Discourses and Strategic Visions: The U.S. Research University as an Institutional Manifestation of Neoliberalism in a Global Era

It is argued widely that the academy today is in the process of significant change—in the institutional assumptions of what constitutes the university and the construction of knowledge and in its relations with the city and the world. This article addresses the evolution of the modern university in the context of the discourses of contemporary globalizing institutions. Further, it empirically assesses the organizational priorities of U.S. research universities in light of the application of these discourses to their objectives and practices, finding that they are playing a key role in the formal representation of the institutional direction, goals, and values of American higher education.

Mapping the End Times:American Evangelical Geopolitics and Apocalyptic Visions

Over the last quarter-century, evangelicalism has become an important social and political force in modern America. Here, new voices in the field are brought together with leading scholars such as William E. Connolly, Michael Barkun, Simon Dalby, and Paul Boyer to produce a timely examination of the spatial dimensions of the movement, offering useful and compelling insights on the intersection between politics and religion. This comprehensive study discusses evangelicalism in its different forms, from the moderates to the would-be theocrats who, in anticipation of the Rapture, seek to impose their interpretations of the Bible upon American foreign policy. The result is a unique appraisal of the movement and its geopolitical visions, and the wider impact of these on America and the world at large.

Hollywood and world cinema influences: tracing intertextuality in the works of two contemporary filmmakers from Francophone Africa; Mahamat Saleh Haroun and Abderrahmane Sissako

Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass Anton Chekhov Representations of Africa in cinema are almost as old as cinema itself and date back to Hollywood’s silent era. Most early examples feature the continent as a mere exotic backdrop and include The Sheik (Melford 1921), soon followed, in 1926, by George Fitzmaurice’s Son of the Sheik starring Rudolph Valentino. The next decade brought Van Dyke’s Tarzan movies, Robert Stevenson’s King Solomon’s Mines (1937), and, on the European side, Duvivier’s Pépé le Moko (1936). For representations of Francophone Africa by Africans themselves, the viewing public more or less had to wait, however, until decolonisation in the 1960s (with, for example, Sembene Ousmane’s Borom Sarret and La Noire de…, both released in 1966 and, in 1968, Mandabi). Since then Francophone African cinema has come a long way and has diversified into various strands. Between Borom Sarret and Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s 2006 Daratt, Saison sèche - or the same director’s Un homme qui crie, almost half a century has elapsed. Over this period, films inevitably have addressed a spectrum of visual, ideological and political tropes. They range from unadorned depictions of the newly independent states and their societies to highly aestheticised productions, not to mention surreal and poetic visions as displayed for instance in Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki (1973). Most of the early films send an overt socio-political message which is a clear and explicit denunciation of a corrupt state of affairs (Souleymane Cissé’s Baara, 1977). They aim to trigger strong emotional and political responses from the viewer, in unambiguous support for the film-maker’s stand. Sembene himself declared: “I consider cinema a means of political action” (Murphy 2000: 221). Similarly, the Mauritanian director Med Hondo wishes to “take up this technical medium and to make it a mouthpiece on behalf of [his] fellow Africans and Arabs” (Jeffries 2002: 11). All this echoes the claims of the Fédération Panafricaine des Cinéastes (FEPACI, founded in 1969), an organisation “dedicated to the liberation of Africa”. In sharp contrast to the incipient momentum given Francophonie by Bourguiba, the Nigerien Hamani Diori and the Senegalese Senghor, who invoked a worldwide communauté organique francophone, FEPACI called for “the creation of an aesthetics of disalienation… [using] didactic... forms to denounce the alienation of countries that were politically independent but culturally and economically dependent on the West” (Diawara 1996: 40). Sembene’s Xala (1974) became the blueprint for this, to this day the best-known vein of Francophone African cinema. Thus considered, this pedigree seems a million miles from mainstream global cinema with its overriding mission to entertain. A question therefore arises: to what extent can a cinema that sprang from such beginnings be seen to interface in any meaningful way with a global film industry that, overwhelmingly and for a century, has indeed entertained the world – with Hollywood at its centre?

Télé/visions : les intellectuels canadiens-français et l'avènement de la télévision (1952-1962)

Cette étude s'intéresse à la perception de l'avènement de la télévision (1952-1962) du point de vue des intellectuels canadiens-français. À cette époque, la province du Québec est dirigée par le gouvernement conservateur de l'Union nationale de Maurice Duplessis qui semble indélogeable pendant les années 1950. En même temps, l'Église catholique maintient son contrôle sur la société canadienne-française, plus particulièrement ses idéologies. Dans ce climat, la discordance intellectuelle avec ces deux pouvoirs mène souvent à la marginalité. Pour diverses raisons, la télévision, et plus particulièrement la Société Radio-Canada (SRC), ne sont pas soumises à ces contraintes. Nouveau média, tout doit être crée pour « alimenter le monstre », comme il a été déjà dit. Si l'équivalent anglophone de la SRC peut acheter des émissions sur le marché international, la télévision francophone mondiale est embryonnaire. L'antenne montréalaise de la SRC se retrouve en situation autarcique et doit s'appuyer sur les ressources du Canada français pour créer ses émissions d'actualités et de divertissements. Un déf de taille attend les premiers artisans de la télévision. Dans ce contexte, comment les intellectuels canadiens-français ont-ils perçu l'avènement de la télévision? Cette étude tente d'apporter quelques éléments de réponse en prenant en compte l'idéologie des intellectuels.

