Role Of Government In Society Research Articles

Political Polarization, State Color, and Your Health

ABSTRACT Political polarization in the United States is not a recent phenomenon. States are now often described as “red” or “blue” based on how voters predominately voted in the Presidential and other statewide elections. These differences now seem to have generated into values considerations oriented around social characteristics and beliefs about the size and role of government in society, with corresponding relationships to health behaviors. At no time perhaps was this more apparent than during the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on earlier research that ranked states on how hazardous or health promoting they are to the health of the citizenry, the authors attempted to further determine if any relationship might exist between these variables and how each state voted in the 2020 Presidential election. Of those states that ranked in the top 25 in earlier research on the multiple variables related to the actual causes of death, 5 are red states (voting Republican) and 20 are blue states (voting Democrat). While the authors acknowledge that clearly multiple factors are involved that center on differing values, this examination suggests that blue states ranked better on these measures.

Конец эпохи доминирования либеральной идеологии в условиях возрастающих вызовов

This article attempts to clarify ideas about ideology – what it is, how it is transmitted, how useful it is for understanding society and how it is used by the political elite. The relevance of ideology for modern politics is also studied. Ideology is a system of certain views, ideas, concepts and concepts held by any class, political party or state. Ideology is always a reflection of the prevailing political trends at the moment. Political debate is widespread in society. Whether we realize it or not, most of us are political scientists at a simple level. In society, citizens are expected to have an opinion on a wide range of issues that either directly as individuals or collectively as citizens affect their lives. Even at a simple, uncomplicated level, we have views on the «right» form of government, the «right» role of government in society, how «democratic» our own political system is, the right level of public spending, and so on. We regularly use these ideological beliefs when we try to make sense of the world. They may be illogical, well-structured, or even consistent, but the opinions and actions of the political elite will refer to these beliefs. Liberalism as an ideology is facing an increasing challenge from other ideologies. The increasing influence of nationalist parties, the growing influence of the Islamic world, the emergence of the second superpower of the PRC, the formation of restrictions and barriers between countries, the military and economic confrontation of Western countries with the Russian Federation reveals new problems in the formation of ideological trends.

State of Nature in the Perspective of Fiqh Siyasah (A Comparison Study between the Thoughts of Al-Mawardi and Thomas Hoobes)

The concept of State of Nature is important in political theory because it helps us understand the origin of political authority and the role of government in society. The State of Nature refers to the hypothetical condition of human beings before or without political association. The analysis is about the comparison of Islamic and western views by using two figures, Al-Mawardi and Thomas Hobbes. This research aims to compare their opinion regarding the State of Nature from the perspective of Siyasah Syar’iyyah. This research uses a comparative approach and content analysis. This study discusses the critical analysis of Thomas Hobbes and Al-Mawardi's views on the concept of a state of nature. Thomas Hobbes conducted that the state of nature is the basic nature of humans who are suspicious of each other at war to find happiness or Hobbes calls it Homo humini lupus, which mean the state of the werewolf for other humans, in contrast to Al-Mawardi's view that humans are deliberately created as weak creatures so that they need interaction to help each other, humans are social creatures who need other people to survive. The research results show that Al-Mawardi and Thomas Hobbes have different views about the State of Nature. According to Al-Mawardi, humans are born in a good natural state, whereas according to Thomas Hobbes, humans are born in a bad natural state. Apart from that, Al-Mawardi argued that humans have rights that must be respected by the state, while Thomas Hobbes argued that humans must surrender their rights to the state for the sake of security and peace.

Beyond Controversial Speeches: Ideologies of Duterte as Philippine President

The study examined the ideologies embedded in the speeches of President Duterte on controversial issues using a qualitative design, mainly through a Critical Discourse Analysis of Fairclough. The material used was the ten speeches of Duterte from 2016-2019 that contained controversial topics. The study’s results revealed that his ideologies include negative representation, freedom of speech, social responsibility and good governance, transformational leadership, anti-corruption policy, liberal democracy, protection and security, public order and trust, civil service, and love for the country. These related beliefs and his policies form the basis of how he views things around him and the proper role of government in society as the Philippine president. By analyzing his language and the underlying meaning of his words and uncovering the ideologies underpinning discourse, people would get to know his beliefs, positions, and ideas in various matters, assisting them in interpreting issues, events, and conditions.

