Julian Le Grand and BILL New
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164373
- eISBN:
- 9781400866298
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164373.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
Should governments save people from themselves? Do governments have the right to influence citizens' behavior related to smoking tobacco, eating too much, not saving enough, drinking alcohol, or ...
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Should governments save people from themselves? Do governments have the right to influence citizens' behavior related to smoking tobacco, eating too much, not saving enough, drinking alcohol, or taking marijuana—or does this create a nanny state, leading to infantilization, demotivation, and breaches in individual autonomy? Looking at examples from both sides of the Atlantic and around the world, this book examines the justifications for, and the prevalence of, government paternalism and considers when intervention might or might not be acceptable. Building on developments in philosophy, behavioral economics, and psychology, the book explores the roles, boundaries, and responsibilities of the government and its citizens. It investigates specific policy areas, including smoking, saving for pensions, and assisted suicide. It then discusses legal restrictions on risky behavior, taxation of harmful activities, and subsidies for beneficial activities. The book pays particular attention to “nudge” or libertarian paternalist proposals that try to change the context in which individuals make decisions so that they make the right ones. It argues that individuals often display “reasoning failure”: an inability to achieve the ends that they set themselves. Such instances are ideal for paternalistic interventions—for though such interventions might impinge on autonomy, the impact can be outweighed by an improvement in well-being. Finally, the book rigorously considers whether the state should guide citizen decision making in positive ways and if so, how this should be achieved.Less
Should governments save people from themselves? Do governments have the right to influence citizens' behavior related to smoking tobacco, eating too much, not saving enough, drinking alcohol, or taking marijuana—or does this create a nanny state, leading to infantilization, demotivation, and breaches in individual autonomy? Looking at examples from both sides of the Atlantic and around the world, this book examines the justifications for, and the prevalence of, government paternalism and considers when intervention might or might not be acceptable. Building on developments in philosophy, behavioral economics, and psychology, the book explores the roles, boundaries, and responsibilities of the government and its citizens. It investigates specific policy areas, including smoking, saving for pensions, and assisted suicide. It then discusses legal restrictions on risky behavior, taxation of harmful activities, and subsidies for beneficial activities. The book pays particular attention to “nudge” or libertarian paternalist proposals that try to change the context in which individuals make decisions so that they make the right ones. It argues that individuals often display “reasoning failure”: an inability to achieve the ends that they set themselves. Such instances are ideal for paternalistic interventions—for though such interventions might impinge on autonomy, the impact can be outweighed by an improvement in well-being. Finally, the book rigorously considers whether the state should guide citizen decision making in positive ways and if so, how this should be achieved.
Julian Le Grand and Bill New
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164373
- eISBN:
- 9781400866298
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164373.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
This chapter summarizes the book's arguments and uses them to address two central questions: whether a paternalistic government is necessarily a nanny state that infantilizes its citizens and ...
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This chapter summarizes the book's arguments and uses them to address two central questions: whether a paternalistic government is necessarily a nanny state that infantilizes its citizens and illegitimately erodes their autonomy, or whether it could be a helpful friend that promotes their well-being without undermining autonomy. The chapter suggests that the book's arguments provide a solid foundation for deciding on the appropriateness of government paternalism in general, of different forms of paternalism, and of the various types of paternalistic interventions. It argues that most of the definitions of paternalism common in the literature are unsatisfactory and proposes an alternative: to define paternalism in relation to reasoning failure. It concludes with the assertion that the state—as a helpful friend rather than a nanny state—can help its citizens achieve their own ends, and thereby promote their own well-being and that of the whole society.Less
This chapter summarizes the book's arguments and uses them to address two central questions: whether a paternalistic government is necessarily a nanny state that infantilizes its citizens and illegitimately erodes their autonomy, or whether it could be a helpful friend that promotes their well-being without undermining autonomy. The chapter suggests that the book's arguments provide a solid foundation for deciding on the appropriateness of government paternalism in general, of different forms of paternalism, and of the various types of paternalistic interventions. It argues that most of the definitions of paternalism common in the literature are unsatisfactory and proposes an alternative: to define paternalism in relation to reasoning failure. It concludes with the assertion that the state—as a helpful friend rather than a nanny state—can help its citizens achieve their own ends, and thereby promote their own well-being and that of the whole society.
Julian Le Grand and Bill New
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164373
- eISBN:
- 9781400866298
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164373.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
This chapter examines the argument that government paternalism harms or inappropriately restricts individual autonomy. More specifically, it considers the criticism that the paternalist government is ...
