Commenter Claims Research Articles

Menno ter Braak en de democratie

In 1937 the Dutch publicist Menno ter Braak wrote a landmark article about national socialism (recently translated in English: “National Socialism as a Doctrine of Rancour1”). The recent republication of his article in the Netherlands stimulated a debate about the democratic credentials of Ter Braak. Contrary to what most commentators claim, Sjaak Koenis argues that even though Ter Braak was under the influence of conservative thinkers and skeptical about what he called ‘parliamentarism’, he did believe in the value of democracy. Moreover, his ideas about how democracy and resentment are intertwined, are today even more relevant to our debate about democracy than they were in the 1930s.

Cancel Culture: Myth or Reality?

In recent years, a progressive “cancel culture” in society, right-wing politicians and commentators claim, has silenced alternative perspectives, ostracized contrarians, and eviscerated robust intellectual debate, with college campuses at the vanguard of this development. These arguments can be dismissed as rhetorical dog whistles devoid of substantive meaning, myths designed to fire up the MAGA faithful, outrage progressives, and distract from urgent real-world problems. Given heated contention, however, something more fundamental may be at work. To understand this phenomenon, the opening section defines the core concept and theorizes that perceptions of this phenomenon are likely to depend upon how far individual values fit the dominant group culture. Within academia, scholars most likely to perceive “silencing” are mismatched or non-congruent cases, where they are “fish-out-of-water.” The next section describes how empirical survey evidence is used to test this prediction within the discipline of political science. Data are derived from a global survey, the World of Political Science, 2019, involving almost 2500 scholars studying or working in over 100 countries. The next section describes the results. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and considers their broader implications. Overall, the evidence confirms the “fish-out-of-water” congruence thesis. As predicted, in post-industrial societies, characterized by predominately liberal social cultures, like the US, Sweden, and UK, right-wing scholars were most likely to perceive that they faced an increasingly chilly climate. By contrast, in developing societies characterized by more traditional moral cultures, like Nigeria, it was left-wing scholars who reported that a cancel culture had worsened. This contrast is consistent with Noelle-Neumann’s spiral of silence thesis, where mainstream values in any group gradually flourish to become the predominant culture, while, due to social pressures, dissenting minority voices become muted. The ratchet effect eventually muffles contrarians. The evidence suggests that the cancel culture is not simply a rhetorical myth; scholars may be less willing to speak up to defend their moral beliefs if they believe that their views are not widely shared by colleagues or the wider society to which they belong.

Nature Conversing: John Scotus Eriugena’s Contemplative Ontological Poetics

ABSTRACT Inspired by Willemien Otten’s recent reading of the concept of nature in John Scotus Eriugena as ‘conversation’, this essay explores some implications of this mystical/theological notion in response to the current ecological situation. For Eriugena, natura is the theophanic unfolding of the divine logos, an unfolding in which both philosophical contemplation and human creativity play vital parts. To be part of nature is an endeavour both contemplative and creative or ‘poetical’, a cosmic practice in which natural and human world encounter one another in co-creative crossovers, and whose ends are oriented to the well-being and flourishing of all things in God. Eriugena’s premodern natura sidesteps attempts to ‘deconstruct’ or ‘get rid of’ of nature, as many contemporary ecological commentators claim is necessary, encouraging us instead to think it anew, in the light of a creative and contemplative theophanic unfolding.

Is music streaming bad for musicians? Problems of evidence and argument

Great controversy has surrounded the growth of the music streaming services that are now central to the music industries internationally. One important set of criticisms concerns the amount of money that music creators receive for the recorded music that is distributed on these services. Many claim that music streaming has made it harder than before for musicians to make a living from music. This article identifies and discusses some significant problems of argument and evidence surrounding these criticisms, as follows: (a) a dubious focus on ‘per-stream’ rates offered by music streaming services, (b) a failure to see streaming services as part of wider systems of music and ownership, (c) tendencies towards simplification when systemic problems are taken into account, and (d) the limited evidence provided when commentators claim, imply or assume that the system has become notably less just. It then discusses debates concerning what might be done to improve the system, especially whether ‘user-centric’ systems of payment might be adopted, instead of the current ‘pro-rata’ system. The article suggests that more musicians rather than fewer might now be able to earn money from recorded music than in preceding recorded-music systems. But it also proposes that the current system retains the striking inequalities and generally poor working conditions that characterised its predecessors, and that better debate requires greater transparency about usage and payment on the part of streaming services and music businesses.

