Decision-making Circles Research Articles

Twisted Narratives: The Neoconservatives’ Pursuit of War for Oil in the 1970s

Abstract Following the oil crisis of 1973, President Nixon and other American officials made statements on the possibility of resorting to force in the event of OPEC’s actual “strangulation of the West” (Oil Fields as Military Objectives 1). Such statements were followed by a set of articles that rationalized taking military action to seize the oil fields in the Middle East. This paper argues that academics, political advisers, and news commentators who later became known as neoconservatives were the leading voices behind these calls for war. Their arguments and detailed plans of attack initiated a serious discussion of the military option in various decision-making circles and in different media outlets. By revisiting these articles and analyzing their narratives, this essay draws a connection between the neoconservatives’ war rhetoric in 1973–1975 and their war rhetoric in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks. The essay contends that in the effort to maintain US hegemony and dominance over a volatile and strategically vital region, neoconservatives reemployed an orientalist discourse that transformed the Middle East and its “natives” into the West’s cultural Other, namely, an opponent to democracy, modernity, and liberalism that can only be dealt with through the use of force. (RA)

Eğitim Politikası Kontekslerinin Yeniden Yapılandırılması Sürecinde Planlama Yöntemleri

New policies in education are usually created when the current state of education and its contents, i.e. its contexts, are disrupted by a problem, a political decision or a restructuring plan. Policy options can be created in several different ways to adapt to the imbalance. The success of education policy depends on the creation of clear goals. If there are multiple goals, they must be consistent with each other. When conditions change, it should be flexible enough to be able to change them as well. While defining problems and goals in education, policy options should be formulated and evaluated. In many cases, more than one solution can be considered for policy adaptation. Goals can be achieved in many different ways. Best practices from other decision-making circles can be taken into account, and there may be a need to take into account all other possible solutions. By evaluating the options, it may be possible to determine the best one that meets the goals created. Even if the policy is implemented, these types of evaluation are expressed as predicted in advance, since their results are evaluated in advance. Educational policy options can be evaluated if alternative scenarios are developed that allow estimating the possible applications of noteworthy options. The imaginary situation that will be created when policy options are implemented is compared with the real situation, and the transition scenario of the existing imaginary situation can be evaluated in terms of willingness, affordability and applicability. The next stage after evaluating education policy options is decision-making. One of the most important functions in public administration and the public policy process is decision-making. Individuals or institutions have to make decisions in order to ensure their continuity. Decision-making should not be understood as simply doing something or taking a step. Sometimes not doing anything or not taking steps is also making a decision. Key Words: Education Policy, Restructuring, Planning Methods

Sustainable regional development and peripherality and innovation in the conditions of globalization

Purpose: The main aim of the article is to characterize and analyze the issue of sustainable development in the regional dimension, with particular emphasis on peripherality and innovation as a context of modernization changes in the conditions of globalization. Design/methodology/approach: The article uses a method of analysis of literature in the field of regional studies, referring to the problems of regional development in the perspective of conditions and changes in the macroscale. The thematic scope of the article includes an analysis of the theoretical foundations of regional development, the issue of regional disparities and developmental distances, the characteristics of peripherality and innovation as phenomena determining opportunities and barriers to development in the conditions of the globalization process. Social implications: The impact of the characteristics and analysis contained in the article can mark itself in terms of the goals and directions of regional policies formulated and implemented by public authorities at different levels. It can contribute to increasing the awareness and scope of knowledge of the regional community, especially its decision-making circles, with regard to the main goals and directions of development at the regional level, taking into account the role of innovation in overcoming the state of peripherality and marginalization under the prevailing global development trends. Originality/value: The value of the article is based on a focused analysis of the issue of sustainable regional development and showing its determinants in a new perspective, determined by the phenomena of peripherality and innovation as a context of changes on a global scale. The characteristics and analyses of the issue in question contained in the article are part of the trend of regional studies oriented towards the search for ways to overcome inter-regional disparities and disparities in order to achieve regional balance and convergence. Keywords: sustainable regional development, peripherality, innovation, globalization. Category of the paper: General review

