scholarly journals Valtion antropologiaa: Tutkimuksia ihmisten hallitsemisesta ja vastarinnasta

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Solomon Islands ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Anthropology ◽  
Anthropological Perspective ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The People ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Anthropological Approach

What is a state? This volume approaches the question from an anthropological perspective, which means that the starting point of the analysis is not the concept of the state, but instead, what kinds of structures the state consists of, what kinds of effects these structures have, and how states are experienced by the people who inhabit, make, enact, and resist them. The volume introduces a contemporary anthropological approach to the study of the state for a Finnish-speaking audience. This new approach examines the state as a diverse, socially and culturally constructed phenomenon that varies in time and place. Additional aims of the volume are to introduce and translate concepts from political anthropology to the Finnish language, and to make anthropological analyses of the state known to other disciplines that study the state and to the general Finnish-speaking public. Covering a wide variety of ethnographic contexts examining both the effects of the state and the state-like effects of other institutions, the volume contains case studies from Brazil, Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Finland, Bolivia, Cuba, Egypt, Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Ghana. A theoretical introduction presents the development of anthropological thinking with regard to the state and state-like institutions. An afterword reflects on the contribution of the volume in light of the ethnographic context of Indonesia.

The African Standpoint

Africa ◽  
1935 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Gutmann
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Leadership ◽  
The State ◽  
Grade System ◽  
Tribal Community ◽  
Age Class ◽  
Absorptive Power ◽  
The People ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Warrior Class

Opening ParagraphThe State in its essential nature is power. Its character is determined by the force with which it asserts its distinction from neighbouring states, by its dealing with the organic bonds in which the life of the people finds expression, and by its success in absorbing into and developing within its own structure the underlying spirit of those bonds. The origin of the State's consciousness of power lies at the point in the interlacing roots of tribal organization where the tension between associations based on kinship and those based on age brings about a change of balance, and leadership begins to pass to the latter, the age-class becoming a warrior class which outgrows the clan and subjects kinship-groupings to its own leaders. Once this change in leadership has taken place, that is to say, when no longer the spirit of the clan but the spirit of the age-class becomes dominant, then, by reason of the resulting tightening-up of the forces of war and of expansion, it is only a question of time before the age-class associations pass into a system of vassalage, with leaders who emerge from the age-grade system and acquire an authority more or less political in character. With the individualization of the leadership goes the differentiation of function in the State, which is first required in the organization of the army. Henceforward the tasks in the service of the State are no longer dependent on a man's place in the tribal organization, but upon accomplishments which can be learned. To acquire these forms of skill, to become proficient in their use and to obtain the advantages secured by them becomes an absorbing task which is pursued in common and given stability by associations for the purpose. This is the birth of organization. Without such organizations the State cannot take form, for they alone ensure to it the concentration of the primitive forces of the tribe for the accomplishment of the aims of the State. Thus these organized associations become agencies to develop and foster the consciousness of statehood. The tribal community consciousness which still persists in the organic tribal relationships and in their leadership systems is gradually, under the absorptive power of the new state-consciousness, forced back into the realm of mere emotion and habit and finally deprived entirely of its spiritual leadership. So that what is in reality the starting-point of man's spiritual existence, namely, his membership of an organic and tribal order of society, comes to be regarded as something purely natural and as the sphere of the instinctive preservation of the species.

scholarly journals Property and the State or ‘The Folly of Torrens’: A Comparative Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Fitzpatrick ◽  
Caroline Compton ◽  
Joseph Foukona
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Solomon Islands ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The State ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The World ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
Social Orders

Australian lawyers often extol the virtues of the Torrens system as a means to secure property in land. Yet, the comparative evidence of benefits is mixed and context-dependent, particularly in terms of the nature, provenance and capacity of the state. This article analyses ways in which positivist land laws, including Torrens systems of title by registration, create legal understandings of property that are tied closely to projections or assumptions of state territorial authority. The intertwining of property and sovereignty constructs allodial conceptions of property based on possession or custom as subordinate, if not illegal, simply because they exist in social orders that lie beyond the administrative systems of the state. As a result, there is a chronic fragmentation of legal and social understandings of property in areas of the world with Torrens law and large numbers of informal settlements. The case studies include the Philippines and the Solomon Islands.

scholarly journals Don't Fence Me In: Barricade Sociality and Political Struggles in Mexico and Latvia

2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 644-678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dace Dzenovska ◽  
Iván Arenas
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
The State ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Military Units

AbstractIn 1991, barricades in the streets of Rīga, Latvia, shielded important landmarks from Soviet military units looking to prevent the dissolution of the USSR; in 2006, barricades in the streets of Oaxaca, Mexico, defended members of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca from paramilitary incursions. We employ these two cases to compare the historically specific public socialities and politics formed through spatial and material practices in moments of crisis and in their aftermath. We show how the barricades continue to animate social and political formations and imaginaries, providing a sense of both past solidarity and future possibilities against which the present, including the state of the polity and the life of the people, are assessed. We trace the convergences and differences of political imaginaries of barricade sociality that formed in the barricades’ aftermath and consider what their transformative potential might be. Attentive to the specificity of particular practices and social relations that produce a collective subject, we consider how our case studies might inform broader questions about social collectives like the nation and publics. Though they point in different directions, we argue that the barricades provide an enabling position from which to imagine and organize collective life otherwise. In a moment when much mainstream political activism remains spellbound by the allure of discourses of democracy that promise power to the people, the Mexico and Latvia cases provide examples of social life that exceeded both state-based notions of collectives and what Michael Warner has called “state-based thinking,” even as they were also entangled with state-based frames.

