Orthodox Development Research Articles

A Case for a Relational Approach in Development Interventions: Measuring the Relationships of an NGO in South Africa

This article argues in favour of relationships as a measure of development. The study gathered primary data from the James 1:27 Trust, a non-governmental organisation providing socio-economic and psychological support to vulnerable households in Pretoria, South Africa. The data were gathered through a qualitative method by which three officials from the James 1:27 Trust and seven participants from three households targeted by the James 1:27 Trust were interviewed. The in-depth interviews were complemented by a focus group discussion, which combined the Trust officials and the households. A thematic content analysis was used to interpret and analyse the data. The study concluded that the nature and extent of relationships in the examined non-governmental organisation present an opportunity to understand and measure development differently from the way it is understood and measured in orthodox development. The participants used burdened words such as family, belonging, appreciation, value, bonding, paying attention, and honesty as proxies for measuring development. These findings provide insight into the meaning of relationships in development processes and outcomes. The article recommends that care relationships be moved from the shadows to the mainstream of development practice.

FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM: INDIGENISED DEVELOPMENT IN BORNEO WITH INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to remote and isolatedindigenous communities in the forested interior of Borneo has generated desirable development benefitsfor them as well as revealing the processes of community engagement that were necessary for bringingthem about. Associated learning has also highlighted aspirations for development that relate to thespecifics of their cultures and lifestyles in relation to the natural environment in which they live, lendingcredence to the concept of ethno or indigenised development in contrast to notions of asset exploitationexpressed within orthodox development. The emergence of the global Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) with their imperatives for protecting biodiversity and the rainforests as well as combattingclimate change focusses greater attention on the role of indigenous peoples as stewards of fragile ecosystemsthat are highly susceptible to global warming. The experiences of applying ICTs to indigeniseddevelopment within Borneo’s rainforest communities - helping them maintain eco-friendly lifestyles,conserve biodiversity and record their traditional knowledge about the climate - carries lessons ofglobal significance for the wider achievement of the SGDs and the future of our planet.

Changes in Proline Levels during Seed Development of Orthodox and Recalcitrant Seeds of Genus Acer in a Climate Change Scenario

In the present study, we examined the utility of proline usage as a biochemical indicator of metabolic changes caused by climate change (mean temperature and precipitation) during seed development of two Acer species differing in desiccation tolerance: Norway maple (Acer platanoides L.—desiccation tolerant—orthodox) and sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus L.—desiccation sensitive—recalcitrant). In plants, proline is an element of the antioxidant system, which has a role in response to water loss and high temperatures. Our study considered whether proline could be treated as an indicator of tree seed viability, crucial for genetic resources conservation. Proline content was measured biweekly in developing seeds (between 11 and 23 weeks after flowering) collected in consecutive years (2017, 2018, and 2019). We showed that proline concentrations in recalcitrant seeds were positively correlated with mean two-week temperature. In contrast, in orthodox seeds no such relationship was found. Proline content proved to be sensitive to thermal-moisture conditions changes, which makes it a promising biochemical marker of seed desiccation tolerance in different climatic conditions.

Integration of MsrB1 and MsrB2 in the Redox Network during the Development of Orthodox and Recalcitrant Acer Seeds.

Two related tree species, Norway maple (Acer platanoides L.) and sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus L.), produce desiccation-tolerant (orthodox) and desiccation-sensitive (recalcitrant) seeds, respectively. We compared the seeds of these two species to characterize the developmentally driven changes in the levels of peptide-bound methionine sulfoxide (MetO) and the abundance of methionine sulfoxide reductases (Msrs) B1 and B2, with respect to the cellular redox environment. Protein oxidation at the Met level was dynamic only in Norway maple seeds, and the reduced MsrB2 form was detected only in this species. Cell redox status, characterized by the levels of reduced and oxidized ascorbate, glutathione, and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)/phosphate (NADP), was clearly more reduced in the Norway maple seeds than in the sycamore seeds. Clear correlations between MetO levels, changes in water content and redox status were reported in orthodox Acer seeds. The abundance of Msrs was correlated in both species with redox determinants, mainly ascorbate and glutathione. Our data suggest that MsrB2 is associated with the acquisition of desiccation tolerance and that ascorbate might be involved in the redox pathway enabling the regeneration of Msr via intermediates that are not known yet.

