Vast Majority Of Scholars Research Articles

TRANSPORT AND LOGISTIC SYSTEMS IN THE SMART CITY CONCEPT

Topicality. The impact of a number of factors on climate change can be defined as twofold. Firstly, by reducing the number of pollutants responsible for global warming, and secondly, by increasing the resilience of systems (economic, environmental, social) to the vulnerability of these factors. A huge number of scientific and professional developments, strategic documents, programmes and implementation plans are devoted to these issues. Nevertheless, a tangible effect of mitigating the impact of negative environmental factors, of which transport and logistics systems (TLS) play a leading role, including TLS of urban areas, can only be achieved through an integrated approach, combining the cooperation of various stakeholders with different public interests and goals.Aim and tasks. The purpose of the study is to establish priorities and directions for the formation of new type of transport and logistics systems in the concept of a smart cityMaterials and Methods. To carry out the research, the method of processing documented data from primary sources was used – scientific publications, expert opinions, documents of municipal authorities on this issue.Research results. The peculiarity of the concept of sustainable development lies in the contradiction of its defining postulates to traditional economic mechanisms of unlimited economic growth, maximum state regulation, and profit-making by any means, without coordinating their strategies with the needs of the environment that these urban agglomerations use. It is worth noting that the vast majority of scholars and decision-makers on urban development strategies adhere to the concept of a "smart" city in terms of its intellectual provision with technologies, use algorithms, advanced digital infrastructure, etc. The economic sustainability of the transport system should aim to plan transport projects, resource consumption, etc. in a way that promotes economic growth in the long term, as the increase in the number of smart cities, as a resource-intensive and time-consuming process, is one of the mechanisms for accelerating the modernisation of the national economy as a whole. The concept of expanding the area of smart cities contributes to the expansion of domestic consumption in the region, modernisation of industry, and coordination of economic and social activities between regions.Conclusion. Taking as a basis the principles of sustainable development of transport and logistics systems of cities on the basis of the introduction of green logistics can reduce numerous environmental problems that have become a consequence of industrial modernization and globalization, and ensure the reduction of external environmental effects by balancing environmental, social and economic goals by transport and logistics enterprises.

천간과 지지의 상조(相助)와 상극(相剋)에 관한 연구*

As many perhaps already know, in East Asian thought there are two aspects of all things such as light and darkness coexist and are called Yin-Yang (陰陽). The initial concept of Yin-Yang was just a simple expression meant to depict natural phenomena, but it gradually became the central concept in explanations of creation and the changes that undergo all things in the universe. The study of the ordering principle of nature that was known as Myeongli (命理) also examined the interrelation between the sky and the earth and divided the two into Ten Celestial Stems (天干 cheongan) and the Twelve Earth Branches (地支 jiji) based on Yin-Yang theory. This thesis analyzed contents of the relationship between Ten Celestial Stems and the Twelve Earth Branches in terms of the patterns of Mutual Aid (相助 sangjo) and Mutual Contention (相剋 sanggeuk) through a literature review and exploration of their common features and differences. Different categorized phenomena under the pattern of Mutual Aid include Tonggeun (通根 root downward) and Tugan (透干 appearance of the upward). Tonggeun means that signs in the Celestial Stems took root in their counterparts of the Earthly Branches. In the Celestial Stems, there is also Tonggeuncheo (通根處 a place to root downward) which in relation to the Earthly Branches show that the same five phases become Samhap (三合 combined three ways to gain power) and Banghap (方合 gathering in the same season). The methods of seeing Tonggeunryeok (通根力 power of a downward root) are as follows: First, it is seen by the places where Tonggeun takes hold. Ilgan (日干 the Celestial Stem of a birthday) is ordered as month (月 wol) 〉day (日 il) 〉hour (時 shi) 〉year (年 nyeon), and other Celestial Stems appear ordered as month 〉sitting 〉close place. Second, it can be seen by the characteristics of Earthly Branches that Tonggeun has taken hold. The Earthly Branches are ordered as Rokwangji (祿旺支 vigorous land) and Jangsaengji (長生支 newborn land) 〉Yeogi (餘氣 remaining energy) 〉Myogo (墓庫 storage and burial grounds). Tugan is the concept that the main agent was changed to Tonggeun, which means that the spirit of the Earthly Branches is manifested in the Celestial Stems. And the five phases hidden in the Earthly Branches will be able to play their roles as they are revealed. There are also the phenomena of Gaedu (蓋頭 the heavenly destroying the earthly) and Jeolgak (截脚 the earthly destroying the heavenly) which are concepts that convey that the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches can mutually destroy one another. There are different opinions on Gaedu because some adopt viewpoints of just focusing on the Celestial Stems and considering it only in terms the Celestial Stems destroying the Earthly Branches. But, the vast majority of scholars think that the Celestial Stems weakens the role of the roots by destroying the Earthly Branches. Jeolgak, the reverse concept of Gaedu, weakens the spirit of the Celestial Stems as the Earthly Branches destroy them, and this is associated with the strong possibility that one is fated to experience disharmony.

