Kinds Of Actors Research Articles

Entrepreneurial Typologies in the History of Industrial Italy: Reconsiderations

The market types that were the subject of an earlier essay in the Review are resurveyed in order to examine the changes that have occurred over the past fifty years. The entrepreneurial typologies identified then–one based on a market orientation, another that relies on state support, and a third, hybrid, approach–are still valid today. The liveliest components of the modern Italian economy, which operate as a fourth type of capitalism (mainly based on industrial districts), share features of the market typology, while, in southern Italy, the state's failure to support business is linked to the rise of organized crime. The more recent hybrid type features a new kind of actor, exemplified by Silvio Berlusconi, the central figure on the Italian political scene for almost two decades.

LOOKING BACKWARDS, LOOKING FORWARD: HOPES FOR BIOETHICS' NEXT TWENTY‐FIVE YEARS

I reflect on the past, present, and future of the field of bioethics. In so doing, I offer a very situated overview of where bioethics has been, where it now is, where it seems to be going, where I think we could do better, and where I dearly hope the field will be heading. I also propose three ways of re-orienting our theoretic tools to guide us in a new direction: (1) adopt an ethics of responsibility; (2) explore the responsibilities of various kinds of actors and relationships among them; (3) expand the types of participants engaged in bioethics.

Muslims, identity and multimodal communication on the internet

The Internet provides a space and medium within which Muslims can shape the relationship between their religious identity and their social and political affiliations. The subjectivities of Muslims who use online space are in turn shaped by the parameters and possibilities of the Internet’s architecture and language. The multiple linkages of online spaces and the particular vernacular spoken in these spaces, a mix of written text, imagery and sound, privilege new kinds of actors and new forms of expressive and rhetorical activities. In this new space and medium, the question of imagining (or rejecting) a global Muslim identity demonstrates the subtle interplay involved in the formation of religious and media subjectivities. Developing a critical understanding of multimodal representation and communication is an essential component in studying Muslim engagement with the Internet.

A Superfund Solution for an Economic Love Canal

In this essay, Professor Konar-Steenberg argues that the current mortgage crisis bears striking similarities to the toxic waste crisis of the 1970s and 1980s, justifying an analogous legislative solution: A Superfund-style accountability regime for the subprime mortgage mess to complement the local, state, and federal economic cleanup measures already underway. The essay notes the important similarities between the two crises, both of which involved risky and inadequately regulated commercial behavior whose negative consequences gutted entire communities. The essay argues that these similarities justify imposing the severe rules of Superfund-style liability – strict, retroactive, and joint-and-several liability, coupled with broad corporate liability options – in order to reach the many kinds of actors who had a hand in making the subprime mess.

Discourses, Power Negotiations and Indigenous Political Organization in Forest Partnerships: The Case of Selva de Matavén, Colombia

While much research on forest partnerships hitherto has been focused mainly on the drivers behind their formation, the kind of actors and deals involved, and the factors that promote or hinder their success, much less attention has been paid to the dynamic relationships and processes inherent in these partnerships. Based on the study of a partnership process in an indigenous reservation in Colombian Amazonia covering a variety of projects, this paper seeks to fill part of this lacuna by analyzing the partnership as a dynamic ‘discursive battlefield,’ in which objectives and actions are being constantly negotiated. Actors in the Matavén partnership strategically incorporate discursive elements in order to pursue their own interests while also endorsing those that ensure the continuation of collaboration. We conclude that discourses are embedded in partnership micro-politics. On the one hand, discursive shifts occur as a reflection of power balances at given moments. On the other hand, discourses constitute indispensable resources with the potential to both enhance individual actor’s negotiating power and to create opportunities for compromise. Within an ongoing discursive tension between ‘conservation’ and ‘indigenous autonomy,’ flexible notions such as ‘territorial ordering’ prove to be successful in allowing space for manoeuvre and granting conceptual coherence to shifts occurring ‘on the ground.’

