Numéro 10 (1): 2013
Articles
Besma BELHADJ
“Seuil relatif, mesure floue de la pauvreté. Nouvelles propositions”
ABSTRACT
In order to avoid the usual binary definition of poverty a fuzzy set approach has been used. This builds on fuzzy set theory whereby the definition of the threshold of who is poor or non-poor is fuzzy. The present paper proposes a method using a membership function and a relative poverty line to identify to what extent households can be considered as poor or nonpoor. To aggregate individual poverties, fuzzy unidimensional and multidimensional indices are proposed. An application using individual well-being data from Tunisian households is presented. We seek to show how the choice of public authorities or international institutions can be reflected in these poverty indices.
KEYWORDS
Relative poverty line, membership function, unidimensional fuzzy poverty; multidimensional fuzzy poverty
Perrine LAISSUS
Benoît LALLAU
ABSTRACT
South-Eastern CAR (Central African Republic) has been facing regular exactions from the Lord Resistance Army since 2009. The fear inspired by this Ugandan rebellion has destabilized the entire sub-region, forcing the population to seek refuge in bigger cities and creating a major food crisis. This situation resulted in an increased presence of NGOs whose main goal is to support the population’s resiliency; this is to say rebuilding their ability to overcome lootings as well as the continuing insecurity. Three questions need to be asked. First, what are the population’s survival strategies when confronted to such insecurity? Then, how do NGOs support the beneficiaries’ resiliency, despite a complex environment and potential negative side effects? We are here analyzing ethical considerations in a humanitarian intervention, ethics echoing the notion of social precaution. Finally, we have to wonder if spontaneous resiliency and “supported” resiliency are or can be compatible, especially in a continuing crisis such as the one in Eastern CAR. Some answers are provided in this article, based on quantitative and qualitative surveys carried out in three small towns in Haut Mbomou.
KEYWORDS
resiliency, humanitarian intervention, social precaution, LRA, Central African Republic.
Martine BRASSEUR
“Les apports de la phénoménologie de Jan Patočka à la question de l’éthique au travail”
ABSTRACT
In this article, we present Jan Patočka’s philosophy and his contributions to business ethics. This author helps us to go out of some confusion between thought and given ethics. His approach opens toward a new definition of ethics at work, which is both “a-subjective” and experiment of freedom. The presentation and comments of these two dimensions correspond to the first parts of this paper. In the third part, we analyse a specific character of the world in Patočka’s phenomenology: it cannot be divided. It appears that the consequences are that ethics can be profiled as the horizon of the world. In conclusion, ethics at work is inseparable of the notion of humanity.
KEYWORDS
Business ethics, Phenomenology, Social responsibility, Work, Labor
Christian MAHIEU
“L’éthique de la discussion :Portée et limites des propositions de Karl-Otto Apel”
ABSTRACT
Management sciences and corporate practices of companies bring extensive views on the ethics and the corporate responsibility. The practical experiments try to build, and to make appropriate themselves to itself by the actors of companies, the deontological ethics governed by principles. Dialogue and deliberation are the political frame given to this construction. A question seems then central, that of the ultimate rational foundation of the morality and its normative contents. K.O. Apel’s propositions concerning his ethics of the discussion founded in a pragmatico-transcendental way seems to me to allow an essential advance on the subject. According to Apel, this foundation should supply: 1) The bases of an ultimate rational foundation of the morality and its normative contents, 2) The bases of the universal validity of a principle of justice, solidarity and co responsibility, 3) The bases of an ethics of the responsibility, but not an deontological ethics, governed by principles which could come to complete and to legitimize socio-organizational processes and systems of relations which, placed in a new ethical context, could continue. In this article, I try to show in what K.O. Apel’s propositions allow to enrich a reflection opened by the research works in business ethics and in organizational behavior.
KEYWORDS
K.O. Apel, ethics of discussion, business ethics, responsibility, dialogue, deliberative process.
Xavier LANDES
ABSTRACT
Over the last thirty years, happiness research in psychology, economics and philosophy has been discussing the proper meaning of happiness and its main determinants. Moreover, the idea has spread within academic and political circles that it may be legitimate for institutions to engage in “politics of happiness”. This article presents a critique of the project of promoting happiness through public policies.
KEYWORDS
Happiness; Institutions; Pluralism; Public Policy; Morality; Subjective WellBeing;
Kouamékan J.M. KOFFI
“Gestion participative, capabilités et résilience dans les forêts classées de Côte d’Ivoire”
ABSTRACT
In the field of sustainable management of natural resources, participatory approach has emerged over the last twenty years as an alternative management between the state and the market. The efficiency of this approach, however, depends on the involvement of all stakeholders, including local communities. What are the determinants of this involvement? What are the terms? Systems analysis of agro-forestry in Côte d’Ivoire has highlighted the importance of capabilities variables, such as income and social capital. The perspective of social sustainability involves a contextualization that allows to take into account threshold effects which may characterize a process of resilience or not. Variables of capabilities can therefore serve as levers of involvement of local communities in the implementation of participatory forestry projects.
