Democracy Rights Research Articles

“Nothing Left for Women but Voting”: Suffrage, Empire, and Race in Carrie Chapman Catt’s Early Twentieth-Century Philippine Travel Narratives

ABSTRACT This essay focuses on the sojourn of suffragist leader Carrie Chapman Catt to the Philippines in 1912. Catt travelled to various parts of this Southeast Asian country to investigate conditions shaping local women's lives and help form their own suffrage organisations. Personal accounts of her travels provide a crucial look into Catt’s observations, representations, and perceptions of aspects such as American imperial institutions, including public schools, hospitals, and prisons, and the social and economic standing of Filipino women. Throughout her travels in the Philippines, Catt witnessed the development of the American colonial state’s project of modernity and hegemony as an imperial citizen who also fought for the expansion of democratic rights. Enmeshed in the conflicting processes of complicity and resistance, she engaged in complicated meanings of expansionism, political empowerment, and social hierarchies. I argue that while travelling afforded Catt an opportunity to transgress prescribed political and social spheres, it also served to consolidate her place on the world stage as she promoted a new brand of citizenship that marshalled difference within the framework of white supremacy.

Rights of grievance and denunciation in the 2013 Constitution and some mechanisms to ensure the exercise of the rights of grievance and denunciation

Human rights, rights, and obligations of citizens are important contents affirmedand recorded in the 2013 Constitution - the supreme legal document of the SocialistRepublic of Vietnam. Among the groups of human rights recognized in Chapter II of the2013 Constitution, the right of grievance and denunciation, in particular, are fundamentalrights closely associated with state management activities, serving as a means to expressthe democratic rights of the people and exercise their oversight over the state apparatus.This article provides an overview of human rights; the right of grievance and denunciation;legal provisions on grievances, denunciations, and some mechanisms to ensure the exerciseof the right of grievance and denunciation at present. This presents evaluative viewpointsand directions for further improvement to enhance the effectiveness of exercising theserights in practice

디지털 게리맨더링의 편향성 유도가 기본권에 미치는 영향과 입법적 대응방안 연구

Digital gerrymandering refers to the phenomenon of using information technology to artificially manipulate electoral district boundaries to favor a particular party or group. It involves the use of data analysis and information technology to redraw electoral boundaries in a way that results in advantageous outcomes for specific parties or groups. Through digital gerrymandering, it's possible to artificially design the distribution of voters to benefit certain parties or candidates. As a result, this undermines the fairness of elections and induces bias, allowing the votes of certain groups to have disproportionately greater influence compared to others. This process poses several critical threats to the principles and fundamental rights of democracy. First, it violates the principle that every voter's vote should be treated equally. Digital gerrymandering can artificially adjust the value of votes in certain areas, diminishing the influence of some voters while overestimating that of others. Second, it leads to the distortion of political representation. When electoral district boundaries are manipulated, the outcome can differ from the actual will of the voters, resulting in a political representation system that fails to accurately reflect the opinions of some voters. Third, it infringes upon freedom of expression and political diversity. Voters' rights to freely express their political preferences and choose from a variety of political options can be restricted. This study aims to analyze the impact of digital gerrymandering on fundamental rights, especially the right to vote and freedom of expression, and to propose legislative measures to counteract it. It examines how digital technologies can distort the electoral process and specifically how they can infringe upon voters' rights to freely express their will and vote. Additionally, the study explores necessary legislative responses to address these issues, aiming to protect the core values of democracy and ensure the fairness of elections. To achieve this, the study seeks to clarify the concept of digital gerrymandering, illustrate how it can infringe upon fundamental rights through specific examples, and identify concrete legislative measures to ensure transparency and fairness.

