Concept stretching. The case of deliberation

Sartori (1970) warned a long time ago of the danger of concept stretching for effective and cumulative theory building. Such concept stretching has happened with regard to deliberation, which has become a very faddish term. For theoretically well-founded empirical research it is better conceptually to distinguish clearly between strategic bargaining and deliberation, although in the empirical political world the two concepts are usually heavily intertwined. Keywords deliberation; concept stretching; strategic bargainin

Structure and Process in Consociationalism and Federalism

It is relatively easy to characterize the institutional structure of a country as consociational or federal. The task is much more difficult if we turn from structure to the decision process. Within a given structure, there may be a great deal of variation with regard to the decision process. Data for such variation are given for the decision process in Switzerland for which the following four types are distinguished: (1) consociational and federal, (2) consociational and unitary, (3) competitive and federal, and (4) competitive and unitary. Difficulties are discussed in aggregating from such a variation to a measure for the prevailing decision process in a country as a whole. It is suggested that the problem be disaggregated and that decision processes be compared for particular issues. This can be done both across and within countrie

Political Decision Making in Face-to-Face Groups: Theory, Methods, and an Empirical Application in Switzerland

This article presents a model of decision making and introduces a new theoretical variable to the literature, namely, the modes of decision making. The theoretical focus is on the face-to-face group, and the article also develops an innovative methodology for studying this type of decision-making behavior. Variation in the decision modes is explained as a function of the strategic considerations of individual decision makers. These considerations are affected by a set of four independent variables: structure of the decision group, substance of the conflict, context of the conflict, and the decision process. The data, drawn from observations of decision-making groups in Switzerland, are tested with discriminant analysis and a simulation. In both cases total correct classifications exceed 55 percent, indicating that there is a meaningful structure relating variation in the decision modes to the theoretical framewor

Deliberation across Deep Divisions. Transformative Moments

In group discussions of any kind there tends to be an up and down in the level of deliberation. To capture this dynamic we coined the concept of Deliberative Transformative Moments (DTM). In deeply divided societies deliberation is particularly important in order to arrive at peace and stability, but deliberation is also very difficult to be attained. Therefore, we wanted to learn about the conditions that in group discussions across the deep divisions of such societies help deliberation. We organized such group discussions between ex-guerrillas and ex-paramilitaries in Colombia, Serbs and Bosnjaks in Srebrenica, and poor residents and local police officers in the favelas (slums) of Brazil. We could identify factors that help to transform discussions from low to high deliberation and risk transformations in the opposite direction. We could also identify factors that help to keep a discussion at a high level of deliberation, and, in a next step, we could determine to what extent long sequences of deliberation had a positive impact on the outcomes of the discussions. Finally, we show how our research results can have a long term effect if it is used in schools of such deeply divided societies

Simulation based case studies for management training in the fields of production and supply chain Management

It is well known that interactive learning is much more efficient than classical learning with textbooks. With the broad propagation of computers, new opportunities for computer-based interactive learning are available. In particular, simulation based learning allows the student to learn based on experience. In economic and technical environments, where complex systems comprise numerous decision variables, conducting experiments can provide a deeper insights and an intuitive understanding to the student. In the present paper, a newly developed environment for computer-based interactive learning in the fields of production and supply chain training is described. The different steps from the evaluation of an appropriate electronic platform to the development of eight different case studies for the students are explained. The environment now provides an easily applicable and ready-to-use solution for university teachers and their students

Functional interactions among members of the meiotic initiation complex in fission yeast

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) initiate meiotic recombination in Schizosaccharomyces pombe and in other organisms. The Rec12 protein catalyzes the formation of these DSBs in concert with a multitude of accessory proteins the role of which in this process remains to be discovered. In an all-to-all yeast two-hybrid matrix analysis, we discovered new interactions among putative members of the meiotic recombination initiation complex. We found that Rec7, an axial-element associated protein with homologies to Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rec114, is interacting with Rec24. Rec7 and Rec24 also co-immunoprecipitate in S. pombe during meiosis. An amino acid change in a conserved, C-terminal phenylalanine in Rec7, F325A interrupts the interaction with Rec24. Moreover, rec7F325A shows a recombination deficiency comparable to rec7Δ. Another interaction was detected between Rec12 and Rec14, the orthologs of which in S. cerevisiae Spo11 and Ski8 interact accordingly. Amino acid changes Rec12Q308A and Rec12R309A disrupt the interaction with Rec14, like the according amino acid changes Spo11Q376A and Spo11RE377AA loose the interaction with Ski8. Both amino acid changes in Rec12 reveal a recombination deficient rec12 − phenotype. We propose that both Rec7-Rec24 and Rec12-Rec14 form subcomplexes of the meiotic recombination initiation comple

Learning to deliberate

To deliberate is a skill like any other that can be learned. The paper shows how schools can teach deliberative skills