Collective Entity Research Articles

Negotiating Collective Land Rights in the Andes: Insights from contrasting trajectories on the Bolivian-Chilean altiplano, 1880s–1930s

Abstract This article develops a historicising and comparative perspective on the transformation, formalisation, and negotiation of collective land rights in the Andean Highlands. It discusses and compares the trajectories of two highland areas situated across the Bolivian-Chilean border within the context of globally and nationally shifting frontiers of market and state integration since the late 19th century. The case studies demonstrate a striking divergence in the context of the breakthrough of liberal land legislation in Latin America. Communities in the Bolivian province of Carangas were able to resist privatising pressures, while communities of the Arica highlands, once annexed and incorporated in Chile after the War of the Pacific, adjusted to a more homogeneous regime that left little room for communal land relations. Despite the stark contrasts, this article questions simplistic dichotomic framings of the unchallenged “survival” of communal land rights in Bolivia versus complete “disappearance” of communal arrangements in Chile. Empirical archival and ethnographic data point to the social reconfigurations and creative strategies through which the community as a collective legal entity and daily practice transformed. The article sheds light on the causes and longer-term implications of these regional trajectories within the context of a globalising land regime.

Neighbourhood First? Status Quo of India’s Trade with the Neighbours

Driven by the objective to create a congenial relationship with the neighbours, the Narendra Modi Government of India instituted the ‘ Neighbourhood First’ policy (NFP) in 2014 which is a continuation of the neighbourhood policy with some new features. Sadly, despite India’s diligent effort expended to enhance its relationship with its neighbours, all exercises were nugatory. It poses the question of how India can effectively pursue the objectives of its foreign policies. The realisation of the NFP’s intended goals remains ambiguous. Consequently, it becomes imperative to assess the impact of Modi’s NFP at this opportune moment. Bilateral trade serves as an essential indicator, reflecting the state of relationships between nations. Thus, this study raises two key questions: first, whether the neighbourhood factor influences India’s exports, and second, how the NFP affects India’s trade with neighbouring countries. The study aims to quantify the impact of the neighbourhood on India’s exports and evaluate the NFP’s role in facilitating trade within the region. The findings reveal that the neighbourhood, as a collective entity, significantly influences India’s exports to neighbouring countries. However, when considering individual countries, the results present a different perspective. Moreover, the study demonstrates that, despite the NFP’s original intention to promote friendly relations with its neighbours, it has not been notably successful. The failure of this policy, along with India’s deteriorating relationships with its neighbors, is evident in its export patterns. JEL Codes: F13, F14

Health information systems data for decision-making: case study in three cities on current practices and opportunities

A functional and reliable Health Information System (HIS) is vital for data-based decision-making in public health. Here we describe the assessment of data processes and general HIS principles by adapting a global approach to three cities. The assessments supported the data strategy of the CARDIO4cities initiative in each city aiming to improve urban population health by increasing the use of cardiovascular disease (CVD) data to inform decision-making. We aimed to explore data collection processes and entities, data availability and quality as well as data ownership and sharing regarding a set of identified key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs were based on a global theory of change (ToC) and a global evaluation and indicator framework and were tailored to each location. By first assessing existing sources and processes regarding data, recommendations for changes and improvements are sure to build on current circumstances. To map the data, existing data collection, analysis and storage processes were investigated. A flow chart was created to visualize the data pathways and challenges for each system and findings were compared across cities to document differences and similarities. Data quality and interoperability of various separate systems were the most prominent challenges for all HISs. The observed dvata quality issues originated from incorrect, missing and incomplete data and were connected to the misunderstanding of indicators, incomplete data input forms or the lack of a systematic data routine in the workflow. Harmonization of the HISs to ensure interoperability can facilitate data collection and analysis of health data and can provide a solid basis for health management decision-making. Based on the presented HIS cases, we recommend to examine, map and verify current processes when conducting a HIS assessment, to visualize findings and to gauge the interest of government entities to ensure political support.

