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Principles
Kinds of Principles Terms modified by Principles Selected AbstractsTHE STATUS OF COSMIC PRINCIPLE (LI) IN NEO-CONFUCIAN METAPHYSICSJOURNAL OF CHINESE PHILOSOPHY, Issue 3 2005JEELOO LIU [source] THE EQUAL ABSOLUTE SACRIFICE PRINCIPLE REVISITEDJOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 2 2009Peter J. Lambert Abstract We summarize the literature on equal absolute sacrifice income taxes, and make some extensions. We adapt the utilitarian equal sacrifice criterion to a wide class of rank-dependent social welfare functions, and find that liabilities depend on both income and position in the distribution. We investigate whether such taxes need be progressive, using a combination of analytics and simulation, and in the process uncover tax functions not previously recognized as equating sacrifices. Finally, out of horizontal equity considerations a new concept of ,the equal treatment of equals' by an income tax emerges, with implications for future work whose significance is discussed. [source] LOWE'S DEFENCE OF CONSTITUTION AND THE PRINCIPLE OF WEAK EXTENSIONALITYRATIO, Issue 2 2008David B. Hershenov E.J. Lowe is one of the few philosophers who defend both the existence of spatially coincident entities and the Principle of Weak Extensionality that no two objects which have proper parts have exactly the same proper parts at the same time. Lowe maintains that when spatially coincident things like the statue and the lump of bronze are in a constitution relation, the constituted entity (the statue) has parts that the constituting entity (the lump) doesn't, hence the compatibility with Weak Extensionality. My contention is that his argument for why the statue has parts the lump of bronze lacks can also be used to show that the lump of bronze has parts the statue doesn't. This will mean that there is no basis for saying the statue and the lump are in a constitution relation. I argue for accepting a modified account of constitution and abandoning the Principle of Weak Extensionality. [source] EXCHANGE RATE STABILISATION, LEARNING AND THE TAYLOR PRINCIPLEAUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 2 2007Article first published online: 30 MAY 200, HEINZ-PETER SPAHN The paper explores whether central banks can keep their interest rates independent from given foreign rates, and to what extent interest policies designed to stabilise nominal exchange rate changes can be applied instead of, or in addition to, the traditional interest rate response to inflation gaps. This modification of a Taylor Rule is analysed in a simple macro model with some New Keynesian features. Information is imperfect; agents cannot build rational expectations but try to learn ,true' market relations. Results show that the Taylor Principle can be generalised in an open economy with flexible exchange rates. [source] PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2006Peter A. Watt The role of local government is viewed in the context of the overall role of government per se. A particular advantage of local government lies in its ability to arrange for the provision of local public goods in line with local tastes and preferences. A number of arguments suggest that local governments should be assigned adequate powers of local taxation to finance their expenditure responsibilities rather than having to rely on central government grant. [source] FAITH IN FREEDOM: LIBERTARIAN PRINCIPLES AND PSYCHIATRIC PRACTICESECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2006Bob Layson [source] PRINCIPLES OF POLITICS APPLICABLE TO ALL GOVERNMENTS BY BENJAMIN CONSTANT,ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 3 2004Dennis O'Keeffe In this review of Constant's Principles of Politics Applicable to All Governments, Constant's belief in liberal economics and the importance of tradition is analysed. [source] Juvenile Delinquency Guidelines: Improving Court Practice in Juvenile Delinquency Cases SIXTEEN KEY PRINCIPLESJUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL, Issue 3 2005Article first published online: 14 JUL 200 ABSTRACT This article is excerpted from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges' landmark JUVENILE DELINQUENCY GUIDELINES: Improving Court Practice in Juvenile Delinquency Cases, Chapter I, Foundations for Excellence, published in 2005. Beginning with a basic discussion of why separate courts for juveniles and adults continue to be necessary, the article describes the goals and key principles of a juvenile delinquency court of excellence. [source] ON "BECOMING MORAL": PRINCIPLES AND PARTICULAR INTUITIONS IN ETHICS1PHILOSOPHICAL FORUM, Issue 4 2007MICHAEL D. GARRAL First page of article [source] ANALYSIS, ABSTRACTION PRINCIPLES, AND SLINGSHOT ARGUMENTSRATIO, Issue 1 2006James Levine Frege's views regarding analysis and synomymy have long been the subject of critical discussion. Some commentators, led by Dummett, have argued that Frege was committed to the view that each thought admits of a unique ultimate analysis. However, this interpretation is in apparent conflict with Frege's criterion of synonymy, according to which two sentence express the same thought if one cannot understand them without regarding them as having the same truth,value. In a recent article in this journal, Drai attempts to reconcile Frege's criterion of synonymy with unique ultimate analysis by holding