Exploitation and Politics of Decision-Making

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peer Ghulam Nabi Suhail
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The State ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Fragile States ◽  
Land Grabbing ◽  
Jammu And Kashmir ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
New Framework

The seventh and the concluding chapter of the book discusses the larger questions pertaining to the decision-makers in the land and water deals. During the land deals process, NHPC has been exploiting peasants at the micro-level and the state of Jammu and Kashmir at the macro level. The argument, in this chapter, aims at understanding the questions of resistance, narratives, and overall land-grabbing question in the fragile states, such as, the conflict-hit region of Kashmir. It argues that the situation taken as a whole needs an entirely new framework which the theories about land-grabbing in ‘normal’ regions do not offer.

How Macroeconomics Lost the Complexity Vision

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Colander ◽  
Roland Kupers
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
Standard Model ◽  
The State ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Separate Branch ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Individual

This chapter tells the story of how macroeconomics developed as a separate field in an attempt to add aspects of complexity to the standard model with the aim of improving policy advice, but how those aspects of complexity were quickly lost it again. Instead of dealing with the macro economy as a complex system, macro economists focused on dotting is and crossing ts. The chapter begins by clarifying the difference between macroeconomics and microeconomics. Microeconomics builds a theory up from the individual elements—from the micro level to the macro level. It starts from assumptions of rational individuals and then analyzes how they would coordinate their actions, and what role the state should play in that coordination. Macroeconomics developed as a separate branch of economics when J. M. Keynes’s work was integrated into formal models in the 1930s and 1940s.

Bridging Levels of Public Administration: How Macro Shapes Meso and Micro

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alasdair Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
American History ◽  
The State ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Meso Level ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
The Relationship

Scholars in public administration now recognize three levels of analysis: macro, meso, and micro. But there is uncertainty about the relationship between levels and concern about a “schism” in research. However, linkages between levels can be demonstrated easily. At the macro-level, leaders develop an overall strategy for pursuing national priorities, which determines the broad architecture of the state. Institutions must be built, renovated, or managed to give effect to these strategies: This is the meso-level of public administration. Overall, strategies also shape the micro-level relationship between people who rule and people who are ruled. This is done by categorizing people—as subjects or citizens, for example—and by redefining categories. Macro-level strategies evolve, with consequences for the agenda at the meso- and micro-levels. Experience at lower levels also shapes strategy at the macro-level. The interaction among levels is illustrated by comparison of three eras in modern American history.

scholarly journals Peacekeeping and development in fragile states: Micro-level evidence from Liberia

2020 ◽  
pp. 002234332091281
Author(s):  
Eric Mvukiyehe ◽  
Cyrus Samii
Keyword(s):  
Administrative Data ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Fragile States ◽  
Exact Matching ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Fear Of Victimization ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Peacekeeping Missions

Peacekeeping operations are integral to multilateral strategies to help establish stable, self-sustaining peace and development in countries coming out of civil war. While we know, from macro-level empirical studies, that these operations contribute to the durability of peace, the evidence on their effectiveness at the micro level remains scant. Using surveys and administrative data from postwar Liberia, we test the hypothesis that peacekeeping deployments build peace ‘from the bottom up’ through contributions to local security and local economic and social vitality. The hypothesis reflects official thinking about how peacekeeping works via ‘peacebuilding’. We create a quasi-experiment by applying coarsened exact matching to administrative data used in mission planning, identifying sets of communities that were similarly likely to receive bases. We do not find effects on local security measured in terms of physical victimization, fear of victimization, or migration patterns. We find only modest effects on socio-economic vitality. NGOs tend to work in areas where deployments are not present, contrary to the hypothesis. Thus, we are less inclined to believe that peacekeepers build peace from the bottom up, leaving macro-level mechanisms such as signaling and deterrence at the level of leaders as worthy of more attention. In terms of policy, peacekeeping missions should re-evaluate their methods for providing local security.

scholarly journals The challenge of inadequate achievement in mathematics: Focus on a meta-approach

2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 265-287
Author(s):  
Kobus Maree
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
South African ◽  
The State ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Meso Level ◽  
Mathematics Classrooms ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Achievement In Mathematics

