The Capabilities Approach and the Concepts of Self-Determination, Legal Competence and Human Dignity in Social Services for Older People

In this chapter, the tension between self-determination and human dignity in the Swedish legal system of social care for older people is analysed with help of the capabilities approach. The core focus of this approach is the individual person’s capability to make decisions. Also important is a supportive societal system that enables the realisation of self-determination, specifically for individuals who are not fully capable of making arrangements for themselves. The capabilities approach emphasises the responsibility of the State and can be used to analyse the impact of legal and political obligations for nation-states, and to balance the increased focus on self-determination and the quest for increased capabilities among older people. In the context of a dismantled welfare state, a one-sided focus on individual autonomy might turn out to be a double-edged sword, leaving the individual with self-determination but no (or insufficient) available care to decide about. In this chapter, the underlying principles of practical decisions are theoretically explored and reflected upon. Of specific relevance is human dignity (in addition to enhancing individual freedom), normativity (a set of fundamental capabilities is identified) and the central role of the nation-state (as the responsible political subject for the achievement of minimum thresholds for all capabilities).

Philosophy of “Soft Law” as a Universal Regulator of International Relations Management

Soft law is a set of rules and guidelines, the legal force of which is at the “negotiation” stage. It has ap- peared in international law since the 1970s as one alternative to international treaties, used in cases where, for various reasons, the parties do not want or cannot commonly decide or to sign an international treaty. Agreements of this kind do not create legal obligations between the contracting parties (under the princi- ple, contracts must be respected) but only set political obligations, observing which is at the discretion of the parties. The primary purpose of the study is to analyze the philosophy of “soft law” in the context of international management of relations. The principal object of the research is the essence and significance of the philosophy of “soft law” as such. The major results of our research are to determine the essence and significance of the philosophy of “soft law” in the context of international relations.

CONSENT TO UNJUST INSTITUTIONS

John Rawls wrote that people can voluntarily acquire political obligations to institutions only on the condition that those institutions are at least reasonably just. When an institution is seriously unjust, by contrast, attempts to create political obligation are “void ab initio.” However, Rawls's own explanation for this thought was deeply problematic, as are the standard alternatives. In this paper, I offer an argument for why Rawls's intuition was right and trace its implications for theories of authority and political obligation. These, I claim, are more radical than is often thought.

The antecedents and consequences of green purchasing: an empirical investigation

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of the supplier's coercive and cognitive pressures on a manufacturer's green purchasing decision-making process and the resultant implications in terms of operational and environmental performances.Design/methodology/approachPath analysis is performed to test the hypothesized linkages.FindingsThis study finds that the supplier's coercive pressure, environmental focus and socio-cultural responsibility will lead a firm to more successful implementations of green purchasing, which, in turn, results in improved operational and environmental performances. The study findings reveal that the commercial values of green purchasing in addition to social and political obligations will promote the adoption of green purchasing in supply chain management practice.Originality/valueThis study helps business managers understand the impacts of the supplier's coercive and cognitive pressures on green purchasing and the manufacturer's resultant performances. In particular, coercive pressure is operationalized by the supplier's coercive pressure and environmental regulatory pressure, while cognitive pressure is reflected in the supplier's environmental focus and socio-cultural responsibility. This study contributes to the extant theories and enriches the literature on green purchasing.

Political Obligations and Public Goods

The principle of fairness is a moral principle which states that individuals are under an obligation to contribute towards beneficial cooperative projects. It has been appealed to in arguing that citizens are obligated to pay for public goods that their government supplies. Yet the principle has faced a number of powerful objections, most notably those of Robert Nozick. In responding to some of these objections, proponents of the principle have placed a number of conditions on its application. However, by doing so, they have reduced the number of public goods that the principle can explain obligations to contribute towards, and consequently limited its relevance to questions of political obligation. I argue here that a more permissive version of the principle, with fewer conditions on its application, will perform equally well in responding to Nozick's objections. This opens up the possibility of a theory of political obligation that relies more heavily on the principle of fairness than has previously been thought possible.

Money Politic vs Political Marketing (Case Study: Legislative Election of the Pringsewu District Legislative Council Members for the 2019-2024 Period)

The meaning of "sovereignty is in the hands of people" namely that people have sovereignty, responsibilities, rights, and participatory political obligations to democratically elect a leader who can form a government to take care of and serve all levels of society, as well as electing people's representatives to oversee the running of the government. However, the phenomena that occur are democratic parties, presidential elections, elections, and legislative elections are always colored by systemic money politics. This research using the quantitative method. Primary data were obtained by survey. The writer then describes the public opinion about the Pringsewu District Legislative Council Members' election for the 2019-2024 period on political marketing and money politics. The results showed that 40.37% of voters gave support to legislative candidates for reasons of money.

The Outer Limit of Freedom

This chapter draws on G. W. F. Hegel and John Rawls to develop a novel account of freedom that shows how many people can see themselves as having an interest in resisting unjust institutions. Taking seriously the effects that social and political institutions have on people before they could ever choose them means that freedom has an essentially retrospective element; a key experience of freedom is the recognition that the institutions which have shaped individuals are ones that could have been freely chosen. Rawls calls this “the outer limit of freedom” and says it is expressed in the dispositions that are acquired from just institutions. In a well-ordered society, citizens both meet their political obligations and express their freedom when they are disposed to reciprocity with each other. Highlighting these Hegelian dimensions of Rawls’s thought shows how egalitarian liberals can be part of a broader egalitarian coalition.

Implicit and explicit norms and tools of safety net management

PurposeThis paper explains the value of interpreting the design of a country's financial safety net as an exercise in incomplete social contracting.Design/methodology/approachSafety net contracts unlucky financial institutions and customers to transfer some or all of what would otherwise be ruinous losses to taxpayers in other sectors. Their capacity to do this is based on a series of unspoken and slowly varying cultural norms that govern when government support is supplied to an insolvent bank, in what forms, on what terms and under what limitations. Identifying these norms is the purpose of this paper. Identifying similarities in the norms that hold sway in the United States and China is the main contribution this paper has to offer.FindingsRegulators do not want to face the consequences of challenging large insolvent banks' claims that funding problems that their managers know to be hopeless reflect a spate of reversible bad luck and a temporary shortfall in liquidity. In hopes of shifting the problem forward to their successors, regulators forbear from meaningful intervention until and unless crisis-driven depositor runs force them into action.Research limitations/implicationsThis means that much like US rescue arrangements, one can demonstrate that the Chinese safety net is incomplete in four ways. It does not fully delineate the events that trigger a loss transfer. It sets formal but imperfectly enforceable limits on the size of potential loss transfers. The political obligations that actually persuade state actors to bail out major banks in a crisis are largely implicit and optional in timing, magnitude and transparency. Finally, the identity of the citizens who will be forced to absorb the costs of crisis bailouts is also optional. Who pays and how they do so will be determined in part during the crisis but will not be finalized until well after the crisis has blown over.Originality/valueThe analysis makes it clear that authorities, express commitment to fair and efficient modes of financial supervision is destined to break down under crisis pressure unless the disadvantaged equity stake that the safety net assigns to taxpayers is rebalanced to record and collect taxpayers' deserved share of the profits a country's megabanks book during booms.