Liberal Model Research Articles

Does Convergence Liberalism Risk Anarchy?

Public reason liberals argue that coercive social arrangements must be publicly justified in order to be legitimate. According to one model of public reason liberalism, known as convergence liberalism, this means that every moderately idealized member of the public must have sufficient reason, of her own, to accept the arrangement. A corollary of this Principle of Public Justification is that a coercive social arrangement fails to be legitimate so long as even one member of the public fails to have sufficient reason to endorse the arrangement. This high bar for justification has led many critics, most notably David Enoch, to argue that convergence models are incapable of vindicating liberalism. They argue that in a sufficiently diverse society, there will always be someone for whom an arrangement is not justified, and therefore convergence liberalism leads to anarchy – the view that no law or coercive social arrangement is legitimate. Other critics accept that convergence liberalism could vindicate core liberal institutions but nothing more, and thus argue that the view makes libertarians effective “dictators”. In either case, critics hold that this objection is sufficient to reject convergence liberalism, either in favor of alternative public reason views or as a means of rejecting all public reason views.
 In this paper I argue that convergence liberalism can overcome this anarchy objection. I show that the objection largely rests on misinterpretations of convergence liberalism, and thus clarify aspects of the theory. However, I also show that internal debate over the scope of public justification – what stands in need of justification – must be resolved in favor of a wide scope, encompassing both State-based and non-State-based coercion, in order to overcome the anarchy objection. Therefore, my response to the anarchy objection has implications for how convergence liberalism should be developed going forward.

Gendered Finance and Economic Opportunities in SADC Communities: An Overview of Challenges and Prospects

Southern African Development Community (SADC) economies have tried to enable access for women and girls to finance and gender equality within their constitutional rights, yet the effort seems futile. Women in the SADC region are currently creating opportunities to claim their space through liberal models of solidifying collectives on economic fronts. However, SADC communities still have a long way to go to achieve sustainable development in gender equality, financial security, and economic rights. The article focuses explicitly on women entrepreneurs and the growth of SMEs which are women-led in South Africa, Namibia, and Lesotho, debating on how beneficial this has been in terms of financial inclusion for women across the SADC member countries. The study engaged an exploratory qualitative analysis from secondary data to project the findings in the study, specifying the contextual overview on financial sector development in SADC countries and its significance to gender financial inclusion. The results yield significant insights into the trajectories of Southern economies in terms of gender politics and the importance of further research into gender economic policies affecting these economies.

Mykhailo Rudnytskyi vs Dmytro Dontsov: Two Visions of Europe and the West

The paper provides an overview of formation images “Europe” and the “West” in the texts of two prominent Ukrainian publicists in interwar Lviv – Mykhailo Rudnytskyi and Dmytro Dontsov. The article focuses on interwar discussions about the image of Europe, the West, and the East, liberalism, and nationalism. Given the fact that all these and related issues, having entered the Ukrainian public space at the beginning of the XX century remains relevant today, it appears reasonable to analyze these interwar discussions, which represent different ways of imaging European culture. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the sources of formation of these images, their content, and discussions around them. The author elaborated on the similarities and differences of these images in the texts of Rudnytskyi and Dontsov. The key element in Mykhailo Rudnytsky's worldview in the interwar period was liberalism or rather “cultural liberalism.” The three main ideological blocks for him were “freedom”, “individuality” and inclusiveness (openness) of cultures. Mykhailo Rudnytsky's image of “Europe” was rather amorphous, without clear boundaries, and took the liberal culture of the nineteenth century as examples of liberal figures. “East” occupied a very little place in the worldview of Michael, and was superimposed on the oriental axis “West (Europe) – civilization”, “East (Asia) – barbarism”. At the same time, geographical boundaries were not particularly important, and European movements, if they did not correspond to the ideal liberal model, could be considered barbaric and “Asian”. Dmytro Dontsov's image of Europe was focused not on the liberal Europe of the XIX century, but the radical right movements in interwar Europe. If Rudnytsky emphasized the ideas of liberalism of the XIX century, individual freedom and synthesis of cultures, and these ideas he wanted to see in the image of “Europe”, for Dontsov “Europe” and European thinkers had value in the context of ideas of expansion, struggle as the basis of the people's spirit. At the same time, in the worldview of Mykhailo Rudnytsky and Dmytro Dontsov, “The East” acted as a barbaric antithesis of the “West”, the personification of all the wild and backward, which made their worldview in this sense oriental. Given the above material, we can state that the images of “Europe” and “West” in the interwar period remained extremely ambivalent and heterogeneous, and their content depended on the worldview of the authors.

