bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Justice, Posterity, and the Environment
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

In rich countries, environmental problems are seen as problems of prosperity. In poor countries, they are seen as problems of poverty. This is because the environmental problems in poor countries—such as lack of clean drinking water or decent sanitation—are problems that affect them here and now, whereas in rich countries the environmental problems that people worry about most—largely as a result of current prosperity and economic growth—are those that seem likely to harm mainly posterity and hence violate our obligations to future generations.

But what exactly are our obligations to future generations? Are they determined by some sort of ethical system, such as the ‘rights’ of future generations, or justice between generations, or intergenerational equity, or sustainable development? The first part of this book is addressed to these questions. It is argued that while ethical ‘systems’ do not provide much help, we still have moral obligations to take account of the interests that future generations will have. But an appraisal of these interests in the light of probable future developments suggests that, while environmental problems have to be taken seriously, our main obligation to future generations is to bequeath to them a more decent society in which there is greater respect for basic human rights than is the case today throughout most of the world.

Furthermore, it cannot serve the interests of justice if the burden of protecting the environment for the benefit of posterity is born mainly by poorer people today. More resources devoted to the environment means fewer are devoted competing claims for, say, health care or education or housing, not to mention plain private consumption. And in poor countries millions of people suffer from acute lack of sanitation, clean drinking water, shelter, and basic infrastructures to prevent or cure widespread disease. Neither generations nor nations are homogeneous entities. The later chapters of this book, therefore, are addressed to the ethical aspects of the way that resources ought to be shared out between environmental protection and competing uses in all countries, and how the burden of dealing with global environmental problems ought to be shared out between rich and poor nations.
Introduction: Ethics and Economics in Environmental Policy
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

During the last two or three decades, various developments in the environmental sphere have led to increasing concern with our obligations to posterity and to the non‐human part of the natural world. These developments have exposed gaps in both traditional, moral, and political theory and in conventional economics. Environmental issues have exposed these gaps and have brought to the fore questions such as how far the society, with whose welfare we are concerned, includes future generations or is limited to individual nations or human beings. This book examines these questions as well as related ethical aspects of environmental policy, such as environmental valuation or the equitable allocation among nations of the burden of environmental protection.
The Rights of Future Generations
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

It is widely believed that environmental conservation has to be guided by respect for the ‘rights’ of future generations. But it is argued in this chapter that it may not be plausible to think in terms of the ‘rights’ of future generations in general or their rights to any specific environmental assets. Future generations may well have rights when they come into existence, but these will only be rights that can be satisfied at the time. But ‘rights’ do not exhaust the whole of morality, and future generations will certainly have interests, which means that we are under moral obligation to take account of them and of the effect that our environmental policies may have on them. Thus, the problem is to predict what the main interests of future generations will be and how to weigh them up against the interests of people alive today. It is argued that this approach will lead to a very different ranking of priorities among our moral obligations to future generations.
Justice Between Generations
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

Although there are many theories of justice, one crucial feature of those that are most widely accepted is that they lay down principles that determine the allocation of rights and obligations in society. They do not eliminate conflicts of interest between different groups but, by specifying such principles, they are designed to enable conflicting interests to be resolved in a peaceful and harmonious manner. But insofar as future generations cannot be said to have any rights, their interests cannot be protected within the framework of any theory of intergenerational justice. This chapter discusses the general relationship between ‘rights’ and ‘justice’, and the obstacles to any theory of intergenerational justice.
Intergenerational Equity
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

Discusses one principle that has been suggested as a guide to the way we ought to take account of the interests of future generations, namely the principle of intergenerational ‘equity’ and its related claim of intergenerational equality, particularly in spheres such as the way we should share out ‘finite’ resources among generations. This chapter examines the possible arguments in favour of intergenerational egalitarianism and concludes that they are difficult to defend. It is proposed that egalitarianism should be replaced by the principle of ‘threshold prioritarianism’, so that our moral obligation to future generations should be based on a humanitarian concern to avoid policies that may impoverish them.
Sustainable Development
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

Another widely suggested principle governing our obligations to future generations is ‘sustainable development’. The first part of this chapter argues that the mainstream interpretations of the concept of sustainable development are open to serious objections on ethical grounds. The chapter also shows that even if intergenerational egalitarianism were a viable objective there is nothing intergenerationally egalitarian about sustainable development.
How Much Richer Will Future Generations Be?
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

This chapter leaves the ‘safe’ world of philosophical speculation and turns to the dangerous world of economic prediction. It outlines the economic reasons for believing that, in the very long term—i.e. abstracting from cyclical or other transitory fluctuations in economic activity—future generations will be incomparably richer than people today. Reasons are also given for believing that there will be no significant obstacles to future growth on account of popularly feared environmental developments, such as running out of ‘finite’ resources, or climate change.
The Intrinsic Value of the Environment
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

