bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Liberalism and Democracy in Myanmar
Authors: David Roman , Holliday Ian 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Historic Myanmar elections in November 2015 paved the way for an NLD government led by Aung San Suu Kyi to take office in March 2016, and saw the country deepen its graduated transition away from authoritarian rule. Nevertheless, military forces that for decades had dominated national politics remain privileged in a constitutional framework designed to deliver discipline-flourishing democracy. In August 2017, the military intensified its campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority living mostly in Rakhine State, pushing the number of refugees seeking shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh to nearly one million. One critical question that now confronts the fifty million people of Myanmar, a major Southeast Asian nation, is whether the push for greater democracy is strong enough to prevail over the resistance of a powerful military machine and swelling undercurrents of intolerance. What are the prospects for liberal democracy in Myanmar? This book addresses this question by examining historical conditions, constitutionalism, popular support for democracy, major political actors, group relations and tolerance, and transitional justice. To probe the meaning of key concepts it presents a rich array of evidence, including eighty-eight in-depth interviews and three waves of surveys and survey experiments undertaken between 2014 and 2018, all of which are triangulated with constitutional and legal texts and reports issued locally and globally. The analysis culminates in the concept of limited liberalism, which reflects an at times puzzling blend of liberal and illiberal attitudes. The book concludes that a weakening of liberal commitments among politicians and citizens alike, allied with spreading limited liberal attitudes, casts doubt on the prospects for liberal democracy in Myanmar for the foreseeable future.
Historical Context
Authors: David Roman , Holliday Ian 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Democratization necessarily takes place within a specific national context marked by prior historical experience. This chapter examines historical factors in the Myanmar case as a means of understanding the social and political underpinnings of the current transition. It focuses on legacies of colonization by Britain in the middle of the nineteenth century, a growing nationalist struggle and devastating warfare in the first half of the twentieth century, shifting forms of civil conflict since independence, a phase of liberal democracy in the initial years of state sovereignty, and military-backed or military-directed authoritarianism for nearly half a century thereafter. It looks particularly at the impact of successive colonial, democratic, and military regimes, and at crosscutting legacies of repression, militarization of ethnic relations, and social exclusion of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
The People and the Constitution
Authors: David Roman , Holliday Ian 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Myanmar’s transition is taking place within a constitutional setting devised by the preceding junta and reflecting a military reading of rule by the people, termed discipline-flourishing democracy. This chapter examines the extent to which the country’s constitutional system is an obstacle to greater democratization, the degree to which its institutions are viewed by the public as legitimate, and the intensity with which the public demands deeper political change. First, it traces the roots of constitutionalism in Myanmar. Second, it evaluates fundamental aspects of the current constitution, focusing on provisions for majority rule and a separation of powers. Third, it draws on survey data to investigate popular assessments of the transitional political system and aspirations for democracy. Fourth, it assesses prescribed methods for forming the legislature, and uses a survey experiment to isolate popular preferences for generating an assembly fitting standards of liberal democracy, hybridity, and military rule. Finally, it turns to the executive and explores perceptions of constitutional restrictions imposed on the presidency.
Transitional Justice
Authors: David Roman , Holliday Ian 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Myanmar’s half-century of authoritarianism from 1962 to 2011 left a bitter legacy of gross human rights abuse and other historical injustice. One issue widely held by researchers to be a contributing factor to establishing a human rights culture and promoting democratization is dealing with the past. In this context, the chapter explores the demand for transitional justice in Myanmar, drawing on interviews with former political prisoners, surveys, survey experiments, and secondary sources. It reviews factors commonly associated with demand for transitional justice, examines the historical and political determinants of transitional justice in Myanmar, probes the authors’ surveys to investigate popular demand for transitional justice, uses interviews with former political prisoners to assess victims’ needs and their conception of justice, and connects a victim-centred approach with popular demand by examining support for transitional justice in light of experimental evidence simulating real-life resolution of historical injustice.
Introduction
Authors: David Roman , Holliday Ian 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
In the 2010s, Myanmar embarked on a transition away from half a century of authoritarian rule. In the process, however, positive signs of democratization contrasted with negative political developments, including ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims. Deep challenges of political democratization and transformation of the political culture thereby emerged. These challenges generate the central research question of this book: what are the prospects for liberal democracy in Myanmar? This introductory chapter situates this research question in the context of the democratization literature, describes the survey and interview methodology used in the search for an answer, and outlines the plan of the book.
