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This short note is inspired by Piero Ignazi’s article in this issue of QOE–IJES. The basic idea is that the legitimacy of political parties is the outcome of an ongoing, contingent, tension-laden and ambivalent process (legitimization). This ambivalence is not merely circumstantial but embedded in the very logic of partisan action. Which we can characterize as a set of conceptual oppositions between ideals and practices, normative expectations and organizational realities, what parties are and what they do. The article discusses four partisan ambivalences (or dichotomies): part vs. whole, conflict vs. integration, society vs. state, and representation vs. government.  In times of democratic regression these ambivalences become disruptive, undermining the credibility of parties as legitimate actors. The crisis of party legitimacy, then is a symptom of a broader transformation in the role of political parties in the 21st century. Transformations that redefine the very function and identity of political parties.

Stupidity is a greater evil than evil itself. This could be the synthesis of the theory put forward by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a Protestant pastor, theologian, counter-intelligence officer, and martyr, whose work decisively influenced the subsequent evolution of the relationship between society and theology. One of the most fascinating aspects of his thinking is represented by the theorization of stupidity, which appears in his meditation “After Ten Years,” where he outlines the disastrous consequences of human stupidity, as well as how stupidity – as a form of legitimizing evil – can be stopped. The greatest evil that society must confront is imbecility. But what is its connection to political (or radical) evil, and how can we stop its disastrous consequences?

Purpose: New Public Governance (NPG) has gained significant attention in the public management literature, yet its precise nature and legitimacy re­main unclear. This study assesses the status of NPG and examines whether its legitimacy as a concept, theory or paradigm has been established. Design/Methodology/Approach: A two-pronged methodological ap­proach is employed: the first prong comprises a thematic-realist review of legitimacy theory, situated in relation to the literature on NPG theo­ry legitimacy; the second entails a bibliometric analysis, conducted as a semi-systematic literature review, to trace its scientific impact. The study explores whether the term ‘NPG’ indicates potential for practical appli­cation, the direction of its development and its classification within the ‘concept–theory–paradigm’ framework. Findings: The research concludes that NPG is a distinct, contemporary strand with its own characteristics and potential for theoretical develop­ment. However, scientific clarity within the ‘concept-theory-paradigm’ triad has not yet been achieved, necessitating further research. Academic contribution to the field: This study fills a research gap by po­sitioning NPG within public management and assessing its potential for further substantive development. It contributes to discussions on the le­gitimacy and trajectory of NPG as an evolving framework. Originality/Significance/Value: This is the first study to comprehensively assess whether NPG can progress towards becoming a fully established theoretical framework in public management. The findings encourage further scholarly exploration and conceptual development in this field. Namen: Novo javno upravljanje (NJU) v literaturi o javnem menedžmentu uživa veliko pozor-nost, vendar sta njegova natančna narava in legitim­nost še vedno nejasni. Članek ocenjuje status NJU in preučuje, ali je nje­gova legitimnost kot koncept, teorija ali paradigma že vzpostavljena. Zasnova/metodologija/pristop: Uporabljena je dvotirna metodologi­ja: (1) tematsko-realistični pregled teorije legitimnosti, postavljen ob bok literaturi o legitimnosti teorije NJU; ter (2) bibliometrična analiza (polsistematični pregled literature), ki sledi znanstvenemu vplivu NJU. Članek raziskuje, ali izraz »NJU« nakazuje potencial za praktično uporabo, smer njegovega razvoja in njegovo umeščanje v okvir »koncept-teorija-paradigma«. Ugotovitve: Članek ugotavlja, da je NJU samostojna, sodobna usmeritev z lastnimi značilnostmi in potencialom za teoretični razvoj. Vendar znanst­vena jasnost znotraj triade »koncept-teorija-paradigma« še ni dosežena, zato je potrebno nadaljnje raziskovanje. Prispevek k stroki: Članek zapolnjuje vrzel v raziskavah, saj umešča NJU v javni menedžment in ocenjuje njegov potencial za nadaljnji vsebinski raz­voj. Prispeva k razpravam o legitimnosti in razvoju NJU kot razvijajočega se okvira. Izvirnost/pomen/vrednost: To je prva študija, ki celovito ocenjuje, ali lahko NJU napreduje do popolnoma uveljavljenega teoretičnega okvira v javnem menedžmentu. Ugotovitve spodbujajo nadaljnje akademsko raziskovanje in konceptualni razvoj na tem področju.

