Search results

"This book studies war narratives and their role in the political arenas of post-conflict societies, with a focus on the former Yugoslavia. How do politicians in post-war societies talk about the past war? How do they discursively represent vulnerable social groups created by the conflict? Does the nature of this representation depend on the politicians' ideology, personal characteristics, or their record of combat service? The book answers these questions by pairing natural language processing tools and large corpora of parliamentary debates collected in three southeast European post-conflict societies (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia). Using the latest advances in computer science, the book explores patterns in the war discourse of the political elites of these countries and discusses how politicians talk about war in terms of common narratives and shared frameworks. Mapping over twenty years of parliamentary debates, the book presents a new perspective on the role of the legacies of war in public space and develops theoretical arguments about reconciliation in post-conflict societies. The wars of the 1990s and the breakup of Yugoslavia have created three totally different settings for remembering the past conflicts in these countries, despite their common history. It is a story of victorious battles (Croatia), past grievances (Bosnia-Herzegovina) and denial (Serbia), showing the different flavours of past wars in various national contexts that are symptomatic of many post-conflict societies in different parts of the world. This book will be of much interest to students of war and conflict studies, South-Eastern European politics, discourse analysis, and International Relations"--

The study suggests that the AICPA's efforts to investigate the use of statistical sampling appear to have been catalyzed by the confluence of the growing dissatisfaction with the traditional approach to sampling and the widespread recognition of the benefits of statistical sampling which were being realized in other professions and in industry. The fact that large corporations had begun to use statistical sampling in accounting and auditing lent additional urgency to the need to address the issue. In addition, some doubted the tenability of traditional sampling if challenged in court by a statistician.
The study also examines the research efforts of the AICPA which include case studies, legal opinions, a review of the mathematical underpinning of statistical sampling, and the initiation of an interdisciplinary collaborative effort with the American Statistical Association. The research suggests that from the very beginning, the AICPA was most cognizant of the legal implications of statistical sampling and that the legal opinions obtained played a key role in the profession's eventual acceptance of this new technology. The study also indicates that the AICPA's research led it to reexamine basic auditing concepts and challenge existing standards.
The national CPA firms shared information regarding their individual in-house experimentation with statistical sampling which suggests that a spirit of collegial cooperation existed rather than competition-related secrecy. Lastly, the research demonstrates the importance of individual leadership in the profession's efforts to adopt new technology; here, the study provides a glimpse of two Accounting Hall of Fame members, Robert M. Trueblood and Oscar Gellein, and the first recipient of the Distinguished Service in Auditing Award, Kenneth W. Stringer, making one of their many professional contributions. The study suggests that without the strong leadership provided by these three individuals, the profession's adoption of this technology would have taken significantly longer.

Beginning with insiders like Philip Guston and Joan Mitchell, the annexation of Abstract Expressionist (AbEx) territory is reaching a fevered pitch. Contemporary artists including women, queers, people of color, and other marginalized groups, now have their own small plots of land and can lend their voices to the cacophony that makes our world a richer, more verdant place. It is in these hands that this land will realize its potential to change the world. This totally queer annexation of AbEx territory is the New (re)Public. Political theorist Hannah Arendt believes that the vita activa is composed of labor, work, and action. Labor and work are of the private realm. Only when a person takes action, or enters the public realm to speak and act, is that person's potential fully realized. However, Hannah Arendt fails to see art as action, as part of the public realm. But in an age and in a country where the public sphere has all but disappeared into the social realm (where discussing politics is a faux pas, and what needs to be said increasingly must be said in 140 characters or less), art is now emerging as the new public space. The New (re)Public is being built on the annexed territory of Abstract Expressionism by marginalized groups: queers, women, and people of color. This space is free, usable, democratic, and political; it is a space for action and change. Citizens of the New (re)Public honestly disclose their identities and publicly share their political opinions. They must be willing to become part of a common world with a collective identity. Finally, individuals must possess negative capability which allows them to begin something they cannot control; this is the very essence of action and of art. This argument is bolstered by the art-actions of three artists from the past fifty years: Philip Guston, Amy Sillman, and Sharon Hayes. Each of these artists have claimed some space of Abstract Expressionism, repurposing it for their own ends. For these artists, art is a manifestation of their agency and citizenship, allowing them to enter the public realm, identify themselves, and "speak" in their own particular style. I will also examine my own practice as it relates to and is a part of the New (re)Public. I utilize my agency as I negotiate my own awkward habits of mark making to create the strongest possible compositions, unifying seemingly dissimilar elements. This unity, this coming together and negotiation of disparate parts into a working and agreeable whole, is the goal not only of my artmaking, but also the mark of a highly functional society. It is the New (re)Public.

