State Power Relations Research Articles

Concept of forms and legal functions of the functioning of the control system and against the interaction of the higher authorities of the state authority

Different approaches to the understanding of the content of the form and legal means of functioning of the system of checks and balances in the relations between the higher state bodies are analyzed in the work. It is concluded that in practice not only the distribution of powers of the higher state authorities is important for the achievement of the goals defined in the Constitution of Ukraine, but also their interaction, which necessarily takes place in clearly defined legal forms with the use of legal means. Legal means and forms of functioning of the system of checks and balances in the interaction of higher authorities are part of the law as a whole in its instrumental sense and in its unity form legal mechanisms that act to achieve socially meaningful results. Implementation by the supreme bodies of state power of their constitutional powers in relation to one another is actually the legal form of their interaction. Such interaction not only can not exist without certain tools, legal means, but only happens when they are implemented and in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the state, and is actually an external manifestation of a comprehensive system of checks and balances, which is enshrined in the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. It is also concluded that the system of general and special (legal) conditions, special (legal) means, forms, mechanisms of proper implementation of the competence and powers of the highest bodies of state power of Ukraine, defined by the constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine, during their interaction with each other acts as a guarantee of a system of checks and balances in the relations of the highest bodies of state power in Ukraine. In real life, the same legal means and legal forms can simultaneously serve as ensuring the proper organization of the exercise of powers by the highest state authorities, taking into account the system of checks and balances enshrined in the current legislation, as well as guaranteeing the protection and inviolability of the constitutional law as bodies of state power and citizens from any encroachment, give it a real character. The absence or ineffectiveness of existing legal remedies (guarantees) for the functioning of the system of checks and balances, the exercise of powers by the highest state authorities without observance of a clearly defined legal form usually creates instability of state-power relations, may lead to restrictions of rights, non-fulfillment of duties, violation of the rules of the current legislation by abuse or abuse of authority.

Geology and world politics: mineral resource appraisals as tools of geopolitical calculation, 1919-1939

How is nature transformed into natural resources? Histories analyzing the state sciences of agriculture and forestry in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries showed that these sciences redefined nature as natural resources by making them amenable to cameralistic calculation, bookkeeping and accountability. Against this background, my first line of inquiry is exploring how, over the twentieth century, nonfuel mineral resource appraisals, i.e. attempts to quantify the metal content of the earth’s crust, became the first hold that societies took on earth matters, transforming them into mineral resources. My second objective is to describe and explain a widening of scope. Around 1900, geologists and other mineral resource experts began to appraise minerals on a global scale and survey trends in the worldwide production and consumption of minerals. I argue that, after World War I, states started to use global mineral resource appraisals as tools of geopolitical calculation, aimed at measuring and managing both natural resources and state power relations. The global perspective was only one reason why mineral resources became amenable to economic and political management on a vast scale, though. In addition, global mineral resource supply and estimates had to be cast and discussed in an explicitly functionalist language in order to fit the interwar technocratic ideas of planning and maintaining world order.

Geography of Insurgency—Contextualization of Ethno-Nationalism in Northeast India

Northeast India has been plagued by insurgency related violence and conflicts for many decades. The greater threat and concern have been, however, the rising regional tensions albeit promulgation of series of insurgency crack-down policies by successive central and state governments since the 1950s. To contain insurgency activities, new winning formulas have been announced occasionally, promising incentives or job to the surrenderees, with events of surrendering insurgent’s ceremonies yet several newer insurgents and splinter groups have been formed. The volatile state power relations intrigue the entire geopolitical condition and create space for development of newer geographical landscape of conflict thereby turning the region to one of the most sensitive regions in India. The paper is an attempt to examine the emergence of insurgency movements, the nature of contextualization insurgency activities and spatial conflict in Northeast India in the backdrop of the contesting state power relation.

Can centralization, decentralization and welfare go together? The case of Massachusetts Affordable Housing Policy (Ch. 40B)

The Massachusetts Affordable Housing Policy of 1969 (known as the ‘Anti-Snob Zoning Act’, or simply 40B), is one of the most admirable and controversial acts in the history of the state. It was intended to break through the exclusionary ‘snob’ zoning that was customary in United States suburbs at the time, and to open the suburbs to low- and moderate-income residents by encouraging the production of affordable housing statewide. The paper analyses 40B and the modifications it has undergone over the years in light of the relation between centralized state power and decentralized local government power with regard to planning. Understanding of the changes in local–state power relations can provide an explanation for the changes that have occurred over the years in implementing the law. The findings suggest that mutual learning, and understandings developed over the years among all involved, can provide the greatest benefit to low- and moderate-income residents.

Deconstructive Justice and the “Critique of Violence”: On Derrida and Benjamin

This essay presents a critical interpretation of Derrida's deconstructive reading of Walter Benjamin's text, “Critique of Violence.” It examines the relationship between deconstruction and justice, and the parallel Derrida draws between deconstructive reading and Benjamin's account of pure violence. I argue that Derrida blurs Benjamin's distinction between the political general strike (which simply inverts state power relations) and the proletarian general strike (which non-violently disrupts such power relations). As a consequence, Derrida criticises Benjamin's metaphysical complicity with the violence that lead to the Holocaust. Derrida's deconstructive reading of Benjamin, I conclude, underplays its Marxist dimensions, privileging the theological and textual dimensions of Benjamin's thought over the political and historical.

Globalization, the State and the Environment: Exploring the Limits and Options of State Activity

The paper explores the relationships between globalization and the state with reference to three interlinked aspects of environmental concern (agriculture-environmental relationships, environmental planning and policy and retailer regulation and food quality). New models of regulation emerge which suggest both a more variable and contingent conceptualization of the state is necessary. Social empowerment and the transposition of power with particular private economic sectors means that we must be more concerned with the substantial socio-political content of state power relations, rather than ascribing singular or coherent roles to the institutional matrix which traditionally defines 'the state.'