30 April 2013
And here comes the first FLOOR dissertation! Luise Buschmann defends her doctoral thesis on »Das Menschenrecht auf soziale Grundsicherung aus Art. 9 und Art. 11 ICESCR« at the University of Bielefeld, Faculty of Law. All members of the FLOOR team are excited and congratulate Dr. Buschmann on her success.
(from left to right) Lutz Leisering, Luise Buschmann, Ulrike Davy
Photo: Michael Kolocek
7 March 2013
During her tenure as fellow of the STIαS (Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies), Ulrike Davy presents a paper asking »Do human rights promise social citizenship?«
»Since the early 1990s,« Ulrike Davy finds, »Human rights have become an important frame of reference for national social policies, in particular in the context of combating poverty.«
21 February 2013
Lutz Leisering (here at the workshop dinner) and Ben Davy present a paper by the three principal investigators of FLOOR on »The emergence of global social policy: From ›development‹ to ›social rights‹ « at the International Workshop »Global Social Law and Policy«, University of Bremen.
Davy/Davy/Leisering conclude from their research in the First Phase of FLOOR: »All in all we can confirm Deacon's diagnosis of the emergence of global social policy since the 1990s. Global politics has been ›socialized‹. We have tested Deacon's diagnosis by way of a new conceptual framework which reconstructs ›social policy‹ on three levels: constitution/human rights; social problem definitions; and institutionalization. The new framework served to specify, extend and qualify Deacon's diagnosis.«
13 February 2013
Ben Davy presents a paper on »Planning and Human Rights« at the 7th International Conference of the International Academic Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights (PLPR) in Portland, Oregon. He asserts the inspiring influence of human rights on planning discourses and the constant need to re/de-construct the polyrational meaning of human rights.
Photo: Thomas Hartmann
27—28 June 2012
The ZiF cooperation group reunited for the discussion of the contributions to the themed issue »Exploring Global Social Citizenship: Human Rights Perspectives«. Sandra Liebenberg (University of Stellenbosch), Virginia Mantouvalou (University College London), Martin Powell (University of Birmingham) and August E. Røsnes (Norwegian University of Life Sciences) joined as commentators.
(from left to right, front to back) Benjamin Davy, Sony Pellissery, Ulrike Davy, Hartley Dean, Lutz Leisering, Armando Barrientos, August E. Røsnes, Martin Powell, Virginia Mantouvalo, Sandra Liebenberg, Harvey M. Jacobs
Ulrike Davy (University of Bielefeld) presented her paper »Citizenship reframed in human rights terms. Social citizenship going global«. Commentator: Sandra Liebenberg (University of Stellenbosch).
Hartley Dean (London School of Economics) presented his paper »The translation of needs into rights and the negotiability of social citizenship«. Commentator: Virginia Mantouvalou (University College London).
Lutz Leisering (University of Bielefeld) and Armando Barrientos (University of Manchester) presented their paper »Social assistance in developing countries: Citizenship in the margins?« Commentator: Martin Powell (University of Birmingham).
Benjamin Davy (TU Dortmund University) and Sony Pellissery (Institute for Rural Management, Anand) presented their paper »The citizenship promise (un)fulfilled: The right to housing in informal settings«. Commentator: August E. Røsnes (Norwegian University of Life Sciences)
Harvey M. Jacobs (University of Wisconsin-Madison) presented his paper »Private property and human rights: A mis-match in the 21st century?«. Commentator: August E. Røsnes (Norwegian University of Life Sciences).
30 April 2012
Ashgate publishes the first FLOOR book: Land Policy by Benjamin Davy. The book examines the politics of belonging, the versatile relationship between private and common property, and the human right to minimal property.
»Good land policy provides a diversity of land uses with plural property relations. No single kind of property rules fits the purposes of all types of land uses. Neither is a detached single family house like a community garden, nor a highway like a retail chain. Each land use needs its own property fingerprint. The concept of Western ownership works with home ownership, but fails with community gardens, highways, or retail chains. Western ownership also fails in informal settings, particularly in the global South, although informality does not at all entail the absence of property relations. In everyday practice, private and common property relations often accommodate a wide variety of demands made by the owners and users of land. In a stark contrast, many theories of property and land policy fail to recognize plural property relations. The polyrational theory of planning and property reconciles practice and theory.« MORE
28 June 2011
Concluding three inspiring months of exchange at the ZiF, the cooperation group
met for a farewell dinner at Glück und Seligkeit, a Bielefeld restaurant converted
from a church.
9 June 2011
The fellows' meeting reflected on the polyrational meanings of the social, the global,
human rights, and citizenship.
19 May 2011
Discussing the human rights' approach to poverty reduction,
the ZiF groups meets Manfred Nowak.
(above, from left to right) Armando Barrientos, Lutz Leisering, Manfred Nowak,
Sony Pellissery, Hartley Dean, Ulrike Davy, Harvey Jacobs, Benjamin Davy
(below) Manfred Nowak (United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (2004–2010) and
professor of international law and human rights at the Law School of the University of Vienna)
5 May 2011
Social rights, particularly human rights, need careful interpretation.
Sometimes, however, the meaning of words evades our grasp ...
Ulrike Davy (University of Bielefeld) and Sony Pellissery (IRMA, Anand)
28 April 2011
The needs-based approach to welfare rights confirms the expectation
that needs and rights are social constructions.
Hartley Dean (London School of Economics)
21 April 2011
During the Third Meeting, the ZiF Cooperation Group discussed the impact of T.H. Marshall's
seminal essay »Citizenship and Social Class« on the emerging idea of global social citizenship.
Members of the ZiF Cooperation Group »Road to Global Social Citizenship?« and FLOOR research assistants
Lutz Leisering
Ulrike Davy and Armando Barrientos
(left to right) Moritz von Gliszczynski, Anne Casprig, Luise Buschmann, Katrin Weible, Michael Leutelt
14 April 2011
The Second Meeting of the ZiF Cooperation Group was dedicated to Thomas Paine's
»Agrarian Justice.« What is FLOOR's approach to land-based social welfare?
7 April 2011
7 April 2011: Kick-off meeting of the ZiF Cooperation Group »A Road to Global Social Citizenship?«
2 November 2010
(above/below) On 2 November 2010, the FLOOR group discussed somd basic concepts
of social policy, world culture, and human rights. And the discussion continues ...
9 September 2010
The FLOOR group assembled for their first meeting at the University of Bielefeld on
9 September 2010. The meeting concluded with a short stroll through the Teutoburger Forest
and a coffee-and-cake at the Bauernhaus Museum.