Liberal Democratic Party Research Articles

Let Us Build for Ourselves a City: A Biblical Look at the Correlation Between Secularism, Liberalism, and Urbanization in America

A map of the 2022 U.S. mid-term election results per House district shows a vastness of ‘Republican red’ engulfing most of the country’s landmass in comparison to small pockets of ‘Democrat blue’ that is concentrated upon the most urbanized metropolitan population centers. Such a unique phenomenon begs the following question: ‘What has happened within the most urbanized metropolitan populations to cause them to overwhelmingly vote for the politically liberal Democratic party, a party whose platform is antithetical in many ways to what is expressly taught in the Bible?’ This question also spawns another: ‘Why have the most populous areas in the country also become bastions of paganism, hedonism, and liberalism?’ This paper demonstrates that past human behavior detailed in biblical narratives is being replicated in today’s modern urbanized culture. As is seen in Scripture, for a large city or metropolitan area to obtain and maintain a consistent and achievable level of peace and prosperity, a compromising layer of tolerance towards immorality and evil must materialize. Subsequently, the sustained tolerance of evil and violence will eventually lead to the approval, propagation, and adoption of evil and violence. Then and now, to the degree an urban population ‘goes along to get along’, the further it drifts from the Lord and plunges downward into paganism, hedonism, and idolatry. Thus, when a society consciously usurps the sovereignty of God and thinks it possesses the highest level of authority, then it has arrived at the point where it believes it has the freedom to redefine societal rules according to what it determines to be “right in its own eyes” (Judg. 21:25). By dismissing God’s existence or discounting His holiness, justice, and power, a population cognitively thinks it has effectively shaken off the yoke of sin, guilt, and shame, and has achieved the human right to “call evil good and good evil” (Isa. 5:20).

ТРАНСФОРМАЦИЯ ВЛИЯНИЯ ЭТНИЧЕСКОГО ФАКТОРА НА ИТОГИ ФЕДЕРАЛЬНЫХ ВЫБОРОВ (2003–2021) В ВОСТОЧНОЙ СИБИРИ4

Eastern Siberia, which is considered by the author as comprising the republics of Buryatia, Sakha (Yakutia), Tyvaand Khakassia, the Transbaikal and Krasnoyarsk territories, the Irkutsk region, is characterized by a mosaic ethnic composition. Thereare distinguished large nations, living mainly in the republics, and small nations, residing in small areas in different territories of themacro region. The former, due to their large numbers, are able to influence election results, which is expressed in high turnout andpolitical preferences oriented toward support for the ‘party in power’ and its leader – the current president. However, in the last presidential election (2018) and State Duma election (2021), we noted a decrease in the close relationship between the share of indigenouspeoples and turnout as well as voting for the United Russia and Vladimir Putin. This article aims to analyze the dynamics of turnout in general elections to the State Duma from 2003 to 2016 in comparisonwith the last election campaign of 2021 and presidential elections in 2012–2018 as well as the dynamics of the number of votes for theparties and the presidential candidates (Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zhirinovsky). The research materials included the 2020 AllRussian Population Census, actually conducted in 2021, and the GAS-Elections database of the Central Election Commission of theRussian Federation. The study applied cartographic and statistical methods; a special method of correlation analysis was used to establish the closeness of the relationship between the indicators.An analysis of turnout dynamics showed a decrease in turnout at the 2021 elections to the State Duma compared to the 2003–2016 average, as well as at the 2018 presidential elections compared to the 2004–2012 level. The latest election campaign to the StateDuma demonstrated an increase in support for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and a decrease in the ratings of theUnited Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia in Eastern Siberia. In the presidential elections, there is noted a positivetrend in votes for Vladimir Putin in constituent entities of the Russian Federation with predominantly Russian population and its declinein some constituent entities created according to the national-ethnic principle (the Republic of Sakha) as well as territories formedbased on this principle (Aginsky Buryatsky District of the Transbaikal Territory), etc.

