Theorising Disability: Beyond Common Sense

This article seeks to introduce the topic of disability to political theory via a discussion of some of the literature produced by disability theorists. The author argues that these more radical approaches conceptualise disability in ways that conflict with ‘common-sense’ notions of disability that tend to underpin political theoretical considerations of the topic. Furthermore, the author suggests that these more radical conceptualisations have profound implications for current debates on social justice, equality and citizenship that highlight the extent to which these notions are also currently underpinned by ‘common-sense’ notions of ‘normality’

Trouble in Paradise - A disabled person's right to the satisfaction of a self-defined need:Some conceptual and practical problems

This paper questions the usefulness of the rights-based approach to ameliorating the social situation of disabled people in Britain and advances two criticisms. First, that rights and self-de? ned needs have been under-theorised by disability theorists to the extent that they have insuf? ciently appreciated the problems that these approaches pose. The paper suggests that rights to appropriate resources to satisfy self-de? ned needs will generate vast numbers of competing rights claims and that the resulting tendency of rights to con? ict has been under-appreciated. Secondly, that there has been little consideration of how these con? icts might be reconciled. The ? rst two sections of the paper look at the concepts of ascribed and self-de? ned needs, respectively, whilst the ? nal one looks at some of the problems of the rights approach and some of the dif? culties of making self-de? ned need the basis of rights claims

Ethical Assumptions in Economic Theory: Some Lessons from the History of Credit and Bankruptcy

This paper evaluates the economic assumptions of economic theory via an examination of the capitalist transformation of creditor–debtor relations in the 18th century. This transformation enabled masses of people to obtain credit without moral opprobrium or social subordination. Classical 18th century economics had the ethical concepts to appreciate these facts. Ironically, contemporary economic theory cannot. I trace this fault to its abstract representations of freedom, efficiency, and markets. The virtues of capitalism lie in the concrete social relations and social meanings through which capital and commodities are exchanged. Contrary to laissez faire capitalism, the conditions for sustaining these concrete capitalist formations require limits on freedom of contract and the scope of private property rights.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42724/1/10677_2004_Article_2202.pd

In search of green political economy: steering markets, innovation and the case of the zero carbon homes agenda in England

Advocates of a democratic ‘Green state’ challenge Hayekian free-market environmentalist proposals for a minimal state and the emphasis of ecological modernisation discourses on technological innovation as the primary route towards ecological sustainability. However, these more strongly pro-market traditions raise important questions and provide useful insights concerning the challenges of translating the political ideology of ‘ecologism’ into practical proposals for democratic governance. Hayekian thought raises vital questions concerning the capacity of political processes to address complex challenges of coordinating the formulation and delivery of the sustainability objectives of ecologism. Scholarship on ecological modernisation and the ‘new regulation’ offer important insights into how shifting interrelationships between the state and private sector in the policy process might enable this challenge to be more effectively addressed. These areas for further developing proposals for a Green state are illustrated here through a case study of the zero carbon homes policy agenda in England

Neoliberalism as a Political Rationality: Australian Public Policy Since the 1980s

Since the 1980s, a remarkable transformation has occurred in the rationale that informs public policy in Australia. This transformation reflects a fundamental change in the way national economies and populations are conceived by policy makers and has led to the emergence of new strategies of governance as a consequence. We argue that this change of direction in Australian public policy may be best thought of as a specific neoliberal political rationality. The first section of the paper outlines changes to conceptions of the economy and subjectivity which are associated with neoliberalism as a political rationality. The second part of the paper examines the articulation and implementation of neoliberalism in Australia over the last couple of decades