ДОПЕРЕКЛАДАЦЬКИЙ ТА ПЕРЕКЛАДАЦЬКИЙ АНАЛІЗ ТЕКСТУ (НА ПРИКЛАДІ РОМАНУ «ОЛЕНІАДА» І. РОЗДОБУДЬКО)

The article examines peculiarities of the translation analysis of the literary text, in particular the pre-translation stage and translation itself on the example of the political and satirical novel “Oleniada” by I. Rozdobudko. Each researcher has their own point of view on the structure and stages of the translation process. The translation of any text is a long process, which consists of different stages depending on the purpose of the final product. Obtaining a quality adequate translation in the target language requires the translator to take a number of steps to study the author’s work, his or her individual features, genre, if it’s necessary to be an expert on the issues described in the original text – history, medicine, culture, geography, criminology, etc. The vast majority of scholars in the field of translation studies do not distinguish between pre-translation and translation analyzes of text, considering them to be inseparable from each other. Pre-translation analysis of a literary text has its own laws, according to which the dominant features of the work are studied (anthropocentrism, aesthetic information, fiction, imagery, etc.). We define the relevance and prospects of further research on this topic in the comparison of pre-translation analyzes of literary texts by different authors and different genres.

The Centre–Periphery Antagonism in Adjudication: A Case Study on the Spatial Dimension of the Political

One of the key elements of the critical theory of adjudication is the identification of an objective antagonism that is at stake behind a given court case. The identification of the antagonism allows to develop an axis, along which interpretive possibilities can be spread and arranged from those most favourable to social group A (e.g. workers) to that most favourable to social group B (e.g. businesses). The paper discusses the famous Laval–Viking case-law which was concerned with the fundamental rights of workers (right to strike and undertake collective action) and their relation to the economic freedoms of businesses, seeking to escape the high standards of worker protection in their own country either by changing the flag of a ship to a flag of convenience (Viking) or by importing cheap labour force from abroad, without guaranteeing the workers equal rights (Laval). Whereas the vast majority of scholars have interpreted the Viking–Laval jurisprudence as relating to the fundamental socio-economic antagonism opposing workers and businesses, the Slovenian scholar Damjan Kukovec has proposed an alternative reading. According to him, the real antagonism is ultimately between workers from the periphery (Central Europe, in casu Baltic countries) and workers from the centre (Western Europe, in casu Scandinavian countries). By introducing the spatial dimension to the political, Kukovec entirely changes the formulation of the underlying antagonism. The paper engages critically with Kukovec’s analysis and argues that the objective interest of Central European workers lies not in selling their labour at dumping prices, but gaining the same guarantees of social protection as existing in the West.

