Instrument Of Power Research Articles

The oil spillover: prospecting for oil in innovation studies and the history of technology

ABSTRACT Innovation studies scholars use the concept of ‘spillovers’ to explain how ideas and people move among firms and industries and how regions form industrial clusters. Historians of technology use different vocabularies, but are interested in similar exchanges. This special issue explores spillovers specifically from (and to) oil firms. Oil touches all of social life, including non-oil technologies, but historians of technology and innovation studies scholars have not grasped its ubiquity. Within history of technology, oil history is a circumscribed subfield that has drawn little attention to non-oil technological activity performed or supported by oil actors, while historians of non-oil and non-energy technologies do not sufficiently acknowledge that the technologies that they write about are shaped by their energetic context. Within innovation studies, meanwhile, oil is also a relatively minor topic, despite substantial R&D within that industry alone. Yet oil was crucial for many canonical technologies of interest to both history of technology and innovation studies, including nuclear power, computing, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and scientific instrumentation. Technological activity within an oil economy/society bears that fuel’s mark. More generally, tracing oil and other energetic spillovers shows that different modes of energy production afford different modes of technological activity.

Salience of Buddhism as an Instrument of Soft Power in India’s Neighborhood

This research paper explores the salience of Buddhism as a potent instrument of soft power within India's neighborhood. Buddhism, with its profound historical and cultural roots in India, has transcended geographical boundaries to become an influential force that shapes diplomatic relationships and socio-cultural ties in the region. This study delves into the multifaceted dimensions of Buddhism's role in India's foreign policy and its impact on fostering closer relationships with neighboring countries. The paper begins by tracing the historical trajectory of Buddhism in India and its subsequent diffusion to neighboring nations. It examines how Buddhism has not only endured as a spiritual and philosophical tradition but has also evolved into a dynamic tool for international engagement. In this context, it delves into the significance of Buddhism as a cultural bridge that connects India with its neighboring countries, transcending linguistic and religious differences. The study also evaluates the geopolitical implications of Buddhism's resurgence in India's neighborhood. It assesses the impact of India's Buddhist diplomacy on regional stability, security, and economic cooperation. Special attention is given to India's relations with countries like China, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Myanmar, where Buddhism holds particular significance. In conclusion, this research underscores the enduring relevance of Buddhism as an instrument of soft power in India's neighborhood. It emphasizes the need for India to harness its rich Buddhist heritage and promote intercultural dialogues as essential components of its foreign policy toolkit, furthering its diplomatic objectives and fostering enduring bonds with its neighbors.

Cultivating Influence: Analysing Australia's Government Research Training Program as a Strategic Instrument of Soft Power for National Advancement

Cultivating Influence: Analysing Australia's Government Research Training Program as a Strategic Instrument of Soft Power for National Advancement

Turkey's Right‐Wing Discourse of Resentment

AbstractRight‐wing politics has increased its potency around the world, especially in Turkey, which has experienced a two‐decade reign of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). One of the most important instruments the AKP has used to gain and maintain power is the discourse of resentment. This emotional language features an appeal to a populist sense of the nation's rising above dangers posed by the elite and the bureaucracy. This article examines Turkey's right‐wing politics, showing how and why leaders have created and deployed the resentment discourse. Analyzing the historical‐social context of this instrument of power will help us understand the rise of the right. Even though Erdoğan's party suffered a setback in the spring 2024 municipal elections, the politics of resentment is still effective and allows the party to extend its success in national contests.

Doppelganger as method: A framework for examining datafication

This paper explores an emerging methodological approach called doppelganger as method. This method uses the idea of a doppelganger or double to explore the social world. It is specifically used to examine datafication, or the increase in the production and use of data and its impact on education. Doppelganger as method begins by locating doubles, finding that doubles of the child and teacher are created through the focus on data production in early childhood education. It then asks how this doubling operates as an instrument of power, using understandings of the literary genre of the doppelganger along with its psychoanalytic interpretations to formulate novel interpretations. Doppelganger as method has been used as a tool to reconceptualize datafication, the increase in the volume and use of data in educational contexts. Using interpretations of Freud's work on the uncanny, a psychoanalytic understanding of the doppelganger is established. This is then applied in an educational context to interpret the function of various doppelgangers. Findings from this method include an ambivalent relationship with data, the marginalization of bilingual children and changes to both teacher and child subjectivity.

