Political Experience Research Articles

Perspectives of respondents in Anyigba town on the impediments to the underrepresentation of Kogi State women in elective positions following Nigeria’s 2023 democratic elections

ABSTRACT Studies on women’s political marginalisation in Nigeria dominate the academic literature. However, limited research has interrogated the impediments to the underrepresentation of Kogi State women in elective positions following Nigeria’s 2023 elections. This study examined the role of socioeconomic factors, the nature of politics and perceived patriarchal considerations in the poor representation of Kogi State women in government. This study adopted the liberal feminist theory, used a descriptive survey, and the sample consisted of 361 respondents in Anyigba with deep and diverse knowledge and experience of gender politics in Kogi State. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, and analyses involved descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation and t-test. Study results from the 326 completed questionnaires showed that the majority of the respondents implicated socioeconomic issues (19.052), the nature of politics (17.221) and societal patriarchal attitudes (19.051) in the underrepresentation of Kogi State women in government after the elections. The empirical evidence in this study highlighted the obstacles to women’s political representation. This study concluded that improving women’s employment and educational opportunities and strong political commitment from the leadership towards implementing political quotas for women and internal democracy is crucial to increasing the representation of Kogi State women in government

Hometown Advantage: Voter Preferences for Community Embeddedness in Local Contests

Abstract Every year, Americans elect hundreds of thousands of candidates to local public office, typically in low-attention, nonpartisan races. How do voters evaluate candidates in these sorts of elections? Previous research suggests that, absent party cues, voters rely on a set of heuristic shortcuts – including the candidate’s name, profession, and interest group endorsements – to decide whom to support. In this paper, we suggest that community embeddedness – a candidate’s roots and ties to the community – is particularly salient in these local contests. We present evidence from a conjoint survey experiment on a nationally representative sample of American voters. We estimate the marginal effect on vote share of candidate attributes such as gender, race, age, profession, interest group endorsements, and signals of community embeddedness – specifically homeownership and residency duration. We find that voters, regardless of political party, have strong preferences for community embeddedness. Strikingly, the magnitude of the residency duration effect rivals that of prior political experience.

Race, policing and me: Inclusive leadership in the twenty-first century for the 25th anniversary of Macpherson Report and the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry

‘Race, policing and me: Inclusive leadership in the twenty-first century’ is a participant observer’s experience of policing, politics and prejudice from a 30-year career in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) that spanned the 1993 racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, the 1999 Macpherson Report, which labelled policing institutionally racist, and the battle to come to terms with the fallout that created. A battle this observer believes policing has lost. He reveals how the most senior officer of colour in the UK for the past decade battled racism as a child, adolescent and young professional before joining a profession that did not act as it though it wanted people like him. The early successes to improve its diversity after Macpherson were not sustained and policing now rejects the term and Basu provides some thought for police leaders at how they might tackle issues of diversity and prejudice to regain their legitimacy with minorities who have been over-policed and/or under-protected for too long. To ignore this requirement to regain its legitimacy lacks the humility to understand that it is wrong about this debate on diversity. After the catastrophic loss of trust and confidence following the 2023 Dame Louise Casey Report into culture in the MPS, policing's refusal to admit it remains institutionally racist by the Macpherson definition, and indeed institutionally prejudiced by the Casey definition, imperils the Peelian concept of policing by consent. If policing cannot accept the moral case for Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, it should think of the business case that Peel, Rowan and Mayne built that underpins consent. It may be the only way to maintain order and keep communities safe, which must be its primary mission.

The Development of State Forms and Their Function in the Political Islamic Mind

This paper discusses an important issue in political philosophy. Despite its historicity, it has current extensions, which gives it importance and value that does not become obsolete, whether in terms of scientific research, or even in terms of its impact on the lives of Muslims, whether in the past, present, and even in the future. By this, we mean the forms or manifestations that the state has taken in terms of theorizing and representation of the Islamic political mind, starting with the Prophetic state, passing through the various manifestations of the traditional state, Its components: Sunni and Shiite. There is no doubt that its dangerous effects on the lives of Muslims require reunderstanding it, as it is compatible with the spirit of the times on the one hand, and the realities of Islam and its political experiences on the other hand, which leads to questions about the nature of this state and its function, far from ideal perceptions, which do not exist. Except in the minds of its owners, and not in the perspective of the Islamic political mind, which was formed through important historical stations, drawing on internal and external experiences. Therefore, this paper seeks to raise a major question related to the way in which the state manifested itself in the Islamic political mind, and its relationship to its basic reference represented by Islam, and the extent of its compatibility with human experiences, whether those that preceded it or contemporaneous it.

