This study had been implemented by ADA University students as part of the capstone project with t... more This study had been implemented by ADA University students as part of the capstone project with the collaboration and cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Baku office, under the ongoing program of Integrated Biodiversity Management in the South Caucasus program (IBiS) of the organization. The study aimed to reveal the tools through which organizations working in the prevention of environmental degradation and rural development can increase the awareness of the residents about the environmental degradation and their willingness to prevent such problems through collective action. Moreover, the study targeted to support the organization on its task of addressing local population through providing statistical information on the attitudes of the residents of Ehen Village in Ismayilli. The significance of this research is that it aims to contribute to the substantive and methodological knowledge on increasing the awareness of the local communities to initiate a collective action. Hence, the research paper tried to answer the raised research question of “What are the possible tools to increase awareness and willingness of local communities to take local action to prevent environmental degradation?” Indeed, the study had found that there is a statistically significant linear relationship between the level of the knowledge of the people about the problem of erosion and the degree of willingness that they are willing to come together with other village inhabitants to protect the environment, and hence implement the erosion control measures. The statistical finding pointed out the importance of education in increasing the willingness of the people to take collective action. The research paper concluded that it is feasible to argue that as individuals identify themselves more informed about the problem itself, they tend to believe that they, themselves, can contribute to the provision of the public goods, in this case coming together with other local inhabitants to solve the problems. The study recommends organizations trying to target local communities to consider making inhabitants aware about the costs of dealing with environmental degradation and benefits of the measures to the local communities in the long-run so that they are motivated to compromise possible short-term economic loses in return for long-term benefits that the preservation of the nature and ecosystem services will bring.
Acknowledgments: Authors would like to thank partner organization GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) Baku Office, particularly the management of Mr. Aydin Inchiyev and Mr. Samir Abbasov for their support of the survey. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Vener Garayev, the academic supervisor of the capstone project, for his continuous feedback and support during the research.
For-profit social enterprises are facing the dual challenges of fulfilling social purpose on the ... more For-profit social enterprises are facing the dual challenges of fulfilling social purpose on the one hand and surviving business competition on the other. Being a sustainable for-profit social enterprise, the company must balance between economic, social and environmental aspects throughout their business operations. In order to achieve the desired end of sustainability, organization need to keep learning about the social needs and the business environment in order to develop sustainable business processes, and better fulfill their purpose as organizations formed to create social value. The study aims to fill the gaps in sustainability research literature about organizational learning in for-profit social enterprises by exploring how effective learning processes occur at individual, group and organizational level and how to facilitate these learning processes to improve sustainability. The study develops an analytical framework by combining the 4I framework for organizational learning process (Crossan et al., 1999) and an AKO (activities, knowledge source, outcomes) framework for understanding learning activities, knowledge sources and learning outcomes. Four for-profit social enterprises in both Denmark and Sweden are chosen as cases. Based on findings, three organizational learning mechanisms are identified on selected cases. Practical implications and insights are also generated for for-profit social enterprises to facilitate organizational learning for sustainability.
This paper analyses multinational corporation IKEA and its sustainability strategy as described i... more This paper analyses multinational corporation IKEA and its sustainability strategy as described in its official sustainability strategy document. Several theoretical frameworks each describing various levels of analysis, namely individual, organisational, and network perspectives are introduced and applied to IKEA. Moreover, the justifications for why certain theories have bene chosen as well as insights they provide to understand IKEA and its sustainability strategy are discussed and analysed critically.
In recent years, the project stakeholder management has gained importance due to various stakehol... more In recent years, the project stakeholder management has gained importance due to various stakeholder pressures on organizations. Moreover, the rising concern that projects should be done in a more sustainable way, as well as minimize their environmental waste and contribute to the overall social and economic sustainability, has transformed stakeholder management from merely instrumental tool into ethical and moral tool. This literature review presents a systematic review of the literature on integration of sustainability perspectives into stakeholder management in the context of temporary projects. In particular, the different scholarly approaches to common concepts and theories on stakeholder management and sustainable project management is presented. Moreover, the concepts applied to permanent organizations in relation to sustainability and stakeholder management is also analyzed with the purpose of retaining useful insights for project stakeholder management. Finally, the challenges that has been identified due to extending stakeholder management practices to include sustainability perspective is discussed thoroughly.
The main area that we are concerned in this project is car accidents and the reasons that contrib... more The main area that we are concerned in this project is car accidents and the reasons that contribute to such accidents. There is enough evidence which shows traffic accidents are reaching to the alarming level in Azerbaijan. Car accidents cause a lot of fatalities and injuries, and every year a lot of people became a victim of such accidents. One of the main reasons for car accidents is road infrastructure and systematic management of roads. Even though the quality of the roads has been improved in general, still the way there are managed is not satisfying. Another cause is that there is corruption in getting driving license and police. Most of the drivers have got licenses illegally. As they get driving license with money, they do not have enough knowledge about the signs of the roadways or the skills which are important for drivers. In addition, there are no any trainings or courses about driving culture or skills for young people and drivers. The government has tried to implement several preventive actions to decrease the high rate of road crashes but the policies were not effective and the numbers are still very high. Our group also want to contribute to decreasing the high rate of car accidents, and we are going to propose several adjustments for the traffic safety in Azerbaijan.
