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lunedì 20 dicembre 2010

Conversion to modernities:
the globalization of Christianity
Peter van der Veer

Anteprima



Peter van der Veer has gathered together a ground-breaking collection of essays that suggests that conversion to forms of Christianity in the modern period is not only a conversion to modern forms of these religions, but also to relgious forms of modernity. Religious perceptions of the self, of community, and of the state are transformed when Western discourses of modernity become dominant in the modern world. This volume seeks to relate europe and its others by exploring conversion both in modern Europe and in the colonized world. The contributors combine the study of conversion in modern Europe with an analysis of conversion in Africa, Sotuh and South-East Asia and Oceania. Several essays attempt explicitly to relate religious development in the colonizing and in the colonized world. Both the effects of the missionary project on target peoples and on the religious history of Western societies is examined. The discourse of "the reflective self," "personal choice," and "authenticity" inherent inChristian conversion and crucial to the question of modernity, is examined both in European and non-European contexts. Conversion is shown to be an innovative practice which partakes in the transformation of the social without being a mechanical result of it.Conversion to Modernitycombines cultural studies, history and anthropology in providing new and important insights in modernity, colonialism and Christian discourse. Contributors:Webb Keane, Peter van Rooden, Patricia Spyer, Achille Mbembe, Nicholas Dirks, Birgit Meyer, Judith Pollman, Margaret Jolly, Keith Luria, Eytan Bercovitch, Talal Asad, Gauri Viswanathan.
Infetta dottrina.
Inquisizione e quietismo nel Seicento
Marilena Modica



Nei decenni conclusivi del Seicento esplose, nell'Europa cattolica, una delle ultime questioni "ereticali" dell'età moderna, collegata alla pratica religiosa del quietismo. Maturata in seno alla tradizione mistica e basata in prevalenza sulla passività dell'anima e la perdita di sé, sulla quiete interiore come presupposto pressocché esclusivo dell'unione con Dio, la pratica si poneva in controtendenza con gli assetti normativi e disciplinari della cultura religiosa ufficiale. In particolare, nella prospettiva istituzionale-giudiziaria, la Chiesa volle impedire che si aprisse, nella coscienza religiosa dei singoli e in nome di percorsi eccezionali segnati dalla comunicazione mistica, uno spazio spirituale autonomo, sottratto al controllo e alla regolamentazione di padri confessori e giudici. Nell'esaminare il caso siciliano attraverso i processi e le inchieste del Sant'Ufficio, il libro vuole anche fornire elementi di riflessione sui legami, diretti o mediati, che l'«infetta dottrina» intrattenne con i nuovi fermenti culturali del XVII secolo. Di fronte alla grande diffusione del misticismo quietista tra i laici - di cui per l'appunto è testimonianza il caso siciliano - la risposta delle istituzioni ecclesiastiche lascia emergere con chiarezza che la questione del potere sulle anime era strategica nella politica del cattolicesimo romano, già insidiato dai processi di laicizzazione.
Schiavitù mediterranee.
Corsari, rinnegati e santi di età moderna
Giovanna Fiume



Durante l'età moderna, l'area mediterranea è segnata dalla guerra da corsa e dalla pirateria, su cui prosperano intere città, cristiane e musulmane; il conflitto per mare assume i toni dello scontro religioso, quasi da crociata contro gli infedeli. Quanti cadono in mano dei corsari, ridotti in schiavitù, attendono di essere riscattati o scambiati, e in cattività danno origine a un'intricata storia di abiure e conversioni - dall'islam al cristianesimo e viceversa. L'analisi dell'autrice, basata su ricche e talvolta inesplorate fonti documentarie, mostra il forte coinvolgimento delle istituzioni laiche ed ecclesiastiche in questa nuova dimensione della contesa politica internazionale e offre un quadro significativo sulle condizioni di vita dei captivi, in bilico tra la vecchia fede religiosa e l'esigenza di inserirsi in un diverso tessuto sociale. L'efficacia nell'evangelizzazione degli schiavi ha come risultato più eclatante la canonizzazione di santi neri, quali Antonio Etiope e Benedetto il Moro, ma si spinge sino in terra africana, dove Juan de Prado guadagna la palma del martirio, mettendo in luce inediti aspetti del ruolo politico dell'attività missionaria degli ordini religiosi nel regno del Marocco.
Santo padre.
La santità del papa da San Pietro a Giovanni Paolo II
Roberto Rusconi