The Complexities of Comparative Climate Constitutionalism

Abstract Climate constitutionalism is a relatively novel legal field that has nonetheless adopted a very distinct character. Picking up on the classical liberal tack, it is marked by a distrust of state power as it relates to climate action or inaction. This is a venerable approach. In his 1967 classic, MJC Vile recounts that the ‘great theme of the advocates of constitutionalism [had been] the frank acknowledgement of the role of government in society, linked with the determination to bring that government under control and to place limits on the exercise of its power’. This mode of distrust has been ported to the climate constitutionalism literature and in particular its focus on adjudication of constitutional rights provisions for climate purposes. This, we argue, is but one aspect of climate constitutionalism that no longer speaks to the needs of the world when we think about the relationship between climate change, the doctrines and institutions of comparative constitutional law, and the underpinning theory of constitutionalism for this relationship. The institutional dimension of the constitutional management of climate change must go beyond courts and rights to processes and institutions in the two political branches of the state. The normative theory of climate constitutionalism—why should climate change be a constitutional subject on a global scale?—should address itself to the matter of how that question can be answered from a wider and more pluralistic set of normative standpoints than simply only liberalism. In other words, how can climate constitutionalism be normatively justified beyond, although not against, liberalism?

Political competitiveness and the private\u2013public structure of public expenditure: a model and empirics for the Indian States

Studies of government size usually try to identify the factors that explain what parts of economic activity are brought within the public sector and what parts are left strictly in private hands. Modern governments are now so large that the question of what determines the private/public composition, or privateness, of public expenditure is of comparable importance for understanding the role of government in society. In this paper, we use a model of the composition of public budgets to uncover the importance of electoral competitiveness and other factors in the evolution of the privateness of public expenditure across the Indian states. These states vary widely in their socioeconomic characteristics while sharing a common political heritage based on parliamentary government. New measures of public expenditure on private targetable goods and of electoral competitiveness at the Indian state level accompany the paper along with a primer on Indian public finance accounting practices in an Online Appendix. The empirical analysis shows that the degree of privateness in India’s more developed states falls substantially with greater political competition and with rising incomes, while in the less developed states it responds more weakly to these key factors and in some cases even inversely.

A Bankruptcy History of the United States

Fraud and irrationality are often blamed for financial manias and panics. Investor euphoria can unleash social and technological breakthroughs, but the subsequent failures can destroy value and radicalize the political sphere. Are these events random, idiosyncratic, or driven by some force? The ex-post answers—be they monetary, criminal, or international contagion—have a profound impact on the role of government in society, but have questionable predictive power.

“Our God, and Our Guns”: Religion and Politics on the Revolutionary Frontier

ABSTRACT This article explores religion and politics on Pennsylvania's revolutionary frontier through two key events, the Paxton Riots and the Whiskey Rebellion. The author argues religion shaped frontiersmen's understanding of the proper role of government and provided justification for resistance and extralegal action. Moreover, the understanding of government promoted by religious leaders and frontier peoples presented an image of civil society and government at odds with the scholarly literature that often presents frontiersmen as antigovernment “proto-Lockeans,” prizing personal independence and individual rights. The words and actions of ministers, the Paxton Boys, and Whiskey Rebels adhered to a man in society, public welfare vision of government that set a high standard for the role of government in society and provided justification to both regulate and resist government when it failed to meet that standard. These events also demonstrate the continuity of a frontier political logic shaping events in the pre- and post-independence eras.

