Scope For Manoeuvre Research Articles

Tacitus on Political Failure: A Realist Interpretation

ABSTRACT This article offers a realist interpretation of Tacitus’s analysis of political failure. Tacitus described the early Roman Empire as a balance between the conflicting and irreconcilable values and interests of the emperor, the army, and the senate. For him Stoic-republican morality in itself—without the intervention of a political standard demanding political agency in every circumstance—cannot provide an all-purpose guide to action. He provides a fine-grained analysis of types of political failure, such as failing to act, or to realize one’s limited scope for maneuver, or the inevitability of failure given particular political circumstances. Tacitus also describes Thrasea, a moderate member of the senatorial opposition to Nero, as an exceptionally laudable figure. His preference for moderate politics places Tacitus on the side of contemporary status-quo oriented, liberal, realists (e.g., Bernard Williams), rather than on the side of radical realists (e.g., Raymond Geuss, Enzo Rossi), but the central lesson of his understanding of Roman politics is not so much that political order is fragile as that the cost of political failure can indeed be unbearably high.

En kinesisk jernbane til Arktis? Historien om Belkomur – så langt

Abstract: A Chinese Railway to the Arctic? The Story of Belkomur – so FarThe further development of the Northern Sea Route, including the associated logistical chains and infrastructure, enjoys high priority in Russia, and inadequate south–north transportation capacity is recognized as a problem. China has shown increasing interest in Arctic shipping over the past ten years. The construction of a railway from the Urals, with connections to China, to a deep-water port with access to the Arctic Ocean appeared attractive, both as a strategic opportunity for China and as a natural area for Chinese engagement in Russia, given announcements of the close partnership and common interests between the two countries. Since 2012 various Chinese companies have shown interest in investing, and the conclusion of a concession agreement has been announced several times. The Russian federal authorities have voiced support, without committing budget funding. Increasingly, however, critical remarks have been heard from the federal government, although regional support remains strong. As of mid-2021 no firm agreement had been signed, and the project was put on hold. Reviewing the history of the project since Chinese companies were first engaged, this article offers insights on Russian regional authorities’ scope for manoeuvre and the relationship between central and regional power. It also reveals Russian misinterpretations of Chinese interest in the project.

Agency in the face of path dependence: how organizations can regain scope for maneuver

This paper tackles a key problem in path dependence research: how can locked-in organizations regain their scope for maneuver? Leveraging insights from two surprising and thus revelatory cases of organizations that have successfully escaped from path dependence, we develop the theoretical argument that regaining scope for maneuver can be achieved by interrupting the logic of a path’s underlying self-reinforcing mechanisms. More specifically, we argue that, through a targeted interruption of the working of these mechanisms, hyper-stable patterns inscribed in an organization can be gradually rewound—and alternative futures become possible. We position our paper within larger debates around the role of agency in path dependence theorizing, and we outline research frontiers to better understand the necessary antecedents of and exact relationship between mechanisms interruption and pattern unwinding.

¿Sirven las evaluaciones para aprender? Influencia de las evaluaciones sobre las decisiones de manejo en un Área Natural Protegida

El artículo presenta un análisis de la arquitectura de evaluación de la Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP). La finalidad es reconocer factores que promueven e inhiben el uso de evaluaciones para dirigir la toma de decisiones de los guardaparques que administran un Área Natural Protegida (ANP) en el centro de México. Para acceder a la información se utilizaron técnicas de investigación etnográfica, las cuales facilitaron la interacción con el personal de la dependencia para entender el proceso social que influye en la producción y uso de evaluaciones. Se identificó que los guardaparques interactúan con tres tipos de evaluación. Ninguna es utilizada para identificar el impacto de sus acciones. Aun así, su interacción con las evaluaciones les permite identificar aspectos susceptibles de mejora en su manejo del ANP. Algunas barreras a superar se relacionan con el margen de maniobra de los guardaparques para implementar cambios. Por un lado, debido a limitaciones presupuestales que inciden en su capacidad operativa y, por el otro, por las consecuencias negativas de un enfoque evaluativo que exige demostrar resultados cuantificables en el corto plazo.

