Normative Foundations Research Articles

Formation of a Unified Educational Space of the Union State from the Perspective of the Policy of Patriotic Education

Introduction. Awareness of the commonality of geopolitical and civilizational challenges of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus pushes for deepening integration cooperation in different directions. Close attention is paid to the problem of security, interpreted in an expanded way. Its provision correlates with the strengthening of the humanitarian dimension of the Union State, including the formation of a unified educational space. In modern conditions, its correlation with the consolidation of the policy of patriotic education in the integration field is being actualized. The purpose of the article is to identify the specifics of their coupling, taking into account the dynamics of union construction. Materials and Methods. The research is based on the methods of binary comparison, traditional and discourse analysis of official texts. An additional method is a formalized correspondence expert survey. The key materials are normative legal acts of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, interstate, intergovernmental and integration agreements, information content of the web resources of the Union State. The theoretical and methodological foundations of the research are a new political institutionalism, a multidimensional model of social action, and the paradigm of “political unification”. Results. The article describes the normative foundations of state policy in the field of education and integration guidelines in the cultural and humanitarian plane within the framework of the movement towards the Union educational space. The demanded categories of the axiological plan are revealed, referring to the relationship between education and upbringing. The key lines of discursive practices at the sites of the union institutions are shown. The understanding of the need to adapt education systems to the requirements of the time and the linking of patriotic education with the protection and preservation of common historical memory are emphasized. Discussion and Conclusion. The results of the study and expert assessments suggest the articulation of not only positive changes, but also urgent vectors for improving national approaches and integration solutions. They correspond to the elimination of conflicts, the development and adoption of new documents at the level of the Union State, the implementation of value categories and new areas of unified policy. The results obtained may be of interest to public authorities and union institutions, participants in patriotic education in the territory of the Union State.

Народный делиберативный конституционализм как коллективная мудрость: понятие и предназначение в российской и сравнительной конституционной юриспруденции

The article identifies the ideological sources of collective wisdom, the doctrinal and normative foundations of popular deliberative constitutionalism, some aspects of the inclusive constitutional paradigm, procedures, and technologies for the participation of citizens and civil society institutions in constitutional modernization and constitutional changes in the context of Russian and comparative experience. The article considers popular deliberative constitutionalism as a meta-concept that can be used to analyze prescriptive requirements and promising principles in the constitutional modernization of the state and society, forms and procedures for citizen participation in constitutional changes, processes of preparation and implementation of constitutional changes in the modern period. Popular constitutionalism in scientific works develops as a special doctrinal, normative, and procedural basis for the implementation of the principle of popular sovereignty, the constituent power of the people, the involvement of citizens and civil society institutions in the process of constitutional changes. The author concludes that constitutional collective wisdom in the information age arises as a result of the use of both analog and digital technologies, classical procedures for discussion and the use of aggregated preferences, and a combination of natural and artificial intelligence.

Collective Wisdom in Constitutional, Informational and Digital Dimensions: on the Concept and Nature of Popular Deliberative Constitutionalism for Public Law

The article discusses the scientific and intellectual origins of collective wisdom in the constitutional, information and digital dimensions, reveals the doctrinal approaches and normative foundations of popular deliberative constitutionalism, the development of an inclusive constitutional paradigm and its significance for the use of procedures and technologies for citizen participation, expert opinion and civil society institutions in the constitutional development, in social transformations, in constitutional changes brought to life by the needs of society and the state. Popular deliberative constitutionalism is identified in the article as a public legal meta-concept that explains the process and need for constitutional involvement of citizens. The author concludes that popular deliberative constitutionalism allows us to better understand the problems of implementing the principle of popular sovereignty in modern democratic states, create an optimal model and consider the forms of exercising the constituent power of the people when implementing constitutional changes. In the article, the author notes that the future of democratic constitutionalism is associated with the creation and use of collective intelligence technologies in the public legal sphere, which, in the context of the development of an algorithmic and information society, combine classical procedures for discussing constitutional issues and the use of aggregated preferences. The practical application of the achievements of natural and artificial intelligence is intended to discuss and resolve issues of public legal significance, is based on co-evolutionary development and leads to the emergence of mini-publics, civil assemblies, and constitutional crowdsourcing.

Addressing missing persons arising from armed conflict as a driver of peace: Towards a research agenda

Abstract International humanitarian law (IHL) provides the normative foundation for efforts to address the issue of missing persons during and after armed conflict. Whilst IHL does not engage with how parties to an armed conflict may go about restoring peace, there has been speculation that resolving the missing issue, by bringing answers to families about the fate and whereabouts of their missing relatives, can potentially play a role in building peace. This article represents an effort to compile existing evidence in academic and practice literature that supports an understanding of how addressing the missing issue relates to peacebuilding. In so doing, the article seeks to lay out a research agenda to understand how addressing the issue of the missing can serve to advance peacebuilding, and proposes avenues for further research.

