Staging Science: Authoritativeness and Fragility of Models and Measurement in the COVID-19 Crisis

In the COVID-19 crisis, society pins its hopes on science to play an authoritative role in reducing uncertainty and ambiguity. But is science up to the task? This is far from self-evident. The demands on science in times of crisis run counter to the values of good, normal science. Crisis science needs to be fast, univocal, personalized, and direct, while normal science is slow, contentious, collective, and sensitive to complexity. Science can only play its atypical role if it is staged in the public arena. Some patterns of staging stand out: personalization, visualization, and connection to lived experiences. So far, the staging of science has been successful, but it is fragile. The COVID-19 crisis shows the potential of well-staged forms of alliance between science and policy, but when the general assumption is that scientists will “solve” societal “problems,” the staging of science has gone too far.     

Does Stimulating Physical Activity Affect School Performance?

This paper investigates whether encouraging children to become more physically active in their everyday life affects their primary school performance. We use data from a field quasi-experiment called the Active Living Program, which aimed to increase active modes of transportation to school and active play among 8- to 12-year-olds living in low socioeconomic status (SES) areas in the Netherlands. Difference-in-differences estimations reveal that while the interventions increase time spent on physical activity during school hours, they negatively affect school performance, especially among the worst-performing students. Further analyses reveal that increased restlessness during instruction time is a potential mechanism for this negative effect. Our results suggest that the commonly found positive effects of exercising or participating in sports on educational outcomes may not be generalizable to physical activity in everyday life. Policymakers and educators who seek to increase physical activity in everyday life need to weigh the health and well-being benefits against the probability of increasing inequality in school performance.     

Re-visiting Mr. Nice. On organized crime as conversational interaction

Studies of organized crime often seem to have focus almost exclusively on its functionality and rationality. Many researchers tend to construct organized crime as an object, and then to find relations between ‘it’ and its environment. The focus then is on organized crime as a goal-driven object. This view holds that success in crime depends on the roles and tasks people assume. It equates success in crime with functional secrecy and obedience, and therefore with stability. Researchers are seldom interested in everyday, informal elements and events such as coincidental encounters that may occur in everyday life, or personal relationships which have no direct connection with criminal activities. Inspired by the work of Watts and Strogatz [84] and Stuart Kauffman [38, 39], this paper attempts to suggest a complementary perspective on organized crime. The focus here is on the messiness and unpredictability of everyday relations and interactions. This paper illustrates the usefulness of this alternative perspective through a re-reading of Howard Marks’ ego-document which was analysed earlier by Carlo Morselli in his work on network dynamics and criminal career opportunities.     

Strategy,market orientation and performance: the political context

This paper investigates the fit between the strategic posture of a political party and its political market orientation, and analyses the impact of this fit on party performance. For this purpose, a configuration theory logic is applied to the context of the political market; in particular, we develop strategic profiles (i.e. strategic postures and political market orientation) of four Belgian political parties represented in the Flemish Parliament. By comparing the strategic profiles derived from a questionnaire administered to 3148 party members with those of ‘theoretically ideal’ profiles, we uncover the ‘strategic misfit’ (or ‘misalignment’) for each party and then relate this misfit to party performance. Results indicate that there is a strong, negative relationship between the misalignment of actual and perceived strategic profiles on the one hand and performance on the other. However, the ‘ideal profiles’ differ with the strategic posture of a party. Thus, our findings show that it is not so much the strategic posture itself that will determine superior performance, but it is the strategic posture that the party aligns with implementing a particular political market orientation that is the most important factor. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does Disclosure of Performance Information Influence Street‐level Bureaucrats’ Enforcement Style?

Governments use different regulatory instruments to ensure that businesses owners or “inspectees” comply with rules and regulations. One tool that is increasingly applied is disclosing inspectees’ performance information to other stakeholders. Disclosing performance information has consequences for street‐level bureaucrats because it increases the visibility of their day‐to‐day work. Using a survey (n = 507) among Dutch inspectors of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, this article shows that the disclosure of performance information has an impact on enforcement style at the street level. Findings show that perceived disclosed performance information positively enhances all three dimensions of street‐level bureaucrats’ enforcement style (legal, facilitation, and accommodation). This effect is strongest for facilitation and accommodation and weakest for the legal style. Perceived resistance by inspectees partly explains this effect. Contrary to expectations, more perceived disclosure does not result in more but in less perceived resistance of inspectees by street‐level bureaucrats.     

A contribution to the conceptualization of political resources utilized in corporate political action

• This paper is an attempt at improving existing conceptualizations of corporate political resources. I contend that existing typologies are too vague, simplistic and incomplete on several points. This is why I firstly suggest a new typology and then offer some thoughts on the main characteristics of these resources. Lastly, I apply the idea of resource combination (or bundle) to political resources, showing that they can play three different roles in implementing two generic political strategies.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reconciliation between Korea and Japan

Although Japan and Korea formally normalized their relationsin 1965, these neighbours remain wary of each other becauseof their awkward history during the first half of the twentiethcentury, when Japan annexed Korea and oppressed the Koreansin many ways. Korean scholars believe strongly that this annexationwas "illegal" and that it constituted a violation of internationallaw when it occurred. Japanese scholars tend to admit that theJapanese occupation of Korea was brutal and caused enormoussuffering, but they are reluctant to acknowledge that the annexationwas "illegal", because other great powers were annexing smallcountries during that period. The US action supporting the overthrowof the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 and annexing Hawaii in 1898may be helpful in finding an appropriate resolution to the Japan–Koreastandoff. In 1993, the US Congress enacted a joint resolutionformally apologizing to the Native Hawaiian people and callingfor a "reconciliation" between the United States and the NativeHawaiians. This resolution acknowledged that the US diplomaticand military support for the 1893 overthrow was "illegal" andwas in violation of "international law". This strong statementseems to be an application of "intertemporal law", whereby presentviews of international law are applied to the events of the1890s, but, in any event, it is a powerful acknowledgment thata wrong occurred, causing injuries that can still be felt today.The reconciliation process between the United States and NativeHawaiians is now under way and, to be complete, it will requirethe restoration of the sovereignty of the Native Hawaiians anda return of land and resources to them. Japanese officials haveoffered apologies to the Koreans, but the reconciliation betweenthe two countries can become complete only if these apologiesare accompanied by a transfer of items of real value. This paperproposes that proper payments to the Korean comfort women anda renunciation by Japan of its claim to Dokdo/Takeshima (thetiny islands claimed by both countries) could serve to formalizethe reconciliation between these two neighbours.