"Same-sex marriage, a politically and culturally untenable idea only a quarter century ago, has become one of the most controversial issues in American life. Social conservatives are adamantly opposed to it and vote-conscious liberal politicians tiptoe around it, but an emerging majority's support for it makes it seem all but inevitable. While most observers seem to think that the legalization of gay marriage across the nation will occur at some point in the near future, in the meantime it continues to generate a sharp political backlash that has helped its opponents score political victories (even if they prove to be short-lived). If most young people support gay marriage, and if there are clear indicators that a majority of the population will support it in the very near future, why is the backlash so strong? As Michael Klarman will show in From the Closet to the Altar, it is because its proponents have adopted a court-centered approach for advancing their cause. In many states, advocates have taken to the courts and argued that bans on gay marriage are denials of civil rights. They have followed the path of earlier civil rights advocates, who also chose the court rather than the political arena as a forum to decide issues. But as Klarman shows, this tactic comes with clear costs. Using the courts to leapfrog public opinion can actually set a cause back because court decisions generate backlashes. Usually, judges are neither elected nor beholden to public opinion, and they are easily pegged as unaccountable elites by opponents. Klarman, who has examined virtually every state-level judicial decision and all of the legislative attempts to overturn same-sex marriage, contends that the movement has in many respects not only hurt its own cause by generating populist backlash, but has created a countervailing social movement that works against progressive causes on a host of other issues. Given the irreversible tectonic shift in public opinion regarding the issue, he argues that it will occur anyway. By providing such fuel to its opponents (much like with Roe v. Wade), the movement is in danger of creating a powerful countermovement that will use the issue for proponents of gay rights for years to come. Concise yet sweeping in scope, From the Closet to the Altar is not only a worthy successor to his Bancroft Prize-winning From Jim Crow to Civil Rights, it will reshape how we think about the issue"--

