scholarly journals Constitution as Social Contract in Contemporary Ethiopia: The Need to Re-construct Political Arrangements

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-72
Author(s):  
Henok Kebede Bekele
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contracts

Constitutions represent social contracts that accommodate subjective interests of groups within the framework of impersonal shared interests among citizens of the society at large.  This article examines the contemporary social contract theory in relation to the constitutional making process in Ethiopia. The lawmaking process of Ethiopia’s 1995 Constitution does not fulfil the procedural legitimacy of social contract because important sections of the society were neglected. The institutions created by the FDRE Constitution denote the subjectivist approaches to social contract theory thereby ignoring the impersonal interests of the society. To accommodate both the subjective ends and impersonal interests of the society, the Constitution should be reconstructed in light of the dualist contemporary social contract theory. This article argues that Ethiopia's contracting actors should consider both the subjective and impersonal interests of society. The article examines the conditions that make constitution a social contract. It also discusses the controversies concerning Ethiopia's Constitution in light of the theory of social contract, and tries to show what the Constitution should fulfil as a social contract in contemporary Ethiopia.

The State as a Fiduciary

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-159
Author(s):  
Andrew S. Gold
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Social Contracts ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Private Rights ◽  
Fiduciary Obligations ◽  
Right Of Action

This chapter analyses the state’s responsibility to provide a venue for civil recourse (ordinarily, by means of a private right of action). Civil recourse theorists have explained the state’s obligation to provide for private rights of action in terms of social contracts. On this view, the state owes its citizens a means to act against a wrongdoer, given that the state has largely prohibited self-help. Such accounts are discussed along with an alternative to a social contract theory: the state may be a fiduciary to its citizens. Elaborating on the fiduciary account, this chapter suggests the state may have an obligation to provide for private law institutions of a certain type. Notably, part of the state’s responsibility may be to provide private law institutions that facilitate pursuit of those projects that individuals find meaningful. Provision for rights of redress may then be an important component of the state’s fiduciary obligations.

scholarly journals Penal Mediation in the Criminal Law as a Shift in Social Contract Theory

Yuridika ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 559
Author(s):  
I Nyoman Sukandia ◽  
I Nyoman Putu Budiartha ◽  
Ketut Adi Wirawan
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Theoretical Implication ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Public Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Criminal Sanctions ◽  
Social Contracts ◽  
The Right

Social contract theory is the theory that illustrates the origin of a state formation. The theory of social contracts is composed of several instruments, including natural human rights, morals and mutual agreement (common will). Humans (individuals) surrender their rights to the ruler (state). The rights that are handed over to the state include rights in the field of public law (public interest). One of the rights in the field of public law is the right to establish norms in criminal law (ius poenale) and the right to convict (ius puniendi). Through the existence of penal mediation in Indonesia, the state's right to convict offenders is reduced. It also means that the rights handed over by individuals to the authorities (state) in social contracts are reduced. Its theoretical implication is that the right of the state to impose criminal sanctions on offenders who are based on the surrender of individual rights to social contracts, begins to be purified again with the settlement between individuals through penal mediation on violations of public (criminal) law that take place.

Penal Mediation in the Criminal Law as a Shift in Social Contract Theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1098-1104
Author(s):  
Budiartha I Nyoman Putu ◽  
◽  
Wirawan Ketut Adi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Theoretical Implication ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Public Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Criminal Sanctions ◽  
Social Contracts ◽  
The Right

Social contract theory is the theory that illustrates the origin of a state formation. The theory of social contracts is composed of several instruments, including natural human rights, morals and mutual agreement (common will). Humans (individuals) surrender their rights to the ruler (state). The rights that are handed over to the state include rights in the field of public law (public interest). One of the rights in the field of public law is the right to establish norms in criminal law (ius poenale) and the right to convict (ius puniendi). Through the existence of penal mediation in Indonesia, the state’s right to convict offenders is reduced. It also means that the rights handed over by individuals to the authorities (state) in social contracts are reduced. Its theoretical implication is that the right of the state to impose criminal sanctions on offenders who are based on the surrender of individual rights to social contracts, begins to be purified again with the settlement between individuals through penal mediation on violations of public (criminal) law that take place.

