The boundary problem in democratic theory: why the demos should be bounded by the state

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Song
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Problem ◽  
Primary Site ◽  
The State ◽  
Democratic Participation ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
World State ◽  
Territorial Boundaries ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Instrumental Condition ◽  
Practical Implications

Democracy is rule by the demos, but by what criteria is the demos constituted? Theorists of democracy have tended to assume that the demos is properly defined by national boundaries or by the territorial boundaries of the modern state. In a recent turn, many democratic theorists have advanced the principles of affected interests and coercion as the basis for defining the boundaries of democracy. According to these principles, it is not co-nationals or fellow citizens but all affected or all subjected to coercion who constitute the demos. In this paper, I argue that these recent approaches to the boundary problem are insufficiently attentive to the conditions of democracy. Democracy is not merely a set of procedures; it also consists of substantive values and principles. Political equality is a constitutive condition of democracy, and solidarity is an instrumental condition of democracy. The affected interests and coercion principles create serious problems for the realization of these conditions – problems of size and stability. Building on this critique, this paper presents democratic considerations for why the demos should be bounded by the territorial boundaries of the state, grounded in the state's role in (1) securing the constitutive conditions of democracy, (2) serving as the primary site of solidarity conducive to democratic participation, and (3) establishing clear links between representatives and their constituents. I examine and reject a third alternative, a global demos bounded by a world state, and conclude by considering some practical implications of my argument.

Rag Doll Nations and the Politics of Differentiation on Arbitrary Borders: Karelia and Moldova*

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lawrence Schrad
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
The State ◽  
Ethnic Community ◽  
National Identities ◽  
The Other ◽  
Interesting Aspect ◽  
Territorial Boundaries ◽  
Shed Light

“Tell a man today to go and build a state,” Samuel Finer once stated, “and he will try to establish a definite and defensible boundary and compel those who live inside it to obey him.” While at best an oversimplification, Finer's insight illuminates an interesting aspect of state-society relations. Who is it that builds the state? How and where do they establish territorial boundaries, and how are those who live within that territory compelled to obey? Generally speaking, these are the questions that will be addressed here. Of more immediate concern is the fate of peoples located in regions where arbitrary land boundaries fall. Are they made loyal to the state through coercion or by their own compulsions? More importantly, how are their identities shaped by the efforts of the state to differentiate them from their compatriots on the other side of the borders? How is the shift from ethnic to national identities undertaken? A parallel elaboration of the national histories of the populations of Karelia and Moldova will shed light on these questions. The histories of each group are marked by a myriad of attempts to differentiate the identity of each ethnic community from their compatriots beyond the state's borders. The results of such overt, state-initiated efforts to differentiate borderland populations by encouraging a national identity at the expense of the ethnic, has ranged from the mundane to the tragic—from uneventful assimilation to persecution and even genocide. As an illustration of the range of possibilities and processes, I maintain that the tragedies of Karelia and Moldova are not exceptional, but rather are a consequence of their geographical straddling of arbitrary borders, and the need for the state to promote a distinctive national identity for these populations to differentiate them socially from their compatriots beyond the frontier.

scholarly journals INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF DECLARING PROPERTY, ASSETS AND PRIVATE INTERESTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 214
Author(s):  
Anna Tytko ◽  
Hanna Stepanova
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
The State ◽  
Financial Control ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Private Interest ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
The Subject ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Practical Implications

The aim of the article. To analyse the specificities of asset and private interest declaration by public officials and representatives of political power, as well as to suggest the author’s original differentiation of declarations of assets, income, private interests, and gifts. The subject of the study is the procedure for submitting declarations by persons entrusted with functions of the state and local self-government bodies in some countries of Western Europe. Methodology. In the article, the method of deduction and induction enabled to study the features of violating the requirements of financial control through the procedure for submitting a declaration by persons entrusted with functions of the state and local authorities. The methods of deduction and synthesis enabled to define the concept of “asset and interest declaration”, practiced in some countries of Western Europe. A comparative legal analysis enabled to study the procedure for submitting an income and expenditure declaration in some Western European countries, identifying the main types of conflict of interest and income declarations, as well as differentiating persons obliged to submit declarations. The results of the study revealed that the foreign experience of asset declaration is closely intertwined with the private interest declaration. Practical implications. In the study: first, the specificities of foreign declaration practice, according to the subjects of such declaration submission, are outlined; second, the procedures for submitting declarations of income and expenditures, as well as interests, are analysed and compared; third, the author’s perspective on the differentiation of declarations and declarants is substantiated. Relevance/originality. The comparative legal analysis enabled to study the procedure for submitting a declaration of public officials in some countries of Western Europe, empowering to form perspective areas of legislation development in this sphere.

