Relational Paradigm Research Articles

Institutional modeling and management of the firm’s ecosystem

By the early 20s of this century, it became clear that the network paradigm of inter-firm relations does not describe the entire landscape of business interactions. The introduction of digital technologies stimulated business development taking into account not only economic partners, consumers, suppliers and competitors, but also taking into account the influence of public organizations, authorities and social media. The paradigm of ecosystem analysis of the economy began to develop, the first works of which appeared at the end of the twentieth century. The purpose of this study is to develop an institutional model and principles for managing the firm’s ecosystem. The theoretical basis of the research is the authors’ model of the potential of digitalization of the company’s ecosystem. The article analyzes and criticizes previous studies, which demonstrated the relevance of formulating the problem of developing the formalized potential of digitalization of the firm’s ecosystem. Based on the authors’ development on the representation of ecosystem actors in the form of stakeholders, the main components of the external space of the company are identified: stakeholders, company resources and end-to-end digital technologies. The main factors forming the potential of digitalization of the company’s ecosystem are highlighted. Ecosystem stakeholders are divided into representatives of business, government, consumers, education and science, and mass media. The company’s resources are material, labor, financial and information resources. Digital technologies: artificial intelligence, additive technologies, blockchain, the Internet of Things, robotics, social networks, virtual reality. Various directions of application of the formalized potential of digitalization of the company’s ecosystem are presented: the possibility of assessing the use of potential in various directions; assessment of the impact of various components of the firm’s ecosystem on the development of its other elements; development of a general analytical model of potential; assessment of threshold values of factors for the development of the potential of digitalization of the firm’s ecosystem; a tool for developing a strategy for the firm’s ecosystem.

A relational approach to Indo‐Pacific strategies: South Korea's role in a networked regional architecture

AbstractHow do regional actors perceive South Korea's role in the Indo‐Pacific? Using South Korea as a reference point, this introductory paper to the Special Issue adopts the analogy of “network structures” to examine how the network of Indo‐Pacific relations shapes actors' perceptions and interactions with other states in the region. South Korea's relationship with other actors in the Indo‐Pacific is not just a function of bilateral relations. It is influenced by the larger strategic environment and the dynamic relationships that exist among network actors. By analyzing the Indo‐Pacific strategies of several states comparatively, we aim to better understand South Korea's role and place within the broader regional strategic network. We advocate a relational approach to understanding regional dynamics in the Indo‐Pacific that moves past traditional international relations paradigms.

АРКТИЧЕСКОЕ НАПРАВЛЕНИЕ МЕЖДУНАРОДНОЙ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГА: НАБЛЮДЕНИЯ ИЗ СЕТЕВОГО АНАЛИЗА

The paper focuses on the international activities of St Petersburg in the Arctic region in 2019-2022. The research is based on paradiplomacy theory, which is a particular case within the neoliberal international relations paradigm framework. The aim is to analyze St. Petersburg's international activities and its position in relation to Arctic actors. To achieve this, the Social Network Analysis (SNA) method is utilized to investigate the relationships between St. Petersburg, including its branches, foreign and international counterparts. SNA is applied to provide a comprehensive approach when examining the facts of cooperation and for dynamic consideration of transformations over time. The research sources comprise formal records of the execution of international collaboration treaties, as well as the external economic relationships of the St. Petersburg Committee on External Relations. These reports were deconstructed, and data were encoded for subsequent network analysis and modeling. The findings reveal that in addition to general transformations of the networks, which were also tracked by changes in statistical parameters, instances of cooperation between St. Petersburg and Arctic actors are represented by preferential cooperation with Finland. This leads to the conclusion that triangulation of data can be accomplished by referencing supplementary data sources and including them in the research.

YUMUŞAK GÜÇ, KAMU DİPLOMASİSİ VE KAMU DİPLOMASİSİ TEKNİKLERİ: KAVRAMSAL BİR DEĞERLENDİRME

For many years, the traditional diplomacy model was accepted as the most important actor in building relations around the world. Traditional diplomacy involved negotiations between two or more government officials that resulted in consensus or conflict. Countries with especially high military and economic power in international relations always had an advantageous position against their counterparts. For many years, traditional diplomacy has been the dominant paradigm of international relations. However, in the 21st century, a new foreign policy method has emerged that deeply affects international relations and causes a kind of paradigm shift. The subject of this method, known as public diplomacy, is people rather than governments. Public diplomacy, which can be seen as a strategic communication model, has meanings such as influencing the people of other countries and becoming a center of attraction for them. In this study, a detailed evaluation of public diplomacy and its techniques has been made, starting from the concept of soft power integrated with public diplomacy. In the study, public diplomacy techniques were exemplified and tried to be presented to the reader in a practical way.

