Electoral Blocs Research Articles

Особенности применения инструментов цифровой коммуникации в пространстве социальных медиа (на материалах политических кампаний в Болгарии)

The purpose of this research work is to identify the factors that determine the constructive potential of promoting Bulgarian political parties in the digital environment. To achieve this goal, the article examines the practical experience of using social networks in political campaigns in Bulgaria. At the same time, it is noted that modern digital platforms and social networks are widely used in the country under consideration to communicate with voters in the processes of forming public opinion. To achieve the goal set in the work, the methods of content analysis and discourse analysis of the political segment of the Bulgarian digital space, as well as the Case Study method in the aspect of studying the specifics of the use of digital communication tools by political parties in Bulgaria in the social media space during election campaigns, were used as a methodological basis for the study. Through content analysis, the content parameters of information and communication interaction with the electorate of leading Bulgarian politicians were analyzed in terms of their influence on public opinion. The article examines the cases of information and communication interaction with the electorate of B. Borisov, K. Ninova, R. Radev and H. Ivanov. The paper shows that as a result of the successful application of modern digital technologies of socio-political communication with target electoral audiences, the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party demonstrated the ability to effectively interact with voters through the successful introduction of digital technologies during the election campaign, while the Bulgarian Socialist Party, The party "We continue the Changes" and the electoral bloc "Democratic Bulgaria" have demonstrated significantly less effective work with the electorate in the social media space. Based on the results of the work, the authors conclude that digital platforms and social networks are widely used in Bulgaria today for effective socio-political communication with voters and in shaping public opinion of the country's population.

Hindutva, OBCs, and Koli Selfhood in Western and Central India

ABSTRACT This paper describes how cultivator caste Kolis, who are the largest electoral bloc in Gujarat, India’s flagship state of Hindu chauvinism, navigate, circumvent, and are constituted by the intensification of Hindu chauvinism in the state’s borderland districts dominated by subordinated social groups. Once the centerpiece of a secular political coalition in Gujarat, the personhood of Kolis at the intersection of the Aravali hills and Malwa plateau, a window onto rural central- and western India, has been constructed in complex ways since 2014. Mass-mediated media narratives potentiate Brahminical hegemony, the temple-industrial complex produces affective potentialities with caste Hinduism, and the politics of cow protection promotes new relationalities with bovines. However, this identity formation is fraught with slippages and reveals the always open possibilities of oppositional subjectivities.

Competitive yet unfair: May 2023 elections and authoritarian resilience in Turkey

ABSTRACT On May 14, Turkish voters headed to the polls to vote for presidential and parliamentary elections. This was the most challenging race yet for authoritarian populist Erdoğan, as the ongoing economic crisis and deadly earthquakes severely diminished his performance legitimacy. Moreover, the opposition parties united against his regime by rallying behind a joint presidential candidate. However, Erdoğan turned the tables on the opposition and won the presidential race for a third consecutive term while his electoral bloc secured a majority in the parliament. This paper analyses the context and results of Turkey’s 2023 twin elections. We highlight the features of the competitive authoritarian regime, Erdoğan’s religio-nationalist electoral strategy, and the opposition’s fragile state and weak strategy to explain Erdoğan’s electoral resilience.

Predizborna kampanja u radio i TV programu na rumunskom jeziku Javnog servisa Vojvodine

