ABSTRACT Nation-making is often shaped by elite politics and calculated aspirations which are far removed from the lives of ordinary citizens, who ultimately shoulder its gravest burdens. The 1947 Partition illustrates this, as millions of Bengali Hindus in East Pakistan were abruptly transformed from citizens into refugees. The situation became extremely grievous for marginalised Bengali peasantry lacking any social capital and depending on state sponsored relief and rehabilitation. Crossing into West Bengal exposed them to new forms of state-inflicted violence in the hostland layered with caste-based marginalisation. In India, state rehabilitation programmes framed in humanitarianism displaced this group multiple times. This pattern reached its tragic culmination in the 1979 Marichjhapi Massacre, when the West Bengal government deployed lethal force to evict and suppress a group of such marginalised refugees who reverse migrated from Dandakaranya to self-settle on the island, resulting in widespread human rights violations. This paper examines Marichjhapi carnage through a human rights lens to demonstrate how state-led rehabilitation, frequently driven by electoral priorities and agendas can directly contradict the very rights it claims to uphold. Drawing on archival records, oral testimonies, and secondary sources, the study traces the gross human rights violations endured by these socially marginalised refugees in post-Partition India.

ABSTRACT This article examines elite trans-confessionalism as a distinct premodern governance system in Mount Lebanon between 1697 and 1861. It argues that Lebanese political elites under the Shihabi Emirate maintained a sophisticated system of strategic religious ambiguity that enabled stable multi-confessional governance for over a century. Trans-confessionalism denotes neither proto-secularism nor sectarianism but the deliberate subordination of confessional identity to dynastic and administrative imperatives, in which elites maintained strict private religious boundaries whilst crossing those same boundaries freely in public political life. Employing a comparative-historical method, the article makes three interventions in existing scholarship. It reverses the causal narrative dominant in Makdisi and Farha by asking not when sectarianism emerged or why secularism failed, but how a functioning trans-confessional system collapsed. It identifies a structural paradox: elite trans-confessional autonomy enabled more stable management of religious diversity than modern democratic confessionalism’s rigid quotas precisely because it was undemocratic and elite-controlled. Finally, it argues that the nahda intellectual developments Makdisi traces built upon lived political practices incubated within Shihabi court culture. The destruction of trans-confessionalism through Ottoman Tanzimat reforms, European intervention and mass political mobilization reveals how modernization paradoxically eliminated the elite autonomy that had prevented confessional boundaries from hardening into sectarian antagonism.

ABSTRACT This article examines the political economy of foreign aid in Northern Cyprus, a de facto state that has depended heavily on Turkey since 1974. Despite sustained financial assistance, governance in Northern Cyprus remains weak, marked by fiscal imbalances, clientelism, and an inflated public sector. Adopting a public choice perspective, we argue that politically motivated, continuous aid inflows from Turkey have created a moral hazard by discouraging tax collection, incentivizing excessive public expenditure, and sustaining patronage politics. Combining historical analysis with statistical evidence, we show that while recent fiscal improvements stem from Turkish pressure, long-term aid expectations have entrenched inefficiency and dependency. The findings also demonstrate that high budget deficits induce more aid, as local political elites exploit Turkey’s commitment trap. The article demonstrates how aid to unrecognized states diverges from conventional aid relationships, while also situating the Northern Cyprus case within broader debates on aid rentierism, moral hazard, and dependency.

How do domestic elite cues shape public attitudes toward international organizations (IOs)? Political elites with populist rhetoric frequently criticize IOs on grounds of representation, popular sovereignty, elitism, detachment from local concerns, and a uniform approach to global problems without accounting for local nuances. We argue that discursive delegitimization by domestic populist elites negatively influences public perceptions of IOs. We conducted an original survey experiment in South Korea, focusing on changes in public attitudes toward the Committee against Torture, one of the core UN human rights treaty bodies. The findings confirm that individuals exposed to populist delegitimizing cues exhibited increased skepticism regarding the performance of IOs and decreased willingness to adhere to their recommendations. We also found that this effect is observed across individuals with different ideological orientations, suggesting that populist rhetoric exerts a broader influence than previously assumed.

In the past two decades, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially in Latin America and Asia, have seen a rise in ideological and affective polarization, along with democratic backsliding. Yet, research on the drivers of such polarization's rise and persistence remains limited. We identify three general informational drivers of polarization systematically present in LMICs. First, echo chambers foster and reinforce false beliefs about opposing groups. Second, while diverse media could counter polarization, the dominance of biased traditional, digital and social media has deepened it. Third, divisive political elites using hostile rhetoric and incivility exacerbate polarization by amplifying social and political divides. We highlight opportunities to further our understanding of the empirical relevance of these mechanisms in LMICs, as well as interventions informed by these mechanisms to counter polarization.

