Big State Research Articles

Horizontal Federalism & the Big State “Problem”

California regulates pork; does it offend the Constitution that pork producers in other states must comply with its regulations if they want to sell Californians pork? In National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, the Supreme Court emerged sharply divided in its approach to the practical extraterritorial spillover effect of the in-state regulations of a tantalizing market. Although a fractured majority of the Court upheld California’s Proposition 12 against a dormant Commerce Clause challenge, at least five Justices registered profound discomfort, with one dissenter expressly inviting consideration of the problem through the lens of other clauses. This Article analyzes “the Big State Problem,” which has existed in one form or another since the founding of our republic. Examining the Court’s treatment of the dormant Commerce Clause and then turning to the Constitution’s self-executing horizontal federalism clauses—the largely overlooked, under-taught, and undertheorized Article IV, Section 2 Privileges and Immunities Clause, Import-Export Clause, and Full Faith and Credit Clause—this Article concludes that none of these clauses was intended to be or is up to the task of checking a state’s nondiscriminatory regulation of products for sale in its own market. Under the constitutional scheme painstakingly laid out by the framers, who were no strangers to Big States, protection against having to comply with unwanted rules governing an irresistible, big market lies either in a company’s choice to refrain from market participation or with Congress stepping into the breach.

The big state in touristification: a look into tourist perceptions on placemaking and authenticity in Melaka and George Town, Malaysia

The big state in touristification: a look into tourist perceptions on placemaking and authenticity in Melaka and George Town, Malaysia

The big state in touristification: a look into tourist perceptions on placemaking and authenticity in Melaka and George Town, Malaysia

The big state in touristification: a look into tourist perceptions on placemaking and authenticity in Melaka and George Town, Malaysia

Урбанистический дискурс управления устойчивым развитием горных районов Китая

Introduction. Sustainable development of mountainous areas is one of the priorities of modern China; it meets the basic focus of state policy on the harmonization of all spheres of life of the population. At the same time, mountainous areas occupy a special place in these processes, since they have special characteristics that complicate the introduction of economic, political and cultural innovations. These characteristics include, first of all, the geographical location, which determines the low level of infrastructure, inaccessibility of logistics routes and, as a consequence, the need to invest significant effort and resources to improve sustainable development indicators. China has diverse mountain regions such as the Himalayas, Tianshan, Kunlun and others. Each of these regions has its own unique geographical features, climate, vegetation and wildlife. When developing sustainable development programs, it is necessary to take into account these differences and adapt approaches to specific mountain regions. Materials and methods. Discursive regional practices in the dichotomy of urban/non-urban content are considered in the article in line with the concept of social organization of tradition. Within the framework of this concept, the so-called “small traditions” that arise in relatively closed rural regions are influenced by the “big tradition” generated by the city as a place of concentration of an educated population focused on the formation of progressive social practices. The indicated theoretical and methodological approaches form the basis of the analysis carried out within the framework of this study. Results. All areas of management in China, including the management of sustainable development of territories, are under the jurisdiction of party-state structures, both central and local. These structures pay special attention to the managerial discursive practices of the regions, among which mountainous regions with their special geographical location, which gives rise to cultural and social isolation, have a pronounced specificity. Among the main strategies is the promotion in local societies of political culture and other types of urban cultures that contribute to the sustainable development of mountain regions: economic, legal, administrative culture, etc. Discussion. Analysis of the strategies for the formation of urban discourse in the management of mountainous areas made it possible to identify three basic strategies of urban discourse in China: physical, information and communication, and socio-moral. All three of these strategies are fundamental to the formation of the urban discourse of the “great tradition” in the mountainous regions of China. Based on the analysis, we can conclude that the process of formation of an urban discourse on managing the sustainable development of mountainous areas in China demonstrates several important trends. State and regional authorities in China actively cooperate and coordinate their actions in the development and implementation of programs for the sustainable development of mountain areas. They exchange information, experiences and best practices to jointly develop effective strategies and action plans. This contributes to the sustainable development of mountain regions, improving the quality of life of the local population and preserving the natural environment. Conclusions. The authors conclude that Chinese government agencies are building a system in which the urban discourse of the “big state tradition” will integrate the rural discourse of the “small tradition” of the mountainous regions. Resume. The work compares the concepts of territorial management using the “large state tradition” and the “small tradition” of mountainous areas. A comparative analysis of these traditions and the possibility of their interaction is shown. It has been determined that the basic strategy for the development of the mountainous regions of China is the formation of elements of urban culture in local communities, including various aspects. Suggestions for practical applications and future research directions. The research results can be useful in developing programs for the development of mountainous areas in various countries. The data presented in the article allows us to form a trend for sustainable development, including tourism, culture and social development.

