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The Öresund Region is a historical cross border region working over the national borders of Sweden and Denmark. The regional administration, the Öresund Committee, is the only political forum that encompasses the whole region and serves its interests collectively. Not only is it cooperating with the national governments but also has a close relationship with the Nordic Council and especially with the European Union. According to a method developed by Liesbet Hooghe, Gary Marks and Arjan H. Schakel, it is possible to retrieve a Regional Authority Index which mirrors the formal authority of a region. The method is evaluated in accordance to the complications of the Öresund Region’s dual nationality and finds that the Öresund Committee has a rather concealed role with greater indirect impact than it is given credit for. However, in terms of formal authority, the Öresund Committee has a weak position and shares no rule with higher political entities, such as the Danish, Swedish and European central administrations.

How should we understand the question "Why be moral?" Can we answer this question? If so, how? In this paper I develop an exemplarist theory of practical moral justification; that is, a theory of the justification of the prima facie moral things that we do, not the moral beliefs that we have. I take as my starting point that morality is, essentially, a set of practices in which all persons, in virtue of their being persons, participate. I argue that skillful practitioners of these various practices should be understood as moral authorities, and that the appeal to a moral authority for the purpose of one's justifying one's moral doings is necessarily justified for the appealer whenever she is practicing the same practice as the moral authority. This theory holds that moral authorities, so circumscribed, are Authoritative Exemplars, and as the appeal to their authority is necessarily justified they are able to provide a foundation for practical moral justifications, and thus rebutting the objection that all such justifications will run to regress. Among other things this account allows us to interpret the "Why be moral?" question as a question asking for more than can be had posed from a position of misunderstanding the nature of morality and practical moral justification. We cannot answer the "Why be moral?" question any more than we can answer the "Why be human?" question. / Master of Arts

This thesis examines the impact of changing views of legitimate Islamic authority on conceptions of jihad. Spearheaded by militant Sunni movements, jihad in the modern era has taken on new purposes and practices that more closely resemble general understandings of terrorism than the regulated forms of warfare cemented during the classical period of Islam. Contrasting the historical authority of the caliph or political leader and the ulama over the concept of jihad with the modern state and ulama's lack of control over the concept offers a partial explanation of the divergence of contemporary jihad from the classical or traditional views. This thesis uses the concept of individual jihad as communicated through the jihadist magazine Inspire, to counter the dismissal of radical articulations of jihad as un-Islamic and therefore illegitimate, and to demonstrate how such forms instead reflect the opportunistic replacement of traditional political and religious authority by the jihadist as the true defender of Islam and consequently the rightful interpreter of Islamic law. / Master of Arts