India’s Rohingya Dilemma: Crisis and Resolution

While the Rohingya issue has become a grave socio-economic and security concern with cross-regional implications, India has not been able to make its stance clear yet. India is facing a very unique situation where most of the political parties, particularly the opposition parties are not unanimous with the ruling party on the Rohingya issue. Rohingyas becoming a serious threat to India’s society, economy and environment. In a short period, the issue of a humanitarian crisis has become a grave security threat for India. Though the issue is so sensitive from the point of security view, there is no unanimity among political parties, civil society groups, think tanks, and decision-making circles. Even after the Supreme Court of India rejected the plea of Rohingyas and their supporters to lobby against repatriation the government is unable to send back Rohingyas to their place of origin in Myanmar. The recent Intel reports are warning about Rohingyas cross border links with several subversive groups across the region. Terrorist groups have now started exploiting their plights. The paper tries to discuss and evaluate critically New Delhi’s approaches towards Rohingyas. The paper will also understand how, being a mature democracy, champion of human rights, and love for diversity, India addresses the situation delicately in a time-bound manner before it goes out of hand. Keywords Rohingya, Security, Threat, Myanmar, Rakhine, Terrorism, Refugees

Climate-Smart Forestry: Promise and risks for forests, society, and climate

Climate change is presenting a global challenge to society and ecosystems. This is changing long-standing methods to determine the values of forests to include their role in climate mitigation and adaptation, alongside traditional forest products and services. Forests have become increasingly important in climate change dialogues, beyond international climate negotiations, because of their framing as a Natural Climate Solution (NCS) or Nature-Based Solution (NBS). In turn, the term “Climate-Smart Forestry” (CSF) has recently entered the vernacular in myriad disciplines and decision-making circles espousing the linkage between forests and climate. This new emphasis on climate change in forestry has a wide range of interpretations and applications. This review finds that CSF remains loosely defined and inconsistently applied. Adding further confusion, it remains unclear how existing guidance on sustainable forest management (SFM) is relevant or might be enhanced to include CSF principles, including those that strive for demonstrable carbon benefits in terms of sequestration and storage. To contribute to a useful and shared understanding of CSF, this paper (1) assesses current definitions and framing of CSF, (2) explores CSF gaps and potential risks, (3) presents a new definition of CSF to expand and clarify CSF, and (4) explores sources of CSF evidence.

Androcentrism in the scientific field: Brazilian systems of graduate studies, science and technology as a case study.

This article performs an analysis of female participation in science, in the Brazilian system of graduate studies and scientific research as a case study. This is relevant because science is a central supporting structure for modern societies and, therefore, a detailed analysis of the scientific power structure behind academic policy creation can reveal aspects of androcentrism in scientific activity. The main goal of this work is to identify the process of misogyny in science by describing its reproductive pattern. Our results show that women are around 50% of the undergraduate and graduate students when all fields are taken into consideration, but only 37% of the researchers in the CNPq system. We also observe a significant increase in female percentage within scientific activities at the initial and intermediary levels, except for the most prestigious areas as hard science. However, a scissor effect is identified between the initial level and the more prominent positions. This unbalanced participation reveals that female occupations in science are mostly as lower workforce since women are quite far from the social decision-making circles in this career.

Poverty alleviation through Inclusive Growth in Africa: The dynamic capability of trade

The African continent has experienced sustained growth since 2000, which has led to the "emergence of Africa". However, the continent also ranked second in the world in terms of income inequality, after Latin America. This has raised concerns about the inclusiveness of African growth. The inclusiveness of growth is receiving increased attention in both academic and decision-making circles, with several definitions and means of measurement being proposed, which will tend to reveal a lack of unanimity. This work is made up of two parts. The first assesses the measurement of inclusive growth and the second assesses the relationship and the role of trade in promoting inclusive growth.
 For this paper, the degree of inclusiveness of African growth was calculated using the unified method of measuring inclusive growth based on 33 African countries over a period of 2000-2018. The findings show a slightly inclusive growth as a result of a rise in economic growth and a slight fall in inequality. The inquiry concerning the function of trade as one of the fundamental supporters of growth presents two ways that commercial exchange can impact inclusive development. 1) An indirect but significant route through GDP. 2) The direct benefits of trade on every social class, without the intervention of GDP growth. The linear regression reports non-significant results, indicating the indirect relationship between GDP growth and inclusive growth. The results imply that in addition to trade, as an important contributor to inclusive growth, there are other parameters like economic policies and development interventions.

