Positivist Perspective Research Articles

Tax Transparent Companies: Striving for Tax Neutrality? A Legal International Comparative Study of Tax Transparent Companies and their Potential Application for Australian Closely Held Businesses

An underlying issue which inheres in any taxation framework relates to the manner in which it operates and the actual distribution of its imposts or appropriations. In this respect, a tax system needs to confront two fundamental (and interrelated) questions – first, precisely how the tax or impost should be imposed and, secondly, who should bear the legal obligation or onus of payment. These issues can be conceptualised not only from a purely legal or positivist perspective, in terms of identifying who will incur the obligation to pay tax, but also in terms of a more economic and instrumental standpoint as to which entity or individual should effectively be paying the tax. These alternatives may not result in the same conclusions, particularly for the taxation of business forms. To provide one example, if the business form has separate legal entity status from its members, should the business form, as a legal person, be subject to tax separately from its members? From a legal standpoint the response to this question is that such a business form should bear the impost. However, from an economical perspective it may be preferable that the business income and/or losses are directly allocated to its members. Indeed, tax transparency (aggregate approach) has been argued as an economically superior model, although it is not without its critics.1 Criticisms against tax transparency include the risk to tax revenue and the potential to distort investment decisions when allocated losses exceed a member’s financial exposure.2 Despite these criticisms, several foreign jurisdictions have implemented tax transparency in relation to business forms that are characterised by separate legal entity status and limited liability for members (referred to as tax transparent companies or transparent companies). Prominent examples include the United States’ S Corporations and Limited Liability Companies (LLC), the United Kingdom’s Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP) and New Zealand’s Loss Attribution Qualifying Companies (LAQC). The Australian government has been reluctant to fully embrace transparent companies, preferring the integrated approach of a full imputation system applying to corporate distributions. However, in response to pressure for reform, the Australian government has recently introduced two transparent companies, although they are not broadly available.3 These Australian transparent companies are incorporated limited partnerships used for venture capital investments (venture capital ILPs) and amendments to controlled foreign hybrid companies (CFC hybrids). The question that needs to be raised in relation to the introduction of the foreign transparent companies entails precisely what were the underlying motivations that prompted their implementation in the first place. In particular, were these entities introduced purely on the basis of promoting tax neutrality, or were other factors or motivations influential in their creation? If, indeed, other factors were at play then this implicates the obvious question regarding the existence of similar factors in Australia – thereby, perhaps, facilitating the creation of the same type of entities in this jurisdiction. A further interrelated question that needs to be confronted is whether these foreign jurisdictions have ensured that their tax revenue is not prejudiced or affected through the allocation of tax losses to members who do not have full liability exposure. If this is the case, then the consequent concern implicated here is whether Australia’s present loss restriction rules would be able (in such a circumstance) to adequately protect tax revenue in the pursuit of developing such a tax transparent company? A final concern stemming from the foregoing issues is that, given the purported benefits that accrue to closely held businesses via tax transparent companies, how does transparency influence problems faced by this sector in terms of complexity, financing and governance. It is these relevant questions to which attention will be focused on in this dissertation. In addressing these pertinent issues, tentative recommendations for policy and legislative reforms will be formulated in the concluding chapters.

Problem-based learning: a critical rationalist perspective

Although problem-based learning is being adopted by many institutions around the world as an effective model of learning in higher education, there is a surprising lack of critique in the problem-based learning literature in relation to its philosophical characteristics. This paper explores epistemology as a starting point for investigating the theoretical underpinnings of problem-based learning as a learning model. Criticisms of empiricism are analysed in terms of the perceived learning outcomes of learners undertaking a problem-based learning curriculum. It is argued that models of empiricism theorised by philosophers such as Bacon, Locke and Hume cannot fully account for the learning model found in problem-based learning curricula. It is proposed that an alternative epistemological approach is needed. The work of Karl Popper is discussed, whose critical rationalist epistemology emphasises the generation of bold conjectures and criticism. Popper's work shows a positive contribution to the demands of higher education, characterised by learners who are serious about making professional progress. The paper concludes by critically analysing the tensions and contradictions of problem-based learning in light of Popper's epistemological theory of critical rationalism. It is argued that a critical rationalist perspective has educational benefits for students as it creates an environment rich in critical thinking, reading and writing and values disjunction and challenge.

The 'Magical' Language of Mantra

This paper aims to illuminate the phenomenon of mantras and to critique the category of magic through an examination of mantra as magical language. Mantras have often been referred to as "magic formulas" or "spells," yet one searches the scholarly literature in vain for a worthy explanation of precisely why mantra should or should not be considered magical. This essay addresses this lack, (a) explaining how mantra's conflict with modern Western understandings of language has led scholars to conceive of mantra as magic and (b) showing just what is at stake in such characterizations. This examination of mantra will demonstrate how "magic" and related terms have consistently been used not so much to describe as to marginalize and de-authorize that to which they refer. While the issue is partly about flawed terms and categories, the question of mantra as magic ultimately leads to an unsettling confrontation with the limits of our own modern rationalist perspective.

A snapshot of strategy research 2002‐2006

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to assess both the philosophical underpinnings and contributions to knowledge made by research in the field of strategy in the five years between 2002 and 2006.Design/methodology/approachThe paper begins with a review of the literature on the philosophy, purpose, process and outcome of management research which leads to the development of a conceptual model. Following this, almost 4,000 articles from 23 journals are assessed on the basis of their philosophical underpinnings and contribution to knowledge. Findings are reported and implications are discussed.FindingsMost strategy research, especially in higher ranked journals, comes from a positivist perspective. Across all journals, most contributions to knowledge are in the form of stretching theory. There is a limited amount of reflective work in the strategy literature.Practical implicationsGiven the form and content of strategy research, it is increasingly unlikely that research will make the crossover from the academic to the practitioner world.Originality/valueThis paper provides a better understanding of the process through which academic management research can be carried out and the barriers to this process. The paper provides a number of important insights into the nature of strategy research.

From Iraq to Katrina and Back: Bureaucratic Planning as Strategic Failure, Fiction, and Fantasy

AbstractBureaucratic planning is a complex sociocultural process rife with vested interests, contradictory aims, and internal conflicts. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the US occupation of Iraq, contemporary media discourses on planning have downplayed this complexity and diverted attention away from a more nuanced understanding of planning as a sociological process. In this article, I show how policy and press debates regarding bureaucratic planning in Iraq and New Orleans are rooted in technocratic and rationalist perspectives, constituting a kind of modernist faith. These contemporary discourses are often one‐dimensional, failing to consider the conflicts, contradictions, and counter‐intuitive outcomes that are inherent in planning in complex situations, including urban reconstruction, military occupation, and disaster response. I show how flawed approaches in the present are deeply linked to the past, connecting Iraq and Katrina to a detailed ethnographic case study on failed urban planning in colonial Zanzibar. Even though the three cases of Iraq, Katrina, and Zanzibar differ across time, context, and conditions, they reveal that bureaucratic planning is best understood as a multidimensional strategic practice that is intrinsically shaped by sociocultural forms. Plans may ostensibly fail in one sense and yet still produce quite enduring effects. They may remain ‘fictions’ at one level but still wield real impact. And even if they are informed by fantasy, bearing little utility from a functional perspective, plans still serve as performative and persuasive acts, informed by political ends.

Some notes about the relations between Social Psychology and Literature

In this paper I try to show the value that the study of the relationship between Social Psychology and Literature would have to improve our psychosocial knowledge of the human being. On one hand, the psychosocial analysis of the novel would provide us with the wide and deep knowledge that is contained in the classic literary works. On the other hand, it is also useful to analyze how these literary works have been reflecting both their own time as well as the social changes in the last centuries and, furthermore, its effect on the readers, their mentality, their behaviour and even the way they relate each other. This approach would be of great value for a Social Psychology that pretends to look beyond a positivist perspective, a perspective that is pervasive in Psychology for the last century. 