Generations are not homogeneous entities and are composed of individuals and nations that have conflicting interests in the way in which resources are allocated among competing uses. This chapter discusses whether ‘the environment’, or ‘nature’, should enjoy special status in any allocation; whether the economist's approach is too anthropocentric; the concept of ‘intrinsic’ values; and the application of these concepts to environmental valuation. It is argued that while many environmental assets are ‘public goods’, so that the free market is unlikely to supply the socially optimal amount, the same applies to many other things, such as public health or education services or the arts, not to mention the fact that most people in the world are, anyway, in dire need of a simple increase in their ability to buy simple basic private goods. This means that the allocation of resources to environmental objectives ought to take into account some form of cost‐benefit analysis.
Plural Values and Environmental Valuation
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

This chapter discusses critically the main criticisms of the use of cost‐benefit analysis in environmental policy, such as the incommensurability of environmental values with the values born by marketable goods, and the related unreliability of estimates of peoples’ willingness to pay for environmental protection. While it is found that there is some strength in these criticisms, it is still necessary to take account of the resource constraint involved in decisions concerning public goods. Furthermore, a democratic society needs some impartial and transparent process for solving allocation problems. However, the need to reconcile the valid objections made by environmentalists to cost‐benefit analysis with the problems raised by resource constraints raises new problems of political theory and institutions.
International Justice and Sharing the Burden of Environmental Protection
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

Some current environmental problems are global and have public good elements that raise, in an acute form, the question of how the costs of a collective effort from which the world as a whole will benefit should be shared out among poor and rich countries. This chapter discusses how far theories of justice provide guidance to this question. It argues that the answer seems to be ‘very little’ and that, in order to arrive at some ground rules for allocating the burden of global environmental protection between countries—as between generations—we are forced back on humanitarian principles of concern for the poor.
International Justice and the Environment: Global Warming and Biodiversity
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

It is argued that although there may be some case, on economic grounds, for international cooperative action to deal with the threat of climate change or an excessive depletion of biodiversity, the advantages of participation in such action are probably not very great for most rich countries. Furthermore, some of the ‘ethical’ arguments advanced in support of the view that the rich countries should shoulder most of the burden of international action are weak. Nevertheless, there is a case for the richer countries to do so both on grounds of a moral responsibility to assist very poor people and on grounds of the need to look at international cooperation in a wider framework that takes account of the dependence of cooperation from different groups of countries in dealing with a host of other international problems.
Conclusions
Authors: Beckerman Wilfred , Pasek Joanna
Published: October 2003

It is recalled that serious doubts can be raised concerning the status of theories such as those pertaining to the rights of future generations, or the constraints imposed on us by theories of intergenerational justice. At the same time, we do have moral obligations to future generations. But these must be based on an appraisal of what are likely to be the main interests that future generations will have and which of these are most likely to be under permanent threat. These, it is argued, will be in the field of human relations rather than in the field of the environment. It is concluded, therefore, that the most important bequest we can make to future generations is to leave them a society in which there is a greater respect for basic human rights than is the case today throughout most of the world. And since the best way of bequeathing a more decent society to future generations is, of course, to improve the respect for human rights today, there is no conflict of interest between the present generation and future generations. Hence, theories of intergenerational distributive justice are not only untenable but are also unnecessary.
The Rise of New Labour
Authors: Heath Anthony F. , Jowell Roger M. , Curtice John K.
Published: October 2003

The main aim of the book is to explore electoral behaviour in Britain from 1979– 97, which covers the 18years of Conservative government with Margaret Thatcher and John Major as prime ministers of the country and ends with New Labour's landslide victory in 1997. The authors of The Rise of New Labour describe the electoral experiments in the British political spectrum in this period, assess the reasons for their success and failure and discuss their implications in the framework of the underlying theories of electoral behaviour. The analyses in the book are based on the series of British Election Surveys (BESs) that have been undertaken immediately after every election since 1964 and on the 1992–97 British Election Panel Study (BEPS).
The Electoral Success of Thatcherism
Authors: Heath Anthony F. , Jowell Roger M. , Curtice John K.
Published: October 2003

The authors focus on the principal aspects of the Thatcherite economic reform programme and assess to what extent they were accepted by the British electorate. The analysis shows that the electorate accepted the Conservative reforms on privatization and trade union legislation and that, during her time in office, Margaret Thatcher won public backing for the changes. But in two other respects, Margaret Thatcher failed to carry the country with her; once the problem of inflation was solved at the beginning of the 1980s, the electorate wanted the government to pay more attention to the high level of unemployment and did not appear to accept Thatcherite policies in this area. The electorate showed no enthusiasm for the Thatcherite philosophy of reduced government spending on public services. The analysis of the Thatcherite economic reform programme gives support to the thesis that a political party does not need to be closely in tune with the electorate's policy preferences in order to win an election.
Margaret Thatcher's Nationalism
Authors: Heath Anthony F. , Jowell Roger M. , Curtice John K.
Published: October 2003

Heath, Jowell, and Curtice analyse Margaret Thatcher's distinctive form of British nationalism that embraced a range of issues such as strong defence, vigorous pursuit of British interests in Europe, the protection of British sovereignty, and the maintenance of the Union. They discuss how Thatcherite the electorate was on these issues. As on the economic front, Margaret Thatcher tended to be more extreme than the electorate, both on nuclear defence, where the electorate did not share her enthusiasm for the deployment of American nuclear Cruise missiles in Britain, and on the maintenance of the Union, where the electorate progressively moved away from her brand of British nationalism. On Europe, the Conservatives were closest to the electorate but the disunity of the party over the issue gave out confusing signals to the voters, and the Conservatives proved vulnerable to the Referendum Party created in 1995 with the aim to campaign on the preservation of British sovereignty. The results from the analysis are consistent with the ‘top‐down’ theory of voting behaviour, according to which parties may be able to influence how voters see issues and can themselves shape their supporter's attitudes.
The Changing Social Basis of Party Support
Authors: Heath Anthony F. , Jowell Roger M. , Curtice John K.
Published: October 2003

The key questions in the seventh chapter of the book are related to the changes in the social basis of support for the parties in the British political spectrum in the period 1979–1997 and whether these changes can be described as processes of class dealignment or class realignment. The authors conclude that, from 1979–1997 there has been continuity in the Conservatives’ social basis of support and that almost all variations in Conservative support (apart from the regional one) took the form of swings that affected all social groups alike. There was also continuity in the image of the Conservative party in terms of the groups it represented—in 1997, the Conservatives continued to be seen as a highly sectional party concerned with the interests of the social groups that constituted its traditional core. This was not the case with the Labour party—in 1997, New Labour had very substantially reduced its sectional character, was no longer distinctively associated with any particular social group, and it had successfully become a catchall party. There was a change not only in the image of New Labour but also in the character of Labour's voters—under Tony Blair New Labour's moves towards the centre, involved larger than expected electoral gains in the salariat than among Labour's traditional sources of support in the working class. However, despite these changes Heath, Jowell, and Curtice conclude that even under New Labour the usual pattern of party support continued—it was simply muted. This gives support to the thesis of class realignment according to which the changes in the social bases of party support are due to particular groups shifting their support from one party towards a different one and not due to a blurring of class boundaries and a weakening of the social cleavages (class dealignment).
Were Traditional Labour Voters Disillusioned with New Labour?
Authors: Heath Anthony F. , Jowell Roger M. , Curtice John K.
Published: October 2003

The central hypothesis tested in this chapter is that Labour's traditional constituency in the working class did not respond with enthusiasm to New Labour's apparent lack of concern with their interests and may have shown some reluctance to turn out and vote for the party. The authors emphasize the smallness of the changes that occurred in the patterns of abstention and strength of partisanship in 1997, but nevertheless, they find some strong hints from the data presented in the chapter that New Labour's move to the centre was, albeit in a rather modest way, responsible for muted enthusiasm among the party's traditional supporters. The analysis also suggests that the changes were specific to Labour and were not part of a general trend towards civic disengagement or political cynicism. The authors discuss the short‐term and the long‐term electoral consequences of these changes—the loss of Labour votes that this muted enthusiasm entailed would have been more than compensated by the extra votes won from the new recruits to Labour in the middle classes. In the longer term, however, this could lead to increased apathy and disengagement among the disadvantaged sectors of society and to a gradual rise in class non‐voting.
Party Policies and Voter Choices
Authors: Heath Anthony F. , Jowell Roger M. , Curtice John K.
Published: October 2003

The authors offer a multiplicative model that provides a comprehensive framework to place the main findings of the volume. The model is based on the standard ‘expected utility maximization’ model of the economists, which can be applied for understanding election outcomes. The idea is that the voter weights the utility of a given policy by the probability of its being implemented, sums this across the different policies, and then votes for whichever party gives the greatest expected utility. However, Heath, Jowell, and Curtice emphasize the fact that the rational choice model needs to be expanded to include some of the ‘non‐rational’ processes observed in their research such as the possibility that voters’ preferences may be shaped by the political parties and should not to be treated only as independent factors. The model should also be modified to take account of other sorts of processes such as social interaction, social conformity and what the authors have termed the ‘forked‐tail’ effect related to the generalization of the disillusionment from a specific party policy into a general disillusion with the party's competence.
Two Pictures of Semantics
Authors: Travis Charles
Published: October 2003

