Democratic Revolution Research Articles

Modern Revolution and Its Restorative Logic: Burke, Tocqueville, and Marx

ABSTRACT This article examines the views of Burke, Tocqueville, and Marx on the nature and extent of modern revolution and its restorative logic. I argue that, while all three supported the introduction of changes in society, they differed on how to steer the course of such changes, which resulted in a peculiar meaning of modern revolution. Each of them proposed good and bad versions of modern revolution, offered specific ways of protecting the good versions from producing perverse effects, and warned against the ugly consequences of a failed revolution. Burke’s conservative revolution favored incremental change against radical social transformations. Contra Burke, Tocqueville acclaimed the egalitarian tendency as a preordained path and advocated democratic revolutions insofar as political liberty could be rescued from the ills of social equality. Marx drew the possibilities of a proletarian revolution from the future the history of class conflicts had prepared. Particularly in his later works, Marx rejected Blanqui’s abortive version of conspiratorial revolution and social revolution without democratization. Overall, each of these thinkers—Burke, Tocqueville, and Marx—reconciled political and social revolutions in their own way, acknowledging that in order to prevent social and moral decay, modern revolutions inevitably gravitate to the Christian logic of restoration.

Hegemonic Party System and Federalism

The paper inquiries into the fixture of the hegemonic Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Party (EPRDF) in the operation of the Ethiopian federal constitutional order. It finds out the federal malfunction of EPRDF. The hegemonic political program of the front, which took the shape of a non-competitive dominant party was not in line with the constitutional diversity of the federal system, as it delinked the constitutional right to self-determination and federal autonomy from the options of multiparty politics. On the structure of EPRDF, equal representation was favorable to the federal politics of diversity accommodation and minority protection. However, the exclusiveness of its structure from the “affiliate” parties had the effects of a narrow-based federal shared-rule, as EPRDF which was the only channel to influence the center. Party-state inseparability was the other gap to the check of power and in establishing the neutrality of the state to deal with ethnic-driven conflict, as a major pathology to the stability of ethnic federal systems. Finally, the power nucleus in the EPRDF created the dominance of TPLF at the perils of diminishing the representative legitimacy and the subordinate position of the “affiliate parties” to EPRDF.

Challenges and Triumphs of Democratisation in Mongolia

The major socio-political change in Mongolia was the change of political system from one-party socialist to multi-party democracy in 1990s. The political liberalisation of ideas- the change of economic system, inauguration of the new constitution in 1992 and the first ever free parliamentary elections are the key features of the Mongolia’s Democratic revolution. The importance of researching democratic consolidation in Mongolia can be underscored in several keyways. Firstly, Mongolia serves as an exemplary case of a nation that has transitioned positively towards democracy in a global landscape where democracy often remains an outlier rather than the norm. From the events that Mongolia had to overcome and the knowledge that was gained, there is much to learn on how democratisation processes could be maintained in transitional societies. Qualitative research approach is fitting for this study since it enables the researcher to gain an insight into subjective experiences as well as perceptions of those who are either involved in or affected by a democratic transition in Mongolia. Findings of this research highlights Mongolia's democratisation process both possibilities as well as difficulties involved. Mongolia has done fairly well in terms of institutionalising democracy, but numerous challenges are still persistent which require continuous attention and concerted efforts being made towards addressing them. By introducing strategic reforms, endorsing comprehensive development, fostering transparency culture and nurturing a sense of accountability within state institutions Mongolia can reinforce further consolidation of its democratic gains.

Can articulations save the planet?

Chantal Mouffe has played an active role in promoting the ‘discursive hegemonic’ politics of left populism, not least in her two most recent books, For a Left Populism and Towards a Green Democratic Revolution: Left Populism and the Power of Affects. Taking these books together, this review article shows how these interventions build on Mouffe's earlier work on ‘the political’ and her vision of ‘radical democracy’ based on an ‘agonistic pluralism’. It argues that we find in Mouffe's latest work some of the salient problems of her overall project. The article focuses on two such problems: Mouffe's notion of antagonism (and its cognate, agonism); and the question of collective action.

Love and duty (1931): Chinese melodrama and the “contradictions of modernity”

In 1930s Shanghai Love and Duty (Bu Wancang, Lianhua Co., 1931) resonated with Chinese viewers, launching the career of actress Ruan Lingyu. Today, in contemporary film venue screenings, this epic continues to move international viewers. Here I ask how this silent picture has effected its profound affective alignments as it crosses cultures and periods of time. Approaching Love and Duty as moving picture melodrama engages the critical tradition of film melodrama theory such as to see formal convention melded with the affective charge of Chinese society in tumultuous transition. Melodrama, with its revolutionary associations, meets the historical conditions of Chinese society undergoing massive upheaval at the time of the film’s release, coincident with the New Culture Movement in the years following the 1911 Republican Revolution. The politics informing the Neo-Marxist European tradition of mass culture analysis meets the leftist political legacy associated with Shanghai’s emergent film industry.

