Political Concepts Research Articles

A Survey of the Current Situation of the Integration of “Curriculum Ideology and Politics” into Senior High School English Teaching

Under the background of the new era, China pays more attention to the ideological and political education of students and emphasizes making full use of the resources in various courses to achieve the goal of educating people by disciplines. In order to meet the requirements of the General Senior High School English Curriculum Standards and implement the fundamental task of cultivating people by virtue, English teachers in senior high schools should make full use of the ideological and political education resources, integrate curriculum ideological and political education into English classes, and help students to establish correct ideological and political concepts. Based on this, the survey takes senior high school English teachers as the research object, aiming to explore the current situation of the integration of curriculum ideology and politics into senior high school English teaching, as well as put forward some suggestions for promoting the integration of curriculum ideology and politics into senior high school English teaching.

‘Stable and Four-Square:’ A Colonial History of Property-Owning Democracy

ABSTRACT This paper explores the colonial history of the theory of ‘property-owning democracy.’ Focusing on R.R. Torrens’ title registration system, the paper links property-owning democracy to nineteenth-century debates on land rights and title registration. Instituted in South Australia in 1858, Torrens’ system linked the simplification of transactions in land to visions of a property-owning society. Seeking to replace complex land laws, Torrens’ system’s emphasis on speeding up land transactions appealed both to settler society and metropole. This transformation facilitated the dispossession of Indigenous lands and intertwined property law with colonial narratives of progress, liberty, and democracy. Ultimately, Torrens’ vision identified democracy with a new property regime securing the future of property title and political rights. Through a common engagement with nineteenth-century Britain’s ‘land question,’ Torrens’ project in South Australia is linked to the development of the twentieth-century political concept of property-owning democracy. The paper makes the case that exploring land registration debates reveals the importance of secure property rights and human capital in the history of ideas of property-owning democracy. Legal and bureaucratic innovations like the property register were considered to free individuals to invest in their own economic development and create the economic conditions for democracy.

Sisters, Bottoms, and “Exotic Combo”: Homonormative Misogyny and Respectable Masculinity of Middle-Class Gay Sex Workers in Hong Kong

This article brings together queer studies and masculinities studies to discuss how middle-class gay sex workers in Hong Kong manage the stigma of same-sex sex work. Based on 11 months of ethnographic fieldwork in a gay erotic massage parlor in Hong Kong, I examine how middle-class gay sex workers in Hong Kong deploy locally specific notions about gender, class, and border to mitigate their anxiety about sex work and to establish a form of gay masculinity. The middle-class gay masseurs claim a respectable self through narrating multiple disrespectable others—women streetwalker, bottom masseur, and lower-class migrant sex worker. In everyday banter, satire, and bawdy jokes around these three figures, masseurs invoke homonormativity through misogynistic discourses about migrant women, femininity, effeminacy, and penetration. In so doing, they simultaneously produce gay masculinity and gay misogyny, a process I term “homonormative misogyny.” In neoliberal Hong Kong, this form of gay respectability politics is emergent in an increasingly gentrified sexual economy.

Disjointing state and war: defence policy as hauntology

ABSTRACT This paper examines the relationship between state and war in defence policy. To do so it develops a hauntological vocabulary of spectrality, conjuring, and the messianic in close conversation with Derrida’s Specters of Marx. This allows for paying attention to the tensions of statehood and state–war relations, and to how they are determined. Specifically, the paper identifies three aporias signalled in Max Weber’s definition of the state—legitimate violence, community, and territory—and traces how they are addressed in two post-Cold War defence policy paradigms—expeditionary force and territorial deterrence—through two Swedish Defence Bills (2009 and 2020). The main claim concerns how these paradigms, despite their differences, disjointed the state from war by transposing questions of force and violence to the limits of the international order and by subordinating defence to instrumentalism. Traditional spectres of society, state, and the international were dislocated to domains outside statist conceptions of politics. Thus, the paper complements conventional understandings of security and defence as central to statehood by indicating a different function of defence policy and what is at stake in inheriting received political imaginations.

Zabaied by Z: portraying democratic backsliding through political cartoons in Tunisia

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the portrayal of democratic backsliding in Tunisia through the lens of political cartoons, focusing on the work of the cartoonist Z. Z’s cartoons, particularly those featuring the satirical character Zabaied, a caricature of President Kais Saied, provide a unique perspective on the democratic backsliding that has occurred since he became president. Through rhetorical thematic discourse analysis of a corpus of 38 cartoons, this study explores how Z’s work portrays the ongoing democratic regression in Tunisia. Besides portraying Saied as an autocrat, the analysis reveals the following themes: mourning the ideals of the Tunisian revolution; the erosion of democratic institutions; attacks on freedom of expression, and the use of divisive, populist rhetoric. The cartoons employ visual symbolism and allegorical characters to depict the stages of autocracy, making abstract political concepts accessible and engaging. Ultimately, political cartoons provide a potent form of political commentary and a valuable tool for understanding democratic backsliding.