that, for Frege, if two sentences satisfy the criterion without being intensionally isomorphic, at most one of them is a privileged representation of the thought expressed. I argue that this proposal fails, because it conflicts not only with Frege's views of abstraction principles but also with slingshot arguments (including one presented by Drai herself) that accurately reflect Frege's commitment to the view that sentences alike in truth,value have the same Bedeutung. While Drai helpfully connects Frege's views of abstraction principles with such slingshot arguments, this connection cannot become fully clear until we recognise that Frege rejects unique ultimate analysis. [source] NEW NATURAL LAW THEORY AND FOUNDATIONAL SEXUAL ETHICAL PRINCIPLES: A CRITIQUE AND A PROPOSALTHE HEYTHROP JOURNAL, Issue 2 2006TODD A. SALZMAN The New Natural Law Theory (NNLT) argues against the morality (and legality) of same sex-unions on the basis that homosexual (and non-reproductive heterosexual) acts are unnatural, unreasonable, and therefore immoral. In this paper, we explore and critique the foundational principles , biological and personal complementarity, their subcategories, and the interrelationship between them , that the NNLT uses to justify its claim. We propose alternative principles , orientation, personal, and genital-biological complementarity, with a distinct interrelationship , to argue that homosexual couples can engage in sexual acts that are natural, reasonable, and therefore moral. Our study clearly demonstrates that for the NNLT genital complementarity, a subcategory of biological complementarity, is the sine qua non for personal complementarity. In other words, personal complementarity within a sexual act is only possible if there is genital complementarity between male and female. We believe that the NNLT's foundational principles reflect too narrow an understanding of the human person and human sexuality. Instead, we propose "holistic complementarity" as the fully human integration of orientation, personal, and genital-biological complementarity. What defines a natural, reasonable, and moral sexual act is not genital complementarity as the foundational principle, but a dialectic between these three principles of complementarity. [source] WITHOUT CONSENT: PRINCIPLES OF JUSTIFIED ACQUISITION AND DUTY-IMPOSING POWERSTHE PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 237 2009Hugh Breakey A controversy in political philosophy and applied ethics concerns the validity of duty-imposing powers, that is, rights entitling one person to impose new duties on others without their consent. Many philosophers have criticized as unplausible any such moral right, in particular that of appropriating private property unilaterally. Some, finding duty-imposing powers weird, unfamiliar or baseless, have argued that principles of justified acquisition should be rejected; others have required them to satisfy exacting criteria. I investigate the many ways in which we regularly impose duties on one another without prior consent. I show that doing so is not weird, and I offer criteria which demarcate the reasonable from the worrisome aspects of duty-imposing powers. [source] UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER/UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES: TOWARD A CONSTRUCTIVE DIALOGUE ABOUT "PRINCIPLES' IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHEDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 3 2005Pamela A. Moss The recent federal interest in advancing "scientifically based research," along with the National Research Council's 2002 report Scientific Research in Education (SRE), have provided space and impetus for a more general dialogue across discourse boundaries within the field of educational research. The goal of this article is to develop and illustrate principles for an educative dialogue across research discourses. I have turned to Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics and the critical dialogue that surrounds it to seek guidance about how we might better understand one another's perspectives and learn more about ourselves through the encounter. To illustrate these principles, I consider the dialogue between SRE authors and critics that was published in Educational Researcher shortly after the release of the report. I focus in particular on one of the many issues about which misunderstandings seem to arise , the nature, status, and role of generalizations , and point to some instructive challenges that each of the articles seems to raise for the others. Finally, I propose what I argue is a more prudent aspiration for general principles in educational research: developing the principles through which open critique and debate across differences might occur and through which sound decisions about particular programs for research might be made. [source] The origins and present status of the radio wave controversy in NMRCONCEPTS IN MAGNETIC RESONANCE, Issue 4 2009D.I. Hoult Abstract The origins, history, and present status of the controversy surrounding a quantum description of the NMR signal as being due to radio waves are traced. With the Principle of Relativity and Coulomb's Law as formal starting points and the minimum of mathematics needed for understanding, the derivation of a classical electromagnetic theory of signal reception is first given. The agreement between that classical theory