On what does the truth of words depend? One idea is: it depends only on the concepts deployed—the meanings of the words used—and on how the world is. Another idea is that the concepts words express admit of understandings, so that the respective contributions to truth of how things are represented and how things cannot be separated out in that way. This chapter details both ideas.
The Uses of Language Games
Authors: Travis Charles
Published: October 2003

This chapter asks how Wittgenstein's idea of a language game casts light on the way words represent. It explores the idea of language games as objects of comparison. It uses that to show how language games are meant to support the second picture of semantics (drawn in Ch. 1).
Doubt and Knowledge Ascription
Authors: Travis Charles
Published: October 2003

This chapter argues for the occasion‐sensitivity (S‐use sensitivity) of epistemic notions, notably knowledge; and shows how that idea serves to support Wittgenstein's conception of semantic fact.
The Limits of Doubt
Authors: Travis Charles
Published: October 2003

Explores the S‐use sensitivity of proof, arguing that there is no clear separation between an epistemic and non‐epistemic notion of proof, but that epistemology is involved in what actually entails what (which is thus an occasion‐sensitive matter). It defends a view of G. E. Moore.
Through the Wilderness
Authors: Travis Charles
Published: October 2003

Offers an interpretation of Wittgenstein's notion of family resemblance. It argues that family resemblance is not a type of concept, but rather a phenomenon for concepts in general, and tightly tied to S‐use sensitivity.
The Autonomy of Fact‐Stating
Authors: Travis Charles
Published: October 2003

Explores a central Wittgensteinian view: that whether words that aim to be fact stating cannot be hostage to anything other than the internal consistency of their ambitions. There is no external perspective from which one might coherently maintain a metaphysical scepticism about them.
The Problems With Private Semantics
Authors: Travis Charles
Published: October 2003

Sketches two arguments against the possibility of private language, both of which might be detected in Wittgenstein. One argument is epistemic, the other not. It argues that private language does not require private objects.
Investigating Knowledge Itself
Authors: Kornblith Hilary
Published: October 2003

Philosophical investigations in general, and epistemological investigations in particular, typically begin with conceptual analysis. It is argued that an analysis of our concept of knowledge is no more relevant to epistemology than an analysis of our concept of gold would be relevant to the proper conduct of chemistry, for knowledge, like gold, is a natural kind. The role of intuition in philosophical theory construction is discussed, and a naturalistic account of the practice of appealing to intuitions is presented and defended.
Knowledge and Social Practices
Authors: Kornblith Hilary
Published: October 2003

In some views, knowledge cannot exist except against the background of certain social practices. Thus, in Davidson's view, there are no beliefs, and thus no knowledge, except in creatures that use and interpret language. In other views, such as Brandom's, belief, and thus knowledge, cannot exist except in creatures that have a social practice of giving and asking for reasons. Finally, there are views in which it is possible to have beliefs without social practices, but it is not possible to have justified beliefs, and hence knowledge, without some relevant social practice, such as holding individuals responsible for the beliefs they have. These views are examined in detail. It is argued that knowledge does not require social practices of any sort whatsoever.
What Philosophy Might Be
Authors: Kornblith Hilary
Published: October 2003

The investigation carried out in this book is an example of a thoroughly empirical philosophical project. It is argued that this naturalistic conception of philosophy is continuous with much of the philosophical work of the past, although it does not leave philosophy entirely as it was. A conception of philosophy as empirical enterprise is presented and defended.
Introduction
Authors: Hadenius Axel
Published: October 2003

Illuminates broadly the relationship between active democratic citizenship and institutions conditions. It draws in particular on Tocqueville's comparison between the conditions in USA and France. Other contributors to the institutionalist‐cum‐republican tradition, such as Rousseau, Mill, Kornhauser, and Putnam are presented.
Democratic Citizenship
Authors: Hadenius Axel
Published: October 2003

Penetrates the notion of democratic citizenship more deeply. Emphasis is laid on the organizational resources, i.e the “joining” side of social capital. Different organizational traits – internal as well as external – that can promote active democratic development are analysed.
Weak Citizenship
Authors: Hadenius Axel
Published: October 2003

