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2073 results in Cambridge Elements

Page 19 of 104

Policy Entrepreneurs, Crises, and Policy Change

Policy Entrepreneurs, Crises, and Policy Change
  • Evangelia Petridou, Jörgen Sparf, Nikolaos Zahariadis, Thomas Birkland
  • Published online:
    10 December 2024
    Print publication:
    16 January 2025
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  • Increasingly, policymaking takes place while extraordinary events threaten fundamental societal values. During turbulent times, policy entrepreneurs emerge as pivotal figures. They are energetic actors who pursue dynamic change in public policy and, whereas we know much about how they promote innovation and change in normal policymaking, we know less about how they behave in crises, and even less about how different crises influence policy entrepreneurial action. This Element focuses on interaction between policy entrepreneurs and crises. It analyzes policy entrepreneurial action in six case studies – three fast-burning and three creeping crises – to ascertain policy entrepreneurs' strategies and effectiveness during extraordinary events. It proposes crisis policy entrepreneurial strategies, a framework to understand outcomes based on policy entrepreneurial action and type of crisis and suggests avenues for further research on policy entrepreneurs and crises, including implications for crisis managers. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Slime Mould and Philosophy

Slime Mould and Philosophy
  • Matthew Sims
  • Published online:
    10 December 2024
    Print publication:
    16 January 2025
  • Physarum polycephalum, also known more colloquially as 'the blob', 'acellular slime mould', or just 'slime mould', is a unicellular multinucleate protist that has continued to attract the interest of biologists over the past century because of its complex life cycle, unique physiology, morphology, and behaviour. More recently, attention has shifted to Physarum as a model organism for investigating putative cognitive capacities such as decision making, learning, and memory in organisms without nervous systems. The aim of this Element is to illustrate how Physarum can be used as a valuable tool for approaching various topics in the philosophy of biology. Physarum and its behaviour not only pose a challenge to some of the received views of biological processes but also, I shall argue, provide an opportunity to clarify and appropriately sharpen the concepts underlying such received views.
Investigating Plagiarism in Second Language Writing

Investigating Plagiarism in Second Language Writing
  • Jun Lei, Guangwei Hu
  • Published online:
    10 December 2024
    Print publication:
    16 January 2025
  • This Element aims to provide a comprehensive and in-depth exploration of the issue of plagiarism in second language writing. It first outlines the importance of plagiarism as a real-world issue cutting across educational and cultural contexts and touches upon several prominent controversies over the issue. Then the Element defines and conceptualises plagiarism by critically examining the diverse extant definitions and discussing various discourses on plagiarism. Following that, it explores L2 students' perceptions of and stances on plagiarism, and identifies factors that contribute to L2 students' plagiarism. Informed by the current theoretical and empirical research, the Element critically evaluates three major approaches to dealing with plagiarism and, based on the critical evaluation, proposes pedagogical activities and strategies for fostering L2 students' intertextual competence. Finally, the Element calls for a reconceptualisation of plagiarism that embraces a multidimensional approach to dealing with plagiarism in second language writing, and outlines directions for further research.
Stronger Issues, Weaker Predispositions

Stronger Issues, Weaker Predispositions
  • Abortion, Gay Rights, and Authoritarianism
  • Paul Goren
  • Published online:
    09 December 2024
    Print publication:
    16 January 2025
  • Political psychologists have long theorized that authoritarianism structures the positions people take on cultural issues and their party ties. Authoritarianism is durable; it resists the influence of other political judgments; and it is very impactful-in a word, it is strong. By contrast, researchers characterize the attitudes most people hold on most issues as unstable and ineffectual-in a word, weak. But what is true of most issues is not true of the issues that have driven America's long running culture war-abortion and gay rights. This Element demonstrates that moral issue attitudes are stronger than authoritarianism. With data from multiple sources over the period 1992-2020, it shows that (1) moral issue attitudes endure longer than authoritarianism; (2) moral issues predict change in authoritarianism; (3) authoritarianism does not systematically predict change in moral issues; and (4) moral issues have always played a much greater role structuring party ties than authoritarianism.
Cleavage Formation in the 21st Century

Cleavage Formation in the 21st Century
  • How Social Identities Shape Voting Behavior in Contexts of Electoral Realignment
  • Simon Bornschier, Lukas Haffert, Silja Häusermann, Marco Steenbergen, Delia Zollinger
  • Published online:
    09 December 2024
    Print publication:
    05 December 2024
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  • Western Europe is experiencing growing levels of political polarization between parties of the New Left and the Far Right. The authors argue that this antagonism reflects the emergence of a social cleavage between universalism and particularism. To understand cleavage formation in the midst of party system fragmentation and the proliferation of new competitors, they emphasize the crucial role of group identities. Anchored in social structure, group identities help us understand why specific party appeals resonate with certain groups, thereby mediating the link between socio-structural change and broader party blocks defined by their distinctive ideologies along the new cleavage. Based on original survey data from France, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK, this Element presents evidence for the formation of a universalism–particularism cleavage across European party systems that diverge strongly on institutional and political characteristics. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Public Service Explained

