do not currently have access to this content.

The Revelation Spiritual Home. The Revival of African Indigenous Spirituality (Elements in New Religious Movements) by Massimo Introvigne and Rosita Šorytė. Cambridge University Press, 2025. ePDF. 84 pp. ISBN: 9781009630405 (Hb.); 9781009630375 (Pb.); 9781009630399 (ePDF)

The German painter Hugo Höppener (1868–1948) received the nickname “Fidus” from self-styled prophet Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach (1851–1913), who regarded him as his most trusted disciple. Later, Fidus abandoned Diefenbach for Theosophy, and remained a Theosophist to the end of his days. As he emerged as an extremely popular Art Deco artist and illustrator, he sided with the Adyar Theosophical Society against the schism of Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). After World War I, however, he regarded Nazism as the only hope for Germany, joined the Nazi Party in 1932, and did not protest the Nazi ban of Theosophy in 1937. Esotericism remained a dominant theme of his art, and he never became a regime artist, although his association with Nazism made him an embarrassment for both Theosophists and art critics, and his important role in the history of German art was acknowledged only recently.

Résumé Fonder la légitimité des syndicats sur des élections et sensibiliser les dirigeants à motiver leurs décisions sont des conditions préalables à la nécessaire amélioration du dialogue social pour accompagner les évolutions imposées par la mondialisation.

Book Review| July 29 2020 Review: Religion in China: Ties That Bind, by Adam Yuet Chau Religion in China: Ties That Bind. By Adam Yuet Chau. Polity Books, 2019. 200 pages. $64.95 cloth; $22.95 paper; ebook available. Massimo Introvigne Massimo Introvigne CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions) Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Nova Religio (2020) 24 (1): 90–91. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2020.24.1.90 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Massimo Introvigne; Review: Religion in China: Ties That Bind, by Adam Yuet Chau. Nova Religio 29 July 2020; 24 (1): 90–91. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2020.24.1.90 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentNova Religio Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2020 by The Regents of the University of California2020 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Wildlife trafficking threatens the existence of many plant and animal species and accelerates the destruction of wildlife, forests, and other natural resources. It contributes to environmental degradation, destroys unique natural habitats, and deprives many countries and their populations of scarce renewable resources. The more endangered a species becomes, the greater is the commercial value that is put on the remaining specimen, thereby increasing the incentive for further illegal activities.

Reliisks pieredzes tematizcija post-liberl garguma situcij: Latvijas gadjums."