"Santo subito" è il grido che si è levato da piazza San Pietro a Roma mentre si celebravano le onoranze funebri di Giovanni Paolo II. Questo libro ricostruisce in maniera esaustiva il modo in cui nella Chiesa si è rappresentata la santità del papa, dalle origini a oggi, facendo ricorso alle fonti disponibili per le diverse epoche storiche: dalle scritture agiografiche ai processi di canonizzazione, dall'arte alla fotografia. Il volume getta così nuova luce sulla storia della Chiesa e sul rapporto tra sentire religioso, fama e riconoscimento della santità nel corso dei secoli. Se i papi dell'antichità cristiana godettero di un ininterrotto culto liturgico in quanto martiri, ben più rari furono in seguito i casi di pontefici canonizzati: nel corso del medioevo soltanto Celestino V, il papa del "gran rifiuto" dantesco, e per l'età moderna Pio V, il papa della vittoria di Lepanto contro i Turchi. Sarà il processo di secolarizzazione della società innescato dalla Rivoluzione francese a conferire ai pontefici un'aura di santità, in quanto nuovi martiri, così come la dissoluzione del potere temporale dei papi favorì la devozione per Pio IX, "prigioniero del Vaticano" dopo la breccia di Porta Pia. La crescente centralità attribuita dalla Chiesa alla figura del pontefice ha portato al riconoscimento di una sua personale santità, al punto che per quasi tutti i papi del secolo appena trascorso è stata avviata la beatificazione o la canonizzazione.
L'Inquisizione spagnola
Helen Rawlings




L'Inquisizione fu una delle armi più potenti e controverse impiegate dalla Chiesa per eliminare l'eresia e salvaguardare l'unità dei fedeli cattolici. Anche se in epoca medievale giudici della fede delegati dai papi furono già attivi in Boemia, in Francia e in Italia, l'Inquisizione spagnola - istituita nel 1478 sotto la regina Isabella I, e soppressa nel 1834 da Isabella II - ha lasciato un segno indelebile nella storia della civiltà occidentale. Sulla base di aggiornate ricerche il volume traccia una nuova, equilibrata storia di questa istituzione, di cui ci mostra un'immagine non scontata. Al di là del mito negativo l'Inquisizione spagnola non fu solo uno strumento di repressione e di controllo ideologico, ma svolse anche un ruolo nel rafforzare i legami tra lo Stato e la Chiesa di Roma e nell'uniformare e disciplinare il comportamento dei fedeli di una terra in cui avevano convissuto ebrei, mori e cristiani.
Les modes de la conversion confessionnelle
à l'Epoque moderne.
Autobiographie, altérité et construction des identités religieuses
M. C. Pitassi, D. Solfaroli Camillocci





I contributi di questo volume analizzano le dinamiche confessionali della conversione religiosa. Le ricerche qui raccolte presentano un'immagine della frontiera confessionale come una realtà ben definita, di cui testimoniano sia le pratiche di conversione sia le sue rappresentazioni sociali e culturali. Il volume offre così una prospettiva inedita sull'Europa della prima età moderna, a un'epoca in cui la questione della scelta religiosa diventa un elemento specifico della costruzione identitaria di individui e comunità.
Chelidonia.
Storia di un'eremita medievale
Boesch Gajano Sofia




Inquisitori, negromanti, streghe nella Sicilia moderna (1500-1782)
Messana M. Sofia





I tre protagonisti dell'indagine portata avanti nel testo: l'Inquisizione, gli operatori magici e la popolazione siciliana, si confrontano di continuo, interferiscono l'un l'altro, evidenziando, nel confronto, i propri tratti caratteristici e le proprie rappresentazioni della magia, delle leggi civili e religiose, dell'ordine sociale: gli inquisitori parlano il linguaggio giuridico dei tribunali di fede, pensano e giudicano secondo i principi della demonologia, adoperano nelle qualificazioni di reato complesse locuzioni latine, citano Padri della Chiesa, giuristi e filosofi; gli inquisiti e i testimoni rispondono, invece, raccontando il loro mondo magico, i desideri inconfessati, i sogni irrealizzati, parlano delle antiche tradizioni religiose e magiche che i giudici del Sant'Uffizio non comprendono, raccontano delle fate, dei mostri e dei fantasmi che popolano i loro sogni e che, in parte, sono tratti dalle fiabe raccontate la sera dinanzi al focolare. Le ragioni della lunga persecuzione della stregoneria, vengono analizzate evidenziando i tratti peculiari che essa assunse nell'Isola. Come nel resto d'Europa essa è volta a reprimere pratiche sociali non controllabili o ritenute nocive, ma la sua particolare severità in Sicilia è determinata dalla posizione geografica di quest'ultima, terra di frontiera fra mondo cristiano e musulmano.
Schiavitù religione e libertà nel Mediterraneo
tra Medioevo ed età moderna
a cura di Giovanna Fiume



Sulla linea del colore
di Du Bois William E.



Storico e sociologo, teorico politico e romanziere, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) è stato non soltanto la più importante figura nella politica e nella cultura afroamericana del Novecento, ma a tutti gli effetti uno dei più grandi intellettuali statunitensi del secolo: un "gigante", come lo definì Martin Luther King nel suo ultimo discorso pubblico prima di essere assassinato. Du Bois fu anche tra i fondatori della più importante organizzazione americana per i diritti civili e padre del movimento panafricano. A lui si devono concetti divenuti ormai d'uso corrente nel mondo anglosassone,da quello di "doppia coscienza" a quello della "linea del colore". Il volume presenta per la prima volta al lettore italiano un'ampia raccolta degli scritti politici del sociologo afroamericano, documentando l'intera parabola di sviluppo del suo pensiero. A guidare la lettura, l'introduzione di Sandro Mezzadra, che colloca l'opera e l'azione politica di Du Bois nel contesto della storia afroamericana del Novecento.
Leisure Studies:
Themes and Perspectives
Shaun Best

Anteprima


This critical introduction to the field offers a systematic account of the meaning and structure of leisure today.

