scholarly journals AN INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF KLEPTOCRATIC ECONOMY IN THE CONTEXT OF EUROPEANIZATION

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 203
Author(s):  
Robert Pustoviit ◽  
Oleg Kuklin ◽  
Mykhailo Kryvoruchko
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Transaction Costs ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
The State ◽  
Market Mechanism ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Methodological Basis ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
Economic Formation

Relevance. Kleptocratic economy, as an institutional system, is oriented towards a key function that involves gaining wealth by the ruling elite through the introduction of non-market transaction costs for companies and households, which is based on administrative, bureaucratic, and political violence. For this purpose, the kleptocratic states create such systems of state institutional management that give the authorities the possibility of rent-oriented behaviour, which impedes the functioning of the real sector of the economy and encourages the shadow one. Under such circumstances, transaction costs are redirected to administrative intervention into the market mechanism, rather than aimed at increasing its efficiency; property rights are not clearly specified; the level of uncertainty about rules and norms of economic behaviour increases, and the motivational system of business activity is distorted. As a result, on the one hand, inefficient allocation of resources and slow economic growth (decline) are observed, and on the other hand, there is the redistribution of income in favour of the ruling elite and its excessive enrichment, that is detrimental to the welfare of the majority of the population. The aim of the article is to analyse the political-economic formation of a kleptocratic basis, which in the future transforms the state and its economy into kleptocratic formations; defining ways of counteraction and institutional capacity for transformations in the direction of Ukraine’s aspirations for European integration. Methodological basis. The methodological basis of the research is the work of domestic and foreign scientists in the field of institutionalism and kleptocratic economy. The models of the development of a kleptocratic state and the influence of kleptocratic factors on the socio-economic processes in the country have been studied with the application of the method of analysis, systematization, and generalization. Results. It is determined that in order to liquidate the grounds of kleptocratic economy, it is of primary necessity to eliminate institutional obstacles that interfere with the unification of the legal and shadow sectors of the economy and ensure their institutional formalization. This requires the introduction of effective ways of restraining the ruling elite in order to restrict corruption abuses of the government and its close reigning coalition with special privileges and bureaucracies and form an institutional structure, in which firms and households have clearly defined property rights and also have the possibility to protect contractual rights provided by formal institutes. Particular attention should be paid to the ways of civil society’s monitoring the state information policy and methods of adopting laws, which is, the institutional foundation that guarantees the openness of information as to the actions of government institutions. According to the results of the study, definite measures are proposed, the implementation of which will ensure the opportunities for Europeanization, particularly in Ukraine. The emphasis is placed on the fact that the important factors of counteracting the kleptocratic economy are the wage reform and the “transparent” selection of employees in the public administration sector on the basis of their professional qualities only.

scholarly journals Evolution of the Concept of Citizenship in the Islamic Thought: An Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-141
Author(s):  
Osama Sami AL-Nsour
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
State And Society ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Islamic Civilization ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Relationship

The concept of citizenship is one of the pillars upon which the modern civil state was built. The concept of citizenship can be considered as the basic guarantee for both the government and individuals to clarify the relationship between them, since under this right individuals can acquire and apply their rights freely and also based on this right the state can regulate how society members perform the duties imposed on them, which will contributes to the development of the state and society .The term citizenship has been used in a wider perspective, itimplies the nationality of the State where the citizen obtains his civil, political, economic, social, cultural and religious rights and is free to exercise these rights in accordance with the Constitution of the State and the laws governing thereof and without prejudice to the interest. In return, he has an obligation to perform duties vis-à-vis the state so that the state can give him his rights that have been agreed and contracted.This paper seeks to explore firstly, the modern connotation of citizenship where it is based on the idea of rights and duties. Thus the modern ideal of citizenship is based on the relationship between the individual and the state. The Islamic civilization was spanned over fourteen centuries and there were certain laws and regulations governing the relationship between the citizens and the state, this research will try to discover the main differences between the classical concept of citizenship and the modern one, also this research will show us the results of this change in this concept . The research concludes that the new concept of citizenship is correct one and the one that can fit to our contemporary life and the past concept was appropriate for their time but the changes in the world force us to apply and to rethink again about this concept.

