Behavior Of Political Actors Research Articles

“We know what we do”: an agency-structure analysis of political vigilantism in Ghana

Political vigilantism has come out as an offshoot of the violence that characterises multi party elections in Ghana. Several studies on political vigilantism give primacy to the role of structural factors in explaining the phenomenon in Ghana. However, such a notion deprives political vigilantes of any sense of agency and further evades how the understanding of the interaction between agency and structure can offer deeper insights into the phenomenon of political vigilantism. The paper argues that political vigilantes should be characterised as agents who can make decisions about the actions that they undertake and not solely determined by the constraints of structure. The actions of political vigilantes are mediated through social structures that shape the options available to them. Using purposive and snowball sampling techniques, 41 key informants were selected for the study in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale. The study employed both primary and secondary data sources. Whereas secondary data was sourced from desk reviews, primary data was collected through interviews and focus group discussions. The narratives were thematically analysed. The study findings show that members of political vigilante groups are conscious agents and for that matter decide and act either autonomously or relationally despite existing pressures from social structures. In addition, the paper shows that the exercise of agency among the vigilantes is inseparable from structure as the structure is reproduced and changed through the actions of the political vigilantes who in turn are shaped through the structures that they occupy. Therefore, policy responses to political violence should consider the two sides of the equation by working simultaneously on the behaviour of political actors and resolving the circumstances that facilitate political violence

The Enduring Significance of the 1930s for Chile's Long Cold War

Abstract: Chile was no exception to the reorientation of Latin American politics during the 1930s. Radical politics, mass mobilizations, and defeated coups established major reference points for the memory and behaviour of political actors during the Cold War. Salvador Allende's template for how to deal with a military coup in 1973, for instance, came from his experience as health minister in 1939. That year he witnessed the Popular Front government defeat an insurrection. Events earlier in the decade profoundly shaped the Pinochet regime (1973–1990)'s view of democratic political transitions and their potential for anti-military backlash. Overseas, the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) tore the Iberian country apart and deeply impacted its former colonies. In Chile, the Spanish Civil War contributed to the establishing of ideological fault lines and political speech that framed the nation's electoral choices as one between fascism and communism, slavery or liberation. This article examines the significance of events in the 1930s for the subsequent politics of revolution and counterrevolution that gripped Chile in the second half of the twentieth century. It concurs with the concept of a 'long Cold War' in Latin America and argues that Chile entered a distinctly new phase in that struggle after 1931.

Protective Policy Index (PPI) global dataset of origins and stringency of COVID 19 mitigation policies

We have developed and made accessible for multidisciplinary audience a unique global dataset of the behavior of political actors during the COVID-19 pandemic as measured by their policy-making efforts to protect their publics. The dataset presents consistently coded cross-national data at subnational and national levels on the daily level of stringency of public health policies by level of government overall and within specific policy categories, and reports branches of government that adopted these policies. The data on these public mandates of protective behaviors is collected from media announcements and government publications. The dataset allows comparisons of governments’ policy efforts and timing across the world and can serve as a source of information on policy determinants of pandemic outcomes–both societal and possibly medical.

Domestic politics and policy making toward China in East Asian countries

ABSTRACT This paper examines what kind of political, institutional arrangements and the behavior of political actors under these arrangements become the stabilizing or destabilizing factors of a country’s diplomatic balancing between the United States and China. Specifically, I describe the domestic politics of Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Singapore in terms of their responses to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) promoted by the Xi Jinping administration. The analysis reveals the following points. First, in all of these countries, the growing presence of China has increased the number of stakeholders in policymaking toward China, and domestic politics regarding policymaking toward China have become more contentious. Second, as a result, each country faces the risk of internalizing its foreign policy toward China, especially on issues related to sovereignty and domestic corruption, thereby destabilizing previously balanced diplomacy between the United States and China. Third, in dealing with such risks, countries with winner-takes-all presidential systems (e.g., South Korea and Indonesia) face difficulties in controlling the internalization of diplomacy, while countries with institutional frameworks that can control destabilizing factors, such as public opinion and corruption (e.g., Japan, Vietnam, and Singapore) are characterized by the relative ease with which they can maintain balanced diplomacy.

