Philosophy Of Government Research Articles

The Dragon and the Eagle: The Rise and Fall of the Chinese and Roman Empires by Sunny Y. Auyang

Reviewed by: The Dragon and the Eagle: The Rise and Fall of the Chinese and Roman Empires by Sunny Y. Auyang Nathan Rosenstein Sunny Y. Auyang. The Dragon and the Eagle: The Rise and Fall of the Chinese and Roman Empires. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2014. xxvi + 399 pp. 3 appendices, 5 timelines, 18 maps. Cloth, $35.00. Comparative histories are difficult to write. They require mastery of two or more completely different bodies of scholarship, a sophisticated understanding of the sources on which those works are based, and the ability to read them in their original languages. And most important, the comparisons should produce insights into the individual histories that would not easily emerge if viewed in isolation. Sunny Auyang, a retired professor of physics, has undertaken a comparative study of the Roman and Chinese empires from the foundations of Rome and the Zhou dynasty to the collapse of each in the fourth and fifth centuries c.e. The result is an object lesson in why good comparative histories are so rare. Auyang divides her study into two roughly equal parts of four chapters each. The first part traces the rise and fall of the Roman Republic and the state of Qin, the second treats Imperial Rome to its fall in 476 c.e. and the Han dynasty to the wars that ended it in 220 c.e. The chapters mostly blend chronological with thematic treatments. Thus the first chapter, “Nation Formation,” narrates the creation of a “melting pot” during the Zhou era of early China and the Roman conquest of Italy. Chapter 2, “State Building,” examines the Warring States period and the early and middle Republic in terms of their respective internal developments, especially the roles of Legalism and Confucianism, the two principal political philosophies competing for influence during the Warring States period. The third chapter, “Empire Building,” narrates the military and diplomatic events of the Warring States period, culminating in the victory of the state of Qin and of Rome’s conquest of the Greek east. Chapter 4, “Winning the Peace,” deals with the failures of Qin and the Roman Republic, which she claims were the consequence in either case of the acquisition of an empire. [End Page 740] Part 2 opens with “The Courses of Empire,” which presents brief sketches of events in the West from the Julio-Claudians down through the Later Roman Empire and in the East during the Former and Later Han. The main thrust of the chapter however is a long indictment of Confucianism and the corruption that resulted when it supplanted Legalism as the dominant philosophy of government in the former Han. Chapter 6, “The Arts of Government,” examines each empire’s administrative organization and methods of rule, focusing on relations between the emperors and the elite, particularly the role of the latter in local administration, taxation, and the role of law and ideas about its role in society. The seventh chapter, “Strategies of Superpower,” deals with each empire’s wars, diplomacy, and “Grand Strategy.” It covers Rome’s conflicts with the German tribes, the Parthians, and the Huns, and the problems Confucianism created for the Han government in dealing with the Xiongnu, nomadic horsemen and herders of the steppe. Chapter 8, “Decline and Fall,” naturally examines the course of events that led to the end of the Roman Empire and the collapse of the Later Han dynasty. The cause of each “fall” in Auyang’s view was corruption, a “cancer” in both empires that led to a maldistribution of wealth in which “too few producers support too many idle mouths.” In the case of China, Confucianism was the ultimate source of the cancer, while at Rome an effete cultural elite’s entry into high government positions under the Emperor Gratian and the inability of Orthodox bishops to accept the barbarians’ version of Christianity doomed the empire. For Auyang, once the Visigoths sacked Rome and the last emperor was deposed, the Roman Empire was at an end. Any work that endeavors to present a comparison of the long histories of two great empires in a little over three hundred pages must necessarily compress a lot into a very brief...

