Political Functions Research Articles

The Population of Tbilisi as Perceived by Foreign Travellers in the Nineteenth Century

Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, has long been a cultural and poli­tical crossroads between Europe and Asia. Following the establishment of Russian Empire control over Georgia in 1801, Tbilisi underwent a significant transformation in its political function. In this context, the information provided by Europeans regarding the ethno-religious composition of the population of Tbilisi, as observed during their visits to the city in the nineteenth century, is of interest. In order to inv­est­igate the question that has been posed, a variety of sources were consulted, including materials from the archives of the Viennese castle (France), information from travellers' notes and the Parisian press. A comprehensive comparative analysis was conducted to elucidate the ethno-religious composition, social affiliation, customary practices, and occupational distributions within the Tbilisi population. The group of European travellers comprised a diverse cohort of educated individuals. A review of the available evidence indicates that the majority of Tbilisi's population was composed of Armenians and Georgians, with relatively small groups of Muslims, including Tatars and Persians. In the early years of the nineteenth century, Russian military officials and soldiers began to settle in Tbilisi. In the 1920s, Armenians and Germans began to emigrate, prompted by a complex array of factors including military, political, religious, and economic considerations. The accounts of travellers are predominantly constituted by infor­ma­tion gathered in a variety of settings, including streets, markets, cara­vans, and receptions held by local authorities. This material illustrates how the heterogeneous population of Tbilisi, comprising Ossetians, Lezgins, Persians, Circassians, Dagestanis, French, German colonists and numerous other groups, in addition to the multiplicity of langu­ages and costumes, has contributed to the city's distinctive cultural tapestry. While the data collected from travellers is not entirely devoid of subjectivity, this material serves as an invaluable resource for research. In light of the aforementioned evidence, it can be posted that Tbilisi assumed a significant multicultural role throughout the nineteenth cen­t­ury. This was evidenced by the coexistence of representatives of diverse nationalities and religions, which was a defining feature of the city.

A little less concentration, a little more actors, please? Exploring the relationship between populist attitudes and perceptions of concentration of political power practices

ABSTRACT Demand-side studies of populism, adapting a citizen perspective, have grown exponentially during the last decade as a result of a growing political and academic concern over the potential effects of populism on the political system. Nevertheless, how populist attitudes at the citizen level are related to actual proposals for system-change is a surprisingly neglected research topic. One such proposal concerns the future of multiple-mandate-holding (MMH), i.e. the simultaneous exercise of at least two directly elected political functions, a controversial practice in many parts of Europe. By utilizing cross-sectional panel data gathered in Finland in 2022–2023, a country characterized by extensive MMH among Members of Parliament, this study seeks to explore whether and how populist attitudes are related to the idea of representational pluralism in the political system, defined as the level of diversity among directly elected political representatives active within the political system. Using statistical analyses, we confirm our hypothesis that stronger populist attitudes are clearly associated with weaker support for MMH in general and stronger support for limiting the scope of MMH specifically. Our findings contribute to the theory-building of demand-side populism by showing that populist attitudes are also associated with the idea of representational pluralism.

Migration and state expansion: Archaeological and biochemical evidence from Pataraya, a wari outpost in Nasca, Peru (A.D. 650–1000)

This paper reports on the results of archaeological excavations at the cemetery sector of the Middle Horizon (AD 650–1000) Wari site of Pataraya, located in the middle Nasca valley of southern Peru, and biochemical analyses of human skeletal remains recovered during those excavations. The findings reported here demonstrate that the sharp differences in cultural practice between Pataraya’s occupants and local traditions leading up to the Middle Horizon are echoed in noticeable isotopic differences in the biochemistry of its burial population. We explore the implications of these findings in the context of an uneven and unequal political landscape created by, and responding to, both overt Wari imperialism and the consequences of unprecedented regional interaction. We conclude that these data support previous conclusions drawn from other archaeological evidence that the site is formed from the remains of a Wari state colony. Pataraya’s inhabitants served an explicitly political function in the administration of a key transportation route between the Wari heartland and this distant province, roles that may have been filled by newcomers to the area or from elsewhere in the Nasca valley itself.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION IN THE DEFENSE OF SUSTAINABLE CITIES