Missed Opportunities in Dialogue between Psychology and Religion

In the Middle Ages, studies of the natural world, human behavior and theology were part of an interwoven body of knowledge. However, in modern times an increasing divide has separated science and religion. A careful review suggests that currents and accidents in intellectual and social history have served to unnecessarily foreclose lines of thought that might lead to rapprochement of religion with science, including psychology. Developments in Western views of epistemology and the philosophy of science have been a major factor in this estrangement. In the early modern period, flexible views of science (e.g. Bacon) were replaced by doctrinaire formulations emphasizing quantitative methodologies. Especially important was the development of positivism, which opened the door to a reductionistic naturalism that intended not only to reduce dialogue with religion but also to replace it with science. Within psychology, Freud and other early psychologists were eager to establish psychology as a “real” science and enthusiastically embraced the positivist perspective and rejected possible alternatives. Although this positivist approach is philosophically untenable, it continues to dominate psychology and obstruct dialogue between science and religion as well as progress in psychology as a whole. A return to a broader and more modest conception of science is warranted.

Turkey's Iraq Policy: The War and Beyond

Turkey's Iraq policy has come under scrutiny since the Turkish parliament defeated a motion that called for Turkey's involvement in the war against Iraq in 2003. This study argues that rationalist perspectives cannot completely account either for Turkey's non-cooperation with the USA in this war or for the articulation and implementation of Iraq policy since then. A comprehensive account of Turkey's Iraq policy requires a discussion of the impact of identity politics and historical narratives on perceptions of interests.

Transgênicos e percepção pública da ciência no Brasil

Este artigo tem como objetivo a análise de pesquisas sobre percepções de consumidores, produtores, cidadãos em relação ao uso de alimentos transgênicos, estabelecendo comparações entre as desenvolvidas no Brasil, na Europa, na Ásia e nos Estados Unidos. Tais pesquisas têm passado a desempenhar um papel central nos debates sobre seus riscos tanto entre os setores a seu favor quanto aos que se manifestam contrários a tal uso. Um dos argumentos centrais deste trabalho é que no Brasil há uma significante carência de dados sobre tal percepção pública. A falta de pesquisas, ou seu número limitadíssimo é aqui considerado uma evidência para caracterizar a trajetória da polêmica no Brasil, com uma significativa ausência de participação pública nos debates sobre transgênicos. Estes giram em torno de atores sociais organizados, que atuam sem ou com parcial representatividade. Também o número limitado de pesquisas expõe os limites da área de marketing, ainda assumindo no Brasil uma perspectiva positivista sobre o consumidor. E, por último, consideramos que podemos relacionar a falta de informação com a falta de problematização no espaço acadêmico sobre os conflitos ou consensos entre conhecimentos peritos e leigos quando estão em questão inovações tecnológicas que envolvem riscos incertos. Na primeira parte focalizamos nas pesquisas realizadas no contexto brasileiro, escolhendo as que passaram a ser destacadas como apóio a argumentos a favor ou contra os transgênicos entre os principais atores sociais envolvidos no debate. Na segunda parte consideramos as pesquisas realizadas em outros paises. Na terceira parte analisamos os limites e vantagens das diferentes pesquisas aqui selecionadas como representativas, o que nos permite nas conclusões formular sugestões para pesquisas de opinião pública no Brasil não só sobre transgenicos, mas também sobre percepção publica da ciência.

Positivism and Nigeria's philosophy of education

This paper examined from a positivist perspective, the adequacy or otherwise of Nigeria's Philosophy of Education. We identified the educational strategies of positivism and tried to discover whether they form part of Nigeria's Philosophy of Education. We discovered that positivism adopts the empiricist – inductivist model of knowledge acquisition. We found out that the ability of the inductivist approach to draw out generalizations from particular instances appears to be an advantage. But its inability to prove the logical validity of these generalizations mars the entire effort. We argued that given the faults inherent in the empiricist methodology, the impossibility of reading the world through observation becomes obvious. Comte opined that education should lay emphasis on the possibility of using science to help solve social problems. We argued against the positivist tendency of evaluating education only at the “use” level. We condemned, in strong terms, the Nigerian case where education is given one single purpose of being an instrument for achieving the nation's objectives. We discovered that the ratio of Science to Liberal Arts students in our universities was fixed by government at 60:40. We detected that Nigeria's 6–3-3–4 educational system is a technologically oriented system. We argued for parity of esteem between Science and Liberal Arts, as a condition for genuine development in Nigeria. Our paper maintained that it is wrong just to focus on developing the worker in the man through science and technology while undermining the humanities which develop the man in the worker. Keywords: man, worker, humanities, science, technology Global Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 4(1&2) 2005: 57-60

