National Democratic Research Articles

The politicization of education policies: The case of Ghana’s Free Senior High School Policy

While many scholars recognize and criticize the politicization of education policies, scholarly attention to the strategies politicians utilize to politicize educational policy discourses remains limited. Focusing on the officials of Ghana’s two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), as policy actors, this paper investigates how officials of these two parties operationalized discussions regarding Ghana’s Free Senior High School Policy (FSHSP) to garner support for their parties while stoking resentment for their political opponents. The study employs a critical discourse analysis (CDA) framework and a dataset of 175 documents, including news stories, press releases, party manifestos, and government publications. The analysis reveals that both parties resorted to strategies of positive self-presentation and negative other presentation. The NPP contrasted its regime with the NDC’s tenure and framed the NDC as a threat to FSHSP and the education of the poor and vulnerable. The NDC problematized and highlighted implementation bottlenecks while framing the NPP and FSHSP as threats to quality education. I argue that through these strategies, NPP officials aimed to maintain incumbency while NDC officials advocated a regime change. The paper concludes by emphasizing the potential risks associated with politicizing education policies.

India As a Democratic Nation- Concepts and Perceptive

India, as the world's largest democracy, presents a unique and diverse political landscape. Since gaining independence in 1947, it has upheld democratic ideals amidst challenges of diversity, inequality, and external threats. This paper explores the foundational concepts of Indian democracy, its key features, and its role as a beacon of democratic governance in the global arena. By examining India’s electoral system, constitutional framework, and challenges, we gain insights into how democracy functions in one of the most populous and complex nations in the world.

The Point of No Return: A Review Essay

Abstract Thomas Byrne Edsall is one of America's finest political journalists and a foremost amplifier of the work of political scientists and other scholars. Academic research bolsters his argument in virtually every chapter of The Point of No Return. The book is a collection of his New York Times columns, bookended by a new introduction and conclusion, spanning the period from Donald Trump's rise in the 2016 election to his attempt to overturn the presidential election four years later. A remarkable feature of Edsall's columns is how quickly he diagnosed emerging developments that would come to define our politics, including the Republican Establishment's rapid descent, Trump's unwavering and cult-like following, the pernicious effects of disinformation, the Democratic Party's inept response to social and cultural change, and the likelihood that Trump would not surrender power peacefully if he lost the 2020 election. A running theme throughout the book is the danger that Trump poses to the nation's democracy. The Point of No Return is the latest book in the four-decade career of a journalist who regularly has enlarged our understanding of American politics.

Theorizing Far-Right Foreign Policy: Insights From Germany

What is the far-right’s foreign policy outlook? Although International Relations scholarship has provided important insights into the foreign policy preferences of far-right actors, it has predominantly analysed these political actors under the label of populism and focused on the effects of populism on foreign policy positions. Consequently, we lack a clear understanding of the impact of far-right ideology on foreign policy beliefs and preferences. This article provides a theorization of far-right foreign policy by deriving its key characteristics from far-right ideology. It tests this theoretical framework through a comparative analysis of the foreign policy preferences of the populist radical-right Alternative for Germany and the extreme-right, Neo-Nazi National Democratic Party of Germany. The comparative analysis of primary textual data reveals a shared far-right foreign policy outlook characterized by (1) ultra-nationalism, (2) group-based enmity, (3) authoritarianism, (4) revisionism and reactionism and (5) producerist-nationalistic economic positions, but also some important variations in the pursuit of these positions.

Further discussion of the inherent challenges and subsequent opportunities for developing global science communication curricula

ABSTRACT This paper responds to the framework of learning outcomes and competencies proposed by Lewenstein and Baram-Tsabari [2022. How should we organize science communication trainings to achieve competencies? International Journal of Science Education, Part B, 12(4), 289–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/21548455.2022.2136985], which provides an excellent overview of the skills underpinning all aspects of science communication. In presenting the framework, Lewenstein and Baram-Tsabari note that several people during the ‘member check’ of their framework development raised that many items may be culturally specific to Western, democratic nations. This is familiar to the discipline, which tends to be dominated by the theory developed in the ‘Global North’. The authors reiterate – rightly – that users of the framework need to develop a curriculum based on the needs of their audience and their context. However, if the dominant theories of the field are from one cultural perspective, this limits the opportunity to develop curricula in a global context. Science communication is increasingly found at the interface of attempts to address global issues like climate change, pandemics, food security and energy transition. Global solutions require global insights, meaning science communication theory and best practice need to be drawn from – and valued – from a greater variety of sources than is current practice.

