Reform Movement Research Articles

Müasir Azərbaycan İctimai-Fəlsəfi Fikir Tarixində Əli Bəy Hüseynzadənin Yeri və Rolu

Ali Bey Huseynzade, one of the prominent representatives of Azerbaijan's literary, cultural, social-political, and philosophical thought in the 20th century, was the first publisher of the political-Turkism movement in Azerbaijan. He was a distinguished political figure, talented scientist, thinker, and publicist, and holds a unique place in the history of the Azerbaijani people. Over time, there is an increasing need to deeply comprehend and study the magnificent artistic works created by Ali Bey Huseynzade. Throughout his life, Huseynzade dedicated his prolific writing to the research and promotion of pan-Turkish spiritual values, fighting with all the strength of his brilliant talent for the progress of the Turkic people. He played an important role in the formation of the theoretical-philosophical foundations of the Azerbaijani national idea, striving for reforms in public and cultural life and artistic consciousness through his rich creative output. With his famous "Threefold Formula"-"Turkification, Islamization, Modernization" - he contributed to the formation of the ideology of Azerbaijanism. He advocated for the necessity of abandoning sectarian divisions and uniting all Muslims under the umbrella of a single religion-Islam. In his article titled "What is Young Turkism?", he explained the essence of the Turkish reform movement and expressed his views in many articles published in newspapers and magazines, arguing that Ottoman Turkish should become the common language of all Turks. Having spent more than 30 years of his life in exile, Ali Bey’s complex and turbulent life path was marked by political and cultural struggles aimed at the unity and wholeness of the Turkic world. The article emphasizes the significance of national-democratic values, highly relevant today, and their reflection in Azerbaijani philosophy and social-political thought. It also highlights the necessity of the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic as the first historical embodiment of the national-democratic statehood ideology, which began in the early 20th century. Ali Bey Huseynzade’s multifaceted activities and his intellectual contributions, not only for Azerbaijani Turks but for the entire Turkic world, affirm the relevance of the subject as he remains a valuable thinker on a broader scale.

The Influence of Historical Events on Victorian Literature

Victorian literature serves as a rich reflection of the 19th century’s transformative historical events, including the Industrial Revolution, the expansion of the British Empire, social reform movements, and challenges to traditional religious beliefs. This article explores how authors such as Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Rudyard Kipling, Charlotte Brontë, Thomas Hardy, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Matthew Arnold addressed themes of industrialization, colonialism, class conflict, and spiritual doubt. Through their works, Victorian writers critiqued societal norms, highlighted inequalities, and grappled with the shifting moral and intellectual landscape of their time. Their literature remains a vital lens through which to understand the complexities of the era and its enduring relevance today.

Keterlibatan Rakyat Kecil dalam Gerakan Reformasi 1998 di Surabaya

The historical narrative about the 1998 economic crisis has so far only revolved around the student movement and its economic, social and political conditions. How ordinary people fight for reform has not been widely discussed. This article aims to look at the struggles of the small people in Surabaya in the 1998 reform movement. By using historical methods through archival sources, newspapers, books and journals, this article tries to create a historical narrative from the lower classes. The research results show that the role of ordinary people in the 1998 reforms in Surabaya was inseparable from the student movement which was intensively carried out at that time. Small people often join by directly participating in movements carried out by students. On May 5 1998, among the 1,000 students from Unitomo, Untag and Perbanas, there was a cracker seller who took part in a speech demanding reform. On the same day, taxi drivers also demonstrated due to the increase in fuel prices which had a deep impact on the taxi community. On May 9 1998, among thousands of joint students in Surabaya, there was a pedicab driver named Tugiman who led a speech. On May 10 1998, pedicab drivers who were members of Persabaya (Persatuan Becak Surabaya) took part in a mass action at the Airlangga University Library. He shouted for the government to reduce the prices of basic necessities which were soaring at that time. The small people's actions were not only speeches, many small people also provided food assistance to the students who were taking action. One of them was when students stayed overnight at the DPRD Building on 25-27 May 1998.

ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IN MALAYSIA: HISTORY AND TRADITION

The paper discusses the historical origins of Islamic movement in Malaysia since colonial era. This was developed from two underlying bases; the ideal of reform and Islamic vision that was meant to bring about national consciousness and renewed aspiration of pan-Islamism designed under the powerful force of the Ottoman Caliphate. It analysed the impact of this awareness in inspiring the movement for reform and reassertion of Islamic spirit and unity following the rising tide of Islam in broad socio-political context. The essential role of Syed Syaikh al-Hadi, Dr. Burhanuddin al-Helmy, Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir, and Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas has marked unprecedented influence in the meaningful struggle for religious and intellectual development. The movement bring forth critical value and ideal of Islam that espoused for progressive and rational spirit and reconstruction of ijtihad and dynamic activism, based on inclusive moral and ethical norm and standard. This study is based on qualitative method that focus on library research and content analysis. The data were collected from documentary study of primary and secondary sources, and technically analysed using interpretative, descriptive, historical and comparative method. The finding shows that the movement has brought about fundamental reform by introducing the principle values and ideals of Islam and its underlying doctrine of tawhid and unity and in projecting the idea of Islamization. It has bring certain impact in influencing the governmental policy and direction towards incorporating Islamic values and tradition in socio-political context and framework by taking account of the principle of maqasid syariah (the higher objective of Islamic law) and its application at every communal sector

The Death of the Old Left and the Birth of the New: The Soviet Union, the CPUSA, and the International Communist Crisis of 1956

This paper discuss the impact of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s Secret Speech denouncing Joseph Stalin at the 20th CPSU Congress in February 1956 on the communist parties in the West, in particular the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). The paper argues that de-Stalinization came at a time when western communist parties were already beginning to experience incipient reformist movements due to their inability to gain political traction at home, and it seemed to offer an opportunity for radical structural reforms within the parties. However, Moscow intervened in intraparty struggles on the side of conservative, even Stalinist, forces due to a mixture of concern for geopolitical loyalty and the desired social makeup of western communist parties.

The readability of contracts: Big data analysis

AbstractThe plain language movement waged a silent revolution in the last generation, passing nearly 800 laws nationwide with little public debate. The movement asserted that it could scientifically show that there is a widespread readability crisis in legal documents, particularly contracts, that are unreadable to most adults. This article presents the largest empirical analysis of these claims to date, utilizing a dataset of 2 million contracts spanning multiple decades and industries and applying machine learning techniques. The study challenges fundamental tenets of the plain language movement. Contrary to prevailing beliefs, consumer agreements have median reading scores almost indistinguishable from those of daily news articles. A critical evaluation further exposes that readability tools endorsed by the movement are shoddy and manipulable and can produce grade‐level differences of up to 4.6 years for identical texts. Moreover, the movement's core belief that Americans cannot read past the level of an eighth grader is exposed as an unsubstantiated myth. These findings fundamentally challenge the premises and effectiveness of one of the central consumer protection policies. These results call for a radical rethinking of legal access strategies, suggesting a shift from superficial readability metrics to addressing substantive issues in market dynamics and focusing on truly vulnerable populations. More broadly, this case study serves as a cautionary tale about the propagation of myths in legal scholarship and the potential for well‐intentioned reform movements to divert attention and resources from more effective interventions.

School District Superintendents as Transformational Leaders

The educational reform movement in the United States (1983-2024) presented school district superintendents with a wide array of challenges and opportunities. Initially, state and federal policymakers’ called for draconian school and district level accountability and endorsed he notion of top-down management. However, the reality of implementing district-wide, systemic changes focused on improving student learning outcomes influenced a shift in superintendents’ role from manager to teacher-scholar. During the last decade, researchers examined the role of superintendents in Instructionally Effective School Districts (IESD) and reported that they used their managerial prerogatives to initiate and sustain district-wide instructional improvement (Bjork, 2024). Research findings suggest that their involvement hiring and supervising teachers, evaluating principals, clearly articulating instructional and curricular goals, monitoring instructional improvement and, engaging in long-term financial planning for instruction indirectly influence the quality of learning and teaching. Findings from this longitudinal case study extend our understanding of how superintendents’ enact their role as teacher-scholar help to explain their success. Key elements of Transformational Leadership including idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and, individual consideration provided considerable insight into how they enacted their role. In addition, findings suggest that over time followers at different levels of the school district’s organization (teachers, principals and central office staffs) adopted Transformational Leadership dispositions and practices suggesting that it may be viewed as being both multidimensional and multi-directional. These findings may expand our understanding of how superintendents’ transformational leadership may influence the development of professional cultures and enhance student learning.

Joseph Jacob Gumprecht, ein jüdischer Mediziner im Zeitalter der Aufklärung: blockierte Universitätskarriere, geöffnete Zivilgesellschaft

Abstract Joseph Jacob Gumprecht, MD, 1772–1838, is the first Jew known as a university lecturer (Privatdozent) at a German university. This biographical article analyses the network of family, friends and colleagues, in which his life course was embedded. It shows his achievements, failures and partial successes. When his career at the University of Göttingen was blocked, he moved to Hamburg, practised as a physician and man-midwife. He was not successful economically, and his family broke up. But he made noteworthy contributions to the emergent discipline of obstetrics, both as an author and editor of periodicals. Moreover, he was active in establishing associations in several fields: for the profession of medical men, and in the context of the Jewish reform movement. Gumprecht’s example shows that German Jews not just integrated themselves into the middle class, but that they actively contributed to shaping civil society and the culture of the middle class.

From Regional Islamic Reform to Global Anti-colonialism? Jamaladdin al-Afghani and Russia’s Muslims

Abstract In Russia’s revolutionary year of 1917, the Muslim journalist and educator Rida’addin b. Fakhraddin (1858–1936) published a biography of Jamaladdin al-Afghani (d. 1897), a person famous for his Pan-Islamic political agitation in many countries of the Middle East and beyond. Fakhraddin’s Tatar-language biography is the central source for studying Afghani’s reception among Russia’s Muslims. I argue that Fakhraddin constructed a sanitized image of Afghani that emphasized the latter’s compatibility with the homegrown movement of Islamic reform (islah) that Fakhraddin himself stood for, and which was shaped by the Kazan theologian Shihabaddin al-Marjani (d. 1889). The article analyzes the transnational links that Fakhraddin established, concluding that Fakhraddin depicted himself as Afghani’s foremost disciple in Russia, in competition with others, and independent of Afghani’s most famous disciple, Muhammad ʿAbduh. At the center of Fakhraddin’s account are his own memories of a meeting he had with Afghani in St. Petersburg in 1888.

Who’s Afraid of Jadidism?: Reckoning with the Legacy of a Cold War Paradigm

Abstract Since the 1990s, scholars in the fields of Central Asian, Volga-Ural, North and South Caucasian, and Crimean history have debated the role of Jadidism in the study of the history of Muslim societies under Russia imperial rule. The concept of Jadidism – variously described as a program for teaching literacy in Turkic languages, a set of educational reforms, and a movement advocating a broad range of cultural, social, and legal reforms designed to “modernize” Muslim communities – made its first appearances in Soviet historiography in the 1920s–1930s. In the 1960s, as the Cold War reached new heights, the Jadid paradigm made its way into English- and French-language historical studies, whence it became the primary lens through which Western audiences encountered and interpreted the histories of Muslims in late imperial Russia. The opening of archival and library collections following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the embrace of new theories and paradigms in Russian studies broke the hold of the Jadid paradigm over Western scholarship. At the same time, a series of heated disputes began over the legacy of the Jadid paradigm and how best to research the intellectual history of Russia’s Muslims in a post-Cold War context. In this essay, I will present a history of the rise and fall of the old Jadid paradigm in European and American scholarship. I will consider how the study of Central Asian intellectual history has evolved since the paradigm’s decline and what this evolution and the contributions to this journal issue suggest about how historians can continue to examine the nature, extent, and meaning of Muslim reform movements without reviving the old Jadid paradigm.

"A Study of Suh Jae-pil’s Reform Movement for Democratic Republicanism (1895-1898)"

"A Study of Suh Jae-pil’s Reform Movement for Democratic Republicanism (1895-1898)"

Manhattan's Street Trees: An Unfinished Public Health Story.

Stephen Smith launched a 40-year effort to bring trees to New York City streets in 1872, the year he founded the American Public Health Association (APHA). Smith argued that street trees would mitigate the adverse health effects of Manhattan's summer heat and help purify the air. The young APHA endorsed Smith's position and gave trees a prominent role in urban sanitation, but public health turned away from trees and urban reform movements as it adopted a biomedical public health model in the late 19th century. Nevertheless, Smith wrote and campaigned for a successful 1902 law requiring the New York City Parks Department to assume management of street trees in the name of public health. He then led a 1914 campaign to force the department to uphold his law. New York's street tree program has had an erratic trajectory, but it now generally follows Smith's vision. Public health could play a bigger role in creating greener cities and mitigating climate change with more field research and the health in all policies approach that Smith used to bring trees to Manhattan's streets in 1914. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print October 31, 2024:e1-e9. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307856).