Public diplomacy is normally understood as government's aim to positively influence overseas public opinion regarding its image. However, this essay instead explores public diplomacy through people-to people relationships as a process of engagement and mutual understanding while maintaining governmental objectives as well. The emphasis of Australia's conduct of public diplomacy is explored through two main organizations - Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and National Gallery of Australia - in promoting cultural understanding with China and Japan. The locus on the effect of cultural diplomacy within this research paper is about fostering deeper relations and understanding with two of Australia's prominent Asian neighbours. Australia's geographical position is such that Asia is understood to be an important neighbour in the Asia-Pacific region. As such, the highlight of its relations with Japan and Australia is about the strong ties that the nation and subsequently, the community have fostered throughout many years of co-operations. This people-to-people links through public diplomacy provides a more intimate and nongovernmental intrusive mode of communication to better understand a culture that is so different than that of Australia's Western one. Thus, cultural diplomacy itself facilitates interest in participation of communities in wanting to understand, explore and educate themselves about others. The end of the 'White Australia' policy has developed Australia's profile as a multi-national country and established its image as a nation that is accepting of others. There is a whole of government approach involved in achieving the successful ventures of cultural diplomacy by the two aforementioned organizations. As much as this paper focuses on a grassroots level of interaction and engagement, this has all been able to come about through the development of government trade relations with China and Japan and the contribution of government based organizations like ACC and AJF in supporting and funding MSO and NGA activities to bring about Australia's cultural connection with Asia. As such, Asian-Australian artists have emerged through this long-term cultural connection that Australia has shared with China and Japan. Chinese born composer Julian Yu whose iconic piece 'Willow and Wattle" effectively married Australian and Chinese culture into one and famed Japanese born fashion designer Akira Isagawa used his Printemps-Ete exhibition to showcase Japanese origami techniques in his production of Australian fashion. These are but a few of the artists whose dual identities has benefited themselves and the communities that they identify with. The recognition by MSO and NGA of their efforts and skills are a 'soft' and effective way of communicating with the people of two different nationalities. China's evolution from a strict Communist regime where freedom was restricted to its current freer environment has been open to many forms of national development through the help of international aid. Meanwhile, Japan has sought international aid to overcome the devastating aftermath of World War 2. It has not been easy for Asian nations to seek resource from developed nation that is so different from their own. However, Australia's unique identity that can identify both as a Western nation given its settler's history and an Eastern community given the Asian diasporas that have established within the nation has offered much ease for China and Japan's assimilation into the international community. However, Australia's dedication to public diplomacy is incomparable to that of other nations. Nonetheless, the government's support has also provided funding for MSO and NGA initiatives in engaging Chinese and Japanese communities. As can be seen from this paper, cultural diplomacy is useful to bridge the distance of cultural understanding between two nations who share a strong economic bond. It creates cohesion and overall contributes in furthering a government's objective in creating further common policies.

This article describes and shows the development of public sector accounting reforms in Indonesia in strengthening accountability, and creating transparency concerning public sector accounting to help promote better governance. This article also provides insight into the application of New Public Management Practices (NPM) in Indonesia, including the introduction of an accrual accounting system for local governments. The application of NPM practices is part of the political, economic, and public sector reforms introduced after 1998, which addresses the background and barriers to reform and the nature of the accrual accounting system adopted by Indonesian local governments. The main contribution of this study is to show how the political traditions of a nation accept the adoption of New Public Management Practices (NPM) and engage the wider public in discourse about accounting reform in the public sector. The results of our observations indicate that the development of public accounting reforms cannot be maximized because it is hindered by a lack of staff with adequate accounting skills and shows undesirable results due to the rush to copy public sector financial management techniques from different country contexts, especially when there are differences of opinion significant regarding the precise design of these reforms among influential policy-making institutions. Apart from that, this study also provides an understanding of the public sector reform society in the context of a diverse nation that has long been subject to colonialism and military leadership. The problem is rooted in the central government being reluctant to modernize the human resource management systems used in local governments and rapid changes in the rules imposed by the central government regarding local government accounting systems. In other words, the new reporting rules have not been supported by the appropriate modernization of the human resource management system. Even though Indonesia has introduced a decentralization policy for local governments, reporting and human resource management are still controlled by the central government. Our Government needs to recognize the need for modern human resources and a new public management system to make this change work. Keywords: Accounting Reform, Public Accounting Sector, New Public Management, Unintended Outcome

