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Social Justice as Sufficiency for All

Joseph Chan

in Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times

This chapter asserts that the principles of resource distribution in Menciuscan be conceived as principles of sufficiency. The aim of social justice, according to this perfectionist view, is to ... More

This chapter asserts that the principles of resource distribution in Menciuscan be conceived as principles of sufficiency. The aim of social justice, according to this perfectionist view, is to enable every member of a community to live a good life. What is morally significant is whether each person has sufficient resources to lead a good life, not whether each has the same amount. The Confucian conception of the good life sets a rough standard for sufficiency—namely, the amount a person generally needs to live a decent material life and feel secure enough to pursue the higher, ethical life. On the matter of distribution of resources, Confucian justice is not of an egalitarian but a sufficientarian view.Less

Size, Scope, and Bias: What Differentiates Local Electoral Politics?

J. Eric Oliver, Shang E. Ha, and Zachary Callen

in Local Elections and the Politics of Small-Scale Democracy

This chapter outlines a relatively simple way of understanding the dynamics of local democracy. Across the universe of democracies, three characteristics are the most powerful and widely applicable ... More

This chapter outlines a relatively simple way of understanding the dynamics of local democracy. Across the universe of democracies, three characteristics are the most powerful and widely applicable predictors of their electoral politics: size, scope, and bias. Once we know a democracy's population (size), the magnitude of its constitutive powers (scope), and how uniformly it distributes its resources (bias), we can predict a great deal about who votes, who runs for office, and whether factors like incumbency, parties, ideology, issues, interest groups, and candidate charisma shape vote choices. In other words, we can best predict how people will vote in a particular election if we first understand what is distinctive about that democracy's politics and, if we know its size, scope, and bias, we can predict what those electoral politics are like. The political dynamics of size, scope, and bias are examined in turn.Less

Wealth and Poverty in America: The Economic Condition of Children

Duncan Lindsey

in The Welfare of Children

This chapter analyzes the distribution of resources in the U.S. and other industrialized market economies, identifying those economic and social assumptions that drive our free market system. America ... More

This chapter analyzes the distribution of resources in the U.S. and other industrialized market economies, identifying those economic and social assumptions that drive our free market system. America is a rich and bountiful country with enough resources to provide for all its citizens. Its free market capitalist system has produced enormous wealth. Yet, in spite of this great wealth there is also great poverty. One of the key reasons for this poverty is the vast political and economic inequality, which creates a condition in which the least powerful are the ones most vulnerable — in this instance, the children of single parents.Less

Distributing resources

Tony Travers

in Making social policy work

This chapter reviews the development and use of funding formulae for distributing resources geographically between different local jurisdictions in the UK. It traces the historical roots of today's ... More

This chapter reviews the development and use of funding formulae for distributing resources geographically between different local jurisdictions in the UK. It traces the historical roots of today's systems back to the ideas of the Webbs and others in the early 20th century, forward to the changes in local government finance proposed in the Lyons report early in 2007. It describes the way resources are distributed for health, education, housing, local government, and between regions and territories. Formula-based grant arrangements for achieving this are more emphasised as policy instruments in England than in many other countries, in part as an attempt to compensate for the relatively high levels of personal income inequality in this country, and because demands for public services that achieve equal outcomes have grown. However, the advent of quasi-markets, the need to change behaviour in relation to the environment, and the need to provide different incentives for providers may mean that the evolution of equalising funding formulae in Britain has already passed its zenith. Resource distribution in the 21st century is already evolving beyond the settled model of the latter years of the 20th, and the delivery of public services will change accordingly.Less

How Economic Shocks Change Income Distribution

Rebecca M. Blank

in Changing Inequality

This chapter evaluates the evidence from past history, largely but not entirely within the United States, to indicate how major economic shocks appear to affect income distribution over time. It ... More

This chapter evaluates the evidence from past history, largely but not entirely within the United States, to indicate how major economic shocks appear to affect income distribution over time. It states that economic shocks include catastrophic events that occur at a particular point in time and may also refer to major economic changes that unfold more slowly over time, such as new technologies that expand productivity and create new opportunities for wealth creating, or the opening up of new frontiers and the availability of additional land and mineral resources. It explains that historical evidence indicates that the effects of a given economic shock are rarely predetermined but may be heavily influenced by the political institutions and the political economy of the nation when the shock occurs. It discusses that large economic shocks often influence public attitudes and political structures, creating new patterns in the distribution of economic resources as well as political access.Less

Ways to Reduce Inequality (and Their Limits)

