Unintended Consequences

The main aim of the text is to discuss the expected consequences of the reform of education and of higher education from the perspective of implementing the welfare state.  The welfare state is the main promise of the Law and Justice political agenda. Its fulfillment determines the support of the voters for this party. By analysing the possible effects of each reform, the author considers whether the Law and Justice party is building a welfare state. He argues that, in spite of promises and the voters’ expectations, the consequences of these key public policies for the shaping of a welfare state will not be egalitarian. The analysis is based on specialists’ discourse on the two reforms in reference to the idea of social equality. It is a critical study in the sociology of knowledge.

Głównym celem tekstu jest omówienie przewidywanych skutków reformy edukacji i szkolnictwa wyższego z punktu widzenia realizacji państwa dobrobytu. Państwo dobrobytu jest głównym postulatem programowym Prawa i Sprawiedliwości. Obietnica jego realizacji przesądza o poparciu wyborców dla tej formacji. Analizując możliwe efekty każdej z reform, autor zastanawia się, czy PiS buduje państwo dobrobytu. Argumentuje, że wbrew zapowiedziom i oczekiwaniom wyborców skutki tych kluczowych w perspektywie kształtowania państwa dobrobytu polityk publicznych nie będą miały egalitarnego charakteru. Podstawą analizy jest dyskurs specjalistów na temat obydwu reform w odniesieniu do idei równości społecznej. Jest to krytyczne studium z socjologii wiedzy.

Future energy technologies must be based on renewable sources of energy and they must be sustainable. This workshop will provide insight into unintended impacts of renewable energy and how they can be avoided. In order to steer away from the pitfalls and unintended effects it is essential that necessary knowledge is present to the developers and decision makers engaged in renewable energy. This is where this workshop is valuable in its discussion of unintended health and environmental impacts of various renewable energy technologies.
The workshop give the participants an introduction the the concept of unintended consequences, in connection with renewable energy. Furthermore, several approaches to improve the understanding of these consequences and methods for predicting them, will be discussed. This will include the concepts of rebound effects and consequential life cycle assessments (LCA). The workshop will encompass presentations and discussions of results from cross-disciplinary research on implementation of the alternative fuels hydrogen, electricity and biodiesel in the transport sector, as well as the assessment of environmental impacts from the production of solar cells. This will also cover impacts of the use of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in the various energy technologies. In-dept focus will also be on the formation of nanoparticles during combustion of bio-blended diesel, and the toxic effects of these new emission components.

This is a very old paper, dating from 1983 when I was actively involved in the in the long-defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the UK.  (Indeed I stood for parliament in the 1983 General Election.) Nevertheless, although it is obviously very much dated,  I think its underlying argument is still relevant, and i shall return to that in a forthcoming conference paper on 'The political implications of figurational sociology'. The pamphlet is notable for not mentioning Norbert Elias, even though his influence on it is veryu obvious; that was because he was sgtill very much alive and would not have approved of me dragging him into politics!

Società del controllo o società allo sbando? Nessuna società e nessun individuo può vivere e prosperare se non riesce a integrare forme di controllo e di non-controllo. Oggi però assistiamo a una divaricazione crescente tra questi due poli, a tutti i livelli. E, insieme, a una loro paradossale coincidenza. Strumenti di controllo e autocontrollo sempre più invasivi si trasformano in fenomeni di perdita di controllo dilaganti, e viceversa. La riflessione, sempre più urgente, su questa oscillazione approda alla proposta di osservare le pratiche artistiche come laboratori esemplari per comprendere la complessa “dialettica del controllo” che attanaglia la nostra contemporaneità.

Dans ce qui suit, je vais exposer cette analyse du double effet développée par Anscombe en rappelant quelques éléments de sa conception de l’action intentionnelle dans Intention et la distinction conceptuelle entre conséquence prévue et conséquence visée (intentionnelle), ainsi que l’extension de la responsabilité morale au-delà des seuls états de choses provoqués intentionnellement (1). J’isolerai deux ambiguïtés, liées au « problème de la proximité », de cette analyse qui paraît ne pas s’accorder avec celle de l’action intentionnelle (2) et je les discuterai tour à tour. La première tient à son refus de tenir pour non intentionnelles les conséquences prévues de l’action intentionnelle quand elles sont trop proches de son résultat visé, et cela même si elles ne jouent pas de rôle dans le raisonnement pratique de l’agent (3). La seconde tient à la distance qui doit séparer le résultat visé de la conséquence prévue, pour que le verdict moral diffère. Se trouve alors posée la question du critère de la distance suffisante, et celle de la pertinence morale de cette distinction métaphysique (4).

Bernard Ramm's influence on the science / faith dialogue continues to this day. His 1954 book, The Christian View of Science and Scripture, was critical of what he termed "hyper-orthodox" Christians who adopted an adversarial relationship with science. Ramm's critique of so-called flood geology, a foundational teaching of young earth creationism, prompted Henry Morris and John Whitcomb to write their 1961 classic, The Genesis Flood. Ramm's call for respectful conversation between anti-evolutionists and science unintentionally spurred on an astonishing period of growth in science denial in general and young earth creationism in particular.

