bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Legislating against homegrown extremism in America
Authors: Logan Sarah
Published: October 2022

This chapter presents a history of legislative attempts to address the issue of citizen terrorists in the United States. The chapter begins with relevant provisions in the PATRIOT Act 2001 that establish the framework through which the relationship between the citizen and the state is viewed in the context of post-9/11 counterterrorism. The chapter moves on to the failed Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act 2007 and tracks provisions dealing with citizen terrorists in the National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAAs) 2012–2016, and the Enemy Expatriation Act 2011. In tracing this history, the chapter argues that legislative attempts to deal explicitly with the problem of homegrown extremism clearly show the link between the concept of radicalization as a problem and the application of American values as its solution.
Amenorrhea, Plethora, and the Final Cessation of Menses in Early Modern Medicine
Authors: Downham Moore Alison M.
Published: October 2022

This chapter surveys seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Latin and French scholars who first identified the cessation of menstruation due to age, evaluating claims made by other historians who have attributed menopause symptomatology to ancient and early modern medicine. Early modern physicians, for the most part, simply did not consider the end of menses a matter of medical concern at all. Nineteenth-century doctors in general made great mileage of their supposed inheritance from ancient medicine, even as they radically displaced many of its central presuppositions. However, ancient medicine of women’s health was innovatively reimagined between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries in ways that neither Hippocrates nor Galen would have recognised. The pathological view of menopause was a novel, mostly French confection of the long nineteenth century which has too often been assumed to derive from ancient and early modern lineages. Section Headings: • The Early Modern Naturalisation of the Final Cessation of Menses • Menstruation and Its End from Iatrochemical to Iatromechanical Perspectives • The Influence of the Halle School? • Midwives and Accoucheurs
Women’s Life Expectancy, Cancer, and the Cessation of Menses
Authors: Downham Moore Alison M.
Published: October 2022

It might be expected that the demographic statistical evidence of women’s relative longevity that emerged in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European science might constrain the rampant medicalisation of women’s ageing in modern biomedicine. French demographers such as Antoine Deparcieux in 1746, Louis-François Benoiston de Châteauneuf in 1818, and Louis Noiret in 1850 explicitly argued that the rejection of the medicalisation of the final cessation of menses was a natural conclusion to draw from the mortality data they presented: women in the age group from 40 to 60 years were not more fragile as evidenced by their greater rates of survival relative to men, so there was no need to consider the cessation of menses to be a ‘critical time’ requiring special medical care. But women’s ageing proved too valuable to be ignored in doctors’ postures of debunking supposedly traditional myths. It served as a pedagogic case example for the induction of doctoral candidates at the Montpellier, Paris, and Strasbourg faculties into the bioscientific view of women’s diseases. In these contexts, it helped to justify the inclusion of older women in the emerging specialist fields of hygiene, gynaecology, and psychiatry. It helped not only to produce the bifurcation of women’s diseases from men’s, but indeed also the cleaving of ageing morbidity from mortality. Section Headings: • Cancers of the Breast, Ovaries, and Uterus in the Critical Age of Women, 1650–850 • The Demographic Discovery of Women’s Longevity • Life Cycles and Ageing Morbidity in French Encyclopedism • Vitalism and the Cessation of Menstruation
Education for Whom?
Authors: Bourke Joanna
Published: October 2022

This chapter traces the early foundation of the London Mechanics’ Institution (LMI) in the Southampton Buildings. It also explores the tensions that rapidly emerged, particularly between Robertson and Hodgskin on the one side and Place, Brougham, and George Birkbeck, on the other side. There were furious debates about who was to be in charge of the LMI—was it to be run by the working men themselves or would they accept a loan and leadership from philanthropists like George Birkbeck? Was the management of the LMI to consist of two-thirds working mechanics? To ensure the survival of the LMI, changes had to be made to the curriculum.
The Birkbeck Schools
Authors: Bourke Joanna
Published: October 2022

The first Birkbeck School opened in the London Mechanics’ Institution’s Southampton Building in 1848, the creation of William Ellis, one of the original founders of the LMI. It offered elementary education for children of working parents. It was also radical, prohibiting rote learning in favour of Socratic dialogues between pupils and schoolmasters. This was caricatured in Charles Dickens’ Hard Times. It upset the Church authorities by being thoroughly secular as well as by teaching what was called (at various times), ‘political economy’ or the ‘science of human well-being’. The Birkbeck Schools spread throughout the country and still exist.
Ravenscroft’s Birkbeck Bank
Authors: Bourke Joanna
Published: October 2022

