Resumen. El siguiente artículo muestra el estado actual de la Responsabilidad Empresarial enMéxico y su efecto en el Riesgo medido a través del Costo de Capital. Para ello, revisamos lasprincipales teorías que muestran que el uso de prácticas sociales en Estados Unidos provocandisminución del riesgo y por ende del Costo de Capital, Aras y Crowther, Richardson yWelker y Diamond y Verrechia. Con el fin de contrastar que las empresas SocialmenteResponsables tienen costos de capital menores consideramos como variable de desempeño social (...) eldistintivo que otorga el Centro Mexicano de Filantropía y por otra parte para calcular elriesgo consideramos el costo de capital a través de la metodología del Capital Asset Price Modelo. Encontramos que las empresas que son socialmente responsables tienen costos de capitalsuperiores que las que no son responsables y que el rendimiento de acciones es superior en lasempresas no responsables, por lo que el diferencial de riesgo vs rendimiento es superior en lasempresas no socialmente responsables. Lo anterior rechaza la hipótesis y contrasta con la realidadempírica de otros estudios.Palabras claves. Distintivo de ESR, CEMEFI, costo de capital, riesgo, rentabilidad de acciones,Bolsa de Valores. The following article shows the current status of the corporate responsibility inMexico and their effect on risk measured by the cost of capital. To do this, we review the maintheories that show that social practices in the United States leads to decrease risk and hence the costof Capital Aras and Crowther, Richardson and Welker and Diamond y Verrechia. In order to contrast that socially responsible companies have lower capital costs we considersocial performance variable the distinction conferred by the Mexican Center for Philanthropy and the cost of capital it estimate on the methodology of the Capital Asset Price model. We find that companies that are socially responsible have capital costs higher than thosethat are not responsible. It rejects the hypothesis and contrasts with the empirical reality of otherstudies.Keywords. CSR distintive, CEMEFI, cost of capital, risk, return in shares, Capital Market Securities. (shrink)

Although the Internet is frequently referred to as a global public resource, its functioning remains predominantly controlled by private actors. The Internet brought about significant shifts in the way we conceptualize governance. In particular, the handling of “big data” by private intermediaries has a direct impact on routine practices and personal lives. The implementation of the “right to be forgotten” following the May 2014 decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union against Google blurs the boundaries between the (...) public and the private, and extends the responsibilities of the latter to court-style decision making. This article analyzes the regulatory developments in this area and the implications of outsourcing of important governance practices to private intermediaries. It looks at the decision-making process for the “right to be forgotten” to illustrate the extent to which the hybridization of such procedures results in new arrangements between public and private ordering in Internet governance. (shrink)

This paper argues against the priority of temporality over spatiality, which Heidegger defends in Being and Time . The argument, however, does not follow the turn in Heidegger's philosophy and his later retrieval of the spatial but is developed as a delimitation—that is, as an internal critique and reconstruction—undertaken within the transcendental framework of his early thinking. This delimitation proposes a demonstration of the fundamental role of spatializing, defined as dissemination, in the constitution of human Being-in-the-world. A rethinking of human (...) Being-there in terms of the co-originality of spatiality and temporality permits a revisiting of the question of the transcendental and makes it possible to pursue the overcoming of a philosophy of the subject that, critics often point out, Heidegger unsuccessfully sought to transgress in his early work. (shrink)

Informed consent may be unobtainable in online contexts. This article examines the difficulties of obtaining informed consent online through a Facebook case study. It is proposed that there are at least two ways informed consent could be waived in research: first, if the data are public, and second, if the data are textual. Accordingly, the publicness of the Facebook News Feed is considered. Taking account of the wide availability of Facebook users’ data, and reflecting on how public those users perceive (...) their information to be, this paper argues that some Facebook data are properly viewed as public to semi-public in nature. A second issue is whether the Facebook News Feed data collection ought to be classified as document-based or human subjects research. Since the Facebook News Feed involves social interaction that may elicit ‘ethically important moments’, this paper proposes that observing it may constitute human subjects research. While informed consent is desirable for human subjects research, it is suggested that Facebook News Feed observations are comparable to observational research in a public space, and thus waiving informed consent in this online setting could be justifiable. (shrink)

