scholarly journals Unintended by Design: On the Political Uses of “Unintended Consequences”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 320
Author(s):  
Nassim Parvin ◽  
Anne Pollock
Keyword(s):  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
The Political ◽  
Technology Design ◽  
Feminist Technoscience

This paper revisits the term “unintended consequences,” drawing upon an illustrative vignette to show how it is used to dismiss vital ethical and political concerns. Tracing the term to its original introduction by Robert Merton and building on feminist technoscience analyses, we uncover and rethink its widespread usage in popular and scholarly discourses and practices of technology design.

scholarly journals Bessere Rechtsetzung im europäischen Vergleich

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Schurig
Keyword(s):  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
The Political ◽  
Independent Expert ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Academic Debate ◽  
Critical Friend

In order to calculate the unintended consequences of their policies, governments conduct comprehensive assessments of the impact of legislation. In doing so, they have independent expert committees monitor them on an increasingly frequent basis. However, in what ways do these committees have an influence in this respect? And what role do they play as policy advisors in terms of dismantling bureaucracy and better legislation? This book provides new insights into the history of the development of the three most experienced supervisory bodies in Europe and the reality of how they conduct themselves. Against the backdrop of various administrative cultures, the book presents the following types of supervisory committees in detail: ‘watchdog’, ‘gatekeeper’ and ‘critical friend’. Its findings intensify the political and academic debate on the performance and efficiency of supervisory bodies.

Epilogue

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Sopranzetti
Keyword(s):  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
The Political ◽  
Taxi Drivers ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Government ◽  
Motorcycle Taxi

This epilogue follows the life of the motorcycle taxi drivers and the political situation in Thailand since the 2014 military coup. In particular, it explores how the government of Prayth Cha-o-cha is attempting to cement the cracks that the Red Shirts mobilization revealed in 2010. Once again, the chapter argues, these plans will not be completely successful and will create unintended consequences that will expose new fragility in the power of state forces.

scholarly journals What Is Spontaneous Order?

2019 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-80
Author(s):  
DANIEL LUBAN
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Order Theory ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Spontaneous Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Internal Logic ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Human Practices ◽  
Individual Actions ◽  
Analytical Weight

Due especially to the work of Friedrich Hayek, “spontaneous order” has become an influential concept in social theory. It seeks to explain how human practices and institutions emerge as unintended consequences of myriad individual actions, and points to the limits of rationalism and conscious design in social life. The political implications of spontaneous order theory explain both the enthusiasm and the skepticism it has elicited, but its basic mechanisms remain elusive and underexamined. This article teases out the internal logic of the concept, arguing that it can be taken to mean several different things. Some are forward-looking (defining it in terms of present-day functioning), whereas others are backward-looking (defining it in terms of historical origins). Yet none of these possibilities prove fully coherent or satisfactory, suggesting that spontaneous order cannot bear the analytical weight that has been placed on it.

The Political Economy of Administrative Burdens: A Theoretical Framework for Analyzing the Organizational Origins of Administrative Burdens

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 566-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rik Peeters
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
The Political ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Behavioral Patterns ◽  
Access To Services ◽  
Formal Procedures

Most research on administrative burdens focuses on measuring their impact on citizens’ access to services and benefits. This article fills a theoretical gap and provides a framework for understanding the organizational origins of administrative burden. Based on an extensive literature review, the explanations are organized according to their level of intentionality (deliberate hidden politics or unintended consequences) and their level of formality (designed into formal procedures or caused by informal organizational practices). The analysis suggests that administrative burdens are often firmly rooted in a political economy of deeply engrained structures and behavioral patterns in public administration.

scholarly journals Attacks on the Judiciary: Undercurrents of a Political versus Legal Constitutionalism Dilemma?

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Herbert Kawadza
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Space ◽  
Common Thread ◽  
The Common ◽  
Political Backlash

A number of landmark judicial review decisions and the resultant political backlash are arguably to supportive of the claim that political and legal constitutionalism are entrenched in South Africa. The common thread in the legislature and executive's reaction to judicial review decisions is that government supremacy is under threat from legal constitutionalism. More specifically, there is a perception that courts are meddling in the political space through judgments that are aimed at weakening the government's authority and power. Nonetheless, such decisions have had an effect of reinforcing the judiciary's legal constitutional role of reviewing the lawfulness of the other branches' activities. There is need for strategies to minimize this tension as the continued antagonism can have unintended consequences such as the delegitimisation of the judiciary    

scholarly journals Adrift in Turbulent Seas: The Political and Ideological Struggles of Ivan Kuz'mich Polozkov

1993 ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Jonathan Harris
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Russia