Integration of MsrB1 and MsrB2 in the redox network during the development of orthodox and recalcitrant Acer seeds

Integration of MsrB1 and MsrB2 in the redox network during the development of orthodox and recalcitrant Acer seeds

Integration of MsrB1 and MsrB2 in the redox network during the development of orthodox and recalcitrant Acer seeds

Integration of MsrB1 and MsrB2 in the redox network during the development of orthodox and recalcitrant Acer seeds

For the greater good? Questioning the social licence of extractive-led development in Western Australia's Martuwarra Fitzroy River region

Economic development in Australia, especially resource development, has purportedly long been pursued for the greater good of the nation and its people and is thus often equated to moral progress. Yet, despite the celebrated spoils of the resources sector, Indigenous Australians have persistently been denied the benefits of economic progress owing to a history of colonialism, dispossession, segregation and assimilation policies, which have contributed to the marginalisation of Indigenous people to the present day. Thus, this article asks whether orthodox resource-led development has a social licence, and importantly for whose greater good?This paper applies a social licence lens to current water extraction proposals for Western Australia's remote Martuwarra Fitzroy River region where ecological values have largely remained intact and Indigenous people make up over 60 per cent of the population. It is argued the proposed water extraction plans hold little promise of serving either local or national interests when judged holistically and risk perpetuating adverse socio-cultural and ecological legacies from extractive activities for local Indigenous peoples. Within the Martuwarra Fitzroy River context, this paper seeks to redefine the ‘greater good’ and to articulate ‘socially licenced’ development alternatives without the ecological and cultural trade-offs typical of orthodox development.

How images frame China's role in African development

Abstract Political leaders, policy-makers and academics routinely refer to development as an objective process of social change through the use of technical, value-free terms. Images of poverty and inequality are regularly presented as evidence of a world that exists ‘out there’ where development unfolds. This way of seeing reflects the value of scientific forms of knowledge but also sits in tension with the normative foundations of development that take European modernization and industrialization as the benchmark for comparison. The role images play in this process is often overlooked. This article argues that a dominant mode of visuality based on a Cartesian separation between subject and object, underpinning the ascendance of European hegemony and colonialism, aligns with the core premises of orthodox development discourse. An example of how visual representations of development matter is presented through images of Africa–China relations in western media sources. Using widely circulated images depicting China's impact on African development in western news media sources as an example of why visual politics matters for policy-making, the article examines how images play a role in legitimizing development planning by rendering associated forms of epistemological and structural violence ‘invisible to the viewer’.

500 Jahre Rezeption der Reformation in Siebenbürgen und Ungarn: Anfänge und Netzwerke von Konfessionspluralismus in der Überlappungszone von West- und Ostkirche

Abstract This thematic issue of the Journal of Early Modern Christianity focuses on the reception of the Reformation in Transylvania and especially on the development of Protestant churches oriented towards Luther and influenced by Melanchthon. In the late Middle Ages, Transylvania had become part of the cultural influence zone of Central Europe, but throughout the sixteenth century the region became permeated by religious developments in Western Europe too. Here, a very peculiar constellation of religious pluralism and co-existence emerged, and the different contributions examine the premises and networks behind these dynamics. In this joint effort, it becomes clear how Transylvania turned into a pioneer region of religious freedom, as it witnessed simultaneously the development of Catholic, Orthodox and various Protestant confessional cultures.

