The Limits of Sociological Marxism?

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam David Morton
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
State Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Direct Reading ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Historical Materialist ◽  
Passive Revolution

Abstract Within the agenda of historical-materialist theory and practice Sociological Marxism has delivered a compelling perspective on how to explore and link the analysis of civil society, the state, and the economy within an explicit focus on class exploitation, emancipation, and rich ethnography. This article situates a major analysis of state formation, the rise of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), and the growth of a broader Islamist movement in Turkey within the main current of Sociological Marxism. It does so in order to critically examine the rather bold revision of the theory of hegemony at the heart of Cihan Tuğal’s Passive Revolution: Absorbing the Islamic Challenge to Capitalism, which posits the separate interaction of political society, civil society and the state in theorising hegemonic politics in Turkey. My contention is that the revision of hegemony that this analysis offers and its state-theoretical commitments are deeply problematic due to the reliance on what I term ‘ontological exteriority’, meaning the treatment of state, civil society and the economy as always-already separate spheres. The focus of the critique then moves toward highlighting a frustrating lack of direct engagement with Antonio Gramsci’s writings in this disquisition on hegemony and passive revolution, which has important political consequences. While praise for certain aspects of ethnographic and spatial analysis is raised, it is argued that any account of the reordering of hegemony and the restructuring of spatial-temporal contexts of capital accumulation through conditions of passive revolution also needs to draw from a more sophisticated state theory, a direct reading of Gramsci, and broader scalar analysis of spatial relations and uneven development under capitalism.

Domestic Colonies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Arneil
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Abraham Lincoln ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Alexis De Tocqueville ◽  
Modern History ◽  
Peter Kropotkin

Colonization is generally defined as a process by which states settle and dominate foreign lands or peoples. Thus, modern colonies are assumed to be outside Europe and the colonized non-European. This volume contends such definitions of the colony, the colonized, and colonization need to be fundamentally rethought in light of hundreds of ‘domestic colonies’ proposed and/or created by governments and civil society organizations initially within Europe in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries and then beyond. The three categories of domestic colonies in this book are labour colonies for the idle poor, farm colonies for the mentally ill, and disabled and utopian colonies for racial, religious, and political minorities. All of these domestic colonies were justified by an ideology of domestic colonialism characterized by three principles: segregation, agrarian labour, improvement, through which, in the case of labour and farm colonies, the ‘idle’, ‘irrational’, and/or custom-bound would be transformed into ‘industrious and rational’ citizens while creating revenues for the state to maintain such populations. Utopian colonies needed segregation from society so their members could find freedom, work the land, and challenge the prevailing norms of the society around them. Defended by some of the leading progressive thinkers of the period, including Alexis de Tocqueville, Abraham Lincoln, Peter Kropotkin, Robert Owen, Tommy Douglas, and Booker T. Washington, the turn inward to colony not only provides a new lens with which to understand the scope of colonization and colonialism in modern history but a critically important way to distinguish ‘the colonial’ from ‘the imperial’ in Western political theory and practice.

David Harvey’s theory of uneven geographical development: A Marxist critique

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 511-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raju J Das
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Relations ◽  
State Theory ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
The State ◽  
Production Of Space ◽  
Class Relation ◽  
Internal Relation ◽  
Spatial Dispersal ◽  
Shed Light

The Marxist geographer, David Harvey, has written extensively and influentially about the production of space under capitalism and, in particular, uneven geographical development. This article is a Marxist critique of Harvey’s theory of uneven geographical development. It presents his theory around six interconnected theses: spatial concentration thesis, spatial dispersal thesis, surplus absorption or spatial fix thesis, uneven geographical development-as-ideology thesis, the uneven geographical development and the state connection thesis, and uneven geographical development–associated political thesis. His theory has shed light on certain aspects of the internal relation between capitalist accumulation and uneven geographical development, giving due emphasis to uneven geographical development’s contradictory character. It is, however, problematic on multiple grounds. It under-stresses the class relation, including the value-relation, between capital and labour, and correlatively fetishizes the power of spatial relations. While Harvey connects uneven geographical development to capitalist crisis, his theory of crisis is deeply inadequate. His theory also fails to systematically integrate the insights of state theory into it, and to the extent that the state is present, its essential class character remains under-emphasized. Finally, Harvey draws some conclusions about anti-capitalist political practice from his theory of uneven geographical development which are problematic from a Marxist vantage point. In particular, his view of the concept of the proletariat in Marxism and his scepticism towards the role of the proletariat in the fight against capital are contestable.

scholarly journals The importance of people's control in the implementation of environmental rights: theoretical and legal aspect

2021 ◽  
pp. 40-43
Author(s):  
Halyna PRYSHLIAK
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Legal Institution ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Environmental Rights ◽  
Public Control ◽  
The People