An Analysis of Perlocutionary Speech Acts: Case Study in the 2024 Presidential Candidate Debate

This study explores the use of perlocutionary speech acts by presidential candidates during the 2024 presidential debate, focusing on the types employed, their frequency, and how cultural backgrounds influence interpretation. Using a qualitative descriptive method, the research analyzed the third segment of the first 2024 debate, aired on December 12, 2023. The findings identified 24 instances of perlocutionary speech acts, including actions such as embarrassing, irritating, persuading, attracting attention, deceiving, and encouraging. These acts demonstrate the strategic use of language to achieve specific effects on the audience. Moreover, the study highlights that cultural values, ethnic backgrounds, and political experiences significantly shape candidates' interpretations and responses to these speech acts. The research provides insights into the interplay between language use and cultural influences in political communication, offering a deeper understanding of rhetorical strategies in high-stakes political discourse

The Meaning of the Milk Tea Protests

Abstract Since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, the world has witnessed an era of protest. Nearly every corner of the globe has been impacted by protest diffusion. East and Southeast Asia have been no different, with recent pro-democracy revolts and movements in Thailand (2020) and Myanmar (2021–present) having been partially inspired by mass pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong (2014 and 2019) and Taiwan (2014). The virtual alliance that sprouted between protesters and activists across these polities was dubbed the Milk Tea Alliance. This article takes a comparative approach and explores the commonalities of the protests and their participants across the four locales. It argues that the shared political experiences and developments run much deeper than the hashtag alliance and therefore should be understood as part of a transformative regional protest wave that requires further exploration.

Mothers, parliamentarians, leaders: career factors influencing women's representation in the European Parliament – a case study of German parliamentarians

ABSTRACT The European Parliament (EP), often seen as relatively women-friendly, still struggles with underrepresentation of women in leadership roles, such as committee chairs This article scrutinizes individual career factors leading German Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to Strasbourg and into leadership positions within the EP. It focuses on examining disparities between men and women and compares women with, and without, leadership experience in the various parliamentary offices. The study explores how individual qualifications, such as political experience and education, alongside personal factors like marital status and parental responsibilities, correlate with women's leadership roles in the EP. Using a dataset of all German MEPs from 1999 to 2019, the analysis finds higher representation of women in leadership roles than their overall presence in the EP, though disparities exist across office types and political affiliations. The findings reveal two main challenges for German women in the EP: a motherhood penalty and barriers to leadership. On average, women MEPs have fewer children than their male counterparts, and those in leadership are more likely to be unmarried. The data also highlight occupational gender segregation and comparable political experience between men and women.

Working at home: Individual level drivers of MEPs’ focus on constituency work

Abstract This article investigates how Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) allocate resources between their parliamentary and constituency work, focusing on their staffing decisions. Specifically, it examines the distribution of MEPs’ staff between accredited assistants, based in the European Parliament (EP), and local staff working in their constituency. The study seeks to explain why some MEPs allocate a larger share of their staff to constituency work compared to others by testing several hypotheses related to the individual characteristics of MEPs while controlling for variations across Member States. Using a newly developed database with data on MEP assistants at three points during the 9th EP, the analysis reveals that Member State differences do not solely explain the variation in staff distribution. While there is no evidence that staff allocation is driven by strategic considerations to secure re-election, it depends significantly on their ideology and past political experience.

Executive recruitment and the role of institutional factors: explaining profiles of regional presidents in Slovakia and the Czech Republic

ABSTRACT We employ a comparative analysis of heads of regional executives in two similar countries with different regional political subsystems. In Slovakia, governors operate under a system of separation of powers, are directly elected through a majoritarian electoral system and are not answerable to regional assemblies. In the Czech Republic, governors are elected by the regional assemblies (therefore indirectly) and can be removed from office by a no-confidence motion. Our results suggest that direct elections tend to produce fewer female governors and empower non-affiliated (non-party) outsiders; the share of regional governors without prior political experience is not affected by the formal institutional rules.