THE ROLE OF SMALL STATES IN LARGE STATES’ FOREIGN POLICY: ANALYSIS OF PAKISTAN - U. S. RELATIONS

The paper analyses the importance of state states in the affairs of bigger states in the context of foreign policy persuasion. In this context the paper examines the relations between Pakistan which is seen as small state in its relations with the United Sates of America, which is a big state. It reviewed a number of literatures on small states in large states’ foreign policy persuasion and found that some small states are very crucial and are key influencers of big states foreign policy directions. The paper found Pakistan a key ally of USA in military and security sense and in the war of terror. Despite some issues of distrust between Pakistan and USA including the killing of some terrorists in Pakistan, the USA seems unlikely to abandon the small state of Pakistan due to its strategic location (geopolitics). Thus, some small states matter so much in foreign policy persuasion.

Legislative protection of agricultural land

The agricultural land (AL) needs to be protected due to the steady growth of the global population and the demand for the food, living, work and recreation. The legislation in the area of AL protection in Slovakia has had almost 70-year tradition and 5 regulations with various effectivity of protection have been passed. These regulations reflect the social relations, technical advance, legal culture, as well as the experience of lawmakers. The basic characteristics for the land protection were defined by the social relations in the country. The first years are characterized by the collectivization of land, which changed the individual private farmsteads to collective. The alignment of public and private legal interests in the agricultural sector was disrupted by decisions of the Communist party and the scientific view on the concept of land protection conflicted with the political interests. This 40-year period caused a disruption of the relationship between the farmers and the land, which has not been restored up to the present day. The transformational era is characterized by a downfall of big state farms and a transformation to the market economy. The agrarian policy after 1990 was dominated by a conflict between the efforts to restore the private farmsteads from the era before 1950 and the need to preserve the big agricultural companies, which would be adequately competitive in the free market. The last era is linked to the accession of the Slovak Republic to the European Union in 2004. Since this year, the concept of land protection has been synchronized with the scientific, political and legislative perception of land in the international area and the land protection has been a subject of a vast legal regulation. The degree of land protection is a result of multiple laws and lower regulations and decrees and their synergic effect is expected in the practice. The paper analyses 5 regulations which are focused on the AL protection, and its aim is to quantify the legislative protection level between years 1951 and 2020. The value of agricultural land protection index (ALPI) is increasing with time and it reflects the weak and strong aspects of the protection in the context of social, economic, and ecological potential of the land. The analysis monitors 107 directive, control, and economic tools for AL protection. The results are presented in graphs and the relevant information is highlighted and explained. The results show the favourable evolution of the land protection in Slovakia. In the discussion, there is a space for the effectiveness assessment of the observed regulations, for the comparison of the objectives of the individual regulations and the practical results of the effect of these regulations on social relations. The statistics of the land evolution in the observed 70-year period are good indicators for this purpose. Since the analysis shows the negatives of the regulations, it provides new impulses and can be inspiration for the lawmakers. The method used for the regulation assessment or the comparison of regulations can be applied in various fields of science.

Was Theresa May a One Nation Conservative?

