Representative Democracy Research Articles

The Pitkinian public: representation in the eyes of citizens

AbstractDemocracy is backsliding in Europe and around the world as citizens’ trust in elected representatives and institutions wanes. Representation theories and studies have mostly centred on the representatives, rather than the represented. But how do citizens perceive political representation? Are their perceptions of any consequence at all? In this paper, we set forth a framework of representation in the eyes of citizens, based on Pitkin’s classic concept of representation in conjunction with Weissberg’s distinction between dyadic and collective representations. We use Israel as a proof of concept for our theoretical framework, employing an original set of survey items. We find that, in keeping with Pitkin’s framework, citizens perceive representation as multidimensional and depreciate the descriptive and symbolic—the standing-for—dimensions. Furthermore, citizens’ democratic attitudes are shaped by collective representation by the parliament rather than by dyadic representation by an elected representative. We conclude with a call for a greater focus on representation from the citizens’ standpoint.

The Case for Climate Reparations by Fossil Fuel Companies: Ethical Foundations, Monetary Estimates and Feasibility

ABSTRACTThis contribution argues that the fossil fuel industry has played a major role in human‐driven climate change and should agree to shoulder the burden of the associated damages. To this end, the article develops a responsibility‐based approach to operationalize and quantify fossil fuel companies’ climate reparations and locate them in the current political economy context. It explains the rationale for a responsibility‐based approach to climate reparations, investigates their foundational elements and proposes a Global Climate Reparations Fund to manage them. The article continues by providing a typology of climate reparations and their operational aspects, which makes it possible to quantify the financial burden as amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars annually over the coming decades. The political economy of climate reparations, with particular attention to their feasibility, is then analysed. The article lays the groundwork for a reasoned dialogue within and between civil society and political representatives of different backgrounds on the responsibility of fossil fuel companies in the climate crisis and on their role in rectifying climate damages through reparations.

An Expansion of the Same Society: Republican Government and Empire in the Early Republic

An Expansion of the Same Society: Republican Government and Empire in the Early Republic

Social Cohesion Among Various Caste Groups in India

This article aimed to contextualise social cohesion among different caste groups in the Indian situations and the implications thereof. There have been multiple direct and indirect policies and their execution as well to promote social cohesion. Political representatives also had arranged a promising democratic model of making a cohesive society by writing and executing the Indian Constitution, but, as of now, such a model seems to be on the verge of collapsing. The question of identity, the assertion of multiple identities, the practices of exclusivist behaviour and so on are some of the barriers in the way of developing a cohesive society. Supremist tendencies and continuous discrimination make the situation more complex and persistent of inequality, which poses a credible challenge to cohesion.

Effective Video Summarization Using Channel Attention-Assisted Encoder–Decoder Framework

A significant number of cameras regularly generate massive amounts of data, demanding hardware, time, and labor resources to acquire, process, and monitor. Asymmetric frames within videos pose a challenge to automatic summarization of videos, making it challenging to capture key content. Developments in computer vision have accelerated the seamless capture and analysis of high-resolution video content. Video summarization (VS) has garnered considerable interest due to its ability to provide concise summaries of lengthy videos. The current literature mainly relies on a reduced set of representative features implemented using shallow sequential networks. Therefore, this work utilizes an optimal feature-assisted visual intelligence framework for representative feature selection and summarization. Initially, the empirical analysis of several features is performed, and ultimately, we adopt a fine-tuning InceptionV3 backbone for feature extraction, deviating from conventional approaches. Secondly, our strategic encoder–decoder module captures complex relationships with five convolutional blocks and two convolution transpose blocks. Thirdly, we introduced a channel attention mechanism, illuminating interrelations between channels and prioritizing essential patterns to grasp complex refinement features for final summary generation. Additionally, comprehensive experiments and ablation studies validate our framework's exceptional performance, consistently surpassing state-of-the-art networks on two benchmarks (TVSum and SumMe) datasets.