Bridging the gaps: Experiencing and preventing life-threatening heroin overdoses in men in Oslo

The aim of this study was to illuminate and interpret the experiences of professionals and men living with life-threatening heroin overdoses in Oslo. A case study design was chosen for data collection. A phenomenological hermeneutic approach and triangulation was used to analyse the data. The naïve reading involved awareness of the perceived sense of social isolation, which had consequences for how life-threatening heroin overdoses were managed, comprehended and motivated by the men. Professionals also experienced isolation, since they had no specific goals or guidelines for cooperation, and relevant political documents did not address the phenomenon of life-threatening heroin overdoses. Non-participant observation revealed different types of isolated interventions, involving very short interventions by several kinds of actors. The structural analysis identified three themes: The meaning of being rescued, the meaning of longing for communion and the meaning of being confused. A comprehensive understanding of the complexity in experiencing and preventing life-threatening heroin overdoses in men in Oslo indicated that the meaning of these social phenomena could be understood as bridging the gaps between barriers to treatment, interaction and motivation.

Role of multicriteria decision-aid (MCDA) to promote sustainable agriculture: heterogeneous data and different kinds of actors in a decision process

Regulation of pesticides in agricultural sector is becoming increasingly oriented to the use of best management practices in order to counter the effect of agricultural practices on health and groundwater. Several distinct criteria (economic, technical, environmental, social and informational criteria) need to be considered in the decision-making process. Moreover, the preferences of actors can vary according to the different management strategies and vested interests. In considering this context, a regional survey has been conducted in order to collect information on IPM opportunity. IPM is a pesticides management system which helps to solve pest problems while reducing environmental damage and increasing productivity. In conjunction with this regional survey, a multicriteria approach has been applied in order to help the decision-making process. ELECTRE-tri has been used and IPM opportunity evaluated from the results of the national survey and a critical review. Above all, key factors and impediments concerning the implementation of IPM have been identified.

The institutionalisation of property rights in Albanian and Romanian biodiversity conservation

This article examines the institutionalisation of property rights by way of two case studies on biodiversity conservation in Albania and Romania. The analysis pays particular attention to local level negotiations which occur when local actors make use of concrete resources and engage in discussions about their appropriate use. In both Albania and Romania, national parks are the object of intense negotiations, as local people contest the associated restrictions on their property rights to agricultural land and forest. The outcomes of the negotiations are varied, reflecting the influence of locally specific contexts. These results indicate that legal acts alone do not institutionalise property rights, as those are negotiated simultaneously among various kinds of actors at multiple, interrelated levels. Institutionalisation works through local negotiations about concrete resource practices and their associated justifications.

New Philanthropy, New Networks and New Governance in Education

This article draws upon and contributes to a body of theory and research within political science which is concerned with changes in the policy process and new methods of governing society; that is, with a shift from centralised and bureaucratic government to governance in and by networks. This is sometimes called the ‘Anglo-governance model’ and the most prominent and influential figure in the field is Rod Rhodes. The article focuses on one aspect of these kinds of change within the field of education policy and argues that a new form of ‘experimental’ and ‘strategic’ governance is being fostered, based upon network relations among new policy communities. These new policy communities bring new kinds of actors into the policy process, validate new policy discourses and enable new forms of policy influence and enactment, and in some respects disable or disenfranchise established actors and agencies. The argument is illustrated with examples of networks identified and mapped by the author. Some of the relationships among participants who make up these new networks are traced and discussed, drawing upon research into the privatisation of education funded by the ESRC. These relationships interlink business, philanthropy, quangos and non-governmental agencies.

Time-space Punctuation: Hong Kong's Border Regime and Limits on Mobility

Chinese people seem to be increasingly on the move, as this special issue emphasizes, among the diaspora, and especially among residents of the People’s Republic of China after it re-opened to the capitalist world after 1979. We argue, however, that an emphasis on mobility can be misleading unless we also pay close attention to factors that inhibit movement. Foremost among the inhibiting factors are international borders. The notion of a “world without borders” is only realized by the world’s elites. For ordinary people, borders are substantial or even insuperable barriers. One of the most powerful metaphors for globalization has been David Harvey’s idea of “time-space compression,” in which the speeding up of economic and social processes by transportation and communication technologies has in effect shrunk the globe. As with all metaphors, it both offers important insights and is potentially misleading. The world is not shrinking in any uniform manner. Compression is uneven for different kinds of actors, objects and ideas. In this article, we set out the concept of time-space punctuation. We offer this approach as a complement to time-space compression, not as a substitute. Even a combination of both metaphors distracts attention from other representational approaches to globalization, such as accounting, visibility or fi ltering.1 Punctuation conventionally identifi es arbitrary symbols that break up the fl ow of speech. Here we extend this idea to other arenas. The world is punctuated by barriers, the most important of which are national borders. For some people and things, borders act as periods, full stops denying legal entry. For others, they are like semi-colons, requiring visas and work permits. For the global elite, by reason of their citizenship status or their assets, borders are like commas, slightly slowing movement at various checkpoints, particularly if they have access to VIP lanes or private jet facilities at ports of entry. The metaphor can be extended. In these post-9/11 days, certain people move around the world with the equivalent of asterisks attached to them, having been placed on “no-fl y” or other watch lists. Others,

