Journal articles on the topic 'Decentralization in government – Spain – Andalusia'

The Spanish Constitution of 1978 introduced a dramatic change into the political organization by decentralizing the existing State into seventeen regional governments with a broad range of authority. This transformation involved a ‘services transfer process’ from the central government and a simultaneous evaluation of the financial resources needed by the regional governments. The paper contains an analysis of the main features of this process, focusing on the various problems that have arisen in the estimation of the cost of the services transferred. Finally, some recommendations are offered for the future multilevel public financial system, which are in accordance with the present Spanish regulations on this subject.

Abstract Spain has advanced significantly regarding die assignment of responsibilities on public expenditure and tax powers across regional governments. However, regions do not participate significantly in the decentralization process. The lack of federal insitutions in which regions are represented motivates non-cooperative behaviours and fosters competition between all levels of government. The consequence is that the provision of public goods and services is rather inefficient.We illustrate our argument using a very simple static model with externalities in which the normative recommendation of decentralization does not guarantee the efficient provision of public goods. The adequate design of federal institutions would allow reducing such inefficiencies.Finally we try to identify die political characteristics of the Spanish regime that may explain the lack of institutional mechanisms of cooperation-coordination between governments. This type of analysis could be easily extended to the present situation in Italy.

AbstractAndalusia (Spain) houses several astronomical observatories, among them the main observational facility in continental Europe: Calar Alto Observatory. In recent years, the regional government of Andalusia has been setting up a regulation to protect the natural conditions of darkness at night all over the region. This regulation includes several outstanding features and poses specific rules to protect the influence area of Calar Alto Observatory.

Course with an extension of thirty academic hours celebrated in La Rábida (Huelva, Spain), headquarter of International University of Andalucía (UNIA) with the economic supporting of Andalusia Environmental Autonomous Government, and organized by Córdoba University (Faculty of Science) and Seville University (Faculty of Geography), with the collaboration of «Nicolay Masyuk» seminar and Andalusia Quaternary Group (AEQUA-GAC). The main objective was a conceptual updating of pedology science with a new vision about the soil with an element of the ecosystem subjected to superficial dynamic and human actions. Contemplate it with fundamental elements of territory and the agricultural and natural landscape, relationship with biodiversity and geodiversity, the Natural Protected Areas and the erosion problems.

The Sierra de las Nieves National Park, declared by the Spanish Government in July 2021, is part of the Serranía de Ronda (Western Baetic mountains), which is considered one of the main centres of biodiversity and endemicity of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Andalusia, Spain) and the Mediterranean Basin. The park and its surroundings have an important diversity of vascular plants, mainly due to the orographic, climatic and geological diversity of the area, which is divided into three biogeographical sectors: Rondeño sector (limestones, dolomites and clays), Bermejense sector (peridotites and serpentines) and Aljíbico sector (gneisses and micaschists). This contribution presents the first catalogue of the vascular flora of this national park and its surrounding area, with 1,387 taxa distributed in 104 families and 542 genera. An amount of 79 taxa are endemic to Andalusia and 57 are endangered: 4 are Critically Endangered (CR), 17 are Endangered (EN) and 36 are Vulnerable (VU).

The Spanish Inquisition was established as an official body blessed by the Roman Catholic Church, because the Catholic rulers Isabella and Ferdinand were determined to rid Spain of any heretics or non-Catholics. The greatest impact of the inquisition was the banishment of Islam from Spain. Spain has been a vibrant civilization for six centuries, serving as the shield of other religions. There was no divine guidance left untouched, or even a small group of believers left. It has resulted in Islam being delayed in Christian Europe for several decades. Even though Muslims have come to Europe in the last two centuries, Islam has been practiced as a personal religion of worship and prayer, but never as a government that has protected and enriched the lives of all religions, as we have seen during the Muslim rule of Andalusia. The aim of this paper is specifically to discuss the policies of the Spanish Inquisition on the Muslims in Andalusia. Muslim policies are discussed in great depth compared to other groups, because they were the majority and most resistant to policies. The analysis of the impact of the Inquisition is important to understand how Islam was eradicated from the Spanish society and later re-emerged as a significant presence in Spain.

Muhammad Ibn Abd Rahman is known as Muhammad I was the 5th emir during the reign of the Umayyad Dynasty in Spain in 852-886 AD. He was the son of Abdurrahman Bin Hakam a 4th leader of the Umayyad Dynasty in Spain. He died at the age of 65 years coinciding in 886 AD and at the end of his term of office. The beginning of Muhammad I is served as a series of domestic riots. The government shock is began with the Toledo People’s rebellion, assisted by the Leon tribal chief to rebel in 854 AD, As an emir who was an expert in the administration of his government, he is organized the Andalusian government on a regular basis and created a system of government regulations in the form of legislation. For the management of the State, he also carries out government policies that lead to the welfare of people’s lives. Like his father, one of his personalities was to love the art of beauty and science, so that during his reign he built the city by beautifying the capital city with beautiful buildings, large buildings, and monuments, and he was a supporter of the facilities for education, as well as poets and writers also got their attention. His great contribution in advancing Spanish civilization, which is someone who initiated the growth of progress in the field of Islamic Philosophy and Science in Spain, has recorded one sheet of culture in the achievement of Islamic history. The interest in Greek Philosophy and Science began to be developed in the 9th century AD during the reign of the fifth Umayyad, namely Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Rahman (832-886 AD) at the initiative of al-Hakam (961-976 AD), the scientific works, libraries and universities are able to rival Baghdad as the main center of science in the Islamic world.

The Andalusian Culture and public cultural policy in the last 40 years was hold as a construction of the autonomous community in the context of the transition to democracy and the construction a new cultural administration. Under the cul-tural policy of the Junta of Andalusia, the infrastructural ac-tivities of the autonomous community in the field of culture and art, expressed in the form of protection and stimulation of the development of the cultural sector in the region by providing guarantees and creating favorable framework socio-political conditions for them, are considered. The cultural policy in Andalusia over the past forty years is not difficult to describe. As in all of Spain, culture was included in the con-struction of the Andalusian autonomy. At the same time, this was due to the urgent need to create a cultural administration that would contribute to the creation of the Andalusian cultur-al system. All this, moreover, had to be done quickly. Two directions of cultural policy were formed, as it were: trans-versal and sectoral. The transversal direction began to take shape from the very beginning, as it was necessary to form a new generation of civil servants, managers in the field of cul-ture, focused on the political aspects of cultural policy, the task was to attract different social groups to the field of culture, access to which was previously limited. The second direction was a response to the external challenges of subsequent years, associated with the growth of cultural activity provoked by the Junta and the building of public-private partnerships in the industry.

The article takes as its point of departure the memory initiatives centring on the former Provincial Prison of Seville in Spain, better known as La Ranilla, and the Law on Historic and Democratic Memory of Andalusia, enacted by the regional government of Andalusia in March 2017. The study examines the local and inter-regional entanglement of memories of collectives, such as local neighbourhood associations, trade unions and Francoist political prisoners and their impact on regional and national memory policies. I argue that regional communities such as Andalusia and other autonomous regions have developed distinct regional collective identities and memories and are hence extending and/or opposing national memory politics by drawing on select localised, inter-regional and global paradigms, evident in the production of counter-narratives by regional governments. The study aims to provide new perspectives for understanding the combination and limitations of localised, regional, inter-regional and national memory politics in regional communities. The conclusion examines the limits to regional justice initiatives when opposing state laws such as the 1977 Amnesty Law.

