Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2021-515/ NABO is a pan-Nordic project about the social inclusion of young persons in their respective societies. The project was launched under the Swedish presidency in the Nordic Council of Ministers 2018 and runs over the period 2018–2021. The project focuses on how youths talk about themselves and others in relation to five aspects of social inclusion – experiences of belonging, opportunities to influence, opportunities to participate, access to society’s resources and services and support from family and social networks. The Nabo-project have produced reports which shed light on how youth describe various aspects of social inclusion in all the Nordic countries and in Greenland, the Faroe Island and Åland. This is the comparison study of these eight reports.

Nabo is a project launched under the Swedish presidency in the Nordic Council of Ministers 2018. The project is run by the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society over the period 2018-2020 and seeks to make the youth perspective visible through the words of Nordic youth. Young people’s voices will be heard in questions regarding their lives. And based on that knowledge they will be given the opportunity to participate and influence political decisions. Young people are asked to describe their everyday lives and how they perceive their opportunities and obstacles. From their stories Nabo builds a framework of success factors for social inclusion in the Nordic region. This study is based on six focus group interviews with youth in different places in Iceland. In this report you find the result from the Icelandic study. Similar studies are carried out in the other Nordic countries and in the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/nord2020-001/ Abstract [en] State of the Nordic Region 2020 gives you a unique look behind the scenes of the world’s most integrated region, comprised of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, along with the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. The report presents a series of facts and figures showing the current state of play within core socioeconomic sectors, including demography, labour market and economy. In addition, you can read about wellbeing and energy pathways towards a carbon neutral Nordic Region. State of the Nordic Region 2020 is published by the Nordic Council of Ministers and produced by Nordregio, an international research center for regional development and planning established by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Out of a lifetime of study of the ancient Near East, Professor Olmstead has gathered previously unknown material into the story of the life, times, and thought of the Persians, told for the first time from the Persian rather than the traditional Greek point of view. "The fullest and most reliable presentation of the history of the Persian Empire in existence."—M. Rostovtzeff

In most countries, parliament has the constitutional mandate to both oversee and hold government to account. In light of the increased focus on good governance, academics and legislative strengthening practitioners are re-examining parliament's oversight function with a view to increasing public financial accountability, curbing corruption, and contributing to poverty reduction. This volume brings together research from many different perspectives and many different legislative settings worldwide. As the country case studies in section III demonstrate, the accountability mechanisms or oversight tools available to the legislature vary based on constitutionally defined powers of the legislature, institutional arrangements between the branches of government, divisions of authority between national, regional, and local governments, the degree of legitimacy conferred on the legislature, and the resources available to it. The budget process provides critical opportunities. Section II of this volume is devoted to examining budget oversight from the formulation and approval of the budget, to implementation and the ex post examination of the public accounts. Special attention is also paid to mechanisms to assist parliaments such as Public Accounts Committees and independent parliamentary budget offices. This title will be of interest to parliamentarians and parliamentary staff, legislative strengthening practitioners, and students of legislative development.

"This splendid work of scholarship . . . sums up with economy and power all that the written record so far deciphered has to tell about the ancient and complementary civilizations of Babylon and Assyria."—Edward B. Garside, New York Times Book Review Ancient Mesopotamia—the area now called Iraq—has received less attention than ancient Egypt and other long-extinct and more spectacular civilizations. But numerous small clay tablets buried in the desert soil for thousands of years make it possible for us to know more about the people of ancient Mesopotamia than any other land in the early Near East. Professor Oppenheim, who studied these tablets for more than thirty years, used his intimate knowledge of long-dead languages to put together a distinctively personal picture of the Mesopotamians of some three thousand years ago. Following Oppenheim's death, Erica Reiner used the author's outline to complete the revisions he had begun. "To any serious student of Mesopotamian civilization, this is one of the most valuable books ever written."—Leonard Cottrell, Book Week "Leo Oppenheim has made a bold, brave, pioneering attempt to present a synthesis of the vast mass of philological and archaeological data that have accumulated over the past hundred years in the field of Assyriological research."—Samuel Noah Kramer, Archaeology A. Leo Oppenheim, one of the most distinguished Assyriologists of our time, was editor in charge of the Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute and John A. Wilson Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago.