Action Party Research Articles

The administrative-procedural component of banning a political party in Ukraine

The article is devoted to the study of the issue of the administrative-procedural component of the ban on political parties in Ukraine. The full-scale invasion of Russia became the point of extremum for intensifying measures to ensure the state and national security of Ukraine, including by disabling the activities of pro-Russian political forces. The practice of banning the functioning and activities of political parties is one of the mechanisms for protecting sovereignty and traditionally belongs to the toolkit of militant democracy.
 It was emphasized that the legal basis of the procedure for banning political parties was formed relatively recently and under the influence of martial law (Law of Ukraine No. 2243-IX dated 03.05.2022 «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Banning of Political Parties»).
 It is summarized that due to the great political and social significance that administrative cases on the banning of a political party belong to the jurisdiction of the appellate administrative court in the appellate district, which includes the city of Kyiv.
 It was established that currently the legal nature of the procedure under consideration remains ambiguous in many respects, in particular, in terms of the grounds for opening proceedings and filing an administrative lawsuit to ban a political party, as well as the mechanisms of judicial review and the powers of the court when deciding such a case (regarding the ban and transfer of party property owned by the state). Administrative proceedings regarding the banning of a political party are specific and characterized by a number of various differences compared to the general principles of administrative proceedings in court. Prohibition of a political party during a court proceeding is a public process with the mandatory involvement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine in the legalization of this administrative proceeding.

Singapore: a property-owning procedural democracy in practice

Political philosopher, John Rawls, conceptualizes property-owning democracy (POD) as a constitutional liberal democracy that practices wide social distribution of productive assets, namely property and human capital, that enables citizens to exercise their political freedoms, with security, equality, justice and fairness. However, with their ossified ideological, economic and social structures, contemporary liberal democratic capitalist nations do not possess the material conditions or the political will to realize such a system. In contrast, a postcolonial nation can potentially realize the POD as its nation-building processes unfold, as demonstrated in this case study of Singapore. With its near universal provision of public housing ownership to its citizens, state provision of all levels of education and subsidized programs of new skill acquisitions, retraining and upgrading for its labor force, Singapore may be said to have fulfill the material condition of wide social distribution of productive assets. But politically, the single-party dominant People’s Action Party government disavows liberalism ideologically. However, the elected parliament system as a procedural democracy empowers the electorate to punish the government when it is unresponsive to ground demands. Singaporeans’ dependency on the state for housing has made public housing demand a highly politicized arena in which the citizen/electorate has successfully used their votes to extract positive outcomes to their demands, in so doing refreshes and revitalizes the democratic process.

STRATEGI PENINGKATAN KETAHANAN EKONOMI UNTUK PERIKANAN BERKELANJUTAN BERBASIS KONSEP BLUE ECONOMY

The difficulties and fisheries industry in Indonesia continues to grow in accordance with the 2013–2025 Marine and Fisheries Sector Medium Term Development Plan which refers to the concept of the Blue Economy. The purpose of this research is to find out the implementation of business models and strategies for sustainable sustainability that adopt the Blue Economy concept. This research is a qualitative research using a narrative approach to obtain data related to sustainable strategies in accordance with the Blue Economy concept that can be developed on research objects. The results of the study explain that the success of blue economy-based industries must be supported by a strong commitment between various parties in real action as a form of overall development support, so the direction of program policies must be innovative and creative through a touch of technology. Utilization of digital technology can help fishery businesses based on the concept of a sustainable blue economy, processing all fishery resources owned to be utilized for the welfare of the community without destroying the existing ecosystem. Digital transformation can be a bridge for business owners with markets as consumers, they interact efficiently with each other in meeting the production chain of market needs. Innovation in digital transformation must continue to be carried out and supported by the skills of its human resources to increase attractiveness and expand market access.
 Keywords: Blue Economy, sustainability, digital transformation.

The Activists Who Divide Us: A Cross-Country Analysis of Party Activists’ Influence on Polarization and Representation

What explains party polarization in multiparty systems? This study turns the spotlight to intraparty mechanisms, namely, the authorities and influence of party activists over the candidate selection process, as a potential source of party-system polarization. I hypothesize that parties in which activists possess more comprehensive selection authorities, the party elite will hold more extreme ideological positions, catering to activists' representation demands. Additionally, in such cases, the ideological gap between party elites and voters will be larger since more extreme actors overshadow the preferences of moderate party voters. Aggregating the intraparty effect of activists to the party-system level, I expect to find higher level of party polarization in countries where more parties allocate selection authorities to activists. Utilizing party-level data regarding candidate selection procedures as well as public opinion and elite position data from 19 countries and 93 parties between 2011 and 2017, I find support for my hypotheses.