This article reflects on the management of a neighborhood residents' association located in a large city in the state of São Paulo. This study makes an important contribution to the debate on popular participation in city planning as a management strategy to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 11, which states: "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable." The methodology developed was bibliographic and field research with a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interview techniques and observation. The data collected in the interviews were analyzed from a theoretical-critical perspective that ensures a reading of social reality and favors the understanding of social relations in their essence, that is, beyond what is presented in the appearance of facts. The study brought indicators that, although residents' associations are privileged spaces for popular participation, in the institution investigated, no practice of protagonism of residents in social mobilization and participation in collective affairs was observed. It is clear that the residents' association is unable to perform its political functions, much less facilitate the population's approach to municipal management, aiming at participation in the elaboration of public policies and sustainable local development.

Political skill and informal leader emergence: The role of relationships, competence and outcome interdependence

AbstractPolitical skill facilitates political influence, enabling individuals to distinguish themselves within an organization. The influence of political skill operates through three primary processes: interpersonal, behavioural and intrapsychic. These processes provide a comprehensive understanding of how political skill functions within an organizational context. According to political influence theory, we propose that political skill can promote informal leader emergence through its interpersonal process, which enhances team member relationship quality, and its behavioural process, which demonstrates peer‐perceived competence. Furthermore, by integrating political influence theory with social interdependence theory, we identify outcome interdependence as a mechanism that elicits intrapsychic processes, specifically as a moderator that influences the indirect effect of political skill on informal leader emergence. Results from two multi‐wave, multi‐sourced studies provide empirical support for the notion that political skill encourages employees to emerge as informal leaders within a team by increasing team member relationship quality and peer‐perceived competence. Additionally, outcome interdependence amplifies the indirect and positive effects of political skill on informal leader emergence. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

The role of λαϊκή αγορά (“street market”) in modern greek towns

The article discusses the phenomenon of “people’s market” in contemporary Greek cities and towns. Historically, the market in Greece has played an important role not only as a place of trade, but also as a concentration of social and political life. The word αγορά, derived from the ancient Greek verb ἀγορεύω (“to speak publicly”), meant not only a market square but also people’s assembly in Ancient Greece. In modern society, the “people’s market” has almost lost its political function. From a commercial point of view, it should have been replaced by mega-stores, supermarkets, and online commerce, especially during the covid pandemic. However, today in Greece this phenomenon does not lose its relevance and even acquires new functions. In a large city, the “people’s market” is embedded in a new ideology of environmental friendliness of the goods for sale and in the discourse related to the identity of the Modern Greek. In addition, a street market in a city retains the archaic functions of socializing residents, exchanging information, and being a barometer of political sentiment. For rural residents, λαϊκή αγορά is an opportunity to sell an agricultural product and exchange information and contact with the urban environment. Internationally, outside Greece, the Greek folk market is sometimes positioned as a distinct brand.

Ambivalence of Revolutionary Cleaning in Mona Prince's "Revolution is My Name"

Egyptian writer Mona Prince’s self-published 2012 memoir Revolution is My Name abounds with descriptions of transferring Tahrir Square into a domestic space during the 2011 Revolution: people nurturing fellow visitors and protestors; sharing of blankets, warm clothing and mattresses; cooking and eating; distributing Coca-Cola, endless cups of tea, cigarettes; and nursing the injured who clashed with the police. In one point in her chronicling of her political participation, she describes moving one of her friend’s mattresses out into the square and accepting food from whoever is offering it to her. She also details the square being cleaned by women of the elite class, heralding, in Prince’s imaginings, “a new people.” Focusing on descriptions of the cleaning of the square, this article argues that Prince expands domesticity’s political function while overlooking class and religious biases and blindness that undergird her theorizations of it. This blindness, I argue ultimately undermines the revolution’s attempt at total rupture from the unjust state regime of the past and extends insights into the entanglement of power, oppression and political resistance. Given that theorizations of cleanliness have been mobilized by the colonial project as an alibi for the gendered and racialized inequality of colonialism (and neocolonialism), cleaning here raises the specter of colonialism and highlights its mobility to function as a tool to measure complex class ambivalences.

