Legal outlier, again? U.S. felon suffrage: comparative and international human rights perspectives

The judiciousness of American felon suffrage policies has long been the subject of scholarly debate, not least due to the large number of affected Americans: an estimated 5.3 million citizens are ineligible to vote as a result of a criminal conviction. This article offers comparative law and international human rights perspectives and aims to make two main contributions to the American and global discourse. After an introduction in Part I, Part II offers comparative law perspectives on challenges to disenfranchisement legislation, juxtaposing U.S. case law against recent judgments rendered by courts in Canada, South Africa, Australia, and by the European Court of Human Rights. The article submits that owing to its unique constitutional stipulations, as well as to a general reluctance to engage foreign legal sources, U.S. jurisprudence lags behind an emerging global jurisprudential trend that increasingly views convicts��� disenfranchisement as a suspect practice and subjects it to judicial review. This transnational judicial discourse follows a democratic paradigm and adopts a ���residual liberty��� approach to criminal justice that considers convicts to be rights-holders. The discourse rejects regulatory justifications for convicts��� disenfranchisement, and instead sees disenfranchisement as a penal measure. In order to determine its suitability as a punishment, the adverse effects of disenfranchisement are weighed against its purported social benefits, using balancing or proportionality review. Part III analyzes the international human rights treaty regime. It assesses, in particular, Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (���ICCPR���), which proclaims that ���every citizen��� has a right to vote without ���unreasonable restrictions.��� The analysis concludes that the phrase ���unreasonable restrictions��� is generally interpreted in a manner which tolerates certain forms of disenfranchisement, whereas other forms (such as life disenfranchisement) may be incompatible with treaty obligations. This article submits that disenfranchisement is a normatively flawed punishment. It fails to treat convicts as politically-equal community members, degrades them, and causes them grave harms both as individuals and as members of social groups. These adverse effects outweigh the purported social benefits of disenfranchisement. Furthermore, as a core component of the right to vote, voter eligibility should cease to be subjected to balancing or proportionality review. The presumed facilitative nature of the right to vote makes suffrage less susceptible to deference-based objections regarding the judicial review of legislation, as well as to cultural relativity objections to further the international standardization of human rights obligations. In view of this, this article proposes the adoption of a new optional protocol to the ICCPR proscribing convicts��� disenfranchisement. The article draws analogies between the proposed protocol and the ICCPR���s ���Optional Protocol Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty.��� If adopted, the proposed protocol would strengthen the current trajectory towards expanding convicts��� suffrage that emanates from the invigorated transnational judicial discourse.

Steering without Circe : attending to reinforcing loops in social systems

Relating system dynamics to the broad systems movement, the key notion is that reinforcing loops deserve no less attention than balancing loops. Three specific propositions follow. First, since reinforcing loops arise in surprising places, investigations of complex systems must consider their possible existence and potential impact. Second, because the strength of reinforcing loops can be misinferred - we include an example from the field of servomechanisms - computer simulation can be essential. Be it project management, corporate growth or inventory oscillation, simulation helps to assess consequences of reinforcing loops and options for interventions. Third, in social systems the consequences of reinforcing loops are not inevitable. Examples concerning globalization illustrate how difficult it might be to challenge such assumptions. However, system dynamics and ideas from contemporary social theory help to show that even the most complex social systems are, in principle, subject to human influence. In conclusion, by employing these ideas, by attending to reinforcing as well as balancing loops, system dynamics work can improve the understanding of social systems and illuminate our choices when attempting to steer them.

Autistic traits modulate mimicry of social but not nonsocial rewards

Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) are associated with diminished responsiveness to social stimuli, and especially to social rewards such as smiles. Atypical responsiveness to social rewards, which reinforce socially appropriate behavior in children, can potentially lead to a cascade of deficits in social behavior. Individuals with ASC often show diminished spontaneous mimicry of social stimuli in a natural setting. In the general population, mimicry is modulated both by the reward value and the sociality of the stimulus (i.e., whether the stimulus is perceived to belong to a conspecific or an inanimate object). Since empathy and autistic traits are distributed continuously in the general population, this study aimed to test if and how these traits modulated automatic mimicry of rewarded social and nonsocial stimuli. High and low rewards were associated with human and robot hands using a conditioned learning paradigm. Thirty-six participants from the general population then completed a mimicry task involving performing a prespecified hand movement which was either compatible or incompatible with a hand movement presented to the participant. High autistic traits (measured using the Autism Spectrum Quotient, AQ) predicted lesser mimicry of high-reward than low-reward conditioned human hands, whereas trait empathy showed an opposite pattern of correlations. No such relations were observed for high-reward vs. low-reward conditioned robot hands. These results demonstrate how autistic traits and empathy modulate the effects of reward on mimicry of social compared to nonsocial stimuli. This evidence suggests a potential role for the reward system in underlying the atypical social behavior in individuals with ASC, who constitute the extreme end of the spectrum of autistic traits.