Exclusionary Discipline Policies, School-Police Partnerships, Surveillance Technologies and Disproportionality: A Review of the School to Prison Pipeline Literature

For this review I sought to understand how the field of education has come to conceptualize and study the relationship between schools and prisons. In doing so, I found that the vast majority of scholars who have studied the relationship(s) between school and prisons have done so within the context of the school to prison pipeline conceptual framework. This review both explores the affordances and contributions of the school to prison pipeline framework, as well as some of the limitations and critiques of the framework when used as the most preeminent frame by which we understand and study the ties between schools and prisons. I examine these limitations by focusing on four principal areas of study within the school to prison pipeline literature: (1) school discipline policies and practices, (2) school-police partnerships, (3) surveillance technologies in schools, and (4) disproportionality. The broader aim of this review is to develop the way we conceptualize the relationships between schools and prisons by building on what we have already learned in using the STPP framework, while also exploring new ways of theorizing and empirically studying the growing relations between schools and prisons.

ЩОДО КОРЕЛЯЦІЇ ЗАСАД ВНУТРІШНЬОДЕРЖАВНОЇ СИСТЕМИ ВИКОНАННЯ І ВІДБУВАННЯ КРИМІНАЛЬНИХ ПОКАРАНЬ

The article is devoted to defining the correlations between the principles of the domestic system of execution and serving of criminal punishments. The issue focuses on defining the links between the principles of criminal enforcement policy and criminal executive law. The article analyzes the theoretical positions of scientists who study this issue. The vast majority of scholars' positions are focused on the dominant position of domestic policy in the field of execution and serving sentences as a key element of the entire penitentiary system. Given this, the correlation between the principles of the elements of the system of execution and serving sentences is determined by giving priority to the principles of domestic policy over the principles of other elements, taking into account the direct criminal law. As can be seen, this theoretical state is due to the leading importance of the positivist concept of the origin of law, which is very common among domestic scholars. The article draws attention to the inevitable shortcomings of which leads to excessive attention to this concept. One of these shortcomings is the gradual reduction of the role of the natural law concept in society and, as a consequence, the narrowing of human rights and freedoms. The paper emphasizes that this aspect is unacceptable for a modern, democratic state in which the indisputable axiom is the proclamation of the leading role of human rights and freedoms in society and the state. Thus, under these conditions, the natural law concept should play a key role in building modern legal systems. Thus, the article defines the result according to which the correlation of the principles of the domestic system of execution and serving criminal sentences should take place with priority given to the principles of criminal executive law over all elements, taking into account the principles of domestic policy in the execution and serving of criminal sentences.

Соціальна безпека vs людський розвиток: конфлікт або взаємозалежність

The article examines the theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of the formation of social security and human development, their relationship and differences. The research is aimed at determining the relationship between social security and human development. In the process of research, general scientific and special research methods were used, among them: method of structural and logical analysis; methods of economic-statistical analysis; method of correlation analysis, etc. The tasks were solved using application packages such as Microsoft Excel, Statistica 10.0. Thus, in order to clearly understand the concepts under research, their uniqueness, a comparative analysis of the tasks and the research object, which are of close essence, but of different purpose, precisely the concepts of «human development» and «social security», was carried out. The analysis of both domestic and foreign methodological approaches to the measurement of social security allowed to substantiate the feasibility of applying the social protection expenditure factor to GDP for a correlation analysis. The results of the correlation analysis of the human development index (HDI) and the coefficient of social protection expenditures to GDP allowed to justify the hypothesis that there is a direct impact of social security on human development. In accordance with the results obtained and taking into account the analysis of the components of human development, appropriate recommendations have been developed to increase their level. Thus, present day reality emphasizes the need to search for powerful instruments to solve global problems that threaten the secure existence and development of society. This forces the international society to expand the security sphere and pay attention to the process of formation and active development of the theoretical foundations of human development and social security along with their practical implementation. As a result of the study, it is identified that the vast majority of scholars who study the problems of human development consider this concept as a certain process directed towards achieving the main goal.

