unlikely
Democratic Legitimacy and Decisions for the Future
Res Publica Abstract This paper engages two claims defended by Axel Gosseries in "What is intergenerational justice". The first is that the demands of democratic legitimacy cannot be met in the politica
Is there a moral right to vote?
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, pp. 1-13, DOI 10.1007/s10677-017-9824-z. Abstract The question raised in this paper is whether legal rights to vote are also moral rights to vote. The challenge to the
Multistakeholder Partnerships for Sustainable Development: Promises and Pitfalls
Annual Review of Environment and Resources, vol. 49 Abstract This review examines the promises and pitfalls of multistakeholder partnerships (MSPs) for sustainable development. We take stock of the lite
Equalization through Deterioration: The Shrinking Gender Gap in Swedish School Grades
Sociological Science Abstract This article documents a surprising reversal in the long-standing gender gap in academic achievement: between 2021 and 2024, Swedish girls’ school grades declined sharply,
The Time of Perils and a World System of Governance
Institute for Futures Studies. Working paper 2025:1 Abstract Extinction risk refers to the possibility of the extinction of the human species, and is the subject of a growing field of study. In this con We present here an argument in favor of the time of perils hypothesis. We argue that, according to several prominent theories in the field of international relations (IR), humanity (absent an extinction event) is likely to be unified under a world system of governance. By a “world system of governance” (WSG), we mean a global set of institutions, norms and structures that can settle disputes, promote trust and cooperation, and reduce great power security competetion. We explore the most prominent theories in international relations, which include: realism, liberalism and constructivism, and how these theories propose the emergence of a global system of governance. We conclude that a WSG will, if it emerges, have a significant impact on reducing extinction risk, including risks from emerging technologies, biorisk and non-anthropogenic risks. This argument, linking IR theory to existential risk is, to our knowledge, novel and potentially significant in the context of ascertaining whether existential risk prevention has astronomical value in expectation due to the vast number of potential lives that could exist in the future.
Learning to play
In 2007, the Swedish gambling agency ran a simple gambling game called LIMBO. Gamblers were invited to stake 10 kronor on a number of their choice between 1 and 99,999. The person choosing the smalles
Mark Jaccard: Economic Efficiency vs Political Acceptability Trade-offs in GHG-reduction Policies
Mark Jaccard, Professor in the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University, VancouverAbstractThere are obvious reasons why for three decades most jurisdictions have failPublic surveys and observation of real-world GHG reduction successes suggest that explicit carbon pricing (carbon tax and perhaps cap-and-trade) can be substantially more politically difficult than certain regulatory policies for shifting the energy system on to a deep decarbonization trajectory. Nonetheless, some people have argued that carbon pricing is an essential GHG reduction policy, suggesting that sincere politicians must do carbon pricing no matter how politically difficult. But the claim that carbon pricing is essential is factually incorrect. Deep decarbonization can be achieved entirely with regulations. Regulatory policies are unlikely to be as economically efficient as carbon pricing. But not all regulations perform identically when it comes to the economic-efficiency criterion. Flexible regulations have some attributes that make them low cost relative to regulations that require adoption of specific technologies.This talk provides evidence that assesses both the relative economic efficiency of policies and their relative political acceptability. The findings reported here suggest that some kinds of flexible regulations can perform significantly better than explicit carbon pricing in terms of relative political cost per tonne reduced while performing only marginally worse in terms of economic cost per tonne reduced. Presumably, this type of trade-off information could be of value to politicians who sincerely want deep decarbonization but would also like to be rewarded with re-election so that they and competing politicians see the value in ambitious and sustained GHG reduction efforts.
How religiosity is transmitted to new generations and what inequality has to do with it
Many things that we deeply care about are related to the topic of religion: gender norms, sexual morals, work ethics but also altruism, charity and community. It is therefore an important question to Contrary to what you might expect, religion continues to play an important role in countries all over the world, as the figure shows.
Geoengineering – a serious alternative or a dangerous idea?
Geoengineering is a term used to describe techniques for large-scale manipulation of the climate to reduce the Earth's average temperature. These controversial ideas are now being debated more extensi
New book to further the legacy of Derek Parfit
In the new book “Ethics and Existence - The legacy of Derek Parfit”, several of the most prominent scholars on the issues raised by Derek Parfit, contributes 20 completely original articles. "Derek r