Zielkonflikte bei Aktienerstemissionen?

Abstract The law & finance literature often assumes that financial institutions in Germany, especially in the stock market, were less workable than for example in the U.S. or Great Britain due to extensive state regulation. This article analyses the regulation and admission to listing practices for (initial) public offerings in Germany from 1870 to 1932. It argues, by contrast, that state regulation in the German stock market largely enabled self-regulation and that a closer look at market practices indicates that the written law only offered a framework and left the stock exchanges great scope for manoeuvre. In the end, the German regulatory system came close to what law & finance literature describes as a most efficient market order.

The Multilateralisation of Soviet Bloc Security: The Hungarian Revolution from an Eastern European Perspective

The Hungarian Revolution is often analysed in a national context or from the angle of Hungarian-Soviet relations. From this perspective, the Eastern European satellites seem mere puppets and the Soviet bloc a monolith. Archival evidence nevertheless shows that the Kremlin actually attempted to build a new kind of international relations after Stalin’s death in 1953, in which the Eastern European leaders would gain more scope for manoeuvre. This attempt at liberalisation even facilitated the uprisings in Hungary in 1956. Avoiding a teleological approach to the Hungarian Revolution, this article argues that the Soviet invasion was neither inevitable, nor wholly unilateral. Khrushchev even sought to legitimise the invasion in bilateral and multilateral consultations. There was a mutual interest in sacrificing Hungary’s sovereignty to safeguard the communist monopoly on power. This multilateralisation of Soviet bloc security is an important explanatory factor in an analysis of the Revolution and its repercussions in Eastern Europe.

Scaling of an information system in a public healthcare market—Infrastructuring from the vendor's perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the making and scaling of information infrastructures, as well as how the conditions for scaling a component may change for the vendor. The first research question is how the making and scaling of a healthcare information infrastructure can be done and by whom. The second question is what scope for manoeuvre there might be for vendors aiming to expand their market. MethodThis case study is based on an interpretive approach, whereby data is gathered through participant observation and semi-structured interviews. ResultsA case study of the making and scaling of an electronic system for general practitioners ordering laboratory services from hospitals is described as comprising two distinct phases. The first may be characterized as an evolving phase, when development, integration and implementation were achieved in small steps, and the vendor, together with end users, had considerable freedom to create the solution according to the users’ needs. The second phase was characterized by a large-scale procurement process over which regional healthcare authorities exercised much more control and the needs of groups other than the end users influenced the design. ConclusionThe making and scaling of healthcare information infrastructures is not simply a process of evolution, in which the end users use and change the technology. It also consists of large steps, during which different actors, including vendors and healthcare authorities, may make substantial contributions. This process requires work, negotiation and strategies. The conditions for the vendor may change dramatically, from considerable freedom and close relationships with users and customers in the small-scale development, to losing control of the product and being required to engage in more formal relations with customers in the wider public healthcare market. Onerous procurement processes may be one of the reasons why large-scale implementation of information projects in healthcare is difficult and slow.

Remedying European Legal Pluralism: The FIAMM and Fedon Litigation and the Judicial Protection of International Trade Bystanders

In FIAMM and Fedon the European Court of Justice has ruled that Community firms hit by US trade sanctions authorized by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body are not entitled to compensation from EC political institutions. The article discusses the cases in the background of current debates on the attitude of the Court of Justice towards international law and, more broadly, on European legal pluralism. From this standpoint, it provides a critical assessment of the legal issues involved in this litigation - internal status of WTO obligations, scope for manoeuvre of EC political institutions in international trade relations, liability for unlawful and lawful conduct - and offers a comparative analysis of its possible solutions, suggesting that a finding of liability for lawful conduct would have been a preferable outcome in both theoretical and substantive terms.