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This chapter examines the argument that government paternalism harms or inappropriately restricts individual autonomy. More specifically, it considers the criticism that the paternalist government is actually a “nanny state”: the state is seen to treat its citizens as a nanny treats her charges, instead of as autonomous adults. After elaborating on the notion of autonomy, the chapter explores the relationship between paternalism, autonomy, and motivation. It then assesses the claim, associated with soft paternalism, that the individuals affected in fact have little autonomy to be violated. This position is based on the so-called autonomy failure—that is, the justification for paternalism depends in large part on a prior diminution of the individual's capacity for autonomous decision making, so that autonomy is therefore not offended by the intervention. The chapter describes the various circumstances in which this autonomy failure takes place and concludes by analyzing hard paternalism.Less
This chapter examines the argument that government paternalism harms or inappropriately restricts individual autonomy. More specifically, it considers the criticism that the paternalist government is actually a “nanny state”: the state is seen to treat its citizens as a nanny treats her charges, instead of as autonomous adults. After elaborating on the notion of autonomy, the chapter explores the relationship between paternalism, autonomy, and motivation. It then assesses the claim, associated with soft paternalism, that the individuals affected in fact have little autonomy to be violated. This position is based on the so-called autonomy failure—that is, the justification for paternalism depends in large part on a prior diminution of the individual's capacity for autonomous decision making, so that autonomy is therefore not offended by the intervention. The chapter describes the various circumstances in which this autonomy failure takes place and concludes by analyzing hard paternalism.
Christopher Hood, Henry Rothstein, and Robert Baldwin
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199243631
- eISBN:
- 9780191599507
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199243638.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Explores how far variety amongst risk regulation regimes can be explained by ‘market failure’ explanations of risk regulation. A ‘market failure’ approach assumes that state activity will consist of ...
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Explores how far variety amongst risk regulation regimes can be explained by ‘market failure’ explanations of risk regulation. A ‘market failure’ approach assumes that state activity will consist of the minimal level of intervention needed to correct for specific failures in market or tort‐law processes created by risks—i.e. where the costs of individuals informing themselves about risks or opting out of risks through market or civil law methods are very high. This chapter analyses the market failure characteristics of the nine case‐study risks and then compares theoretical expectations with what is observed in practice. Analysis suggests that ‘market failure’ explanations can go some way in explaining observed regime variety, and certainly take us beyond superficial ideas of the ‘nanny state’ or its converse, but cannot predict a substantial proportion of observed features and paradoxes.Less
Explores how far variety amongst risk regulation regimes can be explained by ‘market failure’ explanations of risk regulation. A ‘market failure’ approach assumes that state activity will consist of the minimal level of intervention needed to correct for specific failures in market or tort‐law processes created by risks—i.e. where the costs of individuals informing themselves about risks or opting out of risks through market or civil law methods are very high. This chapter analyses the market failure characteristics of the nine case‐study risks and then compares theoretical expectations with what is observed in practice. Analysis suggests that ‘market failure’ explanations can go some way in explaining observed regime variety, and certainly take us beyond superficial ideas of the ‘nanny state’ or its converse, but cannot predict a substantial proportion of observed features and paradoxes.
Julian Le Grand and Bill New
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164373
- eISBN:
- 9781400866298
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164373.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
This book explores one of the major social questions of the twenty-first century: whether the government should save people from themselves. More specifically, it considers whether there are ...
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This book explores one of the major social questions of the twenty-first century: whether the government should save people from themselves. More specifically, it considers whether there are circumstances when the state, or the government of the state, should intervene to protect individuals from the possibly damaging consequences of their own decisions, even if those decisions affect only themselves, and even if the individuals concerned made the decisions while in full possession of their faculties and of all the relevant information. In other words, whether government paternalism can be justified. The book asks whether allowing the government to be the agent of paternalism creates a “nanny state” that invades the autonomy of the individuals concerned and potentially infantilizing them. Finally, it examines what form a paternalistic intervention should take and to what extent the rationale or consequences of government policies may be regarded as wholly or partly paternalistic.Less
This book explores one of the major social questions of the twenty-first century: whether the government should save people from themselves. More specifically, it considers whether there are circumstances when the state, or the government of the state, should intervene to protect individuals from the possibly damaging consequences of their own decisions, even if those decisions affect only themselves, and even if the individuals concerned made the decisions while in full possession of their faculties and of all the relevant information. In other words, whether government paternalism can be justified. The book asks whether allowing the government to be the agent of paternalism creates a “nanny state” that invades the autonomy of the individuals concerned and potentially infantilizing them. Finally, it examines what form a paternalistic intervention should take and to what extent the rationale or consequences of government policies may be regarded as wholly or partly paternalistic.
Virginia Berridge
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199260300
- eISBN:
- 9780191717376
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199260300.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This book deals with changes in outlook of public health after the Second World War. Focussing on services, vaccination, and dealing with health issues at the local level, it can be seen that public ...
