A Symbolism Study on Architecture and Ornament of Tosan Ward in Pura Mangkunegaran Palace

Bangsal Tosan (Tosan Ward) is one of European Architecture-Style buildings existing in Pura Mangkunegaran palace complex, Surakarta, Central Java. This article discusses the symbolic meaning of Bangsal Tosan’s architecture and ornament. Bangsal Tosan as a European architecture building and a part of Pura Mangkunegaran Palace building. As a European-architecture building, Bangsal Tosan belongs to neoclassical architecture-style building functioning as marquise and symbolizing an independent and sovereign state. As a part of Pura Mangkunegaran Palace building, Bangsal Tosan is a part of pendapa called kuncungan and symbolizes Mangkunegaran as a genuine state led by a legitimate ruler getting God’s mandate. Despite varying meanings, taken together Bangsal Tosan has the same meaning, i.e. as the symbol of Mangkunegaran Ruler’s power and authority.

Post-Soviet trends in the development of nonformal education of children and youth: Belarusian case

In this article the author analyses the processes of sociogenesis and transformation of the system of additional education for children and youth in the social-temporal continuum which is set by the challenges of the post-Soviet period of the formation of the Republic of Belarus as a sovereign state. The main socio-cultural formats and trends of innovative development of additional education that presented as a social system and socio-educational practice were studied. The author explores methodological approaches to the analysis of additional education as a variable polydisciplinary type of education which is not regulated by state educational standards. Today additional education is considered as a social technology of formal education, non-formal education and development. The article provides up-to-date statistical information about social actors who implement additional education for children and youth in the Republic of Belarus. This approach allows us to consider additional education as a sociosphere of resource opportunities that increase the efficiency of socialisation process of students.

A Symbolism Study on Architecture and Ornament of Tosan Ward in Pura Mangkunegaran Palace

Bangsal Tosan (Tosan Ward) is one of European Architecture-Style buildings existing in Pura Mangkunegaran palace complex, Surakarta, Central Java. This article discusses the symbolic meaning of Bangsal Tosan’s architecture and ornament. Bangsal Tosan as a European architecture building and a part of Pura Mangkunegaran Palace building. As a European-architecture building, Bangsal Tosan belongs to neoclassical architecture-style building functioning as marquise and symbolizing an independent and sovereign state. As a part of Pura Mangkunegaran Palace building, Bangsal Tosan is a part of pendapa called kuncungan and symbolizes Mangkunegaran as a genuine state led by a legitimate ruler getting God’s mandate. Despite varying meanings, taken together Bangsal Tosan has the same meaning, i.e. as the symbol of Mangkunegaran Ruler’s power and authority.

Rozwój instytucji wznowienia postępowania administracyjnego: od totalitaryzmu do demokracji

The purpose of the paper is to present the evolution of the legal shape the institution of resuming administrative proceedings has undergone, starting from the classic regulation in the second decade of the 20th century, through the Polish People’s Republic period, to the present day. The main function of the discussed procedural institution is to verify the final resolution of an individual case if the already completed procedure was affected by what qualified as procedural defect. The resumption of administrative proceedings in the present formula, mainly regulated by the Code of Administrative Procedure, was shaped mainly during the totalitarian rule of the Polish United Workers’ Party of the PRL period. As a consequence, the way the discussed procedural institution formed was influenced by such circumstances as: the one-party system, the lack of social consultations before its passing, or the imposition of the communist ideology adopted in advance, affecting the legal understanding of individual premises for the resumption of proceedings. Due to the lack of administrative judiciary until 1980, which could independently control the public administration activities in the context of correctly interpreting and applying the provisions on resuming administrative proceedings, it was entirely dominated by the communist authorities. Importantly, the administrative law system during the existence of the so-called Polish People’s Republic — which was de facto a non-sovereign state strongly influenced by the Soviet Union — made it impossible for individual legal institutions, including the institution of resuming administrative proceedings, to settle into social and economic realities naturally and free from extra-legal influences. Establishing the administrative judiciary in the form of the Supreme Administrative Court on September 1, 1980 was the first announcement of the system transformation planned for the Polish Republic and democratic changes that were to affect the resumption of administrative proceedings institution by introducing an independent control of its application and interpretation. Due to the changes initiated in 1980 and continued in 1989, 1997, and 2002, the institution of resuming administrative proceedings was separated from political influence and totalitarian values in favor of a democratic state ruled by law.