ABSTRACT Robert Talisse’s Civic Solitude: Why Democracy Needs Distance is provocative in insisting that more democracy in the form of increased mass political involvement is not the solution to what currently plagues American politics. The more difficult question is what that solution might be. This essay highlights areas where political theory and empirical studies of political behavior may diverge in their diagnoses, particularly with respect to Talisse’s characterization of the severity of polarization among the mass public. Additionally, in support of further development of the distance thesis, I summarize the many ways that psychological research on distance reinforces and extends Talisse’s arguments. A large body of empirical work confirms and clarifies the ways in which distance influences human thought processes. I conclude by emphasizing the need for novel solutions to a far more pressing issue, that of polarization among political elites.

Although small-scale mining (SSM) in Ghana has been causing crisis, it could be made a great opportunity once the government rises to the challenges SSM poses to Ghana and Ghanaians. This policy brief is aimed at rousing the deserving attention of all and sundry in Ghana as well as beyond to the imperative of addressing the challenges. It argues that SSM, which is ideally an opportunity for livelihood, job and wealth creation, entrepreneurship, and socio-economic development, has been left to be a source of crisis in Ghana because stakeholders, especially political elite, are yet to do the needful. It faults government’s crackdowns and charges Ghanaian government to duly implement and revise the existing policies, so as to proffer constructive and lasting solutions to the challenges posed by SSM to humans and the non-humans in the ecosystem. It concludes that if pursued together, policy measures and reviews could shift the SSM industry from being the bane of crisis in Ghana to becoming a multifaceted opportunity for human and phenomenal development. Both government and individuals should rethink SSM so as to harness it as an opportunity rather than a crisis avenue.

This article connects cultural taste to capitalist mechanisms of redistribution through the concept of political economy of taste. Building on Bourdieusian scholarship on recognition struggles and drawing on Mike Savage and Nancy Fraser, it examines how public performances of taste reshape representations of working-class culture and how these representations are mobilised by both far-right and centre-left elites to advance policies that redistribute economic resources upwards. The article develops the concept through two case studies: far-right politics and touristification. Combining theoretical discussion of existing literature and new empirical analyses of Giorgia Meloni's taste performances and touristification in Naples (Italy), it shows how positive recognition of working-class culture, framed as 'authentic' by political elites, opens new possibilities for capitalist accumulation, thus widening economic inequalities. The article argues that Bourdieusian taste studies have overlooked these dynamics because of their focus on the stratification of tastes, rather than on how taste can transform mechanisms of exploitation and expropriation. The article thus proposes a different epistemic orientation: towards taste as a political weapon reshaping national political economies.

ABSTRACT This article examines how academic elite circulation functions as a mechanism through which modernization projects are produced, contested, and periodically recalibrated within state-building contexts. Conceptualizing universities as elite-producing institutions, it analyses how interventions in academic staffing reshape epistemic authority, disciplinary hierarchies, and institutional autonomy. Drawing on elite sociology and historical analysis, the article distinguishes between civilian and military modes of intervention in Turkey, showing how each reorganized the boundaries of legitimate knowledge under shifting ideological and security horizons. By tracing patterns of dismissal, replacement, and reconstitution across successive political ruptures, the study suggests that Turkish modernization emerges through struggles within institutional fields where knowledge and power intersect. The analysis contributes to broader debates on state formation, elite reproduction, and development of universities in post-imperial and non-European modernization settings.

How do political systems built on power-sharing among politically salient groups accommodate cross-cutting identities, and to what extent do different forms of power-sharing matter? Using Burundi as a case, this paper examines nearly four decades of emergency and consociational power-sharing arrangements and analyzes how regionalism—one of the country’s most politically salient cross-cutting identities—has been accommodated within state institutions. The paper shows that political incentives and elite goals shape whether and how regionalism is recognized and institutionally reflected in state institutions. While elites in both emergency and consociational settings use ministerial appointments to consolidate power and mitigate coup risks, rulers operating under consociational frameworks have increasingly relied on regionally based cabinet coalitions to circumvent the very constraints that consociationalism was designed to impose on executive authority. Ultimately, the paper argues that although different modalities of power-sharing vary in institutional design, scope, and outcomes, they rest on a shared underlying logic of regime self-preservation and state capture.

