Legitimate Practice Research Articles

Opening the Public Accessibility to the Wreckage of the RMS Titanic: Some Ethical Reflections

In 2021, Ocean Gate Expeditions allowed people to visit the remains of the RMS Titanic. While this is not the first time that the site has been accessed for touristic aims, this case has, once again, opened the debate about the ethics of such experiences. The key dilemma is if permitting the public access to a natural graveyard, such as the wreck of the Titanic, should be considered as an acceptable practice or an immoral act that must be banned. Notwithstanding the sensitive arguments raised against the organization of similar initiatives, the visit to the RMS Titanic seems to be a valuable and legitimate practice according to diverse ethical approaches.

Norm convergence and collision in regime overlaps. Business and human rights in the UN and the EU

ABSTRACT This paper investigates how practices of (de)legitimation deal with regime overlaps by invoking the convergence or collision of norms, rules and procedures in regime complexes. It brings together two strands of International Relations literature – the concept of regime complexes and (de)legitimating practices in global governance institutions – to analyse the UN Treaty Process as a case study in the field of business and human rights. It makes three main arguments. The first is that regime complexes can be characterized by the concomitance of a collision and convergence of norms, rules and procedures. Second, regime overlaps and the collision of norms and rules may appear within a single international institution. Third, norm collision and convergence are inferred in (de)legitimation practices that characterize contestations in regime complexes. The UN Treaty Process demonstrates convergence and collision as (de)legitimation in light of the UN Guiding Principles (intra-organizational overlap) and the European Union (inter-organizational overlap).

Affective Economies in Blood Banks and Biobanks: Vital Accounting from US Transfusion Medicine to Genetic Research, 1935–1990

Summary Medical blood banks and research biobanks are frequently figured as immobile middlemen in the larger machinations of biomedicine, possessing little power to influence the meaning or mobilisation of the biomaterials they accumulate. However, as the institutions that facilitate the collection and circulation of blood for a variety of purposes, blood and biobanks—much like their financial namesakes—legitimate certain practices and constitute the conditions of possibility for others. By following the ‘banking’ metaphor from its origins in 1930s US blood banking through global research specimen collection in the latter half of the century, this essay argues that economic rhetoric has worked to reproduce systems of classed and raced inequity within the circulation of blood through US medicine and research, in turn shifting the affective valences of raced and classed bodies as donors, patients and research subjects.

LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS IN BALOCHISTAN

This research was conducted into two districts of Balochistan such as Lasbela and Loralai so as to determine the livestock management practices within terms of socioeconomic acceleration. A descriptive design was applied so that it obtained the views of livestock farmers. Three hundred livestock farmers randomly selected, 150 from each district. A closed-ended questionnaire was developed. Non-parametric test was used. Results show that Most (34%) of livestock farmers age ranged into the 31 to 40 years. Half 50% of the livestock farmers were illiterate and did not get their education from any formal institution. Vast majority 77% of the livestock respondents were male by gender. Non-significant relationships between the variables were found regarding socio-economic impacts based on (p< .05) alpha level. It was recommended that the latest technologies related to the livestock sector must be prompted at province level. So as to improve the livelihood options of the respondent’s adequate subsidy rate of animal fodders, animal medicines, animal shelters provided to the livestock farmers by the government. For the department adequate incentives should be given to the staff so that to increase the competency level of livestock department staff. Furthermore, the government should provide livestock farmers satisfactory information so as to give livestock farmers fair share in consumer prices and legitimate trade practices adopted. Livestock extension services in this regard disseminated modern animal husbandry practices to the livestock farmers.

Mehrsprachigkeit in der Bildung in Deutschland – eine Diskursanalyse

Multilingualism in Education in Germany – a Discourse Analysis. In the Republic of Germany, language acquisition for children with a mother tongue other than German has been a widely discussed topic in education science as well as in public and political discourse over the last decades. Annual studies on preschool and primary education point to the ongoing disadvantage – or even discrimination – suffered by multilingual children in the German education system. Given Germany’s history as a country of immigration, and in light of recent public discussions on the increased immigration of refugees, the question of the problematic’s socio-political background arises. This leads to the issue of linguistic concepts among society and their influence on domestic language policies. This article presents analysis of discourse around languagepolitical concepts and practices among stakeholders in language promotion in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia. Five semi-structured interviews with state employees were analysed following a discourse analytical approach. The analysis, deploying frameworks from the field of Critical Discourse Analysis, focused on the discursive practice of legitimation in the evaluation of multilingualism. Multilingualism as a phenomenon in society appeared to be evaluated according to differing standards (for example correctness or properness) depending on the language. As for evaluation, the analysis indicated an additional dimension in discourse which assigns different groups of speakers a belonging to particular languages. All in all, the collected data pointed to a diverse and ever-changing discourse in the field of language promotion in North-Rhine Westphalia. The presented analysis aims to stimulate a debate and suggests some directions for future research.

