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This paper aims to examine the functioning and organizational structure of the historic Andalusian water courts, institutions of Islamic origin whose basic model should be considered in light of the regulation of modern Islamic banking and finance.

The methodology of this study has been focused on the contextualization of al-Andalus during the European Middle Ages, highlighting its enormous contributions and implications in the creation of Western knowledge. In the same way, the ordinances of the Castilian-Aragonese kings, aimed at the persistence of the Andalusian water courts in the Southeast of Spain after the Muslim period, have been used as the main sources of reference.

This research has detected that the main features of the Andalusian water courts, i.e. integrity, democracy, transparency, credibility, moral authority or simplicity (among many others), can be conveniently replicated in the scope of the current Islamic banking and finance.

Several implications can be derived from this study: first, it highlights the total resilience of a regulatory model that “it was already there,” given by the history of the Andalusian civilization. This model will be always welcomed by the Muslim community in Western countries as it is a matter of regulating themselves according to the way their ancestors did. The main limitation faced by this research is the relative scarcity of original sources, which is justifiable given that most of the royal ordinances come from the 13th century, having unfortunately lost a good number of sources over time.

This paper seeks a feasible alternative to the controversy arising from the resolution of possible disputes in Islamic banking and finance taking into account that Western judges do not know (nor do they have to) the principles on which this discipline is based. The application of the historical Andalusian model would allow the creation of an independent jurisdiction, while subordinated to the established juridic power, without contravening the principle of “jurisdictional unity.” The last element that gives an added value to this research is spreading the achievements of the Andalusian culture and civilization, unjustly omitted by a great part of the existing literature.

This case study deals with a new racket sport that is seeing strong growth in a number of countries. The study is based on surveys of Spanish padel1 sport clubs, and by grouping these datasets we are able to propose a business plan that may be used as a guide for investors or managers in the sports industry. The paper explores the development possibilities and marketing options for this ascending sport.

A review of conference hotels in Marbella—with beautiful scenery and sandy beaches.

Management research has begun to explore how cultural entrepreneurs use established or declining societal traditions to create distinctive new ventures and products. In this study, we propose an alternative pathway for creating entrepreneurial opportunities, that is, through leveraging extinct societal traditions. Extinct societal traditions yield opportunities to create highly distinctive products and ventures, yet their use entails substantial challenges. To understand how entrepreneurs can successfully leverage extinct societal traditions, we investigate the case of The Merchant of Venice, an Italian venture established in 2013 that produces luxury perfumes based on the perfume-making tradition that flourished in Venice between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and disappeared afterwards. Our study illuminates how cultural entrepreneurs can leverage extinct societal traditions by (a) exhuming lost knowledge and practices, (b) validating them as an authentic and appreciable tradition of a given community and territory, and (c) elevating their meaningfulness as core to place identity. Our study contributes to the literature on cultural entrepreneurship and traditions by revealing the distinct challenges that resurrecting extinct traditions entail, enriching the understanding of types, goals, and processes of cultural entrepreneurship, and widening current knowledge of the roles of tradition custodians.

This study evaluates the architectural status of circular prototype mosques in Kuwait. The argument is that the once dominant and powerful image of mosques is now merely a repetitive reproduction through the prototype scheme. The study focuses on the circular prototype design, which has been constructed in many of Kuwait's recent residential areas. It evaluates qualitatively the worshipers' experiences of these mosques.

The research methodology is qualitative. The main question is how well the circular prototype mosques are received by worshipers and local communities. Various research methods were used, including walk-through survey and group interview with worshipers and semi-structured interview with key informants in Public Authority for Housing Welfare and Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. Purposive sampling was chosen to select for key informants. Time-location sampling was selected for worshipers' group interview.

Circular prototype presents several weaknesses. The community did not receive the circular design well as it deviates from the traditional and modern rectangular mosque design prevalent in Kuwait. This research highlights the importance of considering traditional design principles, community preferences and functional requirements while designing a mosque. It also emphasizes the need for an extensive evaluation of prototype designs to identify potential weaknesses before proceeding with the final design.

It is recommended that future mosque design projects in Kuwait consider traditional design principles; community preferences; and financial, functional and sustainability requirements. In addition, the findings of this study can be used to inform future mosque design projects in Kuwait and to ensure that they are functional, cost-effective and well received by the community.

This research provides an informative and comprehensive analysis of Kuwait's prototype mosque designs from the 1950s to the present day. It focuses on the current circular prototype, critically examining its advantages and disadvantages. This research is the first to evaluate the history and design improvements over the years. As such, this research offers invaluable information to those interested in Kuwait's religious architecture and cultural history.

