“In his latest book titled ‘communication power’, the famous sociologist of information society manuel castells focuses on the way in which power takes shape and acts in information societies, and the role of communication in defining, structuring, and changing it. from the rise of ‘mass self-communication’ to the role of environmental movements and neuropolitics, the network is the key structure at play and the main lens used to analyse the transformations we are witnessing. to support his thesis castells links media studies, power theory and brain science, but his insistence on networks puts in danger his ability to give to his readers a comprehensive and coherent interpretative framework.”

… “… Typically range from a second to four seconds ( constrained by a number of tradeoffs between … to stimuli was significantly less likely to activate the amygdala than was passive experience, a … most of the work on empathy has studied connections for negative emotions like pain or …”

“Neuroscience research, like all science, is vulnerable to the influence of extraneous values in the practice of research, whether in research design or the selection, analysis and interpretation of data. this is particularly problematic for research into the biological mechanisms that underlie behavior, and especially the neurobiological underpinnings of moral development and ethical reasoning, decision-making and behavior, and the other elements of what is often called the neuroscience of ethics. the problem arises because neuroscientists, like most everyone, bring to their work assumptions, preconceptions and values and other sources of potentially inappropriate bias of which they may be unaware. it is important that the training of neuroscientists, and research practice itself, include open and in-depth discussion and examination of the assumptions that underlie research. further, policy makers, journalists, and the general public, that is, the consumers of neuroscience research findings (and by extension, neurotechnologies) should be made aware of the limitations as well as the strengths of the science, the evolving nature of scientific understanding, and the often invisible values inherent in science.”

“Several molecular therapies require the implantation of cells that secrete biotherapeutic molecules and imaging the location and microenvironment of the cellular implant to ascertain its function. we demonstrate noninvasive in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (mri) of self-assembled microcontainers that are capable of cell encapsulation. negative contrast was obtained to discern the microcontainer with mri; positive contrast was obtained in the complete absence of background signal. mri on a clinical scanner highlights the translational nature of this research. the microcontainers were loaded with cells that were dispersed in an extracellular matrix, and implanted both subcutaneously and in human tumor xenografts in scid mice. mri was performed on the implants, and microcontainers retrieved postimplantation showed cell viability both within and proximal to the implant. the microcontainers are characterized by their small size, three dimensionality, controlled porosity, ease of parallel fabrication, chemical and mechanical stability, and noninvasive traceability in vivo.”

“Synthetic opiates (opioids) have created among the most profitable markets worldwide. two decades ago, fda approval of oxycontin r ? as a ‘minimally addictive’ opioid pain reliever fueled an unprecedented rise in prescription opioid abuse. this was followed by a little known act of u.s. congress enabling general physicians to use an opioid maintenance medication, buprenorphine, for addiction treatment in their private practices, leading to enormous growth in the u.s. addiction treatment market. based on participant-observation and interviews among pharmaceutical executives, policy makers, patients and prescribers, this article describes the neuroeconomics and neuropolitics of new opioid maintenance treatments. this article contrasts the historical emergence of methadone clinics from the 1960s to the 1980s as a treatment for the black and latino urban poor, with the current emergence of buprenorphine, a maintenance opioid approved for prescription on doctor’s offices, as a treatment for white, middle-class prescription opioid abusers. the article then traces the counterintuitive result of bringing addiction pharmaceuticals into the medical mainstream in an effort to reduce the stigma of addiction: a two tiered system of addiction treatment that reinforces stigma among the urban poor, and enhances the biological, political, and economic dependence of all classes on opioid markets, both legal and illegal.”

“This paper attempts to explore the potentially profound political implications of new research into the neuroarchitecture of the brain, especially the role of the mirror neuron system (mns) which yields compelling evidence that humans are hard-wired for empathy. the same affective brain circuits are automatically mobilized upon feeling one’s one pain and observing the pain of others. however, if morality is rooted in biology, in the raw material or building blocks for the evolution of its expression, how do we explain the disjunction between.x000d.its presence and a massive societal empathy deficit? why hasn’t this moral intuition produced a more ameliorating effect? i seek to examine the role of political culture, especially the cultural narrative of hyper-individualism as it interacts with this biological predisposition toward pro-social behavior. the paper draws upon recent work in biology, neuroscience, primatology, cultural studies, political science, psychology and sociology. in an attempt to avoid the dangers of neuroscientific reductionism, i’m comfortable with what william connolly describes as ‘…politics through which cultural life mixes into the composition of body/brain process. and vice versa.’ ..pat.-unpublished manuscript”