Reflexive stasis, scale reversal and the myth of modern cinema

This chapter looks at three films whose Portuguese urban settings offer a privileged ground for the re-evaluation of the classical-modern-postmodern categorisation with regard to cinema. They are The State of Things (Wim Wenders, 1982), Foreign Land (Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas, 1995) and Mysteries of Lisbon (Ra��l Ruiz, 2010). In them, the city is the place where characters lose their bearings, names, identities, and where vicious circles, mirrors, replicas and mise-en-abyme bring the vertiginous movement that had characterised the modernist city of 1920s cinema to a halt. Curiously, too, it is the place where so-called postmodern aesthetics finally finds an ideal home in self-ironical tales that expose the film medium���s narrative shortcomings. Intermedial devices, whether Polaroid stills or a cardboard cut-out theatre, are then resorted to in order to turn a larger-than-life reality into framed, manageable narrative miniatures. The scaled-down real, however, turns out to be a disappointing simulacrum, a memory ersatz that unveils the illusory character of cosmopolitan teleology. In my approach, I start by examining the intertwined and transnational genesis of these films that resulted in three correlated visions of the end of history and of storytelling, typical of postmodern aesthetics. I move on to consider intermedia miniaturism as an attempt to stop time within movement, an equation that inevitably brings to mind the Deleuzian movement-time binary, which I revisit in an attempt to disentangle it from the classical-modern opposition. I conclude by proposing reflexive stasis and scale reversal as the common denominator across all modern projects, hence, perhaps, a more advantageous model than modernity to signify artistic and political values.

Past mobilities: archaeological approaches to movement and mobility

The new mobilities paradigm has yet to have the same impact on archaeology as it has in other disciplines in the social sciences ��� on geography, sociology and anthropology in particular ��� yet mobility is fundamental to archaeology: all people move. Moving away from archaeology���s traditional focus upon place or location, this volume treats mobility as a central theme in archaeology. The chapters are wide-ranging and methodological as well as theoretical, focusing on the flows of people, ideas, objects and information in the past; it also focuses on archaeology���s distinctiveness. Drawing on a wealth of archaeological evidence for movement, from paths, monuments, rock art and boats, to skeletal and DNA evidence, Past Mobilities presents research from a range of examples from around the world to explore the relationship between archaeology and movement, thus adding an archaeological voice to the broader mobilities discussion. As such, they will be of interest not only to archaeologists and historians, but also to sociologists, geographers and anthropologists.

White youth: the Far Right, Punk and British youth culture

���White Youth��� recovers and explains the relationship between far-right organisations and British youth culture in the period between 1977 and 1987. In particular, it concentrates on the cultural spaces opened up by punk and the attempts made by the National Front and British Movement to claim them as conduits for racist and/or ultra-nationalist politics. The article is built on an empirical basis, using archival material and a historical methodology chosen to develop a history ���from below��� that takes due consideration of the socio-economic and political forces that inform its wider context. Its focus is designed to map shifting cultural and political influences across the far right, assessing the extent to which extremist organisations proved able to adopt or utilise youth cultural practice as a means of recruitment and communication. Today the British far right is in political and organisational disarray. Nonetheless, residues tied to the cultural initiatives devised in the 1970s���80s remain, be they stylistic, nostalgic or points of connection forged to connect a transnational music scene.

Librarians as Advocates for Social Media Privacy

Librarians must continue their traditional roles as privacy rights activists and intellectual freedom upholders into the digital age, and across electronic information sources, including social media fora. Social media is quickly becoming a major source of information and center for information seeking, and librarians have an opportunity to promote and help shape social media policies that protect users��� privacy and assure that users can seek information without inhibition. One way librarians can be involved in the promotion of online privacy is by joining the social media user rights movement and advocating terms of use agreements that protect information seekers that follow the "Privacy by Design" model created by Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D.

Flerspr��kighet i ett globaliserat samh��lle : uppfattningar om minoritetsspr��ket som framtidsresurs

Multilingualism in a globalized society: The minority language as a future resource In this article the author investigates how the globalization of society is used as a reference in the discussion of future opportunities among minority language speaking youths in Sweden. A spatial typology of four different types of societies are constructed, the national, the multicultural, the diasporic and the transnational society, all giving the expression of different levels of globalization. These are used as layers of reference put upon the empirical data, functioning as a raster on a screen. The result is a pattern of expressions in three societal dimensions, the economic, the social and the cultural dimension. The findings of the investigation show that the minority language as a future resource of opportunities is anchored in all four societal types and in all three dimensions. In the empirical data (the youths interviewed) the ability of anchoring (finding stories, opportunities etc.) is less frequent when it comes to the diasporic and the transnational as a foundation for opportunity and more frequent when it comes to the national and the multicultural.

