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Twilight of the oligarchs
No full textThe hyper-wealthy are increasingly, blatantly influencing politics both at home and abroad. Despite multiple paths to plutocrat-status, and perpetual infighting within the very top of the economic hierarchy, political economy scholarship largely treats plutocrats as possessing the same sources of power and facing similar threats to their wealth. Drawing on comparative political economy and international relations theory, this Commentary develops a typology of billionaires based on their sources of income and their relationship to state power. The value of the typology is to help us understand a new phase of international politics that is likely to be marked by the decline of autonomous plutocratic power and the rise of state-dominated kleptocracy. As U.S. hegemony recedes and the liberal economic order weakens, states are set to reassert control over capital, mirroring trends long observed in authoritarian regimes. This transition reshapes global governance: legal institutions once designed to protect capital mobility are set to become sites of contestation between states and the super-rich. Coercion and legal warfare against plutocrats are set to replace markets and the instrumental power of business as key mechanisms underpinning the international economic order
Peering through the Glassdoor: using employee voice to inform organisational learning in the National Health Service (NHS)
No full textHigh-reliability organisations such as hospitals and other healthcare organisations operate under a paradox of learning: there persists a culture of organisational silence that discourages staff from speaking up about potential threats to (patient) safety, but staff feedback has long been identified as a valuable source of information for organisational learning and harm prevention. How do we overcome this irony and help the organisation learn? The purpose of this paper is to leverage a source of data where employees voice complaints about their organisation without the threat of exposure: the employee review website Glassdoor. In this chapter, we analyse reviews from 531 employees of the National Health Service (NHS) in the period from June 2008 to May 2017. From these reviews, we identify 1743 issues that employees voiced about. We thematically analysed these issues using an abductive analytic framework and found that employees voiced largely about management problems, relationship problems, occupational well-being problems, and patient care problems. Using human factors theory, we theorise that staff complaints fill a blind spot that patient complaints do not, by virtue of being privy to “back-end” organisational structures and functions. From a sociological standpoint, we also theorise that challenges arise in healthcare due to a clash between strategic action and communicative action and consider how better dialogical communication can bridge the two. We conclude by discussing the implications of using non-reactive data sources to aid in organisational learning and propose humanities-driven recommendations that can be adopted by healthcare organisations to improve staff and patient outcomes
Same orbits, different rocket dreams? China, India, and the case for global space security studies
No full textThis article puts forward the case for a global space security studies using China and India as an entry point. Recent trends, including the militarization and commercialization of outer space, growing concerns over orbital debris, and the expanding number of state and non-state actors engaged in space activities, have renewed scholarly and policy debates over the nature and scope of contemporary space security. However, although the participation of new actors, particularly from the Global South, has introduced greater diversity and plurality in understandings of what constitutes space security, prevailing analyses remain largely couched in Eurocentrism. This results in reifying a universal understanding of space security rooted in Western strategic cultures, experience, and production of knowledge, which often distorts or obscures the different meanings, referent objects, and drivers of security policy in non-Western contexts. Using the cases of China and India, this article shows the ways in which their understandings and practices of space security are hybrid, influenced by an amalgam of domestic and international factors. This requires going beyond looking at how China and India’s approaches to space security resemble the Eurocentric concept of space security, which offers an incomplete and distorting view. It also entails considering how their concept of space security is defined by differences that are glossed over by Eurocentric assumptions. In so doing, this article illustrates the need for a global space security studies: a potential research agenda that takes seriously the limitations of universal conceptions of space security, while recognizing the distinct logics through which space security is constructed and practiced in different parts of the world
Historical social tables: advantages, methodology, and problems
No full textThis paper provides a methodological contribution to the study of historical income inequality by examining the construction and use of social tables for the nineteenth century. In a period when modern household surveys were absent, social tables represent one of the only feasible approaches for providing distributional evidence for the entire population. At the same time, existing studies rely on a wide range of assumptions, classifications, and data treatments, which makes comparisons across countries and over time difficult. The paper reviews the main methodological challenges involved in constructing social tables, including class definitions, within group inequality, units of analysis, and the external validation of income levels and subsistence benchmarks. Using simulations and historical examples, it shows how alternative methodological choices can generate substantial differences in inequality estimates. It finally proposes a set of guiding principles and template structures aimed at improving comparability, while still preserving the country-specific nature of historical evidence
Proactive local government: how London borough councils build capacity to respond to asylum
No full textLondon’s borough councils are adapting to the increase in asylum-seekers since 2020. I explore their shift from reactive to more strategic and proactive responses, observed during a series of ‘design lab’ workshops between January and June 2023 in the Greater London Authority’s Asylum Welcome programme. Driven by a need to be better prepared to support people seeking asylum, I examine how councils built capacity despite limited funding and no clear role within asylum policy. I find that capacity-building is a multi-stage process that extends beyond new skills and resources. It requires resolving dilemmas to clarify roles and goals, and building confidence through knowledge and partnerships, before developing skills for implementation. Ultimately, I show that such capacity-building processes reveal how local government does political work through its practice: they affirm the local state’s duty of care to people seeking asylum. Though they struggle to change asylum policy without central government reforms, this research nonetheless recasts local governments as well-equipped to adapt to new and uncertain challenges