The development of ICT-based services for ageing people needs co-operation

Already in the beginning of the last decade it was noticed that our society is ageing and new kind of partnership will be needed to develop both services and technology. Therefore new concepts must be developed and they must be taken into a use to ensure that people needing services can also reach them. Elderly people are eager to use new services and new technology if it will support their daily living at their own home. In the coming years it is even more important than earlier that private and public sector are in close cooperation and are together responsible for the development work concerning also health care and social welfare applications. Because of the complexity of the topic there is a need to use different kind of methods and so to achieve multidisciplinary information to be used by decision makers. INTRODUCTION Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and Technical University of Tampere, Finland (TUT) started a three years project, ‘Smart Home in a Suitcase, new technologies supporting telemedicine, home care, rehabilitation and safety at home’ in December 2005. This project, called UUTE, will end by the end of 2008. Partners representing public health care and special health care organisations in the project are: Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Tampere University Hospital and Lempaala Health Care Centre. Private companies represent information technology, building development for seniors, technology assisting independent living and home care services. A company providing first aid (ambulance) and safety services and a company interested in balance and walking problems joined the project during spring 2007. AIM OF THE PROJECT The aim of the project is to develop a general technical platform for personally adaptable solutions that will support a person in different living conditions at home. It should support a person to follow-up his or her physical condition during home exercises or at a training centre. One basic objective is that health care personnel can support an outdoor patient at his homecare after hospitalization phase. Because of the challenge to provide good health care services including rehabilitation and safety services for a growing number of elderly people, more co-operation is needed between public, private and so called third sector actors. In Finland, municipalities are responsible for arranging the health care and welfare services, but they can organise the services together with different kind of partners. As one example of the possible network in the future can be seen the co-operation between actors in our project as illustrated in the Fig. 1 (integration into services provided by the participating organisations). METHODS The project has used different kind of research methods from the viewpoints of technical, medical and human sciences. Methods used were: a) Management group meetings, b) interviews, c) scenarios, d) questionnaires, e) Workshops and seminars and f) Testing and piloting the prototype with out patient and elderly people. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION So far the results show that it is beneficial if ICT based applications and services meant for elderly people are developed in co-operation with different kind of actors. The need of services varies a lot among elderly people. Because of the variation it was important to take into account physical, mental and social factors when developing new technical solutions and services based on technical development. It was found out that it is important to discuss with the representatives of health care personnel if you like to carry out a proper research process among patients and personnel. The personnel should be informed on the aim the project because nowadays the staff is working under quite a pressure and the time is limited for extra work. Motivation is a big issue that must be considered. It is also very important to take into account the opinions and expectations of patients and elderly people if the aim is that they are willing to use new services based on technology. Both professionals and elderly people are eager to participate in different kind of development work if they are motivated and interested enough and if they see that in the future there might be new ways to do work or new ways to get and use services at home. UUTE home platform Safety and emergency services Home and housing support Home care and elderly care Exercise and rehabilitation services Health care services Relatives Support groups and self-care Fig.1. Integration into services provided by the participating organisations Gateway provided by companies Gateway provided by research consortium Tel. +358 20 722 3329 Fax +358 20 722 3499 tuula.petakoski-hult@vtt.fi www.vtt.fi Funding: Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Pikosystems Inc., TietoEnator Inc., YH Lansi Inc., UPM-Kymmene Plc, Turun Orthofysio Inc., Arcticare Technologies Inc., Suomen Ensiapupalvelu Inc. VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND Visiting address: Tekniikankatu 1, TAMPERE P.O. Box 1300 FIN-02044 VTT, Finland

Law and sustainability: The impact of the Hungarian legal structure on the sustainability of the water services

This article shows how the regulatory framework of urban water services has changed in Hungary following the change of political regime. Regarding service provisions, political, technical, environmental, and social decisions were made. The legal forms of the decisions vary. Most commonly, they take the form of legislative and/or administrative measures or contracts. The legal character of the decisions determines what kind of actors could be involved in the decision-making process, how those decisions could be controlled in a market economy and how they influence directly or indirectly the sustainability of the water supply and sanitation.

