Preserving spontaneous order: A normative reflection of community building in post-reform China

2021 ◽  
pp. 019145372110001
Author(s):  
Chunrong Liu
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Community Building ◽  
State Power ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Spontaneous Order ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Spontaneous Process

How and to what extent can community be imaged as a spontaneous order? Is the spontaneous social order dichotomous or oppositional to state power? Despite vigorous scholarship and policy debate, the theorization of the community has not attended adequately to the ways in which interactional order emerges in various sociopolitical contexts. Reflecting the experience of community building in post-reform urban China, I present an organic statist vision of community, in which community is found to be the concomitant outgrowth of both state intervention and the spontaneous process of place-based identity mobilization. An expanded conception of community as embedded spontaneous order as well as its implication is also discussed.

scholarly journals Neoliberal State Intervention and the Power of Community in Urban Regeneration: An Empirical Study of Three Village Redevelopment Projects in Guangzhou, China

2021 ◽  
pp. 0739456X2199466
Author(s):  
Siu Wai Wong ◽  
Xingguang Chen ◽  
Bo-sin Tang ◽  
Jinlong Liu
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Urban Regeneration ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
The State ◽  
Village Communities ◽  
The City

A key theme in urban governance research is how neoliberalism reshapes the state–society relationship. Our study on Guangzhou, where urban regeneration through massive redevelopment of “villages-in-the-city” uncovered interactions between the state, market, and community in local governance, contributes to this debate. Based on intensive field research to analyze three projects, we find that what really controls neoliberal growth in China is not simply the authoritarian tradition of the socialist state but also the power of the indigenous village communities. Our findings suggest that state intervention for community building is vital for rebalancing power relations between the state, market, and community.

Fairness to Idleness is There A Right Not to Work?

1995 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Levine
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
The State ◽  
Fiscal Policies ◽  
Prima Facie Case ◽  
Involuntary Unemployment ◽  
Paid Employment ◽  
Productive Labor ◽  
The Unemployed

It is universally agreed that involuntary unemployment is an evil for unemployed individuals, who lose both income and the non-pecuniary benefits of paid employment, and for society, which loses the productive labor that the unemployed are unable to expend. It is nearly as widely agreed that there is at least a prima-facie case for alleviating this evil – for reasons of justice and/or benevolence and/or social order. Finally, there is little doubt that the evils of involuntary unemployment cannot be adequately addressed in contemporary societies without state intervention – whether through monetary or fiscal policies, cash payments or other subsidies to the unemployed, direct provision of employment by the state, or some combination of these measures.

scholarly journals In the Twilight of Ideologies: Power and Esotericism in Soviet State Socialism

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-56
Author(s):  
Péter Krasztev
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Community Building ◽  
State Power ◽  
State Socialism ◽  
Soviet State ◽  
Artistic Life ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Dialectic Materialism

In the Twilight of Ideologies: Power and Esotericism in Soviet State SocialismAt the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, esoteric/occult ideas and movements played an important part in the intellectual, scientific and artistic life of Russia. Occultism lived in symbiosis for some time with virtually every 19th-century ideology, and, to a certain degree, it managed to convert this strange ability into the ideological environment of state socialism as well – a system that was officially hostile towards occultism. However, the relationship between state power, based on “dialectic materialism”, and the various forms of occult ideas that survived in that era was not always clear: it kept changing with time, and depended on the influence of those ideas on society. In this paper I will propose some frameworks for the interpretation of the bizarre dynamics between esotericism and Soviet state power, and argue that the reactions of state power to the various manifestations of esoteric ideas – from (quasi-) scientific to community-building and individualistic manifestations – require different interpretative approaches. Az ideológiák szürkületében: hatalom és ezoterika a szovjet állami szocializmusban A 19-20. század fordulóján Oroszország szellemi, tudományos és művészi életében az ezoterikus/okkult eszmék és mozgalmak meghatározó szerepet játszottak. Az okkultizmus szinte minden 19. századi ideológiával képes volt valamiféle szimbiózisba kerülni, s ezt a különös tulajdonságát a hivatalosan ellenséges államszocialista ideológiai közegbe is képes volt bizonyos mértékig átörökíteni. A „dialektikus materializmus” alapjain álló hatalom viszonya az okkult eszmék továbbélési formáihoz ugyanakkor nem mindig volt egyértelmű: ez korszakonként és az eszmék társadalmi-közösségei hatásától függően is változott. A tanulmány értelmezési kereteket próbál javasolni az ezotéria és szovjethatalom sajátosan bizarr dinamikájú viszonyára, s arra a következtetésre jut, hogy az ezoterikus eszmék különböző megnyilvánulási formái – a (kvázi)tudományos, a közösségépítő és az individuális-önmegvalósító – által kiváltott hatalmi reakció más-más interpretációs megközelítést igényel. W mroku ideologii: władza i ezoteryka w radzieckim socjalizmie państwowym Na przełomie XIX i XX wieku idee i ruchy ezoteryczne/okultystyczne grały znaczącą rolę w życiu duchowym, naukowym i artystycznym Rosji. Okultyzm był w stanie wejść w jakiś rodzaj symbiozy z niemal każdą dziewiętnastowieczną ideologią i do pewnego stopnia mógł przekazać w spadku tę szczególną sposobność oficjalnie wrogim im ideologicznie organom państwa socjalistycznego. Jednak relacja między władzą państwową, opartą na „materializmie dialektycznym”, a różnymi formami okultystycznych idei, które przetrwały w tamtym okresie, nie zawsze była jasna: zawsze zmieniała się ona wraz z upływem czasu i zależała od wpływu tych idei na społeczeństwo. Niniejszy artykuł proponuje pewne ramy interpretacji niecodziennej dynamiki relacji stosunków między ezoteryzmem i władzą radziecką, oraz dochodzi do konkluzji, że ogromna reakcja [władzy państwowej] wywołana poprzez różne formy manifestacji idei ezoterycznych – quasi-naukowe, tworzące wspólnotę, indywidualnie się realizujące – wymaga wielu różnych podejść interpretacyjnych.