Smart Cities - A Roadmap for Development

Ever since the industrial revolution, humans have been urbanizing at an exponential rate. There are 100s of thousands of new dwellings are being built every day. As of 2015, there is about 52% of the world population living in cities. Every week, there are at least a million new people moving into cities, worldwide. By 2050, the United Nations (UN) is expecting that 6 billion people will be living in cities; furthermore, cities consume about 70% of the global energy use; as a result, the strain on resources and the magnitude of challenges that cities face is phenomenal. It is imperative to develop solutions that improve the liveability of cities while vividly reducing resource consumption. There is a need for a city-wide smart, secure, and resilient transformation. Technological transformation is one option that governments can rely on to mitigate many of the risks and challenges they are facing. Local governments in general and the Chief Information Officers (CIO) in particular, have many objectives to achieve successful electronic government, such as studying the community, engaging the residents, allowing access to high-speed Internet, and adopting an open government philosophy. In short, government officials must develop a road map for building smart cities, in order to leverage and integrate technologies to create real economic opportunities and save lives.

Corporate Governance and Earnings Management: A Case of Karachi Stock Exchange Listed Companies

The prime aim of this study is to investigate the impact of corporate governance practices on earnings management. We employed fixed effect estimators on a sample of 89 non-financial companies listed on KSE (Karachi Stock Exchange), for the period 2003–2012. Corporate governance has been quantified through its four different practices (namely, board size, managerial ownership, CEO–chair duality, and audit committee independence) whereas discretionary accruals have been used as a proxy for measuring earnings management and are calculated through modified Jones model developed by Dechow, Sloan and Sweeney (1995). The empirical findings are quite in line with the philosophy of corporate governance. Audit committee independence and earnings management are negatively correlated. Similarly, CEO–chair duality is positively associated with earnings management. However, two of the corporate governance variables (i.e., board size and managerial ownership) are found insignificantly related to earnings management. The study contributes in general to the existing literature on corporate governance and earnings management by examining their relationship; that corporate governance is negatively associated with earnings management. The study contributes specifically by evidencing that in developing countries like Pakistan, where the interest war is more prominent among the minority shareholder and controlling shareholders than among management and owners, corporate governance is playing an effective role to overcome these problems.

GSCM: practices, trends and prospects in Indian context

Purpose – Environmental friendliness, in context of industrial operations, is an issue that has evoked much interest among environmentalists, governments, academicians and other sections of society in recent times. The said development has been more profound and broad-based in developed economies of the world, though, the trend is catching fast in developing countries, as well. Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) is a management technique that aims to make a supply chain eco-friendly, without diluting the organizational objectives. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the scale of adoption and implementation of GSCM practices in the context of Indian industries. Design/methodology/approach – The investigation used literature review approach to determine the current status of implementation of GSCM by Indian industry, and associated aspects of the same. Literature pertaining to the subject in context of non-Indian industries has also been studied for the purpose of rudimentary knowledge on the management concept, as well for comparing the measures taken by foreign-based companies with Indian ones. Findings – The study shows that in general, Indian companies are lacking on the front of adoption and implementation of GSCM measures in their supply chains. Though, certain companies are showing appreciable enthusiasm for the eco-friendly concept, the same does not apply to majority of the Indian enterprises, owing to a multitude of factors. GSCM has the potential to drive economic gains, and can act as a big motivator for companies to go green. As India leaps towards higher levels of industrialization and economic growth, GSCM becomes more of a necessity rather than an option for Indian companies to survive the competition. Practical implications – Findings from this study helps in discerning the present status of GSCM in the country, and assess the same in comparison to that of developed countries. The findings will also help the firms to have a greater understanding of their current standing and the possible gains that can accrue by adoption of GSCM practices in real. The philosophy, stance and endeavours of government with respect to GSCM has also been spelt out in the paper. The paper contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence on various aspects of GSCM in the country and the trajectory that it will chart in future. Originality/value – The paper though, brings forth the findings of other researches on the subject of GSCM practices in India in a consolidated manner, yet its value is reflected in the cohesive manner in which contrary findings have been analysed to present a comprehensive and holistic picture of GSCM implementation in India. An attempt has been made not only to assess the inputs of individual firms, but also of government and other stakeholders in their efforts to make supply chains more environment friendly.