Turbulence is usually considered a negative property of an organization’s environment. Yet turbulence is also a feature of an organization’s internal dynamics and may be useful for productivity. This article argues that interactions between the formal and informal management of trouble produce relational turbulence that may mobilize resources and collective action, or conversely lead to dysfunction and crisis. The author links relational psychoanalytic theory with social constructionist perspectives in exploring intersubjective dynamics of trouble and its repercussions of turbulence. Based on a longitudinal interorganizational ethnography, an atypical mental healthcare organization is described – a democratic therapeutic community – in which turbulence plays a central function, but in two very different ways. In a restorative mode, turbulence generates formative spaces that are creative and have a regulating function, useful for organizational productivity. Conversely, a perverse mode is destructive and may produce intractable perverse spaces, leading to organizational dysfunction, crisis and even collapse. This is theorized by extending the psychoanalytic concept of liminal, transitional space. In contrast to the notion of transitional space as a safe, protective area, the author develops a model of distinct formative and perverse spaces created by relational turbulence in organizations. In human service organizations, where the generation, trading and management of trouble are inherent in an organization’s internal dynamics, turbulence may be a valuable resource, but one that, in the perverse mode, can be immensely destructive.

sex-doll-case-and-the-p Broad child pornography laws do not protect children from pedophiles. When child pornography laws are both vague and broad, they have the unintended consequence of saturating our culture with the spectacle of the sexualized child -and 'normalizing' the pedophile.

Viele DenkerInnen befassten sich in unterschiedlichen Zusammenhängen mit nichtantizipierten Konsequenzen absichtsgeleiteten Handelns, doch kommt Robert K. Merton das Verdienst zu, diese als erster systematisiert und damit in der Tradition soziologischer Theorie verankert zu haben. Wenn wir uns für eine Handlung entscheiden, können wir nicht alle Auswirkungen einschätzen, die diese haben wird. Darunter mögen auch solche sein, die unseren Absichten nicht entsprechen oder gar zuwiderlaufen und insofern nichtintendierte Konsequenzen absichtsgeleiteten Handelns sind. Merton analysiert jene kongnitiven Faktoren, die AkteurInnen das korrekte Antizipieren von Handlungsfolgen erschweren: Unwissenheit, Irrtum, die zwingende Unmittelbarkeit des Interesses, grundlegende Werte und öffentliche Vorhersagen künftiger sozialer Entwicklungen. Seitdem fester Referenzpunkt der Soziologie, stehen nichtantizipierte Handlungsfolgen als kollektive Aggregationseffekte individueller Handlungen seit etwa drei Jahrzehnten erneut im Mittelpunkt soziologischer Theoriebildung.

This paper analyses the implementation of the decentralisation policy in Peru from 2002 to 2008. The focus is on four key dimensions: transference of responsibilities (devolution), economic decentralisation, fiscal decentralisation, and formation of regions. This article argues that the complexity of the policy, external factors, high dependency relationship and the top-down approach led to the slow and patchy implementation as well as frustration and unintended consequences.

A central pillar of contemporary conspiracy theories is the notion that all modern wars were secretely plotted and instigated by the Federal Reserve Bank. In these circles, the founding of the so called "Creature from Jekyll Island" in 1913 is considered a coup d'état of the international haute finance which enabled the U.S.'s entry into World War One a year later and the building of the American Empire. Also right-wing libertarians critical of U.S. foreign interventions like the U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul have led a long struggle to "End the Fed" (as his 2009 book is called), and signs to "End the Fed" could also be seen at demonstrations of the international Occupy movement leading to heated debates and confrontations. Against these conspiracy theories and drawing on key American historians' debates, this paper scrutinizes the actual historical origins of the 1913 Federal Reserve Act and shows that the founding of the Federal Reserve took place not in a period of defeat but rather the advance of subaltern social forces and that the Federal Reserve Act is an embodiment of a historic compromise between various social classes and class fractions in the political economy of the United States prior to World War One. Drawing on the theoretical tradition of neo-Gramscianism, the paper argues that the emergence of a U.S. variant of a central bank is best understood in terms of Antonio Gramsci's concept of "trasformismo" which, in an historically open-ended process, created the Federal Reserve and a U.S. variant of "social imperialism" as a result of the "law of unintended consequences" of historical social movements. In other words, the American Empire was not the result of a devious plan by an all-powerful American or transnational ruling class, but rather its Making was the consequence of a political process in which subaltern social forces, unable to fundamentally challenge the existing power structure as such, are co-opted, absorbed and inscribe themselves into that very structure.

Abstract: Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are highly efficient, durable, and long lasting lighting devices.  Since a fifth of electrical generation goes toward lighting, LEDs hold the potential to greatly reduce energy use.  However, energy efficiency rebound effects could partly or entirely offset these savings.

This article analyzes Jewish and Arab national formations by exploring dynamics surrounding their border-zone community of Arabized-Jews during the first half of the 20th century. As the internal composition of the Arab and Zionist-Jewish collectivities was not pre-ordained, their sociopolitical demarcations fluctuated as a consequence of domestic, regional and international developments. The Jewish and Arab national movements sometimes included Arabized-Jews in—and at other times excluded them from—their ranks. From the late 1930s, actions by Zionist and Arab forces vis- a-vis Arabized-Jews converged, producing their dispersal. The events surrounding Arabized-Jews impacted considerably the  post-1948 direction that the phenomenon of nationalism in the Middle East has followed and the imbalance of power between Israel and the Arab states.

