Is There a Philosophy of Statesmanship?

This essay assumes that readers will be familiar with Wight’s analysis distinguishing three traditions of thinking about international politics and will therefore recognize ‘three types’. The ‘three groups’, Wight observes, consist of (1) ‘idealists’ and ‘revolutionaries’ and ‘Utopians’ committed to serving the ‘general will’ and ‘the cause’; (2) ‘moralists’ and ‘Grotians’ dedicated to upholding treaties and the rule of law; and (3) ‘realists’ and ‘Machiavellians’ concerned with calculating how to defend and advance ‘the national interest’. With regard to survival imperatives, however, Wight holds that ‘all statesmen are realists’. He also qualifies this exposition of three traditions of thinking about international relations by pointing out that some Grotians and moralists have championed ‘a different Utopia’, an ideal distinct from the revolutionary uniformity sought by certain religions and ideologies. This different Utopia was the League of Nations, an institution designed to bring about a peaceful universal legal order. The League’s advocates expected a majority of nations, backed by world public opinion, to maintain peace and order through rational appeals and, if necessary, economic sanctions, with war as a final recourse to restore international amity.

The myth of associative discrimination and the Court of Justice’s great vanishing act: part 2

This article complements an article (part 1) recently published in this journal (72(1) NILQ 29–60) contending that the notion of associative discrimination as a term of art renders it so vulnerable to manipulation that it can be used to narrow the scope of the legislation. That argument was rooted in the UK Supreme Court’s reasoning in Lee v Ashers Bakery [2018] UKSC 49. Part 2 continues the theme, but this time to show that the vulnerability can work the other way, producing, first, an ‘extended’ notion of associative discrimination and, second, radically broad notions of direct and indirect discrimination. This limb of the thesis also argues that a case heralded as one of associative discrimination, CHEZ [2016] CMLR 14, was no such thing. It concludes that the ambitious approach of the European Court of Justice and its Advocates General will blur the traditional form-based distinction between direct and indirect discrimination.

Utopie und Lebenszeit in der Aufklärung

The aim of this article is to outline how Hans Blumenberg’s conception of lifetime and world time (Lebenszeit und Weltzeit, 1986) can help to elucidate a substantial problem of utopian literature and its development from the 16th to the 18th century: utopias always try to illustrate the ways by which the single members of a political community harmonise with the community as a whole. The congruence of private good and common good, private interest and common interest, private will and general will is a main task of 17th and 18th century political philosophy. Blumenberg’s book, however, allows us to focus on the existential dimension of this harmonisation: under which circumstances may the single members become so wise and virtuous within their lifetimes that they always know about and comply with the common good? 18th century utopias seem to find answers to this question in theories of moral sense, common sense and aesthetic education.

Biotechnology for obtaining virus-free apple planting stocks

The review describes the successive stages of work on the production of virus-free apple planting stocks using biotechnology methods. Compositions of nutrient media, duration and temperature regime of plant material treatment, and other details for all stages of cryopreservation (cryotherapy), chemotherapy, detection of viruses are presented, methods of in vitro initiation, micropropagation, in vitro rooting and adaptation of plant material to the soil substrate are discussed. Virus-free collection of Malus domestica Borkh. and M. sieversii Ledeb. M. Roem. is preserved by in vitro culture and cold storage (+4 °C). Cryopreservation of shoot tips of apple historic cultivars and wild forms in liquid nitrogen at -196° will preserve this valuable material for a long time and, if necessary, can be used in breeding. Virus-free apple rootstocks and cultivars will be available to provide planting material of a super-elite class for local nurseries and in general will promote the development of the domestic nursery.

Headache in multiple sclerosis - pharmacological aspects

: For decades, headache was not considered a typical symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS) and was construed as a "red flag" for important differential diagnoses such as cerebral vasculitis. Meanwhile, several studies have demonstrated an increased prevalence of headache in MS compared to the general population. This is due to the heterogeneity of headache genesis with frequent occurrence of both primary and secondary headaches in MS. On the one hand, MS and migraine are often comorbid. On the other hand, secondary headaches occur frequently, especially in the course of MS relapses. These are often migraine-like headaches caused by inflammation, which can improve as a result of MS-specific therapy. Headaches are particularly common in the early stages of chronic inflammatory CNS disease, where inflammatory activity is greatest. In addition, headache can also occur as a side effect of disease-modifying drugs (DMDs). Headache can occur with most DMDs and is most frequently described with interferon-beta therapy. The aim of this work is to present the prevalence of headache and describe the heterogeneity of possible causes of headache in MS. In addition, important therapeutic aspects in the treatment of MS patients in general will be presented as well as different approaches to the treatment of headache in MS depending on the etiological classification.

FORMATION OF COMPOSITE GLOBAL COMMODITY PRICES AS AN INFLATION INDICATOR FOR EAST JAVA

With the average contribution of imports to Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) in the last five years reaching 19.1%, the dynamics of global commodity prices also influence the economic performance of East Java, including the movement of inflation. A composite indicator of global commodity prices is needed to find out the impact of changes in various global commodity prices on inflation in East Java. By adopting the Bank Indonesia methodology in forming a composite global price known as the Imported Inflation Price Index (IHIM) which has considered the method of forming a global composite price created by the IMF (IMF Commodity Price Index), the compilation of East Java global price composites also examines the accuracy of commodity selection and aspects of data availability. The selected global price composite for East Java is a composite of seven global commodities which include food (wheat, soybeans, corn and CPO) and non-food (iron, gold and oil). These are two aspects determining the relative weight, namely (I) the import portion of the total input based on the Input-Output table and (ii) the commodity weight of derivatives in the East Java Consumer Price Index (IHK) basket. Furthermore, with OLS regression, the composite of East Java global commodity prices affects the core-traded inflation movement in East Java. Thus, the composite of global commodity prices in East Java can be used as an indicator of East Java inflation projections, especially core-traded inflation. This study, in general, will also examine the effect of the exchange rate impact on the movement of core inflation, especially traded groups in East Java. Based on the regression results it is known that the impact of the exchange rate movement on core traded inflation in East Java is more significant than the effect of world commodity price movements.

Rousseau’s General Will

The advance of populist parties in the European Union can be interpreted as the sign of an expanding “frustration” about representation in a political sphere oppressed by economic austerity. In this context, the modern philosophical roots of an alternative conception of democracy, based on direct participation, appear to be worth of a careful scrutiny. This paper focuses on the notion of the General Will as described in The Social Contract. After a critical review of the antithetical conceptions of the General Will suggested by Rousseau, a coherent interpretation is proposed, obtained through an analysis of the text taken as a “self- -sufficient” unity: the General Will is pure “ambition” for an unknown common good, shared by all the members of a political community. However, it is argued that the participatory “machinery” of General Will is fundamentally incapable of resolving three serious problems that undermine the foundations of Rousseau’s ideal “République”, namely, 1. How the citizens can identify the common good without errors; 2. How the citizens can develop an ethical dimension by themselves, without any external influence; 3. How single individuals, seen not as active citizens but as passive subjects of the State, can protect themselves from the abuses of power.