Comparison to alternative approaches
Authors: Ciardelli Ivano , Groenendijk Jeroen , Roelofsen Floris 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Chapter 9 compares inquisitive semantics with some other frameworks which have been proposed for the analysis of questions, in particular with alternative semantics (developed by Hamblin and Karttunen in the 1970s), partition semantics (developed by Groenendijk and Stokhof in the 1980s), and inquisitive indifference semantics (developed by Groenendijk and Mascarenhas in the 2000s). It is argued that inquisitive semantics preserves the essential merits of these previous approaches, while overcoming their main shortcomings. The chapter is also concerned with the division of labor between question semantics and other components of a general theory of interpretation, including a theory of speech acts and discourse pragmatics. It discusses the received view on what the role of a compositional semantic theory of questions should be within such a larger theory of interpretation, and compares it to the one taken in inquisitive semantics, which is argued to be more parsimonious.
Conclusion
Authors: Ciardelli Ivano , Groenendijk Jeroen , Roelofsen Floris 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
The concluding chapter provides a summary of the architecture of the framework presented in the book, emphasizing its modular nature. It argues that the high-level desiderata discussed in Chapter 1 have been met. The framework provides a formal notion of issues that allows for a suitable representation of semantic content, conversational contexts, and propositional attitudes. In particular, it makes an integrated treatment of declarative and interrogative sentences possible, with a single notion of semantic content which is general enough to deal with both sentence types at once, rather than a separate notion of content for each sentence type.
Managing change: diversification and transformation, 1993–2003
Authors: Verhoef Grietjie 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
As global insurance markets experienced a shift out of life assurance into new wealth products, Sanlam faced the same trend. Demutualization required more free capital than commanded by Sanlam, leading to an extended capital building programme, which ultimately fed into demutualization. Sanlam focused business operations on restructured business units, new distribution channels, and non-traditional markets. Serious attempts at bancassurance absorbed attention under severe market competition. Internationalization strategies failed to deliver to expectations. After listing in 1998, operational, management, and functional transformation occurred in a new South Africa. Statutory sanctioned empowerment policies chartered future company strategies. Implementation was delayed by the death of the CEO and an inexperienced successor. The company remained hamstrung by too-large exposures to a handful of big investments.
Air Transport in Africa
Authors: Bofinger Heinrich C. 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Air transport in Africa is a growing sector. However, the growth does not provide a complete perspective of its health. Several important facts play a role in truly understanding where Africa’s air transport has been, is now, and where it might develop. Air transport volumes in Africa are still very low when compared to the rest of the world. The notion of the national flag carrier is still deeply ingrained in the politics of the air transport sector, and though various privatization attempts have been made, many governments are reluctant to completely hand over airlines to the private sector, or completely depend on airlines from outside the country if a national airline is not economically sustainable. Both anecdotally and empirically, the new challenges for African air transport market development are not so much around liberalization, but rather affordability and the rise of airport charges.
How Trucking Services Have Improved and May Contribute to Economic Development
Authors: Kunaka Charles , Raballand Gaël , Fitzmaurice Mike 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
In East Africa, there have been numerous concerns over logistics efficiency. Among them, a slow pace of regional integration of the trucking industry is perceived as a major problem. This chapter utilizes a combination of unpublished data surveys and published data to assess the extent of regional integration. Based on various types of data, several main messages can be drawn from the trucking industry: there has been a noticeable reduction in the price of long-distance trucking services along the Northern Corridor; the integration of trucking services is moving fast in East Africa, with foreign-owned trucks accounting for three-quarters of services in the Rwandan market; trucking fleet characteristics and management have improved tremendously and are now comparable to those in South Africa; and the facilitation of border clearance processes has played a major role in improving productivity. Despite all these improvements, the performance of the Tanzanian fleet still lags behind.