Social Contract versus Invisible Hand

2019 ◽  
pp. 734-763
Author(s):  
Viktor J. Vanberg
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Spontaneous Order ◽  
The Social ◽  
Visible Hand ◽  
The Invisible

The purpose of this chapter is to take a closer look at the relation between the invisible hand paradigm that is at the heart of economists’ theoretical outlook at markets and its “visible hand” counterpart, the social contract paradigm as a theory of government. It is argued that in its generalized interpretation as an individualistic model of organized collective action the social contract paradigm consistently complements the invisible hand paradigm as an individualistic theory of spontaneous social order. What Hayek has referred to as “the two kinds of order,” spontaneous order and corporate order, can thus be accounted for within one coherent individualistic theoretical framework.

Infrastructure, wildlife tourism, (il)legible populations: A comparative study of two districts in contemporary Botswana

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1074-1095
Author(s):  
Annette Alfina LaRocco
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
State Power ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
The State ◽  
State Control ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Wildlife Tourism ◽  
The North ◽  
Relationship Of

This article interrogates how the provision (or absence) of state infrastructure such as roads, bridges, permanent buildings, water reticulation, electricity, and transport facilities in regions hosting the lucrative tourism industry is linked to state control and regulation of the use of space, as well as the daily lives of conservation-adjacent citizens. Using the dialectic of legibility and illegibility in the context of Botswana’s expansive wildlife tourism industry, it examines how ambiguous government expansions and retractions of infrastructure function as mechanisms of state-building in relation to the natural environment. In Botswana’s western region, the provision of infrastructure draws out previously sparsely populated and seasonally mobile people from “the bush” to live in state-sanctioned villages, pulling them into a relationship of “legibility” with the state. However, in the north, where the bulk of the tourism industry is based, the calculus is different. The allocation of infrastructure is delayed or denied in order to maintain the fiction of a people-free wilderness that appeals to foreign tourist consumers—pushing local people into “illegibility”. The myth of a people-less wilderness produces highly differentiated modes of state intervention in rural areas, shifting local peoples’ ability to interface with the state, the tourism industry, and other citizens. This article conceptualizes illegibility not as a form of resistance to, or avoidance of, state power but in the unique context produced by enclave wildlife tourism, an alternative manifestation of state power.

scholarly journals Appellate Body Report onEU−Biodiesel: The Future of China's State Capitalism under the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 609-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
WEIHUAN ZHOU
Keyword(s):  
State Intervention ◽  
The Other ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Trading System ◽  
State Capitalism ◽  
Appellate Body ◽  
The World ◽  
World Trading System ◽  
Price Distortions ◽  
Antidumping Measures

AbstractChina's unique economic system poses increasing challenges to the world trading system and attracts growing academic and policy debate. WTO members have frequently resorted to antidumping measures in dealing with price distortions caused by the Chinese government's influence on the economy. The Appellate Body's decision in the recentEU–Biodieseldispute starts to remove the flexibility of condemning state intervention and price distortions under the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement through antidumping measures. This decision, read with the relevant WTO jurisprudence on the ‘ordinary course of trade’ test and subsidies, suggests that price distortions resulting from state intervention should be addressed under other WTO rules. Therefore, it is necessary for WTO members to shift their focus to, and explore the capacity of, the other rules to overcome the challenges arising from China's state capitalism.

