Towards a democracy-centred ethics

Abstract

The core idea of this paper is that we can use the differences between democratic and undemocratic governments to illuminate ethical problems. Democratic values, rights and institutions lie between the most abstract considerations of ethics and meta-ethics and the most particularised decisions, outcomes and contexts. Hence, this paper argues, we can use the differences between democratic and undemocratic governments, as we best understand them, to structure our theoretical investigations, to test and organise our intuitions and ideas, and to explain and justify our philosophical conclusions. Specifically, as we will see, a democracy-centred approach to ethics can help us to distinguish liberal and democratic approaches to political morality in ways that reflect the varieties of democratic theory, and the importance of distinguishing democratic from undemocratic forms of liberalism.     

The Macquarie Laws of War Corpus (MQLWC): Design,Construction and Use

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - This paper discusses the creation and use of the new Macquarie Laws of War Corpus (MQLWC). The...     

Editorial (30) 2

Critical Criminology -     

Small media for a big revolution: Iran

Conclusion The Iranian revolutionary experience reveals not only the social power of tradition, but also the flexible and creative adaptations that a traditionalist movement can make in the face of adversity to protect its core. Khomeini felt no contradiction utilizing the international telephone circuitry, arriving home on a jumbo jet, or talking to his followers through television. All too often tradition is perceived as something static, unflexible and brittle; as something totally opposed to modernity. The Iranian popular mobilization, and indeed ten years of cultural politics inside the Islamic Republic of Iran, has provided a profound challenge to that interpretation.     

Bank security dye packs: synthesis, isolation, and characterization of chlorinated products of bleached 1-(methylamino)anthraquinone

Banknote evidence is often submitted after a suspect has attempted to disguise or remove red dye stain that has been released because of an anti-theft device that activates after banknotes have been unlawfully removed from bank premises. Three chlorinated compounds have been synthesized as forensic chemical standards to indicate bank security dye bleaching as a suspect's intentional method for masking a robbery involving dye pack release on banknotes. A novel, facile synthetic method to provide three chlorinated derivatives of 1-(methylamino)anthraquinone (MAAQ) is presented. The synthetic route involved Ultra Clorox bleach as the chlorine source, iron chloride as the catalyst, and MAAQ as the starting material and resulted in a three-component product mixture. Two mono-chlorinated isomers (2-chloro-1-(methylamino)anthraquinone and 4-chloro-1-(methylamino)anthraquinone) and one di-chlorinated compound (2,4-dichloro-1-(methylamino)anthraquinone) of the MAAQ parent molecule were detected by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and subsequently isolated by liquid chromatography (LC) with postcolumn fraction collection. Although GC-MS is sensitive enough to detect all of the chlorinated products, it is not definitive enough to identify the structural isomers. Liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was utilized to elucidate structurally the ortho- and para-mono-chlorinated isomers once enough material was properly isolated. A reaction mechanism involving iron is proposed to explain the presence of chlorinated MAAQ species on stolen banknotes after attempted bleaching.     

The Decline of Federalism and the Rise of Morality-Policy Conflict in the United States

Morality policies-such as those pertaining to abortion, capitalpunishment, gambling, gay rights, pornography, and sex education—generateconflict over core values. These policies tend to be technicallysimple, potentially salient to the general public, and involvehigher than normal levels of citizen participation. They are,therefore, highly susceptible to being thrust into the activephase of policymaking when an incongruity develops between publicopinion and public policy. The reservation of authority to thestates on these issues embodied in the Tenth Amendment to theU.S. Constitution allows for closer policy-opinion congruence,therefore stabilizing morality policy politics. However, recentfederal actions on a range of morality policies have thrustthese issues onto the active political agenda of the states.     

Media,Muslims, and the Middle East: A Critical Review Essay

Abstract

Humanitarian Inter vention in Somalia, 1992–1994: Elite N ewspaper Coverage, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy

A Dissertation Completed at the College of Journalism, University of Maryland at College Park, 1995, Brian P. Hoey, Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama

Framing the Health Care Reform Campaign of 1993-94: News Frame, Interpretation, and Public Opinion Change

A Dissertation Completed at The Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 1997, June Woong Rhee, Research Fellow, Korean Broadcasting System

Accuracy and Distortion in Judgment and Recall of Political Discourse

A Dissertation Completed at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 1996, Darin W. Klein, Georgia State University

Deliberative Democracy and the Public Sphere: On the Interactions of News Media, Interpersonal Communication, Opinion Formation, and Participation

A Dissertation Completed at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 1997, Joohoan Kim, Boston College