Academic literature on the topic 'Civil rights – Italy – History'

Abstract. The doctrine of abuse of rights has a long history but little future. The jurists who developed the jus commune could draw on Roman sources to support the principle that the exercise of one’s rights could not be relied on to justify intentional harm to another. In mediaeval times this principle was mainly used to prevent unsuitable use of building rights and assist in town planning. The requirement of intention was diluted by reference to numerous presumptions. The Napoleonic code avoided the need to rely on the doctrine by including certain zoning and town criteria within the code, but it was called upon later in the nineteenth century as a way of dealing with conflicting interests in the way land was used and the activities allowed on the land. This use of the doctrine was in turn rendered otiose when the tort provisions of the civil code began to be interpreted in an extensive manner which allowed conflicting interests to be weighed in determining the existence of fault liability. The doctrine of abuse of rights has thereafter played only a restricted role in the French legal system. It has been codified in relation to abuse of procedural rights within the justice system. The experience of other legal systems is similar. Although the principle prohibiting the abuse of rights was codified in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, these provisions have only rarely been relied on in practice. The need to prove intention is too onerous. Other provisions of the codes, such as the requirement of good faith in §242 BGB have enabled an equitable result to be achieved without resort to the doctrine of abuse of rights. It has also been subsumed within traditional principles such as venire contra factum proprium and unconscionability. Indeed the abuse of right theory is too rigid to provide an adequate resolution of the underlying problem: the balancing of conflicting interests. More flexible approaches have rendered the doctrine largely superfluous.

Healthcare, well-being, and a healthy lifestyle are vital for all of us. In this regard, the engagement of European citizens is key to improve the health system and it is necessary to provide a leading role to the people, the communities, intermediate bodies such as Patients' Advocacy Groups (PAGs), citizens organizations involved in healthcare issues and, more generally, to all actors that promote health as a common good. European institutions struggle to translate into concrete actions the many times highlighted principle relating to the involvement of actors of the civil society and PAGs in the management of health issues. The need to close the gap between the principles affirmed and the real involvement is even more serious when discussing about the management of serious cross-border threats to health. In line with its standing point, the civic organization Cittadinanzattiva [1], being deeply involved in health issues that promote civic participation in the policy-making activities both at the national level in Italy and, through its EU branch Active Citizenship Network (ACN) [2], also at the EU level, is working – of course not alone – to promote civic participation in the drafting and implementation process of National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs), with relevant political goals already achieved. As the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) [3] is approaching, emphasizing the great contribution of civil society to the success of the EU recovery plans is urgent and essential, now more than ever.

The texts of this dossier analyze the role played by different political and social actors in the institutionalization of Special Education in Brazil during the civil-military dictatorship (1964-1985), with emphasis on the theoretical and political debates that influenced the agents’ stance. The dossier also brings a paper that discusses the institutionalization of Special Education in Italy during the 1970s, thus contributing to the construction of comparisons and theoretical and methodological breakthrough in the area of Special Education History. It is hoped that the papers presented in this dossier raise questions and reflections on the proposals that have been gaining ground in Brazil, which are again focusing on assistentialist perspectives that link disability to the medical model, rather than on a social model and rights of this population.

In his will, the poet and playwright Michael Beer (1800-1833) provided an endowment for a prize to support Jewish painters and sculptors to travel to Italy for one year. The grant was placed under the auspices of the Berlin Academy of Art and awarded from 1836 to 1921. This essay focusses on the establishment of the prize, exploring the mindset and motivations of the donor, situated in their historical, social, and ideological contexts. It opens insights into early nineteenth-century Jewish-Christian networks, as well as into contemporary views on national art and the aesthetics of the classical tradition, private patronage and public institutions, Jewish emancipation, antisemitism, and civil rights.