and a recent NMR experiment is then presented, leading to proof that, except for the highest field imaging experiments, there is no significant contribution of radio waves to the signal. Attention is drawn to the very different properties of the near and far energy, momenta, and fields inherent in the derivation. The role of the Correspondence Principle in formulating a quantum description is then emphasized and it is shown that the standard NMR interpretation of Dicke's theory of coherent spontaneous emission,that the latter is responsible for the NMR signal,cannot be correct. Finally, the author speculates on some of the intriguing relationships found in the classical electrodynamics of NMR signal reception and attempts to relate them to a common quantum electrodynamic precept of near field interaction: that the free induction decay voltage present at the terminals of an open-circuit receiving coil is based on an exchange of virtual photons between the nuclei in a sample and the free electrons in a receiving coil. © 2009 Crown in the right of Canada. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 34A: 193,216, 2009. [source] NMR and the uncertainty principle: How to and how not to interpret homogeneous line broadening and pulse nonselectivity.CONCEPTS IN MAGNETIC RESONANCE, Issue 5 2008IV. (Un?)certainty Abstract Following the treatments presented in Parts I, II, and III, I herein address the popular notion that the frequency of a monochromatic RF pulse as well as that of a monochromatic FID is "in effect" uncertain due to the (Heisenberg) Uncertainty Principle, which also manifests itself in the fact that the FT-spectrum of these temporal entities is spread over a nonzero frequency band. I will show that the frequency spread should not be interpreted as "in effect" meaning a range of physical driving RF fields in the former, and "spin frequencies" in the latter case. The fact that a shorter pulse or a more quickly decaying FID has a wider FT-spectrum is in fact solely due to the Fourier Uncertainty Principle, which is a less well known and easily misunderstood concept. A proper understanding of the Fourier Uncertainty Principle tells us that the FT-spectrum of a monochromatic pulse is not "broad" because of any "uncertainty" in the RF frequency, but because the spectrum profile carries all of the pulse's features (frequency, phase, amplitude, length, temporal location) coded into the complex amplitudes of the FT-spectrum's constituent eternal basis harmonic waves. A monochromatic RF pulse's capability to excite nonresonant magnetizations is in fact a purely classical off-resonance effect that has nothing to do with "uncertainty". Analogously, "Lorentzian lineshape" means exactly the same thing physically as "exponential decay," and all inferences as to the physical reasons for that decay must be based on independent assumptions or observations. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 32A: 373,404, 2008. [source] NMR and the uncertainty principle: How to and how not to interpret homogeneous line broadening and pulse nonselectivity.CONCEPTS IN MAGNETIC RESONANCE, Issue 4 2008Abstract Following the treatments presented in Parts I and II, I herein discuss in more detail the popular notion that the frequency of a monochromatic RF pulse as well as that of a monochromatic FID is "in effect" uncertain due to the (Heisenberg) Uncertainty Principle, which also manifests itself in the fact that the FT-spectrum of these temporal entities is spread over a nonzero frequency band. In Part III, I continue my preliminary review of some further fundamental concepts, such as the Heisenberg and Fourier Uncertainty Principles, that are needed to understand whether or not the NMR linewidth and the RF excitation bandwidth have anything to do with "uncertainty". The article then culminates in re-addressing our Two NMR Problems in a more conscientious frame of mind by using a more refined formalism. The correct interpretation of these problems will be discussed in Part IV. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 32A: 302,325, 2008. [source] A Framework for Measuring the Importance of Variables with Applications to Management Research and Decision Models,DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 3 2000Ehsan S. Soofi In many disciplines, including various management science fields, researchers have shown interest in assigning relative importance weights to a set of explanatory variables in multivariable statistical analysis. This paper provides a synthesis of the relative importance measures scattered in the statistics, psychometrics, and management science literature. These measures are computed by averaging the partial contributions of each variable over all orderings of the explanatory variables. We define an Analysis of Importance (ANIMP) framework that reflects two desirable properties for the relative importance measures discussed in the literature: additive separability and order independence. We also provide a formal justification and generalization of the "averaging over all orderings" procedure based on the Maximum Entropy Principle. We then examine the question of relative importance in management research within the framework of the "contingency theory of organizational design" and provide an example of the use of relative importance measures in an actual management decision situation. Contrasts are drawn between