The Brussels Effect in Brazil: Analysing the impact of the EU digital services act on the discussion surrounding the fake news bill

The May 2023 version of Brazil's Fake News Bill (FNB), a proposed new statutory framework for social media regulation, heavily referenced the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). The literature on regulatory convergence points to the Brussels Effect, praising the EU for wielding unilateral soft power in shaping global regulations. Therefore, based on interviews with Brazilian experts who played a significant role in the regulatory discussion, this study applies Thematic Analysis to assess the DSA's impact on the FNB draft. The article finds limited Brussels Effect due to criticism of its incapacity to address local platform liability concerns and the absence of economic and legal drivers for convergence with EU regulation. Despite this, the study highlights the DSA's positive influence on the local debate in promoting democratic and human rights principles, leveraging the European legislative process to enrich local discussions. Finally, local political factors contributed to a narrative that differed from the DSA, framing the FNB not only as a tool against disinformation, but also as a means to protect democracy. This paper offers an unprecedented case study of the Brussels Effect reach on the global-south, presenting limitations of the EU benchmark when transposed to other regulatory and political contexts.

Online Voting System

Having a democratic voting system in place is crucial for any nation due to the general distrust of the conventional voting system. Individuals have seen the infringement of their basic rights. Lack of transparency has been a problem with several electronic voting methods. The government has a hard time winning the confidence of its citizens since most voting processes aren't transparent enough. It is easy to abuse, which is why both the old and new digital voting systems have failed. Finding solutions to issues with both the paper and electronic voting systems, such as voting-related injustices and accidents, is the main goal. A fair election with less injustice is possible with the use of blockchain technology integrated into the voting process. Both digital and physical voting methods have their limitations, making them unsuitable for widespread use. This evaluates the importance of finding a way to protect people's democratic rights. To foster confidence between voters and election officials, this article introduces a platform built on blockchain technology, which maximises system stability and transparency. Without the need for traditional polling places, the proposed technology lays the groundwork for digital voting using blockchain. A scalable blockchain may be supported by our suggested architecture via the use of adaptable consensus algorithms. The voting process is made more secure with the use of the Chain Security algorithm. When conducting a chain transaction, smart contracts provide a safe channel of communication between the user and the network. There has also been talk of the voting system's security being based on blockchain technology.

Wider institutional research cultures and their influence on patient and public involvement and engagement in health research – An institutional ethnography

Focus on patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) is increasing in health policy and research governance. PPIE is considered by some to be a democratic right, and by others to be a way to improve health care and research outcomes and implementation. Most recently, policy makers, funders and (clinical) research institutions are making PPIE a strategic requirement for health research urging researchers to invite patients and relatives into their research activities.Our study is based in a Danish university hospital where PPIE has been introduced as one of five strategic research goals. We investigated how researchers experienced this new practice and how their research practices connect to the wider context of the Danish health care system. Ten cases were studied during a year using observations, interviews, and document analysis. As our method of inquiry, we used institutional ethnography to look at researchers’ work from their perspective and to understand how PPIE practices are part of a larger institutional research culture reaching far beyond the individual. We found that current research culture has implications for the selection of patients and relatives and for what they are asked to do. Researchers who experienced that PPIE outcomes aided their existing research practices felt motivated. Researchers who engaged patients and relatives before it was a strategy, were ideologically driven and their approaches resulted in an increased diversity of inclusion and researcher assimilation.These findings add to the current knowledge on PPIE practices and help us understand that further development towards collaborative research practices require a change in key performance indicators and training and perhaps call for attention to our shared acceptance of knowledge generation in research.