Walter Lippmann: Public Economist, by Craufurd D. Goodwin

Walter Lippmann: Public Economist, by Craufurd D. Goodwin. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2014. viii, 414 pp. $35.00 US (cloth). His long career dedicated to the history of economic thought, Craufurd Goodwin has written a stimulating policy biography of the most prominent public intellectual of the twentieth century. Walter Lippmann learned about unemployment, trade, monetary policy, and fiscal issues from the likes of Keynes and Hayek. A voracious reader and active correspondent, Lippmann passed on his knowledge through books, articles, reviews, columns (most famously, Today and Tomorrow), and speeches. Teaching the public was his cardinal objective. Lippmann linked economics to larger political, even philosophical, constructs of American life, such as free markets and democracy. It was his job as a journalist to translate esoteric concepts to a public tuned out to national policies and subject to superficial politicians but which, he believed, could choose wise leaders if only it had the facts. Lippmann provided the lay public with such direction. The focus is not on Lippmann the person, as Goodwin cursorily mentions his failed marriage, various residences, and social life. A short bibliography includes some general, contextual works and writings related directly to economics. For an exposition of Lippmann's ideas on economics, however, this book is indispensable. Present at many creations (post-World War I peace planning, the advent of Keynesianism in America, advocacy for a council of economic advisors), Lippmann learned on the fly and changed as circumstances dictated. He remained above the professional and political fray, reluctant to join groups that might want to use or bias him. Goodwin focuses on the period 1931-46, though he sets up the story in Lippmann's formative years and finishes it with the twenty postwar years in which he focused on foreign affairs. This truly public economist dealt with the roots of the Great Depression and ways to avoid a recurrence after World War II. But economics was more than just numbers; it provided the basis for a philosophy of governance, social organization, and national interests. Lippmann moved from being a socialist to an advocate for the New Deal without becoming an acolyte of Franklin Roosevelt, and then evolved into a confirmed Keynesian (well before FDR and JFK adopted that view). Government regulation was the price to pay for avoiding leftist regimentation or rightwing authoritarianism --and the capitalist class's affinity for reckless speculation--and preserving freedom. As the country adjusted, therefore, so did Lippmann. What generated his economic concerns? He obsessed over the preservation of the market capitalist system by good government. He profoundly believed that free markets undergirded freedom, liberty, and democracy, but that laissez-faire thinking was unreasonable. Those who preached free markets actually undermined them by their own selfish, monopolistic interests. Thus, wise government regulations would protect capitalism from itself through countercyclical spending and saving, decent wages, and encouragement of the entrepreneurial spirit. Lippmann liked balance, reason, and principles tempered by pragmatism (that is, true liberalism). …

Western Kentucky in the Twentieth Century: From the End of Isolation to the Collapse of the “Gibraltar of Democracy”

