A Tale of Two Paradigms: How Genealogical and Comparative Historical analysis can help reset the intractable debate over the causation of ideological violence

This study responds to the endemic lack of clarity and consensus afflicting academic and policy discussions on the causes of ideological violence and, by extension, the appropriate means for preventing/containing it. I trace, conceptualise, and problematise the long-standing debate between two deeply entrenched oppositional camps or ‘paradigms’ – heuristically dubbed the ‘conservative’ and ‘progressive’ paradigms of ideological violence, respectively – that propose competing explanations for the causation of ideological violence; the former considering it a product of irrational individual dysfunction, the latter viewing it as a rational (if often misguided) response to societal dysfunction. Further, I show that extant attempts at reconciling/synthesising these paradigms have, to date, proven problematic. I explore how and why these opposing paradigms emerged and why debate between them persists. I argue that they are shaped, perpetuated and marred by multiple extra-academic dynamics and naturalised assumptions and conclude that clarity and consensus is unlikely unless we can ‘reset’ the debate, making a conscious decision to ‘step back’ from our extant paradigms/assumptions and approach the phenomenon with fresh eyes. I propose and demonstrate two methodological approaches that – used in conjunction – can contribute towards this end. Firstly, I propose that – and demonstrate how - Genealogical Analysis can aid in this ‘stepping back’ by denaturalising our entrenched assumptions on the causes of ideological violence (i.e., our extant paradigms) by uncovering how and why those assumptions came to be held and reified. Secondly, I propose and demonstrate Comparative Historical Analysis’ utility as a tool that can aid in re-approaching the phenomena with fresh eyes by helping - gradually and collaboratively - to construct a new set of more methodologically-rigorous assumptions (i.e., a new paradigm) upon which extant research built upon either extant paradigm can be resituated, reinterpreted, de-limited, and synthesised, and further research can be premised

Length-based methods in fisheries research

Stock assessment, Population dynamics, Length, Size distribution, Methodology

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

Nanomanagement: superior control and subordinate autonomy in conflict: mid-level officers of the U.S. and British armies in Iraq (2003-2008)

On battlefields and within organizations, a fog obscures subordinate activity from superior observation, producing an information asymmetry endemic to most superior-subordinate relationships. A superior’s ability to observe, to peer through this fog, distinguishes different types of organizations, largely determining what tasks an organization may accomplish and how superior control is balanced against subordinate autonomy (James Wilson, 2000). Yet modern technology is lifting this fog, with each day increasing the detail and depth of what superiors may observe. This thesis explores superior control with modern technology, by introducing and assessing a new term, nanomanagement—where superiors use technology to control, in ever-increasing detail, the actions of all of their subordinates. Through interviewing mid-level officers of the U.S. and British armies, who served in Iraq between 2003 and 2008, this qualitative study explores two questions. “Why nanomanagement?” seeks to understand the causes, or what may motivate nanomanagement. “How does nanomanagement influence superior control and subordinate autonomy?” seeks to understand the effects of nanomanagement. This thesis employs five factors—organizational culture, ex ante controls, ex post controls, hierarchical control and exogenous factors—as different theoretical frameworks to understand nanomanagement. Trackers, drones and long screwdrivers, modern variants of police patrols that reduce transaction costs and may reverse information asymmetry, are introduced. This thesis also suggests three terms to describe when nanomanaging superiors take action undermining traditional hierarchical control: shifting (focusing attention on subordinate levels), drifting (acting at subordinate levels), and grifting (cheating the hierarchy by controlling actions at levels beneath their immediate subordinates). These actions signal a new form of hierarchical control by exclusion—ex claudere control. By analyzing a case where much of the fog separating superior from subordinate thinned and lifted, this thesis assesses and updates the long fought battle between superior control and subordinate autonomy

Visual Propaganda and Extremism in the Online Environment

Visual images have been a central component of propaganda for as long as propaganda has been produced. But recent developments in communication and information technologies have given terrorist and extremist groups options and abilities they never would have been able to come close to even 5 or 10 years ago. There are terrorist groups who, with very little initial investment, are making videos that are coming so close to the quality of BBC or CNN broadcasts that the difference is meaningless, and with access to the web they have instantaneous access to a global audience. Given the broad social science consensus on the power of visual images relative to that of words, the strategic implications of these groups’ sophistication in the use of images in the online environment is carefully considered in a variety of contexts by the authors in this collection.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1942/thumbnail.jp

Continuity and change in time perspective: a longitudinal field study of youth workers.

The current temporal research agenda in time and organizations emphasizes the importance of continuity and change. This research sought to examine the coexistence of continuity and change in time perspective using the model proposed by (Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999). The research sought answers to the following four research questions: 1. Do time perspectives demonstrate differential continuity? 2. Do time perspectives demonstrate mean level continuity? 3. Do time perspectives demonstrate interindividual differences in intraindividual change? 4. Do individuals demonstrate individual change in their time perspectives? Survey data were collected from 128 youth workers across three measurement occasions using a twelve month prospective longitudinal panel design and measurement occasions were separated by a four month interval. Data were analysed using retest correlations, individual stability coefficients, latent growth modeling and the reliable change index. Time perspectives demonstrated rank order continuity and there was evidence of individual variation in stability. Although there was a decline in rank order continuity, it was not statistically significant. Time perspectives showed mean level continuity but did not demonstrate interindividual differences in intraindividual change. However, evidence of individual differences in change was indicated by the reliable change index across all time perspectives. The findings supported the co-existence of continuity and change in time perspectives. The research makes a methodological and theoretical contribution. Methodologically, the research contributes to a more thorough understanding of continuity and change in time perspective and provides different answers to the question, do time perspectives change? Theoretically, the research advocates an alternative perspective which questions current assumptions

Measurements of Solar Vector Magnetic Fields

Various aspects of the measurement of solar magnetic fields are presented. The four major subdivisions of the study are: (1) theoretical understanding of solar vector magnetic fields; (3) techniques for interpretation of observational data; and (4) techniques for data display