Copyright,digital sharing,and the liberal order: sociolegal constructions of intellectual property in the era of mass digitization

Intellectual property (IP) rights policy has long been driven by rights-holder interests, leading to IP regimes focused on protecting private property at the expense of broadening public access to cultural works. The rise of instant, low-cost digital sharing practices, however, forces the sociolegal construction of IP as ‘property’ into crisis by contradicting the conception of creative works as commodities that can be exclusively ‘owned’ and exchanged. This cuts into a classic social science debate over how best to balance individual rights against collective interests, which has played out in liberal society through tensions between contradictory principles seeking to uphold the sanctity of private property (the principle of ‘Individual Freedom’) while also correcting social inequality (the ‘Equal Means’ principle). While IP policy has historically developed largely in accordance with Individual Freedom, digital sharing of creative works is premised instead on Equal Means. As these forces collide, the question at stake is whether crisis in the status quo conception of property rights disrupts existing power relations, with implications for the logic of policy development in the digital age. To address this question, I test for continuity of the predominant trend in IP policy-making using recent legislative changes to the Canadian copyright regime. I find that, contrary to expectations, policy changes do not manifestly favor rights-holders. Rather, legislative outcomes are split between modest protections for rights-holders and clear gains for rights of open access. I take this as evidence of the increasing complexification of IP policy in response to mass digitization.     

Embracing the new disability rights paradigm: the importance of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

In 2008 the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) commenced operation. The CRPD has created a dynamic new disability rights paradigm that empowers disability people’s organizations and creates a new paradigm for disability scholars. This paper analyses the impact of the CRPD and provides practical guidance as to how this convention can be used to drive change. Prior to this convention, persons with disabilities were protected by a range of general human rights conventions. Despite receiving nominal protection under general human rights conventions, persons with disabilities have had many of their human rights denied to them. The CRPD goes further than merely re-stating rights. It creates a new rights discourse, empowers civil society and renders human rights more obtainable for person with disabilities than any time in history.     

Difficult Commitments: Intercountry Adoption to the United States and Accession to the Hague Convention

Abstract

Why have relatively few countries joined the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption? Have countries that send children to the United States been more likely to join? The United States has joined this convention and prefers sending countries to do so also. However, our findings show that countries that send children to the United States are not more likely to join than other countries. In addition, countries with large “orphan” populations are less likely to join the convention. These findings have implications for the potential of the Hague Convention to improve transparency and accountability in intercountry adoption.     

Issue definition in rights‐based policy focused on the experiences of individuals with disabilities: an examination of Canadian parliamentary discourse

In issue definition in rights‐based policy Canada stereotypically embraces a more positive, human rights‐centered approach as compared with the American stereotype associated with the USA’s more presumptively negative, civil rights‐based tack. Since exclusionary infrastructures violate the core values of democratic governance, a failure to address unnecessarily exclusive infrastructures presents a rights‐based public challenge surrounding disability akin to those experienced by other non‐elite groups. Analysis of disability policy serves to clarify positive versus negative tendencies in rights‐based policy, including whether the expectation of a primarily positive basis in Canada is confirmed. This article examines the definition of public dimensions of the experiences of individuals with autism as a case reflecting the basis of construction of rights in Canada.     

“5·17白皮书”前后巴勒斯坦地区的多重矛盾

1939年,英国托管政府就巴勒斯坦问题发表“5·17白皮书”,开始推行限制犹太移民政策。本文认为,正是在当时巴勒斯坦地区内外矛盾的推动下,导致英国的委任统治政策发生了重大变化。本文着重阐述了在白皮书发表前后,巴勒斯坦地区内部阿犹矛盾、英阿关系和英犹关系的发展状况,以及国际局势对于这一地区的影响。     

Reconciling Children's Policy and Children's Rights: Barriers to Effective Government Delivery

Countries which have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, have committed to implementing its principles in law and policy. This article explores the challenges for securing children's rights through policy, drawing on a research project conducted for the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, which sought to identify barriers to effective government delivery for children and young people from the perspective of key stakeholders. The research concluded that, while some barriers (such as delay and availability of data) are not child‐specific, they can be accentuated when children and young people are the main focus of policy development and more so when seeking to adopt a child rights‐compliant approach to policy development and implementation.     

From isolated fence to inclusive society: the transformational disability policy in China

China’s disability policies are changing, some of which are gradually closer to the requirements of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Based on the social model of disability, this article explains the driving forces of disability policy reform, and especially adopts the critical policy analysis approach to evaluate the revised education policy along with the rehabilitation policy of disabled people. The inclusive education policy is improving disability policy issues the most compared with others because of the disability advocacy by disabled persons’ self-help organizations. Meanwhile, the nascent rehabilitation policy is typically top-down oriented by the government. Public participation may be the main way forward, especially with the growth of the disability movement in China. It is hoped that scholars pay more attention to the transformational disability policy in non-western settings.     