the consequences of use of statistical significance, which is an inappropriate indicator of relative importance and the results of the appropriate ANIMP measures. [source] Can We Derive the Principle of Compositionality (if We Deflate Understanding)?DIALECTICA, Issue 2 2009Antonio Rauti Paul Horwich has claimed that we can derive a certain form of the principle of compositionality from a deflationary account of what it is to understand a complex expression. If this were the case, we would realize a surprising theoretical economy, and if the derivation involved basic ideas from a use theory of meaning, we would have a novel argument for use theories of meaning. Horwich does not offer a detailed derivation. In this paper I reconstruct a possible derivation and show that it begs the question. I then extend my discussion to explain why it is unlikely that alternative arguments can fare better. [source] What is the Principle of Recombination?DIALECTICA, Issue 4 2008David Efird In this paper, we give a precise characterization of the principle of recombination and argue that it need not be subject to any restrictions. [source] A Dark Age Peter Principle: Beowulf's incompetence thresholdEARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 1 2010Oren Falk Many readers, recognizing the incompatibility of heroism with the duties of kingship, have argued that Beowulf tells a story of colossal failure. Drawing on anthropological theory, I propose that the protagonist is more Big-Man than king and that his heroism, far from a socially dysfunctional flaw, is in fact the leash by which society yanks him back from establishing himself as king. Beowulf thus speaks to an aristocracy disinclined to submit to royalty. The poem shines a light on Anglo-Saxons' aversion to despotic rule: to protect its own decentralized political structure, society against the state foredooms King Beowulf to death. [source] Should we beware of the Precautionary Principle?ECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 33 2001Christian Gollier How should society deal with risks when there is scientific uncertainty about the size of these risks? There has been much recent discussion of the Precautionary Principle, which states that lack of full scientific knowledge should not be used as a reason to postpone cost,effective preventive measures. We show in this paper that the Precautionary Principle contradicts one important intuition about the right way to act in the face of risk, namely the principle of ,looking before you leap'. When we expect to learn more about the future, the effectiveness of our preventive measures will be greater if we learn before we act. However, a number of other ways of taking uncertainty into account are consistent with a reasonable interpretation of the Precautionary Principle. First, postponing preventive measures may increase our vulnerability to damage, which induces a precautionary motive for risk,prevention, similar to the precautionary savings motive. Secondly, stronger preventive actions often yield more flexibility for the future, so that acting early has an option value. Thirdly, when better information comes from a process of learning,by,doing, the risk associated with early events is amplified by the information they yield about the future. This plays a role analogous to that of an increase in risk aversion, making us more cautious. Fourthly, because imperfect knowledge of the risk makes it difficult to insure, the social cost of risk should include a risk premium. Finally, uncertainty about the economic environment enjoyed by future generations should be taken into account. This raises the benefit of acting early to prevent long,term risks. If the Precautionary Principle sometimes gives good and sometimes gives bad advice, there is no escape from the need to undertake a careful cost,benefit analysis. We show that standard cost,benefit analysis can be refined to take account of scientific uncertainty, in ways that balance the Precautionary Principle against the benefits of waiting to learn before we act. Furthermore, it is important that they be used to do so, for instinct is an unreliable guide in such circumstances. Abandoning cost,benefit analysis in favour of simple maxims can result in some seriously misleading conclusions. [source] The E-Correspondence PrincipleECONOMICA, Issue 293 2007GEORGE W. EVANS We present a new application of Samuelson's Correspondence Principle to the analysis of comparative dynamics in stochastic rational expectations models. Our version, which we call the E-correspondence principle, applies to rational expectations equilibria that are stable under least squares and closely related learning rules. With this technique it is sometimes possible to study, without explicitly solving for the equilibrium, how qualitative properties of the equilibrium are affected by changes in the model parameters. Applications to overlapping generations and New Keynesian models illustrate the potential of the technique. [source] Electrochemical Nitric Oxide Sensors for Biological Samples , Principle, Selected Examples and ApplicationsELECTROANALYSIS, Issue 1 2003Fethi Bedioui Abstract The discoveries made in the 1980s that NO could be synthesized by mammalian cells and could act as physiological messenger and cytotoxic agent had elevated the importance of its detection. The numerous properties of NO, that enable it to carry out its