...Stakeholder analysis by Mohamed A. Abdrabo and Mahmoud A. Hassaan CEDARE 1. Objectives: 1.1 This document intends to provide background information on stakeholder analysis in terms of definitions, objective, need for conducting stakeholder analysis. 1.2 Also, the document aims to provide a systematic approach for conducting a stakeholder analysis within the framework of Wadi Project. 2. Background 2.1 Public issues in general and environmental ones in particular, can affect and get affected by a wide range of groups, bodies and/or individuals. Accordingly, involvement of such groups, bodies and/or individuals may assist in making more informed decisions and increase their potential for success. Furthermore, as the number of such groups, bodies and/or individuals is usually very large, they cannot all be considered for inclusion in such consultation process. Accordingly, a selection process needs to be carried out to identify the most important interest groups to be incorporated in such consultation process. The main criteria employed to prioritize interest groups may include interests, attitude, power and/or influence of such groups which may vary considerably from one party to another. 1.2 It is worth mentioning that stakeholders refer to actors (persons or organizations) with a vested interest in the decision or policy being promoted. 1.3. The main Objective of stakeholder analysis: is to identify the key people who have to be taken into consideration when making...
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...MODELS FOR POLICY ANALYSIS INSTITUTIONALISM: POLICY AS INSTITUTIONAL OUTPUT Government institutions have long been a central focus of political science. Public policy is authoritatively determined, implemented, and enforced by these institutions. Therelationship between public policy and government institutions is very close. Strictly speaking, a policy does not become a public policy until it is adopted, implemented, and enforced by some government institution. Government institutions give public policy three distinctive characteristics. •First, government lends legitimacy to policies. Government policies are generally regarded as legal obligations that command the loyalty of citizens. •Second government policies involve universality. Only government policies extend to all people in a society; the policies of other groups or organizations reach only a part of the society. •Finally, government monopolizes coercion in society, only government can legitimately imprison violators of its policies. The impact of institutional arrangements on public policy is an empirical question that deserves investigation. Federalism recognizes that both the national government and the state governments derive independent legal authority from their own citizens. PROCESS: POLICY AS POLITICAL ACTIVITY Today political processes and behaviors are a central focus of political science. Political scientists with an interest in policy have grouped various activities according to their relationship...
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...product of politics, as federal bureaucracy has foundations in both political choice and self-interest. In this summary, I’ll be breaking up the perspective on structural politics into the following subheadings—technical problems regarding interest groups, political problems pertaining to interest groups, legislators and presidents structural choice, and structures. For starters, we must cover the technical problems of structural choice in interest groups. Interest groups inherently focus on politicians, which is harmful as the concern for constituencies and elections surpasses the concern of outside populations. Interest groups also have an expertise problem, and the experts that do partake in these acts may not act in the groups best interest, in turn exploiting their role. Control problems are at the heart of structural choice when considering the groups assured political power. They can make rules to restrain bureaucratic behavior though, such as criteria and procedures. Lastly is the problem of reputation, and how the reliability of a title incentives consistent behavior that could vary...
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...includes: Influences of Interest Groups and Other Entities Paper Political Science - General Political Science Learning Team Assignment: Influences Paper · Select two public policy issues. The issues must be actively engaged by at least two of these forces: o Corporate community o Upper class o Liberal-labor coalition o Elements of policy-planning network o Political parties o Special interest groups o Political action committees · Select policy issues that have some degree of interrelationship to promote comparative analysis. · Write a 2,450- to 2,800-word paper, including the following elements: o Provide a brief summary of the issues. o Provide a concise analysis of how these forces shape the public’s values and educate them. o Describe the advantages the forces have over political parties and individuals in influencing public policy. o Explain how issue networks function. Then describe how they influence public policy regarding these issues. o Identify the force with the highest distribution of power over the issues. o Consider who else has power over the issues. Provide examples. o Provide a comparative analysis of your findings, addressing the following: · Do your findings indicate that the groups operate similarly across different policy issues? · How do differences in resources affect the effectiveness of groups in question? · Is there specific...