A theory of corporate crime
No full textHow should criminal law be used to address corporate misconduct effectively? Through a doctrinal and theoretical analysis, A Theory of Corporate Crime puts forward a defence of the 'failure to prevent' model of corporate liability and its liberal-welfarist framework, as a key part of the answer to that question. Delving into its conceptual and moral foundations, this book contrasts the failure-to-prevent model with the traditional identification doctrine and other rival theories, revealing its relative advantages for addressing wrongdoing associated with medium and large-sized companies. It critically evaluates recent legislative developments, including the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, and traces the shift in emphasis from classical liberal principles towards a liberal-welfarist framework. Subsequent chapters analyze key defenses to corporate crime and the attribution of wrongdoing to corporate entities. A Theory of Corporate Crime argues that addressing serious corporate wrongdoing requires more than punitive sanctions. Instead of relying solely on punishment, legal systems should prioritize rehabilitating the corporation and promoting its reintegration as a socially responsible corporate citizen
Authoritarianism and educational system reforms by the World Bank in LMICs
No full textPurpose: This study investigates the relationship between the degree of authoritarianism and the World Bank’s (WB) promotion of decentralization reforms in educational systems across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where rigidly centralized institutions are often seen as barriers to improved educational outcomes. Research Methods: Drawing on original country-level panel data from 1965 to 2019 covering 99 LMICs, the analysis employs fixed-effects models with additional robustness checks to examine how regime type influences the WB’s decentralization agenda. Findings: The analysis shows a significant association between higher levels of authoritarianism and the WB’s promotion of decentralization reforms, which suggests that authoritarian regimes, characterized by highly centralized education systems, are more likely to be targeted by such reforms. Implications: These findings highlight that in authoritarian settings, decentralization may function not only as a governance reform but also as a political signal that allows regimes to align with international expectations, secure funding, or enhance legitimacy. More broadly, they show that the diffusion of reforms by international organizations depends not only on global agendas but also on the political structures of recipient countries
Zero-sum thinking and the roots of US political differences
No full textWe investigate the origins and implications of zero-sum thinking: the belief that gains for one individual or group tend to come at the cost of others. Using a new survey of 20,400 US residents, we measure zero-sum thinking, political preferences, policy views, and a rich array of ancestral information spanning four generations. We find that a more zero-sum mindset is strongly associated with more support for government redistribution, race- and gender-based affirmative action, and more restrictive immigration policies. Zero-sum thinking can be traced back to the experiences of both the individual and their ancestors, encompassing factors such as the degree of intergenerational upward mobility they experienced, whether they immigrated to the United States or lived in a location with more immigrants, and whether they were enslaved or lived in a location with more enslavement
Predicting healthcare utilisation outcomes with artificial intelligence: a large scoping review
No full textObjectives: To broadly map the research landscape to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities in data sets, methodologies, outcomes, and reporting standards for artificial intelligence (AI)-based healthcare utilization prediction. Methods: We conducted a scoping review following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology. We searched 3 major international databases (from inception to January 2025) for studies applying AI in predictive healthcare utilization. Extracted data were categorized into data sets characteristics, AI methods and performance metrics, predicted outcomes, and adherence to the Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis Or Diagnosis (TRIPOD) + AI reporting guidelines. Results: Among 1116 records, 121 met inclusion criteria. Most were conducted in the United States (62%). No study incorporated all 6 relevant variable groups: demographic, socioeconomic, health status, perceived need, provider characteristics, and prior utilization. Only 7 studies included 5 of these groups. The main data sources were electronic health records (60%) and claims (28%). Ensemble models were the most frequently used (66.9%), whereas deep learning models were less common (16.5%). AI methods were primarily used to predict future events (90.1%), with hospitalizations (57.9%) and visits (33.1%) being the most predicted outcomes. Adherence to general reporting standards was moderate; however, compliance with AI-specific TRIPOD + AI items was limited. Conclusions: Future research should broaden predicted outcomes to include process- and logistics-oriented events, extend applications beyond prediction—such as cohort selection and matching—and explore underused AI methods, including distance-based algorithms and deep neural networks. Strengthening adherence to TRIPOD-AI reporting guidelines is also essential to enhance the reliability and impact of AI in healthcare planning and economic evaluation
Disruptive but costly: how upside-down logos backfire in consumer responses to brands
No full textMarketers are increasingly using unconventional design tactics to visually disrupt consumer expectations, like turning brand logos upside down. Across four experiments, this research examined how inverted logos influence consumer brand responses. In two binary choice tasks (Studies 1A and 1B), participants exhibited a lower preference for an inverted logo than a standard logo for branded products. Study 2 determined the psychological mechanism underlying this effect: inverted logos increase perceived unexpectedness, which increases perceptions of brand rebelliousness and, ultimately, reduces purchase intentions. Study 3 demonstrated that political ideology moderates this effect: more conservative, but not liberal, consumers respond negatively to inverted logos. Finally, we discussed the theoretical and practical implications for logo design and visual branding strategies