The aim of this paper is to investigate the way in which the pre-election campaign is reported in the radio and TV programme in the Romanian language of the Public Service of Vojvodina. In that sense, articles on this topic were analysed in 14 radio and 14 TV central informative programmes broadcasted in March 2022. For the purposes of the research, a quantitative-qualitative method of media discourse content analysis and a comparative method were used, also a code sheet was compiled including the following categories: date, medium, duration of the radio and TV report, publication of the article (in the pre-election block or outside the block), topic, authorship, genre, audio-visual equipment, reporting occasion, location, subject, personalization of the subject, party affiliation of the subject, party name of the subject if it is a party person, object, personalization of the object, party affiliation of the object, party name of the object if it is a party person, the relation of the subject to the object, the way of advertising in the campaign, notes. The analysis of the results showed that despite the tendency of journalists to inform the audience about the activities of political parties in a timely manner, this was done through simple forms, most often news, without a critical approach. Furthermore, most of the space was given to the pre-election campaign in Belgrade and other places in Serbia, ignoring Novi Sad and Vojvodina, as well as places with Romanian population. The analysed articles most often report on current events, with an emphasis on the activities of Republic officials and candidates in the presidential elections. In addition, the most represented politician is Aleksandar Vučić and the SNS political party. Therefore, we cannot consider this an example of good practice because the Public Service must be in the service of the citizens who establish and finance it, not only one party. Still, we commend the effort to report on the campaign within the electoral bloc, thus preventing abuse of office and preventing officials from being advertised from positions of power.

Regional cleavages in African politics: Persistent electoral blocs and territorial oppositions

Do socio-economic cleavages shape electoral dynamics in African countries? Previous individual-level and party systems research on African politics has de-emphasized socio-economic factors, contributing to the common view that ethnic cleavages and short-term ethnic alliances define politics both locally and nationally. Focusing on Kenya, Zambia, and Malawi, we draw on methods in electoral geography to offer a spatial analysis of geographic patterns in constituency-level electoral returns over three decades that reveals the existence of persistent regional voting blocs that, in their temporal stability and multiethnic character, are not well explained by prevailing theory. The anomalies open the door to a reinterpretation national electoral structure and dynamics in the three countries that takes the geographic clustering of the persistent voting blocs as a clue to their etiology. We propose an interpretation that focuses on core-periphery cleavages in national electorates, following Lipset and Rokkan's (1967) classic model of territorial oppositions in countries undergoing political and economic integration and modernization. DHS data and proxies for regional economic activity support this interpretation. Socio-economic cleavages of the type explored in comparative political economy literatures on spatial inequality and territorial politics may be more salient in African electoral politics than previously thought.

Coping with Cross‐Pressures: The Seamless Garment in Catholic Political Behavior

The Catholic Church is the largest religious denomination in the United States, yet political science lacks a comprehensive account of how the cross‐pressures created by its policy prescriptions structure Catholic political behavior. Because Catholicism's policy positions land on both sides of the contemporary partisan divide—its cultural concerns aligning with the Republican Party and its pro‐social justice stance compatible with Democratic priorities—adherence to Church teaching creates electoral dilemmas for Catholic voters. By juxtaposing existing work on Catholic political behavior with the psychological literature on cognitive dissonance, we form expectations about Catholic adherence to Church policy prescriptions and its implications for electoral choice. We focus empirically on “Seamless Garment Catholics” (SGCs)—those Catholics who share the Church's policy positions—finding that seamless‐garment views are uncommon among Catholic voters, are more common among religiously committed and Latino Catholics, and are discouraged by ties to the two major parties. SGCs are more likely than other Catholics to employ psychological coping mechanisms, such as avoidance and selective perception, to reduce Church‐inspired cognitive dissonance. Our research provides insight into an important electoral bloc that is cross‐pressured uniquely by its faith commitments.

Elections of Deputies of the State Duma of the Second Convocation (1995-1999): the Success of the Anti-reform Opposition, the Failure of the “Party of Power” and the Defeat of the Democrats (to the 30<sup>th</sup> Anniversary of the Russian Federation)

