Children and international relations : a new site of knowledge?

Recent years have seen the growth of approaches critical of traditional state-centred examinations of international relations, arguing instead for analyses that recognise actors and methods previously held largely silent within the mainstream International Relations (IR) discourse. This article argues that children are a group of actors worthy of similar recognition. Despite the fact that 'childhood studies' are comparatively well established in a number of academic disciplines, similar recognition has been later in coming to the study of IR. This article aims to address this perceived gap in the literature by first of all outlining the ways in which the discourse surrounding the child in IR has so far developed. This leads into an, examination of how the child may potentially best be conceptualised within the mainstream discourse and the implications of the inclusion of children as a 'site of knowledge' through which the international system may be more clearly understood.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Text Mining and the Information Content of Bank of Canada Communications

This paper uses Latent Semantic Analysis to extract information from Bank of Canada communication statements and investigates what type of information affects returns and volatility in short-term as well as long-term interest rate markets over the 2002-2008 period. Discussions about geopolitical risk and other external shocks, major domestic shocks (SARS and BSE), the balance of risks to the economic projection, and various forward looking statements are found to significantly affect market returns and volatility, especially for short-term markets. This effect is over and above that from the information contained in any policy interest rate surprise.Financial markets; Monetary policy implementation

Video Recording of Seated Shot-Putters During World-Class Events

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An Examination of Contemporary Fundraising Trends and Support for a Sustainable Shift to Full-Cost Funding

For decades, nonprofit organizations have faced immense challenges securing adequate funding that will not only run their programs, but cover all operational and overhead costs. Traditional funding models often restrict funds to specific projects or services, leaving nonprofits with financial instability, and potentially hindering their ability to fully deliver on their missions. Recently, there has been a shift in the philanthropic landscape that challenges these more restrictive fundraising models. As this conversation has grown, the concept of “Full Cost Funding” has gained traction, which calls for a more comprehensive funding approach that covers the full costs of running an organization, including indirect costs such as overhead, infrastructure, and fundraising costs. This study seeks to provide an in-depth examination of the challenges and influences that affect nonprofit fundraising. A comprehensive understanding of these issues is crucial for nonprofits to enhance their fundraising strategies, and for funders to better align their funds with the real needs of the organizations they support. Further, this study aims to contribute a recommendation to the Full Cost funding discussion by proposing a Sustainable Full-Cost Coalition Philanthropy Framework. This framework envisions a collaborative approach to Full Cost Funding, involving a coalition of major funders working collaboratively with nonprofit organizations. This analysis and framework are presented in hopes of offering a potential recommendation to enhance Full Cost funding support and strengthen the sustainability of the nonprofit sector

The training and development of Muslim faith leaders: current practice and future possibilities

"There were three broad aims [of the review]: 1. To research and evaluate the current training provisions for imams and scholars provided by seminaries and other imam-training institutions in the UK; to explore the strengths and weaknesses of current provision; and, in particular, to identify any gaps in the training of faith leaders that need to be addressed. 2. To explore the different models and methods employed for training faith leaders and to identify elements of best practice for wider dissemination. 3. To explore the possibilities of collaborative initiatives between the providers of Muslim faith leadership training and mainstream further education and higher education institutions and the possibility of attaining additional knowledge and skills leading to higher education qualifications and better employment prospects." - Page 8

Ideology, utopia and Islam on campus: how to free speech a little from its own terrors

A dominant narrative on many British campuses is ‘Prevent’, which is part of the government’s counter-terror policy, an ideology based on fear. Muslims, in particular, are considered to be at risk of radicalisation on campus, and being under suspicion makes them self-censor. Additionally, the no-platforming student lobby creates a utopian, idealised atmosphere that seeks to reduce dissent. Self-censorship and no-platforming are reducing the diversity of opinions expressed at universities, yet there is no evidence of illegality on campus. Spinoza, JS Mill and Hannah Arendt demanded various forms of free speech for a healthy society, and the free speech issue is the key to ‘Prevent’ which suppresses opinions that are different from the dominant government narratives. The challenge now, in the tide of BREXIT and Trump, is how to free speech, even a little, from the pincer grip of establishment ideology and student utopia. Between the extremes of ideology and utopia is a vacuum that must be filled; if we do not fill it with free speech and discussion, others can colonise it with stories that inspire fear and suspicion. Similarly, a vacuum exists naturally between laws (that set norms) and state guidance on laws (application). If we do not use debate to negotiate the contents of this vacuum, it will be filled with the bureaucracy of fear and even a state of exception. A vacuum demands to be filled. In both cases, we need to actively reclaim each ‘vacuum’ for discussion, debate and questioning in order to try and understand our current cultural imagination and develop a better one

