The ethos of sovereignty: A critical appraisal

Taking as its starting point the commonly held claim about the obscurity of the concept of sovereignty, the article first identifies a fundamental paradox between the classical Westphalian notion of state sovereignty and human rights. In the rhetoric of international politics, attempts to establish the responsibility of states to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms within their jurisdictions are often countered with claims referring to the “sovereign equality” of all states and the subsequent principle of non-intervention. The article suggests that in a more contemporary understanding of sovereignty the responsibility of a state to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms is seen as a constituent ingredient of the state itself. The chapter continues to elaborate how this change has come about. The classical notion of sovereignty is illustrated through a reading of Bodin’s Six Books of the Commonwealth (1576). In Bodin’s world, sovereignty is a constitutive element of the state, and the possibility of a multitude of sovereign entities in a global world logically denying the possibility of any “supra-national” normative framework is still a minor consideration. This possibility is only worked out with the emergence of international law. In both classics such as Emmerich de Vattel’s The Law of Nations (1758) and more contemporary treatises such as Lassa Oppenheim’s International Law (1905), state sovereignty has become conditional to recognition by other sovereign states and a subsequent membership in the “family of nations.” The conditional membership in the “family of nations” involves a contradiction: a sovereign state must act in a “dignified” manner, it must use its sovereignty with “restraint” by respecting the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its citizens, i.e., it must employ its sovereignty in a non-sovereign way. This restriction of sovereignty, addressed as “ethical sovereignty,” becomes a constitutive element in a post-Westphalian state and a central ingredient in the contemporary doctrine of humanitarian intervention. The article further criticizes the various uses (and abuses) of “ethical sovereignty” in the regulation of “failing” and “rogue” states and concludes by identifying its general political dangers. Finally, with reference to Jacques Derrida’s Rogues (2003), the article suggests a more radical reappraisal of the concept of sovereignty. It is a fact that sovereignty is a term used without any well-recognised meaning except that of supreme authority. Under these circumstances those who do not want to interfere in a mere scholastic controversy must cling to the facts of life and the practical, though abnormal and illogical, condition of affairs.¹ —Lassa Oppenheim But to invoke the concept of national sovereignty as in itself a decisional factor is to fall back on a word which has an emotive quality lacking meaningful specific content. It is to substitute pride for reason.² —Eli Lauterpacht     

The invisible hand plays dice: multiple equilibria in sects markets

Religious participation is much more widespread in the United States than in Europe, while Europeans tend to view sects more suspiciously than Americans. We propose an explanation for these patterns without assuming differences in preferences or market fundamentals. We study a religious market where both demand and supply of spiritual services are endogenous. Such markets may have multiple equilibria. Further, equilibria with more sects result in higher welfare and lower membership costs, as secular societies tend to host on average more demanding sects.     

The rise and fall of employee ownership in Estonia, 1987–2001

The privatisation processes in eastern europe created ownership structures that were very different from those observed in developed Western economies. The widespread application of employee ownership in privatisation is a particularly fascinating case (Uvalic & Vaughan-Whitehead, 1997a; EBRD, 1998). The expectation of many observers was that employee ownership would prove to be temporary and a rapid convergence to more familiar ownership structures would take place (Boycko et al., 1995; Blanchard &Aghion, 1996). Subsequent evidence has partly confirmed the transience hypothesis, since the number of employee-owned enterprises was found to decline rapidly (Estrin &Wright, 1999; Jones &Mygind, 1999a). However, relatively little is known on how and for what reasons the decline is taking place. This article analyses these questions using empirical data from Estonia.     

Mortality among habitually violent offenders

There are no published studies about mortality among habitually violent offenders, although it would be essential to take into account the possibly higher mortality rate of this population, when the incidence of committing violent offenders is calculated as a function of age. We studied mortality during the age range 30–50 years among 102 habitually violent male offenders, who were considered to be dangerous to the lives of other people, during the 24.5-year period 1971–1995 (in the range 3.5 months–24.5 years, the average prison time was 6 years, 7 months and 11 days). In Finland, the deathrate in the group of men aged 30–50 years is 3.7/1000/year, but among these habitually violent male criminals, the mortality rate was observed to be 18.1/1000/year. Therefore, the relative risk for dying in this age group was 4.9-fold when compared with the normal male population aged 30–50 years. A finding of this magnitude has a substantial effect, when the real incidence of committing homicides or other violent offenses is calculated as a function of age. This is an important issue in forensic psychiatry, since it is generally believed that the incidence of committing violent crimes is decreased between the ages of 30 and 50 years, and age is used as one predictive factor when the risk of forthcoming violent behavior is assessed.     

The Expressionless: Law, Ethics, and the Imagery of Suffering

The essay discusses law’s inability to address the phenomenon of human suffering and, at the same time, investigates a possible theoretical kinship between Walter Benjamin’s notion of ‘the expressionless’ and Emmanuel Levinas’s understanding of suffering as the foundation of an interhuman ethics. The kinship between Levinas and Benjamin is examined with reference to suffering in the visual arts and, more specifically, in Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece and Francis Bacon’s crucifixion triptychs. The essay argues that in the crucifixion scenes of both Grünewald’s medieval altarpiece and Bacon’s triptychs, suffering is what constitutes ‘the expressionless’. After every detail of the image, every element of attribute, motif, composition and colour have been accurately depicted, a residue still remains, an ethical truth that cannot be appropriated into a meaningful unity but that nevertheless calls for a response. While law must always give suffering a utilitarian value in its attempts to assign responsibility for the injury occurred, the essay argues that the fragmentariness in all true art that Benjamin calls ‘the expressionless’ is akin to Levinas’s understanding of the constitutional uselessness of suffering, its essence as ‘for nothing’.

Party Platforms with Endogenous Party Membership

This paper proposes and analyzes a model of how the behaviorof voters and that of potential party activists togetherdetermine party membership and the ideological characteristicsof party platforms. Membership decisions are based onexpressive motivations, whereas platforms are chosenstrategically. Part of the ideological spectrum may remainoutside both parties because of alienation or indifference.