Wenn es um so scheinbar einfache Phänomene in der Geschichte geht, wie Ereignisse, die Wandel herbeigeführt haben, dann fehlen dem Historiker oftmals die Worte dafür, wie ein solcher historischer Bruch zu erklären ist. Denn Wandel ist auf den zweiten Blick ein doch überaus kompliziertes historiographisches Konstrukt, das nicht nur im Nachhinein als solches erscheint, sondern auch von Zeitgenossen als einschneidende Veränderung der Lebenswelt wahrgenommen wird. Die Hauptthese dieses Essays lautet, dass es insbesondere nicht-intentionale Nebenfolgen sind, deren bewusste Reflexion eine besondere Form von Zeitwahrnehmung konstituieren, die - unabhängig von der chronologischen Verortetheit eines solchen Ereignisses - einen Modernisierungsprozess darstellt. An vier historischen Umbruchsereignissen - der Krise des Historismus um 1900, der Französischen Revolution, der Reformation Luthers und der Entstehung der Athener Demokratie im 5. Jahrhundert v.Chr. - werden die strukturellen Ähnlichkeiten aufgezeigt, bei denen Nebenfolgen eine entscheidende Rolle spielen. Auf diese Weise wird für eine Verbindung von gegenwärtigen Theorien der Soziologie mit der Geschichtswissenschaften geworben, die Vergangenheit und Moderne in eine neue Beziehung miteinander bringen soll.

[Unintended Consequences in History: The Historical Sociology of Reflexive Modernization]
B. Steiner takes up a general problem in the theory of history: how does one explain historical change? What are the theoretical, non-time-bound conditions under which we can speak of a break, a transformation, or a revolution? He uses selected examples to illustrate how contemporaries and historians have sought to understand historical change through deliberate reflection on unintended consequences.

Purpose-We introduce the key concepts, issues and theoretical foundations of this special issue on "The hidden side of sustainable operations and supply chain management (OSCM): Unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions". We explore these issues within this context, and how they may hinder our transition to more sustainable practices.

Design/methodology/approach-Our research is based on a critically analyzed literature review focused on the unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions of sustainable OSCM, including the articles selected for this special issue.

Findings-We present an overview of unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs, tensions and influencing factors from the literature, and identify how such problems may emerge. Our model addresses these problems by highlighting the crucial effect of the underlying state of knowledge on sustainable OSCM decision-making.

Research limitations/implications-We limited our literature review to journals that ranked 2 and above as defined by the Chartered Association of Business Schools Academic Journal Guide. The main implication for research is a call to focus attention on unanticipated outcomes as a starting point rather than only an afterthought. For practitioners, good intentions such as sustainability initiatives need careful consideration for potential unanticipated outcomes.

Originality/value-The study provides the first critical review of unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions in the sustainable OSCM discourse. While the literature review (including papers in this special issue) significantly contribute towards describing these issues, it is still unclear how such problems emerge. The model developed in this paper addresses this gap by highlighting the crucial effect of the underlying state of knowledge concerned with sustainable OSCM decision-making.

According to Searle's theory of collective intentionality, the fundamental structure of any society can be accounted for in terms of cooperative mechanisms that create deontic relations. This paper criticizes Searle's standpoint on the ground that, while his social ontology can make sense of simple systems of interaction like symphony orchestras and football teams, the whole coordinative structure of the modern market society cannot be explained solely in terms of we-intentional collaboration and deontic relations. As clarified by Hayek, because of its complexity, this society is a self-organizing system. It results not only from micro-level agreed constraints, but also from an unintended cybernetic mechanism that affects and shapes both its micro and macro dynamics via a circular causality. Searle ignores the coordination problem posed by complexity and provides strawman arguments against the theory of action underpinning the invisible hand explanation of social phenomena.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA), passed in 1973, was designed to recover species to a level at which they are no longer considered endangered and therefore do not require the Act's protection. Unfortunately, the law has had the opposite effect on many species. The ESA can severely penalize landowners for harboring species on their property, and as a result many landowners have rid their property of the species and habitat rather than suffer the consequences.

Dieser Artikel entwickelt eine allgemeine Theorie der Transparenz. Er vergleicht die normativen Ansätze und die empirischen Forschungen zur Trans-parenz und führt sie zusammen. So legt der Beitrag systematisch die politische Rationalität der Transparenz frei, die das Soziale nach einem bestimmten Wahrnehmungs-, Denk-und Handlungsmuster ordnet; er zeigt historisch die Einsatzpunkte für gesellschaftliche Transparenzforderungen und evaluiert die Leistungen und nicht intendierten Effekte von Transparenzpraktiken.
Die zentrale These lautet, dass Transparenz funktional auf die Reduktion von Unsicherheit bezogen ist. Dafür implementiert sie Misstrauen mithilfe von Praktiken der Formalisierung und Standardisierung, um soziales Verhalten zu kontrollieren und reine Informationen zu produzieren. Symbolisch verschafft sie sich so einen Nimbus der Neutralität, verbunden mit dem Versprechen auf Bürgerpartizipation und Sicherheit.
Diese selbstgesteckten Ziele kann die Transparenz aber nicht erreichen. Am Beispiel der Implementation des New Public Managements seit den Staatskrisen der 1970er Jahre zeigt der Beitrag, dass Transparenz zwar ein wirkungsvolles institutionelles Setting zur Regulierung von Verhalten anbietet, gleichzeitig aber Misstrauen verstärkt und Expertenpartizipation fördert. Daher wird abschließend eine Alternative für den Umgang mit Unsicherheit und Korruption vorgestellt: der republikanische Ansatz kreativen Handelns.

