scholarly journals What Does the Evidence Tell Us about ‘Thinking and Working Politically’ in Development Assistance?

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niheer Dasandi ◽  
Ed Laws ◽  
Heather Marquette ◽  
Mark Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Aid Effectiveness ◽  
The Core ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
High Standards

This article provides a critical review of the evidence on ‘thinking and working politically’ (TWP) in development. Scholars and practitioners have increasingly recognised that development is a fundamentally political process, and there are concerted efforts underway to develop more politically-informed and adaptive ways of thinking and working in providing development assistance. However, while there are interesting and engaging case studies in the emerging, largely practitioner-based literature, these do not yet constitute a strong evidence base that shows these efforts can be clearly linked to more effective aid programming. Much of the evidence used so far to support these approaches is anecdotal, does not meet high standards for a robust body of evidence, is not comparative and draws on a small number of self-selected, relatively well-known success stories written primarily by programme insiders. The article discusses the factors identified in the TWP literature that are said to enable politically-informed programmes to increase aid effectiveness. It then looks at the state of the evidence on TWP in three areas: political context, sector, and organisation. The aim is to show where research efforts have been targeted so far and to provide guidance on where the field might focus next. In the final section, the article outlines some ways of testing the core assumptions of the TWP agenda more thoroughly, to provide a clearer sense of the contribution it can make to aid effectiveness.

scholarly journals Chasing the green buck? Environmental activism in post-communist Baltic States

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timofey Agarin ◽  
Miķelis Grīviņš
Keyword(s):  
Political Process ◽  
Past Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Economic Resource ◽  
International Networks ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
National Environment ◽  
Collapse Of Communism

The paper investigates the dynamics and volution of issues on the agenda of Baltic environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) since the collapse of communism. The past research on Baltic environment activism suggests that these enjoy high visibility because they tapped the core societal views of natural environment as a crucial asset of a nation. As we demonstrate in this paper, the changes in agendas of Baltic environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) make clear that the rhetorical toolbox of ‘national environment’ is often used to mainly achieve greater financial gains for individual members, rather than for society at large. We illustrate how the dearth of economic opportunities for domestic public has impacted perceptions of ‘nature’ advocated by the environmental activists, focussing specifically on national perceptions of ownership and the resulting actions appropriating ‘nature’ as a source for economic development, only tangentially attaining environmental outcomes on the way. The vision that the ‘environment’ is an economic resource allowed ENGO activists to cooperate with the domestic policymaking, while tapping international networks and donors for funding. Throughout the past decades they worked to secure their own and their members’ particularistic economic interests and, as we demonstrate, remained disengaged from the political process and failed to develop broader reproach with publics.

scholarly journals Through what mechanisms do protected areas affect environmental and social outcomes?

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1681) ◽  
pp. 20140267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Ferraro ◽  
Merlin M. Hanauer
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Causal Effects ◽  
The Past ◽  
Made In

To develop effective protected area policies, scholars and practitioners must better understand the mechanisms through which protected areas affect social and environmental outcomes. With strong evidence about mechanisms, the key elements of success can be strengthened, and the key elements of failure can be eliminated or repaired. Unfortunately, empirical evidence about these mechanisms is limited, and little guidance for quantifying them exists. This essay assesses what mechanisms have been hypothesized, what empirical evidence exists for their relative contributions and what advances have been made in the past decade for estimating mechanism causal effects from non-experimental data. The essay concludes with a proposed agenda for building an evidence base about protected area mechanisms.