American Democracy Reconsidered: Part I

1973 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Sharpe
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Government ◽  
The State ◽  
City Government ◽  
State Governments ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
The People ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One

In his celebrated study of American democracy written in 1888, Lord Bryce reserved his most condemnatory reflections for city government and in a muchquoted passage asserted: ‘There is no denying that the government of cities is the one conspicuous failure of the United States. The deficiencies of the National government tell but little for evil on the welfare of the people. The faults of the State governments are insignificant compared with the extravagance, corruption and mismanagement which mark the administration of most of the great cities'sangeetha.

Combating corruption in Pakistan

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feisal Khan
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Current State ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
The Government ◽  
Systemic Corruption ◽  
Institutional Capabilities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current state of corruption in Pakistan and evaluate attempts by the government to combat its entrenched corruption culture. Design/methodology/approach – The paper shows that Pakistan’s legacy of British colonial rule, its ethno-linguistic conflict and alternating civilian governments and military coups have weakened institutional capabilities, hindered capacity building and allowed systemic corruption to flourish there. Pakistan’s many anti-corruption efforts failed because they were used to attack political foes instead of strengthening institutional capabilities. Findings – Pakistan has maintained its highly authoritarian form of governance inherited from the British in 1947. The ruling elite view the state as a milch cow for their personal enrichment and this attitude is also reflected in the performance of its bureaucracy. Existing rules of conduct and administration are not enforced as citizens encounter corruption in their dealings with officials. At the policy level, key decisions are often made to benefit the decision makers. The paper concludes that without political will no significant improvement in the state of corruption in Pakistan is likely to occur. Originality/value – This paper will be useful for scholars, policy-makers and anti-corruption practitioners who are interested in corruption in Pakistan and whether the apparent institutionalization of parliamentary democracy has reduced corruption there.

The Clash of Civilizations in the Syrian Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (31) ◽  
pp. 302-322
Author(s):  
Shoayb Mohammadi ◽  
Vladyslav Butenko ◽  
Zohreh Ghadbeigi ◽  
Masoumeh Ahangaran
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
War On Terrorism ◽  
Clash Of Civilizations ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Syrian Crisis ◽  
Us Military ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Persian Gulf

The Syrian crisis may be the beginning of a new conflict of civilizations. Ethnic and religious pluralism is clearly evident in this country: Muslims (Sunnis, Druze, Alawites, Shiites and Ismailis); Christians (Orthodox, Catholics, Maronites, Protestants) and Turkmen and Kurdish ethnic minorities. The Syrian crisis of 2011 seemed to go against the ruling elite (Alawis). With the escalation of the conflict, the country gradually became the scene of a civil war characterized by international dimensions. In this way, the conflict became a multilateral battle in which, on the one hand, the participants in it were the local element in the form of the government of Bashar al-Assad and extremist terrorist groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, ISIL and Ahrar al-Sham; and on the other hand, the United States and its European allies, Saudi Arabia and some States of the Persian Gulf; and Iran and the axis of resistance, as well as Russia and China. Due to the presence of diverse cultures and religions, it appears that this will make the Syrian crisis a prelude to a renewed clash of civilizations. This research seeks to answer these questions: What are the basic propositions of the theory of the clash of civilizations and how is it represented in the Syrian crisis? Since, according to Samuel Huntington, the main sources of the clash of civilizations are the foundation of civilizations, religious and cultural antecedents, and cultural and religious identities. Consequently, they are expressions of the clash of civilizations: the war on terrorism, the Syrian crisis, the rise of ISIL and the presence of US military and international interventions, the competition of regional and transnational powers.

scholarly journals Endogenous Institutional Change and Dynamic Capitalism

2010 ◽  
pp. 15-39
Author(s):  
Victor Nee ◽  
Sonja Opper
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Sufficient Conditions ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Property Rights Protection ◽  
The Government ◽  
Formal Rules

State-centered theory asserts that political institutions and credible commitment by political elite to formal rules securing property rights provides the necessary and sufficient conditions for economic growth to take place. In this approach, the evolution of institutions favorable to economic performance is a top-down process led by politicians who control the state. Hence, in less developed and poor countries, the counterfactual is that if formal institutions secure property rights and check predatory action by the political elite, then sustained economic growth would follow. The limitation of state-centered theory stems from the problem that behavioral prescriptions - formal rules and regulations - that reflect what politicians prefer can be ignored. In contrast, we lay out the bottomup construction of economic institutions that gave rise to capitalist economic development in China. Entrepreneurship in the economically developed regions of the coastal provinces was not fueled by exogenous institutional changes. When the first entrepreneurs decided to decouple from the traditional socialist production system, the government had neither initiated financial reforms inviting a broader societal participation, nor had it provided property rights protection or transparent rules specifying company registration and liabilities. Instead, it was the development and use of innovative informal arrangements within close-knit groups of like-minded actors that provided the necessary funding and reliable business norms. This allowed the first wave of entrepreneurs to survive outside of the state-owned manufacturing system. This bottom-up process resembles earlier accounts of the rise of capitalism in the West.

