Alternative Theoretical Framework Research Articles

Secularisation and Nationalism: A Critical Review

The author aims to analyse the relationships between secularisation and nationalism. In the course of the debate regarding the origin of nationalism, some scholars have argued that nationalism has filled the void left by historical religions. Nationalism could therefore be considered a religion of modernity, or a functional equivalent of historical religions. The author aims to reconsider this issue. First, he explores the sociological origins of the theory of nationalism as a religion of modernity deriving from Durkheim’s Sociology of Religion. Second, he provides an overview of the different versions of this theory. Finally, he assesses the weaknesses of these approaches and proposes an alternative theoretical framework in which to reconsider the relationships between secularisation and nationalism.

Oil Politics and Indigenous Resistance in the Peruvian Amazon

In June of 2009, indigenous protest over the Peruvian government’s natural resource policies erupted, tragically, in a violent confrontation where 33 Peruvians lost their lives. Conflicts over natural resources are bound to increase, especially in developing countries, as governments development ambitions collide with indigenous peoples’ territorial claims. This article, within the context of Peru’s natural resource development agenda, examines the government’s hydrocarbon development policies against indigenous resistance and protest. Turning to an alternative theoretical framework, modernity/coloniality, I argue that the government’s development logic misrepresents indigenous perspectives on development, undermines indigenous territorial rights, and suppresses indigenous participation in Peru’s natural resource agenda. A more complex reading of indigenous perspectives reveals a more sustainable approach to development, one that does not reject modern development, but does challenge the Eurocentric predilections of development.

From global to polycentric climate governance

Global governance institutions for climate change, such as those established by the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, have so far failed to make a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Following the lead of Elinor Ostrom, this paper offers an alternative theoretical framework for reconstructing global climate policy in accordance with the polycentric approach to governance pioneered in the early 1960s by Vincent Ostrom, Charles Tiebout, and RobertWarren. Instead of a thoroughly top-down global regime, in which lower levels of government simply carry out the mandates of international negotiators, a polycentric approach provides for greater experimentation, learning, and cross-influence among different levels and units of government, which are both independent and interdependent. After exploring several of the design flaws of the existing set of global institutions and organizations for greenhouse gas mitigation, the paper explores how those global institutions and organizations might be improved by learning from various innovative policies instituted by local, state, and regional governments. The paper argues that any successful governance system for stabilizing the global climate must function as part of a larger, polycentric set of nested institutions and organizations at various governmental levels.

Implanted time: The Final Cut and the reflexive loops of complex narratives

In this paper, I attempt to reread the 2004 film The Final Cut (Omar Naim) through its connection with the complex narrative tendency, and especially its ‘puzzle’, ‘mind-game’ and ‘modular’ aspects. I argue that The Final Cut's complex and reflexive mode of communication – with its roots in cyberpunk sci-fi – transforms its already discussed intense narratological self-reference. Reflexivity in The Final Cut finds expression in the plot's loops and mise-en-abyme structures, which, like the implant of the story, create interplay between narrative and database. Arguing that reflexivity is an important conceptual tool for theoretically approaching such interplay, I suggest an alternative theoretical framework to rethink reflexivity and self-reference in the context of complex narratives, through Niklas Luhmann's account of reflexivity in temporalized systems. Although this systemic framework has been in development since the 1970s, it is only recently that complex systemic views have influenced the humanities. Through this alternative framework, complexity enhances the communication between the film-system and the viewer-system, including the latter in a participatory and dynamic procedure of meaning-making.

The Theoretical Framework for Corporate Governance

We lack an encompassing and unifying theory of corporate governance. The most popular theoretical framework, Agency Theory, is proving to be a straight jacket: useful in some contexts but quite limiting, particularly when the underlying assumptions do not hold. The Agency Theory led to the evolution of the Anglo-Saxon model of corporate governance that has become the basis for governance codes around the world including in India. Corporate governance theory has tended to look to this theory to guide the decisions of the board of directors in curbing excessive executive power in the hands of management. While useful for this purpose, the Agency Theory provides limited guidance on corporate governance in real life situations which are far more complex. With the blurring of the roles of the principal and the agent, the currently prevalent governance framework, based on the Agency Theory has become self limiting and ineffective. Efforts to supplement the Agency Theory with alternative theoretical frameworks such as the Stakeholder Theory and the Stewardship Theory have, at times, tended to place the board of directors in conflict with their legal obligations to work in the interests of the shareholders. A governance model based on the concept of Trusteeship, while providing fresh insights, suffers from problems in implementation and remains a goal to aim for. These alternative frameworks have, therefore, not been of much practical use to the board members in helping them to decide what constitutes the “right” decision. We need new theoretical insights that will take us towards a comprehensive theory of governance. This paper seeks to revisit the discussion on the various theoretical frameworks for corporate governance and suggests that a new and different framework is required as the underlying theory for corporate governance – one that is based on the concept of maximizing the long term strategic value for an organization. Such a framework is based on viewing the ‘organization as an organism’ with its primary focus on the organization’s longevity and growth only.

