Coercive Means Research Articles

Introduction: participatory knowledge co-production

ABSTRACT This special Forum presents three articles that demonstrate efforts at participatory knowledge co-production. The three experiences were successful in the modest sense that they provided meaningful agency for participants and their knowledge roles, though in different ways. All three articles comment on the participatory turn that emphasizes an increasing role in public participation in scientific and policy data knowledge production and acknowledge that participation can have diverse meanings, contingent on the interests of the groups involved. This can mean a performative participation with coercive means to achieve particular goals with the participants or the groups that they represent; alternatively, participation can mean liberatory approaches that are designed to remove oppressive structures from disenfranchised populations and shift power to them. The cases here add nuance to critiques of power. Two cases demonstrate how participants are molded to conform to institutional power structures, though at least some participants find that shift (and recognition of their contribution) legitimizing and desirable. While each considers the relevance of participation for democracy, they highlight differences in values related to democracy, as regards whether participation is the endpoint value in democracy, or else whether democracy is a larger process towards redistributing power towards achieving equity and justice.

Sleep Is a Human Right, and Its Deprivation Is Torture.

Sleep is integral to human health and well-being; it is recognized as a fundamental right by international bodies. Nevertheless, deliberate sleep deprivation is frequently employed as a form of torture, violating the right to health. Legal cases such as LeMaire v Maass, Ireland v UK, and Huertas v Secretary Pennsylvania Dept of Corrections illustrate the varying interpretations of sleep deprivation as torture or cruel and unusual punishment. Ambiguity in domestic and international legal definitions underscores the need for collaboration between health and legal professionals. Clinicians can offer expertise about physiological and psychological consequences of sleep deprivation, which informs what legally counts as torture. This commentary explores the intersection of sleep deprivation, human rights, and the role of medical professionals in addressing, identifying, and preventing sleep deprivation as a means of coercion and abuse.

The Offense-Defense Balance in Cyberspace

The study of cyber strategy and its implications for international security has become increasingly crucial, necessitating an examination of the unique challenges posed by the dynamic and stealthy nature of the cyber domain. This paper addresses whether offensive or defensive strategies prevail in cyberspace, especially in light of evolving technological landscapes and debates over cyber threats. By applying offense-defense theory from international relations, the research explores the nuanced relationship between offensive and defensive operations in cyberspace. Despite prevalent views favoring offense dominance, recent skepticism questions the severity of cyber threats and suggests a possible overemphasis on offensive operations. This paper systematically examines the core concepts, findings, and operational variables of offense-defense theory, providing clarity to the conceptual debates surrounding cyber conflict. Recognizing the unique characteristics of the cyber domain, it urges a careful consideration of biases that may distort judgments about offense dominance. The evolving nature of cyberspace and its potential for redesign introduces caution and underscores the need for a nuanced understanding of the offense-defense balance. The preliminary assessment concludes that the question of whether offense or defense "dominates" in cyberspace is overly simplistic. Given the intricate interactions of cyber capabilities, other coercive means available to states, and the dynamic evolution of cyber technology, this question can only be answered within specific contextual and chronological boundaries. Within such conditions, the state of the offense-defense balance is crucial to tactical and operational decision-making. At the strategic policymaking level, the more coherent question is how cyber technologies are shifting the balance of advantages between offense and defense in the overall military posture of states. In essence, this paper provides valuable insights into the ongoing discourse on cyber strategy, theoretical frameworks, and nuanced analyses to inform policy and strategic decision-making in the face of evolving cyber threats.

Опыт строительства системы обеспечения национальной безопасности в США

The conceptual framework of national security in the United States of America has undergone significant transformation from the identification of national security with the military component of state policy to the modern systemic approach of “security through development”. This paper delineates the peculiarities of USA national security policy, including the principles of exclusivity, messianism, the interpretation by American elites of national security as the ability to counter external threats, the formulation of policies from a position of strength using coercive means, and a solid scientific basis. It is emphasized that the institutional contours of the modern USA national security system were laid down at the turn of the 1940–1950s with the establishment of the National Security Council. The analysis of the experience in constructing the USA national security system is multifaceted and reflects its fundamental characteristics, which have both theoretical and practical significance, enabling the systematic strengthening of national security. Based on the US experience, the author formulates proposals for improving the Russian national security system. The scientific novelty is expressed in the proposal and justification of the establishment of a special position of coordinator for strategic communications within the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.