To argue that the current energy system which is mainly based on eco-unfriendly utilization of fo... more To argue that the current energy system which is mainly based on eco-unfriendly utilization of fossil fuels is not sustainable, one must look at the threats ecosystem attracts because of the global warming. This paper will follow the discussion on global warming and sustainable energy, and will show why the current energy system which helped to accelerate global warming is unsustainable. Moreover, the paper argues that the efforts towards achieving energy sustainability by slowing down global warming cannot be limited to one option as there are many alternative options which can be categorized into two broad categories. First of them is the development of renewable energies. The second is the overall efforts to make current utilization of fossil fuel energy sources cleaner. It is argued that while the development of renewable sources of energy is important for achieving energy sustainability, alternative efforts for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from current fossil fuel utilization might be needed in the short-run for responding to increasing energy demands at the age of global warming. Additionally, it is also argued that the current energy system is unsustainable not only because of the greenhouse gases that it emits, but also for other concerns which are independent from global warming.
This paper follows the critical discussion on immigration and security, and argues that immigrati... more This paper follows the critical discussion on immigration and security, and argues that immigration is not a universal threat, and the perception of immigration as a threat depends on the different social constructions of immigration which later determines the approach towards immigration. Additionally, the social construction of immigration as a threat to security will depend on many factors such as economic hardships, the political interests, and psychological factors one of them being the perceptions of the importance of distinct cultural identity. Nevertheless, it is also acknowledged that the increasing numbers of immigrants like any other changes that are brought by the globalization raise challenges to the notion of national sovereignty which is an important condition for the national security. However, the effectiveness of governance and the strength of the state, not the immigration itself, will usually determine whether this challenge is transformed into a threat. The interpretation of the challenges posed by immigration simply as threats undermines the economic advantage that states might get by accepting immigrants.
This paper examines different measurements of the concept “rule of law”. Analysis shows that most... more This paper examines different measurements of the concept “rule of law”. Analysis shows that most of the organizations that measures the rule of law differ in terms of their approach and conceptualization of the concept. As a result, different measurements measure different dimensions of the concept. In addition, some organizations take too broad definition of the concept which leads concept becoming too stretched, while some take too specific definition which then makes their concept of “the rule of law” to be synonymous with other concepts such as democracy. Moreover, the organizations that undertake measurement of the rule of law worldwide fail to consider the problem of contextual specificity and do not take considerable actions to establish equivalence among different regions which then restricts measurement validity.
In 2001, the concerns about the future of Mumbai which was famous for its slums and congested tra... more In 2001, the concerns about the future of Mumbai which was famous for its slums and congested traffic led Bombay First group into commissioning McKinsey to develop a report on what was needed to make Mumbai a world-class city and improve the quality of life. Report, named as “Vision Mumbai” proposed set of goals for economic growth, transportation, housing, other infrastructure and then proposed an eight-part program to achieve them. The program aimed to reduce the high cost of housing and property, to boost economic growth, to change land regulation rules to have more available lands for use and to build infrastructure for transportation. The State of Maharashtra already started embracing parts of the plan. The new prime minister announced government’s intention to undertake urban renewal of India’s largest cities, and announced 13 reforms for municipal and state governments as a perquisite for receiving grants from central government. Many critics argued that instead of focusing on solving problems that ordinary people face such as horrible living conditions in slums, the program was designed to satisfy demands of the business elites. However, proponents of the program argued that the city will lose an opportunity to make the city better for everyone, if the program is not implemented.
On November 17, 2012, the refurbishing project of the main building of National Institute of Mana... more On November 17, 2012, the refurbishing project of the main building of National Institute of Management (NIM) was awarded to the Mid-India Construction Private Company Limited (MICC). The project consisted of the removal of sandstones of the external surface of the main building due to safety concerns and the refurbishing of the main building to enhance its strength. According to the terms and conditions in the contract, MICC was given eight months to complete the project from the date of award. MICC’s planning of the project mainly involved the dividing of the total surface into different work-fronts. The external surface of 28,000 m^2 was divided into 14 work-fronts of 2000 m^2 each, while the internal surface of 24,400 m^2 was divided into 14 work-fronts of 1743 m^2 each. The removal of sandstones required the usage of scaffolding. During the planning process, the management agreed that 2,000 m^2 of scaffolding at the hand is enough for the completion of the project. After one month since the project started, MICC and NIM organized the first review meeting which revealed that the first month has passed without any significant progress towards the project. Now only, seven months left to complete the project, MICC are looking for ways to fast-track the project to complete all the refurbishing in time.