The Call for Intellectual Diversity on Campuses and the Problem of Willful Ignorance

AbstractThe call for intellectual diversity on college campuses reemerges every few years, fueled by objections to the political imbalance or the liberal slant that conservative commentators claim is characteristic of higher education today. In this article, Barbara Applebaum sets out to add to the debate around intellectual diversity in higher education by addressing it through the lens of epistemic injustice, in general, and, more specifically, willful ignorance. She begins by summarizing the scholarship around epistemic injustice and then provides conceptual resources that are popular on social media to help explain the experience of marginalized knowers. Next, Applebaum demonstrates that unless willful ignorance is taken seriously, these conceptual resources remain unintelligible to dominantly situated knowers. She follows this with a review of some of the scholarship on epistemic injustice and the remedies for this problem proposed in it. Through applying insights gleaned from this scholarship to the call for intellectual diversity, Applebaum concludes that if the call for intellectual diversity is to lead to greater understanding among those who disagree on issues of injustice, it is necessary to confront the problem of willful ignorance in a serious and sustained way.

Oligopoly Coordination, Economic Analysis, and the Prophylactic Role of Horizontal Merger Enforcement

This article takes a fresh look at a longstanding issue in antitrust economics and policy: the problem of oligopoly coordination. First, it explains why coordinated conduct in oligopoly markets is a serious problem and an appropriate concern of antitrust enforcement. It shows that empirical economic studies, experimental results, real-world examples, and economic theory do not support the claims of antitrust commentators and courts influenced by the Chicago school that coordination is unlikely absent express collusion and that express collusion itself is uncommon. Second, it clarifies that coordinated outcomes can arise both from “purposive” conduct, when firms attempt to develop a common understanding and deter price-cutting, and from “non-purposive” conduct, when firms respond to one another’s price changes in a natural and predictable business way. While non-purposive conduct was once a central concern of antitrust enforcement, the article explains, it is largely and inappropriately ignored today. Third, the article shows how the detailed analysis of the potential coordinated effects of horizontal mergers should turn on whether the coordinated effects concern principally involves purposive or non-purposive strategic conduct. It also explains that greater concentration can be expected to make coordination more likely, stronger, or more effective, whether through purposive or non-purposive conduct. This supports a structural merger policy, by which mergers between rivals that increase concentration significantly in a concentrated market are presumed to harm competition.

Victoria Memorial Hall, India: engineering, architecture, conservation and modernisation

Located in Kolkata, Victoria Memorial Hall is the most famous monument of British India. This paper recalls the history of the memorial and describes its engineering. It reports the environmental degradation that occurred to the building in the past decades and records the repairs carried out by the authorities to rectify such degradation. Next, it contends that the architecture of the memorial belongs to the Neoclassical European genre. It refutes that the building is in Indo-Saracenic style, which many commentators claim speciously. Thirdly, it proposes that the authorities may like to study the feasibility of installing one or more tower air purifiers within its precincts to bring down air pollutants to below the values stipulated in the national standards. Such installation would minimise air-pollutant-induced degradation and thereby help conserve the building. Finally, this paper suggests that the authorities may study the feasibility of constructing large additional areas, either over ground or below ground, depending on the outcome of the feasibility study. Such additional areas should be used to provide modern visitor facilities that meet international standards and to install a few new galleries to raise the display ratio of artefacts in its stock.

