TEACHING ETHICS, TEACHING ETHICALLY

A fair amount of attention has been given recently to teaching ethics and what manners of conduct are proper, especially in the public sector. This article examines not only the substance of teaching ethics, but also the process. The author contends that professors of ethics are in a difficult field because its scope is so broad. While different professions have different ethical codes and standards, it remains true that all fields have ethical considerations. The challenge for the ethics professor is to instill in students a basic understanding of proper conduct, realizing that some actions and decisions are better than others, while not attempting to appear morally omniscient.     

The calculus of piratical consent: the myth of the myth of social contract

Is a genuine social contract mythical? I argue that pirates created genuine social contracts that established a system of constitutional democracy based on the same decision-making calculus and with the same effects that Buchanan and Tullock’s contractarian theory of government describes in The Calculus of Consent. Pirates’ constitutional democracy is the “holy grail” of social contract theory. It demonstrates that the contractarian basis of constitutional democracy is more than a mere analytic device or hypothetical explanation of how such a government could emerge. In pirates’ case, Buchanan and Tullock’s social contract theory describes how constitutional democracy actually did emerge.     

How parties compete for votes: A test of saliency theory

Saliency theory is among the most influential accounts of party competition, not least in providing the theoretical framework for the Comparative Manifesto Project – one of the most widely used data collections in comparative politics. Despite its prominence, not all empirical implications of the saliency theory of party competition have yet been systematically tested. This article addresses five predictions of saliency theory, the central claim of which is that parties compete by selective issue emphasis rather than by direct confrontation. Since a fair test of the theory's assumptions needs to rely on data that measures party issue saliency and party positions independently, this article draws on new manifesto data from the Austrian National Election Study (AUTNES). Analysing all manifestos issued for the 2002, 2006 and 2008 general elections, it shows that saliency theory correctly identifies some features of party competition. For instance, parties disproportionally emphasise issues they ‘own’. Yet, the core assumption of saliency theory that parties compete via selective issue emphasis rather than direct confrontation over the same issues fails to materialise in the majority of cases.     

Referendums on Independence, 1860–2011

There have been more than 50 independence referendums since the middle of the 19th Century when Texas, Virginia and Tennessee—albeit unsuccessfully—voted to leave the USA. A handful of plebiscites were held in each decade after 1945, but most independence referendums were held after the break‐down of communism. Most have resulted in majorities for independence. However, such plebiscites have been rare in countries with established systems of democratic government and the results may not be a fair reflection of the views of the voters. When referendums have been held in democratic countries, they have often resulted in a no‐vote (though Montenegro is an exception to the rule). Referendums have on a few occasions resulted in the exacerbation of ethnic conflict, such as in Bosnia‐Herzegovina and in East Timor. But generally speaking referendums are not correlated with civil war; indeed, war resulted in only 13 percent of the cases.     

Voice and trust in parliamentary representation

In both social and political matters, individuals trust those they believe will treat them fairly. Individuals in democracies have little objection to abiding by policies instituted by parties they did not vote for because the system by which the parliament is formed is considered fair. However, even among democracies, some electoral systems are fairer than others. It stands to reason that trust in parliament is affected by the perceived fairness of the electoral system. This research demonstrates that actual or perceived provision of voice in parliamentary representation does increase individual trust in parliament. Systems designed with the intent to provide fair representation and those that provide the illusion of fair representation produce higher levels of trust in parliament.     

Sharing the costs of fighting justly

ABSTRACT

Combatants who attempt to obey the laws of war often have to take considerable risks in order to effectively discriminate between legitimate and illegitimate targets. Sometimes this task is made even more complicated by systemic factors which influence their ability to discriminate effectively without unduly risking their lives or the mission. If they fail to do so, civilians often pay the price. In this paper, I argue that to the extent that non-combatants benefit from the attempt to fight justly, and to the extent that wars in which combatants attempt to fight justly can be understood as a system of social cooperation which produces both burdens and benefits, non-combatants have a responsibility to shoulder their fair share of these burdens. Thus, if combatants (and by extension enemy non-combatants) are disproportionately burdened in a conflict, non-combatants ought to take on some costs, for instance in order to reduce the strain imposed on combatants by systemic factors such as the availability and distribution of resources.     

Is the allocation of voting power among EU states fair?

It has often been claimed that the current allocation of votes among EU states is not fair. In this paper we verify this assertion by carrying out an evaluation of the distribution of power among the member states. The results show that the current distribution of votes for the qualified majority does not lead to a fair distribution of power whatever definition of the EU is considered. It can not be claimed however that the current voting process has a systematic bias in favor of certain states. We also present a simple method to derive voting weights which lead to a fair allocation of power.     

