M.A. Political Science
http://hdl.handle.net/10464/2248
2024-03-18T22:53:34ZOnline Anonymity and the Kantian Publicity Principle: Can the Internet Solve the Paradox of Tyranny?
http://hdl.handle.net/10464/5275
Online Anonymity and the Kantian Publicity Principle: Can the Internet Solve the Paradox of Tyranny?
Chesshire, Hugo
Immanuel Kant’s publicity maxim states that other-regarding actions are wrong if their maxim is not compatible with their being made public. This has the effect of forbidding dissent or rebellion against tyranny, since rebels cannot make their intentions and plans public. However, new internet technologies offer public speech from behind the “shield” of anonymity, allowing dissent to be public but preventing reprisals from tyrants. This thesis examines not only this possibility, but the value of internet-based discursive spaces for politics, their viability as a mode for political communication, and their implications for Classical and Enlightenment approaches to politics and intellectual virtue. Anonymous internet communications favour logos-based reasoning and discourse, which, in the liberal-democratic tradition, is preferable to phronesis and its attendant elitism and chauvinism. These technologies can open new vistas for liberal-democratic politics.
2014-03-24T00:00:00ZIntellectual property rights and the campaign for access to essential medicines : the advocacy role assumed by Médecins Sans Frontières
http://hdl.handle.net/10464/3411
Intellectual property rights and the campaign for access to essential medicines : the advocacy role assumed by Médecins Sans Frontières
Leon, Diane
Non-governmental organizations and transnational networks have been increasingly
successful a t gaining influence within issue areas traditionally controlled by the state. In many
instances, non-state actors have been instrumental in forcing issues onto the global agenda, have
aided in the development or transformation of global regimes, and have participated in securing
state compliance for the adoption of new international norms.
This paper argues that, consistent with social constructivist theory, ideas are important in
influencing state preferences and change may be possible when certain factors are present. I f
non-state actors can influence states, it is meaningful to understand how this happens.
This paper focuses on a campaign led by Medecins Sans Frontieres that began in the late
1990s to acquire affordable medicines for patients in developing states that could not afford
patented drugs. The campaign reached a measure of success in that member states of the World
Trade Organization re-negotiated contested terms and meanings within the trade agreement for
intellectual property rights and allowed concessions that would benefit lower income states.
What factors contributed to the success of the campaign? And what were the most important
factors - the issue, the actors or the mechanisms used?
2011-10-13T00:00:00ZTowards a just community: an examination of the development of cultural citizenship rights in Canada from a communitarian perspective
http://hdl.handle.net/10464/2823
Towards a just community: an examination of the development of cultural citizenship rights in Canada from a communitarian perspective
Fuchs, Timothy B.
The notion of citizenship, while a basic human right, has come under scrutiny. It
was once assumed a liberal inspired regime of citizenship rights would reign as the
primary ideological perspective in the Western world, however this has not been the
case. Numerous competing paradigms have questioned the premise upon which liberal
guarantees of citizenship rights are based. In particular, communitarianism has subjected
liberal rights discourse to a closer examination. Communitarian theory holds that
universalist principles negate any articulation of community and its internal diversity,
such as cultural citizenship. It is this understanding of citizenship that has taken hold in
Canada.
The Canadian political experience illustrates a number of attributes associated
with communitarian thought. It is a collectivist society that articulates a notion of the
common good, acknowledges the internal diversity of its citizens and possesses a highly
developed deliberative democratic process. To this end, Canada can be described as
being more communitarian than liberal in nature in the process it has adopted to address
citizenship rights. However, the type of commuIiitarianism displayed in Canada differs
from the political models examined by such scholars as Michael Sandel, Iris Marion
Young or Will Kymlicka.
Cultural citizenship rights are fluid and malleable in Canada. While no clear
guarantees of citizenship rights exist, there is a common commitment by Canadians to
engage in a fair, open and inclusive deliberative process. This model is unique to
Canada; it cannot be exported in that it is a product of Canadian political culture. As a
result, the contemporary demands of cultural citizenship are dealt with effectively and
democratically in Canada in that the proper mechanisms for public deliberation exist.
2005-11-04T14:55:24ZA crisis of social democracy : organized labour and the NDP in an era of neoliberalism
http://hdl.handle.net/10464/2808
A crisis of social democracy : organized labour and the NDP in an era of neoliberalism
Fowler, Tim.
The NDP was founded out of the ashes of the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation to
cooperate with the Canadian Labour Congress to become the 'political arm of organized labour' in
Canada. The NDP has long claimed they are the party which represents the policy goals of organized
labour in Canada: that the NDP alone will fight for trade union rights, and will fight for Canadian
workers. Divergent Paths is an examination of the links between the labour movement and the ND P
in an era ofneo-liberalism. Provincial NDP governments have become increasingly neoliberal in
their ideological orientation, and have often proved to be no friend to the labour movement when
they hold office. The Federal party has never held power, nor have they ever formed the Official
Opposition. This thesis charts the progress of the federal NDP as they become more neoliberal from
1988 to 2006, and shows how this trend effects the links between the NDP and labour.
Divergent Paths studies each federal election from 1988 to 2006, looking at the interactions
between Labour and the NDP during these elections. Elections provide critical junctions to study
discourse - party platforms, speeches, and other official documents can be used to examine
discourse. Extensive newspaper searches were used to follow campaign events and policy speeches.
Studying the party's discourse can be used to determine the ideological orientation of the party itself:
the fact that the party's discourse has become neoliberal is a sure sign that the party itself is
neoliberal.
The NDP continues to drive towards the centre of the political spectrum in an attempt to gain
multi-class support. The NDP seems more interested in gaining seats at any cost, rather then
promoting the agenda of Labour. As the party attempts to open up to more multi-class support,
Labour becomes increasingly marginalised in the party. A rift which arguably started well before
the 1988 election was exacerbated during that election; labour encouraged the NDP to campaign
solely on the issue of Free Trade, and the NDP did not. The 1993 election saw the rift between the
two grow even further as the Federal NDP suffered major blowbacks from the actions of the Ontario
NDP. The 1997 and 2000 elections saw the NDP make a deliberate move to the centre of the
political spectrum which increasingly marginalised labour. In the 2004 election, Jack Layton made
no attempt to move the party back to the left; and in 2006 the link between labour and the NDP was
perhaps irreparably damaged when the CAW endorsed the Liberal party in a strategic voting strategy,
and the CLC did not endorse the NDP.
The NDP is no longer a reliable ally of organized labour. The Canadian labour movement
must decide wether the NDP can be 'salvaged' or if the labour movement should end their alliance
with the NDP and engage in a new political project.
2008-11-04T14:55:13Z