winter 2016 | volume 3 issue 1

WINTER 2016 | VOLUME 3 ISSUE 1

Under Construction @ Keele is an Open Access Publication. The material used is free to view and cite, with the exception of commercial use. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

I Contents Journal Team Members

II

Acknowledgments

III

Editors’ Note

IV

James Williamson (Editor-in-Chief) Introduction

V

Lauren Else The ‘CSI Effect’: Fact or Fiction? An investigation into the cultural representations of forensic investigation and forensic evidence collection within contemporary media crime shows.

1

Lloyd Myatt ‘Brexit’: A rule of law consideration

7

Wendy Suffield Mapping Moral Status

14

Ben Odams Complexity and Clarity: Key Challenges of the New Institutional Economic Approach

22

Charis Gerosideris Climate Change as a Security Issue in the Case of Greece and Q-Methodology

30

Julia Coole ‘The value of an idea has nothing whatsoever to do with the sincerity of the man who expresses it’: Politics, Art and Wilde’s “Self-Advertisement”

43

Notes on Contributors

51

II Under Construction @ Keele Team Members Editor-in-Chief James Williamson Communications Secretary Amy Coquaz Publicist Zuzana Tóthová Peer Review Liaison Officer Helen Machin Editorial Board Theofilos El Sayed Omar, Amy Jones, Claire Melia and Sophie Schuenemann Finance Officer Amy Coquaz

III Acknowledgements

The journal team would like to thank the Research Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for their continued assistance as the journal continues to grow. Without their financial support and encouragement this venture would not be possible. We would like to express our thanks to Faculty Research Office Administrator Tracey Wood for her continued assistance with the journal’s web presence. In addition, we would like to express our sincerest gratitude to Mike Hession and Galina Smith for enabling us to present our online version of the journal in such a modern and professional manner. Huge thanks to our previous team members for their continued support, in particular Kimberley Braxton and Wallis Seaton for their help with this issue. Thanks must also be given to our peer reviewers whose expertise and knowledge greatly assist the editing process and ensure that all published submissions are of the highest standard. The Keele Print Shop once again deserve our gratitude for producing high quality copies of our journal, as do Keele’s Marketing team for assisting with our design work. The journal team and the contributors would like to express thanks to all the members of academic staff who have assisted, encouraged and provided guidance during the course of making this journal. Finally, we would like to thank our contributors for all their hard work in producing their papers. It is the continuing interest and participation of our postgraduate students within the Humanities and Social Sciences that make this journal possible.

IV Editors’ Note

Welcome to this fourth issue of Under Construction @ Keele. We are excited to be able to showcase, once again, a multi-faceted sample of all the varied and high-quality research being undertaken by Keele University’s postgraduate students. Inside the present journal you will find two shorter pieces and four full-length essays. The former offer intriguing new perspectives on Brexit and the “CSI Effect” respectively. The latter comprise a fresh reframing of the issues of climate change, a critical probing of the New Institutional Approach, the development of a new model for ascribing moral status to – for instance – the developing human embryo, and an incisive re-appraisal of Wilde’s dandy persona, which reveals a serious and rather cunning socialist beneath the guise of that wellknown social butterfly. The journal’s aim is to offer a platform for the many new and rising voices in Keele’s postgraduate community. To further this goal, the journal and its team continue to evolve. It is with great pleasure that we introduce the following new members: Claire Melia and Theofilos El Sayed Omar as Editors, Helen Machin as Peer Review Liaison Officer, and Zuzana Tóthová in the now combined roles of Publicist and Designer. We have also appointed a new Editor-in-Chief, James Williamson, and a new Communications Secretary, Amy Coquaz. This fourth issue, like the ones that have gone before, is much indebted to the hard work and dedication of the team. We would like to especially thank James Williamson for his commitment to the journal and to the team, that is, to the cultivation of a supportive platform for new researchers and the preservation of both the high-quality standards of the journal and its continued expansion.

As a team, we search for ever new ways of contributing to the postgraduate research community here at Keele, and we hope that students will feel encouraged to submit a proposal for future issues. We are fast approaching the production of our first special edition, inspired by the recent conference ‘Byron and the Romantic World’. Always keen to venture into new and interdisciplinary territory, we are considering the possibility of an issue dedicated to essays in the fields of Medical Humanities and Medical Sociology. Expressions of interest in such a venture would be very welcome. We hope you will enjoy reading this issue as much as we have enjoyed its creation, and we look forward to hearing from you with thoughts, impressions and suggestions.

The Editorial Board for Under Construction @ Keele Theofilos El Sayed Omar, Amy Jones, Claire Melia and Sophie Schuenemann

V Introduction

This marks our fourth issue of Under Construction @ Keele, across three academic years, and the journal seems to be going from strength to strength. Once again we received a considerable number of applications to fill vacancies on our committee and we were able to welcome four new members to our team, who have acquitted themselves admirably and settled into their new roles seamlessly. The realities of postgraduate study mean that our committee has quite a high turnover rate in terms of membership, but there has always been a raft of willing individuals, enthusiastic to step in and support the journal. This issue will be the last one to have committee members who have worked on the journal since the first issue, and it is heartening to know that this was not just the vanity project of a small group, but a publication which could provide something of real value to the postgraduate community here at Keele, and which will hopefully persevere for many more issues to come. Our call for papers for this issue was met with great enthusiasm, allowing us to put together a rich and varied issue covering a wide range of disciplines throughout the Humanities and Social Sciences. Perhaps more importantly, the journal in and of itself seems established and settled. The hard work of committee members, both past and present, means that an infrastructure has gradually developed, issue by issue, allowing for the publishing process to become increasingly streamlined. I am indebted to the exertion of all of the committee members with whom I have worked over the last four issues, for putting the pieces in place that have enabled this issue to run smoothly. The contributors for this semester’s issue demonstrate the quality and breadth of work being undertaken within the Humanities and Social Sciences, with work from English, History, Ethics, Law, Criminology and Politics. Not only that, they also demonstrate the profound relevance of the work that we do, in particular Lloyd Myatt’s short article identifying the legal ramifications of ‘Brexit’ in the United Kingdom, and Wendy Suffield’s analysis of debates over morality relating to the human embryo, both which provide context to contentious issues within contemporary society. Beyond these, Lauren Else has investigated the impact of television crime dramas upon our perceptions of real-world criminal investigation units, and whether they create false expectations. Ben Odams has provided us with a thorough and fascinating insight into debates over institutional theory, related to the 17th century British economy. Charis Gerosideris has offered a new lens through which to view the issue of wildfires within austerity Greece, as well as documenting the trade-off that has been made between short-term economic survival and long-term damage to the environment. Finally, we continue the trend of inviting former committee members to

VI contribute to the journal, with Julia Coole’s shrewd evaluation of the political worldview of Oscar Wilde. As always throughout the publication process there were a series of hiccups, but my team members have been up to the challenge throughout. Thank you to the team of editors, who have responded professionally and with enthusiasm to my, at times, scattered streamof-consciousness emails. Zuzana has taken on the work of two previous roles as our Publicist and has done so effortlessly, handling the quick-fire nature of some of my social media requests without batting an eyelid. Helen has not only undertaken her role as Peer Review Liaison Officer with ease, but has also served as a reassuring and calming voice whenever involved in committee discussions. Finally, Amy has served brilliantly as Communication Secretary, handling all updates for the journal and helping to deal with all issues that have presented themselves over the last six months, whilst also serving as a sounding board during my less composed moments. The commitment of the journal team to support special editions continues, with our issue connected to the ‘Byron & the Romantic World’ Conference from earlier this year due to be published in March. We hope that you enjoy this issue of Under Construction @ Keele; we believe that it truly demonstrates the wealth of valuable research being undertaken here, and we are eagerly anticipating the next raft of article submissions in the new year.

James Williamson Editor-in-Chief

1 The ‘CSI Effect’: Fact or Fiction? An investigation into the cultural representations of forensic investigation and forensic evidence collection within contemporary media crime shows. Lauren Else (MA in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Keele University) Cultural representations of forensic science are distorting the public’s perception of crime solving agencies. Unrealistic portrayals of forensic investigation within contemporary crime shows are leading to impractical presumptions that all crime scenes will produce plenteous amounts of forensic evidence which will be admissible within a courtroom. These shows also fail to express the lengthy turn-around time for evidence and DNA testing, and do not display the genuine time, personnel and funding that is available within actual crime solving departments. These misrepresentations impact upon the audience’s perception of forensic investigations, raising viewers’ expectations of real world crime-solving agencies. Keywords: CSI Effect, victimisation, cultivation theory, forensic science, two-step flow The ‘CSI Effect’ Through the viewing of crime dramas, a person’s fear of victimisation has been heightened, as have their expectations of how criminal activity will be dealt with after an incident has taken place – this phenomenon is referred to as the CSI Effect.1 The CSI Effect has had a profound impact on ‘police officers, prosecutors, defence attorneys, judges, jurors, forensic scientists, victim service providers, medical personnel, witnesses, and victims’ families’, as we have come to expect ‘too much’ from these agencies.2 Holmgren et al. state that:

‘The ultimate illusion produced through the CSI Effect is an unrealistic expectation that every crime scene will yield plentiful evidence, that can be analysed through a fool proof forensic science technique and will be presented in the courtroom’.3

This suggests that audiences are lowering the standard of trust they give to forensic agencies, as the methods of forensic evidence collection represented on their television screens have unrealistically heightened their expectations towards crime solving.

1

                                                        

Dennis J. Stevens, Media and Criminal Justice: The CSI Effect (Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2011). 2 National Institute of Justice, Law Enforcement and Technology (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 2006). 3 Janne A. Holmgren and James M. Pringle, “The CSI Effect and the Canadian Jury,” Gazette Magazine 62 (2009): 67.

2 Media and the CSI Effect

In his evaluations of the CSI Effect Dennis Stevens states that the context of programming falls under the encouragement of an elitist socioeconomic class. Agreeing with Stevens are Katz and Lazarsfeld, with their ‘Two-Step Flow’ representation theory.4 They suggest that a media message is transmitted to the ‘opinion leaders’, whom then filter this to the audience. In the case of misrepresentations of forensic science, it could be argued that opinion leaders want consumers to feel secure with the police and investigation departments. Therefore, a romanticised representation of forensic investigation and crime solving is depicted within crime dramas. The generic viewer of a crime genre text already holds a predetermined idea of how the show should be portrayed. Viewers may hold no prior knowledge of forensics, yet due to the media texts they consume they already have a distorted view of forensic analysis.5 Through the viewing of crime media, an individual may have a glamorized view of the investigators and the forensic agents that are intertwined in the investigative process. Audiences see the representation of this process as speedy and involving highly advanced technologies; whereas in reality forensic personnel do not have the time, resources, or the man-power that would enable them to carry out the forensic process at the same speed in which crime dramas portray.

Television and its Fascination with Crime

Television programs which deal with the subject of criminal justice feed into the public’s fascination and enhance an individual’s interest in crime-solving techniques. However, the validity of the representations within these crime-drama texts is inadequate. Audiences accept the lack of authenticity in popular crime dramas, as they make up for their lack of validity in entertainment value. Prime-time crime shows depict forensic techniques and technologies that are not yet fully operational, nor within the budget range of your average police department.6 Crime dramas use forensic techniques throughout routine police investigations, which leads to the implication that forensic science is the benchmark of ‘good 4

                                                        

Paul Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz, “Two-Step Flow Theory,” University of Twente, January 19 2009, https://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20Clusters/Mass%20Media/Two_Step_Flow_T heory-1/ (accessed November 14, 2016). 5 Ernest van den Haag, “Justice, deterrence and the death penalty,” in America’s experiment with the death penalty, ed. James R. Acker, Robert M. Bohm, and Charles S. Lanier (North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2003). 6 Dennis J. Stevens, Media and Criminal Justice: The CSI Effect (Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2011), 36.

3 enough’ policing. In reality, 62% of police officers will never deal with forensic evidence during their career.7 This suggests that cultural representations of forensic investigation are unrealistic, as agencies do not have the resources available to carry out such large amounts of evidence testing.

Crime Scene Investigations and Forensic Science

The bureau of justice statistics find that nine out of ten local police departments in the U.S have forensic detectives. Forensic detectives are the primary investigators on a crime scene, yet on television the CSIs are first on a scene. Depictions of CSI personnel display them single-handedly collecting evidence, chasing down suspects and working in laboratories.8 These misrepresentations have led audiences to believe that an officer can conduct an entire police investigation and can solve it with total independence, in a one-hour time slot. The average police officer can conduct almost all the jobs that CSI personnel carry out on television, however due to the amount of time and the funding constraints, these actions are prohibited. Only approximately 1% of all serious crime is resolved using forensic science alone, suggesting that cultural representations of the forensic investigation process are inadequate.9

Not all evidence collected on a crime scene can be admissible within a

courtroom, nor can an entire investigation be centred around one individual piece of evidence. Viewers watch how forensic evidence is collected and used within contemporary crime dramas assuming, if they were to become a victim of criminal activity, that a single piece of evidence would be enough to warrant an arrest for a suspect, which in reality, is impossible.

Investigating Public Perceptions of Criminal Investigation through focus group

I was aware that there had been little study into audiences’ perceptions of crime television, thus advertised for people to take part in an open conversation about the cultural representations of forensic investigation. Due to the nature of my observation I was able to make a series of short hand notes throughout the group interview; reducing my risk of error 7

                                                        

Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Criminal case processing statistics,” in US Department of Justice Data (Washington DC: Washington University Press, 2006). 8 Maria Harrold, “Everyone’s and Expert as TV's CSI craze raises the bar for police,” Montreal Gazette, November 16 2007, http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=e06d7f34-a809-4266-ac661808d1435c49 (accessed October 12, 2016). 9 Dennis J. Stevens, Media and Criminal Justice: The CSI Effect (Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2011).

