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This study argues that the bond between 'secularization' and 'de-legitimation' is not only borne out in debates over grand historical narratives relating to the status of modernity, as argued by Hans Blumenberg, but in debates over the appraisal of specific modern philosophical programs as well. It does this by examining how the category of 'secularization' is used to delegitimize Martin Heidegger's thought, from both theological and secular perspectives, by two of his former students, Hans Jonas and Karl Löwith. By analysing their interpretation of Heidegger and their understanding of secularization, legitimacy, and the philosophy-theology relationship, this study sheds light on the intellectual projects of these three thinkers – master and two students – and demonstrates the application of secularization as a hermeneutical category of de-legitimization on the basis of 'insufficiency' – either insufficiently secular or insufficiently religious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study investigates the progress of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act 2003, and its associated Chartered Accountancy Profession Sector Code. In doing so, we explore why B-BBEE affirmative action has not yet achieved the Code's representational intentions, including systemic subtleties inhibiting this success. Design/methodology/approach: Using semi-structured interviews, we explore the lived experiences of Black aspirant Chartered Accountants (CAs) undertaking articles in global audit firms. The experiences are thematically analysed, embracing a comprehensive theoretical approach that encompasses professional and social closure, as well as boundary work, to adequately understand why affirmative transformational endeavours persistently face uphill tasks. The utilisation of multifaceted theorisation is deemed essential for a more nuanced portrayal of the intricacies inherent in the CA profession in South Africa. Findings: The narratives presented by Black aspiring CAs unveil a complex web of exclusionary practices entrenched in institutionalised historical, professional, and social contexts. The multifaceted nature of closures, symbolised by racial, cultural, and linguistic factors, significantly impacts the experiences of Black trainees. The findings furthermore show that deliberate intervention beyond compliance with the Government's framework is necessary for meaningful transformation. Practical implications: The paper brings to the fore the current lived experiences of underrepresented Black CAs in global auditing firms. In doing so, these firms are empowered with incremental knowledge of the prevailing challenges and can thus make tangible improvements towards authentic transformation. Additionally, the results help in tracking the advancements made through affirmative action, acting as a feedback loop for future developments in transformation policy. Originality/value: Contributing to the critical accounting literature, our study extends scholarship on the barriers faced by CAs and the limitations in their capacity to challenge these obstacles within global audit firms. We offer practical policy-focused recommendations that, if implemented, can address the complex socio-political realities obstructing the success of affirmative action. By sharing first-hand accounts, our study aims to empower auditing firms and other related stakeholders with actionable insights, enabling them to improve genuine inclusivity and foster equitable representation in the accounting profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focusses on the development and current state of the relationship between the English legal profession and higher education institutions invested in the education and training of its members. A historiography in Parts 2 and 3 reveals the development of an originally unintended relationship that came about by chance and out of necessity and ultimately gave rise to a peculiar mix of practical legal training and university education that exist to this day. It is against this background and with reference to the Larson/Abel market control theory and Clark's triangle heuristic, that the analysis in Part 4 explores how the English legal profession continues to exert control over its market by adopting the credentials of education institutions in the training and accreditation of its own members (control over the production of producers), and by also prescribing to its members the scope and nature of the services they may provide (control over the production by producers). The organisational alliance that has so been forged between the English legal profession and higher education institutions is critically reflected upon, also in terms of how higher education institutions can possibly consider more fundamentally their stake in the maintenance of this legal professional enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Launched by George W. Bush in 2003, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is hailed as one of 'the most significant moments in the history of global health policy' (Fidler in PEPFAR's Impact on Global Health is Fading, 2018). Twenty years on, there is now scope to revisit the legacy of PEPFAR and Bush's personal commitment to HIV/AIDS relief in sub-Saharan Africa and to re-evaluate its record. This article explores Bush's personal religious-moral convictions in shaping his intentions with PEPFAR and the effects of the religious-conservative alignment between Bush, Congress and the American population in this period. Drawing on the implementation of the Abstinence–Be Faithful–Condoms mandate, this article explores Bush's moral interpretation of the HIV/AIDS crisis which shaped PEPFAR. It considers how Bush's religious rhetoric captured a unique moment in American political and social life, leading to the largest commitment of any nation to fight one single disease to that