Points Of Tension Research Articles

A Decolonial Spinoza: An Interpretation in Tension

Following Santiago Slabodsky’s articulation of a tradition of decolonial Judaism and his suggestion that Spinoza might be considered a part of it, I argue that Spinoza may be considered a decolonial thinker. While outlining the historical context in which the Jewish Spinoza wrote, I present an interpretation of Spinoza’s philosophy—in particular, the political implications of his substance monism and naturalism—and demonstrate how it satisfies general standards for a decolonial theory. In addition to highlighting relevant topics in Spinoza’s corpus, including the notion of servitude and his passing comments on Islam, I rebut several potential objections to this reading. While accepting points of tension, I claim a generally consistent, decolonial character may define the overall system of Spinoza’s philosophy. I conclude the paper by considering the relationship between this interpretation and the only proper mention of colonialism in Spinoza’s corpus, i.e., his waking dream of a silent Afro-Brazilian man.

ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF THE POLISH-UKRAINIAN BORDER CONFLICT ON THE EXPORT AND IMPORT ACTIVITIES OF ENTERPRISES

The article focuses on the Polish-Ukrainian border conflict, which has become a focal point of geopolitical tension. The consequences of this conflict extend beyond the political realm and impact the export-import activities of enterprises. The blockades are being implemented in six of the nine directions along the border between Poland and Ukraine, which is a key factor in deepening the crisis. This study aims to comprehensively analyse the multifaceted impact of the conflict on trade dynamics, regulatory changes, operational challenges faced by businesses, and potential strategies adopted to overcome these difficulties. This study uses a mix of methods, such as in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and statistical analysis of trade data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, to find out how geopolitical factors, trade policy, and business operations are all connected in complex ways. By shedding light on the complex relationship between border conflict and export-import activity, this study provides valuable insights for policymakers, businesses, and researchers grappling with the effects of geopolitical tensions on international trade.

An Empirical Inquiry into the Nature of Systematic Discrimination and Trajectory of Increasing Communal Segregation in India

This study explores the ongoing communal discrimination of Muslims and forced segregation. This large-scale discrimination of Muslims at every level is a recent phenomenon, primarily attributed to regular religious riots and stat neglect to the issue. The study relies on field evidence and extensive literature review to understand the nature of the ghettoization process. In recent decades, Gujarat has become a focal point of communal tension, forces Muslim population to relocate to several within the state and sometime other parts of the country in search of safety from their original locations. It uses Juhapura area as a case to illustrate the discriminatory processes. These ghettos are underdeveloped and lack the physical and socioeconomic infrastructure necessary for a basic standard of living.

Design by Transitional Committee: learning from the Green Climate Fund

ABSTRACT In 2022 at the UN climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh (COP27), countries agreed to establish a new fund for loss and damage. This decision was one of the most significant outcomes of the COP, and something Small Island Developing States had spent the previous three decades calling for. The approach taken to realize this new funding arrangement includes many similarities to that taken to create a similarly significant new fund twelve years earlier – the Green Climate Fund (GCF) – including its design by a Transitional Committee. The aim of this article is to assess the extent to which the ambitions for the GCF have been realized, with a view to informing the ongoing design and early implementation of the new fund. To do this, the article compares the GCF’s present-day outcomes to its original intentions as described by the COP16 decision text. This paper finds that the GCF’s operation today only partially reflects the ambitions expressed at COP16. While the ambition for a Board with equal representation by developing and developed countries has been achieved, ambitions to expand the sources of finance and increase funding for adaptation have been mixed. The influence of the World Bank was a key point of tension over the GCF’s Transitional Committee period, and the Bank continues in the Trustee role today. The role of the Committee’s Technical Support Unit – the group of staff seconded from various international development banks and agencies to provide technical and administrative support to the GCF’s Transitional Committee – had an outsized influence on the shape of the GCF, such that these organizations continue to receive the bulk of GCF funding today. These findings suggest a greater plurality of voices providing such technical inputs would enhance the design of new funding bodies. The creation of new international finance institutions is relatively rare, so understanding the history of the GCF’s design is important for contextualising discussions about other climate finance options.

The 15-minute city as paranoid urbanism: Ten critical reflections

The 15-minute city has emerged as a key urban development theme in recent years, and especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also become a focus point for tensions and debates over future urban trajectories, including over the role of automobility as the key technology that defines the experience of the urban. While the 15-minute city has become a widely-used concept by proponents and detractors alike, it remains vaguely defined and heavily contested. The paper makes two contributions: first, it reads plans for, and debates around, the 15-minute city as a form of post-political urbanism. Secondly, the paper introduces the concept of paranoid urbanism as a way of understanding urban tensions and conflicts linked to mistrust, fear and paranoia in the post-pandemic city. This novel concept goes to the heart of debates and tensions over the shape of the post-pandemic city, and over mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion that characterise it. The arguments presented in the paper aim to both chart areas for further research, and as provide critical pointers for policymakers and practitioners working in the area of urban development. To this end, the paper presents ten critical reflections aimed at both policy and practice, and at establishing new avenues of research on paranoid urbanism in the post-pandemic era.

