Democracy has Hamlet’s Problem: The Search for Relevance in a Complex World

Medical professionalism and physician wellbeing

Both Sides Now

ABSTRACTIn Democratic Reason, Hélène Landemore argues that deliberation and the aggregation of citizens' dispersed knowledge should tend to produce better consequences than rule by the one or the few. However, she pays insufficient attention to the epistemic processes necessary to realize these democratic goods. In particular, she fails to consider the question of where citizens' beliefs and ideas come from, with the result that the democratic decision mechanisms she focuses on are insufficiently powerful to justify her consequentialist defense of mass decision making. If “the few” are technocratic experts, Landemore supplies little reason to resist their rule on epistemic grounds, for she does not secure a knowledge base for the citizens that might compete with the knowledge that is often attributed to such “experts.” Aggregating and deliberating about poor information is no substitute for good information. Her book can therefore be seen as a call for a new phase of epistemic political theory that compares the real-world knowledgeability of ordinary citizens and putative experts, but it does not convincingly deliver on its goal to demonstrate the epistemic superiority of the former.

The main goal of the chapter is to highlight the importance of local development and polycentric urbanization for circular, vital and more connected local communities. From a methodological point of view, the chapter is design as a conceptual one designed based mostly on a desk research. Taking into account the international and cross disciplinary structure of our team the chapter is also based on sharing examples of based practices among co-authors. Despite its theoretical background, the chapter supports a strategic and pragmatic vision based on the eco-innovation strategies and solutions. The most important message of our chapter is to promote modern approaches, including the local, territorial dimension of a smart, sustainable and inclusive development within the context of a complex and dynamic world. One of the main challenges our turbulent world has to face refers to the expected further development concerning the territorial & spatial dimension of sustainability within circular, vital & connected local communities. We promote mostly the idea of co-creation, co-working and co-operation based on public–private partnerships and cross disciplinary projects targeting connected communities being awarded about the emergence of complexity within turbulent and dynamic economic, social, political local environments.

The concern driving current debate on agricultural extension is increasingly that of how to help farmers learn how to deal with the complex world around them responsibly and profitably, in such a way that the extension worker is ancillary. This article seeks to deconstruct and provide a more reasoned assessment of agricultural extension services through a reflection on development paradigms, adult education, individual empowerment, and institutional pluralism. By calling into question the underlying ethical dimensions of agricultural extension, it is possible to develop an alternative paradigm and thereby generate new insights into it. The article concludes that the raison d'être of agricultural extension today must be to create an ethical basis which ensures that extension practices are more inclusive and thus responsive to the needs of farmers and other rural populations, integrating individual expectations into the wider socio-economic, cultural, political, and geographical environment.

Risk Governance in a Complex World

To identify the vulnerabilities of elderly to disasters, and to develop strategies to address these vulnerabilities. A relevant literature search of journal articles, government training materials, news reports, and materials from senior organizations was conducted. The vulnerability of the elderly to disasters is related to their impaired physical mobility, diminished sensory awareness, chronic health conditions, and social and economic limitations that prevent adequate preparation for disasters, and hinder their adaptability during disasters. Frail elderly, those with serious physical, cognitive, economic, and psycho-social problems, are at especially high risk. This segment of the population is growing rapidly. Therefore, it is important that emergency management recognize the frail elderly as a special needs population, and develop targeted strategies that meet their needs. Several management strategies are presented and recommendations for further action are proposed.

In a recent article in the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Heesen and Bright argue that prepublication peer review should be abolished and replaced with postpublication peer review (provided the matter is judged purely on epistemic grounds). In this article, I show that there are three problems with their argument. First, it fails to consider the epistemic cost of implementing the change to postpublication peer review. Second, it fails to consider some potential epistemic benefits of prepublication peer review, which involve avoiding bias. Third, it fails to consider some potential epistemic disadvantages of postpublication peer review, which stem from the greater number of papers that would be published under that system.

