Papers by Philip McDonagh
Irish Studies in International Affairs, 2021
Journal of Law and Religion
As a former diplomat currently engaged in praxis-oriented research and teaching, I examine Böcken... more As a former diplomat currently engaged in praxis-oriented research and teaching, I examine Böckenförde’s importance in the broad context of the debate on the future of Europe. First, I trace some of Böckenförde’s specific thoughts on the development of the European Union, notably concerning trends that impact on the shared “sense of belonging” that underpins deliberative democracy. Second, accepting Böckenförde’s crucial distinction between the granular provisions of the law and an underlying ethos or sense of direction, I argue that the Böckenförde paradox is strongly supported at the roots of our culture by ancient Greek political thought, in ways that can help us develop our thinking in new directions—involving Aristotelian conceptions of orientation, community (koinōnia), and discernment. Finally, I address the challenges currently facing the European Union, taking as my point of departure President Emmanuel Macron’s evocation of the “contribution which a living Europe can bring...
This paper develops two orthogonal contributions to scalable sparse regression for competing risk... more This paper develops two orthogonal contributions to scalable sparse regression for competing risks time-to-event data. First, we study and accelerate the broken adaptive ridge method (BAR), an 0-based iteratively reweighted 2-penalization algorithm that achieves sparsity in its limit, in the context of the Fine-Gray (1999) proportional subdistributional hazards (PSH) model. In particular, we derive a new algorithm for BAR regression, named cycBAR, that performs cyclic update of each coordinate using an explicit thresholding formula. The new cycBAR algorithm effectively avoids fitting multiple reweighted 2-penalizations and thus yields impressive speedups over the original BAR algorithm. Second, we address a pivotal computational issue related to fitting the PSH model. Specifically, the computation costs of the log-pseudo likelihood and its derivatives for PSH model grow at the rate of O(n 2) with the sample size n in current implementations. We propose a novel forwardbackward scan algorithm that reduces the computation costs to O(n). The proposed 1
Our sixth axiom is that a changing diplomatic culture requires the development of new frameworks ... more Our sixth axiom is that a changing diplomatic culture requires the development of new frameworks of engagement. Our goal in this chapter is to clarify some of the conditions under which a values-led dialogue inclusive of religious traditions, and reflecting the decency of ordinary people, can help make multilateralism fit for purpose. Democratic societies have been founded on two ideas that are in tension with one another. On the one hand, there are shared values-at the minimum, a shared story, a shared understanding of the dangers to be avoided, and shared institutions. On the other hand, nothing is finally fixed. Once the people have taken a major decision, they can always use the same rules to change direction. We create a welfare state; alternatively, we reject 'big government'. Britain can join the EU or leave it again. A state can amend its constitution. The tension between stability and freedom can work well, but only in a context of mutual respect, awareness of shared interests, and serious deliberation about the future. Our political journey has become more difficult in the 21st century, for several reasons. There is a mismatch between the 'electoral cycle' and the scale of the problems to be addressed, which require
Gandhi promoted the production of khadi, hand-spun cotton yarn, as the symbol and spearhead of an... more Gandhi promoted the production of khadi, hand-spun cotton yarn, as the symbol and spearhead of an inclusive, non-violent social and economic order based on useful work. Swaraj of the least powerful-the self-determination of the poor-became the touchstone, or talisman, of political progress: 'to a people famishing and idle, the only acceptable form in which God can dare appear is work and the promise of food as wages' (Gandhi, 2006, p. 257). Gandhi's option for the poor, though often criticised for a lack of policy detail, is reflected in the SDGs in the formulations: 'no one should be left behind' and 'reaching the last first'. 'The poorest and those most in need' are central to the Document on Human Fraternity signed by Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb (HCHF, 2019). The axioms that we propose in this book function like Gandhi's talisman as a common criterion of evaluation in a variety of circumstances. Our aim is to promote a diplomatic practice in which guiding values, understood in a new way, as 'transcripts from life' (Radhakrishnan, 1980 [1927], p. 14), interact effectively with specialised competencies across all the relevant subject areas of multilateral diplomacy.
Irish Studies in International Affairs
Our second axiom, which is the focus of this chapter, is that we need to 'image' or visualise pea... more Our second axiom, which is the focus of this chapter, is that we need to 'image' or visualise peace as the rightful possession of the human community as a whole. St Augustine speaks for all civilisations when he argues that 'there is no man who does not wish for peace' (City of God, XIX.12). 'Even when men wish a present state of peace to be disturbed', he continues, 'they do so not because they hate peace, but because they desire the present peace to be exchanged for one that suits their wishes.' By its nature, the desire for peace becomes a desire for universal peace. Half a century ago, in 1974, Alexander Solzhenitsyn explored this dynamic in his Nobel speech: 1 World literature has it in its power to convey condensed experience from one land to another so that we might cease to be divided and blinded, so that the different scales of values might be made to agree, and so that one nation might learn correctly and concisely the true history of another with as much strength of recognition and painful awareness as if it had itself experienced that history; in this way, it might be spared from repeating the same cruel mistakes. And perhaps under
On the Significance of Religion for Global Diplomacy
In the last decade something of historic value has been achieved in Ireland. The Good Friday Agre... more In the last decade something of historic value has been achieved in Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement is widely accepted as the defining social contract, governing relations within Northern Ireland, between North and South, and between Ireland and Britain. The new dispensation transcends the settlement of the early 1920s, based on a simple partition of territory. India, by awarding last year's Mahatma Gandhi Peace Prize to John Hume, recognises the significance of what has happened. Of course the Good Friday settlement has not yet been fully implemented. Elections are due to be held in Northern Ireland on November 26. It is not clear whether the atmosphere by the time the elections are held will be more or less conducive to forming a working power-sharing administration on the other side of the polling date. The Irish and British Governments, as partners in the process, have been working hard to encourage all those political leaders in Northern Ireland who are taking risks for peace. I shall say more in a few moments about why it is proving so difficult to establish trust. Our continuing struggle to implement the Agreement imposes modesty and caution on an occasion like this evening. A second ground for modesty is that the perspective of any one individual or party is limited: to an extent a peace process depends on the co existence of different perspectives. I speak from the Irish Government perspective, one of the two Governments at the heart of the process. Others have been involved as well; each of the parties in Northern Ireland has its own story to tell.
Logos-a Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, 2010
... There are many cases of this in Athenian dramathe word hubris remains part of our vocabula... more ... There are many cases of this in Athenian dramathe word hubris remains part of our vocabulary. ... of a slave's position, even to the extent that authors as weighty as Aristotle and Philo suggest a kind of bifurcation of the human species (the natural slave; Esau as an ...
Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, 2007
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Papers by Philip McDonagh