The purpose of this paper was to comprehensively examine the diplomatic and geopolitical aspects of US policy towards Kazakhstan in order to identify the key factors determining the effectiveness of US strategy in Central Asia. The results of the study revealed three key phases in US policy towards Kazakhstan: the nuclear disarmament period (1991–2001), the phase of anti-terrorist cooperation (2001–2014), and the current phase of containing the influence of Russia and China (2014–2024). It is found that energy policy remains the most successful area of American strategy in Kazakhstan, while in the sphere of democracy promotion and military-political cooperation, the results are limited. It is revealed that the C5 + 1 format, initiated by the US in 2015, has become a key tool for strengthening American influence in the region, allowing Washington to coordinate its policies with Central Asian countries without the involvement of Russia and China. The study found that the effectiveness of the US strategy varies depending on the specific area: the US has been most successful in the energy sector, with US investment in Kazakhstan’s economy exceeding $65 bn and trade between the countries reaching a record $4.1 bn in 2023. It was found that Kazakhstan’s multi-vector foreign policy, aimed at maintaining a balance between the interests of the United States, Russia and China, creates additional challenges for the implementation of the US strategy, including support for projects to diversify energy export routes as a counterbalance to Russian and Chinese initiatives.

Abstract Conservative parties and politicians are often caught in a dilemma regarding immigration policies. Business interest groups and xenophobic populist forces both support conservative political parties but expect fundamentally different immigration policies. Japan is a rare case among advanced democracies that has experienced neither large-scale immigration nor the emergence of xenophobic populism. Yet, Japan’s conservative government, facing the reality of a rapidly aging and declining population, has begun to loosen immigration policy. We analyze the ruling party politicians’ policy positions on foreign worker intake and demonstrate that their views have shifted in a pro-foreign-worker direction, especially among legislators representing rural areas that have seen a sharp increase in foreign residents.

ABSTRACT Despite their significant and growing role in the European workforce, to date, little research attention has been paid to immigrant workers’ attitudes towards trade unions and provided mixed results. On the one hand, immigrants are expected to be more positive towards unions due to their lower economic capital and greater need for job protection. On the other hand, immigrants may hold more pessimistic attitudes towards unions because of their reduced social network, lower perceived benefits of collective action and unions’ historical aversion to immigrant workers. Here, we contribute to this understudied field of research by concentrating on increasing job precarity in non‐standard employment forms which is highly concentrated among immigrant workers. More specifically, we ask to what extent does the internationalization of the workforce and the increasing presence of non‐standard employment relate to attitudes towards trade unions in advanced democracies? We argue that immigrants in precarious employment face a double vulnerability where the distinct importance of the workplace for the social and political integration of immigrants, the reinforcement of pre‐existing immigrant‐specific labour market discrimination, and the link between employment and residence status could explain why job precarity has particularly negative effects on immigrants´view of unions compared to natives. Using an original survey data from 13 Western European countries, we show that while immigrant status alone is not a predictor of attitudes towards unions, immigrants in temporary contracts have significantly more adverse attitudes towards unions than those immigrants in permanent contracts. Importantly, when compared with native workers, there is a wider cleavage in attitudes towards unions among immigrant workers based on the precarity of their employment status, highlighting this clear intersection of immigrant status and employment precarity in shaping attitudes towards unions. Our findings highlight a crucial issue that needs to be addressed for the future sustainability of social dialogue and industrial relations in Europe.

Organized crime groups use coercion, corruption, and collusion with political actors to achieve their aims. Why do organized crime organizations sometimes quietly coexist with local authorities, sometimes collude with them, and at other times threaten or attack them? Once restricted to few areas in advanced democracies, recent literature and media attention have shown how the impact of organized crime on political arenas is spreading across new and old democracies. This article examines how local political and economic conditions shape the strategies that organized crime adopts toward public institutions. We propose a typology of three main strategies—parasitic, collusive, and adversarial—and explore the conditions under which each emerges. Using an original data set covering almost 8000 Italian municipalities, we show that collusion is most likely where weak political parties leave local political systems open to infiltration, while adversarial strategies arise where high levels of public spending make control over resources especially valuable. The analysis demonstrates that criminal behavior is not random but responds to identifiable political and economic incentives. Beyond the Italian case, these findings illuminate how variations in democratic institutions and local economies can foster different forms of organized crime behavior.

