The thought of Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) in the history of political ideas is regarded as the beginning of modern political theory, which abandons the classical Socratic view of politics condensed in the virtue of citizens as the foundation of the polis (the state), as well as the medieval Christian worldview of Thomas Aquinas, where the state and politics are subordinated to religion and Christian morality. Politics becomes distinguished as public as opposed to private, and into political theory Machiavelli introduces the concepts of power, force, strength, and violence as legitimate political notions-a kind of Copernican turn away from the classical political theory of antiquity, where "trust in mute force, which the ancient Greeks considered a non-political instrument…" (Tadić, 1996: 56), now becomes axiomatic. In political reality, new rules apply-the virtuous citizen is replaced by homo politicus. Machiavelli, in the reality of politics, analyzes concrete political phenomena from the perspective of realism and the application of the empirical method. Among other things, Machiavelli says that "many have imagined republics and principalities that never actually existed" (Machiavelli, 2012: 65). Machiavelli's concept of the state and power is founded on the experience of the Florentine friar Savonarola and the famous dictum that unarmed prophets have failed: "It is necessary to know that there are two ways of fighting: by law and by force" (Machiavelli, 2012: 73). In The Prince, Machiavelli emphasizes that "there can be no good laws without a good army, and where there is a good army, there must be good laws" (Machiavelli, 2012: 53). In this paper we analyze the concept of a "good army" in Machiavelli as an unclear and disputable term. By applying methods of content and discourse analysis of Machiavelli's works, we will demonstrate his understanding of a good army within the framework of his theoretical innovation, his new method, through the research question of whether it means a well-armed army, a standing army of monarchical states (France, Spain), the adventurer companies, compagnie di ventura, hired by Italian city-states, or an army that, in the spirit of Augustine, wages war in good faith-or something else? Machiavelli criticizes mercenary warfare and introduces the notion of an armed people, a citizen militia, into his teaching. We will explain the concept of the armed people through his republicanism, his view of the people as the pillar of preserving the state, of the political community in freedom, and the category of friendship between ruler and people. In addition, the paper will address the reach of Machiavelli's idea of the "good army" in the political thought and practice of contemporary society, namely, how far his idea corresponds with the concept of total defense, which in various forms is practiced in a number of states around the world.
Amid the surge of intellectual property (IP) disputes surrounding non-fungible tokens (NFTs), some scholars have advocated for the application of personal property or sales law to regulate NFT minting and transactions, contending that IP laws unduly hinder the development of the NFT market. This Article counters these proposals and argues that the existing IP system stands as the most suitable regulatory framework for governing the evolving NFT market. Compared to personal property or sales law, IP laws can more effectively address challenges such as tragedies of the commons and anticommons in the NFT market. NFT communities have also developed their own norms and licensing agreements upon existing IP laws to regulate shared resources. Moreover, the IP regimes, with both static and dynamic institutional designs, can effectively balance various policy concerns, such as innovation, fair competition, and consumer protection, which alternative proposals struggle to provide.
Introduction. The article analyzes a little–studied problem in historiography – khotons (nomadic settlements) the Kalmyk Khanate of the XVIII century, which at the same time were the smallest administrative units.Materials and methods. The study is based on an extensive set of archival materials, primarily clerical correspondence, which somehow deposited information about the khotons of the Kalmyk Khanate of the XVIII century, the number of people in them, the degree of kinship, etc. Historical-genetic, comparative-historical, functional and descriptive methods were used in the analysis of source and bibliographic material and in writing the text of the article.Analysis. The analysis showed that a significant part of khotons consisted of 10-15 kibits (families), which were connected with each other by kinship relations, including those who were at different levels of kinship relations. However, archival documents show that in the 18th century, in addition to ordinary khotons consisting of related families, nomadic settlements began to appear in the Kalmyk Khanate, consisting of families or individuals not related by kinship and even belonging to different sub-ethnic groups. Sometimes, for various reasons, several khotons could unite and form a separate group of several dozens of kibits, and in some cases, due to extraordinary circumstances, they could form groups even of several hundred kibits, though for a short period. In addition to the official authorities, khotons and other nomadic groups of khoton type had their own internal public self-government built on the life experience and authority of their managers.Results. Thus, it can be concluded that in the socially stratified Kalmyk society of the XVIII century tribal relations began to deform under the influence of the prevailing circumstances.
Law, History of scholarship and learning. The humanities
Using formal renormalization theory, Yakhot derived in ([32], 1988) an $O\left(\frac{A}{\sqrt{\log A}}\right)$ growth law of the turbulent flame speed with respect to large flow intensity $A$ based on the inviscid G-equation. Although this growth law is widely cited in combustion literature, there has been no rigorous mathematical discussion to date about its validity. As a first step towards unveiling the mystery, we prove that there is no intermediate growth law between $O\left(\frac{A}{\log A}\right)$ and $O(A)$ for two dimensional incompressible Lipschitz continuous periodic flows with bounded swirl sizes. In particular, we do not assume the non-degeneracy of critical points. Additionally, other examples of flows with lower regularity, Lagrangian chaos, and related phenomena are also discussed.
