Civil disobedience and civic virtues

This thesis examines the concept of civil disobedience, and the role the latter can play in a democratic society. It aims to offer a moral justification for civil disobedience that departs from consequentialist or deontological considerations, and focuses instead on virtue ethics. By drawing attention to the notion of civic virtues, the thesis suggests that, under some circumstances, an act of civil disobedience is the very act displaying a virtuous disposition in the citizen who disobeys. Such disposition is interpreted in light of a duty each individual has to respect her fellow citizens as autonomous agents. This grounds, in turn, a moral obligation to respect the law. The central claim of the thesis is that the obligation towards the law is fulfilled not only through acts of obedience but also, under different circumstances, through acts of disobedience. The status of non-violence as a necessary component of civil disobedience is questioned, and it is argued that a degree of force or violence may be permissible in civil disobedience, when it is compatible with the duty to respect others’ autonomy. Subsequently, the thesis offers an analysis of ‘reasonableness’ as a civic virtue, and by comparing three different approaches to the issue of reasonable disagreement among democratic citizens, it defends the deliberative approach as the most suited for treating fellow citizens as autonomous agents. The last two chapters focus on the importance, for an act of civil disobedience, of the agent’s willingness to accept the legal consequences of her law-breaking behaviour. It is argued that a civil disobedient has an obligation to face the prospect of being punished for the breach of the law. However, in considering the behaviour of a virtuous civil disobedient who appears at her criminal trial, it is also claimed that she should plead not guilty and aim to persuade her fellow citizens that she does not deserve to be punished, because what she did does not constitute a criminal wrong. In doing so, this thesis depicts civil disobedience not as a merely permissible form of behaviour, but as a morally praiseworthy conduct within a democratic community

Sanitation financing: lessons learnt from application of different financing instruments in Busia county, Kenya

Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health in Kenya is a Dutch-Government funded project implemented in Busia and Kilifi Counties. The project is founded on a Public-Private Partnership arrangement to create an enabling environment for market-driven approach for scaling up sanitation. The intervention combines demand generation and private sector involvement in developing and delivering sanitation products and services to underserved rural communities. The mainstay strategy applied was Community Led Total sanitation plus (CLTS+) approach. The plus entails financial inclusion targeting communities without sanitation facilities through financial literacy and micro-lending for sanitation improvement. As part of supply side development, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in sanitation business having also been financially included to strengthen their capacity to respond to thus generated demand. A combination of expanded markets coupled with demand generation has contributed to access to improved sanitation, promising health and livelihood improvements

Is bossnapping uncivil?

This paper considers the boundaries of "civility" in civil disobedience, by focusing on an extreme form of protest, namely, bossnapping. The latter involves workers 'kidnapping' their bosses, in order to force them to listen to their grievances. I argue that, notwithstanding its use of force, bossnapping may, under some circumstances, fulfil the requirements of a "civil" act of disobedience