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...KARL MARX AND THE CONCEPTS OF SOCIETY AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE BEING AN ASSIGNMENT SUBMITTED BY EKOTT, IMOH BERNARD 1.0 INTRODUCTION The philosopher, social scientist, historian and revolutionary, Karl Heinrich Marx, is without a doubt the most influential socialist thinker to emerge in the 19th century. Although he was largely ignored by scholars in his own lifetime, his social, economic and political ideas gained rapid acceptance in the socialist movement after his death in 1883. Until quite recently almost half the population of the world lived under regimes that claim to be Marxist. This very success, however, has meant that the original ideas of Marx have often been modified and his meanings adapted to a great variety of political circumstances. In addition, the fact that Marx delayed publication of many of his writings meant that is been only recently that scholars had the opportunity to appreciate Marx's intellectual stature. Karl Heinrich Marx was born into a comfortable middle-class home in Trier on the river Moselle in Germany on May 5, 1818. He came from a long line of rabbis on both sides of his family and his father, a man who knew Voltaire and Lessing by heart, had agreed to baptism as a Protestant so that he would not lose his job as one of the most respected lawyers in Trier. At the age of seventeen, Marx enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Bonn. At Bonn he became engaged to Jenny von Westphalen, the daughter of Baron von Westphalen , a prominent...
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...Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens Martin Gilens Princeton University mgilens@princeton.edu Benjamin I. Page Northwestern University b-page@northwestern.edu forthcoming Fall 2014 in Perspectives on Politics For helpful comments the authors are indebted to Larry Bartels and Jeff Isaacs, to three anonymous reviewers, and to seminar participants at Harvard and Rochester Universities. Gilens and Page Testing Theories of American Politics 2 Abstract Each of four theoretical traditions in the study of American politics – which can be characterized as theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic Elite Domination, and two types of interest group pluralism, Majoritarian Pluralism and Biased Pluralism – offers different predictions about which sets of actors have how much influence over public policy: average citizens; economic elites; and organized interest groups, mass-based or business-oriented. A great deal of empirical research speaks to the policy influence of one or another set of actors, but until recently it has not been possible to test these contrasting theoretical predictions against each other within a single statistical model. This paper reports on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key variables for 1,779 policy issues. Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S...
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...Philosophy of Science (All Science, not just social science) During the time of the ancient Greeks—that is, Socrates and Plato, but before them and after them as well, the study of “philosophy” (Greek for “love of wisdom”) began. At that time, philosophy included both the natural and physical sciences as well what we know as philosophy today. The development of philosophy created a tension between philosophy, science, and religion. Remember that Socrates was put to death for allegedly questioning the existence of the official state-worshiped gods. This tension between philosophy, science and religion continued through the 1400’s and 1500’s when the European “Enlightenment” emphasized the concept that both “rational thought” and “science” was separate from religion. Today, they are still generally in tension. Whether these methods of gaining knowledge are consistent or not is constantly debated among scientists, theologians, and philosophers. Science=observation of the physical universe which includes (beginning in the late 1800’s) the study of human behavior using our five senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell); Religion=the study of the “divine” (i.e., god, however a person conceives of that notion, and it’s implications) Philosophy=the study of questions unanswerable by science through the use of “reason” (rational thought) alone. Thus, there are 4 different philosophical views on how humans can obtain knowledge: 1. mysticism/divine revelation—a...
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...Essay on the Scope of Political Science by Suhana Dhawan There is no general agreement on the nature and scope of Political Science, “the master science” as Aristotle described it, since there is no generally accepted definition of the discipline, and its organising concept the State. The definitions of both Political Science and the State, the latter in particular, reveal the bias of the thinkers, for example, the metaphysical (Hegel), the juridical (Austin), the sociological (Maclver), the descriptive (Garner) and many others with their own distinctive labels. In fact, there are as many definitions as there are writers on the subject and all these definitions give to the entity — the State — different meanings and conflicting roles. This tendency continues even now though in a slightly different form. “The recent definitions of politics (as a study),” writes Frank Thakurdas, “are not so much cast in the discipline of the thinker (easily detectable) but in the conceptual framework that he has worked out in advance (as it were) the basic presupposition of his personal manner of interpreting the complete phenomenon of politics. But also including the ‘purpose’ that the studies involve in terms of the practical ends they sub serve.” Some writers restrict the scope of Political Science to the study of the State alone, for example, Bluntschli. All such writers exclude the study of government from the scope of Political Science, for the State for them obviously includes the study...