The Birkbeck Land and Building Society and Birkbeck Bank were the creations of Francis Ravenscroft, who joined the London Mechanics’ Institution in 1848 and was a very active member of the LMI’s management committee throughout his life. The bank shared premises with the LMI in the Southampton Building and the LMI would probably not have survived without its support. The bank and LMI even published their prospectuses in the same booklet and many of the directors of the building society were members of the LMI. The building society and the bank played leading roles in the spread of a property-based citizenry as well as suburbanization. Ravenscroft was instrumental in acquiring Bream’s Building for the LMI.
Minoritized Communities
Authors: Bourke Joanna
Published: October 2022

Birkbeck has always been a diverse community of scholars, students, and staff. This chapter focuses on certain social groups who have experienced historical marginalization and minoritization. It starts with the experiences of Marcus Garvey, who joined the London Mechanics’ Institution in 1912 and, on returning to Jamaica immediately afterwards, co-founded the Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation Association and African Communities League. The chapter then turns to a debate between two Birkbeck students from the West Indies—‘Sammy’ Samnadan-Pillai and John Searchwell—about race and racism in the College. The first Black professor at Birkbeck was ‘Bertie’ Hines, in the Department of Economics, who was also an active proponent of Black arts and culture. One of the way marginalized people entered the academy was via the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies (or Faculty for Lifelong Learning), which taught cutting-edge subjects such as women’s history, feminism, and sexuality studies.
Hares versus Rabbits; Or, Social Lives
Authors: Bourke Joanna
Published: October 2022

‘Hares’ was the name for Birkbeck students who skipped with great speed between the various academic and social programmes offered by the College, while ‘Rabbits’ simply attended lectures and returned home. Sporting and other social activities were more common at Birkbeck prior to the Second World War and were tied to exploration, empire, ‘muscular masculinity’, and ‘character’. In the early decades of the London Mechanics’ Institution, gymnastics were in vogue, influenced by the German Turnen movement. In 1920, Birkbeck acquired the Greenford playing field, on which it built a pavilion in 1928. The students also held annual dinners, published their own magazines (the most notable of which was The Lodestone), and started numerous societies. The chapter also explores what little is known about the sex lives of students. In the interwar years, the College was home to William Joyce, a leading fascist who went on to become ‘Lord Haw-Haw’, spouting propaganda for the Nazis. More typically, Birkbeck’s students and staff have supported refugees from all over the world.
The Students’ ‘Joy-Night’
Authors: Bourke Joanna
Published: October 2022

Once a year, Birkbeck students went wild. They would dress up and, while making lots of noise, would waylay the Foundation Day speaker and cart him through the streets to the College’s theatre. Once there, they sang silly songs, beat drums, released balloons and streamers, and mocked the authorities. This was carnivalesque, ‘authorized transgression’. It was called a student ‘rag’ or ‘Joy-Night’. In 1928, however, one ‘rag’ went horribly wrong, leading to the students attacking King’s College London and causing damage. ‘Ragging’ flourished in the interwar years because of specific contexts, including the violence of the 1914–18 war, economic depression, social upheaval, the rise of fascism (including in Birkbeck itself), and underlying tensions about another war-to-come. From 1939, however, a more serious mood crept over university culture as well as British life more generally. Austerity was not conducive to the wild pelting of eggs and flour. Birkbeck students were also increasingly part time and older: they had less time for the high jinks of their predecessors. Although (unlike at other universities) women, as well as men, participated in rags at Birkbeck, shifts in the gender of students also had an effect. Graduates of the post-war period were known for their solemnity: a degree meant a great deal to this post-war generation.
Radical Intellectuals
Authors: Bourke Joanna
Published: October 2022

Birkbeck has been home to many radical intellectuals, largely on the ‘left’ but not necessarily members of the Communist Party. They were more pluralistic than the earlier generation of post-war Marxists as represented by Hobsbawm and Bernal. In particular, Birkbeck has been an innovative hub for radical politics and sociology, activist social theory, critical legal studies, and innovative approaches to the past. Academics in these disciplines saw themselves as ‘value-orientated intellectuals’. They emphasized ethical engagement, political engagement, methodological heterogeneity, and open, fierce debate across schools of thought and political positions. They were particularly incensed by oppressions based on racism, misogyny, and classism. They saw themselves as activists, protesting the harms caused by inequalities.
Why Does Process Research Require Us to Notice Differently?
Authors: Revsbæk Line , Simpson Barbara
Published: October 2022

This introductory chapter sets out the implications of process ontology for the doing, reading, and writing of process research in organizations, emphasizing its relevance for the ongoing development of process organization studies. It explores the theoretical and cultural bases of process philosophy, extending these by drawing in the contemporary theorizing of writers such as Deleuze and Guattari, Spivak, Ingold, Braidotti, Stewart, and St Pierre. The central argument is that process ontology re-conditions the ways in which empirical researchers notice what is happening, shifting attention away from the methodologies of entity-based research towards the situationally attuned production of worldings that emerge with and within living experience. In a transversal reading of the nine contributed chapters, the authors trace the mycelial threads of a vibrant web of resonances travelling within and beyond this book.
Literary Rebels
Authors: Jaillant Lise
Published: October 2022