‘Winning the Peace’: The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, foreign technocrats, and planning the rehabilitation of post-war China, 1943–1945

Through the lens of the multinational staff of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service (CMCS), this article argues that a technocratic programme of reconstruction evolved in the Nationalist government's wartime efforts on post-war planning, which refashioned a cadre of foreign (semi-)colonial-era experts into technocrats serving a sovereign state. This episode, in which the weakened Customs Service reclaimed its significance for the Chinese state, occurred in China's wartime capital, Chongqing. After the abrogation of the so-called ‘unequal treaties’ with foreign powers in January 1943, China entered a post-treaty era, and the question of retaining long-serving foreign Customs Service employees perplexed Nationalist leaders. Eventually, China's huge post-war need for foreign expertise, networks, and imports led to a moderate staff reorganization of the CMCS, with foreign technocrats being kept on and other bureaucrats either shifted to advisory positions or being forced to retire. Technical expertise provided a new guise for the European and American presence in post-imperialist China. Taking the rehabilitation of coastal lighthouses as an example, this article demonstrates the significance of foreign technocrats to the Chinese state during the last phase of the Sino-Japanese War and in its immediate aftermath. In showing the ambition and preparations of the Nationalist government for a post-war era, this article corrects a narrative of an all-out collapse of the Nationalist government from the mid-1940s. The wartime evolution of the Customs Service further highlights the growing importance of technocrats in the decolonizing world.

Why Is There No International Theory?

In this essay Wight explained why there is no set of classic works regarding relations among states—what Wight terms ‘international theory’— analogous to the rich political theory literature concerning the state. In addition to works on international law, four categories of effort have populated the field: (a) those of ‘irenists’ advocating mechanisms to promote peace; (b) those of Machiavellians examining raison d’état; (c) incidental works by great philosophers and historians; and (d) noteworthy speeches and other writings by statesmen and officials. International theory works have been ‘marked, not only by paucity but also by intellectual and moral poverty’, because of the focus since the sixteenth century on the modern sovereign state, with the states-system neglected. Moreover, while there has been material and organizational progress within states in recent centuries, international relations have remained ‘incompatible with progressivist theory’. People who recoil from analyses implying that progress in international affairs is doubtful sometimes prefer a Kantian ‘argument from desperation’ asserting the feasibility of improvements and ‘perpetual peace’. Wight concluded that ‘historical interpretation’ is for international relations the counterpart of political theory for the state.

Reservoir Engineering and Geomechanical Aspects of Well Plugging and Abandonment

With the maturation of many oilfields, further well abandonments will occur in the years to come. There are issues about improper well abandonment that can have far-reaching effects for responsible companies or entities. At this time in the US, where most of the operation is operated by non-government entities, sometimes the sovereign state may end up covering the cost of well abandonment when the operator is not financially capable in managing such costs. That will be a burden to the public taxpayers. In this paper, we review an important aspect of the well abandonment practices and at present, based on a reservoir modeling approach, more clearance on the potential formation of free gas that can be a cause of concern. We also discuss the integrity issues of the sealing process. We point out how the development of cracks caused by many factors, including geomechanical effects or slow deterioration of the cement seal, in the long run, may result in generating escape paths for the evolved hydrocarbon gases.

Justifying Secession in Catalonia: Resolving Grievances or a Means to a Better Future?

This article advances understandings of secessionist strategies by examining how and why secessionist movements make the case for creating a new sovereign state. It draws on new empirical data to examine the ways in which pro-independence parties in Catalonia have justified their calls for the creation of an independent Catalan Republic between 2008 and 2018. The findings challenge the widespread scholarly assumption that secessionist mobilisation is underpinned by grievances—cultural, economic, and political—against the state. We find that arguments for an independent Catalonia rarely include cultural claims. Instead, independence is advocated as a way of resolving political and economic grievances and of creating a better, more democratic, and just Catalan society. Such justifications are highly influenced by the political context in which pro-independence parties try to advance towards secession. These insights advance on extant explanations of secessionist mobilisation by highlighting the distinctive nature of, and the motives for, secessionist claims.