Policy, office and votes: An experimental investigation of the dynamic aspect of party goals

AbstractPolitical parties face hard choices when balancing desires to influence public policy, to gain executive office and to win votes. The existing literature examining such party preferences has traditionally focused on rather static aspects of the parties, such as size, policy positions and the level of intraparty democracy. This article argues that party actors' sophisticated estimations of whether to enter into coalition can be affected by fluctuating public opinion, thereby having a more dynamic aspect. Drawing on a survey experiment on youth politicians in Norway, we test how perceived standing in the polls affects how politicians weigh up policy versus office and votes versus office. The experimental effect of perceived standings was investigated in addition to the respondents' positions within the party, as well as their parties' former governing history, political orientation and size. Results show that, in the presence of the treatment condition (party is perceived to do well in the polls), the preference for policy over office is lessened. We find no experimental effect for vote versus office. These results advance our understanding of the dynamic aspects of party goals and coalition formation.

Policing the Mexican Past: Transitional Justice in a Post-authoritarian Regime

Policing the Mexican Past: Transitional Justice in a Post-authoritarian Regime

Корпус первых секретарей Калмыцкого обкома Всесоюзного ленинского коммунистического союза молодежи (1921–1991 гг.)

The article deals with the history of Kalmykia Komsomol Committee in 1921–1991. Goals. The paper aims to investigate personnel policies towards First Secretaries of Kalmykia Committee of the RKSM/VLKSM between 1921 and 1991. Materials and methods. The work analyzes archival and published materials from the National Archive of Kalmykia. The key principles employed are those of objectivity and historicism that prove instrumental in examining the issue in certain historical circumstances and contexts. Results. The study concludes somewhat specific factor that influenced activities by First Secretaries of Kalmykia’s Komsomol was that their terms of tenure were not that long. The insights into their personal characteristics show in 1921–1991 the bulk of them came from poor peasant families and had no university degrees, though were experienced enough in party activities and tended to combine both Komsomol and party duties. The postwar period witnessed an increase in educational levels of Kalmykia’s Komsomol executives, all of them had diplomas of higher education. A candidate pool system also took shape. Komsomol activists were recommended for postgraduate programs, and the organization served as cadre training unit not only to the Communist Party but rather to Soviet agencies at large.

Standardy delegalizacji partii politycznych w świetle orzecznictwa Europejskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka — zagadnienia wybrane

The article presents selected issues related to delegalization of political parties. The political parties are indispensable institutions in the systemic life of a democratic state. The authors analyze selected judgments of the European Court of Human Rights related to the standards of delegalization of political parties. The authors conclude that in the existing case law of the ECHR, the main focus is on the external activities of political parties. In determining whether a political party is undemocratic, the focus is primarily on the aims and practices of the party.

Self-breeding Fake News

Studies have found that artificial intelligence (AI) bots and cookies automate fake news in zones of social conflict such as race, religion, gender, and class. In this background, this paper investigates whether fake news is automated with the social structure unique to India. The research collected campaigning activities of political parties and politicians on the Internet but was limited to a select number of Facebook profiles, websites, hashtags, and Twitter profiles during India’s 2014 and 2019 general elections. Politicians and political parties on Twitter, Facebook and other websites formed the contact points where empirical data were collected in the research design. By reviewing hashtags such as #Nationwantsrammandir; #NaamVaapsi; #RamMandir; #AntiNationals; #caste; and #Hindutva, as well as fake social media accounts; discussion forums; and profiles of followers of politicians, the paper corroborated that bots, AI, and trolls serve fake news in the conflict zones of India and some forces are using it to perpetuate social divisions based on caste, class, religion, gender, and region. This paper argues that automated social media accounts spread false information that likely polarizes social conflicts in India.

Jüdische Stadtdeputierte in der Zweiten Polnischen Republik: Projekte – Strategien – Dynamiken[The Jewish city councilors in the Second Polish Republic: Plans, strategies, dynamic

Jüdische Stadtdeputierte in der Zweiten Polnischen Republik: Projekte – Strategien – Dynamiken[The Jewish city councilors in the Second Polish Republic: Plans, strategies, dynamic

Representation of the Green Color in Journalistic Texts by English and German Nouns and Verbs

