I am a political philosopher and normative ethicist at the University of Guelph in Canada, where I hold the Canada Research Chair in Ethics and Global Social Change. My new book, Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Movements (Oxford University Press, 2021), argues that moral and political philosophers ought to centre their responses to poverty on the insights and aims of poor-led social movements and their organizations.
This is a volume of essays on exploitation in theory and practice. Contributors include Charles M... more This is a volume of essays on exploitation in theory and practice. Contributors include Charles Mills, Anne Phillips, Ruth Sample, Jeremy Snyder, Heather Widdows, Richard Miller, and many others. The book seeks to push past the impasse between liberal-transactional and marxist-structural understandings of exploitation.
Undergraduate level textbook co-edited with Omid Payrow Shabani. Classic and contemporary reading... more Undergraduate level textbook co-edited with Omid Payrow Shabani. Classic and contemporary readings in political thought are paired with cases drawn from the Canadian legal or political context.
The introduction and conclusion chapters of Gender & Justice in Multicultural Liberal States (OUP... more The introduction and conclusion chapters of Gender & Justice in Multicultural Liberal States (OUP 2006)
This is my reply to incisive commentaries on my book (Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Mo... more This is my reply to incisive commentaries on my book (Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Movements) by Lou Cabrera, Avery Kolers, Catherine Lu, and Ashwini Vasanthakumar. Special issue of Ethics & Global Politics, edited by Peggy Kohn and Avery Kolers.
In this reply, I respond to issues raised by Matthews, Pilapil, Igneski and Peeters in their comm... more In this reply, I respond to issues raised by Matthews, Pilapil, Igneski and Peeters in their commentaries on Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-Led Social Movements. They pose important definitional, conceptual, and normative questions and challenges. My response acknowledges that the diversity and fluidity of political activism by people in poverty complicates questions of political cooperation and solidarityand makes the prospect of poor-led poverty abolition and social change seem dim. The normative arguments in support of centering the perspectives and aims of poor-led organizations and social movements, however, do not depend on the consistency or imminent success of these movements. If political theorists are to contribute to efforts to abolish the systems that perpetuate chronic poverty, they will need to see the social-political empowerment of people living in povertyand the dismantling of systems of structural subordination and exploitationas the broad remedy.
Introduction to book symposium on Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Movements, with contri... more Introduction to book symposium on Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Movements, with contributions by S. Matthews, R. Pilapil, V. Igneski, and W. Peeters.
Global demand for human ova in in vitro fertilization has led to its expansion in countries with ... more Global demand for human ova in in vitro fertilization has led to its expansion in countries with falling average incomes and rising female unemployment. Paid egg donation in the context of national, regional, and global inequalities has the potential to exploit women who are socioeconomically vulnerable, and indeed there is ample evidence that it does. Structural injustices that render women in lower middle-income countries – and even some high-income countries – economically vulnerable contribute to a context of 'omissive coercion' (Wilkinson 2003) that is morally troubling. When egg brokers or fertility clinics take advantage of these background structural injustices and prospective ova providers' vulnerability to pay them less than they need to meet their livelihood needs, they engage in exploitation. Analyzing paid egg donation as a form of reproductive labor, however, can direct our attention to reforms that would reduce the exploitative features of this practice. In contrast to those who see egg provision as inescapably commodifying and harmful, I argue that compensated egg provision can be made less exploitative. I defend my approach against commodification-driven analyses of egg donation and concerns about undue inducement, and conclude by discussing some of the ways in which policy-makers and medical practitioners might reduce the harms that may result from this growing global practice.