SHA 512 Enhanced Secure Hash Decentralized Response System

Today a very huge lack of confidence about the current EVM/ballot response system like voting has made voting response collection in any democratic country very condemnatory. People have watched their fundamental rights which are being violated. On the other hand the other digital voting systems are also in danger due to a minimal of transparency. Most of the traditional response systems are not clear enough so as to meet today's requirements; this crucial reason makes it very sweaty for the government to come up with voters' trust. The motive behind the downfall of the traditional and current cyber voting system is that it can be easily compromised due to centralized network. The primary objective here is to counter the issues of the traditional digital voting and such response systems, which has any type of mistrust or inequality during the process of accepting responses through response systems like voting. Blockchain technology can be used in such response systems like voting to have a fair response system and reduce wrongdoing. The current physical response systems like voting have many downs in it as well as the digital voting systems are not up to the mark to be implemented on a huge scale. Such all problems raises the need for a solution to secure the democratic rights of the people. This article put-ups a framework based on up-to-date blockchain algorithm technology that provides high clarity and reliability of the system to construct a healthy relationship between response systems and election authorities. The insisted software provides a framework that can be implemented in real world to conduct voting like procedures digitally through blockchain rather than involving any physical polling stations and centralized ledger. Our proposed framework provides an extendible hashing, by using the latest consensus algorithms. The Secure Hash Algorithms applied in the voting system along with Chain Security makes the response systems more secure. Distributed ledger contracts also provide a protected connection between the user and the consensus network while running a transaction in the chain. The security of the blockchain based response system has also been discussed. In Addition to this, encryption of responses using cryptographic hash functions and prevention of exploitation attacks about 51% on the blockchain has also been elaborated. Also, the procedure for carrying out blockchain transactions during the process of response collection has been elaborated using Blockchain. Finally, the throughput performance evaluation of the proposed system shows that such a system can be deployed in a large-scale real time population.

Trans Bans Expand: Anti-LGBTIQ+ Lawfare and Neo-fascism

Abstract Introduction Anti-fascist theories suggest different meanings for anti-LGBTIQ+ rights laws. This paper explores how 2023 increases in US anti-LGBTIQ+ bill attempts can be explained. Methods A Critical Discourse Analysis of 1054 US anti-LGBTIQ+ state-level bill submissions from 1 Jan 2018 to 31 December 2023, compared 2023 trends to previous data. Results The co-ordinated neofascist mobilisation behind US hyper-productivity and erratic contradictory justifications of anti-LGBTIQ+ bills expanded exponentially, emphasising less resisted campaigns. Initially smaller bills targeted political weak spots: transgender youth in primary schools, bathrooms and politically enabling Republican-governed states. Increasingly bills expanded in number, frequency, size, and punitive reach against LGBTIQ+ and other citizens’ rights, in wider contexts (higher education, public and Democrat-governed spaces). By 2023, bill strategies used hypocritical and hypothetical anti-LGBTIQ+ logics; replicated federally to thwart democratic and economic structures. Conclusions Anti-fascist, Queer and critical socialist theories explained the 2023 bills’ increase as building upon past partisan mobilisation on wedge transgender state election issues; towards neofascist diminishment of increasingly wider-ranging and higher-level US democratic structures, rights protections, and economic functioning. Policy attacks on vulnerable social groups’ rights — particularly trans youth — can signal ‘early stages’ within neo-fascist strong-man state-identity creation supporting democratic structure diminishments. Policy Implications Multi-level multi-cultural pluralist democratic institutions and support structures with inter-reinforced rights recognition expansions should be required by and should protect the rights of all citizens.

The Swedish School Meal Heritage — Memories of Food, Taste, and Commensality

AbstractIn Sweden, free school lunch has been served for more than a hundred years, and it is now a democratic right of all elementary school children. The school meal has always been associated with different opinions and subject to much debate. The aim of the study is to explore school meal food and taste memories in a convenient sample of Swedish adults. A web-based survey was carried out in the summer of 2020. The 246 respondents attended school between the 1940s and the early 2000s. The material was collectively analyzed using NVivo 12 Pro (QSR International), resulting in two overarching themes. “The traditional school food heritage” theme consisted of accounts of traditional Swedish food through the ages and meanings attached to it. Memories were connected to likes and dislikes of certain foods and dishes. “The social school food heritage” theme consisted of accounts of coercion, control, and peer pressure, but also joy, friendship, and commensality. The Swedish school meal is a shared experience surrounded by strong feelings and memories regarding the food and the context. It means a lot both culturally and socially, acting as a carrier of a common food heritage.