The purpose of the proposed work is to identify similarities and differences in the manifestation of green symbolism in English and German journalistic texts, the sources of which were online media. The subject of the study is the semantics of English and German nouns and verbs representing the green color in the compared languages. The symbolism of this color designation was chosen due to its insufficient study in the framework of comparative linguistics. In this article, based on the material of lexicographic sources, the dictionary meanings of these lexemes are determined, which can display the symbolism of the studied color in journalistic texts in English and German. The scientific novelty of this study is that for the first time it establishes similarities and differences in the transmission of green symbolism through nouns and verbs on the material of modern English and German journalistic texts. It was found that in English texts, in comparison with German texts, a greater number of nouns denoting green are used. In the course of the study, the comparative method, the method of semantic analysis, the modeling method, the quantitative method and the method of component analysis were used. As a result of the conducted research, it was revealed that in English journalistic texts, the symbolism of the green color, represented by nouns and verbs, is used to neutralize the green color of objects of material reality. In addition, the green color is able to display the positive symbolism of the permission of the requested action, environmental protection. In German journalistic texts, the symbolism of the green color can be both positive and negative. Basically, there is a positive symbolism of green when it comes to environmental protection. The symbolism can also be negative when the political activity of the Green Party in Germany is sharply criticized.

Ethnic political socialization and university elections

Foundational studies of political behavior find that university education facilitates the development of political attitudes and shapes socialization outcomes. But in unconsolidated democracies where identity is politically salient and ethnic political parties dominate, education may play a different role in shaping mass politics. In this paper, we develop a framework for understanding the consequences of political party intervention in annual university elections, a common feature of university life in the Middle East and the Global South. We draw on pre- and post-election surveys at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon to argue that ethnic political parties rely on partisan students to act as “party agents” who mobilize unaffiliated students through intensive peer-to-peer contact. Using a conjoint experiment embedded in both survey waves, we show that the university elections increase support in hypothetical national elections for in-group political elites and, to a lesser extent, ethnic political parties. By locating the university as an understudied site of competitive and contentious politics, our findings contribute new insights regarding the role of education in shaping political attitudes. We show that the persistence of ethnic political power can be attributed in part to party activity in less obviously political arenas that have not been systematically studied.

Italy: parliamentary elections-2022 and prospects for relations with Russia

The governmental crisis that broke out in Italy in the summer of 2022 led to the resignation of the government of M. Draghi and the subsequent dissolution of Parliament. The article examines the results of Italy's early parliamentary elections held on September 25, 2022 (including a comparison with the results of the 2018 elections) and analyzes the positions of the leading political parties represented in the Italian parliament from 2018 to 2022. The author summarizes the results of the government with M. Draghi, identifying the reasons for the preservation of the rating of this government and its impact on the course of the election campaign. In reviewing the course and results of the election campaign the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the government's actions to overcome its consequences are analyzed, the activities of the main opposition parties in Italy are assessed. Considering the current situation, the author offers a comprehensive overview of the positions of the leading political parties and their coalitions, which passed on the results of the early parliamentary elections. The newly formed government supported the stance of the collective West on Russia, despite internal disagreements on this issue and direct recognition of the painful nature of anti-Russian sanctions for the Italian economy itself. There is no reason to count on a "privileged partnership" between Russia and Italy in the near future, but, according to the author, there are reasons to expect ties to be restored soon after the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict.

Gender, disability and political representation: understanding the experiences of disabled women

Women face multiple barriers during political recruitment and representational processes. Concomitantly, a burgeoning scholarship has revealed the existence of various obstacles to elected office faced by disabled people. While studies have examined the intersections between gender, race and class, we know little about how the intersection between disability and gender shapes people’s experiences. This article provides an exploratory case-study analysis of the UK. We centre the perspectives of disabled women in our analysis, drawing upon qualitative interviews undertaken with 41 disabled women candidates, politicians and party activists, as well as participant observation of online events organised to discuss disabled women and elected office. Three themes emerged from this research: first, disabled women feel that they are perceived as ‘not up to the job’; second, disabled women are ‘othered’ during recruitment processes; and, third, hyper-visibility experienced by some, but not all, disabled women can be experienced positively but mainly negatively.

Leadership and power dynamics in crisis management: implication for brain-drain behaviour – Singaporean government experience during Covid-19

PurposeThis study explored how the Singaporean government responded to the Covid-19 pandemic crisis from early January 2020 to the end of May of the same year. It evaluated the capability of Singapore's leadership management in a crisis during the peak and ravaging period of the Covid-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilised a systematic design analysis approach, analysing Singaporean cases on the Covid-19 crisis using a systematic and narrative approach to underscore the country's response to the pandemic attack from January 2020 to May 2020.FindingsAgainst the backdrop of Singapore's peculiar political system of government dominated by the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) and culture of bureaucracy, the government has increasingly executed several control measures, including strict travel bans, contact tracing, the circuit breaker–lockdown, mask-wearing, social distancing orders as well as financial support to businesses and employees from top to the bottom in the country. However, the treatment and health issues of the migrant workers in the dormitories continue to be the major concern among academics and scholars. At the same time, policy inadequacies truncate the excellent measure of Singapore's response to Covid-19. The case point review concluded that the mortality rate in Singapore remains low compared to other nations of the world. Singapore's case points unveil fundamental learning that an excellent leadership-driven harmonised strategic model is essential for crisis management in any society. The finding of the analysis demonstrated that Singapore adopted a contingency and value-based leadership model to advance good governance and tackle the spread of the deadly coronavirus in its country.Originality/valueThe study has demonstrated a profound analysis that has not been conducted hitherto. Investigation of the Singapore case point is not a popular analysis among Nigerian scholars. Therefore, from Nigeria's perspective, the study has showcased the good and the wrong sides of a coin in Singapore's leadership and power dynamic in crisis management.

