Humanities & Social Sciences

This book elaborates and interrogates the idea of evil corporations from a diverse range of disciplines. There has long been awareness of systemic harms inflicted by corporations, but this awareness has rarely led to any effective legal means to prevent and/or respond adequately to them. Lawyers and legal theorists appear to be stuck asking the same questions, and giving the same ineffective answers. Part of the problem, this book maintains, is the relative lack of theoretical interrogation into the nature of corporations as responsible, moral agents. To break this stasis, this book draws upon philosophies of wickedness in order to ask whether or not corporations are, or can be, evil. With contributions from a range of different disciplines, including law, cultural theory, theology, and philosophy, it offers a novel account of how and why corporate wrongs are caused, whilst exploring the extent to which the legal system itself facilitates such wrongdoing. The book targets a broad international audience with research interests in corporate crime. This will be of particular interest to those within the legal discipline, including corporate law, criminal law, corporate crime and law and humanities scholars.

Which civil society organizations (CSOs) contribute to democracy, how, and why? Organized civil society including interest groups, political parties, and service-oriented associations is traditionally considered a cornerstone of democracy. Their potential to contribute to democracy is more often than not treated as a given. Nevertheless, individual CSOs’ readiness and ability to serve as venues for participation, vehicles of democratic representation, or indeed both at the same time have remained a matter of ongoing debate across different social science disciplines. Prominent notions such as ‘NGOization’ and ‘cartelization’ have problematized CSOs’ and parties’ increasing state dependency, professionalization, and bureaucratization, shifting organizational priorities away from societal values towards instrumentally driven self-maintenance, supposedly diminishing their contribution to democratic governance. This study argues that two contrasting governance templates—the ‘voluntary association’ and the ‘professionalized voluntary organization’—allow theorizing fundamental trade-offs shaping CSOs’ ability to simultaneously ‘perform’ on three dimensions central to their democratic contributions: participation, representation, and societal responsiveness. The study’s theoretical framework is examined through a mixed-methods design that combines the analysis of survey data across four European democracies (Germany, Norway, Switzerland, UK) with qualitative case studies of individual organizations’ long-term trajectories over several decades.

Posthumanism and Deconstructing Arguments: Corpora and Digitally-driven Critical Analysis presents a new and practical approach in Critical Discourse Studies. Providing a data-driven and ethically-based method for the examination of arguments in the public sphere, this ground-breaking book: Highlights how the reader can evaluate arguments from points of view other than their own; Demonstrates how digital tools can be used to generate ‘ethical subjectivities’ from large numbers of dissenting voices on the world-wide-web; Draws on ideas from posthumanist philosophy as well as from Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari for theorising these subjectivities; Showcases a critical deconstructive approach, using different corpus linguistic programs such as AntConc, WMatrix and Sketchengine. Posthumanism and Deconstructing Arguments is essential reading for lecturers and researchers with an interest in critical discourse studies, critical thinking, corpus linguistics and digital humanities.

Prostitution wird häufig als moralisches oder rechtliches Problem diskutiert. Sie ist aber auch eine Herausforderung für die (lokale) Verwaltung: Polizisten bekämpfen Menschenhandel, Gesundheitsämter fürchten um die öffentliche Hygiene, Ordnungsbehörden mahnen Kunden auf dem Straßenstrich ab, Bauämter überwachen die Einrichtung von Bordellen, Vereine betreiben Aufklärung und HIV-Prävention. Auf welches Wissen sie dabei zurückgreifen und wie sie die Subjekte ihres Tuns herstellen - das zeigt diese staatsethnografische Studie erstmals am Beispiel deutscher, polnischer und tschechischer Kommunen.

Natural disasters frequently affected medieval populations. This book explores what happened when meteorological hazards struck how medieval communities reacted and what steps they took to protect themselves against future risks. Through archaeological and historical sources of evidence, the diverse impacts unleashed by disasters on medieval society are traced to provide a well-rounded understanding of catastrophes in the medieval past.