Backsliding without Democracy

Abstract This article analyzes the effects of Israel's democratic backsliding on the Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. While research on democratic backsliding focuses on the erosion of liberal democratic features and how this influences democracies’ citizenry, Israel's composite regime offers a unique setting: an established (albeit weakened) liberal democracy ‘within the Green Line’ alongside an established occupation devoid of democratic features ‘beyond the Green Line.’ Exploring this, I analyze how Israel's belligerent occupation has at times been restrained by the ‘democratic side’ of the country, resulting in Palestinians indirectly benefiting from Israel's democracy while not having democratic rights themselves. The article thus demonstrates how Palestinians may be among the first populations to suffer from democratic backsliding while themselves being devoid of democratic rights.

DHR‐PA—Democracy and human rights in public administration in Africa

AbstractWhile public administration research has traditionally paid profound attention to democratic values in government‐citizen relations, public institutions are still wrestling with entrenching human rights norms today. This article's Democracy and Human Rights in Public Administration (DHR‐PA) perspective offers a view that a human rights‐anchored reforms agenda may assist with setting the much‐needed tone for realizing democratic norms in African administrative contexts where society is still dealing with extreme forms of human rights abuses. It operationalizes institutional nuances and qualities of democratic and human rights values using Afrobarometer's Round 9 dataset for Namibia, Kenya, and Nigeria. Results show that human rights proclivities of African public administration remain subtle and nebulous despite more targeted DHR‐PA reforms and the creation of institutions like human rights commissions and administrative justice agencies. Overall, for democracy to work, African public administration must acquire and entrench human rights norms and values in its engagements with citizens.Related ArticlesKahn‐Nisser, Sara. 2018. “Constructive Criticism: Shaming, Incentives, and Human Rights Reforms.” Politics & Policy 46(1): 58–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12240.Zavala de Alba, Luis Eduardo. 2012. “Toward an International Implementation of Public Policies in Human Rights: A Necessary Step in Every Democratization Process for Advancements in Economic and Social Rights.” Politics & Policy 40(5): 783–801. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2012.00385.x.Nchofoung, Tii, Simplice Asongu, Vanessa Tchamyou, and Ofeh Edoh. 2022. “Gender, Political Inclusion, and Democracy in Africa: Some Empirical Evidence.” Politics & Policy 51(1): 137–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12505.

Ecological, financial, social and societal motives for cooperative energy prosumerism: measuring preference heterogeneity in a Belgian energy cooperative

BackgroundEnergy cooperatives in Europe have become more prominent due to the growing interest in and development of renewable energy sources. Cooperatives are often seen as an instrument in the transition to a low-carbon future. The cooperative prosumer is gaining importance, taking on the role of both consumer and producer by setting up and joining electricity cooperatives as investors, shareholders and clients. As is the case with other cooperatives and social enterprises, there are tensions and trade-offs to be made between social, ecological and financial goals. To navigate these tensions and to work towards becoming a resilient institution, it is important that cooperatives preserve their support base made up of their members, who are both clients and shareholders. This study investigates the preference heterogeneity and motivations of members of a large energy cooperative in Belgium, by using stated-choice data from a Discrete Choice Experiment in combination with self-reported membership motives.ResultsDespite the significant presence of member preferences for participation and democratic voting rights, the financial and above all the ecological motives seem to be most important for being a member of the energy cooperative. Based on the stated-choice data, we classify three member types: the financial, the ecological and the social–societal member type. We find a small discrepancy in motives between members who joined early and members who joined later. Where early members care most about ecological aspects, members who joined later have more societal and financial considerations. In terms of effect size and willingness to pay per kilowatt hour, ecological motives prove to be by far the most important factor for cooperative energy prosumers in our sample. In addition, the latent-class analysis shows that over half of the member sample belongs to the ecological motives class.ConclusionsPreference heterogeneity is present to an extent, but there is an overarching preference for sustainability. Though, cooperatives should be aware that their legal form may not be the only factor that drives membership. Rather, keeping high levels of renewable energy, competitive pricing and being an interesting investment opportunity may be key to cooperatives’ resilience and further development on the energy market.

