State Protection of Energy Consumers

Author(s):  
Hanri Mostert ◽  
Tjakie Naude

This chapter scrutinizes the role of the state in ensuring electricity supply and protecting end-consumers along a spectrum of energy market models. On the one end, there are markets dominated by virtual state monopolies, such as the South African example, where supply and consumer protection take on a different shape, compared to those on the other end of the spectrum, where distribution of energy to end-consumers is privatized. The European Union (EU) exemplifies the latter. Analyses of both the Australian and Nigerian models of energy supply and end-consumer protection are included to demonstrate variations within privatized markets, and comment on the role of the state in implementing privatization. Issues of procedural and participatory justice are considered. Social justice issues are raised, furthermore, in that the type of consumer protection in a system is influenced by the degree of affluence of the community and the resilience of the system of governance.

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 34-66
Author(s):  
Joyce Valdovinos

The provision of water services has traditionally been considered a responsibility of the state. During the late 1980s, the private sector emerged as a key actor in the provision of public services. Mexico City was no exception to this trend and public authorities awarded service contracts to four private consortia in 1993. Through consideration of this case study, two main questions arise: First, why do public authorities establish partnerships with the private sector? Second, what are the implications of these partnerships for water governance? This article focuses, on the one hand, on the conceptual debate of water as a public and/or private good, while identifying new trends and strategies carried out by private operators. On the other hand, it analyzes the role of the state and its relationships with other actors through a governance model characterized by partnerships and multilevel networks.Spanish La provisión del servicio del agua ha sido tradicionalmente considerada como una responsabilidad del Estado. A finales de la década de 1980, el sector privado emerge como un actor clave en el suministro de servicios públicos. La ciudad de México no escapa a esta tendencia y en 1993 las autoridades públicas firman contratos de servicios con cuatro consorcios privados. A través de este estudio de caso, dos preguntas son planteadas: ¿Por qué las autoridades públicas establecen partenariados con el sector privado? ¿Cuáles son las implicaciones de dichos partenariados en la gobernanza del agua? Este artículo aborda por una parte, el debate conceptual del agua como bien público y/o privado, identificando nuevas tendencias y estrategias de los operadores privados. Por otra parte, se analizan el rol y las relaciones del Estado con otros actores a través de un modelo de gobernanza, definido en términos de partenariados y redes multi-niveles.French Les services de l'eau ont été traditionnellement considérés comme une responsabilité de l'État. À la fin des années 1980, le secteur privé est apparu comme un acteur clé dans la fourniture de certains services publics. La ville de Mexico n'a pas échappé à cette tendance et en 1993, les autorités publiques ont signé des contrats de services avec quatre consortiums privés. À travers cette étude de cas, nous nous interrogerons sur deux aspects : pourquoi les autorités publiques établissentelles des partenariats avec le secteur privé ? Quelles sont les implications de ces partenariats sur la gouvernance de l'eau ? Cet article s'intéresse, d'une part, au débat conceptuel sur l'eau en tant que bien public et/ou privé, en identifiant les tendances nouvelles et les stratégies menées par les opérateurs privés. D'autre part y sont analysés le rôle de l'État et ses relations avec d'autres acteurs à travers un modèle de gouvernance, défini en termes de partenariats, et des réseaux multi-niveaux.


2012 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques P. Leider

What these four quite different books broadly share is a focus on the role of the state in Myanmar society. Current scholarship describes the authoritarian state in Myanmar, which has been controlled by the army since 1962, as either dominantly present or neglectfully absent. Censorship and the repression of autonomous spaces in society, on the one hand, and the failure of the state to enforce efficient health and environmental policies, on the other, are keywords in these works that illustrate the double-faced appearance of the state's existence and role in society.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 265-282
Author(s):  
Tomasz Łachacz ◽  
Sylwester Zagulski

Unemployment is classified today as one of the main threats to society. The phenomenon affects the lives of individuals, the functioning of families and society and development of the state. It is often the source of other social problems such as poverty, violence, or social pathologies. The article presents the scale and nature of unemployment occurring after 1989 in Poland and in selected European Union countries, i.e. the Netherlands, Spain, Slovakia and Latvia. It attempts to show the characteristic trends of the phenomenon over a period of more than two decades. Examples from the European countries analysed show that the situation in the labour market and the approach to employment are radically different. Individual countries are characterised by very different unemployment rates, which reflect their different size, economic and demographic potential, or are associated with the tradition of employment. The existence of differences seems to be normal, but their scale may give rise to concern. A characteristic feature of unemployment in the period analysed is its regional diversity, both in Poland and in the whole of the European community. Important factors that determine the level of unemployment are age, sex, education and people’s qualifications. The effects of long-term unemployment are very painful for the whole of society. Such a situation can lead to, amongst others, poverty, societal antagonism, violence and migration. The latter is an issue that the whole of Europe is currently struggling with. The uncontrolled influx of immigrants, including those migrating for economic reasons, causes fear of losing their job among Europeans, which in turn translates into the radicalisation of society. A role of the state and the EU institutions is to create an effective mechanism for the protection and support of the unemployed. This is a prerequisite for Europeans to continue the project which is a common united Europe.