PathEL: A novel collective entity linking method based on relationship paths in heterogeneous information networks

Collective entity linking always outperforms independent entity linking because it considers the interdependencies among entities. However, the existing collective entity linking methods often have high time complexity, do not fully utilize the relationship information in heterogeneous information networks (HIN) and most of them are largely dependent on the special features associated with Wikipedia. Based on the above problems, this paper proposes a novel collective entity linking method based on relationship path in heterogeneous information networks (PathEL). The PathEL classifies complex relationships in HIN into 1-hop paths and 3 types of 2-hop paths, and measures entity correlation by the path information among entities, ultimately combining textual semantic information to realize collective entity linking. In addition, facing the high complexity of collective entity linking, this paper proposes to solve the problem by combining the variable sliding window data processing method and the two-step pruning strategy. The variable sliding window data processing method limits the number of entity mentions in each window and the pruning strategy reduces the number of candidate entities. Finally, the experimental results of three benchmark datasets verify that the model proposed in this paper performs better in entity linking than the baseline models. On the AIDA CoNLL dataset, compared to the second-ranked model, our model has improved P, R, and F1 scores by 1.61%, 1.54%, and 1.57%, respectively.

Narrative as a Form of Applied History

Abstract Narrative is a fundamental form of historical thinking. As such, narrative is a representational framework through which real events can be ordered into simplified temporal sequences unfolding within historical settings, driven by the interaction of historical personages or collective entities such as nations or classes. These insights, however, are yet to be fully incorporated within the field of applied history, which could profit from a closer consideration of narrative as a concrete manifestation of what has been termed genealogical or processual history. Like the historical analogy, which has been the focus of much research, narrative has the potential to fruitfully make connections between past and present events, but also to misapply history for propagandistic purposes. To address these issues, this article presents a methodological model whose usefulness is demonstrated in two case studies, together with guidelines for how a narrative perspective could inspire future applied history research.

Bhaskarjit Neog, What Responsibility? Whose Responsibility? Intention, Agency, and Emotions of Collective Entities. London: Routledge, 2023. 170 pp., 9780367366933. £135.00 (Hb.)

Bhaskarjit Neog, What Responsibility? Whose Responsibility? Intention, Agency, and Emotions of Collective Entities. London: Routledge, 2023. 170 pp., 9780367366933. £135.00 (Hb.)

Navigating the Geopolitical Tightrope: The Complex Dynamics of Sino-EU Relations in a Shifting World Order

In recent years, a discernible shift has occurred in the European Union's (EU) stance and policies towards China, prompted by a confluence of crises including different interpretation of human rights concept, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia as well as Sino-US tensions. Meanwhile, many European Union (EU) countries express skepticism about China's Belt and Road Initiative (the BRI), perceiving it as a potential threat to their national interests. In the event of a confrontation between the US and China, the EU is gradually inclined to align itself with the US. Despite its economic prowess, the EU, as a collective entity, is viewed as strategically limited when dealing with China, resorting mainly to technology and commercial restrictions. The EU finds itself walking a delicate line, leveraging its economic strength yet recognizing its strategic constraints in addressing the multifaceted relationship with China. In light of these developments, this article seeks to analyze the evolving dynamics of Sino-EU relations, leading to an inherently unstable partnership.

KONSEP NITU DALAM KEPERCAYAAN MASYARAKAT DUSUN LEWOURAN

This article explores the concept of nitu (spirit) in the beliefs of the Lewouran village community, located in Lewotobi Subdistrict, East Flores Regency, East Nusa Tenggara. Specifically, it delves into the concept of nitu in the traditional beliefs of the Lewouran community. The objective of this article is to elucidate whether nitu indeed possesses distinct powers in the lives of the Lewouran villagers. The research employs a qualitative descriptive methodology, combining field research and literature review methods. The findings of this study suggest that nitu, especially nitu date (malevolent spirit), are not merely individual or collective spiritual entities with specific supernatural abilities. Instead, they can have a significant impact on human life, leading to illnesses, diseases, and various calamities within the community.

