Cinema and Politics since 9/11: the Democratic Pardox of Media

OpenAIRE

Marteau, Aurélie

2006-01-01

The question of whether cinema is democratic is a vast one, which requires research limitations of time and place to actually find an answer for. In this study, the place will be the United States, because nowhere else is the industry of cinema so powerful and generates more elements of popular culture; where also the country is considered to be democratic and practicing freedom of speech. The time will be the period following 11th September 2001: a date after which American politics has been...

From Pericles to Plato – from democratic political praxis to totalitarian political philosophy

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Øjvind Larsen

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Plato is normally taken as one of the founders of Western political philosophy, not at least with his Republic. Here, he constructs a hierarchy of forms of governments, beginning with aristocracy at the top as a critical standard for the other forms of governments, and proceeding through timocracy and oligarchy to democracy and tyranny at the bottom. Following Karl Popper, the paper argues that Plato’s is a totalitarian philosophy that emphasizes the similarities between democracy and tyranny, which it considers to be the two worst forms of government. Plato’s denigration of democracy has dominated the tradition of political philosophy until recent times. This paper, however, shows that political philosophy in fact originates in democracy, especially as developed by the sophists and that philosophy is only a form of sophism with a similar origin in ancient Greek democracy. A discussion of Pericles’ funeral oration is used to show that Pericles presented a democratic political philosophy that can serve as a counterpoint to Plato’s political philosophy in the Republic.

DEMOCRATIZATION AND POLITICAL TRANSITION IN ARAB WORLD: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

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Ibrahim Kawuley Mikail

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Democracy and Democratization process was among the top priorities in the new post-cold war global agenda. This issue has convinced some undemocratic countries of Arab World to set up in quest for democracy and to assertively demand their long-denied socio-economic and political justice by the autocratic rulers for the region. Indeed, the current Arab spring is geared towards transition from undemocratic system (i.e. Monarchy and Military dictatorship to democracy. Secondary data was adopted in this study. The study revealed that humiliation, prolong monarchy/military dictatorship, lack of economic reform, globalization and proliferation of mass literacy were among the factors responsible for political transition in the region. Meanwhile, establishment of tenets of democracy (i.e. rules of law, human rights, freedom, etc. and insecurity, external domination and loss of lives were among the prospect and challenges of the transition. The paper recommended among others that there is need for political and economic reform in the Arab countries which would lead to transit to democracy.

The Political Role of the Ethnic Factor Democratic Republic of the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper analyses the role of the ethnic factor in political choices in the Democratic .... 4 Decision no 031/CEI/BUR/06 on the announcing of provisional results of the 30 July .... is complicated when we add the purchasing of consciences.

Do committees ru(i)n the bio-political culture? On the democratic legitimacy of bioethics committees.

Science.gov (United States)

Friele, Minou Bernadette

2003-08-01

Bioethical and bio-political questions are increasingly tackled by committees, councils, and other advisory boards that work on different and often interrelated levels. Research ethics committees work on an institutional or clinical level; local advisory boards deal with biomedical topics on the level of particular political regions; national and international political advisory boards try to answer questions about morally problematic political decisions in medical research and practice. In accordance with the increasing number and importance of committees, the quality of their work and their functional status are being subjected to more and more scrutiny. Besides overall criticism regarding the quality of their work, particular committees giving political advice are often suspected of being incompatible with democratic values, such as respect for affected parties, representation of diverse values and transparency in the decision-making processes. Based on the example of the German National Ethics Council, whose inauguration caused a still ongoing debate on the aims and scopes of committees in general, this paper discusses: (1) the requirements of modern democratic societies in dealing with complex scientific-technical problems; (2) the composition and organisation of committees working as political advisory boards; and (3) the appointment procedures and roles of laymen and experts, and here in particular of ethicists, who may legitimately be taken on by a committee. I will argue that bioethics committees do not necessarily endanger democratic values, but can considerably improve their realisation in democratic decision-making procedures--if, and only if, they do not act as substitutes for parliamentarian processes, but help prepare parliamentarian processes to be organised as rationally as possible.

Pentecostalism, gerontocratic rule and democratization in Malawi : the changing position of the young in political culture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijk, van R.A.; Haynes, J.

1999-01-01

This chapter explores the relationship between the father-metaphor, gerontocratic power, democratization and religion in the context of changing political culture in Malawi. It argues that democratization in Malawi signalled a change in the nature of the dominant gerontocratic power relations

Religion, politics and gender equality in Turkey: implications of a democratic paradox?

Science.gov (United States)

Arat, Yeşim

2010-01-01

This article examines the gendered implications of the intertwining of Islam and politics that took shape after the process of democratisation in Turkey had brought a political party with an Islamist background to power. This development revived the spectre of restrictive sex roles for women. The country is thus confronted with a democratic paradox: the expansion of religious freedoms accompanying potential and/or real threats to gender equality. The ban on the Islamic headscarf in universities has been the most visible terrain of public controversy on Islam. However, the paper argues that a more threatening development is the propagation of patriarchal religious values, sanctioning secondary roles for women through the public bureaucracy as well as through the educational system and civil society organisations.

An ethic for a politic of history in a democratic setting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Warring, Anette Elisabeth

2013-01-01

The article argues that the point of departure for the societal role of historians and of the science of history should be an ethic for a politic of history in a democratic setting designed to increase the individual's autonomous power to take action. The article discusses what this implies...

Political Ideology, Trust, and Cooperation: In-group Favoritism among Republicans and Democrats during a US National Election

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Balliet, Daniel; Tybur, Joshua M.; Wu, Junhui; Antonellis, Christian; Van Lange, Paul A.M.

2018-01-01

Theories suggest that political ideology relates to cooperation, with conservatives being more likely to pursue selfish outcomes, and liberals more likely to pursue egalitarian outcomes. In study 1, we examine how political ideology and political party affiliation (Republican vs. Democrat) predict

The Influence of the Democratic Pattern on the Media System in Romania

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Daniela Aurelia Popa

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Starting from the assumption that media is tightly related to the political system of the respective country, we will focus on the aspects that define democracy and determine the profile of the journalist’s role in a democratic system. A good political system has the duty to accomplish two things: to create governments that ensure the well being of the citizens, through a civil society based on legislation and free changes in the market and to protect the citizens against corruption. We will provide a comparative analysis of the roles that journalists play in a democratic society. Our paper deals with the way in which the relation between the media and the political class is perceived in a democracy. This role is often defined by syntagms that focus on the journalists’ rights and not on their responsibilities. Without a clear establishment of the obligations assumed by press professionals, these syntagms allow abuses. This paper will deal with the following aspects: the relation between the media and the political class, the transition of the Romanian media from totalitarianism to democracy, the free market of ideas, and the influence of journalists’ professional culture.

Transgender inclusion in state non-discrimination policies: The democratic deficit and political powerlessness

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Andrew R Flores

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Transgender people—people whose gender identity or expression is different from their assigned sex at birth—and their allies advocate for the inclusion of gender identity or transgender in state non-discrimination policies. These policies generally proscribe discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Courts and administrative agencies have determined discrimination against transgender people is a violation of existing statutes, but there remain efforts by advocates to seek policies that explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of transgender status, which are often the result of legislation going through the political process. A pluralist understanding of the political process theorizes that a majority coalition of minorities can offer social groups policies they support. This rests on the presumption that a majority coalition of minorities should rule. Any indication to the contrary may suggest a democratic deficit, whereby more than a majority is necessary for policy introduction. We find that there is a substantial democratic deficit regarding the inclusion of gender identity or transgender in employment non-discrimination policies. On average, state support for the policy must be 81% in order for the state to have a policy reflecting such sentiment. This leaves substantial implications for the political powerlessness of transgender people in the political process.

State Democratic Rights as Current Political Power Limit and a New Culture for Social Promotion of Development and Sustainability

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Cátia Rejane Liczbinski Sarreta

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The proposed study relates to the democracy and political power considering the implementation of sustainability. Presented as theoretical basis the democratic principle itself, as well as the realization of human and fundamental rights. Exploring the possibility of re (construction of the state and own power and political and social culture of democracy through the promotion of development and sustainability. In a democratic state the appropriate political power embodies the rights of the citizen. A key element that should be considered is education for training social actors capable of promoting the transformation of dominant practices and that take important roles in politics and influence the state and society. The method used is deductive.

Development of Democratic Processes in the People’s Republic of China: Prospects of Transformation of the Political Regime

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Alexey Alexandrovich Semenov

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Rapid economic growth of the PRC has brought new challenges and promoted social transformation in Chinese society. China suffers profound changes involving fundamental principles of public relations. The political regime in China is in a changeable condition, and continues to transform. Some decisions of the Chinese government affect not only the economy and public administration, but also in some ways human rights and political changes. Chinese political regime takes on the pending social problems and begins to gently lift old political bans. There is development of processes which at least by the formal features can be attributed to be democratic or quasi-democratic. However, despite a number of political changes and improving of human rights situation in last decades, China is still an illiberal state. Moreover, the level of repression in China has increased in the last few years. All of these actions raise questions about the political future of China. The scale of the socio-economic changes that have occurred in the PRC is so significant, that the maintaining of the existing governance structure is not possible. Rapid economic growth reduced public discontent at the disregard to fundamental human rights. Yet the “economic miracle” is coming to an end, and the country desperately needs economic and political reforms. Lack of reforms or its incorrect implementation can put the existing system out of balance, which will lead to adverse effects not only in China but also in the world. Depending on the reforms we can assume several scenarios for further development of the PRC.

The democratizing impact of governance networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Eva; Torfing, Jacob

2018-01-01

impact of governance networks. It claims that the initial celebration of the pluralization of public governance and the subsequent call for a democratic anchorage of governance networks should give way to a new concern for how governance networks can strengthen and democratize political leadership. Tying......Initially, governance networks were intended as tools for making public governance more effective. Yet, scholars have argued that governance networks also have the potential to democratize public governance. This article provides an overview of theoretical arguments pertaining to the democratizing...... political leadership to networked processes of collaborative governance fosters ‘interactive political leadership’. The article presents theoretical arguments in support of interactive political leadership, and provides an illustrative case study of a recent attempt to strengthen political leadership...

Degrees of democraticity

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Lars Bergström

2011-05-01

Full Text Available People have tended to load their different conceptions of democracy with their own political ideals; in this paper it is argued that normative and definitional questions should rather be separated, so that political philosophers and political scientists may adopt the same concept of democracy, even if they disagree normatively or politically. Moreover, it is argued that we should replace an absolute notion of democracy by a relativized notion, which allows for different degrees of democraticity. This facilitates the separation of normative and conceptual issues and it is convenient in contexts in which “democratic deficits” are discussed – as e.g. when democracy is to be implemented on a supranational level. Moreover, it has the consequence that democratic deficits are not necessarily bad. DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1837342

The transformation of the Swedish political party system in the late 20th/early 21st century

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Ryabichenko Arkady

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This article studies the process of transformation of the Swedish political party system in the 1980s. The study aims to develop a typology of the Swedish political party system before and after the transformation processes commenced. The article identifies the key prerequisites for such transformation: the crisis of social democracy and an increase in the nationalist attitudes in the society caused by the negative repercussions of the system of integration of migrants into the society based on the multiculturalism principles. The interethnic tension manifested itself in the wide support for the Swedish Democrats Party in the 2010 parliamentary election. From a political party system dominated by social democrats, the Swedish political party system turned into one with two leading parties – the centre-left Swedish Social Democratic Labour Party and the centre-right Moderate Party. The Swedish Democrats position themselves as an alternative to the two party blocs headed by the dominating parties (the Alliance and the Red-Green. The study employs an interdisciplinary approach in the framework of science synthesis. Its results can be of practical significance for politicians, social activists, and academicians.

The Fourth Age of Political Communication: Democratic decay or the rise of phronetic political communication?

OpenAIRE

Peter Aagaard

2016-01-01

The ‘fourth age’ of political communication is emerging. In the fourth age the logics of media and digitization shapes the public sphere, because algorithms and polarized drama increasingly determine what we become aware of in digital and mass media. The result may very well be a less informed public sphere. The emerging class of policy professionals has the opportunity to mix the logics of mediatization and digitization. While such a mix may very well lead to democratic decay, based on eliti...

Structure of Political Success Factors as an Indicator of Political Direction in Electoral System Development

OpenAIRE

Panina, Nataliia

2005-01-01

The article presents a conceptual model of democratic electoral system development and analysis of empirical data on factors of political success in the electoral situation. Various participants of the electoral process (population, politicians, journalists, government employees, analysts-politologists) evaluated the political success factors; and comparative analysis of these evaluations made it possible to determine the main vectors (“reverse” and “manipulative-mystifying”) affecting deviat...

Muslim Politics in Malaysia and the Democratization Process

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Lukman Thaib

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This article will address the Muslim politics in Malaysia in the light of the broader shifts towards democratization and Islamization by focusing on politics among the majority ethnic Malay community, followed an overview of the ideological rivalry between UMNO and PAS, with special reference to the electoral performances of these parties in the past three general elections (November 1999, March 2004 and March 2008 . It then explores the underlying reason for the perceived importance of Islam in understanding the voting trend among the Malay-Muslim electorate which raised the question to what extent was the discourse on Islam instrumental in persuading the Malays to switch their support from PAS to the UMNO during the 2004 elections, and in the process of continued participation as an ‘Islamic Party’ in Malaysian mainstream politics what factors were that encouraged the PAS leaders to compromises and to play by the ‘rule of democracy’. In the concluding part of the article the writer also provide with an overview on reform agenda of Civilizational Islam (Islam Hadhari under premiership of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the current Malaysia’s Transformation Programme (GTP under the leadership of Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak.

Comparing the democratic value of Facebook discussions across the profiles of Spanish political candidates during the 2011 General Election

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Lidia Valera Ordaz

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This article examines the democratic value of user-generated comments on the Facebook profiles of three Spanish candidates during the Spanish General Election campaign of 2011 through a content analysis that operationalizes deliberative democracy. The findings show that these online spaces do not meet deliberative standards, but that they still serve democratic functions, such as citizen self-expression, democratic socialization and reinforcement of social cohesion among party activists and sympathizers. Moreover, results indicate that democratic value might vary depending on the size of the party where talk takes place. Political conversation on the walls of hegemonic candidates who belong to big consolidated political parties is mostly oriented towards self-expression and features some ideological diversity, so that individuals are sporadically confronted with diversity. For its part, talk on the Facebook profile of the minor candidate lacks fundamental disagreement but includes more in-group interaction, allowing minority ideological spheres for the cultivation of social cohesion and the construction of collective narratives in favorable discursive conditions.

Political culture of civil society within synergetic paradigm context

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I. Z. Derzhko

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Political culture relates to the development and improvement of human abilities for social life within a community and creates conditions for the realization of these abilities. Typically, it is a state or a particular cultural region within the state. Despite the fact that the political culture of a society cannot and should not be subject to a management, it should be regulated and coordinated through a policy - national, which must be state policy. This paradoxical situation requires the use of specific management approaches. There is some configuration management knowledge, training or life, to work effectively, it is necessary to act at the right time and in the right place. Synergetic paradigm creates a methodological basis for a rather broad and full use of all the cultural, regional and individual diversity. Such use may be appropriate and successful implementa­tion provided competent management and, above all, self, which in turn requires a developed political culture in both the public and the private sector. It is important to understand that social system like any complex system, with not one single and multiple alternative paths of evolution. It should be clearly aware of the existence of different trends of evolution, the ambiguity of the transition to the future. Future states of complex social systems do not just open and predict­able, there are range of possible forms of the future, the field of possible ways forward. Value under the tran­sitional regime elements authoritarian and democratic organization of society is one of the most controversial issues. Between these two forms of political domination exists a close relationship than it may seem at first glance. To determine the influence of civil society in the process of becoming a democratic political regime and democratic political culture, it is necessary to outline the main characteristics of this concept. Without dwelling on the analysis of understanding of civil

THE POLITICAL SYSTEM IN THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA: EVOLUTIONS, VULNERABILITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MODERNIZATION

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MÎNDRU VALERIU

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article analyzed the evolution of the political system in Moldova. The authors note three stages of the formation and consolidation of the political system in the country which have directly infl uenced the political domain and democratization of the society. The analysis is based on the legislative experience of other countries and the opinions of experts.

The Democratic Vision of Carl Schmitt

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Søren Hviid

2013-01-01

The main purpose of this paper is to justify two propositions. One, that Schmitt’s political vision is indeed democratic and second, that Schmitt’s democratic vision, plebiscitary or leadership democracy, is better adapted to our modern political condition and the challenges confronting modern...

Political News and Political Consciousness

Science.gov (United States)

Schertges, Claudia

2007-01-01

This article deals with mass media in modern democratic societies, using the example of Israeli news reports in German television (TV) news. Central to this interest are processes of mediating politics: political socialisation and education; that is to say, empowering citizens via TV news to participate in democratic processes. The article…

Rethinking democracy and representation: a proposal to extend the democratic canon

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Alejandro Monsiváis Carrillo

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Rethinking political representation is necessary to understand many contemporary democratic challenges. However, a widely accepted view states that democracy and representation are two irreconcilable principles, thus hindering the theoretical assessment of political representation's democratic relevance. According to this view, what democracy needs is more popular participation; instead, representation involves elitism and political detachment. In this paper I will argue that such a view is inaccurate. Through the reconstruction of the democratic ideal, and the discussion of the concept of political representation, I intend to show that processes of political authorization, accountability and public justification are both elements of political representation and expression of democratic politics.

Making Citizens of the World: The Political Socialization of Youth in Formal Mass Education Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Wiseman, Alexander W.; Astiz, M. Fernanda; Fabrega, Rodrigo; Baker, David P.

2011-01-01

Unique cross-national data on adolescents' civic skills, knowledge, and political attitudes are used to examine the democratic processes of modern mass schooling, effects of national political systems, and patterns of youth political socialization in 27 nations. Compared to the generally weak reported effects on mathematics and reading…

Democratic values, emotions and emotivism

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Vranić Bojan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to explore the relation between democratic values and emotions. The author argues that democratic values and emotional judgments are inter-reducible: political agents use emotional judgments to reflexively evaluate normative paradigms of political life. In the first part of the paper, the author describes the state of emotions in contemporary political philosophy and identifies Charles Stevenson’s ethical conception of emotivism as the first comprehensive attempt to neutrally conceptualize emotions in moral and political thinking. The second part of the paper explores the shortcomings of emotivism and finds an adequate alternative in Martha Nussbaum’s concept of emotional judgment as the one that contains beliefs and values about social objects. In the final part of the paper, the author identifies that moral and political disagreements emerge in democracies from ranking of the importance of political objects. The evaluation criteria for this type of ranking is derived from democratic values which are reducible to agents’ emotional judgments. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179076

Democratization and Political Change as Threats to Collective Sentiments: Testing Durkheim in Russia.

Science.gov (United States)

Pridemore, William Alex; Kim, Sang-Weon

2006-05-01

Durkheim argued that acute political crises result in increased homicide rates because they pose a threat to sentiments about the collective. Though crucial to Durkheim's work on homicide, this idea remains untested. The authors took advantage of the natural experiment of the collapse of the Soviet Union to examine this hypothesis. Using data from Russian regions (N = 78) and controlling for measures of anomie and other covariates, the authors estimated the association between political change and change in homicide rates between 1991 and 2000. Results indicated that regions exhibiting less support for the Communist Party in 2000 (and thus greater change in political ideals because the Party had previously exercised complete control) were regions with greater increases in homicide rates. Thus, while democratization may be a positive development relative to the Communist juggernaut of the past, it appears that the swift political change in Russia is partially responsible for the higher rates of violence there following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Exploring Women's Understanding of Politics, Political Contestation ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Exploring Women's Understanding of Politics, Political Contestation and Gender Transformation in the Caribbean. IDRC's Democratic Governance, Women's Rights and Gender Equality initiative is supporting a body of comparative research on whether and how democratic processes and institutions are responding to ...

Political Values or the Value of Politics

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Simoska, Emilija

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This essay was motivated by the gap between proclaimed democratic principles and the perceptions of politics which are exhibited by the citizens in transitional countries -more specifically in the Republic of Macedonia. It is based on research data collected in the past few decades, which illustrate that, in their political actions, the citizens are highly motivated by personal benefits and profits, rather than by their internalized values and ideologies. Non-democratic, authoritarian values prevail, while politics is perceived as a value itself, in the most materialistic meaning of the word. It creates a suitable milieu for growth of corruption, nepotism and clientelism. The authors conclude that such a circulus vitsiosus is a corner stone of the Macedonian political regime, and an enormous obstacle for the advancement of the participative, democratic political culture in reality, in spite of its formal acceptance.

Тhe National Idea in the Japanese Political System Formation

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Лусине Арменовна Мелконян

2018-12-01

Full Text Available The article reveals the meaning and components of the concept of «national idea» in the Japanese understanding, the relationship between the national idea and the state’s foreign policy iplementation process, as well as the peculiarities of the Japanese political system. Domestic and external factors that had a significant impact on the process of forming the political culture of Japan, which at first glance has certain contradictions but which through the synthesis of social and political elements of the external world and its traditions made it possible to become a modern industrialized democratic state, are also researched.

Is John Locke a democrat?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svensson, Palle

  Over recent years there has been a tendency to present John Locke as an equalitarian democrat (Ashcraft) and being close to the political views of the levellers (Waldron). This is not a completely new interpretation (Kendall, 1941), but contrasts with the prevalent view presented in textbooks (......, criteria for a democratic process, and the institutions of polyarchy. The conclusion has implications for the relationship between political liberalism and constitutionalism on the one hand and democracy on the other....

Between the Managerial and the Democratic University: Governance Structure and Academic Freedom as Sites of Political Struggle

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Dalie Giroux

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In this article we argue that the university cannot fully contribute to democratic life without being both an institution whose governance is collegial and based on principles of equality, equity, inclusion, transparency, and accountability, and a vector of critical thinking closely linked to academic freedom. Based on this understanding of the ‘democratic university,’ we seek to highlight some of the key tensions between the ‘managerial university’ and the democratic university, as reflected in institutional structures, regulations, legal frameworks, and principles. In order to achieve this objective, we identify two sites of political struggles from which it is possible to examine the interaction between a managerial and a democratic conception and practice of the university. The first of these sites is the bicameral governing structure, membership, rules, and regulations of the University of Ottawa. The second site is academic freedom in Canada, which we will discuss by comparing the Canadian Association of University Teachers’ (CAUT Statement on Academic Freedom (CAUT, 2011 with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada’s (AUCC Statement on Academic Freedom (AUCC, 2011. By stressing the necessary link and positive relationship between democratic governance and academic freedom, the article offers a normative evaluation of the impact the managerial reengineering of Canadian universities has had on the possibility and practice of a more democratic university.

Influencing Republicans' and Democrats' attitudes toward Obamacare: Effects of imagined vicarious cognitive dissonance on political attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Joel; Feldman, Lauren A; Blackman, Shane F

2018-04-16

The field of experimental social psychology is appropriately interested in using novel theoretical approaches to implement change in the social world. In the current study, we extended cognitive dissonance theory by creating a new framework of social influence: imagined vicarious dissonance. We used the framework to influence attitudes on an important and controversial political attitude: U.S. citizens' support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 36 Republicans and 84 Democrats were asked to imagine fellow Republicans and Democrats, respectively, making attitude discrepant statements under high and low choice conditions about support for the ACA. The data showed that vicarious dissonance, established by imagining a group member make a counterattitudinal speech under high-choice conditions (as compared to low-choice conditions), resulted in greater support for the Act by Republicans and marginally diminished support by Democrats. The results suggest a promising role for the application of vicarious dissonance theory to relevant societal issues and for further understanding the relationship of dissonance and people's identification with their social groups.

The Promotion of Democratic Behavior and the Role of Media

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Muhammad Saqib; Khan, Irfanullah; Khan, Ahmad Ali; Jan, Farooq; Ahmad, Riaz; Rauf, Hamid

2015-01-01

This study is conducted to measure the influence of social media over the democratic behavior of the students. Social media is the main component of political participation in democratic societies and the study of democratic behavior is a highly specialized sub-field in political and social science. The study was concerned with the reasons that to…

Oligarchization and extractivism. Locks against the democratization of environmental politics in Chile

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Alejandro Pelfini

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to show that the modernization of Chile’s environmental institutions (called Nueva Institucionalidad Ambiental, introduced in 2009/2010 consolidates the informal networks that have traditionally linked its main actors (investors, State and experts. Consequently, it is a public policy that despite the incorporation of governance standards marked by accountability, transparency and public participation does not contribute to the formation of citizenship and public agenda around models of development and use of natural resources, but limited to assess/ mitigate/legitimize pre-established agendas, introduced by productive, extractive or infrastructure investment projects. In our view, this is due to the tendency to oligarchization of the Chilean political system and of the domination of elites in general and the persistence of an accumulation model based on the extraction of natural resources. Both serve as a structural lock that bolts any substantive change of environmental policy in a more democratic direction

Fuzziness, democracy, control and collective decision-choice system a theory on political economy of rent-seeking and profit-harvesting

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Dompere, Kofi Kissi

2014-01-01

This volume presents an analysis of the problems and solutions of the market mockery of the democratic collective decision-choice system with imperfect information structure composed of defective and deceptive structures using methods of fuzzy rationality. The book is devoted to the political economy of rent-seeking, rent-protection and rent-harvesting to enhance profits under democratic collective decision-choice systems. The toolbox used in the monograph consists of methods of fuzzy decision, approximate reasoning, negotiation games and fuzzy mathematics. The monograph further discusses the rent-seeking phenomenon in the Schumpeterian and Marxian political economies where the rent-seeking activities transform the qualitative character of the general capitalism into oligarchic socialism and making the democratic collective decision-choice system as an ideology rather than social calculus for resolving conflicts in preferences in the collective decision-choice space without violence.    

Public Policies – Embodiments of Democratization Processes

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Dorina Ţicu

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Public policies are the most practical part of the triad polity-politics-policy. Public policies are related to the practical areas of planning, implementation and evaluation of the governmental activities. From this perspective, to talk about a perfect public policy (or which aspires to perfection means to speak about an efficient institutional system of a state as a sign of its degree of democratization. This article aims to explore “the cuisine” of democratic systems taking into account the applied perspective of public policy functionality, a type of functionality which is determined by a particular decision, by a kind of rationality or motivation of the actors involved or by a type of an organizational culture. Thus, the study of democracies involves an analytical approach developed at a micro level (the types of parties, institutional designs, election systems, public policies becoming indices of democratization for every state system.

Transformacija partijno-politicheskoj sistemy Shvecii v konce XX — nachale XXI veka [The transformation of the Swedish political party system in the late 20th/early 21st century

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Ryabichenko Arkady

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This article studies the process of transformation of the Swedish political party system in the 1980s. The study aims to develop a typology of the Swedish political party system before and after the transformation processes commenced. The article identifies the key prerequisites for such transformation: the crisis of social democracy and an increase in the nationalist attitudes in the society caused by the negative repercussions of the system of integration of migrants into the society based on the multiculturalism principles. The interethnic tension manifested itself in the wide support for the Swedish Democrats Party in the 2010 parliamentary election. From a political party system dominated by social democrats, the Swedish political party system turned into one with two leading parties – the centre-left Swedish Social Democratic Labour Party and the centre-right Moderate Party. The Swedish Democrats position themselves as an alternative to the two party blocs headed by the dominating parties (the Alliance and the Red-Green. The study employs an interdisciplinary approach in the framework of science synthesis. Its results can be of practical significance for politicians, social activists, and academicians.

Democratic Legitimacy and the European Union

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Holzhacker, Ronald

2007-01-01

This is an introduction to a Special Issue that first considers representative and deliberative conceptions of democratic legitimacy in the EU, and then presents empirical research on how the institutions of the EU are attempting to increase the democratic legitimacy of the multi-level political

Beyond Democratic Tolerance: Witch Killings in Timor-Leste

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Rebecca Strating

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Newly democratising states experience challenges in reconciling “traditional” or “customary” dispute resolution practices with newly established state-based legal systems based on the rule of law. For Timor-Leste, these tensions are pronounced in continuing debates concerning the killing or injuring of women accused of witchcraft. Defences of extrajudicial punishments tend to conflate democracy with local support and fail to deal with the key institutions of democratic systems, including the rule of law, political equality, and civil rights. In Timor-Leste’s case, where equality and social rights were incorporated into the Constitution as fundamental governmental obligations, localised extrajudicial punishments threaten internal and external state legitimacy and highlight the difficulties of ensuring the primacy of state-based institutions. Extrajudicial punishments challenge Timor-Leste’s capacity to consolidate new liberal democratic political institutions.

Exposure to the American flag polarizes democratic-republican ideologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Eugene Y

2017-12-01

Some prior research has suggested that exposure to the American flag tilts Americans towards Republicanism, while others have proffered that it brings outs a common 'together' perspective instead. We explore a third possibility - that it may actually polarize Americans' political ideology. It is generally accepted that exposure to an environmental cue can shift attitudes and behaviours, at least partly or temporarily, in a manner that is consistent with that cue. Yet, the same cue can mean different things to different people. In the same vein, given how national identity and political ideology are intertwined in the United States, we hypothesize that the American flag should heighten different political beliefs depending on individuals' political ideology. To Democrats, being American is to support Democratic values, but to Republicans, being American is to support Republican values. The American flag thus should heighten Democrats of their Democratic identity, and it should heighten Republicans of their Republican one. The results of an experiment with 752 American respondents who were representative of the US population supported this polarizing effect of the American flag. The theoretical and policy implications of the findings are offered. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

On the multidimensionality of political competition: Measuring political competition in a Bartolinian Way

OpenAIRE

Bühlmann, M; Zumbach, D

2011-01-01

Political competition plays a crucial role in the democratic cycle, be it as a possible mainspring of political participation or as the essential element of democratic accountability and responsiveness. Thus, it is not surprising that many scholars focus on the impact and meaning of political competition. Unfortunately, such is very often misspecified as a unidimensional concept. At least since Stefano Bartolini's seminal paper Collusion, Competition and Democracy (1999, 2000), however, th...

The role and the place of public organizations in the political system of Ukraine

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D. Y. Arabadjyiev

2015-06-01

Based on classical and modern views on democracy, the generalization that democratic political system, citizens participate in elections to prove its direct expression, and the government is aware of the need for fair and transparent elections as proof of the legitimacy of his power. It is concluded that the political system of modern Ukraine NGOs play a triple role, providing a steady realization of citizens’ rights, preventing any attempt to influence the process by the government and at the same time guaranteeing the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.

Democrats and republicans can be differentiated from their faces.

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Nicholas O Rule

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Individuals' faces communicate a great deal of information about them. Although some of this information tends to be perceptually obvious (such as race and sex, much of it is perceptually ambiguous, without clear or obvious visual cues. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we found that individuals' political affiliations could be accurately discerned from their faces. In Study 1, perceivers were able to accurately distinguish whether U.S. Senate candidates were either Democrats or Republicans based on photos of their faces. Study 2 showed that these effects extended to Democrat and Republican college students, based on their senior yearbook photos. Study 3 then showed that these judgments were related to differences in perceived traits among the Democrat and Republican faces. Republicans were perceived as more powerful than Democrats. Moreover, as individual targets were perceived to be more powerful, they were more likely to be perceived as Republicans by others. Similarly, as individual targets were perceived to be warmer, they were more likely to be perceived as Democrats. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These data suggest that perceivers' beliefs about who is a Democrat and Republican may be based on perceptions of traits stereotypically associated with the two political parties and that, indeed, the guidance of these stereotypes may lead to categorizations of others' political affiliations at rates significantly more accurate than chance guessing.

Deployment of the Military in Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Implication for Democratization in Sri Lanka

Science.gov (United States)

2016-12-01

political leadership , interparty alliances, and legislatures by which society constitutes itself politically to select and monitor democratic government... democratically elected civilian leadership .” Matei, “New Conceptualization,” 31. Young posits expertise, essential duties, responsibility, and corporateness as...CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION: IMPLICATION FOR DEMOCRATIZATION IN SRI LANKA by Don Kapila Sarath Kumara Dolage December 2016 Thesis Advisor: Anshu

Reflecting on democratic and responsible citizenship. Where do the media step in?

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Oana BĂLUŢĂ

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Citizenship is one notion that generated debates and, on occasion, contradictory positions within academic community, opening the doors not only for political scientists, but for practitioners, activists, politicians as well to step in. The paper aims to explore and highlight how sociologists, political scientists and mass media practitioners envisage responsible and democratic citizenship in Romania. Reviews of literature developments on citizenship in connection with democracy and participation, and perspectives of local journalists, sociologists and political scientists on the intersection of media and responsible citizenship allowed me to highlight key inner marks of responsible and democratic citizenship. The final part of the paper proposes a process of (rethinking citizenship, emphasizing few propositions with a decisive role when drafting responsible and democratic citizenship: citizenship cannot be separated from participation, active participation; citizenship is correlated with political interests; 3. Active citizenship is democratic and responsible citizenship; citizenship has both a private and a public dimension.

Democratic Learning Processes: Conceptual and Historical Challenges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Ann-Dorte; Rasmussen, Palle

2009-01-01

In this article democratic learning is conceptualised with inspiration from two academic traditions, one being the conceptions of citizenship, political identities and deliberative democracy in political sociology; the other theories and research on social and lifelong learning. The first part......'s empowerment and inclusion in the Danish democratic model. On the background of these two analyses the authors finally discuss some current democratic problems with integrating the diversity represented by ethnic minority groups. The discussion emphasizes the learning theory perspective on the initiative...... of the article outlines the authors' understanding of the core concepts involved. In the second part these conceptual discussions are related to two themes: the question of public adaptation of historical experiences in connection with the German reunification and the learning perspectives related to women...

BRICS Countries and Democratic Contagion

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Anna Bruno

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The article explores whether the interstate dynamics of the BRICS can activate those processes of convergence of politicalregimes and practices known as “democratic contagion.” As this contagion was experienced during the “third wave” ofdemocratization, mainly because of homogeneity among states and structural conditions for democratic attraction, theBRICS are not likely to repeat these dynamics. On the contrary, the only real constitutional homogeneity among the BRICScountries is the standard of non-interference in the internal affairs of each member. Non-interference also means abstainingfrom any initiative to condition the transformation of political regimes in consideration of the same interstate cooperation. Thedynamics of the BRICS shows that different political regimes can promote institutionalized forms of interstate cooperationwithout any mutual contamination at the constitutional level. The theories of “transition” and “democratic contagion” areinsufficient to understand these dynamics in the context of the BRICS; for this reason, the theory of democratic transitioncannot provide an adequate analysis of BRICS. With its members “split in unity,” as an institution the BRICS suggests anevolution toward a model of “not eurocentric dependence” that can overcome the “peripheral realism” of the role of eachstate in its own foreign policy.

Democratization in Malawi

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Emmanuel, Nikolas G.

2013-01-01

a political conditionality approach. Few countries have felt the weight of conditionality as much as Malawi did in the 1990s. Here, donors were able to use aid sanctions to successfully encourage democratization, while strengthening the demands of domestic opposition forces. This paper argues that three...

Chinese Debates on the Democratization Process

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Peer Møller Christensen

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The new economic importance of the Chinese economy has created Chinese expectations that the country will be able to regain a political and cultural position in the world in accordance with this economic status. But for China to become a respected member of world society, one of the most severe obstacles is its, from a western perspective, undemocratic political system. The article describes the lively debate going on among Chinese intellectuals of diverse political-ideological convictions about what kind of democracy should be the model for China’s future political system. The liberally oriented intellectuals want a political system very much like American liberal constitutional democracy, while intellectuals on the left side of the political spectrum want a democracy with a clear socialist basis. Although Chinese intellectuals form a minority in society, these intellectual debates are sure to have influence on both public opinion and opinions and attitudes among political decision makers inside the Chinese Communist Party. Further investigations will have to establish to what degree the perceptions of China's political future and democratization are reflected in the political attitudes among the Chinese in general, and how they are perceived inside the confines of political decision making in the Chinese Communist Party. Only then will it be possible to answer the questions: "What kind of democracy do the Chinese want?" and "What kind of democracy are the Chinese going to get?"

Politics as Culture: Contribution of Political Science to Democratic Maturity

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Ivan Padjen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the contribution of Croatian political science to the development of democracy in Croatia. The focus of the analysis is the concept of culture which author talks about in five steps. In the first step it is understood in the modern key, in the second step as different for nature and in the third as different from society. In the fourth step author differentiates political culture from political economy and political institutions, but in the fifth part there is an attempt to show culture as a fundamental part of politics, policy and polity. On the basis of these insights author shows that the matrix of Croatian political science is more and more devoted to scientific investigation of politics as culture as both study of political culture and as a source of development as politics as culture.

Democratizing the world health organization.

Science.gov (United States)

van de Pas, R; van Schaik, L G

2014-02-01

A progressive erosion of the democratic space appears as one of the emerging challenges in global health today. Such delimitation of the political interplay has a particularly evident impact on the unique public interest function of the World Health Organization (WHO). This paper aims to identify some obstacles for a truly democratic functioning of the UN specialized agency for health. The development of civil society's engagement with the WHO, including in the current reform proposals, is described. The paper also analyses how today's financing of the WHO--primarily through multi-bi financing mechanisms--risks to choke the agency's role in global health. Democratizing the public debate on global health, and therefore the role of the WHO, requires a debate on its future role and engagement at the country level. This desirable process can only be linked to national debates on public health, and the re-definition of health as a primary political and societal concern. Copyright © 2013 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Democracy, Education and the Need for Politics

Science.gov (United States)

Straume, Ingerid S.

2016-01-01

Even though the interrelationship between education and democratic politics is as old as democracy itself, it is seldom explicitly formulated in the literature. Most of the time, the political system is taken as a given, and education conceptualized as an instrument for stability and social integration. Many contemporary discussions about…

Educational Conservatism and Democratic Citizenship in Hannah Arendt

Science.gov (United States)

Mihaila, Ramona; Popescu, Gheorghe H.; Nica, Elvira

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article was to gain a deeper understanding of Arendt's educational philosophy, her perspective of political involvement as a kind of political education, and natality as the fundamental nature of education. The current study has extended past research by elucidating Arendt's view of participatory democratic politics, her…

Political Ideology, Trust, and Cooperation

Science.gov (United States)

Balliet, Daniel; Tybur, Joshua M.; Wu, Junhui; Antonellis, Christian; Van Lange, Paul A. M.

2016-01-01

Theories suggest that political ideology relates to cooperation, with conservatives being more likely to pursue selfish outcomes, and liberals more likely to pursue egalitarian outcomes. In study 1, we examine how political ideology and political party affiliation (Republican vs. Democrat) predict cooperation with a partner who self-identifies as Republican or Democrat in two samples before (n = 362) and after (n = 366) the 2012 US presidential election. Liberals show slightly more concern for their partners’ outcomes compared to conservatives (study 1), and in study 2 this relation is supported by a meta-analysis (r = .15). However, in study 1, political ideology did not relate to cooperation in general. Both Republicans and Democrats extend more cooperation to their in-group relative to the out-group, and this is explained by expectations of cooperation from in-group versus out-group members. We discuss the relation between political ideology and cooperation within and between groups. PMID:29593363

International Contexts for Political Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Harber, Clive

1991-01-01

Uses international examples of the ways in which political learning takes place--indoctrination, political socialization, and political education--to suggest that open and democratic political education is not common, even in democracies. (SK)

The left and the democratic stability in Latin America: the ideology of the Bolivarian Revolution and its impact on the political processes in Venezuela and Latin America

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Enrique MOLINA V.

