Left-wing Governments Research Articles

Discriminatory discourses against Morocco and Moroccan immigrants in the Spanish context. A corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis of ‘Jovenlandia/jovenlandés’ (Youthland/Youthlandian) on X

Media discourse has provided a breeding ground for the advent of new patterns of discrimination with the power of influencing the public narrative. This goal of this study is to analyze how the recently-created terms ‘Jovenlandia’ (Youthland) and ‘jovenlandés’ (Youthlandian) are employed mockingly on X in response to the use of generic ‘joven’ (youth, youngster) in news articles. With the use of these terms, X users imply a supposed cancel culture in mass media that withholds data of Muslim immigrant criminals. The theoretical approach adopted combines corpus tools with Critical Discourse Analysis to examine 3856 posts on X during the 2023 Spanish general election campaign (from May 29th to July 23rd 2023). The analysis is based on Wodak’s discourse-historical approach and examines referential and predication strategies to unveil the linguistic expressions to represent immigrants. The results show that the words serve to construct a racist discursive representation of Moroccan migrant identities on the platform X in Spain. Immigrants are portrayed as violent, criminals, and rapists, whereas Morocco is depicted as a land of criminals with homophobic and sexist traditions. The discursive strategies against migrants were commonly grounded in the Muslims’ perceived failure to assimilate into the Spanish culture. In this sense, pork meat is used as a symbolic cultural criterion for evaluating authentic Spanish adherence. Spaniards are self-portrayed as victims of the left-wing government decisions and X users appeal to the extreme-right wing party Vox to solve the problem.

Targeted transfers, a left-wing policy? The impact of left-wing governments and corporatism on transfers to low-income families (1982–2019)

In the last decades, several countries introduced new income-tested child benefits and targeted in-work tax credits to boost the income of low-income families. Inspired by the power resource theory, I postulate that left-wing governments tend to increase benefits to low-income families because their ideology favours redistribution and to consolidate the vote of low-income families, but that both right- and left-wing governments increase benefits for middle-income families. The impact of left-wing governments should be stronger in countries with a weak bargaining system as social partners are unable to reduce inequalities between families. To demonstrate this argument, I use statistical analyses based on OECD data to measure the effect of government ideology and corporatism on the level of benefits received by low- and middle-income families in OECD countries from 1982 to 2019. The results indicate that left-wing parties have a significant impact on benefits received by low-income families, but not on benefits received by middle-income families. Also, even though corporatism is associated with different types of child benefits, it does not influence the relationship between left-wing governments and benefits received by low-income families.

Government ideology and labour policy reform in good times and bad

ABSTRACT Which governments implement interventionist or liberalising labour policy reforms, and does the economic context matter? Drawing on the previous literature on government ideology and public policy, we hypothesise that leftist governments are more likely to implement interventionist labour policies. However, we also expect that economic circumstances influence parties’ room to manoeuvre, and we thus hypothesise that the impact of government partisanship on labour policy reform will be weaker during troublesome economic circumstances. The main contribution of this paper is empirical, in that we take seriously the ‘dependent variable problem’ of policy studies that look to aggregate measures to detect instances of retrenchment, by making use of a new dataset on the directionality of 1,446 individual labour reform measures enacted across 13 nations between 1978 and 2017, allowing us to compare government labour policy during periods of varying levels of budgetary deficit, employment, and debt levels. Our results show that left-wing governments implement more interventionist labour policies, but only during less economically ‘challenging’ periods – during dire economic circumstances, economic orthodoxy seems to trump ideology in governmental policy-making processes.

Explaining leadership quality among the directors of Mexico’s subnational women’s policy agencies

ABSTRACT This article examines the effectiveness of women’s policy agencies (WPAs), with a focus on the leadership of subnational women’s institutes in the Mexican states. We contribute to the existing research with a new original dataset on WPAs in an important third-wave democracy in Latin America. Our focus on leadership quality provides a useful method for measuring one central component of institutional effectiveness across a large number of cases. We consider high-quality leaders to be those with longer tenure in office and higher levels of education, more professional experience, and closer connections to the feminist movement. Using a dataset of 226 directors, we find evidence that party ideology, electoral competition, and the institutional design of the agency influence the quality of leadership. Moreover, states with stronger women’s movements have higher-quality leadership in their WPAs. These findings support a central premise of the state feminism literature – that WPAs are most effective when allied with strong women’s movements and left-wing governments – and also point to the importance of electoral democracy in promoting institutional effectiveness.

