Natural Law,Basic Goods,and Fiduciary Altruism

Even though fiduciary duties take the highest position in the spectrum of legal altruism, and legal fiduciary altruism sometimes differs from moral fiduciary altruism, natural law morality is not necessarily useless in helping to explain, determine, and justify concrete rules in fiduciary law. Five specific inspirations, in addition to divergences, can be drawn by a closer look at the seven basic goods of John Finnis’ natural law theory. First, the basic good of life may help to determine the boundary of the best interest test under the duty of loyalty. Second, the basic good of play, in particular the distinction between business community and play community may help to justify the separate treatment between civil agency and commercial agency regarding the unconditional power of immediate termination. Third, practical reasonableness may help to explain the rule against set-off under the duty of no conflict. Fourth, different cultural notions of sociability may lead to distinct understandings with regard to the no-profit rule. Fifth, different attitudes towards knowledge in various religious beliefs may create distinct understandings about the burden of informed consent.     

Public Service Motivation,Prosocial Motivation and Altruism: Towards Disentanglement and Conceptual Clarity

Research on public service motivation (PSM) has made great strides in terms of study output. Given the enormous scholarly attention on PSM, it is surprising that considerable conceptual ambiguities and overlaps with related concepts such as prosocial motivation, and altruism still remain. This study addresses this issue by systematically carving out the differences and similarities between these concepts. Taking this approach, this study clarifies the conceptual space of both PSM and the other concepts. Using data from semi-structured interviews with police officers, it is illustrated that PSM and prosocial motivation are different types of motivation leading to different types of prosocial behaviour.     

“公司利他权”之践行机制

要想真正使公司董事等高管积极实施＂利他权＂,在我国不仅要树立和普及＂公司利他权＂之＂价值理念＂;在《公司法》方面还应明确规定＂公司利他权＂及＂其他利害关系人条款＂、＂抽象性目的条款＂、＂一般权利和具体权利＂,更应明确规定董事等公司高管之＂商业判断规则＂;再者,还应不断完善相关＂公司利他权＂方面之其他配套法律、法规,完善司法制度和行政制度及行为,并辅之以其他社会保障制度。     

Nigeria in African Affairs: Hegemonic and Altruistic Considerations

Commitment to Africa has become a permanent policy of the Nigerian state. Yet, critics have expressed reservations about the worthiness of the policy. While their arguments appear strong, they do not provide adequate grounds to justify a reconsideration of the policy. Nigeria’s quest for dominance has always informed the country’s designation of Africa as a primary sphere of interest. To achieve this goal, altruism has become a defining attribute of Nigeria’s African diplomacy, thereby validating the theoretical overlap between hegemony and altruism. If Nigeria’s altruistic and subtle diplomacy has failed to translate into diplomatic ascendance in Africa as some observers have argued, then it is not because the policy is ignoble; the problem lies elsewhere. The paper contends that the question has more to do with the manner in which Nigeria has managed the domestic environment of its African policy over the years. Relying on data generated through the secondary method and key-informant interview, as well as the interpretive method of qualitative data analysis, this piece examines the planks upon which the policy is built, explains the complexities involved in its pursuit, and then constructs arguments in favour of the policy.     

后冷战时代日本环境外交战略研究

冷战结束后,环境议题成为日本谋求"政治大国"地位的重要手段,其纳入日本对外战略框架有着深刻的国内社会背景和国际政治环境,以对外输出资本和环保技术为主要内容的日本环境外交战略在树立环保大国形象及提高国际声誉方面取得了一定成绩,但公益性的实施方式并没有改变其作为一国外交政策的利益性本质。     

论道德与慈善及公益的关系

道德与慈善事业互相关联，道德是慈善事业发展的基础，慈善事业有助于社会道德水平的提高。但纯粹无私利他并不是慈善唯一的标准，慈善超越了道德范畴而具有经济、社会、政治等多重意义。为适应现代公益事业发展的需要，必须转变传统的慈善观，从注重公益行为的义务论转向义务论与目的论相结合，注重公益的多元价值，由片面利他向互惠共利模式发展，形成人人参与公益事业的可持续发展模式。     