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This book deals with changes in outlook of public health after the Second World War. Focussing on services, vaccination, and dealing with health issues at the local level, it can be seen that public health developed a new discourse post war. Centring on chronic disease, it became concerned with the concept of ‘risk’ and targeted individual behaviour. The mass media and centralized campaigning directed at the whole population replaced local campaigns. Politicians' early worries about the ‘nanny state’ gave way to a desire to inculcate new norms of behaviour. How change was to be achieved became a matter of much debate. Identifying debates between those believing in ‘systematic gradualism’ and those who advocated a more coercive approach, this book uses smoking as a model. Such debates brought into play tensions over the relationships between public health and industrial interests. Health campaigning by new style pressure groups like ASH, which were part state funded, was an important motive force behind the change. In the 1980s and 1990s, public health changed again. Passive smoking and HIV/AIDS brought environmental concerns back into public health, which had disappeared after the 1950s. The ‘rise of addiction’ for smoking demonstrated the power of pharmaceutical interests to define a new ‘pharmaceutical public health’, in which treatment and ‘magic bullets’ were also tactics for prevention. In the early 21st century, public health was to play to complex tensions and conflicting impetuses. This book shows that those tensions were nothing new and outlines their development over the last half century.Less
This book deals with changes in outlook of public health after the Second World War. Focussing on services, vaccination, and dealing with health issues at the local level, it can be seen that public health developed a new discourse post war. Centring on chronic disease, it became concerned with the concept of ‘risk’ and targeted individual behaviour. The mass media and centralized campaigning directed at the whole population replaced local campaigns. Politicians' early worries about the ‘nanny state’ gave way to a desire to inculcate new norms of behaviour. How change was to be achieved became a matter of much debate. Identifying debates between those believing in ‘systematic gradualism’ and those who advocated a more coercive approach, this book uses smoking as a model. Such debates brought into play tensions over the relationships between public health and industrial interests. Health campaigning by new style pressure groups like ASH, which were part state funded, was an important motive force behind the change. In the 1980s and 1990s, public health changed again. Passive smoking and HIV/AIDS brought environmental concerns back into public health, which had disappeared after the 1950s. The ‘rise of addiction’ for smoking demonstrated the power of pharmaceutical interests to define a new ‘pharmaceutical public health’, in which treatment and ‘magic bullets’ were also tactics for prevention. In the early 21st century, public health was to play to complex tensions and conflicting impetuses. This book shows that those tensions were nothing new and outlines their development over the last half century.
Kent F. Schull
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748641734
- eISBN:
- 9781474400886
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748641734.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Chapter Two consists of a general survey of Ottoman prison reform from the 1850s until the end of the empire (circa 1919) from a state-centric perspective. It pays particular attention to the ...
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Chapter Two consists of a general survey of Ottoman prison reform from the 1850s until the end of the empire (circa 1919) from a state-centric perspective. It pays particular attention to the development of programmes and policies, where they originated, the foundations they built for successive reforms, and how these reforms exemplify particular regime ideologies and world views. Woven throughout the chapter are six broad themes associated with Ottoman prison reform that include transformation through continuity and change as opposed to rupture, a focus by reformers on prisoner rehabilitation, administrative centralisation and governmentality, order and discipline, the creation and expansion of an Ottoman ‘nanny state’ in which the government increasingly assumes greater amounts of responsibility for the welfare of its population, and finally, the juxtaposition of prison reform with the reality of prison life. This chapter, therefore lays out the major topics of investigation that constitute the book’s remaining chapters.Less
Chapter Two consists of a general survey of Ottoman prison reform from the 1850s until the end of the empire (circa 1919) from a state-centric perspective. It pays particular attention to the development of programmes and policies, where they originated, the foundations they built for successive reforms, and how these reforms exemplify particular regime ideologies and world views. Woven throughout the chapter are six broad themes associated with Ottoman prison reform that include transformation through continuity and change as opposed to rupture, a focus by reformers on prisoner rehabilitation, administrative centralisation and governmentality, order and discipline, the creation and expansion of an Ottoman ‘nanny state’ in which the government increasingly assumes greater amounts of responsibility for the welfare of its population, and finally, the juxtaposition of prison reform with the reality of prison life. This chapter, therefore lays out the major topics of investigation that constitute the book’s remaining chapters.
Colin Palfrey
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447341239
- eISBN:
- 9781447341277
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447341239.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
Does health promotion have a lasting and positive effect on people? With mounting pressure to reduce costs to the NHS and increasing scepticism of the so-called nanny state, health promotion ...
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Does health promotion have a lasting and positive effect on people? With mounting pressure to reduce costs to the NHS and increasing scepticism of the so-called nanny state, health promotion initiatives are increasingly being criticised as costly and ineffective, with many arguing that health inequalities can only be reduced through radical political and economic change. This book examines the methods used to evaluate the value of health promotion projects and determines whether attempts to change people's lifestyles have proved successful. Taking into account the practical and ethical issues involved in deciding the appropriate approach to take in efforts to reduce health inequalities, the book assesses what might be the best path forward for health promotion.Less
Does health promotion have a lasting and positive effect on people? With mounting pressure to reduce costs to the NHS and increasing scepticism of the so-called nanny state, health promotion initiatives are increasingly being criticised as costly and ineffective, with many arguing that health inequalities can only be reduced through radical political and economic change. This book examines the methods used to evaluate the value of health promotion projects and determines whether attempts to change people's lifestyles have proved successful. Taking into account the practical and ethical issues involved in deciding the appropriate approach to take in efforts to reduce health inequalities, the book assesses what might be the best path forward for health promotion.