Nation-Building

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harris Mylonas
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
International System ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
National Integration ◽  
Dominant Ideology ◽  
National Community ◽  
Organizational Principle ◽  
To Come

Nation-building may be defined as the process through which the boundaries of the modern state and those of the national community become congruent. The desired outcome is to achieve national integration (Reference Works: Concepts and Definitions). The major divide in the literature centers on the causal path that leads to national integration. Thus, nation-building has been theorized as a structural process intertwined with industrialization, urbanization, social mobilization, etc. (Structural Explanations); as the result of deliberate state policies that aim at the homogenization of a state along the lines of a specific constitutive story—that can and often does change over time and under certain conditions (State-Planned Policies); as the product of top-bottom processes that could originate from forces outside of the boundaries of the relevant state; and as the product of bottom-up processes that do not require any state intervention to come about (Contingency, Events, and Demonstration Effects). Since the emergence of nationalism as the dominant ideology to legitimate authority and the template of the nation-state as an organizational principle of the international system, state elites have pursued different policies toward the various unassimilated groups within their territorial boundaries (Seminal Case Studies) with variable consequences (Nation-Building and Its Consequences). Thus, scholars have suggested that the nation-building experience of each state—or lack thereof—has had an impact on patterns of State Formation and Social Order, Self-Determination Movements, War Onset, and Public Goods Provision.

scholarly journals Revolution in the Air: Images of Winning in the Irish Anti-Capitalist Movement

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Cox ◽  
Liz Curry
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
State Power ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Transition Strategy

This article explores strategic conceptions within the alter-globalisation movement in Ireland. Based on action research carried out within the left-libertarian (‘Grassroots’) wing of the movement, it notes imbalances in participation in a very intensive form of political activity, and asks how activists understand winning. It finds substantial congruence between organisational practice and long-term goals, noting social justice and participatory democracy along with feminist, environmental and anti-war concerns as central. Using Wallerstein's proposed transition strategy for anti-systemic movements, it argues that Irish alter-globalisation activists are realistic about popular support and state power, and concerned to link short-term work around basic needs with the construction of alternative institutions and long-term struggles for a different social order.

scholarly journals Approval of the principles of a democratic political regime in the constitutional process of modern Ukraine

2021 ◽  
pp. 317-323
Author(s):  
O. O. Skrypniuk
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Order ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Public ◽  
System A ◽  
Form Of Government ◽  
Constitutional System ◽  
Constitutional Changes

The article is devoted to the establishment of the principles of a democratic political regime. The realization of the constitutional process is given by the state-building and law-making chance for the modernization of the constitutional order, which opens a perspective for the development of civil society-oriented civil society-oriented civil society. The process of democratization at the present stage is associated with a significant improvement in the system of organization and interaction of certain elements of the branches of government and the improvement of the form of government. Today, it is a recognized fact that there is a close connection between the form of government and the democratic political regime. The article maintains the idea that a democratic political regime is unthinkable outside the interaction between the state and civil society. Civil society is becoming a positive, constructive force, which can limit the state with its independence, and therefore is extremely important for the development of democracy, because it is able to limit the arbitrariness of the state and retranslate the relations to the public. Under a democratic political regime, the parameters and limits of state intervention are determined by the needs of civil society. In this context, constitutional changes should relate to changes in the constitutional system – a category that includes the basics of state and social order of Ukraine. Keywords: Ukraine, democracy, democratic political regime, constitutional process, form of government, civil society, state.

Ohne-Tun und Selbstwandel

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 818-835
Author(s):  
Fabian Heubel
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Spontaneous Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Lao Tzu ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Gain Access ◽  
Commentarial Tradition

Abstract In the text “The Principles of a Liberal Social Order”, Friedrich A. von Hayek quotes from Chapter 57 of the Daoist classic Lǎozǐ 老子 (alternative transliterations are Lao Tzu, Laotse, etc.; the text is also known under the title Dàodéjīng or Tao Te King 道德經). Appearing in a text devoted primarily to the concept of “spontaneous order”, the quote opens up questions regarding the relationship between liberalism and Daoism, which I address in this essay. The discussion comprises three parts. In the first part, I turn to the translation cited by Hayek and, by way of a commentary to the translation, I attempt to gain access to the motifs of “effortless action/without doing” (wúwéi 無為), “self-transformation” (zìhuà 自化) and “self-government” (zìzhì 自治); the second part offers a hermeneutic commentary through which I discuss interpretative approaches found in the Chinese commentarial tradition; finally, the third part outlines transcultural correspondences which explore the political meaning of the Daoist “without doing” and the idea of “spontaneous order” in the context of the discursive struggle between the “democratic West” and “authoritarian China”.

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