scholarly journals Realizing Interspecies Democracy

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-95
Author(s):  
Sue Donaldson ◽  
Janneke Vink ◽  
Jean-Paul Gagnon
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Personal Change ◽  
Ethical Orientations ◽  
Jean Paul ◽  
Dietary Choices ◽  
Do No Harm ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Future Position

Sue Donaldson, Janneke Vink, and Jean-Paul Gagnon discuss the problem of anthropocentric democratic theory and the preconditions needed to realize a (corrective) interspecies democracy. Donaldson proposes the formal involvement of nonhuman animals in political institutions—a revolutionary task; Vink argues for changes to the law that would cover nonhuman animals with inviolable political rights; and Gagnon advises a personal change to dietary choices (veganism) and ethical orientations (do no harm). Together, the three proposals point to a future position where humans can participate in a multispecies world in which nonhuman others are freed from our tyrannical grasp.

Political and Social Implications

2020 ◽  
pp. 247-255
Author(s):  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Multiple Dimensions

Chapter 19 considers the political and social consequences of violence against women in politics. The implications of these acts reach far beyond their effects on individual victims, harming political institutions as well as society at large. First, attempting to exclude women as women from participating in political life undermines democracy, negating political rights and disturbing the political process. Second, tolerating mistreatment due to a person’s ascriptive characteristics infringes on their human rights, damaging their personal integrity as well as the perceived social value of their group. Third, normalizing women’s exclusion from political participation relegates women to second class citizenship, threatening principles of gender equality. The chapter concludes that naming the problem of violence against women in politics thus has important repercussions along multiple dimensions, making the defense of women’s rights integral to the protection of political and human rights for all.

Democracy and Compliance with Human Rights Treaties: The Conditional Effectiveness of the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-138
Author(s):  
Daniel W Hill ◽  
K Anne Watson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Conditional Effect ◽  
Civil And Political Rights

Abstract Research on international human rights law suggests that the beneficial effects of treaties depend on the strength of democratic political institutions. However, democracies are, by definition, compliant with many provisions in treaties that protect civil and political rights. Additionally, theories of compliance derive from a focus on civil and political rights rather than on other rights, so we lack a good understanding of whether predictions hold for other kinds of rights. We examine compliance with the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which protects rights that are distinct from those that characterize democratic governance. To measure compliance, we create a new indicator of women's rights that offers several advantages over existing indicators. We examine the conditional effect of CEDAW using models that allow for heterogenous treaty effects. This helps to adjudicate between theories that expect treaties to be most effective in highly democratic countries and those that expect them to be most effective among partial democracies. Our findings do not support either expectation and suggest that effectiveness does not depend on democracy, at least in the case of CEDAW. This points to the need to enrich existing theories of ratification and compliance by accounting for differences in the nature of the rights protected by different treaties.

scholarly journals On the prospects of transitioning from the corruption “track” of historical path of the Russian society

2020 ◽  
pp. 10-22
Author(s):  
Dmitry Vadimovich Bakharev
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Russian State ◽  
State Administration ◽  
Mode Of Operation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government ◽  
Russian Model

The subject of this research is the historical prerequisites of formation of the modern Russian model of state administration with its enormous corruption component. Analysis is conducted on the sociopolitical processes that took place in Russia, since the origin of conception of its statehood (formation of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir) until the events of past decade. A wide variety of literature of the Russian and foreign authors dedicated to the historical and institutional aspects of formation of national and foreign statehood became the source base for this research. An attempt is made to determine the fundamental factors of the emergence and wide spread of various manifestations of corruption at all stages of existence of the Russian state. A conclusion is made that drastic reconstruction of the historically established in Russia model of relationship between the government and society, and thus, decline in the scale of corruption, are possible only under the condition of formation of a large social coalition that supports: 1) the expansion of pluralistic basis in creation and development of the mode of operation of political institutions; 2) further public control over their activity. The reference point of such processes can become only a historical situation, which marks an informed need of broad social circles to be able to fully exercise political rights, and simultaneous response to such request from the acting political elite.

