Deliberative representation in parliament

This research sets out clarifying theoretically the relations with two democratically relevant concepts: political representation and deliberation. It does so by developing the idea of ‘deliberative representation’ and studying it empirically in a parliamentary context. Recent scholarship of representation, namely the constructivist turn, sees the concept of representation as dynamic and fluid. As such, this paradigm shift looks past the electoral notion that highlights the premise of interests and preferences. Scholarship on deliberation is similarly revising its focus. This research draws especially from the systemic approach to deliberation. It implies that loosening traditional normative criteria will advance the study of deliberation in politically charged settings such as legislatures. Both strands of theories are gradually assuming context and function sensitive perspectives that are merged in my reading of deliberative representation. The under-theorised link between representation and deliberation has resulted in shortage of empirical accounts of where representatives operate in. The research is motivated by a simple question: what do representatives actually do when they represent? Finding answers to this question helps in understanding what drives deliberation in parliaments. The proposed framework of deliberative representation allows a more nuanced outlook on representative activities and practices. Consequently, this refined perspective allows addressing and re-assessing some prevailing assumptions of political science about the strategic and adversarial incentives and orientations of elected representatives. In this research, the dynamics of deliberative representation are studied in and illustrated through a particular legislature, the Parliament of Finland. For this purpose, 60 Finnish Members of Parliament (and 5 parliamentary committee chairs) were interviewed over the period of 2008–2016. The research illustrates that although institutional and procedural settings of legislature incentivize representative practices, thus inducing deliberation in various ways, the contextual and functional interplay argued by deliberative representation adds to the analysis in novel ways. Three dominant contexts of representation are identified: the affirmative, operative and performative context. Each discussed context specifies how the functions of representation are established and carried out. Also, features relating to the deliberative process are explored. Finally, three deliberative modes are detected in the contexts of representation: what I call expressive-deliberative, strategic-deliberative and expressive-partisan deliberative mode. The novelty of this research lies in its aspiration to use the language of political theory more closely in conducting empirical inquiry. While doing that, it has also contributed to the scholarship on representative practices in parliaments. Finally, the research suggests that the contexts of representation are generally recognizable, and therefore they may find applications outside the parliamentary setting.Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on tarkastella parlamenttia edustamisen ja deliberaation eli harkitsevan ja punnitsevan puheen paikkana. Tutkimuksen kysymyksenasettelu on lähtökohdiltaan teoreettinen. Se sijoittuu politiikan teorian, erityisesti deliberatiivisen demokratiateorian ja poliittista edustamista käsittelevien keskusteluiden läpileikkauskohtaan. Johtuen siitä, että edustamisen ja deliberaation välinen suhde on jokseenkin aliteoretisoitu, on myös tästä näkökulmasta tehtyjen, edustajien toiminnalliseen työympäristöön sijoittuvien empiiristen tutkimusten määrä vähäinen. Täten tutkimuksella on myös toinen tavoite: tuoda parlamentti ja siellä tapahtuva edustustoiminta empiirisen tutkimuksen kohteeksi. Tutkimuksen aineiston muodostaa 60 suomalaisen kansanedustajan (ja viiden valiokuntaneuvoksen) puolistrukturoidut tutkimushaastattelut, jotka on kerätty aikavälillä 2008–2016. Tutkimus lähtee liikkeelle hyvin yksinkertaisesta ajatuksesta: mitä edustajat oikeastaan käytännössä tekevät kun he edustavat? Tässä työssä hahmotellaan analyyttinen työkalu, deliberatiivinen edustaminen, jota tarkastellaan tutkimuksessa määriteltyjen kolmen edustamisen kontekstin kautta. Niissä edustamisella ja deliberaatiolla on omat tarkoituksensa ja tavoitteensa. Kansanedustajat tunnistavat nämä muutokset deliberaation käytössä ja hyödyntämisessä, kun kyseessä on esimerkiksi eduskuntaryhmän sisäinen toiminta, valiokunnan kokous tai istuntosalityöskentely. Affirmatiivinen konteksti selittää sitä, kuinka deliberatiivisessa edustamisessa tarvitaan muita oman mielipiteen punnintaan, peilaamiseen ja vahvistamiseen. Operatiivinen konteksti lähtee ajatuksesta, että edustamisessa halutaan saada asioita tehdyksi ja aikaiseksi. Tämä edellyttää kansanedustajilta yhteistyötä, kompromissikyvykkyyttä sekä myös tavoitteellista ja strategista deliberaatiota. Viimeiseksi, performativiisessa kontekstissa deliberatiivinen edustaminen osoittaa että ”asioita on saatu aikaiseksi”. Deliberaation tasapuolisuutta ja kuuntelevuutta korostavat elementit liudentuvat istuntosalityöskentelyssä. Menestyksekäs kansanedustaja kykenee toimimaan kaikissa edellä mainituissa konteksteissa: tietää asioista, mutta osoittaa myös kykyä kuunnella ja kunnioittaa muita sekä heidän mielipiteitään pystyessään samanaikaisesti ajamaan ja kommunikoimaan omia poliittisia tavoitteitaan. Deliberatiivisen edustamisen näkökulmasta todellinen jännite onkin eduskunnan näkyvän ja näkymättömän työn välillä ja tämän ristiriidan esilletuomisessa

