“Security trap” as a challenge for Syria’s post-conflict reconstruction

The present article is dedicated to comprehensive analysis of business-risks in Syria in the security sphere (the author named it as “security trap”). Among them are the seats of combat activities between the government forces and the opposition, contradictions between the central government and local elite, rise in criminality among former combatants, traumatized by war, “urban” terrorism, stepped up activity on the part of ISIS militants in desert areas and not in the last measure the conflicts of interests among external actors. This topic seems to be quite new for scientific research in Russia and abroad since most analytical work has been previously focused on impacts of security in military political and social spheres rather than in the economic one. Such approach would allow us to make a conclusion that business risks alongside other difficulties such as territorial fragmentation, economy lying in ruins, sanctions, crisis in neighboring Lebanon, COVID-19 pandemic are hampering the revival of businesslike life. This is important and useful for constructing hierarchy of external and internal challenges for Syria’s post-conflict reconstruction, including the stabilizing role of Russia. The author has used empirical materials gathered during the term of his diplomatic service at the Russian Embassy in Damascus (in 2014–2017) along with his subsequent regular visits to Syria.

Drug company payments to General Practices in England: Cross-sectional and social network analysis

Although there has been extensive research on pharmaceutical industry payments to healthcare professionals, healthcare organisations with key roles in health systems have received little attention. We seek to contribute to addressing this gap in research by examining drug company payments to General Practices in England in 2015. We combine a publicly available payments database managed by the pharmaceutical industry with datasets covering key practice characteristics. We find that practices were an important target of company payments, receiving £2,726,018, equivalent to 6.5% of the value of payments to all healthcare organisations in England. Payments to practices were highly concentrated and specific companies were also highly dominant. The top 10 donors and the top 10 recipients amassed 87.9% and 13.6% of the value of payments, respectively. Practices with more patients, a greater proportion of elderly patients, and those in more affluent areas received significantly more payments on average. However, the patterns of payments were similar across England’s regions. We also found that company networks–established by making payments to the same practices–were largely dominated by a single company, which was also by far the biggest donor. Greater policy attention is required to the risk of financial dependency and conflicts of interests that might arise from payments to practices and to organisational conflicts of interests more broadly. Our research also demonstrates that the comprehensiveness and quality of payment data disclosed via industry self-regulatory arrangements needs improvement. More interconnectivity between payment data and other datasets is needed to capture company marketing strategies systematically.

He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune: Big Data, Philanthrocapitalism, and the Demise of the Historical Study of Religions

The recent digital turn has had an unprecedented impact on the identity of the academic disciplines that study religions. Expectedly, this shift has brought about a dramatic change in the power dynamics between the main research actors and funders. In particular, historians and humanist scholars have taken the brunt, mostly replaced by data scientists, software engineers, statisticians, psychologists, anthropologists, and biologists alike. Consequently, multimillion-dollar projects aimed at testing historical hypotheses and massive agent-based simulations have been implemented on shaky methodological and epistemological grounds. Concurrently, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, private religious bodies have increasingly replaced public funding, raising important but still unaddressed moral questions about transparency, independence, and potential conflicts of interests. The present article explores the ethically troubling relationship between the boom of Big Data and computational approaches to the study of religions past and present and the infiltration of religious philanthrocapitalism in contemporary neoliberal academia.

Surgical treatment of tandem stenosis of the internal carotid artery

<p>This review article presents an analysis of the world literature devoted to treating patients with tandem stenosis of the intra- and extra-cranial parts of the internal carotid artery. We indicate the frequency of tandem lesion occurrence and describe the applied instrumental methods of its diagnosis. The review demonstrates the results of tandem stenosis surgical treatment in both early and more modern studies and describes the possibilities of endovascular correction of extra- and intra-cranial stenosis of the internal carotid artery. The authors emphasise the lack of large-scale studies — including randomised studies — regarding combined, tandem carotid stenosis and the need for further studies.</p><p>Received 30 March 2021. Revised 8 May 2021. Accepted 11 May 2021.</p><p><strong>Funding:</strong> The study did not have sponsorship.</p><p><strong>Conflict of interest:</strong> The authors declare no conflicts of interests.</p><p><strong>Contribution of the authors:</strong> The authors contributed equally to this article.</p>

