scholarly journals The irreducibility of collective obligations

2019 ◽  
Vol 177 (4) ◽  
pp. 1085-1109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allard Tamminga ◽  
Frank Hindriks
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Deontic Logic ◽  
Formal Analysis ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Individual Agent ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Individualists claim that collective obligations are reducible to the individual obligations of the collective’s members. Collectivists deny this. We set out to discover who is right by way of a deontic logic of collective action that models collective actions, abilities, obligations, and their interrelations. On the basis of our formal analysis, we argue that when assessing the obligations of an individual agent, we need to distinguish individual obligations from member obligations. If a collective has a collective obligation to bring about a particular state of affairs, then it might be that no individual in the collective has an individual obligation to bring about that state of affairs. What follows from a collective obligation is that each member of the collective has a member obligation to help ensure that the collective fulfills its collective obligation. In conclusion, we argue that our formal analysis supports collectivism.

Where There Is a (Collective) Will, There Are (Effective) Ways

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
pp. 1678-1692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma F. Thomas ◽  
Craig McGarty ◽  
Gerhard Reese ◽  
Mariette Berndsen ◽  
Ana-Maria Bliuc
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Orientation ◽  
Group Consciousness ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Group Memberships ◽  
Subsequent Identification

The 21st century has borne witness to catastrophic natural and human-induced tragedies. These disasters necessitate humanitarian responses; however, the individual and collective bases of support are not well understood. Drawing on Duncan’s motivational model of collective action, we focus on how individual differences position a person to adopt group memberships and develop a “group consciousness” that provides the basis for humanitarian action. Longitudinal mediation analyses involving supporters of international humanitarian action ( N = 384) sampled annually for 3 years provided support for the hypothesized model, with some twists. The results revealed that within time point, a set of individual differences (together, the “pro-social orientation”) promoted a humanitarian group consciousness that, in turn, facilitated collective action. However, longitudinally, there was evidence that a more general pro-social orientation undermined subsequent identification with, and engagement in, the humanitarian cause. Results are discussed in terms of understanding the interplay between individual and group in collective actions.

The International Legal Personality of the Individual

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Individual ◽  
International Legal Personality ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Second World

This book scrutinizes the relationship between the concept of international legal personality as a theoretical construct and the position of the individual as a matter of positive international law. By testing four main theoretical conceptions of international legal personality against historical and existing international legal norms that govern individuals, the book argues that the common narrative about the development of the role of the individual in international law is flawed. Contrary to conventional wisdom, international law did not apply to States alone until the Second World War, only to transform during the second half of the twentieth century to include individuals as its subjects. Rather, the answer to the question of individual rights and obligations under international law is—and always was—solely contingent upon the interpretation of international legal norms. It follows, of course, that the entities governed by a particular norm tell us nothing about the legal system to which that norm belongs. Instead, the distinction between international and national legal norms turns exclusively on the nature of their respective sources. Against the background of these insights, the book shows how present-day international lawyers continue to allow an idea, which was never more than a scholarly invention of the nineteenth century, to influence the interpretation and application of contemporary international law. This state of affairs has significant real-world ramifications as international legal rights and obligations of individuals (and other non-State entities) are frequently applied more restrictively than interpretation without presumptions regarding ‘personality’ would merit.

Peer-to-peer online voice as emergent collective action

2021 ◽  
pp. 002218562110319
Author(s):  
Michael Walker
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Nature Of Information ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Worker Voice ◽  
Pain Points

E-voice is now a common form of worker voice. Existing scholarship has focused on e-voice’s potential for grievance-airing and resistance; however, much work-oriented online discussion is not change oriented but more in the nature of information sharing and mutual aid. Even when not deliberately intended to be, mutual aid discussion can be an exercise of worker voice because it identifies and highlights pain points in the workplace, spreads awareness of these through online communities and constitutes an attempt to improve an objectionable state of affairs. As otherwise voiceless workers discover and act on these shared ideas en masse, they create an emergent form of collective action.

