Deconstructing the Struggle Against Nuclearism

In such a complex and uncertain world, it may help to think like a Hindu, and accept contradiction as more in keeping with social and political reality than is finding a right answer to complex policy puzzles. What is almost impossible for those trained within Western frames of reference is to grasp that there are diverse perspectives of understanding that may result in seemingly contradictory recommendations despite shared values and goals. Civilizational perspectives and personal experience inevitably color what we feel, think, and do, and so being likeminded when it comes abolishing nuclear weapons is often coupled with somewhat divergent views on what to advocate when it comes to tactics and priorities. In this spirit, this paper tries to depict a set of reasons why the goal of nuclear disarmament will never be reached so long as arms control and nonproliferation of nuclear weaponry are seen as the pillars of global stability in the nuclear age.

The Acoustics of the Social on Page and Screen

Sound positions individuals as social subjects. The presence of human beings, animals, objects, or technologies reverberates into the spaces we inhabit and produces distinct soundscapes that render social practices, group associations, and socio-cultural tensions audible. The Acoustics of the Social on Page and Screen unites interdisciplinary perspectives on the social dimensions of sound in audiovisual and literary environments. The essays in the collection discuss soundtracks for shared values, group membership, and collective agency, and engage with the subversive functions of sound and sonic forms of resistance in American literature, film, and TV.

Peggio il rimedio del male? Argomenti e valori nelle controversie sulla vaccinazione contro il Covid-19

An interdisciplinary approach involving linguistics, rhetoric, and argumentation theory helps reveal how people argue their opinions and decisions. Although the pandemic is a common experience, its risks are perceived in different ways. For some, the real threat is Covid-19 and the remedy is vaccination. For others, however, the real risk is the vaccine and the “remedy” is refusal to get vaccinated. Justifying their opinions on the subject, Italian Internet users refer to common values (such as life, health, responsibility, etc.). However, since Internet users diagnose risks in different ways, they make use of shared values in differing ways. In this paper, the views of those for and against vaccination are analyzed from three complementary perspectives. The first one concerns the differences in which people conceive of various values. The second one shows how, using the same topoi, pro- and anti-vaccine advocates create different hierarchies of values that are fundamental to their respective decisions. Finally, the third one explores differences in the ways values are used in various argumentation schemes used in disputes on vaccination.

What Conservatives Value: Reply to Blackburn

In reply to Dean Blackburn’s ‘In the Shadows’, it is argued that the situated nature of the conservative ideology entails that its adherents cannot have a substantive set of shared values, but that their values will typically be a cultural inheritance. The epistemological element of conservatism may not be the most electorally salient in any concrete context, but has strategic value as the common element of conservatism most likely to support a public reason defence.

A Social Network Analysis of Collaborative Rangelands Governance: the case of Borana rangelands, Southern Ethiopia

Effective natural resources governance plays crucial roles in enhancing the resilience of the Socio-ecological systems (SES) in the face of prevailing environmental changes. It is recognized that the ability to adaptively respond to complex environmental change and manage SES resilience resides in the actors' networks. Network forms of governance facilitate both horizontal and vertical interconnection of actors, bring different perspectives and sources of knowledge, develop shared values and develop innovative solutions to the wicked rangeland problems. However, the structural pattern of the actors’ collaborative linkages highly influences how actors actually behave and, hence, impact the deliverance of effective governance. In view of this, by analyzing social networks (SNA), this study aims to identify the structural gaps that result in misfit in the Borana rangelands. As evident from the low level of network density obtained from quantitative SNA, there are very few horizontal and vertical interactions and linkages among actors in the Borana rangelands governance system which considerably blocks flows of knowledge, experiences and other resources indicating inability of the governance system in facilitating the solidification of shared values and joint action. The study further reveals that rangelands governance system in Borana is hampered by absence of adequate network heterogeneity and closure which in turn blocks the building of collaborative visioning and an efficient use of available resources to address complex problem. Thus, this study suggests that policy environment that can create conditions for more collaboration, strength of actors ties, development of trust and social capital and enabling the design of effective collective efforts should be put in place.

Changing the Story: An Alternative Approach to System Change in Public Service Innovation

Storytelling is a powerful instrument for system change. Telling stories of lived experience, listening to them, and sharing them contributes to a culture of trust based on dignity, mutual respect and shared values. In this paper we draw attention to public service innovation and co-creation with the people the service is meant for. In the past years, public service innovation was result-and output driven, targeting technological and managerial innovation. Stories of service users revealed the unintended negative consequences of such innovation policies and opened new perspectives for conversations of change based on shared values leading to innovations based on human development and dignity.

Regional Ideas in International Education Organizations: The Case of SEAMEO

In Chap. 10.1007/978-3-030-78885-8_8, on SEAMEO, David Krogman focuses the attention on regional identities in international education organizations. This IO has been a major player in education policy in Southeast Asia for decades. The chapter explores the underlying themes and ideas which inform discursive patterns produced and reproduced by SEAMEO. How does SEAMEO conceive of education? Did SEAMEO’s image of education evolve over time? The analysis by Krogmann finds that SEAMEO mostly follows the UN’s global sustainable development agenda in education policy, stressing both the social as well as the economic purposes of education. However, it does so with a distinct emphasis on the education purpose of reinforcing the collectively shared values and traditions of its member states, which it deems unique to Southeast Asia.

Burning out in emotional capitalism: Appropriation of gangqing and renqing in the Chinese platform economy

Based on a three-year digital ethnography as an educational consultant on the Chinese digital platform X, I use guanxi, enduring interpersonal relationships, to explain how people voluntarily work to the extent of burning out. Drawing on literature about emotion and work in precarious labour, and especially the discussion on emotional capitalism, I demonstrate that it is not because of the lack of social connections that people engage in auto-exploitation and burning out, as Han Byung-chul argues, but precisely because of shared values and the emotions people develop for each other that people commit more to work. Complementing research on digital economic tribes, I argue that guanxi could serve as an analytical framework to decipher the buyer–seller relationship on platforms. In particular, I use two guanxi-related concepts ganqing (emotional attachments) and renqing (norms of interpersonal relationship) to explain why I worked voluntarily and obligatorily for the students I met via X.