Lay Perspectives on Drug (De)Criminalization and the (De)Stigmatization of People Who Use Illicit Drugs

Background: Substance use stigma has been framed as contributing to the drug toxicity crisis. We theorize the political function of drug criminalization as contributing to a system of stigma that exerts social control over people who use illicit drugs (PWUID). Consequently, drug decriminalization may be a potential destigmatizing solution. Since decriminalization is often positioned as an antistigma intervention targeting the public, it is important to understand how laypeople conceptualize decriminalization. Methods: We acquired, via a Freedom of Information request, 221 deputations sent to the City of Vancouver regarding Motion B.4, which would advance decriminalization. We used reflexive thematic analysis to explore: (1) how laypeople conceptualized drug (de)criminalization and its relation to the (de)stigmatization of PWUID; and (2) the potential implications of the various conceptualizations of (de)criminalization for the autonomy of PWUID. Results: Supporters of Motion B.4 commonly assumed decriminalization would destigmatize PWUID. Supporters also often argue that the drug toxicity crisis is a public health problem, not a criminal one. However, the public health model of decriminalization advocated by some supporters still limited the autonomy of PWUID. Meanwhile, those opposed commonly positioned social control of PWUID as necessary, including opponents who argued that decriminalization was a form of systemic neglect that abandons PWUID. This view was echoed by some proponents, notably those who argued for a public health model of decriminalization. Finally, some proponents asserted that PWUID should be included in the policymaking process, though few deputations came from self-identified PWUID. All PWUID argued that decriminalization must exclude the police. Conclusion: Our analysis of lay perspectives on decriminalization highlights the importance of models that adequately address all levels of stigma for PWUID. Models that fail to preserve the autonomy of PWUID are likely to reproduce their stigmatization.

Settings of community engagement: beyond the Janus-faced post-political in ‘neoliberalised’ London

Drawing on an in-depth analysis of the politics of a large-scale urban development in London, as part of a wider comparative project, this paper reconsiders the post-political conclusions of an earlier round of research on large scale developments in Europe. Through a critical re-reading of Jacques Rancière’s analysis and attending to insights from wider accounts of urban politics from the majority urban world, including our own comparative research on Johannesburg and Shanghai, the paper considers the potential of political contestation and engagement. Concepts such as ‘insurgent citizens’, the ‘arts of citizenship’, and the multiple roles of the state, provide focus for a nuanced assessment of the achievements and potential of residents’ and wider community engagements in planning in the case of Old Oak, north-west London. First designated as an ‘Opportunity Area’ and then a Mayoral Development Corporation, substantial investment has been made by the Mayor of London in stimulating development around the site of a new High Speed Train station at Old Oak. Community mobilisation took the form of a network of existing organisations and residents across a large area, encompassing a diverse population and including large swathes of railway and industrial land, making connections were hard to forge. The ambition of the Mayoral Development Corporation created a range of different settings for progressing planning and development, from open engagements with communities over planning visions, to informal and restricted discussions of development applications, secretive master planning initiatives, and highly legalistic procedures of formal inspection. Disaggregating the unitary assessment of politics embedded in post-political analysis, the paper identifies the series of ‘settings’ in which different combinations of political openings, closures and opportunities for advancing concerns of community-based movements can be located. The analysis signposts scope for a more targeted political ambition, based on a community-based strategic assessment of the fragmentation of planning practice. Notably, the negotiations to determine planning gain between planners and developers were identified by the community groups as crucial to shaping development outcomes, with the growing demand to open these to public scrutiny.

高麗時代 중원지역 寺院 출토 茶器와 茶 文化

The Jungwon region currently centers around Chungcheongbuk-do, and includes parts of Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do around the Namhan River. At the heart of the Jungwon region is the Namhan River, which unites the area. Particularly during the Goryeo Dynasty, the Namhan River served as a major transportation and shipping route. Many temples were situated along the river and in its vicinity, which played various roles including religious, political, public, and recreational functions. As these temples performed these diverse roles, the tea culture in the Jungwon region naturally flourished alongside. However, the tea culture in the Jungwon region evolved more rapidly compared to other areas, due to its connection with the Namhan River as a transportation route and its close relationship with the Goryeo royal court. Initially, the Tang Dynasty’s “zha” tea preparation method was used, but from the mid-Goryeo period, the Song Dynasty’s “dian” tea preparation method was adopted, marking a significant shift in tea culture. This transition in tea culture can be confirmed through ceramics excavated from temples in the Jungwon region. The tea utensils founded in this region include celadon cups, celadon teapots, and celadon tea dishes, as well as numerous Chinese-made ceramics. Notably, the discovery of black-glazed bowls from the Jian kilns provides important evidence of the prevalence of the “dian” tea preparation method in the Jungwon region. The development and transformation of tea culture in the Jungwon region can be interpreted as a result of the swift influx of Chinese culture through the Namhan River and its close relationship with the Goryeo royal court.

