Democratic Experience Research Articles

Generational change and democratic transitions in 14 Asian countries

Generations are the engine of political change. This is especially relevant in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, which have had a variety of postwar democratic experiences while also encompassing over 60 percent of the world's youth. This article applies the four-fold democratic classification developed by Yun-han Chu and his colleagues to wave 5 of the Asian Barometer Survey to investigate how generational change is shaping democratic orientations in 14 Asia-Pacific countries. Our results show that generations are less important in shaping views of democracy than is the case in other parts of the world. While generations matter for the transition to democracy, they are less important in Asia than democratic experiences, socioeconomic status, or the country in which the person lives.

EUROPEAN SCEPTICISM AND ANTI-AMERICANISM IN THE EURO-ATLANTIC POLITICAL PROCESS IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the development of European scepticism and anti-Americanism in the public political process in the United States and the European Union. In the countries of the European Union, the term European scepticism refers to a negative attitude towards the process of European integration and its functional result in the form of the European Union. In the United States, mostly in ultra-conservative circles, European scepticism refers to a critical attitude towards the EU as the embodiment of the liberal democracy project. Anti-Americanism as an ideological attitude is present not only in European far-left political circles, but also in European far-right political circles. In the United States, the ideology of anti-Americanism was clearly manifested in the Black Lives Matter movement. European scepticism and anti-Americanism are actively used by Russian and Chinese propaganda as signs of an allegedly inevitable crisis of the ‘collective West’ and a ‘natural transition’ to a multipolar world in which Western democracies will not be crucial for further development. The conclusions emphasise that populist diseases of liberal democracies are actively used by autocracies to discredit the democratic experience of political life. At the same time, Russia, Iran, and China are trying to take advantage of discourses on scenarios of the US isolation from active foreign policy and the European Union's self-restrictions in pursuing its own common foreign policy and impose their own versions of ‘hybrid wars’, pushing Western influence out of key regions of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. In view of this, the transfer of ideas of anti-Americanism and European scepticism from the circle of leading trends in public political life to its deep periphery can actually ensure greater stability not only for liberal democracies, but also for modern international relations.

Intellectuals and democracy: the Argentine magazine Contorno (1953–1959)

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the relationship between Argentine intellectuals and democracy between 1958 and 1962. In the Argentine magazine Contorno (1953-1959), renowned figures such as Ismael and David Viñas, Noé Jitrik, and León Rozitchner aimed to rethink the role of intellectuals in the face of democratization. Contorno initially supported Arturo Frondizi’s presidency (1958–1962), as they regarded it as a valuable political experience distanced from Peronism (1946–1955) and Revolución Libertadora (1955–1958). While the magazine published a series of essays regarding the post-Peronist cultural and political scenario, some of its members were also part of Frondizi’s campaign and administration. However, Contorno finally contested this democratic experience. They deeply critiqued the traición Frondizi, as the government’s political and economic policies radically differed from its initial election promises. Studying Contorno allows us not only to review an oscillatory period of Argentine politics but also to reconsider the always-problematic links between intellectuals and democracy.

Leadership and Good Governance: Catalysts for Nigeria’s Economic Growth and Development

The economic development trajectory of Nigeria, since its transition to democratic governance on May 29, 1999, has witnessed sharp oscillations under different elected leaders. While some of the leaders, in the face of negative exogenous variables, leveraged the country’s abundant human and natural resources to positively advance it on the economic development ladder, others faltered in the selected performance indices. The observed differential in performance metrics seems to point to the pivotal role of quality leadership in the economic development process. To validate this view in the context of Nigeria’s democratic experience, this exploratory longitudinal study used an expost facto research design and qualitative research methodology which involved the review of existing literature and secondary data from Nigeria and Rwanda over a 24-year period spanning 1999-2022. The findings from their comparative performance analysis in 4 development indicators, reinforce the findings of previous studies that leadership can make or mar the economic performance of nations. Accordingly, it recommends that the electorate in Nigeria should diligently appraise political office seekers based on universally acceptable leadership criteria of competence, capacity and character, rather than the subjective criteria of ethnicity, tribe, region and religion, before exercising their franchise as their choice has long term implications for the nation’s economic development. It also recommends a review of the country’s constitution to provide for independent candidates as the structures of existing political parties have tended to inhibit the emergence of credible candidates.