KEYWORDS
capability, forest reserve, resilience, social sustainability, agro-forestry, vulnerability
Michael BARNES
ABSTRACT
Sweatshop labour is sometimes defended from critics by arguments that stress the voluntariness of the worker’s choice, and the fact that sweatshops provide a source of income where no other similar source exists. The idea is if it is exploitation—as their opponents charge—it is mutually beneficial and consensual exploitation. This defence appeals to the non-worseness claim (NWC), which says that if exploitation is better for the exploited party than neglect, it cannot be seriously wrong. The NWC renders otherwise exploitative—and therefore morally wrong—transactions permissible, making the exploitation of the global poor a justifiable path to development. In this paper, I argue that the use of NWC for the case of sweatshops is misleading. After reviewing and strengthening the exploitation claims made concerning sweatshops, most importantly by refuting certain allegations that a micro-unfairness account of exploitation cannot evaluate sweatshop labour as exploitative, I then argue that even if this practice may seem permissible due to benefits otherwise unavailable to the global poor, there remains a duty to address the background conditions that make this form of wrong-doing possible, which the NWC cannot accommodate. I argue that the NWC denies this by unreasonably limiting its scope and is therefore incomplete, and ultimately unconvincing.
KEYWORDS
Exploitation, sweatshop
Michel DION
“Entreprise mythique et leadership éthique”
ABSTRACT
Le présent article a pour objectif de mieux saisir les enjeux philosophiques qui sont intrinsèquement liés à la transformation progressive d’une méga-corporation en entreprise « mythique », et par conséquent de décrire les temporalités propres à l’entreprise mythique, de sorte à pouvoir mieux reconnaître comment des méga-corporations sont en voie de devenir des entreprises dites « mythiques ». Nous ferons également état des défis que la méga-corporation en voie de devenir mythique doit assumer afin d’éviter de tomber dans les pièges idéologiques typiques de sa mythicisation, plus spécifiquement le défi d’assumer un leadership éthique de type transformationnel, en tant qu’expression de l’essence de l’organisation, ou de sa raison d’être.
KEYWORDS
Mythic firm; ethical leadership; transformational leadership; mega-corporations
Karin BROWN
“Adam Smith, Moral Motivation and Business Ethics”
ABSTRACT
This paper shows how Adam Smith’s concept of moral motivation applies to business ethics and ethical consumption. Moral motivation for Smith is embedded in his moral psychology and his theory of virtue, particularly in terms of socialization and our social interactions and in his view that people always seek approval for their conduct, either though actual or ideal spectators. It follows that right conduct depends on the spectator’s awareness of one’s conduct. Thus concerning business ethics, transparency and accountability are essential, as opposed to anonymity which is detrimental. Applying Smith’s theory of motivation to consumption entails two further points: One, information concerning business conduct without consumers seeking it and acting accordingly will only have a limited effect. Two, people’s concern for the propriety of their action can and should include consumption, such that purchasing behavior becomes a moral issue rather than a mere economic one.
KEYWORDS
Adam Smith; moral motivation; business ethics
Comptes Rendus / Book Review
Jérôme BALLET
Marc SOLINHAC
François-Régis MAHIEU
Numéro 10 (2): 2013
Articles
Eric PALMER
“The Andhra Pradesh Microfinance Crisis and American Payday Lending: Two Studies in Vulnerability”
ABSTRACT
Microcredit, a non-profit lending approach that is often championed as a source of women’s inclusion and empowerment, has in the past decade been followed by microfinance, a forprofit sibling of a different temperament. Microfinance in India is now in turmoil, precipitated by legislation in the state of Andhra Pradesh, which has encouraged withholding of payment, which in turn has frozen the market. This paper considers one precipitating condition of the crisis: the remarkable, new, and developing burden of formal economic debt that poor women in the state have only recently come to hold – debt that now surpasses one year’s family income, on average. The development of this lending sector follows upon innovation in lending to the poor of the global north over the past two decades, and the practices show noteworthy parallels. Both lending schemes have produced similar disproportionate burdens upon some low-status individuals within their respective economic orders, and both may exploit a vulnerability that is born of aspiration and produces great dysfunction for borrowers. This paper introduces the two lending schemes, sketches the parallels, and introduces the claim that ethical finance arrangements for the poor require attention to vulnerability, an under-utilized category in both liberal ethical theory and in finance.