Yurispruden ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
Arasy Pradana A Azis

ABSTRACTThe Reformation then became a momentum for improving the issues of upholding human rights in Indonesia, where human rights matters formally entered into the division of power. On the one hand, for the first time, a ministry was formed specifically to deal with human rights matters. While outside the executive body, Law No. 39 of 1999 strengthens the position of the National Commission of Human Rights which has actually been established since 1993. This phenomenon then raises a problem statement, on how bureaucratization of human rights after Reformation is manifested through the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Human Rights. It was found that each institution gained legitimacy from political dynamics in a more democratic public space. Between the state ministries for human rights and the National Commission of Human Rights, the principle of check and balances was carried out in their role as an organ of the Indonesian bureaucracy. On the one hand, the state minister for human rights is an extension of the executive's hand in managing human rights matters. As a counterweight, the National Human Rights Commission carries out the role of the state auxiliary bodies to monitor the government’s human rights work.Keywords:    Politic of Law, Bureaucratization, Human Rigths, Ministry of Law and Human Rights Affairs, National Commission of Human Rights. ABSTRAKPeristiwa Reformasi menjadi momentum perbaikan urusan penegakan HAM di Indonesia, di mana urusan HAM secara formal masuk ke dalam pembagian kekuasaan negara. Di satu sisi, untuk pertama kalinya dibentuk satu kementerian yang secara khusus menangani urusan HAM. Sementara di luar lembaga eksekutif, Undang-Undang Nomor 39 Tahun 1999 menguatkan kedudukan Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia yang sejatinya telah terbentuk sejak tahun 1993. Fenomena ini kemudian menimbulkan satu rumusan permasalahan, yaitu bagaimana birokratisasi urusan HAM pasca reformasi termanifestasi melalui pembentukan Komnas HAM dan kementerian urusan HAM. Ditemukan bahwa masing-masing lembaga memperoleh legitimasi dari dinamika politik di ruang publik yang lebih demokratis. Antara kementerian negara urusan HAM dan Komnas HAM kemudian menjalankan prinsip check and balances dalam menjalankan perannya sebagai organ birokrasi Indonesia. Di satu sisi, kementerian negara urusan HAM merupakan perpanjangan tangan eksekutif untuk mengurus urusan HAM. Sebagai penyeimbang, Komnas HAM menjalankan peran sebagai state auxiliary bodies guna mengawasi kinerja HAM pemerintah.Kata Kunci: Politik Hukum, Birokratisasi, Hak Asasi Manusia, Kementerian Urusan HAM, Komnas HAM.


Author(s):  
V.I. Semenova ◽  
◽  
M.F. Fridman ◽  

This article is devoted to the most important issue of ensuring an innovative breakthrough in socio-economic development in the conditions of information and economic confrontation. Today, humanity is entering an era of a fundamentally different system of social relations, values and meanings. The emergence of a multipolar world model increases the competition of developed countries, on the one hand, and weakens the role of the state in society, on the other. Economic sanctions significantly hinder innovative development, so the state, as one of the main social institutions, still needs qualitatively new, more productive, innovative solutions, the emergence and implementation of which is impossible without appropriate personnel: researchers, analysts, developers, managers and workers.


2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 450-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrin Maier ◽  
Simon Coleman

AbstractWe explore the tensions evident among Nigerian Pentecostals in London between social and ideological insularity on the one hand, and a more outward-oriented, expansive orientation on the other. Analysis of these stances is complemented by the exploration of believers' actions within a material but also metaphorical arena that we term “London-Lagos.” Such themes are developed specifically through a focus on believers' relations with Nigerian and British state systems in relation to child-rearing—an activity that renders parents sometimes dangerously visible to apparatuses of the state but also raises key dilemmas concerning the proper and moral location of socialisation into Christian values. We show how such dilemmas are embodied in a play, written by a Nigerian Pentecostalist, termed “The Vine-Keepers.”


2001 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredrik Söderbaum ◽  
Ian Taylor

This article problematises the role of the state in what is claimed to be the ‘flagship’ of the South African Spatial Development Initiative (SDI) programme, the Maputo Development Corridor (MDC). The purpose is to assess to what extent the state is best understood as a ‘transmission belt’ for transnational capital or as a ‘facilitator’ for development. The study reveals several flaws in the MDC which reinforce the role of the state as a transmission belt for transnational capital, rather than as a facilitator for development. For instance, the neo-liberal market fundamentalism and big-bang approach inherent in the MDC spells ‘jobless growth’. Similarly, the notion that ‘good governance is less government’, implies that the state is to a large extent reduced to an ‘investment promotion agency’. Having said this, the MDC does contain several novel and positive features, and its problematic aspects can be overcome through some strategic changes in the MDC approach. These may be summarised as a heavier focus on ‘development’, a more pro-active state, and more comprehensive and inclusive governance structures.