Public Service Explained
  • The Role of Citizens in Value Creation
  • Greta Nasi, Stephen Osborne, Maria Cucciniello, Tie Cui
  • Published online:
    09 December 2024
    Print publication:
    19 December 2024
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  • This Cambridge Element aims to advance theory by investigating the nature of participation in public service delivery. It situates itself under the theory of Public Service Logic to advocate for a strategic orientation to participation as an element of value creation in public services. It introduces the concept of participation and discusses the motives, incentives, and tools to engage citizens in public service delivery processes. Then, it frames citizens' participation under the approach public service ecosystem to capture the dynamic relationships among citizens, other actors, processes, and structures that may contribute to determining value in public service delivery. It presents the dynamics of value creation and destruction in public service. The Element concludes with implications for research and practice. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Environmental Foundations to the Rise of Early Civilisations in China

Environmental Foundations to the Rise of Early Civilisations in China
  • Yijie Zhuang
  • Published online:
    09 December 2024
    Print publication:
    09 January 2025
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  • The transition from the middle to late Holocene (5000–4000 BP) coincided with profound socioeconomic transformations and intensified regional and trans-regional interactions in late prehistoric China. These environmental and socioeconomic changes gave rise to diverse lifeways and settlement modes that constituted the foundation for the emergence of regional civilisations. In this Element, prehistoric China is divided roughly into the Highlands, Lowlands, and Coastal areas, each with unique environmental and ecological conditions and distinctive technological and economic traditions between 5000–4000 BP. The author gathers and reviews large amounts of environmental and archaeological data, and reconstructs brief environmental and settlement changes and lifeways. The author argues that environmental conditions and subsistence adaptations are two of the engines driving the increased socioeconomic complexity and rise of civilisations in the late prehistoric China. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Visual-vestibular Integration in Challenging Environments

Visual-vestibular Integration in Challenging Environments
  • Laurence R. Harris, Michael Jenkin
  • Published online:
    09 December 2024
    Print publication:
    30 January 2025
  • This Element reviews the current state of what is known about the visual and vestibular contributions to our perception of self-motion and orientation with an emphasis on the central role that gravity plays in these perceptions. The Element then reviews the effects of impoverished challenging environments that do not provide full information that would normally contribute to these perceptions (such as driving a car or piloting an aircraft) and inconsistent challenging environments where expected information is absent, such as the microgravity experienced on the International Space Station.
Taiwan and the Danger of a Sino-American War

Taiwan and the Danger of a Sino-American War
  • Steve Chan
  • Published online:
    09 December 2024
    Print publication:
    02 January 2025
  • The author presents contrarian arguments contesting mainstream US views on the danger of a Sino-American war over Taiwan's status. They contend that these countries' dispute about Taiwan is motivated by opposing strategic interests and security concerns rather than just, or even mainly, clashing values such as national reunification, sovereignty, democracy, and self-determination. The danger of a Sino-American confrontation has become more elevated recently due to a confluence of several concurrent developments. Despite this increased danger compared to any time since Richard Nixon visited Beijing in 1972, they conclude that war is not imminent or likely-barring extreme hardliners and radical nationalists taking over policymaking in Beijing, Taipei and/or Washington. Despite a rising chorus urging Washington to commit more firmly to Taiwan's defense, they argue that the United States will not likely intervene directly on Taiwan's behalf. Even more controversially, they submit that Beijing will eventually prevail in this dispute.
The Trinity

The Trinity
  • Scott M. Williams
  • Published online:
    09 December 2024
    Print publication:
    16 January 2025
  • The doctrine of the Trinity, proclaimed by Christians through the Nicene-Constantinople creed, is foundational to traditional Christian belief and worship of God. But is this doctrine logically coherent? How can there be three divine persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), each is God, and yet there is only one God? This is a fundamental question for philosophers, but theologians have additional questions. This Element addresses philosophical and theological issues concerning the Trinity: Hermeneutical and Logical problems, Personal Pronouns, Monarchy, Equality, the Greek vs. Latin filioque debate, Real Relations, Unity of Action, Self-Knowledge in the Trinity, and Simplicity. Based on my recent rediscovery of the sixth ecumenical council's (Constantinople III) clarifications of Trinitarian doctrine, this Element introduces Conciliar Trinitarianism and shows how it responds to the issues, including a resolution to the fundamental logical question. It also compares Conciliar Trinitarianism with Miaphysite, neo-Sabellian, Social, and other models of the Trinity.
The Problem of God in Jewish Thought

