Risks and Responsibilities: Creating Dialogical Spaces in Northern Ireland

The idea that open dialogue is the key to transformative politics sounds straightforward. However, in a polity such as Northern Ireland where deep discord has intricate roots, an openness to difference is complex. I argue that dialogical spaces are created when people are prepared to engage in a risk-taking that conjoins self-disclosure with the vulnerability of being truly open to others; and are willing to bear the responsibility of mutually speaking with and listening to the plural other. First, I explain the relationship between identity, difference and political participation of women in Northern Ireland, examining alliance politics and solidarity. I offer suggestions for how difference, multiplicity and justice can be accommodated. Second, I extend beyond the specific context of Northern Ireland to evaluate the ability of feminist theories of deliberative democracy to facilitate dialogue across difference. I examine the importance of normative notions of deliberation, communication, narrative and competing needs. Third, I extrapolate from these theories the idea that the dynamic between listening and speaking creates a space to include diversity and commonality.     

Managing metaphorically

While the relevance of metaphor to management and organizational analysis is now accepted in theory, if not by managers themselves, the way metaphor organizes us is not as well understood. This is because accounts of metaphor and organization neglect the embodied working of metaphor and of language in general. Metaphor works by enacting the relational quality of the world within our embodied experience. A metaphoric capacity is a capacity for organization. Poets develop this capacity through language; a good manager develops it through organization of themselves, other people and the material world. Such managing requires an openness to experience that allows organization to develop within a situation, rather than being imposed from outside or on top of it.     

Managing the Sex Industry

This paper consists of a panel discussion of the merits and demerits of the regulation or legalization of the sex industry. The contributors are an academic researcher, a policy adisor, an agency network co-ordinator and a sex-worker representative. The debate covers sex work and the law; attitudes of courts, police and public; the conditions and exploitation of sex workers; the distinction between voluntary and non-voluntary sex work. The sex industry, it is argued, is a challenging arena for exploration by management and organization theory.     

The compensation of Nazi Germany's forced labourers: Demographic findings and political implications

The debate on financial compensation for former forced labourers in Nazi Germany has raised the question of how many victims are still alive and eligible for compensation. Historical research has so far focused on qualitative aspects of the forced labour system. There are at best ad hoc estimates even for the number of foreign labourers in Nazi Germany during the war. We combine Nazi statistics with post-war demographic data for 20 countries to estimate the number of victims still alive. We then compare our estimates of survivors in mid-2000 with the numbers compensated under the German compensation settlement of July 2000. Although all parties involved in the settlement say that the compensation should benefit those victim groups most discriminated against in Nazi Germany, we find that the actual distribution of compensation payments is strongly influenced by bargaining power and political preferences.     

VIRTUAL LEARNING AND THE NETWORK SOCIETY

A wide variety of organizational structures and technologies are associated with the 'virtual campus'. This paper compares the UK's two largest distance learning initiatives: the Open University (OU) and the University for Industry (UfI). The comparison suggests four alternative approaches to 'virtualization' and shows that debate has often under-estimated the variety of possible approaches. The relationship between ICTs, knowledge and organizational structure is complex, reflecting a diversity of values and rationalities embodied by learning institutions.     

WHEN 'VIRTUAL' MEETS VALUES: INSIGHTS FROM THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR

Electronic networking can support strategic re-positioning within organizations seeking to respond effectively to deep shifts in the social, economic and political regimes in which they operate today. Evidence, though, from our large-scale survey of core UK voluntary organizations suggests that voluntary organizations do not always seek to exploit this capability. Instead, our survey indicates that voluntary organizations are exploiting information and communication technologies (ICTs) in conventional ways to enhance administrative and operational efficiency and effectiveness. There is little evidence of more strategic applications supporting reconfiguration of the organization internally, redefinition of relationships across organizational networks or the extension of business scope. Further research based upon in-depth case studies demonstrated that social conditions are active in shaping the uptake and application of information and communication technologies within voluntary organizations. Within volunteer-intensive settings in particular,founding philosophies and the deeply rooted values that accompany these can have a profound effect. Ultimately,the technologically supported transformations, which occur within the organizations that we examine here, emerge from the inter-play between historically institutionalized values, strategic objectives and technological capability.     

The H-1B visa: Free market solutions for business and labor

The H-1B visa program opened the US information technology labor market to temporary, skilled immigrant labor. But the immigrant worker was bound to a specific employer for the duration of the visa. The non-portability of the H-1B visa has benefitted the employer at the expense of immigrant and domestic workers. Much of the political debate surrounding the H-1B program has focused on raising the annual visa cap based on inconclusive evidence of a domestic IT labor shortage. The labor shortage question has obscured the more importantissue of reforming the H-1B program to level the playing field between business and labor.     

撒切尔政府的内城区政策分析

撒切尔政府的内城区政策虽然接受了1977年白皮书的基本观点,即需要复兴旧城区经济,但在具体措施方面表现出两个特点：一是强调私人部门的重要性;二是内城区政策更多是由中央政府指导。其旧城区政策有4个主要目标：第一,鼓励新兴工商业;第二,提高就业;第三,复兴废弃地区;第四,减少犯罪。主要政策措施是先后实施了城市发展公司、企业开发区、特别工作组和城市行动队等方案和计划。撒切尔政府的内城区政策在一些城市的复兴过程中是成功的,但也存在诸如“创造单位工作的成本”过高等不足。因此说,这一时期许多城市旧城区的复兴仅仅是有利于经济发展,但内城区问题并没有解决。     

推进城乡统筹发展全面建设农村小康社会

加快以区域经济为主的农村经济发展 ,必须真正确立快速、高效、协调、可持续和全面发展的新的发展观 ,以避免把单纯国内生产总值增长看成发展 ,避免以资源浪费、生态环境破坏来换取经济指标 (如GDP、GNP、NI)的增长。发达的地区域经济 ,必须有发达的农村经济 ;富裕的农村经济 ,必然有富裕的农民。当前 ,尤其要统筹城乡社会经济发展 ,着力解决制约农业农村发展的主要矛盾 ,使城乡差异最终走向城乡一体、均衡推进、协调发展 ,最终全面实现农村小康社会。     

从生态翻译学角度看葛浩文译《生死疲劳》

生态翻译学是从生态学视角对翻译的综合整体性研究。该理论强调“译者中心,适应选择;汰弱留强,适者生存”以及译者翻译过程中在语言维、文化维和交际维的转换。以葛浩文译《生死疲劳》为例,从生态翻译学的角度研究译本,凸显生态翻译学对译者翻译水平的高要求。