The Fiscal State, the Market, and the Individual Moral Capacity in the Secularized Society

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-114
Author(s):  
Stefano Gorini
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Individual Liberty ◽  
Moral Value ◽  
Fiscal State ◽  
Moral Capacity

Abstract This essay is an attempt to construct a philosophically correct relationship between economics and ethics, by contrasting it with the philosophically wrong conventional wisdom, and based on objective notions of the common good social justice, and to draw some implications concerning the role of morality in the working of the political economy of the fiscal state and of the market in contemporary liberal capitalist and secularized societies. The basic claim identifies individual moral capacity in the individual's possession of moral values defined as principles giving an absolute meaning to human life, and identifies furthermore the only absolute meaning of human life compatible with the secular-scientific worldview, intrinsically devoid of any such meaning, in individual liberty-independence defined as the personal experience of selfconsciousness. The secularization of Western culture has displaced non-secular values without replacing them, making liberal capitalist societies into societies without values. The individual's awareness of individual liberty-independence as the only public moral value is a necessary condition for ensuring the safeguarding of this unique secular ethical principle in the working of the political economy and liberal political institutions of secularized societies. If this individual moral capacity is shared by too few people, or too weak, then no system of rules, and of management of government power and market forces, however perfect, will ever suffice for the purpose.

scholarly journals Infrastructural nature

2021 ◽  
pp. 030913252199391
Author(s):  
Sara H Nelson ◽  
Patrick Bigger
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Ecosystem Management ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Conservation Science ◽  
Conservation Investment

The assertion that ‘ecosystems are infrastructure’ is now common in conservation science and ecosystem management. This article interrogates this infrastructural ontology, which we argue underpins diverse practices of conservation investment and ecosystem management focused on the strategic management of ecosystem functions to sustain and secure human life. We trace the genealogies and geographies of infrastructural nature as an ontology and paradigm of investment that coexists (sometimes in tension) with extractivist commodity regimes. We draw links between literatures on the political economy of ecosystem services and infrastructure and highlight three themes that hold promise for future research: labor, territory, and finance.

scholarly journals The political economy of agri-environmental measures: An empirical assessment at the eu regional level

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 71-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Bertoni ◽  
Alessandro Olper
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Econometric Model ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
Economic Determinants ◽  
Positive Externalities ◽  
Environmental Measures ◽  
The Eu

The paper deals with the political and economic determinants of EU agri-environmental measures (AEMs) applied by 59 regional/country units, during the 2001-2004 period. Five different groups of determinants, spanning from positive and negative externalities, to political institutions, are highlighted and tested using an econometric model. Main results show that AEMs implementation is mostly affected by the strength of the farm lobby, and the demand for positive externalities. At the same time it emerges a prominent role played by political institutions. On the contrary, AEMs do not seem implemented by the willingness to address negative externalities.

scholarly journals The Political Economy of Redistribution Policy

2019 ◽  
pp. 519-541
Author(s):  
Luna Bellani ◽  
Heinrich Ursprung
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Choice ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Relationships ◽  
The Public ◽  
Generic Models ◽  
Redistribution Policy ◽  
Choice Analysis ◽  
Beliefs And Attitudes

The authors review the literature on the public-choice analysis of redistribution policies. They restrict the discussion to redistribution in democracies and focus on policies that are pursued with the sole objective of redistributing initial endowments. Since generic models of redistribution in democracies lack equilibria, one needs to introduce structure-inducing rules to arrive at a models whose behavior realistically portrays observed redistribution patterns. These rules may relate to the economic relationships, political institutions, or to firmly established preferences, beliefs, and attitudes of voters. The chapter surveys the respective lines of argument in turn and then present the related empirical evidence.