Shall Automation Create Artificial Jobs?

In the following pages, we review the current research on automation’s effect on the labor market and consider incentives for Left-wing governments to create artificial employment as a politico-economic response to job displacement. We derive our notion of artificial employment from Graeber’s concept of ‘bullshit jobs’ with one important difference—artificial employment generates a sense of purpose and meaning by resonating with a grand political-ideological narrative. We propose reasons for Left-wing governments to support creation of artificial jobs for twin purposes of addressing labor market implications of automation and stemming political disengagement of traditionally left-wing electorates.

A relevância do envolvimento do Estado diante de uma estratégia econômica sustentável e socialmente inclusiva no México, o caso de sua região sul-sudeste como provável polo de desenvolvimento regional socialmente inclusivo e sustentável no país

Mexico’s South-southeastern region (here on ‘Macrosouth’) has traditionally been lagged and impoverished vis-á-vis Mexico’s northern and center region, which comprise, altogether, the so-called ‘Macronorth’ (encompassing northern, northwestern, western, and center regions). With the sole exception of highly private investment concentration on the Mayan Riviera of touristic nature, the rest of the ‘Macrosouth’ region (encompassing the Gulf of Mexico, South-pacific and Southeastern region) and its states down to the Gulf of Mexico and South Pacific region have remained isolated and disconnected from the Riviera bonanza zone, featuring better living standards, high economic growth, and better employment opportunities. Under this framework and the emergence of a new democratic leftwing government in Mexico with strong social support and commitment to promoting a balanced regional development throughout the country, under a socially inclusive strategy it results explainable its emphasis granted on fostering a balanced regional development, under a socially inclusive strategy, its decision to earmark mammoth public productive investments toward the referred region, such as the Mayan Train and the Mexican Corridor (Dos Bocas Refinery in Tabasco state) all of them immersed in the same Macroregion aiming to paralleling foster economic growth and well-being within this region and diminishing the prevailing asymmetric gap between North and South. Although the unprecedented public investments channelized so far into the Macrosouth are expected to promote an economic bonanza in this region, there is no guarantee whatsoever that such growth will render seamlessly and simultaneously a socially inclusive and sustainable development in such a region for the coming years as conceived by Mexico´s ongoing economic strategy. Under this context, the article aims to highlight some remarks and challenges ahead to overcome to implement a socially inclusive and sustainable regional strategy in this Macroregion in the coming years and the role of the State as an unavoidable key agent in attaining a balanced, socially inclusive and a sustainable approach in such region.

Determinants of Income Composition Inequality

A rich literature examines the determinants of income inequality. Less is known about the distribution of income composition, or the extent to which different socio-economic groups hold different sources of income. This article explores the drivers of income composition inequality (ICI). Contrary to recent studies, which show that the composition of government has ceased to shape redistribution and income inequality dynamics, this article posits that left-wing parties are associated with lower income composition inequality. We test this expectation with data from thirty European countries between 2003 and 2017. Our results suggest that the polarization between capital and labor income holders declines under left-wing governments. We establish that this is mainly because left-wing parties seek to broaden access to capital income.

Regulating board gender diversity in Europe: The influence of cultural, governmental, and women’s institutions

This study empirically explores the formal and informal institutional antecedents of the enactment of quotas and codes to increase gender diversity on corporate boards. A panel of 30 European countries and 510 observations from 2002 to 2018 reveals that formal and informal national institutional contexts affect the likelihood of board gender codes and quotas. The presence of women in decision-making bodies is the most powerful driver of quotas and codes. Countries with better governance quality and longer maternity leave are less likely to have board gender quotas. High power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, restraint, short-term orientation, and individualism all increase the likelihood of quotas. A country’s female participation in the labor market is also associated with the regulation of board gender diversity. In contrast to previous theoretical propositions, other institutional factors, such as the current presence of a left-wing government, are not related to gender diversity regulations.