The book:
•Situates the student in the field
•Provides a comprehensive account of the leading approaches to leisure
•Explores the influence of class, race, gender, ethnicity, disability, and age
•Discusses to role of the state
•Examines leisure in the context of changing work relationships
•Locates leisure in the debate around globalization
Human Rights and the Ethics of Globalization
Daniel Lee,Elizabeth J. Lee

Anteprima


Human Rights and the Ethics of Globalization provides a balanced, thoughtful discussion of the globalization of the economy and the ethical considerations inherent in the many changes it has prompted. The book's introduction maps out the philosophical foundations for constructing an ethic of globalization, taking into account both traditional and contemporary sources. These ideals are applied to four specific test cases: the ethics of investing in China, the case study of the Firestone company's presence in Liberia, free-trade and fair-trade issues pertaining to the coffee trade with Ethiopia, and the use low-wage factories in Mexico to serve the U.S. market. The book concludes with a comprehensive discussion of how to enforce global compliance with basic human rights standards, with particular attention to stopping abuses by multinational corporations through litigation under the Alien Tort Claims Act.
The Politics of Human Rights:
The Quest for Dignity
Sabine C. Carey,Mark Gibney,Steven C. Poe

Anteprima


Human rights is an important issue in contemporary politics, and the last few decades have also seen a remarkable increase in research and teaching on the subject. This book introduces students to the study of human rights and aims to build on their interest while simultaneously offering an alternative vision of the subject. Many texts focus on the theoretical and legal issues surrounding human rights. This book adopts a substantially different approach which uses empirical data derived from research on human rights by political scientists to illustrate the occurrence of different types of human rights violations across the world. The authors devote attention to rights as well as to responsibilities, neither of which stops at one country's political borders. They also explore how to deal with repression and the aftermath of human rights violations, making students aware of the prospects for and realities of progress.
The modern state
Christopher Pierson

Anteprima


The new edition of this well-established and highly regarded textbook continues to provide the clearest and most comprehensive introduction to the modern state. It examines the state from its historical origins at the birth of modernity to its current jeopardized position in the globalized politics of the 21st Century. The book has been entirely revised and updated throughout, and there are two brand new chapters which examine the most recent developments since the publication of the first edition. Subjects covered include: The nation-state in its historical context State and economy States and societies States and citizens States within the international system Globalisation's threat to the state 'Rogue' and failed states
Censure and Sanctions
Andrew Von Hirsch

Anteprima


Andrew von Hirsch addresses a number of emerging conceptual questions concerning the proportionality of criminal sentences, an approach that is gaining influence worldwide including in England where the Criminal Justice Act of 1991 made proportionality the primary criterion for determining sentences. This study deals with how the idea of penal censure justifies proportionate sentences, how a penalty scale should be "anchored" in order to reduce overall punishment levels, how non-custodial penalties should be graded and used, and how political pressures impinge on sentencing policies. It offers a coherent and humane way of allocating punishments, appropriate for a society that treats convicted offenders as citizens whose rights and choices should continue to be respected.
Courting Social Justice:
Judicial Enforcement of Social and
Economic Rights in the Developing World
Varun Gauri, Daniel M. Brinks




This book is a first-of-its-kind, five-country empirical study of the causes and consequences of social and economic rights litigation. Detailed studies of Brazil, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and South Africa present systematic and nuanced accounts of court activity on social and economic rights in each country. The book develops new methodologies for analyzing the sources of and variation in social and economic rights litigation, explains why actors are now turning to the courts to enforce social and economic rights, measures the aggregate impact of litigation in each country, and assesses the relevance of the empirical findings for legal theory. This book argues that courts can advance social and economic rights under the right conditions precisely because they are never fully independent of political pressures.
Enforcing obligations erga omnes in international law
Christian J. Tams

Anteprima


The concept of obligations erga omnes--obligations to the international community as a whole--has fascinated international lawyers for decades, yet its precise implications remain unclear. This book assesses how this concept affects the enforcement of international law. It demonstrates that all States are entitled to invoke obligations erga omnes in proceedings before the International Court of Justice, and to take countermeasures in response to serious erga omnes breaches. In addition, it suggests ways of identifying obligations that qualify as erga omnes.
Human Security and Non-Citizens:
Law, Policy and International Affairs
Alice Edwards