The State and the Associational Order of the Economy: The Institutionalization of Cartels and Trade Associations in 1931–45 Japan

The existing literature on the impact of the state on the associational order has emphasized the state's concern on the implications of the associational order to the public goods and the role of the associational order as a policy tool of the state. However, few studies have investigated what particular characters of the state shape the pattern of the associational order. Through a historical analysis, this study highlights three important factors related to the state that contributed to the the rise of the associational order in Japan during the Great Depression and World War II. First, the shift of the state preference from protecting the liberties of private enterprises toward maintaining political stability in economic crisis and controlling resource allocation in war was the ultimate driving force behind the rise of associational order. Second, the constitutional order of the Japanese state, which involves not only the organization, composition, powers, and limitation of the state's executive, legislative, and jurisdictional branches, but also the people's liberties defined by the constitution, was strongly influenced by the continental legal tradition. This structurally shaped the Japanese pattern of the associational order. Third, the institutionalized legal and economic beliefs of property rights provided ideological support to the rise of the associational order.     

Patient Abuse and Trauma: A Policy Analysis of the Regulation of Seclusion and Restraint in Mental Health Care

Historically, justifications for the seclusion and physical restraint of hospital patients have stereotyped individuals with mental illness as “dangerous” to themselves and others (Huckshorn, 2004a). It can be argued, however, that it is the policies that regulate the use of seclusion and physical and chemical restraints that are dangerous. This article analyzes the Patients’ Rights section of the Hospital Conditions of Participation (CoPs), Part 482 of CFR 42, including sub-sections: e. Standard: Restraint or seclusion; f. Standard: Restraint or seclusion: Staff training requirements; and g. Standard: Death reporting requirements. The set of CoPs regarding Patients’ Rights are analyzed from a value-critical, process-oriented perspective. This article proposes the following six-point framework as uniquely suited to evaluating 42 CFR 428.13: 1) introduction to the background and historical significance of the problem; 2) evaluation of the clarity and measurability of the goals and objectives of the policy; 3) overview of the intended impact of the policy; 4) examination of the value criteria; 5) examination of existing power struggles for those impacted by the policy; and 6) examination of the actual impact of the policy. Results of the policy analysis suggest that the policy does not go far enough to reach its stated goals and objectives in full. In the conclusions, suggestions for further protection of patients’ rights are provided. Examples of alternatives to restraint and seclusion are discussed. Finally, the grave importance of reshaping the culture of mental health care, in terms of life-and-death consequences, is considered.     

Ten years of the CRPD’s adoption in China: challenges and opportunities

This article examines the challenges and opportunities of implementing the CRPD's rights-based model in China, especially the effects of the diminishing space for civil society on the nascent disability rights movement. A disability rights movement emerged as a direct result of the CRPD’s adoption in 2008. Two recent restrictive civil society legislations, however, undermined this process. While the diminishing space of civil society has posed great challenges to the movement by marginalizing the rights advocacy approach, it has created an opportunity for service-oriented disability associations to thrive. While service-oriented associations are often ignored by disability studies scholarship and the disability rights movement, I argue that, through these organizations, persons with disabilities in China have done critical identity work and substantively increased their level of independence in their daily lives. As a result, a disability rights consciousness continues to be built in China, despite governmental hostility to political advocacy.     

“Spokes in the wheel” and how policy gains can diversify a social movement

ABSTRACT

Activists often use their resources to pursue protective legislation, like anti-discrimination or environmental protection laws, and the results are often compromised versions of what they wanted. This process of political institutionalization requires ongoing and robust mobilization to strengthen these resulting policies or prevent them from being rescinded all together. Therefore, to understand the pros and cons of political institutionalization we must understand the recursive effects between policy reform and consequent mobilization. Quantitative and qualitative data on the animal advocacy movement, a movement existing for over a century, are used to explore the effects of policy gains on consequent mobilization and explore whether policy gains were followed by de-escalation of protest forms. The findings indicate that policy gains for animal welfare do not de-escalate mobilization, both in terms of the use of disruptive collective action and proliferation of organizations. The article explores the ways that infighting over the terms of policy reform may be an important factor in diversifying the movement.     

Child protection policy perspectives and reform of Australian legislation

Legislative responsibility for child protection has become a major theme in the international human rights arena and a major policy issue within early childhood education and care. This paper examines child protection policy and legislation in Australia and measures that are being employed to safeguard children and childhood within contexts that are seen as increasingly risky. Juxtaposing perspectives on child protection and child liberation, it examines the protective responsibilities speci?ed in legislation in the context of predominantly adult agendas. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Youth Jury Policy Deliberation: Towards a Fair and Responsible Internet

Young people aged between 12 and 17 across three major British cities — London, Leeds and Nottingham — were invited to play the role of ‘jurors’ on a case where ‘the Internet was put on trial’. The recommendations reported in this paper are intended to improve digital experience and online safety as contributions to policy. These recommendations derive from the ‘youth jurors’ policy deliberations designed to encourage young people to reflect on their digital experience and collectively develop their own problem definitions and solutions.     

