Democratische deugden : Groepstegenstellingen en sociale integratie

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The Thinking State?

Political Scienc

What role for public policy in promoting philanthropy? The case of EU universities

This article presents and discusses the findings of a survey conducted among Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in most of the twenty-seven countries within the European Union, which studied the extent and success of fundraising from philanthropic sources for research. Our data demonstrate that success in fundraising is related to institutional privilege (in terms of the universities' reputation, wealth and networks) as well as factors relating to the internal organization, activities and cultures of universities (such as the extent of investment in fundraising activities) and factors relating to the external social, economic and political environments (such as national cultural attitudes towards philanthropy and the existence of tax breaks for charitable giving). Our findings identify the existence of a ‘Matthew effect’, such that privilege begets privilege, when it comes to successful fundraising for university research. We argue that, despite the existence of some untapped philanthropic potential, not all universities are equally endowed with the same fundraising capacities. The article concludes by suggesting that policy-makers pay more heed to the structural constraints within which fundraising takes place, to ensure that policies that seek to promote philanthropy are realistic

Action research and democracy

This contribution explores the relationship between research and learning democracy. Action research is seen as being compatible with the orientation of educational and social work research towards social justice and democracy. Nevertheless, the history of action research is characterized by a tension between democracy and social engineering. In the social-engineering approach, action research is conceptualized as a process of innovation aimed at a specific Bildungsideal. In a democratic approach action research is seen as research based on cooperation between research and practice. However, the notion of democratic action research as opposed to social engineering action research needs to be theorized. So called democratic action research involving the implementation by the researcher of democracy as a model and as a preset goal, reduces cooperation and participation into instruments to reach this goal, and becomes a type of social engineering in itself. We argue that the relationship between action research and democracy is in the acknowledgment of the political dimension of participation: ‘a democratic relationship in which both sides exercise power and shared control over decision-making as well as interpretation’. This implies an open research design and methodology able to understand democracy as a learning process and an ongoing experiment

22. Greening the cities with biodiversity indicators; Experience and challenges from Japanese cities with CBI

For scientists, and other stakeholders to the biodiversity monitoring systems (including AP-BON), capturing and understanding the status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem services are a main focus. In the policy/science interface, communicating the complex results in comprehensible ways has been one of the key challenges. Development of indicators, maps and other visualization tools are instrumental for identification, understanding, and to support the relevant policy decisions and processes. In recent years, different cities have explored the development of such indicators in the urban context through negotiation. Development of indicators for urban ecosystems and biodiversity is illustrated. The potential challenge of application and use of such indicator in Japanese urban contexts are reviewed based on interviews and existing data. This article discusses and reviews the advantages and limitations of urban biodiversity indicators. The review focused on applying the newly developed City Biodiversity Index (CBI). It is modifying Singapore city biodiversity index adjusted as Japanese local municipalities can easily and practically use it. The data is based on research project implemented by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan (MLIT). The existing literature points out that the policy makers tend to emphasize ecosystem services for justification of their policies, while scientists tend to focus on biodiversity. Such twists are not a major problem if the status of biodiversity correlates with ecosystem services. This is true at a global or at a regional scale, but may be different at the local level. For example, the results of studies by the city of Nagoya indicate that ecosystem services correlate with the size of green or open spaces and not with the status of biodiversity. As such, applying biodiversity indicators at different scales can be a contentious issue. In addition, the integration of biodiversity relevant elements to ecological footprint maps is often discussed from the perspectives of local governments.[Book Chapter]: 22. Greening the cities with biodiversity indicators; Experience and challenges from Japanese cities with CBI, Part V. Ecosystem Service and Socioeconomic Aspects with Special Reference to Biodiversity, Integrative Observations and Assessments (Ecological Research Monographs / Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network), edited by Shin-ichi Nakano(中野 伸一), Tetsukazu Yahara(矢原 徹一), Tohru Nakashizuka(浅野 透), DOI:10.1007/978-4-431-54783-

The nonprofit case for corporate volunteering: a multi-level perspective

This article argues that the nonprofit case for corporate volunteering is complex, requiring a multi-level perspective on the outcomes for nonprofit organizations (NPOs). To develop this perspective, we adopted an inductive research approach, conducting 39 exploratory semi-structured interviews with NPO staff. We argue that NPO scholars and practitioners should disentangle individual and organizational-level outcomes resulting from interactions between corporate volunteers and NPO staff, as such micro-dynamics ultimately affect NPO services. Moreover, these outcomes are subject to conditions at the organizational level (e.g. involvement of intermediaries), as well as at the individual level (e.g. type of assignment). Our study highlights the complexity that should be considered when addressing the fundamental question of whether corporate volunteering contributes to the ability of NPOs to provide their services, and under what conditions. We therefore propose that corporate volunteer management within NPOs is inherently, albeit contingently, intertwined with the services that these organizations provide