Healing Multiculturalism: Middle-Ground Liberal Forgiveness in a Diverse Public Realm

This article examines debates about political forgiveness in liberal, pluralist societies. Although the concept of forgiveness is not usually taken up by liberals, I outline a plausible conception by exploring two recent approaches. The first, ‘unattached articulation’, concept requires no real emotional change on the forgiver’s part, but rather a form of civic restraint. In contrast, the second version highlights a strong form of empathy for perpetrators. In spite of their advantages, each concept proves too extreme. The problems are revealed by focusing on the case of the Harkis, who fought for the French during the Algerian war. Often still marginalised in French society, their case helps to highlight the conceivability of a ‘middle-ground’ or moderate concept of political forgiveness. Its core rests on the forgiver’s care for the social world. While this concept brings considerable challenges also, and is not inevitable in any particular case, it entails a more plausible combination of emotional and rational shifts in the forgiver’s world-view. Although the article does not recommend forgiveness by any person or group, it observes, recalling Arendt’s idea of amor mundi or ‘love of the world’, that political forgiveness may sustain a viable connection between diverse citizens’ public and non-public lives

Global Justice and Recognition Theory: Dignifying the World’s Poor

In the light of intense international focus on ongoing forms of world poverty, this book examines the potential of the concept of recognition in contemporary political philosophy to respond morally to this dire condition.This book uses recognition theories to develop a two-tiered response to the problem of global poverty. First, it highlights non-degradation, non-humiliation and the avoidance of social suffering as essential components to the agency of the very poor. This runs counter to liberal arguments that focus only on the deficit of basic material interests. Second, even if universal conditions of agency are met, many of the world’s extreme poor may still suffer domination. The book argues that empowering the world’s poor to resist domination is an essential response to global poverty. By conceiving poverty in terms of agency and empowerment, this book highlights the transnational relevance of recognition theory to one of the most crucial problems affecting a rapidly globalising world.Global Justice and Recognition Theory will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in social and political philosophy, political theory, and global justice

Impact of Reservations of Panchayat Pradhans on Targeting in West Bengal

The effect of randomized reservations of Pradhan (chief executive) positions in West Bengal local governments (panchayats) for women and members of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) following the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments of 1993 are examined. Sample consists of 89 villages spread throughout 15 rural districts of West Bengal, in which we examine effects on targeting to poor and SC/ST households of IRDP credit, agricultural extension programs, employment programs, and budgetary policies. The reservations were associated with improved targeting of the IRDP program, but poorer targeting of employment programs, and lower local revenues raised by the panchayats. Aggregating pecuniary effects of the IRDP and employment programs, the net effect of the reservations appears to have worsened targeting to SC/ST and landless households. The effects of reservations on targeting often became more adverse in villages with greater land inequality and poverty among SC/ST groups. [BREAD Working Paper No. 104, November 2005]IRDP, credit, villages, employmeny programs, land inequality, SC/ST, panchayat, landless, poverty, revenues, reservations, affirmative action, women, targeting, local governments, AGRICULTURAL,