Showing papers on "Doctrine published in 2015"

Austerity versus Stimulus? Understanding Fiscal Policy Change at the International Monetary Fund Since the Great Recession

Abstract: Since 2008, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has become more open to the use of discretionary fiscal stimulus packages to deal with recessions, while changing its doctrine on the timing and content of fiscal consolidation. The article traces this evolution of the Fund's doctrine to staff politics, more diverse thinking in mainstream economics, and a careful framing of the message through the use of mainstream macroeconomic models. To map the changing contours of institutional views on fiscal policy through 2008–2013, the article undertakes a detailed content analysis of official publications from the Fiscal Affairs Department and the Research Department. The connection between these shifts and significant personnel shake-ups is demonstrated through an extensive biographical analysis of the authors of all IMF studies cited in the official reports of the two departments. The findings contribute to the emerging debate on the sources of intellectual and policy change in international economic organizations.

Doing and Allowing Harm

Abstract: Doing harm seems much harder to justify than merely allowing harm If a boulder is rushing towards Bob, you may refuse to save Bob's life by driving your car into the path of the boulder if doing so would cost you your own life You may not push the boulder towards Bob to save your own life This principle—the Doctrine of Doing and Allowing—requires defence Does the distinction between doing and allowing fall apart under scrutiny? When lives are at stake, how can it matter whether harm is done or allowed? Drawing on detailed analysis of the distinction between doing and allowing, Fiona Woollard argues that the Doctrine of Doing and Allowing is best understood as a principle that protects us from harmful imposition Such protection against imposition is necessary for morality to recognize anything as genuinely belonging to a person, even that person's own body As morality must recognize each person's body as belonging to her, the Doctrine of Doing and Allowing should be accepted Woollard defends a moderate account of our obligations to aid, tackling arguments by Peter Singer and Peter Unger that we must give most of our money away and arguments from Robert Nozick that obligations to aid are incompatible with self-ownership

The Obama Doctrine: American Grand Strategy Today

Abstract: Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: The Obama Doctrine Chapter 1 Barack Obama and American Grand Strategy Chapter 2 International Accommodation and Retrenchment Chapter 3 The Domestic Politics of the Obama Doctrine Chapter 4 Republican Alternatives to the Obama Doctrine Chapter 5 Conservative American Realism Bibliography Notes Index

Between Doctrine and Practice: The UN Peacekeeping Dilemma

Abstract: Mandates of recent peacekeeping operations across Africa have shown substantial innovation in the thinking of the UN Security Council. Offen sive use of force, use of unmanned aerial vehicles, strategic intelligence and communication, and state-building mandates in the midst of conflicts have all expanded the scope of activities beyond what the UN peacekeep ers are accustomed to. The UN is entering a new era of enforcement peacekeeping. Enforcement peacekeeping manifests itself both in en forcement of political solutions through support of a government’s statebuilding ambitions and its attempts to extend state authority in the midst of conflict and in enforcement of military victories through the offensive use of force. These developments further unsettle the basic principles of UN peacekeeping—consent, impartiality, and nonuse of force—resulting in a schism between the doctrine and practice. This contribution argues that such fundamental challenges, when not properly acknowledged, cre ate a wall between operational activities and strategic considerations. They preclude a proper debate on the problematic externalities, in partic ular on political processes and peacebuilding. KEYWORDS : peacekeeping, peacebuilding, peace enforcement, enforcement peacekeeping, United Nations, African Union, DRC, Mali, Somalia.

Social Structure and Moral Reform: A Study of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union

Abstract: Analysis of WCTU journals and reports and interviews with current leaders reveal a pattern at variance with theories of an adaptive process in social movements. In pre-Prohibition periods humanitarian reform was the central theme in WCTU doctrine. Temperance was viewed as the solution to problems of underprivileged groups. Since Repeal, the WCTU has ceased to represent dominant social classes, and its doctrine has become the expression of moral indignation toward upper-middle-class life. Analysis of local leadership from 1885 to 1950 indicates a shift toward lower areas of the socioeconomic scale.