diverse functions, also present considerable problems when attempting its detection and quantification in biological systems. Indeed, its total free concentration in physiological conditions has been established to be in nanomolar range. Thus, detection of nitric oxide remains a challenge, pointing out the difficult dual requirements for specificity and sensitivity. Exception made for the electrochemical techniques, most of the approaches (namely UV-visible spectroscopy, fluorescence, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy) use indirect methods for estimating endogenous NO, relying on measurements of secondary species such as nitrite and nitrate or NO-adducts. They also suffer from allowing only ex situ measurements. So, the only strategies that allow a direct and in vivo detection of NO are those based on the use of ultramicroelectrodes. The reality is that surface electrode modification is needed to make the ultramicroelectrode material selective for NO. Therefore, the design of modified electrode surfaces using organized layers is very attractive and provides the ideal strategy. This review addresses a global description of the various approaches that have involved chemically modified microelectrodes specially designed for the electrochemical detection of NO in biological media. Selected significant examples of applications in biological tissues are also reported in order to highlight the importance of this approach in having new insights into the modulatory role of NO in physiology and pathophysiology. [source] The Function of the Proportionality Principle in EU LawEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010Tor-Inge Harbo In this article the author assesses the proportionality principle in EU law from a legal theoretical and constitutional perspective with the aim of discovering the function of the principle. Having first discussed the implications of the proportionality principle being a general principle of law, and what function it has,namely to secure legitimacy for judicial decisions,the author suggests that there are several ways in which the principle can be interpreted. There is, nevertheless, a limit to this interpretation determined by the proposed function of the principle. In the third part of the article, the European Court of Justice's (ECJ's) interpretation of the principle is assessed. The assessment clearly shows that the ECJ is interpreting the principle in different distinguishable ways. The question could, however, be raised as to whether the ECJ in some areas is interpreting the principle in a way that undermines the very function of it. [source] National Judges, Community Judges: Invitation to a Journey through the Looking-glass,On the Need for Jurisdictions to Rethink the Inter-systemic Relations beyond the Hierarchical PrincipleEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 6 2008Florence Giorgi The historical conflict between the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the national constitutional courts regarding primacy is a misunderstanding. In going through the looking-glass, we can understand that, on the contrary, the ECJ and the national constitutional courts adopt comparable solutions in their treatment of legal pluralism, and that they see the negation of pluralism as essential for the survival of their own legal orders. Therefore, these judges must be offered a new theoretical context to help them reconcile their role as supreme guardian with the taking into account of the pluralist context. Finally, practical proposals must be made to give judges the instruments and techniques that are capable of reflecting this plural structure. [source] The Institutionalised Participation of Management and Labour in the Legislative Activities of the European Community: A Challenge to the Principle of Democracy under Community LawEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 1 2000Gabriele Britz The legislative procedure established by Articles 138-139 of the Amsterdam Treaty is sensitive with regard to democratic prerequisites, but does not, in the final analysis, breach the formal principle of democracy established under Community law. Although the establishment of a parliamentary right of consultation is desirable, sufficient democratic legitimation is nonetheless supplied by virtue of Council and Commission participation within the legislative procedure and by their unlimited right to examine and reject substantive provisions designed by management and labour. By the same measure, the participation of management and labour in the Articles 138-139 legislative process is not of itself sufficient to create democratic legitimation. However, although management and labour organisations might never claim to represent the public of Europe as a whole, they can contribute to the ,substantive' legitimacy of European social law-making where they are adequately representative of persons and groups affected by EC legislative acts and take positive steps to ensure that the interests of such persons are reflected in secondary EC law. Accordingly, the Commission and the Council should review the representative nature of organisations engaged in European social law-making, paying particular attention to under-represented interests and, if necessary, should also make use of their right of rejection where privately negotiated agreements neglect these interests. [source] Optimal Control of