En las discusiones sobre decolonialidad y memoria histórica existe una problemática difícil de soslayar: el pasado colonial parece perdurar y permanecer anacrónicamente en el presente de las naciones independizadas a través de estructuras de dominación, explotación y segregación. Este artículo aborda esta experiencia de “lo colonial en lo poscolonial” a partir de las siguientes preguntas: ¿qué concepción de la verdad histórica sustenta la idea de los pasados coloniales como un problema del presente? Y, ¿qué tipo de interpretación del pasado y (...) del presente interviene en ello? Se aborda la fundación de la nación de Haití y su revolución como un ejemplo para analizar la historia como una entidad ontológica y epistemológica, es decir, como acontecimiento y como conocimiento y narración del acontecimiento. (shrink)

This paper takes issue with Heidegger's claim that discourse and understanding are equally basic in the constitution of our making sense of the world. I argue that Heidegger cannot consistently establish this claim, and that discourse can be thought of as being more basic than understanding. The proposed line of thinking has the advantage of shedding light on both the finitude and the normativity of our making sense of the world. Thus, by setting up an exchange with the later Wittgenstein's (...) discussion of rule-following makes it possible to develop an approach to the normativity of meaning which was not readily available on Heidegger's account. Further, the paper offers an inquiry into a certain aspect of our finite sense of the world which, in spite of Heidegger's marked attention to finitude, was obscured by his approach to discourse. The implications of the argument might be far-reaching. The view of a basic role of discourse can put into question Heidegger's guiding vision according to which time alone is ultimately the fundamental constituent of our sense of what there is. The engagement with Wittgenstein indicates, in conjuction with other themes of the paper, that there are certain perspectives and issues in phenomenology which are much closer to aspects of the analytic tradition than is usually granted. (shrink)

The rapid increase of industry-sponsored clinical research towards developing countries has led to potentially complex ethical issues to assess. There is scarce evidence about the perception of these participants about the ethical compliance, security, and protection. We sought to evaluate and contrast the awareness and perception of participants and non-participants of industry-sponsored research trials on ethical, safety, and protection topics. A Cases-control survey conducted at twelve research sites in México. Previous and current participants of ISRT as well as non-participants with (...) one of four chronic diseases, were asked to complete the survey which focused on ethical compliance and protection issues of ISRT, and the perception of participating in a trial. A total of 604 cases and 604 controls were surveyed. Cases significantly answered that ethics committees are aware of what is happening in studies, and that medical care of industry-sponsored research trials is better than their usual medical care. The same proportion of cases and controls thought patients must receive economical reimbursement for participating in a research study. The informed consent of the pharmaceutical clinical trial was fully read by 90.4% of the cases. Most cases were satisfied or very satisfied with their overall study participation. Previous and current participants of industry-sponsored research trials have a more positive attitude towards ethics committees, the quality of medical care of the research trials, and the main purpose of economical reimbursements, when compared to non-participants. (shrink)

La autora destaca la ausencia de protagonismo de la mujer en la historia previa al siglo XX, a partir del predominio de los esquemas patriarcales, en un contexto de desigualdad, discriminación y violencia social organizadas a partir de relaciones de poder. Localiza luego este contexto cultural en la experiencia del ejercicio del poder en América Latina, y en sus vínculos con la feminidad, etnicidad y pobreza, con los procesos de constitución de la subjetividad, y en su relación con los procesos (...) de lenguaje. Propone finalmente que la cultura del terror en la que nos encontramos encerrados debe ser demolida, y nos invita a abrirnos a la heterogeneidad que caracteriza la realidad latinoamericana. (shrink)