THE BALANCE BETWEEN THEORY AND PRAXIS IN SOUTH AFRICAN PENTECOSTALISM: PATMOS BIBLE SCHOOL AS A MODEL

Recent developments within South African Pentecostalism reveal that a number of pastors in new Prophetic Churches abuse religion and women and engage in other extreme practices of religion. The vast majority of scholars have linked these recent developments with the gap that exists between theory and praxis in South African Pentecostalism. This article bridges the gap by using Patmos, a Bible School started by Elias Letwaba, one of the first Black workers in the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of South Africa, as a model. Patmos Bible School was an African institution located in Africa for African people. The Bible School offers relevant content to its students, provides specific training for lay preachers and community service, in addition to academic responsibilities. Patmos Bible School thus serves as a model for synergy between theory and praxis in South African Pentecostalism because of its relevant theological curriculum, embracement of African identity, and African indigenous knowledge.

ФУНКЦІОНАЛЬНА СПРОМОЖНІСТЬ ПОДАТКОВОЇ СИСТЕМИ УКРАЇНИ

Науковці в абсолютній більшості дійшли спільного бачення щодо виконання податками фіскальної функції, у переважній – щодо регулюючої (з поділом на стимулюючу та стримуючу) і значною мірою – щодо контролюючої функції. Із зміною політичної каденції та початком карантину COVID-19 в Україні стартував ряд важливих податкових реформ для детінізації економіки, налагодження більш справедливого оподаткування, які торкнулися всіх трьох функцій податків.Водночас на порядку денному залишаються системні проблеми щодо функціональної спроможності податкової системи України. По-перше, недовиконання податками фіскальної функції, що пов’язано з поширеними схемами мінімізації та ухилення від оподаткування, а саме контрабандою та «сірим» імпортом, зловживанням спрощеною системою оподаткування, заробітною платою «у конвертах», необлікованими готівковими доходами без використання касового апарату, розмиванням податкової бази в низькоподаткових юрисдикціях. По-друге, обмеженість потенціалу регулюючої функції податків через слабку дієвість існуючих податкових стимулів. Нові податкові стимули несуть ризики значної втрати доходів за відсутності надійних компенсаторів у майбутньому. По-третє, низька довіра до контролюючої функції податків через слабку інституційну спроможність податкових і митних органів. Складне податкове та митне адміністрування надає широкі можливості для корупційних ризиків. Відсутня дієва система упередження та профілактики порушень.Зважаючи на значну кількість проблем у реалізації всіх основних функцій податків в Україні, запропоновано відповідні стратегічні цілі та завдання для зміцнення функціональної спроможності вітчизняної податкової системи, яке доцільно закладати в основу стратегування її розвитку.

Концептуальні проблеми трудового права України та їх вплив на розвиток законодавства про працю

У вітчизняній науці трудового права дослідження предмету правового регулювання дають певне уявлення про онтологічні аспекти галузі, але не формують чіткого концепту реформи трудового законодавства й теорій, на основі яких вона має відбуватися. Критичного переосмислення феномену радянського трудового права у правовій науці так і не відбулося. Соціальне призначення норм трудового права необхідно посилювати через розвиток концепцій колективних трудових відносин та системи індивідуальних трудових відносин.
 Метою статті є окреслення ідей оновлення базової доктрини трудового права та визначення, на їх підставі, напрямків розвитку трудового законодавства.
 Наукова новизна визначається тим, що діалектичний зв’язок є базовим для визнання колективних трудових прав як юридичного механізму захисту індивідуальних інтересів у сфері праці. Наголошується, що реалізацію прав, які містять соціально-економічні гарантії працівників, відмінні від державних мінімальних, потрібно забезпечувати виключно через механізми соціального діалогу (партнерства). Механізм їх забезпечення в індивідуальному трудовому праві, у разі відсутності колективного договору – встановлюється за домовленістю сторін трудового договору.
 Можливість збалансованого поєднання методів правового та неправового впливу на трудові відносини потребує визнання трудового договору як джерела трудового права.
 Прогресуюча експансія норм цивільного законодавства на відносини, предметом яких є професійна праця, вимагає оновлення поняття й ознак трудових відносин. В рамках концепції системи трудових відносин це поняття може бути узагальненим, а його ознаки варіюватися в залежності від виду трудового договору. Вважаємо слушним під індивідуальними трудовими відносинами розуміти урегульовані нормами трудового права суспільні відносини, предметом яких є несамостійно-організована та оплачувана праця, яка виконується працівником особисто та із застосуванням, як правило, професійних навичок.
 Безстроковий трудовий договір і трудові відносини, що виникли на його підставі, мають залишатися пріоритетними, але за рахунок норм податкового законодавства та законодавства про соціальне страхування. 
 Висновки. Монополія будь-яких правових ідей і концепцій стає небажаною, якщо не може більше застосовуватися без кардинальних змін і не забезпечує ролі права у вирішенні практичних проблем та у визначенні напрямків подальшого правового розвитку. Без оновлення парадигми галузі трудового права, яка б визнавалась переважною більшістю науковців і, відповідно, отримала б статус доктринальної, неможливо завершити процес нової кодифікації трудового законодавства.
 Поетапне прийняття нового Трудового кодексу, до структури якого входитиме Книга І «Індивідуальне трудове право» та Книга ІІ «Колективне трудове право», є найоптимальнішим способом кодифікації.