Problems of international politics: impact of globalization on politics

The concept of globalization is associated with the process of expanding crossborder transactions and interactions in the political, socio-cultural, and economic spheres. It describes the phenomenon of denationalization, which tends to be perceived as a political project. Globalization in the international political system is considered centralized due to its impact on external relations and its close connection with political structures and mechanisms. The creation of the necessary international rules and institutions is characterized by the fact that the concept of global governance is a political response to the processes of economic and social globalization. The influence of the era of globalization on the development of international politics and economic structures has turned out to be deep and complex, being the background for the creation of new political forms and stages of its development. The modern process of globalization is focused on international transformations in the field of politics and economics. It is important to emphasize the fact that the concept of globalization is a broad issue that is an integral part of every field of public activity. It can be described as an acceleration of global economic and political interconnections; the analysis of this phenomenon made it possible to assess the problems caused by its development. This article shows the importance of the globalized world for the life of individual states and international cooperation. The large-scale changes caused by globalization have proved its significant role for cultural, social, economic, and political formation at the international level. The research was based on the theory of globalization, the concept of sustainable development, and the theory of competition. Conclusions. The impact of globalization is felt most strongly when it comes to identity, whether it is an individual or a community. Although globalization can have positive effects, this phenomenon needs to be critically assessed in order to ensure that its negative consequences are understood, studied, and effectively addressed.

Metabolic politics: A comparative synthesis

AbstractNew arrangements of power are emerging in response to the turbulence generated by the quest to improve life and render it productive. This paper specifies such arrangements by developing the concept of metabolic politics: an apparatus that shifts from discipline to power regulating material, bodily, and environmental transformations. The dominant function of metabolic politics is to render the transformative capacities of living bodies and the circulatory dynamics of materials into object‐targets of governance. Through a comparative analysis of regulating pollution from industrial poultry units in Britain and India, the paper identifies logics of a metabolic politics and distinguishes these from the biopolitics of populations. Metabolic politics entails interventions targeting a milieu rather than deviant populations; its actions are directed at transformative capacities of bodies in addition to improving their productivity; its modes of governance operates via regulation and not just discipline; and its techniques of operation proceed through modulation instead of enclosure. Metabolic politics is a transversal form of power. It is situated and historically contingent, rather than uniform and universal. As a response to crises generated by the industrialisation and cheapening of life, metabolic politics furnishes vital insights into the administration and governance of the contemporary living and material world.

Komunikasi Politik: Definisi dan Konsep

In a modern era filled with information upheavals and complex political dynamics, a profound understanding of political communication becomes increasingly crucial. This article outlines a brief introduction to the significance of political communication in shaping public opinion and political decisions. Its aim is to delve into the fundamental concepts and implications of political communication in contemporary society. Descriptive qualitative methods are employed to explore and analyze relevant literature and research. The research findings indicate that political communication plays a central role in shaping the political dynamics of a nation, while a deep understanding of political concepts helps address complex challenges in the political process. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of conducting effective political communication and possessing a strong grasp of political concepts to strengthen democracy and build public trust in the future.

Untruth as the New Democratic Ethos: Reading Michel Foucault’s Interpretation of Diogenes of Sinope’s True Life in the Time of Post-Truth Politics

Since 2016, the rise of post-truth politics has created a situation of democratic discontent in the west. While many scholars tend to regard post-truth politics as a threat to democratic order, I would like to propose that what we have been witnessing in this form of politics has been the transformation of the democratic ethos. By turning to Michel Foucault’s lecture on the true life of Diogenes of Sinope, delivered at College De France in 1984, I ascertain the framework for demonstrating how we can approach a new shape of democratic ethos in our era of post-truth politics. I argue that in Diogenes’s true life, Foucault saw the concrete life, which could liberate each individual from the constraints of their conventional lives by emphasizing the material conditions of all human bodies. Diogenes’s life could then be a form of self-emancipation since it not only showed how untrue the conventional life was but also released each individual from any conventions estranged from them. Relying on this point, I propose the notion of untruth as the new ground of our democratic lives. Though post-truth politics destroys the objective form of truth, the untruth—as its main element—can play a leading role in grounding our democratic ethos to the extent that it asserts our capability of self-emancipation.

