The role of territorial licenses and public support schemes in financing European films

ABSTRACT

This paper studies the complexities of film financing in Europe, and the role of territorial licences and public support schemes therein. It sets out a typology of support mechanisms and provides information on Member States’ and EU models of film financing.     

Understanding life through unwanted childlessness: Ethnography and fiction from Ghana,Bangladesh and ‘dystopia’ (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

Drawing on ethnographic work in Ghana and Bangladesh, and on a British dystopian novel, we sketch the social, emotional, and existential consequences of childlessness for women who desperately want a child, as is still common in the two countries where the authors carried out research. For these women, childlessness leads to loneliness and a sense of uselessness. Underlying these emotions is the notion that children constitute and personify continuity; childlessness thus stands for the discontinuation of life.     

The multiple streams framework in a nondemocracy: The infeasibility of a national ban on live poultry sales in China

In response to calls to apply the multiple streams framework to nondemocracies, this article adapts the framework to an authoritarian context and applies it to a case study of live poultry sales in food markets in China, a key issue in epidemic prevention. Using a dataset consisting of Chinese policy documents, Chinese news articles, World Health Organization data, and secondary literature, the study shows that despite the public health threat posed by live poultry sales and despite high-level political support, a national-level permanent ban has not been adopted because it is technically infeasible, financially inviable, and inconsistent with existing norms and values. The study suggests that—despite the country's top-down governance style and lack of political pluralism—policy preferences expressed by members of the policy-making elite are not necessarily adopted in authoritarian China. Future research should test the proposed hypotheses in other policy areas and other authoritarian contexts.     

Literary Works and Allusion in Three Biographies of the Hou Hanshu and Their Purpose

This article analyses pieces of literature included in Fan Ye’s chapters on Zhang Heng, Ma Rong, and Cai Yong. It interprets these pieces within the context of its authors’ biographies, coming to the conclusion that they represent different approaches to the Confucian theme of how to serve and survive in times when there is no good ruler. While Zhang Heng was able to make a career under such circumstances, Ma Rong survived but ran into great difficulties and Cai Yong was ultimately executed.     

A Multi-objective Optimization Approach for Disaggregating Employment Data

In many countries, including South Africa, data on employment is rarely available on a downscaled level, such as building level, and is only available on less detailed levels, such as municipal level. The aim of this research was to develop a methodology to disaggregate the employment data that is available at an aggregate level to a disaggregate, detailed building level. To achieve this, the methodology consisted of two parts. First, a method was established that could be used to prepare a base data set to be used for disaggregating the employment data. Second, a multiobjective optimization approach was used to allocate the number of employment opportunities within a municipality to building level. The algorithm was developed using an Evolutionary Algorithm framework and applied to a case study in a metropolitan municipality in South Africa. The results showed favorable use of multiobjective optimization to disaggregate employment data to building level. By enhancing the detail of employment data, planners, policy makers, modelers and other users of such data can benefit from understanding employment patterns at a much more detailed level and making improved decisions based on disaggregated data and models.     

Book reviews

THE ADAPTABLE COMMONWEALTH. F. H. Soward, 1950 (London, O.U.P., pp. 62). 2/‐.

EUROPE IN DECAY: A STUDY IN DISINTEGRATION 1936–1940. By L. B. Namier. 1950. (London. MacMillan, viii+330. 16s.).

EDUCATION AND SOCIETY IN MODERN GERMANY. R. H. Samuel and R. H. Thomas. Routledge and Kegan Paul (Int. Lib. of Soc. & Soc. Recon.). London 1949.

THE IDEA OF CONFLICT. By Kurt Singer. (Melbourne University Press. pp. 181).