4 when typing up my notes later in full. There were seven respondents to my advertisement, all were university students and all stated that they regularly watched crime drama texts. The overall outcome of the group interview found that six of the seven individuals thought that the representations depicted within television shows like CSI and Criminal Minds were unrealistic. Of these six people, five of them stated that these style television shows provided exaggerated perceptions of what an audience should expect from actual crime solving organisations. Four of the seven also stated that they often forgot that the viewing material they were consuming was fictional, and felt that they now held heightened expectations of policing agencies.

Media Representations and CSI

Representations within the crime genre are made to appear ‘natural’ however, all texts, no matter how realistic they may seem, are constructed. Audiences view typical signifiers within crime dramas and these become familiar through repeated viewing. They assume they understand crime scenes and crime solving, even though they have no previous knowledge of the field. The effect that viewing crime dramas is having on audiences has formulated a theoretical basis for further research into the CSI Effect. Ley et al. suggest that the CSI Effect draws upon social cognitive theory and cultivation theory.10 To date, there has only been one media effect theory testing the CSI Effect – cultivation theory. This originally focused on the role of television in forming and shaping the publics’ perception of reality.11 However, in more recent studies criminologists have argued that the genre of television program the audience are consuming can heavily influence the cultivation effects of that viewer. Podlas has applied cultivation theory to the crime television show CSI. She finds that program-specific cultivation is shaping viewers opinions of forensic evidence collection and forensic science.12 Brewer and Ley add to this debate, stating that these types of cultivation effects may be the result of individuals viewing ‘prime’ media texts. CSI is a ‘prime’ media text, as exposure to it imprints segments of information into the audience’s minds.13 Once 10

                                                        

Barbara L. Ley, Natalie Jankowski and Paul R. Brewer, “Investigating CSI: Portrayals of DNA testing on a forensic crime show and their potential effects,” Public Understanding of Science 21 (2012), 55. 11 John C. Besley and James Shanahan, “Media Attention and Exposure in Relation to Support for Agricultural Biotechnology,” Science Communication 26 (2003) 349. 12 Kimberlianne Podlas, “The ‘CSI Effect’: Exposing the Media Myth,” Media and Entertainment Law Journal 16 (2006) 432. 13 Barbara L. Ley and Paul R. Brewer, “Media Use and Public Perceptions of DNA Evidence,” Science Communication 32 (2002) 1339.

5 that audience member has this information imprinted, they subconsciously hold bias judgements.

In this short paper I have analysed the impact on audiences who are exposed to a large amounts of crime genre television, and concluded how this may result in them holding an exaggerated impression of crime and crime science. These misrepresentations have caused viewers to expect too much from real life forensic and crime solving agencies. This, in turn has created a feeling of discontent towards forensic investigation services. Audiences have become frustrated that the same high degree of crime solving shown within contemporary television dramas is not real, and consequently take their discontent out on the people who work within the crime solving and forensic sector.

6 References

Besley, John C., and Shanahan, James. “Media Attention and Exposure in Relation to Support for Agricultural Biotechnology,” Science Communication 26 (2003): 347-367. Bureau of Justice Statistics. “Criminal case processing statistics.” In US Department of Justice Data. Washington DC: Washington University Press, 2006. Harrold, Maria. “Everyone’s an Expert as TV's CSI craze raises the bar for police,” Montreal Gazette. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=e06d7f34a809-4266-ac66-1808d1435c49 (accessed October 12, 2016). Holmgren, Janne A., and Pringle, James M. “The CSI Effect and the Canadian Jury,” Gazette Magazine 62 (2009): 62-67. Lazarsfeld, Paul and Katz, Elihu. “Two-Step Flow Theory,” University of Twente. https://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20Clusters/Mass%20Media/T wo_Step_Flow_Theory-1/ (accessed November 14, 2016). Ley, Barbara L., and Brewer, Paul R. “Media Use and Public Perceptions of DNA Evidence,” Science Communication 32 (2002): 1335-1373. Ley, Barbara L., Jankowski, Natalie, and Brewer, Paul R. “Investigating CSI: Portrayals of DNA testing on a forensic crime show and their potential effects,” Public Understanding of Science 21 (2012): 51-67. National Institute of Justice. Law Enforcement and Technology. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 2006. Podlas, Kimberlianne. “The ‘CSI Effect’: Exposing the Media Myth,” Media and Entertainment Law Journal 16 (2006): 426-465. Stevens, Dennis J. Media and Criminal Justice: The CSI Effect. Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2011. Van den Haag, Ernest. “Justice, deterrence and the death penalty.” In America’s experiment with the death penalty, edited by James R. Acker, Robert M. Bohm, and Charles S. Lanier, 79-96. North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2003.

7 ‘Brexit’: A rule of law consideration Lloyd Myatt (LLM in International Law, Keele University) This article is an observation of ‘Brexit’ through the lens of constitutional law. The issue of ‘Brexit’ has provoked fractious debate within British society, with widespread disagreement over its ramifications. Now, the process begins as to how the UK will leave the EU. Should it be done through the government or through parliament? This is a major constitutional question that is being fought through the courts as this article is being written and will continue to raise further questions in the foreseeable future. Keywords: ‘Brexit’, European Union, rule of law, democracy

Introduction

This brief discussion will relate to ‘Brexit’. ‘Brexit’ is the commonly used term for the UK deciding to the leave the European Union. This decision was made on the 23rd of June 2016 with 51.9% of the voting population opting to leave the European Union.1 However, the big issue with ‘Brexit’ is how does one achieve it? How does one leave the European Union? This article will attempt to address this question from the position of the rule of law; this is a process that should be legal, not illegal. The rule of law is simply as is stated, it is the rule of the law. It ensures that every being is subject to the law no matter their status, hence why a group of individuals could challenge the government as to their prerogative action to initiate the ‘Brexit’ process without consulting Parliament.2

What is the rule of law?

To flesh out this explanation, the briefing paper published by the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law gives the following principles:

‘The law must be accessible and so far as possible, intelligible, clear, and predictable. The laws of the land should apply equally to all, save to the extent that objective differences justify differentiation. 1

                                                        

“EU Referendum Results”, BBC News. Accessed November 21, 2016. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/eu_referendum/results 2 R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, 2768 (EWHC).(2016)

8 The law must afford adequate protection of fundamental human rights.’3

Now identified, it is important to analyse how these principles apply to Brexit.

Accessibility

The first principle given by the Bingham Centre is this idea of accessibility. Within the context of ‘Brexit’, this can mean several things. Should EU laws concerning pregnancy rights, free movement of goods and environmental regulation become purely UK domestic law? Will UK citizens lose the rights and expectations provided under those laws? Should Parliament participate in the proceedings post-Brexit? Vaughan Lowe believes that ‘there is zero chance [that the] … existing legal system affecting European nationals in this country will not change’.4 Nevertheless, this article does not take that to be his position, as surely the post-‘Brexit’ legal landscape should look very similar to that of pre-Brexit, but just with more of a UK sovereign presence. This is clarified by Joseph Weller who comments that ‘internally, though not much might change on the surface, it will at the deepest spiritual level of European integration’.5 Further to that point, Lowe has ‘stressed that EU rights would fall away unless specifically protected under new British law’.6 In order to address this problem of whether to retain EU rights in the post-Brexit UK legal system, the Department for Exiting the European Union (DEEU) must start at the point at which EU law directly became part of the UK legal system. Moreover, with this mind it has recently set about repealing the European Communities Act 1972 (ECA 1972), the legislation responsible for enabling EU law to become part of UK law. However, what of the accessibility of those rights granted under EU law? Jessy Saint Prix, the defendant in a landmark Supreme Court ruling relating to the rights of pregnant EU nationals in the UK, would surely lose the rights she attained were there no domestic law, but only EU law to rely upon.7 This has been confronted by the DEEU when discussing 3

                                                        

Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, “Briefing Paper: Parliament and the Rule of Law in the Context of Brexit” (paper presented for the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, September 29, 2016) 4 Lisa O’Carroll, “Zero chance EU citizens in UK will keep same rights post-Brexit, says expert”, The Guardian, September 13, 2016. Accessed October 2 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/13/zero-chance-eu-citizens-keep-same-rights-postbrexit-expert 5 Joseph Weller, “Brexit: No Happy Endings”, European Journal of International Law, 26, no.1 (2015): 1-7, accessed November 21, 2016, doi: 10.1093/ejil/chv017 6 O’Carroll, “Zero chance EU citizens in UK will keep the same rights post-Brexit” 7 Saint Prix v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions All E.R. (EC) 987 (2014)

9 introducing a new Bill to repeal the ECA 1972, ‘will convert existing EU law into domestic law’.8 The conclusion of this section may satisfy the accessibility principle, in that EU and UK citizens will still hold the EU rights and expectations that many were worried about losing. However, what of the electorate who should be able to participate in these proceedings, not only in the referendum to decide to leave but on what terms should the UK leave?

Equality

The second principle given by the Bingham Centre is that the law should be equal and nondiscriminatory. If Brexit is to be given effect in UK law, it is very hard not to get drawn into the political theory about how to proceed, should one follow the government’s prerogative or the democratic Parliament? Increasingly though, this author is holding the view that the sheer notion of the government’s initial position to utilise the prerogative within the Brexit context is undemocratic and discriminatory. One may pose the question as to how a referendum, which is a national consensus on a particular issue, can be undemocratic. A referendum is an instrument that can be utilised by the Executive (Government) under a power called a royal prerogative (which is best be thought of as a residual power left over by the Monarch that was transferred to the Government). The argument against the use of this method with no consideration of Parliament is that of Gina Miller who is contesting that before any further steps are taken in Brexit, Parliament should have a say in the referendum outcome. As she states, ‘the principle of parliamentary sovereignty underpins the constitution and the rule of law in the country’.9 This statement is supported further by Grieve who supplements:

‘So in arguing that the UK should simply tear up our EU treaty obligations by using parliament to enact legislation in breach of them, the Brexiteers, including our lord chancellor, who takes a special oath to uphold the rule of law, are proposing something revolutionary and lawless’.10 8

                                                        

“Government announces end of European Communities Act”, Gov.uk, October 2, 2016. Accessed October 4, 2016, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-end-of-europeancommunities-act 9 “Brexit: High Court hearing challenge to Article 50 strategy”, BBC News, October 13, 2016. Accessed October 13, 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37639307 10 Dominic Grieve, “Brexiteers are proposing an illegal EU exit”, The Times, June 17, 2016. Accessed October 2, 2016, http://nuk-tnl-deck-prod-static.s3-eu-west1.amazonaws.com/projects/64a08e5f1e6c39faeb90108c430eb120.html

10 Nevertheless, to argue that Parliament is sovereign under these circumstances is, again, lawful and democratic. The referendum was a tool used as a consensus to see what the UK population wanted to do. The Government utilised this method to ensure that it could deliver the will of the people efficiently and effectively. However, within the UK constitution, Parliament is the sovereign body so to all but exclude them is illegitimate, surely? The main thrust of this argument made from Gina Miller is that legislative action was required to enter into the European Union so surely there should be legislative action to leave it? The guardians of the rule of law, the Judiciary against the representation of democracy, Parliament, seems a little paradoxical. The rule of law surely represents democracy and democracy surely represents the rule of law. One must look to the 5th December 2016, when the Supreme Court meets to discuss these very issues.11

Human Rights

The question of whether the sovereignty argument is discriminatory has been omitted up until now, as it is better suited to this section, which concerns the third and final principle that the Bingham Centre propounded, that of the rule of law involving the protection of human rights. Within the context of ‘Brexit’, unless one is discussing the free movement of persons and some employment rights, then the scope of this argument goes beyond that of the referendum outcome. Popular belief is held within the UK that the EU safeguards human rights under the European Convention of Human Rights 1950 (ECHR). This is however, misguided; it is The European Court of Human Rights that holds that particular role. Despite not being particularly relevant to the plans for Brexit, the current Government are ‘to replace the Human Rights Act with a so-called British Bill of Rights anyway.12 This is discriminatory in its own right, going from a universal label such as ‘human’ to an exclusive term such as ‘British’ excludes a great deal of rights holders under the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA), such as migrant workers, foreign students and immigrants who would not accrue rights under this new label. The effects of a British Bill of Rights is unknown, however as is commented, ‘The Tories say they want a Bill of Rights specifically designed to fit British 11

                                                        

“Brexit court ruling appeal date set for 5 December”, BBC News, November 8, 2016. Accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37913911 12 Jon Stone, “Plans to replace Human Rights Act with British Bill of Rights will go ahead, Justice Secretary confirms”, The Independent, August 22, 2016. Accessed October 3, 2016, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/scrap-human-rights-act-british-bill-of-rights-theresamay-justice-secretary-liz-truss-a7204256.html

11 needs and traditions…so judges would be more likely to take into account British culture and history’.13 Although the ECHR is not particularly relevant at this moment in time to the ‘Brexit’ debate, the related ‘Brexit’ human rights abuses that have occurred since the result would come within its scope. Agerholm details that Brexit-related human rights abuses have seen that ‘[m]ore than a hundred incidents of racial abuse and hate crime have been reported since the UK voted to leave the European Union’.14 Whilst promoting a sovereign state, the government must be careful not to discriminate against others. Yet this is exactly what has happened here in the context of ‘Brexit’. Answering the point made earlier in the piece, government action to utilise the prerogative with ‘Brexit’ has seen undemocratic principles and discrimination rise, everything the rule of law is against. Is the very nature of the Executive within the UK constitution a challenge to the rule of law?

Conclusion

To answer this question, one must conclude that aligning with the view that the government’s decision to unilaterally undertake ‘Brexit’ is a challenge to the rule of law as the rule of law is legality. One cannot achieve a legal process with illegitimate practices; the democratic body must be entertained. A referendum is a public process but again does not grant the government absolute power to complete this process without consulting the public on how they are going to achieve it, which is no half measure. The Brexit process must be accessible, equal and must respect human rights. One must look to the wisdom and considerations of the judiciary on the 5th December 2016 to see how they will adjudicate this case.