Indonesia Space Program : Future Soft Power

This paper discusses Indonesia's space / aerospace industry program as the nation's future Soft Power. The term 'soft power', coined by Joseph S. Nye of Harvard University in the United States, is the ability of a country to influence another country not through coercive means but through attractiveness or reputation. This research uses a literature research approach, which is a method by collecting data by understanding and studying theories from various literature related to research There are four stages of literature study in research. Space, or simply space, is the expanse that exists beyond the Earth and between celestial bodies. Space isn't completely empty it's a hard vacuum containing low particle densities, especially hydrogen and helium plasma, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, neutrinos, dust, and cosmic rays. Recent developments show that in the future, not only professional astronauts can go into space but also all citizens of the world can afford to pay.

Exploring settler-Indigenous engagement in food systems governance

Within food systems governance spaces, civil society organizations (CSOs) play important roles in addressing power structures and shaping decisions. In Canada, CSO food systems actors increasingly understand the importance of building relationships among settler and Indigenous peoples in their work. Efforts to make food systems more sustainable and just necessarily mean confronting the realities that most of what is known as Canada is unceded Indigenous territory, stolen land, land acquired through coercive means, and/or land bound by treaty between specific Indigenous groups and the Crown. CSOs that aim to build more equitable food systems must thus engage with the ongoing impacts of settler colonialism, learn/unlearn colonial histories, and build meaningful relationships with Indigenous peoples. This paper explores how settler-led CSOs engage with Indigenous communities and organizations in their food systems governance work. The research draws on 71 semi-structured interviews with CSO leaders engaged in food systems work from across Canada. Our analysis presents an illustrative snapshot of the complex and ongoing processes of settler-Indigenous engagement, where many settler-led CSOs aim to work more closely with Indigenous communities and organizations. However, participants also recognize that most existing engagements remain insufficient. We share CSOs’ practices, tensions, and lessons learned as reflections for scholars and practitioners interested in the continuous journey of building settler-Indigenous partnerships and reimagining more just and sustainable food systems, work which requires iterative and critically reflexive learning.

Public values to guide childhood vaccination mandates: A report on four Australian community juries.

Governments use vaccination mandates, of different degrees of coerciveness, to encourage or require childhood vaccination. We elicited the views of well-informed community members on the public acceptability of using childhood vaccination mandates in Australia. Four community juries were conducted in Canberra, Launceston, Cairns and Melbourne, Australia between 2021 and 2022. We recruited 51 participants from diverse backgrounds, genders and ages through random digit dialling and social media. Two juries were held in metropolitan areas, and two in regional/rural settings. Outcome measures included jury verdicts and reasons in response to structured questions. All juries were concerned about collective protection and individual rights but prioritised the former over the latter. A majority in all juries supported mandates but juries disagreed with respect to the appropriate mandate types. All juries endorsed using the least restrictive or coercive means to encourage vaccination (providing incentives or education, e.g.) before imposing penalties such as financial losses and school exclusions. The overriding view was that it is fairer to place a direct burden on parents rather than children and that mandates should be designed to avoid inequitable impacts on less advantaged groups in society. Many jurors found conscientious objection acceptable as a controlled option for resolute refusers, provided that overall vaccination coverage remains high. This paper gives policymakers access to the reasons that Australians have for supporting or opposing different mandates under conditions of high knowledge, understanding and deliberation regarding policy options. Sustaining high rates of vaccination requires high levels of co-operation between governments, public health actors and the public. Our findings highlight the importance of considering public values in the design and implementation of vaccination mandates. We sought input from individuals who did and did not vaccinate during the study design. The views and perspectives of nonvaccinating parents were presented in the evidence to juries. We deliberately excluded nonvaccinating individuals from participating, as the divisive and often hostile nature of the topic, and their minority status, made it difficult to ensure they would feel safe as members of the jury without overrepresenting their perspective in the sample. Two related projects engaged directly with these parents.

The Issues Of Prosecutorial Supervision Over The Legality Of The Application Of Imprisonment