Foucault and Wittgenstein: Practical Critique and Democratic Politics

This paper aims to explore a set of convergence points between Foucault’s and Wittgenstein’s perspectives on philosophy and language, integrating them into a mutually complementary approach that I term ‘practical critique.’ The concept of ‘practical critique’ is founded on three pillars: the understanding of philosophy and language as critical practices, the public nature of language, and confessional subjectivity. I examine these three areas of convergence across three subsequent sections. In the concluding section, I discuss how this perspective can be fertile for understanding democratic politics today. I argue that all three pillars predominantly support democratic politics over any other political form. To explain that, I engage with the debate on the language of democratic theory and the potential expansion of the understanding of the public sphere. The notion of the public that emerges from this perspective offers an alternative or supplementation to the classical Habermasian view of the public sphere and democratic theory. It is envisioned as an open space of discursive multiplicity and diversity, where practices of exclusion or oppression can be made visible, challenged, and resisted.

Alfred Labinjoh: Edinburgh doctor, Nigerian Pan-Africanist.

Standing at an imposing 6"2, Dr Alfred Labinjoh was a man of considerable stature in Edinburgh - physically, socially and politically - between the 1920s and 1950s. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, he studied medicine in Edinburgh during the early 1920s and subsequently lived in the city until 1957, working as a popular family doctor. By the 1940s, he ran surgeries in Fountainbridge, Pilton and Newlandrig, as well as the Carnegie Nursing Home at 29 Morningside Road. A prominent freemason, philanthropist, and baritone singer, he was also politically active during the 1920s and 1930s, working with the local Edinburgh African Association to raise money for the Red Cross mission to Ethiopia after fascist Italy's invasion. Although monetary donations and military volunteers from Scotland to Republican Spain are well known, there were also important earlier precedents set by West African students and graduates in Edinburgh in support of Ethiopian resistance fighters which helped galvanise a new form of popular politics in explicit opposition to colonialism and fascism, at home and abroad.

Authoritarian innovations: a fresh perspective on the state's role in labour governance

How do we understand the efforts of governments across the political spectrum to undermine trade unions in ways that do not involve overt repression? This article introduces a special issue that examines this question through the lens of authoritarian innovations, a political science concept that draws analytical attention to practices that purport to embody democratic principles but actually undermine democratic participation. As applied to the labour and industrial relations field, the concept of authoritarian innovations refers to new governance practices that appear to advance labour rights but, in fact, weaken or subvert workers’ genuine, democratic and collective participation in the workplace, in labour institutions, and in the broader polity. As this article argues, this concept allows us to move beyond broad-brush assessments of the labour governance practices associated with different kinds of political regimes to a recognition that democratic and authoritarian states alike may act in ways that appear democratic but are, in reality, quite the opposite.

PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATURAL SCIENCES IN TASHKENT CITY STATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

This article sheds light on the invaluable contribution to science of some of the most mature women scientists working in the state higher education institutions in the field of agriculture and biology in Uzbekistan. Through a comprehensive analysis of their research, innovation, and experience, it sheds light on their remarkable achievements in the face of social challenges. Today, important initiatives are being put forward in the academic circles of the country to increase the place and position of women, to educate the new generation of young women scientists, and to encourage their promising projects. Ensuring gender equality in various aspects of public life, including in the field of education and science, is one of the priorities of the internal political concept of Uzbekistan. It aims to recognize the important role of women in the development of these areas by studying the historical context, current situation, problems and future prospects.

We, the receptors: Planning and the politicization of local opposition to fracking in Britain

The British government used to herald shale gas as a bridge fuel to a zero-carbon economy, trying (and ultimately, failing) to incorporate this hydrocarbon into a punctuated energy transition that is still under way in the country. On the one hand, planning translated central political decisions into local priorities, but on the other hand, it politicized public opposition to fracking. Although, there have been considerable criticisms of the planning process for fracking in Great Britain, we still lack a grounded understanding of how planning influenced the wider dynamics of public engagement with shale gas development. Drawing on ethnographic and participatory research across three locations in northern England, I explore how the planning process was experienced by the public and how its local participants were impacted by it. The ways in which planning dealt with evidence, public perception and democratic legitimacy suggested that planning was reinforcing the governmental pro-fracking policies while simultaneously undermining its own legitimacy, as questions about validity, impartiality and democracy were being raised. Rather than merely a technocratic arena for adjudicating between private and public interests, planning had a transformative effect on local participants and served as an important moment for mobilizing more politicized forms of public opposition against fracking, which undermined the energy-transition narratives touted by the government. I use anthropological theorizations of ritual to explain the concrete local dynamics that led to this unintended effect. This case study suggests that centrally orchestrated energy transitions may fail when they are enacted through local processes that foster experiences of injustice and lack of local control among the opposing publics.

