TOWARDS AN INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY

Don't we all take democracy seriously? It is, after all, the badge we pin on ourselves, the status symbol that we take to elevate our country above others that don't manage it so well. And the last decade has been seen as a glorious time for democracy. We have witnessed the fall of communism, the defeat of apartheid and the end of the military régimes in South America. The key-statement for the initial phase of self-congratulation was Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the last Man. [1]

Takis Fotopoulos's very first sentence puts Fukuyama in his place: 'The collapse of 'actually existing socialism' does not reflect the "triumph of capitalism", as celebrated by its ideologues.'(ix) However, the democracy that 'we' celebrate can more precisely be designated as liberal democracy, that is democracy within a capitalist framework. Here, with one person one vote, we are all equal on our occasional visits to the polling booth but in no other respect.

To defenders of liberal democracy this is adequate. Hayek was keen to point out that democracy refers only to a type of government and so has no application to other organisations. This is in contrast to the designation given by Alexis de Tocqueville just over a century and a half ago. For him political democracy was merely one aspect of a wider phenomenon. Democracy as a whole was the levelling process that had, over centuries, worn down the hierarchical aristocratic gradations so enjoyed by his own forebears. Tocqueville described the levelling process as inevitable, yet simultaneously warned of the emergence of an aristocracy of manufacturers, a class that might acquire powers equal to those of the displaced landed aristocracy but was unlikely to match their sense of social responsibility. Do we not, in this sub-theme, find a presentiment of our current situation?

What we have reached might be described as the paradox of liberal democracy - that the parts are in contradiction, for how can we be equal politically when we are so unequal economically? Consider the case of the current British Labour government, swept to power by a wave of popular enthusiasm just two years ago. Do those of you who voted for it have the same degree of influence on it as Bernie Ecclestone of Formula One fame, or of Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-American newspaper magnate ? James Mill once stated 'that the business of government is properly the business of the rich, and that they will always obtain it, either by bad means, or good.'[2]

Of course, it was precisely this situation that socialism emerged to overcome. However, to cut a long story short, the current tendency is to regard socialism as discredited. Its communist variant has fallen in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Its remaining outposts in China and East Asia are unlikely to be extended. The notion that communism might introduce or deepen democracy proved an illusion of their initial phase of power. The Leninist idea of the soviet as a higher form of democracy disintegrated into the Stalinist one-party state.

Western Social Democracy, however, never sought to challenge parliamentary democracy. When in power the rights of other parties and the freedoms of association and of the press were never threatened. Social Democracy has to its credit a significant democratic achievement for through its impetus the class disqualification to political participation was overcome and, in its best phase, it sought to obtain both full employment and adequate welfare provision.

However, beyond that the democratic thrust of Social Democracy was thwarted, both by its Fabian managerialism and by the society's capitalist framework. Throughout the 1970s those on the left subjected social democracy to a withering critique[3] that may, partially and ironically, have led to a loss of self-confidence that, in combination with other factors, facilitated its downfall and replacement by the New Right. However, as Bob Dylan so memorably put it 'the wheel's still in spin' and Social Democracy has re-emerged into its current position of unparalleled dominance in European governments. However, although it bears the label, it is not the Social Democracy that we knew before. Fotopoulos reminds us that 'As these parties...bear almost no relation at all to the traditional social-democratic parties of the 1950-75 period, they should more accurately be called "social liberal" rather than social-democratic parties.'(p.86)

Social Democracy's opportunity has come both through a withdrawal of support from the full New Right doctrine and from the fact that it can no longer be feared as an agent of Soviet power. However, liberation from that context has been countered by at least two disadvantages. Firstly, the reduced preponderance of the industrial working class has increased Social Democracy's need to appeal to the middle classes. Secondly, the power of the state has been reduced and so governments have had less control of economic management.

This is the logical starting-point of Fotopoulos's book. In one sense it belongs to the genre of pre-Thatcherite critiques of Social Democracy in that it seeks to analyse its failings and find a way of overcoming them. It is, then, an updating of that debate for it commences with a thorough analysis of the significantly changed current situation. Its point of continuity with earlier debate is that it takes the bold and currently unpopular view that the socialist project is still a plausible one. Fotopoulos, then, is not among those on the left who have collapsed into the individualist paradise of post-modernism. Nor is he among those who call on Social Democracy to return to its traditional path. 'Social democracy ...is dead', he tells us in the book's very first paragraph. (ix. Also see pp.74,85-100,102) It has been undermined by internationalization and the consequent decline of the state, which was the prime site of Social Democratic activity.(see pp.29,32,42.) At one time the United States of America was considered exceptional amongst modern industrial societies in that the land without socialism was simultaneously, or one might say consequently, the land with poor welfare provision, weak trade unions and a deep social and economic divide between rich and poor. What should have been a warning to other countries seems instead to have become a model. Fotopoulos notes 'the "Americanization" of the political process all over the advanced capitalist world.'(P.39 and see p.95) We thus join the USA in if not 'The End of Ideology' then the end of ideological competition. If the loss of old Social Democracy and the decline of state welfarism produces, among other things, a narrowing of the political spectrum, then we simultaneously impoverish both the needy and our democratic system. Old Social Democracy, as should now be clear, is no longer a plausible option. It emerged at a time when ecological concerns had no impact. However much might divide capitalism from socialism both shared a 'growth ideology' as their 'ultimate ideological foundation.'(p.66) Fuirthermore, global capital now dominates global labour. The state is caught in the middle between international economic power on the one side and, on the other, the real communities where people live and work. Fotopoulos's project is to recommend that the latter reclaim the power that has been usurped by the former.

The project.

Fukuyama thought that we were there. For him there was no further project. This is it. Not, as sometimes assumed, that there would be no further changes, but rather that they would be within the mind-set of liberal democracy, which apparently fulfills mankind's psychological needs. Fukuyama, of course, was writing in the immediate aftermath of the fall of communism and his book bears witness to the widespread complacency of that phase. Since then the dominant mood has altered. The New World Order seems less under control than its proponents imagined. Parts of the globe have been resistant to American polticial hegemony and the international economic order has suffered embarrassing instabilities. In Britain at the moment one of the most publicized accounts of the current situation is John Gray's False Dawn. The Delusions of Global Capitalism[4]. Gray provides a powerful account of the depradations of global capitalism. Yet his solution seems too slight. For him capitalism remains but should be controlled and stabilized by better regulation. This is largely a recommendation to carry on as before but within a more safeguarded structure. For Fotopoulos carrying on as before is what got us where we are now. It would involve a failure to learn from previous errors. Only a new structure of life based on different principles would meet the needs of justice and survival. So, where Gray looks for global regulation, Fotopoulos proposes the local community as the prime agency of a renewed and deepened democracy.

For Fotopoulos, as we shall see, a whole change of direction is necessary. Gray's answer, difficult though it might be to achieve, seems unlikely to remedy the condition it describes, particularly as he wants it based on the support of the United States of America. As he tells us; 'A vital condition of reform of the international economy is that it be supported by the world's single most important power. Without active and continuing American endorsement there can be no workable institutions of global governance.'[5]

Fotopoulos, in contrast, doesn't want us to carry on with a modified version of what we had before; indeed, he doesn't think it possible to do so. Fundamental change is necessary, but precisely for that reason it is bound to be much harder to achieve. For him the destination of mankind still lies ahead and needs a clear change of assumptions from those now dominant. Fotopoulos could have set himself a more limited, easier and less controversial task, that of delineating our current condition. That would have been a service in itself and the part of the book that deals with it (Part 1) is clear and enlightening. However, our author has a political project, that of fulfilling the democratic ideal that the west nominally professes.

For Fotopoulos 'today's "politics" and "democracy" represent a flagrant distortion of the real meaning of these terms'.(p.54 and see pp.175-6) He wants a return to the ancient Greek understanding of the concept, which is fair enough in the sense that the word does derive from them, though he does not sufficiently integrate his awareness that the Greeks left out of their democracy those not qualifying for citizenship, 'women, slaves, immigrants'. (p.185) He takes to task A.H.Birch, the author of a recent textbook on the subject, who, as he realises, is representative of a wide body of current opinion. For most academics in the social sciences, your reviewer included, 'democracy' is regarded as an 'essentially contested concept', whose meaning has altered over time, often according to the wider political purposes being proposed. Greek democracy was a form of rule by the largest class of citizens in a society based on slavery . Since then direct democracy of the citizens has, after a very long interval in which democracy in all its possible forms was totally denigrated, given way to modern representative democracy, with distinct variations between western liberal democracy, third world democracy and even the claims once made by Soviet democracy.[6] The western orthodoxy is that parliamentary liberal democracy is the real thing and that those countries that possess it can enjoy the satisfaction of having fulfilled the democratic ideal. However, Fotopoulos wants a democracy that extends beyond equal voting rights and into the economic sphere. This is a more extended notion of democracy than currently prevails, but one cannot say precisely which definition is right and which is wrong. The contest over the use of political and social words is in itself a political one and so Fotopoulos's claim to his sense of the term cannot be accepted in the sense of replacing a wrong usage by a right one but merely of stipulating the sense that he will use and the claims that can be made on its behalf.[7]

Nor is Fotopoulos's definition exactly identical with the ancient Greek one. He shares their basic assumption of the 'incompatibility of democracy with any form of concentration of power' and, on that basis, seeks 'a new conception of inclusive democracy'.(171, emphasis added) This involves 'the extension of the classical conception of democracy to the social, economic and ecological realms'(p.176), a demand which, interestingly, had already been made by Pericles.(see p.192.) To note that Fotopoulos wants democracy extended should not be taken to imply that he finds it satisfactory in the spheres where it now operates. He regards the political structure as being as élite dominated as the economic one (see p.135). Consequently there is apathy and low turnout, especially among the poor.(see p.171).