ПОРІВНЯЛЬНИЙ АНАЛІЗ НАПРЯМІВ ІСТОРИЧНОГО РОЗВИТКУ СИСТЕМ ВИЩОЇ ОСВІТИ УКРАЇНИ ТА ГРУЗІЇ

The article provides a comparative analysis of the historical development of higher education systems in Ukraine and Georgia. It is stated that the history of the formation and development of higher education in Ukraine and Georgia have much in common. Thus, the end of the 19th - the first decade of the 20th century (origin and active development of higher women’s education), the Soviet period, the path taken by Georgia in the period of 1917-1921 have much in common with the destiny of Ukraine. 1921-1941 is a period of significant achievements of the Georgian and Ukrainian science, both in the humanities and in the natural sciences, while the 1990s, when the collapse of the Soviet system and the disintegration of the former Soviet Union destroyed all links between universities and labor markets, led to the stagnation of educational systems, including higher education in both Georgia and Ukraine. The paper argues that modern Georgia is gradually moving from a centralized governance structure to a decentralized, liberal (Western) model of education thanks to the broad support of the country’s intelligentsia, which recognizes the need for radical reforms in higher education aiming to provide professionals for all the fields of human activities. The article defines the reform activity as a determining factor in the success of modernization, i.e. the transition from thoughtless copying of Western educational models to the identification of internal reserves and patterns of transformation of educational space and their balanced adaptation to the challenges of globalized society. To successfully complete the reforms, the authors propose a number of areas for change.

Republicanism and populism: Articulation of plurality or plebeian democratism?

This article addresses – from a theoretical and historical perspective – the discussion on republicanism and populism, in connection to different ways of conceiving political modernity. It places republicanism and populism within the framework of contemporary democracies in the Latin American context, looking at the reciprocal interaction between these political traditions, and their relevance for understanding the current challenges of the liberal model in the region.

Why Ranting about the COVID-19 Economy as a Woman Sounds Different in Copenhagen and in Cincinnati

Before the covid-19 pandemic, significant advances have been made in the advanced industrialized economies toward greater gender equality in the workplace, especially since the 1990s. However, the first year of the pandemic has led to dramatic backsliding in gender equality even among countries that have adopted sizeable relief packages to combat the devastating economic effects of the pandemic. This commentary argues that the pandemic has reinforced existing vulnerabilities in IPE. The essay takes stock of government economic support measures in selected OECD economies. It then compares the government responses in two representative cases with very different welfare state legacies—Denmark as a case representative of the Nordic welfare state model and the USA as a case representative of the liberal welfare state model. The main finding is that the Nordic welfare state model has been more successful in protecting vulnerable social groups, such as women, in times of severe crisis. The contrast is especially visible if we compare the performance of Denmark in terms of maintaining female labor force participation during the pandemic with that of the USA, where women as a social group have been set back decades in terms of exit from the formal labor market as well as loss of job and career opportunities.

Alienation: current state and development prospects of the society

The subject of this article is the phenomenon of alienation, which can be interpreted not only from the perspective of interrelation between labor and its outcome, but also in a much broader context. In social theory, the problem of alienation is one of the key in understanding of the mechanism of social development process. Social contradictions manifest through the processes of alienation; and vice versa, contradictions become apparent through the processes of alienation. This article traces the evolution of separate forms of alienation in historical retrospect. An attempt is made to determine the current state of the existing forms of economic, political, social and spiritual alienation in the Western and Russian societies. The author suggests the possible ways to overcome them. The novelty of this work lies in the author's attempt to examine the processes unfolding in modern world as a reflection of the processes of alienation and their modifications. The conclusion is made that if the contradictions are the source of development, the task of government representatives is to take control, manage and mitigate the internal processes of alienation in the society. With the advent of postindustrial era, the globalization processes altered the liberal model of social development. We can witness that capitalism ceases to be a formation that ensures progressive development. Humanity enters a transitional period of its history, similar to the Renaissance Era. Examination of the processes of alienation in the society would contribute to the proper response to challenges of the time.