point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologists have productively theorized power and politics via typologies and genealogies. This article combines these theorizing modalities to analyze the election of Joseph Biden in the 2020 US presidential election. Thinking about presidential genealogy, the semiotics of sequence and succession favored humility over hubris in the victory of Biden after Donald Trump. As well, drawing on Weber's three types of authority (traditional, charismatic, and legal-rational) and Fred Block's elaboration of a flexible but constrained and accountable missing fourth type, this article terms that fourth type anticharisma and reads Joe Biden as an anticharismatic aspirant. Whereas charisma draws its strength from the monopolization of attention by the leader, rupture, and crisis, anticharisma aspires to domestic tranquility, competence, familiarity, and empathy. The elaborated typology of authority presented here provides important angles into both the election of Joe Biden as the anticharismatic candidate and the constraints on democratic leadership in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A critical debate has blossomed within the field of research policy, science and technology studies, and philosophy of science regarding the possible benefits and limitations of allocating extramural grants using a lottery system. The most common view among those supporting the lottery idea is that some form of modified lottery is acceptable, if properly combined with peer review. This means that partial randomization can be applied only after experts have screened the pursuit-worthiness of all submitted proposals and sorted out those of lowest quality. In the present paper, I will argue against the use of partial lotteries or partial randomization and instead promote use of a pure lottery in combination with a radical increase in block funding. The main reason for holding this position is that a partial lottery cannot solve the problems inherent in the current funding system, which is based on grant competitions and peer review. A partial lottery cannot decrease the enormous time-waste, reduce the uneven distribution of time between researchers, neutralize expert biases or mitigate academic power asymmetries. Instead, we need a stronger focus on improving general time management in academia by implementing a more holistic model for organizing research opportunities in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 2019 to 2020, the UK government was confronted with the issue of whether to allow Huawei to participate in the construction of its 5G network. The UK Government's decision-making was characterised by U-turn and indecision. Based on a theoretical framework of expertise-based (de)politicisation, this article examines the discursive interactions between the UK Government and Parliament using Hansard debates related to Huawei. This article finds that for Huawei, a politicised technical issue in the British politics–expertise nexus, both Parliament and the government utilised expertise politically. Parliamentarians cited "pre-existing" expertise and "external" expertise to both politicise and geo-politicise Huawei 5G and demanded a ban, whereas the government cited "in-house" expertise to depoliticise and de-geo-politicise its decisions on Huawei 5G to both its domestic and foreign audiences. Therefore, for a controversial issue with both domestic and international implications, we show how expertise can be used to mediate both (de)politicisation and (de)geo-politicisation dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of domestic security has become increasingly complex over the past decades. As there is an increasing overlap between private and public provision of security, the question of how to allocate responsibility for security between the public sphere (state) and the private sphere has become important. Concepts that can provide both clarity and sufficient complexity are much needed. This article offers an institutional economics concept. This implies a method where basic elements of neoclassical public finance (e.g. differences like provision v. production or public v. private goods) are combined with explicitly institutional and security economic elements (degree of prevention, specificity, repressivity, state monopoly on the use of force). As a result, a normative distinction between state and private security responsibilities based on qualitative arguments is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charles Thorpe argues sociology lacks a "language of society as a whole." He holds that positivist sociologists de-legitimated holistic theories or broad normatively oriented "social theories," leaving the discipline without discursive means to critically assess and deliberate its overall directions and those of society. Thorpe does not address holistic theory directly or explain how it differs analytically from standard "sociological theory." My intent is to clarify these matters by extending facets of his argument to illuminate the interdependence between holistic theorizing and empirical-historical social science, which is necessary to create the type of "reflexive sociology" that Thorpe argues would make sociology more cosmopolitan and capable of addressing the turbulent sociopolitical conditions in the interregnum after neoliberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the intersection of spirituality and martial arts through an in-depth examination of Shaolin Kung Fu as practiced within the Shaolin Monastery in Henan Province, China. Conducting fieldwork from April 2018 to August 2020, the study employs theories of practice and embodiment to understand how religious teachings are interwoven into physical movements and martial practices. This phenomenological analysis of bodily movement integrates the physical body with the sense of self, highlighting the relationship between individual habitus and the agency of the moving