This article explores rhythm and the īqāʿ rhythmic system as outlined in Persian music-theoretical treatises written during the fifteenth century, a period referred to in this study as the late Systematist period. The study seeks to enhance our understanding of the evolution of this rhythmic system over time, thereby contributing to the broader study of the entire Systematist period (circa 1235–1500). To achieve this aim, six Persian treatises from the fifteenth century have been meticulously selected and analysed. These include treatises by ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Ghaybī al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Marāghī, an anonymous author, ʿAlīshāh ibn Ḥājī Būka Awbahī, and ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Miʿmār. Comparisons and analyses serve as essential methodological tools for achieving the study’s purposes.

Recent scholarship devotes considerable attention to how social identities influence vote choice. However, group sympathies or group affect constitute another, often overlooked subjective component of the relationship between social groups and vote choice. Based on reference group theory and drawing on ANES data as well as recent Danish and Austrian election surveys, we examine how voters’ sympathies with a range of groups are related to party choice across time and space. We find that group sympathies are related to vote choice in all three countries, even when controlling for objective group memberships and social identities. Across time, most relationships are stable or strengthening and comparable in strength to the relationship between group memberships and party choice. The relationship between group sympathies and vote choice is, furthermore, conditioned by perceived linkages between groups and parties. Hence, analyses of the role of social groups in voting also need to include group sympathies to grasp the full influence of social groups.

During the last two decades, there have been various attempts at measuring and assessing the health of civil society. Some have focused almost exclusively on ‘counting’ the nonprofit, while others have assessed the strength of nongovernmental organizations. Yet, these sectors are just a small part of a much larger environment. Moreover, they are the result of Western conceptualizations of civil society, thus not very helpful for one to understand civic participation in non-Western settings. Taking stock of these fundamental issues, this article presents the conceptual framework and methodology of a new global index to measure the ‘enabling environment’ of civil society, rather than its forms and institutional contours. Given the inherent diversity of civil societies worldwide, which defies any attempt at developing predetermined definitions, understanding the conditions that support civic participation becomes the most important objective for those interested in promoting a strong civil society arena. The index was launched by CIVICUS in late 2013 with the name of enabling environment index and covers over 200 countries and territories, making it the most ambitious attempt ever made at measuring civil society worldwide.

In the literature on a possible decline of participation levels, several factors are invoked as alleged causes for this trend. Most prominent among these are generational replacement, the spread of television, rising geographic mobility, increasing time pressure, marital instability, and the decline of religious affiliations. In Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam (Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2000) lends credibility to the claim that these factors are at least related to the decline of participation levels in the United States, and might even be regarded as an underlying cause. In this paper, the author assesses whether these variables also have a bearing on the participation level of the Belgian population. The analysis of a Belgian survey (N = 1341) shows that for most of the invoked causes, the relation is not significant, although the decline in religious affiliation does seem a likely candidate for further research. The paper closes with some suggestions for future research on civic engagement.

Guided by organizational and social movement theories, this study compares the structures, resource bases, ideologies, and strategies of nongovernmental organizations engaged in peace and conflict resolution (P/CROs) in three regions with extended violent conflicts: Northern Ireland, South Africa, and Israel/Palestine. Qualitative content analysis techniques are used to analyze 27 detailed case reports. We analyze the funding patterns and structural attributes of the P/CROs in our sample, with particular attention to how they obtain fiscal resources and membership in spite of the risks they may experience. We then explore the degree of formalization among P/CROs over time and, finally, we examine the ideological frames that P/CROs use and how these frames relate to their tactics. Throughout the analysis we pay attention to how the political context of each region influences P/CRO behavior.

The disciplinary focus on explanatory research designs leads researchers to concentrate on differences between political systems to maximise variation in independent and dependent variables. This causes a bias in comparative analysis towards cross-spatial differences and a neglect of similarities and change that occurs in most or all political systems invariably and simultaneously. The article identifies the main reason for this bias is the misled perception that a strong focus on explanation is necessary for a discipline to establish itself as scientific. The article debates the consequences of such a distortion towards differences in a world in which interdependence and diffusion create convergence. It thus proposes a stronger role for (1) descriptive analysis, (2) cross-temporal explanation, and (3) ‘Most Different Systems Designs’ as ways to address parallel change, re-establish the balance of focus between differences and similarities, and control for diffusion effects.

Given its ubiquitous nature, sport events are one of the most popular venues for episodic volunteering around the world. This article explores the rare dataset of volunteering in sport events in seven countries—Finland, Ghana, India, Japan, Switzerland, Tanzania, United States—to overview the differences and similarities identified in demography, volunteers’ reactions to hosts’ management strategies, satisfaction, and intention to volunteer again. Key findings include differences in the level of satisfaction, where responses among American volunteers were the highest. We also find that although well-organized management strategies such as quality training, communication, and proper appreciation led to higher satisfaction, these factors did not contribute to volunteers’ intent to volunteer again. Such management style might be too impersonal with less autonomy on the part of volunteers that they may not feel needed in future events. Somewhat messy management might motivate volunteers to participate again.