Job satisfaction in Cascadia: A comparison of British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington civil servants

Canada and the USA share a common cultural source in the British Empire, yet within shared democratic traditions, very different political structures, policy processes, and values have been identified. Canada is seen as having a more deferential culture more supportive of government while Americans have been argued to be more individualistic and cynical about the role of government in society. Using a political culture framework, this study examines the degree to which Canadian and U.S. civil servants perceive societal respect for their public sector jobs, and the impact of those perceptions on individual job satisfaction. It is argued that if civil servants feel more valued by society, they are more likely to have higher levels of public service motivation, which then contributes to higher levels of individual job satisfaction. This study employs surveys of Oregon, Washington and British Columbian civil servants conducted in 2011 and 2012 to investigate this relationship. Findings suggest that British Columbian civil servants feel more valued by society when compared to Oregon and Washington civil servants, and these perceptions of positive societal support are associated with higher levels of individual job satisfaction.

Governance in Canadian Agriculture

AbstractThis paper discusses three broad topics in the development of agricultural and food policies in Canada over the past 150 years. They provide the historical backdrop for these policies in place today and the contorted path they have followed over the years. In some cases, the causes lie outside of agriculture and food, and outside of Canada while in others, the causes lie entirely within the constitutional framework for the agriculture and food industry. The first issue explores the changes in the federal–provincial–territorial relationship in policy constructs for agriculture. Equally, the internal trade arrangements within Canada are explored from this aspect. Tracing the origins of this issue requires exploration of the history, design, and interpretation of the Canadian constitution. The second issue traces the changing role of government in society and the economy and its impact on agriculture and food policy. These changes are not specific to Canada since several countries and international relationships were based on the evolving role of government in the economy and society and its implications for agriculture policy and institutions. The third topic discusses the role that trade and trade agreements have made in Canada's approach to agricultural and food policy development. The emphasis in this topic is on the policies of the past 30 or more years as international agreements began the slow process of liberalizing trade in agriculture and food products. All three of these broad topics are closely linked, providing a mosaic for the understanding of where we have been as a nation and the framework that has emerged today for the agriculture and food industry.

Enduring Challenges and New Developments in Public Human Resource Management

Australia has its own unique institutional arrangements within which its civil services operate, yet its experience in public sector human resource management over the last 40 years or so has much in common with that of many other Western democracies, including the United States. It faces enduring challenges such as the relationship between politics and administration while its approach to public management has evolved from traditional Weberian administration through new public management to a much more complex, open and networked system. While the role of government in society has not radically changed, the way in which that role has been exercised has changed significantly. Government employees represent a smaller proportion of the workforce, what they do and their skills have changed dramatically, internal arrangements to foster ethics and to manage staff are different today, new approaches have been adopted to compensate and motivate employees, the diversity of employees has widened, and the place of human resource management (HRM) in agencies’ strategic management processes has ebbed and waned. In each of these areas, human resource (HR) managers in Australia today face difficult questions about future directions. Most of these will be familiar to HR managers in other countries.

Vote intent and beliefs about democracy in the United States

Democracy is an abstract and murky concept. This is particularly apparent in the wide variety of beliefs about democracy held by publics around the globe. Within democracies, political parties often define and name themselves with reference to a particular understanding of democracy. This article focuses on this partisan division in understanding democracy. We suggest that parties will attract those who share similar beliefs about democracy. Specifically, we look at whether differences in beliefs about democracy predict party support in the United States. Examining the responses of US participants to the fifth wave of the World Values Survey, we find that differences on a number of “essential” aspects of democracy among individuals predict vote intent (and party identification). Those more likely to understand democracy as a form of government that promotes civil liberties and the redistribution of wealth to protect the vulnerable are more likely to vote Democrat. Those who report stronger associations between democracy and both religious interpretation of laws and severe punishment of criminals are more likely to vote Republican. This research reinforces the idea that policy differences between the two main parties in the United States may derive from different understandings of the role of government in society.

