Power In Concert Research Articles

Biomechanical effects of passive hip springs during walking

Passive spring-like structures can store and return energy during cyclic movements and thereby reduce the energetic cost of locomotion. That makes them important components of the human body and wearable assistive devices alike. This study investigates how springs placed anteriorly across the hip joint affect leg joint angles and powers, and leg muscle activities during level walking at 0.5 to 2.1 m/s.We hypothesized that the anterior hip springs (I) load hip extension, (II) support hip flexion and (III) affect ankle muscle activity and dynamics during walking. Effects at the ankle were expected because hip and ankle redistribute segmental power in concert to achieve forward progression.We observed that the participants’ contribution to hip power did not increase during hip extension as the spring stored energy. Simultaneously, the activities of plantarflexor muscles that modulate energy storage in the Achilles tendon were reduced by 28% (gastrocnemius medialis) and 9% (soleus). As the spring returned energy with the onset of hip flexion, the participants’ contribution to hip power was reduced by as much as 23%. Soleus activity before push-off increased by up to 9%.Instead of loading hip extension, anterior hip springs seem to store and return parts of the energy normally exchanged with the Achilles tendon. Thereby, the springs support hip flexion but may reduce elastic energy storage in and hence recoil from the Achilles tendon. This interaction should be considered during the design and simulation of wearable assistive devices as it might – depending on user characteristics – enhance or diminish their overall functionality.

The Ambiguity of Love: Beauvoir, Honneth and Arendt on the Relation Between Recognition, Power and Violence

ABSTRACTThe paper sketches out an account of ambiguous and agonistic love by drawing on the work of Simone de Beauvoir, Axel Honneth and Hannah Arendt. To begin with, I reconstruct the ambiguity of love within the conceptual framework of a paradigm of recognition. I argue further that the social relation of love, understood as an intertwine between dependence and independence, entails a power dynamic. Insofar as the dynamic actualises as “power in concert” or “power with”, namely as mutual empowerment, love unfolds as free love. Finally, I show how agonistic love is damaged by turning into violent domination.

Response to Barry Buzan and George Lawson’s Review of Power in Concert: The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Global Governance

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Theorizing Diplomacy as Agency

Brian C. Rathbun. (2014). Diplomacy’s Value: Creating Security in 1920s Europe and the Contemporary Middle East . Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 267 pp., $29.95 paperback (ISBN: 978-0-8014-7990-8). Almost twenty years ago, Paul Sharp (1999, 34) made the following observation in this very journal: “… we might think that students of international relations would pay a great deal of attention to diplomacy, but they do not. The study of diplomacy remains marginal to and almost disconnected from the field.” Close to two decades later, the study of diplomacy, firmly planted within the discipline of international relations, is in much healthier shape. Sharp’s own (2009) Diplomatic Theory of International Relations , Christer Jonsson and Martin Hall’s (2005) Essence of Diplomacy , Jennifer Mitzen’s (2013) Power in Concert: The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Global Governance , Keren Yarhi-Milo’s (2014) Knowing the Adversary: Leaders, Intelligence, and Assessment of Intentions in International Relations , and Rebecca Adler-Nissen’s (2014) Opting Out of the European Union: Diplomacy, Sovereignty, and European Integration are all exemplary attempts to not only refocus attention onto diplomacy as a discrete activity of international practice that deserves attention, but to theorize at a deep level how diplomats contribute to the construction of the international system. Brian C. Rathbun’s (2014) Diplomacy’s Value: Creating Security in 1920s Europe and the Contemporary Middle East not only contributes to this resurgence of interest in diplomacy, but propels the discussion forward in three important ways, including theoretically, empirically, and methodologically. Before discussing the value of the argument, … mholmes{at}wm.edu

