Suchergebnisse

A review essay on a book by Christopher Layne, The Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present (Ithaca & London: Cornell U Press, 2006). Adapted from the source document.

Realist evaluation is an established approach in evaluation. The main question driving realist evaluation is to uncover how, for whom, and under what conditions an intervention works. This is accomplished by empirically examining the inner mechanisms by which an intervention generates outcomes within a particular context—explicating the underlying context–mechanism–outcome configurations. Despite the central role of context in realist evaluation, systematic knowledge about how context is conceptualized and applied in realist evaluation is limited. Informed by the findings of a comprehensive review, the aim of this article is to unpack how context is conceptualized in realist evaluations, the types of contextual factors examined as part of context–mechanism–outcome configurations, and the methodological challenges experienced by evaluators when examining these in realist evaluations. The article concludes with a discussion of conceptual and practical developments for future applications of realist evaluations.

Political realists reject the view that politics is applied morality. But they also usually claim that judgements about political legitimacy are normative. Where, then, does this normativity come from? So far, realists have given two answers: 'concessive realism', which identifies legitimacy as a norm internal to political practice while delegating to morality the task of explaining why this practice is valuable; and 'naturalist realism', which holds that alternatives to legitimate politics are not 'real options' for anyone. I argue that concessive realism should be rejected because it neglects the importance of the realist critique of morality. I also argue that naturalist realism should be rejected because alternatives to legitimate politics remain 'real options' for some people. I conclude with some thoughts on how a plausible account of the normative force of realist legitimacy should proceed.

A critical review of the book titled "Magical Realist Sociologies of Belonging and Becoming: The Explorer" and authored by Rodanthi Tzanelli. Based on this review, this book discuss in-depth a structural dualism that not only helps us to expand our understanding and dichotomies around the problem of ecology and climate change but gives a clear diagnosis on the Western magical imaginary in a digital and hyper-global world. At least for this review, Magical realist sociologies of belonging and becoming brings a clear and fresh position to the foreground, scrutinizing on the other side of imperialism as well as the impacts of digital technologies in the daily lifestyle. The darkness says much of the mainstream cultural values of society than we certainly imagine. For those readers concerned by politics and mobilities, this book offers a high-quality and elegantly-written text which articulates magisterially different academic position, viewpoints and theories into an all-encompassing diagnosis. ; SUBMITTED: JUL 2020, ACCEPTED: AUG 2020, PUBLISHED ONLINE: 30 OCT 2020