Gender Stereotypes and Candidate Qualifications in Judicial Elections

A large literature documents the effects of gendered stereotyping on the outcomes of legislative and executive elections. Less attention has been paid to the effects of these stereotypes on judicial elections, a venue where candidates might encounter unique stereotypes. Further, existing research on judicial elections prioritizes one form of qualification—prior judicial experience—leaving unaddressed the effects of other professional experiences on voters’ choices in these contests. In this paper, we rely on a conjoint experiment to test the effects of candidate qualifications and gender stereotypes in U.S. state judicial elections. We find that, on average, women candidates are advantaged in judicial elections, though we find no evidence that citizens view women candidates as more qualified. Further, while voters do prefer candidates with prior judicial experience they also—contrary to the conventional wisdom—favor judges with prior political experience. Importantly, however, we observe minimal instances of gendered stereotyping in these elections. Our findings call for further research on the effects of gender in judicial elections.

Gender Differences in Climbing up the Ladder: Why Experience Closes the Ambition Gender Gap

Women are unequally represented in the highest positions in society. Beyond discrimination and bias, women are missing from the top because they are less likely to pursue high-ranking opportunities. We propose that experience is a critical moderator of gender differences in pursuing leadership opportunities, with low-experience women being particularly unlikely to seek higher level positions. We used field analyses of 96 years of U.S. senator and governor elections to examine male and female politicians’ propensity to run for higher political offices. As predicted, among those with little political experience, women were less likely than men to run for higher office, but experience closed this gender gap. A preregistered experiment among U.S.-based adults replicated the field findings and revealed that it was the increased self-confidence of experienced women that reduced the gender gap. The findings suggest experience, and the self-confidence that comes with it, is one lever for closing the gender gap in seeking to climb professional hierarchies.

Introduction: Esperantists in the Twentieth Century: Making Connections in an Age of Division

The transcending of borders marked a large part of the political experience of the 20th century. This aspiration took shape in a century that strengthened and multiplied national barriers and that witnessed two world wars. In response to growing nationalism, many individuals, political movements and communities adopted an enlarged identity bound up with cosmopolitanism, internationalism, pan-Europeanism or, more recently, globalism. These categories, often part of a broader political frame of reference, established a connection between estranged nations but still referred to national divisions. Transnational history has shown how these tendencies were experienced not as a withdrawal of the border framework but as a link between nations-states. In this context, a particular and powerful way of abolishing national constraints has remained unnoticed by historians: the community of Esperanto speakers. They emerged at the end of the 19th century as an alternative to internationalizing models. With this aim, they developed a linguistic and cultural space that would not be marked by one specific culture to the detriment of the others. Nevertheless, the international language and the social movement created around it had to face the dominant ideological trends of the time. Through three case studies from the history of the Esperanto movement we propose to deepen the debate on the links between ideology and transnationalism. The first investigates the epistolary relationship between two communists, one Bulgarian and the other Japanese, discussing the trajectory of their political life and most notably their rejection of Stalinism. The second focuses on the link between Esperanto and anticolonial thinking in East Asia during the 1930s and early 1940s. Based on the study of literature and in particular of post-war Esperanto poetry, the third contribution examines the reasons that led a number of authors to choose the international language Esperanto to formulate their own account of WWII and to perpetuate the memory of the collective tragedy.

Facing the Choice of Language in Esperanto Literature: Edwin de Kock, Hasegawa Teru and Julius Balbin between Emotion and Ideology

How far languages are politically connotative is a very sensitive question. In the course of their centuries long history, languages are associated with a variable imaginary, fluctuating with the place from where they are regarded. The cultural contribution of languages could not be reduced to the political experience of the respective states but they rarely escape ideological associations. The scope of this paper is to step aside and consider a language that since its origins in the 19th. Century has been regarded as neutral and independent from both the nation-states and the political spectrum. This paper takes into consideration the experience and discourse of four writers : the Japanese anti-imperialist female writer Hasegawa Teru (1912–1947), the Polish-born poet Julius Balbin (1917–2006), a former deportee to four extermination camps who settled in the US after 1951, and the South African Edwin de Kock (1930–2022) whose poetry is deeply marked by the experience of Apartheid and race division. To what extent is a transnational and anthropological narrative possible in the context of war? How do these authors deal with an affiliation to multiple communities? Why did all these authors choose to write in Esperanto and not in their own native languages? Can Esperanto be still regarded as a «neutral» language or is it the vehicle for a specific world view?

