scholarly journals Thinking security through the event: Materiality, politics and publicity in the Litvinenko affair

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Ingram
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Element ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Analytical Strategy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Working Through ◽  
Public Inquiry ◽  
Security Agent

While the turn towards materiality over the course of the last decade has enriched studies of security in a variety of ways, the security field continues to pose challenges for materially oriented thinking. This article argues that while recent materially oriented work on security has been concerned with events, working through the question of the event as a central analytical strategy is a promising way of addressing such challenges and developing broader insights. The article develops this argument by working through a particular event, the killing of the former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 by means of the radioactive element polonium 210. Approaching the event via the archive and report of the public inquiry that subsequently took place into it, and reflecting further on the utility of Bruno Latour’s idea of dingpolitik for materially oriented work on security, the article explores transformations of materiality, politics and publicity, and draws out how polonium 210 came to figure in the killing and the inquiry as actant, trace and evidence. In conclusion, the article reflects on the conceptual value of working through events and the methodological issues raised in the analysis.

Nearly the end of the beginning of a never-ending story

1998 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Goddard
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
The Public ◽  
North Wales ◽  
Public Inquiry ◽  
Children’S Homes

The abuse of children in residential care has been one of the major scandals of the 1990s. This paper examines the largest child abuse inquiry ever held in Britain, the public inquiry into abuse of children in Children’s Homes in North Wales. The story, it is suggested, is almost too large to comprehend and too scandalous to absorb. One major lesson to be considered is that hundreds of victims each had his or her own story to tell but few people were prepared to listen.

scholarly journals “Service Programmes” on Jordanian Radio: Understanding Broadcaster Persona through an Interdisciplinary Analysis of Language and Performance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jona Fras
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Water Pipe ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
And Performance

My ESRC-funded doctoral research explores linguistic practice on Jordanian radio today. The main conclusion of my research is that details of Arabic use in the radio setting have significant implications for the kind of audiences addressed – that is, who is included as a legitimate or “validated” listener – and the way members of the public can participate in radio discourse – this latter in particularly through call- ins, which are a frequent feature of Jordanian radio programming more generally.This paper looks at one type of programmes present on many contemporary Jordanian radio stations: the so-called “service programmes,” "barāmiž ḳadamātiyya," in which listeners call the station and speak live on the air in order to request assistance or mediation with local authorities in resolution of an issue – such as a damaged road, a broken water pipe, et cetera. It compares two popular service programmes: Barnāmiž al-wakīl, hosted by Muhammad al-Wakeel, and Wasaṭ al- balad, hosted by Hani al-Badri. It argues that, in order to properly appreciate the differences between the two programmes, an interdisciplinary approach to the data is required. This has raised certain methodological issues for my work, but on the other hand allowed me to explore new theoretical pathways and contribute new insights to scholarship on both contemporary Arabic language use, and Middle Eastern media.

Lacking conviction: Inquiries and trials after Bristol

2019 ◽  
pp. 73-97
Author(s):  
Simon Peplow
Keyword(s):  
Party Politics ◽  
Local People ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Inquiry ◽  
The City

This chapter charts the divided response to the St Pauls disturbance, through rejected appeals for a public inquiry and the authorities’ alternative reaction, which attempted to divert attention onto law and order and away from governmental policies. There was a clear division of local attitudes between moderates, who desired the societal legitimisation of a public inquiry, and radical or younger groups, more likely to have been involved in disturbances, who believed it would be a diversion or ‘whitewash’. Other government measures that were implemented – such as select committees turning their focus to the city – were thus boycotted by various groups, who thought their attendance would imply satisfaction with this limited response; similarly, attempted left-wing inquiries were snubbed by local people who rejected attempts to introduce party politics. This chapter lastly examines failed court trials to convict twelve locals under the serious charge of riotous assembly; influenced by criticism directed towards Bristol police for their temporary withdrawal during the disorder, authorities continued their focus upon law and order to the detriment of wider social or political issues, attempting to obtain criminal sentences to reassure the public and deter future violence.

Implications of Personality Change at Work for Research and Practice

2021 ◽  
pp. 85-106
Author(s):  
Ying Wang ◽  
Chia-Huei Wu
Keyword(s):  
Personality Change ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
The Public ◽  
Dynamic Perspective ◽  
Practical Implications

The final chapter brings together the literature reviewed in this book to highlight key implications of personality change for future research and practice. First, it identifies unresolved debates and under-studied areas in personality change and provide suggestions for future research. Then, it discusses methodological issues in studying personality change, providing a brief overview about the existing and future approaches for continuing research in this area. Finally, it addresses the practical implications for the society, organisations, as well as employees themselves. By doing so, it is hoped that individuals, leaders and the public in general can take on board the dynamic perspective toward personality and identify ways to change personalities for the better.