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the adverse consequences created by an infodemic, specifically bringing attention to compliance with public health guidance and vaccine uptake. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is a complex construct that is related to health beliefs, misinformation exposure, and perceptions of governmental institutions. This study draws on theoretical models and current data on the COVID-19 infodemic to explore the association between the perceived risk of COVID-19, level of misinformation endorsement, and opinions about the government response on vaccine uptake. We surveyed a sample of 2697 respondents from the US, Canada, and Italy using a mobile platform between 21–28 May 2021. Using multivariate regression, we found that country of residence, risk perception of contracting and spreading COVID-19, perception of government response and transparency, and misinformation endorsement were associated with the odds of vaccine hesitancy. Higher perceived risk was associated with lower odds of hesitancy, while lower perceptions of government response and higher misinformation endorsement were associated with higher hesitancy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the adverse consequences created by an infodemic, specifically bringing attention to compliance with public health guidance and vaccine uptake. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is a complex construct that is related to health beliefs, misinformation exposure, and perceptions of governmental institutions. This study draws on theoretical models and current data on the COVID-19 infodemic to explore the association between the perceived risk of COVID-19, level of misinformation endorsement, and opinions about the government response on vaccine uptake. We surveyed a sample of 2697 respondents from the US, Canada, and Italy using a mobile platform between 21–28 May 2021. Using multivariate regression, we found that country of residence, risk perception of contracting and spreading COVID-19, perception of government response and transparency, and misinformation endorsement were associated with the odds of vaccine hesitancy. Higher perceived risk was associated with lower odds of hesitancy, while lower perceptions of government response and higher misinformation endorsement were associated with higher hesitancy.

Introduction : Irony, Cynicism, and the Chinese State / Hans Steinmüller -- Moral Persons and Implicit Irony in Today's China / Stephan Feuchtwang -- The Farmer, the Foreman and the Tinker : Irony and the Displacement of Meaning in Xiakou Village / John Flower and Pamela Leonhard -- Morality and Cynicism in a 'Grey" World / John Osburg -- Chinese Migrant Workers' Cynicism and the Politics of "Decent" Wage / Jaesok Kim -- The Ironies of "Political Agriculture" : Bureaucratic Rationality and Moral Networks in Rural China / Tan Tongxue -- An Interactionist Perspective on Irony in the Street-level Bureaucracies of Beijing / Judith Audin -- The Rebel as Trickster and the Ironies of Resisting in Rural China / Susanne Brandtstädter -- Freedom in Irony and Dreams : Inhabiting the Realms of Ancestors and Opportunities in Southwest China / Katherine Swancutt -- Differentiating Cynicisms : Irony, Cynicism and New Media in Contemporary China / Kevin Latham -- Afterword : Ironic Reflections in a Cynical Age / Michael Herzfeld

Many political theorists extol the virtues of deliberation in efforts to reconcile differences in opinion and prevent group fracture. On August 21, 2009, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted narrowly to reverse standing policy by allowing gay and lesbian people in committed relationships to serve openly as clergy. In the aftermath of this decision, numerous congregations began thinking about leaving the denomination. We surveyed a sample of ELCA clergy in the fall of 2009 and spring 2010 to assess their commitment to deliberative norms and practice, their implementation of such practices in congregational meetings designed to discuss the ELCA's vote, and the outcomes of those more or less deliberative forums. We found considerable commitment both to deliberative practice itself and belief in the efficacy of such practice. Despite the assumption that religious doctrine and public deliberation are incompatible, religious organizations often find deliberative processes essential to their survival.

Many political theorists extol the virtues of deliberation in efforts to reconcile differences in opinion and prevent group fracture. On August 21, 2009, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted narrowly to reverse standing policy by allowing gay and lesbian people in committed relationships to serve openly as clergy. In the aftermath of this decision, numerous congregations began thinking about leaving the denomination. We surveyed a sample of ELCA clergy in the fall of 2009 and spring 2010 to assess their commitment to deliberative norms and practice, their implementation of such practices in congregational meetings designed to discuss the ELCA's vote, and the outcomes of those more or less deliberative forums. We found considerable commitment both to deliberative practice itself and belief in the efficacy of such practice. Despite the assumption that religious doctrine and public deliberation are incompatible, religious organizations often find deliberative processes essential to their survival.