body, referred to as the "lived body." It argues that Shaolin martial artists engage in a form of dynamic embodiment, where Chan Buddhist doctrines are embedded within the "lived body," influencing both movement and perception. This process allows practitioners to interpret and interact with their socio-cultural environment through a religious lens, highlighting the deep connection between spiritual beliefs and bodily actions. The paper presents a comprehensive approach, combining intensive participant observation, historical analysis, and a close look at both the communal and individual aspects of monastic life and learning. By examining narratives, daily routines, and pedagogical methods, the study reveals how the socio-cultural setting of the monastery fosters collective habitus and transforms the individual habitus of practitioners. It shows how this transformation contributes to the development of a spiritual dimension in their martial performance. By highlighting the link between the habitus, the lived body, and the dynamic embodiment, the paper extends the current discourse on embodiment, offering a novel perspective on the relationship between spirituality, culture, and physical practice in the context of Shaolin Kung Fu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to determine whether fundamental unenumerated constitutional rights exist, and if so, what they are? The questions are of obvious enormous importance—witness the current controversy over abortion—and yet courts have generally been content to address the issues superficially, sometimes, cavalierly. Their treatment of the most common rationale, an historical/traditional consensus, exemplifies this shallow approach. The underdeveloped character of the argumentation on this topic stubbornly remains one of the most glaring shortfalls of modern constitutional law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state secrets privilege is the most formidable evidentiary privilege available to the United States government. Available only to the executive branch, it is used to protect national security information from disclosure during litigation, and is habitually acquiesced to by courts. Once invoked, the privilege prevents covered material from being put into evidence that touches sensitive matters of national security. It is apparent that this privilege is subject to abuse by the executive branch to shield activities and personnel from judicial scrutiny and legal inquiries for reasons other than to protect national security. The privilege derives from British and Scottish doctrines of Crown Privilege that allow government to withhold evidence from legal proceedings to protect the public interest. The derivation of the state secrets privilege from the tradition of Crown Privilege has never been thoroughly explored. This article traces the influence of Crown Privilege in the development and evolution of the state secrets doctrine in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critiques and builds upon existing notions of primary institutions within the English School, arguing for a return to Bullian notions of "necessity"—namely the minimum institutional requirements for international order—when defining the primary institutions of international society. By using notions of necessity this work seeks to develop a functional typology for primary institutions that is capable of accommodating variation and change across different historical and regional contexts. It also seeks to provide a similar functional framework for an English School understanding of domestic society and the state. This development of English School thinking aims to highlight the interrelated nature of domestic and international norms and practices, as well as highlighting the role of domestic norms in shaping the outlook of international relations practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In The Ethics of War and the Force of Law, Uwe Steinhoff argues "[t]he legitimate authority criterion should be abandoned." (33) His position explicitly rejects the views of those defending legitimate authority as both indispensable and prior to the other criteria of the just war theory. In a subtle rejoined to these views, Steinhoff contends these accounts misrepresent the tradition and can provide no effective justification for retaining the criterion. Indeed, the criterion proves redundant. Much of Steinhoff's analysis is compelling. I shall argue, however, that despite correctly representing the tradition as more "pluralist" regarding possible authorization of war beyond the state, Steinhoff's rejection of legitimate authority fails to account for its primary justification, namely, as identifying the proper agent through which to gauge the moral action involved in this particular use of force. My essay will advance this view by vindicating Steinhoff's insight about the plurality of possible actors for whom "war" is appropriate necessitates the criterion of legitimate authority rather than making it redundant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite widespread acknowledgement of the value of sustainability, the transition towards more sustainable economies and societies remains a challenge around the world. Civil societies play an important role not only in supporting government efforts on sustainability by 'filling gaps' and raising social awareness, but also in pioneering new practices and disrupting particular governmental or corporate strategies, as well as engaging and empowering previously marginalised individuals and groups. Yet civil society is not always a champion of sustainability nor of democracy; these actors may of course also destabilise innovations, depoliticise sustainability issues by reifying certain concepts or approaches and reinforce social hierarchies and patterns of exclusion that can undermine any transformative potential and bolster the unsustainable status quo. This Special Issue is therefore dedicated to