Hessler, Kristen; Follesdal, Andreas: Gender imbalance on the international bench: is normative legitimacy at stake?. In: Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 430-435, 2021. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | Tags: gender, Human Rights, publication)@article{RN52225, As norms of state sovereignty have evolved in an increasingly globalized world, international courts and tribunals have proliferated and expanded the scope of their authority. Some observers hail these developments as moral progress, representing the ascendancy of the rule of law rather than power politics in international relations. At the same time, the growing number of ICs, and their expanded scope and power, have triggered extensive critiques and political resistance against them. ..However, ICs have received increasing criticism regarding issues of representation among judges….Some recent developments on this issue are hopeful. ..However, a broader perspective reveals that these developments indicate only marginal progress. As of March, 2021 women constitute only 24% of sitting judges on international tribunals, 22% of judges on human rights tribunals, and only 13% of regional court judges…. |
Follesdal, Andreas: How many women judges are enough on international courts?. In: Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 436-458, 2021. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | Tags: gender, publication)@article{RN51724, NOTE: There are errors in the published text, contact author for errata. A legitimate international court need not secure numerical sex equality on the bench – complete parity. The article argues that a commitment that institutions should treat all with equal concern requires not only token representation of both prevalent sexes, or a ‘critical mass’ of 15 -25%, but a ‘parity zone’ of 40% of each. Arguments of compassion , epistemic competence; and expressions of status equality favour a high threshold of both the prevalent sexes, and further requirements to ensure a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives among the international judges . The aim is to explore what these arguments require regarding the proportion of men and women on the international bench. The strongest of these arguments withstand criticisms that they ‘essentialize’ gender, or assume that elitist female international judges can represent all other women, or lead to a slippery slope where ICs must also ‘mirror’ a myriad of characteristics of the affected populations and constituencies . The many reasons to lament various unjust forms and levels of inequalities counsel different, only partly overlapping objectives. The composition and workings of ICs must satisfy the norms of impartiality independence and procedural fairness, especially because the ICs are tasked to uphold these very norms. The arguments support a parity zone, and several of the arguments entail that more judges – regardless of their own sex and gender – should be ‘gender sensitive,’ and that there should be further requirements to ensure more diversity of perspectives among the international judges. But there are no strong arguments for complete equal proportions of men and women – ‘sex parity’ – on the international bench.
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Follesdal, Andreas: Getting to Justice? On Albert Weale: Democratic Justice. In: Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 231-242, 2017. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | Tags: gender, publication)@article{RN50144, This article focuses on how Weale’s view in Democratic Justice (Oxford University Press 2013) fits into and responds to two strands of social contract traditions and their critics: the contractarian tradition as he claims to, which seeks to justify normative principles of justice from non-moral premises. The alternative is the contractualist tradition which assumes that individuals are also motivated by other-regarding moral considerations. The aim of the latter is often limited to systematize and specify vague and contested normative judgments concerning shared institutions. There are tensions in Weale’s book whether it addresses the question of concern to contractarians or that of contractualists. A second question concerns Weale’s attempt to extrapolate principles of justice from common property resource regimes within the basic structure of society to that basic structure of a ‘great society’ itself. The impact of the basic structure on individuals is so pervasive that the principle Weale proposes appears to be misapplied. A claim to the marginal product in complex modes of production supplemented by a social insurance scheme says little about the distributive principles for assessing how the basic structure should engender the distribution of marginal products among us. |