Western Kentucky in the Twentieth Century:From the End of Isolation to the Collapse of the “Gibraltar of Democracy” George G. Humphreys (bio) Kentuckians take pride in their home state, but that does not prevent them from expressing a strong allegiance to the counties—described as “little kingdoms” by historian Robert M. Ireland—or regions from which they hail. Political scientist Penny Miller has observed that the counties and regions of Kentucky are “centrifugal forces” that enrich and divide the state. Regions, Kentucky historian James Klotter pointed out in 1982, are vital to understanding the history of Kentucky, making it difficult at times to discuss its history without qualifying what is said to accurately capture the regional diversity of the state.1 This is certainly true in the case of western Kentucky, especially in the Jackson Purchase, the parcel of land west of the Cumberland River.2 Neither as fabled as the Bluegrass nor as [End Page 357] stigmatized as the mountains, western Kentucky has largely been overlooked by scholars. Yet the twentieth-century history of the region suggests many productive avenues for future scholarship on subjects vital to the recent historiography on the commonwealth, the South, and the United States. During the twentieth century, western Kentucky underwent profound changes, often with the federal government as the driving force behind them. Yet, at the time these changes occurred, and in the decades since, western Kentucky citizens and politicians have been torn about the mixed blessings and hardships that modernization, electrification, industrialization, and urbanization have brought—best expressed in a growing ambivalence about the activist government philosophy that brought these changes about. In the first two-thirds of the century, western Kentucky, with its reputation as the Kentucky “Gibraltar” of the Democratic Party, was positioned to take advantage of state and federal initiatives from the New Deal to the Great Society, advancing the well being of an area that modernization had largely bypassed.3 Thus, western Kentucky offers scholars an opportunity to assess the impact of the New Deal and other government reform efforts on one region within a conservative southern state. Amity Shlaes, a conservative economist, has questioned whether President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s program of public remedies to fix the nation’s economic woes so crippled the ability of the private sector to restore the nation to prosperity that economic recovery was delayed until the Second World War. In the case of western Kentucky, it is arguable that federal initiatives, especially the New Deal, and the actions taken in Frankfort in the twentieth century were essential to spurring the region’s economy in the short term. Yet there is also evidence that progress faltered by the turn of the twenty-first century, leaving questions about the enduring impact of government reform and the ability of the region to sustain [End Page 358] progress in the face of significant threats to its economy, especially within the new global economy.4 Although Democratic leaders in the region were active in securing the political benefits of the New Deal and its legacy programs in the first half of the century, they were not spared from the remarkable surge that the Republican Party made throughout the South in later decades. Edward T. “Ned” Breathitt, a former governor from Hopkinsville, believed western Kentuckians voted for the Democratic Party and its programs, from the New Deal to the Great Society, to improve their lot in life. In western Kentucky and across the South, though, the social upheaval of the 1960s divided the New Deal coalition. Civil rights, women’s rights, and opposition to the Vietnam War were, Breathitt suggested, “totally different kinds of issues,” unrelated to the “old work ethic” issues cherished by conservative western Kentuckians. For many “legacy Democrats,” the change in their party loyalties could be summed up with the explanation, “I did not leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.” As the century progressed, Republican influence in the region grew, accelerated by a “southern strategy” aimed explicitly at wooing disaffected conservative Democrats. Social issues related to “God, guns, and gays,” along with policy disputes over environmental issues, rose to the top of the political agenda and favored Republican candidates in...

Police performance measurement: an annotated bibliography

This study provides information to assist those involved in performance measurement in police organisations. The strategies used to identify the literature are described. Thematic sections cover; general overviews; methodological issues; performance management in other industries; national, international and cross-national studies; frameworks (e.g. Compstat; the Balanced Scorecard); criticisms (particularly unintended consequences); crime-specific measures; practitioner guides; performance evaluation of individual staff; police department plans and evaluations; annotated bibliographies in related areas, and; other literature. Our discussion offers two conclusions: the measures best aligned with performance are typically more expensive, while most operational data should only provide contextual information; the philosophy of open governance should be pursued to promote transparency, accountability and communication to improve police performance.

THE RENAISSANCE FACTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF AFRICAN REGIONAL GOVERNANCE (1999-2008)

ABSTRACTThis article examines a likely South African hegemony in Africa between 1999 and 2008. Hegemony is admittedly difficult to define in African regionalism studies, as it is counter intuitive to Pan-Africanism discourse. However, this article aims to show that hegemony can be a credible argument in explaining the South African driven changes that occurred in African regionalism between 1999 and 2008. The article locates key characteristics which underpin arguments of South African hegemony during the study timeline. It argues that Thabo Mbeki's governance philosophy of African renaissance was the central piece of South African Africa foreign policy that distinguishes this period from any other before or after it. By establishing hegemonic credibility in South Africa's interaction with Africa in this period, the article demonstrates how South Africa was able to contribute to transformational governance changes in Africa. This also holds lessons for South African regional ascendancy in the future.