Communists and Their Victims: The Quest for Justice in the Czech Republic by Roman David

Reviewed by: Communists and Their Victims: The Quest for Justice in the Czech Republic by Roman David Christopher Roederer (bio) Roman David, Communists and Their Victims: The Quest for Justice in the Czech Republic (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018), ISBN 9780812250145, 264 pages. Communists and Their Victims is the product of over two decades of work on the topic by the author. Although, as the subtitle suggests, the book is an important country study, the work’s ambition and accomplishments go well beyond that. Professor David’s expertise is not merely in his country of origin, but includes Poland, Hungary, and Croatia, as well as South Africa and South Korea. Unlike some of us who dabble in the topic of transitional justice from an armchair, Professor David has lived in, and conducted empirical research in this wide array of countries. This wealth of experience has added to his conceptual approach to the subject and has sharpened his tools of analysis. The result is a well-informed, nuanced, yet coherent, treatment of the subject of transitional/transformative justice. Professor David’s and conclusions are logical, theoretically sound and compelling, in part because of the enormous amount of research that went into the work, and in part because of his ability to analyze and convey his results to the reader. This work is not a high-level theoretical treatment of what justice requires in times of transition. He does not begin the work with his transformative theory of justice, and he does not use that theory to evaluate the various mechanisms designed to achieve justice in the Czech Republic. It is not a normative theory in that respect. It is a work of social science and not philosophy, so Professor David does not speak much about “justice” in the abstract, but of the measures taken to achieve justice, and the perceptions of his subjects that justice has been achieved. This is not to say that there is no normative mooring for the project. He makes clear in his introductory chapter that he, like the “vast majority of scholars” in this area, adopts liberal democracy as the background norm of assessment.1 Three [End Page 217] guiding principles inform his normative framework used to assess transitional justice, namely, the principles that: • transitional justice must be linked to its ability to transition to a peaceful liberal democracy; • transitional justice needs to both, address the injustices of the past, and prepare the ground for a stable and just future; and • transitional justice must take historical divisions within society into account, e.g. not only society at large, but victims and perpetrators. Thus, transitional justice was successful on his account if it: (1) helped victims to overcome the consequences of human rights violations (healing) and to become socially integrated; (2) helped former or current Communist Party members internalize human rights and prevented them from passing on the denial of human rights to their offspring; (3) changed the material situation of the individuals who held different positions in the past regime (being a victim or a communist); and (4) changed their ideological preferences visà-vis the return to the communist regime.2 His theory is a middle range theory that he develops based on the empirical work that is documented and analyzed throughout the book. The introduction and the bulk of the work merely hints at the theory, which only comes with the conclusion. As the placement in the book suggests, his theory is a generalized conclusion that he draws from this empirical work. The first two chapters set the context for the rest of the book by describing the injustices of the communist past and the mechanisms used to address those injustices in order to secure a more just future. The book’s first chapter is a condensed, but fairly comprehensive, look at the communist period and the injustices that took place there. It takes a nuanced view of how communism took hold in Czechoslovakia, the differences in communism during different periods of the regime, the role of the secret police, and the morally complicated situation of those who were recruited as secret informants on their fellow citizens.3 The second chapter details the numerous...

