Between Autonomy and Acquiescence: Negotiating Rule in Revolutionary Bolivia, 1953–1958

2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-122
Author(s):  
Bridgette K. Werner
Keyword(s):  
Public Support ◽  
State Power ◽  
Revolutionary Change ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
San Pedro ◽  
Buena Vista ◽  
State Agents ◽  
State Interventions ◽  
Previous Scholarship

Abstract In January 1958, the townspeople of San Pedro de Buena Vista hunted down and killed peasant leader Narciso Torrico, sparking a wave of violence that provoked repeated state interventions in northern Potosí department, Bolivia. Encouraged by the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) state's rightward turn, local elites had regrouped to challenge revolutionary change. Meanwhile, José Rojas—a powerful peasant leader and key MNR ally—faced a crucial crossroads. Repeatedly tapped by state authorities to pacify San Pedro de Buena Vista, Rojas vacillated between asserting political autonomy and acquiescing to state power. While previous scholarship has viewed Rojas's relationship with the revolutionary state as clear evidence of the MNR's co-optation of Bolivian peasants, the events of 1958 provide a powerful counterpoint to this narrative. I argue that crucial intermediaries like Rojas evaded state agents' control in spite of their public support for the MNR, thus challenging the historiographical portrayal of peasant leaders' passivity in the postrevolutionary years.

Shared intentions, public reason, and political autonomy

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 776-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blain Neufeld
Keyword(s):  
John Rawls ◽  
Public Reason ◽  
State Power ◽  
Public Justification ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Public Reasoning ◽  
Corporate Body ◽  
Gerald Gaus

AbstractJohn Rawls claims that public reasoning is the reasoning of ‘equal citizens who as a corporate body impose rules on one another backed by sanctions of state power’. Drawing upon an amended version of Michael Bratman’s theory of shared intentions, I flesh out this claim by developing the ‘civic people’ account of public reason. Citizens realize ‘full’ political autonomy as members of a civic people. Full political autonomy, though, cannot be realised by citizens in societies governed by a ‘constrained proceduralist’ account of democratic self-government, or the ‘convergence’ account of public justification formulated recently by Gerald Gaus and Kevin Vallier.

Justice as Checks and Balances

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-62
Author(s):  
Edgar Franco-Vivanco
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Indigenous Population ◽  
Colonial Mexico ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
Endogenous Factors ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Administration Of Justice ◽  
State Agents

ABSTRACT The centralization of conflict resolution and the administration of justice, two crucial elements of state formation, are often ignored by the state-building literature. This article studies the monopolization of justice administration, using the historical example of the General Indian Court (gic) of colonial Mexico. The author argues that this court’s development and decision-making process can show us how the rule of law develops in highly authoritarian contexts. Centralized courts could be used strategically to solve an agency problem, limiting local elites’ power and monitoring state agents. To curb these actors’ power, the Spanish Crown allowed the indigenous population to raise claims and access property rights. But this access remained limited and subject to the Crown’s strategic considerations. The author’s theory predicts that a favorable ruling for the indigenous population was more likely in cases that threatened to increase local elites’ power. This article shows the conditions under which the rule of law can emerge in a context where a powerful ruler is interested in imposing limits on local powers—and on their potential predation of the general population. It also highlights the endogenous factors behind the creation of colonial institutions and the importance of judicial systems in colonial governance.

A Proportionality Theory of IO Emergency Powers

2019 ◽  
pp. 49-78
Author(s):  
Christian Kreuder-Sonnen
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Design ◽  
State Power ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Emergency Powers ◽  
Distributional Consequences ◽  
General Recognition ◽  
Normative Standard

Chapter 3 develops a proportionality theory of IO emergency powers to account for the variable outcomes of normalization (ratchets) and containment (rollbacks). It posits that IO exceptionalism creates distributional consequences at the level of political autonomy that are positive for the governors and negative for the governed. Since IO authority is dependent on its general recognition by the rule-addressees, the states and supranational actors in authority need to be able to justify their measures as proportionate, or else the delegitimation attempts by their opponents threaten to undermine the authority. Ratchets and rollbacks are thus conceived as the product of rhetorical legitimation struggles among the holders and the addressees of IO emergency powers that revolve around the normative standard of proportionality. The chapter derives a set of testable hypotheses from the proportionality model and provides alternative explanations based on variations of rational institutionalism that focus on state power and institutional design.