“The current us administration has made the promotion of ‘political and economic freedom’ overseas a cornerstone of its foreign policy doctrine. the underlying notion that human beings all over the world can be chiefly motivated by a desire for personal liberty seems a noble but hardly realistic ideal. such motivation is fostered by processes of social modernization and individualization. these changes are linked not only to structural transformations and the spread of new values and ideas, but also to the gradual rewiring of the brains of individuals involved in them. new findings in neuroscience point to clear parallels between changes in social and personality structures (individualization, self-discipline, sense of agency, time orientation, trust, and the like), and modified patterns of brain wiring in individuals. the cultural changes sometimes seen as a precondition for democratization and democratic consolidation are therefore likely to be slow and to escape deliberate political orchestration. moreover, diffuse processes of brain rewiring conducive to democratic political development, which can be seen as creating favourable neurocultural preconditions for democracy, may be hampered by the rapid spread of the market economy over new regions and areas of life in both developing and western countries. these processes can be studied by the new sub-field of political science called neuropolitics, to be consolidated over the next few years.”

“This article draws attention to the relationship between neuroethics, neuropolitics, political psycho-cultures and public and global mental health. in the hegemonic culture of neoliberalism the purpose of life has been reduced to the self-realization in economic and consumerism terms that promotes the hypercompetitive narcissistic or manic self, indifferent to the fate and suffering of others and accommodated to commodification of morals, mental health and well-being. the real public and global mental health promotion is strongly associated with creating a more empathic, less selfish individual and collective mind where people put a greater emphasis on common interests and bioethical values.”

“Purpose: unsupervised time, a common type of neglect, can lead to psychological and behavioral problems in children and adolescents. in this study, we aimed to examine the effects of unsupervised time on psychopathology among children in first and fourth grades. material and method: this study involved a post hoc analysis of a children mental health promotion program that was originally designed to screen attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (adhd) and promote mental health in children. initially, children were screened for attention and behavioral problems with the korean adhd rating scale and the child problem-behavior screening questionnaire. subsequently, the parents of children at high risk for attention and/or behavioral problems completed the child behavior checklist (cbcl) and a questionnaire about lifestyle pattern including unsupervised time of children. multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to reveal the risk for various dimensions of psychopathology associated with unsupervised time. results: more than half the participants experienced unsupervised time each day. both first and fourth graders who spent more than 2 hours per day unsupervised showed a significant risk for somatization and aggressive behavior. unsupervised time was also predictive of delinquency among those in the first grade and of withdrawal among those in the fourth grade. conclusion: more than 2 hours of unsupervised time per day is associated with a high risk for various forms of psychopathology and behavioral problems in elementary school children. parents and governmental agencies need to recognize the importance of providing adequate and careful afterschool supervision for children.”

“Malaysia’s constitution requires a general election to be held at least once every five years, the next one being the 13th general election (pru13) scheduled for 2013. however, the prime minister can also request for parliament to be dissolved at any time within that five years. politicians, especially from the ruling coalition, are scrambling to ensure another victory in pru13. similarly, the opposition will try their best to win through the democratic process of voting. hence, the current political scenarios have continued to see remarks, insinuations and even outright accusations on certain issues among the politicians so as to gain public attention. some will even go to the extent of digging dubious pasts of the individuals and engaging in character smearing resulting in court cases to prove their innocence while others will demand for public apology. however, not all politicians will apologize and non-apology will drag the case for an indefinite time. the unwillingness to apologize requires much thought and deliberation in the amygdala. consequently, through purposive sampling and the analyses of preliminary interviews with politicians and political analysts, this paper will propose and provide insights into the construct of a variable framework that will form the foundation of neuropolitically-based non-apologetic behavior among politicians in malaysia. understanding the politician’s unwillingness to publicly apologize will demystify the situation and the rakyat will be well-informed of the behavioral and psychological reasons behind the non-apology. © 2012 ieee.”

“Purpose – acknowledging that the field of neuroscience is expanding rapidly and the implication of recent neuroscientific advances on the study of politics is equally vast, this chapter will focus primarily on three key areas of convergence that have influenced the direction of neuropolitics: first, decision-making (emotions, preferences, and voting behavior); second, research on in-group/out-group relations, such as coalitional groupings and discrimination and prejudice; and, third, the rise of neuroeconomics. approach – this chapter is concerned with the intersection of political science and neuroscience and discusses how recent technological and theoretical developments in the latter are greatly contributing to the field of neuropolitics. findings – the insights generated by neuroscience permit the study of politics to be anchored on a scientific foundation for the first time. in turn, this opens the door to a renaissance in the political psychology subfield of political science, as the scientific origins of political behavior are revealed. research implications – the ongoing revolution in neuroscience is producing insights into international political behavior that is largely unacknowledged by political scientists. value – the implications for domestic and international policy are major. fundamentally, this is because neuroscience allows us to comprehend better the origins of human political behavior.”

