Theory for Accounting or Accounting Theory: An Essay on the Interaction between Economics and Accounting

The disciplines of general economics and business economics have been growing apart. Business economics has a more practice oriented and multidisciplinary focus. The background for this paper is the question whether, and in what manner, general economics can contribute to the development of business economics. This paper delves into the roots of the old-institutional economic school, in particular into the ideas of Schmoller. More specifically, it is a preliminary investigation into the question whether the insights of the old-institutional school can have a bearing on (management) accounting research. Some future directions in this respect are suggested at the end.     

In a Violent World a Just World Makes Sense: The Case of “Senseless Violence” in The Netherlands

Recent violent incidents in The Netherlands caused nationwide debates about their purported senselessness. Building on Lerner's Just World Theory (Lerner, 1980, The Belief in a Just World. A Fundamental Delusion, Plenum Press, New York), the present experiment sought to delineate the circumstances under which violence is perceived as senseless by outside observers. Participants were more likely to perceive an act of violence as senseless and to identify with the victim when there was no opportunity to blame the victim and when the victim was uninvolved with the perpetrator. These findings suggest that acts of violence are perceived as senseless when attributional strategies fail to uphold observers' belief in a just world.     

Bringing Soul to International Negotiation

In this article, the author calls for a shift in training for international commercial negotiation, away from the standard Western linear, rational, fact-oriented style toward training that makes room for "soul." As used here, the term "soul" combines several concepts that integrate learning on human cognition, cultural intelligence, and effectiveness in international management. The article discusses soul in terms of three components: emotion and subjectivity, deep narratives rooted in faith and ethnic traditions, and cultural intelligence. The article presents three negotiation scenarios from around the globe, contrasting first-generation training approaches to next-generation training approaches that would value the unconscious processes of decision making.     

On learning terrorism

Abstract

The complex phenomenon of terrorism has been explained in a variety of ways, ranging from the narrowly psychological to the broadly political. Many of these hypotheses appear to have merit, although, standing alone, each tends to be inadequate or incomplete. Focusing on the psychological explanations of root cause, the instant discussion proposes that the hitherto neglected or taken‐for‐granted principles of human learning, particularly those of cognitive‐behavioral conditioning, can provide a useful and significant component to these explanations. The competence and commitment to the ways and means of terror are in large measure produced, intensified, and sustained through learning. Evidence, chiefly from psychological studies, is adduced to support this hypothesis. A few formal, sometimes state‐sponsored training programs based more or less on conditioning are briefly described. Some of the doctrines, particularly those that underpin Middle East terrorism and provide the justification and substantiation of what is taught, are also mentioned. It is suggested that the same procedures by which terrorism is indoctrinated may, in conjunction with other procedures, be employed to prevent and combat it. Although this strategy, in the present uncongenial socio‐cultural and geopolitical environments, will doubtless be difficult if not impossible to implement, it deserves to be explored as another potentially effective tool in the developing armamentarium of counter‐terrorism.     

Die Stärkung der Mitwirkungsrechte des Nationalrates und Bundesrates durch die Lissabon-Begleitnovelle

Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der Implementierung der parlamentarischen Kontrollrechte, die durch den Vertag von Lissabon unionsrechtlich eingeführt wurden, in ?sterreich. Die Ausführungen konzentrieren sich dabei auf die Ausgestaltung der Subsidiarit?tsrüge, der Subsidiarit?tsklage und der Mitwirkung von Nationalrat und Bundesrat bei den sog Passerelle (Brückenklauseln).