For the first time, the Moroccan legislator officially regulated the use of medically procreative techniques in 2019, allowing couples affected by infertility to conceive outside the ordinary biological process. Aspiring relatives are betting on Law 47-14 on medically assisted procreation (ART) to facilitate access to infertility care. This article aims to demonstrate the contributions and limitations of this law and to understand its impact on the lives of infertile couples. In addition, this work highlights the position of the various parties involved in the implementation of this legislation after a controversial debate. Methodologically, we opted for a qualitative method based on reading parliamentary archives, writings, and audiovisual media, coupled with semi-structured interviews with the various stakeholders in the field of GPA. 91.7% of participants, infertile couples and practitioners of medically assisted procreation place the lack of financial reimbursement of ART acts at the top of their concern. Similarly, health professionals criticize the disciplinary sanctions stipulated in the law. Despite the strengths of this legal framework, it has not provided a solution to fight against socio-economic and gender inequalities related to access to GPA in Morocco.
Abstract Background Marriage dissolution, divorce, or separation from a spouse or common-law partner is a serious public health concern due to its increasing prevalence and devastating health and socio-economic consequences. Evidence suggests an increased risk of marital instability in Ethiopia. In addition, the extent of marital dissolution and other related factors have increased in the study area. Despite these, the prevalence of marital dissolution and the influence of associated factors (main reason for marriage, and parental history of marital dissolution) on marital dissolution has not been assessed in the study area. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of marital dissolution and its associated factors among residents of Hosanna town in southwestern Ethiopia in 2022. Methods We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study among 459 randomly selected Hosanna Township residents. We used structured questionnaires to collect data. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were performed to describe the data and test-associated factors, respectively. A p-value less than 0.05 was used to define statistical significance. We used STATA 14 and IBM SPSS 25.0 computer packages to process data. Results Out of the 459 potentially eligible individuals, 450 participants properly responded to the questionnaires yielding a response rate of 98.04%. Of these, 218 (52.9%) were female. The commonly reported reason for marriage was to have children 150 (36.9%). The prevalence rate of marital dissolution was 26.0% (95% CI: (21.7%, 30.3%)). The participant's level of education and the primary reasons (motives) why they get married were statistically significantly associated with marital dissolution. The odds of marital dissolution was higher among participants who completed secondary education (AOR = 3.2, 95% CI = 1.26–8.17) compared to those having no formal education. The participants who married for companionship reasons (AOR = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.11–0.83) had significantly lower odds of marriage dissolution compared with those who married for financial security. Conclusions In this study, the prevalence of marital dissolution was high. The participant’s level of education and the primary reasons (motives) why they getting married were significantly associated with marital dissolution. Therefore, an integrated, community-based approach should be developed to prevent marital dissolution.
The purpose of the article is to study the theoretical and legal discourse of the modern definition of the motivational component of the legal protection of public morality in the activity of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine. As a result of the conducted analysis, it is necessary to state that motivational orientation should be interpreted as a category of philosophical praxeology, which is most closely related to the concept of determination, and therefore, taking into account that motivation is an element and axiological, it is appropriate to emphasize the importance of confidence and conviction of a person in the correctness and reasonableness their own aspirations. This is possible provided there is a clear regulatory basis, especially when it comes to protocol and such responsible work as law enforcement. The article establishes that the motivation of a law enforcement officer closely interacts with legal deontology, which, by its very nature, determines the basic moral and social principles of interpersonal relations, which motivate in what way a law enforcement officer should understand his professional purpose, how exactly to interpret his mission, and, at most, to realize why the law enforcement profession exists at all. It was established that when investigating the motivational determination of the legal protection of public morality within law enforcement agencies, it is advisable to, first of all, talk about the implementation of the function of legal protection as a professional duty of representatives of law enforcement agencies, which follows from legal norms. It has been established that the problem of the relationship between public morality and the axiology of law enforcement activity is not only a complex topical question and a complex cognitive process, but, in fact, a new epistemological mechanism of scientific immersion in the ideological social foundations of the era of law enforcement system reforms, the era of revolutionary changes and, unfortunately, military realities of modern Ukraine. It is suggested that the motivational determination of the protection of public morality by law enforcement agencies, or their moral self-regulation, should be interpreted as a very comprehensive process, characterized by external and internal determinants, conditioned by the object of legal protection itself and dependent on the specifics of a specific law enforcement agency and its structural unit.
