Exploring Responsibility : Public and Private in Human Rights Protection

The theory and practice of international relations are replete with dilemmas related to the distribution of responsibility for human rights protection. Institutionalized notions of public and private empower and shape knowledge of what the spheres of responsibility signify for different kinds of actors. This study examines how the public-private distinction is manifested in controversy concerning the character of corporate social responsibility. The study develops a conceptual framework centered on the public-private distinction and the concept of responsibility, drawing attention to the ambiguous and political character of the distinction. Through the analytical prism of the framework, debates concerning responsibility in the case of transnational oil corporations operating in zones where human rights violations are committed by governments are studied. A closer examination is undertaken of the controversy surrounding a Canadian headquartered oil company that operated in Sudan between 1998 and 2002. A range of political, legal and moral tensions arise from boundary-drawing processes between public and private in debates on the distribution of responsibility for human rights protection. The boundary between public and private responsibility is found to be a site of struggle, leading to charges of complicity in human rights abuse. Reconfigurations of authority and power relations question the state-centric focus of the international human rights regime. In the study is discerned an emerging global public domain of action where nonstate actors such as transnational corporations and advocacy NGOs interact and set agendas and standards. The pluralization of authority relations in webs of global governance and the expansion of private sector self-regulation challenge the association of authority with public actors that are accountable through political institutions. This diversification of authority relations is scrutinized in light of the principle of democratic accountability and legitimacy. Efforts at self-regulation, as well as the development of mechanisms for holding transnational corporations accountable for their impact on social conditions, expand the terrain of accountability in zones of human rights violations where transnational corporations are present. This indicates that the territorial boundaries of accountability systems related to human rights are becoming recast into a less territorially defined transnational sphere of action, influence, contestation and answerability. The analysis demonstrates that the study of responsibility, accountability and authority in the field of international relations is confronted with new challenges through the examination of corporate social responsibility in a global governance setting

Effect of a Wildlife Conservation Camp Experience in China on Student Knowledge of Animals, Care, Propensity for Environmental Stewardship, and Compassionate Behavior Toward Animals

ABSTRACT EFFECT OF A WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CAMP EXPERIENCE IN CHINA ON STUDENT KNOWLEDGE OF ANIMALS, CARE, PROPENSITY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP, AND COMPASSIONATE BEHAVIOR TOWARD ANIMALS by Sarah M. Bexell The goal of conservation education is positive behavior change toward animals and the environment. This study was conducted to determine whether participation in a wildlife conservation education camp was effective in positively changing 8-12 year old students’: (a) knowledge of animals, (b) care about animals, (c) propensity for environmental and wildlife stewardship, and (d) compassionate behavior toward animals. During the summer of 2005, 2 five-day camps were conducted at 2 zoological institutions in Chengdu, China. The camp curriculum was influenced by theory and research on the following: conservation psychology, social learning theory, empathy and moral development theory, socio-biological theory, constructivist theory, and conservation science. Camp activities were sensitive to Chinese culture and included Chinese conservation issues. Activities were designed to help children form bonds with animals and care enough about them to positively change their behavior toward animals and the environment. This mixed methods study triangulated quantitative and qualitative data from six sources to answer the following: 1. Did camp increase student knowledge of animals? 2. Did camp increase student caring about animals? 3. Did camp increase student propensity for environmental and wildlife stewardship? 4. Did camp affect student compassionate behavior toward animals? A conservation stewards survey revealed significant increases on pre-post, self-report of knowledge, care, and propensity. Pre-post, rubric-scored responses to human-animal interaction vignettes indicated a significant increase in knowledge, and stable scores on care and propensity. Qualitative data from student journals, vignettes, and end-of-camp questionnaires demonstrated knowledge, caring, and propensity, and revealed the emergent theme empathy. To address question 4, instructors tallied campers’ behavior toward animals using a student behavior ethogram. Occurrence of positive behaviors was inconsistent, but negative behaviors decreased, indicating campers were more conscious of behaviors to avoid. Field notes helped determine that camps were implemented as planned, therefore not interfering with goals of the camp. This study contributes to an emerging and critical knowledge base of effective strategies to promote conservation behavior

Ignoring Nature: Why We Do It, the Dire Consequences, and the Need for a Paradigm Shift to Save Animals, Habitats, and Ourselves

The article discusses the importance of biodiversity and on how people protect animals and habitats. It describes the conservation psychology and conservation social work. It suggests that there will be fewer people who will actually be able to make a positive difference in the relationships with animals and ecosystems

New materialism and women: An investigation into identity with diffractive reading