13

                                                        

“Human Rights Act versus a British Bill of Rights”, BBC Newsbeat, May 11, 2015. Accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/32692758/human-rights-act-versus-abritish-bill-of-rights 14 Harriet Agerholm, “Brexit: Wave of hate crime and racial abuse reported following EU referendum”, The Independent, June 26, 2016. Accessed October 3 2016.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-eu-referendum-racial-racism-abusehate-crime-reported-latest-leave-immigration-a7104191.html

12 References

Agerholm, Harriet “Brexit: Wave of hate crime and racial abuse reported following EU referendum”, The Independent, June 26, 2016.Accessed October 3 2016.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brexit-eu referendum-racial-racism-abuse-hate-crime-reported-latest-leave-immigration a7104191.html Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, “Briefing Paper: Parliament and the Rule of Law in the Context of Brexit” (paper presented for the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, September 29, 2016) “Brexit court ruling appeal date set for 5 December”, BBC News, November 8, 2016. Accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics 37913911 “Brexit: High Court hearing challenge to Article 50 strategy”, BBC News, October 13, 2016. Accessed October 13, 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics 37639307 “EU Referendum Results”, BBC News. Accessed November 21, 2016. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/eu_referendum/results “Government announces end of European Communities Act”, Gov.uk, October 2, 2016. Accessed October 4, 2016, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-end-of european-communities-act “Government announces end of European Communities Act”, Gov.uk, October 2, 2016. Accessed October 4, 2016, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-end-of-europeancommunities-act Grieve, Dominic “Brexiteers are proposing an illegal EU exit”, The Times, June 17, 2016. Accessed October 2, 2016, http://nuk-tnl-deck-prod-static.s3-eu-west 1.amazonaws.com/projects/64a08e5f1e6c39faeb90108c430eb120.html “Human Rights Act versus a British Bill of Rights”, BBC Newsbeat, May 11, 2015. Accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/32692758/human-rights-act-versus-a british-bill-of-rights O’Carroll, Lisa “Zero chance EU citizens in UK will keep same rights post-Brexit, says expert”, The Guardian, September 13, 2016. Accessed October 2 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/13/zero-chance-eu-citizens keep-same-rights-post-brexit-expert

13 R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, 2768 (EWHC). (2016) Saint Prix v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, All E.R. (EC) 987 (2014) Stone, Jon “Plans to replace Human Rights Act with British Bill of Rights will go ahead, Justice Secretary confirms”, The Independent, August 22, 2016. Accessed October 3, 2016, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/scrap-human-rights-act-british bill-of-rights-theresa-may-justice-secretary-liz-truss-a7204256.html Weller, Joseph “Brexit: No Happy Endings”, European Journal of International Law, 26, no.1 (2015): 1-7, accessed November 21, 2016, doi: 10.1093/ejil/chv01

14 Mapping Moral Status Wendy Suffield (PhD in Medical Ethics, Keele University) The metaphysical theory underpinning the grounds for moral status of the human embryo has major implications in bioethics, affecting issues from stem cell research to mitochondrial donation and genome editing. Traditionally, arguments for and against ascribing moral status depend on an assumption that a single criterion endows full moral status (or none). However, there is no consensus on what this criterion ought to be, and some argue there may be more than one. I contend that none are necessary and sufficient on their own, and examine accounts of multi-criterial moral status, but there is a lack of clarity about how this might be applied in practical terms. Each criterion can vary dependent on the individual entity to whom it applies, and increase or decrease over a lifetime. With multiple criteria and multiple levels of moral status, difficulties can arise in knowing what moral obligations are owed to the bearer. I outline a new model for multi-criterial moral status - a map where each separate criterion is developed and can be tracked on a range of moral importance for any entity. I show how this map could help us to assess our obligations across species and in difficult cases, such as the developing human embryo/foetus. It is the combination and interplay between the different developing criteria that convey differing strengths and types of moral status. Keywords: moral status, human embryo, foetus, stem cell research.

For decades the moral status of the human embryo has been controversial, with some contending that it is owed full moral status (life protection) from the moment of conception because it is owed respect as a member of the human species.1 Others argue that it is owed none; it is a collection of cells that has none of the qualities we value in life.2 An intermediate view is that during pregnancy the developing foetus acquires some capacity, usually either sentience or consciousness, and therefore can be harmed; from this point on, moral status is ascribed.3 Arguments have centred over which sole necessary and sufficient criterion ascribes moral status. I contend that moral status is not binary, either on or off, but is dependent on multiple criteria, as Mary Anne Warren outlines, each of which has a range of 1

                                                        

The species argument is often faith-based, see e.g. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, nd th Donum Vitae 22 February 1987, accessed 27 July 2016. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_res pect-for-human-life_en.html 2 Jeff McMahan, The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002), 29. 3 An opinion held by Peter Singer among others, Practical Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 151-169.

15 values.4 However, Warren gives few details on how to apply multiple criteria. I outline a map to help us navigate the complexities and work out our obligations towards an embryo, which is the key use of moral status, in my view. To define my terms, moral status is ascribed to something that we consider has moral value in its own right. As Warren maintains:

It is to be an entity towards which moral agents have, or can have, moral obligations. If an entity has moral status, then we may not treat it in just any way we please; we are morally obliged to give weight in our deliberations to its needs, interests, or well-being.5

Moral status provides moral agents with an adequate account of what ought or ought not to be done to a certain entity whose needs have this moral importance - it endows a level of protection. Agnieszka Jaworska and Julie Tannenbaum summarised our obligations towards something ascribed full moral status as (1) a stringent presumption against interference (e.g. to cause no pain, no killing, no experimentation, no loss of liberty); (2) a strong reason to aid; and (3) a strong reason to treat fairly.6  

There is no good argument for why there should be only one criterion. While most

arguments for particular criteria contain important ideas, all sole criterion theories have major drawbacks if applied exclusively. The flaws are well-documented by others, so I will briefly summarise.7 The idea that we should value every living thing equally would commit us to not killing a mosquito with Zika virus, or the mouse that has taken up residence in your kitchen.  

Whether sacred for religious or secular reasons (as Ronald Dworkin maintains), the

Sanctity of Life principle identifies species membership as key.8 This rather arbitrary criterion would exclude all non-human animals that may possess equally morally significant capacities to a foetus. If called to choose between rescuing an adult chimpanzee or jar of human embryos from a laboratory fire, many of us would save the chimpanzee.  

Personhood is often thought necessary and sufficient, but it is a ‘cluster concept’ with

wide-ranging criteria, from John Harris's capacity to value your own existence, to Tom 4

                                                        

Mary Anne Warren, Moral Status: Obligations to Persons and Other Living Things (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 148-177. 5 Ibid., 3. 6 Agnieszka Jaworska & Julie Tannenbaum, “The Grounds of Moral Status,” in The Stanford th Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta (Summer 2013), accessed 30 September 2016.http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2013/entries/grounds-moral-status/ 7 See e.g. Warren, Moral Status, 24-121; James Dwyer, Moral Status & Human Life: The Case for Children’s Superiority. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 63-118. 8 Ronald Dworkin, Life’s Dominion: An argument about Abortion, Euthanasia, and Individual Freedom. (New York, Vintage, 1994), 68-101.

16 Regan's 'subject-of-a-life', up to moral agency - the ability to act on our moral judgments. 9 All exclude entities to which commonsense morality says we have moral obligations, particularly infants and cognitively impaired adults.  

Often used to justify embryonic moral status, ‘active potential’ fails to justify an

obligation to treat something now as if it has already achieved its potential – we should not treat an infant as if it were already an adult. We ought nevertheless to take this potential into consideration, particularly as the reality comes close to fruition. However, it is not sufficient as a standalone reason for ascribing moral status due to its contingent nature - there need to be others.  

These views assume either full moral status or zero for the embryo (up to eight weeks’

development - after this, the term foetus is used). Intermediate views consider moral status to increase gradually, echoing biological development. They ascribe a lesser status above zero after conception to humans, until full moral status is attained at some point before birth. Destroying a foetus once moral status is ascribed is assumed wrong unless outweighed by other considerations, such as beneficence towards something with even greater moral status.   There are two main criteria justifying these views. Sentience is based on the cruelty of causing pain to any creature with the neural capacity to feel it. Our survival inevitably involves causing pain to some sentient beings. If creatures like spiders and field mice are sentient, as is likely, then even ploughing a field causes untold damage. Bonnie Steinbock holds that unless a being has interests, requiring sentience and consciousness, it makes no sense to ascribe rights to it.10 What is done to a being matters to the being itself only if it can feel pleasure or pain, and in her view humans matter more than sentient non-human animals. Many philosophers consider that conscious awareness is necessary as a starting point for ascribing any moral status, even if not solely sufficient.11 The ability to be aware of one’s feelings is important, but this view also has its dissenters. Environmental ethicists argue this denies moral status to plants, species and other elements of the natural world, and there are many others who do not agree that consciousness is essential.12 9

                                                        

John Harris, The Value of Life: An Introduction to Medical Ethics (London, New York: Routledge, 1985), 19; Tom Regan, The Case for Animal Rights. (Berkeley, California: University of California nd Press, 2 edition, 2004), 243. 10 Bonnie Steinbock, Life Before Birth: The Moral and Legal Status of Embryos and Fetuses. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 9-24. 11 Ibid., 5,13-21; McMahan, The Ethics of Killing, 267. 12 See Warren, Moral Status, 71-3 for the environmental view. Other dissenters argue that being alive is sufficient for moral status, Kenneth E. Goodpaster “On Being Morally Considerable,” The Journal of Philosophy, 75:6 (1978):308-325, or support the sanctity of life view discussed earlier.

17   The hunt for a sole criterion that is necessary and sufficient for moral status is pointless – it does not exist in isolation. As Jane English observed, ‘...no single criterion can capture the concept of a person and no sharp line can be drawn.’13 There is no adequate standalone criterion.

Moral Status based on Multiple Criteria

The intrinsic criteria of life, sentience, interests, active potential and personhood have strong premises, which in combination can counterbalance the drawbacks. Yet even these are not enough. Warren and James Dwyer both provide convincing arguments that relational properties must be key contributors to moral status too. Morality is based not just on reason, but on what triggers empathy in us.14 We do not live in social isolation so relationships are important factors, key to our pleasure and the common good. The particular relational qualities that Warren argues contribute to moral status are: the Human Rights principle, which embraces sentient human moral subjects, including babies and cognitively impaired people; the Ecological principle, which gives important species and habitats protection; the Interspecific principle, which covers non-human living things that are part of our community, such as pets and farm animals; and Transitivity of Respect, which calls for us to respect other people's autonomous views.15 Moral status based on multiple criteria is much more consistent with our moral psychology and, as Warren argues, provides a theory that concurs with many of our common-sense judgments. In everyday life we ascribe full moral status to infants and people with severe cognitive disabilities even though they do not fulfil the usual criteria. Multiple criteria provide a way of acknowledging that there are differences in moral status between various entities that engender differing obligations. However, the problem with so many criteria to consider is: how does it work? With multiple criteria in play, the idea of crossing a single threshold of moral status disappears. Warren suggests that there must be at least two principles in operation, one intrinsic and one relational, but in an otherwise thorough consideration of the criteria, gives no other indicator of how to apply multi-criterial moral status, nor how to weigh the principles in relation to each other. Each criterion is limited and qualified by obligations rising from other principles. A foetus has life and may be sentient but its moral status can be overridden by the important 13

                                                        

Jane English, “Abortion and the Concept of a Person,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 5: 2 (1975): 233. 14 Dwyer, Moral Status & Human Life, 32-3. 15 Warren, Moral Status, 158-172.

18 needs and interests of others, particularly where there is a clash between its needs and those of the pregnant woman.16

Degrees of Moral Status

Each criterion has a range of values. Dwyer talks about degrees of moral status applicable to each of the multiple criteria:

 

Any plausible account of moral status, I contend, will allow for more than one basis for having it and will allow for degrees of moral status, in recognition of the fact that different beings have some status-conferring properties but not others and/or can possess any particular status-conferring properties to different degrees.17

David DeGrazia, while arguing that the sole criterion of interests ascribes moral status, acknowledges that there are valid arguments for differing levels of moral status, particularly when applying across species.18 He outlines two models, ‘Equal Consideration but Unequal Interests’, and ‘Unequal Consideration’. The latter challenges the utilitarian idea that all who have a welfare deserve equal consideration. ‘Unequal Consideration’ implies either a two-tier model (persons have full moral status; sentient non-persons have a lower level of moral status above zero) or a sliding scale model. This permits humans to have stronger moral status than other animals. Most people consider it reasonable to rid your home of a rat by killing it, but would be appalled at that solution if the unwanted guest was human! However, if we consider the developing foetus over time, there is a major flaw to the idea of degrees of moral status increasing in a linear progression. It implies that each minor increase in foetal development gives a corresponding increase in moral status, but this is not true. Carson Strong argues that minor differences such as cell cleavage do not make a moral difference, ‘…to say that moral standing increases linearly implies distinctions that seem too fine. It implies, for example, that a 32-cell pre-embryo has greater moral standing than a 4-cell pre-embryo — perhaps only slightly greater, but nevertheless greater.’19 16

                                                        

Ibid., 208-212. 17 Dwyer, Moral Status & Human Life, 5. 18 David DeGrazia, “Moral Status as a Matter of Degree?” The Southern Journal of Philosophy XLVI (2008): 183-188. 19 Carson Strong, “The Moral Status of Pre-embryos, Embryos, Fetuses and Infants,” Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 22:5 (1997): 458.

19 It is clear that ascribing moral status based on multiple criteria is complex. A sole criterion is simpler, but no sole criterion is itself sufficient, so we have to look to more than one. With more criteria under consideration, each one developing gradually in a range, moral status cannot be simply on or off. But while development of criteria is gradual, moral status is not tracked by every small development that ‘degrees’ implies. This could lead to a matrix with so many combinations that it would require computer modelling to generate an answer, at which point it has lost its usefulness. The whole point of ascribing moral status is to flag every moral agent’s obligation to another entity. What is needed is a clear guide to mapping different criteria and the range in each.

