Political Change Research Articles

Industrial relations as power, place and time: the case of Queensland coal mining

ABSTRACT How has the coal mining industry been changing as employers and unions organise their power resources to control and remake spaces of working and living? The most obvious likely changes are those driven by climate change policies. These are, however, only the most obvious, albeit fundamental, transformations facing coal mining workforces and unions. In the massive export coalfields of the State of Queensland, which have been central to the Australian politics of climate change, a less discussed phenomenon has been unfolding, a remaking of place and power in industrial relations. Employer-driven changes, namely automation, the geography of work and bargaining processes, and workforce composition, have presented themselves as the immediate threats to local traditions of work and social practice, not climate policy. ‘Power resources approaches’, when spatialised, historicised and entwined with labour process analysis, help to explain the breadth of employer-driven change and the unevenness of union responses.

Teaching Black Diaspora Stories with Digital Archives in the Classroom

One of the prime difficulties in the current teaching environment is educating students to make use of research skills that teach them not only how to be good historians but also how to be critical thinkers who can engage and evaluate sources. This piece focuses on the use of well-managed digital archives, which provide students with a focused set of research materials that help build a foundational point of historical inquiry. In addition to discussing the pedagogical benefits of such research, emphasis is also placed on specific assignments centered on several online databases, including “The Land Act Legacy Project Collection” of the South African History Archive (SAHA), the African Activist Archive of Michigan State University, and the “Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936 to 1938” of the Library of Congress. If these current times have taught anything, it is that digital literacy and proper research methods are essential components in understanding information during times of political and cultural change. By engaging with the stories in these digital archives, students learn about the diversity of opinions and opportunities that defined these stories of the Black diaspora throughout the twentieth century and beyond.

The 11th: Politics, Polarization, and Partisan Change in a Southern District, 1972–2022

Abstract What can be learned from analysis of a single congressional district? This paper uses the experience of North Carolina’s 11th congressional district to understand the political changes that have defined the last half-century in the American South. The story of how this once politically inconsequential southern Appalachian district found itself in the middle of the national political maelstrom is, in many ways, the story of southern politics over the last three decade. Political polarization, strategic gerrymandering, the power of national political tides, the increasing urban/rural divide and the broader partisan transformation of the South that has remade American politics all are reflected in the 11th. In addition to uncovering new wrinkles in the story of southern partisan change, this paper defines and highlights the advantages of place-based Political Science.

Reviewing the constitution-making process in Kenya: The failure of the 2005 constituent process

Abstract Kenya began its democratic era after its declaration of independence and the adoption of its first constitution in 1963. However, this supreme norm of the country would undergo countless reforms by the political elites from the very beginning, mostly to satisfy the partisan demands of the political leaders of the moment. These reforms succeeded in transforming the initially democratic model into an authoritarian, one-party system. After two decades of corruption and abuses of power, political changes in the country, and a wave of democratization after the fall of the Berlin Wall fueled the popular clamor for constitutional change. This article analyses the development of the constitution-making process, which began with the first constitutional amendments introduced to the constitution of the independence, as well as the main factors that led to the rejection of a new draft constitution in the ratification referendum held on November 21, 2005. A key element contributing to the failure of the whole process is the strong influence of political forces in the process, all using partisan methods to achieve perceived political advantages.

Impact of oil price, economic globalization, and inflation on economic output: Evidence from Latin American oil-producing countries using the quantile-on-quantile approach

This research examines the impact of oil prices, economic globalization, and inflation on the economic output in oil-producing countries in Latin America. We employ advanced time series techniques to achieve precision in findings and reliability of policy inferences. We use cointegration techniques with and without structural breaks because oil prices are highly volatile, and the economies analyzed are unstable in the face of political and social changes. Additionally, we performed a sensitivity analysis using standard quantile and the newly developed quantile-on-quantile regressions to measure the impacts of the covariates on real per capita output. Finally, we use causality Fourier techniques to identify the direction of causal relationships between the series. We found that the oil price, economic globalization, inflation, and output have a long-term equilibrium relationship in the presence of structural breaks. Likewise, quantile models show that the impacts of inflation, economic globalization, and oil prices on economic output are extensively non-linear across the quantile distribution. We found a negative connection between inflation and economic output in the surveyed territories. We propose that those responsible for energy policy in the countries studied should rethink crude oil policies to maximize the benefits of oil exploitation under stagnant globalization and growing inflation.