Pessimism over a democracy’s ability to produce good outcomes is as longstanding as democracy itself. On one hand, democratic theorists consider democracy to be the only legitimate form of government on the basis that it alone promotes or safeguards intrinsic values like freedom, equality, and justice. On the other, skepticism toward the ordinary citizen’s cognitive capacities remains a perennial concern. Qualms about the epistemic value of democracy have only been made more pertinent by a fundamental problem of deep epistemic disagreement which underlies the post-truth phenomenon. I argue that the democratic theorists who have sought to defend democracy on epistemic grounds have thus far neglected such deep and intractable disagreements. Without addressing this oversight, the epistemic democrat will find that collective decision-making processes quickly become paralyzed and will not be able to yield the epistemic benefits they promise. Hence, the work for epistemic democrats is to recognize and take into account the ramifications of epistemic disagreements so as to make a stronger case for epistemic democracy.

Who gets to decide what it means to live a healthy lifestyle, and how important a healthy lifestyle is to a good life? As more governments make preventing obesity and diet-related illness a priority, it has become more important to consider the ethics and acceptability of their efforts. When it comes to laws and policies that promote healthy eating—such as special taxes on sugary drinks or programs to encourage consumption of fruits and vegetables—critics argue that these policies are paternalistic, and that they limit individual autonomy over food choices. In our book Healthy Eating Policy and Political Philosophy: A Public Reason Approach (Barnhill and Bonotti 2022), we argue that both paternalistic justifications for healthy eating efforts and anti-paternalistic arguments against them can be grounded in perfectionist views that overly prioritize some values over others. We therefore propose a more inclusive, public reason approach to healthy eating policy that will be appealing to those who take pluralism and cultural diversity seriously, by providing a framework through which different kinds of values, including but not limited to autonomy and health, can be factored into the public justification for healthy eating efforts. Additionally, the book adopts a ‘farm to fork’ approach to the ethics of healthy eating efforts: it engages with theories and debates in political philosophy, considers the implications of different theoretical positions for healthy eating efforts, and then develops a framework for assessing policies that can be used by researchers and policymakers. As well as offering a novel normative analysis of healthy eating policy, we also provide a theoretical framework that will be applicable beyond healthy eating policy to a wide range of public policy scenarios. We are extremely grateful to the contributors to this symposium for their thoughtful commentaries on our book. In this article, we provide a critical reflection on the issues they raise with regard to some key aspects of our analysis.

Numerous challenges confront armed forces at present, and in a complex world, they need to understand the nature of these challenges. The challenges are in many cases related either to threats emanating from the foreign policy environment or to vulnerabilities from the domestic political environment. The understanding of the nature of these threats is a key factor in helping armed forces to organise, equip and train themselves in order to deal with these issues. Most of the debates about armed force and the use thereof, thus, focus on understanding what ought to be done and how it should be done. Linking these two questions to the availability of resources and the defence budget in particular, is the concentrated essence of military science and strategy. The articles in this edition of Scientia Militaria – South African Journal of Military Studies reflect the need for armed forces to understand what ought to be done and how it should be done. In addition, it touches on the effect of these two factors on the institutional nature of armed forces.

