Democratic Politics Research Articles

Secularism under Dispute: Towards Agonistic, Pluralistic, and Democratic Politics. A Latin American Perspective

Abstract This article introduces some discussion on the limitations of the distinction between laicidad and secularization in Latin America (and to a lesser extent, the notion of religious freedom), mainly highlighting the problem of the colonial origin of these conceptions and their relationship with the liberal hegemonic political framework of the field. The paper’s thesis is that the boundaries for achieving a secular context in the region are not only connected to the lack of secular policies but to the application of limited concepts on the separation between church and state, and the impact of this emphasis on a reductionist vision of the religious diversity phenomenon and its link with the socio-political processes of the region. Our propose, finally, is to review these ideas in the light of the concept of radical democracy, and the contribution of this category in the broadening of the processes of institutionalization of religious identity configurations. We will take as an example of application the debates raised by the Pavez vs. Chile case in the Inter-American Court, resolved in the year 2021.

Democracy as Ambitendent Phenomenon: Problems of National and Social Solidarity

The article’s intellectual core resides in the examination of social phenomena through the lenses of ambivalence and ambitemptiness. Democracy is conceived through the cultivation of the ideal of national solidarity within the framework of the “indivisible and unified nation” and revolution — values which, according to B. Anderson, individuals do not choose of their own volition. Nevertheless, it functions by virtue of structures that are freely chosen by individuals, specifically political parties and civil society organisations, among which trade unions assume a paramount role in ensuring social solidarity. The author posits that a functioning political democracy, viewed as a historically ambi temptuous phenomenon, necessitates the reanimation of sustained equilibrium between the for ces of social hegemony and counter-hegemony. This revival hinges on transformative shifts in the structure of civil society, particularly reinstatement of pivotal social functions to trade unions. The article underscores the phenomenon of unprecedented demonstrative solidarity exhibited by the Democratic Party of the USA towards the strike movement. The author emphasises that a fully-fledged European liberal democracy was established during its golden age, preceding financial globalisation, as a social democracy. Within its framework, competitive and pluralist elections were complemented by the possibility of nationwide strikes facilitated by trade unions capable of social mobilisation. Proposing the term “political society” to denote the phenomenon encompassing political parties and movements, the article argues that their viability depends on their connection with civil society structures. It is asserted that neither right-wing nor left-wing populism possesses the capacity to fully neutralise “democratic fatigue”.

Ekonomia polityczna a demokracja w pismach klasyków liberalizmu – John Stuart Mill i Herbert Spencer

POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEMOCRACY IN THE WRITINGS OF CLASSICAL LIBERALS – JOHN STUART MILL AND HERBERT SPENCER The main aim of this paper is showing mainstream economic theory as an important factor shaping the evolution of political liberalism. The role of the economic theory in this process seems underestimated. The paper analyses the writings of two classical liberal thinkers – John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer, the former a pioneer of egalitarian liberalism, the latter of laissez-faire liberalism. Both Mill and Spencer were the followers of the classical political economy accepting the classical theory of distribution. Both saw the distribution of wealth as a spontaneous process, seeing no possibility correcting it for the people’s sake without disturbances or damages. According to the classical theory of wage fund, workers would get higher incomes only through accumulation of capital by owners and repressing their own fertility. Such statement was fundamentally opposite to all postulates of the workers’ movement. Workers always claimed bigger share in social income and legislation favoring laborers. The inevitable result of this contradiction was a conflict between liberal and democratic ideas. Mill and Spencer proposed two different solutions. J. S. Mill found a specific compromise and proposed enlarging franchise on working class, but with a still dominant position of the educated classes. Mill was against equal franchise for the working class because he did not conceive them as liable, rational and sober people. This position results from the wage fund doctrine; according to it, abundant workers’ fertility is wasteful for them and only sexual restraint (or chastity) would make their wages higher. Spencer in his early writing was an enthusiast of democracy, supposing the working class’ affinity to free market solutions. His later disappointment with democracy turned him into a strong critic of democratic parliamentarism from the standpoint of laissez-faire individualism. The case of these two liberal thinkers shows fundamental difficulty in reconciliation between the ideas of democracy and free market. We could choose democracy accepting welfare state or choose free market solution and become unambiguous critics of democracy. Spencer was a forerunner of all later ‘neoliberal’ critics of welfare state. Mill’s opinion was halfway between laissez-faire liberalism and modern egalitarian liberalism. Democracy and equal voting rights became acceptable by mainstream economist only when they had abandoned the wage fund doctrine and other constructs of the classical political economy. Thus changes in the economic theory had a significant impact on the evolution of political liberalism.

