Food for the Future

In many African countries, since the nineties, there is a subtle contest going on between religious and political leaders. At the heart of this contest is what Rosalind Hackett described as the redefinition of the categories of power and status, which cease to be primarily tied to material wealth or political connection, but rather to spiritual authority and revelation. This is a struggle for the hegemonic control of the society in the Gramscian sense of the term. While political leaders may use the coercive arms of the state – military might as well as their control of the financial resources of the state to impose their authority, religious leaders on the other hand assume the posture of moral icons, personalities endowed with superior knowledge based on divine revelation. As these contestations are played out in the public sphere, the way the leaders are able to portray themselves to their public will determine their followership. This explains the importance of mediation in the process of politico-religious contestations. In the eyes of the public, political leaders have the physical or raw power - the Italian concept of autorita; while the religious leaders have the moral power - autorevolezza. This paper uses these concepts as metaphors to present a general explanation of how the contestation between religious and political leaders plays out in the public sphere of the new media

Experts agree that vaccination is the most effective way to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control. Nevertheless, vaccination rates have slowed nationwide and substantial segments of the population report an unwillingness to get vaccinated. We conducted an online survey experiment to investigate whether endorsement messages from various types of leaders can encourage the unvaccinated population to receive the vaccine. We surveyed 709 unvaccinated registered voters in South Dakota in April 2021 and presented them with identical messages endorsing vaccination from a political, religious, or medical leader. Our results show that messaging from a religious leader had a positive and statistically significant effect on interest in getting vaccinated, whereas messages from a political or medical leader had no statistically significant effect. These results strongly suggest that religious leaders are more effective messengers than other potential messengers and that public health officials would be well served to coordinate their efforts with leaders in faith communities.

Abstract. In traditional societies, religious and political leaders often use elements from the surrounding ecosystems to symbolically affirm their power. This ethnobotanical research looks for a similar pattern of use in urbanized western societies. We selected the use of plants by Queen Elizabeth II as a case study due to her singular position as a political and religious leader. We analysed the use of plants in public ceremonies to study how they are symbolically linked to the renewal of traditions.

Despite the progress in vaccination, the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over in the United States. Due to lingering questions about the virus transmissivity and the emergence of new highly infectious strands, experts believe even fully vaccinated people should continue to adhere to mitigation guidelines, such as mask wearing. We conducted a survey experiment to investigate if messages from different leaders could encourage the already vaccinated population to continue following mitigation guidelines. In April, 2021, we surveyed 2,135 vaccinated registered voters in South Dakota and presented them with identical messages encouraging continued adherence to COVID-19 mitigation guidelines from a political, religious, or medical leader. Results from statistical analyses show that messaging from a religious leader was more effective than messages from either political or medical leaders. The results underscore both the effectiveness of religious leaders as public health messengers and limitations of political and medical leaders as messengers, and suggest that public health professionals and officials might find it beneficial to coordinate their efforts with leaders in faith communities.

“For the Advancement and Betterment of Humanity”: The Fight for Women's Suffrage at Utah's Constitutional Convention

This study examined the influence of religion on the political Parties’ affiliation and elections in Iganga District. The study used a cross-sectional survey research design with both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study used 700 respondents identified using simple random, purposive and snow ball sampling techniques. These included religious leaders, political and traditional leaders, and voters. Data was analysed using Chi-square test of goodness of fit and thematic analysis. The study discovered that Political party affiliation is not linked to religion apart from the traditional political parties, and religious leaders and their institutions are turned into mobilization centers consequently influencing them politically. The study recommended that religious leaders should try to unite the people in the region amidst confusion and divisionism caused by politics. In addition, Religious leaders and political leaders should therefore desist from activities which compromise with their religious and leadership ethics, thus campaigns or political gatherings should take place entirely out of the worship centers. They should not allow religion to be politicized.

After the Prophet Muhammad received the order to preach openly, the Quraish leaders began trying to block the Prophet Muhammad's preaching. The more the number of the Prophet's followers increased, the more intense the challenge posed by the Quraysh became. There were five factors that caused the Quraysh to reject the call of Islam, namely as follows: First, the Quraysh could not differentiate between prophethood and power, they believed that obeying Muhammad's call meant submitting to the leadership of the Bani Abdul Mutholib, the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad's grandfather. Second, the Prophet Muhammad called for equal rights between nobles and servants, this was not approved by the Quraish nobles. Third, the Quraish leaders could not accept the teachings about yaumul ba'ats (day of resurrection) and retribution in the afterlife. Fourth, devotion to ancestors is a habit inherent in the Arab nation. Fifth, sculptors and statue sellers consider Islam to be an obstacle to sustenance. This article will discuss the history of Islamic civilization during the time of the Prophet Muhammad, as well as his role as a religious and state leader. This article uses the library study research method, using reference data in the form of books, articles, journals and related scientific papers. Apart from being a religious leader, the Prophet Muhammad was also a statesman, political leader and capable administrator. Within a period of eleven years he became a political leader who succeeded in subordinating the entire Arabian Peninsula to his rule.