Faith and the Free Market: Evangelicals, the Tea Party, and Economic Attitudes

AbstractWe argue that concerted efforts by Tea Party leaders, Republican politicians, and leading Christian Right figures to establish and promote a connection between Christian faith and the free-market system has helped shift the economic attitudes of white evangelical Protestants in a more conservative direction. Our analysis of Public Religion Research Institute survey data finds that white evangelical Protestants express greater skepticism about an active role of government in society and believe economic growth is more likely to be spurred by a reduction in taxes rather than in public investments. Moreover, we find that identifying with the Tea Party has a conservatizing influence on their economic issue positions. While we find that partisanship, class, and in some cases, age, serve to modify the views of some evangelicals, by and large, evangelicals have come to embrace the conservative fiscal message promoted by both the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement.

Governance of the Big Data Value Cycle

Starting from an overview of the evolving role of government in society, we investigate the relationship between government and Big Data. Taking stock of various approaches, we construe a Big Data Value Cycle (BDVC) as consisting of the stages of origination, recombination, inference, and action. We then ask if and how states could govern this value cycle by zooming in on the three focal roles of government - i.e. enabling competition, wealth redistribution through taxation, and protecting its citizens, namely their privacy. We make two important contributions to the emerging research on the implications of Big Data for societies. First, we suggest that data taxation before recombination stage of the BDVC is most feasible way to support state’s innovation objectives. Second, educating in data science skills remains a vital role for the state. Our discussion of how public governance could affect Big Data, ties into ethical and moral issues that underpin much of the Big Data in society debate.

Public Policies toward Aboriginal Peoples: Attitudinal Obstacles and Uphill Battles

AbstractThis paper examines public attitudes towards aboriginal policy in Canada, focusing on evidence from two surveys conducted in Saskatchewan, a province with a large and growing Aboriginal population. We show that although non-Aboriginals are collectively divided on Aboriginal public policies, expressing considerable support for some, but strong reservations when it comes to others; the individual-level evidence indicates that there is a single Aboriginal policy agenda in the minds of non-Aboriginal Canadians. Support for, and opposition to, the privileging of Aboriginal claims is structured in part by prejudice toward outgroups but also by non-Aboriginal people's more general position on the role of government in society. Moreover, the impact of positions about the role of government in society on attitudes toward Aboriginal policies is moderated by people's level of political sophistication: the more educated and politically interested they are, the greater the impact of those ideological views.

Partnerships in the context of the transformation changes of public administration in the globalization conditions

The nature of change and transformation of the economic system of Ukraine is analyzed in the paper. The content of global transformation processes that cause them, are determined. It is proven the exhaustion of reproductive potential of the model of liberal market fundamentalism, the concept of which was chosen as the basic paradigm of development of the national economy, the negative effects of the weakening of the state’s role in the management and controls the spread of purely market principles of conduct in all aspects of life are clarified. Directions of modernization restructuring of the national economy are determined. The first direction is transition to high-industrial level of economic development and creates conditions for transition to a post-industrial economy by modernizing industrial and technological base for innovative principles and development of post-industrial sectors. The second direction is playing a market economy mechanism in cooperation with government regulation, strengthening the role of the state in certain national development goals and maintaining business cooperation with a partner. The relevance of the research problems caused by the aggravation of choice vector transformation changes the national economic system, formation process of updating the ultimate goal of transformational changes, identify ways and methods to achieve in terms of economic crisis and the emergence of threats to national statehood. The proposed directions of transformational changes in governance and the role of government in society in accordance with the principles of partnership provided the absolute dominance of the public interest create a real background for task solution of economic development and improving the quality of life.

Symbolic Politics and the Prediction of Attitudes Toward Federal Regulation of Reduced-Exposure Tobacco Products1

The present study relies on symbolic politics theory to predict public attitudes toward the federal regulation of conventional tobacco products (a familiar attitude object) and reduced-exposure tobacco products (a relatively novel attitude object). We predicted that attitudes toward most forms of regulation would be more strongly influenced by symbolic beliefs about the role of government in society than by self-interested concerns, with the exception of taxation. We predicted that the financial consequences of taxation policies would be less ambiguous for those who are affected, resulting in a stronger relationship between self-interest and policy attitudes. The results strongly supported our hypotheses, suggesting a process by which symbolic beliefs and self-interested concerns influence attitude formation. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.

