This project contemplates an ethics of difference and singularity that can effectuate a displacement of anthropocentrism and radical transformation in the way we understand and approach... Show moreThis project contemplates an ethics of difference and singularity that can effectuate a displacement of anthropocentrism and radical transformation in the way we understand and approach relationality across species borders. The reflections take place against the background of the problematic accompanying the (re)presentation of animals in the subject-centered models of moral philosophy and law, and call into question the salient ways in which theorists have engaged these avenues in order to effect change in our treatment of animals. Animal liberation scholars and activists have mainly sought to address the plight of animals from the theoretical frameworks of legal rights, interest-based equality, and identity discourse that foreground the ways in which animals are essentially similar to human beings in terms of ethically relevant qualities or characteristics. This project critically reflects on Emmanuel Levinas’s formulation of the ethical in order to advance an alternative understanding of human-animal relations as grounded in the radical singularity or difference of individual beings. This project deconstructs the dominant animal rights models by uncovering anthropocentrism as a guiding thread of the Western metaphysical tradition and illustrating how the construct of subjectivity born from that tradition forecloses or limits certain ethical possibilities. Show less
A historical analysis of the regulation of propaganda and obligations on states to prevent its dissemination reveals competing origins of the protection (and suppression) of free expression in... Show moreA historical analysis of the regulation of propaganda and obligations on states to prevent its dissemination reveals competing origins of the protection (and suppression) of free expression in international law. The conflict between the ‘marketplace of ideas’ approach favoured by Western democracies and the Soviet Union’s proposed direct control of media outlets have indirectly contributed to both the fake news crisis and engineered polarisation via computational propaganda. From the troubled League of Nations to the Friendly Relations Declaration of 1970, several international agreements and resolutions limit state use of propaganda to interfere with ‘malicious intent’ in the affairs of another. Yet state and non-state actors continually use a variety of methods to disseminate deceptive content sowing civil discord and damaging democracies in the process. In Europe, much of the discourse about the regulation of ‘fake news’ has revolved around the role of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and the role of platforms in preventing ‘online manipulation’. There is also a common perception that human rights frameworks limit states’ ability to constrain political speech; however, using the principle of subsidiarity as a mapping tool, a regulatory anomaly is revealed. There is a significant lack of regulatory oversight of actors responsible for, and the flow of, computational propaganda that is disseminated as deceptive political advertising. The article examines whether there is a right to disseminate propaganda within our free expression rights and focusses on the harms associated with the engineered polarisation that is often the objective of a computational propaganda campaign. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of maintaining this status quo and some suggestions for plugging the regulatory holes identified. Show less
In recent years much jurisprudential affection has coalesced around the concept of the Anthropocene. International lawyers have enlisted among the ranks of humanities and social science authors... Show moreIn recent years much jurisprudential affection has coalesced around the concept of the Anthropocene. International lawyers have enlisted among the ranks of humanities and social science authors embracing this proposed scientific time category, and putting it to work. This essay draws on sources from a range of fields including legal anthropology and critical legal theory in re-examining the reception of the Anthropocene in international law, focusing on its mythical qualities. We demonstrate how the Anthropocene both reinforces and meshes perfectly with the three narrative pillars of contemporary international environmental law: evolutionary progress; universal evaluations of nature and constructions of legal subjectivity; and legal monism. The Anthropocene, like few ideas in modern scholarship, is quite expressly a tale of origins explaining and legitimating its narrators’ place in the universe. Joining signposts such as The Tragedy of the Commons, the Myth of the Anthropocene embeds collective memories eclipsing the need to reconsider complex and contested histories in understanding the contemporary roles of law in mediating people’s relations with nature. In response, we call for a more inclusive account of environmental law that draws on diversity rather than universality, with particular sensitivity to those perspectives that are inadvertently excluded from the Anthropocene discourse. Show less