Agnotologie, die Grenzen der Gewissheit und die Theorie der Demokratie

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-372
Author(s):  
Aryeh Botwinick
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Pure Point ◽  
Thomas Kuhn ◽  
Theoretical Level ◽  
The People

Abstract Inspired to some extent by the work of Thomas Kuhn, Ignorance Studies seeks to grapple with the implications that follow from the idea that on a theoretical level we can hardly ever know that we have approached truth. In order to test theories, we would need to have access to empirically raw, theoretically unadorned facts and to confront them with theoretically diverse or contradictory accounts of how to make sense of them. It’s the nature of the case that we are not able to penetrate to such a pure point of origin for things. The words that we use to describe them are already suffused with biases and distortions that limit what we can say about them. Our relationship to phenomena inside us and to things outside us always subsists in a symbolically mediated, indirect medium. Our efforts to be either before or after this state of symbolic mediation generally land us in a state of deepened awareness of the extent of the prolongation of the middle. The conceptualized entity is for all intents and purposes the entity we relate to. The paper argues that given the limits to certainty highlighted by Ignorance Studies, our political institutions need to be responsive to the priorities enshrined in democratic theory to ensure that the policies pursued by any given government are reflective of the needs and the wishes of the majority of the people.

Philosophical foundations for Indigenous economic and political rights

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (11) ◽  
pp. 1264-1276
Author(s):  
Paul Robert Patton
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Philosophical Foundations ◽  
Normative Foundations ◽  
Conceptual Work

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine some influential accounts of the basis for Indigenous rights, consider their strengths and weaknesses, and ascertain whether and in what degree they support effective self-government and self-determination for Indigenous people. Design/methodology/approach The paper begins with a brief discussion of the emergence of specifically Indigenous rights, the significance of self-determination as a means of improving the economic and social conditions of communities, and the problem such rights pose for late 20th versions of egalitarian liberalism. It then examines the liberal culturalist argument for minority rights developed by Will Kymlicka, before turning to James Tully’s elaboration of the historical approach to the justification of Indigenous rights that draws on the tradition of treaty relations in North American colonialism. Finally, it outlines a third approach based on the political liberalism of John Rawls. Findings The conditions of legitimate government set out in Rawls’ political liberalism are a better way to provide normative foundations for Indigenous rights in contemporary postcolonial democracies. Research limitations/implications The discussion of Indigenous rights is confined to those countries established by colonization with largely British political institutions and populations. The arguments for Indigenous rights are confined to those advanced within the liberal tradition of political thought. Originality/value Some of the criticisms of the liberal culturalist argument and of Tully’s approach are original. The case for Indigenous rights based in the legitimacy requirements of political liberalism is original and based on conceptual work by the author.

scholarly journals Is there a convincing case for climate veganism?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teea Kortetmäki ◽  
Markku Oksanen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Food Ethics ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Interesting Issue ◽  
Convincing Case ◽  
Dietary Choices ◽  
Nonhuman Animals

AbstractClimate change compels us to rethink the ethics of our dietary choices and has become an interesting issue for ethicists concerned about diets, including animal ethicists. The defenders of veganism have found that climate change provides a new reason to support their cause because many animal-based foods have high greenhouse gas emissions. The new style of argumentation, the ‘climatic argument(s) for veganism’, may benefit animals by persuading even those who are not concerned about animals themselves but worry about climate change. The arguments about the high emissions of animal-based food, and a resulting moral obligation to abstain from eating such products, are an addition to the prior forms of argument for principled veganism grounded on the moral standing of, and concern for, nonhuman animals. In this paper, we examine whether the climatic argument for veganism is convincing. We propose a formulation for the amended version of the argument and discuss its implications and differences compared to the moral obligations of principled veganism. We also reflect upon the implications of our findings on agricultural and food ethics more generally.