Fundamentalisme Agama sebagai Prediktor Intoleransi Politik Pemuda Hindu di Bali

ABSTRACT Sihombing, Marvel M.A.A.N. 2016. Fundamentalisme Agama sebagai Prediktor Intoleransi Politik Pemuda Hindu di Bali. Skripsi, Jurusan Psikologi, Fakultas Pendidikan Psikologi Universitas Negeri Malang. Pembimbing: (I) Dr. Tutut Chusniyah, M.Si dan (II) Pravissi Shanti, S.Psi, M.PsiKata kunci: Fundamentalisme Agama, Intoleransi Politik, Pemuda HinduPenelitian ini dilatarbelakangi oleh banyaknya kasus intoleransi yang terjadi di Bali. Beberapa kasus intoleransi seperti penolakan wisata syariah di Bali, pelarangan penggunaan hijab saat lebaran, hingga pengajuan ideologi yang berbau xenophobia, yang mendorong primordialisme etnis dengan mendirikan pembatas antara orang Bali dan non-Bali. Salah satu faktor yang menyebabkan intoleransi politik adalah fundamentalisme agama. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui (1) mengetahui tingkat fundamentalisme agama pemuda Hindu di Bali, (2) mengetahui tingkat intoleransi politik pemuda Hindu di Bali, (3) Untuk mengetahui fundamentalisme agama sebagai prediktor intoleransi politik pemuda Hindu di Bali.Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kuantitatif dengan metode deskriptif dan korelasional prediktif. Populasi dalam penelitian ini yaitu pemuda Hindu di Bali dan sampel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini sebanyak 90 orang dengan teknik purposive sampling. Instrumen dalam penelitian ini berupa skala fundamentalisme agama dan skala intoleransi politik.  Analisis data penelitian menggunakan analisis deskriptif dengan pengkategorian berdasarkan pada nilai T. Uji hipotesis menggunakan teknik analisis regresi linier sederhana.Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa pemuda Hindu di Bali (1) memiliki fundamentalisme agama yang dikategorikan tinggi, (2) memiliki toleransi politik, dan (3) fundamentalisme agama bukan merupakan prediktor intoleransi politik karena taraf signifikansi 0,644.Saran yang dapat diberikan berdasarkan penelitian ini, yaitu (1) bagi masyarakat: diharapkan untuk tetap menjaga toleransi terhadap keyakinan yang dimiliki orang lain dengan tetap berpegang teguh pada ajaran agama, (2) bagi peneliti selanjutnya: diharapkan dapat mengembangkan penelitian ini dengan mengganti variabel yang mungkin berpengaruh terhadap intoleransi politik, seperti variabel otoritarian, persepsi ancaman, pendidikan, kontak atau hubungan, kebijakan pemerintah dan keberagaman etnis.ABSTRACT Sihombing, Marvel M.A.A.N. 2016. Religious Fundamentalism as a Predictor of Political Intolerance Hindu-Youth in Bali, Thesis, Psychology Department, Faculty of Education Psychology State University of Malang. Advisors: (I) Dr. Tutut Chusniyah, M.Si and (II) Pravissi Shanti, S.Psi, M.PsiKeywords: Religious Fundamentalism, Political Intolerance, Hindu-YouthThis research is motivated by the many cases of intolerance that occurred in Bali. Some cases of intolerance such as rejection of sharia travel in Bali, ban on wearing of the hijab during Eid, until the submission of the ideology that smelled of xenophobia, which encourage ethnic primordialism by establishing a barrier between the Balinese and non-Balinese. One of the factors that lead to political intolerance is a religious fundamentalism. This study aims to determine (1) determine the level of religious fundamentalism in Bali Hindu youth, (2) determine the level of political intolerance in Bali Hindu youth, (3) To know the religious fundamentalism as a predictor of political intolerance in Bali Hindu youth.This research is a quantitative study with descriptive and correlational predictive. The population in this research is in the Bali Hindu youth and samples used in this study were 90 people with purposive sampling technique. Instruments in this study a scale of religious fundamentalism and political intolerance scale. Research data analysis using descriptive analysis with the categorization is based on the value of T. The hypothesis testing used simple linear regression analysis.The results of this study indicate that young Hindus in Bali (1) have a religious fundamentalism categorized as high, (2) have political tolerance, and (3) religious fundamentalism is not a predictor of political intolerance for a significance level of 0.644. Advice can be given based on this study, namely (1) for the community: it is expected to maintain tolerance to the belief that other people have to stick to the teachings of religion, (2) for further research: are expected to develop this research by replacing variables may affect the political intolerance, such as variable authoritarian threat perception, education, contacts or relations, government policies and ethnic diversity

Topical use and systemic action of green and roasted coffee oils and ground oils in a cutaneous incision model in rats (Rattus norvegicus albinus)