Initial teacher education in Canada: what the past 50 years have taught us about influence and impact

ABSTRACT Initial teacher education (ITE) has changed dramatically over the past 50 years but some of the same issues persist in Canada and around the world. This article begins with an overview of how teacher education has evolved in Canada with a particular emphasis on the past 50 years. It recounts the gradual rise of professionalisation as teacher preparation moved from normal schools and teachers’ colleges to universities. We discuss the struggles for control of teacher education and how these have played out differently in various provinces and territories. The second part of the article provides an overview of external bodies that influence policies and programmes related to ITE in Canada including government agencies, royal commissions, colleges of teachers, and teachers’ federations. The third part focuses on internal influences on ITE that are both university and school-based and examines some of the points of tension between them including programme content, the balance between theory and practice, and the practicum. Finally, we look at recent developments in ITE focusing specifically on Indigenous education, truth and reconciliation and equity, diversity and inclusion, all of which will continue to be priorities for Canadian ITE moving forwards.

Stitching Together a PAR Project: “Work Active”—Supporting the Journey to Work for People With an Intellectual Disability

Critically reflecting on research practice can be an uncomfortable process for any researcher as you expose actions, and decision-making, reflect on some of the research assumptions you may have fallen into, and acknowledge your limitations. Yet, engaging in reflexive practice keeps us in check and is particularly important for researchers exploring the experiences of marginalization and oppression. This article presents our reflections on “Work Active,” a participatory action research (PAR) project that sought to improve employment outcomes for people with intellectual disability (ID). Although a great deal of literature suggests that the underlying intent of PAR is emancipatory through the mainstays of collaboration, inclusivity, and participation; however, there remain questions about whether emancipation can be truly achieved. We present our experiences of “stitching together” our service provider-led PAR project to reveal some of the challenges, points of tension, and our adaptions as we navigated the “curve balls” of undertaking a PAR project.

Syria in Turkey-US Relations: Security, Terror and Strategic Dilemmas

Turkey-US relations have historically been influenced by periodic developments, sometimes becoming strong or fragile. In this context, the relations between Turkey and the US have been deeply affected by the presence of the PKK/PYD/YPG in northern Syria and the US support for these groups. Turkey considers the PYD/YPG as an extension of the PKK and perceives it as a direct threat to its national security. On the other hand, the US supports this group by renaming it the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and describing it as the most effective ground force against DAESH. This situation has damaged the relationship between the two NATO allies, leading to diplomatic crises and regional strategic misalignments. Turkey’s cross-border operations and the US support for the PYD/YPG are the most significant points of tension overshadowing the common interests of the two countries. Despite these challenges, Turkey and the US have the potential to protect their common interests in counter-terrorism and regional security matters. This study analyzes how Turkey’s policies in Syria have been shaped by the US support for the PYD/YPG and how the tensions in this context have affected the strategic goals of both countries. Turkey’s national security strategies and its cooperation dynamics with the US can be reshaped through diplomatic negotiations and strategic cooperation mechanisms. In this framework, the advancement of relations on a more constructive basis will be possible if both sides act with mutual understanding and flexibility.

Psychological Underpinnings of Trust and Privacy Perception in the Medical Metaverse.

The idea of a medical metaverse highlights the ways that immersive technologies will provide direct experiential access to the future of digital medicine, enabling clinical interactions, therapeutic treatment, and access to educational and support resources in persistent, multi-user, immersive digital environments. There are several points of tension, however, between the need for trust and privacy in the medical context and established norms and capabilities of the digital platforms on which health care is expected to increasingly take place. Considering trust and privacy experiences though a psychological lens, focused on tendencies, norms, and expectancies within digital environments can be instructive in considering these challenges. Here, the interface between human psychology and visions for the medical metaverse are discussed in the context of the environment, the self, interpersonal interactions, and group dynamics. Incorporating well-established psychological principles into user-centric design of future medical metaverse applications can enable us to take full advantage of emerging technological capabilities while building our digital interface with the future of medicine that is psychologically and ethically sound.

Women Who Kill: The Image of Postfeminist Success as Motive in the Novels of Ann Cleeves and Val McDermid

Within the crime genre, women who kill are provided with motivations that echo points of tension in society, killing to gain or retain something necessary for the successful life that they believe they cannot attain using any other method. The recent appearance of the image of postfeminist success, as outlined by Angela McRobbie, as a motive for murder in the novels of Ann Cleeves and Val McDermid is significant as it indicates a critical engagement with the neoliberal expectation that women need to achieve the postfeminist image of success to reach a feminine version of the good life. This article will examine how the image of postfeminist success becomes a motive for murder in Cleeves's and McDermid’s novels, highlighting societal concerns over the impact on women of the expectations of the postfeminist image of success.

