This article sheds light on one of the key developments in recent German politics and relates it to the broader debate on the electoral success of the far right. The rise of the Alternative für ...Deutschland (AfD, Alternative for Germany) is also a story about Germany’s internal political divide three decades after reunification, as the party has roughly twice as much support in the east than in the west. The article analyses the country’s east‐west divide, strongly visible in widespread sentiments of societal marginalisation among eastern Germans. The key socio‐structural differences between the east and the west relate to matters of economics, migration, and representation—and provide a setting suitable to AfD strength in the east. In explaining the party’s electoral success in eastern Germany, the article echoes recent scholarship which rejects narrow explanations for the strength of ‘populism’, and instead highlights its multiple causes.
Perceptions of an East-West divide in the European Union (EU) with regard to democracy have led to re-evaluations of EU eastern enlargement as a policy failure and militate against further ...enlargement. This article examines the accuracy of narratives of an intra-EU East-West divide on democracy, in which the western member states outperform the eastern members, and in which the former support, and the latter oppose, rule of law (RoL) interventions by the EU in member states engaged in democratic backsliding. The article considers two aspects of a potential democracy divide: the quality of democracy and attitudes towards RoL interventions. It draws on several quantitative indicators for a more comprehensive assessment of intra-EU democracy divides and uses set-theory to identify different in- and out-groups that demarcate such intra-EU divides. Although different indicators and different conceptions of set-membership reveal to varying extents East-West patterns, none fit with a clear regional divide. It is more fruitful to conceive of these differences as a continuum, with (currently) a small group of (western) member states at one end and a small group of (eastern) members at the other, and most member states in distinctive sub-groups in-between.
A key issue in the Cenozoic evolution of the Tibetan plateau is the geodynamic drivers for north‐trending rifting in southern Tibet. Recent studies have demonstrated an eastward propagation pattern ...for rift initiation, but the along‐strike variations remain poorly resolved. Two models that predict different north‐south rift kinematics include northward underthrusting or southward tearing of the Indian lithospheric slab, predicting a northward or southward propagation trend of individual rifts along strike, respectively. The Yadong‐Gulu rift (YGR) is an ideal case to investigate this issue due to its long strike length (∼500 km) and location above proposed slab‐tear structures. Here, we compile constraints on both rift initiation and acceleration, and report new apatite fission track and (U‐Th)/He thermochronological data along the southern segment of YGR. Our main findings are as follows. First, the rifts west of the YGR initiated simultaneously along strike, which we suggest is at odds with predictions of either slab‐tear or slab‐underthrusting models. However, most of these rifts show a northward younging pattern in rift acceleration, which may be governed by low‐angle Indian slab underthrusting released by slab tearing. Second, the initiation timing of the Yadong rift is constrained at ∼13–11 Ma. Combined with published constraints along strike, we demonstrate a clear northward propagation in rift initiation along the YGR. This kinematic pattern may be affected by its orientation of the most oblique northeast‐trending among all rift systems or the outward expansion of the Himalayan arc.
Plain Language Summary
The Himalayan‐Tibetan orogen is undergoing active east‐west extension under the continuous compression of the colliding Indo‐Eurasia continents. This extension is manifested by a series of northward oriented (north‐striking) rifts in southern Tibet, the geodynamics of which is critical in revealing the Cenozoic evolution of the Tibetan Plateau. Despite the importance, their development pattern along strike has not been well understood, leaving the mechanisms that emphasize their along‐strike propagation poorly tested, such as the southward slab tearing and northward slab underthrusting models. They predict a southward or northward propagation of rifting along strike, respectively. Therefore, the along‐strike propagation process of individual rifts constitutes the key factor in distinguishing the two mechanisms. In this study, we adopted thermochronological techniques to constrain the propagation of the Yadong‐Gulu rift (YGR) that has the longest strike length. The results suggest that the YGR youngs northward, which is contrary to the situations of each rift system to its west that initiated nearly coevally along strike. This implies that the onset of north‐trending rifts should not be significantly affected by geodynamic process in N‐S direction through either slab tearing or underthrusting, while the northward younging trend of YGR is controlled largely by its oblique striking.