It took the Conservative Party seventy-eight years to come to a final decision as to what Disraeli’s vision of One Nation formally signified. By that time, One Nation Conservatism had already been elevated to the status of political myth with many endowing it with much more meaning than it may actually have had. What the 1950 Pamphlet put forward was a far cry from the progressive, let-alone ‘left-wing’, Toryism which was putatively promoting a more equal nation in which a whole people, united by a spirit of solidarity, would forge ahead as one. The Pamphlet reflected the differences between 1950s’ Britain and Disraeli’s conceptions, and how the Conservative Party was adapting to the changes. It revealed divisions even amongst its authors and the One Nation Group that was subsequently formed, notably over economic policies. Be that as it may, influenced by a certain Disraelian spirit of noblesse oblige, conferring a moral duty to look after the weaker and less privileged in society, One Nation Conservatives accepted that, for the sake of social peace, it was the responsibility of a Conservative government to promote social harmony and preserve the capitalist order which delivered economic growth. From then on, One Nation Conservatism became increasingly associated with a group of high-profile Conservatives who, from Lord Hailsham to Iain MacLeod and Edward Heath, contributed to its reputation as socially paternalistic, Europhile, economically interventionist (its most controversial aspect) and generally favourable to a strong United Kingdom acting as one nation. This was a ‘big state’Conservatism that was prepared to intervene to spur the development of a Britain that would provide opportunities for all across the UK.Some sixty years later, to distance himself from the toxic legacy of Thatcherism – the so-called antithesis to ‘big state’ One nation Conservatism – David Cameron claimed to be a One Nation Conservative, thus reactivating a qualifier that had not been used for over forty years. Theresa May did likewise, albeit indirectly, announcing that ‘David has led a One-Nation government, and it is in that spirit that I also plan to lead’ (T. May, 13 July 2016). Unlike Cameron however, she was not a member of the One Nation Group. And yet, I will argue that from the launch of her leadership campaign in 2016 to the publication of the 2017 Conservative Party Manifesto, she was consistently more attuned to the One Nation tradition than either Cameron or, arguably, Johnson, who, on succeeding May, would also declare that his government was One Nation. May was a complex political figure who came to power in extremely difficult circumstances, notably with regard to the negotiations taking place on Britain’s exit from the European Union. May’s One Nation Conservatism would become the first victim of a combination of bad decisions, of a lack of conviction and clarity, and of extreme tensions within the party and the government over Brexit. The second victim would be May herself.

Truth on Demand: Influences on How Journalists in Italy, Spain, and Bulgaria Responded to Covid-19 Misinformation and Disinformation

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted fundamental social institutions, and the media was no exception. Journalists were challenged to report on an outbreak of pressing health-related information, complicated by malinformation erupting in a time of enhanced public demand for reliable facts. This study uses in-depth interviews with journalists at leading news outlets- both public service and commercial, in Italy, Spain, and Bulgaria (N = 24) to examine how they responded to misinformation and disinformation arising in the initial months of the pandemic. Using the frameworks of journalistic epistemology and the hierarchy-of-influences model, we explored the norms, routines, and practices guiding journalists’ truth claims as well as the individual, routine, organizational, and social-systems influences shaping their decision-making. We found three common narratives of conspiracy theories consistent across different media systems: “big state” concerns, evident in people questioning the very existence of the coronavirus as a pretense for globally enforced state supervision on individual freedoms; “big pharma,” or people blaming the lack of a cure for COVID-19 on pharmaceutical companies pushing for vaccinations; and “big fear” attitude - falsehoods about vaccines potentially causing more harm than good, including changing people’s DNA. We also discuss three common strategies journalists used to respond to COVID-misinformation: deflecting, countering and false equivalency approach.

Recentering central banks: Theorizing state-economy boundaries as central bank effects

This special issue argues that to make sense of the increased prominence of central banks after the 2008 financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic requires interrogating the sources of and limits to their governmental power. In a time in which the ‘big state’ has returned alongside new forms of financial speculation, the theoretical claim advanced by this introductory paper is that the state ‘effect’ is in crucial respects conditioned by the economic governance arrangements set in place by central banks. We show that at the same time as promoting entanglements between states and markets, central banks attempt to draw new boundaries between state and economy, lending an unstable and sometimes contradictory character to their interventions. Providing the outlines of a new historical sociology of central banking which introduces the papers in the special issue, we explore the double movement that has underpinned the evolution of central banking since early modernity and holds clues for unravelling the paradoxes of the present.

Statistics Show Value in Old‐School Crop Condition Reports

Statistics Show Value in Old‐School Crop Condition Reports

Wagers.com Wonks: A Look Ahead to 2022

Wagers.com Wonks: A Look Ahead to 2022

How to Reduce State Expenditures with Single Resolution Mechanism

State aid is one of the wrong ways how to help any private entity when there is no other option, but in certain cases it is necessary from the larger point of view to do so. At least we were used to it especially in cases of big financial (or another) institutions, which are too big to fail, and it might be reasonable to “save” these entities to prevent bigger economic and social loss. For example, when bank fails, then many creditors lose their savings (although there is the deposit guarantee schemes), so they might stop using banking system, many people would lose their jobs (extra social expenses for state). This will all lead to reduce investing money for investors or consumers and that’s basically wrong for economy itself. On the other hand, state aid is highly negative for competition, because all those private entities without any need for state aid are disadvantaged. And finally, its taxpayer’s money, used for state aid and its big state expenditure for any country. The only way how to maintain good and healthy economic system without state aid is prevention. One of the preventions is Single resolution mechanism.

Key Trends in Esg-Agenda Development: Reviewing the Situation in Russia and the World

The article studies successive implementation of the concept of sustainable development on the international and Russian market starting with the official formulating the concept in the report ‘Our Common Future’, which was presented by the UN in 1987 and till the latest trends of national economy of the Russian Federation. The author provides the gist of key aspects and notions of ESG-approach to management, analyzes their rise and assesses the degree of their academic elaboration and practical use in Russia. On the basis of the current trend analysis a conclusion was drawn about the importance of introducing the concept of management from ESG-standpoint on all levels of economy. Scientific generalization of practical experience allowed the author to come to the conclusion that international trends of sustainable development will determine the general line in ESG-approach to management of social and economic development in Russia on all levels – from federal to corporate one. The article identifies key regulator trends in carbon regulation, the development of tools of green and responsible financing, commitments on ESG-information revealing and risk management. The latest initiatives of big state, public and finance companies in issuance of green bonds were described, as well as acute trends in the state regulator work in ESG- sphere.

Enterprise ownership patterns in the least developed districts of Slovakia

Research background: The literature overview shows a blank space regarding the effects of ownership on the determination of enterprises' spatial distribution. Various papers identify differences between determinants of the spatial distribution of foreign direct investments, exporters in foreign ownership, and domestically owned exporters; however, they mostly agree on the role of big cities, economic centres, and state of infrastructure as well as historical patterns.
 Purpose of the article: The article focuses on the spatial distribution analysis of enterprise units from their owner's perspective on the empirical evidence from all 79 districts of the Slovak Republic. Special attention is given to the category of the least developed districts.
 Methods: Within the presented article, the authors investigate the characteristics of the regional spatial distribution of business entities concerning standard ownership categories using the cluster analysis. The presented approach is twofold: firstly, the authors investigate the share of individual ownership types on the district level, and secondly, the number of enterprises by ownership categories is adjusted to 100,000 inhabitants. Cluster analysis and methods of spatial statistics are applied in both approaches.
 Findings & value added: The main results show a relation between the district's inclusion into the group of the least developed districts and enterprise ownership characteristics in these districts mainly through the relative underrepresentation of the secluded inland, foreign and international types of ownership, as well as their geographical clustering. The results of the presented research can be used in policy-making targeting business activity in underdeveloped districts. At the same time, the results provide basis for limited theoretical generalisations based on a single-country case study with regard to principles of business ownership structures development.

Development of an Online Teaching Competency Scale for University Instructors

In providing effective online education, it is crucial that the instructors have the competence to teach online. The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable online teaching competency scale for online instructors. The data were collected from 392 instructors working in a big state university in Turkey (Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa). The instructors have conducted online courses through synchronous and asynchronous methods during the pandemic process. The development and evaluation process of the scale included exploratory factor analysis and convergent validity. The scale consists of 15 items and represents four factors of online instructors’ competencies: pedagogy, facilitation, technology, and course administration. The total variance of the scale was found 64%. Internal consistency coefficient of the whole scale was found to be .83 according to reliability analysis. The results of the study revealed that the scale is valid and reliable for measuring instructors’ online teaching competency. The implications of the study were discussed in detail.

