The Virginia Company and the Foundations of Religious Governance in English Commercial Expansion

This chapter traces the use of religious governance in England’s early attempts to colonise Virginia between 1606 and 1624. It assesses how, in the initial steps to establish English authority abroad, religious governance was influenced by the political and governmental characters of successive company leaders such as Thomas Dale, Thomas Gates and John Smith. This explains why the Virginia Company embraced multiple forms of religious governance that would later be used as separate and distinct models of governance by successive companies. The Virginia Company experimented with religious governance to secure their control over English personnel abroad. Moreover, it became an instrumental tool in the companies’ attempts to expand their jurisdictional authority over Native American leaders, such as Powhatan, Pocahontas and her uncle Uttamatomakkin. By doing this company leaders hoped to establish governmental control over Native American peoples, and traditions, such as those Smith writes about in Generall Histoirie of Virginia, traditionally considered beyond the bounds of English governance. Finally, it examines how the experiences and memories of religious governance in the Virginia Company provided the groundwork for future forms of corporate religious governance to evolve.

Hanso Jonaso atsakingos politikos vizija technologinėje civilizacijoje

The aim of the article is to reconstruct Hans Jonas’ vision of ethics for the technological civilization and to highlight the challenges that are faced in the attempt to provide an ontological grounding for such ethics. The attempt to develop the ethics of responsibility is inseparable from the affirmation of paternalistic political positions, which leads towards apologetics of total governmental control. In the face of dangers created by modern technology, Jonas argues that attempts to safeguard the existence of humanity are best served by a government that controls all aspects of life. Jonas maintains that in the face of various dangers created by modern technologies, a relationship with them, which is based on fear, becomes pragmatic and rational. A positive evaluation of fear leads towards reactionary political tendencies. Philosopher’s imperative is based on the duty to protect „genuine” human life, however, his vision of total technocratic government could lead to an absolute dehumanization of humanity. It is therefore concluded that Jonas‘ vision of ethics is incompatible with the political ethics of liberal democracy.

The Subtle Dynamics of Power Struggles in Tunisia: Local media since the Arab Uprisings

This article contributes to the analysis of local media and democratic transformation in Tunisia since the Arab Uprisings. It aims to assess the extent to which pluralism, freedom of expression, and participation—central tenets of democratisation—are evident at the local level. Tunisian local media, unlike the national media, is relatively free of governmental control. Local media is also decentralised. It is this autonomy from the government which makes the analysis of local media fundamentally important for understanding politics in Tunisia. While national media is linked to the most powerful elements in the country, the diversity of voices within the media at the local level provides an opportunity to grasp the grievances, struggles, and agency of people in Tunisia, especially the most marginalised communities. This article will detail the changes in the media landscape, especially for local media, in Tunisia and connect our analysis of local media to better understand the Tunisia that has developed between dictatorship and democracy and the extent that the fledgling Tunisian democracy can withstand its most recent test.

The Political Economy of Sectoral Credit Provisioning in India: An Empirical Analysis

Electoral dynamics is believed to have a direct bearing on the scope of governmental control over the supply of credit to different economic sectors. This paper attempts to examine the impact of opportunistic electoral manipulations, ideological beliefs and political lobbying on the supply of agricultural and industrial credit across the Indian states. The findings indicate that more competitive elections are associated with increases in credit provision. An incumbent party with a more liberal ideology is found to provide greater average credit to agriculture relative to industry. Finally, an increase in the political contributions provided to an incumbent state government is found to entail greater industrial credit and lower agricultural credit, on an average.

To Remember or Forget?

Since the early twentieth century, the Swedish financial system has experienced five major financial crises—both domestic and internationally generated. With three crises within 25 years, the use of memories from previous financial problems seems a little far-fetched. But so far this has not explicitly been analysed. However, with sources from official investigations, material from the Swedish central bank (the Riksbank) as well as memos from the Bank Inspection Board and larger commercial banks, it would be possible to reconstruct how experiences from earlier financial crises influenced banks risk management and business strategies. During the financial crisis of the 1990s the lack of memories from the 1920s and 1930s was noticed. It was said that knowledge of risk management had been reduced during 60 years of governmental control. This chapter explores this loss of memory using archives and interviews.

