National Democratic Research Articles

Environmental Performance and a Nation’s Growth: Does the Economic Status and Style of Governance of a Country Matter?

The literature abounds with studies on the impact of the growth of nations on the environment. However, studies on the financial materiality of environmental concerns are found less often. This study aims to determine the impact of environmental concerns on a nation’s GDP per capita (GDPC). In addition, the influence of developed nations and democracy is also explored. The data for 106 countries and ten years (2011–2020) are procured from World Bank’s official website. The countries with incomplete data for a balanced panel are not included. Panel data econometrics (quantile regression) is applied to analyze the data. Environmental concerns are measured with the help of environmental efficiency (EE) using data envelopment analysis (DEA). It is found that environmental efficiency (EE) negatively impacts the GDPC for low levels of GDPC. However, no association of EE with GDPC is witnessed in the case of high GDPC levels. In addition, developed nations positively moderate the EE’s impact on the GDPC when the GDPC levels are high. Moreover, democratic nations negatively moderate the EE’s impact on the GDPC when low GDPC levels exist. The main implication of the current study is that developed high GDPC countries could bear a significant chunk of the cost of EE. This way, the adverse impact of an increase in EE on the GDPC (by low GDPC counties) could be dodged, and by the efforts of developed high GDPC countries, EE could be increased significantly without adversely impacting their GDPC.

Władysław Tarnawski and the Critical Reactions of the National Democratic Party in Lviv to the Changes of the March Constitution (1926–1935)

The article considers the problem of reaction of the greatest Polish opposition party to the post-1926 “Sanation”, namely, the right-wing National Democrat attitudes to the ideas of changes of the Polish Constitution of 1921. The author focuses on the King John Casimir University in Lviv milieu (mostly professors, but also graduates and those allied with these circles – lawyers and journalists). Among many advocates protesting against ruling party’s reforms of the Polish law was Władysław Tarnawski – the professor of English Philology at the University and one of the leaders of Lviv’s right wing. An analysis of the discourse on Polish law carried out by opposition parties against the post-May government allows to grasp the richness of Polish parliamentary life in the authoritarian period. Despite the numerous studies in Polish historiography dealing with the milieu of the National Democrats between 1918 and 1939, the Lviv branch of this party has been understudied.

THE REJECTION OF ROE v WADE BY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT AFTER FIVE DECADES – A SEISMIC DECISION

The recent dramatic about-turn of the United States Supreme Court (USSC) in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organisation (Dobbs) in May 2022 regarding the rights of women in the United States to an abortion has caused a major uproar. Overruling one of the most famous of all USSC cases, Roe v Wade (410 US 113 (1973) (Roe)), five decades after it was decided, has had major repercussions. To fully comprehend the impact that Roe had on the United States, it is opportune to give an overview of Roe, which was a dramatic judgment and became established law for 50 years. In revisiting Roe, it is difficult to understand why such a clear and well-reasoned majority judgment has been overruled.Roe raised serious legal, moral and religious issues. The central issue was whether a woman had a legal right to an abortion. The USSC by a majority of seven to two held that woman had a constitutionally protected right to an abortion. As will be seen, Roe based its decision on its interpretation specifically of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.All major cases before the USSC can be put into two categories – abortion cases and all others. Abortion remains the central legal issue before that court. It defines the judicial philosophies of the justices of the USSC. It dominates their nomination and confirmation processes. The abortion controversy is sensitive and emotional. It generates vigorous, opposing views. It inspires deep and absolute convictions. A person’s philosophy, experiences, exposure to the raw edges of human existence, religious beliefs, and attitudes towards family values, and the moral standards a person establishes and seeks to observe all influence their thinking about abortion.It arguably delineates the difference between the National Democratic and Republican parties. When, during the confirmation proceedings of the present Chief Justice Roberts, he was asked about his views on Roe, he was careful not to commit himself. His answer was that Roe was settled as a precedent of the court and entitled to be respected under the principles of stare decisis, but he added that the justices of the Supreme Court do sometimes reverse their own precedents.Abortion issues remain eternal. Does a woman have a legal right to an abortion? Is the termination of a pregnancy a decision to be made by a woman and her doctor, or is the protection of potential human life a legitimate interest of the State? At what point does an unborn person acquire legal rights that are protected under the law? The majority and dissenting judgments in Roe represent the full spectrum of legal approaches to these and related questions. However, no court decision exists in a vacuum and the controversial issues raised in Roe continue to be raised and debated in the legal and political life of the United States, as they do in other jurisdictions.

