Managing the Nordic Mountain Birch Ecosystem: Local Communities and the State in Finland’s Forestry

Author(s):  
L. Müller ◽  
M. S. Aikio ◽  
V. Luhta
2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-59
Author(s):  
Jim van der Meulen

AbstractThis article charts the long-term development of seigneurial governance within the principality of Guelders in the Low Countries. Proceeding from four quantitative cross-sections (c. 1325, 1475, 1540, 1570) of seigneurial lordships, the conclusion is that seigneurial governance remained stable in late medieval Guelders. The central argument is that this persistence of seigneurial governance was an effect of active collaboration between princely administrations, lords, and local communities. Together, the princely government and seigneuries of Guelders formed an integrated, yet polycentric, state. The article thereby challenges the narrative of progressive state centralisation that predominates in the historiography of pre-modern state formation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 74-88
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Larichev ◽  
Emil Markwart

Local government as a political, legal and social institution finds itself in a very difficult period of development in Russia. The long-established tendency of its subordination to the state has intensified today in connection with the newly adopted constitutional amendments. At the same time, it seems obvious that further “embedding” of local government into the state management vertical, in the absence of any positive effect in terms of solving socio-economic and infrastructural problems, will inevitably lead to other hard to reverse, negative results both for local government institutions and the system of public authority as a whole. The normal functioning of local government requires, however, not only the presence of its sufficient institutional and functional autonomy from the state, but also an adequate territorial and social base for its implementation. To ensure the formation of viable territorial collectives, especially in urban areas, it seems appropriate to promote the development of self-government based on local groups at the intra-municipal level. Such local groups can independently manage issues of local importance on a small scale (landscaping, social volunteering, and neighborly mutual assistance), and provide, within the boundaries of a local territory, due civil control over the maintenance by municipal authorities of more complex and large-scale local issues (repair and development of infrastructure, removal of solid household waste and more). At the same time, the development of local communities can by no means be a self-sufficient and substitutional mechanism, whose introduction would end the need for democracy in the full scope of municipal structures overall. In this regard, the experience of local communities’ development in Germany, a state with legal traditions similar to Russian ones, with a centuries-old history of the development of territorial communities and a difficult path to building democracy and forming civil society, seems to be very interesting. Here, the progressive development of local forms of democracy and the participation of residents in local issue management are combined with stable mechanisms of municipal government, and the interaction of municipalities with the state does not torpedo the existing citizen forms of self-government. At the same time, the experience of Germany shows that the decentralization of public issue management which involves the local population can only be effective in a situation where, in addition to maintaining a full-fledged self-government mechanism at the general municipal level, relevant local communities are endowed with real competence and resources to influence local issue decision-making. The role of formalized local communities in urban areas, as the German experience shows, can not only facilitate the decentralization of solving public problems, but can also help in timely elimination of triggers for mobilizing citywide supercollectives with negative agendas. This experience seems useful and applicable in the Russian context.


Author(s):  
Robert Gwardyński

The Police constitute a major element in the state security system. Their operation has both a national and local dimension. The Police have an impact on a local community’s security, ensuring the safety of people, their health, life, property, as well as maintaining public safety and order. This article aims to indicate the areas of the Police’s operation that result in an improvement of the residents’ safety and an increase in their sense of security.


2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-54
Author(s):  
Antonio P. Contreras

This paper inquires into the implications of the different discursive imaginations on civil societies and the state from the perspective of the social sciences, particularly political science and international relations. It focuses on some interfaces and tensions that exist between civil society on one hand, and the state and its bureaucratic instrumentalities on the other, particularly in the domain of environment and natural resources governance in the context of new regionalisms and of alternative concepts of human security. There is now a new context for regionalism in Southeast Asia, not only among state structures, such as the ASEAN and the various Mekong bodies, but also among local civil societies coming from the region. It is in this context that issues confronting local communities are given a new sphere for interaction, as well as a new platform for engaging state structures and processes. This paper illustrates how dynamic are the possibilities for non-state domains for transnational interactions, particularly in the context of the emerging environmental regionalism. This occurs despite the dominance of neo-realist political theorizing, and the state-centric nature of international interactions.


Terr Plural ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Alexandre Rogoski ◽  
Antonio Liccardo

Prudentópolis, located in the southeastern region of the state of Paraná, has a rich geodiversity, addressed in this article in19 geosites with relevant potential for the development of local geotourism. The survey and diagnostic about the geoheritage of Prudentópolis have placed as main factors that could favor the practice of geotourism: i) production of a map of geosites of scientific, didactic and cultural relevance; ii) visitation already exists in most places of interest, with infrastructure; iii) strength interaction between local communities and natural heritage, and; iv) easy access to geosites.


Author(s):  
Hendrik Van As

Certain marine living resources of South Africa are under severe threat from international organised crime syndicates in conjunction with local fishers. These criminal activities erode respect for the rule of law and lead to socio-economic degradation and the proliferation of gangsterism. The current government approach as custodians of the resources is to maximise the return from confiscations. SAPS are not using the full power of the law to address poaching of marine living resources, particularly abalone, as a priority crime and do not allocate their resources commensurate with the value of the commodity. As a country that is beleaguered by fisheries crime, overfishing and exploitation, South Africa must take a tough stance and should pursue criminal organisations with all the power that the state can muster. It must also ensure that national fisheries resource management is improved so that local communities can benefit. The implementation of a conforming strategy would be socially and politically unpopular, but the future benefits will outweigh the outlay.


World Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (6(46)) ◽  
pp. 30-38
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Ignatenko ◽  
Iryna Krylova

The article is devoted to the clarification of the peculiarities of the use of investment instruments for the development of the water supply and wastewater sector in Ukraine. The sphere of water supply and wastewater of Ukraine requires significant investments for the renewal of fixed assets of water supply and wastewater enterprises, reconstruction and development of engineering infrastructure, introduction of the latest technologies, improvement of the quality of services, etc. The authors consider the concept of investment, investment activity, investment program in the general context and in the field of water supply and wastewater. The structure of planned volumes of financing of measures of investment programs of water supply and wastewater enterprises in 2018 is being analyzed. Issues of application of other modern financial and economic mechanisms in the field of water supply and wastewater are considered. The article analyzes the state of realization of public-private partnership in the field of water supply and wastewater on the basis of statistical data. Investment approaches based on participative financing, which involves the use of financial resources not only of the state but also of local communities, business and civil society institutions, and financing through the use of opportunities of the market of debt obligations, including at the expense of the issue of municipal securities in the form of bonds of a local loan.


Author(s):  
О. Boiko

Problem setting. In the analysis of any budget, important markers are åðó revenue indicators, which 80% consist of tax revenues. After all, they give the government and citizens an understanding of how capable the communityis, what amount of expenditures can be made from income, and whether the community has can develop and improve the well-being of its inhabitants. Personal income tax (hereinafter – PIT) covers about 60% of tax revenues of local budgets of Ukraine, so its important role for socio-economic development of local communities and regionsis clear.Recent research and publications analysis. The issue of studyingthe effectiveness of the mechanism of PIT payment and its influence on the process of generation of local government revenues have been in the center of research of domestic scientists such as O. Bandurka, N. Dieieva, I. Liutyi, N. Redinaet al. At the same time, the issue of the effectiveness of PIT collection and its importance for the development of communities in the current conditions of decentralization requires further thorough research.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The role and place of personal income tax in the structure of tax revenues of local budgets have been studies in the paper, the essence of the mechanism of its collectionhas been substantiated, the provision on the effectiveness of tax control over the completeness of its revenues have been analyzedand the reasons for reforming its payment procedure by tax agents have been justified.The purpose of the paper is to study the role and place of PIT in the structure of tax revenues of local budgets, substantiate the essence of the mechanism of its collection, analyze PIT administration procedure, makeproposals for improving the effectivenessof fiscal role of this tax for the community development.Paper main body. One of the most important taxes in the system of direct taxation in Ukraine is the personal income tax. Its share in the structure of tax revenues of the consolidated budget in recent years was about 20% – 23% (90% of which – revenues to local budgets, 10% – revenues of the state budget).The procedure for imposition of this taxis regulated by Section IV of the Tax Code of Ukraine, deducted from the income of citizens at a rate of 18%, which applies to almost all types of income of citizens.In the structure of tax revenues of local budgets, its share is the largest one and averages up to 60% of all tax revenues. During the period of 2015 – 2020, the fiscal efficiency of PIT in the structure of its revenues to local budgets was growing every year. Nominal PIT revenues to local budgets increased from UAH 54,9 billion in 2015 to UAH 177,8 billion in 2020.The key factors influencing the nominal growth of personal income tax revenues are inflation, as well as the annual increase in the minimum wage, changes in tax rates and other innovations in tax reforms of the recent years.Given the significant fiscal efficiency of PIT and its influence on budget generation of the communities, we cannot ignore the problematic aspects of its collection that have a direct impact on tax revenues in the structure of the newly formed amalgamated territorial communities, since success and well-being of local communities depends primarily on the amount of financial resources they own.Thus, according to the Budget Code of Ukraine, PITis distributed among the budgets in the following amounts: 60% goes to the ATC budget, 15% to the regional budget, and 25% to the state budget.It is worthnoting that the current rules of tax and budget legislation contain quite clear obligations of tax agents to pay PITtransfers to those local budgets within which territory businesses are located.Nevertheless, there are constant challenges for local governments and their ability to influence entrepreneurs to pay PIT at the location of legal entities and their units, and not at the place of registration of legal entities.Does this mean that a significant number of tax agents do not comply with the requirements of tax and budget legislation?The Law of Ukraine on Local Self-Government in Ukraine (Article 28) entitles local self-government bodies to monitor the compliance with obligations to pay to the local budget at enterprises and organizations, regardless of the form of their incorporation.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. Given the above, business entities are obliged to pay PIT in accordance with current legislation at the place of their actual location, regardless of the place of registration, and local governments are empowered to control the completeness of taxes coming to the local budget and must actively exercise the initiative to provide additional revenues to community budgets.This will allow receiving PIT revenues to the budget of the community where the enterprises directly carry out their activities in order to develop communities and increase their solvency for the welfare of citizens.


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