scholarly journals Algorithms, Manipulation, and Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Thomas Christiano
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Society ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Participation ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Political Sophistication ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Political Inequality

Abstract Algorithmic communications pose several challenges to democracy. The three phenomena of filtering, hypernudging, and microtargeting can have the effect of polarizing an electorate and thus undermine the deliberative potential of a democratic society. Algorithms can spread fake news throughout the society, undermining the epistemic potential that broad participation in democracy is meant to offer. They can pose a threat to political equality in that some people may have the means to make use of algorithmic communications and the sophistication to be immune from attempts at manipulation, while other people are vulnerable to manipulation by those who use these means. My concern here is with the danger that algorithmic communications can pose to political equality, which arises because most citizens must make decisions about what and who to support in democratic politics with only a sparse budget of time, money, and energy. Algorithmic communications such as hypernudging and microtargeting can be a threat to democratic participation when persons are operating in environments that do not conduce to political sophistication. This constitutes a deepening of political inequality. The political sophistication necessary to counter this vulnerability is rooted for many in economic life and it can and ought to be enhanced by changing the terms of economic life.

Refugees and Changing State-Citizen Relations

2020 ◽  
pp. 135-148
Author(s):  
Anne Marie Baylouny
Keyword(s):  
Good Governance ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Aid Effectiveness ◽  
The State ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Syrian Refugees ◽  
Differential Outcomes ◽  
Forced Migrants ◽  
Practical Implications

This chapter summarizes the argument and the practical implications of the findings on Jordan, Lebanon, and Syrian refugees for future movements toward good governance. It details the types of protest that occurred in Jordan and Lebanon and examines the differential outcomes in aid effectiveness and movements in Jordan and Lebanon, and the dynamics of humanitarian aid on state sovereignty. It also points out how the state has become more central in Lebanon and Jordan, while specific services are subcontracted. The chapter talks about the massive aid and loans that are intended to alleviate pressure on refugee-hosting states which triggered more protests while also not helping the refugees. It analyzes refugees through lenses of xenophobia, militarization, and humanitarianism that conceals refugees' and forced migrants' wider roles in catalyzing changes in state-society relations.

Crowdfunding Platforms Dynamics

2021 ◽  
pp. 109-133
Author(s):  
Amaya Erro-Garcés ◽  
Begoña Urien
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
The Other ◽  
Geographic Proximity ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Practical Implications

This chapter compares two national crowdfunding markets based on their platforms and regulatory legislation on crowdfunding. Spain and France were selected though a cluster analysis since both differ on those characteristics. Mean comparison tests were carried out to estimate differences. Data were based on a survey specifically designed and conducted for this research. While crowdfunding is an internet-powered activity with global accessibility, national boundaries and geographic proximity play a significant role in shaping the performance of crowdfunding platforms. Regarding practical implications, as each country developed its specific legislation, it is concluded that this legislation may boost or hinder the growth of crowdfunding. On the other hand, the different way platforms managed their business does not affect their outcomes in terms of number of projects and funds raised. As a result, although platforms are indispensable as an intermediate agent between funders and investors, they determine neither the number of projects hosted nor the funds raised.