Social conflict and the global Cold War

This article offers a critical assessment of Fred Halliday's theorization of the Cold War and, in particular, his attempt to offer a more global perspective on it through a greater focus on the role of developments emanating from the Third World as constitutive of the Cold War. The author argues that although Halliday's theorization of the Cold War as ‘inter-systemic conflict’ is a major advance in our understanding of the Cold War—through the attention it pays to the causal linkages between capitalist development and imperialism, revolutionary transformations and superpower geopolitical confrontations—it fails, ultimately, to fulfil its potential as a theory of global Cold War. Halliday's temporalization of the Cold War and his insistence on the autonomy of the superpower arms race and strategic competition end up detaching developments in the Third World from the axis of superpower conflict and, consequently, suggests a residual Eurocentrism within his theory. The article begins by contextualizing the wider theorization of the Cold War and the (absence) place of the Third World in it. It then proceeds to assess critically Halliday's conceptualization of the Third World in the Cold War. The final section outlines an alternative theoretical framework for a theory of global Cold War that builds on elements of inter-systemic conflict focused on how geopolitical confrontations involving the superpowers derived from the revolutionary consequences of uneven capitalist development.

Incentives from stock option grants: a behavioral approach

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the valuation of stock options from the perspective of an employee exhibiting preferences as described by cumulative prospect theory (CPT). In addition, it elaborates on their incentives effect and some implications in terms of design aspects.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on the CPT framework to derive a continuous time model of the stock option subjective value using the certainty equivalence principle. Numerical simulations are used in order to analyze the subjective value sensitivity with respect to preferences‐related parameters and to investigate the incentives effect.FindingsConsistent with a growing body of empirical and experimental studies, the model predicts that the employee may overestimate the value of his options in‐excess of their risk‐neutral value. Moreover, for typical setting of preferences parameters around the experimental estimates, and assuming the company is allowed to adjust existing compensation when making new stock option grants, the model predicts that incentives are maximized for strike prices set around the stock price at inception. This finding is consistent with companies’ actual compensation practices. Finally, the model predicts that an executive who is subject to probability weighting may be more prompted than a risk‐neutral executive to act in order to increase the firm's assets volatility.Originality/valueThis research proposes an alternative theoretical framework for the analysis of pay‐to‐performance sensitivity of equity‐based compensation that takes into account a number of prominent patterns of employee behavior that expected utility theory cannot explain. It contributes to recent empirical and theoretical researches that have advanced CPT framework as a promising candidate for the analysis of equity‐based compensation contracts.

The Allocation of Housework: Extending the Gender Display Approach

The current study attempts a simultaneous testing of economic models, the gender display perspective, and gender-deviance neutralization hypothesis that attempt to explain present housework arrangements between men and women. The study uses fixed effects models that can produce more robust coefficients than the standard regression models generally used in cross-sectional designs. The findings in the study reveal the inadequacy of economic models and the gender display theory to account for men’s housework behavior. The study introduces the marital contract hypothesis as an alternative theoretical framework for explaining men’s housework behavior. According to the study, what is crucial for achieving housework parity is changes in women’s gender related attitudes and their economic and labor market standing and orientation to paid work. The study suggests that attempting to change men’s gender beliefs can do little to achieve the goal of housework parity.

Beyond Representation and Signification: Toward a Sonic Materialism

Why does sound art remain so profoundly undertheorized, and why has it failed to generate a rich and compelling critical literature? It is because the prevailing theoretical models are inadequate to it. Developed to account for the textual and the visual, they fail to capture the nature of the sonic. In this article, the author proposes an alternative theoretical framework, a materialist account able to grasp the nature of sound and to enable analysis of the sonic arts. He suggests, moreover, that this theoretical account can provide a model for rethinking the arts in general and for avoiding the pitfalls encountered in theories of representation and signification.