Remembrance of Things Past

The nineteenth century is back with a vengeance. Even as many societies return to pre-1914 levels of income inequality, Russia openly challenges an aging liberal international order by reasserting privileges in its historical sphere of influence. Thus, Power in Concert, Jennifer Mitzen's original, sophisticated reconsideration of the Concert of Europe, is particularly well timed. Power in Concert finds the ghost in the machine of concerted collective action in a multipolar, nonliberal age, arguing that even “thin” institutions can “inject social purpose into the international political order” (p. 32). Specifically, Mitzen argues that members of forums such as the Concert of Europe can constitute an “international public power” possessing “collective intentionality”—a joint will to preserve a desirable international order. Mitzen describes collective intentionality as a macrolevel phenomenon “closer to action” than individual preferences or social norms, a form of agency defined by an agreed code of conduct (p. 32). Empirically, Power in Concert sketches the foundations of international public power in post-Westphalia Europe and its affirmation in the Congress of Vienna. Between 1815 and 1853, Mitzen argues, the Concert of Europe steered the great powers to collectively preserve the terms of the Vienna settlement, even when doing so meant sacrificing short-term individual interests—until the progressive decay of the Ottoman Empire ultimately proved impossible to manage within the Concert's framework.

Power in Concert: The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Global Governance. By Jennifer Mitzen (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2013) 264 pp. $90.00 cloth $32.50 paper

<i>Power in Concert: The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Global Governance.</i> By Jennifer Mitzen (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2013) 264 pp. $90.00 cloth $32.50 paper

Power in concert: the nineteenth-century origins of global governance

How states cooperate in the absence of a sovereign power is a perennial question in international relations. With Power in Concert, Jennifer Mitzen argues that global governance is more than just the cooperation of states under anarchy: it is the formation and maintenance of collective intentions, or joint commitments among states to address problems together. The key mechanism through which these intentions are sustained is face-to-face diplomacy, which keeps states' obligations to one another salient and helps them solve problems on a day-to-day basis. Mitzen argues that the origins of this practice lie in the Concert of Europe, an informal agreement among five European states in the wake of the Napoleonic wars to reduce the possibility of recurrence. The Concert first institutionalized the practice of jointly managing the balance of power, through its many successes, and Mitzen shows that the words and actions of state leaders in public forums contributed to collective self-restraint and a shared commitment to problem solving-and at a time when communication was considerably more difficult than it is today. Despite the Concert's eventual breakdown, the practice it introduced-of face-to-face diplomacy as a mode of joint problem solving-survived and is the basis of global governance today.

The Impact of Spatial Imbalance and Socioeconomic Characteristics on Average Distance Commuted in the Sydney Metropolitan Area

There is no consensus on the relationship between urban form and commuting behaviour in the international literature. However, there has been limited Australian research on commuting patterns. In this paper, an integrated spatial econometric model which utilises a number of proxies for urban form is employed to analyse the determinants of average commuting distance by occupation across Statistical Local Areas in the Sydney metropolitan area of New South Wales. It is found that, in contrast to a number of US studies, the jobs to residents ratio is an inadequate proxy for urban form and that both the minimum commute and measures of job proximity have superior explanatory power in concert with a range of socioeconomic variables, including occupational prestige, educational attainment and weekly hours of work.

An experimental program for space solar power development compatible with human moon and mars exploration

The question of developing a space solar power system (SSPS) remains on the agenda as long as the energy supply of our planet is not secured for at least the next century. At the present time the oil and gas prices are low enough not to alarm the responsible governmental agencies and commercial enterprises. This may change in a few decades when the global population grows to over 10 billion people doubling the energy demand. Then energy prices are expected to increase drastically due to dwindling reserves. Furthermore, human space flight is expected to continue during the next century exploring and developing of space resources. Thus, it appears advisable to design an experimental program for the development of space solar power in concert with the further human exploration of the Moon and Mars, just in case there are no other viable solutions to the problem expected for the second half of the next century and thereafter. Its technical feasibility and economic viability must be periodically analysed. — Past experience has demonstrated that it requires several decades to develop a new energy system. This forces early planning. Thus studies of plans to develop space solar power compabtible with the development of the Moon and Mars appears desirable. This model is attempting to do a first step in this direction. It concentrates on estimating realistic mass flows, available man-power, and cost of the construction material required for the either on the Moon or in GEO to assemble and test prototype units of SSPS. A possible schedule and program structure is also proposed.