“The implications of the new brain sciences the ‘Decade of the brain’ is over but its effects are now becoming visible as neuropolitics and neuroethics, and in the emergence of neuroeconomies joelle m. abi-rached i n november 2007, seven neuroscientists and political consultants published an opinion-editorial (op-ed) article in the new york times in which they made predic-tions about how swing voters would react to the candidates in the democratic and republican primaries for the us presidency (iacoboni et al, 2007). the intriguing aspect of their predictions was that the authors had used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fmri) to measure the response of their test subjects’ brains to videos and photographs of hillary clinton, mitt romney, rudy giuliani and the other candidates. on the basis of which areas of the brain showed increased or decreased activity, the scientists deter-mined how each person had reacted and deduced the acceptability of the primary candidates to undecided voters in general. but, perhaps most intriguingly, none of this research had been—or has been—published in a peer-reviewed journal. three days later, the new york times published a letter from 17 neuroscientists from the usa and europe who were critical of both the conclusions of marco iacoboni, a neuroscientist at the university of california los angeles, usa, and his co-authors, and the way in which the experiment was pub-lished (aron et al, 2007). ” as cognitive neuroscientists, we are very excited about the potential use of brain imaging techno-logy to better understand the psychology of political decisions. but we are distressed by the publication of research in the press that has not undergone peer review, and that uses flawed reasoning to draw unfounded conclusions about topics as important as the presidential election, ” the authors wrote. it also turned out that the predictions in the op-ed piece were not that good: ” barack obama and john mccain have work to do, ” iacoboni and the other authors had written. ” the scans taken while subjects viewed the first set of photos and videos of mr mccain and mr obama indicated a notable lack of any powerful reactions, positive or nega-tive. ” needless to say, barack obama is now president-elect of the usa. presidential elections aside, the episode shows that neuroscience has become ‘big science’, in so far as it is now of interest to the public. indeed, the enormous progress made in neuroscience research during the ’Decade o…”

“This edited volume breaks new ground by innovatively drawing on multiple disciplines to enhance our understanding of international relations and conflict. the expansion of knowledge across disciplines and the increasingly blurred boundaries in the real world both enable and demand thinking across intellectual borders. while multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary are prominent buzz words, remarkably few books advance them. yet doing so can sharpen and expand our perspective on academic and real world issues and problems. this book offers the most comprehensive treatment to date and is an invaluable resource for students, scholars and practitioners. steve a. yetiv is the louis i. jaffe professor of international relations at old dominion university. a two-time choice outstanding academic book award winner, his books include explaining foreign policy (johns hopkins, 2011); the petroleum triangle (cornell university press, 2011); and myths of the oil boom (oxford university press, 2015). patrick james is professor of international relations at the university of southern california. he is author or editor of 24 books, along with 120 academic articles and book chapters. a former vp of the international studies association, james also served as president of the international council for canadian studies, 2011-13, and president of the peace science society, 2016-17. pushing boundaries in the study of international relations / steve a. yetiv and patrick james — history, international relations, and conflict / steve a. yetiv — hawkish biases and the interdisciplinary study of conflict decision-making / jonathan renshon and daniel kahneman — trust, cooperation, and conflict : neuropolitics and international relations / jacek kugler and paul j. zak — technology, conflict and international relations / stefan fritsch — anthropology, conflict, and international relations / raymond scupin — gender in international relations : interdisciplinarity and the study of conflict / soumita basu and maya eichler — demography and international relations : economics, politics, sociology, and conflict / tadeusz kugler — international political economy and political demography : an interdisciplinary exploration / kyungkook kang and tadeusz kugler — systemism and foreign policy analysis : a new approach to the study of international conflict / carolyn c. james and patrick james — conclusion : interdisciplinary links and future directions / patrick james and steve a. yetiv.”

“Purpose ? to consider the issues of cognitive freedom and neuropolitics via a comparison of d-lysergic acid diethylamide (lsd) use in the 1960s and the emerging twenty-first century debate about nootropics.design/methodology/approach ? drawing upon theoretical concepts from the study of biopolitics and on the tools of narrative policy analysis, this qualitative analysis uses multiple sources from scientific, mass media, regulatory, and the secondary literature.findings ? lsd use in the 1950s and 1960s caused an unprecedented social confrontation with the consequences of a key sector in society deciding to use synthetic chemicals to alter personality and consciousness in ways that did not necessarily accord with mainstream society. as such, the era contains key lessons that can inform the new debate about neurological enhancement.research limitations/implications ? the present study provides a starting point and historical context for development of regulatory policy for the coming era of nootropics and cognitive enhancement.originality ? this chapter analyzes lsd use in the 1950s and 1960s not as a form of moral panic but as a technological adaptation that raised crucial questions about the possibilities and limits of psychedelic citizenship.”