Carissimi's Tonal System and the Function of Transposition in the Expansion of Tonality

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-305
Author(s):  
Beverly Stein
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
The Core ◽  
The One ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Organizing Principles ◽  
Tonal System

The question of 17th-century tonality has intrigued scholars for years: how to make sense of a repertoire in which modal concepts appear to coexist with elements of common-practice tonality. Although the system of modes and that of modern tonality are different constructions, the aspect of functional tonality that allows for the presence of major and minor keys at all 12 levels of transposition developed in part from an extension of a technique carried over from modal practice, that of transposition of mode. Nowhere is this process of tonal expansion based on the concept of transposition of mode as clear or as well structured as in the music of Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674), the Roman composer of oratorios, cantatas, and motets whose output spans the central 40 years of the 17th century. A close examination of Carissimi's music provides us with a snapshot of the expansion of tonality via transposition and, in addition, offers important suggestions for understanding the tonal practices of contemporaries such as Monteverdi and Cavalli. In Carissimi's music, four basic tonalities are still clearly distinguishable, recognizable through unique and predictable cadence patterns. They appear at transposition levels ranging from the three-flat to the three-sharp systems, with the one-flat system conspicuous in its absence. As shown, the core of eight central keys demonstrates key pairing in a way that models the traditional authentic-plagal relationship of modes. An overview of Carissimi's tonal system demonstrates how the ap- parent coexistence of functional tonality and much older concepts of mode and hexachord can be understood to be part of a rational and organized system. This study explores Carissimi's tonal scheme through an examination of his cantatas, the repertoire displaying the widest tonal range. Based on characteristic cadence frequencies, opening transpositions, and previously unrecognized standard cadence patterns, it is possible to determine the nature of the four primary tonalities and their relationships to one another. These cadence patterns also appear as organizing principles in works of several other 17th-century composers and suggest future avenues of research. The final section summarizes the conservative and progressive features of Carissimi's tonal system, relates his practice to discussion of transposition in two popular treatises of the time, Giovanni Maria Bononcini's Musica prattico and Lorenzo Penna's Li primi albori musicali, and compares Carissimi's practice to the system of church keys (based on common transpositions of the psalm tones) prevalent in the 17th century. A study of Carissimi's cantatas thus reveals the existence of a truly distinct 17th-century tonal practice which functions on its own terms at the same time as it exhibits concepts derived from traditional modal and hexachordal theory, as well as contemporary practices of psalmody and small-scale functional tonality.

scholarly journals CORE & MORE – THE CONCEPT OF INTELLIGENT REPORTING FOR CORPORATE INFORMATION

2020 ◽  
pp. 104-113
Author(s):  
Kamil Mazurkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Critical Review ◽  
Abstract Thinking ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Corporate Reporting ◽  
The Core ◽  
Research Hypothesis ◽  
It Support ◽  
The Subject ◽  
It Skills ◽  
Corporate Information

This article deals with the problem of a new way of reporting corporate information – the Core & More concept. Its aim is to evaluate the Core & More concept as it relates to the increasing transparency of corporate reporting as well as to the transparency of information provided to stakeholders. On the basis of a critical review of the subject literature, reports of sector institutions and interviews with representatives of business practices, the research hypothesis was verified positively. Corporate reports that conform to the standards of the Core & More concept are more transparent and the information given to stakeholders is structured. The Core & More concept allows to derogate from the silo approach of reporting. It structures information, makes it more readable and more logical to understand. The implementation of this concept, however, requires reporting persons to use abstract thinking. Additionally, while creating reports, one should have both IT skills and IT support because this concept involves, to a large extent, the use of IT tools.

Ethics

2021 ◽  
pp. 22-38
Author(s):  
Stuart White
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Welfare ◽  
Normative Issues ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter seeks to clarify some of the core ethical arguments surrounding welfare states. The analysis focuses on three key values. First, we will consider the concept of need. What are basic needs? How do we conceptualize and measure them? Do citizens have rights to what they need? Second, we focus on principles of equality and, third, we look at arguments surrounding the implications of the welfare state for liberty. A final section concludes by noting some normative issues moving increasingly to the forefront of debate. A changing global political context raises new issues about the international salience of these issues, questions which national welfare states have found it difficult to address.