Follesdal, Andreas: Social Primary Goods. In: Mandle, Jon; Reidy, David (Ed.): The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon, pp. 643-647, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2015. (Type: Book Chapter | Abstract | Links | Tags: gender, John Rawls, publication)@inbook{RN49151, Rawls’ theory of justice concerns the scope of required equalities and permitted inequalities engendered by the basic social structure (BS) of a society. this subject requires an index of benefits and burdens that allows publicly accessible interpersonal comparisons of citizens’ well-being, in the relevant sense, among representative members of various social groups. Rawls’ answer is to focus on how the basic structure of society distributes Social primary goods. The entry discusses this account. |
Follesdal, Andreas: Okin, Susan. In: Gibbons, Michael; Coole, Diana; Ellis, Elisabeth (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Political Thought, Wiley-Blackwell, 2014, ISBN: 978-1-4051-9129-6. (Type: Book Chapter | Abstract | Links | Tags: gender, publication)@inbook{RN49244, Susan Moller Okin, an egalitarian feminist liberal, reconstructed the history of political thought to correct for the absence, exclusion or distortion of women, gendered culture and reproduction. She developed the social contract tradition to secure family and gender central place, highlighted the plight of minority women in multicultural societies, and contributed to women-centred development policies. |
Follesdal, Andreas: Equality of Education and Citizenship: Challenges of European Integration. In: Studies in Philosophy and Education, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 335-354, 2008, (Revised version
DOI 10.1007/s11217-007-9050-6
Notes: art. reference SPED18R2). (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | Tags: gender, publication)@article{RN46230, What kind of equality among Europeans does equal citizenship require, especially regarding education? In particular, is there good reason to insist of equality of education among Europeans—and if so, equality of what? To what extent should the same knowledge base and citizenship norms be taught across state borders and religious and other normative divides? At least three philosophical issues merit attention: (a) The requirements of multiple democratic citizenships beyond the nation state; (b) how to respect diversity while securing such equality and inculcating commitments to justice and norms of citizenship, and (c) The multiple reasons for equality of various kinds among political equals living in a Union as compared to a unitary state. The article responds on the basis of several arguments in favour of certain kinds of equality. All Union citizens must enjoy a high minimum level of education, and all pupils must be informed concerning the various ways of life prevalent in Europe. Furthermore, there must be standards for securing equality of opportunity across the EU, though it is difficult to measure under multiculturalism. Citizens must also be socialised to certain ‘citizenship norms’. This shared basis to be taught in schools should avoid contested religious or philosophical premises as far as possible. Yet the school system should socialise pupils to three commitments: to the just domestic and European institutions and hence the legislation they engender, to principles that justify these institutions; and to a political theory that grounds these principles in a conception of the proper role of individuals, of member states and of the Union. I also argue that equality of result is not a plausible normative requirement among Europeans, while equality of opportunity is. The paper concludes with some comments on the lessons to be drawn for ‘Global’ citizenship. |
Follesdal, Andreas: Between Petros and a Hard Place? Human Rights to Religious Liberty or to Gender Equality in Europe. In: Børresen, Kari; Cabibbo, Sara (Ed.): Gender, Religion, Human Rights in Europe, pp. 63-83, Herder, Rome, 2006. (Type: Book Chapter | Links | Tags: gender, Human Rights, publication)@inbook{RN42850, |
Follesdal, Andreas: Exit, Choice and Loyalty: Religious Liberty versus Gender Equality.. In: Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 407-420, 2005. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | Tags: gender, publication)@article{RN42410, Susan Okin contributed substantially to our awareness of the complex issues of legitimate preference formation and the gendered history of the contractualist tradition. She also indicated how the tradition could be improved. The present article focuses on one issue of long standing concern to her: What are we to think of the inculcation of religious or philosophical conceptions of the good that affect aspirations? In particular, what should liberal states do about the religious ideals and cultural practices that appear to stunt women’s actual choices of careers and life plans, and that even seem to hinder their exit from these communities of faith? Surely it will not do to dismiss such concerns as belonging to the “private” rather than the “public” realm, and hence beyond justice. Okin explicitly warned against giving undue respect to cultural groups under the guise of “multiculturalism” when the internal culture of a group socializes boys and girls toward roles they cannot easily select away even if exit is formally available. Respect for minorities can easily stop being part of the solution for a more just society, and become part of the problem…. Statistical differences in career choices for men and women—inequality in result—may be an indicator of violation