Abstract The debate on euthanasia in Spain has been ongoing from the beginning of the 20th century and remains extant. Three periods can be identified: prior to 1978, 1978-2002, and after 2002. The debate increased significantly after the Ramon Sampedro case (1995-1998), and was fuelled with new, although very different cases, such as those of Leganés (2005-2008), Jorge Leon (2006) or Inmaculada Echevarría (2006-2007). As a consequence of these cases in 2008 the Regional Government of Andalusia started a legal process to pass a law regulating end-of-life decisions, excluding euthanasia and assisted-suicide, which was finally enacted in 2010. Two other Spanish regions (Navarra and Aragón) passed similar laws. The central government also initiated a legal process to approve a national law, excluding euthanasia and assisted-suicide. The project failed because of the dissolution of the Parliament in June 2011. The new government will have to decide how to continue the process.

In this study we analyzed the primary teaching and training experiences that observe play as a didactic resource to facilitate learning, highlighting fundamental elements and characteristics. A descriptive analysis of the different programs and contents with respect to playful methodology proposed by the Ministry of Education of Andalusian Government (Spain) is presented. The purpose of this type of descriptive idiographic research is to define, classify, catalogue, or characterize the experiences of innovation and projects on ludic methodology. The results show a total of 217 experiences and programs that deal with the use of playful methodology in the classroom. The results conclude that there are training resources interested and involved in the training of teachers in relation to play as a didactic resource. This type of training is carried out outside the university environment and has the characteristics of permanent training.

This dataset provides information about infestation caused by the pine processionary moth (Thaumetopoeapityocampa ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775)) in pure or mixed pine woodlands and plantations in Andalusia. It represents a long-term series (1993–2015) containing 81,908 records that describe the occurrence and incidence of this species. Data were collected within a monitoring programme known as COPLAS, developed by the Regional Ministry of Environment and Territorial Planning of the Andalusian Regional Government within the frame of the Plan de Lucha Integrada contra la Procesionaria del Pino (Plan for Integrated Control Against the Pine Processionary Moth). In particular, this dataset includes 4,386 monitoring stands which, together with the campaign year, define the dataset events in Darwin Core Archive. Events are related with occurrence data which show if the species is present or absent. In turn, the event data have a measurement associated: degree of infestation.

Both fiscal and political decentralization have been a worldwide trend in recent decades. Spain is probably the best example of this evolution, insofar as it became one of the most decentralized countries in the world in just over three decades, departing for a highly centralized institutional framework. This paper aims to conduct a detailed analysis of this process, focusing on the fiscal aspects. While we show the successful aspects, we also point out its shortcomings and failures. Those lessons from Spain can be very useful for centralized or low decentralized countries involved in designing institutional reforms to become more decentralized. Our second aim is to review the way in which the Spanish sub-central levels of government have responded to the so-called “Great recession”. Again, Spain is a good laboratory for what actually works and what does not in the area of stability and fiscal sustainability in decentralized states, for two reasons. First, it is by far the country which has suffered the brunt of the economic and financial crisis most acutely among those with a federal structure. And second, subsequent different solutions for tackling the fiscal crisis of sub-central governments have been tested.

The process called Reconquista (Reconquest) in history of Spain succeeded with the occupation of Granada (1492). In order to prevent its lands from becoming “Andalusia” again, the Spanish government established the country’s lines of defense outside the country in North Africa. Considering religious, commercial, political and military reasons a limited occupation policy was implemented in North Africa. Places on strategic North African coasts such as Ceuta, Melilla, Oran and Merselkebir were occupied, and military garrisons (Presedios/Plazas) were established here. With the help of these garrisons, the Spain’s Mediterranean and Atlantic trade has been secured for decades.

Since Margaret Thatcher’s government in Great Britain, educational policies based on a business oriented style of management of education have been imposed in many countries all over the world. This article focuses on two key aspects of this process. First, it makes some considerations on the foundations on which these policies rest, as well as on the effects that they are having in the functioning of the educational system. Second, by studying the particular case of Andalusia, which pioneered the application of many of these new formulas, this articles discusses how these policies have been introduced in Spain.

This article contests the view of Spain as a federation based solely on the notion of the constitutionally entrenched devolution of powers through the rigidity of the national and regional constitutions. To that effect, the article looks at the broader system of the distribution of competences from a legal perspective, an aspect which has been neglected in comparative studies on the nature of Spanish decentralization. The analysis concludes, firstly, that the powers of autonomous communities are not enshrined in the same way as in federal models; secondly, that their Statutes of autonomy are not above the legislation of the central government; and, lastly, that the constitution is not rigid enough to prevent the intrusion from the centre on regional competences.

The advent of democracy in Spain and the establishment of the different autonomous communities marked the beginning of a process to transfer political, economic and other competences over Culture and Cultural Heritage. Following its creation in 1984, the Ministry of Culture of the Andalusian Autonomous Government incorporated a Directorate-General for Cultural Assets into its organisational structure and embarked on an ambitious programme of actions to support Andalusian historical heritage, including creation of a management structure, enactment of a specific heritage law and budget allocations for protection tasks. From the outset, a type of heritage little known until then emerged: ethnological heritage. Dynamic actions were also promoted to fund research into this area, including grants for ethnological activities, financing for publications and funding for ethnological symposiums. This paper analyses the different ethnological activities carried out and their funding, and assesses the extent to which this investment favoured the professional development of teaching staff in the field of Social Anthropology in Andalusia, specifying the marginal effects and differentiating them according to gender and university size using binary choice models (Logit).

The purpose of the paper is to define general trends and approaches to educational reform under the conditions of decentralization in Ukraine. Methodology. The survey is based on the analysis of the development of the regulatory framework of Ukraine for reforming the education sector under the conditions of decentralization. Statistical data on the dynamics of change in the total number of education institutions are studied. The reasons for the decrease in the total number of secondary and vocational education institutions have been identified. The degree of financing of the education sector from the consolidated budget of Ukraine by levels of education is considered. Results. The article outlines general trends and approaches to educational reform under the conditions of decentralization in Ukraine. The problems of the decentralization process, which began in 2014, were emphasized, namely the regional development and unification of territorial communities, which influenced the dynamics of education institutions that gained more autonomy. The dynamics of the total number of education institutions subordinated to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine in terms of educational levels is presented. It is determined that the education sector in Ukraine is in transition, and an important component of this process is the correct choice of the vector of movement, taking into account the interests of all stakeholders. It is determined that the decentralization reform affects mechanisms of management in education. It is established that decentralization for higher education institutions should be considered as a means of forming managerial relations in the industry and joint responsibility for the management of the educational process. The experience of Great Britain and the European Union (Denmark, Spain, Poland, Romania, Finland, France) on improving the quality of educational services by strengthening the motivation of teachers using a differentiated payment system is studied and proposed to introduce into the Ukrainian education system. Practical implications. The possibility of introducing the process of educational / school clustering is considered. It is established that the introduction of decentralization opens the way to changes in creating favorable conditions for the emergence and implementation of intellectual needs of the individual. It is proved that the main task of the government in education in the conditions of decentralization is to coordinate the actions of government agencies, education institutions and the public in order to meet the personal needs of citizens and government demands for intellectual and professional enrichment. Value/originality. In the course of the research perspectives for development of education in Ukraine at the level of territorial communities, the process of formation of new opportunities in education for users of educational services is formed.

“An Unaccompanied Refugee children is a person under the age of 18, who is afraid of being persecuted, whose rights are threatened and is forced to leave his / her habitual residence and / or country of origin and is outside it, without the accompaniment of parents, relatives or other adult person, who, by law or custom, is responsible. “ (Angelidou & Aguaded, 2016). According to the Human Rights Watch researches (2016), serious crimes against refugees and immigrants children are being committed. The Government of Spain announced that they expect to relocate a total of 586 people before the end of 2017. At present, the number of refugees in Spain is more than 470. Specifically, Andalusia became, in September 2016, the first Spanish community that manages to relocate unaccompanied refugees children. The objective of this research is to analyze the socio-educational intervention, which is being carried out with these children. For this, the method used was in-depth interviews, y cuestionarios, which results offer very diverse information, from which we can conclude that there is a way forward, which is leading to improvements for children.