Re-evaluating sufficientarianism in light of evidence of inequality's harms
Classic sufficientarians like Harry Frankfurt dismiss inequalities ‘as such’ as morally insignifi... more Classic sufficientarians like Harry Frankfurt dismiss inequalities ‘as such’ as morally insignificant. I ask whether the plausibility and practical import of this claim is in any way undercut by evidence of the durable effects of high inequality on some aspects of individual and social well-being. Studies demonstrating that large socioeconomic inequalities are persistently correlated with low social mobility and social trust, greater health disparities, and racial and gender hierarchies put pressure on sufficientarians' claim that inequality's supposed harms are largely reducible to poverty or too-low welfare. They also suggest that inequality's harms do not only affect those below the threshold of sufficiency. I show that the classic sufficiency view of inequality disregards the close connections between poverty and inequality, as well as the ways in which large relative inequalities often generate morally concerning harms like status hierarchies, racial segregation, and low levels of social trust. Revised sufficiency views, such as those of Satz, Anderson, Axelsen & Nielsen, and Shields, are more readily able to grant the significance of relative inequalities and comparative assessments of welfare, but are hampered by their adherence to classic sufficientarianism’s negative thesis. Free download: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/pQKyVgQ4ImSGjNkrAIQM/full
The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy, 2018
Deliberative democracy is widely associated with a public sphere that is more inclusive of cultur... more Deliberative democracy is widely associated with a public sphere that is more inclusive of cultural and religious minority groups than that established by a model of politics as interest aggregation. But it has also been criticized for stipulating unjust terms for this political inclusion, and for being insufficiently responsive to identity group-based claims. Such challenges have prompted much internal debate about the validity and the practical consequences of different norms and mechanisms of deliberative democracy. This chapter argues that models of public deliberation less beholden to Habermasian discourse ethics are able to offer a more promising response to these multicultural challenges.
The main goal of this study is to determine whether women are underrepresented in prestigious eth... more The main goal of this study is to determine whether women are underrepresented in prestigious ethics journals relative to their representation in the field of ethics. Our study proceeds in three steps. Step one: we estimate the percentage of women who specialize in ethics. Step two: we estimate the percentage of articles in prestigious ethics journals that are authored by women. Step three: we examine whether there is any difference between the percentage of women who specialize in ethics and the percentage of articles in prestigious ethics journals that are authored by women. We conclude that women are underrepresented in prestigious ethics journals relative to their representation in the field of ethics.
In "Ethical Issues in Poverty Alleviation," eds. H.P. Gaisbauer et al.
http://www.springer.com/... more In "Ethical Issues in Poverty Alleviation," eds. H.P. Gaisbauer et al.
Philosophical approaches to alleviating global poverty have overlooked the contributions and insights of poor-led social and political movements. This failure to engage with the strategies and perspectives of poor communities is bound up with global justice theorists’ neglect of issues of social and political power in their prescriptions for global poverty reduction. One cause of this neglect is the prominence of the “sufficiency” doctrine, which treats poverty as strictly a matter of material lack and unmet needs. This view gives rise to the belief that poverty can best be redressed through judicious redistributive measures to reduce absolute low-welfare. Yet these assumptions are increasingly at odds with the multidimensional and relational approach to poverty that has emerged in policy and development studies. This approach takes structural inequalities, social exclusion, and relations of subordination and disempowerment to be central to the experience of poverty. Two emerging ethical approaches to deprivation — one emphasizing social exclusion and disempowerment, and one focusing on humiliation and misrecognition — come much closer to grasping the relational aspects of poverty. By shifting to a relational understanding of poverty and paying closer attention to the aims and strategies of poor-led organizations and movements, global justice theorists can start to think more expansively about the goals — and agents — of global poverty reduction. I illustrate the significance of looking to the role of poor communities as agents of poverty reduction by discussing the Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), a global grassroots network of organizations dedicated to empowering communities of pavement and slum dwellers.
Political philosophers' prescriptions for poverty alleviation have overlooked the importance of s... more Political philosophers' prescriptions for poverty alleviation have overlooked the importance of social movements led by, and for, the poor in the global South. I argue that these movements are normatively and politically significant for poverty reduction strategies and global justice generally. While often excluded from formal political processes, organized poor communities nonetheless lay the groundwork for more radical, pro-poor forms of change through their grassroots resistance and organizing. Poor-led social movements politicize poverty by insisting that, fundamentally, it is caused by social relations of power that exploit and subordinate poor populations. These movements and their organizations also develop the collective capabilities of poor communities in ways that help them to contest the structures and processes that perpetuate their needs deprivation. I illustrate these contributions through a discussion of the Landless Rural Worker's Movement in Brazil (the MST), a poor mobilization organization in Bangladesh (Nijera Kori), and the slum and pavement dweller movement in India. Global justice theorizing about poverty cannot just " add on " the contributions of such struggles to existing analyses of, and remedies for, poverty, however; rather, we will need to shift to a relational approach to poverty in order to see the vital importance of organized poor communities to transformative, poor-centered poverty reduction.