Research for Peace

Abstract The Diyarbakır-based Cultural Studies for Peace Association (bakad), which was founded in 2021, has been documenting experiences of social inequality with a view to shedding light on the structural and cultural backdrop of these inequalities. Having an explicit intersectional lens, bakad holds a vision of disseminating the culture of peace, and deepening democratic politics in Turkey. This interview, conducted by Hakan Sandal-Wilson, with Okan Altekin on behalf of bakad, provides us with a social and cultural map of Kurdish LGBTI+ inequality and struggles in Diyarbakır and beyond, and their relationship to the complex dynamics of society, peace, conflict, and politics.

Dreamers, Queer Kids, and American Culture Wars: Centering Young People in Identity Politics

Abstract Children routinely sit at the center of American culture wars, as parents, officials, and other adults battle over what kids learn in the classroom, which bathrooms they can use, whether they must wear masks or get vaccines, what sports teams they can join, and which schools they can attend. In Democracy’s Child, we describe the crucial reciprocal relationship that exists between children and politics: young people are constituted by their political environs, but liberal democratic politics in turn are shaped and influenced by their young constituents. In this article we ask: what happens when the youngest voices in the most contentious policy battles take the reins – with a specific focus on youth leaders who are challenged by multiple identity-based structural barriers. We train a spotlight on how two youth-led movements – gay straight or gender-sexuality alliances (GSAs) and Dreamers – influenced the rights of LGBTQIA+ people and immigrants amidst opposition from adult adversaries and allies.

Alternative democracy? Crisis, discourse and versions of democracy in Zimbabwean politics in the post-2000 context

Democracy is a much contested concept in political movements and politics. The post-2000 context reveals a multiplicity of complex political, social and economic challenges linked to the Zimbabwean crisis which can be best unpacked and understood through critical discourse analysis (CDA). These challenges reflect multiple contestations to the conceptualisation of democracy. This chapter will debunk the political personalisation of democracy and how political parties insert their parties in the narrative of the concept’s modern manifestations, conceptions and practices of democracy. Democracy incorporates multiple layers of meaning and practices. This chapter focuses on how Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) narratives and stylistic designs are incorporated into their agenda-setting strategies, identity construction and discursive legitimation. Analysis of the theory and discourse of democracy illuminates the conventions, logic and dictates of language, knowledge and meaning. It exposes the inherent politics, nuances and paradoxes of democracy. Analyses of democratic movement(s) through CDA highlight democracy as a political strategy that at once contests power but also gestures to a political alternative and a sustainable development plan. Considering that CDA as a qualitative and narrative analysis method focused on generic features of whole texts rather than isolated features of the text, this chapter analyses the politics of democracy discourse and its relationship to Zimbabwean politics in the context of broader narratives of the Zimbabwean crisis. The paper problematises selected party manifestoes to illuminate and dissect the discourses and power contestations characterising Zimbabwean politics since the emergence of a strong opposition contender, the MDC in 2000. In contrast to normative representations in political discourses, knowledge is embedded in specific cultures, that is, institutionalised practices of decision-making and means of legitimation. In this regard, insights from cultural enquiries necessitated by CDA create the prerequisite for the analysis of political texts.