A Map of Moral Status

Illustration 1: Spider map showing development of moral status at three stages of pre-natal human development

Using a spider map with spokes for each morally relevant criterion, I have mapped the development of a human being at three stages, with intrinsic criteria shown on the left, and relational on the right. I have used an arbitrary scale of 0-9 for each criterion for illustrative purposes only, further work is needed on appropriate scales of moral status for each criterion. The relative moral status is determined by the area inside the shape. In theory, we could compare different types of moral status for differing entities that have quite different criteria, and come up with a meaningful comparison.

20 An embryo is alive, and has active potential to become a human being, although particularly in the first two weeks there is a high chance that the embryo will fail to thrive or to implant in the uterus. It also gains a very small amount of moral status through the Transitivity of Respect principle, as there are many who consider that the embryo is owed full moral status.20 The sentient foetus has a higher chance of survival so increases on the scales of the previously mentioned criteria, and has an additional claim via the Human Rights Principle, as it can feel pain and be harmed.21 The late foetus has increased values on the criteria already met, and has developed consciousness, thereby gaining additional moral status through having interests and, arguably, an ethics of care type relationship with the expectant family who may be keenly anticipating the birth.22 You can see at a glance how developing additional criteria impact its overall moral status. In addition, this map might help show the moral status of other entities that present difficulties, e.g. non-human animals, patients in a persistent vegetative state, or with severe dementia. The key difficulties are in allocating where on the range each entity lies, and whether each criterion ought to weigh equally, or whether some, such as sentience and personhood, are more important contributors to moral status than others. The advantages of the map are that at a glance you can see which criteria are relevant to each entity. It provides an easy-toassimilate summary of multi-criterial moral status. In addition, it permits relative comparisons – either of developing stages of the same entity, or between differing entities. If an entity only scores on one criterion, this would not create an area showing moral status – it needs two or more criteria to count. This concurs with the view that a sole criterion can never be necessary and sufficient.

Conclusion

This paper provides a detailed account of how we might take a renewed look at the moral status of a developing human being. It rejects a single-criterion account, contending that none satisfactorily provides a convincing necessary and sufficient sole criterion for moral status. Consideration of multiple criteria, each of which may prevail on different levels as the foetus develops, provides a more plausible account. The obligations due to an embryo with minimal moral status may be overridden by the greater needs of an entity with higher moral 20

                                                        

E.g. Alfonso Gómez-Lobo, “Individuality and Human Beginnings: A reply to David DeGrazia,” The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35:3 (2007): 461; Jan Deckers, “Are those who subscribe to the view that early embryos are persons irrational and inconsistent? A reply to Brock” Journal of Medical Ethics 33 (2007): 102-6. 21 Warren, Moral Status, 164-6. 22 Ibid., 74-76.

21 status. By tracking on a map, we can attribute some moral status from an early stage of development, monitor how and why its moral importance develops, and compare relative claims. Further work is required on the mapping process, and how this might affect our obligations to the entity at each different level.

22 References Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Donum Vitae, 22nd February 1987, Accessed 27th July 2016. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_d oc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html Deckers, Jan. “Are those who subscribe to the view that early embryos are persons irrational and inconsistent? A reply to Brock,” Journal of Medical Ethics 33 (2007): 102-6. DeGrazia, David. “Moral Status as a Matter of Degree?” The Southern Journal of Philosophy XLVI (2008):181-198. Dworkin, Ronald. Life’s Dominion: An argument about Abortion, Euthanasia, and Individual Freedom. New York: Vintage, 1994. Dwyer, James. Moral Status & Human Life: The Case for Children’s Superiority. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. English, Jane. “Abortion and the Concept of a Person,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 5: 2 (1975): 233-243. Goodpaster, Kenneth E. “On Being Morally Considerable,” The Journal of Philosophy, 75:6 (1978): 308-325. Gómez-Lobo, Alfonso, “Individuality and Human Beginnings: A reply to David DeGrazia,” The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35:3 (2007): 457-462. Harris, John. The Value of Life: An Introduction to Medical Ethics. London, New York: Routledge, 1985. Jaworska, Agnieszka, and Julie Tannenbaum. “The Grounds of Moral Status,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2013 Edition). Edited by Edward N. Zalta. Accessed 30th September 2016. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2013/entries/grounds-moral-status/ McMahan, Jeff. The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Regan, Tom. The Case for Animal Rights. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2nd edition 2004. Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Steinbock, Bonnie. Life Before Birth: The Moral and Legal Status of Embryos and Fetuses. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Strong, Carson. “The Moral Status of Pre-embryos, Embryos, Fetuses and Infants,” Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 22:5 (1997): 457-478. Warren, Mary Anne. Moral Status: Obligations to Persons and Other Living Things. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

23 Complexity and Clarity: Key Challenges of the New Institutional Economic Approach Ben Odams (MRes History, Keele University) Within history the idea of institutions is open to a variety of different and sometimes conflicting interpretations. I will be focusing upon, and critiquing, the impact of one of these interpretations: that of The New Institutional Economists. This paper will draw on existing literature which is critical of the classic New Institutionalist definition of institutions and their role in history. I will outline the inherent complexities associated with the New Institutionalist position and then make a contribution in the name of clarity – that institutions are not simple, they are complex and act in multiple, sometimes contradictory, ways. There is considerable value in being able to see institutions as the expression of individuals seeking to maximise their utility, but we should be clear what the purpose of a given institution used to be and about who was involved in its development. Keywords: Institutions, Economic Growth New Institutional Economics (NIE) is built upon the works of Ronald Coase but has been further refined by Douglas C. North and others. NIE does not have a single accepted definition of an institution. For North, both economic and non-economic institutions are the ‘rules of the game’. He emphasises that they are socially derived and separate from organisations.1 More recently, Acemoglu et al. argued that economic institutions are essentially a product of the evolution of political institutions which express formal political power in order to determine economic performance (or the distribution of the economy among a population).2 For Avner Greif, institutions cannot be understood by historical analysis alone, nor by economics alone – the approach taken has to breach the divide between the two and incorporate social theory as well. Nevertheless, Greif defines institutions as ‘the foundations of markets’ that ‘efficiently assign, protect and alter property rights; secure contracts; and motivate specialization and exchange’.3 Despite such differing definitions, NIE allows us to see that there are certain common features to the impact an institution can have. Generally, the effect an institution will have on the distribution of goods within a given economy is threefold: it affects information, it enables 1

                                                        

Douglas C. North, Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 3. 2 Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. “Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long Run Growth,” in Handbook of Economic Growth: Volume 1A, ed. Philippe Aghion and Steven N. Durlauf (Boston: Elsevier, 2005), 386 – 464. 3 Avner Greif, Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy: Lessons from Medieval Trade (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 4.

24 participants to cooperate, and it has wider impacts on the interests of the institution’s members; this latter is usually expressed in terms of property. As is visible from these features, a key element for NIE is that the nature of institutions is much more directly associated with the needs and wants of individuals. Known as a ‘utility function’ this focuses on individual behaviour and on the reaction of individuals to economic incentives. Therefore, NIE suggests than an institution can be seen as an effective and efficient means of securing resources for the individual.4 Essentially, individuals are faced with repetitive tasks for which information and efficiency increase as the task is repeated. However, for new opportunities the presence of information will be less than for the repeated task. In such a situation, the institution reduces the uncertainties of interaction. This means that new economic opportunities, new forms of organisation, can be exploited.5 As an example, Greif uses the Maghribi Traders in the early medieval period. According to him, they formed networks of traders whose approaches to contracting and to the enforcement of contracts relied upon their ability to create the institution necessary to meet their aims. This was achieved through a shared ‘merchants law’ which would reduce the cost of information and ensure some level of coordination when responding to (certain) external issues affecting trade. Fundamentally the institutions reduced ‘agency and other transaction costs’ without the central need for a ‘state’.6 In essence this means that, regardless of the motivation of individual action (be it self-serving or altruistic), trade can be expressed through an institution which serves the fundamental needs of the individual in accessing resources. Building upon this, we can see an institution as either a public or a private ordered good. A private ordered good is a non-state-based good, such as the merchant networks example mentioned above. Private ordered goods are typified by the assertion that they are derived from individual agents coming together to maximise their utility and meet their objectives. In contrast, public ordered goods are derived from the state. Today, these include, for instance, the education, welfare and the health systems. Historically, they include the tax system, the defence of the realm, parliaments and the monarchy. Both types of institution assist with the potential for trade or for other transactions, even if these are not economic. They provide information, or at least gather it for others to consume.

4

                                                        

North, Institutions, 21. 5 Ibid., 25. 6 Greif, Institutions, 55.

25 Complexities

Although North describes long-term economic growth as a series of short-term events based around a subjective actor, he relies heavily upon an implied efficiency of institutions: namely that their inherent ability to reduce uncertainties within a given market through better information will lead to a better-functioning price mechanism with associated improvements in property rights.7 Part of the challenge is that, broadly, NIE is focused on a period after the Glorious Revolution (1688), when the English Parliament bargained – with a foreign candidate for the Crown – for a formal arrangement expressed through the Bill of Rights (1689) that would create the idea of parliamentary supremacy as it is understood today. Because of this there is a risk that NIE has selected the history to fit the theory, and this requires us to review the challenges associated with NIE, its selection of history, and its concept of efficiency. By far one of the most extensive criticisms of the NIE approach comes from Peer Vries. His recent work provides an extensive and continuous evaluation of the institutional approach, especially of the concept of the efficient institution emerging from the relative chaos of the Glorious Revolution.8 Taking issue with the primacy of property rights, Vries focuses initially on North, for an ‘almost direct and, in any case, very smooth connection is assumed between the right institutions, economic development and economic growth including industrialization’.9 Moving on to include Acemoglu and Olson, Vries summarises the institutional approach as lacking any systematic or positive view of the contribution of the state beyond its effect on the price mechanism.10 Such an observation cuts to the core of the limits inherent to the NIE approach to economic growth: the state is still seen as either predatory or at the very least extractive in terms of its function. This misses the potential for the state to be a more active supporter of the economy, including the idea in which the economic successes seen in history are the consequence of a more proactive set of engagements or policies or simply a desire to secure advantage.11 A similar critique comes from Patrick K. O’Brien who describes NIE within a wider moniker of the ‘New Whigs’ – a reference to the idea of Whig history which perceives a linear progression that is usually 7

                                                        

North, Institutions, 104, 135. 8 Peer Vries, State, Economy and the Great Divergence: Great Britain and China, 1680s-1850s (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015). 9 Ibid., 12. 10 Ibid., 13. 11 See Ha-Joon Chang, Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (London: Anthem Press, 2002).

26 presumes a correlation between the actions of key individuals and key events.12 O’Brien’s assertion is that the focus by North and others on the Glorious Revolution reduces history to a single point by which all future developments appear shrouded in the cloak of inevitable success. He rightly queries this assertion. Clearly, institutional developments cannot simply lead to a sequence of successes, but rather need to be seen in a wider context of factors which include political and constitutional, social and religious issues. Furthermore, Ogilvie provides an overview of institutional analysis which can be summarised in the following terms: generally speaking NIE and its associated projects have relied upon ‘stylised’ facts which do not match the historical record; private order institutions are not substitutes for public order, but can be seen as complements; and parliaments are not necessarily favourable to growth.13 From Ogilvie’s work, it appears that there is a lack of evidence to suggest that property rights are necessarily better protected after a particular period. One need only look at the issue of Corn Laws between 1815-1846 as an example of a parliament preserving the property rights of one group at the expense of another. Bringing these points together we have to question why only certain institutions prior to 1660 appear to be inefficient. Additionally, we lack a clear explanation as to why the British parliament is suddenly considered efficient in the aftermath of the Civil War. Part of the explanation could be found in the fact that NIE is made up not of historians but of economists, whose objective is to create frameworks and models which can be tested. From a historical point of view, there is a need to challenge this, to push against the linear selection of events. For example, as Geoffrey R. Elton argues, the complex developments within a parliament during a particular period – such as the Apology of 1604 – should not be seen as major departures from previous parliaments, but rather as individuals testing and trying new ideas which ultimately failed.14 Taking this view allows us to appreciate that institutions can develop over time, but we can also see that they are not necessarily efficient and linear. However, we need to be clear about the types of efficiency we are talking about. An institution can be efficient for an individual, it can be ‘Pareto’ efficient (where no one can be better off without making someone else worse off), or it can be ‘best/right’ efficient, where its 12

                                                        

Patrick K. O’Brien, “Fiscal Exceptionalism: Great Britain and its European Rivals from Civil War to Triumph at Trafalgar and Waterloo,” in The Political Economy of British Historical Experience, 16881914, ed. Donald Winch and Patrick K. O’Brien (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). 13 Sheilagh Ogilvie and. A. W. Carus, “Chapter 8: Institutions and Economic Growth in Historical Perspective,” in Handbook of Economic Growth: Volume 2, ed. Phillippe Aghion and Steven N. Durlauf (Oxford & San Diego: North Holland, 2014). 14 Geoffrey R. Elton, “High Road to Civil War?,” in Studies in Tudor and Stuart Politics and Government: Volume 2: Parliament Political Thought: Papers and Reviews 1946-1972 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974).

