Responsibility in Uncertain Times: An Institutional Perspective on Precaution

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 51-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Pellizzoni ◽  
Marja Ylönen
Keyword(s):  
Policy Process ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Institutional Perspective ◽  
Cooperative Scheme ◽  
Use Of Knowledge ◽  
The Way

Precaution is a key issue in environmental governance. Variously defined, intensively debated and introduced in many regulations, its meaning, scope and application remain problematic. This article argues that the controversy on precaution is a matter of culturally patterned expectations concerning the production and use of knowledge and the related social positions and responsibilities. The way uncertainty and its role in the policy process are understood is crucial. For some precaution is a flawed concept, to be accommodated to the current expert-based cooperative scheme. For others it is a major innovation requiring a rearrangement of the latter. Precautionary policies may evolve in different directions. They may either strengthen the role of means-ends rationality, increasing people's dependence on expert knowledge and shrinking the opportunity and scope of public debate or, on the contrary, enhance the role of value-commitments, leading to a decline in the legitimacy of established hierarchies and an intensification of intractable controversies.

scholarly journals Ministeriële kabinetten als flexibele brug tussen politiek en administratie : Een onderzoek naar de instroom in de ministeriële kabinetten

Res Publica ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-650
Author(s):  
Christophe Pelgrims
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Onderzoek Naar ◽  
The Way

Handbooks of political science aften refer to the minister and the civil service as actors in the policy process. In theory, this representation is correct. However, in Belgium and in Flanders ministers construct a ministerial cabinet around them. The cabinet takes over different tasks from policy preparation to evaluation. In this respect, it reduces the civil service to an office that is only responsible for the implementation of policy.  Frequently political-historical reasons are used to explain the existence of the system of ministerial cabinets. Nevertheless, these are not the only reasons. Ministerial cabinets also exist because of organisational and cultural reasons. Understanding the ministerial cabinet, means understanding the way ministers want to work. This article highlights the way ministerial cabinets work, with a focus on Human Resources aspects. This gives information in which direction the civil service should move to fulfil the role of a good partner for the minister.

Reconfiguring nature: Resource security and the limits of expert knowledge

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 512-523
Author(s):  
Christian Kehrt ◽  
John Martin
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Global South ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Global North ◽  
Competition For Resources ◽  
Resource Security ◽  
The Way

The central aim of this special issue is to explore the role of expert knowledge in shaping the way countries have sought to ensure a continuing supply of natural resources in order to feed and fuel processes of industrialisation. These case studies illustrate the way in which the competition for resources not only profoundly affects those countries in the Global North which are the beneficiaries of the resources but also the populations of the countries (often in the Global South) from which the resources are extracted.

Natural History and Local History in Late Victorian and Edwardian England: The Contribution of the Victoria County History

Rural History ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN BECKETT ◽  
CHARLES WATKINS
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Local History ◽  
The State ◽  
Species Loss ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Way ◽  
Domestic History

AbstractIn 1899 the Victoria County History (VCH) was established as a ‘National Survey’ of England which was intended to show the present day condition of the country and trace the ‘domestic history’ of all English counties to the ‘earliest times’. Natural history was seen as a key component to be included in the first volume for every county. In this paper we examine the reasons for the prominence given to natural history and demonstrate how the expert knowledge of natural historians was marshalled and edited. We use the contrasting counties of Herefordshire and Nottinghamshire to examine key intellectual debates about the role of the amateur and the expert and concern about nomenclature, classification and the state of knowledge about different groups of species. We emphasize the importance of the geography of the natural history and the way in which the VCH charted concerns about species loss and extinction. We examine the reasons why the VCH later abandoned natural history and finally we assess the value of its published output for modern historical geographers, historical ecologists and environmental historians.

MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE FOR ALPHABET-SWITCHING IN THE WORKS OF CICERO: COMMON NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 498-516
Author(s):  
Neil O'Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Consistent Pattern ◽  
Current Interest ◽  
Reliable Transmission ◽  
Accurate Record ◽  
The Way

Of the hundreds of Greek common nouns and adjectives preserved in our MSS of Cicero, about three dozen are found written in the Latin alphabet as well as in the Greek. So we find, alongside συμπάθεια, also sympathia, and ἱστορικός as well as historicus. This sort of variation has been termed alphabet-switching; it has received little attention in connection with Cicero, even though it is relevant to subjects of current interest such as his bilingualism and the role of code-switching and loanwords in his works. Rather than addressing these issues directly, this discussion sets out information about the way in which the words are written in our surviving MSS of Cicero and takes further some recent work on the presentation of Greek words in Latin texts. It argues that, for the most part, coherent patterns and explanations can be found in the alphabetic choices exhibited by them, or at least by the earliest of them when there is conflict in the paradosis, and that this coherence is evidence for a generally reliable transmission of Cicero's original choices. While a lack of coherence might indicate unreliable transmission, or even an indifference on Cicero's part, a consistent pattern can only really be explained as an accurate record of coherent alphabet choice made by Cicero when writing Greek words.

