scholarly journals Crisis and Critique: On Preparedness, Authoritarianism and the Regulatory State

Author(s):  
Carlo Caduff

Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has been overwhelming in many ways, but what are the structural conditions that can explain the dramatic impact of the global pandemic? How can we shift the horizon of the possible and contribute to another politics of life, one that is based on strong institutions and a vision of social justice? This article examines the role of preparedness, authoritarianism and the regulatory state. It suggests that it is important to move beyond the binary of epidemic and endemic disease and rethink the kinds of crisis publics, forms of political action and medical-historical consciousness that this distinction with its emphasis on dramatic disjunctures enables.

10.1068/d6708 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa W Wright

Protest movements offer a rich vernacular for investigating how the connections between social justice and creating political subjects always involve spatial transformations. In this paper, I put Jacques Derrida's contemplations regarding justice as incalculable in conversation with critiques of public witnessing and the role of empathy for catalyzing political action, and I do so to present some speculations over why a social justice movement in northern Mexico has weakened domestically as it has gained steam internationally. The movement has grown since 1993 in response to the violence against women and girls and the surrounding impunity that has made northern Mexico famous as a place of ‘femicide’. By examining these events in relation to the debates on calculating justice and on the politics of witnessing, I hope to add to the growing literature within and beyond geography on the interplay of emotion and social justice politics while illustrating what is at stake in these dynamics for Mexico's democracy and for women's participation in it.


2007 ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Bogomolov

The article reveals the influence of the spiritual and moral atmosphere in the society on economic development. The emphasis is put especially on the role of social confidence and social justice. The author indicates also some measures on improving the worsening moral situation in Russia.


Author(s):  
David Estlund

Throughout the history of political philosophy and politics, there has been continual debate about the roles of idealism versus realism. For contemporary political philosophy, this debate manifests in notions of ideal theory versus nonideal theory. Nonideal thinkers shift their focus from theorizing about full social justice, asking instead which feasible institutional and political changes would make a society more just. Ideal thinkers, on the other hand, question whether full justice is a standard that any society is likely ever to satisfy. And, if social justice is unrealistic, are attempts to understand it without value or importance, and merely utopian? This book argues against thinking that justice must be realistic, or that understanding justice is only valuable if it can be realized. The book does not offer a particular theory of justice, nor does it assert that justice is indeed unrealizable—only that it could be, and this possibility upsets common ways of proceeding in political thought. The book's author engages critically with important strands in traditional and contemporary political philosophy that assume a sound theory of justice has the overriding, defining task of contributing practical guidance toward greater social justice. Along the way, it counters several tempting perspectives, including the view that inquiry in political philosophy could have significant value only as a guide to practical political action, and that understanding true justice would necessarily have practical value, at least as an ideal arrangement to be approximated. Demonstrating that unrealistic standards of justice can be both sound and valuable to understand, the book stands as a trenchant defense of ideal theory in political philosophy.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pranam Dhar

Zakat is an important form of religiously mandated charity under Islam. It is the third pillar of Islam. The giving of Zakat is important for Muslims, as this leads to purification of their wealth from all sins. This paper examines the role of Zakat as an instrument of social justice and poverty eradication in society. Each Muslim calculates his or her own Zakat individually. Generally, this involves the payment each year of two and a half percent of one's capital, after the needs of the family have been met. One can donate additional amount as an act of voluntary charity but Zakat is fundamental to every Muslim. Zakat is the Islamic contribution to social justice: those who have to give charity share the benefit of their prosperity to those who have fallen short. This is the Islamic approach to remove greed and envy and to purify one's soul based on good intentions. This is the institution of Zakat in Islam. The institution of Zakat serves to eradicate poverty in the community and uphold the light of Islam. Allah says “whatever is paid as Zakat for the sake of Allah shall be rewarded in manifolds”.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (11-1) ◽  
pp. 132-147
Author(s):  
Dmitry Rakovsky

The main purpose of this article is to study the role of the Russian Museum in the formation of the historical consciousness of Russian society. In this context, the author examines the history of the creation of the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III and its pre-revolutionary collections that became the basis of this famous museum collection (in particular, the composition of the museum’s expositions for 1898 and 1915). Within the framework of the methodology proposed by the author, the works of art presented in the museum’s halls were selected and distributed according to the historical eras that they reflect, and a comparative analysis of changes in the composition of the expositions was also carried out. This approach made it possible to identify the most frequently encountered historical heroes, to consider the representation of their images in the museum’s expositions, and also to provide a systemic reconstruction of historical representations broadcast in its halls.


GEOgraphia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (41) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Agripino Souza Coelho Neto

