scholarly journals Will Democracy Kill Democracy? Decision‐Making by Majorities and by Committees

1975 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Sartori
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Group ◽  
Directed Group ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
Individual Decisions ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Number Of Individuals ◽  
Meaningful Sense

INDIVIDUAL DECISIONS ARE TAKEN BY EACH INDIVIDUAL FOR HIMSELF (regardless of whether he is inner- or other-directed). Group decisions imply that decisions are taken by a ‘concrete’ group, i.e. a face-to-face interacting number of individuals which may thus be said to share (partake) such decisions. Collective decisions are hardly amenable to a precise definition; but they are generally understood to mean decisions taken by the ‘many’. We then have collectivized decisions. Collective and collectivized decisions may be said to share the property of not being, in any meaningful sense, individual decisions. Even so, collectivized decisions are very different from all the others. Individual, group, and collective decisions all make reference to an actor, to who makes the decision. Collectivized decisions are, instead, decisions that apply to, and are enforced upon, a collectivity regardless of whether they are taken by the one, the few, or the many. The defining criterion no longer is who makes the decision, but its scope: whoever does the deciding decides or all.

scholarly journals Sneeze to leave: African wild dogs ( Lycaon pictus ) use variable quorum thresholds facilitated by sneezes in collective decisions

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1862) ◽  
pp. 20170347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reena H. Walker ◽  
Andrew J. King ◽  
J. Weldon McNutt ◽  
Neil R. Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Group Living ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
Directed Group ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
African Wild Dogs ◽  
Minimum Number ◽  
Collective Movements ◽  
Wild Dogs

In despotically driven animal societies, one or a few individuals tend to have a disproportionate influence on group decision-making and actions. However, global communication allows each group member to assess the relative strength of preferences for different options among their group-mates. Here, we investigate collective decisions by free-ranging African wild dog packs in Botswana. African wild dogs exhibit dominant-directed group living and take part in stereotyped social rallies: high energy greeting ceremonies that occur before collective movements. Not all rallies result in collective movements, for reasons that are not well understood. We show that the probability of rally success (i.e. group departure) is predicted by a minimum number of audible rapid nasal exhalations (sneezes), within the rally. Moreover, the number of sneezes needed for the group to depart (i.e. the quorum) was reduced whenever dominant individuals initiated rallies, suggesting that dominant participation increases the likelihood of a rally's success, but is not a prerequisite. As such, the ‘will of the group’ may override dominant preferences when the consensus of subordinates is sufficiently great. Our findings illustrate how specific behavioural mechanisms (here, sneezing) allow for negotiation (in effect, voting) that shapes decision-making in a wild, socially complex animal society.

The Difficulties of Applied Ethics

2018 ◽  
pp. 23-48
Author(s):  
Barry Hoffmaster ◽  
Cliff Hooker
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Expected Utility ◽  
Applied Ethics ◽  
Moral Problem ◽  
Logical Inference ◽  
Formal Rationality ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right

A second kind of formal rationality, complementary to the maximizing expected utility in Chapter 1, is logical inference. In much of moral philosophy and in standard bioethics decision making is applied ethics. Moral theories are taken to be comprised of principles that are applied to the facts of cases to deduce conclusions about what ought to be done. The canonical depiction of bioethics, for instance, consists of the four principles of non-maleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and justice. The real examples in this chapter expose the many failings of that applied ethics. Most of the cases are about when to die and how to die, but the term ‘euthanasia’ is indeterminate. The crucial notion of ‘autonomy’ also is indeterminate. Both need to be clarified and specified. But how is this to be done? Similarly, when principles and rules conflict, as they often do, how is the one that prevails to be determined? There are no higher principles or rules that can be applied to get the right answer in any of these cases. More broadly, what makes a problem a moral problem, and what does being a moral problem mean? These issues require non-formal rational deliberation, not the formal rationality of deduction.

La prevencióón frente al despotismo. El primer liberalismo en Nueva Españña y Mééxico, 1808––1834**

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-453
Author(s):  
Mirian Galante
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
The Body ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Legitimate Authority ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Toma De Decisiones ◽  
The Many ◽  
Number Of Individuals