Against Dictatorship, against Backsliding? Examining the Effect of Serbian Anti-Government Protests on the 2020 Electoral Boycott

The power of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has been steadily growing ever since 2012. The party has successfully taken control of all levels of government in Serbia, and the country has suffered from gradual democratic backsliding as a result. In this article, we focus on two protest waves in Serbia between 2017 and 2019. Crucially, a number of opposition parties involved in the more recent protest wave boycotted the 2020 parliamentary election. This article analyzes the characteristics of the citizen-led response in local communities across Serbia and estimates its electoral impact using a difference-in-differences approach. The case of Serbia not only elucidates modes of citizen response and their impact in post-Communist Europe but also provides comparative insights for the potential for citizen-led resistance to mobilize against backsliding in other countries. The objectives of the article are twofold. First, the article uses an original data set of Serbian protest events between 2017 and 2019 to ascertain how the two protest waves were conducted, and how citizens respond to democratic backsliding. Second, using data on municipal-level turnout and SNS vote share in the 2020 parliamentary election, we examine the average electoral impact of protest and, related to that, we evaluate the success of opposition parties in mobilizing voters for the electoral boycott. The article investigates whether SNS-led democratic backsliding is resilient to sustained citizen-led mobilization or whether this bottom-up resistance challenges the notion that “stabilitocracies” such as Serbia are immune to fundamental political change.

Households in Transition: Persistence and Change of Dwellings in the City of Old Dongola (Sudan, 14th–17th Century)

AbstractThe period between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries in Old Dongola, Sudan, marks a significant political and religious transition. The Makurian kingdom collapsed, and in the sixteenth century, the city became subordinate to the Funj Sultanate. Simultaneously, domestic architecture exhibited a high level of uniformity, with urban space dominated by two-room houses clustered in compounds with a shared courtyard. In these transformative conditions, the seeming persistence of household requires explanation. This paper examines residues of human actions, applying a multielemental analysis of domestic floors of four house compounds dated from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. It allowed us to understand domestic space in intensive terms, as created by everyday domestic activities. The analysis of macro- and micro-residues resulted in the identification of various ways particular households engaged with domestic space. In this study, the role of heterogeneous domestic space played in the persistence and changeability of households was discussed, particularly how the striated residential units coded relations of dwellers, while the smooth open spaces had creative potential. Lastly, it is proposed that the temporality of households did not align with the temporality of the political changes in the city.

The principle of the rule of law in the system of constitutional principles for the implementation of the right to a safe environment

The scientific article examines the importance of the principle of the rule of law in the system of constitutional principles for the implementation of the right to a safe environment. It was found that constitutional principles are a type of legal principles and there is also no unity among scientists to understand them, which cannot contribute to the unequivocal application of law. The innovative approach and proposed concepts of «ecological constitutionalism» are analyzed, which at the same time shows the complexity of the issue of environmental protection, the combination of the principles of constitutional, environmental and international law. It further developed the proposition that every modern constitution should be based on a fundamental environmental commitment to present and future generations and thereby protect key societal values from certain political turbulence, government policy change that favors short-term economic or political advantages over long-term environmental or economic sustainability. It is the constitutional norms that must guarantee the sustainability of development, as well as stability from political changes in the course regarding the protection of basic human rights and the protection of a safe environment, without which it is not possible to create the proper conditions for a decent human life and social development. The concepts of «constitutional principles», «principles of environmental law» and «rule of law» were studied. Various approaches among scientists to understanding the principle of the rule of law have been clarified. Those decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine that allow personifying and objectifying the principle of the rule of law, as well as developing the content of this principle, are analyzed. It was established that the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in its decisions meaningfully filled the principle of the rule of law, emphasized the non-identity of law and law, remarked on justice as a key element of law, which in combination with equality, legal certainty fills this concept. Our own approach to understanding the principle of the rule of law as the basis of the system of constitutional foundations for the realization of the right to a safe environment is substantiated.

Mobilizing against Democratic Backsliding: What Motivates Protestors in Central and Eastern Europe?