Thesis (DTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die krisis rakende Skrifgesag vra ‘n dringende sistematies-teologiese ondersoek om ‘n weg vanuit dié krisis aan te dui deur ‘n oortuigender, meer verstaanbare en belowende benadering te bied om opnuut die sinvolheid, waaragtigheid, toepaslikheid en gesag van die Skrif vir ons geloof en lewe te bevestig. Die oorkoepelende oogmerk van hierdie verhandeling is dus om ‘n meer toepaslike sistematies-teologiese raamwerk te vind om oor die gesag en interpretasie van die Skrif te kan praat. Ten einde hierdie doel te bereik, maak die verhandeling gebruik van drie hoof benaderings – epistemologies, dogmaties en hermeneuties – in ‘n dinamies geïntegreerde, onderling afhanklike, en holistiese wyse. Om die epistemologiese status van die Skrif as God se waarheid te bevestig, het ons ‘n meer genuanseerde epistemologiese model nodig waardeur die uiterstes van sowel moderne dogmatiese funderingsdenke asook van postmoderne nie-funderingsdenke vermy kan word. As alternatiewe model sal ’n vorm van post-funderingsdenke as benadering hier ontwikkel word, te einde die valse verdelings tussen objektief en subjektief, ontologies en funksioneel, en epistomologies en hermeneuties te oorkom. Ons kan dus die objektiewe eenheid van die waarheid en gesag van die Skrif as beslissende weg na die realiteit van God bevestig, sonder om ons bewussyn van die voorlopige, kontekstuele en feilbare aard van menslike kennis te ontken. ‘n Dogmaties-ontologiese verantwoording van die Skrif plaas ons spreke oor Skrifgesag binne die konteks van die drie-enige God se ekonomie van verlossing. Vanuit ‘n trinitaries-pneumatologiese oogpunt word die gesag van die Skrif afgelei vanuit die drie-enige God se self-kommunikatiewe spraak-akte, sodat dit beskryf kan word as goddelike kommunikatief-performatiewe gesag binne die drie-enige God se verlossingsdrama. Die Skrifte kan gesien word as die teo-dramatiese teks wat ons binne die verbondslewe met God bring en ons deur die dinamiese, dienende en vormende werk van God se Gees oproep om aan die grootse drama van God se verlossing deel te neem. Hermeneutiese oorwegings en nadenke moet as ‘n wesenlike en kritiese deel van ons totale gesprek oor Skrifgesag ter sprake kom. Hermeneutiek help ons om hermeneutiese afgode bloot te lê en om die werklike teenwoordigheid van God in ons lees van die Skrifte te onderskei. Dit fasiliteer voorts ons beliggaming van bybelse tekste in die spesifieke en tydelike kontekste van die lewe. Dit stel ons bowenal in staat om realiteite van andersheid te herken en om na (‘n) ander stem(me) te luister. In die lig van hierdie drievoudige hermeneutiese taak, kan ons die gesag van die Skrif as die viva vox Dei, wat tot ons spreek in ons hier-en-nou lewe, herwin, terugeis en bekragtig. Ons herken dus opnuut die gesag van die Skrif as goddelik kommunikatief-performatief, verbondsmatig, dinamies-transformerend, lewens-deelnemend en veelvormig. Deur die Skrif te lees, daaroor te mediteer, dit te geniet en uit te leef, ervaar ons die drie-enige God se intieme teenwoordigheid, en aanbid en verheerlik ons God met eerbied en vreugde. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the face of the crisis of scriptural authority, an urgent systematic-theological task is to chart the way beyond that crisis by providing a more convincing, comprehensible, and promising way to reaffirm the significance, truthfulness, relevance, and authority of Scripture in our beliefs and lives. The overarching aim of this dissertation is thus to search for a more appropriate systematic-theological framework for talk of the authority and interpretation of Scripture. To this end, this dissertation engages with three key dimensions — epistemological, doctrinal, and hermeneutical — in a dynamically integrated, mutually dependent, and holistic way. To affirm the epistemological status of Scripture as God’s truth, we need a more nuanced epistemological model by which to avoid the extremity of the modern dogmatic foundationalism and the postmodern relativist nonfoundationalism. A postfoundationalist approach as an alternative model would provide the way to overcome the false dichotomy between objective and subjective, ontological and functional, and epistemology and hermeneutics. Without losing the awareness of the provisionality, contextuality, and fallibility of all human knowledge, thus we can affirm the objective unity of truth and the authority of Scripture as the ultimate way to the reality of God. A dogmatic-ontological account of Scripture brings our talk of scriptural authority within the context of the triune God’s economy of salvation. From a trinitarianpneumatological viewpoint, the authority of Scripture is derived above all from the triune God’s self-communicative speech-act and hence it can be described as the divine communicative-performative authority in the triune God’s drama of redemption. Scripture can be thought of as the theo-dramatic script, which brings us into the covenantal life with God and calls us to participate in the grand drama of God’s salvation, by the dynamic, ministerial, and formative work of God the Spirit. The hermeneutical concerns and reflections must be brought, as a constitutive and critical part, into our whole talk of scriptural authority. Hermeneutics helps us to expose the hermeneutical idols and to discern the real presence of God in our reading of Scripture. It also facilitates our embodiment of biblical texts in the particular, temporal context of life. Most of all, it enables us to recognise the realities of otherness and to listen to other voice(s). In light of this threefold hermeneutical task, we can retrieve, reclaim, and reaffirm the authority of Scripture as the viva vox Dei speaking to us in our here-and-now life. We thus recognise anew the authority of Scripture as divine communicative-performative, covenantal, dynamic-transformative, life-engaged, and multifaceted. By reading, mediating, enjoying, and living Scripture, we experience the triune God’s intimate presence, and worship and glorify God with reverence and enjoyment.