Poland’s External Security in the Political Thought of Selected Extra-parliamentary National Circles: The Period of Full-scale Ukrainian-Russian Conflict

The author of the article presents his definition of the external threat, then he analyses the political thought of two nationalist political circles (the circles of the “Myśl Polska” weekly magazine and the periodical “Polityka Narodowa”) during the full-scale Ukrainian-Russian conflict and in the years immediately preceding it. It should be emphasised that both circles consider themselves to be continuators of the same nationalist movement, namely, the National Democracy and its leader Roman Dmowski. The main objective of the article is to identify the most important external threats to the Polish state. Threats in the form of other state actors are taken into account. The author concludes that the attitude towards Russia, and by extension the conflict in Ukraine, has become a fundamental axis of contention between the two communities. This affects the perception of Poland’s external security arrangements.

Parties and the power of capital intensive under open-list proportional representation system: The case of Indonesia

Since the Indonesian election adopted the Open-List Proportional Representation (OLPR) system in 2009 until the present, most political parties have altered their campaign strategies in the parliamentary election. The ownership of capital intensive is seemingly a certainty for political parties if they wish to succeed in the electoral match. Therefore, this article is aimed to demonstrate that capital intensive has a powerful impact in regard to the party triumph in the electoral arena under an OLPR system. It can be seen with the successful experience of four political parties in Indonesia, namely the Gerindra Party (Great Indonesia Movement), PKB (National Awakening Party), the Nasdem Party (National Democrat), and PKS (Prosperous Justice Party) in two elections, 2014 and 2019. Methodologically, it is qualitative research by utilizing in-depth interviews and online news gathering as the data collection technique. With the usage of four marketing-mix indicators (product, price, place, promotion), the article findings revealed that most political parties generally had uniformity in those four indicators despite different ideologies, programs, and strategies. Each party respectively required financial costs, an ideological platform, past achievements, popular candidate profile, physiological costs, local networks, direct campaign strategies to voters, elite approaches, and tactical promotions through mass media. Thus, this study concludes that these costs, which are referred to as “capital intensive,” determine the party’s victory in achieving electoral success.

Kosningar, lýðræði og fatlað fólk

Kosningaréttur er grundvallarréttur þegna í lýðræðisríkjum og þátttaka í kosningum álitin ein af mikilvægustu athöfnum borgaranna. Þó að þessi réttindi skuli tryggð öllum þegnum sýna alþjóðlegar rannsóknir að fatlað fólk er víða útilokað frá þátttöku í kosningum. Fatlað fólk er síður líklegt til að kjósa en ófatlað fólk og mætir iðulega ýmsum hindrunum ef það reynir að taka þátt í kosningum. Þessi grein fjallar um kosningaþátttöku fatlaðs fólks með hliðsjón af niðurstöðum alþjóðlegra rannsókna. Í upphafi eru raktar helstu hindranir í vegi kosningaþátttöku fatlaðs fólks og leitast við að svara hvaða áhrif þessar hindranir hafi, ekki aðeins fyrir fatlaða borgara, heldur jafnframt hvað það þýði fyrir heilbrigði lýðræðis og lýðræðislegra stofnana þegar hluti þegnanna mætir alvarlegum hindrunum varðandi borgaraleg grundvallarréttindi. Íslenskar rannsóknir á þessu sviði eru ekki fyrir hendi og engin skipuleg tölfræðileg gögn eru til varðandi þátttöku fatlaðs fólks í kosningum eða stjórnmálum hér á landi. Byggt á gögnum sem aflað var hjá tveimur fjölmennustu heildarsamtökum fatlaðs fólks hér á landi er rýnt í reynslu, aðstæður og möguleika fatlaðs fólks til þátttöku í kosningum á Íslandi, lagasetningar þar að lútandi og skyldur ríkisins til að stuðla að og tryggja þátttöku fatlaðs fólks í stjórnmálum og opinberu lífi, ekki síst í ljósi þess að Samningur Sameinuðu þjóðanna (SÞ) um réttindi fatlaðs fólks (SRFF) hefur verið fullgiltur hér á landi.