Several central and eastern European countries have experienced democratic erosion of different kinds. While the Czech Republic and Poland have faced democratic backsliding, for example, others, such as Bulgaria and Romania, are better characterized as struggling with democratic stagnation. Regardless of the type of democratic erosion, robust protest movements have challenged democratic erosion. What motivates protestors who face different types of democratic erosion to take to the streets? What kinds of political and institutional changes do they seek? In this article, we theorize that protestors experiencing democratic backsliding prioritize changing the government or changing the political practices that have developed over the last decade. By contrast, protestors facing democratic stagnation emphasize the need to change long-standing institutions and practices that have existed since the country transitioned to democracy in 1989. To test our hypotheses, we conducted original surveys of pro-democracy protestors in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania. We found that protestors in states where incumbents have pursued rapid democratic backsliding prioritize changing the government or changing practices that have taken root over the last decade. By contrast, protestors living through long-standing democratic stagnation emphasize changing the practices and institutions that have emerged since the transition to democracy in 1989. Moreover, we found that in all four countries protestors had mobilized to fight democratic erosion. Also, respondents in all four countries believed that the main impact of the protests was to increase political awareness and spread information about democracy.

‘Regionalism’ and its contestations: changing political discourse in contemporary Assam

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to understand the socio-political dimension of the political changes in Assam vis-a-vis “regionalism” and its contestations. The Changing contours of regionalism in Assam reflect its distinct character marked by the simultaneous articulation of regional, sub-regional and national identity in a complex socio-ethnic and historical context. The recent political trajectory of Assam bears testimony to the dual challenges facing the forces of regionalism; the presence of sub-regional ethnic identity articulation and the appropriation of regional space and issues by the national parties. Further, the shifting allegiance of ethnic identity-based parties to the national parties is critical to understand the dynamics of regionalism in Assam. Socio-political developments subsequent to the rise of BJP post-2014 provide an interesting landscape to comprehend the complexities inherent in understanding regionalism in contemporary Assam. On a contextual note, the paper also locates the question of regionalism in the ongoing debates of NRC and CAA.

Two Counties in Crisis: Measuring Political Change in Reconstruction Texas. By Robert J. Dillard

<i>Two Counties in Crisis: Measuring Political Change in Reconstruction Texas</i>. By Robert J. Dillard

Belief and Prediction Narratives in Rethinking Discourse: The Experience of Soviet Science Fiction and Ad in the 1950s

In the USSR of 1950s, the sociocultural foundations for the functioning of social practices and institutions were the opposite to those in subsequent periods of the USSR history and modern Russia. In addition, they are opposite to the currently dominant trends in world’s development, depicted in “Retrotopia” of Zygmunt Bauman. In the culture of that time, people poorly expressed mass nostalgia as they searched for an emotional community with collective memory. Rationality was the main defining feature of the 1950s. From this point of view, the author examines narratives aimed at correcting the “Soviet” discourse, discredited during the Second World War and political changes in Soviet society in the late 1940s — early 1950s. There are two types of narrative: the belief and prediction, which were broadcast through commercial advertising and science fiction literature. The prediction narrative remained a specific attribute of the1950s culture and did not receive further promotion.

THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF STATE RESTRUCTURING IN NEPAL

This study delves into the effects of political reform in Nepal, particularly the shift from a centralized unitary system to a federal structure. While political parties initially didn't prioritize restructuring in their agendas, movements like a decade long Maoist war and the Madhesh uprising played a pivotal role in driving this change. The research aims to understand how these political shifts have influenced Nepali society, especially in remote villages with a strong history of political activism. Combining primary qualitative data from local communities with secondary information from existing literature, the study employs descriptive and analytical methods to explore the social consequences of state restructuring over time. By examining both historical context and present realities, the research sheds light on the complex relationship between political changes and societal behavior in Nepal. Ultimately, the findings offer valuable insights into the diverse impacts of political restructuring on Nepali society, enriching our understanding of its socio-political landscape.