Examines three common forms of week citizenship: clientilism, populism, and so‐called social movements. All three contain organizational qualities, in different ways, which could be favourable for democracy. At the same time, important qualities are lacking.
Democracy and Development
Authors: Hadenius Axel
Published: October 2003

Starts with a survey of the waves of democratization in the twentieth century. The matter of explanation is then addressed. Different socio‐economic theories are scrutinized: the modernization argument and the capitalism and class arguments. Thereafter the relationship between institutions and democratic development is clarified more precisely. Most important are (1) a legacy of pluralism, (2) instruments of power sharing, (3) a rule‐governed state apparatus.
Three Cases
Authors: Hadenius Axel
Published: October 2003

Analyses democratic development in Africa, Latin America, and India, from the point of view of socioeconomic and institutional conditions. In this comparison, India comes out as a special case. Despite unfavourable socio‐economic conditions, democratic development has been relatively successful. The key is favourable institutional conditions.
State Institutions
Authors: Hadenius Axel
Published: October 2003

Spells out, from a Weberian perspective, the basic features of the state, and provides a historical review of the development of different forms of state. Various methods of governance at the disposal of the state are analysed. Particular attention is paid to the autocratic state (prescribed by Hobbes), which was the dominant model for long periods.
Breakdown and Continuity
Authors: Hadenius Axel
Published: October 2003

Demonstrates how medieval institutional tendency could be continued in certain countries in the modern era, while autocratic backlash was the pattern elsewhere. England, Sweden, the Netherlands, and North America represent the former trend. Russia, Prussia, Spain, and France illustrate the latter. These different paths, which were conditioned by military and geographic constraints, strongly affected the prospects for democracy in modern times.
States and Development
Authors: Hadenius Axel
Published: October 2003

Makes a broad historical account of the specific mode of development in Europe, involving unique progress economically, militarily, and democratically. In disagreement with the economic approach launched by Moore, and the state system theory championed by Hintze, it is argued that it was the introduction at an early stage of a special form of state – the interactive state – that made this development possible. This institutional innovation gave Europe the edge, as it stimulates, at the same time, effective governance and economic development.
The UNHCR at 50: State Pressures and Institutional Autonomy
Authors: Loescher Gil
Published: October 2003

For the past half century the UNHCR has been central to the international debates about human rights, conflict resolution, sovereignty, intervention and preventative action, and the role of international organizations in world politics. A central theme is change and continuity in the international political and security systems, in the refugee regime, and in the UNHCR. Contemporary refugee crises are placing the UNHCR under growing pressure regarding both its functions and identity. From focusing almost exclusively on protection and humanitarian relief for refugees in host countries, the UNHCR has progressively taken on additional responsibilities that involve it in a myriad of activities for refugees and non‐refugees alike.
The Emerging Independence of the UNHCR Under Auguste Lindt
Authors: Loescher Gil
Published: October 2003

Two political events at the centre of world politics in the mid‐ to late‐1950s—the Hungarian Revolution and the subsequent intervention by the USSR and the Algerian War of National Independence against France—transformed the UNHCR. The roles played by the second UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Auguste Lindt, in both refugee crises resulted in fundamental changes in UNHCR's orientation and its international reputation. The crises in Hungary and Algeria constituted a bridgehead leading to future institutional growth and autonomy for the UNHCR. The UNHCR also expanded into the developing world through programmes assisting refugees from The Peoples Republic of China in Hong Kong and Tibetan refugees.
‘The Good Offices’ and Expansion into Africa Under Felix Schnyder
Authors: Loescher Gil
Published: October 2003

The 1960s brought fundamental changes to the UN system of refugee assistance and protection. The developing world replaced Europe as the central focus of the UNHCR's world. The expansion of the UNHCR under the third High Commissioner, Felix Schnyder, coincided with the decolonization and the ensuing emergence of newly independent states in Africa and Asia. Using his ‘good offices’, Schnyder undertook a de facto expansion of the UNHCR's refugee definition and through the development of rural settlement schemes and ‘zonal’ development, progressively increased the range of the services UNHCR provided both to refugees and to host governments.
The Global Expansion of the UNHCR Under Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan
Authors: Loescher Gil
Published: October 2003

During the 1970s under Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, the fourth High Commissioner, UNHCR embarked on new assistance programmes in a number of refugee and refugee‐like situations around the world. The most notable of these were in Bangladesh, Uganda, and Indo‐China. There were also highly politicized refugee crises in Chile and Argentina. The UNHCR was active in the repatriation and reintegration of refugees and internally displaced persons in southern Sudan and in Angola, Guinea Bissau, and Mozambique. In addition, there were mass exoduses of refugees from Cuba and Vietnam.
The New Cold War and the UNHCR Under Poul Hartling
Authors: Loescher Gil
Published: October 2003