The ‘War’ in Russia’s ‘Hybrid Warfare

Abstract: The war in Ukraine has refocused Western attention on Russia and its ability to project power, particularly in terms of "hybrid warfare" through the so-called Gerasimov Doctrine. At the same time, Russian military thinking--and actions--are rapidly evolving. This article reflects on the increasingly prominent role of conventional force, including the use of high intensity firepower, in Russian war fighting capabilities, and advocates the need for a shift in our conceptualization of Russian actions from hybrid warfare to state mobilization. Since Russia's annexation of Crimea in February and March 2014, there has been much discussion of Russian aggression in its neighborhood, Russian rearmament--even militarization--and a newly robust and competitive foreign and security policy that threatens both the international order and even the West itself. Much of this debate has had the feel of a response to an unwelcome surprise: few had paid attention to the Russian military since the end of the Cold War (with the partial exception of its successful, but rather moderate performance in the Russo-Georgia war in 2008), and few had predicted the intervention of competent, disciplined and well-equipped Russian special forces in Crimea in 2014. In their haste to come to grips with what was going on in rather fast moving circumstances, observers traced their way back through recent history using the distorting light shed by hindsight. Some oft-cited older speeches by Vladimir Putin were rediscovered and embellished with other much less widely-known sources to suggest not only that the Russian operation was long pre-planned, but that Moscow had developed a new way of achieving its goals while avoiding direct armed confrontation with the militarily superior West. One of these less well-known sources was an article published under the name of Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov in the Russian newspaper Voenno-Promyshlenni Kurier 'm early 2013. Relying heavily on this source, which some considered "prophetic" given the events in February 2014, many Western commentators suggested the Russian operation in Crimea (and subsequently in Eastern Ukraine) heralded the emergence of a new Russian form of "hybrid warfare," reflected in what has become known as the "Gerasimov doctrine," the contours of which had been set out in that article. (1) This supposedly new form of war conferred numerous advantages on Moscow, observers argued, since it heightened the sense of ambiguity in Russian actions, and provided Russian leadership with an asymmetric tool to undercut Western advantages: since Moscow would be unable to win a conventional war with the West, it seeks to challenge it in other ways. Furthermore, it fits readily into Western debates about the increasing roles of special forces and strategic communications in conflict. Even as the situation in Ukraine evolved and Russia intervened in the war in Syria, this discussion of "hybrid warfare" became the bedrock of the wider public policy and media debate about Russian actions, particularly about potential further "hybrid" threats to NATO member states, and about how NATO and the EU might respond to and deter them. The terms remain a central aspect of the media and public policy debate in NATO and its member states as they explore and try to grasp Russian "ambiguous warfare." At the same time, while the term hybrid war offers some assistance to understanding specific elements of Russian activity, it underplays important aspects discussed by Gerasimov, and offers only a partial view of evolving Russian activity, capabilities, and intentions. One result is thinking about Russia has become increasingly abstract, not to say artificial, as Western observers and officials have created an image of Russian warfare that the Russians themselves do not recognize. Another result is too many have overlooked the increasingly obvious role of conventional force in Russian military thinking. …

Transnational constitutionalism and a limited doctrine of unconstitutional constitutional amendment