In 1997, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) had won the right to build and operate a high... more In 1997, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) had won the right to build and operate a high-speed rail system alongside the west coastline of Taiwan. The following year, the contract was signed between THSRC and the government of Taiwan. The terms included that THSRC would build a high-speed rail system and operate it for thirty-five years and then transfer the ownership to the government. Even though, the project was operational and constructional success, the ridership numbers were far below than previously estimated. In 2009, two years after its opening, THSRC found itself in a big financial crisis as it was unable to pay back the principal on bank loans due to the loss of revenue because of low ridership and the worldwide economic crisis that hit export-dependent Taiwan. Now, being unable to operate the project because of this financial problem, THSRC requested the government takeover of the rail system with compensation to be set by an independent party.
Several studies suggest that “marijuana often eases patients’ nausea” and it is also effective in... more Several studies suggest that “marijuana often eases patients’ nausea” and it is also effective in “reducing the pain of AIDS patients and alleviating muscle spasticity and pain” due to multiple injuries (Gutmann & Thompson, 2006, p. 433). As a result, the decriminalization of marijuana for medical purposes is a growing trend around the world, as several states of the United States besides with countries such as Netherlands have enacted it. To start the discussion on the ethical justification of the decriminalization of marijuana, what is meant by “ethical” must be clarified. Ethical is defined as being “in accordance with standards governing the conduct of the members of a profession.” (Savara, 2007, p. 30). In this case, those members of a profession are public administrators who implement public policy and legislators who drafts the laws. This paper analyzes whether the decision to decriminalize the marijuana for medical use is justified given “the rules or standards governing the conduct” of the civil servants and theoretical perspectives on ethics.
Azerbaijan, country that got its independence in 1991, has been in the process of the transformat... more Azerbaijan, country that got its independence in 1991, has been in the process of the transformation from the command-based economy towards free-market economy for the last 25 years. That transformation could not continue without triggering institutional changes in the public administration system. Public Administration is traditionally accepted as the collective of the administering body of the government. Employees in this body are the civil servants who are responsible for administering the public policies on different spheres and managing the provision of essential services provided to the citizens. Public administration system in free-market economy can be argued to be the system which is different from the one which exists in the command-based economy which was the way of life in Azerbaijan until recently. Free-market system requires public administration system which has an ability to make the lives of civil society easier by implementing transparent and effective practices. That is, the civil service system has needed to be transformed into the one which is eligible to co-exist with civil society which includes the private agents in the economy, and to help it to grow to boost the economy. However, transparent, and effective public administration system requires transparent and effective public administrators. That is, the recruitment of the best individuals who can be selected into public service is crucial issue. In other words, the recruitment and selection process in the case of public service is crucially important for the overall success of the public administration system.
The relationship between environmental degradation and human health has become a major research t... more The relationship between environmental degradation and human health has become a major research topic in both social and natural sciences as the figures such as Greenhouse gas emissions have dramatically increased over the last century. That increase coincides with the concern for the Global Warming which is the increase of the earth's average temperature because of humaninduced greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Apart from global warming, other possible effects of increases in the greenhouse gases could include the increase in acid rains and smog-filled cities which all can have harmful effects on human health. However, it can also be argued that as countries emit huge amounts of greenhouse gases because of industrialization and massive energy consumption, which in turn brings economic growth, they can spend more in social security and health care which might have desirable effects on human health. Thus, even though greenhouse gases harm biosphere and human health, it can also faster the economic growth which will then enable societies to spend more on health care. Therefore, the research on analyzing correlation between Greenhouse gas emissions and human health could provide important insights to policy makers on debates and agendas concerning the mitigation of the effects of greenhouse gases on human health and the effect of industrialization or energy consumption on healthcare expenditure. In the presence of these discussions, this paper will try to find a relationship (if any) between two variables; CO2 Emissions (metric tons per capita) as an indicator of Greenhouse gas emissions and Life Expectancy at birth (total years) as an indicator of years that average people can live.
The scientific revolution cannot be simply described as the battle between reason and faith becau... more The scientific revolution cannot be simply described as the battle between reason and faith because doing so undermines a diverse set of relations happened among them during the scientific revolution. There was no concrete distinction existed between reason and faith, and in fact both were the fields that interested almost all thinkers of the scientific revolution. This paper argues that the scientific revolution was not simply the conflict between faith and reason. Instead, it was a transformational period, which saw a complex set of relations between reason and faith which also included support. Due to its complexity, it is impossible to make a concrete argument out of it regarding the relations between reason and faith. Moreover, the paper also looks at the Enlightenment era and argues that even though the period of the Enlightenment is highly associated with the growing skepticism on the organized religion and growing reliance on reason, it was not simply “the period of conflict between reason and faith” because the Enlightenment covered much wider areas than that issue such as the nature of authority, the possibility of progress, applying natural laws into organization of society and criticism of absolutism. Criticism of organized religion was just one of those things that happened in the Enlightenment, and that aspect itself is not enough for naming the whole century as simply the conflict between reason and faith.