Unveiling elicitation: a socioecological sensemaking-driven path across innovation in capitalist representations

PurposeThe paper positions social and technological innovation as pivotal counterforces to conservative resistance against change, particularly in light of the recurrent economic and technological upheavals characterizing the present shape of capitalism.Design/methodology/approachThe research adopts a qualitative methodology, rooted in a comparative case study approach, offering a critical retrospective analysis of societal disruptions and transformations. Central to this methodological framework is the construct of sensemaking, which is characterized as the process by which collective entities retrospectively develop plausible narratives that rationalize their experiences. The approach is informed by the dynamics of socio-ecological systems, which are understood to undergo cyclical phases of growth, stabilization, collapse, and regeneration.FindingsThe study shows evidence that resilience and adaptability are more authentically gauged by socio-technological responses to cyclical disruptions and recoveries. It delineates sensemaking as a crucial socioecological mechanism through which elicitation emerges and societies and organizations navigate these cycles, forging shared narratives from collective experiences that are driven by plausibility rather than mere accuracy.Practical implicationsThe research calls for the development of policies that synthesize disruptive innovations with strategies for social cohesion. Such policies must ensure the protection of the socioeconomic texture from implicit structural precariousness arising from innovation. The ability to integrate and institutionalize change is emphasized as crucial, demanding a synergy between innovative creativity, new normative frameworks, and the preservation of fundamental societal values.Originality/valueThe paper challenges reductionist technological interpretations of societal changes, advocating for a holistic perspective that accounts for the redistributive and elicitation roles as vital to the evolution of socio-economic systems. The value of this research lies in its comprehensive framing of these transformations, underscoring the importance of a multi-faceted understanding in the effective management of socioeconomic change.

African Pentecostalism and Ecological Spirituality: Liturgy and Supplication from a Pneumatology Perspective

The article substantiates to highlight the importance of Pentecostal hermeneutic reference to liturgy, pneumatology, and ecclesiology. African Pentecostals worship in a manner that embodies the Holy Spirit in all aspect of worship, bearing in mind interactive acts which connects the worshipping community together with the living God and not a faraway saviour of humanity, but God all of creation. All of creation responds to the creator in worship and adoration. This brings to the fore the pervasiveness of the Spirit as the spring of life, on which the interrelated, interconnectedness and full participation of all of creation hinges. Communities are bound together by their charismatic Pentecostal experiences and common acquaintance particularly with alienation and biased judgement based on ecclesiological views and radical spirituality. While Pentecostal hermeneutics fueled by works of the Holy Spirit is distinct from other hermeneutics, the danger is when Scriptures are mis-interpreted and used out of context. Spirituality conveys an amalgamated integral or component analysis regarding its historical background, interpretation, and practice. African spirituality is therefore, understood ‘as a collective entity’ It is expressed within the connectedness of individuals, groups of people which forms the community. Therefore, individual spirituality within an African context is practised in a way that ensures the wellbeing of the entire community. In practicality it involves one’s immersion into the livelihoods within the shared space through participation in one’s community (Magesa, 2010:71). African spirituality is basically a moral obligation related to African lifeworlds and religiosity within the community at large. Ecological spirituality from the African context becomes the unifying power between humanity and the natural world by enhancing relations and accountability towards the earth community. Ecological spiritually brings forth the depth of ethics exhibiting highlighting environmental concerns intrinsically and inextricably are intertwined (Ngwena, 2021:56).

Co-Assembly of Soft and Hard Nanoparticles into Macroscopic Colloidal Composites with Tailored Mechanical Property and Processability.

Colloidal composites, translating the great potential of nanoscale building bricks into macroscopic dimensions, have emerged as an appealing candidate for new materials with applications in optics, energy storage, and biomedicines. However, it remains a key challenge to bridge the size regimes from nanoscopic colloidal particles to macroscale composites possessing mechanical robustness. Herein, a bottom-up approach is demonstrated to manufacture colloidal composites with customized macroscopic forms by virtue of the co-assembly of nanosized soft polymeric micelles and hard inorganic nanoparticles. Upon association, the hairy micellar corona can bind with the hard nanoparticles, linking individual hard constituents together in a soft-hard alternating manner to form a collective entity. This permits the integration of block copolymer micelles with controlled amounts of hard nanoparticles into macroscopic colloidal composites featuring diverse internal microstructures. The resultant composites showed tunable microscale mechanical strength in a range of 90-270MPa and macroscale mechanical strength in a range of 7-42MPa for compression and 2-24MPa for bending. Notably, the incorporation of soft polymeric micelles also imparts time- and temperature-dependent dynamic deformability and versatile capacity to the resulting composites, allowing their application in the low-temperature plastic processing for functional fused silica glass.

