Liberals, the Irish Famine and the role of the state

1995 ◽  
Vol 29 (116) ◽  
pp. 513-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
George L. Bernstein

The Irish mythology of the Great Famine of the 1840s explained the failure of the British government to prevent the deaths of some one million people in terms of a Whig government and ruling élite driven by a commitment to laissez-faire ideology which left them indifferent to the loss of Irish lives. At its most extreme, this mythology attributed a wilful genocide to the English. The term myth as used here does not necessarily imply that the account is untrue. Rather, the myth comprises a combination of fact, fiction and the unknowable in a narrative of such power that, for the people who accept it, the myth provides a guide to future understanding and action. In this respect, Irish mythology about the English and the Famine is rooted in facts: the resistance of the Whig government to any interference with the market; the staunch commitment to ideology of central figures in the making of famine policy such as Charles Trevelyan (assistant secretary to the treasury) and Sir Charles Wood (chancellor of the exchequer) and shapers of liberal opinion such as the political economists Nassau Senior and James Wilson (editor of The Economist); and the indifference to Irish suffering, and indeed the hostility to the Irish, as demonstrated in the language of the radical M.P.J.A. Roebuck.

2021 ◽  

Since the dawn of colonialism in Southern Africa, the province of the Eastern Cape emerged as the cradle of African resistance against colonial oppression. A closer look at the province reveals opportunities for progress and ultimate resurgence of economic and social development, yet conflated by a myriad of challenges. This book brings together different perspectives and realities of the post-apartheid Eastern Cape to provide an in-depth exploration of the developmental dilemmas that the province faces. This book provides insightful reflections on development and its sustainability some 25 years since democracy, and specifically focuses on sociological and demographic realities in the areas of migration and its impact on families. The book further grapples with the role of the state in developing culture and heritage in the province, pointing to fundamental and multiple challenges of deprivation, unemployment and subsequent community resilience in a variety of sectors including health and education. While it provides a historical analysis of contextual issues facing the province, the book also highlights the agency of the people of the Eastern Cape in confronting challenges in leadership, accountability, citizen participation and service provision. The book will be useful for development scholars and practitioners who are interested in understanding the state of the province, and similar settings, and the degree to which it has emerged from the shadows of its colonial and apartheid legacies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Winda Roselina Effendi

Walfare State concept born in the era of the 20th century as a correction of the development of the concept of the country as night watchman, the phenomenon of economic capitalism that gradually leads to lameness in the distribution of sources of prosperity. In the Walfare State concept, the state is required to extend its responsibility to the socio-economic problems facing the people. The functions of the state also include activities that were previously beyond the scope of state functions, such as extending the provision of social services to individuals and families in specific matters, such as social security. The role of the state can not be separated with Welfare State because the state that plays a role in managing the economy which includes the responsibility of the state to ensure the availability of basic welfare services in certain levels. Welfare State does not reject the existence of a capitalist market economy system but believes that there are elements in the public order that are more important than market objectives and can only be achieved by controlling and limiting the operation of such market mechanisms.Keywords: walfare state, country, economic systemKonsep Walfare State yang lahir di era abad ke-20 sebagai koreksi berkembangnya konsep negara sebagai penjaga malam, gejala kapitalisme perekonomian yang secara perlahan-lahan menyebabkan terjadinya kepincangan dalam pembagian sumber-sumber kemakmuran bersarma. Dalam konsep Walfare State, negara dituntut untuk memperluas tanggung jawabnya kepada masalah-masalah sosial ekonomi yang dihadapi rakyat. Fungsi negara juga meliputi kegiatan-kegiatan yang sebelumnya berada diluar jangkauan fungsi negara, seperti memperluas ketentuan pelayanan sosial kepada individu dan keluarga dalam hal-hal khusus, seperti social security, kesehatan.  Peran negara tidak bisa dipisahkan dengan Welfare State karena negara yang berperan dalam mengelola perekonomian yang yang di dalamnya mencakup tanggung jawab negara untuk menjamin ketersediaan pelayanan kesejahteraan dasar dalam tingkat tertentu. Welfare State tidak menolak keberadaan sistem ekonomi pasar kapitalis tetapi meyakini bahwa ada elemen-elemen dalam tatanan masyarakat yang lebih penting dari tujuan-tujuan pasar dan hanya dapat dicapai dengan mengendalikan dan membatasi bekerjanya mekanisme pasar tersebut. Kata Kunci: walfare state, negara,sistem ekonomi 