Journal of Moral Philosophy vol. 12, no. 2 (2015): 125-50
According to “agent-centered” approaches to global poverty, it is not enough to merely enumerate ... more According to “agent-centered” approaches to global poverty, it is not enough to merely enumerate broad poverty-related duties, and the associated entitlements of the poor; we must instead foreground the concrete duties of particular duty-bearers. While signaling a welcome shift from the diffuse allocation of responsibilities for chronic poverty found in much philosophical writing about poverty, I argue that agent-centered approaches too readily assign the role of devising and directing anti-poverty initiatives to individuals and institutions in the global North. In so doing, they overlook the agency — actual and potential — of the poor themselves. I discuss examples of pro-poor political activism and the expansion of poor-centered, participatory models of poverty reduction in both development theory and practice as an antidote to the view (held by Pogge, for example) that only governments and powerful transnational institutions can effect real change. I argue that we must disaggregate the issues of responsibility or accountability (for perpetuating poverty) from the political question of who or what should lead poverty reduction strategies. Just as development organizations working in the global South have come to recognize that the participation of the poor is critical to the success of development strategies, so should normative theorizing about global justice acknowledge the importance of the poor as active agents in shaping poverty-reducing reforms and strategies.
Deliberative democracy is widely associated with a public sphere that is more inclusive of cultur... more Deliberative democracy is widely associated with a public sphere that is more inclusive of cultural and religious minority groups than that established by a model of politics as interest aggregation. But it has also been criticized for stipulating unjust terms for this political inclusion, and for being insufficiently responsive to identity group-based claims. Such challenges have prompted much internal debate about the validity and the practical consequences of different norms and mechanisms of deliberative democracy. Models of public deliberation less beholden to Habermasian discourse ethics, I argue, offer a more promising response to theses multicultural challenges. There is much in deliberative democracy that conduces to an inclusive and diverse public sphere. The theory's grounding in communicative as opposed to strategic and instrumental action (Habermas 1984) requires that we respect citizens' moral differences and not seek to bracket these from democratic political life. The requirement that political decision-making be based on public deliberation and the respectful exchange of shared reasons — rather than on mere interests or sheer power — would seem to encourage diverse citizens
This is a volume of essays on exploitation in theory and practice. Contributors include Charles M... more This is a volume of essays on exploitation in theory and practice. Contributors include Charles Mills, Anne Phillips, Ruth Sample, Jeremy Snyder, Heather Widdows, Richard Miller, and many others. The book seeks to push past the impasse between liberal-transactional and marxist-structural understandings of exploitation.
Undergraduate level textbook co-edited with Omid Payrow Shabani. Classic and contemporary reading... more Undergraduate level textbook co-edited with Omid Payrow Shabani. Classic and contemporary readings in political thought are paired with cases drawn from the Canadian legal or political context.
The introduction and conclusion chapters of Gender & Justice in Multicultural Liberal States (OUP... more The introduction and conclusion chapters of Gender & Justice in Multicultural Liberal States (OUP 2006)
This is my reply to incisive commentaries on my book (Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Mo... more This is my reply to incisive commentaries on my book (Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Movements) by Lou Cabrera, Avery Kolers, Catherine Lu, and Ashwini Vasanthakumar. Special issue of Ethics & Global Politics, edited by Peggy Kohn and Avery Kolers.