“Atlantic City of the West”: Public Works, Tourism, and the Development of South Haven

“Atlantic City of the West”: Public Works, Tourism, and the Development of South Haven By Patrick R. Hudson During the first half of the nineteenth century there was a strenuous political debate, beginning with Patrick Henry’s support of state’s rights versus Alexander Hamilton’s federalism and continuing through to Andrew Jackson’s Democrats and John Quincy Adams’ Whig party, on how to encourage settlement of the United States. The debate focused on the need for infrastructure improvements and whether or not they should be publicly funded.1 This question is central to the “big government vs. small government” debate. South Haven’s history, from pre-to post-industrial setting, demonstrates in microcosm the hypothesis that public policy, outside funding, and changes in transportation technology affected the development of all cities, not only the larger urban areas. Because of South Haven’s small, uncomplicated size, the effects of changes in transportation upon the physical layout of the city is easier to see, along with other historical changes. Over South Haven’s century and a half of existence, the value of its location appears to be partly a function of geographic factors—geology, soil, climate, and vegetative ecology—and partly due to various modes of transportation. Transportation in the city has been affected by technical, physical, and financial changes that in turn significantly impacted the physical character and layout of the city. Differing cultural factors also play into geography, such as philosophies of government, ever-changing cultural fads and fashions, the role of human genius, and the force of powerful personalities. South Haven’s Historical Setting Prior to the organization of Michigan for statehood there were no actual ports along the territory’s Lake Michigan shore, and settlement consisted of only a few fur trading posts, usually on rivers several miles 1 Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 18151848 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 243-284. The Michigan Historical Review 41.2 (Fall 2015): 1-32©2015 Central Michigan University. ISSN 0890-1686 All Rights Reserved 2 The Michigan Historical Review upstream from the lake. These few settlements in the territory were accessible only by water or Indian trails.2 The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 proved the need to move more agricultural produce into the expanding settlement areas of the country.3 Private enterprise by itself had failed to provide adequate transport for the needs of the western settlers, despite the experimental steps of Congress and state legislatures to provide incentives for the private sector to build roads, canals, and bridges to support agricultural settlement of the trans-Appalachian region. The greatest success for the Northwest Territory was the Erie Canal, which linked the Great Lakes with New York City; this not only helped make the city the commercial capital of the country but also allowed northern Ohio to develop. Southern Ohio, meanwhile, found its commercial transport and settlement impetus in the Ohio River and the port of New Orleans; Indiana and Illinois followed suit.4 Michigan’s development was set back an entire generation, until the 1830s, by settlers’ inability to penetrate the swampy interior of the Lower Peninsula before construction of the Detroit-to-Chicago military roads.5 Even then, though interior settlement remained isolated and at subsistence levels, there was a high enough population level to allow Michigan to be admitted as a state in 1837. Statehood meant that Michigan’s new legislature could now turn to full development of the state. In 1837 the legislature—and the writing of the state’s constitution—was controlled by the Whigs, whose philosophy of government was based on public funding of physical infrastructure so that all of society could benefit equally, thus the greatest opportunity for economic growth. In order to fund roads, bridges, canals, railroads, and ports, well-regulated banks were required.6 This national discussion over how to establish and manage banks eventually had a significant impact on Michigan. 2 Caroline Kirkland, “A New Home—Who Will Follow: or Life in the Clearings,” in David D. Anderson, ed., Michigan: A State Anthology (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1983), 81-89. 3 For millennium rivers and seas remained the fastest modes of travel...