Irrigation sustainability is particularly important in the vicinity of Doñana National Park (Huelva, Spain), where Europe’s most important wetland area coexists with a profitable strawberry irrigation activity. In this paper, an innovation and technology transfer project was laid out. The project was promoted by the Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (IFAPA), belonging to the Regional Government of Andalusia. The main objective of the project was to contribute to the sustainability of the complex ecological, productive, and social system of this region. The project was focused on the rational use of water resources. Experimentation, demonstration, technology transfer, and training activities were carried out, involving public administrations, companies, and private farms. The project was carried out in collaboration with strawberry companies covering a total surface area of 1900 hectares. Irrigation application efficiency and irrigation water productivity increased by 66% and there was also a significant increase in water saving (44%), without resulting production losses. The success of the activity was based on the implication of farmers in experimentation assignments. During a five-year time span, irrigation trials took place on several farms. This fact allowed a progressive improvement of irrigation management by farmers based on confidence in the experimental work results.

This paper empirically examines the political factors behind the different fiscal consolidation paths across Spanish regions over the period 2004 to 2017. Spanish regions provide an interesting case study due to both the strong fiscal decentralization and the deep impact of the so-called “Great Recession” on subcentral budget constraints in Spain. The estimates confirm that governments react to fiscal imbalances by reducing expenditure growth, but this reaction depends on the electoral budget cycle and the results of elections. Fiscal consolidation tends to stop in election years and is boosted by changes in the incumbent. By contrast, neither ideology nor fragmentation of government systematically affects the dynamics of fiscal adjustment.

One of the consequences of the 2020 constitutional reform in Russia is introduction into Russian legislation of the «coordination» concept in relation to the public authority’s activity. So far this legal institution has not received detailed regulation. The institution of coordination of the local authorities’ activities has long been known to foreign legal orders, including Spanish legislation. Taking into account the current reform of the Russian legislation on local self-government, the author substantiates the relevance and timeliness of the study of Spanish experience in this sphere. The purpose of the article is to analyze the legal basis and nature, procedure and conditions for applying the institution of coordination of the local authorities’ activity in Russia and Spain, to determine the possibility of implementing the Spanish experience into the Russian legal order. The methodological basis of the study involves general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as comparative legal and historical methods. Russian and Spanish legislations, law enforcement practice, doctrinal approaches to the research topic have been investigated. Based on the study, the author comes to the conclusion that Spanish experience in this field is relevant for Russia. The institution of coordination in relation to the activities of local self-government bodies in Russia requires more detailed regulation. The author proposes approaches for the complex use of the institution of coordination in order to achieve an optimal balance between the elements of centralization and decentralization of public power.

The article explores practices of the regional development policy in Spain (in other words, regional policy) as the central government’s regulation of economic and territorial development, with a view to their possible efficiency for the Russian Federation. The author singles out Spanish regions (17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities) and local communities (provinces, municipalities and islands) as objects of the regional development policy, reviews goals and objectives of this policy. The paper focuses on analyzing, particularizing and comparing of instruments and mechanisms relevant to this policy line of the Spanish state, its institutional and political aspects in time of Franco's rule and during the post-Francoist period. The variation of economic development in the regions of Spain, different parameters of this variation and some factors of the autonomous communities' economic development are estimated. The specific character of interrelationship between central, regional and local authorities in the context of the Spanish State of Autonomies and of the territorial development dynamics, the peculiarities of the operational inter-budgetary relations model, problems of the local government and self-government as well as of decentralization of metro- and megapolises’ governance are examined. The questions of public discussions in Spanish society about the outcome and efficiency of the central government’s regional development policy are touched upon. The regional development policy in Spain is considered as extremely politicized, semi-structured, contentious and ambiguous in consequence of the legal and socio-economic asymmetry of the autonomous communities and also of the ongoing process of federalization in Spain. As in recent years Spain is steadily losing its previous status of the subsidized territory and is turning into a donor of the European Union regional policy, it is necessary for Spanish authorities to make the regional development policy more active and to take a different view of its objectives and opportunities. Acknowledgements. The work is executed according to the fundamental studies programme of the Presidium of RAS no. 31, project 6.6 “Foreign Experience of Regional Policy, and Possibilities of Its Usage in Russia”.

RESUMEN. Contribución al conocimiento de la flora del Parque Natural de las sierras Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama (Málaga-Granada, España). Se ha realizado un estudio sobre la diversidad vegetal de las sierras Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama. Se han identificado cerca de 10.000 pliegos depositados en el Herbario MGC de la Universidad de Málaga, recolectados, la mayoría de ellos, durante los años 2003 y 2004. Se citan 1.176 especies y subespecies, indicando para cada una de ellas provincia, término municipal y UTM. Se señalan las especies amenazadas según criterios UICN y Junta de Andalucía.Palabras clave. Flora, especies amenazadas, Sierra Tejeda, Sierra de Alhama, Sierra Almijara, Málaga, Granada, España.SUMMARY. Contribution to the flora of the Natural Park of Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama mountain ranges (Malaga-Granada, Spain). A survey on the flora diversity in the Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama mountain ranges has been carried out. About 10.000 herbarium sheets have been identified and kept in the MGC (Herbarium of the University of Malaga). In most cases the specimens were collected during the years 2003 and 2004. 1.176 taxa (species and subspecies) are cited and some data such as province, municipality and UTM are given for every one. Endangered species are pointed out, following the UICN and Andalusia Government criteria.Key words. Flora, endangered species, Sierra Tejeda, Sierra de Alhama, Sierra Almijara, Malaga, Granada, Spain.

Studies of innovation are giving increasing attention to the relationships that businesses maintain with different participants in the innovation process. It is generally assumed that interaction with other businesses, universities and government organizations can generate knowledge that will improve the ability to innovate. However, there is little evidence of the specific roles that businesses assign to partners with regard to the provision of knowledge for innovation activities. This paper presents results from research on the dynamics of Triple Helix networks, where such networks provide the basis for building innovation capacity for businesses in catch-up geographical regions. The principal assumption is that businesses adopting an open collaboration strategy have a greater capacity to combine knowledge from different sources and adapt the knowledge to suit their innovation processes. A large set of key indicators is used to identify which regional sources are considered by businesses to be important for acquiring knowledge. The study is based on a survey of 737 businesses in the Andalusia region of Southern Spain and analysis of the results provides a typology of businesses characterized by the extent to which they focus their interest on specific groups of participants in the innovation process. The conclusions highlight and compare the role of universities with that of business networks, service providers, government and other sources.

Are we able to determine the existence value output generated for society through the preservation of wild species threatened with extinction? In this article we defend the theory that the service of preserving threatened species with risk of extinction is an existence value output with a hidden transaction price if it can be established that there are consumer or state willingness to pay an additional tax above the government total cost to avoid an increase in one threatened species in relation to the number recorded at the opening of the accounting period. This output is estimated by adding the total cost and the additional consumer tax which the consumers state that they are willing to pay through a choice experiment survey. Our refined monetary System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (rSEEA) extends the existence value output concept and valuation principles recommended by the United Nations. In this paper, this rSEEA was applied to Pinus pinea forests in protected as well as non-protected areas of Andalusia, Spain in 2010. The results show that the net value added from protected areas is 40% higher than that from non-protected areas. It is incidental that the environmental benefits in both areas coincide.

