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Posted: 19 Jun 2012 08:25 AM PDT

Alessia Contu, University of Warwick, Warwick Business School, has published Whistle-Blowers' Acts: Recasting Whistle-Blowing Through Readings of Antigone. Here is the abstract.

"Blowing the whistle" in organizational and public life is akin to speaking out and denouncing wrongdoings. Parrhesia, free speech, is a strongly-held value in western societies, but when manifested in organizations as whistle-blowing it is often seen as troublemaking. Most research on whistle-blowers is based on instrumental knowledge. But time has come to develop new perspectives on whistle-blowing (Wolfe Morrison, 2009). We answer the call to re-energize this research arena by developing a critical knowledge, which fosters reflection (Habermas, 2005: 316). Our discussion is based on exploring the analogy between Antigone, the Sophoclean heroine and whistle-blowers. Specifically, we address the readings of the tragedy by authors such as Hegel, Lacan and Heidegger considering what these offer to our understanding of whistle-blowing. These help us explain why whistle-blowers are often seen as ambiguous figures with ambivalent motives. And why whistle-blowing can be recast as an ethico-political act.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.

François Gény's Influence

Posted: 19 Jun 2012 08:15 AM PDT

François-Xavier Licari, University of Metz, Faculty of Law, has published François Gény En Louisiane. Here is the abstract.

L'oeuvre de François Gény a fait l'objet d'une véritable réception tant par la doctrine que par la jurisprudence louisianaises. Cette contribution narre cette sucess story doctrinale, véritable réalisation de la prophétie de Jaro Mayda ("François Gény and Modern Jurisprudence" (LSU Press, 1978, p.69), traducteur et fin connaisseur de "Méthode d'interprétation et sources".
In his book "François Gény and Modern Jurisprudence" (LSU Press, 1978), Jaro Mayda wrote (p.69): "The important point…is that, despite the art represented by the current literature, the pragmatic temper of America and of its mixed jurisdictions, such as Louisiana, may well be the environment that will send Gény's themes toward their integration into a rational, modern jurisprudence".
This paper tells the story of the realization of this scholarly prophesy.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.