SANCTIONS POLICY IN THE WORLD: EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE

The author of the article aims to highlight the specific features of the application of sanctions in the international community in the context of the evolution of political discourse on sanctions policy. In his work, the author relies on the concept of the “three great debates” of the researcher Peter Wallensteen, applying it to the analysis of changes in the political situation around the use of sanctions and the reasons that lead to them. As main examples, the author analyzes sanctions of the League of Nations and the UN, as well as individual states. The author considers the change in political reasons leading to sanctions, as well as their transformation into an effective political instrument that is actively used primarily by international organizations. The issues of the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of sanctions are analyzed. The conclusions that the author comes to indicate that the successful implementation of sanctions policy requires the support of a sufficiently wide number of states. Thus, in the matter of using sanctions against certain states, the role of international organizations is undeniable. The development and formation of world politics and its trends bring new reasons for the use of sanctions. One should also not fail to take into account the leading world powers that are quite actively using sanctions policy for their own purposes.

Федеративная модель Церкви в православном богословии

The author continues his study of the ways in which the political concept of federation is used to describe church organisation, this time taking as a basis the texts of Orthodox authors. These writers borrowed the idea of a federative structure of early Christian communities from Protestant historians of the 18th century and from subsequent works of Protestant scholars, for whom such notions became a component of the prevailing doctrine. In the writings of Russian theologians the concept of federation seems to have travelled the same path as in the West, having come into use against the background of a general fascination with political projections in theology and having lost its relevance under the influence of various criticisms. In Greek theology the picture turns out to be much more complex. In the course of the development of Greek historiography in the nineteenth century, federalism and democracy were declared to be the characteristic features of the model of organisation of the Eastern Christian Church, developed through the synthesis of the new religion and Hellenistic culture. In the twentieth century these ideas were revised. In modern Orthodox theology there is an agreement on the incorrectness of describing the Church using the concept of federation. Nevertheless, this image has come to be used as a polemical cliché in intra-Orthodox discussion, which is used to denote any form of rejection of the monocentric model of Church unity.

Fiscal extraction by sovereignty: Calculative bordering and differential entanglement in the Eurozone crisis

The article analyses the relationship between sovereignty and capitalist extraction using assemblage theory. It discusses dialectical variants of assemblage theory as tools to think about the entangled relations that make economic actors. The article proposes two concepts, calculative bordering and differential entanglement, to make sense of processes that responsibilised the Greek government for the 2010s Eurozone crisis and invoked its sovereignty as a tool for extraction value for financial markets. The article contributes to anthropological theorisations of sovereignty by showing how, as a political concept, sovereignty can serve to responsibilize governments to secure accumulation and ensure capitalist extraction. The article thus aims for a refined understanding of the changing relation between extraction and sovereignty and processes of fiscal responsibilization as a performance of sovereignty.

Exploring New Concepts and Models for Promoting High-quality Ideological and Political Education in Universities

Currently, China is in an important period of economic prosperity and development, and there is an extreme lack of compound talents with ideals, morality, culture, and discipline. As an important place to provide the country with socialist builders and successors who have comprehensive development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor, universities should attach great importance to the education of college students, ensure that the human resources needs of the country in various periods are met, and promote the healthy development of society and the country. High quality ideological and political education can not only improve students' personal comprehensive quality, but also enhance the ideological and political guidance of college students, enabling them to establish firm political ideological concepts, follow the development pace of the country, contribute their own strength to the great cause of national rejuvenation, and realize the dream of building a strong country as soon as possible. This article focuses on exploring new concepts and models for promoting high-quality ideological and political education in universities, and hopes that the suggestions put forward can promote the improvement of the level of ideological and political teaching in universities.

Emociones y liderazgos políticos en las elecciones al Parlamento de Andalucía de 2022 en X

Social networks have become in recent years as essential elements in order to building political discourses, especially in electoral periods. Political parties develop specific strategies to communicating with their constituents through these platforms, based on leadership and the use of emotions. This research aims to analyze the communication strategies deployed by political leaders on Twitter during the Andalusian Parliament election campaign in 2022, and for this purpose, a quantitative and qualitative content analysis methodology is applied to a sample of 690 tweets in the personal accounts of the candidates of the six parties with parliamentary representation. An advance of the results points to a communicative planning previously designed, that builds a discourse based on thematic lines, strategies, approaches and, especially, feelings according to the ideological, programmatic and mobilizing axis established by each political formation.

From ethnicization to ethnicism: Transformations of the legal and political subject of blackness in Colombia

In Colombia, since 1900s, some Afro-descendant populations are classified as an ethnic group, akin to indigenous communities. This classification has included, especially within the Comisión de la Verdad report, to recognize Afro-descendants as ethnic people, a view widely shared among activists, scholars, and NGOs. The process of ethnicization, distinct from race, involves traditionalizing and communalizing these populations from the Pacific region. Recent shifts have involved racialized ethnicism, combining racial markers with cultural traditionalized differences under a regime of victimhood, reflecting complex, overlapping transformations rather than straightforward successions. This article analyzes these evolving legal and political conceptions of blackness over the past three decades, highlighting the nuanced shifts in state policies and imaginaries.