of the form of equality of opportunity worth fighting for. But gender-skewed career choices might not be the effect of unjust preference formation, as long as they are not the effect of domination. The requirement of justice might thus not be to prevent all gender differentiated role socialization, but to prevent standard forms of domination—including problematic forms of inculcation to such gender roles. This should of course not be taken to deny that religions often motivate violations of women’s civil or political rights and their rights to physical integrity. Such violations are clearly outrageous. But if they raise philosophical issues, these are different. Other issues of alleged gender injustice cannot be dismissed, such as certain practices concerning marriage and divorce practices, and the damages perpetrated on non-Westerners, primarily the global poor, and women in particular, by means of the global basic structure. |
Follesdal, Andreas: Federal Inequality among Equals: A Contractualist defense. In: Pogge, Thomas (Ed.): Global Justice, pp. 242-261, Blackwell, Oxford, 2001. (Type: Book Chapter | Abstract | Links | Tags: federalism, gender, publication)@inbook{RN32680, Federal political orders often exhibit a conflict between the ideals of equality and political autonomy, since individuals in different sub-units often enjoy systematically different standards of living conditions. While federal arrangements may be theoretically attractive to avoid despotism, such federal inequality would appear to conflict with the principles of egalitarian cosmopolitans. The paper argues that individuals’ interest in equal shares of income and wealth may be legitimately weighed against their interest in political control enjoyed by their sub-unit, as long as the inequalities do not engender misery, domination or unfair procedures. The reasons for sub-unit autonomy include reducing the risk of domination, increasing the responsiveness to local preferences, and reducing the burdens of decision-making. These arguments also suggest that states may not always be the appropriate sub-units in legitimate federal orders. |
Follesdal, Andreas: Culture and the environment: Coping with conflicting goals and cultural diversity. In: Our Creative Diversity –A Critical Perspective, pp. 109-116, 1998. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | Tags: gender, publication)@article{RN23820, How should we approach the hard choices regarding conflicts between existing cultures on the one hand and on the other hand developmental goals, environmental long-term considerations and ‘global ethics’? These notes offer a sketch in broad strokes of a political theory addressing these issues. In particular, a concern is to provide a framework for discussions on a basis which respects cultural diversity, in that it is not objectionably based on ‘Western’ or liberal assumptions about individuals as choosers of life plans. The aim is to yield some reflections on two central policy issues of the document Our Creative Diversity: a) The conception of development as expanding human capabilities, which in turns affects the conception of environmental degradation, and b) the basis for claims to rights to culture. Such a basis should allow us to accommodate both respect for a broad range of cultures and a basis for objecting to some aspects of some cultures, eg. those that hinder the appropriate kinds of development by violating certain norms of gender equality or by preventing the satisfaction of basic needs. |
Publications
Gender imbalance on the international bench: is normative legitimacy at stake?. In: Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 430-435, 2021. | :
How many women judges are enough on international courts?. In: Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 436-458, 2021. | :
Getting to Justice? On Albert Weale: Democratic Justice. In: Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 231-242, 2017. | :
Social Primary Goods. In: Mandle, Jon; Reidy, David (Ed.): The Cambridge Rawls Lexicon, pp. 643-647, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2015. | :
Okin, Susan. In: Gibbons, Michael; Coole, Diana; Ellis, Elisabeth (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Political Thought, Wiley-Blackwell, 2014, ISBN: 978-1-4051-9129-6. | :
Equality of Education and Citizenship: Challenges of European Integration. In: Studies in Philosophy and Education, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 335-354, 2008, (Revised version DOI 10.1007/s11217-007-9050-6 Notes: art. reference SPED18R2). | :
Between Petros and a Hard Place? Human Rights to Religious Liberty or to Gender Equality in Europe. In: Børresen, Kari; Cabibbo, Sara (Ed.): Gender, Religion, Human Rights in Europe, pp. 63-83, Herder, Rome, 2006. | :
Exit, Choice and Loyalty: Religious Liberty versus Gender Equality.. In: Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 407-420, 2005. | :
Federal Inequality among Equals: A Contractualist defense. In: Pogge, Thomas (Ed.): Global Justice, pp. 242-261, Blackwell, Oxford, 2001. | :
Culture and the environment: Coping with conflicting goals and cultural diversity. In: Our Creative Diversity –A Critical Perspective, pp. 109-116, 1998. | :