In outlining his model of inclusive democracy Fotopoulos combines and builds on the lessons of ancient Greek democracy and the radical critiques of Murray Bookchin and Cornelius Castoriadis. He also works through the radical democratic proposals of Norbert Bobbio, Jürgen Habermas, Chantal Mouffe, Paul Hirst, David Miller and David Held. Fotopoulos points out that economic democracy is necessary but not sufficient. Democracy must also extend into the social and the ecological realm; a democracy that centres not so much on the workplace as on the community as a whole. In his plan there is 'no institutionalized political structures embodying unequal power relations' for 'the delegation is assigned, on principle, by lot [emphasis added], on a rotation basis, and it is alway recallable by the citizen body.' (p.207 )

This idea of selection by lot rather than election is, of course, historically prior to selection by election and is, again, part of the model of ancient Greek democracy. It is in many ways a surprise to see it resurrected in modern (or post-modern ?) times. However, Fotopoulos is here not alone amongst current thinkers. Professor Bernard Manin has recently outlined the contrasts between ancient and modern democracy. Manin compared selection by lot with election by representation. He pointed out that lot is in many ways more democratic. 'Pre-modern republicans valued above all... the possibility of holding office.'[8] Lot gave them all an equal chance. Now with representative government we are all equal as choosers but have quite unequal chances to be chosen. Just compare the social composition of parliament with that of the society as a whole to realise how over-represented lawyers and teachers, and under-represented women and the working class, are. Thus, though our age congratulates itself on its democratic ethos, it actually has a narrower concept of citizenship than did the republicans of pre-modern times.[9] This rejection of a democracy of the chosen, rather than of the choosers, is not merely unlamented; it is now scarcely noticed although the idea of selection by lot lasted as a matter of serious concern for far longer than commonly assumed, through to Harrington, Montesquieu and Rousseau. However, powerful élites preferred election, not just because it was a means of adapting democracy to large countries, but rather because it served to filter the democratic input. Thus a political form now regarded as the essence of democracy was actually introduced to counter it. Manin also deals with how western parliaments shook off the idea of 'imperative mandates' (i.e. binding instructions from the electorate to their representatives). The ideological ploy here, as in a famous speech from Edmund Burke, was to claim ultimate responsibility to the nation as a whole rather than to the constituency in particular.

Fotopoulos rejects what he calls the 'myth of the "experts" ' (p.207) and imagines that a modern industrial state can operate without them and that even economic decisions can be 'taken by the citizen body collectively and without representation.'(p.211) Concerning this question one can recall the experiences of three twentieth-century century thinkers, all of whom claimed to wish democracy well. In 1911 Robert Michels produced what has become a classic of Political Sociology, Political Parties, revealingly sub-titled A Sociological Examination of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy. Here, to be cryptic, he concluded that organisation produces oligarchy. Any organisation pursuing particular ends would elevate adminstrators who gain or claim expertise in their particular niche and so become indispensable to the organisation. In that way they become separated from the mass they were originally meant to serve and so develop an interest apart and different from them. Secondly we can turn to Lenin who, in State and Revolution, foresaw political representation in the manner suggested by the 1871 Paris Commune, that is without parliamentarism 'as a special system, as the division of labour between the legislative and the executive, as a privileged position for the deputies.'[10]. The combination of proletarian rule and modern scientific developments was assumed to facilitate the gradual withering away of the state through the performance of necessary administrative tasks devolving to the community as a whole. A few months later Lenin abandoned State and Revolution for the tasks of actual revolution. He soon found that economic understanding and administrative ability were less widespread than he had assumed. Large sections of the Czarist bureaucracy had to be retained although the attempt was made to control them through a system of 'workers' and peasants' inspectors'.

Let's leave backward Russia and move forward to the United States of the 1960s and 1970s. Theodor Roszak was one of the heroes of the counter-culture in that radical phase. In Where the Wasteland Ends he pondered the intellectual demands of contemporary political involvement:

Nothing is any longer simply and straightforwardly accessible to the layman. •verything - economics, foreign policy, war and peace, city planning,education, environmental design, business administration,human psychology-now requires the benefit of professional training to be comprehensible... Does our democracy not continue to be a spectator sport in which the general public chooses up sides among contending groups of experts, looking on stupidly as the specialists exchange the facts and figures, debate the esoteric details, challenge one another's statistics, and question one another's prognostications?[11]

All of this should serve as a warning to later opponents of hierarchy. It's not that the attempt should be abandoned but that we should be aware of what we are up against, given the uneven distribution of intelligence, aptitude, ambition and position. The ambitious nature of Fotopoulos's project extends to 'the workplace, the household, the educational institution and indeed any economic or cultural institution which constitutes an element of this realm.' (pp.211-2). The proposed confederation of communities would be stateless and, in the economic sphere, would dispense with both money and the market. This is what Marx and Lenin also wanted but, in contrast to them, Fotopoulos assumes that scarcity will continue. He rejects the Marxist notion that there are material pre-conditions to inclusive democracy. In an implicit farewell to the Euro, money is replaced by vouchers of either a basic or non-basic designation. Each community would be fairly self-reliant and would collectively decide what tasks should be done and how work should be distributed and remunerated.

This confederal, inclusive democracy is only outlined in very general terms. We have no precise blueprint for the new order but only the principles and mentality required. One can have two contradictory responses to this. On the one hand it seems slightly inadequate. If we are to replace our present order we need a closer vision of what we are to put in its place. If, on the other hand, we engage in detailed planning, as did Owen, Fourier, Saint-Simon and other nineteenth-century radicals, we are open to ridicule in the way that they were, and also to charges of authoritarian élitism in that we try to pre-empt decisions that should be taken democratically by the communities involved.

PROBLEMS OF TRANSITION

Having a plan or a vision is one thing. Outlining the means of implementing it is quite another. The policy of transition is usually the weakest part of projects for social reform, for the simple reason that it is the hardest one. It was precisely on this issue that Marx and Engels ridiculed the thinkers they chose to term 'Utopian Socialists.' Owen, Fourier, Saint-Simon and others of their like were accused of naivety in believing that transformation required no socio-economic pre-conditions and that prejudice would fall before rational persuasion. Marx and Engels tried to improve upon their 'utopian' predecessors by insisting that history had a definite logic of development. No new order could emerge before its predecessor had laid down the necessary socio-economic basis. Furthermore each transtion required a plausible social agency, a class that had to have both the will to carry out a revolution and the key location in the production process that gave them the necessary power. On all these counts they judged the modern proletariat as willing and able to replace capitalism with communism.

We can now say that even with their thorough consideration of the necessary means of transformation Marx and Engels got it wrong, and for the following reasons:

That capitalism replaced feudalism throughout Europe did not imply that communism was bound to replace it. The analogy did not work.

Capitalism had instabilities, as Marx and Engels were pleased to point out, but they were not fatal to it.

The most developed capitalist industrial states were not those in which the system was overthrown in the name of Marxism..

The working-class did not come to form overwhelming majorities in the way that Marx and Engels expected nor, even more detrimental to the project, did they develop the requisite class consciousness.

With that thorough but flawed analysis in mind, let us ask on what basis Fotopoulos thinks that he has found a way forward.