scholarly journals Contracting for Catastrophe:Legitimizing Emergency Constitutions by Drawing on Social Contract Theory

Res Publica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Voigt
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Half Century ◽  
States Of Emergency ◽  
The World

AbstractStates of emergency are declared frequently in all parts of the world. Their declaration routinely implies a suspension of basic constitutional rights. In the last half century, it has become the norm for constitutions to contain an explicit ‘emergency constitution’, i.e., the constitutionally safeguarded rules of operation for a state of emergency. In this paper, I ask whether inclusion of an emergency constitution can be legitimized by drawing on social contract theory. I argue that there are important arguments, both against and in favor of constitutionalized emergency provisions, and that social contract theory—as applied by economists—can be of some help when deciding whether to have, or not to have an emergency constitution. This paper introduces a novel argument for justifying emergency constitutions. It argues that they can serve as a commitment mechanism protecting both citizens and politicians from overreacting to rare but significant threats.

scholarly journals Evaluating social contract theory in the light of evolutionary social science

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-45
Author(s):  
Paul Seabright ◽  
Jonathan Stieglitz ◽  
Karine Van der Straeten
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Social Contract Theory

scholarly journals Konsep Nation-State dalam Pemikiran Ideologi Politik Melayu Islam pada Abad Ke-19 M (Studi Pemikiran Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi (1787-1854)

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-146
Author(s):  
Andi Chandra Jaya
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Nation State ◽  
State Management ◽  
The Social

The focus of this study is to answer the subject matter of how the concept of the nation-state according to Abdullah Munsyi in the constellation of Malay Islamic political ideology in the 19th century AD and how is the relevance of the concept of the current Indonesian nation state ? The study used the conscience morale theory of Ernest Renan and the social contract theory initiated by J. J. Roussae. This research is included in the library research category and uses historical approaches and political philosophy. The primary data in this study are Abdullah Musnyi's Hikayat Abdullah book published by Yayasan Karyawan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2007 and secondary data, in the form of books, journal articles, papers, and others related to research problems. the findings of the research are: 1). In accordance with the theory of conscience morale Ernest Renan and the social contract theory initiated by J. J. Roussae, Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi was the originator of nationalism. Through his most important work, Hikayat Abdullah, he put forward the formulation of Malay identity in the formulation of the nation which was understood as a Malay tribe or race who had the right to be involved in determining the Malay political format not as a community under a political system that was authoritarian. 2). His closeness with the British colonial side, thus forming the liberal thinking he obtained from Raffles and his friends. He not only dismantled the manipulation of royal ideology, but at the same time put forward a new view of the existence of a humanist individual. 3). The understanding of nationality has egalitarian values ​​that are very relevant to the current Indonesian context, especially the values ​​of equality (egalitarianism) in the midst of the emergence of conflicts in various conflicts today. Likewise the concept of nation-state is closely related to nationalism and good governance where good governance is based on the absolute existence of transparency, open participation, and accountability in all state activities at every level of state management, so that a clean government is formed. Keywords: Abdullah Munsyi, Nation-State, and Malay Political ideology

The Epicureans on Human Nature and its Social and Political Consequences

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Jan Maximilian Robitzsch
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Contract Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Social Contract Theory ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
The Social

Based on certain passages in Colotes, Hermarchus, and Horace, the Epicureans may be thought to defend a social contract theory that is roughly Hobbesian. According to such a view, human life without the social contract is solitary and brutish. This paper argues that such a reading is mistaken. It offers a systematic analysis of Lucretius’s culture story in On the Nature of Things v as well as the Epicurean passages that at first sight seem to contradict the Lucretian account. The conclusion of such an analysis is not only that all extant evidence is internally consistent, but also that Epicurean social contract theory relies on a ‘dynamic’ conception of human nature: On the Epicurean view, agents have very different psychological motivations when coming together to form societies and when coming together to form political and legal states.

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