In the winter of 1989-90 the unintended consequences of Mikhail S. Gorbachev's program of political and economic refonn had become obvious to all but his most optimistic spokesmen. The General Secretary's attempt to create a new ideology of perestroika by grafting "bourgeois" and "social democratic" concepts onto the conventional ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) had divided the party, created immense ideological confusion, and led to the formation of non-Communist and anti-Communist political organizations. The attempt to shift authority from party officials to elected soviets on the union and republican levels had led to the emergence of separatist and nationalist movements in many of the USSR's republics, including the RSFSR. The decentralization of the state's administration of the economy and the encouragement of both private and cooperative economic activity had failed to reverse the deterioration of economic conditions. As anxiety swept through the CPSU, orthodox party leaders called for the establishment of an autonomous Communist Party for the RSFSR to counter Gorbachev's policies and to "save Soviet Russia" from destruction.

scholarly journals Cooperation, a sense of justice, and neuroenhancement

2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-82
Author(s):  
Ivan Mladenovic
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Moral Enhancement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional Response ◽  
Political Problem ◽  
Societal Level ◽  
Sense Of Justice ◽  
Near Future

In this paper we shall explore the neurobiological basis of human cooperation, as well as some biomedical means for enhancing cooperation capacities that are already available, or that will be available in the near future. For that reason we will pay special attention to the role that hormone oxitocin (Oxt) plays in inducing trust among humans. Some recent experiments in neuroeconomics suggest that increase of the level of oxitocin in human brain increases readiness for cooperation. We shall argue that these experiments are crucially important for the enhancement debate, especially on the topic of moral enhancement. Nevertheless, we will raise several objections against the straightforward use of these experiments in pro-enhancement arguments. The first problem, that is biomedical in its nature, concerns the issue of side effects. The second problem is that increased readiness for cooperation may result in some unintended consequences both on individual and societal level. Finally, we will address the political problem of finding an adequate institutional response to the possibility of moral neuroenhancement.

scholarly journals Bringing Art Market Organizations to China: Cross-Border Isomorphism, Institutional Work and its Unintended Consequences

2019 ◽  
Vol 240 ◽  
pp. 1087-1107
Author(s):  
Svetlana Kharchenkova
Keyword(s):  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
The Political ◽  
Organizational Forms ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Auction Houses ◽  
Institutional Differences ◽  
Mimetic Isomorphism

AbstractThis study proposes a new explanation for institutional differences of organizations in China. It focuses on how two organizational forms dominant in contemporary art markets – commercial galleries and auction houses – were first established in China in the 1990s. Based on archival and interview data, it argues that the organizational forms were introduced to China due to mimetic isomorphism, and that their divergences from the foreign models are the result of unintended consequences of institutional work. It highlights the role of individual agency, including the role of foreign nationals, in organization-building in China. The findings also have implications for institutional theory: the article shows how the political, cultural and institutional context in China shaped institutional work that needed to be conducted and led to unintended consequences of institutional work.

scholarly journals Scientific risk communication about controversial issues influences public perceptions of scientists' political orientations and credibility

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 170505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Vraga ◽  
Teresa Myers ◽  
John Kotcher ◽  
Lindsey Beall ◽  
Ed Maibach
Keyword(s):  
Risk Communication ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
The Political ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Perceptions ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Public Views

Many scientists communicate with the public about risks associated with scientific issues, but such communication may have unintended consequences for how the public views the political orientations and the credibility of the communicating scientist. We explore this possibility using an experiment with a nationally representative sample of Americans in the fall of 2015. We find that risk communication on controversial scientific issues sometimes influences perceptions of the political orientations and credibility of the communicating scientist when the scientist addresses the risks of issues associated with conservative or liberal groups. This relationship is moderated by participant political ideology, with liberals adjusting their perceptions of the scientists' political beliefs more substantially when the scientist addressed the risks of marijuana use when compared with other issues. Conservatives' political perceptions were less impacted by the issue context of the scientific risk communication but indirectly influenced credibility perceptions. Our results support a contextual model of audience interpretation of scientific risk communication. Scientists should be cognizant that audience members may make inferences about the communicating scientist's political orientations and credibility when they engage in risk communication efforts about controversial issues.

Politicians and Poachers: The Political Economy of Wildlife Policy in Africa. By Clark C. Gibson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 262p. $70.00 cloth, $26.95 paper.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 659-660
Author(s):  
Goran Hyden
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Precious Metals ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Politics ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Wildlife Policy ◽  
Eastern And Southern Africa ◽  
Douglass North ◽  
Political Matter

This interesting and insightful book on the political economy of wildlife policy in Africa is an important contribution to the literature not only on African politics but also on the role that institutions play in shaping behavior and decisions. Although wildlife may not occupy the same centrality in African economies as oil and precious metals do, it is a crucial natural resource that earns countries, especially in eastern and southern Africa, significant revenue. Few political scientists have paid attention to this sector. No one has really approached it from a political economy perspective. Yet the struggle over access to natural resources in Africa is very much a political matter. Gibson's well-crafted and thorough study fills this gap. Its main contribution to the discipline at large is its focus on the distributive nature of institutions. The latter do not just produce collective or public goods. They also serve individual interests differentially. By concentrating on the strategic interaction of individuals within institutions, Gibson, following in the tradition of Douglass North and Robert Bates, identifies the intended and unintended consequences of policy decisions made with regard to the use and conservation of wildlife in Africa.

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