The past decades have seen enormous changes in our perceptions of 'security', the causes of insecurity and the measures adopted to address them. Threats of terrorism and the impacts of globalisation and mass migration have shaped our identities, politics and world views. This volume of essays analyses these shifts in thinking and, in particular, critically engages with the concept of 'human security' from legal, international relations and human rights perspectives. Contributors consider the special circumstances of non-citizens, such as refugees, migrants, and displaced and stateless persons, and assess whether, conceptually and practically, 'human security' helps to address the multiple challenges they face.
Sovereign
C. J. Sansom




Autumn, 1541. King Henry VIII has set out on a spectacular Progress to the North to attend an extravagant submission of his rebellious subjects in York. Already in the city are lawyer Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak. As well as assisting with legal work processing petitions to the King, Shardlake has reluctantly undertaken a special mission ' to ensure the welfare of an important but dangerous conspirator being returned to London for interrogation. But the murder of a local glazier involves Shardlake in deeper mysteries, connected not only to the prisoner in York Castle but to the royal family itself. And when Shardlake and Barak stumble upon a cache of secret papers which could threaten the Tudor throne, a chain of events unfolds that will lead Shardlake facing the most terrifying fate of the age . . . 'Sansom is a master storyteller' Guardian 'So compulsive that, until you reach its final page, you'll have to be almost physically prised away from it' Sunday Times 'Deeper, stronger and subtler than The Name of the Rose ' Independent on Sunday
Traduire:
défense et illustration du multilinguisme
François Ost




Nous n'avons jamais cessé de vivre dans la nostalgie de la langue adamique qui prévalait avant ce que nous prenons pour la " catastrophe " de Babel. De sorte que nous nous enfermons dans le dilemme : ou la langue unique, ou le repli sur nos idiolectes particuliers. Pour échapper à cette alternative ruineuse, François Ost décrit ce que pourrait être la troisième voie du multilinguisme et de la traduction. Un vigoureux paradigme s'en dégage qui, au-delà de la question des langues, s'impose chaque fois que, dans notre monde pluraliste, des savoirs et des valeurs s'affrontent, sans principe supérieur de composition. De l'antique récit biblique à la politique des langues de l'Union européenne, de la philosophie du langage à l'éthique du traducteur, de l'utopie des langues parfaites à la créativité de la traduction littéraire, rien n'est laissé dans l'ombre. Une conviction s'impose alors : parce qu'elle opère déjà au sein de nos propres langues, et pas seulement à leurs frontières, la traduction - cette hospitalité langagière - est notre seule alternative à la barbarie.
Defining the sovereign community:
the Czech and Slovak Republics
Nadya Nedelsky

Anteprima


Though they shared a state for most of the twentieth century, when the Czechs and Slovaks split in 1993 they founded their new states on different definitions of sovereignty. The Czech Constitution employs a civic model, founding the state in the name of "the citizens of the Czech Republic," while the Slovak Constitution uses the more exclusive ethnic model and speaks in the voice of "the Slovak Nation."

Defining the Sovereign Community asks two central questions. First, why did the two states define sovereignty so differently? Second, what impact have these choices had on individual and minority rights and participation in the two states? Nadya Nedelsky examines how the Czechs and Slovaks understood nationhood over the course of a century and a half and finds that their views have been remarkably resilient over time.

These enduring perspectives on nationhood shaped how the two states defined sovereignty after the Velvet Revolution, which in turn strongly affected the status of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia and the Roma minority in the Czech Republic. Neither state has secured civic equality, but the nature of the discrimination against minorities differs. Using the civic definition of sovereignty offers stronger support for civil and minority rights than an ethnic model does. Nedelsky's conclusions challenge much analysis of the region, which tends to explain ethnic politics by focusing on postcommunist factors, especially the role of opportunistic political leaders. Defining the Sovereign Community instead examines the undervalued historical roots of political culture and the role of current constitutional definitions of sovereignty. Looking ahead, Nedelsky offers crucial evidence that nationalism may remain strong in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, even in the face of democratization and EU integration, and is an important threat to both.
The common good
Amitai Etzioni

Anteprima


In this book, Amitai Etzioni, public intellectual and leading proponent of communitarian values, defends the view that no society can flourish without a shared obligation to "the common good." Rejecting claims made by some liberal thinkers that it is not possible to balance individual rights with uncoerced civic responsibility, Etzioni explores a number of key issues which pose important questions for those concerned with promoting the common good in contemporary society. Are we morally obliged to do more for our communities beyond treating everyone as endowed with basic rights? Should privacy be regarded not merely as a right but also as an obligation? And should the right to free speech take priority over the need to protect children from harmful material in the media and on the internet?
Defining the common good:
empire, religion, and philosophy in eighteenth ...
Peter N. Miller

Anteprima


This book discusses the crisis of the early modern state in eighteenth-century Britain and sets it in its European context. The American Revolution and the simultaneous demand for wider religious toleration at home challenged the principles of sovereignty and obligation that underpinned arguments about the character of the state. At stake was a fundamental challenge to the way in which politics was described. The Americans and their British supporters argued that individuals, by voting and thinking freely, ought to determine the "common good." These influential ideas continue to resonate today in the principles of "one man, one vote" and "freedom of thought."
Religion and the common good:
Catholic contributions to building community ...
Brian Stiltner