Research and Exploration of Ideology and Politics in the Course of Emergency Critical Care

In order to realize the fundamental task of “Setting up morality and cultivating people”, this study reports the ideological and political objectives, teaching design and effect of the course of emergency and critical care, and provides reference for the ideological and political education function of the specific course.

“Politics and the Pulpit are Terms that Have Little Agreement”: Edmund Burke’s Critique of the Political Theologian

ABSTRACT Burke was possibly the first person to use the term “political theologian” in English. He used it as a term of opprobrium against dissenting preacher Richard Price and his enthusiasm for the French Revolution. This article seeks to explicate the meaning of the term “political theologians” in Burke’s Reflections, and why Burke regarded the conjunction of politics and theology as a pejorative. The article further seeks to explain how Burke could see such an integral and positive role for Christianity in relation to the English state, while using the term “political theologian” as a slur. It concludes that it was partisan politics in the pulpit that Burke opposed, something he regarded as a violation of the distinct characters and functions of politics and church in society. Finally, the article seeks to locate Burke within the genealogy of the terms “political theology” and “political theologian.”

Institutional Logic of Fragile States: Afghanistan and South Sudan in Comparative Perspective

ABSTRACT In the violence trap framework, ruling elites use rents to control contending elites who pose a violent threat. Political development results in transitions from a fragile state, wherein rents are tentative and personalized, to a basic natural state, and then a mature natural state, through standardization of elite privileges, consolidated state control of the political-military apparatus, and the enactment of a credible contracts regime. Accordingly, the institutional logic of fragile states is rooted in the incentives that undergird elite bounded rationality, transacting under highly personalized, tentative patronage networks. The paper addresses the question of why fragile states fail to develop into basic natural states. In doing so, it applies the violence trap analytical framework to illustrate the logic of the fragile state through a most different systems (MDS) comparison of Afghanistan and South Sudan. The main finding is that the institutional logic of the fragile state in the two cases is rooted in a lack of three necessary conditions: institutional incentives for broadening elite consensus, credible patronage agreements among different elite groups, and a consolidated state with specialized political and military functions.

Toward an Understanding of Economic Development in Post-2003 Iraq

Citizen inclusion in politics and voluntary organizations, a vibrant press and media, regular elections, or greater “political inclusion” more generally are often presented—both by international organizations as well as some researchers—as elements likely, even necessary, to promote “economic inclusion” and a more equitable distribution of material benefits. We avoid structural approaches that emphasize oil and instead utilize institutional analysis to understand Iraq’s post-2003 economic and social trajectory. Specifically, we analyze how Iraq’s post-2003 political settlement along with its already deteriorating economic institutions and unfavorable economic and social conditions have combined to shape poor economic outcomes. We show, using the World Bank’s World Governance Indicators as well as other data that the more inclusive political institutions that were established in Iraq post-2003 have worked to impede economic development and inclusion. That is, increased political openness and inclusion has not resulted in greater economic inclusion; instead, Iraq’s political institutions have worked to constrain economic inclusion and a more egalitarian distribution of oil income. This revisits a classic debate in development economics and casts doubt on the reliability of the often-promoted relationship between political pluralism and economic development.