scholarly journals TARSYIH KEPEMIMPINAN DALAM PERSPEKTIF TAFSIR DAN UNDANG-UNDANG PEMILU NOMOR 7 TAHUN 2017

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-50
Author(s):  
Nadirsah Hawari ◽  
Rachma Octariani ◽  
Eva Rosalia ◽  
Sinta Arifka ◽  
Asep Candra
Keyword(s):  
Selection Process ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
The People ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Military

Abstract According to Islamic Shari'a, holding a public office is not a right for an individual, but an obligation for the State. Therefore, the government, both the regional head and all its officials, must select the most suitable and most suitable person for every government job. It should not be made of nepotism by looking at kinship, friendship, or faction from any relationship with the eligibility of someone to hold a position .The existing rulers should appoint officials from the best people (al-ashlah), the Prophet said which means "whoever holds a Muslim's business (meaning being a ruler) then he appoints someone to be an official even though he knows there are more people good for (benefit) of the Muslims, then really he has betrayed Allah and His Messenger "(Ibn Taimiyah). If the head of state or other officials do not find the right person for a certain position, in this situation they must choose the person who is more representative. Representative here means the person who is the most appropriate from the one for each government position. And also in this selection process, the head of state and other officials must know about the standards of eligibility al-quwwah (strength) and al-amanah (trust). Al-Quwwah is the ability and feasibility of a job assignment. Whereas trusteeship is a behavior that focuses on the management process regarding the position or function of a position that is in accordance with Islamic Shari'a with the intention of only devoting to Allah and not based on fear of humans and expecting their self-interest. nominating yourself is required to convey the vision and mission and the state program that will be implemented. In this case, the community or community is very necessary to obtain information on the candidate pairs who nominate themselves, and the campaign that can be used as a means of communicating politics and public education. The leaders, servants of the State, civil servants or the military, judges and so on, are essentially representations of the voices of the people they lead. The leaders are no more than public servants who must devote and dedicate their leadership to the benefit of the people. The leaders are only representatives of the fulfillment of the rights of the people, so that they are obliged to run the government properly.    Abstrak Menurut syariat islam, memegang suatu jabatan-jabatan umum bukanlah hak  bagi individu, melainkan kewajiban atasnya bagi Negara. Oleh sebab itu, pemerintah baik kepala daerah dan seluruh pejabatnya harus menyeleksi orang yang paling cocok dan paling layak bagi setiap pekerjaan pemerintahan.Tidak boleh beerbuat nepotisme dengan memandang kekerabatan, persahabatan, atau golongan dari manapun yang tidak ada hubunngannya dengan kelayakan seseorang untuk memegang suatu jabatan.Para penguasa yang telah ada hendaknya mengangkat para pejabat dari orang orang terbaik (al-ashlah), Nabi bersabda yang artinya“barang siapa memegang suatu urusan kaum muslimin (maksudnya menjadi penguasa) kemudian ia mengangkat seseorang menjadi pejabat padahal ia mengetahui ada orang yang lebih baik bagi (kemaslahatan) kaum muslimin, maka sungguh ia telah mengkhianati Allah dan Rasul-Nya” (Ibnu Taimiyah).Apabila kepala Negara atau para pejabat lainnya tidak menemukan orang yang tepat untuk suatu jabatan tertentu, dalam keadaan ini mereka harus memilih orang yang lebih representative. Representative disini memiliki arti yakni orang yang paling tepat dari yang ada untuk setiap jabatan pemerintahan. Dan juga dalam proses penyeleksian ini, kepala Negara dan pejabat lainnya harus mengetahui tentang standar kelayakan  al-quwwah (kekuatan) dan al-amanah (kepercayaan).Al-Quwwah ialah kemampuan dan kelayakan suatu tugas jabatan. Sedangkan amanah, merupakan perilaku yang dititik beratkan pada proses  pengelolaan perihal jabatan atau fungsi dari suatu jabatan yang sesuai dengan syariat islam dengan niat hanya bertaqwa kepada Allah dan bukan berdasar pada ketakutan kepada manusia dan mengharap pamrih dari mereka.Didalam pelaksanaan kampanye, pasangan calon kandidat yang mencalonkan diri diharuskan untuk menyampaikan visi dan misi serta program kenegaraan yang akan dijalankan. Dalam hal ini, umat atau khalayak masyarakat sangat perlu untuk memperoleh informasi atas pasangan calon kandidat yang mencalonkan diri tersebut, dan kampanyelah yang dapat dijadikan sebagai sarana berkomunikasi politik dan pendidikan masyarakat. Para pemimpin, abdi Negara, pegawai sipil atau militer, hakim dan lain sebagainya, pada hakikatnya merupakan representasi suara rakyat yang mereka pimpin. Para pemimpin tidaklah lebih dari pelayan masyarakat yang harus mengabdikan dan mendedikasikan kepemimpinannya untuk kemaslahatan rakyat. Para pemimpin hanyalah wakil akan pemenuh hak hak umat, sehingga mereka wajib menjalankan roda pemerintahan dengan baik.