Anteprima


The term "common good" has often been ill-defined or undefined in political, philosophical, and theological discourses. Brian Stiltner seeks to repair this deficit in his study Religion and the Common Good. He explores the meaning of the common good and the prospects for pursuing it in a liberal society. Focusing on the conceptions of common good in liberalism and communitarianism -- the former stressing individual rights and social tolerance, the latter stressing a community's shared history and social practices -- Stiltner argues that the two theories are not as irreconcilable as they seem, that they can be combined into a "communal liberalism". Stiltner provides an outline of the twentieth-century Catholic common good theory as an example of such a synthesis. A fascinating study, Religion and the Common Good will be an invaluable volume for scholars of social ethics, religion, theology, philosophy and political science.

venerdì 17 dicembre 2010

The Doctrine of Sovereign Grace:
Opened & Vindicated from Holy Scripture
Isaac Backus




This solid volume is very rare indeed. It contains THE DOCTRINE OF SOVEREIGN GRACE - OPENED VINDICATED (1771) ELECTION, PERSEVERANCE AND GOD'S DECREES (1789) THE SOVEREIGN DECREES OF GOD (1773) THE GREAT FALLING AWAY: Ther Last Days in Fulfillment (1773) VERY LARGE AND READABLE PRINT.
Citizenship: a very short introduction
Richard Bellamy

Anteprima



Interest in citizenship has never been higher. Politicians of all stripes stress its importance, as do church leaders, captains of industry and every kind of campaigning group--from those supporting global causes, such as tackling world poverty, to others with a largely local focus, such as combating neighborhood crime. In this brilliant, compact introduction, Richard Bellamy offers an eye-opening look at an idea that is as important as it is rare--the prospect of influencing government policy according to reasonably fair rules and on a more or less equal basis with others. Bringing together the most recent scholarship, the book sheds light on how ideas of citizenship have changed through time from ancient Greece to the present, looks at concepts such as membership and belonging, and highlights the relation between citizenship, rights, and democracy. Bellamy also examines the challenges confronting the very possibility of citizenship today, the impact of globalization, the desirability of "global citizenship," the teaching of citizenship in schools, citizenship tests for immigrants, and the many different definitions and types of citizenship in modern society.
Richard Bellamy is a Professor of Political Science and Director of the School of Public Policy at University College, London
Conflicts of rights in the European Union:
a theory of supranational adjudication
Aida Torres Pérez




Underlying the protection of human rights in Europe is a complex network of overlapping legal systems - domestic, EU, and ECHR. This book focuses on the potential for conflict to emerge between the systems where rights overlap and interpretations in different courts begin to diverge.

From the perspective of EU law, where the interpretation of rights differs national courts are asked to renounce the constitutional scope of protection, and the interpretations of the European Court of Human Rights, in favor of the scope defined by the European Court of Justice. From the perspective of the ECHR, the European Court of Human Rights is the ultimate authority on rights protection in Europe. This work presents a theory of supranational judicial authority to confront this problem, grounded in an ideal of judicial dialogue. It represents the first attempt to provide a thorough theoretical account of the value of judicial dialogue, and its potential for legitimating judicial decision-making at an international level.

Combining theoretical rigor with attention to the practicalities of European human rights law, the book will be accessible to a broad readership of legal theorists, EU lawyers and judges involved in building inter-judicial dialogue.
Fair governance:
paternalism and perfectionism
Francis H. Buckley




Fair Governance: The Enforcement of Morals is a study of legal interference with individual preferences and will canvass the interdisciplinary literature in economics, psychology, philosophy, and law. It discusses the particular conditions necessary for the state to legally interfere with our freedom of choice, whether it be to either satisfy our individual pursuit of happiness (perfectionism) or to prevent us from making immoral choices (paternalism). Relatively few philosophers know much of the parallel literature on this central problem of ethics; while many legal scholars are acquainted with the psychological literature on judgment biases, they are frequently unfamiliar with the philosophical literature on perfectionism. F.H. Buckley carefully links these two notions of state power with recent empirical literature on judgment biases and happiness studies and surveys the literature, arguing for a nuanced form of social perfectionism, one which seeks to promote the kind of liberal nationalism found in the United States.
Justice and the social contract:
essays on Rawlsian political philosophy
Samuel Richard Freeman




John Rawls (1921-2002) was one of the 20th century's most important philosophers and continues to be among the most widely discussed of contemporary thinkers. His work, particularly A Theory of Justice, is integral to discussions of social and international justice, democracy, liberalism, welfare economics, and constitutional law, in departments of philosophy, politics, economics, law, public policy, and others.
Samuel Freeman is one of Rawls's foremost interpreters. This volume contains nine of his essays on Rawls and Rawlsian justice, two of which are previously unpublished. Freeman places Rawls within historical context in the social contract tradition, addresses criticisms of his positions, and discusses the implications of his views on issues of distributive justice, liberalism and democracy, international justice, and other subjects. This collection will be useful to the wide range of scholars interested in Rawls and theories of justice.
Act and Crime:
The Philosophy of Action and Its Implications for Criminal Law
Michael S. Moore




