76,936 research outputs found
The (un)happiness of knowledge and the knowledge of (un)happiness: Happiness research and policies for knowledge-based economies
Paper presented to the International Conference Policies for Happiness, June 14-17, 2007, Certosa di Pontignano, University of Siena, Italy.This paper explores the current state and interfaces of two broad policy discourses, i.e. that of policies for knowledge-based economies (KBEs) and policy implications of happiness research, which so far have exhibited little explicit cross-referencing. I first review the state of 'mainstream' knowledge policy associated with the OECD, the related but somewhat separate literature on information society indicators, and some 'non-mainstream' knowledge policy analysis. This is followed by a brief overview of some of the major policy implications and controversies in happiness research. Next, I discuss major interfaces of the two policy discourses. They mostly concern the nexus of education, work and innovation. I also illustrate the diversity of beliefs and values about some core elements of KBEs in a group of what are usually regarded as similar countries, and advocate the use of subjective variables to capture these differences. The main argument put forward in this paper is that policies for KBEs should be informed by insights from happiness research
Fear and Loathing of the Corruption Perception Index: Does Transparency International Penalize Press Freedom?
Depuis que la gouvernance compte, lâIndice de perception de la corruption construit par Transparency International (TI) est devenu lâindicateur le plus influent dans son domaine. Chaque annĂ©e, un classement est ainsi Ă©tabli, pointant du doigt les pays perçus comme les plus corrompus par les experts de TI. Cet indice est un outil puissant de lutte contre le flĂ©au de la corruption, permettant effectivement de mettre une rĂ©elle pression politique sur des rĂ©gimes « mal gouvernĂ©s ». Lâinfluence de ce classement sur lâĂ©conomie des pays concernĂ©s peut ĂȘtre importante, rendant parfois plus difficile lâaccĂšs aux financements, quâil sâagisse de lâaide internationale ou des investissements directs Ă©trangers. Bien souvent, il sâagit dâune double peine pour des populations dĂ©jĂ victimes au quotidien de services publics gangrenĂ©s par la corruption et le clientĂ©lisme. La mesure de la corruption, Ă lâimage des diffĂ©rents outils mis en place pour Ă©valuer la gouvernance, est une mesure qualitative, issue de perceptions. Comme toute perception, elle est sujette Ă la disponibilitĂ© de lâinformation et subit lâinfluence des mĂ©dias. Nos analyses ont montrĂ© que le niveau de libertĂ© de la presse pouvait avoir une influence importante sur ces perceptions, pĂ©nalisant les jeunes dĂ©mocraties et lâouverture progressive des mĂ©dias. Transparency Internationalâs annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has become the single most effective advocacy tool in the global fight against fraud, embezzlement and other abuses of public office for private gain. Countries relegated to the bottom tier of the CPI rankings are not only embarrassed (usually), but penalized financially, as the stigma makes it harder to secure aid and investment. For any multilateral loan officer or multinational plant-siting team, checking a countryâs CPI rating is now basic due diligence. As well it should be: Corruption is a development scourge, acting as a stubborn brake on growth, a regressive tax on the poor, and - often - a corrosively effective enemy of democratization. Corruption assessment, not unlike governance assessment tools, is qualitative and the result of perceptions. Therefore, it suffers from the influence of information availability and media freedom. Our analysis, demonstrated that the media freedom extent may have a strong influence on corruption perceptions, penalizing young democracies and progressive media aperture.(Full text in french)
Political strategies of external support for democratization
Political strategies of external support to democratization are contrasted and critically examined in respect of the United States and European Union. The analysis begins by defining its terms of reference and addresses the question of what it means to have a strategy. The account briefly notes the goals lying behind democratization support and their relationship with the wider foreign policy process, before considering what a successful strategy would look like and how that relates to the selection of candidates. The literature's attempts to identify strategy and its recommendations for better strategies are compared and assessed. Overall, the article argues that the question of political strategies of external support for democratization raises several distinct but related issues including the who?, what?, why?, and how? On one level, strategic choices can be expected to echo the comparative advantage of the "supporter." On a different level, the strategies cannot be divorced from the larger foreign policy framework. While it is correct to say that any sound strategy for support should be grounded in a theoretical understanding of democratization, the literature on strategies reveals something even more fundamental: divergent views about the nature of politics itself. The recommendations there certainly pinpoint weaknesses in the actual strategies of the United States and Europe but they have their own limitations too. In particular, in a world of increasing multi-level governance strategies for supporting democratization should go beyond preoccupation with just an "outside-in" approach
The Dark and Middle Ages
For the most part only Plato\u27s teachings supported by a limited version of Aristotelian cosmology supportive of Platonism survived the decline of ancient Greek philosophy during the Roman Empire. Christianity later prevailed, and toward the end of the Middle Ages Aristotleâs secular perspective was only taken into account by Arab philosophers such as Averroes and Avicenna. After the collapse of Arab civilization during the twelfth century, the secular concept of a double truth between belief and reason put philosophy on equal footing with religion in such universities as Cordoba and the University of Paris. After a large assortment of ancient Greek texts were shipped from Constantinople to Italy in 1453 to prevent their destruction by pagan invaders, so-called Nominalists among European philosophers such as Duns Scotus and William of Ockham featured the independent analysis of the universe based on assumptions already pursued by Aristotle. In effect Greek philosophy in its entirety came to be âresurrected,â setting the stage for the inception of science as exemplified by Copernicus, Galileo, and Bacon
Democracy: Concepts, Measures and Relationships
This briefing paper reviews the existing research and debates on the causes and consequences of democracy to provide guidance on the key conceptual and methodological issues surrounding democracy promotion and aid conditionality. It provides three working definitions of democracy; a review of the different strategies and efforts to measure democracy; an examination of the empirical findings on the causes and consequences of democracy; and concludes with a discussion of the dimensions of aid conditionality by examining the efforts by the USAID, the World Bank, and UK Department for International Development (DfID) in linking measures and assessments of governance to the allocation of aid
Coping with creeping catastrophes: national political systems and the challenge of slow-moving policy problems
No abstract available
The loss of governance capacity through corruption
Corruption manifests itself in many ways and at different levels. Corrupt behavior causes outrage to victims and those who value civil society, it impedes good government and administrative practice. The policy challenge in reducing corruption is to identify the component parts of corrupt behavior and the risk-reward profiles of offenders. This exploratory article begins this process by reporting data from 100 successfully prosecuted cases from New York City. The article analyzes data on varying degrees of corruption in service provision in New York City. The loss to the city is much more a loss of governance capacity than it is a monetary loss
Social capital and deceased organ donation
This chapter examines the link between deceased organ donation and social capital from a theoretical standpoint.In this chapter, the theoretical links between deceased organ donation and social capital theory are examined and evaluated
How to Create an Innovation Accelerator
Too many policy failures are fundamentally failures of knowledge. This has
become particularly apparent during the recent financial and economic crisis,
which is questioning the validity of mainstream scholarly paradigms. We propose
to pursue a multi-disciplinary approach and to establish new institutional
settings which remove or reduce obstacles impeding efficient knowledge
creation. We provided suggestions on (i) how to modernize and improve the
academic publication system, and (ii) how to support scientific coordination,
communication, and co-creation in large-scale multi-disciplinary projects. Both
constitute important elements of what we envision to be a novel ICT
infrastructure called "Innovation Accelerator" or "Knowledge Accelerator".Comment: 32 pages, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c
- âŠ