Building Bridges in a Divided Society: Addressing Hindutva and Muslim Conflicts in India

The purpose of this research is to perform a comprehensive investigation of the complex dynamics that exist between Hindutva and the Muslim minority in India, with a particular emphasis on the conflict that is becoming more intense. It investigates the complicated situation by delving into the myriad of political, religious, and sociological aspects that interact with one another and contribute to shaping it. This research investigates the purposeful aggravation of racial discrimination, nationalism, and exclusionary policies that have a disproportionate impact on the Muslim population in India, which is a minority population. The research draws from a wide variety of scholarly sources. As an additional benefit, it gives light on the politicization of Hinduism within the public sphere of India. Additionally, it explores the rise and spread of Hindu nationalism while simultaneously evaluating the corresponding socio-political issues that are encountered by the Muslim minority. This study highlights the urgent need for a narrative that fights for inclusion, secularism, and progressiveness while also embracing diversity. This is accomplished through an examination that encompasses historical Hindu-Muslim debates, media depictions, and government policies. In addition to this, it investigates the negative effects that arose as a result of Islamophobia, socio-spatial segregation, and state-driven oppression, particularly in light of current changes in Indian politics. Within the scope of this investigation, a critical analysis of the role that the state plays, particularly with regard to its preference for some religious groups over others, is an essential component. In addition, this research investigation examines a number of different strategies with the objective of reducing disputes between different groups and promoting interfaith communication, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence. The main goal is to create a society that is welcoming to people of all religious backgrounds, one in which members of other faiths are able to freely practice their faith without fear of being discriminated against or punished. It is important to note that this research continually highlights the necessity of open and constructive conversation, policy changes, and balanced media portrayal in the process of revising the dominant narrative. The fundamental objective of this initiative is to foster a conversation that emphasizes the utmost significance of social justice, equality, and inclusion within the framework of the modern-day India.

A gathering storm: offensive and defensive accelerationism in an online far-right community

ABSTRACT Increasingly fringe and violent far-right ideologies have become a significant threat to national security in Western countries in the twenty-first century. Accelerationism is growing in far-right narratives while populism and ethnocentrism garnered public attention. This study presents an empirical study of Stormfront, the largest and oldest online white nationalist community in the world, to identify accelerationist themes in the ideological narratives used to discuss white nationalist philosophy over time. The study applied a Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithm and a supervised learning AI model to a corpus of more than 66 m words collected from 367,000 posts across a 20-year period. This analysis identified two kinds of accelerationist sentiment in the dataset, an offensive form, which portrays violence as both an inevitable and desirable mechanism to pursue political change, and a defensive form, which portrays violence as a reactionary and protective means to prevent undesirable social changes. The study then used a thematic analysis on a subset of the data to support its findings that both offensive and defensive accelerationism are embedded in ideological narratives on Stormfront. This is an important consideration for further research on ways that accelerationism may be influencing popular white nationalist ideology, particularly fringe and violent narratives.

The Dynamics of Anti-Corruption Campaigns in China: An Empirical Study of the Official Rank-Punishment Nexus in the Context of Political and Legal Changes

ABSTRACT Along with the escalating corruption problem in China comes the Chinese government’s continuous effort to combat corruption. The increased intensity, duration and scope of anti-corruption campaign over time culminated with Xi’s effort to fight both ‘tigers’ and ‘flies’ during his administration. Despite growing research interests, few empirical studies took a dynamic approach to compare the effect of Xi’s campaign with that of his predecessors. Based on 2,034 cases, this study investigates judicial sentencing and its correlation with official ranking within a continuum of anti-corruption initiatives that spanned over several decades, incorporating the effect of both political changes (administration transition from Hu to Xi) and legal changes to the Criminal Law. The findings cast doubt on the claimed severity of Xi’s campaign relative to that of Hu’s but lend support to more visible and harsher punishment against the tigers than the flies. Our study sheds invaluable light to the ongoing debate about the relationship between official ranking and judicial punishment in the discussion of potentially effective strategies against corruption.

Sacred and Cursed Bodies: The Necropolitics in the Suharto Regime’s Politics of Memory

ABSTRACT The article investigates the Suharto rule regime’s use of necropolitics to construct Indonesia’s memory of the 1965–66 mass murders. These memory politics were based on the anti-communist myth, which was the basis of the memory formation and creation of positive and negative heroes closely related to political changes. The regime used the bodies of generals who were killed during the attempted coup for political purposes, thus permanently anchoring this image in Indonesian society’s space and memory. Herein, the image of the generals’ bodies is juxtaposed with that of the victims’ bodies, which are still cursed and excluded from official Indonesian history. These necropolitics served the Suharto regime’s various interests of power, knowledge, and the clash between sacred and cursed bodies. Thus, the generals’ and victims’ bodies enhanced Suharto’s credibility. In this context, the generals’ bodies are treated as sacred, while the victims’ bodies are considered to be cursed, but both are causative agents of the development of the regime’s historical narrative, collective memory, and national identity.