Firstly, Fotopoulos regards the present order as unsustainable. 'Old politics is doomed'.(p.276) In the era of globalization even the democratic states cannot meet the demands that their electorate make. There is a 'huge "objective" crisis' in 'that the present economic system cannot meet even the basic needs of at least one-fifth of the world's population'.(p.143) Since the book was written nothing has occurred to upset that analysis. We have seen the collapse of some of the Asian 'tiger' economies and witnessed the loss of faith suffered by international financier George Soros. In The Crisis of Global Capitalism he declared that 'market fundamentalism' might be 'a greater threat to open society than totalitarian government today.'[12]

For Fotopoulos the opportunity of transformation occurs because the system is in crisis. However we must note that a crisis does not always lead to a desirable solution. At this moment Russia is in crisis. This provides, I suppose, a moment of opportunity, but who would bet on a favourable outcome ?[13] And, of course, we have been here before. Russia was in crisis in 1917. A re-reading of State and Revolution will remind us that what Lenin planned was a higher form of democracy in which the centralised state would wither away, class distinctions would disappear and all would live cooperatively in equality and harmony. Instead of which Russia got Stalin and the gulag. Fotopoulos himself notes that all forms of socialism 'failed to change the world, at least in accordance with their proclaimed declarations and expectations.'(p.74) This, obviously, is a warning to all who attempt to change the world, not that they should despair but merely be soberly aware of what they are up against.

One of Marxism's disadvantages was that communists presumed to know the 'real will' of the proletariat and so underestimated the importance of their actual outlook and beliefs. Fotopoulos clearly does not repeat this error. He acknowledges that 'the world market economy is not widely questioned '(143) and, as a second basis for reform, sees a big educational task as a pre-requisite. He mentions the need for 'a new moral code' (p.233) in which the right 'community spirit (p.297) prevails. Not for the first time the Greek tradition shows the way. 'A crucial role in the education of citizens is played by paedeia. Paedeia is not just education but character development and a well-rounded education in knowledge and skills, i.e. the education of the individual citizen which can only give give valuable, substantive content to the public space' . (p.209)

Fotopoulos wants 'the development of a similar mass consciousness about the failure of "actually existing capitalism" to the one that led to the collapse of "actually existing socialism" '.(p.165) The problem here is that the collapse of socialism occurred in the context of a real alternative. Of course, opposition in eastern Europe was not only anti-communist. It included nationalism, anti-imperialism, anti-atheism as well as anti-Stalinism, but nevertheless, horrific and bizarre though it might sound, Margaret Thatcher was one of the most popular names in eastern Europe during the 1980s 8 . There there was a gilded image of the West as a real alternative, not that far away, and visible in its self-presentation, as a real alternative, on film and television screens. Nothing so concrete now exists as an alternative to prevailing capitalism.

Fotopoulos notes that 'A power base is needed to destroy power.'(p.277) For this reason, as we have noted, Marx chose the large and strategically located industrial proletariat as his agency of transformation. The unmentioned Herbert Marcuse was one of those within the Marxist tradition who sought an alternative to a working class clearly not sufficiently willing to perform their scripted task. For Fotopoulos the third basis of transformation is the core agency of radicals, greens, libertarians, and feminists, in short the members of what are called the 'new social movements'. They are to provide a base of local activism from which a majority might eventually grow. In time Fotopoulos believes that inclusive democracy might appeal 'to all those alienated by the present statecraft which passes as "politics"; workers who are alienated by the hierarchical structures at the workplace; women who are alienated by the hierarchical structures both at home and the workplace; ethnic or racial minorities who are alienated by a discriminatory "statist" democracy, and so on.'(pp.286-7)

In direct contradiction to normal current tendencies this new movement will contest local elections but not national ones. Thus they will fortify the sense of local community and simultaneously hope to diminish the state. What should occur is 'the gradual involvement of increasing numbers of people in a new kind of politics, and the parallel shifting of economic resources (labour, capital, land) away from the market economy.'(p.282)

Once again we can say that we have been here before. At the demise of communism in East Germany some of the type of people that Fotopoulos favours were at the forefront of opposition: radical democrats, democratic socialists, and environmentalists. Their moment came... and went. They were swept aside by those with more economic power.

This brings us to the issue of the oppostion that any radical proposals are bound to produce. The 'utopian socialists' gave scant attention to this theme. To an extent they thought that appeals to superior rationality would be enough. Otherwise for them the problem was reduced to the extent that they planned only small communities of believers and so did not challenge the might of the prevailing political and economic order. For Marx and Engels opposition was sociologically determinded. Those who were to be dispossessed would do all in their power to resist, and that was precisely why only a revolution could bring about the required changes.

It is a measure of the realism with which Fotopoulos examines this question that he is clearly aware of the opposition his proposals will produce. He has, after all, declared war on 'statism and the market economy'. (p.287), threatened the 'penalization of anti-ecological activities' (p.291) and declared that hierarchical economic structures will be 'eliminated.'(p.242) The inclusive democracy movement takes on might opponents and one wonders how a policy of statelessness will find the means of controlling them. We have seen in the United Kingdom the kind of scurrilous press campaigns that over the years have been waged against the likes of Michael Foot, Tony Benn, Arthur Scargill and Ken Livingstone. On this basis we can begin to imagine the media backlash that would lampoon and villify the inclusive democracy movement Mr.Takis Theodorakis and his cohorts should itthey begin to make real inroads into popular beliefs. What, for example, would be the reaction to the attempt to 'expropriate' such 'privately owned big enterprises'(p.298) as MacDonalds, Coca-Cola and Shell ? And how would the state react to the gradual taking over of its fiscal powers ? (see p.299) I found nothing in this book on the consequences of breaching our international obligations. Would, for example, ecologically inclined communities still be prepared to allow 40 ton lorries along their streets ? If not, we would have broken European Union regulations. Even if we achieve sanity in one country, how would the insane world react ? Insanely but powerfully, I expect, as the United States once did against Allende's Chile.

Does that mean, then, that nothing will happen; that society is frozen into its current structures? The forthcoming millenium encourages us to lift our thoughts to the longue durée. One thing that is clear about history is that it moves. The Roman Empire fell, as did the British and the Communist empires. All must at one time have appeared solid and impregnable. Henry Miller, no less, was, back in the 1930s, bold enough to suggest that even the American empire wiould one day crumble into dust. Even George Soros, that brilliant arch-manipulator of global markets (your innumerate reviewer cannot disguise his jealousy) regards the whole system as unstable. Indeed, as compared with the Fukuyama-led complacency at the beginning of this decade, the mood now is more one of disquiet concerning global economic tendencies.

I doubt if we will get any improvement unless we dare to think of it, dare to outline its principles and purpose, dare to consider how we might move towards it. The attempt made here is bold and brave even before any move in its direction is made for it can provoke ridicule from those who dismiss anything different as utopian. Anyway perhaps a touch of utopianism is precisely what we need at the moment.