The digital revolution contributed to practical reality according to the stages of its emergence in contemporary history (A model)

The digital revolution has politically affected the actual political reality through the transformation of the relatively free digital public sphere, under official digital censorship systems, and also for major global digital companies. Digitalization has today become a tool for building digital pressure groups that exercise their criticism and demands outside partisan frameworks and outside constitutional and legal systems, and outside The traditional mechanisms of a representative democratic system, including party pluralism, competitions, parliamentary and party elections within each party, municipal elections, referendums, and the formation of governments based on the results of the elections, or presidential elections in presidential systems such as the United States of America, or parliamentary and semi-presidential elections in the French style. Therefore, this study seeks to highlight knowledge of several questions about the possibilities of modifying the system of representative democracy towards introducing some forms of direct democracy, and not waiting for general elections to change the policies of elected governments, according to the political phenomena of digitization and its impact on democratic political culture as part of the processes of liquidity, and transformation in terms of the emergence of some phenomena. Populism, the post-truth world, and fake news in politics.

Districting in the 2023 Sejm Elections and the Principle of Equality of Representation — Selected Aspects

Abstract This scientific article examines the system of electoral districting in the 2023 Sejm elections and its impact on the principle of equality of representation. The main objectives of the study are to analyse the relationship between the principle of equality of representation and electoral districting in Sejm elections, evaluate the compliance of current constituency boundaries with this principle, and assess the potential consequences of any changes in districting in the 2023 Sejm elections in terms of electoral representation. The research questions guiding this study are as follows: (1) How should constituencies be determined for the 2023 Sejm elections and what legal criteria should be applied in electoral districting? (2) Does the current districting system align with the principle of equality of representation? (3) Are there disparities in the size or demographics of constituencies that could result in unequal representation in the Sejm? (4) What are the potential implications of the current districting system for the representation of different political parties? (5) How do alternative scenarios of districting affect the principle of equality of representation in the context of the 2023 Sejm elections? The research employs an institutional-legal analysis, along with statistical data analysis and simulations, to model alternative districting scenario and evaluate their effects on the principle of equality of representation. The findings of this study contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the implications of districting on the principle of equality of representation in the 2023 Sejm elections. The research emphasises the significance of fair districting for ensuring equal representation and provides valuable recommendations for policymakers.

Humour, politainment and fandom: A semiotic-narrative analysis of unofficial profiles of Spanish politicians

In today’s media landscape, concepts like Americanization and professionalization of politics are evolving, driven by technological advancements and social media usage. The internet has transformed political communication, emphasizing emotional appeal and user response, leading to a rise in politainment and celebrity politicians. This shift towards ‘pop politics’ blurs the line between entertainment and information, with virality and humour playing key roles. This study conducts a semiotic-narrative analysis of unofficial social media profiles of Spanish political representatives, examining their language, content, and usage patterns resembling fan communities. Parodic Twitter profiles of prominent figures like Pedro Sánchez, Yolanda Díaz and Isabel Díaz Ayuso, along with Ada Colau's Instagram account, are analyzed. The findings reveal a trend towards employing politainment strategies to engage social media users, fostering emotional connections akin to non-political fan communities.

Prospects for integration and Obstacles to democracy - EU’s role in the Albanian political crisis

Abstract More than three decades after the totalitarian regime collapse, Albania is still categorized as a hybrid democracy despite having made consistent strides toward becoming a liberal democracy. Most local political leaders have remained antagonistic towards liberal democratic principles. In 2019, relations between the European Union (EU) and Albania were at a special stage of development. After a difficult period and tensions in the EU, the European Council decided to postpone the decision to start membership talks with Albania and North Macedonia. Apart from this issue, Albania had other challenges in 2019, including institutional and political conflict, justice reform, the fight against corruption, and the consolidation of democratic structures. This article examines the intricate connections that Albanian political representatives and institutions maintain with foreign organizations and entities. It specifically highlights the role that the EU Delegation played in mediating the political and institutional crises of 2019. Although the external incentives models provide a useful foundation for understanding Albania’s Europeanization process, other factors that may be relevant and encourage the ongoing democratization and rule adoption are indicated by the country’s low membership credibility.

