Over the past few decades, the large scale of imprisonment and the heavily-adopted punitive approach as a way of responding to crime have engendered widespread concerns among the public and academia in the UK. Whereas there have been a good number of studies that have investigated their underlying sociological causes and elaborated a variety of accounts of how such phenomena are historically configured and how they may be moderated or reversed, the normative dimensions of the current imprisonment complex have not yet received sufficient examination. This particularly regards the understanding of the tensions between the aspiration for a universal ideal of imprisonment and the reality of highly diverse and fragmented post-welfarist approaches in the incarceration field. This thesis tries to uncover and account for the dilemmas and problems in the normative sphere of incarceration in the UK. In doing so, it elaborates the analytical-evaluative framework based on the concept of introspective normativity.

This Thesis explains that the development of a method by which researchers can identify normative behaviour of translators will enable the standardisation of equivalences between English and Arabic. The thesis suggests that achieving such a method will minimise political disputes. In showing that norms have an effect on the behaviour of translators, the thesis examines and evaluates the resulting products of translators, i.e. translations, and presents explanations of why these effects occur. By eliminating the choices of equivalences, which were prejudiced by translators' normative behaviour, the standardisation could be achievable. The thesis underscores the inadequacy of the suggestion that translators should learn a certain set of translational norms and should follow them. It argues, however, that being exposed to various norms whether, translational, cultural or otherwise plays an important role in the quality of translation. In illustrating the latter, the thesis provides an empirical study by which one hundred different translations are analysed by the use of a manual corpora method. The experiment records significant factors, which prove the effects of norms on translators, and offers different measures by which these factors are evaluated. Accordingly, the thesis examines the normative behaviour of translators in their decision-making process in relation to the translation of legal texts as part of international documents only. The thesis uses the 10rdanIsraeli Peace Treaty signed in 1994 as a case study. The key point is that, if legal and political translation between English and Arabic is prejudiced by negative normative behaviour, this will without doubt result in political disputes. The aim of this thesis is to suggest a method by which Arabic equivalences of English legal terms are relatively' standardised and compiled in an index to be referred to by legal translators in iUture cases. The thesis suggests the establishment of a translation planning committee (TPC) to act as the authority responsible for conducting the suggested method.

Zugl.: Dresden, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2006

Les crises financières successives qu’a connues récemment le monde et qui ont failli mettre en péril l’économie mondiale et ébranler le système économique et financier international ont obligé les autorités politiques et les institutions à renforcer les législations en la matière et à multiplier les normes. Ce renforcement et cette multiplication des normes ont pour but de limiter l’apparition de crises et de risques pour le système financier. La présente thèse vise à décrire l’impact de la multiplicité des normes dans le secteur bancaire qui se traduit par des contraintes, contradictions et coût important pour la banque. Il s’agit dans ce travail de présenter les dispositifs mis en place par l’établissement bancaire pour répondre aux exigences réglementaires ainsi qu’analyser les conséquences, cohérences et enjeux des normes sur la maitrise des risques et sur l’organisation interne de l’établissement. Les résultats soulignent l’intérêt de la gestion complète et intégrée des normes dans ce secteur d’activité. En effet, les résultats de la recherche montrent que la performance d’une banque de détail dépendra directement de sa capacité à anticiper et à gérer les divers corpus de normes auxquelles elle est confrontée. La gestion de la « norme » devient actuellement un sujet majeur dans le secteur bancaire au même titre que la gestion des risques. Les deux étant intrinsèquement liés.Le fondement de ce travail repose sur une étude de cas longitudinale de quatre années construite à partir d’une recherche-action auprès d’une banque de détail. Cette approche se base sur des entretiens semi-directifs, analyse de contenu des documents internes, réunions… Nous avons mobilisé la théorie du contrôle et du risque ainsi que la théorie de la tétranormalisation afin d’analyser la gestion de la norme dans l’établissement bancaire. / The recent global financial crises that have almost jeopardized the world economy and shaken the global economic and financial systems have forced political authorities and institutions to strengthen their current laws and regulations to help safeguard against any future crises. In this context, risk control, transparency and visibility of information have become the foundations which standards seek to put in order to keep future crises at a distance. This thesis aims to describe the impact of the multiplicity of norms in the banking sector which can result in constraints, contradictions and significant costs for the bank. The purpose of this work is to present the mechanisms put in place by the banking establishment to meet the current regulatory requirements as well as analyze the consequences, coherences and stakes of the standards on risk management and on the internal organization of the establishment. The results underline the interest of the integral management of norms in the financial sector. The research results show that the performance of a retail bank will depend directly on its ability to anticipate and manage the various sets of standards it faces. The management of the "standard" is now becoming a major topic in the banking sector as well as risk management. Both are intrinsically linked.The foundation of this work is based on a four-year longitudinal case study built from action research at a retail bank. This approach is based on semi-structured interviews, content analysis of internal documents, meetings ... The study has mobilized control and risk theory as well as “tetranormalization” theory in order to analyze the management of norms in banking institutions.