Individual differences in prejudice and associative versus rule-based forms of transitive reasoning

Two experiments examined whether individual differences in prejudice are associated with different reasoning styles when targets and nontargets of prejudice are processed in the same context. High-prejudice and low-prejudice participants studied pairwise relations between four persons (one a prejudice target, three nontargets). Stereotypes were made salient by using specific ethnic names and stereotypic traits to define relations between the targets. Relations between the persons were always stereotype congruent in Experiment 1, whereas they were sometimes stereotype incongruent in Experiment 2. We examined study time, relational memory, and transitive reasoning in both experiments. The results of both experiments indicated that the high-prejudice participants studied sets of relations presented to them faster than did the low-prejudice participants. The high-prejudice participants were also more likely to show impaired relational memory and reasoning about nontarget persons but no such limitations with respect to target persons. This novel evidence that prejudice might substantially impair memory and transitive reasoning processes about nontarget persons is discussed in the light of alternative theoretical frameworks in the social cognition and emotion domains. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

From Global to Polycentric Climate Governance

Global governance institutions for climate change, such as those established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, have so far failed to make a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Following the lead of Elinor Ostrom, this paper offers an alternative theoretical framework for reconstructing global climate policy in accordance with the polycentric approach to governance pioneered in the early 1960s by Vincent Ostrom, Charles Tiebout, and Robert Warren. Instead of a thoroughly top-down global regime, in which lower levels of government simply carry out the mandates of international negotiators, a polycentric approach provides for greater experimentation, learning, and cross-influence among different levels and units of government, which are both independent and interdependent. After exploring several of the design flaws of the existing set of global institutions and organizations for greenhouse gas mitigation, the paper explores how those global institutions and organizations might be improved by learning from various innovative policies instituted by local, state, and regional governments. The paper argues that any successful governance system for stabilizing the global climate must function as part of a larger, polycentric set of nested institutions and organizations at various governmental levels.

Introduction to the Special Section: Cognitive-Behavioral and Neursscientific Approaches to Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Phenomena: Why the Need for an Interface?

Cognitive and behavioral theories of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related disorders (e.g., Body Dysmorphic Disorder [BDD] and tic disorders) have led to the development of effective treatments, although clinically significant outcomes are not consistent and both dropout and relapse rates remain high. Researchers have turned to alternative theoretical frameworks to advance our understanding of these disorders and to provide novel insights into either new interventions or the tailoring of existing interventions. Neuroscientific evidence from neuropsychological, functional and structural imaging, and electrophysiological studies has implicated the role of frontal-striatal dysfunction in OCD and related disorders. However, to date, neuroscientists and cognitive-behaviorists have tended to publish in separate journals, with few attempts at integrating their respective evidence bases to advance understanding of psychopathological processes, or in progressing knowledge of treatment-related processes. This special edition presents four articles on OCD and related disorders which present results from studies integrating neuroscientific and cognitive-behavioral approaches, methodologies, and measures. This introduction to the special edition outlines some of the background of this initiative, and contextualizes the articles. The experience of unwanted intrusive thoughts, images, urges, or doubts that cause distress, and the compulsive and/or ritualistic responses to such intrusions are characteristic of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related disorders such as Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and Tourette’s Syndrome. The way in which individuals respond to unwanted intrusive experiences, as well as the mechanisms underpinning

Country-image discourse model: Unraveling meaning, structure, and function of country images

The country-image discourse model provides an alternative theoretical framework to explain the meaning of country-of-origin (COO) effects. Unlike previous work, this research relies on the key principles underlying semiotics and discourse theory. The model integrates the semantic and pragmatic dimension of COO and provides hypotheses regarding the structure and function of country-images. Empirical verification through structural equation modeling indicates that the data offer substantial support for the proposed internal structure of the country-image construct, such that country-specific cognitions influence affect, which influences conation. Country-related conations also represent the predominant influence on subjects' beliefs, evaluation, and purchase intentions.

A Lacanian perspective on psychotic hallucinations

This article gives an overview of the psychiatric approach to psychotic hallucinations and discusses Lacan’s conceptual break from this paradigm. Rejecting the traditional focus on the unreality of hallucinatory perceptions, Lacan examines the effects that psychotic hallucinations have on the person who experiences them. He develops an alternative theoretical framework which indicates that psychosis is characterized by the incapacity to signify one’s own existence as a subject in relation to the Other. Lacan’s different perspectives on hallucinations are discussed in terms of the logic of signification as the constitution of subjectivity and as a manifestation of the object a and jouissance, and also in terms of his theory of the sinthome.

The Response of MNCs to Radical Systemic Change in a Transition Environment

After the collapse of the communist system, multinational corporations (MNCs) embarked on direct investments in Poland and launched export operations through their subsidiaries at astonishing speed, in spite of the initially weak institutional environment. These developments challenge the explanatory power of institutional theories explaining the patterns of MNC expansion into Central and Eastern Europe after 1989. We propose an alternative theoretical framework based on a stream of organizational research that focuses specifically on strategic responses to radical changes in external operating environments. The analysis is based on a dataset covering 4,000 subsidiaries operating in the Polish manufacturing sector during the transition period 1989–2003.