Keywords: intellectual property right, codification, legislation, The Civil Code ofUkraine This scientific article examines the issue of the need to create aspecial code of intellectual property in Ukraine. For a full-fledged and objective study,an analysis was made of the history of Ukrainian legislation in the field of intellectualproperty, foreign models of legal regulation of intellectual property rights, especiallyEuropean legal experience, were also investigated. The author supports the positionregarding the creation in Ukraine of the Intellectual Property Code, the analogueof which exists in Italy and France. Based on the study of Ukrainian and foreign legalsystems, the author defines the main criteria for creating an intellectual propertycode: Legal and organizational criteria are defined. The author points out the need toimplement the European legislative practice, the jurisprudence of the EuropeanCourt of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union on judicialcases in the field of intellectual property into the code. This vector of implementationwill have a positive meaning for the adaptation of the Ukrainian legislative system toEuropean democratic standards in the field of legal regulation, legal protection of intellectualproperty rights. The author pays special attention to the need to harmonizethe intellectual property code with the Civil Code of Ukraine and procedural legislationin order to level the negative legal consequences in legal practice in the field ofintellectual property; also in the IP Code shall contain the following provision or requirements,which contained universal definitions of legal concepts in the field of intellectualproperty. Based on the conducted scientific analysis, the author points outthe need for the existence of the Ukrainian code of intellectual property and speciallaws in the field of intellectual property. It follows from this that there is a need forlegal regulation of individual legal relations (objects of law) in the field of intellectualproperty law. The author points out that such a legal system corresponds to the modelof legal regulation of the field of intellectual property that exists in the EuropeanUnion.

Struggling with practical problems such as the sudden cancellation of scheduled visits and exams and a sense of abandonment and uncertainty. This is how the “ordinary” patients lived the period of the health emergency in Italy. At the same time, civic and rights protection associations, since the beginning, have been active with a sense of responsibility, creativity, and energy, often revealing themselves to be the only point of reference and the only service available to citizens. This is the double side of the coin, in the implications of the pandemic on chronic and rare patients, which emerged from the XVIII National Report on Chronic Policies of Cittadinanzattiva, presented on October 13th, 2020, and entitled: “Isolated but not alone: the response to the pandemic in the story of Patients Advocacy Groups (PAGs)” [1]. The Report arised from the story of 34 Italian associations of patients with chronic and rare diseases who adhered to the National Coalition of Associations for Patients suffering Chronic Diseases (CnAMC) [2] of Cittadinanzattiva [3]. This experience - thanks to Active Citizenship Network [4] - was first socialized on the occasion of the 15th European Patients' Rights Day held on May 5th & 6th, 2021 [5], and then brought to the attention of the leaders of the G20 and other states, gathered together with the heads of international and regional organizations on the occasion of the Global Health Summit held in Rome on May 21, 2021 [6].

- The condition of the Rom and Sinti peoples represents very well the contradictions present in European society and the problems that Europe has to tackle if it is to pursue the path of political integration. There are several million people in the Rom and the Sinti population, distributed in small communities all over the continent. Because of their lifestyle and different language and customs, they are in practice denied access to the civil, political and social rights due to other citizens, both in Italy and in the majority of other European countries. This denial of their cultural identity sometimes verges on racial discrimination: as they lie on the margins of civil society, the authorities often treat them in ways that are incompatible with the principles of freedom, equality and solidarity on which today's modern democracies are founded. What the institutions in the various states ought to do, on the other hand, is work together with the Rom and Sinti organisations and with the international organisations to safeguard a cultural identity that enriches Europe as a whole just as much as its national identities do, while at the same time contributing at making these people fully entitled European citizens. Eligio Resta, God and the Majority Award The history of the principle of majority is still a powerful indicator for interpreting contemporary developments in economic democracy and in political democracy. The work by F. Galgano that led to these notes illustrates a line of commentary about the form and the contents of the rule of the majority that is pursued right up to the decline perceived in the present day. Overwhelmed by the crisis afflicting the concept of representation today, the principle of the majority has come back to question us about the space reserved for deliberative democracy.

In April 2019, the Italian NGO Cittadinanzattiva, through its international branch Active Citizenship Network (ACN) launched, during the European immunization week, a new project called “European Active Citizens for Vaccination”. The aim was to improve the awareness on the importance of vaccination across Europe: The scientific evidence is clear; vaccination is an essential public health tool and helps to guarantee our fundamental rights as European citizens. ACN realized a social media communication campaign supporting and spreading awareness on the topic of life-long vaccination, videos were made in all the national languages of the involved countries (Italy, Hungary, Poland, Ireland and Spain) and then produced, shared and customized for each country. Moreover, an informative leaflet in a different language was produced. Civic consultations on the National Immunization Plan were held in Poland, Hungary and Spain. This article describes the main results of the focus group held in Spain on the topic of vaccination and on its related policies. The full report has been published in the Report entitled “European Active Citizens for Vaccination: focus on Spain (2019 - 2020)” edited by Cittadinanzattiva APS.

