Institutionality

Institutionality
Author: Yannik Porsché
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2022-06-02
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 303096969X

This edited book brings together humanities and social sciences scholars from the various disciplines at the nexus of discourse studies and ethnography to reflect on questions of institutional practices and their political concerns. Institutional order plays an important role in structuring power relations in society. Yet, contrary to common understandings of structure, institutional orders are far from fixed or stable. They constantly change, and they are resisted and reimagined by social actors. The 20 studies collected in this edited volume develop the notion of institutionality as an overarching perspective to explore how institutional actors and institutional practices order and reorder power in societies across the globe. Thereby the chapters pay special attention to the fluidity, volatility, fragility, and ambiguity of order, and consequently to its claims to authority. Employing a broad range of discourse analytic and ethnographic methodologies, the studies show how institutions are discursively and materially constructed, defined, represented and how they are made relevant and become powerful – or how they are resisted, transformed or lose significance – in interaction. Readers will obtain nuanced insights into ways in which differently positioned social actors engage in struggles about how institutions can be imagined and enacted across several domains, such as workplace interactions, architecture, mass-media representations or organisational publicity. This book will be of interest to readers in Applied Linguistics, Discourse and Society, Critical Discourse Analysis, Political Theory and Communication Studies.

Institutionality of Gender in the State

Institutionality of Gender in the State
Author: Virginia Guzmán
Publisher: Santiago, Chile : Naciones Unidas, CEPAL = ECLAC, Women and Development
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2001
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

This paper examines the emergence of a new social subject, women, at the national and regional levels. That process brings into question current conceptions of gender, introduces new issues to the public debate, and places gender inequality-related matters on public and institutional agendas. The paper also specifically focuses on the processes whereby the institutionality of gender came to form part of the agendas of the United Nations and the governments of the ECLAC region. It considers the current debates on the role of the State and clarified the factors that facilitate or hamper the inclusion and institutionalization of gender in public policies. Finally it it puts forward some considerations to be taken into account in drawing up agendas and strategies for action

Conceptualising Comparative Politics

Conceptualising Comparative Politics
Author: Anthony Petros Spanakos
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2015-07-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317639049

Comparative politics often involves testing of hypotheses using new methodological approaches without giving sufficient attention to the concepts which are fundamental to hypotheses, particularly the ability of these concepts to ‘travel’. Proper operationalising requires deep reflection on the concept, not simply establishing how it should be measured. Conceptualising Comparative Politics – the flagship book of Routledge’s series of the same name – breaks new ground by emphasising the role of thoroughly thinking through concepts and deep familiarity with the case that inform the conceptual reflection. In this thought- provoking book, established academics as well as emerging scholars in the field collect (and invite) scholarship in the tradition of conceptual comparative politics. The book posits that concepts may be used comparatively as ‘lenses’, ‘building blocks’ and ‘scripts’, and contributors show how these conceptual tools can be employed in original comparative research. Importantly, contributors to Conceptualising Comparative Politics do not simply use concepts in one of these three ways but they apply them with careful consideration of empirical variation. The chapters included in this volume address some of the most contentious issues in comparative politics (populism, state capacity, governance, institutions, elections, secularism, among others) from various geographic regions and model how scholars doing comparative politics might approach such subjects. Concepts make possible scholarly conversations including creative confrontations across paradigms. Conceptualising Comparative Politics will challenge you to think of how to engage in conceptual comparative inquiry and how to use various methodologically sound techniques to understand and explain comparative politics.

On Emerging from Hyper-Nation

On Emerging from Hyper-Nation
Author: Ronald W. Sousa
Publisher: Purdue University Press
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2015-04-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1612493505

On Emerging from Hyper-Nation represents Ronald W. Sousa’s attempt to answer the question, “Why do I smile on reading one of Saramago’s ‘historical’ novels?” Why that reaction of emotional release? To answer the “smile question” the book engages in a critical mode that could be described as “discourse analysis.” It combines several critical strains and relies on basic concepts from Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, Adlerian psychology, and contemporary cognitive psychology for their discourse-analytical value rather than as entrées into psychoanalytical reading per se. The introductory chapter presents some of the concepts that underlie that compound analytical modality and sets out an overview of twentieth-century Portuguese social and economic history. Then, with an eye to answering the “smile question,” the book reads Nobel Laureate José Saramago’s three novels, Baltasar and Blimunda (1982), The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis (1984), and The History of the Siege of Lisbon (1989). Or, better, it seeks to read Sousa’s own reading of the three works, since focus falls on how each novel seeks to construct both its own reading and also Sousa as its reader. The discussion brings to light a number of textual phenomena that bear upon the “smile question.” Among them are that the novels invoke, often subtly, the fascist hermeneutical heritage remaining from before the revolution of 1974 as a constituent part of their communication with the reader; that they summon up historical trauma; that they function as Freudian-style “tendentious jokes”; and that, through these various invocations, they seek to constitute a postrevolutionary Portuguese subject. The reading of Sousa’s reading, then, ends up being a reading of some of the cultural forces at work in postrevolutionary Portugal.

