Liberalism Research Articles

Do some prefer to pay? Identifying bias against free COVID-19 tests

ObjectivesIn the United States, a federal emergency program has made SARS-CoV-2 self-test kits available at no cost. It is unclear how widely free tests are preferred. We conducted a survey to estimate the proportion of respondents who do not prefer a free test. We hypothesized that free tests would not be preferred universally, and that a preference for paying would be more common among those with conservative politics than with liberal politics, regardless of income. DesignObservational study design. MethodsA national sample of US adults completed an online survey. To reduce potential enrollment bias, the survey’s focus was not specified beforehand. To prioritize a high-risk group, participation was limited to those who were unvaccinated or were incompletely vaccinated in the primary series against COVID-19. Participants reported their testing preferences and socio-demographic characteristics, including political affiliation. The main outcome assessed if a participant preferred to pay for a self-test or receive a free one (subsidized by the US government). ResultsAmong 1215 participants, (73%, n = 886) preferred free self-testing, while 27% (n = 329) preferred to pay for the same testing. After adjusting for income, the odds of preferring to pay for self-testing were 66% higher in “strong” Republicans compared to “strong” Democrats (odds ratio = 1.66, 95% confidence interval = 1.07–2.62). ConclusionsMore than a quarter of individuals preferred paying for these tests. This preference was more likely among those with right-wing politics. Policy implications are discussed, along with future research directions.

Curriculum wars and youth political education in the UK and Australia—a narrative review

This paper discusses the questions at the heart of the tussle between different types of knowledge within curricula that we conceptualise as ‘curriculum wars’. Across the world, we see increasing instances of young people’s radicalization around axes of race, religion, and gender. Viewing these developments side by side throws into question the various local, national, and global issues shaping young people’s political education and action in liberal democracies experiencing ongoing shift away from liberal values. Through a comprehensive narrative review, we provide an overview of key themes that have been explored in recent research on curriculum, youth political education, and democracy in England and Australia. We find that young peoples’ shift away from traditional electoral (big ‘P’) politics focussed on wider socio-economic issues to an individualised (small ‘p’) politics focussed on personal experiences poses serious curricular challenges—around content and modes of political education. Young peoples’ unparalleled access to online information and digital affordances creates further need to include digital and media education within the political education curriculum. This educational challenge could prospectively be met by a curriculum that is collaborative, action-research and activist based. Such a curriculum addresses issues relevant to young people’s lived realities including topics deemed ‘controversial’ for classrooms. Such an approach requires a perspectival shift away from youth as subjects of curricular reform to youth as collaborators and knowledge workers. We argue that critical literacy offers a practical and theoretical scaffold to conceptualise transformative and progressive youth political education and political action by emphasizing the need for socially justice focussed spaces for learning, reflection and action within schools and in communities.

Role of Multilateral Institutions in Managing Regional Conflicts and Crises in Democratic Republic of Congo

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate role of multilateral institutions in managing regional conflicts and crises in Democratic Republic of Congo
 Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries.
 Findings: Multilateral institutions play a crucial role in managing regional conflicts and crises by employing a range of diplomatic, humanitarian, peacekeeping, and development interventions. While facing various challenges, their continued engagement and collaboration remain essential for promoting peace, stability, and sustainable development in conflict-affected regions worldwide.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Realism theory, constructivism theory & liberal institutionalism theory may be used to anchor future studies on the role of multilateral institutions in managing regional conflicts and crises in Democratic Republic of Congo. Multilateral institutions offer a neutral platform for diplomatic engagement. Multilateral institutions influence policy development by convening member states and experts to craft effective conflict management strategies.

Strong Political Liberalism

Public reason liberalism demands that political decisions be publicly justified to the citizens who are subjected to them. Much recent literature emphasises the differences between the two main interpretations of this requirement, justificatory and political liberalism. In this paper, I show that both views share structural democratic deficits. They fail to guarantee political autonomy, the expressive quality of law, and the justification to citizens, because they allow collective decisions made by incompletely theorised agreements. I argue that the result can only be avoided by changing public reason’s role in collective decision-making. Instead of incompletely theorised agreements, we should demand agreement both on the public reasons themselves and on the other premises that justify political decisions. In this way, it is always possible to point to a procedure-independent reason that justifies democratic decisions, and the reasoning of the state is public and contestable. Finally, I explain how this, in turn, implies that only political liberalism can be rescued—by accepting what I will call strong political liberalism. Modifying justificatory liberalism in the necessary way will inevitably open the door to an objectionable form of perfectionism.