Approach of christian thought to islam in the middle ages: examples of Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter the Venerable, Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas

Christian and Muslim relationships went through different processes in the 12th and the beginnings of 13th century. The Papacy and Bernard of Clairvaux had adopted negative attitude toward Islam and Mohammad at the time of crusade. It can be described as an antagonism in the best way. Peter the Venerable had become a more different approach. He wanted to convert Muslims with a more objective attitude by emphasizing to the words, the reasons, and the love, not to the weapons, the force and the hatred. The invitation of Peter to the words, the reasons and love gained a new dimension with Francis of Assisi. He appears as the key figure in transition missionary activities towards the Muslim world. That is why he has been called as model for human liberation, the peaceful crusader and friends of Muslims by some researchers and scholars. As for some researchers, he was a model for the conversion of Muslims and not a model for friends of them. Thomas Aquinas had engaged in scientific missionary activities and pointed out a negative manner towards Muslims and Islam. The aim of the essay is to assess the view of medieval Christianity toward Islam in the context of Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter the Venerable, Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas.

Demagogic populism and media system: A preliminary articulation

Political communication studies has a long tradition of ‘crisis talk’ regarding the fate of public communication. Now, however, the field itself faces a kind of existential crisis as its core assumptions of ‘normal’ political communication are daily undermined. This ‘liberal normalcy’ shares much with orthodoxies in populism studies, most notably a tendency to bracket out demagogic communication, both in historical fascist regimes and democracies. Yet correcting these failings is not simply a matter of rejecting liberal models for left-populist ones. Rather, both fields need to broaden their historical parameters and deepen their theoretical frameworks. The article draws on the Weberian conception of modern demagogy and its revision in the wake of 'modern media' by Shils and Adorno. It further argues that a critical reworking of Hallin and Mancini’s media systems approach could benefit both fields. For Hallin and Mancini’s socio-historical use of Weberian ideal-typification complements Worsley’s never-completed plan for an ideal-typification of modes of populism and demagogic leadership.

Interview to the Journal Concept: philosophy, religion, culture. Interviewed by M. A. Khalil

This paper is an interview with Andrey V. Smirnov, Director of the Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences. The interview was dedicated to the broad set of issues that can all be characterized as relative to the umbrella topic of cultural patterns, the indispensability of cultural difference between nations and civilizations and the roots of such phenomena. Expressing the idea of specific mindsets and inherent value orientations, Andrey V. Smirnov adheres to the theoretical approach designed to underline these elements. The panhuman (vsechelovecheskoye) serves for these ends as well as the collective cognitive unconscious. The visions of panhuman oppose to the universalist paradigm (obshechelovecheskoye) and express concern about the drawbacks of cultural unification. Each culture shares one of these two approaches to a certain extent, and the viability of such cultures can be accessed with the view to the interests, goals and projects such cultures or nations nurture. All such phenomena stem from collective cognitive unconscious. Language as its signifier illustrates innate logical structures that also vary: while, for instance, the Arab thought runs on process-based logic that focuses on actions, European one represents substantial logic — that of the existential feeling. In this way all intercultural communication should take others’ visions and adopt to them, which is important not only for translators and interpreters, but also in the political sphere. Advocates of globalism and supranationalism are driven by ideas generated in the West and remain ignorant of the practices that are actually relevant in localities other than the USA or Western Europe. Many examples can be found in the societal shifts that Russia faces. The seemingly non-alternative modernisationalist initiatives that fall within the universalist liberal model are inadequate for the thought style and the corresponding institutional, authority and educational system. The most obvious examples of this deal with the digital sphere, but the cyber transformations as such are not imposing the universalist vision. Rather, it is the underlying culturally-rooted effects of the leverage the United States as the IT leader have and make use of. The questions on how these intercultural communications function now, what form should they take and the very transformations that burden self-sufficient cultures should be analyzed by philosophers. The realities of modern civilizations suggest that those who are set aside in the periphery raise voices and realize national subjectivity.