Base cation saturation ratios vs. sufficiency level of nutrients: A false dichotomy in practice

AbstractBase cation saturation ratio (BCSR) or “soil balancing” is a soil management philosophy which strives to maintain targeted base cation saturation percentages in soil. Despite lack of Land Grant University (LGU) endorsement for decades, BCSR is widely practiced by many farmers in the United States, particularly in the organic farming community. Here, we explore BCSR persistence and present a framework around BCSR that reflects how it is conceived and practiced on working farms, with a key premise that BCSR practitioners typically use both LGU‐endorsed sufficiency level of available nutrients (SLAN) and BCSR in a hybrid approach. Drawing on (a) a survey of LGU soil fertility scientists’ perspectives on BCSR, (b) decades of published literature on impacts of lime and gypsum application, (c) soil test data from organic corn fields in a four‐state region of the Midwest, and (d) a large state‐wide soil test dataset from Ohio, we examined and tested five unique hypotheses about BCSR. We provide evidence to support the following statements: (a) published peer‐reviewed literature on BCSR is limited and dated, (b) there is widespread agreement among soil fertility scientists that BCSR is not a legitimate practice of soil management, (c) studies of lime and gypsum application on soils can lend insight into the efficacy of BCSR, and (d) in many soils, managing soil acidity will also balance soils in BCSR ideal saturation percentages. Collectively, we summarize key findings from our interdisciplinary effort to provide an updated overview and a more nuanced perspective of BCSR in practice.

Relevant Arithmetic and Mathematical Pluralism

In The Consistency of Arithmetic and elsewhere, Meyer claims to “repeal” Goedel’s second incompleteness theorem. In this paper, I review his argument, and then consider two ways of understanding it: from the perspective of mathematical pluralism and monism, respectively. Is relevant arithmetic just another legitimate practice among many, or is it a rival of its classical counterpart—a corrective to Goedel, setting us back on the path to the (One) True Arithmetic? To help answer, I sketch a few worked examples from relevant mathematics, to see what a non-classical (re)formulation of mathematics might look like in practice. I conclude that, while it is unlikely that relevant arithmetic describes past and present mathematical practice, and so might be most acceptable as a pluralist enterprise, it may yet prescribe a more monistic future venture.

‘Civilized Dispossession’: Corporate accumulation at the dawn of modern capitalism

Critical scholarship views corporate accumulation – a fundamental driver of capitalism – as inherently dispossessive, involving violence and expropriation. However, dispossession also involves practices of legitimation that are related to coercive violence in complex ways. We examine the roles of dispossession and legitimation practices as constitutive of corporate accumulation. Specifically, we analyse how dispossession is connected to the appropriation of legitimacy as a symbolic resource which justifies and enables violence and expropriation. Taking an historical perspective, we examine a paradigmatic case of corporate accumulation: the Dutch East India Company’s monopolization of spices on the Banda Islands (1599–1621). In this process, the Dutch moved from (1) initial instances of legitimation to (2) legitimation to enforce Dutch–Bandanese agreements, to (3) legitimation to enable dispossession of the Bandanese, to finally (4) wholesale dispossession of the Bandanese. These four phases reflect a mechanism that we call ‘civilized dispossession’, which describes the escalating three-way interplay between Dutch practices of dispossession and legitimation and Bandanese resistance, and which was driven by institutional experimentation and multi-level institutional work. Integrating institutional and critical perspectives, the notion of ‘civilized dispossession’ provides a novel theorization of corporate accumulation, elucidating the mechanisms by which corporations promote the diffusion of capitalism.

A new narrative about sustainability or a sustainable narrative?

