Abstract This paper explores the state of minority rights in Ukraine following the 2014 Maidan revolution. The Maidan revolution has been largely regarded as the most radical attempt at de-institutionalizing post-Soviet politics and order since 1991 and forging a new Ukrainian nation. Such an endeavor leads us to address a critical question of what the core implications are on minority rights in Ukraine, which encompass religious, ethnic, and sexual minority rights. This analysis places special emphasis on minority religious rights in post-Maidan Ukraine. Findings suggest that the Maidan revolution has not led to substantial policy reform as it pertains to minorities, thus leaving many of their problems unaddressed. While the Maidan aided Ukraine in becoming more “Ukrainian” and reinforced the national identification of the Ukrainian population, it marked a considerable shift in nationalism by ensuing adverse effects on the Russian-speaking population in Eastern Ukraine, as well as on other ethnic and religious minority groups. Moreover, the Ukrainian authorities’ efforts at gaining “spiritual independence” from the Russian Orthodox Church have been met with challenges for religious minority groups. Despite the legislative measures aimed at protecting the rights of LGBTI community, their effective implementation remains a significant and unresolved problem.

Abstract How do emotional responses to televised debates impact on voting intention? The present article addresses this question drawing on an original dataset combining survey data and real-time responses gathered in the run-up of the 2017 German federal election. The paper contributes to three major discussions in the literature of political science and psychology. First, we show that emotional responses to media stimuli are independent explanatory factors influencing post-debate voting intention while in part mediating real-time evaluations of candidate statements. Second, our analysis demonstrates that the impact of emotional responses to televised debates can barely be deemed to be structured along one single dimension of valence but that discrete emotions show distinct effects. Third, the paper supports the notion that anger and enthusiasm have an indirect impact on voting intention by increasing the weight of political predisposition and reducing the weight of evaluation of current information on candidates’ issue stances in televised debates. We also find empirical evidence for the indirect effect of anxiety as well; it reverses the pattern and reduces the weight of political conviction while increasing the importance of evaluations about candidate statements. However, the latter finding does not seem to be very robust as in fact, substitutions are also able to generate this pattern. Finally, the paper reviews implications of the findings and discusses limitations and future perspectives of research.

Abstract Political opinion polls in India are holistic snapshots in time that divulge deep dive information on electoral participation, ideological orientation and self-efficacy of the electorate and faith in core democratic values. The popularity of election surveys stems from the political socialization and crystal ball gazing curiosity of the citizens to foresee the outcomes of the hustings before the pronouncement of formal results. The opinion polls provide crucial data on voting behaviour and attitudes, testing theories of electoral politics and domain knowledge production. The obsession of the Indian media with political forecasting has shifted the focus from psephology to electoral prophecy, but it continues to furnish the best telescopic view of elections based on the feedback of the electorate. The ascertainment of subaltern opinion by surveys not only broadens the contours of understanding electoral democracy, but also provides an empirical alternative to elitist viewpoint of competitive politics in India.

Abstract The farmer-pastoralist conflict (FPC) in Nigeria has aggravated in recent years. It generated intense debate between 2015 and 2018 because of the aggravation of the conflict and the increased fatalities associated with it. This paper analyses the media representation of the conflict. Data were newspapers’ editorials and regular columnists’ stories and supplemented by government and independent bodies’ reports. Newspapers, as agents of popular culture, play a critical role in the propagation of various discourses of the conflict which seek interpellation and are also contested. This paper shows that the discourse is dichotomous and conflictive between ecological reasoning and ethnic-regional and religious imaginations.

Abstract The return to democracy in Nigeria in 1999 ushered in some form of political reforms, particularly in the conduct of multi- party elections however political violence appears perverse. The objective of this study is to explore how the prevalence of political violence has undermined Nigeria’s democracy. The analysis follows survey data to address the questions regarding democracy and political violence. The study draws from the frustration-aggression and group violence theories and provides a deepened analytic exploration. Based on some of the assumptions of democracy understood as freedom, equality, accountability, rule of law etc, the study argues that these assumptions obviously constitute a ‘universal pattern’ in democratic practice, which makes a critical evaluation of the Nigerian experience important. Consequently, our findings suggest that the prevalence of political violence is fundamentally an attribute of vested interests of the political elite. Some policy recommendations follow.

