Agency

This research focuses on the democratic role of courts, and presents an original conceptual framework for an examination thereof.  The core thesis of this paper is to provide a new answer to the question – how can courts (in particular constitutional courts) be democratically legitimate? – by considering how a constitutional court can be procedurally democratically legitimate. There are two dimensions of procedural democratic legitimacy: intrinsic and instrumental. The intrinsic is a measure of the democratic credentials of the constitutional court as a discrete decision-making authority, whereas the instrumental is concerned with the ways in which the constitutional court contributes to the democratic functioning of the polity. Finally, the conceptual framework is put to the test by examining the constitutional court of the democratically complex and contested EU polity: the Court of Justice of the European Union.

"The tendency to believe in conspiracy theories is predicted by individual differences in supernatural belief and schizotypy. However, it is not known whether the tendency to detect supernatural agency in everday life contributes to conspiracy thinking. Also unknown is whether schizotypy is associated more strongly with supernatural versus secular conspiracist beliefs. In the present study, 209 Undergraduate students and 37 visitors of Internet conspiracy forums (treated as separate samples) completed self-report measures of conspiracy mentality, supernatural agency detection, schizotypy, and external locus of control. Significant positive correlations were found between conspiracy mentality, supernatural agency detection, and schizotypy. A regression model with both conspiracy mentality and supernatural agency detection predicting schizotypy showed significant incremental validity. Chi- squared analysis indicated that participants with high schizotypy were significantly more likely to show evidence of a potential 'supernatural conspiracy mentality,' a construct provisionally defined as high conspiracy mentality with high supernatural agency detection. These findings provide support for the quasi-religious model of conspiracy mentality, but suggest the need to distinguish between supernatural and secular conspiracy thinking, as well as their respective links to schizotypy and other individual differences. In addition, the present study joins others in failing to reproduce a significant relationship between conspiracy mentality and locus of control, as reported in early studies.

This paper explores the intersection of class and gender and its influence on women’s economic activities and life experiences in Amman, Jordan. This paper is based on study carried out in Amman with men and women coming from different socio-economic backgrounds, in addition to exploring Palestinian refugees experiences. It investigates how gender norms and roles are contested and challenged by a number of different factors such as, educational attainment, income, poverty, marital status…etc. In other words; it explores how women coming from different class backgrounds bargain with prevalent patriarchal structures differently given different social aspects. Moreover, it discusses the economic and social/cultural aspects of class and how their intersection with gender relations can produce differential patriarchal structures which affect women differently. 

""The state... is not an object...(but) an ideological project. It is first and foremost an exercise in legitimation... It conceals real history and relations of subjection behind an a-historical mask of legitimative illusion... The real official secret, however, is the secret of the non-existence of the state"
Abrams 1988: 76-77.

The discourses on the state and state formation have dominated archaeological explorations of Early Mesopotamia in association with the development of social and bureaucratic complexity, agricultural technologies, monumental architecture, urbanization, long distance trade, colonization and the development of writing. Archaeological evidence from the material worlds of the early Near East (especially during the 4th and 3rd millennia BC) have been written under narratives of the state from chiefdoms to city-states and to empires, while the artifacts, texts and spaces of the past were painstakingly linked to the ideologies, power structures and political economies of the state. This course unpacks this preoccupation with states and power as a modernist scholarly practice and deconstruct its instrumentalizations of the material pasts. We will consider the more recent explicit postcolonial/postprocessual distancing of academic interests from such frames of reference, and explore alternative paradigms that challenge neo-evolutionary narratives of the state and social complexity. Turning the macro models of the state on their head, we will focus on how micro level material practices constitute the social world, and in what ways an explicitly archaeological approach can contribute to the critique of those macro models. Exploring various case studies from the ancient Near East, questions of social practices and social change, domination and resistance, collectivity, materiality and agency, political landscapes and state spectacles will be brought up in our discussions, while focusing primarily on Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the Levant from 9000 BC to approximately 2000 BC."

Fresco & Primiero's recent article, 'Miscomputation' (Philosophy & Technology online first, DOI:10.1007/s13347-013-0112-0), provides a useful framework with which to think about miscomputation, as well as an admirably broad taxonomy of different kinds of miscomputation. However it also misconstrues the mechanistic approach to miscomputation, which I will argue should not recognise design errors as miscomputations per se. I argue that a computing mechanism, if it is functioning correctly in the physical sense, cannot miscompute on the basis of an error made by an external agent, such as a programmer. This is partially acknowledged in the distinction that Fresco & Primiero make between errors of functioning and errors of design, but they go on to describe both as cases of miscomputation, which I will argue is a mistake, at least with regard to the analysis made by the mechanistic account.

"Sense of agency (SoA) refers to the feeling that we are in control of our own actions and, through them, events in the outside world. SoA depends partly on retrospectively matching outcomes to expectations, and partly on prospective processes occurring prior to action, notably action selection.
To assess the relative contribution of these processes, we factorially varied subliminal priming of action selection and expectation of action outcomes. Both factors affected SoA, and there was also a significant interaction. Compatible action primes increased SoA more strongly for unexpected than expected outcomes. Outcome expectation had strong effects on SoA following incompatible action priming, but only weak effects follow- ing compatible action priming. Prospective and retrospective SoA may have distinct and complementary functions."

Cette thèse de maîtrise vise à démystifier comment de jeunes Inuit font l’expérience de la vie à Ottawa. Les résultats révèlent que les participants à cette étude se positionnent et négocient leurs interactions d’après les relations qu’ils entretiennent avec les différents acteurs de leur environnement. En vue de leur maintien et équilibre, ces relations sont en constante négociation. Afin de se sentir mieux en ville, ils y aménagent des zones de confort mobiles, se créent de « miniunivers » inuit et s’ouvrent aux mondes urbains. Les jeunes Inuit profitent aussi de leur présence à Ottawa pour mieux se positionner par rapport au monde inuit, en (re)trouvant un bien-être personnel et en acquérant les outils et connaissances nécessaires pour contribuer à leur collectivité. Ils y développent notamment leur leadership par l’entremise de rencontres avec d’autres jeunes Inuit et autochtones et s’activent au sein même de la ville d’Ottawa à la transformation des réalités inuit. / This research seeks to demystify how Inuit youth experience living in Ottawa. Results reveal that, throughout their urban experiences, youth position themselves and negotiate their interactions according to their coexistence with the different elements of their environment. This relationship is constantly adjusting; it pushes them to alter their life in order to feel more comfortable in the city, develop their inner strengths and contribute to the collective effort in Ottawa. By creating comfort zones, finding Inuit spaces and exploring urban resources, the burden of balancing such different lifestyles is greatly mitigated. Inuit youth use their presence in the city to reorient their position within the Inuit world. By building self-confidence and developing skills which permit them to contribute to their community, they also develop leadership. These skills allow them to actively participate in the transformation of Inuit realities while living in Ottawa.