Expansion and Restriction: Divergent Paths Towards Modernizing Family Laws in Japan and China, 1868–1930

Abstract Before their encounters with Western powers in the nineteenth century, Chinese and Japanese societies were deeply embedded in traditional family systems that formed the backbone of their social structures. However, with the onset of legal modernization, these nations adopted nearly diametrically opposed strategies for reforming their customary family laws. Primarily, Japanese legal reformers under the Meiji regime bolstered the family’s authority and emphasized its political role. In stark contrast, the Chinese legal reformers during the late Qing and Republican periods curtailed family authority and diminished its significance. While the modernization of family laws in Japan and China has been the subject of scholarly research respectively, the differences between the two countries and the reasons behind their distinct approaches have not been adequately explored. This Article seeks to fill this gap. Through a comparative analysis of the legislative histories of both countries, this Article argues that their divergent paths stemmed from differences in the historical functions of family systems and the modern political contexts encountered by legal reformers during the period of legal modernization. In Japan, the family system was historically politically connected with the state, and the Meiji regime solidified its control over this system through modern codification efforts. Consequently, Meiji political elites saw the integration of the populace into the new absolutist imperial regime as advantageous, leveraging the political loyalty of families to achieve this. In contrast, the Chinese family system had become politically disconnected from the state by the late imperial era. In the aftermath of the Republican Revolution, the Guomindang regime navigated a landscape of rival political forces that significantly challenged its authority. Political elites aimed to dismantle customary family laws to weaken the traditional family system, which they viewed as a threat to governmental centralization and societal unity. They also sought to project a modern, liberal image to garner wider political support.

The Dynamics between the Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Polity in Modern Ethiopia and Its Role in Establishing Peace in the Country

The interaction between the Orthodox Church and the state in Ethiopia has undergone various phases throughout the country's history. Emperor Haile Selassie, who came to power in 1930, sought to modernise Ethiopia by adopting Western educational and administrative systems. This included restructuring the Church administration to establish a centralised hierarchy for easier control. The military regime that seized power in 1974, inspired by Marxist and Leninist ideologies, showed strong hostility towards religion. When this regime took over the Patriarchate in Addis Ababa, Church administration shifted back to influential monasteries in rural Ethiopia, leading to a period of reduced activity, often termed hibernation. Communist propaganda which aimed at secularising the urban youth population gained some traction until the regime's overthrow in 1991 following the collapse of the USSR. The quasi-democratic regime of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, which took power in 1991–92, liberated all religious communities from political suppression. They introduced an ethnic federalism system, dividing the country into states based on ethnicity. However, this regime later faced accusations of favouring a single ethnic group, leading to the rise of the current oligarchical government in 2017. Consequently, the Orthodox Church saw a decline in its political influence. This paper examines these historical and political developments in relation to Church history to understand the Ethiopian Orthodox Church's role in past, present and future peace restoration efforts, particularly following recent conflicts in northern Ethiopia.

Complexities and Dynamics of the Popular Movement of 1990 in Nepal

After decades of autocratic control, Nepal's political landscape saw a dramatic change in 1990 when the democratic revolution brought multiparty democracy back. This article examines the tactics, difficulties, and final success of political parties in launching and maintaining the movement. Utilizing historical narratives, primary materials, and academic examinations, it offers perspectives on how political parties evolved into catalysts for transformation, galvanized the populace, and engaged in negotiations with the king to usher in a novel phase of democracy in Nepal. The complex dynamics influenced by many social, political, and economic elements led to the movement's success. In the face of authoritarianism and popular discontent, the study explores the intricacies of the movement and sheds insight on the interlocking dynamics that drove Nepal toward democratic reform