The article is dedicated to the practical problems of prosecutorial supervision over the legality of the application of imprisonment (hereinafter also referred to as “Punishment”) and the ways to solve these problems. Although the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Prosecutor’s Office” and the Penitentiary Code of the Republic of Armenia define relevant legal regulations on prosecutorial supervision over the legality of the punishments’ application and other coercive measures, in our opinion, the mentioned legal regulations are not consistent with the logic, essence and meaning of the powers of the Prosecutor’s Office stipulated in point 5, part 2 of Article 176 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. By virtue of the aforementioned constitutional jurisdiction, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter also referred to as the “Prosecutor’s Office”) is authorized to oversee the legality of the punishments’ application and other coercive measures, which implies that the Prosecutor’s Office must be empowered to apply measures of direct prosecutorial influence when exercising these powers; meanwhile, according to the current legislation, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter also referred to as the “Prosecutor’s Office”) performs the role of an observer and, upon discovering a legal act that contradicts the legislation, does not abolish it, but files a motion to the body executing the sentence to review the act that contradicts the legislation, or files such a motion after suspension of the said act. It is noteworthy that, according to the position of the Prosecutor’s Office, the act that contradicts the legislation may remain unchanged as a result of the final review in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation, and the Prosecutor’s Office is not given the legal opportunity to make the legality of such a decision subject to judicial review. The paper addressed the issues of prosecutorial supervision over the legality of punishments and other means of coercion, in the form of imprisonment, and the ways of solving these problems were considered”

State infrastructural power through scalar practices: On China’s decarbonization endeavors

To offer a fresh angle on the state capacity to advance decarbonization, this article brings into dialog political economies of scale and the Mannian notion of state infrastructural power, animating this conceptual cross-fertilization with an analysis of China’s evolving policy framework for decarbonization. This article begins with building the conceptual construct of scalar practice as a source of state infrastructural power and categorizing three key scalar practices, namely, interscalar rearranging, interregional reshuffling, and urban‒rural scalar mixing. Building upon this, the article critically evaluates China’s policy framework and state actions against the notion of infrastructural power: the Chinese state applies noncoercive means to elicit support, extract resources, and coordinate actions while transitioning to decarbonization-driven accumulation regimes, and these noncoercive means are mobilized together with coercive means through the art of scalar structuration that (re)defines central–local, urban‒rural, and interregional relations. Overall, this study elucidates how state-orchestrated processes of (re)territorialization for the decarbonization agenda give rise to the expansion of the state’s autonomous power in relation to civil society, albeit in a manner that manifests contested power struggle and conflicting internal logics.

범죄를 위한 이동

Based on the discussion of environmental criminology, this study aims to identify the distance criminals journey to commit crimes. Verifying how much a criminal moves to commit a crime has the advantage of predicting the distance and helping the police investigation. According to the results of the study, sex crimes showed the highest density within 2km of the criminal's residence, and after that, they gradually decreased. As a result of OLS regression analysis, it was confirmed that the distance of movement of a crime varies not only according to the characteristics of the criminal but also according to modus operandi such as the relationship between the criminal and the victim, whether the body is inserted, and whether coercive means are used. In addition, as a result of the potential class analysis of criminal methods, there was a difference in the distance of movement of sex crimes according to the potential (group) type of sex crimes. Finally, by synthesizing the results, the development direction of geographic profiling required for evidence-based policing and limitations were discussed due to the problem of analysis data.

Conditions for the use of Coercive Means of Enforcement by Members of the Police Force in the Slovak Republic

The paper is based on the scientific research task undertaken at the Academy of Police Force in Bratislava, Research No. 246: Analysis of the coercive means of enforcement in selected police services. Its aim is to analyse the legal conditions of the use of coercive means by police officers in practice. The intervening police officer is obliged to know these legal conditions for the use of coercive means well and to be able to apply them correctlyStreszczenieArtyku zosta przygotowany na podstawie realizacji zadania naukowo-badawczego podjtego w Akademii Si Policyjnych w Bratysawie, nr badania 246: Analiza rodkw przymusu bezporedniego w wybranych subach policyjnych". Celem jego realizacji jest przeprowadzenie analizy uwarunkowa prawnych stosowania rodkw przymusu bezporedniego przez policjantw w praktyce. Policjant podejmujcy interwencj ma obowizek dobrze zna podstawy prawne uycia rodkw przymusu i umie je prawidowo zastosowa - , , 246: . . , , ZusammenfassungDer Artikel wurde auf der Grundlage der Durchfhrung der wissenschaftlichen Forschungsaufgabe an der Akademie der Polizeikrfte in Bratislava, Forschung Nr. 246: "Analyse der Manahmen des unmittelbaren Zwangs in ausgewhlten Polizeidienststellen" erstellt. Ihr Ziel ist es, die rechtlichen Bedingungen fr die Anwendung von direkten Zwangsmanahmen durch Polizeibeamte in der Praxis zu analysieren. Ein Polizeibeamter, der einen Einsatz durchfhrt, muss diese rechtlichen Bedingungen fr die Anwendung von Zwangsmanahmen gut kennen und in der Lage sein, sie korrekt anzuwenden.