In this reply, I respond to issues raised by Matthews, Pilapil, Igneski and Peeters in their comm... more In this reply, I respond to issues raised by Matthews, Pilapil, Igneski and Peeters in their commentaries on Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-Led Social Movements. They pose important definitional, conceptual, and normative questions and challenges. My response acknowledges that the diversity and fluidity of political activism by people in poverty complicates questions of political cooperation and solidarityand makes the prospect of poor-led poverty abolition and social change seem dim. The normative arguments in support of centering the perspectives and aims of poor-led organizations and social movements, however, do not depend on the consistency or imminent success of these movements. If political theorists are to contribute to efforts to abolish the systems that perpetuate chronic poverty, they will need to see the social-political empowerment of people living in povertyand the dismantling of systems of structural subordination and exploitationas the broad remedy.
Introduction to book symposium on Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Movements, with contri... more Introduction to book symposium on Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-led Social Movements, with contributions by S. Matthews, R. Pilapil, V. Igneski, and W. Peeters.
Global demand for human ova in in vitro fertilization has led to its expansion in countries with ... more Global demand for human ova in in vitro fertilization has led to its expansion in countries with falling average incomes and rising female unemployment. Paid egg donation in the context of national, regional, and global inequalities has the potential to exploit women who are socioeconomically vulnerable, and indeed there is ample evidence that it does. Structural injustices that render women in lower middle-income countries – and even some high-income countries – economically vulnerable contribute to a context of 'omissive coercion' (Wilkinson 2003) that is morally troubling. When egg brokers or fertility clinics take advantage of these background structural injustices and prospective ova providers' vulnerability to pay them less than they need to meet their livelihood needs, they engage in exploitation. Analyzing paid egg donation as a form of reproductive labor, however, can direct our attention to reforms that would reduce the exploitative features of this practice. In contrast to those who see egg provision as inescapably commodifying and harmful, I argue that compensated egg provision can be made less exploitative. I defend my approach against commodification-driven analyses of egg donation and concerns about undue inducement, and conclude by discussing some of the ways in which policy-makers and medical practitioners might reduce the harms that may result from this growing global practice.
Re-evaluating sufficientarianism in light of evidence of inequality's harms
Classic sufficientarians like Harry Frankfurt dismiss inequalities ‘as such’ as morally insignifi... more Classic sufficientarians like Harry Frankfurt dismiss inequalities ‘as such’ as morally insignificant. I ask whether the plausibility and practical import of this claim is in any way undercut by evidence of the durable effects of high inequality on some aspects of individual and social well-being. Studies demonstrating that large socioeconomic inequalities are persistently correlated with low social mobility and social trust, greater health disparities, and racial and gender hierarchies put pressure on sufficientarians' claim that inequality's supposed harms are largely reducible to poverty or too-low welfare. They also suggest that inequality's harms do not only affect those below the threshold of sufficiency. I show that the classic sufficiency view of inequality disregards the close connections between poverty and inequality, as well as the ways in which large relative inequalities often generate morally concerning harms like status hierarchies, racial segregation, and low levels of social trust. Revised sufficiency views, such as those of Satz, Anderson, Axelsen & Nielsen, and Shields, are more readily able to grant the significance of relative inequalities and comparative assessments of welfare, but are hampered by their adherence to classic sufficientarianism’s negative thesis. Free download: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/pQKyVgQ4ImSGjNkrAIQM/full
The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy, 2018
Deliberative democracy is widely associated with a public sphere that is more inclusive of cultur... more Deliberative democracy is widely associated with a public sphere that is more inclusive of cultural and religious minority groups than that established by a model of politics as interest aggregation. But it has also been criticized for stipulating unjust terms for this political inclusion, and for being insufficiently responsive to identity group-based claims. Such challenges have prompted much internal debate about the validity and the practical consequences of different norms and mechanisms of deliberative democracy. This chapter argues that models of public deliberation less beholden to Habermasian discourse ethics are able to offer a more promising response to these multicultural challenges.
The main goal of this study is to determine whether women are underrepresented in prestigious eth... more The main goal of this study is to determine whether women are underrepresented in prestigious ethics journals relative to their representation in the field of ethics. Our study proceeds in three steps. Step one: we estimate the percentage of women who specialize in ethics. Step two: we estimate the percentage of articles in prestigious ethics journals that are authored by women. Step three: we examine whether there is any difference between the percentage of women who specialize in ethics and the percentage of articles in prestigious ethics journals that are authored by women. We conclude that women are underrepresented in prestigious ethics journals relative to their representation in the field of ethics.