THE PROMISES, PROBLEMS, AND POSSIBILITIES FOR ALT-NETWORKS

The Promises, Problems, and Possibilities for Alt-Networks Introduction Social media has become a central facet of contemporary life and that centralization has narrowed our perspectives and lessened our possibilities (Pariser, 2011; Vaidhyanathan, 2018). This centralizing of social media networks happens for their individual users, but also at the level of how social media informs our discourses through journalistic practice, government institutions, industry sectors. Because of the role that social media now play, we have become acutely aware of their shortcomings. Their platforms not only host but actively cultivate toxic and abusive environments for many of its users. In addition to their functions of interaction, they also provide avenues for increasing governmental control through surveillance or gatekeeping. Given the lack of adequate response from tech companies to these long standing issues, it was inevitable that something had to happen. In response to these conditions, tech advocates, activists, students, and scholars have launched numerous alternatives to mainstream social networks. These networks rethink what social media can and should do in times of over reliance on monolithic digital platforms. Some networks redesign the user’s experience to lessen or eliminate harassment; some networks focus on data privacy responsibilities; some create spaces where non-centralized networks can persist even against oppressive governmental regimes. Given the rise and differentiation of alt-networks, there is a need to study and examine the proliferation of alt-networks. This panel offers four presentations varied in objects, different in methodological approaches, and diverse in their claims. In examining alt-networks, this panel will explore how these redesigned digital platforms respond to demands of scalability, how political activists develop and deploy alt-networks for protests, how researchers could cultivate a games theory approach to studying alt-networks and, finally, how the lack of certain features in alt-networks may doom their survival. The methods being explored will include critical theory, social science research, methodological discussion, and critical analysis through a rhetorical lens. Ultimately, our panel hopes to join in on emerging conversations about the ecology of networks and contribute valuable insights for internet research. A Network of Alt-Networks These papers have been carefully assembled to represent a substantial spectrum of the promises, problems, and possibilities for Alt-Tech today. In the first presentation, the paper develops a games theory approach to studying alt-networks, in this case, Mastodon instances. This is an important development as mainstream social media networks have benefited from years of research approaches, new networked objects create new networked questions requiring new methodological considerations. Related to this problem, the second presentation examines how and when alt-networks engage or resist the inevitable need to scale their operations. Such a study is important because mainstream social media impose a will to scale in ways that make it seem natural and unstoppable. The third presentation engages activists and how ad hoc alt-networks allow for platforms that avoid and leverage themselves against oppressive regimes. Finally, the fourth presentation will explore why alt-networks have so far failed alt-right political actors. This argument will look at how micro-interactions on platforms inform and drive a dangerous cycle of political antagonism. As a set, these presentations will give AoIR attendees a comprehensive survey of sites, methods, and sources for engaging and analyzing alt-networks. While the papers all draw heavily on critical theory and analysis, each differs in how they approach their objects of analysis. Using technical approaches, social science methods, speculative means, and rhetorical analysis the papers also demonstrate a wide swath of ways to encounter the alt-network. Finally, the sourcing and discourse engaged by each presentation activates multiple academic discussions while also sticking close to shared themes and concerns. The Possibilities of Alt-Networks This panel builds on recent work concerning the disappointment with mainstream social networks but also the promise of alternatives (Gehl, 2015, Tufekci, 2017). The adherence to tech industry’s unfair labor practices, the inability to respond to users’ needs, the lack of clear and consistent privacy responsibilities, the weak submission to governmental control— these concerns with social media have all been written (Noble, 2018; Roberts, 2019). The rise and proliferation of Alt-Networks is an important development for internet researchers because those innovations rekindle the earliest aims of the internet itself. Namely, the construction of a system whose topological configurations resisted centralization and allowed for its users to develop multiple ways of communicating knowledge to one another.

Julia Margaret Cameron’s Railway Station Exhibition : A Private Gallery in the Public Sphere

On 11 November 1871, Julia Margaret Cameron mounted a gallery of eleven photographs in the waiting room of Brockenhurst railway station to commemorate a reunion with her son Hardinge, who was on leave from his Civil Service position in Ceylon. In England, railways knitted together the nation’s identity, while in Britain’s colonies, they promoted economic growth and reinforced governmental control. Cameron’s gallery was timely in depicting men who supported the expansion of the Service by reforming its selection process to encourage broad participation, a reflection of her own support for the colonial mission. By displaying photographs at Brockenhurst Junction, Cameron symbolically joined Britain’s colonial periphery to its imperial center and united national pride and good government in the public sphere.

Simulation of the Progression of the COVID-19 Disease in Northwest Syria Using Basic and Adjusted SIR Model

Background: Syria has been experienced an armed conflict since 2011. At the time of writing, Northwest Syria is outside governmental control and facing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this research, we studied the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic in northwest Syria. We studied the impact of wearing facial masks and discussed the results compared to the existing figures and facts. Methods: Based on available data and using the basic and adjusted SIR model, we estimated the value of the basic reproduction number () which gives an initial prediction of the disease progression. We studied the disease progression for one year (from July 2020 to July 2021) and simulated using the basic and adjusted SIR models. Results: We estimated that the for 2019-nCOV was 2.38, and the resulted figures were overestimated compared to the reported numbers and data concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. However, when adjusting the model by a preventive measure (in this case, wearing face masks), the results were significantly less and closer to the actual reported numbers. Conclusions: Hospital utilization throughout 365 days was projected depending on the basic and adjusted SIR model. The pandemic's peak in the studied area was predicted to arise in December 2020. The expected number of cases to be infected and admitted to hospitals and ICU in 365 days was 633636, 1901, and between 1141 and 2090, accordingly.