Principals and Agents: From the Convention’s Proposal to the Constitutional Treaty

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas König ◽  
Daniel Finke
Keyword(s):  
Final Outcome ◽  
The Political ◽  
Principal Agent ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Voting Rules ◽  
Common View ◽  
Treaty Of Lisbon ◽  
First Order ◽  
The Common

This chapter examines the transformation of the Convention's proposal on the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe to the Lisbon Treaty in the aftermath of the two negative referendums from a principal-agent perspective. It shows that the common view of unitary member states, in which principals and agents share interests in the revision of treaties, can only partially—if not wrongly—explain the Treaty of Lisbon. The principal-agent analysis reveals that the political leaders delegated power to negotiating agents who worked out compromise solutions by partially revising the initial interests of their first order principals, the political leaders. Governmental agents from smaller countries were able to focus the negotiations on a few central reform issues, such as the number of Commissioners and the voting rules of the Council, and they also successfully influenced the final outcome of these issues. A major reason for their success was their credibility, which they could increase by pointing to integration-skeptic voters—particularly in countries that had announced a referendum. Hence, governmental agents increased their bargaining efficiency by referring to voters as their second-order principals.

scholarly journals Satire in Shrestha’s Ghintang Ghishi Twank

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-81
Author(s):  
Man Kumar Rai
Keyword(s):  
Positive Change ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Common People ◽  
The People ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Special Occasion ◽  
The Common

   The objective of this article is to analyze the use of satire in three poems, from Rupesh  Shrestha’s volume of poems Ghintang Ghishi Twank in order to examine use of the suffering of voiceless people. The poems depict absurdities of the society and hypocrisy of the leaders which are the causes of poor people‟s pains. This poems exhibit how follies, vices and absurdities are hurdle in transforming society into prosperous one. The poet has berated them with the aim of bringing positive change in the society and in the lives of the common people. The poet mocks at the political changes which have brought change only in the lives of political leaders, not in the lives of the people who have been ignored by the state for long. Despite many anxieties, they enjoy dancing and playing sticks in their hands on the special occasion of Gaijatra. The poems are collection of sharp words which are used to butt the corrupt politicians. For this, the elements of Juvenalian satire have been used as tools for analysis of the selected poems. This study highlights upon the anxieties of marginalized people; demonstrates the shameful act of politicians; and exposes the absurdities prevailed in the society. It indicates that the political and social absurdities are subject to be poked in order to reform a society.

Collective Identity in National Anthems

2019 ◽  
pp. 45-64
Author(s):  
Hesham Mesbah
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Political System ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
National Symbols ◽  
The Common

This chapter explores how national anthems of African and non-African Arab nations reflect a collective national identity. The national anthems of 22 Arab countries were analyzed using the textual thematic analysis to identify the common attributes of national identity in these anthems and the variance in referring to political entities, national symbols, and natural artifacts according to the political system (republic vs. monarchy) in the country. The analysis shows five thematic components of the national identity presented by those anthems, with an emphasis on the themes of religion and local political leaders in the anthems of monarchies. On the other hand, republics base their identity on religion, history, and nation-related natural and national artifacts. The anthems of the republics show a higher level of complexity (thematic richness) and more tendency to use emotionally charged, forceful language, in contrast to the anthems of the monarchies.

Conceptualizing IO Emergency Powers

2019 ◽  
pp. 23-48
Author(s):  
Christian Kreuder-Sonnen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Principal Agent ◽  
Member States ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Emergency Powers ◽  
Power Differentials ◽  
Executive Discretion ◽  
The Common

This chapter introduces a constitutional perspective on international organizations (IOs) that foregrounds the legally constituted relationship between authority-holders and authority-addressees. Distinct from the common principal–agent perspective, it paves the way for understanding IOs’ crisis-induced authority-leaps as an assumption of emergency powers—an act defined as the constitutionally deviant widening of executive discretion at the expense of the political autonomy of the rule-addressees that is justified by exceptional necessity. The chapter taxonomizes the possible institutional embodiments of IO exceptionalism according to its constitution, reach, and intrusiveness and highlights its phenomenological differences with respect to domestic exceptionalism. Given the structural conditions of the international spheres of authority in which IO exceptionalism operates, it is expected to rely on the acquiescence of the most powerful member states, to be stratified in scope and application according to states’ power differentials, and to instrumentalize rather than openly suspend norms of international law.

scholarly journals The Indian Republic as Governance Guru to the European Union: Does the Subcontinent Offer the Continent a Model for Managing Diversity?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm MacLaren
Keyword(s):  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
Managing Diversity ◽  
Unity In Diversity ◽  
The Common

The development and working of governance in post-colonial India provides insights into and lessons for the actual European project of integration. The Republic’s founders coined the slogan ‘unity in diversity’, and their creation has enjoyed considerable (unexpected) success in managing linguistic, religious, ethnic, and territorial diversities. In contrast, the Union’s leaders are still struggling to constitute a political community, as the failure of the draft constitutional treaty made clear.Considering wider dimensions of managing cultural diversity, the paper follows the thesis that in political integration projects, law matters and politics does too, but that the political culture prevailing matters most. The success (or failure) of such attempts is ultimately determined not by the framework rules, institutions, and procedures but by the common (or divergent) values, attitudes, and goals of the political actors involved.

Justice Promised or Just a Promise?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanie du Toit
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
Reconciliation Process

This chapter evaluates the reconciliation process in terms of its inherent promise of social inclusion and fairness in South Africa. It first asks whether the constitutional process could be judged to have been inclusive and fair to all. Then it asks whether the TRC failed to address social justice and thereby constituted a setback to the reconciliation agenda. Finally, the chapter asks about the measure of inclusivity and fairness that have been achieved after some twenty years. The discussion concludes that inclusivity and fairness were not sacrificed at the time when reconciliation shaped the political transition but were compromised more recently, to the extent that inclusion across social divides failed to materialize and political leaders deviated from serving the common good. Just as early reconciliation efforts initially flourished through leadership, so in later years, reconciliation has floundered in its absence.