During the 1980s the global refugee population expanded rapidly as a result of regional conflicts and refugee crises in Indochina, Afghanistan, Central America, Horn of Africa, and southern Africa. Huge care and maintenance programmes were established in nearby asylum countries under the auspices of the fifth High Commissioner, Poul Hartling. The global refugee total tripled and the UNHCR's budgets and programmes quintupled. The emphasis on aid delivery also reflected Western governments’ desire to assist refugee warrior communities fighting Soviet‐backed regimes, resulting in most refugee problems in regions of superpower conflict becoming protracted. At the same time asylum crises arose in Western Europe and North America.
The UNHCR's ‘New Look’, Financial Crisis, and Collapse of Morale Under Jean‐Pierre Hocke and Thorvald Stoltenberg
Authors: Loescher Gil
Published: October 2003

To relieve the costs that long‐term care for protracted refugee populations imposed, donor governments began in the mid‐1980s to promote alternative approaches to the refugee problem, particularly repatriation. The sixth High Commissioner, Jean‐Pierre Hocke, advocated a new strategy that required the UNHCR to deal not only with asylum countries but also with countries of origin and the root causes of refugee exoduses. Cold war politics continued to paralyse diplomatic initiatives to break the deadlock of regional conflicts in most of Africa, Asia, and Central America. Donor governments became disillusioned with the UNHCR, leading to a major financial crisis for the agency with which the seventh High Commissioner, Thorvald Stoltenberg, had to deal.
The Post‐Cold War Era and the UNHCR Under Sadako Ogata
Authors: Loescher Gil
Published: October 2003

The 1990s ushered in a new era in which humanitarian issues played a historically unprecedented role in international politics. Refugee movements in northern Iraq, Somalia, former Yugoslavia, and Haiti were the subject of increasing discussion in political and military fora such as the UN Security Council and NATO. Forced displacements were also at the centre of crises in the African Great Lakes region, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Albania, Kosovo, and East Timor. The eighth High Commissioner, Sadako Ogata, initiated changes within UNHCR that permitted it to respond to internal displacements in ongoing civil wars as well as to promote mass repatriation movements to countries of origin in Central America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. These events have significant implications for the protection of refugees and for the future of humanitarianism.
Toward the Future: The UNHCR in the Twenty‐First Century
Authors: Loescher Gil
Published: October 2003

A key focus is the organizational culture and effectiveness of UNHCR as the principal protection agency for refugees. UNHCR functions with an imperfect mandate, under circumstances necessitating competition with other agencies for limited resources, and in political environments that are inhospitable to crisis management and refugee protection. Because of its financial vulnerability and dependence on donor governments and host states, the agency's actions are clearly shaped by the interests of governments. The UNHCR finds it difficult to learn from past mistakes and it lacks strong policy research and strategic thinking capacities. The author offers policy recommendations aimed at making UNHCR more effective and accountable in its central function of protecting refugees.
Cheremin Amsterdam
Authors: Nadler Steven
Published: October 2003

Examines Spinoza's ban or excommunication (cherem) and its historical and religious context. The cherem issued against Spinoza, the most extreme and vitriolic in the Amsterdam Jewish community's history, is compared with other bans issued by the congregation's leaders.
The Philosophers
Authors: Nadler Steven
Published: October 2003

Concerns the issue of immortality in two medieval Jewish philosophers: Maimonides and Gersonides. It is argued that both of these highly rationalistic philosophers are amenable to a reading according to which they deny the personal immortality of the soul. The rewards of virtue, identified as intellectual knowledge, lie in this life, not in some after life.
Eternity and Immortality
Authors: Nadler Steven
Published: October 2003

Examines Spinoza's account of the eternity of the mind in Part Five of the Ethics. Argues that this doctrine amounts to a denial of personal immortality. For Spinoza, virtue consists in the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge, and its benefits lie in this lifetime. There are no post‐mortem rewards or punishments. What survives the death of a human being is not a personal soul but simply a set of eternal ideas.
The Life of Reason
Authors: Nadler Steven
Published: October 2003

Looks at the broader moral and political aspects of Spinoza's denial of immortality. This includes his ideas on religion, superstition, ecclesiastic influence in political affairs, and especially the passions of hope and fear that the doctrine of immortality feeds. The denial of immorality is central to Spinoza's overall philosophical and political project. There is also a discussion of Spinoza's approach to the theodicy question and the way in which his denial of immortality is a critique of one particular way in Jewish thought of approaching the problem of evil.
Immortality on the Amstel
Authors: Nadler Steven
Published: October 2003