Social movements in Morocco: rethinking political opportunities in terms of claims and outcomes

ABSTRACT The close scrutiny of social movements in Morocco during the last decade shows that contentious politics changed dramatically from overt high-risk acts of indignation and public defiance in the streets during the Arab Spring to low-risk, tactical boycott campaigns on Facebook and single-issue movements during the last four years. The purpose of this paper is to suggest how we might read, interpret and understand the politics of contention in Morocco in terms of political opportunities. This article argues that political opportunities can be best apprehended using some context-dependent variables and showing the causal correlation between claims as an independent variable and outcomes represented by three dependent variables, namely recognition, policy change and repression. The aim is to map the field and study the political opportunities available to social movements through their contingent antagonistic interactions with the state. The study of variables revealed how structural features of the state and its conjunctural aspects shape political opportunities in Morocco. Though tactical variations were at play, the article delineated relatively constant mechanisms in these interactions. The article analysed data collected from social media and state television using a mixed method approach (netnography, grounded theory and critical discourse analysis). The results show that the Moroccan regime has been reluctant to respond positively to the social movements’ claims and to implement any qualitative changes in policy, and reacted in most cases by smear campaigns, discrediting counter-narratives before using coercive means. The Moroccan state is more preoccupied with promoting its image internationally, though.

A Study of Post-Cold War German Policy Towards the Iranian Nuclear Issue

Germany has been an important participant in the resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue, and the evolution of the Iranian nuclear crisis has become a major event in the international community at the beginning of the 21st century. The U.S. pursued unilateralism and hegemony, advocating unilateral sanctions and coercive means to solve the problem, while the EU, led by Germany, adhered to multilateralism and advocated a peaceful solution through negotiations and other means. After Merkel came to power, she promptly adjusted her policy towards the U.S., made the U.S. accept the EU proposal, shaped Germany into a role that is bold to challenge and take responsibility in the face of crises, pushed the UN Security Council to reach multilateral sanctions and comprehensive EU sanctions against Iran, and finally reached the Iran nuclear deal. This journey fully demonstrates Germany’s pursuit of foreign policy autonomy in the post-Cold War era, balancing the two pillars of foreign policy towards Europe and the U.S. in pursuit of its own interests.

The Role of a Forensic Expert in the Field of Self-Defense Under Current Legislation and Beyond

A forensic expert in the field of self-defense is a specialist with extensive knowledge in defence methods, close combat, defensive means, or coercive means. The core of the forensic expert's work in this field is the assessment of the facts of conflict situations in which physical violence between two or more persons has been used. The role of a forensic expert is to answer questions related to the parties' roles in the conflict, factors that influenced the conduct of the fight, the course of the fight and the possibility of resolving the conflict situation. Self-defense expertise is sometimes associated or confused with martial arts or combat sports expertise. This judgment is based on the assumption that most forensic experts in the field of self-defense also have experience or expertise in martial arts and combat sports. Such knowledge is an advantage for the profession of forensic expert in the field of self-defense, similar to knowledge in the field of weapons and ammunition, but it is not the same area as expertise in the field of self-defense or a condition for the exercise of this profession. The new Act No. 254/2019 Coll., on forensic experts, expert offices and expert institutes, faces professional criticism in several areas (expert duties, sanctions, division of specializations, etc.) and is likely to lead to pressure for further amendments. The article deals with these changes and the perspective in the coming years with the expert opinion of current forensic experts on the field of self-defense on the appropriate inclusion of this specialization in the future categorization of specializations.

Correlation of mediation as an alternative way to protect civil rights and interests and tort liability

The trends and challenges of modern society stimulate a review of the features and characteristics that define law as a set of social norms and shape its image through the provision of legal norms either with means of coercion, or by encouraging the use of other, alternative methods. Changes of a global nature, which are connected not only with the war in Ukraine, are accompanied by alternative methods of protecting the rights of participants in civil relations. The purpose of this study was to establish the legal and scientific and practical principles of the mediation procedure as one of the alternative ways of protecting civil rights and interests. Philosophical, specifically hermeneutic, and general scientific methods of scientific cognition (generalization, logical, praxeological, prognostic and modelling, as well as bibliographic) were used in this study. Special legal methods were also applied: formal legal and comparative legal. Modern positions in the understanding of legal categories, such as civil protection and civil liability and the influence of modern conditions of society on them, have been established. Various approaches to the mediation procedure were presented, and the prerequisites for its occurrence in Ukraine and the world were revealed. The study investigated how the categories “protection of civil rights and interests”, “tort liability”, and “mediation” interact. The modern trends of the civil doctrine regarding the protection of civil rights and interests were examined, the specific features of tortious liability and the possibility of introducing the principles of restorative justice regarding the protection of violated property rights were covered. The legal and practical bases of the application of mediation were determined, the advantages of its application in various spheres of social relations were established. The study analysed the judicial practice regarding the procedure for stopping proceedings in a case due to transfer of the dispute to mediation. The given materials and research results can be used in practical activities by participants in civil legal relations for further scientific research, as well as mediators, teachers, students of various educational degrees, representatives of state authorities and local self-government bodies.