Where to Draw the Line? Is Efficiency Encroaching on a Fair Justice System?

The government is currently implementing an ambitious agenda of reforms to transform the justice system of England and Wales. The stated aim is to improve efficiency, primarily by utilising technology and bringing processes online where possible. The speed and ambition of the programme has led to concerns that the drive for efficiency is coming at the expense of ensuring a fair and effective justice system. This article suggests that the fundamental principles underpinning our justice system are at risk of being lost in the push for increased efficiency. It focuses on two specific proposals: increasing the use of video links, thus moving to virtual hearings as the default position for the majority of cases; and of automating the conviction process in certain criminal cases. It is argued that both proposals undermine the role of an independent judiciary in making fair and transparent decisions.     

Civil Rights,Federalism, and the Administrative Process: Favorable Outcomes by Federal,State, and Local Agencies in Housing Discrimination Complaints

Some theorists argue that cooperative intergovernmental relations are critical to policy implementation in the United States. This assertion is explored in the context of fair housing enforcement by comparing favorable administrative outcomes in fair housing complaints at the federal, state, and local levels from 1989 to 2004. What conclusions can be drawn from this systematic comparison of intergovernmental enforcement in one policy area over an extended period of time? First, cooperative federalism works well in fair housing enforcement. Second, of special significance, state civil rights agencies resolve complaints in favor of complainants nearly as often as the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and localities sometimes do so even more frequently.     

On the distribution of federal taxes and expenditures,and the new war between the states

As federal government expenditures have grown, there has been an increasing awareness of the distribution of taxes and expenditures across states. States in the Northeast have claimed that sunbelt states have been getting more than their fair share of federal spending, with the sunbelt states denying the charge. A theory of political coalitions is developed to explain why the sunbelt should be unable to receive differentially high expenditures, although the sunbelt may pay less than a proportional amount in taxes because of its relatively low income. An empirical test shows that the data are in agreement with this theory.     

Counterinsurgency agent networks and noncombatant-targeted violence

In counterinsurgency, agent networks are double-edged swords. They are useful tools for degrading insurgent influence and protecting the population. However, they also endanger the population in some ways, as we have seen with mass executions of suspected agents and agent misdirection of raids. Identifying how/why this occurs is critical for developing intelligence practices to more effectively implement COIN strategies. This exploratory study uses three recent counterinsurgency cases – for which significant secondary open-source agent network documentation is available – to identify, describe, organize and analyse patterns of noncombatant-targeted violence associated with human intelligence networks. Identified cases of noncombatant-targeted violence in Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the – Israeli–Palestinian conflict are used to develop a theoretical framework that models intelligence-related violence incentivization, which also draws from theoretical literature on human intelligence, civil war violence, police states, community policing, and the sociology of betrayal.     

Inclusionary housing in California and New Jersey: A comparative analysis

Abstract

Many people have argued that inclusionary housing (IH) is a desirable land use strategy to address lower‐income housing needs and to further the geographic dispersal of the lower‐income population. In an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of IH, this article examines the experiences of New Jersey and California, two states where IH has been applied frequently over an extended period.

While the concept of regional “fair share” is central to both states’ experiences, the origins of the programs, their applications, and their evolutions are quite dissimilar. IH originated in New Jersey from the famous Mount Laurel cases and in California from housing affordability crises and a legislatively mandated housing element. The experiences of both states indicate that IH can and should be part of an overall affordable housing strategy but that it is unlikely to become the core of such a strategy.     

Confidence‐building measures at sea: The challenges ahead in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia faces a range of challenges in adopting maritime confidence‐ and trust‐building measures in the very promising atmosphere of political endorsement that exists after the ASEAN Regional Forum, with possible changes to the strategic balance caused by maritime rearmament within the region. This paper briefly analyses the roles or activities of maritime forces in the region on the basis of their sensitivity to scrutiny: the hard or contentious kinds of activities, usually warlike, that navies will only practise together in an environment of considerable trust, and the soft, usually non‐warlike activities, that they could undertake cooperatively with fewer security concerns. From this list of shared roles two lists of possible CBMs are derived, the easy (or likely‐to‐succeed) and the hard (or less‐likely), based on the level of sensitivity of the activities to be undertaken cooperatively.     

Membership, Fair Play, and Political Obligation

In recent years a number of theorists have maintained that the obligation to obey the law is best conceived and justified as an associational obligation. Not consent or utility or fair play but membership is the source of political obligation. These theorists are wrong, I argue, but they are wrong in interesting and illuminating ways. For an examination of the advantages and disadvantages of the membership account of political obligation underscores the merits of a rival account of obligation grounded in the principle of fair play.     