Background: Telehealth  initiatives  have  bloomed  around  the  globe,  but  their  integration  and  diffusion  remain  challenging because of the complex issues they raise. Available evidence around telehealth usually deals with its expected effects and benefits, but its unintended consequences (UCs) and influencing factors are little documented. This study aims  to  explore,  describe  and  analyze  multidimensional  UCs  that  have  been  associated  with  the  use  of  telehealth.Methods: We  performed  a  secondary  analysis  of  the  evaluations  of  10  telehealth  projects  conducted  over  a  22-year  period  in  the  province  of  Quebec  (Canada).  All  material  was  subjected  to  a  qualitative  thematic-pragmatic  content  analysis  with  triangulation  of  methodologies  and  data  sources.  We  used  the  conceptual  model  of  the  UCs  of  health  information  technologies  proposed  by  Bloomrosen  et  al  to  structure  our  analysis.Results: Four major findings emerged from our analysis. First, telehealth utilization requires many adjustments, changes and negotiations often underestimated in the planning and initial phases of the projects. Second, telehealth may result in the emergence of new services corridors that disturb existing ones and involve several adjustments for organizations, such  as  additional  investments  and  resources,  but  also  the  risk  of  fragmentation  of  services  and  the  need  to  balance  between  standardization  of  practices  and  local  innovation.  Third,  telehealth  may  accentuate  power  relations  between  stakeholders.  Fourth,  it  may  lead  to  significant  changes  in  the  responsibilities  of  each  actor  in  the  supply  chain  of  services. Finally, current legislative and regulatory frameworks appear ill-adapted to many of the new realities brought by  telehealth.Conclusion: This  study  provides  a  first  attempt  for  an  overview  of  the  UCs  associated  with  the  use  of  telehealth.  Future  research-evaluation  studies  should  be  more  sensitive  to  the  multidimensional  and  interdependent  factors  that  influence telehealth implementation and utilization as well as its impacts, intended or unintended, at all levels. Thus, a consideration  of  potential  UCs  should  inform  telehealth  projects,  from  their  planning  until  their  scaling-up.

This paper examines the unintended consequences of multilateral targeted sanctions in Libya from 2011 until today. It relies on two sets of theories: the generic complexity theory and the security governance theory as well as on specific theories relating to unintended consequences of sanctions by both Michael Eriksson and Peter Andreas. The hypotheses tested focus on three sets of consequences. Firstly, on corruption and criminality, secondly on severe humanitarian consequences and human rights’ violations and lastly on the strengthening of political factions, thereby leading to instability. When applied on the Libyan case, this study supports both the theories and the three hypothesises. With regards to the theories, the complexity theory proved to be very useful since it is difficult to isolate the data on the impact of sanctions regime from other factors. The sanctions regime imposed on Libya contributed – among other factors – to the three mentioned negative consequences. The most important finding concerns the proliferation of arms. Due to the sanctions regime, political factions were strengthened which showed great reluctance to giving up their weapons generating instability in Libya.

Following Hume and Hayek, a variety of contemporary theorists have used evolutionary models of social interaction to assert the idea of an inevitable trade off between State and Society. On my interpretation this amounts to the definition of an ideal-type model of constitutional order that I label the Humean project. The objective of this work is to evaluate whether the conventional theory of justice supplied by the Humean project can explain the emergence of norms and moral sentiments that compose the ‘Constitutional Order’ of a a well-ordered society. The initial questions that I shall address belong, therefore, to the epistemology of social action: has the tradition of spontaneous order been able to work out an answer to collective action problems? Can a social contract be signed by an invisible hand? The answer to those questions would take us up to the first step in assessing the soundness of the Humean project as an analytical theory of ‘Constitutional Order’. Since this epistemology supports a deterministic link between descriptive and normative domains, I shall endeavour to verify whether the theory of spontaneous order proposed by Humeans has indeed the normative implications that its supporters affirm it has. Is the Humean genealogy of morals useful for the justification of principles, values and institutions? Assuming that it is so, does this justification coincide with the defence of Liberal order? In other words, I shall make clear whether the contribution brought about by the Humean project does indeed represent a convincing evolutionary social philosophy that can supply a normative analysis of the state which fits the liberal outlook

We explore how doctors, psychotherapists and counsellors in the UK react to regulatory transparency, drawing on qualitative research involving 51 semi-structured interviews conducted during 2008-10. We use the concept of ‘reactivity mechanisms’ (Espeland and Sauder, 2007) to explain how regulatory transparency disrupts practices through simplifying and decontextualizing them, altering practitioners' reflexivity, leading to defensive forms of practice. We make an empirical contribution by exploring the impact of transparency on doctors compared with psychotherapists and counsellors, who represent an extreme case due to their uniquely complex practice, which is particularly affected by this form of regulation. We make a contribution to knowledge by developing a model of reactivity mechanisms, which explains how clinical professionals make sense of media and professional narratives about regulation in ways that produce emotional reactions and, in turn, defensive reactivity to transparency.

