Human Genetic Enhancement (HGE) has the potential to provide great benefits to a large number of people in terms of alleviating inherited disease and disability and maximizing individual liberty. There are many arguments against research and application of this new technology based on a variety of grounds, including both deontological and consequentialist objections. In this thesis I examine arguments from both of these positions and argue that neither offers a satisfactory justification for prohibiting research into HGE nor do they demonstrate that the application of the knowledge gained from such research is necessarily wrong. I also suggest that there is a strong argument in favor of HGE in that it may offer a way to reduce the amount of disadvantage currently present in our society as a result of genetic disease and disability by addressing the genetic causes of these conditions. Further, I argue that the pursuit of HGE is necessary in order to promote individual liberty and promote equality of opportunity. Finally, I argue that by examining principles that require us to promote individual liberty we can establish the categories of enhancements which we should publicly fund and those that should merely be permissible. / Thesis (Master, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-18 17:05:35.143

No description available.

Egalitarian liberal theories of justice – so this dissertation argues – fail to take into accountthe full implications of the way citizens’ socio-cultural backgrounds work to undermine theequal opportunities these same theories demand. While egalitarians support extensiveredistribution of income and wealth from the privileged to the less privileged, and advocateequal opportunities for all, they do not properly attend either to how our shared societalcultures structure social esteem and related advantages, or to how our individual socioculturalenvironments structure the very act of choice. They thus fail to acknowledge ourunequal opportunities to make choices which bring us esteem and related advantages,particularly the advantages that flow from our having established for ourselves lives thatothers consider good. Alternative approaches to the interplay between justice, culture, and choice are rejected forillegitimately restricting the right to go our own way (communitarianism), or for regulatingpolitically that which cannot legitimately be regulated politically (recognition theory).Against the former position it is argued that we should draw on our culturalunderstandings, not to restrict free choice, but to identify opportunities to be safeguarded.Against the latter it is argued that we should not renegotiate prevailing cultural structurespolitically, but rather acknowledge these same structures and ensure that no one falls too farbehind in the competition for the advantages they generate. Suggesting that one of the more thoroughgoing hierarchies of esteem and disesteem is thatattached to our occupational positions, broadly construed, the dissertation concretizes theclaims defended in relation to this hierarchy in particular. It is argued that the just societyowes it to its citizens to protect them from involuntary occupation of positions that comewith potentially harmful disesteem attached. It is not for society to overrule theindependent choices of citizens, however, but rather to provide enduring opportunities totraining and education for more highly regarded positions, thus both equalizingopportunities to esteem and related advantages, and ensuring that those who continue tooccupy positions at the lower end of the hierarchy in question do so through their owngenuinely free choice.

This essay explores the concept of “equivalence” (likvärdighet) and how it can be defined in the context of the Swedish school system. The method that is used is a critical examination of the equivalence theory formulated by Lars Lindblom. The concept of equivalence in his theory can be defined as equal opportunities for education that is designed to provide compensated resources and welfare where the most disadvantaged students, which includes the differently abled, are compensated according to the principle of difference. Further, that the social distribution domain in a fair society must both ensure that the school provides equal opportunities and compensates the disadvantaged and that the school's compensatory mission must therefore become the first priority in equality. In the essay I advance the thesis that Lindblom’s theory does neither function as a framework for allocation of resources to different categories of students or as a tool do model teaching. This is, because it does not provide any practical guidance for how the concept of equivalence should be used when distributing resources among different groups of students, except for the fact that students who receive compensatory should be prioritized. Lindblom's contribution is nevertheless valuable in that the theory provides a new and in-depth insight into the various dimensions contained within the concept of equivalence.

Yes / Over the past 30 years, the term the ‘glass ceiling’ has come to be known as a metaphor for vertical segregation, symbolising an invisible barrier that prevents women from progressing in their careers. Increasingly women are found in higher level positions and mentoring has often been touted as an important way to help women break through the glass ceiling. This paper explores the continued relevance of the glass ceiling and the use of mentoring programs as a means to help women to overcome it. The findings suggest that although some women have penetrated the glass ceiling, further work is needed if a more equitable number of women are to advance to senior level positions. Whilst mentoring can play an important role in helping women to achieve more senior positions, mentoring is not a panacea but only one of many strategies that must be adopted to effectively address the phenomena of glass ceiling.