ВИБОРИ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОГО ПАРЛАМЕНТУ 2024 РОКУ: ІСТОРИЧНІ ТЕНДЕНЦІЇ ТА ДИСПОЗИЦІЯ ПОЛІТИЧНИХ СИЛ

The article is devoted to the analysis of the results of the 2024 European Parliament elections. The research methods correspond to the research task. This is a comparative method (provided an analysis of the positions of various political forces), a chronological method (made it possible to highlight the historical dynamics of the European Parliament elections in the first quarter of the 21st century), a statistical method (contributed to the demonstration of the dynamics of the results of the leading political forces that received representation in the Parliament). The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the analysis of the competition trends of liberal-conservative political forces, European skeptical political subjects, left and right populists. The result of the European Parliament elections showed a relative weakening of the centrist political forces. Conclusions. Populist diseases of liberal democracies are actively used by autocracies to discredit the democratic experience of political life. The process of development of European integration has reached a strategic dilemma. The first scenario of the development of events concerns the synchronous continuation of the qualitative filling of integration (the development of joint policies in the field of migration, the common market, the strengthening of the Monetary Union) and the expansion of the European Union to the Western Balkans, Moldova, and Ukraine. An alternative scenario of the evolution of the European Union concerns the rejection of the rapid accession of the candidate countries, the introduction of stricter migration policy rules. The European Union remains a liberal political project. The political strengthening of European skeptics is due to the slowdown in the development of the leading economies of the EU member states and means the intensification of political competition. The European Parliament of the 2024-2029 convocation is the arena of such a political struggle, which determines the medium-term prospects of the European integration process.

The Voter Experience Around the World: A Human Reflexivity Approach

ABSTRACT The experiences that voters have of elections are pivotal in the democratic experience of citizens. However, there has been relatively few multidirectional theorisations of the nature of this experience and the implications. This article reviews existing canonical approaches to understanding the voter experience which are informed by rational choice theory, behaviouralism and constructivism. It offers an alternative human reflexivity approach which anchors the voter experience in structure-agency relationships using realist social theory. The voter experience is defined as the simultaneous process of gathering and responding to knowledge, perceptions and emotions about the electoral process through observing and (non)participating in electoral activities. The citizen is reflexively situated in this experience and is involved in a process of interpreting, re-interpreting, and responding to stimuli, structures and other actors. Using cross-national data, the article identifies the overall global characteristics of the voter experience around the world. Older and more educated voters tend to have a more positive voter experience. Poor voter experiences are also found to lead to citizens ‘checking out’ of future elections or disengaging from the voting process. The article concludes by setting out the research agenda that arises from the new framework which the special issue takes forward.

Introduction to the issue: “On Islamist Parties and the Inclusion-Moderation Hypothesis: Lessons from the Past Decade”

Abstract At the beginning of the 2010s, several Arab countries seemed about to follow the model of Turkey, with an electoral victory of Islamist parties in a context of democratization. A decade later, Turkish akp has turned authoritarian, and the Moroccan and Tunisian Islamist parties have lost both access to governmental office and a large part of their electoral appeal. In this context, lessons can be learned from the early failed democratic experience in Algeria (1989–1992), and from the evolution of its Islamist movements since then. From these four case studies, the contributors of this issue investigate the notions of moderation and inclusion, and their interrelations. Their articles build on the current trends within literature by taking into account the variety of Islamist movements, and their incorporation within different national trajectories. These articles contribute to the academic discussion by bringing new facts and ideas regarding this topic of inclusion-moderation.

Post-Third Wave Democratisation: A Study of Nigerian and Ghanaian Democratic Experience in the West African Sub-region

<p>This article explores the democratic experience in the West African Sub-region and it focuses on Ghana and Nigeria after the post-third wave democratisation. In a real sense, the post-third wave democratisation was a transition to democracy after 1991. The character brought down authoritarian regimes such as one-party systems, military regimes, and personalisation of power. The consequences led to the establishment of democratic governments in different political situations. The article argues that democratic experience dictates the non-feasibility of elections during the transition process as there are massive irregularities that marred the conduct of elections in different forms. This article contests the founding (first) elections that were conducted under the supervision of the military leaders. The outcome of the transition elections had raised an issue on the quality of future democracy. This include the socio-economic development that interfaces with dividends of democracy. Therefore, the post-third wave democratisation defines the new African politics. This implies that the two military leaders Jerry Rawlings (Ghana) and Abdulsalam Abubakar (Nigeria) intentionally handed over power to the military. This means that the countries that organised democracy based unethical practice could witness military intervention or otherwise civil war that may obstruct the new democracies.</p>