Cet article analyse les rapports entre individualisme méthodologique (IM) et réductionnisme, tels qu'ils sont traités dans la littérature contemporaine en langue anglaise. Il s'articule autour de trois points clés. Premièrement, il montre qu'il existe deux types d'interprétations réductionnistes de l'IM : celle en termes de réductionnisme psychologique et celle en termes de réductionnisme sémantique, en précisant que cette dernière interprétation présente une variante nominaliste et une variante anti-nominaliste. Deuxièmement, l'article explique que ces différents types d'interprétations réductionnistes de l'IM sont incorrects. Troisièmement, l'article analyse et critique la thèse selon laquelle il faudrait remplacer l'IM par une nouvelle approche antiréductionniste considérée comme une troisième voie entre holisme et IM. Mots-clés.-Individualisme méthodologique ; réductionnisme ; émergence ; survenance ; individualisme structurel ; sociologie analytique. Abstract.-This article analyses the relationship between methodological individualism (MI) and reductionism as understood within the contemporary literature in English. Three points are developed. First, the article argues that two different kinds of reductionist interpretation of MI can be distinguished: one in terms of psychological reductionism and the other in terms of semantic reductionism, the latter of which has a nominalist and an anti-nominalist variant. Second, the article explains that these different reductionist interpretations of MI are mistaken. Third, the article analyses and criticizes the view that MI must be replaced by a new anti-reductionist approach understood as a middle ground between holism and MI.

This article examines the unpredictable consequences of escalated repression on the dynamics of contention. By examining sequences of interactions among contenders in the course of one conflict, analysis traces pathways through which the escalation of repression impacts activists and protest targets in ways that seemingly go against the intentions of repressive agents. Three types of outcomes of repression are identified: a worse situation for protest targets; triggered radicalization; and a “chilling effect” on lawful protest. The article hopes to contribute by demonstrating a temporally sensitive approach that traces how certain pathways combine to produce these outcomes. The empirical case studied is the life cycle (1999–2014) of the British conflict between the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty animal rights campaign and the Huntingdon Life Sciences corporation, which also involved the government, criminal justice agencies and private businesses.

Social predictions (as well as social classifications, regulations, and criteria), due to their inner characteristic of being published, may have an influence on their own subject matter and, in return, on themselves. On the basis of this assumption, in the context of a discontinuous debate, the consolidated distinction between self-fulfillingness and self-defeatingness has been developed, distinguishing between predictions that come true thanks to their dissemination and others that, for the same dissemination, become false. The aim of the essay is, primarily, to investigate the rationale underlying this distinction. In an innovative manner, it will be stated that self-fulfillingness always rests on some causal unawareness, because the definition of the situation – originally inadequate – does not take place as a consequence of the subject’s beliefs. In fact, “inadequate” means that it would not come true if it were not for the subject’s behavior, which originates from fear, hope, misconception, and social fatalism, not from an adequate understanding of the situation; in this regard, it is no coincidence that self-fulfilling prophecies always have a commonsense background. Conversely, a self-defeating outcome invariably involves voluntariness and careful deliberation. The prediction fails as a consequence of the renewed intentions of the subjects, who modify some aspects of their behavior in response to the new awareness, preventing the prediction from happening. This new awareness is caused by the prediction itself and is related to its validity: if the subjects would not have been familiar with the prediction, this latter would not have been undermined – in this sense, it is a suicidal prophecy. From this perspective, this essay shows how the self-defeating process, far from being something to avoid, is instead something to aspire to: and this has been so since the original Merton’s definition of the self-fulfilling prophecy, which purpose was precisely to falsify itself, in order to break the vicious cycle of self-fulfillingness.

Pakistan"s reactive foreign policy attitudes and actions negate (or seem contradictory to) the core principle of realist paradigm, which says that intentions may vary independently without having any influential peer-pressure. Holistically, the critical analysis of Pakistan"s foreign policy history exhibits that this country always chooses to pursue a reactive policy rather than proactive one. The best and recent example is Pakistan"s dealing with Afghanistan problem since 9/11. This study uses archival evidence of long-simmering tensions about the continuing Afghanistan War and its unexpected consequences of Pakistan"s policy decision to examine hypotheses derived from Barry Buzan"s Regional Security Complex Theory. This paper aims to make the following inquiries: (1) how did Pakistan react in the response to U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and its War on Terror? (2) What have been the factors implicating Pakistan in Afghanistan War? (3) Why has Pakistan been failed in designing a proactive policy to prevent the challenges surfaced from enduring Afghan conflict and pose the serious threats to its security? (4) What are the unintended consequences of Pakistan"s reactionary policy towards Afghanistan and in which direction have these outcomes guided Pakistan towards? While foreseeing the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and its spillover effect on region, this paper will provide Pakistan"s proactive strategies in the form of National Action Plan and CPEC so as to overcome such possible effects in future over the internal security situation and economic condition of the country.