It is important to mention several approaches to the term “liberal”, to understand its meaning in... more It is important to mention several approaches to the term “liberal”, to understand its meaning in the context of colonialism. The “liberal” usually refers to the “liberalism” which is associated with the principles of free market, individualism, progressivism, toleration, pluralism, freedom of religion, and etc. If we define the “liberal” with the boundaries of the “Liberalism”, we should examine the issue by looking at the main principles of Liberalism which were mentioned in the previous sentence. Additionally, we can reconcile the “liberal” with the “liberty” and look into two types of liberties that were proposed by Isiah Berlin. Those liberties are “negative liberty” which is a freedom from a physical interference, and the “positive liberty” which is an ability “to act upon free will” and “to take control of one’s life and realize one’s fundamental purposes” (Carter, 2012). With examining the issue at the hand by looking at the interpretations of the “liberal”, this essay argues that even though the British attitude towards Indian people was mainly shaped by the need to protect the British regime and the imperial ambition to “civilize” people, the colonial rule inevitably brought some fundamental changes which contained liberal elements such as the declared principle of non-interference in religious affairs, the abolition of suttee, the introduction of the secular western education, and the promotion of the free-market economy. However, in the case of Africa, the situation was complex compared to India as Africa’s past image of the slave supplier, and the existed belief of “the white supremacy over the black” limited the scale of liberal changes to the abolition of the slave trade and slavery.
Even though the Crusades had a damaging impact for the populations of the Middle East, it is very... more Even though the Crusades had a damaging impact for the populations of the Middle East, it is very controversial to call the Crusades devastating for the Muslim states since there had been additional factors for that devastation. Most obvious of them is that the Muslim world started to divide into many decentralized little empires which made many Muslim states to ignore the First Crusades since the leaders focused much more on the internal problems. However, it could be also argued that even if the internal disputes mattered much than the Crusader aggression to the individual Muslim states, the Crusader invasions eventually led to the some sort of unification among the Muslims before to the Second and Third Crusades in the name of Jihad. Additionally, it is very reasonable to think about the impact of the Crusades on the Muslim societies not just in the short-run, but also in the long-run, because as we will see there was some impact of the Crusades in terms of the restoration of the idea of the Jihad in the Modern age.
Romanization is understood as the adoption of Roman ways of behavior, culture, and religious prac... more Romanization is understood as the adoption of Roman ways of behavior, culture, and religious practices by the native people of the provinces of the Roman empire. The term first used by Francis Haverfield who defined it as the process in which the occupied territories “were being civilized”. Since then there have been a lot of attempts to approach the concept differently. Although the comprehensive debate about Romanization started in the 20th century, there is a useful classical source which we can observe useful information about Romanization. Although some results of Romanization are obvious, the term itself has no concrete definition, and the process of Romanization has no specific explanation given that there are a lot of different approaches to it. Therefore, Romanization is no more than a theoretical tool to explain the historical processes and cultural changes happened in Europe. The purpose of this paper is to look at the different explanations of Romanization, and to discuss how the process of Romanization happened by interpreting scholars and referring to primary historical sources.
This study had been implemented by ADA University students as part of the capstone project with t... more This study had been implemented by ADA University students as part of the capstone project with the collaboration and cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Baku office, under the ongoing program of Integrated Biodiversity Management in the South Caucasus program (IBiS) of the organization. The study aimed to reveal the tools through which organizations working in the prevention of environmental degradation and rural development can increase the awareness of the residents about the environmental degradation and their willingness to prevent such problems through collective action. Moreover, the study targeted to support the organization on its task of addressing local population through providing statistical information on the attitudes of the residents of Ehen Village in Ismayilli. The significance of this research is that it aims to contribute to the substantive and methodological knowledge on increasing the awareness of the local communities to initiate a collective action. Hence, the research paper tried to answer the raised research question of “What are the possible tools to increase awareness and willingness of local communities to take local action to prevent environmental degradation?” Indeed, the study had found that there is a statistically significant linear relationship between the level of the knowledge of the people about the problem of erosion and the degree of willingness that they are willing to come together with other village inhabitants to protect the environment, and hence implement the erosion control measures. The statistical finding pointed out the importance of education in increasing the willingness of the people to take collective action. The research paper concluded that it is feasible to argue that as individuals identify themselves more informed about the problem itself, they tend to believe that they, themselves, can contribute to the provision of the public goods, in this case coming together with other local inhabitants to solve the problems. The study recommends organizations trying to target local communities to consider making inhabitants aware about the costs of dealing with environmental degradation and benefits of the measures to the local communities in the long-run so that they are motivated to compromise possible short-term economic loses in return for long-term benefits that the preservation of the nature and ecosystem services will bring.
Acknowledgments: Authors would like to thank partner organization GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) Baku Office, particularly the management of Mr. Aydin Inchiyev and Mr. Samir Abbasov for their support of the survey. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Vener Garayev, the academic supervisor of the capstone project, for his continuous feedback and support during the research.
