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VIA Num. 7 / October'08

Summary

Editorial

Miquel Calsina

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David Cameron: The pragmatig modernisation of the conservative party

Alfredo Crespo

The current economic and financial crisis and its global proportions seem to be benefiting Gordon Brown politically. In ecent polls, British citizens consider the current British premier to be more prepared to tackle the crisis than his conservative rival. But the reality is that David Cameron has brought in fresh air and a change of style that have managed to turn around the rather stagnated image in which British conservatism had become mired following the era of John Major and the victory of New Labour. Cameron has managed to find a balance between the Tories’ traditional message and roots and the need for an aggiornamento, to bring its discourse and political proposals up-to-date while, at the same time, opening the doors to a series of issues (social, environmental, issues related to values) that were hitherto absent from the Conservative agenda. The renewal imbued in his Cameronism has opened the doors to the possibility of a political change in Great Britain in the wake of more than ten years of New Labour.

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Maritain today

Joan Rigol i Roig

What contribution can the political thought of Maritain make today? What place might a philosophical and political discourse such as his have in today’s society; starting from the consideration of the centrality and absolute dignity of the individual and his or her fundamental values? In this article, Joan Rigol talks about the need to reclaim and take a deeper look at one of Europe’s most important 20th century intellectual references. Even today, Maritain’s message, his thoughts and his analysis of the contradictions of the leading ideological principles of his time can provide us with answers and ideas to consolidate a new humanism, one that is adapted to the current challenges of politics and which can be summed up as follows, a response to a specific view of the individual and of society.

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The emergence of corporate social responsibility. A view from Catalonia

David Murillo

This article aims to provide guidelines to an understanding of the evolution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in recent years. From its initial social and market dynamics to the growing activism of firms that has developed over the last few years. Here the public and private actions are presented that will, over the next few years, mark how CSR must be understood. Specifically, and from a nationalistic point of view, the context is presented in which a Catalan model of responsible and sustainable economic development should be undertaken.

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Considerations on the independence of Catalonia

Jordi Argelaguet

Since the beginning of the early political formulations of Catalanism, which took place in the last third of the 19th century, people have reflected on the independence of Catalonia. Since that time, and up to the present day, this question has always over debates concerned with the objectives and strategies that Catalanism ought to follow. Nevertheless, in the same way that the presence of this debate has been a constant, albeit with highs and lows dictated by the political situation, it is also true that those committed to independence have remained a minority. This article reflects on the present day role and influence of the new discourses on independence, following thirty years of political autonomy.

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China to Africa: on safari or promoting development?

Marc Bou / Íñigo Macías-Aymar

The return of China to a key role in the global political and economic scene represents, to a certain extent, a return to normality, if we remember the particular influence this country has had historically on international agreement, yet it is also a situation that highlights the emergence of significant geostrategic and geopolitical challenges. One of the consequences of the revitalisation of China and its economic emergence is, without doubt, its growing presence and influence on the continent of Africa (in detriment to that of the European Union), both in the area of international trade and infrastructures, representing one of the main obstacles to Africa’s socioeconomic development, according to the World Bank. If China’s influence on some African countries throughout the second half of the 20th century was limited to ideology it has now moved on to the economy. This Asian country’s commitment to Africa involves a series of challenges, at many levels, that demand our attention. The authors of this article explain this situation by means of a painstaking analysis backed up by extensive data.

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Science and society in the 21st century

Jorge Wagensberg

Based on his experiences as a scientist with an extensive track record, as well as the Director of CosmoCaixa, the author of this article talks about some of the challenges that science is expected to face and the role it must play in a democratic society, in which public opinion and the involvement of the citizens are two realities that define citizenry itself. How, where and in what way can science be engaged in for citizens (and the independent museum may be the most suitable place for this)? These are just some of the questions dealt with in this text, because, although scientific knowledge is, above all, the sphere of scientists, scientific opinion must be open to all citizens.

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Science and humanism

David Jou

We must not forget that scientific issues are born out of deeply human concerns, in fact science’s contributions form the basis of highly significant improvements and advances for humanity as a whole that are, at the present time, often taken as read. At the same time, science has also made it possible to extend the framework of creative and artistic expression in many fields. In the same way, humanism has brought moral demands and ethical reflections to the tensions of science. Thus, science and humanism must be seen as two overlapping realities.

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The role of science ethics committees. The case of Europe

Pere Puigdomènech

Scientific research and activity has become a complex task with well-established rules governing how it works. In an attempt to permanently break through the barrier of knowledge, science requires independent spaces that can only be limited by the operational rules established, for example, by means of the mechanisms of a democratic society itself. The current proliferation of ethics committees (inspired by the Nuremberg trials and the trials on scientific experiments carried out on Nazi concentration camp prisoners), at both a state and supra-state level, is an example of the many questions that are being asked today as a result of experimentation and marketing in certain fields of science, as well as the need to answer such questions with ethical arguments.

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Energy and climate change: a difficult future

Josep Enric Llebot

The climate change debate is presented here as one of those issues, with an indisputable scientific background, which has also become the subject of public debate. It has actually been the subject of public debate for some time now, yet over the last year this issue has been clearly and remorselessly present on the political agenda of the governments of most western countries (especially following the release of the Stern report and other studies and conclusions regarding the consequences of CO2 atmospheric emissions), which has led to its definitive and ubiquitous presence in the media. Thus it is a paradigmatic example of how a debate lacking in definitive conclusions or an absolute consensus among the scientific community itself can become a public debate par excellence.

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Science: an antidote to dogmatism

Lluís Reales

Explaining science to citizens can be an effective antidote to superstition and intolerance, as well as a way of introducing and generalising an interest in critical reflection. However, as the author of this article laments, today’s media still pay relatively little attention to the big issues in science, which remain secondary, always overshadowed by, for example, an obsession with political conflict. In spite of the advantages gained from scientific dissemination and education, the growing gap between science and society is an undeniable reality in most European Union countries.

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Dialogue with Isak Andic, founder of the Mango brand

Daniel Clivillé

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