Contributions of Behavior Analysis to the study of the phehomenon of xenophobia: a literature review

The refugees crisis is an issue of great social relevance, which in turn, is followed by a discussion about behaviors related to rejection towards foreigners, named as xenophobia. Given the importance of this theme, along with the perspective of the potential of behavior analysts debates for social issues solving, the purpose of this study was to perform a literature review about xenophobia, covering published papers whose theoretical reference was sup­ported in Behavior Analysis. The search was conducted through the keywords “xenophobia”, “refugees” or “terrorism”, in April 2021, on PsycINFO APA database and in seven national and international Behavior Analysis journals. The results led to seven papers, all published in English between 1991 and 2019. Five of them consisted in empirical studies, whereas the other two presented theoretical contributions. It is outstanding that most part of these papers inves­tigate the prejudice against Middle East people, under the argument that, from the September 11 Attacks on, the rejection of North Americans population towards this people has increased. Despite its urgency, no applied research on this topic was found among the aforementioned studies, and all of the empirical ones were based in the conflicting relations paradigm.

Latin America in/and the AIIB: A Constructivist Analysis

This research focuses on the relationship between Latin America and China. The authors try to answer the question of why the countries of the region have been passive in the context of their interaction with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The relevance of the topic stems from the gradual increase in China’s importance and presence in the Latin American region. Today, China is one of the key economic partners of several Latin American countries. To date, however, countries in the region have not been very active in their engagement with the AIIB, despite the existence of specific material incentives. Methodologically, the study is based on a constructivist approach. According to the authors, alternative paradigms of international relations, such as liberalism and realism, fail to explain the paradox of stubborn inaction by the countries of the region. This is due to the fact that the historically rooted and culturally bound procedural nature of international relations allows constructivism to uncover the individual facts that led to this result. The authors conclude that governments in the Latin American region have “constructed” between themselves quite a few customary modes of behaviour which debilitate their demonstrated capacity for agency in international affairs. This has created a vacuum of effective strategy in relations with China in the region. Moreover, this pattern of engagement is not limited to China and is evident in the relations of regional countries with the US and other extra-regional powers.

METAPHYSICS OF RELATIONAL PICTURE OF MICROWORLD

The paper indicates principles and fundamentals of binary pre-geometry in the framework of the relational paradigm based on the formalism of binary systems of complex relations of rank (4,4). Description of elementary particles (hadrons) in terms of the values of roots of the characteristic equation of complex 3×3-matrices has been proposed. The baryons are shown to be described by the subtype I solutions of algebraic classification, and the mesons by D and O ones (with identical roots), which justifies the conventional types of hadrons, the values of their electric charges. Algebraic formulae for their mass have been presented. The meson solutions form the basis of three nuclear structures of Mendeleev’s table.

IS NOT IT A. EINSTEIN WAS MISTAKEN 100 YEARS AGO?

Abstracts of the report “Relational Foundations of Nonsingular Cosmology”, presented at the conference “Foundations of Fundamental Physics and Mathematics” (OFFM-2020) (ed. by Yu. S. Vladimirov, V. A. Panchelyuga. Moscow: PFUR, 2020), are being developed. The universality of the application of the relational paradigm for various areas of fundamental physics and the fallacy of considering singularities as models of real phenomena are emphasized. The role of singularities is pointed out only as a means of covering up the mysterious properties of the universe.

FEMINISM IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

From a theoretical point of view, for many decades the discipline of International Relations was dominated by the triad of realism, which remained the overwhelmingly dominant theoretical approach. It was not until 1980 that other political approaches began to gain some momentum. International relations is one of the last areas to accept feminism. This has contributed greatly to its use in almost all areas of research. Compared to other disciplines, the feminist aspect in international relations appeared much later. Feminism is a series of movements aimed at defending equal opportunities for women in the different areas of politics, social rights and other aspects of society. Feminist approaches to international relations became widespread in the late 20th century, and these approaches called for women’s experiences to be ignored from studies of international relations theory. Feminists who study international relations have argued that gender issues apply to international relations. Women succeed through their ambition, diplomacy and oratory to excel in the leadership area, which is the main premise for women to lead fully, dynamically but also in an original way. Throughout history, women have gone through several stages that have finally brought her to the position where the male elite give respect, love and attention to women throughout society. This paper fully demonstrates the vitality and continued viability of feminist projects in a variety of forms and contexts, assesses the challenges facing feminism and strongly advocates its continued relevance to contemporary global politics. The main objective of this paper is to present the importance of feminism today and its role as a paradigm in international relations.