THE PROBLEMS OF RELATIONS BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE STATE

Problem setting. The society is a kind of rather complex, dynamically differentiated and social systems characterized by integrity, stability and ability of self-development, as well as existence of special social norms and values that ensure its functioning. At same time, high importance for regulation of social is played by law and because particular these elements determine normal of functioning of society as a whole and a person in it. According to this, special attention is paid to issue of between law and religion. After Revolution of Dignity, our is undergoing process of national revival, a return to implementation of idea of ruining national, legal and ideological system, taking into account traditional and origins of law. Thus, nowadays there are intensified efforts to determine connection of law with norms, laws of spiritual development of society. This necessitates need for comprehensive research, characteristics of between church and state, because norms, through which regulation of certain spheres of public life is carried out, have not become subject of research by scholars in many areas: lawyers, sociologists, philosophers, etc. This study was especially relevant as a result of conflict between Ukrainian Orthodox churches of Kyiv and Moscow Patriarchate, which gained much publicity in January 2018. That is why problems of relationships between church and are gaining high importance. Recent research and publications analysis. Under modern conditions, problems of relationship between church and state, in particular, its sociological, philosophical, moral and legal aspects, are subject of a study by a number of scholars. Among them we can distinguish following: O. M. Bandurka, D. O. Vovk, I. I. Dakhova, P. M. Rabinovich, I. V. Ryabko, G. L. Sergienko, Yu.I. Fisun, S.V. Shevchuk, L.V. Yarmol and others. Without diminishing role and significance of these scholars' achievements, we believe that issue under study remains very relevant in nowadays' conditions. The purpose of article is to address problematic sociological and philosophical and legal aspects of between church and state. Paper main body. At beginning of article is emphasized that and religion are those institutions that have same important influence on a person. But between church bears not a simple nature, therefore, authors reveal content of church-state relations. It should be mentioned that the state-church relations is a concept that was formed by combining two established concepts - and church. And if term state is agreed by vast majority of scholars. Regarding term religion, there is a number of constitutional terms that serve to define term religious organization. These terms are proportional to variety of names that they have acquired over a long process of development. In bosom of Christian for example, everywhere name Church is adopted. Other communities use names such as religious organization, association, society. Today, definition of concept of state-church is dominant - is a certain system of ties and relations, in which various issues related to activity of authorities and church, regulation of legal status of church are solved. Subsequently, authors disclose content of basic principles and fundamental models of interaction between and society. The model is called model of ideal by authors. In Ukraine, cooperation of and church is carried out on a constitutional basis and based on norms of current legislation, in particular Law of Ukraine On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations. The experience of Poland is interesting in between and church. Despite communist past and forced atheism, Poland remains today a country with a strongly represented tradition, which, of course, affects between and church in educational sphere. Teaching religion in schools is only with consent of parents, and process of teaching is controlled by itself, church and public organizations. Conclusions of research. Thus, after studying problematic aspects of between church and state, we came to conclusion that state-church are one of types of social characterized by level of interconnections of church, associations, movements and other organizations with state, degree of their interrelation as well as universal human principles. In our opinion, most perfect way of between church and is model of liberal neutrality, which consists of complete neutrality of church, its elimination from socio-political sphere of society and complete separation of church and state. Although example of Poland shows that, under modern conditions, model of concordat is also relevant. Therefore, we can that throughout life this question will always be relevant, because problems of between and church are an eternal problems.

