Coalition Of Opponents Research Articles

New (sub)urbanism? - How German cities try to create “urban” neighborhoods in their outskirts as a contribution to solving their recent housing crises

The paper explains the current state of greenfield development for housing in major German cities. The respective projects are a result of the ways metro regions are structured both administratively and physically, the resulting governance arena that is dominated by the core cities but characterized by a number of constraints that make large greenfield developments increasingly difficult, and the complex socioeconomic and cultural realities in relatively “mature” post-industrial urban environments. The paper demonstrates that the resulting development model builds on an attempt to realize “urban” features and qualities in the periphery. It seeks to meet the changing demand for housing and to respond to multiple sustainability requirements. In this respect, it differs significantly from “modernist” suburban development in the 20th century both in terms of physical structures and the roles of the participating stakeholders.For this purpose, the paper analyzes the governance arenas surrounding important greenfield projects that are currently developed. It shows how contested decision making is in a complex environment of contradicting claims to urban planning and housing policies, and that the new neighborhoods can neither be seen as mere appendices of existing peripheral settlements, nor will they ever be able to act as autonomous “new towns”. The planning and implementation efforts depend on the ability of the core cities of metro areas to coordinate fragmented governance arenas, to mobilize supporters and to overcome tenacious resistance from a loose coalition of opponents to peripheral development.

Multiagent Adversarial Collaborative Learning via Mean-Field Theory.

Multiagent reinforcement learning (MARL) has recently attracted considerable attention from both academics and practitioners. Core issues, e.g., the curse of dimensionality due to the exponential growth of agent interactions and nonstationary environments due to simultaneous learning, hinder the large-scale proliferation of MARL. These problems deteriorate with an increased number of agents. To address these challenges, we propose an adversarial collaborative learning method in a mixed cooperative-competitive environment, exploiting friend-or-foe Q-learning and mean-field theory. We first treat neighbors of agent i as two coalitions ( i 's friend and opponent coalition, respectively), and convert the Markov game into a two-player zero-sum game with an extended action set. By exploiting mean-field theory, this new game simplifies the interactions as those between a single agent and the mean effects of friends and opponents. A neural network is employed to learn the optimal mean effects of these two coalitions, which are trained via adversarial max and min steps. In the max step, with fixed policies of opponents, we optimize the friends' mean action to maximize their rewards. In the min step, the mean action of opponents is trained to minimize the friends' rewards when the policies of friends are frozen. These two steps are proved to converge to a Nash equilibrium. Then, another neural network is applied to learn the best response of each agent toward the mean effects. Finally, the adversarial max and min steps can jointly optimize the two networks. Experiments on two platforms demonstrate the learning effectiveness and strength of our approach, especially with many agents.

Political discourse networks and the conflict over software patents in Europe

AbstractIn 2005, the European Parliament rejected the directive ‘on the patentability of computer‐implemented inventions’, which had been drafted and supported by the European Commission, the Council and well‐organised industrial interests, with an overwhelming majority. In this unusual case, a coalition of opponents of software patents prevailed over a strong industry‐led coalition. In this article, an explanation is developed based on political discourse showing that two stable and distinct discourse coalitions can be identified and measured over time. The apparently weak coalition of software patent opponents shows typical properties of a hegemonic discourse coalition. It presents itself as being more coherent, employs a better‐integrated set of frames and dominates key economic arguments, while the proponents of software patents are not as well‐organised. This configuration of the discourse gave leeway for an alternative course of political action by the European Parliament. The notion of discourse coalitions and related structural features of the discourse are operationalised by drawing on social network analysis. More specifically, discourse network analysis is introduced as a new methodology for the study of policy debates. The approach is capable of measuring empirical discourses both statically and in a longitudinal way, and is compatible with the policy network approach.

Thaksin Shinawatra and the reshaping of Thai politics

Twice elected prime minister of Thailand at the head of his Thai Rak Thai Party, telecommunications magnate Thaksin Shinwatra was controversial in office. Since his government was overthrown by a September 2006 military coup backed by the palace, conservatives, and a broad coalition of opponents, Thaksin has remained at the centre of Thailand's continuing political turmoil. This paper examines his political legacy, both in its positive and negative forms, through a focus on the nature of political parties and electoral policies in Thailand; the role of business interests in politics; the impact of Thaksin's politics on political activism and mobilisation; populism, social welfare, and the reaction of the middle class to welfare politics; Thaksin's confrontation with the elite and the monarchy; and the developing judicialisation of politics.

“Baptists and Bootleggers, Once Removed”: The Politics of Radioactive Waste Internalization in the European Union

This article examines the emergence of an unusual coalition of opponents and proponents of nuclear power, united in their insistence that the EU's high-level radioactive waste (HLW) be disposed of within the EU, and in their opposition to the export of HLW beyond the EU. We argue that this odd coalition is best understood by considering the waste disposal issue within the context of the industry's entire production chain. The activist-industry consensus represents a coalition of “baptists and bootleggers, once removed” brought together not by opposition to HLW exports per se, but rather by the intersection of the issue of radioactive waste disposal with that of nuclear power generation. For quite different reasons, both partners believe that internalizing the EU's radioactive waste is more likely than export to advance their respective goals, be it the expansion or elimination of nuclear power.

