Social infrastructure and ‘left-behind places’

We explore the making, unmaking and remaking of social infrastructure (SI) in ‘left-behind places’ (LBPs) through a case study a former mining village in northern England. We address the understudied affective dimensions of ‘left-behindness’. Seeking to move beyond a narrowly economistic of reading LBPs, our framework: strongly emphasises the importance of place attachments and the consequences of their disruption; considers LBPs as ‘moral communities’, seeing the making of SI as an expression of this; views the unmaking of SI through the lens of ‘root shock’; and explains efforts at remaking SI in terms of the articulation of ‘radical hope’

The Social and Political Dimensions of the Ebola Response: Global Inequality, Climate Change, and Infectious Disease

The 2014 Ebola crisis has highlighted public-health vulnerabilities in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea – countries ravaged by extreme poverty, deforestation and mining-related disruption of livelihoods and ecosystems, and bloody civil wars in the cases of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Ebola’s emergence and impact are grounded in the legacy of colonialism and its creation of enduring inequalities within African nations and globally, via neoliberalism and the Washington Consensus. Recent experiences with new and emerging diseases such as SARS and various strains of HN influenzas have demonstrated the effectiveness of a coordinated local and global public health and education-oriented response to contain epidemics. To what extent is international assistance to fight Ebola strengthening local public health and medical capacity in a sustainable way, so that other emerging disease threats, which are accelerating with climate change, may be met successfully? This chapter considers the wide-ranging socio-political, medical, legal and environmental factors that have contributed to the rapid spread of Ebola, with particular emphasis on the politics of the global and public health response and the role of gender, social inequality, colonialism and racism as they relate to the mobilization and establishment of the public health infrastructure required to combat Ebola and other emerging diseases in times of climate change

An historical explanation of the development of occupational health and safety and the important position it now occupies in society

Scientific and social (economic and ethical) dimensions of occupational health and safety (OH&S) are discussed. Three broad stages in the development of ethics in Western society are analysed in order to assist in understanding the arrival of moral relativism and constructivism under postmodernism. Against this background three recent stages in the emergence of OH&S are outlined and OH&S is shown to be of key importance to sustainable development. Comment is made about the prospects for survival, under moral relativism, of the duty of care ethic which lies at the heart of OH&S and which has until the present time catalysed professionally responsible innovation and change. It is argued that (1) because OH&S tools and techniques called up in legislation are scientific in nature and apply equally to all under law, and (2) because OH&S is increasingly understood as a profitability strategy, ongoing duty of care appeals for reform may continue to be effective even against the corrosive malaise of moral relativism. OH&S workers are reminded of the contribution their profession can make to safe and civil society and to sustainable development and their responsibility for upholding and promoting the ethical dimension expressed through duty of care

Desktop security as a three-dimensional problem

In this paper we argue against viewing computer desktop security solely as a technical issue. Instead, we propose a perspective that combines three related dimensions: technical infrastructure, usability and user engagement. In this light, we suggest that a viable approach to desktop security should embrace these three key dimensions of the end-user context. An example desktop application is described that has been engineered to embody these dimensions in support of the desktop user

The Moderating Role of Context in Determining Unethical Managerial Behavior: A Case Survey

We examine the moderating role of the situational and organizational contexts in determining unethical managerial behavior, applying the case-survey methodology. On the basis of a holistic, multiple-antecedent perspective, we hypothesize that two key constructs, moral intensity and situational strength, help explain contextual moderating effects on relationships between managers’ individual characteristics and unethical behavior. Based on a quantitative analysis of 52 case studies describing occurrences of real-life unethical conduct, we find empirical support for the hypothesized contextual moderating effects of moral intensity and situational strength. By examining these complex contextual moderators, we aim to contribute to organizational ethics research as we shed light on the critical role that context may play in influencing unethical managerial behavior

Beyond Moral Coupling: Analysing Politics of Privacy in the Era of Surveillance

The article calls into question the prevailing discursive construction in contemporary debate on privacy and surveillance. At the core of this discourse is a moral coupling wherein surveillance is perceived as enemy and privacy as friend. Even if this binary approach renders arguments for democratising data more persuasive, a political cost accompanies it. As this discourse situates political struggle at the level of digital infrastructure and political structures, the moral coupling largely overlooks the ambiguities of how people in their various activities in a digital environment experience surveillance and privacy. Such a framing may discourage users at large from engagement with politics of privacy. Edward Snowden’s autobiography is taken as a prominent example of the prevailing discourse. While analysing Snowden’s descriptions of privacy and surveillance critically, the author points out the specific value of life stories in describing what privacy means and why it matters. While we cannot assume all people to be equally capable of considering how their own life intersects with the history of their society, we can presume that varying life stories should contribute to the public knowledge of privacy. To provide the framework necessary for appropriately contextualising empirical evidence, the author presents a model wherein privacy is composed of five dimensions: solitude, anonymity, secrecy, intimacy, and dignity

Technology, governance, and a sustainability model for small and medium-sized towns in Europe

New and cutting-edge technologies causing deep changes in societies, playing the role of game modifiers, and having a significant impact on global markets in small and medium-sized towns in Europe (SMSTEs) are the focus of this research. In this context, an analysis was carried out to identify the main dimensions of a model for promoting innovation in SMSTEs. The literature review on the main dimensions boosting the innovation in SMSTEs and the methodological approach was the application of a survey directed to experts on this issue. The findings from the literature review reflect that technologies, governance, and sustainability dimensions are enablers of SMSTEs’ innovation, and based on the results of the survey, a model was implemented to boost innovation, being this the major add-on of this research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Transatlantic Dimension to the Conflict in Lebanon: Whatever Happened to the Responsibility to Protect?

In this BASIC Paper, Dr. Ian Davis examines the U.S. and U.K. roles and responsibilities in the Lebanon conflict. He supports the call being made by many governments and civil society groups: that a political solution to the twin crises of Lebanon and Palestine must be the international community's urgent priority. Dr. Davis also highlights the importance of international law in coping with the conflict and argues that the international community should be prepared to contribute a sufficient military force with a robust mandate to create a zone of security along the southern border with Israel. He concludes the paper by proposing key principles for a lasting solution to the conflict