The military coup of July 1936 against the Republican government of Spain, which rapidly developed into civil war, required an urgent response from the authorities of the United Kingdom. This was as much on account of its effects on British interests in Spain as due to its repercussions on the unstable situation in Europe. During the nearly three years of war, the Conservative-dominated Cabinet adhered to the Non-Intervention pact signed by all European governments in August 1936, which prescribed an arms embargo towards the combatants without a parallel recognition of their rights as belligerents. This peculiar neutrality, which combined respect for the legal status of the recognized government with de facto equal status for the rebels, was defended by British officialdom on the grounds of the over-riding need to restrict the war and avoid its escalation into a general European conflict. The argument served to deflect accusations of hidden antagonism towards the Republic and to justify the continuation of this policy of neutrality despite the support of Italy and Germany for the insurgent forces, so tolerating in practice the sabotage of the policy of non-intervention by the fascist powers. In the face of these official explanations, which have been accepted at face value by many historians, this article will attempt to show that British non-intervention had its origins in antirevolutionary pre-occupations rather than in strictly diplomatic considerations. Furthermore, it will be argued that during the first six months of the war it adhered consistently to a political strategy based on the expectation that the war would be short lived.

Struggling with practical problems such as the sudden cancellation of scheduled visits and exams and a sense of abandonment and uncertainty. This is how the "ordinary" patients lived the period of the health emergency in Italy. At the same time, civic and rights protection associations, since the beginning, have been active with a sense of responsibility, creativity, and energy, often revealing themselves to be the only point of reference and the only service available to citizens. This is the double side of the coin, in the implications of the pandemic on chronic and rare patients, which emerged from the XVIII National Report on Chronic Policies of Cittadinanzattiva, presented on October 13th, 2020, and entitled: "Isolated but not alone: the response to the pandemic in the story of Patients Advocacy Groups (PAGs)". The Report arised from the story of 34 Italian associations of patients with chronic and rare diseases who adhered to the National Coalition of Associations for Patients suffering Chronic Diseases (CnAMC) of Cittadinanzattiva. This experience thanks to Active Citizenship Network was first socialized on the occasion of the 15th European Patients’ Rights Day held on May 5th & 6th, 2021, and then brought to the attention of the leaders of the G20 and other states, gathered together with the heads of international and regional organizations on the occasion of the Global Health Summit held in Rome on May 21, 2021.

This thesis is about organizations working in the field of British civil liberties between 1934 and 1989. It examines the relationship between the concepts of civil liberties and human rights within a British context, and discusses the forms of political activism that have accompanied this subject. At the centre of this work is an examination of the politics of the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), an organization that has played a key role in the protection and promotion of civil liberties from its formation in 1934. It also examines the activities of a range of other organizations that considered themselves to be active on such a subject. The thesis argues that thinking about civil liberties has been extended throughout the twentieth century to incorporate a more positive and broader conceptualization of rights. However, for all the increased importance of the politics of human rights, a tradition of civil liberties has remained crucial to organizations working within such a field. The thesis also seeks to demonstrate that concerns about civil liberties have often reflected the political ideologies of those acting on such issues. Whilst a large amount of conceptual agreement has existed over the importance of the subject within Britain, this has consistently been met with disagreement over what this means. NGOs have played crucial roles as mediators of such a conflict. In performing such a role, the civil liberties lobby has been characterised by a set of professional, expert activists that have, at times, been able and will to engage with radical political ideas.

This study explores the idea of who was the first to foster a national movement to weaken Jim Crow laws. This study was based on the premise that Martin Luther King, Jr. was an important figure, but not the actual father of a movement to grant blacks equal rights, as many suggest. A case study analysis approach was used to analyze data gathered including primary sources, personal letters from Charles Hamilton Houston to his parents and friends, as well as court documents related to cases he argued in federal and state courts. In addition newspaper/magazine articles from Houston's time, articles focusing on him after his death, and sociological studies from that time were also utilized. The research found that Charles Hamilton Houston was the first black lawyer to challenge "separate but equal" with national success. Houston used empirical and scientific data of that time to show the facilities were not. The conclusion drawn from the findings suggests that the legal victories Houston achieved provided all Americans with a basis from which to challenge segregation and unequal treatment under the law in America.