The origins of teacher training programs in Chile have not been addressed in depth apart from Vivanco’s studies. Even though these studies explore the development of these programs in Chile from a chronological perspective, there are no qualitative studies that consider senior academics’ narrations. This qualitative study reconstructs the trajectory of teacher training programs in Chile from a series of interviews with 25 academics in charge of these programs. Results were analyzed in three different periods: 1960-1973, 1973-1990, and 1990 to (...) 2019. Results, discussed in a political and academic context, reveal that these teacher training programs have evolved in a sociopolitical context, generating a series of tensions that substantially impact these training programs. The study finishes with the statement of a series of questions aimed at reflecting upon the state of the art in Chile’s training programs. (shrink)

The Social Role of the Judge. One primary task that a judge has in the process of his activity is to interpret the law according to every single given case. The meaning of the present research is to enlighten the limits that a judge has in the process of interpretation, in particular regarding the question if the law can be construed according to the social context contemporary with the judge. Is this a desirable way of interpreting the law, in compliance (...) with a democratic system or it interferes with the principle of the separation of powers? (shrink)

The present research examines what forms violence has taken along rationalisation processes. To be able to work out this core, it is necessary to deal with the bio-power first. By analysing the development process of bio-power the Implemantation of its disciplinary and regulatory technologies becomes apparent. On the basis of this, the Altered forms of violence become clear within modern society. The impact this has had on modern society and the reason it became possible will be examined in detail in (...) the following. Finally, it should be emphasised whether the term bio-power is still relevant today. The aim of the present Paper is to determine the importance of violence in today's life of modern societies and how violence is spread today. (shrink)

This article explains the connection between work and life. In order to be able to understand the concept of work and its meaning for life in detail, the design possibilities of the work must first be explained and put into context with free time. It shows that work, as the basis of food production and livelihood, is the crucial factor in the lifeworld and thus strongly influences the life forms of society, since work shapes social values. For this analysis, it (...) is therefore essential to examine the changes in the values of modern society in the course of changing forms of work. The aim of this study is to show that the more radically the forms of work undergo change, the greater the change in values. Finally, it will be discussed what significance this changed nature of work and values has for today’s society. (shrink)

A positive reconceptualization of vulnerability involves a number of levels of inquiry; arguably, a fundamental or, at least, central level is the phenomenology of vulnerability with which I am concerned in my paper. By drawing on existential phenomenology and by engaging with Pamela Sue Anderson’s positive account of vulnerability, I develop a phenomenological conception of vulnerability as “openness” and pursue it in new directions which connect it to the metaphysics and epistemology of vulnerability. This approach brings to the fore the (...) possibility of resilience in the face of serious adversities which affect our lives, and draws some ethical implications in relation to this. I engage with recent work in the area of the phenomenology of illness to elaborate certain parts of the investigation. (shrink)

To determine the role Latino community gardens play in community development, open space, and civic agriculture, we conducted interviews with 32 community gardeners from 20 gardens, and with staff from 11 community gardening support non-profit organizations and government agencies. We also conducted observations in the gardens, and reviewed documents written by the gardeners and staff from 13 support organizations and agencies. In addition to being sites for production of conventional and ethnic vegetables and herbs, the gardens host numerous social, educational, (...) and cultural events, including neighborhood and church gatherings, holiday parties, children’s activities, school tours, concerts, health fairs, and voter registration drives. In some cases, the gardens also serve to promote community activism. The primary concern of gardeners is to secure land tenure in the face of pressures to develop the garden sites for housing. The support organizations and agencies provide help with land tenure, as well as with advocacy, organization, and horticultural practices. Although the role of the Latino gardens in community development appears to be more important than their role in open space or agricultural production, the gardens can also be viewed as unique “participatory landscapes” that combine aspects of all three movements, as well as provide a connection between immigrants and their cultural heritage. (shrink)