Building the Character and Thought Structure of Political Actors based on Pancasila Politics

<p><em>The development of a negative stigma against politics today is a reality that occurs in the mindset of society. This is caused by various factors including the thoughts, attitudes, and behavior of political actors. One of them is a politician. The thoughts, attitudes, and behavior of politicians have a significant role in shaping the image of politics in the eyes of society. Currently, there is a lot of negative stigma about politics. There are two theories in politics, namely moral based theories and political theories that ignore the moral conflict between these two theories and there is a tug of war in the current political field in politicians so that two problems are related to the background of the basic thought structure of politicians who are driven to practice praxis. negative politics and efforts to form a political thought structure that is in line with the "Political Value" of the Indonesian nation are interesting issues to study. The method used in this paper is a qualitative approach with the literary study method, based approach, it can be seen that the theories currently developing are political theories that ignore the moral basis and requirements with pragmatism in politics so that it requires the strengthening and construction of the Pancasila political building which is prerequisite. with immorality to displace political theories that are far from moral bases and to eradicate various immoral behavior of politicians today.</em></p>

ЭФФЕКТ ДОМИНО: УКАЗ Б. Н. ЕЛЬЦИНА О ДЕПАРТИЗАЦИИ В ЦЕПИ РАСПАДА СССР

The purpose of the article is to clarify the place and role of the decree in the general course of the political process and highlight its direct consequences for the fate of the CPSU and the USSR. The scientific literature on the topic is analyzed. It is concluded that scientists draw a direct connection between the final events of the history of the USSR – Yeltsin's decree about departisation, degradation of the CPSU, resistance to the Emergency Committee and the liquidation of the CPSU / USSR. The author describes the stages of the personnel actions of Gorbachev and Yeltsin. In his opinion, the nomenclature system was expected: «construction» of the elite (1985–1987), elections in the party (1988–1990), elections in the state (1989–1990), decree about departisation (1991). The decree is seen as the final stage in the denationalization of the party. The CPSU, having lost power and property, ceased to be a state. The content of the decree, the behavior of political actors in connection with its adoption and the political consequences of the decree are considered. In conclusion, it is concluded that the decree was a domino effect, a provocation to the instant collapse of the USSR.

Migrants during Halftime: the framing of Hungarian political news during the FIFA World Cup

ABSTRACT This study examines the one-minute news blocks aired during the 2018 FIFA World Cup games on Hungarian public television. The analysed short segments were used to direct viewer attention to a narrow range of migration-related news items and implemented reporting on the refugees as a framing device for domestic and international political conflicts. The topics provided a context for world events that overwhelmingly benefited the government’s narrative on the situation. This effect was achieved by a synergy of episodic and thematic frames that were used to explain the behaviour of political actors, substantially simplifying them to pro- and anti-immigration parties.

A influência das ideologias partidárias nos gastos públicos em assistência social nas capitais brasileiras

É notório que os termos “esquerda” e “direita” continuam sendo utilizados, mesmo que às vezes sem o devido rigor. Levando isso em consideração vem se estudando o quanto a ideologia impacta no comportamento dos atores políticos. Diante desse cenário, o presente trabalho explora a acepção dos termos e busca verificar em que medida há relação entre ideologia e investimentos públicos, mais especificamente direcionados à assistência social nas capitais brasileiras entre 2013 e 2016. Os investimentos foram acessados no Sistema de Informações Contábeis e Fiscais do Setor Público Brasileiro (Siconfi) e foi levado em consideração tanto o partido do prefeito quanto do vice-prefeito para construir o que se chamou de enquadramento ideológico (esquerda-esquerda, esquerda-direita, direita-esquerda e direita-direita). Foi acessado também o IDHM dos municípios, últimos dados disponíveis. Para análise, a pesquisa utilizou estatística descritiva e multivariada, considerando os dados por meio de três técnicas: box-plot, correlação de Spearman e regressão linear múltipla. Os resultados encontrados possibilitaram verificar que o impacto da ideologia política nos gastos sociais, contrariando o que se esperaria teoricamente, é nulo. Por sua vez, encontrou-se uma relação significativa entre IDHM e investimentos em assistência social. A variação de 1 ponto percentual em IDHM provoca uma variação positiva de 0,032 pontos percentuais no investimento (arrecadação/despesa).

