State Interests Research Articles

THE ISLAMIC LEGAL POLITICS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

This paper (Sharia politics in Islamic international relations) deals with the nature of international relations in Islam. Islam established important international principles for this, including mercy, peace, justice, and respect for human dignity. The paper represents the belief of some that Islam was based on the edge of the sword, and that it legitimized the means of force to spread it. However, the reality confirms that Islam came with detailed rules that regulated the relationship of mankind with his Creator and the relationship between human beings. And that the nature of Islam requires understanding, persuasion, and explaining the content of the message to all people, and this nature is not compatible with the use of force of any kind. Accordingly, this paper has been divided into three main sections, first section deals with the organization of Islam for international relations, the second section, deals with war as an exception in international relations in Islam, and the third section deals with causes of war in Islam. The paper concludes several results, the most important of which is that the legal policy in international relations is based on combining two things, namely, adherence to the provisions and rules of Islamic law, while achieving the circumstantial interests of the Islamic state and benefiting from the experiences of relevant human societies, in a manner that does not contradict with Islamic law.

PRIORITIES OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF STATE INVESTMENT ACTIVITIES AND INVESTMENT POLICY IN GEORGIA

The article discusses current issues of financial support of state investment activities and investment policy, analysis of current practice and current situation. The study analyzes the financial and credit regulation of investments in Georgia and the relationship with the investment environment, its positive and negative aspects,the relationship of investment property financial decisions to a sequence of political, socio-economic and cultural factors, as well as challenges and opportunities in this area. The attention was focused on aspects such as: ensuring the stability of the macroeconomic and political environment, developing fiscal and monetary policies, taking into account the interests of the production sector, creating a transparent, efficient, stable and legal environment, removing bureaucratic and corruption barriers, revitalizing the work of agencies promoting investment activities. Moreover, there are estimated "SWOT factors" strengths and weaknesses of the investment environment of Georgia, its capabilities and threats. The author notes that Georgia will be able to interest investors in further expanding the production capacities in which they have already invested, only if it provides: - socio-economic stability within the country, - development of communication structures, - high level of education. Georgia has such an important factor as cheap labor force (due to low qualification of workers and high level of unemployment), which is one of the decisive factors for placing investment funds in the country. The author has focused on the growth of such financial resources in the structure of foreign investments, which will be directed to the restoration and development of production based on the state's interests. Improving the business institutional environment necessary for creating new industries, accelerating the process of economic liberalization and increasing the efficiency of the financial sector. Keywords: investment environment, funds, credit rating, public debt, foreign investments, transport sector.

Legal characteristics of aggressive tax planning

The article studies the problems of legal characteristics of tax planning. It is emphasized that there is no single approach to determining the balance of private and public interests in the field of taxation. This especially concerns situations where taxpayers try to optimize tax payments in a way that does not involve a direct violation of the law, but has signs of abuse of the right, which is characteristic of an aggressive tax planning. It is argued that the solution to this problem is important, since abuse of rights by taxpayers, using the imperfections of legislation, manipulation of differences in tax regulations of different states, as well as active use of low-tax jurisdictions in business schemes leads to huge losses in the budgets of many countries. It is pointed out that aggressive tax planning is not direct violation of the law, otherwise such actions would be qualified as tax offense. The positions of scientists regarding the definition of such a category as “aggressive tax planning” are presented in the article, as well as the author's position on this issue is highlighted. It is noted that the widest toolkit of tax optimization can be used in the implementation of international tax planning. In the past, one of the main, most common and effective methods of aggressive tax planning was the use of low-tax jurisdictions. However, the influence of this factor has been efficiently reduced by modern trends to counteract this phenomenon, in particular, the widespread introduction of anti-BEPS measures and automatic exchange of tax information. Other common tools of aggressive tax planning are listed, including transfer pricing. The negative consequences of aggressive tax planning for the state are described, related to the reduction of tax revenues to the budget, as well as the creation of an anti-competitive environment due to receiving unfair tax advantages. The main methods of combating aggressive tax planning both at the international and domestic level are disclosed. The main signs of aggressive tax planning are identified and the conclusion is drawn that in each specific case, the behavior of the taxpayer, which has signs of aggressive tax planning, should be evaluated for the presence of abuse of the law, which will allow the application of appropriate legal consequences for the purpose of protecting state and public interests.