The adaptation of design thinking in auditing

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda MEIJER-WASSENAAR ◽  
Diny VAN EST
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Design Framework ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Way

How can a supreme audit institution (SAI) use design thinking in auditing? SAIs audit the way taxpayers’ money is collected and spent. Adding design thinking to their activities is not to be taken lightly. SAIs independently check whether public organizations have done the right things in the right way, but the organizations might not be willing to act upon a SAI’s recommendations. Can you imagine the role of design in audits? In this paper we share our experiences of some design approaches in the work of one SAI: the Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA). Design thinking needs to be adapted (Dorst, 2015a) before it can be used by SAIs such as the NCA in order to reflect their independent, autonomous status. To dive deeper into design thinking, Buchanan’s design framework (2015) and different ways of reasoning (Dorst, 2015b) are used to explore how design thinking can be adapted for audits.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights under the 2010 Constitutional Dispensation

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-226
Author(s):  
Bonolo Ramadi Dinokopila ◽  
Rhoda Igweta Murangiri
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
National Commission ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Institutional Perspective ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
National Human ◽  
The Status ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights

This article examines the transformation of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and discusses the implications of such transformation on the promotion and protection of human rights in Kenya. The article is an exposition of the powers of the Commission and their importance to the realisation of the Bill of Rights under the 2010 Kenyan Constitution. This is done from a normative and institutional perspective with particular emphasis on the extent to which the UN Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles, 1993) have been complied with. The article highlights the role of national human rights commissions in transformative and/or transitional justice in post-conflict Kenya. It also explores the possible complementary relationship(s) between the KNCHR and other Article 59 Commissions for the better enforcement of the bill of rights.

Bad Dreams and Secret Artists: Translating Freud into Literature

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Careful Attention ◽  
Popular Approach ◽  
English Reader ◽  
Creative Writer ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Way

This article addresses the increasingly popular approach to Freud and his work which sees him primarily as a literary writer rather than a psychologist, and takes this as the context for an examination of Joyce Crick's recent translation of The Interpretation of Dreams. It claims that translation lies at the heart of psychoanalysis, and that the many interlocking and overlapping implications of the word need to be granted a greater degree of complexity. Those who argue that Freud is really a creative writer are themselves doing a work of translation, and one which fails to pay sufficiently careful attention to the role of translation in writing itself (including the notion of repression itself as a failure to translate). Lesley Chamberlain's The Secret Artist: A Close Reading of Sigmund Freud is taken as an example of the way Freud gets translated into a novelist or an artist, and her claims for his ‘bizarre poems' are criticized. The rest of the article looks closely at Crick's new translation and its claim to be restoring Freud the stylist, an ordinary language Freud, to the English reader. The experience of reading Crick's translation is compared with that of reading Strachey's, rather to the latter's advantage.

POLICY CHANGE – THE ROLE OF IDEAS AND POLICY ENTREPRENEURS

2018 ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Arwanto Arwanto ◽  
Wike Anggraini
Keyword(s):  
Policy Change ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurs ◽  
Multiple Streams ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Problem Framing ◽  
Exogenous Factors ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACT Understanding policy process involves many distinctive approaches. The most common are institutional, groups or networks, exogenous factors, rational actors, and idea-based approach. This paper discussed the idea-based approach to explain policy process, in this case policy change. It aims to analyse how ideas could assist people to understand policy change. What role do they play and why are they considered as fundamental element? It considers that ideas are belong to every policy actor, whether it is individual or institution. In order to answer these questions, this paper adopts Kingdon’s multi streams approach to analyse academic literatures. Through this approach, the relationship between ideas and policy change can be seen clearer. Ideas only can affect in policy change if it is agreed and accepted by policy makers. Therefore the receptivity of ideas plays significant role and it emerges policy entrepreneurs. They promote ideas (through problem framing, timing, and narrative construction) and manipulate in order to ensure the receptivity of ideas. Although policy entrepreneurs play significant role, political aspects remains the most important element in the policy process. Keywords: policy change, ideas, idea-based approach, Kingdon’s multiple streams, policy entrepreneurs.

Dammed If You Don’t, But What If You Do? Breaching the Lower Snake River Dams in Washington State

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Elizabeth C. Lopardo ◽  
Clare M. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Policy Process ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Federal Agencies ◽  
Snake River ◽  
Environmental Groups ◽  
Steep Decline ◽  
Mitigation Techniques ◽  
Economic Analyses

Four dams on the lower Snake River in Washington State generate hydropower and allow for regional agriculture and barge shipping to Portland OR. However, the dams impede the migration of local salmon populations (Oncorhynchus spp.), which are in steep decline, and drastically impact the populations of salmon and orca whales, for whom salmon are a primary food source. For years, environmental groups have argued for breaching the dams; other interests counter that the dams are too critical to the economy of the region to lose; and federal agencies assert that the dams can remain and salmon populations will recover with mitigation techniques. Scientific and economic analyses, litigation, and elected officials’ efforts have not been able to move the issue towards a solution. Readers will examine the interests of primary actors in the issue, how they influence the policy process, the role of scientific and economic analyses, and possible approaches for resolving the issue.

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