scholarly journals Goal: To Transform the Law Enforcement Agencies into a Popular System

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 165
Author(s):  
Isamiddin Ismailov ◽  
Mehmonali Suvankulov
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
The State ◽  
Human History ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Complex Tasks ◽  
The People ◽  
Legitimate Interests ◽  
Internal Affairs ◽  
Society Today

In all periods of human history, ensuring stability, peace and tranquility in society has been one of the main conditions for a prosperous life of the people. To enjoy peace and tranquility in society today in an environment where threats and dangers of various kinds are increasing and intensifying; ensuring the protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of each of its members remains one of the most pressing and complex tasks of the state, especially the internal affairs bodies. The implementation of these tasks requires the introduction of a completely new approach and mechanisms to the system of internal affairs.

Actorship, parrhesia, and Representation: Remarks on Theatricality and Politics in Hobbes, Rousseau, and Diderot

2018 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Thomä
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Distorted Form ◽  
The Way

AbstractThis paper addresses the strained relationship between parrhesia and actorship and analyzes its political implications. These two terms seem to be antipodes: parrhesia emphasizes the presence of a speaker or author whereas actorship deploys representation. As their relation can be explained by means of the concept of representation it is worthwhile considering the two settings in which representation matters: theater and politics. These settings will be explored in case studies on Hobbes’s, Rousseau’s, and Diderot’s accounts of parrhesia and actorship. Hobbes dismisses parrhesiastic freedom, minimalizes political authorship and favors a model of representation featuring a peculiar, powerful actor: the State. Rousseau criticizes actorship and representation, and seeks to re-install the people as sovereign author. This author is equipped with a strangely distorted form of parrhesia. Diderot takes neither Hobbes’s nor Rousseau’s side. He hints at the political potential of the author-actor relationship and paves the way to a revised notion of parrhesia.

scholarly journals Ethnicity, Indigeneity and Indigenous Rights: The ‘Orang Asli’ Experience

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yogeswaran Subramaniam
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Peninsular Malaysia ◽  
The State ◽  
Orang Asli ◽  
The People ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Statutory Protection ◽  
United Nations Declaration ◽  
The Impact

<em>Orang Asli, the Indigenous minority of Peninsular Malaysia, continue to face formidable challenges in realizing their rights as distinct Indigenous peoples despite being ascribed a measure of constitutional and statutory protection. With reference the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and various international definitions of ‘Indigenous peoples’, this paper examines the impact of the term ‘Orang Asli’ on the Orang Asli struggle for the recognition of their rights as Indigenous Peoples. The term ‘Orang Asli’, an officially-constructed term to describe heterogeneous groups of people considered to be ‘aboriginal’, has since gained acceptance by the people categorized as such and has been used to advocate their rights as Indigenous peoples with relative success. However, the term carries legal implications which continue to place Orang Asli ethnicity and identity under the protection and equally, the control of the state. The extensive legal powers possessed by the state are arguably inconsistent of international norms on Indigenos rights and can additionally function as a tool to deny Orang Asli their attendant rights as Indigenous peoples. More importantly, the continued existence of these powers potentially functions to reinforce existing domestic challenges that Orang Asli face in finding their rightful place as distinct Indigenous peoples in the light of: (1) competing notions of Indigeneity vis-à-vis ethnic Malays; (2) historical discrimination against Orang Asli that continues to persist; and (3) Indigenous rights being construed as a possible hindrance to national economic prosperity. A possible starting point for the reconciliation of these matters may be to legally clarify the term ‘Orang Asli’ in a manner that sustains and respects the Orang Asli community as distinct Indigenous peoples while not threatening the existing special constitutional position afforded to ethnic Malays.</em>

scholarly journals Zróżnicowane ramy prawne ojcowskiej władzy rodzicielskiej obowiązujące na ziemiach polskich w pierwszej połowie XIX wieku

2019 ◽  
pp. 43-53
Author(s):  
Zbigniew J. Żółciński
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Private Law ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Starting Point

 Different ranges of paternal power according to binding regulations existing in Polish territories in the first half of the 19th centuryThe law itself has a proven impact on people’s everyday lives. It is usually the product of compromise, which also reflects the culture of its times. Private law of 19th century was no exception. This study shows that political partitions of Poland has divided also polish perception of family and fatherhood. This work examines the problem of parallel visions of polish fatherhood through the lens of the early civil law codifications. New private laws were starting point for a change in paternal power. These modernization has had their own speed and energy separate in each partition area. Focusing on paternity as a category of family history, this article shows the changing borders of paternal power and responsibility which brings new approach to understanding of how private acts were governed by laws of the state. 

scholarly journals Investigative journalism: Challenges, perils, rewards in seven Pacific Island countries

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shailendra Singh
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Solomon Islands ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
General State ◽  
Investigative Journalism ◽  
Cook Islands ◽  
Pacific Island Countries

This article appraises the general state of investigative journalism in seven Pacific Island countries—Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu—and asserts that the trend is not encouraging. Journalism in general, and investigative journalism in particular, has struggled due to harsher legislation as in military-ruled Fiji; beatings and harassment of journalists as in Vanuatu; and false charges and lawsuits targeting journalists and the major newspaper company in the Cook Islands. Corruption, tied to all the major political upheavals in the region since independence, is also discussed. Threats to investigative journalism, like the ‘backfiring effect’ and ‘anti-whistleblower’ law are examined, along with some investigative journalism success case studies.

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