It can be said that the concept of vulnerability is crucial for the understanding of health and wellbeing. Wellbeing has been taken to be at the core of the concept of health (as the World Health Organisation also defines it). In this paper, I suggest that a proper understanding of health and wellbeing should start with an investigation of vulnerability and ill health and, in particular, the lived experience of these aspects of the human condition. The lived experience of vulnerability (...) and, in particular, ill health involves physical, mental and social suffering as well as experiences of wrongs, harms and injustices which are often rooted in certain misconceptions and myths about vulnerability, illness and mental ill health. I argue that dominant notions of ‘vulnerability’, ‘health’, ‘wellbeing’ are not only unclear but unrealistic and ethically problematic. This paper seeks to expose some of these limitations and, at the same time, offers a contribution to the clarification of the concepts at issue. The aim is to develop a more inclusive and realistic conception of health and wellbeing which, in its turn, can help promote life-enhancing possibilities to be and to live well in health or illness. The basic plan of the paper is this: I discuss two concepts of vulnerability, and point out certain limitations of dominant approaches to them. I offer an alternative understanding of these two concepts of vulnerability, and of the relation between them. I apply this analysis to certain discussions concerning illness and mental health in order to identify life-enhancing possibilities of vulnerability that constitute resilient wellbeing and are conducive to health. As part of this discussion, I point out the social, relational and intersectional aspects of vulnerability, resilient wellbeing and health, and indicate how the approach I propose can contribute to current ethical and political discussions about these issues. (shrink)

Many classical approaches in the area of phenomenological pscyhopathology focus on structures of lived experience of mental illness and overlook the role social context plays in the formation of lived experiences. The paper addresses this issue and contributes to recent research which has pointed out that there is a need for an approach to mental health which investigates the role of context in shaping lived experiences. We propose a conception of contextuality (or situatedness) which we develop in terms of two (...) main characteristics: intersectionality and social relationality of the human condition. We take context to be shaped by social interdependence and by the intersection of multiple factors including gender, race, ethnicity, class, socio-economic status and power relations. We develop this analysis in relation to substance misuse, refer to, and compare, certain case studies and perspectives from Brazil to illustrate our approach which can, however, be applied to other areas of mental health. We suggest that the proposed contextual approach is crucial for an in-depth understanding of psychopathology from a phenomenological perspective and in relation to contemporary ethico-political issues concerning social differences and inequalities in mental health. (shrink)

Responding to growing interest in the Kantian tradition and in issues concerning space and time, this volume offers an insightful and original contribution to the literature by bringing together analytical and phenomenological approaches in a productive exchange on topical issues such as action, perception, the body, and cognition and its limits.

In this paper, I am concerned with certain phenomenological contributions to person-centred practices in healthcare. I propose a meaning-centred phenomenological approach to illness and contrast it with certain body-centred and feeling-centred accounts. I suggest that the proposed approach complements, rather than competes with, these other accounts in the area of phenomenology of illness. This is illustrated, for example, by the way the proposed meaning-centred approach tackles certain general challenges to the phenomenology of illness. I pursue this approach to develop an (...) account of illness as involving a loss of meaning. However, I point out that at the heart of illness lies the possibility of resilience. Resilience is existentially understood as enacting a reconstruction of meaning. I point out that resilience and certain related cognitive mechanisms make well-being possible. Here, to be well is existentially understood as being able to find meaning in life. The phenomenological analysis of existential resilience and well-being I offer in this paper indicates that resilient ways of being which enable well-being can be learned; the analysis thus brings to light deep motivations for supporting resilient learning through healthcare practices and policies. (shrink)

Gerrie ter Haar oi James J. Busuttil (eds.), The Freedom to Do God’s Will. Religious Fundamentalism and Social Change Routledge, London and New York, 2003.