Rebecca M. Blank

in Changing Inequality

This chapter focuses on the current economic environment and looks at some simple simulations that indicate how particular behavioral, economic, demographic, or policy changes might alter the current ... More

This chapter focuses on the current economic environment and looks at some simple simulations that indicate how particular behavioral, economic, demographic, or policy changes might alter the current distribution of economic resources. It notes that most of the changes are focused on raising incomes among those at the bottom of the distribution. It also explores the demographic changes that would increase marriage and reduce the number of single persons and single-headed families in the population. It examines policy changes that would redistribute resources and raise the incomes of poor workers and poor families. It demonstrates that none of the changes, by themselves, would have major effects on income distribution, but a number of them together could indeed produce both higher income levels and a more equal distribution of economic resources.Less

Energy Supply Planning in a Distributed Energy Resources World

LeRoy Paddock and Karyan San Martano

in Innovation in Energy Law and Technology: Dynamic Solutions for Energy Transitions

Traditional electricity planning in the United States has typically been focused on forecasting future demand and identifying the need for new large generating facilities that involve one-way flows ... More

Traditional electricity planning in the United States has typically been focused on forecasting future demand and identifying the need for new large generating facilities that involve one-way flows from central power plants to customers. However, legal innovation has incentivized the deployment of more energy resources at the customer end of the electricity network and technological innovation has facilitated rapid expansion in the number and capacity of these distributed energy resources. These changes now require innovation in the type of planning for future energy resources that must be employed to ensure an efficient and reliable electric energy network. Deployment of the rapidly growing number of distributed energy resources —solar and wind generation, combined heat and power, fuel cells, battery storage, demand response and energy efficiency—is facilitated by an increasingly smart grid. This chapter proposes a new, distributed resource-planning process to better integrate all of these distributed resources into the grid.Less

Some Historical Background

in Shifting Ethnic Boundaries and Inequality in Israel: Or, How the Polish Peddler Became a German Intellectual

This chapter sketches out the history of the Israeli state and discusses some details about the labor market in the 1950s. It establishes that labor market conditions in the 1950s were such that ... More

This chapter sketches out the history of the Israeli state and discusses some details about the labor market in the 1950s. It establishes that labor market conditions in the 1950s were such that there were plenty of white collar spaces over which new immigrants could compete. However, several dynamics made these positions hard to get anyway. These included the entry into the labor market of men who had been in school abroad and the little room to work in sales in Israel, relative to the number who had worked in sales abroad. This chapter also considers immigration, settlement, and the distribution of housing and other necessities.Less

Sovereignty after Empire: The Colonial Roots of Central Asian Authoritarianism

David Lewis

in Sovereignty After Empire: Comparing the Middle East and Central Asia

This chapter discusses whether Central Asian authoritarianism can be viewed in some way as a legacy of empire, while accepting that many other factors have contributed to the emergence of the present ... More

This chapter discusses whether Central Asian authoritarianism can be viewed in some way as a legacy of empire, while accepting that many other factors have contributed to the emergence of the present political systems that dominate the region. The historical legacy of empire, particularly that form of empire seen in the Soviet period in Central Asia, has contributed to the emergence of authoritarian political systems in two important ways. First, the nature of sovereignty that emerged in the post-Soviet period in Central Asia owes much to the attitudes of Soviet-era national elites towards the borders of the Soviet republics in Central Asia, which emerged partly as a result of deep involvement in the bureaucratic politics of resources in the Soviet period. This, in turn, contributed to the emergence of a type of authoritarian regime that reflected this particular understanding of sovereignty. Second, the nature of authoritarianism in Central Asia — its neo-patrimonialism in particular — stems in part from the informal structures of social organizations and resource distribution that developed in Soviet Central Asia in the 1970s and 1980s. To a certain extent these mirrored political and social developments in other parts of the Soviet Union, but in Central Asia they were framed within a particular discourse about ethnicity and a state system which, despite its anti-imperial rhetoric, was often characterized by colonial principles and discourses. In this sense, authoritarianism in Central Asia becomes more comprehensible when viewed through a post-colonial lens.Less

Building Networks, Building Capacity: The Daphne Program

Celeste Montoya

in From Global to Grassroots: The European Union, Transnational Advocacy, and Combating Violence against Women

This chapter addresses capacity-building strategies undertaken by the EU, in particular the European Commission’s Daphne Program. Through qualitative and social network analysis, this chapter ... More