Nicknamed “Mr Rugby,” Danie Craven was an influential and complex figure in twentieth-century South African rugby. His sporting legacy includes playing for, captaining, and coaching the Springboks (South Africa’s national rugby team) between the 1930s and 1950s, before serving in various rugby-related administrative roles. Craven was also an academic, earning several degrees from Stellenbosch University (SU), where he became the first professor of physical education in 1949—a post he held for over two and a half decades—while also coaching the university’s rugby team for many years. However, Craven’s illustrious career played out mostly against the backdrop of apartheid, a pervasive racist system, as well as an academic career that is questioned at times. Craven passed away in 1993. In his honour and aligned with the 1995 Rugby World Cup that took place in South Africa a year after the advent of democracy, a bronze statue of him was installed near the Stellenbosch University (SU) sports campus, across from his former office. As part of SU’s Visual Redress Project, the university is currently engaging with the Craven statue—its fame, celebratory possibilities, and complexities—through public engagement and arts-based processes. This article explores these ongoing efforts to juxtapose and (re)contextualise the Craven statue and interrogate its visual and symbolic impact. As this process remains a work in progress, the article reflects on its development, the various and ongoing engagements, the complexities at play, some of the lessons learned, the current outcomes of this endeavour, and the intended way forward.

Abstract As authoritarianism has spread globally, government efforts to stifle civic space have increased dramatically. Among the most alarming tactics has been the spread of restrictive laws targeting NGOs. While such laws threaten the core objectives of many foreign donors, they have become especially common in aid-dependent nations. How do foreign donors react to this assault on their local and international implementing partners? On the one hand, democracy-promoting donors might push back, ramping up support for advocacy in defiance of draconian measures. Alternatively, when aspiring autocrats make it difficult to work with local partners, donors might back down, decreasing support for democracy promotion. Testing these arguments using dyadic data on aid flows, an original data set of NGO laws, and a variety of research designs, we find that the donors most committed to democracy promotion back down in the face of restrictive NGO laws, reducing democracy aid by 70 percent in the years after laws are enacted. Our findings suggest that donor behavior creates strong incentives for backsliding governments in aid-receiving countries to use legislation to crack down on civil society.

The Syrian crisis, which began in 2011 and continues to influence global politics, offers a key case for examining American power. This article explores the ideological and discursive foundations of U.S. involvement, situating it within American Exceptionalism and analyzing it through a Foucauldian framework. The study combines a normative legal approach with critical discourse analysis, drawing on primary sources such as the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions, and U.S. policy documents, along with secondary literature and think-tank reports. Findings show that U.S. intervention is framed through narratives of democracy promotion, humanitarian protection, and global security, which serve to legitimize action. Using Foucault’s concepts of power/knowledge, governmentality, and biopolitics, the study demonstrates that the U.S. not only exercises military force but also shapes global perceptions and constructs regimes of truth. From a transnational legal perspective, these actions reveal tensions between sovereignty and humanitarian imperatives and highlight gaps and asymmetries in international law. The article is novel in integrating ideology, sovereignty, and human rights to show how U.S. actions in Syria reshape the interpretation and application of international law.

ABSTRACT Since late 2015, the successive Justin Trudeau Liberal governments have enacted significant social policy expansion, including the adoption of new programs or the expansion of existing social policies in areas such as childcare, dental care, family benefits, old‐age security, and income support for the working poor. This expansion came as a surprise to many political observers and contrasts with the era of “permanent austerity” (Paul Pierson) that has characterized social policies in advanced democracies since the early 1980s. Why did the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) under Justin Trudeau proceed to such significant social policy expansion? In this paper, we argue that this social policy expansion can be explained by an alignment of electoral interests, institutions, and ideas. Most importantly, we show that the LPC's program drifted towards the left to resemble the NDP's platforms in 2015 and to attract voters that demanded more spending after a decade of conservative governments. We contend that this expansionary dynamic was also facilitated by the presence of vertical fiscal imbalance, which exacerbated public demand for social policy expansion as a response to provincial inaction and helped the federal government to fund its social policy expansion by deficits rather than higher taxes. Finally, from an ideational standpoint, we argue that the policy consensus shifted from neoliberal budget restraint to an emphasis on fighting inequality and stimulating demand.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the end of the Cold War, did not have an effect only on the Germans whose countries were re-united, or the combatants of the Cold War – the United States and the Soviet Union. Rather, the effects of these events affected many countries worldwide, especially developing countries who have since witnessed an unprecedented political and democratic reawakening. As the wave of democratisation continues to move across Africa, conflicts have almost become a by-product, where people, divided on ethnicity and/or religion, fight to establish their presence and dominance in government. One institution associated with the democratisation process and conflicts in Africa is the media. This article reviews some of the democratic processes that have taken place in Africa and the associated conflicts and the role the media have played in both. The article thus contributes to the literature on both democracy in Africa and its associated conflicts and the media’s role. It concludes that, whereas the media played key roles in some conflicts, they have played crucial roles in the promotion of democracy in Africa.

