Democratic Culture Research Articles

The Progress of Regional Autonomy Policy and Development Attainments: Indonesia's Experience (1999-2021)

When regional autonomy was implemented in 1999, many questioned whether there would automatically be a fundamental and structural paradigm shift. By critically examining various dimensions of regional development problems in the era of decentralization, the main objective of this study is to analyze development achievements in Indonesia during the implementation of regional autonomy policies (1999-2021). This study uses a qualitative method with a descriptive-analytical approach. The results of this study can be viewed from the four dimensions of decentralization: Political, Administrative, Fiscal, and Economic. Regional autonomy has encouraged a democratic culture amid people's lives from the political dimension. However, the biggest problem in political development is the weak performance of democratic institutions such as parliaments and political parties. From the dimension of government administration, there is a shift from vertical to horizontal accountability, where information and accountability are not given in one direction vertically but also to the people. From the fiscal dimension, regions have not fully optimized regional original revenue and regional economic potential. Fiscal decentralization has not yet had an optimal impact on development in the education, health, and social service sectors. From the economic dimension, there are still very few regions that are serious about using the potential of their natural resources and human resources to increase the competitiveness of their regions in the context of economic development.

Tunisia's Success in Consolidating Its Democracy One Decade Post-the Arab Spring

The political turmoil in Tunisia at the end of 2010 opened the door to the democratization of Arab countries. This event, widely known as The Arab Spring, presented a dream for the Arab community to live a better life under a democratic system. However, after a decade of progress, only Tunisia has succeeded in consolidating its democracy among the Arab countries that have been affected by the political turmoil. This paper tries to read the success factors for Tunisia in consolidating its democracy by using the theory of democracy from Robert Dahl, Jack Snyder, and Georg Sorensen. This study concludes that democracy in Tunisia is already included in the category of matured democracy according to Snyder's theory or has entered the category in which a democratic culture has begun to develop (Sorensen) and fulfills the elements of a democratic state according to Dahl. This success is inseparable from internal and external factors. The internal factor is the foundation of a civil society built before The Arab Spring and the openness of viewpoints of political actors after the political upheaval. Meanwhile, the external factor is the absence of America as the dominant actor in Tunisia because Tunisia is considered a ferry country. Tunisia also proves that Islam and democracy can go hand in hand, and this is a refutation of the pessimistic views of the scholars on Islam and democracy that can go hand in hand.

EKSISTENSI PENDIDIKAN TOLERANSI BERAGAMA BERBASIS LITERASI BUDAYA DAN KEWARGAAN DALAM ERA MEDIA 4.0

This study aims to describe the existence of cultural and civic-based religious tolerance education at SDN 04 Sipkanyin in the media moderation 4.0 era. This research uses a qualitative approach, case study model. The research data collection used observation, interviews, and documentation. The results showed that SDN 04 Sipkanyin has displayed the existence of religious tolerance through learning, school culture, and student self-development by utilizing existing modern technology. Through learning, lesson plan, implementation, assessment, and evaluation are succesfully observed. The academic culture is sensed through installing school’s vision and mission, and discipline. Religious cooperation and guidance are manisfested through democratic culture. Students' self-development is executed through routine extracurricular activities, literacy, religious harmony movies, morning apples, and Monday ceremonies. Spontaneous activities are in form of reprimands, advice, and praise. Exemplary is given through the provision of examples by teachers. Conditioning is by providing infrastructures. Keywords: Religious Tolerance Education; Cultural Literacy and Citizenship; Media Era 4.0

Gençlerin Bütçe Hakkı Algısı: Manisa Celal Bayar Üniversitesi İktisadi ve idari Bilimler Fakültesi Öğrencileri Üzerinden Bir Değerlendirme

