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This article outlines the contours of a historical-materialist policy analysis through a dual critique. First, historical-materialist approaches all too often conceptualize policy in a functionalist way as the 'outcomes' of predominant social relations, especially of class relations. The contingencies and the internal logic of policy processes are often downplayed. However, the correspondence (or lack thereof) between societal reproduction - i.e. the complex societal relationships in which people and collectives reproduce themselves materially and symbolically, as well as societal nature relations - and policy needs to be conceptualized. It is proposed to understand the state as, among other things, a 'knowledge apparatus' which attempts to create this correspondence. It constantly organizes or even produces knowledge about the objects it intends to steer, about societal and political issues, and about the possibilities of how to deal with problems. Secondly, policy analysis in general and interpretive policy analysis in particular have a simplified understanding of the state, due to their deficits in the field of state theory. From a perspective of a critical theory of the state and of hegemony, the state is understood to be a social relation with power-shaped selectivities, and is embedded in a context which likewise needs to be understood. Adapted from the source document.

The Spanish model of decentralisation has been described by academics as a successful example of solving territorial questions under difficult circumstances. The original assessment is confronting with a reality that shows that in the last decade political forces and public opinions have changed the evaluation that made of this process. This paper analyses the evolution of the decentralisation model in Spain and assess the changes among the Spanish public with the presence of two opposite tendencies: a centrifugal one, in favour of increasing the level of autonomy moving towards confederative solutions; and a centripetal one, that defends the need of rationalising the state of autonomias increasing the capacity of the central government to legislate and coordinate the actions of the regions.

The state has always been difficult to define. Its boundary with
society appears elusive, porous, and mobile. I argue that this elusiveness should not
be overcome by sharper definitions, but explored as a clue to the state's nature.
Analysis of the literature shows that neither rejecting the state in favor of such
concepts as the political system, nor "bringing it back in," has dealt with this
boundary problem. The former approach founders on it, the latter avoids it by a
narrow idealism that construes the state-society distinction as an external relation
between subjective and objective entities. A third approach, presented here, can
account for both the salience of the state and its elusiveness. Reanalyzing evidence
presented by recent theorists, state-society boundaries are shown to be distinctions
erected internally, as an aspect of more complex power relations. Their appearance
can be historically traced to technical innovations of the modern social order,
whereby methods of organization and control internal to the social processes they
govern create the effect of a state structure external to those
processes.

The East Asia Summit is the newest leaders-led regional organization in the Asia Pacific with a broad mandate and an unclear future. Its membership means that it is stuck halfway between being an East Asian regional body such as the ASEAN+3 process and an Asia-Pacific body such as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Expanding the East Asia Summit to include the United States would enhance its ability to be the primary strategic forum in Asia and clearly identify the Summit as an Asia-Pacific body. This would not only improve Asia's regional architecture, but would also serve the interests of the United States, ASEAN, Japan, China and India. The biggest challenge facing this positive development is convincing the United States to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and overcoming the concerns of the other regional bodies about an enhanced East Asia Summit. In 2009, a new administration in Washington and the EAS meeting in Vietnam will provide a powerfully symbolic opportunity to invite the United States into the East Asia Summit and allow the Summit and the United States to find their proper homes in Asia's evolving regionalism. Adapted from the source document.

THIS ARTICLE ARGUES THAT THE STATE SHOULD NOT BE ABANDONED AS THE CORE ANALYTICAL FOCUS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (IR) THEORY. MAINSTREAM APPROACHES IN IR HAVE TENDED TO TREAT THE STATE AS AN UNPROBLEMATIC, GIVEN ENTITY. THE PROPER APPROACH IS ONE THAT TREATS THE STATE AS THEORETICALLY PROBLEMATIC AND EMPIRICALLY VARIABLE INSTEAD OF GIVEN. THE ARTICLE ALSO ARGUES IN FAVOR OF GENERAL ANALYSES OF THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM--AN APPROACH WHICH IS ESSENTIAL CONSIDERING THAT A STRONG STATE IS A NECESSARY PREREQUISITE FOR INDIVIDUAL AS WELL AS NATIONAL SECURITY.