From global to polycentric climate governance

Global governance institutions for climate change, such as those established by the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, have so far failed to make a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Following the lead of Elinor Ostrom, this paper offers an alternative theoretical framework for reconstructing global climate policy in accordance with the polycentric approach to governance pioneered in the early 1960s by Vincent Ostrom, Charles Tiebout, and RobertWarren. Instead of a thoroughly top-down global regime, in which lower levels of government simply carry out the mandates of international negotiators, a polycentric approach provides for greater experimentation, learning, and cross-influence among different levels and units of government, which are both independent and interdependent. After exploring several of the design flaws of the existing set of global institutions and organizations for greenhouse gas mitigation, the paper explores how those global institutions and organizations might be improved by learning from various innovative policies instituted by local, state, and regional governments. The paper argues that any successful governance system for stabilizing the global climate must function as part of a larger, polycentric set of nested institutions and organizations at various governmental levels.

Body size and species coexistence in consumer–resource interactions: A comparison of two alternative theoretical frameworks

Species coexistence involving trophic interactions has been investigated under two theoretical frameworks—partitioning shared resources and accessing exclusive resources. The influence of body size on coexistence is well studied under the exclusive resources framework, but has received less attention under the shared-resources framework. We investigate body-size-dependent allometric extensions of a classical MacArthur-type model where two consumers compete for two shared resources. The equilibrium coexistence criteria are compared against the general predictions of the alternative framework over exclusive resources. From the asymmetry in body size allometry of resource encounter versus demand our model shows, counterintuitively, and contrary to the exclusive resource framework, that a smaller consumer should be competitively superior across a wide range of supplies of the two resource types. Experimental studies are reviewed to resolve this difference among the two frameworks that arise from their respective assumptions over resource distribution. Another prediction is that the smaller consumer may have relatively stronger control over equilibrium resource abundance, and the loss of smaller consumers from a community may induce relatively stronger trophic cascades. Finally, from satiating consumers’ functional response, our model predicts that greater difference among resource sizes can allow a broader range of consumer body sizes to coexist, and this is consistent with the predictions of the alternative framework over exclusive resources. Overall, this analysis provides an objective comparison of the two alternative approaches to understand species coexistence that have heretofore developed in relative isolation. It advances classical consumer–resource theory to show how body size can be an important factor in resource competition and coexistence.

Language learning as a practice of self-formation

This article explores the motivation to learn German for learners already proficient in English as a second language. Discussed are parts of the findings of an empirical study investigating the motivation of 12 Chinese students to study German as a major at a university in Hong Kong. The data collected for the duration of two academic semesters through interviews and diary entries indicated that language learning was seen as a practice through which students attempted to attain a certain kind of individuality. By drawing on Foucault's concept of ethical self-formation, an alternative theoretical framework was designed to analyse the students' reason for learning German, which were investigated under the four themes characteristic of Foucault's ethical self-formation: (a) what parts of the learners' selves are concerned with learning German? (b) what ethical values and beliefs do learners attach to their learning German? (c) how do learners apply German in their daily life? and (d) what are the learners' goals for learning German? Given the significance, the learning of an additional language was ascribed to the development of the students' selves, the article recommends a pedagogy that stronger integrates aspects of self-formation into language teaching.

Relational Maintenance as Including the Other in the Self

This manuscript advances “inclusion of the other in the self” as an alternative theoretical framework for understanding relational maintenance behavior. Using a qualitative data analytic strategy akin to early equity-theoretic relational maintenance research, this manuscript proposes a typology that conceptualizes maintenance behaviors as facilitating shared resources, identities, and perspectives. This approach complements both the equity theory perspective and related lines of interpersonal communication research.

Theoretical Implications and Practical Applications of the a-b Signal Detection Theory Model for Human-Automation Interaction

The purpose of this research was threefold: 1) Present the a-b Signal Detection Theory (SDT) model as an alternative theoretical framework to overcome the limitations of traditional SDT, 2) Provide basic empirical support to validate the adequacy of the model, and 3) Show the potential generalizability of the model to different domain-specific areas within applied settings. The results from the basic empirical study suggest that the a-b SDT model provides a more accurate theoretical framework for examining the underlying processes involved in signal detection and decision making. Furthermore, the findings from the domain-specific study show the potential applicability and generalizability of the a-b SDT model for examining human-automation interaction. The end product of this work is particularly important for researchers and practitioners who are interested in applying a basic fundamental framework for examining how sensory, perceptual, and cognitive factors may affect humans' decision-making accuracy and response bias while interacting with automated systems in a wide range of applied settings.