Culturally Responsive Policies

human development, culture

Education for citizenship

Although it is widely accepted that a basic task of schooling is to prepare each new generation for their responsibilities as citizens, the appropriate form and content of citizenship education is often controversial. This paper discusses some of these controversies. I begin by arguing that citizenship is more complicated than is often realized, and that even ‘minimal’ conceptions of citizenship impose significant obligations and constraints on individual and group behaviour. I then consider three inter-related areas of debate: whether citizenship education requires common schooling; whether promoting responsible citizenship requires promoting personal autonomy; and whether promoting a shared civic identity requires teaching not only shared political values or principles but also promoting particular national or cultural identities. These three issues help illustrate the centrality of education for citizenship to both political theory and educational philosophy. [author's abstract

Social Membership: Animal Law beyond the Property/Personhood Impasse

While animal law has been subject to frequent reform in Canada and abroad, the basic legal foundations of animal oppression are largely unchanged. There are many reasons for this impasse, but part of the explanation is that legal reforms are caught in what we might call the property/personhood dilemma. In most legal systems, domesticated animals are defined as property and so long as this remains true, reforms are likely to be marginal and ineffective. However the main alternative-to shift animals from the category of property to personhoodis politically unfeasible, particularly for the domesticated animals who are most intensively exploited in our society In this paper I explore a third option for legal reform, which is to include domesticated animals into other legal categories such as workers or members of the family which carry with them social standing and social rights, even if not full legal personhood. Indeed, there is already some movement in this direction: the law is recognizing (some) animals as (rightsbearing) workers or family members, for at least some purposes, without having declared them to be persons. I call this the social recognition strategy, and argue that it has unexplored promise for advancing justice for animals, although it is not without its own dilemmas and limits

Multiculturalism and minority rights: West and East

Der vorliegende Beitrag geht der Frage nach, ob westliche Modelle von Multikulturalismus und Minderheitenrechten relevant für die postkommunistischen Länder Zentral- und Osteuropas sind. Der Autor beschreibt zunächst eine Reihe westlicher Modelle und untersucht die sozialen und politischen Bedingungen, die dazu geführt haben, dass sie im Westen zur Geltung kamen. Danach werden verschiedene Faktoren betrachtet, die die Annahme dieser Modelle in Osteuropa schwierig machen. Abschließend wird die potentielle Rolle der internationalen Gemeinschaft bei der Überwindung dieser Schwierigkeiten beleuchtet. Postkommunistischen Ländern in Zentral- und Osteuropa wurde nahe gelegt, westliche Standards oder Modelle von Multikulturalismus und Minderheitenrecht zu überzunehmen. So sind beispielsweise die Minderheitenrechte ein Beitrittskriterium für die Aufnahme in die Europäische Union und die NATO. Kandidatenländer werden daran gemessen, wie gut sie diese Standards erfüllen. In diesem Zusammenhang lassen sich zwei miteinander verbundene Prozesse erkennen: Zum einen ist ein Prozess der Internationalisierung von Minderheitenrechten auszumachen, zum anderen werden diese westlichen Modelle in die Länder Zentral- und Osteuropas. Diese Entwicklung beruht auf vier Prämissen: (1) Es gibt gemeinsame Modelle oder Standards in westlichen Demokratien. (2) Diese Modelle oder Standards funktionieren im Westen gut und (3) müssen in Osteuropa anwendbar sein. (4) Die internationale Gemeinschaft verfügt über die Legitimation, den Export dieser Standards voranzutreiben. (ICD

LAS BASES MORALES Y LAS FUNCIONES GEOPOLÍTICAS DE LAS NORMAS INTERNACIONALES DE LOS DERECHOS DE LAS MINORÍAS: UN ESTUDIO DEL CASO EUROPEO

The last 15 years has seen an explosion of efforts to develop international norms of minority rights, both at the global level and at regional levels. Globally, the UN adopted a declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities in 1992, and is debating a Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Other international organizations, such as the International Labour Organization and the World Bank, have also developed norms on minority rights. Declarations have also been drafted by organizations at the regional level, such as the Organization of American States and the Council of Europe.En los últimos 15 años se han dado una multitud de esfuerzos para elaborar normas internacionales sobre los derechos de las minorías, tanto en el nivel mundial como en el nivel regional. Mundialmente, la ONU adoptó una Declaración sobre los Derechos de las Personas Pertenecientes a Minorías Nacionales o Étnicas, Religiosas y Lingüísticas en 1992, y está debatiendo un Proyecto de la Declaración sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas. Otras organizaciones internacionales como la Organización Mundial del Trabajo y el Banco Mundial, también han elaborado normas sobre los derechos de las minorías. Algunas organizaciones, como la Organización de Estados Americanos y el Consejo de Europa, también han redactado declaraciones de nivel regional

A Defense of animal citizens and sovereigns

In their commentaries on Zoopolis, Alasdair Cochrane and Oscar Horta raise several challenges to our argument for a “political theory of animal rights”, and to the specific models of animal citizenship and animal sovereignty we offer. In this reply, we focus on three key issues: 1) the need for a groupdifferentiated theory of animal rights that takes seriously ideas of membership in bounded communities, as against more “cosmopolitan” or “cosmo- cosmopolitan” or “cosmo- cosmopolitan” or “cosmo- ” or “cosmo- or “cosmozoopolis” alternatives that minimize the moral significance of boundaries and membership; 2) the challenge of defining the nature and scope of wild animal sovereignty; and 3) the problem of policing nature and humanitarian intervention to reduce suffering in the wild

Les politiques de multiculturalisme nuisent-elles à l’État-providence ?

La diversité ethnique est parfois perçue comme un danger pour la stabilité politique. Pourtant, les immigrants, les minorités nationales et les peuples autochtones bénéficient en certains pays d’une attitude d’ouverture qui a mené à l’adoption de politiques de multiculturalisme et à la reconnaissance de certains droits en matière de langue et d’autonomie territoriale et politique. Aux yeux de certains analystes, ces mesures ne peuvent que fragiliser l’État-providence. Ayant procédé à une vérification empirique de cette thèse, les auteurs ne constatent aucune relation systématique entre l’existence de politiques de multiculturalisme dans un pays et l’érosion de son État-providence. Il apparaît plutôt que des affirmations sans autre fondement que la peur ne font pas avancer le débat sur la pertinence des politiques de multiculturalisme.Ethnic diversity is often seen as a threat to political stability. But some countries have adopted a more accommodating approach, reflected in the adoption of multiculturalism policies for immigrant groups, the acceptance of territorial autonomy and language rights for national minorities, and the recognition of land claims and self-government rights for indigenous peoples. Such “multiculturalism policies” have been criticised, however, as making it more difficult to sustain a robust welfare state. This paper examines empirically whether this effect exists. We find no evidence of a consistent relationship between the adoption of multiculturalism policies and the erosion of the welfare state. The evidence in this paper suggests that debates over the appropriateness of multiculturalism policies should not be pre-empted by unsupported fears about their impact on the welfare state

Linking animal ethics and animal welfare science

Broom (2014) argues that theories of animal ethics need to be better informed by the findings of animal welfare science. We agree, but argue that animal welfare science in turn may need to ask different questions. To date it has largely assumed that society will continue to treat domesticated animals as a caste group that exists to serve us, and that animal welfare is to be improved within that legal and political framework. We offer an alternative model of human-animal relations, and discuss what kind of animal welfare science it would require