Transition in Social Foundations for Collective Action

1980 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-451
Author(s):  
Craig Calhoun
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Social Foundations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Working People ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Traditional Communities

During the 1820s and early 1830s, two largely different populations of working people lived alongside each other in the region surrounding Manchester. Today, they represent, in an important and clear contrast, the social foundations which have supported distinctive directions of popular protest and collective action. The theory of working-class radicalism, as developed by Marx and others, has tended to confound the two. The necessary radicalism and fundamental opposition to the growth of capitalist industry of more traditional communities of craft workers was wedded to the concentrated numbers of new industrial workers and the clarity of their exploitation by capitalists. This marriage took place in theory, but not in concrete social movements. The working class emerged as a foundation for basically reformist collective actions, while the radical and reactionary populist craftsmen lost the war of the industrial revolution.

scholarly journals Nerve agents: emergency preparedness

2020 ◽  
Vol 166 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-46
Author(s):  
Alan George Andrew Weir ◽  
S Makin ◽  
J Breeze
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Emergency Services ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Chemical Warfare Agents ◽  
Nerve Agents ◽  
Clinical Effects ◽  
Individual Agent ◽  
Warfare Agents ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Uk

Nerve agents (NAs) are a highly toxic group of chemical warfare agents. NAs are organophosphorus esters with varying physical and chemical properties depending on the individual agent. The most recently developed class of NA is ‘Novichok’, the existence of which was first revealed in the early 1990s, just before Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention. In 1984, Iraq became the first nation to deploy NA on the battlefield when they used tabun against Iranian military forces in Majnoon Island near Basra. The first terrorist use of an NA is believed to be the attack in Matsumoto, Japan, on 27 June 1994 by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult. Symptoms and ultimate toxicity from NA poisoning are related to the agent involved, the form and degree of exposure, and rapidity of medical treatment. The classic toxidrome of significant exposure to NA comprises bronchorrhoea, bronchospasm, bradycardia and convulsions, with an onset period of as early as a few seconds depending on the mode and extent of exposure. If medical management is not instituted rapidly, death may occur in minutes by asphyxiation and cardiac arrest. In the UK, emergency preparedness for NA poisoning includes an initial operational response programme across all blue light emergency services and key first responders. This paper describes the development, pathophysiology, clinical effects and current guidance for management of suspected NA poisoning. It also summarises the known events in which NA poisoning has been confirmed.

From Credit to Collective Action: The Role of Microfinance in Promoting Women's Social Capital and Normative Influence

2009 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 529-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paromita Sanyal
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Normative Influence ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Socially Isolated ◽  
Collective Empowerment ◽  
Economic Ties

Can economic ties positively influence social relations and actions? If so, how does this influence operate? Microfinance programs, which provide credit through a group-based lending strategy, provide the ideal setting for exploring these questions. This article examines whether structuring socially isolated women into peer-groups for an explicitly economic purpose, such as access to credit, has any effect on the women's collective social behavior. Based on interviews with 400 women from 59 microfinance groups in West Bengal, India, I find that one third of these groups undertook various collective actions. Improvements in women's social capital and normative influence fostered this capacity for collective action. Several factors contributed to these transformations, including economic ties among members, the structure of the group network, and women's participation in group meetings. Based on these findings, I argue that microfinance groups have the potential to promote women's social capital and normative influence, thereby facilitating women's collective empowerment. I conclude by discussing the need for refining our understanding of social capital and social ties that promote normative influence.

The psychological dimensions of collective action, online

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Postmes
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Psychological Dimensions ◽  
The Way

This article examines the consequences of the migration of collective action into the mediated sphere. It focuses on the impact of the Internet on key psychological factors that are involved in collective action. The structure is as follows. First, the article considers the theoretical backdrop to its themes, focusing first on the classic literatures on crowds and on mediated communication, followed by more contemporary perspectives – identifying the underlying consistencies in the theoretical themes these literatures address. It identifies some key psychological factors that drive collective action. Then the article considers how the Internet changes the nature of collective action and the context in which it takes place. Subsequently, it elaborates how these changes might affect the key factors previously identified. Finally, the article takes a step back from all this and returns to the question of whether this amounts to a revolution in the way collective actions take place.

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