The purpose of this study was to analyze television ads in the truth® campaign using the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) as a framework. Among the ads (n = 86) ana- lyzed, results revealed a heavy reliance on severity messages, modest attention to susceptibility messages, and no inclusion of recommended response messages in the form of self-efficacy and response efficacy. The reliance on emphasizing the health threat, without incorporating recommended response messages, is discussed with respect to the likelihood of galvaniz- ing maladaptive responses such as psychological reactance, denial, and defensive avoidance resulting from exposure to these ads. Additionally, the unintended outcomes for secondary audiences including but not limited to stigma are considered. Implications and suggestions for practitioners and theorists are explored.

Using extensive interviews and a wealth of statistical information, Bankston and Caldas examine the failed desegregation efforts in Louisiana as a case study to show how desegregation has followed the same unsuccessful pattern across the United States. Strong supporters of the dream of integration, Bankston and Caldas show that the practical difficulty with desegregation is that academic environments are created by all the students in a school from the backgrounds that all the students bring with them. Unfortunately, the disadvantages that minority children have to overcome affect schools more than schools can help remedy these disadvantages.


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Several evaluation models exist for investigating unintended
outcomes, including goal-free and systems evaluation. Yet methods
for collecting and analyzing data on unintended outcomes remain
under-utilized. Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) is a promising
qualitative evaluation method with a wide range of program planning and evaluation applications. In situations where program
results are likely to occur over time within complex settings, this
method is useful for uncovering both intended and unintended
outcomes. REM applies an Appreciative Inquiry facilitation
technique to engage stakeholders in visually mapping sequences of
program outcomes. Although it has been used to evaluate
community development and health promotion initiatives, further
methodological guidance for applying REM is still needed. The
purpose of this paper is to contribute to the methodological
development of evaluating unintended outcomes and extend the
foundations of REM by describing steps for integrating it with
grounded theory.

In the last few years of economic crisis, European Union has witnessed several institutional changes. Though national governments seemed to play a major role in managing the crisis, to a certain extent supranational institutions have seen their power increased. Among them, the European Central Bank is certainly the best example: its participation to the troika and the toolbox of monetary policy outcomes Ecb used, have indisputably boosted its prerogatives vis-à-vis
member States. The paper claims that, under the pressure of financial and economic instability, the institutional change affecting the Ecb was mainly an unintended effect of the intergovernmental phase of the crisis management.
Paradoxically, then, the action of European governments, and the consequent failure of the solutions they envisaged, rather than limiting supranationalism, was functional to its increase. The paper stems from the analysis of the limits of intergovernamentalism identified by Fabbrini (2013), arguing that the Ecb gained further powers being the only European institution able to bypass those limits. Indeed, thanks to an
evolutive - and sometimes contested - interpretation of the institutional rules and the creation of new ones, the Ecb reduced the coordination problems among member States, and acted to contain the three dilemmas of veto, enforcement and compliance which emerged during the crisis. As a result of its operations, the Ecb succeeded at the
same time in calming down the markets and freezing the external pressure on indebted countries, provoking a substantial shift of power from the national to the supranational level. Nevertheless, as a central bank, the Ecb is unaccountable to European citizens. Thus, a further limit of intergovernamentalism, the one of legitimacy, rather than
eradicated, was actually exacerbate, worsening the already problematic deficit of democracy in the Eu. In this sense, the product of the failed intergovernamentalism seems to be a sort of "illegitimate supranationalism".

Este trabajo muestra que la realidad supuestamente más indiscutible e innegociable de la naturaleza es interpretada de manera muy distinta por los múltiples actores individuales y colectivos que conforman las sociedades occidentales contemporáneas. Se analiza aquí una de las cuestiones centrales suscitadas en relación con la controversia general sobre la viabilidad humana y ambiental de los organismos modificados genéticamente (OMG). El problema inicial, en apariencia sencillo y fácilmente resoluble, de descubrir la representación única y verdadera de los productos transgénicos se convierte en un conflicto posterior mucho más amplio, profundo y enredado, consistente en establecer la contingente identidad natural y social de los OMG.

Tittelen på boken er "Utilsiktede konsekvenser av fornybar energi ". Denne tittelen er valgt fordi boka favner om en del aspekter ved energiteknologier som det til daglig ikke snakkes mye om. En av intensjonene med boka er å formidle kunnskap om også de aspektene som er med på å gjøre teknologiene sub-optimale. I boka gis realistiske bilder på begrensning ved dagens teknologi, begrensninsom må fjernes fra framtidens teknologiske løsninger. På den måten er boka et bidrag i arbeidet med å lage bedre teknologier. Dette fordi den påpeker svakheter ved dagens teknologi.

Et annet viktig aspekt ved boka er at den presenterer metode og tilnærming for å synliggjøre de utilsiktede konsekvensene. Det vises  hvordan tverrfaglige verktøy kan brukes i teknologiutviklingen, for bedre å forstå svakheter som må fjernes for å gjøre framtidens energiteknologier bærekraftige.

The following collection of essays are linked by one theme, uncertainty. The dynamic nature of financial markets and trading, as with the rest of social sciences, where changes can be observed and decisions can be taken by participants to influence the system, means that along with better models and predictive technologies, predictions need to be continuously revised; and yet unintended consequences set in.

A glimpse of what a journey towards the land of unintended consequences holds can be seen by reminding ourselves that all knowledge creation is but an unintended consequence. We start with an attempt to understand the papers written by others, (literature review of knowledge already created or summary of experiments performed under what conditions) and end up with papers of our own (results that add what is missing or suggest improvements). Although, to be precise, as researchers we do want to intentionally create new knowledge, but the exact new knowledge we end up creating is unintentional; we stumble upon it as we wander around the knowledge that is already in place. This is simply because our intentions, or what we intend, can only be catered from what we already know or, from existing knowledge; new knowledge, which is unknown, has to come from the realm of the unintentional.

