Plurality Of Opinions Research Articles

La participación de mujeres y hombres en los directorios de las empresas más exitosas de Estados Unidos: ¿tiene alguna relación con el rendimiento de la compañía?

There are no clear studies that explain whether there is a relationship, but many authors point out advantages of having female participation in boards of directors; Catalyst (1995) states that increasing diversity, there is a plurality of opinions in the boardroom; and Bilimoria (2006) states that women deliver the best strategies and ensure better behavior at meetings. Likewise, Kuczynski (1999), said that a more diverse boardroom can handle problems between members better and it can lead to better decisions, so it is seen as a less risky company, therefore, it is expected that the presence of women improve organizational performance.This study aims to identify the participation of women on the boards of directors of 60 companies in Fortune 500 in 2014 (Fortune, 2014). A qualitative Logit regression was applied in order to establish a relationship between genderdiversity in directive boards and the company’s performance.The participation of women in American companies has increased; however, numbers remain low compared to men because, on average a board of directors has 11 members, and on average 9 are men and 2 are women. There are companies that do not include women in the boardroom. In this research, we conclude that gender is not a significant statistical variable involved in the performance of a company.

O drama da comunicação pública no Paraná: o caso da RTVE-PR

In this case study of RTVE-PR (Radio e TV Educativa do Parana), quantitative data on the programming of the educational broadcaster were collected. A reduction in production capacity of the TV was noted as well as an increase of relay content from other stations, such as TV Cultura, which is occupying 29% of the RTVE program schedule. Qualitative aspects of programming were observed, not the technical issues, but the content, where it was identified that a breach of the basic principle of editorial independence of journalism in news programs existed, characterized by the absence of a plurality of opinions and a strengthening of the official sources of information; for example, the governor was one of the most requested.

Redemptive Ambiguity: 'Endless Talk' About John Brown as a Political-Theological Good

Political theology is concerned with the “theological origin[s] for political concepts.” One of its primary concerns is with the idea of sovereignty. The work of Carl Schmitt inaugurated the modern inquiry into sovereignty as a theological idea, but his account is insufficient for sovereignty as exercised in a liberal democracy. He considers only the need for a final decision, and not the possibility of continued discussion except as a banality.Others, notably Paul W. Kahn, have considered American sovereignty in light of military sacrifice, judicial review, public symbols, and memories of the Revolution, but they have done so primarily to show the limits of liberalism as an explanatory theory. Kahn notes that “[t]he founding virtue of the liberal ideal of the rule of law becomes freedom of speech: law is to secure the endless possibility of a proliferating discourse.” He also draws out some of the implications of free speech for the American notion of self-government as political sovereignty. Kahn does not demonstrate how liberal democracy’s plurality of opinions and proliferating possibility of an endless discourse is a political-theological good in its own right — one greater than the finality sought by Schmitt. Indeed, literature rarely considers the theological implications of political concepts. Where freedom of expression is the norm, there will be no godlike pronouncement that decides a public question once and for all. This “[e]ndless talk… with intense passion” serves two of God’s purposes: it heightens desire for his finality and is a resource for justice. Liberal sovereignty, by allowing endless talk, does not impose the finality Schmitt wants. It serves God’s will, rather than trying to usurp his place.Discussion of endless talk finds natural ground in an interminable public debate. One debate well known to Americans is the contested legacy of John Brown. Did Brown and his small band of raiders have the legitimate authority to undertake their raid on Harpers Ferry? They attacked the unjust system of slavery, which seems righteous, but they did so without state sanction, which introduces controversy. This is the kind of exceptional decision that lends itself to political-theological analysis, given its implications for sovereignty and indeterminacy.This paper analyzes two levels of decision: the sovereign decision of Brown’s trial, and the interminable moral debate about his authority. It will then consider the ambiguities of politics where there is a plurality of opinions. Finally, it will show how these ambiguities drive debate that serves God’s purposes. Endless talk allowed for by liberal sovereignty does not have the finality of Schmitt’s sovereign decision, but it does honor God’s will.

The crisis of legitimacy of the European Union from the constructivist perspective

The article is an attempt to analyse the legitimacy of the European Union, taken from the perspective of moderate constructivist theory. First, the author presents the constructivist assumptions about the legitimacy of the European Union. Then he emphasises the importance of discourse for the development of the EU and describes categories occurring in the multi-level political system. It is argued that strengthening of the discourses (their scope and communicated content) at European level in addition to the national discourses would promote the process of enhancing the legitimacy of the European Union. These discourses are relevant for the development of European identity that allows citizens to recognise the European political system as “their”, which will be – according to the author – the result of the processes concentrated on political activities, institutions and legal system embracing pluralism of opinions, attitudes and behaviors. The result would be “a common space of existence for the European citizens”.

