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The literature of the last decade on Marxist or materialist theories of the state is reviewed. It is concluded that a Marxist theory of the state, ie, a theory that explains the conditions & mechanisms of the formation & functioning of the state, does not exist. What is presented as a Marxist theory is actually a structural-functionalist conception of the state, formulated in Marxist terms. This conception is characterized by strong teleological & metaphysical overtones & contains many elements of so-called bourgeois theories of the state. It is demonstrated that this conception is incompatible with a theory in which the processes of formation & functioning of the state are regarded as the results of ongoing political processes & conflicts, arising from relations of dependence & power in & between societies. Modified HA.

This article compares the differences in salary costs & in productivity between Belgium & Portugal, serving as an EU benchmark for respectively high & low salary states, & those in the three major emerging markets, Poland, Hungary, & the Czech Republic, based on information of individual businesses. The study revealed that between 1995 & 2000 the salary costs in Belgium were seven times higher than in the three emerging markets, & four times higher than in Portugal. Also, there is a positive correlation between high salary costs & high productivity. Furthermore, there is no reason to relocate manufacturing of certain industries from high to low salary member states since certain industries generate high salary costs anywhere. In conclusion, there are indications that the evolution of the salary costs in proportion to productivity in Portugal has a limited negative effect on employment in Belgium, whereas salary costs in the NMS have no significant impact. 5 Tables, 11 References. A. Michaux

Abstract

Navigating the research and researchers' field: Reflections on positionality in (assumed) insider research

To challenge rigid ideas about objectivity in social science research, qualitative researchers question their own subjectivity in the research process. In such endeavors, the focus is mainly on the positionality of the researcher vis-à-vis their respondents in the research field. In this contribution, I argue that the positionality of the researcher in academia, what I refer to as the researchers' field, is equally important as it influences the way research findings are received and evaluated. Through reflections on positionality in my insider research concerning labour relations and exploitation in Chinese migrant businesses in the Netherlands and Romania, I explore how my positionality as an insider negatively influenced my credibility and approachability in the researchers' field. I conclude that it is necessary to pay more attention to researchers' positionality in academia as it may shed light on and make it possible to discuss the written and unwritten standards of researchers' credibility and approachability as an academic in the researchers' field. Accordingly, this could provide insights into the causes of inequalities in academia and contribute to the current challenge for more diversity in academia.

Few other countries are so interrelated with the world around us in political, economic, and social respects as the Netherlands. This means that the Dutch government needs to be alert in its response to the risks and opportunities presented by a rapidly changing world. Addressing this issue, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (wrr) offers some reflections in this report, guided by the question how the Netherlands can develop a foreign policy strategy that matches the changing power relations in the world and the radically changed character of international relations. The answer to this question is a reorientation. This means making transparent choices, making smarter use of Europe as our dominant arena, and, finally, choosing an approach that makes better use of the growing role of non-state actors. The report's recommendations not only underline the necessity of reorientation but also show how this could be accomplished in practice.

A CRITICAL REEXAMINATION OF PREVALENT ASSUMPTIONS IN INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE IS PRESENTED. THE TRADITIONAL MODEL OF THE INTERSTATE SYSTEM, WHICH GIVES THE NATIONSTATE A PROMINENT PLACE AS ACTOR & UNIT OF ANALYSIS & CONCEIVES OF THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM AS A COLLECTIVITY OF STATES AIMING AT EQUILIBRIUM, HAS BEEN GENERALLY ACCEPTED BY SCHOLARS (IE BALANCE OF POWER THEORY). DEVELOPMENTS IN INTERNATIONAL REALITY SEEM TO CONTRADICT THESE ASSUMPTIONS. THEY ARE SUMMARIZED IN THE CONCEPTS OF THE 'NUCLEAR AGE' & THE 'TRANSNATIONAL SYSTEM' & COMBINED IN THE NOTION OF INTERDEPENDENCE CHARACTERIZING THE PRESENT INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM. THESE DEVELOPMENTS POINT TO THE INCREASING CONVERGENCE OF RATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL POLITICS. IN RECENT INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS LITERATURE, THE TRADITIONAL HORIZONTAL, TERRITORIALLY-BASED ORGANIZATION OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS IS CONTRASTED WITH ITS INCREASINGLY VERTICAL, TRANSNATIONAL CHARACTER, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME THE EQUILIBRIUM MODEL OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS IS SUPERSEDED BY A VIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM BASED ON RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE & SUPREMACY. THESE NEW INSIGHTS ARE COMBINED IN A MODEL OF A WORLD POLITICAL SYSTEM THAT IS GLOBAL IN ITS GEOGRAPHICAL DIMENSION. HA.

Simon van Slingelandt (1664-1736) has been in the service of the Republic of the United Netherlands during his entire working life. In 1690 he started his career as secretary of the Council of State (Raad van State). In 1725 he was appointed Treasurer-General and in 1727 he accepted the position of Grand Pensionary over Holland and West Friesland. In this final position he was 'le premier homme de la Republique' during the Second Stadtholderless period. This period commenced after the death of stadtholder-king William III in 1702 and would last until 1747. As a civil servant, he has left a great impression upon the daily affairs in both domestic and foreign political business. He sharply perceived how hairline cracks in the union of the seven provinces (Utrecht 1579) threatened to become fractures. After the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713), the Republic faced hard times. This incited Van Slingelandt to write critical texts. In both a personal capacity and as secretary of the Council of State, he pointed out the danger of a collapse of the system of government to the domestic allies. He also made propositions to improve the political-administrative system and financial policy. Van Slingelandt gathered these ideas in several treatises. These writings circulated during his lifetime, but were published later, in 1784-1785, titled Staatkundige Geschriften (Political Writings), fifty years after his death. This book contains a complete analysis of these treatises – as yet missing from historiography – which is preceded by an extensive biographical chapter about Van Slingelandt.

An investigation of the relations between sociol & pol'al sci (politology), based upon an examination of the existing literature. Pol'al sci remains an ill-defined area of the soc sci's. H. Heller is quoted to the effect that it lacks a clearly defined set of problems or a definitely prescribed methodology. Another difficulty is furnished by the lack of a definite boundary line between 'pol'al sci' & 'pol'al sociol.' The latter may be defined as the sociol of pol'al phenomena. Its concept has been defined in several ways, eg, as the empirical branch of the philosophy of the state (G. Salomon-Delatour); as a synonym of pol'al sci (M. Duverger); as the study of the power of the state (M. G. Lange); as the study of pol'al instit's (S. M. Lipset, R. Bendix). But pol'al phenomena, which pol'al sociol studies, cannot be confined to the state. This is demonstrated by an agreement reached in the early 1960's by the Belgian electricity companies, labor unions & consumers' org's which settled a pol'al matter & by-passed the state. In addition to purely pol'al aspects, pol'al sociol also studies certain psychol'al aspects of behavior which affect pol. It is concluded that pol'al sociol contributes to pol'al sci certain 'pieces of the mosaic of knowledge'; these pieces will be all the more valuable because they come from an area in which intuition has played so far a more important part than rational study. I. Langnas.