Abstract: A deep tension exists in many parts of the world between commitments to democracy and procedures for constitutional amendment. Amendments are frequently passed that follow formal democratic procedures but are aimed at achieving anti-democratic or “abusive” constitutional aims—i.e., to help powerful presidents extend their term in office, to remove parliamentary or federalism-based checks on executive power, and to narrow or suspend basic human rights protections. Limiting a power of constitutional amendment, therefore, can have clear democratic benefits. One way to do this is via a judicially enforceable doctrine of “unconstitutional constitutional amendment.” While such a doctrine may not be a complete solution to anti-democratic uses of constitutional amendment powers, it can create an additional hurdle to change. But such a doctrine should be approached with caution from a democratic perspective, because it can also create a significant road-block to the legitimate use of amendment procedures as a means of overriding courts decisions deemed unreasonable or unacceptable by a majority of citizens. In order to promote democracy rather than undermine it, any doctrine of unconstitutional constitutional amendment must be limited in scope. This article argues that because threats to a democratic order are so varied, and can be altered or staged by would-be authoritarian actors, limiting the doctrine to a narrow set of institutional provisions or principles defined ex ante is unlikely to be a stable solution. Instead, courts must rely on a broader doctrine that is nonetheless limited to constitutional amendments that clearly pose a substantial threat to core democratic values. This article also argues that an effective way to limit the use of such a doctrine is by tying its use to transnational constitutional norms. Engagement with transnational constitutional law will help to limit both the kinds of principles courts define as fundamental and the sorts of institutional changes that are alleged to pose a substantial threat to those principles. The article shows how engagement with transnational materials can serve as a workable check on a doctrine of unconstitutional constitutional amendment, helping to separate cases where the doctrine must be deployed to defend democracy from cases where its use is unnecessary.

Market Failures and Public Policy

Abstract: Industrial organization studies the exercise and control of market power. To this purpose, it builds models that capture the essence of the situation. The predictions of the model can then be tested econometrically and possibly in the lab or the field. In the end, the reasonableness of, and robustness to modeling assumptions and the quality of empirical fit determine how confident economists are in making recommendations to public decision-makers for intervention, and to companies for the design of their business model. Industrial organization has a long tradition: first theoretical, with the work of French “engineer-economists” Antoine Augustin Cournot (1838) and Jules Dupuit (1844); then policy-oriented with the enactment of the Sherman Act (1890) and subsequent legislation; then descriptive with the studies of the Harvard school (“Structure-Conduct-Performance”) comforting and refining the antitrust drive; and finally skeptical with the Chicago school. The Chicago school correctly pointed out the lack of underlying theoretical doctrine and went on to cast doubt on the whole edifice. It however did not develop an alternative antitrust doctrine, perhaps because

Japan’s Foreign and Security Policy Under the ‘Abe Doctrine’: New Dynamism or New Dead End?

Abstract: 1. Introduction: From 'Yoshida Doctrine' To 'Abe Doctrine'? 2. The Origins And Ideological Drivers Of The 'Abe Doctrine' Ending The 'Post-War Regime', Restoring Great Power Status Constitutional Revision Historical Revisionism, Challenging The K?no Statement, Patriotic Education Yasukuni Shrine And Challenging The Tokyo Tribunals 3. Japan's National Security Under Abe National Security Strategy, National Defence Programme Guidelines, State Secrecy Law Breaching The Arms Export Ban, Militarisation Of ODA Collective Self-Defence Made Reality Radical New Security Precedents 4. The 'Abe Doctrine' And US-Japan Relations Revising The US-Japan Defence Guidelines, Futenma Relocation, TPP Negotiations Fears Of Abandonment, Resistance In Okinawa, Trade Blockages Distrust Over Revisionism And Yasukuni Who Is Entrapping Whom? 5. Japan's Relations Under Abe With China, The Korean Peninsula, And ASEAN Encircling China More Progress With North Korea Than South Korea? Abe Isolates Japan, China Encircles Japan? Sino-Japanese Stalemate? 6. Conclusion: 'Abe Doctrine' As Revolution Or Contradictory Failure? Three Great Contradictions Resentful Realism Redux

Seeing Two Worlds: The Eschatological Anthropology of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

