Introduction to ‘Britain versus France: How Many Sonderwegs?’

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maïa Pal
Keyword(s):  
State Formation ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Present Issue ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Property Relations ◽  
In Memoriam ◽  
Class Struggles ◽  
British State ◽  
Social Property

In memoriamof the late Ellen Meiksins Wood, this piece firstly remembers the main achievements of her forty years of work. Secondly, it introduces one of her contributions, ‘Britain versus France: How ManySonderwegs?’, until now unavailable in an anglophone publication and reprinted in the present issue. This contribution is a useful reformulation of her arguments concerning radical historicity, the concept of ‘bourgeois revolution’, and the specificity of French and British state formation and their political revolutions – in contrast to arguments for a GermanSonderwegas an explanation for the rise of fascism. Wood also provides a fruitful illustration of how to apply a social-property relations approach to the development of the rule of law in each of these states, and thus furthers opportunities for debates on the potential of Political Marxism for understanding contemporary class struggles over rights.

The political economy of insecure property rights: insights from the Kingdom of Sicily

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosolino A. Candela
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
State Formation ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
Market Exchange ◽  
Credible Commitment ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The 19Th Century

AbstractHow did the evolution of the rule of law become stunted in Sicily during the 19th century? The work of economist Yoram Barzel, particularly his property-rights approach to understanding the political economy of state formation, is uniquely suited to understanding the failure of Italy's unification process to secure the rule of law in Sicily during the 19th century. This failure can be explained by a lack of a credible commitment to the rule of law in the state formation process. I argue that this lack of credible commitment manifested itself in the abolition of previously existing parliamentary institutions as an independent collective action mechanism, as well as prior constitutional agreements that existed in the Kingdom of Sicily. The resulting uncertainty over the security and legal definition of property rights over land raised the transaction costs of competing for resources through productive specialization and market exchange. In turn, it reduced the relative costs of competition for land ownership and the use of enforcement through other means, such as rent seeking or organized crime.

Interaction of Institutes of Legislative and Executive Powers in Modern Ukraine

2017 ◽  
pp. 351-356
Author(s):  
Anastasiia Repetska
Keyword(s):  
State Formation ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
State Power ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Topical Problem ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
Constitutional System

Interaction between the institutions of state power ensures normal performing of their duties as entire state mechanism. It does not enable any of the branches of power. It is for this purpose that the founder of the division of power created a system of restraints and counter balances. To ensure their independence of one branch of government from another, it is necessary that each one has a real opportunity to influence another. Through the division of powers, the rule of law is organized and operates by legal means. At the same time, the principle of distribution of power is not so much a rigid division of functions and competences as the mechanism of their close interaction to solve problems of state formation. The interaction of the institutions of state power as the principle of the Constitutional system of Ukraine is currently a very topical problem, since our state is only at the prime of developing such institutions as an institution for the distribution and interaction of the branches of state power, and, therefore, needs the best possible solution to urgent problems. Keywords: Legislative branch of government, executive branch of government, interaction, powers of branches

Frederick the Great and the Celebrated Case of the Millers Arnold (1770–1779): A Reappraisal

1999 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Luebke
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
State Formation ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Teenth Century ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
Administrative History ◽  
Definition Of

What did it mean when an teenth-century monarch intervened in a legal struggle between social unequals, and decided on behalf of the weaker party? How do historians interpret such an event? In the example under examination here—the cause célèbre of the millers Christian and Rosine Arnold in Brandenburg-Prussia (1770–1779)—the dominant opinion of two centuries has been that King Frederick II's intervention violated justice and the rule of law. Explaining this remarkable continuity of historical attention is easy, for the affair's effects on state-formation in Prussia were far–reaching. On the very day that Frederick ruled in the millers' favor, the king also sacked his chancellor (Grosskanzler), Carl Joseph von Fürst, as well as three members of Brandenburg's supreme tribunal, the Chamber Court (Kammergericht), all for ruling against the millers. In Fürst's place as chancellor, Frederick installed Johann Heinrich Casimir von Carmer, under whom began the process of legal reforms that resulted in the provisional Corpus Juris Fridericianum (1781) and ultimately the General Prussian Code (Allgemeines Preussisches Landrecht, or ALR) of 1794. To some extent, then, Frederick's intervention was the founding act of codification. But it is more difficult to explain the unanimity: with few exceptions, historians and biographers have pronounced the intervention a “judicial catastrophe” (Justizkatastrophe) and declared the millers mere “troublemakers.” This essay will argue that such conclusions are misguided: by framing their questions within the parameters of legal and administrative history, most historians have focused on the legal merits of the Arnolds' suit. In so doing, they have operated on the assumption that a unitary definition of justice prevailed in eighteenth-century Prussia; as a result, most historical appraisals reflect highly partisan contemporary interpretations of the case. But there were at least three distinct “discourses” on justice at work as the case unfolded, each of them corresponding to one of the principal sets of actors in the drama.

Changing the rule of law

IEE Review ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 218
Author(s):  
Clifford Gray
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The Rule Of Law

Changing the rule of law

IEE Review ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
H. Aspden
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The Rule Of Law

A Review of the Electoral Process under Ghana's Fourth Republic

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-377
Author(s):  
Lydia A. Nkansah ◽  
Delali A. Gawu
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Electoral Cycle ◽  
Fourth Republic ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Election Results

There have been seven general elections, under Ghana's Fourth Republic, to elect presidents and members of parliament. There are laws regulating the electoral process and election results have generally been accepted and, in a few cases, challenged through the laid-down process. Elections in Ghana are nonetheless reportedly flawed with irregularities tainting the outcome and creating tensions and sometimes pockets of violence. This article examines the electoral process under Ghana's Fourth Republic, namely the adoption of regulations for each electoral cycle, voters’ registration and the voters’ register, nomination of aspirants, voting, counting of votes and declaration of the results. To ensure the integrity of the electoral process, the laws regulating elections should comply with the dictates of the procedural requirements of the rule of law and the Electoral Commission's actions must be consistent with these laws.

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