2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 656-657
Author(s):  
Allison Drew

These two books deal with the legacy of apartheid for South Africa's democracy, approaching the problems posed by this legacy from differing perspectives about the role of the state. Pierre du Toit, in a thoughtful and well-researched book, addresses the problem of violence in post-apartheid South Africa. Peace in a society with a history of violence needs to be nurtured, he contends, and the state must play a central role.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (72) ◽  
pp. 333-349
Author(s):  
Mircea COȘEA

Coronavirus has generated changes and mutations not only in the conduct of our daily lives, but also in the organization and functioning of the economic mechanism at national and global level.The rapid changes and shifts that are taking place in the economy are for the moment the result of the political mainstream, especially the governmental one, and of the system of internationalfinancial institutions. What is visible and certain is the elimination of some limits in giving up ideological principles and established rules of the functioning of the economic mechanism. Thus, the neoclassical ideology, the foundation of the whole scaffolding of the global economic policies, easily compromises by admitting that in the current conditions state interventionism has a more  important role than free market laws in counteracting the effects of the pandemic on the economy. This process easily went beyond the regulations of the liberalization of trade in goods, returning to protectionism with nationalist accents as well as to bans on food and medicine exports. The principle of European solidarity is being threatened by unilateral decisions taken by Member States, or by the abandonment of European agreements in order to replace them by national decisions. Globalization was based on the imperative to produce, sell and buy, move, circulate, move on. Its ideology of progress is based on the idea that the economy must definitely replace politics. The essence of the system was the abolishment of limits: more trade, more and more goods, more and more profits to allow money to circulate and turn into capital. This whole concept of development has ceased to be the guiding principle of economic growth and development, thecurrent trend being the return to national borders, if not in a strictly territorial sense, at least in an economic sense. That is why one of the important changes of recent months is the emergence of policies designedto change the meaning of supply chains. Rethinking supply chains is a consequence of border closures or of the sudden closure of transport. It is a critical point of pressure that weighs mainly on car manufacturers and capitalgoods. As a result, there will be a trend of relocating production to European or Maghreb countries where wages remain lower than the European average. Another quick and important change is the one related to the role of the state in the economy, neoliberalism successfully promoting throughout the global economy the idea of the need for the limited role of state decision and state interventionism in the economy. The current change consists precisely in reversing the role of the state from passivity to activity, considered as the only one capable of ensuring an efficient system for managing the pandemic and restarting the economy. For many analysts, the coronavirus crisis could lead to a profound change in the global economic model and in the individual economic behavior.This is an extremely important issue also from the perspective of Romania's future. We are at a turning point and will have to make quick and complex decisions, because Romania risks entering a post-crisis period in an economic stagnation difficult to overcome, due to the lack ofproductivity, innovation and modern management. The gaps between Romania and the vast majority of European countries will be maintained, condemning us to occupy a marginal and lower place in the hierarchy of the European economy, characterized by a high and dangerous degree of dependence on the evolution and dynamics of markets in the strong states of the European Union. The explanation of this situation lies in the type and functioning of the structure of the Romanian economy. The current structure of the Romanian economy lies on the last concentric circle of European integration, if its center is considered the western core of theEU. There is no doubt about this inevitability. The crisis caused by the pandemic already exists and despite the optimism of some international financial institutions it will profoundly affect the state of the world economy and the life of the citizens. There will be not only major changes in the paradigm of the neoliberal model of the global economy but also changes in the balance of power between the world's major economic and political actors. The trade war between the USA and China is also beginning to have important political aspects, as the fight for world leadership between these two superpowers is generating tensions over the entire world. These tensions will surely have many "collateral victims" through the direct and indirect damage that many national economies, even the European Union, will suffer, as a result of the economicand political consequences of the US and China entering a state that some Western analysts define as " a cold war but with a tendency to warm up". These elements will aggravate the pressure that the pandemic crisis will put on the state of the world economy, determining the extent and depth of the effects of the crisis not only on the economic field but also on the balance and stability of international relations.Keywords: coronavirus crisis; value chains; multilateralism-unilateralism; protectionism, neoliberal global economic model. 


Author(s):  
Seyhan Taş ◽  
Mehmet Akif Kara ◽  
Sena Türkmen ◽  
Enver Günay

It is observed that regional economic policies, which are applied to reduce the regional imbalances and to improve the income and employment in underdeveloped regions, tend to change in time. This change in turn brings out the concept of regional competition. This change also reflects the state’s policy tools, while the concept of regional efficiency becomes to be determinative in state’s regional economic policies in addition to the concept of regional equality. In this context the public policies of regional level can be said as following: first to develop regional infrastructural investments, second; to support the small and medium sized firms and the clusters around them which can stimulate internal potential of the region, and to develop the technological and innovative frames of the firms. Similar changes occur in Turkey as well together with the European Union membership process, while the concept of regional competition begins to shape the regional economic policies with the legal and institutional arrangements. In this study, we tried to assess the changing role of the state, especially from the point of Turkey, in the regional development policies.


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