The capacity of professional medicine to resist change - and also concordance - is impressive, but perplexing. It is one of the issues I seek to address in this book. I suggest that a preoccupation with trying to change the relationship between the professional-patient dyad has deflected attention from the extent to which such relations are embedded in, and constrained by, wider administrative and organisational structures, especially as these relate to the operation of professional hierarchies and interprofessional deference and allegiances. Barriers to change also result from the inertia of a system which has evolved a highly stylised etiquette as an adaptive mechanism to contain the difficulties and tensions intrinsic to the medical consultation. Its therapeutic purpose and potential are often subordinate to the goal of achieving success as a social encounter. The principles of concordance are deeply challenging to traditional professional roles and status. However, medicine has always displayed an ability to block change through tactics of appropriation and incorporation. Professionals have often shown particular difficulty giving up their monopoly of 'expertise' and in acknowledging the legitimacy of the patient perspective. Although the term 'concordance' has become quite widely used, its meaning is usually subverted by its employment as a synonym for 'compliance', albeit 'informed' compliance. A slightly more sophisticated version values professional elicitation of the patient perspective in order to more accurately tailor information as a means of overcoming the unhelpful m/sconceptions that impede compliance. The original emphasis on the consultation as a negotiated exchange, in which the professional has something of value to learn from the patient, has largely been lost. The rhetoric of modernity and change provides an effective mask for inertia and conservatism. Preface.
The capacity of professional medicine to resist change - and also concordance - is impressive, but perplexing. It is one of the issues I seek to address in this book. I suggest that a preoccupation with trying to change the relationship between the professional-patient dyad has deflected attention from the extent to which such relations are embedded in, and constrained by, wider administrative and organisational structures, especially as these relate to the operation of professional hierarchies and interprofessional deference and allegiances. Barriers to change also result from the inertia of a system which has evolved a highly stylised etiquette as an adaptive mechanism to contain the difficulties and tensions intrinsic to the medical consultation. Its therapeutic purpose and potential are often subordinate to the goal of achieving success as a social encounter. The principles of concordance are deeply challenging to traditional professional roles and status. However, medicine has always displayed an ability to block change through tactics of appropriation and incorporation. Professionals have often shown particular difficulty giving up their monopoly of 'expertise' and in acknowledging the legitimacy of the patient perspective. Although the term 'concordance' has become quite widely used, its meaning is usually subverted by its employment as a synonym for 'compliance', albeit 'informed' compliance. A slightly more sophisticated version values professional elicitation of the patient perspective in order to more accurately tailor information as a means of overcoming the unhelpful m/sconceptions that impede compliance. The original emphasis on the consultation as a negotiated exchange, in which the professional has something of value to learn from the patient, has largely been lost. The rhetoric of modernity and change provides an effective mask for inertia and conservatism. Preface.
During the early modern period, Muslims in China began to embrace the Chinese characteristics of their heritage. Several scholar-teachers incorporated tenets from traditional Chinese education into their promotion of Islamic knowledge. As a result, some Sino-Muslims established an educational network which utilized an Islamic curriculum made up of Arabic, Persian, and Chinese works. The corpus of Chinese Islamic texts written in this system is collectively labeled the Han Kitab. Interpreting Islam in China explores the Sino-Islamic intellectual tradition through the works of some its brightest luminaries. Three prominent Sino-Muslim authors are used to illustrate transformations within this tradition, Wang Daiyu, Liu Zhi, and Ma Dexin. Kristian Petersen puts these scholars in dialogue and demonstrates the continuities and departures within this tradition. Through an analysis of their writings, he considers several questions: How malleable are religious categories and why are they variously interpreted across time? How do changing historical circumstances affect the interpretation of religious beliefs and practices? How do individuals navigate multiple sources of authority? How do practices inform belief? Overall, he shows that these authors presented an increasingly universalistic portrait of Islam through which Sino-Muslims were encouraged to participate within the global community of Muslims. The growing emphasis on performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, comprehensive knowledge of the Qur'an, and personal knowledge of Arabic stimulated communal engagement. Petersen demonstrates that the integration of Sino-Muslims within a growing global environment, where international travel and communication was increasingly possible, was accompanied by the rising self-awareness of a universally engaged Muslim community.
