Sentidos de solidariedade

A solidariedade ressurge, na contemporaneidade, como valor ético e princípio jurídico, envolvendo o desafio da responsabilidade para com o outro. Torna-se fundamental, assim, investigar os diversos sentidos de solidariedade, a qual se mostra relevante para a construção de um espaço comum, marcado pelo respeito à pluralidade e destinado a uma eficaz proteção aos necessitados. Um dos princípios norteadores deste trabalho é a indagação acerca de até onde estamos dispostos a financiar um sistema fundado no princípio da solidariedade. Outro questionamento também se revela essencial: seria preciso buscar, em alguma esfera de transcendência, motivações possíveis para a solidariedade num mundo pós-moderno que parece primar pelo individualismo exacerbado? Na busca por respostas, delineia-se um sentido específico do humano, voltado à responsabilidade para com o outro, sobretudo para com aquele que é estranho, estrangeiro, diferente. A solidariedade, para além da mera noção de tolerância que incorpora a diferença, exige um compromisso coletivo. Alcançar a plenitude polissêmica da solidariedade passa pelo esforço de valorizar a diversidade humana, de modo a viabilizar o agir conjunto, pressuposto basilar da atitude política.

La calle rojinegra. Anarcosindicalismo, rituales de movilización y símbolos en el espacio público (1931-1936)

Este artículo se centra en el análisis de la tipología, características y evolución de algunos de los diversos rituales de movilización y símbolos desplegados en el espacio público por las distintas organizaciones y núcleos de militantes de signo confederal y anarquista en España durante los años de la Segunda República, antes del estallido de la sublevación militar de julio de 1936. Entre ellos: huelgas, insurrecciones revolucionarias, mítines, manifestaciones, excursiones, entierros de militantes, etc. El propósito de estas acciones era claro: tanto la cohesión y reafirmación identitaria internas, como la proyección externa del movimiento. Con estas estrategias de acción colectiva, que suponían una “salida” al espacio público, se trataba de hacer visible allí la fuerza del movimiento y reafirmar la presencia física de este, sus reivindicaciones y aspiraciones. Esta visibilidad se reforzaba mediante el despliegue de los símbolos propios: himnos, canciones, banderas, etc.

Multimodal analysis of a sample of political posters in Ireland during and after the Celtic Tiger

The aim of this research paper is to analyse the key political posters made for the campaigns of Irish political party Fianna Fáil framed in the Celtic Tiger (1997-2008) and post-Celtic Tiger years (2009-2012). I will then focus on the four posters of the candidate in the elections that took place in 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2011 with the intention of observing first how the leader is represented, and later on pinpointing the similarities and possible differences between each. This is important in order to observe the main linguistic and visual strategies used to persuade the audience to vote that party and to highlight the power of the politician. Critical discourse analysis tools will be helpful to identify the main discursive strategies employed to persuade the Irish population to vote in a certain direction. Van Leeuwen’s (2008) social actor theory will facilitate the understanding of how participants are represented in the corpus under analysis. Finally, the main tools of Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual grammar (2006) will be applied for the analysis of the images. The study reveals that politicians are represented in a consistently positive way, with status and formal appearance so that people are persuaded to vote for the party they represent because they trust them as political leaders. The study, thus, points out that the poster is a powerful tool used in election campaigns to highlight the power of political parties.

Raiders of the Lost Art: Strategy-Making in Europe. Security Policy Brief No. 40, November 2012

Have Europeans lost the art of making grand strategy? In a reflection process initiated by Sweden, Poland, Italy and Spain, they are invited to rediscover it and draft a “European Global Strategy”. This policy brief argues that what the EU needs most is a short set of priorities for collective action, to be reassessed for each term of the High Representative.

Ukraine, Russia and the need for more flexibility in EU foreign policy-making. CEPS Policy Brief No. 320, 25 July 2014

After the illegal annexation of Crimea and Russia’s indirect responsibility for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine, Steven Blockmans asks what it will take before the EU is able to confront a conflict on its borders and prove to both its own citizens and third countries that it has a meaningful role to play in foreign policy. With numerous competing national interests and some member states unwilling to pay different prices for collective action, any sector-wide EU sanctions are likely to lack serious bite. In an effort to paper over the cracks, the author makes a number of recommendations for policy-makers.

Structure as Process: The Regularized Intergovernmentalism of Franco-German Bilateralism, CES Germany & Europe Working Papers, No.02.3, 2002

This article systematically scrutinizes the intergovernmental and administrative aspects of Franco- German relations with the 1963 Elysée Treaty at their core. This treaty, together with its various additions and extensions, has defined the basic processes of bilateral interaction between the French and German states. Recurrent tension in Franco-German relations notwithstanding, many observers and participants have viewed France and Germany to be connected particularly closely since the 1960s. This article explores key elements of what it is that links France and Germany. Thereby it clarifies the concept of regularized intergovernmentalism, suggests viewing this specific set of international practices from a social-structural perspective, and evaluates the effects and limits of such regularized procedures. Its findings suggest that bilateral structures have complemented and undergirded a broadly multilateral post-World War II world and are likely to continue to do.

The Principle of Common Concern and Climate Change

Effective policies combating global warming and incentivising reduction of greenhouse gases face fundamental collective action problems. States defending short term interests avoid international commitments and seek to benefit from measures combating global warming taken elsewhere. The paper explores the potential of Common Concern as an emerging principle of international law, in particular international environmental law, in addressing collective action problems and the global commons. It expounds the contours of the principle, its relationship to common heritage of mankind, to shared and differentiated responsibility and to public goods. It explores its potential to provide the foundations not only for international cooperation, but also to justify, and delimitate at the same time, unilateral action at home and deploying extraterritorial effects in addressing the challenges of global warming and climate change mitigation. As unilateral measures mainly translate into measures of trade policy, the principle of Common Concern is inherently linked and limited by existing legal disciplines in particular of the law of the World Trade Organization.