In "Ethical Issues in Poverty Alleviation," eds. H.P. Gaisbauer et al.
http://www.springer.com/... more In "Ethical Issues in Poverty Alleviation," eds. H.P. Gaisbauer et al.
Philosophical approaches to alleviating global poverty have overlooked the contributions and insights of poor-led social and political movements. This failure to engage with the strategies and perspectives of poor communities is bound up with global justice theorists’ neglect of issues of social and political power in their prescriptions for global poverty reduction. One cause of this neglect is the prominence of the “sufficiency” doctrine, which treats poverty as strictly a matter of material lack and unmet needs. This view gives rise to the belief that poverty can best be redressed through judicious redistributive measures to reduce absolute low-welfare. Yet these assumptions are increasingly at odds with the multidimensional and relational approach to poverty that has emerged in policy and development studies. This approach takes structural inequalities, social exclusion, and relations of subordination and disempowerment to be central to the experience of poverty. Two emerging ethical approaches to deprivation — one emphasizing social exclusion and disempowerment, and one focusing on humiliation and misrecognition — come much closer to grasping the relational aspects of poverty. By shifting to a relational understanding of poverty and paying closer attention to the aims and strategies of poor-led organizations and movements, global justice theorists can start to think more expansively about the goals — and agents — of global poverty reduction. I illustrate the significance of looking to the role of poor communities as agents of poverty reduction by discussing the Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), a global grassroots network of organizations dedicated to empowering communities of pavement and slum dwellers.
Political philosophers' prescriptions for poverty alleviation have overlooked the importance of s... more Political philosophers' prescriptions for poverty alleviation have overlooked the importance of social movements led by, and for, the poor in the global South. I argue that these movements are normatively and politically significant for poverty reduction strategies and global justice generally. While often excluded from formal political processes, organized poor communities nonetheless lay the groundwork for more radical, pro-poor forms of change through their grassroots resistance and organizing. Poor-led social movements politicize poverty by insisting that, fundamentally, it is caused by social relations of power that exploit and subordinate poor populations. These movements and their organizations also develop the collective capabilities of poor communities in ways that help them to contest the structures and processes that perpetuate their needs deprivation. I illustrate these contributions through a discussion of the Landless Rural Worker's Movement in Brazil (the MST), a poor mobilization organization in Bangladesh (Nijera Kori), and the slum and pavement dweller movement in India. Global justice theorizing about poverty cannot just " add on " the contributions of such struggles to existing analyses of, and remedies for, poverty, however; rather, we will need to shift to a relational approach to poverty in order to see the vital importance of organized poor communities to transformative, poor-centered poverty reduction.
Journal of Moral Philosophy vol. 12, no. 2 (2015): 125-50
According to “agent-centered” approaches to global poverty, it is not enough to merely enumerate ... more According to “agent-centered” approaches to global poverty, it is not enough to merely enumerate broad poverty-related duties, and the associated entitlements of the poor; we must instead foreground the concrete duties of particular duty-bearers. While signaling a welcome shift from the diffuse allocation of responsibilities for chronic poverty found in much philosophical writing about poverty, I argue that agent-centered approaches too readily assign the role of devising and directing anti-poverty initiatives to individuals and institutions in the global North. In so doing, they overlook the agency — actual and potential — of the poor themselves. I discuss examples of pro-poor political activism and the expansion of poor-centered, participatory models of poverty reduction in both development theory and practice as an antidote to the view (held by Pogge, for example) that only governments and powerful transnational institutions can effect real change. I argue that we must disaggregate the issues of responsibility or accountability (for perpetuating poverty) from the political question of who or what should lead poverty reduction strategies. Just as development organizations working in the global South have come to recognize that the participation of the poor is critical to the success of development strategies, so should normative theorizing about global justice acknowledge the importance of the poor as active agents in shaping poverty-reducing reforms and strategies.
