State capacity and regime resilience in Putin’s Russia

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
David White
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
State Capacity ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Weak State ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Economic Elites ◽  
Regime Resilience ◽  
Building Project

Vladimir Putin’s state-building project, which has included a ‘war on the oligarchs’, the reining in of regional power, the co-optation or marginalization of civil society and political opposition, and the establishment of a ‘power vertical’, has not been based on state strengthening but has had much more to do with regime consolidation. It is argued that, in the Russian case, the building of state capacity may not be a crucial factor in determining the medium or even the long-term survival of the authoritarian system. Although Russia has relatively weak state capacity, the Putin regime has remained stable. The regime’s resilience is built on the distribution of rents among political and economic elites, the provision of social welfare, the coercion or co-opting of civil society and political opposition, and the mobilization of public support through the provision of economic benefits and national-patriotic appeal.

The Failed Campaign Against Prostitution

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Kemeny
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Red Light ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Traditional Gender Roles ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cult Of Domesticity ◽  
The Family ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Reform Organizations

Protestants criticized prostitution because it threatened the family and ultimately civil society, and the Watch and Ward Society devised a campaign to shut down Boston’s red-light districts. These Protestant elites espoused traditional gender roles and Victorian sexual mores and endorsed the “cult of domesticity.” In the late nineteenth century, a number of reform organizations turned their attention to the “social evil,” as it was popularly called. The Watch and Ward Society’s quest to reduce prostitution placed it squarely within the larger international anti-prostitution movement. Moral reformers resisted all forms of policy that officially sanctioned or tacitly tolerated prostitution, instead arguing for its abolition. Their attempt to suppress commercialized sex eventually collapsed because of the lack of public support.

Empirical study of comprehensive benefits for prefabricated buildings: A case study of Hefei city

2020 ◽  
pp. 002072092092846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhao Weishu ◽  
Zhang Beibei ◽  
Yang Yang
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Evaluation Indexes ◽  
Benefit Evaluation ◽  
Theoretical Support ◽  
Benefit Level ◽  
Analysis Theory ◽  
Comprehensive Benefit ◽  
Building Project

The emergence of prefabricated buildings is helpful to solve the problems of serious energy consumption and environmental pollution in traditional cast-in-place buildings. However, the current unclear benefits of prefabricated buildings have led to great constraints on its development in China. Therefore, in order to clarify the comprehensive benefit level of prefabricated buildings and promote the development of prefabricated buildings, the comprehensive benefits of prefabricated buildings are analyzed from four aspects of economy, environment, society, and security, and 19 evaluation indexes of economic benefits, environmental benefits, social benefits, and safety benefits of prefabricated buildings are selected from the life cycle dimension in this paper. The comprehensive benefits of prefabricated buildings are constructed by using set pair analysis theory. Finally, through the analysis of the prefabricated building project in Hefei, the feasibility of the model was verified, and comprehensive benefit level of prefabricated buildings in Hefei was further judged. This paper provides a feasible and operable evaluation model for the comprehensive benefit evaluation of prefabricated buildings and also provides a theoretical support for the development of prefabricated buildings.

scholarly journals Introduction: State capacity and elections in the study of authoritarian regimes

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurel Croissant ◽  
Olli Hellmann
Keyword(s):  
State Capacity ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Analytical Foundation ◽  
Electoral Authoritarianism ◽  
The One ◽  
Regime Resilience ◽  
Key Terms

Studies of multiparty elections in authoritarian regimes have proliferated in recent years. Nevertheless, the available evidence remains inconclusive in terms of when, where, or why elections work to sustain or undermine authoritarian rule. The contributions to the special issue ‘State Capacity, Elections and the Resilience of Authoritarian Rule’ argue that analyzing the extent to which the effect of elections on authoritarian regime resilience is mediated through the factor of state capacity helps to solve this puzzle. This introduction lays out the analytical foundation for this discussion by reviewing key terms and concepts, and by highlighting possible theoretical connections between the state capacity literature on the one hand and the electoral authoritarianism literature on the other. Furthermore, it considers the contributions in this special issue, and points out areas of agreement and disagreement between the authors, while simultaneously placing the different arguments within the broader field of enquiry.

How to Build Houses and Save the Countryside

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Spiers
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Current Model ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Housing Crisis ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Conservation Politics ◽  
The Right ◽  
House Building ◽  
Growing Population

England has a housing crisis. We need to build many more new homes to house our growing population, but house building is controversial, particularly when it involves the loss of countryside. Addressing both sides of this critical debate, this book argues that to drive house building on the scale needed, government must strike a contract with civil society: in return for public support and acceptance of the loss of some countryside, it must guarantee high-quality, affordable developments, in the right locations. Simply imposing development, as recent governments of all political persuasions have attempted, will not work. Focusing on house building and conservation politics in England, this book demonstrates why the current model doesn't work, and why there needs to be both planning reform and a more active role for the state, including local government.

Latin America political inequality is set to increase

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Economic Management ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Weak State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Education Innovation ◽  
Economic Elites

Subject Elites and political influence. Significance Economic elites have historically exerted significant political influence across Latin America. Control over key economic resources such as land, together with weak state institutions, gave them opportunities to shape most economic policies. Their excessive power has had negative consequences on education, innovation and economic management. Impacts Business groups will continue to shift their political strategies to adapt to new conditions. The business focus on traditional economic sectors will militate against innovation. Business demands for tax reductions may complicate fiscal retrenchment by more rightist administrations.

Political Opposition in Civil Society: An Analysis of the Interactions of Secular and Religious Associations in Algeria and Jordan

2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Cavatorta ◽  
Azzam Elananza
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Religious Associations

AbstractThe lack of effective political parties is one of the dominant characteristics of modern Arab polities. The role of opposition to the authoritarian regimes is therefore left to a number of civil society organizations. This study examines the interactions among such groups in the context of the traditional transition paradigm and it analyses specifically how religious and secular organizations operate and interact. The empirical evidence shows that such groups, far from attempting any serious coalition-building to make common demands for democracy on the regime, have a competitive relationship because of their ideological differences and conflicting policy preferences. This strengthens authoritarian rule even in the absence of popular legitimacy. The article focuses its attention on Algeria and Jordan.

scholarly journals Negotiating across difference: Gendered exclusions and cooperation in the shea value chain

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlène Elias ◽  
Seema Arora-Jonsson
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Shea Butter ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Niche Market ◽  
Shea Tree ◽  
Private Actors

Shea butter, derived from the African shea tree, has acquired a pivotal position in global agro-food and cosmetics industries. In Burkina Faso, public and private actors as well as civil society are converging upon the product to boost the incomes of rural female producers. As a result of these trends, the shea value chain is increasingly segmented; shea nuts are sold in a low-return, conventional market and simultaneously enter an alternative, high-value niche market. In the latter strand of the value chain, some producers are improving their prospects by forming an association. Tracing relationships across the two strands, we demonstrate how ‘horizontal’ relations based on gender, ethnicity, age and geography contribute to shaping participation and benefit capture in the shea value chain. We argue that processes of social inclusion and exclusion operate in parallel, as differentiated actors both cooperate and compete to secure their place within the chain. While collective organizing brings positive social and economic benefits, we show that producers’ associations need not be empowering for all women. The significance of collective enterprises, but also their drawbacks must be considered when valorising pathways to women's empowerment. Our study reinforces calls for greater integration of horizontal elements in value chain analyses.

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