Canada's instruments of national power suffer from crippling human resources vulnerabilities

Canada faces an increasingly difficult international environment. The to-do list is extensive: decades of neglect and underinvestment mean that every instrument of national power - diplomacy, defence, development, intelligence, national security, law enforcement - all suffer from chronic under-investment. Perhaps most strikingly, Canada has also not produced a comprehensive national security policy since 2004. These vulnerabilities are being increasingly discussed publicly. There is, however, one persistent problem that underlies these vulnerabilities and systematically fails to receive the attention it deserves, both in public debates and inside government: human resources.

Defining faces, defying borders: authority conflicts between medical specialties through cosmetic interventions

At first glance, medical specializations seem to be delineated according to well-defined scientific criteria; the apparently-functional division of labor generates a general hierarchy of specialized knowledge and practice. However, this unequal apportionment of professional power and authority also depends on capitalistic organization. While the medical rationale has always been market-related, starting in the 1980s—with the initiation of its neoliberal agenda—Turkey has enacted progressively aggressive policies, privatizing healthcare service and reconceptualizing it as a dynamic market, thereby forming a medical ethos entangled with neoliberal motifs. In this article, we analyzed how unregulated market conditions give rise to a chaotic scientific field, and how this apparent disorder serves to reproduce an underlying capitalistic logic. Of the multitude of human body parts, we choose the face, because it has become a hot zone in medicine as cosmetic demands from patients have skyrocketed, and because it is an area generating conflict between medical specialties seeking more authority and power. To this end, we interviewed thirty-three specialists from dermatology, otorhinolaryngology, and plastic surgery about their experiences on authority conflicts and their motivations for entering into an unregulated market. Our research highlights how actors in the medical field constitute a relational social context within which boundaries are fiercely negotiated through a market logic. Thereafter, we argue how the ambiguities of pathology, aesthetics, body, and norms that underlie cosmetic procedures are fluidized and become instruments of power, such that this ambiguity has become the very defining characteristic of the scientific field.

Зло как категория современного политического мышления

The article attempts to analyze the understanding of evil both in contemporary political discourse and in everyday word usage. For this purpose, it is proposed to revisit the problem of theodicy, since evil is almost always used in a religious sense. The article distinguishes between the process of secularization, as a result of which the omnipotence of God becomes the property and instrument of political power, and the deconstruction of Christianity, which allows us to move from political theology to secular theodicy, where our ability to think and recognize evil in the world, rather than the problem of God's justification, comes to the fore. The author argues that this is impossible within the framework of political theology, where political evil always conceals and justifies itself. This is the fate of all theodicies, which Kant calls “doctrinal,” in which reason, making a claim against god (or transcendence) is always able to justify it. Kant considers the Book of Job to be the only “authentic” theodicy in which it is suffering itself, or Job's conscience, immanent to the world, that sues god. This is an important step in the direction of secular theodicy, but it is also limited in its desire to be subsumed by deity or authority. The paper suggests that we should pay attention to Job's wife's call to her husband to “curse the Lord and die.” These words become the origin of an alternative theodicy – a theodicy of action, a theodicy of the victim refusing to speak to god. The author finds the beginnings of such a theodicy in Jules Michelet's historical analysis of the religious massacres of witches, where the latter appear as victims, as well as in Jean Amery's analysis of torture and his idea of the rehabilitation of the ressentiment. The line of rebellion leading from the words of Job's wife to the unprecedented forms of violence of power provoked by the fear of this rebellion leads to the understanding of evil not as religious (opposing good), but as a political phenomenon of the modern world, manifested in excessive violence against the powerless victim.

Social participation in Anvisa's regulations: hybrid, colloquial, and scientific evidence for democratic decision-making.

Anvisa's public consultation (PC) is the most widely used social participation mechanism in current health regulations, which was based on antagonistic movements: the democratization of decision-making and State counter-reformation. Starting from the concept of social participation, defined as various actions from society related to public decision-making, which values diversity and the exercise of citizenship, the present article discusses the possibility of PCs configuring a democratic regulation process by considering popular beliefs and colloquial evidence, and promoting the creation of hybrid evidence in an evidence-moderated model. Despite the different interests, the PCs open the door to opportunities for democratic deliberation by society in the search of understanding, where it is expected that the State will make the best decision and justify it. In this sense, the role of evidence in clarifying complex issues is defined as a space where dissent, believed to democratize society, is important in revealing the limits of scientific evidence in an environment of information asymmetry. Finally, this article aims to refute technocracy as an instrument of power in health regulations, thereby achieving the greatest democratic potential of Anvisa's regulations.