interrogating what we see as the ambiguous, yet critical, role played by civil societies in sustainability politics. This introductory paper intends not only to draw attention to some of the arguments, theories and challenges found in each of the individual papers collected here, but also to pull on the common threads that run through them, as well as to unpick some of the different uses of the key terminology that they employ. We aim, moreover, to highlight the inevitable tension between the 'democratic side' and the 'dark side' of civil society and its politics of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While victimization is as old as human history, the notion of victimhood as currently understood is a relatively recent phenomenon. Over the last several decades, the notion of victimhood has been increasing discussed both within academia and the wider public, a trend that has intensified in recent years. In order to gain a clearer vision of this social phenomenon, the current piece follows the lead of Georg Simmel, and identifies a new Simmelian social type—the Victim. After discussing Simmel's understanding of social types and tracing the origins of the Victim, we examine some of the characteristics of this new social type. While the Victim is best understood on a high level of abstraction—as are all social types—a richer appreciation of the emergence and nature of the Victim will help us to better understand current discussions around victimhood in both academia and the wider public. These philosophical and sociological reflections on the nature of the Victim can thus be of help for better understanding a social phenomenon of considerable importance in today's world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the Covid-19 pandemic has renewed attention to the problem of vaccine hesitancy, vaccination rates for common childhood vaccines such as measles and pertussis have declined in many countries around the world for over a decade. To investigate the potential role of politicization in this decline, I analyze the relationship between the ideological composition of societies and childhood vaccination rates for measles, diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus in 88 countries between 1995 and 2018, using pooled cross-national data from the World Values Survey, World Bank, and other sources. Controlling for other key determinants of vaccine uptake, coverage is highest in ideologically moderate societies and lowest in countries that skew to the Right of the political spectrum, while vaccination rates increase when countervailing ideological views are sufficiently well represented in a society. I relate these findings to theories of identity construction and maintenance, focusing especially on the "plausibility structures" approach in the phenomenological tradition and the "subcultural identity" perspective developed in religious contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the fundamental distinctions informing studies on civil war is that between state and non-state actors as parties to an armed conflict. As we argue, however, this binary has recently come under increased scrutiny in light of real-world developments in armed conflicts. The article builds on newer scholarly contributions that have exposed the porous boundaries between state and non-state actors and orders while demonstrating a striking convergence in their behaviour. Drawing on examples from conflict zones in West Asia and North Africa, we investigate phenomena in civil wars that uncover the tenuity of state/non-state distinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing social inequalities represent a major concern associated with the Digital Revolution. The article tackles this issue by exploring how welfare regulations and redistribution policies can be rethought in the age of digital capitalism. It focuses on the history and enduring crisis of social citizenship rights in their connection with technological changes, in order to draw a comparison between the industrial and the digital scenario. The first section addresses the link between the Industrial Revolution and the genesis of social rights. It describes the latter as a legal 'machine' designed to offset the imbalances produced by the technological movement of industrialization. The second and third sections introduce the notion of 'industrial citizenship' to describe the architecture of social rights in mature industrial societies and to contend that European systems of welfare are still largely modeled on an industrial standard. The fourth part investigates the impact of the Digital Revolution on this model of social citizenship. It identifies debates on basic income as a major trajectory for redesigning welfare regulations in a post-industrial era, and the digital user as a crucial emerging subject of rights. The final part explores how digital users could be entitled to social rights as data suppliers. To this end, it introduces the idea of 'digital-social rights' resulting from the incorporation of welfare and redistribution principles into emerging digital rights. Hence, it proposes a legal-political framework for the redistribution of the revenues generated by data in the form of a 'digital basic income' for citizens of cyberspace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Politics is a frequent subject in scholarship on Theravada Buddhism in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. However, considering politics, scholars are most likely to talk about the way that states and/or kings interact with sanghas. They rarely consider how monks engage in powerful activities within their sanghas and with lay actors. Using ethnographic interactions with powerful monks from 2014 as a starting point, this paper considers the foundations of power that Thai monks rely on, as well as tools that they can deploy to achieve their goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Day to day governance of