New evidence on citizens’ reactions to democratic norm violations in an advanced democracy

Co-creation has the potential to enhance the quality of university education through its impact on course delivery and the participants’ learning experiences, but it is often not straightforward to realise. We present a case study of a student-initiated co-creation project where students, course teachers, and student administration worked together to improve an introductory geoscience course at a Norwegian university. A thematic analysis of participants’ reflections and interviews shows positive meta-cognitive, affective, and social effects similar to the results of other studies on co-creation. Students and staff brought complementary expertise to course development, and establishing a common pedagogical framework provided a shared language and basis for informed argumentation and negotiation. The process of co-creation also required an expertise of its own. For example, students initially struggled to recognise how they could contribute to the project, and while examples of other co-creation projects were helpful, students found local (culturally, geographically, subject-specific) examples of student involvement most relatable. We discuss how equity and power concerns were addressed in the working group, and how course representatives and discussion-based midterm evaluations partly addressed diversity and inclusivity challenges. The alignment of student initiative, access to funding for student salaries, and teachers primed to try a co-creation approach all contributed to this co-creation project. This suggests that even in an educational system known for its flat hierarchy and promotion of democracy and equality, catalysts and explicit support are important to promote co-creation.

The article examines the concept of “Christian socialism” by N.A. Berdyaev (1874–1948). An overview of the terminological formulations of Berdyaev's socio-political views found in scientific research is given. The hypothesis is put forward that Berdyaev developed the concept of “Christian socialism” after the 1917 revolution to counter Marxist atheistic socialism. To analyze Berdyaev's concept of “Christian socialism”, the methodology of I. Lakatos' research programs is used. The possibility of explication of the concept of “Christian socialism” by Berdyaev in terms of the Lakatos methodology is substantiated due to partial metaphorical structuring, according to the theory of conceptual metaphor by G. Lakoff and M. Johnson used in the study. The article examines the formation of the “Christian socialism” movement in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The socio-political program of “Christian socialism” by S.N. Bulgakov, prepared during the revolution of 1905–1907, is presented. It is argued that Bulgakov's ideas of “Christian socialism” influenced Berdyaev. It is proved that Berdyaev, in the context of the political rise of Marxist atheistic socialism after the 1917 revolution, formulated the concept of “Christian socialism”, critically revising the Bulgakov's version of “Christian socialism”. It is argued that the metaphysical core (“hard core”) of Berdyaev's concept of “Christian socialism” was the personalistic doctrine, and its “protective belt” consisted of the ideas of corporatism, syndicalism, and social democracy. Berdyaev's concept of “Christian socialism” should be considered a “research program”, improved for the world order that emerged after 1917. It is noted that in the modern socio-political discourse of Russia, Berdyaev's ideas may have practical significance related to the promotion of social democracy as a political system that supports traditional Russian values.

Township economies in South Africa, a lasting legacy of the apartheid era, continue to play an important role in the country’s socio-economic landscape. While their contributions to economic activity and employment have been widely acknowledged since the advent of democracy, these economies have yet to receive sufficient, structured support to ensure their long-term sustainability and growth. This study critically examines the regulatory framework and sustainable support mechanisms essential for the development of township economies in South Africa. Through a comprehensive autopsy and review of literature and existing data, alongside a qualitative approach and an exploratory design, the study examines key challenges and opportunities. The findings reveal that government regulations often hinder the growth of township enterprises, with many business owners lacking the knowledge and resources to navigate complex regulatory requirements. Additionally, capacity constraints within municipalities negatively impact local economic development, while financial support mechanisms remain insufficient. Many township businesses face challenges with long-term sustainability due to a lack of institutional support. The study explores the role of regulatory frameworks in either facilitating or obstructing the development of township enterprises and provides targeted recommendations for policy interventions to enhance their viability. By emphasising the importance of effective support mechanisms, this research highlights their potential to not only strengthen township economies but also promote broader local economic development across South Africa.

ABSTRACT Following the third wave of democratization, democracy and its proponents have recently experienced a shift towards autocratization. To date, however, little is known about the impact of this trend on democracy promotion. This article introduces a special issue that examines the complex relationship between autocratization and external democracy promotion. It provides a conceptual framework for understanding how the global trend of autocratization affects democracy promotion efforts. We identify two ways in which this is the case: first, autocratization requires democracy promoters to adapt to increasingly resistant environments in target countries where they seek to promote democracy or prevent autocratization; second, autocratization reduces the global leverage of democracy promoters due to the rise of autocratic competitors. We highlight the evolving strategies and responses of democracy promoters in the face of rising autocratic influence. We then provide an overview of the articles in this special issue, which examine the motives and strategies of traditional democracy promoters and their autocratic competitors and analyse how democracy promoters navigate the challenges of autocratization in target countries of democracy promotion and the strategic competition with autocratic regimes, using case studies from Southeastern Europe, the post-Soviet space, Africa and Latin America.