Author(s):  
Mike Allen ◽  
Lars Benjaminsen ◽  
Eoin O’Sullivan ◽  
Nicholas Pleace

Chapter 7 draws together some of the lessons that can be learned from the experiences of three small European countries in responding to homelessness. It is clear that responses to homelessness are embedded and enmeshed in the political and administrative culture of the individual countries, particularly the role of the state, both centrally and locally, in the provision of housing, welfare, and social services. Homelessness cannot be responded to as a separate issue from this broader context, and this is particularly the case in Finland and Ireland, where the roles of the state and market are understood very differently.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-78
Author(s):  
Benni Yusriza

Employing the concept of unfree labor, this article explores the role of the state in reinforcing victims’ vulnerability and shaping the political economy of trafficking practices. Based on a case study of trafficking victims in Benjina and Ambon, Maluku Province, Indonesia, I argue that Indonesian authorities’ intervention was driven not by humanitarian interest, nor by the concern for the protection of migrant workers’ rights, but rather by the intent to advance a political and economic agenda against the Thai fishing industry. Consequently, the intervention ignored the exploitative relations of production that underpinned the vulnerability of victims, despite being conducted in the name of victim-protection and improving livelihoods.


2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-214
Author(s):  
JOÃO GABRIEL DE ARAUJO OLIVEIRA ◽  
RENATO NOZAKI SUGAHARA ◽  
JOANILIO RODOLPHO TEIXEIRA

ABSTRACT This comment came to refute and correct the idea of Charles (2007) about the negatively implications in the income distribution when the government expand the consumption in favour to households. We prove that the political choice, to both cases (increasing consumption or increasing profit), impact positively the income distribution and does not affect the essential nature of the Kaldor neo-Pasinetti dynamic equilibrium results and the “Cambridge Equation”. The stability of the model is guarantee by applying the Olech’s Theorem to the case.


Author(s):  
Manfred Knoche

Abstract: This paper discusses how the capitalist media industry has been structurally transformed in the age of digital communications. It takes an approach that is grounded in the Marxian critique of the political economy of the media. It draws a distinction between media capital, media-oriented capital, media infrastructure capital and media-external capital as the forms of capital in the media industry. The article identifies four capital strategies that media capital tends to use in order to try to maximise profits: a) The substitution of “old” by “new” media technology, b) the introduction of new transmission channels for “old” media products, c) the definition of new property rights for media sectors and networks, d) the reduction of production and transaction costs. The drive to profit maximization is at the heart of the capitalist media industry’s structural transformation. This work also discusses the tendency to the universalization of the media system in the digital age and the economic contradictions arising from it. It identifies activity fields of the media industry’s structural transformation and shows how the concentration of the capitalist media markets is an essential, contradictory and inherent feature of the capitalist media system and its structural transformation. The paper identifies six causes of why capital seeks to employ capital strategies that result in the media industry’s structural transformation. They include market saturation, overaccumulation, the tendency of the profit rate to fall, capital-concentration, competition pressure, and advertising. The paper finally discusses the role of the state as an agent of capital in general and media capital in particular. It discusses the role of the state in privatisations, neoliberal deregulation, the formation of national competitive states, and various benefits that the state provides for media capital. This contribution shows that capital and capitalism are the main structural transformers of the media and communications system. For understanding these transformations, we need an approach that is grounded in Marx’s critique of the political economy.Translation from German: Christian Fuchs and Marisol Sandoval