The introduction gives an overview of the growth of creative writing programmes in Anglo-American universities, which has accelerated in the past three decades. It summarizes recent scholarship on the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and other programmes that emerged in the mid-twentieth century in the United States. It points out the main gaps in this scholarship: (1) the history of creative writing programmes in Britain has been largely neglected; and (2) the approach has been mostly literary-sociological and many rich archives have been entirely overlooked. The opening of new archival collections in Texas also sheds new light on the history of creative writing programmes in Britain.
Think Global, Act Local
Authors: Jaillant Lise
Published: October 2022

Chapter 1 focuses on Paul Engle, who directed the Iowa Writers’ Workshop from the 1940s to the mid-1960s. Born and raised in a small Iowan town, Engle spent time studying in Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship, before returning to his home state. He was both a cosmopolitan and a regionalist, an uncomfortable position that he turned into an asset. The duality of Engle’s personal brand influenced the positioning of the Workshop—a programme both anchored in the Midwest and opened to the world. Drawing on little-known documents in the University of Iowa archives, this chapter shows that Engle transformed creative writing at Iowa by embracing internationalism and reinventing regionalism.
Fighting Organization Man
Authors: Jaillant Lise
Published: October 2022

Turning from the West to the East Coast, Chapter 4 shows the central role of the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) in the post-war funding landscape. In the late 1940s and 1950s, the Foundation privileged support for New Critics and their university-based little magazines (including the Kenyon Review and the Sewanee Review) and awarded fellowships in creative writing to the University of Iowa. But in the late 1950s and 1960s, RF officers started having doubts about this institutional approach. In response to criticisms of the university system as a source of conformity, they decided to fund individual writers independently of academic affiliations. The example of the RF’s changing policy illustrates a turning point in the image of creative writing programmes. As these programmes developed across the country, they were increasingly accused of stifling creativity and threatening the autonomy of writers.
Introduction
Authors: de la Porte Caroline , Eydal Guðný Björk , Kauko Jaakko , Nohrstedt Daniel , ‘t Hart Paul , Sofus Tranøy Bent
Published: October 2022

This introductory chapter sets out the objectives, approach and methodology of this volume. The main rationale for the volume is to identify, reconstruct and narrate instances of governments in Nordic countries ‘getting it right’, and to do so in a manner that is analytically robust yet presented in easy-to-read and helpful-to-teach case-study narratives. It presents the central analytical tool that all case studies use, the PPPE assessment framework, which calls on analysts to ascertain cases against programmatic, process, political and endurance criteria. And it situates the question of individual instances of policy successes in Nordic instances in the context of the broader narrative about a ‘Nordic’ approach to politics, governance and public policy, in particular but not limited to socio-economic policies and the ethos and architecture of welfare states in Northern Europe. It concludes by offering some emerging patterns of success-enabling factors across the cases and by formulating implications for future research.
Organic Food and Farming Policy in Denmark
Authors: Daugbjerg Carsten , Schvartzman Yonatan
Published: October 2022

Denmark is leading globally in promoting organic food consumption. The Danish organic food and farming policy is innovative, applying a wide range of policy instruments that affect both the supply and demand sides of the organic market. The relatively strong focus on demand-side policy measures has had a significantly positive effect on consumption. Formation of governance arrangements that integrated both mainstream and organic interest groups in policymaking have facilitated a consensus-oriented policy process based on a broad agreement that organic farming should be considered an integral part of the Danish food and farming industry. At the political level, a broad political coalition supporting the policy developed in the early stages of policy formation. The policy domain never developed into an arena of party competition and therefore dissenting voices within the farming community have been unable to gain a foothold in the policy debate. Policy endurance has been ensured by periodic action plans that have launched new initiatives and revised existing measures.
An All Too Successful Reform?
Authors: Bergh Andreas
Published: October 2022

In 1997 Sweden implemented a top-down budget reform, according to which voting over the budget starts with a vote on a nominally defined expenditure ceiling, and where proposals for public spending increases in an area must be balanced by expenditure cuts within the same area. After the reform, sovereign debt in Sweden fell substantially. This chapter describes why budget reforms are considered difficult to implement and discusses why Sweden nevertheless succeeded in doing so. Four factors are identified: forward looking political parties, bridge builders between academia and politics, a well-functioning system of commissions, and social learning from past experiences of economic problems. Assessed using the PPPE-framework, the reform comes close to being a complete success, but a discussion has emerged according to which it may have been too successful and kept public spending undesirably low.
Gender Equal Parental Leave Use in Sweden
Authors: Duvander Ann-Zofie , Cedstrand Sofie
Published: October 2022