Understanding public confidence in the police within democratic and authoritarian regimes

AbstractStudies of public confidence in the police have enabled important insights into the factors responsible for achieving public support. Empirically tested in overwhelmingly democratic nations, there remain questions about the generalizability of this work to different types of political regimes, especially authoritarian nations. Using Wave 7 of the World Values Survey (n = 38,838) we assess whether predictors of police confidence operate in similar or different ways within the most democratic and authoritarian nations. Both regimes share similar underpinnings of confidence (corruption, religious identity, neighborhood trust, and government performance). Yet, key differences exist (i.e., country‐level differences measuring insecurity and instability, press freedom and corruption).

Strategic Dynamics of India-Myanmar Relations: An Assessment

Relationships between India and Myanmar are based on common historical, ethnic, cultural, and religious experiences. The relationship between Myanmar and India has been cordial over time. The two nations' proximity has also promoted and maintained friendly relations and allowed for more interpersonal interaction. However, in the existing situation, relations seem to be hampered due to changes in geopolitical and geostrategic aspects. The Government of India (GOI) decided to end the Free Regime Movement (FMR) between India and Myanmar on February 08, 2024, to preserve the demographic makeup of the Northeastern states and to safeguard national security. Since New Delhi decided to fence the 1,643 km long border between India and Myanmar, the basic cause behind this decision is to prevent external aggression that may prove detrimental to the regional stability of the region. Myanmar is important to India both strategically and economically given its location. The nation is essential to India's ambitions to use its Act East Policy (AEP) to expand its influence in Southeast Asia, particularly among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). However, since the military took over in February 2021, political unrest has been present in Myanmar. The Arakan Army, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, and the Myanmar National Democratic Army launched "Operation 1027" on October 27, 2023, against the military Junta, which further intensified the unrest and hampered India's AEP's main goals.

PRACTICES OF GOOD GOVERNANCE IN NEPAL

This article has mirrored the positive and negative aspects of good governance in Nepal. It has explored both weaknesses and strengths of good governance implications in the system of operation of various organs of the government of Nepal under the new constitution 2015 as envisioned by the legislatures via the Constitution Assembly. Despite the fact that democracy is the precondition of good governance, Nepal, being a democratic nation, lacks a proper functioning form of good governance. Several rules and strategies for good governance are included in Nepal's constitution and other laws. They are, nevertheless, constrained by the black letters of legislation and court judgments. Even Nepal's Supreme Court has issued multiple verdicts on the question of good governance. The division into central, federal, and local governance only can't fulfill Nepal’s good governance needs. But, to manage difficulties within and between municipal, provincial, and federal governments; development projects and governance plans necessitate a sustainable problem-solving mechanism. One cannot deny that Nepal's governance system is still in its early stages of improvisation. However, in the coming days, vital actions will be more important than the provisions guaranteed by the Constitution but never implemented practically.

KAJIAN YURIDIS PASAL 23 AYAT 1 UNDANG-UNDANG NOMOR 2 TAHUN 2011 TENTANG PARTAI POLITIK MENGENAI BATAS MASA JABATAN KETUA PARTAI POLITIK

This study addresses the urgency of limiting the tenure of party leaders in Indonesia to strengthen the democratic system. According to Karl Popper, democracy allows citizens to control their leaders, contrasting with authoritarian leadership styles. Indonesia, as a democratic nation, recognizes the crucial role of political parties in political dynamics, regulated under Law No. 2 of 2011. However, this law does not specifically address the tenure limits of party leaders, leading to potential abuse of power and the emergence of political dynasties. This research highlights cases such as PDIP, Demokrat, and Gerindra, where party leaders have held their positions for extended periods. The study advocates for the implementation of standardized rules regarding the term limits of party leaders to prevent authoritarianism and ensure a healthy democracy.