2010-10-01

Full Text Available One of the main areas of work in Comparative Politics and Political Theory has been the determination of the variables associated with the stability/instability of political systems in general, and democracy in particular. This paper focuses on one of these variables. One with newly acquired importance after the recent electoral successes by the left, but that nevertheless has not been in the spotlight of scholarly analysis: ideological polarization. Particularly, ideological polarization brought about by the attempt to pursue by the government a leftist political project. The main focus is on the ideological project pursued by the Venezuelan Bolivarian Government and its association with the political instability of 2002 and 2003. The paper considers this topic taken into account mainstream theoretical approaches on political stability, and the experience of previous Latin American leftist governments. The paper reaches the conclusion that in Latin America the attempt to implement a socialist program by a democratically elected government, if it is done without meaningful social and political negotiation, and with authoritarian overtones, is likely to lead to intense political instability and to the ultimate failure of the proposed social change.

Democratizing English as an International Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Deneire, Marc

The aim of this paper is threefold. The first section shows how the political uses of language engendered by both western-style liberalism on the one hand and various forms of nationalism on the other lead to the negation of democratic ideals. Because of the current international situation, political aspects of language are receiving more and more…

Resolving the dilemma between equality and liberty: the Swedish political system

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Nathalie BLANC-NOEL

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Swedish democracy ranks very high in international democracy indexes. It fascinates political scientists from all over the world because it seems to have resolved a fundamental political dilemma: the choice between equality and liberty, without the historical inconvenient of regimes which favoured too much equality - but killed liberty, or regimes which favoured liberty - but failed to make citizens equal... The "'egalitarian pluralism" practiced in Swedish political system is rooted in a specific political culture. This culture has opted for popular sovereignty and comes from the ancient peasant society. Lutheran values and the absence of feudalism paved the way to the search for equality and the edification of a strong State. In the 20th century, the Social-democrats endorsed the traditional Swedish values and prolonged them in the so-called Swedish model, with social policies allowing more equality along with more individual autonomy. Nowadays, the model is evolving, coping with globalization, and the definition of equality is under discussion.

Specifics of horizontal and vertical relations in Ukrainian political communication on the background of the party building’s process, political science theory and requirements to Ukrainian political context

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K. Y. Odarchenko

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The specifics of horizontal and vertical relations in Ukrainian political communication on the background of the party building’s process has been analysed. Aims of this article are: 1 determination of the subjectivity of political communication; 2 disclosure of the main features of internal politics and communications; 3 setting the essential features of the political parties’ status after peaceful protests in Ukraine 2013-2014 year; 4 explanation of the actual gap that has horizontal and party political communication in Ukraine. Political modernization, capacity of Ukrainian political parties has been characterized. It has been shown that Maidan didn’t influenced tools of creating political parties and their typology greatly. Maidan as a political component was weak and did not respond to the challenges, which Ukrainian political system faced to. The weakness was in the fact that leaders of the oppositional political camp would rather keep old then implement real political change of the political system , which was adapted by the old oliharcial clan. Public sector was not able to identify their environment with new political leaders, nor with a mass movement, based on the creation of new organized political force. It has been found that in a democratic society communication is effective only if it is not only technically modern, interactive, two-way, but if it is consistent to other democratic demands, such as legal and moral control of society over the media, maintenance of basic pluralism, direct contact between senders and recipients of information, feeds decentralization, respect of freedom of expression and privat opinion. Summary of the political communication in Ukraine has to move away from thinking of policy and bureaucratic political consciousness. Otherwise, the simulation is effective and efficient for countries and regions where political communication can become a daily political farce communication in public space.

Lives and Political Field. An Analysis of the Power Structure of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD

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Max Reinhardt

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This article discusses methods and results of an explorative study of two generations of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD: the two generations comprise, on the one hand, older and younger members of the postwar generation who witnessed the Second World War as young soldiers or as children, and on the other hand, the generation that was born in the 1950s and has mainly been responsible for shaping policy for some years. The aim of my dissertation was to analyze the ability of the social democratic leadership to represent the full range of party members and (base voters by comparing two generations, using a sample of political leaders and the habitus/field-analysis inspired by Pierre BOURDIEU. The basis of the analysis were partly biographical, partly theme-focused interviews, as well as a range of sources and already published literature regarding the biographies of these political leaders. The following article is based on my dissertation and is focused on a description of selected theoretical implications, on the description of the essential criteria for selecting the sample and on some of the methods used. These are an analysis of the life, life and field effects, the factions and the development of types of political leaders. I will present some results to exemplify the methods used. They show that the ability of the SPD to represent the full range of party members and (base voters and the power structure of the SPD have changed, thus threatening the party’s status as a "Volkspartei." URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1102197

Revisiting Liberal Democratic Universalism: A Critical Rhetoric of the Liberal Democratic World Order

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Rose Joy E. Smith

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Liberal democracy has become the predominant political regime in the 21st century even in countries that have little or no history of ‘democratic structures and practices’. However, it seems as though setting up a functional, stable, and viable democratic state is harder than overthrowing autocratic rulers. This rhetorical criticism explores gridlocks that hamper the development of universal liberal democratic values by emphasizing the Western hegemonic status of defining what liberal democracy is. It is pertinent to look into this dominant role considering that it is through these values that actions, policies, and other values are to be construed and judged. This paper aims to (1 highlight the role of moral cosmopolitanism as the initial step of Western hegemony, (2 identify the paradox of defining liberal democracy as universal but treating it as a particular, and (3 discuss the ironies of democratic imperialism and its hindrance to self-determination. This paper hopes to shed some light in the importance of various interpretations, definitions, and adaptations of liberal democratic values depending on the context of the society incorporating, its culture, its values, and its identity, in order to find a more comprehensive definition of democracy.

Contentious political pressure and democratisation in Nigeria - a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

. E J Duru, I A Uno. Abstract. The paper is on contentious political pressures and democratization in Nigeria - A focus on MOSOP. The aim is to show the impact of contentious political pressures on the process of democratization in Nigeria ...

Perceptions of others' political affiliation are moderated by individual perceivers' own political attitudes.

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John Paul Wilson

Full Text Available Previous research has shown that perceivers can accurately extract information about perceptually ambiguous group memberships from facial information alone. For example, people demonstrate above-chance accuracy in categorizing political ideology from faces. Further, they ascribe particular personality traits to faces according to political party (e.g., Republicans are dominant and mature, Democrats are likeable and trustworthy. Here, we report three studies that replicated and extended these effects. In Study 1a, we provide evidence that, in addition to showing accuracy in categorization, politically-conservative participants expressed a bias toward categorizing targets as outgroup members. In Study 1b, we replicate this relationship with a larger sample and a stimulus set consisting of faces of professional politicians. In Study 2, we find that trait ascriptions based on target political affiliation are moderated by perceiver political ideology. Specifically, although Democrats are stereotyped as more likeable and trustworthy, conservative participants rated faces that were categorized as Republicans in Study 1a as more likeable and trustworthy than faces categorized as Democrats. Thus, this paper joins a growing literature showing that it is critical to consider perceiver identity in examining perceptions of identities and traits from faces.

Perceptions of others' political affiliation are moderated by individual perceivers' own political attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, John Paul; Rule, Nicholas O

2014-01-01

Previous research has shown that perceivers can accurately extract information about perceptually ambiguous group memberships from facial information alone. For example, people demonstrate above-chance accuracy in categorizing political ideology from faces. Further, they ascribe particular personality traits to faces according to political party (e.g., Republicans are dominant and mature, Democrats are likeable and trustworthy). Here, we report three studies that replicated and extended these effects. In Study 1a, we provide evidence that, in addition to showing accuracy in categorization, politically-conservative participants expressed a bias toward categorizing targets as outgroup members. In Study 1b, we replicate this relationship with a larger sample and a stimulus set consisting of faces of professional politicians. In Study 2, we find that trait ascriptions based on target political affiliation are moderated by perceiver political ideology. Specifically, although Democrats are stereotyped as more likeable and trustworthy, conservative participants rated faces that were categorized as Republicans in Study 1a as more likeable and trustworthy than faces categorized as Democrats. Thus, this paper joins a growing literature showing that it is critical to consider perceiver identity in examining perceptions of identities and traits from faces.

Perceptions of Others' Political Affiliation Are Moderated by Individual Perceivers' Own Political Attitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, John Paul; Rule, Nicholas O.

2014-01-01

Previous research has shown that perceivers can accurately extract information about perceptually ambiguous group memberships from facial information alone. For example, people demonstrate above-chance accuracy in categorizing political ideology from faces. Further, they ascribe particular personality traits to faces according to political party (e.g., Republicans are dominant and mature, Democrats are likeable and trustworthy). Here, we report three studies that replicated and extended these effects. In Study 1a, we provide evidence that, in addition to showing accuracy in categorization, politically-conservative participants expressed a bias toward categorizing targets as outgroup members. In Study 1b, we replicate this relationship with a larger sample and a stimulus set consisting of faces of professional politicians. In Study 2, we find that trait ascriptions based on target political affiliation are moderated by perceiver political ideology. Specifically, although Democrats are stereotyped as more likeable and trustworthy, conservative participants rated faces that were categorized as Republicans in Study 1a as more likeable and trustworthy than faces categorized as Democrats. Thus, this paper joins a growing literature showing that it is critical to consider perceiver identity in examining perceptions of identities and traits from faces. PMID:24781819

Education in the new practice of democratic citizenship: databases of John Dewey

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Giannina Burlando

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The bases of the political art of John Dewey or his new practice of democratic citizenship are reviewed. Dewey is acknowledged as one of the most prominent of the American philosophers in the first half of the twentieth century. He is also the most influential due to endowing philosophy a public task, namely, political and educational concern. From the instrumentalist method applied to the political area, crucial postulates in the major writings of Dewey are selected to revitalize the meaning and draw up the practical impacts of the central element of his political philosophy: ‘the collective power of democratic community’.

The political origin of pension funding

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Perotti, E.; Schwienbacher, A.

2007-01-01

This paper argues that historical political preferences on the role of capital markets shaped national choices on pension reliance on private funding. Under democratic voting, a majority will support investor protection and a privately funded pension system when the middle class has significant

School education and democratic management of teaching: perspectives

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Máximo Augusto Campos Masson

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the management of education from the debate on the democratic management of social institutions, in particular, the school. It reflects on the changes that have occurred in the school due to the presence of new students belonging to the subaltern classes and the possibility of the democratic management of teaching being an important instrument for overcoming school failure. It discusses aspects of Brazilian legislation on the theme and the possibilities arising from the growth of political conservatism oppose initiatives to democratic management of education.

Peoples Democratic Party in the Fourth Republic of Nigeria

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Aliyu Mukhtar Katsina

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Their nature and functions make political parties central to democratic governance especially in the new democracies of Africa that face the challenge of building strong and enduring democratic institutions. It is accepted that the existing trend in most of these democracies of one big party dominating the political space weakens democracy and undermines its prospects for consolidation. Big parties—usually the ruling ones—exhibit tendencies such as absence of internal democracy that are antithetical to democratic governance. While observations such as these are incontestable, there is little understanding into the nature, character, ideology, and internal structure of big parties generally. In this article, I attempt to address this concern. Specifically, I examine the nature, structure, and ideology of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, Nigeria’s ruling party at the federal level with considerable strength at local level between 1999 and 2015. Relying on data obtained from multiple sources, I investigate the process of its formation, the nature of its ideology, internal organization, its electoral strength, and how absence of internal democracy contributed significantly to its defeat in 2015 general elections.

Ethics and legality in the Romanian political marketing

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Poţincu, C. R.

2010-11-01

Full Text Available In a democratic system, the legal framework is a guarantee of the favourable development of several activities, including those regarding the implementation of the promotional techniques used in the political marketing.

A Renormalization Group Like Model for a Democratic Dictatorship

Science.gov (United States)

Galam, Serge

2015-03-01

We review a model of sociophysics which deals with democratic voting in bottom up hierarchical systems. The connection to the original physical model and technics are outlined underlining both the similarities and the differences. Emphasis is put on the numerous novel and counterintuitive results obtained with respect to the associated social and political framework. Using this model a real political event was successfully predicted with the victory of the French extreme right party in the 2000 first round of French presidential elections. The perspectives and the challenges to make sociophysics a predictive solid field of science are discussed.

Presentation of political Alliances in the Romanian audiovisual media

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Flaviu Calin RUS

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This material wishes to highlight the way in which the main political alliances have been formed in Romania in the last 20 years, as well as the way they have been reflected in the media. Moreover, we have tried to analyze the involvement of journalists and political analysts in explaining these political events. The study will focus on four political alliances, namely: CDR (the Romanian Democratic Convention, D.A. (Y.E.S. - Justice and Truth between PNL – the National Liberal Party and PD - the Democratic Party, ACD (the Centre-Right Alliance between PNL and PC – the Conservative Party and USL (the Social-Liberal Union between PSD – the Social Democrat Party, PNL and PC.

Dressing down the front line: How political discussion of teachers affects their political and institutional trust

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bech, Emily Cochran

We know that government performance and the tone of political debate can affect citizens’ trust in state institutions and political leaders, which have long been known to underpin democratic sustainability. But how does political debate about public employees affect their confidence in political...

Judging Political Hearts and Minds: How Political Dynamics Drive Social Judgments.

Science.gov (United States)

Cornwell, James F M; Bajger, Allison T; Higgins, E Tory

2015-08-01

We investigated how judgments of political messengers depend upon what would benefit one's preferred candidate. In Study 1a, participants were asked to evaluate the warmth and competence of the writer of a pro- or anti-Obama political message for the 2012 presidential election (Obama/warm; Romney/competent). When judging the messages, warmth was emphasized by Democrats and competence by Republicans. Study 1b replicated these effects for messages about Romney as well. Study 2 examined the 2004 presidential election where perceptions of the party candidates' warmth and competence reversed (Bush/warm; Kerry/competent). There competence was emphasized by Democrats and warmth by Republicans. Study 3 showed that varying the warmth and competence of each party's prospective candidates for the 2016 election influences whether warmth or competence is emphasized by Democrats or Republicans. Thus, differences between Republicans and Democrats in emphasizing warmth or competence reflect a dynamic motivated cognition that is tailored to benefit their preferred candidate. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Reorienting Deliberation: Identity Politics in Multicultural Societies

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Rebecca Mason

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Many political theorists argue that cross-cultural communication within multicultural democracies is not best served by a commitment to identity politics. In response, I argue that identity politics only interfere with democratic participation according to an erroneous interpretation of the relationship between identity and reasoning. I argue that recognizing the importance of identity to the intelligibility of reasons offered in the context of civic deliberation is the first step towards the kind of dialogue that democratic participation requires.

Recognizing Politics in the Nursery: Early Childhood Education Institutions as Sites of Mundane Politics

Science.gov (United States)

Millei, Zsuzsa; Kallio, Kirsi Pauliina

2018-01-01

In his inspirational article titled 'Bringing politics into the nursery', Peter Moss argues for early childhood institutions to "become" places of 'democratic political practice'. In this article, the authors add to Moss's call and argue that these institutions are sites of 'mundane political practice', containing various attitudinal…

Gender, religion and democratic politics in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasan, Zoya

2010-01-01

This article examines the impact of identity politics on gender equality. More specifically it explores the paradoxical and complex relationship of religion and politics in a multi-religious society and the complicated ways in which women's activism has both reinforced and challenged their gender identities. Contrary to the argument that religious politics does not always negate gender equality, the article argues that the Hindu religious politics and women's activism associated with it provides a compelling example of the instrumentalisation of women to accomplish the political goals of the Hindu right. It also examines the approach and strategies of influential political parties, women's organisations and Muslim women's groups towards legal reform and the contested issue of a uniform civil code. Against those who argue that, in the current communal conjuncture, reform within Muslim personal laws or Islamic feminism is the best strategy for enhancing the scope of Muslim women's rights, the article argues that such an approach tends to freeze identities within religious boundaries. It shows how women's and minority rights are used within the politics of religion to sideline the agenda of women's rights.

Measuring the democratic anchorage of governance networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fotel, Trine; Sørensen, Eva; Torfing, Jacob

There has been a growing debate about the democratic problems and potentials of governance networks among political scientists and public managers. While some claim that governance networks tend to undermine democracy, others argue that they have the potential to improve and strengthen democracy....... This debate is found wanting in two respects. First of all, there has been far too little discussion about what democracy means in relation to pluricentric governance networks. Second, the current debate builds on the assumption that it is possible to give a clear-cut answer to the question of the democratic...... problems and merits of governance networks. This assumption is highly questionable, and prevents a more nuanced assessment of the democratic performance of governance networks. As such, it diverts the focus of attention away from the fact that governance networks may be democratic in some respects...

Policy without politics: the limits of social engineering.

Science.gov (United States)

Navarro, Vicente

2003-01-01

The extent of coverage provided by a country's health services is directly related to the level of development of that country's democratic process (and its power relations). The United States is the only developed country whose government does not guarantee access to health care for its citizens. It is also the developed country with the least representative and most insufficient democratic institutions, owing to the constitutional framework of the political system, the privatization of the electoral process, and the enormous power of corporate interests in both the media and the political process. As international experience shows, without a strong labor-based movement willing to be radical in its protests, a universal health care program will never be accepted by the US establishment.

Trade unions and liberal values: struggle or complementarity in a democratic society?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. I. Tupitzya

2014-02-01

Thus, viewing the political position of trade unions in a modern democratic society suggests that the trade union units are fully capable to absorb some elements of liberal doctrines. This indicates a broad base complementarity and mutual conceptual foundations of trade unionism and democratic society.

Political institutions as substitute for democracy: a political economy analysis of economic growth

OpenAIRE

Pereira, Carlos; Teles, Vladimir Kühl

2009-01-01

This manuscript empirically assesses the effects of political institutions on economic growth. It analyzes how political institutions affect economic growth in different stages of democratization and economic development by means of dynamic panel estimation with interaction terms. The new empirical results obtained show that political institutions work as a substitute for democracy promoting economic growth. In other words, political institutions are important for increasing economic growth, ...

ICT Strategies of Democratic Intermediaries : A View on the Political System in the Digital Age

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A.R. Edwards (Arthur)

2006-01-01

textabstractA conceptual framework is proposed for discussing the ICT strategies of intermediaries and their effects on democratic intermediation. The main line of reasoning is that both ‘disintermediation’ and ‘re-intermediation’ have to be related to specific models of democracy and styles of

Democratization and Transitional Justice in Brazil

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Maria Paula NASCIMENTO ARAUJO

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Brazil experienced a long process of political transition featured by an intense game of political and social forces, in which different actors with different democratization projects clashed. Despite the leadership of the transition process have been in the hands of conservative elites linked to the military dictatorship, broad sectors of the oposition and of the lefts, as well as representants of social movements, disputed the transitional space and expanded the initial design of the regime. This long transition —marked by negotiations, frustrations and resilience— reflected on the transitional justice model adopted by the country. Almost 30 years after the end of military dictatorship, the Truth Commission established by President Dilma Rousseff in 2012, drew attention to issues related to memory, justice and reparation and showed that the democratization process, in some respects, is still incloncluded. This article aims to restore this historical process highlighting some of its characteristics and specificities.

The Blunt Tool: Inappropriateness of the Concept of Transition for the Analyses of Democratic Consolidation

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Dražen Lalić

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The article is analyzing the inappropriateness of the “classical” theories of transition for the analyses of democratic consolidation in the contemporary post-communist societies, including the Croatian one. The authors are claiming that the aforementioned theories are insufficient for a subtle explanation of the recent ongoing major political and social changes in the post-communist societies. The article is stressing the most characteristic examples of the “bluntness”, i.e. of the inappropriateness of the transition theory basic concepts for the analyses of democratic consolidation, as well as of the socio-cultural and socio-structural assumptions and other important concepts related to the post-communist transition phenomenon. Furthermore, the article is exposing the problems connected with various interpretations of the phases of the transition period in relation to the cleavage between the institutional constitution of the democratic system and the democratic deficit characteristic of the post-communist states. Finally, the article is bolding the necessity of re-conceptualization of the basic concepts of the theory of transition; however, not towards the construction of a new theory, but rather towards the adaptation of the existing theory to the recent social and political processes in the contemporaneous post-communist societies.

Political culture in Romania - past, present and future

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Nicolae FRIGIOIU

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study is to tersely present the situation of the political culture in Romania after 1989. The comprehension of the political culture seen as a result of a valorous past full of religious content constitutes the single path that can reveal the imaginary of the Romanian people; moreover, the study has as a purpose to improve the understanding of the political and cultural values which are linked to the consolidation of a democratic system in a similar manner to the connection between the forms and the causes of any social and political change in the country.

Perceiving political polarization in the United States: party identity strength and attitude extremity exacerbate the perceived partisan divide.

Science.gov (United States)

Westfall, Jacob; Van Boven, Leaf; Chambers, John R; Judd, Charles M

2015-03-01

An important component of political polarization in the United States is the degree to which ordinary people perceive political polarization. We used over 30 years of national survey data from the American National Election Study to examine how the public perceives political polarization between the Democratic and Republican parties and between Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. People in the United States consistently overestimate polarization between the attitudes of Democrats and Republicans. People who perceive the greatest political polarization are most likely to report having been politically active, including voting, trying to sway others' political beliefs, and making campaign contributions. We present a 3-factor framework to understand ordinary people's perceptions of political polarization. We suggest that people perceive greater political polarization when they (a) estimate the attitudes of those categorized as being in the "opposing group"; (b) identify strongly as either Democrat or Republican; and (c) hold relatively extreme partisan attitudes-particularly when those partisan attitudes align with their own partisan political identity. These patterns of polarization perception occur among both Democrats and Republicans. © The Author(s) 2015.

Political scandal and the politics of exposure : from Watergate to Lewinsky and beyond.

OpenAIRE

Welch, S. E.

2007-01-01

The paper advances an interpretation of political scandal and its place in democratic politics, taking the scandals of the ‘Watergate era’ in American politics as its evidential basis. The interpretation focuses on an aspect of political scandal that has been neglected in existing treatments, namely the politically constructed rather than epistemologically simple nature of scandalous ‘exposure’. The career of the ‘smoking gun’ in the Watergate era provides illustration. The paper goes on to r...

Cultural democratization and the politics of recognition: notes on the trajectory of the workers´ party (PT

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Paulo J. Krischke

2005-01-01

Full Text Available These research notes raise the hypothesis that the Worker´s Party (PT actively participates in the cultural democratization of the country - for instance, through its initiatives for the recognition of the citizen´s sociopolitical and cultural diversity. First, there is a need to distinguish between the policies of socioeconomic redistribution and those policies geared to sociopolitical and cultural recognition. Second, it is also necessary to focus on the relations between participatory policies and changes in the political culture. Such relations may show that the increasing support to democracy accompanies the recognition of pluralism and of the right to difference, among the youth, and in the locations administered by the PT during the last decade.

Democratic Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa

African Journals Online (AJOL)

there was general consensus that the “democratic experiment” had taken root in Africa ... African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance is of particular importance in this context. The .... of governmental work through results in the interests of citizens. ... declarations impact on the reality of political rule in Africa?

European Union: Gender and politics

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Žunić Natalija

2014-01-01

to provide for an adequate representation of women's needs and interests. The legal standards on political equality of men and women have been incorporated into the international and regional legal frameworks. Yet, the international conventions, declarations, optional protocols, strategies, action plans and recommendations for policy-makers at different levels have not generated a significant change in the general attitude to political equality of men and women. Why is it so? Women are underrepresented whenever the number of women in the elected bodies of authority is unproportional to the total number of women in the general population; such exclusion of women from politics is unjust because it diminishes the quality of political debate and undermines the essence of democratic legitimacy. For the past ten years, the academic community has been involved in a debate on different aspects of women's political representation. Within the framework of feminist research on gender, politics and state, the discussions have focused on the following issues: what are the benefits of increasing the number of women in politics; will the increase of female MPs in parliament change the nature of politics (given that it may be a chance to articulate women's perspective and discuss women's problems and interests; do women MPs make a difference in political life (and, if so, in what circumstances; and what kind of changes may be expected from their participation in politics? Most discussions have focused on establishing and analyzing the mutual relations between the descriptive and substantive women's representation in politics, primarily concerning the issue whether the increase in the number of female MPs contributes to increasing their interest in representing women's political interests. The quota system, which has been applied in the EU counties as a response to the problem of women's underrepresentation in politics, and the introduction of women's policy agencies (aimed at

Does Political Ideology Affect Economic Growth?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjørnskov, Christian

2005-01-01

This paper asks the question whether political ideology affects economic growth. Voters may demand inefficient levels of redistribution and government intervention, and they may care too little for aspects that really matter for the economy. Their norms and perceptions of society might, via...... their political ideology, affect economic performance. The paper presents evidence suggesting that rightwing societies have grown faster in the last decades than other democratic societies. Further analysis suggests that these societies develop better legal systems and less government intervention, which in turn...

Democratizing Rural Economy: Institutional Friction, Sustainable Struggle and the Cooperative Movement

Science.gov (United States)

Mooney, Patrick H.

2004-01-01

Sustainable development demands institutions manage the conflicts and struggles that inevitably arise over material and ideal interests. While current cooperative theory privileges the economic element, a political economy of cooperation emphasizes cooperatives' tentative bridging of economic and political spheres with a democratic ethos. The…

Democratic survival in Latin America (1945-2005

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Aníbal PÉREZ-LIÑÁN

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Why do democracies survive or break down? In this paper, it returns to this classic question with an empirical focus on Latin America from 1945 to 2005. The argument deviates from the quantitative literature and a good part of the qualitative literature on democratic survival and breakdown. It is argued that structural variables such as the level of development and inequalities have not shaped prospects for democratic survival in Latin America. Nor, contrary to findings in some of the literature, has economic performance affected the survival of competitive regimes. Instead, it is focused on the regional political environment and on actors’ normative preferences about democracy and dictatorship and their policy radicalism or moderation. It is argued that 1 a higher level of development did not increase the likelihood of democratic survival in Latin America over this long time; 2 if actors have a normative preference for democracy, it is more likely to survive; and 3 policy moderation facilitates democratic survival.

Energy technology and American democratic values

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thompson, G.M.

1988-01-01

Today, the benefits of liberal democracy have increasingly been cast into doubt. The debate over alternative energy policies illustrates the problems associated with liberal democracy. For many, it is the realization that energy choices and the selection of social and political values amount to much the same thing. Simply put, energy policy decisions, and the concomitant energy technologies, carry implications of an ethical, social and political nature. The argument of the social and political effects of energy technology flows from the more general thesis that all forms of technological practice condition social and political relations. That is, technological systems, beyond performing the specific functions for which they were designed, act upon and influence social and political arrangements. Seen in this light, energy technologies are as important to the promotion and preservation of this country's political values as are its institutions and laws. Further, there is evidence to suggest that this country's cherished democratic value of freedom is slowly being eclipsed by the values attendant to corporate capitalism and its singular pursuit of growth. It is this dominance of economic values over political values which provides the environment within which the technological debate is waged. Ultimately, tracing the historic linkage between property and liberty, it is concluded that the preservation of our freedom require new thinking regarding the present configuration of ownership patterns. The questions surrounding energy policy serve to illuminate these concerns.

Legitimacy, Political Disaffection and Discontent with (Democratic) Politics in the Czech Republic

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Linek, Lukáš

2016-01-01

Roč. 8, č. 2 (2016), s. 51-73 E-ISSN 1803-8220 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-29032S Institutional support: RVO:68378025 Keywords : Czech politics * political disaffection * regime legitimacy Subject RIV: AD - Politology ; Political Sciences http://acpo.vedeckecasopisy.cz/publicFiles/001208.pdf

Democratic Decentralization Reforms and Their Unintended Consequences in Postslavery Northern Benin,

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hahonou, Eric Komlavi

2017-01-01

The paper retraces the recent political emancipation of the Gando, a group of people from Northern Benin whose servile status had been an argument for placing them at the margins of their society and excluding them from political participation. Since the recent democratization process that took p...

RELIGIOUS DEMOCRATIZATION IN INDONESIA: STRENGTHENING THE PRO-CEDURAL AND SUBSTANTIAL RELIGIOUS DEMOCRACY

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Eka Hendry AR.

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Inspired by the book of Michael Mann about the dark side of democracy that discusses the paradox between the ideality of democratic values and empirical realities of violence in the name of freedom (democracy, this paper begins with the exposure of the paradox, such as the rise of the violent conflict between groups of people (both ethnic and religious-based and the high prevalence of violence between religious groups in Indonesia. Even worse, a very wrenching violence involves state actors (rulers. This paper tries to understand the roots of the paradox, with a look at how the relationship between state and religion and the religious community trend of Indonesia (especially Muslims. The author argues that the democratization of religion is a solution to the issues. To answer what kind of religious democracy lives in Indonesia, the author analyzes through a religious procedural (or constitutional democratic dimension and religious substantial democratic dimension. The phenomenon of disobedience of law and system and the euphoria of law-making that reflects “intolerance” in several places in Indonesia display the fundamental issue in the religious procedural democracy. Whereas in the context of religious substantial democracy, the prevailing trend of religion that serves as a political and economic vehicle and ignores religion as a substantial aspect of the behavior of the Indonesian society has resulted in the marginalization of religious position and function. Then, the infiltration of the model of political Islam has also led to alienation of the character of the Islamic society of Indonesia, from a democratic pattern to a revival (radical one. In this light, the author needs to present a strategy to encourage religious democracy in Indonesia, structurally through formulating the ideal relation model between state and religion and culturally through a substantial pattern of religion embedded with the character of Indonesian religious

Atomic-powered democracy: Policy against politics in the quest for American nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, R.W.

1993-01-01

This dissertation focuses on the relationship of American nuclear energy to democracy. It examines whether the nuclear policy processes have furthered the legitimacy-government accountability and citizen participation-which the democratic institutes are based. Nuclear policy and its institutions have placed severe limitations on democratic practices. Contravened democracy is seen most clearly in the decoupling of policy from politics. Decoupling refers to the weakening of institutional linkages between citizens and government, and to the erosion of the norms that ground liberal democracy. Decoupling is manifested in policy centralization, procedural biases, technical rationality, and the spatial displacement of conflict. Decoupling has normative implications: While federal accountability was limited and citizen participation was shackled, other major groups enjoyed privileged access to policy making. The decoupling of nuclear policy from politics arose within the context of US liberal-democratic capitalism. The federal government pursued its own goals of defense and world leadership. Yet, it was not structurally autonomous from the hegemony of the political-economic context. Economically, the Atomic Energy Act did not permit federal agencies to directly invest in power plant construction, and did not authorize them to commercially generate electricity. Private industry was structurally placed to domesticate the atom. Politically, the liberal-democratic system hampered an unquestioning pursuit of atomic energy. Federal institutions have been forced to heed some of the anti-nuclear concerns. The pervasive influence of the US political economy on nuclear policy has come to transgress democracy. Nuclear power's growth faltered during the 1970s. The political and economic constraints on federal actions have limited the means available to revive a becalmed nuclear industry; this has exerted strong pressure on federal institutions to decouple policy from participation

What Inverted U Can Do for Your Country: A Curvilinear Relationship Between Confidence in the Social System and Political Engagement.

Science.gov (United States)

Cichocka, Aleksandra; Górska, Paulina; Jost, John T; Sutton, Robbie M; Bilewicz, Michał

2017-08-24

We examined the link between political engagement and the tendency to justify the sociopolitical system. On one hand, confidence in the system should be negatively related to political engagement, insofar as it entails reduced desire for social change; on the other hand, system confidence should also be positively related to political engagement to the extent that it carries an assumption that the system is responsive to citizens' political efforts. Because of the combination of these 2 opposing forces, the motivation for political engagement should be highest at intermediate levels of system confidence. Five studies revealed a negative quadratic relationship between system confidence and normative political engagement. In 2 representative surveys, Polish participants with moderate levels of system confidence were more likely to vote in political elections (Study 1) and to participate in solidarity-based collective action (Study 2). Two field studies demonstrated a negative quadratic relationship between system confidence and actual participation in political demonstrations (gender equality and teachers' protests in Poland; Studies 3 and 4). This pattern of results was further corroborated by analyses of data from 50 countries drawn from the World Value Survey: we observed negative quadratic relationships between system confidence and collective action as well as voting. These relationships were stronger in democratic (vs. nondemocratic) regimes (Study 5). Our results suggest that some degree of system confidence might be useful to stimulate political engagement within the norms of the system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The Commitment of Senior Civil Servants to Democratic Freedoms and Equality

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Miro HACEK

2012-02-01

Full Text Available In modern democracies, senior civil servants have outgrown their classic role of mere implementers of orders given by politicians. Both senior civil servants and politicians serve the same democratic state, and both are heirs to the democratic evolution. Our hypothesis is based mainly on the historically developed division of labor between bureaucracy and politics. Senior civil servants have never been tasked with creating the conditions for more democracy in the state, but instead with creating the conditions for a more effective and successful state. Given that political bodies in which politicians operate have been established as the institutionalized personification of democracy, the task of politicians is above all the promotion of democracy, its values and norms. We have tested that hypothesis on the case of Slovenian senior civil servants and politicians and found out, that both elites are favorable to political freedoms and political equality.

Social Networks and Political Parties in Chile

OpenAIRE

Adler Lomnitz, Larissa

2002-01-01

This paper describes the origin and evolution of two Chilean political parties (the Radical Party and the Christian Democrat Party) through the analysis of the social networks that originated and composed them. The aim of this study is to propose a model of national political cultures on the basis of the structure of social networks related to power and of the symbol system, which legitimizes it. The structure of social networks, horizontal and vertical, are based on reciprocal or redistribut...

ICTs and Political Life.

Science.gov (United States)

Robbin, Alice; Courtright, Christina; Davis, Leah

2004-01-01

Presents a literature review that covers the following topics related to information and communications technologies (ICTs): (1) theories of ICTs and how they frame political life; (2) normative democratic theory and concepts; (3) e-political life; and (4) research on e-government, e-governance, and e-democracy; (Contains 276 references.) (MES)

Democratic Miseducation: Preparing Students for Democracies That Do Not Exist.

Science.gov (United States)

Vaughan, Geoffrey M.

The political educator takes the perspective that, in Thomas Hobbes's phrase, "man is not born fit for society." To make him so fit, contemporary political educators seek to develop individual autonomy and democratic affect, which would have the added task of reforming all of society in the future. The current consensus holds that the…

Technological Determinism and Permissionless Innovation as Technocratic Governing Mentalities: Psychocultural Barriers to the Democratization of Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taylor Dotson

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Despite no shortage of thoughtful analysis concerning how to more democratically develop and assess new technologies, practical progress toward democratized innovation has been paltry. This state of affairs suggests that the barriers to such democratic ends merit more attention. Building upon calls to more seriously examine citizens’ understandings of technology as autonomous or deterministic, this paper characterizes the assumptions, beliefs, and patterns of thought undergirding technological determinism and permissionless innovation as technocratic governing mentalities. That is, they contribute to the biasing of political discourses, practices, and organizations toward non-decision making and adaptation with regards to technological change. Indeed, permissionless innovation is quickly becoming the motto of those aiming to legitimate a “hands-off” approach to the sociotechnical “disruptions” sought by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Moreover, this paper explores how STS, as both an academic and political endeavor, might better respond to the challenges these modes of thinking present. Drawing upon relevant work within social psychology and communications, several fruitful avenues for engaged research regarding undermining technocratic governing mentalities become apparent. Not only is there a pressing need for accessible and parsimonious counternarratives to technological determinism and permissionless innovation but also rhetorical strategies for making the democratization of technological appear continuous with aspects of status quo systems. Finally, given that technocratic governing mentalities are likely to have practical and material roots, inquiry should be directed toward understanding how different sociotechnical arrangements impact citizens’ perception of the desirability and feasibility of democratizing technology.

Members of Parliament on Facebook: Towards an Understanding of the Pros and Cons of Online Political Conversations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Mads P.

2016-01-01

at political party meetings and at public meetings and hearings. However, the rise of new social media like Facebook provides new, interesting platforms for these conversations—and many opinion makers and scholars have high expectations for their democratic potential. This chapter examines what happens when......Key to the idea of a democratic public sphere has always been the ongoing conversations among citizens and between citizens and politicians (Koch, Mansbridge, Habermas, etc.). The conversations between politicians and citizens in the Danish political system have traditionally taken place...

Political Communication in Malaysia: A study on the Use of New Media in Politics

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Pauline Pooi Yin Leong

2015-10-01

Full Text Available To gain and retain political power, politicians use the media to persuade the masses to vote and support them, especially during elections. Barisan Nasional (BN has successfully used the media to maintain its power for the past 57 years, making it the longest-serving elected government in the world still currently in office. However, the emergence of the Internet has challenged the status quo. The purpose of the research was to investigate how new media has influenced the political process and communication strategies in Malaysia and its impact on the political landscape. The researcher interviewed 19 respondents: politicians, bloggers and media consultants from both sides of the political divide. The findings showed that new media, especially Web 2.0, has expanded the public sphere and enabled more Malaysians to participate in the democratic process, through information dissemination, mobilisation or crowd-sourcing. However, the cyber-war between BN and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR has caused confusion and disinformation, affecting the quality of democratic decision-making. Nevertheless, new media has enabled more voices to emerge and challenge the political hegemony.

Federalism in Nepal: Divergent Perception and Convergent Requirement for Democratic Consolidation

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-01

without a law for sexual harassment , and one study says that there are still about 85 discriminatory laws and 137 discriminatory legal provisions.147...procedures because federalization and democratization of the state are mutually supportive, a lesson learned from India and Spain. Only political...supportive, a lesson learned from India and Spain. Only political understanding at the highest possible levels and compromise of political interests

Democratic Deliberation Procedures : Theoretical and Practical Issues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tutui Viorel

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract : In contemporary political philosophy, the focus of the most important controversies is on the deliberative model of democracy. These controversies concern not only the theoretical problem of providing the best justification for a deliberative model of democratic legitimacy, but also the practical problem of designing the best deliberative procedure that will secure the implementation of deliberative democracy. In this paper I will present and analyze some of the most important deliberative designs: deliberative polls, citizens’ juries, consensus conferences and planning cells. I argue that these deliberative events can have a significant impact on the political behavior of a democratic community. However, I explain that all of them have only a limited influence on the policy-making activities in local and central governing structures. This is the reason why I believe we could only supplement and never fully replace the traditional aggregative procedures of democracy (voting and bargaining with a deliberative design.