A comparative study of the electoral rhetoric of extreme right-wing parties in Germany and Russia

This article compares the electoral rhetoric of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) parties through the prism of the level of antagonization and the parties’ point of view on topical social issues. Discourse analysis is conducted using discourse frames and blocks, allowing formalizing the comparison between texts in different languages. The sample is based on party videos published online in April — May 2021 in the run-up to the upcoming federal elections in both countries. The LDPR uses more antagonistic rhetoric, especially against Western countries and Ukraine. The AfD uses we to unite its electorate, seeing the German and European establishment as its opponents, as well as organizations with an international agenda, including the Greens and the Antifa movement. Both parties raise important social issues such as immigration, digitalization, political freedoms, and national identity, but differences in emphasis emerge. The AfD is more likely to raise issues of economic freedom for business and the defense of German burgher culture against the leftist agenda, while the LDPR is focused on supporting Russian foreign policy and Russian culture against Western globalism. The authors also emphasize that modern far-right parties support democratic principles. Nationalism remains central to far-right ideology, but it is drifting towards democracy under the influence of sociocultural processes. The study aims to improve understanding of the dynamics of far-right political discourse in Germany and Russia. The theoretical developments allow us to expand the application of discourse analysis of political rhetoric.

Communist Legacy, Anti-Elite Sentiments, and Modernization Theory

Communist rule left a strong imprint on the development of Eastern European countries, but the precise mechanisms and directions of this legacy effect are subject to debate. This article looks at the legacies of giant infrastructural projects, which played an important role in the ideology and policy practice of communist regimes. Using the natural experiment of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), we investigate the influence of this project on post-communist voting behavior. We show that the BAM legacy reduces the share of votes for United Russia, the party of power of Putin’s regime, and leads to a larger share of votes for the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). While the BAM legacy could be associated with a multitude of channels, we provide empirical evidence for at least one of them—the persistence of human capital, showing that BAM settlements are characterized by better educational outcomes than the control group.

Exploring Reasons for Japans Post-War Political Stagnation

After the Second World War, the militarist, corporatist system of the imperial Japan had collapsed. Since then, Japan adopted a democratic system centered around the Liberal Democratic Party. This paper analyzed the political situation of Japan after the Second World War by exemplifying and investigating Japans political Stagnation. By analyzing the political situation of Japan, this research reveals the significance of political reformation and progression. This study selected and analyzed 15 different sources including books, articles and videos Economically, post-war Japan had a heavy reliance on the United States since the Korean War. Although the bubble economy of Japan through the 1970s provided the Japanese population with political confidence to an extent, The collapse of the bubble economy stopped Japans economic growth. Since then, Japan had entered the lost thirty years. In addition to the reasons aforementioned, political bureaucratization, lack of actual changes and powerful implicit order caused changing the status quo harder. These are the main factors working behind Japans political stagnation.

Znaczenie „dyplomacji demokracji” dla współczesnego Tajwanu

THE IMPORTANCE OF “DEMOCRATIC DIPLOMACY” FOR CONTEMPORARY TAIWANContemporary Taiwan is one of the leading democratic countries in Asia. The authorities in Taipei, under the leadership of President Tsai Ing-wen and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party have actively conveyed this message to the international community through their foreign policy since 2016. The objective of this paper is to examine the concept of “democracy diplomacy” in Taiwan, analyzing both scholarly discourse and observing Taiwan’s foreign policy. This strategic approach greatly bolsters Taiwan’s position among other nations that uphold democratic values, especially in the face of rivalries between major powers.

Ukrainian Liberal-Democratic Parties in the Russian Empire at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century in Political Journalism 1905-1917

Ukrainian Liberal-Democratic Parties in the Russian Empire at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century in Political Journalism 1905-1917

The CPTPP, cross-strait tensions, and Taiwan’s recognition for survival strategy under the democratic progressive party

Abstract Since coming to power in 2016, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has pledged to safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty amidst Beijing’s aggressive imposition of the one-China principle. This article assesses the impact of the DPP’s recognition for survival strategy which involves using free trade agreements (FTAs) to boost Taiwan’s legal standing and recognition in the international community. The strategy entails a two-pronged plan: retaining Taiwan’s status as a vital regional economic player to ultimately advance its de jure sovereignty via regional FTAs. Drawing on Taiwan’s past FTA experiences, we analyze the possible outcomes of the government’s application to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the likely consequences of these outcomes on the country’s sovereign claims and status. We argue that while the DPP’s strategy plays a crucial role in renegotiating Taiwan’s political self as an unrecognized state, failure to mitigate the negative externalities of the one-China principle while negotiating and implementing the CPTPP will further undermine the country’s facto sovereignty.