As is the case elsewhere in the world, all stakeholders in South Africa are deeply concerned about the level and scope of underachievement in mathematics, not only at Grade 12 level, but, indeed, at University, University of Technology and Further Education and Training levels. These concerns assume a deeper dimension in light of the fact that inadequate achievement in mathematics inevitably will have a ripple effect on the academic situation in any country: inadequate achievement in mathematics precludes learners from applying for admission to sought-after fi elds of study, which, in turn, prevents numerous learners from realising their true potential and, eventually, from being happy and successful in careers that they might otherwise have been able to execute successfully. It goes without saying that inadequate achievement in mathematics will impact negatively on the overall economic situation in any country (even more so in a developing country such as South Africa). Truth being, achievement in mathematics amounts to equipping oneself with survival skills. In this article, the spotlight shifts from a narrow and outdated focus on problems that are associated with inadequate achievement in mathematics to possible solutions for this disconcerting situation and the implied challenge it raises. The focus is thus on three levels that collectively underpin and impact on achievement in mathematics, viz. the macro level, the meso level and the micro level. The macro level refers mainly to the input by the national government (and, by default, the National Department of Education). In the fi rst instance, it is the responsibility of the state to provide adequate schooling facilities for all learners, irrespective of where they fi nd themselves. Furthermore, it is the duty of the state to ensure that every learner has access to basic facilities, including food, water, sanitation and housing. The state (via the National Department of Education) is also obliged to ensure that the basic philosophy that underpins mathematics education in the country is scrutinised continuously and that changes be made to existing teaching philosophy should these be recommended by the majority of stakeholders. Case in point: the implementation of Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) in South African mathematics classrooms has now already been under the spotlight for a number of years and there seems to be general consensus that it is essential to facilitate a number of basic changes to this philosophy and (especially) to the way in which it is implemented in South African classrooms. Teachers, for instance, constantly complain about matters such as an administrative overload, unacceptably high stress levels (brought about by factors broadly associated with OBE-related issues) and the fact that the laudable philosophy underpinning OBE is not consistently realised in practice. At the meso level, the spotlight falls on factors related to teacher training. For example, it seems highly advisable to optimise teacher training in mathematics, to facilitate training in emotional intelligence, to conduct a national audit on the number of mathematics teachers currently teaching mathematics (in terms of how many teachers are currently in the system, where these teachers fi nd themselves, their level of training, etc.) to determine training needs in mathematics and to facilitate a more equitable distribution of teachers across the country. For example, it is proposed that all graduating teachers be compelled to do community service in an effort to facilitate a better understanding of the challenges that teachers in various parts of the country face, thereby breaking down barriers between people. At micro level, the emphasis is on measures that might be taken to provide guidance to parents on how to assist their children in mathematics on the one hand and on practical ways in which to help learners in mathematics perform better in mathematics and leave school better equipped to deal with typical challenges at tertiary level on the other. It is hoped that this article will contribute to an improvement in the disconcerting situation to be found in mathematics classrooms across South Africa. I sincerely hope to have sensitised readers to the need not only to talk about the situation in mathematics in South Africa, but instead to start acting and in so doing to impact on the situation in practical ways.

scholarly journals Basic Criteria, Models, and Indicators of Intersectoral Collaboration in Health Promotion: A Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Reza Amir Esmaili ◽  
Behzad Damari ◽  
Ahmad Hajebi ◽  
Noora Rafiee ◽  
Reza Goudarzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Intersectoral Collaboration ◽  
Micro Level

Background: In this study, the basic criteria, models, and indicators of intersectoral collaboration in health promotion were investigated to facilitate the implementation of collaboration. Methods: This scoping review was conducted using datasets of Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed, and search engines of Google, Google Scholar, and ProQuest. Results: 52 studies were included, and 32 codes in Micro, Meso, and Macro level, were obtained. Micro-level criteria had the highest frequency. Among the models used in the reviewed studies, social network analysis, Diagnosis of Sustainable Collaboration, Bergen, and logic models had the highest frequency. Among the indicators studied, the number of participants and the level of collaboration as well as its sustainability were the most frequent indicators. Conclusion: The findings identified the most important and widely used criteria, models, and indicators of intersectoral collaboration in health promotion which can be useful for decision-makers and planners in the domain of health promotion, in designing, implementing, and evaluating collaborative programs.

PART II: Ethics, Environment, and Migration: Immigration and the Ethics of Choice

1996 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-104
Author(s):  
Teresa A. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Distance ◽  
The State ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Know How ◽  
Ethical Discourse ◽  
Making Choices ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Individual

This paper begins by developing a language for ethical discourse on immigration and then examining the extent to which choices may be made at the micro-level and at the macro-level. States and individuals are examined as actors who are variously described as making choices or being choiceless. The concepts of cultural distance, reciprocity, the role of the individual and of the state and their interrelationships are evaluated in the perspective of choice. Whether an ethics of immigration can be successfully developed hinges on the degree of choice that individuals and states have or perceive themselves to have. How sad and fraught with trouble is the state of those who yearly emigrate in bodies to America for the means of living…. It is, indeed, piteous that so many unhappy sons of Italy, driven by want to seek another land, should encounter ills greater than those from which they would fly…. When they reach the lands for which they are destined, ignorant as they are of the language and the place, and hired out for daily labor, they fall into the hands of the dishonest, and even into the snares of those powerful men to whom they enslave themselves. (Pope Leo XIII, 1888) You shall not oppress an alien. You well know how it feels to be an alien since you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. (Ex 23:9)

