Narrow Results

We explore the concept of peace from a broader sense than merely the absence of war, through the eyes of Acehnese women who continue to strive for better political representation and social justice utilizing Islam as their foundational point. The study analyses Islamic principles of peace, cultural beliefs and practices, as well as the political environment, which engulfed Aceh. Historical accounts and academic research form a theoretical base for our analysis, while interviews with influential women, Ulama leaders, political figures as well as community activists provide integral content for our survey. This inquiry concludes that in spite of widespread political conservatism being promoted by the GAM political party of Partai Aceh and parochial religious fanaticism being advocated by certain transnational groupings, women themselves provide hope for gender equality and empowerment. Women of the dayah (Islamic boarding school) and NGO activists may work together to pursue their Islamic endowment of peace and accomplish pragmatic actualization of equality and justice.

The Loretto Community (historically known as the Sisters of Loretto) is an organization of both traditionally vowed Catholic Sisters and also co-members, who are women and men who share values with these Sisters. Some of the co-members of the Loretto Community (LC) take values-based vows as well, committing themselves to simple living, non-violence, solidarity, and/or ecological sanity as an alternative to the traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Together, these women and men live out a common mission to “work for justice and act for peace because the Gospel urges us.” They are located primarily in the United States, with several Sisters in Pakistan, Sister communities in both Ghana and Guatemala, and connections all around the world. The LC has always been forward-thinking, has sponsored a Loretto Earth Network (LEN) for over 25 years, and has been responding to the climate crisis in several creative and important ways. Examples of these responses include divesting from fossil fuels, activism in several campaigns against fracking, and educating the entire community about how to move towards carbon neutrality in daily life. The LC provides one important example of how a faith-based organization (FBO) can effectively advocate for Earth justice and contribute to solving the climate crisis.

This paper analyses the problems arising in the pure exchange fair division model, when some dimensions of the resources are personal, fixed, and cannot be redistributed. The remaining resources must then be allocated in a compensatory way. A set of desirable normative properties is defined. No-envy satisfies these properties, but is not generally non-empty in this setting and other criteria are examined, for which existence results are given. General impossibility results obtain. In particular, it is generally impossible to compensate fully and only for differential personal resources, when preferences differ.