DECISION-MAKING

Purposeful selection from among a set of alternatives in light of a given objective. Decision-making is not a separate function of management. In fact, decision-making is intertwined with the other functions, such as Planning, Coordinating, and Controlling. These functions all require that decisions be made. For example, at the outset, management must make a critical decision as to which of several strategies would be followed. Such a decision is often called a strategic decision because of its long-term impact on the organization. Also, managers must make scores of lesser decisions, tactical and operational, all of which are important to the organization's well-being.
Decision Making
Decision making, also referred to as problem solving, is the process of recognizing a problem or opportunity and finding a solution to it. Decisions are made by everyone involved in the business world, but managers typically face the most decisions on a daily basis. Many of these decisions are relatively simple and routine, such as ordering production supplies, choosing the discount rate for an order, or deciding the annual raise of an employee. These routine types of decisions are known as programmed decisions, because the decision maker already knows what the solution and outcome will be. However, managers are also faced with decisions that can drastically affect the future outcomes of the business. These types of decisions are known as nonprogrammed decisions, because neither the appropriate solution nor the potential outcome is known. Examples of nonprogrammed decisions include merging with another company, creating a newproduct, or expanding production facilities.
Decision making typically follows a six-step process:
Identify the problem or opportunity
Gather relevant information
Develop as many alternatives as possible
Evaluate alternatives to decide which is best
Decide on and implement the best alternative
Follow-up on the decision
In step 1, the decision maker must be sure he or she has an accurate grasp of the situation. The need to make a decision has occurred because there is a difference between the desired outcome and what is actually occurring. Before proceeding to step 2, it is important to pinpoint the actual cause of the situation, which may not always be obviously apparent.
In step 2, the decision maker gathers as much information as possible because having all the facts gives the decision maker a much better chance of making the appropriate decision. When an uninformed decision is made, the outcome is usually not very positive, so it is important to have all the facts before proceeding.
In step 3, the decision maker attempts to come up with as many alternatives as possible. A technique known as "brainstorming," whereby group members offer any and all ideas even if they sound totally ridiculous, is often used in this step.
In step 4, the alternatives are evaluated and the best one is selected. The process of evaluating the alternatives usually starts by narrowing the choices down to two or three and then choosing the best one. This step is usually the most difficult, because there are often many variables to consider. The decision maker must attempt to select the alternative that will be the most effective given the available amount of information, the legal obstacles, the public relations issues, the financial implications, and the time constraints on making the decision. Often the decision maker is faced with a problem for which there is no apparent good solution at the moment. When this happens, the decision maker must make the best choice available at the time but continue to look for a better option in the future.
Once the decision has been made, step 5 is performed. Implementation often requires some additional planning time as well as the understanding and cooperation of the people involved. Communication is very important in the implementation step, because most people are resistant to change simply because they do not understand why it is necessary. In order to ensure smooth implementation of the decision, the decision maker should communicate the reasons behind the decision to the people involved.
In step 6, after the decision has been implemented, the decision maker must follow-up on the decision to see if it is working successfully. If the decision that was implemented has corrected the difference between the actual and desired outcome, the decision is considered successful. However, if the implemented decision has not produced the desired result, once again a decision must be made. The decision maker can decide to give the decision more time to work, choose another of the generated alternatives, or start the whole process over from the beginning.
Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Decisions
People at different levels in a company have different types of decision-making responsibilities. Strategic decisions, which affect the long-term direction of the entire company, are typically made by top managers. Examples of strategic decisions might be to focus efforts on a newproduct or to increase production output. These types of decisions are often complex and the outcomes uncertain, because available information is often limited. Managers at this level must often depend on past experiences and their instincts when making strategic decisions.
Tactical decisions, which focus on more intermediate-term issues, are typically made by middle managers. The purpose of decisions made at this level is to help move the company closer to reaching the strategic goal. Examples of tactical decisions might be to pick an advertising agency to promote a newproduct or to provide an incentive plan to employees to encourage increased production.
Operational decisions focus on day-to-day activities within the company and are typically made by lower-level managers. Decisions made at this level help to ensure that daily activities proceed smoothly and therefore help to move the company toward reaching the strategic goal. Examples of operational decisions include scheduling employees, handling employee conflicts, and purchasing rawmaterials needed for production.
It should be noted that in many "flatter" organizations, where the middle management level has been eliminated, both tactical and operational decisions are made by lower-level management and/or teams of employees.
Group Decisions
Group decision making has many benefits as well as some disadvantages. The obvious benefit is that there is more input and therefore more possible solutions to the situation can be generated.
Another advantage is that there is shared responsibility for the decision and its outcome, so one person does not have total responsibility for making a decision. The disadvantages are that it often takes a long time to reach a group consen sus and that group members may have to com promise in order to reach a consensus. Many businesses have created problem-solving teams whose purpose is to find ways to improve specific work activities.
Bibliography
Boone, Louis E., and Kurtz, David L. (1999). Contemporary Business, 9th ed. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
Bounds, Gregory M., and Lamb, Charles W., Jr. (1998). Business. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing.
Clancy, Kevin J., and Shulman, Robert S. (1994). Marketing Myths That are Killing Business: The Cure for Death Wish Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill.
French, Wendell L. (1998). Human Resources Management. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Madura, Jeff. (1998). Introduction to Business. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing.
Nickels, William G., McHugh, James M., and McHugh, Susan M. (1999). Understanding Business, 5th ed. Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill.
Pride, William M., Hughes, Robert J., and Kapoor, Jack R. (1999). Business, 6th ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Decision making is the cognitive process leading to the selection of a course of action among alternatives. Every decision making process produces a final choice. It can be an action or an opinion. It begins when we need to do something but we do not know what. Therefore, decision making is a reasoning process which can be rational or irrational, and can be based on explicit assumptions or tacit assumptions.
Common examples include shopping, deciding what to eat, when to sleep, and deciding whom or what to vote for in an election or referendum.
Decision making is said to be a psychological construct. This means that although we can never "see" a decision, we can infer from observable behaviour that a decision has been made. Therefore, we conclude that a psychological event that we call "decision making" has occurred. It is a construction that imputes commitment to action. That is, based on observable actions, we assume that people have made a commitment to affect the action.
Structured rational decision making is an important part of all science-based professions, where specialists apply their knowledge in a given area to making informed decisions. For example, medical decision making often involves making a diagnosis and selecting an appropriate treatment. Some research using naturalistic methods shows, however, that in situations with higher time pressure, higher stakes, or increased ambiguities, experts use intuitive decision making rather than structured approaches, following a recognition primed decision approach to fit a set of indicators into the expert's experience and immediately arrive at a satisfactory course of action without weighing alternatives.
Due to the large number of considerations involved in many decisions, computer-based decision support systems have been developed to assist decision makers in considering the implications of various courses of thinking. They can help reduce the risk of human errors.
Decision making style
According to behavioralist Isabel Briggs Myers (1962), a person's decision making process depends to a significant degree on their cognitive style. Starting from the work of Carl Jung, Myers developed a set of four bi-polar dimensions, called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The terminal points on these dimensions are: thinking and feeling; extroversion and introversion; judgement and perception; and sensing and intuition. She claimed that a person's decision making style is based largely on how they score on these four dimensions. For example, someone that scored near the thinking, extroversion, sensing, and judgement ends of the dimensions would tend to have a logical, analytical, objective, critical, and empirical decision making style.
Cognitive and personal biases in decision making
It is generally agreed that biases can creep into our decision making processes, calling into question the correctness of a decision. It is not generally agreed, however, which normative models are to be used to evaluate what constitutes an erroneous decision. Nor is the scientific evidence for all of the biases agreed upon. So, while it is agreed that decision making can be biased, how to tell when it is, and specific cases of biases, are often challenged. The issue in general can be quite controversial among scholars in the field. Below is a list of some of the more commonly debated cognitive biases.
Selective search for evidence(a.k.a Comfirmation Bias in psychology)(Plous, 1993) - We tend to be willing to gather facts that support certain conclusions but disregard other facts that support different conclusions.
Premature termination of search for evidence - We tend to accept the first alternative that looks like it might work.
Inertia - Unwillingness to change thought patterns that we have used in the past in the face of new circumstances.
Contrariness or rebelliousness - Unwillingness to share a view with a perceived oppressive authority.
Experiential limitations - Unwillingness or inability to look beyond the scope of our past experiences; rejection of the unfamiliar.
Selective perception - We actively screen-out information that we do not think is salient. (See prejudice.)
Wishful thinking or optimism - We tend to want to see things in a positive light and this can distort our perception and thinking.
Choice-supportive bias occurs when we distort our memories of chosen and rejected options to make the chosen options seem relatively more attractive.
Recency - We tend to place more attention on more recent information and either ignore or forget more distant information. (See semantic priming.)The opposite effect in the first set of data or other information is termed Primacy effect (Plouse, 1993)
Repetition bias - A willingness to believe what we have been told most often and by the greatest number of different of sources.
Anchoring and adjustment - Decisions are unduly influenced by initial information that shapes our view of subsequent information.
Group think - Peer pressure to conform to the opinions held by the group.
Source credibility bias - We reject something if we have a bias against the person, organization, or group to which the person belongs: We are inclined to accept a statement by someone we like. (See prejudice.)
Incremental decision making and escalating commitment - We look at a decision as a small step in a process and this tends to perpetuate a series of similar decisions. This can be contrasted with zero-based decision making. (See slippery slope.)
Inconsistency - The unwillingness to apply the same decision criteria in similar situations.
Attribution asymmetry - We tend to attribute our success to our abilities and talents, but we attribute our failures to bad luck and external factors. We attribute other's success to good luck, and their failures to their mistakes.
Role fulfillment(Self Fulfilling Prophecy) - We conform to the decision making expectations that others have of someone in our position.
Underestimating uncertainty and the illusion of control - We tend to underestimate future uncertainty because we tend to believe we have more control over events than we really do. We believe we have control to minimize potential problems in our decisions.
Faulty generalizations - In order to simplify an extremely complex world, we tend to group things and people. These simplifying generalizations can bias decision making processes.
Ascription of causality - We tend to ascribe causation even when the evidence only suggests correlation. Just because birds fly to the equatorial regions when the trees lose their leaves, does not mean that the birds migrate because the trees lose their leaves.
For an explanation of the logical processes behind some of these biases, see logical fallacy.
Cognitive neuroscience of decision making
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and orbitofrontal cortex are brain regions involved in decision making processes. A recent neuroimaging study, Interactions between decision making and performance monitoring within prefrontal cortex, found distinctive patterns of neural activation in these regions depending on whether decisions were made on the basis of personal volition or following directions from someone else.
Another recent study by Kennerly, et al. (2006) found that lesions to the ACC in the macaque resulted in impaired decision making in the long run of reinforcement guided tasks suggesting that the ACC is responsible for evaluating past reinforcement information and guiding future action.
Emotion appears to aid the decision-making process:
Decision making often occurs in the face of uncertainty about whether one's choices will lead to benefit or harm. The somatic-marker hypothesis is a neurobiological theory of how decisions are made in the face of uncertain outcome. This theory holds that such decisions are aided by emotions, in the form of bodily states, that are elicited during the deliberation of future consequences and that mark different options for behavior as being advantageous or disadvantageous. This process involves an interplay between neural systems that elicit emotional/bodily states and neural systems that map these emotional/bodily states. [1]