A pluralist assessment of industrialization

The established method of health technology assessment (HTA) is in this study expanded to a Pluralist Technology Assessment (PTA) including the Ecosystem in the production function. Market economy can grow by moderate reciprocal relations where the Government supports the framework for free market enterprise. However, the PTA concludes that industrial side-effects such as global warming and job-related stress today more than outweigh contemporary gains by GDP growth. Sustainable development requires a stronger economic reciprocity with collaborative (public) finance of interventions for the common good in accordance with the democratic social contract claimed by Rousseau 1762. A development from moderate to strong reciprocity is definitely a biological option based on across-the-center collaboration between Social Liberal and Social Democrat parties. A critical economic-political reform for such sustainable development is a CO2 Tariff (ET) towards global warming. However, in a globalized economy there is a national conflict of interests between Eco-protection by ET and business/employment which slows down the implementation. So, a globalized economy requires that the ET is implemented from the international level. A major part of the international ET revenue, for instance by the partners of the Paris Agreement 2015, can be used for Direct Air Capture of CO2 (DAC) and spillover technologies for instance synthetic fuels for heavy transport by sea and aircrafts. At the national level, the ET revenue must be used partly for social compensation to low-income groups, partly for new technology development in special sectors as agriculture and transport by sea and air. At the population level, “Simple Living” as a bottom-up alternative to consumerism complements the political interventions. Part of Simple Living is meditative in-depth-relaxation for better stress-management where a professional collaboration between Medicine and Health Economics can accelerate the development.

일본시민사회 제도화의 정치경제학

The purpose of this paper is to examine the formation of civil society in post-war Japan from a political and economic perspective. In particular, under the 1955 system of the Liberal Democratic Party, political interest is being promoted, and the process of forming institutionalized interest groups and citizens’ movements is being explored. This paper focuses on the relationship between political parties and social groups as to why, while interest groups have developed, the formation and institutionalization of civil movements such as new social movements have been delayed and the scope of institutionalization has become limited., discussed from the political and economic aspects. In terms of political space, the 1955 regime was a time when the relationship between political parties and social groups was formed through public policies, administrative mobilization systems, and electoral systems biased toward individual interests. As social capacity, economic resources during the period of rapid growth promoted the development of interest groups. While interest groups developed under the LDP's long-term reign, the Socialist Party’s labor union-dependent constitution, citizen movements that emerged to respond to socioeconomic changes were institutionalized within a limited scope due to the lack of available political and economic resources in the political and economic conditions of the 1970s.

The hour of European truth for Slovenian intellectuals

In this paper, the author presents and analyses the political activity of Slovenian opposition intellectuals during the period of Slovenia's EU accession (1995-97). In the summer of 1997, a group of intellectuals from the Nova revija circle published a public letter "An Hour of European Truth for Slovenia", in which they criticised the social and political situation and the government's poor policy of EU and NATO approximation. The signatories of the public letter perceived the then rule of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDS), which was the successor of the official youth organisation under socialism, as undemocratic rule by former communists who held all the strings of power. In approaching the EU, they opposed the agreement with Italy on the purchase of Slovenian real estate (the so-called Spanish Compromise). Although they were in principle in favour of EU membership, they also collaborated in their activism with a group of outspoken Eurosceptics. In the first part of the paper, the author presents Slovenian politics in the 1990s, while in the second part he briefly describes the process of Slovenia's accession to the EU and NATO. In the third part, the author describes the background and activities of the group of intellectuals in question. The fourth part analyses the public letter and the public reactions. In the conclusion, the author poses a question whether the actors mentioned were Eurosceptics. In his opinion, the concept of Euroscepticism does not help to understand the complex and ambivalent attitudes of political actors towards Europe and the EU. In conclusion, the author highlights the trajectory of Slovenian anticommunist political thought up to the present day.