State-Local Government Fiscal Relations : Implications for Local Government System in Nigeria

Since the inception of the system of local government in Nigeria, there had been persistent clamour for the autonomy of the local government as the third tier of governance in the federation. It is interesting to note that even the federal government has in recent times joined in championing the course of local government autonomy. In order to strengthen the autonomy and philosophy of government at the local level, The Federal government guaranteed the statutory nature of local government by embodying it in the 1979 constitution. Even the military administration of General Ibahim babangida from 1986 took bold steps to strengthen the autonomy of local government. By January 1988, good measures of autonomy came the way local government with the scrapping of the state ministries of local government throughout the country thus removing the political control and bureaucratic red-tapism perpetuated by these state ministries. It has been stated earlier in the paper that the Act which established the State Joint Local Government Account (SJLGA) was passed in 1981 by the National Assembly but the eventual domestication and implementation of the provisions of the Act by the states in the federation only took effect in the early years of the Fourth Republic when State House of Assembly passed the SJLGA laws to give effects to that constitutional provisions. The paper explored these issues.

Post-Cameralism as Robust Political Economy: Reconciling Bureaucratic and Polycentric Governance

I develop a robust political economy of bureaucracy by highlighting the conditions necessary for hierarchical administrative bodies to govern protectively and productively, but not predatorily. These conditions are residual claimancy and jurisdictional competition. I make this argument by exploring a post-cameralist interpretation of governance. Cameralism arose as a governance philosophy in the fractured principalities of 17th century Germany following the Thirty Year’s War. Post-cameralism focuses not on particular cameralist governance strategies, but on a paradigm which sees governance as an activity provided within a larger exchange order, rather than imposing itself on that order, as in more conventional treatments of public economics. While a post-cameralist conception of governance comes with its own challenges, such as tensions with normative visions that promote self-governance, it nonetheless presents an intriguing synthesis of monocentric and polycentric insights.

Smog, self-interest and regulating markets: the commons approach and the establishment of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme

2014 has seen continuing strenuous international efforts to strengthen regulatory infrastructures in financial markets following the damage wrought by the global financial crisis. Most recently in November 2014 the G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane Australia endorsed a raft of measures on issues such as: financial inclusion, global infrastructure and accountability assessment processes, thereby building on the work of international regulatory actors such as the Financial Stability Board and the International Monetary Fund. In this paper we propose that contemporary international regulatory efforts in the finance sector to generate improvements in areas such as: raising standards of behaviour by both individual and organisational finance actors; promoting higher levels of financial citizenship; strengthening international benchmarks; and mitigating systemic risk in capital markets can benefit from examining how multilateral initiatives in environmental protection have emerged. We propose that notions of the commons as a governance philosophy have not only underpinned how many climate change regulatory responses have evolved, but can also provide valuable insights into how fair and effective financial markets might be sustained. To this end we provide a case study on the establishment of the world's largest carbon trading market, the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, which was built on a philosophical foundation of concern for the commons mediated by national and regional interest perspectives.

Sustainable Democratization Through ICT Driven Electoral Petition Tribunal in Nigeria

Democratization is a foreign phenomenon to the indigenous system of governance in Africa. For instance, the Yorubas in the SouthWest Nigeria have an adage that aptly captures the philosophy of governance in the words, “Ade a pe lori, bata a pe lese” (which translates to “Long Live the King”). It is not quite an easy task to adopt the Western philosophy of ideal governance expressed in the term “democratization.” It cannot be easily imbibed in Africa. That is why there is so much controversy over acceptance of defeat in elections in a majority of African states. In Nigeria, huge public fund is used to defend the mandate supposedly given by the people in courts and where the petitioner defeats the incumbency in court he recoups his expenses back from state coffers. The judiciary that should be the unbiased and final umpire has been dragged into a politics of highest bidder. Recent cross allegations of bribery of the electoral tribunals by the political parties culminated in the battle between a Chief Justice and a President of the Court of Appeal. Besides, a petition when it runs its full course from the Trial Tribunal to the Appeal Tribunal may last some tenure before judgment is finally delivered. This paper seeks to propose an ICT driven electoral petition tribunal as the way out to eliminating the human interface in the tribunals that are inimical to sustainable democratization through the judiciary.