Історико-правовий аналіз адміністративно-правової природи координаційної функції держави щодо протидії корупції

The research paper examines and carries out atheoretical generalization of the scientific importance of various historical and legal views on the concepts and features of the administrative-legal and coordination function of the state based on the analysis of achievements in the legal doctrine of administrative law. The problematic aspects of historical-legal and administrative-legal provisions of the coordination between the entities of the corruptioncounteraction are analyzed in the article. It is noted that the history of the corruption emergence and attempts to combat this phenomenon is inextricably linked with the history of civilizations and the emergence of the state, thus, the history of attempts to counteract corruption at the state level is at least four and a half thousand years old. It is worth emphasizing that even before the beginning of our era, in the most developed states attempts were made to form, if not a full-fledged anti-corruption mechanism, then at least a system of punishments for corruption offenses. Over the past millennia, dozens of approaches to solving the problem of corruption have changed. However, corruption is a widespread notion in every country of the world nowadays, and the issue of effective countermeasures remains relevant. It becomes obvious that the coordination role of the state in corruption counteraction is not an exclusively theoretical category that is implemented in specific administrative and legal forms under which subjects exercise their state-authority powers. In addition, coordination should replace state influence in the areas whichpreviously were characterized by direct management relations between subordinate entities - state administration authorities and all other managed subjects, in particular economic entities. At the same time, taking into account historical analysis of the research, the importance of state interests occurs both in the case of fully legally equal subjects, and in relationships where such equality is conditional and exists in individual specific relationships. The coordination role of the state is a special function of the state, which is manifested, firstly, in the activity of the state apparatus, and secondly, in the regulation of social relations using the appropriate management method.

Transformation of Geopolitical Perceptions in the Russian-Ukrainian War: Impact on Regional Relations in the Future

The purpose of the research is to highlight the transformation of geopolitical activity during the Russian-Ukrainian war in the early twenty-first century. The specificity of the study is that the regional military conflict has acquired the features of a global confrontation involving (so far without direct participation) many players in world politics. At the same time, the objectives of the article determine the formation of a new paradigm of state interests of different levels of influence. The Russian-Ukrainian war is not only causing geopolitical changes but also transforming the conceptual dimensions of geopolitics. The methodology used in the article is based on historical research methods: historical-systemic (to understand the content of geopolitics), historical-typological (to characterise the format of geopolitics), historical-comparative (to determine geopolitical activity). The general scientific methods of structural-functional and socio-psychological dimensions allow us to analyse the features and consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war in the local-regional and global-international context. The results of the study show the transformation of the role and positioning of geopolitical actors in the context of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and also a paradigm shift in geopolitics in terms of reorientation from its traditional stable definition to a dynamic hybrid meaning. The classical geopolitical principles of ordering the coexistence of states and their relations are losing relevance both in the institutional (UN crisis) and functional sense. Geopolitics, which used to determine the interests and level of influence of individual states or alliances, is now focused on the synergy of the overall world order in the context of global historical mega-activities. History is familiar with the alternation of geopolitical calm and geopolitical explosions, and the current Russian-Ukrainian war has the potential to end the long-standing orderly world order and to trigger the volatility and uncertainty of civilisational development. So, today, the Russian-Ukrainian war, according to the usual geopolitical interpretation, is a regional conflict that has indirect effects on global processes (political, military, economic, cultural). However, a new conceptual understanding of geopolitics, based on synergistic principles, argues that a military confrontation of this scale has every chance of escalating to the point of a world war. The prospects of the study lie in the need to identify geopolitical principles that will be able to keep the Russian-Ukrainian war at the stage of a regional conflict.