scholarly journals Civil Sector of State Governance: New Forms of Self-Organization and the Community’s Participation in the Context of Digitization of the Public Space

2021 ◽  
pp. 67-75
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Solov'ev ◽  
Galina Pushkareva
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Space ◽  
The State ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
The Public ◽  
State Management ◽  
State Governance ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
Civil Sector

As digital technologies develop, a new form of relations between the state and the public is developing as well. Additional opportunities for the expression of public interests and the establishment of values preferred by the society arise, new mechanisms of political mobilization develop, new forms of public organization and self-organization emerge, the social media gain more power, and local and general public narrative develop on a number of online platforms. With the digitization of the public space, the state is forced to change its communication strategies and improve the dialogue between the government and the society based on deliberative democracy principles. After analysing the architecture of public communication emerging in new conditions the paper concludes that Russia is making certain efforts to adapt for the new digitized reality. However, current state priorities are shifting towards e-government and the digital economy. On the one hand, it seems justified, as it allows to bring the public services to a completely new level, reduce corruption risks, and simplify state management of economic processes. On the other hand, the lack of due attention to the issues of openness of public administration and involvement of citizens in making public decisions results in accumulation of contradictions in the public area of public administration, as well as increasing mutual misunderstanding and distrust between the state bodies and the civil society, which may entail bursts of social discontent and protests.

scholarly journals Limitation of Socio-Economic Rights in the 2010 Kenyan Constitution: A Proposal for the Adoption of a Proportionality Approach in the Judicial Adjudication of Socio-Economic Rights Disputes

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Nicholas Wasonga Orago
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
The State ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
Standards Of Living ◽  
Legislative Policy ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One

On 27 August 2010 Kenya adopted a transformative Constitution with the objective of fighting poverty and inequality as well as improving the standards of living of all people in Kenya. One of the mechanisms in the 2010 Constitution aimed at achieving this egalitarian transformation is the entrenchment of justiciable socio-economic rights (SERs), an integral part of the Bill of Rights. The entrenched SERs require the State to put in place a legislative, policy and programmatic framework to enhance the realisation of its constitutional obligations to respect, protect and fulfill these rights for all Kenyans. These SER obligations, just like any other fundamental human rights obligations, are, however, not absolute and are subject to legitimate limitation by the State. Two approaches have been used in international and comparative national law jurisprudence to limit SERs: the proportionality approach, using a general limitation clause that has found application in international and regional jurisprudence on the one hand; and the reasonableness approach, using internal limitations contained in the standard of progressive realisation, an approach that has found application in the SER jurisprudence of the South African Courts, on the other hand. This article proposes that if the entrenched SERs are to achieve their transformative objectives, Kenyan courts must adopt a proportionality approach in the judicial adjudication of SER disputes. This proposal is based on the reasoning that for the entrenched SERs to have a substantive positive impact on the lives of the Kenyan people, any measure by the government aimed at their limitation must be subjected to strict scrutiny by the courts, a form of scrutiny that can be achieved only by using the proportionality standard entrenched in the article 24 general limitation clause.

scholarly journals POLITICAL AND CIVIL ACTIVITY OF RUSSIANS

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-10
Author(s):  
Юрий Говоров ◽  
Yuri Govorov ◽  
Борис Невзоров ◽  
Boris Nevzorov
Keyword(s):  
Public Perception ◽  
The State ◽  
Significant Part ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Dominant Type ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Masses