Untangling the threads of school wellbeing: Underlying assumptions and axes of normativity

AbstractAt present, the concept of wellbeing in schools appears more muddled than ever, encompassing an even wider range of meanings, connotations and dimensions than when it first gained currency two decades ago. Drawing upon a systematic literature review on wellbeing in schools, this article conceptualises the normative tensions underpinning the understandings of wellbeing in schools and related critical discussions. Guided by the claim that educational notions of wellbeing are not neutral but always laden with values and interwoven with expansive ideas about what education in general, and school wellbeing in particular, should be and do, we analyse a range of conceptualisations by illuminating the underlying normative assumptions. Our argument is that the concept of wellbeing is not only shaped by but also subject to opposing forces and inherent tensions. We outline three ‘axes’ to highlight these central points of tension characterising the conceptualisations of wellbeing in the literature, thereby shedding light on the normative underpinnings. The three axes portray a spectrum of perspectives, moving from individual skills, competencies and affective states, through approaches that underscore the relational nature of wellbeing and the importance of interpersonal relationships, to more comprehensive conceptualisations that construe wellbeing as interconnected with aspects of the whole‐school environment and broader societal dynamics. Our conceptual analyses suggest that parallel to the concept of subjectivity, wellbeing can be construed as either detached, value‐neutral and decontextualised, or as enacted in specific social realms and co‐created in the interplay between interpersonal interactions and socio‐material dynamics.

Quantitative characterization of bubble stability of foam concrete throughout extrusion process: From yield stress, viscosity and surface tension point of view

Foam concrete (FC) is suitable to be used as printing ink for drones in extreme environment because of its light weight, it can reduce the load of drones and improve printing efficiency. Furthermore, since the FC density and thermal insulation performance can be flexibly changed by changing the bubble content, it can be used to print functional gradient components and special-shaped insulation walls. The stability of bubbles is crucial as it directly impacts the performance of 3D printed FC (3DPFC). Here, we examined the bubble destabilization and deformation of FC throughout the mixing process, resting period prior to extrusion, and extrusion process based on three parameters, i.e., yield stress, viscosity, and surface tension. The results indicate that increasing the yield stress from 1406 Pa to 13379 Pa of the precursor leads to a decrease in bubble volume fraction after mixing from 38.26 % to 27.24 %, while increasing viscosity from 2.16 Pa s to 6.65 Pa s and decreasing surface tension from 72.4 mN/m to 33.5 mN/m are favorable for improving the sphericity of bubbles with the diameter between 300 and 800 μm in FC. In the resting stage, the yield stress of the interstitial paste is the primary factor controlling bubble stability. When the initial yield stress of the equivalent interstitial paste is 5212 Pa, the bubble volume fraction decreases by only 0.8 % within 60 min. During extrusion, high yield stress leading to bubble deformation and instability, whereas viscosity and pore solution surface tension act as sources of bubble compression resistance. There exists a suitable diameter interval for bubble pressure-bearing limit under different paste environment during extrusion.

Early career family physician perspectives on their residency experience and practice choices in Canada: a qualitative study.

Though there are more family physicians in Canada than ever before, and residency programs are expanding, gaps in access to comprehensive care remain. This study aimed to describe and understand the role residency training experiences played in shaping practice choices, including the provision of comprehensive community-based care, among early career family physicians. A secondary analysis of sixty-three (63) qualitative interviews was conducted on data from a larger mixed method study on practice patterns and choices of early career Canadian family physicians. We utilized Braun and Clarke's six phases of reflexive thematic analysis on portions of transcripts concerning residency training experiences. Participants described positive residency training experiences that shaped practice choice with respect to preceptors and mentorship, experiences of longitudinal care, breadth of exposure, and preparedness for comprehensive clinical practice. Woven through these four domains were "points of tension" and "hidden truths". Points of tension included: i) the promotion of an idealized professional identity and practice that was difficult to uphold, ii) lack of representation among faculty/preceptors with respect to age and gender, at some sites, and iii) frustration about the lack of opportunities for interprofessional collaborative practices that reflected training experiences. Hidden truths included: i) lack of preparation to run a business, ii) high administrative workload, iii) realities of payment models, and iv) the range of roles available for family physicians beyond the provision of comprehensive care. Findings highlight opportunities for educational reform supporting the transition from residency to practice alongside the importance of addressing systemic factors beyond training which impact physicians' choices regarding comprehensive care.