Teaching Communication Activism: Communication Education for Social Justice

Teaching Communication Activism: Communication Education for Social Justice provides an innovative account of activist teaching. It is an excellent read for instructors navigating an increasingly overburdened and underfunded academic environment. The contributors of this edited volume provide inspirational accounts of social activism in the classroom. Teaching Communication Activism is a hopeful compilation with the potential to reinvigorate higher education by reuniting theory with practice and celebrating the cacophonous melody of multiple voices

Interdisciplinary authentic assessment: cognitive expectations and student performance

This two-pronged quantitative, non-experimental design study, conducted at an urban secondary school of 472 students in Los Angeles, California, was designed to gain understanding of the potential impact of interdisciplinary authentic assessment and the manner and complexity with which such tasks push students to think. Since limited research has been conducted around the results of such practices at the secondary school level, this research serves as a pilot study to examine (a) cognitive levels of Bloom\u27s Taxonomy present within four interdisciplinary authentic assessment tasks, following an ongoing professional development intervention and (b) student performance on these assessments of varying cognitive complexity. Panel analysis of objectives from the assessments under study revealed that 94% of objectives measured student understanding beyond knowledge and comprehension levels of Bloom\u27s Taxonomy. Sixty two percent of these objectives measured understanding within the top three cognitive levels (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation). Middle to upper taxonomy levels were identified most frequently, particularly the application, analysis, and synthesis levels of the taxonomy at 32%, 34%, and 22%, respectively. Student performance did not increase or decrease substantially with cognitive demand; instead, students on average performed near proficiency level (3.0, on 1.0 to 4.0 scaled rubrics) on each cognitive level, indicating that students may be able to meet challenges at varying levels of cognitive demand. From this pilot study, interdisciplinary authentic assessment appears to be an appropriate and necessary challenge for secondary school curricula, particularly with increasing pressure for accountability around standardized test performance. Such assessments should be coupled with traditional assessments to develop multiple levels of understanding. Since issues such as lack of reliability, inconsistency in assessment design and grading, and potential for grading bias remain important challenges with authentic assessment, and since there is little existing expertise in the area of interdisciplinary curriculum development, more collaboration, accessibility, and instruction around such methods in schools should be encouraged. Although challenges with interdisciplinary authentic curricula are many, schools should rethink approaches to assessment and may need policy incentives to do so. Education policy should not limit itself to a focus on traditional testing alone

The effects of socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of regions on the spatial patterns of the Second Demographic Transition in Finland

The article studies to what extent regional socioeconomic and cultural characteristics explain spatial patterns in the Second Demographic Transition in Finland. The country’s 75 functional regions are used as area units. A summary indicator of the transition based on divorce and cohabitation is used as the dependent variable. The results show that the spatial pattern is mainly determined according to the regional level of urbanization, but the effect is mediated by cultural characteristics (secularization and support for the socialist and green parties). The cultural characteristics have only a modest independent effect.cohabitation, cultural factors, divorce rate, regional differences, second demographic transition, socioeconomic factors

Pengetahuan Gizi Dan Perilaku Makan Remaja Di SMP Gloria 1 Surabaya

Penelitian dilakukan untuk mengetahui pemahaman remaja Surabaya tentang gizi makanan dan adanya penerapan perilaku makannya. Variabel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah perilaku makan dan pengetahuan gizi yang meliputi beberapa komponen: zat makro, zat mikro, dan serat. Data diambil dari 120 orang siswa-siswi di salah satu sekolah swasta di Surabaya yang diperoleh dengan menggunakan teknik convenience sampling. Teknik analisis yang digunakan adalah analisa statistik deskriptif yang melihat hasil mean. Hasil penelitian menunjukan pengetahuan gizi tergolong tinggi. Sedangkan Perilaku makan cukup baik. Hasil uji beda independent t-sampel menunjukkan adanya beda signifikan pengetahuan gizi antara pria dan wanita, sedangkan perilaku makan pada pria dan wanita tidak ada perbedaan signifikan