Decision making in groups
Decision making in groups is sometimes examined separately as process and outcome. Process refers to the group interactions. Some relevant ideas include coalitions among participants as well as influence and persuasion. The use of politics is often judged negatively, but it is a useful way to approach problems when preferences among actors are in conflict, when dependencies exist that cannot be avoided, when there are no super-ordinate authorities, and when the technical or scientific merit of the options is ambiguous.
In addition to the different processes involved in making decisions, group decision support systems (GDSS) may have different decision rules. A decision rule is the GDSS protocol a group uses to choose among scenario planning alternatives.
Unanimity is commonly used by juries in criminal trials in the United States. Unanimity requires everyone to agree on a given course of action, and thus imposes a high bar for action.
Majority requires support from more than 50% of the members of the group. Thus, the bar for action is lower than with unanimity and a group of "losers" is implicit to this rule.
Range voting allows a group to select one option from a set by letting each member score one or more of the available options. The option with the highest average is chosen. This method has experimentally been shown to produce the lowest Bayesian regret among common voting methods, even when voters are strategic.
Consensus decision-making tries to avoid "winners" and "losers". Consensus requires that a majority approve a given course of action, but that the minority agree to go along with the course of action. In other words, if the minority opposes the course of action, consensus requires that the course of action be modified to remove objectionable features.
Gathering involves all participants acknowledging each other's needs and opinions and tends towards a problem solving approach in which as many needs and opinions as possible can be satisfied. It allows for multiple outcomes and does not require agreement from some for others to act.
Sub-committee involves assigning responsibility for evaluation of a decision to a sub-set of a larger group, which then comes back to the larger group with recommendations for action. Using a sub-committee is more common in larger governance groups, such as a legislature. Sometimes a sub-committee includes those individuals most affected by a decision, although at other times it is useful for the larger group to have a sub-committee that involves more neutral participants.
Less desirable group decision rules are:
Plurality, where the largest block in a group decides, even if it falls short of a majority.
Dictatorship, where one individual determines the course of action.
See also: groupthink
Plurality and dictatorship are less desirable as decision rules because they do not require the involvement of the broader group to determine a choice. Thus, they do not engender commitment to the course of action chosen. An absence of commitment from individuals in the group can be problematic during the implementation phase of a decision.
There are no perfect decision making rules. Depending on how the rules are implemented in practice and the situation, all of these can lead to situations where either no decision is made, or to situations where decisions made are inconsistent with one another over time.
Principles
The ethical principles of decision making vary considerably. Some common choices of principles and the methods which seem to match them include:
the most powerful person/group decides
method: dictatorship or oligarchy
everyone participates in a certain class of meta-decisions
method: parliamentary democracy
everyone participates in every decision
direct democracy, consensus decision making
There are many decision making levels having a participation element. A common example is that of institutions making decisions that affect those for whom they provide. In such cases an understanding of what participation level is involved becomes crucial to understand the process and power structures dynamics.
Decision making in one's personal life
Some of the decision making techniques that we use in everyday life include:
listing the advantages and disadvantages of each option, popularized by Benjamin Franklin
flipping a coin, cutting a deck of playing cards, and other random or coincidence methods
accepting the first option that seems like it might achieve the desired result
prayer, tarot cards, astrology, augurs, revelation, or other forms of divination
acquiesce to a person in authority or an "expert"
Calculating the expected value for each option. For example, a person is considering two jobs. At the first job option the person has a 60% chance of getting a 30% percent raise in the first year. And at the second job option the person has a 80% chance of getting a 10% raise in the first year. The decision maker would calculate the expected value of each option, calculating the probability multiplied by the increase of value. (0.60*0.30=0.18 [option a] 0.80*0.10=0.08 [option b]) The person deciding on the job would chose the option with the highest expected value, in this example option a.
An alternative may be to apply one of the processes described below, in particular in the Business and Management section.
Decision making in healthcare
In the health care field, the steps of making a decision may be remembered with the mnemonic BRAND, which includes
Benefits of the action
Risks in the action
Alternatives to the prospective action
Nothing: that is, doing nothing at all
Decision
Decision making models
"Economic men and women" is a mathematical model used for human behavior. This model is used to describe three things:
Decision makers are informed on all possible options for their decisions and know of all possible outcomes
Decision makers are infinitely sensitive to the small distinctions among their different options. They are capable of knowing all the differences between their options, regardless of how small they are.
Decision makers are rational in their choices. They are capable of making a choice to maximize or increase value.
Subjective expected theory. This is the goal of human action to seek happiness and avoid pain.
Subjective utility. The prospects are based on an individual’s values rather than on objective criteria.
Subjective probability. The prospects are based on an individual’s estimates of likelihood rather than mathematical equations.
Using the example in Decisions for One’s Personal life, a person would use the subjective expected theory to take into account comfort of the job, how the long hours can affect personal time with family and friends, as well as possible job relocation. This theory also people to take into account the many subjective variables.
Path dependency
Main article: path dependency
It is perhaps pertinent to note that the cost of making no decision at all itself is a factor, and that the benefit of making some decision, even a random choice, can be beneficial in the longer term. Thus the reversibility of an action may be a good way to judge whether or not an action or process is beneficial. A resource can also be viewed as something expendable, or bearing a cost, rather than the implication of selecting something irrevocably.
Even life and death decisions have been priced this way, as in the insurance industry.
Decision making in business and management
In general, business and management systems should be set up to allow decision making at the lowest possible level.
Several decision making models for business include:
SWOT Analysis - Evaluation by the decision making individual or organization of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats with respect to desired end state or objective.
Analytic Hierarchy Process - procedure for multi-level goal hierarchy
Buyer decision processes - transaction before, during, and after a purchase
Complex systems - common behavioural and structural features that can be modelled
Corporate finance:
The investment decision
The financing decision
The dividend decision
working capital management decisions
Cost-benefit analysis - process of weighing the total expected costs vs. the total expected benefits
Decision trees
Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
critical path analysis
critical chain analysis
Force field analysis - analizing forces that either drive or hinder movement toward a goal
Grid Analysis - analysis done by compairing the weighted averages of ranked criteria to options. A way of comparing both objective and subjective data.
Linear programming - optimization problems in which the objective function and the constraints are all linear
Min-max criterion
Model (economics)- theoretical construct of economic processes of variables and their relationships
Monte Carlo method - class of computational algorithms for simulating systems
Morphological analysis - all possible solutions to a multi-dimensional problem complex
optimization
constrained optimization
Paired Comparison Analysis - paired choice analysis
Pareto Analysis - selection of a limited of number of tasks that produce significant overall effect
Satisficing - In decision-making, satisficing explains the tendency to select the first option that meets a given need or select the option that seems to address most needs rather than the “optimal” solution.
Scenario analysis - process of analyzing possible future events
Six Thinking Hats - symbolic process for parallel thinking
Strategic planning process - applying the objectives, SWOTs, strategies, programs process
Ubiquitous command and control is a concept for dynamic decision making based on "agreement between an individual and the world", and "agreements between individuals"
Decision-makers and influencers
In the context of industrial goods marketing, there is much theory, and even more opinion, expressed about how the various `decision-makers' and `influencers' (those who can only influence, not decide, the final decision) interact. Decisions are frequently taken by groups, rather than individuals, and the official buyer often does not have authority to take the decision.
Miller & Heiman, for example, offered a more complex view of industrial buying decisions (particularly in the area of `complex sales' of capital equipment). They see three levels of decision making:
'Economic buying influence' - the decision-maker who can authorize the necessary funds for purchase
'User buying influences' - the people in the buying company who will use the product and will specify what they want to purchase
'Technical buying influence' - the `experts' (including, typically, the buying department) who can veto the purchase on technical grounds
Webster and Wind, in a similar vein, identify six roles within the `buying centre':
'Users' - who will actually use the product or service
'Influencers' - particularly technical personnel
'Deciders' - the actual decision-makers
'Approvers' - who formally authorize the decision
'Buyers' - the department with formal authority
'Gatekeepers' - those who have the power to stop the sellers reaching other members of the `buying centre'
Styles and methods of decision making
Positional and combinational styles
Styles and methods of decision making were elaborated by the founder of Predispositioning Theory, Aron Katsenelinboigen. In his analysis on styles and methods Katsenelinboigen referred to the game of chess, saying that “chess does disclose various methods of operation, notably the creation of predisposition—methods which may be applicable to other, more complex systems.” [1] In his book Katsenelinboigen states that apart from the methods (reactive and selective) and sub-methods (randomization, predispositioning, programming), there are two major styles – positional and combinational. Both styles are utilized in the game of chess. According to Katsenelinboigen, the two styles reflect two basic approaches to the uncertainty: deterministic (combinational style) and indeterministic (positional style). Katsenelinboigen’s definition of the two styles are the following.
The combinational style is characterized by
a very narrow, clearly defined, primarily material goal, and
a program that links the initial position with the final outcome.
In defining the combinational style in chess, Katsenelinboigen writes:
The combinational style features a clearly formulated limited objective, namely the capture of material (the main constituent element of a chess position). The objective is implemented via a well defined and in some cases in a unique sequence of moves aimed at reaching the set goal. As a rule, this sequence leaves no options for the opponent. Finding a combinational objective allows the player to focus all his energies on efficient execution, that is, the player’s analysis may be limited to the pieces directly partaking in the combination. This approach is the crux of the combination and the combinational style of play. [1]
The positional style is distinguished by
a positional goal and
a formation of semi-complete linkages between the initial step and final outcome.
“Unlike the combinational player, the positional player is occupied, first and foremost, with the elaboration of the position that will allow him to develop in the unknown future. In playing the positional style, the player must evaluate relational and material parameters as independent variables. (… )The positional style gives the player the opportunity to develop a position until it becomes pregnant with a combination. However, the combination is not the final goal of the positional player—it helps him to achieve the desirable, keeping in mind a predisposition for the future development. The Pyrrhic victory is the best example of one’s inability to think positionally.” [2]
The positional style serves to
a) create a predisposition to the future development of the position;b) induce the environment in a certain way;c) absorb an unexpected outcome in one’s favor;d) avoid the negative aspects of unexpected outcomes.
The positional style gives the player the opportunity to develop a position until it becomes pregnant with a combination. Katsenelinboigen writes:“As the game progressed and defense became more sophisticated the combinational style of play declined. . . . The positional style of chess does not eliminate the combinational one with its attempt to see the entire program of action in advance. The positional style merely prepares the transformation to a combination when the latter becomes feasible.” [3]
References
Katsenelinboigen, Aron. The Concept of Indeterminism and Its Applications: Economics, Social Systems, Ethics, Artificial Intelligence, and Aesthetics Praeger: Westport, Connecticut, 1997, p.6)
Ulea, The Concept of Dramatic Genre and The Comedy of A New Type. Chess, Literature, and Film. Southern Illinois University Press, 2002, p.p.17-18])
Selected Topics in Indeterministic Systems Intersystems Publications: California, 1989, p. 21
R. B. Miller and S. E. Heiman, 'Strategic Selling ' (Kogan Page, 1989)
F. E. Webster and Y. Wind, 'Organizational Buying Behavior ' (Prentice-Hall, 1972)
D. Mercer, ‘Marketing’ (Blackwell, 1996)
S. Plous The Psychology of Judgement and Decision Making, (Mcgraw-Hill, 1993