This dissertation is an historical and philosophical study on the development of a subjective concept of individual rights. It takes the form of a history of ideas informed by genealogical methods of inquiry. Rather than seeking an origin for and underlying truth to human rights, it treats human rights as a product of various historical developments which are capable of being investigated in terms of their contingency as well as their continuous traditions. The thesis begins with an analysis of political theory in ancient Greek thought, primarily as a means of suggesting possible alternative political philosophies to the rights-based approach dominant in modern Western societies. The thesis then considers the theologicalpolitical discourse on sovereignty in the early Middle Ages, revolving around the doctrine of divine right and influenced by the function of the Christian Church in defining the nature of government. This is followed by an examination of the emergence of hierarchical, feudal relations and the formulation of feudal rights as based on proprietary notions and coinciding with individual liberties. In the following chapter there is a discussion of the juridical construction of sovereign power that emerged from the reception of Roman law and the development of canon law, the influence of legal textuality on the granting of rights and liberties, and the emergence of a discourse on public right as a way of defining the relationship between the prince and his subjects and thus delimiting sovereign authority. Finally, the thesis considers the legacy of the theory of natural rights and its relationship to forms of liberty, with an analysis of: firstly, the idea of natural rights that developed through canon law and the discussions surrounding the Franciscan poverty disputes; secondly, the role of property rights in the formulation of the rights of liberty; thirdly, the Christian understanding of liberty as a subjective attribute or power through the theo-ontological theory of human nature as represented by the free will; and fourthly, the transformation in Renaissance and early modern legal and political theory of the concept of liberty into a political doctrine about individual autonomy and inherent freedom. The purpose of the dissertation is to describe the multiple and complex historical processes from which the idea of subjective rights has emerged, as a means of understanding how human rights have come to play a seemingly essential role in modern legal and political discourses and practices.

<p>The realization of concrete bridges in Italy in the last century started a bit later in comparison to other Europena countries such as Germany and France. However, the work of important designers such as Arturo Danusso, Eugenio Miozzi, Giulio Krall gave a huge impulse to bridge engineering in Italy, reducing the gap with leading countries. In particular, the role of Riccardo Morandi was quite exceptional, due to his innovative design criteria which are very well represented, for example, in the Storms River bridge in South Africa and in the Fiumarella Bridge in Catanzaro. The recent tragedy of the collapse of Polcevera viaduct in Genova is instrumental in discussing the different approaches needed when dealing with important existing bridges and the possibile retrofitting techniques.</p>

<p>The use of structural health monitoring for a reliable characterization of modal properties is becoming a common solution when dealing with the safety assessment of existing bridges, in order to capture samples of the experimental response of the “real structure”. Such non-destructive test approach has also the advantage to be able to capture also potential criticalities that can change the real behavior of the structure with respect to the “as-built” configuration. The present work illustrates the results of experimental measurements carried out on the Carbonifera viaduct, a steel-concrete composite bridge located in the metropolitan area of Venice, northeastern Italy. These tests were conducted in order to determine main natural frequencies, mode shapes, modal damping ratios and to further calibrate an ad-hoc finite element model subsequently used in order to perform a structural assessment of the bridge against traffic and seismic loads.</p>

<p>The contribution presents a methodological procedure for the management and planning of interventions after earthquake events in small historic centres. Reference is made to the case study of Castelluccio di Norcia, a village in the Apennine Mountains affected by the seismic sequence that hit Central Italy in 2016. The earthquake risk of the area and the damaging events of 2016 are critically reviewed. The implementation of cognitive analysis and the application of advanced survey techniques involving the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for the purposes of emergency management and monitoring of damaged areas are analysed. The outcomes, combined with the direct involvement of the local population, represent a complete and integrated approach allowing the definition of a) possible intervention strategies, b) related decision criteria and c) practical recommendations for the reconstruction and regeneration of Castelluccio, and, in general, of small historic centres damaged by catastrophic events.</p>