Brown and the Novel in the Atlantic World

2019 ◽  
pp. 438-454
Author(s):  
Siân Silyn Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Narrative Theory ◽  
Social Function ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Moral Value ◽  
Early American ◽  
The Social ◽  
Literary Transmission ◽  
Novel Reading

This chapter situates Charles Brockden Brown’s Gothic and sentimental novels in relation to the broader culture of novelistic miscellany that proliferated before 1820. It considers Brown’s contributions to contemporary narrative theory, his revision of the political economy of sentimentalism and the Gothic, and the historical formalism of episodic and picaresque narratives. It offers an overview of contemporary debates about the moral value of novel reading and considers contemporary calls for a novelistic culture of literary nationalism in terms of a broader, circum-Atlantic system of literary transmission and adaptation. It offers a heuristic account of the social function of the episode or fragment in early American imaginative writings and considers how Brown theorizes his relationship to the generically variable, constitutively elliptical nature of early American literary production more generally.

scholarly journals Recent Economic Perspectives on Political Economy, Part II

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 543-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
TORUN DEWAN ◽  
KENNETH A SHEPSLE
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Information Aggregation ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
The Political ◽  
Arbitrage Opportunities ◽  
Economics Journals ◽  
Economic Perspectives

In recent years some of the best theoretical work on the political economy of political institutions and processes has begun surfacing outside the political science mainstream in high quality economics journals. This two-part article surveys these contributions from a recent five-year period. In Part I, the focus was on elections, voting and information aggregation, followed by treatments of parties, candidates and coalitions. In Part II, papers on economic performance and redistribution, constitutional design, and incentives, institutions and the quality of political elites are discussed. Part II concludes with a discussion of the methodological bases common to economics and political science, the way economists have used political science research, and some new themes and arbitrage opportunities.

The Political Economy of Policy Volatility in Latin America

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Resource Rents ◽  
Natural Resource Rents

AbstractWhy are some Latin American states plagued by persistent policy volatility while the policies of others remain relatively stable? This article explores the political economy of natural resource rents and policy volatility across Latin America. It argues that, all else equal, resource rents will create incentives for political leaders, which will result in repeated episodes of policy volatility. This effect, however, will depend on the structure of political institutions. Where political institutions fail to provide a forum for intertemporal exchange among political actors, natural resource rents will result in increased levels of policy volatility. Alternatively, where political institutions facilitate agreement among actors, resource rents will be conducive to policy stability. This argument is tested on a measure of policy volatility for 18 Latin American economies between 1993 and 2008. The statistical tests provide support for the argument.

scholarly journals Objectives, Issues, and Findings

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Kamiar Mohaddes ◽  
Jeffrey B. Nugent ◽  
Hoda Selim
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Price Volatility ◽  
Commodity Price ◽  
The Political ◽  
Fiscal Policies ◽  
Commodity Price Volatility ◽  
The Face ◽  
Macroeconomic Management

This volume aims to improve our understanding of the problems of macroeconomic management in oil-rich Arab economies. In doing so, it emphasizes the role of institutions and the political economy environment underlying them. Most importantly, it attempts to assess the effectiveness of these institutions in delivering macroeconomic stability and growth in the face of commodity price volatility, comparing actual practice in the Arab region with the budgeting procedures and countercyclical fiscal policies and rules shown to be successful in other parts of the world. The analysis here, however, goes considerably beyond that. It utilizes a political economy perspective to explain how budgeting and other fiscal policies are designed and implemented by political and administrative actors in ways that distinguish budget surpluses from deficits and pro-cyclicality from counter-cyclicality. Second, it includes monetary institutions and exchange rate regimes, and the interactions between both of these and both fiscal and political institutions.

scholarly journals POLITICS AND LEADERSHIP FATIGUE IN AFRICA. A THEORETICAL APPRAISAL.