The authors of the current paper have analyzed data obtained from opinion polls among Russian citizens (including those conducted among students and staff of various Russian universities). The surveys have revealed significant coincidences in the results obtained by different research centers regarding the reduction in the level of political and civic engagement of Russians in recent years. According to the surveys, this is largely due to the alienation of the significant part of the population from the government and the state. These people believe they are not able to influence the state decisions, which, in their turn, have little effect on the improvement of their everyday life. In the post-Soviet period, practically all the elective procedures were designed in such a way that they allowed the officialdom to be self-sufficient and independent from public opinion. As a result of formalized elections, the society in general, as well as separate communities, legitimizes this situation as democratic, since the governing structures are formed in the course of a multistage procedure involving a significant part of the population (employees). Thus, as sociological studies show, "the attitude of the population towards the authorities is greatly influenced by the discrepancy between the perception of the value of democracy and its implementation in real political practice. On the one hand, democracy values have rooted quite firmly in the society. On the other hand, the processes of democratization in public perception are of a nominal nature, i.e. they do not correspond with their purpose ". In a situation like this, management assumes a bureaucratic form, and the dominant type of political behavior in modern Russian society is paternalistic and subject-imposed. Individual liberties and democratic rights, although important, are not decisive and get diminished by other considerations, e.g. the interests of the community. It is obvious that everyone’s aim is adaptation and maintenance of the today’s status quo, because things might get worse tomorrow. It applies both to the behavior of the so-called political power and to the behavior of the so-called “unsinkable” officials on different levels, who belong to the top of the new nomenclature, as well as to the behavior of their subordinates. The situation described above indicates ritualization of political life, which is connected, on the one hand, with the divergence between the power elite and the masses, and, on the one hand, with the mutual interest of the authorities and the electorate in preserving the currently stabilized political and psychological situation in the country.

Gabon: An Uneasy Civil‒Military Concord

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaf Bachmann
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
The People ◽  
The Government ◽  
Oil Wealth ◽  
Senior Officers ◽  
The One ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Military

Like many other African military forces, the Gabonese national army was a direct offshoot of a colonial army—the French one, in this case. Like many of their former brothers in arms on the African continent, the Gabonese military has had difficulty finding their bearings in the newly independent nation, with which they have experienced no bonding. A coup carried out by a handful of officers in 1964 dealt an early blow to the development of civil‒military concord. As of 1965, the political leadership, then firmly in the hands of the Bongo family, made sure it would keep the military under control. An important part of the security belt created by the Bongo regime was the propping up—and corresponding generous endowment—of a Presidential Guard and the paramilitary forces of the Gendarmerie. With the regime feeling more and more secure, among other reasons thanks to the agile management of an extensive patronage system fuelled by the country’s oil wealth, the army was allowed to grow and develop somewhat, although it never reached the capacity to defend the country’s sovereignty against any serious threat. Over the more than four decades of Omar Bongo’s rule (1967‒2009), Gabon’s defense remained outsourced to France through a range of initially secret and later publicly “legitimized” defense treaties. Occasional tensions, such as in the mid-1970s, did not significantly alter that pattern. With its security firmly guaranteed by the Garde Républicaine, the Gendarmerie, and the French, the regime worked to integrate the army into its control system. This was done though accelerating creation of a large number of senior officers’ posts, and these officers were gratified with honors, financial rewards, and at times official government posts. Meanwhile, the rank and file were kept at bay. Consequentially, a two-tier army that mirrored the country’s sociopolitical makeup evolved. Small pockets of professional soldiers did emerge in the country over the years, especially among up to colonel-rank commissioned officers, who benefited from excellent training abroad and were able to perfect their skills on peacekeeping operations. However, professionalism did not percolate through the institution. In 2020, 10 years into the reign of Omar Bongo’s son, Ali, the relationship of the military to the political power is unclear. On the one hand, the army may be an instrument of repression used by a ruling elite that is less and less benevolent in distributing benefits because it has lost the resources to do so. Such was the case in response to unrest after the 2016 elections. On the other hand, it cannot be excluded that part of the army’s lumpenmilitariat could side with the people in a revolt against the government. Because the legitimacy of the clientelist order is under duress, the coercive force provided by the carriers of arms can provide one line of defense, but the military may also turn against their increasingly anemic patron.

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