<p>On August 14, 2018, a few spans of the cable-stayed viaduct crossing the Polcevera river (Genoa, Italy) collapsed, causing tens of fatalities along with considerable material damage and hundreds of people displaced. The viaduct, as well as many others belonging to the national road network, was built in the second half of the last Century and has been in service for over fifty years. The bridge has experienced a dramatic increase in the heavy lorries traffic, together with degradation that developed much faster than expected due to the aggressive environment. In the present paper, a possible scenario is proposed to put into evidence how the combined effect of fatigue at very-high number of cycles and corrosion could have been responsible for the sudden failure of one of the strands and the subsequent collapse of the so-called balanced system conceived by the designer Morandi. Our purpose is to warn the scientific community and the public administrations about the combined effects of low amplitude cycle fatigue and corrosion, which can be dangerously underestimated in the safety assessment of last Century bridges asset.</p>

The unprecedented resurgence of religious organisations in the public sphere in recent years has given particular urgency to the old question of the compatibility of Islam and liberalism. Some scholars have argued that Islamic notions of social–political order are not hospitable to democracy and human rights. Others have argued that notions of democracy and human rights are firmly established in the Islamic political discourse but their expression depends on history, social structure and context. Although this debate has proved fruitful in framing the role of Islam in the public sphere, both sides have generally focused on essential sources of Islam. The debate needs to be extended to the empirical realm through study of particular Islamic movements and their responses to liberalisation trends. Such study should take into account local context, the organisational capabilities of the movement, and the Islamic repertoire that it deploys in mobilising its followers. This paper looks at the Gülen movement’s response to liberalisation processes in Turkey in the 1990s and 2000s. Since liberalism has radically transformed the economic and political system of the country over the last two decades, Turkey is a good example for our purposes. Furthermore, the increased influence of the Gülen movement in Turkey provides rich empiri- cal data of an Islamic movement engaging with liberalisation in civil society and politics. The paper concludes that, while the movement’s discourse and practice are compatible with liberalism, its Islamic ethos means that at some points it must engage liberalism critically.

The aspiration of every modern state is to establish the rule of law, which incorporates the basic principles on which a free, open and prosperous society should lie. Some of these principles are civil democracy and secret and direct elections. The legal conduct of elections is the basic way to achieve peace and satisfaction among the population, because it puts the exercise of power and the regulation of issues of essential importance under their control. With the development of technology, trends, but also everyday life are changing, so, in addition to elections, the media are synonymous with freedom and citizenship rights. The media are a means of information that introduces citizens to information of various contents, and above all fundamental. Depending on the norm, level of development, protection mechanisms, the media conscientiously perform their function, or do not do it completely. What are the consequences when reporting on a specific phenomenon that is the basis of a healthy society in the first or second case is a central question that we will analyze in this paper. The importance of elections has been continuously confirmed throughout history, while the necessity of the media has been expanding for decades, in the intensity that elevates them to the top and equates them with the election process.

COVID-19 caught humanity off guard at the turn of 2019/2020. Even when the Chinese government sealed off Wuhan, a city of millions, for weeks to contain the epidemic, no one in other parts of the world had any idea of what specifically was heading for the countries. The ignorant and belittling public statements and tweets of the former US president are still fresh in everyone's memory. Only when the Italian army carried the coffins with the COVID-19 victims in northern Italy, the gravesites spread in the Bergamo region, as well as the intensive care beds filled in the overcrowded hospitals, the countries of the European Union and other parts of the world realised how serious the situation threatened to become. Together with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the terms changed to pandemic. Much of the pandemic evoked reminiscences originating in the Black Death raging between 1346 and 1353 or in the Spanish flu after the First World War. Meanwhile, life went on. The administration of justice in criminal cases could not and should not come to a standstill. Emergency measures, such as those that began to emerge in February 2020, are always the hour of the executive. In their efforts to stop the spread of the virus, in Germany, governments particularly reflected on criminal proceedings. Neither criminal procedural law nor the courts and court administrations applying this procedural law were adequately prepared for the challenges. Deadlines threatened to expire, access to court buildings and halls had to be restricted to reduce the risk of infection, public hearings represented a potential source of infection for both the parties to the proceedings and the public, virtual criminal hearings via conference calls had not yet been tested in civil proceedings, but were legally possible, but not so in criminal cases. The taking of evidence in criminal cases in Germany is governed by the rules of strict evidence and is largely not at the disposal of the parties to the proceedings. Especially in criminal cases, fundamental and human rights guarantees serve to protect the accused, but also the victims and witnesses. Executive measures of pandemic containment might impact these guarantees. Here, an attempt will be made to discuss at some neuralgic points how Germany has attempted to balance the resulting contradictory interests in the conflict between pandemic control and constitutional requirements for criminal court proceedings.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.