Rectene Isocrates sophistis nonnumquam adnumeretur

The article addresses the question whether it is a proper opinion to consider Isocrates a sophist as many commentators claim. In his analysis the author refers to the passages in which the rhetor expresses his negative judgments about the opinions and actions performed by the sophists. The author examines also the circumstances in which Isocrates defends the members of this movement, as he finds it a beneficial way to protect also himself from many false and malicious statements. In conclusion, Isocrates is considered to have a unique status as a sophist and to be a philosopher who aspires to the role of the spiritual leader of the Greeks of that time.

Between Autonomy and Effectiveness: Reassessing the European Union’s Foreign Policy Towards the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Through a consideration of policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this article examines the autonomy and effectiveness of the European Union (EU) as an actor. We discuss first the criteria by which autonomy and effectiveness can be judged and then consider these by reference to EU policy since the formation of the Quartet in 2002. We argue that the EU has been effective in articulating a consistent and clear set of policies on Israel-Palestine. While this has placed it on-side with US-led initiatives to foster a solution to the conflict, we regard such an alignment as consistent with EU autonomy. These findings allow us to make qualified but still positive comments on the emerging EU Global Strategy. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict certainly demonstrates the limitations of EU external action but in affirming its credentials as an autonomous partner of the United States, the EU is less ineffectual than some commentators claim.

English

Gender Equality in the Welfare State? was published in the context of a postfeminist choice rhetoric in which it is increasingly assumed that gender equality has been achieved. Going against this grain, Gillian Pascall's book is a potent reminder that change has not infiltrated as far as some commentators claim. Pascall focuses on these issues in the UK policy context, drawing on comparative perspectives from other European Union (EU) countries. One of the main aims of the book is to explore the gender inequalities written into the welfare assumptions and institutions of the UK. Although some gains have been made in certain policy areas, women's access to resources and opportunities remains at a markedly disproportionate level compared to men's; gender disparities linger in employment, wealth, power, care responsibilities, and use of time. Pascall's book was written during a period of economic downturn and at the beginning of austerity politics, a climate which extended throughout the Coalition Government's term in office - and is set to continue through the majority Conservative Government's term - in which fiscal consolidation was made a priority at the expense of social goals. In such a climate, progress towards gender equality is at risk not only of being placed on the backburner but of being halted entirely, or at worst, reversed. There is, then, no doubting the relevance and value of Pascall's timely contribution. Pascall's analysis is exceptionally detailed yet accessible to all audiences with an interest in social policy. The 'further reading and website resources' at the end of each chapter allow the more interested reader to give each topic further consideration. It is, all in all, a valuable guide to gender equality in European welfare systems. Pascall begins at the very foundations of the welfare state itself; in the makings of the policies of a recovering post-war Britain and in the scripts of the Beveridge Report which normalised and entrenched the constructed gender binaries between the figures of the 'male breadwinner' and the 'female care-giver'. Gender difference, then, was written into the system from its very beginnings. The book is structured around this model of work and family as a lens for exploring how gender is implicated in welfare; how it has changed over time; and how it compares with other welfare states. Pascall

Euroskepticism Arrives: Marginal No More

Abstract: The increase of representation of the Eurosceptic parties is, contrary to what many commentators claim, more than just a protest vote against “business as usual.” This essay reviews the results of the recent European elections and provides an assessment of their short-and long-term consequences. It also examines the causes for the recent rise of Euroskepticism. The main thesis argued in the essay is that the disintegration of the EU narrative of “ever closer union” is the root cause of the rise of Euroskepticism, with various failing polices and the recent eurocrisis serving as the intermediate and precipitating causes. The essay also makes the argument that some of the Eurosceptic parties—such as the French National Front (FN), the British UKIP, True Finns, and the Danish People’s party—are no longer “marginal,” but have “graduated” into the mainstream European political ecology. The essay implicitly separates Eurosceptic “coalitional” populist parties from radical and extremist ones.