Sweden was the first country in the world to introduce paid parental leave that was available to both mothers and fathers. However, even more fame has come from the introduction of the reserved months, also known as the ‘daddy month’ (or daddy quota), in 1995. This reform has been seen as a success not just for the political actors at the time but perhaps foremost as it has radically changed fathers’ take-up of leave. Also, the first reserved month has been followed by another two months and the idea of separate parts in the parental leave system for each parent can today be seen as consolidated. Shared parental leave is aimed to increase gender equality by a more fair division of labour, especially childcare. The chapter traces the development of what led up to the reserved months’ introduction and what happened in the wake of the reform.
Paid Parental Leave in Iceland
Authors: Arnalds Ásdís Aðalbjörg , Eydal Guðný Björk , Gíslason Ingólfur V.
Published: October 2022

In May 2000 the Icelandic parliament unanimously adopted a new law on parental leave. The law meant radical changes in the situation of parents. Both parents got the right to three months of non-transferable leave with 80 per cent of salary. For years to come no other country offered fathers this long leave with similar economic compensation. In addition to the individual rights, parents had three months that they could divide as they liked. The stated goals of the law were to ensure that children received care from both parents and to make it easier for men and women to combine paid work and family life. We discuss what led to this law and show why it can be called a success. We show the main players, what the situation was like in Iceland when the law was adopted, and discuss changes that have been made to the law. Repeated surveys among first-time parents as well as statistics from the Parental Leave Fund show huge changes. From day one the great majority of fathers have made use of their right and they have greatly increased their participation in care for their children. We can safely state that the goal of ensuring that children receive care from both parents has been achieved.
Epilogue
Authors: Eldridge Hannah Vandegrift
Published: October 2022

This brief epilogue summarizes the suggestions that three centuries of metrical thinking provide for a contemporary understanding of what meter is and what it does. It emphasizes that meter cannot be defined once and for all, since its definition as well as practice differ drastically, and these differences are important for understanding its cultural and aesthetic importance. It reiterates that meter is not a matter of objective phonological measurement, even when poets or theorists say that it is; rather, metrical theory and practice rest on culturally specific norms and ambitions; those norms and ambitions work with and on bodily perception and characteristics of language. It reminds readers that as Klopstock, Nietzsche, and Grünbein show, although the way we think about meter and the way we experience it are shaped by our cultural and historical moment, theories and experience are not fully determined by culture and history—and thus both ideas about and experiences of meter can develop, opening up new forms of poetic experience.
Fraud, Misrepresentation, and Mistake in Indian Contract Law
Authors: Krishnaprasad KV
Published: October 2022

This chapter examines fraud, misrepresentation and mistake as contractual vitiating factors in Indian law. It advances three main arguments. First, the provisions of the Indian Contract Act 1872 that govern fraud and misrepresentation suffer from a drafting flaw. Once the drafting error is recognized, it is clear that the Act regulates the contractual consequences of fraud and misrepresentation in two stages: a consent-based first stage and a more pluralistic second stage. Second, the second paragraph of section 19 of the Act allows a mis-representee to claim that he be ‘put in the position in which he would have been if the representations made had been true’. This provision treats all pre-contractual representations as though they were enforceable promises. This is indefensible. Third, nineteenth century English Courts were faced with the task of reconciling Pothier’s ‘will theory’ with the English doctrine of objectivity. This conflict is also reflected in the Act. Understanding this tension has the potential to yield significant insights into the way in which the Act regulates mistakes.
Misrepresentation and Mistake in Singapore Contract Law
Authors: LOI Kelry CF
Published: October 2022

This chapter sets out the law in Singapore relating to the vitiation of contracts on the grounds of misrepresentation and mistake. First, this chapter identifies the legal requirements and doctrinal bases of an operative pre-contractual misrepresentation which, when established, means that the contract is ‘voidable’ or susceptible to rescission or being set aside. It also emphasizes the close connection between misrepresentation and mistake, in that an operative misrepresentation is simply a mistaken belief induced by a mis-statement. Secondly, this chapter sets out the elements and doctrinal bases of different categories of mistakes, as well as the effect of these different types of mistakes on the validity of contracts. These include common fundamental mistake, non est factum, unilateral mistake as to terms, mistake as to identity and common mistake as to terms. Some mistakes may render a contract void, voidable, or susceptible to rectification. Thirdly, apart from examining the vitiating effect of mistakes and misrepresentations on the validity of contracts, this chapter also considers whether they may lead to monetary awards.
Mistake, Fraud, and Misrepresentation in Taiwanese Law: A Comparative Study
Authors: CHEN Tsung-fu
Published: October 2022

