Democratization Efforts Research Articles

Shifting police strategies: US aid and repression by public safety institutions in Latin America

This article studies the international determinants of extrajudicial police killings in Latin America. Human rights violations by security forces are a problem that has plagued Latin American countries, despite broad democratization efforts in the region. Addressing the problem requires a better understanding of the processes that underlie it. Although existing literature has explored the determinants of police repression in Latin America through country-specific studies, there has been a lack of cross-national analyses. In this article we use original data on human rights violations by security forces in Latin America between 1998 and 2018 to argue that, beyond domestic factors, foreign aid provided by the United States in the War on Drugs era has influenced police repression both by encouraging heavy-handed policies and by driving a substitution dynamic between violations by different security forces.

Dimensions of Francis Fukuyama’s “The End of History” Vision in the Eastern Europe of the Post-Cold War: Reconsideration of Nationalism

Following the Second World War, the Cold War initiated a bipolar contest for superiority that would last for decades, and in this era the Soviet Union established communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Nationalism, which the Soviet Union tried to oppress but which played a role in the delegitimization of Soviet control, became an important topic of discussion between authorisation regimes and democratisation efforts in the world politics. During and after the Cold War period several thoughts were introduced about nationalism from different perspectives. Francis Fukuyama was among the important figures who thought about nationalism at that time. In his book “The End of History”, Fukuyama touched upon nationalism to explain the struggle for recognition and argued that nationalism is a form of recognition. In this context, this article first focuses on the historical timeline and nationalism in Eastern Europe in the Cold War era. Then, it examines the events that took place in Eastern Europe in the aftermath of the Cold War by concentrating on Fukuyama’s inferences about nationalism and seeks an answer to the reconsideration of nationalism.

POLITICAL CULTURE LEGACY HINDERING EUROPEANIZATION EFFORTS IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

In recent years, the democratization efforts required for EU integration have been challenged by authoritarian regimes' persistence across some Southeast European countries. This study focuses on Albania as a case study, examining the endurance of political and administrative cultural legacies within its public institutions. Despite numerous reforms aimed at EU integration and democratization processes, institutional transformation remains impeded by outdated behavioural attitudes, concepts, and mindsets. The efficacy of democracy is intrinsically linked to the adherence to fundamental principles within the realm of Public Administration, encompassing key values such as meritocracy, impartiality, professionalism, and a steadfast commitment to public service. Moreover, a resilient judiciary is pivotal in upholding integrity by acting as a bulwark against malfeasance and procedural impropriety. Additionally, the autonomy of the media and the empowerment of civil society are indispensable requisites for sustaining a robust democratic framework. Collectively, these elements serve as the bedrock for establishing and perpetuating a well-functioning democratic system. Various scholars highlight that political culture can impact the implementation of good governance practices, values, and behavioural methods. This research delves into the challenges Albania, an early-stage EU aspirant, encounters over three decades as it endeavours to adopt EU norms during the transformation of public institutions. The study considers the influence of internal hindrances, including political memory and past legacies, on the reform process and the Europeanization of Public Administration. By analysing these factors, the research aims to gain insights into the negative internal dynamics and provide recommendations for fostering a democratic political culture that strengthens institutions through effective reforms.

Optimizing Electronic Voting System in Village Head Elections: Evaluation and Recommendations from Sleman Regency, Indonesia