Politically Driven Intentional News Avoidance under Democratic Backsliding

While extant research on news avoidance has been conducted mainly in democratic societies, this article examines intentional news avoidance in a society undergoing severe democratic backsliding. Given the decline of political freedom and democratic institutions, citizens in such contexts may become frustrated with ongoing political change and withdraw from public affairs and the news. This could result in a form of intentional, politically driven, and topical news avoidance. At the individual level, such news avoidance is likely to be influenced by political attitudes, ability to adapt, and news affect and cognition. Analysis of survey data from post-National Security Law Hong Kong finds that negative news affect and perceived news efficacy explain intentional avoidance of news about social and political change, whereas political trust, belief in civil liberties, and adaptiveness relate to news avoidance only indirectly through negative news affect and perceived news efficacy. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.

ІСТОРІЯ ЄВРЕЙСЬКОЇ ГРОМАДИ ТА СИНАГОГ НА ТЕРИТОРІЇ М. ХАРКІВ

The article explores the history of the Jewish community in Kharkiv and the role that synagogues played in its life. Focusing on the significance of synagogues as centers of spiritual and cultural life, the article emphasizes their importance in shaping the city's cultural landscape. Through the analysis of historical sources and documents, the article unfolds the process of the Jewish community's development in Kharkiv and the challenges it faced over the years. In the early stages of Kharkiv's development, the Jewish community was an integral part of urban life. Synagogues became gathering places not only for religious ceremonies but also for the exchange of news, discussions, and important decisions for the community. They played a key role in preserving cultural traditions, education, and the preservation of language and rituals. However, the history of the Jewish community in Kharkiv also reflects challenges and upheavals. Political and social changes, such as revolutions, wars, and periods of repression, significantly influenced its life. Synagogues remained important during these turbulent times, often becoming centers of support and hope for the community. They played a role not only in the religious sphere but also in supporting social and charitable initiatives. Additionally, the article examines the influence of political, social, and cultural factors on the Jewish community and its synagogues. For example, the period of severe restrictions during the communist era affected religious practices and the free expression of cultural identity. In such conditions, synagogues became not only places of prayer but also symbols of resilience and faith in the future. The article provides important insights into how synagogues influenced the development and life of the Jewish community in Kharkiv during different historical periods. It emphasizes not only the religious significance of these buildings but also their importance in shaping the social and cultural identity of the community.

RUSSIAN FOLK SONG ABOUT THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR AS AN EXPRESSION OF PUBLIC DISCONTENT OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

The folk song “Transvaal, Transvaal, My Country” emerged in the Russian Empire about 120 years ago. It happened in the wake of the extraordinary public interest in the first major armed conflict of the 20th century, the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. The lyrics are based on a poem by a Saint-Petersburg poet, G. Galina. The song about the freedom struggle, which was waged by the people of a distant, but, like Russia, predominantly agrarian country, resonated with the early 20th-century Russian society. Its growing politicisation manifested itself in the keen interest that Russians took in the confrontation between two “peasant republics”, as Russian publicists termed them, and an empire, which had a strong army and a desire for expansion in the interests of its capital. The Russian song about a foreign war in Southern Africa became entrenched in Russian folklore and in Russian popular culture in general. A reason for the popularity of “Transvaal” in the Russian Empire was that the song enabled expressions of hope for social and political change in a form that was safe for the singer and his listeners under a repressive regime. The emergence and growing popularity of “Transvaal” coincided with the prevalence of protest sentiments in Russian society, among urban and rural residents, in the 1900s- 1910s. The song changed its meaning over the years. Sympathy for the Boers who fought against the British Empire was gradually replaced by sympathy for one’s compatriots. The Russian folk song, inspired by the events in South Africa, prompted people in the Russian Empire to reflect on their own living conditions and the future of their homeland.