In order to enforce the principle of party autonomy, any defect in consent may influence the validity of a contract in the law of Taiwan. The Taiwanese Civil Code entitles a mistaken party to avoid a contract, provided that he is not at fault. It is irrelevant whether the other party or any third parties make false statements. The knowledge of the other party does not affect the mistaken party’s right to avoidance, although it influences his claim to reliance damages after the contract has been avoided. A party making a statement is entitled to avoid a contract where there is an error as to the content of the declaration or in making the declaration (e.g. a slip of the tongue). Errors in motive generally do not affect the validity of a contract unless they concern certain characteristics of a person or of the object of the contract. In the law of fraud, an intention to deceive the other party is needed, and mere negligent misrepresentation does not entitle the other party to avoid a contract for fraud. As a general rule, silence cannot amount to fraud, unless there are special circumstances. Where a third party is guilty of fraud, the victim may avoid the contract only if the other party knew or should have known of the fraud. A fraudulent person is liable for damages under both tort law and the law of contract.
‘He Is Athletic and a Lover of All Legitimate Sports’
Authors: McLeod Hugh
Published: October 2022

With the increasing involvement in sport by religious groups of many kinds, some sport came to be specially associated with a specific denomination or current of thinking. Examples include the long-running love affair between the Church of England and cricket, the mystique of the bicycle for Nonconformists and indeed for radicals of all kinds, and the prominence of Jews in boxing, especially in the early decades of the twentieth century. At the same time some sports have continued to be controversial, and some fell under attack from parts of the religious world while being defended by others. One example was boxing which was championed by Anglicans and Catholics, as well as Jews, but often condemned by Nonconformists. A second would be fox hunting, which was attacked both by Nonconformists and by some Anglicans, but practised by many Anglicans, including clergymen. A third was that of horse racing and other sports in which betting played a central part. Bitterly condemned by Nonconformists and by many Anglicans, they were defended by other Anglicans, and by Catholics. But the longest running debate concerned women’s sports, and especially the question of whether some sports were ‘masculine’ and thus ‘unfeminine’ or even damaging to women’s health. The interesting point is that religion played little overt part in this latter debate.
Identifying Future-Proof Science
Authors: Vickers Peter
Published: October 2022

Is science getting at the truth? The sceptics—those who spread doubt about science—often employ a simple argument: scientists were ‘sure’ in the past, and then they ended up being wrong. Such sceptics draw on dramatic quotes from eminent scientists such as Lord Kelvin, who reportedly stated at the turn of the 20th century ‘There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now’, shortly before physics was dramatically transformed. They ask: given the history of science, wouldn’t it be naïve to think that current scientific theories reveal ‘the truth’, and will never be discarded in favour of other theories? Through a combination of historical investigation and philosophical-sociological analysis, Identifying Future-Proof Science defends science against such potentially dangerous scepticism. It is argued that we can confidently identify many scientific claims that are future-proof: they will last forever, so long as science continues. How do we identify future-proof claims? This appears to be a new question for science scholars, and not an unimportant one. It is argued that the best way to identify future-proof science is to avoid any attempt to analyse the relevant first-order scientific evidence, instead focusing purely on second-order evidence. Specifically, a scientific claim is future-proof when the relevant scientific community is large, international, and diverse, and at least 95 per cent of that community would describe the claim as a ‘scientific fact’. In the entire history of science, no claim meeting these criteria has ever been overturned, despite enormous opportunity.
Hume's Imagination
Authors: Magri Tito
Published: October 2022

This book proposes a new and systematic interpretation of the nature, function, structure, and importance of the imagination in Book 1, Of the understanding, of Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature. The proposed interpretation has deeply revisionary implications for Hume’s philosophy of mind and for his naturalism, epistemology, and stance to scepticism. The book remedies a surprising blind spot in Hume scholarship and contributes to the current, lively philosophical debate on imagination. Hume’s philosophy, if rightly understood, gives suggestions about how to treat imagination as a mental natural kind, its cognitive complexity and variety of functions notwithstanding. Hume’s imagination is a faculty of inference and the source of a distinctive kind of ideas, which complement our sensible, mental representation of objects. Our cognitive nature, restricted to the representation of objects and of their relations, would leave ordinary and philosophical cognition seriously underdetermined and expose us to scepticism. Only the non-representational, inferential faculty of the imagination can put in place and vindicate ideas like causation, body, and self, which support our cognitive practices. The book reconstructs how Hume’s naturalist inferentialism about the imagination develops this fundamental insight. Its five parts deal with the dualism of representation and inference; the explanation of generality and modality; the production of causal ideas; the production of spatial and temporal content and the distinction of an external world of bodies and an internal one of selves; and the replacement of the understanding with imagination in the analysis of cognition and in epistemology.
The Ultimate Judge of All Systems of Philosophy
Authors: Magri Tito
Published: October 2022