In print for the first time in over ten years, Act and Crime provides a unified account of the theory of action presupposed by both Anglo-American criminal law and the morality that underlies it. The book defends the view that human actions are always volitionally caused by bodily movements and nothing else. The theory is used to illuminate three major problems in drafting the interpretation of criminal codes: 1) what the voluntary act requirement both does and should require; 2) what complex descriptions of actions prohitbited by criminal codes both do and should require (in addition to the doing of a voluntary act); and 3) when two actions are 'the same' for purposes of assessing whether multiple prosecutions and multiple punishments are warranted. The book both contributes to the development of a coherent theory of action in philosophy, and it provides both legislators and judges (and the lawyers who argue to both) a grounding in three of the most basic elelments of criminal liability.
Limits of Legality:
The Ethics of Lawless Judging
Jeffrey Brand-Ballard




Judges sometimes hear cases in which the law, as they honestly understand it, requires results that they consider morally objectionable. Most people assume that, nevertheless, judges have an ethical obligation to apply the law correctly, at least in reasonably just legal systems. This is the view of most lawyers, legal scholars, and private citizens, but the arguments for it have received surprisingly little attention from philosophers.
Combing ethical theory with discussions of caselaw, Jeffrey Brand-Ballard challenges arguments for the traditional view, including arguments from the fact that judges swear oaths to uphold the law, and arguments from our duty to obey the law, among others. He then develops an alternative argument based on ways in which the rule of law promotes the good. Patterns of excessive judicial lawlessness, even when morally motivated, can damage the rule of law. Brand-Ballard explores the conditions under which individual judges are morally responsible for participating in destructive patterns of lawless judging. These arguments build upon recent theories of collective intentionality and presuppose an agent-neutral framework, rather than the agent-relative framework favored by many moral philosophers. Defying the conventional wisdom, Brand-Ballard argues that judges are not always morally obligated to apply the law correctly. Although they have an obligation not to participate in patterns of excessive judicial lawlessness, an individual departure from the law so as to avoid an unjust result is rarely a moral mistake if the rule of law is otherwise healthy.
Limits of Legality will interest philosophers, legal scholars, lawyers, and anyone concerned with the ethics of judging.
Knowledge As Property
Ahuja, Rajshree Chandra




The book is an inquiry into the nature and scope of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) using three different approaches: the philosophical, the empirical, and the theoretical. It studies the different justifications usually put forward in favour of protecting rights in intellectual propertyand shows how such rights come into conflict with other rights in society. The author contends that rights can and should be 'structured in a lexical order of priority where rights which are linked to survival strategies ought to be to have enough legal teeth to trump rights which are more in thenature of economic entitlements, like IPRs are'.
Citizenship and Social Movements:
Perspectives from the Global South
Lisa Thompson, Chris Tapscott




Past debates over social movements have suffered from a focus on Anglo-America and Europe, often neglecting the significance of collective actions of citizens in the Global South. This authoritative new title redresses this imbalance with case study material from movements for change in Brazil, India, Bangladesh, Mexico, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. In these examples, social movements have formed without the benefits of the structural or institutional resource base found in the North, and have persevered even when the state does not have the resources to effectively respond to collective demands. Each expert contribution points to the complexity of relationships that influence mobilization and social movements; unsettling the notion that social activism leads inexorably to democracy and development and questioning what motivates collective action and what does it achieve?
Citizenship: An Introduction to Social Ethics
Milton Bennion

Anteprima



This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.
Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism
Bruce A. Ackerman

Anteprima


Terrorist attacks regularly trigger the enactment of repressive laws, setting in motion a vicious cycle that threatens to devastate civil liberties over the twenty-first century. In this clear-sighted book, Bruce Ackerman peers into the future and presents an intuitive, practical alternative. He proposes an “emergency constitution” that enables government to take extraordinary actions to prevent a second strike in the short run while prohibiting permanent measures that destroy our freedom over the longer run.
Ackerman’s “emergency constitution” exposes the dangers lurking behind the popular notion that we are fighting a “war” on terror. He criticizes court opinions that have adopted the war framework, showing how they uncritically accept extreme presidential claims to sweeping powers. Instead of expanding the authority of the commander in chief, the courts should encourage new forms of checks and balances that allow for decisive, but carefully controlled, presidential action during emergencies. In making his case, Ackerman explores emergency provisions in constitutions of nations ranging from France to South Africa, retaining aspects that work and adapting others. He shows that no country today is well equipped to both fend off terrorists and preserve fundamental liberties, drawing particular attention to recent British reactions to terrorist attacks. Written for thoughtful citizens throughout the world, this book is democracy's constitutional reply to political excess in the sinister era of terrorism.
International organizations and their exercise of sovereign powers
Dan Sarooshi