The Poetics and Politics of We-Narration on the Contemporary British Stage

Abstract We-narratives are proliferating in the contemporary novel. Constructing a collective subject that cannot be reduced to a singular individual who speaks for the group, they have been hailed by narratologists as remarkable fictional possibilities. This article registers a similar increase of plural narration in contemporary drama and explores how an analysis of the phenomenon’s linguistic dimension can be combined with a consideration of these plays’ orientation towards performance. Drawing on British examples, we chart an intriguing variety of we-narratives and argue that the political potential of these forms of community building lies in their turn away from mimesis and dramatic realism. Rather than merely representing a collective entity on stage, they also forge one in and through performance and frequently unsettle the conventional identification of one voice with one body. Thus, contemporary uses of “we” model the relationship between stage and auditorium in ways that assert, but also interrogate, the potential for community building in the shared space of the theatre.

Examining the international political and legal accountability of states for genocide, ecocide, and weapons of mass destruction: current norms, practices, and political implications

The article reveals the international framework of political and legal liability of states for committing acts of genocide, ecocide, and using weapons of mass destruction. It is emphasized that these areas form a separate legal responsibility institution within international law. The author emphasizes the lack of unity between theoretical and practical aspects of legal regulation of using weapons of mass destruction, as well as the role that liability plays in the progressive development of law. The paper also highlights topical issues related to the paradigm shifts in modern international law due to the cases of genocide, ecocide, and WMD. The study aims to analyze international legal norms and practices of holding states accountable for the crimes of genocide, ecocide, and use of weapons of mass destruction. The following methods were employed in the course of this research: systemic, comparative legal, historical and legal, structural and functional, and generalization. The article emphasizes that most international crimes are committed with the support or under the control of collective entities, especially states. Nevertheless, international law has tended to impose responsibility for such crimes not only on certain people but also on states. The predominant response of the international community to international crimes was to impose responsibility on specific persons to the extent that it has been directed through international responsibility law. In this regard, it has been symbolized by prosecuting particular criminals through international criminal courts and tribunals.

A graph based named entity disambiguation using clique partitioning and semantic relatedness

Disambiguating name mentions in texts is a crucial task in Natural Language Processing, especially in entity linking. The credibility and efficiency of such systems depend largely on this task. For a given name entity mention in a text, there are many potential candidate entities that may refer to it in the knowledge base. Therefore, it is very difficult to assign the correct candidate from the whole set of candidate entities of this mention. To solve this problem, collective entity disambiguation is a prominent approach. In this paper, we present a novel algorithm called CPSR for collective entity disambiguation, which is based on a graph approach and semantic relatedness. A clique partitioning algorithm is used to find the best clique that contains a set of candidate entities. These candidate entities provide the answers to the corresponding mentions in the disambiguation process. To evaluate our algorithm, we carried out a series of experiments on seven well-known datasets, namely, AIDA/CoNLL2003-TestB, IITB, MSNBC, AQUAINT, ACE2004, Cweb, and Wiki. The Kensho Derived Wikimedia Dataset (KDWD) is used as the knowledge base for our system. From the experimental results, our CPSR algorithm outperforms both the baselines and other well-known state-of-the-art approaches.

Enhancing intersex healthcare: A qualitative study of parental perspectives on the role of genetics

AbstractIntersex individuals, encompassing people with diverse sex characteristics that do not fit binary frameworks of sex, have long faced a history of medical secrecy, discrimination, and societal stigma, contributing to their limited social visibility. In recent years, increased awareness of intersex issues and a robust advocacy movement have drawn significant attention to the experiences of intersex individuals and their families. This study contributes to the existing literature by examining the experiences and needs of parents of intersex individuals within genetic healthcare systems, bridging a critical gap, and advocating for more comprehensive and supportive healthcare practices. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 14 parents of intersex individuals, and reflexive thematic analysis was used to inductively generate four major themes. Themes highlighted the need for improved accessibility of intersex healthcare, the importance of multidisciplinary healthcare teams, and the significance of clinical diagnosis provided by genetics professionals. Furthermore, the study highlighted the necessity of a thoughtful approach to information provision and the impact of genetic investigations on family dynamics. Genetics professionals can play a pivotal role in raising awareness about intersex variations, improving diagnostic processes, collaborating within healthcare teams, and providing specialized support to address psychosocial concerns. The study underscores the importance of treating families as a collective entity and addressing the impact of genetic investigations on the family unit. By addressing the challenges and implementing the recommendations outlined, healthcare institutions can create a more compassionate, inclusive, and effective healthcare environment for the intersex community.

