Global Bioethics

Two new factor have been added to the ideological change in the second half of the past century: the “ecological impact” of humankind on the environment due to the population increase; and the “ innovative impact of science, first with atomic physics, which introduced the scission of the fundamental unit of matter, the atom, and then witch molecular biology, which led to the decoding of genetic information and intervention of biological engineering that annihilate our concepts of individual and species as fundamental units in biology. This stage of fundamental rethinking is however overshadowed by the threat of ecological disaster and catastrophic population increase, which not only impose limits to development, but undermine the very survival of Humankind. The future survival our species in fact depends on the interaction between its reproductive characteristics and the productivity of the territory, which, even if increased by the intellectual capability of the human brain, has intrinsically limits. The adaptive choices (which are also biotechnological and biomedical) of the interaction between human population and the natural ambience is the conceptual basis of the new discipline “Global Bioethics”

Pig tales, human chimeras and man-made public health hazards : an ethical analysis of xenotransplant benefits and risks

Xenotransplantatie wordt voorgesteld als een mogelijke oplossing voor het orgaantekort, alsook voor andere aandoeningen waarvoor momenteel geen of weinig behandelingen bestaan, zoals bepaalde neurologische ziektes en diabetes Type 1.De opzet van dit doctoraat was bij te dragen aan het ruime debat over hoe men de potentiële voordelen van deze technologie kan laten opwegen tegenover de unieke risico’s en kosten die met de technologie gepaard gaan

Advances in the sociology of trust and cooperation: theory, experiments, and field studies

The problem of cooperation and social order is one of the core issues in the social sciences. The key question is how humans, groups, institutions, and countries can avoid or overcome the collective good dilemmas that could lead to a Hobbesian war of all against all. Using the general set of social dilemmas as a paradigmatic example, rigorous formal analysis can stimulate scientific progress in several ways. The book, consisting of original articles, provides state of the art examples of research along these lines: theoretical, experimental, and field studies on trust and cooperation. The theoretical work covers articles on trust and control, reputation formation, and paradigmatic articles on the benefits and caveats of abstracting reality into models. The experimental articles treat lab based tests of models of trust and reputation, and the effects of the social and institutional embeddedness on behavior in cooperative interactions and possibly emerging inequalities. The field studies test these models in applied settings such as cooperation between organizations, informal care, and different kinds of collaboration networks. The book will be exemplary for rigorous sociology and social sciences more in general in a variety of ways: There is a focus on effects of social conditions, in particular different forms of social and institutional embeddedness, on social outcomes. Theorizing about and testing of effects of social contexts on individual and group outcomes is one of the main aims of sociological research. Modelling efforts include formal explications of micro-macro links that are typically easily overlooked when argumentation is intuitive and impressionistic Extensive attention is paid to unintended effects of intentional behavior, another feature that is a direct consequence of formal theoretical modelling and in-depth data-analyses of the social processe

An aesthetic for sustainable interactions in product-service systems?

Copyright @ 2012 Greenleaf PublishingEco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited because its implementation and diffusion is hindered by several barriers (cultural, corporate and regulative ones). The paper investigates the barriers that affect the attractiveness and acceptation of eco-efficient PSS alternatives, and opens the debate on the aesthetic of eco-efficient PSS, and the way in which aesthetic could enhance some specific inner qualities of this kinds of innovations. Integrating insights from semiotics, the paper outlines some first research hypothesis on how the aesthetic elements of an eco-efficient PSS could facilitate user attraction, acceptation and satisfaction

China’s Emerging Inter-network Society - The Rise of Public Advocacy in the Digital ‘Public Sphere’

Ph.D

Advances in the Sociology of Trust and Cooperation

The book identifies conditions for trust and cooperation. It highlights unintended consequences of individually rational behavior, and shows how trust and cooperation change dependent on social embeddedness. Such analyses inspire experimental tests in lab conditions, but also tests through empirical applications in field studies. The results of this mixed-method approach can in turn be used to inspire further theoretical work

A Tale of Two Influences: An Exploration of Downward Accountability in World Vision International

International nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) face increasing accountability challenges stemming from past scandals and their claims to advance the public good. Since the 1990s, INGOs have responded with numerous reforms. The creation of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership in 2003 and the INGO Accountability Charter in 2009 reflect sector-wide efforts to enhance accountability to mission, intended beneficiaries, and peer organizations. Many INGOs have adopted a broad range of accountability reforms. This dissertation focuses on how World Vision, the world’s largest INGO, has done so. Downward accountability remains elusive due to such factors as INGOs’ lack of transparency toward beneficiaries; the power imbalance between them; donor pressures; and competition with other INGOs. In the first phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 past and present staff members across nine countries and a wide range of seniority levels, using these sensitizing concepts: downward accountability, social accountability, humanitarian relief, development. The second phase comprised analysis of an internal dataset summarizing annual reports from 64 country offices; and review of documents including annual reports spanning 18 years. Using a within-case comparison, the study demonstrates that World Vision has experienced most progress in the area of beneficiary feedback and complaints (as opposed to consultation, participation, or information provision). This has typically taken place within emergency relief rather than development projects. A principal reason is the comparative simplicity of relief aid, contrasted with the difficulty of achieving long-term change through consultation and participation. Another is the greater role of institutional funding (vs. individual donations) in humanitarian relief. However, these donor pressures can lead to a “tick-the-box” mentality in which routinized compliance substitutes for authentic accountability. This study suggests that current downward accountability practices fall short of accomplishing a reconfiguration of power relations between the INGO and beneficiaries. They risk becoming another technical component in a large apparatus used to meet donor requirements. This is not surprising when we consider that service delivery comprises a significantly greater proportion of World Vision’s work than does advocacy. Consequently, the relationships between agency and beneficiaries are potentially more susceptible to clientelistic tendencies

Corporate social responsibility and competitive advantages

Nos últimos anos a Responsabilidade Social das Organizações (RSO) tem ganho uma profunda popularidade. Actualmente, muitos gestores têm-se apercebido da necessidade de terem em consideração a responsabilidade social e também têm tido preocupações acerca dos custos e dos benefícios potencialmente gerados pela RSO. Desta forma, o estudo do impacto da RSO nas Vantagens Competitivas (VC) tem uma relevância prática e teórica acrescida. Este trabalho baseia-se num conjunto de proposições teóricas, procurando avaliá-las de acordo com uma escala de medida definida, sobre a relação do modelo HEXIE e a RSO. Através da aplicação de um questionário foram colectados 176 questionários entre 1 de Setembro de 2010 e 30 de Janeiro de 2011 no Norte da China. Para analisar os dados recolhidos foram usadas as técnicas estatísticas da análise factorial e o modelo de equações estruturais. Com base nos resultados obtidos, discutimos o papel da RSO no modelo HEXIE no processo de mediação das VC e da relação entre os stakeholders. Usou-se os softwares Amos 9.0 e SPSS 18.0 para processar e analisar os dados do questionário, para verificar a relações existente entre as variáveis do modelo conceptual e as hipóteses de investigação. Estas são as principais conclusões: (1) Como um todo, os gestores Chineses têm um bom desempenho na responsabilidade requerida pelas normas/lei; contudo têm desempenhos fracos na responsabilidade “obrigatória” ao nível ético e filantrópico; (2) A RSO no modelo HEXIE começa com duas dimensões, mecanismo do princípio-dual, a interna “He” (gestores, cultura organizacional, estratégia do negócio, liderança) e a externa “Xie” (normativos legais, supervisão das instituições governamentais e organizações não governamentais, supervisão dos media, standards internacionais); (3) A relação com os Stakeholders deve ser dividida em dois aspectos: stakeholders que não têm uma relação de negócio e os que têm uma relação de negócio; (4) As vantagens competitivas também devem ser separadas em duas dimensões: as externas (reputação da organização, apoio governamental, tanto financeiro como outro tipo de apoio) e internas (talento interno, capacidade de inovação); (5) O modelo HeXie tem uma relação directa com a RSO, mas não positiva, na promoção e manutenção de VC; (6) A influência da relação entre a RSO e o modelo HeXie nas VC pode ser analisado da seguinte forma: RSO no Modelo HeXie -> stakeholders -> vantagens competitivas. Os stakeholders têm um importante papel na mediação entre a RSO e o Modelo HeXie, potenciando as VC.In the past years, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) gained more and more popularity. At present, many businesses have realized the necessity and imperative to undertake CSR, and also been concerned about the costs and benefits possibly generated from CSR. The study about the impact of CSR on Competitive Advantage (CA) is an important practical and theoretical issue. The thesis based on theoretical analysis about CSR’ HEXIE management, Stakeholder Relationship and CA, brings forward a series of propositions and establishes the measurement scales for them. Through pilot in-depth interview and the questionnaire approaches, we collect 176 questionnaires in the context of North China from September 1, 2010 to January 30, 2011. On the basis of the statistic analysis of Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), we discusse the role of CSR’s HEXIE management on promoting CA through the mediator variable (Stakeholder Relationship). The statistics softwares SPSS18.0 and Amos9.0 have been used for processing and analyzing the survey data, to verify the hypotheses. The conclusions of the thesis are as follow: (1) As a whole, the Chinese businesses have a good performance in CSR required by the laws, however, a poor performance in mandatory responsibility at ethical and philanthropic level. (2) CSR’s HEXIE management is started with the two dimensions, dual-principles mechanism, internal “He” principle (employee management, corporate culture, business strategy, leadership concepts) and external “Xie” principle (legal restraint, governmental and non-governmental organizations’ supervision, media supervision, international standards); (3) Stakeholder relationship is divided into two aspects: non-business related stakeholder relationships and business related stakeholders; (4) Competitive advantage is also separated into two dimensions: external CA (enterprise’s reputation, financing and government support) and internal CA (enterprise’s employees and innovation ability); (5) HEXIE management on CSR Plays a direct but not positive role in promoting and maintaing of competitive advantages; (6) The positive influence of CSR’s HEXIE management on CA is passed on as follows: CSR’s HEXIE management -> stakeholders relationships -> CA. The stakeholder relationship plays a crucial mediator role in increasing the effect from CSR’s HEXIE management on CA