The article is devoted to the political and historical analysis of the elections of deputies of the State Duma of the second convocation in 1995. The political context of these elections is assessed as a confrontation between the “party in power” and the anti-reform opposition. To counteract the opposition, the “party in power” created its own political structure to participate in the elections — the movement “Our Home-Russia” (NDR), headed by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. An analysis of the process of creating the PDR movement, which took place under the auspices of the Presidential Administration, confirms the use of the administrative resource of the presidential and executive powers in this process. The creation of the NDR movement led to the erosion of the reformist-democratic wing. The weakening of this flank was also facilitated by the fact that the political organizations forming it could not unite. Two leading political organizations with a reformist-democratic orientation — Yegor Gaidar’s Democratic Choice of Russia party and Grigory Yavlinsky’s Yabloko public association did not create a common electoral bloc, although there were objective prerequisites for this. A significant aspect of the 1995 election campaign was the fact that Russian industry corporations and financial and industrial groups began to show an active interest in the elections of deputies. They began to incorporate lobbyists of their interests into the parliamentary corps. At the elections of deputies of the State Duma of the second convocation in 1995. success accompanied the anti-reform opposition and, above all, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, failure befell the “party of power” represented by the NDR movement, and the reformist democrats who failed to unite suffered a crushing defeat. The State Duma of the second convocation had a pronounced anti-reform and oppositional character to the incumbent president and the executive branch, but at the same time it was a fairly independent political institution, which retained certain opportunities for competitive legislative activity and the search for compromises in crisis situations. The 1995 elections cannot be assessed as completely fair and free, and, starting with these elections, the bacillus of electoral corruption was introduced into the organism of Russian politics.

Las elecciones de febrero de 1936 en la provincia de León

The february 1936 parliamentary elections in Spain involved the definitive settlement of a social division incited by political ideas close to the Civil War. The province of León had taken an active role in the previous revolutionary months, whose first consecuencies were the capture of many workers and miners. Thus, the amnisty for them would be the crucial question in order to get popular support for one of the biggest electoral blocs. The count in this province gave the victory to the right-wings, although the left tendencies had a never known support, crowing their expectatives in all over León.

The impact of clans and parties on mobilizing and guiding voters in Palestine (a field study: Hebron governorate)

Purpose This paper aims to identify the impact of Clans and parties on mobilizing and guiding voters in the municipal elections in Palestine, from the point of view of Municipal Council members, especially the municipal elections in Hebron governorate for 2005 and 2017. The Palestinian society in Hebron governorate is characterized by the penetration of parties and clans, and this governorate is one of the most clan-based Palestinian provinces. It also relies on clans to run its social and political system as well as managing and shaping the guiding of its citizens. Design/methodology/approach The quantitative research method was used in this study, and the study population is consisted of members of the municipal councils in Hebron governorate, especially the councils classified (A, B).Whereas, the municipalities classified under category (A) are the ones in the center of the governorate, and the municipalities classified under category (B) are the most in the population. The study depended on a purposive sample of (200) Municipal Council members, including 100 municipal councilors in 2005 and 100 municipal councilors in 2017. The survey was conducted in the academic year (2018–2019). The method Four–Jurors (Reviewers) was used in collecting data. Findings The results of the study showed that clans and political parties are among the most prominent means of mobilizing and guiding voters in Palestine. The field study indicated thact clans and parties had a high impact on the mobilization and guiding of voters in the municipal elections in Hebron governorate in 2005 and 2017. This is due to the unity of the clan, its association with political parties and the overlapping between the clan and the party. Parties have also penetrated the Palestinian society besides its support to people who are loyal even it did not choose them in the elections. Moreover, many members of the electoral blocs are attributing themselves to the parties to gain their support in elections. Although Hamas did not participate in the 2017 elections, it had an impact on the electoral process by guiding its members not to elect Fatah blocs in the elections, or to support those who are close to this movement. Originality/value This study can be regarded as an introduction to identify the impact of clans and parties on mobilizing and guiding voters in the municipal elections in Palestine. Comparing that effect between the 2005 and 2017 elections, to find out how the strength of clans and parties differs in guiding their voters depending on the time period, as well as the ability of clans and parties to make political change by its influence on the political participation of its citizens.