There is growing consensus regarding the implementation of a new statistical framework for environmental-economic accounting to improve ecosystem related policies. As the standard System of National Accounts (SNA) fails to measure the economic contribution of ecosystems to the total income of individuals, governments recognize the need to expand the standard SNA through the ongoing System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA). Based on the authors’ own data, this study focuses on linking 15 economic activities and 12 ecosystem services for a holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) open woodlands (HOW) ecosystem type in Andalusia, Spain. We emphasize that overcoming the challenges of multiple use is preferable to measuring single ecosystem products for improving habitat conservation policies. The objectives of this paper are to measure and compare the environmental assets, ecosystem services, and incomes at basic and social prices by applying a refined version of the standard System of National Accounts (rSNA) and the authors’ Agroforestry Accounting System (AAS), respectively, to HOW. Considering intermediate products and consumptions of HOW farmer and government activities, we find that the rSNA ecosystem services and environmental incomes at basic prices are 123.3 €/ha and −28.0 €/ha, respectively, while those of the AAS at social prices are 442.2 €/ha and 250.8 €/ha. Given advances in non-market valuation techniques, we show that an expanded definition of economic activities can be applied to measure the contribution to total income of managed natural areas taking into account the multiple uses of the ecosystem type. However, HOW sustainability continues to be a challenging issue that requires ecological threshold indicators to be identified, not only because of the economic implications but also because they provide vital information on which to base policy implementation.

The legal system of the Spanish archives This article presents the legal system of the Spanish archives. Due to the specific nature of Spanish legislation, the article begins with a short introduction characterizing the sources of the Spanish law which regulate the activity of archive facilities. Since certain legal acts introduced back in the 19th century have an impact on statutes and decrees today, the main part of the text is preceded by a short historical analysis discussing legal acts devoted to archiving. The next part of the article analyses applicable nationwide legislation, starting from the Constitution of 1978, which identifies 17 autonomous regions and divides the competences to manage archives between central and regional authorities. Due to the decentralization of the Spanish archive network, the central archive network managed by the state administration and autonomous networks were characterized separately. The text is based on the available source literature and legal acts passed by the central government and autonomous authorities in Spain.

The legal system of the Spanish archives This article presents the legal system of the Spanish archives. Due to the specific nature of Spanish legislation, the article begins with a short introduction characterizing the sources of the Spanish law which regulate the activity of archive facilities. Since certain legal acts introduced back in the 19th century have an impact on statutes and decrees today, the main part of the text is preceded by a short historical analysis discussing legal acts devoted to archiving. The next part of the article analyses applicable nationwide legislation, starting from the Constitution of 1978, which identifies 17 autonomous regions and divides the competences to manage archives between central and regional authorities. Due to the decentralization of the Spanish archive network, the central archive network managed by the state administration and autonomous networks were characterized separately. The text is based on the available source literature and legal acts passed by the central government and autonomous authorities in Spain.

The scientific debate over how to make visible the connections between the standard System of National Accounts (SNA) and its ongoing satellite Environmental Economic Ecosystem Accounting–Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA–EEA) is a challenge that is still pending. The literature on environmental accounting of agroforestry and silvopastoral landscapes rarely values the multiple ecosystem services of an area, an economic unit (e.g., farm), or a vegetation type (e.g., holm oak—Quercus ilex L.—open woodland). Generally, the literature presents the market value of the products consumed directly or a correction of the latter that reduces their exchange values in order to approximate them to their resource rents. In our previous publications, we have applied and compared our Agroforestry Accounting System (AAS) with the System of National Accounts (SNA), and we refined the latter to avoid the lag between income generation and its accounting in the period in which the product is extracted. These previous publications did not develop experimental applications of the SEEA–EEA with comparisons to the SNA and it being integrated into the AAS. The main novelty of this article is that, for the first time, we present detailed applications and comparisons of our developments of the refined SEEA–EEA and refined SNA with a simplified version of the AAS. The accounting frameworks applied take the production and capital accounts in the process of being updated by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) at the scale of the holm oak open woodlands of Andalusia into account. In this study, we compare three environmental accounting approaches for ecosystem services and environmental income measurements at basic and social prices: our slightly refined standard System of National Accounts (rSNA); our refined, updated and ongoing satellite System of Environmental Economic Accounting–Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (rSEEA–EEA); and our simplified Agroforestry Accounting System (sAAS). We tested them for 15 economic activities in 1408 thousand hectares of the predominantly mixed holm oak open woodland (HOW) land use tiles in the region of Andalusia, Spain. We considered the government institutional sector to be the collective owner of public economic activities, which we incorporated in the rSNA and the sAAS approaches. We discuss consistencies in environmental incomes identified from the results of the three ecosystem accounting frameworks applied to the HOW. The discrepancies in the measurement of ecosystem services of the government institutional sector between the rSEEA–EEA and the sAAS were due to the omission in the former of the government manufactured costs incurred in the supply of freely consumed public final products. The most notable finding of our comparison is that the ecosystem services and the environmental income results for individual market products offered the same values, whichever the ecosystem accounting framework applied. This was not the case with the ecosystem services of public products without market prices, due to the fact that the rSNA estimates these products at production cost and the rSEEA–EEA did not consider the government manufactured production costs and ordinary manufactured net operating margin of government final public product consumption. We also found that, according to modeling of the scheduled management of future biological resources of the HOW, the environmental income shows biological sustainability of the individual nature-based total product consumption.

En este trabajo se exponen algunos de los resultados de una investigación llevada a cabo en Andalucía (España) para evaluar el impacto de la política de innovación educativa desarrollada por el gobierno de la región, mediante la implantación masiva de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC) en centros de ense­ñanza de Primaria y Secundaria (Centros TIC). En concreto, se analizan las implicaciones de la administración educativa y de los centros ante las medidas de impulso para la integración de las TIC, no sólo a nivel institucional en cuanto a organización de centros, sino también en lo que se refiere a acciones de formación permanente del profesorado y las implicaciones y repercusiones en los procesos de enseñanza aprendizaje. Abstract This paper displays some of the results from research carried out in Andalusia (Spain) to evaluate the impact of the educational innovation policy developed by the regional government through widely introducing Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in primary and secondary schools (ICT Centres). Specifically, the effect of the measures used to integrate ICTs on the educational administration and education centres is analysed. This integration is analysed not only at an institutional level, concerning the organization of the centres, but also in that referring to the permanent teacher’s training actions and the implications and repercutions in the teaching-learning processes and the classroom and thus its repercussions in teaching-learning processes.

The role of domestic policy in solving of inter-regional conflicts and counteracting secessionist processes are disclosed in the article. A mixed populatіon in any area can live either in peaceful coexistence and political stability or in violent conflicts. This is mostly dependent on the internal ethnic policy. Variety of the government’s reactions to the strengthening of centrifugal tendencies in some regions are explored; among which the approval of separatist demands, the advancement of conditions of underprivileged minorities, adoption of “asymmetric federalism”, allowance for minorities to participate in politіcal debate through parliamentary voting, referendums, etc., establishment of a confederation with only limited links between countries are distinguished. Another way to solve regional conflicts is to create a “multinational federation.” The main features of the state policy of the European Union’s countries which have regions with high potential secessionist conflict are analyzed. The necessities of a balanced domestic policy of the government to prevent the escalation of internal contradictions are emphasized. The influence of the form of government on minimizing of inter-regional conflicts is investigating. After correlating data about current regional conflicts and the forms of government of the hosting countries, it was found that the form of government (from unitary to federalism) is not the only decisive factor for solving of regional conflicts. However, taking into account the historical, cultural, linguistic, economic factors, it is important to understand that political mechanisms can give an initial impulse, the first impetus to resolve the conflicts. Therefore, political factors are some of the key one in regularizing of secessionism. Moreover, examples of the successful resolution of regional conflіcts by particular European states are considered. Experience of an effective resolving of regional conflicts in western European countries showed that in all the cases (Switzerland, Germany, Spain and Great Britain) the mechanisms of the institution of parliamentarism and solving of the language issue were used. The geographic decentralization policy of the supreme power (Germany) and legitimization of government decisions through referendums (Switzerland) are equally effective.