Evaluating punctuated equilibrium dynamics within a crisis context

The theoretical evolution of punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) and empirical expansion of its research agenda to non-democratic countries, demonstrate that democratic nations feature less punctuated policymaking than autocracies, owing to informational advantages. However, can these differences be identified cross-sectionally across numerous political systems facing a common policy problem? To assess this, we present a broad and robust empirical analysis of PET dynamics across 166 countries over three years for a single policy issue that affected all nations: the COVID-19 pandemic. First, we theoretically link PET with the concepts of policy learning and bounded emulation and propose the emergence of mini cycles of punctuated equilibrium during a crisis. Then, using weekly data, we examine univariate distributions of COVID-19-related policy changes to better understand how punctuated policy dynamics have differed between political systems. Using multiple approaches, we demonstrate (1) the emergence of PET mini cycles during crises and (2) an absence of macro-level differences in PET dynamics across democratic, partially democratic and autocratic countries. Our evaluation of policy change distributions across a wide range of political systems in a crisis context offers notable insights into the generalisability of PET dynamics. Thus, our article offers novel advancements to PET scholarship both theoretically and empirically.

Jerzy Konstanty Czartoryski a „kwestia ruska” w Galicji

Jerzy Konstanty Czartoryski and the “Ruthenian question” in Galicia Jerzy K. Czartoryski was the first member of the Czartoryski family to devote himself to Galicia; he became involved in Galician politics and in the problems of this province of the Habsburg Monarchy. He stood out among the other Polish politicians in Galicia with his attitude to the Ruthenians; he stressed the importance of the Ruthenian question in Galicia, and even believed it to be a “matter of life or death” for the Poles living there. Czartoryski was in favour of Polish-Ruthenian co-operation, recognised the Ruthenians’ national identity, which not all Polish politicians regarded as an obvious thing, and declared his willingness to enter into an agreement with them. He also supported efforts to develop the Ruthenian school system and Ruthenian social and cultural institutions. While recognising and supporting Ruthenian postulates on education, he opposed the political postulates formulated by the Ruthenians at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century. His fear of the growing radicalism of the Ruthenian politicians brought him closer to the conservatives, the so-called Podolaks, and later to the National Democrats.

Выступления за восстановление монархии в Непале (декабрь 2020 – январь 2021 г.)

While civil and political protests have been characteristic of Nepal’s history, the events that unfolded between December 2020 and January 2021 take on particular significance due to the unification of various pressure groups around two main demands: the restoration of the monarchy and the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra. These demands are not new – there have been sporadic protests of this kind in the country over the past decade, but they have been few and far between. This time the protests attracted more people and were not limited to traditional royalist parties such as the National Democratic Party (RPP). The protests involved youth organizations and supporters of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), the unified ruling party until its recent split into the United Marxist-Leninist Party and the Maoist Centre. The article examines the winter protests of 2020–2021, their driving forces and results.