For-profit social enterprises are facing the dual challenges of fulfilling social purpose on the ... more For-profit social enterprises are facing the dual challenges of fulfilling social purpose on the one hand and surviving business competition on the other. Being a sustainable for-profit social enterprise, the company must balance between economic, social and environmental aspects throughout their business operations. In order to achieve the desired end of sustainability, organization need to keep learning about the social needs and the business environment in order to develop sustainable business processes, and better fulfill their purpose as organizations formed to create social value. The study aims to fill the gaps in sustainability research literature about organizational learning in for-profit social enterprises by exploring how effective learning processes occur at individual, group and organizational level and how to facilitate these learning processes to improve sustainability. The study develops an analytical framework by combining the 4I framework for organizational learning process (Crossan et al., 1999) and an AKO (activities, knowledge source, outcomes) framework for understanding learning activities, knowledge sources and learning outcomes. Four for-profit social enterprises in both Denmark and Sweden are chosen as cases. Based on findings, three organizational learning mechanisms are identified on selected cases. Practical implications and insights are also generated for for-profit social enterprises to facilitate organizational learning for sustainability.
This paper analyses multinational corporation IKEA and its sustainability strategy as described i... more This paper analyses multinational corporation IKEA and its sustainability strategy as described in its official sustainability strategy document. Several theoretical frameworks each describing various levels of analysis, namely individual, organisational, and network perspectives are introduced and applied to IKEA. Moreover, the justifications for why certain theories have bene chosen as well as insights they provide to understand IKEA and its sustainability strategy are discussed and analysed critically.
In recent years, the project stakeholder management has gained importance due to various stakehol... more In recent years, the project stakeholder management has gained importance due to various stakeholder pressures on organizations. Moreover, the rising concern that projects should be done in a more sustainable way, as well as minimize their environmental waste and contribute to the overall social and economic sustainability, has transformed stakeholder management from merely instrumental tool into ethical and moral tool. This literature review presents a systematic review of the literature on integration of sustainability perspectives into stakeholder management in the context of temporary projects. In particular, the different scholarly approaches to common concepts and theories on stakeholder management and sustainable project management is presented. Moreover, the concepts applied to permanent organizations in relation to sustainability and stakeholder management is also analyzed with the purpose of retaining useful insights for project stakeholder management. Finally, the challenges that has been identified due to extending stakeholder management practices to include sustainability perspective is discussed thoroughly.
The main area that we are concerned in this project is car accidents and the reasons that contrib... more The main area that we are concerned in this project is car accidents and the reasons that contribute to such accidents. There is enough evidence which shows traffic accidents are reaching to the alarming level in Azerbaijan. Car accidents cause a lot of fatalities and injuries, and every year a lot of people became a victim of such accidents. One of the main reasons for car accidents is road infrastructure and systematic management of roads. Even though the quality of the roads has been improved in general, still the way there are managed is not satisfying. Another cause is that there is corruption in getting driving license and police. Most of the drivers have got licenses illegally. As they get driving license with money, they do not have enough knowledge about the signs of the roadways or the skills which are important for drivers. In addition, there are no any trainings or courses about driving culture or skills for young people and drivers. The government has tried to implement several preventive actions to decrease the high rate of road crashes but the policies were not effective and the numbers are still very high. Our group also want to contribute to decreasing the high rate of car accidents, and we are going to propose several adjustments for the traffic safety in Azerbaijan.
To argue that the current energy system which is mainly based on eco-unfriendly utilization of fo... more To argue that the current energy system which is mainly based on eco-unfriendly utilization of fossil fuels is not sustainable, one must look at the threats ecosystem attracts because of the global warming. This paper will follow the discussion on global warming and sustainable energy, and will show why the current energy system which helped to accelerate global warming is unsustainable. Moreover, the paper argues that the efforts towards achieving energy sustainability by slowing down global warming cannot be limited to one option as there are many alternative options which can be categorized into two broad categories. First of them is the development of renewable energies. The second is the overall efforts to make current utilization of fossil fuel energy sources cleaner. It is argued that while the development of renewable sources of energy is important for achieving energy sustainability, alternative efforts for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from current fossil fuel utilization might be needed in the short-run for responding to increasing energy demands at the age of global warming. Additionally, it is also argued that the current energy system is unsustainable not only because of the greenhouse gases that it emits, but also for other concerns which are independent from global warming.
This paper follows the critical discussion on immigration and security, and argues that immigrati... more This paper follows the critical discussion on immigration and security, and argues that immigration is not a universal threat, and the perception of immigration as a threat depends on the different social constructions of immigration which later determines the approach towards immigration. Additionally, the social construction of immigration as a threat to security will depend on many factors such as economic hardships, the political interests, and psychological factors one of them being the perceptions of the importance of distinct cultural identity. Nevertheless, it is also acknowledged that the increasing numbers of immigrants like any other changes that are brought by the globalization raise challenges to the notion of national sovereignty which is an important condition for the national security. However, the effectiveness of governance and the strength of the state, not the immigration itself, will usually determine whether this challenge is transformed into a threat. The interpretation of the challenges posed by immigration simply as threats undermines the economic advantage that states might get by accepting immigrants.