КОМУНІКАЦІЙНІ ТЕНДЕНЦІЇ У БЕЗБАР’ЄРНОМУ СЕРЕДОВИЩІ ПУБЛІЧНОГО УПРАВЛІННЯ

In any society there is a system of social relations. This is done through the formation and constant use of certain methods of communicative influence. For example, when entering into legal relations, people are guided by legal consciousness and the rules of law that prevail in this society, and entering into moral relations, individuals are guided by moral norms: ideas of good and evil, honor, conscience, decency and duty. Management of the interaction of social groups, human communities in the process of their activities, is achieved through social regulation, where the tool is public relations. In general, the system of public relations can be represented as a process of social communication. He is a necessary link in the implementation of social interaction and the primary subject of influence in the management of public relations. The relationship between man and property, man and the political system, man and the labor market, man and the social sphere, man and the education system, man and culture, and political and economic competition are all ensured by the regulatory functions of public relations. Through them the need of parts of a social organism in each other is realized. The issue of barrier-freeness in the system of power relations is becoming especially relevant, as the perception of an inclusive world, its needs and opportunities for involvement in social processes is currently a painful social problem. It is important to note that in the conditions of modern social and economic instability, resistance to external influences becomes the most important guarantee for the political system to preserve its legitimacy. Thus, it can be concluded that the social behavior of political actors, designed to achieve mutual understanding between people - the only legal way to resolve social, national and cultural conflicts in the modern world.

Policy Theories in Hard Times? Assessing the Explanatory Power of Policy Theories in the Context of Crisis

Can the behavior of political actors in business-as-usual conditions be analyzed with the same theoretical framework as decision-making in situations characterized by uncertainty, ambiguity, complexity and urgency? After comparing major existing approaches and evaluating their explanatory logic under crisis circumstances, the present article develops a theoretical framework which explicitly accounts for the crisis characteristics at two stages of the policy making process, agenda-setting and decision-making. The bearing of policy-entrepreneurs, international networks, institutions and partisanship on policy outcomes critically depends on the specific workings on these levels in crisis-mode. These expectations are probed in an empirical re-evaluation of the 2011 Spanish pension reform.

Interpretation and Social Explanation

In this article I focus on those aspects of Keith Dowding’s book that are most concerned with interpretive approaches to the study of politics. I argue that, in ways not adequately captured by Dowding’s descriptions, the historical study of political concepts tells us something about their historical political effects and for this reason has a distinct value for how we think about and study politics. Furthermore, I argue, concepts of and about politics, including the concepts of political science, cannot be fully separated from the political contexts of which they are a part. Concepts which function as generalisable explanations at one point in time can shape the thinking and behaviour of political actors and thus be very particular causes. A philosophy or method of political science unaware of or inattentive to this dimension of politics and political science is incomplete.

Dieci anni dopo

Since the 1990s, Italy has been considered by many social scientists as the richest testing ground, or even as the “paradise”, of populism. Comprehension of the underlying cause of the wave that inundated Italian politics, after the breakdown of its party system caused by the Tangentopoli scandals, requires a long-term perspective in order to identify both the particular structural factors facilitating this sudden growth and the behaviour of political actors who have spread populist arguments and stereotypes. Ten years ago, an initial study – L’Italia populista, by Marco Tarchi – investigated the deep roots of this phenomenon and described its multiple faces. This article aims to reshape that analysis and shed light upon a new embodiment of the populist mentality, the movement created, inspired and led by the showman Beppe Grillo.

