Regional order in the South Pacific and Fiji’s challenge to it

<p>Drawing from a body of leading literature on international and regional order, this thesis applies these concepts to the context of the South Pacific. Examining recent developments in the region through a framework of international order, and paying specific consideration to the regional operation of legitimacy, institutions and power dynamics, it seeks to shed light on the forces underpinning Fiji’s pursuit of regionalism through alternative institutional frameworks. In this, it concludes that Suva’s actions over the past decades constitute a challenge to the prevailing, Australian-New Zealand led regional order in the South Pacific, one that has occurred largely from a failure of Wellington and Canberra’s policymakers to appreciate first, changing power dynamics brought about by the entry of the “new players” into the region and second, divergent views throughout the region on what constitutes legitimate state conduct. Drawing these conclusions into the broader context of global international order, this thesis unpacks the distinct meanings and motivations underpinning these developments, and in doing so explores how regional developments have mirrored global trends in the American led liberal order, offering lessons for policymakers both within the region and beyond.</p>

ESSENTIAL FEATURES AND FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS OF MODERN UNCONVENTIONAL (HYBRID) CONFLICT

In the article the authors argue that the strategy and arsenal of hybrid (asymmetrical, unconventional) warfare in the contemporary world are fundamentally based on the qualitative changes that took place at the turn of the XXI century as a result of radical changes in the balance of power in the international arena, chaos in international relations, the development of new types of lethal and non-lethal weapons, new technologies of constructing and dismantling social communities with predetermined characteristics. These changes involved the conceptual framework, structure, strategy and tactics, forms and methods of the military and political confrontation between modern states and their blocks, as well as between states and non-governmental organisations. The authors identify the essential features and functional components of hybrid warfare, such as its latency phases; the remote undermining of national defense capabilities by non-military and non-contact means; breaching the international law of war; the integrated use of military methods as well as specific means of non-military, diplomatic, financial and economic, humanitarian pressure on a victim state. They also include the extensive use of anti-government groups and movements; illegal armed groups, separatists, irredentists, radical ethnic and religious groups, extremist organizations, and artificially constructed destructive groups; the privileged role of intelligence services, special operations forces and their use for engineering a powerful anti-government infrastructure designed to destabilize the legitimate state system; the priority role of targeted influence on public opinion through the extensive use of methods of information and psychological warfare and cyberwarfare.

Regional order in the South Pacific and Fiji’s challenge to it

<p>Drawing from a body of leading literature on international and regional order, this thesis applies these concepts to the context of the South Pacific. Examining recent developments in the region through a framework of international order, and paying specific consideration to the regional operation of legitimacy, institutions and power dynamics, it seeks to shed light on the forces underpinning Fiji’s pursuit of regionalism through alternative institutional frameworks. In this, it concludes that Suva’s actions over the past decades constitute a challenge to the prevailing, Australian-New Zealand led regional order in the South Pacific, one that has occurred largely from a failure of Wellington and Canberra’s policymakers to appreciate first, changing power dynamics brought about by the entry of the “new players” into the region and second, divergent views throughout the region on what constitutes legitimate state conduct. Drawing these conclusions into the broader context of global international order, this thesis unpacks the distinct meanings and motivations underpinning these developments, and in doing so explores how regional developments have mirrored global trends in the American led liberal order, offering lessons for policymakers both within the region and beyond.</p>