Восприятие политических партий и их лидеров на фоне актуального психологического состояния российского общества

The article is devoted to the images of the Russian parties and their leaders against the background of the changes in the psychological state of our society in the modern conditions. The study was based on qualitative and quantitative research conducted in late 2022 — early 2023 in 22 regions. The object of the study were five parties represented in the State Duma (United Russia, The Communist Party of the Russian Federation, The Liberal Democratic Party, A Just Russia — For Truth, New People) and their leaders (A.Turchak, G.Zyuganov, V.Zhirinovsky, L.Slutsky, S.Mironov, and A.Nechaev). The research methodology included a survey, an in-depth interview, a semantic differential, a projective test, and a directed associations method. The study was not representative of the country as a whole, but the sample was balanced in terms of gender, age and education. The study demonstrated that the high level of anxiety and concerns of citizens about military actions did not affect a number of perception parameters, such as the attitude towards parties as a necessary part of the democratic process, the lack of a clear ideological identification of parties, and the personification of party images. At the same time, some parameters have undergone a significant transformation. First, the perception of a position of parties within the framework of the dichotomy “power — opposition” has changed. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation, A Just Russia — For Truth and The Liberal Democratic Party have lost a significant part of their image as opposition in the perception of citizens, while support for United Russia, which is clearly associated with the authorities, has increased. Second, the popularity of a flamboyant style has become a thing of the past, and today the image of the centrist party is the most attractive for voters. The new political reality requires that parties work to consolidate the society in the face of an external threat rather than demonstrate their independence and distance themselves from the authorities. Third, if before the beginning of the 2020s the demand for conservatism prevailed in the society, in the current situation social democratic and liberal values are more in demand.

Taiwan's Politics in Pixels: Analyzing the Democratic Progressive Party's Digital Rhetoric

Over seven decades of political stalemate, Taiwan's sovereign status vis-à-vis Mainland China remains an unresolved and volatile issue. The 21st century has witnessed spiraling cross-Strait tensions due to pro-independence endeavors by the Taiwanese Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), challenging the fundamental One China Principle. This delicate equilibrium has experienced further strain by the DPP's employment of digital campaigns to influence Taiwanese citizens' perceptions of Mainland China, while simultaneously bolstering ties with the US in support of autonomy. Amid this complex landscape, media and political propagandas have surfaced as the DPP's prominent instruments to sway its citizenry. However, the potency of digital media in sculpting public opinion and steering political discourse is met with a scarcity of research exploring the DPP's methodologies in advocating for an autonomous Taiwan. To address this gap, this paper offers a preliminary outlook by analyzing the DPP's deployment of digital media and political rhetoric as influential mechanisms to shape its citizens' perceptions of identity.

Возможности сетевого подхода в исследовании региональных отделений политических партий

The article attempts to analyze the number and content of interactions of the Voronezh political parties in 2022 with other political and public actors. Empirical data were collected using the content analysis method, and the network approach was chosen as the conceptual framework of the study. The main source was the official websites of the regional branches. According to the results of the study, the regional branch of the “United Russia” party became the most active in 2022. A relatively high frequency of contacts between the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and the executive authorities of the Voronezh region has been recorded.

Peculiarities of the activities of Russian political parties in the context of the special military operation in 2022

This article analyzes the positioning of political parties in the current political realities. The special military operation in Ukraine is considered as a significant internal political and geopolitical event, which to one degree or another affected almost all socio-political institutions of Russia, including political parties. In this article the parties are classified into new ones, that are those which created after 2015 and participating in federal election campaigns, and those parties that managed to take a firm place in the political system and form fractions in the Parliament. The purpose of this study is to determine whether new political parties in 2022 were able to take advantage of the current period of instability to strengthen their position in the political space and to which extent. Analyzing the legislative, media and public activities of such parties as “United Russia”, the Communist party, the Liberal-Democratic party, “Just Russia – for the Truth”, “New People”, “Green Alternative” and the “Party of Growth” in 2022 it was concluded that among the new political parties only "New People" are relatively active in the framework of the agenda of a special military operation. Other new political parties, except for minor actions, projects and other activities, almost do not use special operations in their activities to promote their party brand and attract new supporters. At the same time, almost all the parties under consideration integrated the agenda of the special military operation into their activities, but this had a very small impact on the electoral sympathies of the population.

