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Full-Text Articles in Sociology
From Guo To Tianxia: Linking Two Daoist Theories Of International Relations, Devin K. Joshi
From Guo To Tianxia: Linking Two Daoist Theories Of International Relations, Devin K. Joshi
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This study examines the international relations theory (IRT) of Daoism, one of Asia’s long-standing traditions to have theorized international politics. Drawing upon Laozi’s Dao De Jing, this study elucidates two Daoist IR theories. First, Laozi provides a state-focused guo-based IRT for conducting foreign policy and managing inter-state relations with emphasis on yielding and softness to overcome violence and domination. Second, Laozi offers a Utopian and globalist tianxia-centered IRT based on following the Dao whereby inter-state rivalry is dissolved in favor of peaceful planetary governance in harmony with the natural rhythms of the cosmos. Whereas previous scholarship often concentrates on only …
The Imaginary And Epistemology Of Disaster Preparedness: The Case Of Japan's Nuclear Safety Failure, Hiro Saito
The Imaginary And Epistemology Of Disaster Preparedness: The Case Of Japan's Nuclear Safety Failure, Hiro Saito
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
The Fukushima nuclear disaster was profoundly a man-made one, resulting from the organiza-tional failure of nuclear emergency preparedness. To fully understand the cause of this disaster, I propose to extend an organizational perspective on disasters into a macro-institutional perspec-tive on disaster preparedness. To this end, I borrow from science and technology studies the concepts of "sociotechnical imaginary" and "civic epistemology" to probe the deepest layers of meaning-making constitutive of disaster preparedness. I then apply these concepts to the history of nuclear energy in postwar Japan that was centered on the developmental state pursuing in-dustrial transformation. Specifically, I illustrate how the …
Nonprofits As Socially Responsible Actors: Neoliberalism, Institutional Structures, And Empowerment In The United Nations Global Compact, Alwyn Lim
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations have become prominent participants in a global organizational responsibility movement. This trend of nonprofit responsibility is puzzling because nonprofits are presumably already dedicated to the pursuit of collective well-being objectives. This article examines the nonprofit responsibility movement from a cultural perspective, whereby broader cultural changes at the level of international organizations have constructed nonprofit entities as empowered and socially responsible actors. Using the case of the United Nations Global Compact, a global framework for corporate social responsibility, the author shows how (1) the construction of cultural meanings of autonomy and decentralization in the neoliberal context, (2) …