The conflict over urban land in Vila Autódromo, Rio de Janeiro: mediation through violence

This paper deals with the conflict over urban land between the City of Rio de Janeiro and the residents of Vila Autódromo, a slum neighbouring the area that would become the centre of activities for the 2016 Olympic Games. The work was based on an action research that lasted five years, accompanied by interviews and fieldwork starting from the third year. City Hall launched a series of initiatives that involved practices of intimidation and different forms of violence to implement an urban project. The residents, in turn, resorted to legal and technical support, producing an abundance of critical material regarding the compromise of social rights and the democratic experience. The case of Vila Autódromo shows that City Hall, through its agents, was able to deal with the ambiguities and imprecisions in the law to pursue its goals. It also demonstrates that resistance can sometimes stall and thwart the reproduction of violent structures, even if at great cost.

Democracy’s Discontent and the Resurgence of Military Coups in Africa

Post-colonial Africa is fraught with myriads of endogenous and exogenous challenges. This paper argues that decades of deplorable democratic experience in Africa have rather reincarnated some sorts of discontents and rebellious confrontation in some states in Africa. This is exemplified in the recent military coups in Sudan, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso and the failed coups in Guinea Bissau and Gambia. The study utilizes documentary methods of data collection and adopts frustration-aggression theory in explaining the contradictions that appeared to have stultified democracy in Africa which apparently have denied the people the corresponding gains embedded in democratic practice. It concludes that ending the resurgence of military coups in Africa demands urgent steps to enthrone good governance in Africa’s democratic states. The paper recommends the institutionalization of governance in lieu of the prevailing personalization of state institutions in Africa.

Institutional determinants of internal conflicts in fragile developing countries

In this article, we use fixed-effect Poisson regressions (FEPR) with robust standard errors and instrumental variables (IV) to study the economic, social, and institutional determinants of internal conflicts in 58 fragile developing countries from 2004 to 2017. We show that effective institutions (measured by judicial efficiency and governance) and higher incomes could help reduce conflict in fragile countries. In contrast, trade reform does not seem to reduce violence, and education and democratic institutions may fuel conflict in some cases. These results imply that education and trade liberalization do not have the expected effects in fragile countries, which should probably first improve their social, economic, and institutional situation, before reaping the benefits of economic reforms and education. This may also be the case for political reforms, because democratic experience seems to lead to increased violence in some countries in our sample.

Students’ development of deliberative competences: The contribution of democratic experiences in urban schools

IntroductionA democratic school culture has been identified in previous research as a lever for the development of deliberative competences. However, the antecedents of deliberative competence development at school level are less examined. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of student characteristics (age, gender, finality), urban school contexts (location of the school, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of the student population) and different dimensions of the perceived democratic school culture (fair support, responsibility, co-decision, discussion, acceptance) on students’ mastery of three deliberative competences: tolerance, curiosity, and empathy.MethodsA multilevel analysis of a survey, completed by 5,165 Dutch-speaking Belgian secondary school students was conducted.ResultsThis study revealed the importance of the perceived fair support from teachers, opportunities to discuss, and acceptance by peers at school for the mastery of deliberative competences. Furthermore, urban schools were discovered to be strong negative predictors of all three competences, although fair support and discussion opportunities appear to partially compensate for this effect.DiscussionThese results highlight the importance of a democratic school culture, especially in urban schools, for developing empathy, tolerance, and curiosity. Moreover, the detailed results of this study could guide urban school teams in shaping democratic learning environments.

Learning democracy through activism: the global climate strike movement and Belgian youth’s democratic experience in times of environmental emergency

ABSTRACT The climate protests are one of the most impressive social movements of this time and are historical in various respects: the global and widespread scale, the employed protest tactics, and its young demographic character. This study explicitly takes the position that the climate marches are opening new avenues of politization with a radical educational democratic potential. Building on the conceptual framework of social movement learning, the educational experiences of recurring participants of the protests are explored in terms of civic education. This contributes not only to the understanding of the possibility of the climate movement as educational spaces for learning about politics and democracy, but also to a better understanding of the educational potential of social movements in general. The research design consists of a single country case study with individual interviews and focus groups with frequent participants of the climate protests in Belgium. The findings indicate that the climate protests are an especially fruitful place for political engagement acting as a catalysator for politization. It fosters a process with reflections on individual agency, collective responsibility, current political structures, and the democratic ideals of our society.