The War on Tigray: Geopolitics and the Struggle for Self-Determination

Tigray continues to be a unique case among ancient kingdoms, Westphalia nation-states, post-colonial Africa, and post-Cold War national liberation struggles. It is one of the oldest civilizations (Aksumite Kingdom) and the historical, cultural, and political soul of ancient and modern Ethiopia. But it was made to be an ‘oppressed nation struggling for regional autonomy and survival from genocidal aggression’ by the empire state of Ethiopia and the ‘garrison state’ of Eritrea. It also survived Egyptian and Mahdist expansionists, and Italian colonialism, though it lost ‘Bahre-Negash’ (Eritrea) to Italy due to the Wuchale Agreement (or Treaty of Wichale) in 1889. Eritrea was handed over to Italian colonialists by Menelik II of Shewa-Amhara in order to weaken Tigray’s geopolitical power base. Tigray was also the hotbed of the first Woyane rebellion in 1943 which sparked the idea of ‘land to the Tiller, fair taxation, and self-rule,’ and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) led the second Woyane rebellion (1975–91) that restructured the empire state of Ethiopia into a federation with the 1995 constitution. Since 2018, after 27 years of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)- led federal experiment, Tigray again became a victim of a ‘genocidal war’ led by the Ethiopian federal army, Amhara forces, Ethiopian regional forces, and Eritrean army, supported by UAE and Turkey drones, and the Somalian army. The international community and the African Union supported Abiy Ahmed and Issaias Afewerki’s genocidal war in the name of “maintaining the territorial integrity of Ethiopia” by neglecting the principles of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), people’s self-determination rights, and the prevention of genocide. Tigray, therefore, is a rare case in the vicious cycle of violence. The Tigrayan ‘two-year’ survival war (from November 2020 to November 2022) against those who practice genocide was destined to break Tigray’s historically vicious cycle of violence perpetrated by Ethiopia and Eritrea. The paper aims to investigate the historical, geopolitical, and security reasons that have trapped Tigray into facing the post-2020 genocidal war.

Ho Chi Minh’s Ideology on the Rule of the Law State and the Meaning of That Ideology in Building the Rule of the Law State in Vietnam Today

The idea of the rule of law is always associated with the idea of democratic development that has been established since ancient times. This ideology exists and develops to this day and has become a symbol of democracy. Ho Chi Minh’s Ideology on the rule of law is the inheritance of cultural traditions and the experience of building and managing the state of many generations of Vietnamese people, and is the result of experience, research, and survey of many world democratic ideological systems, many revolutions, and many typical states in the world; at the same time, the penetration and creative application of the Marxism-Leninism’s perspective on a new style state to the specific conditions of Vietnam. This study has shown that with the nature of the people’s democratic revolution, stemming from the reality of a semi-feudal colonial country like Vietnam, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and President Ho Chi Minh has chosen the path of building a socialist rule of law state in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh’s comprehensive and profound views on the rule of law are extremely great and valuable “spiritual assets”, laying the ideological and theoretical foundation for the policy of “continuing to build and perfecting the socialist rule of law state in Vietnam” of CPV today.

“ZEMSKY SOBOR OF ALL THE RUSSIAN LAND” IN 1917. REFLECTIONS ON THE LATEST STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF THE 1917 STATE CONFERENCE BY A.B. NIKOLAEV

The review examins the monograph by A.B. Nikolaev “State Conference of 1917: Summoning, Composition, Activities”, published in 2022. The preparation and holding of the large-scale all-Russian event in the revolutionary year of 1917 are analyzed in the context of studying parliamentarism in Russia. The Moscow State Conference of 1917 arose from an urgent necessity for the coalition Provisional Government to strengthen its prestige and A.F. Kerensky’s personal power, as well as probably to receive a “tribune”, which could be used to give prompt explanations on all issues that would arise in the event of its transformation from an advisory institution as an ersatz parliament into a body with constituent functions. In addition, the Provisional Government was looking for opportunities on a state level to reconcile revolutionary socialist democracy and bourgeois liberalism movements, which had already completely split by that time. Moscow State Conference of 1917 assumed crucial significance due to the desire to find a way out of the existing revolutionary impasse and to serve as a support for the weak and dependent dual state power. Having ensured this support, it would become a united, strong power, capable of saving the country from internal collapse. In an effort to prevail over the impending political and social anarchy, the Conference became a tense, dramatic episode of the Revolution of 1917. The observers and participants of the State Conference obviously regarded it as the “Zemsky Sobor of all the Russian Land” which met in the former capital of Russia to solve the pressing problems and give state power the physical and spiritual strength it needed. The results of the State Conference proved to be contradictory for all political forces. The Provisional Government was able to obtain majority support at the meeting, but the nature of this support indicated the extremely precarious position of the coalition. As a result of the research, the author of the reviewed monograph comes to the conclusion that the State Conference, while maintaining the coalition, did not strengthen it. Representatives of revolutionary democracy were forced to make concessions to the bourgeoisie, which subsequently led to the loss of revolutionary democracy’s authority among workers and soldiers.