The Problem of God in Jewish Thought
  • Jerome Gellman
  • With Joseph (Yossi) Turner
  • Published online:
    09 December 2024
    Print publication:
    09 January 2025
  • The Hebrew Bible contains two quite different divine personae. One is quick to anger and to exact punishment while the other is a compassionate God slow to anger and quick to forgive. One God distant, the other close by. This severe contrast posed a theological challenge for Jewish thought for the ages. This Element follows selected views in rabbinic literature, medieval Jewish philosophy, Jewish mystical thought, the Hasidic movement, modern Jewish theology, response to the Holocaust, and Jewish feminist theology. In the history of Jewish thought there was often a tendency to identify closely with the God of compassion.
Global South Leadership Style

Global South Leadership Style
  • Strategies for Navigating Emerging Economies
  • Abel Femi Adekola, Mona Pearl, Bruno S. Sergi, Richard J. Muszynski III
  • Published online:
    06 December 2024
    Print publication:
    09 January 2025
  • The Global South consists of emerging nations with increasing economic and political strength, drawing attention to their unique leadership challenges and opportunities. Visionary leaders from the Global South leverage their political and economic influence to challenge the status quo and reshape the global order. Thus, Global South's leadership has the potential for a revolutionary future, defined by its distinctive experiences, creative energy, and dedication to a more sustainable global order. This Element promotes a new paradigm shift by acknowledging the regions as a unique leadership concept rather than a geographical classification. The Global South Leadership Index identifies new players, agendas, and pathways to provide a framework for other countries who want to follow suit. The Element sidesteps labeling leaders explicitly with terms like democratic or dictatorial. It allows readers to interpret the governance style and leadership dynamics for themselves, resulting in a more nuanced understanding.
Theatres of Autofiction

Theatres of Autofiction
  • Lianna Mark
  • Published online:
    06 December 2024
    Print publication:
    30 January 2025
  • This Element is the first monograph to focus on the presence and popularity of autofiction in contemporary theatre, a mode characterised by its mixture of autobiographical and fictional materials and generally associated with the cutting edge of literary fiction. To do so, it brings frameworks from literary and theatre studies to bear on a recent upsurge in plays that explicitly mobilise lived experience and its fictionalisation to political ends. Considering a comparative corpus of state-subsidised productions in Britain and Europe since the mid 2010s – both adaptations of literary works and plays written for the stage – this Element attends to autofiction's aesthetics and politics through its negotiation on stage of three conceptual binaries, each the focus of a section: fact/fiction, self/other, and inclusion/exclusion. By probing the mode's critical potential and pitfalls, it sheds light on the stakes of self-fictionalising practices in today's cultural markets and on the role of theatre therein.
Staging Witchcraft Before the Law

Staging Witchcraft Before the Law
  • Skepticism, Performance as Proof, and Law as Magic in Early Modern Witch Trials
  • Julie Stone Peters
  • Published online:
    06 December 2024
    Print publication:
    09 January 2025
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  • While the judicial machinery of early modern witch-hunting could work with terrifying swiftness, skepticism and evidentiary barriers often made conviction difficult. Seeking proof strong enough to overcome skepticism, judges and accusers turned to performance, staging 'acts of Sorcery and Witch-craft manifest to sense.' Looking at an array of demonological treatises, pamphlets, documents, and images, this Element shows that such staging answered to specific doctrines of proof: catching the criminal 'in the acte'; establishing 'notoriety of the fact'; producing 'violent presumptions' of guilt. But performance sometimes overflowed the demands of doctrine, behaving in unpredictable ways. A detailed examination of two cases – the 1591 case of the French witch-demoniac Françoise Fontaine and the 1593 case of John Samuel of Warboys –suggests the manifold, multilayered ways that evidentiary staging could signify – as it can still in that conjuring practice we call law. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Slime

Slime
  • An Elemental Imaginary
  • Simon C. Estok
  • Published online:
    06 December 2024
    Print publication:
    09 January 2025
  • Slime has always stirred the imagination and evoked strong responses. It is as central to life and growth as to death, degeneration, and rot. Slime heals and cures; it also infects and kills. Slime titillates and terrifies. It fascinates children and is the horror in stories and the disgusting in fridges. Slime is part of good sex. Slime is also worryingly on the rise in the warming oceans. Engaging with slime is becoming more urgent because of its proliferation both in the seas and in our imaginations. Inextricable from racism, homophobia, sexism, and ecophobia, slime is the least theorized element and is indeed traditionally not even included among the elements. Things need to change. Addressing growing climate issues and honestly confronting matters associated with them depend to a very large degree on theorizing and thus understanding how people have thought and continue to think about slime.
Contemporary Pagan Philosophy