Truly Inclusive or Uniformly Liberal? An Analysis of the Politics of the Emerging Church

The emergent church movement has fashioned itself as an alternative for Christians who do not want to walk away from their faith, but feel uncomfortable with the dogmatic conservatism found in mainstream evangelicalism. The emerging church movement has portrayed itself as diverse and inclusive, which is a direct result of evading ingroup-outgroup boundaries. However, despite the desire for a plurality of opinions, the movement's leaders have been known to take political positions that are largely left-leaning. We use the first dataset known to gather this identity from a sample of Protestant clergy, and assess whether denominationally connected emergent church clergy do, in fact, present a distinctive political profile. Emergent clergy are what they say they are—diverse and inclusive—while they are, on average, more liberal than nonemergent clergy in the sample.

Who Should Smoke? Tobacco and the Humoral Body in Early Modern England

AbstractFew products received the attention of tobacco in the early modern world, with a plurality of opinions from medical, religious, political, and economic authorities arriving in the wake of t...

Plurality of opinion, scientific discourse and pseudoscience: an in depth analysis of the Séralini et al. study claiming that Roundup™ Ready corn or the herbicide Roundup™ cause cancer in rats

A recent paper published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology presents the results of a long-term toxicity study related to a widely-used commercial herbicide (Roundup™) and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified variety of maize, concluding that both the herbicide and the maize varieties are toxic. Here we discuss the many errors and inaccuracies in the published article resulting in highly misleading conclusions, whose publication in the scientific literature and in the wider media has caused damage to the credibility of science and researchers in the field. We and many others have criticized the study, and in particular the manner in which the experiments were planned, implemented, analyzed, interpreted and communicated. The study appeared to sweep aside all known benchmarks of scientific good practice and, more importantly, to ignore the minimal standards of scientific and ethical conduct in particular concerning the humane treatment of experimental animals.

Introduction

The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss the major methodological and theoretical challenges involved in economic research in the context of Middle Eastern/Islamic history. We asked scholars representing a diverse spectrum of training and specialization to reflect on the state of the field (or the sub-fields with which they are familiar) and to comment on its (their) strengths and shortcomings. The participants had the opportunity to read all papers and modify their own contributions accordingly. The result, we believe, is a focused and critical conversation that reflects the plurality of opinions and approaches in the field. Outside of conference panels and small-scale workshops, exclusively methodological and theoretical exchanges in Middle Eastern/Islamic economic history are rare. We hope that this forum will stimulate further conversation and research on the issues discussed here.

„Celem jest świat bez klatek”

According to anarchism, getting married or starting a civil partnership means subordinating one's intimate life to state and/or church. However, some anarchists happen to be wives and husbands, which does not make them less respected in their environment. Many people who identify with anarchism support legalization of civil partnerships. Such attitudes may seem to be inconsequential. The article attempts to explain reasons for them. It presents (post)anarchist approaches to marriage and civil partnerships (especially those created by the gay and lesbian community) in Poland. The author had the opportunity to come across the opinions as a participant of the anarchafeminist group A-fe, active in Warsaw in the years 2007-2009. The text explains differences between anarchism and anarchafeminism identifying the latter with postanarchism, as well as reveals relations between queer and anarchafeminism. Anarchists' plurality of opinion is made visible via the analysis of the discussion about Equality March [Marsz Równości] which was held in Wroclaw in the year of 2009 and was for the recognition of gay and lesbian (romantic) relationships by the law. The discussion took place on an anarchist information portal. Anarchafeminist points of view are portrayed on the basis of interviews with activists made in the ongoing year and two debates about same-sex partnerships. The first was organized during Kłir Szyft festival [Queer Shift festival] in 2008 while the second one took place at Syrena squat in 2011. The article discusses whether anarchistic critique of marriage is still valid now, when numerous types of family coexist and variety of lifestyles seems to be accessible. Because of that the author analyzes the role of marriage in the contemporary biopolitics. Anarchafeminist perspective on same-sex partnerships appears to be significantly similar to Judith Butler's point of view presented in her essay "Is Kinship Always Already Heterosexual”. Taking that similarity into consideration, the author wonders whether it is possible to include anarchafeminists supporting LGBT struggle for civil partnership into the continuum of LGBT and queer which, according to the theorist of queer and activist in "Let Them See Us" Campaign [kampania "Niech nas zobaczą"] Tomasz Basiuk, exists in Poland. The author also speculates about the (in)stability of the continuum.