Citizenship

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Kymlicka
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Cultural Pluralism ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Involvement ◽  
Democratic Ideal

Within political philosophy, citizenship refers not only to a legal status, but also to a normative ideal – the governed should be full and equal participants in the political process. As such, it is a distinctively democratic ideal. People who are governed by monarchs or military dictators are subjects, not citizens. Most philosophers therefore view citizenship theory as an extension of democratic theory. Democratic theory focuses on political institutions and procedures; citizenship theory focuses on the attributes of individual participants. One important topic in citizenship theory concerns the need for citizens to actively participate in political life. In most countries participation in politics is not obligatory, and people are free to place private commitments ahead of political involvement. Yet if too many citizens are apathetic, democratic institutions will collapse. Another topic concerns the identity of citizens. Citizenship is intended to provide a common status and identity which helps integrate members of society. However, some theorists question whether common citizenship can accommodate the increasing social and cultural pluralism of modern societies.

The Ethics of Exile

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashwini Vasanthakumar
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
International System ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Refugee Protection ◽  
Political Relationship ◽  
Transnational Actors ◽  
Alternative Sites

Using the tools of normative political theory, this book explores the political relationship between exiles and the communities from which they have fled. It makes two central claims. First, exiles have rights and responsibilities in their homelands and are morally required and permitted to play particular roles in the homeland. Second, in playing these roles, exile politics can perform two corrective functions: it can repair defective political institutions at home and it can compensate for institutional shortcomings in the global domain. In short, exiles engage in a ‘politics from below’ and ‘away’ that produces alternative sites of power and can mitigate the several failings of an international system of states in an unequal world. This normative exploration of exile politics has a few implications. It counters an overwhelming focus, in both political philosophy and public discourse, on the consequences of forced migration for receiving societies—a focus that often treats exiles as passive actors. Recognizing the political agency of exiles reveals another side of the migration story, and allows for a more fulsome exploration of what political obligation and membership mean in an increasingly transnational world. Identifying exiles as important domestic and transnational actors also points to the ways third parties ought to enable the different roles exiles play in their communities of origin and in the international domain. And recognizing exile agency highlights the shortcomings of an international system of refugee protection that focuses on exiles’ humanitarian needs but denies them their political rights and agency.

scholarly journals Sovereign Democratic Transformation in Ecuador (2007-2016)

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Ricardo Restrepo Echavarria
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Buen Vivir ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
The Right ◽  
Democratic Transformation ◽  
The Welfare State

Between 1981 and 2007, Ecuador experienced neoliberal reforms coupled with an elite form of democracy. These led to slow growth, upwards redistribution, and political and economic instability. Since then, Ecuador adopted a Citizens’ Revolution to counteract these economic and political forms of domination. This paper advances a few elements of the theoretical understanding of democratic justice inspired by the constitutional vision of Buen Vivir, and their policy applications in reconfiguring the political institutions that shape the state and its international relations. The application in the Citizens’ Revolution movement and historical phase has helped advance the democratization of the Constitution, the Executive, the Legislative, the Judicial system, political rights, the right to life, freedom of expression, national natural resources and investments, external public debt, as well as social rights and the welfare state.

scholarly journals Political institutions and financial cooperative development

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMR KHAFAGY
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
Financial Cooperatives ◽  
Cooperative Development

AbstractThis paper analyses the influence of political institutions on the development of financial cooperatives. It proposes a political economy theory where autocratic regimes deliberately oppose the development of a well-functioning financial cooperative sector to maintain their political influence, and prevent the formation of strong pressure groups that can threaten the current politicalstatus quoand reduce the governing elites’ economic benefits from underdeveloped and exclusive financial sector. Using panel data from 65 developing countries from 1995–2014, the results show that democracy, political rights and civil liberties promote financial cooperative development. These results are robust in controlling for endogeneity as well as other economic and institutional factors.

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