Menguji Posibilitas Transplantasi Variasi Bantuan Keuangan Partai Politik di Indonesia (Studi Perbandingan di Kolombia, Brazil, Korea Selatan, dan Turki)

There are variations in political party Financial Assistances in various countries with various implications, both positive and negative. Besides, there are problems with political parties in Indonesia which in literatures are suspected to be related to the regulation of political party Financial Assistances. This research focuses on answering two research problems. First, what are the implications for the regulation of various models of Financial Assistances for political parties in Colombia, Brazil, South Korea, and Turkey referring to the aspects of free and fair elections, democratic politics, and corruption index? Second, how is the possibility of legal transplantation of political party Financial Assistances in order to solve the problems of political parties in Indonesia? This research is socio-legal research that analyzes secondary data. The results of this study show two results. First, it shows that the law in four countries have different implications, which there are three notes namely that i) countries that are quite good in the aspect of free and fair elections are South Korea, Brazil, and Colombia, ii) the four countries are not good enough in the aspect of democratic politics, iii) countries that are quite good in the aspect of corruption index is South Korea. Second, it shows that there is the possibility of legal transplantation which there are three notes: i) there is a constant and dynamic variable regulation of political party Financial Assistances in Indonesia, ii) the problem of political party Financial Assistances in Indonesia is in the democratic politics and corruption index which means need to transplant several aspects, iii) there is a possibility of transplanting variations in political party Financial Assistances as long as certain conditions are fulfilled.

The il/liberal paradox: conceptualising immigration policy trade-offs across the democracy/autocracy divide

ABSTRACT This paper compares immigration reforms across democratic and autocratic states. Mobilising two large-scale datasets, it first challenges the prevailing notion that political regime types inherently dictate immigration policy outputs. The analysis shows that although immigration is central to political debates worldwide, reforms are not that frequent and, when enacted, their restrictiveness does not consistently differ by regime type. Instead, restrictions focus on border controls and openings on entry and integration policies regardless of the political regime in place. The paper then mobilises case studies from around the globe to delve into the policy dynamics underpinning immigration reforms across regimes. It shows that while all migration states grapple with the multifaceted challenges that immigration raises, autocratic politics offers a broader toolkit to resolve the trade-offs between cultural, rights-based, economic and security issues. This creates unexpected opportunities for open immigration reforms under autocratic politics, a dynamic I call the ‘illiberal paradox’ as a counterpart to the ‘liberal paradox’ observed under democratic politics. To advance theory-building across the democracy/autocracy divide, the paper concludes by arguing that the liberal and illiberal paradox concepts are not exclusive to democratic or autocratic regimes, respectively, but are valuable analytical tools to understand immigration politics across the political regime spectrum.

Ambedkar's Śūnyatā and the Impermanence of the Theologico-Political

This article engages with B. R. Ambedkar as political philosopher and key contributor to debates on global democracy and the genealogy of democratic ideas outside the West. I focus specifically on Ambedkar's use of Buddhist philosophy and the concept of śūnyatā (emptiness/impermanence), which plays a central role in his search for a nontheological democratic politics. In order to explore the implications of such a politics, the article brings Ambedkar into conversation with Claude Lefort and his theorization of the relationships between politics, religion, and democracy. Through this reading, Ambedkar's political philosophy becomes legible not only as a profound challenge to what Lefort has called the “permanence of the theologico-political” but also as a radical way of combining everyday political practice with an emphatic notion of negative identity.

Comparative Analysis of Political Participation in Chinese and Western Democratic Theories

Political participation is the core of modern democratic politics and the standard and measure of political development, an enduring classic issue in political science, and plays an important role in national governance. On the basis of reviewing the views on political participation in Chinese and western democratic theories, this paper will make a comparative analysis of the connotation of political participation in Chinese and western democratic theories by using literature research and comparative analysis, and explore the essential characteristics and similarities and differences of political participation in Chinese and western democratic theories. Finally, future trends of political participation theory research in China and the West is prospected, with a view to providing reference for further study of political participation theory.

Institutionalization and party resilience in Indonesian electoral democracy

Political democracy in Indonesia in the reform era paints a different picture from the previous era. This article discusses and analyzes the institutionalization and resilience of parties in electoral democracy in Indonesia. This present study combines a qualitative approach through library research and survey methods to obtain the expected information. The survey was conducted across Indonesia among 1200 respondents, with a margin of error of ±2.9 % and a confidence level of 95 %. The findings of this article propose three matters. First, in the reform era, parties experienced shocks due to the change of democratic regimes from controlled and repressive democracies to liberal democracies that prioritize electoral functions. Second, the demand for the importance of institutionalizing political parties as part of democratic consolidation for the improvement of the quality of democracy is characterized by the strengthening of the identity of political parties. Third, the strengthening of the leadership role of political parties as a beacon for the resilience of political parties in the face of electoral democracy and, on the other hand, maintaining the ideological and cultural characteristics of the party. The relevance of this article for academic literature is the importance of party resilience in the future, which is much influenced by the party's ability to institutionalize democracy within the party itself to answer the challenges of electoral democracy in Indonesia.

