The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (248 page)

Moral constraint on the pursuit of an individual's goals. In particular, Robert Nozick , in
Anarchy, State and Utopia
, suggests looking at
rights
as side-constraints. This perspective is presented as one model of the structure of our moral views. Another he mentions is that the violation of rights should be minimized. Since the latter view would allow someone's right(s) to be violated if such a violation prevented a greater violation of rights, the issues concern picturing how rights operate and determining what strength to attach to them.
AR 

 
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(1838–1900)
Cambridge utilitarian philosopher best known for his
Methods of Ethics
(1874). Economists, political theorists, and philosophers have all regarded this as one of the most coherent and defensible statements of
utilitarianism
.

 
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(1875–1959)
French pioneer of electoral geography. Famed for his intensely detailed
ecological
studies of the relationship between geographical and political variables, showing, for instance, how different types of soil conditions and farming patterns were associated with different patterns of voting. Because of both the volume of work involved and the difficulty of avoiding the ‘ecological fallacy’, he has had few English-speaking imitators except V. O.
Key
and Henry Pelling . However, more sophisticated statistics and more powerful computers have revived an interest in electoral geography and in ecological association, which used with care can give valuable information about times and places where survey-based evidence is unavailable.

 
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(1858–1918)
An important figure in German social thought. Simmel was born, educated, and spent most of his career in Berlin. In 1885 he was appointed
Privatdozent
(unpaid lecturer), followed, fifteen years later, by an honorary professorship. He was repeatedly rejected for advancement despite support from
Weber
and other academics. This rejection arose from reactions to his work and from anti-Semitic prejudice. Only in 1914 did he receive a full professorship at Strasbourg.
Simmel's work is diverse and difficult to categorize. His writings on groups, conflict, super- and subordination, all contribute to political theory. He wrote on
Kant
, Goethe , Schopenhauer , and
Nietzsche
; the philosophies of history, social science, and money; and the foundations of sociology. Like many German writers Simmel believed that the social sciences were distinct from the natural sciences. Interest in his work continues and is increasing among those who characterize modern culture as a fragmented and alienating experience.
IO 

 
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The Act was signed in February 1986 by all member governments of what was then the European Community (EC, now
European Union
or EU) and implemented in 1987. The Act amended the Treaty of
Rome
and related treaties to give institutional expression to the Union's Single Market Programme (SMP) and to reform decision-making processes.
While more ambitious integration proposals had met with objections from key member states, a consensus developed around the idea of returning to the original functionalist notion of step-by-step integration through the market and economic policy. As a result, the Act specifically recognized the SMP as a Community goal by 31 December 1992. First the SEA streamlined European Council decisionmaking procedures: majority voting was introduced on all matters linked to implementation of the huge volume of legislation related to the Single Market, the aim of which was to remove all barriers to the circulation of labour, capital, goods, and services within the EC. Secondly, the role of the
European Parliament
was strengthened through the ‘co-operation’ and ‘assent’ procedures. Thirdly, the Council was formally recognized as part of the EU institutional machinery. And finally, there was a reorganization of the machinery for foreign policy cooperation among member governments (although foreign policy none the less remained outside the legal framework of the Union until the Treaty of
Maastricht
was implemented in 1993).
GU 

 
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