The Shape of Property

The Shape of Property

Form and Universal in Boethius

Contrary to the claims of recent commentators, I argue that Boethius holds a modified version of the Ammonian three-fold universal (transcendent, immanent, and conceptual). He probably identifies transcendent universals as divine ideas, and accepts too forms immanent in corporeal particulars, most likely construing these along the Aphrodisian lines that he hints at in a well-known passage from his second commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge. Boethius never states the theory of the three-fold form outright, but I attempt to show that this theory nevertheless underlies and gives structure to what Boethius has to say on the topic.

More than Words: Restorative Justice Concepts in Transitional Justice Settings

This article considers the applicability of restorative justice literature in the transitional justice arena. The authors argue that while restorative justice is applied to a wide range of conflicts, the established literature is often of limited value within a transitional context. Insufficient attention is often paid to the inherent difficulties in importing theories, concepts and practices designed for the context of ‘settled’ societies into post-conflict environments. Significantly more consideration needs to be given to the practical operation of transitional justice mechanisms, as well as their underlying normative bases, so that they might live up to the claims of many commentators that transitional justice is ‘restorative’.

Clarifying Confusions about Coercion

One of the most common criticisms of to research is that the subjects have been coerced into participating in clinical studies. Discussion of is common in scholarly articles, in discussions within IRBs, in ethics consultations, at presentations given at bioethics and medical conferences, and in ethics committee meetings. But many of these uses are incorrect, and it's time we cleaned up our language. Such claims have appeared especially frequently in recent years in discussions of research conducted in developing countries. Noting that potential subjects may be poor, uneducated, naive about research, and lacking alternative, nonresearch-related forms of health care, commentators claim subjects have no but to participate and therefore equate lack of good choices with coercion. For example, in an article on trials of the efficacy of HIV preventions, Isabelle de Zoysa and colleagues cautioned investigators to remind themselves that offering the trial participants access to extensive services that are not otherwise available to them may be in itself. (1) But discussion of is not new. In an influential article in the late 1980s about developing world research, Nicholas Christakis wrote: It is difficult to avoid coercing subjects in most settings where clinical investigation in the developing world is conducted. African subjects with relatively little understanding of medical aspects of research participation, indisposed toward resisting the suggestions of Western doctors, perhaps operating under the mistaken notion that they are being treated, and possibly receiving some ancillary benefits from participation in research, are very susceptible to coercion. (2) And in the early 1970s, in a now famous passage, Franz Ingelfinger claimed to find an element of coercion in every investigator-subject transaction, although particularly when the subject is not a healthy volunteer: Incapacitated and hospitalized because of illness, frightened by strange and impersonal routines, and fearful for his health and perhaps life, he is far from exercising a free power of choice when the person to whom he anchors all his hopes asks: Say, you wouldn't mind, would you, if you joined some of the other patients on this floor and helped us carry out some very important research we are doing? When informed consent is obtained it is not the student, the destitute bum, or the prisoner to whom by virtue of his condition the thumb screws of coercion are most relentlessly applied; it is the most used and useful of all experimental subjects, the patient with disease. (3) Ingelfinger's liberal construal of coercion is repeated in a recent edition of an influential book on consent, in which a group of authors led by J.W. Berg treat coercive as roughly equivalent to any kind of pressure or narrowing of options: Physicians should be aware of how vulnerable patients may be to the influence of unrealistic hope, especially those suffering from chronic, life-threatening disorders. (4) In these and similar cases, commentators are worried either about the decision-making conditions subjects face or about the decision-making process they undergo. In many of these cases, however, coercion is confused either with an assortment of nonmoral problems or with different kinds of moral transgressions. This confusion obstructs clear and critical thinking: we run the risk that the moral language we and others use may do our moral thinking for us. Everyone knows that coercion is bad, after all; if a practice is then plainly it should be stopped, and the coerced decisions should be set aside. Thus we may be led to faulty conclusions and faulty recommendations for change--and even when we discover a genuine moral wrong, if we misidentify it we are unlikely to respond to it appropriately. …

Executive Selection in the European Union: Does the Commission President Investiture Procedure Reduce the Democratic Deficit?

