scholarly journals Symbolic Unity in Post-Marxism

Author(s):  
Soim Lee

The paper examines the question of the symbolic dimension in the political. It is argued that both Ernesto Laclau’s and Claude Lefort’s Post-Marxist accounts understand this question as a problem of rethinking symbolic unity. I will trace arguments of these accounts and examine their relation to Carl Schmitt's notion of the political. To this end, both aesthetic and politico-juridical dimensions of the political are discussed by focusing on two questions: 1) How should it be understood that in Laclau’s idea of populism the symbolic construction of the people differs from the juridical construction of the people? 2) What does it mean to understand symbolic unity as political power as Lefort does?

Author(s):  
Yuriy Kyrychenko ◽  
Hanna Davlyetova

The article examines the role of political parties in modern state-building processes in Ukraine. The place of political parties in the political and legal system of society is determined. The general directions of overcoming problematic situations of activity of political parties in Ukraine are offered. It is noted that political parties play an important role in the organization and exercise of political power, act as a kind of mediator between civil society and public authorities, influence the formation of public opinion and the position of citizens directly involved in elections to public authorities and local governments. It is determined that in a modern democratic society, political parties carry out their activities in the following areas: the work of representatives of political parties in public authorities and local governments; participation in elections of state authorities and local self-government bodies; promoting the formation and expression of political will of citizens, which involves promoting the formation and development of their political legal consciousness. These areas of political parties determine their role and importance in a modern democratic society, which determines the practical need to improve their activities and improve the national legislation of Ukraine in the field of political parties. Political parties are one of the basic institutions of modern society, they actively influence the ac-tivities of public authorities, economic and social processes taking place in the state and so on. It is through political parties that the people participate in the management of public affairs. Expressing the interest of different social communities, they become a link between the state and civil society. The people have the opportunity to delegate their powers to political parties, which achieves the ability of the people to control political power in several ways, which at the same time through competition of state political institutions and political parties contributes to increasing their responsibility to the people. It is noted that the political science literature has more than 200 definitions of political parties. And approaches to the definition of this term significantly depend on the general context in which this issue was studied by the researcher. It was emphasized that today in Ukraine there are important issues related to the activities of political parties. First of all, it is a significant number of registered political parties that are incapable, ie their political activity is conducted formally or not at all. According to official data from the Department of State Registration and Notary of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, 352 political parties are registered, of which 48 political parties do not actually function. The reason for the liquidation of such parties is not to nominate their candidates for the election of the President of Ukraine and People's Deputies of Ukraine for 10 years. According to this indicator, Ukraine ranks first among other European countries. Thus, 73 political parties are officially registered in Latvia, 38 in Lithuania, 45 in Moldova, 124 in Romania, and 56 in Slovakia. However, despite the large number of officially registered political parties in Ukraine, public confidence in their activities is low. It is concluded that political parties occupy a special place in the political and legal system of society and play an important role in the organization and exercise of political power, as well as a kind of mediator between civil society and public authorities. The general directions of overcoming problematic situations of activity of political parties in Ukraine are offered, namely: introduction of effective and impartial control over activity of political parties; creating conditions for reducing the number of political parties, encouraging their unification; establishment of effective and efficient sanctions for violation of the requirements of the current legislation of Ukraine by political parties.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-70
Author(s):  
Khamami Zada