Visions de libération du ‘dogmatisme’ musulman pour une meilleure gestion de la pluralité morale et religieuse en Occident : analyse comparative de la pensée de Muhammad Arkoun et de Tariq Ramadan sur les rapports entre tradition et modernité

Suite aux grands changements politiques, économiques et sociaux que l’Occident a connus depuis plus d’un siècle, de nombreux problèmes ont émergé, de nouveaux défis ont été lancés et plusieurs approches et solutions ont été avancées. L’avènement de la démocratie, un exploit humain inestimable, a plus ou moins règlementé la pluralité idéologique, pour permettre un exercice politique organisé. Aujourd’hui, dans le nouvel ordre mondial, c’est la pluralité morale et religieuse qui a besoin d’être gérée; un défi pour les institutions démocratiques et pour la société civile, afin de réaliser un mieux vivre-ensemble dans le dialogue, la compréhension et le compromis. Or, beaucoup de travail est encore à faire : dans un premier temps, à l’intérieur de chaque tradition religieuse; dans un deuxième temps, entre les différentes traditions; et dans un troisième temps, entre ces traditions et la modernité. Le ‘dogmatisme’ est au cœur de ces débats, qu’il soit d’ordre traditionnel ou moderne, il entrave la raison dans son processus de libération et d’émancipation. La problématique de ce mémoire concerne la gestion de la pluralité morale et religieuse en Occident. Dans ce travail, nous allons essayer de démontrer comment la libération du dogmatisme en général et la libération du ‘dogmatisme’ musulman, en particulier, peuvent contribuer à la réalisation d’un mieux vivre-ensemble en Occident. Pour ce faire, nous analyserons les projets de deux penseurs musulmans contemporains : Muhammad Arkoun et Tariq Ramadan. Notre recherche va essentiellement se pencher sur leurs attitudes vis-à-vis de la tradition et de la modernité, car, nous pensons que l’enjeu du ‘dogmatisme’ est lié aux rapports des musulmans à leur tradition et à la modernité. Selon nos deux penseurs, la libération du ‘dogmatisme’ musulman n’est possible qu’à condition de pouvoir changer à la fois notre rapport à la tradition et à la modernité. Arkoun pense que ce changement doit suivre le modèle de la libération occidentale, au moyen d’une critique subversive de la tradition islamique. Cependant, Ramadan opte pour une réforme radicale de la pensée islamique qui vise une critique globale de la tradition, mais, qui épargne les fondements de la foi : le ‘sacré’.

New visions for addressing sustainability

Attaining sustainability will require concerted interactive efforts among disciplines, many of which have not yet recognized, and internalized, the relevance of environmental issues to their main intellectual discourse. The inability of key scientific disciplines to engage interactively is an obstacle to the actual attainment of sustainability. For example, in the list of Millennium Development Coals from the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002, the seventh of the eight goals, to "ensure environmental sustainability," is presented separately from the parallel goals of reducing fertility and poverty, improving gains in equity, improving material conditions, and enhancing population health. A more integrated and consilient approach to sustainability is urgently needed.

Visions of the virtual : the role of computers and artificial intelligence in a selection of Australian young adult fiction

Advances in computer technology over the last twenty years have resulted in a number of different visions of what it means to be real, and of what it means to be human. This paper will explore how computers and artificial intelligence are used as major themes in four Australian novels written for young adults: Gillian Rubinstein’s Space Demons trilogy — comprising Space Demons, Skymaze and Shinkei — and Michael Pryor’s The Mask of Caliban. In so doing, the paper will look at how these texts explore the relationship between increasingly developed technology and visions of a better world. By comparing a series of oppositions that occur in all four books, this paper will look at how the theme of technology is used to privilege particular values and to advocate particular beliefs.

Public relations practice in ASEAN nations: local, regional, global visions

 This thesis examines the views, concerns and outlooks of public relations practitioners in six countries of South East Asia, seeking to understand the extent to which their views about their work and their world correspond with those of practitioners in the developed countries of the west. It reveals a range of distinctive issues and concerns requiring greater recognition in international public relations literature.

