The Collective Dimensions of Political Morality

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Gross

Collective moral action is analysed using two models: a deontological, non-strategic model emphasizing right moral judgment and individual action and a rational, strategic model emphasizing the need to overcome free-rider problems. While these models fail to explain satisfactorily collective moral action each provides valuable insights which are used to examine three case studies: successful collective action to rescue Jews in Europe and failed action to confront Japanese-American persecution during World War Two. Several striking conclusions emerge. First, enlightened moral judgment is not a necessary condition for collective moral action. Instead a complex structure of action emerges in which organizational leaders acting within parochial groups manipulate incentives and substitute public goods. Second, enlightened political actors are very often the most politically impotent. This emerging paradox severely attenuates the moral basis of political action which underlies normative theory.

GEOgraphia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (41) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Elson Luciano Silva Pires ◽  
Lucas Labigalini Fuini ◽  
Wilson Bento Figueiredo Filho ◽  
Eugênio Lima Mendes

A palavra governança não é nova. Ela perpassa por diversos períodos da história e assume significados específicos em determinadas épocas e países. Atualmente, o conceito de governança designa todos os procedimentos institucionais das relações de poder e das formas de gestão públicas ou privadas, tanto formais como informais, que regem a ação política dos atores. O objetivo deste artigo é problematizar os fatores explicativos das teorias institucionalistas que tratam a governança territorial como uma condição necessária para estabelecer compromissos entre os atores, com vistas ao desenvolvimento econômico, social e político das metrópoles, das cidades e seus territórios locais e regionais. Enfrentar as lacunas do debate acadêmico e coadunar os conceitos da literatura internacional referente à governança territorial, em especial a de matriz francesa, com a nacional, são um dos principais contributos deste artigo. REVISITING TERRITORIAL GOVERNANCE: INSTITUTIONAL DEVICES, INTERMEDIATE NOTIONS AND REGULATORY LEVELS Abstract The word governance is not new. It goes through different periods of history and takes specific meanings in certain times and countries. Currently, the concept of governance can be defined as institutional procedures of power relations and of public or private forms of management, which can be formal as well as informal, that govern political actions of political actors. The purpose of this article is to analyze the explanatory factors of institutionalist theories that approach territorial governance as a necessary condition to establish compromises among actors, seeking an economic, social, and political development of metropolis, cities, and their regional and local territories. One of the main contribution of this paper is to address the gaps in academic debate, and to relate national Brazilian concepts to international literature concerning territorial governance, in particular the French theoretical framework. Keywords: Institutional forms; territorial governance; modes of regulation. LA GOUVERNANCE TERRITORIALE REVISEE: DISPOSITIFS INSTITUTIONNELS, NOTIONS INTERMÉDIAIRES ET NIVEAUX DE RÉGULATION Resumé Le mot gouvernance n'est pas nouveau. Il traverse diverses périodes de l'histoire et prend des significations spécifiques à certains moments et pays. Actuellement, le concept de gouvernance désigne toutes les procédures institutionnelles de relations de pouvoir et de formes de gestion publiques ou privées, formelles ou informelles, qui régissent l'action politique des acteurs. L'objectif de cet article est de problématiser les facteurs explicatifs des théories institutionnalistes qui traitent la gouvernance territoriale comme une condition nécessaire pour établir des compromis entre les acteurs, en vue du développement économique, social et politique de la métropole, des villes et de leurs territoires locaux et régionaux. Faire face aux lacunes du débat académique en accord avec les concepts de la littérature internationale sur la gouvernance territoriale, notamment la matrice française, avec la matrice nationale, sont l'une des contributions majeures de cet article. Mots-clés: Formes institutionnelles; gouvernance territoriale; modes de régulations


2020 ◽  
pp. 209653112097395
Author(s):  
Zhengmei Peng ◽  
Dietrich Benner ◽  
Roumiana Nikolova ◽  
Stanislav Ivanov ◽  
Tao Peng

Purpose: This article presents the theoretical framework, research design, methodology, and main findings of the comparative measurement of ethical–moral competences of 15-year-old upper secondary students in Shanghai, under the ETiK-International-Shanghai project. Design/Approach/Methods: By dividing the ethical–moral competences into the categories of basic ethical–moral knowledge, ethical–moral judgment competence, and competence in developing ethical–moral action plans, a survey of 2,036 students was conducted, using a reliable and valid testing instrument. Findings: In general, 15-year-olds from homes with more educational resources perform higher in all three scales across all countries taken under consideration in our study. Furthermore, school practices, teaching, as well as quantity and quality of instruction play a very important role in the moral education process and especially in developing students’ proficiency levels of ethical–moral knowledge, reasoning competence, as well as students’ high abilities in developing moral action plans. When relevant educational background factors are held constant, Chinese students show lower average scores on basic ethical–moral knowledge and moral judgment competence. With exception of the tested Vienna students, all other European samples scored better than the Chinese students—also on the test for developing ethical–moral action plans. However, Chinese students are especially able to display outstanding empathy when dealing with suffering, misfortune, and sorrow, as well as in their willingness to help others. Originality/Value: The findings of this article can foster thinking about which topics should be further discussed to improve the ethical–moral knowledge and competences of Chinese students and highlight requirements for the further development of moral education in China at the levels of teaching, curriculum, teacher education, and research.