The World Bank and Municipal Adjustments in Senegal: Towards a New Institutional Framework

This paper adresses the impact of the World Bank’s urban development projects on territorial governance in Africa. From the analysis of eight projects completed in Senegal between the 1960s and beyond 2006, the paper identifies the process through which the World Bank adapts systems of actors and local institutional environments to its philosophy of governance. The paper shows that this territorial strategy constitutes a process of municipal adjustment where the local actor contributes to a new focus on governance and where urban development is aligned with globalization.

Percentages and perchance: archaic forms in the twenty-first century

As sequel to an earlier paper on ordinal ranking, this paper focuses on another old, but increasingly widespread, numerical expression, in both technical and public domains: namely, the percentage. It argues that the long and expanding genealogy of use, from descriptive to governmental to probabilistic, gives it persuasive as well as instrumental power, as people come to grips with novel terms of life by drawing on old concepts. The ‘one hundred’ offers a sense of understanding, while in public expressions, there appears to be an increasing vagueness of the specific nature of the one hundred as denominator and a new potential for one hundred to gesture towards an aspirational future rather than any simple description of the present. The second section engages with Helen Verran's approach to number, where she shows how numerical expressions can move from one mode to another through the possibility of expressing both one/many and part/whole relationships. The next section illustrates the applications of percentage in different domains of social life, particularly as proportion in governance (the tax regime) and political philosophy (Rawls on ‘fairness’), both of which orient instrumentally towards a future. The final section describes a current representation of the city of Baltimore in ordinals and percentages, oriented in more clearly expressive, aspirational terms, towards a future whose nature has become indeterminate. The conclusion reaffirms the importance of an ethnographic approach to widely used numerical forms, such as percentage, in all contexts, as they mediate public understanding and aspiration.

Determinants of corporate board structure in Taiwan

This study examines the determinants of board structure for Taiwanese firms by reviewing their board elections, held between 1991 and 2009. The paper emphasizes three factors: the distinction between insider-affiliated and non-insider-affiliated outside directors based on family relationships, governmental agency theory-based regulations, and the firm's choice between agency and stewardship governance philosophy. Evidence has shown that the proportion of non-insider-affiliated outsiders on the board is sensitive to changes in firm and CEO characteristics, and to changes in government regulations. Government regulations significantly shape corporate boards, encouraging a smaller size, more outside directors, and fewer insider-affiliated outside directors. For firms adopting agency and stewardship theories as governance arrangement, the determinants of board structure are diverse. The board structure of principal–steward firms is less susceptible to changes in firm characteristics but more susceptible to CEO influence, and more responsive to government regulations.

A Variegated Insight on Stalinism and De-Stalinization of the Eastern Bloc and Western Europe: A Case Study of the Post World War II Era

The objective of the research is to x-ray the communist style of government unleashed in Europe by Stalinism as well as examine the resistance and repudiation of this Post-World War 1 communist government pattern of ex-Soviet’s Joseph Stalin within the spectrum of Balkan region and its contiguous entities.Scope: The scope of the research will seem to encompass the following dimensions: the ex-Soviet Union, Yugoslavia between 1946 and 1953, Hungary in 1947-1957, Czechoslovakia in the 50s and 60s and Western Europe, as in the case of Italy.Introduction: Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953.His communist philosophy and style of government was exemplified in Stalinism and was the leader of Soviet Union after Lennin’s demise. He put in place a command economy that brought about rapid industrialisation and economic collectivisation.However, the agricultural sector was disturbed and this unleashed the Soviet famine of 1932-1933.Towards the end of the 1930s, Stalin campaigned and purged the Communist Party of people accused of sabotage, terrorism, or treachery.This is known in political circles as the Great Purge or "Great Terror." He often executed,imprisoned his victims or have them exiled and the minorities were deported.He formed an alliance with Nazi Germany in 1939 when he failed in a bid to establish a general security system in Europe.Germany however violated this accord by invading Soviet Union in 1941. In response,Stalin was prompted to join the allied forces which brought about the defeat of Germany.On a comparative basis,the surrender of Germany was a Pyrrhic victory for Soviet Union as it sustained the highest deaths in the World War II as death toll climbed to over 23 million.Stalin made efforts to enhance his public image and in the process a cult of personality developed around him and he further established communist governments in most of Eastern Europe, forming the Eastern bloc thereby instituting a metaphorical ‘’Iron Curtain’’ with Western allies on one side and Soviet Union on the opposite side of the divide.This posturing attracted the indignation of United States and the western allies and marked the beginning of the Cold War which crumbled Soviet Union in 1991.