Op donderdag 7 november 2019 werd het wetsvoorstel Vereenvoudiging Wajong aangenomen door de Tweede Kamer. De voorgestelde regelgeving omvat een aantal gunstige maatregelen voor de (jong... Show moreOp donderdag 7 november 2019 werd het wetsvoorstel Vereenvoudiging Wajong aangenomen door de Tweede Kamer. De voorgestelde regelgeving omvat een aantal gunstige maatregelen voor de (jong)gehandicapten die onder de Wajong vallen. De meeste Wajongers gaan er echter op achteruit en zullen de rest van hun leven aankijken tegen een uitkering op bijstandsniveau of maximaal het minimumloon. Hetzelfde geldt voor de jonggehandicapten die, wegens de aangescherpte toegangseisen sinds 2015, de Wajong überhaupt niet zijn binnengekomen en onder het soortgelijke regime van de Participatiewet vallen. Met een dergelijk gebrek aan toekomstperspectief is het maar de vraag of deze regelgeving, zowel het wetsvoorstel Vereenvoudiging Wajong als de Participatiewet, voldoet aan de doelen en de verplichtingen van het verdrag inzake de rechten van personen met een handicap, dat in 2016 voor Nederland in werking trad. Show less
This article examines how the existence of multiple legal orders can impact the defense of human rights, by discussing how state legal agents in Bali navigate state law through local concerns and adatShow moreThis article examines how the existence of multiple legal orders can impact the defense of human rights, by discussing how state legal agents in Bali navigate state law through local concerns and adat (customary) law in cases dealing with teenage pregnancy outside of marriage. In such “emergencies” where the morality of the community is at stake, families, adat authorities and state agents collaborate to find a way to fit these emergency situations into the locally accepted normative system, resulting in what international institutions call “child marriage.” In assessing the interaction between state law and customary law, this study offers a basis for discussing how legal pluralism should be addressed in the realization of human rights. Show less
This article is about the strategic use of adat arguments in the politics of large-scale land acquisition. While customary (adat) communities are commonly depicted as small local minorities living... Show moreThis article is about the strategic use of adat arguments in the politics of large-scale land acquisition. While customary (adat) communities are commonly depicted as small local minorities living in the forests and being guardians of the environment, in many situations such communities occupy a majority position within the district. Majority adat communities are internally differentiated into categories of actors with varying and conflicting interests. This article focuses on Sumba in eastern Indonesia, where state and adat powers are not opposed but historically aligned. We analyse how five common ways of framing adat in Sumba are currently being deployed in land-acquisition politics, in situations supporting plantation land acquisition or protesting against farmers’ land dispossession. We draw attention to what we call ‘strategic adat framing’ as a political activity. The article calls for analysing the historical and social context of local deployments of adat for understanding the impact of current government pro-adat policies. Show less
This study builds on the work of Juffermans who has shown that religion takes on three ‘different meanings’ in Spinoza’s works, namely 1.superstition; 2. faith; and 3. philosophical religion. In... Show moreThis study builds on the work of Juffermans who has shown that religion takes on three ‘different meanings’ in Spinoza’s works, namely 1.superstition; 2. faith; and 3. philosophical religion. In this way Spinoza has provided us with a nuanced normative theory that can help us to evaluate religions. Different from the Straussian view which considers this theory to be rife with contradictions, this study researches how the three perspectives on religion could exist side by side.Spinoza’s theory of religion, so it is argued, following Fraenkel, belongs to a tradition of philosophical religions. In this tradition the Divine is understood as the perfect exemplar of reasonableness, and historical religions are understood as pedagogical-didactical tools to lead the common people to a life of reason.Spinoza was not only a critic of religion and the Bible, he also endorsed them for individuals as well as for societies. Spinoza’s religious ideas were understood by Spinoza’s circle of friends as an example of ‘reasonable Christianity’. Spinoza was not in favor of the separation of Church and State. He was a proponent of a state-guided ‘public church’, guarding over the faith of the general population and fighting the superstitious beliefs that can divide society. Show less
