Banded Contracts, Mediating Institutions, and Corporate Governance: A Naturalist Analysis of Contractual Theories of the Firm

Fort and Noone relate business ethics to notions of transcendence found in nature and anthropology. They address the notion of contracts within corporate legal theory because contracts are used as a model both by those who advocate minimalist, agency business duties and by others who propound a broad business ethic

Adapting Corporate Governance for Sustainable Peace

In previous work, we argued that there is a link between corporate governance and the reduction of violence. In this manuscript, we further explore that link with a focus on how corporations can work toward the goal of reduction of violence in the societies in which they operate. Here, we pose the question of how well suited various corporate governance regimes are to face these complexities, and how they can do so in ways that are consistent with their fundamental principles. We focus on the corporate governance regimes of the United States, Germany and Japan. A common denominator of the political entities addressed is a commitment to a political regime of democracy. Section I outlines our thesis that corporations are in a position to make contributions to peace in society because of shifting political balances of power. It elaborates with the idea that our contemporary world has shifted from traditional balance of power conceptions in terms of the near universal embrace of parliamentary democracy requiring some reformulated description of the optimal relations among democracy, peace, and globalization. This section establishes the general parameters of the argument that democracy and peace are linked and that there are serious charges that globalization works against democracy and thereby threatens the sustainability of peace. Section II analyzes comparative models of corporate governance and considers the extent to which contemporary corporate governance models look to peace and workplace security as aims they should achieve. Concluding remarks follow in Section III.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39917/3/wp532.pd

ECOLOGY AND VIOLENCE: THE ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSIONS OF WAR

Research reported by Thomas Homer-Dixon characterizes five social effects that can significantly increase the likelihood of violence in the emerging world, effects that are far deeper than can be controlled by security forces: (1) constrained agricultural production, often in ecologically marginal regions; (2) constrained economic productivity, mainly affecting people who are highly dependent on environmental resources and who are ecologically and economically marginal; (3) migration of these affected people in search of better lives; (4) greater segmentation of society, usually along existing ethnic cleavages; and (5) disruption of institutions, especially the state.1 These kinds of social effects create tensions that can erupt in violent expression. It is difficult to envision how additional security forces will solve the embedded social problems that link violence with economic, social, ethnic, and even religious frustrations. This manuscript seeks to address these concerns. Part I elaborates ways in which these issues of violence manifest themselves in a globalized economy. Part II discusses the business implications of these tensions and suggests a way in which business can be a mediating actor to lessen these tensions. Part III concludes with a suggestion for a recharacterization of the corporation in a way to sensitize it to the ecological-mindedness necessary to address the potential issues of violence in societies. We propose sustainable peace as an aim to which businesses should orient their actions both for reasons of the good of avoiding the activities that contribute to the spilling of blood as well as for the good of sustainable economic enterprises, which are fostered by stable, peaceful relationships. Thus, business must do what it does best and address economic development, even in terms of the extraction of natural resources. But it must also be attentive to the rights of others, to the development of community and meaning, and to stop violence when it is likely. Given the dangers ecological stresses pose for the planet, it is hard to think of a more compelling reason to reorient business behavior.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40084/3/wp698.pd

Adapting Corporate Governance for Sustainable Peace

In previous work, we argued that there is a link between corporate governance and the reduction of violence. In this manuscript, we further explore that link with a focus on how corporations can work toward the goal of reduction of violence in the societies in which they operate. Here, we pose the question of how well suited various corporate governance regimes are to face these complexities, and how they can do so in ways that are consistent with their fundamental principles. We focus on the corporate governance regimes of the United States, Germany and Japan. A common denominator of the political entities addressed is a commitment to a political regime of democracy. Section I outlines our thesis that corporations are in a position to make contributions to peace in society because of shifting political balances of power. It elaborates with the idea that our contemporary world has shifted from traditional balance of power conceptions in terms of the near universal embrace of parliamentary democracy requiring some reformulated description of the optimal relations among democracy, peace, and globalization. This section establishes the general parameters of the argument that democracy and peace are linked and that there are serious charges that globalization works against democracy and thereby threatens the sustainability of peace. Section II analyzes comparative models of corporate governance and considers the extent to which contemporary corporate governance models look to peace and workplace security as aims they should achieve. Concluding remarks follow in Section III.corporate governance, comparative law, business ethics, peace, democracy, globalization

Collective excitations of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of a 1D optical lattice

We study low-lying collective modes of a horizontally elongated 87Rb condensate produced in a 3D magnetic harmonic trap with the addition of a 1D periodic potential which is provided by a laser standing-wave along the horizontal axis. While the transverse breathing mode results unperturbed, quadrupole and dipole oscillations along the optical lattice are strongly modified. Precise measurements of the collective mode frequencies at different height of the optical barriers provide a stringent test of the theoretical model recently introduced [M.Kraemer et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 180404 (2002)].Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Multi-band spectroscopy of inhomogeneous Mott-insulator states of ultracold bosons

In this work, we use inelastic scattering of light to study the response of inhomogeneous Mott-insulator gases to external excitations. The experimental setup and procedure to probe the atomic Mott states are presented in detail. We discuss the link between the energy absorbed by the gases and accessible experimental parameters as well as the linearity of the response to the scattering of light. We investigate the excitations of the system in multiple energy bands and a band-mapping technique allows us to identify band and momentum of the excited atoms. In addition the momentum distribution in the Mott states which is spread over the entire first Brillouin zone enables us to reconstruct the dispersion relation in the high energy bands using a single Bragg excitation with a fixed momentum transfer.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

Momentum-resolved study of an array of 1D strongly phase-fluctuating Bose gases

We investigate the coherence properties of an array of one-dimensional Bose gases with short-scale phase fluctuations. The momentum distribution is measured using Bragg spectroscopy and an effective coherence length of the whole ensemble is defined. In addition, we propose and demonstrate that time-of-flight absorption imaging can be used as a simple probe to directly measure the coherence-length of 1D gases in the regime where phase-fluctuations are strong. This method is suitable for future studies such as investigating the effect of disorder on the phase coherence.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Gravitational Lensing & Stellar Dynamics

Strong gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics provide two complementary and orthogonal constraints on the density profiles of galaxies. Based on spherically symmetric, scale-free, mass models, it is shown that the combination of both techniques is powerful in breaking the mass-sheet and mass-anisotropy degeneracies. Second, observational results are presented from the Lenses Structure & Dynamics (LSD) Survey and the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) Survey collaborations to illustrate this new methodology in constraining the dark and stellar density profiles, and mass structure, of early-type galaxies to redshifts of unity.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; Invited contribution in the Proceedings of XXIst IAP Colloquium, "Mass Profiles & Shapes of Cosmological Structures" (Paris, 4-9 July 2005), eds G. A. Mamon, F. Combes, C. Deffayet, B. Fort (Paris: EDP Sciences