A further glance in this direction might show that in the process of creating knowledge and trying to understanding the world better, we might just end up understanding one another better perhaps becoming more tolerant in the process, an unintended yet very welcome consequence; making us wonder whether the the true purpose of all knowledge creation might be to make us more tolerant. An unwelcome but unintended consequence of all this knowledge creation is that perhaps more knowledge is being lost than what is being (re?)-created. As someone has already said, everything might have already been said, but not by everyone and perhaps not to everyone (since we sometimes forget things that we ourselves might have said). Hoping that there is something here that is new for you or something that you have forgotten, which might make it seem new.

Each of the seven topics below, classified into three main categories, is presented as a separate part in itself and is meant to be self contained. Though at times we refer the reader to different sections for a more detailed exposition on a particular sub-topic. We regret any inconvenience that this loss of continuity might bring, but hope that this makes for a more concise presentation. There is a list of references and an appendix for each part where other relevant papers, graphical aids, results of statistical tests and proofs are given and linked into the narrative.

Admittedly, our initial ambitions to produce a normative theory for the topics considered here, are undone by the present state of affairs in social science modeling. Though we consider many elements of financial (social) systems at face value, this cannot be termed a positive theory. For now, if these end up producing a useful theory, our work is done. While a detailed axiomatic approach to uncertainty and unintended consequences is postponed for another time (or perhaps another lifetime), the present assortment has the following elements:

2.1 Microstructure Topics

1. A Dynamic Programming Approach to Separate the Impact and Timing of Trading Costs: David vs Goliath (You against the Markets)

• We develop a set of stochastic dynamic programming models that seek to separate the effect of one's actions in a financial market trading scenario from the actions of other players. Such a separation brings about a reduction in complexity since participants can better plan their course of action based on a greater focus on the set of controls and states that hold greater significance for their destiny while being cognizant of the implications of the actions of the rest of the participants.

2. A Tale of Two Consequences: Intended and Unintended Outcomes of the Japan TOPIX Tick Size Changes

• We apply the methodology from part [enu:David-vs-Goliath] to a recent event in financial markets (TOPIX 100 tick size changes on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2014) and illustrate how the ability to understand the impact of one's actions in isolation to the actions of others can lead to more insightful results.

3. Hong Kong - Shanghai Connect / Hong Kong - Beijing Disconnect (?): Scaling the Great Wall of Chinese Securities Trading Costs

• This case study applies the methodology from part [enu:David-vs-Goliath] to another recent event in financial markets (the opening of the Hong Kong Shanghai Connect, connecting the stock exchanges in the two cities in 2014) and illustrates a comparative approach at studying complex systems that perhaps can be one way to overcome a seemingly unsurmountable obstacle, that is, the lack of data.

2.2 Tools for Combating Uncertainty

1. Combining Dimension Reduction, Distance Measures and Covariance

• We develop a novel methodology based on the marriage between the Bhattacharyya distance, a measure of similarity across distributions of random variables, and the Johnson Lindenstrauss Lemma, a technique for dimension reduction. The resulting technique is a simple yet powerful tool that allows comparisons between data-sets representing any two distributions. The degree to which different entities, (markets, universities, hospitals, cities, groups of securities, etc.), have different measures of their corresponding distributions tells us the extent to which they are different, aiding participants looking for diversification or looking for more of the same thing. We consider an asset pricing application and then briefly discuss how this methodology lends itself to numerous marketstructure studies and even applications outside the realm of finance / social sciences by illustrating a biological application. We provide numerical illustrations using security prices, volumes and volatilities of both these variables from six different countries.

2.3 Asset Pricing Topics

1. Securities Lending Strategies, Exclusive Auction Bids

• We derive valuations of a portfolio of financial instruments from a securities lending perspective, under different assumptions, and show a weighting scheme that converges to the true valuation. We illustrate conditions under which our alternative weighting scheme converges faster to the true valuation when compared to the minimum variance weighting. This weighting scheme is applicable in any situation where multiple forecasts are made and we need a methodology to combine them. This part illustrates how the application of even simple econometric techniques can reduce uncertainty and prove to be rewarding.

2. Securities Lending Strategies, Valuation of Terms Loans using Option Theory

• We develop models to price long term loans in the securities lending business. These longer horizon deals can be viewed as contracts with optionality embedded in them and can be priced using established methods from derivatives theory, becoming to our limited knowledge the first application that can lead to greater synergies between the operations of derivative and delta-one trading desks, perhaps even being able to combine certain aspects of the day to day operations of these seemingly disparate entities.

• We develop a heuristic that can mitigate the loss of information that sets in when parameters are estimated first and then the valuation is performed by directly calculating the valuation using the historical time series. We run numerical simulations to demonstrate the practical applicability of these models. These models are part of one of the least explored yet profit laden areas of modern investment management.