The aim of this paper is to deepen the knowledge about legitimation practices in a political-economic text, namely, the consolidated government accounts. In particular the study is focused on how contested and conflicting rationalities and values are negotiated and legitimized in consolidated accounts before and after Agenda 2030 was signed. A discourse legitimation approach is used (van Leeuwen 2007, 2008) to study Swedish consolidated government accounts. The report is considered exemplary and the goals are ambitious. Since the introduction of Agenda 2030, the ultimate goals of SOEs have been rephrased and the value configurations developed. The text becomes more political and other values than economic values gain status. This shift is legitimized by references to international commitments, that should act as role models, implying that they are morally good companies contributing to a better world. The Swedish government is constructed as the responsible parent who ensures progress. Hence, the global goals and Agenda 2030 are legitimized but they in turn legitimize state ownership and the government as an active owner of companies.

Political Liberalism and Cognitive Disability: an Inclusive Account

ABSTRACT In this paper, I argue that, contrary to what some critics suggest, political liberalism is not exclusionary with regards to the rights and interests of individuals with cognitive disabilities. I begin by defending four publicly justifiable reasons that are collectively sufficient for the inclusion of members of this group. Briefly, these are the epistemic uncertainty that inevitably exists about individuals’ actual capacities, the political liberal duty to treat parents fairly, the social framework that is required for the fulfilment of parental duties, and the necessity of cultivating certain emotions that are strongly associated with reasonableness. These reasons show why a more inclusive reading of political liberalism is plausible, and how this can be achieved without abandoning or revising the theory’s commitment to public reason, the political conception of the person, and the role of social cooperation. I then turn to the question of what a more inclusive political liberalism would look like. More specifically, I argue that, although it would not require the participation of individuals with cognitive disabilities in the practice of legitimation, it would require their full inclusion in the realm of justice as equal rights-bearers.

“Civilized Dispossession”: Corporate Accumulation at the Dawn of Modern Capitalism

Critical scholarship views corporate accumulation – a fundamental driver of capitalism – as inherently dispossessive, involving violence and expropriation. However, dispossession also involves practices of legitimation that are related to coercive violence in complex ways. We examine the roles of dispossession and legitimation practices as constitutive of corporate accumulation. Specifically, we analyze how dispossession is connected to the appropriation of legitimacy as a symbolic resource which justifies and enables violence and expropriation. Taking an historical perspective, we examine a paradigmatic case of corporate accumulation: the Dutch East India Company’s monopolization of spices on the Banda islands (1599-1621). In this process, the Dutch moved from 1) initial instances of legitimation to 2) legitimation to enforce Dutch-Bandanese agreements, to 3) legitimation to enable dispossession of the Bandanese, to finally 4) wholesale dispossession of the Bandanese. These four phases reflect a mechanism that we call “civilized dispossession”, which describes the escalating three-way interplay between Dutch practices of dispossession and legitimation and Bandanese resistance, and which was driven by institutional experimentation and multi-level institutional work. Integrating institutional and critical perspectives, the notion of “civilized dispossession” provides a novel theorization of corporate accumulation, elucidating the mechanisms by which corporations promote the diffusion of capitalism.

Links between biodiversity and human infectious and non-communicable diseases: a review.

Biodiversity has intrinsic value and a fundamental role in human health. The relationship between them is complex, and the specific sustaining processes are still not well understood. In view of the rapidly evolving landscape, this literature review investigated scientific evidence for specific links between biodiversity and human infectious and non-communicable diseases to characterise identifiable relationships. A search of the PubMed and Web of Science databases using keyword algorithms identified relevant manuscripts published between 1 January 2000 and 18 April 2019. Qualitative data were extracted from 155 studies investigating links between or mechanisms linking biodiversity and infectious disease, non-communicable disease, allergic/inflammatory disease and microbiomes. None of the reviewed studies documented causal evidence for a mechanism linking biodiversity and human health. The main mechanisms proposed to link biodiversity and transmission of infectious disease were dilution and amplification. The dilution hypothesis argues that an increase in species diversity leads to a decrease in pathogen prevalence. The amplification effect is the converse, that there is a positive correlation between species diversity and disease risk/infection prevalence. Several driving factors are postulated, including encounter reduction, interspecies competition and predation. In addition, it appears that scale, both spatial and temporal, highly impacts diversity-disease relationships. There is strong evidence that the early environment of a child, including maternally transferred prenatal signals, affects immune maturation, modifying later disease risk. Bi-directional axes communicate between the gut microbiome and the brain, as well as between the skin microbiome and the lung, leading to direct and indirect immune, humoral and neural mechanisms. The main challenges in assessing links between biodiversity and human health are the wide variation in definitions of health and biodiversity, and the heterogeneity in types of studies encountered, as well as the complexity of interactions in dynamic systems. Contextually adapted integrative approaches, which maintain dialogue across disciplines and amongst all stakeholders, are most likely to generate robust evidence. Because of the relevance of local scale, research engagement must occur across levels to generate legitimate practices and translate into sustainable, equitable policies. Recommendations for future action include: improve the knowledge base on contribution of biodiversity to health, increase awareness of health effects of natural and near-natural environments and biodiversity, and promote synergies by increasing policy coherence.

