Uncertainty and risk: politics and analysis

In environmental and sustainable development policy issues, and in infrastructural megaprojects and issues of innovative medical technologies as well, public authorities face emergent complexity, high value diversity, difficult-to-structure problems, high decision stakes, high uncertainty, and thus risk. In practice, it is believed, this often leads to crises, controversies, deadlocks, and policy fiascoes. Decision-makers are said to face a crisis in coping with uncertainty. Both the cognitive structure of uncertainty and the political structure of risk decisions have been studied. So far, these scientific literatures exist side by side, with few apparent efforts at theoretically conceptualizing and empirically testing the links between the two. Therefore, this exploratory and conceptual paper takes up the challenge: How should we conceptualize the cognitive structure of uncertainty? How should we conceptualize the political structure of risk? How can we conceptualize the link(s) between the two? Is there any empirical support for a conceptualization that bridges the analytical and political aspects of risk? What are the implications for guidelines for risk analysis and assessment

Application of Rigour and Credibility in Qualitative Document Analysis: Lessons Learnt from a Case Study

This paper probes functions and processes of qualitative document analysis (QDA), a method widely used in case study research. It firstly demonstrates the application of a QDA framework to inform a case study of women entrepreneurs in rural Australia; and provides insights into the lessons learnt, including strengths and limitations of QDA. Secondly, the paper provides guidelines for novice researchers seeking to use thematic analysis in a QDA process, arguing for rigour in naming assumptions and explicitness about the procedures employed. The paper contributes to discussion in the literature that positions QDA not only as a convenient tool, but as a method embedded in a conceptual framework integral to the credibility and rigour of the qualitative “story” and what makes that story feel “right” to both researcher and reader (Corbin & Strauss, 2008)

Conceptualizations of religion In a sample of female-to-male transsexuals: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

BACKGROUND: Researchers have attempted to modify some measures of religiosity/spirituality to address disparities in examining practices and beliefs in non-European minority groups; however, no one has modified or tested religion scales to address disparities between transgender and non-transgender populations. Research using existing scales proved inadequate with a female-to-male transsexual (FTM) population. To begin to modify instruments for applicability to a FTM population requires gaining more knowledge about this population with regard to religion. Research shows individuals who are transgender face resistance to and rejection of their identities beginning early in life. Reliance on majority religions and their concepts of divinity, embodiment--one's experience of having a particular body--and views of immutable, or essential, human qualities based on sex assigned at birth, may create significant problems when interacting with transgender populations. The significance of this study is in learning how a sample of FTMs conceptualize and experience religion to effect more competent interactions with this marginalized people. Interactions based on increased competency with and understanding of FTMs will contribute to improved long-term health outcomes and overall quality of life for this population. Further, exploring the experiences and beliefs of FTMs may challenge our assumptions and understandings about gender itself, expanding our knowledge about human experience of embodiment, and offering insights into traditional concepts of creation and humanity. RESULTS: This study reports a qualitative investigation of the understanding and experience of religion held by six FTM individuals. All participants completed five or more years of cross-sex hormone treatment with testosterone and identified as male. Methods from Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) guided analysis of semistructured interviews and sample size. Four common themes are presented: rejection of early concepts of religion; connection with others; construction of a way of life; and provision of a source of redefinition and reincarnation. The participants' understandings of religion do not principally parallel those in commonly studied populations. The study's most significant finding is that every participant had a fundamental break from religious tradition as he learned it. The researcher concludes by offering preliminary recommendations for clinical interventions and future research

Emerson, Reading, and Democracy: Reading as Engaged Democratic Citizenship

“What is the right use of books?” Responding to the question he famously raised, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “books are for nothing but to inspire,” which we take as endorsing a pragmatic and pluralistic view of reading literature and other kinds of texts in a manner that keeps books open to a flow of continual questioning and renewal. The purpose driving Emerson’s democratic conception of reading, we argue, is not to arrive at definitive readings but to engender new possibilities for thinking about oneself in relation to others and to society at large. As such, an Emersonian perspective on reading is a key practice for engaged democratic citizenship that provides a necessary counterweight to increasing pressure on teachers to standardize learning in schools

