Suchergebnisse

In Justice and Natural Resources: An Egalitarian Theory (2017), Chris Armstrong proposes a version of global egalitarianism that – contra the default renderings of this approach – takes individual attachment to specific resources into account. By doing this, his theory has the potential for greening global egalitarianism both in terms of procedure and scope. In terms of procedure, its broad account of attachment and its focus on individuals rather than groups connects with participatory governance and management and, ultimately, participatory democracy – an essential ingredient in the toolkit of green politics and policy-making. In terms of scope, because it does not commit itself to any particular moral framework, Armstrong's theory leaves the door open for non-human animals to become subjects of justice, thus extending the realm of the latter beyond its traditionally anthropocentric borders. I conclude that these greenings are promising, but not trouble-free.

In Justice and Natural Resources: An Egalitarian Theory (2017), Chris Armstrong proposes a version of global egalitarianism that – contra the default renderings of this approach – takes individual attachment to specific resources into account. By doing this, his theory has the potential for greening global egalitarianism both in terms of procedure and scope. In terms of procedure, its broad account of attachment and its focus on individuals rather than groups connects with participatory governance and management and, ultimately, participatory democracy – an essential ingredient in the toolkit of green politics and policy-making. In terms of scope, because it does not commit itself to any particular moral framework, Armstrong's theory leaves the door open for non-human animals to become subjects of justice, thus extending the realm of the latter beyond its traditionally anthropocentric borders. I conclude that these greenings are promising, but not trouble-free.

That there is a human right to subsistence is a basic assumption for most moral and political theorists interested in the problem of global poverty, but it is not one exempt from controversy. In this article, I examine four justifications for this right and suggest that it takes the form of a claim, that is, a right which creates correlative duties on others who are then taken to be the main agents in its fulfillment. I point to some criticisms made against this conceptualization and offer an alternative approach that emphasizes the key importance of the moral and political agency of the needy. Two aspects of this approach are that the needy are seen as actors in their own right when it comes to poverty alleviation measures and their demands are no longer seen as demands for mere subsistence but ultimately for putting an end to their political marginalization and exclusion. Towards the end, I point to the complementarity of both views.

Abstract:Most of the liberal moral and political debate concerning global poverty has focused on the duties of justice or assistance that the well-off have toward the needy. In this essay, I show how rights-based theories in particular have unanimously understood subsistence rights just (and only) as claims, where all it means to have a claim—following Hohfeld—is that others have a duty toward us. This narrow interpretation of subsistence rights has led to a glaring omission; namely, there has been no careful examination of what the rights-holders themselves may do to realize the object of their rights. Furthermore, in the few cases where this question gets posed, rights are again understood just (and only) as claims, but this time of an Austinian kind: rights-holders are limited to the performance of speech-acts like demanding, pleading, and entreating to make noncompliers fulfill their duties. I suggest that this approach betrays the original spirit of subsistence rights as individual moral powers delineating a sovereign sphere of action. More seriously, it is unjust to the rights-holders themselves, to the extent that many of the actions they undertake to realize the objects of their rights fall off the radar of moral analysis.

AbstractBy virtue of the Antarctic Treaty, signed in 1959, the territorial claims to Antarctica of seven of the original signatories were held in abeyance or "frozen." Considered by many as an exemplar of international law, the Antarctic Treaty System has come to be increasingly questioned, however, in a very much changed global scenario that presents new challenges to the governance of the White Continent. In this context, it is necessary to gain a clearer understanding of the moral weight of those initial claims, which stand (despite being frozen) as a cornerstone of the treaty. The aim of this article is to offer an appraisal of such claims, which may be divided into two main kinds: those grounded on some relevant link to the territory, and those grounded on official documents and geographical doctrines. After pointing to the limitations and challenges that they face, I conclude with some remarks about how this assessment ought to serve as a starting point to rethink the territorial status of Antarctica.

El objetivo del siguiente artículo es presentar la formación de las poblaciones callampa en Chile durante la segunda mitad del siglo xx (especialmente entre 1950 y 1970), como una manifestación del derecho de necesidad de miles de personas sin hogar. Se sugiere, además, que este fenómeno social es el germen de las posteriores tomas de sitio, donde los requisitos para participar eran "ser pobre, tener chiquillos, tres palos y una bandera." El derecho individual de necesidad es el fundamento de los posteriores reclamos formales de pobladores políticamente organizados en busca de una solución habitacional permanente que cumpliera con criterios mínimos de justicia social. Si bien el argumento se enfoca en el caso específico de las poblaciones callampa chilenas, se sugiere que es aplicable a otros fenómenos de asentamientos ilegales y precarios a lo largo de Latinoamérica y, también, en otros lugares del mundo. My aim in this article is to discuss the formation of poblaciones callampa (shanty towns) in Chile during the second half of the twentieth century (especially between 1950 and 1970), as an expression of the right of necessity of thousands of homeless persons. I suggest that this social phenomenon is the germ of the consequent tomas de sitio (illegal encampments), where the requisites to take part were "to be poor, to have children, three sticks and a flag." The individual right of necessity is the foundation of the formal claims of politically-organized groups looking for a permanent place to live that fulfills minimal criteria of social justice. Although the argument is focused on the specific case of the Chilean callampas, I suggest that the same logic may be applied to other cases of precarious, illegal settlements in Latin America and worldwide.

On the 3rd of June 2011, the activity in the volcanic complex Puyehue-Cordon Caulle in Southern Chile reached its highest level of alert. The next morning, as the eruption started, 3500 small farmers and their families had to be evacuated from the surrounding areas. A billowing ash cloud rose twelve kilometers high in the sky, a stunning image that the media quickly spread around the world. But not only did the spectacular pictures of the eruption traversed the globe. So did the ashes themselves, carried by strong winds eastward to neighboring Argentina and further, to Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, the Falkland Islands, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. By June 18th, the ash cloud had finalized its world tour, with highly disruptive consequences for the countries affected by its trail. In Argentina, the eruption triggered strong thunderstorms in the neighboring cities and, after five years of drought, the volcanic ash destroyed what was left of pasture land, putting 750,000 sheep and 60,000 cattle in danger. The ash also caused power outages and forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights as, if sucked into engines, it could eventually cause them to fail. Faced with the emergency, the Argentinean government quickly announced a plan to supply 2.41 billion dollars to the 1400 farmers and businesses affected, as well as doubling their social benefits and deferring their tax payments. Seven billion dollars were also assigned purely for the cleanup. All around the Southern hemisphere, flight cancellations brought chaos to the airports, with thousands of passengers stranded. In Australia alone, the main airlines reported losses of 32 million dollars. Paradoxically, Chile was the last to suffer the effects of the volcanic cloud, with only minor disruptions in its flight schedules. Adapted from the source document.