Realist or Just Anti-Liberal? Trump's Foreign Policy in Retrospect

Donald Trump's foreign policy has been characterized as realist. His “America First” theme, economic nationalism, and scorn for traditional alliances and international norms are alleged evidence. But was Trump's foreign policy realist? Instead, it is better seen as anti-liberal. Trump was most realist in his recognition of China as a great power rival not committed to liberal values. But he was also a protectionist. With respect to Russia, Europe, the Middle East, and various international issues, Trump's foreign policy was decidedly more anti-liberal than realist. The shocking event of January 6, 2021 suggests that Trump's foreign policy be re-evaluated in a different light: Trump sought to promote anti-liberal values abroad in order to advance them at home. This article evaluates Trump's foreign policy in light of these two theoretical perspectives.

Problematizing “Security” in Citizen Security: A feminist security studies critique of Mexico's “feminist” foreign policy and women, peace and security projects

AbstractThis article problematizes the concept of “security” within the concept of “citizen security” employed by Mexico, through a feminist security studies critique. Considering feminist security studies critiques that often see security as ultimately tied to militarization, regardless of the security referent, this article shows how this problem surfaces in Mexico's National Action Plan for Women, Peace, and Security and in the claim that Mexico has adopted a feminist foreign policy. Not only do these initiatives largely ignore high rates of femicide and other forms of state and nonstate violence in Mexico, but they are also reproductive of violence, particularly militarized violence, in their attachments to security. The article delves into the literature on how Mexico and other states domestically inimical to feminist movements have instituted national action plans that militarize the women, peace, and security agenda, embraced feminist foreign policies as they have further militarized, or both, often promulgating plans with little or no input from civil society. Mexico is revealed as a Janus‐faced example where seemingly liberal feminist values are promoted abroad but are not implemented at home. Thus, the nation is refashioning itself as a “good global citizen” at the expense of implementing and expanding citizen (and noncitizen) rights and protections within its borders.

Sieyès’s idea of constituent power: a moderate and illiberal idea of sovereignty in the French revolution

ABSTRACT Moderation and liberalism are different and in some cases antagonistic concepts. In recent years, the view that Sieyès’s idea of constituent power is a moderate and liberal rendering of sovereignty has gained acceptance in intellectual history and constitutional theory literature. This claim is based on the premise that radical and illiberal readers of Rousseau’s idea of sovereignty, such as Robespierre and the Jacobins, were opposed to representing the general will (volonté générale). Thus, constituent power as the exercise of power by extraordinary representatives to draft a constitution would be a liberal attempt at political moderation in the French revolution. In contrast to this liberal reading, my analysis shows that Sieyès’s idea of constituent power is an illiberal attempt at political moderation. Against moderate liberal theories, constituent power demands that the extraordinary representatives of the constituent assembly must will, deliberate, and act as if they were the people themselves. These representatives have absolute powers and the mandate to create a constitution but also the imperative to perceive and mirror the sovereign will. From a political theory approach, I conclude that constituent power is not a liberal idea but a key notion of moderate illiberalism that prevailed during the French Revolution.

MAIL ORDER BRIDE DI INDONESIA: ANALISIS PERSPEKTIF FEMINISME LIBERAL

This study aims to examine the practice of mail order bride in Indonesia, a practice that involves the choice of Indonesian women who are below the poverty line. Using qualitative methods with secondary data sources and adopting liberal feminist theory, the findings of the analysis show that women involved in this practice tend to be influenced by economic conditions, patriarchal stigma, and lack of access to education. Despite the Indonesian government's efforts through collaboration with women's protection organizations, the complexity of the challenges faced by Indonesian women indicates the need for more concrete and comprehensive measures. Therefore, in order to confront this practice, the Government of Indonesia needs to strengthen the policies that address the root causes of the poverty line among women involved in mail order bride, and ensure equitable welfare for women across Indonesia.