In the labyrinth of ideological search: ways to construct a memory of an uncomfortable past (on example of events of the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War)

This article is devoted to the problem of constructing a collective memory of the "inconvenient past" by modern elites of Russia on the example of the events of the 1917 revolution and the subsequent civil war. The conflict aspects of commemoration (installation of monuments and memorial signs) in the process of constructing an official historical narrative are considered. Concidered changes in the official historical narrative regarding the "difficult past" in different periods of time. The preservation of historical memory largely depends on the political objectives of the current government, which not only supports collective memory through various commemorative practices, but also constructs a modern historical narrative. This narrative does not imply the restoration of Soviet historiography; it combines a variety of interpretations of the events of the Revolution and the Civil War in the context of building the historical continuity of Russian statehood. Therefore, the images of some Soviet figures coexist with the figures of their opponents, forming ideas among the mass audience about patriotic service to the Russian state, regardless of ideological and political views. The "lost memory" is not being restored; current generations of Russians have not accepted the political experience of supporters of democratic socialism, who rejected Bolshevism and did not support the "white movement" in the civil war. The attitude towards the losers in the fight against the Bolsheviks today is negative, as towards weak and incapable politicians. Considering historical memory as an integral part of collective memory, it is concluded that only those events of the past that are perceived by society as extremely useful for modern generations are integrated into the structure of collective consciousness. In addition, the inertia of public consciousness affects the "selection of event material". For this reason, during the entire post-Soviet period, it was not possible to completely replace the former Soviet ideological cliches with a new historical narrative.

Job Talk: Candidate Gender and Presentation of Prior Experience in Television Ads in the US

Abstract Does gender influence how candidates in the United States present their prior political experience to voters? Messaging one’s experience might demonstrate a history of power-seeking behavior, a gender role violation for women under traditional norms. As a result, men should be more likely to make experience-based appeals than women candidates. For evidence, we analyze the contents of 1,030 televised advertisements from 2018 state legislative candidates from the Wesleyan Media Project. We find that ads sponsored by experienced men are significantly more likely to highlight experience than ads sponsored by experienced women. However, we find that women’s and men’s ads are roughly equally likely to discuss work experience, suggesting that men’s greater emphasis on experience is limited to prior officeholding. The results contribute to our understanding of gender dynamics in political campaigns, the information available to voters, and how advertising shapes the criteria voters use to assess candidates.

Balkanization vs Europeanization: conceptual deconstruction

The article is dedicated to the deconstruction of the binary opposition between the concepts of “Balkanization” and “Europeanization”. The initial phase of deconstruction entails a critical examination of conventional conceptualizations that reflect power relations between Balkans and Europe. A particular emphasis is placed on the dominant perception of balkanization as a process of fragmentation and barbarization, which is a representation commonly depicted within Western strategic discourse. As an alternative, the authentic concept of balkanization, formulated by Yugoslav avant-guardists during the early twentieth century, is analysed. The avant-guard movement Zenitism proclaimed the slogan of the Balkanization of Europe and featured the figure of Barbarogenious-Decivilizer. This approach not only represents an inversion of the Western perspective on the Balkans, but also draws upon ideas of internationalism and class struggle, deriving inspiration from the experience of the Russian revolution. The concept of Europeanization is examined in both broad and narrow senses - as a notion of modernization and as transformations caused by the institutional influence of the European Union. The concept of europeanization, positioned as a positive project and vision of a better future, stands in contrast to the Balkan past ofthe region. With such as interpretation, the successful implementation ofthe europeanization agenda would entail the complete erasure of Balkan subjectivity and identity. Europeanization is conceptualized as a process of debalkanization. In the concluding phase of deconstruction, during the stage of“reassembly”, an alternative perception ofbalkanization is put forward. In accordance with the ideas of Zenitism and the political experience ofthe Balkan peoples' struggle for independence and the establishment of a common stated, balkanization is perceived as, on the one hand, resistance and rebellion; on the other hand, as a desire to overcome borders and internationalization. Accordingly, europeanization is perceived as a process of construction of homogeneous modern nation-states. It can be argued that fragmentation is indeed a consequence and essence of europeanization.

