This paper focuses on the politics of the Bondo—the competition among social groups for an exclusive influence on the National strategy for the reduction of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). ...In the first part, this paper shows how the Bondo—a women’s only secret society—has become a site of contestation for not only pro- and anti-FGM/C advocates, but also elite male politicians who have, since independence in 1961, continued to use the Bondo space for political gains. The use of the Bondo for political leverage and influence pre-dates independence and is as old as the society itself. The second part of this paper discusses the legitimacy of expertise as central to this debate, in which each group competes to become the leading expert. Thus, even though human rights/choice discourse currently dominates the FGM/C debate, traditional expertise remains valid in the formulation of community by-laws as well as state policies and laws. This can be seen in the recent attempt by the state to develop a National Policy for the Reduction of FGM/C in which the expertise of all three groups was sought. Using data from existing literature and personal interviews, this paper interrogates this contention by describing how the role of cultural experts—especially the Soweis—has been politicized in the stalemate over the enactment of the National Policy for the Reduction of FGC. This paper concludes with considerations about the complexity of Bondo expertise, in which opposing parties use similar arguments to evoke the human rights discourses on women’s rights and bodily integrity/autonomy. It argues that a better knowledge of these dynamics as they develop in Sierra Leone and other African countries would be useful to the European jurisdiction.
The policy agenda is currently being established for artificial intelligence (AI), a domain marked by complex and sweeping implications for economic transformation tempered by concerns about social ...and ethical risks. This article reviews the United States national AI policy strategy through extensive qualitative and quantitative content analysis of 63 strategic AI policy documents curated by the federal government between 2016 and 2020. Drawing on a prominent theory of agenda setting, the Multiple Streams Framework, and in light of competing paradigms of technology policy, this article reviews how the U.S. government understands the key policy problems, solutions, and issue frames associated with AI. Findings indicate minimal attention to focusing events or problem indicators emphasizing social and ethical concerns, as opposed to economic and geopolitical ones. Further, broad statements noting ethical dimensions of AI often fail to translate into specific policy solutions, which may be explained by a lack of technical feasibility or value acceptability of ethics‐related policy solutions, along with institutional constraints for agencies in specific policy sectors. Finally, despite widespread calls for increased public participation, proposed solutions remain expert dominated. Overall, while the emerging U.S. AI policy agenda reflects a striking level of attention to ethics—a promising development for policy stakeholders invested in AI ethics and more socially oriented approaches to technology governance—this success is only partial and is ultimately layered into a traditional strategic approach to innovation policy.
Resumen
La agenda de políticas se está estableciendo actualmente para la inteligencia artificial (IA), un dominio marcado por implicaciones complejas y amplias para la transformación económica atenuadas por preocupaciones sobre riesgos sociales y éticos. Este artículo revisa la estrategia política nacional de IA de los Estados Unidos a través de un extenso análisis de contenido cualitativo y cuantitativo de 63 documentos de políticas estratégicas de IA seleccionados por el gobierno federal entre 2016 y 2020. Basándose en una teoría destacada de establecimiento de agenda, el Marco de flujos múltiples, y a la luz de paradigmas competitivos de política tecnológica, este artículo revisa cómo el gobierno de los EE. UU. entiende los problemas de política clave, las soluciones y los marcos de problemas asociados con la IA. Los hallazgos indican una atención mínima a los eventos de enfoque o indicadores de problemas que enfatizan las preocupaciones sociales y éticas, en oposición a las económicas y geopolíticas. Además, las declaraciones amplias que señalan las dimensiones éticas de la IA a menudo no se traducen en soluciones de políticas específicas, lo que puede explicarse por la falta de viabilidad técnica o aceptabilidad del valor de las soluciones de políticas relacionadas con la ética, junto con las limitaciones institucionales para las agencias en sectores de políticas específicos. Finalmente, a pesar de los llamados generalizados para una mayor participación pública, las soluciones propuestas siguen dominadas por expertos. En general, si bien la agenda emergente de políticas de IA de los EE. UU. refleja un sorprendente nivel de atención a la ética, un desarrollo prometedor para las partes interesadas en políticas que invierten en la ética de la IA y enfoques más orientados socialmente para la gobernanza de la tecnología, este éxito es solo parcial y, en última instancia, se superpone a una estrategia tradicional. enfoque estratégico de la política de innovación.