Mediating Change: Pamphilus Gengenbach, Print Culture, and the Vernacular in Early Reformation Basel

The relationship between the Reformation movement and print media has long fascinated scholars, yet much of the focus has centered on renowned figures, often overlooking local lay protagonists. This article shifts the spotlight onto one such unsung figure: Pamphilus Gengenbach, a Basel writer, printer, and publisher. Gengenbach, a fervent supporter of political and religious reform, emerged as a leading advocate of Protestant thought in Basel. His aggressive promotion of the vernacular and his adept use of intertextual references to contemporary debates and events reveal a sophisticated grasp of print media’s potential beyond mere dissemination. Leveraging his experience as an author, printer, and publisher, Gengenbach engaged his audience effectively, translating and transmitting Protestant teachings with remarkable impact. This article asserts that Gengenbach’s strategic communication and local influence were instrumental in paving the way for the Basel Reformation, underscoring the vital role of grassroots actors in the Reformation’s success.

Navigating the Digital Frontier: Transforming Public Governance in the Age of New Public Management

Today, it seems clear that significant changes have taken place in public governance systems in many countries, particularly in the most influential industrial countries, in response to technological developments. With this in mind, this work aims to examine a number of alternative scenarios for change in public governance within states in the digital age, as these changes interact with the legacies of previous public management reform movements. We therefore seek to contribute to a better understanding of the emerging problems of New Public Management (NMP), and to seize the growing opportunities offered by Public Governance in the Digital Age (PGE).

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TAX REVENUES AND DEMOCRACY: AN APPLICATION ON EMERGING AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

States collect taxes as one-way revenues based on their sovereign power to provide public goods and services. However, over time, taxes have evolved from being based solely on the pure sovereign power of the states to an authority arising from the power of representation. In this context, the connection between taxation and democracy has become one of the critical discussion topics in the fiscal sociology literature. Since the 13th century, the expeditions guiding economic and political reform movements, coupled with rebellions against non-representative taxation, have played a fundamental role in shaping concepts such as representation and taxation in the evolution of the modern public financial structures. In parallel with the theoretical discussions, a broad empirical literature examining the connection between democracy and taxation has emerged due to attempts to measure the typology of political regimes in a country. Empirical findings indicate a positive relationship between democratization and taxation in advanced economies; however, this connection is ambiguous for emerging and developing countries. This study takes this gap in the literature into account and examines the effects of democratization, urbanization, and institutional quality indicators on tax revenues for 41 emerging and developing countries in the 2000-2018 period with dynamic panel data analysis techniques. Our findings indicate that democratization and the increasing share of urban population in total population have a positive impact on tax revenues in the context of emerging and developing countries.

Reassessing ayahuasca regulation in Brazil: strategic framing and cumulative gains

Background In the early twentieth century, ayahuasca gained popularity in northern Brazil, causing political tension due to moral hostility. However, over the course of the century, despite the proscription of DMT and the intensification of the ‘War on Drugs’, three phases of cumulative political gains eventually led to the full regulation of ayahuasca, in 2010. How was this achieved? Methods This paper provides a comprehensive reassessment of the existing literature on ayahuasca in Brazil, utilizing social movement theory. Emphasis is placed on framing methods, or how movements strategically present their aims to particular audiences, in order to effect political change. Results First, ayahuasca churches constructed a religious frame that emphasized their Christian pedigree. Second, when harassment intensified, ayahuasca was reframed as a charitable endeavour. Finally, in the transition to democracy, the religions added a scientific frame, collaborating with the state to review scientific evidence and establish policy parameters for regulation. Conclusion Framing ayahuasca as Christian and focusing on charity and science were neither straightforward nor unproblematic, but did allow ayahuasca groups to successfully avoid persecution, establish relationships with powerful actors, and eventually achieve full regulation. This case study provides unique insights into the role of social movements in successful drug policy reform, especially how movements can strategically adapt to and influence prevailing moral codes, resulting in concrete political victories.

