Synchronizing the Logic of Inquiry with the Logic of Action: The Case of Urban Climate Policy

Policymakers often rely on scientific knowledge for making policy decisions, and many scientists aim to produce knowledge that is useful to policymakers. However, the logic of action (which guides policy) and the logic of inquiry (which guides research) do not always align. We introduce the term “logic synchronization” to characterize the degree to which the logic of policy action aligns with the logic of scientific inquiry. We use the case of urban climate policy to explore this dynamic using a purposive literature review. The framework presented here is helpful in identifying areas in which the logic of inquiry and the logic of action synchronize, creating the opportunity for both policy-relevant science and science-informed policy. It also reveals where the logics do not yet synchronize, which indicates where scientists and policy makers can productively focus their efforts. The framework introduced here can be both theoretically and practically useful for linking scientific knowledge to policy action.

The psychosocial dimension of power: an emotional analysis of the discourse on globalization of the Davos elite

This work focused the psychosocial dynamics underlying the political and cultural action of the global elite, through a pilot study of the image of globalization of the World Economic Forum (WEF) addressed to identify possible strategies for developing those dynamics in a more democratic and socio-economically fair way and strengthening the global civil coexistence. The results show the centrality of specific relational and organizational models, based on the orientation to possess the other, the need for power as dominant social motivation and a mythical conception of supranational financial institutions which let them to operate without real commission, nor evaluation of efficacy, from their beneficiaries. On the basis of this scenario, two ways of development have been identified: the valorization of the other as a resource for the reciprocal development and the passage from a compliance based logic of action to a commonly agreed goals and products based one.

Placement Advisors as Innovators. How Professionals Use Enhanced Discretion in Germany’s Public Employment Services

Employees of the public employment services (PES) are street-level bureaucrats who shape activation policy on the ground. This paper examines how PES staff use enhanced discretion in an innovation project carried out by the German Federal Employment Agency. Applying a bottom-up perspective, we reconstruct PES employees’ logic of action and the dilemmas they face in improving counselling and placement services. According to our findings, placement staff use enhanced discretion to promote more individualised support and an adequate matching of jobseekers and employers. The use of discretion is framed by organisational norms and reward mechanisms and by the current labour market situation. Our analyses are based on qualitative interviews and group discussions with placement staff.

Seeking efficient management for the judiciary: An agenda under construction?

The purpose of this theoretical essay is to reflect on the current discussion about the management of the Judiciary. We are currently living in a moment of rupture, in a scenario of disproportion between the offer of services and the number of conflicts to be resolved. Co-production has been advocated as an alternative through the participation of users of these services in decision-making. For this discussion, we bring in the New Public Management that proposes reforms based on the same logic of action that governs private companies. And the New Public Service, which defends productivity and efficiency in a larger context of democracy and public interest. We conclude that there is no dichotomous thought in the construction of a management model that is coherent with the difficulties and the complexity of the provision of justice. But there is a rupture with the conservative past, the search for a new identity, without losing its legitimacy and commitment to democratic principles.

Event: philosophy sub specie eventi

The article argues that the philosophy of the twentieth century is characterized by a tran­sition from a view according to which the mind tends to contemplate things sub specie aeterni (Descartes, Spinoza, Hegel) to an understanding that things and the world should be taken sub specie eventi (Bakhtin, Heidegger, Deleuze). Event in its various manifesta­tions becomes the subject of philosophical comprehension. The authors point at two onto­logical characteristics of the phenomenon of an event – an event always happens, i.e. an event cannot be thought outside of time, and an event always appears as the unity of heterogeneous. Distinguishing the concepts of incident and that of event, the authors analyze the problem of the beginning of an event. Based on the ideas of synergetics, the authors argue that an event has no cause, but there are prerequisites – a state of uncertainty and an attractor that organizes the constitution of the event/incident. The authors focus their attention on the problem of the connection between meaning and event that characterizes the events of the world of human existence. It is shown that in the world of human existence a situation of uncertainty is a problematic situation. The solution to a problem situation is an event that is associated with this situation not by causal, but by casual relations, when the singularities of a given situation set the initial conditions for an action and provide real opportunities for its accomplishment. It is important here that the logic of action and the course of thought are governed not by general ideas, but by the premises given here and now. This is how a new version of the identity of “thought and being” declares itself: meaning as an intention and a productive force of the initial condition for constituting an event are identical to the event itself. Being/event is objecti­fied as res gestae, which acts as an organizing force and by this force the being acquires the ability to declare and affirm itself as integrity and organization. The authors sug­gest that the philosophical understanding of an event provides a new way to corelate the two main traditions in contemporary Western philosophy – the “continental” and the “analytic”.