Legal Counterrevolution: Property and Judicial Power in the Weimar Republic

This article offers a new account of the rise of judicial power in modern Germany. Strong judicial control of the government is often associated with the constitutional ethos that emerged in postwar West Germany as a reaction to Nazi rule. This article locates the origins of German judicialization in the political struggles of the Weimar era. It shows how the assumption of a power to judicial review by Germany's highest court, the Reichsgericht, was the product of the successful cooperation of the judiciary with conservative political parties on the issue of property rights in the young republic. These were at the centre of two controversies examined in the article: the expropriation of princes of former ruling houses and the consequences of the hyperinflation of 1923. In both cases the Reichsgericht used an understanding of property as an inalienable right to radically reinterpret Germany's first democratic constitution, which had in fact granted the legislature extensive power to modify property relations. This suited the judiciary's own objective of assuming stronger controls over legislative action and bolstered the political position of conservative forces in Weimar politics. What emerged was a supra-positive constitutionalism that sought to supersede the written constitution. These political realities were an essential context for theoretical debates on the extent and limits of judicial power between theorists such as Carl Schmitt, Hans Kelsen, Hermann Heller, Franz Neumann, and Ernst Fraenkel. An examination of the complex interaction of parliamentary, judicial, and popular politics concerning the issue of property reveals that German judicial empowerment amounted to an attempt to rewrite the Weimar Constitution and limit the scope of Germany's democratic revolution.

From imperial power to regional policeman: Ethiopian peacekeeping and the developmental state

Abstract Why and how do African states become peacekeepers? Through a single-case study, this article accounts for a transformation in peace and security: how Ethiopia became the world's prime source of blue helmets in the early twenty-first century, having largely shunned peacekeeping in preceding decades. We propose that peacekeeping came to serve as an unexpectedly useful technology to pursue state-building agendas. Historically, regional proxy wars undermined state-building efforts in Ethiopia and mismanagement of ethno-linguistic diversity rendered it vulnerable to externally supported rebellions. In the 2000s, an evolving approach to peacekeeping dovetailed with the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's (EPRDF) vision for recalibrating political order domestically and in the Horn of Africa. EPRDF became convinced that changing Ethiopia required changing its surrounding region. Regional intervention as peacekeeping was supported by global powers and helped bind neighbouring states to Ethiopia in new ways. This entailed the crafting of deep political ties in Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan that mitigated historical fears of Ethiopian hegemony and shielded EPRDF state-building from outside destabilization. Moreover, as Ethiopia's increasingly prominent role in United Nations and African Union missions improved the external environment for the EPRDF developmental state, it also expanded Ethiopian National Defence Force's role in the political economy, buttressing the party-state's hegemony.

Soviet Library Policy on the Organization of Interaction between Science and Society in the 1920s–1930s

The purpose of the article is a critical analysis of the historical experience of forming the educational Soviet state library policy in the 1920s and 1930s and determination of the possibilities of its modern use. It is shown that the basis of this policy were the views of the domestic revolutionary democrats on science and its popularization, as well as V. I. Lenin’s ideas about the political education of the working class and the development of its political consciousness. It is noted that the library educational policy began to be formed within the framework of the educational concept of librarianship as a form of extracurricular education and political propaganda in the late XIX – early XX century, however, the political and organizational conditions for its implementation developed only in Soviet times. The main motive for the formation of the Soviet educational policy was the need to prepare workers and peasants for participation in public administration throughout the power vertical, the fight against the church, as well as improving workers and peasants’ technical and agricultural literacy. Propaganda became the main form of interaction as the most concentrated expression of political, scientific and technical education. These political and pedagogical principles are disclosed and conclusions are drawn about the prospects of using the experience of those years when forming modern library policy on the organization of interaction between science and society. The main achievements and shortcomings are analyzed. The experience of the 1920s and 1930s shows that such policy will become successful if keeping to the following conditions: 1) the library policy in this direction being an integral part of the national educational and scientific policy; 2) the organized management of educational and scientific reading; 3) library impact should have an active character; 4) principles of modern educational library policy are modernized taking into account the achievements of pedagogical science in the field of enlightenment, sociology of reading, information culture and popularization of science.

Banking and Politics in the Age of Democratic Revolution

Banking and Politics in the Age of Democratic Revolution

Sophie de Grouchy's Political Thought in the Letters on Sympathy (1798).

This article proposes a reading of Sophie de Grouchy's moral, political, and economic thought as embedded in the tradition of natural jurisprudence, adapted to the context of the French First Republic. A close reading of her French translation of Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiment and her eight Letters on Sympathy confirms that there are points to be made by reading her works in the context of the language of early modern natural law. This sheds light on the important question of how to read revolutionary republicanism emanating from multiple traditions other than the neo-Roman discourse of non-domination.

RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONARIES AND RUSSIAN OLD BELIEVERS: FROM SYMPATHY TO REPRESSION. PART 1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM. FIRST PERIOD

The purpose of this work is to clarify the reality or mythology of the position about the active participation of Old Believers in the anti-government movement in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. An analysis of sources showed that the Old Believers never took an anti-state position, showing only their loyalty to state power. During the period under review they rejected the revolutionaries' claims to cooperation. Only during the Civil War did the Old Believers side with one of the warring parties, which, in the absence of a single supreme power, cannot be assessed as anti-state activity. Soon after the Bolshevik victory, the Old Believers took an unambiguously favorable position towards the Soviet regime, despite the previous brutal repressions. At the same time, the Russian revolutionary intelligentsia during the second half of the 19th century retained illusions regarding the Old Believers and unsuccessfully tried to attract them to the fight against the samoderzhaviye. The democratic revolutionaries of the 60s turned to the clergy of the Old Believers, and the populist revolutionaries of the 70s also tried to work with the broad Old Believer masses, primarily peasants, to no avail.

The Formation and Legal Status of the Crimean Democratic Republic (late 1917 – early 1918)

The article analyzes the events preceding the establishment of the Crimean Democratic Republic in 1917 and characterizes its legal status.
 The author establishes that the territory of Crimea was the core of the Crimean Khanate, which was annexed by the russian Empire in 1783 in violation of the Kyuchuk-Kainarji Peace Treaty. The century of the russian Empire’s domination of Crimea remains in history as the “black century”, which led to the depressed state of the Crimean Tatar people, which objectively raised the task of its social and national liberation, accelerating the process of transformation into a modern nation.
 It is established that in the 1880s the process of Crimean Tatar revival, i.e. the formation of a modern ethnonation, began. The impetus for this process was the creation of the first printed edition of the Crimean Tatar people, the enlightened public newspaper Terdzhiman in 1883. The next significant event in the struggle of the Crimean Tatar people for their independence was the creation of the organization “Vatan” in 1908 by Noman Çelebijihan.
 Based on the analysis of scientific publications, the author establishes that the national liberation movement in Crimea was the equivalent of the Ukrainian National Congress in April 1917. In particular, in 1917, several processes took place in Crimea: the democratic revolution, ukrainianization and the revival of Crimean Tatar national statehood. In December, the First Kurultai decided to establish the Crimean Tatar Democratic Republic and form the Crimean Tatar national government. The first democratic constitution of the Crimean Tatar people was created, which declared the principles of separation of powers, equality of all citizens before the law, freedom of religion, etc. However, in January 1918, the Bolshevik army seized the territory of the peninsula and began the Red Terror, which resulted in the termination of the Crimean Democratic Republic.

乡村振兴视角下新民主主义革命时期中国共产党的土地政策研究

To revive the nation, rural areas must be revitalized. The main body of rural revitalization is farmers, and their main problem is land. The CPC has been aware of the importance of the farmers’ problem since its establishment, and has taken solving the farmers’ land problem as the central task on the revolutionary road of encircling cities in rural areas and seizing power by armed forces. This paper mainly studies the land policies formulated by the CPC in various stages of the new democratic revolution and the rules it follows, summarizes the experience and enlightenment of this period, so as to provide reference value for promoting the CPC in the new era to more scientifically and comprehensively solve the three rural issues, comprehensively promote rural revitalization, and accelerate agricultural and rural modernization.

Diderot and the ideal of paternalistic monarchy. An enlightenment struggle against moral decay and for political harmony

ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, there has been a growing tendency to interpret Diderot as a radical who first put into question absolutism in the Encyclopédie and then became a fierce opponent of any kind of ‘despotism’, even the ‘enlightened’ one, and a fervent partisan of democratic revolutions in the 1770s. It is argued here that the narrative that cuts Diderot’s life into different phases obscures continuities in his political thought, and misrepresents partly the political vision he had in the 1770s. Diderot’s political thought may have been more coherent than usually acknowledged, and this coherence is to be found in his ideal of a paternalistic monarchy taking advice from its subjects and respecting their rights, that is the constitution of the realm. This idea is not to be mixed up with a democratic programme of government by the people, nor with the endorsement of political change via a revolution. Rather, when towards the end of his life Diderot lost hope that the constitutional order of the French monarchy would be respected, he both feared civil war and hoped that these tumults might bring about the regeneration of the French monarchy. This vision derived from a classical cyclic view of history.