This book provides a conceptual and legal analysis of one of the most important challenges facing international organizations today: their exercise of sovereign powers. The book examines the exercise of sovereign powers by organizations such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization,and the European Union. It makes a significant contribution to the content of the law that governs both the exercise of sovereign powers by international organizations and the relationships between organizations and their Member States. The book also tackles the fundamental question of what valuesshould constrain international organizations in their exercise of sovereign powers. These sovereign powers have been conferred on international organizations by States and may include the full range of executive, legislative, and judicial powers. Sarooshi develops an innovative three-tiered typology of conferrals which ranges from agency relationships, to delegations of powers, tofull transfers of powers. These categories prove useful in answering a number of legal issues that arise out of the relationships between international organizations and their Member States. These include: When an international organization exercises conferred powers, does it do so on its own behalfor on behalf of the State? Whose legal relations are changed by the exercise of powers: the State's or the organization's? In the case where the State has retained the right to exercise powers it has conferred on an organization, whose interpretation of the powers will prevail in the case of aconflict that arises from the concurrent exercise of powers? What fiduciary duties are owed by the organization and Member States towards each other? And who is responsible for breaches of international law that may occur as a result of the organization's exercise of conferred powers: the State orthe organization or both? These issues lead on to a consideration in the book of the measures available to a State under international law when it wants to try and change the way that an organization is exercising conferred powers.« Riduci
Rights and the common good:
the communitarian perspective
Amitai Etzioni

Anteprima


This is a provocative new book that examines the relationship between individual rights and social responsibilities. The book's thirty essays explore the foundations of communitarian thought as well as the implications of communitarian ideas for contemporary public and social policy. The essays also discuss how communities can be strengthened and consider how society can be more responsive to the needs of individuals and communities.
Promoting the common good:
bringing economics and theology together again
Kamran Mofid, Marcus Braybrooke




According to this provocative critique of globalization, modern economics has become dehumanized and no longer serves the needs of society. Bringing together their expertise, an economist and a theologian reintroduce what has been lacking in the processes of economics and globalization: a moral and spiritual context. Fundamental issues covered include equity and efficiency, production and consumption, economic and spiritual well-being, economic growth and social justice, free and fair trade, and profit maximization and sustainability. Written in a clear, engaging style for both the general reader and the academic, this daring work demonstrates how the most timely issues of economics can be understood by anyone.
For the common good: principles of American academic freedom
Matthew W. Finkin, Robert Post



Debates about academic freedom have become increasingly fierce and frequent. Legislative efforts to regulate American professors proliferate across the nation. Although most American scholars desire to protect academic freedom, they have only a vague and uncertain apprehension of its basic principles and structure. This book offers a concise explanation of the history and meaning of American academic freedom, and it attempts to intervene in contemporary debates by clarifying the fundamental functions and purposes of academic freedom in America.

Matthew W. Finkin and Robert C. Post trace how the American conception of academic freedom was first systematically articulated in 1915 by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and how this conception was in subsequent years elaborated and applied by Committee A of the AAUP. The authors discuss the four primary dimensions of academic freedom—research and publication, teaching, intramural speech, and extramural speech. They carefully distinguish academic freedom from the kind of individual free speech right that is created by the First Amendment. The authors strongly argue that academic freedom protects the capacity of faculty to pursue the scholar’s profession according to the standards of that profession.
PERVASIVE PREVENTION
Tamar Pitch

Anteprima


'The Precautionary Society' is a definition that can otherwise be summarized as: the information society, the risk society, the surveillance society, the insecure society. This book shows the connections and differences, at the same time providing a gender reading of the ways in which, through precautionary measures, social control manifests itself.
Citizenship: discourse, theory, and transnational prospects
Peter Kivisto, Thomas Faist

Anteprima



A significant addition to the growing body of literature on citizenship, this wide-ranging overview focuses on the importance, and changing nature, of citizenship. It introduces the varied discourses and theories that have arisen in recent years, and looks toward future scholarship in the field.

•Offers an analytical assessment of the various thematic discourses and provides guidance in pulling together those discrete themes into a larger, more comprehensive framework

•Identifies the four broadly conceived themes that shape the many discourses on contemporary citizenship – inclusion, erosion, withdrawal, and expansion

•Includes a thorough introduction to the subject
Cultural difference on trial:
the nature and limits of judicial understanding
Anthony J. Connolly

Anteprima



Cultural Difference on Trial: The Nature and Limits of Judicial Understanding comprises a sustained philosophical exploration of the capacity of the modern liberal democratic legal system to understand the thought and practice of those culturally different minorities who come before it as claimants, defendants or witnesses. Exploring this issue from within the tradition of contemporary analytical and naturalistic philosophy and drawing upon recent developments in the philosophy of mind and language, this volume is informed by a sound academic and practical grasp of the workings of the legal system itself. Systematically analysing the nature and limits of a judge's ability to understand culturally different thought and action over the course of a trial, this volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the workings of the modern legal system.
Idealism and the Abuse of Power:
Lessons from China's Cultural Revolution
ZHUANG HUI-YUN

