“Alien” Personnel in the Soviet State: The People’s Commissariat of Agriculture under Proletarian Dictatorship, 1918-1929

Slavic Review ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Heinzen
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Land Policy ◽  
Alexis De Tocqueville ◽  
Cautionary Tale ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modern France ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Government

Land policy must be carried out by an apparatus that has not grasped the tasks and ideas of Soviet construction in the countryside and that is riddled with elements that are alien and even hostile to Soviet power.—N. M. Shvernik, section chief, People’s Commissariat of Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate, 1924“Anyone who reads the letters that passed between the Intendants and their superiors or subordinates,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville, “cannot fail to be struck by the family likeness between the government officials of the past and those of modern France.” He added that not only the personnel and institutions but even the internal bureaucratic terminology of the old regime was similar to that of postrevolutionary, republican France. Despite their obsession with the French Revolution, Russia’s revolutionary rulers had probably not read Tocqueville’s cautionary tale about the persistence of the old-regime state. If they had, they might have learned quite a bit.

Reflections on the Acquisition of Land by Non-citizens in Botswana

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-204
Author(s):  
Boga Thura Manatsha
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Land Policy ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Public ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
The Government ◽  
Tribal Land ◽  
Ownership Of Land ◽  
Land Transactions

There are rising public concerns about the acquisition of prime land by non-citizens/foreigners in Botswana, especially in the sprawling urban and peri-urban areas. Indians, Nigerians and Chinese, among others, are allegedly involved in such land transactions. There is a salient local resentment towards them and/or such transactions. Sensational media reports, emotive public statements by politicians, chiefs and government officials, and anger from ordinary citizens dominate the discourse. These emotive public debates about this issue warrant some academic comment. This article argues that the acquisition of land by foreigners in Botswana, in each land category—tribal, state and freehold—is legally allowed by the relevant laws. But this does not mean that citizens have no right to raise concerns and/or show their disapproval of some of these legal provisions. Aware of the public outcry, the government has since passed the Land Policy in 2015, revised in 2019, and amended the Tribal Land Act in 2018, not yet operational, to try and strictly regulate the acquisition of land by non-citizens. There is no readily available statistical data, indicating the ownership of land by foreigners in each land category. This issue is multifaceted and needs to be cautiously handled, lest it breeds xenophobia or the anti-foreigner sentiments.

Report Of The Food And Agriculture Commission (Review Article)

1962 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-105
Author(s):  
A. F. A. Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Review Article ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Specialized Knowledge ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Research Institutes ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Government

The Report of the Food and Agriculture Commission1 is the most comprehensive official study of the problems of food and agriculture undertaken in Pakistan since independence. The Report contains twelve chapters of which six are devoted to policy recommendations. The Report also contains seven appendices of which Appendix IV is the Interim Report of the Commission which was submitted to the Government in February 1960. The methods followed by the Commission in its enquiry are similar to those followed by agricultural commissions in the past. Questionnaires were circulated to government agencies, officials and members of the public likely to possess specialized knowledge in the field of food and agriculture. Also, fairly extensive tours were undertaken by members of the Commission all over the country to gain first-hand knowledge of the problems of agriculture; they visited agricultural colleges, research institutes, experimental stations, and seed and livestock farms, holding discussions with government officials and others on a wide range of topics. An interesting feature of the enquiry was the setting-up of seventeen advisory panels on particular topics composed almost entirely of officials having specialized knowledge or interest in the field in question. A few non-officials were also included in the panels but their number was very few. Unfortunately, the reports of the panels, which were presumably responsible for much of the technical work on which the Commission drew for their elucidation of the problems in hand as well as for policy recommendations, are not made available in the report.

