Feed aggregator

Defence IQ’s Military Helicopter Procurement & Requirements Worldwide Map 2014-15 is an abridged and interactive guide to some of the most significant military acquisition programmes around the world today, providing an overview of 69 nations. Click on the image below to expl

Austrian Glock 18 Automatic Pistol

Reducing gender gaps in education, employment and political decision making, among other dimensions, has long been an important development objective. This is confirmed by the international consensus reached over Millennium Development Goal 3 (MDG 3): “Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women”. Ensuring equal access to education, in particular, is a central component of this effort, as reflected in the goal’s target, which is to eliminate gender disparities in education by 2015.
Are countries that have adopted democratic political institutions more successful at reducing the gender gap in education? And can higher levels of political representation of women contribute to achieving this objective?
Democracy advances the cause of women’s education in the absolute, although there is no conclusive evidence on whether it improves women’s situation relative to men’s. When it comes to political representation, the evidence is clear: larger numbers of women in politics and elected office improve overall educational outcomes and reduce the gender gap in education.
What lessons can be learnt regarding the linkages between democratic institutions, women’s political representation and the gender gap in education?

- The fact that democracies have a better track record than autocratic regimes when it comes to education and development provides additional justification for development cooperation policies that support gradual political opening in autocracies as well as the stabilisation and consolidation of democracy in countries that have chosen to go down this path. Moreover, it suggests that the adoption of specific democratic institutions, such as allowing women to run for office, can make a difference, even in countries that are not formally democratic.

- Multiple policy objectives could be reached with one policy tool: women’s political representation. Progress in this dimension improves not only girls’ education but also health and political participation, among other outcomes.

- Policy-makers and international donors should exercise caution in adopting and supporting the implementation of quick fixes to increase women’s political representation, such as gender quotas. In countries with high levels of gender inequality, such as India, quotas alone are likely to have limited effects. Instead, these should be integrated into a larger set of interventions aimed at diminishing gender gaps in employment, assets and decision making.

Overall, these arguments speak directly to the current debate on the post-2015 agenda. The ratio of girls to boys in education and the proportion of seats held by women in national parliament are two indicators for MDG 3. As these topics are also likely to be central in the post-2015 agenda, it is important to consider the studies showing that making progress in the second indicator advances the first one. This, in fact, can help when analysing the feasibility of these objectives and in the planning of the resources required to achieve them. Moreover, these findings point to the importance of including governance in the global develop¬ment agenda.

Mon dernier article mis en ligne cette semaine par la Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique. Résumé L’annexion de la Crimée par la Russie au mois de mars 2014 a accru sensiblement l’empreinte stratégique russe dans la région de la mer Noire. La Crimée...

The Swedish Defence and Security Export Agency (FXM), which announced it would close in October following negotiations between the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Green Party when forming the new government, is to “remain” according to a statement.

As we head into the New Year, Defence IQ has produced an editorial calendar laying out all the key pieces of content we will be producing in 2015 to give you an idea of what’s coming up. It also sets out all the conferences we are organising so you can make a note of the key even

Russian Makarov Semi-Automatic Pistol

– A kiskorúak terhessége Bosznia-Hercegovinában egyre aggasztóbb méreteket ölt, emellett az aktív nemi életet élő 13-15 éves lányok száma is sokkolóan növekszik– nyilatkozta a News Blic portálnak Senad Mehmedbašić szarajevói nőgyógyász. Elmondta, hogy sajnos ez manapság trendinek számít.

[...] Bővebben!

 

Oroszországban az elmúlt hetekben már érezni lehetett a néhány nappal ezelőtt kezdődött őrült zuhanás előszelét. A POSZTINFO.hu több oroszországi és egy magyarországi oroszt is megkérdezett a kialakult helyzetről. A cikket itt tudja kommentálni.

 

Olga (29 éves, Moszkva, egy utazási iroda vezetője): „Senki nem gondol arra, hogy ez Krím miatt lenne. Az irodában már az év eleje óta érezhetően megcsappant a forgalom, mert 10-ből 7 utas szánt szándékkal nem utazik az EU-ba vagy az Egyesült Államokba pihenési vagy szórakozási céllal. Óriási divat lett Krímbe utazni, az alsó középosztálytól az oligarchákig ebben az évben mindenki legalább egyszer elment Krímbe. Nagy divat lett Szocsi és úgy általában véve a Fekete-Tenger és a Távol-Keleti országrész. A leggazdagabbak számára is az itthoni pihenés a trendi. Úgy érezzük a szakmában, hogy a külföldi utazásszervezésnek, néhány kivételtől eltekintve, mint Thaiföld, Törökország vagy Egyiptom most egy ideig nem terem babér, aki utazni akar az belföldön utazik vagy volt szovjet tagállamokba megy, esetleg egy olyan egzotikus útra, amit már nem hagyományos utazási irodákban lehet lekötni. Most pedig, hogy ez történik a fizetőeszközzel, jó ideig biztosan nem fordul meg ez a trend.”

