scholarly journals The correct secret

Focaal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (75) ◽  
pp. 45-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine A. Mason

In this article I argue that the global biosecurity project that arose out of the events of the SARS epidemic of 2003 created a new balance of secrecy and transparency within the public health arm of the Chinese state. In an effort to meet national and international demands for greater transparency in support of a “common good,” local public health officials engaged in what I call hypertransparency. This hypertransparency took two forms: the real-time online sharing of disease incidence data within the public health bureaucracy, and the over-performance of disease fighting strategies in front of a wider local and global public. Because local Chinese officials interpreted the “common good” differently from their international partners, neither of these efforts succeeded in erasing the crucial role that local officials continued to play in determining what should and should not be shared, and with whom. Secrecy continued to be an important component of China’s securitization efforts, with hypertransparency ultimately concealing more than it revealed.

Author(s):  
Jonathan H. Marks

This chapter reviews the related notions of the common good, the public good, and the public interest. Although corporations can contribute to the common good, they are not guardians of the common good. That is the responsibility of government bodies and public officials. There may be reasonable disagreements about how to define and promote the common good. But policymakers should not conflate the commercial interests of powerful industry actors with the common good. Nor should public officials confound the common good and common ground. Finding common ground with industry ordinarily requires public officials to take off the table interventions that might promote the common good. Public health officials should expressly consider ways to promote the public health that may not create benefits for the private sector, and may even be inimical to the interests of industry.


2005 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave S. Kerby ◽  
Michael W. Brand ◽  
David L. Johnson ◽  
Farooq S. Ghouri

Objective. The purpose of this study was to examine effective ways to evaluate public health workers' competence for preparedness. Methods. The Public Health Ready project, developed by the National Association of County and City Public Health Officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a pilot program designed to prepare local public health agencies to respond to emergency events. Workers at a Public Health Ready site ( N=265) rated their need for training and their competence in meeting generic emergency response goals. Cluster analysis of cases was conducted on the self-assessed need for training. Results. Three groups of workers emerged, differing in their overall ratings of need for training. A given worker tended to report similar needs for training across all training goals. Conclusions. In this study, workers' ratings of need for training may reflect an overall interest in training rather than need for training in a particular area. Caution should be exercised in interpretation when generic goals and self-assessment are used to measure need for training. Future assessments of training needs may be more effective if they use objective measures of specific local plans.


Author(s):  
Andrew M. Yuengert

Although most economists are skeptical of or puzzled by the Catholic concept of the common good, a rejection of the economic approach as inimical to the common good would be hasty and counterproductive. Economic analysis can enrich the common good tradition in four ways. First, economics embodies a deep respect for economic agency and for the effects of policy and institutions on individual agents. Second, economics offers a rich literature on the nature of unplanned order and how it might be shaped by policy. Third, economics offers insight into the public and private provision of various kinds of goods (private, public, common pool resources). Fourth, recent work on the development and logic of institutions and norms emphasizes sustainability rooted in the good of the individual.


Author(s):  
Neil Rhodes

This chapter begins by presenting translation as an aspect of the Erasmian legacy in England, and it argues that translation helps to heal the division discussed in Chapter 3 by enabling Protestantism and humanism to work together. Translation was part of a Protestant programme of nation-building and spreading the word for the common good, but it was also the means through which the literature of antiquity and of modern Europe was communicated to the public at large. Erasmus’ Paraphrases, Grimald's Cicero, and Hoby's Courtier are discussed in these two contexts. Translation points towards the Renaissance, as an insular purism based on Protestant fears of contamination and adulteration was superseded by a hospitality towards the foreign. The chapter ends by arguing that by the 1580s it is Protestant Bible translation that it is accused by Catholics of being literary.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-149
Author(s):  
Jan Siegemund

AbstractLibel played an important and extraordinary role in early modern conflict culture. The article discusses their functions and the way they were assessed in court. The case study illustrates argumentative spaces and different levels of normative references in libel trials in 16th century electoral Saxony. In 1569, Andreas Langener – in consequence of a long stagnating private conflict – posted several libels against the nobleman Tham Pflugk in different public places in the city of Dresden. Consequently, he was arrested and charged with ‘libelling’. Depending on the reference to conflicting social and legal norms, he had therefore been either threatened with corporal punishment including his execution, or rewarded with laudations. In this case, the act of libelling could be seen as slander, but also as a service to the community, which Langener had informed about potentially harmful transgression of norms. While the common good was the highest maxim, different and sometimes conflicting legally protected interests had to be discussed. The situational decision depended on whether the articulated charges where true and relevant for the public, on the invective language, and especially on the quality and size of the public sphere reached by the libel.