Medijacijska funkcija umjetničke kritike između povijesti i suvremenosti

The importance of questioning the mediatory role of art criticism was established by theory in the 1960s, when it began to erode the boundary between works of art and objects which are not art but which have been institutionalized as legitimate artworks by theoreticians, critics, museums, art galleries and a narrow but well-versed public audience. The postmodern period has further exacerbated this crisis by annulling the meaning and significance of all dominant theoretical tendencies. Such circumstances have shown that art criticism, by losing a firm theoretical and axiological stronghold, has neglected its fundamental function of initiating and articulating, theoretically interpreting and mediating current artistic practices and the contemporary life of the art world. Curatorial practices in these new circumstances have imposed thematic and evaluative orientation points on art criticism while institutional art theories have conversely encouraged the paradigm shift which has caused art criticism to lose its original purpose. Operating mostly in the sphere of the mass media, and in harmony with its function, art criticism has focused on documenting and bringing into the public arena those works which have already been evaluated in advance by conceptual curatorial practice. Given that such projects addressed mostly narrow professional circles and the activities of the relevant institutions, the wider cultural context of following and evaluating current artistic production was lost. Art criticism found itself in an unfavourable position, squeezed between the demands of its mother discipline (history of art) for a normative and established scholarly apparatus, and the counter-demands of the media within which it operates. Therefore, its mediatory role was neutralized.Recent professional activities across the world, including two large international conferences - What is Critique? held in New York in 2010, and the Art and Reality organized at Saint Petersburg in 2011 and focusing on aspects and trends in twentieth-century art criticism point to a re-awakening of interest in the revitalization of the purpose and meaning of art criticism.Our contribution to this subject orientates itself methodologically according to the postulates of the relativistic and moderately-analytical Anglo-Saxon aesthetics of Nelson Goodman, which argue for the influence of culture on reception. By adjusting to the (culturally conditioned) shift away from investigating the purpose, value and significance of a work of art towards the purpose, significance and value of the representation itself, the mediatory function of art criticism includes the reception of the cultural paradigm a work of art is presenting. The demand for a mediatory function for art criticism is also based on the consequences of the turbulent events of nineteenth-century art, when provocation against good taste as such caused a sudden expansion of mutually exclusive theoretical paradigms. In this sense, mediation also implies that art criticism is rooted in the history of the discipline. One of the pre-requisites for the understanding of such a suggestion is found in works such as Lionello Venturi’s History of Art Criticism and Oskar Bätschmann’s Einführung in die kunstgeschichtliche Hermeneutik: Die Auslegung von Bildern (Introduction to Art Historical Hermeneutics). In the case of Venturi we highlight in particular the tendency to link the art historical discipline and art criticism in such a way as to return art criticism to historical problems (understanding of the origin of a work of art), and history of art to forming judgements (the critical evaluation of a work of art). In the case of Bätschmann, we underline his analysis of the iconoclastic relationship of culture towards those types of artistic imagination for which no conditions for understanding are available. Both suggestions demonstrate the significance of art criticism’s mediatory role, on the one hand between history and contemporaneity, and on the other between art and audience.Such a role includes the question of competency in mediation, for which a static reception from the position of only one theoretical paradigm or one system of cultural values is not enough. Competency in mediation, apart from implying insight into the pluralism of social values in all their antinomies, and the pluralism of opinions and beliefs (in which ideologies always have a tendency to mobilize all interpretations directed to them), it also implies a critic’s ability to adjust to different methodologies. This does not support acting without a disciplinary focus but the possibility of adapting to a number of different central points within the discipline which may multiply or expire. In this case, competency in mediation is preceded by the detection of an artistic and cultural paradigm, but also by an authoritative application of theoretical and conceptual strongholds, varying from case to case, always recurring and always authentic.