Quo vadis Luxemburg? Die europäische Rechtsprechung zum Glücksspielrecht

The ECJ has frequently been called upon to assess compatibility of national gambling legislation with EC law. The most recent Placanica decision, followed by two judgments of the EFTA Court concerning the Norwegian legislation, was expected to fix a new milestone. Did these rulings revolutionise one of the most controversially discussed matters in the context of EC and EEA primary law, develop certain aspects of the former judgments or rather confirm the course pursued? What can their possible impact be? This paper seeks to analyse the criteria which the ECJ has established as to the justifiability and proportionality of national restrictions upon the fundamental freedoms of services and establishment. It explains the jurisprudential background in order to set forth its shortcomings and lacunae and to demonstrate the difficulties faced by national authorities in interpreting and applying the principles developed by the jurisprudence in a convincing way. Until the Placanica decision, little clarity was achieved. The wide scope for manoeuvre formerly accorded by the ECJ to Member States and its later attempts at delimitation were not sufficiently precise to lead to a clear identification of restrictions of primary law which are EC law compatible. As regards the findings and the role of the recent judgments and their usefulness in shaping a way forward, the argumentation of the EFTA-Court is considered to be a more precise indicator of the proportionality test on the national level, than is the Placanica case. A short comparison with the ECJ’s jurisprudence in other sensitive areas and possible advances beyond primary law complete the analysis.

EC Practice in the WTO: How Wide is the 'Scope for Manoeuvre'?

Despite the doctrinal criticism raised as a result of the unbending positions taken by the European Community in Bananas and Beef Hormones, the EC's implementation record in the WTO, though not exemplary, does not add up to a generally non-complying approach. On the other hand, the record seems to reflect an attitude that, in accordance with the view traditionally maintained by the European Court of Justice from International Fruit to Portugal, finds its cornerstone in the principle of negotiations with a view to achieving mutually satisfactory solutions, even beyond the limits set by the DSU. Following these premises, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact that has been exercised on the EC's contentious practice by interpretations of the WTO system given by the EC courts, in fine tuning with the stand taken by the EC's political bodies. After having considered the legal and political reasons behind the case-law of the Community's courts on 'direct effect', the paper attempts to analyse to what extent the EC's conduct in the framework of the WTO dispute settlement process has been influenced by the 'scope for manoeuvre' argument, devised by the ECJ in the Portugal ruling. It will become clear that an approach mainly aimed at preserving the balance of mutual advantages among the WTO Members queries the role played in the dispute settlement mechanism by the agreements between parties. An analysis is submitted of four different categories of agreements concluded by the EC in the framework of the dispute settlement mechanism, also in cases not expressly provided by the DSU. On a higher level of investigation, the 'scope for manoeuvre' approach is strictly connected with another widely discussed issue, namely the nature of the legal obligations entered into by WTO Member States. The study aims to demonstrate that WTO rules are a source of rights and obligations that are disposable in nature for Member Parties.

Instruments in the Hand of God: Missionary Women in Malaya, 1815–45

Most previous research on female missionaries in the Asia-Pacific region has dealt with the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and/or has concentrated on American women In contrast, this article explores the motives and experiences of British women who were actively involved in mission stations in the Straits Settlements in Malaya, working under the auspices of the London Missionary Society; and it examines the early period of missionary activity in the region, from 1815 to 1845. The paper focuses on a key, but previously neglected issue: the women's motives for becoming involved in missionary endeavor. These women created a notional space for themselves as mission workers, firstly by means of ideas about being useful instruments in God's work; and secondly by asserting a direct relationship with their God, unmediated by male missionaries or the officials of the missionary society. This conceptual strategy gave them scope for maneuver within gendered power structures and thus some degree of social and political leverage.

The labour market in transition: Unemployment in Hungary

The number of people out of work is increasing in Hungary, and in other countries of Eastern Europe, as a consequence of the collapse of the Comecon market and as a side effect of economic transformation. Rising unemployment is potentially a major source of social tension, which may undermine the whole transformation process. So policy towards the labour market faces major challenges. Although in Hungary labour market policy measures were introduced relatively early, before massive unemployment appeared, the sudden rapid rise of joblessness affected the economy unexpectedly. With the number of people out of work increasing and long‐term unemployment expanding, the growing needs are constantly being confronted with very limited financial resources. This problem cannot be eased by labour market policy measures alone: economic policy also matters. However, its scope for manoeuvre is relatively low because of the high exposure of the Hungarian economy to foreign markets.