Framv��xten av sociala r��relsers globala politik

The emergence of social movements��� global politics Globalization not only transforms capital, media and technology, but also creates conditions for global politics, beyond ���international politics���. New transnational public arenas emerge, where a broad range of actors articulate demands and interests. A globalized political infrastructure arise from the combination of the (1) internal transnational mobilization within two opposing global networks: movements��� World Social Forum and political economy elites��� World Economic Forum; and a global connection with (2) regular dramatic street protests during multilateral regime summits; and (3) a permanent and virtual network of information communication technology that enables new forms of action, organization and mobilization. Together these arenas make participatory and global politics possible for social movements. Regime confrontations are formed by the new global media of ICT in a way that transforms the struggle into a political drama, where activists��� diversity of tactics ��� The Majority Drama, The Carnival, and The David-Goliath Drama ��� creates both competition and collaboration. These arenas are only emerging and this new form of global political structure creates both possibilities and problems. Still, a unique potential to democratize politics is created.

Tillh��righetens gr��nser : Internationell adoption och ursprungets betydelse i svensk utredningsretorik

Boundaries of belonging: transnational adoption and the significance of origin in Swedish official rhetoric This article explores how the category of ���transnational adoptees��� in Sweden is constructed in two Official Government Reports (SOU). The article is inspired by poststructuralist perspectives on welfare and social categorization, and draws from a postcolonial and feminist theoretical framework. ���Transnational adoptees��� as a category is understood as constituted through discourse, and given meaning in different contexts. In the reports, a fundamental importance is attached to the fact that individuals with a background as transnationally adopted have been separated from their birth family and country of birth. It is argued that mental problems and a split identity are consequences to be expected from the separation. (Re)connection to the origin is therefore considered to be crucial for the well-being of the group. The article concludes that this line of reasoning is based on a specific logic of blood and roots, in which ���transnational adoptees��� are understood as belonging to their countries of birth, rather than Sweden. The logic of blood and roots can be read as a form of racialized othering, but also as a discursive exclusion of ���transnational adoptees��� from Sweden as an imagined, national community.

Dialectics of Diaspora Space: a Study of Contemporary, Diasporic, South Asian Fiction

In light of these continuing debates concerning immigration, national identity and belonging, re-examinations of immigrant and ethnic communities, often referred to as ���diaspora,��� have become increasingly popular and prudent. Khachig Tololian, editor of Diaspora magazine, calls diaspora ���exemplary communities of the transnational moment.���5 In an increasingly globalized world, where labor, capital, and resources are passed fluidly from continent to continent, diaspora are created by relocation or displacement of immigrant workers and their descendents.6 For these unskilled, immigrant laborers, middle class immigrants, and the children of both groups, adaptation to the culture, society, and life in a new ���host��� country can be difficult, to say the least. So, in response to a new cultural landscape and a tenuous sense belonging, as well as to maintain a connection with a shared past, citizens of the world���s numerous diaspora replicate linguistic, cultural, and social norms, creating their own ���cultural space[s]��� that mirror and often replace a past relationship to their land of origin, or ���home���.

Din��mica de institucionaliza����o de pr��ticas sociais: estudo da responsabilidade social no campo das organiza����es banc��rias

The scope of this theses is to understand the dynamics of the institutionalization of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within the Field of Banking Organizations in Brazil. Using the social analysis model put forward by Boltanski and Chiapello (1999) and reverting to the conceptual basis of the institutional approach and using Bourdieu��s notion of interest (1996), we arrive at an analytical model that enabled us to assess CSR as part of a movement of displacement of capitalism. The theory we propose here is that with the institutionalization of CSR, actions are justified in terms of the common good, being legitimized by structural confirmations and arrangements and, at the same time, heeding the inherent interests of the Field. The means used for comprehension of the dynamics of the institutionalization of CSR were: (1) the analysis of the construction of the phenomenon of CSR, which enabled us to identify critical factors and events, leaders in Brazil and associated ratification of the institutionalization of this social practice; (2) the description of the Field of Banking Organizations and the identification of the elements of its CSR in History, which are essential steps for understanding the justifications for insertion of the Field in the movement towards CSR; (3) the identification of key players in the institutionalization of the social practice within the Field, as well as the categorization of practical actions considered socially responsible to be found in the organizations researched, analyzing them in terms of justifications and interests; (4) the analysis of the dissemination and sedimentation of structural arrangements linked to CSR in the organizations of the Field, such as specific areas created to deal with CSR, social reports and organizational websites. The field research assessed some 30 organizations and included documentary analysis and interviews. We noted that, from being a marginal and isolated action, over the course of the past decade CSR has become a structured action in banking organizations, while at the same time becoming transformed into a social value, capable of contributing to the legitimacy of the Field. In this respect, research showed that retail banks are those that are inserted in the movement towards CSR, which ratifies the thesis of the phenomenon as displacement of capitalism.