Electoral Violence and Democratization Process in Nigeria: A Reference of 2011 and 2015 General Elections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lawrence I. EDET

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The general account of Nigeria’s post-independence electoral processes has always been characterized by violence. Nigeria’s 2015 general elections marked the fifth multi-party elections in the country and the second handover of civilian administrations since the inception of the Fourth Republic democratic experiment in 1999. This account cannot be analyzed without issues of electoral violence. Electoral violence had been a permanent feature of Nigeria’s democratic process, except 2015 general elections where the international observers described as a “significant improvement” over the previous elections in terms of violence related cases. Electoral related violence in the country particularly in 2011 got to an unprecedented dimension resulting in destruction of lives and property worth millions of naira. This paper expatiates on electoral violence and its general implications on the democratization process in the country, with major emphasis on the 2011 and 2015 general elections. The paper argued that the high incidence of pre and post electoral violence in the country within the periods has to do with the way Nigerian politicians regard politics, weak political institutions and weak electoral management body as well as bias nature of the security agencies, etc. However, the paper examined the general implications of electoral violence on democratization process and how the country can handle the electoral process to avoid threats associated with the electoral violence. Archival analysis, which widely extracted data from newspapers, journals, workshop papers, books, as well as publications of non-governmental organizations was adopted for the study. The major significance of this study is to expose the negative implications associated with electoral violence and how it can be curbed. The position canvassed in this paper will serve as a useful political literature for political leaders, policy makers and the general reading public who

Political model of social evolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Acemoglu, Daron; Egorov, Georgy; Sonin, Konstantin

2011-12-27

Almost all democratic societies evolved socially and politically out of authoritarian and nondemocratic regimes. These changes not only altered the allocation of economic resources in society but also the structure of political power. In this paper, we develop a framework for studying the dynamics of political and social change. The society consists of agents that care about current and future social arrangements and economic allocations; allocation of political power determines who has the capacity to implement changes in economic allocations and future allocations of power. The set of available social rules and allocations at any point in time is stochastic. We show that political and social change may happen without any stochastic shocks or as a result of a shock destabilizing an otherwise stable social arrangement. Crucially, the process of social change is contingent (and history-dependent): the timing and sequence of stochastic events determine the long-run equilibrium social arrangements. For example, the extent of democratization may depend on how early uncertainty about the set of feasible reforms in the future is resolved.

Young Women's Political Participation in Malawi | IDRC ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

IDRC's Democratic Governance, Women's Rights and Gender Equality initiative is ... They continue to be underrepresented in positions of power. ... social, economic, cultural and political situation of rural women in Malawi affects the political ...

Performing Politics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Troy R. E. Paddock

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Walter Benjamin’s observation that fascism turns politics into aesthetics is, by now, a well-worn idea. This article argues that Benjamin’s critique of politics can apply just as much to the modern democratic politics of the United States. Borrowing from Benjamin, Jürgen Habermas, and Carl Schmitt, this article suggests that modern political discourse in the United States does not follow the classical liberal ideal of rational discourse in the marketplace of ideas within the public sphere. Instead, contemporary politics has become spectacle where images and slogans replace thought and debate in a 24/7 news cycle and political infotainment programs. The result is that progressives and conservatives have their own political “ecospheres” which enable them to have their own perspective reinforced, and debate is replaced by straw man arguments and personal attacks.

Governing Insecurity: Democratic Control of Military and Security ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

P H Stoker

democratic control of military and security institutions is strategic to democratisation for two main reasons: firstly because these institutions have a peculiar intimate relationship to political power and secondly because their security functions, including the management of insecurities that may be generated by democratisation ...

Do Digital Social Networks Foster Civilian Partecipation among Millenials? Kitchenware Revolution and 15M Democratic Regeneration Cases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Igor Calzada

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Nowadays “education for citizenship” is presented as a solution for many of the political, social, and co-existential issues in Western democratic societies in order to tackle dysfunctionalities produced by globalization, populism, migration, information and communication technologies (ICTs, and violence. At the same time, particularly among “millennials” or “digital natives”, lack of civil commitment and apathy toward politics as a whole contrasts with their intensive usage of digital social networks, or social media. By examining in-depth the scientific literature about the potential conceptual correlations between the use of “digital social networks” and civilian participation among “millennials”, this paper explores two widely studied paradigmatic events of democratic regeneration: the “Kitchenware Revolution” in Iceland after the financial collapse on 6 October 2008, and the “15M Movement” in Spain after 15 May 2011. Despite the substantial relevance that digital social networks played in both cases, this paper wonders to what extent digital social networks foster millennials’ civilian participation, when, paradoxically, they seem to be the population target who contests the status quo but who is not actually being represented democratically in the formal political system. The author concludes that digital social networks could initially foster civilian participation, but they should be seen as a new artefact that, itself, does not necessarily lead to a better political representation of millennials. As well, this paper argues against the widespread assumption regarding the correlation between socioeconomic and educational status and Internet usage factors of millennials when it comes to civilian participation, particularly in extreme political mobilisation events such as the Kitchenware Revolution and 15M.

Political Rationality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Solhaug, Trond; Kristensen, Niels Nørgaard

The very idea about democracies is public participation in elections, decision-making and/or public engagement. The democratic participation distributes power among ordinary people and serve to legitimize decisions in public affairs and is a vital characteristic of a political culture.”The term...

Democratic and Republican physicians provide different care on politicized health issues

Science.gov (United States)

Hersh, Eitan D.; Goldenberg, Matthew N.

2016-01-01

Physicians frequently interact with patients about politically salient health issues, such as drug use, firearm safety, and sexual behavior. We investigate whether physicians’ own political views affect their treatment decisions on these issues. We linked the records of over 20,000 primary care physicians in 29 US states to a voter registration database, obtaining the physicians’ political party affiliations. We then surveyed a sample of Democratic and Republican primary care physicians. Respondents evaluated nine patient vignettes, three of which addressed especially politicized health issues (marijuana, abortion, and firearm storage). Physicians rated the seriousness of the issue presented in each vignette and their likelihood of engaging in specific management options. On the politicized health issues—and only on such issues—Democratic and Republican physicians differed substantially in their expressed concern and their recommended treatment plan. We control for physician demographics (like age, gender, and religiosity), patient population, and geography. Physician partisan bias can lead to unwarranted variation in patient care. Awareness of how a physician’s political attitudes might affect patient care is important to physicians and patients alike. PMID:27698126

From Representation to Participation: A More Democratic European Union?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcela Monica Stoica

2012-05-01

Full Text Available The present paper analyzes the evolution and characteristics of the democratic process in theEuropean Union from the perspective of political science using the recent theories in this field. Following theentry into force, the Treaty of Lisbon establishes the principle of participatory democracy that puts the focusof the European citizen, a citizen who is actively involved in European Union life, strengthening EU - citizenrelationship. The essence of participatory democracy is the destruction of political apathy and the maximizingof active participation of citizens in the democratic tasks. So, the basic principle of the participatorydemocracy is solidarity. The results of this analysis show that although participatory democracy is establishedin the European law, citizens are less involved in the decision-making in EU and are more and moreindividual, contradicting thus the very foundations of this type of democracy.

Political control and perceptions of corruption in Icelandic local government

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Political control is an important value of democratic governance and without it democratic accountability can hardly mean much. This is why a number of authors have seen politicization of public service appointments and greater control by the centre as a potential counterweight against trends in recent decades towards more networked and less hierarchical organizational forms of directing public policy. It may help to reassert democratic control. The option of strengthening political control, however, has not been much studied with regard to its likely effects on corruption. Power has the potential to corrupt unless adequately controlled and strengthening political power in a networked environment may create a structure of temptation which conventional deterrents to corruption are unable to curb. The impact of strong political leadership on corruption is here studied in the context of Icelandic local government, making use of institutional variations in the office of Mayor, which provide a unique opportunity for testing the effects of strong political control on corruption. The analysis indicates that municipalities with strong political mayors are likely to be associated with perceptions of corruption even when other factors, such as the structure of temptation and deterrents, are accounted for.

Rhetoric Tradition and Democracy: Isocrates’ Role in Ancient Greek Political Idea. Start Point of Western Political Philosophy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shokri Mehdi

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Political participation and the public education that have always been deployed to support the incipient progress of the civic life are revived in the modern political discourses. It has been believed that the age of pre-Socrates was the age of the Sophists whose acrid fallacy works occupied the political sphere, a malaise in government. However, speaking non-traditionally in the modern pedagogical system, there were some pre-Socratic thinkers and political philosophers/orators who’s works are the backbone of modern discourse on this matter. It will be examined whether any part of the classical rhetoric apparatus can be recovered and put to a good practice in the modern education and modern political participation. This point will be illustrated, furthermore, in this paper by alleging the importance of rhetoric, its role in Ancient Greek Democracy, and its influence on the modern concepts of power and democracy, as a continual element in a historical-political life. The further consideration is whether there was any democratic Polis existed in Ancient Athens and then, if there was, what characteristics it consisted of. Moreover, whether such concept can or should be considered in modern political discourses. In this sense, the liberal, non-dogmatic strain of the sophistry of Isocrates tradition urges us to indicate that the findings of this educational principles are, if not necessary, but adjutant complementary metes to our modern political knowledge of the states. In the end, it is inquired to see comparatively that how the tradition of rhetorical art and the concept of power in the Ancient Greek society have pertained to the modern democratic elements and whether we are able to empower this influential element in modern states.

Political discussions with family and friends

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Levinsen, Klaus; Yndigegn, Carsten

2015-01-01

Young people's engagement in political discussions with parents and friends represents a significant component of the political socialization process and can be seen as an activity where they learn some very basic democratic skills. Based on data from qualitative interviews and a questionnaire su...

Political mechanisms of democratization in modern Ukraine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. A. Tsurkanova

2014-07-01

Today, the political situation in Ukraine, strongly suggests that Ukrainian society is still prevalent understanding of the revolutionary democracy as freedom­destroying. However, in assessing the possible existence of democracy in modern conditions of development of Ukraine, among other principles, it is necessary to consider that in any case it should seek fundamental values and ideals not overseas ­ for the dales, and the private Ukrainian political history and culture.

Political Representation in Africa: Towards a Conceptual Framework*

African Journals Online (AJOL)

sulaiman.adebowale

2006-08-29

Aug 29, 2006 ... Political representation as a central component of democratic ... require attention from African scholars, civil society, political leaders and policy- ..... and their constituents' attitudes to representation, from style of doing poli-.

Political repression, civil society and the politics of responding to AIDS in the BRICS nations.

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez, Eduardo J; Harris, Joseph

2016-02-01

The policy responses to human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) nations have played out amid radically different political environments that have shaped state-civil society relations in critical ways. In contrasting these different environments, this article offers the first comparison of the policy response to AIDS in the BRICS nations and seeks to understand the way in which political context matters for conditioning the response to a major epidemic. Using a comparative historical approach, we find that while collaborative state-civil society relations have produced an aggressive response and successful outcomes in Brazil, democratic openness and state-civil society engagement has not necessarily correlated with an aggressive response or better outcomes in the other cases. Response to the epidemic has been worst by far in democratic South Africa, followed by Russia, where in the former, denialism and antagonistic state-civil society relations fuelled a delayed response and proved extremely costly in terms of human lives. In Russia, a lack of civil societal opportunity for mobilization and non-governmental organization (NGO) growth, political centralization and the state's unwillingness to work with NGOs led to an ineffective government response. Top-down bureaucratic rule and a reluctance to fully engage civil society in democratic India substantially delayed the state's efforts to engage in a successful partnership with NGOs. Nevertheless, China has done surprisingly well, in spite of its repressive approach and narrow engagement with civil society. And in all cases, we find the relationship between state and civil society to be evolving over time in important ways. These findings suggest the need for more research on the links between democratic openness, political repression and policy responses to epidemics. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press in

The Democratic Invention. A Reading of Lefort.

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Matías Sirczuk

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper I will present the way in which Lefort interprets modern democracy as a new form of society in regard to the sources of law and legitimacy. Lefort is a thinker who is difficult to place within the context of contemporary political theory: he not only defends democracy against Marxism but also thinks that this form of society cannot be circumscribed within the limits of the modern state, nor be understood through the categories that the tradition of political philosophy has developed to distinguish between political regimes. Lefort combines the defense of democracy with a radical critique of the established order. He identifies the democratic invention with the institution of a dynamic that makes, by right, the radical questioning of law the source of political legitimacy.

The political reference point: How geography shapes political identity.

Science.gov (United States)

Feinberg, Matthew; Tullett, Alexa M; Mensch, Zachary; Hart, William; Gottlieb, Sara

2017-01-01

It is commonly assumed that how individuals identify on the political spectrum-whether liberal, conservative, or moderate-has a universal meaning when it comes to policy stances and voting behavior. But, does political identity mean the same thing from place to place? Using data collected from across the U.S. we find that even when people share the same political identity, those in "bluer" locations are more likely to support left-leaning policies and vote for Democratic candidates than those in "redder" locations. Because the meaning of political identity is inconsistent across locations, individuals who share the same political identity sometimes espouse opposing policy stances. Meanwhile, those with opposing identities sometimes endorse identical policy stances. Such findings suggest that researchers, campaigners, and pollsters must use caution when extrapolating policy preferences and voting behavior from political identity, and that animosity toward the other end of the political spectrum is sometimes misplaced.

Is evidence-based medicine about democratizing medical practice?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorgård, Keld

2014-01-01

The authoritarian standpoint in medicine has been under challenge by various groups and researchers since the 1980s. The challenges have been ethical, political and medical, with patient movements at the forefront. Over the past decade, however, a deep challenge has been posed by evidence......-based medicine (EBM), which has challenged the entire strategy of medical treatment from the point of view of a self-critical, anti-authoritarian and hereby also (it has been claimed) a more democratic medical practice. Previously, the challenges arose out of the patient rights perspective. EBM, by contrast......, was taken to challenge the way doctors consider their medical practice as a whole. The present paper puts this claim of democratization into a historical context. Two dimensions of the democratization hypothesis are discussed and it is argued that they are insufficient to capture the substantial changes...

El discurso político de Manuel Fraga durante la Transición. Aplicaciones metodológicas / The political discourse of Manuel Fraga in the process of Democratic Transition. Methodological applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Pantoja Chaves

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Resumen: Para finalizar con esta serie de artículos sobre el análisis de los discursos de los líderes más importantes del proceso de Transición democrática en España, en esta entrega nos centramos en la figura política de Manuel Fraga Iribarne. Su trayectoria estuvo marcada por una activa participación institucional durante los últimos años del régimen de Franco, reconducida hacia una realidad política y social consensuada por los principios democráticos.Summary: To end this series of articles on the analysis of the speeches of the most important leaders of the democratic transition process in Spain, in this issue we focus on the political figure of Manuel Fraga Iribarne. His career was marked by active institutional participation over the last years of the Franco regime, redirected towards a political and social consensus for democratic principles.

Silent Politics – How local chambers of commerce in the Philippines fail to foster democratisation

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Basanta, Thapa

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Philippine democratic consolidation stagnates despite a vibrant civil society. A comparative exploration of three local chambers of commerce in the Visayas and Mindanao reveals that, contrary to established typologies, it is the decidedly non-confrontational stance towards government that keeps the chambers as civil society actors from contributing to democratic consolidation. Further, it becomes apparent that working within the existing clientelistic political structures is the most efficient strategy for interest groups to achieve political goals, while publicly confrontational strategies, which may be most conducive to democratic consolidation, can result in heavy political and economic costs.

Linking Political Systems and War Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harste, Gorm

2009-01-01

Decisive parts of the Western political system have demonstrated a seemingly surprising misinterpretation of military might. As Madelaine Albright has suggested, the mighty perceived themselves as "almighty". Political power seems to have invested in instrumental coercive power relations and found...... military coercion to be the appropriate mean. Using the system theory and the theory of systemic risks displayed by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann the article demonstrates how military systems due to their own autonomy and autopoiesis do not fit into the idea of political government....... The Clausewitzian ideal of a political system that could continue its power games by means of war was moderated by Clausewitz' own analysis of "friction". How can a political system be so blind towards the possibilities of another system? What are the risks of systemic blind spots? The argument of the paper...

Transportation management and security during the 2004 Democratic National Convention

Science.gov (United States)

2005-01-05

The transportation operations plan for the 2004 Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Boston, Massachusetts, was not a typical transportation plan driven by goals such as mobility and air quality. The DNC was the first national political convention...

Politics for cities, cities for the political. About possibility (and necessity of radical urban politics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wiktor Marzec

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Essay faces the problem of determinacy of global capitalism processes for the reality of urban political life. The city is naturally communitarian form of human life and seems to be the place where radical pro-community politics could be undertaken. Already existing and operating forms of power could fruitfully influence the city social relations. Values and norms of conduct are broadly delegated on the urban space and materiality, thus conscious shaping of city space has severe consequences for community life. If a crisis of the political partly has its roots in metamorphoses of the cities, then also remedies, rising from the urban materiality and reestablishing political subjects, could be thought. City, as most real place of political life could be either reduced to the aggregate of consumers or reestablished as a political community. Due to this is the place where undesired course of action could be stopped, hence precisely here the radical democratic politics can emerge.

The Puzzle of Democratic Monopolies: Single Party Dominance and Decline in India

OpenAIRE

Dasgupta, Aditya

2016-01-01

How to explain political monopolies in democratic institutional settings? Dominant parties in countries with robust formal democratic institutions are surprisingly frequent, yet poorly understood. Existing theories explain away the puzzle by characterizing dominant parties as `catch-all' parties that survive on the basis of historically imbued mass voter legitimacy. This dissertation develops a theory of how dominant parties in fact routinely win free and fair elections despite counter-majori...

The impact of democratic transitions on the representation of women in the national parliaments of southern Africa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kessel, van W.M.J.; Maloka, E.

2001-01-01

This chapter examines what democratic transition in the 1990s has meant for women in southern Africa. It focuses in particular on the impact of democratization processes on political participation by women, notably women's representation in parliament in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius,

The short communism's journey into democracy: an appraisal of Romanian democratization

OpenAIRE

Ionescu, Alexandra

2009-01-01

Two decades after the demise of communism, one can draw a state of the art of democratization in Romania. The task of building democracy was not only an endeavor of institutional engineering, but also a re-conceptualization of the intellectual resources of politics, as well as a re-conversion of the instruments and modes of government. Romanian democratization meant simultaneously unraveling the state and the regime and separating the state and the society. Both processes were grounded in the...

Homegrown Democracy, Homegrown Democrats

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Norman K. Denzin

2005-02-01

Full Text Available Written on the eve of the 2004 American presidential election, this political narrative offers a critical reading of two models of democracy: Instant-Mix imperial democracy (bring to a boil, add oil, then bomb, criticized by Arundhati Roy, and Garrison Keillor’s Homegrown Democrat. Keillor’s pastoral view of democracy is anchored in LakeWobegon, his imaginary utopian community. His homegrown democracy is narrow, provincial, and White. The author concludes that he must look elsewhere for his alternative view of democracy.

The political reference point: How geography shapes political identity

Science.gov (United States)

Feinberg, Matthew; Tullett, Alexa M.; Mensch, Zachary; Hart, William; Gottlieb, Sara

2017-01-01

It is commonly assumed that how individuals identify on the political spectrum–whether liberal, conservative, or moderate–has a universal meaning when it comes to policy stances and voting behavior. But, does political identity mean the same thing from place to place? Using data collected from across the U.S. we find that even when people share the same political identity, those in “bluer” locations are more likely to support left-leaning policies and vote for Democratic candidates than those in “redder” locations. Because the meaning of political identity is inconsistent across locations, individuals who share the same political identity sometimes espouse opposing policy stances. Meanwhile, those with opposing identities sometimes endorse identical policy stances. Such findings suggest that researchers, campaigners, and pollsters must use caution when extrapolating policy preferences and voting behavior from political identity, and that animosity toward the other end of the political spectrum is sometimes misplaced. PMID:28207906

The political reference point: How geography shapes political identity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Feinberg

Full Text Available It is commonly assumed that how individuals identify on the political spectrum-whether liberal, conservative, or moderate-has a universal meaning when it comes to policy stances and voting behavior. But, does political identity mean the same thing from place to place? Using data collected from across the U.S. we find that even when people share the same political identity, those in "bluer" locations are more likely to support left-leaning policies and vote for Democratic candidates than those in "redder" locations. Because the meaning of political identity is inconsistent across locations, individuals who share the same political identity sometimes espouse opposing policy stances. Meanwhile, those with opposing identities sometimes endorse identical policy stances. Such findings suggest that researchers, campaigners, and pollsters must use caution when extrapolating policy preferences and voting behavior from political identity, and that animosity toward the other end of the political spectrum is sometimes misplaced.

National Integration, Citizenship, Political Participation

African Journals Online (AJOL)

USER

attainment of a successful democratization process and national stability. ... insecurity, sectarian violence, ethnic strifes, political instability and threats of .... of nation-states out of disparate socio-economic, religious, ethnic and geographical.

Teachers as curriculum leaders: towards promoting gender equity as a democratic ideal

OpenAIRE

Simmonds, Shan

2017-01-01

Curriculum is a site of political, racial, gendered, and theological dispute. Teachers who acknowledge this and see the implications for democratic living embrace their teaching practice as curriculum leaders and participate in complicated conversations. With the focus on gender equity as a democratic ideal, this article explores the lived experiences of some South African female teachers. From the findings, it became evident that some teachers still experience their school contexts as pervad...

News Media Consumption and Political Behavior in Latin America

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryan Salzman

2015-01-01

Full Text Available News media are an important factor in any democratic society. Research focused on developed democracies has paved the way for analysis in the context of less well-developed democracies. The project endeavors to continue that investigation into whether and how news media consumption affects democratic behavior among individuals in a region comprised of developing democracies: Latin America. Employing rich survey data available from the 2008 Latin American Public Opinion Project, traditional analyses are used to test one of the most basic questions for political communication researchers: Does news media consumption motivate or depress political participation? The results indicate that, on average, news media mobilize political participation, albeit to different degrees per medium and participation type. This seems to happen because those media socialize Latin Americans to value political participation.

Bringing political ecology into critical medical anthropology: a challenge to biocultural approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Baer, H A

1996-12-01

This essay presents an effort to incorporate the "environment" into critical medical anthropology. Rather than relying upon the multifactorial approach characteristic of medical ecology or biocultural approaches in medical anthropology, it urges critical medical anthropologists to turn to the burgeoning literature on eco-Marxism, eco-socialism, or political ecology in their efforts to develop a political ecology of health. Given that political ecologists generally advocate democratic eco-socialism as a meaningful alternative to the capitalist world system, this essay also presents a critical examination of the environmental record of post-revolutionary societies.

Political economy. On the endogeneity of political preferences: evidence from individual experience with democracy.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola; Schündeln, Matthias

2015-03-06

Democracies depend on the support of the general population, but little is known about the determinants of this support. We investigated whether support for democracy increases with the length of time spent under the system and whether preferences are thus affected by the political system. Relying on 380,000 individual-level observations from 104 countries over the years 1994 to 2013, and exploiting individual-level variation within a country and a given year in the length of time spent under democracy, we find evidence that political preferences are endogenous. For new democracies, our findings imply that popular support needs time to develop. For example, the effect of around 8.5 more years of democratic experience corresponds to the difference in support for democracy between primary and secondary education. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, John; Siim, Birte

2004-01-01

identities. Politics of empowerment has to do with the agency and mobilisation dimension of social and political change. The title of the book "Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment" address the leitmotiv: namely to discuss plussumgame between politics of inclusion and politics of empowerment......The objective of the book is to analyse different politics of inclusion and empowerment and the different paradigms of inclusion/exclusion in order to underline the close link between politics of scoial equality and politics of recognition of ciultural difference. Politics of inclusion is thus...... theproductive/innovative linkage of politics of redistributuin and politics og resognition, whnich over a longer time span creates sustainable paths of democratic and social development, which increases the capacity to handle both conflicts about economic resources and life-chances and conflicts about...

The political context of social inequalities and health.

Science.gov (United States)

Navarro, V; Shi, L

2001-01-01

This analysis reflects on the importance of political parties, and the policies they implement when in government, in determining the level of equalities/inequalities in a society, the extent of the welfare state (including the level of health care coverage by the state), the employment/unemployment rate, and the level of population health. The study looks at the impact of the major political traditions in the advanced OECD countries during the golden years of capitalism (1945-1980)--social democratic, Christian democratic, liberal, and ex-fascist--in four areas: (1) the main determinants of income inequalities; (2) levels of public expenditures and health care benefits coverage; (3) public support of services to families; and (4) the level of population health as measured by infant mortality. The results indicate that political traditions more committed to redistributive policies (both economic and social) and full-employment policies, such as the social democratic parties, were generally more successful in improving the health of populations. The erroneous assumption of a conflict between social equity and economic efficiency is also discussed. The study aims at filling a void in the growing health and social inequalities literature, which rarely touches on the importance of political forces in influencing inequalities.

The Need for Media Education in Democratic Education

Science.gov (United States)

Stoddard, Jeremy

2014-01-01

Despite the potential for media and technology to act as a democratizing force and the challenges to democracy posed by partisanship and the explosion of political media spending, media education and the preparation of active citizens in schools is virtually nonexistent. This essay presents the case for revitalizing media education for the age of…

Political Education and School Organization

Science.gov (United States)

Hawley, Willis D.

1971-01-01

Major issue raised in this paper is whether schools are providing students with the type of programs and environment that foster the full development of interest in, and capacity for, democratic politics. (Author)

A Democratic Vietnam; Not in the United States’ Core Interests

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-01

Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) intends to make any democratic reform or improve its long track record of suppressing freedom of speech or human rights...to suppress freedom of speech to maintain its political monopoly and tight control of the country. Although the Doi Moi policy has fostered...China share very similar political and economic designs, to include the problems of corruption and repression of freedom of speech . Many postulate

DEMOCRATIZING JOURNALISM? Realizing the Citizen's Agenda for Local News Media

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Costera Meijer, I.

2010-01-01

Media scholars and journalists expect local media to function as vital institutions for the creation and maintenance of a democratic political and public arena and a general sense of social cohesion and public connection (Aldridge, 2007; Couldry et al., 2007; Franklin, 2006; Rosenstiel et al.,

Twenty years of revolutionary democratic Ethiopia, 1991 to 2011

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hagmann, Tobias; Abbink, Jon

2011-01-01

This paper introduces a special issue of the Journal of Eastern African Studies devoted to a review of Ethiopia's 20 years of “revolutionary democracy”. The collection brings together 11 articles exploring differing aspects of Ethiopia's political experience since 1991. This introduction begins...... with a short summary of these 11 papers, but then moves to a substantive review of Ethiopia's political history over the past two decades, featuring consideration of the extent of transformation and continuity under the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the importance...

Curbing Electoral Violence in Nigeria: The Imperative of Political ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Both domestic and international political sociologists based on empirical investigations argue that the greatest obstacle to democratic consolidation in. Nigeria is electoral violence. This is as a result of the rascal politics that the political elites engage in. Sometimes, the violence is intra-party, and most of the time, it is ...

Democratic accountability and the votes for nuclear energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bradbury, F

1980-10-01

Political aspects of nuclear energy figured in United Kingdom elections during the 1970s as the issue of risks aroused popular interest. The failure of such a complex issue to make an impact at the polls reflects certain electoral inadequacies in the democratic process in that too much time elapsed between opportunities for citizens to express their will and this resulted in pressure groups replacing referenda. Nuclear issues illustrate the dilemma of risk assignment and risk assignment when the perception of risks is not balanced by clear information about the benefits. True democratic accountability would allow citizens to vote directly on each major issue rather than periodically electing a representative with a package of unrelated positions. 7 references. (DCK)

Political Anger: The Basis for Contemporary Lack of Civility in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The incidence of political anger and its dynamics calls for concern in the political arena. It has left in its trail all forms of casualties and threat to political and democratic stability in Nigeria. This paper argued that high stakes in politics, limited avenues for ventilating anger, the tendency to focus on majority ethnic groups while ...

On the position of the Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on the Agrarian Reform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Drakić Gordana

2012-01-01

Full Text Available One of the most important issues in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was the process of the agrarian reform. The agrarian reform was a complex state measure with an economic, social and political aspect. All political parties, due to political reasons, spoke in favor of the resolution of the agrarian issue through agrarian reform. Political parties kept in mind the large number of those individuals interested in the agrarian reform, as well as the fact that majority of the voters were farmers, when they formulated their position towards the reform. The Democratic Party was one of the most influential political party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The paper presents the basic concepts related to the agrarian reform and agricultural policy in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes that represented the Democratic Party.

Psychology of democracy and democratization: Experience from Central and Eastern Europe

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Klicperová-Baker, Martina

2012-01-01

Roč. 47, Supplement (2012), s. 694-694 ISSN 0020-7594. [International Congress of Psychology /30./. 22.07.2012-27.07.2012, Cape Town] Institutional support: RVO:68081740 Keywords : political psychology * democratization * Central and Eastern Europe Subject RIV: AN - Psychology

Parents' views on sex education in schools: How much do Democrats and Republicans agree?

Science.gov (United States)

Kantor, Leslie; Levitz, Nicole

2017-01-01

More than 93 percent of parents place high importance on sex education in both middle and high school. Sex education in middle and high school is widely supported by parents regardless of their political affiliation. Using data from a large diverse sample of 1,633 parents of children aged 9 to 21 years, we examined whether views on sex education differed by parents' political affiliation. More than 89 percent of parents that identified as Republicans or Democrats support including a wide range of topics in sex education including puberty, healthy relationships, abstinence, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and birth control in high school. In middle school, 78 percent or more of both parents that identified as Republicans and Democrats support the inclusion of those topics. Controlling for key demographic factors, parents that identified as Democrats are more likely than those that identified as Republicans to support the inclusion of the topics of healthy relationships, birth control, STDs, and sexual orientation in both middle and high school. However, a strong majority of Republican parents want all these topics included in sex education. Sex education which includes a broad set of topics represents an area of strong agreement between parents of both political parties.

Parents' views on sex education in schools: How much do Democrats and Republicans agree?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leslie Kantor

Full Text Available More than 93 percent of parents place high importance on sex education in both middle and high school. Sex education in middle and high school is widely supported by parents regardless of their political affiliation. Using data from a large diverse sample of 1,633 parents of children aged 9 to 21 years, we examined whether views on sex education differed by parents' political affiliation. More than 89 percent of parents that identified as Republicans or Democrats support including a wide range of topics in sex education including puberty, healthy relationships, abstinence, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs and birth control in high school. In middle school, 78 percent or more of both parents that identified as Republicans and Democrats support the inclusion of those topics. Controlling for key demographic factors, parents that identified as Democrats are more likely than those that identified as Republicans to support the inclusion of the topics of healthy relationships, birth control, STDs, and sexual orientation in both middle and high school. However, a strong majority of Republican parents want all these topics included in sex education. Sex education which includes a broad set of topics represents an area of strong agreement between parents of both political parties.

Establishing Political Deliberation Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rose, Jeremy; Sæbø, Øystein

2008-01-01

The extension and transformation of political participation is dependent on widespread deliberation supported by information and communication technologies.  The most commonly found examples of these eParticipation systems are political discussion forums.  Though much of the discussion...... of these technologies is conducted in the eGovernment and (particularly) the eDemocracy literature, political discussion forums present a distinct set of design and management challenges which relate directly to IS concerns. In this article we analyze problems in establishing political deliberation systems under five...... headings: stakeholder engagement, web platform design, web platform management, political process re-shaping and evaluation and improvement. We review the existing literature and present a longitudinal case study of a political discussion forum: the Norwegian DemokratiTorget (Democracy Square).  We define...

Normalization of Racism through the Language of Democracy: the Case of the Slovenian Democratic Party

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Frank

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The article addresses the question of what kind of discursive strategies enable political parties the proliferation of racist and xenophobic ideas, in terms of a democratic society and within established politics. Theoretically, it is based on studies of racism, populism and the radical right. In the empirical part, elements of racism and (radical-right populism in the discourse of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS are analysed, with particular focus on the othering discourse. The discourse analysis includes interviews of party representatives and texts published on party’s websites. The SDS discourse analysis shows that the party articulates social problems through the use of nationalist, nativist and essentialist arguments, and proliferates and normalizes xenophobic and racist ideas by reproducing minorities and political opponents as threats to the Slovenian culture, values and lifestyle, as well as threats to the party itself.

Special Report: Political Violence and Democratic Uncertainty in Ethiopia

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Smith, Lahra

2007-01-01

The pardon and release of thirty-eight political detainees, mostly from the leadership of the main opposition party, may give impetus to political negotiations in Ethiopia after more than two years crisis and stalemate...

Whose Canon? Culturalization versus Democratization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erling Bjurström

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Current accounts – and particularly the critique – of canon formation are primarily based on some form of identity politics. In the 20th century a representational model of social identities replaced cultivation as the primary means to democratize the canons of the fine arts. In a parallel development, the discourse on canons has shifted its focus from processes of inclusion to those of exclusion. This shift corresponds, on the one hand, to the construction of so-called alternative canons or counter-canons, and, on the other hand, to attempts to restore the authority of canons considered to be in a state of crisis or decaying. Regardless of the democratic stance of these efforts, the construction of alternatives or the reestablishment of decaying canons does not seem to achieve their aims, since they break with the explicit and implicit rules of canon formation. Politically motivated attempts to revise or restore a specific canon make the workings of canon formation too visible, transparent and calculated, thereby breaking the spell of its imaginary character. Retracing the history of the canonization of the fine arts reveals that it was originally tied to the disembedding of artists and artworks from social and worldly affairs, whereas debates about canons of the fine arts since the end of the 20th century are heavily dependent on their social, cultural and historical reembedding. The latter has the character of disenchantment, but has also fettered the canon debate in notions of “our” versus “their” culture. However, by emphasizing the dedifferentiation of contemporary processes of culturalization, the advancing canonization of popular culture seems to be able to break with identity politics that foster notions of “our” culture in the present thinking on canons, and push it in a more transgressive, syncretic or hybrid direction.

FROM CONVENIENT HIBERNATION TO CIRCUMSTANTIAL DESPERATION: HATE SPEECH, PARTY POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND THE NIGERIA’S 2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mike Omilusi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Until a few months to the 2015 general elections, many political parties that have conveniently hibernated for a better part of their existence, perhaps owing to lack of proper organizational structure or support base, uncoordinated programmes or were registered because of pecuniary gains or admittance of anticipated poor electoral outing, suddenly began to jostle for political space. The main opposition party and the ruling party were either perfecting a merger processes or engulfed in internal wrangling such that communication with the electorate on fundamental issues became inconsequential. In fact, the two dominant parties, the Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressive Congress only produced their presidential candidates less than five months to the election; and the electoral campaign assumed desperate contestation in a climate of prejudice and intolerance. Hate speeches and violence were the hallmarks of their electoral campaigns. The 2015 general elections therefore, offer a unique context to interrogate the place of party political communication in an emerging democracy and specifically how hate campaigns among political gladiators/contending parties could generate violence, and if not tamed, derail democratic consolidation. This essay affirms that hate speech is not only inspired by some social circumstances but also part of a general democratic process. It attests to the fact that Nigerian politicians have become more desperate and daring in taking and retaining political power; and more intolerant of opposition, criticism and efforts at replacing them. Relying extensively on secondary sources with the aid of descriptive and narrative tools, this essay concludes that the political culture of a country determines the behavior and attitude of the population towards the political system and that democratic transition from one administration to another, particularly in emerging democracies, has often been accompanied by violence

Obama cares about visuo-spatial attention: perception of political figures moves attention and determines gaze direction.

Science.gov (United States)

Mills, Mark; Smith, Kevin B; Hibbing, John R; Dodd, Michael D

2015-02-01

Processing an abstract concept such as political ideology by itself is difficult but becomes easier when a background situation contextualizes it. Political ideology within American politics, for example, is commonly processed using space metaphorically, i.e., the political "left" and "right" (referring to Democrat and Republican views, respectively), presumably to provide a common metric to which abstract features of ideology can be grounded and understood. Commonplace use of space as metaphor raises the question of whether an inherently non-spatial stimulus (e.g., picture of the political "left" leader, Barack Obama) can trigger a spatially-specific response (e.g., attentional bias toward "left" regions of the visual field). Accordingly, pictures of well-known Democrats and Republicans were presented as central cues in peripheral target detection (Experiment 1) and saccadic free-choice (Experiment 2) tasks to determine whether perception of stimuli lacking a direct association with physical space nonetheless induce attentional and oculomotor biases in the direction compatible with the ideological category of the cue (i.e., Democrat/left and Republican/right). In Experiment 1, target detection following presentation of a Democrat (Republican) was facilitated for targets appearing to the left (right). In Experiment 2, participants were more likely to look left (right) following presentation of a Democrat (Republican). Thus, activating an internal representation of political ideology induced a shift of attention and biased choice of gaze direction in a spatially-specific manner. These findings demonstrate that the link between conceptual processing and spatial attention can be totally arbitrary, with no reference to physical or symbolic spatial information. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Fundamentalists toward democracy? Empirical analysis of fundamentalist attitudes and democratic attitudes in the Middle East

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kazem Hajizadeh

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Huntington asks an important question in The Third Wave: if traditional Islamic values and beliefs have significantly retarded democratic progress in the past, to what extent are they likely to continue to do so in the future? Unlike Huntington’s work, this paper is primarily a micro-level analysis. It seeks to show how Muslim people interpret and evaluate Islam and democracy. So we want to attach more data to Huntington’s theory and wish to demonstrate that non-democratic political space and authoritarian governments in Muslim countries can’t be explained by the features of Islam; there are considerable reasons and facts to convince scholars to look for other factors. The results illustrate nearly all Muslims tend to Islam and democracy at the same time. It seems Large populations of moderate fundamentalists in Muslim countries are appearing who struggle to actualize Islamic teachings in a democratic political model.

Promoting democratic citizenship through non-formal adult education : the case of Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Milana, Marcella; Bern Jensen, Tore

Since the mid-90es the importance of strengthening democratic citizenship (DC) through learning activities has become an important aspect of European education policy. Accordingly, civic competences (CCs), "based on knowledge of social and political concepts and structures and a commitment...... activities organized by the non-formal adult education system in cooperation with national NGOs, which aim at promoting CCs among the out-of-school and unemployed population. The analysis will draw extensively on the Danish "folkeoplysning" research tradition, which provides a useful frame for interpreting...

DDoS Attacks as Political Assemblages

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Robbie Fordyce

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This article seeks to unpack the idea of the automaton as a figure of political dissent within technological networks. The idea of the automaton is that of a body where the concepts of life, agency, and subjectivity are in question; these questions have made the automaton into an important element in the projects of Enlightenment humanism and as an unspoken element in posthumanist examination of the cyborg. The figure of the automaton is an expression of Cartesian mind-body dualism that reverses the idea of cogito ergo sum, by questioning the intentionality that lies behind the acts of another body. The body exists, but does it think? This article is not concerned with the idea of the automaton as an object of transcendental dualism, but rather aims to investigate this idea in terms of its immanence within network communication. The automaton is an idea that deliberately complicates the relationship between machines and individuals within a network, without prioritising either perspective. As Alan Turing shows, we cannot predict whether a computer on a network (or other machine is being used by a human agent, or whether the machine is simply programmed to act autonomously. The issue is then, are the actions of political dissent of a single node on a computer network the product of an independent agent working in tandem within a democratic framework? Or, is it the reverse: are these acts of political dissidence the automated actions of a small number of individuals exploiting systems of automation in order to achieve political goals? If we use the automaton to stand in as a figure that is neither entirely human nor entirely cyborgean, then certain concerns of network politics and assumptions about the democratic nature of network communications become destabilised.