• Industrialization in Ennore is unauthorized, unsustainable, infringed and unjust • Industrialization and urbanization have decreased the area of wetlands by 89.34% • Subnational government had manipulated 1996-CZMP Map to favour political elites • Manipulation had served political elites’ interests, to favor that of global elites • Peri-urban environmental injustice is caused by regulatory capture by the elites Industrialization, urbanization and population growth are the major drivers behind abominable ‘Land-Use Land-Cover Change (LULCC)’, and the loss of local ecosystem services and environmental quality, at peri-urban interfaces. Such dynamics indicate the need to analyse the LULCC pattern, and explore the political drivers behind unsustainable LULCC. This paper, taking ‘Ennore Peri-Urban Region’ as the study area, has adopted a ‘Geospatial Mixed-Methods Case-Study Approach’ that synergises ‘Quantitative LULCC Analysis’ and ‘Qualitative Political Discourse Analysis’. The quantitative LULCC analysis was performed by utilizing ‘Supervised Image Classification’ and ‘Change Detection Analysis’. Quantitative results have revealed that total area of wetland, waterbody and cropland/shrubland has decreased by 89.34%, 14.43% and 10.61% respectively, in the period 1988-2023. Especially, cropland/shrubland has been severely affected in the core industrial region. Such unsustainable LULCC has occurred due to an intensive peri-urban industrialization, and a gradual peri-urbanization. The area under settlement and dense-vegetation have increased by 507.84% and 3.42%, respectively. Qualitative-political discourse analysis has revealed that such an unsustainable peri-urban LULCC has occurred due to the five-year delay in preparing the ‘Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP)’ and its map, and the unauthorized manipulation of 1996-CZMP Map by the subnational ‘Government of Tamil Nadu’, without the approval of the national ‘Government of India’. Such delay and manipulation had initially favoured the vested interests of political elites, and eventually that of global urban business elites, through regulatory capture by the latter. These indicate an inefficient, unfair, unequitable, unjust, incoherent and non-transparent intergovernmental environmental governance, and a weak public participation in decision-making.

“So I beg you, just let me suffer silently and see how I can cope with it.” Accounting, Corruption, and (A)Morality

ABSTRACT Research shows that media coverage of civil protests routinely follows a pattern theorized as the “protest paradigm,” predominantly framing demonstrations negatively while favoring protest targets, who are often elite groups. This dominant pattern has drawn criticisms, calling for a redefinition of how protest reporting is interpreted. In response, this study proposes a peace journalism framework that synthesizes the impact of media portrayals on protest outcomes and on the resolution of structural inequality. By adopting the principles of peace journalism, the study explores alternative approaches to protest reporting amid citizens’ growing frustration with leaders’ failure to deliver responsive democratic governance. Using indicators of conciliatory versus reactionary coverage, this study analyzes 65 journalistic pieces published across 13 news outlets during the one month surrounding Nigeria’s #EndBadGovernance protest. The aim is to assess how peace journalism can prioritize citizens’ socioeconomic aspirations while holding leaders accountable. Findings reveal a blend of conciliatory and reactionary approaches to protest coverage, with the Nigerian media increasingly positioning itself at the forefront of citizens’ demands for responsive democratic governance despite constraints such as ownership structures and state repression. The study concludes that peace journalism offers a constructive alternative, with the potential to improve media practices, amplify citizen voices, and contribute to broader democratization and peacebuilding efforts.

Body composition is a key factor in volleyball performance, but research on female athletes has largely focused on only a few general traits. This study compared elite and sub-elite female volleyball players using a multilevel body composition framework to compare structural and potentially modifiable characteristics across competitive levels. Forty female volleyball players were assessed and classified as elite (n = 15) or sub-elite (n = 25). Body composition was assessed using anthropometry and ultrasound. Elite players were taller (183.1 ± 8.2 vs. 170.7 ± 8.8 cm), heavier (76.0 ± 8.5 vs. 65.8 ± 9.1 kg), and displayed distinct body proportions compared with sub-elite players. The elite group also showed higher skeletal muscle index (SMI: 8.1 ± 0.7 vs. 7.3 ± 0.7 kg·m-2) and lower fat mass percentage (22.3 ± 2.2 vs. 25.3 ± 4.4%). However, differences in adiposity were attenuated when normalized for stature using fat mass index (FMI: 5.1 ± 0.8 vs. 5.8 ± 1.5 kg·m-2). Ultrasound-derived data indicated greater regional muscularity in elite players, whereas no differences were observed in the sum of adipose tissue layers, consistent with anthropometric skinfolds. The muscle-to-bone ratio did not differ between groups, suggesting proportional development of muscle and bone mass. Elite female volleyball players were characterized by greater structural dimensions and muscularity, whereas FMI appeared more informative than FM% for assessing adiposity.

ABSTRACT This article examines how the discourse of loss shapes British foreign policy identity in the post-imperial era, particularly in the context of humanitarian intervention. While existing scholarship often focuses on status-seeking through ontological security and narrative approaches, this study conceptualises loss as a historically contingent and culturally embedded discourse. Through archaeological discourse analysis, the article shows how loss is constructed and mobilised within political rhetoric. The 2013 UK parliamentary debate on military intervention in Syria serves as a case study, revealing how political elites invoked national loss to legitimise action and preserve Britain’s moral standing. Drawing on Hansard archives, the article traces this discourse back to Britain’s nineteenth-century anti-slavery campaigns, showing how historical narratives of moral duty and international prestige continue to inform contemporary foreign policy. It argues that Britain’s identity as a global humanitarian actor is rooted in a legacy of religious guilt and the civilising mission, which frame inaction as a threat to national honour. By linking past and present through discourse, the article offers a novel empirical and methodological contribution to constructivist and historical literatures on British foreign policy, highlighting how loss operates as a powerful narrative mechanism in legitimising Britain’s global role.