Descriptive over-representation, cliental accountability, and minority politics: the case of the Druze in Israel

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between descriptive representation, patrimonial voting, turnout, and voting patterns in small ethnic groups. It argues that the combination between patrimonial voting and descriptive representation marginalizes the importance of substantive representation, leading to a decline in turnout, but simultaneously to cliental loyalty networks among voters that shape voting preferences. It utilizes the case of the Druze in Israel and analyzes their voting patterns in order to establish the argument that the mechanism that leads to party preferences among minority voters, namely, clientalistic accountability, is the same mechanism that renders descriptive over-representation devoid of substantive impact on state policies directed towards the minority. Our aim is to enrich the literature on the affinity between minority descriptive representation, patrimonial voting, clientalist accountability, and political efficacy. We demonstrate that Druze candidates in Zionist parties, especially those close to decision-making circles by being part of the governmental coalition, establish a broad network of supporters based on family ties, personally benefiting voters by integrating them or their relatives into high-income jobs, making their cliental preferences rational. This creates the gap between mere descriptive representation of minority groups and the substantial representation of their communal interests in “patronage democracy.”

Groupthink, Polythink and the Challenges of Decision-Making in Cabinet Government

AbstractThe Chilcot report set out in detail its finding that the Blair Government had been prone to groupthink in its decision-making processes when leading Britain into the Iraq War. Subsequent British prime ministers have been in no hurry to change their style of governing in ways that might broaden decision-making circles and introduce the ‘challenge’ that Chilcot said had been lacking. This article draws on the literature on the psychology of group decision-making to examine the extent to which groupthink remains embedded in the processes of cabinet government in the UK. The article argues that the strongest driver of groupthink is the psychological disposition towards conflict of individual prime ministers. Drawing on interviews with ministers, civil servants and special advisers we suggest that the political authority of the prime minister interacts with their psychological predisposition towards debate to encourage groupthink, polythink or a more positive style of ‘vigilant’ decision-making.

The formation of feed-in tariffs and the emergence of wind power in Finnish routine corporatism: favoring the economics of large-scale energy production

ABSTRACT We explore the role and influence of the Finnish energy elite’s inner circle in the process of transition to renewable energy. Finland is a corporatist country where economic interest groups have privileged access to government decision-making circles. These dense networks reproduce decades-long energy policy structures that have always favored centralized electricity production, a model now implemented in renewable energy production. We address the formation of feed-in tariffs (FITs, a government subsidy for electricity produced by renewable energy) in Finland’s routine corporatist system between 2006 and 2011. The views of inner-circle actors expressed in formal government documents correspond to legislative outcomes regarding FITs. They preferred market-based solutions and cost-efficiency and transferred the costs of FITs to the state budget, which benefited large companies. This was partly possible because Finland’s corporatist energy policy model excludes non-inner-circle actors. Nevertheless, FITs have enabled the growing significance of wind power.

Soil Degradation Processes: It’s Time to Take Our Head Out of the Sand

Soil is one of the most important and essential resources on the globe; however, its importance is somewhat underestimated, especially in political and decision-making circles [...]

Do History Lessons Ever Pay off? A Diplomat’s Memoir

Sir Rodric Braithwaite was educated at Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, from where he went to serve in HM Diplomatic Service, having worked in Jakarta, Moscow, Washington, Warsaw, Rome, and Brussels, where he was a member of the British delegation to the European Community. From 1988 to 1992, Sir Rodric served as HM Ambassador in the Soviet Union during the decisive years of the Perestroika and the first British ambassador in Russia. Subsequently, he was appointed foreign policy adviser to the Prime Minister in the second John Major ministry and chaired the UK Joint Intelligence Committee between 1992 and 1993. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in 1994. As a career diplomat, Sir Rodric gained decades of insight into the troubled relations between Russia and West, having taken part in numerous negotiations on arms control. His affinity with the decision-making circles in both Russia and Britain alongside with the mastery of the Russian language allow him to skillfully dissect the underlying causes of ups-and-downs in Moscow’s relationship with the West, employing the works of both English- and Russian-speaking analysts. Among his recent books are Across the Moscow River (2002), Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War (2006), Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979–1989 (2012), Armageddon and Paranoia: The Nuclear Confrontation (2017). In this essay, Sir Rodric reminisces of the years spent as a diplomat and provides his view on the usefulness and applicability of historical lessons while devising a foreign policy course.