INTRODUCTION: The rapid technological advancements of Industry 4.0 have influenced government politics, extending to the adoption of electronic voting in village head elections. In Sleman, e-voting was introduced in 2020, aiming for voting system efficiency and synchronization of population data, positioning the region as an e-voting pioneer in Indonesia. While e-voting offers efficiency and cost savings, it faces some problems. OBJECTIVES: This study endeavors to comprehensively assess the implementation of the e-voting system in village head elections and provide recommendations for its optimization, with a specific focus on the context of Sleman Regency.METHODS: This qualitative research encompasses data from 17 villages spread across 35 sub-districts within Sleman Regency. The study utilizes a comprehensive approach that includes secondary data analysis, incorporating literature, internet-based resources, scientific journals, books, regulations, and official documents. It further involves interviews with government officials at Sleman offices, officials at polling stations, and voters. Additionally, observational data is gathered to shed light on the intricate dynamics of e-voting.RESULTS: The evaluation focused on four pivotal aspects of the e-voting system's success: public trust, public participation, technology, and adherence to election principles. The findings reveal improved dynamics in 2021 when compared to 2020. Public trust in the e-voting system has notably increased, aligning with the relatively successful implementation in the previous year. While community participation has reached a satisfactory level, it has yet to attain full community control, with interesting nuances observed, particularly in less ‘advanced’ villages where participation tends to be lower. In the realm of technology, the e-voting system excels in terms of security, hardware reliability, the comprehensiveness of application features, and user-friendliness.CONCLUSION: The study underscores that the enhancement of e-voting systems presents an avenue to fortify democratic practices and electoral processes in Indonesia. Acknowledging imperfections in data collection systems and addressing participation disparities among villages should be prioritised. Furthermore, the study suggests that comprehensive future research is needed to evaluate the feasibility of extending e-voting systems to higher levels of government elections. This examination offers valuable insights into the evolution of e-voting in Indonesia and the prospects for its expansion in democratisation efforts.

Heavy metal in Turkey: Tracking the tensions of democratization in the 1990s

AbstractMusic, as a form of public discourse, invariably becomes a social science field that is considered more in the postmodern era when the boundaries are blurred. This study examines the political and cultural links between the emergence of the heavy metal genre and Turkish democracy. There are correlations between the prevalence of heavy metal in Turkey and the country's social and political transition in the 1990s and the search for a new path. The main argument here is that, among the country's tense democratization efforts and social problems, the heavy metal genre also indirectly carries the distinct traces of a different political search for the youth of the 1990s, although not directly. Democratic politics is a process established by daily life with the direct influence of societal interactions, and Turkish politics, and cultural life, in this case, heavy metal, include important notions in this remarkable manner. The main point symbolized by metal music in Turkey was its lyrical and artistic ability to express different points of view loudly enough against the uniform religious and nationalist culture that could be offensive, while other mainstream ranges such as pop and arabesque music didn't mind this issue.

De-Democratization and the Paradox of State Fragility: Can Nigeria’s Democracy Survive?

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the discourse of De-democratization and the paradox of State fragility with special attention to Nigeria. While employing content analytical methods and structural-functionalism theory, the paper argued that Nigerian democracy is bedeviled with enormity of challenges ranging from hollow electoral process, economic conundrum, inequality and marginalization, corruption, ethnic chauvinism among others, which has weakened the country’s democratization effort. Even though the country has existed for a century, it has failed to imbibe the democratic ethos. The discourse critically ventured into proffering possible ways that could ensure the survivability of Nigeria’s democracy with a post – colonial state formation

Somalia-Somaliland Relations: Assessing Scenarios for Negotiations and Averting Possibility of Fresh Crises in the Horn of Africa

This paper focuses on the Somalia-Somaliland unresolved politico legal issue on their relationship. The contestation between the two has been dragging for a long time as a domestic issue, but due to the growing interest of both western, (re)emerging eastern and middle eastern powers, the Somalia-Somaliland sovereignty dispute is getting a new momentum and started to involve regional geopolitics. Deep political division within Somaliland over the power and resource sharing precipitated by exclusionary politics and failure of democratization efforts as well as insecurity in Somaliland’s eastern regions has finally led to armed conflict and deadly confrontations in Lasanod in Early February 2023. Because of fragility and the sensitivity of the conflicting political agendas between Somalia including Puntland and Somaliland, it attracted the attention of the United Nations Security Council, and regional bodies. Traditionally, the Horn of Africa has always been volatile for political and security dynamics. Over the past five year, the region has been shaken by the Gulf crises, followed by the US-Chinese competition over the Bab al-Mandeb strait that connects red sea to the gulf and the Indian ocean. To avert possibility of fresh escalations that may lead to regionalizing the dispute, consolidating extremism, or importing international proxy, the paper will assess three potential scenarios as methods to pursue by both authorities and by the United Nations in search for a solution of the Somalia-Somaliland question.

