Researchers, policymakers and the representatives of international organisations increasingly use the term “social contract” to describe relations between societal groups and a state. The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, for example, has declared that “now is the time to renew the...

State building and state legitimacy in the states emerging from fragility are inseparable from the notion of social contract. In the countries where the youth only know statelessness-or a complete absence of state institutions-building a new social contract from the ground up becomes an even...

The international development debate is increasingly referring to the notion of the "social contract" - often, however, without a clear definition of the term and its implications. We therefore make a suggestion for measuring at least some elements of social contracts in order to make it easier...

This working paper explores the role of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in contributing to environmental justice as envisaged by the concept of a new eco-social contract. CBNRM actively involves local communities in sustainable resource management, aligning with the...

“Social cohesion” and the “social contract” are two related analytical concepts, which have become increasingly popular among researchers and practitioners. Both concepts help to understand and characterise societies and countries by shedding light on the relationships between members...

The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual and theoretical framework for the political settlement and dynamics of social contract relations in Tanzania. The political settlement approach is employed within a theoretical framework that has been developed and applied to analyse political...

Over the last couple of decades, non-majoritarian institutions (NMIs) have been introduced in many countries. Of late, they have been criticized as promoting technocracy to the detriment of democracy. A number of political scientists even argue that they would strengthen populists and be, hence,...

This paper documents several new facts about the relationship between discrimination and political exclusion and the motivation to fight in wartime. The Pearl Harbor attack triggered a sharp increase in volunteer enlistment rates of American men, the magnitude of the increase was smaller for...

The seemingly upward trend in opting out from public services and the segregation of income groups in public and private education and health systems has raised concerns about the future of an already fragmented social contract in Latin America. In this chapter, we examine the evolution of the...

"Tax and taxation are conventionally understood as the embodiment of social contract. This ground-breaking collection of essays challenges this truism, examining what tax might tell us about the limits of social-contract thinking. The contributors shed light on contemporary fiscal structures and...

This study sets out to examine state-society relations in Iraq through the conceptual lens of the social contract and also provides a starting point for deriving potential areas of activity for external actors, such as German development cooperation (DC) and technical cooperation (TC). These...

The stag-hunt game is a prototype for social contracts. Adopting a new and better social contract is usually challenging because the current one is already well established and stable due to sanctions imposed on non-conforming members. Thus, how does a population shift from the current social...

This paper presents an empirical application and analysis of the social contract in countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The paper suggests a simple operational model that synthesizes a social contract's three main characteristics: participation, protection, and provision, between a...

While armed clashed have declined, Libya continues to face fragmentation and fragility. The country's fragility is having far-reaching economic and social impact. Social conditions and public service delivery have been affected. Similar to numerous conflict-affected countries, the World Bank...

This paper is investigating what are the comparative gains/losses of the different considered social actors in Tunisia from the new post-2011 Social Contract (SC)? The SC is perceived as a product of the prevailing state-society relations and power relations between the main actors in the...

Homann's method is a sophisticated theoretical model. As a result, it contains a normative foundation upon which Homann bases his endeavor, as well as numerous conclusions following his positive analysis. We propose extensions to both the normative and positive aspects of Homann's theory in this...

What is the impact of warfare on inequality and the social contract? Using local data on bombing, the evolution of wealth inequality and vote shares for the Labour Party in England around World War II we establish two results. First, on average, we find no impact of bombing on inequality....

This paper aims to define consent within the context of agreements, or implicit contracts between parties that are not governed by strict contract law. It does so by evaluating the conceptual elements of consent in Canadian law surrounding sexual assualt and also a very coarse review of the...

Despite the low levels of taxation and public good provision in Africa, I provide evidence that a large proportion of Africans prefer lower taxation and fewer public goods. This cannot be explained by standard arguments about problems of accountability, governance or state capacity. Instead I...

What is the impact of warfare on inequality and the social contract? Using local data on bombing, the evolution of wealth inequality and vote shares for the Labour Party in England around World War II we establish two results. First, on average, we find no impact of bombing on inequality....

Building on a World Bank regional study in Africa aiming at measuring social contracts concepts and within the framework of reflecting on future donor interventions, this paper applies social contracts measurement and complements with qualitative assessments in Somalia. This paper uses the...

"Social Contracts and Informal Workers in the Global South draws on the accounts of informal workers, who represent over 60 per cent of the global workforce, to advocate for radically new conceptualizations of state-society, capital-labour and state-capital-labour relations, illustrating how...

In a world where data are becoming an integral part of our lives, data governance has become essential to support the production, use and reuse of data in a safe, ethical, and secure manner. In effect, data governance enforces the social contract around data, by applying the principles of trust,...