The Politics of Postcapitalism: Labour and our Digital Futures

AbstractThis article introduces the special issue on the politics of postcapitalism. Considering the theoretical foundations, empirical perspectives and political ramifications of claims made about a coming ‘post‐work’ or ‘postcapitalist’ society, it maps existing debates through a discussion of two key recent texts, Paul Mason’s Clear Bright Future and Aaron Bastani’s Fully Automated Luxury Communism. It first surveys how the relationship between labour market trends, technological change and wider political‐economic shifts is articulated in the postcapitalist literature. It then explores how concepts from Marx are deployed to depict social relations as a constraint on technological development and its utopian potentialities, leading to political demands for new class actors and electoral blocs centring on the new forms of economic and political activity associated with digital networks. It also considers the role of the state and how this theoretical and political approach envisions historical change, situating utopian visions of an incipient postcapitalist alternative to capitalism within the contemporary political context of authoritarian populism and challenges to liberal democracy. Finally, it explores the continuing relevance of humanism as a critical counterpoint to the social and philosophical agenda of present day ‘posthumanism’. It concludes that, in unfavourable political conditions, it would be strategically unwise to stake too much on an over‐optimistic approach to the unfolding future. This outlook, it is suggested, carries considerable risks and consequences for a contemporary left in search of a viable electoral coalition and route back to power.

Избирательные блоки: опыт применения и перспективы возвращения института в избирательную систему России

Избирательные блоки: опыт применения и перспективы возвращения института в избирательную систему России

The Herut movement’s socio-economic philosophy and its implementation after the 1977 political upheaval

ABSTRACTThis article examines the Herut movement’s social and economic alternative to the ruling Mapai party, characterised by a liberal-individualistic outlook and a general vision of converting the centralised economy to an economy in which private initiative and competition dominate. On 17 May 1977 the Herut movement became the ruling party through its Likud electoral bloc, with economic reforms quickly following. These reforms encountered difficulties: the declared ‘economic turnabout’ harmed the strength of the economy. Inflation rates reaching several hundred per cent, frequent devaluations, and a loss of faith in the Israeli currency threatened stability. Nevertheless, from the social perspective, Herut did indeed succeed in bettering the conditions of its loyal voters in the development towns and distressed neighbourhoods.

The Octobrists and the right-wing political parties in the elections to the II State Duma of the Russian Empire: the attempt of the electoral Union

A Majority system of elections to the State Duma of the Russian Empire pushed the political parties participating in election campaigns to the conclusion of electoral blocs and agreements. The purpose of this article is to find out whether the generated block of Octobrists and reactionaries in the elections in the II State Duma? Compromised if the leadership of the “Soyuz 17 oktyabrya” the pre-election agreement with such odious political force? The methodological basis of this work was the principles of historicism, scientific credibility and objectivity, as well as traditional methods of historical research: problem-chronological, comparative. Based on the analysis of preserved in the archives of the party’s correspondence and also periodicals of the time the author comes to the conclusion that the election agreement of the “Soyuz 17 oktyabrya” with the right-wing political parties did not take place. The reason is the difference in the views of the moderate and far-right politicians to solve the “Jewish question” in Russia in the early twentieth century.

Proxy Politics, Economic Protest, or Traditionalist Backlash: Croatia’s Referendum on the Constitutional Definition of Marriage

This article sheds light on the popular sources of opposition to the extension of gay rights in Eastern Europe by analysing the results of the 2013 Croatian referendum on the constitutional definition of marriage—the first referendum of this kind in Europe. Contrary to popular interpretations, our aggregate-level analysis reveals that the referendum results primarily reflected the pattern of support for the two principal electoral blocs, rather than communities’ traditionalist characteristics or grievances stemming from economic adversity. The article thereby stresses the importance of embedding the issue of contention over gay rights in Eastern Europe into the context of conventional political competition.

From Maroons to dons: Sovereignty, violence and law in Jamaica

At different historical junctures and under different conditions, the Jamaican state has allowed armed “insurgents” to rule over specific spaces within its territorial control, condoning or actively facilitating the development of multiple legal orders as a mode of “outsourcing” sovereignty. Analyzing two contrasting cases, this article provides new insights into the role of violence and law in the context of multiple sovereignties. In the eighteenth century, after several unsuccessful military missions against Maroons, the colonial state signed a treaty granting them a significant portion of the Jamaican interior and partial political autonomy. In return, the Maroons provided military assistance to the British, capturing and returning the enslaved who escaped the plantations, and, decades after Emancipation, helping the British suppress the 1865 Morant Bay Rebellion. In contemporary Jamaica, many inner-city neighborhoods are controlled by criminal leaders known as “dons”. While various elements in the Jamaican state combat the power of the dons, many politicians and bureaucrats are entangled in a relationship of collusion and divestment with these extra-state leaders. In exchange for access to electoral blocs and suppressing urban unrest, dons receive lucrative government contracts and a measure of protection from judicial scrutiny. The article contrasts these colonial and postcolonial cases of collaborative or collusive relations between states and “outlaws”, emphasizing the role of violent pluralism and legal pluralism in multiple sovereignties, but also complicating the distinction between formal/legal and informal/de facto sovereignty.