Cooperative approaches to managing air traffic efficiently—the airline perspective

After decades of operating in a traditional customer–supplier relation, airlines and airports have started to discover the potential of cooperation strategies. Here we present an approach of how to identify possible fields for cooperation between the two players and give examples for proven successful joint development initiatives. In more detail we elaborate on two specific case studies, targeting at two entirely different kinds of actors. The field of air service development (ASD) enables airports to attract additional traffic in order to better utilize existing capacities. Collaborative decision making (CDM) on the other hand is an approach supporting the optimized utilization of congested airport infrastructure and air space. We conclude that even with low investment needs substantial benefits can be generated for the cooperating parties, opening room for further future cooperation projects.

La Rifondazione Comunista alla prova del VI Congresso: una strategia di analisi testuale e semantica

In the last years the new Italian Communist party (Rifondazione Comunista) has acquired such a national and international importance to provoke the interest of political scientists. The 6th conference of the party (spring 2005) was very important because of the change from a traditional opposition attitude to the decision to form an alliance with the future Left government, in the case Romano Prodi wins the competition with Berlusconi. This change of perspective was long discussed within the party. As a matter of fact, during the 6th conference, five alternatives motions were discussed: the first was proposed by the secretary Fausto Bertinotti, who decided the alliance with the others Left wing parties, while the other four motions proposed alternative strategies.To analyse this process we have considered 72 articles, published before the conference in the party newspaper («Liberazione») to support the different motions (18 for each motion). The textual analysis we carried out with the new release of TaltaC2 allows us to describe the contents of five groups of articles, the specific language utilised, the kind of actors cited in the corpus and the negative language used. This description is carried out also in a multidimensional perspective.

A Document-Oriented Paradigm for the Construction of Content-Intensive Applications

In this paper we describe our work on the formulation of a document-oriented paradigm for improving the construction and maintenance of content-intensive applications (i.e. applications that make intensive use of the information provided by the experts in a given domain: the contents). According to this paradigm, the development of a content-intensive application must be the result of close collaboration between two kinds of actors: domain experts and developers. The goal of this collaboration is the authoring of (i) a set of documents describing the most relevant aspects of the application (i.e. the contents and other relevant customizable features); (ii) a grammar describing a domain-specific markup language that will be used to make the structure and the data in these documents explicit and (iii) a suitable processor for this language. The final running application will be automatically produced by processing the marked documents with this processor. The use of this paradigm in the development of content-intensive applications can increase the initial cost of application production, but in the long run it can substantially improve maintenance and portability, and promote information and software reuse as well. We have successfully applied this paradigm to the development of educational and hypermedia applications, and knowledge-based systems. From these experiences, we have found that the feasibility of the paradigm depends to a great extent on having mechanisms that enable the incremental definition of the markup languages and the incremental construction of their processors. This has led us to the formulation of a document-oriented approach for the development of content-intensive applications tightly coupled with these principles of incremental formulation and operationalization of domain-specific markup languages.

Building entrepreneurial knowledge reservoirs

PurposeThis paper seeks to add to our understanding of how entrepreneurs can build “knowledge reservoirs” to achieve competitive advantage. The study focus upon the following issues: what kind of actors can be found in various entrepreneurs' knowledge reservoirs, and what business knowledge do these actors possess.Design/methodology/approachThe author employs a longitudinal case study approach, involving a sample of seven entrepreneurs in new technology‐based firms, each interviewed two times during the period from 1999 to 2001.FindingsEvidence suggests that entrepreneurs should build knowledge reservoirs, segmented into internal, semi‐internal and external knowledge reservoirs. These reservoirs should be a means to gain competition advantage.Research limitations/implicationsThe conceptual model has both empirical and theoretical backing, but the empirical backing is limited to seven cases. It would be useful to test the conceptual model on larger sample sizes.Practical implicationsPractitioners can focus on how to build knowledge reservoirs, while the model helps to increase awareness of the holistic view of entrepreneurial knowledge and which actors can contribute to it. Policy makers should encourage entrepreneurs to build knowledge reservoirs, and support systems could require a plan for this activity before entrepreneurs get access to public funds.Originality/valueThe paper makes four main contributions: model generation, development of terminology, further development of the field of entrepreneurial research, and development of RBT.