Teaching Next-Generation Cyber Warfare

Cyberspace plays a unique and crucial role in an era of a new geopolitical competition between the major powers. Cyber warfare has the flexibility of being launched either below or above the threshold of armed conflict in supporting the achievement of strategic goals and political aims. Meanwhile, cyber maneuvers are also inalienable to maneuvers in other warfighting domains such as land, maritime, air, and space. How can cyber capabilities be harnessed and integrated into joint warfighting? How can these new capabilities be taught to the joint force in a new way? These are the questions that the joint professional military education (JPME) programs should address. In the current JPME curricula, cyber capabilities are taught either in silo or in a way that is loosely connected to conventional military maneuvers. In a sense, they are not seamlessly integrated into the JPME programs. This paper addresses the issues of the current approach as well as their consequences. It intends to explore a new way of teaching next-generation cyber warfare, in which cyber capabilities are not only built into joint warfighting but also used to support the employment of relevant instruments of national power as well as the collaboration with allies and partners. This multi-level integrated approach is enabled by disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). In so doing can cyber capabilities, especially AI-enabled cyber capabilities, be well integrated into the joint warfighting curricula, thus enabling joint force to obtain strategic advantage in the geopolitical competition.

Values Education in J. Drost's Perspective

This research aims to delve into the thoughts of J. Drost, which emphasizes values as the primary foundation in the school education system. Colossus Gonzaga School is highlighted as an 'alternative' model that emphasizes the presence of values in education while interpreting education as a humanitarian effort. The method of literature review is employed with steps including the identification of primary references regarding Drost's writings, critical analysis, comparison, and synergy, as well as compiling findings with the identification of weaknesses and strengths of Drost's thoughts. The results indicate that values ​​become the main foundation in the implementation of the education system, underpinning Pater Drost's concept. The establishment of Colossus Gonzaga School emphasizes the importance of values ​​in educational orientation, particularly in interpreting education as a humanitarian endeavor. Amidst the domination of education during the New Order era under the reign of Soeharto, where education was viewed as a rigid instrument of power, Drost's ideas emerged as an alternative that sought to liberate education from the shackles of values ​​that eroded the essence of education. These principles are also reflected in the development of Colossus Gonzaga School as a Catholic institution striving to develop the dignity of students through the liberation of human values.

Picture and Hieroglyphic Texts in Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt

Hieroglyphic writing arose in Egypt during the proto/early dynastic period of the formation of the early monarchical state and, along with monumental architecture, is a symptom of radical changes in the political, economic and ideological spheres of society. In the context of semiotics, culture as a sign system considers all its contents as texts that store and transmit knowledge from generation to generation. In the space of depth psychology, a set of texts reveals the level of collective consciousness of culture bearers as collective intelligence and memory. Writing in Egypt arose as an instrument of supreme power, reflecting its nature, functions and social status in the context of mythological ideas and ritual practice. The earliest sources of hieroglyphic writing derived from images were royal annual tablets dedicated to the activity of the kings. As annals, they reflected in the Palermo Stone and its associated fragments. However, the annals are inseparable from cult practice and religious and mythological ideas about the ancestors and gods who stood at the foundation of ancient Egyptian culture.

The Endeavour scholarships program in the era of the Asian century: promise unfulfilled