Enlivening Prayers: Aesthetic and Function in the Supplicatory Odes of Shaykh Abū Bakr Atiƙu (Kano, Nigeria, d. 1974)

ABSTRACT This article analyzes Sufi supplications in the poetic works of Shaykh Abū Bakr ʿAtīq b. Khiḍr b. Abī Bakr b. Mūsā al-Kashināwī (1909–1974), known in Hausa as Shehi Abubakar Atiƙu Sanka. It examines the literary and aesthetic aspects of Atiƙu’s supplicatory odes, as well as their social and political functions. Atiƙu, a significant Tijani scholar in Kano, Nigeria, was a prominent voice in the Fayḍa Tijāniyya movement, which greatly enhanced Islamic scholarship and literacy across West Africa. The Fayḍa literature includes various genres, particularly classical Arabic odes (usually monorhyme), with the Sufi supplicatory ode (qaṣīdat al-tawassul) being a notable sub-genre. Despite their devotional nature, these odes are often overlooked by Western scholars for their literary and historical value. This article shows that Atiƙu’s odes possess a unique aesthetic grounded in reiteration and intertextuality, which contributes to their coherence and unity. Moreover, these supplicatory odes play crucial social roles and serve as valuable sources of social history. The study relies on Atiƙu’s original manuscripts, which contain paratextual elements and annotations about political and religious contexts, providing a basis for a socio-literary analysis of this Islamic poetry sub-genre in Africa.

2차 미소공동위원회 당시 정치고문단의 창설과 활동

The Political Advisory Group(PAG) was organized based on the recognition that the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea(AMG) had no dedicated advisory body to consult on political issues in South Korea, despite the fact that AMG dealt with numerous political issues in South Korea in addition to its military duties. The creation of the PAG was the final destination of the ‘decentralized’ and ‘fluid’ organizational transformation of AMG’s political advisory machinery. AMG had previously utilized the military intelligence agencies, political advisors dispatched by the US State Department, Hodge’s personal political advisor, and the American delegates for U.S-U.S.S.R. Joint Commission as political advisory organizations. PAG was comprised of Korea experts and political analysts from AMG. PAG collected and analyzed political intelligence through continuous contact with South Korean political figures. Then, PAG framed and implemented AMG’s occupation policy In particular, PAG actively supported the American delegates for 2nd U.S-U.S.S.R. Joint Commission based on the political intelligence and understanding of South Korean political parties accumulated through its activities. Throughout the 2nd U.S-U.S.S.R. Joint Commission, PAG’s focus was on “creating a situation led by right-wing forces” in the list of Korean political parties and social groups that U.S-U.S.S.R. Joint Commission would consult. The existence and activities of PAG clearly show the way and perspective of AMG’s reorganization of South Korean politics at the time. In addition, the fact that the PAG was established as a permanent organization with a single function as a “political advisor” only in 1947 can be seen as evidence that the political advisory function of the AMG in the early days of the occupation was weak.

Политический проективизм в партийном строительстве

To this day, political design is the subject of academic and public discussions, the result of which is the realization of private, rational, rather than social, interests related to ideas and ideologies. To the greatest extent, this criticism affects the processes of party building. In the mass (and partly in expert) consciousness, parties are defined as institutions aimed at promoting social interests. Within the framework of such views, any emerging and developing project is considered as a de-ideologized formation, based on the rational goals and motives of its participants. Accordingly, the assessment of political projectivism in party building is an important and relevant research task and forms the purpose of this article. The methodological basis of the study was made up of systemic and neo-institutional approaches, the combination of which made it possible to consider political design as a sustainable practice, implemented in the system of political interaction and transforming the essence of modern party organizations. The study also took into account the projective approach of public administration, which defines projects as key components of political (and party) functioning. The main research methods were the general scientific principles of analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, comparison, as well as the applied method of situational analysis (case-study), which made it possible to determine the significance of political projectivism in their formation and functioning using specific examples of Russian parties. The conclusions of the article are that in the processes of modern party building, political projectivism is a natural and integral process of insti-tutional interaction. It is associated with both objective processes of transformation of modern political and party systems, as well as political parties themselves, and with the subjective orientations of political figures to obtain and maintain positions of power, based on rational planning and use of their available resources. As Russian party history shows, the implementation of party projects can have negative and positive aspects associated with the implementation of activities by such parties, which are also of a pro-ject nature and focused on working with the electorate, including those involving the solution of certain social issues.

