Justice and morality:human suffering, natural law and international politics

Bridging the contending theories of natural law and international relations, this book proposes a 'relational ontology' as the basis for rethinking our approach to international politics. The book contains a number of challenging and controversial ideas on the study of international political thought which should provoke constructive debate within international relations theory, political theory, and philosophical ethics. © Amanda Russell Beattie 2010. All rights reserved.

Global electrification:multinational enterprise and international finance in the history of light and power, 1878-2007

William J. Hausman, Peter Hertner, and Mira Wilkins. Global Electrification: Multinational Enterprise and International Finance in the History of Light and Power, 1878–2007. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. xxiv + 487 pp. ISBN 978-0-521-88035-0, $80 (hardcover).

'Only in the leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth':natural law and international relations

This article argues the benefits of including a theological interpretation of natural law morality within the normative discourses of international politics. It challenges the assumption of a Grotian secular natural law arguing that practical reason, in a Thomist interpretation, is better suited to the demands of international political theory. It engages with themes of agency, practical reason, and community in order to enhance the content of the post-territorial community evidenced in ethical cosmopolitan debates. Likewise, it envisions a simultaneously enhancing a rapprochement among cosmopolitan and communitarian discourses of international politics facilitated through an institutional design guided by the morality of natural law.

Human resource management:strategic and international perspectives

With a strong focus on employability, this new text treats international, strategic and contemporary issues as central to the study and practice of Human Resource Management. Covering the core curriculum, this book provides all the knowledge and tools you need to get the best possible grades and achieve great career success after university. Key Features •Skills and employability focus will help you to secure a job in the tough economic climate whether as an HRM specialist or as a line manager. •Debating HRM boxes will develop your critical thinking skills, valued by examiners and employers alike. •International and cross-cultural perspectives are woven into discussion and case studies to prepare you for the realities of the global workplace. •Contemporary and strategic issues such as ethics, justice and CSR are introduced early on to underpin and enhance your understanding of the core HRM functions. •Unique final part will ensure that your skills can be applied in a range of organisational settings including SMEs and the not-for-profit and voluntary sectors. •Mapped to the CIPD’s learning outcomes but with an emphasis on the role of line managers throughout. •Companion website includes full text journal articles, glossary and chapter podcasts

Critical factors influencing structure, strategy and international competitiveness of Greek businesses

DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

E-HR and international HRM:a critical perspective on the discursive framing of e-HR

In the current global economic climate, international HRM is facing unprecedented pressure to become more innovative, effective and efficient. New discourses are emerging around the application of information technology, with 'e-HR' (electronic-enablement of Human Resources), self-service portals and promises of improved services couched as various HR 'value propositions'. This study explores these issues through our engagement with the emergent stream of 'critical' HRM, the broader study of organizational discourse and ethical management theories. We have found that while there is growing research into the take-up of e-HR applications, there is a dearth of investigation into the impact of e-HR on the people involved; in particular, the (re)structuring of social relations between HR functions and line managers in the move away from face-to-face HR support services, to more technology-mediated 'self-service' relationships. We undertake a close reading of personal narratives from a multinational organization, deploying a critical discourse lens to examine different dimensions of e-HR and raise questions about the strong technocratic framing of the international language of people management, shaping line manager enactment of e-HR duties. We argue for a more reflexive stance in the conceptualization e-HR, and conclude with a discussion about the theoretical and practical implications of our study, limitations and suggestions for future research. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

State fragility and international development co-operation

Over the past few years addressing state fragility in the third world has become an important priority in international development cooperation. However, it seems that the international donor community has so far not been able to develop adequate instruments for dealing with the problems posed by state failure. We see two reasons for this: (i) there is growing recognition within the donor community that the lack of absorptive capacity, or bad economic policies in the partner country can actually make aid counterproductive, even harmful; and (ii) it is very difficult to manage effective development cooperation with weak governments. Channelling aid through NGOs, or giving limited aid in the form of capacity-building is clearly not sufficient to solve the problems fragile states face.

