Judicial and Litigant Perceptions in Dutch Court Cases: Perceptions of Outcome Importance Overlap,Perceptions of Procedural Justice Diverge

Social Justice Research - The current paper aims to provide insight into judges’ perceptions of how fairly they treat litigants and how important case outcomes are to litigants, and whether...     

The Influence of Self-Threats on Fairness Judgments and Affective Measures

This paper focuses on the question of why fairness matters to people. Extending on terror and uncertainty management theories and the literature on the self, it is proposed here that fairness can be a means of self-defense. Thinking of a situation that is threatening to the self therefore should make fairness a more important issue to people. The findings of two experiments support this line of reasoning: Asking participants to think about things that are threatening to themselves led to stronger reactions to manipulations of both procedural and distributive fairness. In the discussion it is argued that these findings suggest that fairness especially matters to people when they are trying to deal with threats to their selves.     

Procedural decisions in intergroup conflict situations: The influence of hierarchical group membership

A review of research on procedural and distributive justice shows that whereas distributive justice research has examined people's actual choice of outcomes, procedural justice research has paid little attention to the investigation of people's actual choice of procedures. In the present paper, three experiments are presented, all investigating people's actual choice of procedures. In all three experiments, participants were in a middle-management position where their subordinates demanded an opportunity to voice their opinion, while their superiors demanded that the subordinates should not be allowed voice. In Experiments 1 and 2 it was found that participants who were induced to identify with the low hierarchical group (subordinates) allowed more voice than participants who were induced to identify with the high hierarchical group (superiors), but that the effect of hierarchical group membership was absent when maximizing performance (Experiment 1) or participative values (Experiment 2) were explicitly emphasized. In Experiment 3 it was found that the effect of hierarchical group membership on procedural decision making was also evident in persons who progressed from identifying with both hierarchical groups to identifying with one hierarchical group. In the discussion it is argued that cross-fertilization between the fields of procedural and distributive justice will deepen our understanding of social justice in general.     

When Weak Groups are Strong: How Low Cohesion Groups Allow Individuals to Act According to Their Personal Absence Tolerance Norms

The study described in this article took place in a commercial production organization and a non-profit social welfare organization (N = 377 and N = 582, respectively). The study investigates how group cohesiveness and absence tolerance separately and in tandem are related to company registered absenteeism rates. As predicted, results support the hypotheses that absence tolerance is positively related with absenteeism and interacts with low group cohesion to result in absenteeism. Contrasting earlier studies that found highly cohesive groups to interact with absence tolerance, results of this study are the first to show that low group cohesiveness interacts significantly with absence tolerance. That is, low cohesive groups counterintuitively are related to the lowest levels of voluntary sickness absence together with intolerant views toward absence. This interaction effect is found independently in two different organizations.     

Demobilization of combatants after civil wars in Africa and their reintegration into civilian life

In the past few years, several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa conducted large scale demobilizations. These are positive signs and create opportunities for sustainable peace and human development. However, demobilization appears to be a complex process. It is closely linked to security issues; and the impact of demobilization depends largely on whether the ex-combatants are able to reintegrate. Demobilized soldiers and guerrilla fighters have usually great difficulties re-establishing themselves in civilian life. Frustrated ex-combatants may jeopardize the peace and development process. This paper identifies on the bases of the recent experiences some of the risks that are involved in demobilization and several conditions that have to be met in order for demobilization to attain a lasting positive impact on peace and human development in Africa.     

Capital and the state system: a class act

This paper is set up as a critique of Alex Callinicos's Callinicos, Alex. 2007. Does capitalism need the state system?. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 20(4): 533–549. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar] contribution, ‘Does capitalism need the state system?’ It challenges his understanding of the relationship between capitalism and the state system and the theory of imperialism, before presenting an alternative view that conceives the connection between capitalism and the state system as embodied in the formation of a transnational capitalist class holding power in an English-speaking, liberal Atlantic core or ‘heartland’, facing a series of ‘contender states’, which developed under state auspices. This constellation has to be analysed in its own right by applying the method of historical materialism to it, rather than confining that method to the analysis of capital and then bringing in state-centric International Relations. Today, the rise of China as the new contender illustrates how the combined process has evolved. The response to China comes from the larger constellation of the West and not just from the United States: the capitalist class acts to ensure the sovereignty of capital in the process.     

The plundering of Zambian resources by Frederick Chiluba and his friends: A case study of the interaction between national politics and the international drive towards good governance

This article analyses the accusations that have emerged since2001 of predatory behaviour during the presidency of FrederickT. Chiluba (1991–2001). It advocates a detailed analysisof the practices that have come to light in order to move beyonda generalized interpretation of the persistence of predatoryelites in Africa. Three specific themes appear. First, thereis a danger of oversimplification of these conflicts as betweenthe international community and national governments. The politicalstruggles tend to be more complicated than generally presented,and international involvement meshes with local political struggles.Second, predatory behaviour or corruption is a social processthat is embedded in wider national and international networks.It is therefore difficult to locate culpability exactly in clearlydesignated protagonists. Third, there is a danger of imputingan economic and political rationality to this behaviour whichmay best be designated as theft. The overall theme of the articleis that there are important national cultural influences inthe way these predatory practices are dealt with. These areobfuscated by a blander critique identifying partial reformthat leaves predatory elites untouched.     

Justice and Feelings: Toward a New Era in Justice Research

In this special issue, the relationship between feelings and justice and its consequences are highlighted. Five articles discuss the role that affect, feelings, and emotions play in justice processes across a variety of social settings. In the present introductory article, the position of past and present justice research in relationship to these topics is briefly reviewed. In addition, reasons are outlined to show why a focus on these issues may be pivotal for a better understanding of social justice and how this may pave the way for a new, more process-oriented era in social justice research, focusing more on “hot” cognitive aspects as they pertain to social justice concerns.