How do formal institutions emerge and change after a civil war? Complementing explanations focused on distributional conflict and the promotion of post-war peace and democracy, we argue that ideology plays a central role in shaping the most fundamental formal institution: the constitution. Using data from 153 civil wars between 1944–2016, we find that in the post-war period: (1) Victorious revolutionary socialist (RS) and secessionist rebels are more likely to promulgate new constitutions; (2) Victorious incumbents are more likely to adopt constitutional amendments; (3) Non-Maoist RS rebels enact constitutions with more symbolic content and rights compared to the incumbent or other victorious rebels. We illustrate the mechanisms behind these findings with a comparative analysis of multiple constitutional transitions in Cambodia. Our results underscore the importance of research on ideology and armed conflict as groups with ambitious goals for social transformation remain a powerful force for political change worldwide.

ABSTRACT Deregulation is a prominent theme, but difficult to implement. Current approaches either focus only on ‘new’ rules without considering already existing policies, or fail to differentiate between effective policies and those that impose unnecessary regulatory burdens. This paper proposes a new, policy-informed approach to deregulation that addresses these issues by centering on existing policies and their interactions. The approach consists of three steps: (i) creating a systematic overview of government activities within a specific policy area, (ii) identifying stacked policies – multiple measures addressing the same issue, and (iii) pruning conflicting measures. By applying this approach to the environmental policy portfolios of 21 advanced democracies, we find an average deregulation potential of about 36 percent of existing measures per country. We additionally provide a specific list of policy measures for each country that merit scrutiny for potential deregulation and indicate whether these measures would have to be abolished at the national or at the EU level. This targeted approach seeks to enhance regulatory efficiency while preserving essential policies that support effective governance.

This paper argues that cross-border cooperation practices stand as a vehicle of Ukraine’s bottom-up integration with the EU, ultimately helping to grow public trust in democratic governance in Ukraine. By looking at the case of cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and Slovakia, this paper shows how cross-border cooperation practices are developing between two neighbouring states and how mutual trust between the border communities and with their local and national authorities has been established across the border. The cross-border cooperation policy of the European Union is a reasonably new policy for Ukraine. Therefore, best practices established by the neighbouring EU states have been of great significance for Ukraine from both political and territorial perspectives, and in relation to the Ukrainian state’s progress towards integration into Europe.

ABSTRACT The objective of this article is to examine the Champigny Manifesto of the French Communist Party, adopted during the meeting of the Central Committee on 5th and 6th of December, 1968. I argue that it was intended to serve a dual purpose: to recuperate the leftist ideas of 1968 and thereby reposition itself as a revolutionary force within the political landscape, and simultaneously to lay the groundwork for a left-wing alliance in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. This goal was achieved by reworking three of the watchwords of 1968: democracy, socialism, and revolution, and in particular by introducing and elaborating upon the concept of advanced democracy as a transitional phase between the Gaullist regime and socialism. The shift in political language exemplified by the manifesto resulted in reimagining socialism and socialist transition in democratic terms, which then became a stepping-stone toward a subsequent theoretical evolution that led to the development of Eurocommunism in the 1970s and to the communists’ coming to terms with liberal democracy decades later.

According to the budget-maximizing bureaucrat model, public sector employees should rationally seek to increase government budgets to increase their own power. In contrast to most advanced democracies, class and sectoral voting has largely been neglected in Canada. The ideological and voting preferences of the public sector has been unexamined since the 1980s. Using the Canadian Election Study (1968-2019), we revisit and expand on this literature. We find that the public sector holds more economically leftist attitudes than the public and that a sectoral cleavage has emerged, with public sector employees increasingly supporting the leftist New Democratic Party (NDP). We also find that social class moderates these two relationships, as professionals and managers in the public sector are significantly more likely to vote for the NDP and hold more leftist economic attitudes than their counterparts in both the private sector, and the routine non-manual and working class in the public sector.

ABSTRACT Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are pivotal in safeguarding against autocratization, yet authoritarian governments often erode the civil and political rights necessary for CSOs to counteract democratic decline. This is exemplified in Turkey, where despite a burgeoning civil society, Europeanization efforts have been reversed, leading to increased repression of CSOs by the government. This article examines the EU adjustments in its democracy promotion tools in the face of Turkey's defiance of EU norms and suppression of CSOs. The study reveals a downward spiral of delegitimization and criminalization, rendering EU tools like shaming and funding adjustments ineffective against legal restrictions and government stigma towards foreign funding. Through a content analysis of government statements, EU country reports spanning 2013–2022 and interviews with stakeholders, the article sheds light on external civil society protection during autocratization and how internal developments counter democracy promotion efforts.