Este artíículo aborda el proceso de definicióón del liberalismo mexicano desde la crisis monáárquica de 1808 hasta 1834, poniééndolo en estrecha relacióón con la consolidacióón progresiva, a lo largo del desarrollo emancipador, del principio de soberaníía popular como el fundamento legíítimo del poder y del gobierno representativo como el mejor sistema para hacer efectiva dicha soberaníía. Si hasta entonces el objetivo del liberalismo era la prevencióón frente a la tiraníía de uno, la ampliacióón del cuerpo políítico derivada de las abdicaciones de Bayona produciráá la reaccióón de algunos polííticos que temíían especialmente el despotismo de los muchos, esto es, el establecimiento de la democracia. En esta tensióón se expresaron diversas estrategias constitucionales que en definitiva tendíían a incrementar, controlar o reducir el núúmero de agentes, instituciones o mecanismos fiscalizadores implicados en la toma de decisiones. This article is concerned with the process of defining Mexican liberalism from the time of the 1808 crisis of the Spanish Monarchy until 1834. It emphasizes the progressive consolidation of the principle of popular sovereignty as the foundation of legitimate authority and of representative government as the best system to assure that sovereignty. Initially, liberalism was concerned with preventing the tyranny of one individual. However, the abdications of the Spanish Monarchs at Bayonne, which resulted in the expansion of the body politic, led some political leaders to fear the despotism of the many, that is, the establishment of democracy. As a result, they pursued constitutional strategies that were meant either to increase the control or to reduce the number of individuals, institutions and oversight mechanisms involved in the decision-making process.

Mainland China and Taiwan Face to Face in the WTO: A 10-Year Rollercoaster Ride

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 287-311
Author(s):  
Sigrid Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Government Procurement ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The World ◽  
Letting Go ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
The One

Abstract This article traces the interactions between Taiwan and China in the World Trade Organization with regard to Chinese concerns about Taiwan’s sovereignty and the application of the “one China” principle. The analysis proceeds in three stages: first, both parties’ simultaneous accession negotiations; second, continued sovereignty-related disputes after the accession; and third, Taiwan’s accession to the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement. The article uses cost/benefit calculations to explain the Chinese and Taiwanese attitudes in their encounters within the WTO framework. The decision-making bodies in the WTO had decided that Taiwan could only accede after China, while agreeing that then Taiwan should become a separate member, independent from China. After this decision, China could have only stopped Taiwan’s accession by letting go of the opportunity to become itself a WTO member. China needed to balance its own wish to join the trade body with its desire to block a Taiwanese entry on sovereignty grounds, therefore from China’s perspective, opposition to Taiwan’s WTO participation became a cost/benefit calculation. Once both Taiwan and China had entered the organisation, China’s means to put pressure on the organisation improved, it could at a much lesser cost influence decisions on Taiwan’s status within the organisation.

Perceptions of Decision-Making Roles and Priorities that Affect Rebuilding after Disaster: The Example of L'Aquila, Italy

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 843-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbie B. Liel ◽  
Ross B. Corotis ◽  
Guido Camata ◽  
Jeannette Sutton ◽  
Rose Holtzman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Government Response ◽  
National Leaders ◽  
One Year ◽  
The One ◽  
Local Leaders

This study examines decision making for recovery and reconstruction in L'Aquila, Italy, over the one-year period following the 6 April 2009 earthquake. The paper focuses on local and national perceptions of government response to the earthquake, community involvement in reconstruction decision processes, the establishment of rebuilding priorities, and prospects for future seismic risk reduction. Data were collected through 23 semi-structured, face-to-face key informant interviews with local leaders (including community, building industry, and government representatives) and 4 interviews with national leaders. Findings show that although local leaders were satisfied with the Department of Civil Protection's emergency response, there was frustration with funding and priorities for permanent rebuilding. Public involvement in decision making varied by community, but in most cases was limited, leading local leaders to express distrust in government and national leadership and their decisions. The case study also illustrates the importance of authority and resource coordination between the national and local levels.

scholarly journals Two-sided matching based on I-BTM and LSGDM applied to high-level overseas talent and job fit problems

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Yang ◽  
Xinshang You ◽  
Yiye Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Fuzzy Sets ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fuzzy Decision Making ◽  
Computer Algorithms ◽  
Job Fit ◽  
Intuitionistic Fuzzy ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
High Level

AbstractWith the increasing number of overseas talent tasks in China, overseas talent and job fit are significant issues that aim to improve the utilization of this key human resource. Many studies based on fuzzy sets have been conducted on this topic. Among the many fuzzy set methods, intuitionistic fuzzy sets are usually utilized to express and handle the evaluation information. In recent years, various intuitionistic fuzzy decision-making methods have been rapidly developed and used to solve evaluation problems, but none of them can be used to solve the person-job fit problem with intuitionistic best-worst method (BWM) and TOPSIS methods considering large-scale group decision making (LSGDM) and evaluator social network relations (SNRs). Therefore, to solve problems of intuitionistic fuzzy information analysis and the LSGDM for high-level overseas talent and job fit, we construct a new hybrid two-sided matching method named I-BTM and an LSGDM method considering SNRs. On the one hand, to express the decision-making information more objectively and reasonably, we combine the BWM and TOPSIS in an intuitionistic environment. Additionally, we develop the LSGDM with optimized computer algorithms, where the evaluators’ attitudes are expressed by hesitant fuzzy language. Finally, we build a model of high-level overseas talent and job fit and establish a mutual criteria system that is applied to a case study to illustrate the efficiency and reasonableness of the model.