France before 1789

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Elster
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Alexis De Tocqueville ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
History Writing ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Constituent Assembly ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Constitution Making

This book traces the historical origins of France's National Constituent Assembly of 1789, providing a vivid portrait of the ancien régime and its complex social system in the decades before the French Revolution. The book's author writes in the spirit of Alexis de Tocqueville, who described this tumultuous era with an eye toward individual and group psychology and the functioning of institutions. Whereas Tocqueville saw the old regime as a breeding ground for revolution, the author, more specifically, identifies the rural and urban conflicts that fueled the constitution-making process from 1789 to 1791. The book presents a new approach to history writing, one that supplements the historian's craft with the tools and insights of modern social science. It draws on important French and Anglo-American scholarship as well as a treasure trove of historical evidence from the period, such as the Memoirs of Saint-Simon, the letters of Madame de Sévigné, the journals of the lawyer Barbier and the bookseller Hardy, the Remonstrances of Malesherbes, and La Bruyère's maxims. The book is the first volume of a trilogy that promises to transform our understanding of constitution making in the eighteenth century.

The Voters’ Choice

2021 ◽  
pp. 69-92
Author(s):  
Malcolm Crook
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
The Past ◽  
Electoral Choice ◽  
The Government ◽  
Chamber Of Deputies ◽  
The French Revolution

Designated candidates seeking office play a central role in elections today, so it is a surprise to discover that in the past voters were free to name whom they wished on their ballot papers. In France, their choice was only restricted when declared candidatures were required for election to the Chamber of Deputies after 1889, though this liberty lasted much longer when it came to local elections. This raises the question of how individuals aspiring to office put themselves forward, in the absence of manifestos or publicity, when their talents were supposed to speak for themselves. Indeed, before the French Revolution, and even afterwards, to openly seek election was regarded as a disqualification, though this created confusion as votes were widely dispersed and those elected often declined to serve. Yet the reluctance to abandon this approach was not simply attachment to tradition, rather it constituted an assertion of the voters’ sovereign right to exercise an unfettered electoral choice, and to reject those offered to them as official candidates by the government or as the nominees of political parties.

A Contested Inheritance: The Family and the Law from the Enlightenment to the French Revolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-87
Author(s):  
Hannah Callaway
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Family Law ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Family ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Relationship

This article examines a particularly interesting inheritance case from late-eighteenth-century France to study the intersection of legal practices and Enlightenment ideas at the end of the Old Regime. The case, involving dispute around the estate of a deceased tax farmer, addresses family relations broadly within the specific context of inheritance and spousal assets. The five briefs produced on appeal to the Parlement of Paris show particular engagement with Enlightenment themes of reason, nature, and sentiment. The family was a locus of particular interest in eighteenth-century France because of its implications for social relations and its connection, through inheritance, to royal sovereignty. However, family law has been primarily studied from the perspective of practices, whereas the present article focuses on ideals. The article argues that the courtroom was an important site where the diverse implications of Enlightenment thought on family law were worked out. The argument that family law was a site for integrating ideals into practices has implications for how we think about the relationship between law and social change, as well as, in particular, the relationship between Enlightenment and Revolution.

The Problems and Challenges of the Kadar Tribe of Kerala

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sinitha Xavier
Keyword(s):  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Tribal Community ◽  
Wildlife Sanctuary ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Unwed Mothers ◽  
The Family ◽  
Forest Division ◽  
The Government ◽  
Ownership Of Land

The present article unfurls the problems encountered by the Kadar tribe of Kerala. Kadar is one of the five particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) located in the premises of Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Vazhachal Forest Division, to the south of it and in the vicinity of the Athirappilly Waterfalls on riverside of Chalakudy. The study highlights the problems encountered by this tribal community. The particular problems extracted from the study were lack of adequate finance, exploitation by the government officials, problems in finding employment for a minimum standard of living, lack of education, lack of stable income, threat of displacement, alcoholism among members of the family, long distance to educational, medical and commercial institutions, rules and regulations of the government, delay in getting the payments from government agencies, ill health and malnutrition, drain of forest resources and financial liability of the household, lack of infrastructure facilities like good roads to settlements, the existence of unwed mothers, no proper implementation of the Forest Regulation Act (2006) and no documents provided for the ownership of land.