The Romanian Social Democratic Party versus the authoritarian monarchy

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Florin Grecu

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The article approaches the Romanian social-democratic collaboration during 1938-1940 with the authoritarian monarch regime. Even though the party leaders had diverging political views, regards to the acceptance or the non-acceptance of the authoritarian regime, the influential PSDR members held leading positions within the single party and the corporate parliament and within the union structures. The positions were offered by the regime, so that the union leaders would stop instigating workers to go on strike, and to accept the governmental policies. The freedom of speech and the political actions were ceded to the monarch, who governed at the place of the political parties and he controlled the unions, by using the guilds.

Relationships between Political Development and Intervention

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

London, David T

2006-01-01

.... The Congo's political development from the 1700s to 1960 resulted in a democratically elected Congolese administration that at the time of independence was unable to operate the national government or the economy...

TAKE IONESCU ŞI CONSTITUIREA PARTIDULUI CONSERVATOR DEMOCRAT

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Georgeta TÂMPESCU (LUCA

2013-07-01

Full Text Available “No political party is born unless there is need of it, unless it is preceded by certain conditions that make it necessary” - said C. Rădulescu Motru in 1900. The Conservative Democrat Party (1908–1922 led by Take Ionescu became the exponent of the masses that could no longer adhere to the policy of the two historical parties. The petty bourgeoisie of the cities, entrepreneurs, clerks, teachers, lawyers saw in Take Ionescu the leader that could voice their needs and followed him unconditionally. Due to his overflowing personality and to the doctrine he presented, Take Ionescu won new and new supporters, registering never before seen electoral success under the vote poll tax system.

In conclusion: Political representation ans legitimacy in the European Union

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schmitt, Hermann; Schmitt, Hermann; Thomassen, Jacques J.A.

1999-01-01

The purpose of this book is to expand knowledge of political representation in the EU and of the legitimacy of its political order. In this concluding chapter, a summary is given of what has been learned on these two subjects and what this says about the EU as a developing democratic political

The msi and the role of fascism in Italian political culture

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Ferran GALLEGO

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the role of the italian social movement in Italy (MSI in the twentieth century. The key to understand its influence would lie in the peculiarities of the political regime emerged from the ruins of fascism. With the proclamation of the republic many fascists enrolled in the ranks of the christian Democrats and other parties of the right, leaving the MSI as sole heir of fascism. That did not stop working with the christian Democrats through the strategy of «inserimento». When the christian Democrats began their approach to the italian socialist Party, the MSI was clearly excluded and located in a relatively marginal position. Its later resurgence may be explained considering the radical changes in italian politics in the sixties and seventies; circumstances which favoured the arrival of Giorgio Almirante as leader of MSI in 1969. In that period, the MSI presented itself as the political party of restored order and ready to fight subversion (communist itself. During the 80s, the MSI moved between the ‘strategy-Party Protest’ leaded by Almirante and the idea of a ‘civil society Party’ defended by Rauti. In the end, the MSI, after the change of leadership of Almirante by Gianfranco Fini, began a new path which stated loyalty to the values of fascism, strengthened by the crisis of communism. This MSI new discourse eased its growth in circumstances in which the traditional parties and the Italian Republican system as a whole were practically about to collapse. Subsequently, the post-fascist Alianza Nacional emerged; a political formation which later on merged into Forza Italia, leaded by Silvio Berlusconi.

Political regimes, political ideology, and self-rated health in Europe: a multilevel analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Huijts, Tim; Perkins, Jessica M; Subramanian, S V

2010-07-22

Studies on political ideology and health have found associations between individual ideology and health as well as between ecological measures of political ideology and health. Individual ideology and aggregate measures such as political regimes, however, were never examined simultaneously. Using adjusted logistic multilevel models to analyze data on individuals from 29 European countries and Israel, we found that individual ideology and political regime are independently associated with self-rated health. Individuals with rightwing ideologies report better health than leftwing individuals. Respondents from Eastern Europe and former Soviet republics report poorer health than individuals from social democratic, liberal, Christian conservative, and former Mediterranean dictatorship countries. In contrast to individual ideology and political regimes, country level aggregations of individual ideology are not related to reporting poor health. This study shows that although both individual political ideology and contextual political regime are independently associated with individuals' self-rated health, individual political ideology appears to be more strongly associated with self-rated health than political regime.

Political Parties and Innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bischoff, Carina Saxlund; Christiansen, Flemming Juul

2017-01-01

parties themselves as well their impact on potentially innovative public decisions. One major expectation is that hierarchical parties with centralized leadership make more efficient decisions but that sustainable innovation outcomes promoted by collaborative efforts are easier to obtain for decentralized...... political parties with participatory internal democratic processes....

An essay on the Muslim Gap. Religiosity and the political system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paldam, Martin

The paper analyzes 3 main trends: (t1) The economic development in the Muslim world is slower than in the rest of the world. (t2) The world grows increasingly democratic due to rising incomes, but this trend does not affect the Muslim world. (t3) The world grows increasingly secular due to rising......-Western countries, though at a lower level. Further, it is demonstrated that Muslims deviate as to religiosity, family life values and as to the preference for religion in politics....

Political Activism: Post-communist Challenges and Opportunities in East Central Europe

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Alexandra Iancu

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Contrary to standard narratives on the declining function of parties in fostering political participation, this article argues that far from abandoning the cause of participation, post-communist political parties diversified the understanding of the party as a mobilizing agency by adapting their internal organizations. On the basis of a mid-range number of cases (e.g. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia the study identified different patterns of evolution within a complex interaction effect between participation and organizational development. The peculiarity of the parties’ organization and functions has shaped political participation both as an opportunity structure (legitimizing the political system and increasing citizens’ involvement in politics and as a democratic challenge (increasing the pro-pensity of parties towards populism, ‘seasonal’ membership, corruption and clientelism.

The Context and Provenance of Democratization in Ghana (1990-1992

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Thomas Maxwell Aidoo

2009-12-01

integración económica y política. Visto de esta forma, la ola de democratización en Ghana puede ser explicada como una respuesta a la exclusión y una vía para facilitar la integración.__________________ABSTRACT:In the last decade and half of the twentieth century, a consensus emerged that the difficulties that have slowed down Africa’s development are more political than economic. Political scientists and Africa’s development partners, consequently, suggested democratization and good governance as means of bringing Africa out of underdevelopment.  Accordingly, since 1990, a wave of democratization has engulfed most of Africa.  This paper examines the context and origins of the democratization process in Ghana.  The politics of Ghana underwent a most rapid process of transformation between 1990 and 1992. The period witnessed the obliteration of a decade of military dictatorship.  There was a reinstallation of pluralist politics and constitutional rule.  At the same time, a dramatic growth of civil society became discernible.   The paper identifies two developments, elite and mass struggles for political and economic incorporation respectively, and external pressures, as having played the dominant role in this process.  It highlights the political forces and actors that shaped the restoration of constitutional/democratic rule in Ghana.  The paper addresses the concern that the movement toward democracy in Ghana in the 1990s arose as a demand by politically and economically marginalized elements for incorporation.  The political and economic marginalization occurred in conditions of political monolithism, coercive authoritarianism, and economic slump or, in the words of Claude Ake (2000, “persistent underdevelopment”.  The demand for incorporation occurred on two levels - on the level of elites as demand for political assimilation and on the level of the masses as demand for economic assimilation.  Thus, political monolithism and persistent

Public Politics and Democratic Administration: the way school board works with the Municipal Secretary of Education

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Celso Conti

2008-03-01

Full Text Available The great depth of changes in the capitalism system beginning in the middle of the twentieth century has produced a total new way of life, which encloses from social behavior patterns to the relationship between capital, employment and the State. International organisms have been created to organize the changing process in the Nations’ agenda around the world, including the educational area that begins to be understood as priority justifying the needs of a new social pact, which implies the participation of the whole society. In Brazil, the municipal, state and federal laws sanction the principle of “democratic administration”. What we need to verify, though, is how this principle has been put in practice. Hence, the text intends to analyze the school board performance within the education system of São Carlos/SP, identifying the participation possibilities of the community inside the school. For that, we used the statements given by the municipal school counselors, and, as a result we identified two important obstacles regarding the democratic inner workings of the school board: one related to parity and power sharing; and the other regarding the representation.

Political Corruption And Poverty In Nigeria | Faloore | African Journal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

From preindependence era to date, political corruption and its attendant problems in forms of vote buying, election rigging and manipulation, outright embezzlement by politicians have negatively affected the lives of Nigerians. This has led to increased political apathy and distrust in the country's fledging democratic ideals.

Scientific literacy for democratic decision-making

Science.gov (United States)

Yacoubian, Hagop A.

2018-02-01

Scientifically literate citizens must be able to engage in making decisions on science-based social issues. In this paper, I start by showing examples of science curricula and policy documents that capitalise the importance of engaging future citizens in decision-making processes whether at the personal or at the societal levels. I elucidate the ideological underpinnings behind a number of the statements within those documents that have defined the trajectory of scientific literacy and have shaped what ought to be considered as personal and societal benefits. I argue that science curricula and policy documents can truly endorse scientific literacy when they embed principles of democratic education at their core. The latter entails fostering learning experiences where some of the underlying assumptions and political ideologies are brought to the conscious level and future citizens encouraged to reflect upon them critically and explicitly. Such a proposal empowers the future citizens to engage in critical deliberation on science-based social issues without taking the underlying status quo for granted. I end up the paper by situating the preparation of scientifically literate citizens within a framework of democratic education, discuss conditions through which a curriculum for scientific literacy can serve democratic decision-making processes, and provide modest recommendations.

Crafting a Democratic Enclave on the Cyberspace: Case Studies of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore

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Yangyue Liu

2011-01-01

Full Text Available As an antithesis of “authoritarian enclave” which has been well-established in the comparative politics literature, “democratic enclave” points to the institution of a state or the unambiguous regulatory space in society “where the authoritarian regime’s writ is substantively limited and is replaced by an adherence to recognizably democratic norms and procedures” (Gilley 2010. In this sense, the Internet space, embodied by information and communication technologies, has great potential to play such a role, since its “inherited” properties of decentralization and anonymity would inevitably breach the authoritarian rules. However, a closer look at three Southeast Asian states, Malaysia, Singapore and the “New Order” Indonesia whose regimes were characterized by authoritarianism when Internet was initially developed, reveals different trajectories. In the “New Order” Indonesia and Malaysia, the governments consciously left the Internet space uncontrolled; the online media developed independently, vibrantly, and professionally, especially in the Malaysian case; and there were strong connections between online and offline contentious politics. These elements made the Internet space in Indonesia and Malaysia a successful case of democratic enclave. Based on these criteria, however, the Internet space in Singapore has not achieved similar status. This paper analyses the different outcomes of enclave creation on the cyberspace among these countries. It argues that elite conflict and the strength of civil society are the two major factors that shape the differences. In this sense, the political contexts are of great importance for the understanding of Internet’s political impacts.

The recent process of decentralization and democratic management of education in Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Santos Filho, José Camilo Dos

1993-09-01

Brazilian society is beginning a new historical period in which the principle of decentralization is beginning to predominate over centralization, which held sway during the last 25 years. In contrast to recent Brazilian history, there is now a search for political, democratic and participatory decentralization more consonant with grass-roots aspirations. The first section of this article presents a brief analysis of some decentralization policies implemented by the military regime of 1964, and discusses relevant facts related to the resistance of civil society to state authoritarianism, and to the struggle for the democratization and organization of civil society up to the end of the 1970s. The second section analyzes some new experiences of democratic public school administration initiated in the 1970s and 1980s. The final section discusses the move toward decentralization and democratization of public school administration in the new Federal and State Constitutions, and in the draft of the new Law of National Education.

The Democratic Transition. A study of the causality between income and the Gastil democracy index

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paldam, Martin; Gundlach, Erich

The paper considers the transformation of the political system as countries pass through the Grand Transition from a poor developing country to a wealthy developed country. In the process most countries change from an authoritarian to a democratic political system. This is shown by using the Gast....... The long-run result survives various robustness tests. We show how the Grand Transition view resolves the seeming contradiction between the long-run and the short- to medium-run effects....... democracy index from Freedom House. First, the basic pattern of correlations reveals that a good deal of the short- to medium-run causality appears to be from democracy to income. Then a set of extreme biogeographic instruments is used to demonstrate that the long-run causality is from income to democracy...

Political conditions and life expectancy in Europe, 1900-2008.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackenbach, Johan P

2013-04-01

The rise of life expectancy in Europe has been a very uneven process, both in time and space. This paper aims to identify instances in which major political conditions are likely to have influenced the rise of life expectancy, focusing on formation and dissolution of states and supranational blocs and on differences between political regimes (democratic vs. authoritarian non-communist and communist rule). Data on life expectancy, cause-specific mortality and political conditions were compiled from existing data sources. Possible relations between political conditions and life expectancy were studied by direct comparisons of changes in life expectancy in countries with different political conditions but similar starting levels of life expectancy. We found that formation and dissolution of states often went together with convergence and divergence of life expectancy, respectively, and that otherwise similar countries that did or did not become part of the Soviet bloc had distinctly different life expectancy trajectories. Democratically governed states had higher life expectancies than authoritarian states throughout the 20th century. The gap narrowed between 1920 and 1960 due to rapid catching up of infectious disease control in both non-communist and communist authoritarian states. It widened again after 1960 due to earlier and more rapid progress in democratic states against cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, motor vehicle accidents and other causes of death that have become amenable to intervention. We conclude that the history of life expectancy in Europe contains many instances in which political conditions are likely to have had a temporary or more lasting impact on population health. This suggests that there is scope for further in-depth studies of the impact of specific political determinants on the development of population health in Europe. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Democratic Republic of Congo A Fertile Ground for Instability in the Great Lakes Region States

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-09

ravaged by a brutal armed conflict. In comparison to the three past presidents, Joseph Kabila has managed to restore political stability and calm to much...DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO-A FERTILE GROUND FOR INSTABILITY IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION STATES A thesis presented to the Faculty of...From - To) AUG 2016 – JUNE 2017 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Democratic Republic of Congo-A Fertile Ground for Instability in the Great Lakes Region

Digital Politics: Mobilization, Engagement, and Participation

OpenAIRE

Koc-Michalska, K.; Lilleker, Darren

2017-01-01

The article provides insights into the driving forces that underpin new forms of political participation. Digital technologies offer opportunities for engaging in a wide range of civicallyoriented activities, each of which can contribute to deeper democratic engagement. Conventional acts of political participation are argued to be driven primarily by intrinsic motivations relating to self-efficacy and empowerment with participants feeling they can have influence over decision makers. Little r...

Signs of Fascism Rising: A European Americanist Looks at Recent Political Trends in the U.S. and Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Kroes, Rob

2017-01-01

This paper's central concern is with signs of fascism in recent political developments in a number of European countries and the United States. It takes the reader back to earlier periods in European and American history when this same anguished question was raised. Thus a longer intellectual history of concerns about the viability of democratic systems is drawn to guide us in our current political evaluations.

Political Consensus and Fiscal Outcomes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Houlberg, Kurt; Holm Pedersen, Lene

2015-01-01

It is becoming difficult to maintain consensus in a period of economic austerity, and this possibly challenges the ability of democratic institutions to take decisions on tough economic questions. In order to find out how political consensus influences fiscal outcomes, this article sets out...

A Functional Approach to Televised Political Spots: Acclaiming, Attacking, Defending.

Science.gov (United States)

Benoit, William L.; Pier, P. M.; Blaney, Joseph R.

1997-01-01

Articulates a theoretical framework for understanding the fundamental functions of political advertising (acclaiming, attacking, defending) which occur on the twin grounds of policy considerations and character. Applies this theory of political discourse to presidential general election television spots from 1980-1996, finding that Democrats and…

Muslim Political Elite and the Revival of the Left in Indonesian Politics (1996-2001

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad Suhelmi

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract: Based upon elite interviews, document analysis and library research, this study analyses the responses of the Indonesian Muslim political elite to the phenomena of the emergence of the alleged communist Partai Rakyat Demokratik (People’s Democratic Party and the flourishing of the Leftist books in Indonesia during 1996-2001 which is one of the most critical historical phases in Indonesian politics that witnessed significant political changes affecting the life of Indonesians in general and Muslims in particular. The adverse responses of most Muslim political elite to the revival of the Left are basically driven by the interweaving of theological, historical and political factors as well as traumatic historical experience. With the passage of time, there have been significant changes, and strained relations between Islamic political groups and the Leftists have thawed but not eliminated.

Nigeria and Democratic Progress by Elections in Africa

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Giovanni Carbone

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Elections do not always advance democratisation, yet they can. We outline a democratisation-by-elections model according to which the opportunities for political change opened up by each electoral round build on previous election-related democratic progress. We focus on Nigeria, interpret the recent executive turnover in light of previous elections, and set the country within the comparative context of Africa’s democratisation. Using a new Africa Leadership Change dataset, we use election-related events to examine the diverse routes that African regimes have taken since 1990. The analysis highlights two major syndromes: democratic stagnation and recession. In a sizeable group, however, the institutionalisation of democracy has been making gradual progress. While there is no predetermined way to advance democracy, the reiteration of elections can be instrumental in such advancement.

Foucault's Political Challenge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bang, Henrik

2014-01-01

If one reads Michel Foucault "backward," so to speak, one can sense the contours of a "big narrative" of "the political" which is founded on the claim that "Where there is obedience there cannot be parrhesia" (Foucault, 2011, p. 336). What Foucault is doing with this sentence is breaking the circle...... from showing how obedience is incompatible with a politics of truth. The unity created by centralized domination, he holds, is democratically "false," however legitimate it may be. There can be no real democracy where laypeople are commanded to hand over their capacity and right to govern themselves...

How to Exist Politically and Learn from It: Hannah Arendt and the Problem of Democratic Education

Science.gov (United States)

Biesta, Gert

2010-01-01

Background/Context: In discussions about democratic education, there is a strong tendency to see the role of education as that of the preparation of children and young people for their future participation in democratic life. A major problem with this view is that it relies on the idea that the guarantee for democracy lies in the existence of a…

Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Democratic Ideal

OpenAIRE

Karine Nyborg; Inger Spangen

1997-01-01

In traditional cost-benefit analyses of public projects, every citizen’s willingness to pay for a project is given an equal weight. This is sometimes taken to imply that cost-benefit analysis is a democratic method for making public decisions, as opposed to, for example, political processes involving log-rolling and lobbying from interest groups. Politicians are frequently criticized for not putting enough emphasis on the cost-benefit analyses when making decisions. In this paper we discuss t...

Political Transmigrants: Rethinking Hmong Political Activism in America

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Nengher N. Vang, Ph.D

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Since the initial resettlement of the Hmong in the United States in the mid-1970s, they have maintained strong political and military relationships with the Lao People‘s Democratic Republic (LPDR. Yet, there is little research on that relationship and the involvement of the Hmong in the United States in political developments in Laos. Most works on Hmong political activism have focused on the electoral participation and representation of Hmong Americans in relation to American domestic politics. In this article, using archival, ethnographic, and interview data that I have collected between 2006 and 2009 in Laos, Thailand, and the United States, I describe and analyze the non-domestic or transnational form of Hmong American political expression and participation. I argue that Hmong political activism in America not only was transnational from the outset, but that their transnational involvement in political developments in Laos and their relations with the Lao PDR government also had a significant impact on their ethnic politics. Many Hmong political activists made their entry into ethnic politics through the door of transnational politics, and many were motivated by transnational political issues to participate in domestic American politics. By exploring their transnational involvement in political developments in Laos and their relations with the Lao PDR government, we get a more complete and dynamic understanding of Hmong political activism in the United States than is possible by focusing exclusively on domestic and electoral participation. Examining their transnational politics also allows us to see the transnationality of not only their culture, identity, and community but also that of their political activities and aspirations.

RUSSIA’S ‘FOREIGN AGENT’ LAW: A RESPONSE TO AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC PROMOTION POLICY

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Vijay Kumar

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Recently passed the Russian ‘Foreign Agent’ law against foreign funding of NGOs and civil society has attracted criticism from almost every quarter. From home to abroad all party concerned (i.e., civil society organizations, NGO groups, donor countries (especiallyAmericaand European countries as well as some Russian opposition political parties are of the view that this bill has been introduced to scuttle the independent civic activities and in this way unconstitutional. However on the basis of overall analysis of ‘Foreign Agent’ law in the context of American democratic promotion policy this paper is of the view that this law simply cannot be characterized as anti-democratic, which is against the very basis of freedom and rule of law, by the anti-democratic Russian government but it should be seen as extension of same challenge which American democratic promotion policy is facing around the whole world. It is because of its illegal and unconstitutional method of regime change policy, with the help of foreign funded NGOs, and civil society which has compelled various countries includingRussiato resort this type of law. It is important to note that the promise of peace, stability and prosperity by the democratic promotion protagonists after the fall ofSoviet Unionhas not been realised till today. Instead what post-Soviet states are witnessing today is emergence of chauvinist nationalist government in respective countries which witnessed colour revolution. Whole region is now plunging into economic turmoil, ethnic nationalism, rise of religious fundamentalism and identity politics. Recent overthrow of legitimate Viktor Yanukovych government inUkraineand subsequent decision by incumbent government to exclude Russian as administrative language can be sited as example. That is why former American Republican Congressman Ron Paul is of the view that “US‘Democracy Promotion’ Destroys Democracy Overseas’’. In this context this paper

Resurgent Military Political Adventurism in West Africa: Implications ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The democratization efforts of the 1990s in West Africa appeared to have put paid to military political adventurism which had been the plague of that region since independence in the 1960s. But since the year 2000 there has been a resurgence of military intervention in the politics of some West African states and this calls ...

«…And still there are lights in front of us»: the reformatory demo-cratism of V. Korolenko

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Владимир Владимирович Блохин

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The article gives a seaway of the social political views of a well known Russian writer V. Korolenko. The author of the article proves that the political doctrine of Korolenko is very close to reformatory democratism of N.K. Mikhailovsky.

Features of transformation of the civil identity in the Russian political process

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Ponedelkov Aleksander Vasilievich

2013-02-01

Full Text Available The analysis of the dynamics of the political process in Russia shows that institutional changes are taking place in the political system. Integration into the world community is accompanied with a request from the Russian society to a civil dialogue with the government, social stability based on democratic principles, the institutionalization of the turnover of the elites. Problems of search of civil identity are caused by the actualization in the public mind the necessity to mobilize the nation on the principles of patriotism, moral revival.

PoliticAPP: Towards a Categorization of Mobile Apps in Political Communication

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Pablo VÁZQUEZ SANDE

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This article is an analyze of all mobile apps that are available in the field of Spanish political communication, with the aim to develop a pioneering categorization of these platforms according to various criteria as promoters, aims pursued or areas of performance. It includes also a critical review from which it is concluded that these app reproduce classic communication patterns with the voters. That means that the implementation of these channels seems to have been due more to political marketing than to boost democratic participation or to introduce an horizontal outline of a new relationship between politicians and citizens.

Political Regimes, Political Ideology, and Self-Rated Health in Europe: A Multilevel Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Huijts, Tim; Perkins, Jessica M.; Subramanian, S. V.

2010-01-01

Background Studies on political ideology and health have found associations between individual ideology and health as well as between ecological measures of political ideology and health. Individual ideology and aggregate measures such as political regimes, however, were never examined simultaneously. Methodology/Principal Findings Using adjusted logistic multilevel models to analyze data on individuals from 29 European countries and Israel, we found that individual ideology and political regime are independently associated with self-rated health. Individuals with rightwing ideologies report better health than leftwing individuals. Respondents from Eastern Europe and former Soviet republics report poorer health than individuals from social democratic, liberal, Christian conservative, and former Mediterranean dictatorship countries. In contrast to individual ideology and political regimes, country level aggregations of individual ideology are not related to reporting poor health. Conclusions/Significance This study shows that although both individual political ideology and contextual political regime are independently associated with individuals' self-rated health, individual political ideology appears to be more strongly associated with self-rated health than political regime. PMID:20661433

Character of the mutual perception of the political system and the environment as a criterion of the political security

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. V. Ishchenko

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Political security is connected with the lack of external and internal threats, or the reduction of their severity. The maintenance of the internal public security should start from the explanation of the nature of the relationship between the political and institutional structures and most active social groups. The author suggests using a mental construct as an indicator of conflict/harmony in this sphere. It has been proposed to implement this idea by comparing the mental constructs of political institutions and social environment. One of the methods to implement this idea has been revealed in the article. This method is based on the search of leading values which are characterizing basic political and institutional structures and social environment. Two components have been described in the mental constructor: rational and irrational. Moreover, the formula, that makes it possible to compare and evaluate the congruence of mental constructs of political and institutional structures and the environment on the basis of the detected values, has been suggested. The advantage of this formula is its flexibility. Consequently, it can describe the features of social and political interaction in all political systems. The regularity has four components. The first component describes the level of implementation of the social environment’s values being a result of certain internal and external policies. It contains a self-assessment of individuals - representatives of the social environment level of its own value system’s implementation. Moreover, the author takes into account the assessment of the political and institutional structures that is given by these individuals. Individuals assess these structures in connection to the actions and decisions aimed at the implementation of public interests and values. The second component of the formula describes the level of implementation and the congruence of values of basic political and institutional

The Politics of African Industrial Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Whitfield, Lindsay; Therkildsen, Ole; Buur, Lars

in the early stages of capitalist transformation that also experience the pressures of elections due to democratization, this book provides four in-depth African country studies that illustrate the challenges to economic transformation and the politics of implementing industrial policies....

“All for the sake of Freedom”: Hannah Arendt’s Democratic Dissent, Trauma, and American Citizenship

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Frank Mehring

2011-12-01

Full Text Available

As an intellectual Jewish immigrant, Hannah Arendt’s work is informed by two key factors: the failures of German intellectuals regarding the rise of fascism and the promise of American democracy. Arendt was haunted by the past and the memories of how the democratic structures of the Weimar Republic had been undermined, manipulated, and finally transformed into a totalitarian terror regime. The issues of freedom, equality, and the shortcomings of democratic societies form a transcultural nexus in her oeuvre. This reading of Arendt will reveal how her efforts to deal with a transatlantic traumatic past shaped the felt need to voice democratic dissent in the United States. While much has been said about her theoretical groundwork on the mechanisms of totalitarian systems, Arendt’s living conditions as a naturalized foreigner, her enthusiasm for American democracy, and her refusal to return to Germany have been largely neglected. Arendt is usually rooted firmly in a European philosophical context. She has been canonized as one of the foremost philosophical thinkers from Germany on the emergence of totalitarian systems and the Holocaust. This transatlantic force field looms large over the second half of the twentieth century in the realm of culture and politics. Among her fellow intellectual émigrés and exiles such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, or Fraenkel, Arendt stands out. She decided not to return to the new democratic Germany with its Grundgesetz fashioned along the lines of the American Constitution. Instead, she insisted on becoming naturalized and used her transnational background as a basis to address democratic gaps from the vantage point of an American citizen. First, Mehring shows in which ways Arendt identified herself as an American and wished to become recognized as an American citizen. Second, he reconnects Arendt’s democratic dissent with her efforts to become recognized as an American citizen.

New social movements as a political subculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zwick, M.M.

1990-01-01

The contribution is based on a topical panel set especially adjusted to the requirements of political culture research, electoral research, and movement research. The book is centered around empirically verified findings of political-cultural modernization and differentiation processes, and the development of German political culture. It was possible to empirically confirm the main thesis in particular: The new social movements call for rigid and quick social changes in emancipatory, equalitary, ecological and fundamental-democratic orientation. Apart from the Greens, an independent political subculture has formed itself, which is, even in the present phase with little movement-specific mobilization, politically effective and empirically ascertainable. (orig.) [de

Towards a More Democratic Regime and Society? The Politics of Faith and Ethnicity in a Transitional Multi-Ethnic Malaysia

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Kikue Hamayotsu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The rising antagonistic attitudes and tension between the Malay majority and ethnic and religious minorities in Malaysia since 2007 is intriguing because it has occurred when society experienced an unprecedentedly large-scale and assertive multi-ethnic pro-democracy movement. This article argues that precisely these assertive and confident civil and political societies – and their emphasis on equal rights and equitable development for all Malaysians – have put the traditional Malay and religious elites on the defensive. The pro-democracy movement and the prospects of regime change have threatened not only the party-dominant regime but also – and more importantly – the constitutional and institutional foundations of ethnic exclusivism and privileges. Moreover, two Malay-based parties, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO and the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS, are viewed as giving too many political concessions to the non-Malay communities to gain an electoral advantage, making the traditional Malay and religious elites even more defensive of their position and power. As a result, religious issues are excessively politicised, further deteriorating the already complicated inter-ethnic relations of the country. The prospects for achieving a democratic regime and society appear grim, although hopes have run high since the electoral rise of the multi-ethnic opposition.

The Political as Presence: On Agonism in Citizenship Education

Science.gov (United States)

Tryggvason, Ásgeir

2017-01-01

In recent years, an agonistic approach to citizenship education has been put forward as a way of educating democratic citizens. Claudia W. Ruitenberg (2009) has developed such an approach and takes her starting point in Chantal Mouffe's agonistic theory. Ruitenberg highlights how political emotions and political disputes can be seen as central for…

Forms of Political Participation and Subjective Well-being: A World Survey

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Benjamín Temkin

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Subjective well-being has been described as perhaps “the ultimate dependent variable” of the social sciences. Thus, it is understandable that much of the empirical research on the subject has focused on the identification of its correlates. In this paper we utilize the sixth wave of the World Value Survey carried out in sixty countries between 2010 and 2014, to evaluate the relationship between different types of political participation and the subjective well-being of citizens, Our research partially confirms the hypothesis that, when controlling for the democratic or undemocratic character of political institutions, conventional political participation is positively and significantly associated with life satisfaction, while unconventional conflictive political activities show the opposite relationship to well-being. On the other hand, the democratic nature of state institutions is universally and consistently related to higher levels of personal well-being among individuals.

Demokratikleşme Sürecini Tamamlayamamış Toplumların Ekonomik ve Siyasi Açıdan Değerlendirilmesi: Sürdürülebilir Demokrasi( Evaluation of The Societies, Which Did Not Complete Democratization Process, in Terms of Economical and Political Perspectives: Sustainable Democracy

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Nurdan KUŞAT

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Democracy is the indispensable political regime of 21 century societies. While 20. century century takes place in history as that many countries met with democracy, 21 century seems to be a candidate that will be remembered together with the interventions to the democratic process with a panic to lose the democracy. In each century, with different improvements and different forms, the military-political power, or in other words, the military-civilian relations, has taken place in the agendas of the countries. In history this relationship between the military and political power, exhibits a model which is sometimes moderate and sometimes with conflicts. Finally, it is easy to set up a democratic regime, but it is difficult to make it sustainable. This study is trying to explain to the countries that are willing to digest representative democracy, what to do to make it sustainable.

Social education politics in a Europe of inequalities

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Javier Bascuñan Cortés

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of this research is to analyse some indicators which allow us to understand the current state of social education politics in Europe, with special reference to Spain. Some European and Spanish social and educational policies which try to confront the challenges of the current financial crisis are also explained. Some deficiencies, failures and contradictions attached to the process of the construction of European citizenship are pointed out. Some key topics which seem to foresee a deeper social and democratic crisis apart from the economic one are tackled. It is explained how the new forms of inequality evidence the failure of some of the important declarations of intent and objectives of the European Union. The subjection of social and democratic aspects to neoliberal economy —i.e. the negation of ideologies— is questioned. To conclude, some key topics are proposed as the central axis through which it could be possible to redefine the content of social education politics in Europe and Spain and to set the bases of a new democratic European citizenship

Political transition of Albania 1985-1991

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Brunilda Duriçi

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Political transition of Albania is a phenomenon that started since the death of Enver Hoxha, the dictator of communist regime in Albania. After the death of Enver Hoxha on 11 April 1985, Ramiz Alia was appointed as his successor, who for 40 years had been at Enver Hoxha’s side as his most trusted man. He succeeded Hoxha for nearly 6 years believing that he would maintain the communist system. Ramiz Alia came on duty as the head of the Albanian state when the economic situation was very precarious. Political and economic legacy led by Hoxha was almost miserable. The country had the severest political system throughout the communist bloc. In a political point of view, the country’s new leader was elected precisely to continue the political legacy of former leader Hoxha. Ramiz Alia was forced to take immediate measures to change the degraded situation. He undertook several reforms to improve the situation in the country. Among other things, Alia expressed the equality of Albanian citizens, freedoms and human rights. Events were passing each other, marking a great historical importance. Among other things, Alia approved the political pluralism giving way to significant social changes. Echoes of these events and the positive developments in the country do not remain outside the attention of internationals. The arrival of political pluralism and the establishment of Democratic Party, the first opposition party in the country and other political entities exposed the European dream of Albanians. Massive movements in the form of protests and rallies, aimed at overturning the communist regime in the country Main objective of this paper is the analysis of the Political transition of Albania 1985-1991.

Species protection, the changing informal economy, and the politics of access to the bushmeat trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Science.gov (United States)

De Merode, Emmanuel; Cowlishaw, Guy

2006-08-01

Our understanding of the linkages between the bushmeat trade and the wider informal economy is limited. This lack of knowledge is particularly problematic for conservation under conditions of political instability, when the informal economy can be highly dynamic and impacts on wildlife populations can be severe. To explore these interlinked processes, we conducted a study of the bushmeat trade in Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo, through a combination of market surveys, semistructured interviews, and direct observation. We focused on the sale of protected and unprotected species in urban and rural markets, and the bushmeat commodity chains that supplied these markets, under conditions of political stability and armed conflict. During peacetime, protected species from the park (predominantly elephant and buffalo) rarely appeared in the rural markets, but they comprised more than half of all bushmeat sales in the urban markets. This pattern reflected differences in the rural and urban commodity chains. Automatic weapons were urban trade. The use of such weapons was discouraged by the traditional chiefs, who administered the village markets. During wartime, the sales of protected species in the urban markets increased fivefold because the military officers fled, leaving behind an open-access system that led to a massive increase in the exploitation of protected species. In contrast, the rural markets remained relatively stable because of the continued authority of the village chiefs. Our results indicate that sociopolitical factors can be an important determinant of species offtake and, therefore, that knowledge of the bushmeat commodity chain can be vital to controlling theprocesses that drive species extraction. In addition, our findings suggest that traditional authorities can be potentially valuable partners for bushmeat management.

Equal rights as the center of democratization

OpenAIRE

Alan Gilbert

2010-01-01

Well-stated modern political or democratic theory is rights-based. Meaningful democracy rests as a precondition on the equal rights of citizens. This idea stems from Rousseau’s distinction between a general will*one which is impersonal and tends toward equality, that is, the equal basic rights of citizens*and a transitory will of all. For instance, absent equal basic rights, one might imagine a possible world in which what I have called a self-undermining series of wills of all, or the ...

Adult Development Theory and Political Analysis: An Integral Account of Social and Political Change in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia

OpenAIRE

Elke Fein

2010-01-01

I propose a reading of social, political and discursive change in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia which is inspired by an integral, above all developmental perspective. In view of explaining Russia’s current political trajectory, I make several arguments. First, I claim that Russian politics are still to a large extent determined by the effects of a threefold crisis of sense-making. Neither the collapse of the Soviet empire, nor the question of how to define democratic government nor the lack o...

Economic and political hybridity: Patrimonial capitalism in the post-Soviet sphere

OpenAIRE

Robinson, Neil

2013-01-01

Hybridity in non-democratic states can be economic as well as political. Economic hybridity is produced by the same kind of pressures that create political hybridity, but the relationship between economic and political hybridity has not been as much studied by political scientists. This article uses the concept of patrimonial capitalism to look at economic hybridity, its stability and relationship to political hybridity. Using examples from Russia and other former Soviet states it argues that...

The multidimensional politics of inequality: taking stock of identity politics in the U.S. Presidential election of 2016.

Science.gov (United States)

McCall, Leslie; Orloff, Ann Shola

2017-11-01

Many Democrats hoped that a particular kind of identity politics - women's - would help Hillary Clinton win the White House. In the aftermath of the election, some commentators bemoaned the fact that a majority of white women had voted for Trump, and called it a kind of betrayal, underlining their expectation that women would naturally, on the basis of their gender identity, support a woman with women-friendly politics. Indeed, this kind of thinking about identity politics has been widespread with reference to a number of demographic groups. Meanwhile, identity politics is lamented from the right and left by those who favour a greater emphasis on class-based inequalities, or a greater national identity, some of whom blame identity politics for spawning or justifying a backlash of right-leaning populism in the US. We argue for a turn to a more robust definition of identity as multidimensional and politically mediated for understanding political alignments over the past several decades. The multidimensionality of inequality - intersectionality or complex inequality - is widely accepted in the study of gender and race across the social science disciplines but has yet to be as successfully integrated into studies of electoral politics. Thinking about women's positioning in systems of complex inequality, and how the political parties have or have not articulated the concerns of different groups of women, helps us to understand the 2016 election, as well as past and potentially future political developments. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2017.

Democratic learning in the Aalborg Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qvist, Palle

A democratic learning system can be defined as a system where decisions, processes and behaviour related to learning are established through argumentation (discussion) or negotiation (dialog), voting or consensus (alone or in combination) between those affected by the decision simultaneously...... reaching the learning outcomes, the technical and professional knowledge and insight. In principle the participants must be equal with equal rights and feel committed to the values of rationality and impartiality. The Aalborg Model is an example of a democratic learning system although not 100% democratic......, processes and behaviour related to learning can be established through argumentation (discussion) or negotiation (dialog), voting or consensus (alone or in combination) within the group simultaneously reaching the learning outcomes, the technical and professional knowledge and insight. This article...

The Practice of Equality: A Critical Understanding of Democratic Citizenship Education

Science.gov (United States)

Ruitenberg, Claudia W.

2015-01-01

This essay proposes a conception of citizenship that highlights its political aspects. Based on the work of Balibar, Rancière, and Biesta, it is argued that democratic citizenship education must include the education of equality. This means that students must have the opportunity to experience not only the membership aspect of citizenship that…

Democratic Governability in the Andean Region : Political and ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

... exacerbated social and political unrest, and in some cases led to violent confrontation. ... IDRC invites applications for the IDRC Doctoral Research Awards ... cooperation agreement to support joint research projects in December 2017.

Creating A Nationwide Nonpartisan Initiative for Family Caregivers in Political Party Platforms.