Neotraditional authority contested: the corporatization of tradition and the quest for democracy in the Topnaar Traditional Authority, Namibia

Africa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 318-338
Author(s):  
Mario Krämer
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
The State ◽  
Democratic Participation ◽  
Local Power ◽  
Traditional Authority ◽  
Fair Share ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Community Activists ◽  
Per Se

AbstractThis article examines two closely related themes: the triangle of tradition, capital and the state; and resistance to neotraditional leadership and local activism for democracy. I investigate an uprising in the Topnaar Traditional Authority in the Erongo region of Namibia by young community activists who aimed to promote democracy in their community in a context of manifold accusations of self-enrichment and corruption against the neotraditional leadership. The article demonstrates that the corporatization of tradition is a double-edged sword: neotraditional leaders expand their local power towards their subjects in the short term, but it often produces severe conflict that may result in the delegitimization of neotraditional authority in the long run. However, the Topnaar youth uprising and quest for democracy was less about challenging neotraditional authority per se and more about replacing the incumbents as well as obtaining a fair share of political power. It resulted from the perception that the neotraditional-cum-corporate ventures no longer served the cause of a common good; this, in turn, contradicted the general ideal of equality among the Topnaar. The corporatization of tradition thus generated local grievances and stimulated demands for democratic participation. Since the uprising gained at least some of its momentum from my research on neotraditional authority, I also reflect on my role.

Sources of International Investment Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge E. Viñuales
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
International Investment ◽  
The State ◽  
Conventional Theory ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Basic Understanding ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Practical Implications

This chapter addresses the challenges posed by the practice of international investment law to the conventional theory of the sources of international law. After a brief overview of the main ‘sources’ of ‘international investment law’, the chapter examines three challenges to this basic understanding, which arise from the need to account for the domestic laws governing different aspects of foreign investment transactions, the detailed jurisprudential norms generated by investment tribunals to specify broadly formulated norms, and the norms of general international law expressing the sovereignty of the State. For each category of norms, the chapter selects several problems that put the most widely accepted understanding of the sources of international law to test. It then explains why the problems examined have potentially important practical implications. The chapter concludes with some observations on the interactions between practice and the theory of the sources of international law.

Liberté, Laïcité, Pluralité: Towards a Theology of Principled Pluralism

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 354-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Chaplin
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
The State ◽  
National Debate ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Charlie Hebdo

While the Charlie Hebdo attacks unleashed a highly distinctive national debate within France, that debate also serves to throw into sharp relief the deepening tensions generated by increasingly complex relationships between the state and religion across much of Europe, not least due to the arrival of immigrant minority faiths wishing to advance claims in what is widely assumed to be ‘secular’ public space. After reviewing these tensions, the article distinguishes five current European responses to them and proposes a model of ‘principled pluralism’ as a theologically defensible option. The original theological roots of such a model are outlined and six indicative contemporary practical implications proposed.

The right to the truth in international law: fact or fiction?

2006 ◽  
Vol 88 (862) ◽  
pp. 245-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmin Naqvi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
The Right ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Legal Right

The right to the truth has emerged as a legal concept at the national, regional and international levels, and relates to the obligation of the state to provide information to victims or to their families or even society as a whole about the circumstances surrounding serious violations of human rights. This article unpacks the notion of the right to the truth and tests the normative strength of the concept against the practice of states and international bodies. It also considers some of the practical implications of turning “truth” into a legal right, particularly from the criminal law perspective.

Political Inclusion and the Dynamics of Democratization

1996 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Dryzek
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
The State ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Political Inclusion ◽  
Progressive Inclusion

Once universal adult citizenship rights have been secured in a society, democratization is mostly a matter of the more authentic political inclusion of different groups and categories, for which formal political equality can hide continued exclusion or oppression. It is important, however, to distinguish between inclusion in the state and inclusion in the polity more generally. Democratic theorists who advocate a strategy of progressive inclusion of as many groups as possible in the state fail to recognize that the conditions for authentic as opposed to symbolic inclusion are quite demanding. History shows that benign inclusion in the state is possible only when (a) a group's defining concern can be assimilated to an established or emerging state imperative, and (b) civil society is not unduly depleted by the group's entry into the state. Absent such conditions, oppositional civil society may be a better focus for democratization than is the state. A flourishing oppositional sphere, and therefore the conditions for democratization itself, may actually be facilitated by a passively exclusive state, the main contemporary form of which is corporatism. Benign inclusion in the state can sometimes occur, but any such move should also produce exclusions that both facilitate future democratization and guard against any reversal of democratic commitment in state and society. These considerations have substantial implications for the strategic choices of social movements.

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