Normal human limitations mean that when people decide how to act, they often have to base their decisions on flawed information or reasoning. Even when agents reason to the best of their ability, and form intentions consistent with that reasoning, they sometimes get things wrong. Dominant theories about reasons for action argue that all good, or ‘normative’, reasons for acting are objective normative reasons. But objective normative reasons for action are derived from facts about the world that ignore certain facts about human agents. On these accounts of reasons, real human agents can be unable to learn what they have normative reason to do. A common response to this problem is to say that in such situations people act in a praiseworthy way, but their actions are based on false beliefs, and false beliefs cannot be good reasons. I argue that when agents reason to the best of their ability and form intentions consistent with that reasoning, agents act appropriately in response to states of the world that are normative reasons for action. To support my claim, I develop an account of what I call ‘justifiable reasons’, normative reasons for action that human agents can always use as a basis for action, and the form of reason that underpins rationality. I discuss the similarities and differences between my account of justifiable reasons and several approaches to reasons that resemble my account. I show that, in spite of objections, justifiable reasons are normative reasons, not motivating reasons. Accounts of subjective normative reasons are based on examples that look similar to mine. So, I explain why justifiable reasons are not subjective normative reasons. Some features of internal reasons also resemble features of justifiable reasons. But, I show that there is nothing about justifiable reasons that entails that they must be internal or external reasons. I take it that justifiable and objective normative reasons serve different purposes, so I explain these different purposes. Finally, I argue in support of my claim that to be rational, agents must act appropriately in response to justifiable reasons.

This thesis addresses the following question: do proponents and opponents in the linguistic disputes in Catalonia and Flanders prioritise individual or group-oriented rights? The dispute in Catalonia is about the use of languages in the Catalan education system, while the dispute in Flanders is about the linguistic regime in certain municipalities around Brussels. Crucially, both are made of competing normative-laden political arguments. Drawing on interviews and document analysis, the thesis situates the conflicting political arguments within the scholarship on the compatibility between liberalism and nationalism. The central argument of the thesis is that the Catalan and Flemish linguistic disputes occur within liberal nationalism. Proponents in Catalonia and Flanders argue in a form of liberal nationalism that is more nationalist than liberal, although the nationalist dimension is more explicit in Catalonia; opponents in Flanders combine liberal nationalism with classical liberalism; and opponents in Catalonia argue in a form of classical liberalism that relies on liberal nationalist elements. In short, the four positions in the two debates participate in different forms and to different degrees in liberal nationalism. The findings suggest that nationalism is an important factor in making sense of the paradox that the normative consensus on political liberalism does not translate into political consensus in these specific cases. It is hoped that the findings of this thesis will make two main contributions. The first is an explanatory contribution to improve the understanding of the Catalan and Flemish linguistic disputes: the disputes are not between liberals and nationalists, but between liberal nationalists. The second is a theory-building contribution to refine the theoretical debate about individual and group-specific rights: liberal nationalist scholars run the risk of being unable to account for the national attachments many people experience in ‘the real world’ if, in their efforts to build acceptable liberal theories, they circumscribe their defence of national membership to its instrumental role for individual autonomy. In addition, their conceptualisation of nations as bounded and homogeneous seems to be built upon flimsy empirical grounds.