THE 2019 ELECTIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF EVOLUTION OF THE WOMEN's AGENDA IN BRITISH POLITICAL PARTIES

The article attempts to determine the role of the women's agenda in the activities of political parties and the place of women in the parliamentary factions of the leading parties of Great Britain. Based on the analysis of the policies of Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to the problem of women's promotion in politics, the role of gender quotas as a tool for attracting the female electorate is analyzed. The 2019 General Elections and the tasks political parties were faced with in terms of women's agenda are described in the broad historical context of the evolution of women's politics of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties in the late 20th – early 21st centuries. The author analyzes the election manifestos of the parties in the 2019 elections and concludes about the differences in the approaches to solving women's problems by the right and left parties. In addition, the author reveals the relationship between the women's agenda in the manifestos, the participation of women in the parliamentary factions of parties and women's voting in General Elections.

The Ethnic Factor in the Activities of African Political Parties

The article summarizes the characteristics of the active influence of the ethnic factor on political processes in some African countries, where this phenomenon is among the most difficult to solve intra-national problems. The reasons for its persistence include state borders artificially created in colonial times without considering the interests of ethnic groups living in specific territories and inequal opportunities for the representatives of large and small ethnic groups to participate in the socio-political and other spheres of life of African states. Examples of the formation of power structures based on the belonging of statesmen to a certain ethnic group are given in the paper. The authors draw attention to the fact that ethnic ties often permeate all social relations, especially clearly manifested in state administration and the activities of opposition structures, as well as playing an important role in the life of the army. To date, there are long-established mutual negative perceptions and stereotypes in interethnic contacts, which make it extremely difficult for representatives of different ethnic groups to have a dialogue. In addition, traditional relations, which are primarily based on ethnicity, do not fit well into the framework of Western socio-political standards. The relevance of the topic is due to the growing general instability in the majority of multi-ethnic states of the African continent, leading to the aggravation of long-standing problems of the socio-political spectrum. The authors conclude that the role of ethnic ties in the formation and activity of political structures in different regions of Africa is currently very significant.

Refugee status as a patronage good? The interaction of transnational party mobilization and migration policy in the global south

ABSTRACT This article examines the transnational operations of the Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to mobilise migrant supporters living in South Africa during the 2000s. Drawing together a variety of empirical sources, including extensive original interviews with former MDC party officials and Zimbabwe diaspora civil society organisers, this article explores the challenges of diaspora engagement within contexts of poverty, legal precarity, and political violence in both origin and residence countries. Bringing together emerging research on transnational party mobilisation with the robust literature on distributive politics and clientelism, I show how assistance with asylum became a patronage good, distributed to party members in exchange for participation in party activities and electoral support. Moreover, the plight of Zimbabweans in South Africa illuminates how the line between forced and voluntary migration is both difficult to delineate and has increasingly dire consequences for populations that do not fit precisely within legal determinations of mass refugee movements. Keywords: Diaspora, Political Parties, Refugee Policy, Elections, Africa

Beyond technocratic statecraft: contentious politics and Singapore’s third leadership transition

ABSTRACT The bowing out of the designated successor to the leadership of the long-ruling People’s Action Party, Heng Swee Keat, and thus the prime ministership of Singapore in April 2021 led to a sense of political crisis in the illiberal state. This article argues that this troubled third leadership transition was preceded and conditioned by the similarly troubled protracted first leadership transition in the 1980s and 1990s. The technocratic statecraft that framed the first transition is ill-adapted to tackle the new contentious politics that have gathered pace since the 2011 general election, thus engendering the sense of crisis.

Indian representation in Singapore’s national politics

ABSTRACT The 2020 Singapore General Election stood out on a number of counts, the most important being the decline in national votes for the ruling party, the People’s Action Party, and its historic loss of three wards, one single member seat and two group representation constituencies. Of its 27 new candidates, there were no Indian candidates. This article analyses the representation of Indians in Singapore’s politics, tracing this since the onset of general elections in 1948. Indian political presence in the ruling and opposition political parties will be looked at, and what this means for Singapore’s politics discussed in this article.