27 impact on distribution across a given society needs to be accounted for. At the same time, an institution can be efficient for its members and inefficient for society as a whole. So it is plausible that even an institution judged inefficient by one measure can have outputs or impacts which are beneficial, or indeed efficient, by another measure. For example, James I, as King of England, in his continual attempts to improve his ordinary revenue through Parliament (1603 – 1624) is seen as being extravagant in his expenses.15 Yet, can we challenge this view to look instead at the role of Parliament? Parliament, could be seen as inefficient for not considering (or resisting) the changing nature, and cost, of defence while expecting the monarchy to continue to cover that cost from its own revenue.16 This is important because it means that our analysis of institutions needs to be more detailed; institutions are not uniform in nature, they have multiple activities/impacts and they have a relationship with various groups of people within a given society as well as with other institutions; in short, they are complex.17

Clarity

If the NIE idea of an institution is too restrictive then there is a need to look for a meaning which offers a wider definition that can provide a model for institutional frameworks while also accounting for the complexity suggested by Ogilvie. Yet such a model also needs to be effective to answer Vries’ demand/request for institutional analysis to provide some review of a positive role for the state in economic development. In part, a response comes from our ability to see institutions as an element of a much wider network of interactions. Although grounded in theory without a major test of historical work and still presuming a lot about efficiency, Timothy Besley & Torsten Persson’s Pillars of Prosperity makes a further inroad into this area. Besley & Persson suggest that the overall capacity of the state is a function of its ability to tax (its fiscal capacity), but that, crucially, the fiscal capacity is itself a function of the state’s legal capacity, that is, of the institutional framework within which the state is operating at that moment in time.18 This means that we can have institutions which operate either as public or private orders, but that their success and impact will itself be a function of 15

                                                        

Christopher Hill, The Century of Revolution, 1603-1714 (London: Routledge Classics, 2001), 47. 16 Conrad Russell, King James VI and I and his English Parliaments, ed. Richard Cust and Andrew Thrush (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 175. 17 Sheilagh Ogilvie, '‘'Whatever Is, Is Right'? Economic Institutions in Pre-Industrial Europe,” The Economic History Review 60(4) (2007): 668. Ogilvie highlights that this can include people, meaning some focus is required on activity outside of institutions such as around shadow work and informal markets. 18 Timothy Besley and Torsten Persson, Pillars of Prosperity: The Political Economics of Development Clusters (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013).

28 the political arrangements in a given state at that time. To return to our earlier example of James I, the inability of parliament and monarchy to resolve fundamental issues around finance arose because there was neither the fiscal nor the legal capacity to reassure the respective interested parties within parliament and the monarchy that such an agreement would either resolve the problems or prevent future abuses. This analysis aligns well with Braddick’s assessment of the early modern tax state which could be challenged through the courts, had a high incidence of evasion and, at the same time, saw a decline in real term value of the grants made by Parliament.19 This means that institutions are not automatically efficient, they are reliant (to an extent) upon the state and reflect the differing interests among those who not only increase the size of the economy but have a say in how it is divided up. Erik Reinert adds to this by challenging the assumptions made about the fundamentals of growth in the early modern period.20 Reinert focuses on the idea that both firms and states are constrained by the economies of scale (the capacity for profit and production) but also by diseconomies which are essentially costs. To Reinert, the state has a more positive role in providing institutions, income distribution and economic growth. Taken together, these criticisms demonstrate that the idea of institutions needs to be seen in a different light from the one portrayed by NIE. It is not that NIE is wrong about institutions. But the value of this analysis to historical study requires a reassessment of some fundamental ideas. There is considerable value in being able to see institutions as the expression of individuals seeking to maximise their utility, and despite the lack of innate efficiency, we can see how individuals seek to gain the most utility at the expense of others. Crucially, an institutional framework which allows for inefficiency would assist with reappraising the changes in public finance and the demands placed upon the state and how this pressure affected opportunities and risks faced by different sections of society.21 Such an approach allows us to take the fundamental impacts of an institution as a series of questions to be answered. What impact did they have on information, investment, production? How did they work within the state and what contribution did they have on each other to spur change? Moreover, if institutions are the rules of the game we need to understand who has written them, with whom and how.

19

                                                        

Michael J. Braddick, The Nerves of State: Taxation and the Financing of the English State, 1558 – 1714 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996), 187. 20 Erik S. Reinert, “The Role of the State in Economic Growth,” Journal of Economic Studies 26 (4/5) (1999): 268. 21 Michael J. Braddick, State Formation in Early Modern England, c. 1550-1700 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 427.

 

29 References

Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson. “Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long Run Growth.” In Handbook of Economic Growth: Volume 1A, edited by Philippe Aghion and Steven N. Durlauf, 386-464. Boston: Elsevier, 2005. Besley, Timothy, and Torsten Persson. Pillars of Prosperity: The Political Economics of Development Clusters. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013. Braddick, Michael J.. State Formation in Early Modern England, c. 1550-1700. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. -------------------------------The Nerves of State: Taxation and the Financing of the English State, 1558-1714. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996. Chang, Ha-Joon, Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective. London: Anthem Press, 2002. Elton, Geoffrey R.. Studies in Tudor and Stuart Politics and Government: Volume 2: Parliament Political Thought: Papers and Reviews 1946-1972. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974. Greif, Avner. Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy: Lessons from Medieval Trade. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Hill, Christopher. The Century of Revolution, 1603-1714. London: Routledge Classics, 2001. North, Douglas C.. Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. O’Brien, Patrick K.. “Fiscal Exceptionalism: Great Britain and its European Rivals from Civil War to Triumph at Trafalgar and Waterloo.” In The Political Economy of British Historical Experience, 1688-1914, edited by Donald Winch and Patrick K. O’Brien, 245-266. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Ogilvie, Sheilagh. '‘Whatever is, is right’? Economic Institutions in Pre-Industrial Europe.” The Economic History Review 60(4) (2007): 649–684. Ogilvie, Sheilagh and A. W. Carus. “Chapter 8: Institutions and Economic Growth in Historical Perspective.” In Handbook of Economic Growth: Volume 2, edited by Philippe Aghion and Steven N. Durlauf, 403-513. Oxford & San Diego: North Holland, 2014. Reinert, Erik S. “The Role of the State in Economic Growth.” Journal of Economic Studies 26(4/5) (1999): 268–326.

                                                                                                                                                                            

30 Russell, Conrad. King James VI and I and his English Parliaments. Edited by Richard Cust and Andrew Thrush. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Vries, Peer. State, Economy and the Great Divergence: Great Britain and China, 1680s1850s. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.

31 Climate Change as a Security Issue in the Case of Greece and Q-Methodology Charis Gerosideris (PhD in Politics and International Relations, Keele University) This paper highlights significant climate change issues in a vulnerable country such as Greece via security perspectives from the country’s worst wildfires activities of August 2007 until today. It then briefly analyses obvious climate change-related issues through the lens of national security and it presents particular connections between environmental security, energy security, national security, human security, etc. with Greek water, sea and air pollutions as well as wildfires. Main consideration is given to the absence of approaching climate change as a security threat in Greece not only at an institutional (state) level, but at an academic and public level too. The paper critically examines the nonexistence of national climate change-policy and energy security-policy, the Greek failure of addressing security and any threat out of the orthodox and traditional epexegesis of security studies and suggests a new approach of explaining climate change as a security issue in the case of Greece through the application of Q-Methodology, which is a unique and sophisticated methodology for security studies. Keywords: Climate change, security, Greece, environmental security, energy security, national security, human security, security issues, Q-methodology.

One of the most vulnerable countries, during the global economic crisis from 2008 until the present, is Greece which has had to deal with many interrelated difficulties including economic, political and societal issues arising as a direct consequence of the country’s inability to repay its debts and the state’s imposition of austerity measures.1 As a full member state of the European Union, Greece is required to follow specific and rigorous economic, political, societal, environmental and energy policies and agreements. In addition, as a Mediterranean ‘peninsular country’ possessing an ‘archipelago of about 2000 islands’ it is particularly susceptible to climate change-related threats such as sea level rise, ocean and sea salinity, and melting ice and snow.2 Prior to the onset of the Greek debt crisis, man-made environmental issues had already appeared. Additionally, throughout this period of economic instability the anthropogenic impact on the environment has become extremely hazardous and is not subject to any control. Thus, there is a nine-year period of time starting in August 2007 in which dozens of citizens were killed, incalculable damage was done to property, flora and 1

                                                         th

‘‘Greece Profile,’’ BBC, accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe17373216. 2 th ‘‘The World Factbook: Greece,’’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), accessed 12 October 2016, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gr.html.

32 fauna, and forests across the country, even on the islands, were decimated by wildfires.3 The global economic crisis still endures as a major threat to Greece, but it is not only an economic issue; it is also directly linked to environmental problems and cases.

Wildfires and Air Pollution

Greece experiences wildfires across the length and breadth of the country during the hot season each year. However, the conflagration in August 2007 was not only a national disaster, but was also the worst wildfire activity that any European country has faced during the last decade.4 It has been counted as being amongst the ten most devastating wildfires of the 21st century on a global scale.5 The extensive range of blazes characterised it as a particularly critical wildfire incident. The country confronted more than 120 fires in August alone and the fires burned a total of 268.834 hectares of forest and farmland, where ‘11.753 hectares were on NATURA 2000 sites’.6 Furthermore, the blazes had an enormous impact on the atmospheric pollution and killed 86 people.7 In that period of time, the country requested assistance on four different occasions via the Community Civil Protection Mechanism of the EU, and ‘declared a state of emergency’ for three months.8 In addition, the wildfires of August 2007 were extremely crucial as elections for Greek parliament occurred on 16th September 2007, only a few days after the end of this unique environmental catastrophe. The sitting government, headed by Prime Minister (PM) Konstantinos Karamanlis, was re-elected despite the fact that they had not demonstrated any competence in dealing with the issue.9 Following the blaze activity of August 2007, Greece has had to confront the brutality of such a catastrophic occurrence on an annual basis. Unfortunately, there has been an open conflagration threat every year since 2007, not only due to the country’s climate but also because of the state’s inefficiency and inability to take measures to solve the problem. There were new wildfires in August 2009 across the country, which 3

                                                         th

‘‘Greece Profile,’’ BBC, accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe17373216. 4 th ‘‘Envisat,’’ European Space Agency (ESA), accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Envisat/Greece_suffers_more_fires_in_2007_t han_in_last_decade_satellites_reveal. 5 th ‘‘Top 10 Devastating Wildfires’’, Time.com, accessed 12 October 2016, http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2076476_2076484_2076504,00.html 6 ‘‘Greece forest fires-Summer 2007,’’ European Commission Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection, th accessed 12 October 2016, http://ec.europa.eu/echo/civil_protection/civil/forestfires_el_2007.htm. 7 th ‘‘Top 10 Devastating Wildfires’’, Time.com, accessed 12 October 2016, http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2076476_2076484_2076504,00.html 8 Ibid. 9 th th ‘‘Press Office,’’ Hellenic Parliament, 17 September 2007, accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.parliament.gr/Enimerosi/Grafeio-Typou/Deltia-Typou/?press=ae24e9aa-aa5d-47c8-858cbd7f928911f2.

33 had dramatic consequences for 10,000 people who were forced to abandon their homes, as well as for the country’s remaining forests and farmlands and the resultant atmospheric pollution.10 These factors and other non-environmental problems induced the PM Karamanlis to announce general elections two months after the new environmental catastrophe on 4th October 2009.11 Greece requested economic assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission and the European Central Bank (E.C.B) on 22nd April 2010.12 After receiving economic support from the troika, the government had to sign the first memorandum as part of this economic deal, with even tougher austerity measures and agreements.13 As a result of these strict economic policies and tax increases, wages and pensions were attenuated by 3.4% during the third quarter of 2010.14 Heating, oil and gas prices rates almost doubled in 2010 in relation to those of 2009 and electricity price rates began to steadily increase simultaneously.15 An immediate consequence of this was that the major cities of Greece experienced an excessive gathering of air pollution, as smog increased in stages due to the uncontrolled usage of chimneys and stoves from the winter period of 2011 until the present.16 In addition, the government announced the equating of heating and diesel oil prices rates in 2011 in order to eliminate problems with oil smuggling, which led to a further increase in the prices of domestic fuel oil and even greater usage of pellet fuel and firewood for heating.17 In 2012 and 2013, air pollution and smog incidents reached new heights, as almost 3 million citizens had insufficient heating in their houses and therefore methods of heating were used which were catastrophic for the environment; 10

                                                         th

‘‘Greece Profile,’’ BBC, accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe17373216.; ‘‘Στάχτη πάνω απο 310.000 στρέµµατα δάσους,’’ ‘‘Ash more than 310.000 hectares of th forest’’ (In English translated by the author), Enet.gr, accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.article&id=75385 11 th th ‘‘Press Office,’’ Hellenic Parliament, 17 September 2007, accessed 10 October 2016, http://www.parliament.gr/Enimerosi/Grafeio-Typou/Deltia-Typou/?press=ae24e9aa-aa5d-47c8-858cbd7f928911f2. 12 ‘‘Προσφυγή της Ελλάδας στο µηχανισµό στήριξης ανακοίνωσε ο πρωθυπουργός,’’ ‘‘Greek recourse to the supporting mechanism was announced by the Prime Minister’’ (In English translated by the th author), In.gr, accessed 12 October 2016, http://news.in.gr/greece/article/?aid=1129265. 13 th ‘‘Greece Profile,’’ BBC, accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe17373216. 14 ‘‘ΕΛΣΤΑΤ: Σταθερή µείωση µισθών απο το 2010,’’ ‘‘EL.STAT.: Permanent wages decrease since th 2010’’ (In English translated by the author), Naftemporiki.gr, accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.naftemporiki.gr/finance/story/786981/elstat-statheri-meiosi-misthon-apo-to-2010 15 George Maniatis and Svetoslav Danchev, ‘‘Equating the Excise Duty Rates on Heating and Diesel th Oil, Foundation For Economics & Industrial Research (IOBE),’’ iobe.gr, accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.iobe.gr/docs/research/RES_04_10092013PRE_GR.pdf 16 th ‘‘Crisis-hit Greeks chop up forests to stay warm,’’ BBC, 12 October 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21202432 17 Ibid.