Mao Zedong's Development of Socialist Democratic Politics in the Early Period of New China and Contemporary Revelations

Mao Zedong's Development of Socialist Democratic Politics in the Early Period of New China and Contemporary Revelations

Seeing democracy like a city

Urbanisation is changing landscapes, social relations and everyday lives across the globe. But urbanisation is also changing the ways democracy is understood and practiced. Nevertheless, the relation between urbanisation and democracy remains conceptually and empirically underdeveloped. Our aim in this paper is to provide a novel way of thinking about this relationship that addresses two limitations in current debates. First, there is the dominant view that just as urbanisation dissolves the actual, material city it also dissolves the city as a democratic project. We challenge this understanding, arguing that across the globe claims for and forms of urban collective self-rule signal that the city retains democratic significance in a very specific sense: as an object of practice and thought the city is a source and stake of the urban demos. Second, there is a tendency to either restrict the question of democracy to state-centred forms of political action or to place democracy completely outside the realm of the state. We argue however that urbanisation unsettles seemingly fixed boundaries between the state and society and thus opens the possibility of weaving together a new democratic fabric encompassing both. In addressing these two strands of debate together, we outline a democratic politics of urbanisation that shifts perspectives from institutions to practices, from jurisdictional scales to spaces of collective urban life. Seeing democracy like a city, we argue, foregrounds a way to reimagine and to re-locate democracy in the everyday lives of urbanites.

Research on the Two-way Interaction Between Voters and Political Parties in Elections

In democratic politics in the Western world, the process of elections are full with direct interactions with voters. Hence, voters choice affects whether a political party can become the ruling party. Voters prefer to choose parties that are in line with their own interests, and political parties need voters support to win the election. This paper studies the two-way interaction between voters and political parties in elections. The needs of target voters will affect the political views and positions of political parties. Therefore, in order to gain support, the party will promise to carry out some policies that would benefit the target voters. While the voters affect political parties positions, the parties also affect the voters choices, and Brexit is an example worth studying. Through media and advertisements, parties promote their core values and achievements, shape the image of candidates, and belittle the opponents. In this way, the parties can affect the votes preferable party and thus win the election.

Ask a Political Scientist: A Conversation with Nicholas Xenos about Critical Theory, Democratic Politics, and the Problems with Patriotism

Ask a Political Scientist: A Conversation with Nicholas Xenos about Critical Theory, Democratic Politics, and the Problems with Patriotism

The Role of Civic Education in Building Political Awareness of Generation Z Young People

Civic Education has a high role in increasing the spirit of nationality, especially for generation Z as the nation's successor who is expected to contribute to his country.Our reason for choosing the role of civic education in building young people's political awareness and many generation z who prefer abstention in general elections because they think that there are no political parties that can be trusted.This research uses interview and documentation methods. The interview method is like asking generation Z youth about the role of Civic Education in shaping political awareness and the documentation method we do is like taking pictures to document the physical or visual state of an event object.Many young people are less aware of politics in addition to generation Z youth do not care about politics.Starting from questions to high school students who say that civic education lessons do not increase awareness of politics.Then there are also many generation Z youth who do not use their voting rights or choose to abstain, fulfilled with quite logical reasons.Rethinking the importance of political participation in realizing political democracy. It is appropriate for young people to open political insights so that whatever public opinion is given regarding the political process is not accepted raw. Because one vote in the general election will determine the direction this nation will take. Choosing is not easy, but not choosing is not a wise attitude..