Science.gov (United States)

Scribner, Ben; Lynn, Joanne; Walker, Victoria; Morgan, Les; Montgomery, Anne; Blair, Elizabeth; Baird, Davis; Goldschmidt, Barbara; Kirschenbaum, Naomi

2017-06-01

Policymakers have been slow to support family caregivers, and political agendas mostly fail to address the cost burdens, impact on employment and productivity, and other challenges in taking on long-term care tasks. This project set out to raise policymakers' awareness of family caregivers through proposals to Republican and Democratic party platforms during the 2016 political season. The Family Caregiver Platform Project (FCPP) reviewed the state party platform submission process for Democratic and Republican parties in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. We built a website to make each process understandable by caregiver advocates. We designed model submissions to help volunteers tailor a proposal and recruited caregiver advocates participating in their state process. Finally, we mobilized a ground operation in many states and followed the progress of submissions in each state, as well as the formation of the national platforms. In 39 states, at least one party, Republican or Democrat, hosted a state party platform process. As of September 2016 FCPP volunteers submitted proposals to 29 state parties in 22 states. Family caregiver language was added to eight state party platforms, one state party resolution, two bipartisan legislative resolutions, and one national party platform. The FCPP generated a non-partisan grassroots effort to educate and motivate policymakers to address caregiving issues and solutions. Democratic party leaders provided more opportunities to connect with political leaders, with seven Democratic parties and one Republican party, addressing family caregiver issues in their party platforms. © 2017, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2017, The American Geriatrics Society.

Education for Leisure and the Political System

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Hilmi

1976-01-01

The author considers the place of education for leisure in primitive political systems, traditional political systems, and modern political systems (including premobilized and mobilized dictatorships and democracies). (GW)

Colombia: security and conflict 2000-2014. Two political projects in dispute

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Galindo Rodriguez

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes, from a multi-dimensional point of view, the elements on which the concept of security in Colombia has been articulated in the last decade. Study the policy of Democratic Security of Alvaro Uribe Velez (2002-2010 and the policy of Democratic Prosperity of Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2014 from a socio-political perspective. Although both policies share military elements, each one aims to consolidate a different political country project. The first one relates to rebuild a country based on a Security State and on an authoritarian praxis. The second one aims to stop the consolidation of the first one and take up again the liberal foundations of the Political Constitution of 1991 that, in addition, allow them continued exercise of the historical hegemony of national political power that was interrupted in 2002. Elements that contribute to broaden understanding of the current national context and the peace process.

Discourse, the political and the ontological dimension

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Allan Dreyer; Sonnichsen, André

2014-01-01

In this interview, Ernesto Laclau discusses his theoretico-political endeavour from the publication of Hegemony and Socialist Strategy; questions of radical democratic subjectivity; the social order, sedimentation and change; and finally his relationship to the work of Michel Foucault....

Practising Political Care Ethics: Can Responsive Evaluation Foster Democratic Care?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visse, M.A.; Abma, T.; Widdershoven, G.

2015-01-01

This paper examines if and how responsive evaluation as a deliberative approach can serve as a guide for a politically oriented care ethics. A political care ethics puts the assignment of responsibilities and the inclusion of multiple perspectives of people at the centre of care. It honours the

Leading Democratically

Science.gov (United States)

Brookfield, Stephen

2010-01-01

Democracy is the most venerated of American ideas, the one for which wars are fought and people die. So most people would probably agree that leaders should be able to lead well in a democratic society. Yet, genuinely democratic leadership is a relative rarity. Leading democratically means viewing leadership as a function or process, rather than…

Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitchell, Timothy; Jaquet, Christophe

2013-01-01

How oil undermines democracy, and our ability to address the environmental crisis. This book is a French translation of 'Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil' originally published by Verso Edition (New York, US, ISBN 978-1781681169). Oil is a curse, it is often said, that condemns the countries producing it to an existence defined by war, corruption and enormous inequality. Carbon Democracy tells a more complex story, arguing that no nation escapes the political consequences of our collective dependence on oil. It shapes the body politic both in regions such as the Middle East, which rely upon revenues from oil production, and in the places that have the greatest demand for energy. Timothy Mitchell begins with the history of coal power to tell a radical new story about the rise of democracy. Coal was a source of energy so open to disruption that oligarchies in the West became vulnerable for the first time to mass demands for democracy. In the mid-twentieth century, however, the development of cheap and abundant energy from oil, most notably from the Middle East, offered a means to reduce this vulnerability to democratic pressures. The abundance of oil made it possible for the first time in history to reorganize political life around the management of something now called 'the economy' and the promise of its infinite growth. The politics of the West became dependent on an undemocratic Middle East. In the twenty-first century, the oil-based forms of modern democratic politics have become unsustainable. Foreign intervention and military rule are faltering in the Middle East, while governments everywhere appear incapable of addressing the crises that threaten to end the age of carbon democracy-the disappearance of cheap energy and the carbon-fuelled collapse of the ecological order. In making the production of energy the central force shaping the democratic age, Carbon Democracy rethinks the history of energy, the politics of nature, the theory of

FEATURES OF THE SOCIO-POLITICAL PROCESS IN THE UNITED STATES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatyana Evgenevna Beydina

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The subject of this article is the study of political and social developments of the USA at the present stage. There are four stages of the American tradition of studying political processes. The first stage is connected with substantiation of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of political system (works of F. Pollack and R. Sili. The second one includes behavioral studies of politics. Besides studying political processes Charles Merriam has studied their similarities and differences. The third stage is characterized by political system studies – the works of T. Parsons, D. Easton, R. Aron, G. Almond and K. Deutsch. The fourth stage is characterized by superpower and the systems democratization problem (S. Huntington, Zb. Bzhezinsky. American social processes were qualified by R. Park, P. Sorokin, E. Giddens. The work is concentrated on the divided explanation of social and political processes of the us and the reflection of unity of American social-political reality. Academic novelty is composed of substantiation of the US social-political process concept and characterization of its features. The US social-political process is characterized by two channels: soft power and aggression. Soft power appears in the US economy dominancy. The main results of the research are features of the socio-political process in the United States. Purpose: the main goal of the research is to systematize the definition of social-political process of the USA and estimate the line of its study within American political tradition. Methodology: in this article have used methods: such as system, comparison and historical analysis, structural-functional analysis. Results: during the research the analysis of the dynamics of social and political processes of the United States had been made. Practical implications it is expedient to apply the received results in the international relation theory and practice.

Aesthetics, Affect, and Educational Politics

Science.gov (United States)

Means, Alex

2011-01-01

This essay explores aesthetics, affect, and educational politics through the thought of Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Ranciere. It contextualizes and contrasts the theoretical valences of their ethical and democratic projects through their shared critique of Kant. It then puts Ranciere's notion of dissensus to work by exploring it in relation to a…

The Politics of Virtue: A New Compact for Leadership in Schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Sergiovanni, Thomas J.

1995-01-01

The politics of division arises from applying formal organizational theories of governance, management, and leadership to schools. Rational-choice theory and cultural pluralism lack the unifying power of civic virtue. Creating a politics of virtue requires that we renew commitments to our nation's democratic legacy. Principals must practice…

Sport in the German Democratic Republic and the People's Republic of China. A Sociopolitical Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

McIntyre, Thomas D.

1985-01-01

The use of sports in the German Democratic Republic and the People's Republic of China is both propagandist and ideological. International sports competition can enhance the country's image and domestic sport is a means of political socialization. (DF)

Political identity of Athens and architecture of Acropolis

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Zdravković Miloš

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In this article author examines relations between Athens political identity and architecture of Acropolis. He makes parallels among flourishing of Athens democracy during Pericles' golden age and the building of the most significant architectural complex in Old Greece. His basic thesis is that the concept of freedom shaped the democratic system in Athens and thus its political identity, but at the same time exerted a direct influence in all spheres of human creativity. The power of the idea of freedom is especially visible in the Acropolis architectural complex where the idea fused with the economic potential of ancient Athens has created the most beautiful simbol of democracy and one of the greatest architectural masterpiece in whole human history.

An analytical framework for a political economy of football

OpenAIRE

Grant, Wyn

2007-01-01

A political economy of football has become more essential as the game has been colonized by elements of the business class. There is a tension between its profit maximizing understanding of football and a more community oriented, democratic vision that seeks to pursue government policy goals. The insights of economics and politics are both necessary to understand the political economy of football, but they should not be hybridized. Economics allows us to understand the distinctive characteris...

Global climate policy and local energy politics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jaeger, Mark Daniel; Michaelowa, Katharina

2016-01-01

Along with the large middle-income countries Brazil, China, and South Africa, India has been put under increasing pressure to shoulder parts of the mitigation burden and commit to national emission reduction targets. India, however, refers to its limited capacity and widespread poverty. Is India......-poor arguments advanced at the international level. Given their large number and the country's democratic system, the poor do have some weight in Indian politics. However, pro-poor policies end where they do not translate into greater vote shares. Moreover, India's international position ignores the existing...

Danish Political Culture: Fair Conditions for Inclusion of Immigrants?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Tore Vincents

2011-01-01

and discursive opportunity structures immigrants face as ethnic and religious minorities. The article analyzes the Danish political culture with regard to the potential barriers it has for the inclusion of immigrants in national political life. It finds that the predominantly liberal, secular and republican......In the age of migration, the inclusion of immigrants in national politics is crucial for democratic reasons, and because it increases the coordination and cooperation ability of society. The informal norms, values and beliefs of the political culture are one aspect of the institutional...

Irony and Politically Incorrect Humanitarianism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olwig, Mette Fog; Christiansen, Lene Bull

2016-01-01

trends, it can, in a local national setting, develop in ways that are contrary to the political correctness characteristic of global celebrity humanitarianism. In the Danish cultural context we found that anti-elitist cultural norms and social codes, rooted in local understandings of democratic inclusion...... and equality, must be inscribed into celebrity performances. This form of performativity is often achieved through ostensibly politically incorrect, unassuming and underplayed, irony. It is, however, an unenlightened democracy, unaware of those it excludes - i.e. the Other who is kept invisible through...

Civic education and religious education in the function of democratization of education in the Republic of Serbia

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Klemenović Jasmina

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Starting from the socio-political context of changes that have affected the education systems of Eastern European countries, the authors summarize the specific nature of the process of democratization of education in Europe at the turn of the century. The paper analyzes the purpose of democratization of education and of introduction of Civic Education and Religious Education classes in the education system of the Republic of Serbia, observing the idea that education may serve as a generator of social changes, and stating that school is an important support pillar in promoting and accepting the values of the community, as well as in personal growth and the development of every individual. The presented theoretical concepts are supported by the summary of results of empirical studies that have been focused on the analysis of the pedagogical aspects of the implementation of teaching these subjects at the secondary level of education from the perspective of teachers, pupils and parents. Based on the insight into the topic, the authors suggest searching for a “common tangent” in Civic Education and Religious Education teaching process via an open and tolerant dialogue of participants of both subjects, which would enable the exchange of experiences, attitudes, and opinions of pupils, as well as coinciding and permeating of spiritual and democratic values as a foundation for further democratization of school in general. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179036: Pedagogical Pluralism as the Basis for Education Policy

The Impact of Globalization on Political Development in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Impact of Globalization on Political Development in Nigeria (1999-2007) ... PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... This problem is analyzed in view of attenuated democratic institutions, inefficient public service, and rent ...

Reversing Plato’s Anti-Democratism: Castoriadis’ “Quirky” Plato

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Hamblet, Wendy C.

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This paper considers the conflicting "loves" of Cornelius Castoriadis--his love for the ancients, and especially Plato, and for the common person of the demos. A detailed study of Castoriadis' analysis of Plato's Statesman exposes that Castoriadis attempts to resolve the paradox by rereading Plato as a radical democrat. I argue that this unorthodox reading is at best "quirky, " (a charge Castoriadis levels at Plato at worst a groundless sophism. However, I conjecture that Castoriadis' reading may not constitute a serious attempt to describe a Platonic politics, so much as a prescriptive reading of what otherwise might have been, given certain strands of political generosity evident elsewhere in Plato's corpus.

Political System of the Great Cultural Revolution Reflected in Misty Poetry

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Špela Oberstar

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The article outlines Chinese literature following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in relation to Mao’s Communist policy. It presents the occurrence of Misty poetry as an opposition to the political ideology of the Great Cultural Revolution (1966–1976. Misty poetry is understood as a spontaneous illegal poetic movement of individuals who veiled their political demands directed against Mao’s ideology in metaphors. This oppositional stance resembled the movement of 4th May 1919 which took place after the collapse of the last Chinese dynasty and criticised the traditional dominant ideology of Confucianism and sought democratization of the Chinese society. The same desire was shared by the Misty poets but this time under the dominance of the political ideology of the Chinese Communist Party in the period following 1942 which was indicated by Mao Zedong in his speech in Yan’an. Mao’s policy was repressive in nature since the role of literature and art, and thereby also poetry, was seen only as being utilitarian and was thus sealed in the dictated reflection of the class struggle. Therefore, in essence, the communist period laid its path to capitalism.

A Politically Liberal Conception of Formal Education in a Developing Democracy

Science.gov (United States)

Çelik, Rasit

2016-01-01

As discussed by John Rawls, in a well-ordered society, a public political culture's wide educational role bears the primary responsibility for developing reasonable individuals for the stability of a politically liberal society. Rawlsian scholars have also focused on the stability and enhancement of developed liberal democratic societies by means…

The value of political parties to representative democracy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kölln, Ann-Kristin

2015-01-01

Political parties play a major role in democratic processes around the world. Recent empirical research suggests that parties are increasingly less important to citizens. Simultaneously, classic and contemporary theories of representative democracy specifically still minimally incorporate accounts

Politics in the Postnational Constellation. An Approach to Habermas’s Conception of the State

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Juan Carlos Velasco

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The steady loss of sovereign power of the national states and the correlative transition to a post-national constellation are, according to Habermas, among the major trends that characterize the current state of affairs in the world in political terms. Against this geopolitical background in which clear guidelines remain to be defined, Habermas outlines a possible political response with a democratic design: he suggests to recover the cosmopolitan project of Kant and to expedite the constitutionalization of the international sphere. One of the biggest challenges in this regard consists in reconciling the need for global governance of common affairs of humanity with demands for democratic participation. The configuration of a post-westphalian democratic practice in accordance with a multi-level structure of international relations could be a plausible solution.

Political Socialization, Tolerance, and Sexual Identity

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Avery, Patricia G.

2002-01-01

Key concepts in political socialization, tolerance, groups, rights and responsibilities can be used to understand the way in which young people struggle with sexual identity issues. Educators may promote greater tolerance for homosexuality among heterosexuals by situating sexual identity issues within a broader discussion of democratic principles.…

MAPPING CHILDREN'S POLITICS: SPATIAL STORIES, DIALOGIC RELATIONS AND POLITICAL FORMATION.

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Elwood, Sarah; Mitchell, Katharyne

2012-03-01

This article confronts a persistent challenge in research on children's geographies and politics: the difficulty of recognizing forms of political agency and practice that by definition fall outside of existing political theory. Children are effectively "always already" positioned outside most of the structures and ideals of modernist democratic theory, such as the public sphere and abstracted notions of communicative action or "rational" speech. Recent emphases on embodied tactics of everyday life have offered important ways to recognize children's political agency and practice. However, we argue here that a focus on spatial practices and critical knowledge alone cannot capture the full range of children's politics, and show how representational and dialogic practices remain a critical element of their politics in everyday life. Drawing on de Certeau's notion of spatial stories, and Bakhtin's concept of dialogic relations, we argue that children's representations and dialogues comprise a significant space of their political agency and formation, in which they can make and negotiate social meanings, subjectivities, and relationships. We develop these arguments with evidence from an after-school activity programme we conducted with 10-13 year olds in Seattle, Washington, in which participants explored, mapped, wrote and spoke about the spaces and experiences of their everyday lives. Within these practices, children negotiate autonomy and self-determination, and forward ideas, representations, and expressions of agreement or disagreement that are critical to their formation as political actors.

DEMOCRATIC ATTITUDES OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

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Müge TAÇMAN

2006-06-01

Full Text Available The primary aim of this study was to determine the democratic attitudes of the classroomteachers. This study is a descriptive research. In this research, democratic attitude scala which was developed by“published for the attitude research labaratory” and adapted to Turkish educational system by Gözütok (1995 wasused. Research group consisted fifty teachers from four private primary schools in Ankara. The data were analyzed byone way ANOVA. According of the results of the research, democratic attitudes of teachers have been discriminated onteachers’ sexuality, seniority and graduate level

The Democratization Process in the Western Balkans in the Last 20 Years: Interethnic Relations and Security Implications

OpenAIRE

Katerina Veljanoska; Oliver Andonov; Goran Shibakovski

2014-01-01

The process of democratization in Western Balkans is connected with the process of state-building before and after the reconstruction. After the break-up of Yugoslavia, the region became a brutal battleground as different nation-based groups fought to define the boundaries of a set of new states in the Balkans. One of the key challenges related to the democratization of the Western Balkan countries is resolving the issues with their neighbours. However, political pragmatism and bilateral rela...

Self-esteem, political efficacy, and perceived parental attitudes

OpenAIRE

Okçu, Tuba Nur; Okcu, Tuba Nur

2007-01-01

This thesis proposes to test the following three hypotheses: perceived political efficacy positively correlates with self-esteem; self-esteem positively correlates with perceived democratic parental attitude; and, lastly, self-esteem negatively correlates with perceived protective-demanding and perceived authoritarian parental attitudes. Two questionnaires (Q1 and Q2), each measure perceived political efficacy, selfesteem,and perceived parental attitudes. In Q2, the items of self-esteem and p...

Political elites and foreign policy : democratization in Indonesia

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Wibisono, Aria Teguh Mahendra

2009-01-01

In the investigation, the domestic sources of foreign policy analytical framework were used to analyze the dynamics of elites in foreign policy making. After analyses of the results of mostly personal interviews and historical materials, it was determined that political elites do matter in foreign

The Politics of Human Rights in Argentina

OpenAIRE

Brysk, Alison

2013-01-01

Revised edition of 1994 out-of-print Stanford University Press study of human rights protest, social change, and democratization in Argentina.  A symbolic politics analysis of the truth commission, trials, and policy reform in Latin America's most sweeping transition of the 1980's.

Stabilization, Extraversion and Political Settlements in Somalia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hagmann, Tobias

-central Somalia. Existing analyses have focused predominantly on local actors and internal dynamics to account for the continuous political disorder in the former Somali Democratic Republic since 1991. In contrast, this study highlights the role of external aid in dysfunctional statebuilding efforts in Somalia...

PKS’ DEMOCRATIC EXPERIENCES IN RECRUITING MEMBERS AND LEADERS

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Ahmad Ali Nurdin

2011-08-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the views of democracy and the implementation of democratic rules in real politics by the Islamic political party that has a democracy platform in Indonesia, Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS. I examine PKS views on the relationship between Islam and democracy and its manner of recruiting members and leaders to show that this Islamic political party is not a threat to democracy at all. PKS believes that democracy goes to the roots of Islam and the Indonesian context in which they exist; and that it is a good political tool for an Islamic party like PKS to achieve its political goals. Taking the process of recruitment of members and leaders of PKS as examples, the paper also shows that the commitment of PKS to strengthening democracy in Indonesia could be seen in their process of recruiting leaders. PKS has practiced democratic rules in their internal party activities, particularly in the way they used to recruit their members who would be nominated as parliamentary members and how they choose their own leaders. However, it is necessary to note that in terms of member recruitment and expanding the cadres of the party, the PKS seems to have a special strategy; that is, encouraging their cadres to have big families. [Artikel mengulas pandangan Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS mengenai demokrasi dan implementasi nilai-nilai demokrasi dalam kehidupan politik. Dalam artikel ini, relasi Islam dan demokrasi serta metode PKS dalam merekrut anggota dan pemimpin partai akan dibahas. PKS sama sekali bukanlah ancaman bagi demokrasi. PKS percaya bahwa prinsip demokrasidapat ditemukan dalam Islam dan konteks Indonesia. Bagi PKS, demokrasi membuka ruang kesempatan bagi partai politik Islam untuk mencapai tujuan politiknya. Selain itu, artikel ini juga mengulas proses rekrutmen anggota dan pemimpin partai. Rekrutmen petinggi PKS memperlihatkan komitmen PKS terhadap penguatan demokrasi di Indonesia. PKS sudah mempraktekkan prinsip demokrasi dalam

Catalyzing Political Engagement: Lessons for Civic Educators from the Voices of Students

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Longo, Nicholas V.; Drury, Christopher; Battistoni, Richard M.

2006-01-01

This article analyzes the comparative impact of three educational interventions aimed at increasing students' political engagement, two at the undergraduate level and one at the high school level. Findings from interviews with student participants in these programs indicate that political competencies are best acquired through democratic practice,…

Do political budget cycles really exist?

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Klomp, J.G.; Haan, de J.

2013-01-01

Most recent cross-country studies on election-motivated fiscal policy assume that the data can be pooled. As various tests suggest that our data for some 70 democratic countries for the period 1970–2007 cannot be pooled, we use the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator to test whether Political Budget

The reconstruction process of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the political transition (1974-1985

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Debora Alves Maciel

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes reconstruction dynamics of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, focusing on the mobilization of prosecutors and prosecuting attorney in the period from 1974 to 1985. We argue that the characteristics of Brazilian political transition were critical to the changing process of the institution, which gained constitutional status in 1988. Liberalization of the military regime changed the links between lawyers, opposition parties and pro-democracy movements. The connection of the institutional movement with dissident political elites and the dense activism network around new social conflicts allowed the Public Prosecutor’s Office to try new strategies of collective action, gain political visibility and thus become a viable alternative to political system to respond to social pressures for judiciary democratization.

Party-political and electoral system of Uruguay

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Samuel Decresci

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The Oriental Republic of Uruguay is seen by many as a pioneer among Latin American nations to modernize its state and its policy. Since the late nineteenth century to the twentieth, Uruguayan political actors operate significant changes such as the separation of church and state, labor regulation, divorce law, women's vote, etc. Because of this and the progressive modernization, it was called the “Switzerland of the Americas”. Today, it still stands out in this area by regularizing abortion, homoaffective marriage, liberalization and access to marijuana. Moreover, noteworthy that such measures were achieved largely because of governance that the executive enjoys in the midst of this political system. Thus, this work aims to analyze such Uruguayan political system. In short, a political system is understood by the government system, the electoral system and the party system. That said, it will be analyzed in the political scenario of the country, their characteristics, party and election rules, political parties, party dynamics and relations between the powers.

Republican reforming policy and democratic modernization | El reformismo republicano y la modernización democrática

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Glicerio Sánchez Recio

2003-12-01

Full Text Available This study focuses on the survival of Republican values in our present-day democratic system, values which have been analysed from a dual perspective: on the one hand, the current interest in the principles and values fostered by centre-left governments and organizations during the Second Republic, and on the other, the presence of these principles and values in our present-day democratic system. Consensus, social reform, political pluralism, devolution, and educational and cultural advancement, besides being democratic values and principles, are currently pointing towards a specific way of understanding politics and public affairs, understood as proximity and service to, and respect for all citizens. Moreover, there are similarities between the two regimes; in both cases, the immediate political background was marked by a dictatorship, both expressly declared an intention to establish themselves as democracies and subsequently underwent a transitional process marked by consensus, and both had similar aims. However, there are also significant differences between the two, not only in terms of the system of government, but also the attribution of State powers, the declaration of rights and the way these were put into practice, and the limits of consensus. While we cannot talk of continuity between the two regimes, the Second Republic may be seen as a short-lived precedent to the current democratic system, and one which succumbed to the strength of anti-democratic organizations and interests. | Este trabajo trata de la pervivencia de los valores republicanos en el régimen democrático actual, que se han analizado desde una doble perspectiva: el interés que despiertan los principios y valores activados por los gobiernos y organizaciones del centro izquierda durante la II República, y la presencia de esos mismos principios y valores en el ordenamiento democrático actual. Consenso, reformismo social, pluralismo político, descentralización del

The politics of home birth in the United States.

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Declercq, Eugene

2012-12-01

Home birth has emerged as a political issue in several states in the United States, and this essay examines two aspects of home births politics. First, legislative battles over home birth policy do not conform to our typical models of partisan (i.e., Democratic vs Republican) politics, and attempts at advocacy cannot rely on classical strategies of alignment with a dominant party in a state. Second, the debates over home birth have increasingly begun to parallel current partisan battles in their emotion and intensity with the related gridlock and reluctance to consider compromises that are often necessary to achieve policy goals. This essay calls for a greater willingness for all sides to approach home birth less as an ideological mission and more as a health policy challenge to support consumers interested in an integrated system of care. © 2012, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2012, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

ISSUES OF LEGITIMIZING POLITICAL POWER IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: MAX WEBER AND KARL JASPERS

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Nicolae IUGA

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The issue of legitimizing political power has specific dimensions determined by the historical context. In the period following the First World War, democratic regimes dramatically collapsed due to ample protest movements against the political establishment from different countries, but also as a result of a serious political legitimation crisis, thus making way for the rise of totalitarian regimes of Fascism and Nazism. That time debates on the problem of legitimization political power are symptomatic. Due to the general perception regarding corruption in politics and to the political incapacity to deal with social problems, we can witness a decrease of trust in contemporary democratic regimes.In order to exemplify, in a brief expositive manner, my paper will present the topic of political legitimation approached by Max Weber and Karl Jaspers, in a selection of relevant texts issued by both authors during 1919-1931. The aim of this paper is to highlight the actuality, the validity of Weber’s and Jasper’s statements and also their capacity to give pertinent responses to questions such as: What role do the common values play in the legitimating of power in a democratic society? Are there any kinds of limits regarding the electoral legitimation? How can we make the difference between a legitimate appeal and an illegitimate one, between civism and terrorism?

Democratic Public Discourse in the Coming Autarchic Communities

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Gheorghe-Ilie Farte

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of this article is to tackle the problem of living together – as dignified human beings – in a certain territory in the field of social philosophy, on the theoretical grounding ensured by some remarkable exponents of the Austrian School − and by means of the praxeologic method. Because political tools diminish the human nature not only of those who use them, but also of those who undergo their effects, people can live a life worthy of a human being only as members of some autarchic or self-governing communities. As a spontaneous order, every autarchic community is inherently democratic, inasmuch as it makes possible free involvement, peaceful coordination, free expression and the free reproduction of ideas. The members of autarchic communities are moral individuals who avoid aggression, practice self-control, seek a dynamical efficiency and establish (together with their fellow human beings a democratic public discourse.

Democratic parenting: paradoxical messages in democratic parent education theories

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Oryan, Shlomit; Gastil, John

2013-06-01

Some prominent parent education theories in the United States and other Western countries base their educational viewpoint explicitly on democratic values, such as mutual respect, equality and personal freedom. These democratic parenting theories advocate sharing power with children and including them in family decision making. This study presents a textual analysis of two such theories, the Adlerian model of parent education and the Parent Effectiveness Training (PET) model, as they are embodied in two original bestselling textbooks. Through content and argumentation analysis of these influential texts, this study examines the paradoxes inherent in these two theories when they articulate how to implement fully democratic principles within the parent-child relationship. We discover that in spite of their democratic rationale, both books offer communication practices that guide the child to modify misbehaviour, enforce parental power, and manipulate the child to make decisions that follow parental judgment, and thus do not endorse the use of a truly democratic parenting style. We suggest, as an alternative to the democratic parenting style, that parents be introduced to a guardianship management style, in which they do not share authority with children, but seek opportunities for enabling children to make more autonomous decisions and participate in more family decision making.

Social Networks and Political Parties in Chile

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Adler Lomnitz, Larissa

2002-09-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the origin and evolution of two Chilean political parties (the Radical Party and the Christian Democrat Party through the analysis of the social networks that originated and composed them. The aim of this study is to propose a model of national political cultures on the basis of the structure of social networks related to power and of the symbol system, which legitimizes it. The structure of social networks, horizontal and vertical, are based on reciprocal or redistributive forms of exchange, on what is being exchanged and on the articulation between networks. In every society there are symmetrical and asymmetrical exchanges, which produce horizontal and vertical networks. These networks interact among themselves to form the social fabric. The dominance of some over others and how they combine, delineate the character of the political culture (authoritarian vs. egalitarian. Chile is a multiparty country within which there are cohorts of horizontal groups of friends, who informally exercise a central control over their members and create invisible boundaries setting them apart from others, in which leadership is under constrains. The result is both a strong presidential system based on an almost fanatic legitimacy, combined with factionalism and a strong parliamentary system.

Democratization in the Gulf Monarchies and American Civil Society

OpenAIRE

Azam, M. Nazrul Islam and Muhammad; Azam, Muhammad

2015-01-01

The paper deals with the efforts made by American private sector and civil society actors after 2000 to popularize democratic values and norms in the six Gulf states, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The study is focused on areas including politics, education, culture, media, human rights, and women empowerment. The paper also deals with approaches adopted, goals and objectives set and strategies devised and employed by the American NGOs regardi...

Democratization in the Gulf Monarchies and American Civil Society

OpenAIRE

Azam, M. Nazrul Islam and Muhammad

2010-01-01

The paper deals with the efforts made by American private sector and civil society actors after 2000 to popularize democratic values and norms in the six Gulf states, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The study is focused on areas including politics, education, culture, media, human rights, and women empowerment. The paper also deals with approaches adopted, goals and objectives set and strategies devised and employed by the American NGOs regardi...

Southeast Asia’s Democratic Developmental States and Economic Growth

OpenAIRE

Michael T. Rock

2015-01-01

How has democracy impacted growth in Southeast Asia? This question can be answered by demonstrating how political elites in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand crafted quite unique democratic developmental states that enabled them to provide the public goods and public policies to maintain high growth. Because of this, growth under democracy has been as high as it was during the heyday of these polities’ developmental autocracies. Moreover, as there was no single dominant pathway to the construc...

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE CASE OF TURKEY (1987-2006

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SELİM ŞANLISOY

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Economy and policy are always in mutual interaction. Especially the fact that sharp judgement between economical variables and democratization cannot be put forward shows that the relationship between political instability and economical variables should be analysed. In recent studies political stability or instability variables including more comprehensive variables instead of democratization variables have been used. The main aim of this study is to analyse the effects of political instability often experienced in Turkey’s conditions on economic growth. Here in terms of the analysis of variables (data time series a model with single equation was established and within the framework of this model some analyses were carried out with the help of main and control variables. To the findings, in accordance with the literature, it is verified that there is a reverse relationship between political instability and economic growth in Turkey and in the light of the findings, some policy suggestions are also made.

On the Political Sociology of the Imperial Greek City

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Arjan Zuiderhoek

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Elements of oligarchy, democracy, and hierarchy coexisted in the polis of Roman times, and the survival of the democratic element may reflect the prospering of small businessmen with their own political interests.

Crisis, neoliberal health policy, and political processes in Mexico.

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Laurell, A C

1991-01-01

The Mexican case represents an orthodox neoliberal health policy in the context of the structural adjustment adopted by the Mexican government in 1983. The social costs of this strategy are very high, including an increase in unemployment, wage depression, regressive redistribution of wealth, and profound changes in social policies. These transformations are reflected in the health sector, where the four main axes of neoliberal policy--expenditure restrictions, targeting, decentralization, and privatization--have been implemented. This represents a change in social policy from a model based on citizens' social rights and the state's obligation to guarantee them, to a model characterized by selective public charity. This strategy has been imposed on society as a result of the Mexican corporative political regime based on a state party system. Since 1985, however, there has been a growing process of independent organization of civil society. This led in the presidential elections of 1988 to the defeat of the candidate of the governing party by the candidate of a popular-democratic opposition front. Although the government party imposed its candidate through electoral fraud, social mobilization against neoliberal policies continues in the midst of an important political crisis that can only be resolved by profound democratization of Mexican society.

COUNTERMAJORITARIAN INSTITUTIONS IN THE RUSSIAN CONSTITUTION OF 1993 AS AN INSTRUMENT ENSURING CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL STABILITY

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S. Shakhray

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The article enriches the discussion on the legal reasons and conditions fostering the viability of democratic constitutions by analyzing the rich experience of the Russian Constitution of 1993. Particular attention is paid to the concept of countermajoritarian institutions. The authors elaborate the idea that countermajoritarian institutions can play an important role in ensuring the viability (put in other terms, the proper balance between stability, adaptability, and dynamic development of modern democratic constitutions as well as political regimes.The article presents evidence-based data showing that the President and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation systematically acted as countermajoritarian institutions at the initial stage of the implementation of the “blueprint for the future” set down in the 1993 Russian Constitution. As a result of the activities of these institutions, strong legal frameworks were created that are necessary for the establishment of anew constitutional system of the Russian state and law.Today, the Russian Constitution of 1993 is one of the longest lasting democratic constitutions in the world (the average “life expectancy” of democratic constitutions adopted over the past 250 years is about seventeen years. The study of the countermajoritarian provisions in the 1993 Russian Constitution is of both theoretical and practical importance. In particular, the results of the study can be useful in creating efficient legal instruments for the maintenance of political stability and social development management both within sovereign states and within interstate communities.

Vote Choice, Ideology, and Social Dominance Orientation Influence Preferences for Lower Pitched Voices in Political Candidates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laustsen, Lasse; Petersen, Michael Bang; A. Klofstad, Casey

2015-01-01

Humans are equipped with a psychological system of followership that evolved to regulate choices of leaders based partly on would-be leaders’ physiological features. One such feature is voice pitch, which is determined by the physiology of the throat. Recent studies find that political candidates...... these findings by demonstrating that conservatives and Republicans tend to view the world as much more competitive and threatening than liberals and Democrats. We utilize two existing data sources to show that political candidates with lower-pitched voices are preferred more among conservative Republicans than...

Civil Society, Democratic Space, and Social Work

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Neelmani Jaysawal

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Civil Society envisages the growth of civilization in a way that the society is in “civilized form.” It has been prominent in Social science since time immemorial. Till 18th century, it was synonymous with the state or political society. It was more or less direct translation of Cicero’s Societas’ Civilis and Aristotle’s Koinonia politike. According to Karl Marx, “Civil Society embraces the whole material intercourse of individuals within a definite stage of development of productive forces.” Civil Society is an arena where modern man legitimately gratifies his self-interest and develops his individuality, but also learns the value of group action, social solidarity which educates him for citizenship and equips him to participate in the political sphere of the state. It provides “networks of civic engagement” within which reciprocity is learned and enforced, trust is generated. An active and diverse civil society plays a valuable role in advancement of democracy. It seeks to ensure that citizen’s interests are taken seriously. The social work intervention may not be democratically envisaged until it is promulgated by civic engagement through Civil Society. Methodology: This is a descriptive study which consists of secondary source of data collection based on reports, books, periodic journals, web-based articles. There have been utilized three case studies for reaching the findings of study. This article will highlight on role of civil society in providing democratic space and assisting social workers to ensure inclusive growth through conglomeration of state and individuals.

Political Culture and Covalent Bonding. A Conceptual Model of Political Culture Change

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Camelia Florela Voinea

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Our class of models aims at explaining the dynamics of political attitude change by means of the dynamic changes in values, beliefs, norms and knowledge with which it is associated. The model constructs a political culture perspective over the relationship between macro and micro levels of a society and polity. The model defines the bonding mechanism as a basic mechanism of the political culture change by taking inspiration from the valence bonding theory in Chemistry, which has inspired the elaboration of the mechanisms and processes underlying the political culture emergence and the political culture control over the relationship between macro-level political entities and the micro-level individual agents. The model introduces operational definitions of the individual agent in political culture terms. The simulation model is used for the study of emergent political culture change phenomena based on individual interactions (emergent or upward causation as well as the ways in which the macro entities and emergent phenomena influence in turn the behaviors of individual agents (downward causation. The model is used in the ongoing research concerning the quality of democracy and political participation of the citizens in the Eastern European societies after the Fall of Berlin Wall. It is particularly aimed at explaining the long-term effect of the communist legacy and of the communist polity concept and organization onto the political mentalities and behaviors of the citizens with respect to democratic institutions and political power. The model has major implications in political socialization, political involvement, political behavior, corruption and polity modeling.

Political Campaigns Get Personal with Students

Science.gov (United States)

Hermes, J. J.

2007-01-01

On Election Day in 2006, some students at the University of Texas at Austin were prodded by startlingly personal calls from Democratic Party supporters. As political campaigns look to corral young voters, those calls could be a harbinger of things to come in 2008: campaigns going after students through contact information that public colleges are…

Enhanced democratic learning within the Aalborg Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qvist, Palle

2010-01-01

The Aalborg PBL Model [Kjersdam & Enemark, 1997; Kolmos et al., 2004] is an example of a democratic learning system [Qvist, 2008]. Writing one project each semester in teams is an important element in the model. Medicine with Industrial Specialisation - a study at the Faculties of Engineering......, Science and Medicine at Aalborg University - has combined the Aalborg Model with solving cases as used by other models. A questionnaire survey related to democratic learning indicates that the democratic learning has been enhanced. This paper presents the results....

Sortition, rotation and mandate:: conditions for political equality and deliberative reasoning

OpenAIRE

Owen, David; Smith, Graham

2018-01-01

The proposal to create a chamber selected by sortition would extend this democratic procedure into the legislative branch of government. However, there are good reasons to believe that, as currently conceived by John Gastil and Erik Olin Wright, the proposal will fail to realize sufficiently two fundamental democratic goods, namely political equality and deliberative reasoning. Through analysis of its historic and contemporary application, we argue that sortition needs to be combined with oth...

The significance of communication means of the internet in contemporary politics

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Арам Грачиаевич Восканян

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In the given article on the basis of comparative analysis is studied the dual nature of the widespread approaches to influence of media sphere upon political processes by the example of actual events in western countries and Arab world. The authors investigate mobilization, integration, democratization and intervention capabilities of the modern media sphere. The practices of application of the new media means by the leading countries as specific tools of soft power strategies at national and international levels have been thoroughly analyzed in the article. The authors come to conclusion that in the modern world the functional apparatus of the Internet despite it architectural openness and infinite socio-political potential is limited by the activities of media elites that hinder true civil participation. Untimely proclaimed democratic character of media sphere is weaken by commercialization and consumerism of media space. The category of “feedback” as an important mobilization tool has situational character and has the short-term impact upon political views and perceptions.

On Enthusiasm in Politics: 12 Hypotheses

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Valerio Romitelli

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The author suggests twelve hypothesis to revive enthusiasm as a political category and, finally, to restate the possibility of political action. The enthusiasm of the masses was in this perspective the essential political element of ''The Glorious Thirties'' following the Second War World, characterized by this tension to realize a greater social justice. It would have been also at the base of the ''Long Sixty- eight'' and of the processes of decolonization. Enthusiasm is thus thought in opposition both to the monopolistic pretension of political innovation forwarded by communist parties in the past and to the exclusive competence on political-economical decisions claimed today by democratic élite. Rethinking the enthusiasm that animated these historic sequences of the Twentieth century should offer the possibility to respond to «the sad passions» that dominate the era of neoliberal administration of global democracy.

The Double Conditioning of Political Participation: Grassroots Politics on Facebook. Conjunctions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schou, Jannick; Farkas, Johan; Hjelholt, Morten

2015-01-01

Th e emergence of social network sites as a part of everyday life has given rise to a number of debates on the demo-cratic potential aff orded by these technologies. Th is paper addresses political participation facilitated through Facebook from a practice-oriented perspective and presents a case...... of Facebook to facilitate political participation. Th e study fi nds that user participation on the Facebook page is ‘ double conditioned’ by the material structure of the social network site on the one hand and by the discourses articulated by the organisation and users on the other. Finally, the paper...... discusses the fi ndings and raises a number of problems and obstacles facing participatory grassroots organisations, such as Fight For Th e Future, when using Facebook....

Public attitudes toward biofuels. Effects of knowledge, political partisanship, and media use.