GENDER MAINSTREAMING AS A TRANSFORMATIVE PROCESS OF DEVELOPMENT

Gender is a psychological concept that refers to the inferences we make about being male or female. Gender is a way in which we classify ourselves in social terms as male and female. Sometimes "gender" has commonly been used interchangeably with "sex," within the academic fields of cultural studies, gender studies and the social sciences (Wikipedia, 2003).
Gender and particularly the role of women is widely recognized as vitally important to international development issues. This often means a focus on gender-equality, ensuring participation, but includes an understanding of the different roles and expectation of the genders within the community (Roscoe, 2000).
Transformative process refers to a fundamental change in attitude or behaviuor of individuals or the relationship between two or more disputing parties. While the behavioural change may be relatively minor or subtle, it goes beyond the immediate situation to alter the way in which the parties see themselves, the world and especially, each other and how they treat each other over (Mulkins A.L and Verhoef MJ (2004).
Development refers to the progress of improving human welfare, which is essentially about increasing the amount of goods and service people can buy (Trainer, 2005).
Gender mainstreaming according to the United Nations Gender Policy refers to the process of assessing the implications of any planned action for both men and women. It seeks to ensure that both men and women benefit equally by integrating their experiences and concerns into the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic, and social spheres (www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003).
Indeed, Gender Mainstreaming is a globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality. Mainstreaming is not an end in itself but a strategy, an approach, a means to achieve the goal of gender equality. Mainstreaming involves ensuring that gender perspectives and attention to the goal of gender equality is central to all activities for example policy development, research, advocacy/dialogue, legislation, resource allocation, and planning, implementation and monitoring of programmes and projects.
While gender mainstreaming varius tools are applied such as gender awareness and gender sensitivity training programmes, gender analysis, gender statistics, gender indicators and indices, gender budgeting and gender audits. Mainstreaming includes gender specific activities and affirmative action, whenever women and men are in a disadvantageous position. Gender specific interventions can target women exclusively, men and women together or only men to enable them participate in and benefit equally from development efforts.
Transformation by gender mainstreaming is not about adding a woman’s component or gender equality component into an existing activity but it goes beyond by bringing the experiences, knowledge and interests of women and men to bear on the development. Mainstreaming gender equality is thus the transformation of unequal social and institutional structures into equal for both men and women (Sandler, 1997).
As gender mainstreaming aims at equality, it has led to the security of human rights and social justice for both men and women whereby after knowing their rights for example the right to inherit the property or resources like land which is a target for achieving development simple because if both men and women have equal chances to property, development will occur.
In addition gender mainstreaming has also led to development due to the fact that both men and women are involved in the decision making processes for example in Uganda there is a legal requirement that at least 1/3 of the local councils should be women.
More so, gender mainstreaming as a transformative process has led both men and women into the political arena where both parties participate equally and this healthy competition has obviously facilitated development at various levels of community.
Further still, gender mainstreaming in the develipment process has been instrumental in directly addressing inequality by involving both men and women in development programmess for example in microfinance both parties have been involved as equal partners. Information at hand has it that women tend to dominate this field because they are regarded as more reliable at repaying the loans than their counterparts. Also, it is claimed that women are more likely to use the money for the benefit of their families hence development in such families.
Gender mainstreaming has been incorpoarted in organizations working in developing countries and in the development field have incorporated advocacy and empowerment for women into their work. A notable example is Wangari Maathai's environmental organization, the Green Belt Movement. It sholud be remembered that environment is the base of development in any country. Therefore gender mainstreaming is a tool that improves our sorroundings and this is very essential in development since a healthy population will always work towards improving its wellbeing.
In the field of education, gender mainstreaming has played a vital role. These days both women and men or girls and boys access education equally. It should be remembered that education is a key to many aspects of life including development. In Uganda for instance, the introduction of universal primary education (UPE) and the recent introduction of universal secondary education (USE) are indicators of a transformative process to encourage development through education.

Gender mainstreaming also is considered as an empowerment tool through training of both men and women to acquire life survival skills. This transforms people into responsible citizens as realize their worth towards personal and community development. For example Makerere University has embarked on training men and women to acquire project panning and management skills, computer application skills, leadership skills and so on in order to propel development at various community and institutional levels.
However there remain challenges hindering full gender mainstreaming worldwide. For instance the legal system, the national machinery and the working mechanism of gender mainstreaming, which has laid down unfavorable conditions for especially women’s development .For example in Uganda the legal system still posses loopholes more especially to the issues affecting women. The system tends to favour men at the expense of women. In light of the outgoing point, that’s why the Domestic Relations Bill has taken long to be passed by a male dominated parliament.
Secondly, the people’s attitudes towards the issues of equality of men and women remain negative in developing nations like Uganda where men still claim the dominance of resource ownership such as land.
Conclusively, gender-mainstreaming activities promote development and reduce poverty in various communities. This can be done through the transformative process of development where both men and women are sensitized about their vital role in societal development by putting their gender differences aside.
REFERENCE:
Beijing, China - September 1995 conference: Action for Equality, Development and Peace
Moser, C et al. (1998): Mainstreaming: Strategy for achieving equality between women and men. A thick piece. World Bank
Mulkins A.L and Verhoef MJ (2004): Supporting the transformative process, Tzu Chi Research Group, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Roscoe, Will (2000): Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America, Palgrave Macmillan.
Sandler, J. (1997): "UNIFEM's Experience in Mainstreaming for Gender Equality". UNIFEM, 1997.
Trainer, T. (2005): Development: the radically alternative view, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia.
Kemal, D.(2005) Empowerment of women and promotion of gender equality,UND, Geneva.
Www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003 /wom1398.doc.htm
Www.unicef.org/gender/index.html
Www.unece.org/stats/gender/web
Www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform1995