Rapid and non-destructive prediction of moisture content on intact gayo coffee beans using near infrared spectroscopy

Abstract Presented work explores the potential of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) as a rapid, non-destructive analytical method for predicting moisture content in intact Gayo coffee beans. The moisture content is an essential parameter affecting the quality, processing, and shelf life of coffee beans. While conventional moisture determination techniques involve invasive procedures and considerable time, NIRS emanates as an innovative technique offering non-invasive, swift analysis. Using a robust representative selection of Gayo coffee bean samples, we acquired numerous spectra and employed multivariate analysis to construct a calibration model correlating the spectral data with reference moisture values. The initial results exhibit a high correlation coefficient (r) of 0.93 and ratio prediction to deviation (RPD) index of 3, suggesting that the NIRS technique can effectively predict the moisture content within the beans. This research underpins the potential usage of NIRS which, if validated through further testing, could transform quality control operations in the coffee industry by offering a real-time, non-destructive approach for moisture content determination.

An Assessment of How Polokwane Local Municipality Executes their Mandate in Water Supply to Matlou and Letsokoane Residents

The main aim of this study is to assess water supply in general and specifically to “assess on how the Polokwane municipality executes their mandate in terms of water supply to Matlou and Letsokoane Residents. This was done on a case study about Matlou and Letsokoane inhabitants were chosen as a setting for the study. A mixed method approach was used for the study combining structured questionnaires and open-ended interviews. The findings of the study have showed that there is poor water supply to two affected rural communities by the Polokwane local municipality . Amongst contributing factors the increase in population growth in that area is a major problem as well as residents tampering with infrastructure , theft and no interventions by political representatives when there is no water. This has resulted in inadequate provision of clean water resources . Water supply Value chain model has been proposed emanating from the findings of the research study to be implemented by the Polokwane local municipality to curb the problem of water supply to the rural communities. Lessons that can be learned from this study include the following: consultation with the communities through ward councilors which include educational aspect such as preservation of water as a source of human life, providing a compelling case for concertizing the community with an attempt to reduce illegal activities as cited in the study regarding the steeling of water taps.

Representative democracy under martial law

Representative democracy under martial law

Contributions of waterfall to poverty alleviation in rural communities

This research focused on the role of Arinta Waterfall in alleviating poverty in the rural community of Ipole Iloro, Ekiti State, Nigeria, and utilised a survey-based methodology that included data collection through questionnaires. The analysis of 285 questionnaires, cleaned and processed with SPSS, revealed positive economic and infrastructure impacts due to the waterfall presence, including increased government revenue, improved road networks, the establishment of a primary health centre, and the provision of essential community amenities. To fully harness Arinta Waterfall's tourism potential, it is recommended to prioritize local infrastructure enhancement, implement more effective marketing strategies, and actively engage the community. The study employed a multi-stage sampling process, involving three randomly selected quarters from Ipole Iloro with an initial sample size of 450 residents. Purposive sampling targeted youth and the elderly, reducing the sample to 315 respondents, and ensuring a representative selection of rural dwellers.