Finance for fossils – The role of public financing in expanding petrochemicals

The petrochemicals industry (mainly plastics and fertilizer production) is expanding, despite increasing attention to the environmental impact of petrochemicals. In our paper, we explore the role public finance plays in the petrochemicals industry. We do so by mapping the public and private financial flows into large-scale petrochemical projects for the decade 2010–20 and discuss the role of public financial institutions for the development of the industry globally. Secondly, we provide a detailed analysis of the roles international and national public finance has played in enabling two prominent petrochemical projects: namely the Sadara plant in Saudi Arabia and the Surgil plant in Uzbekistan. The cases are illustrative of the dynamics of state interest and involvement in fossil fuel producing countries as well as of lending and guarantees from foreign export credit agencies (ECAs) and development finance institutions, and how such public finance plays an important role in leveraging private finance. Our findings show how public finance for petrochemicals is highly globalized and to a large degree originates in developed countries. As petrochemical industrial infrastructures are designed to last decades, the public finance thus strongly contributes to the carbon lock-in of the sector and limits the possibilities for low-carbon investments needed to comply with the UN Paris Agreement.

The “State Interest” and Humanitarian Diplomacy of Oliver Cromwell

The 16th–first half of the 17th century was a vital period for the emergence of international law, sovereignty, and the modern international system. European sovereigns also started considering at that time what today would be termed humanitarian issues in foreign policy. They relied in this mostly on the contemporary theological thought and the nascent “Law of Nations,” which fostered a discourse opposing the extremes of government (tyranny). The article analyzes one of the most vivid examples of such humanitarian foreign policy – foreign intervention by the Lord Protector of the English Republic, Oliver Cromwell, in the Duchy of Savoy in 1655 to protect the Waldensian Protestants, who suffered persecution there. Contrary to the modern historiography, the article argues that Cromwell did not abandon all other state considerations in questioning the conclusion of the Anglo-French alliance against Spain to stop the repression against the Waldensians. Cromwell’s humanitarian policy was carried out in line with Realpolitik. Aware of the complicated domestic political situation in France and of the goals of French foreign policy, he was sure that Prime Minister Cardinal Mazarin was unlikely to give up the alliance with London in response to the London’s support of the Protestant subjects of the Duke of Savoy. Cromwellian Foreign Policy in SavoyPiedmont demonstrates one of the most significant cases of implementing the humanitarian principles in international relations. At the same time, Oliver Cromwell did not infringe upon the interests of his own country. On the contrary, despite the financial costs of maintaining special embassies and a fleet in the Mediterranean and creating the Waldensian Relief Fund, the support of the persecuted in Piedmont demonstrated the strength and authority of the English state.

The role of security assistance in reconfiguring Tunisia’s transition

ABSTRACT In many contexts in the Mediterranean, Security Assistance (SA) is perceived to have contributed to state fracture or prolonged conflict. In Tunisia, in contrast, SA has increased the performance and capacities of the security forces in matters of counterterrorism and migration control. However, in this article, by analysing SA’s reordering impacts, I argue that it has interacted with political developments to reconfigure Tunisia’s volatile political landscape in two ways. Firstly, SA programmes have acted to reinforce the coercive capacities of Tunisia’s security forces vis-à-vis the general population. Secondly, vertical SA practices contributed to the reconfiguration of power dynamics between different actors in Tunisia’s security sector, helping consolidate power in the increasingly authoritarian hands of the executive as well as the increasingly politicized security forces. Furthermore, in the final section of this article, I reflect upon the entanglements between security assistance, Tunisian political economy and the economic interests of many provider states. In doing so, I make the case for a ‘recoupling’ of security studies and political economy in analysis of external interventions in the Mediterranean to better understand their reordering impacts.

Variation in Prairie Chub hatch relationships across wet and dry years in the upper Red River basin