WHY PEOPLE OBEY THE RULES (HIRSCHI'S THEORY)

The central focus of Hirschi’s theory is the reason why people obey rules, and not why people break the rules. Indeed this has its roots in what is known as control theories advanced by various proponents like Albert Reiss, Jackson Toby, Ivan Nye, Walter Reckless, David Matza, Jack Gibbs, Hirschi and so on.
Hirschi is believed to be the most prominent control theorist and contributed significant works to the field of criminology thought-out the past few decades. He is a classical, choice theorist and generated two versions of the control theory, presented in the causes of delinquency in 1969, which had an origin in the social disorganization perspective. This control theory of delinquency purported that in a general theory of crime in 1990 with Michael Gottfredson who explained that weak social bonds might set an individual free to weigh the benefits of crime. Social control theory proposes that people’s relationship, commitment, values, norms and beliefs encourage them not to break the law. Thus if the moral codes are internalized and individuals are tied into and have a stance in their wider community, they will voluntarily limit their propensity to commit deviant acts.
Hirschi instead of focusing on an individual’s personality as a source of criminality, he focused on the role of social relationship that he called social bonds and institutions (Hirschi, 1969:16).
Control theory delinquency assumes that delinquent acts result when one’s bond or connection to society is weal or broken. Hirschi contended that no motivational factors were necessary for to become delinquent but the absence of control that allows the individuals to be free to weigh the benefits of crime over the costs of these acts.
Hirschi discussed four variables that may affect ones likelihood of conforming to or deviating from the norms of society: Attachments, Commitment, Involvement and Belief.
Hirschi (1969:18) by attachments refers to the extent to which a person is attached to others. As the individual becomes more attached to others, he is far les likely to become delinquent because of the ties, admires identity and their expectations. The attachment and interactions may be with the parents, peers, teachers, religious leaders and other members of a community for example a person is less likely to commit murder, defilement because of the fear of what will the people attached to them say and shame in front of the attached members.
Hirschi prefers the concept of attachment to that of internalization, because of attachment can be measured independently from deviant behaviour.
Commitment according to Hirschi means the rational component in conformity. He further contends that commitment refers to the fear of law-breaking bahaviour. A person according to Hirschi is not likely to commit deviant or criminal behaviour when they consider the risks of losing the investment he has made in previous conventional behaviour for example not paying taxes for the goods, which can lead a person to lose everything invested previously. Not only can one be committed to conformity by what he has obtained but also the hope of acquiring goods through conventional means can reinforce one’s commitment to the social bonds (Hirschi, 1969:186). Commitment is pure common sense, because abiding by the rules of society helps one retain or enhance one’s skills in society.
Engrossment is conventional activities comprises the component of involvement. Hirschi’s believes that involvement in conventional keep someone’s time too occupied to allow him the indulgence of deviant bahaviour. Hirschi thought for a person for example being involved in doing homework, joining football club or attending computer lessons during the holidays, the opportunity for deviance rarely arise.
As the concept of involvement has generated programmes that focus on recreational activities to occupy the leisure time of juveniles, it has been criticized that some individuals commit crimes because they are engrossed in work for example white collar and blue-collar criminals. Belief which is another variable that deter people from deviating from the social norms, refers to the existence of a common value system within the society whose norms are being violated (Hirschi, 1969:197).
A person is more likely to conform to social norms when he believes in them for example when a Christian believes that not attending church service is a sin or a crime or a belief that when a person disobeys the parents he will be cursed. Hirschi recognizes that individuals vary in the depth and magnitude of their belief and rely upon the degree of attachments to the systems representing the beliefs. Thus Hirschi viewed the four variables as highly intercorrelated.

However, the four variables of conformity and deviation do encounter some criticism as highlighted hereunder;
Firstly, they do not seem to explain all types of crime. Involvement for example may not explain white collar or blue-collar crime because if one is conforming to societal norms by working at the job, he is not necessarily too busy to commit crime but because his working has the opportunity to commit crime.
Also involvement provides an overly simplistic solution to the problems generated by delinquency for example Hirschi suggestion that “the child playing, swimming or doing homework is not committing delinquent acts” may imply that providing youth with playing swimming and homework will rid society of crime (Hirschi, 1969:187).
Another weakness of the four variables is that they have been thought of as confusing, because Hirschi intended a sociological definition rather than a psychological sense (Lilly et al, 1995:99). Attachment has been confused as the strength of an internal, emotional bond that may grow more intense without interaction which is not the case. By commitment Hirschi did not mean a deep internal definition of the self of others. By involvement he was not referring to the emotional entanglements. By belief he did not mean a significant inner faith or deep belief in something or someone (Lilly et al, 1995:100).

In conclusion, though Hirschi’s control theory is still prominent in the modern society, it has faced many criticisms as mentioned above and some of these critiques have even been furnished by Hirschi himself especially regarding the origin of this theory.
It is assumed that, in contrast, that there is variation in the extent to which people believe they should obey the rules of society and furthermore that the less a person believes he or she should obey the rules the more likely he or she is to violate them.
In summary, Hirschi has had a significant impact on the world of criminology. His two major theories, the control theory of delinquency and self-control theory, despite criticism have guided public policy reformations and are quite popular today.





REFERENCES

Agnew, R. (1992): “Foundation for a General Strain Theory of Crime and Delinquency.”
Criminology, New Brunswick, Transaction Publishers.

Gottfredson, M. R. and Hirschi, T. (1990): A General Theory of Crime. Stanford, California:
Stanford University Press.

Hirschi, T. (1969): Causes of Delinquency. Berkeley, University of California Press.

Lilly, J et al. (1995): Criminological theory: context and consequences. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications.
Reckless, W. (1961):A new theory of delinquency and crime, Federal Probation, london, Zed Books.
Sampson, R and John, H. (1993): Crime in the Making, Pathways and Turning Points Through Life, Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
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A MULTITUDE OF PEOPLE MOURN BRIG. MAYOMBO AT KOLOLO AIRSTRIP

THOUSANDS of mourners, including army officers, Ugandan and foreign dignitaries, joined the family of the late Noble Mayombo yesterday in prayers at Kololo Airstrip. Delegations from Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the East African Community and South Africa travelled all the way to Kampala to pay their last respects to the permanent secretary of defence and former Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI). Diplomats from the US, the European Union, Arab countries and other African states were also present. In a written message, read out by the Prime Minster, Sudan President Omar Bashir said Mayombo’s death was a great loss to Uganda and Africa. “He was a loyal army officer and a pan-Africanist.” “We have gathered here as a family to bid farewell to one of our own young sons, who has died a premature death,” said Mrs. Janet Museveni, who represented the first family. “Life is truly a journey. He was generous with his time during his life journey and that is why he is being mourned by people from near and far. People are standing here and testifying for you in your absence because you lived an exemplary life. We shall miss you.” Local Government minister Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire said he knew Mayombo since 1983. “I worked with him during the problems in Congo. He is a gallant soldier, fast decision maker and a pan-Africanist. I will not let you down,” Otafiire vowed. Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi called the deceased “a bright lawyer, a distinguished Member of Parliament, a decisive permanent secretary in the Ministry of Defence, an effective head of Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence and chairman of the Board of The New Vision.” On behalf of his friends, Col. James Mugira, who heads the tanks unit of the UPDF, gave a moving testimony about their 25 years of friendship, sharing classes from high school up to university, joining the NRA, State House and CMI together. “He lived a short but impact-full life. He was full of energy and brain power. He was painstakingly meticulous, a consummate mobiliser and a trusted friend.” The Chief of Defence Forces, Lt. Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, announced that Mayombo would be post-humously awarded medals for his services. “We are here to celebrate his catalogue of achievements. He was dedicated, hardworking, had a sense of purpose, steadfast, loyal and gallant,” Nyakairima said. Meanwhile, a trust fund, initiated by The New Vision, has been set up to assist Mayombo’s children in their education. The New Vision’s chief executive officer, Robert Kabushenga, announced that the newspaper had contributed sh5m. He said other members of the interim committee of the fund were Robert Mwesigwa, Tayebwa Katurebe and Stephen Kashaija. Kabushenga also announced that the Government of South Sudan had contributed $10,000 (sh17m) to the fund, MPs sh7.5m, the Inspector General of Police sh3m, the National Enterprise Corporation sh2.5m, Picfare sh2.1m and Ntare Old Boys Association sh1m. The prayers at Kololo, led by Bishop Zac Niringiye, raised another sh5m in offertory. The function lasted up to 3:00pm, after which his body was flown in a UPDF helicopter to Fort Portal.