Election Campaigns in Government Facilities, Places of Worship, and Places of Education

The utilization of educational places is prohibited as a campaign implementation. In the application submitted by the Petitioner in Constitutional Court Decision Number 65/PUU-XXI/2023 explained that the Explanation of Article 280 paragraph (1) letter h, based on reasonable reasoning, will certainly result in constitutional losses to the Plaintiffs as voters and/or as candidates for DKI Jakarta Provincial DPRD members, namely the occurrence of legal uncertainty in the prohibition of campaigns using government facilities, places of worship, and places of education. The legal uncertainty occurs because of the contradiction between the Explanation of the Article and its subject matter (contradictio in terminis). The existence of contradictio in terminis can be seen where Article 280 paragraph (1) letter h has expressly prohibited without exception and without conditions campaigns using government facilities, places of worship and places of education, but in its Explanation it actually excludes it with the condition that it is invited by the person in charge and without campaign attributes The existence of 2 (two) provisions that regulate differently (although the Explanation of the Article is not a norm but contains the formulation of norms) has resulted in legal norms becoming uncertain. The research used in this study is a type of library research based on normative research. By examining legal materials contained in various sources such as laws and regulations, court decisions, books, journals, and other articles, it is hoped that it can produce concepts and ideas related to the prohibitions in the campaign based on the perspective of democratic elections. So that the sources of normative research come from literature data, as mentioned earlier.

Civic Subjecthood: The Hybridization and Reformulation of Subjecthood and Citizenship in Brunei

ABSTRACT This article examines Brunei’s state formation and development from 1906 until 2023 to demonstrate the hybridization and reformulation of subjecthood and citizenship within the last absolute monarchy in the Asia-Pacific region. The absence of active political parties and calls for a representative government has led most scholars to portray Bruneians as passive subjects of the Sultan. Such a portrayal is inaccurate; Bruneians are both citizens and subjects. The article thus introduces a new category of political membership based on synthesized ideas of subjecthood and citizenship, termed here, “civic subjecthood.” This coexistence is only possible as a result of the British residential system, which was established in the Bruneian Sultanate at the beginning of the twentieth century. The British resident initially created a dual-state apparatus – consisting of the traditional negara and the modern state – to keep the façade of indigenous rule in Brunei. However, the Sultan of Brunei and the traditional ruling class eventually took control of both apparatuses after abolishing the residential system in September 1959. Both apparatuses function to this day, allowing for the coexistence of subjecthood and citizenship in the country.

Explaining Deviant Voting in Subnational Elections: The Case of Local Council Elections in Germany

Elections in multi-level systems are challenging for voters because they are supposed to hold political representatives accountable in a complex system of responsibilities. Therefore, when casting their votes in elections at different levels of government, level-specific factors should be of relevance for voters when making voting decisions. We compare deviant voting behaviour in two specific types of local democracy, namely those where institutional and political factors cluster differently. While local candidate-oriented democracies are characterised by candidate-centred voting systems and local party systems with low degrees of nationalisation, local party-oriented democracies are characterised by closed list systems and local party systems that show high degrees of nationalisation. Using individual and aggregate data on local elections in Germany from 2014, we show that voters in local candidate-oriented democracies seem to be more affected by local factors when casting their votes. However, we also show that our results depend on the respective measurement strategies for deviant voting, as local vote intention in free list systems may be measured in alternative ways. The paper makes a significant contribution to the understanding of deviant and local voting behaviour in multi-level democracies with different voting systems.

Comparisons of Different Representative Species Selection Schemes for Reduced-Order Modeling and Chemistry Acceleration of Complex Hydrocarbon Fuels

The simulation of engine combustion processes, such as autoignition, an important process in the co-optimization of fuel-engine design, can be computationally expensive due to the large number of thermo-chemical scalars needed to describe the full chemical system. Yet, the inherent correlations between the different chemical species during oxidation can significantly reduce the complexity of representing this system. One strategy is to select a subset of representative species that accurately captures the combustion process at a fraction of the computational cost of the full system. In this study, we compare the performance of four different techniques to select these species. They include the two-step principal component analysis (PCA) approach, directed relation graphs (DRGs), the global pathway selection (GPS) approach, and the manifold-informed species selection method. A parametric study of the representative species selection is carried out on data from the simulation of homogeneous and perfectly stirred reactors by investigating seven cumulative variances and 47 different cut-off percentages for the two-step PCA, and 65 and 51 thresholds for the DRGs and GPS, respectively. Results show that these selection methods capture key important species that can accurately describe the chemical system and track each stage of oxidation. The two-step PCA is sensitive to the cumulative variance, and DRGs and GPS are sensitive to the choice of target variables. By selecting key representative species and reducing the number of thermo-chemical scalars, these three methods can be used to develop computationally efficient hybrid chemistry schemes.