Interoperability Issues for Systems Managing Competency Information

2010 ◽  
pp. 83-105
Author(s):  
Bernard Blandin ◽  
Geoffrey Frank ◽  
Simone Laughton ◽  
Kenji Hirata
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Reference Model ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Semantic Model ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Core ◽  
Digital Services ◽  
Core Part

This chapter has four sections. The first one describes how the needs for interoperability in exchanging competency information have been addressed so far. The second part adopts a “Digital Services Supply Chain” approach and discusses the issues related to the exchange of competency information across systems regarding this approach. The third part is the core part of this chapter. It describes the 4 levels of the proposed approach: the Conceptual Reference Model (CRM), the Semantic Model, the Information Model and the Data Model. The final section presents the research directions currently envisaged, and the research programme needed to make the proposed approach operational.

Mobilisierung zu politischer Partizipation durch das Internet: Erwartungen, Erkenntnisse und Herausforderungen der Forschung

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Escher
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
The Public ◽  
State Of Research ◽  
Politically Active

AbstractThis article is focusing on the state of research into the extent to which the opportunities for information, communication and participation opened up by the Internet have led to greater mobilisation of the public for political participation. After briefly presenting the diversity of conflicting expectations towards the Internet’s role for the political process, the article discusses the relevance of digital media as a means for mobilising greater and more equal political participation from a liberal-representative perspective on democracy. At the core of the article is a discussion of the last 15 years of research empirically testing the mobilisation hypothesis as well as the theories proposed to explain the observed participation patterns. What becomes dear is that the Internet does indeed slightly increase rates of political participation but with few exceptions those newly mobilised come from parts of the population that are already politically active. At the same time, the explanations still exhibit considerable gaps that remain to be dosed. To this end future research needs to address a number of challenges which are discussed in the final section of the article.

Corrigendum to “Dietary carbohydrate restriction as the first approach in diabetes management: Critical review and evidence base” [Nutrition 31 (2015) 1-13]

Nutrition ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard D. Feinman ◽  
Wendy K. Pogozelski ◽  
Arne Astrup ◽  
Richard K. Bernstein ◽  
Eugene J. Fine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Review ◽  
Diabetes Management ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Carbohydrate Restriction ◽  
Dietary Carbohydrate

scholarly journals Transitional Justice and Theories of Change: Towards evaluation as understanding

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 280-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Gready ◽  
Simon Robins
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Impact Studies ◽  
Focus On Results ◽  
Term Evaluation ◽  
Theories Of Change

Abstract This article has two goals. First, to make explicit the theories of change currently operative within transitional justice and, second, to critically engage with both these theories, and dominant theories in international development. As such, it seeks to replace a focus on results, attribution, and linearity with a privileging of process, contribution and complexity. Developing theories of change for transitional justice is challenging, as it is characterised by diverse interventions, complex and contested contexts, and the need to balance principles and pragmatism. Normative, linear and mechanism-based claims remain dominant, while the evidence base for transitional justice is still weak. This article looks at insights from adjacent fields, some of the challenges facing the development of theories of change within transitional justice, and evidence from impact studies and evaluations. In a final section we propose an alternative, drawing on complexity theory and actor-oriented approaches, which suggest an important set of terms – systems, interaction, contingency, context, encounter, emergence, incrementalism – to inform what we term evaluation as understanding.

Development Assistance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Pieth
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Aid Effectiveness ◽  
International Financial Institutions ◽  
Multilateral Development Banks ◽  
Flow Of Funds ◽  
Key Players ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Donor Interest

Amongst the key players in combatting corruption are the institutions promoting development assistance, the International Financial Institutions (or Multilateral Development Banks, MDBs) and the bilateral development aid agencies. This chapter questions the effectiveness of development assistance, particularly the autocratic states’ tolerating embezzlement. That discussion also touches on the logic of development assistance and describes donor interest. The chapter then turns to the Oil-for-Food Programme, describing its planned distribution of oil proceeds, and then notes what went wrong, including the topic of the impact of oil surcharges and humanitarian contract kickbacks on the flow of funds. It concludes with a discussion of the contributions of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) toward improving aid effectiveness.

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