The application of Islamic rules in Aceh and Kelantan is also related to the political power. There is a significant difference about political treatment on the application of Islamic law in Aceh and Kelantan. In Aceh, the central government (Indonesia) thinks that it is needed to apply jinâyah law in Aceh as a strategy to solve conflicts. This political rule has been applied in the republic of Indonesia since the leadership of Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Soekarno Putri to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The main factor that influences the Indonesian political government rule is the central conflict with the Acehnese in the leadership of Soeharto presidential to the Helsinski Agreement 2005. Some vertical conflicts happened between the central government and the Acehnese were solved by giving special autonomy in applying the Islamic rules. Not only family law and economic law which are given autonomy to be applied in Aceh, but also the autonomy to apply jinâyah Law. In Kelantan, Federal government (Malaysia) did not have political wish to apply Jinayah Law in Kelantan since the leadership of Mahathir Muhammad, Abdullah Badawi to Najib Razak. Moreover the federal government made the issue of the application of jinâyah law as the political commodity to get the political sympathy from the people, who are the partner of non Moslem voters in the national ranks and some Moslem voters who are not affiliated with PAS. This political needs factor is kept by the Federal Government to respond the Kelantan’s government wish to apply Islamic rules.Copyright (c) 2015 by Al-Ihkam. All right reserved DOI : 10.19105/al-ihkam.v10i1.588 


2004 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hootan Shambayati

Countries such as Iran and Turkey do not fit comfortably into the democratic and authoritarian categories. In these countries, elections are held regularly, and the will of the people is accepted as one source of sovereignty. At the same time, both constitutionally and in practice the elected officials have to share the exercise of political power with institutions that do not draw their power directly from the will of the people. In such systems, the judiciary has two important political functions. First, the judiciary acts as a politically insulated decision-maker through which the unelected head can exercise some degree of control over the actions of the elected head. Second, the judiciary's direct involvement in the political arena increases political tensions and legitimates the continuation of the two-headed system. In systems based on divided sovereignty, the tensions created by the judicialization of politics contribute to the stability of the regime.


rahatulquloob ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 88-95
Author(s):  
Sohail Akhtar ◽  
Prof Dr Muhammad Shafique

Islam is a universal religion and it educated his followers that they all are equal as human being because no one is superior on the basis of color, creed, caste or blood. They all are the son of Adam and that’s why the standard of superiority is only based on piety. Before the dispensation of Islam the Arabs were divided in different tribes and the used their genealogical position and felt pride on it. Every tribe was famous due to tribal nobility and tribal strength considered as their political power. All the tribes used sword to solve the political disputes and wanted to set their tribal supremacy. The battle of Bassos and Fujar are famous for tribal supremacy. But Islam changed this concept and turned them into civilized nation. Islam declared that tribe is not factor of supremacy or superiority rather than identity of the people. This paper highlights the role of tribes as a factor of identity under the light of Islam and modern world especially when there is a concept of authoritarian democracy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-36
Author(s):  
Arjun Tremblay

Jacob Levy describes three variants of the separation of powers in the 31st Annual McDonald Lecture in Constitutional Studies, only one of which is germane to this reflection. The first variant he describes is based solely on the independence of the judiciary from both the executive and legislative branches of governments; consequently, this variant encompasses both presidential and parliamentary systems under its conceptual ambit. Another variant, which Levy attributes to Montesquieu, envisages the separation of powers between executive, judicial, and legislative branches as a way of allowing for the “pooled”1 rule of “the one” (i.e. monarch), “the few” (i.e. aristocrats), and “the many” (i.e. the people). Levy also describes a distinctly American variant of the separation of powers undergirded by a system of checks and balances. This variant was designed to ensure “mutual monitoring between executive and legislative”2 and it vests the legislative branch with the power to impeach the executive in order to “maintain effective limits on the political power and the political ambition of the president.”3