Is Mr. Euripides a Communist? The Federal Theatre Project's 1938 Trojan Incident

On 6 December 1938, Hallie Flanagan, director of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), testified before the House Special Committee on Un-American Activities. (1) The FTP, a publicly funded nationwide theater organization, was allegedly advocating Communist propaganda. Flanagan came under heavy fire for including socialist messages in productions like the children's show The Revolt of the Beavers (1937) in which a beaver, Oakleaf, organizes his fellow rodents to rise against the Chief, who has been mercilessly making the animals work without break on the busy wheel. (2) Flanagan, who had traveled to the Soviet Union and written approvingly of Russian theater, was especially vulnerable as a witness. (3) During the contentious hearing, Flanagan parried assaults from a hostile committee investigating play selection, Communist ideology, and the purpose of theater. At one point, Congressman Joseph Starnes quoted an article by Flanagan that described what she had in 1931 seen as two opposing theaters in the United States: the commercial theatre, which was out to make money, and the workers' theatre which was out to change the world with what she had playfully termed a Marlowesque madness. Congressman Starnes concluded by asking, You are quoting from this Marlowe. Is he a communist? This question led to the oft-quoted exchange: Mrs. Flanagan: I am very sorry. I was quoting from Christopher Marlowe. Mr. Starnes: Tell us who Marlowe is, so we can get the proper reference, because that is all we want to do. Mrs. Flanagan: Put in the record that he was the greatest dramatist in the period of Shakespeare, immediately preceding Shakespeare. Undaunted, Starnes pressed on with another line of inquiry: Mr. Starnes: Of course, we had what some people call Communists back in the days of the Greek theater. Mrs. Flanagan: Quite true. Mr. Starnes: And I believe Mr. Euripedes [sic] was guilty of teaching class consciousness also, wasn't he? Mrs. Flanagan: I believe that was alleged against all of the Greek dramatists. Mr. Starnes: So we cannot say when it began. (4) One might be surprised to find a conservative congressman arguing over the class-consciousness of an ancient dramatist, but Starnes's attacks on Marlowe and Euripides reveal a real threat to stain even the most canonical writers red. Rather than look at Flanagan's exchange with Starnes as an iconic example of the committee's notorious anti-intellectualism, I will read Starnes's pointed assault in conversation with the most recent staging of Euripides that the committee knew about: the FTP's 1938 Broadway production of Trojan Incident. Running for only twenty-six performances, the militantly antiwar Trojan Incident had closed just six months before the hearings. Although the production receives little more than a passing mention in studies of Federal Theatre, its populist politics coupled with an appeal to ancient authority ignited widespread controversies. By examining this innovative production and the responses of critics, producers, and politicians, I will use Trojan Incident as a case study of how ideas about Greek antiquity were applied within the institution of the FTE I begin by tracing the production history of Euripides' Trojan Women to a transatlantic antiwar movement at the turn of the century. I will focus on how the FTP's translational strategies departed from established models of Greek play production by aggressively modernizing the source material. As the FTP was part of a government agency, its artistic and political choices were subjected to wider attacks on New Deal policies. The struggles over Trojan Incident were as much about the role of government in society as about its antiwar content. I will return to the example of HUAC to anchor the production in a volatile moment that held stakes beyond the fate of the arts in America. The very identity and meaning of democracy was being fought over on the Federal Theatre stage, and, consequently, in the House of Representatives. …

Television News Viewing, Governmental Scope, and Postmaterialist Spending: Assessing Mediation by Partisanship

This study uses 2000–2002 American National Election Study (ANES) panel data to assess the influence of national television news viewing on opinions concerning the need for federal involvement in social issues reflective of postmaterialist values. This relationship is analyzed in coordination with the testing of perceptions of the proper role of government in society as a potential mediator. In addition, political party identification (Democrat, Republican, and Independent) is assessed as a potential moderator. This study reveals 3 distinct processes of mediation (or the lack thereof) across the party identification groups, with the perceived role of government serving as a full mediator for Democrats, a simple mediator for Republicans, and not serving as a mediator for Independents.