The standard System of National Accounts (SNA) does not estimate the margins of the products without market prices consumed because it assumes that the cost prices of the final products consumed correspond to the consumer marginal willingness to pay (MWTP). Valuations of products consumed without market prices at their cost prices may not coincide with their simulated exchange values (SEV) that would be paid by consumers. This inconsistent SNA valuation can be avoided by simulating stated or revealed market prices based on consumers’ demands. Our Agroforestry Accounting System (AAS) methodology estimates the margins of the individual products without market prices based on the consumer MWTP. The SEV of private owners and public consumers MWTP for these non-market products are estimated in this study by applying stated and revealed preference valuation methods. The objectives of this study are to compare the environmental incomes, ecosystem services and profitability rates obtained by applying the AAS and the refined SNA (rSNA) methodologies to the case-study oak woodland dehesa and conifer forest farms in Andalusia, Spain. The 41 farms comprise 26 large oak woodland dehesa farms in which trees of the Quercus genus predominate, and 15 conifer forest farms where Pinus species predominate. In the studied farms, 20 individual activities have been identified which 19 are common to both the AAS and rSNA approaches, along with the additional activity of carbon which is registered in the AAS. Ownership rights of 13 private activities correspond to the farmer and 7 public activities to the government. In 2010, the case-study results show that livestock and game species consume grazed fodder which represents 50% and 95%, respectively, of their total forage units consumed in the period 2010. Livestock farming accounts for 31% of the labour compensation in the private oak woodland dehesa farms and 1% in the public conifer forest farms for the farm activities as a whole. The ecosystem services measured by the AAS in the privately-owned oak woodland dehesa and publicly-owned conifer forest farms are 2.7 and 4.6 times greater, respectively, than those estimated by the rSNA. The environmental incomes measured by the AAS for the privately-owned oak woodland dehesa and publicly-owned conifer forest farms account for 61% and 53%, respectively, of their total incomes.

Escuelas Deportivas es un proyecto educativo de actividad física (AF) extraescolar, implementado por la Junta de Andalucía (España) para fomentar la AF y prevenir la obesidad escolar. El objetivo del estudio fue observar cambios en la composición corporal, niveles de AF y capacidad aeróbica durante la aplicación del programa Escuelas Deportivas en un curso escolar (2011/2012). Estudio no experimental, con medidas al inicio y al final del curso citado. En él participaron 1713 adolescentes (12-16 años) que cursaban educación secundaria en Andalucía. Índice de masa corporal y capacidad aeróbica fueron evaluados con medidas objetivas, AF mediante un cuestionario previamente validado. El programa Escuelas Deportivas tuvo mayor aceptación entre los adolescentes varones y entre los adolescentes de ambos sexos que fueron más activos y obtuvieron mayor puntuación en la prueba de capacidad aeróbica. Durante su aplicación, se observó un descenso de los niveles de AF y capacidad aeróbica de las chicas que sólo fue significativo entre aquellas que no participaron en el programa.Palabras clave. Adolescente, condición física, educación física, ejercicio, programas extraescolares, promoción de la salud.Abstract. Sport Schools is an educational project of after-school physical activity (PA) developed by the Andalusian Government (Spain) to promote PA and to prevent the obesity among school-aged children. The aim of this study was to observe changes in body composition, PA levels, and cardiorespiratory fitness during application of the Sport Schools program in one school year (2011/2012). Non-experimental study design with measures taken at the beginning and at the end of the mentioned school year. The sample was 1713 teenagers (12-16 yr.) who were attending secondary education in Andalusia (Spain). Body mass index and cardiorespiratory fitness were evaluated with objective measures, PA using a validated questionnaire. The Sport Schools program had greater acceptance among boys than girls, and among the adolescents of both sexes with higher levels of PA and cardiorespiratory fitness than those with lower levels of this variables. During their implementation, we observed a decrease of PA levels and cardiorespiratory fitness in girls that was significant among those who did not participated in the program. Suggestions for improvement are offered in the Discussion section.Key words. After-school programs, exercise, health promotion, physical education, physical fitness, teenager.

Con ocasión de la promulgación de la Ley 15/2007, de 3 de julio, de defensa de la competencia, analizaremos los avances realizados en el proceso de descentralización iniciado en 1999. En noviembre de ese mismo año, coincidiendo con la fase final de la tramitación de la Ley 52/1999, de 28.12.1999, que reformó la Ley 16/1989, de defensa de la competencia, el Tribunal Constitucional dictó una sentencia en la que reconocía las competencias ejecutivas de las Comunidades Autónomas en materia de defensa de la competencia. Ello obligó al Gobierno a promover la elaboración de la Ley 1/2002, de 21 de febrero, de coordinación de las competencias del Estado y las Comunidades Autónomas en materia de defensa de la competencia. Posteriormente, en 2007, se llevó a cabo una importante reforma con la Ley 15/2007, de 3 de julio, de defensa de la competencia. En este artículo se analiza el proceso de descentralización y, en especial, el nuevo modelo de organización administrativa aprobado en España para la defensa de la competencia. Lehiaren Defentsari buruzko uztailaren 3ko 15/2007 Legea argitaratu dela eta, 1999. urtean hasitako deszentraliazio-prozesuaren baitan zer nolako aurrerapausoak izan diren aztertuko dugu. Urte horretan bertan, azaroan, 52/1999 Legea, urte bereko abenduaren 28koa, izapidetzeko azken pausoak ematen ari zirela (16/1989 legea eraldatu zuen), Konstituzio Auzitegiak emandako epai batean adierazi zuen autonomia-erkidegoek bazituztela lehiaren defentsaren arloko eskumen betearazleak. Epai horren ondorioz, Espainiako Gobernuak Lehia Babesteko Eskumenak Estatuaren eta Autonomia-erkidegoen Artean Koordinatzeko otsailaren 21eko 1/2002 Legea argitaratu behar izan zuen. Horren ostean, 2007an, Lehia Defendatzeko uztailaren 3ko 15/2007 Legearen bidez, erreforma garrantzitsua egin zen. Artikuluan deszentralizazio-prozesua aztertzen da, eta bereziki, Espainian lehia defendatzeko onartutako administrazio-eredua. This study takes advantage of the fact that Competition Act 15/2007, of 3rd July, has been passed to analyse the progress made in the process of decentralization started in 1999. In November of that year, as Act 52/1999 of 28th December 1999, which modified the Competition Act 16/1989, was going through the final procedural stages, the Spanish Constitutional Court announced a decision allowing the Autonomous Communities (Autonomous Regions) to exercise executive competences in protection of competition. This decision forced the government to draw up a law to co-ordinate the duties between the central administrative bodies and the newly-created autonomous bodies: the Act 1/2002 of 21st February, regarding Coordination of the State and Autonomous Communities¿ Competences on Competition Defence. Subsequently, in 2007, it has been an important amendment and Competition Act 15/2007 has been enacted. This article will analyse the process of decentralization and the model of administrative organization that has recently been approved in Spain for protection of competition. Towards a decentralizated administration for protection of competition in Spain.