Intersubjectivity, Ethics in Times of Crisis and Objective Idealism as a Philosophical System: An Interview with Vittorio Hösle

Vittorio Hösle is internationally highly regarded for his attempt to revive objective idealism – the philosophical line along which he situates the positions of Plato, Aristotle, most medieval philosophers, Spinoza, Leibniz, Schelling, Hegel, but also Peirce and Whitehead – as a philosophical system capable of holding together the transcendental dimension of synthetic a priori judgments with the intelligibility and objectivity of being. In this interview, he discusses his work over the past decades, starting from the “Philosophische Lehrjahre” (“years of philosophical apprenticeship”) between Regensburg, Tübingen, Bochum and Freiburg and from the meetings with masters and significant interlocutors (such as Tóth, Thieme, Wandschneider, Beierwaldes, Lohr, Böckenförde, without forgetting Apel and Jonas). Multiple themes dot the path of thought retraced in this dialogue: from the rethematization of Hegel’s (and Vico’s) objective idealism through transcendental pragmatics to the delineation of the relationship between ethics and politics via a theory of the social and the intent of a normative foundation; from the need for a thought that faces the ecological crisis to the reinterpretation of sociobiology; and finally, from the project of an intersubjectively valid understanding to the importance of a theory of comedy. What emerges is the philosophical self-portrait of a cosmopolitan intellectual who was able to grasp the best from inherited and acquired cultural traditions: German culture, inherited from his father; Italian culture, inherited from his mother; and American culture, acquired by moving to the USA. The interview was realised on 17 April 2024 at the University of Trento, as part of the second series of lectures “Voices from Contemporary Philosophy”.

Towards common ground: Strategies for effective collaboration between the humanitarian and peacebuilding communities

Abstract In an era marked by growing conflicts, prolonged humanitarian needs and less donor funding, collaboration between the humanitarian and peacebuilding sectors is essential for more effective responses. This paper examines the complexities of fostering such collaboration, emphasizing the importance of integrated multisectoral approaches capable of addressing both immediate necessities and long-term peace and development objectives. While recent initiatives such as the humanitarian–development–peace nexus framework and the United Nations Secretary-General's Agenda for Humanity reflect progress toward integrated approaches, substantial collaborative challenges persist. This paper identifies three key entry points for mutual learning between humanitarian and peace actors. Firstly, it discusses a “peace-responsive” approach to humanitarian activities that proactively contributes to “peace-positive” outcomes. Secondly, it emphasizes the need for the peace sector to learn from humanitarian efforts regarding accountability to affected communities. Thirdly, it underscores the need to understand the normative foundations of each sector and their implications for joint action. Drawing on these insights, the paper offers recommendations for policy-makers and practitioners to help them advance joint approaches to humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding in conflict-affected contexts.

Unjust enrichment in law and equity

In Moses v Macferlan, Lord Mansfield used money had and received, a common law money count, to provide relief in a case where an action’s outcome failed to align with the actor’s intention. In the First Restatement of Restitution, Warren Seavey and Austin Scott gathered together all cases, quasi-contractual and equitable, under the single principle that ‘a person who has been unjustly enriched at the expense of another is required to make restitution to the other.’ These two influential acts of fusion between common law and equity have caused a great deal of confusion in the scholarship and jurisprudence on unjust enrichment. With the fundamental differences between quasi-contract and equitable unjust enrichment obscured, scholars and judges have struggled to find the single principle or core case that unifies liability in what is now called the law of unjust enrichment. I argue that we can resolve the puzzles of unjust enrichment by rejecting the fusionist claims that started them all – that is, by distinguishing cases of quasi-contract (the common law money counts) from cases of equitable unjust enrichment – and by recognizing that each has a distinctive normative foundation. Quasi-contract, like other common law doctrines, is grounded in respect for the freedom and equality of agents conceived as beings with the capacity for free choice. Quasi-contract is concerned with the objective significance of external acts like requests and agreements on terms; it is not concerned with the frustration of the plaintiff’s particular purpose in acting. Equitable unjust enrichment, like other equitable doctrines that attend to mistakes, expectations, and intentions, is grounded in concern for individual autonomy. It recognizes that a court, as a public institution attuned to law’s self-imposability, cannot enforce an alienation of property with indifference to the way in which it may fail as an expression of the individual’s purposes and reasons for action.

Prospectively investigating the impact of AI on shared decision-making in post kidney transplant care (PRIMA-AI): protocol for a longitudinal qualitative study among patients, their support persons and treating physicians at a tertiary care centre

IntroductionAs healthcare is shifting from a paternalistic to a patient-centred approach, medical decision making becomes more collaborative involving patients, their support persons (SPs) and physicians. Implementing shared decision-making (SDM) into...

