Maximising Consent: Operationalising Reciprocity in Secession Referenda

A constitutional referendum on secession from Indonesia was held in East Timor in 1999, with a pro-independence vote triggering widespread violence by the Indonesian army and pro-union militia. Montenegro underwent a similar process in 2006, also opting for independence but with much smoother results. This article will suggest that the deliberative democratic principle of reciprocity can help deliver referendum law based on justifications that can be accepted by all parties concerned. In particular, it proposes that reciprocity can be operationalised in referendum law if the participants in the negotiations that formulate the laws accept fair terms of social cooperation (FTSCs) and resolve disagreements using economy of moral disagreement (EMD). Respectively, these mean parties to negotiations should be willing to justify their position in mutually acceptable terms and if consensus is impossible, agreements should minimise their rejection of other parties’ views. This argument will be made using the negotiations that created East Timor and Montenegro’s referendum laws as case studies

Debbie\u27s Dream

Fiction by Lynne Stephen

Our property tax system is in dire need of reform: we need radical solutions such as automatic Council Tax revaluation or a national property tax based on property values

With the recent news that first time buyers have little prospect of owning their own home in the next five years, it is clear that our housing system is in need of reform. Mark Stephens of the Joseph Rowntree Housing Market Taskforce argues that our current system of Council Tax is outdated and unequal, and proposes some radical reforms that may go some way to diminish the cyclical effect of the housing market

Rural Telemedicine in Alaska: A Look at Healthcare Through Telecommunications

•An average town in the United States will have a basic medical facility capable of treating its patients. If not, there is roadway access to a capable facility. •In Rural Alaska however, there is no way to drive to the nearest hospital. These communities are not connected to the major road system and the only way to reach a hospital is by air transport. •Although many villages have access to hub communities that maintain a clinic, the clinic may not have the capabilities to treat certain ailments and many villages have no access to a medical facility. •Providing adequate medical care for Rural Alaskans is difficult due particularly to the size of Alaska, the geographic isolation of many villages, and to the cost of transportation to these rural areas. •The most serious healthcare issues that have been seen in Rural Alaska are “too few physicians or services and [health] care is too expensive,” (Hagopian et al, 2000). •In hopes of overcoming these obstacles in rural medicine, many organizations initiated telemedicine and telehealth programs

[Review of] Joseph Hobbs. Bedouin Life in the Egyptian Wilderness

It is not often that a person can pick up a book and read it with clarity and understanding, especially ethnographic materials that attempt to describe peoples of various cultural orientations. Joseph Hobbs has managed to accomplish this task in an enlightening manner

How might critique respond to the urgency of climate change? : a challenge for environmental communication : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Scientists, journalists, politicians and academics regularly describe climate change as both urgent and a crisis. During times that demand urgent action academic disciplines, like communication, also need to take critique more seriously. In contrast to accepting the one-dimensional premise that crisis simply demands action, this thesis also proposes that crisis demands critique. Starting with an assessment of the current shape of critique and critical theories in environmental communication as a distinct sub-field of communications studies, this project addresses the broader prospect for critique by examining the work of four key scholars who have spent significant time addressing climate change. First, the study contrasts Peter Sloterdijk’s trilogy of books on spheres that highlights the spatiality of the humans living in an atmosphere, with his anthropotechnic work on how humans go beyond themselves through practice, training and other technologies. Next, the study examines the role of ecological crisis in the work of Slavoj Žižek with special emphasis on his theorising of climate change as one of four existential threats to the world, which necessitates a communist response. The third theorist, Timothy Morton, interrogates how ecological texts privilege the essentialised concept of nature and the subjectivity of the ‘beautiful soul’ in a manner that undermines the politics of adequately responding to climate crisis. Finally, the study considers Bruno Latour’s insights into how climate change is communicated when the tools of critique have been appropriated by those who seek to use doubt to prevent action. Bringing these theorists together, the study concludes by highlighting four key themes that add critical depth to discussions within environmental communication: the topics of anthropocentrism in the Anthropocene, the global scale of climate change, the role of communism in political responses, and the (mis)use of the concept of nature. The study ends by bringing these themes back to the sub-field of environmental communication, making a series of recommendations to renew the relationship of doubt and scepticism to critique

Focusing on the future: a summary and critique of the 2013 retirement income report

Every three years, under the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001 the Commission for Financial Literacy and Retirement Income is required to conduct a review of retirement incomes, to be submitted to the government. This article presents a summary and discussion of their 2013 report, entitled Focusing on the Future. The commission is funded by the government, but operates and comments as an independent organisation. However, the terms for the triennial review are determined by agreement between the government of the day and the commission. Between reviews the commission’s work focuses on improving New Zealanders’ financial literacy, ensuring that there is free and independent financial information available, and monitoring retirement villages legislation, with the overall objective of improving the financial well-being of New Zealanders throughout their lifetimes. • Robert Stephens is a Senior Associate of the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies. He was formerly Associate Professor in Public Policy at Victoria University. His research has been largely in the areas of social and public policy and tax reform