La historiografía europea ha constatado que los inmuebles urbanos eran una fuente de inversión segura que, al mismo tiempo, permitía, en el caso de los grupos dirigentes bajomedievales, construir toda una red de solidaridades y reforzar su estatus social. Para confrontar estas afirmaciones para el caso del reino de Castilla, y especialmente de Andalucía, hemos tomado como caso de estudio Jerez de la Frontera. Esta ciudad, una de las más importantes al sur de Castilla, cuenta con uno de los archivos medievales mejor conservados. A partir de los registros notariales se han estudiado los patrimonios de 45 caballeros que habían formado parte del gobierno urbano durante el reinado de los Reyes Católicos (1474-1504). Este estudio nos ha permitido confirmar la funcionalidad social de este tipo de bienes, siendo una de sus manifestaciones más evidentes la ampliación de sus casas palacios, la construcción de capillas o la financiación de edificios religiosos u hospitales.AbstractEuropean scholarship has found that urban buildings were a sound source of investment. Moreover, in the case of medieval elites, it allowed them to build a thorough network of solidarity and to strengthen their social status. To examine these tendencies in the case of the kingdom of Castile, and especially in the region of Andalusia, we have chosen the city of Jerez de la Frontera as a case study. This city, one of the most important in southern Castile, has one of the richest medieval archives. From its notary records, we have examined the property of 45 knights who were part of the municipal government during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs (1474-1504). This study has allowed us to confirm the social role of this type of building, as demonstrated by the extension of its palaces, the construction of chapels or the financing of religious buildings or hospitals.

The persistence of urban floods and the inability of aging sewage infrastructure to deal with stormwater make sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDSs) one of the emerging paradigms in urban water management, in which stormwater is no longer a hazard but a resource. Although most of the global research has been done on the technical aspects of SUDSs, their social impacts are not always taken into consideration. The neighborhood scale that characterizes SUDSs creates a different governance system—compared to the old structures of flood risk management—characterized by decentralization practices and where communities gain a better position of negotiation and new responsibilities. The objective of this research is to recognize how the diverse stakeholders involved in SUDSs interact with each other and to look into the different levels of understanding SUDSs as a new alternative of stormwater infrastructure. In order to accomplish this task, the paper introduces the case of the neighborhood of Bon Pastor (Barcelona, Spain), which has gone through urban transformations over the past years, promoting the development of SUDSs in 2012. Empirical evidence was obtained from 10 semi-structured interviews with government, technicians, social organizations, and local community citizens as well as revision of existing policy documents and grey literature on SUDSs and historical documents on the development of the neighborhood. The results show how active the community was during the design process and afterward, as sustainability gradually became one of the main topics in the neighborhood to be incorporated in new developments. However, it also unveiled several issues related to maintenance and the ambiguity of the term SUDS for the different stakeholders involved.

Background: To analyze the incidence and mortality of cerebrovascular diseases (CeVD) in Spain from 2001 to 2015. Methods: Retrospective study of hospital incidence, hospital case fatality and population mortality, with records from the Spanish Government Statistics. Days of hospital stay and risk of death (RD) during admission were estimated adjusting for age, sex, first stroke (FS), atrial fibrillation (AF), diabetes, hypertension, and smoking. Results: There were 1,662,487 stroke cases older than 15 years of age admitted to hospital (1,096,748 FS), with a national incidence = 291/105 in this period (Murcia maximum (367/105), Canary Islands minimum (238/105)). Population mortality (−50%) decreased while case fatality remained stable (−3%), despite the increase in the age of patients (+2.29 years) and the incidence (+25%). Canary Islands had the youngest patients (−3.5 years for men and −6 years for women) and the longest hospital stay (+5.1 days). Andalusia (odds ratio (OR) = 1.21 (1.19; 1.22)) and the Canaries (OR = 1.18 (1.15; 1.21)) had the highest RD. The factors associated to the highest increases in RD were FS (OR = 1.34 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.33–1.35)) and AF (OR = 1.30 (95% CI = 1.29–1.31)). Conclusion: Population mortality due to CeVD was reduced by half in Spain between 2001 and 2015, but hospital incidence increased. Andalusia and the Canary Islands had the highest RD in the country. These islands presented the lowest incidence, but their patients were younger, and their hospital stay longer. FS and AF were the factors associated with a higher RD.

Abstract Context: While the World Health Organization (WHO) has established guidance on COVID-19 surveillance, little is known about implementation of these guidelines in federations, which fragment authority across multiple levels of government. This study examines how subnational governments in federal democracies collect and report data on COVID-19 cases and mortality associated with COVID-19. Methods: We collected data from subnational government websites in 15 federal democracies to construct indices of COVID-19 data quality. Using bivariate and multivariate regression, we analyzed the relationship between these indices and indicators of state capacity, the decentralization of resources and authority, and the quality of democratic institutions. We supplement these quantitative analyses with qualitative case studies of subnational COVID-19 data in Brazil, Spain, and the United States. Findings: Subnational governments in federations vary in their collection of data on COVID-19 mortality, testing, hospitalization, and demographics. There are statistically significant associations (p<0.05) between subnational data quality and key indicators of public health system capacity, fiscal decentralization, and the quality of democratic institutions. Case studies illustrate the importance of both governmental and civil-society institutions that foster accountability. Conclusions: The quality of subnational COVID-19 surveillance data in federations depends in part on public health system capacity, fiscal decentralization, and the quality of democracy.

Following the publication of the Common European Framework of Reference, Spain’s central government has been unable to unify common policies for foreign language requirements in Spanish Higher Education. Language requirements are in Spain both partially unregulated and deemed compulsory to finish Higher education degrees. In the absence of national policies, different areas of the country have implemented different policies in this respect and, inevitably, Spanish universities have developed their own internal legislation, high-quality suites of language tests and mutual recognition systems. These vary greatly from university to university, and are now competing in the industry of testing at both a national and a global level. The universities in Andalusia, one of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain, have been able to agree on a set of unified criteria which favors mutual recognition of language certifications for +13K candidates on a yearly basis and have driven policy makers’ attention to their network, which is being regulated a posteriori.

Abstract In this presentation we will introduce the politics of blame-avoidance and credit taking. We will also conceptualize centralization between and within governments and lay out the conceptual frameworks which have guided this research. It is almost axiomatic in political science that politicians seek credit and avoid blame. If there is something that will be popular, they try to take credit for it; and if there is something unpopular, they will try to avoid blame and, if possible, cast blame for it onto opponents. If good or bad outcomes cannot be traced to their actions, they will try to change the subject and opt for ‘position-taking' in which they declare their fidelity to what they see as popular positions. This was the strategy adopted by many politicians of the populist radical right around the world during the pandemic, though as the pandemic wore on the ones out of power increasingly focused on blaming incumbent governments for public health measures. Centralization between governments means an increase in the power of the central government vis-a-vis other ‘subnational' governments such as regions, states, provinces, or municipalities. ‘Command and control' is a common recommendation in public health emergencies and central governments do often take powers over or away from subnational governments in crises. This is most politically contentious in federal states such Spain, Canada, or Germany, but can happen even in countries where there is a history of only local government (such as Ireland, Portugal, or the Nordic states).

Abstract Objective The overarching aim of this workshop is to use the theory of credit and blame politics to explain significant and dynamic shifts in power relations through centralization/decentralization within and between governments during the pandemic. Centralization is not just territorial but can also apply within government and change the extend of autonomy and influence ministers, departments and agencies have. To this end we will have a total of five presentations: Introduction into the theory of politics of blame and credit as a driver for centralization/decentralization; three country case studies including Austria, the Czech Republic and France and a concluding presentation on Credit-taking, blame-avoidance as drivers for power shifts: implications for effective emergency responses Background Centralization between governments means an increase in the power of the central government vis-a-vis other ‘subnational' governments such as regions, states, provinces, or municipalities. ‘Command and control' is a common recommendation in public health emergencies (3) and central governments do often take powers over or away from subnational governments in crises. This is most politically contentious in federal states such Spain, Canada, or Germany, but can happen even in countries where there is a history of only local government (such as Ireland, Portugal, or the Nordic states). This workshop is built on a forthcoming publication. To ensure interactivity, the chair will feed back comments to the speakers between presentations and before the end of the session. Key messages In COVID-19 responses credit-taking and blame-avoidance leads to major powershifts within and between governments. Emergency response planning, knowledge broker, media and civil society need to help mitigate the negative effects of credit-taking and blame avoidance for a better pandemic response.