Gender Inequality Theories of Feminism

2021 ◽  
pp. 98-115
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Personal Autonomy ◽  
State Power ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Liberal Feminism ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Coercive State ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
The Right

This chapter discusses liberal feminism, divided into liberal feminism and libertarian feminism. The liberal variant of liberal feminism sees freedom as personal autonomy and political autonomy. The exercise of personal autonomy depends on some enabling conditions that are insufficiently present in women's lives and other elements of women's flourishing. Autonomy deficits like these are due to the patriarchal nature of inherited traditions and institutions, and that the women's movement should work to identify and remedy them. Liberal feminists believe that the state should be the women's movement's ally in promoting women's autonomy. The libertarian variant of feminism sees freedom as freedom from coercive interference. It believes that both women and men have a right to such freedom due to their status as self-owners. Coercive state power is justified only to the extent necessary to protect the right to freedom from coercive interference. Feminism's political role is to bring an end not only to laws that limit women's liberty but also to laws that grant special privileges to women.

Living from the Nerves

2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 119-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madeleine Reeves
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
State Power ◽  
The State ◽  
Right To The City ◽  
Temporal Uncertainty ◽  
State Agents ◽  
Legal Uncertainty ◽  
The City ◽  
The Way

While deportability has elicited interest as a legal predicament facing migrant workers, less attention has been given to the way in which this condition of temporal uncertainty shapes migrants' everyday encounters with state agents. Drawing on ethnography among Kyrgyzstani migrant workers in Moscow, I show that in conditions of documentary uncertainty 'legal residence' depends upon successfully enacting a right to the city and the personalization of the state. Alongside fear and suspicion, this space of legal uncertainty is characterized by a sense of abandon and awareness of the performativity of law. I explore 'living from the nerves' as an ethnographic reality for Kyrgyzstani migrant workers and as an analytic for developing a more variegated account of state power and its affective resonances in contemporary Russia.

scholarly journals Public administration: essence and definition

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 35-41
Author(s):  
I. V. Al-Atti
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Support ◽  
State Power ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
External Relations ◽  
Model Of Management ◽  
Common Goals ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
High Level ◽  
Social Affairs

The article outlines modern approaches to the concept of «public administration» and proved that the term «public» should not automatically be used instead of «state» in view of other material content. Public administration is a kind of socially useful activity carried out by a certain set of subjects, including bodies of state power, local self-government, etc. In this case, non-coercive mechanisms should be used more fully and manifest in external relations of executive authorities with other bodies of public authority, as well as by private persons.Under the influence of European integration, as a vector of Ukraine’s development, the experience of the EU countries in the management of social affairs becomes more important. In particular, scientific developments on public administration as a model of management of social affairs and the possibilities of adapting its elements in Ukrainian realities for further implementation of democratic principles of governance are updated.The article concludes that public administration is a kind of socially useful activity carried out by a certain set of subjects, including bodies of state power, local self-government, etc. In this case, non-coercive mechanisms should be used more fully (as opposed to «state administration», which is based on mechanisms of coercion of the subject of governance) and manifest in external relations of executive authorities with other public authorities as well as private persons.Public administration provides a significant increase in the efficiency of management activities due to the high level of public support and consolidation of society around common goals.

Jean Laffite: Piracy and the limits of state power in New Orleans, 1814-1815

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 713-728
Author(s):  
S. A. Cavell
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Public Support ◽  
State Power ◽  
French Population ◽  
American Government ◽  
Us Government ◽  
The Face ◽  
The City

The pirate, privateer and smuggler Jean Laffite dominated the mercantile life of New Orleans from 1809 to 1815 by exploiting the limited reach of a weak US government in its attempts to control over the frontier of the Louisiana Gulf Coast. Laffite’s status as a cultural anti-hero to the majority-French population, who disdained the American government and the war it initiated in 1812, saw much public support for his efforts to evade law enforcement. Such support, however, waned in the face of an overwhelming threat from British invaders in the autumn of 1814. Adept at survival, Laffite reinvented himself as a loyal patriot by contributing vital materiel to the shaky military defence of the city. In doing so, he ensured his freedom and became a hero of the Battle of New Orleans, a myth that endures to this day. His story demonstrates the limits of state power against piratical practices in the nineteenth century, particularly when they occurred on a distant shore, among a population who protected their cherished rogues.

