CFP: Topics in Global Justice: Agency, Power, Policy

The second annual conference of the Centre for the Study of Global Ethics in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham welcomes submissions on any topic related to global ethics, but will prioritize work focusing on the 2016 theme of agency, power, and policy.  Specifically, we are interested in the ethics and politics of public policies that aim to enhance individual agency by shaping personal decision making and changing individual behaviours. Recent years have seen a proliferation of academic research and public programming aimed at improving individual and social outcomes through overt and covert efforts to change the decisions and behaviours of individual agents.  These policies raise deep ethical questions about the proper role of government, the circumstances of justice, the nature and importance of individual agency, and the role of social norms in shaping preferences and actions.  

Possible topics for papers include:

• Purposefully shaping social norms to enhance well-being and/or agency
• The contexts and constraints of choice
• The moral permissibility of behavioural nudges
• Legitimate authority in behavioural policy
• Individual psychology versus structural injustice
• Power and/or ‘empowerment’
• Praise, shame and blame
• Shaping preferences and adaptation

Subject areas where these questions may be investigated include:

• Health and mental health
• Violence and conflict
• Regulation and the law
• Sex and sexuality
• Reproduction
• Poverty and deprivation
• Body image
• Migration
• Environment
• Taxation

We encourage submissions from ethically engaged scholars, policy-makers and practitioners from all disciplines, including, philosophers, psychologists, lawyers, behavioural and development economists, historians, and other relevant subject areas.  Papers will ideally emphasize relevant transnational or global issues.  We encourage applications from members of underrepresented groups, and abide by the BPA/SWIP good practice scheme. 

Public Speaker:

Carl Hart, Associate Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Columbia University, and author of the bestselling book High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery that Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society.  Dr. Hart is a widely sought after public commentator and his work has been featured in major publications including The New York Times and The Atlantic, and on major media outlets including HBO, MSNBC, and Fox News.

Keynote Speakers:

Clare Chambers, University Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Cambridge University

Molly Crockett, Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University

Serene Khader, Jay Newman Chair in the Philosophy of Culture, Brooklyn College

Abstracts should be submitted to Scott Wisor at [email protected].  Please submit one 500 word abstract prepared for blind review, and a second document containing author name, position, and affiliation.  Abstracts are due 1 November.

To register for the conference, please visit http://shop.bham.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&catid=63&prodid=1137

Further information will be forthcoming on transportation, accommodation, accessibility, and additional speakers.