“Jürgen habermas’s discourse ethics – and within this framework, particularly the idea of ‘moral discourses’, which focuses on ‘what is good for all’ and is intended as a means of addressing situations where a shared substantive ‘background consensus’ does not exist or has broken down – is premised on the assumption that participants attempt to engage with and persuade each other through reasoned argumentation. where does this leave (potential) participants with strong religious convictions? in several recent publications, habermas himself has started to reflect on this question. his reflections are motivated not least by (responses to) 11 september 2001. in this context, habermas has suggested that those with secular commitments engage in a process of self-reflection about the meaning of secularisation, the losses involved in the questioning of religious world views, and the question of how we might respond to these losses.yet while these reflections are interesting and suggestive, habermas’s framework, as it stands, cannot easily accommodate his own recognition of the need to overcome what he has called ‘the rift of speechlessness’ that threatens to divide religious and secular discourses. against this background, i consider elements ofwilliam e. connolly’s recent reflections on neuropolitics as one example of a body of work that suggests possible alternative responses to the challenges habermas identifies – and as a contribution that deserves to be taken seriously by those interested in the further development of discourse ethics and/or deliberative democracy.”

“In ‘“the competing meanings of ‘biopolitics’ in political science: biological and postmodern ap- proaches to politics,”’ laurette liesen and mary walsh argue that two very distinct groups of political scientists have organized their work around the term ‘“biopolitics.”’ the authors suggest that these areas of research are not only qualitatively different, but also potentially contradictory. i agree that the distinction between the camps is a meaningful one. but since the current more ‘“scientific”’ scholars focusing on biolog- ical approaches to politics are not identifying with the term ‘“biopolitics,”’ it may neither be possible nor necessary to rebrand by attempting to reclaim the term ‘“biopolitics”’ from the postmodern camp or utilize a label such as ‘“neuropolitics.”’ rather, those pursuing this work tend to already identify with the subfield of political psychology—a field that has been expanding to encompass an even more multidisciplinary approach to the study of political attitudes and behavior.”

“Set within the context of recent debates over the challenges and complexities of sociology in the twenty-first century, this paper makes a small contribution to this broader enterprise through a critical examination of sociological responses to the rise of the neurosciences and the associated epistemic and normative issues this raises in light of the supposed ‘re-biologisation’ of the social world today. drawing on both a reflexive sociology of knowledge and the sociology of expectations, four main stands or styles of sociological engagement are identified – neurosociology; the sociology of (neuro)scientific knowledge; neuropolitics, and; neuroculture — each of which is discussed in the light of this analytic framework, with particular reference to key arguments and ideas, forms of institutionalisation, and the role of expectations within these different perspectives and positions. these developments, we conclude, open up significant new challenges and opportunities for sociology at a time where the biological sciences appear to be in the ascendancy: a time perhaps of sociological ‘renewal’ in which the stakes for the discipline and the future of humanity could not possibly be any higher.”

“In his latest book titled communication power, the famous sociologist of information society manuel castells focuses on the way in which power takes shape and acts in information societies, and the role of communication in defining, structuring, and changing it. from the rise of mass self-communication to the role of environmental movements and neuropolitics, the network is the key structure at play and the main lens used to analyse the transformations we are witnessing. to support his thesis castells links media studies, power theory and brain science, but his insistence on networks puts in danger his ability to give to his readers a comprehensive and coherent interpretative framework.”

“In this article we seek to expand the conversation about the possiblenflew relationships and dilemmas that arise at the nexus betweennneuroscience, creativity, authorship and intellectual property. thisnarticle does not use traditional legal argumentation to understand thenfuture of intellectual property, but rather deploys a scenario-basedninterrogation of possible future trajectories, a method derived from thendiscipline of futures studies. instead, we draw upon a mix of social,nlegal, political, and technological trends to generate differentnalternative possibilities. taken together, emerging insights from thenbrain sciences and the shifting dynamics of ip law point to a need for annew analytical framework a neuropolitics of if law. we ultimatelynconclude that without a fitndamental transformation in how we understandnintellectual property and its ownership, the mechanisms in place fornexpanding corporate control of if at the expense of the individualnshould be of serious concern.”