The issue of who has the power to declare war or authorise military action in a democracy has become a major legal and political issue, internationally, and is set to become even more pertinent in the immediate future, particularly in the wake of military action in Syria, ongoing wars in the Middle East, and tense discussions between the United States and its allies, and Russia and China. This book comparatively examines the executive and prerogative powers to declare war or launch military action, focusing primarily on the United States, Britain and Australia. It explores key legal and constitutional questions, including: who currently has the power/authority to declare war? who currently has the power to launch military action without formally declaring war? how, if at all, can those powers be controlled, legally or politically? what are the domestic legal consequences of going to war? In addition to probing the extensive domestic legal consequences of going to war, the book also reviews various proposals that have been advanced for interrogating the power to commence armed conflict, and explores the reasons why these propositions have failed to win support within the political establishment.
The National Health Service remains the sacred cow of British politics – any criticism is considered beyond the pale, guaranteed to trigger angry responses and accusations of bad faith. This book argues that the NHS should not be insulated from reasoned debate. In terms of health outcomes, it is one of the worst systems in the developed world, well behind those of other high-income countries. The NHS does achieve universal access to healthcare, but so do the health systems in every other developed country (with the exception of the US). Britain is far from being the only country where access to healthcare does not depend on an individual’s ability to pay. Author Kristian Niemietz draws on a wealth of international evidence to develop a vision for a universal healthcare system based on consumer sovereignty, freedom of choice, competition and pluralism. His roadmap for reform charts a path from the status quo to a more desirable and effective alternative.
Disasters and their management are today central to public and political agendas. Rather than being understood as exclusively acts of God and Nature, natural disasters are increasingly analysed as social vulnerability exposed by natural hazards. A disaster following an earthquake is no longer seen as caused exclusively by tremors, but by poor building standards, ineffective response systems, or miscommunications. This book argues that the shift in how a disaster is spoken of and managed affects fundamental notions of duty, responsibility and justice. The book considers the role of law in disasters and in particular the regulation of disaster response and the allocation of responsibility in the aftermath of disasters. It argues that traditionally law has approached emergencies, including natural disasters, from a dichotomy of normalcy and emergency. In the state of emergency, norms were replaced by exceptions; democracy by dictatorship; and rights by necessity. However, as the disaster becomes socialized the idea of a clear distinction between normalcy and emergency crumbles. Looking at international and domestic legislation from a range of jurisdictions the book shows how natural disasters are increasingly normalized and increasingly objects of legal regulation and interpretation. The book will be of great use and interest to scholars and researchers of legal theory, and natural hazards and disasters.
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen documents the startling rise of the Arab Gulf States as regional powers with international reach and provides a definitive account of how they have become embedded in the global system of power, politics, and policy-making.
This book introduces cutting-edge issues and thought-provoking concepts on innovation management. It illustrates how robotic developments allow new powerful support functionalities for harnessing workplace innovations and new types of work in enterprises. In particular, low status jobs—heavy, repetitive and dangerous jobs—are disappearing and increasingly replaced by creative and meaningful work. It situates the research within theoretical developments and academic literature in business and management studies on innovation networks and partnerships. The book then introduces the notion of "friction management," which invites us to re-examine creative tensions and explore how contradictions may spur or restrain change and innovation in this landscape. Innovation and change challenge established patterns, cultures, value systems, interests and network configurations—which creates a variety of frictions. Therefore, a theory of friction management is crucial, particularly in innovation-intensive industries, and can help professionals to understand change and the dynamics of innovation so that they can orchestrate events and learn to distinguish between the creative and negative frictions that can arise and that are important for change and the innovation process. Thus, the goal of friction management is to orchestrate, mobilize and (re)combine key organizational resources to strategically increase innovation capacity and promote dynamic renewal and creativity. It will be of interest to scholars and postgraduates in the areas of innovation management, sociology and business administration.
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