Discusses the context in seventeenth‐century Jewish Amsterdam for Spinoza's ban and the ways in which the issue of immortality was central to the concerns of the community's rabbis and leaders in that period. Uriel da Costa's heretical views on immortality are examined, as are the particular views of the rabbis. Argues that, even at the time of Spinoza's ban, many years after the Da Costa episode, it was an important question to Amsterdam's Jews.
Varieties of Labor Politics in the Developed Democracies
Authors: Thelen Kathleen
Published: October 2003

Applies the varieties of capitalism framework to labour politics and industrial relations. It surveys recent developments in these areas across several of the advanced democracies, and documents a persistent and perhaps growing divide between the liberal and organized market economies with respect to the institutions of collective bargaining and industrial relations.
Social Protection and the Formation of Skills: A Reinterpretation of the Welfare State
Authors: Estevez‐Abe Margarita , Iversen Torben , Soskice David
Published: October 2003

Outlines a new approach to the study of the welfare state. Contrary to the emphasis on ‘decommodification’ in the current literature, it is argued that important dimensions of the welfare state—employment protection, unemployment protection, and wage protection—are designed to make workers more willing to invest in firm‐ and industry‐specific skills that increase their dependence on particular employers and their vulnerability to market fluctuations. Workers will only make such risky investments when they have some insurance that their job or income is secure; otherwise, they will invest in general, and therefore portable, skills. In turn, because the skill composition of the work force constrains the set of product‐market strategies that firms can pursue successfully, employers will support social protection that facilitates the set of skills that they need to be competitive in particular international product markets. It shows that the argument is consistent with observed clusters of social protection and skill profiles among OECD countries, and that these clusters are associated with very different distributional outcomes and patterns of gender‐specific labour market segmentation.
Firms and the Welfare State: When, Why, and How Does Social Policy Matter to Employers?
Authors: Mares Isabela
Published: October 2003

When and why have employers supported the development of institutions of social insurance that provide benefits to workers for various employment‐related risks in the areas of unemployment insurance, accident insurance, and early retirement? This paper challenges the dominant explanations of welfare state development premised on the assumption of business opposition to social insurance. It examines the conditions under which firms support the introduction of a new social policy and specifies the most important variables explaining the variation in the social policy preferences of employers. The model is tested in three episodes of social policy development in Germany, relying on a collection of archival sources and policy documents submitted by business associations to bureaucratic and parliamentary commissions.
The Domestic Sources of Multilateral Preferences: Varieties of Capitalism in the European Community
Authors: Fioretos Orfeo
Published: October 2003

Explains how variations in the structure of a country's economic system shape their preferences over other forms of multilateral international organizations. It specifically answers why Britain and Germany advocated different regulatory structures in the European Union's monetary, social, and industrial policies in the context of negotiating the content of the Maastricht Treaty. Theoretically, the paper explores ways in which the varieties of capitalism framework can be extended to the domain of international relations.
Employers, Public Policy, and the Politics of Decentralized Cooperation in Germany and France
Authors: Culpepper Pepper D.
Published: October 2003

Reforms of public policy often require governments to convince private actors to cooperate with each other. Through a comparison of vocational training reforms undertaken in France and Germany, this chapter demonstrates the conditions under which governments can succeed in such an economic reform. Lacking the information necessary to design policies that can solve these problems of coordination, governments must work with private associations that have access to this information in order to design policies that convince private actors to begin cooperating with each other.
Revisiting the French Model: Coordination and Restructuring in French Industry
Authors: Hancké Bob
Published: October 2003

Analyses the transition in the production regime in France from a state‐centred one led by public elite to a large firm‐centred regime between 1980 and 2000. It argues that large firms led institutional change by exploiting new policies in finance, labour relations, and regional development.
Varieties of Corporate Governance: Comparing Germany and the UK
Authors: Vitols Sigurt
Published: October 2003

This chapter compares the systems for corporate governance of Germany and the UK as systems typical of liberal and coordinated market economies with attention to the relationship between markets for corporate governance and corporate finance and managerial structure. It traces recent changes in both systems concluding that each remains distinctive. It explores the impact of these differences on recent firm strategies in the sectors of financial services and the chemicals and pharmaceutical industry.
Macro‐varieties of Capitalism and Micro‐varieties of Strategic Management in European Airlines
Authors: Lehrer Mark
Published: October 2003