Constructing the Self and Changing Others: Reconsidering `Normative Power Europe'

The European Union (EU) is widely seen as a novel kind of actor in international politics. This has been captured succinctly by Ian Manner's term `normative power Europe'. This article reviews the literature on the concept of normative power and relates it to the earlier literature on civilian power. It argues that these concepts of power should be seen as part of the same discourse; a discourse which is not confined to the EU, but includes the cases of other great powers, such as the United States (US). The example of the US leads to a problematisation of `normative power Europe' that does not focus on the discrepancy between rhetoric and concrete policies, or on the inconsistencies of EU policies, but on the political effects of the construction of the EU as a normative power; i.e., on the power of the `normative power Europe' discourse. With illustrations drawn from the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, Turkey-EU relations and the sanctions against Austria, I argue that this discourse establishes a particular identity for the EU through turning third parties into `others' and representing the EU as a positive force in world politics. The article concludes with a call for more reflexivity in the representation of the EU as a normative power.

The Territory as Space for Collective Action: Paradoxes and Potentialities of the ‘Strategic Game of Actors’ in Territorial Planning in Portugal

This essay focuses on the new forms of collective action and the rules of the 'strategic game of actors' in a territorial planning context. Looking for answers to these questions, I link three kinds of empirical materials: the evolution of electoral participation and associational involvement of the Portuguese; the different forms of intervention of stakeholders, organizations in strategic planning processes; and, finally, I present a typology that seeks to interrogate the different logics of social action of the different kinds of actors. The essay concludes that the 'new planning' calls for new forms of collective action, but these new forms can give rise, simultaneously, to forms of alienation, manipulation or emancipation.

Dirty Businesses in Italy: A Case-study of Illegal Trafficking in Hazardous Waste

This article focuses on trafficking in hazardous and special waste in Italy during the past decade with particular attention to the role played by mafia groups and other legal and illegal actors. A number of examples of illegal management and trafficking of waste are analysed to show the techniques used and the kind of actors involved (traditional mafia-type organisations, corporate entities, legitimate enterprises and businessmen, local authorities and other official actors). It concludes that a number of factors have facilitated and/or enhanced the development and growth of the illegal waste trafficking business (such as the growing demand for clandestine and cheaper services in the sector, the low business ethic of some segments of Italian industry, the delay in implementing proper waste-management policies and legislation, and the low public awareness regarding the threat posed by eco-crimes).

The precautionary principle and biological invasion: the case of the House Sparrow on the Lesser Antilles

The capacity to react quickly to species introductions and to plan effective management countermeasures is always difficult, and methodology is lacking. This paper summarizes the different steps of a decision-making protocol applied to the recent establishment of an exotic species, the House Sparrow Passer domesticus, in the Lesser Antilles. This pest bird damages crops, fruits and stored food products and also competes with numerous hole-nesting birds in a large part of its range, and this requires more or less rapid management decision to limit its impact. In order to construct a base for decision-making in the Lesser Antilles case, we designed and conducted a brief biological study involving three spatial scales. At the regional scale, we defined the state of spread of House Sparrows throughout the West Indies. At the island scale, we estimated the number and distribution of breeding colonies. At the local scale, we estimated the numbers and behaviour of House Sparrows. To enable a quick decision to be made, we also suggested organizing a collective decision-making process applying a multi-actor guideline taking account of the different kinds of actors and levels of competence. We applied this method and we presented our results to a multi-actor workshop. The collective decision-making chose to apply the precautionary principle on one island (bird eradication) and to install both communications and monitoring plans. The procedure involving both multi-spatial scale assessment and a multi-actor workshop needs to be refined but its prospects are promising.