Magna Carta (1215) sayesinde ortaya çıkan “temsilsiz vergi olmaz” söylemi, bütçe hakkının ortaya çıkıp gelişimine zemin hazırlamıştır. Bütçe hakkı halkın seçtiği temsilciler eliyle kamusal gelir ve giderlerin belirlemesidir. Günümüzde bütçe hakkı yasama organı tarafından kullanılır. Bütçe hakkı demokrasi kültürünün gelişimine olanak sağlayan bir değerdir. Böylesi önemi olan bir değerin gençler tarafından benimsenmesi, demokrasi kültürünün gelecek nesle aktarılması anlamına gelir. Gençlerin kamu gelir ve giderleri hakkında bilgi sahibi olmaları, kamusal sorumlulukları üstlenme bilinçlerini artırır. Bütçe hakkı algısını ölçmeyi hedefleyen bu çalışma, saha araştırması yöntemiyle buna ulaşmaya çalışmıştır. Seçilen örneklem Manisa Celal Bayar Üniversitesi, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi öğrencileridir. Örnekleme tarafımızca hazırlanan anket yoluyla sorular yöneltilmiş ve alınan yanıtlar istatistiksel olarak analiz edilmiştir. Verilerin analizinde IBM SPSS Statistics (24.0) programı kullanılmıştır. Anket yöntemiyle elde edilen verilerin analizinde T testi ve Tek Yönlü Varyans Analizi (ANOVA) kullanılmıştır. Elli sorudan oluşan bütçe hakkı algısı anketine rassal olarak seçilen 430 öğrenci katılmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlara göre bütçe duyarlılığının Maliye Bölümü öğrencilerinde daha fazla olduğu görülmüştür. Bu çalışmada bütçe hakkı algısına etki eden faktörler olarak saydamlık, kamu mali yönetiminde etkinlik, kamu harcamaları algısı ve eğitim olarak belirlenmiştir. Yapılan doğrusal regresyon analizi sonuçlarına göre belirlilik katsayısı olan R2= 0,541, araştırmada bütçe hakkı algısına etki ettiği varsayılan faktörlerin bütçe hakkı algısının yalnızca %54’lük kısmını açıkladığı ortaya çıkmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Bütçe Hakkı, Kamu Harcamaları Finansmanı, Temsilsiz Vergileme, Vergi Bilinci JEL Sınıflandırması: H60, H50, H20, H23

Illiberal Democrats in Egypt

ABSTRACT Despite years of high expressed support for democracy in the Middle East, recent social movements have not resulted in durable democratization. Egypt, in particular, experienced an authoritarian reversion under a military coup. This article addresses Egyptians’ support for democracy in the context of Democratic Culture Theory. Using an original survey in Egypt and machine learning, it finds that support for liberal values and support for elected government function independently in Egypt. A large minority of the survey respondents were liberal democrats, but the Egyptian public also includes sizable blocs of illiberal democrats and liberal non-democrats. These results suggest that, although there is real support for democracy in Egypt, there is less commitment to the values that can sustain democracy.

Democratic Regime in Myanmar and the Rights of the Rohingya Community

Abstract The right of ethnic minorities, particularly those of the Rohingyas, have been continually and repeatedly denied in Myanmar. When Aung San Suu Kyi’s party came into power, the right of various ethnic groups, especially the rights of Rohingyas during Suu Kyi’s regime were violated. Unfortunately, the conditions for the Rohingya have continued to worsen. The findings of this research show that the human rights of Rohingya in Myanmar were challenged during Aung San Suu Kyi’s so-called democratic regime via ethnic cleansing owing to the absence of real democratic norms, unequal treatment, and state-sponsored violations of human rights against the Rohingya community. The key reasons behind the failure to ensure the rights of the ethnic Muslim minority include militarism in the democratic structure, a lack of democratic institutions, international politics and the interest of powerful countries, a lack of democratic culture, and an aggressive attitude towards the Rohingya. Finally, the paper proposes some policy implications.

Patterns of the Parliamentary Debates: How Deliberative are Turkish Democratic Opening Debates?

Abstract This study attempts to measure the deliberation quality of the Democratic Opening Debates in the Turkish Parliament through the Discourse Quality Index (DQI). The majority of studies have been conducted on the deliberation quality of relatively homogenised and developed Western societies and on less conflictual or contentious topics. In these countries, democratic culture has been institutionalised. On the contrary, Turkey is a developing country and has been going through an ethnic conflict involving violence for many decades. Thus, this case study aims to make an original contribution to empirical deliberation studies. Researchers have examined the 88-page stenographic records of the Democratic Opening Debates and put forward a DQI score. According to the findings, the controversial debates fulfill only 40% of high-level deliberative discourse ethics. This result demonstrates that the ideal deliberation process does not exist in Turkey even though a convenient atmosphere is created for deliberations by means of official procedures. Ethnic division in the society has a profoundly negative impact on the quality of deliberations.

공공역사로서의 구술사와 지역사

This article examines the current status and meaning of oral history and local history in S.Korea from the point of view of public history. The author presented three concepts of public history in a Korean context. And it has been argued that the expansion of public history requires professional historians to change their roles. In Korea, as in the West, the public’s consumption of histories has expanded rapidly. It is not usually due to the direct involvement of the historian. It means that the public has emerged as a subject in the consumption of histories like in cultural democracy. Beyond the popularization of history led by experts, the public led the consumption of histories on their own and began to participate directly in writing histories. In particular, oral history is a very useful method of public history, and local history is becoming a concrete site in which it is implemented. Professional historians are required to train public historians to be active in the local community and to communicate with the public in various areas of public history.

