Value is Simple. Valuation is Complex

Value can appear so complicated that it is not only a terribly intimidating topic, but actually fruitless to pursue. That is, the concept of value is either a dead end or best left to the experts. We disagree. At the most general level, having value can be understood as having the capacity to be measured and compared against another thing (or a standard). This is consistent with Marxian concepts (which are elaborated with special reference to the capitalist value form), but it is also simple and general enough to provide a transportable frame for discussing the role of value and measurement in any context imaginable, whether it be a discussion of spiritualism, collective action, economic data, or physical science. Marx directs our attention to the political constitution of systems of measure on the very first page of Capital, and there is now a great deal of work in geography and in science and technology studies on the social constitution of systems of valuation. We believe a crucial topic deserves an accessible approach that reveals unities rather than barriers, and thus supplement them with the moral and critical political-economic critique made possible by Marxian value theory.     

Capitalism is richer,democracy is safer

His recently published Acceptable Risk? Making Decisions in a Toxic Environmentinvestigates the organizational determinants of technological risks. He is presently conducting research on the Valdez oil spill disaster.     

Representation is Democracy

During the Cold War, arguments about representation were a significant part of international debates about democracy. Proponents of minimal democracy dominated these arguments, and their thin notions of representation became political common sense. I propose a view of representation that differs from the main views advocated during the Cold War. Representation has a central positive role in democratic politics: I gain political representation when my authorized representative tries to achieve my political aims, subject to dialogue about those aims and to the use of mutually acceptable procedures for gaining them. Thus the opposite of representation is not participation. The opposite of representation is exclusion – and the opposite of participation is abstention. Rather than opposing participation to representation, we should try to improve representative practices and forms to make them more open, effective, and fair.     

God is Back

The secularisation thesis holds that religion and modernity are incompatible: the more modern society becomes the more people will either neglect religion or consign it to the sidelines. This is wrong. Religion continues to play a vital role in public life and international relations. The most successful religions are the hottest religions such as Pentecostalism and fundamentalist Islam.     

Science is not value-free

The scientific attitude involves a willingness to be objective. But many falsely assume additionally that such willingness implies being completely value-free. Actually, scientific research is value-saturated. At every step one faces the question, “Which is the best way?” Not only is it better to be than not to be scientific, scientists believe, but one ought to seek what is best relative to all aspects of science. Exploration is limited to (1) problems, (2) attitude and (3) methods. Even prejudice, which is evil when bias prevents or produces false results, may also be good when it helps produce true conclusions. Do policy scientists have special obligations regarding this issue?     

Militancy is growing among

The debate on anti‐Zionism and the attempt to deny Jewish women the right to discuss their experience of antisemitism are manifestations of contradictory elements forming within the women's movement. The movement was established on the basis of perceived similarities between women but, as different groups have emphasized the importance of race, religion, ethnic origin and nationality, regard has diminished for the theme of sisterhood and universality.     

何为公共治理？

治理理论自上世纪末兴起于西方发达国家。它首先在国际经济领域兴起,并在英美的“新公共管理运动”中实践,在理论渊源上它以新自由主义为后盾。公共治理应该成为公共行政领域中“治理”一词的主要含义,而在自组织治理的基础上,政府必须介入到自组织治理中,并起到“元治理”作用,以防止治理失灵。公共治理与统治和新公共管理存在着明显的区别。     

All voting is strategic

All voting is strategic because the shared outcomes are note within the choice set of any voter, the elements of which can only be strategies. Voting behavior need not re- flect the individual's ordering of outcomes, and the conventional distinction between sincere and sophisticated voting is misguided. In voting choice, the ordinal ranking of outcomes must be supplemented by intrapersonal evaluation of utility differences among these outcomes and also by predictions concerning the behavior of other participants in the nexus of interdependence.