Resumen El turismo cultural está en aumento en comunidades autónomas de España como Andalucía, lo cual resulta harto estratégico para la desestacionalización y el aumento de los beneficios económicos que produce. Por otro lado, la organización de los viajes sin intermediarios a través del uso de Internet, así como el empleo de nuevos dispositivos de acceso a la información hacen que iniciativas como Google Cultural Institute cobren importancia. Para participar en este proyecto transnacional la Junta de Andalucía firmó un contrato de servicios y alojamiento de contenido con la plataforma en 2015. En el presente trabajo, tomamos este documento como estudio de caso para abordar los retos de traducción que planteó un tipo textual de contenido híbrido, jurídico y tecnológico y analizamos la terminología clave a través de un estudio de derecho comparado, lingüístico y traductológico. Con este trabajo pretendemos reconocer los términos clave de este tipo de contrato que es cada vez más habitual en la era digital para la difusión y promoción del turismo cultural. Palabras clave:Google Cultural Institute, digitalización de museos, traducción híbrida, traducción jurídica, contrato de alojamiento web. Abstract Nowadays, cultural tourism is increasing in Andalusia, Spain, which turns out to be very strategic to seasonalization the tourism sector as a whole and raise the economic benefits it produces in this region. At the same time, the organization of trips without intermediaries through the use of the internet and new information access devices makes initiatives such as Google Cultural Institute very relevant. In order to participate in this transnational project, the regional government of Andalusia signed a content hosting and services agreement with this online platform in 2015. In this paper, we take this document as a case study to address the translation challenges posed by a textual type of hybrid content —legal and technological— and analyze its key terminology through a study of compared law and translation. Thus, we intend to recognize the most relevant terms of this type of agreements that is increasingly common in the digital era to disseminate and promote cultural tourism. Key words:Google Cultural Institute, museum digitalization, hybrid translation, legal translation, hosting agreement.

Abstract A tremendous number of studies describe results on the evolution of the COVID-19 impact on infected patients, hospital admissions, deaths, mental health and well-being of the population. However, there are hardly any reports on its impact and evolution since the beginning of the pandemic with clinical, contextual and individual perception information. Our work describes the research project called Health Care and Social Survey (ESSOC, Encuesta Sanitaria y SOCial). It arises from the need to provide specific, reliable, early, and timely data on the impact of COVID-19 that can be considered when making decisions to prepare and provide an effective Public Health response in the different affected populations. It is linked to official statistical operations included in the Andalusian Regional Government and has also been granted a favorable opinion by the Research Ethics Committee. The ESSOC is based on a Real-World Data design. It integrates observational data extracted from multiple sources including information based on surveys and clinical, epidemiological, population, and environmental registries. The surveys have an overlapping panel design with a total of over 22,000 effective interviews being carried out over three years from the beginning of the state of alarm in Spain. Their geographical scope is the Autonomous Region of Andalusia (8.4MM people, the fifth most populated region in Europe), and the population scopes are general population, population residing in disadvantaged areas, and population over the age of 55. The conceptual approach of this study encompasses all aspects affecting health that will contribute to an extraordinary increase in the current knowledge of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its results will be very useful for cross-disciplinary comparisons in population-based studies, and the methodology developed will serve as a model to be applied in other epidemiological studies. Key messages It is needed to provide specific, reliable, early, and timely data on the impact of COVID-19 that can be considered when making decisions to prepare and provide an effective Public Health response. Our research project integrates observational data extracted from multiple sources including information based on surveys and clinical, epidemiological, population, and environmental registries.