Iran is one of the Muslim countries with predominantly population which follow the Shiite ideology and system of government as well as representing prototife modern Islam. Imamate system applied in the constitutional system of the Islamic Republic of Iran represents a form of legal awareness and political will of the authorities to submit to Islamic legal doctrines. The most unique characteristic of the political development of Islamic law in Iran is political reform in the early days after the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Khumayni perform as well as religious and political leaders. But in its development, religious leaders separated by political leaders. However, the fact that khumayni still the religious leaders and the president in the political perspective. Thus, all policies in the various State agencies in Republic Islam of Iran must be following to Khumayni.

Lessons from polio to Ebola

IRAN Anne-Marie Slaughter A N IRAN WITH A popular, accountable, and rights-regarding (PAR) government would not be a threat, even if it developed a nuclear weapon. But an Iran with a president who denies the Holocaust, who will not deny that he called for the eradication of Israel, and who won popular election through a rhetoric and a radicalism that worry even the mullahs is a grave potential threat. At the same time, Iran is the modern heir to a great Persian culture, one of the cradles of civilization as we know it. It is a legitimate rising power, in the sense that its size, natural and human resources, history, and geography all entitle its people to aspire to be recognized as a major power in its region and the world. Our approach to Iran must acknowledge and proceed on both these realities. The solution is to give Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the bear-hug treatment. We should enfold him in an iron embrace, engaging him in ways that either tame him or expose him as a danger not only to the world but to the Iranian people. Concretely, we should engage Iran on three fronts: Iraq, a broader Middle East peace settlement, and nuclear weapons. On all three fronts, we must pursue diplomacy with Iranian political and religious leaders and dialogue , as much as possible, with the Iranian people. On Iraq, the United States should begin from the premise that the Sunnis and the Shiites are now waging a civil war, leaving only two feasible options for the United States: (1) work with other powers in the region, particularly Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, to reach a political settlement that can be enforced; or (2) withdraw and leave a civil war raging on Iran's borders. Iran has already signaled that it does not want a civil war that could spill over to Sunnis in Iran itself or that draws Iran directly into a much wider regional conflict. A simmering conflict that keeps the United States tied down is one thing. A raging conflict with the United States gone is quite another , creating a major incentive to negotiate, requiring Ahmadinejad and the mullahs at least to explain to the Iranian population why it is sometimes acceptable to sit down with the Great Satan. In a broader Middle East settlement, the United States should embrace the plan put forward by King Abdullah of Jordan in March 2002 as the basis for a regional and international conference aimed at bringing peace to the Middle East as a whole. That plan proposed that the Arab world establish "normal relations" with Israel and recognize the ArabIsraeli conflict to be concluded in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories , Israeli recognition of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and a just solution for Palestinian refugees. An additional topic for this peace conference would be the establishment of a Helsinki Process for all Middle Eastern countries , whereby they would agree to a set of political and economic "baskets" of commitments designed to bring all their governments up to PAR and establish a Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Middle East to oversee a process of implementing these commitments . At the same time, we should encourage Israel to do everything possible to make a separate peace with Syria, leaving Iran deprived of its arc of influence and faced with the prospect of rising Saudi influence in the Middle East, unless it is willing to come to the table as well. 0 N NUCLEAR WEAPONS, the United States should be willing to offer Iran assurances that assuage its legitimate fears. These assurances might include a negative security assurance—a promise not to attack Iran except in response to Iranian military action or direct Iranian support of a terrorist attack against the United States, Europe, or Israel. This offer would hinge on an Iranian commitment not to pursue a nuclear weapons capability and Iranian willingness to allow that commitment to be verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency. At the same time, the five nuclear powers and several leading nonnuclear powers should announce an emergency review conference at which the original barDISSENT...

Our natural resources such as water, soil, forests, etc. are limited. As the cities are burdened with new residential areas, industries, food supplies with increasing population, the demand for these resources have been elevated as per they are already being exploited beyond their limits. Water is the basis of our life as crucially involved in simple chores of drinking, cooking to high scale industrial set ups. But with increasing urbanization and industrialization the water bodies have been exhausted to their utmost limit. Which is why there is a need to develop the alternate water sources. For this, the concept of rainwater harvesting comes up as a robust approach for sustaining the human needs. Rainwater harvesting is not a new policy; only it has been revitalized with the modern scientific approaches since there is numerous evidence of ancient civilizations of conserving and harvesting rainwater. The common method involves rainwater harvesting is a collection of rainwater in different structures and then making use of it in daily life, conserving it for future applications or it recharges the groundwater bodies. The implementation of varying rainwater harvesting techniques and methods varies from place to place depending upon their specific climatic conditions, land topography, hydrogeological conditions, etc. Also, it strengthens the relationship between the humans and the environment, making them aware of the need for conserving nature and natural resources along with sustainable development.