More than three quarters of Indonesians do not have access to piped water. They depend on river water for bathing and sometimes also for drinking water. But the vast majority of rivers are... Show moreMore than three quarters of Indonesians do not have access to piped water. They depend on river water for bathing and sometimes also for drinking water. But the vast majority of rivers are severely polluted, many of them by industrial waste. This book explains why it has been so difficult for both the government and citizens to act against industrial river pollution. This socio-legal research looks at regulation and explains how government institutions have set norms to polluting behaviour, and how they have detected and responded to violations. It also analyses how citizens have participated in this process and how they seek redress for the wrongdoings they are faced with. Does victim involvement offer better chances for adequate environmental problem solving? The author illuminates the complex interrelations between the processes of regulation and redress seeking. Two extended case studies on Rancaekek in West Java and Kao-Malifut in North Maluku demonstrate illustrate how in practice these interrelations can lead to losing sight of stopping the actual pollution problem, shifting focus to compensation and increased social tensions and inequality within communities. This study’s theoretical contribution lies mainly in expanding the insights into the mutual influence of regulation and redress seeking. Show less
The Open Society and Its Animals is an interdisciplinary study centred on the political and legal position of animals in liberal democracies. With due concern for both animals and the... Show moreThe Open Society and Its Animals is an interdisciplinary study centred on the political and legal position of animals in liberal democracies. With due concern for both animals and the sustainability of liberal democracies, The Open Society and Its Animals seeks to redefine animals’ political-legal position in the most successful political model of our time: the liberal democracy.The dual focus on both animals and the open society is reflected in the book’s main research question: Should the fundamental structures of liberal democracies reflect the fact that many non-human animals are individuals with interests, and is this possible without undermining or destabilizing their institutions? The first, normative, stage of the investigation asks whether the fact that many animals have interests should have consequences for the fundamental structures of liberal democracies, and if so, what criteria the new political-legal position of animals should meet (‘enfranchisement criteria’). The second stage of the investigation involves an inquiry into the current political-legal position of non-human animals in liberal democracies, the extent to which this position meets the just mentioned enfranchisement criteria, and how this position could possibly be improved. Show less
Abstract Migrants’ journeys involve geopolitical, corporeal, and emotional dimensions. Yet, emotions, which are fundamental to understand the migrant experience, are usually overlooked. Following... Show moreAbstract Migrants’ journeys involve geopolitical, corporeal, and emotional dimensions. Yet, emotions, which are fundamental to understand the migrant experience, are usually overlooked. Following the ‘emotional geographies’ approach, this article analyses the spatial contextualisation of the affective and emotional experiences of irregular migrants in transit. Cognitive mapping methodology is proposed as a means to address the spatial and subjective dimensions of migrants’ experiences. The ‘testimonial maps’ of two Central American transmigrants in Mexico are explored. The emotional geographies of irregular transmigration underscore the emotional turmoil associated with the irregular migratory process(es). They shed light to the familiar arrangements made before the journey, the natural landscape as part of the control, the encounters with agents of the state and criminal actors, the sanctuary places, the acquaintances and fortuitous friendships, the resilience and adaptability needed for endure the journey, and, beneath all this, the multi-emotional dimension of the journey: love, sorrow, shame, courage, anxiety, fear, trust, kindness, and hope. Show less
The Law Enforcement Directive (EU Directive 2016/680) has been heralded for its role in building a high level of data protection in criminal law. Data processed for ‘law enforcement purposes’ by ... Show moreThe Law Enforcement Directive (EU Directive 2016/680) has been heralded for its role in building a high level of data protection in criminal law. Data processed for ‘law enforcement purposes’ by ‘competent authorities’ must comply with principles of necessity, proportionality and legality, while ensuring appropriate safeguards in place for data subjects. However, there is ambiguity as to how the LED should work in practice due to several conceptual issues that the LED raises. This paper discusses three conceptual issues: consent, the categorisation of witnesses, suspects and victims, and the categorisation of facts versus opinions. Show less