34 forests were chopped down and woods were burned.18 As a consequence many people had to be admitted into hospitals because of the tremendous increase of pendulous particles in the urban atmosphere.19

Water and Sea Pollution During the economic crisis there have been considerable issues relating to water and sea pollution. In the case of Skouries, daily deforestation and soil and groundwater contamination has occurred. There are serious accusations by the inhabitants of Skouries that the gold mining activities of multinational company ‘Eldorado Gold’ in 2012 polluted the water with heavy metals and destroyed the primeval forest and the natural beauty of the area.20 This water pollution in Skouries has been officially recognised by the state, which declared that ‘the water is not potable’ any more ‘due to a toxic level of arsenic’ resulting from the drilling of gold in close proximity to the area’s water resources.21 Protests have taken place countrywide with the aim of ending the water pollution and destruction of the forest in Skouries.22 However, the state has responded with violent acts against these protests, in an effort to protect the company’s investments in the area.23 This tension over water pollution in Greece has resulted in daily conflicts between the state, successive governments, citizens and the companies involved. Indeed, in some cases such as, for example the case of Skouries, it has resulted in violent conflicts between the two sides. Moreover, the coalition government of PM Samaras announced that Greece, as a member state of the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical 18

                                                        

‘‘‘ΕΛΣΤΑΤ: Χωρίς επαρκή θέρµανση περίπου 3 εκατ. πολίτες το 2012,’’ ‘‘EL.STAT: Without sufficient heating almost 3 million citizens in 2012’’ (In English translated by the author), th Kathimerini.gr, accessed 12 October 2016, mhttp://www.kathimerini.gr/759931/article/epikairothta/ellada/elstat-xwris-eparkh-8ermansh-peripoy-3th ekat-polites-to-2012.; ‘Crisis-hit Greeks chop up forests to stay warm,’’ BBC, 12 October 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21202432 19 ‘‘Η αιθαλοµίχλη στέλνει τους Έλληνες στις πνευµονολογικές κλινικές,’’ ‘‘The smog hospitalizes th Greeks to pneumonological clinics’’ (In English translated by the author), news247.gr, accessed 12 October 2016, http://news247.gr/eidiseis/koinonia/ygeia/h_aithalomixlh_stelnei_toys_ellhnes_stis_pneymonologikes _klinikes.2456183.html 20 ‘‘Skouries Calling Out To Greece And All The World: #saveskouries,’’ Occupylondon.org.uk, th accessed 12 October 2016, http://occupylondon.org.uk/skouries-calling-out-to-greece-and-all-theworld-saveskouries/ 21 Ibid. 22 ‘‘Ο κόσµος διαδηλώνει για τις Σκουριές,’’ ‘‘The citizens protest for Skouries’’ (In English translated th by the author), Koutipandoras.gr, accessed 11 October 2016, http://www.koutipandoras.gr/article/46708/o-kosmos-diadilonei-gia-tis-skoyries. 23 ‘‘Skouries Calling Out To Greece And All The World: #saveskouries,’’ Occupylondon.org.uk, th accessed 12 October 2016, http://occupylondon.org.uk/skouries-calling-out-to-greece-and-all-theworld-saveskouries/

35 Weapons (OPCW), would agree to be part of the international cooperation mission for destroying the chemical weapons of the Syria Arad Republic in the international waters of Crete by a ‘complex maritime operation’.24 It is significant to note that many other countries, such as the USA, Russia, Britain and France refused to destroy these chemical weapons in their borders.25 Thus, it is noticeable that these countries are also chemical weapons producers. The Albanian government initially agreed to undertake the destruction of 1,400 tons of Syria’s chemical weapons using an experimental maritime hydrolysis operation, but the reaction of its citizens forced the state to refute the agreement and the OPCW and UN had to change the location of the operation immediately. Countries such as Greece, Italy, Malta and Libya have agreed to this destruction of chemical weapons in their international waters and an on board destruction operation has started on the U.S vessel Cape Ray, which lies off the island of Crete. The citizens of Greece reacted by protesting on a large scale against this dangerous and experimental operation which threatened the domestic environment, ecology and human population of the Mediterranean Sea, as a dangerous chemical accident was not out of the question. However, the citizens’ reactions did not seem to be enough in order to prevent the destructive operation of chemical weapons, as the Greek government claimed that the operation was secure and there were no issues of concern. Thus, Greece unambiguously had stable and permanent climate change problems before the economic crisis. However, at the economic crisis’ zenith, the Greek state, in the name of economic development, produced an environmental crisis, which seems to be catastrophic not only for the country’s environment, climate and ecology, but also for its economic resources and development. Hence, it is evident that the Greek state and the government, in full co-operation with the European Commission and IMF, sacrificed environmental stability for quick and easy money; an act of desperation due to the threat of economic collapse. This environmental victimisation is rationalised according to a paradigm of economic development, but it is unsupported by ecological and environmental terms and conditions, unavoidably initiating new and unknown environmental, energy, economic and human insecurities for Greece and the destabilisation of the already vulnerable and unstable relation between the state and the citizens. Finally, as the economic crisis deepens in 24

                                                        

Ahmet Uzumcu, ‘‘Announcement to media on last consignment of chemicals leaving Syria,’’ th Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), opcw.org, accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.opcw.org/news/article/announcement-to-media-on-last-consignment-of-chemicalsleaving-syria/ 25 ‘‘Το πείραµα της Μεσογείου,’’ ‘‘The experiment of Mediterranean Sea’’ (In English translated by the th author), thecricket.gr, accessed 12 October 2016, http://thecricket.gr/2014/06/peirama_tis_mesogeiou/.

36 Greece, the dishonest intentions of this country and troika to protect and securitise the environment from the threat of climate change are revealed. Greece has ultimately become exposed to environmental and energy insecurities due to economic underdevelopment and crises.

Climate Change and Security Climate change has been linked in multiple ways to security studies. It has been highlighted as a new threat to national and international security capable of causing war and conflict, as an environmental security issue after the widening of the traditional security agenda, and most recently as a human security threat or even as an energy security field of action.26 Strictly speaking, climate change has not been defined as a threat and has not been linked or connected to the security agenda of Greece, not even to the energy security sector. No matter if climate change has been linked as a threat to various security concepts by international institutions such as the EU and the UN, in which Greece is an official and full member state, the orthodox and traditional ways of approaching security do not allow the Greek state, the citizens, and especially most academics to connect environmental degradation to any sector of security. Also, they do not accept that a climate change discussion should be handled via the analysis of security studies. However, almost all of the previously mentioned climate change issues which occur in Greece have a reasonable connection with many security sectors and concepts. As a key example, the conflagration of August 2007 should automatically be linked with environmental security, as the destruction of the ecology and environment was significant and should be considered as a fatal collapse and threat to human security in Greece due to the loss of human life. The connection between the wildfires of August 2007 and security has been made without recognising it, under the traditional and orthodox rationale of national security. Many years after the blazes of August 2007, the former Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection of former PM Karamanlis’ government has claimed that Turkey was probably responsible for lighting the fires in Greek forests by virtue of the oil pipeline building agreement between Greece, Russia and Bulgaria in 2006.27 This happened because it bypassed geopolitically and geographically the oil pipeline building agreement between Turkey and the USA.28 At this point, it is important to mention that the former PM of Turkey, 26

                                                        

John Vogler, ‘’Climate Change World Politics,’’ (London: Palgrave 2016), 21-24 27 th ‘‘Greece Profile,’’ BBC, accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe17373216. 28 ‘‘Πολύδωρας: ‘Ήθελαν να κάψουν τον Καραµανλή το 2007,’’‘‘Polydoras: They wanted to set th Karamanlis on fire in 2007’’ (In English translated by the author),news247.gr, accessed 12 October

 

37 Ahmet Mesut Yılmaz, has accidentally disclosed Turkey’s fire setting operations in Greek forests a decade later by the Turkic National Intelligence Organization (MIT) as retaliatory strikes for the concealment of members of Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) in Greece by the Greek state a few years earlier.29 The former Turkish PM’s declaration has led many members of former PM Karamanlis’ government to claim, without concrete evidence, that Turkey was definitely responsible for the conflagration of August 2007 and 2009 as well.30 This important example focuses on the Greek state’s traditional and orthodox security perspective on the wildfires issues. This did not lead to a dialogue between issues of climate change and security, and did not move beyond the stereotypical, military, state-centric and national rhetoric of security usually used when talking about this annual threat to Greece. Instead, it has created even more insecurities and concerns, as a violent conflict resolution between two traditional enemy countries over this issue seems more than possible. Finally, it has distracted attention away from the climate change and security discussion as it focuses dangerously on the ‘traditional notions of security dilemma’ aiming to find ways of protecting the ecological system, the environment and human beings from the threat of climate change and climate change-related issues.31 In contrast, in many other climate change-related cases, such as the case of Skouries and the most recent case of Syria’s chemical weapons destruction, the Greek state has reacted violently against its own citizens. This has happened because they have tried to protect or securitise the local environment and ecology which have been polluted or destroyed by international institutions and multinational corporations, with the support of the state, due to the desire for economic development and instant profits. In all of these issues, Greek inhabitants have exposed a linkage between climate change and security which seems completely different form the academic linkage. They have noticed the necessity of protecting the environment and human beings from further man-made environmental (air, soil, water, seawater) pollutions and environmental (forests, agricultural land, seashores) destructions which threaten not only the environment but their own existence. Climate

                                                                                                                                                                             2016,http://news247.gr/eidiseis/poludwras_hthelan_na_kapsoyn_ton_karamanlh_to_2007.1557862.ht ml. 29 ‘‘’Φωτιές’’ στην Ελλάδα από οµολογία Γιλµάζ για Τούρκους εµπρηστές’, ‘‘Fires’ in Greece by the Yilmaz’s acceptance for Turkish arsonists’, (In English translated by the author), new247.gr, accessed th 12 October 2016, http://news247.gr/eidiseis/ypogeios_polemos_pisw_apo_thn_omologia_gia_tis_fwties.1552704.html 30 ‘‘Πολύδωρας: ‘Ήθελαν να κάψουν τον Καραµανλή το 2007,’’ ‘‘Polydoras: They wanted to set th Karamanlis on fire in 2007’’ (In English translated by the author), news247.gr, accessed 12 October 2016, http://news247.gr/eidiseis/poludwras_hthelan_na_kapsoyn_ton_karamanlh_to_2007.1557862.html. 31 Simon Dalby, ‘‘Contesting an Essential Concept: Reading the Dilemmas in Contemporary Security Discourse’’. In Critical Security Studies edited by K. Krause and M. C. Williams, (London: Routledge 1997), 3-31.

 

38 change is a security issue in Greece with many different ramifications. In general, climate change, particularly in the Greek context, could easily be defined by the wider and broader explanation of security. However, there has not even been an open discussion on these new environmental matters during the period of economic crisis, as the state wilfully obscures these issues by defending and supporting the reasons for protecting the economy rather than anything else. Finally, these security issues are consequences of the climate change effects in Greece, although they have not been highlighted by the state, the citizens or even the mainstream media as security matters. Q-Methodology Climate change issues in Greece seem to have demonstrable links and connections with security. Traditional ways of ensuring security have prevented politicians, citizens, NGOs, energy industry leaders (stakeholders) and academics from directly connecting climate change issues with any of the broad and wide sectors of security. These stakeholders, who have completely different perceptions and points of views on climate change issues, may have to offer distinctive connections and linkages between climate change issues and security sectors. This seems able to explain the Greek problematique over climate change and security. The establishment of different viewpoints of Greek stakeholders, including the public, seems an unequivocal necessity in the discussion of climate change and security. This is able to provide highly significant discourses and information based on stakeholders’ views which are missing or excluded from the academic discussion or literature of climate change and security. Thus, the main question which needs to be answered is what are the perceptions and opinions of stakeholders on climate change as a security issue in the case of Greece? The new methodological route is suggested to be Q-methodology, aiming to include the perceptions of the stakeholders in security studies and unify the academic and non-academic community against climate change. This paper suggests the application of Q-methodology, ‘commonly known as the Qsorting technique’ in security studies as an alternative approach.32 Q-methodology is simply a research method which extracts ‘human subjectivity’, referring to ‘a person’s communication of his or her point of view’.33 It is a ‘self-reference subjectivity’ as it presents ‘individual remarks’ and ‘pure behaviour’ when a person expresses his or her opinions,

                                                                                                                                                                             32

Bruce McKeown and Dan Thomas, ‘‘Q Methodology’’, (London: Sage Publications), 7 Ibid., 9 & Ruth M. Cross, ‘’Exploring attitudes: the case of Q methodology’’, Health Education Research 20, (2005): 208, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/her/cyg121

33

39 attitudes or perceptions, such as, ‘In my point of view….’ or ‘I consider that….’ etc.34 William Stephenson invented Q methodology in 1935 and aimed for it to be used in the ‘orderly examination of human subjectivity’.35 However, even nowadays ‘Q’ holds the potential for a ‘new and innovative strategy for conducting behavioural research’ and it has been applied in the fields of political communication, behavioural and health science and many other subfields in the social sciences.36 This research methodology permits a ‘more intelligible and rigorous’ way of analysing human subjectivity, in any of its forms, allowing for structure and statistical interpretation.37 Q-methodology has been used for bridging the gap between quantitative and qualitative applications in social discourses as it creates patterns of perspectives of certain groups of individuals and it utilises factor analysis as a statistical technique for allocating the range of these groups’ discourses.38 Discourse in the lexicon of Q methodology simply means a ‘mode of communication’ or ‘a way of seeing and talking about something’ and this methodology has a remarkable way of collating and correlating perspectives in order to extract hidden discourses from the data, which have been held by these groups of people.39 Hence, ‘conversations, commentary and discourses of everyday life’ on a specific topic provide the basis for this particular research, which have been mentioned as the ‘flow of communicability’, and are known as the ‘concourse’ in the Q-sorting technique.40 There are many reasons for choosing the Q-methodology, both for this particular study and for other pieces of research.41 Q requires only a small number of participants which is applicable to this research, because it is interested in Greek stakeholders’ perceptions and a large number of stakeholders will not be accessible.42 Moreover, it is a sophisticated methodology and it has been used in many different fields for analysing subjectivity with the aim of efficiently informing policy-makers and scientists about 34

                                                        

McKeown and Thomas, 1988, 12 & Steve R. Brown, ‘‘Political Subjectivity: Applications of Q Methodology in Political Science,’’ (New Haven London: Yale University Press 1980), 46. 35 Ibid., 5. 36 McKeown and Thomas, 1988, 11 & Brown 1980 & Steve. R. Brown, ‘‘The History and Principles of th Q Methodology in Psychology and the Social Sciences’’, accessed 12 October 2016, http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/mark.wattier/History%20of%20Q%20Method%20by %20Brown.htm 37 McKeown and Thomas, 1988, 12, & John Barry and John Proops, ‘‘Citizenship, Sustainability and Environmental Research: Q Methodology and Local Exchange Trading Systems,’’ (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited 2000), 23. 38 Ibid., 20. 39 Roger Pierce, ‘‘Research Methods in Politics: A Practical Guide,’’ (London: SAGE Publications Ltd 2008), 280 & Barry and Proops, 2000, 21. 40 th Steve R. Brown, ‘‘A Primer on Q Methodology, Operant Subjectivity,’’ accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.fairnessdiscourse.com/pdf/Brown%20-%20A%20Primer%20on%20Q%20Methodology.pdf 41 McKeown and Thomas, 1988, 11. 42 Ibid., 11.