Resumo: O presente texto pretende analisar o papel das ações coletivas (associações, cooperativas e sindicatos de agricultores) no acionamento e na ativação das escalas geográficas para o desenvolvimento de suas atividades. O estudo foi realizado no Espaço Sisaleiro da Bahia (Brasil), onde um conjunto significativo de associações e cooperativas de agricultores e sindicatos de trabalhadores rurais tem se organizado em torno das escalas espaciais para viabilizar sua ação político-institucional e econômico-produtiva. A ação desses coletivos organizados em rede tem permitido a conformação e o fortalecimento de novas escalas de ação política, como no caso da criação do conselho territorial para viabilização da implantação de políticas de governo. Cooperativas, associações e sindicatos se apoiam nas escalas para compor organizações em diferentes níveis escalares (escala local, escala regional, escala do estado federado e escala nacional), buscando fortalecer seus propósitos e ampliar seu poder de barganha e influência. Analisando o comportamento espacial dessas variadas modalidades de ações coletivas, é possível considerar que elas desenvolvem políticas de escala, ou seja, a escala passa a significar muito mais que uma categoria de análise, mas se torna uma categoria da prática social e política. Nesse sentido, parte-se do pressuposto de que os grupos humanos produzem e tornam efetivas suas próprias escalas visando a alcançar suas metas e organizar seus comportamentos coletivos. Palavras-chave: Escala. Rede. Cooperativismo. Associativismo. Sindicalismo. Espaço Sisaleiro da Bahia. SCALE POLICIES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF NETWORK STRATEGIES OF COLLECTIVE ACTIONS IN THE SISAL REGION OF BAHIA (BRAZIL)Abstract: This paper aims to analyze the role of collective initiatives of associations, cooperatives and farmers’ unions in the mobilization and activation of geographical scales for the development of their activities. The study was conducted in the Sisal Region of Bahia (Brazil), where a significant number of farmers associations and cooperatives and rural workers’ unions have been organizing their actions around spatial scales to enable their political-institutional and economic-productive influence. The gathering and action of these organized groups in a network have allowed the establishment and strengthening of new scales of political action, as seem in the case of the creation of a territorial council to facilitate the implementation of government policies. Cooperatives, associations, and unions rely on scales to form organizations at different scale levels (local, regional, federal and national scales), seeking to strengthen their performance and increase their bargaining power and influence. After analyzing the spatial behavior of these various forms of collective actions, it’s reasonable to say that they develop scale policies, which means the scale becomes more than a category of analysis, but also a category of social and political practice. In this sense, it’s assumed that human groups produce and utilize the scales in order to reach their goals and organize their own collective behaviors. Keywords: Scale. Network. Cooperativism. Associativism. Syndicalism. Sisal Region of Bahia. POLITIQUES D’ÉCHELLE ET FORMATION DES STRATÉGIES-RÉSEAU DES ACTIONS COLLECTIVES DANS LA RÉGION DU SISAL DE L’ÉTAT DE BAHIA Resumé: Cet article analyse le rôle des actions collectives (associations, coopératives et syndicats d’agriculteurs) dans la prise en compte et l’utilisation des échelles géographiques pour le développement de leurs activités. L’étude a été menée dans la région du sisal à Bahia (Brésil), où un ensemble important d’associations et de coopératives d’agriculteurs et de syndicats de travailleurs ruraux se sont organisés autour d’échelles spatiales pour que puisse être mise en place leur action politique et institutionnelle, économique et productive. L’action de ces groupements organisés en réseaux a permis la conformation et le renforcement de nouvelles échelles d’action politique, comme lors de la création du conseil territorial, pour permettre la mise en œuvre des politiques gouvernementales. Les coopératives, les associations et les syndicats prennent les échelles comme point de départ pour former des organisations à différents niveaux scalaires (échelle locale, échelle régionale, échelle fédérée et échelle nationale), dans le but de renforcer leurs objectifs et d’accroître leur pouvoir de négociation et d’influence. Si nous analysons le comportement spatial de ces diverses formes d’action collective il est possible de considérer qu’ils développent des politiques d’échelle, à savoir l’échelle vient signifier bien plus qu’une catégorie d’analyse, puisqu’elle devient une catégorie de la pratique sociale et politique. En ce sens, on suppose que les groupes humains produisent et rendent efficaces leurs propres échelles pour atteindre leurs objectifs et organiser leurs comportements collectifs. Mots-clés: Échelle. Réseau. Coopérativisme. Associations. Syndicalisme. Région du sisal de l’État de Bahia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Azhar Hussain ◽  
Amina Khalil ◽  
Priyanka Kolvekar ◽  
Prity Gupta ◽  
Shyamsunder Kolvekar

Abstract Background COVID-19 has caused a global pandemic of unprecedented proportions. Elective cardiac surgery has been universally postponed with only urgent and emergency cardiac operations being performed. The National Health Service in the United Kingdom introduced national measures to conserve intensive care beds and significantly limit elective activity shortly after lockdown. Case presentation We report two cases of early post-operative mortality secondary to COVID-19 infection immediately prior to the implementation of these widespread measures. Conclusion The role of cardiac surgery in the presence of COVID-19 is still very unpredictable and further studies on both short term and long term outcomes are warranted.


2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442110338
Author(s):  
Sarah M Hughes

Many accounts of resistance within systems of migration control pivot upon a coherent migrant subject, one that is imbued with political agency and posited as oppositional to particular forms of sovereign power. Drawing upon ethnographic research into the role of creativity within the UK asylum system, I argue that grounding resistance with a stable, coherent and agentic subject, aligns with oppositional narratives (of power vs resistance), and thereby risks negating the entangled politics of the (in)coherence of subject formation, and how this can contain the potential to disrupt, disturb or interrupt the practices and premise of the UK asylum system. I suggest that charity groups and subjects should not be written out of narratives of resistance apriori because they engage with ‘the state’: firstly, because to argue that there is a particular form that resistance should take is to place limits around what counts as the political; and secondly, because to ‘remain oppositional’ is at odds with an (in)coherent subject. I show how accounts which highlight a messy and ambiguous subjectivity, could be bought into understandings of resistance. This is important because as academics, we too participate in the delineation of the political and what counts as resistance. In predetermining what subjects, and forms of political action count as resistance we risk denying recognition to those within this system.


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