Villain or victim? Framing strategies and legitimation practices in the Russian perspective on the European Union’s Third Energy Package

This article investigates the Russian reaction to the Third Energy Package (TEP) of the European Union (EU). This legislation aimed at integrating the EU’s internal gas market but also became a game-changer for EU–Russia energy relations. The framing strategies through which the Russian regime has made sense of TEP are explored and the entanglement of these strategies with the Kremlin’s claim to great power status – one of the key pillars of its legitimation strategy – are scrutinized. Altogether, three frames are identified. They differ from each other in their depictions of the EU and of the legislation itself. The EU is perceived as a misguided partner, deceptive counterpart, or geopolitical rival, while TEP is viewed as an ill-informed policy, a unilateral decision which disregards Russia’s legitimate interests, or a direct attack on Gazprom and, consequently, on Russia. At least one frame also bears a strong legitimation message as it connects with Russia’s mythology and collective memory. It resonates with Russia’s deeply-rooted desire to be recognized as a great power and posits TEP as an act of rejection through which Russia is denied this status.

The political language of modern Islamism: practices of legitimation of the International Terrorist Organization “Islamic State” (terrorist organization banned in Russia)

This article analyzes the ways of legitimation that are characteristic to the Russian-language propaganda of the terrorist group “Islamic State” that is banned in Russia. The arguments the extremist propaganda resorts to are revealed on the example of the online magazine “Istok”: founded on Muslim law, legitimation on the basis of Quranic texts, appeal to moral justice of the establishment of “Caliphate”, and positioning of “Caliphate” as the traditional sovereign state with its attributes. Description is given to the peculiarities of the Russian-language jihadist propaganda and radical discourse of the “Islamic State” overall: an important distinctive feature of the Islamist propaganda is the archaic motives. Having studied the propagandistic materials, the author outlines such features of jihadist propaganda as propensity to determinism and fatalism, orientation towards eschatological worldview, reference of the logical and political arguments to the times of the establishment of Islam. Application of the methods of political linguistics to the information product of terrorist organization reveals the basic strategy of legitimization of the “Islamic State”, which resorts to the archaic, establishment of the “caliphate” of Islamists to the time of origination of Islam and the era of the “righteous caliphs”. The elements of the traditional state are largely translated onto the external, non-Muslim environment: coverage of the activity of the administrative structures of Islamic State, demonstration of the own economic system, and abundance of national symbols. The analysis of propagandistic materials allows concluding on the nominal role of the leader of the jihadist group Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, whose name is associated not only with the phenomenal success of the jihadist project, but also the equally painful defeat that the “Islamic State” suffered in the end.

Common Identities, Overlapping Authorities and Complexity. Practices of (De-)Legitimation in the United Nations

The paper discusses competing practices of legitimation between the UN and the EU, within the BHR regime and within the UN. It contributes to IR literature on IO legitimation by analyzing the practices of self-legitimation and delegitimation of a UN intergovernmental working group in the field of business and human rights: the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Respect to Human Rights (OEIWG). The paper discusses three practices of (de)legitimation – common identities, overlapping authorities and complexity – and investigates the latter as a performative practice of legitimation that focuses on substance. Performative practices represent a peculiar type of legitimation as they contribute to legitimacy rather as a by-product. Therefore, the concept of performative legitimation adds to the typology of legitimation practices next to discursive, institutional and behavioral practices. Additionally, the paper broadens the lens of analysis of the agents of IO self-legitimation to include a plurality of supporting and opposing actors.

The Mutual Life Insurance Scandal: Making Public Opinion

ABSTRACT This study explores a 1905 New York Legislature investigation of life insurance company practices, including the widespread use of press agents to shape newspaper content. The principal targets of the so-called Armstrong Committee hearings were Mutual Life Insurance Co., Equitable Life Assurance Society, and New York Life Insurance Co. Committee hearings found that company executives made low interest loans to each other, funded political campaigns, used corporate money to buy controlling interests in other companies, and received inflated salaries while policyholder dividends dwindled. They also purchased favorable publicity from newspapers and magazines while the committee hearing was in session. Allan Forman, editor and publisher of the Journalist, was among prominent newsmen tainted by their involvement in the public relations effort. This and other discoveries ignited a debate about what constituted legitimate public relations practices and their relationship to news organizations.

