An Examination of ‘Irregular Competition’ between Corporations and NGOs

The purpose of this article is to develop a theory which frames the demands of civil society in such a way as to better enable corporate subjects to manage and navigate ‘irregular’ engagement from activist organizations. Activist NGOs engage in advocacy at times by mounting, facilitating or encouraging popular social campaigns and actions against targeted corporations. In many cases, radical ‘direct action’ tactics are adopted, taking such approaches, NGOs may capitalise on the broader, more ethically diverse strategic possibilities open to them than are available to their corporate adversaries. We employ institutional theory to map out this asymmetric distribution of strategic possibility. We theorise NGOs and corporate subjects as effectively ‘competing’ with one another to maximise their own strategic possibilities and to minimise those of their opponents, in the perennial battle for hearts and minds that plays out between NGOs, corporate subjects, and broader civil society actors who ultimately determine boundary rules for NGO-corporate conflict. Within this context we explore the normative challenge arising from the possibility that corporate subjects might seek to tip the competitive balance by learning from how the military has adapted to successfully engage with ‘irregular’ adversaries through what is often termed ‘asymmetric’ or ‘irregular’ warfare. Should corporations follow a similar adaptive process, by mirroring the ‘irregular’ strategies of activist groups? Drawing evidence from the military experience, we suggest—perhaps counter intuitively—that such adaptations can create new opportunities for conflict resolution and for building sustainable cooperation between former adversaries.     

Italy and ‘Balkan Greece’: Albanian Immigration in the 90s

The article proposes an interview with Mr. M. Baldwin Edwards—director of the Mediterranean migration observatory (MMO) based in Athens—made in January 2007. Interview object was the analysis of the way Greece faced the Albanian migration flow in the 90s. Critically he points out the actors, the strategies, the historical and sociological reasons of this response. The protection of human rights and the role of the European Union are also pointed out. The overall picture gives the impression of a Greek answer that makes a confusion between a ‘border policy’ and a ‘migration policy’ leading to a (more or less conscious) ‘non immigration policy’.     

The stranger as seer or voyeur: A dilemma of the peep-show theory of knowledge

The belief that ‘the stranger’ (outsider, disinterested third party) sees things more clearly, i.e. is more “objective,” is seen to be a corner-stone of folk wisdom; underlying Western judicial thought and concepts of objectivity in the social sciences. The author raises the dilemma that both positivistic and humanistic sociologists accept this belief—suggesting 1) that it is a residue of positivism and a quest for certain knowledge, or 2) the possibility that ‘the stranger’ does gain deeper insight into group life than members. The paper examines the concept of the stranger, considering the aura of charisma that seems to have been attached to it in ordinary discourse as well as within the sociological dialogue. Two types of strangers are described: outsiders and enemies within. Finally, an attempt is made to examine the testimony of prominant strangers as they describe their marginal status and speculate on the ways that status has made them unusually perceptive observers of social phenomena.     

Sociology’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Suicide</Emphasis>: A Forensic Autopsy?

For decades Durkheim’s theory of suicide has been tested and found wanting. Yet, rather than being consigned to the dust-bin of history, it lives on and is pointed to as an exemplar of the powers of sociological theory and research. If this rationalizing and/or dismissal of so many falsifications of the theory were an isolated phenomenon, it might be evidence of some lemming-like propensity for suicide or a disciplinary death-wish, among a few sociologists. But it appears to be a much more widespread and common occurrence. In this paper we explore some possible explanations of this ‘falsification denial’—‘The Social Misconstruction of Reality’ (Hamilton 1996), ‘When Prophecy Fails’ (Festinger et al. 1956), ‘Underdetermination’ (Duhem 1954; Quine Journal of Philosophy 67:178–183, 1970, Erkenntnis 9:313–328, 1975; Lakatos 1970), and ‘Boundary Maintenance’ (Erikson 1966), and we outline some of the more important and pernicious consequences of this falsification denial for the discipline and future of sociology.     

Supervisory powers relating to foundations: A comparative analysis of foundation law

This paper compares legal approaches to foundations in six economically well-developed democracies (USA, England and Wales, Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands). ‘Foundations’ refers to ‘non-governmental, non-membership, organisations, recognised as a legal category with a purpose in the general interest’. This covers the common field of the common law's charity and the civil law's foundation as a legal person. The countries organise public supervision of foundations in very different ways. Mostly there is governmental involvement or involvement of an independent body in the establishment and governmental supervision of foundations in action. In a few cases, the supervisory power—concerning the foundations' activities, not their establishment—is with judicial authorities. Access to information of foundations (registration) and possible requests for sanctions by interested parties are also rather different. Not all rules are in accordance with the freedom of organisation and some are less desirable. The conclusion is that a balance between the freedom of the foundation (board), the protection of the public order and the protection of the interests of others can be found in a system with systematic supervision at the establishment- and later practice—by governmental or independent authorities or in a system with good registration and incidental supervision by judicial authorities, also at the request of interested parties. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.     