How Constitutions Constrain

Why do constitutions constrain the behavior of political actors more effectively in some cases than in others? What impact does this have on a country’s prospects for institutionalizing democracy? This article starts from the premise that democracy is more likely to become institutionalized where powerful political actors operate within an incentive structure that encourages them to respect the democratic rules and procedures articulated in the constitution. From this perspective, a country’s ability to institutionalize democracy is determined by the principal factors influencing political actors’ compliance with democratic rules. Constitutional characteristics are one such factor, due to their primary role in establishing the ground rules for organizing politics and governance in a given country. The article first presents the argument that constitutionalism, defined as widespread adherence to democratic rules and procedures, helps make democracy work. Next I present a framework for analyzing the relationship between constitutional design and constitutionalism. This analytic framework is applied to seventeen “third wave” democracies in Latin America, Southern, and Eastern Europe. The findings point to a relationship between constitutional dispersal of power, system performance, and constitutionalism. They also suggest a new approach to the question of what makes democracies endure.

Voting amid violence: electoral democracy in Colombia

Despite endemic political violence, Colombia has one of the oldest electoral democracies in the Western Hemisphere. In this long-awaited, indispensable study, author Steven L. Taylor argues that an understanding of Colombia's political development requires understanding the evolution of its political parties and its electoral rules. This book deals both with the specifics of Colombia and with questions concerning how electoral reform and institutional change interact with the behavior of political actors. Taylor's argument holds clear and broader implications for the study of civil democracy in an atmosphere of political violence around the world today, and they have never been more relevant.

The ‘Open Method of Co-Ordination’ as an Instrument for Implementing the Principle of Subsidiarity?

In recent years, the notion of ‘subsidiarity’ has gained prominence in European discourse on the sharing of competences among different levels in the multi-level political system of the European Union. This article addresses the question whether the ‘Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC)’ is a suitable instrument for implementing the principle of subsidiarity and, at the same time, for promoting policy convergence in the European Union. In the first part of the article, the general concept of subsidiarity is reviewed in light of its role in the European context. In the next part, the evolution of the ‘Open Method of Co-ordination’, its general characteristics and its application to various policy fields are examined. Based on this analysis, a critical evaluation is undertaken in the final part of the article concerning the potential policy outcomes of the OMC from a longer term perspective. This analysis is carried out from an institutionalist perspective, focussing on the consequences that the OMC is likely to have on the mindsets and behaviour of political actors. This before leads to the conclusion that the OMC can help to create a normative commitment to coordinating national policies with respect to commonly agreed goals while leaving the competences of policy-making mainly with the Member States. In this way, the OMC respects subsidiarity and national diversity, but at the same time contributes to achieving greater convergence of economic and social policies.

SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM BY THE CARDOSO GOVERNMENT OF BRAZIL: CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS OF REFORM TEN YEARS AFTER “DEMOCRATIZATION”

This article has two purposes. The first is to analyze politically why the Cardoso government's social security reform could not be completed. Though democratic political systems (election and political party systems) were reintroduced after the re‐democratization in 1985, Brazil continued to suffer from elements of its traditional political culture such as corporatism, clientelism, nepotism, etc. These were the stumbling blocks for Cardoso's reform. The second purpose is to deepen understanding of Brazilian democracy by casting light on the behavior of political actors (the government, congress, and political parties) over social security reform issues under the Cardoso and Lula governments.