PurposeThe Australian Government has long used its international scholarship programs as an instrument of soft power in international diplomacy. The paper examines an international scholarship program and its role in Australia’s soft power efforts during a period in recent history.Design/methodology/approachThe Australia in the Asian Century White Paper of 2012 is used as a lens to reveal how the Australian Government viewed the role of international scholarship programs in international diplomacy at a specific point in the recent past, and compares it with research revealing what was contemporaneously happening with one key government-funded scholarship program.FindingsThis paper is based on a comprehensive case study of the Australian Government’s Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships program (2004–2019). Endeavour was an ambitious and expensive merit-based program with 6,600 recipients in numerous and diffuse sub-categories. The program was complex and cumbersome and lacked clear priorities, particularly in its lack of geographic focus. It missed opportunities to connect with the political zeitgeist, largely due to opaque priorities and inadequate evaluation regimes which focused entirely on outcomes for individual recipients rather than on relationships for Australia.Originality/valueThis research draws on the first academic study of the Endeavour program. Other scholarship programs (for example Australia Awards and the New Colombo Plan) have attracted considerable scholarly interest. The Endeavour research provides an additional counterpoint for studies of Australian scholarship programs and their contribution to international diplomacy. It is timely to consider this in 2024 when Australia is putting a new focus on its investment in international scholarships.

Deconstructing Power Dynamics: The Role Of Language In Corporate Communica-tion Practices

The background of this research lies in a deep understanding of power dynamics and the role of language in the context of corporate communication practices. In a dynamic business environment, the use of language is not only a communication tool, but also an instrument of power that influences organizational culture, external communication strategies, and communicative interactions within the organization. The aim of this research is to deconstruct power dynamics and analyze the role of language in corporate communication practices. The research method used is descriptive qualitative analysis by collecting and reviewing various literature sources, including journals, articles and books that are relevant to this research topic. Data were collected through literature searches from academic databases and online libraries, as well as using relevant inclusion criteria to select the most relevant and quality sources. The research results show that language plays a crucial role in shaping organizational culture, external communication strategies, and power dynamics within organizations. Using appropriate language can strengthen a desired organizational culture, build sustainable relationships with external stakeholders, and influence public perception of a company's brand and reputation. However, it needs to be recognized that language can also be a tool of power used to maintain hierarchies, suppress free speech, or manipulate public opinion.

Analysis of Hybrid Warfare Elements in the 2023 Asymmetric War between Hamas and Israel

The conflict between Hamas and Israel has created a complex asymmetric warfare environment, giving rise to elements of hybrid warfare involving both military and non-military tactics. Hybrid warfare is not a new idea. The focus is primarily on the ability to target distant objects and processes through unconventional military methods, especially for state and military functions. Hybrid warfare, known as an asymmetric approach, seeks to achieve major impact using simple methods, such as stopping an enemy's military operations or cutting off public political support. The operational environment of hybrid warfare consists of a series of interrelated areas of conflict, such as military, economic, social, information, diplomatic, trade, science, and technology. Since states involved in hybrid war do so by undertaking centralized actions in all areas of conflict subject to a single goal, it follows that the actions undertaken by states involved in hybrid war must also be centralized in all areas. Hybrid warfare requires both conventional and unconventional instruments of power and means of subversion. This research aims to analyze the elements of hybrid war in the context of an asymmetric war between Hamas and Israel in 2023.

Perspectives on International Conflict: Analyzing the Causes and Containment of Wars

This paper provides a comprehensive survey and analysis of perspectives on international conflict, focusing on the causes and containment of wars. The study delves into the concept of the "security dilemma" and the paradoxical nature of the contemporary international system, as identified by Herbert Butterfield. It explores various theoretical responses to the question of war causation, categorizing them into psychological, sociological, and political theories. Each perspective attributes the causes of war to different factors, such as human nature, the internal organization of states, and the anarchical nature of the international system. The paper critically evaluates the relevance and limitations of each perspective, highlighting the interconnectedness of these causal factors in understanding the complexities of international conflicts. Moreover, it emphasizes the evolving role of military power and diplomacy in conflict management, considering the impact of modern military technology and the growing emphasis on conflict avoidance and prevention strategies. The study concludes by emphasizing the need for a multifaceted approach to conflict management, integrating diplomatic, economic, and psychological instruments of power, to effectively contain and resolve international conflicts in the global society.