Abstract The paper is intended to highlight the key tenets of Szellemiism including education, experience and wisdom and interactions of all three and how Szellemiism can be adopted in the society by creating new social classes, institutional mechanism and social contract. Moreover, Szellemiism emphasizes upon creating the right economic, social and political balance between intellectuals and non-intellectuals. Szellemiism explicitly rejects the idea of equal voting for all eligible citizens, rather it promotes idea of weightage voting based on one’s understanding of environment by objectifying three main elements, one’s education, one’s experience and one’s wisdom by using latest technology of artificial intelligence(AI). Following that philosophy, the three key institutions should be developed including parliament, senate and council of intelligentsia. Afterwards, those three collectively choose the head of state as, the majority tyranny is avoided at each and every stage of intellectocracy and the best among the all is chosen to tackle with complicated and sophisticated national and international challenges. Moreover, Szellemiism supports the idea of a new social contract that ensures timely health, education and livelihood support to the individual by the state but by allowing the state to get maximum private information about one’s self. Hence, the paper concludes that, the new slogan of 21st century would be “Maximum state support with maximum private information”.

Abstract This Article seeks to examine the Russia’s recent interest in uplifting the status of Orthodox church as a pivotal factor in the state and beyond that. Most importantly the position of the Orthodox church has grown rapidly during Putin’s administration as a solacing factor to fill the gap that emerged from the fall of Soviet Union. The 16th century doctrine propounded by Filofei called “Third Rome”, which profoundly portrayed Moscow as the last sanctuary for Eastern Christianity and the 19th century nationalist mantra of “Orthodoxy, Nationality and Autocracy” have been rejuvenated under Putin as new ideological path to move away from Western influence. It has been especially evident that the ideological movement that rigidly denies Russia’s hobnobbing with the Liberal West has been rather intensified after the Crimean crisis in 2014. Under this situation Putin’s usage of Orthodoxy and Russia’s spiritual legacy stand as a direct political tool expressing Russia’s uniqueness in global affairs. This article will critically examine the historical trajectory of Orthodox church in Russia as an indicator of its distinctiveness.

Abstract The aim of this study is evaluate various single winner voting systems with the help of computer aided simulations. The impact of phenomena such as strategic voting, spoiler effect and centre squeeze are studied on various election systems such as First Past the Post, Ranked voting, Approval voting and Score voting. The democratic process gives great moral legitimacy to the winner as they are deemed to be chosen by the people, ergo the election system too needs to accurately reflect the will of all the people. Single winner systems or “winner takes all” systems have the advantage of decisive governments as compared to proportional systems but by its construct exclude parliamentary representation to a large percentage of voters who ended up on the losing side. It is therefore even more important that the single winner system mirror the voters mandate as accurately as possible. I conclude after evaluation that alternate systems such as Instant Runoff or Approval voting could be considered in lieu of the FPTP systems as they have fewer flaws and are more likely to give a truer representation of electorate’s choice.

Abstract The Declaration of Independence asserts that “All men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Nevertheless, the United States, at its foundation has been faced with the contradiction of initially supporting chattel slavery --- a form of slavery that treated black slaves from Africa purely as a commercial commodity. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom had some discomfort with slavery, were slaveholders who both utilized slaves as a commodity. Article 1 of our Constitution initially treated black slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of apportioning representation in order to increase Southern representation in Congress. So initially the Constitution’s commitment to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” did not include the enslaved black population. This essay contends that the residue of this initial dilemma still affects our politics --- in a significant manner.

Abstract This research studied factors militating against women’s participation in politics in Enugu state using four communities (Amokwe, Ikpamodo, Ndeaboh and Eha-Amufu) drawn from three senatorial zones as case study sites. The research approach employed was Community Familiarization Visits, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and In-Depth Interview (IDI). The FGD comprised of women and men leaders in the selected communities who served as the respondents while in the case of IDI the selected women community leaders served as the respondents. The study revealed among other things that women from the study areas have not been actively involved in politics since the return of Democracy in 1999 mainly due to poor finance, lack of education, lack of support from fellow women and an unfavorable political environment. The study thereby recommends different measures to end women’s discrimination and intimidation, and the creation of a favorable environment for the improvement of women’s political participation in Enugu state.