The quest for continuous improvement in light of power disciplinary, sovereign and pastoral power in a state-initiated school improvement programme

ABSTRACT There is a global movement of education reform, informed by a neoliberal agenda, emphasising continuous improvement and accountability through performance measurements, surveillance and monitoring. This puts local school actors under constant gaze and endless pressure to perform. This article uses a Swedish state-initiated school improvement programme, Co-operation for the Best School Possible (CBS), to investigate how power is exercised within the programme and to discuss possible implications for the local actors. A theoretical model based on Foucault’s power modes of sovereign, disciplinary and pastoral power as well as governmentality is used. Empirically, the article builds on a case study from a municipality participating in CBS. The analysis takes impression of Jackson and Mazzei’s “thinking with theory”. The CBS programme illustrates the widespread and multifaceted nature of power in educational governance, prompting local actors to internalise norms, self-regulate, and continuously evaluate their practices. This study highlights the importance of understanding the interplay of different power modes in shaping educational practices and the professional lives of local school actors. This article has contributed to questioning the common sensical, and it has made the exercises of power recognisable through the use of Foucault’s concepts.

Deciphering the Local Origins of Neoliberalism in Central and Eastern Europe: The Example of Lithuania

This article studies the local lineage of neoliberalism in Lithuania, examining its intellectual pedigree, early proponents and the structural shifts that facilitated its rise. The latter are attributed to the openings created by perestroika and the development of the communication network linking economists within the Reform Movement of Lithuania, émigré intellectuals and Hillsdale College in Michigan. Information exchanges produced within this network generated embryonic neoliberal ideas before 1991. The network also contributed to the establishment of an influential think tank, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), whose policy influence is illustrated by surveying monetary and pension privatisation reforms.

ЧЕХИЯДАҒЫ ҚАЙТА ӨРЛЕУ ӘДЕБИЕТІНІҢ ЕРЕКШЕЛІКТЕРІ

The article is devoted to understanding the significance of Renaissance literature in the Czech Republic. Humanistic activity, which originated in the Czech Republic, occupies an important place in the history of the Slavic Renaissance. In the XV century, hatred of papal domination and the struggle for independence intensified in the Czech Republic, where the activities of the Hussites flourished. Czech literature of this era had didactic and religious content. The economic development of the state has changed the situation of cities. Nevertheless, this allowed Italian humanism to become more widespread. The Hussite movement played an important role in the struggle against foreign domination and feudal arbitrariness. But since this act was shrouded in a religious veil, the patriotic psalms were also in a religious spirit, they were performed accompanied by music. The struggle of the Hussites against the Catholics and the reform movements of this period cannot distinguish the main features of the Czech literature of the Renaissance. The main features of the Renaissance are vividly manifested in world culture, based on the foundations of ancient society, in art reflecting the achievements of the body and soul, depicting the joys of life. The first stage of the development of Czech humanism corresponds to the period when Petrarch was in Prague (1356). Since that time, interest in the "new style" of Italian poetry begins to manifest itself. The article also argues that the historical and political events taking place in Czech society during that period also had a great influence on the development of literature.

Analysis of the Implementation of the Merit System in the Mataram City Government from a Gender Perspective

Human resources (apparatus) are the basis of the bureaucratic reform movement. Human resources are one aspect of achieving the goals of government organizations, namely providing optimal public services. Therefore, it is necessary to implement a merit system to obtain human resources, in this case specifically the best State Civil Apparatus (ASN) who do not consider male or female gender, including in the process of filling pratama high leadership positions (JPT) in scope of the Mataram City Government. This research aims to describe the implementation of the merit system in the Mataram City government from a gender aspect. This research uses a qualitative approach with data collection methods consisting of in-depth interviews and document review. Data analysis uses qualitative data analysis techniques. The validity of the data was tested using triangulation techniques. Research provides an illustration that the Mataram City government has basically implemented a merit system in ASN management. When filling out the JPT, preparation, implementation and evaluation stages have been carried out in accordance with the provisions. Basically, the number of female ASNs in the city of Mataram is more than male. Likewise, the educational level of female ASN is better than that of men. However, if we look at it in terms of rank and class, the number of men is increasing, this will make the opportunity for men to occupy top positions in the bureaucracy greater. The Mataram city government consistently provides opportunities for women at the rate of 10 percent and hopes that in the future this will be further increased.