Cross‐Cultural Generalisation in Three Research Practices: Historicising, Comparing, and Theorising in the Study of Religion\s*

This article argues for a re‐appreciation of explicit and self‐reflective historicising, comparing, and theorising as three research practices that offer the best answers to the main challenges that the historical study of religion\s faces today. In examining these research practices, I stress the intersection of particularising and generalising tendencies. First, the practice of historicising requires a contextualisation of the historical object(s) and the historian's own situatedness; such a dual contextualisation dovetails with the relational paradigm that characterises current studies of religion\s. Second, comparative research practices make explicit what is often concealed: the methodological back‐and‐forth between the contemporary researcher's frameworks and the selected data set. Rather than delegitimising comparison, this awareness should lead to deeper scrutiny and an ambition to carefully generalise. Third, shifting to a processual notion of theorising rather than engaging solidified theory enables cross‐disciplinary collaboration on and public engagement with large themes in history and society. By illustrating these three research practices and highlighting several of their operational steps, I hope to contribute to the dialogue between historians and social‐scientific theory.

The real estate tax impact on economic growth

Defining of the tax impact on economic growth is of particular importance in the face of exacerbation of socio-economic, technological, environmental and other problems. Property taxes, as ones that have less distorting impact on taxpayers’ economic behavior, compared to the greater part of the rest of the known taxes, are attracting more and more attention of many researchers and are considered from the standpoint of a potential fiscal policy instrument in ensuring positive dynamics of economic development. The purpose of the article is to summarize modern approaches and research results on the impact of the real estate tax on economic growth in order to identify opportunities for implementation of this tax instruments to stimulate economic development. It has been established that foreign researchers are studying the impact of taxes on real estate from the standpoint of distorting the distribution of resources in the economy, changing the decisions of economic agents on investment issues, growth rates of the housing stock, leveling income inequality, increasing the stability of tax systems to external shocks, etc. It was revealed that most authors consider the real estate tax as one of the most non-distorting, which, with a properly designed taxation mechanism, has practically no negative impact on economic activity, and therefore little hinders economic growth, helping to reduce income inequality, increase employment and income, efficient use of land. As a local tax, it is most often seen in terms of financing local budgets and is a useful tool for raising revenues and managing public finances, since raising effective rates and broadening the property tax base can offset cuts in other taxes that are more distortive of economic behavior. In Ukraine, the attention of the authors is focused on increasing the role of property taxes in providing income to local jurisdictions and strengthening their financial stability. There is a significant lack of national researches on the impact of real estate tax on economic growth in Ukraine. Further research on the functioning of the real estate tax in the new conditions of changing paradigms of economic development and international relations, and on the impact of the real estate tax on economic growth in Ukraine could reveal new aspects of its use in the national tax system.

Financial innovations as assets protection tool

The consequences of long-term strict quarantine restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the military actions caused by the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, led to the deepening of disparities in all sectors of the Ukrainian economy. Furthermore, the paradigm of economic relations proved the effectiveness of their reconstruction and ensuring further sustainable development based on the principles of innovation. It is the financial sphere that is able to implement the tools of innovative development most quickly and at the lowest cost while simultaneously complying with the conditions for minimizing financial risks. That is why we consider it necessary to define clear vectors of innovative development in the financial sphere, aimed at minimizing financial risks, protecting assets and financial instruments, ensuring smooth operation of all links in the financial system. The study of the components of the financial policy in our state, in particular the tax and currency policy, proved the absence of actual scientifically based recommendations regarding rational strategies of action in the extreme conditions in which Ukraine is and which indirectly indicates certain negative trends in the quality of the management of the state's financial system. Positive trends of innovative development are observed in the banking system that protects the owners and clients of banks from a significant part of the risks. Among such measures, the transfer of servers of one of the leading Ukrainian state banks abroad and the active use of cloud services should be outlined. The innovative set of tools that made it possible to preserve the stability of the financial system during hostilities are payment tools based on modern information technologies: payment cards, banking mobile applications, POS terminals at retail outlets, cryptocurrencies. Under the current conditions, cryptocurrencies are turning into a powerful and convenient innovative financial instrument. The main advantages of cryptocurrencies are defined as preservation of financial assets, ability to relieve tension significantly from the foreign exchange market; efficiency in the organization of cash flows and financial settlements on a regional and global scale. The following are identified as the main problems of using cryptocurrencies: high volatility of cryptocurrencies; lack of widespread practice of using cryptocurrencies in business transactions; the probability of an increase in the cost of transactions and exchange rate risks in comparison with traditional financial and monetary instruments; limited distribution of cryptocurrencies in Ukraine in the corporate sector, small and medium-sized businesses due to imperfect regulation by the state, and the financial system. Keywords: financial innovations, financial assets, minimization of financial risks, financial instruments, cryptocurrencies