Флоровский Георгий Васильевич

Georges Florovsky is one of the world-class thinkers who determined the ways of understanding and developing Russian philosophy and Orthodox theology in the modern era. The youngest contemporary of the brilliant period of the heyday of Russian philosophy, science and culture at the beginning of the 20th century, one of the founders of the concept of Eurasianism, a member of academic corporations of the largest institutions founded by Russian emigrants on both sides of the Atlantic, a participant in the ecumenical movement, he acquired considerable authority and influence in world Slavic studies and religious thought. Florovsky's main works are devoted to the interpretation of the Russian thought tradition and the study of the patristic heritage, on the basis of which he proposed a new project for the development of Orthodox thought: neo-patristic synthesis. It is necessary to consider these areas of Florovsky's activity in interconnection: the picture of the history of Russian religious thought presented in his works is intended to demonstrate that the separation from classical patristic models that occurred in it entailed a crisis of the spiritual culture of Russia, which led to a large-scale social crisis of the 20th century. Florovsky's philosophical and theological program of neo-patristic synthesis was formed in a polemic with the sophiological direction of Russian philosophy and can be regarded as its main alternative; this program received a response and development in the works of a number of domestic and foreign philosophers and theologians.

Theology of incarnation - the latest word about the freedom of Greek Orthodox thought

The article analyzes the key issues of the theology of the modern Greek theologian Chrysostomos Stumulis. Emphasizing the need for the development of Orthodox thought and a clear definition of its place and role in the modern world, the theologian raises issues that are a definite taboo not only for Orthodoxy, but for Christianity as a whole. The problem of the correlation of Eros love and Agape love acquires a new interpretation from theologian, which reveals new horizons for the creation of the latest Christian anthropology. In this context, the view of the theologian is revealed on the relationship between the key anthropological categories of Christianity - faith, love and freedom. Violation of their interaction generates a distorted embodiment of these qualities, which necessitates degradation both of society and of man. The theologian emphasizes that the inability of the Church for millennia to boldly raise the question of the nature of Eros and give him a worthy place in the nature of incarnation limits both the Church and the understanding of Christ. Modern theological thought must respond to problems that are too acute in society, despite the fact that they can be a challenging task for Orthodoxy. The ability of theology to respond to them, generates a "high risk" theology, which has the determination to speak and show the morbidity of an idealized past, dare to point out that some aspects of universally accepted truths are obsolete. The formation of a culture of embodiment is the basis upon which the theologian develops the Theology of the Word of the Flesh. Spirituality, which denies incarnation, in the opinion of the author, appears as pastoral idolatry and leads to dehumanization of society. Understanding the culture of theology as a manifestation of the culture of the flesh, as an expression of all aspects of human life in the perspective of their transformations through the Person of the Incarnate, appears as a continuation and expansion of creation. Love requires the adoption of matter and the human body. Only in this sense disclosure of a human as a Person, in the full extent of his creative spirit. Holistic understanding and a fair assessment of love - eros describes it as an opportunity for revelation and knowledge of both human personality and divine. Violating questions of love, sexuality, desire and satisfaction, the theologian indicates that they have not only anthropological nature, but are a holistic manifestation of the essence of the church body. Consequently, the accusation of Eros by Orthodox theologians points to an inhuman society, full of objections and accusations in human existential self-consciousness. The theologian draws attention to the need for theological discourse in the 21st century in the context of the formation of modern anthropology, in the aspect of disclosure of its completeness, which was lost in the abolition of theology.

Truth-Telling in the UK Jewish Studies Classroom for Orthodox Educators

ABSTRACTUK Orthodox Jewish educators face a number of ethical dilemmas surrounding truth-telling in the classroom. While they must comply with government legislation and high standards of professional conduct, they may also wish their practice to be informed by halachic considerations. This theoretical study explores the potential tensions that may arise when allegiances to the above areas lead to conflicting courses of action, and attempts to plot a course of appropriate conduct that can satisfy all considerations. Direct distortion is identified as an inappropriate tool, whereas omission of content that will hinder students’ Orthodox development is considered preferable to unfiltered disclosure.