2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Nyberg ◽  
John Murray

This article connects the previously isolated literatures on corporate citizenship and corporate political activity to explain how firms construct political influence in the public sphere. The public engagement of firms as political actors is explored empirically through a discursive analysis of a public debate between the mining industry and the Australian government over a proposed tax. The findings show how the mining industry acted as a corporate citizen concerned about the common good. This, in turn, legitimized corporate political activity, which undermined deliberation about the common good. The findings explain how the public sphere is refeudalized through corporate manipulation of deliberative processes via what we term corporate citizenspeak—simultaneously speaking as corporate citizens and for individual citizens. Corporate citizenspeak illustrates the duplicitous engagement of firms as political actors, claiming political legitimacy while subverting deliberative norms. This contributes to the theoretical development of corporations as political actors by explaining how corporate interests are aggregated to represent the common good and how corporate political activity is employed to dominate the public sphere. This has important implications for understanding how corporations undermine democratic principles.


Author(s):  
AS Shastin ◽  
VG Gazimova ◽  
OL Malykh ◽  
TS Ustyugova ◽  
TM Tsepilova

Introduction: In the context of a decreasing size of the working-age population, monitoring of the health status and disease incidence in this cohort shall be one of the most important tasks of public and occupational health professionals. Health risk management for the working population in the Russian Federation requires complete and reliable data on its morbidity, especially in view of the fact that its average age demonstrates a stable growth. It is, therefore, crucial to have precise and consistent information about the morbidity of the working-age population. Objective: The study aimed to assess incidence rates of diseases with temporary incapacity for work in the constituent entities of the Ural Federal District of the Russian Federation. Materials and methods: We reviewed data on disease incidence rates published by the Federal State Statistics Service in the Common Interdepartmental System of Statistical Information, Section 15.12, Causes of Temporary Disability, and Section 2.9.I.4, Federal Project for Public Health Promotion. The constituent entities under study were ranked according to the number of cases and days of temporary incapacity per 100 workers and E.L. Notkin scale was used to determine grade the incidence. The statistical analysis was performed using STATISTICA 10 software. Long-term average values of certain indicators, median values, standard deviation (σ) and coefficients of variation were estimated. The difference in the indices was assessed using the Mann-Whitney test. Results: Compared to 2010, incidence rates of diseases with temporary incapacity for work in the constituent entities of the Ural Federal District in 2019 demonstrated a significant decline. The sharp drop was observed in 2015. We also established that the Common Interdepartmental System of Statistical Information contains contradictory information on disease incidence. Conclusion: It is expedient to consider the issue of revising guidelines for organization of federal statistical monitoring of morbidity with temporary incapacity for work and to include this indicator in the system of public health monitoring.


2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 771-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacquie A. Shillis ◽  
Beverly A. Hall ◽  
Gail G. Sneden ◽  
Nell H. Gottlieb

This case study examines a nonlegislative task force as it struggled to reach internal consensus despite external-political constraints. The study highlights the convergence of politics and science, revealing complex issues likely to be confronted by advocates and public health officials. Three themes capture participants’experiences: context, sizing up the opportunities and constraints; task force process, tacit strategy to operate outside the political context and play the science card; and aftermath, a glass half full. The task force took advantage of ambiguous parameters, crafting a comprehensive statewide plan to reduce tobacco use and breaking out of the common public health paradigm of allowing budget considerations to drive program design. These internal victories could not sustain a policy success in the legislature. However, the group’s product sets science-based standards for future program development, and the task force’s process provides valuable insights into other states developing tobacco prevention and control policies.


2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (S4) ◽  
pp. 84-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elva Yañez ◽  
Gary Cox ◽  
Mike Cooney ◽  
Robert Eadie

Preemption is a powerful strategy used by special interest groups to undermine strong, local public health standards. Currently, 20 states in the U.S. have preemption ordinances in place related to clean indoor air initiatives. These preemption laws are the direct result of an ongoing and aggressive campaign of tobacco companies to thwart clean indoor air initiatives, which ultimately, according to tobacco industry internal documents, cause significant reductions in their annual revenues. Clean indoor air policies have arisen from a greater understanding of the documented health risks associated with exposure to secondhand smoke and action by local government (city councils, county commissions, and boards of health) to protect the public from these hazards. The efforts of the tobacco industry undermine local authority and seek to shift policy action to the state and federal levels, where the industry has greater political influence.


Author(s):  
Razvan Hoinaru

Abstract Corporate reporting is generally perceived as a type of accounting fit for purpose for the 21 century, taking into consideration not only the traditional shareholders’ needs and views but also stakeholders’. Academic literature tends to over-appreciate the non-financial nature of corporate reporting, forgetting that numbers can have their own narratives, which can be read in between the lines. It is true that numbers present certain uncertainties and an extra level of reporting can provide a better interpretation, in a complementary or continuous manner. The present research looks at the current European Union binding legislation and academic and professional judgements towards it. The ultimate questions to be answered is if corporate reporting is improved information? and whose needs are really served: shareholders, the traditional users of accounts, or stakeholders, always hidden, but intuitively taken into account. Findings of the research show that public good is largely perceived as the duty of private interest, as regulated by the public authorities. This mainly happens as shareholders and whoever puts money at risk still are the primarily user group, but the context and consequences of reporting are wider than before. The approach taken by this paper was first of all to discover inside outs of corporate reporting and secondly to look how industry self-regulators interact with public authorities, for the common good. The added value of the present papers is represented by its policy recommendations presented as conclusions.


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