General Principles of Islamic Law of War: A Reassessment

From a positivist perspective this paper aims at analyzing the Islamic Law of War (ILW) during armed hostilities. Extensive work has already been delivered by many scholars in the field with respect to the evolution of the ILW. This study will, in particular, address the principles of distinction and proportionality (which are also found in the traditions of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), i.e. jus in bello) from the outlook of the primary sources of Islamic law, i.e. the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The latter provide the basis for understanding state conduct during peace and war times, i.e. the so-called siyar. This paper tries to categorize firstly the territorial and temporal jurisdiction of ILW, secondly its subjects and finally the conduct of hostilities in order to give a clearer picture of certain principles present within the Qur’anic experience but whose juristic interpretations have blurred the straightforwardness by which the Prophet has spread the message. Without entering into the debate of the origins of IHL and ILW, this structure will facilitate an understanding of past and ongoing conflicts with perpetrators and victims from Islamic and Western origins. It will attempt to encourage the essential dialogue among the responsible actors for the sake of regulating the protection of civilians and avoiding unnecessary suffering on both sides of the divide.

An Ontological View of Advanced Practice Nursing

Identifying, developing, and incorporating nursing's unique ontological and epistemological perspective into advanced practice nursing practice places priority on delivering care based on research-derived knowledge. Without a clear distinction of our metatheoretical space, we risk blindly adopting the practice values of other disciplines, which may not necessarily reflect those of nursing. A lack of focus may lead current advanced practice nursing curricula and emerging doctorate of nursing practice programs to mirror the logical positivist paradigm and perspective of medicine. This article presents an ontological perspective for advanced practice nursing education, practice, and research.

PERSOALAN METODE KUANTITATIF DAN KUALITATIF

(The Problem of Quantitatif and Quality Method) - Sebuah Kajian Sosiologis.
 
 Two perspective in sosiology, and the each has the big influence for methodology. The first, usually we mention positivistic (positivism), and the second is humanistic (humanism) perspective. Positivistic perspective influence to idealism to be sosiology as knowledge sciences as natural sciences. This condition refer to conviction that indications social submission with natural law as determenistik character. The opposite, although the humanistic perspective interest with sosiology as knowledge sciences, but the perspective is different with natural sciences. So the regulation of natural indication can't explain about humanity behavior. That different perspective, caused theory and methodology differencies. For positivistic perspective, the theory explain about correlation inter social indications, as with subjectif characteristic from individual be ignored. The opposite in humanistic perspektif, theory interpret the meaning and purposed about social indications, with attention from subject as focused.

Writing 'new' decalogues: Martin Luther’s development of the Pauline-Augustinian tradition of natural law

This essay argues in favour of Martin Luther subscribing to the theory of natural law in his theology. An in-depth study of Luther’s views on natural law finds support for Brown’s thesis that Luther’s contribution to the tradition of natural law cannot be taken to form the basis of the theory of divine right prominent in the seventeenth century. Without venturing into the debate on natural law versus legal positivism, it is found that the perspective emanating from Luther’s natural law theory has an important political message for mankind as a whole in its implicit warning against positivistic and legalistic perspectives on law because these are apt to lead to confusion, relativism and historicism. Man, according to Luther’s view, therefore, has to revert to more fundamental principles (or values), representative of “ideal,” “good,” or “true,” norms for testing manmade law. The more specific implications of Luther’s views on natural law for Christians concern an eschatological vision of Christians’ involvement and work in God’s creation. This vision concerns man’s divine appointment to hold office and promote peace in society, and to contribute humbly towards God’s involvement in societies suffering from the effects of legalism or torn apart by conflict.

Crime and Punishment: 10 years of research (1)

Thirty years ago the history of crime, criminal justice, penal policy and penal institutions in Britain was a subject scarcely explored by academics. Such work as had been done was generally informed by a Whiggish perspective. It saw legal, police and prison developments as following a generally enlightened, humanitarian and progressive trajectory. It understood criminals from an essentially positivist perspective. The laws, the courts, the police, the prisons were there to protect ordinary p...