This paper seeks to extend the analysis of performance management regimes by Bouckaert and Halligan to other countries in order to contribute to the developing theory of forms and challenges in public sector performance management.

The state of performance management and the context in which it has evolved is assessed in seven different countries using dimensions drawn from Bouckaert and Halligan's work along with elements from earlier work by Pollitt and Bouckaert. These are summarized in a table and comparisons made to generate additional insights into the factors that influence the shape and speed of public management evolution.

The paper finds that the Bouckaert and Halligan framework for analyzing public sector performance management is useful, albeit with some modifications. Specifically, it finds that administrative culture is a key factor influencing the speed of reform and that the attitude of elites (politicians and civil servants, in most cases) is also a vital piece of the puzzle that was not included in Bouckaert and Halligan, but did appear in the earlier framework of Pollitt and Bouckaert. It also finds evidence that economic and political crises occurring together accelerate the introduction of integrated performance management systems, but that trust in government does not appear to be a significant factor. Finally, the paper observes that, absent political crisis/commitment, governments will prioritise “external” performance measures such as customer service, participation and transparency objectives over “internal” performance measures such as financial, staff management and whole of government reporting.

The countries studied provide a rare insight into lesser‐known performance management regimes and the use of the Bouckaert and Halligan framework allows for comparisons to earlier (and future) research. The findings will be of interest to scholars in public administration reform and performance management.

There is a traditional discrepancy in the specialized literature on how the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) should be understood. Additionally, there is a further situation, which in our opinion is also contradictory; many organisations are developing CSR projects; on the other hand, there is a proliferation of news on these organizations that lead us to question what the true extent of their commitment to CSR is. To that purpose, we have developed a case study that has allowed us to verify that one of the most active organisations in Spain in terms of the CSR adopted is using it basically as a marketing instrument, since it is using its at least formal compliance with institutional rules in order to increase its legitimacy in front of its main stakeholders.

Social left-wing political contestation and activism in Spain have undergone great changes over the past four years. First, there has been a shift from the 15-M movement that took over public plazas with its ambiguous claims basically related to radical democracy and rejection of institutional politics, to a new focus on social problems generated by the crisis, highlighting issues such as housing and cutbacks in social rights. Second, there has been a shift towards institutional politics in 2014. How should this recent whirlwind evolution in political contestation to status quo be understood? What is the relation between the changing material conditions of the population and the extremely shifting shape of left-wing militancy in Spain? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The arguments put forward here are based on the authors’ involvement in social movements in the city of Seville between 2011 and the current time. They have been complemented with in-depth interviews of social activists who have taken part in the movements: 15-M assemblies, the housing movement, general strikes and, in more recent times, electoral initiatives (Podemos and Ganemos). The interviews were done between 2012 and 2014. The fieldwork has been complemented with an exploration of documentary sources: the manifests and writings of the various organisations that are being addressed.

In the transition from 15-M assemblies to the recent shift in electoral initiatives, social protest have turned from direct democracy demands and the rejection of institutionalised politics to a progressively pragmatic and short-term position where institutions are targeted. This paper argues that the generalised impoverishment of the population, increased numbers of evictions and consistently high unemployment rates have broadened the social framework for the action of social movements. The political and ideological crisis, rooted in the majority of the population’s crumbling expectations of social progress has enabled the array of possibilities to be opened up to emancipatory politics.

It is argued that massive deprivation provoked by the economic crisis has been a fundamental factor in the movements’ new orientation, what as a consequence, and until certain extent, throws the New Social Movements discourses into crisis itself, at least with regard to its post-materialistic nature and its opposition to institutions of the State.

Muslims as an ummah (community) held knowledge power for more than 500 years and dominated in the field of historiography, religious texts, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, sciences, literature, geography and travel and many other areas during AD 750‐950 in world history. But the present Muslim world is far behind in knowledge power than the rest of the world despite the fact that it holds vast sources of economic resources. How Muslim knowledge powers became great and how they declined is a question that confronts today's researchers. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors responsible for the rise and fall of Muslims’ knowledge power and the scope for its restoration.

An in‐depth analysis was made based on the information from secondary sources.

In order to restore the flagging knowledge power, six factors have been identified and analyzed in the light of presenting the scope for initiative to power the knowledge economy in the Muslim world.

The paper shows that the concept of knowledge power not only identifies circumstances in which the Muslim world can restore knowledge economy well but also in which it should come up with a realistic action plan in the area of higher education and human resources development.