Dog-whistling and democracy

Despite our fascination with dog-whistling, neither dog-whistling itself, nor the relationship between dog-whistling and democracy are well understood. This article separates the content from the technique of dog-whistling and develops a more precise conceptualisation of that phenomenon in order to untangle the ambiguity about it. Dog-whistling, it argues, should not be reduced to racism or verbal communication tactics but can be combined with various different worldviews, and can encompass a multiplicity of verbal and non-verbal communicative means which surreptitiously nudge or wink at a specific subgroup. Contra the prevalent conviction that dog-whistling is antithetical to democracy in toto, the article suggests that some manifestations of that phenomenon constitute a ‘lesser vice’ vis-à-vis a politics of zealous candour, and an ineluctable feature of democratic politics. This recognition has important implications for democratic theory, and recent lamentations that ours is an age of moral crisis, marked by the rise of post-truth politics.

Rural Land Consolidation and Social Consciousness Change: A Case Study of a Land Consolidation Program in Rural Chongqing, China

With the changing relationship between urban and rural areas in China, the rural areas are experiencing rapid social transformation. To ensure successful implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, land consolidation has become a major measure of rural economic reform. Existing research focuses on quantitative studies exploring the relationship between land consolidation and rural economic development, but there is a lack of studies on the relationship between land consolidation and social change. In this study, we utilized Rocha’s conceptual framework for community empowerment and selected Jin’an Village as our study area, using semi-structured interviews and semi-participatory observation to obtain original materials, with the aim of providing a detailed description of the specific practice of land consolidation and analyzing the impact of land consolidation on the transformation of rural social consciousness. The study found that the participatory practices of Chinese rural villagers in the land consolidation process are consistent with the development process of community empowerment. Rural land consolidation involves villagers in the land consolidation process, which can effectively stimulate villagers’ participation in public affairs. Concurrently, the interaction between villagers and outside investors disrupts the conventional socialization model in rural areas and motivates villagers to act in accordance with contractual agreements. The conclusion is that land consolidation in rural areas can enhance the political democracy and legal consciousness of local villagers, which can lead to a change in local social consciousness. Our findings also emphasize the crucial necessity of providing rural villagers with improved accessibility to professional services and information, coupled with the continued promotion of land consolidation to advance modernization in these areas.

The doublespeak of ‘leave no one behind’: Implications for religious inequality in Hindu and Muslim pastoralist communities in India

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development pledged to ‘leave no one behind’ (LNOB). This article suggests that LNOB can be a form of ‘doublespeak’, susceptible to being used to mask ideologies and policies that worsen social, political and religious divisions. Despite stated commitments to LNOB, both Agenda 2030 and the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of India adhere to narrow models of development that fail to address and exacerbate the growing problem of religious and other inequalities. This article argues for reclaiming LNOB’s radical potential by conceptualising it as an empty signifier that takes on meaning through the hegemonic struggle to articulate what ‘left behind’ means. It develops this argument through a case study of Hindu Nationalist developmental normativity and two mobile pastoralist communities in Gujarat: Hindu Rabaris and Sufi Muslim Fakirani Jats. The empirical data show that in Gujarat’s marketised neo-liberal land regime, mobile pastoralism as a livelihood is increasingly stressed and liable to be constructed as ‘left behind’. Simultaneously, the Hindu and Sufi religious practices that shaped pastoralists’ relationships with land and animals are being transformed and, framed by the BJP government’s promotion of a Hindu nationalist religious identity, are shifting towards adoption of communal Hindu and Muslim identities that exacerbate social and religious inequalities, with particular effects on women. The paper concludes that LNOB has potential to tackle religious and other inequalities and generate a more radical and democratic politics of development if the range of demands that are met by this ‘empty signifier’ is broadened to challenge the hegemonic representations that dominate, and religion’s centrality in this struggle is recognised.

Gender Equality in Indonesian Democracy amidst Islamic Conservatism and Islamic Populism

The growth of democracy in Indonesia from 1999 to 2019 was significantly hampered by Islamic populist forces, conservatives, and politicians who discriminated against women. This article aims to explore the challenges facing Indonesian political democracy after the 2014 and 2019 elections, using qualitative methods and interviews with party officials. The study uses the theories of Islamic populism, conservation, and discrimination against women. The article finds that the most dangerous challenges include the presence of populist and conservative Islamic forces that use religious sentiment in elections, political party elites that use women as men's political friends, and women seen as a threat to male politicians. This article emphasizes the importance of considering factors outside the electoral political process, such as religious beliefs and understanding, especially in the Indonesian context.