The nexus between democratic governance and sustainable development in Nigeria

Democracy has been critiqued severally in literature for its impact in sustaining development of countries that have adopted that system of government. This paper therefore analyses Nigeria's democratic experience as it relates to these vital development indices with a view to ascertaining the extent these indices have translated development since the country adopted democracy in 1999. Inverse relationship between Knowledge Economy Index (KEI), Human Development Index (HDI) and democratic governance were also found as the country has experienced weak KEI and low HDI over the years. Findings revealed a negative relationship between democratic governance and gender equality. The study recommends that programs to reduce poverty should target the poorest of the poor and government should strengthen anti-graft and law enforcement agencies as well as legal institutions to reduce corruption. The educational sector should be strengthened and sufficiently funded to improve KEI and HDI and conform to global best practice.

La pédagogie des sans-terre comme forme d’expérience et d’enracinement démocratique du travail

Cet article interroge les liens entre éducation, démocratie et travail tels qu’ils se déploient dans une école du Mouvement des travailleurs ruraux sans-terre (MST) du Brésil, afin de cerner la manière dont ces trois sphères sociales s’influencent mutuellement. Pour ce faire, nous analysons les pensées de John Dewey (1859-1952) et de Simone Weil (1909-1943), indirectement mobilisées par les sans-terre pour créer ce qu’ils appellent la « pédagogie de la campagne », soit une praxis démocratique qui articule éducation et travail et qu’ils appliquent dans des centaines d’écoles à travers le Brésil. Nous partirons d’abord de considérations théoriques, afin de montrer l’importance sociale et politique de réfléchir à des institutions qui favorisent les capacités d’attention pour comprendre en retour comment ces capacités, loin d’être purement individuelles, ont des effets sur la qualité des liens sociaux et de la vie collective. Cette vision de l’articulation entre démocratie, éducation et travail à travers l’attention se retrouve au coeur de plusieurs institutions d’éducation gérées par le Mouvement des sans-terre au Brésil.

Infrastructure Provision, Politics and Religion: Insights from Tunisia’s New Democracy

A recent democratic experience in Tunisia in which a religious political party, Ennahdha, took over government for 3 years, provides an opportunity to learn from the interactions between the support to religious parties and improvements in infrastructure access rates. The correlation is not simple. Ennahdha did get, initially, political credit for improvements in regions with low initial networked water connections and it did deliver to the regions where they enjoyed political support. But the support faded as access improved, reducing the political attractiveness of the sector or at least reducing it importance as compared to other concerns voters may have. For sanitation, a correlation is also noted but it is much less robust. Tunisia’s experience suggests that the reputation of religious parties to care for the unmet needs of population is, at least, partially justified. However, water seems to be a much more effective and reliable voters’ grabber than sanitation and this may penalize investment in sanitation, a matter of concern since it has significant health and environmental effects. Moreover, once voters enjoy enough access and once they have seen the overall performance of the party, they treat the party like any other

The Islamic Experience in Egypt 2012-2013 "historical study"

The birth of the partisan experience in Egypt dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century, when the Egyptian national movement, in the face of the British occupation, resulted in the birth of the National Party, led by Mustafa Kamel Pasha. However, its real birth came after the 1919 revolution, which produced a revolutionary leadership that crystallized organizationally later on. Through the emergence of the Wafd Party, led by Saad Zaghloul Pasha, which represented the revolutionary forces, which carried the banner of achieving the demands of the revolution. And next to him came other parties described as (minority) parties. Egyptian political life knew the culture of elections and the transfer of power. Despite the interventions of the palace and the occupation, which spoiled the experience and emptied it of its content. The failure of the partisan experiment to provide a solution to the national issue, and its neglect of the social issue, caused the July 1952 revolution, which began with a military coup led by the Free Officers Organization. The July 1952 regime dealt with the previous situation through a policy of total demolition. So he decided to finish off the partisan experiment through the decision to cancel political parties. In 1953, after a series of actions targeting the partisan political elite. After that, Egypt followed the so-called one-party system or the one totalitarian organization, whose name was changed from (the Liberation Committee) to (the National Union), then to (the Socialist Union), to (Egypt’s Party) to (the National Party) – the buried – which monopolized ( His publications (The Authority) have been around for nearly 60 years, all of which are multiple names for one entity. Party life is one of the most important features of the democratic development of any society, and its launch requires concerted efforts between the various political forces. In order for us to have true partisan pluralism, in which several strong parties compete, possessing intellectual ingredients, organizational capabilities, financial and intellectual capabilities, and enjoying democracy far from personality and individualism, and representing real mass bases, so do not be mere elite salons, as mature partisanship is a prerequisite for the launch of the democratic experience