The imagination has a complex role in Hume’s epistemology. The science of human nature has explicit epistemological, foundational aims and some of its explanations postulate our grasp of epistemic distinctions. It is thus a pressing question whether epistemic aims and distinctions are consistent with the overarching cognitive role of the imagination. Hume’s complex response to this question consists, in the first place, in proposing a posteriori identifications of epistemic distinctions with properties of the activities of the imagination. Once their reference is fixed, he proceeds to specify their conceptual character as distinctively epistemic (not just pragmatic). The ideas of truth and of fidelity of our faculties are crucial in this respect. Finally, the naturalistic faculty of the imagination can be made consistent with epistemic value and authority by resorting to Hume’s general sentimentalist naturalism about normativity. The imagination comes in this way to replace reason in all its epistemic roles.
The Consolidation of Natural Philosophy
Authors: McGrath Alister E.
Published: October 2022

This chapter considers the rise of natural philosophy during the Middle Ages in western Europe, particularly in universities such as Paris. Although earlier writers in this field, such as Bede, did not draw on Aristotle, medieval discussion of natural philosophy was clearly fashioned along Aristotelian lines. While Christian writers such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas played an important part in developing forms of Aristotelian natural philosophy, this chapter also considers the significant role of medieval Jewish and Islamic writers in this development. The role of other approaches to natural philosophy during this period, including magic and alchemy, are also considered, as are the factors leading to the gradual decline of Aristotelian natural philosophy in the later medieval period.
The Politics of Social Inclusion in Collective Skill Formation Systems
Authors: Geyer Leonard , Durazzi Niccolo
Published: October 2022

Which policies aimed at expanding access to collective skill formation systems receive political support and which ones are likely to be successful? This chapter answers this question by analysing social inclusion policies which were implemented successfully and policies that were proposed, debated but ultimately quashed in Austria and Germany since the 1990s. By theorizing and scrutinizing empirically the preference formation process of trade unions, firms, employers’ organizations, and governments, we shed light on the multi-faceted and variable coalitional politics of socially inclusive measures and draw four conclusions. First, coalitions in favour or against inclusive measures can feature both class conflict and cross-class coalitions. Second, left-leaning governments and unions are most likely to show first-order preferences towards inclusive measures. Third, inclusive measures are politically most feasible when they do not impinge on the efficiency and control dimension. Finally, governments can soften employers’ stance towards socially inclusive measures by granting them more control over the administration of the measures. In sum, the findings highlight the political constraints towards fostering social inclusion through vocational training in the knowledge economy and show how governments can overcome them.
The Credibility of Vocational Qualifications as a Barrier to Increasing the Flexibility of Collective Skill Formation Systems
Authors: Maurer Markus
Published: October 2022

This chapter discusses the conditions for the development of policies for the validation or recognition of prior learning (RPL) in collective skill formation systems, with a focus on Switzerland. It compares the Swiss case with similar reforms in statist skill formation systems (focusing on France and Sweden) as well as other collective skill formation systems (focusing on Germany). The chapter demonstrates that key actors in collective skill formation systems, notably employers and representatives of labour market insiders, are mostly unsupportive of RPL schemes, which they fear will diminish the high credibility of existing vocational qualifications. As a result, only more restrictive forms of RPL schemes are established in collective skill formation systems (e.g. providing access to final exams), if at all. That Switzerland is an outlier in this regard, with its attempts to promote comparatively liberal forms of RPL, does not contradict such findings. Rather, the fact that such forms have evolved in the more statist sub-systems (e.g. in Geneva) and have faced considerable implementation challenges simply adds to the granularity of this chapter’s argument.
Green Shoots of Economic Recovery
Authors: Shettigar Jagadish , Misra Pooja
Published: October 2022

The virus had brought in a ‘New Normal’ and largely changed the economic landscape and business environment. While the lockdown brusquely brought businesses to a halt, economic activity and market sentiments saw an uptick with the opening of the Indian economy in Unlock 1.0. The chapter explores factors which resulted in exhibiting signs of green shoots amidst a pandemic. Key macroeconomic indicators such as goods and services tax, IIP, automobile sales, inflation, Sensex, surging foreign exchange reserves etc. were all showing an upbeat and reasons to cheer as far as economic recovery was concerned. Rural employment numbers were showing an improvement and aggressive implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme by the government was bearing fruit.
Macroeconomic Perspective
Authors: Shettigar Jagadish , Misra Pooja
Published: October 2022

To minimize the negative impact on the health of its citizens, ‘India chose to sacrifice its economy and save lives’— ‘जान हैं तो जहान हैं’. A nationwide lockdown beginning 25 March 2020 was announced. The downside of any Lockdown is that economic activity and production come to an abrupt standstill and the economy gets halted in its track of economic growth. Subsequently, in June 2020, the Indian Government with a viewpoint of ‘जान भी जहान भी’— ‘Lives as well as livelihoods’ had decided to open the Lockdown in a phased manner and restart the economy. The chapter discusses in depth the macroeconomic impact of the virus on India and its effect on GDP growth and other key macroeconomic indicators. It explores the possibility of a V, U, K etc. shaped recovery and also looks into the demand and supply-side disruption that the pandemic had led to.
Q2FY22 GDP: Indian Economy on Recovery Track
Authors: Shettigar Jagadish , Misra Pooja
Published: October 2022