Zachery A. Fry. A Republic in the Ranks: Loyalty and Dissent in the Army of the Potomac.

Zachery Fry’s study of political culture within the Army of the Potomac sheds new light on old questions. It builds on a robust body of scholarship that explores how American soldiers brought their politics into the United States military, and how their time in uniform transformed their political worldview. Focusing on the “common soldier,” works by James McPherson, Chandra Manning, Earl Hess, Gary Gallagher, Peter Carmichael, and Jonathan White (among many others) have probed why they enlisted, how they understood race, slavery, emancipation, and Union, how they voted, and how their experiences changed them. What distinguishes Fry’s new work is his focus on junior officers in the Army of the Potomac, an intriguing subset of the military that has been largely neglected by historians. As a group, junior officers tended to be older, better educated, and more politically engaged than enlisted men. Fry argues that they formed a “distinct political culture” (10). According to Fry, these junior officers began the war as active political partisans and only became more politically committed as the war progressed. In 1861, the ranks of the junior officer corps were already deeply divided along partisan lines. The disastrous Peninsula Campaign of 1862 prompted many of them to turn against General George McClellan and, by extension, the Democratic Party. While many junior officers expressed reservations about Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, they rejected Democratic efforts to undermine administration policies as unpatriotic. Early in the war, many Democratic state legislatures prohibited soldiers’ voting, citing technicalities to restrict their suffrage. Although disenfranchised, junior officers remained politically active and engaged, contributing to newspapers and writing impassioned letters home. In fits and starts, they became increasingly devoted to supporting the Lincoln administration and the Republican Party. In the epilogue, Fry traces how wartime political activism shaped the postwar lives of Union veterans.

THE ROLE OF MILITARISM IN THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF MYANMAR SOCIETY

This paper discusses how the Myanmar military took back power from the government, the democratic efforts built by the Myanmar government returned to a dream after the coup on 1 February 2021. The conflict between civil society and militarism became something that could not be avoided, people took to the streets and made a ceasefire, thousands of civilians were killed in the democracy they aspired to, some-ASEAN communities condemned the conflict that occurred. The purpose of this paper, to see how the dynamics of the Myanmar state in building a complete democracy with a military coup, as well as the role of the Military in the socio-political dynamics in Myanmar, the methodology used is a qualitative method, with the approach of conflict theory, welfare theory.

Civil society and democratization: The role of service‐providing organizations amid closing civic spaces

AbstractThis article argues that current democracy promotion strategies relying on rights‐claiming advocacy NGOs are falling short of their democratization goals, as authoritarian regimes are closing the space through restrictions on the NGOs that attempt to carry them out. In response, we suggest a reexamination of earlier approaches to involving civil society in democratization efforts by shifting the focus back on service‐providing civil society organizations that have largely become side‐lined in democracy‐building agendas. Specifically, service providers tend to be more capable of functioning “under the radar” thus contributing to democracy in both direct and indirect ways, and thus escaping closing space restrictions. The key concerns about their independence from the state, as well as under what conditions the state may be less successful in coopting the independent service‐providers, however, remain unresolved and warrant future research.

Понятие насилия в социально-политической философии Аристотеля

Violence, despite all the democratic efforts of politicians, has not been overcome. As a result, humanity was forced to find a balance between violence and nonviolence. On the one hand, violence is necessary to maintain law and order, but on the other it needs to be normalized and regulated. Since the emergence of ancient philosophy, as the basis of European culture, many of its representatives have offered their ideas for a better way of life of society. One of the striking examples is the socio-political ideas of the great ancient philosopher Aristotle. He largely determined the course of devel-opment of further socio-political ideas in the history of Europe and the world. For this reason, the task of the study is to analyze and systematize Aristotle's views on violence. The main method of research is analysis. In his works, Aristotle examines many socio-political aspects in the life of society. They are all very diverse, but Aris-totle makes a detailed analysis and regulation on the degree of permissibility of the use of each type of violence, or prohibition.