Motor competence, physical activity, and perceived motor competence: A relational systems approach

ABSTRACT Being and perceiving oneself as proficient in motor skills seems essential for an active lifestyle; conversely, being active and perceiving oneself as proficient may be associated with greater motor competence. By expanding the causal path view about the relationship between active and healthy developmental system elements, this study tested the mediation hypothesis of perceived motor competence in the relationship between motor competence and physical activity – in both ways – and moderation by developmental phase and sex. This cross-sectional study sampled healthy schoolchildren (n = 379; 8.2 ± 1.7 years; 54.9% boys). Physical activity (questionnaire), motor competence (tests included locomotor and object control skills) and perception of motor competence (a pictorial scale) were assessed. Maximum likelihood structural equation models with fit statistics confirmed the mediation in both ways. Unexpectedly, the relationship between motor competence and physical activity was inverse. Sex was a moderating variable (boys). In a systemic relational paradigm of human development, perceived motor competence, motor competence, and physical activity interact in an active and healthy behavioural system, but the complexities of understanding how these elements relate to one another across childhood point to the need for future longitudinal studies.

HUMAN MODEL IN THE CONTEXT OF THE RELATIONAL PARADIGM OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS

The main problems of the concepts of consciousness: explanation of the mechanism of the psyche; substantiation of free will; tabula rasa problem; the nature of the principles of scientific theories and morality - do not have a satisfactory solution within the framework of materialistic concepts. There are reasons to believe that consciousness goes beyond space-time, which leads to the idea of substantiating the nature of consciousness from the standpoint of the relational paradigm of theoretical physics.

A strong relationality view of mindfulness and flourishing I-Thou relations: A dyadic analysis.

Despite the increasing popularity of mindfulness and research concerning its role in relationships, there is limited strongly relational theoretical discussion explaining the role of mindfulness in intimate couple relationships. In this article, we articulate a strongly relational view of the role of mindfulness in couple relationships. We then empirically test theoretically relevant associations using dyadic data (N = 514 heterosexual couples) from couples in the U.S. and Canada. In Study 1, we evaluated a model with male and female mindfulness predicting couple relational-connectivity (a sense of friendship, intimacy, and belonging) through couple responsible actions (behaviors intentionally enacted to strengthen couple connection), which indicated a fully mediated effect; the influence of male and female mindfulness on couple relational-connectivity was fully accounted for by associations with couple responsible actions (indirect standardized betas of .08). With a subsample of 120 of these couples, in Study 2 we used a daily diary design to explore how mindfulness was associated with ethical responsiveness (a tendency to respond benevolently to a perceived need), responsible actions, and relational-connectivity at the within-person level. Study 1 results were reinforced, showing stronger associations in these within-person analyses (indirect standardized betas of .21 and .23). In conceptualizing individual mindfulness and ethical responsiveness as dimensions of a more relational form of mindfulness, one way by which mindfulness may influence couples' relational-connectivity is through its influence on responsible actions. These results provide initial support for using a strongly relational paradigm to understand the role of mindfulness in intimate couple relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Co-producing knowledge and Morocco's musical heritage: a relational paradigm for colonial scholarship