Equality of opportunity and treatment in the workplace forms one of the critical components of an individual's ability to obtain and remain in employment and occupation. In a world where qualifications, experience and individual merit can be easily by-passed owing to diverse workplace discriminations, the ability of employees to enjoy their right to work cannot be fully achieved if the workplace is marred with inequalities. Sexual harassment has been characterised as one of the workplace hazards that impinges on the achievement and enjoyment of the right to equality of opportunity and treatment in the workplace and defeats the right of employees to decent work. Notwithstanding the acknowledgement of its existence and prevalence, sexual harassment is still treated as an unmentionable concept in Botswana in legal and academic circles. The labour legislative framework has been less emphatic when it comes to recognising and setting out the proper sanctions for sexual harassment in the workplace. At present, only public servants are assured of a legal remedy should they experience such harassment. The legal framework does not openly extend protection to employees in the private sector, leaving them uncertain of the proper forums to approach. There is not even the assurance that sexual harassment is prohibited and punishable at law. Since it is rarely discussed in academics and not prohibited outright, it is safe to assume that most incidents of sexual harassment are shrouded in secrecy owing to employees' lack of knowledge of their rights. In contradistinction, South Africa presents a legal framework conscious of the reality of sexual harassment in the workplace. It employs the use of equal opportunity laws to give authority to a Code of Good Practice that outlaws sexual harassment. The South African Courts have also played a pro-active role in ensuring compliance with legislative provisions and developing common law principles on sexual harassment in the workplace. In addition, legislation that outlaws harassment in a general sense has been enacted to add to laws prohibiting sexual harassment. Whereas the mere existence of laws is not an end in itself, it is submitted that sexual harassment laws may serve to deter this conduct, but most significantly, to inform employees that their rights in the workplace are not limited to, amongst others, a guarantee from unfair dismissals and withholding of wages. The argument is that sexual harassment should be seen as a violation of employees' human rights, as opposed to a mere misconduct. With that realisation in mind, the need to progress from sole reliance on Codes of Good Practice to unequivocal and binding laws reflects the concern that the government of the day has for the protection of the human rights of employees and the consonance of national labour laws with the international standard. This contribution presents an examination of the two legal frameworks in so far as sexual harassment in the workplace is concerned. The aim is to determine the shortcomings of Botswana's framework and outline lessons that may be learnt from the South African legal framework. The position of international law is also considered to ensure that the lessons to be learnt from South Africa are in consonance with the international standard. / LLM (Labour Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

We study how attitudes to inheritance taxation are influenced by information about the role of inherited wealth in society. Using a randomized experiment in a register-linked Swedish survey, we find that informing individuals about the large aggregate importance of inherited wealth and its link to inequality of opportunity significantly increases the support for inheritance taxation. The effect is almost uniform across socio-economic groups and survives a battery of robustness tests. Changes in the perceived economic importance of inherited wealth and altered views on whether luck matters most for economic success appear to be the main driving factors behind the treatment effect. Our findings suggest that the low salience of inherited wealth could be one explanation behind the relatively marginalized role of inheritance taxation in developed economies. / Series: INEQ Working Paper Series

O presente trabalho busca fazer a estimação de duas versões do limite superior de desigualdade de oportunidades para o Brasil e para dois grandes grupos regionais, o Norte-Nordeste e o Centro-Sul. Através do cálculo deste limite em suas duas versões, podemos distinguir os efeitos diretos e indiretos das circunstâncias individuais que influenciam o rendimento dos indivíduos, que foram captadas no estudo. / The present study seeks to estimate two versions of the upper limit of inequality of opportunities for Brazil and for two large regional groups, the North-Northeast and the Center-South. By calculating this limit in its two versions, we can distinguish the direct and indirect effects of the individual circumstances which were captured in the study, that influence the income of the individuals.

This thesis looks at the internal community processes set in motion by intervention in the context of the current community forestry policy of Nepal which has embarked on handing over local forest resources to local user groups. The overall aim of the thesis is to explore the question : How does intervention lead to certain types of effects through dynamics within the community? These processes have been something of a 'black box' so far. This research is based on fieldwork in adjoining forest user groups in the western hills of Nepal for nearly eight months starting from August 1994. The research examined the outcome of earlier interventions in these adjoining forest communities. An important finding of this study is that the nature of use rights is evolving and contestable rather than fixed. It is further argued that there may be inequitable outcomes in terms of cost and benefit sharing amongst households after forests are officially handed over. This is attributed to differing perceptions about the nature of equity. The poor do not necessarily get fair treatment despite provisions for equality of opportunity in Operational Plans. It is argued that inequitable outcomes do not, however, necessarily lead to non-compliance partly because the system, though inequitable, is based on at least a pseudo-democratic model rather than direct coercion. Intervention has a role. However, it is argued that effective intervention has to pay proper attention to attaining better use rights and better equity. The key to attaining better use rights is the need to appreciate the fact that use rights are contestable and dynamic by nature / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This dissertation investigates the impacts of constraints on optimal government policy. The first two chapters provide a general introduction and review of the literature. Chapters three and four analyze education spending and institutional structure in an economy with informational asymmetries and employment matching frictions. The fifth investigates the impact of politics on government decisions over taxation and spending programs more generally. Chapter three analyzes the situation where governments can target education funds to specific observable groups (referred to as low and high productivity neighbourhoods/regions). The results suggest that it may be optimal to employ educational transfers, rather than cash transfers amongst individuals, to achieve social welfare objectives. This is becasue the former can reduce distortions created by the tax system. However, the value of educational spending in mitigating these information frictions may not be that large, and may in fact exacerbate such distortions. This suggests that an optimal education policy may be more regressive when there is a distortionary tax system in place. Further, we showt that even if ``equalizing opportunities'' is deemed optimal in the static problem, it may not be a reasonable policy goal when we extend the analysis to include dynamics. Chapter four is joint work with Afrasiab Mirza. We analyze an economy where heterogeneous individuals are uncertain about their endowments. The education system trades off the desire to capitalize on talent through specific skills training with the need to provide individuals with opportunities to learn about their career preferences through a broader education. The results consider the implications of various educational institutions for the income distribution and consequently welfare. Chapter five analyzes the dynamics of public spending, taxation and debt in a political agency model. Choices are made by short-lived politicians who can be only partially controlled through the electoral process. The main focus is to consider the impacts of binding limits on the public budget. The value of imposing this additional friction depends both on the extent to which politicians' goals deviate from their constituencies and how effectively the electoral process disciplines them when they misbehave. The results also suggest that the value of such a restriction depends on the fiscal position at the time in which it is imposed. / Thesis (Ph.D, Economics) -- Queen's University, 2009-11-25 20:25:29.12