Is science to be trusted? How environmentally active youths relate to science in social media.

Research has shown a great distrust among youths toward political representatives, who they demand should "listen to the science." However, less research has been done on youths' own trust in science. This study explores and explains how youths who are environmentally active in two different environmental youth organizations relate to science in social media, whether they trust science, and how youths' relation to science creates a discursive context in which they may develop their identity. The study uses the approach of discourse analysis to examine social media content published on Facebook by Fridays for Future Sweden and Fältbiologerna (the Swedish Field Biologists). The study shows (i) how subject positions for scientists and youth are created in relation to one another based on different expressions of youths' trust in science and (ii) how environmental youth organizations, by identifying with science, make youths important actors in the discourse on climate change.

Modern Life-Building as a Biopower Strategy: Developing Sports Spaces in Urban, Rural and Industrial Areas in Turkey

In the early Republican period of Turkey (1923–1945), the newly established state provided a biopolitical agenda for developing modern and secular life in order to break the Ottoman heritage religious-traditional social structure. Thereupon, sports, as an indicator of modernization, took an important place in the biopolitics of the regime. Sports spaces were instrumentalized as a medium where biopower infiltrated to build a modern life. In order to effectively accomplish the modern life-building project, the Republican Regime invited international modernist architects to insert sports spaces into the social realm in urban, rural, and industrial areas. Accordingly, this paper explores sports-related spaces as a biopolitical agenda of the Republican Regime in the discourse of planning the city of Ankara and rural and industrial areas. Exploring history through the lens of sports reveals how the city of Ankara and rural and industrial areas formed a spatialized approach to the Republican Regime as a biopower to develop modern life.

Factors Influencing Voting Decisions: Comprehensive Study in Badhan, Eyl, and Qardho Districts of Puntland State of Somalia

This study assessed the factors influencing voting decisions in the Puntland state of Somalia. A quantitative research approach was used in this study. The study was guided by three objectives, which included, a) To find out factors influencing voting decisions in Puntland democratic elections, b) To assess the role of clan elders in the voting decisions in Puntland democratic elections, and c) To assess if there are significant relationships between money and voting decisions in Puntland democratic elections. A detailed literature review and a standardized questionnaire were used in data collection. The study contacted 382 respondents who consisted of registered voters in the Qardho, Badhan, and Eyl districts, the data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The study assesses different variables to determine the factors affecting voting decisions including personality traits, political ideology, tribe, media, political parties, and candidate characteristics. A significant majority of respondents (88.48%), acknowledged that a candidate’s personality traits played a role in influencing their voting decision. Similarly, when queried about the role of political ideology in their voting decisions, most respondents (88.40%) agreed. Regarding the influence of tribal affiliations on voting decisions, a considerable proportion of respondents (72.51%) admitted that tribe played a significant role. Respondents were also asked about the involvement of clan elders in directing their voting choices, with a noteworthy 88.74% stating that their clan elders did not instruct them to support a specific political party. Furthermore, all respondents (100%) affirmed that they had not accepted money in exchange for their votes. This suggests that financial factors did not directly influence the voting decisions of respondents. However, a majority (60.99%) reported that they had either witnessed or heard of instances where money was exchanged for votes during elections in Puntland. This indicates that while respondents themselves were not personally affected by vote buying, they were aware of its prevalence in the electoral process. The study recommends that transparency in political funding, strengthening independency media, enhancing civil engagement, combating vote buying, and promoting inclusivity and diversity are necessary for shaping the democratic process in Puntland as well as improving voting decisions