Neo‐extractivism, (de)growth and resurgent pink tide governments in Latin America

AbstractThe 21st century in Latin America began with a widespread shift to the left politically, a phenomenon called the ‘pink tide’. Following a period of right‐wing re‐ascendancy, left wing governments are again gaining traction across the continent. This article analyses the end of the last pink tide via a dialogue between the post‐extractivism and degrowth literature by examining Bolivia, Ecuador, and Brazil. This is done through a look at the impacts of both economic growth as a normative policy aim and extractivism as the engine to produce this growth on political developments in these countries. In the tradition of Gramsci this is interpreted as a hegemonic force, recast here as growth‐through‐extraction, that serves to perpetuate the interests of wealthy classes despite political changes. This article concludes with a brief analysis of how academic debates and political processes have moved on since Escobar 2015 and what this might mean for the new left‐wing governments of Latin America.

Latin America in the 21st Century Disputes for Democracy. Political Economy of Inequality

In this work we analyze the relationship between the dispute over democracy and the political economy of inequality in Latin America in the 21st century. We examine the different economic and political models that have been implemented, their impact on inequality and the consequences for democracy. Democracy in Latin America has experienced fluctuations in the 21st century, with advances and setbacks. Economic inequality, a historical problem in the region, has been considered a factor that threatens democratic stability. To address the proposed objectives, we implement a research methodology that combines: bibliographic review and comparative analysis of cases where we study the experiences of different countries in the region that have implemented left-wing governments, with emphasis on the public policies applied and their results in matter of redistribution. Preliminary findings: The research revealed a robust correlation between economic disparity and democratic fragility in Latin America. Countries with higher levels of disparity are more likely to experience political instability, social protests, and governance crises. In conclusion, economic disparity constitutes a threat to democracy in Latin America. It is necessary to implement public policies that reduce disparity and promote social inclusion to strengthen democracy in the region.

Government ideology and the implementation of civil war peace agreements

ABSTRACT How does government ideology, measured by the ideology of the chief executive and the ideology of the largest government party, influence the implementation of civil war peace agreements? In this study, I address this research question by analysing the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) dataset that covers 34 comprehensive peace agreements of 31 countries from 1989 to 2015. The results of feasible generalised least squares (FGLS) regressions demonstrate that the likelihood of implementing peace agreements increases when chief executives and the largest government parties of the left-wing are in office. In contrast, the likelihood of implementing peace agreements decreases when chief executives and the largest government parties of the right-wing stay in power. Consistent with the party-policy literature and the hawkish-dovish assumptions, I find that left-wing governments positively impact the implementation of peace agreements more than right-wing governments, indicating the statistically significant relationship between the government ideology and the implementation of peace agreements.

Early warning models for systemic banking crises: Can political indicators improve prediction?

This study provides a novel attempt to assess whether an early warning system (EWS) for systemic banking crises can produce better predictions when political indicators are used alongside traditional macro-financial indicators. Based on a dataset covering 32 advanced economies for the period 1975–2017, we show that the inclusion of political indicators significantly improves the predictive performance of the model. Our results suggest several channels, related to the role of constitutions and policy predictability, through which the political environment could affect the stability of a banking system. In particular, we find that majority governments, left-wing governments, and a longer time in office of the executive party are negatively correlated with systemic risk. This is robust to a large number of different specifications. Furthermore, we find that long-established institutional systems and plurality electoral systems (compared to proportional representation systems) are associated with a lower likelihood of crises. At the same time, crises are more likely when the incumbent government represents a nationalist platform.

THE IMPACT OF ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS ON EXCHANGE RATE REGIME CHOICE IN SRI LANKA

This study investigates the impact of economic, political, and institutional factors on the choice of an exchange rate regime in Sri Lanka from 1972 to 2020. Since the exchange rate regime in Sri Lanka has recently been vulnerable due to the late 2021 and early 2022 economic and currency crises followed by economic, political, and institutional volatility, it is important to investigate the impact of such factors on the exchange rate regime. This study aimed to fill specific empirical and practice gaps, and it addresses the empirical gap by examining Sri Lanka and identifying certain contradictory results in the literature. There are conflicting results for the same variable in the literature because of the different economies being tested, which is obvious. This study addresses the practice gap by examining the recent economic and currency crisis in Sri Lanka, which led the researchers to conduct the study for Sri Lanka. The study's dependent variable is categorical and comprises three choices: pegged, intermediate, and floating. The thirteen independent variables were categorized under three main determinants: economic, political, and institutional. A multinomial logistic regression predicted the model. According to the study’s findings, all the economic variables are statistically significant except international reserves and globalization compared to an intermediate regime. None of the political stability variables are significant in Sri Lanka. Left-wing government (government ideology) is robust among the institutional quality determinants, although the result is ambiguous. According to the results, economic factors lead the way in determining the exchange rate regime in Sri Lanka.

