scholarly journals The natural duty of justice in non-ideal circumstances: On the moral demands of institution building and reform

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Valentini
Keyword(s):  
Distributive Justice ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The State ◽  
Response Strategy ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Institution Building ◽  
Institutional Agents ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
The Status

Principles of distributive justice bind macro-level institutional agents, like the state. But what does justice require in non-ideal circumstances, where institutional agents are unjust or do not exist in the first place? Many answer by invoking Rawls's natural duty ‘to further just arrangements not yet established’, treating it as a ‘normative bridge’ between institutional demands of distributive justice and individual responsibilities in non-ideal circumstances. I argue that this response strategy is unsuccessful. I show that the more unjust the status quo is due to non-compliance, the less demanding the natural duty of justice becomes. I conclude that, in non-ideal circumstances, the bulk of the normative work is done by another natural duty: that of beneficence. This conclusion has significant implications for how we conceptualize our political responsibilities in non-ideal circumstances, and cautions us against the tendency – common in contemporary political theory – to answer all high-stakes normative questions under the rubric of justice.

scholarly journals Whom is political science for?

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 4-8
Author(s):  
Andrea Theocharis ◽  
Marcus Graetsch
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Political Science ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The State ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Status ◽  
Internet Discussion

We all study political science, but - what do we actually do here anyway? This essay expresses our thoughts about our subject. The everyday life in University doesn’t seem to give enough space for questioning what is this all about. Maybe a debate on that issue does not exist extensively because of fears of the loss of entitlement. The aim of this essay is to support the heightening of student’s awareness about the status quo of research and teaching in political science as we can judge it from our modest experiences. Trying to get to the basis of such a problem is not easy. The things here written are surely not the state of the art, but they could shine a better light on the problem what had been called the 'politics of political science' in an earlier Internet discussion on the IAPSS website. This paper should be understood as a start for a discussion, where we all can express our surely different experiences and ideas.

scholarly journals Transformative Contextual Realism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manon Westphal
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Realist Approach ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
The Status

AbstractRealist political theory is often confronted with the objection that it is biased towards the status quo. Although this criticism overlooks the fact that realist political theories contain various resources for critique, a realist approach that is strong in status quo critique and contributes, constructively, to the theorising of alternatives to the status quo is a desideratum. The article argues that contextual realism, which sources its normativity from particular contexts, harbours an underexploited potential to establish such a form of political theorising. By drawing on ideas and principles that have guided critical engagements with social and political forms in a particular context, and on widely shared views of need for reform, realists can identify deficits of the status quo and contribute to a debate on how these deficits might be addressed. This article describes and illustrates the idea of a transformative contextual realism, and defends it against some potential objections.

The Question of Conscience in Why am I Doing This?

2021 ◽  
pp. 111-124
Author(s):  
ADEYEMI AMOS ADEGBOYEGA
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The State ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
The Status ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
State Of Affairs

Greatly concerned and obsessed with the state of affairs in the country, literary artists more often than not, call to conscience the sensibilities of their audience, politicians inclusive. Against the prebendal nature of politics which is characterized by different anarchist tendencies in Nigeria, literary artists find justification for their craft as they seek ultimately to re-organize the society and confront its perils. This is the crux of this study. My concern is to rationalize Abubakar Gimba’s Why am I Doing This? banking on the interrogative undertone of the title, a variation from the norm. This interrogative undertone as will be explicated herein questions the rationalities – of the author and the actors in his observations as documented. Four essays from the collection were purposively sampled to demonstrate this. Deploying the literary tool of postcolonialism, this study a critical qualitative analysis submits that Abubakar Gimba laments the anathema and apathy that pervades the Nigerian society despite the professed democratic system of governance. He unveils the hidden and sad truths of modern Nigeria in its raw and naked form. These truths contradict her democracy. It is against this that Gimba hopes for a change in the status-quo and modus operandi of statecraft.

Gender Awareness and Women Managers in Tourism

2019 ◽  
pp. 218-238
Author(s):  
Inês Carvalho ◽  
Carlos Costa ◽  
Anália Torres
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Women Managers ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
The State ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
The Status ◽  
Gender Awareness ◽  
State Organizations

The purpose of this chapter is to reveal women top-level managers' gender awareness in relation to two aspects: 1) perceptions of discrimination and 2) views of what could be done towards gender equality (by the state, organizations, and women themselves), so that more women can advance their careers. Women top-level managers in the Portuguese tourism sector were interviewed. The interview data suggests that discrimination might still be pervasive in the Portuguese tourism industry. However, many women do not perceive it as “real” discrimination and have contradictory discourses about it. Informants were also asked what could be done so that more women advance in their careers. They place the solution to the problem of gender equality mostly in women's hands. While some of the strategies proposed by women confront the gender order, others align with the status quo by ensuring that women “fit in” without challenging existing structures.