Abstract: SEEING TWO WORLDS: THE ESCHATOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE JOINT DECLARATION ON THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION Jakob Karl Rinderknecht, B.A., M.A. Marquette University, 2015 The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, signed in 1999 by the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church, represents the high-water mark of the twentieth-century ecumenical movement. It declared that the sixteenthcentury condemnations related to the central question of the Reformation do not apply to the theology of the partner church today. This declaration rests on a differentiated consensus on justification that emerged over forty years of bilateral dialogue. Within this consensus, Lutheran and Roman Catholic theologies of justification, while different and possibly even incompatible, need not be understood as contradictory. This claim has proven to be controversial regarding both the particular consensus on justification and the logical possibility of such a differentiated consensus. Members of both churches have insisted that the division cannot be overcome unless the questions of the sixteenth century are answered in their favor, making use of their cherished theological terminology. This dissertation reapproaches the question of differentiated consensus using the tools of contemporary cognitive linguistics. It investigates the embodied character of human knowing to demonstrate that conversation between communities of understanding requires attention to their particular structures of language and knowledge. In particular, attention to the “metaphoric blends” that structure meaning can reveal underlying agreement within seeming contradiction. The anthropological claims of the Joint Declaration, namely the Tridentine insistence that concupiscence in the baptized is not sin properly-speaking, and the Lutheran dictum simul iustus et peccator, meaning that the Christian is at the same time justified and a sinner, serve as test cases for the thesis. These seemingly contradictory assertions each seek to describe a double-vision of the Christian as already saved by God’s action, but not-yet fully remade. The Roman Catholic claim is shown to depend on the cognitive blend SIN IS JUST CAUSE FOR DISINHERITANCE, interpreted within the cognitive frame provided by THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. The Lutheran position is a development of Luther’s contrasting blend SIN IS ANYTHING THAT IS NOT IN ACCORD WITH GOD’S LAW, understood within the framing provided by the distinctively Lutheran space THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.

On the affective salience of doctrines

Abstract: This article builds on the work of George Lindbeck to examine the role of doctrines in the shaping of religious experience and emotion. Using a series of historical examples, it argues for the value of identifying a mode of theological argument that supports claims through attending to perceived affective effects of particular doctrines. It then applies this approach to Philipp Melanchthon’s classic articulation of the forensic model of the doctrine justification by faith in light of contemporary critiques of the doctrine as a ‘legal fiction’ to show how such critiques fail when examined from the perspective of affective salience, and draws on recent work in cognitive science to demonstrate the psychological plausibility of Melanchthon’s description of the affective consequences of justification.

Performance Management in Local Government: Is Practice Influenced by Doctrine?

Abstract: Successful performance management is presumed to be dependent on several practices and organizational conditions prescribed in performance management doctrine, including the presence of sound performance measures, a clear sense of goals and objectives, devolved decision authority, engaged executives, and incentives and sanctions tied to performance. Their presence, according to doctrine, is necessary for performance management to function properly. The authors of this study examine the presence of these prescribed practices and conditions in 66 U.S. cities and counties that have been recognized for their performance management efforts, and in a subset of these governments perceived by the authors as more fully engaged in performance management than others in the set. They find considerable evidence of doctrine’s influence on the adoption of some practices, but much less on others. Variation in reported benefits among the performance management reputational leaders provides evidence in support of t...

Against ‘permanent sovereignty’ over natural resources:

Abstract: The doctrine of permanent sovereignty over natural resources is a hugely consequential one in the contemporary world, appearing to grant nation-states both jurisdiction-type rights and rights of ownership over the resources to be found in their territories. But the normative justification for that doctrine is far from clear. This article elucidates the best arguments that might be made for permanent sovereignty, including claims from national improvement of or attachment to resources, as well as functionalist claims linking resource rights to key state functions. But it also shows that these defences are insufficient to justify permanent sovereignty and that in many cases they actually count against it as a practice. They turn out to be compatible, furthermore, with the dispersal of resource rights away from the nation-state which global justice appears to demand.

The Second Formation of Islamic Law: The Hanafi School in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire

Abstract: The Second Formation of Islamic Law is the first book to deal with the rise of an official school of law in the post-Mongol period. The author explores how the Ottoman dynasty shaped the structure and doctrine of a particular branch within the Hanafi school of law. In addition, the book examines the opposition of various jurists, mostly from the empire's Arab provinces, to this development. By looking at the emergence of the concept of an official school of law, the book seeks to call into question the grand narratives of Islamic legal history that tend to see the nineteenth century as the major rupture. Instead, an argument is formed that some of the supposedly nineteenth-century developments, such as the codification of Islamic law, are rooted in much earlier centuries. In so doing, the book offers a new periodization of Islamic legal history in the eastern Islamic lands.