From Authoritarianism to Democracy in Poland Catholic church, the Union Movement Solidarity and the History of Democratic Change

The paper examines the complex process of transition from a non-democratic to a democratic regime and the consolidation of the government system in Poland. The specificity of the democratic transition in Poland, in relation to other transitions in Central and Eastern Europe, is reflected in the nature of the non-democratic regime, which was more authoritarian than (post)totalitarian. Hence, while the communist regime was in force, social pluralism managed to be preserved to the highest possible extent. Preserved social and even political pluralism later contributed to success in the transition process. The military-party regime in Poland, after Gorbachev came to power in the USSR, applied the strategy of getting out that took the form of negotiations between the political position and the political opposition at the Round Table. The compromise ended the negotiations and brought about semi-free elections, on one, and the controlled democratic transition in Poland, on the other hand. The event was accelerated when, in semi-free elections, the popular Solidarity movement defeated the then-ruling communist group. The provisions of the Agreement were fully respected by both sides. In the end, after the Second World War, it was Poland whose citizens were the first to overthrow at the regular elections. The Round Table Agreement established the function of a strong president, who was directly elected. That function was first used by Leh Valensa, the leader of Solidarity. The extreme proportional election method and the fragmentation of Solidarity, in terms of the creation of several political parties, resulted in the establishment of a multi-party semi-presidential system. The change in the electoral system and the inappropriate tactics of the political parties that emerged from Solidarity enabled the left-wing government to come to power and ensured the post of president to a post-communist candidate (Darmanovi?, 2002). The transfer of power from Solidarity to their former rivals, who fundamentally changed, managed to end peacefully and Poland slowly entered the phase of consolidation of the government system.

Peace at Home, Conflict Abroad: Government Ideology, Mission Type, and Parliamentary Support for Military Interventions

Abstract International relations scholarship has long overlooked the role of parliament in shaping states’ decision to go to war. In contrast, recent studies explored variations in parliamentary war powers across time and countries and their impact on troop deployments abroad. However, a systematic analysis of the determinants of support for military interventions in parliament is still missing. This article fills this literature gap by examining votes on 119 missions in twenty-one democracies between 1990 and 2019. Our findings suggest that parliamentary contestation is fundamentally driven by government ideology and the type of mission. Parliamentary support for military intervention is significantly higher when a left-wing government is in power. Moreover, “inclusive” missions with a robust humanitarian dimension draw a considerably lower level of contestation than “strategic” missions aimed at contrasting a security threat. Through such findings, the article contributes to the debates on the relevance of domestic political institutions in foreign policy and the party politics of military interventions.

Russia-Venezuela Relations (and US Interests): A Fully-Fledged and Long-Term Strategic Partnership?

Abstract The strengthening of cooperation between Russia and Venezuela has become one of the characteristics of the system of international relations at the beginning of the 21st century. The previously “unfamiliar” states showed a rapid rapprochement in less than two decades, rewriting the established paradigm that only Cuba could be considered as the Kremlin’s strategic partner in Latin America. Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, unexpectedly led to rapid positive changes in US-Venezuelan relations, once again reminding the world that these countries have historically been important trade and economic partners, which will not change quickly. This raised the Kremlin’s concerns about the impending “loss” of Venezuela. The article provides an analysis of the current state of Russia-Venezuela relations, highlighting the factors that were behind every achievement of Russia in Venezuela, with the coming to power of a left-wing government that defined itself as socialist, anti-capitalist, anti-neoliberal and anti-hegemonic. Highlighting the main areas of the ongoing interaction between Caracas and Washington, the author casts doubt on the prevailing opinion in the literature that Russia has been able to form a full-fledged and long-term strategic partnership with Venezuela.