The Indian economy witnessed a real GDP growth rate of 8.4% in Q2FY22 as against a contraction of 7.4% in Q2FY21. On the demand side, amongst the four growth engines, private final consumption expenditure, which constitutes 54.5% of total GDP, exhibited a growth rate of 8.6%, gross fixed capital formation, commonly referred to as investments, rose by 11%, while government expenditure increased by 8.7%. An improved macroeconomic scenario that had set the Indian economy back on the recovery track was an outcome of the abatement of the second virus wave in Q2, resulting in easing the state-wise and regional lockdowns coupled with increased vaccination coverage. The moot point is with steady progress in covid-19 vaccinations leading to an improved business scenario and consumer confidence levels slowly and steadily reviving, it had resulted in rating agencies, brokerage, and financial institutions revising their forecast numbers for India’s GDP growth rate for FY22. The chapter discusses in detail the macroeconomic scenario that was prevalent on Q2FY22 which had helped the country achieve a real GDP growth rate of 8.4%.
Atmanirbhar Bharat
Authors: Shettigar Jagadish , Misra Pooja
Published: October 2022

In the backdrop of the pandemic, the main driver of economic growth for any nation is increased Government spending and ensuring credit availability and ample liquidity in the financial system of the economy. With the Prime Minister vying for Indians being ‘आत्मनिर्भर’, ie self-reliant and ‘Vocal for Local, the chapter discusses fiscal and monetary policy measures and Atmanirbhar schemes adopted to mitigate the adverse economic impact of the virus. The stimulus package was largely a mix of monetary and fiscal with ease of doing business processes being worked upon and some fundamental reforms being announced. The Indian Government was seen announcing structural reforms and working towards making the nation into an alternative attractive manufacturing destination and maximizing the opportunity presented by the pandemic.
Agricultural Reform: Need for Effective Communication
Authors: Shettigar Jagadish , Misra Pooja
Published: October 2022

Whenever an attempt had been made to reform the agricultural sector, the government faced strong resistance from the vested interests in the guise of farm leaders. One must bear in mind that the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020 did not encroach upon the APMC act, it only promoted free movement of farm produce, inter-state and intra- state trade and allowed them to trade outside the boundaries of deemed markets earmarked under State agricultural market regulations. One cannot fathom how enabling farmers to have direct access to markets and breaking the monopoly of mandis was against the well-being of farmers? How would bringing transparency in the agricultural sector, opening up market access, and giving them the benefit of ‘my crop, my right’ be against the interests of farmers? The chapter discusses the need for effective and transparent communication that should have taken place between the Government and farmer leaders. The government should have directly engaged the agitating farmers and convinced them that the three farm laws were in their interests. If needed, the government should have also resorted to engaging experts and social leaders.
Disinvestment of Air India
Authors: Shettigar Jagadish , Misra Pooja
Published: October 2022

With the Tatas being declared as the successful bidder for the ailing Air India, the national carrier has finally made its way back home to its original address. The chapter explores how through this much-awaited big-ticket disinvestment process, the government has been able to give a clear-cut signal about its intention of moving ahead with its economic reforms agenda. The landmark deal has again brought the spotlight on the Modi government’s aggressive reform agenda and helped in instilling confidence amongst domestic and foreign investors. Additionally, it also discusses how ground- breaking deal has had its fair share of criticisms levied on the pretext that: Is it right to sell the family silver or the so- called national symbol of the country?
Functional Autonomy to Banks
Authors: Shettigar Jagadish , Misra Pooja
Published: October 2022

A stable financial sector is a prerequisite for the smooth functioning of any business and provides confidence to investors and consumers. With the COVID- 19 pandemic negatively impacting the GDP of countries across the world and resulting in an ever-changing environment, risk prudence was reflective of being sagacious but risk aversion was also not advisable. In light of the pandemic, the 21st issue of the Financial Stability Report (FSR), July 2020 of the Reserve Bank of India, presented a grim picture of the status of Non- Performing Assets (NPAs) in India. The report also highlighted the fact that in response to the pandemic, an amalgamation of fiscal, monetary, and regulatory interventions had ensured a close to normal functioning of the Indian financial markets. The RBI, in response to this worrisome situation, had proposed a three-month moratorium in March 2020 along with a freeze in ratings of customers who were availing of the loan so that it would not impact their credit scores. The chapter discusses how the need of the hour was a calibrated approach of stimulus to be provided by RBI to those sectors only which were still bearing the brunt of the pandemic and a blanket approach to all was not advisable as individuals and corporates were taking undue advantage and unnecessarily deferring payments. It delves into solutions and recomtions that in terms of structural reforms that could make the Indian financial sector more robust and how if given adequate functional autonomy NPAs could be kept to a minimum.
Patenting Crucial Medicines
Authors: Shettigar Jagadish , Misra Pooja
Published: October 2022