This paper examines different measurements of the concept “rule of law”. Analysis shows that most... more This paper examines different measurements of the concept “rule of law”. Analysis shows that most of the organizations that measures the rule of law differ in terms of their approach and conceptualization of the concept. As a result, different measurements measure different dimensions of the concept. In addition, some organizations take too broad definition of the concept which leads concept becoming too stretched, while some take too specific definition which then makes their concept of “the rule of law” to be synonymous with other concepts such as democracy. Moreover, the organizations that undertake measurement of the rule of law worldwide fail to consider the problem of contextual specificity and do not take considerable actions to establish equivalence among different regions which then restricts measurement validity.
In 2001, the concerns about the future of Mumbai which was famous for its slums and congested tra... more In 2001, the concerns about the future of Mumbai which was famous for its slums and congested traffic led Bombay First group into commissioning McKinsey to develop a report on what was needed to make Mumbai a world-class city and improve the quality of life. Report, named as “Vision Mumbai” proposed set of goals for economic growth, transportation, housing, other infrastructure and then proposed an eight-part program to achieve them. The program aimed to reduce the high cost of housing and property, to boost economic growth, to change land regulation rules to have more available lands for use and to build infrastructure for transportation. The State of Maharashtra already started embracing parts of the plan. The new prime minister announced government’s intention to undertake urban renewal of India’s largest cities, and announced 13 reforms for municipal and state governments as a perquisite for receiving grants from central government. Many critics argued that instead of focusing on solving problems that ordinary people face such as horrible living conditions in slums, the program was designed to satisfy demands of the business elites. However, proponents of the program argued that the city will lose an opportunity to make the city better for everyone, if the program is not implemented.
On November 17, 2012, the refurbishing project of the main building of National Institute of Mana... more On November 17, 2012, the refurbishing project of the main building of National Institute of Management (NIM) was awarded to the Mid-India Construction Private Company Limited (MICC). The project consisted of the removal of sandstones of the external surface of the main building due to safety concerns and the refurbishing of the main building to enhance its strength. According to the terms and conditions in the contract, MICC was given eight months to complete the project from the date of award. MICC’s planning of the project mainly involved the dividing of the total surface into different work-fronts. The external surface of 28,000 m^2 was divided into 14 work-fronts of 2000 m^2 each, while the internal surface of 24,400 m^2 was divided into 14 work-fronts of 1743 m^2 each. The removal of sandstones required the usage of scaffolding. During the planning process, the management agreed that 2,000 m^2 of scaffolding at the hand is enough for the completion of the project. After one month since the project started, MICC and NIM organized the first review meeting which revealed that the first month has passed without any significant progress towards the project. Now only, seven months left to complete the project, MICC are looking for ways to fast-track the project to complete all the refurbishing in time.
In 1997, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) had won the right to build and operate a high... more In 1997, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) had won the right to build and operate a high-speed rail system alongside the west coastline of Taiwan. The following year, the contract was signed between THSRC and the government of Taiwan. The terms included that THSRC would build a high-speed rail system and operate it for thirty-five years and then transfer the ownership to the government. Even though, the project was operational and constructional success, the ridership numbers were far below than previously estimated. In 2009, two years after its opening, THSRC found itself in a big financial crisis as it was unable to pay back the principal on bank loans due to the loss of revenue because of low ridership and the worldwide economic crisis that hit export-dependent Taiwan. Now, being unable to operate the project because of this financial problem, THSRC requested the government takeover of the rail system with compensation to be set by an independent party.
Several studies suggest that “marijuana often eases patients’ nausea” and it is also effective in... more Several studies suggest that “marijuana often eases patients’ nausea” and it is also effective in “reducing the pain of AIDS patients and alleviating muscle spasticity and pain” due to multiple injuries (Gutmann & Thompson, 2006, p. 433). As a result, the decriminalization of marijuana for medical purposes is a growing trend around the world, as several states of the United States besides with countries such as Netherlands have enacted it. To start the discussion on the ethical justification of the decriminalization of marijuana, what is meant by “ethical” must be clarified. Ethical is defined as being “in accordance with standards governing the conduct of the members of a profession.” (Savara, 2007, p. 30). In this case, those members of a profession are public administrators who implement public policy and legislators who drafts the laws. This paper analyzes whether the decision to decriminalize the marijuana for medical use is justified given “the rules or standards governing the conduct” of the civil servants and theoretical perspectives on ethics.
