scholarly journals Dimensions of Religious Harmony as Constitutional Practice: Beyond State Control

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 966-985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaclyn L. Neo
Keyword(s):  
Social Norm ◽  
State Control ◽  
Primary Case ◽  
State Action ◽  
Constitutional Principle ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Complex Dimensions ◽  
State Obligations ◽  
Legitimate State

AbstractReligious harmony is an idea more commonly invoked in Asian countries, many of which are closely associated with non-individualistic or non-liberal approaches to law, ethics, and politics, than in Europe. As a constitutional norm, religious harmony not only directs state action involving the management of religious diversity but also has the potential to legitimate state action. As a result, harmony, including its subspecies of religious harmony, could be and has been criticized for imposing and legitimating an ideology of control over society, particularly over marginalized groups. While this is the case, I argue in this Article that religious harmony can mean many things and can be used in a myriad of ways that go beyond simply as a tool for state control. Religious harmony is not only a legal/constitutional principle, but has also become internalized as a social norm. Its regulating function extends to inter group relations and further grounds group demands on the state, thus imposing state obligations. To draw out the multiple and complex dimensions of religious harmony as a constitutional principle and social norm, I use Singapore, a self-avowed non-liberal communitarian state, as the primary case study in this Article.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David K. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
State Control ◽  
Reform Legislation ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
Insurance Exchanges ◽  
Significant Health

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the most significant health reform legislation enacted in generations. However, politics does not end after a bill is signed into law. This chapter outlines why states were given such a prominent role in the implementation of core elements of the ACA, including the health insurance exchanges. This sets the stage for the question of this book: given that state leaders say they want flexibility and that Republicans say they prefer market-oriented reforms, why did so many states reject state control over exchanges? I outline the four main insights from the case study chapters: (1) the importance of governors, (2) the power of the Tea Party, (3) the ways in which differences in institutional design and procedures shaped policy outcomes, and (4) the importance of leadership. I ask whether this episode supports or undermines the federalism notion of states as laboratories of learning.

Researching American Muslims: A Case Study of Surveillance and Racialized State Control

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Hajer Al-Faham
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Control ◽  
Limited Data ◽  
American Muslims ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Selection Of

How does surveillance shape political science research in the United States? In comparative and international politics, there is a rich literature concerning the conduct of research amid conditions of conflict and state repression. As this literature locates “the field” in distant contexts “over there,” the United States continues to be saturated with various forms of state control. What this portends for American politics research has thus far been examined by a limited selection of scholars. Expanding on their insights, I situate “the field” in the United States and examine surveillance of American Muslims, an understudied case of racialized state control. Drawing on qualitative data from a case study of sixty-nine interviews with Arab and Black American Muslims, I argue that surveillance operated as a two-stage political mechanism that mapped onto research methodologically and substantively. In the first stage, surveillance reconfigured the researcher-researchee dynamic, hindered recruitment and access, and limited data-collection. In the second stage, surveillance colored the self-perceptions, political attitudes, and civic engagement of respondents, thereby indicating a political socialization unfolding among Muslims. The implications of this study suggest that researchers can mitigate against some, but not all, of the challenges presented by surveillance and concomitant forms of state control.

scholarly journals E-Democracy from the Perspective of Local Elected Members

2011 ◽  
pp. 296-312
Author(s):  
Zahid Parvez
Keyword(s):  
Recent Literature ◽  
Structuration Theory ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Primary Case ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
Case Study Data

Although efforts for developing e-democracy have been underway for over a decade, recent literature indicates that its uptake by citizens and Elected Members (EMs) is still very low. This paper explores the underlying reasons for why this is so from the perspective of local EMs in the context of UK local authorities. It draws on findings reported in earlier works supplemented with primary case study data. Findings are interpreted through the lens of Giddens structuration theory, which assists in drawing out issues related to three dimensions of human agency: communication of meaning, exercising power and sanctioning behaviour. The paper abstracts categories of agency from the findings and uses these to formulate eight propositions for creating an e-friendly democratic culture and enhancing EMs uptake of e-democracy. These propositions provide an indication for future e-democracy research direction.

scholarly journals Addressing local government issues in the practice of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation during the implementation of municipal reform in Russia

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-147
Author(s):  
Aleksey Andreevich Amiantov
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Constitutional Principle ◽  
Municipal Reform ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Regional Authorities ◽  
Legal Consequences

The presented study is devoted to the study of the practice of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in relation to issues of local self-government in the context of the municipal reform of 2014-2015. and its legal consequences. The aim of this work is to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the practice of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on the identified problems of the work of local authorities in the period following the start of municipal reform. The research methodology is built by combining descriptive analysis elements and a case study. It is concluded that the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has consistently maintained its position on the constitutional nature of the reform of local authorities. The provisions of the relevant regulatory legal acts are limited only partially and only in relation to first-level municipalities - municipal authorities of settlements. Given the deprivation of the latter a significant part of the powers and the observed transition to a singlelevel system of local self-government, the adoption of these restrictions does not significantly affect the implementation of the reform. Of fundamental importance is the position of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation regarding the new powers of regional authorities in relation to municipalities. The increase in the arsenal of legal instruments of the influence of the leadership of the constituent entities of the federation on the heads of local self-government was not interpreted as a violation of the constitutional principle of the independence of municipalities. The latter opens up the possibility for further legalization of the process of embedding municipal bodies in the structure of the informal “power vertical”.