In the Aftermath of the Negative Referendums: The Irish Resistance

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas König ◽  
Daniel Finke
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Strategic Risk ◽  
Knowing That ◽  
Irish Government ◽  
Last Stage ◽  
Strategic Risk Taking

This chapter analyzes the last stage of the reform process: the role of the German Presidency in managing the reform crisis by proposing the Treaty of Lisbon and the subsequent reaction by the Irish government and voters. On 21 June 2007 the political leaders met in Brussels and agreed on a reform proposal replacing the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe, which had been rejected by the Dutch and French voters two years earlier. The deal brokered by the German Presidency maintained the overwhelming majority of the reform issues proposed under the compromised Constitutional Treaty. The chapter examines why the Presidency favored such an encompassing reform while knowing that its ratification would be far more uncertain compared to the less ambitious proposal called a “mini-treaty” that had been circulating at the time. This is the last episode of the trial-and-error story in which a strategic, risk-taking leader finally managed to turn failure into success.

Political Theory beyond the Rhetoric–Reason Divide: Hobbes, Semantic Indeterminacy, and Political Order

2011 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-580
Author(s):  
Daniel Skinner
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Common View ◽  
Semantic Indeterminacy ◽  
The Common ◽  
Rational Order ◽  
The Way ◽  
Political Logic

AbstractThis article engages the longstanding debate over Hobbes's use of rhetoric, with the aim of rethinking both the political logic ofLeviathanand the way contemporary theorists approach rhetoric in relation to reason. Rhetoric was a particularly acute problem for Thomas Hobbes, whose pursuit of a stable political order may appear to require the absence of rhetoric and the presence of a purely rational order. This appearance is misleading, and it is suggested therefore that political theorists rethink how they understand rhetoric to grasp more fully Hobbes's understanding of political order. The common view that Hobbes resolves the problem of semantic indeterminacy must be questioned. Hobbes in effect understands that stable meaning structures are impossible to attain, even under Leviathan. This reworking suggests the need for refining our understanding of Hobbes, who envisions political order not by privileging reason over rhetoric, but by moving beyond engagements with language altogether.

Structural Constraints in Ukrainian Politics

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D'Anieri
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Common Assumption ◽  
Security Services ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
Regional Dynamics ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Common

The 2010 Ukrainian presidential election points to a certain consistency in Ukrainian electoral politics, especially in regional dynamics. These enduring constraints limit the options of political leaders and channel outcomes into a narrower range than would be expected from a focus on the personal preferences of leaders or the political views of the forces they represent. This article seeks to identify these constraints and the prospects that the current government or a future one might escape them. Starting with the common assumption that all leaders (even in democracies) seek to retain office as long as possible, the article examines what has made consolidation of power more difficult in Ukraine than other post-Soviet societies. Important factors include regional divisions, the absence of a natural-resource-based economy, and the relative weakness of the post-communist security services. It then considers factors that favor the consolidation of political power and the erosion of meaningful competition, such as weak institutions, weak norms, and increasing facility with the methods used elsewhere in the region to weaken competitors. The article concludes by proposing that both authoritarian consolidation and democratic consolidation present challenges in Ukraine and that we need to focus more on the barriers to the concentration of power in new democracies.

Articulatory Generalization in Two Word-Medial, Ambisyllabic Contexts

1988 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia I. Wolfe ◽  
Suzanne D. Blocker ◽  
Norma J. Prater
Keyword(s):  
Common View ◽  
Perceptual Salience ◽  
The Common ◽  
Unitary Concept ◽  
Over Time

Articulatory generalization of velar cognates /k/, /g/ in two phonologically disordered children was studied over time as a function of sequential word-morpheme position training. Although patterns of contextual acquisition differed, correct responses to the word-medial, inflected context (e.g., "picking," "hugging") occurred earlier and exceeded those to the word-medial, noninflected context (e.g., "bacon," "wagon"). This finding indicates that the common view of the word-medial position as a unitary concept is an oversimplification. Possible explanations for superior generalization to the word-medial, inflected position are discussed in terms of coarticulation, perceptual salience, and the representational integrity of the word.

What is a Complex? Freudian Resistances

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Morgan Wortham
Keyword(s):  
Value Theory ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
Noam Chomsky ◽  
Cultural Legacy ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
The Common ◽  
Post War

This chapter evaluates the question of the ‘complex’ in a range of scientific, political and psychoanalytic contexts, asking not only where lines of connection and demarcation occur among specific distributions of meaning, value, theory and practice; but also probing the psychoanalytic corpus, notably Freud’s writings on the notion of a ‘complex’, in order to reframe various implications of the idea that this term tends to resist its own utilisation as both an object and form of analysis. This section establishes connections between three sets of theoretical questions: the common practice of describing modernity and its wake in terms of a drive towards increasing complexity; the meaning and cultural legacy of phrases such as ‘military-industrial complex’ and sundry derivations in the political sphere; and the intricacies and ambiguities subtending the term ‘complex’ within psychoanalytic theory. As a concept that Freud both utilised and repudiated, the provocative power of the term ‘complex’ is linked to the way it thwarts various attempts at systemization (providing nonetheless an apparatus of sorts through which contemporary science, Slavoj Žižek, Noam Chomsky, Freud, Eisenhower, and post-war politics can be articulated to one another).

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