Equal Protection in Dobbs and Beyond: How States Protect Life Inside and Outside of the Abortion Context

In two paragraphs at the beginning of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court rejected the Equal Protection Clause as an alternative ground for the abortion right. As the parties had not asserted an equal protection claim on which the Court could rule, Justice Alito cited an amicus brief we co-authored demonstrating that Mississippi’s abortion ban violated the Equal Protection Clause, and, in dicta, stated that precedents foreclosed the brief’s arguments. Yet, Justice Alito did not address a single equal protection case or argument on which the brief relied. Instead, he cited Geduldig v. Aiello, a 1974 case decided before the Court extended heightened scrutiny to sex-based state action—a case our brief shows has been superseded by United States v. Virginia and Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs. Justice Alito’s claim to address equal protection precedents without discussing any of these decisions suggests an unwillingness to recognize the last half century of sex equality law—a spirit that finds many forms of expression in the opinion’s due process analysis.
 Equality challenges to abortion bans preceded Roe, and will continue in courts and politics long after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In this Article we discuss our amicus brief in Dobbs, demonstrating that Mississippi’s ban on abortions after fifteen weeks violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, and show how its equality-based arguments open up crucial conversations that extend far beyond abortion.
 Our brief shows how the canonical equal protection cases United States v. Virginia and Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs extend to the regulation of pregnancy, providing an independent constitutional basis for abortion rights. As we show, abortion bans classify by sex. Equal protection requires the government to justify this discrimination: to explain why it could not employ less restrictive means to achieve its ends, especially when using discriminatory means perpetuates historic forms of group-based harm. Mississippi decided to ban abortion, choosing sex-based and coercive means to protect health and life; at the same time the state consistently refused to enact safety-net policies that offered inclusive, noncoercive means to achieve the same health- and life-protective ends.
 Our brief asks: could the state have pursued these same life- and healthprotective ends with more inclusive, less coercive strategies? This inquiry has ramifications in courts, in legislatures, and in the court of public opinion. Equal protection focuses the inquiry on how gender, race, and class may distort decisions about protecting life and health, within and outside the abortion context. There are many forms of equal protection argument, and this family of arguments can play a role in congressional and executive enforcement of constitutional rights, in the enforcement of equality provisions of state constitutions, and in ongoing debate about the proper shape of family life in our constitutional democracy. Equal protection may also have the power to forge new coalitions as it asks hard questions about the kinds of laws that protect the health and life of future generations and that enable families to flourish.

Fundamental legal principles for application of coercive measures by military servicemen and employees of the State border guard service of Ukraine

Changing threats and challenges to border security, armed aggression of the Russian Federation, a significant level of cross-border delinquency necessitate the need to determine the legal basis for coercive measures, military equipment and weapons by the personnel of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (hereinafter -SBGS). After all, the tools with which border guards are "armed" in counteracting offenses must ensure: 1) the ability to exercise their powers; 2) prevention of violation of the rights and freedoms of individuals in the course of these activities; 3) protection of life and health, property of law enforcement officers and their relatives from unlawful encroachments in connection with their official activities. The purpose of the article is to determine the state of legal regulation of relations in the field of coercive measures by SBGS servicemen and employees, signs and general conditions of legality of their use and application, as well as formulate proposals for improving legislation on legal regulation of coercive measures application by border guards.
 The peculiarities of application of coercive means, military equipment and weapons by the SBGS servicemen and employees are related to the dual status of the SBGS as a military formation and as a law enforcement agency, which affects the legal status of SBGS personnel. This entails assigning a double task to the SBGS: 1) ensuring military law and order and 2) ensuring law and order in the border area of Ukraine. The application of coercive measures while performing the first task is regulated by the Regulations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and while performing the second task – both by the Law of Ukraine “On the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine” and the Regulations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
 The analysis of the norms of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine” shows the lack of a systematic approach to the legal regulation of preventive measures and coercive measures as types of police measures. The names of coercive measures defined in Art. 21 of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine” need to be edited. The research established the relationship between coercive measures and circumstances that exclude criminal unlawfulness of an action, defined signs of coercive measures and identified general conditions for the legality of the use and application of coercive measures. At the same time, further research is needed on the signs and conditions of legality of use and application of certain coercive measures defined in the Law of Ukraine “On the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine” in order to effectively and lawfully apply them.