Sexual orientation and the European Convention on Human Rights: What of the “L” in LGBT?

Abstract

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has long been celebrated for its role in advancing LGBT rights. This article adopts an intersectional feminist approach in order to critically examine the trajectory of the Court’s LGBT case-law from a gendered perspective. In doing so, it foregrounds the portrayal, experience and, indeed, invisibility of lesbian applicants. Adopting an intersectional approach that considers the gender dimension of sexual orientation claims provides a somewhat different perspective on the struggle for LGBT rights before the ECtHR and suggests that lesbian voices and experiences have been marginalized and excluded in the struggle for LGBT rights.     

‘Skeptics’ and ‘believers’: anti-trafficking,sex work,and migrant rights activism in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Very little is known about activism, as it relates to the issue of migration in South Africa. Yet, migration policy and migration governance are increasingly becoming important to states like South Africa, which, 22 years into democracy, finds itself being home to the second highest number of migrants in Africa. This paper fills this gap by exploring multi-level policies and advocacy experiences of activists working on migration in a post-colonial context of South Africa through the lens of key contestations around the trafficking discourse in South Africa from 2005 to 2018.     

Evictions and human rights: land disputes in Bogotá, Colombia

Even though many governments in Latin America, including Colombia, have improved the legalization and regularization of peripheral settlements, recognized the right to housing, and acknowledged the United Nations’ position on evictions as violations of fundamental human rights, urban displacement continues. Forced eviction brings devastation to families and neighborhoods and hampers efforts to improve large areas of the city. Over the past twenty-five years in the hills of eastern Bogotá, growing competition for land combined with the competing claims of squatters, semi-legal settlements, title-holders and government agencies has led to frequent and sometimes violent land disputes. These disputes result either directly or indirectly from public and private development in the area. This paper will document the history of displacement in this sector of Bogotá as a case study in order to evaluate current policy guidelines related to forced displacement.¹ There is a wealth of ethnographic data on the effects of evictions, as documented below, and yet this data, typically in the form of Social Impact Assessment, rarely translates into lasting policy guidelines. Economists, geographers, and other social scientists have also documented the negative effects of forced displacement. This study evaluates current policies from a human rights perspective. I argue that human rights can make land policies not only more equitable but also more efficient in Latin America if our current knowledge about displaced communities can be translated into public policy.     

Teaching Policy Practice in a Global Context

Abstract

Rapid global change, massive world migration, and increasing political and economic uncertainty demand that policy practice be taught from a global perspective. If social work students are to be effective policy practitioners and advocates, they need skills to consider local, national, international, and global issues as the context for policy analysis and action. This paper focuses on implementation of a new policy practice course built on the foundation of international human rights emphasizing comparative policy analysis and principles of liberty, equality and justice within a social development perspective. Recommendations include assignments, suggested texts, and classroom activities.     

Changing Perception of the Rights and Responsibilities in Family Care for Older People in Urban China

As an ageing society, China has undergone various political and economic transitions since the 1980s, which has raised a series of social and policy concerns about the practicality of relying on family support in the care of older people. To understand the changing social expectations and the corresponding societal responses, the shifting perception of the rights and responsibilities associated with the family care of older people has to be comprehended first. Based on 39 qualitative interviews in two Chinese cities, Beijing and Guangzhou, this research contributes to an understanding of the pursuit of a “good life” by older people in contemporary urban China. It points to the argument that independence and autonomy in old age, as valued by the interviewees, will not be realised unless there is a shift in policy to recognise and respect the individuality of older people and facilitate their life choices.     

Are Liberal Studies teachers ready to prepare human rights respecting students? A portrait of teachers’ attitudes towards human rights

As in most countries, human rights education (HRE) in Hong Kong has never been high on the educational agenda. In 2009, a compulsory subject, Liberal Studies (LS), which could be used as a platform for HRE, was introduced. The Hong Kong Institute of Education launched a research and development project which, as one of its objectives, studied LS teachers’ attitudes towards human rights and Rule of Law. This article first provides a brief overview of HRE. Then, the potential of HRE in LS will be discussed, followed by an introduction of the research project. Subsequently, the research design and findings will be presented. The findings reveal that there is a large gap between teachers’ understandings of human rights and international human rights standards. Since LS teachers’ attitudes are crucial for effective HRE, the findings are quite striking. The paper ends with recommendations for further research, policy formulations, and teacher preparation.