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This study compares holiday planning in Switzerland (CH) and Uruguay (UY). Summer vacations are one of the most important times of the year for families with children who decide to travel, as national school schedules determine the holiday period. Although the objective situation in the holiday planning period differs in the two hemispheres in terms of the phases of the pandemic, this research study aims to evaluate whether the same is true for subjective aspects such as pandemic risk, obstacles to travel and willingness to travel. This study compares these subjective aspects by surveys applied to both countries during the planning period of the summer holidays, using logistic regression, denoting the country as the dependent variable.

While oft-ignored, grievances remain a central part of revolutions. We argue that the theorization of grievances requires conceptually unpacking specific complaints and relating them to mobilizing mechanisms. We thus focus on one set of grievances – corruption – that is especially prevalent in 21st century revolutionary episodes. Drawing on prior conceptualizations of corruption, we hypothesize that four different configurations of corruption influence five different mechanisms of contention. First, everyday street-level corruption creates the potential for sudden and spontaneous protest and creates the basis for widespread, coalitional mobilization. Second, institutional corruption focuses attention on the regime to make it a target of revolutionary claims. Third, competition among elites creates the potential for cross-class alliances but may forestall durable sociopolitical change and, in some cases, even allow for authoritarian consolidation of power through anti-corruption drives. We illustrate these dynamics through one clearly successful case of revolution in Tunisia in 2011, one case of mixed results from political revolution in Ukraine from 2004 to 2014, and a negative case of revolution in China since 2013.

Digital transformation in nursing education is crucial for enhancing pedagogical practices and preparing future healthcare professionals for the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. This chapter explores how the integration of digital technologies in higher education has revolutionising teaching methodologies and offered new opportunities to enhance learning experiences. It identifies gaps in digital learning modalities for undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students and discusses strategies to strengthen online literacy preparation and transition into the healthcare sector's digital transformation landscape and the 4th industrial era economy. The chapter examines best practices and challenges in digital transformation in nursing education such as blended learning environments, simulation and virtual reality, mobile learning applications and gamification strategies. Additionally, it addresses challenges in curriculum development including insufficient technological infrastructure, faculty training and development, assessment strategies and resistance to change among faculty and students. This chapter aims to provide insights and recommendations for educators, curriculum developers and policymakers in implementing successful digital transformation in nursing education.

Martial arts and combat sports (MACS) are supported on ritualistic practices which often encompass hazing creating environments where catastrophic masculinities prevail. These forms of masculinities are strengthened inside MACS’ world resonating with masculinities spread out in wider society. We consider this to be the situation found in Brazilian society. With this study, our aim is to analyse how hazing practices in MACS contribute to the production of a socially legitimised catastrophic masculinity in Brazil. Catastrophic masculinity appears as a new concept proposed by Andrade (2022) to define a hegemonic, toxic and tragic form of masculinity spread in Brazil attached to a political power project. We carried out two qualitative empirical pieces of research that focused on three martial arts. These were ethnographic (participant-) observations of various events, training sessions, belt examination and competition and interviews with men participants. Supported by the presented data, we argue that hazing practices end up acting as a means of reproducing the catastrophic masculinity fighters perform in the dojo. They learn and resonate with a pedagogy that requires them to conform to and follow hierarchies through the repetition of the word ‘oss’ as a symbol of submission to arbitrariness. Hazing constitutes, instantiates and reproduces catastrophic masculinity and originates in the same (social) catastrophic masculinity.

In this chapter, we review the historical development of elite theory, and then we propose a way forward beyond it. Elite theory emerged as a critique of democracy in the late 19th century. Although it used historical materials illustratively, it tended to be ahistorical theoretically because its primary aim was to demonstrate the perdurance of elites even in conditions of mass suffrage. Lachmann was the first scholar to develop elite theory as a truly historical and explanatory framework by combining it with elements of Marxism. Even Lachmann's theory, however, remained inadequate because it did not rest on a fully articulated theory of power. In this introduction, we suggest a “relational power theory” as a remedy to this situation, and we use it to formulate a general heuristic for the study of elites, nonelites, and their interrelationships. To illustrate its utility, we show how it can illuminate the chapters in this volume (though they were not necessarily written for these purposes).

This opening chapter introduces key debates in relation to informality in policymaking, laying the theoretical and conceptual groundwork for the individual empirical chapters, beginning with a provocation for how informality can alternatively be understood. Through illustrating where gaps in understanding within current literature exist for how informality acquires meaning, and the physical and material relevance for how it manifests across contexts, this chapter introduces the three thematic clusters that thread through the book’s chapters: boundaries, knowledge mastery and networks. In doing so, it briefly positions each chapter in relation to these flexible and overlapping categories, drawing attention to how each chapter presents a different understanding of informality. Key to this chapter is our contention that while informality escapes definition, without binary or fixed conceptualisations of this concept we are better able to take in its fluidity and envisage how it is interwoven in everyday policy work and its human and non-human enactment. Underpinning this contention is a key contribution of this work, a proposition for a re-conceptualising of informality and formality as in|formality. Methodologically, this chapter argues that informality is better ‘shown’ than ‘told’ – and that this can be achieved through interpretive and socio-material approaches woven through disciplines that foreground narrative, ethnographic and creative approaches to research.

Talent management (TM) is a crucial strategic issue for global organizations, extending beyond multinationals and big companies to encompass small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and contexts outside the Anglo-Saxon sphere. However, TM in SMEs is still under-researched, with a lack of studies and evidence on TM determinants and TM in practice. This study explores, using the lens of institutional theory, how talent philosophies and a combination of institutional factors shape TM in French SMEs, highlighting the interplay between these elements within the specific context of French SMEs.

Given the limited knowledge about TM determinants in SMEs and the need to uncover and understand the phenomenon investigated, this study is exploratory in nature and lends itself to a qualitative research approach. In-depth semi-structured interviews with 27 CEOs, managers, TM and HR managers across 15 SMEs in France provided a comprehensive cross-industry perspective.

The study reveals that talent philosophies in French SMEs are predominantly inclusive and development-oriented, influenced by institutional factors such as the cultural logic of proximity and personalization, state support mechanisms like the Fonds Unique Interministériel (FUI) and legal frameworks that emphasize equal opportunity. Organizational elements like size and proximity foster a community-focused, egalitarian TM approach, while ownership and vulnerability lead to a reactive and informal TM strategy. The study presents a model that links these determinants to the specific TM approaches observed in French SMEs, illustrating how institutional factors like centralized control and egalitarianism shape TM practices.

This paper highlights the need for more empirical studies on talent philosophies, institutional and organizational factors not only in SMEs but also in comparison with multinational enterprises (MNEs), through institutional theory. Particular attention should be paid to the homogenization of SME sizes based on their level of establishment.

This study extends studies on TM determinants in SMEs, from the perspective of talent philosophies, utilizing insights from French institutional theory. It is also among the few and new studies to highlight contextual issues of TM as well as how TM is practiced depending on internal and external factors.