What distinguishes an adventure novel from a historical novel? Can the same text belong to several genres? More to one than to another? Have some existing genres been overlooked? To answer these and similar questions, José Calvo Tello combines methods from Linguistics (lexicography), Literary Studies (genre theory), and Computer Science (machine learning, natural language processing). Located in the interdisciplinary field of Digital Humanities, this study analyzes a newly developed corpus of 358 Spanish novels of the silver age (1880-1939), which includes authors like Baroja, Pardo Bazán, or Valle-Inclán. Calvo Tello's key result is a graph-based model of literary genre that reconciles recent theoretical approaches.

August Strindberg (1849–1912) kept a diary from February 1896 in Paris until the summer of 1908 in Stockholm. He referred to his diary from this period as his Occult Diary and used it to help him decipher the world as he experienced it. He read and reread his own notations, adding new interpretations, and deleting others. He also drew on the diary as material for creative expression, transforming isolated events and observations into groundbreaking works of literature. The Occult Diary is published here in its entirety in English translation for the first time, in a final revision by Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams and with an introduction by Per Stam. The Occult Diary is a key resource for international Strindberg scholars and theater professionals and more broadly for scholars focusing on drama, theater history, stage performance, and literary currents at the turn of the previous century. The diary initiates the reader into the writer’s inner world during a crucial transitional period in his personal and literary life. It documents his readings and observations and gives important clues and information about an ongoing process of artistic reorientation. Strindberg was exploring new ways of looking at, interpreting, and writing about nature, science, art, the occult, and his fellow human beings.

"Balancing the Tides highlights the influence of marine practices and policies in the unincorporated territory of American Samoa on the local indigenous group, the American fishing industry, international seafood consumption, U.S. environmental programs, as well as global ecological and native concerns. Poblete explains how U.S. federal fishing programs in the post–World War II period encouraged labor based out of American Samoa to catch and can one-third of all tuna for United States consumption until 2009. Labeled Made in the USA, this commodity was sometimes caught by non-U.S. regulated ships, produced under labor standards far below continental U.S. minimum wage and maximum work hours, and entered U.S. jurisdiction tax free. The second half of the book explores the tensions between indigenous and U.S. federal government environmental goals and ecology programs. Whether creating the largest National Marine Sanctuary under U.S. jurisdiction or collecting basic data on local fishing, initiatives that balanced western-based and native expectations for respectful community relationships and appropriate government programs fared better than those that did not acknowledge the positionality of all groups involved. Despite being under the direct authority of the United States, American S?moans have maintained a degree of local autonomy due to the Deeds of Cession signed with the U.S. Navy at the turn of the twentieth century that created shared indigenous and federal governance in the region. Balancing the Tides demonstrates how western-style economics, policy-making, and knowledge building imposed by the U.S. federal government have been infused into the daily lives of American S?moans. American colonial efforts to protect natural resources based on western approaches intersect with indigenous insistence on adhering to customary principles of respect, reciprocity, and native rights in complicated ways. Experiences and lessons learned from these case studies provide insight into other tensions between colonial governments and indigenous peoples engaging in environmental and marine-based policy-making across the Pacific and the globe. This study connects the U.S.-American S?moa colonial relationship to global overfishing, world consumption patterns, the for-profit fishing industry, international environmental movements and studies, as well as native experiences and indigenous rights. Open Access publication of this book was made possible by the Sustainable History Monograph Pilot, an initiative sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation."

Innovations in Road, Railway and Airfield Bearing Capacity – Volume 1 comprises the first part of contributions to the 11th International Conference on Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways and Airfields (2022). In anticipation of the event, it unveils state-of-the-art information and research on the latest policies, traffic loading measurements, in-situ measurements and condition surveys, functional testing, deflection measurement evaluation, structural performance prediction for pavements and tracks, new construction and rehabilitation design systems, frost affected areas, drainage and environmental effects, reinforcement, traditional and recycled materials, full scale testing and on case histories of road, railways and airfields. This edited work is intended for a global audience of road, railway and airfield engineers, researchers and consultants, as well as building and maintenance companies looking to further upgrade their practices in the field.