Buddhist Governance

This paper examines the relationship between the monastic saṅgha and the Buddhist king as the dhammarājā in the context of good governance in the contemporary world, with a specific focus on the Cambodian perspective. Through an examination of the historical and philosophical foundations of Buddhist governance, it argues for the enduring relevance and applicability of these principles in today’s diverse societies. A second line of argument explores how the saṅgha assembly, as a collective entity, contributes to the establishment of a just and harmonious society.
 Keywords: Buddhist governance, Saṅgha, Dhammarājā, Dhammādhippateyya, Dhammocracy, Pāramī, Cambodia.

Nation‐states in a Prisoner's Dilemma with climate change: Applying Edith Stein's theory of the state

AbstractTo get a better picture of the relation between nationalism and global environmental problems within the state‐dominated situation, I present the inherent logic of international environmental politics as a version of the famous Prisoner's Dilemma. I argue that the same contingent bonds that relate the members of nations to their respective nation‐states are part of the contemporary difficulty of actually working together for the common good on the international level by creating exclusive feelings of solidarity—the ‘Prisoners’ of the Dilemma. To reveal the experiential background of nation‐states in this situation, I rephrase and apply Edith Stein's theory of the state as a collective entity. Stein was an inter‐war political philosopher who is now mainly read within religious studies and philosophy of mind. As my argument implies, her work also has relevance for further affect nationalism studies.

Radical Collective Intelligence and the Reimagining of Cognitive Science.

To introduce our special issue How Minds Work: The Collective in the Individual, we propose "radical CI," a form of collective intelligence, as a new paradigm for cognitive science. Radical CI posits that the representations and processes necessary to perform the cognitive functions that humans perform are collective entities, not encapsulated by any individual. To explain cognitive performance, it appeals to the distribution of cognitive labor on the assumption that the human project runs on countless interactions between locally acting individuals with specialized skills that each retain a small part of the relevant information. Some of the papers in the special issue appeal to radical CI to account for a variety of cognitive phenomena including memory performance, metacognition, belief updating, reasoning, and problem-solving. Other papers focus on the cultural and institutional practices that make radical CI possible.

Проблема обеспечения судебной защитой требований, вытекающих из обязательств по коллективному договору

This article discusses practical issues related to the consideration by courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts of the Russian Federation of disputes involving collective entities of social partnership. The author attempts to substantiate the allocation of collective disputes over rights as a special type of dispute that needs special regulation of the procedure for consideration and resolution in jurisdictional bodies. The article also considers the possibility of including in the collective agreement a condition on the refusal of employees from a strike and on the obligation of such a condition for the parties of the agreement.

Habitus Entrapment: The Constrictive, Deterministic Habitus of Peter the Venerable

Habitus, as a concept, has been criticized for being constrictive and deterministic since Pierre Bourdieu first introduced it in 1967. Bourdieu transformed this term into a central concept in social theory, wherein the term refers to a collective entity in which predominant social and cultural conditions within a given society are entrenched and replicated. Habitus, consequently, guides agents/individuals in the way they respond, and it also informs their practices in their actual environments. Thus, Bourdieu’s notion of habitus interplays the agent who is bound to a collective social structure with the agent who is free to act. But when can habitus be constrictive and deterministic? This study aims to answer this question. The study shows that when there is a complete and harmonious correlation between habitus and field, habitus becomes constrictive and deterministic. Peter the Venerable’s translation project, The Toledo Collection, is a manifestation of such a conditioning relationship between habitus and field, under which habitus drove the reinforcement of the prevailing sentiments of the dominant institutions of the era, through the influence of translation choices