State health policies and interest in PrEP: evidence from Google Trends

ABSTRACT This study investigated the association between interest in Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in the US using Google Health Trends as a source of big data and state policy variables of Medicaid expansions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and initiation of PrEP Assistance Programs (PrEP-AP). As of December 2019, thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have accepted federal Medicaid funding provided through the ACA to expand eligibility to low-income adults. Among these expansion states, eight states also implemented PrEP-AP, a program that finances PrEP. A difference-in-differences approach estimated how changes in Google search for PrEP before and after the expansion differed across expansion and non-expansion states. Analyses also gauged whether the magnitude of the correlation between Medicaid expansions and Google searches was higher in states that also initiated PrEP-AP. Findings indicated that the Medicaid expansions were associated with a higher share of Google searches for PrEP keywords (, S.E. =.36, ). Moreover, the magnitude of correlation for some keywords was higher in states that also implemented PrEP-APs.

Fly ash of thermal power plant - micro fill for hydro technical concrete

The article presents the option of using ash - fly ash of the New-Angren Thermal Power Plant (NATPP) as micro filler of a raw mix of hydraulic concrete, as the most appropriate solution to the economic and environmental problems of the Tashkent region, Republic of Uzbekistan. The total amount of utilized ash and slag waste for the 9th month of 2019 is 45,630 tons, ash disposal 2554 tons in the NATPP. These figures show that, annually, only 12-13% of ash and slag waste is used by consumers for various purposes, the remaining 87-88% of ash and slag waste accumulate in ash and slag dumps and pollute the environment of the region. The chemical composition of fly ash as a part of the raw mix of hydraulic concrete was studied, in comparison with the chemical composition of Akhangaran cement grade M400, its physical and mechanical properties were determined. We have carried out several laboratory experiments, we obtained a quantitative dependence of the effect of the ash-cement ratio on cement consumption to obtain hydraulic concrete of the required strength. According to the test results, it was found that the heat of hydration released during the setting process decreases in proportion to the ash content. This property is of great interest when concreting massive hydraulic structures in the hot season. Experiments show that when replacing part of the cement with fly ash on the first day, the set of strength slows down, and after 7 days it accelerates by 12-15%. With the use of fly ash in an amount of 40% by weight of Portland cement of grade 400, heat dissipation during hydration is reduced by almost 30-35%, which is very important for hydraulic concrete, which increases crack resistance and resistance in an aggressive environment. Summarizing the above, it can be concluded that the use of large-tonnage fly ash of the NATPP in concrete technology is a big state task, solving the priorities of the further development of the national economy and one of the strategic ways to solve the environmental problem in the NATPP zone.

Introducing Norwegian Oil and Gas Model in Russia: Institutional Challenges

While the Norwegian oil and gas model is a popular reference case in Russia, one should realize that it has developed over time within a specific national, historical and institutional context. The core role in this model belongs to the Norwegian state in terms of resource management, establishing the regulatory framework, massive taxation, and actual involvement in the business, first of all through the national petroleum company Statoil/Equinor. Equinor has evolved since 1972 from a modest carried partner to a large streamlined corporation, operating in 35 countries and focusing heavily on global technological leadership. All investors, either state-owned or private, are put under the same public scrutiny and stimulated with non-fiscal incentives, such as political stability, predictable regulations and abundant geological information. This large scale government intervention relies on proactive, professional and incorrupt bureaucracy enjoying broad powers. Much of this practice is not common and may not be introduced directly in Russia, which tends to limit the role of public servants and rely on big state corporations. However, the Norwegian experience seems very relevant for the urgently needed overhaul of the Russian energy policies, both offshore and in Western Siberia