Engaging autobiography:mobility trauma and international relations

This article outlines the possibilities of autobiographical stories to criticize status quo iterations of International Relations (IR). The article draws on the personal experiences of the author’s deportation order issued by the United Kingdom’s Home Office and its associated Border Agency (UKBA) to challenge the accepted assumptions of a cosmopolitan worldview as it relates to orderly international institutional design. It highlights the possibilities of trauma when border management and personal mobility collide. It suggests that mobility trauma ensues when the expectations of human mobility, outlined in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, infringe the state’s role as security provider. It begins in part one with a challenge to the traditional role and understanding of international borders that sustain order within the international. It examines the unacknowledged role that human vulnerability plays within IR and institutional design while frankly engaging with human vulnerability and trauma in the second section. This section details the experiences of the author when her mobility rights were curtailed and the ensuing identity crisis prompted by such events. The final section investigates the ideas of critical cosmopolitan scholarship demanding that such discourses acknowledge and work through the possibility of failed agency when the demands of state security supersede individual mobility rights. It turns to the possibility of traumatic iterations of IR in order to probe such possibilities. The article suggests, in its conclusion, the possibility of storytelling and psychoanalysis to endorse unorthodox agency, and the possibility of a dynamic international institutional design, that challenges the status quo iterations of IR.

State Fragility and International Development Cooperation

Over the past few years addressing state fragility in the third world has become an important priority in international development cooperation. However, it seems that the international donor community has so far not been able to develop adequate instruments for dealing with the problems posed by state failure. We see two reasons for this: (i) there is growing recognition within the donor community that the lack of absorptive capacity, or bad economic policies in the partner country can actually make aid counterproductive, even harmful; and (ii) it is very difficult to manage effective development cooperation with weak governments. Channelling aid through NGOs, or giving limited aid in the form of capacity-building is clearly not sufficient to solve the problems fragile states face.

Kameralizmus, történelmi iskola, osztrák gazdaságtan. Három vázlat a német és osztrák közgazdasági diskurzus történetéből (Cameralism, the historical school and Austrian economics. Three outlines from the history of German and Austrian economic debate)

A kameralizmus a 16-18. századi német gyakorlati államtudomány és egyetemi tantárgy volt, amely összefoglalta a hivatalnokok képzéséhez szükséges elméleti és gyakorlati gazdasági ismereteket. Felfogása szerint az alattvalók jóléte és boldogsága feltétele az uralkodó gazdagságának, de az alattvalók önmaguktól nem képesek utat találni ehhez a boldogsághoz, szükség van az állandó külső irányításra. Igazgatásközpontúsága és egyetemi intézményesülése miatt nem tekinthető a merkantilizmus helyi változatának. Az 1840 és 1945 közötti német történeti iskola hagyományos ábrázolása több mint egy évszázadon át a német és a neoklasszikus tradíció szembenállását hangsúlyozta, kiemelve az organicizmus, a fejlődésgondolat és az egyediség jelentőségét, a szociális kérdés fontosságát, illetve a deduktív módszer és a gazdaság változatlan törvényeinek tagadását. A modern rekonstrukciók a történeti iskolát a posztklasszikus válságra adott egyik európai válaszként fogják fel, amely a történelemből levont, empirikusan megalapozott induktív alternatívát kínált. Az 1871-től kialakult osztrák iskola a neoklasszikus paradigmának egyszerre volt alkotórésze és versenytársa. A módszertani individualizmus, a szubjektivizmus, az idő fontossága, a tudás szerepe, az alternatív költségek elmélete stb. ugyan beépültek a mainstream közgazdaságtanba, de hangsúlyos kiemelésük lehetővé tette, hogy a társadalomelméleti magyarázat igényét őrző osztrák iskola megtartson valamit önálló beszédmódjából. / === / Cameralism was a practical political science and university subject in 16th–18th century Germany, summarizing the theoretical and practical economic knowledge required in the training of officials. The assumption was that the prosperity of the ruler depended on the welfare and happiness of the subjects, but the subjects themselves were not capable of achieving this happiness without permanent directions from above. Cameralism’s emphasis on administration and university institutionalization means that this approach cannot be seen as a local variant of mercantilism. The traditional account of the German historical school from 1840 to 1945 emphasized for over a century the contrast between the German and the Neoclassical traditions. It underlined the significance of the organic approach, the concept of development and individuality, the importance of the social question, and the denial of the deductive method and unalterable laws of the economy. Modern reconstructions see the historical school as one European response to the post-Classical crisis, offering an inductive alternative grounded empirically on history. The Austrian school formed in 1871 was at once a constituent of the Neoclassical paradigm and a rival to it. Methodological individualism, subjectivism, the importance of time, the role of knowledge, the theory of alternative costs etc. were absorbed into mainstream economics, but the focusing on these issues allowed the Austrian school, in keeping alive its demand for a social-theoretical explanation, to preserve something of an alternative discourse.