scholarly journals Religious Determinates of State Power in Globalization Era

2019 ◽  
pp. 75-82
Author(s):  
Alexander Yeremin
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Public Support ◽  
State Power ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Clash Of Civilizations ◽  
National Cultures ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Church

At the turn of the 21st century, despite the irreversible integration of the global cultural space, which is an integral part of the globalization process, the process of national cultures’ glocalization is becoming obvious. The clash of civilizations [14] manifests itself in the aspiration to update traditional, archetypal foundations inherent to a culture, which is represented in all areas of life, including the state power. The paper attempts to begin scientific research on this subject. The author analyzes officials’ addresses and declarations, regulatory and legal framework of the faith system, materials of public campaigns by the Church and the authorities, studying the existing discourse. He uses the comparative method to study the occurring phenomena in the context of Russia’s historical experience. The paper argues that the process of enhancing religious imperatives in authorities’ manifestations grows stronger during increased animosity with Europe and the USA after 2014, which marked the border of actualizing the “enemy” imperative based on Russia’s characteristic “challenge and response” imperative [10]. The authorities are actively using religious images for their legitimation and public support. Within the context of cultural studies approach, the author makes a conclusion that images are generated in Russia’s cultural field that are rooted in archetypal notions of the “Holy Rus” based on traditions of hesychasm, Russia’s special mission, that existed specifically in the conceptualized idea of “Moscow as the Third Rome”. These imperatives are becoming relevant in new shapes and the Church plays the role of a certain contemporary Kulturtrager, enhancing new / old images and thus developing the paradigm of a “symphony” between religious and secular authorities, which evidences the enhancement of traditional foundations of the Russian culture and sacralization of power at the turn of the 21st century.

Salafism in the Maghreb

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Wehrey ◽  
Anouar Boukhars
Keyword(s):  
Public Support ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Actual Practice ◽  
Arab Politics ◽  
Previous Scholarship

This volume explores the growth and transformation of a particular variant of Islamism—Salafism—in the Maghreb region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and from previous scholarship on Salafi typologies—specifically, quietist, political, and jihadist variants—it seeks to understand the socioeconomic and political drivers between the growth or diminishing of each trend. The volume pays particular attention to exploring how state-sponsored Salafists compete with more informal, nonstate, and transnational variants, particularly jihadists. It analyses how local political contexts determine the calculations and trajectories of Salafist factions that appear to share a certain doctrinal uniformity but whose actual practice on the ground, in the sphere of Arab politics, varies significantly. Specifically, it assesses state capacities and policies toward Salafis as a crucial variable that has shaped the transformation of Salafism across the Maghreb’s different countries. A key feature of the book is its attention to the blurring of the boundaries between Salafi quietism, political activism, and the imperative, in some countries, for Salafis to modulate aspects of their doctrine to gain public support. It concludes with the observation that Salafism’s growth is the product of a growing and youthful disenchantment with the existing order and especially authoritarianism, corruption, and dislocation. At a time of heightened polarization in the region and unfortunate American misapprehensions of Islamism—at both public and official levels—the book’s granular insights provide correctives for understanding a diverse religious current that has too often been synonymous with extremism.

Maritime Piracy, Past and Present

Pirate Lands ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 19-46
Author(s):  
Ursula Daxecker ◽  
Brandon Prins
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
State Power ◽  
Central State ◽  
Maritime Piracy ◽  
Capacity Limits ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
The Past

This chapter offers comparisons of historical and contemporary maritime piracy. It examines the conditions that have driven commerce raiding in the past and the present, which include political violence, privation, geographic opportunity, and governance. The chapter notes that imperial competition, legitimacy gaps, and capacity limits drove privateering and piracy up through the nineteenth century. But while legitimacy gaps and capacity limits continue to incentivize piracy today, weak capacity and lack of legitimacy originate within states rather than states being unable to control and regulate the world’s oceans. Contemporary pirates collude with corruptible local elites rather than with far-off imperial powers. The chapter concludes that historical piracy was often an extension of regime capability, while modern pirates stand in opposition to central state power even as they partner with local governance actors to plunder transiting ships.

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