BRIG. NOBLE MAYOMBO'S WIDOW PRAISED HER HUSBAND

His love was unconditional - wife
The widow, Juliet and the youngest son, Noble Junior, arrive for the funeral service
IN a moving tribute to her husband, Juliet Mayombo said the four years she was married to him had been the happiest of her life. “Noble was noble as his name,” Juliet said at the prayers at Kololo Airstrip yesterday. “Noble was loving. His love was unconditional, not only for me, as his wife, but everyone who was privileged enough to have met him.” She described her husband as generous and very humourous. “He was kind and you could always count on him. He was a principled man, very hard-working, who always had his country at heart.” She said he had been a good father to his six children. “Noble adored his children. In his extremely busy schedule, he always found time to spend with his children. He showed them love. He made them laugh and he provided them with everything.” Juliet thanked President Yoweri Museveni for “being there for him in his time of need.” She added: “Although he passed away, he tried his best to save his life.” She thanked the Government for giving Noble a befitting send-off. “I truly believe he deserved every minute of it.” She also thanked the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, for accepting to honour him in the Parliament that he served. She pledged to raise their children in a way that would have made him proud. “I feel truly blessed and honoured to have been married to one of the greatest men of this nation,” she concluded. “I will always be proud of him… I will always love you, Noble.”

BRIG. MAYOMBO NOBLE WAS A MAN OF THE PEOPLE

President Yoweri Museveni throws soil into Mayombo’s grave during the burial in Kabarole District yesterday

BRIG. Noble Mayombo had been on a hit list of criminal groups in the region and the investigations into his death are following that line, President Yoweri Museveni revealed yesterday. “Our security services have been looking at criminally-minded characters in the region, who have been saying that by eliminating NRM cadres, they would finish the NRM. Mayombo’s name was high on that list, and of course also Museveni’s, as the head,” the President said at the burial of the permanent secretary in the defence ministry in Kijura, Kabarole District. Addressing over 10,000 mourners, Museveni said there was a lot of material on the activities of that group. “This material will be availed to three persons who are in charge of the investigations: Col. James Mugira, a lawyer by profession; Lt. Rusoke, a bio-chemist with a Master’s in toxicology; and a senior doctor whom I have identified, but not yet consulted.” He added that Mayombo had been warned about the intentions of that group and had been told to be careful. “But criminal scheming is not the same as succeeding. They have been planning, but not succeeding,” he said. The second line of investigations, Museveni disclosed, concerned a health problem Mayombo had had for over a decade and, it was recently discovered, had not been managed well. The President described his former aide-de-camp as “very bright”. He said Mayombo grasped matters very quickly, was a hard and fast worker who was articulate and would draft complex papers in a record 12 hours. He called him an African nationalist and a pan-Africanist, and added that he was incorruptible. Museveni said: “Mayombo was once approached by two corrupt actors who proposed separately to each build him a house for free. He asked them: ‘Why should you build a house for me? What do you owe me?’ He then reported them to me. Our systems are investigating where they get the money from. They wanted to kill him morally.” Museveni said Mayombo had helped him to straighten out the defence ministry, which was losing money through unnecessary expenditure. He cited housing in the army, where Mayombo suggested that contractors be hired to build houses and be paid from the ministry’s budget in phases. Mayombo also found solutions to “diversionary” matters like fuel and weapons acquisition. “Mayombo had relieved me of that burden. He had become a problem-solver. He would present me with different options to choose from. That way, Mayombo promoted me from being a planner to a decision-maker,” the President said. He vowed to continue to reform the civil service. “The Police is gradually being reformed by Kale Kayihura, who is Mayombo-like. Mayombo showed us that when you are both an ideologist and an administrator, you are the best. Mayombo made the ministry of defence a self-propelled gun, as opposedto a towed howitzer, like it had been.” He vowed to continue what he called the “Mayombo combination”: education, ideology and soldiership. “There is quite a crop of young people in the UPDF that potentially have that combination,” the President asserted. Museveni promised the UPDF would look after the bereaved family. “I have contributed sh30m to the trust fund for the children. If we continue what Museveni has been doing and we look after the children, Uganda will continue to grow and become a modern country, which is what Mayombo wanted,” he concluded

THE FALL OF A GREAT INTELLECTUAL

UGANDA mourns the death of one of its most brilliant and committed leaders. Brig. Noble Mayombo, the permanent secretary of defence and a close aide to President Yoweri Museveni, passed away at 3:00pm yesterday in a Kenyan hospital, at the age of 42. Born in Fort Portal, Mayombo, who held the post of Chief of Military Intelligence from 2000 to 2004, succumbed to severe pancreatitis at Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, where he had been flown on Sunday night after suffering multi-organ failure. Grief and shock gripped the nation as the news of his demise filtered through. Both the Government and the Opposition united to mourn and pay tribute to the fallen soldier. Many eulogised him in moving tributes, describing him as “a talented and brilliant young man” brimming with potential, robbed by death of the opportunity to serve the nation to his fullest, leaving behind a huge void. Though news of his critical condition was no secret, his death took many by surprise. In a press statement, defence minister Dr. Crispus Kiyonga yesterday announced “with deep sorrow the untimely death of Brig. Nogle Mayombo.” Burial arrangements, he said, would be communicated later. Illness struck on Thursday evening. At the end of a busy day in which Mayombo chaired several meetings, he started throwing up on the way home. He was rushed and admitted to Kololo Hospital, where he spent the night complaining of excruciating stomach pain. On Friday morning, he was transferred to the International Hospital Kampala for further tests and taken into the intensive care unit, where he slid into unconsciousness in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Doctors at the hospital diagnosed fulminant pancreatitis and put him on a life-support machine. A team of over 20 Cuban, Israeli and Ugandan doctors attended to him, including the cardiac team that carried out the first open-heart surgery in Uganda. He never again regained consciousness. As he suffered multi-organ failure and the required apparatus was not available in Uganda, he was flown in the presidential jet to Nairobi at 10:00pm on Sunday night and admitted to Aga Khan Hospital. His condition slightly improved yesterday morning, triggering optimism that he would pull through, only to end in tragedy. Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) leader Dr. Kizza Besigye said he was moved by the news of Mayombo’s death. “It is obviously shocking. To lose such a young man who has been active all this time. I have had time to disagree with the system that he has vigorously served but I recognise that he was a very intelligent young man who was caught up in a wrong system,” Besigye told The New Vision by telephone. “It is a pity that he has died at such a tender age without really giving the full positive contribution that he would have been able to. I sympathise with the family, his brothers whom I have worked with and Rabwoni Okwiri whom I still work with.” Ofwono Opondo, the deputy spokesman of the National Resistance Movement, described Mayombo’s departure as disturbing. “It is chilling that we have lost a person of such caliber, more so at such a young age,” he said. “It is not easy these days to find clean people holding public office but he was one of the few we had around. It is going to be difficult to replace him.” He added that in some Movement circles, Mayombo had been eyed as a probable successor to President Yoweri Museveni. “Some people were already beginning to think that he had the qualities of Mzee (Museveni) and were seeing him as a probable replacement,” Ofwono disclosed. Former New Vision Editor-In-Chief and Managing Director, William Pike, described Mayombo as a hardworking man with great potential. “He was a hardworking young man with a great career ahead of him. I had a good working relation with him. Even in difficult times when I was leaving, we were always on friendly terms,” Pike said of the man who was also the board chairman of The New Vision. “He had a wonderful sense of humour which livened up even the most complicated of situations. We have lost a talented young man.” He noted that Mayombo had sacrificed himself to the army and the Movement, over-straining himself by working up to 20 hours a day. “If Mayombo was guilty of anything, then he was guilty of over-working. He pushed himself beyond the limit. The body can only take so much and maybe this presents a lesson to all of us that we need to take time off to relax after work.” And in Juba, the Government delegation to the peace talks, expressed sorrow over the loss of a “special officer”. “We are really sad. To me it is like the loss of Oyite Ojok. He was a brilliant and outstanding UPDF officer,” the deputy leader of the Government team, Okello Oryem, said. “It is a loss to Uganda, the UPDF, the Movement and his wife and family. Only God knows why a person like Mayombo should lose his life at this time to a rather unknown sickness.” News of his demise drew sympathy from all over Africa and the world. Congolese opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, said from Lisbon, Portugal: “I am saddened by his death. He was a man of great vision and a pan-Africanist.” Another Congolese leader, Roger Lumbala, said from Kinshasa: “I worked very closely with him and knew him as a bright and committed officer. He advised the Congolese to unite if they were to develop and rebuild their country.” At his home in Bukoto, vehicles jammed the roads as grief-stricken mourners gathered to console the family. Mayombo’s father, the Rev. Canon Rabwoni, and his brothers and sisters received the sympathisers. Defence minister Dr. Crispus Kiyonga, defence state minister Ruth Nankabirwa, security minister Amama Mbabazi, deputy Army Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Ivan Koreta, and several other UPDF officers and government officials passed by to pay their condolences.