'L'Invisible Voyeur du Monde des Voyants': Critiques of French Society in Michel Tournier's La Goutte d'or and Guy Hocquenghem's L'Amour en relief

Since decolonisation, the increase in immigration from France’s former colonies in North Africa has prompted metropolitan writers to reconsider conceptions of French society. In their novels, Tournier and Hocquenghem present contemporary France through the defamiliarising eyes of a North African immigrant who serves as a device for the critique of French culture. This article investigates the opposition between the objectifying culture of the West, and the immigrants’ desert culture. It argues that this opposition is flawed, and that the division is between actual practices of seeing and the cultural discourses around vision

European “freedoms”: a critical analysis

Faced with the present migrant crisis and the dismal record of Europe in protecting vulnerable refugees’ and migrants’ rights, what could be the view of the moral philosopher? The contrast between the principles enshrined in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the reality of present policies is shocking, but more scrutiny will show that it is the result of a larger trend towards an understanding of freedom mostly in economic terms, at a time when economists such as Amartya Sen have revised their approach to economic growth and prosperity, noting the central role played by a much richer conception of freedom. The paper will scrutinize these inconsistencies and the conception of the person from which they derive and will provide an alternative and more coherent moral vision that could strengthen the legitimacy of the European Charter, at a time of growing dissatisfaction and so-called democratic deficit. Such a vision could help reconnect the Charter with a conception of the human person as in need not solely of passive legal protection, but also of active promotion of her self-respect and capabilities, and of her aspiration to a valuable life

Northerners and Southerners Differ in Conflict Culture

The present study uses regression analysis of existing cross-national data sets to demonstrate that ingroup-outgroup discrimination and intergroup conflict management vary more along the north-south (latitudinal) axis than along the east-west axis of the Earth. Ingroup favoritism, outgroup rejection, political oppression, legal discrimination, and communication bullying are all less prevalent among Northerners than among Southerners in the Northern Hemisphere, but more prevalent among Northerners than among Southerners in the Southern Hemisphere. These findings provide a rich source for further research into how social conflicts are habitually experienced and handled by residents of northern versus southern habitats. A supplementary analysis specifies the extent to which ecological stressors-thermal stress, hydraulic stress, pathogenic stress, and subsistence stress-help explain why there are oppositely sloping north-south gradients of conflict culture above and below the equator. Taken in total, these results demonstrate the importance of considering latitude in forming a deeper understanding of conflict management and negotiation

Applying the Theory of Affective Intelligence to Support for Authoritarian Policies and Parties

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148346/1/pops12571.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/148346/2/pops12571_am.pd

Islands and despots

This paper challenges a conventional wisdom: that when discussing political systems, small is democratic. And yet, can there be paradises without serpents? The presumed manageability of small island spaces promotes and nurtures dispositions for domination and control over nature and society. In such dark circumstances, authoritarian rule is a more natural fit than democracy. By adopting an inter-disciplinary perspective, this paper argues that small island societies may be wonderful places to live in, as long as one conforms to a dominant cultural code. Should one deviate from expected and established practices, the threat of ostracism is immense. Formal democratic institutions may and often do exist, and a semblance of pluralism may be manifest, but these are likely to be overshadowed by a set of unitarist and homogenous values and practices to which many significant social players, in politics and civil society, subscribe (at least in public).peer-reviewe