Need For Legitimacy Research Articles

Ethnic boundaries in American, Dutch, and German national literary policies, 1965–2005

This article addresses the extent and ways in which ethnic diversity has been part of American, Dutch and German national literary policy from 1965 until 2005. By analyzing the content of policy documents of the National Endowment of the Arts and the Dutch and German Literary Fund, I found that ethnic boundaries were weak in the USA, moderate in the Netherlands and strong in Germany. First, national literary policy organizations made much, moderate and little use of ethnic discourse respectively. Cross‐national and longitudinal variations were closely related to the need for political legitimacy. Second, ethnic minority granters and grantees were (relatively) the least underrepresented by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Dutch Literary Fund, while the German Literary Fund included hardly any ethnic minority panelists or authors. The differences in the representation of ethnic minorities could largely be accounted for by demographics and variations in the need for legitimacy.

Reflections about the methodological dualism in health research

Nursing assembles knowledge from different theoretical sciences and applied areas, involving the biological, human and social. Production of this specific knowledge aims to contribute to improve the quality of care and obtain better levels of health for human beings. Assuming truth of knowledge is the basis that determines the understanding of how people relate to each other. It is worth questioning the adjectives connected with it and actions taken towards it, in contexts that can be real or not: what is the range of rationality of knowledge? What is the extent of the diversity of knowledge? Is it possible to trust this knowledge and its rationality? Overcoming antagonisms among perspectives previously considered opposite, excluding and incompatible, in their epistemological and ontological positions towards the nature of research and society, makes it obsolete to defend the descriptive positivism of numbers in contrast to the descriptive qualitative production of words. Nevertheless, forms of knowledge legitimacy need to be reconsidered, approaching factual truth (quantitative) to the truth of discourse (qualitative). Quantitative, positivist research aims to document objective facts of reality and is interested in the numerical expression of phenomena. This presumes the separation between observing subject and observed “object”, and supports the existence of an objective reality, subject to “immutable” laws. Qualitative research aims to reconstruct symbolical patterns, expressed in an intersubjective way; is interested in heterogeneity and relational logic, expressed in words and images. It accepts the role of ideology as well as subjectivity. In principle, qualitative and quantitative research are distinct paradigmatic forms of conceiving reality, of conceiving the determining axes of social tissue, methodological instruments and strategies, and ideological reflections about human problems. Nonetheless, exact sciences are not free of values since, in the act of knowing, there is interest in transforming. On the other hand, subjectivity alone does not manage to cover the context it is formed in or which it transforms. Besides that, the intangible nature of quality “falsely” suggests its imponderability. The mathematization of the world coincides with the appearance of the bourgeois society. The 20th century marks the strengthening of the theoretical and epistemological inquisitive bases, from the quantitative and statistical perspective. It tries to find laws independently of the social, cultural, historical and political contexts. The cause-effect relation is present in the design of dependent and independent variables, where knowledge of the phenomena is valid if it is countable, measurable or provable. Marxism caused an intense reflection about the basis of knowledge, but also an overvaluation of the social. Neo-positivism excludes objective naivete, recognizes the lack of radical subject/object maintenance and uses different methods in a complementary way. It considers science free from preconceived values, searching for explanation, prediction and control of phenomena, not only in numbers but also in words. The constructivist paradigm is opposed to positivism as it does not intend to predict, control or transform the natural world, but tries to reconstruct and understand the universe, from the mind of the people who form it. In applied fields like health, integration of these different perspectives has been more and more frequent, due to the complexity and level of knowledge regarding human and social problems. Thus, the use of mixed or multiple methods is a tendency in nursing.

The use of cost-effectiveness by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE): no(t yet an) exemplar of a deliberative process

Democratic societies find it difficult to reach consensus concerning principles for healthcare distribution in the face of resource constraints. At the same time the need for legitimacy of allocation decisions...

An ode to government accountants

Directors' remuneration is a key issue for both academics and policymakers. It has caused enormous controversy in recent years. This study uses a comprehensive index to analyse the disclosure of directors' remuneration in Italian and UK listed firms. It finds that the level of voluntary disclosure is significantly associated with firm-specific incentives, such as the demand for information from investors and the need for legitimacy. It finds that the level of voluntary disclosure is significantly higher in the UK than in Italy and that firm-specific incentives to disclose voluntary information differ according to the institutional setting in which a firm operates. In the UK, firm-specific incentives mostly come from the demand for information, estimated with the level of ownership diffusion, and the need for legitimacy generated by poor market performance and shareholders' dissent. In Italy, firm-specific incentives seem to be represented by the need for legitimacy generated by media coverage. This study also provides evidence that, in both countries, the information disclosed in corporate documents does not allow readers to obtain a comprehensive picture of directors' remuneration. Bonuses are poorly disclosed even though they are a key element of directors' remuneration. This finding is clearly important for policymakers at European and national level.

Institutions and Wood Supply to Construction Wood Markets in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza: Implications for Policy and Enforcement

This paper identifies measures that facilitate the supply of construction wood to African cities. The institutional analysis and development framework is applied to supply chains to Dar es Salaam and Mwanza by focusing on interlinkages between institutional setting and rules-in-force, to evaluate the effectiveness and credibility of exchange. The necessary conditions for a credible institutional setting and low-cost transactions, which probably make the best contribution to socioeconomic development and sustainability, should be met under institutional conditions that harmonize with the actors' ideological attitudes and perceptions. The current policy framework, however, does not meet the need for legitimacy. The route forward is (1) to improve the rights and responsibilities of people to facilitate their participation in management and utilization, thus contributing to their everyday subsistence, and (2) to restructure forestry organization and its means for enforcement that would provide cost-effective management and safeguard the economic independence of officials.

On Pornography, Representation and Sexual Agency

I argue that Alisa Carse's call for antipornography legislation sets a potentially dangerous legal move that could threaten to shut off the dialogue women need to redefine the meanings and terms of our sexualities. I also argue that the terms of legitimacy need to be re-examined outside a legal system that systematically fails to protect the rights of sexual minorities.

On Pornography, Representation and Sexual Agency

I argue that Alisa Carse's call for antipornography legislation sets a potentially dangerous legal move that could threaten to shut off the dialogue women need to redefine the meanings and terms of our sexualities. I also argue that the terms of legitimacy need to be re-examined outside a legal system that systematically fails to protect the rights of sexual minorities.

Policing change in Eastern and central Europe: Some contemporary concerns1

Currently the states of Central and Eastern Europe are collectively subject to major social, political, economic and ideological transformation. Individually though they represent different patterns and stages of ‘democratic’ reform. This paper focuses especially on the transition in policing in these states and mounts a preliminary examination of the potential directions of change. It outlines some central pull‐factors for policing system change in the ‘post‐socialist’ period and considers the internal realities and impacts of the notion of ‘security’ on policing in Eastern and Central European states. Throughout, the paper locates contemporary concerns regarding policing change in the context of the need for legitimacy and consensus in policing stability, contrasting an apparent ‘legitimacy deficit’ found in the policing of post‐socialist and ex‐Soviet states.

The political economy of Mexico, 1940–1988: A game theoretical view

A Game Theory interpretation is presented of the Mexican economy between 1940 and 1988. It is assumed a Mexican State with objectives of its own, coming from its commitment to the capitalist system and the need of legitimacy. The model consists of a differential non-cooperative game for three players (government, entrepreneurs and workers). The equilibrium strategies offer a rational explanation of several stylized facts of the period. In particular, the model suggests that the policy swings in different administrations moving (apparently) from one side of the political spectrum to the other, are not necessarily a consequence of the ideology of the president in office, but instead are an outcome of the political-economic environment of the moment.

The Reputational Penalty Firms Bear from Committing Criminal Fraud

Introduction Optimal penalties for corporate fraud require that firms face expected penalties equal to the total social costs of the crime. Yet formal courtimposed sanctions for committing fraud often represent a small fraction of the damage produced by the fraud. Sheer and Ho (1989), for example, estimate that the median and mean ratios of criminal fines to the private loss from private fraud were 0.14 and 0.73 in 1988. The corresponding median and mean ratios for government procurement fraud were 0.29 and 1.60. Including criminal restitution raises the median dollar sanction-to-loss ratio for private fraud to 0.84 and for government procurement fraud to 0.68. These ratios are for private parties convicted of fraud. The ratio of the expected court-imposed penalty to the social cost of the fraud is undoubtedly smaller. Particularly when compared to other crimes such as environmental pollution, where the median ratio of criminal fines to private loss is 3.71, the penalty for fraud seems surprisingly low. The perceived underpunishment of corporate frauds has recently affected public policy. Reflecting popular opinion that existing penalties were too low, the US Sentencing Commission – the federal agency responsible for setting the penalty guidelines used by judges – established corporate sentencing guidelines in 1991 that raised median corporate fraud penalties by over twentyfold. This article criticises the conventional wisdom about corporate fraud in two ways. First, we explain that the typical optimal criminal penalty for private corporate fraud is small because the external effects of such frauds are usually small. An increase in criminal penalties for corporate fraud can do more harm than good because it encourages the substitution of criminal penalties for reputation as a mechanism to police fraudulent behaviour.

The Church and Political Opposition: Comparative Perspectives on Mobilization against Authoritarian Regimes

The Catholic Church has recently taken a greater role in encouraging and aiding political opposition to authoritarian regimes. The ability of the church to do this derives in part from its dominant cultural presence in these societies. It also derives from the unique character of authoritarian states. The need for legitimacy is common to these regimes. The quest often takes the form of appealing to religious legitimation. In return, the church is accorded privileges enjoyed by no other institution outside the state. This raises a paradoxical situation for the church: the less legitimate a regime, the more it needs the church. However, it is not in the church's interest to identify too closely with an unpopular and often repressive regime. There is also a second side to the paradox: the less legitimate the regime, the more the church may be disposed to oppose it for moral and evangelical reasons. If the church uses its freedoms in support of opposition movements, it may cultivate popular support, but it risks repression of its normal religious activities and loss of its freedoms, thereby jeopardizing its spiritual mission. This paper examines how this paradox is manifested in Latin America, Spain and Poland. Based on our observations, we offer several propositions concerning the circumstances, nature and intensity of church participation in anti-regime activity. Church resources, its organization and the level of social and political development of the country in question are the variables which are most strongly suggested as determining factors of the church's response.

POLITICS AS RITUAL: RULES AS RESOURCES IN THE POLITICS OF THE LIBERIAN HINTERLAND

IT IS CHARACTERISTIC of all but the most extreme forms of totalitarian control that the dominance of the state must be established not only through coercion but also through legitimization. For whilst it is possible, as Max Weber noted,' to envisage such a community of interests between a ruler and his staff, and such a concentration of power in their hands, that the achievement of popular legitimacy need not even be contemplated, there would nevertheless still require to be a relationship of authority within the ruling class. Such authority, if it is to be maintained in a stable form, requires structure and predictability in the practices of government, and thus some sort of bureaucratic administration will inevitably emerge. But in the case of a totalitarian regime, this creates a dilemma, for not only does the delegation of power towards the periphery inevitably diminish that at the centre, but the presence of a bureaucratic ideology itself conflicts with the very authoritarianism in the service of which it was initially generated. Even in authoritarian situations, therefore--or perhaps, particularly in authoritarian situations--there tend to develop irreconcilable conflicts between the interests of the ruling stratum and the expectations bred by the system of bureaucratic control. Where the regime and the administration are ethnically distinct, these conflicts are likely to be accentuated, and where the administration shares with the mass an ethnic identity the preservation of which is itself necessary to the maintenance of the system as a whole, so also will the tendency to political instability be reinforced. These considerations are particularly pertinent in the case of Liberia, a society in which, at least until the time of the 1980 Coup, the major political connections exhibited a high degree of transparency, yet in which a numerically small but enormously privileged core had succeeded, with the aid of an administrative staff from which it was ethnically separated, in maintaining its hold over an almost