Fiat lux: a reflection on management research

In an era when both practitioners and management researchers are being asked to become more reflexive not only about the work they do but also the way that they do it, this paper examines the changing research stance of a researcher who has published extensively in the field of organisational analysis, largely from a positivist perspective when the world around him seems to be taking a postmodernist turn. The paper poses a number of issues that are relevant to both emerging management researchers and those with a longer track record. In the final section of the paper, a framework is developed which explores the ontological and epistemological assumptions that are often unconsciously taken as given or unquestioned in many management research projects.

Classroom challenging behaviour: A social constructionist phenomenon that exists through pupil–teacher discourse

This paper is based on a study that set out to investigate conversations that took place between teachers and a young person with challenging behaviour in a secondary classroom. The author’s underlying philosophy is to view challenging behaviour from a social constructionist and interactionist perspective. That is to say that challenging behaviour is perceived to be constructed through the interactions that take place between the pupil and the teacher in the classroom setting which in turn serve to reinforce its presentation. This contrasts with a positivist perspective that is more likely to perceive problem behaviour as a fixed characteristic of the child. The educational psychologist selected a year 7 boy deemed to be ‘at risk of permanent exclusion’ and audio taped all the discourse that took place between the pupil and teachers within four class-based lessons. Transcripts of these conversations were scrutinised using a conversational analysis approach. The target pupil was found to be skilled in utilising specific speech acts and linguistic strategies in an attempt to gain power in the interaction and so disrupt the lesson. Differences emerged between the adults as to who used linguistic devices and strategies to minimise the challenging behaviour and who incited the behaviour or reinforced it through their interactional style.

Theorising the evidence on discretionary decision making: alternative perspectives

English In recent years, a diversity of critical paradigms of evaluation research have been proposed, developed and implemented by both academic and professional evaluators. At the heart of this ‘Kuhnian revolution’ lies a questioning of the ontological, epistemological and methodological premises of quasi-experimental designs, and a commitment to insert ‘theory’ into evaluative research of the kind which underpins and informs evidence-based practice. This article adds to the growing number of case studies which not only challenge the hegemony of positivistic perspectives, but which demonstrate the merits of a sociologically informed approach to evaluation research. Two possible routes to evaluating the Prosecution and Diversion Policy of a southern police force area in the UK are outlined and discussed – one informed by positivistic evaluation; the other by structurationist principles. In the light of the evidence of policy ineffectiveness, the positivistic model has little to offer by way of explanation. By contrast, the theory-driven, structurationist approach provides rich insights into the socio-cultural, legal and organisational relations of ‘policy-failure’, and furnishes a radically different interpretation of discretionary decision-making processes.

Two cultures of science: the limits of positivism*

In the nineteenth century, science was inseparably identified with progress. This optimism has given way to a pandemic mistrust of science by all sorts of elites. Yet this by no means reproduces the traditional opposition between science and the humanities. On the contrary, it reflects a clash within the culture of science itself. From a positivist perspective, knowledge goes with certainty. The destructive power of modern science, even in democratic societies, along with epistemological shifts within scientific practice itself, have favoured the emergence of a different and valuable conception of the relation between science and society, one that entails a certain tentativeness with respect to recommending policy and evaluating the need for new areas of investigation. In a democracy, the view of scientific knowledge as ethically indeterminate is both philosophically shaky and pragmatically indispensable.

Designing Subnational Institutions

This article conceptualizes decentralization as a change in the institutional rules that divide political authority and governing capacity between levels of government. By emphasizing the institutional dimension, the author argues that different approaches to the study of institutions, namely, rational and historical institutionalism, can generate analytical leverage on the contemporary trend of decentralization. In the Chilean case, rationalist perspectives illuminate the country’s continued status as one of Latin America’s most centralized polities. Comparatively weak subnational institutions directly reflect the strategic design considerations of national politicians. However, concepts central to historical institutionalism, including critical junctures and unanticipated consequences, explain how and why decentralization gained steam in the postauthoritarian period. Specifically, Chile’s shift to more decentralized institutions is the legacy of Pinochet-era reforms of subnational government, sequencing patterns that devolved governing capacity before political authority, and the emergence of new organizational actors who have struggled to decentralize Chile against the opposition of powerful national politicians.