An assessment of media systems and operations in Nigeria’s democracy: using the normative theories of the press

This study examined media systems and operations in Nigeria with particular attention to Nigeria’s democracy. The study provides a global perspective of media systems and operations and narrows it down to Nigeria. The researchers also examined the models of media systems and operations. Consequently, three models were identified. They are the polarised pluralist, the democratic corporatist and the liberal models. The researchers also examined the normative theories of the press that provides theoretical explanations on the relationship between the press and the government and how this affect the operations of the media. Therefore, the six theories examined were authoritative theory, the soviet communist theory, the libertarian theory, the social responsibility theory, the development media theory, and the democratic participants’ theory. The researcher links these models and theories of media systems and operations in Nigeria’s democracy and argues that Nigeria is currently practicing the liberal model with a combination of libertarian and social responsibility. It is recommended that further empirical studies should be examined to ascertain journalists’ views on the media systems and operations in Nigeria.

Development and experimental validation of a texture-based 3D liberation model

Prediction of mineral liberation is one of the key steps in establishing a link between ore texture and its processing behavior. With the rapid development of X-ray Microcomputed Tomography (µCT), the extension of liberation modeling into 3D realms becomes possible. Liberation modeling allows for the generation of particle population from 3D texture data in a completely non-destructive manner. This study presents a novel texture-based 3D liberation model that is capable of predicting liberation from 3D drill core image acquired by µCT. The model takes preferential, phase-boundary, and random breakage into account with differing relative contributions to the liberation depending on the ore texture itself. The model was calibrated using experimental liberation data measured in 3D µCT. After calibration, the liberation model was found to be capable of explaining on average of around 84% of the variance in the experimental liberation data. The generated particle population can be used for particle-based process simulation to evaluate the process responses of various ore textures subjected to various modes of breakage.

Accumulative pension system in Ukraine: theoretical and applied discourse

Introduction. The study of theoretical and empirical aspects of the accumulative pension system should help to identify patterns and contradictions of its development in society. In order to conduct an effective economic policy on the introduction of a funded pension system, it is necessary to define a theoretical concept of a model of the active role of the state in socio-economic processes or a moderate liberal model. Reforming the pension system is a rather long process and requires both the definition of the main directions, principles and measures for the development of the funded pension system, and changes in the values, principles and norms of behavior of citizens.The purpose is to substantiate the theoretical concept, trends, problems of the accumulative pension system and the directions of its introduction into society.Research methods are based on the dialectical method of scientific knowledge and a systematic approach to knowledge of economic phenomena and processes, theoretical generalization, systematization, which allowed to reveal the problems of the accumulative pension system based on theoretical concepts and economic-statistical analysis of demographic load of working age and after working age.Results. The indicators influencing the introduction of the second level of the pension system were monitored. The dynamics of indicators of demographic load of the population of pre-working and post-working age is analyzed. The focus is on the peculiarities of wages and final consumer expenditures of households and the general government sector. It was found that in general, citizens belong to the elderly population, so to prevent further deterioration of the ratio between age groups, it is advisable to increase the effectiveness of the social insurance system. The expediency of paying more attention to actuarial statistics to determine the future size of pensions and their exact calculation is substantiated.Prospects. Further research is important to focus on improving the efficiency of the multi-component funded pension system in the context of ensuring compliance with the values, principles and norms of the society.

Community-based climate action planning as an act of advocacy: a case study of liberal arts education in a rural community

The current lack of comprehensive federal climate policy highlights the critical need for effective subnational climate policy and programs. We describe our efforts to create and cultivate a community-based multi-stakeholder group centered around local climate change planning and advocacy in a small, rural New York municipality. The literature on sustainability planning emphasizes the importance of collaborative work to build new capacities, develop knowledge, and create community commitment over the long term to advocate for municipal policies that prioritize climate change mitigation and resilience. However, case studies of rural community contexts are lacking in the literature, and rural communities may not have the planning and other resources found in the municipal offices of larger, urban communities. We argue that higher education institutions, especially those situated in small rural communities, have a vital role in supporting the climate strategies of local actors and can develop productive partnerships through research and co-curricular education. We discuss several challenges to effective campus-community partnerships, including the need to balance student engagement in community-based research with the traditional liberal arts model of education, engaging and sustaining the participation of community partners, and differential access to resources in rural spaces.