The Good Disobedient Citizen? Students’ Perspectives on Good Citizenship in the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2016

Scholars of democratic citizenship and citizenship education have long discussed whether willingness to commit civil disobedience (CD) is an important attribute of citizens to defend and enforce democratic and human rights. In light of the youth protests of recent years, this article examines whether 14-year-old students consider CD important for being a good citizen. Using representative Danish, German, Dutch and Norwegian samples from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2016, this study investigates dimensions of students’ concepts of citizenship and their relatedness to civic knowledge and support for equal rights. Confirmatory factor analysis established CD as a distinct dimension of good citizenship whose scale is metrically invariant across countries. However, linear regressions showed a negative impact of civic knowledge and support for equal gender rights on CD attitudes, raising the question if the empirical pattern of students supporting CD fits with theoretical assumptions of critical or transformative citizenship education.

Gender Stereotypes and their Overcoming through Education (Based on the Results of the Project Implemented in Armenia)

This article represents the experience of teaching gender knowledge in number of universities and public schools of Armenia in 2000-2010. The training carried out with the support of the office of OSCE Democratic and Human Rights Institutes within the framework of the program “Gender awareness and gender sensitivity as prerequisites for balanced democracy” by the Association with University Education. The purpose of the article is to show the importance of education in overcoming gender stereotypes, the experience made in that direction and its results. The analysis was carried out by the author through ethnographic methods of direct observation and surveys conducted with experts who participated in the teaching of gender knowledge, school and student groups. The task of the article is to show the relationship between gender stereotypes and national traditions in post-Soviet Armenia, the ways of fighting against them and the contradictory position of the society towards the process. One of the main topics of the study is the problem of changing the gender identity manifested by the participants during gender teaching, which was expressed in the subsequent state and public processe.

How Lincoln Scooped Habermas

In opposing Stephen Douglas’s alleged popular right to choose a slave constitution, Abraham Lincoln developed a rudimentary conception of the normative presuppositions of democratic rights that prefigures the theory of popular sovereignty articulated by Jürgen Habermas. While Lincoln was influenced by a civic republican conception of natural rights, and referred to personal autonomy in arguing that some political choices violate the grounds of collective self-governance rights, both Lincoln—as read by Jaffa—and Habermas conceive human rights not as trans-political principles but as linking moral norms with the rule of law (or coordination through political power in general). The comparison shows that Habermas’s approach to the co-originality of civil liberties and democratic rights implies that legitimate secession, revolution, and primary constituent authority must be oriented toward creation of a just legal order. This enriched linkage approach explains why the right to democracy, like the right to basic liberty, is inalienable.

Sustainable Development through Regulatory Competition without Effective UN and WTO Legal Restraints?

The current human disasters – like illegal wars of aggression, violent suppression of human and democratic rights, health pandemics, climate change, ocean pollution, overfishing and other biodiversity losses, non-compliance with United Nations (UN) and World Trade Organization (WTO) law – reflect governance failures and insufficient cooperation (section I.) to protect the ‘sustainable development goals’ (SDGs). Since 1950, Europe’s multilevel constitutionalism succeeded in progressively limiting transnational governance failures; yet, it is not followed outside Europe (section II.). Geopolitical rivalries (e. g. among authoritarian and democratic states) and competing national and regional regulations (e. g. on decarbonisation, digitalisation, and securitisation of economies) increasingly undermine UN and WTO legal restraints and judicial remedies (see section III.). The more globalisation is perceived as creating vulnerabilities justifying national security restrictions (e. g. against spread of viruses, weaponisation of interdependence), the more democracies resort to plurilateral second-best responses like trade, investment and environmental agreements conditioning market access on respect for human rights and greenhouse gas reductions (section IV.). This contribution explains why regulatory competition, ‘authoritarian alliances’, and their influence on plurilateral agreements (e. g. in Asia) render ‘constitutional UN/WTO reforms’ and realisation of the SDGs unlikely.