The Nexus between Economic Sentiment Indicator and Gross Domestic Product; a Panel Cointegration Analysis

Abstract Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) became the most popular composite indicator within the EU with the purpose of monitoring and/or forecasting business cycles in one country or for a region as a whole. Since it is calculated regularly, on a monthly base, and is based on five distinct confidence indicators, the main concern is whether the ESI can be explained and/or can explain the current, past or future values of relevant macroeconomic variables. This implies its relevance in predicting both short- and long-term economic outcomes of, for example, variation in income, unemployment fluctuations, consumption change, inflation modifications, sectoral alterations and etc. The question that arises often in academic, as well as within the EU decision-making circles is whether the ESI be used as an explanatory variable with valuable information for modelling the national output developments. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to reveal the true strength and significance in the ESI-GDP nexus for the EU. Empirical research is based on panel cointegration analysis that utilizes data on the ESI and GDP over the period 2000-2018 for the EU28 countries. The causal relationship between the variables appears to be consistent in the short- and long-run across the panel, suggesting that ESI movements do explain movements in national output, hence can help both private and public sector decision-makers to evaluate their goals and plan their actions.

The Changing Dynamics and New Developments of China–Pakistan Relations

The China–Pakistan relation has historical underpinning. By establishing diplomatic relations in 1951, each passing decade has witnessed that China–Pakistan relations coalesce into a dependable friendship. This relationship has gone beyond the usual diplomatic and political comfortability transcending to a broad-based framework incorporating economics, trade and defence dimensions. In the given context, this paper is an empirical study aiming to examine the historical process in the gradual culmination of China–Pakistan relations into a broad-based partnership. It further evaluates the present nature of relationship between the two countries and the prospects it holds in the wake of changing world scenario. By primarily focusing on the secondary sources of data and interviewing key people from the decision-making circles, this paper argues that the China–Pakistan relation is deep-rooted in the history and the on-going collaboration between China and Pakistan in defence and economy is the natural evolution of their mutual ties.

Household Economy in the Rural Sector of the Border Region between Ecuador and Colombia and Alternatives to Overcome Poverty

This research examines the present-day reality in the rural area on the border between Ecuador and Colombia, focusing on the current situation of the rural women; this study looks at the process of self-awareness, validation and empowerment of these women in this border region. As a consequence, the fundamental objective is to analyze and evaluate the participation and empowerment of rural women and to identify their contribution to alleviate the worst conditions of poverty. This study also examines the ability of these rural women to influence the public policy process and to improve gender equity and quality of life. Rural women are confronted with a wide array of economic, social, political and cultural challenges. These women lack stable employment opportunities; their incomes are variable and depend on a livelihood based upon agriculture and livestock. Their common characteristics include low educational attainment level, gender disparities, relatively higher unemployment rate, exclusion from decision-making circles, lack of opportunity, lack of institutional support, sexism, androcentric domination, inappropriate workplace behavior and domestic violence; All extremely unfortunate outcomes that both derive from and are exacerbated by low income levels and increasing levels of poverty among this rural population.

State guarantees of free medical care: What has changed in 20 years?

Over the past two decades, state guarantees of free medical care remain the most uncertain type of state guarantees, which leads to an increase in public payments for medical services. The authors believe that state guarantees are necessary not by themselves, but for the most complete implementation of human rights to ensure health care and health in real life. The compulsory health insurance system in Russia that primarily imitates insurance resembles a distribution (budget) financing model based on the organized purchase of guaranteed medical care by private entities, which are not subject to political and economic control. Therefore, in Russia, the share of private expenditure on health care in the structure of total expenditure is almost three times higher than that found in economically developed foreign countries that implement the insurance model in health care. The health care system must be equipped with a “medical policy” that has a strategic focus and covers all levels and components of the health care system. Moreover, this policy must create conditions where the circle of strategic decision-makers in health care will be separated from the circle of people who develop and implement tactical tools.

THE REQUIREMENTS OF APPLYING THE SIX SIGMA METHOD TO DEVELOP ADMINISTRATIVE WORK IN THE DISCUSSION OF PROJECTS WITHIN THE SPECIFIC COMMITTEES OF THE EGYPTIAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Humanity has defined many quality management systems which have been associated with the civilizational and administrative development of the peoples. Recently, there has been a need to activate the wheel of production and to focus a lot of attention to the development of all administrative aspects. The research focuses on clarifying the requirements of applying Six Sigma method to develop administrative work which responsible to the process of discussing projects within the specific committees of the Egyptian House of Representatives. The objective of the research was to identify the dimensions of the quality of the administrative process within the Specialized Committees (qualitative) by identifying (visibility and commitment of senior management, supporting decentralization and building decision-making circles, managing information and monitoring the evaluation of the administrative process, Accreditation of trust procedures, building safety and job stability, investing in training, development and continuous improvement, building institutional identity by applying quality standards using the Six Sigma methodology). The analytical descriptive approach was used to form the theoretical framework for the research. The data were collected through a survey questionnaire as a main tool for research through a sample of 297 parliamentary members involved in the administrative processes of the People's Committees of the Egyptian House of Representatives. The results show weakness in the decision-making procedures. Therefore, Administrative steps to support decentralization and build decision-making circles and so the study recommended the rehabilitation and training for the human resources also the development of a plan for the distribution of central powers and the rehabilitation of some internal trainers and establishment of a national award under the name of the Egyptian House of Representatives.