Central to all democratic systems is the ability of citizens to choose who holds executive power. To reduce the democratic-deficit in the EU, therefore, the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties give the European Parliament (EP) a vote on the European Council nominee for Commission President. The effect, so many commentators claim, is a parliamentary model: where EP elections are connected via an EP majority to executive selection. However, these claims are misplaced. There are no incentives for national parties to compete for the Commission President, and every incentive for MEPs to abide by national-party rather than EP-party wishes. The result is that EP elections are 'second-order national contests', fought by national parties on national executive performance, and that the winning coalition in the investiture procedure is of 'prime ministers' parties' not of 'EP election victors'. Consequently, for a parliamentary model to work, either the EP should 'go first' in the investiture process, or the link between domestic parties and MEPs should be broken. However, if EP elections remain second-order, the only option may be a presidential model, where the Commission President is directly-elected.

Antidiscrimination and Accommodation

The canonical idea of “antidiscrimination” in the United States condemns the differential treatment of otherwise similarly situated individuals on the basis of race, sex, national origin, or other protected characteristics. Starting from this perspective, legal requirements that actors take affirmative steps to “accommodate” the special, distinctive needs of particular groups, such as individuals with disabilities, by providing additional benefits or allowances to them strike many observers as fundamentally distinct from, broader than, and often less legitimate than legal requirements within the canonical “antidiscrimination” category. On this ground, observers sharply contrast Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other older civil rights enactments, said to be “antidiscrimination” laws, with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), said to be “accommodation” laws. On these observers’ view, “antidiscrimination” focuses on “equal” treatment, while “accommodation” focuses on “special” treatment. The goal of this paper is to intervene in two respects in this longstanding discussion over the relationship between antidiscrimination and accommodation. The first point it makes is that, in a broader respect than has generally bee appreciated, some aspects of antidiscrimination law−in particular of its disparate impact branch−are in fact requirements of accommodation. In such instances it is hard to resist the conclusion that antidiscrimination and accommodation are overlapping rather than fundamentally distinct notions, despite the frequent claims of commentators to the contrary. The overlap between the two concepts, I suggest, also sheds light on the question of Congress’s power under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to enact laws (such as the FMLA) that expressly mandate the provision of particular employment benefits directed toward specific groups of employees. The second point the paper makes is that even those aspects of antidiscrimination law that are not in fact accommodation requirements in the sense just described are similar to accommodation requirements in respects that have not previously been understood. The point is clearest−and has been recognized previously−in situations in which antidiscrimination law prohibits employer behavior based on customer or coworker dislike of a particular group; here antidiscrimination law fairly obviously operates to require employers to ignore undeniable financial costs associated with the disfavored group of employees, and thus in a real sense to “accommodate” these employees. But, as I describe, the parallel between antidiscrimination and accommodation is broader and embraces additional aspects of antidiscrimination law as