At their most basic level taxes carry, in the words of Schumpeter ([1918] 1991), “the thunder of history” (p. 101). They say something about the ever-changing structures of social, economic, and political life. Taxes offer a blueprint, in both symbolic and concrete terms, for uncovering the most fundamental arrangements in society – stratification included. The historical retellings captured within these data highlight the politics of taxation in Alabama from 1856 to 1901, including conflicts over whom money is expended upon as well as struggles over who carries their fair share of the tax burden. The selected timeline overlaps with the formation of five of six constitutions adopted in the State of Alabama, including 1861, 1865, 1868, 1875, and 1901. Having these years as the focal point makes for an especially meaningful case study, given how much these constitutional formations made the state a site for much political debate. These data contain 5,121 pages of periodicals from newspapers throughout the state, including: Alabama Sentinel, Alabama State Intelligencer, Alabama State Journal, Athens Herald, Daily Alabama Journal, Daily Confederation, Elyton Herald, Mobile Daily Tribune, Mobile Tribune, Mobile Weekly Tribune, Morning Herald, Nationalist, New Era, Observer, Tuscaloosa Observer, Tuskegee News, Universalist Herald, and Wilcox News and Pacificator. The contemporary relevance of these historical debates manifests in Alabama’s current constitution which was adopted in 1901. This constitution departs from well-established conventions of treating the document as a legal framework that specifies a general role of governance but is firm enough to protect the civil rights and liberties of the population. Instead, it stands more as a legislative document, or procedural straightjacket, that preempts through statutory material what regulatory action is possible by the state. These barriers included a refusal to establish a state board of education and enact a tax structure for local education in addition to debt and tax limitations that constrained government capacity more broadly. Prohibitive features like these are among the reasons that, by 2020, the 1901 Constitution has been amended nearly 1,000 times since its adoption. However, similar procedural barriers have been duplicated across the U.S. since (e.g., California’s Proposition 13 of 1978). Reference: Schumpeter, Joseph. [1918] 1991. “The Crisis of the Tax State.” Pp. 99-140 in The Economics and Sociology of Capitalism, edited by Richard Swedberg. Princeton University Press.

Turkey, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia span one of the longest continuously inhabited regions of the world. Centuries of cultural infusion have ensured these societies are highly heterogeneous. As plural polities, they are ripe for the kind of freedoms that liberal democracy can guarantee. However, despite having multi-party electoral systems, these countries have recently moved toward populist authoritarianism. Populism —once considered a distinctively Latin American problem that only seldom reared its head in other parts of the world— has now found a home in almost every corner of the planet. Moreover, it has latched on to religion, which, as history reminds us, has an unparalleled power to mobilize crowds. This report explores the unique nexus between faith and populism in our era and offers an insight into how cyberspace and offline politics have become highly intertwined to create a hyper-reality in which socio-political events are taking place. The report focuses, in particular, on the role of religious populism in digital space as a catalyst for undemocratic politics in the five Asian countries we have selected as our case studies. The focus on the West Asian and South Asian cases is an opportunity to examine authoritarian religious populists in power, whereas the East Asian countries showcase powerful authoritarian religious populist forces outside parliament. This report compares internet governance in each of these countries under three categories: obstacles to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights. These are the digital toolkits that authorities use to govern digital space. Our case selection and research focus have allowed us to undertake a comparative analysis of different types of online restrictions in these countries that constrain space foropposition and democratic voices while simultaneously making room for authoritarian religious populist narratives to arise and flourish. The report finds that surveillance, censorship, disinformation campaigns, internet shutdowns, and cyber-attacks—along with targeted arrests and violence spreading from digital space—are common features of digital authoritarianism. In each case, it is also found that religious populist forces co-opt political actors in their control of cyberspace. The situational analysis from five countries indicates that religion’s role in digital authoritarianism is quite evident, adding to the layer of nationalism. Most of the leaders in power use religious justifications for curbs on the internet. Religious leaders support these laws as a means to restrict “moral ills” such as blasphemy, pornography, and the like. This evident “religious populism” seems to be a major driver of policy changes that are limiting civil liberties in the name of “the people.” In the end, the reasons for restricting digital space are not purely religious but draw on religious themes with populist language in a mixed and hybrid fashion. Some common themes found in all the case studies shed light on the role of digital space in shaping politics and society offline and vice versa. The key findings of our survey are as follows: The future of (especially) fragile democracies is highly intertwined with digital space. There is an undeniable nexus between faith and populism which offers an insight into how cyberspace and politics offline have become highly intertwined. Religion and politics have merged in these five countries to shape cyber governance. The cyber governance policies of populist rulers mirror their undemocratic, repressive, populist, and authoritarian policies offline. As a result, populist authoritarianism in the non-digital world has increasingly come to colonize cyberspace, and events online are more and more playing a role in shaping politics offline. “Morality” is a common theme used to justify the need for increasingly draconian digital laws and the active monopolization of cyberspace by government actors. Islamist and Hindutva trolls feel an unprecedented sense of cyber empowerment, hurling abuse without physically seeing the consequences or experiencing the emotional and psychological damage inflicted on their victims.

