In: Frank Gadinger, Martina Kopf, Ayşem Mert, and Christopher Smith (eds.). Political Storytelling: From Fact to Fiction (Global Dialogues 12) This essay presents a summary of important perspectives concerning the distinction between what counts as truth or fiction. As a source of inspiration, it starts with two examples found in literature – the first a classical Spanish novel and the second a collection of stories written by the leader of a social movement in Mexico. These two examples of the conflictive relations between truth and fiction, authenticity and imagination serve as a source of inspiration for the rest of this article, which shows that this issue has been a subject of intense debate in philosophy and in the philosophy of science and still presents a challenge in the 21st century. The essay states that absolute, objective truth is a myth. It describes that what counts as ‘truth’ in a particular era, is, among other things, the result of power relations. It suggests productive ways to deal with this problem in modern society, through deliberative, emancipatory processes of reflexivity (Weick 1999), participatory research and dialogue, facilitating innovation and generation of new solutions.
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Using political discourse analysis, this book examines the extent to which the salient approaches of previous leadership generations have translated into present day policies shepherded in by Xi Jinping. On the strategic political level, the book includes comparisons of China's recent leadership periods with a focus on Xi Jinping's era, and contains examples of whether and how specific topics and tactics reoccur across generations. The state development strategy section then goes on to include chapters on shaping China’s strategic narratives, neoliberal discourse within state developmentalism, and keyword evolution. The practical policies part looks at the issues of re-education, health, class, and ethnicity, analysing how the leaders talk about China’s poor, frame the representations of megaprojects on social media, and discursively display diplomatic strength. As a study of the rule of Xi Jinping and the rhetoric of the contemporary Chinese political system, this book will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Chinese politics and political science more broadly.
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World globalisation drives companies to undertake international expansion with the aim of retaining or growing their businesses. When companies globalize, managers encounter new challenges in making international marketing strategy (IMS) decisions, which are influenced by perceived cultural and business distance between their home- and foreign country. Telkom Indonesia International (Telin) was formed by Telkom Indonesia (i.e. the state-owned company in the telecommunication industry in Indonesia) to engage in international business within a global market. The central question in this study is to what extent do managers’ perceived cultural and business distance between home- and foreign country influence their IMS decisions? A mixed research strategy will be employed by applying qualitative and quantitative methods concurrently. The data collection will involve interviews with CEOs and managers, alongside a web survey to 55 managers of Telkom's. Results suggest important consequences for IMS decisions and emphasizes the need for dialogue on perceptions of cultural and business characteristics of countries.
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The Netherlands is facinggreat challenges to achieve (inter)national climate mitigation objectives inlimited time, budget and space. Drastic innovative measures such as floatingsolar parks are high on political agendas and are entering our water systems.The clear advantages of floating solar (multifunctional use of space) led to afast deployment of renewable energy sources without extensive research toadequately evaluate the impacts on our environment. Acquisition ofresearch data with holistic monitoring methods are urgently needed in order toprevent disinvestments.In this project 10 SMEs with different expertiseand technologies are joining efforts with researchers and four public parties(and 12 indirectly involved) to answer the research question “Which monitoringtechnologies and intelligent data interpretation techniques are requiredto be able to conduct comprehensive, efficient and cost effective monitoring ofthe impacts of floating solar panels in their surroundings?"The outputs after a two-yearproject will play a significant and indispensable role in making Green EnergyResources Greener. Specific output includes a detailed inventory of existingprojects, monitoring method for collection/analysis of datasets(parameters/footage on climate, water quality, ecology) on the effects offloating solar panels on the environment using heterogeneous unmanned robots,workshops with public & private partners and stakeholders,scientific and technical papers and update of national guidelines for optimizingthe relationship between solar panels and the surrounding environment. Projectresults have a global interest and the consortium partners aim at upscaling forthe international market. This project will enrich the involved partners withtheir practical knowledge, and SMEs will be equipped with the new technologiesto be at the forefront and benefit from the increasing floating solar marketopportunities. This project will also make a significant contribution tovarious educational curricula in universities of applied sciences.The Netherlands is facinggreat challenges to achieve (inter)national climate mitigation objectives inlimited time, budget and space. Drastic innovative measures such as floatingsolar parks are high on political agendas and are entering our water systems.The clear advantages of floating solar (multifunctional use of space) led to afast deployment of renewable energy sources without extensive research toadequately evaluate the impacts on our environment. Acquisition ofresearch data with holistic monitoring methods are urgently needed in order toprevent disinvestments.In this project 10 SMEs with different expertiseand technologies are joining efforts with researchers and four public parties(and 12 indirectly involved) to answer the research question “Which monitoringtechnologies and intelligent data interpretation techniques are requiredto be able to conduct comprehensive, efficient and cost effective monitoring ofthe impacts of floating solar panels in their surroundings?"The outputs after a two-yearproject will play a significant and indispensable role in making Green EnergyResources Greener. Specific output includes a detailed inventory of existingprojects, monitoring method for collection/analysis of datasets(parameters/footage on climate, water quality, ecology) on the effects offloating solar panels on the environment using heterogeneous unmanned robots,workshops with public & private partners and stakeholders,scientific and technical papers and update of national guidelines for optimizingthe relationship between solar panels and the surrounding environment. Projectresults have a global interest and the consortium partners aim at upscaling forthe international market. This project will enrich the involved partners withtheir practical knowledge, and SMEs will be equipped with the new technologiesto be at the forefront and benefit from the increasing floating solar marketopportunities. This project will also make a significant contribution tovarious educational curricula in universities of applied sciences.
The Netherlands is facing great challenges to achieve (inter)national climate mitigation objectives in limited time, budget and space. Drastic innovative measures such as floating solar parks are high on political agendas and are entering our water systems . The clear advantages of floating solar (multifunctional use of space) led to a fast deployment of renewable energy sources without extensive research to adequately evaluate the impacts on our environment. Acquisition of research data with holistic monitoring methods are urgently needed in order to prevent disinvestments. In this proposal ten SMEs with different expertise and technologies are joining efforts with researchers and four public parties (and 12 indirectly involved) to answer the research question “Which monitoring technologies and intelligent data interpretation techniques are required to be able to conduct comprehensive, efficient and cost-effective monitoring of the impacts of floating solar panels in their surroundings?" The outputs after a two-year project will play a significant and indispensable role in making Green Energy Resources Greener. Specific output includes a detailed inventory of existing projects, monitoring method for collection/analysis of datasets (parameters/footage on climate, water quality, ecology) on the effects of floating solar panels on the environment using heterogeneous unmanned robots, workshops with public & private partners and stakeholders, scientific and technical papers and update of national guidelines for optimizing the relationship between solar panels and the surrounding environment. Project results have a global interest and the consortium partners aim at upscaling for the international market. This project will enrich the involved partners with their practical knowledge, and SMEs will be equipped with the new technologies to be at the forefront and benefit from the increasing floating solar market opportunities. This project will also make a significant contribution to various educational curricula in universities of applied sciences.