Freedom of the Press in Post-Truthism America

Freedom of the press in America is at a critical crossroads in a number of ways, but one stands out as most fundamental: the stark impact of the current debate over “Post-Truthism.” Press freedom jurisprudence has long been structured around the concept of an audience member’s search for truth in a marketplace of ideas. But social science research increasingly suggests that individual information consumers are in fact often driven by emotion, affirmation of political identity, and the need for cognitive shortcuts, and that they may not possess the truth-seeking, rational processing, or information-updating capabilities that the Court assumes. Whether this divide between jurisprudence and reality actually exists—and what to do about it if it does—are pressing questions for both the courts and the media, made all the more pressing as the changing media landscape and the hyperpartisan political climate exacerbate some components of the Post-Truthism critique. The concern for some is that if press jurisprudence has rested on flawed assumptions about the nature of press audiences, the new awareness of those limitations may undermine the marketplace-of-ideas justification for press freedom and its associated press protections. This Article investigates both questions. It finds that the factual premise—that the Supreme Court has made erroneous assumptions about the motivations and behaviors of information audiences—is accurate, but argues that the theoretical consequence of this gap is just the opposite of what some have suggested. Instead of undercutting the rationales for press protection, this wider modern understanding of the information-processing and truth-seeking limitations of individual press consumers in the marketplace of ideas actually underscores the need for protection of the press as a market-enhancing institution. The Article argues that a fuller appreciation of this dynamic can provide timely and helpful insight into why the Constitution might separately provide unique Press Clause protections and can offer insight into some of the functions that would qualify an institutional actor as “the press” for purposes of that constitutional protection—an identification process that will be increasingly vital as information consumers shift from legacy media to new forms of news and content delivery. The Article probes these functions and offers a conceptual framework for granting Press Clause protection to market-enhancing entities that compensate for the inherent shortcomings of individual information consumers

Freedom of the Press in Post-Truthism America

Freedom of the press in America is at a critical crossroads in a number of ways, but one stands out as most fundamental: the stark impact of the current debate over “Post-Truthism.” Press freedom jurisprudence has long been structured around the concept of an audience member’s search for truth in a marketplace of ideas. But social science research increasingly suggests that individual information consumers are in fact often driven by emotion, affirmation of political identity, and the need for cognitive shortcuts, and that they may not possess the truth-seeking, rational processing, or information-updating capabilities that the Court assumes. Whether this divide between jurisprudence and reality actually exists—and what to do about it if it does—are pressing questions for both the courts and the media, made all the more pressing as the changing media landscape and the hyperpartisan political climate exacerbate some components of the Post-Truthism critique. The concern for some is that if press jurisprudence has rested on flawed assumptions about the nature of press audiences, the new awareness of those limitations may undermine the marketplace-of-ideas justification for press freedom and its associated press protections. This Article investigates both questions. It finds that the factual premise—that the Supreme Court has made erroneous assumptions about the motivations and behaviors of information audiences—is accurate, but argues that the theoretical consequence of this gap is just the opposite of what some have suggested. Instead of undercutting the rationales for press protection, this wider modern understanding of the information-processing and truth-seeking limitations of individual press consumers in the marketplace of ideas actually underscores the need for protection of the press as a market-enhancing institution. The Article argues that a fuller appreciation of this dynamic can provide timely and helpful insight into why the Constitution might separately provide unique Press Clause protections and can offer insight into some of the functions that would qualify an institutional actor as “the press” for purposes of that constitutional protection—an identification process that will be increasingly vital as information consumers shift from legacy media to new forms of news and content delivery. The Article probes these functions and offers a conceptual framework for granting Press Clause protection to market-enhancing entities that compensate for the inherent shortcomings of individual information consumers

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: IS SRI LANKA REALLY AN EXCEPTION?

Food Security and Poverty, Political Economy,

Micro-Perspectives on 19th-century Russian Living Standards

Russia, livings standards, economic history