civilians is not solely the purview of states. Rulemaking, rule-enforcing, and goods and services provision are central components of governance, yet in many instances it is non-state actors who assume these functions. We advance the study of governance by rebel groups engaged in armed confrontation against state governments. We identify five key areas of research where the field of rebel governance is best poised to go: the study of multi-level governance, rebel use of self-constraining or hand-tying behaviors, synergy between institutional form and domestic legitimacy, the nuanced role of territorial control in governance, and short- and longer-term impacts of rebel governance on post-conflict outcomes. In each area, we draw attention to the lessons already learned, interrogate key assumptions in existing work, raise arguments that remain under- or uninvestigated, and focus on the next frontier in the exploration of rebel governance. Learning more about the ways that rebel groups govern informs our understanding of armed conflict and its resolution, as well as provides broader lessons about the study of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores a protracted dispute in the exchequer of receipt that initiated lasting procedural reform. The argument revolved around contested narratives of exchequer history which had direct implications for officers' fees, rights and status. The ferocity of the dispute has rendered it one of the most‐studied episodes in exchequer history, yet historians have largely focused on procedural reform and dismissed the ardour of the protagonists. This article recontextualises the dispute within its political and physical context in the Palace of Westminster to argue that the feud was not merely personal but political. By drawing together officers' personal papers with exchequer records and architectural records of the palace, this article demonstrates the agency of individuals in influencing institutional reform. The protagonists operated within webs of overlapping loyalties between crown, institution and patrons which reflects the place of the Receipt in central government. Consideration of the warring officers in this context reveals that the outcome of the dispute was not in spite of their passions, but a product of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Hannah Arendt's persistent and unfashionable rejection of the usefulness of compassion in politics, a rejection that runs through her entire philosophical and political project. It relies on a close reading of On Revolution, paying particular attention to the fictional narratives she relied upon to make her case—Herman Melville's Billy Budd and Dostoyevsky's "The Grand Inquisitor," along with her later interpretation of Dostoyevsky's The Possessed. Her controversial claim is that goodness and compassion in their purest forms are naturally subversive of the political realm, which must entertain a dialogue between various opinions. Compassion is impatient with mere talk and, she implies, will prefer instead the direct means of violence or coercion. Arendt's overarching point is that those who love the good (and their own souls) may not care enough for the world proper. Her countervailing ideal is amor mundi, a concept buttressed by her reading of Machiavelli, and fleshed out in the example of Max Weber, who also displayed a preference for an "ethic of responsibility" for the world over an "ethic of absolute ends." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we claim, firstly, that the turn to an "ethical" politics focused on subjectivity and its transformation, announced by post-structuralist theorists in the 1970s, can be found today in forms of progressive politics, illustrated by struggles against racism and their articulation by consultants and educators. Secondly, this turn entails targeting the "enemy within," whether it be the inner fascist (Guattari, Foucault) or white privilege (Di Angelo, Kendi). Rather than an extension of Lasch's therapeutic "culture of narcissism," it is a turn to practices reminiscent of public rituals of expiation of guilt and acts of purification (exomologesis) characterizing what Weber referred to as "sects." Pace Foucault, the "main danger" lies not in the "subjectifying" practices of the human sciences descended from auricular confession and the Christian pastorate, but rather the displacement of formal politics and attendant "civil religion" (Bellah) by conflicts between charismatic sects claiming exemplary subjectivity and virtuosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marketisation has directed higher education institutions and policies to focus on student support and provisions that promote better experience and value. By contrast, expectations of university students are under-researched and understated, with less attention placed on what and how students should perform in higher education. This paper further develops the concept of the ideal student at university, which aims to promote transparency and explicitness about what is expected of students, and potentially alleviate inequalities driven by implicit and unspoken rules of higher education. We report on the development and findings of the ideal student survey, conducted with 1,043 university students and staff in the UK. Factor analysis revealed eight dimensions of the ideal student, which we have tentatively described as Diligence & Engagement, Organisation & Discipline, Reflection & Innovation, Positive & Confident Outlook, Supportive of Others, Academic Skills, Employability Skills and Intelligence & Strategic Approach. Each factor is discussed with a focus on the differences between the views of staff and students. We conclude with a discussion of how the concept of the ideal student has the potential to promote better equality and opportunities for student success, by making explicit what is expected of university students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]