Voting power: an information theory approach

In recent years, there has been increasing awareness of the importance of formal measures of voting power and of the relevance of such measures to real life political issues. Nevertheless, existing measures have been criticized, especially because of their dependence on the unrealistic assumption that different coalitions have equal probabilities. In this paper we show that the classical problem of measuring voting power can be naturally embedded in information theory. This perspective on voting power allows us to extend measures of voting power to cases in which there are dependencies among voters. In doing so, we distinguish between two different notions of a given voter’s power—‘control’ and ‘informativeness’—corresponding, respectively, to the average uncertainty regarding the outcome of a vote that remains when all others have voted and the average uncertainty that is eliminated when only the given voter has voted. This distinction settles a number of well-known paradoxes and enables the study of voting power on the basis of actual political behavior at all levels.     

Bridging the divide in urban sustainability: from human exemptionalism to the new ecological paradigm

This paper reviews the main bodies of contemporary urban sustainability theory. From this analysis, two underpinning paradigms of urban sustainability are identified: (1) The ‘Human Exemptionalism Paradigm’ (HEP), which emphasizes the ability of humans to overcome environmental problems—see Urban Sociology, Urban Ecology, Urban Geography, Urban Psychology and Political Economy; and (2) The ‘New Ecological Paradigm’ (NEP), which emphasizes the criticality of ecological limits to human progress—see Urban Metabolism, Energy/Emergy Analysis and Ecological Footprinting. Each of these approaches is critically reviewed, highlighting their main assumptions, theoretical and practical foci. It is argued in the paper that if the related issues of urban sustainability and development are to be progressed, there needs to be: (1) a greater maturation of the NEP approaches, which are ‘relative newcomers’ to the area of urban theory; and (2) greater integration and dialogue between the HEP and NEP approaches to urban sustainability than has hitherto been the case.

Explaining the motivational forces of (<Emphasis Type="Italic">dis</Emphasis>)Respect: How self-focused and group-focused concerns can result in the display of group-serving efforts

The current article explains the motives underlying respect-and disrespect induced group-serving efforts. Research showed that intra-group respect increases individuals’ engagement with their group and subsequent intentions to show group-serving efforts. We refer to this process as ‘the group-focused motive’. Based on a recent program of research on actual effort and performance evaluations, we conclude that respect-induced group-serving efforts are not only due to enhanced engagement with the group. In addition, we posit that behavioral motivations can also stem from self-focused concerns — we refer to these as ‘self-focused motives’. We argue that the perception of being respected boosts the self-evaluation of individual group members. Maintenance of this positive self-evaluation, together with respect-induced enhanced self-confidence, can cause individuals to show more contextual performance. Finally, when individuals are disrespected, this impacts negatively on their self-perception. As a result, these individuals show group-serving efforts in an attempt to re-establish their self-worth, and this occurs relatively independently of improvement concerns for the group. Dick de Gilder (TC.de.Gilder@fsw.vu.nl) currently is associate professor of organizational behavior at the VU University in Amsterdam. He studied at the University of Amsterdam and received his Ph.D. from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. His research interests include organizational commitment, error management, and research management.     

On scale and scope and the history of the non-profit sector in the United Kingdom

This article argues that Alfred Chandler's analysis of the British firm cannot be transposed to the very different context of non-profit organisations in Britain. Both in relation to charitable non-profit organisations and mutual benefit organisations, Chandler's theory of the development of firms does not help explain organisational development. The main thrust of the argument is that the explanation for the smaller size of charitable non-profits in Britain than in America is largely institutional and partly socio-cultural; the explanation does not lie in any failure in Britain to adopt new techniques of management and organisation. With mutual benefit non-profits, a rather different account is presented. ‘Mutuals’ which had a strong fraternal element were relatively more successful in Britain than in America, although there is less difference between the two countries with regard to ‘non-fraternal’ mutuals. Once again, it is argued that institutional and socio-cultural factors—rather than the factors identified by Chandler—account for this. I wish to thank Desmond King for his helpful comments on an earlier version of this essay.     