Author(s):  
Brian Leiter

Moral psychology, for purposes of this volume, encompasses issues in metaethics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of action, including questions concerning the objectivity of morality, the relationship between moral judgment and emotion, the nature of the emotions, free will, and moral responsibility, and the structure of the mind as that is relevant to the possibility of moral action and judgment. Nietzsche’s “naturalism” is introduced and explained, and certain confusions about its meaning are addressed. An overview of the volume follows


Author(s):  
Thomas Erich Jakob

This chapter argues that transition after critical junctures is heavily linked to the narratives which prevail the discourse of the respective country. Different political actors try to legitimize retroactively current claims to power. In such “zero hour” the extent of ability to organize, mobilize, set incentives, and protect followers is of the essence. This chapter uses the example of Iraq after 2003 where the split between Kurds, Shi'i Muslims, and Sunni Muslims, became the driving force behind political action and loyalty. An established counter-narrative deconstructs the claim that an eternal Shi'i – Sunni split determined all outcomes of Iraqi history, stating that religion was historically a rather subordinate identity. Then crucial contributions to the deepening of the sectarian cleavage by religious networks, the Iraqi constitution, and the policies of the Coalition Provisional Authority, (CPA) are shown and exemplified using the Iraqi trade union movement after 2003.


2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 1279-1307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matto Mildenberger ◽  
Dustin Tingley

When political action entails individual costs but group-contingent benefits, political participation may depend on an individual’s perceptions of others’ beliefs; yet detailed empirical attention to these second-order beliefs – beliefs about the beliefs of others – remains rare. We offer the first comprehensive examination of the distribution and content of second-order climate beliefs in the United States and China, drawing from six new opinion surveys of mass publics, political elites and intellectual elites. We demonstrate that all classes of political actors have second-order beliefs characterized by egocentric bias and global underestimation of pro-climate positions. We then demonstrate experimentally that individual support for pro-climate policies increases after respondents update their second-order beliefs. We conclude that scholars should focus more closely on second-order beliefs as a key factor shaping climate policy inaction and that scholars can use the climate case to extend their understanding of second-order beliefs more broadly.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 237796081983389
Author(s):  
Darcy Copeland

Moral dilemmas are present in all settings in which nurses work. Nurses are moral agents who must make moral decisions and take moral action in very complex social systems. Nurses are accountable for their actions, and it is therefore imperative that they have a solid foundation in ethics. There are multiple ethical frameworks nurses can utilize to justify their actions. A theory of moral ecology is presented here as a way to conceptualize the relationships between these frameworks. The first two steps of moral action, moral sensitivity and moral judgment, are explored in a pluralistic context. Specifically, multiple ethical frameworks that inform the practice of nursing are presented using an ecological model. Nurses work in a variety of practice environments, with different populations, across a spectrum of situations. An ecological model acknowledges that nurses are influenced by the complex social, and ethical, systems in which they find themselves taking moral action. When faced with ethical issues in practice, a nurse's moral sensitivity and moral judgment may be guided by ethical systems most proximal to the situation. Nurses bring individual moral beliefs to work and are influenced by the ethical directives of employers, the discipline's code of ethics, principles of bioethics, and various approaches to normative ethics (virtue, consequential, deontological, and care). Any of the frameworks presented may justifiably be applied in various nursing circumstances. I propose that the multiple ethical frameworks nurses utilize exist in a relationally nested manner and a model of moral ecology in nursing is provided.


1970 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 792-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward N. Muller

Political efficacy, the belief that the ruled in a political system have some capacity for exercising influence over the rulers, has been studied extensively by political researchers. A selected bibliography compiled by Easton and Dennis in early 1967 contains some thirty books and articles which have dealt in one way or another with political efficacy and its correlates. And this bibliography could be updated considerably.Substantial theoretic import has been attributed to political efficacy. Easton and Dennis consider the SRC sense of political efficacy construct to be an important determinant of the persistence of democratic regimes. They argue that beliefs in political efficacy provide “a reservoir of diffuse support upon which the system can automatically draw in normal times, when members may feel that their capacity to manipulate the environment is not living up to their expectations, and in special periods of stress, when popular participation may appear to be pure illusion or when political outputs fail to measure up to insistent demands,” A related construct, termed “subjective competence” by Almond and Verba, is based on different indicators but interpreted as substantively equivalent to the SRC construct. On the basis of their analysis of the Five-Nation data, Almond and Verba arrive at the general conclusion that “the self-confident [subjectively competent] citizen appears to be the democratic citizen.” The concept of political competence, as formulated by Barnes, subsumes political efficacy under the aegis of an individual attribute consisting of “political skills plus the sense of efficacy necessary for effective political action.” Barnes contends that high levels of political competence dispose individuals to prefer democratic styles of leadership, while low levels dispose individuals to prefer authoritarian styles. On these grounds, he concludes that relatively high levels of political competence are a necessary condition of political democracy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARKUS PATBERG

Abstract:There is a growing sense that if the EU is to avoid disintegration, it needs a constitutional renewal. However, a reform negotiated between executives will hardly revitalise the European project. In light of this, commentators have suggested that the EU needs a democratic refounding on popular initiative. But that is easier said than done. Shaping the EU has been an elite enterprise for decades and it is hard to imagine how things could be otherwise. In this article, I map four public narratives of constituent power in the EU to sketch out potential alternatives. Political actors increasingly call into question the conventional role of the states as the ‘masters of the treaties’ and construct alternative stories as to who should be in charge of EU constitutional politics, how the respective subject came to find itself in that position, and how it should invoke its founding authority in the future. These public narratives represent a promising starting point for a normative theory that outlines a viable and justifiable path for transforming the EU in a bottom-up mode.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. e0164374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn B. Francis ◽  
Charles Howard ◽  
Ian S. Howard ◽  
Michaela Gummerum ◽  
Giorgio Ganis ◽  
...  
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