A rhetoric of freedom characterises much of the literature dealing with online communities: freedom from fixed identity and appearance, from the confines of geographic space, and from control. The prevailing view, a combination of futurism and utopianism, is that the lack of order in cyberspace enables the creation of social spaces that will enhance personal freedom and advance the common good. Sherry Turkle argues that computer-mediated communication allows us to create a new form of community, in which identity is multiple and fluid (15-17). Marcos Novak celebrates the possibilities of a dematerialized, ethereal virtual architecture in which the relationships between abstract elements are in a constant state of flux (250). John Perry Barlow employs the frontier metaphor to frame cyberspace as an unmapped, ungoverned territory in which a romantic and a peculiarly American form of individualism can be enjoyed by rough and ready pioneers (“Crime” 460). In his 1993 account as an active participant in The WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link), one of the earliest efforts to construct a social space online, Howard Rheingold celebrates the freedom to create a “new kind of culture” and an “authentic community” in the “electronic frontier.” He worries, however, that the freedom enjoyed by early homesteaders may be short lived, because “big power and big money” might soon find ways to control the Internet, just as they have come to dominate and direct other communications media. “The Net,” he states, “is still out of control in fundamental ways, but it might not stay that way for long” (Virtual Community 2-5). The uses of order and disorder Some theorists have identified disorder as a necessary condition for the development of healthy communities. In The Uses of Disorder (1970), Richard Sennett argues that “the freedom to accept and to live with disorder” is integral to our search for community (xviii). In his 1989 study of social space, Ray Oldenburg maintains that public hangouts, which constitute the heart of vibrant communities, support sociability best when activities are unplanned, unorganized, and unrestricted (33). He claims that without the constraints of preplanned control we will be more in control of ourselves and more aware of one another (198). More recently, Charles Landry suggests that “structured instability” and “controlled disruption,” resulting from competition, conflict, crisis, and debate, make cities less comfortable but more exciting. Further, he argues that “endemic structural disorder” requiring ongoing adjustments can generate healthy creative activity and stimulate continual innovation (156-58). Kevin Robins, too, believes that any viable social system must be prepared to accept a level of uncertainty, disorder, and fear. He observes, however, that techno-communities are “driven by the compulsion to neutralize,” and they therefore exclude these possibilities in favour of order and security (90-91). Indeed, order and security are the dominant characteristics that less idealistic observers have identified with cyberspace. Alexander Galloway explains how, despite its potential as a liberating development, the Internet is based on technologies of control. This control is exercised at the code level through technical protocols, such as TCP/IP, DNS, and HTM, that determine disconnections as well as connections (Galloway). Lawrence Lessig suggests that in our examination of the ownership, regulation, and governance of the virtual commons, we must take into account three distinct layers. As well as the “logical” or “code” layer that Galloway foregrounds, we should also consider the “physical” layer, consisting of the computers and wires that carry Internet communications, and the “content” layer, which includes everything that we see and hear over the network. In principle, each of these layers could be free and unorganized, or privately owned and controlled (Lessig 23). Dan Schiller documents the increasing privatization of the Net and argues that corporate cyberspace extends the reach of the market, enabling it to penetrate into areas that have previously been considered to be part of the public domain. For Schiller, the Internet now serves as the main production and control mechanism of a global market system (xiv). Checking into Habbo Hotel Habbo Hotel is an example of a highly ordered and controlled online social space that uses community and game metaphors to suggest something much more open and playful. Designed to attract the teenage market, this graphically intensive cartoon-like hotel is like an interactive Legoland, in which participants assemble a toy-like “Habbo” character and chat, play games, and construct personal environments. The first Habbo Hotel opened its doors in the United Kingdom in 2000, and, by September 2004, localized sites were based in a dozen countries, including Canada, the Unites States, Finland, Japan, Switzerland and Spain, with further expansion planned. At that time, there were more than seventeen million registered Habbo characters worldwide with 2.3 million unique visitors each month (“Strong Growth”). The hotel contains thousands of private rooms and twenty-two public spaces, including a welcome lounge, three lobbies, cinema, game hall, café, pub, and an extensive hallway. Anyone can go to the Room-O-Matic and instantly create a free guest room. However, there are a limited number of layouts to choose from and the furnishings, which must be purchased, have be chosen from a catalog of fixed offerings. All rooms are located on one of five floors, which categorize them according to use (parties, games, models, mazes, and trading). Paradoxically, the so-called public spaces are more restricted and less public than the private guest quarters. The limited capacity of the rooms means that all of the public spaces are full most of the time. Priority is given to paying Habbo Club members and others are denied entry or are unceremoniously ejected from a room when it becomes full. Most visitors never make it into the front lobby. This rigid and restricted construction is far from Novak’s vision of a “liquid architecture” without barriers, that morphs in response to the constantly changing desires of individual inhabitants (Novak 250). Before entering the virtual hotel, individuals must first create a Lego-like avatar. Users choose a unique name for their Habbo (no foul language is allowed) and construct their online persona from a limited selection and colour of body parts. One of two different wardrobes is available, depending on whether “Boy” or “Girl” is chosen. The gender of every Habbo is easily recognizable and the restricted wardrobe results in remarkably similar looking young characters. The lack of differentiation encourages participants to treat other Habbos as generic “Boys” or “Girls” and it encourages limited and predictable conversations that fit the stereotype of male-female interactions in most chat sites. Contrary to Turkle’s contention that computer mediated communication technologies expose the fallacy of a single, fixed, identity, and free participants to experiment with alternative selves (15-17), Habbo characters are permitted just one unchangeable name, and are capable of only limited visual transformations. A fixed link between each Habbo character and its registered user (information that is not available to other participants) allows the hotel management to track members through the site and monitor their behavior. Habbo movements are limited to walking, waving, dancing and drinking virtual alcohol-free beverages. Movement between spaces is accomplished by entering a teleport booth, or by selecting a location by name from the hotel Navigator. Habbos cannot jump, fly or walk through objects or other Habbos. They have no special powers and only a limited ability to interact with objects in their environment. They cannot be hurt or otherwise affected by anything in their surroundings, including other Habbos. The emphasis is on safety and avoidance of conflict. Text chat in Habbo Hotel is limited to one sixty-one-character line, which appears above the Habbo, floats upward, and quickly disappears off the top of the screen. Text must be typed in real time while reading on-going conversations and it is not possible to archive a chat sessions or view past exchanges. There is no way of posting a message on a public board. Using the Habbo Console, shorter messages can also be exchanged between Habbos who may be occupying different rooms. The only other narratives available on the site are in the form of official news and promotions. Before checking into the hotel, Habbos can stop to read Habbo Today, which promotes current offers and activities, and HabboHood Happenings, which offers safety tips, information about membership benefits, jobs (paid in furniture), contest winners, and polls. According to Rheingold, a virtual community can form online when enough people participate in meaningful public discussions over an extended period of time and develop “webs of personal relationships” (Virtual Community 5). By restricting communication to short, fleeting messages between individual Habbos, the hotel frustrates efforts by members to engage in significant dialogue and create a viable social group. Although “community” is an important part of the Habbo Hotel brand, it is unlikely to be a substantial part of the actual experience. The virtual hotel is promoted as a safe, non-threatening environment suitable for the teenagers is designed to attract. Parents’ concerns about the dangers of an unregulated chat space provide the hotel management with a justification for creating a highly controlled social space. The hotel is patrolled twenty-four hours a day by professional moderators backed-up by a team of 180 volunteer “Hobbas,” or guides, who can issue warnings to misbehaving Habbos, or temporarily ban them from the site. All text keyed in by Habbos passes through an automated “Bobba Filter” that removes swearing, racist words, explicit sexual comments and “anything that goes against the “Habbo Way” (“Bad Language”). Stick to the rules and you’ll have fun, Habbos are told, “break them and you’ll get yourself banned” (“Habbo Way”). In Big Brother fashion, messages are displayed throughought the hotel advising members to “Stay safe, read the Habbohood Watch,” “Never give out your details!” and “Obey the Habbo way and you’ll be OK.” This miniature surveillance society contradicts Barlow’s observation that cyberspace serves as “a perfect breeding ground for both outlaws and new ideas about liberty” (“Crime” 460). In his manifesto declaring the independence of cyberspace from government control, he maintains that the state has no authority in the electronic “global social space,” where, he asserts, “[w]e are forming our own Social Contract” based on the Golden Rule (“Declaration”). However, Habbo Hotel shows how the rule of the marketplace, which values profits more than social practices, can limit the freedoms of online civil society just as effectively as the most draconian government regulation. Place your order Far from permitting the “controlled disruption” advocated by Landry, the hotel management ensures that nothing is allowed to disrupt their control over the participants. Without conflict and debate, there are few triggers for creative activity in the site, which is designed to encourage consumption, not community. Timo Soininen, the managing director of the company that designed the hotel, states that, because teenagers like to showcase their own personal style, “self-expression is the key to our whole concept.” However, since it isn’t possible to create a Habbo from scratch, or to import clothing or other objects from outside the site, the only way for members to effectively express themselves is by decorating and furnishing their room with items purchased from the Habbo Catalogue. “You see, this,” admits Soininen, “is where our revenue model kicks in” (Shalit). Real-world products and services are also marketed through ads and promotions that are integrated into chat, news, and games. The result, according to Habbo Ltd, is “the ideal vehicle for third party brands to reach this highly desired 12-18 year-old market in a cost-effective and creative manner” (“Habbo Company Profile”). Habbo Hotel is a good example of what Herbert Schiller describes as the corporate capture of sites of public expression. He notes that, when put at the service of growing corporate power, new technologies “provide the instrumentation for organizing and channeling expression” (5-6). In an afterword to a revised edition of The Virtual Community, published in 2000, Rheingold reports on the sale of the WELL to a privately owned corporation, and its decline as a lively social space when order was imposed from the top down. Although he believes that there is a place for commercial virtual communities on the Net, he acknowledges that as economic forces become more entrenched, “more controls will be instituted because there is more at stake.” While remaining hopeful that activists can leverage the power of many-to-many communications for the public good, he wonders what will happen when “the decentralized network infrastructure and freewheeling network economy collides with the continuing growth of mammoth, global, communication empires” (Virtual Community Rev. 375-7). Although the company that built Habbo Hotel is far from achieving global empire status, their project illustrates how the dominant ethos of privatization and the increasing emphasis on consumption results in gated virtual communities that are highly ordered, restricted, and controlled. The popularity of the hotel reflects the desire of millions of Habbos to express their identities and ideas in a playful environment that they are free to create and manipulate. However, they soon find that the rules are stacked against them. Restricted design options, severe communication limitations, and fixed architectural constraints mean that the only freedom left is the freedom to choose from a narrow range of provided options. In private cyberspaces like Habbo Hotel, the logic of the market rules out unrestrained many-to-many communications in favour of controlled commercial relationships. The liberating potential of the Internet that was recognized by Rheingold and others has been diminished as the forces of globalized commerce impose their order on the electronic frontier. References “Bad Language.” Habbo Hotel. 2004. Sulake UK Ltd. 15 Apr. 2004 http://www.habbohotel.co.uk/habbo/en/help/safety/badlanguage/>. 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Hewlett-Packard. 1 Apr. 2004 http://www.cooltown.com/cooltown/mpulse/0302-habbo.asp>. “Strong Growth in Sulake’s Revenues and Profit – Habbo Hotel Online Game Will Launch in the US in September.” 3 Sept. 2004. Sulake. Sulake Corp. 9 Jan. 2005 http://www.sulake.com/>. Turkle, Sherry. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon, 1997. Citation reference for this article MLA Style McGuire, Mark. "Ordered Communities." M/C Journal 7.6 (2005). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0501/06-mcguire.php>. APA Style McGuire, M. (Jan. 2005) "Ordered Communities," M/C Journal, 7(6). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0501/06-mcguire.php>.