For a Law of Public Contract Per Se: An Intervention from Liberal Contract Theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 856-877
Author(s):  
Janet M McLean
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
The State ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Uk

Abstract Judges in judicial review cases in New Zealand and the UK currently begin with the presumption that the existence of a contract means that the matter should be treated as a private law one—at least in the absence of a special ‘public element’. This article argues that all contracts with government entities should be treated as presumptively public. Such a position can be justified by recourse to liberal contract theory. Arthur Ripstein’s Kantian theory identifies the critical role of the state in securing the background conditions for the operation of private law. These are unsettled when a government entity is one of the parties to a contract.

Austerity, Women and the Role of the State

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki Dabrowski
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Class Relations ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Gendered Politics ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds ◽  
Everyday Experiences ◽  
The Uk

Using interviews with women from diverse backgrounds, the author of this book makes an invaluable contribution to the debates around the gendered politics of austerity in the UK. Exploring the symbiotic relationship between the state's legitimization of austerity and women's everyday experiences, the book reveals how unjust policies are produced, how alternatives are silenced and highlights the different ways in which women are used or blamed. By understanding austerity as more than simply an economic project, the book fills important gaps in existing knowledge on state, gender and class relations in the context of UK austerity. Delivering a timely account of the misconceptions of policies, discourses and representations around austerity in the UK, the book illustrates the complex ways through which austerity is experienced by women in their everyday lives.

scholarly journals Mediating the form and direction of regional sustainable development: The role of the state in renewable energy deployment in selected regions

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-317
Author(s):  
Carla De Laurentis
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
National Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
The Uk ◽  
National Governments

This paper analyses and critically discusses the role of regions in implementing renewable energy (RE) policies, examining the relationship between state policy and RE deployment. Using evidence from four case study regions, Apulia and Tuscany in Italy and Wales and Scotland in the UK, the paper teases out some differences in terms of regional competencies to implement RE policies across the two countries. The national governments in both Italy and the UK have constructed regulatory and governance relationships to orchestrate and reorder economic, social and ecological challenges and devolve responsibilities at the sub-national level. This has offered an opportunity for the peculiarities of regional setups to be taken into account and regions have contributed towards the promotion of green and sustainable path development via the route of promoting RE deployment. The paper argues that the downscaling and distribution of responsibility in the cases investigated reflect the capacity and willingness of nation states to respond to and mediate the strategic goals and outcomes formulated at national and international levels. Nevertheless, while the regions investigated display differences in their incentives, capacities and capabilities to increase RE deployment, their ability to act is very much influenced by nation states, stressing the important role of the state in mediating the form and direction of RE deployment.

scholarly journals Exploring the role of the state in the depoliticisation of UK transport policy

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Reardon ◽  
Greg Marsden
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Analysis ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
The State ◽  
Transport Policy ◽  
Full Circle ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Uk

This paper responds to calls for greater empirical investigation of the interrelationships between depoliticisation and repoliticisation processes. It does so by applying the ‘three faces’ (governmental, societal and discursive) organising perspective to a longitudinal analysis of transport policy in the UK. This case is important because acceptance of the current dominant policy solution ‐ infrastructure spending ‐ appears to have come full circle over a 30-year period. The research finds that today’s focus on infrastructure is enabled through intersecting and reinforcing depoliticisation processes, supporting the ‘three faces’ perspective. However, the paper also highlights the need for greater recognition of the state as a meta-governor of depoliticisation and the need for clarity on which aspect of a policy solution or problem (or the connections between them) is being depoliticised and repoliticised to better elucidate politicisation processes.

Foreign and Domestic Factors in the Transformation of Frelimo

1993 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Simpson
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Economic Change ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
The State ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Ruling Party

This article examines the trajectory of the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo), currently the ruling party in Mozambique, focusing on the complex interplay between various factors which contributed to the metamorphoses it has undergone since its founding in 1962. Recent work in the field of international relations and historical sociology has thrown light on the rôle of the state as an administrative-coercive entity constantly cross-pressured by domestic and foreign forces, and acting simultaneously on both fronts in pursuit of advantage. While this scholarship has not focused on ruling parties per se, it is arguable that the standard government versus state dichotomy is of limited analytical value in cases such as Mozambique, where the distinction between party and state remained in practice, until recently, a constitutional nicety. When the ruling party has been institutionalised to the extent of Frelimo, and where the state has become almost an extension of the party, it is the latter that is the key variable in any explanation of political and economic change within society.

scholarly journals [email protected]: Mapping the Landscape of the “Century of the Child”

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen May
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Family ◽  
Present Context ◽  
Emergence Of Institutions

The “Century of the Child” was so named in 1900 by the Swedish writer Ellen Key. In its concluding year, this chapter sketches some maps of childhood in “Aotearoa New Zealand” in terms of: changes in how our society has viewed “children before five”; the emergence of institutions outside of the family to care and educate the “before fives”; different constructions of “before five” childhood and child institutions for Maori and Pakeha; the present context of early childhood services sited amidst new economic and political discourses that are transforming the role of the state.

scholarly journals Poverty as a Political Choice: a Comparative Analysis of Reports of the UN Rapporteur’s Visits to the UK and Spain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Cummins ◽  
Emilio José Gómez-Ciriano
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis paper presents a comparative analysis of two reports by the UN Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, one for Spain and one for the UK. In both countries, austerity policies were introduced following the banking crisis of 2008. The UN Rapporteur reports highlight the damage that was done by welfare retrenchment. In particular, the reports document the impact of austerity on the most vulnerable individuals and communities. The paper uses Somers' (2008) conceptual model of citizenship as the basis for a comparative analysis of two reports. Somers' (2008) model of citizenship is a triadic one which sees the state, market and civil society as competing elements. Each one can serve to regulate and limit the influence or excesses of the other two. Somers argues that neoliberalism has seen the dominance of the market at the expense of the role of the state and the institutions of civil society. Austerity policies saw the market dominating. Having examined the context of the two reports and their conclusions, the paper discussed the implications for individual social workers’ practice and the role of social work as a profession in tackling poverty and marginalisation.

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