3. Solving the Equity Risk Premium Puzzle and Inching Towards a Theory of Everything

• The equity risk premium puzzle is that the return on equities has far exceeded the average return on short-term risk-free debt and cannot be explained by conventional representative-agent consumption based equilibrium models. We review a few attempts done over the years to explain this anomaly:

• We explore whether a fusion of the above approaches supplemented with better methods to handle the below reservations would provide a more realistic and yet tractable framework to tackle the various conundrums in the social sciences:

• The world we live in produces fascinating phenomenon despite (or perhaps, due to) being a hotchpotch of varying doses of the above elements. The rationale for a unified theory is that beauty can emerge from chaos since the best test for a stew is its taste.

• Many long standing puzzles seem to have been resolved using different techniques. The various explanations need to stand the test of time before acceptance; but then unexpected outcomes set in and new puzzles emerge. As real analysis and limits tell us: we are getting Closer and Closer; Yet it seems we are still Far Far Away...

In der vorliegenden Seminararbeit untersuche ich den Wandel der sozialen Institution Tageszeitung im Lichte individualistischer Sozialtheorie. Dazu gebe ich in Grundzügen zunächst einen Überblick über die Theorie, stelle anschließend das Modell einer Tageszeitung auf und erörtere die Auswirkungen einer Innovation am Beispiel der Einführung einer täglichen Satire. Zur Erklärung der Entwicklung zweier real existierender Zeitungssatiren leite ich aus der zuvor dargelegten Theorie zwei Hypothesen ab. Die individualistisch-evolutionistische Sozialtheorie stellt sich im Verlauf der Untersuchung als erklärungsmächtiges analytisches Instrument heraus, mit dessen Hilfe ich schließlich Lösungsansätze zur Umgehung der Beschränkungen entwickle, die den Individuen das Gesetz der nicht intendierten Nebenwirkungen auferlegt.

Energy technologies in the future must be based on renewable sources of energy and they must be sustainable. This book provides insight into unintended negative impacts and how they can be avoided. In order to steer away from the pitfalls and unintended effects it is essential that necessary knowledge is present to the developers and decision makers engaged in renewable energy. This is where this book is valuable in its presentation of unintended health and environmental impacts of a wide range of renewable energies.

The book presents results from cross-diciplinary research on implementation of the alternative fuels hydrogen, electricity and biodesel in the transport sector, as well as the assessment of environmental impacts from the production of solar cells. A key focus is on the impacts of the use of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in the energy technologies. The formation of nanoparticles formed during combustion of bio-blended diesel, and their toxic effects, are discussed in detail.
Content Level » Research

Keywords » Environmental and Health Impacts of Renewable Energy - Implementation of Sustainable Practices - Science and Technology Studies on Renewable Energy - Sustainable Energy Sources - Unintended Impacts of Renewable Energy

Related subjects » Energy Technology - Renewable and Green Energy - Sustainable Development

During COVID-19, UK local authorities increased emergency active travel interventions. This study aimed to understand what aspects of temporary Streetspace for London schemes representbarriers or enablers to walking and cycling for short local journeys.Focusing on two London boroughs, we sampled 885 publiccomments about Streetspace schemes and conducted 21 semi-structured interviews. We triangulated the data in a thematic analysis to identify barriers and enablers, which were categorised usingthe Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behaviour(COM-B)model.Opportunity and motivation were reflected in the barriers (accessibility and integration; controversy, dissatisfaction,and doubt), enablers (new routes and spaces; sustainability and health beliefs) and mixed themes (changes to traffic and environs; feeling safe). Although aspects of Streetspace schemeswere seen to enableactive travel,our findingssuggest that additional processes to address the acceptability, equity, and unintended ...

In this dissertation, I am in conversation with the small but influential gendered tradeoffs literature. First, multidimensional, disaggregated, and precise policy measures were developed for two of the most widely studied work-family reconciliation policies—leave and ECEC. I constructed a comprehensive set of leave and ECEC policy measures for 24 high-income countries using secondary and country-specific sources. The goal was to determine which countries provide leave and ECEC policies that are “well-developed” across multiple policy dimensions. The new measures were then used in combination with the LIS microdata to reevaluate the gendered tradeoffs hypothesis—whether well-developed leave and ECEC support women’s employment but adversely affect women’s work intensity, earnings, and occupational attainment, by class. To extend the literature, the relationship between the two policies and class inequality in employment between low- and highly educated women was also explored. Overal...

Countersurveillance has been acknowledged as an empowering act of civil society that can keep the government in check. With its increasing popularity in academic and popular circles comes a need to better understand when countersurveillance brings a positive outcome and when it backfires. This question is particularly important when countersurveillance is used to bring about a change in policy implementation. Using data from interviews, peace organizations’ reports, and open sources, this paper examines peace movements’ countersurveillance of West Bank checkpoints, exploring the intended and unintended consequences of countersurveillance in this setting. This paper argues that when countersurveillance breaks powerholders’ understanding of social order, it can trigger a harsh response that can render it counterproductive. Contrarily, when countersurveillance operates within the boundaries of this understanding of order, the likelihood of a successful outcome increases.

A former environmental regulator, Robin Ingenthron describes how enforcement of environmental regulation is dictated by property values. This has the unintended consequence of driving very environmentally costly activities - such as lead silicate mining - to remote destinations (e.g. Kabwe, Zambia). The other unfortunate consequence is that recycled raw materials which avoid the cost of mining tend to be collected from populations, which raise property value.