Madison Powers
Current research interests include: human rights; structural injustice, within and across nations; conceptual and normative issues at the intersection of environmental policy, public health, and markets. Summaries of current projects and books, as well as article and chapter abstracts and pdfs are available on my website:
https://www.madisonpowers.org/
https://www.madisonpowers.org/
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Books by Madison Powers
A livable planet thus requires changes in humanity’s relation to the rest of nature, which in turn, requires transformation of our economic relationships and the political and economic ideals underpinning them. Specifically, the balance of power between states and markets should be reversed by implementing an enforceable institutional bulwark against market practices that subvert the ecological conditions essential for the secure realization of human rights. These practices enable the powerful to hoard economic opportunities, crowd out sustainable alternatives, extract resources from vulnerable communities, shift environmental and economic burdens, dodge political and market accountability, and hijack public institutions for private purposes.
Our theory is not specific to the domestic or global context. Rather, it applies to different kinds of nation-states and to interactions across national boundaries. We illustrate the theory through extended examples, including environmental sacrifice zones and the environmental realities of the global trend toward the urbanization of poverty.
Reviews:
"Social Justice is one of the most important books to come out in bioethics, and health policy ethics, in the last decade. It challenges us to think more broadly about what bioethics brings to the table when we evaluate health policies and public health practices. Its combination of rigor and clarity is uncommon."--Peter A. Ubel, M.D., Director, Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine, Ann Arbor
"In this excellent book, Madison Powers and Ruth Faden set out to define the essential dimensions of well-being that should guide a theory of justice, and then to show how such a theory can be applied to important issues in public health and health policy."--Hastings Center Report
"Most moral theorists think about what principles of justice would govern an ideal world. Such ideal theories do not necessarily guide us well in our non-ideal world. Powers and Faden make a powerful case for moving from ideal to non-ideal theory, and ably show how to do it in the field of justice in health care. This book makes an important advance in making moral theory more empirically responsive."--Elizabeth Anderson, John Rawls Collegiate Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Drafts by Madison Powers
Humanity faces an ecological predicament consisting of concurrent, mutually reinforcing crises, each profoundly influencing the options for maintaining a livable planet. Individually and in combination, these crises pose civilizational threats of such magnitude and complexity that they challenge the abilities of individuals to comprehend them and the capacities of institutions to respond. However, this essay is motivated by the belief that the prospects for transformative, positive change are enhanced when communities act from a shared understanding of a problem and coalesce around a set of strategic priorities.
Papers by Madison Powers
A livable planet thus requires changes in humanity’s relation to the rest of nature, which in turn, requires transformation of our economic relationships and the political and economic ideals underpinning them. Specifically, the balance of power between states and markets should be reversed by implementing an enforceable institutional bulwark against market practices that subvert the ecological conditions essential for the secure realization of human rights. These practices enable the powerful to hoard economic opportunities, crowd out sustainable alternatives, extract resources from vulnerable communities, shift environmental and economic burdens, dodge political and market accountability, and hijack public institutions for private purposes.
Our theory is not specific to the domestic or global context. Rather, it applies to different kinds of nation-states and to interactions across national boundaries. We illustrate the theory through extended examples, including environmental sacrifice zones and the environmental realities of the global trend toward the urbanization of poverty.
Reviews:
"Social Justice is one of the most important books to come out in bioethics, and health policy ethics, in the last decade. It challenges us to think more broadly about what bioethics brings to the table when we evaluate health policies and public health practices. Its combination of rigor and clarity is uncommon."--Peter A. Ubel, M.D., Director, Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine, Ann Arbor
"In this excellent book, Madison Powers and Ruth Faden set out to define the essential dimensions of well-being that should guide a theory of justice, and then to show how such a theory can be applied to important issues in public health and health policy."--Hastings Center Report
"Most moral theorists think about what principles of justice would govern an ideal world. Such ideal theories do not necessarily guide us well in our non-ideal world. Powers and Faden make a powerful case for moving from ideal to non-ideal theory, and ably show how to do it in the field of justice in health care. This book makes an important advance in making moral theory more empirically responsive."--Elizabeth Anderson, John Rawls Collegiate Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Humanity faces an ecological predicament consisting of concurrent, mutually reinforcing crises, each profoundly influencing the options for maintaining a livable planet. Individually and in combination, these crises pose civilizational threats of such magnitude and complexity that they challenge the abilities of individuals to comprehend them and the capacities of institutions to respond. However, this essay is motivated by the belief that the prospects for transformative, positive change are enhanced when communities act from a shared understanding of a problem and coalesce around a set of strategic priorities.