Antidiscrimination and Accommodation

The canonical idea of in the United States condemns the differential treatment of otherwise similarly situated individuals on the basis of race, sex, national origin, or other protected characteristics. Starting from this perspective, legal requirements that actors take affirmative steps to accommodate the special, distinctive needs of particular groups, such as individuals with disabilities, by providing additional benefits or allowances to them strike many observers as fundamentally distinct from, broader than, and often less legitimate than legal requirements within the canonical category. On this ground, observers sharply contrast Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other older civil rights enactments, said to be laws, with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), said to be laws. On these observers' view, focuses on equal treatment, while focuses on special treatment. The goal of this paper is to intervene in two respects in this longstanding discussion over the relation-ship between antidiscrimination and accommodation. The first point it makes is that, in a broader respect than has generally bee appreciated, some aspects of antidiscrimination law--in particular of its disparate impact branch--are in fact requirements of accommodation. In such instances it is hard to resist the conclusion that antidiscrimination and accommodation are overlapping rather than fundamentally distinct notions, despite the frequent claims of commentators to the contrary. The overlap between the two concepts, I suggest, also sheds light on the question of Congress's power under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to enact laws (such as the FMLA) that expressly mandate the provision of particular employment benefits directed toward specific groups of employees. The second point the paper makes is that even those aspects of antidiscrimination law that are not in fact accommodation requirements in the sense just described are similar to accommodation requirements in respects that have not previously been understood. The point is clearest--and has been recognized previously--in situations in which antidiscrimination law prohibits employer behavior based on customer or coworker dislike of a particular group; here antidiscrimination law fairly obviously operates to require employers to ignore undeniable financial costs associated with the disfavored group of employees, and thus in a real sense to accommodate these employees. But, as I describe, the parallel between antidiscrimination and accommodation is broader and embraces additional aspects of antidiscrimination law as well. This second point, in addition to suggesting that antidiscrimination shares such previously unrecognized parallels with accommodation, is of independent interest in showing how antidiscrimination law may be analyzed using a supply and demand framework drawn from economics. The analysis I offer here builds upon and extends John Donohue's well-known work in this area.

Market Hierarchy and Copyright in Our System of Free Expression

At the center of our understandings of political equality and democratic governance lies what might be termed the Speech the idea that liberal democracy both depends upon and is largely manifested by uninhibited, robust, and debate from and antagonistic But absent preventative regulation, market ? the state of substantial inequality of wealth increasingly prevalent in Western democracies, particularly the U.S. ? translates inevitably into what I refer to as hierarchy ? the disproportionate power of wealthy speakers and audiences to determine the mix of speech that comprises our public discourse. By effectively silencing outlying minorities and the poor, speech runs directly counter to the Free Speech Principle. Moreover, contrary to what some commentators claim, the Internet offers no panacea for the problem of speech because, I predict, in significant ways the next-generation Internet will closely resemble the centralized structure of traditional media markets. Copyright, which today affords content providers unprecedented expansive control over uses of expressive works, exacerbates speech hierarchy. It does so against the background of media consolidation and ownership of exclusive rights to vast inventories of existing expression. Copyright promotes speech hierarchy, both in the static sense (when prospective users are unable to obtain permission to use existing works) and the dynamic sense (by increasing the costs of expression for individuals and entities who must purchase expressive inputs from media conglomerates and by favoring entities that can engage in effective price discrimination in the sale of their expressive goods). Yet, I argue, despite its conflict with the Free Speech Principle, at least some measure of speech is a necessary condition for liberal democracy. Liberal democracy requires media enterprises with the political independence and financial wherewithal to reach a mass audience, galvanize public opinion, and engage in sustained investigative reporting and critique - what we might term the Press - no less than it requires wide-open debate from diverse sources - the Free Speech Principle. A universe of yeomen authors could not fulfill those functions. To the extent that speech supports the Free Press Principle but runs counter to the Free Speech Principle, copyright law and media policy must seek to moderate between the two. They must enable, and indeed support, a degree of market in the expressive sector even as they seek to ameliorate the most deleterious effects of media concentration and foster expression from a broad spectrum of adverse and antagonistic sources. The scope of copyright owner rights and limitations to those rights should be determined within that framework.

Comments on "Wave propagation properties in high-temperature superconducting parallel-plate waveguides"

For the original paper see ibid., vol. 9, no. 5, p. 183-185 (1999). The commenter claims that the aforementioned paper contains some fundamental errors, particularly with regard to boundary condition for HTS structures, referred to as Meissner boundary condition. As a result of the incorrect boundary condition, the HTS surface is incorrectly modeled as a magnetic wall with H/sub t//spl ap/0. Consequently, the waveguide fields presented are the fields of structures with magnetic walls, but not of HTS structures.