Azerbaijan, country that got its independence in 1991, has been in the process of the transformat... more Azerbaijan, country that got its independence in 1991, has been in the process of the transformation from the command-based economy towards free-market economy for the last 25 years. That transformation could not continue without triggering institutional changes in the public administration system. Public Administration is traditionally accepted as the collective of the administering body of the government. Employees in this body are the civil servants who are responsible for administering the public policies on different spheres and managing the provision of essential services provided to the citizens. Public administration system in free-market economy can be argued to be the system which is different from the one which exists in the command-based economy which was the way of life in Azerbaijan until recently. Free-market system requires public administration system which has an ability to make the lives of civil society easier by implementing transparent and effective practices. That is, the civil service system has needed to be transformed into the one which is eligible to co-exist with civil society which includes the private agents in the economy, and to help it to grow to boost the economy. However, transparent, and effective public administration system requires transparent and effective public administrators. That is, the recruitment of the best individuals who can be selected into public service is crucial issue. In other words, the recruitment and selection process in the case of public service is crucially important for the overall success of the public administration system.
The relationship between environmental degradation and human health has become a major research t... more The relationship between environmental degradation and human health has become a major research topic in both social and natural sciences as the figures such as Greenhouse gas emissions have dramatically increased over the last century. That increase coincides with the concern for the Global Warming which is the increase of the earth's average temperature because of humaninduced greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Apart from global warming, other possible effects of increases in the greenhouse gases could include the increase in acid rains and smog-filled cities which all can have harmful effects on human health. However, it can also be argued that as countries emit huge amounts of greenhouse gases because of industrialization and massive energy consumption, which in turn brings economic growth, they can spend more in social security and health care which might have desirable effects on human health. Thus, even though greenhouse gases harm biosphere and human health, it can also faster the economic growth which will then enable societies to spend more on health care. Therefore, the research on analyzing correlation between Greenhouse gas emissions and human health could provide important insights to policy makers on debates and agendas concerning the mitigation of the effects of greenhouse gases on human health and the effect of industrialization or energy consumption on healthcare expenditure. In the presence of these discussions, this paper will try to find a relationship (if any) between two variables; CO2 Emissions (metric tons per capita) as an indicator of Greenhouse gas emissions and Life Expectancy at birth (total years) as an indicator of years that average people can live.
The scientific revolution cannot be simply described as the battle between reason and faith becau... more The scientific revolution cannot be simply described as the battle between reason and faith because doing so undermines a diverse set of relations happened among them during the scientific revolution. There was no concrete distinction existed between reason and faith, and in fact both were the fields that interested almost all thinkers of the scientific revolution. This paper argues that the scientific revolution was not simply the conflict between faith and reason. Instead, it was a transformational period, which saw a complex set of relations between reason and faith which also included support. Due to its complexity, it is impossible to make a concrete argument out of it regarding the relations between reason and faith. Moreover, the paper also looks at the Enlightenment era and argues that even though the period of the Enlightenment is highly associated with the growing skepticism on the organized religion and growing reliance on reason, it was not simply “the period of conflict between reason and faith” because the Enlightenment covered much wider areas than that issue such as the nature of authority, the possibility of progress, applying natural laws into organization of society and criticism of absolutism. Criticism of organized religion was just one of those things that happened in the Enlightenment, and that aspect itself is not enough for naming the whole century as simply the conflict between reason and faith.
It is important to mention several approaches to the term “liberal”, to understand its meaning in... more It is important to mention several approaches to the term “liberal”, to understand its meaning in the context of colonialism. The “liberal” usually refers to the “liberalism” which is associated with the principles of free market, individualism, progressivism, toleration, pluralism, freedom of religion, and etc. If we define the “liberal” with the boundaries of the “Liberalism”, we should examine the issue by looking at the main principles of Liberalism which were mentioned in the previous sentence. Additionally, we can reconcile the “liberal” with the “liberty” and look into two types of liberties that were proposed by Isiah Berlin. Those liberties are “negative liberty” which is a freedom from a physical interference, and the “positive liberty” which is an ability “to act upon free will” and “to take control of one’s life and realize one’s fundamental purposes” (Carter, 2012). With examining the issue at the hand by looking at the interpretations of the “liberal”, this essay argues that even though the British attitude towards Indian people was mainly shaped by the need to protect the British regime and the imperial ambition to “civilize” people, the colonial rule inevitably brought some fundamental changes which contained liberal elements such as the declared principle of non-interference in religious affairs, the abolition of suttee, the introduction of the secular western education, and the promotion of the free-market economy. However, in the case of Africa, the situation was complex compared to India as Africa’s past image of the slave supplier, and the existed belief of “the white supremacy over the black” limited the scale of liberal changes to the abolition of the slave trade and slavery.