Gambling Motivations,Money-Limiting Strategies,and Precommitment Preferences of Problem Versus Non-Problem Gamblers

Studies attempting to identify the specific ‘addictive’ features of electronic gaming machines (EGMs) have yielded largely inconclusive results, suggesting that it is the interaction between a gambler’s cognitions and the machine, rather than the machine itself, which fuels excessive play. Research has reported that machine players with gambling problems adopt a number of erroneous cognitive perceptions regarding the probability of winning and the nature of randomness. What is unknown, however, is whether motivations for gambling and attitudes toward pre-session monetary limit-setting vary across levels of gambling severity, and whether proposed precommitment strategies would be useful in minimizing excessive gambling expenditures. The current study explored these concepts in a sample of 127 adults, ages 18 to 81, attending one of four gambling venues in Queensland, Australia. The study found that problem gamblers were more likely than other gamblers to play machines to earn income or escape their problems rather than for fun and enjoyment. Similarly, they were less likely to endorse any type of monetary limit-setting prior to play. They were also reticent to adopt the use of a ‘smart card’ or other strategy to limit access to money during a session, though they indicated they lost track of money while gambling and were rarely aware of whether they were winning or losing during play. Implications for precommitment policies and further research are discussed.     

Qualitative data analysis with hypertext: A case of New York City crack dealers

Ethnography has become a useful method in procuring sensitive information from the ‘hidden population’ who may not be accessed with quantitative survey techniques. Researchers are generating huge amounts of qualitative/textual data. Qualitative data require careful planning in storage, coding, retrieval, and analysis. Personal computers have solved data management problems, but data analysis remains problematic. The paper describes some qualitative data management and analytic problems faced by a team of ethnographers engaged in a longitudinal epidemiological study of cocaine and crack distribution/abuse in New York City. Ethnographic data was collected through multi-session open-ended interviews with more than one hundred cocaine/crack dealers and extensive field-notes were kept. Compared to other programs, a hypertext software — Folio Views — was more useful in solving (a) data management and (b) analytical problems. Authors used this software to handle more than twenty-five thousand pages of texts; search and sort the database by any words or codes; and retrieve relevant textual materials needed to complete comparative and thematic analysis. Authors analyzed the data from outsiders’ point of view (etic) as well as from the viewpoint of the subject populations (emic).     

Education Assistance to Africa: We Can Do More and Better

Based on the problems of Global Education Assistance to Africa (GEAA), and combined with China’s rationale and practice of Education Assistance to Africa, this paper proposes a vision and assumption to improve the GEAA, that is, using the assistance rationale of ‘Africa-based’, ‘equal-relationship’, and ‘mutual-benefits’, through ‘multi-stakeholders cooperation’, ‘multi-modes operation’, and ‘multi-goals achievement’ to build one ‘harmonious world’.     

Relationships between Borda voting and Zermelo ranking

There are many situations wherein a group of individuals (e.g., voters, experts, sports writers) must produce an ordered list of ‘best’ alternatives selected from a given group of alternatives (e.g., candidates, proposals, sports teams). Two long established mechanisms that have been used for this task are ‘Zermelo’s Ranking Method’ (1929) and ‘Borda’s Voting Scheme’ (1781). The main purpose of this paper is to point out that they are, under certain common circumstances, identical. We then show that Zermelo’s Method can be used in situations that Borda’s Method is not designed to handle.     

Differentiation and complexity in the functionalist corpus: Rethinking the metaphor of system

The following paper examines the cybernetics trajectory of Parsons’ later work and its extension in the work of Luhmann. While the earlier work was focused on social action as a basic unit of sociological analysis, in The Social System Parsons articulates a notion of systems as self-generating and self-regulating. In Luhmann’s Social Systems this trajectory is made more explicit and developed in opposition to the early Parsons. Its metaphorical dimensions are also developed, creating additional levels and layers of abstraction. Those developments are deemed necessary in order to come to terms with the increasingly “complex” nature of modern society; however they are problematic in several respects—including their tautological nature which provides a basis for the unrestrained explanatory power of “system.“     

The spatial model with non-policy factors: a theory of policy-motivated candidates

The theoretical literature on two candidate elections is dominated by symmetric contests and vote-maximizing candidates. These models fail to capture two important features of real elections. First, most elections pit a stronger candidate against a weaker one. Second, candidates care not only about holding office, but also about policy outcomes. Ignoring any one of these features means we will fail to capture an important dynamic—strong candidates must balance their desire to change policy with their need to win the election. We provide conditions for the existence of an equilibrium in the spatial model with non-policy factors, when candidates are policy motivated. We provide a characterization of ‘regular’ equilibria and show that there exists at most one regular equilibrium. We provide conditions that guarantee that all equilibria are regular. We derive comparative statics for the model and show that increasing a candidate’s non-policy advantage causes that candidate to move towards his ideal point.     