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...Conceptual analysis and specification of Morgan’s metaphors using the CAST method Taken from: Gazendam, Henk W.M. (1993). Variety Controls Variety: On the Use of Organization Theories in Information Management. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff. 400 pp. ISBN 90-01-32950-0. 4.2. An overview of Morgan's metaphors Morgan (1986) distinguishes eight metaphors for organizations: machine, organism, brain, culture, political system, psychic prison, flux and transformation, and instrument of domination. Each metaphor highlights other aspects of organizational life (see Figure 4.1.). For further analysis, the metaphors can be grouped into three groups: the machine group, the organism group, and the mind group. The machine group only contains the machine metaphor (Paragraph 4.3.). The organism group focuses on the dynamic relationship of organization and environment and contains the organism metaphor and the flux and transformation metaphor (Paragraph 4.4.). The mind group (Paragraph 4.5.) contains two subgroups. The first mind subgroup concentrates on the relationship between the minds of persons and the organization as a social construct; it contains the brain metaphor, the culture metaphor, and the psychic prison metaphor. The second mind subgroup focuses on coordination mechanisms and power plays, and encompasses the political system metaphor and the instrument of domination metaphor. metaphor machine highlights efficiency, quality, and timeliness of production processes in a machine...
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...Virtual Class ~ PutraLMS http://lms.upm.edu.my/ • Notes • Announcement • Assignment 1-3 1-3 Chapter 1 The Corporation and Its Stakeholders McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Ch. 1: Key Learning Objectives Understanding the relationship between business and society Considering the purpose of the modern corporation Knowing what is a stakeholder and who a corporation’s market and nonmarket and internal and external stakeholders are Conducting a stakeholder analysis, and understanding the basis of stakeholder interests and power Recognizing the diverse ways in which modern corporations organize internally to interact with various stakeholders Analyzing the forces of change that continually reshape the business and society relationship 1-5 Introduction – The Business and Society Relationship Business: Any organization that is engaged in making a product or providing a service for a profit Society: Human beings and the social structures they collectively create 1-6 Figure 1.1 Business and Society: An Interactive System 1-7 Introduction – The Business and Society Relationship We borrow “General Systems Theory (GST)” from biology to explain this relationship; first introduced in 1940s Theory posits that organisms cannot be understood in isolation, even though they have clear boundaries; they can only be understood in relationship to their...
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...little ignorant when it came to knowledge about the government or political issues, but have always wished that I knew more, especially with the economic problems we are facing today. I never really did form many political opinions, one way or the other. I vote every election, but never really understand the bigger picture at hand. Such as, all the issues that a candidate stands for or the impact of proposals on the government. When people around me have conversations about American politics, I am embarrassed that I either do not understand what they are saying, or cannot add to the conversation because I don’t know what to say. I guess you could say that I have always been a little cynical when it came to politics. Part of this reason is because I have always felt that the political game played in American politics was just a bunch of people talking baloney, making empty promises, trash talking their opponents, and trying to persuade people to think their way. And whoever does this the best wins, end of story. I’ve always known that there was more to American politics that this, but never really tried to find out more. So, when I signed up for this class, I wanted to shed my ignorance and learn more about my government and how it operated. I am proud to say that my knowledge of our government has been expanded to the point where I am fully capable of understanding the full context of our government its political system and understand why our government operates the way it does...