The problem of people's control, the importance of which is indisputable for the implementation of environmental rights in the state, is one of the most complex, significant and fundamental issues in the theory of state and law. Theoretical understanding and development of practical recommendations for solving this problem is a necessary condition for effective scientific management of social processes. Discovering the essence of the concept of "people's control" as a fundamentally new legal category for domestic science, as well as solving a number of other problems of theory and practice of such control requires a thorough study of its formation as a separate independent legal institution and approval and improvement of its forms. It should be noted that the control of the people is one of the types of public control, which consists in monitoring citizens over the activities of public authorities, their officials, as well as analysis and verification of these activities, aimed at preventing, detecting and stopping actions that cause violations and legitimate human interests, including environmental. In addition, control is an important factor in the formation of civil society and the element that ensures the relationship between government and the people, which in turn is a necessary condition for building a democratic and legal state. Thus, it can be noted that all the mentioned authors consider only certain areas of people's control, bypassing such an important factor as recognizing it as a separate independent legal institution that has an important impact on the implementation of rights, including environmental. The actualization of this provision is especially intensified in view of the fact that the process of institutionalization of civil society is underway in Ukraine, and the turbulent events of political life give it certain impulses. Thus, the importance of people's control in various spheres of state and public activity, including environmental, is not in doubt, and its level corresponds to the development of democracy, civil society institutions, their impact on public authorities. Public control is designed to increase the responsibility of the state to citizens for its decisions and for the achievement of state obligations, as well as to ensure the proper exercise of rights and freedoms, including environmental.

scholarly journals National security of independent Ukraine: comprehension of the essence

2021 ◽  
pp. 163-186
Author(s):  
Volodymyr Smolianiuk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
National Security ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
State Building ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Military Organization ◽  
National Security State

An important component of the state-building process in Ukraine is the government’s activities to ensure national security, which is an attribute of independence. The ruling political forces in Ukraine have created the necessary legal framework for national security (parliamentary resolutions, laws, decrees of the head of state). The process of ensuring the national security of Ukraine should be divided into stages: 1991−2014 (imitation) and after 2014 (essential). The peculiarities of the first stage were the wide involvement of Soviet approaches in the formation of the institutional basis for ensuring national security, the imitation of the defense activity of legitimate armed formations, and the development of the military organization of the state. It was considered that the proper level of military security of Ukraine is evidence of national security in general. At the beginning of 2014, the system of ensuring Ukraine's national security on the basis of imitation collapsed, which failed to counteract Russia's aggressive plans. Seeking to hinder the will of the Ukrainian people for a European future, Russia occupied part of Ukraine’s territory − the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and unleashed military aggression in eastern Ukraine. The beginning of the essential stage of ensuring the national security of Ukraine is connected with the initiative involvement of civil society in the implementation of security and defense tasks. Evidence of this were: the rapid organization of the emergence of volunteer battalions and their practical application in eastern Ukraine; active formation of local self-defense forces; powerful volunteer movement; deployment of information resistance structures to the enemy’s propaganda influences; implementation of the values of patriotism in the spiritual and cultural life of the population, etc. The violent reaction of civil society to the threats and dangers that threaten the very existence of an independent and sovereign Ukraine has become a social reality. In Ukraine, there has been a fundamental shift in emphasis in the understanding of national security. The main subject of its ensuring is the security and defense sector, which combines state authorities, state armed formations and civil society structures interested in solving security and defense tasks. In Ukraine, which seeks to become democratic, security activities have been de-ethicized, which is not the case in authoritarian countries. If earlier national security was interpreted as a state of protection of national interests, now (at the request of civil society) − as a state of protection of national interests and values. The theory and practice of creating national security of Ukraine are developing dynamically. The subject of scientific research and public discussions are methodological, institutional, public administration, social compensation aspects of national security and defense. It is a matter of practical implementation of their results with the leading participation of constitutional state structures. Key words: national security, state-building, legal framework on national security, military organization of the state, security and defense sector, civil society, security, danger.

scholarly journals FINANCING OF PROJECTS OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS BY DONOR FUNDS OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-77
Author(s):  
Anhelina Levchenko
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
International Financial Institutions ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World

In today’s world, each country has its own methods of financing civil society organisations (CSOs) and the peculiarities of the distribution of the financial burden between the state, private organisations, and donor funds of international financial institutions. Regulatory and institutional mechanisms of both national and global civil society organisations directly affect the funding potential of the state and its people. In addition, the state also plays an important role both in financing transnational activities and in facilitating or hindering the inflow of funds through the establishment of various tax regimes. In view of this, the study of CSOs funding by donor funds of international financial institutions (IFIs) is appropriate because civil society organisations are a necessary precondition for the establishment of a democratic world order. The article is devoted to the study of the main trends and aspects of interaction between international financial institutions and civil society organisations in terms of financial support of the latter. The author analyses the mechanisms of financing civil society organisations by the World Bank Group based on statistical information and research of international institutions. The article also examines the sectoral structure of projects and the regional structure of partners in the framework of the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) as a fundamental financial mechanism of the World Bank. The author outlines the relationship between civil society organisations and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The purpose of the article is to study and analyse the financial mechanisms of the World Bank as the main donor for the financial support of civil society organisations. Methodology. This study is based on the use of the methodological principle of unity of theory and practice. The methodological basis of the article includes the methods of quantitative and qualitative comparisons, analysis and synthesis, and systems-structural analysis.

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