En el presente artículo se realiza un análisis de ciertos aspectos del pensamiento cartesiano que están implícitos en la Quinta Parte del Discurso del Método, los que serán tomados en cuenta para acceder al alcance que tienen algunos supuestos filosóficos de la teoría lingüística de N. Chomsky. Para ésto, se desarrollan los siguientes aspectos: breve reseña de la filosofía cartesiana; resumen de la Quinta Parte del Discurso del Método; especificación de la concepción "racionalista" de la lingüística de Chomsky; determinación del (...) valor sistemático que posee su apelación al racionalismo filosófico. (shrink)

In Education Sciences, the notion of ‘competence’ is widely used, both as an aim to be reached with students and as performance in teachers’ education. This article advances a type of competence that is highly relevant for teachers’ work, namely the ‘ethical competence.’ Ethical competence enables teachers to responsibly deal with the daily challenges arising from their professional roles. In this study, I put forward a definition of ethical competence and I propose a conceptual structure, both meant to support the (...) illustration, description, and development of ethical competence for teachers. (shrink)

Introduction: Agricultural workers perform intense labor outside in direct sunlight and in humid environmental conditions exposing them to a high risk of heat-related illness (HRI). To implement effective cooling interventions in occupational settings, it is important to consider workers’ perceptions. To date, an analysis of agricultural workers’ experience and perception of cooling devices used in the field while working has not been published. -/- Methods: Qualitatively data from 61 agricultural workers provided details of their perceptions and experiences with cooling interventions. (...) -/- Results: The participants in the bandana group reported the bandana was practical to use at work and did not interfere with their work routine. Cooling vest group participants agreed that the vest was effective at cooling them, but the practicality of using the vest at work was met with mixed reviews. -/- Conclusion: The findings of this qualitative study support and extend existing research regarding personal cooling and heat prevention research interventions with vulnerable occupational groups. Personal cooling gear was well received and utilized by the agricultural workers. Sustainable heat prevention studies and governmental protection strategies for occupational heat stress are urgently needed to reduce the risk of heat-related morbidity, mortality, and projected climate change health impacts on outdoor workers. (shrink)

Our relationship with technology has become co-dependent and somehow a personal and an intimate one. Generally speaking, we tend to think that we experience the world around us as it is, but that is not what we really do. In a lifetime, we learn and store knowledge, but we only use from it what we think and feel it will help us to realize the most important projects in our lives. Therefore, we invent things that have the purpose to make (...) our lives easier, just to have time to manage and work on the other part of life – the non-material part of it -, that concerns the personal development of human. First of all, that is or that should be the idea for developing technology, but on second thoughts, we somehow fail to adapt to it, and from that it deceives us – transforming itself in an insecurity, like high-tech products that are too hard to use, or too unreliable to be counted on, the lack of necessary knowledge in order to use it, the costs. Even if we have these technologies as available, we manage to lose ourselves, by becoming more into it than into us and those around us. We like to think we possess knowledge, that we are experts in some areas, we hold and keep lectures on ethics, moral values, efficient communication, but all become a strategic action – from ones that have the power to others that need guidance and confirmation for looking good for others, to win over, convince or convert new adepts to the proposed ideas of ones that have the power, to court those in power, to please everyone, except yourself. But all of that leads to failure – a self-failure, an inner weakness – and we are becoming our own adversaries, which are silent ones. But if technology is so worthy, why we do not manage so well on moral and ethical aspects? (shrink)

Dans l’imaginaire philosophique de J.-M.G. Le Clézio et de Göran Tunström, le rapport centralité / marginalisation occupe une place extrêmement importante. Les personnages de ces deux écrivains sont souvent intégrés dans des sociétés plus ou moins ouvertes, où l’isolement représente l’élément central. Ayant une certe philosophie implicite, mais loin de proposer l’image d’une société parfaite, les romans de J.-M.G. Le Clézio et de Göran Tunström, décrivent, tout aucontraire, la vie des enfants dans une collectivité qui ne les aime pas, où (...) règnent la pauvreté, ainsi que la haine. S’assumer le statut de marginalisé dans un monde aliéné nous démontre à quel point ce thème reste significatif pour la compréhension des personnages. (shrink)