STUDI PEMIKIRAN PROF. YUSRIL IHZA MAHENDRA TENTANG TRANSFORMASI SYARI’AT ISLAM KE DALAM HUKUM NASIONAL

Indonesia adalah negara dengan penduduk mayoritas beragama Islam. Menurut perhitungan statistik yang dikeluarkan pemerintah pada tahun 2010, sebanyak 87,18 persen penduduk Indonesia adalah muslim. Sistem hukum yang berlaku di Indonesia adalah sistem hukum campuran (Mix Legal System), yakni hukum Eropa Kontinental, hukum adat, hukum Islam, dan bahkan Anglo Saxon. Yusril Ihza Mahendra merupakan salah satu tokoh nasional dan pakar hukum tata negara yang tertarik dalam persoalan transformasi Syari’at Islam ke dalam Hukum Nasional. Tujuan dari penelitian ini yaitu untuk menganalisis pemikiran Yusril Ihza Mahendra tentang Transformasi Syari’at Islam ke dalam Hukum Nasional. Penelitian ini menggunakan jenis penelitian hukum normatif. Sehingga metode pengambilan bahan hukum menggunakan metode kepustakaan dan wawancara langsung. Yusril Ihza Mahendra mengatakan transformasi Syari’at Islam ke dalam Hukum Nasional sangat relevan untuk dilaksanakan di Indonesia, mengingat Indonesia adalah negara yang mayoritas berpenduduk muslim. Suatu undang-undang akan berjalan dengan baik dan efektif apabila substansinya sesuai dengan keyakinan masyarakat itu sendiri, dimana hukum Islam adalah hukum yang hidup di tengah-tengah masyarakat Indonesia. Transformasi syariat Islam ke dalam hukum nasional memerlukan proses perubahan bentuk (transformasi) dan perumusan (formulasi) kaidah-kaidah hukum Islam yang bersumber dari ayat-ayat Quran dan Hadis hukum (syariat Islam) ke dalam hukum nasional melalui pembentukan peraturan perundang-undangan (proses legislasi). Untuk itu diperlukan institusi-institusi kekuasaan negara atau daulah yang sah yang berfungsi untuk menegakkan norma hukum nasional agar dipatuhi dan dijalankan oleh publik. Proses pembentukan peraturan perundang-undangan yang (sebagian) bersumber dari syariat Islam merupakan sebuah proses politik. Hal ini memerlukan kesadaran dengan menumbuhkan jiwa Islami kepada para penguasa, karena mereka yang punya hak dalam perancangan dan pengesahan suatu peraturan perundang-undangan.Kata kunci: Transformasi, Syari’at Islam, Hukum Nasional Indonesia is a country with a majority Muslim population. Statistical calculations released by the government shows that that 87.18 percent of Indonesia's population is Muslim. However, the current applicable legal system is the Continental European legal system, the Anglo Saxon legal system and a small part of customary law and Islamic law. Yusril Ihza Mahendra is one of the national figures and experts in constitutional law who is interested in the issue of the transformation of Islamic Shari’ah into National Law. This study aims to analyze Yusril Ihza Mahendra's thoughts on the Transformation of Islamic Shari'ah into National Law. The type of this research is normative legal research. So that the taking of legal materials using the library method is reinforced by direct interviews. Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that the transformation of Islamic Shari’ah into national law was very relevant to implement, considering that Indonesia is a country with a majority Muslim population. Legislative drafting that is in line with the community's beliefs will likely work, whereas Islamic law is the living law in Indonesian society. However various formulation processes are required. That is by formulating the principles of Islamic law and then pouring it into a form that can be implemented in reality. In addition, it is necessary to have institutions of power called legitimate state to impose a legal norm so that it is carried out and obeyed by the public. Furthermore, the process of legislative drafting is the political process. This process requires awareness by cultivating an Islamic spirit of the rulers because they have the right to draft regulation or legislation.Keywords: Transformation, Islamic Shari'ah, National Law

Head of State: Function of the President of the Republic of Belarus

According to the author of the paper, the head of state is not a position, not a title, not any state body, but the function of the President of the Republic of Belarus, along with the function of the guarantor of the Constitution, human and civil rights and freedoms. The function of the head of state is unchanged and is due to his position in the system of state authorities. This function manifests the nature and essence of the institution of the presidency, which cannot be reduced to specific actions or practices, therefore, it is implemented through the exercise of powers in various organizational forms. In this regard, the concept of “president”, unlike “head of state”, is not static, but dynamic, since the list of rights and duties of the President of the Republic of Belarus is open.Powers are unambiguous, substantive rights and duties of the President, legitimized from the functions and expressed in various organizational forms of his activities. At the same time, the characteristics of the President’s powers can only show the external side of his activities. The powers of the President, in contrast to the functions, are a variable value. The President through representative, legitimation, arbitration, control, rulemaking, personnel, integration, symbolist and ceremonial state powers carries out the function of the head of state.The function of the head of state is the superiority and precedence of the President over all state officials. In accordance with it, the idea of the Republic of Belarus is personified. This function allows the President of the Republic of Belarus to be the main public representative and act on behalf of the Belarusian state both within it and in international relations. This is the result of the state obtaining the status of a legitimate state, the continuity and interaction of state authorities, mediation between them. The constitutional function of the head of state makes it necessary for the President to have instruments of power-state bodies operating within this function.