Key Points
Initiation timing of Yadong‐Gulu rift youngs northward (Yadong at ∼13–11 Ma), but each rift system to its west initiated nearly coevally along strike
Slab tearing released subducting slab and activated slab underthrusting that causes northward rifting acceleration
Extraordinary earlier initiation of the Yadong rift was related to its most oblique NE‐trending or outward expansion of the Himalayan arc
Although economic nationalist governments in East Central Europe (ECE) have strongly challenged FDI-dependence, FDI-led growth has remained stable across the region. The political economy literature ...explains this puzzle with enduring business-state elite interactions and the disciplining role of the EU. Instead, we show that the EU's regional investment aid rules, which provide central governments in relatively backward member states with considerable policy space, serve as the main policy tool for reinforcing FDI-dependence. Using a unique dataset on regional investment aid granted between 2004 and 2022 in the Visegrád countries (V4), we show that each government, regardless of its ideological background, granted the vast majority of this type of aid to foreign firms. In addition, contrary to their political rhetoric, economic nationalist governments in Hungary and Poland outperformed their non-nationalist counterparts in granting aid to foreign firms. This suggests an instrumental use of this transnationally rooted policy opportunity: as their European political isolation grew, economic nationalists increasingly resorted to the promotion of foreign firms because the continued inflow of foreign capital has a legitimising effect both at home and abroad.
This interview delves into Russell Leong's complex coming-of-age as a Chinese American poet, influenced by US-Sino relations, the notorious Joseph McCarthy anti-Red and anti-China era of the 1950s, ...and the local status of being a person and writer of colour in a post-World War Two America during the past 70 years. The interview explores why Leong considers himself to be more a "man in a blue T-shirt" than a diasporic colonial in exile; how scholars in China view Chinese Americans, and Leong's response in terms of his life, identity, and poetry; the relation between theory and practice in Leong's work; how Chinese American works as "diasporic"; whether he was "orientalized" by studying Asian Americans; how he would characterize his own work; and how, as a fellow poet, Hart sees Leong's work as a poet and visual artist. The interview ends with Hart's "Musings on the Interview" and his sample close reading.
Climatologically, the East Asian high merges with the westward expansion of the northwestern Pacific subtropical high in March. The local East–West cell/circulation is enhanced by a well-organized ...convergent center that forms over Indochina at 925 h Pa in March. This allows the emitted air pollutants from the biomass burning to be uplifted to the free troposphere and immediately transported downwind to the east. Using the data collected from the 2010 7-SEAS/Dongsha Experiment, six cases of long-range transport events involving air pollutants during March–April were identified at the Hengchun air quality monitoring station in southern Taiwan. These events were related to active burning phases over Indochina Peninsula. The air pollutants produced by these events were transported to Taiwan after a 2–3 day journey. A composite analysis for these identified six cases showed that the boundary layer of the southwesterly flow confluence coupled with a well-organized convergent center located over a thermal low under clear skies over the Indochina Peninsula may induce a distinct ascending motion to form the upward branch of the transient local East–West cell/circulation during the burning phase. This inferred upward motion together with the strong thermal buoyancy created by the active biomass burnings could carry the air pollutants to the lower free troposphere where they would effectively be conveyed downwind along the westerly flow above 850 h Pa level. The air pollutants were brought down to the surface by downward branch of the transient local East–West cell/circulation, which was induced by the subsidence of a cold surge anticyclone. Using continuous point sources, the six identified cases were simulated with the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian-Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) particle dispersion forward model to confirm our supposition regarding the mechanism for the long-range transport of Southeast Asian biomass burning pollutants that has a significant impact on the surface air quality of the downstream areas, particularly in Taiwan.
► Southeast Asian biomass burning pollutants long-range transport identified on Taiwan surface. ► The East Asian high merges with northwestern Pacific subtropical high east of Taiwan. ► Local East–West cell/circulation helps air pollutants uplift and downwind transport. ► Clear sky surface thermal low over Indochina may induce a distinct upward motion. ► Forward particle dispersion simulations confirm the long-range transport speculation.