Author(s):  
Ross Harrison

Democracy means rule by the people, as contrasted with rule by a special person or group. It is a system of decision making in which everyone who belongs to the political organism making the decision is actually or potentially involved. They all have equal power. There have been competing conceptions about what this involves. On one conception this means that everyone should participate in making the decision themselves, which should emerge from a full discussion. On another conception, it means that everyone should be able to vote between proposals or for representatives who will be entrusted with making the decision; the proposal or representative with most votes wins. Philosophical problems connected with democracy relate both to its nature and its value. It might seem obvious that democracy has value because it promotes liberty and equality. As compared with, for example, dictatorship, everyone has equal political power and is free from control by a special individual or group. However, at least on the voting conception of democracy, it is the majority who have the control. This means that the minority may not be thought to be treated equally; and they lack liberty in the sense that they are controlled by the majority. Another objection to democracy is that, by counting everyone’s opinions as of equal value, it considers the ignorant as being as important as the knowledgeable, and so does not result in properly informed decisions. However, voting may in certain circumstances be the right way of achieving knowledge. Pooling opinions may lead to better group judgement. These difficulties with democracy are alleviated by the model which concentrates on mutual discussion rather than people just feeding opinions into a voting mechanism. Opinions should in such circumstances be better formed; and individuals are more obviously equally respected. However, this depends upon them starting from positions of equal power and liberty; rather than being consequences of a democratic procedure, it would seem that equality and liberty are instead prerequisites which are needed in order for it to work properly.


Author(s):  
Liam Weeks

This chapter considers consider the experience of those who run on an independent platform. It comprises seven separate contributions, from independents who have been elected at various levels in Ireland, from local councils, to the Seanad, the Dáil and the European Parliament. Although this study is primarily on independents in the Dáil, it is nevertheless useful to consider all these levels as it demonstrates the role and function of independents across the Irish political system. The independent contributors provide an insider’s account of life as an outsider within the Irish political system. With their years of experience on the political frontline, they speak with clarity and insight on the failings of the system, and in particular the lack of transparency and accountability. They suggest a number of reforms that would allow both parliament and the people to wrest back true political power.


1915 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-81
Author(s):  
Aurelio Palmieri

Of all European countries Russia is the most prolific in religious sects. Distrust of the Orthodox state church, on the one hand, which is regarded as too closely allied to the political power and unmindful of its duties to the people, and, on the other, religious ignorance with its consequent superstition, have given rise to innumerable sects, which range from religious nihilism to the most rigid traditionalism.


1979 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Allott

All government is a conspiracy. Each governmental conspiracy has a constitution as its alibi. The constitution describes the way in which the political power of the society is concentrated and places the source of that concentration somewhere other than in the mere fact of power. Because of that dislocation, the constitution is the source not only of political power but also of political duty. The subjection of the organs of government to the constitution runs parallel to the subjection of the people governed to the constitutional power of the organs of government. The constitution justifies constitutional power and constitutional duty by making both of them derivatives from one and the same source.The prior question of whence the constitution itself derives its authority is, for all everyday practical purposes, answered by the mere fact of the constitution. The constitution is self-proving in practice because it is used as the source of maxims affecting the behaviour of those who exercise physical force with actual impunity, or who control its exercise. To preach or to act against the constitution may or may not be permitted by the legal rules of the given society (themselves derived ultimately from the constitution), but it will in any event be ineffective whenever it comes into collision with power exercised, to the point of physical force, under authority derived from the constitution. A revolution occurs when the exercise of constitutional power, to the piont of physical force, ceases or is overridden by the exercise of unconstitutional power, if necessary by the application of greater physical force.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Ni Wayan Radita Novi Puspitasari

This article analyzes the changes of religious - political power relations from the mid of 1950’s to present-day Bali. Anthropologist Geertz stated that Balinese Hinduism is a “superstition”, “rhetoric” and “state cult” that had been applied in the Negara as a theatre state. Within the conception of Hinduism by referring to the relation between the Divine God -Tri Murti and Tri Hita Karana, the Balinese society is believed in the relation between Gods, the people and its environment. Although in the post-colonial era, Balinese people are maintaining the power existence of the local kingdoms, mainly the system of warna. Through the accumulation of charisma, Geertz provided a concept that Negara was basically a state created by honor and ceremony. Thus, the democratic governmental system of Indonesia hardly reach the political arena within the Balinese society. As a result, through the self-awareness and the notion on equality, the Sudra could establish their role as an influential Balinese personage.


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