scholarly journals Return to Status Quo Ante: The Need for Robust and Reversible Pandemic Emergency Measures

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
STEPHEN RAINEY ◽  
ALBERTO GIUBILINI
Keyword(s):  
Virus Disease ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
State Action ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Emergency Power ◽  
Restrictive Measures ◽  
Political Decisionmaking ◽  
Emergency Measures

Abstract This paper presents a normative analysis of restrictive measures in response to a pandemic emergency. It applies to the context presented by the Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global outbreak of 2019, as well as to future pandemics. First, a Millian-liberal argument justifies lockdown measures in order to protect liberty under pandemic conditions, consistent with commonly accepted principles of public health ethics. Second, a wider argument contextualizes specific issues that attend acting on the justified lockdown for western liberal democratic states, as modeled on discourse and accounted for by Jürgen Habermas. The authors argue that a range of norms are constructed in societies that, justifiably, need to be curtailed for the pandemic. The state has to take on the unusual role of sole guardian of norms under emergency pandemic conditions. Consistently with both the Millian-liberal justification and elements of Habermasian discourse ethics, they argue that that role can only be justified where it includes strategy for how to return political decisionmaking to the status quo ante. This is because emergency conditions are only justified as a means to protecting prepandemic norms. To this end, the authors propose that an emergency power committee is necessary to guarantee that state action during pandemic is aimed at re-establishing the conditions of legitimacy of government action that ecological factors (a virus) have temporarily curtailed.

Treatment of ebola and other infectious diseases: melatonin “goes viral”

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russel J Reiter ◽  
Qiang Ma ◽  
Ramaswamy Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Hemorrhagic Shock ◽  
Safety Profile ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Attractive Potential ◽  
Potential Treatment

This review summarizes published reports on the utility of melatonin as a treatment for virus-mediated diseases. Of special note are the data related to the role of melatonin in influencing Ebola virus disease. This infection and deadly condition has no effective treatment and the published works documenting the ability of melatonin to attenuate the severity of viral infections generally and Ebola infection specifically are considered. The capacity of melatonin to prevent one of the major complications of an Ebola infection, i.e., the hemorrhagic shock syndrome, which often contributes to the high mortality rate, is noteworthy. Considering the high safety profile of melatonin, the fact that it is easily produced, inexpensive and can be self-administered makes it an attractive potential treatment for Ebola virus pathology.  

Social Development and Police Reform: Some Reflections on the Concept and Purpose of Policing and the Implications for Reform in the UK and USA

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Williams ◽  
Craig Paterson
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
Police Reform ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Common Understanding

Abstract The increase in calls for police reform following the death of George Floyd has led to renewed debate about social inequality and the role of policing in society. Modern bureaucratic police systems emerged from locally administered structures and Anglo-American policing models continue to be aligned, to varying degrees, with the political, socio-cultural, legal, and ideological aspects of contemporary liberal democratic society with its emphasis on democratic localism and decentralised accountability. However, at a time when society is reimagining itself and technology, government, and nations are radically re-shaping themselves, a critical question is whether there is a sufficiently common philosophical and conceptual understanding of policing to support its development rather than just a common understanding of police functions. This is profoundly important when considering the current calls for reform of policing in the USA and other western democratic states. The article argues that there is an urgent need to reconsider how we conceptualize policing and its relationship with social development.

scholarly journals Threat or Corrective? Assessing the Impact of Populist Parties in Government on the Qualities of Democracy: A 19-Country Comparison

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Davide Vittori
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Country Comparison ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Scholars have long debated whether populism harms or improves the quality of democracy. This article contributes to this debate by focusing on the impact of populist parties in government. In particular, it inquires: (1) whether populists in government are more likely than non-populists to negatively affect the quality of democracies; (2) whether the role of populists in government matters; and (3) which type of populism is expected to negatively affect the quality of liberal-democratic regimes. The results find strong evidence that the role of populists in government affects several qualities of democracy. While robust, the findings related to (2) are less clear-cut than those pertaining to (1). Finally, regardless of their role in government, different types of populism have different impacts on the qualities of democracy. The results show that exclusionary populist parties in government tend to have more of a negative impact than other forms of populism.

scholarly journals Group size and aquatic vegetation modulates male preferences for female shoals in wild zebrafish, Danio rerio

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditya Ghoshal ◽  
Anuradha Bhat
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Aquatic Vegetation ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Female Group ◽  
Aquatic Flora ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
The Individual

AbstractShoaling decisions in the wild are determined by a combination of innate preferences of the individual along with the interplay of multiple ecological factors. In their natural habitat as well as in the laboratory, zebrafish is a shoaling fish. Here, we investigate the role of group size and associated vegetation in shaping shoaling preferences of wild male zebrafish. We studied the association preference of males to groups of female shoals in a multi-choice test design. We found that males made greater proportion of visits to an 8-female group compared to 2 and 4-female groups. However, males spent similar proportions of time across the three female-containing groups. When artificial vegetation was incorporated along with female number as an additional factor, we found that males prefer high and moderately vegetated patches compared to low or no-vegetation groups, irrespective of the number of females in these patches. Based on experiments using a novel multi-choice design, our results show that preference for group size can change due to interaction of two separate factors. This work is a first attempt to understand the role of aquatic flora in determining shoaling preferences in zebrafish, using an experimental paradigm consisting of a gradation in female and vegetation densities.