Deliberative democracy is widely associated with a public sphere that is more inclusive of cultur... more Deliberative democracy is widely associated with a public sphere that is more inclusive of cultural and religious minority groups than that established by a model of politics as interest aggregation. But it has also been criticized for stipulating unjust terms for this political inclusion, and for being insufficiently responsive to identity group-based claims. Such challenges have prompted much internal debate about the validity and the practical consequences of different norms and mechanisms of deliberative democracy. Models of public deliberation less beholden to Habermasian discourse ethics, I argue, offer a more promising response to theses multicultural challenges. There is much in deliberative democracy that conduces to an inclusive and diverse public sphere. The theory's grounding in communicative as opposed to strategic and instrumental action (Habermas 1984) requires that we respect citizens' moral differences and not seek to bracket these from democratic political life. The requirement that political decision-making be based on public deliberation and the respectful exchange of shared reasons — rather than on mere interests or sheer power — would seem to encourage diverse citizens
Uncorrected page proofs. Final version: http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/dt.2016.030202
This article ex... more Uncorrected page proofs. Final version: http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/dt.2016.030202
This article examines several obstacles to the deliberative inclusion of women where traditional cultural-political authority exist alongside national democratic institutions. Drawing on the example of land reform in post-apartheid South Africa, the article argues that introducing delibera-tive democratic procedures to local cultural-political institutions may fail to achieve the inclusion and/or empowerment of subordinated members, such as rural women. I discuss three ways that deliberative interventions might be made more inclusive in such contexts: fi rst, by using strategic exclusion to amplify the voices of disenfranchised community members and/or to make possible parallel deliberation by them; second, by legitimizing and supporting the informal political practices of more disempowered group members (e.g., informal protests, political activism); and third, by fostering the political capacities of disempowered citizens in both formal and informal political life. A central claim made on behalf of deliberative democracy is that it can foster the inclusion and empowerment of ordinary citizens in democratic political life. But ideal structures of deliberation tell us remarkably little about how much real inclusion and actual power citizens will enjoy. This is so in part for reasons much discussed by deliberative democrats themselves, such as group-based diff erences in political speech styles and capacities, and inequalities in the resources and opportunities required to participate in political deliberation (. But it is also, more insidiously , because of the way that private and social relations of subor-dination are readily carried over into political deliberation itself. As an ideal, democratic deliberation strives to ensure that political equals work through disagreements using norms of reciprocity and public reason;
Calls to restrict or regulate certain 'gendered' customs associated with cultural and religious minority communities in liberal democracies – notably Muslim women’s veiling – often appeal to the norm of sexual equality. While the precise content of this norm is rarely spelled out, those in favour of restricting such practices typically point to the rights of girls and women to live a self-directed life free from strong social constraints, and to be regarded as having value and dignity equal to that of boys and men. In this familiar narrative, proponents of restrictions on the hijab (headscarf) and/or the niqab (face veil) link sexual equality to a defense of the norm of personal autonomy. Yet, paradoxically, those who object to such restrictions, including women from the affected groups, also reach for ideals of choice and freedom to oppose state interference. In this chapter, I suggest that this dual appropriation is made possible by the contrasting conceptions of autonomy that underlie these opposing positions.
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Books by Monique Deveaux
Click on the open-access link in the top right-hand corner. Or download from this Academia entry.
Papers by Monique Deveaux
Free download: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/pQKyVgQ4ImSGjNkrAIQM/full
http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319414287
Philosophical approaches to alleviating global poverty have overlooked the contributions and insights of poor-led social and political movements. This failure to engage with the strategies and perspectives of poor communities is bound up with global justice theorists’ neglect of issues of social and political power in their prescriptions for global poverty reduction. One cause of this neglect is the prominence of the “sufficiency” doctrine, which treats poverty as strictly a matter of material lack and unmet needs. This view gives rise to the belief that poverty can best be redressed through judicious redistributive measures to reduce absolute low-welfare. Yet these assumptions are increasingly at odds with the multidimensional and relational approach to poverty that has emerged in policy and development studies. This approach takes structural inequalities, social exclusion, and relations of subordination and disempowerment to be central to the experience of poverty. Two emerging ethical approaches to deprivation — one emphasizing social exclusion and disempowerment, and one focusing on humiliation and misrecognition — come much closer to grasping the relational aspects of poverty. By shifting to a relational understanding of poverty and paying closer attention to the aims and strategies of poor-led organizations and movements, global justice theorists can start to think more expansively about the goals — and agents — of global poverty reduction. I illustrate the significance of looking to the role of poor communities as agents of poverty reduction by discussing the Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), a global grassroots network of organizations dedicated to empowering communities of pavement and slum dwellers.