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Cacciatore, Michael A; Binder, Andrew R; Scheufele, Dietram A; Shaw, Bret R

2012-01-01

Despite large-scale investments and government mandates to expand biofuels development and infrastructure in the United States, little is known about how the public conceives of this alternative fuel technology. This study examines public opinion of biofuels by focusing on citizen knowledge and the motivated processing of media information. Specifically, we explore the direct effects of biofuels knowledge and the moderating effect of partisanship on the relationship between media use and benefit vs. risk perceptions in the following four domains: environmental impacts, economic consequences, ethical/social implications, and political ramifications. Our results suggest that more knowledgeable respondents see fewer benefits of biofuels relative to risks, and that Democrats and Republicans are affected differently by media use when forming opinions about biofuels. Among Democrats, greater attention to political media content leads to a more favorable outlook toward the technology across several domains of interest, while among Republicans, an increase in attention to political content has the opposite effect. Possible reasons for these results, as well as implications of the findings at the intersection of politics and the life sciences, are discussed.

On New Beginnings and Democratic Legitimacy

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Signe Larsen

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This paper sets out to discuss the enigma of revolutionary new political beginnings of constitutional orders. The problem is that when a political community is constituted, the act of constituting per definition is unconstitutional or extra-legal. For this reason the question of new beginnings is a political and not a legal question. The question of what the authority of the constituent act is presents an important question since the constitution is the fundamental law from which the legitimacy or authority of all other laws is derived. The problem for this paper is whether and in what way it is possible to think new beginnings that are not merely institutionalizations of factual relations of domination or arbitrary acts of violence. This problem is discussed on basis of two revolutionary theories in the tradition of constituent power—Emmanuel Sieyès and Hannah Arendt—that both understand power to emanate from below and not from above whereby they both, though in different way, present arguments against the understanding that new beginnings merely are institutionalizations of relations of domination and arbitrary acts of violence. The question of whether and to what extent they are successful and whether their theories are democratic will finally be discussed.

The Digital Editions of Revista Estudos Feministas (and the Democratization of the Access to the Scientific and Scademic Production

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Sônia Weidner Maluf

2008-01-01

Full Text Available In this article we describe the electronic editions of Revista Estudos Feministas and our contribution towards a politics of democratization of the access to scientific and academic production. After a brief description of the three spaces of electronic editions of REF (the Electronic Library Scielo, the Scielo Social Science Portal and the Feminist Portal, we discuss the contribution of gender and feminist studies for the democratization of the access to the scientific and academic production.

Political participation as an integral part of individuals’ identity

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G. G. Udzhmadzhuridze

2014-07-01

Author examined the main types and forms of political participation. The most common types are involved in the elections, the relationship with political organizations and visiting congresses of political organizations. It is established that political participation of individuals across the all variety of its manifestations, is an expression of civic culture of a particular society. In many states for citizens there is the usual practice of political participation, but only in democratic countries individuals will do this voluntarily and without coercion. Only voluntary political participation and awareness of it, is a manifestation of personal attitudes and beliefs. The author traced that political participation as an integral part of political culture is transmitted from generation to generation through the institutions of socialization in society. The most effective institutions of socialization influence on young people. The political socialization research has revealed the transfer of political ideals and habits between generations.

Brazilian foreign affairs: social capital and the democratic discourse in South America

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Rafael Duarte Villa

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Brazilian elites as well as foreign policy-makers have long shared a common belief that the ideas of democracy and democratization should serve as some "road map" to foreign policy-making. In areas such as security, regional integration, and disarmament, the goal has been to generate a positive social capital as well as to build trusting relations with Brazilian neighbors in South America. Therefore, under the impact of ideas brought about by new world visions, Brazilian foreign policy has changed a domestic policy feature - the democratic rearrangement of the political system - into a condition and resource for foreign policy-making towards South America. The result has been a fine improvement of Brazilian image and credibility in the regional South American scenario. In other words, there has been a significant increment in "trust" towards Brazil. This argument has been developed based on extracts and transcripts from official diplomatic speeches from Brazilian foreign policy-makers as well as a historical reconstruction of Brazil's diplomatic relations with two South American countries. Our study was based on two cases: Brazilian-Venezuelan and Brazilian-Argentine relations in the 80's and the 90's.

Psychological aspects of political tolerance among adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Sotelo, M J; Sangrador, J L

1997-12-01

This study concerns 273 Spanish adolescents, aged between 14 and 17, 125 boys and 148 girls. The measured variables were political tolerance, liking for several groups, political experience, cognitive moral reasoning, support for democratic norms, support for violent groups, identification with a group of friends, identification with a religious group, and identification with a soccer team. The objectives of this work were (a) to establish groups of adolescents based on the relationship between their willingness to extend rights to several groups and their liking of these groups, (b) to know the personality characteristics of tolerant and intolerant adolescents, and (c) to set up correlations between age and total tolerance, total liking, and the variables correlated with tolerance. The main findings are that older and younger adolescents belong to different groups, with respect to tolerance, and something similar can be said about boys and girls. Intolerant adolescents perceive themselves as anxious, insecure, solitary, and obstinate. Significant positive correlations between age and political experience, rated support for democratic norms and ratings for identification with a group of friends were found. On the contrary, there were significant negative correlations between age and rated support for violent groups, identification with a religious group, and identification with a soccer team.

Political ideologies as shapers of future tourism development

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Craig Webster

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to identify the link between political ideology and the management of tourism in countries. The authors stipulate that the predominant political ideology in the country influences the nature and logic of state interventions in the tourism industry. Design/methodology/approach – The paper elaborates several case studies from various countries – Bulgaria, Cyprus, Scandinavia, Russia, USA, China, Japan, Indonesia, and North Korea. Findings – Countries with predominant (neoliberal ideology do not typically interfere in tourism regulation, while nationalism leads governments to stimulate inbound and domestic tourism. Communist ideological approaches tend to be burdensome, inhibiting growth while stressing the promotion of the socialist achievements of a country. Countries that are traditionally thought of as social democratic have been evolving in recent years to regulate tourism in ways that are more liberal in nature than social democratic. Practical implications – Political ideologies shape the acceptability of government support for private tourist companies, legislation in field of tourism, limitation/stimulation of inbound/outbound tourist flows. For the future the authors expect greater politicisation of tourism, active tourism “wars” between countries, greater control of governments on populations, thriving nationalism, “aggressive” environmentalism. Originality/value – This is one of the first papers to discuss the impact of the political ideology on the management of tourism at the national level.

Comparison of Women's Political Participation in Korea and China

OpenAIRE

Minjeoung Kim

2016-01-01

This paper deals with the comparison of women's political participation in Korea and China. Korean women are participated more in higher education. As the economic development and the women's social participation can enhance the possibility of women's political participation in advanced democratic countries, in Asian countries such as Korea and China in which Confucianism prohibited women to participate in public life and the process of nation building is different from western countries, the...

JOURNALISTIC COVERAGE OF POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL CRISES AND THE “ISSUE” OF POLITICAL CORRUPTION

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Isabel Ferin Cunha

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the relationship between news coverage, political communication, crises and corruption, focusing on Western democracies and particularly Portugal. Firstly, political communication and news coverage are discussed, based on the assumption that the commoditisation of the goals of media and information companies has resulted in changes in the balance between the political and media fields. Within this perspective, attention is devoted to the consequences of these changes in Western democracies, taking into consideration not only certain aspects that tend to subvert underlying principles of representative democracy, but also the emergence of new social movements craving greater democratic participation in the public sphere. In addition, this study examines the concepts of crisis and political corruption, seeking to identify the historical and cultural elements that correlate the two phenomena in Western democracies, especially in Portugal. Finally, it addresses the processes of exposing corruption phenomena and their legal implications, as well as the principles of transparency of information and the consequences upon democracy.

Journalistic coverage of political and financial crises and the “issue” of political corruption

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Isabel Ferin Cunha

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the relationship between news coverage, political communication, crises and corruption, focusing on Western democracies and particularly Portugal. Firstly, political communication and news coverage are discussed, based on the assumption that the commoditisation of the goals of media and information companies has resulted in changes in the balance between the political and media fields. Within this perspective, attention is devoted to the consequences of these changes in Western democracies, taking into consideration not only certain aspects that tend to subvert underlying principles of representative democracy, but also the emergence of new social movements craving greater democratic participation in the public sphere. In addition, this study examines the concepts of crisis and political corruption, seeking to identify the historical and cultural elements that correlate the two phenomena in Western democracies, especially in Portugal. Finally, it addresses the processes of exposing corruption phenomena and their legal implications, as well as the principles of transparency of information and the consequences upon democracy.

MAPPING CHILDREN’S POLITICS: SPATIAL STORIES, DIALOGIC RELATIONS AND POLITICAL FORMATION

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Elwood, Sarah; Mitchell, Katharyne

2015-01-01

This article confronts a persistent challenge in research on children’s geographies and politics: the difficulty of recognizing forms of political agency and practice that by definition fall outside of existing political theory. Children are effectively “always already” positioned outside most of the structures and ideals of modernist democratic theory, such as the public sphere and abstracted notions of communicative action or “rational” speech. Recent emphases on embodied tactics of everyday life have offered important ways to recognize children’s political agency and practice. However, we argue here that a focus on spatial practices and critical knowledge alone cannot capture the full range of children’s politics, and show how representational and dialogic practices remain a critical element of their politics in everyday life. Drawing on de Certeau’s notion of spatial stories, and Bakhtin’s concept of dialogic relations, we argue that children’s representations and dialogues comprise a significant space of their political agency and formation, in which they can make and negotiate social meanings, subjectivities, and relationships. We develop these arguments with evidence from an after-school activity programme we conducted with 10–13 year olds in Seattle, Washington, in which participants explored, mapped, wrote and spoke about the spaces and experiences of their everyday lives. Within these practices, children negotiate autonomy and self-determination, and forward ideas, representations, and expressions of agreement or disagreement that are critical to their formation as political actors. PMID:25642017

Do digital social networks foster civilian participation among millennials? Kitchenware Revolution and 15M democratic regeneration cases

OpenAIRE

Calzada, IC

2018-01-01

Nowadays ‘education for citizenship’ is presented as a solution for many of the political, social, and co-existential issues in Western democratic societies in order to tackle dysfunctionalities produced by globalization, populism, migration, information and communication technologies (ICTs), and violence. At the same time, particularly among ‘millennials’ or ‘digital natives’, lack of civil commitment and apathy toward politics as a whole contrasts with their intensive usage of digital socia...

Listening for Noise in Political Thought

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Bruce Buchan

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The acoustic dimension of political philosophy has rarely attracted serious attention, in part because scholars have tended to assume that political theories, ideas, and concepts, exist as abstract entities that are often noiselessly communicated in written texts. And yet, the noisy communication of political ideas whether in the form of Socratic dialogues, Churchillian orations, or in the hushed tones of focus group conversations treasured by deliberative democrats today, has a rich political history and a continuing relevance. This paper will focus on five performative modes for the communication of political ideas: the monologue, the dialogue, the oration, the interjection, and the noisy crowd. While this list may not be exhaustive, it will be used here as a starting point for further exploration. I will contend that in each of these performative modes, the communication of political ideas is framed by the noise of actual, or textually imagined kinds of political speech designed to underscore the validity of the ideas conveyed. One of the most important reasons for traversing this variable performative and acoustic terrain today is to enable us to hear and to listen to political speech amid the potentially polluting hum of political white noise.

Democratising Political Powers through Locke's Doctrine of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The essay contends that whenever there is high-handedness of leaders in a democratic nation, such a state is either a 'despotic family monarchy' which has been disguised as a 'democracy'; or under normal circumstances, there is an abusive use of most, if not all of the primitive (untamed) elements of political power.

Countering the Cuts: The Class Politics of Austerity

OpenAIRE

Nunn, A

2010-01-01

The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in the UK is pursuing a class politics of austerity through a proposed radical reduction in public spending. This paper questions the assumptions underlying the logic of austerity and reveals it to be based on class politics designed to redistribute wealth from the poor to the rich. It also suggests that the crisis which is being used as a catalyst for reform is actually a product of the particular form of capitalism pursued in the UK...

Illegibility as a state effect : The limits of governing teacher identification in the Democratic Republic of Congo

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brandt, C.O.

2018-01-01

State administrations rely on knowledge about its employees in order to ensure transparent payroll management. This thesis investigates the political economy and social dynamics around such knowledge by focusing on public school teachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After a calamitous

Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans

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Schreiber, Darren; Fonzo, Greg; Simmons, Alan N.; Dawes, Christopher T.; Flagan, Taru; Fowler, James H.; Paulus, Martin P.

2013-01-01

Liberals and conservatives exhibit different cognitive styles and converging lines of evidence suggest that biology influences differences in their political attitudes and beliefs. In particular, a recent study of young adults suggests that liberals and conservatives have significantly different brain structure, with liberals showing increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, and conservatives showing increased gray matter volume in the in the amygdala. Here, we explore differences in brain function in liberals and conservatives by matching publicly-available voter records to 82 subjects who performed a risk-taking task during functional imaging. Although the risk-taking behavior of Democrats (liberals) and Republicans (conservatives) did not differ, their brain activity did. Democrats showed significantly greater activity in the left insula, while Republicans showed significantly greater activity in the right amygdala. In fact, a two parameter model of partisanship based on amygdala and insula activations yields a better fitting model of partisanship than a well-established model based on parental socialization of party identification long thought to be one of the core findings of political science. These results suggest that liberals and conservatives engage different cognitive processes when they think about risk, and they support recent evidence that conservatives show greater sensitivity to threatening stimuli. PMID:23418419

How Should We Deliberate? Between the Argumentative and the Representative Dimensions of Democratic Deliberation

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Tutui Viorel

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: My paper focuses on an important subject of the contemporary theory of democracy: what is the relationship between the argumentative and the representative dimensions of deliberative democracy? Using James Fishkin’s account of deliberative democracy and its relations with other democratic models I will argue that there is a severe conflict between these two dimensions: the attempt to enhance the value of argumentation presupposes a decrease in the representative value and the attempt to enhance the representative value results in a decrease in the argumentative value. This conflict is generated by what I call ‘the paradox of democratic deliberation’: the legitimacy of political decisions demands for the ‘raw’ opinion of the citizens, while the epistemic rightness of political decisions demands for a ‘filtered’ public opinion. But we cannot have both. In the final part of this paper I will sustain a moderate conception regarding the role of deliberation in democracy which offers us a way around this paradox but only at the price of significantly reducing the importance of deliberation.

An Application of the Theory of Open Quantum Systems to Model the Dynamics of Party Governance in the US Political System

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Khrennikova, Polina; Haven, Emmanuel; Khrennikov, Andrei

2014-04-01

The Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad equation allows us to model the process of decision making in US elections. The crucial point we attempt to make is that the voter's mental state can be represented as a superposition of two possible choices for either republicans or democrats. However, reality dictates a more complicated situation: typically a voter participates in two elections, i.e. the congress and the presidential elections. In both elections the voter has to decide between two choices. This very feature of the US election system requires that the mental state is represented by a 2-qubit state corresponding to the superposition of 4 different choices. The main issue is to describe the dynamics of the voters' mental states taking into account the mental and political environment. What is novel in this paper is that we apply the theory of open quantum systems to social science. The quantum master equation describes the resolution of uncertainty (represented in the form of superposition) to a definite choice.

Compromise and Disagreement in Comtemporary Political Theory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rostbøll, Christian F.; Scavenius, Theresa

Compromise and Disagreement in Contemporary Political Theory provides a critical discussion of when and to what extent compromise is the best response to pluralism and disagreement in democratic decision-making and beyond. Organized into four parts, the book begins by discussing the justification...... and limits of compromise. Part II discusses the practice of compromise and considers the ethics required for compromise as well as the institutions that facilitate compromise. Part III focuses on pluralism and connects the topic of compromise to current discussions in political theory on public reason...

The Importance of Valence-Framing in the Process of Political Communication: Effects on the Formation of Political Attitudes among Viewers of Television News in the Czech Republic

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Hana Hurtíková

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This article explores the meaning of valence-framing theory in political communication. It examines the influence of valence frames on the formation of political attitudes among the public. The valence-framing effect is derived from the information context value (positive, negative and applies if people’s attitudes towards a certain subject match the context value of the information received. The article presents a case study of reports during the crisis of Mirek Topolánek’s government in the Czech Republic in 2009. It examines to what extent the context of the statements on the Czech news concerning the parliamentary parties Civic Democratic Party (ODS, leader Mirek Topolánek and the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD, leader Jiří Paroubek related to the existing political attitudes of their prospective audiences. The article argues that the valence-framing effect was more evident in the public broadcasting programme Události ČT than the commercial programme Televizní noviny, a paradox which can be explained by the unique link between the attributes of the Czech media environment and the political opinions of their viewers.

Political motivations for intra-European migration.

Science.gov (United States)

Bygnes, Susanne; Flipo, Aurore

2017-08-01

Motivations for migrating within the European Union have mainly been attributed to economic, career and lifestyle choices. This article suggests that political dissatisfaction is also an important motivator of recent intra-European migration. In our analysis of in-depth interviews with Romanian migrants in Spain and with Spanish migrants in Norway, we found a common emphasis on the political dimensions of their decision to migrate. In the interviews, the economic component of migration was often related to bad governance and negative perceptions of the state. The similarities of Spanish and Romanian migration narratives are especially striking because Spain and Romania represent substantially different migratory, political and economic contexts. However, migration is more obviously intertwined with conventional acts of political protest in the Spanish case. We suggest that differences in democratic contexts are pivotal in people's reactions to and framing of their deep dissatisfaction with domestic politics, as found in many European countries today.

Monumentality on space and cultural democratization

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Inês Alves

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article proposes a reflection on the idea of monumentality in political and religious power, and its reconversion of a democratic society. There are 3+1 types of cultural exhibition space that are analyzed: the traditional palace or the church, which contain great works of classical art, inside of the historic centers; the art galleries associated with market economy, tend to stimulate the city centre area, and the autonomy of the architectural object in the vicinity of the traditional city. Lastly it is referred the case study - Silo Cultural Space - inside the Norteshopping, but arranged in a peripheral form, which is distinguished by an apparent proximity to multiple public.

Public sphere of politics: between classical grounds and new political actuality

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O. A. Tretyak

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The public sphere of politics as a theoretical concept of modern political science has been discussed in the article. The reasons of the increasing interest to the public sphere is a dominating subject. Studied The phenomenon of the public sphere being a tool of theoretical and methodological definition of the political world’s boundaries has been studied. The value aspects of media activity in the contemporary politics has been investigated. An attempt has been made to establish the potential of political publicity for the qualitative understanding of participatory democracy. The potential of the public sphere in the development of civil society and social capital has been described. The distinction between the public sphere of politics and political communication in the specific conditions of modern transformational societies has been reasonably grounded. The importance of the presence of state power in all spheres of life of the transformational society has been stressed. Such transformation has not been stoped after the liberal market reforms, which had to ensure the existence of a formal representative democracy. The influence of the elite and expert groups being the reason of the absence of really functioning future civil society has been considered. The features of the formation of civil and social activities as a precondition for the democratic political class’ functioning have been studied. The specifics of public political activity being the prerogative of the competent entities’ political broadcasting have been analyzed. The gradual formation of cyber public sphere and its political branch segment has been revealed. Thorough attention has been given to the processes of the public sphere’s politicization which are usual for primarily authoritarian and closed societies.

Role of the Knowledge in the Political Socialization of Adults

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Bogomir Novak

1996-12-01

Full Text Available The author analyses a thesis of the ambivalent structure of the knowledge and the political socialization, the school's knowledge and the political socialisation dilemma in recent circum­ stances. The adults socialize themselves in postsociali­stic transition for a new system of democracy in the independent state of Slovenia. The adults are cleaved between nostalgia for the past and neces­sity of (active adaptation in present. Our political culture has a low level because the knowledge was not consider as a value. A new democratic political culture already arises in the postsocialist countries. The knowledge, which we get through the social relationships and logical, critical thinking, has double structure: it is repetition and creativi­ty, the knowledge for power over extern, physic world and knowledge for human, psycho-social world, partialised and holistic knowledge. The adults, who are included in process of long-life education addes the Jack of school knowledge with learning of contemporary knowledge. In this way they resocialize themselves for accomplish­ ing of the complex tasks of the postsocialist socie­ty.

Creativity and Democracy in Education: Practices and Politics of Learning through the Arts. Routledge Research in Education Policy and Politics

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Jeff; Owens, Allan

2015-01-01

The struggle to establish more democratic education pedagogies has a long history in the politics of mainstream education. This book argues for the significance of the creative arts in the establishment of social justice in education, using examples drawn from a selection of contemporary case studies including Japanese applied drama, Palestinian…

Creating clones, kids & chimera: liberal democratic compromise at the crossroads.

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Nathan A

2004-01-01

The objective of this article is to find middle ground between the supporters and opponents of biotechnology by perpetuating the existing legal compromise pertaining to the complete range of health and welfare doctrines relevant to the biotechnological industry. The author aspires neither to add to nor detract from this liberal democratic consensus, but to preserve its constitutive balance between positivism and natural law and over-regulation and under-regulation in the hopes of stabilizing new political fault lines developing around the few biotechnological innovations already grabbing headlines. The most feasible solution is to extend the existing liberal democratic compromise with respect to equal protection, reproductive rights, the First Amendment, human subject experimentation, patent law, and parental rights. This includes banning or monopolizing certain biotechnologies and extending substantive special respect to the ex vivo living human embryo. Biotechnology must not be left to regulate itself.

Youth and Ethnic Movements and Their Impacts on Party Politics in ECOWAS Member States

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Taiwo A. Olaiya

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Although they historically played a pivotal role in the fight against colonial rule—as they have in recent attempts to entrench multiparty democratic processes—the role of youth in political parties in West Africa has received less than commensurate attention in studies on democratization. Unlike in advanced democracies where parties are key agents of political socialization and leadership, parties in West Africa are built on ethno-religious foundations. A peculiar character of highly marginalized youth thus becomes inevitable, both in politics and decision-making processes of the state. To assert themselves, the youth have also become agents of destabilization of the democracy they partook to build. Apart from their involvement in political violence, youths are now available as unconscientious “foot soldiers” of ethnic militias and terrorist groups that are constituting increased social problems in West Africa. In this article, we examine how parties and youth have interacted to define the emergence and character of threat to the nascent democracies in contemporary West Africa. The article interrogates how the notions of “youth” and “political participation” have continued to play out in different West African countries within the context of the opportunities and challenges of Africa’s youth bulge on the democratization process. The article observes that the marginalization of West African youths has been part and parcel of history only that their situation has further raised the stake as agent of social disorder in the absence of positive engagement in the recent times.

Patients' perspectives on political self-disclosure, the therapeutic alliance, and the infiltration of politics into the therapy room in the Trump era.

Science.gov (United States)

Solomonov, Nili; Barber, Jacques P

2018-05-01

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the 2016 United States presidential election and ensuing political climate on patients' experiences in psychotherapy. A sample of 604 self-described Democrat and Republican patients from 50 states participated in the study. Results showed that most therapists disclosed their political stance (explicitly or implicitly) and most patients discussed politics with their therapists. 64% of Clinton supporters and 38% of Trump supporters assumed political similarity with their therapist. Stronger patient-reported alliance levels were found for patients who (a) perceived political similarity; (b) reported implicit therapist political disclosure; and (c) found in-session political discussions helpful. Additionally, Clinton (but not Trump) supporters reported significant pre-post-election decreases in expression of positive emotions and increases in both expression of negative emotions and engagement in discussions about socio-political topics. Our findings suggest that the current political climate infiltrates the therapeutic space and affects therapeutic process and content. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Dimensions of Brazilian Democracy: Inclusion, Participation and Political Representation

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Daiane Sandra Tramontini

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Questioning and boosting traditional ways of behavioral and institutional discourse is part of theories that aim towards critical changes in the politic and juridical area through emancipatory and non-repressive means. Thus, this research paper approaches some ways of questioning the systematics to which the State and the Law deal with politics, society, the democratic strengthening as well as its dimensions and relations with the popular participation and the politic representation. Thereby the deductive method will be used and the procedure form will be based on the bibliographic research.

Driving forces of main landscape change processes from past 200 years in Central Europe - differences between old democratic and post-socialist countries

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Skokanová Hana

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The article compares and points out differences in driving forces of four main landscape change processes that shaped post-socialist countries and old democratic countries of Central Europe during the last two centuries. Studying landscape change processes and corresponding driving forces helps in understanding patterns of present landscape and can help among others in better prediction of future landscape change trends. Here, the presented results are based on review of scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000 and 2014. Driving forces affecting these processes were grouped into four categories. Economic forces drove mainly agricultural intensification; agricultural land abandonment and urbanisation and were pronounced especially in the second half of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century. Technological driving forces affected agricultural intensification especially in the 19th century and the second half of the 20th century while cultural driving forces had the biggest impact on urbanisation at the beginning of the 21st century. Political driving forces affected agricultural intensification, urbanisation as well as agricultural land abandonment and were pronounced mainly during the second half of the 20th century in the post-socialist countries. Political forces in the form of subsidies drove agricultural extensification at the beginning of the 21st century. The drivers for the agricultural intensification as well as urbanisation seem to be similar for both old democratic and post-socialist countries. In contrast, agricultural land abandonment in the old democratic countries was driven by technological, cultural and economic driving forces while in the post-socialist countries the political driving forces were mainly responsible. Changes in systems for subsidies and changes in the agricultural commodity markets are also responsible for different frequencies and rates of extensification of

Political view of youth voters in surabaya

Science.gov (United States)

Kartikasari, M. M.; Suwanda, I. M.; Adi, A. S.

2018-01-01

In the study of political socialization, youth voters are one of the targets of political parties in obtaining constituents. This article will reveal the views of youth voters in interpreting politics. Youth voters who are the subject of the study are college students in the first year. In general, they have different social life backgrounds but are in the same environment, the life of urban people, where their involvement with information technology is high. Political knowledge of youth voters is widely gained through mass media, where information is produced based on market needs. It encourages inconsistency in the direction of thinking that develops by voters. On the one hand, politics is seen as an activity based on ideal democratic values, but on the other hand politics is also seen as a practice that focuses on winning the battle of interests. This suggests that the youth voter political views are oriented toward superficial knowledge directed more by the mass media, not from experience gained through the process of political socialization.

Prosumption as a Political Practice in a “Producer-Consumer Environment”

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N V Plotichkina

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper prosumption is characterized as a political practice in “producer-consumer” communities. Digital political prosumption is the result of the dissemination of Web 2.0., new social media, and 3.0. marketing. Political prosumption can develop in such forms as: the production of media political content (public journalism, political blogging, open news, citizens’ participation in ‘occupy’ movements and pirate parties. The principles of digital prosumption in politics are as follows: openness for public participation, assessment by communities, heterarchy, ad-hoc-meritocracy, common property, and personal service of community members. The appearing new forms of citizen participation are considered to be a transition to a democratic net society structure based on prosumption.

Twitter Language Use Reflects Psychological Differences between Democrats and Republicans.

Science.gov (United States)

Sylwester, Karolina; Purver, Matthew

2015-01-01

Previous research has shown that political leanings correlate with various psychological factors. While surveys and experiments provide a rich source of information for political psychology, data from social networks can offer more naturalistic and robust material for analysis. This research investigates psychological differences between individuals of different political orientations on a social networking platform, Twitter. Based on previous findings, we hypothesized that the language used by liberals emphasizes their perception of uniqueness, contains more swear words, more anxiety-related words and more feeling-related words than conservatives' language. Conversely, we predicted that the language of conservatives emphasizes group membership and contains more references to achievement and religion than liberals' language. We analysed Twitter timelines of 5,373 followers of three Twitter accounts of the American Democratic and 5,386 followers of three accounts of the Republican parties' Congressional Organizations. The results support most of the predictions and previous findings, confirming that Twitter behaviour offers valid insights to offline behaviour.

Twitter Language Use Reflects Psychological Differences between Democrats and Republicans.

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Karolina Sylwester

Full Text Available Previous research has shown that political leanings correlate with various psychological factors. While surveys and experiments provide a rich source of information for political psychology, data from social networks can offer more naturalistic and robust material for analysis. This research investigates psychological differences between individuals of different political orientations on a social networking platform, Twitter. Based on previous findings, we hypothesized that the language used by liberals emphasizes their perception of uniqueness, contains more swear words, more anxiety-related words and more feeling-related words than conservatives' language. Conversely, we predicted that the language of conservatives emphasizes group membership and contains more references to achievement and religion than liberals' language. We analysed Twitter timelines of 5,373 followers of three Twitter accounts of the American Democratic and 5,386 followers of three accounts of the Republican parties' Congressional Organizations. The results support most of the predictions and previous findings, confirming that Twitter behaviour offers valid insights to offline behaviour.

Turkey’s Rising Influence and Increasing Political Boldness: Implications for Its Relationship with NATO

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-31

Three. Pursuing Security in the Middle East and Leadership in the West 15 Chapter Four. Changes in the Domestic Political Landscape 21 Chapter...economic integration, immigration and border control, national sovereignty, respect for democratic norms, and more. However, questions remain. Are...the Soviet blockade of West Berlin and its covert support for the communist overthrow of the democratically elected government of Czechoslovakia

The Populist Catharsis: On the Revival of the Political

OpenAIRE

Azmanova, Albena

2018-01-01

The upsurge of populist movements and the entry of populist parties into parliaments and\\ud governments over the last decade has been condemned as being the cause of the sorry\\ud state of democratic politics in western societies. As populism erodes the liberal political\\ud culture of consensus-building through deliberation that achieves inclusive diversity, the\\ud verdict goes, it undercuts the very foundation of liberal democracies. Taking my distance\\ud from this diagnosis of our current pr...

Democratizing Education: A Case Study of Inclusive Schooling for Students with Special Needs in Poland

Science.gov (United States)

Baran, Jolanta; Winzer, Margaret

2017-01-01

This paper focuses on the democratization of education in the post-socialist space through an examination of inclusive schooling for students with special needs in Poland. It embeds the inclusive education reform and its attendant policies and practices within the political and social transitions that essentially dated from 1989 and saw Poland…

The Media, Corruption and Democratic Accountability in Nigeria's ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Transparency and accountability are essential pillars of democratic government the world over. These virtues are significant in measuring the success or otherwise of any democratic system. Apart from the activities of anti-graft agencies in combating corruption in the society, the mass media are often looked upon as ...

Issues of Political Development: Fragile Democracies in Latin America

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Armando Albuquerque

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The political development, as research field, had its origins in the second half of the last century. From the 60s, when he began to flourish, now constitutes a conceptual border with comparative politics. In subsequent decades there were many advances in the analysis of problems related to the political institutions, state structures, the rule of law, civil society, stability and crises of democratic regimes, among others. From this issue, will be made to this article, supported by the Democracy Index, analyzing the causes of one of the main shortcomings of the political development in Latin America, namely, the low quality of their democracies and the consequent non-consolidation of the same.

Constructive Controversy as a Means of Teaching Citizens How to Engage in Political Discourse

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, David W.; Johnson, Roger T.

2014-01-01

Positive political discourse is the heart of democracy. The purposes of political discourse include making an effective decision about the course the society should take and building a moral bond among all members of the society. A responsibility of social sciences within a democratic society is to provide the theory, research, and normative…

Cursus Honorum: Personal Background, Careers and Experience of Political Leaders in Democracy and Dictatorship—New Data and Analyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Baturo

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Politics in democracy and dictatorship is markedly different; democracy and dictatorship are also associated with distinct policy outcomes. Do political regimes also select different leaders, i.e., do democratic leaders have distinct personal backgrounds to those of their peers in dictatorships, do they tend to hold different prior careers and posts while climbing the “greasy pole” of politics? The aim of this paper is to introduce the new data on leaders’ careers in democracy and dictatorship and compare their personal background, experience in politics, careers and significant posts prior to their tenure, and details about their time in office, inter alia. In general, democratic leaders differ from nondemocratic ones in terms of their educational, social and career background. The paper also finds significant differences among leaders in different nondemocratic regimes, and suggests possible venues for further research.

The conservation and dissemination of information - A democratic issue

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torbacke, J.

1996-01-01

The societal function of the historians are pointed out, to describe and explain, in cooperation with the archives, the chain of political, economic, social and cultural events that has shaped the country's history. The lessons of the past, whether pleasant or unpleasant, should be passed on to the posterity. Open information is an important element in a democratic society and is normally one of the criteria that distinguishes democracy from autocracy. In the closed and controlled information society all that is hushed up and covered up leads to bitterness and rage among the citizens

The conservation and dissemination of information - A democratic issue

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torbacke, J [Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of History

1996-12-01

The societal function of the historians are pointed out, to describe and explain, in cooperation with the archives, the chain of political, economic, social and cultural events that has shaped the country`s history. The lessons of the past, whether pleasant or unpleasant, should be passed on to the posterity. Open information is an important element in a democratic society and is normally one of the criteria that distinguishes democracy from autocracy. In the closed and controlled information society all that is hushed up and covered up leads to bitterness and rage among the citizens.

Political Corruption as Deformities of Truth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yann Allard-Tremblay

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a conception of corruption informed by epistemic democratic theory. I first explain the view of corruption as a disease of the political body. Following this view, we have to consider the type of actions that debase a political entity of its constitutive principal in order to assess corruption. Accordingly, we need to consider what the constitutive principle of democracy is. This is the task I undertake in the second section where I explicate democratic legitimacy. I present democracy as a procedure of social inquiry about what ought to be done that includes epistemic and practical considerations. In the third section, I argue that the problem of corruption for a procedural conception of democracy is that the epistemic value of the procedure is diminished by corrupted agents’ lack of concern for truth. Corruption, according to this view, consists in two deformities of truth: lying and bullshit. These deformities corrupt since they conceal private interests under the guise of a concern for truth. In the fourth section, I discuss the difficulties a procedural account may face in formulating solutions to the problem of corruption.

Analysis of the Russian political tolerance in society-government relations

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A. V. Korolevska

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The high culture of tolerance accelerates political socialization, improves the qualities of a citizen, a sense of ownership of public affairs, instilling respect for democratic values. Relevance of the work is determined by processes that occur in today’s society and that lead not only to confusion but to destruction of public relations. The article reviews the state of political tolerance in the system of relations society – authorities in Russia. Based on opinion polls statistical analyzes to determine trends in contemporary ensure political tolerance is conducted. Due to correlation between support for Putin and the perception of the political situation in the country as well is determined existence. Fixes sustainable public discontent actual situation in the country, however, people do not use the opportunities for political activism. Almost two thirds of Russians believe that the interests of the government and society in do not match. The low percentage of respondents believe that the political course of the country’s leadership in the interests of ordinary people. There is a steady trend to an agreement among the Russian population to concentrate power in his hands. There is a slight increase of the population of those who are ready to connect to solve their problems in life forms of protest activity.

Democracy as a political imperative for successful implementation of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Against the background of the political context of reforms, it illustratively notes that democratic reforms are usually more successful than authoritarian ones. The paper provides a contextual explication of democracy, on which basis it recommends some strategies for successful and effective implementation of reforms in the ...

African Ruling Political Parties and the Making of 'Authoritarian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

only contributed to corruption, violent conflict, poverty, human rights abuses and the throttling of social justice. The contradiction in Africa's democratisation is further shown by the increasing metamorphoses of many African ruling political parties into what can be called 'democratic authoritarianism'. The process of this met-.

Interpreting Democracy: Ethnic Politics and Democracy in the eastern Himalaya

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chettri, Mona

2014-01-01

into ethnic grievances in order to facilitate political mobilization and deeper engagement with the state. In this process, discussions and debates are framed around ethnicity but are presented and deliberated within state approved democratic practices. In the eastern Himalaya, ethnic identity is one...

Finding a Place in the Discourse: Film, Literature and the Process of Becoming Politically Subject

Science.gov (United States)

McDonnell, Jane

2014-01-01

This paper reports on the role of the narrative arts in young people's political subjectivity and democratic learning. Drawing on theoretical insights into the process of subjectification and the relationship between politics and aesthetics, the paper discusses a number of findings from an empirical research project carried out with young people…

Laying the Foundations for Democratic Behavior - A Comparison of Two Different Approaches to Democratic Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viola HUANG

2014-07-01

Full Text Available A democracy is a society in which everyone has equal rights and is able to participate in decision-making processes. Consequently, in a democratic society, democratic behavior is essential. This work investigates the question: In what ways and to what extent can alternative models of education support the development of democratic skills in children? To explore this question, the author analyzes and compares two different approaches to democratic education: The Sudbury approach and the democratic free school approach. The study is based on qualitative research participant observation and open-ended interviews conducted at different Sudbury and democratic free schools in the US.

Managing Political Information: A Malaysian Perspective

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Jamilah Ahmad

2010-07-01

Full Text Available In the development of democratization and the expression of civil and political rights of Malaysian citizens, the pattern of control developed by the regime that is currently in power (Barisan Nasional for the last 50 years in the mass media began to reap the resistance and tend to be ineffective. Malaysian citizens began to demand the Malaysian government to change the pattern of political information management. In addition, the mass media alone is expected to play a more significant role as an intermediary agent in supporting the process of transparency and accountability of government policy. This article shows that the openness of public information is a prerequisite for political democracy in Malaysia to help the government minimize the mis-management of governance policies, especially in finance and resource management.

Toward a more general approach to political stability in comparative political systems

OpenAIRE

Apolte, Thomas

2012-01-01

This paper provides a general framework for analyzing political (in)stability in comparative political systems. It distinguishes different subgroups of a society, some of which have a potential for pursuing a redistribution of wealth in its broadest sense via constitutional or non-constitutional government overturns. Political instability implies a cycle of overturns and redistributions with no stable equilibrium. It will be shown that individual incentives for participating in overturn attem...

Political Detainment in the German Democratic Republic: Public Discourse and Personal Memory

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Rita Horvay

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Between 1976 and 1989, about 60,000 East German citizens were in political detention in the former GDR, a fact which was disclaimed by the GDR government. In this article, I focus on the auto-biographies which were collected by the use of narrative interviews. How do people who were politically persecuted and imprisoned remember their detainment now? Are they able to integrate this event in their life history and talk about it in their social environment? On the basis of biographical case-reconstructions and global analysis, I present four types of memory and biographical work. The analysis shows that the limited reprocessing prior to 1989 as well as the political discourse after 1990 about the GDR past produced a politicization of their imprisonment by the biographers, for example, in the construction of their identity as a political opponent. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs110218

Means of discourse manipulations in political party programs in Spain

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Irina V. Smirnova

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Thanks to different mass media sources, members of any society are well aware of political developments and events and politicians. Every person has his or her own formed political beliefs and affirmations, interpreters other people's actions during political developments and evaluates events that take place. Political forces, in turn, see a person (a potential elector as an object of external information influence. This lets them use political communication when competing for the power. In the modern democratic society this competition is carried out via parliamentarian debates, politicians' speeches, examining political parties' programs, political agitation and voting. General audience-oriented political discourse implements its function of political information influence. As the goal of any political party's program (as an independent form of text in the system of political discourse is to win the elections and come to power, thus the audience influence function is one of the most fundamental and serve as the basis for the text. The text of a program itself is characterized by its persuasive orientation towards the audience, which reveal itself in such methods as convincing, argumentation, manipulation and evaluation. All the political programs pertain to parties which are at the power or which are in opposition. The main characteristic of oppositional programs is the criticism of the power, vice versa, the dominant party's programs confirm the correctness of their policy. All the political programs are multi-authored. The written form of any political program lets put into practice a detailed text analysis. This article presents the analysis of the texts of two leading Spanish political parties (the Spanish socialist worker's party and the people's party of Spain.