Constructing liberty and equality – political, not juridical

ABSTRACT When offering constructions of political values, it is common to generally strive for unity, i.e., to aim at principled definitions and the reduction of normative conflict. In this article, by contrast, I argue that we should aim to construct broad and conflicting concepts of the central liberal democratic values of liberty and equality. Taking my cue from an under-appreciated debate between Ronald Dworkin and Bernard Williams, I suggest that the demand for unity derives its appeal from a juridical model of political value construction, which assumes the unified perspective of public decision-making. But while this model may be apt for constructing institutional rights, the construction of the political values liberty and equality had better operate according to a political model, which focuses on the perspective of citizens that live in a relationship of political opposition. Not only is there no demand for unity from that perspective, but there is a positive demand for political plurality: we need to draw on broad and conflicting concepts of liberty and equality if we are to respect the claims of fellow citizens with whom we have value-based political disagreements.

Global Fragmentation and Collective Security Instruments: Weakening the Liberal International Order From Within

Collective instruments, such as UN peacekeeping or mediation, are a lens through which we can examine broader normative fault lines in the international order. They hold both practical and symbolic value. In the post-Cold War moment, these instruments started reflecting liberal values. They became concerned with balancing the rights of individuals and state sovereignty. These advances around “human protection” are now in question, with contestation perceived as emerging from non-Western powers. I contribute to the debates on the “pragmatic turn” within collective responses but contend that while the focus in current debates about the normative shift has become global fragmentation, the momentum for the de-prioritization of human protection within collective instruments comes from within the liberal order itself. Human protection is now a broadly shared and firmly entrenched norm, but to shield the norm from abuse, the collective international community progressively restricted any use of force to advance the norm within the instrument of UN peacekeeping. The co-optation of UN peacekeeping into counter-terrorism efforts and the introduction of stabilization mandates undermined the principled nature and moral authority of the instrument of peacekeeping itself. This, in turn, compromised the implementation of human protection. This development is now accelerated and exposed due to global fragmentation, influencing not just peacekeeping but also other adjacent activities, such as mediation.

Gendered community-based waste management and the feminization of environmental responsibility in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia

This article investigates gender dynamics in the practices of community-based waste management in households and local communities in the Greater Jakarta region of Indonesia, using a Feminist Political Ecology framework. We argue that community-based waste management, which was established as a decentralized waste management system, reinforces gender inequality by relying on women feeling responsible for waste management in their homes and communities and doing related care work. While our focused ethnographic studies in Bogor District, Tangerang City, and Depok City in 2021–2022 found diverse local waste management systems involving both formal and informal enterprises, the practices across these sites were clearly gendered, with women engaged in underpaid care work. We trace this gendered division of labor to the continued influence of ibuism, the ideology of the Indonesian state that deems women responsible for household and community hygiene, in effect feminizing environmental responsibility. We argue that, to become truly sustainable, waste management practices must be designed with men and women in communities, and address various forms of gender inequality and the gendered impact of community waste practices on health.

The New Apartheid

The fundamental distinction between a Civil Rights movement such as the African National Congress and a liberation movement like Poqo lies in the status of white settlers and Apartheid. The mythologisation of Apartheid by promoting it to the main problem in liberation politics and history in conqueror South Africa is the persistent intellectual obsession of the Congress Tradition. A trenchant contestation and rejection of Apartheid as the fundamental antagonism in the history of the struggle for national liberation is the defining trait of a liberation movement and liberation intellectual production.Having written a book entitled Democracy & Delusion: 10 Myths (2019), in which he debunks what he considers to be myths about the so-called post-Apartheid South Africa, Sizwe is back again only this time he is reinventing two myths.In the book under review, entitled The New Apartheid (2021), Sizwe promotes the delusion and first myth of Apartheid as the problem and the second myth of the ANC as a liberation movement. This review is about these two myths.

The Possibility of a Uniform Legal Language at the Interplay of Legal Discourse, Semiotics and Blockchain Networks