Modern information society and the new period of journalism

Introduction. The development of new information technologies makes corrections not only in science, but also in the media space. In the era of information globalization, the development of cross-media, in the era of information wars and the formation of new information and political communities, the problem of determining compromises between the functioning of civil society and media institutions has arisen. Relevance and purpose. The relevance of the research is outlined by studying the changes taking place in Ukrainian journalism. The goal is to determine the role and place of the mass media in social and political institutions as factors in ensuring the democratic and political rights and freedoms of citizens. Methodology. The methodological basis of the article is a combination of general scientific methods and special methods and approaches. The processing of the source base was based on the application of analytical-synthetic, logical methods, which helped to formulate a system of initial theoretical propositions, principles of selection, analysis and generalization of the research material. The methods of comparative-historical, analytical, interdisciplinary analysis and synthesis are also applied. Empirical research was conducted by the survey method. The results. The development of Ukrainian journalism in the new period of history is difficult, as there is a «persecution» of journalists and obstruction of their activities. In the current period of «clanization» of the Ukrainian media, there is a return to censorship and the transformation of pro-government mass media into means of propaganda, and the appearance or restoration of censorship in Ukraine at the beginning of the 21st century. depends on a number of events in recent history related to the actions of the government, the weakness of civil society, the absence of the rule of law, economic instability, the absence of a middle class, and the presence of a shadow sphere of politics and economics. Conclusions. The new world order in the information space creates new threats: the threat of distortion of the communication process in society regarding the perception of information; the threat of political control; the threat of new opportunities to manipulate public opinion.

The Neoliberal Legal Systems and the Implications for Madrid’s Urban Spaces

This paper explores the topic of social justice and the Right to the City as experienced through the enforced regulation ‘Gag Law’ in Madrid. This policy has been explored up-taking a Foucauldian view-use and organisation of space, and using the concept of the Right to the City developed by Lefebvre. Hence, the ‘Gag Law’ has aimed to prohibiting undesirable protests, restraining political rights and the right to protest. Evaluating the case study of Madrid, results demonstrate that the fusing control and the claim to ‘community safety’ of neoliberal agendas, caused a shrinking of democratic rights in the Spanish city. The main objective has been to stress the importance to allow for a deeper understanding of urban policy implications on citizen’s rights.

The Eurodisappointed: On the disenchantment with the EU's limited response to democratic backsliding

Some defenders of democratic rights and the rule of law are becoming increasingly frustrated by the European Union's inadequate response to democratic backsliding in countries like Poland and Hungary. This study focuses on Poland and introduces the concept of ‘Eurodisappointment’ to describe this new group, which is conceptually and empirically distinct from Euroscepticism. Rather than being Eurosceptic, the Eurodisappointed self-limit their Euroenthusiasm without opposing integration. Drawing on original survey data, we demonstrate that Eurodisappointment is particularly prevalent among women, opposition party voters, and those dissatisfied with the state of democracy in Poland. It is yet to be seen whether and how the concept of Eurodisappointment can be applied to studies of attitudes towards the European Union in other member states.

Lost in the cityscape: Exploring urban homelessness, its societal imprints and policy suggestions

This concise exposition illuminates the societal ramifications of urban homelessness by delving into the subjective experiences of homeless individuals as elucidated through an all-encompassing investigation carried out in Siliguri, India. Employing the qualitative approach based on Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT), we tried to capture the lived experiences of people experiencing homelessness. The findings divulge a multifaceted tapestry of socio-psychological factors situated at the core of the homelessness predicament, encompassing marginalization, maladaptive behaviors, vulnerability within specific demographics, and the unfulfilled entitlement to urban living. The study underscores the pressing necessity for social reappraisal, specialized support services, and policy interventions to address the extreme marginalization and isolation experienced by this vulnerable cohort. It accentuates the significance of economical housing alternatives, community-oriented shelters, accessible programs for addressing drug abuse and mental health disorders, measures promoting economic empowerment, and provision of identification cards enabling democratic rights and governmental program access. The study advocates for a comprehensive approach driven by communal collaboration to combat homelessness while ensuring inclusive and sustainable urban environments wherein every individual is entitled to their "right to the city."