Integration Along the Abuja Road Map
Authors: Melo Jaime de , Nouar Mariem , Solleder Jean-Marc 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
This chapter reviews integration among the eight African Regional Economic Communities by comparing their characteristics and progress with three other South-South Regional Integration Arrangements. Three conclusions emerge: (i) slow progress towards meeting overly ambitious objectives; (ii) small changes in the destination of trade across all Regional Economic Communities, indicative of persistent high trade costs and few new manufactured products destined for geographically close markets; and (iii) compared with other South-South Regional Integration Arrangements, the Regional Economic Communities include a high number of provisions not covered in Word Trade Organization negotiations, but these have low legal enforceability. Reasons for this slow progress are explored in the chapter.
Anatomy of a Divergence
Authors: Biedermann Zoltán 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Chapter 8 argues that the final years of the sixteenth century and the first decade of the seventeenth century brought about one of the great misunderstandings of the early modern period: the reading of Kōṭṭe’s suzerainty-based imperial project, by the Habsburg authorities, as a project of sovereignty-oriented conquest. The resulting wars that dragged on during the following decades resulted largely from this widening gap in political culture. Key to an understanding of this gap is the emerging European notion of territory as a fundament of the dynastic state. To illustrate this, two maps are explored with a view to the underlying conceptions of political space. The shift from ‘Native Ground’ to colonial ground had a major impact both on the local political system and the global empire.
Humanist and Political Perspectives on Human Rights
Authors: Gilabert Pablo 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
This chapter explores the relation between two perspectives on the nature of human rights. According to the “political” or “practical” perspective, human rights are claims that individuals have against certain institutional structures, in particular modern states, in virtue of interests they have in context that include them—and normally warrant international support. This perspective is introduced in contrast to the more traditional “humanist” or “naturalistic” one, according to which human rights are pre-institutional claims that individuals have against all other individuals that can affect them in virtue of interests characteristic of their common humanity. This chapter argues that once we identify these perspectives in their best light we can see that they are complementary and that in fact we need both to make good normative sense of the contemporary practice of human rights.
Human Rights and Power
Authors: Gilabert Pablo 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
This chapter explores the tensions between the normative ideal of human rights and the facts of asymmetric power. First, it reconstructs and assesses important power-related worries about human rights. These worries are sometimes presented as falsifying the view that human rights exist, or at least as warranting the abandonment of human rights practice. But the worries do not warrant such conclusions. Instead, they motivate certain desiderata for the amelioration of human rights practice. The chapter identifies twelve such desiderata. Second, this chapter proposes a strategy for satisfying these desiderata. It suggests ways to build empowerment into the human rights project to reduce the absolute and relative powerlessness of human rights holders, while also identifying an ethics of responsibility and solidarity for contexts in which power deficits will not dissolve. Power analysis does not debunk the human rights project. Properly articulated, it is an important tool for those pursuing it.
Labor Rights
Authors: Gilabert Pablo 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Human rights discourse invokes entitlements to freely chosen work, to decent working conditions, and to form and join unions. Despite their importance, these rights remain underexplored in the philosophical literature on human rights. This chapter offers a systematic and constructive discussion of them. It surveys the content and current relevance of the labor rights stated in the most important human rights documents. It gives a moral defense of these rights, justifying their support on the basis of important human interests and human dignity. It replies to objections about the importance of work, explains why labor human rights may not exhaust the demands of dignity regarding labor, and arbitrates a common tension between independence and solidarity. To solidaristically empower all persons who can work to access and defend decent working conditions in which their valuable capacities can be developed and exercised is an obligatory response to their human dignity.
Minimalist versus Expansive Views of Human Rights: Dignity and the Arc of Humanist Justice
Authors: Gilabert Pablo 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
This chapter explores the implications of the dignitarian approach for the ongoing debate in the philosophy of human rights about how minimalist or expansive human rights should be taken to be. After a critical survey of eleven arguments for minimalist accounts of human rights, the chapter endorses a moderate form of expansivism casting human rights as basic claims that cover the most urgent requirements of human dignity. It presents a two-tiered, dynamic humanism that enables us to arbitrate the debate between minimalist and expansive views of human rights. Elements of egalitarianism (in particular regarding political rights) are part of this picture. However, a wider and more ambitious set of egalitarian demands of humanist justice that go beyond human rights (such as democratic socialism) is also seen as flowing from the dignitarian perspective, and its significance for the contemporary political context is explored.