Medium-term forecast of the dynamics of life attitudes of Russians

The article presents a method for forecasting trends in changes in mass consciousness in terms of life attitudes, i.e. those values according to which people try to build their lives. Modern applied sociology successfully uses the forecast of electoral and consumer behaviour of citizens. The time lag of forecast reliability: for electoral behaviour - 4-5 weeks, for consumer behaviour - up to a year. Forecasting for 10-20 years is practiced mainly in demography. It is more difficult to forecast changes in mass consciousness based on value attitudes of citizens. If we assume that the development of the state is evolutionary, then the combination of heuristic and mathematical methods allows us to forecast trends in the attitudes of the population aged 40 and older, as basic for the economic and political functioning of the state. In methodological terms, the article proposes a procedure for forecasting trends only, without claiming high accuracy of numerical indicators, with mandatory consideration of weak variability of basic numerical indicators measured as of 2024. To forecast trends, there were used data from an all-Russian representative sociological study, accumulated in integral indices, as well as in verbal constructs using factor analysis. The combination of these methods allowed to make a generally stable 20-year forecast of trends in changes in the life attitudes of Russians. As a tool for a detailed forecast indices as integrated indicators of the intensity and direction of a trend were used, and for a generalised forecast - verbal constructs formed on the basis of factor analysis. The choice of the subject of the forecast is based on the hypothesis that the "catalyst" of life attitudes are three components of life activity: the life trajectory chosen by the individual, including the preferred types of life activity; the identification of the individual with reference groups as a contact environment, a mechanism of value communication and self-realisation; the choice of forms of social behaviour by the individual based on the basic moral principles of people's life activity. These three aspects of the population's life activity are not only socially (phylogenetically), but also to a large extent biologically (ontogenetically) determined, therefore they are highly stable, that allows us to talk about the stability of the medium-term forecast of trends in the interval of up to 20 years. Thus, the article proposes the tested in an applied sociological study combined method of medium-term forecast of social groups' attitudes in a situation where repeated studies are not conducted to build a dynamic series of empirical indicators. The forecast presented in the article operates with indicators that are important for consideration in the practice of medium-term planning of the state’s social policy.

Ten Per Cent Ballads and the ‘Shodeocracy’: Labour, Violence, and Humour

This article is based on the ‘ten per cent’ ballads contained in scrapbooks held in Lancashire Archives. The ballads were composed, printed, and sold on the streets during the Preston lock-out of 1853–1854, and were eventually collected by the union leaders Thomas Banks and George Cowell, and the mill owner Henry Ashworth. The article analyses examples of the ballads to interrogate topics including literature as labour, the role of women in the dispute, the use of violent language in permissible contexts, and the use of humour to emotionally offset these violent threats. The Preston lock-out occurred during what W.L. Burn famously defined as the ‘Age of Equipoise’ (c.1850–1867), and the political function of the ballads is considered in relation to this. Ten per cent ballads are found not just to reflect attitudes, but to be integral to the social connective tissue. Functions included enhancing solidarity, maintaining the good humour of strike meetings, as well as the economic necessity of raising funds for suffering workers. It is also argued that the singing of the ballads represented emotionally imperative voicing of physical threat in a controlled mode, and that this contributed to the relative lack of violence during the lock-out.

Toward a rhetorical understanding of Chinese political internet memes amid a Chinese governance crisis

ABSTRACT The global trend of social media communication renders internet memes increasingly popular as democratic-oriented discursive tools in online ideological contests. However, scholarly attention to the rhetorical aspects of memetic political discourse has predominantly been Western-centric, leaving their counterparts in non-Western socio-political environments, especially during times of social crises, relatively unexplored in the existing literature. To bridge this gap, this article employs a social-semiotic-rooted multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) to investigate how Chinese netizens utilize internet memes for ideological contestation during a societal-level Chinese governance crisis in the 2020s, characterized by a series of iconic ideological upheavals. The research examines 357 memes from the “My Post” community on WeChat, one of China’s prominent social apps, to unveil their symbolic processes and rhetorical functions in Chinese online politics. This empirical study reveals that Chinese political internet memes serve as strategic rhetorical devices that: (1) enable civic ideological expressions within an authoritarian media landscape dominated by standardized ideological narratives; (2) foster a dynamic process allowing negotiation among political authority, media institutions, and netizens to establish a discursive space accommodating contentious topics and acceptable compromises; and (3) signify a paradigm shift in rhetorical function, elevating internet memes from online communicative artifacts to a democratic perspective.