This paper explores the possibility of a standard legal language (e.g. English) for a principled evolution of law in line with technological development. In doing so, reference is made to blockchain networks and smart contracts to emphasise the discontinuity with the liberal legal tradition when it comes to decentralisation and binary code language. Methodologically, the argument is built on the underlying relation between law, semiotics and new forms of media adding to natural language; namely: code and symbols. In what follows, I will concentrate on the study of factors that explain why such approach can be fruitful for the future of law and innovation. I have three reasons for selecting this topic. The first is a more pragmatic reason, based on my current research of law as a linguistic phenomenon. Secondly, the topic does also touch the matter on binary code language, rivalrous to legal alphabetic language. Lastly, the study aims at emphasizing the pivotal role of the jurist as an interpreter in a changing society accommodating diverging realms of reality. The study is structured as follows. Firstly, a quick exam of the traits of blockchain networks would provide the contextual link to establish the arguments in support of the need of a standard legal language. Secondly, a comparison between liberal legal institutions and theory of semiotics is set to perceive their functioning and ascertain their limits in the light of todays unprecedented changes. Thirdly, a summary on blockchain networks’ legal features would constitute the thrust behind the idea of a uniform legal language. Methodologically, the argument does also establish some relations with classical laws of physics and philosophy of media. Its aim is to demonstrate how the suggested legal interpretation and semiotic-based approach can contribute to overcome existing stumbling blocks including, but not limited to, the lack of cooperation at the international level as well as the gap in State norms when it comes to innovation. In this sense, the proposed strategies do not intend to replace current advances in the legal thought. In contrast, it seeks to harmonise their results providing a methodical approach that can concur to inform a new technique to address new controversial issues. In practice, the proposed method regarding the adoption of a uniform legal language would lower transactive costs in terms of normative coordination in the matter of international cooperation and in the definition of applicable law among different legal systems. Alternatively, it might contribute to the convergence of legal systems and/or their underlying concepts. Differently put, article’s contribution can be envisaged in fostering juridical consistency with regards to different forms of languages’ coexistence.

Shades of Complaint: Towards a Feminist Political Theology of Anger

ABSTRACT This essay is a reflection on anger as a political emotion as well as the more recent turn towards a positive (re)evaluation of this passion. I distinguish between three attempts to conceptualize anger in contrast to the more dominant idea that anger is counterproductive and revenge-driven: (1) anger as essential knowledge in the struggle against injustice; (2) anger as an apt response to affective injustice; (3) anger as feminist attention that appreciates, rather than knows, injustice. I argue that a closer look at political theology in general and an apophatic hermeneutics in particular is especially helpful in evaluating these three approaches. It also allows for a reconceptualization of anger that moves beyond the traditional either/or choices in political theology such as those between friend and enemy, good and bad, or the sacred and the secular.

The Theology of the Ethnocultural Empathic Turn: Towards the Balkan Theology of Political Liberation

The theology of the ethnocultural empathic turn, on the general level, encompasses ethnocultural empathy, which, as a branch of social psychology, strives for a thorough understanding of the life context of those ethnically and culturally different from ourselves. In the context of Christian theology, this turn also embraces the turn reflected in Mt 15:21–28 (Mk 7:24–30), in which Jesus expands his missionary work from the locally based “House of Israel” into the global realm to include the entire “inhabited world”. In this essay, the theological discourse of ethnocultural empathic turn is embedded within a specific sociopolitical context, which brings us to the Balkans, i.e., the post-Yugoslav framework, where we discuss the legacy of Bishop Srećko Badurina and layperson Franjo Starčević. During the disintegration of the Yugoslav Federation, they vigorously resisted the dominant ethnonationalist-religious persuasions of the Croatian Catholic and Serbian Orthodox communities. They stood up for those who faced elimination due to the policy of ethnic cleansing. Today, both can serve as the foundation for the establishment of the theology in question, aiming at the development of the first post-Yugoslav contextual theology based on the political theology and the theology of liberation, capable of tackling the phenomenon of ethnoreligiosity as one of the most pressing problems plaguing this region.

The Politics and Aesthetics of Liberation: Revolution and Its Aftermath in Contemporary Artistic Practice from and about Lusophone Africa

Abstract This essay explores the ways in which artistic practices have revisited histories and memories of anti-colonial struggle, socialist revolution, and decolonization in Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Portugal, while also addressing apartheid South Africa and the global Cold War. The cartography drawn here follows the histories and geographies of anti-colonial and anti-apartheid friendship without losing sight of several forms of imperialism, old and new. This essay examines the archival and historiographical potential of contemporary art in remembering histories of revolution and decolonization, notably those pertaining to cultural production and especially film, in the globalized, neoliberal present. My case studies are distinct but related works by Ângela Ferreira (Mozambique, 1958), Filipa César (Portugal, 1975), and Kiluanji Kia Henda (Angola, 1979), which include installation, video, photography, and performance for the camera. What sort of insights do the archival imaginations of pasts, presents and futures at play in these works offer? And how far can the ethics and politics of their aesthetics go?

