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The major essays of Dan Diner, who is widely read and quoted in Germany and Israel, are finally collected in an English edition. They reflect the author’s belief that the Holocaust transcends traditional patterns of historical understanding and requires an epistemologically distinct approach. One can no longer assume that actors as well as historians are operating in the same conceptual universe, sharing the same criteria of rational discourse. This is particularly true of victims and perpetrators, whose memories shape the distortions of historical narrative in ways often diametrically opposed. The essays are divided into three groups. The first group talks about anti-Semitism in the context of the 1930s and the ideologies that drove the Nazi regime. The second group concentrates on the almost unbelievably different perceptions of the \"Final Solution,\" with particularly illuminating discussions of the Judenrat, or Jewish council. The third group considers the Holocaust as the subject of narrative and historical memory. Diner focuses above all on perspectives: the very notions of rationality and irrationality are seen to be changeable, depending on who is applying them. And because neither rational nor irrational motives can be universally assigned to participants in the Holocaust, Diner proposes, from the perspective of the victims, the idea of the counterrational. His work is directed toward developing a theory of Holocaust historiography and offers, clearly and coherently, the highest level of reflection on these problems.

Mentoring outsiders into the academy, so that it is reinvigorated by increasingly diverse ideas and worldviews, calls for an open, responsive approach to students. Dr. Manne, Tori, and Vivian brought this type of mentorship to life. They did not view their students as objects of knowledge: the young women were not exemplars of “poor first-generation student of color” for them to study and observe.

One manifestation of argumentation is in critical discussions where people genuinely strive cooperatively to achieve critical decisions. Hence, argumentation can be recognized as the process of advancing, supporting, modifying, and criticizing claims so that appropriate decision makers may grant or deny adherence. This audience-centered definition holds the assumption that the participants must willingly engage in public debate and discussion, and their arguments must function to open a critical space and keep it open. This essay investigates `ideological pronouncement,' a kind of rhetoric that undermines and limits the possibility of critical discussion among target audiences, as an enemy of sound argumentation. First, the essential characteristics of sound argumentation are explained. Next, the typical characteristics of ideological rhetoric are described. At the same time, the Cardinal Principles of the National Entity of Japan, a Japanese wartime moral education textbook, is examined as a paradigm case of ideological rhetoric. Third, three key pronouncements of the Cardinal Principles are outlined and discussed. Finally, implications from the critical discussion are drawn.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

In this paper I seek to discover whether Jürgen Habermas's rational communication theory can be applied to the dispute settlement and policy making of an African people. The Sidāma of Ethiopia are shown to use rational communication in terms of establishing procedural limits to reach consensus, recognizing distinctions between rational and nonrational discourse, emphasizing the importance of normative truth concepts, and maintaining criteria for sincerity. In comparison with other African societies it is demonstrated that such discourse is far from uniformly distributed across Africa. Finally, the question is raised as to whether Habermas's theory may be more appropriate in some premodern than modern societies.

All three of the traditionally recognized new institutionalisms – rational choice, historical, and sociological – have increasingly sought to ‘endogenize’ change, which has often meant a turn to ideas and discourse. This article shows that the approaches of scholars coming out of each of these three institutionalist traditions who take ideas and discourse seriously can best be classified as part of a fourth ‘new institutionalism’ – discursive institutionalism (DI) – which is concerned with both the substantive content of ideas and the interactive processes of discourse in institutional context. It argues that this newest of the ‘new institutionalisms’ has the greatest potential for providing insights into the dynamics of institutional change by explaining the actual preferences, strategies, and normative orientations of actors. The article identifies the wide range of approaches that fit this analytic framework, illustrating the ways in which scholars of DI have gone beyond the limits of the traditional institutionalisms on questions of interests and uncertainty, critical junctures and incremental change, norms and culture. It defines institutions dynamically – in contrast to the older neo-institutionalisms’ more static external rule-following structures of incentives, path-dependencies, and cultural framing – as structures and constructs of meaning internal to agents whose ‘background ideational abilities’ enable them to create (and maintain) institutions while their ‘foreground discursive abilities’ enable them to communicate critically about them, to change (or maintain) them. But the article also points to areas for improvement in DI, including the theoretical analysis of processes of ideational change, the use of the older neo-institutionalisms for background information, and the incorporation of the power of interests and position into accounts of the power of ideas and discourse.

Plato’s doctrine of the ideal state is the first form of political philosophy in the written history for European thought. The influence of Plato on the formation of political philosophy cannot be overestimated, since its further development in one way or another was based on the discourse and methodology that was set by his dialogues. This study aims to identify common discourses and dialectical foundations of the most influential modern schools of political philosophy converging in the ideas of Plato. Also, the study is aimed at identifying the main forms in which the philosophical ideas of Plato function in modern political philosophy in an explicit and implicit way. The contribution of the research and its novelty lies in the disclosure of the implicitly immanent features that connect political philosophy with the ideas of Plato as its primary source.