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...recommend potentially fruitful direction for testing methods that might improve the efficiency of stakeholder interactions. The report reviews a range of options and outlines in detail the definition and identification of stakeholders, and procedures for mapping influence and interest. It uses a workshop run by ACERA on volume of trade to illustrate the basic features of these methods. The report concludes by discussing the merits and weaknesses of the mapping approaches. It recommends their use to improve the efficiency of interactions and to improve transparency of process. ACERA Use only ACERA Use only ACERA Use only Received By: ACERA / AMSI SAC Approval: ACERA / AMSI SAC Approval: Date: Date: Date: Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis Page 1 of 55 Stakeholder mapping for effective risk assessment and communication; ACERA Project 06/09 Dr Jane Gilmour; ACERA Associate Professor Ruth Beilin, University of Melbourne Review; April 2007 Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis Page 2 of 55 Stakeholder mapping for effective risk assessment and communication Acknowledgements This report is a product of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis (ACERA). In preparing this report, the authors acknowledge the financial and other support provided by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries...
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...REVISTA DE SOCIOLOGÍA, Nº 28 (2013) pp. 31-49 Elites, political elites and social change in modern societies1 Luis Garrido Vergara* Resumen Los estudios académicos acerca de las élites políticas poseen una vibrante historia reciente. El objetivo aquí es proveer un resumen selectivo de esa historia, enfocándose en la importancia de la distinción social y en las teorías de la estructura de poder como el marco teórico para comprender la influencia de las élites políticas en el cambio social. Dado que nuevas perspectivas y preocupaciones han surgido en este campo, la organización de este artículo no es completamente cronológica. Aunque puedan haberse ignorado muchas contribuciones relevantes, la intención aquí es brindar algún sentido de la riqueza e importancia de lo que han logrado los académicos acerca de la relación entre élites y representación, los vínculos entre élites, democracia y cambio social y las teorías de la estructura de poder. En este artículo también se estudia hasta qué grado la introducción de una nueva metodología de investigación por parte de la teoría de la dominación de clase de Domhoff abrió una nueva perspectiva en los estudios sobre las élites. Finalmente, se presentan una estrategia de investigación para las élites y dos conclusiones principales. Palabras clave: Élites políticas - cambio social - estructura de poder - representación. Abstract Scholarly studies of elites and political elites have a vibrant recent history. My aim here is to provide a selective...
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...1. Westpac PESTEL analysis 1. Political and Legal analysis There are huge amounts of regulations and laws supervising the banking system in Australia. In this paper, we focus on one important and famous regulation: ‘four pillars’ policy. Basically, the ‘four pillar’ is a specific Australian policy to maintain the separation of ‘big four’ banks including Westpac and to prevent any merge and acquisition among these four banks (1997) .In terms of the report from both TUNSTALL (2007) and The Age (2006), the main objective of the policy is to keep the competition of the banking industry. Such the policy is a threat to the Westpac because the increasing competition will lead to shrinking interest margin definitely. And the profit channel such as making loans in domestic market will be in tough condition. While the ‘four pillar’ policy is also a big opportunity for Westpac due to the fact Australian banks were force to borrow offshore under the policy based on the speech of Macfarlane (2009). Additionally, according to the analysis released by IMF (2012), ‘Australia has limited foreign bank presence’. Therefore, it’s a big opportunity for Westpac to build up foreign presence to join the international banks and adsorb the cheaper foreign capital. 1. 2 Social and Economic analysis After the GFC, based on BBC many important economic entities cut their interest rate with the quantity easing policy issued by US, including Australia, to stimulate the domestic economy...
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...This transformation however was not smooth and caused a ripple effect of problems. To iron out the problems, it was quintessential that Dynacorp identify the problem at the core. This paper is an investigative attempt to deduce what the root cause of the problems was. I shall use the theory of ‘Political lens’ in my analysis of the organization. Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that there is a conflict of collective interests happening at critical levels. I shall begin this paper by first defining the problem, defining political lens and then use it to elaborate upon power constructs and lastly use them to make recommendations. The systemic factor in this case is ‘Blockers’. Blockers are defined as “ those whose opposition could delay or derail what you are trying to do”(Ancona, Kochan, Scully, Van Maanen and Westney, M2-42,2005). In this case, Dynacorp is trying to incorporate a new structure, ‘front/back’ design, which integrates the products and provides customers customized solutions. However, it has been found that there are individuals within the company whose motives and ‘interests’ are in disagreement with that of the senior management as suggested by Mr Walker. Political lens It is defined as that which sees the organization as an arena for competition and...
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