Development of Human Resources to Increase Policy Capacity in Public Sector

This research paper is based on the correlation between HRM practice and organizational performances. The influence of HRM practices on organizational performance has significant effects. The main objective of this paper is to explore the general practice of HRM programs and establish the influences of properly managing the human resources for better development of selected organizations. This study had surveyed four leading organizations with 300 total respondents, in which 80 workers are working on top managerial positions and the remaining 220 staff members are working on the core non-managerial position. The response rate was 97.98% that signifies the interest rate of staff in the development of effective HRM policies in their organizations.Targeted and convenience sampling techniques are used to drive the results for this study. The results of the survey showed that in those organizations where human resource management practices are poorly planned and implemented and managed by non-experts so called managers, programs and policies of these organizations are perceived poorly by their employees. The study also showed that the enormous benefits of sound human resource management which were highly appreciated by their employees. It was proposed that the organizations should devote a proper human resources management department through which competitive advantages could be created.This paper emphases the development of human resources to increase the capability of policy in the public sector. Therefor the main attention together with to encounter the challenges which are the great hurdles in the communal development and develop a mechanism for the improvement the public sector staff’s competency throughout the policy cycle. Psychological treatments and different physical training segments are adopted in three stages for improvement of staff’s competency. The first one is focusing on the individual’s competency development policy, and that people-oriented approach is crucial factor for achieving successful reforms. In the second stage, conventional means i.e. customary orthodox trainings and development methodologies are adopted for the development of staff’s competency in the ever changing environments.

Changes in desiccation tolerance and respiratory rates of immature Caesalpinia echinata Lam. Seeds

Abstract: Seed storage is an important tool for ex situ conservation. Orthodox seeds can be stored for long periods, but recalcitrant seeds generally only for short periods. There is wide variation in the degree of desiccation tolerance between orthodox and recalcitrant seeds, leading authors to suggest levels of recalcitrance and, more recently, that there are variations in the stage of maturity at seed dispersal. Thus, recalcitrant behavior would be a result of premature dispersal from the mother plant. In this study, we sought to establish physiological relationships between different stages of development of immature orthodox Caesalpinia echinata seeds and the stages described for recalcitrant seeds to verify similarity of behavior. Therefore, we analyzed the desiccation tolerance of seeds collected at different ages, with and without PEG treatment, at different levels of drying (40%, 30%, 20% and 10% water content, wet basis). Changes in water potential, germination, vigor, and respiratory rates of the seeds were analyzed, and the results showed that: 1) desiccation tolerance increased as maturation proceeded; 2) PEG treatment did not induce desiccation tolerance; and 3) PEG treatment decreased the seed oxidation rate, which is the main factor in rapid seed deterioration of C. echinata in storage.

'The Impulse to Help': (Post) humanitarianism in an era of the 'new' development advocacy

This paper draws on the Republic of Ireland as a case study of the 'new' development advocacy, i.e. government, philanthropic, and celebrity humanitarian engagement with international development and statutory efforts to deepen understanding of international development among citizens in the global North (Biccum, 2010; 2011). It outlines some of the culturally specific narratives that inform the 'new' development advocacy in an Irish context, with reference to a set of recurrent tropes that have come to dominate both official and popular discourses of development 'at home'. Utilizing critical discourse analytic techniques, it illuminates the self-constituting function these public pedagogical efforts perform and highlights the function that remembering instances of historical trauma and suffering, and of forgetting or ignoring Ireland's role in the history of imperialism, play in shaping and constituting the nation through orthodox development discourses. Rooted in a critical development education framework informed by postcolonial theory (Andreotti, 2006), the paper stresses the need for alternative development discourses that open up – rather than close down – possibilities for a deeper engagement with difficult questions of individual and collective responsibility, and with what it means to 'take action' in response to global problems or to engage with the suffering of Others.

Beyond ‘Poverty Reduction through Good Governance’: The New Political Economy of Development in Africa

The new political economy of development, characterised by the rising powers' new resource finds in many poor countries and the financial crisis, has driven development ideas and practices towards a paradigm shift, moving it beyond the post-Washington Consensus which marked the high point of development's ‘Poverty Reduction through Good Governance’ agenda. This has important implications for the extent to which developing countries remain governed by the institutional and ideological imperatives of development. Optimists suggest that this could herald a new era of sovereignty that enables African countries to take fuller control of their governance and development priorities, including a shift towards a ‘southern consensus’ around structural transformation, whilst pessimists argue that the hegemony of orthodox development ideas has only been partially reordered and that new problems of sovereignty are now emerging. Insights from Uganda suggest that both of these scenarios are currently unfolding, leaving the outcomes uncertain and much to play for. What remains of the ‘good governance’ agenda has yet to adapt itself to this new politics of development, which requires the emergence of new forms of developmental state in Africa.