A gazdaságpolitikai döntéshozatal nemzetek fölötti centralizációja és a közösségi gazdaságtan. Az adóverseny elméletének néhány tanulsága (Supranational centralization of economic policy-making and community economics: some lessons from the theory of tax competition)

Mennyiben képes jelenleg a közösségi gazdaságtan az adópolitikák nemzetek fölötti centralizációjára vonatkozó politikai döntések megalapozására? Válaszunk röviden az lesz, hogy a közösségi gazdaságtan főárama - noha számos releváns gazdasági és politikai tényező hatását sikeresen elemzi - jelenleg nem kínál kielégítőnek tekinthető döntési kritériumokat a döntéshozók számára. Ennek oka, hogy központi szerepet játszik benne egy, a modellek szempontjából exogén és a közgazdasági elmélettől idegen tényező: a kormányzatok jóindulatára, pontosabban annak mértékére vonatkozó premissza. Tanulmányunk az adóverseny fiskális föderalista elméletét vizsgálja, és megpróbál általánosabb szinten is a közszektor gazdaságelméletének jelenlegi állapotára, valamint továbbfejlesztésére vonatkozó tanulságokat levonni. A kiutat az elméleti zsákutcából a kormányzati működés és döntéshozatal, valamint a kívánatos gazdaságpolitikai döntések elméletének összekapcsolása jelentheti. Erre megtörténtek az első kísérletek, de a szisztematikus és átfogó elemzés egyelőre várat magára. / === / How far can community economics provide a basis for political decision-making on supranational centralization of taxation policies? The short answer here will be that although the mainstream of community economics succeeds in analysing many relevant economic and political factors, it fails at present to provide satisfactory criteria for decisionmakers. This is because a central role is played in it by a factor exogenous to the models and alien to economic theory: the premise of the measure of goodwill from governments. The study examines the fiscal federalist theory of tax competition. It tries to draw conclusions, on a more general level, about the present state of the economic theory of the public sector and future development of it. The way out of the theoretical blind alley could be to link the theories of government operation and decision-making and of desirable economic-policy decision-making. The first attempts to do so have been made, but a systematic and comprehensive analysis is still awaited.

Gender politics, women's rights and international norms in Lebanon

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the reasons for the under-representation of women in politics in Lebanon, and the role of international norms of gender equality in bringing about change. For those questions, I examined the particular relevance of confessionalism arguing that a confessional social structure and political system empower patriarchal forms of organization with detrimental effects to women's political participation. This dissertation makes innovative contributions to two types of literature. First, literature on the barriers to women being elected into political office has put strong emphasis on electoral systems of representation, but has rarely addressed the way in which electoral systems that seek to ensure minority representation – such as the confessional system in Lebanon – operate to keep women out of politics. This study provides an important corrective to this literature by exploring a non-Western case and broadening theorizing on the issue. Second, constructivist literature in the field of International Relations has argued that international norms of gender equality – including gender quotas – have diffused throughout the 20th century. This research illustrates the mechanisms that counteract international diffusion, and adds to our understanding of how international norms are translated into domestic contexts.