Beyond dependency,autonomy, and exchange: Prosocial behavior in late-life adaptation

This paper focuses on prosocial and altruistic behavior in late life. Empirical data on prevalence of helping behaviors among the elderly and the range of motives underlying their helping are reviewed. The authors consider implications of these data for theories of social behavior in late life. Questions are raised regarding the universal applicability of models of social behavior which have been implicit in much of existing research in social gerontology. Data on helping by the elderly are related to dependency and autonomy models of social interaction. Futhermore, the potential for altruistic as opposed to extrinsic motivations for helping among older adults is considered, challenging the exclusive reliance on exchange principles for understanding social interactions by older persons. Empirical evidence of prosocial behavior in late life is placed in the context of life-span developmental theories of personality and a contributory model of late life social behavior is proposed.     

Political culture and the persistence of inequality

A definition of political culture is posited in which the values that regulate reciprocal altruism constitute a normative system that sustains social solidarity and stabilizes inequalities. These values dampen resentment over unequal rewards by justifying status differences and the exclusion of racial, ethnic, and religious groups, among others, from full participation in social life. Inequality is bolstered by conventional modes of moral reasoning that legitimize explanations for inequality that are embedded in law or emanate from authority.     

Intimate Relationships, Relational Contract Theory, and the Reach of Contract

This article explores the role of contract law inintimate relationships, focussing on tacit or onlypartially express agreements rather than expressprenuptial or cohabitation contracts. It welcomes theembrace of relational contract theory by feminist andgay and lesbian commentators, but argues that keydifferences between commercial and intimaterelationships need further analysis if the potentialof relational theory in cases of informal agreement isto be realised. The first difference is that,while commercial contracts can draw on the context ofa contracting community as a source of norms to fillgaps in agreement, there is no equivalent source ofnorms for intimate relationships. The seconddifference is that, although relational theory entailsthe attenuation of self interest in commercialcontracts, in intimate relationships the sense inwhich self interest is attenuated is quite different,with the result that concepts such as cooperation andaltruism have different meanings. The result of thesedifferences is that, in some intimate relationships,there will be informal understandings falling short ofbargain, which will be unenforceable – under bothorthodox contract law and more relationalinterpretations of it. It is argued that many suchinformal agreements are distinguishable from mostgratuitous promises because they are characterised bya degree of reciprocity between the parties. Thepossibility of the law of contract recognising suchnon bargain agreements based on reciprocity isexplored, and it is argued that the enforcement ofsuch agreements represents a less distorting legalresponse than that available through the use ofpromissory estoppel.     

THE MEANING OF DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE

Prevailing paradigms of macro‐economic management and levels and distributions of poverty in some rich countries suggest that economic and strategic self‐interest rather than poverty reduction in poor countries are likely to be the primary objectives of much development assistance. The incommensurability of the paradigms of development discourse makes it unlikely that strongly held ideologically based positions on these matters will change quickly or easily. Moreover, non‐altruistic positions can be maintained more readily by virtue of the loose construction of international declarations such as the Paris Declaration. Based on different interpretations of the Paris Declaration, empirical evidence from Cambodia and Indonesia of donor opportunism that is designed to maximise aid control and aid distinctiveness for non‐altruistic purposes is presented. Recent sharp declines in donor legitimacy have made this more difficult to do, but even so, there have been no concomitant reductions in donor self‐assurance concerning their exclusive possession of the moral and technical high ground. Such behaviour is, however, increasingly resented particularly by government officials in lower middle‐income countries like Indonesia. Resulting relationships lack trust and are therefore unlikely to contribute optimally either to the realisation of non‐altruistic purposes or to poverty reduction. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.