Kevin J. O'Toole

Bio: Kevin J. O'Toole is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Islam. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 4 citations.

Islam and the West: the clash of values

Abstract: Whether or not the notion of the world as made of civilizations in varying degrees of alliance or conflict is valid, and however reliable or unreliable the idea of an ‘Islamic World’ or a ‘Western World’, it is an indisputable reality that there are histories and institutions that are described by and purport to be ‘of the West’ and ‘of Islam’. Indeed, it is commonplace in discourse about international affairs to refer to Islam and the West as distinguishable by values and the 57 nations that comprise the Organization of the Islamic Conference (the OIC) and the 47 nations that comprise the Council of Europe (COE) purport to represent the values respectively of Islam and the West. As usually expressed, however, the frequently used comparative values individualism, piety, liberalism, rule of law, family, abstemiousness and so on are, epistemologically, arguably worthless. Can values be identified for Islam and the West that provide an epistemologically valid distinction? When the OIC and the COE are analyse...

Transplanting the Anglo American corporate governance model into Asian countries : prospects and practicality

Abstract: The works in this document illustrate the difficulties in implementing measures based on the Anglo American model to improve corporate governance in four Asian countries; Korea, China, Malaysia and Japan. The evidence shows that corporate governance transformations in these countries have brought about conflict between newly adopted governance mechanisms and the existing domestic environment. I argue that attempts to improve corporate governance through adopting models from foreign jurisdictions cause enormous complications, and that their adoption is often prompted by a flawed belief that they will naturally bring about order to corporate governance in the host country. The works in this document also explore the impact of transplanting Anglo American employment practices (an important constituent of the Anglo American corporate governance model) on employment relations in Asian countries. Employment relationships in these countries, traditionally characterised by norms of life long employment, promotion and remuneration based on seniority and strong ‘familial’ relations between employers and workers, are increasingly being undermined by Anglo American employment practices which promote certain forms of labour flexibility, erode trust between employer and workers and encourage increasing reliance on formal legal rights to protect interests. I conclude that Asian countries need to ensure that laws and practices which are adopted to advance corporate success are appropriate for their domestic environments. The works in this document contribute to the study of corporate governance in three ways. First, it contributes to an understanding of the problems and practicalities in implementing the Anglo American model across different national systems. Second, it contributes to the growing literature on this subject in Asian countries, a significant area of growth in the world economy. Third, it generates ideas which may be useful in instigating empirical research to investigate further impacts on Asian corporate governance of the adoption of foreign models.

The Genesis, History, and Functioning of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC): A Formal-Institutional Analysis

Abstract: This article aims to analyze the functioning and efficacy of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) by applying a formal-institutional method. This approach attends to the inner mechanism of an organization, in preference to the “milieu” method, that examines an organization with reference to its members' capacities and other conditions. Thus, analytical focus is on the formal edifices of an organization: its charters, voting procedures, and committee structures. This article embeds the formal/institutional method with the thesis that the absence from the OIC's structure of (i) an informed and costly membership requirement and (ii) a rule-enforcing body, accounts for its current functionality problems. To substantiate this argument, the paper compares the OIC with some other international inter-governmental organizations such as the European Union and the United Nations. The conclusion follows that any reform plan should acknowledge that the extant membership rules are a structural problem and ...

Human Rights and Terrorism: A Comparative Security Analysis

Abstract: Liberal values are under siege from terrorism, but questions exist concerning Eurocentric notions of terrorism and the source of supposedly illegitimate violence.In the post 9/11 geopolitical landscape, “conventional wisdom holds that governments reactively restrict rights to forestall additional attacks…to more effectively pursue suspected terrorists.” Terrorism violates the fundamental human rights of its victims to life, liberty, security, and dignity of the individual. In the face of increasing terrorism and terrorist attacks, governments around the world have taken steps to bolster security at the cost of liberty. Juxtaposed against the backdrop of civil European responses to terrorism, this approach is especially evident within U.S. military institutions and counter-terrorism regimes. Despite new geopolitical realities of asymmetric, non-conventional and transnational warfare, liberal values and human rights principles should not be abandoned, such that existing standards of human rights can nonetheless accommodate an appropriate balance between liberty and security. This essay will serve to critically examine counter-terror responses in the context of human rights standards. A clear overlap between international human rights law (HRL) and international humanitarian law (IHL) is evidenced by the co-current guarantees of non-derogable physical integrity rights. State pre-commitments to HRL and IHL principles, serve to establish a consistent, morally authoritative, legally affirmed, human rights approach to counter-terrorism. As the West struggles with terrorist threats – actors who do not operate within ‘acceptable’ norms of belligerent conduct, it is crucial that we ask how ‘our’ security can be safeguarded without undermining those very same norms.