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Over the last decade, the UK has witnessed a stunning resurgence of religious engagement in both politics and civil society. From the social pluralism of New Labour to the rise of post-liberalism, the recovery of religious sensibilities in areas like education and welfare continues to have a significant effect on the content of political debate on both the Right and Left. What unites these diverse projects is an effort to recover a neglected form of selfhood. Less acquisitive, more relational, this vision of human identity has led politicians and policy-makers to reject avaricious and atomist accounts of the self in favour of richer accounts of citizenship and common life. What do these latter models mean for citizens and communities? This book analyses the roots, significance, and future of these developments through the lens of contemporary Christian communities. By drawing on disciplines as diverse as philosophy, theology, history, economics and political theory, Renewing the Self reflects on the prospects and challenges of this rich self in a globalised and rapidly changing world.

Recent election results across the Western world have seen the resurgence of authoritarian and nativist forms of politics. Key shibboleths of liberal democracy have come under fierce attack from burgeoning populist movements. Calls for a return to homogenous national identities and firm lines of cultural belonging increasingly eclipse values of social openness, pluralism and multiculturalism. In such a febrile atmosphere, it might be legitimate to ask, is Western liberalism in a state of decay? And if so, how should Christian communities respond to such a development? Drawing constructively on the work of Karl Barth and E.M Forster, this article argues that the fragmentation of liberal values risks making secular culture less receptive to the distinctive summons of the Christian message. Chiefly imperilled by such disintegration is the pedagogical capacity of political liberalism to sensitise otherwise secular citizens to notions of universal community, which lie at the centre of the Gospel's subversive social imaginary. In a world where 'nation' and 'ethnicity' are again compelling rivals for the West's civic affections, liberal politics must recover a public creed which grounds the language of liberty in a robust account of community, friendship and care.

In her philosophical writings, Simone de Beauvoir argues our existence is defined by an inability to possess an objective understanding of our being. This fundamental ambiguity turns us towards a process of having-to-be – a series of attempts to define who we wish to become and the world we wish to establish. Through a reading of Beauvoir's novel, The Mandarins, I produce an outline of the political subject and a philosophy of political- ethical action that properly navigates this ambiguity. By committing to utopian political projects that aim at universalizing the conditions for collective self-emancipation, the political subject engages in political-ethical action that is a total manifestation of having- to-be at the same time as being. ; October 2011

The mental health burden of displaced communities is enormous and ever-increasing. Community-based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (CB-MHPSS) interventions are seen as vital in addressing this challenge, and they have been lauded as being integral in the overall multi-level Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Intervention approach in humanitarian settings. This article assumes that CB-MHPSS innately require a participatory approach to truly benefit the targeted population. It explores important benefits and challenges of using a participatory approach with CB-MHPSS interventions, as well as identifying key considerations in their design and implementation. A literature review of the PubMed database, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, and defined 'grey literature' identified 42 relevant articles. Thematic analysis identified dilemmas raised by many of the authors, including: the disconnect between using a participatory community-based approach and evidence-based medicine; using locally derived versus standardised measures; incorporating local mental health expressions and idioms into the intervention versus using standardised diagnostic classifications; empowering communities versus falling into the hands of local power dynamics and agendas; and trying to allow for sufficient time to develop relationships and build trust with the targeted community. The findings can serve to encourage reflexivity and critical thinking in the design and implementation of future CB-MHPSS interventions, which will be required to develop robust evidence that supports CB-MHPSS interventions in displaced communities.

BACKGROUND: The public health community has become increasingly critical of the role that powerful corporations play in driving unhealthy diets, one of the leading contributors to the global burden of disease. While a substantial amount of work has examined the political strategies used by dominant processed food manufacturers that undermine public health, less attention has been paid to their use of market strategies to build and consolidate power. In this light, this paper aimed to systematically review and synthesise the market strategies deployed by dominant processed food manufacturers to increase and consolidate their power. METHODS: A systematic review and document analysis of public health, business, legal and media content databases (Scopus, Medline, ABI Inform, Business Source Complete, Thomas Reuters Westlaw, Lexis Advance, Factiva, NewsBank), and grey literature were conducted. Data extracted were analysed thematically using an approach informed by Porter's 'Five Forces' framework. RESULTS: 213 documents met inclusion criteria. The market strategies (n=21) and related practices of dominant processed food manufacturers identified in the documents were categorised into a typological framework consisting of six interconnected strategic objectives: i) reduce intense competition with equivalent sized rivals and maintaining dominance over smaller rivals; ii) raise barriers to market entry by new competitors; iii) counter the threat of market disruptors and drive dietary displacement in favour of their products; iv) increase firm buyer power over suppliers; v) increase firm seller power over retailers and distributors; and vi) leverage informational power asymmetries in relations with consumers. CONCLUSIONS: The typological framework is well-placed to inform general and jurisdiction-specific market strategy analyses of dominant processed food manufacturers, and has the potential to assist in identifying countervailing public policies, such as those related to merger control, unfair trading practices, and ...

BACKGROUND: The detrimental impact of dominant corporations active in health-harming commodity industries is well recognised. However, to date, existing analyses of the ways in which corporations influence health have paid limited attention to corporate market power. Accordingly, the public health implications of concentrated market structures, the use of anti-competitive market strategies, and the ways in which market power mediates the allocation and distribution of resources via market systems, remain relatively unexplored. To address this gap, this paper aimed to identify and explore key literature that could inform a comprehensive framework to examine corporate market power from a public health perspective. The ultra-processed food (UPF) industry was used to provide illustrative examples. METHODS: A scoping review of a diverse range of literature, including Industrial Organization, welfare economics, global political economy and antitrust policy, was conducted to identify important concepts and metrics that could be drawn upon within the field of public health to understand and explore market power. The Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) model, a guiding principle of antitrust policy and the regulation of market power, was used as an organising framework. RESULTS: We described each of the components of the traditional SCP model and how they have historically been used to assess market power through examining the interrelations between the structure of industries and markets, the conduct of dominant firms, and the overall ability of markets and firms to efficiently allocate and distribute the scarce resources. CONCLUSION: We argue that the SCP model is well-placed to broaden public health research into the ways in which corporations influence health. In addition, the development of a comprehensive framework based on the key findings of this paper could help the public health community to better engage with a set of policy and regulatory tools that have the potential to curb the concentration of corporate ...