Speculations on a New Economy: La Femme Nikita, the Series

Globalization describes capitalism in the age of electronics. —Jim Davis, "Rethinking Globalization" Capitalism in the age of electronics—what I will call, following Benedict Anderson, "electronic-capitalism"1 —entails not only the global extension of the market economy but a fundamental reorientation of social relations characterized by the depoliticization of capitalism and the capitalization of politics. In the United States in particular, the new technologies of communication and information processing have been celebrated as harbingers of a "New Economy" believed to be immune to the laws of capitalism because it more flexibly responds to fluctuations in consumer demand. Technology, enthusiasts contend, has enabled corporations to decentralize their networks of production and distribution, institute "flexible" labor relations, and specialize production and delivery, thereby distributing goods and services to consumers more efficiently. Unlike the older, more sluggish, mass-production economy, this New Economy would evade the crises of overproduction that stall economic growth and achieve virtually unlimited expansion. The benefits would not be restricted to the economy, either. Supporters claimed the new information technologies would also rejuvenate and extend democracy by redistributing "power to the people" (Browning, 1). George Gilder, the "pied piper" of this New Economy, claimed, for example, that new technologies were "hostile to hierarchies, monopolies, industrial bureaucracies, and other top-down systems of all kinds" and would automatically shift power "from mass institutions to individuals," thereby "enlarg[ing] freedom" and democracy (Gilder, 126). Time magazine concurred, declaring the microchip to be the "Dynamo of [the] New Economy" [End Page 148] under whose aegis "technology [would become] a force for democracy and individual empowerment" (Isaacson, 47). The profound technological determinism that grounded the rhetoric of the New Economy was accompanied by an even more profound "market fundamentalism," which held that "unfettered markets could fairly and efficiently distribute almost all goods and services" (Madrick, 16). Not only were free markets hailed as the only viable mechanism for securing economic growth, especially for developing nations (Friedman, 104–5), they were established as Godlike entities whose machinations were irresistible. Tom Peters, for example, entreated his managerial followers to let "the market's will be done" while former radical Kevin Kelly developed the "Nine Laws of God" to explain the operations of the market in the New Economy (quoted in Frank, 3). Even Newsweek proclaimed that we were "blessed by the Bull [Market]" (Leland, 50). In that this new God was also "voted in" by the people through their consumer choices (Ohmae, xv), government intervention in the market was perceived as both a "sin" and an expression of tyranny (Luttwack, 184). "National government," Wired's John Browning proclaimed, "is no longer the best—or even a very good—instrument for delivering fairness," so "why should the middle classes be forced to give government increasing shares of their income to do inefficiently what they can better do for themselves?" (3, 2). Perhaps the best example of the libratory promise of the free market was Datek's 1999 commercial featuring the storming of the New York Stock Exchange by "radical" private investors—ordinary Janes and Joes, just like us—seeking their piece of the economic pie, not by demanding fair wages or secure employment but by demanding the "right" to invest. The result of the "information revolution," the commercial implied, would be the more equitable distribution of wealth, which would in turn alleviate social inequality and its attendant problems, making government virtually obsolete. In accordance with the revolutionary spirit of the New Economy, politicians, from Bill Clinton's New Democrats to Newt Gingrich's Republican Revolutionaries, set about redefining the role of government in society. They saw the job of "encouraging market competition" as their primary task (Hundt, 8) and began by eliminating "anticorporate" regulations, taxes, litigation laws, and any social services that undermined the "American values" of "individual responsibility" [End Page 149] and "entrepreneurial free enterprise" (Gingrich, 33). Both parties, fascinated with the decentralized structure of the new technologies of mediation, called for a leaner, meaner...