Objectives How do providers of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions propose and legitimize the values of their solutions for supporting diagnostic radiology workflow? Methods We systematically analyze 393 AI applications developed for supporting diagnostic radiology workflow. We collected qualitative and quantitative data by analyzing around 1250 pages of documents retrieved from companies’ websites and legal documents. Five investigators read and interpreted collected data, extracted the features and functionalities of the AI applications, and finally entered them into an excel file for identifying the patterns. Results Over the last 2 years, we see an increase in the number of AI applications (43%) and number of companies offering them (34%), as well as their average age (45%). Companies claim various value propositions related to increasing the “efficiency” of radiology work (18%)—e.g., via reducing the time and cost of performing tasks and reducing the work pressure—and “quality” of offering medical services (31%)—e.g., via enhancing the quality of clinical decisions and enhancing the quality of patient care, or both of them (28%). To legitimize and support their value propositions, the companies use multiple strategies simultaneously, particularly by seeking legal approvals (72%), promoting their partnership with medical and academic institutions (75%), highlighting the expertise of their teams (56%), and showcasing examples of implementing their solutions in practice (53%). Conclusions Although providers of AI applications claim a wide range of value propositions, they often provide limited evidence to show how their solutions deliver such systematic values in clinical practice. Key Points • AI applications in radiology continue to grow in number and diversity. • Companies offering AI applications claim various value propositions and use multiple ways to legitimize these propositions. • Systematic scientific evidence showing the actual effectiveness of AI applications in clinical context is limited.

In view of the increased demand for non-financial reporting after the financial crisis of 2008/2009, integrated reporting (IR) plays a key role in management control and stakeholder relations management. As a consequence of “integrated thinking” IR combines traditional financial accounting with sustainability and corporate governance related issues to enhance the decision usefulness of modern business reporting. Although there has been steady growth in the awareness of IR research (Eccles et al. J Appl Corp Finance 27:8–17, 2015 ), the current state of empirical IR research activities is not well described so far. This literature review evaluates 44 empirical studies on IR which were published especially after the adoption of the IR framework by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) in December 2013. We will briefly introduce the IR research agenda, which provides a clear structure for the analysis of current empirical research activities in this field. For the market, organization and individual/group decision level, we show which factors contribute to IR implementation and IR quality. Furthermore, empirical research focuses on market reactions to IR. We also stress the limitations of the studies and provide useful recommendation for future IR research activities for each level of analysis.

This article provides an analysis of “tech-on-climate discourse,” understood as all textual and visual materials through which major North American tech companies position themselves in relation to the climate crisis, published between 2019 and 2024. This public-facing tech-on-climate discourse includes sustainability reports, web pages, advertising, and online tools and projects. The article examines this discourse by focusing on three case studies: Amazon's Climate Pledge , Apple's Carbon Neutral campaign, and Microsoft's AI for Good and Planetary Computer programs. The cases are all designed in relation to the companies’ mission to become “carbon neutral,” each taking a different approach. Through a close analysis of these campaigns, I discuss four legitimization strategies that allow for the justification of what I call “green platform capitalism.” These strategies are expressions of an ecomodernist worldview in which economic growth is decoupled from ecological well-being and in which innovative techno-fixes make Silicon Valley a central environmental agent. This worldview (1) frames Earth as a datafied planet, (2) naturalizes digital technologies, and (3) imagines a singular “humanity” modelled after the white, male entrepreneur. In sum, tech-on-climate discourse forwards the story that with the right technological innovations and corporate interventions, Earth and life on it can be saved from the climate crisis without making changes to the operations of Big Tech beyond their own proposals, or societies at large. I position this techno-optimistic narrative within ongoing “tech-for-good” and “green AI” debates, of which the orientations are reconfigured vis-à-vis ongoing political changes in the US, and elsewhere.