摘要
目前，人工智能(AI)领域正制定政策议程，该领域的特点是对经济转型具有复杂而广泛的影响，而这种影响因社会风险和道德风险方面的关切而有所缓和。本文通过对2016年至2020年美国联邦政府策划的63份AI战略政策文件进行广泛的定性和定量内容分析，进而述评了美国国家AI政策战略。通过借鉴著名的议程设置理论、多源流框架，并根据技术政策的一系列竞争范式，本文述评了美国政府如何理解与AI相关的关键政策问题、解决方案和问题框架。结果表明，与经济问题和地缘政治问题相比，强调社会问题和道德问题的焦点事件或问题指标获得了最低程度的关注。此外，提及AI伦理层面的广泛声明往往无法转化为具体的政策解决方案，这可能是由于伦理相关的政策解决方案缺乏技术可行性或价值可接受性，以及特定政策部门中的机构存在制度限制。最后，尽管广泛呼吁要求增加公众参与，但提出的解决方案仍然由专家主导。总的来说，虽然新兴的美国AI政策议程反映出对伦理的惊人关注——对于投身于AI伦理的政策利益攸关方和更社会导向的技术治理方法而言，这是一个有前景的发展领域——但这种成功只是部分的，并最终融入创新政策的传统战略方针。
The initiation and implementation of the strategizing process in a country should be accompanied by a comprehensively developed, high-quality state mechanism of strategic management. The existence of ...an institutional mechanism, which provides for the creation of organization structures in the public authorities system, the division of their functions and responsibilities, clearly defined interaction of structures designed to achieve common strategic development goals, is a prerequisite for a successful strategic process in the country. Providing institutional support for strategizing in a complex socio-economic system, which is still developing, requires coordination and balance in the activities of all the strategic management entities, thus becoming relevant in the current conditions of Ukraine’s development. The article aims at studying the structure and functions of the executive authorities in the field of strategic management. Recommendations have been developed to improve the institutional support for the strategic process in the country by implementing the EU institutional organization principles, designed by the ESDN, and the PDCA Cycle in public administration. The author identifies Ukraine’s strategizing participants; develops recommendations for supplementing the public authorities’ functions in the strategizing field; suggests creating an organizational structure which would support strategizing; and creates a consistent institutional support scheme helping to implement strategizing at the national level
Background: Biological control of invasive alien plants (IAPs) using introduced natural enemies contributes significantly to sustained, cost-effective management of natural resources in South Africa. ...The status of, and prospects for, biological control is therefore integral to National Status Reports (NSRs) on Biological Invasions, the first of which is due in 2017. Objectives: Our aim was to evaluate the status of, and prospects for, biological control of IAPs in South Africa. We discuss expansion of biological control and suggest indicators to be used in the upcoming NSR to assess sufficient growth.Method: We used published literature, unpublished work and personal communication to assess the status of biological control of IAPs. We propose indicators based on the targets for biological control that were proposed in the 2014 ‘National Strategy for dealing with biological invasions in South Africa’. To prioritise targets for future efforts, we used published lists of damaging IAPs and assessed the prospects for their biological control. Recommendations for using biological control as a management tool were made after discussion among the authors and with colleagues.Results: Significant control of several Cactaceae, Australian Acacia species and floating aquatic plants, and many other IAPs has been achieved in South Africa since 1913. Recently, biological control has benefited from improved international collaboration, a streamlined application process for the release of new biological control agents (resulting in the approval of 19 agents against 13 IAP species since 2013), and increased funding and capacity. There is still a need to improve implementation and to better integrate biological control with other control methods. In order to maximise benefits from biological control, increased investment is required, particularly in implementation and post-release evaluation, and in targeting new IAPs. Proposed targets for growth between 2017 and 2020 include an increase in financial investment in research by 29%, implementation by 28% and mass-rearing by 68%. Research capacity should increase by 29%, implementation capacity by 63% and mass-rearing capacity by 61%. New research projects should be initiated on 12 new IAP targets, while post-release monitoring efforts should be expanded to another 31 IAPs.Conclusion: Biological control of IAPs has contributed substantially to their management in South Africa, and continues to do so. Further investment in targeted aspects of IAP biological control will increase this contribution.
The relationship between the civil and defence industries in China has undergone institutional changes from separation to combination and integration. Civil–military integration (CMI) was uplifted as ...a national-level strategy in 2015. Outer space was prioritised in the 2015 strategy, which presents an interesting opportunity for a review of its particularity and potentiality in China. The application of the CMI to space activities is a product of national policies related to economic development and technological advancement instead of a result of a military modernisation campaign. The CMI strategy holds the potential of being an enabler for space activities in China to accommodate the market-oriented approach and conform to the implementation practice of CMI in other advanced space countries. However, reform efforts remain at the early stages of development. Its operationalisation under the state-led development approach is characterised by uncertainty, ambiguity, and fluidity. The reforms are demanding in terms of tackling the entrenched issues of breaking down civil–military barriers and managing the contradiction between the traditional state-led approach and the revolutionary market-oriented approach. Specifically, it is in need of basic infrastructure to facilitate the development of commercial space, including a high-level, coherent framework of policy guidelines and the improvement of governance structure and institutional mechanisms through the enactment of a space law.
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