Introduction Wounds are a common health problem. Coffee is widely consumed and its oil contains essential fatty acids. We evaluated the local (skin) and systemic effects associated with the topical use of coffee oils in rats. Methods Punch skin wounds (6 mm) incisions were generated on the backs of 75 rats. Saline (SS), mineral oil (MO), green coffee oil (GCO), roasted coffee oil (RCO), green coffee ground oil (GCGO) or roasted coffee ground oil (RCGO) were topically applied to the wounds. Healing was evaluated by visual and histological/morphometric optical microscopy examination; second harmonics generation (SHG) microscopy, wound tissue q-PCR (values in fold-change) and blood serum (ELISA, values in pg/mL). Results RCO treated animals presented faster wound healing (0.986 vs. 0.422), higher mRNA expression of IGF-1 (2.78 vs. 1.00, p = 0.01), IL-6 (10.72 vs. 1.00, p = 0.001) and IL-23 (4.10 vs. 1.2, p = 0.05) in early stages of wound healing; higher IL-12 (3.32 vs. 1.00, p = 0.05) in the later stages; and lower serum levels of IFN-gamma (11.97 vs. 196.45, p = 0.01). GCO treatment led to higher mRNA expression of IL-6 (day 2: 7.94 vs. 1.00, p = 0.001 and day 4: 6.90 vs. 1.00, p = 0.01) and IL-23 (7.93 vs. 1.20, p = 0.001) in the early stages. The RCO treatment also produced higher serum IFN-alpha levels throughout the experiment (day 2: 52.53 vs. 21.20; day 4: 46.98 vs. 21.56; day 10: 83.61 vs. 25.69, p = 0.05) and lower levels of IL-4 (day 4: 0.9 vs. 13.36, p = 0.01), adiponectin (day 10: 8,367.47 vs. 16,526.38, p = 0.001) and IFN-gamma (day 4: 43.03 vs. 196.45, p = 0.05). The SHG analysis showed a higher collagen density in the RCO and GCO treatments (p = 0.05). Conclusion Topical treatment with coffee oils led to systemic actions and faster wound healing in rats. Further studies should be performed are necessary to assess the safety of topical vegetal oil use for skin lesions121211

Topical use and systemic action of green and roasted coffee oils and ground oils in a cutaneous incision model in rats (Rattus norvegicus albinus)

FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOIntroduction Wounds are a common health problem. Coffee is widely consumed and its oil contains essential fatty acids. We evaluated the local (skin) and systemic effects associated with the topical use of coffee oils in rats. Methods Punch skin wounds (6 mm) incisions were generated on the backs of 75 rats. Saline (SS), mineral oil (MO), green coffee oil (GCO), roasted coffee oil (RCO), green coffee ground oil (GCGO) or roasted coffee ground oil (RCGO) were topically applied to the wounds. Healing was evaluated by visual and histological/morphometric optical microscopy examination; second harmonics generation (SHG) microscopy, wound tissue q-PCR (values in fold-change) and blood serum (ELISA, values in pg/mL). Results RCO treated animals presented faster wound healing (0.986 vs. 0.422), higher mRNA expression of IGF-1 (2.78 vs. 1.00, p = 0.01), IL-6 (10.72 vs. 1.00, p = 0.001) and IL-23 (4.10 vs. 1.2, p = 0.05) in early stages of wound healing; higher IL-12 (3.32 vs. 1.00, p = 0.05) in the later stages; and lower serum levels of IFN-gamma (11.97 vs. 196.45, p = 0.01). GCO treatment led to higher mRNA expression of IL-6 (day 2: 7.94 vs. 1.00, p = 0.001 and day 4: 6.90 vs. 1.00, p = 0.01) and IL-23 (7.93 vs. 1.20, p = 0.001) in the early stages. The RCO treatment also produced higher serum IFN-alpha levels throughout the experiment (day 2: 52.53 vs. 21.20; day 4: 46.98 vs. 21.56; day 10: 83.61 vs. 25.69, p = 0.05) and lower levels of IL-4 (day 4: 0.9 vs. 13.36, p = 0.01), adiponectin (day 10: 8,367.47 vs. 16,526.38, p = 0.001) and IFN-gamma (day 4: 43.03 vs. 196.45, p = 0.05). The SHG analysis showed a higher collagen density in the RCO and GCO treatments (p = 0.05). Conclusion Topical treatment with coffee oils led to systemic actions and faster wound healing in rats. Further studies should be performed are necessary to assess the safety of topical vegetal oil use for skin lesions1212117FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOsem informaçã