AbstractObjectiveThe Prairie Chub Macrhybopsis australis is a poorly studied minnow species endemic to the upper Red River basin and is of both state and federal conservation interest due to uncertainty about its life history and potential listing status. The upper Red River basin of Oklahoma and Texas is a harsh environment where drought and extreme flow events are exacerbated by human alterations. As an assumed pelagic‐broadcast‐spawning minnow, the Prairie Chub is capable of a protracted spawning season and larval fish survival is assumed to be linked to discharge and streamflow variability.MethodsWe systematically collected 2,017 age‐0 Prairie Chub from seven sites (North Fork Red River, Salt Fork Red River, Pease River, Red River, Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River, North Wichita River, and South Wichita River) with variable flow patterns during April–September 2019 and May–August 2020. We used otolith age estimates and back calculations to determine successful spawning dates. We used a hurdle model framework to examine relationships between hatch probability and hatch frequency.ResultHatch probability had a negative relationship with calendar day and declined as calendar day increased. Hatch counts peaked in late June and early July and declined thereafter in 2019 but showed no discernible peak during the spawning season in 2020. Hatch probability during the spawning season increased with relative flow and air temperature. Increased hatch counts were also positively related to discharge variability (CV) for the 10 d prior to hatch dates.ConclusionOur findings indicated that successful hatches had considerable spatial and temporal variability, with some sites contributing minimally to the population during some years. Spatial and temporal variability of hatch probability and hatch frequencies pose a variety of considerations for future conservation and management efforts, particularly given the pending federal listing status of the species.

Financing decision, ownership type and financial performance of listed non-financial companies in Ghana

The study aims to investigate the nexus between financing decision, ownership type and financial performance of listed non-financial companies in Ghana. Data were selected from 22 listed non-financial companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange from the years 2010 to 2021. A non-parametric estimation technique-robust OLS (Driscoll-Kraay) was employed to test the variables of interest. Findings indicate that long-term debt funding directly affects ROA, ROE and TQ negatively. Again, total debt funding posits a positive link with ROE and TQ. Moreover, the direct relationship between ownership type, financing decision and accounting-based performance measure (ROE) was insignificant but significant with market-based performance measure (TQ). Subsequently, the interaction role propelled ownership (foreign and state) to be significant on the relation between financing decision and financial performance. Largely, foreign-owned companies play a strong positive role on the link between financing decision and financial performance. Further, state ownership negatively affects the association between financing decision and financial performance. The study contributes to knowledge by considering the multiplier effect of ownership type on the relationship between financing decision and financial performance in Ghana. For policy implication, regulators specifically of state interest entities should formulate balanced frameworks for welfare seeking in public service delivery and performance for sustainability.

Regime Types, Regime Identities, and African Foreign Policies

Despite the common interests of African states vis-à-vis the rest of the world, African states display autonomy and variety in their foreign policies with one another. How can we account for this variation? This article advances the idea that regime type and regime identity frame the overall foreign policies of African states. It identifies three regime types: the competitive multiparty regime, the party-dominant regime, and the personalist regime. The latter two types have identities that reflect the dominant party's ideology or the ruler's predilections. One can find distinctive patterns of foreign policy associated with each regime type in areas such as relations with Western powers, adherence to African norms, and willingness to engage in continental peacebuilding missions.

A Model of International Development Cooperation: The Case of Slovenia

Abstract Development aid, one of the most important mechanisms for the redistribution of global wealth, represents financial flows with economic growth and social improvement as their primary objective. Recently, international development cooperation has been in the process of change that requires the involvement of new actors, the use of new instruments, and expanding the fields of work. In this article, the authors introduce the Slovenian model of international development cooperation, emphasising the criteria for deciding the direction of development cooperation. The criteria are clear interest of the beneficiary state, content priority fields, and geographical priority areas. The authors also discuss Slovenia’s active collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in international development cooperation. Special attention is given to three successful development projects in Africa that Slovenia recently financed. All three selected projects are based on principles of sustainable development and were realized in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