According to the ‘social origin theory’ of civil society studies (Salamon and Anheier, Voluntas, 9(3): 213–248 (1998)), the nonprofit sector of today constitutes a ‘repository of former societal struggles and conflicts’. Correspondingly, nonprofits are embedded in administrative and organizational settings, which in many cases date as far back as the latter half of the 19th century—a time when industrialisation and urbanisation started to exert influence in the western world. France and Germany stand for very different societal traditions, political legacies and administrative structures. Traditionally, France is a highly centralized country in which local governments do not enjoy much autonomy. In contrast, Germany is a federalized country where self-government of local communities was introduced as early as at the beginning of the 19th century. Against this background, it comes as a surprise that, aside from few exceptions, the nonprofit sectors in the two countries are very similar. How does this come? We argue that the reason why the French nonprofit sector of today is very similar to the German nonprofit sector is closely linked to the growth of the welfare state in the two countries.

This article argues that environmental justice extends beyond planning and decision-making to include enforcement as a critical, yet often overlooked, dimension. It advances the claim that incorporating environmental justice into enforcement law and policy is essential for addressing structural inequalities and promoting accountability in environmental governance. The primary objective of the article is to identify environmental justice guidelines embedded in enforcement frameworks, with the aim of strengthening the role of justice in regulatory practice and enhancing the equity and effectiveness of enforcement outcomes. The analysis focuses on three enforcement tools that reflect a flexible and responsive approach: (i) the United States’ Supplemental Environmental Projects, (ii) the United Kingdom’s Environmental Enforcement Undertakings, and (iii) Chile’s Compliance Programmes. The article draws on three sources of data: case studies, the environmental justice guidelines applicable to them, and the existing state of enforcement. It begins by examining the regulatory design of enforcement systems in the three jurisdictions; it then analyzes each tool to identify how environmental justice dimensions are integrated – or could be integrated – into their design and implementation. Finally, it assesses the practical application of these instruments, arguing that the deliberate incorporation of environmental justice considerations can improve the responsiveness, transparency, and legitimacy of enforcement mechanisms, which ultimately benefits both the environment and affected communities.

Throughout the 21st century, many welfare states have expanded family policies. However, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred significant, though varied, adjustments in family benefits across countries. This study conducts a qualitative comparative policy analysis of ten high-income countries, selected on the basis welfare regime theory, to examine how family policy changed during the COVID-19 crisis and whether these changes marked the beginning of new policy paths. The analysis shows that most institutional responses for families with children were incremental and temporary in nature, serving to reinforce rather than overhaul existing welfare systems. These results align with historical institutionalist theory and its emphasis on path dependence. Despite some convergence in emergency measures, long-standing differences in areas such as childcare availability and benefit generosity persist across the studies welfare state regimes. While the pandemic acted as a catalyst for certain policy innovations, it did not fundamentally disrupt the institutional logic underpinning family policy.

This article analyses the role of comparative analysis in free movement judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It argues that comparative analysis plays an important role in how the CJEU decides the outcome of free movement cases and that free movement law should thus be characterised as a comparative law method. The argument is developed in three steps. First, comparative analysis takes place in all structural parts of free movement cases. It is not exclusively or even primarily limited to the proportionality test. Second, the role of comparative analysis is directly linked to the effective application of the free movement provisions. This means that comparative analysis is not only relied on to engage in standard-setting (‘calibration’) in free movement cases—it is also used to determine which cases should fall within the scope of application of the free movement provisions (‘demarcation’). Third, because of the close relationship between comparative analysis and the effective application of the free movement provisions, it is possible to characterise negative integration as a comparative law method. Although one component of this method is based on the traditional functional method in comparative law, the main comparative method in free movement law is closely linked to cosmopolitan pluralism, because negative integration provides a ‘frame’ or structure through which Member States are required to investigate and respond to the national laws of other Member States. This method can be described as ‘the law of differentiation’, because it identifies, analyses the extent and assesses the legitimacy of differences in national laws in the context of the internal market.

This study quantified the relative vulnerability of 3,141 counties in the United States. We built a comprehensive community vulnerability index (CCVI) that considers household, business, and public levels. Eighteen variables related to household socioeconomic characteristics, business size and diversity, local government economic size, social capital, and net immigration were used. In the existing vulnerability indices (CRE, SVI, and SoVI), the indices were constructed by using socioeconomic characteristics of the household. In addition to socioeconomic variables, this study sought to expand the concept of “place-based” by considering the business structure within the community and the potential ability to maintain the existing order of the community to construct a comprehensive index. Additionally, by providing the relative vulnerability of the community at each level (private, business, public), each dimension can provide evidence on which areas are more vulnerable and need remediation than others. We expect that the CCVI can be broadly extended to be used in various forms. In this study, we extend the vulnerability index by including exogenous variables such as climate change. In particular, the extended climate-enhanced CCVI in this study shows that the existing vulnerability index can be strengthened by incorporating extreme climate events.