민주화운동과 통일운동의 공유 가치: 탈냉전적 민족주의 통합노력

In the 2020s, the Korean Peninsula seems to have further alienated its desire for peaceful reunification due to the North Korean nuclear threat that has continued for the past 20 years. However, clues can be found to solve this crisis in the history of the last democratization movements, which have always pursued a unification movement with the change of dictatorship. This paper examines the nationalist ideal that has always accompanied Korea's democratization efforts, identifies the connection between the democratization movement and the unification movement, and presents contemporarily significant points based on the results. For the purpose of this study, the researcher introduces the traditional security view that has relied on military power by considering the South Korean people's sense of unification in the midst of the North Korean nuclear crisis in the 2020s and the realist opinion that leads the cause and feasibility of unification on economical terms. In addition, this research examines the pattern of the post-Cold War nationalist integration spirit that appeared in the unification movement process after the democratization movement, and highlights the connection point of the two major movements and their value of the time. This study has found that students and citizens who participated in the pro-democracy movement argued for nationalistic ideals against foreign intervention while resisting the authoritarian government's suppression of the pro-democracy movement in the name of the US-backed anti-communist line. This research is significant in that it emphasizes that continuous democracy practice is a key element of security in addition to military power by linking the two major movements ideologically.

Civil society organizations and the prevention of mass atrocities: Perspectives from south Sudan

AbstractNowhere is the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in development and democratization more critical than in countries at high risk of mass atrocities. In this article, we examine the actual and potential role of development CSOs in the prevention of mass atrocities based on an analysis of 302 CSOs in South Sudan. The article examines if and how service‐providing CSOs frame their work as contributing to the prevention of mass atrocities. The article seeks to understand how these CSOs deliver services and articulate their work regarding the prevention of large‐scale identity‐based violence. We aim to explore the degree to which organizations describe atrocity prevention as an intentional part of democratization efforts. The article is situated within the larger debates about the service delivery and civil society functions of CSOs. Specifically, we ask: To what extent do development CSOs articulate a contribution to the prevention of mass atrocities? We posit that the service delivery and civil society functions can be better achieved by giving deliberate attention to an atrocity prevention perspective.

The End of Adaptive Authoritarianism in Belarus?

In the 2000s the Belarusian regime appeared adept at developing appropriate methods for countering external democratisation efforts and was even a model for other post-Soviet autocracies. To cope with ever-changing internal and external environments, the regime honed the methods of adaptive authoritarianism. However, this article shows that the Belarusian system is fragile and failing by using a framework that analyses various aspects of adaptive authoritarianism, including performance legitimacy, personalist rule, neopatrimonialism, managed pluralism and coercive capacity.

Sejarah dan Tranformasi Politik Turki: Pergulatan Sekularisme dan Islamisme

: It is known that in its historical record, Turkey was the first "Islamic" country to boldly adopt secularism, however, Islamism of course cannot be separated from the life of Turkish society. Not only because of the history of the great empire of Islam in the past: the Ottoman dynasty, but Islamic religious values have taken root in the life of the Turkish people. The recent rise of Turkish Islamists must be seen as historical implications, the climate in Turkey's political tradition which often clashes two ideological groups such as Islamism and Secularism, of course, cannot be separated from the long journey of this country, Turkey's political transformation occurs with various dynamics surrounding it both in the name of democracy. but the practice of political pragmatism often brings Turkey to identity politics tensions. This article aims to describe the history of Islam and Turkish politics, how its political transformation, the birth of the Turkish republic, the transformation of its political system and culture to democratization efforts and the revival of political Islam groups in Turkey.