I take it that A. W. Moore is right when he said that ‘Wittgenstein was right: some things cannot be put into words. Moreover, some things that cannot be put into words are of the utmost philosophical importance’. There is, however, a constant threat of self-stultification whenever an attempt is made to put the ineffable into words. As Pamela Sue Anderson notes in Re-visioning gender in philosophy of religion: reason, love, and epistemic locatedness, certain recent approaches to ineffability—including Moore’s approach—attempt (...) to find a ‘third way’ of engaging with it, which displaces the traditional dichotomy between the effable and the ineffable, that is, between what can be said and what cannot be said. In this way, they seek to overcome the threat of self-stultification mentioned above. Still, one important challenge to this kind of approach, which Moore addresses, is, as he puts it, ‘to show how it is possible’ to talk about the ineffable ‘without belying its very ineffability’. His solution to the problem of the ineffable takes the notion of ‘knowing how’ to play a central role, and is formulated in accordance with his commitments to truth and objectivity. A further important challenge to the kind of approach to the ineffable Moore proposes concerns the issue of objectivity. In Re-visioning gender in philosophy of religion, Anderson draws attention to our epistemic locatedness, which brings in questions concerning, for example, gender and culture. Pursuing this view, the challenge is to show ineffable insight without ignoring our epistemic locatedness and, in particular, the role of gender in the conceptualisation and imagery through which we seek to come to terms with the ineffable. My paper deals with these challenges. By engaging with Moore’s and Anderson’s discussions of the ineffable, I examine how it is possible to talk philosophically about the ineffable, without breaking a commitment to enlarged or objective thinking, and without ignoring the epistemic locatedness of thinking. (shrink)

La pandemia del COVID-19 ha cambiado las formas de morir, gestionar y ritualizar las muertes. Este trabajo problematiza el dilema ético de dignificar la muerte, dando espacio a la singularidad en los ritos fúnebres, desde la perspectiva kantiana; versus su tecnificación que, desde el utilitarismo, homogeniza estos rituales para proteger las vidas. La pregunta es si, efectivamente, la protección sanitaria de la vida mediante la protocolización de los rituales fúnebres puede ser puesta en valor, en un momento tan determinante como (...) la muerte. Como conclusión, se considera la importancia de que estas medidas integren la diversidad cultural del país en la forma de afrontar las muertes. En este trabajo se expone, analiza y reflexiona sobre el dilema ético de la muerte digna, a partir de su simbolización expresada en los ritos fúnebres, desde un punto de vista kantiano; versus su afrontamiento pragmático que, desde el utilitarismo, produce una tecnificación de la muerte, que homogeniza y limita su expresión ritual para proteger las vidas de los sobrevivientes. La pregunta que se desprende de este problema ético-político es si, efectivamente, la protección sanitaria de la vida impuesta por la protocolización que restringe y homogeniza la realización de rituales fúnebres es algo que pueda ser puesto en valor, en un momento tan determinante como la muerte de un ser querido. A partir del análisis realizado y considerando la necesidad de tomar las medidas necesarias para evitar los contagios, se concluye la importancia de que estas medidas consideren fórmulas compensatorias que permitan a los deudos y a la sociedad, procesar las pérdidas humanas producto de la pandemia. (shrink)

The paper presents a critical evaluation of the existing anthologies of Romanian oratory and analyzes the pertinence of a new research line: how to trace back the foundations of Romanian versatile political memory, both from a lexical and from an ideological point of view. As I argue in the first part of the paper, collecting and editing the great speeches of Romanian orators seems crucial for today’s understanding of politics (politicians’ speaking/ actions as well as voters’ behavior/ electoral habits). In (...) the second part, I focus on the particularities generated by a dramatic change of media support (in the context of Romania’s high rates of illiteracy at the end of the 19th century): from “writing” information on the slippery surface of memory (declaimed political texts such as “proclamations,” “petitions,” and “appeals”) to “writing” as such (transcribed political speeches). The last part of the paper problematizes the making of a new canon of Romanian eloquence as well as the opportunity of a new assemblage of oratorical texts, illustrative for the 19th century politics, and endeavors to settle a series of virtual editing principles. (shrink)