School, society, culture and national identity in Oradea in the period 1920–1930

Cultural and social life clearly contributes to accentuate the self-awareness within a community that, through the act of culture, asserts itself in the field of international relations. At the same time, culture represents a sensitive barometer for socio-economic and political life, through which a series of vital factors can be identified in the process of recovery and development of nations. In the interwar period, Romanian society faced a complex situation, generated by the extensive socio-political, economic and cultural changes that occurred after the end of the Great War. The promotion of the interests of the Romanian national state and of mass culture at the level of the entire country was pursued with consistency, this reality also manifesting itself in the historical province of Crişana, with the city of Oradea as its center. In the new context, a justified emphasis was placed on the culturalization project of Romanian society, for which an appeal was made to the main state institutions and the numerous cultural associations and reunions organized after 1918. Thus, the cultural and economic development program was intended to be implemented on a social scale as wide as possible. In a general view, the schools and organized cultural events led to a series of positive results, accepted as such by the society of Oradea. First of all, the percentage of illiteracy, at alarming levels at the beginning of 1920, was significantly reduced, especially in the countryside. The network of schools in Bihor County, together with intensive conference activity, supported by specialists, allowed not only the enablement of the peasantry in socio-cultural life, but also the understanding of some socio-economic and cultural phenomena that took place with an overflowing rapidity in the interwar society.

A reflection of the Ottoman Empire in the poetry of Ahmad Shawki

Egypt is the most important region of the east-west route, the Mediterranean basin, which opens to the west. Because of its location as a gate, it has drawn the interest of major states in every century and has been the center of attention. Because of Egypt’s strategic importance in the 19th century, France and England pursued colonial interests in the nation. In this country, both European governments’ colonial actions in Egypt, as well as Egypt’s isolation from the Ottoman Empire, have an impact. It also influenced the creation of diverse thinking currents. Among them were Egyptian intellectuals and their views on the caliphate, as well as the formation of distinct understandings of nationality. The influence of Islamism and nationalism was deeply felt on Egypt and the intellectuals living in this country. We picked Ahmad Shawki, one of Egypt’s thinkers, since he is an Arab of Turkish descent who dedicated himself to the Ottoman empire during the time of Abdul-Hamid II. The notion of nationalism was seen in Egypt in a variety of ways throughout this time. “Egyptian Nationalism Related to the Ottoman Caliphate” was Ahmad Shawki’s definition of nationalism. Because he is devoted to the caliphate, he has the notion of Islamic Union; Ahmad Shawki is a nationalist thinker who loves Egypt, and the idea of Islamic unity and nationalist element is the major focus of this research. &nbsp

Глобализация закончилась! Что дальше?

The article examines the essence and content of the theory of globalization, the causes of its emergence and collapse. Comparing globalism with other convergent theories of western authors, the author reveals the objective conditions for the appearance of such concepts, their true purpose and the possibilities of explaining the prospects for the development of the world order. Much attention is paid to the failure of the theoretical justification of globalization as a socio-political, cultural and sociological concept. The doom of the concept of globalization reflects the theoretical and practical weakness of such theories that arise without taking into account objective trends of social development. The author shows that in the near future the world will develop according to the laws of a multipolar system, taking into account the national interests of various states. The author believes that multipolarity as a form of the world order meets the objective conditions of modern social development, the needs of humanity in the near future.

Some problems related to the supervision of the activities of the International Criminal Court

The article deals with the problems related to the supervision of the activities of the International Criminal Court, including some aspects of the activities of one of the mechanisms of control and supervision of the work of the International Criminal Court – the Independent Oversight Mechanism. The author examines in detail how the activities of the ICC affect the interests of the Russian Federation and other countries, and also analyzes the possibilities for the state to monitor and supervise the activities of the ICC if the ICC Statute has not been ratified and the country is not a State party. The author considers the recommendations made by the expert group concerning the work of the Independent Oversight Mechanism. The object of the study is the social relations developing in the field of activities of officials of international criminal justice bodies related to the work of an Independent oversight Mechanism. Topics related to the responsibility of officials of international judicial institutions, their accountability, as well as the control and supervision of their activities have been little studied. Meanwhile, although Russia is not a State party to the ICC Statute, nevertheless, the judicial acts of this international judicial body have an impact on the reputation of the state. The author comes to conclusions, firstly, about the need to develop scientific thought in this direction, in order to increase the effectiveness of protecting state interests, and secondly, about the possible consideration of an initiative to create an independent monitoring mechanism that would function within the framework of the UN Security Council.

Legal Discrepancies and Expectations of Women: Abortion, Fetal Therapy, and NICU Care.