COVID-19 and Social Change in Spain

COVID-19 and Social Change in Spain
Author: Carlos de Castro
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2022-11-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 100078200X

Originating in the popular Sociología en Cuarantena blog, this volume provides a detailed and multifaceted analysis of the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. This book originates in the great upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic when the unprecedented announcement of global lockdowns paralysed the world and put social relations on hold. In response, a loose collective of sociologists, historians and philosophers from various Spanish universities began to share their reflections on the pandemic on the Sociología en Cuarantena blog. This book takes some of those thoughts and delves deeper into the recurring themes as they relate to the Spanish experience of the pandemic. The chapters in the first part of the book address the social and political context of the various measures put in place by the government to deal with the health, economic and social effects of the pandemic. Subsequently, several chapters examine how the pandemic led to important reflections on uncertainty and authority in processes of scientific knowledge production. Other chapters analyse the effects of the pandemic on demographics, the organisation of care, the education system, the organisation of work and the recognition of essential workers, immigration policies and the digitalisation of society. Collectively, the contributions call into question the narrative of exceptionalism that views the pandemic as a singular event that is uniquely responsible for the present situation of uncertainty and instability. They also draw attention to the fragility of social prestige and trust in neglected and weakened public institutions, as well as identifying a growing socio-political polarisation that may be highly significant in the future. This collection will appeal to students and researchers with an interest in contemporary Spain and the socio-political effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After Our Likeness

After Our Likeness
Author: Miroslav Volf
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 330
Release: 1997-10-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1467429252

In After Our Likeness, the inaugural volume in the Sacra Doctrina series, Miroslav Volf explores the relationship between persons and community in Christian theology. The focus is the community of grace, the Christian church. The point of departure is the thought of the first Baptist, John Smyth, and the notion of church as "gathered community" that he shared with Radical Reformers. Volf seeks to counter the tendencies toward individualism in Protestant ecclesiology and to suggest a viable understanding of the church in which both person and community are given their proper due. In the process he engages in a sustained and critical ecumenical dialogue with the Catholic and Orthodox ecclesiologies of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and the metropolitan John Zizioulas. The result is a brilliant ecumenical study that spells out a vision of the church as an image of the triune God.

Intercultural Dialogue

Intercultural Dialogue
Author: Fred Dallmayr
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2015-01-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1443873519

Intercultural Dialogue: In Search of Harmony in Diversity offers a philosophical analysis of the issues surrounding cultural diversity and dialogical relationships among cultures as an alternative to “culture wars” and hegemonic globalization. It examines the ideas of dialogue and harmony as expressed in Daoism, Confucianism, Indian, and Ancient Greek philosophical traditions, as well as in contemporary European and Latin-American philosophies. Drawing on the works of Laozi, Confucius, Plato, Kant, and Gandhi, the book shows the importance of intercultural dialogue and the globalization of philosophy. It asserts that intercultural dialogue should have inter-philosophical global dialogue as its epistemological and ontological foundation. Intercultural philosophy elaborates on the conceptualization of philosophy as culturally embedded. Attention is paid to Bakhtin’s dialogism and its contemporary elaboration in the phenomenology of indirect speech, synergic anthropology, and the theory of transculture. The book offers a critical analysis of world problems. Their possible solutions require a more dialogically-oriented and humane transformation of society, aiming for a cosmopolitan order of law and peace.

Farm Communities at the Crossroads

Farm Communities at the Crossroads
Author: University of Regina. Canadian Plains Research Center
Publisher: University of Regina Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2003
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780889771567

This book is an outgrowth of a conference that analyzed transformations in farming & farm communities and discussed what might be done to achieve a more socially responsible development. It contains papers that address the pace of change in work & rural society which has proceeded so rapidly that every new development appears to be a cross-roads in which something precious is in danger of being left behind, but something valuable may be gained by taking the right route. Topics of the papers include the importance of work, the family farm, community building, knowledge & skills in the farm community, coping with the farm crisis, land reform, short line railways, farm co-operatives, agricultural chemicals & agribusiness, sustainable alternatives for agriculture, game farming, co-operative intervention in the farm machinery sector, conservation tillage, globalization & agricultural policy, agrarian radicalism on the prairies, and farm income support systems. Includes index.

Security Sector Reform in Constitutional Transitions

Security Sector Reform in Constitutional Transitions
Author: Zoltan Barany
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2019
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0198848943

Security sector reform (SSR) is central to the democratic transitions currently unfolding across the globe, as a diverse range of countries grapple with how to transform militias, tribal forces, and dominant military, police, and intelligence agencies into democratically controlled and accountable security services. SSR will be a key element in shifts from authoritarian to democratic rule for the foreseeable future, since abuse of the security sector is a central technique of autocratic government. This edited collection advances solutions through a selection of case studies from around the world that cover a wide range of contexts.

Research Handbook on Feminist Political Thought

Research Handbook on Feminist Political Thought
Author: Mary Caputi
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 513
Release: 2024-05-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1800889135

Illustrating the collective power and relevance of feminist theory today, Mary Caputi and Patricia Moynagh have carefully selected a diverse international range of leading scholars and activists to critically assess key social and political challenges in the twenty-first century. This Research Handbook demonstrates a variety of feminist analyses that offer compelling insights into an array of topics, including police brutality, the carceral state, racial and sexualised violence, trans rights, climate change, and the denial of reproductive rights.