Rethinking Economics in a Circular Way in the Light of Encyclical “Laudato Sì”

none1noThe concept of Anthropocene is now commonly used by scholars to denote a new geological and biophysical era and environmental humanities have rapidly developed in a field of investigation on the new human condition. The study of human preferences, what motivates us as human beings, what influences our actions, the way we can control our actions and the ethics of responsibility, are the main drivers of global change in the twenty-first century. This article is built on the assumption that research on circular economy, in contrast with a linear “take-make-dispose” economic model, can benefit enormously from the study of human motivations and actions that each of us can implement for global change. In particular, the message of humanity contained in Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si, helps us to understand the ethical foundations of circular economy: why and how human beings and their social formations, such as enterprises and institutions, not facing imminent dangers, can strongly choose to change direction and to act for the common good.nonePaletta, A.Paletta, A

Child soldiers as time bombs? Adolescents’ participation in rebel groups and the recurrence of armed conflict

The existent work on child soldiering began only recently to systematically study its consequences, both theoretically and empirically. The following article seeks to contribute to this by examining the impact of rebels’ child soldier recruitment practices during war on the risk of armed conflict recurrence in post-conflict societies. We argue that child soldiering in a previous dispute may increase both the willingness and opportunity to resume fighting in the post-conflict period, while disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes could decrease these aspects of conflict recurrence. Empirically, we analyse time-series cross-section data on post-conflict country-years between 1989 and 2005. The findings highlight that the risk of conflict recurrence does, indeed, increase with child soldiers who fought in an earlier dispute, but — counter-intuitively — is unlikely to be affected by the presence of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes in post-conflict societies. This research has important implications for the study of armed conflicts, child soldiering and research on post-conflict stability. </jats:p