Responsabilidade corporativa: entre o social e o regulado estudo de um setor da siderurgia brasileira

Este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar as dimens��es de responsabilidade corporativa "regulada" e a responsabilidade corporativa "social", explorando o conceito de responsabilidade social em rela����o ��s pr��ticas de responsabilidade social e regulada, bem como sua aplica����o no ramo sider��rgico brasileiro, especificamente nas seguintes empresas: Companhia Sider��rgica Nacional, CSN e Companhia Sider��rgica Paulista, COSIP A. Em linhas gerais, os resultados chamaram a aten����o para o fato de que, em grande parte, o que se vem chamando de responsabilidade social, n��o passa do cumprimento ��s determina����es legais. Dessa forma, entender a responsabilidade que as empresas t��m para o desenvolvimento de uma sociedade requer verificar em que medida as organiza����es est��o contribuindo para um desenvolvimento econ��mico e social, que leve em conta no����es de sustentabilidade e que v��o al��m das determina����es pautadas pela legisla����o vigente. No tratamento dos dados coletados nas entrevistas utilizou-se an��lise do discurso como uma forma de entender as rela����es intertextuais e interdiscursivas, ou seja, compreender as disfuncionalidades entre o que se diz e o que se faz. Al��m disso, serviram de suporte para an��lise pesquisas documental e bibliogr��fica do tema em quest��o.

Um estudo explorat��rio sobre as pr��ticas socio-ambientais de empresas multinacionales no setor de minera����o do Peru

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo conhecer as pr��ticas socio-ambientais no setor de minera����o do Peru. Setor que esta dominada pela presen��a de empresas transnacionais que se encontram com duas realidades de regulamenta����o de meio ambientais muito discordantes, a primeira, as normas corporativas onde se encontra a matriz e, a segunda, a regulamenta����o do pa��s onde esta a subsidiaria, neste caso o Peru. Com a internacionaliza����o do tema socio-ambiental, se d�� a devida import��ncia ao tema da Responsabilidade Social Corporativa, j�� que as empresas transnacionais est��o pressionadas a manter uma boa imagem internacional, que pode ser vulner��vel a criticas negativas em rela����o �� heterogeneidade, j�� que suas praticas socio-ambientais t��m que ser as mesmas em qualquer parte do mundo. Na presente disserta����o se enfatiza as praticas socio-ambientais das empresas com rela����o ��s comunidades circundantes, sendo um tema pouco difundido na minera����o peruana. As desconformidades das comunidades frente aos projetos de minera����o constituem o maior problema social atual, gerando a paralisa����o das atividades nesse setor. O Peru n��o tem Minist��rio do Meio Ambiente, embora exista um Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente (CONAM) que �� um organismo p��blico descentralizado e, esta aderido ao ��mbito da Presid��ncia do Conselho de Ministros. Nesta investiga����o se analisa a fun����o do Minist��rio de Energia e Minas do Peru, j�� que ele �� um ente que incentiva a promo����o de investimento privada no setor de energia e minas e, por outro lado, mediante a Dire����o Geral de Assuntos Ambientais do Minist��rio de Energia e Minas aplica a guia de gest��o ambiental emitidas pelo CONAM. Finalmente, no estudo de caso, s��o analisadas duas empresas transnacionais maiores do setor de minera����o peruano, aplicando entrevistas e um question��rio com perguntas abertas para poder conhecer suas praticas socio-ambientais. Desenvolve-se uma an��lise dos resultados obtidos no estudo de caso, utilizando o referencial te��rico para situar a realidade peruana, numa realidade internacional. Pelos dados obtidos, podemos interpretar que as empresas estudadas n��o se encaixam totalmente nos par��metros internacionais do auto-regulamenta����o. Observamos a falta de pol��ticas p��blicas s��cio-ambiental, �� por esse motivo, a conclus��o desta investiga����o prop��e a cria����o e aplica����o de pol��ticas p��blicas a dois problemas socio-ambientais, o primeiro, a gera����o de emprego indireto e a segunda, a recupera����o dos passivos ambientais.