Breathing pattern alteration from weanling to old age in male Sprague-Dawley rats

Respiratory patterns were investigated in male Sprague-Dawley rats throughout their lifespan, from weanling (1 month) to old age (24 months), under natural conditions. Both inter-breath interval (IBI) and respiratory volume (RV) were examined. Sample entropy suggested increasing irregularity in IBI but decreasing irregularity in RV until 12 months. According to detrended fluctuation analysis, alpha exponent of the IBI showed a bimodal pattern around the value 0.7. From 1–15 months, the alpha exponent for RV generally decreased to the value 0.5, but it increased again as the animals neared the end of their lifespan. Cross-sample entropy revealed increasing synchronization between IBI and RV until 12 months, then plateauing. Many measures demonstrated a transition around 12 months, potentially reflecting maturation of respiratory control mechanisms. The findings characterize complex dynamics of respiratory patterns across the rat lifespan, providing a normative foundation to identify deviations indicative of dysfunction or disease.

Проблемы политико-правовой интеграции Северного Кавказа в состав России в отражении делопроизводственной документации (по материалам опубликованных источников)

The article is devoted to the study of the main problems of the political and legal integration of the peoples of the North Caucasus into Russia, materials from public sources of office documentation. In particular, the authors studied the problems of establishing the Russian administrative and judicial-legal system in the region, the normative and organizational foundations of the imperial policy in the North Caucasus, the emigration of local peoples to the Ottoman Empire as reflected in published sources. The authors also studied the process of understanding office documents on the problem of the political and legal integration of the North Caucasus into Russia in modern historiography. The authors conclude that the materials of published office documents play a major role in modern scientific research on the problem of the administrative, political and legal integration of the North Caucasian peoples into Russia. They form the basis of the source base for research on this problem. In the context of source studies, the authors consider office documents on the history of the establishment of the military-administrative and political-legal system of Russia in the North Caucasus, as well as the processes of emigration of local peoples to the Ottoman Empire.

Embodied Cognition in Dark Times

Michelle Maiese and Robert Hanna’s The Mind-Body Politic sets out to combine both the philosophy of essentially embodied cognition (EEM) and emancipatory political theory to put forth a “new critique of contemporary social institutions.” There remains, however, an explanatory gap between the general, normative foundations of their approach in EEM, and the particular critiques of neoliberalism and the alternative presented. This paper explores an alternative totalitarian pathway (as understood by Arendt) that such general EEM normativity might lead us, as a friendly invitation for further elaboration on the normative basis of MBP’s critiques of—and proposed alternative to—neoliberal institutions.

Antinomic normativity: Negative dialectics, moral skepticism, and the problem of the normative foundations of critique

Antinomic normativity: Negative dialectics, moral skepticism, and the problem of the normative foundations of critique

Regions of Italy in Context of Italian-Chinese Relations in 21st Century

This study examines the development of transregional relations between the regions of Italy and those of China, including the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. It highlights the interplay between centrifugal and centripetal tendencies within the framework of Italy’s ‘center — regions’ relationship system. The analysis provides insights into the normative foundations of international and foreign policy activities of Italy’s territorial communities, grounded in the national Constitution and relevant legislation. The findings demonstrate that Italian regions possess very limited capabilities for independent foreign and economic policy initiatives, a restriction stemming from the Italian Constitution, which permits regional cooperation only in the realms of economy and culture. In contrast, among the regions of China, only Hong Kong and Macau exhibit the capacity for autonomous external activities. Furthermore, it is revealed that Chinese migrants in Italy play a significant role in fostering Italian-Chinese interregional ties, maintaining connections with their homeland. The study concludes that Italian regions are notably less active internationally compared to regions in other EU countries.

The relational foundations of epistemic normativity

AbstractWhy comply with epistemic norms? In this paper, I argue that complying with epistemic norms, engaging in epistemically responsible conduct, and being epistemically trustworthy are constitutive elements of maintaining good epistemic relations with oneself and others. Good epistemic relations are in turn both instrumentally and finally valuable: they enable the kind of coordination and knowledge acquisition underpinning much of what we tend to associate with a flourishing human life; and just as good interpersonal relations with others can be good for their own sake, standing in good epistemic relations is good for its own sake. On my account, we have reason to comply with epistemic norms because it is a way of respecting the final value of something that also tends to be an instrumentally valuable thing: good epistemic relations. Situating the account within the recent social turn in debates about epistemic instrumentalism, I argue that the dual‐value aspect of good epistemic relations can explain important anti‐instrumentalist intuitions, in a well‐motivated way, within a broadly instrumentalist framework.