After 25 Years, ED is Here to Stay

Based on interviews with some of the major players of the past quarter century and on research going back to the days shortly after the Civil War, Mr. Mollison tells the story of the department that would not die. ON THE silver anniversary of the U.S. Department of Education, participants on all sides of the perpetual debate over the proper role of the federal government in education are taking its survival for granted. Cato Institute this year issued its customary biennial call for Congress to demolish the department. But an education analyst at the libertarian think tank murmured, I don't know. Maybe next time we'll refashion our message. The department's here to stay, says Dale Listina. He and Gail Bramblett were the chief lobbyists on Capitol Hill for the National Education Association during a legislative war that stretched from 1977 to 1979. NEA's coalition won the war, and in 1980, the new department was born. It's not going away, concedes Chester Finn, Jr., who was an aide to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan during the New York Democrat's unsuccessful attempt to block the decision. Moynihan worked with a coalition of opponents led by Al Shanker, president of the NEA's organizing rival, the American Federation of Teachers. senator and the AFT leader argued that programs that helped families would receive a more consistent supply of money if their funding all flowed through one wide spigot into a single Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. secretary of HEW could make sure that the programs didn't overlap or leave gaps in service, they said. AFT's losing coalition included other AFL-CIO unions, defenders of local control of schools, and fiscal conservatives who predicted that the new department would inevitably seek more money and jobs. It also swept in Head Start employees and Catholic bishops, who feared that public school teachers from the NEA would dominate a separate education department. Business and university leaders were split or neutral on the issue. many who did take sides weren't very passionate about the pros and cons of rearranging bureaucratic boxes on the U.S. government's organizational charts. NEA's victorious alliance included most national associations of elementary and secondary educators, many state officials, some child advocacy and civil rights groups, and vocational rehabilitation specialists. independent union's permanent teams of volunteers -- thoroughly briefed and willing to take the time to visit their representatives in Congress -- were well organized in every state and almost every congressional district. Most important, the NEA had the help of President Jimmy Carter, an engineer by training, who genuinely enjoyed reorganizing government. Carter had pledged to seek a separate, Cabinet-level department of education during his 1976 campaign. That promise won him the first endorsement ever given by the NEA to a Presidential candidate. he wanted that endorsement again to help fend off a looming Democratic challenge by Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who was anticipating strong support from AFL-CIO unions in the 1980 caucuses and primaries. At that time, the Office of Education was tucked deep within the bowels of HEW, four layers below the secretary. HEW also housed the Office for Civil Rights, whose enforcement of antidiscrimination laws in schools and colleges was limited by its need to devote some of its resources to noneducational duties. extraction of those two offices from the humongous department was the primary aim of the coalition formed by the NEA. When you talked to someone [in HEW's Office of Education], it was like punching a pillow. You could never get a decision, Dale Listina said in a recent interview. And at the top, there was always some horrible national crisis in health or welfare that took their minds off education. …

The Impact of Globalization on U.S. Labor Markets: Redefining the Debate

(1999). The Impact of Globalization on U.S. Labor Markets: Redefining the Debate. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 33, Papers From The 1999 Afee Meeting, pp. 443-451.

Capital’s Strength and Labour’s Weakness under Free Trade

The engagement of a wide coalition of opponents to the Free Trade Agreement in the federal election of 1988 - including notably the labour unions and the Pro-Canada Network - raises the larger political issue of labour's strategy in these times of economic and employment uncertainty. The premise of this paper is that the PTA is really no more than a regional manifestation of capital's global restructuring. Thus, the threat that free trade poses to job security and income must be understood in the wider context of the overall strategy of modern, highly mobile capital.

Mr Enoch Powell's Bill

It is briefly reported that the Unborn Children (Protection) Bill failed to pass in Parliament after it was filibustered by a coalition of opponents from all parties. The Government plans to submit a bill for the regulation of embryo research in the autumn which will address issues arising from the Warnock Report. Mr. Powell and his supporters plan to attack any measures the Government proposes for overseeing research on early human embryos.

Jesus ben David: reflections on the Davidssohnfrage

In the question, "How do the scribes say the messiah is David's son?", Jesus challenged a specifically scribal messianic expectation and refused to associate himself with it. On the other hand, he embraced the characterization "David's son", with its overtones of Solomonic wisdom and especially of exorcistic and therapeutic skill. The question itself represents Jesus' attempt to evade the charge that he had messianic pretensions. His reputation as "David's son", however, and his activity in the Temple, made it impossible for him long to forestall the coalition of opponents who believed that he had such pretensions and that they were dangerous.