Velásquez Rodríguez Case

1989 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-367
Author(s):  
Samuel M. Witten
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Legal Remedies ◽  
The Family ◽  
Systematic Pattern ◽  
The Government ◽  
Subsequent Disappearance

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Commission) brought this action in 1986 against the Government of Honduras in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Commission alleged that Honduras had violated Articles 4, 5 and 7 of the American Convention on Human Rights (Convention) with respect to the 1981 detention and subsequent disappearance of a Honduran student, Angel Manfredo Velásquez Rodríguez. The Court ruled for the Commission and unanimously held: (1) that domestic Honduran legal remedies were ineffective and did not bar the Court’s jurisdiction; (2) that a systematic pattern of disappearances was carried out or tolerated by Honduran government officials from 1981 to 1984; (3) that Honduras had violated the victim’s rights as part of that practice; and (4) that Honduras must therefore compensate the family of the victim and that any agreement on the form and amount of compensation must be approved by the Court. The Court further held, by six to one, that it would decide the form and amount of compensation if Honduras and the Commission were unable to negotiate an agreement within 6 months. Judge Piza filed a dissenting opinion.

scholarly journals The Media’s Influence on the Government: A Case Study of Venezuela’s Media Agenda Setting with a Non-Free Press and Its Repercussions

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-287
Author(s):  
Susan M. Fredricks ◽  
Joshua D. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Media Culture ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Free Press ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Government ◽  
Citizens Attitudes ◽  
International Social

A free and open press (unincumbered by political pressures) is necessary to hold government officials accountable. When governments become entangled in the business of licensing and regulating news outlets, news outlets succumb to the pressures of only publishing stories favorable to the current regime. The temptation to publish negative stories could result in losing one’s publishing license. This scenario has been playing out in Venezuela for the past two decades and has led to a media culture of misinformation, confusion, and propaganda. This paper first analyzes the Venezuelan view on the influential forces on its government through the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). Second, it explores how the Venezuelan government vanquished the free press by affecting the Venezuelan citizens’ attitudes towards the press. Finally, it reviews how the internet and social media are creating new avenues for publishing uncensored and unregulated information in an effort to challenge current government restrictions.

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democrat in America, Colonizer in Africa

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-43
Author(s):  
Simone Fattal
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Prison System ◽  
Alexis De Tocqueville ◽  
New Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
The U.S ◽  
The French Revolution

Alexis de Tocqueville was born an aristocrat, in the very conservative region of Normandy, in France in 1805. He was at the same time an admirer of the French Revolution, although due to his upbringing and family, he was unable to subscribe to all the principles inherent to that revolution. Tocqueville remains admirable on that score, as he lived under the counterrevolution and participated in the government of the new monarchy. His contradictions made him an observing outsider. He studied law and went into politics. He accompanied his friend, Gustave de Beaumont, who was sent by his government to the New Republic of America, to study the U.S. prison system for its eventual application in France. They cosigned the subsequent report.

Ancient Civilization and Plural Societies in the Andean Amazon: Anthropologists and Indians Fight for Inclusion

2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-11
Author(s):  
Richard Smith
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Peace Corps ◽  
Andes Mountains ◽  
Liberal Arts Education ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Ancient Civilization ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government

In 1966, as a recent graduate of a liberal arts education, I began to work as a Peace Corps volunteer with the Amuesha people of the tropical forest-covered, eastern slopes of the central Andes Mountains. I was taken aback to learn that the European, Andean and coastal peoples who had colonized their territory over the past eight decades, including the majority of the government officials, considered them to be aliens, and denied their rights as Peruvian citizens. The discourse regarding the savagery and backwardness of the rural indigenous people in contrast to the civilization and progress of the urban Peruvians was very current at that time.

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