Financing for sustainable development: visions and proposals for action from a Latin American and Caribbean perspective

Foreword Throughout the preparatory process for the World Summit on Sustainable Development and at the Summit itself, which was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002, discussions were dominated by one central concern: the need to define and reach consensus on concrete, quantitative goals, with fixed deadlines for implementation, which were to supplement the Millennium Development Goals and facilitate progress towards an effective transition to sustainable development. Participants at the Summit explicitly affirmed the need, as a matter of urgency, to identify the financial and technical resources whereby sustainable development would become a reality and benefit directly and particularly rural and urban communities in the developing countries. The document we are now presenting is the outcome of extensive discussions held at a high-level forum during the Johannesburg Summit. Led by representatives of the Government of Mexico, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Andean Development Corporation, those discussions were based on the ECLAC/UNDP study entitled Financing for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean: from Monterrey to Johannesburg, which considers the opportunities and challenges for improving prospects for investment and financing for sustainable development and underscores the need to establish a new balance between the market economy and public interest through joint public/private initiatives that combine market innovation, social responsibility and appropriate regulations. Other eminent persons attending the event included heads of State, such as Gustavo Noboa, then President of Ecuador; Enrique V. Iglesias, President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); José María Figueres, Managing Director of the Global Agenda of the World Economic Forum and former President of Costa Rica; and Gro Harlem Brundtland, the legendary figure who pioneered sustainable development. Valuable contributions to the discussions were made by Yolanda Kakabadse, President of the World Conservation Union; Xóchitl Gálvez Ruiz, head of the Unit for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of the Office of the President of Mexico; Cecilia López, former Minister for the Environment of Colombia; and Juan Carlos Maqueda, then Vice President of Argentina. The views emerging from the forum as set forth in this document are designed to facilitate and promote application of the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals and the commitments assumed at the International Conference on Financing for Development, which was held in Monterrey, Mexico. We also aspire to continue moving forward with the adoption of measures and policies to increase investment and financing for sustainable development as well as to foster partnerships between the public and private sectors and nongovernmental organizations. We recognize, in this context, the importance of strengthening and improving public and private institutions in order to meet the operational needs associated with the effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and pursue the Plan of Implementation formulated in Johannesburg. We trust that this document will contribute to in-depth discussions on the application of the Plan of Implementation in the relevant forums, in particular the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. The Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development opens up new opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean to renew and revive their own regional agenda -with emphasis on global and especially regional public goods- and to interweave it more cohesively with the global agenda in order to promote the common interests of Latin America and the Caribbean more forcefully in international development forums. The regional agenda and the global agenda cannot be separated in a contrived manner; indeed, to an increasing degree, what we are witnessing are global environmental processes which call for action at the local level. The achievement of sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the necessary economic, social, environmental and geopolitical conditions are combined, requires a subtle balance between the market economy, the State and the citizen. Such a balance will result in the consolidation of democratic governance in the service of human development. VICENTE FOX President of Mexico JOSÉ ANTONIO OCAMPO Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) ELENA MARTÍNEZ Assistant Aministrator and Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ENRIQUE GARCÍA Executive President, Andean Development Corporation (ADC)""

Raúl Prebisch and the dilemma of development in the globalised world

Includes bibliography

National visions matter: lessons of success. Proceedings of a public-private sector development forum

Includes bibliography

Between Conservation and Development: Concretizing the First World Natural Heritage Site in the Alps Through Participatory Processes

This article presents an empirical interdisciplinary study of an extensive participatory process that was carried out in 2004 in the recently established World Natural Heritage Site “Jungfrau–Aletsch– Bietschhorn” in the Swiss Alps. The study used qualitative and quantitative empirical methods of social science to address the question of success factors in establishing and concretizing a World Heritage Site. Current international scientific and policy debates agree that the most important success factors in defining pathways for nature conservation and protection are: linking development and conservation, involving multiple stakeholders, and applying participatory approaches. The results of the study indicate that linking development and conservation implies the need to extend the reach of negotiations beyond the area of conservation, and to develop both a regional perspective and a focus on sustainable regional development. In the process, regional and local stakeholders are less concerned with defining sustainability goals than elaborating strategies of sustainability, in particular defining the respective roles of the core sectors of society and economy. However, the study results also show that conflicting visions and perceptions of nature and landscape are important underlying currents in such negotiations. They differ significantly between various stakeholder categories and are an important cause of conflicts occurring at various stages of the participatory process.

The words of God: Religious texts and the Counter -Reformation in the Spanish world

This dissertation analyzes a variety of religious texts such as catechisms, confession manuals, ecclesiastical legislation, saints' lives, and sermons to determine the definitions of orthodoxy held by the Spanish clergy and the origins of such visions. The conclusion posited by this research was that there was a definite continuity between the process of Catholic reform in Spain and the process of Catholic expansion into the New World in that the objectives and concerns of the Spanish clergy in Europe and the New World were very similar. This dissertation also analyzes sources that predated the Council of Trent and demonstrates that within the Iberian context the Council of Trent cannot be used as a starting date for the attempts at Catholic reform. In essence, this work concludes the Spanish clergy's activities were influenced by humanist concepts of models and model behaviour which is reflected in their attempt to form model Catholics in Spain and the New World and in their impulse to produce written texts as standards. ^