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Rory Jeff Akyuwen

The role of the state through BUMN becomes so important when it is formulated in a provision as formulated in Article 33 Paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution of the State of the Republic of Indonesia, where the production branches which are important for the State and which affect the livelihood of the public must be controlled by Country. Here it indicates the authority of the State to participate in economic activities through the operation of production branches that can be categorized as important for the State and considered vital and strategic for the interest of the State.This is based on the reasons as formulated in the explanatory section of Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution of the State of the Republic of Indonesia, so that the benefits of the production branches do not fall into the hands of individuals, the State actively takes the role to cultivate it because the production branch is considered important and which control the livelihood of the people for the greatest prosperity of the people. State-Owned Enterprises is formed with the aim of contributing to the development of the national economy in general and the state's revenue in particular; The pursuit of profit; To hold general benefit in the form of providing goods and / or services of high quality and adequate for the fulfillment of the livelihood of the public; Pioneering business activities that have not yet been implemented by the private sector and cooperatives and actively providing guidance and assistance to weak economic entrepreneurs, cooperatives, and communities.SOEs are given the right to monopoly in the economic field which is considered to control the livelihood of many people.


Author(s):  
E.M. Amelina

The author analyzes the views of the famous philosopher, sociologist and politician Petr Struve, whose ideas have enduring relevance in view of the problems of maintaining state unity and developing both culture and national identity. The main object of this research is Struve’s views on the essence of the state and national culture and on their role in the life of Russia. It is indicated that the position of the thinker presupposed a certain historiosophy – an interpretation of history as a process of development of spiritual culture. The features of Peter Struve’s liberal-conservatism and his understanding of the state as a “collective personality”, possessing a “superintelligent” nature are considered. The philosopher’s approach, which aimed at analyzing the seamless connection between state, culture and nationality is analyzed. The author considers how the thinker interpreted the essence of nationality and nationalism, as well as criticized the radical intelligentsia’s “official nationalism” and “absence of a feeling of national belonging”. She examines the philosopher’s views on the outstanding role of the state in Russian history and his understanding of such “fatal” reasons of its destruction as the insufficient involvement of the cultivated elements of the nobility in the ruling of the state as well as the belated abolition of serfdom law. The author also explains Struve’s views on the slogan of class struggle as decisively contributing to the cultural decomposition of the nation and to undermining the unity of the state. She also addresses the views of P.B. Struve, G.P. Fedotov and S.L. Frank concerning the reasons why the sense of national identity was weak in Russia. She concludes that, according to Struve, one of the reasons for the revolutionary radical upheavals in the country was the fact that the radical intelligentsia sowed in the broad masses of the people the ideological poison of “anti-state rebellion” and the “spirit of Bolshevism”. This contributed to a weak demand for national-state ideals and liberal-conservative ideas.


Afrika Focus ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 43-67
Author(s):  
Kristof Titeca

Political patronage and political values: The developmental role of political patronage and its impact on shaping political values in rural Uganda. This article points out the importance of neo-patrimonial theories in understanding local socio-political dynamics. Through the analysis of a case study in Western Uganda, it is firstly shown how within 'formal' state institutions, there is an 'informal' logic of competing political camps. These political camps, and their subsidiary networks of political patronage, have adverse effects for development. Secondly, this system has a profound impact on how people perceive the service-delivery functions of the state: people on the ground do not expect the state to be there for everyone, but only for the people of their 'political camp' or network. Also the role of the state is seen as strongly personalised, as the 'big men' are perceived to have taken over the service provision activities of the state.


Politics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Moran

Gramsci revised classical Marxist accounts of the role of the state in society, culture and ideology, and stressed the autonomy of the political process from the economic base. Sociologists often labelled neoWeberian also focus on social change, the state and the political process. Michael Mann, whilst remaining discrete from Marxism has nevertheless moved away from classical Weberian sociology, engaging deeply with materialism in analysing the state. This article compares the work of Gramsci and Mann regarding the state, to examine whether a genuine synthesis is possible between Gramsci (perhaps the first ‘neo-Marxist’) and Mann, a neoWeberian.


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