ЛЕГИТИМАЦИЯ НАСИЛИЯ В ГРАЖДАНСКИХ ВОЙНАХ МАРИАНЦЕВ И СУЛЛАНЦЕВ

Through the analysis of various research approaches, a method for reconstructing the Roman conception of violence was developed. This method was applied to answer the question of tolerance and disapproval expressed towards political murders in the Roman Republic: depending on the context, such murders were qualified as either violence or acts of justice. The markers used by ancient authors to show their disregard to violent actions caused by political reasons were singled out. The role of legitimation practices in this process was revealed. The interpretation of such events by ancient authors was analyzed. The characteristics of the main characters in their narratives were considered. It was found that the precedent of the first real civil war caused a crisis of the traditional system of values and promoted a search for new values to legitimate the previously unfamiliar phenomena. Based on the results obtained, several scenarios for violence justification in the Roman Republic during the civil wars of the 1st century B.C. were introduced: firstly, the relations between the citizens were built as between the “winners and losers” when an armed civil conflict escalated into the war; secondly, revenge became a common motive among the Romans for turning to violence; thirdly, the formal side of laws intended originally to protect the rights of the Roman citizens was often used during the time of conflicts to ligitime violence against them.

Surveillance under dispute: Conceptualising narrative legitimation politics

AbstractCurrent debates about surveillance demonstrate the complexity of political controversies whose uncertainty and moral ambiguities render normative consensus difficult to achieve. The question of how to study political controversies remains a challenge for IR scholars. Critical security studies scholars have begun to examine political controversies around surveillance by exploring changing security practices in the everyday. Yet, (de)legitimation practices have hitherto not been the focus of analysis. Following recent practice-oriented research, we develop a conceptual framework based on the notion of ‘narrative legitimation politics’. We first introduce the concept of ‘tests’ from Boltanski's pragmatic sociology to categorise the discursive context and different moral reference points (truth, reality, existence). Second, we combine pragmatic sociology with narrative analysis to enable the study of dominant justificatory practices. Third, we develop the framework through a practice-oriented exploration of the Snowden controversy with a focus on the US and Germany. We identify distinct justificatory practices in each test format linked to narrative devices (for example, plots, roles, metaphors) whose fluid, contested dynamics have the potential to effect change. The framework is particularly relevant for IR scholars interested in legitimacy issues, the normativity of practices, and the power of narratives.

Проблема нормативной детерминации процессов легитимации власти в России

The article studies social norms as a special kind of determinants of public consciousness and finds that in modern society there is an institutional distribution of normative systems that legitimize power. At the same time, formal institutions are normalized by law, informal ones are normalized by morality. Normative determination in most developed countries of the world has a rational formal legal nature and is made up of value regulators of world pictures, regulators of social subordination and hierarchy, and regulators of behavior. It is shown that the political practices of our time presuppose continuous interaction between society and the institutions of power, the search for legitimate practices, a single, least contradictory social request that this power is able to satisfy.

Text recycling in STEM: A text-analytic study of recently published research articles

ABSTRACT Text recycling, sometimes called “self-plagiarism,” is the reuse of material from one’s own existing documents in a newly created work. Over the past decade, text recycling has become an increasingly debated practice in research ethics, especially in science and technology fields. Little is known, however, about researchers’ actual text recycling practices. We report here on a computational analysis of text recycling in published research articles in STEM disciplines. Using a tool we created in R, we analyze a corpus of 400 published articles from 80 federally funded research projects across eight disciplinary clusters. According to our analysis, STEM research groups frequently recycle some material from their previously published articles. On average, papers in our corpus contained about three recycled sentences per article, though a minority of research teams (around 15%) recycled substantially more content. These findings were generally consistent across STEM disciplines. We also find evidence that researchers superficially alter recycled prose much more often than recycling it verbatim. Based on our findings, which suggest that recycling some amount of material is normative in STEM research writing, researchers and editors would benefit from more appropriate and explicit guidance about what constitutes legitimate practice and how authors should report the presence of recycled material.