Empty Neighborhoods: Using Constructs to Predict the Probability of Housing Abandonment

Abstract

Enforcement of the law prohibiting housing discrimination depends largely on actions initiated by persons who believe they have been victimized and, presumptively, on their knowledge of their legal rights. It is therefore important to establish what people know about fair housing law. A recent national survey examines this topic and explores whether public knowledge makes any difference.

A majority of the public is aware of and approves of many aspects of fair housing law, although the size of that majority varies depending on which aspect of the law is considered. By contrast, only a minority of the public is aware of and accepts protections provided to renter families with children. There is an association between knowledge of the law, recognition of conduct perceived to contradict it, and willingness to respond to such conduct, suggesting a link between knowledge and likelihood of self‐protective responses, as envisioned by the Fair Housing Act.     

When Do the Ends Justify the Means? Evaluating Procedural Fairness

How do people decide whether a political process is fair or unfair? Concerned about principles of justice, people might carefully evaluate procedural fairness based on the facts of the case. Alternately, people could be guided by their prior preferences, endorsing the procedures that produce favored policy outcomes as fair and rating those that generate disliked outcomes as unfair. Using an experimental design, we consider the conditions under which people use accuracy goals versus directional goals in evaluating political processes. We find that when procedures are clearly fair or unfair, people make unbiased assessments of procedural justice. When the fairness of a process is ambiguous, people are more likely to use their prior attitudes as a guide.     

Fair treatment,fair play? The relationship between fair treatment perceptions,political trust and compliant and cooperative attitudes cross-nationally

Obtaining citizens’ voluntary compliance with political decisions is a fundamental democratic challenge. Fair treatment by public officials plays a key role in theoretical and empirical studies on citizens’ compliance and cooperation. Yet it is unclear whether citizens within different societies react to (un)fair treatment in the same way. Using multilevel structural equation modelling and multilevel regression analysis on the European Social Survey 2010–2 (N = 52,458), this article shows that perceptions of fair treatment by police officers are associated with higher levels of trust in political institutions and in turn stronger compliant and cooperative attitudes of citizens in 27 countries. Yet the link between perceptions of unfair treatment and institutional trust is stronger in countries in which fair behaviour is more prevalent. While fair treatment is often considered to be a universal norm affecting citizens in a uniform way, this article sheds light on important cross-national variations.     

Indigenous Australians and the rules of the social security system: Universalism, appropriateness and justice

Noel Pearson has recently argued that inclusion, over the last 30 years, in a 'passive' welfare system has been to the detriment of Aboriginal society. This article approaches the inclusion of Aboriginal people in the social security system from a slightly different perspective, while taking seriously Pearson's concerns. It argues that, despite norms and aspirations of universalism, rules within the social security system are social constructs derived from and intended for the particular social and economic circumstances of the dominant society. When those rules are applied to the very different social and economic circumstances of minority groups, such as Indigenous Australians, major issues of adaptation and interpretation arise. This article draws on research experience spanning 20 years on relations between Indigenous Australians and the social security system to illustrate the degree to which adaptation has occurred, in the pursuit of realism. However, it also argues that current relations between the social security system and Indigenous Australians are not just and fair because the rules of the system do not equally reflect Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples' social and economic circumstances.     

Coordination as a Political Problem in Coordinated Market Economies

The purpose of this article is to explore the political dynamics of employer coordination in three well‐known “coordinated market economies.” We examine differences in how employer coordination has been organized in Sweden, Germany, and Japan in the area of industrial relations, and we examine the extent to which such coordination represents a self‐sustaining equilibrium, as some of the most influential treatments suggest. To preview the findings, we argue that precisely the intensification of cooperation between labor and management in some firms and industries (that the “varieties of capitalism” literature correctly emphasizes) has paradoxically had deeply destabilizing collateral effects that have undermined or are undermining these systems as they were traditionally constituted. All three cases are characterized not so much by a full‐blown breakdown of coordination so much as a very significant reconfiguration of the terms and scope of such coordination. Specifically, all three countries feature the emergence of new or intensified forms of dualism—different in each case based on different starting points—in which continued coordination within a smaller core has in some ways been underwritten through the breaking off of other, more peripheral, firms and workers.     

Why the Fair Use Doctrine Should be Eliminated

The concept of fair use was introduced in the Copyright Act of 1976 as a means of allowing limited free access to copyrighted material. However, the application of fair use principles in the adjudication of infringement cases has demonstrated a fundamental problem in our approach to intellectual property rights. In much the same way as Hardin recognized a tragedy of the commons, continued efforts to make decisions based on the fair use doctrine run the risk of creating an information anti-commons.