Democracy, Economy, Progress and the Rule of Law. Special Reference to the Tax Regime for Religious Denominations

The purpose of this article is twofold: on the one hand, to relate the fiscal and financial model to the Social and Democratic Rule of Law, on the other one, to transfer Spanish experiences that may be of interest to Poland, as both countries began their democratic experience and integration into the European Union a few decades ago. From a multidisciplinary perspective, the contributions that law could make to the field of political economy can be of capital importance for the consolidation of our democratic systems, public order, and social peace, analyzing the role of religious confessions. Methodology. To achieve this purpose, the analytical-comparative-interdisciplinary method was chosen as it was considered the most appropriate one in view of the close connections between economics, law, progress and social peace. The result of the research. The work shows that democracies, although they are the most effective models for achieving the highest standards of progress, and even though in the Polish and Spanish cases, they have the advantage of having served to bring dictatorial periods to an end, there is a need for effective control mechanisms. Democracies absolutely cannot degenerate into corrupt and ineffective systems under the control of large political and partisan oligarchies. The independence of the judiciary is, in this sense, an essential and inalienable element in guaranteeing the correct functioning of other state institutions. It is necessary to insist on the importance of the legal norm as an instrument of political control and its impact on macroeconomics, and the consolidation of democratic regimes, even more in the context initiated with the respective integration processes in the European Union. On the other hand, the aim is to show how beneficial tax treatment for religious denominations has a powerful effect on the achievement of the common good and social peace. In addition, it is about relating importance that has the budgetary balance and mechanisms for controlling public expenditure for the maintenance of progress and social justice in a sustainable model.

Something wasn't right … Democratic experiences for children in a Scottish primary school

Children's treatment in the school environment has barely changed over many decades. Norms of obedience, discipline and control persist to define their 'place' in hierarchies of schooling. This is in direct contrast with freedoms they enjoy outside of school from, for example, their use of information communication technology, use of time and range of choices. This article is an autoethnographic study recounting my experience of working in an urban primary school. Over a two-year period, during which time I held a senior leadership role, I recorded my experiences in a daily journal or diary. My focus was on children, especially children living in areas of intergenerational exclusion. I asked how democratic and therefore inclusive state schooling is. I focused on the experience of children through their interactions and relationships with school structures and its professionalised culture. To that extent their experience was as subordinated social agents of an education policy hinterland whose micro-institutional structures undermine the agency and well-being of unsuspecting working-class children.

The Trajectory of Contemporary Governance in Lesotho: A Transition towards Coalition Government

This paper examines the success story of the formation of coalition government in Lesotho. Lesotho has since 1970 experienced a chequered history of authoritarian and military rules until 1993 when the country went democratic. Interestingly, within two decades of the country’s multi-party democratic experience, it has experimented with multiple governmental systems viz; in 1993-1998, it adopted First-Past the Post or winner-takes-all model, and then in 2001, it adopted Mixed Member Proportion model, which brought some stability within the unitary parliamentary governance. In 2012 the latter model gave impetus to a new model of coalition government. Unfortunately, however, the three- party coalition government was interrupted in 2014 by a military adventurism which gave rise to the 2015 snap elections that led to another seven-party coalition government. Interestingly, another faction occurred from the seven-party coalition and a vote of no-confidence was passed by the opposition against the ruling coalition, which led to the early 2017 elections. The third coalition governance of four parties was established after the elections and took its term of five years before the elections of October 2022 that established a “trinity” of three parties coalition under the leadership of a prominent businessman. This paper posits that although coalition model has been accepted by the Lesotho people, however, it has come with increasing cost on executive expenditure, as it puts great burden on taxpayers. This paper recommends the inclusion in the democratic discourse (conversation), a blend of the western democratic culture with traditional African culture in administering the affairs of the state since the two are not mutually exclusive.