Towards Our Common Digital Future. Flagship Report.

In the report “Towards Our Common Digital Future”, the WBGU makes it clear that sustainability strategies and concepts need to be fundamentally further developed in the age of digitalization. Only if digital change and the Transformation towards Sustainability are synchronized can we succeed in advancing climate and Earth-system protection and in making social progress in human development. Without formative political action, digital change will further accelerate resource and energy consumption, and exacerbate damage to the environment and the climate. It is therefore an urgent political task to create the conditions needed to place digitalization at the service of sustainable development

The market role of local governments in urbanization

This research explores from the perspective of new institutional economics the role played by local governments in the Chinese urbanization process. In conventional wisdom of city planning and economics, government is often considered as the opposite of the market: the public goods can only be supplied in special ways, different from that of the common goods. Institutions, planned economy or market economy, are often labelled by how much the government intervenes in its economy. However, theories based on such paradigms can hardly explain the behaviours of governments in the real world. This research argues that government is a part of the market mechanism, but not the opposite of market. A city government is in nature an enterprise that sells its products and services within its territory. Correspondingly, a city is in nature a place to trade public services, which makes the key institutional difference between a city and a village. In light of his argument, the theoretical debate on public goods is first examined. Then the behaviours of Chinese local governments are investigated and explained with a new framework, which cannot be achieved with traditional theory. Case studies in China demonstrate that the rapid growth of Chinese cities in recent years results mainly from the success of the business model of Chinese local governments. Lastly the inadequacies and mistakes of traditional urban planning theories in the Chinese context are analyzed and suggestions are made to transfer planning theory to the new paradigm, which is based mainly on the assumption that the behaviours of governments is to maximise their surplus. In the appendix a new pricing theory is formulated to extend the theoretical ground of this research. With this theory, the public goods can be supplied on a competitive market without substantial distinction from other good