Anteprima


This book analyses the abuse of idealism with particular reference to China's Cultural Revolution. The work examines abuse at two levels: the state leaders' metaphysical vision as the interpretation of idealism at the top with state power; and the psychological state of the masses at the bottom of society. The concept of abuse itself is discussed with the author arguing that idealism is often used to justify abuse while many are all too willing to accept this as idealism itself. On the other hand, many dismiss the idealist vision because of the horrible consequences of the abuse. For these reasons, the book holds that abuse of idealism should not be confused with the original intent of idealism. It is further argued that the masses often complement dictatorship due to a basic weakness of human nature. Finally, the book proposes that the concepts of human dignity and equal access to truth are prerequisites for the effective rule of law within China.
Family values and family justice
Michael D. A. Freeman





The articles in this volume centre on the family and society and the part law plays in defining, structuring and controlling the family. A broad range of topics are covered including: children's rights, responsible parenthood, surrogacy and saviour siblings, domestic violence, same sex marriage and alternative dispute resolution. This book is essential reading for scholars and students of family law, as well as those interested in gender and patriarchy, law and feminism, rights, and dispute resolution
Reconstructing the Common Good:
Theology and the Social Order
Gary Dorrien




This landmark study in the history and theory of modern Christian socialism examines the work of such major figures as Rauschenbusch, Tillich, Moltmann, GutiZcaron;rrez, and M'guez Bonino. Dorrien argues that these theologians provide a singular context for addressing questions of freedom and totalitarianism, sacralization and democratization, individual autonomy and the common good. He focuses on the differing conceptions of the common good that these major theorists have propounded, and explicates as well their theological arguments on the relationship between the Kingdom of God and projects of historical praxis. With a new Preface addressing the tumultuous events in Eastern Europe,Reconstructing the Common Gooddevelops and sustains a forceful argument for the continuing relevance of a decentralized, pluralistic, democratic form of socialism.
Multicultural citizenship
Will Kymlicka

Anteprima



The Myth of Rights:
The Purposes and Limits of Constitutional Rights
Ashutosh A. Bhagwat




What is a constitutional right? If asked, most Americans would say that it is an entitlement to act as one pleases - i.e., that rights protect autonomy. That understanding, however, is wrong; it is, indeed, The Myth of Rights. The primary purpose and effect of constitutional rights in our society is structural. These rights restrain governmental power in order to maintain a balance between citizens and the State, and an appropriately limited role for the State in our society. Of course, restricting governmental power does have the effect of advancing individual autonomy, but that is not the primary purpose of rights, and furthermore, constitutional rights protect individual autonomy to a far lesser degree that is generally believed.
Professor Bhagwat brings clarity to many difficult controversies with a structural approach towards constitutional rights. Issues discussed include flag-burning, the ongoing debates over affirmative action and same-sex marriage, and the great battles over executive power fought during the second Bush Administration. The Myth of Rights addresses the constitutional issues posed in these and many other areas of law and public policy, and explains why a structural approach to constitutional rights illuminates these disputes in ways that an autonomy-based approach cannot. Readers will understand that while constitutional rights play a critical role in our legal and political system, it is a very different role from what is commonly assumed.
Leisure, lifestyle, and the new middle class:
a case study
Derek Wynne

Anteprima


In this valuable study, conducted within the theoretical context Pierre Bourdieu, Derek Wynne looks at how the "new middle class" of the late twentieth century goes about constructing and defending its social identity.
The Many Constitutions of Europe
Kaarlo Tuori, Suvi Sankari




This volume makes a contribution to the ongoing lively discussion on European constitutionalism by offering a new perspective and a new interpretation of European constitutional plurality. The book combines diverse disciplinary approaches to the constitutional debate. It brings together complementing contributions from scholars of European politics, economics, and sociology, as well as established scholars from various fields of law. Moreover, it provides analytical clarity to the discussion and combines theory with more practical and critical approaches that make use of the constitutional toolbox in analysing the tensions between the different constitutions. The collection is a valuable point of reference not only for scholars interested in European studies but also for graduate and post-graduate students
Empowering our military conscience:
transforming just war theory and ...
Roger Wertheimer

Anteprima


Responding to increasing global anxiety over the ethics education of military personnel, this volume illustrates the depth, rigour and critical acuity of Professional Military Ethics Education (PMEE) with contributions by distinguished ethical theorists. It refreshes our thinking about the axioms of just war orthodoxy, the intellectual and political history of just war theorizing, and the justice of recent military doctrines and ventures. The volume also explores a neglected moral dimension of warfare, jus ante bellum (the ethics of pre-war practices) - particularly jus in disciplina bellica (the ethics of educating for warfare). Using metaphor to exemplify the professionalization of the military, the book exposes ambivalences within military professionals' concepts of their professional responsibilities, analyzes issues of self-respect posed by service in an unjust cause, and surveys the deep conflicts inherent in PMEE. While primarily focused on US military academies, the volume will resonate with those responsible for education in military academies across the globe.