This paper studies to what extent religion has been used to legitimize political power throughout the world and how this matters for current institutions. Historically, some rulers have used religion to legitimize their power, while others relied on more democratic means. This tendency, termed divine legitimization, incentivized rulers to embed religion into institutions. We illustrate within a simple framework that the use of religion to legitimize power and the consequent institutionalization of religion may help explain why religion and religious institutions have persisted despite modernization. To test empirically, we combine data on pre-modern religious beliefs across 1265 ethnographic societies, various geographic data, and current data on the prevalence of religious laws in 176 countries. We provide evidence in support of divine legitimization and the resulting institutionalization of religion. For identification, we exploit exogenous variation in the incentives to employ religion for power purposes. We further document that countries that relied on divine legitimization are more autocratic today and their populace more religious. These results contribute to our understanding of the persistence of religious as well as autocratic institutions.

    Labor shortages and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) technology have accelerated the application of AI chatbot agents in fundraising agencies. This study examines the applicability of the legitimization of the paltry favors (LPF) technique and chatbot image representation in raising the persuasive power of fundraising chatbots. In this study, 609 participants were recruited via a crowdsourcing website to participate in an online survey. Participants were assigned to one of six chatbot conditions (text only vs. robot image vs. human image × standard message vs. LPF message). The results revealed that the LPF message increases the willingness to donate and that self-image concern, requestor need, and guilt significantly mediate the direct effect. The results also suggest the moderating role of perceived anthropomorphism in the association between LPF messages and the willingness to donate via requester needs. The results provide theoretical implications for compliance-gaining studies and practical implications for fundraising organizations and chatbot developers.

From an interdisciplinary framework anchored theoretically in Critical Discourse Analysis and using analytical tools from Systemic Functional Linguistics, this article accounts for a crucial use of language in society: the process of legitimization. This article explains specific linguistic ways in which language represents an instrument of control (Hodge and Kress, 1993: 6) and manifests symbolic power (Bourdieu, 2001) in discourse and society. Taking into account previous studies on legitimization (i.e. Martín Rojo and Van Dijk, 1997; Van Dijk, 2005; Van Leeuwen, 1996, 2007, 2008; Van Leeuwen and Wodak, 1999), this particular work develops and proposes some key strategies of legitimization employed by social actors to justify courses of action. The strategies of legitimization can be used individually or in combination with others, and justify social practices through: (1) emotions (particularly fear), (2) a hypothetical future, (3) rationality, (4) voices of expertise and (5) altruism. This article explains how these strategies are linguistically constructed and shaped. This study explains the use of these discursive structures and strategies through examples of speeches given by leaders with differing ideologies, specifically George W. Bush and Barack Obama, in two different armed conflicts, Iraq (2007) and Afghanistan (2009), to underline their justifications of military presence in the notorious 'War on Terror'.

Purpose This paper aims to explore the perception of successful entrepreneurs and resource providers regarding the minimum operational time necessary to legitimize an enterprise as an established company, as well as the tactics used by the entrepreneurs to minimize the distrust of society during this initial period of the life cycle of the organization. Design/methodology/approach Data collection from two groups: (i) interviews with 62 entrepreneurs and founders of established companies; and (ii) a questionnaire completed by 77 sales managers of companies that provide businesses with resources (they practice business-to-business). Regarding analyses: (i) to analyze information, this study applied the content analysis technique; and (ii) for data, this study applied the one-sample t-test, mean comparison t-test, Pearson’s correlation test, chi-square test of association, Mann–Whitney U test and correspondence analysis technique. Findings In this study, a period of 42 months was identified for the legitimization of enterprises by society, in other words, the time necessary for enterprises to be recognized as an established company and a company of low risk by customers and resource providers. A set of managerial and behavioral actions practiced by successful entrepreneurs to face the difficulties they experience during the legitimization period was also identified. Practical implications In addition to establishing a period of 42 months for the legitimization of an enterprise in the eyes of society, a set of 15 strategies used by successful entrepreneurs was identified to combat the prejudice associated with the youthfulness of their companies. Of these, 12 are linked to managerial actions and 3 to the entrepreneur’s behavior. It should be highlighted that eight of these strategies are innovative and have yet to be addressed in the literature on mitigating risks associated with the liability of newness principle. Originality/value The authors discuss the legitimization of enterprises based on the perception of actors who play a fundamental role regarding entrepreneurial action: resource providers for companies, customers and successful entrepreneurs. This is a triangulation of sources, as well as a triangulation of collected data and qualitative and quantitative techniques, which sought to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information that resulted from this analytical process.