The relevance of the varieties‐of‐capitalism approach to strategic management is demonstrated by the evolution of competition in the European air‐transport sector. In the highly regulated environment that prevailed until the mid‐1980s, the German carrier, Lufthansa, was highly successful in a setting that rewarded incremental innovation, especially in engineering. After deregulation in the European airline industry began, rapidly evolving areas such as selling systems, distribution channels, and marketing techniques acquired central strategic importance. In this altered context, British Airways, benefiting from its LME home institutional environment, surpassed Lufthansa in its capacity to adopt radical innovation in its commercial systems.
Legal Irritants: How Unifying Law Ends up in New Divergences
Authors: Teubner Gunther
Published: October 2003

Recent attempts at institutional transfer of legal rules from one production regime to the other seem to produce a double irritation in the new context. As the case of transfer of continental rules on ‘good faith’ demonstrates, foreign rules are irritants not only in relation to the domestic legal discourse itself but also in relation to the economic institutions to which law is closely coupled. They force the domestic law to a reconstruction in the network of its distinctions, while provoking the economic institutions to a reconstruction of their own. Thus, they trigger two different series of events whose interaction leads to an evolutionary dynamics, which may find a new equilibrium in the eigenvalues of the legal and economic institutions involved. The result of such a complex and turbulent process is rarely a convergence of the participating legal orders, rather the creation of new cleavages in the interrelation of legal and economic institutions.
National Varieties of Standardization
Authors: Tate Jay
Published: October 2003

Both liberal and coordinated market economies engage in standardization, but the ease of ‘exit’ and the character of ‘voice’ differ. In a liberal market economy, firms tend to use standards opportunistically, whether in low‐end price competition or high‐end competition over intellectual property rights to radical innovations. Standards institutions compete for customers and operate for profit, and state actors are more likely to intervene directly to secure particular standards than to promote economy‐wide coordination. In a coordinated market economy, where defections and reliance upon market‐based de facto standardization are less common, firms rely on formal, pre‐competitive standards to weed out technically inferior solutions, minimize opportunities for price‐based competition, and facilitate relatively redictable strategies of incremental innovation. Standards institutions are run less like a profit centre and more like a shared economic infrastructure, which even state actors tend to utilize and extend.
On Virtue Ethics
Authors: Hursthouse Rosalind
Published: October 2003

On Virtue Ethics is an exposition and defence of neo‐Aristotelian virtue ethics. The first part discusses the ways in which it can provide action guidance and action assessment, which are usually given by the v‐rules—rules generated from the names of the virtues and vices such as ‘Do what is honest’, ‘Do not do what is dishonest’. That such rules may (apparently) conflict, leads to an exploration of the virtue ethics approach to resolvable, irresolvable, and tragic dilemmas. The second part is about the role of the emotions in virtue and vice, since it examines the inculcation of racism through the miseducation of the emotions. Kant and Aristotle are compared on the question of moral motivation, and a virtue ethics’ account of acting ‘from a sense of duty’ provided. The third part is on ‘the rationality of morality’ in relation to virtue ethics, the question of whether there is any ‘objective’ criterion for a certain character trait being a virtue. The standard neo‐Aristotelian premise that ‘A virtue is a character trait a human being needs for eudaimonia, to flourish or live well’ should be regarded as encapsulating two interrelated claims, namely, that the virtues benefit their possessor, and that the virtues make their possessor good qua human being (human beings need the virtues in order to live a characteristically good human life.) The second claim is defended in terms of a form of ethical naturalism—the enterprise of basing ethics in some way on considerations of human nature—but a form that explicitly disavows any pretensions to being purely scientific.
Resolvable Dilemmas
Authors: Hursthouse Rosalind
Published: October 2003

V‐ rules may seem to fall foul of ‘the conflict problem’, failing to give us action guidance, when the requirements of different virtues conflict. Where hard cases or dilemmas are, ex hypothesi, resolvable, virtue ethics in fact employs a strategy similar to that of some forms of deontology: it argues that the putative conflicts are merely apparent. That recognizing a conflict as merely apparent may call for moral wisdom or phronesis is explicitly acknowledged in virtue ethics, which takes seriously Aristotle's point that moral knowledge, unlike mathematical knowledge, cannot be acquired merely by attending lectures, and is not characteristically to be found in people too young to have much experience of life. A normative ethics should not aim to provide a decision procedure that any reasonably clever adolescent could apply.
Irresolvable and Tragic Dilemmas
Authors: Hursthouse Rosalind
Published: October 2003

Are there any irresolvable dilemmas? If there are any, then action guidance, in such cases, is not possible. However, action assessment is still not only possible, but needed—and virtue ethics can provide a particularly satisfying account of the differences between unworrying, distressing, and genuinely tragic irresolvable dilemmas, the latter being those from which even the most virtuous agent cannot emerge with her life unmarred. Resolvable dilemmas may also be tragic in this sense.