Obligations beyond the state: the individual, the state and humanity in international theory

This thesis is concerned with one way in which political philosophy and international relations might co-operate more closely with one another. The approach so formed, international relations theory, is particularly important in order to analyse and try to resolve one of the more fundamental questions in modern politics. This question concerns the right ordering of two types of obligation, the one asserting that a man's obligations are first and foremost to the state of which he is a citizen, the other asserting that as a man he has obligations to the whole of humanity and that these have first claim upon him. The first part of this thesis is concerned with these two theories of obligations and the way in which they are embedded within the theory and practice of the modern state. The argument attempts to set out the basic structure of these two points of view in order that their evaluation may take place in later parts of the thesis. In the second place, the theories of Pufendorf and Vattel are considered in order to discover the manner in which they deal with these two points of view of obligation. Their theories are found to be unsatisfactory and a more adequate theory of international obligation is traced in the writings of Kant. The third part of the thesis attempts to build upon Kant in order to take some further steps towards a theory of international relations. This section begins with the argument that the philosophy of international relations is to be understood as part of a wider enterprise, namely a theory of societies with reference to their external relations. Accordingly, the thesis attempts to distinguish a variety of principles which might be at the heart of one society's relations with another. Through the use of a 'myth' the argument proceeds to arrange these principles into a hierarchy in order to represent their distance from or proximity to a condition where international relations are organised according to principles which have their bases in Kant's thought

Process sociology, the English School, and postcolonialism – understanding ‘civilization’ and world politics:A reply to the critics

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La política deliberativa y el proceso de la civilización

Este artículo es una traducción autorizada de la obra original: “Dialogic Politics and the Civilising Process” publicada en Review of International Studies, volumen 31, número 2, páginas 327-348, por Cambridge University Press. DOI: 0.1017/S0260210505006507

Social Standards of Self-Restraint in World Politics

The process sociologist, Norbert Elias (2012, p. 89) maintained that Caxton’s comment in his fifteenth century treatise on courtesy that ‘things that were once permitted are now forbidden’ could stand as the ‘motto’ for the European civilizing process that was to come. The main course of development which would revolve around the formation of modern states and the significant pacification of the relevant societies shaped different related spheres of social interaction. According to Elias, they included the standards that governed bodily functions, changes in table manners and (of particular importance for the present discussion) shifts in emotional responses to cruelty and violence. His writings were less consistent on the subject of whether actions that were once permitted in relations between states have become forbidden in the most recent phase of the modern states-system. The main objective of the following discussion is to synthesise elements of process sociology and the English School in order to determine whether the current era is distinctive if not unique

The United Kingdom and British Empire: A Figurational Approach

Drawing upon the work of Norbert Elias and the process [figurational] sociology perspective, this article examines how state formation processes are related to, and, affected by, expanding and declining chains of international interdependence. In contrast to civic and ethnic conceptions, this approach focuses on the emergence of the nation/nation-state as grounded in broader processes of historical and social development. In doing so, state formation processes within the United Kingdom are related to the expansion and decline of the British Empire. That is, by focusing on the functional dynamics that are embedded in collective groups, one is able to consider how the UK’s ‘state’ and ‘imperial’ figurations were interdependently related to changes in both the UK and the former British Empire. Consequently, by locating contemporary UK relations in the historical context of former imperial relationships, nationalism studies can go ‘beyond’ the nation/nation-state in order to include broader processes of imperial expansion and decline. Here, the relationship between empire and nationalism can offer a valuable insight into contemporary political movements, especially within former imperial groups

Black rhinoceros avoidance of tourist infrastructure and activity: planning and managing for coexistence