Brexit and the Politics of UK Growth Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rosamond, Ben

2018-01-01

Brexit has reopened and repoliticized the debate about future growth models for the UK economy. This contribution argues that this debate is built around historically specific path dependencies that reflect the particular character of public debate about British political economy, while also...... particular attention to the importance of the politics of support. It suggests that recent debate about growth models has been largely subsumed within the politics of Brexit, which has politicized that debate, albeit through the emergent political economy frames that Brexit has provoked. The paper explores...... suggesting that the debate around Brexit takes place at a very distinctive moment in the history of democratic capitalism in Europe. This combination gives the renewed politicization a specific and perhaps perverse character. The paper considers how we should approach debates about growth models, paying...

Society as a victim of bearers of economic and political power

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Tanjević Nataša

2011-01-01

Full Text Available In the transition countries, politics and economics are so connected and interrelated that many individuals who take high governmental positions or who have economic power abuse their status in order to make huge profits and commit criminal acts without impunity. The aim of this paper is to indicate the basic characteristics of this kind of crime and its negative consequences to the society as a whole. The abuse of economic and political power results in increasing economic inequalities, decreasing chances of entering foreign direct investments, and falling economic growth. Besides, this contributes to creating fertile soil for populism and supporting political elites that are not committed to building rule of law, stable democratic society and fair market economy. As a result, citizens’ confidence in the state and its institutions weakens, while the normative system of values in the society is jeopardized. In this way, the society becomes the victim of irresponsible individuals, and of those who abuse their economic and social power.

The politics of service delivery in South Africa: The local government sphere in context

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Purshottama S. Reddy

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The post-1994 democratic developmental South African state opted for a strong local government system which has been constitutionalised, in terms of Chapter 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996. The politicisation of the local bureaucracy was inevitable as the ruling party sought to ensure that the executive leadership of municipalities shared the same political ideology and vision to facilitate local development. This raises the question, where does politicisation commence and end, and what is the ideal local political interface for efficient and effective service delivery and, more importantly, to ensure good governance? These questions have to take cognisance of the fact that South Africa is a ‘struggle democracy’ and development has to take place in historically disadvantaged areas, where services have been poor or non-existent. The historically advantaged areas have to also be maintained and upgraded, as they are key to financial sustainability of the municipalities. The increasing service delivery protests is a matter for concern, if one has to take cognisance of the popular adage highlighted in official literature, ‘if local government fails, South Arica fails’. Given that the struggles for a democratic South Africa were fought at the grassroots level, this has to translate to an improved quality of life for local communities. Consequently, sound political management is key to enhanced municipal service delivery and ultimately good local governance. This paper reviews political trends and developments up to 2016, but excludes any discussion on the recent local government elections.

The online citizen-consumer: Addressing young people's political consumption through technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ward, J.

2008-01-01

With youth, in particular, there are perceptions of declining political interest; at the same time the world where normative democratic ideals were formed is rapidly changing. Globalization results in unclear boundaries between nation states. Consequentially corporations gain power, and advances in

Power to the People: An Inverse Role in Nigeria’s Politics and Governance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Onyemekara Emecheta Kingsley Onyemekara

2016-12-01

Full Text Available An attempt to contextualize the political power structure in Nigeria exposes an orientation and practice that directly negates the democratic norm of power belonging to the people. Today, power belongs entirely to government officials who use it to advance the course of their political and economic interests. The people are thus, subjected to the point and path of complete alienation from the demands and benefits of their democratic citizenship. Given the weakness of the rule of law and institutions of check in Nigeria, established statutes and legislation have not been able to stand tall to relevance in dislodging the hegemony of the ruling elites as is evident in our case study-Imo State. This has since 1999, propped up a telling political effect, which also spirals to the arena of development, and quakes the stability of the state, and the nation at large. The paper examines the current domiciliation of political power, its potential effect on the people, and on service delivery in the country. A case is made for recovery of power for the people and reasserting the law as a balancing force and as means of providing check against breach of constitutionally prescribed political power structure and configuration.

The political instability of the Middle East and its impact on oil production and trade

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mabro, R.

1992-01-01

The political instability characterizing the Middle East is reviewed against and background of the region's recent history. The presence of oil and of Israel, regarded by other countries in the region as an alien implant, are seen as the special causes of particularly unstable political conditions. The impact of unsettling political events on oil supply is then explored, revealing that the causes of political instability continue, and so do the risks and dangers of future oil supply disruptions. Decolonization does not solve the underlying problems that cause instability. Underdevelopment is an ill which persists after achievement of independence. The balance of power in the world is so uneven that large nations are still tempted to interfere in the affairs of smaller ones, causing resentment and frustration. Mature democratic systems are not widespread in most parts of the developing world, and authoritarian regimes tend to be destabilizing

The Maoist Movement and Its Impact on the Democratic Transition of Nepal

Science.gov (United States)

2015-03-01

314 Similarly, the Maoists’ popular ban on gambling and alcohol was another prominent campaign. According to Shah, the banning of alcohol garnered... relationship between “rulers and the ruled” must be smooth.2 So far, Nepalese politics has not achieved this state, even after its most recent transition...transition.”29 Democratic transition is a time- consuming process. It cannot be achieved just for one specific sector or group of people; rather, it requires

Democratic elements in group and project organized PBL

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qvist, Palle

2006-01-01

beyond it to the school and the community” (Marris, 2003:274) then implementing democratic learning systems as The Aalborg Model are important for supporting and promote democratic bildung of students in higher education. This article defines at a – start - what should be understood by a democratic......, run processes and decide behaviour. It is what a pilot investigation referred in this article indicate. The meaning of this seems to be far behind the study itself and qualifications of the students to the labour marked. If it is true that ”the building of community begins in the classroom but extends...... learning system. It contrasts it to an authoritarian or elitist systems. Then it brings the results from an investigation of 9 process analyses’ written at the end of the second semester 2005 by project groups from The Technical Natural Scientific Basic Year at Aalborg University and concludes...

Democratic cultural policy : democratic forms and policy consequences

OpenAIRE

Gray, Clive

2012-01-01

The forms that are adopted to give practical meaning to democracy are assessed to identify what their implications are for the production of public policies in general and cultural policies in particular. A comparison of direct, representative, democratic elitist and deliberative versions of democracy identifies clear differences between them in terms of policy form and democratic practice. Further elaboration of these differences and their consequences are identified as areas for further res...

POLITICAL WILL AND ANTICORRUPTION CRUSADE MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John N. N. Ugoani

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Corruption in all ramifications has continued to jeopardize the efforts of governments in forging national unity, infrastructural development and in most cases, leaving the majority of a nation’s citizens to live in absolute poverty. The phenomenon has persisted in many countries mostly due to weak political will or the lack of it necessary to curb the menace. In its simplest form corruption reflects the use of public office for private gain. As a remedy to this there should be a demonstration of credible intent by political leaders, stakeholders groups to attack perceived causes or effects of corruption at a systemic level. This demonstration of credible capacity reflects political will. The political will to curb corruption is also the political will to pursue other goals like good governance and national unity. Political will is not equivalent to political manifesto rhetoric or pressure group statements. Rather, it is the manifestation of a robust system of checks and balances and strong political institutions for combating corruption and promoting good governance as well as restoring trust and confidence in democratic politics. Gowon’s  proposal reflects strong political will for good governance, because, if political will is to be more than just a slogan, it must be understood in a broad context. This reinforces the believe that if there is an absence of political will at the top, there will be a general lack of commitment to combat corruption, and pursue other important national goals as political development and poverty reduction. The exploratory research design was adopted for the study. Secondary data were generated through a format designed by the investigator for the purpose of the study. Because of the sensitive nature of the study primary data were also generate through a Liker-type questionnaire to supplement the secondary data. Data generated were analyzed through descriptive and X2 statistics and presented in tables with

Democratic governance and political rationalities in the implementation of the water framework directive in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Behagel, J.H.; Arts, B.J.M.

2014-01-01

Multi-level governance, network governance, and, more recently, experimentalist governance are important analytical frameworks through which to understand democratic governance in the EU. However, these analytical frameworks carry normative assumptions that build on functionalist roots and

Democratic governance and political rationalities in the implementation of the water framework directive in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Behagel, J.H.; Arts, B.

2013-01-01

Multi-level governance, network governance, and, more recently, experimentalist governance are important analytical frameworks through which to understand democratic governance in the EU. However, these analytical frameworks carry normative assumptions that build on functionalist roots and

Can Democracy Represent Children? Toward a Politics of Difference

Science.gov (United States)

Wall, John

2012-01-01

Children and youth under 18 have made significant strides in recent years toward fuller inclusion in democratic processes. These strides, however, rarely rise to the level of direct political representation, whether in changing policies, making laws, or voting. This article argues that democracies will be able to represent children only by…

Post-conflict pacts and inclusive political settlements: institutional perspectives from Solomon Islands

OpenAIRE

David Craig; Doug Porter

2014-01-01

Political settlements and pacts now feature prominently in donor narratives about transitions from conflict and institutional fragility to peace and prosperity. "Successful transitions" are said to occur when pacts between political and economic elites are deepened, made more democratically inclusive and gradually institutionalised through security and service delivery out to the edge of national territory. When mapped to any particular case, however, this narrative simplicity is confounded b...

Norwegian public health policy: revitalization of the social democratic welfare state?

Science.gov (United States)

Fosse, Elisabeth

2009-01-01

Norway is part of the so-called social democratic welfare state model, which is characterized by its emphasis on solidarity and redistribution among social groups. The concepts of upstream and downstream policy measures may be useful to characterize different approaches to public health policies: upstream measures would be structural measures, in line with the social democratic welfare state model, while downstream measures would be more targeted at individuals or groups at some sort of risk. The aim of this article is to analyze national policies in Norway and how these may be characterized in terms of upstream and downstream factors. Health promotion and public health policies have been high on the Norwegian political agenda for two decades. However, the national policy emphasis has shifted between strategies aimed at individuals and structural strategies--that is, between downstream and upstream measures. Until 2003, policies included mainly downstream measures, but since then a policy shift has taken place and current policy includes an emphasis on upstream measures. This policy was strengthened after a left-wing coalition came into government in 2005. It may be argued that the present policy represents a revitalization of universal and structural measures, in line with the social democratic welfare state model.

Private Political Violence and Boss-Rule in the Philippines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Kreuzer

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Despite its rather strong and venerable democratic credentials the Philippines is still marred by political violence. Targeted killings and physical harassment by vigilantes, death squads, private armed groups, para-military militias, the police or members of the armed forces as well as violent competition for political jobs cost hundreds of lives every year. One central anchor point of this broad range of violent actors and forms are the locally embedded political bosses. (Defective democracy provides an ideal frame for the continuing competition between various segments of the highly fragmented elite. The paper shows how the bosses succeeded in controlling most means of political violence employed and were thereby able to advance their interests to an extraordinary extent. Upholding private control over means of violence furthered their interests as a political class even though it weakened the state

Political Tv Talk Shows on Greek Television: Live Broadcasting as an ideological and Cognitive frame

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioanna Vovou

2007-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a semiopragmatic analysis of the political talk shows on Greek television that reveals a symbolic conception of the TV studio and it’s value-attributing mechanisms through which principles of democratic dialogue are enacted inside this kind of social and media frame. Political talk shows create the notion of a complex temporality, larger than the concept of events presented live, afecting the political and social vision of the audience.

When Politics Matters: The Impact of Politicians' and Bureaucrats' Policy Preferences on Salient and Nonsalient Policy Areas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bækgaard, Martin; Blom-Hansen, Jens; Serritzlew, Søren

2015-01-01

whether politics still matters when bureaucratic preferences are taken into account. We do this in a simultaneous test of political and bureaucratic influences on public budgets, a policy measure often studied in the ‘politics matters’ literature. We find that political preferences trump bureaucratic ones...... in policy areas salient to the public, but not in less salient areas. This might be comforting news from a democratic perspective. However, since public budgets represent an easy case for political influence, it is food for thought that political preferences do not always prevail....

Dingpolitik and the Expansion of the Democratic Public Sphere?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stephensen, Jan Løhmann

2016-01-01

Marres’ notion of ‘material participation’ as well as Jane Bennett’s theories on ‘vibrant matter’. Picking up from the critiques of deliberative democracy, that the last decades have been raised against it for being a mostly western, white, male, bourgeois, and much too discourse-based construct......, that on closer scrutiny turns out to be anything but democratic, this cluster of new theories, that often go under the name of ‘new materialism', seem to radicalize this critique in order to include non-human agency into the realms of politics and democracy. Rather than subscribing to this metaphor of a rupture...

Brazilian pharmaceutical diplomacy: social democratic principles versus soft power interests.

Science.gov (United States)

Flynn, Matthew

2013-01-01

Current debates concerning the rise of health diplomacy are polarized between competing international relations theories of realism, based on power politics, and constructivist approaches, which emphasize the norms, values, and identities shaping foreign policies. A case study of Brazil's health diplomacy over the past 10 years, focusing on issues related to pharmaceuticals, seeks to provide data to assess these theories. The country's intellectual property disputes, multilateral lobbying efforts, and foreign assistance programs are contrasted with those of the United States, Mexico, and other countries. Instead of viewing Brazilian efforts as a form of soft power, the evidence suggests that the origins of Brazil's involvement and continued efforts in this arena stem more from values based on human rights and social democratic principles. A close examination of domestic political considerations leads to a more nuanced understanding of the drivers behind a country's health diplomacy.

Why Political Parties Colonize the Media in Indonesia: An Exploration of Mediatization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Thaufan Arifuddin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Mediatization has become more relevant in exploring relations between media and politics in post-Suharto Indonesia. However, the media's roles as the fourth estate of democracy has been hijacked by wealthy politicians and political parties. As a result, most mainstream media have failed to enhance public dabates democratically. Based on existing mediatization literature, politico-economy analysis, and data collected through extensive in-depth interviews and relevant documents in the 2013-2015 period, this article theoretically aims to develop the mediatization concept and explore the degree of mediatization of politics in contemporary Indonesia.

The Political Economy of Post-Conflict Development: A Comparative Assessment of Burundi and Rwanda

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-01

Defence of Democracy – Forces for the Defence of Democracy] CVL Crystal Ventures Limited DRC Democratic Republic of Congo FRODEBU Front pour la...discuss four theoretical aspects of elite dynamics: political settlement, dominant party governance, technocratic elite, and political leadership to...such instances, leadership can take long-term views of development and allocate resources effectively.23 Contrarily, conflict mediators view winner

Cross-Border Transitions: Navigating Conflict and Political Change through Community Education Practices in Myanmar and the Thai Border

Science.gov (United States)

Maber, Elizabeth J. T.

2016-01-01

Political oscillations in Myanmar and Thailand, between militarisation and democratic reform, have prompted a rapid renegotiation of the alignments, goals and priorities of non-state education providers, both international and community-based, along the two countries' border. This paper explores the responses to shifts in political environment…

NPPCI - topics in the German Democratic Republic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ziegenbein, D.

1986-01-01

This paper summarizes research and development activities in the field of computerized operator support systems, self-powered detectors, boiling diagnostic and loose part detection systems in the German Democratic Republic

Trends in the distribution of health care financing across developed countries: the role of political economy of states.

Science.gov (United States)

Calikoglu, Sule

2009-01-01

Since the 1980s, major health care reforms in many countries have focused on redefining the boundaries of government through increasing emphasis on private sources of finance and delivery of health care. Apart from managerial and financial choices, the reliance on private sources reflects the political character of a country. This article explores whether the public-private mix of health care financing differs according to political traditions in a sample of 18 industrialized countries, analyzing a 30-year period. The results indicate that despite common trends in all four political traditions during the study period, the overall levels of expenditure and the rates of growth in public and private expenditures were different. Christian democratic countries had public expenditure levels as high as those in social democracies, but high levels of private expenditure differentiated them from the social democracies. Christian democratic countries also relied on both private insurance and out-of-pocket payments, while private insurance expenditures were very limited in social democratic countries. The level of public spending increased at much higher rates among ex-authoritarian countries over the 30 years, bringing these countries to the level of liberal countries by 2000.

Critical thinking, politics on a large scale and media democracy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Antonio IBÁÑEZ-MARTÍN

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The first approximation to the social current reality offers us numerous motives for the worry. The spectacle of violence and of immorality can scare us easily. But more worrying still it is to verify that the horizon of conviviality, peace and wellbeing that Europe had been developing from the Treaty of Rome of 1957 has compromised itself seriously for the economic crisis. Today we are before an assault to the democratic politics, which is qualified, on the part of the media democracy, as an exhausted system, which is required to be changed into a new and great politics, a politics on a large scale. The article analyses the concept of a politics on a large scale, primarily attending to Nietzsche, and noting its union with the great philosophy and the great education. The study of the texts of Nietzsche leads us to the conclusion of how in them we often find an interesting analysis of the problems and a misguided proposal for solutions. We cannot think to suggest solutions to all the problems, but we outline various proposals about changes of political activity, that reasonably are defended from the media democracy. In conclusion, we point out that a politics on a large scale requires statesmen, able to suggest modes of life in common that can structure a long-term coexistence.

Laying the Foundations for Democratic Behavior - A Comparison of Two Different Approaches to Democratic Education

OpenAIRE

Viola HUANG

2014-01-01

A democracy is a society in which everyone has equal rights and is able to participate in decision-making processes. Consequently, in a democratic society, democratic behavior is essential. This work investigates the question: In what ways and to what extent can alternative models of education support the development of democratic skills in children? To explore this question, the author analyzes and compares two different approaches to democratic education: The Sudbury approach and the democr...

Electoral Violence and the Crisis of Democratic Experiment in Post-Colonial Nigeria

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Ehinmore Omolere Monday Ph.D

2013-06-01

Full Text Available  This study discusses the peculiar nature of political participation as well as the attendant violence that characterize it in post independent Nigeria. Central to discussion is identification of the various factors which influence electoral violence and the extent to which it has inhibited national cohesion and democratic values. The study concludes that, Nigeria should produce selfless and visionary leaders, educated masses as well as operating within the frame work of true federalism so as to make appreciable improvement on her development strides. The study therefore recommends discouragement of use of money and material gift during elections, reduction of remuneration of political office seekers, commensurate punishment for culprits’ as well as independence of the independent Electoral Commission should be truly granted.

Electoral Violence and the Crisis of Democratic Experiment in Post-Colonial Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ehinmore Omolere Monday Ph.D

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This study discusses the peculiar nature of political participation as well as the attendant violence that characterize it in post independent Nigeria. Central to discussion is identification of the various factors which influence electoral violence and the extent to which it has inhibited national cohesion and democratic values. The study concludes that, Nigeria should produce selfless and visionary leaders, educated masses as well as operating within the frame work of true federalism so as to make appreciable improvement on her development strides. The study therefore recommends discouragement of use of money and material gift during elections, reduction of remuneration of political office seekers, commensurate punishment for culprits’ as well as independence of the independent Electoral Commission should be truly granted.

Perplexed Particularity in the Clutches of Arrogant Generality?: Political Science as Science of Generality and Political Scientist as Expert for Generality

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Dragutin Lalović

2008-01-01

Full Text Available How is one to conduct adequate political-science investigation, presentation and evaluation of the history and present situation of political science in Croatia? The text focuses on a thorough inquiry into the subject of the science of politics – what is politics? – as the prerequisite for a scientifically adequate solution to the uncertainty regarding the professional profile of the Faculty and its attendants – political scientists. In this context, it ooks into the meaning of the definition of political science as “science of generality” and of the political scientist as “expert for generality”. The theoretical and contextual meaning of these definitions is explained (Prpić, 1969, and its assumptions, scope and limitations are valued. The dramatic uncertainty, both theoretical and practical, which Prpić confronted us with, is insurmountable within the historical context of the democratic state, given its characteristic epochal ambivalence. This goes to show that the dilemma between the plural and the singular does not make much sense: political science in the singular is a servant of political power, while political sciences are mere metascientific humanistic critique of the extant world. Consequently, the science of politics is no good either in the singular or the plural. When scientific and professional, it is a danger to political freedom. When humanistic and non-professional, it is impotent and superfluous. The political scientist, in turn, is either “an expert for particularity”, a servant of political power neutral with regard to ethics and values, or else a pretentious missionary. In order to break out of the vicious circle, the science of politics, in a fruitful and irreplaceable duality, must be methodically made to rely on a new principle of community constitution, which is immanent critique and overcoming of the modern democratic state and civil society. In addition, the perception of political science as �

Political Cynicism and Kynicism of Croatian Citizens. Profiles of Political Thinking and Behavior

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Nebojša Blanuša

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In the last thirty years uneasiness among scholars and political actors has been growing larger as more citizens demonstrate cynical attitudes. These citizens feel that politicians are immoral and incompetent, have less faith in democracy, and show lower levels of political participation. However, Peter Sloterdijk points out that the dominant view of cynicism is simplified. He divides cynical reason into two separate ways of thinking: cynicism and kynicism. The main difference between them is in individual’s reaction to the cleavage between public ideological mask and individual’s idea of social reality. Cynics persist in keeping the ideological mask on and have an “enlightened false consciousness”, while kynics highlight this cleavage, oppose the dominant ideology and point out misuses of political power. This research was conducted with the goal of creating cynicism and kynicism scales. Their validity was tested for two samples – a smaller sample of students and later on the representative sample of Croatian citizens (N=1002. Also, connection of cynical and kynical thought with an array of relevant political attitudes and political behavior was tested. Results indicate that cynicism and kynicism are relatively separated and coherent types of political thought. Kynicism is primarily related to low trust in political institutions, but also to lower support of democracy. Specific combinations of these two types of thought have a highly negative potential for abandoning the democratic way of thinking. This work offers an empirical confirmation for Sloterdijk’s model, and confirms usefulness of it in understanding political thought and behavior of Croatian citizens.

Political Cynicism and Kynicism of Croatian Citizens. Profiles of Political Thinking and Behavior

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Blanuša, Nebojša

2015-07-01

Full Text Available In the last thirty years uneasiness among scholars and political actors has been growing larger as more citizens demonstrate cynical attitudes. These citizens feel that politicians are immoral and incompetent, have less faith in democracy, and show lower levels of political participation. However, Peter Sloterdijk points out that the dominant view of cynicism is simplified. He divides cynical reason into two separate ways of thinking: cynicism and kynicism. The main difference between them is in individual’s reaction to the cleavage between public ideological mask and individual’s idea of social reality. Cynics persist in keeping the ideological mask on and have an “enlightened false consciousness”, while kynics highlight this cleavage, oppose the dominant ideology and point out misuses of political power. This research was conducted with the goal of creating cynicism and kynicism scales. Their validity was tested for two samples – a smaller sample of students and later on the representative sample of Croatian citizens (N=1002. Also, connection of cynical and kynical thought with an array of relevant political attitudes and political behavior was tested. Results indicate that cynicism and kynicism are relatively separated and coherent types of political thought. Kynicism is primarily related to low trust in political institutions, but also to lower support of democracy. Specific combinations of these two types of thought have a highly negative potential for abandoning the democratic way of thinking. This work offers an empirical confirmation for Sloterdijk’s model, and confirms usefulness of it in understanding political thought and behavior of Croatian citizens.

The role of digital marketing in political campaigns

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Jeff Chester

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Computational politics—the application of digital targeted-marketing technologies to election campaigns in the US and elsewhere—are now raising the same concerns for democratic discourse and governance that they have long raised for consumer privacy and welfare in the commercial marketplace. This paper examines the digital strategies and technologies of today’s political operations, explaining how they were employed during the most recent US election cycle, and exploring the implications of their continued use in the civic context. The paper concludes with a discussion of recent policy proposals designed to increase transparency and accountability in digital politics.

The Political Economy of International Transitional Administration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grasten, Maj Lervad; Tzouvala, Ntina

2018-01-01

This article reconstructs how democratic participation and interference can be fended off by the construction of an international authoritarian political architecture and a strongly legalised and specific form of market economy. We do this by interrogating International Territorial Administration...... corporations. Even though the two administrations focused on different aspects of land and agriculture regulation, we argue that significant commonalities exist between their political preferences and interests. Our work draws on the tradition of critical legal studies in International Law (IL) and we posit...... that by drawing on this tradition, scholarship on post-conflict international territorial administration is better able to capture the long-term ramifications of international intervention....

Good governance and political culture: A case study of Bangladesh

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Syed Serajul Islam

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In a democratic system it is essential to have a competitive, and a tolerant party system, but Bangladesh has experienced an intolerant and a confrontational party system that has created a deadlock and brought uncertainty to the whole country. Since 1990, except 2014, Bangladesh has witnessed four systematic peaceful free elections, one each--in 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2008. On January 5, 2014, however, a controversial election took place in which major opposition political parties did not participate except the ruling alliance parties. The two dominant parties—the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP and the Awami League (AL—each won two previous free and fair elections, with the BNP winning in1991, and a BNP-led 4-party coalition in 2001, and the AL in 1996, and an AL-led 14 party alliance in 2008. However, from 2014 Bangladesh is heading towards an authoritarian system. All these are happening due to the lack of good governance. This article intends to emphasize that the political culture emanating from the party politics is retarding good governance in Bangladesh. This article argues that the cultural traits developed in the last four decades in various dimensions,, particularly in more recent years, have worked as an “earth-worm” in the fabrics of democracy in Bangladesh preventing ‘good governance’.

The energy crisis: some political considerations; La crisis energetica: algunas consideraciones politicas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Riechmann, J.

2009-07-01

Trends like global warming and peak oil (the end of the cheap fossil fuel age) embody an enormous potential of natural catastrophe and socio-economic upheaval. Are our affluent societies ready for the forthcoming conflicts around scarcity, when expansionist human systems collide with the biophysical limits of our finite planet? Unfortunately, we cannot exclude a revival of anti-humanist and anti-democratic political movements in XXIst century. With the global socio-ecological crisis as a background, it is worth considering the idea of Hitler as a forerunner. (Author) 34 refs.

Benjamin Cohen on global political order: when Keynes meets realism - and beyond

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Stefano Guzzini

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract This article analyses the trajectory of Benjamin J. Cohen's work by focusing on his ongoing concern with the nature and governance of world order. It does so by playing out his debt to realism and to Keynesianism. In a first moment, Cohen criticises the economic determinism of dependency scholarship, while turning to political realism, and then to possible Keynesian co-operation under anarchy: agents have the power to affect positive change. Later, Cohen the disillusioned Keynesian, watching how the possible reform of financial markets is marginalised by politicians and academics alike, shifts his analysis to more structural aspects of governance or rule that affect actors' preferences. I draw two conclusions. First, in this shift towards theorising the global political order away from steering capacity towards impersonal rule and bias, Cohen also questions the very setup of the theories with which we deal with that world - only to see that this very inspiration of original IPE is abandoned in the course of the ongoing 'professionalisation' of IPE as practised in the United States. Second, his analysis seems to incorporate a warning. The underlying grand question is nothing less than the bargain between capitalism and liberal democracy as we know it, since the present system undermines equality before the law - money trumps equal political rights - and undermines democratic accountability. One of the main achievements of the post-war Keynesian turn was the reappropriation of political space from anti-democratic forces. Therefore, the decline of Keynesianism could provoke a Polanyian nightmare in which the 'double movement' by which the laissez-faire is answered by moves to protect society does not strengthen democracies, as in earlier times of 'embedded liberalism', but undermines them instead.

Redesigning Civic Education for the Digital Age: Participatory Politics and the Pursuit of Democratic Engagement

Science.gov (United States)

Kahne, Joseph; Hodgin, Erica; Eidman-Aadahl, Elyse

2016-01-01

The digital revolution has enabled important changes in political life. Opportunities to engage in "participatory politics" have expanded significantly. Participatory politics differ from institutional politics in that they are peer-based, interactive, and not guided by deference to traditional elites and institutions. These changes…

The Impact of Institutional Design on the Democratization of School Governance: The Case of Nicaragua's Autonomous School Program

Science.gov (United States)

Gvirtz, Silvina; Minvielle, Lucila

2009-01-01

Nicaragua presents an interesting case study of a society pursuing reform of the democratization of its school governance through citizen participation. A radical transformation with a complex institutional arrangement was put in place within a context of major political change and endemic poverty. In order to achieve our objective of empirically…

The democratic role orientation by journalists

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svith, Flemming

This paper investigates the democratic role orientation in news media and the perception and preference in the population towards the democratic practice of these news media.......This paper investigates the democratic role orientation in news media and the perception and preference in the population towards the democratic practice of these news media....

Democratic resistance and state power in the age of social networks : the role of Facebook in Iran's green movement

OpenAIRE

Azizi Ari, Sharareh

2014-01-01

The internet and social networks have contributed extensively to democratic political uprisings in the Middle East in recent years. We cannot think of the Iranian Green Movement in 2009 and the Arab Spring in 2010-2011 without thinking, at the same time, of Facebook, Twitter and You Tube. The roles played by the internet and social networks in these two significant political events in this region led me to ask and discuss the question: Have internet and social networks constituted an alternat...

Romanticism and Politics: from Heinrich Heine to Carl Schmitt – and Back Again

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Pericles S. Vallianos

2013-12-01

Romanticism. It then points to the distinguishing features of German Romanticism, namely the enlargement of the doctrine into an integral metaphysics with the concept of the “organic state” at its core (A. Müller. The critique of political Romanticism by two revolutionary democrats (H. Heine and A. Ruge is then presented. The article closes with a critique of C. Schmitt’s interpretation of political Romanticism.

Pentecostalism and Politics in Neoliberal Chile

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Martin Lindhardt

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Este artículo investiga las relaciones históricas y contemporáneas entre el Pentecostalismo y la política en Chile. La primera parte del artículo provee un resumen histórico del crecimiento y consolidación de la religión Pentecostal en relación a diferentes ambientes políticos. En este artículo se esclarecen además las diferentes posturas Pentecostales hacia la esfera política. En particular hago hincapié, en cómo surge una cultura de desencanto político en el Chile post-dictatorial que crea un vacío simbólico, el cual trae como consecuencia el nacimiento de movimientos religiosos. En la segunda parte de este artículo se discute las posibles afinidades entre el Pentecostalismo, como una cultura religiosa, y los principios democráticos. El argumento es que a pesar de que el Pentecostalismo puede contener algunas cualidades democráticas, también existe una compatibilidad notable entre la visión teísta e individualista Pentecostal acerca de los cambios sociales, y un orden social neoliberal, en donde la indolencia política se expande y en donde predomina un sentido de progreso individual y no colectivo. English: This article explores historical and contemporary relationships between Pentecostalism and politics in Chile. The first part of the article provides an historical account of the growth and consolidation of Pentecostal religion within changing political environments and sheds light on Pentecostal stances to and involvements with the political sphere. In particular, it focuses on how a culture of political disenchantment has emerged in post-dictatorial neo-liberal Chile, creating a symbolic void that can be filled by religious movements. The second part of the article discusses possible affinities between Pentecostalism as a religious culture and democratic principles and values. It argues that although Pentecostalism may contain certain democratic qualities, there is also a striking compatibility between, on the one

Theoretical and methodological bases of studying the symbolization of social and political reality in transit societies

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O. V. Slavina

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This article is an attempt to form a methodological foundation to explore the process of symbolic constructioning of reality in the political systems in a state of democratic transition. From the author’s point of view, such transit systems differ with the phenomenal features of transitional type of sign-symbolic context. There are the most significant of them: the confrontation of symbols of old and new, and the formation of public anxiety due to violation of the established values (significant symbols. The result of these processes is the emergence of the conditions for increasing capacity of perception of new symbols (re-symbolization, transmigration of symbolic forms, the appearance of spontaneous symbolic interactions in the community in the form of political protests, rallies, and panic. In this regard, it is necessary to understand the possibilities of the productive management of the collective consciousness in transit period to achieve mental solidarity of concrete society with democratic values. To perform this task, author develops the appropriate tools, which are based on the phenomenological theory, the Schutz’s theory of the constitution of the multiple realities, the philosophy of symbolic forms of E. Cassirer, the theory of social construction of P. Berger and T. Luckmann, as well as Lotman’s semiotic concept. It is concluded that in the collision of alternative symbolic projects of social order it is advisable to resort to controlled symbolization (the production of special symbolic codes of political legitimation. At the same time it is important to understand the mechanisms of auto- symbolization of the society (changing of mass consciousness by virtue of the progressive development of the political culture of people. Careless use of these technologies in the countries with non-consolidated democracy may become a factor of destabilization and formation of the conditions for authoritarian rollback.

“Secularism”: A Key to Turkish Politics

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Dietrich Jung

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract: In posing Serif Mardin’s question of Turkey’s center-periphery relations in a revised version, this article considers secularism to be a key to understanding Turkish politics. It views the confrontation between secularists and Islamists in the light of Turkey’s center-periphery polarization and identifies the secularist doctrine of Kemalism as a major obstacle to democratic political change. The protection of Turkey’s secular order developed into the ideological cornerstone of Kemalist rule, which ranks prime amongst the ideological tools used to justify the political supremacy of the Turkish armed forces. Examining the interrelation between secularism and the almost religious cult around Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the article concludes that the increasing visibility of Islamic symbols and practices in Turkey is a logical consequence of the country’s current European Union(EU reform process, rather than a sign of Turkey’s deviation from its political and societal modernization process.

Marxist Theory in Critical Transitions: The Democratization of the Media in Post-Neoliberal Argentina

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Pablo Castagno

2012-05-01

Full Text Available This article contends that for socialist emancipation to occur it is crucial to investigate how political cadres conceal, regulate or displace the demands of citizens and workers in the context of the calamitous effects of global capitalism. Analyzing the constitutive relationship between politics and the media is an essential component in researching those practices of state ideological production. Specifically looking into the transformation of media policy in the case of Argentina, this article problematizes the different political forms through which the state has cloaked its fundamental contradiction: alleged representation of the general interests of citizens, when explored in critical depth, reveals the state’s actual adjustment to a process of capitalist transnationalization that increases irrationality, social inequality and misery. Through this lens, the article emphasizes the value of Marxist dialectic method and theory in imagining a true democratic future.

Citizens and their understandings and evaluations of representation: Introducing an interpretive approach to the study of citizen attitudes towards politics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wessel, van M.G.J.

2010-01-01

This study introduces an interpretive approach to the study of citizens’ ways of relating to democratic politics, arguing that such an approach can enable access to citizens’ constructions and evaluations of political reality. Using a case study from the Netherlands, we show that Dutch citizens’

The politics of identity, belonging and the integration of African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article will be looking at the political and institutional structures in place, which either facilitate or constrain a sense of belonging and integration of professional migrants of African origin into the new democratic state of South Africa. Discussions in this article are based on a qualitative in-depth study conducted among ...

Leadership in a Democratic School

Science.gov (United States)

McCormick, Paul R.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of a democratic school leader and understand how his conception of leadership is congruent or incongruent with notions of democracy and democratic leadership. This small, participant-observer case study follows a democratic school leader and his staff for a year and examines those challenges…

The revolt of the Rust Belt: place and politics in the age of anger.

Science.gov (United States)

McQuarrie, Michael

2017-11-01

This paper argues that the election of Donald Trump is the product of a confluence of historical factors rather than the distinctive appeal of the victor himself. By paying particular attention to the geography of unusual voting behaviour the analytical question comes into view: why did so much uncharacteristic voting occur in the Rust Belt states of the upper Midwest? It is impossible to answer this question adequately using conventional categorical attributes. The usual hypotheses of 'economic anxiety' and white revanchism are unable to account for sudden shifts in the voting behaviour of both white and black voters in post-industrial territories. Instead, it is necessary to turn to the history of the region and the institutional apparatus that connected voters there to the federal government and the Democratic Party. From this perspective we can see that the active dismantling of the Fordist social order set the region on a divergent path from the rest of the country. But this path had no political outlet due to the reorientation of the Democratic Party around a new class and geographic base. Due to this, the party pursued policies that would magnify the region's difficulties rather than alleviate its circumstances. Moreover, the elaborate institutional ties that connected the region's voters to the Democratic Party and the federal government meant that the political implications of regional decline would be muted. However, as these institutions frayed, Rust Belt voters were made available to candidates that challenged the policy consensus that had done so much damage to the region. The election was decided by a Rust Belt revolt that unified black and white working-class voters against Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2017.

Social Politics: Social Media as a public sphere for Jamaican University Students

OpenAIRE

Clarke, Kevin

2016-01-01

The growth of social media use in Jamaica has changed how people communicate with each other and how they participate in the democratic process. To date, minimal research has been done to ascertain the relationship between social media use and the political process, specifically with younger members of the population. Through a survey and focus group interviews, this dissertation seeks to identify whether Jamaican university students are using social media to participate in the political proc...

Political Advertising: A Roadblock in Teaching Social Studies Students the Importance of Truthful Political Communication to a Democratic Society

Science.gov (United States)

Martinson, David L.

2009-01-01

The author contends that too much political advertising is a form of public relations "spin" in which the truth is sacrificed and the political process damaged as a result. The goal of much of this advertising too frequently focuses on transmitting "disinformation" that, while perhaps not technically a lie, is intended not to inform the public but…

Improving drug policy: The potential of broader democratic participation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ritter, Alison; Lancaster, Kari; Diprose, Rosalyn

2018-05-01

Policies concerned with illicit drugs vex governments. While the 'evidence-based policy' paradigm argues that governments should be informed by 'what works', in practice policy makers rarely operate this way. Moreover the evidence-based policy paradigm fails to account for democratic participatory processes, particularly how community members and people who use drugs might be included. The aim of this paper is to explore the political science thinking about democratic participation and the potential afforded in 'deliberative democracy' approaches, such as Citizens Juries and other mini-publics for improved drug policy processes. Deliberative democracy, through its focus on inclusion, equality and reasoned discussion, shows potential for drug policy reform and shifts the focus from reliance on and privileging of experts and scientific evidence. But the very nature of this kind of 'deliberation' may delimit participation, notably through its insistence on authorised modes of communication. Other forms of participation beyond reasoned deliberation aligned with the ontological view that participatory processes themselves are constitutive of subject positions and policy problems, may generate opportunities for considering how the deleterious effects of authorised modes of communication might be overcome. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Understanding Mass Atrocity Prevention during Periods of Democratic Transition

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Stephen McLoughlin

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to provide a better understanding of why some countries experience mass atrocities during periods of democratic transition, while others do not. Scholars have long regarded democracy as an important source of stability and protection from mass atrocities such as genocide, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. But democratic transition itself is fraught with the heightened risk of violent conflict and even mass atrocities. Indeed, a number of studies have identified regimes in transition as containing the highest risk of political instability and mass atrocities. What is overlooked is the question of how and why some regimes undergo such transitions without experiencing mass atrocities, despite the presence of a number of salient risk factors, including state-based discrimination, inter-group tension and horizontal inequality. Utilizing a new analytical framework, this article investigates this lacuna by conducting a comparative analysis of two countries—one that experienced atrocities (Burundi during transition, and one that did not (Guyana. How countries avoid such violence during transition has the potential to yield insights for the mitigation of risk associated with mass atrocity crimes.

