“One,none, and a hundred thousand” recipes for a robust response to turbulence

Turbulence appears to be a “new normal” in current societies, and public organizations need to learn how to react and adapt to it. Scholars agree on the need for robust actions to respond to turbulence. Through a qualitative comparative analysis performed on the vaccination campaigns of all 20 Italian regions, our paper explores whether different and alternative models of robustness may exist to cope with turbulence. Results shed light on three alternative models featuring static, hybrid, and dynamic robustness. They also highlight that robust governance appears to involve a capacity to learn, and to employ this learning as circumstances demand.     

Will Gender Self-Declaration Undermine Women's Rights and Lead to an Increase in Harms?

This article considers and rejects claims that reform of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA) to allow gender self-declaration will undermine non-trans women's rights and lead to an increase in harms to non-trans women. The article argues that these claims are founded on a mistaken understanding of the proper legal relationship between the GRA and the Equality Act 2010 (EA), and that the harm claim, in any event, lacks a proper evidential basis. The article considers three legal arguments made by gender critical feminists: that sex-based exceptions under the EA cannot be invoked against trans women with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), that the appropriate legal comparator for a trans woman non GRC-holder in a discrimination case is a non-trans man, and that section 22 of the GRA, which protects the privacy of GRC-holders, undermines the ability of women's organisations to regulate access to women-only spaces.     

A bit of basic,a bit of applied? R&D strategies and firm performance

The Journal of Technology Transfer - Most studies analysing the relationship between R&D and firm growth focus on total R&D investment. This paper aims to analyse separately each...     

Besting Monarchy: The Anti-Classism Argument

Following the death of a monarch and the crowning of another, this article considers monarchy as a topic in political theory. It seeks to revitalise the topic, which has been given limited attention by political theorists in recent years. It identifies traditional objections to monarchy, alongside newer objections that attack it (particularly the British institution) for being racist and imperialist. However, those objections—though increasingly common—are not fatal to monarchy as an idea. This article develops an argument against monarchy based on the concept of classism: discrimination based on a person's class. Reframing familiar criticisms of monarchy for being elitist and snobbish, the anti-classism argument draws on discrimination theory to outline the best objection to monarchy at the conceptual level.     

After One Hundred Years of Service: Hegemony,Pan-Americanism,and the Monroe Doctrine Centennial Anniversary, 1923

ABSTRACT

In 1923, the United States celebrated the centennial anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine. Overlooked by historians, the centennial served as more than an isolated moment of memorialisation; this analysis investigates the ways in which it shaped and reflected domestic perceptions of the place of the United States in the world during the early 1920s. The various celebratory events that took place across the nation re-enforced the discordant nature of United States national security by emphasising and exacerbating the doctrine’s disputed meaning. By providing a forum in which it could be scrutinised, the centennial emphasised the policy’s fractured meaning and demonstrated that both regional hegemony in the Western Hemisphere and Pan-Americanism were perceived as core values of United States national security that emanated from the doctrine’s enunciation in 1823.     

User Requirements Elicitation in Security and Counter-Terrorism: A Human Factors Approach

This paper presents work conducted as part the ‘Shades of Grey’ (EP/H02302X/1) research project that aims to develop scientific interventions for the detection of suspicious behaviors in public spaces. To provide an understanding of security and counter-terrorism work in different contexts the project adopted a human factors approach as part of a program of user requirements gathering exercises. These activities focussed on the needs of different end-users and stakeholders, ranging from frontline security personnel, managers and strategic security policy makers. By taking a user-centred approach, the discipline of human factors can be integrated into the security/counter-terrorism domain to support the design of practical security solutions. This paper presents a case study investigation using data collected from three security agencies. Common themes are explored, ranging from ‘the importance of temporal measures’ to ‘enhancing positive user experiences’. These factors are discussed in relation to the practical application of human factors methods within security research.     

Treated sex offenders as “paraprofessional” co-workers in the treatment of the sex offender

This paper will briefly review the utilization of the paraprofessional in a community-based sex offender treatment programme in Merseyside, UK. The paraprofessionals are treated paedophiles in the role of treatment co-facilitators. Further thoughts on the role dynamic, training issues and supervision are discussed. This is an example of service-user involvement in practice.