Türkiye Niçin ve Nasıl Balistik Füzelere Yöneldi?

From the late-1980s, and in response to the rapid spread of ballistic missiles in her neighborhood, Turkey has opted to add a symmetrical ingredient to her traditional policy of asymmetrical response, and began developing and deploying her own ballistic missiles. Additionally, thanks to the rapid technological progress during the last 10-15 years, shorter range ballistic missiles have been rendered attractive weapon systems even for countries like Turkey with access to advanced air power assets. Thanks to multi-phased development program, Turkey has recently deployed ballistic missile with a range of up to 300 km, whereas development work has been underway on longer-range derivatives. Paying tribute to geostrategic, technological, cost, and foreign policy considerations, the optimum range bracket for Turkey’s ballistic missiles appears to be around 800 kilometers. Recent calls for ballistic missiles of much longer ranges (e.g. 2,500 km) do not correspond to Turkey’s geostrategic and security circumstances. Rather than being the products of careful cost-benefit analyses, those calls appear to be the outcomes of unarticulated competitive reasoning and instincts. Combined with controversial and puzzling statements coming from the individuals close to Turkey’s top decision-making circles, they are seen and treated as further signs of Turkey’s latent nuclear weapon aspirations.

The decline and fall of the Israeli Military Government, 1948–1966: a case of settler-colonial consolidation?

The term settler-colonialism has recently gained traction among scholars of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict who use it to address all forms of Zionist ideology and practices. This article, however, benefits from a conceptual distinction between colonial and settler-colonial Zionist policies when assessing the first two decades of Israel's existence. During this period, Palestinian-Arabs who remained within the state borders were granted nominal citizenship. At the same time, the state also subjected the majority of this population to the Military Government, a form of martial law which suspended many of the rights and legal protections that citizenship afforded. The article considers Israel's various forms of right-granting, social-democratic tendencies, and liberal policies as the post-Nakba continuation of Zionist settler-colonial consolidation. Conversely, Israel's Military Government and other forms of discrimination the Palestinian-Arab citizens endured could be considered colonial institutions that existed in tension with the logic of settler-colonial consolidation. My claim is that when Israel, during its first two decades, slowly dismantled the Military Government, it effectively abandoned a colonial form of interaction with the Palestinian-Arabs and thereby inched toward consolidating the Zionist settler-colonial project. I begin my article with a short discussion on colonialism and settler-colonialism as linked yet distinct historical phenomena. Then I present the colonial features of the Military Government and explain why they inhibited settler-colonial consolidation. After setting the stage, I analyze the Jewish-Israeli discourse formulated against the Military Government and show that in fact Zionists clearly saw a Zionist interest in adopting a more liberal attitude toward the Palestinian-Arab citizens. Finally, I show how this Zionist perception took over Israel's highest decision-making circles leading to the abolishment of the Military Government.

United States in India’s Changed Strategic Perspective in the Post–Cold War Era

Indian strategic thinking is a product of its historical, cultural, geopolitical, socio-economic compulsions; it sought a preservation of India’s strategic autonomy with a revisionist perspective that was structured to tackle the status quo created by the great powers. Today, given India’s technological and economic capabilities, it is demanding space in the decision-making circles of the world. India-US security dialogue began sometime in the late 1980s. It was only after September 2001 that India-US security ties gained real momentum. The new key word in India-US defence relationship is ‘inter-operability’. It signifies the mutual desire of both the countries to work more closely in the area of military cooperation and also portrays a possibility of sharing strategic doctrines and operations in the future to tackle new challenges. There are several issues that are likely to dominate the security dialogue. They include issues of terrorism associated with Pakistan and Afghanistan and American policies in that area; the question of technology transfer; nuclear non-proliferation; and the overall political discourse on non-military aspects like Human Rights and the ethnic nationalism based right to political self-determination movements that appear to elicit American attention at times.