Is a ‘Modi doctrine’ emerging in Indian foreign policy?

Abstract: Narendra Modi's election as India's prime minister in May 2014 has generated speculation that a new ‘Modi doctrine’ is emerging in Indian foreign policy. This article assesses the evidence for that claim. It argues that a ‘doctrine’ should embody a set of clearly stated principles for foreign policy making. It analyses the main achievements of Modi's policy in the months after his election. It finds that while Modi has brought new energy to the conduct of foreign policy, his approach is essentially pragmatic, and his objectives are similar to those pursued by his two immediate predecessors—Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

Learning to fail: resilience and the empty promise of financial literacy education

Abstract: The requirement to build economic resilience in people has become a concern for the UK Government, regulators, and the financial services industry. Transposed to the realm of financial literacy education (FLE), the resilience doctrine performs particular effects in relation to the naturalisation and individualisation of financial market relations. At the same time, it tends to speak of the inevitability of market failures and crashes. I argue that based on these features, the effect of the resilience doctrine is to mask the “empty promise” of FLE programmes: the irreconcilable gap between the empowerment discourse surrounding what such agendas are meant to achieve for ordinary people and the latter's actual success in securing their security and well-being through financial markets. The paradoxical element of resilience talk is that it at once serves to further legitimise financial education attempts, while providing an opportune reason for failures judged even on its own terms.

Influencing highly religious undergraduate perceptions of evolution: Mormons as a case study

Abstract: Students frequently hold an incorrect view of evolution. There are several potential barriers that prevent religious students, specifically, from engaging evolutionary theory in the classroom. This study focuses on two hypothesized barriers on learning evolutionary theory in a highly religious model population, specifically members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon): (1) religious views stemming from incorrect or inadequate understanding of the Mormon church’s neutral stance on evolution and (2) misunderstanding of the theory of evolution. The LDS population at Brigham Young University provides the ideal setting for studying evolution education among religious individuals in a controlled environment. To ascertain the prevalence and effect of these barriers, we measured the relationship between acceptance of evolution and knowledge of evolution, religiosity, and understanding of religious doctrine on evolution in introductory non-majors biology courses. Additionally, we measured the effect of including a discussion on religious doctrine in the classroom. Students in all sections, except for one control section, were taught a unit on evolution that included a discussion on the neutral LDS doctrine on evolution. Data was gathered pre, post, and longitudinally. Our data demonstrate a positive relationship between knowledge and acceptance of evolution, a positive relationship between understanding of religious doctrine and acceptance of evolution, and a negative relationship between religiosity and acceptance of evolution. Additionally, when an in-class discussion was held addressing the LDS doctrine on evolution students became more accepting of the principles of evolution. These data provide compelling evidence that an accurate understanding of their religious doctrines and knowledge of evolution can lead to greater acceptance of the basic concepts of evolution among highly religious students.

The Doctrine of "Direct effect": an infant disease of Community Law

Abstract: This is no doubt a topic of great importance for both legal practice and legal theory. But I am wondering whether those who chose to invite me have not been mistaken because I must confess, though it is not the best taste to quote oneself, that I have written recently that the discussion on direct effect has been a sort of "infant disease" of Community law. This should not scare anyone. Infant diseases are happily in most of the cases mild diseases and they have one advantage: once one has gone through them they leave immunity for a lifetime.

The Ghost of Hybrid War

Abstract: That Russia is no longer the basket case it once was does not mean that Moscow has a hybrid-war doctrine that could be effectively deployed against NATO.

Can the UN Stabilize Mali? Towards a UN Stabilization Doctrine?