Dominant theoretical approaches in political economy today, whether they posit convergence to neoliberal capitalism, binary divergence of capitalisms, or tripartite differentiation of financial governance, downplay the importance of state action. Their methodological approaches, rational choice and historical institutionalism, tend to reinforce their substantive theories either by disaggregating the state into its historical institutional components or by focusing on the strategic actions of its rational actors. This article argues that by not taking state action seriously, they are unable to explain the differences in degree and kind of countries' neoliberal reforms. For this, it is necessary to bring the state back in and to put the political back into political economy not just in terms of political economic institutions but also in terms of policies, polity, and politics. To explore the political in all its variety, however, the article demonstrates that at least one more methodological approach, discursive institutionalism, is also needed. This approach, by taking the role of ideas and discourse seriously, brings political actors as sentient beings back in. This in turn also enables the author to explain the dynamics of neoliberal reform in political economy.

Despite various attempts and approaches to scrutinize the concept of Islamic architecture, the prevailing discourse, set by orientalists since the nineteenth century, still holds true to some extent. It mostly focuses on the physical products of Islamic architecture and cities, with little attention paid to the underlying production mechanisms. Hence, the term “Islamic architecture” has been the subject of extensive debate, but still no consensus being achieved. Scholars are divided between those influenced by the orientalist’s static approach, and those arguing for the dynamic approach (Allahham 2004). This paper attempts to rethink the discourse on “Islamic architecture and cities” through exploring the untold stories of the actual conditions under which Islamic built environments were developed, with a close look at the changes in the political system that predominated throughout Islamic history. To achieve this, the paper employs Ibn Khaldun's perspective on the political modes and the rise and fall of states as a theoretical framework. The paper concludes that adopting political royalty modes and rational politics has gradually changed the built environment production mechanisms from being Shari‘a  rights-based mechanisms to power-based mechanisms applied through rational politics, with the latter producing authoritarian built environments. As such politicized built environments are the center of the existing discourse, this paper exposed the fallacy of the current discourse and the inadequacy of the existing conception of “Islamic architecture.”

Voluntary social insurance (VSI) is critical to extending social protection coverage to informal sector workers in developing countries like Vietnam, yet participation rates remain low. This study investigates the behavioral, social, and structural determinants influencing VSI participation, integrating the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and rational choice theory (RCT) into a comprehensive framework. Data were collected through a structured survey of 448 informal workers and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results demonstrate that positive attitudes, supportive subjective norms, respected community figures, and community cohesion drive VSI participation, whereas financial incentives and flexible payment options alone do not. The study highlights the dominant role of internal motivations and social trust over purely economic considerations. Practical implications emphasize the need for communication strategies fostering positive perceptions, leveraging community leadership, and reinforcing institutional credibility. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers aiming to design more inclusive, resilient social protection systems tailored to transitional economies like Vietnam. Plain Language Summary • Internal motivations and social trust outweigh financial incentives in driving participation in Vietnam’s voluntary social insurance (VSI). • Positive attitudes, supportive norms, and respected community figures significantly influence informal workers’ decision to enroll in VSI. • Flexible payment schemes and government subsidies alone are insufficient to boost VSI enrollment without addressing trust and awareness. • Policy strategies must prioritize trust-building, community engagement, and reshaping public perceptions to expand social protection coverage.

This paper examines conceptual issues and reviews empirical results bearing on the relationship between research approaches emphasizing organizational capabilities and those based in transaction cost economics (TCE)—or in organizational economics more generally. Following a review of conceptual fundamentals—what capability is and why organizations differ in capability—it assesses recent progress toward an integration of the capabilities and transaction cost approaches, primarily in the context of the analysis of vertical structure and related phenomena. This review suggests that progress has been substantial and that the key elements of a promising dynamic synthesis have been identified. The paper then considers issues that call for attention if further progress is to be achieved. The first of these is the role of agency, which must be seen in expansive terms (relative to standard economic rationality) if its evolutionary significance is to be fully appreciated. The second is the role of structure, or more specifically, industry architecture, which affects capability development by way of its effect on the feedback that firms receive. After drawing on the recent financial crisis for an illustration of these ideas, this paper considers the rise of interest in business models as a useful field of application, and it concludes with a discussion of the role of organizational economics (beyond TCE). We argue that, whatever the theoretical perspective at the level of the firm, analyses must reach beyond that level to grasp the important causal forces affecting capability development, firm boundaries, and structural features more generally.