CITATION: untifering, J., Linklater, W., Naidoo, R., !Uri-≠Khob, S., Du Preez, P., Beytell, P., . . . Knight, A. (2021). Black rhinoceros avoidance of tourist infrastructure and activity: Planning and managing for coexistence. Oryx, 55(1), 150-159. doi:10.1017/S0030605318001606The original publication is available at: cambridge.orgWildlife-based tourism has been described as a key conservation mechanism (Buckley & Castley, Reference Buckley and Castley2012; Coghlan et al., Reference Coghlan, Buckley and Weaver2012; Buckley et al., Reference Buckley, Morrison and Castley2016) and has increased globally (Tapper, Reference Tapper2006), particularly in developing countries (Balmford et al., Reference Balmford, Beresford, Green, Naidoo, Walpole and Manica2009). However, such tourism can have negative consequences for the wildlife intended to benefit from it. For example, previous studies found the mountain caribou Rangifer tarandus is displaced from preferred habitat by snowmobiles (Seip et al., Reference Seip, Johnson and Watts2007) and the Asian rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis by elephant-borne tourists (Lott & Mccoy, Reference Lott and Mccoy1995). Declines in bottlenose dolphin Tursiops sp. abundance linked to tourism (Bejder et al., Reference Bejder, Samuels, Whitehead, Gales, Mann and Connor2006) and increased risks to human safety through habituation of brown bears Ursus arctos (Penteriani et al., Reference Penteriani, López-bao, Bettega, Dalerum, Delgado and Jerina2017) have also been reported. A growing demand for experiences that provide opportunities to interact directly and in close proximity with wildlife (Higham et al., Reference Higham, Bejder and Lusseau2009) has inspired research aiming to quantify the direct impacts of human–wildlife encounters (Buckley, Reference Buckley2011). However, human activity (including conservation-oriented tourism) occurring within wildlife habitat often creates so-called zones of influence in which certain wildlife species may be displaced from otherwise suitable habitat (Noss & Cue, Reference Noss and Cue2001; Taylor & Knight, Reference Taylor and Knight2003; Frair et al., Reference Frair, Merrill, Beyer and Morales2008; Polfus et al., Reference Polfus, Hebblewhite and Heinemeyer2011; Boulanger et al., Reference Boulanger, Poole, Gunn and Wierzchowski2012). Few studies have examined the indirect effects of tourism infrastructure and operational development on free-ranging wildlife. An incomplete understanding of the effects tourism has on wildlife can result in poor management planning (Buckley & Pabla, Reference Buckley and Pabla2012) and reduce the net positive outcomes for conservation (Buckley, Reference Buckley2010). Even when scientific data are available, evidence-based management approaches are not necessarily implemented because research is often not management-oriented (Linklater, Reference Linklater2003) or researchers do not plan for implementation of their findings (Knight et al., Reference Knight, Cowling, Rouget, Balmford, Lombard and Campbell2008). To ensure conservation benefits exceed the costs associated with increased tourism involving rare and threatened wildlife (Karanth & DeFries, Reference Karanth and DeFries2011), it is vital that research is translated into management approaches that are both useful and user-friendly (Pierce et al., Reference Pierce, Cowling, Knight, Lombard, Rouget and Wolf2005; Thirgood et al., Reference Thirgood, Mduma, Keyyu and Laurenson2007). The policy sciences provide both a theory and a practical framework for integrating evidence in an effective decision-making process (Clark, Reference Clark2002). This approach has been used to improve conservation for many threatened species including koalas (Clark et al., Reference Clark, Mazur, Begg and Cork2000), great apes (Eves et al., Reference Eves, Gordon, Stein and Clark2002) and brown bears (Rutherford et al., Reference Rutherford, Gibeau, Clark and Chamberlain2009). The Critically Endangered black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis, an iconic large African mammal that has experienced a 97% population decline since 1970 (Emslie & Brooks, Reference Emslie and Brooks1999) could also benefit from a management-oriented approach.Publisher’s versio

Cosmopolitan Sentiment: Politics, Charity, and Global Poverty

Duties to address global poverty face a motivation gap. We have good reasons for acting yet we do not, at least consistently. A ‘sentimental education’, featuring literature and journalism detailing the lives of distant others has been suggested as a promising means by which to close this gap (Nussbaum in Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions, CUP, Cambridge, 2001; Rorty in Truth and Progress: Philosophical Papers, vol. 3, CUP, Cambridge, 1998). Although sympathetic to this project, I argue that it is too heavily wed to a charitable model of our duties to address global poverty—understood as requiring we sacrifice a certain portion of our income. However, political action, aimed at altering institutions at both a global and a local level is likely to be necessary in order to provide effective long-term solutions to poverty globally. To rectify this, the article develops an alternative dialogical account of sentimental education, suitable for motivating support for political action to address global poverty