Abstract: Almost two years after the deployment of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in July 2013, the increasing number of asymmetric terrorist attacks targeting UN peacekeepers – in the context of a drawn-out peace process – has raised a number of questions in Mali, the sub-region, and in New York, over the relevance and adequacies of MINUSMA’s mandate and capabilities. It also raises a broader issue, of whether the consent-based UN peacekeeping tool is appropriate and can be effective in carrying out stabilization mandates in such a context and what doctrine such operations should be based on. The UN is indeed under increasing pressure from host countries and some African troop-contributing countries to go on the offensive. Member States have also increasingly recognized terrorism and organized crime as a strategic threat, and while opposed to the UN directly engaging in counterterrorism (CT) operations, some may wish to see the UN playing a greater stabilization role following the January 2013 French military intervention in Mali. However, little guidance and means have been given so far to UN missions for dealing with such threats and implementing effective stabilization mandates. The High-Level Panel on Peace Operations, which recently released its report, noted that the usage of the term “stabilization” by the UN requires clarification. This article analyses the complex and evolving nature of threats in northern Mali and implications for MINUSMA and describes the military and political tools – including mediation – so far available within and outside the UN. The article concludes that the UN is bound to move towards stabilization when and if deployed in contexts such as Mali’s if it wants to remain relevant. However, such a move should be based on an overarching UN stabilization doctrine and context-specific UN-wide stabilization strategies which are first and foremost political, and should not be confused with the reestablishment of state authority. Such a move should also be accompanied by reforms in the design of ‘lighter’ but more capable UN operations, and partnership with non-UN parallel fighting forces with shared stabilization objectives, but with a clear division of labor

War by non-military means: understanding Russian information warfare

Abstract: "This report is first and foremost a review of Russian official documents and Russian literature on military theory with regard to information warfare. It also offers a few case studies, to shed light on how the theory is applied in practice. One conclusion is that information warfare is not considered to be just a matter for the Armed Forces, but rather a strategic matter that requires the coordination of many government agencies. Another conclusion is that information warfare, according to doctrine and theory, is conducted continuously in peacetime and wartime alike. Information warfare is also highly politicized, and the Russian intellectuals taking part in the military theory debate now embrace a view of information warfare where regime security is paramount. Among the driving forces for this is a view of the world as a zero-sum game, where globalization is reducing Russian security, and where Russia lags behind Western countries in terms of technology."

Money as a “weapons system” and the entrepreneurial way of war

Abstract: In US counterinsurgency doctrine, money has been characterized as “ammunition” and as a “weapons system”. Money is being wielded to win over the “hearts and minds” of the population, and to protect the lives of the occupying forces. Soldiers are taking on greater responsibility for spending money on reconstruction and development projects on the battlefield. Billions of dollars have been spent by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan on a wide range of projects including building schools, developing infrastructure, and providing agricultural assistance as well as microfinance. But military doctrine now extends to helping implement free-market economies, supporting business creation, setting up banking facilities, and promoting entrepreneurialism. In fact, economic development has been recast as a constitutive form of combat, not simply as a supplement to conventional warfare, or as part of post-conflict reconstruction. The use of money as a “weapons system” speaks to both a different kind of military and a...

The Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra and the emergence of Tathāgatagarbha doctrine

Abstract: ion, as criterion for dating of texts, 36, 91, 92, 93-95 Acchariya-abbhūta-sutta, 119, 136 adamant, adamantine, 21, 44, 47, 109, 126, 127, 130, 131, 139, 156, 168; see also vajra, vajrakāya Advaita Vedānta, 144 Abhidharmakośabhāṣya 阿毘達磨俱舍論 T1558, 112, 163; cf. Jushe lun ji Ajātaśatrukaukṛtyavinodana 放鉢經 T629, 152 *Akṣayabodhi-mahāsūtra, 41-42, 43, 49 Akṣayamati-nirdeśa (AkṣM), 41; cf. *Akṣayabodhi-mahāsūtra Akṣobhyatathāgatasyavyūha 不動如來會 T310(6), 123 ālayavijñāna, 102, 103, 170