General Representation of Epistemically Optimal Procedures

Assuming that votes are independent, the epistemically optimal procedure in a binary collective choice problem is known to be a weighted supermajority rule with weights given by personal log likelihood ratios. It is shown here that an analogous result holds in a much more general model. Firstly, the result follows from a more basic principle than expected-utility maximisation, namely from an axiom (“Epistemic Monotonicity”) which requires neither utilities nor prior probabilities of the ‘correctness’ of alternatives. Secondly, a person’s input need not be a vote for an alternative; it may be any type of input, for instance a subjective degree of belief or probability of the correctness of one of the alternatives. The case of a profile of subjective degrees of belief is particularly appealing, since no parameters such as competence parameters need to be known here.     

Changing partners: Northern NGOs,Northern governments

Northern NGOs live with an increasing level of insecurity and change. Governmental pressures to professionalise contribute to bureaucratisation, while inadequate overheads, an outdated project approach and lengthy approval procedures work against professionalism. Although they spend tens of millions of dollars annually through NGOs, few OECD governments have taken evaluation seriously. Northern NGO survival, theorefore, has been largely de-linked from performance. More fundamental is the growing identity crisis that Norther NGOs have in relation to their iincreasingly crisis that Northern NGOs have in relation to their increasingly effective Southern counterparts. Recession and faltering public support have pushed governments into reduced aid budgets and new concepts of accountability, participation and the role of ‘civil society’. Adding to the burden these shifts place on NGOs, many governments now deal directly with Southern NGOs. Many governments have also restricted their matching or ‘responsive’ NGO funding programmes, while providing massive funding increases — on highly favourable terms — for emergency and refugee work. Most OECD governments have also initiated special funds for AIDS, women, democracy and special geographical troublesports, channelling NGOs towards governmental priorities. Some basic principles are proposed for remedying the problems and for treating NGOs as important elements of civil society rather than as delivery mechanisms for governments. The author, who takes full responsibility for all errors, omissions and opinions, is very grateful to Elena Borghese, Tim Brodhead, Sharon Capeling-Alakija, Tim Draimin, Ian Filewod, Anna Foca, Henny Helmich and Terry Mooney for helpful comments on an early draft. An earlier version of the paper appeared in Smillie and Helmich (1993).     

Geometric models of consistent judgement aggregation

Given a set of propositions with unknown truth values, a ‘judgement aggregation function’ is a way to aggregate the personal truth-valuations of a group of voters into some ‘collective’ truth valuation. We introduce the class of ‘quasimajoritarian’ judgement aggregation functions, which includes majority vote, but also includes some functions which use different voting schemes to decide the truth of different propositions. We show that if the profile of individual beliefs satisfies a condition called ‘value restriction’, then the output of any quasimajoritarian function is logically consistent; this directly generalizes the recent work of Dietrich and List (Majority voting on restricted domains. Presented at SCW08; see , 2007b). We then provide two sufficient conditions for value-restriction, defined geometrically in terms of a lattice ordering or a metric structure on the set of individuals and propositions. Finally, we introduce another sufficient condition for consistent majoritarian judgement aggregation, called ‘convexity’. We show that convexity is not logically related to value-restriction.     

Internet Gamblers: A Latent Class Analysis of Their Behaviours and Health Experiences

In order to learn about the behaviours and health experiences of people who gamble on the Internet, we conducted an international online survey with respondents recruited via gambling and gambling-related websites. The mean (SD) age of the 4,125 respondents completing the survey was 35.5 (11.8) years, with 79.1% being male and 68.8% UK residents. Respondents provided demographic details and completed validated psychometric screening instruments for problem gambling, mood disturbances, as well as alcohol and substance misuse, and history of deliberate self harm. We applied latent class analysis to respondents’ patterns of regular online gambling activities, and identified subgroups of individuals who used the Internet to gamble in different ways (L ² = 44.27, bootstrap P = 0.07). We termed the characteristic profiles as ‘non-to-minimal gamblers’; ‘sports bettors’; ‘casino & sports gamblers’; ‘lottery players’; and ‘multi-activity gamblers’. Furthermore, these subgroups of respondents differed on other demographic and psychological dimensions, with significant inter-cluster differences in proportion of individuals scoring above threshold for problem gambling, mood disorders and substance misuse, and history of deliberate self harm (all Χ ²s > 23.4, all P-values <0.001). The ‘casino & sports’ and ‘multi-activity-gamblers’ clusters had the highest prevalence of mental disorder. Internet gamblers appear to be heterogeneous but composed of several subgroups, differing markedly on both demographic and clinical characteristics.