Even though the Crusades had a damaging impact for the populations of the Middle East, it is very... more Even though the Crusades had a damaging impact for the populations of the Middle East, it is very controversial to call the Crusades devastating for the Muslim states since there had been additional factors for that devastation. Most obvious of them is that the Muslim world started to divide into many decentralized little empires which made many Muslim states to ignore the First Crusades since the leaders focused much more on the internal problems. However, it could be also argued that even if the internal disputes mattered much than the Crusader aggression to the individual Muslim states, the Crusader invasions eventually led to the some sort of unification among the Muslims before to the Second and Third Crusades in the name of Jihad. Additionally, it is very reasonable to think about the impact of the Crusades on the Muslim societies not just in the short-run, but also in the long-run, because as we will see there was some impact of the Crusades in terms of the restoration of the idea of the Jihad in the Modern age.
Romanization is understood as the adoption of Roman ways of behavior, culture, and religious prac... more Romanization is understood as the adoption of Roman ways of behavior, culture, and religious practices by the native people of the provinces of the Roman empire. The term first used by Francis Haverfield who defined it as the process in which the occupied territories “were being civilized”. Since then there have been a lot of attempts to approach the concept differently. Although the comprehensive debate about Romanization started in the 20th century, there is a useful classical source which we can observe useful information about Romanization. Although some results of Romanization are obvious, the term itself has no concrete definition, and the process of Romanization has no specific explanation given that there are a lot of different approaches to it. Therefore, Romanization is no more than a theoretical tool to explain the historical processes and cultural changes happened in Europe. The purpose of this paper is to look at the different explanations of Romanization, and to discuss how the process of Romanization happened by interpreting scholars and referring to primary historical sources.
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Papers by Masud Gaziyev
organization. The study aimed to reveal the tools through which organizations working in the prevention of environmental degradation and rural development can increase the awareness of the residents about the environmental degradation and their willingness to prevent such problems through collective action. Moreover, the study targeted to support the organization on its task of addressing local population through providing statistical information on the attitudes of the residents of Ehen Village in Ismayilli. The significance of this research is that it aims to contribute to the substantive and methodological knowledge on increasing the awareness of the local communities to initiate a collective action. Hence, the research paper tried to answer the raised research question of “What are the possible tools to increase awareness and willingness of local communities to take local action to prevent environmental degradation?” Indeed, the study had found that there is a statistically significant linear relationship between the level of the knowledge of the people about the problem of erosion and the degree of willingness that they are willing to come together with other village inhabitants to protect the environment, and hence implement the erosion control measures. The statistical finding pointed out the importance of education in increasing the willingness of the people to take collective action. The research paper concluded that it is feasible to argue that as individuals identify themselves more informed about the problem itself, they tend to believe that they, themselves, can contribute to the provision of the public goods, in this case coming together with other local inhabitants to solve the problems. The study recommends organizations trying to target local communities to consider making inhabitants aware about the costs of dealing with environmental degradation and benefits of the measures to the local communities in the long-run so that they are motivated to compromise possible short-term economic loses in return for long-term benefits that the preservation of the nature and ecosystem services will bring.
Acknowledgments: Authors would like to thank partner organization GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) Baku Office, particularly the management of Mr. Aydin Inchiyev and Mr. Samir Abbasov for their support of the survey. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Vener Garayev, the academic supervisor of the capstone project, for his continuous feedback and support during the research.
Keywords and phrases: Collective Action, Biofacts, Environmental degradation, Erosion control, Environment.
organization. The study aimed to reveal the tools through which organizations working in the prevention of environmental degradation and rural development can increase the awareness of the residents about the environmental degradation and their willingness to prevent such problems through collective action. Moreover, the study targeted to support the organization on its task of addressing local population through providing statistical information on the attitudes of the residents of Ehen Village in Ismayilli. The significance of this research is that it aims to contribute to the substantive and methodological knowledge on increasing the awareness of the local communities to initiate a collective action. Hence, the research paper tried to answer the raised research question of “What are the possible tools to increase awareness and willingness of local communities to take local action to prevent environmental degradation?” Indeed, the study had found that there is a statistically significant linear relationship between the level of the knowledge of the people about the problem of erosion and the degree of willingness that they are willing to come together with other village inhabitants to protect the environment, and hence implement the erosion control measures. The statistical finding pointed out the importance of education in increasing the willingness of the people to take collective action. The research paper concluded that it is feasible to argue that as individuals identify themselves more informed about the problem itself, they tend to believe that they, themselves, can contribute to the provision of the public goods, in this case coming together with other local inhabitants to solve the problems. The study recommends organizations trying to target local communities to consider making inhabitants aware about the costs of dealing with environmental degradation and benefits of the measures to the local communities in the long-run so that they are motivated to compromise possible short-term economic loses in return for long-term benefits that the preservation of the nature and ecosystem services will bring.
Acknowledgments: Authors would like to thank partner organization GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) Baku Office, particularly the management of Mr. Aydin Inchiyev and Mr. Samir Abbasov for their support of the survey. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Vener Garayev, the academic supervisor of the capstone project, for his continuous feedback and support during the research.
Keywords and phrases: Collective Action, Biofacts, Environmental degradation, Erosion control, Environment.