‘Government closer to the people’: on decentralization in Nunavut

This article is based on a reading of a series of policy documents written by consulting firms regarding decentralization in the Northwest Territories and the Nunavut Territory. There have been three main reviews of decentralization conducted in 2002, 2009, and 2011. The article analyses the philosophical and operational aspects of decentralization with its origins in the creation of the Government of Nunavut beginning with the policy path taken in the 1995 Footprints in New Snow documents published by Nunavut Implementation Commission. Furthermore, the article makes the claim that philosophical aspects of the project conflicted with operational aspects associated with decentralized governance but overall, it argues in defense of decentralization as an innovative form of democratic theory that is especially sensitive to the unique political geography of Nunavut. The decentralized governance model adopted in Nunavut is unfortunately not well understood outside a small circle of northern governance experts, but it does provide broad insights and lessons for theorists and practitioners interested in the strengths and challenges of local government innovation in Canada. Decentralization – in Nunavut's case basically defined as an initiative aimed to deconcentrate government outside of the capital city of Iqaluit – is a unique philosophy or art of government that comprises features sensitive to specific characteristics of the Nunavut Territory in terms of territory, ideology, and population.

Protecting online information privacy in a converged digital environment – the merits of the new Australian privacy principles

Maintaining the privacy of information collected, exchanged and stored on the Internet is becoming increasingly difficult as technologies supporting intrusive practices such as data mining, data matching and spyware become progressively more sophisticated and subtle. The challenge for law makers is to formulate laws that both address presently identified threats and have the capacity to encompass future technological evolution. The new Australian Privacy Principles, due to take effect from March 2014, adopt a principles-based and technology-neutral approach that promises to support the longevity of the enacted laws. The Act introduces a variety of new provisions that have the effect of significantly strengthening online privacy protection by addressing the threats to privacy presented by data mining, data matching and direct marketing practices. It is submitted that the new, expanded and prescriptive Australian privacy laws evidence a shift towards the European governance philosophy that is premised on societal protection norms that conceive the State as having primary responsibility for ensuring information practices serve individual identity.

ما هي الديمقراطية .. مفهوم إعلامي

It is easy to talk about democracy, but it is difficult to practice. We talk about postmodernism, but difficult to be embodied in the ground. Yet, the age of democracy and modernity at the same time prompted the researcher to try to find a media concept for it. It does not mean that this concept has not yet formed. But the rooting of democracy and the approaching of states and groups towards it, made it necessary to by studied again. The relationship between democracy and the media has made them look like one concept. The existence of one is linked to the existence of the other. The reality is only a linguistic formulation, but the social and cultural aspect is related to democracy originating and communication. We have studied very briefly the evolution of democracy from its emergence as a philosophy of governance to its roots in human thought in general. The human groups have yet to find a reasonable alternative to democracy. As a clue to that, the cultural structures that accompanied democracy in its long history, and the divergences that have passed through. The unity of the two concepts forced the researcher to plead the linguistic potential, without which we could not understand democracy and the associated practice. Perhaps the media, the space in which democracy moves, has created a practical space for its work.