The Methods of Bioethics
Authors: McMillan John 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Bioethics has made a mistake about its methods, and this has led not only to too much theorizing, but also fragmentation within bioethics. The unhelpful disputes between those who think bioethics needs to be more philosophical, more sociological, more clinical or more empirical, continue. While each of these claims will have some point, they obscure what should be common to all instances of bioethics. Moreover, they provide another phantom that can lead newcomers to bioethics down blind alleyways stalked by bristling sociologists and philosophers. The method common to all bioethics is bringing moral reason to bear upon ethical issues, and it is more accurate and productive to clarify what this involves than to stake out a methodological patch that shows why one discipline is the most important. This book develops an account of the nature of bioethics and then explains how a number of methodological spectres have obstructed bioethics becoming what it should. The final part of this book explains how moral reason can be brought to bear upon practical issues via an ‘empirical, Socratic’ approach.
Four Spectres of Bioethics
Authors: McMillan John 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Bioethics continues to be frustrated by dubious methodological habits and assumptions that it would be much better off without. This chapter describes four of the five methodological spectres that continue to frustrate bioethics. The first is the ‘moral mantra mistake’, which is the problematic way in which principles can be recited as if their mere utterance justified a moral position. The ‘tedious theory tendency’ refers to the assumption that moral theories are the route by which we can understand how we reason about ethics. Theoretically driven approaches to bioethics overdetermine the answer to an ethical question, so they are like a ‘sausage machine’ that converts a range of substances into a single output. Because of its interdisciplinary nature, there is a tendency for some disciplines to plead that their discipline is fact crucial for bioethics, and that idea is what I call ‘the snooty specialist spectre’.
Empirical, Socratic Bioethics
Authors: McMillan John 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Good bioethics must be empirical in the sense that it engages with actual ethical issues and does so in a way that reflects their nuances. It must also be Socratic in the sense that it develops a moral argument. Armchair ethics is unlikely to have the content and nuance that is required for good bioethics. Without a degree of conceptual sophistication, bioethics is unlikely to make progress with practical normative issues. The two classes of argument in bioethics are ‘making distinctions’ and ‘speculative reason’, which we might also view as Socratic reason. The complexity of the moral issues addressed by bioethics means that it should be conducted with a degree of ‘epistemic humility’ because what we argue about is usually contingent upon a complex set of facts, and these can change quickly.
What Is an Ethical Argument?
Authors: McMillan John 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Paying attention to the underlying structure of an ethical argument is a good way to make progress when writing in bioethics. While syllogisms might seem an overly abstract way of expressing an ethical argument, they can be a useful way of teasing out the validity and strength of an argument. There are some common forms of argument, and one good starting place is to construct an argument that describes relevant liberties and harms, and considers whether resulting harms might warrant restricting liberty. Questioning the factual claims made to support an argument is a simple and important argumentative strategy. When constructing moral arguments, we should minimize our theoretical assumptions.
What It Is to Reason about Ethics
Authors: McMillan John 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Sidgwick claimed that if we want to understand the methods of ethics, we should study the methods by which people reach reasoned convictions about morality. This book has explained how speculative reasons and drawing distinctions are the building blocks of moral reason. Of course, moral principles, concepts and theories have some role to play but it should be much more limited than it currently is and is not the most useful thing to teach those new to bioethics. When bioethics draws upon these argumentative strategies and is empirically engaged, then bioethics can give us normative, practical advice about what we should do.
Can Blockchain technologies help tackle the opioid epidemic: A Narrative Review
Authors: Raghavendra Meda 
Published: December 2018

Abstract

Objective
To introduce the basic concepts of blockchain technologies in tackling the opioid epidemic.

Design
A narrative review.

Setting/Background
The opioid epidemic is taking a big toll in terms of lives and livelihood in America. Various public and private sector agencies are actively implementing different strategies to contain the epidemic. Development of robust real-time databases that are secure and easily accessible to the stakeholders in the opioid/paincare ecosystem is essential. Blockchain technologies, with their inherent features of decentralization, immutability, and easy access are well suited to achieving these goals. Some practical applications of blockchain technologies include data collection/aggregation/analysis, patient/provider identification, traceability/monitoring of opioids, supply chain provenance, prescription monitoring, licensure and credentialing, interoperability, seamless integration/communication, development of opioid alternatives, and research incentivization.

Conclusions
Blockchain technologies may help support the efforts of different agencies in curtailing the opioid epidemic.