A Financeirização do Noticiário Econômico: o uso de estratégias de comunicação por grupos de interesse e seu impacto nos conteúdos jornalísticos

A imprensa é uma instituição legitimada socialmente pela defesa da pluralidade de visões que marca os ambientes democráticos. É a partir do conhecimento de diferentes aspectos da realidade e de opiniões que o indivíduo constrói a visão de mundo que lhe permitirá exercer seus direitos de cidadão. Numa era em que as informações estão dispersas, o jornalista tem o papel de ordená-las e oferecê-las ao leitor, definindo as agendas locais, nacionais e mundiais. Por conta de sua legitimidade social e capacidade de definir as agendas, a imprensa é alvo prioritário de diversos grupos de interesses, entre eles ONGs, sindicatos, políticos, empresários e banqueiros, que objetivam ver suas ideias espelhadas em uma instituição de alto respeito. O objetivo deste trabalho é discutir a ação de grupos de interesse no noticiário econômico, a partir de um recorte cujo sujeito é o mercado financeiro e sua predominante presença em jornais de conteúdo geral, conforme mostram os resultados de pesquisa realizada com O Estado de S. Paulo e Folha de S.Paulo no período 1989-2002

Arendt and the American Pragmatists

Arendt and Dewey argue that action is only political when undertaken in a certain way and fear the abolition of a realm in which action can remain political in the strongest sense of the term. But unlike Dewey, Arendt seems to bar some activities from admittance to the public sphere on the grounds that they are insufficiently political. These purport- edly nonpolitical activities include urgent measures undertaken to allevi- ate human want, the application of the sciences to human life, and endeavors to free the populous from political life itself. Dewey however selectively allows these activities to be considered political if and when they prove they are not a threat to the plurality, the hallmark of the public realm. Science must accommodate rather than stifle plurality of opinion, political activity must strive toward an end other than freedom from polit- ical life, and action must be performed by actors exercising judgment, in accord with principles. In this way, Dewey's work show us in more con- crete detail than Arendt's, but in the same spirit, how the private sphere can overlap with the political sphere without infiltrating it or robbing it of its distinctness.

Value Plurality among Conservation Professionals

Debate on the values that underpin conservation science is rarely based on empirical analysis of the values conservation professionals actually hold. We used Q methodology to investigate the values held by international conservation professionals who attended the annual Student Conference in Conservation Science at the University of Cambridge (U.K.) in 2008 and 2009. The methodology offers a quantitative means of examining human subjectivity. It differs from standard opinion surveys in that individual respondents record the way they feel about statements relative to other statements, which forces them to focus their attention on the issues they believe are most important. The analysis extracts the diverse viewpoints of the respondents, and factor analysis is used to reduce the viewpoints to a smaller set of factors that reflect shared ways of thinking. The junior conservation professionals attending the conference did not share a unifying set of core values; rather, they held a complex series of ideas and a plurality of opinions about conservation and how it should be pursued. This diversity of values empirically challenges recent proposals for conservation professionals to unite behind a single philosophy. Attempts to forge an artificial consensus may be counterproductive to the overall goals conservation professionals are pursuing.

Evangelische Ethik in der pluralen Gesellschaft

Abstract Politics in a democratic society is about securing the safety of all citizens while exercising the largest possible amount of openness and tolerance at the same time. But what is the role of Protestant ethics in such a society? Religion and politics are strongly interlinked, but of course not in a legal sense as the state has to remain religiously neutral. So there is nothing like »Christian politics« but there are Christians who have a political voice that needs to be raised in order to be heard. Protestants have a long tradition of publicly articulating their religious thoughts and political ideas. The concept of human dignity in Article 1 of our constitution, for example, has its roots in the belief that human life is a gift from God and does not despend on human merits. Such an articulation is essential for a state that exists on foundations and values that it cannot provide itself, as the former judge of the Constitutional Court, E.-W. Böckenförde, pointed out. The Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik can claim a lot of credit for the fact, that theologians and philosophers, politicans and scientists have used that forum over the last decades to articulate their views on topics concerning ethics. The variety of their positions is necessary and essential to guarantee freedom and a pluralism of opinions in our society. One experience from the First German Islam Conference, which was initiated by the Minister of State in 2006, is that a society discussing the hard questions of integration, tolerance or religious beliefs, depends on those spaces where all our substantial controversies about ethics, politics and religion can be discussed