Propagandistische Einflussnahme auf definierte Zielgruppen ist seit jeher eine Begleiterscheinung von Krisen, Konflikten und Kriegen. Mit der Modernisierung wurde die Kriegspropaganda zu Beginn des 20sten Jahrhunderts zunehmend institutionalisiert und professionalisiert. Wohingegen die klassische Propaganda im Grunde ausschließlich auf der politisch-diplomatischen Ebene agitierte, finden sich heute selbst innerhalb der Streitkräfte Spezialtruppen, die mit Hilfe eigener Massenmedien den psychologischen Kampf führen. Zudem haben sich die Formen der Einflussnahme auf die öffentliche Berichterstattung und das öffentliche Mediensystem insgesamt intensiviert, was die ehemals negative Zensur in eine positive transformierte. Die Einflussnahme auf das Denken, Fühlen und Handeln mit Hilfe kommunikativer Mittel und Methoden ist ein unverzichtbarer Bestandteil des Krisenmanagements und der Kriegführung geworden, von der politischen über die strategische bis hin zur operativ-taktischen Ebene. Informations- und Medienhoheit sind entscheidende Erfolgsfaktoren. Wer das Propagandaprinzip verstehen will, muss die funktionalen und komplexen Strukturen identifizieren und die Zusammenhänge kennen. Die rasante Entwicklung der Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien ermöglicht eine umfassende, massen- und multimediale Einflussnahme auf bestimmte Zielgruppen, die zunehmend genauer erfasst werden können, wodurch sich die Wirksamkeit potenziert. Gleichzeitig wird über die öffentliche Kommunikation ein globales Weltbild mittels massenmedialer Kommunikation entwickelt, was den Schluss zulässt, dass unser Bild von der Welt in letzter Konsequenz ein medial konstruiertes sein muss. Der Wahrheitsbegriff wird dabei obsolet und vollkommen relativ. Als Wahrheit gilt oftmals nur noch die mediale Projektion von Wirklichkeit, die sich nicht einmal mehr auf die Ereignisrealität beziehen muss, sondern sich auch der Fiktion bedient, ohne dabei ihren Wahrheitsanspruch einzubüßen. Der Propagandist versucht hierbei, mit Hilfe kommunikativer Mittel und Methoden massenwirksam an den Wirklichkeitsentwürfen einer Zielgruppe anzusetzen und deren Wahrnehmung im Sinne eines Reframings zu verschieben. Grundelemente sind dabei stets die starke Uniperspektivierung bei einer gleichzeitigen Förderung der Selektivität in der Wahrnehmung, was letztlich zu einem - im Grunde wirklichkeitsfremden - bipolaren Bewertungssystem führt, das in der Lebenswelt des Rezipienten dennoch Bestand hat, da es sich als viabel zeigt. Die Propaganda versteht es, die Komplexität und Unübersichtlichkeit der überinformierten Welt im Sinne der eigenen Interessen für die Zielgruppe zu ordnen und führt eine vermeintlich logische Argumentation, die ohne hohen kognitiven Aufwand nachvollziehbar ist. Der Wahrheitsbegriff spielt für den Propagandisten nur insofern eine Rolle, da von ihm die Glaubwürdigkeit und damit Wirksamkeit abhängt. Der Mensch mag sich im vielfältigen und unüberschaubaren, grenzen- und tabulosen Informationsraum freier fühlen - vielleicht auch aufgeklärter - doch letztlich bleibt es bei dem Gefühl, und wir haben in den hochtechnisierten Informations- und Kommunikationsstrukturen die Dimension des informativen Verlorenseins bereits erreicht. Daraus resultiert ein Relevanz-, Selektivitäts- und Kontextproblem, das in einem Wirklichkeitsproblem endet. Zwischen Mensch und Ereignisrealität steht zunehmend eine massenmedial erzeugte, vormedial gestützte und geplant manipulative Propagandamauer, die sich - zumeist unentdeckt - in gewohnt unterhaltsamer Art und Weise in die entertainisierte Medienoberfläche integriert. Sie zu identifizieren, hinter sie zu blicken und mit kritischem Verstand die komplexen Propagandamuster zu erkennen, ist eine Herausforderung, der sich insbesondere die Medienpädagogik in ihrer Bildungspraxis stellen muss. ; The influence of propaganda on defined target audiences is a phenomenon of crisis, conflict and war during the history. At the beginning of the 20th century, in context of modernization, warpropaganda was increasingly institutionalized and professionalized. When the classic form of propaganda was exclusively executed on the politcal and diplomatic sphere, today there are also specialists for psychological warfare within the armed forces, doing tactical warpropaganda with own massmedia. Not to forget the increasing effort in taking influence on warreporting and the public mediasystem at all. The former negative way of cencorship was transformed