How Well Do Voters Behave?

Author(s):  
Jason Brennan

This chapter examines some relevant social-scientific literature that suggests that voters and citizens are often ignorant, irrational, and systematically in error in their political beliefs. Though voters tend to vote for what they believe serves the nation's interests, this does not imply that they are justified in these beliefs or that their beliefs are true. Voters intend to promote the national interest, but that does not imply that they in fact do so. Good intentions are not enough to make good policy. Voters might not know what they are doing. It may turn out that some or many of them are mistaken about what promotes the national interest. If so, then their altruistic intentions do not benefit anyone.

Author(s):  
JAMIE DRAPER

Social scientific evidence suggests that labor migration can increase resilience to climate change. For that reason, some have recently advocated using labor migration policy as a tool for climate adaptation. This paper engages with the normative question of whether, and under what conditions, states may permissibly use labor migration policy as a tool for climate adaptation. I argue that states may use labor migration policy as a tool for climate adaptation and may even have a duty to do so, subject to two moral constraints. First, states must also provide acceptable alternative options for adaptation so that the vulnerable are not forced to sacrifice their morally important interests in being able to remain where they are. Second, states may not impose restrictive terms on labor migrants to make accepting greater numbers less costly for themselves because doing so unfairly shifts the costs of adaptation onto the most vulnerable.


2016 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 264-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Kelman

The tension between an individual’s right to a fair trial and a state’s prerogative to withhold information where it is in the national interest to do so is an issue which is especially relevant in preventative detention cases. In a string of cases since 2009, lower courts have interpreted the ‘gisting’ requirement imposed by the Grand Chamber in A v United Kingdom in response to this problem. This paper will consider the jurisprudence of the lower courts and will argue that the House of Lords’ judgment in AF No. 3 imposed requirements not only in relation to the amount of information that must be disclosed, but also in relation to what that information must consist of. It will note that two irreconcilable interpretations of A have developed, and argue that one of those approaches is incompatible with AF. Finally, it will discuss the interaction between these decisions and the statutory framework of the JSA, especially ss 6(5) and 7(2), and will consider the consequences of the judicial uncertainty in this area in relation to the return of TPIMs following the CTSA.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liam Swiss

This article highlights an emerging research agenda for the study of foreign aid through a World Society theory lens. First, it briefly summarizes the social scientific literature on aid and sociologists' earlier contributions to this research. Next, it reviews the contours of world society research and the place of aid within this body of literature. Finally, it outlines three emergent threads of research on foreign aid that comprise a new research agenda for the sociology of foreign aid and its role in world society globalization.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 222 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis Ruano Pérez ◽  
Raúl Rodríguez-Rodríguez ◽  
Juan-José Alfaro Saiz ◽  
María-José Verdecho

Purpose: The main objective of this research is to design a decision-making network, based on the Analytic Network Process (ANP) technique (Saaty, 1996), which will include the main elements to take into account when stating the effect that the application of LP techniques has got on the performance of an organisation, measured this through a Performance Measurement System (PMS).Design/methodology/approach: The authors have carried out a scientific literature search to state what the main LP techniques are –and how to group them into different clusters- and have then applied the ANP, its first phase, in order to design the decisional network.Findings: There is a gap in the literature when trying to identify and quantify to what extent the implementation of LP techniques affects to organisational performance. The ANP is an appropriate technique to do so due to the need of gathering and quantifying experts’ opinions.Originality/value: The designed ANP-based network to measure the impact of LP over organisational performance is a novel approach. This paper justifies its usage and paves the way to implement the rest of the ANP phases in future research work. 


Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Davie

This paper addresses the religiosity, secularity and pluralism of the global East from a theoretical perspective. To do so it draws from work undertaken by the author within the International Panel on Social Progress (IPSP), paying particular attention to the material on religion, diversity and pluralism. The final section of the article demonstrates the rootedness of social scientific thinking in the European Enlightenment and the consequences of this heritage for the understanding of religion in other parts of the world including East Asia. There are no easy answers to the questions posed by the mismatch between theory and data; there are, however, pointers towards more constructive ways forward—ways which respond sensitively to the context under review, maintaining nonetheless a high degree of scientific rigour.