Over the past several decades in which access to abortion has become increasingly restricted, parents' autonomy in medical decision-making in the realms of fetal care and neonatal intensive care has expanded. Today, parents can decide against invasive medical interventions at gestational ages where abortions are forbidden, even in cases where neonates are expected to be seriously ill. Although a declared state interest in protecting the lives of fetuses and newborns contributes to justifications for restricting women's autonomy with regards to abortion, it does not fully explain this discrepancy. We believe that social portrayals of women as complying with or shirking their reproductive function play a major role in explaining it. The growing divide between a woman's rights as a reproductive being and as a parent suggest that abortion restriction is rooted in a historical societal desire for women to serve as reproducers and in the corresponding fear of them abandoning this allotted role in pursuit of social equality. The Dobbs v. Jackson (2022) decision is not based in a view of abortion as a medical act occurring between a doctor and patient, as Roe v. Wade (1973) did, but decision-making about fetal therapy or NICU care is still viewed as occurring between a doctor and patient or surrogate because in this act a woman is seen as fulfilling her role as mother.

THE PROBLEM OF STUDYING ADMINISTRATIVE COLLABORATIONISM DURING THE NAZI OCCUPATION IN MODERN RUSSIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

In historical science the concept of “collaborationismˮ is defined as the cooperation with the enemy of a certain part of the population in the interests of the enemy state and to the detriment of one’s homeland. During the Soviet period this phenomenon was practically not considered for political and ideological reasons. Significant shifts began to occur with the collapse of the Soviet state and the subsequent democratisation of the political and spiritual system. In the 1990’s – the early 2000s, the military, ideological and political variant of collaboration became extremely popular among the researchers, however the administrative form of collaboration, especially on the regional level, still has dramatically poor analysis. The author of the article, analysing a significant layer of research works, tries to identify controversial and scientifically understudied directions in the consideration of administrative collaborationism. The researcher is not trying to limit himself to a superficial review of the general historiography; he rather seeks to identify the missing fragments of the study of such a complex phenomenon. The article is based on the formulation of specific issues, which at the moment are either suppressed or poorly studied.

What went wrong? Explaining strategic foundations of the crisis in Ukraine

Moscow does not deny the significance of the security interests of small states, but it is important to recognize the security interests of all actors in the system, including the larger ones. The history of the Cold War clearly shows that a stable system of confrontation management and conflict resolution is possible. Russia’s proposals for an inclusive security system in Europe have been ignored multiple times. One reason explaining the reluctance to take Russian proposals into consideration is that, geopolitically, time is structured differently for Russia and for the West. The understanding of the West is linked to national electoral cycles. Whereas for Russia, geopolitical time is measured by epochs that are outlined starting with major historical events: wars, peace treaties and political cataclysms. The conflict in Ukraine turned out to be a point where these contradictions came to concentrate.

Too much equity – is there such a thing? The public discourse surrounding elective egg freezing subsidy in Israel

BackgroundThe preservation of human ova for future fertilization has been made available to healthy women in 2011–2012. This treatment, dubbed elective egg freezing (EEF), is undertaken primarily by highly educated unpartnered women without children, concerned of age-related fertility decline. In Israel, treatment is available to women aged 30–41. However, unlike many other fertility treatments, EEF is not state subsidized. The public discourse of EEF funding in Israel is the focus of the present study.MethodThe article analyzes three sources of data: press presentations of EEF; a Parliamentary Committee discussion dedicated to EEF funding; interviews with 36 Israeli women who have undertaken EEF.ResultsNumerous speakers raised the issue of equity, claiming that reproduction was a state interest and therefore, a state responsibility, including securing equitable treatment to Israeli women of all economic strata. Highlighting the generous funding of other fertility treatments, they claimed that EEF was inequitable, discriminating against poorer single women, who could not afford it. Few actors, however, rejected state funding as intervention in women’s reproductive lives and called for reconsideration of the local reproductive imperative.ConclusionThe invocation of equity by Israeli users of EEF, clinicians and some policy makers as grounds for a call to fund a treatment that serves a well-established subpopulation seeking to relieve a social rather than a medical problem, illustrates the profound context-embeddedness of notions of health equity. More generally, it may suggest that using an inclusive language in a discourse of equity may potentially be invoked so as to promote the interests of a particular subpopulation.