Constitutional boundaries of presidential power and general level of political culture. the case of Serbia

The general level of democratic, political culture in one country is the important determinant that should be taken into consideration both when analyzing its constitutional order as well as when considering its future shaping and direction. Countries that have had a substantial discontinuity in their historical-democratic development face special challenges when returning to the paths of liberal-democratic constitutionality, perhaps the biggest of which is raising the general level of political culture and (re)building a constitutional, democratic tradition. During this process particular systematic distortions may occur, among others, those regarding the mutual control and influence of the highest state authorities. In the Republic of Serbia, there is a noticeable inconsistency in what is generally perceived by the general public (as well as by the constitutional law scholars) as the level of powers and the authority of the President of the Republic. Constitutional framework is often being interpreted without taking the wider scope of the problem into consideration, which includes the immaturity of the democratic culture. This leads to (apparent) inconsistency between the presidential powers by the Constitution and how they really manifest themselves in reality. In this paper the author analyses Serbian constitutional omissions in this regard and offers possible solutions

US Hypocrisy and the End of American Exceptionalism? Narratives of the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol From Illiberal National Media

Despite the United States being the only country in the world that places its former and incoming leader on a stage for millions to see, with the “Peaceful Transition of Power” being the very symbol of American democracy watched around the world, the events on January 6th, 2021, show how such performances of democratic culture are not permanent fixtures. Indeed, whereas US and foreign audiences have become accustomed to watching anti-government protests in illiberal states or underdeveloped democracies, the scenes of thousands of protestors storming the US Capitol has opened the United States itself for critique from the very nations it has admonished in the past. Thus, although the protest paradigm has become the dominant framework for understanding mediated portrayals of anti-government protests, this study argues it provides only partial insight into the January 6th insurrection, eschewing the larger strategic dimensions of non-democratic countries’ media coverage of the event. Rather than focusing on how media framed the event, this study examined 525 news articles from 26 Chinese, Russian, Iranian, and Saudi media outlets’ reporting on the event from January 5th to January 19th through the lens of strategic media narratives. Results show that while elements of the protest paradigm are present in all four countries’ reporting—providing clear condemnation of the event and its participants, with blame placed on President Trump for instigating the attack—two additional overarching plotlines emerge: one shifting the scene away from President Trump to America’s broader polarized politics and failed governance and a second concluding the end of US exceptionalism and characterizations of US hypocrisy. Taken together, these two overarching narratives highlight the significance of storytelling as a potent form of geopolitical contestation in today’s global media environment.

On the imaginaries surrounding participatory digital tools in museums

This paper proposes to question a participatory digital project aimed at enhancing the culture of the community of gypsy women in Arles, through the analysis of the web documentary: Gypsy women of the plane tree quay, set up by the Museon Arlaten, the ethnographic museum of Arles. This reflection questions the way in which a museum sets up a digital system to promote a culture based on the initiatives of this same community. The movement towards participatory mediation through digital technology reflects a desire to update the conditions of cultural democracy. However, the undifferentiated use of the adjective participatory prevents us from thinking about the degree of involvement of individuals and the work of the institution in opening up to its audiences. After an attempt to classify these types of participatory devices, the proposed field study highlights a hybrid project between top-down and bottom-up logics, within a participatory device that really benefits the participants.

Making sense of democratisation: a case study about extracurricular music workshops in France

AbstractSince the early 2000s, education policy in France has strongly encouraged publicly funded conservatoires and music schools to forge partnerships with various stakeholders in sectors outside of specialised music education. This change in the objectives traditionally assigned to music schools and conservatoires has given rise to new ‘pedagogical projects’, among which extracurricular music workshops are quite widespread. This study investigated the views of specialised music teachers in relation to these new pedagogical formats through an analysis of their evaluations of a workshop led in a French school between 2018 and 2019. I interviewed the music teachers who participated in the project (n= 8), those who refused to participate (n= 7) and also the administrative staff (n= 4). The results indicate that far from the ecumenism traditionally associated with policies promoting the democratisation of culture, conservatoire teachers think about and are involved in these projects in different ways, reflecting a wide range of considerations around pedagogy, project quality, purpose or politics.