 

Jevgenyij (34 éves, Szentpétervár, újságíró): „A középosztálytól felfelé mindenki megérzi a történteket, már napi szinten is. Rengetegen járnak át Finnországba a saját ismerőseim közül is, szinte mindannyian lefújták a következő kiruccanásokat vagy legalábbis kivárnak. Pánikban lévőket csak a most induló vállalkozások környékén látni, akik már beletették a pénzt és meg kellene venni az üzlet indításához szükséges dolgokat külföldről. Legalább ennyien jártak jól azok, akik dollárban vagy euróban tettek félre lakásra és most hirtelen a dupláját éri a pénzük – és persze még nem látni a végét. Azok, akik valutában gyűjtötték a pénzüket, a rubel válságán óriásit nyerhetnek. Komoly egzisztenciák épülhetnek fel napok alatt.”

 

Artyom (36 éves, Vlagyivosztok, programozó): „Nagyon komoly problémát jelent az itt élők számára ez egész, mivel itt van az ország egyik kapuja és az a cég is, amelyiknek én dolgozom, kínai, japán és más árukat utaztat be az ország belsejébe. Ugyanakkor azok az emberek, akik nem találkoznak a külfölddel napi szinten, szinte semmit nem vesznek észre ebből.”

 

Irina (32 éves, Kazany, anyagbeszerzési felelős egy gépeket gyártó gyárban): „A nagyszüleim kis faluban laknak, az ő számukra a ’98-as csőd se volt érezhető. A nép fele nagyvárosokban él és magas életszínvonalon, ők sínylik meg majd, amikor a külföldről importált, valójában luxuscikkek ára megemelkedik. A lakosság másik fele, az igazi kisember viszont pontosan ugyanolyan életet él majd, mint annak előtte. Amiben lehet, abban önellátó, azokat a dolgokat pedig, amiket a boltban megvásárol, főként itthon gyártják. Ezt az egész cirkuszt majd csak az érzi meg, aki jól él, aki már úgy él, mint egy nyugati. Vagy legalábbis érti azt, hogy én most mire gondolok. Az emberek felét, de talán nagyobb részét viszont ez egyáltalán nem fogja zavarni.”

 

Danyil (38, Budapest, felső vezető): „Az orosz ember mindig a legrosszabbra készül, de legbelül azt reméli, hogy azért csak nem lesz annyira rossz. Ha meg mégis, hát felkészült a legnagyobb trére is. Leningrádban is patkányt ettünk vagy semmit, de nem adtuk fel a várost. Nincs az az isten, hogy az önbecsülésünkből leadjunk. Ez külső szem számára őrültség, ami aztán idővel félelmetessé csap át. Én Magyarországon magyar cégtől kapom a fizetésem, de a feleségem rubelben kapja, az orosz cégtől, aminek a neten keresztül vagy ide-oda utazgatva dolgozik. Ő nagyon ki van bukva. De majd ez is megoldódik valahogy.”

Voici le récapitulatif des nouveaux projets de submersibles classiques et nucléaires en cours de construction dans les chantiers navals russes. Cette base de données sera régulièrement mise à jour et est accessible via l'onglet "Page". Comme pour toutes...

La remise du sous-marin classique B-237 Rostov-sur-le-Don (Projet 0636.3) à la marine russe, initiallement prévue pour le 19 décembre, interviendra finalement le 26 décembre. Source : TASS. La base navale de Novorossiysk a mis en service les nouveaux...

16 December 2014

Austrian Glock 17 Semi-Automatic Pistol

Állami ünnepségeket rendeztek hétfőn Varsóban annak emlékére, hogy a II. világháború kitörése után Magyarország százhúszezernyi lengyel menekültnek adott menedéket, és – továbbengedve a menekülő lengyel katonák egy részét is - lehetővé tette a lengyelek fegyveres harcát a Nyugat oldalán.

tovább

Flickr_Henry_Patton

Three years after the fall of Gaddafi, the political situation in Libya has evolved in a chaotic way. Fragmented and with two governments, the country is unable to maintain the security across its territory and deal with several domestic and external challenges.  Barah Mikaïl, senior researcher at FRIDE, analyses the failed political process in Libya, the risk of spillover into neighbouring countries and the role of the international community.