Costumes and Choreography from Bodenwieser's Trunk: The Coat as Affective Memory

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-110
Author(s):  
Rachel Fensham
Keyword(s):  
Modern Dance ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Creative Thought ◽  
Cain And Abel ◽  
Embodied Research ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Selection Of

The Viennese modern choreographer Gertrud Bodenwieser's black coat leads to an analysis of her choreography in four main phases – the early European career; the rise of Nazism; war's brutality; and postwar attempts at reconciliation. Utilising archival and embodied research, the article focuses on a selection of Bodenwieser costumes that survived her journey from Vienna, or were remade in Australia, and their role in the dramaturgy of works such as Swinging Bells (1926), The Masks of Lucifer (1936, 1944), Cain and Abel (1940) and The One and the Many (1946). In addition to dance history, costume studies provides a distinctive way to engage with the question of what remains of performance, and what survives of the historical conditions and experience of modern dance-drama. Throughout, Hannah Arendt's book The Human Condition (1958) provides a critical guide to the acts of reconstruction undertaken by Bodenwieser as an émigré choreographer in the practice of her craft, and its ‘materializing reification’ of creative thought. As a study in affective memory, information regarding Bodenwieser's personal life becomes interwoven with the author's response to the material evidence of costumes, oral histories and documents located in various Australian archives. By resurrecting the ‘dead letters’ of this choreography, the article therefore considers how dance costumes offer the trace of an artistic resistance to totalitarianism.

The Hierophanic Facets of the Seraphic Hymns

Trictrac ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petru Adrian Danciu
Keyword(s):  
Mutual Recognition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Material World ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The People ◽  
Musical History ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One

Starting from the cry of the seraphim in Isaiahʹ s prophecy, this article aims to follow the rhythm of the sacred harmony, transcending the symbols of the angelic world and of the divine names, to get to the face to face meeting between man and God, just as the seraphim, reflecting their existence, stand face to face. The finality of the sacred harmony is that, during the search for God inside the human being, He reveals Himself, which is the reason for the affirmation of “I Am that I Am.” Through its hypnotic cyclicality, the profane temporality has its own musicality. Its purpose is to incubate the unsuspected potencies of the beings “caught” in the material world. Due to the fact that it belongs to the aeonic time, the divine music will exceed in harmony the mechanical musicality of profane time, dilating and temporarily cancelling it. Isaiah is witness to such revelation offering access to the heavenly concert. He is witness to divine harmonies produced by two divine singers, whose musical history is presented in our article. The seraphim accompanied the chosen people after their exodus from Egypt. The cultic use of the trumpet is related to the characteristics and behaviour of the seraphim. The seraphic music does not belong to the Creator, but its lyrics speak about the presence of the Creator in two realities, a spiritual and a material one. Only the transcendence of the divine names that are sung/cried affirms a unique reality: God. The chant-cry is a divine invocation with a double aim. On the one hand, the angels and the people affirm God’s presence and call His name and, on the other, the Creator affirms His presence through the angels or in man, the one who is His image and His likeness. The divine music does not only create, it is also a means of communion, implementing the relation of man to God and, thus, God’s connection with man. It is a relation in which both filiation and paternity disappear inside the harmony of the mutual recognition produced by music, a reality much older than Adam’s language.

AFRICAN WOMEN AND FORBIDDEN GROUNDS: FEMALE SEXUALITY AND SELF-DETERMINATION IN AFRICAN LITERATURE

Imbizo ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-54
Author(s):  
Oyeh O. Otu
Keyword(s):  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
African Literature ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
African Women ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Sexual Repression

This article examines how female conditioning and sexual repression affect the woman’s sense of self, womanhood, identity and her place in society. It argues that the woman’s body is at the core of the many sites of gender struggles/ politics. Accordingly, the woman’s body must be decolonised for her to attain true emancipation. On the one hand, this study identifies the grave consequences of sexual repression, how it robs women of their freedom to choose whom to love or marry, the freedom to seek legal redress against sexual abuse and terror, and how it hinders their quest for self-determination. On the other hand, it underscores the need to give women sexual freedom that must be respected and enforced by law for the overall good of society.

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