Egyptian Fortresses and the Colonization of Lower Nubia in the Middle Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 269-288
Author(s):  
Laurel Bestock
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Models ◽  
State Control ◽  
Middle Kingdom ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Border Zones ◽  
Permanent Settlement ◽  
The Military ◽  
Original Construction

In the early part of the 2nd millennium bce, the Egyptian state took control of Lower Nubia, building a series of monumental fortresses along the Nile that are remarkable for their sophisticated military architecture. This was Egypt’s first major expansion beyond its traditional borders. Various theoretical models of imperialism and core-periphery interactions have been brought to bear on studies of the forts and their populations, seeking to explain the military, economic, and ideological purposes behind the original construction of the monuments as well as the apparently shifting nature of their occupation, from probable rotating garrisons to more permanent settlement, and their interactions with local populations (cf. Trigger 1976:64–81; Adams 1977:183–88; Zibelius-Chen 1988:69–135; S.T. Smith 1995, 2003; Williams 1999; Flammini 2008; Török 2009:79–101; Vogel 2004; Knoblauch 2008). The resulting picture of Egyptian occupation of Nubia is a nuanced if not entirely agreed upon one. The fortresses are important to archaeology more broadly because they offer a richly documented case study for consideration of state control of foreign territory; they belong in the broader discourse about imperialism, colonization, and colonialism, how different state strategies of control can be understood in the material record, and how people live and interact in border zones. That the methods of Middle Kingdom control can be contrasted to both earlier and later Egyptian strategies of interaction with Nubia, and that the region is one of modern colonial entanglements, makes a critical approach to its occupation in the Middle Kingdom all the more vital.

Russia and the Ukraine Crisis: An Analysis of Trade Expectations Theory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Evan Kerrane ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Liberal Theory ◽  
Security Dilemma ◽  
State Action ◽  
Novel Theory ◽  
Defensive Realism ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Ukraine Crisis

A debate between liberal and realist international relations theories centres on the influence of trade interdependence on state action. While liberal theorists tend to see interdependence as only a mechanism for peace, realists view trade dependency as a potential for state vulnerability. Dale Copeland’s trade expectations theory offers a bridge to this divide by arguing perception of future trade accounts for whether states perceive trade as a vulnerability or mechanism for cooperation. Copeland’s novel theory argues when states possess a positive expectation of future trade, they will continue to pursue trading relationships, as argued in liberal theory. However, once these expectations turn negative, states may face a trade-security crisis stemming from the trade vulnerabilities. This thesis applies Copeland’s theory the Russian experience leading up to the 2013 – 2014 Ukraine Crisis. The application of the theory addresses two key criticisms of trade expectations theory: first, the question of what constitutes “reasonableness” within the expectations of trade, and second, grounding the theory within the broader international relations literature. Copeland’s reliance on a “reasonable man” test of trade expectations lacks a nuanced understanding of what a reasonable perception of a state is. Through the addition of militarism as a state bias and belief, this thesis shows the theory’s logic developing within a defensive realist framework. The thesis applies the case study to a two-level security dilemma, grounding the theory’s core contribution, the trade-security dilemma, within defensive realism. Placing Copeland’s theory within this framework reveals trade expectations to be an intervening variable within a balance of power competition. Finally, the application of trade expectations theory to Russia and the Ukraine Crisis gives greater depth in understanding Moscow’s dilemma. Framing a trade-security dilemma within the broader balance of power dynamic exposes the Russian trade crisis which occurred as Kyiv shifted towards the West.

Planning and Scheduling Based on an Explicit Representation of the State of the Design

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andre´s Felipe Melo ◽  
P. John Clarkson
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
The State ◽  
Explicit Representation ◽  
Industrial Case Study ◽  
Planning And Scheduling ◽  
State Action ◽  
Markov Decision ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Selection Of

This paper describes a computational model that provides planning information useful for scheduling the design process. The model aims to reduce uncertainty in the design process and with it the risk of rework. The view is taken that planning is concerned with choosing between alternative actions and action sequences, but not with resource allocation. The planning model is based on an explicit representation of the state of the design process, the definition of the design capabilities as a pool of tasks, and on the generation and selection of plans by evaluating their reliability. Classical decision theory is used for evaluating the plans: a state-action net is built and analyzed as a Markov decision process. The model produces plans based on qualified task dependencies. These plans can be used as a basis for manual and automated scheduling. In an example industrial case study, a reduction of over 30% in the expected rework was predicted.

scholarly journals Municipal surveillance regulation and algorithmic accountability

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 205395171986849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Young ◽  
Michael Katell ◽  
P. M. Krafft
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Government Employees ◽  
Primary Case ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Community Stakeholders ◽  
Risk Assessment Tools ◽  
Algorithmic Accountability ◽  
Types Of Information

A wave of recent scholarship has warned about the potential for discriminatory harms of algorithmic systems, spurring an interest in algorithmic accountability and regulation. Meanwhile, parallel concerns about surveillance practices have already led to multiple successful regulatory efforts of surveillance technologies—many of which have algorithmic components. Here, we examine municipal surveillance regulation as offering lessons for algorithmic oversight. Taking the 2017 Seattle Surveillance Ordinance as our primary case study and surveying efforts across five other cities, we describe the features of existing surveillance regulation; including procedures for describing surveillance technologies in detail, requirements for public engagement, and processes for establishing acceptable uses. Although the Seattle Surveillance Ordinance was not intended to address algorithmic accountability, we find these considerations to be relevant to the law’s aim of surfacing disparate impacts of systems in use. We also find that in notable cases government employees did not identify regulated algorithmic surveillance technologies as reliant on algorithmic or machine learning systems, highlighting definitional gaps that could hinder future efforts toward algorithmic regulation. We argue that (i) finer-grained distinctions between types of information systems in the language of law and policy, and (ii) risk assessment tools integrated into their implementation would strengthen future regulatory efforts by rendering underlying algorithmic components more legible and accountable to political and community stakeholders.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document