The Status Quo and the Feminization of Political Alternatives

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-46
Author(s):  
Noa Balf
Keyword(s):  
Peace Process ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
The Status

The Oslo peace process has effectively stalled and failed. In this article I show that by positioning the Oslo process and any political and civic forces involved with it as tainted by irrational and emotional weakness, neo-conservative figures and institutions within Israel have successfully argued for a hyper-masculinized Israeli security paradigm. In this configuration, the process of cooperation and the acknowledgement of Palestinian claims are viewed as weak and reprehensible, while aggressive military strategies, deterrence, and the demand for unequivocal Palestinian acceptance of Israel’s terms are perceived as rational and responsible actions that protect Israeli interests. By conflating security with the state, Israeli political leaders perpetuate the conflict rather than resolve it.

Assessing the Dyadic Nature of the Democratic Peace, 1918–88

1996 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 512-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Rousseau ◽  
Christopher Gelpi ◽  
Dan Reiter ◽  
Paul K. Huth
Keyword(s):  
Strong Support ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The State ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
Confounding Variable ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The Status

The literature on the democratic peace has emerged from two empirical claims: (1) Democracies are unlikely to conflict with one another, and (2) democracies are as prone to conflict with nondemocracies as nondemocracies are with one another. Together these assertions imply that the democratic peace is a dyadic phenomenon. There is strong support for the first observation, but much recent scholarship contravenes the second. This paper assesses whether the democratic peace is a purely dyadic, a monadic, or perhaps a mixed dyadic and monadic effect. Our analysis offers two important advances. First, our model directly compares the dyadic and monadic explanations by using the state as the unit of analysis rather than the potentially problematic dyad. Second, our model controls for an important but overlooked confounding variable: satisfaction with the status quo. Our results indicate that the initiation of violence within crises is predominantly a dyadic phenomenon, but we also find evidence suggesting a strong monadic effect regarding the emergence of crises.

Fading Anti-systemicness: Tawhidi Islamists in Turkey

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 334-361
Author(s):  
Feriha Perekli
Keyword(s):  
Status Quo ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Status ◽  
Established Order

This article traces a process of modifications undertaken by anti-systemic tawhidi Islamists over two decades. Disillusioned with the failure to capture the state through an Iranian-style mass uprising, tawhidi Islamists began to disengage in large numbers from their holy cause starting from the 1990s. As those who disengaged were co-opted by parliamentarian Islamism, the activists who persisted abandoned their revolutionary approach. In spite of engaging in a tactical revisionism, they retained their non-accommodationist stance vis-à-vis the established political order. Yet, in the late 2000s, they accommodated with the new established order, rendering their anti-systemicness obsolete. The article maintains that (1) despite disengagements, tawhidi Islamism as a movement did not completely vanish, but instead committed core activists continued their mobilization by reevaluating their tactics; (2) accommodation with the status quo became possible as the new established order and its policies were perceived as opportunities toward advancing Islamist mobilization.

Theses on the Commons

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (93) ◽  
pp. 62-67
Author(s):  
Peter Hitchcock ◽  
Christian P. Haines
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Institution Building ◽  
Final Word ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Commons

These theses are meant not as the final word on the concept or praxis of the commons but as words inspiring readers to imagine alternatives to the status quo. They cover topics including social reproduction, the knowledge economy, cultural heritage, affective attachments to property, the Anthropocene or Capitalocene, the legacy of communism, and the politics of institution building.

Relatively universal: globalisation, rights discourse, and the evolution of Australian sexual and national identities

Legal Studies ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl F. Stychin
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Code ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The State ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Simple Fact ◽  
The Status ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Rich History

Successful law reform campaigns leave behind a rich history; a story of engagement between activists seeking legal change, opponents who attempt to maintain the status quo, legislators, and the judiciary. The repeal of the provisions of the Tasmanian Criminal Code which prohibited certain private, consensual sexual relations between adults, and which were aimed primarily at male samesex sexual acts, by the state legislature in May 1997, signaled the end of a particularly arduous campaign which lasted several years. What makes this struggle worthy of academic treatment, first, is the simple fact that the gay activist campaign was waged over a plurality of legal and political sites at the state, national, and international levels.

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