The Contribution of Naval Diplomacy to Regional Maritime Security

In the context of the military conflict in the Black Sea region, with implications for regional security, the approach proposes a solution to strengthen international relations by capitalising on the non-coercive potential of the naval presence on the maritime communication routes in the Black Sea, starting from the premise that the Romanian Navy is the military instrument of power through which the state projects its naval diplomacy, a mission manifested under the auspices of ways of asserting national maritime and fluvial interests. With a wide range of diplomatic instruments through which the Romanian state manifests and consolidates its geopolitical position and interests in the Black Sea and the Danube River, at the political-military level there is the possibility of using specific ways of contributing to the consolidation of regional maritime security. Practically, the proposal to carry out a regional cooperation initiative in the Black Sea, by establishing an air-land-naval battle group, under the auspices of the collaboration of allied partners, candidates, and the riverine countries of the Black Sea Extended Area. Punctually, through this approach, a solution is presented regarding the contribution of the Romanian Navy to the consolidation of regional, maritime, and fluvial security, through simple steps, resuming a previously applied model, and effectively using military instruments through regional cooperation.

Contribuția diplomației navale la securitatea maritimă regională

In the context of the military conflict in the Black Sea region, with implications for regional security, the approach proposes a solution to strengthen international relations by capitalising on the non-coercive potential of the naval presence on the maritime communication routes in the Black Sea, starting from the premise that the Romanian Navy is the military instrument of power through which the state projects its naval diplomacy, a mission manifested under the auspices of ways of asserting national maritime and fluvial interests. With a wide range of diplomatic instruments through which the Romanian state manifests and consolidates its geopolitical position and interests in the Black Sea and the Danube River, at the political-military level there is the possibility of using specific ways of contributing to the consolidation of regional maritime security. Practically, the proposal to carry out a regional cooperation initiative in the Black Sea, by establishing an air-land-naval battle group, under the auspices of the collaboration of allied partners, candidates, and the riverine countries of the Black Sea Extended Area. Punctually, through this approach, a solution is presented regarding the contribution of the Romanian Navy to the consolidation of regional, maritime, and fluvial security, through simple steps, resuming a previously applied model, and effectively using military instruments through regional cooperation.

Exclusion and invented water scarcity: a historical perspective from colonialism to apartheid in South Africa

This paper examines the dynamics of water governance in South Africa during the colonial and apartheid periods, focusing on the socio-economic and political invented water scarcity experienced by black communities. By exploring historical policies and legislation, such as the Irrigation and Conservation of Water Act No. 8 of 1912, the Riparian Rights principle, and the Water Act of 1956, this study sheds light on black people’s systemic exclusion and marginalisation from accessing water resources. The analysis reveals how water governance practices were utilised as instruments of power and control, disproportionately favouring European settlers and reinforcing racial inequalities. Implementing discriminatory policies, forming reserves and forcing removals to Bantustans, establishing segregated water supply systems, and discriminatory practices in farms, mines, and urban townships, resulted in invented water scarcity for black communities. The deliberate exclusion of black communities from equitable water access created systemic disadvantages, impacting health, livelihoods, and socio-economic development. This paper argues that invented water scarcity was integral to colonial and apartheid strategies, further entrenching power imbalances and exacerbating socio-economic disparities.

Options for Signalling Cyber Deterrence Using Cyber Capabilities

The possibility of demonstrating power in cyberspace to create deterrence is a controversial topic. The desire of states to hide their true cyber capabilities leads to a reluctance to reveal their existing cyber power. However, the core idea of deterrence involves demonstrating power and signalling the will to use it so that the potential aggressor would find it less tempting to carry out aggression. Several studies attempt to solve the challenges related to cyber deterrence with a holistic approach, where deterrence in cyberspace is produced as part of a comprehensive deterrence using all instruments of state power, such as diplomatic, information, military, economic and legal capabilities. In turn, some studies argue that for credibility, cyber deterrence must include measures implemented specifically in cyberspace because cyberattacks can only be responded to in real-time with cyber capabilities. This paper argues that demonstrating cyber power is both necessary and profitable for the credibility of deterrence, although the nature of cyberspace and related technologies pose some limitations. This study examines the possibilities of demonstrating cyber power in concrete ways and aims to add a new perspective to academic debate. Cyber deterrence is investigated from the perspective of classical deterrence theory, including deterrence by denial and deterrence by punishment. By examining cyber deterrence literature using content analysis, deterrents that can be produced with cyber capabilities are defined, and examples of means to produce these effects are presented. According to the central observation of the study, a state can choose whether to demonstrate cyber power by revealing the victories achieved in real-life cyber battles, by demonstrating force in another state's cyberterritory or by disclosing selected capabilities in separate simulations without a real-life connection.