Deliberative Risk Ranking to Inform Homeland Security Strategic Planning

Author(s):  
Russell Lundberg ◽  
Henry H. Willis

AbstractReliably managing homeland security risks requires an understanding of which risks are more concerning than others. This paper applies a validated risk ranking methodology, the Deliberative Method for Ranking Risks, to the homeland security domain. This method provides a structured approach to elicit risk rankings from participants based on deliberative consideration of science-based risk assessments. Steps in this effort include first identifying the set of attributes that must be covered when describing terrorism and disaster hazards in a comprehensive manner, then developing concise summaries of existing knowledge of a broad set of homeland security hazards. Using these materials, the study elicits relative concerns about the hazards that are being considered. The relative concerns about hazards provide a starting point for prioritizing solutions for reducing risks to homeland security. The consistency and agreement of the rankings, as well as the individual satisfaction with the process and results, suggest that the Deliberative Method for Ranking Risks can be appropriately applied in the homeland security domain. The rankings themselves reflected greater concern over natural disasters than terrorist events. This research suggests that deliberative risk ranking methods could provide a valid and reliable description of individuals’ concerns about homeland security risks to inform strategic planning.

2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Wicklund

Abstract: Solidarity in the classic sense pertains to a cohesion among humans that entails physical contact, shared emotions, and common goals or projects. Characteristic cases are to be found among families, close friends, or co-workers. The present paper, in contrast, treats a phenomenon of the solidarity of distance, a solidarity based in fear of certain others and in incompetence to interact with them. The starting point for this analysis is the person who is motivated to interact with others who are unfamiliar or fear-provoking. Given that the fear and momentary social incompetence do not allow a full interaction to ensue, the individual will move toward solidarity with those others on a symbolic level. In this manner the motivation to approach the others is acted upon while physical and emotional distance is retained.


Author(s):  
Andrew van der Vlies

Two recent debut novels, Songeziwe Mahlangu’s Penumbra (2013) and Masande Ntshanga’s The Reactive (2014), reflect the experience of impasse, stasis, and arrested development experienced by many in South Africa. This chapter uses these novels as the starting point for a discussion of writing by young black writers in general, and as representative examples of the treatment of ‘waithood’ in contemporary writing. It considers (spatial and temporal) theorisations of anxiety, discerns recursive investments in past experiences of hope (invoking Jennifer Wenzel’s work to consider the afterlives of anti-colonial prophecy), assesses the usefulness of Giorgio Agamben’s elaboration of the ancient Greek understanding of stasis as civil war, and asks how these works’ elaboration of stasis might be understood in relation to Wendy Brown’s discussion of the eclipsing of the individual subject of political rights by the neoliberal subject whose very life is framed by its potential to be understood as capital.


Author(s):  
William T. Miller ◽  
Christina A. Campbell ◽  
Jordan Papp ◽  
Ebony Ruhland

Scholars have presented concerns about potential for racial bias in risk assessments as a result of the inclusion of static factors, such as criminal history in risk assessments. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which static factors add incremental validity to the dynamic factors in criminogenic risk assessments. This study examined the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) in a sample of 1,270 youth offenders from a medium-sized Midwestern county between June 2004 and November 2013. Logistic regression was used to determine the predictive validity of the YLS/CMI and the individual contribution of static and dynamic domains of the assessment. Results indicated that the static domain differentially predicted recidivism for Black and White youth. In particular, the static domain was a significant predictor of recidivism for White youth, but this was not the case for Black youth. The dynamic domain significantly predicted recidivism for both Black and White offenders, and static risk factors improved prediction of recidivism for White youth, but not for Black youth.


2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 687-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
RACHAEL DOBSON

AbstractThis article argues that constructions of social phenomena in social policy and welfare scholarship think about the subjects and objects of welfare practice in essentialising ways, with negativistic effects for practitioners working in ‘regulatory’ contexts such as housing and homelessness practice. It builds into debates about power, agency, social policy and welfare by bringing psychosocial and feminist theorisations of relationality to practice research. It claims that relational approaches provide a starting point for the analysis of empirical practice data, by working through the relationship between the individual and the social via an ontological unpicking and revisioning of practitioners' social worlds.


Hypatia ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina Schmitz ◽  
Julia Jansen

How much violence can a society expect its members to accept? A comparison between the language theories of Julia Kristeva and Jacques Lacan is the starting point for answering this question. A look at the early stages of language acquisition exposes the sacrificial logic of patriarchal society. Are those forces that restrict the individual to be conceived in a martial imagery of castration or is it possible that an existing society critically questions those points of socialization that leave their members in a state of homelessness? The following considerations should help to distinguish between unavoidable and avoidable forms of violence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 721-734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Murawski ◽  
Markus Bick

Purpose Considering working in the digital age, questions on the consequences for the individual workers are, so far, often neglected. The purpose of this paper is to deal with the question of whether the digital competences of the workforce is a research topic. The authors argue for the thesis that it is indeed a research topic. Design/methodology/approach In addition to a literature analysis of the top IS, HR, and learning publications, non-scientific sources, as well as the opinions of the authors, are included. The authors’ thesis is challenged through a debate of corresponding pros and cons. Findings The definition of digital competences lacks scientific depth. Focussing on the workforce is valid, as a “lifelong” perspective is not mandatory for research. Digital competence research is a multidisciplinary task to which the IS field can make a valuable contribution. Research limitations/implications Although relevant references are included, some aspects are mainly driven by the opinions of the authors. The theoretical implications encompass a call for a scientific definition of digital competences. Furthermore, scholars should focus on the competences of the workforce, including occupations, roles, or industries. The authors conclude by providing a first proposal of a research agenda. Practical implications The practical implications include the alignment of multiple stakeholders for the design of “digital” curricula and the integration by HR departments of the construct of digital competences, e.g. for compensation matters and job requirements. Originality/value This paper is one of very few contributions in the area of the digital competences of the workforce, and it presents a starting point for future research activities.


Author(s):  
Heather Getha-Taylor ◽  
Alexa Haddock-Bigwarfe

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine public service motivation (PSM) and the connection with collaborative attitudes among a sample of homeland security actors representing the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Design/methodology/approach – This study examines relationships between measures of PSM and collaboration using original survey data and hierarchical multiple regression. Findings – Findings reveal strong positive relationships between PSM measures and attitudes toward collaboration at the individual and organizational level. Research limitations/implications – Survey results are cross-sectional and are from respondents participating in a single state's homeland security summit. Practical implications – It is expected that results can be used to enhance collaboration at the individual and organizational levels. At the organizational level, results can be used for matching individuals with collaborative opportunities. At the individual level, results can be used for enhanced self-reflection and effectiveness purposes. Originality/value – This study provides insights on the relationship between PSM measures and collaborative attitudes. The research contributes to the body of scholarly work connecting PSM and correlates of interest.


2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-162
Author(s):  
Clare Spencer

This essay presents a comparative study of the sociological assumptions implicit, and to some extent explicit, in the work of two famous architects, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Le Corbusier. The inhabitant implied through the architectural practice of Le Corbusier resembles Elias's homo clausus (closed person), the mode of self experience viewed by Elias as the dominant one in Western society and one which sees the individual person as a ‘thinking subject’ and the starting point of knowledge. Mackintosh's designs, in contrast, imply individual people closer to Elias‘s homines aperti, social beings who are shaped through social interaction and interdependence. This paper demonstrates how, as well as fulfilling social, cultural and political needs, architecture carries, within in its designs, certain assumptions about how people and how they do, and should, live. The adoption of an Eliasian perspective provides an interesting insight into how these assumptions can shape self-experience and social interaction in the buildings of each architect.


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