An Analysis of the Development Process of the Liberal Democratic Party—Taking the Japanese Prime Minister Election as an Example

An Analysis of the Development Process of the Liberal Democratic Party—Taking the Japanese Prime Minister Election as an Example

Политические предпочтения молодых избирателей в современной России

The article is devoted to the political preferences of young voters in contemporary Russia’s elections. Building on the conclusions of their previous research on the relationship between modernisation and political pluralism in Russian regions, the authors attempt to evaluate the role of the age factor in voting behaviour by means of correlation and regression analysis, using as control variables the factors of modernization tested by them earlier. Their research showed that the perception that young voters are more likely to support liberal and democratic parties than older generations is not entirely true. Voters aged 18 to 24 were indeed more prone to vote for opposition parties, but not necessarily liberal and democratic ones. In the 2016 Duma elections, the caricature neo-Stalinists from Communists of Russia benefited the most from the support of the youngest category of voters; in the elections to regional assemblies in 2016—2021 the radical imperialists from the Liberal Democratic Party did it. In the Duma elections of 2021 the greatest support from the youngest age cohort received, on the one hand, the “systemic opposition” in the face of the Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, and on the other hand, the debutant of the election campaign, the New People Party, that adheres to liberal positions in the economic sphere, but is quite loyal to the existing regime.

Unveiling an Aloof Democracy: Voting Apathy in 21st Century Japan

On April 10, 1946, when Japan held its first general election after the devastating World War II, 72.08 percent of eligible voters of the country that failed into the debris of war went out to cast their ballot (Nohlen et al., 2001). Since then, along with Japan's postwar development and prosperity, in the next 18 general elections until 1993, the turnout maintained high stably at around 70 to 75 percent. However, after the millennium's coming, the Japanese participatory attitude towards elections seemed to come to a changing point. The turnout in subsequent elections declined noticeably and then stagnated at lower than 60 percent, which was unmatchable with the late 20th century's level (Nohlen et al., 2001). Even worse, the turnout of the previous three consecutive elections became the lowest three in the contemporary Japanese history of democracy (Tomoko, 2021). Much academic literature interprets the drastic drop and continuous low turnout as a typical sign of growing voter apathy, which means the constituents lack interest and motivation to vote when elections come (Shade & Teruelle, 2014). But why are there so many Japanese voters who lost interest in voting in recent elections? What is the cause of the growing “voting apathy,” and what could it mean to Japanese democracy and political development? Several factors could play critical roles, and they may compound and reinforce the effect of one another. The new electoral system could discourage some people from voting as it is institutionally disadvantageous to small parties and detrimental to political pluralism. The effect of institutional factors was amplified by the weakness of opposition parties from ideology to organization and internal unity, which then left voters with fewer feasible choices in elections. The increasing political alienation of young people should also be taken into account, as the drop in their turnout is the most significant in all age groups. Finally, the Japanese government, mostly led by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), could be likely to benefit from the status quo and therefore is reluctant to reform and actively encourage electoral participation.

Taiwan’s November 2022 Mid-term Election

In late 2022, Taiwan held its every four years mid-term election that was comprised of almost all of its local electoral contests; the ruling Democratic Progressive Party lost. President Tsai Ing-wen was blamed for the defeat for having focused excessively on tension with China while ignoring local problems. She was also seen to depend too much on the Biden administration’s China’s policy. After the election, observers predicted the election would give the opposition Nationalist Party (or Kuomintang, KMT) momentum to win the national presidential, vice-presidential and legislative election in January 2024. Subsequent events and polls, however, indicated a close contest.

The European Union in the Russian State Duma Debates, 1994–2004

Although the European Union (EU) was occasionally presented in a positive light in the lower house of the Russian parliament (the State Duma) in 1994–2004, there were also numerous criticisms of the EU and the “European community” in a broader sense. The discussions were accompanied by vocally articulated anxieties by those factions that were oppositional to the President and the Government but had a strong foothold in the parliament, such as the conservative Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), the rightwing populist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), and the rightwing Rodina (“Motherland”) Party and its predecessors. These anxieties pertained to Chechnya, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, and the Baltic states as the spaces of contestation between Russia and the EU. The projects of (re)building the Russian (Soviet) imperial formation on the basis of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) or the Union State (of Russia and Belarus) were presented as alternatives to Western European integration based on the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The anti-EU rhetoric in the Duma, which came hand in hand with the denunciation of NATO, provided a discursive foundation for the eventual shift of the President’s and the Government’spolicy. The members of United Russia, the Government’s party without a clear ideology that won a constitutional majority in 2003, adopted elements of conservative and rightwing rhetoric of the formal opposition in 2004. This happened in the context of the EU enlargement when the issues of the accessibility of the Kaliningrad Region and the rights of the Russian speakers in Latvia and Estonia were discussed in the parliament. Later the same year, the start of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine became a further impetus for the Duma’s anti-EU discourse, a discourse that would soon become mainstream in Russian politics.