in a positive one, that is much more difficult to recognize.Today the influence of communicative means and methods on thinking, feeling and behaviour is an absolut necessary task in crisis-management and warfare, from the political to the tactical sphere. The control of information and public media is the decisive secret behind the success in crisis, conflict and war. To understand the principles of propaganda, it ist necessary to identify the complicated structures and to know about their functional connections. The rapid development of information- and communication-technologies made it possible to manipulate target-audiences with mass- and multimedia influences in a higher quality and quantity ever seen before. Furthermore it is possible to analyse the target-audiences in a much more detailed and well-founded way, so that the success of influence ist more likely than in the past. The public communication tells us how to see the world and the mankind, it is constructing a system to help us decide between amp;quot;the goodamp;quot; and amp;quot;the badamp;quot; and it forms a binding ethic-morale assessment. This public system of communication is nearly the only window to the world, so we can conclude that the world we know is only a media-construction, seen through a window-called screen. The truth is superfluous and absolutely relative. In most cases it ist only a medial projection of one possible reality, that does not need even a factional reality but can also concern on a viable fiction, without loosing the claim to be the truth. An in this medial construction of reality the propagandist uses the recepients imagination of reality for manipulating him and the masses. With support of intended information given to the recipients, the concept of reality and the perspective of perception will be transformed and reframed in the way the propagandist wants. The basic elements are nearly always the Uniperspectivation and the pushing of a special kind of selectivity in perception. The result is an - at least unreal - bipolar system of assessment, but it fits viable in the recipients livelyhood and that is why it is taken as a true reality. Propaganda knows how to use the complicated and confusing structur of information-age determinations. The information-overflow is dirigated in a functional way and offers a logical, simple and comprehensive argumentation to explain the world. The so called truth is - concerning the propaganda - simply a guarantee for effectivness, because only believable information is able to convince, to persuade and to manipulate. The information age people may feel free in the chaos of multiple, uncencored and boundless information without taboos. But it is only the feeling and not the real way it works. In the waves of information-overflow the normal recipient is lost in all the information depths and used by lots of propagandists. Between the recipient and the factional reality there is more and more an intended propaganda-wall, hiding the pre-medial sphere behind some kind of alltime present entertainment. It has to be the task of media-educational sciences to know about the principles of postmodern propaganda and to help the recepients in working with all the intended media-influences. We must break down the propaganda-wall and take a look behind the medial screen of entertainment - especially in times of crisis, conflict and war.

Presidents from Truman through Obama have influenced their party's popularity, reputation for competence, presumed policy commitments, appeal as an object of identification, and electoral performance. Despite Donald Trump's singularly unorthodox campaign and early presidency, survey data available for his first 15 months in office suggest that opinions of his performance are having at least as large an impact as that of his predecessors' on affect toward his party generally and its congressional wing in particular, as well as on its reputation for handling at least one policy domain (health care). Trump also appears to be widening the demographic and cultural differences between ordinary Republicans and Democrats, exacerbating the gender, age, and racial gaps between the party coalitions in a way that threatens the long‐term vitality of his party. Generic House election polls pointing to 2018 suggest that if his approval ratings remain at or below 40 percent, as they have through the first quarter of 2018, Democrats have excellent prospects for winning control of the House.