Unveiling Orientalism in reverse

This volume is centred around the theme of veiling in Islam and provides multifarious aspects of the discussion regarding veiling of Muslim women, especially in the West. The issue of veiling has been intensively debated in Western society and has implications for religious liberty, inter-communal relationships and cultural interaction. Islam and the Veil seeks to generate open and objective discussion of this highly important, though controversial, subject, with contributions from distinguished scholars and academics, including female practitioners of Islam. This subject has inflamed passions and generated heated debate in the media in recent years, particularly in the West. This book aims to look at the historical background, theological and social factors underlying the veiling of women in Islam. Such discussion will provide the reader with a well-balanced and unbiased analysis of this important aspect of Islamic practice

Particles and Waves: Poetic Responses to Place - Psycho-geography and/as practice

Utilising a range of psychogeographic practices, this project comprises a hybrid creative response to the natural landscape of West Wales, using the River Towy as a focal point. It is concerned with an exploration of the importance of identity, and with themes of the spiritual, land, gender, culture and history. The work’s originality results from the application of predominantly male urban writing practices in a rural Welsh environment from a woman’s standpoint. The journey recounted in the creative piece is understood essentially as a transformative, personal process of a transcendental nature, whilst also exploring and depicting the nature of the differing stages of the river and those who live in or come to the specific locations, including Carmarthen, the Cambrian Mountains, Llandeilo, Llandovery, and Llansteffan. It is informed by the belief that some places are imbued with energies that may cause specific types of human interaction and responses. The project was developed through investigative visits to predetermined sites at significant positions and with notable histories, in order to ascertain and record what might be felt, observed and experienced, leading to site-specific writing. It is formally diverse, including short essays, prose and poetry of various kinds, the use of found texts. It is presented as a ‘scrapbook’ and makes creative use of the interplay between text and image. The multi-layered approach assumes that myths, fiction and fact are all of equal importance and intuitive skills are acknowledged as essential. The work, thus, is informed by recent developments in psychogeography, i.e. ‘mythogeography’ or ‘deep topography’. The writing is experimental and influenced by the zeitgeist preference for abbreviated/truncated writing. The methodologies of this practice-based project include autoethnographic responses and an exploration of psychogeographic literature and practice. The creative piece is supported by a wide and deep contextual background, which has informed its development

Ricoeur on Plotinus: Negation and Forms of Populism

Plotinus developed a metaphorical approach to language that allowed him to offer a transcendent vision of God, a paradox that made clear how ineffably and incontrovertibly unclear God is – as is our relationship with Him. Ricoeur bridged the centuries by working intensively upon Plotinus in the 1950s-70s. He was seeking a philosophy of negation to help him understand the ways in which modern humans define themselves by lack, loss and longing and asked himself: ‘what is not-ness?’ Eventually Ricoeur abandoned his search for a philosophy of negation that would explain the negative turn in modern life, and developed a model of language and of dialectic within which the negative was embedded. By fully integrating negation into various language forms (metaphor, dialectic) he was implementing the conviction that we have to accept that the negative (that which we want to reject) is an integral part of each of us: blame cannot be attributed to others. Through his negation project Ricoeur applied existential thinking to negative theology and gave its structural strangeness a new application. Using Plotinus he ensured that opposing existential concerns can in fact be brought into discussion, when we accept the impossibility of the unity for which we long. I propose that he even created a strange kind of analogue between negative theologies and existentialist problems, adapting the powerful provisionality of Plotinus’ dialectical and metaphorical devices, to help him address modern crises. Laclau believed that these crises can be solved, and Butler and Lorey concur, all three arguing for close attention to language, rhetoric and the people’s potential. In this context we can instructively apply Ricoeur’s adaptation of Plotinus to consider the emerging patterns around the Mediterranean, which we wish to negate and really must act upon: a mounting refugee crisis, the instability created by wars and an increasingly insecure workforce. The first step for a nation to take is to be able to talk about such matters and research on university campuses suggest that this is being inhibited by government regulatory practices. Attempts to reverse this trend render the extraordinary worlds of Plotinus and Ricoeur immensely useful. Using Plotinus he ensured that opposing existential concerns can in fact be brought into discussion, when we accept the impossibility of the unity for which we long. If we contrast this with the non-dialogic, argumentative and polarised discourse of populist political parties across Europe and round Plotinus’ Mediterranean, we can see how potent it could be to re-introduce Ricoeur’s response to Plotinus into modern discourse