The state of the state

Theory and Society -     

The poverty of social control: explaining power in the historical sociology of the welfare state

The concept ‘social control’ has been criticised from a variety of quarters in recent years, particularly by historians and historical sociologists. However, it remains in common usage in sociological studies of welfare, deviance and social control. This paper shows, first, how this reliance on the concept of social control is rooted in a wider-ranging argument in social and political theory concerning the liberal-democratic fusion between the state and civil society, and that the lack of resolution of this argument is the foundation of the persistence of the concept social control in other areas of social inquiry, despite its repeated ‘falsification’. Second, the paper highlights the main arguments against the use of ‘social control’ in explaining social order, in particular the misunderstanding of class, culture and power which its use encourages, and the paper will conclude with a discussion of alternative ways of conceptualising the operation of power in contemporary societies.     

The Ahmao (Miao) schism: the problem of spiritual agency in encounters between church and state in southwest China

The majority of Ahmao in southwest China have been Christian since a mass conversion movement took place in the 1900s. Throughout the century, Ahmao congregations have gone through several reforms and survived many political campaigns. After two decades of prosperity through China’s reform era, since the 2000s many Ahmao congregations in northern Yunnan have experienced schisms. This paper sets out to investigate a schism that took place in a medium-size Ahmao congregation between 2005 and 2015. Based upon several years of continuous fieldwork, I found that the alleged schism in this Ahmao congregation – rather than describing a long-standing fracture in the community – appears intermittently and should be considered as an effect of religious regulation that problematizes the agency of spiritual practice. Under the regime of religious regulation in contemporary China, Ahmao congregations have been delicately negotiating between different modes of agency as changes in Christian practice become necessary or inevitable.     

The state of the environment in Iran

This article describes environmental conditions in Iran including air pollution, pesticide pollution, soil depletion and erosion, water pollution, natural resource loss, lack of appropriate waste management, lead poisoning, and desertification. Environmental policy and implementation is described under the Shah and the Islamic Republic. Iran is beset with interrelated problems of environmental degradation, unemployment, poverty, and population growth. Sustainability is being undermined at the cost of future generations. In 1995, Iran had a population of 67 million and a growth rate of 3.6%. Population is expected to exceed 100 million by the year 2000. The country is having difficulty in maintaining its current infrastructure, housing, food, and educational facilities. Competition for admission in higher education discourages women. Women with lower levels of education results in continued supremacy of men over women, more polygamy, and a lower quality of life for women. Iran was food self-sufficient in 1970, and exported its surplus. Today, Iran may be permanently dependent on food imports. Iran has abundant oil reserves, natural gas, copper, lead, and marketable items. Exchanging natural resources for food and technology has time and resource limits. Iran needs monetary assistance from wealthy nations. Population growth leads to increased demand for infrastructure and resources. Iran has signed many international environmental agreements and has enacted detailed environmental policies and regulations, but actual enforcement is lacking.     

The strength of weak conversational ties in the flow of information and influence

The “Strength of Weak Ties” theory is used to analyze the flow of information and influence in the network of conversational ties in a kibbutz community.The flow of six information items and two decision-making items was measured by indicators of communicative efficiency — speed, accuracy and credibility. The strength of ties activated and the direction of the flow (within groups or between groups) was analyzed.The findings reveal the actual, everyday functioning of weak ties as inter-group bridges, confirming the “Strength of Weak Ties” claim.The communicative advantages of weak ties are examined, applying structural analysis methods. The tendency of weak ties towards intransitivity and low multiplexity, is suggested to account for their frequent activation as inter-group bridges.The findings highlight the potential of social network analysis as a bridge between micro-level interaction and macro-level patterns including diffusion of innovation, formation of public opinion and social solidarity. Weak ties serve as the crucial paths between groups, thus providing the means by which individual behavior and ideas, originating in small face-to-face groups, are routinized and agglomerated into large-scale patterns.     

The probability of the paradox of voting for weak preference orderings

In this paper the probability of the voting paradox for weak orderings is calculated analytically for the three-voter-three-alternative case. It appears that the probability obtained this way is considerably smaller than in the corresponding case for linear orderings. The probability of intransitive majority relations for weak orderings in the 3 × 3 case is calculated as well, both with unconcerned and with concerned voters. Basic in the calculations are three theorems which are formulated in the field of domain conditions and restricted preferences. Received: 18 February 1997 / Accepted: 21 October 1997     

Keeping the cash under control: what's the problem with direct payments in Scotland?