Perceptions and Concerns About Misinformation on Facebook in Canada, France, the US, and the UK

Abstract Across the globe, people are concerned about misinformation despite evidence suggesting actual exposure is limited and specific to subgroups. We examine the extent to which concerns about misinformation on Facebook are related to perceived exposure to misinformation on the platform (misinformation perceptions), political experiences on Facebook, and country context. Using survey data gathered in February 2021 in four countries (Canada, France, UK, and the US), we find a strong positive correlation between perceptions of and concerns about misinformation on Facebook. We explain that this concern about misinformation is rational in that it is rooted in personal experience of perceived exposure. Seeing political content and observing uncivil political discussions on Facebook also relate to concerns about misinformation. We explain heightened concerns about misinformation in terms of views about the virality of misinformation on Facebook as well as the presumed influence of misinformation on others (third-person effects), which makes misinformation a perceived threat to democracy and society. The observed relationships are supported in three of the four countries, but France tends to be an exception. Understanding citizens’ concerns about misinformation is important for understanding support for interventions, including platform regulation.

Understanding the political connections of Portuguese companies through their board members

PurposeThis study aims to analyse the political connections of Portuguese companies through the members of the board of directors, exploring how these connections influence, in particular, the composition and characteristics of the boards.Design/methodology/approachThe research used a strategy based on analysing the financial statements and curriculum vitae of the directors of Portuguese companies listed on Euronext Lisbon from 2014 to 2019. The political connections of board members were examined, considering the variables identified in the existing literature.FindingsThe results indicate that companies with political connections maintain these relationships for long periods and have a greater number of members on the board of directors compared to companies without such connections. Directors with political experience tend to occupy non-executive positions, suggesting that companies may value political contacts more than the management skills of these directors. It was also found that there are politically connected directors who belong to multiple boards and that women appointed to the board are less likely to have a political background, reflecting male dominance in Portuguese politics.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitations of this study include the small number of listed companies in the sample, which may affect the statistical robustness of the results, as well as the use of secondary sources, which may not capture all relevant policy linkages. In addition, the results are specific to the Portuguese context and may not be generalisable to other countries or other regions of the world.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the understanding of political connections in Portuguese companies, offering valuable insights into how these connections influence board composition and can impact corporate strategy and governance. The findings of this study can be especially useful for business leaders looking to optimise the formation of their boards of directors.

Leaders’ experience and the transition from populism to dictatorship

ABSTRACT A growing body of research shows that although populists draw on mass support to weaken executive constraints, they rarely transition to personalist autocracy. This raises the question of how and why only a few populist leaders have been able to leverage mass support to establish personal authoritarian rule? Whereas previous studies have addressed this in terms of deep social and economic crises or the durability of formal and informal democratic institutions, we focus on the agency of populist leaders themselves. Specifically, we theorize that more experienced leaders are better able to capture state institutions and ultimately establish authoritarian rule, particularly if they inherit more malleable institutions at entry into office. We present a newly enlarged dataset of populist rule, which confirms that the transition to full dictatorship is rare. We find that political experience has a robust positive association with full democratic reversals, while controlling for other factors. Moreover, this relationship is pronounced in contexts where institutional regulations are less rigid. However, we find little evidence of an independent effect of a priori institutional weakness on democratic survival. Our findings have implications for the literatures on populism, democratic backsliding, and political leadership.

Infância, conselhos tutelares e agendas conservadoras: ativismo religioso para além das fronteiras da escola

This article analyzes the presence of religious individuals in guardianship councils and how occupying the debate on public policies for children and adolescents has become a space for producing legibility for certain individuals in politics. Thus, I intend to demonstrate that guardianship councils function as a kind of engagement technology, a place for exercising the most varied electoral pedagogies, serving as a space for training, testing, and learning for men and women who hold leadership positions in their faith communities – Evangelical churches or Catholic parishes –, without any political experience or experience as public servants.