Patriotism meets plurality: reporting the 2003 Iraq War in the British press

In this article, the authors draw upon the results from a substantial content and framing analysis of the British media's treatment of the 2003 Iraq War to show how Britain's national press managed their coverage of the initial combat phase of the war against the background of substantial public and elite opposition. They show that reporting was dominated by coverage of the ongoing battle, that newspapers offered a similar subject agenda to one another and that coalition actors were prominent and likely to be reported neutrally. But the article uncovers a substantial diversity of opinion and tone across the British press and identifies five different editorial approaches to the conflict which are sustained across the news and editorial pages of different newspapers. Through a closer examination, the authors attempt to account for the existence of these approaches in relation to the effects of public opposition to the war, patriotism and newspapers' longstanding political allegiances. Finally, they suggest that, in the British press at least, this plurality of opinions and forms of coverage offers a challenge to longstanding assumptions about the extent to which the media have tended to offer support to official positions in relation to war.

The COSPA: A Political Experience of the Argentine Exile in Mexico

The Argentine exiles who arrived in Mexico in the 1970s, primarily left-leaning Peronists and supporters of the Montoneros, established a broad solidarity network that provided substantial support for new arrivals in the country. The harmony of these beginnings was, however, short-lived. The Montoneros' declaration of war on the Martínez de Perón government in 1975 divided the exile community. The Comité de Solidaridad con el Pueblo Argentino (COSPA), founded in 1976, had a strong militant tone from the beginning and became a dogmatic appendage of the Montoneros' political project. The “independent” sector of the community, critical of the armed organizations and committed to a plurality of opinions, produced the Comisión Argentina de Solidaridad (CAS) in the following year. With the failure of the Montoneros' military counteroffensive and the death of dozens of militants, the CAS became the main exile organization, a mosaic that reproduced the various perspectives that nourished the Argentine exile community.

Combining participatory modeling and multi-criteria analysis for community-based forest management

Participatory approaches to forest management have gained wide acceptance and have also become the primary guiding principle in the management of natural resources worldwide. Despite their widespread popularity, participatory methods developed so far have often been criticized as lacking in rigor and in need of better structuring and analytical capabilities. This paper proposes and combines two approaches, namely multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and participatory modeling. MCA offers an analytical environment where multiple goals, objectives, and perspectives can be accommodated and analyzed collectively and holistically. Such framework is deemed appropriate under a community-based forest management (CBFM) setting that is typically characterized by plurality of opinions and interests. Participatory modeling, on the other hand, is a general framework that subscribes to the principles of participatory action research, where direct participation of local communities is deemed crucial to the success of any management strategy. To ensure that the modeling process is participatory, the modeling environment, model formulation, and model development must be transparent and within the grasp of local participants. This paper describes how these two approaches can be integrated in a decision support system. The integration of the two approaches takes advantage of the analytical capabilities of MCA and the open and collaborative nature of participatory modeling. Applications of these two approaches as stand alone models are briefly described. A more detailed case study describing the integration of the two approaches is also described.

Glasnost': Its State, Problems, and Prospects

One tangible result of perestroika has been the advent of glasnost' into our lives as a component of our way of life, as one of the pillars in the construction of a constitutional state and a civil society. The policy of glasnost' received its most systematic embodiment in in the innovative process of perestroika. Democratization of the social process, the spread and growing affirmation of glasnost' in practice has led to the development of pluralism of opinions and the gradual creation of a mechanism for comparing different views, and overcoming the total secrecy in which the life activity of official state and social structures of power was enveloped.

A Market Economy: The Technology of Transition

There is no doubt regarding the need for recently adopted legislative and normative acts oriented toward a transition to a market economy. For all their shortcomings and defects, they are creating some of the requisite legal foundations for [this transition]. But as experience shows, too many of the decrees and laws of recent years, especially in the area of economics, "do not work." One of the principal reasons why [they do not work] is that there is as a rule no adequate technology for their implementation. It is surprising but true that the situation in the economic mechanism is similar to the situation in production: the ideas are not bad, but the technology for implementing them is extremely weak. There is increasing awareness of the foregoing. And for this reason there is obviously a plurality of opinions concerning the avenues and technology of transition to a market economy. From the Polish shock-therapy modelinstantaneous (over a six-month period) transition to a marketto the six-year government program that was approved at the end of 1989 but that has now essentially been rejected.

Medienpolitische Perspektiven im vereinten Deutschland

This paper traced the future media structure of the united Germany; this structure is guided by the constitutionally regulated principles of the media system of the Federal Republic of Germany: plurality of opinions, equal rights of public and private broadcasting, printed media supporting, film industry sponsoring...