Recent intellectual history has made considerable strides in acknowledging certain forms of institutionalized discrimination as well as the unjustifiable privilege of certain cultures over others. Our epistemology, however, has in general continued as if its schools—predominantly empiricism and rationalism—are preoccupied with the nature of knowledge  per se , rather than the  nature  of knowledge as conceptualized within a specific society or cultural tradition.

Consequently, epistemology has been slow to see its own limitations as well as in acquiring a kind of basic understanding of our shared cognitive architecture.  The outcome of improved understanding in this regard would go far beyond academia. It would serve as a more profitable and equitable foundation for international relations. Two crucial features of this new edifice will be humility and an appreciation for underestimated commonality.

The classical positions of both the empiricist and the rationalist schools remain well-entrenched. Empiricism continues to praise sensory experience and the data gathered from such experience. The purists of the rationalist school, for their part, emphasize the role of reason in all knowledge acquisition, as they remind us of the frequent fallibility of our sensory apparatus. This dichotomy has served as the subject matter for long-standing philosophical controversies. Happily, there are now tools to bridge this conceptual chasm. Neuro-Rational Physicalism (NRP) provides a basis for understanding how sensory experience, emotionality, and rational inference are much more intimately related than has previously been appreciated. The relevance of these epistemological debates is not only scholarly but also political. A better understanding of the foundation of knowledge is critical to affirming the role of our limitations and consequently in demonstrating that all “truths” must be respected.

 

The Best Aspects of Two Traditions

Neuro-Rational Physicalism  and empiricism share the view that sensory data is a source of knowledge. Using contemporary neuroscientific research, however, NRP argues for a much more pervasive role for inference. This is because individual perceptions are colored by the sensory apparatus through which they are perceived, and this apparatus, in turn, is significantly formed by unique spatio-temporal and cultural influences.

NRP also diverges from those rationalists who claim that there is innate knowledge. Instead NRP advocates for  “a predisposed tabula rasa”   which implies that the human mind is minimally equipped with egoistic survival instincts. We are born without innate notions of good or bad, moral or immoral, yet what we do possess is a survival instinct coded in our genetics, which motivates us to act toward our survival at all (or most) times. As we are spatially and temporally situated beings, all knowledge gained is subject to the influence of the mechanisms of knowledge acquisition, and the character of these mechanisms is dynamic and influenced by circumstances .

As Jonathan Haidt has argued at length, even apparently direct sensory input and emotional experience has a  cognitive dimension ; knowledge is partially “given” by the world but also simultaneously worked upon by the mind of the individual to whom it is given. Because of this, what counts as knowledge by acquaintance will vary with the life narratives and resultant dispositions of each individual.

Members of the  ancient Stoical school  were thus closer to the truth than they realized in claiming the emotions to be judgments: whatever the case may be with regard to our capacity to control our emotions, neuroscientific research now demonstrates the inferential role in emotional experience. The ancients did not have the advantages of modern brain imaging and other contemporary tools for research, which led them at times to oversimplify consciousness and our mental processes.

It is now known that emotional “decisions” occur and inform behaviour prior to rational awareness of these decisions. Ground-breaking neuroscience experiments and research have proven in recent years that emotions are in fact dominant in our decision-making process. In this regard, modern neuroscience has been able to reverse postulations of philosophers from previous eras, including the idea that the human mind is incorporeal, distinct from the human body, as Descartes had famously argued. Quite the contrary,  neuroscientists like Antonio Damasio  have proven that some decisions are often picked by the brain after being marked as more “emotionally salient” than others. Through his experiments, carried out on people who missed the part of the brain where emotions were generated, he observed not only that they could not feel emotions, but also that they could not make decisions. Damage to the prefrontal cortex was detrimental to decision-making abilities due to the lack of the emotional machinery.

A dominant trend in philosophy and psychology since its earliest days has been to underestimate the ubiquitous nature of our  emotions , their inferential structure, and their functional efficacy. NRP addresses these oversights by giving a fundamental role to the sensory experience emphasized by empiricists, while arguing that this experience itself involves the process of inference focused upon by the rationalists. NRP further creates the conceptual space for emotions to play the powerful role they can be seen to take in neuroscientific research.