КОНФЛІКТНІСТЬ ДЕРЖАВНОЇ РЕЄСТРАЦІЇ ЯК УМОВА ВИНИКНЕННЯ ПУБЛІЧНО-ПРАВОВОГО СПОРУ

The article is devoted to the study of the conflict of state registration as a condition for the emergence of a public legal dispute. The legal nature of state registration is determined, taking into account the determinant of conflict as a condition for the emergence of public legal disputes. It is noted that the development of justice in Ukraine should be aimed at strengthening the rule of law by ensuring access to justice, fair judicial procedures, independence, impartiality and professionalism of judges, as well as legal certainty, Uniformity of judicial practice and openness of judicial decisions, effectiveness of judicial protection. The article studies an opinion on determination of stages of development of legal conflict. The existing definitions of the concept of legal conflict have been analyzed, which is generally well-established in the doctrine of public law. A legal conflict is defined as a conflict between two or more actors based on the opposite or incompatibility of their interests, needs or values. The features of legal conflict are named: the connection of the conflict with legal relations, the presence of legal features of the subjects or the object of the conflict; the possibility of legal settlement; sectoral certainty of the conflict; the presence of legal consequences; the possibility of using coercive means in the conflict resolution process; conflict resolution through a special legal procedure. The doctrinal definitions of terms “registration”, “registration proceedings”, “state registration” were studied. The conclusion concerning the special character of the conflict of relations in the field of state registration is given, which is: that the improper exercise of authority by subjects in the field of state registration may violate not only the public rights of persons to properly carry out registration activities, but also the relevant rights, on the occurrence or implementation of which obstacles are created (ownership of real estate, the right to conduct business, etc.). The concepts of “foundation” and “conditions” of public-legal dispute are delimited. It is emphasized that the conflict of relations in the field of state registration as a condition for the emergence of public legal disputes is determined by the individual's interest in realizing, first of all, certain rights granted by law (rights to real estate, the right to carry out entrepreneurial activities, etc.), and not the rights to accept the subject of the authority of relevant decisions or actions.

Authoritarian Power Sharing: Concepts, Mechanisms, and Strategies

We provide a unified language for studying power sharing in authoritarian regimes. Power-sharing deals entail not only sharing spoils between a ruler and challenger, but also establishing an enforcement mechanism. An arrangement does not truly share power without reallocating power to make it costly for the ruler to renege. Institutional concessions, such as delegating agenda control over policy decisions or empowering third-party enforcers, can reallocate power. However, weak institutions create a Catch-22 that inhibits credible commitment. When institutions are weak, self-enforcing power sharing is still possible if challengers have coercive means to defend their spoils. However, challengers can leverage their coercive capabilities to overthrow the ruler. This double-edged sword implies that a strategic dictator shares power only under specific conditions: challengers can credibly punish an autocratic ruler; if the ruler shares power, the challenger must willingly forgo taking harmful actions; and the ruler willingly acquiesces to diminished power and rents.

Rebel governance or governance in rebel territory? Extraction and services in Ndélé, Central African republic

ABSTRACT Rebel governance assumes a symbiotic relationship between coercion and public goods provision. However, in the rebel-held town of Ndélé, Central African Republic, we find that governance happens in rebel-held territory, but rarely by rebels. Rebels allowed other actors to provide services for the people only when this did not hinder rebels extracting political clout and economic benefit from the people and their lands. We show how rebels’ extractive ambitions and governance discourses evolved during successive stages of rebellion through a diachronic comparison rooted in multimethod fieldwork from 2018 to 2022. We ask, why were rebel groups able to set up their rule, then rule for seven years, before ultimately losing power? Rebels evoked public goods at the onset of rebellion to justify the use of coercive means. After rebel rule was established, rebels outsourced public goods to international and state actors allowing for governance in rebel-held territory while focussing their own efforts on extraction. When their rule was challenged, rebels targeted governance actors and spaces in their territory in pursuit of economic gain and political dominance. Our findings call for a re-evaluation of existing rebel governance studies and the ways in which rebel groups are engaged with.