Editorial: Challenges to Local Democracy: Democratization Efforts and Democratic Backsliding at the Sub-national Level

Editorial: Challenges to Local Democracy: Democratization Efforts and Democratic Backsliding at the Sub-national Level

Violence against women in politics as an unintended consequence of democratization

ABSTRACT Latin American countries have struggled to improve the quality of democracy after the transition from authoritarian regimes. Countries have adopted various measures, including gender quotas, to make democracies more inclusive. Despite impressive gains in terms of the number of women in electoral politics, the quotas have proved insufficient to level the playing field of politics and promote the representation of women’s interests. Women report being the victims of violence and harassment that has the goal of forcing them to resign or controlling their decisions as political actors. This article examines the case of Bolivia to show that violence and harassment against women in politics include both traditional forms of gender-based violence and “novel” ways to attack women facilitated by democratic reforms. The article also analyzes feminist resistance to violence against women in politics in the context of regional campaigns to end gender-based violence. The analysis shows that democratization efforts, including the adoption of symbolic gender equality measures, can have unintended effects that undermine women’s political participation and gender equality goals and represent a significant obstacle to the consolidation of democracy.

The Imperfect Democratic Transition in Somalia

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors undermining the democratic transition in Somalia. During the first decade of independence, Somalia attempted to institutionalize a multiparty democracy. However, several factors, such as the lack of a clear political ideology, authoritarianism, and the formation of clan-based political parties, led to the decline of democratic practices, followed by a military coup and a protracted civil war. That had a devastating impact on the short and long-term democratic efforts in the country. Thirty years after the collapse of the central government, the country is embroiled in protracted political instability that continues to undermine efforts to establish formal democratic institutions and mechanisms. Apart from the political cleavage among political actors, this paper examines other factors undermining the successful transition to democracy in Somalia. It identifies factors such as the practice of clannism or a clan-based political system, rampant electoral corruption, and the inconsistent role of the international community in supporting the democratization process in Somalia. The paper argues that continuing the indirect elections has blocked the attaining successful democratic transition and stalled the adoption of procedural democracy. In addition, susceptible public institutions and instability have negatively impacted a prolonged transition in Somalia.

Opening up the notion of “closing space”: accounting for normative, actor, and political system diversity

ABSTRACT Our understanding of the “closing space” argument is much nuanced if we widen the conceptualizations of both “closing” and “space”. “Closing” would thus include state attempts to restrict not only the promotion of democratic/human rights norms, but also other types of norms (conservative, right-wing, Islamist). A broader definition of “space” would likewise include not only the space occupied by CSOs, but also that of other politically important actors, such as political parties and religious communities. Lastly, we stand to gain from putting the spotlight on democratic states' efforts to control outside influences on its domestic political sphere. The article thus proposes an analytical framework focusing on state regulations of foreign funding to CSOs, political parties, and religious communities, which is applied in two exploratory case studies of Israel and Tunisia. The article finds that the two states attempt to control norm diffusion not only via domestic CSOs, but also through political parties and religious groups. Regulations do not always target human rights and democratic norms. Foreign funding regulations have at times favoured foreign funding for nationalistic, right-wing norms: at others, democratic norms over Islamic norms. Thus, the “closing space” phenomenon is more complex than usually understood.

Governance of intermediate cities: lessons from post-disaster action in the Acapulco Metropolitan area, México

This article analyses the governance patterns of post-disaster public action carried out after Hurricanes Ingrid and Manuel hit Coyuca de Benítez in 2013, a municipality that is part of the Metropolitan Area of Acapulco, Mexico, seeking to contribute towards broadening knowledge about the modes of governance of intermediate cities, and in particular, those related to disaster risk reduction. Conceptually, the concept of adaptive governance is presented to contrast and reflect on prevailing governance patterns in Coyuca. Methodologically speaking, this work is based on the sociology of public action, to analyse the reconstruction processes of infrastructure, public services, and housing, through interviews, focus groups, and diverse written sources. This paper argues that, despite the decentralization and democratization efforts of recent decades, governance patterns are highly centralized and not very adaptive, limiting the development of participatory and articulated interventions that meet people's daily needs and improve their quality of life. In this context, public action, rather than reducing disaster risks, has increased and/or generated new risks in already precarious and vulnerable urban territories. Along the same vein, this paper questions the relevance of regulatory and conceptual frameworks, such as adaptive governance, to guide significant changes, given the distance between ideal and existing governance patterns in the territories.