Sensitivity of IceCube-DeepCore to neutralino dark matter in the MSSM-25

We analyse the sensitivity of IceCube-DeepCore to annihilation of neutralino dark matter in the solar core, generated within a 25 parameter version of the minimally supersymmetric standard model (MSSM-25). We explore the 25-dimensional parameter space using scanning methods based on importance sampling and using DarkSUSY 5.0.6 to calculate observables. Our scans produced a database of 6.02 million parameter space points with neutralino dark matter consistent with the relic density implied by WMAP 7-year data, as well as with accelerator searches. We performed a model exclusion analysis upon these points using the expected capabilities of the IceCube-DeepCore Neutrino Telescope. We show that IceCube-DeepCore will be sensitive to a number of models that are not accessible to direct detection experiments such as SIMPLE, COUPP and XENON100, indirect detection using Fermi-LAT observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, nor to current LHC searches.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures. V2: Additional comparisons are made to limits from Fermi-LAT observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies and to the 125 GeV Higgs signal from the LHC. The spectral hardness section has been removed. Matches version accepted for publication in JCAP. V3: Typos correcte

MILD Combustion Limit Phenomena

This work contains an analysis of the existence of critical phenomena in MILD combustion systems through an exploration of classical results from high-energy asymptotics theory for extinction conditions of non-premixed flames and well-stirred reactors. Through the derivation of an expression linking burning rate to Damköhler number, the criteria for a folded S-Shaped Curve, representative of a combustion system with sudden extinction and ignition behavior, was derived. This theory is discussed in detail, with particular focus on the limitations of the global chemistry it presents. The conditions reported by various previously-published numerical and experimental investigations are then discussed in the context of this theory. Of these investigations, those with the highest level of preheat and dilution had monotonic rather than folded S-Shaped Curves, indicating a lack of sudden extinction phenomena. It suggests that MILD combustion systems are those which lack sudden ignition and extinction behavior, therefore exhibiting a smooth, stretched S-Shaped Curve rather than a folded one with inflection points. The results suggest that the delineation between folded versus monotonic S-Shaped Curves may provide a useful alternative definition of MILD combustion

Long Hours, Uneasy Feelings : Parliamentary Work in Denmark, Finland and Sweden

A correction has been published: Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 75, Issue 3, July 2022, Page 576, https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsab034Politicians' work pressure is gaining more attention in parliamentary studies. To participate in the discussion about governing under pressure, this article offers an interdisciplinary approach to investigate how representatives navigate within a flexible, limitless work culture. This article presents a new inquiry to re-examine contemporary political agency by combining cultural studies theories with empirical insights in Nordic countries. By analysing 52 semi-structured interviews with MPs in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, the study finds that politics attracts people who want to change the world, but these attributes may initiate a vicious cycle, taking the form of psychological strain.Peer reviewe

Scientists as storytellers: the explanatory power of stories told about environmental crises

This paper examines how storytelling functions to share and to shape knowledge, particularly when scientific knowledge is uncertain because of rapid environmental change. Narratives or stories are the descriptive sequencing of events to make a point. In comparison with scientific deduction, the point (plot) of a story can be either implicit or explicit, and causal links between events in the story are interpretative, rendering narrative a looser inferential framework. We explore how storytelling (the process) and stories (or narratives) involving scientists can make sense of environmental crises, where conditions change rapidly and natural, social, and scientific systems collide. We use the example of the Soufrière Hills volcanic eruption (Montserrat) and scientists' experiences of the events during that time. We used 37 stories gathered from seven semi-structured interviews and one group interview (five scientists). We wanted to understand whether these stories generate or highlight knowledge and information that do not necessarily appear in more conventional scientific literature produced in relation to environmental crisis and how that knowledge explicitly or implicitly shapes future actions and views. Through our analysis of the value these stories bring to volcanic risk reduction, we argue that scientists create and transmit important knowledge about risk reduction through the stories they tell one another. In our example storytelling and stories are used in several ways: (1) evidencing the value of robust long-term monitoring strategies during crises, (2) exploring the current limits of scientific rationality and the role of instinct in a crisis, and (3) the examination of the interactions and outcomes of wide-ranging drivers of population risk. More broadly these stories allowed for the emotional intensity of these experiences to be acknowledged and discussed; the actions and outcomes of the storytelling are important. This is not about the “story” of research findings but the sharing of experience and important knowledge about how to manage and cope with volcanic crises. We suggest that storytelling frameworks could be better harnessed in both volcanic and other contexts