40 perceptions, opinions and attitudes on matters such as climate change and security.43 Finally, the Q-sorting technique has some advantages over qualitative methods, because it uses factor analysis to establish the perspectives and also verbally analyse the results, which seems appropriate for this research as it will establish unique patterns in the perspectives of climate change and security in Greece and broaden the security discussion.44

Conclusion This paper highlights some very important issues related to climate change and security in the case of Greece during the economic crisis and has suggested a useful methodological approach to investigate stakeholders’ perceptions on this topic. Additionally, it presents Qmethodology as an alternative way of analysing complex security connected concepts and cases, such as climate change which need immediate solutions and policies, with different opinions and viewpoints from both academics and stakeholders. Furthermore, this paper has mentioned the necessity for stakeholders in influential positions to find solutions for climate change issues related to security in countries like Greece, in order to alter environmental and security outcomes. Finally, it emphasises the need to bridge the gap between the perceptions of academics and stakeholders on climate change as a security issue, aiming to unite all the important actors against a common threat.

43

                                                        

Brown, 1997. 44 Stentor Danielson et al., ‘‘Using Q Method for the Formative Evaluation of Public Participation Processes,’’ Society and Natural Resources 23, (2010): 92-96, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08941920802438626

41 References

"Στάχτη Πάνω Από 310.000 Στρέµµατα Δάσους” , “Ash More Than 310.000 Hectares Of Forest". [In English Translated By The Author]. 2009. Eleytherotypia Newspaper. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.article&id=75385. Barry, John and John L. R Proops. 2000. Citizenship, Sustainability And Environmental Research. 1st ed. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Brown, Steven R. 1980. Political Subjectivity. 1st ed. New Haven: Yale University Press. Brown, Steven R. 1993, “A Primer on Q Methodology, Operant Subjectivity", 16(3/4), pp. 91138, Accessed 12th October 2016, http://www.fairnessdiscourse.com/pdf/Brown%20%20A%20Primer%20on%20Q%20Methodology.pdf Brown, Steven R. The History and Principles of Q Methodology in Psychology and the Social Sciences. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/mark.wattier/History%20of%20Q%20 Method%20by%20Brown.htm "Crisis-Hit Greeks Chop Up Forests To Stay Warm". 2013. BBC News. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21202432 Cross, M. Ruth,. 2004. “Exploring attitudes: the case for Q methodology”. Health Education Research, 20(2), 206-213. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/her/cyg121 Dalby, Simon. 1997. "Contesting An Essential Concept: Reading The Dilemmas In Contemporary Security Discourse’". In Critical Security Studies, 1st ed. London: Routledge. Danielson, Stentor, Thomas Webler, and Seth P. Tuler. 2009. “Using Q Method for the Formative Evaluation of Public Participation Processes”. Society & Natural Resources, 23(1), 92-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08941920802438626 “ΕΛΣΤΑΤ: Σταθερή µείωση µισθών από το 2010”, “EL.STAT.: Permanent wages decrease since 2010”. [In English Translated By The Author]. (2014). Naftemporiki.gr. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://www.naftemporiki.gr/finance/story/786981/elstat-statherimeiosi-misthon-apo-to-2010 "ΕΛΣΤΑΤ: Χωρίς Επαρκή Θέρµανση Περίπου 3 Εκατ. Πολίτες Το 2012”, “EL.STAT: Without Sufficient Heating Almost 3 Million Citizens In 2012". [In English Translated By The Author]. 2014. Kathimerini Newspaper. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://www.kathimerini.gr/759931/article/epikairothta/ellada/elstat-xwris-eparkh8ermansh-peripoy-3-ekat-polites-to-2012. “Φωτιές στην Ελλάδα από οµολογία Γιλµάζ για Τούρκους εµπρηστές”, ‘Fires’ in Greece by the Yilmaz’s acceptance for Turkish arsonists”. [In English Translated By The Author]. (2011). News247.gr. Accessed 12th October 2016,

42 http://news247.gr/eidiseis/ypogeios_polemos_pisw_apo_thn_omologia_gia_tis_fwties. 1552704.html "‘Greece Forest Fires-Summer 2007". 2011. European Commission Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://ec.europa.eu/echo/civil_protection/civil/forestfires_el_2007.htm. "Greece Profile - Timeline - BBC News". 2014. BBC News. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17373216. "Προσφυγή Της Ελλάδας Στο Μηχανισµό Στήριξης Ανακοίνωσε Ο Πρωθυπουργός”, “Greek Recourse To The Supporting Mechanism Was Announced By The Prime Minister". [In English Translated By The Author]. 2010. In.gr. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://news.in.gr/greece/article/?aid=1129265. "Greece Suffers More Fires In 2007 Than In Last Decade, Satellites Reveal". 2007. European Space Agency. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Envisat/Greece_suffers_more_f ires_in_2007_than_in_last_decade_satellites_reveal. Hellenic Parliament,. 2007. “Press Office”. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://www.parliament.gr/Enimerosi/Grafeio-Typou/Deltia-Typou/?press=ae24e9aaaa5d-47c8-858c-bd7f928911f2. Maniatis, George. & Danchev, Svetoslav. (2013). “Equating the Excise Duty Rates on Heating and Diesel Oil”. Foundation For Economics & Industrial Research (IOBE). Accessed 12th October 2016, http://www.iobe.gr/docs/research/RES_04_10092013PRE_GR.pdf McKeown, B. & Thomas, D. (1988). Q methodology (1st ed.). Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications. Pierce, Roger (2008). Research methods in politics (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. "Πολύδωρας: Ήθελαν Να Κάψουν Τον Καραµανλή Το 2007, ‘Polydoras” “They Wanted To Set Karamanlis On Fire In 2007". [In English Translated By The Author]. 2011. News247.Gr. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://news247.gr/eidiseis/poludwras_hthelan_na_kapsoyn_ton_karamanlh_to_2007.1 557862.html. "Skouries". 2014. Eldoradogold.Com. Accessed 10th October 2016 http://www.eldoradogold.com/assets/europe/projects/skouries/. "Ο Κόσµος Διαδηλώνει Για Τις Σκουριές”, “The Citizens Protest For Skouries’". [In English Translated By The Author]. 2013. To Kouti Tis Pandoras. Accessed 12th October 2016, http://www.koutipandoras.gr/article/46708/o-kosmos-diadilonei-gia-tis-skoyries.

43 "Το Πείραµα Της Μεσογείου”, “The Experiment Of Mediterranean Sea". [In English Translated By The Author]. 2014. The Cricket. Accessed 12 October 2016, http://thecricket.gr/2014/06/peirama_tis_mesogeiou/. “Η αιθαλοµίχλη στέλνει τους Έλληνες στις πνευµονολογικές κλινικές”, “The smog hospitalizes Greeks to pneumonological clinics”. [In English Translated By The Author]. (2013). News247.gr. Accessed 12 October 2016, http://news247.gr/eidiseis/koinonia/ygeia/h_aithalomixlh_stelnei_toys_ellhnes_stis_pn eymonologikes_klinikes.2456183.html "The World Factbook, Greece". 2013. Central Intelligence Agency, Cia.Gov. Accessed 12 October 2016, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gr.html. “Skouries Calling Out To Greece And All The World: #saveskouries”. (2013). Occupylondon.org.uk. Accessed 11 October 2016, http://occupylondon.org.uk/skouries-calling-out-to-greece-and-all-the-worldsaveskouries/ “Top 10 Devastating Wildfires” (2011). TIME.com. Accessed 12 October 2016 http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2076476_2076484_207 6504,00.html Uzumcu, A., “Announcement to media on last consignment of chemicals leaving”. (2014). Syria, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Accessed 12 October 2016, http://www.opcw.org/news/article/announcement-to-media-on-lastconsignment-of-chemicals-leaving-syria/ Vogler John, (2016), Climate Change World Politics, London, UK: Palgrave

44 ‘The value of an idea has nothing whatsoever to do with the sincerity of the man who expresses it’: Politics, Art and Wilde’s “Self-Advertisement” Julia Coole (PhD in English Literature, Keele University) Keywords: Oscar Wilde, Politics, Individualism, Socialism, Capitalism

I Oscar Wilde’s political affiliation incites much critical discussion. A debate persists amongst critics in determining on which side of the spectrum Wilde’s sympathies rest. Alex Murray posits him as a ‘left-wing artist dedicated to social and political rejuvenation’,1 but Josephine Guy and Ian Small cannot liberate his art from the binds of the literary marketplace, and apportion him a necessary stake in capitalist culture.2 Such conflicts raise questions of artistic integrity, as well as of the moral and political ‘value’ of Wilde’s literature. Philip E. Smith and Michael S. Helfand argue that Wilde’s oeuvre is a synthesis of the socialist ideas that form the bedrock of Wilde’s political ideology,3 whereas Regenia Gagnier sees Wilde’s thorough engagement with popular culture as a means to bite the hand that feeds and to subvert the capitalist system from the inside out.4 These tensions are heightened by the reluctance of some to separate Wilde’s works from his private life. As Guy and Small suggest: ‘[O]n the whole modern academic critics have been more comfortable with theorizing about Wilde’s iconoclasm, and his status as a figure marginal to British culture, than they have been with discussing the particularities of his writing career’.5 This essay considers existing ideas of Wilde’s political identity and analyses his public persona in tandem with his literary works. I evaluate whether Wilde’s art represents a conscious effort to initiate the aforementioned ‘social and political rejuvenation’, whilst discussing his reputation as an ‘outstanding personality on the English cultural scene’.6 I consider two texts - The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) and ‘The Soul of Man under Socialism’ (1891) and evaluate Wilde’s socialist ideology to draw comparisons with the ideas posited in Marx 1

                                                        

Alex Murray, “Acquiescing into a Facile Orthodoxy? Wilde, Pater and the Politics of Cultural Parallax,” Irish Studies Review 13:3 (2005): 325-332, 63. 2 Josephine Guy and Ian Small, Oscar Wilde’s Profession (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). 3 Philip E. Smith and Michael S. Helfand, Oscar Wilde’s Notebooks: A Portrait of Mind in the Making (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989). 4 Regenia Gagnier, Idylls of the Marketplace (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1986). 5 Guy and Small, Oscar Wilde’s Profession, 85. 6 See Norbert Kohl, Oscar Wilde: The Works of a Conformist Rebel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 1.

45 and Engels’ The Communist Manifesto (1848). This then allows me to establish whether a synthesis of ideas exists between Wilde and his socialist peers.

II ‘Soul of Man’ advocates a libertarian socialist worldview, and provides a critique of charity. For Wilde, the temporary relief of charity is a gloss that masks deep economic and social ruptures; Wilde strives to abolish private property. In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels champion this same act. They argue that, within the contemporaneous capitalist system, private property entails political power:

The proletarians cannot become masters of the productive forces of society, except by abolishing their own previous mode of appropriation and thereby every other previous mode of appropriation […] to destroy all previous securities for, and insurances of, private property.7

Wilde’s own position on private property appears to be in dialogue with Marx and Engels: ‘By converting private property into public wealth, and substituting cooperation for competition, we will restore society to its proper condition of a thoroughly healthy organism.’8 All parties are in favour of restructuring the current system. Marx and Engels envision a radical destruction of ‘all previous securities’, but Wilde promotes a (more) gradual evolution. He talks of substitution and conversion, suggesting a willingness to redevelop existing resources in the current political framework and to provide a smoother transition from one system to the next. Wilde’s use of ‘organism’ frames his argument in an organic metaphor, presents a contrast to Marx and Engels’ mechanistic, military use of ‘productive forces’. Wilde envisions a society which works in harmony to effect a positive, measured change in the social system; Marx and Engels prepare themselves for battle. This Wilde, engaged in shrewd political reasoning, contrasts with the image of the ‘selfadvertising’ dandy postulated by Wilde’s contemporaneous critics.9 However, as Gagnier suggests, this “self-advertisement” rather supplied Wilde with the means to propagate his socialist views. She states: ‘[L]ate-Victorian socialist propaganda and the management of 7

                                                        

Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto, ed. Bernard Marshall (London: Penguin, [1848] 2011), 230. 8 Oscar Wilde,“The Soul of Man under Socialism,” in The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde, ed. Richard Ellmann (London: W. H. Allen Ltd., [1891] 1968). 9 Ibid., 135.

46 advertising in the last decade of the century used similar techniques of dissemination’.10 Gagnier’s suggestion that Wilde is employing tactics identical to those used by industries of influence is important. If Wilde is employing capitalist tactics for socialist ends, then he is perhaps manipulating the existing economic framework of influence to frustrate that same power. Wilde’s attempts at subversion through dissemination may indicate a willingness to collude with contemporaneous socialists. One of these was William Morris. In his News from Nowhere (1891), Morris also holds a dialogue with Marx and Engels. Like Wilde, Morris critiques the present social order through literature. His protagonist, William Guest goes to bed in the nineteenth-century and awakes in the utopian world of 2003. Guest is briefed on the fundamental changes in this new, socialist world. One change is the abolition of private property. Guest discovers this difference during a trip to the shop for a new pipe, where he receives more than he bargains for:

‘Dear me!’ Said I, when I set my eyes on it [the pipe], ‘this is altogether too grand for me, or for anybody but the Emperor of the World. Besides, I shall lose it: I always lose my pipes.’ The child seemed rather dashed and said, ‘Don‘t you like it, neighbour?’ ‘Oh yes’, I said, ‘of course I like it.’ ‘Well, then, take it’ said she, ‘and don‘t trouble about losing it. What will it matter if you do? Somebody is sure to find it, and he will use it, and you can get another.’11

The abolition of private property has been effected. Morris removes the moderate agent to display how the world will be under a socialist system, rather than comment on how the system should be. Guest’s only concerns are the pipe’s aesthetic qualities. Lack of private property results in an alteration of priorities; without the need to possess goods - and to work to generate the necessary income - efforts are instead given to craft, resulting in the creation of exquisite works which are to be enjoyed by all but owned by none. The contrast between this socialist state and its capitalist counterpart is demonstrated by Guest’s initial reticence. To Guest, the pipe is ‘altogether too grand’ and demonstrates both the negative, restrictive ideology which belies the class-based structure to which he is accustomed, as 10

                                                        

Gagnier, Idylls of the Marketplace, 52. 11 William Morris, News from Nowhere and Other Stories, ed. Clive Wilmer (London: Penguin, [1890] 2004), 73-4.