The political elites involvement within general election in Indonesia seems as a dynamic phenomena. Their struggle for power is generally driven by the candidate’s desire for power, where affect to rise the political atmosphere which has implications for people's lives including their decision to vote. The involvement of political elites and the power of capital in political contestation believed able to switch the political configuration significantly. Article aims to show how political elite utilizes their modalities and power in effort to sreach the power through general elections. It based on the research results related to the 2024 Indonesian elections by use qualitative methods in form of the literature study. Based on that, it shows the involvement of political elites in the contestation usually related to the interest in perpetuating their influence and existence by utilizing and converting their ecoonomics power, social, cultural, symbolic and political capital through various political strategies. Thru that strategies they believe will win the election angd fibnally will hands the power. Presence of elites in Indonesia in their involvement in elections is something that often occurs and is seen actively playing a role as supporters or as competitors. Elite involvement in the 2024 elections in Indonesia often utilizes political capital as access to power to win the election. The strategic role in the involvement carried out by elites to utilize their political modalities in the 2024 general election contestation in Indonesia is of course to mobilize and consolidate voters so that the candidates they support can win the battle in the election.

The growing use of domestic pension funds in shaping investments in national economies is a visible feature of the contemporary global economy. In North America, Europe, and East Asia, pension funds played a vital role in funding nationally strategic investments and structural transformation strategies. There are reasons to doubt whether pension funds can play a similar role in African countries because of the relatively small size of formal sectors in those countries. Yet, some African countries have employed pension funds in innovative ways. Synthesizing literatures on state capitalism, the Wall Street Consensus, and pension fund capitalism, this paper examines the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) to reveal the potential, as well as the limits, of state financial activism in the twenty first century. Rwanda has been among Africa’s fastest growing countries over the last two decades, and the RSSB has been the central institution funding the pursuit of its services-first strategy. Employing pension funds under contemporary globalization is accompanied by challenges associated with future demographic changes, the youth under-employment of contemporary low-wage services-based growth, and precarious domestic elite politics and state-business relations. The paper is based on fieldwork in Rwanda since 2011, analysis of RSSB annual reports, and investment data.

ABSTRACT This article examines the dynamics of political elite polarization and its repercussions on the Ethiopian transition process in the post-2018 period, through the qualitative dialectical method. The study used Actor Network Theory to explain the problem. The research examines how competing elites developed their identities and deconstructed their opponents, thereby leading to polarization, and how these contradictions affected the transition process. The data for this study were obtained through 16 key informant interviews with political elites from the Prosperity Party, the National Movement of Amhara, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and the Oromo Federalist Congress. Secondary sources of data were also available, including party manifestos, media briefings, reports from international organizations, and scholarly peer-reviewed publications. The study found three major dynamics of elite polarization: the formation of the Oro-Mara alliance, which led to the 2018 leadership change; the formation of counter-networks; and the polarization of the elite over competing versions of Ethiopian history, identity, and the 1995 constitution. The study found that the 2018 reforms were initially promising for democratic transformation. Yet they rolled back into authoritarian governance, causing significant repercussions, including political stalemates, internal fragmentation within the Prosperity Party, and armed conflicts across different regions of Ethiopia.

The University of Oxford played an important role in the education of Britain’s social and political elite. The university and its network of colleges, each of which maintains an archive, has preserved a detailed set of institutional records. There were stringent prohibitions against sexual liaisons of any kind on the part of students, but residential accommodation in single-sex colleges could facilitate homosexual connections. Reading between regulatory records and semi-autobiographical interwar novels enables us to understand the ways in which apparently repressive university structures facilitated closeted forms of queer life and tacit knowledge concerning them. Life in the colleges was also policed by students who deployed forms of sexualized bullying on their peers. These processes shaped the emergence of the homosexual closet on campus.

ABSTRACT How should Marxists and critical thinkers view the Commonwealth? Given its imperialist past, what is the point of the current Commonwealth of Nations? This paper attempts to consider these questions from a neo-Gramscian perspective. The authors suggest that while the longevity of the Commonwealth might, at first glance, appear puzzling to Marxist and critical-thinking scholars, a class-based analysis provides a possible explanation. The authors suggest that Marxists could view the Commonwealth through the Gramscian concept of hegemony as a multilateral forum for the transnational capitalist class, where common (capitalist) interests are fostered through shared interests between global and domestic elites.