Depuis la publication des premiers rapports Doing Business par la Banque Mondiale qui ont établi un classement entre États en fonction de l’attractivité économique de leurs droits, l’intérêt pour la compétition des droits s’est accru. Les travaux se sont multipliés dans le but de démontrer ou de contester la compétitivité des droits nationaux. Cependant, le phénomène annoncé n’a pas les mêmes réalités lorsqu’il s’agit d’une compétition des modèles de droit ou de celle des règles de droit. La compétition entre le modèle de droit civiliste et le modèle anglo-américain nous semble réelle. Chaque modèle cherche à étendre son influence hors de l’Union dans les pays en développement ou dans les démocraties en mutation. Au sein même de l’Union, chaque projet offre une occasion de compétition entre les deux cultures juridiques. Il est alors nécessaire pour le droit français de peser dans ces différents lieux de compétition pour préserver voir étendre encore son influence internationale. La compétition des règles nous semble plus discutable. Dans l’Union européenne, lesprincipes de liberté d’établissement, de libre circulation des marchandises et de libre prestation des services créent des conditions favorables à la mise en compétition des droits. En matière contractuelle, la libéralisation du régime des clauses de choix de lois et de juridictions, ainsi que le développement de l’arbitrage peuvent favoriser la spéculation desacteurs économiques sur les moyens de contournement des règles impératives. Mais l’analyse des données empiriques ne confirme pas l’effectivité d’une compétition à laquelle se livreraient les États pour le droit des sociétés et le droit des contrats. Une analyse coûts/bénéfices des différentes opportunités nous a permis non seulement de justifier la réticence des acteurs à la compétition des règles de droit, mais aussi d’inciter le droit français à se consacrer prioritairement à la compétition des modèles de droit. / Since the publication of the first Doing Business reports issued by the World Bank, that ranked the different States according to the economic attractiveness of their laws, interest in regulatory competition has increased. Extensive research on the topic were conducted in order to contest or to bear witness of national laws competitiveness. The phenomenon projected however does not reflect the reality when the challenge involves regulatory models or law rules competition.Competition between the civil law model and the Anglo-American model seems real. Each model seeks to expand its influence outside the European Union either in the developing countries or in the emerging democracies. Within the European Union itself, each project represents an opportunity for both the legal cultures to make competition. It is thereforenecessary for the French law to weight the risks and benefits in order to preserve and stretch out its international influence.Regulatory competition seems questionable. The principles of freedom of establishment, free movement of goods and freedom to provide services inside the European Union create suitable conditions to set in motion regulatory competition. About contractual matters, liberalisation of choice-of-law and jurisdictions clauses, as well as the developmentof arbitration can foster economic actors to bypass imperative rules. The analysis of empirical data did not though confirm the existence of competition between the States as far as companies’ laws and contracts law are concerned.The benefit-cost analysis of the various opportunities has enabled us to explain the reluctance of the law rules competition actors on one hand, and encourage the French law to focus mainly on law models competition on the other hand.

This dissertation investigates the relationship between personal identity theory and normative ethics. There are a surprising number of contradictory arguments about the relevance of personal identity criteria for ethics and political philosophy. For example, writers like David Gauthier, Thomas Nagel and John Rawls argue that utilitarianism disregards the separateness, or non-identity, of persons. Derek Parfit claims the opposite. According to him, utilitarians respect the separateness of persons while also respecting the disintegration within lives. Also, Henry Sidgwick was under the impression that the separateness of persons supports egoism and disregard for the other-regarding demands of morality. David Brink claims the opposite. According to him, the resulting form of egoism would be nearly indistinguishable from altruism and therefore not at odds with the other-regarding demands of morality. Finally, both Rawls and Nozick argue that the separateness of persons speaks in favour of their own deontological view—despite the fact that their views are fundamentally opposed. Rawls hopes to gain support for his contractually derived principles of justice, while Nozick believes he can generate support for his deontological side constraints. This situation is rather surprising and in need of an explanation. Finally, there have also been skeptical arguments about the force of such appeals, such as Rawls’s claims that personal identity theory and ethics are independent, and his claim that personal identity criteria are inherently normative. This dissertation looks at these controversies in detail and comes to the conclusion that the force of appeals to personal identity is considerably more fine-grained and more complex than has been presumed.

This paper reviews both the law and the theoretical accounts of the doctrine of consideration with a view to look for a normative, consistent and public basis of it. The thesis argues that such a basis can only be found by justifying it as what it is instead of considering it as a proxy for something else. The most promising justificatory account of the doctrine should look at its main features and try to make sense of them in consistency, instead of putting up assumption before analysis.

This paper reviews both the law and the theoretical accounts of the doctrine of consideration with a view to look for a normative, consistent and public basis of it. The thesis argues that such a basis can only be found by justifying it as what it is instead of considering it as a proxy for something else. The most promising justificatory account of the doctrine should look at its main features and try to make sense of them in consistency, instead of putting up assumption before analysis.