The We in Me : considering terrorist desistance from a social identity perspective

At present, the issue of leaving terrorism behind is a widely discussed but poorly understood subject. When compared to the extensive body of literature on the process of radicalization, research on terrorist desistance is both theoretically and conceptually lagging behind. As a consequence, policy makers and practitioners are currently operating in a theoretical vacuum. This article aims to address the pressing need for a better understanding of the discontinuance of terrorism by introducing a social identity perspective to the existing field of re-search. Social identity can be understood as the part of an individual’s self-concept that is derived from membership within personally relevant social groups. As such, the concept of social identity is vital to making sense of the identity transformation intrinsic to walking away from terrorism. Exploring the role of social identity in terrorist desistance gives prominence to the intersection between the individual and the social group. Framing terrorist dis-continuance as a process that emanates from the interface between individual and group-level mechanisms corresponds to the interactive nature of rebuilding a life after terrorism. Additionally, the explanatory value of a social identity perspective has already been demonstrated in the field of radicalisation research. Extending this theoretical framework to the subject of terrorist desistance enables us to connect the dots between two processes that are inherently linked, though frequently analysed as isolated entities

Activation policies from a gender-sensible citizenship perspective: a tentative analytical framework

The paper develops a tentative analytical framework for systematically comparing different types of activation policies with regard to their implications for the welfare triangle between state-market-family and gender inequalities. Starting point is the realization that the meanwhile universal “activation paradigm” of labour market policies, i.e. the (re-)commodification of all adults able to work, affects the welfare production of families as it conflicts with the unpaid care work for dependants performed primarily by women. From a theoretical background of social citizenship rights, it is assumed that this unpaid care work can neither be fully commodified and de-familised, nor that this is desirable for society. Rather, the notion of an inclusive social citizenship developed by feminist welfare state research includes both earning and caring responsibilities of all citizens as a basis for recognition and subsistence. Two main research questions arising from this inherent tension of activation policies are tackled in this paper: First, how do the different country variants of activation policies address this tension and what are the interdependencies between national welfare and gender regimes and the specific activation type? Second, what are the outcomes of this interplay in terms of social inequality especially with regard to gender and class, and regarding the notion of inclusive social citizenship? To operationalise these questions for comparative research, a tentative analytical framework is proposed, developing seven relevant dimensions and respective indicators to measure or assess them. This analytical tool has been applied in a case study of German activation policies, whose central findings are summarised, drawing conclusions in the light of comparative research. -- Das Papier entwickelt einen vorläufigen Analyserahmen für den systematischen Vergleich unterschiedlicher Typen von Aktivierungspolitiken im Hinblick auf ihre Implikationen für das Wohlfahrtsdreieck zwischen Staat-Markt-Familie und Geschlechterungleichheiten. Ausgangspunkt ist die Erkenntnis, dass das inzwischen universell gültige arbeitsmarktpolitische Aktivierungsparadigma, d. h. die (Re-)Kommodifizierung aller erwerbsfähigen Bürgerinnen und Bürger, die Wohlfahrtsproduktion der Familie insofern betrifft als es mit der vor allem von Frauen unbezahlt geleisteten Sorgearbeit für Angehörige kollidiert. Auf dem theoretischen Hintergrund sozialer BürgerInnenrechte wird angenommen, dass diese unbezahlte Sorgearbeit weder vollständig kommodifiziert und de-familialisiert werden kann, noch dass dies gesellschaftlich wünschenswert ist. Vielmehr bedeutet die Idee einer inklusiven sozialen Staatsbürgerschaft wie sie in der feministischen Wohlfahrtsstaatsforschung entwickelt wurde, dass sie sowohl Erwerbs- als auch Sorgeverantwortung aller Bürger und Bürgerinnen als Basis für Anerkennung und Subsistenzrechte einschließt. Ausgehend von diesem dem Aktivierungsparadigma inhärenten Spannungsverhältnis werden zwei zentrale Forschungsfragen formuliert: Erstens, wie beantworten die unterschiedlichen Ländervarianten von Aktivierungspolitik dieses Spannungsverhältnis und welche Interdependenzen bestehen zwischen Wohlfahrts- und Gender-Regimen und dem spezifischen Aktivierungstyp? Zweitens, was sind die Ergebnisse dieses Zusammenspiels im Hinblick auf soziale Ungleichheiten besonders von Geschlecht und Klasse und hinsichtlich der Idee sozial inklusiver Staatsbürgerschaft? Um diese Fragen für die vergleichende Forschung zu operationalisieren, wird ein vorläufiger Analyserahmen vorgeschlagen, der sieben relevante Dimensionen und entsprechende Indikatoren für deren Messung und Bewertung enthält. Dieses Analyseinstrument wurde für eine Fallstudie deutscher Aktivierungspolitik angewendet, deren zentrale Befunde im Licht vergleichender Forschung diskutiert werden.

The UK National Health Service’s 'innovation agenda': lessons on commercialization and trust

The UK National Health Service (the 'NHS'), encouraged by the 2011 report Innovation Health and Wealth, Accelerating Adoption and Diffusion in the NHS, and empowered by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, is in the process of adopting a new agenda for stimulating innovation in healthcare. For this, the bodies, body materials, and confidential health information of NHS patients may be co-opted. We explain why this brings the NHS into a moral conflict with its basic goal of providing a universal healthcare service. Putting NHS databases at the disposal of industry, without addressing ethical concerns regarding the privacy, autonomy, and moral integrity of patients and without requiring a 'kick-back' to enhance the service that the NHS provides, is inappropriate. As this article shows, with reference to the commercial arena of direct-to-consumer genetic testing, it is crucial that patient and public trust in the NHS is not eroded

Assessing the morality of the commercial exploitation of inventions concerning uses of human embryos and the relevance of moral complicity

In late 2008, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) reached a decision supporting the rejection of a patent application on human embryonic stem cells filed by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). This article comments on some of the shortcomings of the decision. The key legal provisions at issue in this case were Rule 28(c) EPC, which forbids the granting of patents in respect of biotechnological inventions which concern uses of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes, and Article 53(a) EPC, the morality provision of the European Patent Convention. The Board rightly found the Rule to exclude WARF’s claims (but, we argue, left a “deposit loophole”). However, one of the issues the Board had to address was whether the Rule might not apply because it extended the scope of prohibited subject matter beyond that prohibited by the Article. We argue that, unless the Article had been found to exclude patentability, the applicability of the Rule could not be determined. Even though at the oral hearing before the Board, both WARF and the EPO President identified the question whether the Article (the morality provision) constituted a barrier to patentability as the core issue in this case, the Board astonishingly decided that this question did not need answering (even though the Board did hint at the basis for the answer). We argue that this is a major shortcoming of the decision. Finally, we comment on the relevance of moral complicity to the question of patentability

Why are male students less likely to opt for social science courses? : a theory-driven analysis

Copyright © 2020 SageIn this article, we discuss the question of why only a few men decide to study social science courses such as social work. While the conceptual base of our analysis includes the theory of planned behaviour and theories centring on gender role orientations, the empirical base is a random cluster sample of high-school graduates in Switzerland. The results show different gender effects, as well as direct and indirect effects, for all the theory of planned behaviour factors. Gender role orientations and the question of how a social science profession fits one’s own gender identity appear to be of particular importance only among male students