Evaluating the impact of a 24-hour economy on Ghana's economic landscape: A computable general equilibrium approach

The National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ghana's leading opposition political party, has unveiled an ambitious ‘24-hour economy’ policy proposal ahead of the country's forthcoming general elections in 2024. The policy aims to revitalise the nation's economic landscape by fostering round-the-clock operations in key sectors. This paper employs a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model framework, underpinned by the 2015 Ghana Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) and the 2021 Ghana Population and Housing Census (PHC) data, to evaluate the potential impact of the policy on Ghana's economy.Results indicate that under the proposed ‘24-hour economy’ policy, Ghana's real GDP growth (not to be confused with GDP growth rate) in ten years would be 31.71 % higher than it would have been under a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario in the same timeframe. This indicates substantial augmentations in economic output within the Ghanaian economy under a ‘24-hour economy’ setting. Further, the policy would generate more than 3 million jobs within five years of its implementation, with manufacturing, agriculture, wholesale and retail trade, services, construction and transport sectors experiencing substantial employment gains.The policy's transformative effects are driven by its ability to stimulate capital investment and capital formation, boost productivity and increase household incomes.The paper concludes that the NDC's proposed ‘24-hour economy’ policy holds substantial potential for transformative economic growth in Ghana. However, there are potential challenges associated with the implementation of the policy, which then necessitates a holistic approach to policy formulation, focusing on inclusive growth and sustainable development strategies.

Relational equality, mutual benefit and social insurance

Abstract In a democratic nation state with a relatively open economy, does the state have an obligation to seek to achieve equality among its citizens? If so, where does that obligation come from? And equality of what? I argue that the luck egalitarian conception of equality of opportunity, which requires the state to compensate for contingencies for which individuals are not responsible but not for those for which they are, is incompatible with the practical functioning and moral underpinning of a market economy. I discuss two views which focus on equality in social, political and economic relationships between individuals—Anderson’s conception of relational equality and my economic conception of mutual benefit. These approaches have a similar contractual or contractarian structure: they work from the several viewpoints of potential participants in cooperative ventures rather than the synoptic viewpoint of a moral spectator. They provide complementary justifications for social insurance.

Exploring the Nexus of Democracy and Mental Health: a Study of Urban People in Solapur City

Purpose: The present study aimed at understanding the intersections of democracy and mental health of people with reference to urban people of Solapur city. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework integrates insights from political understanding and social determinants of mental health to explore the nexus among democracy and mental health in Solapur city’s citizens. Study assess how individual perceptions and perspectives of democracy, including political efficacy and trust in social institutions, intersect with social factors such as access to resources, political power, to influence mental health outcomes. Research Method: The study has incorporated mixed method approach. The sample consisted of 231 adults (117 male and 114 female), in the age range of 18 to 65 years. The participants were administered the Democracy indicators developed by National Democratic Institute, Iraq (2007) after voluntary oral consent. Findings: The result of percentages shows that less than two-fourth of respondents opened that they have more democratic state, more than two-fifth said they have less democratic state, less than one-tenth of them opined that they have least and most democratic state respectively. It has found that the opinions are not associated with their age, gender, and earnings. However, the study tried to explore intersections of democracy and mental health of people in the context of eleven subscales of democracy index. Research Practical and Social Implications: The article intends to raise the debates and deliberations around democracy and mental health. They article pave the way for future in depth study on understanding the democracy and mental health with a larger sample size and in transnational study areas. Originality/value: Mixed research on mental health and democracy is need of the time and it’s become crucial to study democracy and mental health in different nations democratic nations.

The arsenal of democracy? An examination of political regime types’ success in the global sporting arms race following the collapse of the iron curtain

ABSTRACT Over the years, international elite sport has developed into an ‘arms race’ with the success of national elite sport systems becoming a symbol of regime superiority. During the Cold War, the Eastern and Western Blocs battled for success in various sports disciplines. The former nations were dominating in terms of medals, symbolising the force of the socialist autocratic system. However, because of the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, Western liberal democracies had the opportunity to gain more strength. In this paper, we aim to test whether this has happened by analysing the association between political regime type and international sporting success at the Winter and Summer Olympic Games in the post-Cold War Period. We do this by deploying data on the political regime types to a set of regression models, finding that democratic nations have taken over the international sporting arms race at the Summer Olympic Games. For the Winter Games, our results indicate that less democratic countries (anocracies) are in the lead. Our results add to existing research by suggesting that political regime type still matters to international sporting success. Implications for stakeholders, sports managers, and politicians are that they must decide to what extent they want to be part of this game in the coming years.

