De Montfort University

This chapter provides evidence of how the business ecosystem affects companies adopting innovative approaches for sustainable outcomes. We contend that companies alone cannot achieve sustainable outcomes and require collaborative approaches to innovate processes. We identify various internal and external factors in the business ecosystem which could either facilitate or hinder the company’s sustainable innovation approaches. Using multiple case study designs, documentary analysis, and semi-structured interviews, we explore various crucial external factors, e.g., the country’s regulatory framework, culture, available resources, and collaboration of companies with stakeholders, in developing sustainable, innovative approaches. These sustainable innovations (e.g., digitisation, training on health, education, drip irrigation, and water sense technologies) help firms improve their existing products and processes and contribute positively to the environment and society.

Police corruption referring to police officers’ use or misuse of authority for private or organisational gain is a major obstacle to effective policing globally. The effect of police corruption is particularly grave in rural areas due to the remoteness of rural areas, inadequate frontline supervision, and people in rural areas being largely poor. Evidence shows that corruption denies people in rural areas of justice and contributes to increasing poverty levels. Despite the effect of police corruption in rural areas, studies hardly consider the rural–urban dynamics and perspectives. Addressing this gap, the current study explores the causes of corruption from the perspectives of police officers working in rural and urban areas. The study uses survey data from 616 Ghanaian police officers, which is analysed using proportions, correlations, and regression. Results show that the area where police officers work influences what factors they perceive as causes of corruption: officers working in rural areas are less likely to regard economic factors and institutional (in)actions as causes of police corruption. Also, officers’ gender is an important determinant of factors that are considered causes of corruption irrespective of whether they work in a rural or urban area. The results suggest that for anti-corruption policies addressing causes of police corruption to be effective, measures must factor in the rural–urban dynamics as different factors are regarded as causes of corruption among police officers working in rural and urban areas.

This article gives an anarchist account of politics as war to theorise an anarchist Realpolitik. Mikhail Vereshchagin’s killing in War and Peace provides the springboard to review the claim that sovereign power secures peace and to explore the merit of scapegoating. We elaborate the anarchist account of politics as war by juxtaposing Foucault’s and Proudhon’s interpretations of Hobbes’ sovereign and adopt the term ‘reverse ethics’ to describe the proposal that citizens retain the philosophical right to forcefully disrupt the state’s supposed peace. The anarchist embrace of war conflicts with the common view that anarchism’s alignment of the means and ends of political action commits anarchists to reject violence. To meet this objection, we discuss Frazer and Hutchings’ theorisation of anarchist ambivalence. We argue that reverse ethics complicates tensions between the presumption of non-violence and the critique of state violence. To consider the use of force in liberal democracy, we connect reverse ethics to Hyams’ anarchist defence of upward scapegoating and targeted assassination. Considering applications in contemporary politics, we argue that reverse ethics constructively redirects attention from the need to justify political violence to the demand to hold sovereign power to its contractual obligation. This is anarchist Realpolitik.

Objectives Workplace stigmatisation and discrimination are significant barriers to accessing employment opportunities, reintegration and promotion in the workforce for people with mental illnesses in comparison to other disabilities. This paper presents qualitative evidence of anticipated and experienced workplace stigma and discrimination among individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) in 35 countries, and how these experiences differ across countries based on their Human Development Index (HDI) level. Design Mixed-method cross-sectional survey. Participants, setting and measures The qualitative data were gathered as part of the combined European Union Anti-Stigma Programme European Network and global International Study of Discrimination and Stigma Outcomes for Depression studies examining stigma and discrimination among individuals with MDD across 35 countries. Anticipated and experienced stigma and discrimination were assessed using the Discrimination and Stigma Scale version 12 (DISC-12). This study used responses to the open-ended DISC-12 questions related to employment. Data were analysed using the framework analysis method. Results The framework analysis of qualitative data of 141 participants identified 6 key ‘frames’ exploring (1) participants reported experiences of workplace stigma and discrimination; (2) impact of experienced workplace stigma and discrimination; (3) anticipated workplace stigma and discrimination; (4) ways of coping; (5) positive work experiences and (6) contextualisation of workplace stigma and discrimination. In general, participants from very high HDI countries reported higher levels of anticipated and experienced discrimination than other HDI groups (eg, less understanding and support, being more avoided/shunned, stopping themselves from looking for work because of expectation and fear of discrimination). Furthermore, participants from medium/low HDI countries were more likely to report positive workplace experiences. Conclusions This study makes a significant contribution towards workplace stigma and discrimination among individuals with MDD, still an under-researched mental health diagnosis. These findings illuminate important relationships that may exist between countries/contexts and stigma and discrimination, identifying that individuals from very high HDI countries were more likely to report anticipated and experienced workplace discrimination.