THE DEONTOLOGICAL DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY: AN ARGUMENT FROM GROUP RIGHTS

Abstract: Democracy is regularly heralded as the only form of government that treats political subjects as free and equal citizens. On closer examination, however, it becomes apparent that democracy unavoidably restricts individual freedom, and it is not the only way to treat all citizens equally. In light of these observations, we argue that the non-instrumental reasons to support democratic governance stem, not from considerations of individual freedom or equality, but instead from the importance of respecting group self-determination. If this is correct, it implies that a state may choose democracy, but its right to self-determination means that it is also free, in principle, to decide in favor of some nondemocratic alternative.     

NONDOMINATION AND NORMATIVITY

Abstract:  In an earlier paper, "The Indeterminacy of Republican Policy," I argued that in an important class of cases, republican political theory, as formulated by Philip Pettit, does not have determinate implications for policy. Pettit has replied that my argument was based on a conception of freedom as nondomination that is not his own. In the present paper, I explore the two ways of understanding republican freedom. I first suggest that they may not, in the end, be very different. I then note that if a sharp difference is restored, my conception may have some desirable features.     

NO CLOSURE ON SKEPTICISM

This article is a response to an important objection that Sherrilyn Roush has made to the standard closure‐based argument for skepticism, an argument that has been studied over the past couple of decades. If Roush's objection is on the mark, then this would be a quite significant finding. We argue that her objection fails.     

Deliberate Insight in Team Creativity

Preliminary analysis of data collected from trained expert facilitators of ad hoc creative teams suggests that complex analytical techniques such as costed function modeling and decision criteria matrix may have far more impact upon a team's creative effectiveness than frequently researched measures such as idea quantity. An intriguing relationship in these data between complex creativity and the amount of time spent in evaluating ideas and planning their implementation seems to suggest that a shift in definitional focus from ideas to the insights which reveal those ideas may facilitate both research into team creativity and planning of more effective team problem solving.     

Forecasting the specific providers that recipients will perceive as unusually supportive

Perceived support primarily reflects the relationships among specific recipients and providers. These strong relational influences suggest a new approach to interventions: Match specific providers with specific recipients so that unusually supportive relationships emerge. For this approach to be successful, progress must be made on several basic research questions. For example, it must be possible to forecast the specific providers that recipients will perceive as unusually supportive (i.e., forecasting relational support). In 2 studies, support recipients had 3 or 5 conversations with the same providers and reported affect, provider supportiveness, and perceived similarity (Study 2 only) after each conversation. Relational support could be forecasted from recipients' reactions to a single, brief conversation with each provider, even after 4 months had elapsed.     

APPROACH OR AVOIDANCE (OR BOTH?): INTEGRATING CORE SELF‐EVALUATIONS WITHIN AN APPROACH/AVOIDANCE FRAMEWORK

Core self‐evaluations (CSE) represent a new personality construct that, despite an accumulation of evidence regarding its predictive validity, provokes debate regarding the fundamental approach or avoidance nature of the construct. This set of studies sought to clarify the approach/avoidance nature of CSE by examining its relation with approach/avoidance personality traits and motivation constructs (Study 1); we subsequently examined approach/avoidance motivational mechanisms as mediators of the relation between CSE and job performance (Study 2). Overall, the studies demonstrate that CSE is best conceptualized as representing both (high) approach tendencies and (low) avoidance tendencies; implications of these findings for CSE theory are discussed.