Other voices? The state of public relations history and historiography: Questions, challenges and limitations of ‘national’ histories and historiographies

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Fitch ◽  
Jacquie L’Etang
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
The State ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Book Series ◽  
The Public ◽  
Historical Literature ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Societal Context

This essay offers an overview of public relations history and historiography, using a review of a recently published book series as a starting point. In offering sometimes previously undocumented national histories and regional and non-US perspectives, National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations: Other Voices opens up the field. However, the series also raises philosophical and methodological issues regarding the role of history, the positioning of public relations, tensions within the field and public relations’ relationship to societal communication and powerful strategic interests. Scholars have not always grounded their histories within wider historical literature that contextualises the public relations occupation and its role in a particular societal context. We argue that a renewed focus on historiography is needed to better address the influence of US progressivist accounts, the scientisation of western public relations and the narrow confines of the public relations discipline.

scholarly journals Policy learning and the public inquiry

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alastair Stark
Keyword(s):  
Policy Learning ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Inquiry

scholarly journals An assessment of data and methodology of online surgeon scorecards

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda W. Xu ◽  
Amy Li ◽  
Christian Swinney ◽  
Maya Babu ◽  
Anand Veeravagu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Adjustment ◽  
Incomplete Data ◽  
Complication Rates ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Online Tool ◽  
Prolonged Length ◽  
The Public ◽  
Orthopedic Surgeons ◽  
The Us ◽  
Lower Volume

OBJECTIVE Recently, 2 surgeon rating websites (Consumers' Checkbook and ProPublica) were published to allow the public to compare surgeons through identifying surgeon volume and complication rates. Among neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons, only cervical and lumbar spine, hip, and knee procedures were included in this assessment. METHODS The authors examined the methodology of each website to assess potential sources of inaccuracy. Each online tool was queried for reports on neurosurgeons specializing in spine surgery and orthopedic surgeons specializing in spine, hip, or knee surgery. Surgeons were chosen from top-ranked hospitals in the US, as recorded by a national consumer publication ranking system, within the fields of neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery. The results were compared for accuracy and surgeon representation, and the results of the 2 websites were also compared. RESULTS The methodology of each site was found to have opportunities for bias and limited risk adjustment. The end points assessed by each site were actually not complications, but proxies of complication occurrence. A search of 510 surgeons (401 orthopedic surgeons [79%] and 109 neurosurgeons [21%]) showed that only 28% and 56% of surgeons had data represented on Consumers' Checkbook and ProPublica, respectively. There was a significantly higher chance of finding surgeon data on ProPublica (p < 0.001). Of the surgeons from top-ranked programs with data available, 17% were quoted to have high complication rates, 13% with lower volume than other surgeons, and 79% had a 3-star out of 5-star rating. There was no significant correlation found between the number of stars a surgeon received on Consumers' Checkbook and his or her adjusted complication rate on ProPublica. CONCLUSIONS Both the Consumers' Checkbook and ProPublica websites have significant methodological issues. Neither site assessed complication occurrence, but rather readmissions or prolonged length of stay. Risk adjustment was limited or nonexistent. A substantial number of neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons from top-ranked hospitals have no ratings on either site, or have data that suggests they are low-volume surgeons or have higher complication rates. Consumers' Checkbook and ProPublica produced different results with little correlation between the 2 websites in how surgeons were graded. Given the significant methodological issues, incomplete data, and lack of appropriate risk stratification of patients, the featured websites may provide erroneous information to the public.

scholarly journals Science and commercialism in Antarctica

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-129
Author(s):  
Clive Howard-Williams
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Environmental Awareness ◽  
The Public ◽  
Working Through ◽  
Environmentally Responsible ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Visitor Numbers ◽  
Responsible Manner

There are increasing commercial pressures to send more people to the Antarctic. Visitor numbers each summer now exceed scientist numbers on the continent. The commercial operators working through IAATO have, to date, been largely acting in an environmentally responsible manner, realising that there is no point killing the goose with the golden egg. In fact, it has been argued that visitors to the Antarctic, many of whom are wealthy or influential, have played a significant role in increasing environmental awareness of the continent and its wildlife to politicians and to the public.

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