With the onslaught of the second wave of the pandemic wreaking havoc on the lives of people across the world, especially in India, there was a growing urgency to have 100% of the population vaccinated at the earliest. The challenge lay in the demand-supply mismatch, mainly due to the limited production capacity of vaccines. To bridge this gap, there was a growing clamour to invoke the provision of Compulsory Licensing under the Indian Patent Act 1970, as was done a decade back for the treatment of cancer. In October 2020, India and South Africa applied to the World Trade Organization to relax provisions in the international agreements which regulate Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) for medicines and vaccines required for treatment and prevention of COVID- 19, which was backed by the developing countries. The chapter discusses how a humanitarian approach was needed and there might not be any complaints or opposition if traditional norms were violated, whether at the level of WTO or at the domestic front. On the flip side, would it not be better than a balanced approach was adopted, keeping in view not just immediate vaccine supply but also future requirements.
Land Acquisition for Atmanirbhar Bharat
Authors: Shettigar Jagadish , Misra Pooja
Published: October 2022

Keeping in view the vision envisaged of being a self-reliant nation, it is imperative that the country adopts long-term structural reforms that have been waiting to see the light of the day. The Land Acquisition Act, 2013 has certainly been a stumbling block against a large number of investment proposals getting transformed into a reality. Hence the government needs to address the issue and initiate corrective reform measures in order to reshape India’s growth trajectory. Land remains one of the top reasons for stalling projects in India. The chapter discusses how as Land is a State subject, the Central and State Governments need to work for hand in hand and solve land acquisition issues to expedite the process of acquisition of land and make it a smooth and seamless procedure for investors. A win–win solution for both the owners of the land and buyers has to be devised, thereby making the process easy and simple for acquiring land for urbanization and industrialization. The Government needs to adopt international best practices in land acquisition to spur growth in investment in infrastructure by domestic and foreign investors.
Administration Reforms
Authors: Shettigar Jagadish , Misra Pooja
Published: October 2022

The role of the Government of any country is to primarily facilitate economic growth and provide common citizens and industry alike with increased access to basic services, thereby building an environment conducive to and promoting ease of living consistent with equity and social justice. The key constituents of any governance model are economic reforms, decentralization, accountability, and respect for citizens’ rights and transparency and with the current Government clearly spelling out its focus on ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’ it should be working towards achieving the same. The role of any Government is extremely important in facilitating and promoting economic development. Administrative reforms, which are a continuous requirement in any society, are all the more needed when society experiences game-changing reforms. Thus, the key point here is that the Government, in its key role of being the planner and facilitator of business, needs to initiate bureaucratic reforms. The chapter discusses the urgent need for administrative reforms and provides recommendations for the same.
Challenges before the Government
Authors: Shettigar Jagadish , Misra Pooja
Published: October 2022

With the focus on building India into a self-reliant nation, many innovative policy measures have been initiated in order to lead the country towards the ultimate goal. However, one must bear in mind that policy decisions can get transformed into reality only with the support of a conducive macroeconomic environment that includes both economic and non-economic factors. A stable macroeconomic scenario prevalent in the country gives the required impetus and improves business confidence and consumer sentiments. With the Government being in the majority, it is also in a position to get crucial bills passed by the Parliament. However, the road towards the ultimate goal is not going to be a smooth ride. There would be many hurdles and challenges that would have to be crossed and overcome. The chapter discusses in detail these challenges such as the pandemic battered economy, prevailing geopolitical tensions leading to supply chain disruptions, low consumer sentiments etc. which the Government is faced with and has to overcome to ensure that the Indian economy moves back on the path of economic recovery and growth at the earliest. Also, for any democratically elected government world over appropriate timing is crucial and keeping in mind that the next general elections are due in 2024 for effective implementation of policy measures the Government needs to act fast.
Triangles of Desire at the Iliad’s Opening
Authors: Lesser Rachel H.
Published: October 2022

After a brief proem, the Iliad’s main narrative begins in Book 1 with two successive and interlocking triangular conflicts between men over the possession of a woman: Chryses’ dispute with Agamemnon over his daughter Chryseis and Achilleus’ quarrel with Agamemnon over his concubine Briseis. This chapter shows how similar longings and aggressive desires, which are expressed primarily through the emotions of grief and anger, underlie these parallel devastating conflicts, and how the first initiates the second. In this way, Iliad 1 introduces desiring subjects as generators of an epic plot defined by discord, suffering, and death—and more desire, as Achilleus vows to inspire the Greeks’ longing (pothē) for himself. This chapter also demonstrates how the poet encourages our sympathy for and empathy with the aggrieved Chryses and Achilleus, and arouses our narrative desire to find out how their wrongs will be righted.