Meeting the critical challenge: re-tooling and re-founding defences of local democratic institutions

ABSTRACT Local government studies was born as a sub-division of public administration, but was progressively cross-fertilised with a range of disciplines, notably political geography and urban studies. This buffeted what had been normative foundations of the field, notably liberal democracy, and challenged meanings of key concepts from its lexicon, including the ‘local’, democracy, government, place and scale. These cherished concepts have been re-imagined and are now more than ever ‘up for grabs’. Subsequently, normative theorising about the local government waned. This paper argues that we need to meet the challenge set by these new insights and ask what would a defence of local government look like if we took them into account? In doing so, we should recognise both their value and limitations; engaging in the challenge will reveal the need to re-visit some long-held assumptions about not only the value of local democratic institutions but also their continuing fundamental relevance.

Critical Theories Challenge the Normative Bases of Contemporary Global Economical Governance and Help to Imagine Progressive Alternatives

This research explores how critical theory challenges the normative foundations of contemporary global economical governance, offering alternative visions for modern economy, democracy, and human rights. By exposing the hidden assumptions and power structures inherent in neoliberalism, realism, and cosmopolitanism, critical theory critiques the dominant paradigms that shape global politics and economy. It argues for a transformation towards more inclusive, pluralistic, and democratic forms of governance. Through a detailed examination of global institutions like the WTO, UN, and the Paris Agreement, the essay illustrates how these entities reflect and perpetuate global inequalities. Finally, it proposes alternative models that prioritise social and environmental sustainability, citizen participation, and respect for cultural diversity, aiming to inspire transformative change in global governance.

Synergy‐as‐principle in global climate regulation

AbstractIsolated policy interventions are unlikely to effectively address a highly complex and cross‐cutting issue such as climate change. Such issues require more integrated or holistic approaches. The concept of searching for synergy across multiple objectives could then achieve better outcomes than a default position of trade‐off and collision. This contribution construes a novel principle of synergy to structure integrated decision‐making in global climate regulation through law. This article grounds its argument theoretically in the analysis of global regulation. It first develops the rationale of a regulatory principle justifying synergetic choices in rule‐design and rule‐application. It then sets out a typology of regulatory synergies – reinforcing, functional, and dormant or connecting – which can be arranged on a sliding scale and delivered with appropriate policy tools. It also suggests pathways for synergy‐as‐principle to advance beyond an effective strategy to acquiring legal bindingness within global regulation through law. Finally, this article tests the workability of this principle in four scenarios where climate protection and adjacent objectives intersect. Beyond this analysis of global climate regulation, this article points to the deeper normative foundations capable of supporting a non‐exclusionary global community.

Of Hopes and Hinges: Peirce, Epistemic Constraints on Truth, and the Normative Foundations of Inquiry

Of Hopes and Hinges: Peirce, Epistemic Constraints on Truth, and the Normative Foundations of Inquiry

The Moral and Normative Foundation of Idumi Circumcision Ritual among the Tiriki of Hamisi Sub-County

This paper relates to the moral and normative foundation of Idumi circumcision ritual to explain the reasons for its persistence in many African communities. The main objective of the study was to explore the moral and normative foundation of Idumi circumcision ritual among the Tirikis. The study was guided by Stuarts Hall’s Cultural Identity Theory to explain its persistence and continuity. A qualitative exploratory design which was phenomenological was adopted for the study. Purposeful sampling was utilized to select twenty – six (26) respondents for the study including; four (4) Tiriki elders, four (4) initiates, four (4) ritual leaders, four (4) counselors, four (4) women, four (4) initiation chiefs and two (2) sub-chiefs. Twelve (12) key respondents were interviewed and fourteen (14) respondents participated in two focus group discussions of seven (7) members each. Data was analyzed qualitatively using the thematic method and presented by reporting key findings using appropriate verbatim quotes. The study revealed that there is a moral and normative foundation of Idumi circumcision ritual which contributes to the persistence and continuity of this cultural ritual.

Interspecies Justice within a Normative Sustainable Development Framework–Animal-Friendly Energy Systems as a Test Case

This paper argues that existing human-animal relations contribute to the pressing socio-ecological crises of our time, and therefore, they should be discussed in the context of Sustainable Development. This holds true even from a purely anthropocentric perspective, as these crises are threats to humans. However, sentient nonhuman animals possess interests as well and should be included in the moral community. Therefore, ignoring their interests in Sustainable Development is falling short. Furthermore, the paper argues that the anthropocentric perspective of Sustainable Development is flawed because the normative foundations of Sustainable Development (intra- and intergenerational justice) can be convincingly applied to nonhuman animals. According to approaches of interspecies justice, the normative foundations of Sustainable Development not merely can but should be applied to nonhuman animals. The paper argues for including nonhuman animals into the scope of justice and, therefore, in a theory of Sustainable Development. What such inclusion means at the practical level is examined in the last section of the paper, which investigates a field of application important for transforming societies into more sustainable ones, namely energy systems. This last section discusses how more sustainable, more animal-friendly energy systems would look like.