L'idée de la décentralisation administrative n'est pas nouvelle dans les Etats du Moyen Orient mais sa consécration, tout au long des années, est restée modeste.L'étude comparative de l'organisation administrative en Jordanie, au Liban et en Syrie se place à un double niveau, structurel (déconcentralisation et décentralisation) et fonctionnel. Elle se fondera donc sur un plan d'observations organisées à trois dimensions qui offre la possibilité d'une évaluation des trois expériences en recourant aux mêmes critères.Dans la structuration actuelle de l'organisation administrative territoriale, force a été de constater que le pouvoir exécutif occupe une place très prééminente dans le système politico-administratif. L'extension des circonscriptions administratives déconcentrées sur lesquelles le pouvoir central exerce le contrôle hiérarchique au détriment des collectivités locales est, à ce titre, significative. Les recherches menées sur l'organisation des structures administratives déconcentrées au Moyen Orient, ont confirmé que l'unité du modèle ottoman hérité de l'histoire a, pour l'essentiel, éclaté.S'agissant des échelons des unités décentralisées dans les trois Etats étudiés, la municipalité est le seul dénominateur commun entre les collectivités locales depuis l'époque ottomane. Mais, facteur de différenciation, elle est la seule strate décentralisée au Liban et en Jordanie. En Syrie, outre la municipalité, trois autres niveaux de collectivités locales décentralisées se superposent ou se juxtaposent : la Mohafaza à la fois une circonscription administrative de l'Etat et collectivité locale, la ville et la Balda. Pour autant, il n'est pas certain que le nombre d'échelons décentralisés (soit unité soit pluralité) soit facteur de réussite ou vecteur d'efficacité dans la réalisation attendue des missions dévolues.Le poids de l'autorité centrale dans la création et le fonctionnement des collectivités locales influe sur la relation entre la structure locale et ses habitants. Tout changement brusque des structures administratives locales, sans prendre en compte la volonté des citoyens locaux, aboutit à une rupture ou à un déséquilibre entre la structure locale établie et les besoins réels des habitants.L'analyse du degré d'efficacité dans le fonctionnement des collectivités locales révèle que la présence des éléments nécessaires à l'identification d'un régime décentralisateur est insuffisante. Ce régime dans les Etats du Moyen Orient peut donc être qualifié de « semi-décentralisation » ou d'une décentralisation inaboutie entre autonomie et contrôle. / The idea of administrative decentralization is not new in the states of the Middle East but his consecration, throughout the years, remained modest.The comparative study of the administrative organization in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria stands at two levels, structural (déconcentralisation and decentralization) and functional. It's based on a plan of observations held in three dimensions that offers the possibility of an evaluation of three experiments using the same criteria.In the current structure of the territorial administrative organization, it was clear that the executive Authority a very prominent place in the political-administrative system. The extension of decentralized administrative units on which the central government apply hierarchical control at the expense of local authorities is, as such, significant. Research on the organization of decentralized administrative structures in the Middle East, confirmed that the unity of the Ottoman model inherited from the history, essentially erupted..Regarding levels of decentralized units in the three states studied, the municipality is the only common denominator between local units since Ottoman times. But the differentiating ingredient, it is the only decentralized stratum in Lebanon and Jordan. In Syria, in addition to the municipality, three other levels of decentralized local units are juxtaposed or superimposed: the Mohafaza in the same time is administrative district of the state and local unit, the city and Balda. However, it is not certain that the number of decentralized levels (either unit or plurality) either to success or effectiveness in achieving expected Target of assigned missions.The Status of the central authority in the establishment and operation of local units influences the relationship between the local structure and its inhabitants. Any sudden change in local administrative structures, without taking into account the willingness of local citizens, leads to a breakdown or an imbalance between the local structure established and the real needs of the inhabitants.The analysis of the degree of efficiency in the functioning of local units shows that the presence of the elements necessary for the identification of a decentralizing system is insufficient. This regime in the Middle East states can be described as "semi-decentralized" or uncompleted decentralization between autonomy and control.

This ethnographic study explores the ways in which religious teachers use intensive Islamic learning environments as sites to reshape understandings of Islam amongst American Muslims of Sunni orientation. The absence of longstanding traditional Islamic educational institutions in the United States poses challenges for Muslims looking to learn about Islam beyond parental teachings and Sunday schools. However, a range of innovative transmedial learning environments, bridging offline and online spaces, have emerged in recent decades. This is the first ethnographically informed study of such spaces which attends to the role of knowledge and the multidimensional nature of authority in the education of American Muslims. Using 10 months of fieldwork in Canada, the United States, and Turkey, I draw on and explore narratives of students and teachers, revealing the bodies of knowledge that teachers deem relevant for the development of an American Muslim self and how these teachers situate their authority within a tradition of knowledge transmission. These narratives demonstrate how students seek out certain types of knowledge to develop their religious identities, and the ways teachers respond by selecting and deploying these and other bodies of knowledge in their teaching. Teachers and their associated educational programmes use various pedagogical techniques and accessories to link students to the imagined international Muslim community. This leads to an understanding of how teachers situate their authority within a tradition of knowledge transmission. These teachers ground narratives of self and place within religious and regional histories to define religious practice that is ethical and culturally relevant, and justify their own authority. This research contributes to debates on the challenges of intra-Muslim dialogue in relation to the umma. It is a ground-breaking empirical study illustrating how, despite the tense geopolitics surrounding Islam and Muslims, American Muslim communities in the 21^st century sustain Islamic tradition by developing an Islamic pedagogy relevant to its historical roots and contemporary possibilities in a digital age.