Eastern European Political Socialization Modeling Research: A Literature Review

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Camelia Florela Voinea

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents empirical modeling research on political socialization of the citizens in the new Eastern European democracies. The political socialization issue offers a comparative perspective over the modeling methodologies in analytical paradigms. Eastern European political culture research has revealed features of the electoral behavior and political participation which can be identified in different degrees in all the new democracies in the area: passivity with respect to political activity of parties, elites and institutions, political apathy or lack of reaction to anti-democratic actions, skepticism or distrust in institutions, scarce participation to social movements. Several authors explain the actual political behavior of the Eastern European citizens’ and their low social and political involvement by the (political culture heritage of the communist regimes in which they lived for a long time, and which keeps shaping their political attitudes towards the state, civil society, government and institutions. Research issues in the analysis of political participation are traditionally based on statistics analyses of empirical evidence coming from public surveys. However, scarcity ofempirical data from the communist periode with regard to (political socialization, values and beliefs represent a major obstacle towards a better understanding of the historical roots of current behaviors and attitudes. Scarcity of observational data might be overcome by computational and simulation modeling.

Weather conditions and political party vote share in Dutch national parliament elections, 1971-2010

Science.gov (United States)

Eisinga, Rob; Te Grotenhuis, Manfred; Pelzer, Ben

2012-11-01

Inclement weather on election day is widely seen to benefit certain political parties at the expense of others. Empirical evidence for this weather-vote share hypothesis is sparse however. We examine the effects of rainfall and temperature on share of the votes of eight political parties that participated in 13 national parliament elections, held in the Netherlands from 1971 to 2010. This paper merges the election results for all Dutch municipalities with election-day weather observations drawn from all official weather stations well distributed over the country. We find that the weather parameters affect the election results in a statistically and politically significant way. Whereas the Christian Democratic party benefits from substantial rain (10 mm) on voting day by gaining one extra seat in the 150-seat Dutch national parliament, the left-wing Social Democratic (Labor) and the Socialist parties are found to suffer from cold and wet conditions. Cold (5°C) and rainy (10 mm) election day weather causes the latter parties to lose one or two parliamentary seats.

How democratic are Networks?- A framework for Assessing the Democratic Effects of Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agger, Annika; Löfgren, Karl

: How can we assess the democratic effects of formal network mobilisation?  The article will present a tentative framework deriving criteria from both traditional democratic theory, as well as new theories on democratic governance and collaborative planning, which can be deployed for empirical studies......There has, since the end of the 1980s, been a growing interest in western democracies for formally involving citizens in various local planning activities through network governance. The overarching goal has been to increase efficiency in local planning. Equally, it has also been accompanied...... by an underlying idea of enhancing public participation and mobilising the citizens, thereby strengthening local democracy. Even though much is written about these initiatives, the actual democratic effects of these activities have been notably overlooked in the literature. Both among scholars, as well...

The paradoxical injunctions of the French academic communication system

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Anne-Hélène LE CORNEC UBERTINI

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The current evils of the scholars and researchers are the consequence of a dysfunctional communication system. The incompatibility between the spirit of the laws and its mode of application illustrate a worrying retreat of the democratic principles. The university is the mirror of the political system.

A dimensão político-democrática nas teorias de desenvolvimento sustentável e suas implicações para a gestão local Political-democratic dimension within sustainable development theories and its implications for local management

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Klaus Frey

2001-12-01

Full Text Available O artigo analisa diversas concepções de desenvolvimento sustentável, com ênfase nas dimensões do modelo político-administrativo, do papel do Estado e do potencial democrático inerente às abordagens propostas. São analisadas primeiro aquelas concepções que apostam no mercado como força reguladora do desenvolvimento (abordagem econômico-liberal de mercado. Segundo, as abordagens que consideram o Estado e suas instituições de regulação e de planejamento como instrumentos indispensáveis para garantir a prevalência do bem comum no processo de desenvolvimento (abordagem ecológico-tecnocrata de planejamento. Finalmente, as concepções que salientam a necessidade de uma ampla mobilização política e um maior envolvimento da própria população e das organizações da sociedade civil na busca de um modo sustentável de desenvolvimento (abordagem política de participação democrática. Ao final do trabalho, são discutidas as implicações dessas abordagens para a gestão local e sugeridos alguns elementos essenciais na busca de um modelo democratizante de gestão do desenvolvimento sustentável das cidades.The article analyses several concepts of sustainable development, focusing on the following dimensions: the political-administrative model, the role of the State, and the democratic potential of these approaches. First, the paper analyses those approaches that consider the market as the fundamental regulative force of development (market approach of economic liberalism. Second, it tackles approaches that consider the State and its regulatory and planning institutions indispensable instruments to guarantee the prevalence of the common good in developing processes (ecological-technocratic planning approach. Finally, it examines conceptions that highlight the necessity of an extended political mobilisation and an enhanced involvement of the population and civil society organisations in the search for a sustainable mode of

Malaysia: Political, Security, Economic, and Trade Issues Considered

Science.gov (United States)

2007-02-13

general election. Key observers have also pointed to decisions by Parti-Islam sa- Malaysia (PAS), Parti Keadilan Rakyat , and the Democratic Action Party...Sultan fulfills this function. Each state has a state legislature. The lower house of Malaysia’s Parliament, the Dewan Rakyat , has 193 members elected...Order Code RL33878 Malaysia : Political, Security, Economic, and Trade Issues Considered February 13, 2007 Bruce Vaughn, Coordinator Specialist in

Democratic Citizenship and the “Crisis in Humanities”

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Vicki A. Spencer

2014-08-01

Full Text Available As a consequence of the recent global recession, a new “crisis in the humanities” has been declared, and ideas of how best to defend the humanities have been vigorously debated. Placing this “crisis” in the context of neoliberal reforms to higher education since the 1980s, I examine the argument expounded by Martha Nussbaum that the very foundation of democratic citizenship is at stake. I indicate a number of problems with Nussbaum’s case. First, to resist the neoliberal agenda that pits disciplines against one another, I maintain that we need to understand the humanities broadly to include the social sciences. Second, I indicate that the humanities are not just important to democracies, but are a vital aspect of any society because they form a crucial part of human existence. Third, I argue that the humanities are important to democratic societies not merely because they promote critical thinking about our political processes and sympathetic understanding as Nussbaum argues. More fundamentally, the diversity of the humanities in both their content and approaches to knowledge is central to freedom. Finally, I warn against framing the challenges facing the humanities in terms of a crisis discourse that deprecates freedom in accord with the neoliberal agenda.

The Conditional Scope of Selective Exposure to Political Television Media, 1996-2012

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Robison, Joshua; Leeper, Thomas

Pew Research Center data from 1996 to 2012, we document that exposure to ideological or partisan media is heavily conditioned by time, audience size, and individuals’ interest in national politics. Selective exposure seems to be limited to partisans with a high interest in politics viewing a handful......A considerable amount of research documents an ideological or partisan bias in media exposure: liberals and Democrats are more likely to be exposed to liberal-leaning media while conservatives and Republicans are more likely to be exposed to conservative-leaning media. Much of this research......, however, was conducted in the mid-2000’s, a politically contentious period in American politics. We argue that there are many reasons to expect this political context to be a period that encouraged high degrees of selective exposure, especially among partisans and those with high political interest. Using...

An outline for Serbian political tradition in the work of Slobodan Jovanović

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Bazić Jovan R.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents considerations of the research on the Serbian political tradition in the work of Slobodan Jovanović (1869-1958, a famous Serbian lawyer, historian, writer and politician, who had a very important role in the development of the Serbian political thought. His work is extensive and varied, but in essence, it relates to the whole of political life in Serbia in the second half of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. Almost all the elements that make up the Serbian political tradition can be observed in his work. All these elements are contained in the discussion of political institutions in the 19th century Serbia, the rule of the Obrenović dynasty, political parties and party leaders, political ideas and movements in Serbia and Yugoslavia, extreme political behavior and Serbian national character. Jovanović found the origins of Serbian political tradition in the epic poetry and the Kosovo myth, as well as in the poetry of Njegoš. This was a decisive factor in the formation of general ideas about the Serbs as a freedom-loving, heroic and justice-loving people. At the same time, this is where the origins of the idea of Serbs as a disunited nation can be found. Jovanović paid the greatest attention to issues concerning the content of Serbian political tradition, namely: constitutional system, political institutions, parliamentary life, inter-party struggles, political events, the role of the individual in politics and culture, authoritarianism and political violence. He pointed to the political ideas that were coming from the West and which were accepted with mistrust by the patriarchal Serbian society. He appreciated the role of political parties in the democratization of political life, but he also warned of the dangers that threatened national unity: party favouritism and intolerance. In the analyses of the Serbian national character, Jovanović was of the opinion that the Serbs are predominantly a

The Media Protest of Neighbouring Associations, Promoter of Citizen Democratic Culture during Transition in Southern Spain

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Sandra Méndez-Muros

2018-02-01

Full Text Available In the current context of placing value on the neighbouring movement within the Spanish democratic Transition, we set out to confirm that the press actively participates in the growing conjunction of neighbouring issues with political content and contributes to the idea that this movement becomes a parameter of the democratic culture for the citizen during Transition. Since the conflict is newsworthy, we conduct a micro-social study of the neighbouring protest in the newspaper El Correo de Andalucía, published in the southern Spanish city of Seville. Through analysis of content, we study the informative flow and the repertoire of protest following a typology that distinguishes four formats (demonstrations, strikes, speeches and associations divided into two levels of conflict. The analysis sample consists of 33 texts published between November 1975 (Franco’s death and the accession to the throne of Juan Carlos I and June 1977 (the first democratic general elections. The main conclusion reveals that the newspaper becomes a platform that gives visibility to the neighbouring movement, normalising behaviours and procedure rules through the protest.

The role of women in the political life of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Marić-Tokić Silvana

2017-01-01

Full Text Available As a human activity, politics has long been intended for men only, with women and other minority groups not being allowed to participate in either the social or the political life of the community. Starting in the 1970s, the role of woman within our social and political life strengthened in several countries, but only with legal and incentive measures. The role of women in Bosnian -Herzegovinian society, public life, does not meet the quotas introduced in 1997, which require a 40% women involvement in politics. The research covers the period from 2016 since the last election to date. The aim of the research was to determine the level of representation of women in the political life of BiH at the Federation of BiH, cantonal and local level, respectively. The key hypothesis of this paper is as follows: Is the low level of representation within political bodies of the Federation of BiH, cantonal and local level, respected? Research has shown that women in the BiH Federation are not sufficiently represented in political life. In terms of percentage, no part of the survey pertaining to prime locations, ministerial posts, mayor's seats, and mayors meets the prescribed quota of women's representation in politics being 40%. The Bosnian - Herzegovinian society, if it wants to go in the direction of progress and development, and democratic society, must increase the participation of women in social and political life. Only those societies and states that exclude all forms of discrimination and increase human rights, especially women's rights, as equal members of the community can call themselves democratic and developed societies.

BLOGS ARE THE ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL FIELD

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Юлия Игоревна Нестеренок

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes the influence of blogosphere on the political process. The author studies political mechanisms of public policy-making through the activity of political blogs. The article also grounds the choice of the research tools and shows that the Internet is becoming, in contrast to the other media platforms, the territory of free self-expression.The article analyses and summarizes different communication theories and defines blogs’ role in a modern political and communication space.The application of modern Internet technologies and the development of other mass media encourage the formation of different representational images of political events.During the study different types of communicative interaction in different types of democracy are represented in the article, and as well the increase of Internet community role’s influence on the modern political process.Democratic reforms are inevitably linked with the increase of public political activity, where one of the forms of expression of one’s opinion is political blogging.In a modern political space one can note a new generation of consumers of media goods with skills, talents, interest and enthusiasm to use the opened opportunities of creating and transforming the continent. In the summary we point out that modern political process differs the appearance of new determinants of mass media development as well as the development of other communication facilities.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-10-44

Populism and Anti-Establishment Politics in Kosovo: A Case Study of Lëvizja Vetëvendosje

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Bilge Yabanci

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Few studies have systematically examined the rising political and social unrest in the Balkans. This paper investigates the local dynamics and consequences of widespread anti-establishment discontent in Kosovo through the analytical framework of populism. By focusing on the case of Lëvizja Vetëvendosje (LVV, the paper sets out to consider two related questions: the unique populist style of the LVV and the complex reasons behind its electoral breakthrough and continuing support among various groups. Based on a qualitative documentary analysis of the party programme, manifesto, party publications, speeches of the leadership and interviews, the paper finds that the LVV successfully melds a populist political style, leftist/social democratic agenda and contentious politics as a means to disperse its message. The second part of the article offers three arguments to explain its appeal: structural factors (electoral availability and party system, societal dynamics (political and economic dissatisfaction and the agency of the LVV (internal organisation, cohesion and leadership. The article contributes to the thriving literature on populism through a novel empirical scope, and to the literature on Southeast Europe through a focus on local agency, voter preferences and party system.

The democratic soup: mixed meanings of political representation in governance networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hendriks, C.M.

2009-01-01

This article explores how political representation is enacted in governance networks, where interdependent actors from government, business, and civil society coproduce public policy. A combined dramaturgical and discourse analysis considers how representation is staged, performed, and articulated

Cognitive ability rivals the effect of political sophistication on ideological voting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hebbelstrup Rye Rasmussen, Stig

2016-01-01

This article examines the impact of cognitive ability on ideological voting. We find, using a US sample and a Danish sample, that the effect of cognitive ability rivals the effect of the traditionally strongest predicter of ideological voting political sophistication. Furthermore, the results...... are consistent with the effect of cognitive ability being partly mediated by political sophistication. Much of the effect of cognitive ability remains however and is not explained by differences in education or Openness to experience either. The implications of these results for democratic theory are discussed....

A New Conservative Cold Front? Democrat and Republican Responsiveness to the Passage of the Affordable Care Act

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Stephen L. Morgan

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Through an analysis of the 2004 through 2014 General Social Survey (GSS, this article demonstrates that the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA decreased support for spending on health among Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, contrary to the conjecture that a rigid partisanship equilibrium has taken hold among voters in the United States. Instead, only a partisan deflection is present, with spending preferences declining more for Republicans than for Democrats, and with Independents in between. Through supplemental analysis of the GSS panel data, as well as comparative analysis of other GSS items on national spending preferences, government responsibility, and confidence in leaders, this article also undermines support for an alternative explanation that cannot be entirely eliminated from plausibility, which is that the identified period effect that emerged in 2010 and persisted through 2014 is a response to the Great Recession and resulting deficit spending by the federal government. Implications for public opinion research are discussed, lending support to current models of thermostat effects and policy-specific political mood from the political science literature, which are informed by an older literature on weather fronts in public opinion that originated in the sociology literature.

Linguistic Justice for which Demos? The Democratic Legitimacy of Language Regime Choices

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Garcia Núria

2016-10-01

Full Text Available In the European Union language regime debate, theorists of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism have framed their arguments in reference to different theories of justice and democracy. Philippe Van Parijs advocates the diffusion of a lingua franca, namely English, as means of changing the scale of the justificatory community to the European level and allowing the creation of a transnational demos. Paradoxically, one key dimension of democracy has hardly been addressed in this discussion: the question of the democratic legitimacy of language regime choices and citizens’ preferences on the different language regime scenarios. Addressing the question of the congruence of language policy choices operated by national and European elites and ordinary citizens’ preferences, this paper argues first that the dimension of democratic legitimacy is crucial and needs to be taken into account in discussions around linguistic justice. Criticizing the assumption of a direct correspondence between individuals’ language learning choices and citizens’ language regime preferences made by different authors, the analysis shows the ambivalence of citizens’ preferences measured by survey data. The article secondly raises the question of the boundaries of the political community at which the expression of citizens’ preferences should be measured and demonstrates that the outcome and the fairness of territorial linguistic regimes may vary significantly according to the level at which this democratic legitimacy is taken into account.

Vocational and Academic Education and Political Engagement: The Importance of the Educational Institutional Structure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van de Werfhorst, H.G.

It is hardly disputed that educational institutions carry responsibility for the education of democratic citizens through the enhancement of civic and political engagement. Despite the wealth of studies on civic and citizenship education, scholars have not yet examined the relevance of national

‘All I know is that I know nothing’: (Some) Danish adolescents and democratic self-consciousness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stald, Gitte Bang

2017-01-01

, but also if they have the opportunities to feel competent and included? Are traditional definitions of what political debate, participation and engaged citizenship discouraging for young citizens? Is distrust in social media as platforms for news and debate influenced more by normative values and less......, insights, and influence, which again leads to negative democratic self-confidence. These adolescents often express negative awareness about getting a major proportion of their information through multiple fragmented sources such as social media. Additionally, especially Facebook is rarely used for opinion...... on actual opportunities and qualities? Finally, do discourses about the uninformed and individualistic adolescents potentially add to a lack of what I call democratic self-consciousness in the young citizens? The paper is based on findings from two DECIDIS surveys (2015 and 2016) on Danes, social media...

Democratizing Authority in the Built Environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andersen, Michael P [UC Berkeley; Kolb, John [UC Berkeley; Chen, Kaifei [UC Berkeley; Culler, David [UC Berkeley; Katz, Randy [UC Berkeley

2017-11-08

Operating systems and applications in the built environment have relied upon central authorization and management mechanisms which restrict their scalability, especially with respect to administrative overhead. We propose a new set of primitives encompassing syndication, security, and service execution that unifies the management of applications and services across the built environment, while enabling participants to individually delegate privilege across multiple administrative domains with no loss of security or manageability. We show how to leverage a decentralized authorization syndication platform to extend the design of building operating systems beyond the single administrative domain of a building. The authorization system leveraged is based on blockchain smart contracts to permit decentralized and democratized delegation of authorization without central trust. Upon this, a publish/subscribe syndication tier and a containerized service execution environment are constructed. Combined, these mechanisms solve problems of delegation, federation, device protection and service execution that arise throughout the built environment. We leverage a high-fidelity city-scale emulation to verify the scalability of the authorization tier, and briefly describe a prototypical democratized operating system for the built environment using this foundation.

A Critique of Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Political Communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, Keith R.

The twentieth century history of the academic study of political communication can be divided into three parts: the period between the World Wars, the period 1940-1965, and the period from 1965 to the present. In the first period, social scientists were greatly concerned that the democratic process might be subverted by propaganda; they were…

Internet Revolutions, Democratic Globalization and Elections Outcome in the Twenty-First Century: Echoes from Nigeria

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Abdullahi Muhammad Maigari

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the social contexts of the development and innovation of the science of global communication technology. It shows the significant roles the internet has played in the democratic process, and in particular, how it has influenced the outcomes of elections across developed and developing societies in an increasingly globalised community. This paper argues that Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, blogs and LinkedIn etc. serve as the mediums through which civil rights and democratic activism are expressed. It also argues that during the 2011 and 2015 General Elections in Nigeria, many electronic devices and online programs were developed and used on social media. Revoda enabled a parallel vote count, access to polling unit results, transmission of collated results and information about the entire electoral process. The paper stresses that the use of social media networks by both political candidates and electorates has greatly promoted civic engagement, credible elections and democratic activism in pre-election and post-election periods. This paper concludes that internet technology may soon assume the position of an effective and critically vital para-human actor in most global election outcomes in the near future.

The Consumption of Democracy. The Ritual Politics of the Meal

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buch-Hansen, Gitte

2014-01-01

of rituals, suggesting that Butler’s Arendt-inspired idea of the “space of appearance” as the new political assembly should be replaced by the experience of intercorporeality. The fourth paper “The Politics of Ritual Memorial Design” questions the process of creating an anti-authoritarian place of collective...... and ceremonial alternatives, this paper will interrogate the framing notions in this contested memorial process with Butler, Mouffe, and Latour, and discuss how memorial sites may possibly serve as a frame and initiator for democratic ritual, and for whom. The fifth paper presents the findings of ethnographic...

Contemporary political persuasion: A new clothes to the old propaganda

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Atlagić Siniša

2011-01-01

Full Text Available An emphasized ideological approach to political propaganda, i.e. different understandings of the concept in the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century as well has been one of the author's main reasons to study such a topic. Though the concept of propaganda was first used in relation to western democracies and, at the same time, ' indoctrination ' was used in relation to totalitarian regimes, the term 'political propaganda' was quickly associated with 'non democratic', 'dictatorship', 'totalitarian' countries. Political propaganda has been understood in a pejorative way, as indoctrination, deception or fraud. At the same time, the concepts of political persuasion, publicity, government publicity, advertizing, public relations, information operations and others have been introduced in the western democracies. This paper aims to determine whether the rejection of political propaganda in the scientific literature in the West has been theoretically based and to give a scientific explanation for the differences between this concept and the concepts it has been replaced with.

Infrastructural relations: Water, political power and the rise of a new 'despotic regime'

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Veronica Strang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available It is 60 years since Karl Wittfogel highlighted a key relationship between political power and the ownership and control of water. Subsequent studies have suggested, commensurately, that exclusion from the ownership of essential resources represents a fundamental form of disenfranchisement – a loss of democratic involvement in societal direction. Several areas of theoretical development have illuminated these issues. Anthropologists have explored the recursive relationship between political arrangements and cosmological belief systems. Narrow legal definitions of property have been challenged through the consideration of more diverse ways of owning and controlling resources. Analyses of material culture have shown how it extends human agency, as well as having agentive capacities itself; and explorations of infrastructures have highlighted their role in composing socio-technical and political relations. Such approaches are readily applied to water and the material culture through which it is controlled and used. Drawing on historical and ethnographic research on water in Australia and the UK, this paper traces changing relationships between cosmological beliefs, infrastructure and political arrangements over time. It suggests that a current trend towards privatised, transnational water ownership potentially opens the door to the emergence of new 'despotic regimes'.

Democratic Leadership in Education

Science.gov (United States)

Woods, Philip A.

2005-01-01

In this book Philip Woods turns his attention to issues of democracy and leadership. He has provided an eloquent, intellectually compelling and sophisticated account of a new leadership label--democratic leadership. He argues that the purpose of "democratic" leadership is to create and help sustain an environment that enables everyone…

The national education plan as articulator of the democratization of access to university and empowerment of the working class

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Hildegard Susana Jung

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this essay, theoretical and documental, is to reflect on the concept(s of empowerment of the working class, in which it invests itself in power, but with an important caveat: this process cannot be individual but collective, through the cooperative dialogue, in which education – especially higher education – is the great protagonist, as articulator of the process. On this track, shows a comparison between the National Education Plan (PNE 2001-2010 and the PNE 2014-2024 regarding the goals aimed to the democratization of the access to university, finding that, in this moment, what can be affirmed in fact is that there were not many advances in Higher Education. Still, the PNE is an important legal instrument for the democratization of access to university, which may serve as an articulator of the empowerment of the working class. Rethinking education means rethinking the entire State, since education policy suffers injunctions of political, economic and social spheres. Enhancing the Brazilian State, means moving towards a broader concept, which will translate a correlation of forces between civil society and politics, which means a greater social participation, increased democratization of access to university and consequently, greater empowerment of the working class through (why not? Higher Education. Therefore, it lies the important role of the academy to prepare educators who disseminate the reflexive practice, which will lead to autonomy and emancipation.

Governance networks as a frame for inter-demoi participation and deliberation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Eva

2012-01-01

By focusing exclusively on the contributions of political participation and deliberation to the enhancement of democratic regulation within a unitary democratic unit-that is, a demos-traditional liberal theories of democracy overlook the democratic value of political participation and deliberation...... between demoi. The need to find ways to increase the democratic quality of inter-demoi interaction is growing rapidly due to the emergence of a pluricentric political system in which cross-demoi decision-making is more the rule than the exception. There is an urgent call for new theories of democracy able...

Getting to grips with election night forecasting: Predicting the unpredictable world of politics

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Holloway, Jennifer P

2009-04-23

Full Text Available , it is an exhilarating experience being at the IEC's headquarters during the elections. "The whole building is abuzz, with political parties and media representatives all having their own booths and swarming around the floor. We have found that the smaller parties... with. Election night forecasting Predicting the unpredictable world of politics On 22 April 2009, after the voting population has used its right to cast its individual votes in the fourth democratic elections of South Africa, a team...

'Pivotal politics' in US energy and climate legislation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skodvin, Tora

2010-01-01

In the 110th Congress (2007-2008) legislation related to climate change was introduced at a faster pace than in any previous Congress, yet it did not result in a corresponding increase in enacted climate-related laws. A pertinent example of the political infeasibility of climate policy change in the 110th Congress is the case of tax credit extensions for production of renewable energy. While this issue in itself was uncontroversial, the extensions were only adopted in the 11th hour, after innumerable failed attempts. With an analytical point of departure in Krehbiel's theory of pivotal politics, this paper seeks to identify pivotal legislators in the case of the tax credit extensions and discusses how changes in the composition of pivotal legislators in the 111th Congress (2009-2010) may impact the prospects of moving climate legislation more generally. The analysis indicates that a majority of the legislative pivots in the case of tax credit extensions were Republican senators representing coal-producing states. In the case of climate change, however, the regional dimension is likely to be more significant for Democratic voting behaviour. Thus, the opportunity space for climate legislation in the 111th Congress remains narrow even with a reinforced Democratic majority in Congress.

Political Cartoons in the EFL and American Studies Classroom

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Christianna Stavroudis

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Political cartoons are anything but innocent caricatures. They have been described as “a confrontational art form” (Oliphant 25, as “purposefully designed to elicit strong emotions and reactions from readers” (Long, Bunch, and Lloyd 651, and as “among the more extreme forms of expression” (Long, Bunch, and Lloyd 651. Stories abound with the harsh punishments endured by political cartoonists under oppressive regimes. One might even say that what allows liberal and conservative American cartoonists to feel any sense of solidarity with one another is their bond through the First Amendment and their belief in the democratic enterprise that is criticizing government.

Involvement and deliberation: Correctives of the democratic system

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Rodrigo Santiago Juárez

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Every democratic regime has to guarantee that participation and representation set in both sides of the same coin. In a lot of modern democracies, government doesn’t foment citizen participation, or just do it in case of periodic elections. That’s why is necessary to foment participation and civic virtues. Finally, we have to support deliberative teories to give legitimacy to our democracies.

German politics of genetic engineering and its deconstruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Gottweis, H

1995-05-01

Policy-making, as exemplified by biotechnology policy, can be understood as an attempt to manage a field of discursivity, to construct regularity in a dispersed multitude of combinable elements. Following this perspective of politics as a textual process, the paper interprets the politicization of genetic engineering in Germany as a defence of the political as a regime of heterogeneity, as a field of 'dissensus' rather than 'consensus', and a rejection of the idea that the framing of technological transformation is an autonomous process. From its beginning in the early 1970s, genetic engineering was symbolically entrenched as a key technology of the future, and as an integral element of the German politics of modernization. Attempts by new social movements and the Green Party to displace the egalitarian imaginary of democratic discourse into the politics of genetic engineering were construed by the political élites as an attack on the political order of post-World War II Germany. The 1990 Genetic Engineering Law attempted a closure of this controversy. But it is precisely the homogenizing idiom of this 'settlement' which continues to nourish the social movements and their radical challenge to the definitions and codings of the politics of genetic engineering.

SOME CRITICAL ASPECTS CONCERNING THE INSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM OF EUROPEAN UNION

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Timofte Claudia Simona

2013-07-01

Full Text Available In this paper we want to clarify and understand the decisional process in European which is related to the determination of the identity of the Union, answering to several questions concerning the implementation of the European Union into an organization, the different relations with other organizations and with the international law. In the family of the international organizations, the European Union has its own place because it realizes an economic integration project and a political one, a supranational but refusing the traditional categories of constitution and the international law. Qualifying as an international organization sui generis, EU developed a new legal order, deciding to create a supranational organization, formed by Member States and their citizens. The integration process is a permanent challenge opened to a new and developing process for solving all the internal and external problems of the EU. The States have an international "sensitivity" when the application of EU rules exceeds their obligations laid down in the Treaties to third countries and international organizations to which they have not exempted obligations. It was argued that the concept of "demos" or acting people is intrinsically linked to that of the nation-State. The issue of democratic deficit of the European Union is bound to four basic problems: the construction as a whole and therefore of the institutional system, under the principle of conferral, the Union shall act only within the limits that Member States have been conferred in the Treaties to attain the objectives that they set, The Treaty of Lisbon reinforces the legitimacy of the operation of the Union based on free and democratic will expressed by Member States. European construction is achieved through a democratic transfer of competences of the democratic States to a Commission subject to a weak democratic control, while the European Central Bank preserves absolute dominion over its monetary policy

Form of Government and Political System: Conditions of Impossibility

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Bogdan Iancu

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Successful constitutions manage to predetermine in juridical frame the political life of a country, by imposing a durable core equilibrium, i.e., a specific political system. The integrative function of the constitution derives from a reflexive political decision, at the constitution-making moment, for a specific form. The current theoretical difficulty in characterizing with precision the political system established by the Constitution of 1991 reflects the syncopated constitutional conflicts of recent years. The instability can be traced back to the continued absence of the preconditions for a genuine constitutional foundation. The initial indecision has been reinforced by later influences, including the EU accession process.

A Study on Freedom of Speech Based on Politness Strategies Used by the Jakarta Post Readers

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Muhartoyo Muhartoyo

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Freedom of speech or expression is an indication of a democratic country. Indonesia that has transformed itself from an authoritarian government during the New Order Era into a democratic country in the so called Reform Era. This study is an attempt to find out the existence of freedom of expression in the Indonesian printed media. The data were collected from the Jakarta Post Readers’Forum from 1 November 2010 to 28 February 2011. The data were then classified and analysed based on Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness strategies. The data analysis shows that a lot of utterances can be classified under Politeness Strategy 1 (the least polite strategy out of the four strategies. This proves that people are now free to express their ideas and criticisms in the most direct manner without fear of being arrested or reprimanded by the government. Even the sensitive issues like SARA (Ethnic, Religion, Racial and Communal conflicts can be freely discussed in the printed media. Thus freedom of expression is prevailing in Indonesia under the New Era government. 

European welfare regimes: Political orientations versus poverty

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Josifidis Kosta

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This inquiry analyzes how political orientations shape welfare states and labour market institutions when seeking to reduce poverty. In order to identify effects of these two key variables, we conduct a panel regression analysis that includes two poverty measures: poverty rates before and after social spending. This inquiry considers 14 EU countries, and in the period from 1995 to 2008, which are grouped according to welfare state regimes. We consider Social Democratic, Corporatist, Mediterranean and Liberal welfare state regimes. Panel regression results indicate that political orientation engenders no significant statistically measurable effects on poverty rates before social spending. Effects register, however, as significant when considering poverty rates after social spending. With respect to the first set of results, we advance two key explanations. First, we note a longer period of time is necessary in order to observe actual effects of political orientation on market generated poverty. Second, political parties with their respective programs do not register as influential enough to solve social problems related to income distribution when taken alone. Influences register as indirect and are expressed through changes in employment rates and social spending. The second set of results support the hypothesis that a selected political regime does indeed contribute to poverty reduction. In sum, political orientation and political regime does indeed affect poverty through welfare state institutions, as well as through labour market institutions.

The influence of democratic racism in nursing inquiry.

Science.gov (United States)

Hilario, Carla T; Browne, Annette J; McFadden, Alysha

2018-01-01

Neoliberal ideology and exclusionary policies based on racialized identities characterize the current contexts in North America and Western Europe. Nursing knowledge cannot be abstracted from social, political and historical contexts; the task of examining the influence of race and racial ideologies on disciplinary knowledge and inquiry therefore remains an important task. Contemporary analyses of the role and responsibility of the discipline in addressing race-based health and social inequities as a focus of nursing inquiry remain underdeveloped. In this article, we examine nursing's engagement with ideas about race and racism and explore the ways in which nursing knowledge and inquiry have been influenced by race-based ideological discourses. Drawing on Henry and Tator's framework of democratic racism, we consider how strategic discursive responses-the discourses of individualism, multiculturalism, colour-blindness, political correctness and denial-have been deployed within nursing knowledge and inquiry to reinforce the belief in an essentially fair and just society while avoiding the need to acknowledge the persistence of racist discourses and ideologies. Greater theoretical, conceptual and methodological clarity regarding race, racialization and related concepts in nursing inquiry is needed to address health and social inequities. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Social Epistemology and Its Politically Correct Words: Avoiding Absolutism, Relativism, Consensualism, and Vulgar Pragmatism

Science.gov (United States)

Price, Leigh

2005-01-01

Where social epistemology has been applied in environmental education research, certain words have come to be associated with it, such as, "social," "contextualized," "strategic," "political," "pragmatic," "democratic," and "participatory." In this paper, I first suggest interpretations of these words that potentially avoid absolutism, relativism,…

Peasantry and politics in the Athenian society. On the Aristotelian model of agrarian democracy

OpenAIRE

Julián GALLEGO

2013-01-01

The article analyzes the peasantry's situation in the Athenian polis under the condition of full citizenship. Athens has recently been recognized as a society whose democratic political organization was based on the presence of citizen agriculturists who controlled most of the land, constituted the majority of the civic body and had a decisive role in the working of the government. Under certain limits, Aristotle's ideas in the Politics with respect to the agrarian democracy are taken as elem...

Party-state relationship, an effect of the political competition. The party system and patronage in Romanian politics

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Irina Lonean

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The article examines the party-state relationship in post-communist Romania. It shows the connections between the existence of patronage, corruption and the states’ weak administrative capacity, on one hand, and the dynamics of the political party system, as an explanatory variable, on the other hand. The instability of the political parties in Romania and their changing relations within the system make the electorates’ task of anticipating and sanctioning their politics impossible. Consequently, the political parties have the possibility of extracting resources from the state without being held accountable in elections, as an effect of their dynamic, but non-robust competition.

Does inequality cause inflation? The political economy of inflation, taxation and government debt

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beetsma, R.M.W.J.; van der Ploeg, F.

1992-01-01

A democratic society in which the distribution of wealth is unequal elects political parties which tend to represent the interests of the poor. The clientele of such governments favor unanticipated inflation taxes to erode the real value of debt service and redistribute income from the rich to the

The role of digital marketing in political campaigns

OpenAIRE

Chester (Jeff); Montgomery (Kathryn C.)

2017-01-01

Computational politics—the application of digital targeted-marketing technologies to election campaigns in the US and elsewhere—are now raising the same concerns for democratic discourse and governance that they have long raised for consumer privacy and welfare in the commercial marketplace. This paper examines the digital strategies and technologies of today’s political operations, explaining how they were employed during the most recent US election cycle, and exploring the implications of t...

Theoretical bases of formation of political consciousness of the citizens of Ukraine - as the actual direction of the development of the mainstreaming political sociology

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K. U. Kublik

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Analyzing the political life through political ideology and political culture should pay attention to political consciousness, which presents set of theoretical positions, views, opinions, attitudes, values orientation, etc. that are implemented in the process of implementing functions of political power. Because postulates political ideology are implemented using some mechanism, election campaigns and public opinion, their analysis is undoubtedly one of the major directions of political sociology. At the present stage of creation of the state of Ukraine, formation of the Institute of civil society is important to the study of the mechanism of formation of political consciousness of the nation. On the state of political consciousness influenced by processes not only within the country but also in the international arena. The growing interdependence of countries and peoples, General threat to the existence of humans and the General difficulties on the path of human progress lead to the «globalization» of all the forms of public consciousness, including political. A shift from confrontation to mutual understanding and cooperation means considerable changes in the political consciousness and politics subjects of international cooperation. These are not only the state but also directly peoples, peace­loving democratic mass movements, people of good will on all continents. Consolidation of their efforts is able to resist all forms of hegemony and dictates, any policy which is conducted from a position of strength.

The politics of prosecution service reform in new presidential democracies: The South Korea and Russia cases in comparative perspective

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Sun-Woo Lee

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This paper explains why large-scale reform of a civil-law prosecution system will be abandoned, fail, or succeed in exceptional cases, focusing on the strategic interaction between an incumbent president and prosecutors, through a comparative analysis of the South Korea and Russia cases. A civil-law prosecution system could hardly be reformed, although there were several attempts to correct the politicization of the prosecution service, in new presidential democracies. An incumbent president sometimes considers major reform against the prosecutors, but he or she tends to abandon it and seek to form alliance with them, expecting short-term political benefits under intense political competition. Moreover, although a president strongly pushes for large-scale prosecution service reform, he or she also cannot easily achieve this goal, since the prosecutors' willful initiation of criminal proceedings will cause his or her momentum to decline. Indeed, only Putin exceptionally succeeded in major reform of the prosecution system under weak political competition, among South Korean and Russian Presidents after democratization.

Personal values and political activism: a cross-national study.

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Vecchione, Michele; Schwartz, Shalom H; Caprara, Gian Vittorio; Schoen, Harald; Cieciuch, Jan; Silvester, Jo; Bain, Paul; Bianchi, Gabriel; Kirmanoglu, Hasan; Baslevent, Cem; Mamali, Catalin; Manzi, Jorge; Pavlopoulos, Vassilis; Posnova, Tetyana; Torres, Claudio; Verkasalo, Markku; Lönnqvist, Jan-Erik; Vondráková, Eva; Welzel, Christian; Alessandri, Guido

2015-02-01

Using data from 28 countries in four continents, the present research addresses the question of how basic values may account for political activism. Study 1 (N = 35,116) analyses data from representative samples in 20 countries that responded to the 21-item version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-21) in the European Social Survey. Study 2 (N = 7,773) analyses data from adult samples in six of the same countries (Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Poland, and United Kingdom) and eight other countries (Australia, Brazil, Chile, Italy, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, and United States) that completed the full 40-item PVQ. Across both studies, political activism relates positively to self-transcendence and openness to change values, especially to universalism and autonomy of thought, a subtype of self-direction. Political activism relates negatively to conservation values, especially to conformity and personal security. National differences in the strength of the associations between individual values and political activism are linked to level of democratization. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Politicizing science: conceptions of politics in science and technology studies.

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Brown, Mark B

2015-02-01

This essay examines five ideal-typical conceptions of politics in science and technology studies. Rather than evaluating these conceptions with reference to a single standard, the essay shows how different conceptions of politics serve distinct purposes: normative critique, two approaches to empirical description, and two views of democracy. I discuss each conception of politics with respect to how well it fulfills its apparent primary purpose, as well as its implications for the purpose of studying a key issue in contemporary democratic societies: the politicization of science. In this respect, the essay goes beyond classifying different conceptions of politics and also recommends the fifth conception as especially conducive to understanding and shaping the processes whereby science becomes a site or object of political activity. The essay also employs several analytical distinctions to help clarify the differences among conceptions of politics: between science as 'political' (adjective) and science as a site of 'politics' (noun), between spatial-conceptions and activity-conceptions of politics, between latent conflicts and actual conflicts, and between politics and power. The essay also makes the methodological argument that the politics of science and technology is best studied with concepts and methods that facilitate dialogue between actors and analysts. The main goal, however, is not to defend a particular view of politics, but to promote conversation on the conceptions of politics that animate research in social studies of science and technology.