scholarly journals Securitisation gaps: Towards ideational understandings of state weakness

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Kevork Oskanian
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Collective Knowledge ◽  
State Action ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Interpretive Approach ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Republic

Abstract This article contributes a securitisation-based, interpretive approach to state weakness. The long-dominant positivist approaches to the phenomenon have been extensively criticised for a wide range of deficiencies. Responding to Lemay-Hébert's suggestion of a ‘Durkheimian’, ideational-interpretive approach as a possible alternative, I base my conceptualisation on Migdal's view of state weakness as emerging from a ‘state-in-society's’ contested ‘strategies of survival’. I argue that several recent developments in Securitisation Theory enable it to capture this contested ‘collective knowledge’ on the state: a move away from state-centrism, the development of a contextualised ‘sociological’ version, linkages made between securitisation and legitimacy, and the acknowledgment of ‘securitisations’ as a contested Bourdieusian field. I introduce the concept of ‘securitisation gaps’ – divergences in the security discourses and practices of state and society – as a concept aimed at capturing this contested role of the state, operationalised along two logics (reactive/substitutive) – depending on whether they emerge from securitisations of the state action or inaction – and three intensities (latent, manifest, and violent), depending on the extent to which they involve challenges to state authority. The approach is briefly illustrated through the changing securitisation gaps in the Republic of Lebanon during the 2019–20 ‘October Uprising’.

When death strikes early as often will: How counsellors and schools can support grieving pupils and students

2021 ◽  
pp. 136548022199684
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Wango ◽  
Leila Mkameli Gwiyo
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Functioning ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Life Event ◽  
Post Traumatic Growth ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Death Of Parent

Death is inevitable and universal, and the corona virus disease has only further intensified a world of uncertainties as a result of frequent accidents, HIV/AIDS, cancer and natural disasters. Bereavement after any death is a potentially disruptive life event with consequences in physical and mental health, relationships and social functioning. Death is a rather odd, thought-provoking and challenging experience, particularly in the lives of children and adolescents. Death of parent/s, sibling, relative/s, teacher, classmate or friend is a relatively new and challenging phenomenon. Persons working with pupils and students, including teachers, counsellors, school chaplain and social workers, need to be prepared to offer help to those who experience bereavement. Death is unpredictable and may occur naturally, suddenly, or traumatically. In several instances, help is sometimes required in advance of bereavement in that the death may be anticipated such as instances of prolonged illness or following a fatal accident. In all cases, the role of the teacher and counsellor in the school is pivotal in supporting pupils and students who have been bereaved. This paper highlights the need to impart post-traumatic growth in bereft pupils and students in schools in order to cope with bereavement.

The reasons of the unreasonable: Is political liberalism still an option?

2021 ◽  
pp. 019145372110405
Author(s):  
Benedetta Giovanola ◽  
Roberta Sala
Keyword(s):  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Strict Sense ◽  
Public Justification ◽  
Respect For Persons ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Liberal Societies ◽  
Harsh Criticism ◽  
Sense Of Justice

In this study, we claim that political liberalism, despite harsh criticism, is still the best option available for providing a just and stable society. However, we maintain that political liberalism needs to be revised so as to be justifiable from the perspective of not only the “reasonable” in a Rawlsian sense (that we define as “fully” reasonable) but also the ones whom Rawls labels as “unreasonable.” To support our claim, going beyond Rawls’s original account, we unpack the concept of unreasonableness and identify three different subsets that we label as the “partially reasonable,” the “non-reasonable,” and the “unreasonable.” We argue that both the “fully” reasonable and the “partially reasonable” would be included into the constituency of public justification; more specifically, we claim that the latter would support liberal institutions out of their reasons: we define these reasons as mutually intelligible reasons and claim that they allow to acknowledge the importance of a convergence approach to public justification. As for the “non-reasonable” and “unreasonable,” we claim that they cannot be included in the constituency of public justification, but they nonetheless could be compliant with liberal institutions if political liberalism offers them some reasons to comply: here, we claim that political liberalism should include them through engagement and propose reasoning from conjecture as an effecting way of offering reasons for compliance. In particular, we claim that through reasoning from conjecture, the “non-reasonable” could find conciliatory reasons to comply with liberal institutions on a stable base. With regard to the “unreasonable” in the strict sense, we claim that through reasoning from conjecture, their unreasonableness could be contained and they could find reasons—even if just self-interested—for complying with liberal institutions rather than defying them. In our discussion, we consider the different subsets not as “frozen” but as dynamic and open to change, and we aim to propose a more complex and multilayered approach to inclusion that would be able to include a wider set of people. To strengthen our argument, we show that the need for a wider public justification and for broader inclusion in liberal societies is grounded in respect for persons both as equal persons and as particular individuals. In particular, we claim that individuals’ values, ends, commitments, and affiliations activate demands of respect and can strengthen the commitment to the liberal–democratic order. Through a reformulation of the role of respect in liberal societies, we also show a kind of social and communitarian dimension that, we claim, is fully compatible with political liberalism and opens it up to “civic friendship” and “social solidarity,” which are constitutive elements for the development of a sense of justice and for the realization of a just and stable society.

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