The Underlying Ideologies in News Articles: The Study Through the Use of Direct Quotations and Lexical Choices in an English Newspaper in Thailand and an American Newspaper

The qualitative study investigates the different ideologies underlying in news articles on the red shirt demonstration during March-May, 2010 that were published in the Bangkok Post (BKP) and the New York Times (NYT). The Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is used as the major instrument to analyse news texts. The research studies two aspects, namely, direct quotations and lexical choices of word with a different connotation. The study found that the ideologies in both newspapers are transmitted through these linguistic perspectives. NYT tends to use direct quotations and lexical choices to support and argue for the demonstration of the red shirt protesters, whereas BKP is likely to take side of the Thai government. The demonstration in 2010 in NYT's view seem to be the fighting for the true democracy by the poor, who are the majority of the country's electoral bloc, while BKP does not support the violence caused by the Red Shirt protesters.

The last resort of political regionalism: electoral blocs in Russia's regional legislative elections, 2003–2005

A key element of the agenda of re-centralisation launched by the Russian authorities in the early 2000s was the territorial penetration of national political parties. This analysis empirically demonstrates that despite all efforts at institutional engineering, political regionalism survived and flourished in the form of regional electoral coalitions (blocs) in 2003–2005, which created a crucial obstacle to the pro-government party's monopolistic control over regional legislatures. While this obstacle was removed during the process of authoritarian transformation, recent developments in Russian politics suggest that there is a potential for the return of political regionalism.

La rielezione di Obama. Un'analisi del voto presidenziale 2012 negli Stati Uniti

This article analyzes the 2012 American Presidential election. It is divided into five sections. The first one is focused on data and numbers of electoral results. The second reflects upon the nature of the Electoral College. The third section examines in depth the vote of women and minorities, which are the two factors that mostly contributed to Barack Obama's re-election. Then, there is a section that scrutinize the electoral campaign, describing the issues, the candidates strategies and the media coverage received by Obama e Mitt Romney. The fifth part concerns the two candidates' fundraising and expenses. Finally we resume the previous analyses and we formulate the hyphotesis that a new electoral bloc is currently under formation: the idea is that there are and political realignment that is going to favour the Democratic Party

De-sectarianizing patterns of political mobilization in the post-conflict Iraq

Sectarian identity has played a significant role in electoral politics in Iraq after 2003. As in the cases related to the former Yugoslavia, ethic/sectarian cleavages are often mobilized when majority systems are introduced instantly through elections. In Iraq, electoral blocs were formed along sectarian lines in order to gain a majority of voters collectively, in a situation where most of the major political parties were composed of expatriates and had not yet established nationwide supportive bases inside Iraq. Mobilization patterns are diverse; United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) relied on sectarian networks, mainly in the southern governorates, while Iraqiya succeeded in obtaining a majority of votes in the central regions by combining various sources of mobilization, such as tribal, local and kinship networks, through which the fame of candidates was established. Differences among political parties in the patterns of nominating candidates depended on those in the previous regime. Iraqiya followed a similar pattern of mobilization during the former ruling system, while the al-Da'wa Party in UIA pursued absorption of local power into their own party structure, which caused conflicts between provincial political elites and the central government in 2011. Once the period during which competition for the ruling position in the central political authority has passed, forms of political contention other than sectarian rivalries emerge.

The Big Question: What Is the Biggest Threat to Democracy?

The Big Question: What Is the Biggest Threat to Democracy?