Ideational Reasons Research Articles

The OECD and the nation-state: an interdependent but ambivalent relationship

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to explore the interrelationships between a national government and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in terms of the power and legitimization of education reforms, here based on the reciprocal dependence of the two actors. Although the current case study only analyses the shifting relationships between Sweden and the OECD, the assumption is that the case is quite representative of the ambiguities of power in the relationships between the OECD and its smaller member countries and the Nordic countries in particular. To explore the relationship between the Swedish national government and OECD, we make use of discursive institutionalism as a general framework. For a closer understanding of the standpoints of the OECD and Sweden on different matters and at different times, two explanation logics are used. The discourses we found characterizing the different kinds of relationships over time are a discourse of opposition, a discourse of mentorship and a discourse of subordination. We argue that there are both ideational and institutional reasons affecting the conditions for cooperation on educational policy. Although institutional reasons strengthen the maintenance of the cooperation, ideational reasons both challenge and develop the nature of the collaboration between the OECD and Sweden.

Clinical Characteristics of Suicidal Youths and Adults: A One-Year Retrospective Study.

Suicide is a major mental health problem, particularly during youth, when it is the second leading cause of death. Since young people at risk of suicide are often cared for by the adult health system, we sought to identify the specificities and similarities between suicidal youths and adults in order to further inform the potential need for adaptations in taking care of suicidal youths. For this study, we used the following data: mental disorders, treatments, previous hospitalization, and reasons for current hospitalization, that were collected from November 2016 to October 2017 among people hospitalized for a suicidal crisis in a specialized psychiatric unit. First, we compared the data from the youth group with those from the adult group, and then we tried to determine if there were any associations between variables. Analyses showed that youths were more similar to adults than expected. In particular, we found comparable rates of personality disorders (especially borderline) and relapse, and similar profiles of reasons for hospitalization in suicidal crisis. Remarkably, among youth, neuroleptics appeared to be associated with fewer hospitalizations for behavioral than ideational reasons, but with more relapses. Results of this study suggest that young people could benefit from brief psychotherapeutic interventions implemented for adults.

Ideas and Interests: European Democracy Aid and the Democracy-Security Dilemma, 1990-2010

Since the end of the Cold War, advanced democracies have enacted explicit strategies of democracy promotion by providing assistance to governments, political parties, and other non-governmental groups and organizations all over the world. This paper examines the factors shaping European Union democracy aid allocation decisions from 1990-2010, weighing the relative impact of ideational concerns (regime type, human rights) and self-interests (political, security, economic). We argue that EU democracy aid reflects a “democracy-security dilemma” as the EU balances ideational reasons for promoting democracy with concerns over political and economic relationships, regional stability, and security. We test our hypotheses with a series of random effects, generalized least squares and Heckman selection models, which provide support for our argument. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the impact and explanation of EU democracy promotion policies.

Why Do People Like Natural? Instrumental and Ideational Bases for the Naturalness Preference

Naturalness preference refers to the tendency to prefer natural things to otherwise equivalent unnatural alternatives. Previous research suggests that the naturalness preference is largely due to ideational reasons (moral or aesthetic appeals), rather than instrumental reasons (inferred functional superiority), because the natural and unnatural alternatives were specified as identical. The current studies showed that people do not always believe that natural and unnatural alternatives can be identical. Responses that in previous studies would have been interpreted as ideational‐based naturalness preference were correlated with beliefs in instrumental advantages of natural products. We propose that instrumental and ideational reasons are closely connected, and instrumental beliefs may contribute to the “natural is better” heuristic. The financial consequence of naturalness preference was also demonstrated.

Special Operations Forces a Strategic Resource: Public and Private Divides

Since the late 1980s, and especially since the tragic events of 11 September 2001, two phenomena, both known for their pragmatic and controversial nature, have come together to pose challenges for US policymakers. The first phenomenon is the rise in importance of special operations forces (SOF). This is evident in the 1987 creation of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) later followed by the Bush Administration's 2004 decision, through the Unified Command Plan, to assign USSOCOM the primary responsibility for prosecuting the Global War on Terrorism. In light of the need for anti-terrorism and counterinsurgency expertise and the asymmetric nature of many current threats, SOF have been described as a logical military response, one that, for General Peter Schoomaker, provides array of expanded options, strategic economy of force, [and] 'tailor to task' capabilities. (1) Despite the logicality, however, such an approach threatens to exacerbate divides, real and perceived, between the conventional and unconventional military communities. In addition to aggravating concerns related to shares of limited resources, the skimming of individuals with high leadership potential, and differing opinions regarding how military organizations should look and act, there is the possibility of antagonism as SOF are often presented as a panacea or a silver bullet. (2) In the United States and other Western countries, these concerns regarding the utility and implications of SOF vis-a-vis their conventional brethren have existed since the creation of special units in World War II; it is not surprising that they continue today. The second, and perhaps more surprising, phenomenon is the reshaping of the assumed state monopoly over the management and ownership of the means of violence. Several studies have examined the supply, demand, and ideational reasons, many linked to the end of the Cold War, which created the marketplace for the modern-day international private security company (PSC). (3) From one standpoint, PSCs represent an economic response in a globalized marketplace at a time when states may not be able or willing to respond promptly to crises due to political or organizational restraints. PSCs can provide, as force multipliers, support to state militaries committed to particular operations. From another standpoint, however, the rise of PSCs is highly controversial because of potential negative implications related to political authority, military command and control, and maintenance of the military ethos. Moreover, many PSC employees were previously members of state security sectors, thus revealing the movement of uniformed personnel to the private sector. This article draws attention to the fact that as SOF in the United States and elsewhere strain to meet the expanding operational tempo and as the PSC presence increases internationally, the fortunes of both state militaries and PSCs are linked to what is becoming a zero-sum game for SOF's expertise. The article argues that to delink public and private actors from this game the US, as the main consumer of PSC services, must treat SOF expertise, whether in public or private hands, as a strategic resource. This is appropriate in order to lessen PSC's focus on SOF personnel and to not aggravate relations between the conventional and unconventional US military communities. To make this argument, the article first describes the decline in SOF personnel and the related proclivity of many PSCs to rely on former SOF operators. It then suggests the rationale for US activism on the basis of increasing SOF demands, the nature of current SOF retention efforts, and consideration of how former SOF personnel are employed in the private sector. Implications of the Decline in SOF Personnel Because exit surveys for departing SOF personnel do not determine conclusively the nature of post-military employment, there are no exact statistics as to the rate and number of SOF personnel transfers from the US military to PSC employment. …

The Guns That Didn't Smoke: Ideas and the Soviet Non-Use of Force in 1989

Why did Soviet leaders not resort to force to preserve the Warsaw Pact in 1989? This article provides a cognitive model of how decision-makers learn from experience. It seeks to specify and establish the causal effect of this mechanism (elite cause-and-effect learning) as opposed to alternatives (more materialist or normative arguments) and to lay out the scope conditions for its operation. Soviet leaders learned from past Soviet military interventions in Czechoslovakia, in Afghanistan, and elsewhere the high costs and negative consequences of the use of force. Even Soviet hardliners, for both material and ideational reasons (i.e., beliefs about the efficacy of force), would have hesitated about the use of force in Eastern Europe had they been in power. The hardliners did, however, have much different views about the terms the Soviet Union should seek regarding German unification. Gorbachev's ideas prevailed largely because of the lingering authority of his position as top leader. In short, although ideas and material constraints pushed in the same direction to produce the startling events of 1989, ideas and governmental structure were critical in determining which of competing policy prescriptions would prevail regarding German unification.