THE TENTH BOOK OF THE LAWS, which contains Plato's last word on cosmology and theology, has often been considered as presenting Plato's views in a more exoteric way in contrast with the more esoteric style of the Timaeus. And there are good reasons to think that this view is correct. Whereas the Timaeus stresses that "to find the maker and father of this All is difficult, and, having found it, it is impossible to communicate it to the crowd", Plato is (...) in Laws 10 intending to establish a "proemium" or rational foundation for his laws against impiety, which are supposed to be known by all. In this proemium Plato tries to argue for three propositions: that the gods exist ; that they take care of human affairs ; that they cannot be bribed by sacrifices or prayers. The underlying assumption is that learning these facts about the gods will also help to prevent impiety which, like any kind of vice, is often due to ignorance. (shrink)

The present paper is an attempt at examining the value configuration and the socio-demographical profiles of the local political elites in four countries of East-Central Europe: Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Poland. The treatment is a comparative one, predominantly descriptive and exploratory, and employs, as a research method, the case-study, being a quite circumscribed endeavor. The cases focus on the members of the Municipal/Local Council in four towns similar in terms of demography and developmental strategies (i.e. small-to-medium sized communities (...) of around 35,000 inhabitants, with economies largely based on food industry and commercial activities): Tecuci (Galați county, Romania), Česká Lípa (Liberec region, Czech Republic), Targovishte (Targovishte province, Bulgaria), and Oleśnica (Lower Silesia province, Poland). Hypothesizing that the local elites of the former Sovietized Erurope tend to differ in outlook, priorities, and value attainment, as compared to their Western counterparts, the paper considers the former’s attitudes and perspectives in regard to seven values: a series of values customarily connected with the concept of ‘democracy’ (i.e. citizen participation, political conflict, gradual change, economic equality), state intervention in economy, decentralization and increased local autonomy, cultural-geographical self-identification. The study uses, as well, five models of value attainment in what concerns the ‘ideal portrait’ of the local councilor (Putnam 1976): ethical, pragmatic, technocratic, political, and gender. According to the results of a study applying a standard written questionnaire among the local councilors of the three communities in the period December 2010-February 2013, the paper distinguishes among three corresponding types of local elites: (1) ‘predominantly elitistic,’ (2) ‘democratic elitist,’ and (3) ‘predominantly democratic,’ following two types of explanation accounting for the differences among the four cases: the legacy of the defunct regime and the degree of administrative decentralization. (shrink)

The present paper explores diffident and dissident practices reflected by the political talk at the end of the 19th-century in Romania. Relying on Jacques Rancière’s theories on the ‘aesthetic regime of politics,’ the introduction sketches a historical frame and proposes a focus change: the relation between ‘politics’ and ‘aesthetics’ does not stand on a set of literary cases, but on political scripts as such. Thus, the hypotheses investigated by the next three parts can be formulated as follows: 1. though determined (...) by an ideological direction (Conservative or Liberal), the political speech still preserves his tendency towards aesthetic autonomy. 2. oratorical merits (hinting at aesthetic autonomy) can turn into practices of political autonomy, diffidence and, then, dissidence. Methodologically, two types of aesthetic practices organize the chosen materials; both the diffident script and the theatre of dissidence help us to perceive how the philosophical and moral meaning of these practices could change into an ideology of dissidence. The formalization of diffident practices, their conversion to outspoken dissidence, also corresponds to the symmetrical symptom of unlimited authority; when old-time politicians warned on ‘Caesarism,’ ‘Vizierate,’ ‘Despotism,’ ‘Omnipotence’ or ‘Tyranny,’ the Romanian society had already been training for a long experience of ‘dictatorship.’. (shrink)