Transitional Citizens: Voters and What Influences Them in the New Russia by Timothy J. s> Colton (review)

REVIEWS i8i Of course, if the logic of the development of informal institutions is not representedin the analysisto the extent to which it influencesthe practice,the process of institutionbuildingis bound to be seen as chaotic, which might not be the case from the perspectiveof informalinstitutions.The focus on formal institutions, however, has its uses. The details presented here of institution building in Russia during the I990s are reliable, chronologically organized, and sufficientlyreferencedto be helpfulto studentsof post-Sovietpolitics. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies A. V. LEDENEVA University College London Colton, Timothy J. Transitional Citizens:Voters and WhatInfluences Themin the New Russia.Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, and London, 2000. xi + 324 pp. Notes. Tables. Figures.Index. ?44.95; LI 6.95. THEproblem is simple. In the early I990S subjects of the Soviet state were abruptlyturned into citizens of the new Russian Republic. Forthe participation in elections Russia, as a 'late-democratizingsociety', has an institutional infrastructurethat is 'rough-hewn'and, Colton writes,'the signalsthat parties and candidates emit are thin and static-filled'(pp. 2II-I 2). For this reason, when tryingto explain electoral behaviour, the variablesused for established democracies may not be adequate. So what factors haveexplained voting behaviour in Russia'sfirstfree elections?Are they entirelyidiosyncratic or perhapsvariationsto the explanatoryfactorsof elections in old democracies? Democracy is, in a quote borrowed from Adam Przeworski,'a system of ruled open-endedness, or organized uncertainty' (p. 7). Consequently, in transitionalRussian politics, voting takes place in an environment of 'semiorganized uncertainty' (p. I4). The behaviour of political actors is volatile. There is discord over the integrity of the electoral process. All pervasive at times is an acute fear (or, with some, hope) that democratic reformsmay be reversed.The electorateisunsureof itself.In suchsemi-organizeduncertainty, what factorsexplain how newly emancipatedRussiancitizensvote? Using the major studies of voting behaviour in established democracies, Timothy Colton has developed a voting model for transitionalRussia, which providesthe structureforhis book. In thismulti-stagemodel he systematically deals with bundles of explanatoryvariables,from the general to the specific. These include background social characteristics,voters' assessment of economic and political conditions, partisanshipand issue opinions, their retrospective evaluations of incumbents, leadership qualities and finally the prospectiveevaluationsof partiesand candidates.Colton appliesthe statistical technique of ordinaryleastsquaresregressionto datafromthreepanel surveys of the electorate. Panel surveysare public opinion surveysin which the same group of respondentsis interviewedseveraltimes;the firstwave of interviews took place during the campaign for the December I995 Duma elections, the second wave immediatelyaftertheseelections, and the thirdand finalwave in the weeks following the presidential election of I996. Almost 98 per cent of the first-waverespondentswere interviewedagain in the second wave, and 86 per cent in the thirdwave. This has the great advantagethat changes in views i82 SEER, 8o, I, 2002 can be tracedmore accuratelythan in consecutive surveysof different,though representative, groups of respondents. Colton's text is illustratedby a great numberof well-designedtablesand figures. So is Russianpostcommunistvoting behaviourentirelyerratic,the resultof chaos, fear and confusion, as some commentators have it? Colton finds that voting patterns 'hint at [. . .] the existence of tangible, offsetting pressures toward order and determinacy' (p. 2I2). In spite of the chaos surrounding them, the voters of postcommunist Russia have grasped what it means to make a political choice. They are not a tabularasa.After all, Colton adds, 'votingand voting sensiblyis easierthan buildinga flourishingstockexchange or bond market,as Russianshave found out to theirdismay'(p. 213). In general, Russianvoting behaviourin the mid-I990Scan be explained by roughlythe same factorsas in establisheddemocracies.But specificforRussia is, for example, that the age of voters 'is more of an influence on Russian votingbehaviorthan education,income, oranyothersocialattribute'(p. 2 I5). The variable that turns out to be strongest in Russia is partisan affinity, followed by voters'attitudestowardthe individualpartyleaders(in the Duma vote) and the retrospectiveevaluation of incumbents, that is the performance of presidentYeltsinduringhis firstterm. At the end of his book, trying to evaluate the contribution of electoral politicsto the strengtheningof democracy,Colton makesan effortto stressthe positive. He argues that Russian elections have tended to avoid two 'syndromes' that would harm 'responsible democratic choice'. These are voting 'chiefly on the basis of selfish pocketbook concerns' as prominent in some established democracies, and 'infatuation with charismatic leaders' (p. 223). Overall, Russiansareprettysensiblevoters. In the emerging literatureon Russian electoral behaviour, this is...