Gastrointestinal disease; PET/CT; Radiology; X-ray; IDKD; Davos

Der berühmte Narziss des Caravaggio hält seit seiner Entdeckung die Kunstwelt in Atem und viele Fragen offen: Worin liegt seine paradigmatische Stellung als »Inbegriff des Narziss« begründet? Warum wird in ihm überhaupt Narziss erkannt, obwohl viele narrative Stränge des Mythos fehlen? Und wie kommt es in der wissenschaftlichen Rezeption zu der auffällig kontrapunktischen Interpretation des Bildes? Johanna Hodde nähert sich diesen Fragen empirisch durch eine tiefenpsychologische Exploration des Erlebensprozesses während der Bildbetrachtung sowie einer anschließenden Bildreflexion im Lichte einschlägiger Bild- und Subjekttheorien.

Lyde Green Roman Villa, Emersons Green, South Gloucestershire was excavated between mid-2012 and mid-2013 along with its surroundings and antecedent settlement. The excavations took place as part of the Emersons Green East Development Area, funded through the mechanism of commercial archaeology by Gardiner & Theobald LLP. The results of the stratigraphic analysis are given here along with specialist reports on the human remains, pottery (including thin sections), ceramic building material, small finds, coinage and iron-working waste. Six open-area excavations allowed the archaeologists the rare opportunity to trace a substantial part of the site’s layout. Three ancillary buildings within the villa compound, including a bathhouse, were excavated. Evidence of advanced water management was uncovered in the form of lead piping, ceramic drain tiles and an enigmatic stone structure built into a canalised spring line. The villa’s economy included stock raising, crop processing and iron and textile production. The settlement appears to have originated in the mid-1st century AD, or slightly earlier.

Advancing Gender Equality in Research Organisations: Key Factors for Success examines how organisational gender equality can be effectively designed, implemented, and evaluated in European universities and research institutions. Drawing on the most comprehensive study to date of gender equality plans across Europe, this edited volume presents 14 case studies from eight countries developed within the INSPIRE Centre of Excellence. The chapters analyse six core facilitating factors for sustainable change: strategic organisational commitment, comprehensive data collection for equalities work, advanced gender expertise, inclusive communities of change agents, enforceable legislation, and supportive social and cultural contexts. This book further advances the field through a comparative, outcome‑ and impact‑oriented framework that addresses both gendered power relations and gendered value hierarchies, offering a critical alternative to symbolic equality measures. This book is essential reading for scholars of gender and organisational change; researchers and students in higher education studies; and practitioners, consultants, and policymakers engaged in gender equality work in research and innovation.

The speed with which the various economies recover from the Covid-19 pandemic will significantly determine the economic pressure placed on the environment in the medium-to-long-term. Furthermore, the pandemic has highlighted the strong interrelations between natural and societal systems, with societal resilience depending on a resilient environmental support system. In this context, the book argues that the pandemic represents a wake-up call for financial systems to be better prepared for the climate crisis and social risk, and has provided a stimulus to scale down the reliance of the global economy on fossil fuels. The first part of the book provides a deep and creative discussion between leading international researchers and experts on the policy options and financial instruments which can help to catalyze the green finance transition in the post-Covid-19 era. The contributions show that sustainable finance is emerging as a powerful tool to advance the transition towards a more environmentally and socially sustainable economic model. Instruments such as sovereign green bonds, green securities, and other sustainability-related securities can play a significant role in the post-Covid-19 world to fund economic stimulus and to lead the way to new and more sustainable future. The second part of the book supports the debate by highlighting a number of selected case studies on financing transitions in different regional contexts including Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The book marks a significant contribution to the literature on environmental economics and finance, climate change, and sustainability transitions.

How are the words and bodies arranged in the poem? How do they come into contact from their latitude, longitude and depth, from the verbal substance that defines them? Fragile matter: poetics for the 21st century in Latin America and Spain aspires to answer these questions through various approaches to current poetry, taking into account the limits, conflicts and new conditions of possibility of our being in common. To do so, several studies are proposed on the dissident aesthetics that are making their way on both sides of the Atlantic, on the latest performative drifts of lyrical discourse and the implications of our growing transmediality. Added to them is a series of inquiries about the poets of the 21st century and their intervention of the word through proposals that disturb the structure of the intimate and the collective, sexual identity or the family, provoking alternative forms of subjectivity. Starting from different national, cultural and historical horizons, these essays analyze the politics of the common, understood as a symbolic and material practice that runs through poetic discourse. They explore their space for emancipation and their work with the new articulations of violence. They think of poetry and its fragility as a condition for resistance.