Implementation of the 1996 Community Care (Direct Payments) Act from April 1997 has gradually gained momentum as more and more local authorities have begun to embrace the idea, and develop their own direct payment policies and support structures. However, whilst users have overwhelmingly welcomed this transition, there remains a stark divide between the implementation and promotion of policy in different parts of the UK. This has resulted in only marginal use of direct payments for a small number of disabled persons in Scotland. As legislation moves to widen access to direct payments in Scotland, this article draws on a series of interviews with policy makers in two local authorities and examines some of the key problems that, to date, have prevented many authorities from offering direct payments as a mainstream service option for disabled people.     

巴以最终地位谈判中的难民问题

在巴以最终地位的谈判中,难民问题很可能成为最难解决的问题.巴方原先一直坚持要求落实1948年11月11日联合国的194号决议与1974年11月20日通过的《联合国关于巴勒斯坦问题的决议》.但随着和平进程和巴以局势的发展,阿拉法特在巴难民问题上显示了一定的灵活性,准备在1948年的难民问题上作些退让,以换得以色列在耶路撒冷问题上的让步,因而受到阿拉伯有关方面及新闻媒体的批评.巴难民问题的最终解决值得关注.     

The Shi'i ulama and the state in Iran

Conclusion In this article I attempted to explain the politics of the ulama in terms of class struggle. I indicated that ulama political orientations, and the emergence of politically divergent factions in their midst, were historically correlated with the interests of the traditional petty bourgeoisie, the merchants, and the landlords. In other words, from the political class struggle viewpoint, diverse factions among the ulama tended to represent these diverse social classes. The ulama, it is true, defended their divergent political positions through their interpretations of the Islamic laws. Therefore, the assertion that a particular group of the ulama were political representatives of a particular class, say, the petty bourgeoisie, is not to suggest that they consciously interpreted their religious texts so as to justify the petty bourgeoisie interests, or that they were the enthusiastic champions of the petty bourgeoisie. What makes them representatives of the petty bourgeoisie, says Marx, is the fact that in their mind they do not get beyond the limits which the latter do not get beyond in life, that they are consequently driven, theoretically, to the same problems and solutions to which material interest and social position drive the latter practically. This is, in general, the relationship between the political and literary representatives of a class and the class they represent. I should stress that the relationship between class representatives and the class they represent is not unproblematic. Whenever the ulama have defended a particular issue, they have done so according to their own ideological mode of discourse. In their interpretations of the teachings of Shi'ism they all must follow, and submit to, the internal logic of the ideology of Shi'ism and its specific modes of discourse, which are considered proper and acceptable by all the ulama. In other words, all the ulama, conservative or radical, must base their argument on the same set of ideological premises. Thus the content of the (Usuli) teachings of Shi'ism, as well as its specific modes of discourse put limits on the range of ideologically defensible political actions. (Such limits might explain why the ulama never attempted to defend the interests of workers and peasants.) This factor combined with the ulama's conscious efforts to maintain an ideological uniformity and organizational unity may provide them with a certain degree of relative autonomy in the field of class struggle. How these factors affect the course and direction of class struggle is another aspect of ulama politics that needs an in-depth investigation.

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The crisis of the state in a globalizing world

Abstract

The sovereign territorial state now appears to have been a contingent product of a particular time and space—early modern Europe. In fact, it is a very distorted view of even the Westphalian era not to recognize that it was always at least as much about empires as it was about states. Looking back, the entire Westphalian era is but a small slice of human history that itself has been quite varied and is still in transition—if not transformation—in our present globalizing era. The state is increasingly challenged and enfeebled today, and the world is witnessing a widespread crisis and decentralization of authority. Actors other than states have more and more influence and control over specific issues, but still are a long way from enjoying the legitimacy established states once had.

Remarks for a Plenary Roundtable at the First Global International Studies Conference, Istanbul Bilgi University, 24–27 August 2005, with H. N. Süleyman Demirel, former President of the Republic of Turkey, and chaired by Prof. Dr Ilter Turan, President of the Turkish International Studies Association. These remarks reflect a perspective on global politics developed by Professor Ferguson in collaboration with Prof. Richard W. Mansbach, Iowa State University, USA.     

The number of weak orderings of a finite set

The number of Arrovian constitutions, when N agents are to rank n alternatives, is p(n) ^{p(n) N} , where p(n) is the number of weak orderings of n alternatives. For n≤15, p(n) is the nearest integer to n!/2(log2) ^{n +1}, the dominant term of a series derived by contour integration of the generating function. For large n, about n/17 additional terms in the series suffice to compute p(n) exactly. Received: 29 May 1995 / Accepted: 22 May 1997