This paper presents an evaluation of east–west oriented photovoltaic power system. The evaluation is done based on a simplified model for east–west oriented photovoltaic system. This model is ...developed mathematically then implemented by using Matlab. The model is also validated by a commercial software and experimental data. After that, a comparison between east–west oriented photovoltaico system and south oriented photovoltaic system in terms of cost of energy and technical requirement is conducted. In addition to that, the benefits of using east–west oriented photovoltaic system are discussed in this paper. Results show that the proposed model is accurate in predicting the output power of east–west oriented photovoltaic system. It is also found that east–west oriented photovoltaic system requires less land area. Moreover, it is found that east–west oriented photovoltaic system requires less cost for mounting piles and steel structure, and less costs of the interfacing power substation especially in case of photovoltaic systems slanted at high tilt angle. However, it is found as well that the south oriented photovoltaic system produces more energy than east–west oriented photovoltaic system. It is also found in this research that there is no significant difference between the costs of energy for both systems. Finally it is concluded that for direct grid interfacing east–west oriented PV system can provide smoother power injection to the grid with fewer harmonic and less reverse power. On the other hand, south oriented photovoltaic system is preferred when high power injection is required.
In this paper, we respond to the call for more holistic and culturally diverse research to advance understanding of (non)sustainable consumption behaviour. Our conceptual model incorporates ...materialism, environmental concern, social consumption motivation, pro-environmental self-identity and sustainable consumption behaviours. This paper contributes to knowledge by examining the mediating role of pro-environmental self-identity to more fully explain consumers' (non)sustainable consumption behaviour. An international online panel survey was employed in the UK (n = 1037) and China (n = 1025). Findings show that pro-environmental self-identity partially or fully mediates the relationships between materialism, environmental concern, social consumption motivation and sustainable consumption behaviours. Important cultural differences also emerged, for example, the positive effect of materialism on Chinese consumer's sustainable consumption, which is contrary to Western evidence. We suggest bolder, culturally informed and more reflexive marketing strategies are needed to significantly advance sustainable consumption, thus effectively helping to redress the crisis facing our planet.
Iqbal's intellectual history is full of various qualities. It is difficult to identify the location of Iqbal's thoughts and poems or their sources. What are the main characteristics of Iqbal's mind ...and thought? What was Iqbal's thinking style? How did Iqbal's mind and thought set evolutionary goals? What was Iqbal's point of view regarding thought and philosophy? And with which chain of thought was his special relationship? The critics of Iqbal believe that he got Faizan E Nazar from the East, while there is another group that says that Iqbal's ideas are derived from the West. While some people say that Iqbal's thought and vision was not the East or the West, but his own creation. It may be misleading to conclude by presenting the views of a few critics. This article highlights various aspects of Iqbal's history.
The uplift of the Tibetan Plateau during the Miocene is crucial to understanding continental deformation processes and global climatic events. However, the eastern Tibetan Plateau remains poorly ...investigated. Mantle-derived magmatism provides crucial insights into the deep dynamic processes and surface uplift of the plateau. In this paper we report the first discovery of north–south trending lamprophyre dikes from the Aduo Basin in the eastern Qiangtang terrane, eastern Tibet. Our new age data show that these lamprophyre dikes were generated in Mid-Miocene (15–13 Ma). This new discovery has bridged the Mid-Miocene mantle-derived magmatic gap in the Qiangtang terrane. Trace element and Nd–Sr isotopic data indicate that they were derived by partial melting of enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle. Our study implies that the eastern Tibetan Plateau had its attained near-maximum elevation by the Mid-Miocene. Combined with previous research results, we propose that the entire plateau almost simultaneously reached its near-maximum elevation by the Mid-Miocene.
•The first discovery of Aduo lamprophyres has bridged the Mid-Miocene magmatic gap in the Qiangtang terrane.•The Aduo lamprophyres were derived from partial melting of enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle.•The north–south trending dikes indicate that the eastern Tibet had its attained near-maximum elevation by the Mid-Miocene
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