Codes of conduct are the main tools to privately regulate worker rights in global value chains. Scholars have shown that while codes may improve outcome standards (such as occupational health and safety), they have had limited impact on process rights (such as freedom of association and collective bargaining). Scholars have, though, only provided vague or general explanations for this empirical finding. We address this shortcoming by providing a holistic and detailed explanation, and argue that codes, in their current form, have (...) limited impact on trade union rights due to (i) buyers paying lip service to trade union rights, (ii) workers being treated as passive objects of regulation in codes of conduct, (iii) auditing being unable to detect and remediate violations of trade union rights, (iv) codes emphasizing parallel means of organizing, (v) suppliers having limited incentives for compliance, and (vi) codes being unable to open up space for union organizing when leveraged in grassroots struggles. Our arguments suggest that there is no quick fix for codes’ limited impact on trade union rights, and that codes, in their current form, have limited potential to improve trade union rights. We conclude by discussing ways in which codes of conduct, and private regulation of worker rights more generally, could be transformed to more effectively address trade union rights. (shrink)

The rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has been astonishing, in particular for the arts and creative industries. The dominant discourse both in mainstream media and in academia today focuses predominantly on what this new technology can do for the art market rather than art itself. However, framing NFTs in art in the context of money and markets draws attention away from the more subtle and creative role of NFTs. Consequently, this article asks: What is the role of NFTs in art, (...) beyond the market? This research complements existing empirical work, by conducting a case study and interviews with members of DADA, a historic NFT art project which is particularly critical towards the role of the art market. The findings foregrounded five roles that NFTs play in art: as (1) a tool for systemic change, (2) a new way to community, (3) a ritual artefact, (4) a means for preservation and (5) a new medium. (shrink)

The text is the extended version of the lecture delivered at the occasion of the author’s farewell as Professor of Moral Theology at Tilburg Faculty of Theology. The tradition of canon law, dogmatics, and moral theology is familiar with the concept of “ius divinum”, divine right. This concept indicates that certain standards, orders and institutions can be seen as if having been set up by God himself. For example: the primacy of the Pope, the seven Sacraments, or, in moral theology, (...) the standards of natural law. Because they do not encompass human institutions, man cannot abolish them. However, what does it mean in our present times to contend that God himself has instituted certain standards and institutions in our world, and that they are therefore beyond human authority? In this contribution the thesis is defended that the so-called divine right does not have to be considered a taboo but rather that it is thoroughly human. This in the dual significance of human: it is of human origin and it serves mankind, it is for the good of humanity. On the one hand, “divine right” is not only a phenomenon within the human world, but, more radically, a phenomenon from this human world, made by human beings themselves. On the other hand, such an anthropocentric vision does not indicate the end of a meaningful reference to God and of the understanding of human life in the countenance of God. To the contrary, the divine within a divine right finds its criterion in its very humanity, its humane kindness. With a short reference to the ethics of human rights, which tries to interweave the unconditional moral obligation and modern anthropocentrism, the search for traces of divine right in this world is brought to completion. (shrink)

The text is the extended version of the lecture delivered at the occasion of the author’s farewell as Professor of Moral Theology at Tilburg Faculty of Theology. The tradition of canon law, dogmatics, and moral theology is familiar with the concept of “ius divinum”, divine right. This concept indicates that certain standards, orders and institutions can be seen as if having been set up by God himself. For example: the primacy of the Pope, the seven Sacraments, or, in moral theology, (...) the standards of natural law. Because they do not encompass human institutions, man cannot abolish them. However, what does it mean in our present times to contend that God himself has instituted certain standards and institutions in our world, and that they are therefore beyond human authority? In this contribution the thesis is defended that the so-called divine right does not have to be considered a taboo but rather that it is thoroughly human. This in the dual significance of human: it is of human origin and it serves mankind, it is for the good of humanity. On the one hand, “divine right” is not only a phenomenon within the human world, but, more radically, a phenomenon from this human world, made by human beings themselves. On the other hand, such an anthropocentric vision does not indicate the end of a meaningful reference to God and of the understanding of human life in the countenance of God. To the contrary, the divine within a divine right finds its criterion in its very humanity, its humane kindness. With a short reference to the ethics of human rights, which tries to interweave the unconditional moral obligation and modern anthropocentrism, the search for traces of divine right in this world is brought to completion. (shrink)

This article addresses three questions: How can we define and measure what constitutes a foreign policy in human rights? How is it possible to explain both the activism of a state and its ideological orientation in the international promotion of human rights? What is the empirical evidence found when we try to answer these questions in intermediate states? Research done on four cases (Argentina, Australia, Brazil and South Africa) suggests a correlation between domestic efforts in the promotion of human rights (...) and international advocacy. It also shows that the greater the power of intermediate states, the greater their activism in human rights. Further, as development grows states show less support for economic, social and cultural rights. Last, the strategic relation with the USA shapes how states vote regarding human rights violators states. (shrink)

Als Antwort auf die Grundfragen der Moral - z.B. Begrundung von Werten und Normen, Rolle von Autoritaten und des Gewissens - entfaltet der Autor das Modell einer autonomen Verantwortungsethik in ihren subjektiven, objektiven und christlich-religiosen Dimensionen. Die These des Buches: Christliche Ethik und sakulare Ethik haben die gleiche Fundamentalethik als Grundlage notig - und diese ist wesentlich sakularer Art, Sache von praktischer Vernunft und Erfahrung. Die Pointe: Gerade als solche ist sie theologisch bedeutsam.

Les Prolegomenes a la Philosophie de Platon sont un manuel d'ecole neoplatonicien. Il s'inspire d'un modele dont Proclus a du etre l'auteur, mais l'origine de ce texte est presque surement alexandrine et doit dater de la premiere moitie du Vle siecle. Cette oeuvre est essentielle pour comprendre comment etait diffuse l'enseignement platonicien, et pour mieux saisir le mouvement des idees de l'Antiquite finissante. Dans une importante introduction, L. O. Westerink a retrace l'histoire de l'ecole d'Alexandrie et celle du genre litteraire (...) de ces introductions a Platon et a Aristote. (shrink)