Sycophantic Culture and the Sustainability of Democracy in Nigeria

Since the return to democratic or civil rule in Nigeria in 1999, we have had the opportunity to take our cherished democracy through successful successive rebirths. Our democracy has been a major factor for the changes, development and growth which we share today. This democracy has also taught us to checkmate people placed in positions in our bid to fight poverty, ensure social cohesion, facilitate the development of our social services, deepen political participation and awareness, and above all, sustain the peace of one Nigeria. However, it is observed with great concern and urgency that there is this dangerous cancerous enigmatic culture which if not tackled, has the propensity to derail and crumble our gigantic efforts to build a better Nigerian democratic culture. This cancer is what I call “sycophantic culture” which is more dangerous than the coup makers. Hence, this paper argues that this sycophantic culture in our socio-economic and political lives is one of the biggest threats we face even as we shape our democracy. Using analytic, historical and expository stencils, the paper identifies the various shades and forms this culture has hindered the making of our national rebirth where merit strives, mediocrity is shunned, ethnic cleavages are integrated at a higher level and cheap religious sentiments down played. The paper concludes using Tiv system of moral justice which reveres the pride of truth telling as a strong panacea towards building an integrative Nigerian democratic variable culture.

The school of thinking, nobility of philosophical spirit and civil courage (to the 75-th anniversary of H.S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)

The article emphasizes the cultural and educational importance of H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy for the spiritual development of the Ukrainian society, especially in the direction of democracy and establishment of the worldview culture as a requirement for the culture of freedom. From the position of the included observer the author of the article describes some episodes of relationship in the scientist’s communities which can be defined as justice and solidary community. On the basis of the Heidegerian scheme, some dangers are analyzed as demands addressed to philosophical thinking. This scheme is used by structuring of the article. The metaphoric of these dangers indicates the contextual problems which are important for producing of philosophical ideas. The experience of the Institute of Philosophy gained by solving of problems is very remarkable for the fulfillment of philosophical studies and educational practices especially by mentoring of the postgraduate students. The fact of naming the Institute after H. Skovoroda is regarded as a symbolic act with a great creative potential and energy which can be used for reviving of national traditions of philosophical thinking. The role of lyric in activating of philosophical ideas is showed. The symbiotic coexisting of the poetry, art, journalism and philosophy is one of the original features of the Skovorodian tradition caring by the well-known representatives of the Institute. All these characteristics joined with the civic culture, which was demonstrated by all generations of the Institute, allow defining it as a metaphysical place with the ability both to follow on the road of the way of light and to represent it on the landscapes of philosophical science and education. The history of the Institute, especially, in the period of its post-totalitarian transformations, gives the opportunity of taking comparison with the Institute for Social Research Frankfurt. The civic courage of the Ukrainian intellectual elites was always initiated, supported and generated by philosophers gathering in Institute of Philosophy.

PERAN MOSALAKI SEBAGAI PEMIMPIN MASYARAKAT ADAT DALAM MELESTARIKAN BUDAYA DEMOKRASI (KULA KAME) PADA MASYARAKAT ADAT LIO DI KABUPATEN SIKKA

This study aims to determine the role of Mosalaki as a traditional leader in preserving the democratic culture (kula kame) in the Lio indigenous people and to find out what are the obstacles to Mosalaki in preserving the democratic culture (kula kame) in the Lio indigenous people. This study uses qualitative research with an ethnographic approach and the data sources used are primary and secondary data. The results showed that the role of Mosalaki as a traditional leader of the Lio community, namely: controlling ulayat land, leading traditional rituals, and resolving conflicts in the community, while for Mosalaki's obstacles in preserving democratic culture (kula kame) the implementation of the traditional ritual itself, namely: internal barriers (internal). ), obstacles from outside (external), past and present leadership, and leadership insight itself.

Traditional Administration and its Impact on Democratic Governance in Africa “The Nigerian Experience”

Democratic governance is undoubtedly adjudged to be the most acceptable instrument through which people can be better served and administered for sustainable development. Even though traditional institution has been the indigenous governance instrument long before the advent of modern democracy, it is a framework that survived and believed to have tremendous impacts on the modern democratic process and governance in Nigeria. This paper therefore examines the relationship inherent between the traditional institutions and the modern democratic process of governance in Africa with particular reference to Nigeria. The research is a survey type which relies on available literature on governance, close observations and discussion with intellectuals and experts on governance generally. The paper finds a close relationship between the traditional administration and the democratic governance processes in Nigeria. This relationship by way of impacts on democratisation process is seen in the following ways; despotic disposition to leadership, personalisation of the instruments of governance, apparent disregard for constitutional limitations of tenure, masculinisation of leadership, class domination and promotion of political hegemony. The paper concludes that there is a dominance of such traditional administration values among Nigerian politicians and leaders. The paper recommends a systemic restructuring, systematic but aggressive mass reorientation and sensitisation about the true democratic culture and value as against the old order, promotion of equal opportunities for all, mass literacy campaign against despotism and personalisation of instruments of governance, promotion of transparency and accountability amongst others, for good governance and sustainable development.