KEYWORDS
Microcredit, microfinance, vulnerability
Lawrence F. FOMBE
Irene F. SAMA-LANG
Lotsmart FONGJONG
Athanasia MBAH-FONGKIMEH
“Securing Tenure for Sustainable Livelihoods: A Case of Women Land Ownership in Anglophone Cameroon”
ABSTRACT
The majority of women in Third World countries depend on land for their livelihood. Security of tenure is important for them to ensure sustainable development, especially in rural areas. In most parts of Africa, land ownership is affected by traditional values, inheritance rights, and government influence. These forces have provided varying types of tenure which are detrimental to the women in rural and urban areas. Land acquisition and its development has been an emotive issue due to traditional pressures and the law as regards the process of land certification. The government and traditional administrations are highly involved in the way women own land and subsequently develop it in Anglophone Cameroon. State authority over land acquisition is important, but the process for obtaining land title is herculean especially for the rural woman. This study illustrates that land acquisition and development by women constitute a problem because of traditional pressures and the law guiding the process of land certification. There is need to exhume the barriers of government’s legal instrument (The Land Consultative Board) that regulates the ownership of land and to revisit some traditional practices as regards land ownership that impact negatively on women in a changing and globalizing world. A compromise approach is advocated for land acquisition that can transcend traditional barriers as well as render the process of land registration more realistic especially for women.
KEYWORDS
Securing tenure, Land Consultative Board, land registration, tenure, inheritance.
Mario SOLIS
“Global Justice, Basic Goods and the Sufficiency Threshold Claim”
ABSTRACT
This paper deals with a prevailing assumption that basic goods are accessory to claims of justice. Against such an assumption, the paper advances the idea that basic goods (the core of what I wish to call the sufficiency threshold) are fundamental as a matter of justice. The paper then addresses the question as to what is the elemental justifiability of a social minimum and how that relates to theories of justice, particularly to emerging theories of global justice. The arguments against the aforementioned assumption call upon the strengths of a general theory of justice already in place, namely, John Rawls’s theory of justice and the enriching response and criticism thereof—particularly David Miller’s theory of justice.
KEYWORDS
justice, global justice, basic goods principle, John Rawls, moral cosmopolitanism, David Miller
Barbara KY
“Enjeux économiques et éthiques de la mesure du travail non rémunéré des femmes”
ABSTRACT
A large part of the work done by women is not counted in the gross national product (GDP) of nations. Which type of work are we referring to? Unpaid work; also commonly called domestic work. Because all the services produced by households for their own consumption are not subject to monetary exchange, they are excluded from de production boundary defined by the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA). In doing so, this key statistics, inspired by the Keynesian school of thoughts, shows an accepted iniquity in the quantification of the product since women’s productive contribution within the households is not taken into account. In other words, national accounts are not gender neutral. In fact, this breach of a fundamental ethical rule which is equity towards gender inequalities is just the reflection of a social conception that prevails within the SNA since its creation, namely that domestic work is not considered as work. It is therefore essential to quantify women’s unpaid work, a concern that has long been the preserve of feminist activists even though; this should go beyond feminists considerations. This article shows how the issue of measuring unpaid work on a broader prospective is relevant on both ethical and economic fronts. The recognition of this production factor as a macroeconomic variable is indeed fundamental to get a more complete understanding and assessment of the economy. Valorization of unpaid work would also allow women to claim better retribution, or at least, to expect an effective social recognition of their actions and efforts and in the end would contribute to the establishment of greater social justice.
KEYWORDS
National Accounting, GDP, Unpaid Work, equity, social justice
Ahalini IYENGAR
ABSTRACT
Over the course of the last two decades, IFIs (most prominently the World Bank) have begun acknowledging the centrality of human development as an essential element of the economic development process if the growth aimed at is to be holistic and sustainable. Strikingly, there is no agreement on the manner in which this approach is to be achieved, especially in the field of gender and development. This paper focuses on the issue of whether the Multilateral Development Banks’ policies have truly attempted at implementing their stated model of gender mainstreaming through their programmes and projects in India, with a specific focus on the legal sector, since that sector has both instrumental and intrinsic value for gender rights advocates. This article will aim at reviewing their approach towards rule of law projects and the manner in which gender equality norms have or have not been addressed within that framework; it will end with recommendations as to the necessary issues which gender programmes must address within the rule of law framework in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of gender equity.
KEYWORDS
gender, Millennium Development Goals, law
Comptes Rendus / Book Review
POLÍTICA DE CONFIABILIDAD
ETHICS, ECONOMICS & COMMON GOODS, vol. 19, No. 1, enero-junio 2022, es una publicación semestral editada por la Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla A.C., calle 21 Sur 1103, Col. Santiago, C.P. 72410, Puebla, Puebla. Tel. (222) 2299400, https://ethicsand-economics.
Editor responsable: Manuel Alejandro Gutiérrez González. Reserva de Derechos al Uso Exclusivo No. 04-2022071213543400-102, ISSN en trámite, ambos otorgados por el Instituto Nacional del Derecho de Autor. Responsable de la última actualización de este número, Universidad Tecnológica de Querétaro, TSU María Guadalupe García Guerrero, Av. Pie de la Cuesta 2501, col. Nacional, fecha de última modificación, 30 de julio de 2022.
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