Mookie and Me

Mookie and Me Sam Dunnington (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Photo by Brian Rosner The bleachers at this little alternative college are full of kids who are not Mookie’s typical demographic: hair dye, no shoes, many piercings, [End Page 161] diverse, androgynous, every type of kid you can imagine, kids fluent in lifestyles that big parts of the country haven’t even learned to fear yet. Mookie was built for the ignorant and boorish, but this school paid for the presentation, so here we go. I place his marker card on the stage. I retreat behind the curtain, chew my nails, sweat. I press the initiate button on the remote. Mookie walks onto the stage wearing a winsome smile and a red polo shirt. He tells the audience he drank his first beer at fifteen and hasn’t stopped since. The beer I roll to him, he rips open and chugs. He says he used to think coffee could sober you up. Ha! I roll a bottle of iced coffee to him. What he doesn’t spill down his front, he gulps, and smacks his lips. Not even a little bit of laughter. We are dead meat. I roll Mookie his bottle of Popov. I hate watching this part. He gives the audience some facts about how a body metabolizes alcohol, and then, from the bottle of Popov, he pulls long and deep. The pull prompts vomiting sequence 1 of 3. He soils his shirt. “I get out of control,” says Mookie, “a danger to myself, a liability to others. Headed for a fall.” He staggers around. “What the fuck is this?” yells a kid in the front row. Fair enough. If you have even half a brain about this kind of stuff, Mookie is an insult. The brochure from Clean Living, Inc. describes him as “a means to jolt entire communities into better behavior.” Mookie is crass, but Mookie gets results, reductions in rates of alcohol poisoning and sexual assault, especially at the big state schools. Mookie is for the children. More kids shout at the stage. “A slice of pizza beforehand and one beer an hour!” Mookie yells back. The sweet, balding head of Student Life edges toward me in the backstage darkness. He looks like he needs about three weeks of sleep. He gestures at the seething crowd. “Is there a protocol for this sort of thing?” he says. A kid in a Mohawk and cut-off shorts, his little body taut with adolescent rage, begins to chant, “Storm the stage.” Other students pick it up. Mookie shouts back, “Can you point to your safety partner? Is your drink within sight?” “At this point,” I say, “we should probably just go.” “I think that’s a very good idea,” whimpers the head of Student Life. “Please leave as positive a review as you think appropriate,” I say. My pay is pegged to our reviews. Ninety-seven percent positive, and I meet my financial goals. I am holding steady at 98 percent, with two stops remaining on the tour. I mash the attention button on my remote. [End Page 162] Mookie spins toward me. “Mookie, we’re out,” I yell. We run toward the van, a booing mob of kids in tow. ________ We drive east on I-90. Mookie lies in his recharging cradle in the back of the van. “Don’t worry about it,” I say. “That crowd is probably pretty on top of the sort of thing you’re trying to educate them about.” Whether it’s possible or not for him to be discouraged, I worry about it. “One can only hope,” says Mookie. “How is your father?” “Haven’t talked to him in the last couple days.” “It’s been seven,” he says. I am not in the mood to be lectured on my filial failures. “Mookie, enter Power Save,” I say. We pull into Missoula, a town flanked by foothills and smothered beneath low clouds. We check in at a Motel 6. I detach Mookie’s neck port from the cradle, and he follows me to a room beige and clean. On the edge of the bed...

Arhitekt Dušan Babić - rekonstrukcija identiteta

To this day, the Belgrade oeuvre of architect Dušan Babić has not been subjected to broader historiographic research, making the elements of his architectural vocabulary all the more difficult to define and evaluate. The available archival material does provide valuable insights into the life of architect Babić and his works in the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1927 and 1946. He produced over fifty designs for residential and mixed use buildings (comprising both commercial and residential space), several churches and the crematorium in Belgrade, simultaneously participating in at least ten big state competitions with notable entries, such as the designs for the Terazije slope, the Princes' Palace in the Dedinje Royal Compound, the Veterans Club building, etc. In the diversity of movements, styles and trends developing in Serbia between the two world wars as a result of the surge of predominantly West European cultural influences, the application and modification of modern architecture principles formed the mainstay of Babić's creative endevours. Stereometric forms, cubic volumes, unadorned facades, and strict lines were refined with often more freely interpreted bas-relief ornamentation, free standing sculptures or geometric forms. Babić made an effort to turn each and every structure into a unique architectural experience, especially by dynamically interpreted drawings of perspective and accentuated details.