Negative Decision Powers and Institutional Equilibrium: Experiments On Blocking Coalitions

VER the past decade an important strand of political science research has turned to studying actors' behavioral strategies within political institutions. This new institutionalism has focused largely on legislative processes, with the approaches to that study varying from the historical to the analytical (see the discussion by Shepsle 1986). The principal question asked by these researchers is: In what ways do institutions affect the actions of political agents? The study carried out here relies on analytic methods and empirical testing to demonstrate one general institutional procedure that changes the behavior of political actors. We do not offer a general theory characterizing all institutional effects on behavior. Instead, we concentrate on agenda which impede political decision making. This focus provides insight into the effects of disparate negative agenda powers such as executive vetoes, bureaucratic intransigence, pigeon-holing legislation by committees, and filibustering. The study of agenda processes has dominated much of the analytic work on political institutions. Largely this is due to the importance of agendas for translating individual preferences into collective choices. Agenda procedures are not dictated by happenstance. They are endogenous to political institutions and are defined by detailed rules and precedents. For example, the House of Representatives adheres to strict procedures for the introduction, discussion, and passage of general legislation. Bills placed in the legislative hopper are typically routed to a committee of jurisdiction, legislation is returned to the committee-of-the-whole under well-defined rules, and the processes governing voting on the legislation are well-understood (see Oleszek 1984). Two major points have emerged from the formal study of agenda processes. The first is that the structure of an agenda matters for political choices. Plott and Levine (1978) demonstrate, both theoretically and empirically, that the order of an agenda dictates the outcomes selected by

The Economic Determinants of Political Factionalism: A Case Study of an Indian Rural District

There is some evidence to indicate that the factional behavior of political actors in India today corresponds, on the whole, with rational (or calculable) economic interests which may be their own and/or those of their sponsors.1 It is necessary to stress this in view of the oft-repeated assertions that the Indian political equation can be defined largely in terms of ascriptive or personal loyalties or other emotional factors which do not lend themselves to a logical solution. In a study of Congress factionalism in a western Indian state (Maharashtra), it was noted that the pattern of political rivalry appeared to be paralleled by an economic conflict between private economic interests, based largely in the urban areas of Maharashtra (specifically, the BombayPoona industrial complex), and certain agriculturally based economic groups situated in the rural areas of the state. It is clear that, in a conflict of this kind, there must exist a common object of contention as well as an arena where the rival parties engage each other. The larger political sphere, by far, in each of the several states is rural in nature. Hence, our attention in this instance turns to rural Maharashtra. It may be noted parenthetically that among the more important national leaders of India today is Y. B. Chavan, India's home minister and reportedly a supporter of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the current political conflict which has divided the top-level leadership of the Congress party of India. Therefore, we may be especially concerned to examine the

The Indian Congress Party: A Dilemma of Dominance

The death of Nehru did less to change the Indian political system than the talk about his charismatic leadership might have led us to expect. But one simplification is not to be replaced by another; the assessment of his influence is a matter of real difficulty. Most delicate of all the tasks perhaps is that of distinguishing between his influence on the actual behaviour of political actors and institutions and his influence on the views taken by observers of such behaviour. How much, that is, of what appears novel in the post-Nehru period is merely the coming to light of features which were already present but obscured or unnoticed by virtue of the attention focused on the great man himself? In no area of the Indian political system is this question more important than in the Congress Party.