Building research capacities in developing countries is necessary for economic success in the long term. But the numerous problems in doing so have to be solved for each country individually

PurposeThis paper aims to inquire and argue for a renovated model of Confucian political leadership as a way of political governance rooted in a philosophy of humanity and its potential for development.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is primarily critical and constructive through philosophical analysis and synthesis of ideas and insights into nature of man and political leadership in light of Confucian texts and practices.FindingsBased on reflection and analysis, the classical model of political leadership is shown to consist of core values of virtues and visions in classical Confucianism. By conceptual reconstruction a new Confucian model is formulated in such a way in which ethics of utilities and ethics of justice and righteousness are incorporated. The author further shows how it can be realized in different functions of modernized political and economic leadership. The author finds that this move resulted in achieving an essential transformation toward a more realistic application and practice in a global world.Practical implicationsIn so far as the new model deals with a process of normative harmonization in which it can be further enhanced by comprehensive considerations of intrinsic human values and future development of humanity as a whole, this model provides a practical method for meeting the urgent needs on different levels of leadership and management for creative and world‐oriented attitude‐building, policy‐making and strategic seminar‐course designing for graduate and executive training in contemporary business schools.Originality/valueThe author has innovatively constructed the new Confucian model and show how political leadership in this model has the capability and ability to persevere in seeking harmony and harmonization among traditions and nations in the global world. The author has also explained how and why morality when properly supported can be a global leading power for bringing harmony and harmonization to the world. The author has formed a new concept of political leadership force and named it the moral power in addition to but not separated in its persuasion from hard power, soft power and smart power of Joseph Nye. The author's formulation and argument for the new model with its moral power constitute a highly significant contribution to the understanding of Confucian political leadership in contemporary global contexts.

Analysis of Village Development Factors and Strategies Towards Independent Villages (Case Study in Batang Sangir Village, Kayu Aro District, Kerinci Regency). This study aims to determine the Factors of Development of Batang Sangir Village and Strategies Towards Independent Villages. This type of research is descriptive with a qualitative approach. The research location is in Batang Sangir Village, Kayu Aro District, Kerinci Regency with a purposive sampling technique. This study uses data collection techniques: interviews, observation, and documentation. The results of this study are, the development factors in Batang Sangir Village include: (1) Natural Resources. (2) Human Resources. (3) Economy. (4) Public Services. (5) Community Participation. Batang Sangir Village applies a strategy towards independent villages from within, namely: optimizing the initiative or desire of the community to progress, optimizing the capacity / ability of the community, optimizing the capacity of the village head in organizing. Facilitate bureaucracy and facilitate constructive activities. Strengthening village officials' human resources through training and coaching and involving the community in development. Conduct village meetings which include community leaders, religious leaders. Determine productive businesses in Batang Sangir Village.

In the context of a growing world population, the fundamental need for foodstuff makes a sustainable management of the food supply an imperative. Sustainability issues in the food supply chain range from responsible use of limited resources, safe and secure food supply, minimizing food waste, while maintaining economic interests of each player. A novel ap- proach is presented integrating Processing Time, Cost and Operational Risk (PTCORk1) in one quantitative model. It allows for designing Pareto optimal monitoring systems. In a com- parative study, exact and (meta) heuristic methods are compared for best performance. The study with real-world data from an international food company is based on a common and widely consumed foodstuff with typical sustainable food supply chain challenges. Results are thus generalizable to other value chains in the food industry. It provides novel understanding of the seeming contradiction between Processing Time & Cost (PTC) and Operational Risk (ORk). On the system level, the efficient frontier reveals a quantified non-linear relationship. Within the monitoring system the relative contribution of each monitoring activity to the objective function shows a saturation effect enabling practicioners to identify critical monitor- ing activities and engage in step-by-step optimization. Evidence is presented that favorable solutions reveal potential for equidistribution of operational risks and time- and cost-efficient risk allocation. The advantages of a multi-objective approach are compared to either single objective approach. Away from conflicting formulations of minimal operational risk, process- ing time and cost, the approach fosters a more differentiated and quantifiable understanding of the relationship of processing time, cost and operational risk enabeling decision makes to formulate advantageous trade-offs. Optimized scenarios are tested for robustness and potential multiplicatory effects by numerical simulation of a connected dynamic supply chain environment. The approach provides valuable insights for practitioners and enables specific actions for a sustainable and competitive food supply.