Rigid-Link Manipulators by Indirect MethodsGAMM - MITTEILUNGEN, Issue 1 2008Rainer Callies Abstract The present paper is a survey and research paper on the treatment of optimal control problems of rigid-link manipulators by indirect methods. Maximum Principle based approaches provide an excellent tool to calculate optimal reference trajectories for multi-link manipulators with high accuracy. Their major drawback was the need to explicitly formulate the complicated system of adjoint differential equations and to apply the full apparatus of optimal control theory. This is necessary in order to convert the optimal control problem into a piecewise defined, nonlinear multi-point boundary value problem. An accurate and efficient access to first- and higher-order derivatives is crucial. The approach described in this paper allows it to generate all the derivative information recursively and simultaneously with the recursive formulation of the equations of motion. Nonlinear state and control constraints are treated without any simplifications by transforming them into sequences of systems of linear equations. By these means, the modeling of the complete optimal control problem and the accompanying boundary value problem is automated to a great extent. The fast numerical solution is by the advanced multiple shooting method JANUS. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Fluorescence Regeneration as a Signaling Principle for Choline and Carnitine Binding: A Refined Supramolecular Sensor System Based on a Fluorescent Azoalkane,ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 2 2006H. Bakirci Abstract The fluorescent azoalkane, 2,3-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-2-ene (DBO), forms inclusion complexes with p -sulfonatocalix[4]arene (CX4). The binding constants are on the order of 103,M,1 in water. The addition of CX4 to DBO solutions results in an efficient fluorescence quenching (up to 90,%). This supramolecular system can be used as a truly water-soluble sensor system to signal the binding of organic ammonium ions over a large pH range. Addition of choline and carnitine derivatives and tetraalkylammonium ions results in regeneration of this fluorescence, from which the binding constants (KC,=,103,105,M,1) are calculated by means of a competitive complexation model. Electrostatic effects are observed, namely, a more-than-one order of magnitude weaker binding of the carnitines in neutral solution. [source] Ionic dialysance: Principle and review of its clinical relevance for quantification of hemodialysis efficiencyHEMODIALYSIS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 2 2005Lucile Mercadal Ionic dialysance (D) is an online measured variable now available on several dialysis monitors to evaluate small-solute clearance. Based on conductivity measurements in the inlet and outlet dialysate, the principle of the measurement and the different measurement methods are described. Studies that have evaluated the reliability of ionic dialysance to assess dialysis efficiency are discussed. These studies are divided into two groups: the first comparing ionic dialysance to urea clearance and the second comparing Dt/V to Kt/Vurea, in which the uncertainties of the measurement of Vurea could have misrepresented the relationship between Dt/V and Kt/Vurea. When Kt/Vurea via the Daugirdas second-generation equation taking the rebound into account is considered, slight,even nonsignificant,differences are evidenced between Kt/Vurea and Dt/V. Therefore, ionic dialysance should be considered as a valid measure in future guidelines for dialysis efficiency. [source] Persistence, Principle and Patriotism in the Making of the Union of 1707: The Revolution, Scottish Parliament and the squadrone volanteHISTORY, Issue 306 2007DEREK J. PATRICK Since the 1960s most historians of the Union of 1707 have considered it a less than glorious chapter in Scotland's history. Driven by ambition and greed, Scots politicians, covetous of English wealth and swayed by promises and bribes, bartered their nation's independence for personal gain. Those genuinely committed to political union were in a minority. The following article maintains that this interpretation is based on an essentially short-term approach to the subject. Concentrating on the worsening relations between Scotland and England in the years immediately preceding the Union gives a distorted impression of what was a more enduring concern. It suggests the Revolution of 1688,9 had a far greater impact on the politics of union than previously anticipated, with the religious and political freedoms it guaranteed shaping the beliefs of a large number of Scots MPs who sat in Parliament 1706,7, almost half of whom had been members of King William's Convention Parliament with a majority supporting union. Focusing on the squadrone volante, one of the two much-maligned Scots unionist parties , the article traces the ideological roots of its key members and illustrates the various factors that led them to endorse an incorporating union which offered security for presbyterianism and a solution to Scotland's economic underdevelopment. Not denying that management and ambition played a significant part in securing the Union, it highlights the fact that amongst the Scottish political elite there was also a degree of genuine commitment and principled support. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||