The Question of Intervention: John Stuart Mill and the Responsibility to Protect

Abstract: The question of when or if a nation should intervene in another country's affairs is one of the most important concerns in today's volatile world. Taking John Stuart Mill's famous 1859 essay "A Few Words on Non-Intervention" as his starting point, international relations scholar Michael W. Doyle addresses the thorny issue of when a state's sovereignty should be respected and when it should be overridden or disregarded by other states in the name of humanitarian protection, national self-determination, or national security. In this time of complex social and political interplay and increasingly sophisticated and deadly weaponry, Doyle reinvigorates Mill's principles for a new era while assessing the new United Nations doctrine of responsibility to protect. In the twenty-first century, intervention can take many forms: military and economic, unilateral and multilateral. Doyle's thought-provoking argument examines essential moral and legal questions underlying significant American foreign policy dilemmas of recent years, including Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

A cultural shock doctrine? Austerity, the neoliberal state and the creative industries discourse

Abstract: A number of writers have made the argument that the development creative industries policy discourse in the United Kingdom and elsewhere represents the articulation of a politics that is neoliberal...

Companies' directors in Iraqi law and their divided loyalty : lessons drawn from English law

Abstract: The focus of this thesis is on the problematic aspects of directors’ loyalty to their companies under Iraqi law. This issue belongs to one of the most complex areas of company law, because it relates to the fallibility of human nature and a director’s temptation to put his personal interests ahead of the company's interests. A comparison with English law is undertaken, with an emphasis on recent developments, particularly the English Companies Act of 2006. This comparison is aimed at identifying defects in Iraqi law and providing solutions to problems arising from the incoherence of Iraqi legislation and its lack of a fiduciary doctrine. In order to achieve this goal, this thesis focuses on certain managerial duties: the duty to act in the company’s interests; the duty to avoid conflicts of interest; and the director’s duty to declare his interest in transactions, as well as the enforcement of these duties. The author of this thesis argues that in Iraqi law there are several legislative loopholes and contradictions with regard to addressing the problems of a director’s divided loyalty. The main shortcoming is ascribed to the absence of a unifying conceptual underpinning of managerial duty within Iraqi legislation. This contrasts with the situation in English law, in which the fiduciary doctrine underpinning managerial duty operates to protect the company (as a vulnerable person) from certain aspects of a director’s self-interest and dishonesty by imposing strict duties relating to any eventuality in which the director might be swayed by personal interests rather than his duty. The plurality of legislation dealing with managerial duties is a further challenge facing Iraqi law, and such a situation often leads to a conflict between the rules governing this area. The above shortcomings in Iraqi law inevitably affect its unity and its coherence, and limit its capability to address certain fundamental aspects of director’s misbehaviour. This thesis demonstrates that addressing the problems of the divided loyalties of directors under Iraqi law should take the form of a comprehensive systematic overhaul of Iraqi Company Law. This reform should take into account the necessity of transplanting certain aspects of U.K. fiduciary duties into Iraqi law, particularly the concept of fiduciary duty, in order to provide a clear guide, not only to the courts when they apply and interpret the law, but also to the director himself and other practitioners.

Early Modern Purgatory: Reformation Debates and Post-TridentineChange

Abstract: With early modern discussions on purgatory, the doctrine gained a new dimension. The content and structure of these debates, however, changed in the course of the sixteenth century. As the sixteenth century was dominated by a confessionalized, polemical approach, in which there was no place for any details about purgatory itself, later debates became more elaborated, as a consequence of the transformation of Catholic discourse in the sense of a concretisation of the description of the places in the next world and a differentiation of sources used to prove the existence of purgatory. The topic of purgatory was gradually included in Catholic meditative literature and in the moral education tradition of ars moriendi prints, and simultaneously enriched with elements of the (Ignatian) imagination, with an emphasis on the experience of emotions and contemplation of sin and the pains associated with it. This shift was caused by the attempt to popularise the doctrine and also to reflect it more consistently in religious practice. In the study I also try to point out the specific contexts of this change in the Catholic lands in the seventeenth century: the question of charity and salvation, the reform of atonement and a more consistent typology of sins, an involvement of the lay brotherhoods in introducing post-Tridentine principles into religious practice and the fundamental role of the themes of the Eucharist and Christ's Passion.