This chapter addresses capacity-building strategies undertaken by the EU, in particular the European Commission’s Daphne Program. Through qualitative and social network analysis, this chapter demonstrates how the EU has helped build local capacity through the distribution of important resources and the facilitation of transnational networking. This chapter also addresses the shortcomings of capacity-building strategies. It discusses the highly competitive and bureaucratic nature of EU programs and questions to what extent these programs aid domestic advocacy. Are resources distributed to the organizations best equipped to combat gender violence or only those that are equipped to write grants? Does funding contribute to NGO-ization and the weakening of the movement against gender violence?Less

Justice, Profound Neurological Injury, and Brain Death

Michael Nair-Collins and James M. Hitt

in Medicine and Social Justice: Essays on the Distribution of Health Care

This chapter examines issues of social justice as it pertains to the provision of health care for individuals suffering from profound neurological injury and brain death. Advances in neurology enable ... More

This chapter examines issues of social justice as it pertains to the provision of health care for individuals suffering from profound neurological injury and brain death. Advances in neurology enable detection of the presence or absence of activity in different parts of the brain, allowing doctors to sustain the lives of patients whose neurological damage prevents consciousness. These advances have, in turn, raised questions about what sort of care is owed to such individuals, for how long, and why. The chapter first provides a medical background on coma, brain death, vegetative state, minimally conscious state, and locked-in state before discussing the social and ethical implications of sustaining a patient like Terri Schiavo, including the justice of abiding by or rejecting the values of people who do not accept the brain death standard. It also considers the role of efficacy in resource distribution.Less

How the Polish Peddler Became a German Intellectual: Orientalism, Jewish Identity, and the Antecedents to Social Closure in Israel

in Shifting Ethnic Boundaries and Inequality in Israel: Or, How the Polish Peddler Became a German Intellectual

This chapter uses the historical record to find an alternate explanation for the specifics of Israeli resource distribution. It argues that the goal of westernization originated in the Enlightenment, ... More

This chapter uses the historical record to find an alternate explanation for the specifics of Israeli resource distribution. It argues that the goal of westernization originated in the Enlightenment, spread at least to the elite of Jewish communities around the world, became embedded in the Zionist project, and can account for patterns of inclusion and exclusion among Jewish communities prior to the immigration to Israel. Given its explanatory power for Diaspora dynamics, this chapter contends, westernization projects are likely to have explanatory power for Israeli ethnic and national dynamics as well.Less

Socio-spatial organization and spatial ecology

M.G.L. Mills and M.E.J. Mills

in Kalahari Cheetahs: Adaptations to an arid region

Home ranges of males (1204 km2) and females (1510 km2) were similar. Female home range size was positively related to the dispersion of prey and generally, but not exclusively, they displayed home ... More

Home ranges of males (1204 km2) and females (1510 km2) were similar. Female home range size was positively related to the dispersion of prey and generally, but not exclusively, they displayed home range fidelity. Overlap between female home ranges was extensive, although they rarely met up. Male home ranges overlapped extensively and there was no difference in size between coalition and single males. Males overcame the problem of scent marking a large home range by concentrating scent marks in core areas. Generally female cheetah home range size is affected by resource productivity, although where prey are migratory, or in fenced reserves where movements are constricted, and areas where disturbance is severe, this may be different. Southern Kalahari males apparently need large home ranges to increase the likelihood of locating wide-ranging and sporadically receptive females. Mean dispersal distance for subadult males (96 km) was further than for females (39 km).Less

Welfare States and Welfare Attitudes

Stefan Svallfors (ed.)

in Contested Welfare States: Welfare Attitudes in Europe and Beyond

This chapter introduces the main themes of the book and provides background on welfare states and welfare attitudes. The book analyzes and reports results from a comprehensive research program on ... More

This chapter introduces the main themes of the book and provides background on welfare states and welfare attitudes. The book analyzes and reports results from a comprehensive research program on citizens' attitudes toward welfare policies across European countries. It also offers a novel comparison with the case of the United States, putting into further perspective the potential regional distinctiveness of the European context as a whole. Under the heading of welfare attitudes, the discussion occupies normative orientations toward the distribution of resources and life chances and toward public policies aimed at ameliorating adverse conditions.Less

The Microeconomic Causes and Consequences of Genocides and Mass Atrocities

Patricia Justino

in Economic Aspects of Genocides, Other Mass Atrocities, and Their Preventions

This chapter proposes a conceptual framework to understand the economic causes and effects of genocides and mass atrocities at the level of individuals, households, and communities (the microlevel). ... More