Effective democracy requires effective mechanisms for society to influence public authorities. Interaction between government and citizens, active public participation in decision-making is the key to sustainable development, prosperity, and stability of state institutions, social programs, and economic growth. Political leadership and effective communication of the action plan to the public promote public order and security. In this paper, we explore the current state of information policy in a crisis. We used general scientific and special methods such as historical and philosophical, systemic, comparative. In the first part, we consider philosophical approaches to the concept of communication and the role of the state in shaping information policy. The second and third parts are devoted to specific examples of such policies within two countries: Ukraine and Azerbaijan. In conclusion, we argue that there are currently complex challenges for the information policy of both countries. This is especially true of health problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic and armed conflict. Differences in the prospects of regulating the information field of the two countries are caused by economic factors and political conditions. The ways of information society development on the example of each of the countries are considered.

The articles published in this special edition of the Journal for Contemporary History are peer-reviewed proceeds of a colloquium held at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein Campus on 24 February 2017 and at the Qwaqwa Campus on 24 March 2017. The colloquium was the initiative of Dr Chitja Twala of the Department of History at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein Campus in an attempt to highlight the role the Free State Province's political activists played in the broader struggle for liberation in South Africa. This edition of the Journal for Contemporary History questions the quiescence of academic writing in addressing the underground and aboveground political activism that took place in the Free State. The articles published in this special edition, in one way or another, dispels the widely held view that the Free State Province had but a small role to play in the struggle for liberation in South Africa.

"Why are non-state actors (NSAs) sometimes granted participation rights in International Organizations and what influences the decision? This work presents the case that that non-state actors have lobbied for formal participation roles in international organizations since at least the formation of the United Nations system but formal upstream participation roles are uncommon. Secretariats consistently support partnership with NSAs in implementation as a means towards greater efficiency or efficacy, and states consistently support such partnerships as launched by the secretariat as a means towards fulfilling the IO's intended mission. However, states and their IOs have more often than not raised opposition to granting NSAs a right of participation in member-state assemblies during decision-making. They have instead favoured informal means of consultation. During those occasions in which NSAs have been granted a formal right of participation during decision-making they have demonstrated the ability to supply specific benefits to IOs or to particular member-states who then support NSA participation rights. States and their organizations have consistently considered the formal inclusion of NSAs and chosen when, where, and in what ways to allow such inclusion in a manner that furthers the interests of individual states and their multilateral organizations. Challenging the regular assumption that the power of states and the efficacy of multilateral governance have simply wilted in the heat of globalization while NSAs have flourished, this work features analysis of key institutions such as UNCEF, UNDP and the Environment Programme. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of international relations, the United Nations, and NGOs."--Provided by publisher

Contains a report of the state engineer George W. Cooley about work done for the calendar years1912 and 1913, state rural highways, maintenance, Good Roads Day, bridges; pictures of roads and bridges. Submitted by Charles M. Babcock, Chairman, Clarence I. McNair, F.S. Bell. [37 pp.]

"Western struggles--and failures--to create functioning states in countries such as Iraq or Afghanistan have inspired questions about whether statebuilding projects are at all viable, or whether they make the lives of their intended beneficiaries better or worse. In this groundbreaking book, Oliver Richmond asks why statebuilding has been so hard to achieve, and argues that a large part of the problem has been Westerners' failure to understand or engage with what local peoples actually want and need. He interrogates the liberal peacebuilding industry, asking what it assumes, what it is getting wrong, and how it could be more effective"--Publisher's website

The theoretical concept John Herz called a 'security dilemma' has rarely been applied to sub-state social figurations, although security dilemmas do shape political behaviour in post-conflict peacebuilding. Comparable to state formation, sub-state groups develop institutional capacities. Often led by 'warlords' or 'strongmen', these entities resemble states within, while lacking recognition and legitimacy from without. Between these entities arises a sub-sovereign form of security dilemma. It is a result of uncertainty about the other's motives regarding expansion, control of sources of funding, or domination within the legal order of the 'state'. When statebuilding is pursued by external actors, aiming to fill the legal void, the 'state' can become a source of existential risks for sub-state entities. Risks – from extinction to the transformation of a group's socio-political identity – can stem from another sub-state group taking over the state, appropriating superior means of coercion and hence enabling itself to subjugate others; relative deprivation concerning external funding or revenue from trade or smuggling; or loss of investment in networks of patronage, favourable terms of trade, or monopolies for certain goods. External support adds considerable uncertainty about interventionists' capabilities, willingness and ability to steer and control statebuilding efforts. This article explores how risks and their perception shape interaction between social actors and at the same time how awareness and consideration of these risks may influence external actors' behaviour. It argues that understanding risk constellations within an intervention and their processual transformation is vital for external statebuilding support.