The Socio-Historical Case for the Existence of a Nexus Requirement in the Application of Universal Jurisdiction to Maritime Piracy

Abstract This article provides a historical account of the application of universal jurisdiction to piracy jure gentium and details the nexus requirement. Prior work by Kontorovich and Art noted an increase in the application of universal jurisdiction concurrent with the rise of piracy off the coast of Somalia, yet did not address the historical case for the attribution of nexus to its application. This appears to be a non-sequitur, as the vast majority of scholars suggest that by definition the exercise of universal jurisdiction does not require a nexus. I argue that any presupposition of a lack of connection in the application of universality should be questioned, as not only is there a normative connection between the seizing and the adjudicating state, but that historically this has always been the case until just prior to the advent of third-party jurisdictional piracy courts in Kenya and the Seychelles that address Somali piracy, and only Somali piracy.

'mere prattle without practice': Authorship in Performance

Over the last ten years there has been a struggle within Shakespeare studies between the vast majority of scholars who have remained committed to the orthodox view on Shakespeare’s authorship of the plays that bear his name and a much smaller group of scholars, working with profoundly different levels of rigour, who have sought to question this position. Recently there has been a degree of agreement that it is more productive to approach the issue in terms of acknowledging the collaborative nature of early modern play writing. It is noticeable, however, that for the literary critics and historians involved in this debate collaboration seems to end at the playhouse’s door. There is an assumption that the collaborators who produced early modern drama were all writers and not the other people involved in the production of Tudor and Stuart plays. This is profoundly problematic. In this article, Thomas Betteridge and Greg Thompson propose a non-textual approach to the authorship question through the use of performance as a research technique. The first part of the article will map out the current ground of Shakespeare authorship studies while the second part is an account of a performance as research workshop carried out by Betteridge and Thompson with students from Brunel University, London

Is There an Obligation to Negotiate Secession in International Law? From Reference re Secession of Quebec to Kosovo Advisory Opinion and Beyond

This paper analyses the international community’s response in the recent cases of attempted secession and tries to answer the question whether international law has progressed to the level regulating the very process of secession. It will start by examining the provisions of the Reference re Secession of Quebec as it is the first document that has outlined the obligation to negotiate secession. In this landmark opinion, the Court has found that the obligation to negotiate stems from the enshrined constitutional principles, a view that has been accepted by the vast majority of scholars. Contrary to this position, the article will argue that, while negotiations are a very important step on a particular entity’s way towards secession, the obligation itself cannot be obtained from constitutional law. Instead, the obligation can be actually derived from the international law through, as this paper proposes, a novel theory of presumed or nascent statehood. Additional cases analyzed include the Kosovo Advisory Opinion and the view that the ICJ has taken on the final status negotiations and the Ahtisaari-led process. The case of Kosovo is further juxtaposed with other cases of attempted secession, mainly those of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Somaliland, Transnistria, South Soudan and Bougainville. All these case studies are used in order not only to argue the emerging obligation to negotiate secession, ie to undergo a form of a dispute settlement process with the host-state, but also to outline how the different conduct of the parties during this process can affect the international support for the succeeding entity.

New directions in Barthian ethics

This article highlights the located and embodied nature of Karl Barth’s theological ethics by situating Barth within his socio-political context. While the vast majority of scholars who engage with Barth’s ethics focus their attention predominantly on his mature work in Church Dogmatics, I claim that his occasional writings and speaking engagements in the years leading up to the Second World War shed important light on his later reflections. While it is often claimed that Barth one-sidedly focuses on divine action and grace to the detriment of authentic human action, I claim that when Barth’s one-sidedness is situated in his context and when we grasp the precise nature of his animating concerns, the performative goals he seeks to effect with his theology become clear. We are thus able to see that Barth does not abandon the theme of formation (as many critics claim). In fact, his theology leading up to the Second World War is one-sided precisely as a means of forming and equipping Christians in Germany to withstand the looming threat of the National-Socialist Church. This thesis opens the door to constructive conversations between theories of Christian formation (commonly found in theologies that prioritize narrative and ecclesiology) and Barth’s Christocentric theology (which prioritizes divine action and freedom). For the mature Barth, these conversations will centre on the theme of missionary participation in the ongoing work of Christ.