Uncertainty and the epistemic dimension of democratic deliberation in climate change adaptation

Climate change adaptation is inherently local, contextual, and political, a problem distinct from the global collective action problem that is climate stabilization. Climate change vulnerability is a function not only of hydro-meteorological changes, specific geographic contexts, ecosystem integrity, and economic poverty, but also of the social and political institutions of a given local or regional context. The uncertainty, complexity, and inherent politics of climate change adaptation in particular places mean that adaptive institutions, if they are to be more than just disaster prediction and response mechanisms, must be flexible, dynamic and capable themselves of adapting quickly to changing environmental, economic, and social conditions. Certain approaches to adaptation have moved away from rigid orthodox development models. Nonetheless, they are often so general as to be impractical, or in effect comprise repackaged concepts and methods borrowed from climate change mitigation efforts and international development institutions. This study discusses the epistemic dimension of democracy at the level of international environmental institutions and at the level of local, contextually unique adaptation projects. Development and adaptation practices that involve democratic participation do so largely in accordance with norms of fairness and justice, which are unquestionably important. Attaching democracy exclusively to transcendent norms of justice, however, belies concrete possibilities for democratic approaches to climate adaptation. These possibilities reside in the epistemic dimension of democracy, a pragmatic notion developed. The account suggests that an epistemic democratic conceptual framework can inform adaptation institutions that are better able to cope with complexity and uncertainty, even ultimately directing these lessons towards the international sphere's institutional focus on mitigation.

Toward a Development Discourse Inclusive of Music

This article argues for a reconceptualization of the orthodox development discourse to consider music as a form of powerful cultural expression. Elucidating the way in which musical cultural expression is an important aspect of the rich lives of those who experience development, the author illustrates the way in which orthodox development conceals culture and musical expression through nonrecognition. Drawing from Santos' sociology of absences to explain the way in which culture and music have been made actively invisible by the orthodox development discourse, the author makes a case for engaging with music in order to make explicit the limitations of rational, individualized, economic-centric development. The author argues that the practice of development is ultimately contingent upon deploying nonmaterial and nonmarket epistemes through its coercive governance. Through the use of historic examples, the author shows that music has been both a means of emancipation from domination but also instrumentalized as a tool for domination. By attempting to deny the relevance of culture and music, orthodox development is shown to contain a central contradiction, one that points to the need to account for a more inclusive conceptualization of politics.

Recognition and Integration of Traditional Medicine in Ghana A Perspective

The paper examines the processes of recognition and legitimization of traditional medicine in Ghana and indicates that in Ghana, indigenousmedicine has been used as an instrument to help develop political consensus and consciousness and in the building of a national identity. The Ghanaian government recognizes traditional medicine and has a policy for the integration of indigenous medicine; the paper shows that the policy limits traditional medicine almost exclusively to herbal products and the scientific elements of it without taking in to consideration its other dimensions of treating illnesses. Thus the policy leads to bureaucratization of traditional medicine. The paper calls for a policy of integration that will promote a parallel and full development of both orthodox and indigenous therapeutic traditions to enable them to continue to provide the health care needs of the people.

Sobre la economía política de la gestión ambiental urbana: aspectos críticos de la planeación del desarrollo sostenible

El propósito de este artículo es realizar una reflexión teórica y metodológica sobre el lugar de la Economía en el estudio de las problemáticas ambientales que aquejan a los centros urbanos. En particular, se aboca el análisis del riesgo, como categoría que permite discutir la coherencia de las herramientas tradicionales de la investigación económica en la planeación del desarrollo, cuando en su afán de alcanzar la modernización, desdeñan los equilibrios medioambientales. De allí que se concluya la necesidad de recontextualizar la disciplina, con estructuras analíticas que reconozcan su contribución a la gestión de lo urbano, como un asunto de pensamiento complejo que involucra el tratamiento de los riesgos y los desastres como problemas concomitantes al ritmo de progreso que no ha resuelto la planeación ortodoxa del desarrollo. Palabras clave: Gestión Ambiental, Riesgo Ambiental, Economía Política. Clasificación JEL: Q50, Q53, Q58