This master’s thesis investigates the concept of identity through a framework of new materialism, asking the question: how does a new materialist framework affect the conceptualization of women’s bodies (and beyond)? Based on a personal interest in women’s identities, this thesis pursues a post-anthropocentric conceptualization of identity in the context of new materialism, motivated by an exploration into alternative conceptualizations of identity. New materialism in general is a concept that considers ontology and epistemology as already inseparable, implying that ways of knowing and ways of being are entangled and affecting each other. Karen Barad’s interpretation of new materialism is adopted throughout this investigation, with a particular focus on agential realism and how boundaries are broken down and created, in order to confront dualistic ideas of identity, such as human/animal, mind/body, or man/woman. As such, this thesis is able to experiment with a post-anthropocentric identity that consists of fluid boundaries, which takes into consideration the agency of matter and the role discursive practices have, in relation to new materialism. The data is based on field notes and observations deriving from meetings with radical feminist women, as well as embroidery through an arts based research process. The data is then analyzed using diffractive reading, which is a method connected to new materialism. Diffractive reading entails a reading and interpretation of different texts through each other, focusing on an entangled dialogue between them, as well as the collected data. In this case, the texts that will be diffractively read are sections from Meeting the Universe Halfway by Barad (2007) and Material Feminisms by Alaimo and Hekman (2008). As this method is relatively new and there are no concrete structures (as should be expected, from a method based on new materialism), this thesis also serves as an experimentation and demonstration of diffractive reading. The results of this investigation into identity reveal a way of being and knowing ourselves that goes beyond limiting constructs, such as the identities human, woman, and lesbian. With a new materialist framework, these identities become fluid boundaries that are temporarily constructed through material-discursive practices. That is, a new materialist post-anthropocentric identity in this context does not necessarily limit itself to dualistic ideas of identities, broadening the horizon and including non-human identities

The Politics of the Sustainable Development Goals

This book draws attention to political aspects of sustainable development goal-setting, exploring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the global-national nexus during their first five years. After broad global deliberation and political negotiations, the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs were adopted in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2015, and by now many countries have political structures in place for working towards their realisation. This book explores three concepts to call attention to the political qualities of processes related to the SDGs: legitimacy, responsibility, and accountability. Legitimacy is required to obtain broad political ownership for policy goals in order for them to become effective in addressing cross-border sustainability challenges. Responsibility needs to be clearly distributed among political institutions if a long-term set of broad goals such as the SDGs are to be realised. Accountability to the public is the retrospective mirror of political responsibility. The Politics of the Sustainable Development Goals contributes new knowledge on political processes at the nexus of global and national levels, focussing on three countries at different levels of socio-economic development and democratisation: namely Ghana, Tanzania, and Sweden. These countries illustrate a variety of challenges related to the realisation of the SDGs. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of sustainable development, international organisations, and global politics

The Politics of the Sustainable Development Goals

This book draws attention to political aspects of sustainable development goal-setting, exploring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the global-national nexus during their first five years. After broad global deliberation and political negotiations, the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs were adopted in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2015, and by now many countries have political structures in place for working towards their realisation. This book explores three concepts to call attention to the political qualities of processes related to the SDGs: legitimacy, responsibility, and accountability. Legitimacy is required to obtain broad political ownership for policy goals in order for them to become effective in addressing cross-border sustainability challenges. Responsibility needs to be clearly distributed among political institutions if a long-term set of broad goals such as the SDGs are to be realised. Accountability to the public is the retrospective mirror of political responsibility. The Politics of the Sustainable Development Goals contributes new knowledge on political processes at the nexus of global and national levels, focussing on three countries at different levels of socio-economic development and democratisation: namely Ghana, Tanzania, and Sweden. These countries illustrate a variety of challenges related to the realisation of the SDGs. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of sustainable development, international organisations, and global politics

Note from W. J. Kerr

Note with correspondence from J. A. Bexell, describing telegram that should be sent to J. A. Bexell concerning salary for position offered

Influence of annealing parameters on the ferromagnetic properties of optimally passivated (Ga,Mn)As epilayers

The influence of annealing parameters - temperature and time - on the magnetic properties of As-capped (Ga,Mn)As epitaxial thin films have been investigated. The dependence of the transition temperature (Tc) on annealing time marks out two regions. The Tc peak behavior, characteristic of the first region, is more pronounced for thick samples, while for the second (`saturated') region the effect of the annealing time is more pronounced for thin samples. A right choice of the passivation medium, growth conditions along with optimal annealing parameters routinely yield Tc-values of ~ 150 K and above, regardless of the thickness of the epilayers.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure