Suchergebnisse

Cet article analyse l'effet des valeurs sur la morality politics européenne à travers la question de l'avortement. Face à la politisation d'une compétence souveraine au sein de l'UE, la théorie américaine des guerres culturelles permet d'étudier l'instrumentalisation des valeurs par des groupes confessionnels. L'approche méthodologique qualitative repose sur des entretiens semi-directifs et analyses de documents. Les résultats confirment que les valeurs aident les acteurs à (ré) affirmer une identité particulière. Les controverses européennes sur la signification de notions a priori séculières transforment alors les valeurs en finalité en tant que telle. Ceci pourrait alors avoir un impact sur la politique européenne traditionnelle.

Asserts that Michel Foucault attempted through his writings to work the connections between politics & ethics so that ethics could be interpreted as political experience. Through an analysis of Foucault's approaches to ethics, morality, aesthetics, ascetism, & work, it is demonstrated that politics should not be based on ethics, but should be ethical work in itself. His refusal to think of politics in a moral framework & its implications for the understanding of the politics of today are addressed. Adapted from the source document.

African international politics of this beginning of the century is undergoing profound transformations as far as its principles, norms, & working values are concerned. Rule of law, democracy, personal rights, governance, & human security are henceforth fundamental references of African international relations & stand at the same time as ethical constraints on which depends the modernity of the States. The new political morality, which emerges with the help of the continental political civilization, is also a realistic playing field for the construction of a new continental order & for the assertion of symbolic power between States. However, as for every ongoing process, a considerable gap between normative construction & political practices remains. Adapted from the source document.

An examination of the career of several members of three neighborhood associations in Casablanca and the manner in which they themselves describe their actions reveals the intricacies of the associative space and political sphere in Morocco. By virtue of a mirror effect, the frontiers between these two universes are the object of continuous struggle. Associative action is sometimes constructed independently and sometimes in connection with "politics". It is thus drawn upon as a substitute for political participation, a tribune for marginalized actors or a local-level springboard and can lead to renegotiation of relations with the political realm. By virtue of the very existence of points of junction between associative, partisan, electoral, labor union and protest scenes, associational action exposes those involved to several types of participation. It endows them with practical and cognitive competencies, is an incentive for them to interact with various agencies of governmentality and encourages a circular reconversion of resources and know-how. Associational action may also give rise to a taste for "politics" and electoral competition or that encourage its participants to become aware of their responsibilities. From one situation to the next, it is the object of a range of definitions, involvements and (micro) strategies that are as vast as they are variable, both diachronically and synchronically. Adapted from the source document.

Political claims commonly argue that the plurality of incommensurable moral horizons now renders traditional modes of conflict management obsolete. In particular, the bargaining model has no relevance or legitimacy with respect to identity politics. The desire to give an account of such phenomena has led to a major shift in political theory, where the notion of "moral pluralism" has a key role. While intense debate surrounds the nature of moral personhood & its institutional implications, moral pluralism itself appears taken for granted. Yet its fragility is revealed by a comparison with traditional interest group pluralism. Indeed, in spite of its "moral" language, the contemporary version of pluralism would be indistinguishable, in practical political terms, from traditional polyarchy. The crucial theoretical issue in this respect is the play of transparency & opacity with respect to political conflict, ie, the presence or absence of a norm of political interaction in terms of which the reasons for making a claim are decisive in assessing the claim's legitimacy. In these terms, "moral" pluralism is ambivalent, & ultimately deeply contradictory. If the challenge of value pluralism is important, the political theory of moral pluralism has not yet provided an adequate answer. Adapted from the source document.

Designing institutions to reconcile liberty & equality is a central goal of left-libertarians. This article discusses the likely consequences of Michael Otsuka's suggestion of making "the unjust" provide for "the disabled," should this prove the only way of securing equality for the latter. I argue that even in the kind of society envisaged by left-libertarians, forcing people to work, be they criminals or not, would be morally unacceptable & politically dangerous. Part of my argument hinges on fairness towards those being punished by society: for a variety of reasons, it would be unfair to make convicted criminals work for others. Other objections are based on the practical (but morally charged) problems involved in such an arrangement: by encouraging abuse & engendering social antagonism, it would partly defeat the purpose of the law & might distort the mechanisms that serve to implement the rule of law. The most important objection, however, is the likely stigmatization of those whose livelihood would depend on the forced labor of convicted criminals: hence putting convicts to work for the disabled would be unfair to the latter as well, for it would mar their status in society. Adapted from the source document.

In 2000, while representatives of the extreme right were gaining in popularity in Austria, Belgium, along with most other European countries, proceeded to condemn these developments. However, Minister of Foreign Affairs Louis Michel went on to declare it immoral to ski in Austria, & there ensued a number of such moralistic boycotts, which, according to Estmaele, were an excess. In a similar development before the imminent onset of the Iraq War, Belgium declared it would not allow transport of American military goods through Belgian territory. This attitude is here also referred to as a moralistic excess that lacks diplomatic subtlety. Citing these & other examples, this article explores how the pressure exerted on Belgium & the rest of Europe by American initiatives may be said to have revealed some of the antiquated & excessively moralistic postures assumed by Belgian foreign policy. C. Brunski

The aim of this article is to compare two of the leading contemporary theories of equality: those of left-libertarianism & perfectionist liberalism. I argue that, in theoretical terms, the chief difference between the two regards the State's responsibility for "wasted lives." Libertarianism rejects State spending on individual self-realization if such expenditure conflicts with the right of self-ownership. Perfectionist liberalism, in contrast, accepts this possibility. I also look at case studies that bring out ramifications of perfectionist liberalism unacceptable to left-libertarians. Specifically, only the former advocates public spending to cultural, humanitarian or economic ends. Adapted from the source document.

V. Pareto is not interested in the nature of politics, but in the political society & its equilibrium. His method, tested in his economic & sociological research, examines the intrinsic value & importance of power, how it manifests itself in the political ideology, religion, & morality of the social community, & how it necessarily contributes to the changing of the elites. Pareto evaluates social stability in terms of the governing elite, characteristically described as a dynamic minority. Pareto concludes that this minority must continually define & defend its ideology commensurate with the needs of the society in general. Most important, this minority must agree to recognize the inherent necessity for the circulation of the elites. Modified HA.

The author analyzes the reasons for our current incapacity to consider the problems facing our societies in a properly political manner. She examines the role played by liberal democratic theory in the displacement of politics by morality & brings to the fore the negative consequences of the consensual understanding of democracy. She underlines the necessity of acknowledging the antagonistic dimension of democracy & the place of passions in the construction of political identities. She argues in favor of an "agonistic" model of democracy to remedy the shortcomings of the "deliberative" approach. Adapted from the source document.