Policing, Rule of Law, State Capacity and Sustainable Peace in Timor-Leste

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 353-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien Kingsbury
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
State Capacity ◽  
Civil Conflict ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
Legal Structures ◽  
Development State

This paper sets out to demonstrate the link between development, state capacity and peace, employing Timor-Leste as the case study. It employs the association between state capacity and development to illustrate where if state capacity is lacking or functions improperly there is likely to be a low level of state legitimacy. This in turn manifests as lack of respect for or failure of rule of law, developing as generalised lawlessness and anti-state activity and eventually manifesting as intra-state or civil conflict. In particular, policing is seen as a critical component in state legitimacy, being the ‘front line’ of the judicial system from which legitimacy ultimately derives. This issue is particularly critical in states emerging from traditional legal and judicial structures, but which have not yet articulated into ‘rational-legal’ structures. Ipso facto, key state institutions, such as the judicial system and police are required to function well, while these are alone not enough to guarantee peace, they are significant contributors to and guarantors of peace.

scholarly journals Legal Pluralism and the Rule of Law in Timor Leste

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURA GRENFELL
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Pluralism ◽  
The State ◽  
East Timor ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Informal System ◽  
Transitional Countries ◽  
Timor Leste

Many transitional countries face the problem of establishing the rule of law in a weak justice sector where a gulf separates local legal norms from national, constitutional norms that are drawn largely from the international sphere. As a case study of East Timor this article challenges simplistic positivist notions about the normative hierarchy of laws within a constitutionally bounded polity. It argues that in transitional countries such as East Timor legal pluralism is important but must be properly tuned to serve the rule of law. Legal pluralism poses certain dangers when it operates without any of the checks or balances that ensure accountability and the promotion of constitutional values such as equality. The rule of law is not served by an informal system where there are no formal avenues of appeal and thus minimal accountability and transparency. A more promising version of legal pluralism that comports with the rule of law is one that empowers the state to monitor local decisions to ensure that they observe the norms set out in East Timor's Constitution.

scholarly journals Beyond Democratic Tolerance: Witch Killings in Timor-Leste

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-64
Author(s):  
Rebecca Strating ◽  
Beth Edmondson
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
States Experience ◽  
Democratic Systems

Newly democratising states experience challenges in reconciling “traditional” or “customary” dispute resolution practices with newly established state-based legal systems based on the rule of law. For Timor-Leste, these tensions are pronounced in continuing debates concerning the killing or injuring of women accused of witchcraft. Defences of extrajudicial punishments tend to conflate democracy with local support and fail to deal with the key institutions of democratic systems, including the rule of law, political equality, and civil rights. In Timor-Leste's case, where equality and social rights were incorporated into the Constitution as fundamental governmental obligations, localised extrajudicial punishments threaten internal and external state legitimacy and highlight the difficulties of ensuring the primacy of state-based institutions. Extrajudicial punishments challenge Timor-Leste's capacity to consolidate new liberal democratic political institutions.

Building States to Build Peace? A Critical Analysis

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles T. Call
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
State Capacity ◽  
International Peace ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Strong State ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Post War ◽  
External Actors ◽  
State Functions

Agencies throughout the development, humanitarian, political and defence fields have recently endorsed the centrality of state institutions in post-war peacebuilding. But how can external actors go about peacebuilding in a way that reinforces effective and legitimate states without doing harm? Drawing on an International Peace Institute project, this article calls into question the assumption that peacebuilding can be boiled down to building state institutions. The article argues that the process of building states can actually undermine peace, postulating five tensions between peacebuilding and statebuilding even as it asserts that strong state institutions remain crucial for consolidating peace. Identifying three crucial state functions for peacebuilding, the article emphasises the complex interrelationships among legitimacy, state capacity and security in post-conflict societies.

Identity Politics and Refugee Policies in Kupang, Eastern Indonesia: A Politico-Historical Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Andrey Damaledo
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
Displaced People ◽  
Over Time

Abstract This article assesses the implementation of Presidential Regulation No. 125 of 2016 concerning the Treatment of Refugees and how it relates to different kinds of bureaucratic labelling of refugees as it unfolds in Indonesia’s region of Kupang. From a politico-historical perspective, Kupang is a useful case-study for elucidating the policy implications of the labelling of refugees, as the region has been hosting different kinds of refugees due to its strategic geographical location that borders Australia and Timor-Leste. Drawing on my fieldwork in Kupang between October 2012 and October 2013, and my intermittent return to the region between January 2017 and February 2019, this article argues that labels for refugees evolve over time in response to the larger sociopolitical situation, but they are formed mostly to serve the interest of the host country rather than those of displaced people. Furthermore, while labelling displaced people as “refugees” has been effective in justifying funding and support, it can also lead to a manipulation of refugee status, and the marginalization and exclusion of refugees.

State legitimacy and tax compliance among small and medium scale enterprises: a case study of Dodowa district, Ghana

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham Gyamfi Ababio ◽  
Arthur Gnonsio Mangueye
Keyword(s):  
Sample Selection ◽  
Tax Compliance ◽  
Probit Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Medium Scale ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Sizable Proportion

Purpose Improving tax compliance would drive the needed development in Ghana. Small and medium scale enterprises (SME) constitute a sizable proportion of the Ghanaian economy but its contribution to tax revenue is below expectation. This study aims to determine whether SME's perception of state legitimacy affects tax compliance. Design/methodology/approach A structured questionnaire was administered to 200 SMEs randomly drawn from Dodowa in the Shai-Osudoku District of Greater Accra Region. Descriptive statistics and the Probit model with sample selection were used to analyse the data. Findings The study found that SME's perception of government legitimacy exerts a significant negative effect on reducing profit to avoid tax liability (ß = −0.0305, p < 0.05). Other factors such as education and fear of fines and penalties were also found to reduce the likelihood that the firm would reduce profit to avoid high tax liability. Still, tax knowledge had a positive effect on this behaviour. Practical implications This study would help deepen policymakers' knowledge of how to improve tax compliance among SMEs in Ghana. Originality/value The originality of this work is that it explicitly models the role of fiscal exchange theory in explaining tax compliance among SMEs in Ghana by using robust methodology.

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