Click on the open-access link in the top right-hand corner. Or download from this Academia entry.
Free download: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/pQKyVgQ4ImSGjNkrAIQM/full
http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319414287
Philosophical approaches to alleviating global poverty have overlooked the contributions and insights of poor-led social and political movements. This failure to engage with the strategies and perspectives of poor communities is bound up with global justice theorists’ neglect of issues of social and political power in their prescriptions for global poverty reduction. One cause of this neglect is the prominence of the “sufficiency” doctrine, which treats poverty as strictly a matter of material lack and unmet needs. This view gives rise to the belief that poverty can best be redressed through judicious redistributive measures to reduce absolute low-welfare. Yet these assumptions are increasingly at odds with the multidimensional and relational approach to poverty that has emerged in policy and development studies. This approach takes structural inequalities, social exclusion, and relations of subordination and disempowerment to be central to the experience of poverty. Two emerging ethical approaches to deprivation — one emphasizing social exclusion and disempowerment, and one focusing on humiliation and misrecognition — come much closer to grasping the relational aspects of poverty. By shifting to a relational understanding of poverty and paying closer attention to the aims and strategies of poor-led organizations and movements, global justice theorists can start to think more expansively about the goals — and agents — of global poverty reduction. I illustrate the significance of looking to the role of poor communities as agents of poverty reduction by discussing the Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), a global grassroots network of organizations dedicated to empowering communities of pavement and slum dwellers.
This article examines several obstacles to the deliberative inclusion of women where traditional cultural-political authority exist alongside national democratic institutions. Drawing on the example of land reform in post-apartheid South Africa, the article argues that introducing delibera-tive democratic procedures to local cultural-political institutions may fail to achieve the inclusion and/or empowerment of subordinated members, such as rural women. I discuss three ways that deliberative interventions might be made more inclusive in such contexts: fi rst, by using strategic exclusion to amplify the voices of disenfranchised community members and/or to make possible parallel deliberation by them; second, by legitimizing and supporting the informal political practices of more disempowered group members (e.g., informal protests, political activism); and third, by fostering the political capacities of disempowered citizens in both formal and informal political life. A central claim made on behalf of deliberative democracy is that it can foster the inclusion and empowerment of ordinary citizens in democratic political life. But ideal structures of deliberation tell us remarkably little about how much real inclusion and actual power citizens will enjoy. This is so in part for reasons much discussed by deliberative democrats themselves, such as group-based diff erences in political speech styles and capacities, and inequalities in the resources and opportunities required to participate in political deliberation (. But it is also, more insidiously , because of the way that private and social relations of subor-dination are readily carried over into political deliberation itself. As an ideal, democratic deliberation strives to ensure that political equals work through disagreements using norms of reciprocity and public reason;
https://www.routledge.com/Personal-Autonomy-in-Plural-Societies-A-Principle-and-its-Paradoxes/Foblets-Graziadei-Renteln/p/book/9781138220218
Calls to restrict or regulate certain 'gendered' customs associated with cultural and religious minority communities in liberal democracies – notably Muslim women’s veiling – often appeal to the norm of sexual equality. While the precise content of this norm is rarely spelled out, those in favour of restricting such practices typically point to the rights of girls and women to live a self-directed life free from strong social constraints, and to be regarded as having value and dignity equal to that of boys and men. In this familiar narrative, proponents of restrictions on the hijab (headscarf) and/or the niqab (face veil) link sexual equality to a defense of the norm of personal autonomy. Yet, paradoxically, those who object to such restrictions, including women from the affected groups, also reach for ideals of choice and freedom to oppose state interference. In this chapter, I suggest that this dual appropriation is made possible by the contrasting conceptions of autonomy that underlie these opposing positions.