Human Rights in Nepal's Democracy: Achieving Best Practices

This article outlines the status of human rights practices and provisions within Nepal, a democratic nation where democracy, progress, and the rule of law are interconnected with the preservation of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Nepal, as a democracy, ensures the protection of human rights for its citizens. Over the past few decades, significant strides have been made in enhancing these practices and provisions, particularly in granting rights to marginalized groups as per the 2015 Constitution. However, despite these advancements, the Nepalese government has consistently overlooked recommendations from the Commission to investigate and prosecute human rights violations, as mandated by the Constitution. There is a need for the Nepalese government to prioritize the human rights movement, which faces numerous challenges from activities that contradict the principles of the constitution, democratic norms, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The paper highlights progress in human rights provisions and practices, alongside suggestions to actively ratify the Rome Statute to enhance Nepal's international reputation.

Are sanctions costly for the energy industry of sanctioning states? A difference‐in‐differences approach to sanctions during the Russia–Ukraine war

AbstractThis study investigates the economic effects of states' implementing sanctions against Russia during the early stages of the Russia–Ukraine conflict in 2022. It specifically examines the effect of these sanctions on the stock returns of energy firms in a sample of 57 countries between August 2021 and October 2022, employing Difference‐in‐Differences imputation estimators to analyse heterogeneous event studies. The results show that sanctions initially lead to a short‐term increase in energy stock returns in the treatment countries, but this effect diminishes over time. The study also reveals that sanctions affect energy stock returns in NATO countries and flawed democracies significantly more than non‐NATO and fully democratic nations. The research includes robustness tests using stricter sanctions dates and an expanded sample, providing valuable insights for policymakers and investors navigating geopolitical events and their economic consequences.

National Democracy and Nazism. The Asymmetry of Relations

The relationship between Polish nationalism and fascism and National Socialism has been the subject of numerous publications, especially those that are part of the Polish scientific literature. There is a peculiar asymmetry embedded in this relationship. During the interwar period and nowadays, this subject has been reflected on rather on the Polish side rather than the German side. The author attempts to answer a question about reasons for this asymmetry. In the 1930s, German interest in Polish nationalism was limited. Publications dealing specifically with Eastern European issues were the only to designate more space and attention to the topic. The publications, however, almost completely ignored official NSDAP sources. The shape and evolution of the national camp in Poland focused on a few issues only and it was a domain of a few authors whose names appear in various periodicals. In Germany, a hypothetical explanation for this phenomenon is based on fundamental contradictions that divided the Polish and German forms of nationalism at the time, namely the absence of the biological-racial dimension in the Polish national ideology and its strong connection with Catholicism. The practical absence of the Polish national movement in German articles of the 1930s might be attributed to the doctrine and racist objectives of National Socialism.

India's General Election: Verdict 2024-A Reflection of Public Political Decisions

2024 has been a year of elections around the world, including the developed nations—the USA, the UK, the European Union and the Russian Federation alongside countries like India, Mexico, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran (the Islamic Republic of), South Africa, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Algeria, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Ghana, Mozambique, Madagascar, Venezuela, (the Bolivarian Republic of), Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Taiwan, Syrian Arab Republic, Mali, Sri Lanka, Romania, Chad, Senegal, Cambodia, Rwanda, Tunisia, Belgium, Dominic Republic, Jordan, South Sudan, Czechia (Czech Republic), Azerbaijan, Portugal, Belarus, Togo, Austria, El Salvador, Slovakia, Finland, Mauritania, Panama, Croatia, Georgia, Mongolia, Uruguay, Republic of Moldova, Lithuania Botswana, Namibia, Guinea Bissau and North Macedonia. This editorial is devoted to the verdict of India’s General Election 2024. The results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections have trickled in by defying most of the expectations of the exit polls. The graph of the results projected a different picture, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) grabbing 293 seats in the 543-member Parliament. At the same time, the coalition of opposition parties, collectively known as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), accomplished 234, which is 38 less than the required majority. As a twist in the election results, the regional parties made significant gains in many states. Congress bagged a strong revival, which was hugely attributed to the Bharat Jodo Yatra and Nyay Yatra under the architect of Mr Rahul Gandhi. Nevertheless, with its allies, BJP-led NDA is on board as Modi 3.0 leads the largest democracy.