This chapter proposes a conceptual framework to understand the economic causes and effects of genocides and mass atrocities at the level of individuals, households, and communities (the microlevel). It is argued that these effects are largely shaped by their distributional dimension. Targeting of individuals in cases of mass atrocities often is the result of either perceived or real conflicts over the distribution of power and resources in society. This targeting, in turn, may result in profound changes in the way in which resources and power will be distributed across society. The chapter reviews recent advances in the literature on the microeconomic causes and consequences of armed conflict in general, particularly by drawing on the civil war–related literature. It then grafts that discussion onto the distributional dimensions of mass atrocities such as genocides and concludes by proposing new directions for research.Less

Scaling

Graham K. Taylor and Adrian L. R. Thomas

in Evolutionary Biomechanics

This chapter explores the ubiquitous phenomenon of scaling in biology through the lenses of biomechanics and statistics. Pragmatic approaches to answering questions in comparative biology often ... More

This chapter explores the ubiquitous phenomenon of scaling in biology through the lenses of biomechanics and statistics. Pragmatic approaches to answering questions in comparative biology often involve summarizing complex phenomena by the relationship between two key variables. For example, the multitude of factors affecting metabolic rate have often been condensed into a simple scaling relationship relating metabolic rate to body mass. This procedure is fraught with difficulties, especially if — as is often the case in biomechanics — a statistical relationship between variables is mistakenly interpreted as a functional one. The obvious difficulty here is that most physical relationships in biology are inherently multi-dimensional. Summarizing the relationship between two physical variables as a simple power law relationship therefore means that some, or even most, of the scatter about the line of best fit must inevitably result from the physical incompleteness associated with projecting multi-dimensional data onto two dimensions. This component of the scatter represents not measurement error, but equation error, resulting from a deficiency in the fitted equation. The chapter discusses appropriate methods of statistical analysis in this case, and concludes that the errors-in-variables models that have been recommended for estimating scaling relationships in biomechanics are not the appropriate mode of analysis. The West-Brown-Enquist model of metabolic scaling is re-derived in a simple and intuitive fashion, and is used to illustrate the statistical and conceptual difficulties inherent in any bivariate scaling analysis of a physical relationship that actually involves many more than two variables.Less

The United Kingdom Context

Anne Slowther

in Fair Resource Allocation and Rationing at the Bedside

The UK health care system has at its core a universal, publicly funded National Health Service (NHS). Historically the UK has spent less on health care than many other countries. Changes to the ... More

The UK health care system has at its core a universal, publicly funded National Health Service (NHS). Historically the UK has spent less on health care than many other countries. Changes to the health service since 1990 have brought increased funding and a focus on the need for explicit and transparent decision making regarding allocation of limited resources, as manifest in the work of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Primary care physicians (general practitioners) have been in a unique position to contribute to decisions on commissioning/purchasing care for their patients and their local populations. However, shifting responsibility locally can potentially lead to geographical inequities in health care provision. This concern may account for the response of UK physicians in the Values at the Bedside study who felt that health care resources were not distributed fairly and that evidence-based practice serves as the most acceptable cost-containment policy.Less

Legacies

Stephen E. Gottlieb

in Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and the Breakdown of American Politics

To guarantee a future for democracy in America, the founding generation wanted to nurture democracy with a republican spirit—egalitarian and dedicated to public welfare. They wanted to enable ... More

To guarantee a future for democracy in America, the founding generation wanted to nurture democracy with a republican spirit—egalitarian and dedicated to public welfare. They wanted to enable democracy by encouraging a broad distribution of resources; controlling those under arms; and unification across the diversity of the young immigrant nation. Their primary tools were new systems of education, commerce, finance, law, land, and settlement.Less

A Map of Humanitarian INGO Political Ethics

Jennifer C. Rubenstein

in Between Samaritans and States: The Political Ethics of Humanitarian INGOs

Chapter 3 offers a “map” of three central features of humanitarian INGOs’ ethical and political terrain: that they sometimes engage in governance functions, albeit to a limited degree; that they are ... More

Chapter 3 offers a “map” of three central features of humanitarian INGOs’ ethical and political terrain: that they sometimes engage in governance functions, albeit to a limited degree; that they are highly political, even when they do not intend to be, and that they are often “second-best” actors, in particular compared to domestic governments and NGOs. Chapter 3 argues that this map is not only more descriptively accurate than the eight approaches to conceptualizing and normatively evaluating humanitarian INGOs discussed in the previous chapter, it also highlights more important considerations. The last section shows how this map provides a basis for recognizing and conceptualizing four key ethical predicaments that humanitarian INGOs regularly face.Less