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1139-1145
Author(s):  
Christian Akani
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Analytical Method ◽  
The Political ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Inclusive Governance ◽  
The Right

Colonialism cannot be forgotten in Africa because of the disorientation and dissonance it enforced. This scenario paved way  for unbridled expropriation  of human and material resources. But, by the beginning of the 1940s African  nationalists  rejected the colonial political economy, and  demanded for self governance.  The aftermath of their demand engendered a wind of change which swept most African states to statehood in the 1960s. Regrettably, five decades after independence, the continent is still experiencing a free fall  in all human development sectors. Those who inherited political power, rather than ensuring inclusive governance have imposed pain and terror on their people . With an analytical , method the paper argues that politics is squarely responsible for the leadership fatigue in the continent. It concludes that for Africa to have the right leaders they desire, the political institutions must guarantee popular participation.

scholarly journals The Political Economy of Salt Imports in Indonesia

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-46
Author(s):  
Beltahmamero Simamora ◽  
Marlina Deliana ◽  
Syafruddin Ritonga
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Chemical Industry ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Government ◽  
Industrial Needs

The use of salt is wide, including in the chemical industry, various foods and beverages, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The decision to import salt is aimed at protecting the sustainability of production in the national industrial sector. Government Regulation Number 9 of 2018 was issued without involving the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP). The PP for Salt Imports removes the authority of the KKP in providing recommendations for importing industrial salt. The salt import made by the government has received legitimacy from the Ministry of Industry because it is seen as being able to increase investment and welfare for the community. However, the import of salt do not have to get recommendations from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries are a blunder for the government. Because it is very contrary to the constitution. The concepts presented by Thomas Oatley, namely interests, political institutions and Helen V. Milner, namely Interest, Institutions, and Information, are used to analyze salt import policies. 100 percent of industrial salt is still imported, because Indonesia unable to produce salt for industrial needs. Thus, in terms of the political economy of salt business, it can be concluded that the recurring issue of salt scarcity has been caused by serious errors in the political economy of the salt business in Indonesia. This mistake, objectively, can be traced from the behavior of salt business players and the government to reform for a better Indonesian salt business. 100 percent of industrial salt is still imported, because Indonesia unable to produce salt for industrial needs. Thus, in terms of the political economy of salt business, it can be concluded that the recurring issue of salt scarcity has been caused by serious errors in the political economy of the salt business in Indonesia. This mistake, objectively, can be traced from the behavior of salt business players and the government to reform for a better Indonesian salt business. 100 percent of industrial salt is still imported, because Indonesia unable to produce salt for industrial needs. Thus, in terms of the political economy of salt business, it can be concluded that the recurring issue of salt scarcity has been caused by serious errors in the political economy of the salt business in Indonesia. This mistake, objectively, can be traced from the behavior of salt business players and the government to reform for a better Indonesian salt business.

Spinoza and the Politics of Freedom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social

Taking as its starting point the formative role of fear in Spinoza’s thought, this book argues that Spinoza’s vision of human freedom and power is realised socially and collectively. It presents a new critical study of the collectivist Spinoza, wherein we can become freer through desire, friendship, the imagination, and transforming the social institutions that structure a given community. A freedom for one and all, attuned to the vicissitudes of human life and the capabilities of each one of us to live up to the demands and constraints of our limited autonomy. It repositions Spinoza as the central thinker of desire and freedom, and demonstrates how the conflicts within his work inform contemporary theoretical discussions around democracy, populism and power. Spinoza’s politics and their development are analysed both philosophically and historically. The argument approaches Spinoza’s texts critically, presenting new findings from the Latin. It critically engages with diverse hermeneutic traditions in Spinoza studies, from continental readings of Spinoza’s ontology and politics to more analytical or historicist Anglophone approaches to his epistemology and metaphysics, alongside recent work sensitive to the socially useful roles of the imagination and the affects. The book sets out new concepts to work through with Spinoza like commonality, collectivity, unanimity and interdependence, and analyses existing debates around democracy, the multitude, slavery and autonomy. Its overarching claim is that freedom in Spinoza is a necessarily political endeavour, realised by individuals acting cooperatively, requiring the development of socio-political institutions and communal imaginings that can realise the common good.

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