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Electoral Systems in East Central Europe
26-50Views:47The democratic transition in Eastern and Central Europe provides a good opportunity to
examine how to apply the findings of the science of elections in a new dimension. This study
based on 167 elections in 23 countries shows the formation, evolution and political consequences
of the new electoral systems. The hypothesis of the paper is that the elections and electoral
systems in this region not always correspond to the conventional wisdom. Our analysis divides
into five parts the region (Central Europe, Western and Eastern Balkans, Baltic States and the
other former republics of Soviet Union). This division helps to get an sophisticatad picture about
the emergence and changes of the new electoral systems. By showing country by country we can
demonstrate the similarities and differences between and within subgroups as well. Finally
using three well-known indices (least square index, effective electoral and parliamentary
number of parties) the study summarizes – country by country and subgroups by subgroups by
type – the political consequences for the proportionality and party structure. The analysis of the
167 elections demonstrates that Eastern and Central Europe does not show uniformity regarding
the political consequences of the electoral systems. Their influence is more moderate than in the
established democracies and they are also much more volatile. Their changes have shown rather
diverging than converging trend in the last quarter century. The conventional findings are
difficult to apply for this region, they are only partially valid, especially the formation of party
structure differ from the previous experiences. In sum the Eastern and Central European elections
do not invalidate the conventional statements of the elctoral studies but they offen do not show
corresponding image. So they significantly contribute to the further development and refinement
of the previous findings. -
Community resilience and social support relationships – An analytical approach and research results based on long-term series analysis of communities affected by the red sludge disaster
6-31Views:67vOne of the most serious consequences of disasters is the disruption or even the loss of social
support relationships. Hence, this paper analyses the social support relationships in the
framework of community resilience based on face-to-face interviews with direct (180 people)
and indirect (180 people) victims of the red sludge disaster, using data for 2013 and 2020.
(Hungary, Devecser district).
The focus was analysed according to four types of social support relationship: reciprocal,
donor to recipient and incomplete/disintegrated. At the time of the disaster, we identified a high
level of support activity and a strong reciprocal-donor type of aid model. In contrast, in 2013, we
found an incomplete/disintegrated - reciprocal model with low support activity, and in 2020, a
reciprocal- incomplete/disintegrated model with medium activity.
Based on a detailed statistical analysis of different social support types among the red
sludge disaster’s victims the paper explores and presents the social support activities and
their various patterns with respect to their roles in the resilience of communities. The different
patterns of social supports relationships that emerged in each period examined varied widely,
though – with different intensity – they were primarily influenced by the fact how people were
affected by disaster’s damages (directly and indirectly). Nevertheless, by 2020, other factors,
such as residence, age, and economic activity had already an equally strong impact on different
types of social support relationships as the affectedness by the disaster of 2010. We found that
communities responded to the red sludge disaster in 2010 and to the Covid-19 epidemic in 2020
in a reactive way by activating their social support relationship. -
The Rethinking the public in Higher Education: Communitarian Engagement vs. Service-Based dependency
79-108Views:74There has been structural change in higher education due to the impact of institutions built or maintained in private public partnership. The aim of the paper is to give a deep insight into how these institutions could accomodate or shape the public higher education sector’s discouses, spaces, procedures. The research used mixed method to approach this complex question from a multidisciplinary perspective (sociology, education). Within this framework two residential halls were chosen and 17 interviews were carreid out with all relevant figure of the management. Due to the analytical tools of Maxqda 12 the qualitative results will be presented giving an insight into the differing discourses and practices of the public vs. private-public management. Based on the analysis of the managerial interviews it is safe to state that the public management struggles to balance a communitarian, democratic discourse and objectives with the requirements of efficiency and accountability. The presence of private-public management unintendedly shapes its public counterpart. The institutional analysis revealed that due to the swiftly changing institutional and policy environment residential halls are forced to be efficient leading to difficulties in managerial legitimacy and questions concepts such as community, conformity, commitment and action. Under the circumstances of increasingly growing institutional service-based dependency and control, academic consumers, institutions and students alike, paradoxically avoid integrating into macro groups. As a consequence, the institution encourage and educate student into a particular type of citizenship based on communication and consumerism rather than consensus.
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Family plans and career plans among higher education students in the field of social sciences based on a pilot study in Eastern Hungary
71-93Views:93Our paper explores the family and career plans of social sciences students at Hungary’s second largest university based on a questionnaire-based pilot study. Nowadays, careers include more than the traditional vertical promotion within an organisation, as seen from the emergence of the self-directed “protean” career type, which prompts organisations to adapt to individuals’ values, attitudes, and own career definitions. In addition, the Kaleidoscope Career Model sets out that individuals adapt their career goals to their life stages. Thus, students’ career and family plans matter to prospective employers. Our results show that a modern self-directed career type has emerged among students, for whom it is a priority to meet their own expectations. In several cases, starting a family is preceded by career goals. Furthermore, despite the “feminine” nature of social sciences, our pilot study shows that male students in the field still tend to conform to traditional gender roles regarding the importance of family and career. Our research implies that prospective employers need to adapt their HR strategies to young people’s family and career plans. Moreover, organisations should support students in gaining relevant work experience and in achieving their subsequent career plans.
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Types of fathers’ home-based and school-based involvement based on an interview study
119-139Views:121In this study, we examine fathers’ home-based and school-based involvement to assist the development and achievement of their children. The international literature suggests that fathers are less involved than mothers, and the form of their involvement is also different. However, their home-based and school-based involvement has been shown to have similar positive effects on children’s educational outcomes. We examine the forms of parental involvement based on the typology created by Epstein and Sanders. In our empirical work, we conducted 14 semi-structured interviews with fathers with young children and aimed to delineate father types based on the forms of involvement by conducting a classification of the interviews. Our results show that the first group of fathers are only involved at home; they do not participate in school-related events with their child but report being actively involved in their child’s education and school-related activities at home. Fathers in the second group, on the other hand, are involved not only at home but also in school life. The third type is made up of divorced fathers who, with one exception, are involved at school and at home, which is consistent with the findings in the literature on single fathers with children. In this study, we also attempt to answer the question of how to increase fathers’ school-based involvement. According to the interviewees’ answers, their activity could be encouraged through support from their wife, greater self-confidence, and events organised by schools which are more suited to fathers (sports events, cooking together).