Education (General), Theory and practice of education
Background: The rights of the child have always been a focus of international organisations, including the United Nations. This is evidenced by the fact that in 1979 the UN Commission on Human Rights established a Working Group to draft a convention on the rights of the child, which from 1979 to 1989 worked on establishing a universal treaty for children around the world. Among other articles, members of the Working Group developed provisions on juvenile justice. The result of this hard work was that international standards of juvenile justice were established in Arts. 37 and 40 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Methods: The historical and legal methods were the main methods of the research, which allowed us to make a comparison of the draft texts of Arts. 37 and 40. This comparison gave us an opportunity to trace the development of thoughts of states parties about the treatment of children in penal matters and punishments for committed crimes. The paper begins by considering the draft texts of Art. 20 (which would become Arts. 37 and 40) of the Convention that were proposed for discussion. We reveal the main discussions and contradictions of the members of the Working Group. The next part describes the reason for dividing the initial article about juvenile justice into two separate parts. The final important comments and suggestions of state parties are also highlighted.
Results and Conclusions: The process of adopting these articles was long and difficult, as it turned out that developing universal proposals with which all member states would agree was a complex task. Nowadays, Ukraine is trying to reform its legislation, particularly in the sphere of juvenile justice. That is why some useful recommendations for Ukrainian legislation are proposed in the concluding remarks.
Background. As it turns out it’s not an easy task to promote the concept of “Peasant revolution in Russia, 1902–1922” in order it could gain a worthy place in the Rus-sian literature on agrarian history. Meanwhile, this theoretical approach has a great explana-tory power being applied to most important political events in Russia of that historical pe-riod. The purpose of the article is to confirm this ability by analyzing the social conflict that occurred in Tambov province at the initial stage of the Revolution. Materials and methods. The article draws the attention of historians to the works of the researchers which delibe-rately and purposely apply the methodology of Peasant Studies when observing social con-flicts at the initial and subsequent stages of the peasant revolution in Russia. The analysis of the conflict between peasants and landlords recorded in the collection of documents of peasant movement in Russia 1901–1904 is presented in the frames of this methodology: from the point of view of peasants themselves and their traditional understanding of justice and truth. Results. It is argued that the primary cause of the peasant unrest was not the class struggle of peasants against landlords, but the struggle of the communities against the evo-lution of many landlords towards compliance with formal legislation and submission to market laws and regularities. The peasants did not just defend the right to graze their cattle on the land of the landowner or to use the forest which the both parties considered to be theirs. They struggled for preserving the old order, for the primacy of customary law over official law. Conclusions. The reasons for the riots which tended to turn into real terror, at least if we talk about the events of the very beginning of the twentieth century, should be sought in the field of the conflict between “formal” law, written legislation of the post-reform period, and customary law of the peasants, their “moral economy” and “subsistence ethics”.
In 1972, at a symposium celebrating the 70th birthday of Paul Dirac, John Wheeler proclaimed that "the framework falls down for everything that one has ever called a law of physics". Responsible for this "breakage [...] among the laws of physics" was the general theory of relativity, more specifically its prediction of massive stars gravitationally collapsing to "black holes", a term Wheeler himself had made popular some years earlier. In our paper, we investigate how Wheeler reached the conclusion that gravitational collapse calls into question the lawfulness of physics and how, subsequently, he tried to develop a new worldview, rethinking in his own way the lessons of quantum mechanics as well as drawing inspiration from other disciplines, not least biology.
The Hubble law (HL) governs the low-redshift (low-z) evolution of the distance of an object. However, there is a lack of an investigation of its validity and effective radius for a long time, since the low-z background data with a high precision is scarce. The latest Type Ia supernovae sample Pantheon+ having a significant increase of low-z data provides an excellent opportunity to test the HL. We propose a generalized HL and implement the first modern test of the HL with Pantheon+. We obtain the constraint on the deviation parameter $α=1.00118\pm0.00044$, confirm the validity of linear HL with a $0.04\%$ precision and give the transition redshift $z_t=0.03$ and luminosity distance $D_{L,t}=123.13\pm1.75$ Mpc, which means that HL holds when $z<0.03$ and breaks down at a distance of $D_L>123.13$ Mpc. Comparing the ability of Type Ia supernovae and HII galaxies in testing the HL, we stress the uniqueness and strong power of Type Ia supernovae in probing the low-z physics.
This book is a general history of the legal system of the United States, beginning in the colonial period, and continuing up to the present. The work was originally published in 1973; this is the fourth edition, which brings the material up to date and incorporates recent research. The book covers the changing configurations of commercial law, criminal law, and family law, and the law of property; lays great stress on race relations, especially black-white relations; it deals also with the legal profession and legal education. The approach throughout is geared toward an intelligent lay audience. Legal jargon is avoided. The underlying theory of the book is that law is the product of society, so that what is attempted, in essence, is a more or less sociological history of the legal system, as it evolved over the years.