Esta pesquisa tem por objeto a análise da interação do esquema de descrição bibliográfica Resource Description and Access (RDA) na construção de registros de autoridade frente aos objetivos e aos fundamentos do modelo conceitual Requisitos Funcionais para Dados de Autoridade (FRAD). Busca compreender e analisar a importância do controle de autoridade para a recuperação da informação, contextualizando a construção de registros de autoridade na catalogação descritiva por meio do uso da norma RDA. Caracteriza-se por explorar os aspectos teóricos e normativos que regem a construção de registros de autoridade. Designada como uma pesquisa teórica, a investigação recorre à pesquisa bibliográfica, documental, histórica e analítica. O enfoque da pesquisa está nos registros de autoridade e as mudanças provocadas pelas novas concepções decorrentes dos modelos conceituais Requisitos Funcionais para Registros Bibliográficos (FRBR) e sua extensão FRAD e o esquema de descrição bibliográfica RDA, explorando os aspectos teóricos e normativos que regem a construção de registros de autoridade. Apresenta um referencial teórico composto do panorama do controle bibliográfico, da catalogação e dos catálogos e suas interações com o controle de autoridade. Discorre sobre o modelo conceitual FRAD e a norma catalográfica RDA. / This research aims at the analysis of the interaction of bibliographic description scheme Resource Description and Access (RDA) in building forward authority records the objectives and foundations of conceptual model Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD). It seeks to understand and analyze the importance of authority control for information retrieval, contextualizing the construction of authority records in the descriptive cataloging through the use of RDA standard. It is characterized by exploring the theoretical and regulatory aspects governing the construction of authority records. Designated as a theoretical research, the research draws on literature, documentary, historical and analytical. The research focus is in authority records and the changes brought about by new concepts arising from conceptual models Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) and its extension FRAD and the bibliographic description scheme RDA, exploring the theoretical and regulatory aspects governing the construction of authority records. It presents a theoretical framework consists panorama bibliographic control, cataloging and catalogs and their interactions with the control authority. It discusses the conceptual model FRAD and the RDA cataloging standard.

Esta pesquisa tem por objeto a análise da interação do esquema de descrição bibliográfica Resource Description and Access (RDA) na construção de registros de autoridade frente aos objetivos e aos fundamentos do modelo conceitual Requisitos Funcionais para Dados de Autoridade (FRAD). Busca compreender e analisar a importância do controle de autoridade para a recuperação da informação, contextualizando a construção de registros de autoridade na catalogação descritiva por meio do uso da norma RDA. Caracteriza-se por explorar os aspectos teóricos e normativos que regem a construção de registros de autoridade. Designada como uma pesquisa teórica, a investigação recorre à pesquisa bibliográfica, documental, histórica e analítica. O enfoque da pesquisa está nos registros de autoridade e as mudanças provocadas pelas novas concepções decorrentes dos modelos conceituais Requisitos Funcionais para Registros Bibliográficos (FRBR) e sua extensão FRAD e o esquema de descrição bibliográfica RDA, explorando os aspectos teóricos e normativos que regem a construção de registros de autoridade. Apresenta um referencial teórico composto do panorama do controle bibliográfico, da catalogação e dos catálogos e suas interações com o controle de autoridade. Discorre sobre o modelo conceitual FRAD e a norma catalográfica RDA. / This research aims at the analysis of the interaction of bibliographic description scheme Resource Description and Access (RDA) in building forward authority records the objectives and foundations of conceptual model Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD). It seeks to understand and analyze the importance of authority control for information retrieval, contextualizing the construction of authority records in the descriptive cataloging through the use of RDA standard. It is characterized by exploring the theoretical and regulatory aspects governing the construction of authority records. Designated as a theoretical research, the research draws on literature, documentary, historical and analytical. The research focus is in authority records and the changes brought about by new concepts arising from conceptual models Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) and its extension FRAD and the bibliographic description scheme RDA, exploring the theoretical and regulatory aspects governing the construction of authority records. It presents a theoretical framework consists panorama bibliographic control, cataloging and catalogs and their interactions with the control authority. It discusses the conceptual model FRAD and the RDA cataloging standard.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 95-96).