"Against a general background of crisis in the capital markets and strong volatility, there was less demand from clients and the businesses were managed cautiously," the bank said.
The Youth Voices research, conducted for the Guardian and British Academy by ICM, the polling organisation, was done against a background of crisis in language learning in the UK.
The first political attitudes of Mao Zedong took shape against a background of profound crisis in China in the early 20th century.
Clark writes of "the chaotic intervention of monarchs, ambiguous relationships between civil and military, adversarial competition among key politicians in systems characterised by low levels of cabinet solidarity, compounded by the agitations of a critical mass press against a background of intermittent crisis and heightened tension over security issues".
The European elections "will be held against a background of economic crisis and loss of confidence in Europe as a political project," the authors found, pointing to the possibility of a "Tea party-like scenario" in which eurosceptic parties capture a large quota of the seats, turn the institution into a "self-hating parliament" which is then "effectively prevented from acting".
Migrant entrepreneurship in Italy has to be understood against the background of the crisis in the local labour market and the systematic weakening of the status of legal immigrants.
KINGSTON, 16 October 2008 – Against the background of the crisis facing the nation's children, the latest research on violence against children, child sexuality, parenting and other pressing issues concerning children's rights will be unveiled on October 21-22, 2008 at the Jamaica Pegasus at the third Caribbean Child Research Conference.
Domestic reform without a background of overwhelming foreign crisis has not been attempted in sixty years.
"That expression of the global commitment is all the more remarkable because it comes against the background of a global crisis," Mr. Ban said at a news conference.