Overcoming misrecognition: the subtle ways of benevolence in international relations

Some realists refer to benevolence in diplomacy as an artificial mask for achieving political aims. In another perspective, liberal theories of hegemonic stability aim at describing the different conditions that shape an international order based on benevolent leadership. From duplicity or Samaritan conduct that could be transformed into a paternalism reflex, benevolence does not entail a thick recognition of others. However, not only the Scottish tradition of moral sense but also other references in political theory propose an alternative conception that opens alternative paths for handling international relations. By coming back to the concepts and tools developed by these perspectives, this article proposes to explore some interactions in the international relations realm that shed light on ways to go beyond the misrecognition of alterity. This benevolent conduct is a source of social agency by taking into account the affective component of respect towards others.

Between maintenance and transformation: Reading for difference in agricultural extension

Agricultural extension has long been the subject of scholarly critiques for its hierarchical approach to knowledge transfer and its complicity in promoting agricultural intensification and farm sector consolidation. Here, however, we suggest that there are already-existing examples of different kinds of agricultural extension practices, ones that challenge the capitalist—understood here as synonymous with racial capitalist—paradigm that dominates in California’s agricultural landscapes and elsewhere. We discuss one such example, providing a case study of Diana’s efforts to support Spanish-speaking, small-scale, Latine farmers in California. Drawing from feminist political economic theory, we argue that extension is a site of heterogeneity, where existing power asymmetries are both maintained and transformed. Diana’s efforts to transform such power asymmetries illustrate the labor that some extensionists mobilize to support small-scale Latine farmers and other farmers of color in the context of U.S. agri-capitalism. We highlight 4 ways in which Diana’s labor disrupts extension norms, including (1) filling gaps in state programs with invisible labor, (2) building mutual trust through social relationships beyond work, (3) blurring distinctions between extension work and farm work, and (4) broadening definitions of “farmers” beyond business ownership and land tenure. In doing so, we advocate for a critical understanding of heterogeneity among extension practices, as extensionists both contribute to and challenge racial-economic inequalities in the agri-food system. With this approach, we hope to identify and better understand how contestations of dominant power arrangements can and do occur in extension contexts in the hopes of supporting these efforts.

A Study of Indonesian Perspectives on the Future of the South China Sea: Navigating the Dynamics of Asymmetric Warfare

This article explores the shifting global dynamics, focusing on the rise of East Asia, particularly China, and its impact on the Asia Pacific region. The South China Sea (SCS) emerges as a critical area with territorial disputes, notably China's assertive claims and the U.S.'s involvement, leading to heightened tensions. Indonesia's strategic position becomes pivotal in navigating these geopolitical shifts. The analysis emphasizes Indonesia's role in promoting a peaceful SCS region through its free and active policy and ASEAN membership. The Kantian Triangle, rooted in Liberalism theory, serves as a conceptual framework, highlighting the importance of democracy, economic interdependence, and international organizations in conflict resolution. Indonesia's engagement in regional organizations, especially ASEAN, is crucial for resolving SCS conflicts. The ASEAN Outlook On The Indo-Pacific (AOIP) reflects a commitment to inclusive cooperation, prioritizing shared interests. The article underscores Indonesia's efforts to balance relations with the U.S. and China through economic cooperation, contributing to regional stability. Indonesia's economic ties with both nations, guided by the principles of the Kantian Triangle, aim to foster cooperation and reduce the potential for conflict in the SCS. In conclusion, Indonesia's strategic positioning and active diplomatic role positions it as a key mediator, contributing to lasting peace in the SCS amidst the competition between major powers.

The Democratisation Failure in the Middle East: Causes and Prospects

It has almost become conventional wisdom among analysts and experts on Middle Eastern politics to relate the fate of the democratisation process and its failure in the region to the foreign policy platforms of the USA and its Western allies. Contrary to the prevailing interpretations of democratisation failure in the Middle East, it will be argued that the historical proclivity of leftist organisations and parties to conflate anti-imperialism with fostering hostility towards liberal values, the limited scope of industrialisation, and culturally and religiously ingrained competing loyalties are factors that have cumulatively made a significant contribution to the cultivation of a socio-political environment that is not receptive to democracy.