Contemporary Pagan Philosophy
  • Eric Steinhart
  • Published online:
    06 December 2024
    Print publication:
    02 January 2025
  • One of the most remarkable features of the current religious landscape in the West is the emergence of new Pagan religions. Here the author will use techniques from recent analytic philosophy of religion to try to clarify and understand the major themes in contemporary Paganisms. They will discuss Pagan concepts of nature, looking at nature as a network of animated agents. They will examine several Pagan theologies, and Pagan ways of relating to deities, such as theurgy. They will discuss Pagan practices like divination, visualization, and magic. And they will talk about Pagan ethics. Their discussions are based on extensive references to contemporary Pagan writings, from many different traditions. New Pagan religions, and new Pagan philosophies, have much to contribute to the religious future of the West, and to contemporary analytic philosophy of religion.
The Rhetoric and Reality of Shareholder Democracy and Hedge-Fund Activism

The Rhetoric and Reality of Shareholder Democracy and Hedge-Fund Activism
  • Jan-Sup Shin
  • Published online:
    05 December 2024
    Print publication:
    09 January 2025
  • This Element investigates the historical and systemic roots of hedge-fund activism. It argues that the spirit of the New Deal financial regulations was subverted in the 1980s and 1990s in the name of shareholder democracy and opened the door for the rise of hedge-fund activism. It analyzes the effects of regulatory reforms including the introduction of compulsory voting by institutional investors, proxy-voting rule changes that greatly facilitated aggregation of the proxy votes of institutional investors, and rules that allow hedge funds to draw effectively limitless alternative investments from institutional investors. This Element also evaluates the recent empirical research on hedge-fund activism and explains why shareholder activism has gone awry. It argues that the regulatory changes created a large vacuum in the arena of corporate voting that hedge-fund activists can effectively exploit for their own profits. It concludes with policy proposals for rebuilding the proxy-voting and engagement system.
Mormonism

Mormonism
  • Matthew Bowman
  • Published online:
    05 December 2024
    Print publication:
    16 January 2025
  • This Element will focus on the various denominations in the Mormon tradition, collectively sometimes referred to as 'Mormonism.' They include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as the several sects of Mormon fundamentalism and multiple other denominations. Often described as the quintessential new religious movement, Mormonism is useful for studying the dynamics of new religious formation, evolution, schism, and adaptation to American culture more broadly. It emerged in the heat of the Second Great Awakening, the flourishing of religious creativity and innovation that followed American disestablishment, inspired by the visionary ideas of Joseph Smith, Jr., a New York farmer who adopted a particular style of restorationism, a form of Christianity popular in the period. Since that time, the various branches of Mormonism have embraced different relationships with the broader stream of American culture. Some have sought integration with America's Protestant majority; others have emphasized sectarian distinctiveness.
God and the Problem of Epistemic Defeaters

God and the Problem of Epistemic Defeaters
  • Joshua Thurow
  • Published online:
    05 December 2024
    Print publication:
    02 January 2025
  • Any modern, moderately intellectually mature (MMIM) believer in God faces a variety of epistemic defeaters of their belief in God. Epistemic defeaters challenge the rationality of a belief. After explaining the notion of a defeater and discussing various ways and targets of defeat, this Element categorizes the many defeaters of belief in God into four classes: rebutting, undercutting, base defeaters, and competence defeaters. Then, several general defeaters of theistic belief are examined in some detail: the superfluity argument, the problem of unpossessed evidence, various forms of debunking arguments, and a cumulative case competence defeater. The typical MMIM believer, it is argued, has resources to resist these defeaters, although the cumulative case competence defeater has some force. The strength of its force depends on the strength of grounds for theistic belief and of various defeaters and deflectors for the competence defeater. No easy general defeater of theistic belief is found.
Quantitative and Computational Approaches to Phonology

Quantitative and Computational Approaches to Phonology
  • Jane Chandlee
  • Published online:
    05 December 2024
    Print publication:
    16 January 2025
  • This Element surveys the various lines of work that have applied algorithmic, formal, mathematical, statistical, and/or probabilistic methods to the study of phonology and the computational problems it solves. Topics covered include: how quantitative and/or computational methods have been used in research on both rule- and constraint-based theories of the grammar, including questions about how grammars are learned from data, how to best account for gradience as observed in acceptability judgments and the relative frequencies of different structures in the lexicon, what formal language theory, model theory, and information theory can and have contributed to the study of phonology, and what new directions in connectionist modeling are being explored. The overarching goal is to highlight how the work grounded in these various methods and theoretical orientations is distinct but also interconnected, and how central quantitative and computational approaches have become to the research in and teaching of phonology.

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