Will the Revolution Be Televised? Party Organization, Media Activism, and the Communication Strategies of Left-Wing Governments in Latin America

How do parties respond to media environments slanted against them? This article exploits variation in the level of media activism of Latin American left-wing governments to answer this question. I argue that the composition of governing parties’ bases of support shapes their communication strategy. While parties with unorganized supporters lack societal channels of communication with the electorate and are forced to resort to alternative media structures to disseminate information, parties with organized supporters communicate through affiliated societal organizations and do not depend on mediatized communication. To illustrate this theory, I process trace the cases of Ecuador and Bolivia, drawing on seventy original interviews with key decisionmakers. This article contributes to the literature on political parties by highlighting the overlooked communication function they fulfill.

“Liberal tide” and migratory patterns in Latin America

South-South migration constitutes 40% of international migration flows, with Southern countries receiving three-quarters of the world’s total refugees. Despite this, research efforts have mainly focused on South-North migration, partly filling the gap only recently. We found that the migration patterns in Latin America, at the turn of the century, doubled, growing from 7 million immigrants in 1990 to nearly 15 million in 2020. Of particular interest is the Latin American approach to migration, which has embraced, since 2000, strong narrative based on human rights principles that prevails in discourses, policies, and laws. Key aspects of this approach include recognizing migration as a human right, refraining from criminalizing irregular migration, and ensuring equal protection of social rights. This approach has been defined as the “liberal tide.” The paper illustrates the link between the “liberal tide” and the “pink tide” (left-wing governments). However, the choice of human rights-based liberal migratory policies may also be embedded in the specific migratory patterns of the region. In the late 20th century, the status of Latin America has transformed from a destination for immigrants originating from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East to a region of significant source of migrants engaging in both interregional migration and transoceanic migration (including Europe and Japan). This two-sided migration experience has likely exerted a notable influence on the formulation of liberal policies.

Discursive malleability of a global policy model: How conditional cash transfers transcend political boundaries in Chile

In Chile, a conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme was established by a left-wing government in 2004 and then re-established by a right-wing coalition in 2014. Despite some revisions and adjustments, Ingreso Ético Familiar maintained the core characteristics of its predecessor Chile Solidario. This reflected a wider trend of CCT adoption by an ideologically diverse group of governments. Against this background, it is obvious that the CCT policy model appeals to political decision-makers on a wide scale, or at least makes it acceptable to them. However, questions remain: how was this model embraced by the ideologically opposing coalitions in Chile? And more broadly: how do CCTs appeal to such a wide range of policymakers? The article explores the argumentation of Chilean Members of Parliament and examines how the ideological and political consensus around these programmes was discursively attained. Through this case, the article also sheds light on how domestic policy dynamics interact with global policy processes. The analysis revealed points of confluence, which serve to illustrate the CCT model’s capacity to convey different meanings to different people – allowing it to be interpreted to fit a variety of different perspectives. I define this quality as discursive malleability and argue that it is an important quality not only in explaining how a policy model can resonate among or appeal to such a wide range of policymakers, but also in the process where a global model is adopted in a country and becomes part of the domestic political debate.

How media pluralism navigates ideological orientations: the case of Slovenia

IntroductionMedia and its reporting shape public opinion, and doing this can obtain an indirect and significant influence on the course and results of the political process. In this context, media operates as an active element of the political process.MethodsThe authors use the Janis-Fadner coefficient of imbalance to analyze a total of 1434 media texts published in 10 different Slovenian media outlets. The texts were published between March and September 2020.ResultsThe authors discover weak media plurality as the main characteristic of the Slovenian media space. The results show the majority of media reporting is strongly anti-right-wing-governmental and left-wing oriented with little pluralism. Most news coverage of web portals demonstrates a distinct ideological note, resulting in predominant expressions of centre-left and anti-center-right government views.DiscussionMost analyzed media is significantly more unfavorable to the center-right government than the center-left opposition, taking a notable left-wing stance. Confirmed by previous conducted studies, the Slovenia's political left seems to have much stronger media support than its right-wing counterpart. For the purpose, would be important to observe whether demonstrated harsh anti-government and pro-opposition orientation changed following the establishment of a new left-wing government after April 2020 elections.