Reinventing the Islamic Law of Inheritance: The Share of Orphaned Grandchild in Islam and Pakistani Legal System

The issue of the share of grandchild in section 4 of the Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961 in Pakistan has sparked the hottest debate in the law of inheritance. This work discusses this controversial issue to find out, first, the background of this thorny issue; secondly, to evaluate the arguments of the supporters and opponents of representational succession; thirdly, to check the Islamicity of section 4; fourthly, to analysis how is this section interpreted by the higher Courts in Pakistan; finally, this work looks at the possible alternative to section 4 or representation for the grandchildren. The vast majority of scholars consider it as a re-writing of the Islamic law of inheritance; that its interpretation by the superior courts in Pakistan amounts to its non-existence; that experts of this field prefer ‘obligatory bequest’ over representational succession to provide help to the orphaned grandchildren.

The Share of Orphaned Grandchild under Islamic Law and Pakistani Legal System: A Re-Evaluation of Representational Succession in Section 4 of the Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961

The issue of the share of grandchild in section 4 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 in Pakistan has sparked the hottest debates on the law of inheritance. The work in hand discusses this controversial issue to find out, first, the background of this thorny issue; secondly, to evaluate the arguments of the supporters and opponents of representational succession; thirdly, to check the Islamicity of section 4; fourthly, to analyse how is this section interpreted by the higher Courts in Pakistan; finally, this work looks at the possible alternative to section 4 or representational succession. The major outcomes are: that the vast majority of scholars consider representational succession as a re-writing of the Islamic law of inheritance; that interpretation of section 4 by the superior courts in Pakistan amounts to the situation as if the Ordinance had not been enacted; that experts of this field prefer ‘obligatory bequest’ over representational succession but the option of bequest has too many hidden problems. Obligatory bequest is not a good alternative to representational succession because it would amount to an acknowledgment of the fact that the state has shifted the burden of taking care of the orphans to individuals. In other words, the state has failed to do one of its duties.

Irrational Animals in Porphyry’s Logical Works: A Problem for the Consensus Interpretation of On Abstinence

Abstract In book 3 of On Abstinence from Animal Food, Porphyry is traditionally taken to argue that animals are rational and that it is, therefore, unjust to kill them for food. Since the vast majority of scholars endorse this interpretation, I call it ‘the consensus interpretation’. Yet, strangely enough, elsewhere in his corpus Porphyry claims that the non-human animals are irrational. Jonathan Barnes notices this discrepancy and suggests that an appeal to the distinction between specific and non-specific predication can resolve the problem. This paper explains Barnes’ solution, but argues that it must ultimately be rejected. It concludes with a brief survey of other approaches to the problem, and with an outline of the proposed solution, in which the consensus interpretation of On Abstinence is rejected in favour of a dialectical reading of Book 3. Porphyry, this piece suggests, may not have believed that animals were rational after all.

Terrorism, organised crime and the biopolitics of violence

Despite the lack of consensus on a broadly accepted definition of terrorism, a vast majority of scholars agree that terrorist violence is intrinsically political in contrast to organised crime, which is viewed as mainly profit-driven. This article critically examines this widely accepted distinction and contends that it rests on a narrow definition of the “political”, which circumscribes political violence to organisations seeking to overthrow the government, change the political system or alter the boundaries of a state. Drawing on a Foucauldian biopolitical understanding of the political, we argue that the pursuit of economic goals for criminal organisations cannot be disentangled from practices of governmentality which, through the production of disciplinary and regulatory norms, contribute to the construction of distinctive subjectivities and political orders. In order to advance this argument, we focus on the case of the Neapolitan Camorra as a biopolitical actor and contend that its use of violence aimed at the creation of “docile bodies” able and willing to sustain its system and reproduce its order not only challenges the distinction between “political” terrorism and “profit-driven” organised crime, but also has implications for the study of terrorism. In particular, the analysis carried out in this article suggests the need to investigate biopolitical practices beyond a narrow focus on the state by exploring the largely neglected biopolitics of violence of non-state armed groups and examining whether this focus may open new paths for the transformation of conflicts marked by terrorist violence.