 

The Place of Presupposition

As explained above, inference is critical in how we acquire and manipulate knowledge. This premise gives significant weight to the sources from where our inferences are drawn. The conclusions we make are informed by certain presuppositions, which makes knowledge indeterminate since it is tightly dependent on the nature of those initial presuppositions. This is reminiscent of a relativist stance, yet this is not necessarily the case.

Our world is a world of fact, but our knowledge, which is unavoidably situated within particulars, always strikes a glancing blow at these facts. Put differently, while there are objective facts concerning the physical world, there is no non-perspectival knowledge of these facts. This carries the crucial implication that knowledge has a strong likelihood of being incomplete or containing inaccuracies.

As  Gettier  has famously shown, one can have a justified belief that the believer nonetheless seems only to have been right about through a kind of luck. The rhetorical question he raised was whether having the right conclusion—though inferred from a mistaken premise—should count as knowledge. The question of whether true opinion is sufficient for knowledge can be traced back to Plato. While debate goes on over so-called Gettier problems, the important upshot for NRP is the critical role played by premises in the acquisition of knowledge.

Because the sources of our inferences are always grounded in our respective particular conditions, the premises from which we operate should be thought of as eccentric to a certain degree, and hence subject to distortions that result in our knowledge being incomplete. Our knowledge is indeterminate, both temporally and spatially, and to a certain degree culturally constrained. It is a daunting task to prove our truths beyond any doubt – at least with the scientific methodologies we have to date; rather, some of our knowledge can be more accurately described as “possible truths subject to proof”.

 

Physicalism and Knowledge in the World

Comprehending that the ways we acquire knowledge are culturally mediated would be a profound step in softening rigid  categories of “otherness”  present in our globalized world. The recognition that the situated nature of one’s own knowledge renders it incomplete creates conceptual space for accepting the validity of  knowledge formed in different cultural settings  and removes the temptation for ranking systems of thought hierarchically. This recognition is as important as it is difficult to promote, especially as numerous policy-makers or ideologues are keen to perpetuate ideas of otherness, garnering political capital or power from such divisions.

As an educational agenda, this legitimization of varying forms of cultural thought and the humility entailed by seeing one’s own knowledge as provisional rather than absolute could go a great distances towards cross-cultural understanding. Neuro-Rational Physicalism provides a deep justification for this process. The physical nature of mental events—traceable through brain chemistry imaging—implies that repeated experiences and emotional inputs become entrenched to the extent that the individual will become unwilling to disrupt them. This understanding has two weighty consequences.  First, the stimuli that make up our sensory experience and the ideas to which we are exposed are enormously influential in determining our comprehension and behavior patterns. Second, the entrenched chemical processes make us reluctant to question the premises we take on board and from which we do our reasoning. Therefore, in spite of the provisional,  best-available-explanation nature  of our knowledge, we are often tempted to take our premises to be objectively true.

Understanding the biases embedded in our ‘truths’, and the neurochemical foundations of our long-held beliefs has political and transcultural implications. Transcultural differences may exist, but those who believe they hold an “ultimate truth” are not only mistaken but also dangerous to peaceful coexistence. The long held animosities between the West and the Islamic world, the  persisting ‘national humiliation’ narratives embedded in Chinese strategic culture and perpetuated through national curricula are two resounding yet not isolated examples of how knowledge and prejudice are furthered at times with little critical reflexivity.

This epistemological project of deconstructing the foundations of knowledge and, subsequently, its limitations, needs to permeate the public space. The best way to achieve it is to start off precisely in those places where forms of knowledge are cultivated: schools, and to a lesser extent, the media and the entertainment industry. Revisited curricula and historical narratives which help promote a vision of our limited knowledge and of the plurality of truths is a promising start for greater transcultural understanding and a more functional and thus sustainable, peaceful and progressive global order.

 

 

>> Back to Staff Publications

Második helyezést ért el Kulcsár Edina a Miss World 2014 angliai döntőjében. A Miss World 2014 címet  Miss Dél-Afrika, a 21 éves Rolene Strauss nyerte el a szépségversenyen. A londoni Excel rendezvényközpontban megrendezett döntőn, amelyen 121 nemzet versenyzője vett részt, a harmadik helyet az Egyesült Államok képviselője, Elizabeth Safrit szerezte meg.

Kapcsolódó hírek:  A magyar szépségkirálynő Zsolnay-val a hóna alatt megy Londonba

tovább