Turkey, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia span one of the longest continuously inhabited regions of the world. Centuries of cultural infusion have ensured these societies are highly heterogeneous. As plural polities, they are ripe for the kind of freedoms that liberal democracy can guarantee. However, despite having multi-party electoral systems, these countries have recently moved toward populist authoritarianism. Populism —once considered a distinctively Latin American problem that only seldom reared its head in other parts of the world— has now found a home in almost every corner of the planet. Moreover, it has latched on to religion, which, as history reminds us, has an unparalleled power to mobilize crowds. This report explores the unique nexus between faith and populism in our era and offers an insight into how cyberspace and offline politics have become highly intertwined to create a hyper-reality in which socio-political events are taking place. The report focuses, in particular, on the role of religious populism in digital space as a catalyst for undemocratic politics in the five Asian countries we have selected as our case studies. The focus on the West Asian and South Asian cases is an opportunity to examine authoritarian religious populists in power, whereas the East Asian countries showcase powerful authoritarian religious populist forces outside parliament. This report compares internet governance in each of these countries under three categories: obstacles to access, limits on content, and violations of user rights. These are the digital toolkits that authorities use to govern digital space. Our case selection and research focus have allowed us to undertake a comparative analysis of different types of online restrictions in these countries that constrain space foropposition and democratic voices while simultaneously making room for authoritarian religious populist narratives to arise and flourish. The report finds that surveillance, censorship, disinformation campaigns, internet shutdowns, and cyber-attacks—along with targeted arrests and violence spreading from digital space—are common features of digital authoritarianism. In each case, it is also found that religious populist forces co-opt political actors in their control of cyberspace. The situational analysis from five countries indicates that religion’s role in digital authoritarianism is quite evident, adding to the layer of nationalism. Most of the leaders in power use religious justifications for curbs on the internet. Religious leaders support these laws as a means to restrict “moral ills” such as blasphemy, pornography, and the like. This evident “religious populism” seems to be a major driver of policy changes that are limiting civil liberties in the name of “the people.” In the end, the reasons for restricting digital space are not purely religious but draw on religious themes with populist language in a mixed and hybrid fashion. Some common themes found in all the case studies shed light on the role of digital space in shaping politics and society offline and vice versa. The key findings of our survey are as follows: The future of (especially) fragile democracies is highly intertwined with digital space. There is an undeniable nexus between faith and populism which offers an insight into how cyberspace and politics offline have become highly intertwined. Religion and politics have merged in these five countries to shape cyber governance. The cyber governance policies of populist rulers mirror their undemocratic, repressive, populist, and authoritarian policies offline. As a result, populist authoritarianism in the non-digital world has increasingly come to colonize cyberspace, and events online are more and more playing a role in shaping politics offline. “Morality” is a common theme used to justify the need for increasingly draconian digital laws and the active monopolization of cyberspace by government actors. Islamist and Hindutva trolls feel an unprecedented sense of cyber empowerment, hurling abuse without physically seeing the consequences or experiencing the emotional and psychological damage inflicted on their victims.