scholarly journals Autisme, j’accuse! Life-writing, autism and politics in the work of Hugo Horiot

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-265
Author(s):  
Vivienne Orchard

Autism has generated a great deal of controversy, culturally, intellectually and politically. The context for this in recent years in France is unusual and has been the site of strong antagonism. These debates are political in terms of policy implications and disagreements along political lines but also entail the politics of knowledge, and the question of who has the right to speak for whom. Competing groups – parents, ‘experts’ and autistic adults have different claims to validity as knowledge-bearers. This epistemological validity is vital in creating wider public understanding and determining policy directions. Autism life-writing is a new phenomenon in French and contributes to this set of debates. In order to illuminate this further, this article will offer an account of the first best-selling memoir by an autistic individual in France. The book, L’Empereur, c’est moi, is by Hugo Horiot, and was published in 2013, at the height of the ‘autism battle’ in the French public sphere.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Cristina Lafont

In this essay I address the difficult question of how citizens with conflicting religious and secular views can fulfill the democratic obligation of justifying the imposition of coercive policies to others with reasons that they can also accept. After discussing the difficulties of proposals that either exclude religious beliefs from public deliberation or include them without any restrictions, I argue instead for a policy of mutual accountability that imposes the same deliberative rights and obligations on all democratic citizens. The main advantage of this proposal is that it recognizes the right of all democratic citizens to adopt their own cognitive stance (whether religious or secular) in political deliberation in the public sphere without giving up on the democratic obligation to provide reasons acceptable to everyone to justify coercive policies with which all citizens must comply.


2021 ◽  
pp. 097226612110055
Author(s):  
Sanjiv Kumar ◽  
S. Madheswaran ◽  
B. P. Vani

Forerunning programmes of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which were designed as poverty elimination programmes, took notice of geographical pockets of poverty and incorporated formula-based fund allocation mechanisms to poorer states and regions. The MGNREGA programme, in contrast, used a right-based ‘self-selection’ approach— relying on the initiative of households’ demand-driven strengths—to allocate need-based resources to states and regions within states. This article examines how well the demand-driven, right-based programme with self-selection allocated resources to states and regions according to their respective needs, and to what extent the benefits reached the poverty pockets and catered to the poorest, weakest and neediest households. We find that adequate resources did not reach the poorest states and regions, substantial numbers of poor households remained outside the programme or were deemed underserved, and there was a pronounced programme capture by elite states. The article explores causes and consequences of capacity limitations and low absorption pulls among states, and points to policy implications and ways forward.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136843102098713
Author(s):  
David Martínez ◽  
Alexander Elliott

According to David Miller, immigration is not a human right. Conversely, Kieran Oberman makes a case for immigration as a human right. We agree with the latter view, but we show that its starting point is mistaken. Indeed, both Miller and Oberman discuss the right to immigration within the liberal paradigm: it is a right or not depending on the correct balance between the interests of the citizens of a given national state and the interests of the immigrants. Instead, we claim that public justification can underpin immigration as a human right. That said, the public justification of the right to immigration has several counterarguments to rebut. Before we deal with that issue, relying on Jürgen Habermas’s social theory, we examine the legal structures that could support the right to immigration in practice. To be sure, this does not provide the normative justification needed, instead it shows the framework that allows the institutional realization of this right. Then, through a combination of civic and cosmopolitan forms of solidarity, the article discusses the formation of a public sphere, which could provide the justification of the right to immigration.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (Suppl. 1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Denis Horgan ◽  
Torsten Harfelach ◽  
Gennaro Ciliberto

Taking real advantage of Europe's excellence in research to improve citizens' lives presents challenges that Europe's policymakers have not yet fully met. The EU has shown some clarity of assessment in recognising the needs, and some laudable determination to improve the situation, and it has intermittently taken some real steps to deliver on its ambitions to turn its research into valuable innovations. But Europe still faces harsh choices about whether it is actually going to do what it has so often discussed. The EU has to make some firm decisions about what research deserves support - and where. It must turn words into deeds to promote effective links between research and innovation. That requires a sharper focus on developing and retaining the right skill sets in Europe, on funding innovation, on creating an encouraging regulatory environment, and on building greater public understanding and engagement. Here, among other issues, the authors discuss where resources should be deployed, how to maximise the potential of personalised medicine, the time it takes for search to be turned into products ready for market, education, and the EU's regulatory role.


1991 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 45-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Williamson

A number of economists, including the author, were critical of the central rate that was chosen when sterling entered the ERM in October 1990, on the ground that it overvalued the pound. Specifically, the central rate against the other ERM currencies implied a higher value for the pound than that yielded by calculations of ‘fundamental equilibrium exchange rates’ (FEERs).The present paper aims to explain the concept of the FEER, introduced by the author in Williamson (1983), and argues that it provides the right criterion for assessing whether a currency is correctly valued. It also sketches the evidence for believing the pound's ERM central rate to be above the FEER. A final section considers the policy implications of the finding that sterling is overvalued.