Upgrading and quality-classification of inertinite-rich coal from Western China based on maceral separation

Increasing energy demand and high environmental pressure are calling for grading, quality-based classification and effective utilization of coal in China. Using fine classification and multistage pulverization liberation techniques, a typical inertinite-rich coal was used to study the migration characteristics of ash content, sulfur content and macerals of the classifier products. The results showed that the vitrinite and the inertinite contents obtained using fine classification technique reached the maximum of 61.5% and 73.3%, respectively, with enrichment efficiencies of 16.6% and 55.3%, respectively. In contrast, the maximum vitrinite and inertinite contents treated with the multistage pulverization liberation technique reached 58.9% and 82.8%, respectively, with enrichment efficiencies of 11.8% and 75.4%, respectively. A calculation model and a process model for the pulverization liberation of coal maceral were proposed. The maceral separation techniques developed in this study showed outstanding quality improvement and quality-based classification effects.

Revisiting the Swedish alcohol stasis after changes in travelers' allowances in 2004: petrol prices provide a piece of the puzzle.

In 2004, Sweden had to allow virtually unlimited private alcohol imports from other EU countries. Purchases from abroad in addition to the sales from Systembolaget stores (Sweden's alcohol retail monopoly) are a significant source of alcohol consumption in southern Sweden. However, survey studies designed to measure the expected increase in overall alcohol consumption in southern Sweden failed to detect a meaningful change. Since this was considered 'puzzling', this study aims to (at least partially) provide an explanation for this finding by testing an economic proposition, i.e., a coincidental and sudden increase in petrol prices reduced the affordability of private alcohol imports. Using monthly sales at the provincial level covering Jan 1997-Dec 2005 for beer and spirits, we employed a fixed-effect panel design. Two models were examined: (i) a model investigating the relationship between distance, petrol prices and alcohol sales before the liberalization, and (ii) a model investigating this relationship after the liberalization. The model before the liberalization showed, as expected, that domestic alcohol sales decrease when petrol prices decrease. However, the model after the liberalization model revealed that the effect of petrol prices on beer sales depends on the (traveling) distance from the borders and, after full liberalization, the coefficients for petrol prices become positive. For spirits, the results were inconclusive. In the aftermath of import liberalization of the Swedish alcohol market, increased petrol prices temporarily made private alcohol imports economically unattractive for consumers living close to the border. This may partly explain why, after that event, surveys did not detect the widely expected increase in self-reported alcohol consumption.

New “Others” in Post-Conflict Consociations: A Continuum of Exclusion?

Debates on consociationalism seek to explain how and why prescriptive power-sharing can support successful ethnic conflict management in post-conflict societies and if the differences between liberal and corporate consociationalism affect system stability. At the same time, a new and growing body of work has begun to examine the previously under-considered effects of power-sharing on “Others,” that is, those communities not in alignment with the included ethnic groups. This paper adds to understandings of liberal and corporate consociational models and their impact on a specific type of Other – “newcomers” – through interviews with civil society organizations representing their interests. Current approaches to the liberal-corporate distinction do not reflect the impact of institutional design on newcomers navigation of power-sharing systems. Through a comparative analysis of newcomer engagement in (liberal) Northern Ireland and (corporate) Lebanon, this paper will reveal how institutional design cultivates path-dependent elite behaviors that negatively impact newcomers through different policy responses.