Seven critical events regarding Islam and Muslims in Norway - Three points of tension

Seven critical events regarding Islam and Muslims in Norway - Three points of tension

The Imago Dei and the Market Economy: Libertarian Tensions in Michael Novak’s Political Theology

The paper explores Michael Novak’s understanding of the human person and his normative case for the market economy, specifically its points of agreement and tension with natural rights libertarianism. For Michael Novak, the imago dei provides the strongest account for the relationship between the market economy, human dignity, and natural rights. Rationalistic attempts, such as those within libertarianism, cannot adequately ground human dignity or sustain free institutions capable of serving the common good, the market economy, and political liberty. However, Novak’s affinity to his libertarian interlocutors presents an opportunity for dialogue on the necessity of economic freedom and related theological influences on natural rights theory for securing human flourishing.

Transformation or more of the same? The EU’s deforestation-free products regulation through a radical transformation lens

The European Union (EU) is a major consumer of forest-risks commodities and therefore a key contributor to imported deforestation. In 2023, the EU Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) entered into force, which aims to counter the imported deforestation resulting from EU consumption of cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy, wood and derived products. With this regulation, the EU is seemingly recognising its position as one of the world's largest consumers of natural resources and land-consuming agricultural products and adjusting its economy in the face of the global biodiversity, climate and planetary justice crises. In this article, we develop a radical transformation framework to put the EUDR to the test, asking to what extent the EUDR provides a truly transformative response to today’s planetary socio-ecological and justice crises. We develop a four-pronged radical transformation framework bridging insights from transformation, degrowth, Indigenous and decolonial environmental justice, restorative justice and science and technology studies. Concretely, we distil four tenets of radical transformation: onto-epistemic transformation, political transformation, economic transformation and judicial transformation. We apply our framework tentatively to the EUDR to illustrate its practical use, raise questions and highlight possible points of tension. Our preliminary findings point to the simultaneous existence in the EUDR’s design of elements potentially paving the way for counter-hegemonic (re)interpretations and uses on the ground and elements reflecting and reinscribing existing hegemonies.

Editorial Address & Advisory Board

The first issue of volume five of the Journal of the Council for Research on Religion (JCREOR) is a call by the editors to examine and understand social cohesions and conflicts, with particular interest in what role religion or religious traditions play within communities of diverse peoples. We sought first to understand how tension points arise within communities, and second, to examine the role played by religion in creating or appeasing these tension points. This issue is thus dedicated to probing, not only the tensions that arise within religiously diverse communities but the solutions that are developed in response to criticism or conflict. The studies in this issue address: the fractures that have been created in the Orthodox world by the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for the ongoing war in Ukraine; the tensions between liberal and traditional standpoints when discussing the Vedāntic tradition and the philosophy of the Upanishads; the tension and cohesion created by how different Turkish faith communities have been negotiating their role in the preservation of Ottoman architectural heritage; and, finally, how attempts at creating social cohesion in the Southern state of Karnataka have led to tensions between Muslim and Hindu communities.

Insight into the Inflection Point of Surface Tension in Aqueous Solution of Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids

Insight into the Inflection Point of Surface Tension in Aqueous Solution of Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids

Main directions of ensuring national security and mechanisms of public administration under martial law

The task of ensuring national security is currently a key one for Ukraine, as a condition and goal of reforms in all spheres of state and social activity. The content of transformations in this area should be linked to ensuring and comprehensively strengthening Ukraine's sovereignty and preserving its territorial integrity. The current situation in the world is characterized by the presence of “points of tension”, the desire of other states to implement their geopolitical plans and unresolved social problems. In addition, the state is the main institution that creates appropriate conditions for the functioning of each business entity. In Ukraine, there is a need to define the benchmarks of the security system, study international experience and implement it in the process of improving national security legislation. The article examines and analyzes the theoretical foundations of the state management of national security development, reveals the essence of such concepts as “national security”, “economic security”; identifies the components of national and economic security of Ukraine; mechanisms of state management of economic security; characterizes three main types of security threats, namely: external and internal; real and potential; global, regional and local; identifies threats affecting economic security; develops recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the state management of economic security.

Empathy building through Virtual Reality filmmaking in social innovation: Decreasing tensions between socially opposed citizens

In our densely-populated cities, living together in harmony between different groups of people becomes an increasingly difficult art, and one in which design can provide positive contributions. This paper describes a design project which aimed to decrease tensions between youth and residents in a city neighbourhood through an empathy-building process. Individuals from both groups were guided through the process of stepping into each others’ worlds through Virtual Reality and developing solutions together to address points of tension. Their individual transformative processes were researched through a content analysis procedure in order to make the implicit outcomes of such design processes explicit. Throughout this process new dynamics and connections emerged, revealing grounds for structurally decreasing tensions and promoting participatory approaches for social innovation. This paper describes the project and presents our learnings regarding (1) the transformative impact on the involved individuals from the neighbourhood and (2) reflections on the contributing roles of the designers in social innovation projects.