The ceremony of conferring a doctor honoris causa degree in economics, politics, & international institutions on Amartya Sen, held at the U of Pavia on 17 June 2005, is related. The opening speech by this university's rector, Roberto Schmid, is followed by Enrica Chiappero Martinetti & Salvatore Veca, who present the conferee's scholarly contributions; the former's laudatio (laudation) recognizes him as a laureate of the Nobel Prize in economics for 1998 & outlines his theory of social choices, conception of human development, & research in the relationship between human rights & democracy. In his acceptance lecture, Sen discusses the treatment of persons with physical or mental disability in theories of ethics & justice. He critiques utilitarianism, the opulence-based approach, & John Rawls's (1971) theory of justice, pointing out their shortcomings in addressing the problem of fairness in the treatment of the disabled in contemporary societies. It is argued that the neglect of this issue by the main schools of thought in theories of justice resulted in biased practical policies & inaction in fulfilling the social obligation toward the disabled. Distinguishing between earning handicap & conversion (ie, the ability to convert income & resources into good living) handicap, the disabled are argued to be severely impaired by the combination of the two. References. Z. Dubiel
In the aftermath of the European enlargement, the judicial systems of the new Member States exhibit a spectacular, & yet not fully investigated, similarity of institutions. Such a convergence toward a neo-Latin model of judicial governance does not correspond though to a similar pathway in the adoption of the judicial reforms after the fall of the communism. Moreover, similar strategies of modernization have been adopted in the judicial field by all candidate countries, in particular with respect to the court administration & the introduction of information communication technologies, right before the accession into the EU. Whereas the policies enacted by the EU during the enlargement have been widely studied, the parallel -- and, as the article is going to demonstrate, intertwined policy of judicial cooperation has been much less explored by scholars. This article tries to reach a better understanding how these two policies are intertwined. It points out the logic of change that drove the main judicial reforms in the post communist countries, the mechanisms of influence & the consequences of the European standards of quality of justice that have been used to address both new & old member States in the judicial field. In the last ten years European institutions have been leading actors in setting down standards & in creating windows & arenas of international communication & socialization, which one may expect have great impact upon the way justice will be administered in Europe in the very next future. Adapted from the source document.