Breaking hegemony: coalition as decolonial-intersectional praxis

In 2012 and 2013, Uruguay decriminalised abortion, legalised equal marriage and decriminalised the usage and self-cultivation of marijuana. Uruguayan social movements produced a wide-ranging, multi-issue coalition that mobilised around all of these bills as a package, in which they agreed to a specific sequence on the prioritisation of bills. The bridge actors that constituted the coalition operated within a framework grounded in combating the invisibilisation of marginalised groups and their specific interests. In other words, they sought to engage in a form of intersectional praxis through the platform of coalition. This article examines the workings of intersectional praxis in this case, and the actors and logic that drive it. It argues that a dual bridging model is at work in which bridge actors engage a decolonial-intersectional logic of action, working from a perspective that conceives of difference and plurality as both constitutive of social life and a normative good.<br /><br />Key message<br /><ul><li>Intersectional praxis is driven by dual bridges: the bridges of coalition created by social movement actors; and the bridges of interventionist analytics operative in an intersectional-decolonial logic.</li><br /><li>This dual bridge model of intersectional praxis allows social movement actors to engage in productive coalitions that can effect formal political change, here in passage of multiple equality laws.</li></ul>

Envolvimento parental no contexto de escolas públicas diferenciadas: uma análise dos contextos de ação

Analisam-se aqui quatro casos de envolvimento parental, pesquisados em escolas públicas diferenciadas no Ceará. Casos oriundos de uma pesquisa com estudantes de ensino médio e seus pais, de duas das Escolas Estaduais de Educação Profissional (EEEP), em 2016. Análise é feita por meio da sociologia disposicionalista de Bernard Lahire, que foca nas ações e práticas dos indivíduos a partir da noção de esquemas disposicionais, contextos e lógicas de ação. Perspectiva que enfrenta a tensão entre o passado incorporado e o presente da ação. Os dados e a análise permitem reconhecer quadros contextuais externos que mobilizam ou inibem esquemas disposicionais incorporados, especificamente, em relação ao maior ou menor envolvimento parental entre pais de diferentes capitais socioeconômicos e culturais. Palavras-chave: Envolvimento parental; escolha escolar; escolas diferenciadas; sociologia da educação Abstract Four cases of parental involvement are analyzed here, surveyed in different public schools in Ceará. Case studies from high school students and their parents, from two of the State Schools of Vocational Education (EEEP), in 2016. Analysis is made through the dispositional sociology of Bernard Lahire, which focuses on the actions and practices of individuals to from the notion of dispositional schemas, contexts and logic of action. Perspective facing the tension between the corporate past and the present of action. Data and analysis allow us to recognize external contextual frameworks that mobilize or inhibit dispositional schemes embodied, specifically in relation to greater or lesser parental involvement among parents from different socioeconomic and cultural capitals. Keywords: Parental involvement; school choice; differentiated schools; sociology of education. Resumen Se analizan aquí cuatro casos de participación parental, investigados en escuelas públicas diferenciadas en el Ceará. Casos de los estudiantes de enseñanza media y sus padres, de dos de las Escuelas Estaduales de Educación Profesional (EEEP), en el año 2016. El análisis se hace por medio de la sociología disposicionalista de Bernard Lahire, que se centra en las acciones y prácticas de los individuos a la sociedad a partir de la noción de esquemas disposicionais, contextos y lógicas de acción. Perspectiva que enfrenta la tensión entre el pasado incorporado y el presente de la acción. Los datos y el análisis permiten reconocer cuadros contextuales externos que movilizan o inhiben esquemas disposicionais incorporados, específicamente, en relación al mayor o menor envolvimiento parental entre padres de diferentes capitales socioeconómicos y culturales. Palabras clave: Participación parental; elección escolar; escuelas diferenciadas; sociología de la educación.

E-learning in maritime affairs

E-learning has become a widespread form of education as it allows the users a relatively easy access to needed information. E-learning has also been present in maritime affairs, although not so ubiquitous as in other economy sectors. Sea-borne shipping is one of the most stringently controlled industries, with a number of complex regulations and standards. This paper analyses learning methodologies and discusses the economic justification of implementing e-learning systems at global level, with an emphasis on the growing e-learning industry, corporate segment of e-learning, massive open online course market, and the importance of the micro-learning concept. In addition, this study analyses the present systems of seafarers’ education and the potentials, strengths and shortcomings of the conventional learning, e-learning and m-learning. Moreover, the recent application of e-learning in maritime affairs and the need of further research of the e-learning impacts in maritime affairs are examined. Finally, the presented information and discussion result in the logic matrix analysis and the SWOT analysis of e-learning, aiming to define the strengths, weaknesses, logic of action, goals and potentials of the implementation of e-learning in maritime affairs. Keywords: E-learning, education of seafarers, STCW Convention, IMO.

Auf der Suche nach einer komplexen Friedenslogik –Versuch einer metatheoretischen Verortung undNeuorientierung

The dualistic juxtaposition of the logic of peace and the logic of security is necessary for the political debate but not sufficient to overcome the dominance of the security approach in political theory and practice. This article seeks to broaden and deepen the understanding of the relationship between the logic of peace and the logic of security on different levels of meaning. Firstly, this relationship is explored on the level of meaning of a logic of action and intervention. Secondly, this relationship is discussed on the level of meaning of a logic of research and the meta-theoretical paradigms on which the logic of action is constructed. Thirdly, this relationship is further reflected on the level of meaning of a logic of thought and rationality. Founded in a philosophy of complexity a dialogical “logic of complexity” is proposed as a metaparadigm for a complex logic of peace that is both critical and integrative of the logic of security.