The Evolution of Cognitive Representational Decision Making

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armin W. Schulz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Mental States ◽  
The State ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Efficiency Gains ◽  
Cognitive Efficiency ◽  
The Core ◽  
The World ◽  
Core Idea

This chapter develops a new account of the evolution of cognitive representational decision making—i.e. of decision making that relies on representations about the state of the world. The core idea behind this account is that cognitive representational decision making can—at times—be more cognitively efficient than non-cognitive representational decision making. In particular, cognitive representational decision making, by being able to draw on the inferential resources of higher-level mental states, can enable organisms to adjust more easily to changes in their environment and to streamline their neural decision making machinery (relative to non-representational decision makers). While these cognitive efficiency gains will sometimes be outweighed by the costs of this way of making decisions—i.e. the fact that representational decision making is generally slower and more concentration- and attention-hungry than non-representational decision making—this will not always be the case. Moreover, it is possible to say in more detail which kinds of circumstances will favor the evolution of cognitive representational decision making, and which do not.

Environmental Accounting and the Management Challenge

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger L. Burritt ◽  
Stefan Schaltegger ◽  
Katherine L. Christ
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Accounting ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Environmental Objectives ◽  
Improvement Measures ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Operating Space ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Management Challenge ◽  
Safe Operating

There is a need to achieve sustainability through development of economies and companies that operate in the safe operating space of planetary boundaries and contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This requires that decision makers are informed about the state of the natural environment, the environmental impacts being caused, and the effectiveness of improvement measures. Environmental accounting focuses on such environmental issues. It informs decision makers about combined environmental and economic matters and supports improvement processes. Environmental accounts at the national and regional macro level are mostly focused on the environmental condition and changes in condition over time. In contrast, company environmental accounting at the micro level either focuses on reporting on the overall impact in the past, providing detailed internal information for managers to address key problem areas, or identifying aspects for improvement. Transdisciplinary research helps to address the economic and management challenge of linking company-related micro level accounts and activities with macro level environmental objectives.

Use of Objective Safety Evidence to Deploy Automated Enforcement Resources

2019 ◽  
Vol 2673 (10) ◽  
pp. 726-735
Author(s):  
Shewkar Ibrahim ◽  
Tarek Sayed
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Speed Limit ◽  
Deployment Strategy ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Road Segments

Automated enforcement programs have been an important tool for improving traffic safety. Previous work provides strong evidence supporting the impact that these programs have on increasing safety either on a micro-level (e.g., road segments), or at a macro-level (e.g., neighborhood, city). In both cases, there are many variables that can influence and affect the safety impacts of the enforcement program. Additionally, there is a lack of understanding of how specific deployment parameters (e.g., how often to visit an enforcement site) can influence the overall safety on a macro-level (e.g., traffic analysis zone). The objective of this study is to quantify the impact that automated enforcement has on collisions on a macro-level as well as to develop models that would provide enforcement authorities with an empirical tool to help plan their deployment strategy. The results show that an increase in the number of tickets issued for exceeding the speed limit resulted in a decrease in collisions, for all collision severities. Moreover, the results also showed that collision reductions were also associated with spending a longer time enforcing a site for each visit. Quantifying these safety impacts supports decision makers by providing them with an opportunity to analyze the safety benefits in relation to their deployment strategy to maximize the efficiency of their resources.

scholarly journals Government Transparency in Decision Making

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-124
Author(s):  
Sven Bluemmel
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The State ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Crucial Element ◽  
Government Transparency ◽  
Government Decision ◽  
Decisive Action ◽  
Fundamental Mechanism

Freedom of information (FOI) regimes are a hallmark of modern democracies and a crucial element of any government transparency and integrity framework. This paper examines how government responses to COVID-19 brought the need for greater transparency of government decision making to the fore. Genuine engagement with FOI regimes provides a fundamental mechanism to keep government decision makers accountable and increases and maintains trust capital between citizens and the state. In turn, governments rely on this trust capital to take strong and decisive action—as highlighted by global responses to COVID19. The author argues that FOI is an important mechanism to challenge poor government decision making, and ultimately enhance the long-term health of our democracy.

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