Daisaku Ikeda’s philosophy of peace,education proposals,and Soka education: convergences and divergences in peace education

In this article, the authors introduce and explicate Daisaku Ikeda’s contributions to peace education. Ikeda is a Buddhist leader, peacebuilder, school founder, and prolific author whose six decades of contributions to peace education have had a global impact in practice but have remained unexamined in the extant, particularly Anglophone, literature. Using excerpts and bilingual discourse analysis of the Ikeda corpus, the authors focus on five aspects to trace the past, present, and future of Ikeda’s contributions to peace education: first, they trace the biographical roots of Ikeda’s contributions to his early educational experiences and encounter with Josei Toda (1900–1958). Second, they outline the Nichiren Buddhist philosophy informing Ikeda’s approach to peace education. Third, they explicate in the context of peace and peace education Ikeda’s concept of value-creating, or Soka education (soka kyoiku) relative to value-creating pedagogy (soka kyoikugaku) theorized by Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871–1944). In light of this relation, they also trace the origin of the Soka Gakkai International, of which Ikeda is founding president. Fifth, they clarify Ikeda’s educational proposals made explicitly under the label of ‘peace education,’ namely, cultural exchange, a United Nations for Education, and education for disarmament and human rights (including anti-bullying, sustainability, and global citizenship). The authors conclude that Ikeda’s perspectives, proposals, and practices of Soka education and ‘peace education’ can be viewed as a tripartite ontological model of a process of becoming, moving from inner transformation by means of dialogue to global citizenship.     

Towards an emerging paradigm of strategic communication: Core driving forces

Abstract

Major forces such as globalisation, the digital network revolution and the empowerment of myriad new stakeholders have resulted in a blurring of communication genres such as marketing and corporate communications, and are redefining the role of the communications professional within business and society. Such fundamental changes require that both scholars and practitioners challenge their own assumptions and consider the implications of these paradigm shifts. The values of the modernist age, resulting in linear, top-down, consensus-seeking decision-making behaviour, must be revisited to make way for emerging values such as activism, dialogue, communal values and dissent, which allow for co-creation and a multiplicity of viewpoints. This article reflects on paradigmatic debates and identifies shifts from modern to postmodern organisational practice, and how these impact on communication practices and integrated communication. Consideration is given to some theoretical, practical, research and educational implications of these shifts as core driving forces towards the new emerging paradigm of strategic communication, which can best be conceptualised as purposeful communication to realise the organisational mission.     

Participation,Dialogue, and Civic Engagement: Understanding the Role of Organized Civil Society in Promoting Active Citizenship in the European Union

Abstract

This article looks at current policies concerning the civic and political participation of youths, women, migrants, and minorities in the European Union. It highlights the ways in which active citizenship and civic engagement have become a political priority for European institutions. Representation of local policy actors at the supranational level and strategies for the inclusion of civil society provide a platform for evaluating the impact of Europeanization at the national and subnational level. The article focuses on key discourses and narratives associated with specific policy frames (e.g. European citizenship, European social policies, and the European public sphere (EPS)). Some of the key questions addressed by the article are: What are the strategies that are employed, both by the European institutions in Brussels and organized civil society (OCS), to enhance participation and reciprocal communication? What vision of governance do practices such as active engagement and civil dialogue represent? Drawing on current theories of governance, our article contributes to the debate about the EPS by evaluating the role of OCS in bridging the gap between European institutions and national polities. Equally, our focus on traditionally marginal groups provides a platform for assessing the institutionalization of the ‘European social dimension’.     

Making a difference: On the constraints of consensus building and the relevance of deliberation in stakeholder dialogues

This article illuminates the contribution of stakeholder dialogues to environmental policy making. It makes a distinction between stakeholder dialogues as consensus building and stakeholder dialogues as deliberation. Although consensus building seems to be the dominant approach in participatory environmental policy making, this article questions the merits of consensus building and it uses the experience of the Dutch stakeholder dialogue project Climate OptiOns for the Long term (COOL) to explore, in a deliberative design, the shortcomings of a consensus-building approach and how they are possibly dealt with. The article presents the results of two deliberative methods that have been used in the COOL project – the repertory grid analysis and the dialectical approach – to demonstrate how a deliberative design can help policy makers to critically assess arguments in favor of and against a broad range of policy options, and deal with stakeholder conflict in an early phase of the policy process.     