The Legal Problems of the Child Trafficking Crime in Indonesia in the View of Human Rights

Human rights are basic rights that are inherent in every human being that cannot be reduced at all. This right can only be taken away through legitimate state institutions and with legitimate legal reasons as well, but the increasingly globalized economic flow, and an increasingly advanced social order and leads to industrialization in all fields, creating many new crime models with an increasing trend, one of them is the crime of human trafficking. They are not only adults who are vulnerable to this crime, but it turns out that children are the most vulnerable to this crime, so that their human rights are threatened in all aspects. This study uses a normative juridical method with only the study of laws and literature. The result of the research is that the laws and regulations protecting the human rights of children from human trafficking crimes are inadequate and tend not to be in sync with one another so that they have not been maximized in realizing protection for child victims of human trafficking

China's “Major Country Diplomacy”: Legitimation and Foreign Policy Change

This paper probes China's official political concept of “Major Country Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics” to argue that the boundaries of legitimate state action have been dramatically expanded since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012. Building on Patrick Jackson's transactional social constructivism, I place the causal mechanism in China's new assertiveness in seminal changes to how Chinese elites legitimize their country's role in global politics. Drawing upon elite speeches, Party documents, and Chinese-language scholarship between 2013 and 2019, I show how new legitimation strategies are used to justify China's effort to proactively reform international order, engage in ideological competition with the West, and assume greater responsibility for global affairs in accordance with its elevated power and status. The boundaries of action sanctioned by this new discourse are likely to persist in the short to medium term, with implications for regional order in Asia and beyond.

Legitimacy and Authority in Medieval Islamic Historiography

Usurpation is a common term used by Western historians to describe the illegitimate change of political supremacy inthe context of medieval Muslim states. The taking over of any state without authority is considered an illegal occupationof a legitimate state and its leader is considered illegitimate or usurper. This paper attempts to shed some lights on thenotion of political legitimacy and authority in Islamic tradition and its application in the context of medieval Syria,particularly during the Zengid dynasty. This period experienced the coming of the second crusade to the East with therevitalization of the spirit of jihad was on its way among the Syrian Muslims. This paper argues that the Zengid dynastywas trying to uphold the institution of the caliphate through recognizing the spiritual leadership of the ‘Abbasid caliphof Baghdad as well as acquiring political legitimacy to administer their subject on behalf of the caliph and the Seljuqsultan. Through adherence to the Sunni tradition of political legitimacy, Zengi (d. 541/1146) and Nur al-Din (d.569/1174) succeeded in promoting Sunnism by means of Muslim unity and jihad enterprise. As a result, after theannexation of Egypt from the Fatimid caliphate in 565/1171, Muslims in Syria and Egypt were unified under the bannerof Sunnism with Nur al-Din as their new legitimate ruler

An institutional trust as a factor of youth civic engagement at local government

Trust in political institutions is the most important component of a legitimate state. Based on the authors' empirical research on the participation of Russian youth in local self-government, the article analyzes the trust in the municipal government in comparison with the level of civic engagement. The theoretical basis of the article is the institutional theory. According to it trust can be considered as an integral characteristic of the functioning of a political institution. To study the practice of youth participation in local self-government, the authors conducted an empirical sociological study in October-November 2020. The data collection method is a questionnaire survey of young Russian people aged 14-30 years (n = 2000 people). The article argues that young people are characterized by a high level of declared civic engagement. However, the level of youth trust in local government remains low. The trust is associated with awareness of the activities at level: the lower the level of awareness of young people about the work of local authorities, the lower the level of trust in them.