Affairs Of Others Research Articles

Intervention*

Nation‐states have always ‘intervened’ (often a euphemism for ‘invasion') in the affairs of others. Intervention, according to its Charter, is now the exclusive role of the United Nations, when authorized by the Security Council. The Charter excludes the UN from intervening in matters within the domestic jurisdiction of member states. However, even national sovereignty can be set aside if it affects the duty of the Security Council to preserve international peace and security and prevent genocide. Wherever possible, though, ‘intervention’ should consist in preventive diplomacy and correcting causes of conflict such as ethnic tension and poverty. But in the final analysis the UN exists to uphold the rights of peoples, and all of us have the obligation to halt or prevent injustice and suffering.

On Integrity in Private Judging

> There are those among us who view arbitration primarily as a business. They are likely to concentrate more on self-interest than the interest of the profession.… We recognize that arbitrators are no less ambitious than other professionals; we recognize that many of us are dependent on arbitration fees for a livelihood. But self-serving instincts must always be subordinated to the need to uphold the integrity and honour of the profession.1 > > Deep below consciousness are other forces, the likes and the dislikes, the predilections and the prejudices, the complex of instincts and emotions and habits and convictions, which make the man, whether he be litigant or judge.2 If taken seriously, it can be an enormous responsibility to sit in judgment on the affairs of others. (For the moment, though, one sees no shortage of candidates for the job.) Certainly the motives that may lead someone to aspire to be an arbitrator are multiple and varied: there are of course the potential financial rewards – but also the opportunity to enhance one's education, one's familiarity with particular spheres of human endeavour, one's circle of contacts, or one's professional ‘profile’. For many, there may also be some sense of noblesse oblige or a desire to engage in public service. Nor should one neglect the pleasures of judging – it is, after all, a role for which every lawyer thinks himself admirably suited, and the object of the reveries of many. These are pleasures which may provide fertile soil for ‘a resurgence of omnipotence fantasies’ that once dominated our infancy.3 Certainly our received wisdom is that none of these motives should be allowed to work in such a way as to call into question the impartiality of the decision-maker. Whether for judicial officers or for arbitrators, our assumption is that methods …

DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT VERSUS ECONOMIC PROGRESS

Recently there has been a trend for those governments which provide development aid to put overt and explicit conditions on how the recipients of aid should use development funds to mold their societies. The values endorsed by the developed nations are respect for human rights, moves towards democracy, and steps to establish market economies. Is it appropriate for developed countries to attach strings to the aid they provide to developing countries or does this amount to an unjustifiable interference in the affairs of others? If the developed countries do attach strings, how are we to judge what to do when the strings get tangled? Democracy, human rights, and market economy are the values westerners have signalled they are going to insist on most highly in determining aid.

Miasma: Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion

Anyone who has sampled even a few of the most commonly read Greek texts will have encountered pollution. The pollution of bloodshed is a frequent theme of tragedy: Orestes is driven mad; Oedipus brings plague upon all Thebes. In historical texts we find cities intervening in the internal affairs of others to 'drive out the pollution', or making war on account of it. Political orators represent their opponents as polluting demons. Purity is a constant concern in ritual texts, and any Greek underwent many small purifications in his everyday life. Certain abnormal religious movements of the archaic age made 'purification' the path to felicity in the afterlife. First published in hardback in 1983, Miasma is the first work in English to treat this theme in detail.

Adolescence Obligations and Educational Policy

DURING THIS CENTURY WE have made great progress in extending human rights to children and young people. Large-scale, exploitive sweatshops are a phenomenon of the past; many state statutes contain provisions against corporal punishment in schools; and the public is now intervening when there is evidence of child abuse or neglect. Many constitutional rights and privileges, previously granted to adults over 18, have been extended to children and adolescents. High school dress codes and freedom of speech restrictions have been relaxed; the right to defense in juvenile court is now mandatory; and employers are to pay children the national hourly minimum wage for part-time work. These are healthy trends. Moreover, these legal trends are consistent with social trends and social policy generally. Over the last two decades, educational systems have been modified so that young people can play an increasing role in deciding what they want to learn. As a result of career education and other reform movements, young people are helped to make informed choices on training for their future careers (Heyneman, in press). In fiscal year 1976, eight Federal agencies 23 research and development projects that included a youth participation component (Heyneman, Mintz, and Mann 1977); these projects were designed to give young people an increasingly active voice in the guidance of their own affairs and over the affairs of others. This, too, is healthy. Nevertheless, social policy on adolescence can be divided into two categories; the above examples represent only one. They represent a category in which an adolescent's participation is sponsored; that is, an adult privilege or an adult activity is extended to adolescents, which they can choose to exercise without having to relinquish their non-adult financial or legal status. The second category of social policy is one that something of adolescents. This differs from the first in that in exchange for health, protection, and education, a non -adult is asked to participate in an activity over which s/he has little or no choice (Heyneman and Thomas, 1977). Thus the first category of policy represents sponsored experience; the second category represents required experience. I contend that public policy on adolescence has concentrated on the first and has ignored the second. Briefly I will summarize how each can be defined both for private (family) and public policy, including education, and then suggest how social policy which requires something can be advanced without it being unjust.