Trade Unions and Employment Relations in Italy during the Economic Crisis

Abstract

Many of the usual assumptions about the impact of the economic crisis on trade unions and employment relations only partially fit the Italian case. Trade unions during the crisis showed resilience both organisationally and as important actors in economic and political life. Also, the national industry level reaffirmed itself as the key level in industrial relations. Explanations of these unexpected outcomes have to do with some features of all three actors of Italian employment relations. Trade unions have become over time a relevant actor not just in the industrial relations arena but in several other spheres of Italian society and politics. As to employers, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have tended to prefer national sectoral-level agreements and set rather low wage standards, while employers’ associations have shown an organisational interest in preserving centralised bargaining where they play a role. Finally, governments have been too weak and short-lived to follow a consistent strategy of unilateral decision-making.     

司法审查的第三条道路——弱司法审查的兴起、发展及其中国意义

如何处理议会与法院关系,进而很好地保护人权,对世界各国来说都是一个重要且棘手的问题。长期以来人们只能在威斯敏斯特的议会至上和美国式司法审查模式之间做出非此即彼的选择。然而,1980年代之后,一种允许法院通过司法审查积极保护人权,但同时又尊重民主所要求的人民自我统治的新的司法审查模式,即弱司法审查模式正在兴起。梳理此一模式的制度发展脉络和相关学术争论,客观评价此种司法审查模式对“议会／法院”关系的处理以及人权的保护所可能带来的影响,并在此基础之上反思此种模式对于中国可能的意义,毫无疑问,是十分重要的。     

政治与行政两分理论的跨文化对话

政治与行政二分法是西方国家行政学中一个有经久影响力和讨论价值的理论,被专家们认为是行政管理实践的核心要点。本文运用这一理论的基本原理来考察中国的国家管理实践,揭示其分析价值,沟通东西方管理思想的对话。笔者提出,如果理解正确、运用恰当,西方政治与行政两分的讨论可以为中国进一步的行政和公共政策改革提供十分有益的视角和思路,即：注重政治与行政的专业化分工、加强独立问责、以民主政治和精细化管理的精神改革中国的政治决策程序和提高政府机关的行政能力,综合提高现代国家治理能力。     

公共对话式政策执行及其支持性维度分析

顺应当前的行政民主化浪潮,政策执行中引入对话协商,即公共对话式政策执行,代表了政策执行领域的一种对话性转向,具有重要的理论与现实意义。公共对话式政策执行的支持性维度包括:动机性维度——利益偏好,保障性维度——行动与信任合作,政治性维度——话语民主,情境性与能动性维度——社会建构。这些支持性维度与公共对话式政策执行之间存在着双向的促进作用,共同推动实现政策执行过程的合法性与有效性。公共对话式政策执行这一议题是一个初始性研究,存在诸多有待进一步思考与分析的问题,但公共对话本身所蕴含的巨大潜力,表明其将有着良好的发展前景。     

Theorizing identity: beyond the ‘us’ and ‘them’ dichotomy

ABSTRACT

Yuval-Davis discusses three interconnected questions relating to identity. She first examines whether and in what ways the notion of identity should be theorized, on the one hand, and empirically researched, on the other, focusing on the opposing views of Stuart Hall and Robin Williams. She then examines the contested question of what is identity, positioning it in relation to notions of belonging and the politics of belonging, and in relation to several influential schools of thought, especially those that construct identity as a mode of narrative, as a mode of performativity or as a dialogical practice. Her third interrelated question concerns the boundaries of identity and the relationship between self and non-self. She explores both social psychological and psychoanalytical approaches to that question, and deals with questions such as reflexivity, identifications and forced identities. The last part of the article explores several types of relationships between self and non-self, such as: ‘me’ and ‘us’; ‘me/us’ and ‘them’; ‘me’ and other ‘others’; ‘me’ and the transversal ‘us/them’. Yuval-Davis's basic argument here is that dichotomous notions of identity and difference, when theorizing boundaries of individual and collective identities, are more misleading than explanatory.     

解决两性问题的途径--"对话"通达两性和谐

霸权的文化传统和刻板的角色规范,在贬抑女人的同时,也使男人面临强大的社会压力。为改变不合理的价值规范和社会偏见,男女两性都做出了卓越的努力,向传统的价值社会发起了强有力的抗争,但事实一再地说明,任何一方的力量都无法建构一个符合两性愿望的社会构架。马丁.布伯的对话哲学,相信“凡真实的人生都是相遇的”,认为男女两性若要实现相互的和谐,最佳途径是选择对话,通过对话实现两者本位属性的回归。两性问题应由两性共同解决,对话是唯一的解决途径。