Digital Broadcasting Network and the Emerging Democratic Culture in Nigeria: The 2021 Anambra Guber Debate Experience

Series of election debates made available to the masses through the use of digital broadcast media technologies have been conducted in different places among different candidates running for different elective positions in different countries. As part of the political activities preceding the elections, the impact of these election debate aired through digital broadcasting technology on the voting decision of the citizens have not been examined Nigeria. Against this background, this study evaluated exposure to 2021 gubernatorial election debate and its influence on voting decision and choice of candidate among residents of Awka metropolis. The democratic participant theory was used while the survey research method was adopted in surveying 400 respondents sampled from Awka metropolis. Findings demonstrated that election debate influence voting decision and encourage candidate evaluation among the respondents. It was concluded that election debate is an important election activity that benefits both the electorate and the candidates. It was also found that the use of digital broadcast technology was applauded by the respondents for is capacity in strengthening democracy. It was recommended among others, that election debate should be made compulsory for all candidates running for all elective positions in Nigeria.

Feminism, Intersectionality, and Gender Category: Essential Contributions for Historical Thinking Development

The following article inquires how introducing the gender category, feminism theories, and intersectionality into social sciences education, especially regarding historical thinking development, could be key for the construction of a more critical and egalitarian future. The main research problem is knowing how the use of the gender category is included, or not, in the development of historical thinking in pre-service teacher beliefs and how it could condition them when they work on historical and social problems in the classroom. The main objective is to analyze the historical thinking development in pre-service Spanish teacher students and their capacity for constructing critical discourses with a gender perspective. Pre-service teachers of five Spanish universities (of the Primary and Secondary Education Degree) were asked about a report from a digital newspaper version that forces them to use historical thinking and to consider gender stereotypes and prejudices. Their responses were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results indicate that pre-service teachers are not able to identify their own gender roles and prejudiced attitudes when they attempt to explain a social problem and they propose solutions, even when they could verify that there was another manner to understand this report. Hence, this research highlights the relevance of implementing feminism, intersectionality, and gender category for historical thinking development since these future teachers need to work around democratic culture competences. By contrast, not including this perspective will lead to them still maintaining historical thinking and democracy configured on hegemonic, heteropatriarchal, sexist, and Eurocentric cultural models.

A Survey Study on Social Behaviors towards Nepali Army

Humans interact among themselves, and they have different perceptions of public institutions based on their individual approaches and attitudes. Behavior is an interactive product of emotion, thought, and feeling. It is usually resulted from people’s perceptions and activities. Notably, social relation, welfare, accountability, rule of law, democratic culture determines the social behaviors of ­institutions. An in-depth study of social responses about any work or institution through social media has remained unsearched. This study aims to assess social behaviors towards Nepali Army. To fulfill this objective symbolic behaviors: happy, sad, surprised, excited and outraged on news about the Nepali Army published in Online Khabar were analyzed by deploying a quantitative research method. Out of 138, the 28 news were found as per pre-determined news themes and used for study. The findings of the study reveals that 84.5 % and 86.2 % were happy face behaviors on news on the Nepali Army’s social welfares works and military diplomacy on international controversial issues respectively. Likewise, 91.7 % were sad face behaviors on news on sad events for the Nepali Army. This study strongly indicates that Nepali people are satisfied with the work culture of the Nepali Army and that the Nepali Army has a high reputation in the public sphere. The study result also reveals that Army has been contributing to nation development to keep public sentiments as a central by respecting democratic principles. Good deeds have good comments or happy behaviors. Digital media comments are spontaneous; these comments judge the reputation of the institutions fairly.

Democratic Culture Development: Educational Factors’ Impact on Fairness Experience from High School Seniors’ Perspectives

The development of a democratic political culture is one of the challenging areas in countries under democratization. The political culture of a country is nourished by the values its society shares, which are sourced from different mainsprings. Considering that fairness is one of the core values upon which democracy is founded, the way the young generation perceives and experiences this value is significant. Keeping in mind that inequalities of the society are also reflected in schools, the question if education is a sphere that mirrors fairness raises naturally. In this paper, we explore the relationship between fairness experience and education-related variables. We also investigate the total variance of fairness experience as explained by educational variables altogether and by each of them individually. The study uses a quantitative methods design and collects data through a questionnaire developed by the researchers delivered online to senior high school students from the four main educational directorates in Albania. The analysis of the data yielded a significant positive correlation between educational variables and fairness experience. It also revealed that educational variables altogether and separately can be predictors of fairness experience.
 
 Received: 19 November 2021 / Accepted: 1 February 2022 / Published: 5 March 2022