 

47 well as the benefits of the new socialist system. The quality of products available in this new world is incomprehensible, leading Guest to conjure the fictional, ‘Emperor of the World’, as the only conceivable beneficiary. Objects no longer ‘belong’ to anyone and, for Guest, this is both an alien and attractive image. It is, also, an image no less radical than Wilde’s ‘outspoken’ ideology which, as we have seen, draws upon evolution more than Marx and Engels. If we position Wilde’s work on this socialist spectrum, we begin to view him, not as an outspoken artist who self-promotes through politics, but as a political developer whose views coincide with - rather than contradict - popular political doctrines. ‘Soul of Man’, then, appears to fall in step with contemporaneous political thought. However, the individuality of Wilde’s persona complicates this idea of political conformity. Laurence Davis comments on Wilde and Morris’ representations of utopia and declares that both writers ‘strove to imagine post-capitalist, non-coercive societies in which artistic creation would replace profit-driven economy as the fundamental aim of social life’.12 For Wilde, this objective is undertaken for the realisation of Individualism:

With the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbol for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.13

Wilde’s motivation is examined by Norbert Kohl who states that Wilde's oeuvre was ‘the attempt to reconcile the individual‘s desire for self-realisation with public pressure to conform to social convention’.14 Guy suggests, however, that this conformity could itself be a promotion of Individualism:

[Wilde’s] publicity-seeking and posing, his apparent attraction to an inquisitive lifestyle, lavish spending, and to the conspicuous consumption of the very class he satirized, could be reinterpreted as a prescient attempt to create himself as a

                                                                                                                                                                             12

Laurence Davis, Wilde’s Intention: The Artist in his Criticism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2009), 214. Wilde, “The Soul of Man,” 132. 14 Kohl, Conformist Rebel, 1. 13

48 media personality, under the guise of which he was better able to manipulate and subvert the emerging ‘society of spectacle.’15

Wilde’s conformity to social ideology can be seen as equivalent to Morris’ involvement with the Social Democratic Federation, or George Bernard Shaw’s association with the Fabian Society. Each demonstrates the practicability of socialist ideology: they are united through socialism, but maintain their Individualism. Consequently, Wilde’s ‘publicity-seeking and posing’, whilst apparently antithetical to his socialist professions, is perhaps not the ‘selfadvertisement’ of which he is frequently accused, but a public demonstration of the effectualness of socialism.

III To conclude, I will briefly turn to Dorian Gray to investigate how far Wilde’s bid for Individualism could be sustained in a capitalist-driven economy. This essay has argued three things. First, that Wilde’s “radicalism” was in fact more evolutionary and sophisticated than many critics credit him with and was actually in sync with many contemporary supporters of socialism. Second, that Wilde’s apparent radicalism, rather than providing a platform for self-advertisement and personal gain, was instead an attempt by Wilde to showcase the effectualness of socialism. Third, I have indicated that Wilde’s drive for socialism was underpinned by his most fundamental objective: the pursuit of Individualism. I want to end this essay with a discussion of Wilde’s representation of Individualism in his sole novel, Dorian Gray. The novel was published amidst claims of ‘immorality.16 Perhaps predictably, such negative press did not hinder circulation. Wilde, responding to one such critic on 25th June 1890 states: ‘The English public, as a mass, takes no interest in the work of art until it is told that the work in question is immoral’.17 Leaving aside the novel’s salacious content, reviewers, on the whole, remained ambivalent towards the novel. Gagnier investigates Dorian Gray’s mixed reception:

15

                                                        

See Josephine M. Guy, “Cultural Value versus Financial Capital: Defining Literary Value at the Fin de Siècle,” in Victorian Literature and Finance, ed. Francis O’Gorman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 173-191, 82. 16 W. H. Smith’s even had the offending edition of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine removed from their shelves. See Lawrence Danson, Wilde’s Intention: The Artist in his Criticism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997). 17 See Ellmann, Artist as Critic, 238.

49 With Dorian Gray, which seemed to smack too much of art for art‘s sake, the reviewers felt that Wilde violated the social function of art - that is to present the normative values of society, to present the middle class. In exclusively representing the part of society that he did -- idle aristocrats and romantic artists - Wilde offended an ethic of industry and productivity.18

The accusations levelled at Wilde concerning his failure to include evidence of ‘industry and productivity’, though understandable, are perhaps too severe. In truth the novel does depict honest work and productivity, just not at the hands of the protagonists. Such veiled industry can be seen in the opening paragraph of Dorian Gray:

The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses [...] From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-coloured blossoms of laburnum [...] The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way through the long un-mown grass, or circling with monotonous insistence round the dusty gilt horns of the straggling woodbine, seemed to make the stillness more oppressive. The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.19

The scene does hum a decadent chord. The ‘innumerable’ luxury goods which Wotton enjoys form a stark contrast to the universal luxury of News from Nowhere. However, despite this emphasis on stillness and tranquillity, the passage buzzes with activity. Wotton is surrounded by things. From the roses which were grown, pruned, delivered and arranged in the studio by numerous invisible hands, to the ‘Persian saddle bags’ and ‘innumerable cigarettes’ which necessitate still more trades and craftspeople, as well as the merchants involved in the sourcing and distributing of the items themselves. All of this invisible action occurs in the peripheries as Wotton languishes in the centre. The ‘sullen murmur’ of the bees, therefore, becomes a representation of this invisible yet ubiquitous workforce that ‘shoulders‘ on ‘with insistence’ for another’s gain. The image of the bee is significant. The individual workers are stripped of their humanity and represented as one, ‘monotonous’, hive of activity which functions to service the wants of a select few. Here individuality itself becomes a commodity to be enjoyed solely by the “Wottons” of the world. 18

                                                        

Gagnier, Idylls of the Marketplace, 65. 19 Wilde, Dorian Gray, 5.

50 The image of the worker as a “bee in a hive” is one that peppered the public conscious throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.20 The most prominent of these is Bernard Mandeville’s The Fable of the Bees (1714), which did much to propagate the negative image of “the worker” as a dehumanised mass that serviced the wants of the few. Mandeville’s work emphasised the idea that individualism itself was the root of much of society’s ills, proclaiming that pride and vanity were the true causes of Britain’s colonial and military expansion.21 There is not the space here to provide a full commentary on the significance of the bee through to the late nineteenth century, but it is important to understand the relationship between the image of the bee and ideas of Individualism at the time of the novel’s publication. As we have so far seen, Wilde’s ideas of Individualism seem at odds with those posited by Mandeville. Wilde’s insistence that the prosperity of creativity and health of the nation hinges on the realisation of Individualism is one that pervades much of his public and private discussions. Following Wilde’s death, George Bernard Shaw recollected a meeting he had had with Wilde and records Wilde saying that, ‘were men as intelligent as bees, all gifted individuals would be supported by their community’.22 Here, Wilde illustrates an inversion of Individualism which instead puts the individual at the fore of society, with the social and political structures working for, rather than against them. In this version, the ‘intelligence’ of the bees means that each individual works towards a central aim, whilst retaining their own sense of Individualism. In this light, the dismissal of Dorian Gray by the reviewers was perhaps premature. In his novel, Wilde deliberately misrepresents the ‘normative values’ of his contemporary society, precisely to highlight the marked inequality between the aristocratic individual and the proletarian mass. The contrast between Wotton and the proletariat here is striking: the individuality with which Wotton is described is matched only by the scale of dehumanization and exploitation which surrounds him. By presenting the proletariat as a homogenous mass humming in the background of the lives of the few well-off – and disproportionately represented – protagonists, the absence of the individuals forming that mass is set into stark relief. It can be argued that Wilde’s intention, through this misrepresentation, is an attempt to metaphorically “poke the hive”, and to force the members of the mass, dehumanised workforce to reclaim their individuality.

20

                                                        

See for example, The Representation of Working People in Britain and France, ed. Antoine Capet (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009). 21 Ibid., p.21. 22 George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde: Interviews and Recollections, ed. E. H. Mikhail (London: Macmillan), [1895] 1979.

51 References

Cohen, Philip K.. The Moral Vision of Oscar Wilde. New Jersey: Associate University Press, 1978. Danson, Lawrence. Wilde’s Intention: The Artist in His Criticism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. Davis, Laurence. “Morris, Wilde, and Le Guin on Art, Work, and Utopia.” Utopian Studies: Journal of the Society for Utopian Studies 20:2 (2009): 213-248. Engels, Friedrich and Karl Marx. The Communist Manifesto. Edited by Bernard Marshall. London: Penguin, [1848] 2011. Gagnier, Regenia. Idylls of the Marketplace. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1986. Guy, Josephine M.. “Cultural Value versus Financial Capital: Defining Literary Value at the Fin de Siècle.” In Victorian Literature and Finance, edited by Francis O’Gorman, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Guy, Josephine and Ian Small. Oscar Wilde’s Profession. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Kohl, Norbert. Oscar Wilde: The Works of a Conformist Rebel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Mandeville, Bernard. The Fable of the Bees and Other Writings. Edited by E. J. Hundert. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, [1712] 1997. Morris, William. News from Nowhere and Other Stories. Edited by Clive Wilmer. London: Penguin, [1890] 2004. Murray, Alex. “‘Acquiescing into a Facile Orthodoxy?’ Wilde, Pater and the Politics of Cultural Parallax.” Irish Studies Review 13:3 (2005): 325-332. Shaw, George Bernard, Oscar Wilde: Interviews and Recollections. Edited by E. H. Mikhail. London: Macmillan [1895] 1979. Smith, Philip E, and Michael S. Helfand. Oscar Wilde’s Notebooks: A Portrait of Mind in the Making. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. London: Penguin, 1890. --------------- “The Soul of Man under Socialism.” In The Artist as Critic, edited by Richard Ellmann. London: W. H. Allen Ltd., [1891] 1970.

52 Notes on Contributors

LAUREN ELSE is completing an MA in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Keele. Her research project is an expansion of her undergraduate dissertation. It looks at cultural representations of crime science within contemporary media and primarily gives focus to the study of, and effects of – the CSI Effect. This study further investigates cultural representations of forensic investigation and adds to the ‘CSI Effect’ debate. It finds that audiences whom are exposed to crime genre television hold exaggerated depictions of crime and crime science.

LLOYD MYATT is currently working through his LLM programme in International Law at Keele, with a view to completing a PhD in international humanitarian law. He will be focusing on a minute topic under this heading for his LLM dissertation.

WENDY SUFFIELD is in her final year of a PhD in medical ethics at Keele University, studying part time. She has presented papers on her research topic at Keele’s Postgraduate Research Symposium, and at the Postgraduate Bioethics Conference for the last two years at Manchester and Bristol. Her research examines a multicriterial, multi-level approach to the moral status of the human embryo, and how this affects ethical attitudes towards the 14-day rule, the period of development after which research embryos must legally be destroyed.

BEN ODAMS is currently completing a Humanities MRes at Keele. His current research is looking at the application of New Institutional Economics to the Early Modern period. Specifically, he focuses on the development, expansion and economic impact of monopolies through the period 1550 – 1650 and exploring whether they can be viewed as an example of Public Goods.

CHARIS GEROSIDERIS is a PhD researcher at Keele University and his project focuses on climate change as a security issue in the case of Greece. More precisely, he is trying to understand and establish Greek stakeholders’ perceptions on the climate change and security discussion in a vulnerable country during the global recession through the application of Q-methodology in security studies. His aim is to inform academics on stakeholders’ viewpoints and opinions on this topic and vice versa. His research interests include the linkages between environment and security (environmental security), energy and security (energy security) as well as the ways of involving methodologically excluded perspectives and approaches of climate change and security in security studies.

53 JULIA COOLE is a second year PhD student in English Literature and GTA at Keele University. Her research focuses on the works of Lord Byron and Washington Irving, and their representation of place and foreign people in fiction. She analyses the extent to which these representations nourished the emerging global consciousness following the Napoleonic Wars and British Imperial expansion. More broadly, she is interested in the interplay between history and fiction in the long nineteenth century, and transatlantic literary relationships. This article was developed from her Masters research.

A STUDENT­LED INTERDISCIPLINARY POSTGRADUATE JOURNAL FOR THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

We are currently calling for 300 word proposals from Keele postgraduate students working in any discipline across the Humanities and Social Sciences. We encourage submissions from students at any stage of their research and aim to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of study, here at Keele. We welcome articles that focus on, but are not limited to: > presentations of individual research > development of ideas and approaches > critical analysis/responses to theoretical/conceptual questions > reviews of published work > broader critical reflections on the postgraduate experience Please send abstracts along with a short biography to [email protected] by 5pm on Friday 17 February, 2017. If your abstract is successful, the deadline for full submissions for our Summer 2017 issue will be 5pm on Friday 14 April, 2017.  For more information about the journal and to view/download our back issues, please visit: https://www.keele.ac.uk/humssr/journals/underconstructionkeele/ [email protected] @UCKeele

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Under Construction @ Keele WINTER 2016 | VOLUME 3 ISSUE 1 www.keele.ac.uk/humssr/journals/underconstructionkeele/