Introduction: Theoretical Contexts for Security Reconceptualizations since 1990.- Introduction: Globalization and Environmental Challenges: Reconceptualizing Security in the 21st Century.- Security as Attributes of Social Systems.- The Conceptual Quartet:Security, Peace, Development and Environment and its Dyadic Linkages.- Conceptual Quartet: Security and its Linkages with Peace, Development, and Environment.- Peace and Security: Two Evolving Concepts and Their Changing Relationship.- Peace and Environment: Towards a Sustainable Peace as Seen From the South.- Underdevelopment and Human Insecurity: Overcoming Systemic, Natural, and Policy Risk.- Emergent Sustainability: The Concept of Sustainable Development in a Complex World.- Development and Security: Genealogy and Typology of an Evolving International Policy Area.- Security and Environment Linkages Revisited.- Philosophical, Ethical and Religious Contexts for Conceptualizations of Security.- Oriental, European, and Indigenous Thinking on Peace in Latin America.- Security in Hinduism and Buddhism.- Security in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Philosophy and Ethics.- Security in Confucian Thought: Case of Korea.- Security in Japanese History, Philosophy and Ethics: Impact on Contemporary Security Policy.- Thinking on Security in Hinduism: Contemporary Political Philosophy and Ethics in India.- Human Security in Jewish Philosophy and Ethics.- From Homer to Hobbes and Beyond - Aspects of' security' in the European Tradition.- Security Conceptualization in Arab Philosophy and Ethics and Muslim Perspectives.- Security in African Philosophy and Historical Ideas.- Security in Latin American Philosophy, Ethics, and History of Ideas.- The Brazilian View on the Conceptualization of Security: Philosophical, Ethical and Cultural Contexts and Issues.- Spatial Context and Referents of Security Concepts.- Securitization of Space and Referent Objects.- Structural Setting for Global Environmental Politics in a Hierarchic International System: A Geopolitical View.- Global Environmental Change and Human Security.- Globalization and Security: The US 'Imperial Presidency': Global Impacts in Iraq and Mexico.- Globalization from Below: Social Movements and Altermundism - Reconceptualizing Security from a Latin American Perspective.- Security Regionalism in Theory and Practice.- Identity-based Security Threats in a Globalized World: Focus on Islam.- Security and Sovereignty.- Subordinate, Subsumed and Subversive: Sub-national Actors as Referents of Security.- Non-state Based Terrorism and Security.- Agents of Insecurity in the Andes: Transregional Crime and Strategic Relations.- Re-conceptualizing Security Research with Individual Level Data.- Reconceptualization of Security in Scientific Disciplines since 1990.- Quest for International Security: Benefits of Justice versus the Trappings of Paranoia.- Security in International Law Since 1990.- Human Security from the Standpoint of an Economist.- The Concept of Security in International Relations.- Security in Peace Research and Security Studies.- Reconceptualizing Dimensions of Security (Debates since 1990).- Security: The State (of) Being Free From Danger?.- From a Security towards a Survival Dilemma.- The Changing Agenda of Military Security.- Political Security, an Uncertain Concept with Expanding Concerns.- Economic Security.- The Changing Agenda of Societal Security.- Environmental Security Deconstructed.- Institutional Security Concepts Revisited for the 21st Century.- Human Security and the UN Security Council.- Evolution of the United Nations Security Concept: Role of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change.- Security, Development and UN Coordination.- Reconceptualization of Security in the CSCE and OSCE.- The Comprehensive Security Concept of the European Union.- Reconceptualization of External Security in the European Union since 1990.- Democracy and European Justice and Home Affairs Policies from the Cold War to September 11.- From a European Security Community to a Secure European Community Tracing the New Security Identity of the EU.- EU Policy Coherence on Security and Development A New Agenda for Research and Policy-making.- From Obsession to Oblivion: Reconceptualization of Security in NATO since 1990.- NATO's Role in the Mediterranean and Broader Middle East Region.- German Action Plan: Civilian Crisis Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Peace Consolidation - A Reconceptualization of Security.- Interfaces between Development and Security: Converging the Role of Development Policy and Security Policy?.- Reconceptualizing Regional Security for the 21st Century.- European Security in the 21st Century: An Institutional Perspective.- Regionalization of Great Power Security - Near Abroad, Broader Middle East, and European Neighbourhood.- A Regional Security Perspective From and For the Arab World.- ECOWAS and Regional Security Challenges.- A Regional Security Perspective from and for the Horn of Africa.- Regional Security in Southern Africa Development Community: Perspectives on Security Challenges.- The Security Problematique in South Asia: Alternative Conceptualizations.- Security Debates in East Asia since the End of the Cold War.- China and the New International Security Agenda.- Security in the New Millennium: A Debate in the South Pacific on Peace and Security: Alternative Formulations in the Post Cold War Era.- Security on the American Continent: Challenges, Perceptions, and Concepts.- Towards an Ethical Framework for Security.- Reconceptualizing Security and Alternative Security Futures.- Prediction in Security Theory and Policy.- Climate Change and Security in the 21st Century.- Global Security: Learning from Possible Futures.- Role of Prediction in Sustainable Development and Disaster Management.- Summary and Conclusions.- Reconceptualizing Security in the 21st Century: Conclusions for Research and Policy-making.