ABSTRACTThe musical dimensions of the Moroccan Protectorate invite us to rethink certain tenets of colonial history, especially lingering nineteenth-century attitudes about ‘indigenous’ populations as ‘savage’. By the mid-twentieth century, efforts to comprehend Moroccan music were far less motivated by domination and submission than other agendas, beginning with ‘cultural protection’ to justify French presence, the Protectorate's priority since arrival. Publications and promotion of Moroccan music reflected French desire for long-term impact on the region. This enterprise depended on Moroccan as well as European support, addressing local needs and creating alliances with both urban and rural elites with their own political agendas. Offering archival evidence of the French Protectorate's institutional involvement in renovating Andalusian music – never before examined, yet so important in post-colonial Moroccan identity – and, despite colonial occupation, Moroccan musicians’ agency, this article focuses on the interactions between French administrator Prosper Ricard, Algerian-born musician/ethnographer Alexis Chottin, and Moroccan musicians equally concerned about their music's future. Many are here given voice for the first time. Drawing on these stakeholders’ expertise and experiences, they co-created new musical knowledge despite power asymmetries, sustained the musical practices of urban and rural populations, and encouraged traditional, hybrid and modern identities. In their newly-created Conservatory of Moroccan Music, music festivals, and Radio-Maroc, relationships shaped through shared responsibility for outcomes emerge as significantly more complex than between ‘superiors and subalterns’, reaching parity at the Fez festival (1939). Their multifaceted work continues to influence knowledge and praxis today. To understand this requires a new paradigm for colonial scholarship.

Organizational Social Relations and Social Embedding: A Pluralistic Review

To date there has been little systematic organization of the extensive literature on the processes and mechanisms shaping social relationships in and around organizations. In an analysis of 372 studies from this literature, we identified a broad spectrum of assumptions, priorities, and relational issues emerging from multiple disciplines and theoretical lenses. Three dominant perspectives surfaced in our study: economic, organizational, and interactionist. Each manifests distinctive ontologies of social relations, actors, relational processes, and modes of social embedding. The rich variety of relationships and causal patterns discovered characterizes more fully these perspectives, suggesting opportunities for further research within each, and a wider range of conceptual options to target relational paradigms toward different types of organizations, problems, and levels of analysis. It also brings to light the pluralistic nature of social relations in organizational contexts and the processes by which they become embedded.

Testing the impact of geopolitics on European democratic countries’ soft power use

ABSTRACT Using statistical analysis of 29 European democracies, this article looks at the impact of geopolitical threat on democracies’ soft power reliance. For the time-period of 1999–2010, geopolitical threat is a statistically significant variable that boosts soft power use. This geopolitical theory posits that political elite create a narrative that focuses on national security and start to rely on a higher level of soft power to balance against threats. The findings provide answers regarding countries’ alliance-building processes as well as suggest that the three main paradigms of international relations are more compatible than previously stated.

Listening to Unheard Voices in Urban Public Space. The Cases of Ruskin Square and Plaça d'en Baró

The paper explores the concept of ‘listening to unheard voices’ in the urban environment as a design intention and strategy that contributes to an inclusive and alternative approach to urban public space, considering and promoting the imperatives of caring that such space should deliver to the city and its inhabitants. The ideas discussed in the paper find their background in the research on the concept of care in feminist urbanism and feminist studies in general, and specifically in relation to the model of the Caring City, promoting a city that places care at its centre, and aims to include a wider selection of citizens in the construction of the public good. Through the analysis of two case studies of public spaces designed by solo-women architecture practices, this paper identifies an alternative relational paradigm which gives space to unheard voices in the urban environment through processes of inclusion and participation. The two cases, Plaça d'en Baró in Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona, Spain), designed by Catalan architectural collective Equal Saree, and Ruskin Square in the London Borough of Croydon (London, UK) designed by British architectural practice muf architecture/art, have implemented the concept of listening to ‘unheard voices’ offering insights into the contribution of women to the urban environment and how it is transformed, shaped, and used.

Biotechnology, Digitalization, and Immigration: New Challenges for the Theory and Practice of International Relations

The author deals with the problems of re-examining the theoretical paradigms of international relations in the light of several current practical challenges. The text starts with the presentation of the European continent as a scene of continuous crisis, which means that from the perspective of the theory it must focus on those paradigms that have the best potential for classical crisis management. Then, the problems of biotechnology, digitalization and immigration are examined, which reaffirm the dominant importance of realism in an interesting way. The author illustrates with a series of examples how immigration can become a tool of mass engineering and mutual confrontation between states and other centres of power. Or how the digital sphere and the Internet can be used to undermine the security of states, and what states do to preserve sovereignty over cyberspace in their domain. Finally, what do biological warfare, nanotechnology and drones bring to the practice of international relations? However, it turns out that the theory of realism must also undergo adequate adaptation in order to understand and incorporate the needs of solving new current problems.