論傳統＂義＂德在抗擊重大疫情中的現實意義——基於博弈論的分析

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English. 在中國發生重大的公共衛生危機——新型冠狀肺炎病毒爆發的背景下，防疫工作不可避免地面臨一些個人與他人或社會的利益衝突。妥善解決這些衝突需要道德的支撐。當前重大疫情下普通人表現出的助人為樂、捨己為人的義舉，或繼承自傳統美德，或至少與傳統“義”德相符合。傳統的“義”德注重公利，在抗擊重大疫情過程中能夠發揮重要作用。這種現實作用能夠被博弈論中的純策略博弈和信任博弈分析所證明。抗擊重大疫情需要整個社會的團結協作，個人需講求“公義”、 “信義”，明白義利的統一性，必要地讓渡“私利”，將防疫的“公利”最大化，方能打贏抗疫戰，從而更廣泛地保護個人“私利”。 In the context of the outbreak of covid-19 pandemic and its impact on public health, the conflicts of interests between individuals and between an individual and society have become an ethical challenge. The traditional Chinese concept of “righteousness” (yi) calls for the need for public good, whereas “benefit” (li) is often associated with private interests, as shown in the Confucian-Mohist debate. In this paper, I show that there is another reading of the concept of “righteousness” that does not necessarily exclude the idea of individual interest and benefit. In addition, I use “game theory” to illustrate the unity of public righteousness and private benefit.

Holy or Unholy Alliance? Political Coalition, Interest Articulation and Governance in New Democracies

Employing qualitative content analysis and building on the submissions of coalition data theories, the study ascertains the governability and extent to which Nigeria’s ruling coalition, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is able to effectively aggregate various political interests and deliver on its campaign promises. Within mainstream studies, there is a consensus on the uphill task of labelling political parties as office, or policy seeking, exclusively. Nonetheless, the study argues, despite running on key programs of fighting corruption, countering Boko Haram and diversifying the economy, the APC fits the description of an office-seeking coalition. Although the party attracted key regional power brokers from two main opposition parties, the Congress for Progressive Change and Action Congress, and aggrieved members of the former ruling party, now main opposition the then ruling People’s Democratic Party. Shortly after it took power in 2015, the APC could not reach a consensus on the appointment of principal officers for the 8th National Assembly, as this was the practice. The maneuverings that led to the selection process, the uneasy relationship between legislature and executive, as well as attempts by leaders from coalescing parties to superimpose on the party which had adverse effects on the supremacy of Nigeria’s ruling coalition and institutionalization of partisan party politics. While conflicts of interests are not unusual in politics, its prevalence within Nigeria’s ruling coalition adversely affects the probability of the party to actualize its campaign programs, given the seeming battle for the soul of the party. However, the dissolution of the party’s National Working Committee in 2020 and the constitution of the APC Caretaker committee by President Muhammad Buhari suggests, the party is making conscious attempts to reconcile aggrieved members, register new members and retrace its steps in preparation for the 2023 general election.

Konflikty interesów publicznych w związku z działalnością wydobywczą kopalń węgla kamiennego

Mining activity remains crucial for protecting the state’s interests as a whole and ensuring its energy security. Coal deposits of various types are a national good, but exhaustible. On the one hand, they should be taken care of when running a rational extractive economy especially in the context of the constitutional principle of sustainable development, on the other hand, however, one should be conscious of possible conflicts of interests arising in the context of such activities. After all, extractive activity is not irrelevant either to the environment or to the various entities interests and these could be both individual and public. A particularly interesting case could be that of a conflict of public interests of the State Treasury and local government units, which are exposed to the negative effects of the functioning of mines. Similar conflicts ofinterests arise in relations between the European Union and some Member States, which base their energy security on coal. These selected aspects are the subject of this study.