This volume brings to publication for the first time the manuscript of William Fergusson, a Scottish shipʼs surgeon who sailed for the East India Company in the 1730s. Written in 1767, while in retirement, Fergussonʼs diaries are the memories of his youth spent travelling the world during his apprenticeship. They detail the four voyages he took, the first, a passage from Scotland to England with a lading in Ireland, and three others to the East, calling at ports in the Atlantic, southern Africa, Arabia, India, and Southeast Asia, before reaching as far as China. Almost nothing is known of Fergusson and none of his other writings are known to survive. Remaining evidence suggests that he was an average man of his class, who travelled the well-plied trade routes of European merchant capitalism. While many logbooks of these voyages survive, comparatively few accounts were written by the men who sailed them. Fewer still ever come to light. Fergussonʼs manuscript offers a rare new source on what were by then the relatively routine voyages of the East India Companyʼs early trading network, providing a treasure trove of comments on the politics, economics, societies, and religious beliefs and practices he witnessed along the way. Originally titled ʻJournals of my Voyages & Manifestoʼ, the name suggests Fergussonʼs manuscript offers far more than the insights usually contained in contemporary travelogues. In his manifesto, readers will discover Fergussonʼs impassioned polemics on natural religion, devotional ʻenthusiasmʼ, just governance, all while he implores the principles of rationality and reason. It is truly a manifesto of Enlightenment thought. As such, it also provides a unique example of how those who sailed for the East India Company during the early modern era participated in a global intellectual exchange of ideas. Fergusson wrote his private memories in twenty-two small bound booklets, all of which have been transcribed and annotated to guide the reader. These are presented here along with a critical introduction that contextualises the complex eighteenth-century world into which Fergusson voyaged, including elements of his role as a shipʼs surgeon, the Indian Ocean trading and political environment, and the ideas of the Enlightenment he so passionately expressed. Researchers interested in the histories of ideas, medicine, early-modern colonialism, maritime merchant empires, as well as historians of Africa and Asia, will find much new information to explore within the pages of this volume.

The current widespread renewed interest in the development of grand military-political strategies is a function of a rapidly changing global configuration of powers. From the bipolarity of the Cold War, which by its very construction limited either the United States or the Soviet Union from constructing much less implementing a unilateral framework, we have moved to a political and economic environment in which a variety of nations in parts of the world that did not figure into the power equations of the past century, invites such analysis. This article draws attention to factors profoundly limiting a grand strategy at the global level. It further indicates that the source of such push for grand strategy derives from inherited doctrines, largely of 19th European origin, which continue to emphasize absolutist doctrines based on theology, history and ideology. They are increasingly dysfunctional formulas in a relativistic universe of political systems and military technologies. The emergence of economic Diaspora in place of “three worlds of development” also serves to weaken approaches derived from imperial doctrines and political approaches that are no longer the monopoly of conventional armed forces. The essay concludes with the belief that one older element that continues to display cachet is diplomacy and face to face human initiatives. Bargaining rather than blustering may be the order of the age. In this, it is Metternich rather than Hegel that may prove a better source of negotiating a complex multi-national world order.

For 15 years, I had lived in a small village in southeastern China. We did not recognize malnutrition when we saw it, because to us it looked normal. We were all malnourished. Now, as I look back on my past decade as director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute, I can see how my own life illustrates the promise of food policy to change human lives. At the end of 2019, my term as director general comes to an end, and both IFPRI and I will begin new chapters. I take this opportunity to reflect on some of my experiences and lessons I have learned about how we can best exploit the promise of food policy to eradicate hunger and ensure food and nutrition security for all while we also protect our environment and planet.The global agri-food policy landscape has changed in many ways and have shown me that the world's agri-food systems are increasingly connected across national and regional boundaries, as well as linked to other sectors and forces. In this complex environment, effective food policy must be specific to the political, economic, geographic, social, and cultural environment where it takes place. Further, the complexity and interdependence of the world's agri-food systems mean that working alone is no longer an option. We have made important progress in working with different types of actors, such as private companies, civil society groups, and developing-country partners. We have learned another vital lesson for agricultural research and food policy that nutrition also affects people's health and well-being during the whole life cycle. As we better understand our complex and interconnected world, we have also learned that our work must increasingly be guided by considering not individual sectors and components, but entire food systems.I am incredibly proud of IFPRI's accomplishments over the years, only some of which are described here. Through their curiosity, insights, and hard work, IFPRI researchers have changed the food policy landscape, and I have been fortunate to play a supporting role. Of course, there will continue to be room for improvement and growth, and IFPRI faces challenges of its own. I have seen first-hand how the transformative power of food policy reform can save lives and improve well-being for millions. This is how I know that IFPRI and its partners worldwide can draw on the lessons of the past and a spirit of innovation for the future to achieve a world where hunger and malnutrition are only a memory.