The report of the International Commission for Central American Recovery and Development : poverty, conflict, and hope /

Mode of access: Internet.

Philosophy and psychology pamphlets

A collection of miscellaneous pamphlets.

Annual analysis of decisions.

Report for 1937/30 covers period July 1937-Dec. 1939.

Strategic ambiguity as a rhetorical resource for enabling multiple interests

The literature on ambiguity reflects contradictory views on its value as a resource or a problem for organizational action. In this longitudinal empirical study of ambiguity about a strategic goal, we examined how strategic ambiguity is used as a discursive resource by different organizational constituents and how that is associated with collective action around the strategic goal. We found four rhetorical positions, each of which drew upon strategic ambiguity to construct the strategic goal differently according to whether the various constituents were asserting their own interests or accommodating wider organizational interests. However, we also found that the different constituents maintained these four rhetorical positions simultaneously over time, enabling them to shift between their own and other’s interests rather than converging upon a common interest. These findings are used to develop a conceptual framework that explains how strategic ambiguity might serve as a resource for different organizational constituents to assert their own interests whilst also enabling collective organizational action, at least of a temporary nature.

Ties that bind:understanding why and how diversity management relates to black and ethnic minority employees’ experience of organisational life

Despite much anecdotal and oftentimes empirical evidence that black and ethnic minority employees do not feel integrated into organisational life and the implications of this lack of integration for their career progression, there is a dearth of research on the nature of the relationship black and ethnic minority employees have with their employing organisations. Additionally, research examining the relationship between diversity management and work outcomes has returned mixed findings. Scholars have attributed this to the lack of an empirically validated measure of workforce diversity management. Accordingly, I sought to address these gaps in the extant literature in a two-part study grounded in social exchange theory. In Study 1, I developed and validated a measure of workforce diversity management practices. Data obtained from a sample of ethnic minority employees from a cross section of organisations provided support for the validity of the scale. In Study 2, I proposed and tested a social-exchange-based model of the relationship between black and ethnic minority employees’ and their employing organisations, as well as assessed the implications of this relationship for their work outcomes. Specifically, I hypothesised: (i) perception of support for diversity, perception of overall justice, and developmental experiences (indicators of integration into organisational life) as mediators of the relationship between diversity management and social exchange with organisation; (ii) the moderating influence of diversity climate on the relationship between diversity management and these indicators of integration; and (iii) the work outcomes of social exchange with organisation defined in terms of career satisfaction, turnover intention and strain. SEM results provide support for most of the hypothesised relationships. The findings of the study contribute to the literature on workforce diversity management in a number of ways. First, the development and validation of a diversity management practice scale constitutes a first step in resolving the difficulty in operationalising and measuring the diversity management construct. Second, it explicates how and why diversity management practices influence a social exchange relationship with an employing organisation, and the implications of this relationship for the work outcomes of black and ethnic minority employees. My study’s focus on employee work outcomes is an important corrective to the predominant focus on organisational-level outcomes of diversity management. Lastly, by focusing on ethno-racial diversity my research complements the extant research on such workforce diversity indicators as age and gender.

Sub-national responses to climate change in England:evidence from local area agreements

The machinery of governance to address climate change at the sub-national level in England continues to evolve. Drawing on documentary evidence and the views of civil servants and local authority officials from the English West Midlands, this article explores the process through an examination of the inclusion of climate change indicators in the recent round of Local Area Agreements (LAAs), negotiated between central government and local authorities and Local Strategic Partnerships. Considerable popularity has been accorded these indicators nationally, but there are important variations in the pattern of take up. Moreover, significant uncertainties surround the contribution of local measures to reduce CO2 emissions and the targets attached to measures to adapt to climate change are seen as undemanding. Conversely, the impending Carbon Reduction Commitment will act as a powerful incentive for public bodies to cut CO2 emissions from their estates. Although potentially contributing to greater coherence in tackling climate change, achieving collective action through LAAs will prove problematic.

Climate change and construction sector SMEs:vulnerability, consequences and resilience

Climate change has become one of the prime challenges the society has to face in the future. As far as businesses are concerned, it also has added one other important issue that they have to consider as part of their business planning. Climate change is of significant importance particularly to the Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are considered as the most vulnerable among the business community to the effects of climate change. This paper presents the findings of a literature review conducted with the aim of identifying the specific importance of climate change to the construction sector SMEs. The objectives of the paper are to identify the vulnerability of construction sector SMEs to the effects of climate change, their consequences and also to identify the importance of improving resilience and implementing adaptive measures to manage these issues. The paper also outlines the directions of a study undertaken to address these issues as part of an EPSRC funded research project titled “Community Resilience to Extreme Weather Events – CREW”. The paper concludes by stressing the importance of improving the resilience of construction sector SMEs to climate change effects and also the importance of collective action in this regard.

"Belonging” in the gentrified Golden Horn/Halic neighbourhoods of Istanbul

Mainstream gentrification research predominantly examines experiences and motivations of the middle-class gentrifier groups, while overlooking experiences of non-gentrifying groups including the impact of in situ local processes on gentrification itself. In this paper, I discuss gentrification, neighbourhood belonging and spatial distribution of class in Istanbul by examining patterns of belonging both of gentrifiers and non-gentrifying groups in historic neighbourhoods of the Golden Horn/Halic. I use multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), a methodology rarely used in gentrification research, to explore social and symbolic borders between these two groups. I show how gentrification leads to spatial clustering by creating exclusionary practices and eroding social cohesion, and illuminate divisions that are inscribed into the physical space of the neighbourhood.