2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Shaw

This paper reports on one aspect of qualitative research on public understandings of food risks, focusing on lay understandings of genetically modified (GM) food in a UK context. A range of theoretical, conceptual, and empirical literature on food, risk, and the public understanding of science are reviewed. The fieldwork methods are outlined and empirical data from a range of lay groups are presented. Major themes include: varying “technical” knowledge of science, the relationship between knowledge and acceptance of genetic modification, the uncertainty of scientific knowledge, genetic modification as inappropriate scientific intervention in “nature,” the acceptability of animal and human applications of genetic modification, the appropriate boundaries of scientific innovation, the necessity for GM foods, the uncertainty of risks in GM food, fatalism about avoiding risks, and trust in “experts” to manage potential risks in GM food. Key discussion points relating to a sociological understanding of public attitudes to GM food are raised and some policy implications are highlighted.


Al-Ulum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 459-480
Author(s):  
Sulaiman Ibrahim

This paper explores al-Zamakhshari's thoughts on women's leadership in the public sphere in tafsir al-Kasysyaf's . Islam does not require the wife to submit to her husband as he is obliged to submit to God. On the contrary, with the existence of rights that must be fulfilled by the husband towards the wife, then as reciprocity of Islam gives the right for the husband to be obeyed as long as it does not conflict with the teachings of religion. However, in terms of leadership in the public sphere, az-Zamakhsyarîy is more likely to place the position of women under men. This is evident in his expression when interpreting the word فضل الله بعضهم علي بعض that leadership is given by Allah to men because of its advantages in several respects, even az-Zamakhsyarîy considers men to have many advantages over women


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Demeiati Nur Kusumaningrum

AbstrakMenyusui adalah naluri manusia yang berkaitan dengan kehamilan, namun demikian pemerintah Indonesia perlu melindungi ibu dan bayi dengan menerbitkan Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 33 Tahun 2012. Kebijakan ini memandatkan seluruh pihak termasuk pemerintah daerah, lembaga layanan kesehatan, tenaga medis, dan produsen susu formula agar mendukung pemenuhan periode laktasi (menyusui). Dengan menggunakan pendekatan keamanan manusia, penelitian ini hendak menganalisis apa yang menjadi pertimbangan pemerintah Indonesia dalam menerbitkan PP yang berkaitan dengan aspek kesehatan. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif. Data dan informasi diperoleh dari observasi, wawancara mendalam, dan kajian literatur. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan PP No.33/2012 dikeluarkan sebagai bentuk komitmen pemerintah untuk mencapai target MDGs terkait jaminan kesehatan ibu dan anak. Adapun kendala dalam penerapan kebijakan ini berasal dari kasus ibu bekerja yang pada umumnya terbatas waktu menyusui, beban pikiran, dan kurangnya fasilitas pojok laktasi di tempat kerja. Tayangan iklan susu formula melalui berbagai ruang publik turut meyakinkan para ibu terhadap manfaat susu formula sehingga menggantikan peran ASI. Selain itu, kurangnya pengetahuan tentang menyusui dari ibu dan keluarga juga menjadi tantangan kesuksesan pemenuhan periode menyusui.Kata Kunci: menyusui, MDGs, kebijakan AbstractBreastfeed is a matter of human nature and maternity, but Indonesian government needs to legitimate and protect the right of mother and baby by establish Government Policy No. 33/2012. It mandated the role of local government, health service institututions, medical expertist, and instan milk producers to support the breastfeed period. This research questioned why the Indonesian Government establish the health policy in dealing with breastfeeding obligation that it sounds crucial problem regarding the human security perspective. This research used qualitative method. Data and information obtained from observation, literature review, and deep interview. This policy is the one of Indonesian committment to achieve MDGs target to ensure mother and baby’s health. The obstacles of breastfeed experienced by working mother related to the problem of leisure time, stressful, and facilities in work place. The massive instan milk advertisement through mass media and public sphere are able to influence the society mindsets about the safety and goodness of instan milk for their baby. The lack of access on breastfeed education and knowledge of the mother and family become the rest.Keywords: breastfeeds, MDGs, policy


2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer

AbstractThis study focuses on the tensions around Portugal's language policies and citizens’ perceptions of their linguistic rights in the context of the current orthographic reform. Unlike other linguistic rights studies, this enquiry does not focus on endangered languages or linguistic minorities. Instead, there are three major ingredients that embody linguistic-rights claims by European Portuguese speakers: the right to be heard on orthographic reform in a democratic society, ownership and authenticity of the Portuguese language, and the need for protection against external (or, more specifically, Brazilian) hegemony. A critical discourse analysis approach to the arguments put forward by European Portuguese opponents of the orthographic reform shows that the ongoing discussion: (i) is neither about language nor about rights, but about competition; (ii) is based on linguistic dichotomies and recategorization of speakers and languages; (iii) manipulates the rhetoric of threat, endangerment, linguistic rights, and democracy; and (iv) opens up intra-linguistic and inter-variety spaces for conceptualizing linguistic rights claims. (Language ideological debate, public understanding, language planning, linguistic rights, orthographic reform)


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