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Glanville

What interests do states have in assisting and protecting vulnerable populations beyond their borders? While some political leaders and commentators promote a circumscribed understanding of the national interest that rules out accepting substantial risks and costs for the sake of the distant vulnerable, others endorse an “enlightened” conception of the national interest that recognizes the long-term utility to be gained by helping them. However, while this notion of “enlightened” self-interest gives states reason to act in some instances, it fails to prompt action in other cases where the suffering of strangers is less strategically important. Some leaders and commentators have responded to this problem by reaching for some other, less material conception of the national interest to justify assisting the distant vulnerable, but they have often struggled to find the language they need. This article finds a solution in the debates about self-interest waged in seventeenth-century Europe. Dissatisfied both with Hobbes's narrow understanding of self-interest and Pufendorf's more “enlightened” understanding, Leibniz defended a more generous and “disinterested” conception, grounded not in considerations of material utility but in the pleasure to be derived from helping those in need. This article demonstrates two ways in which this “disinterested” conception of self-interest can be of use today. First, it provides resources for explaining why states already sometimes act in “disinterested” and altruistic ways. Second, it provides leaders with a tool for persuading people to help the distant vulnerable, even when it appears to be in neither their narrow nor their “enlightened” interests to do so.


Author(s):  
Walter DeKeseredy

There is a small, but growing, social scientific literature on the racist and violent nature of contemporary adult pornography. However, considerably more empirical and theoretical work needs to be done to advance a critical criminological understanding of how such hurtful sexual media contribute to various forms of woman abuse in intimate relationships. The main objective of this article is to briefly review the relevant literature and to suggest a few new progressive empirical and theoretical directions.


PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9404
Author(s):  
Daisy Larios ◽  
Thomas M. Brooks ◽  
Nicholas B.W. Macfarlane ◽  
Sugoto Roy

Access to the scientific literature is perceived to be a challenge to the biodiversity conservation community, but actual level of literature access relative to needs has never been assessed globally. We examined this question by surveying the constituency of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a proxy for the conservation community, generating 2,285 responses. Of these respondents, ∼97% need to use the scientific literature in order to support their IUCN-related conservation work, with ∼50% needing to do so at least once per week. The crux of the survey revolved around the question, “How easy is it for you currently to obtain the scientific literature you need to carry out your IUCN-related work?” and revealed that roughly half (49%) of the respondents find it not easy or not at all easy to access scientific literature. We fitted a binary logistic regression model to explore factors predicting ease of literature access. Whether the respondent had institutional literature access (55% do) is the strongest predictor, with region (Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and sex (male) also significant predictors. Approximately 60% of respondents from Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have institutional access compared to ∼50% in Asia and Latin America, and ∼40% in Eastern Europe and in Africa. Nevertheless, accessing free online material is a popular means of accessing literature for both those with and without institutional access. The four journals most frequently mentioned when asked which journal access would deliver the greatest improvements to the respondent’s IUCN-related work were Conservation Biology, Biological Conservation, Nature, and Science. The majority prefer to read journal articles on screen but books in hard copy. Overall, it is apparent that access to the literature is a challenge facing roughly half of the conservation community worldwide.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-161
Author(s):  
Everton de Oliveira MARALDI

The present study explored the phenomenological characteristics of anomalous experiences (AEs) reported during Umbanda rituals, a mediumistic Brazilian religion, with the aim of comparing AEs reported during rituals involving the use of Ayahuasca (an entheogen frequently used in some Umbanda contexts) and rituals without the use of this substance. In order to do so, we compared individuals with different levels of involvement with the mediumistic practices. The study was based on an auto-ethnographic approach. This methodological perspective allowed us to confront subjective data with the available knowledge in the scientific literature about AEs, dissociative phenomena and altered states of consciousness and was of fundamental importance for a more sensitive understanding of the nuances and characteristics of these experiences. The results attest to a significant similarity between the experiences reported with and without the use of Ayahuasca in mediumistic contexts. In both groups, the experiencers were able to identify certain similarities in their experiences regarding a reduction of voluntary motor control, changes in memory and perception, communicability and accessibility of experiences, anomalous information reception and increases in interpersonal sensitivity. The results support the methodological feasibility of autoethnography as a research tool and point to its relevance to a deeper understanding of AEs and other subjective experiences usually of difficult investigation by other research methods.


Subject Modi's likely approach to the 2019 elections. Significance India’s general election is likely to occur in April or May 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in May 2014 on promises to transform India’s society and economy. In seeking to preserve his position, Modi has begun to emphasise protectionism and national interest. Impacts India will raise tariff barriers on Chinese goods and may do so on US ones, pushing back on what it regards as unfair trade policies. Low-level political violence between different religious and caste communities is likely in the lead-up to the election. The poll is likely to see contention over the credibility of electronic voting machines.


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