СОЦІАЛЬНА ЕКОНОМІКА ТА СОЦІАЛЬНА ПОЛІТИКА: СПІЛЬНІ РИСИ ТА ВІДМІННОСТІ (ТЕОРЕТИЧНІ АСПЕКТИ)

The article reveals the essence, features of the formation and implementation of the social economy and social policy based on the models, functions and principles of their implementation. It has been determined that the social economy is a direction of the general economy of the state, which is based right to work, the right to social security. It was found that social policy is one of the main components of the stability of the development of society. It has been established that the basic principles of social economy are: the principle of democratic control over society; the principle of taking into account the interests of society in the context of achieving the general interest of the social economy; the principle of solidarity; the principle of responsibility; the principle of autonomy of management; the principle of independence from the influence of state bodies; the principle of the rule of law; the principle of humanism; the principle of freedom; the principle of employment of the population; the principle of social protection and compliance with social guarantees. It has been established that the main principles of social policy are: the principle of social justice; the principle of social differentiation; the principle of targeted support for vulnerable groups of the population; the principle of providing protection to all categories of the population; the principle of social partnership; the principle of social balance; the principle of ensuring stability in society; the principle of ensuring the implementation of social programs; the principle of showing compassion and understanding the needs of socially vulnerable members of society; the principle of maximizing the living wage; the principle of ensuring support for peace and harmony among citizens and society as a whole. It is noted that the models of the social economy are the transitive model, the mediterranean model, the liberal model, the continental and scandinavian models. It has been established that the implementation of social policy passes through the «Bismarckian» model, the Beveridge model, the social democratic model, the corporatist model, the catholic model and the rudimentary model. It is proposed to investigate the features of the implementation of the social economy and social policy in Ukraine in the future.

“Recognized Leader of the German Opposition?” Mission of the Württemberg Envoy at the Bundestag Karl August von Wangenheim in 1817–1823

The article is devoted to the diplomatic activities of Baron Karl August von Wangenheim, who served as the envoy of Württemberg in the Bundestag of the German Confederation in 1817–1823. During those years, when a positive attitude towards the German Union was gradually replaced by disappointment and scepticism, von Wangenheim consistently defended the existing “unionist” model and advocated its development in federal and constitutional directions, in many respects consonant with the requirements of national and liberal movements. The examination of Von Wangenheim's ideas presented in this article is based on his writings, personal letters, and diplomatic documents, in which he outlined both the general concept of Germany's development and specific measures to that end. Their implementation contradicted the protective course of K. von Metternich. The conflict between the two politicians is presented in the article through the case studies of several of its most striking manifestations: the issues of expanding the powers of the federal institutions, the widespread introduction of constitutions, and the creation of a federal army. The author pays special attention to the theoretical and philosophical foundations of von Wangenheim's programme: his liberal constitutionalist model and the theory of the “German triad” as the most balanced form of interaction between German states on different levels. Considering the main factors of the defeat of von Wangenheim's projects, the author notes that the main difficulty for von Wangenheim was not only the resistance of the all-powerful Austrian chancellor but also the lack of trust between the German states, as well as the ambitious foreign policy of the Württemberg king William I, which provoked a diplomatic crisis in the early 1820s that led to the resignation of von Wangenheim and his associates in the Bundestag and, as a consequence, to the preservation of the German Confederation in a weak form that did not meet its original goals.

Інституціональне забезпечення та регулювання світової фінансової архітектури

The article explains the essence of institutional provision and characterizes the main aspects of regulation of the world financial architecture. It is defined that no other element of financial architecture has such powerful financial resources to realize the goal of financial stability and to assist developing countries, as well as countries with transition economies. The main directions of implementation of strategic goals for regulation of financial architecture are considered. The authors justify the need to timely improve the institutional provision for the process of regulating international financial relations in the context of increasing financial stability in the global economic environment and as an appropriate reflection on the conditions of transformational uncertainty and strategic imperatives of the development of the world financial architecture. The conceptual scheme of institutional provision for regulation of world financial architecture is presented and characterized. A new world financial architecture is proposed and its main advantages are analyzed. The need for algorithmic transformation of the liberal model of world financial architecture to a clearer regulation both the State-based and the superior one fulfilled on the grounds of regionalization is argued. It is concluded that the main factors of negative impact of global disparities on the world economy are as follows: imperfection of the financial mechanism, aggravation of a totality of contradictions between financial and real sectors of the economy, between national and international structures in the direction of implementation of the strategic State goals and strengthening of regionalism.