The Alternative for Germany and the Left Parties in the Eastern States: Transformation of Electoral Preferences

Introduction. The separate existence of East Germany over the years has led to the formation of unique electoral preferences of citizens. In eastern federal states the Left as the heir to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany remained one of the leaders for a long time. However, in recent years its traditional electorate has increasingly begun to choose the Alternative for Germany. The aim of this article is to identify the main reasons for this shift in preferences in East Germany. Materials and Methods. The main materials were the results of the elections to the Bundestag and Landtags. The statistics illustrating the performance of the Left on the national average and separately in East Germany in the national elections since 2009 was processed with the help of comparative analysis, the same was done with regard to the subnational elections since 2009 and 2011. The results of the Alternative for Germany were evaluated from its inception in 2013. Additionally, the data was used on preferences among voters of various age groups, the rating of the National Democratic Party of Germany before and after the advent of the Alternative for Germany, as well as GDP per capita indicators. Results. It is confirmed that it was the Alternative for Germany that mainly occupied the former niche of the Left. The main reasons that comprehensively influenced electoral preferences include the generational change, the unsuccessful adaptation of the left forces to Western values, the unpopularity of anti-capitalist rhetoric, the presence of more influential opponents on key left-wing topics, the demand for conservative and opposition ideology (e.g. in migration policy), as well as the ability of right-wing populists to work with protest voters. Discussion and Conclusion. The decline in the ratings of the left has become a rather stable phenomenon in recent years, while the performance of the right-wing populists strongly depended on the reaction of the party to a particular political crisis. However, this was more about the general popularity of the Alternative for Germany, which did not imply real prerequisites for the return of the electorate to the Left. The results of this paper can be applied in expert-analytical and research activities aimed at explaining electoral processes.

Participation of Russian Neo-Pagans in the Activities of Russian Political Parties (1990–2017)

The paper investigates the participation of neo-pagans in the political life of post-Soviet Russia. Until now, such studies have mostly focused on the rituals and mythology of neo-pagan practices and the study of their sacred books and artifacts. According to the author, contrary to stereotypes about the escapism of neopagans, the analysis shows that neo-pagan organizations are very active. Neo-pagan organizations are characterized by their focus on infi ltration into the parties and organizations, either leftist (the Russian Communist Workers’ Party, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Russky Lad, created in 2012 within this party) nationalist (the National Power Party of Russia (NDPR), the Russian All-People’s Union (ROS), the National Democratic Party of Russia), ultra-liberal (PARNAS, Navalny Headquarters) or ecological (Union of Greens of Russia). There are a number of cases when the leaders of regional branches of political parties simultaneously performed the functions of priests of pagan cults. For example, the head of the Russian Bloc – Saratov movement Pavel Galaktionov or the secretary of the Kirov district Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in Saratov Vladimir Maslov, who in 2014–2017 lobbied for the construction of a neo-pagan temple in the center of Saratov. In 2002, the same claim was addressed by the capital’s neo-pagans to the Moscow authorities under the slogan, “Let there be a shrine on Poklonnaya Hill!” In addition, the paper reveals the infl uence of neo-pagan fi gures on the right-wing youth, provides extensive evidence on this subject, and examines the attitude of neo-pagans (both ideologists and their ordinary followers) to Christianity.

The Sovereign State and Fundamental Rights Interface

This article investigates the interface between the sovereign state and fundamental rights with the views of The Social Contract Theory. concept of the sovereign state emerged in response to specific social and economic circumstances of the time. The idea of fundamental rights i s a comparatively new phenomenon in the history of political thinking, and today's constitutions adopt a bill of rights that outlines the legal rights of individuals, which have been prevailing within society for a long time. The Social Contract Theory is a political and philosophical foundation for the modern sovereign state, encompassing major elements of natural rights: life, liberty, and property. This study critically evaluates the topic, applying a theory-driven method and arguing that political power originates from the people, not from the grace of God. Finally, the study provides recommendations on how independent and democratic nations can put these principles into practice.

The Politics of England: National Identities and Political Englishness

AbstractOver two decades, voters who emphasised their English identity played an influential role in the rise of UKIP and the Brexit Party, the Brexit referendum and the election of Conservative governments—a trend overlooked in most electoral analyses. Using twenty years of data from the British Election Study and British Social Attitudes Survey, as well as recent original surveys, the article explores the evolving political behaviour of national identity groups. It finds that ‘more English’ and ‘more British’ identifiers increasingly voted for different parties. The analysis also identifies growing differences in the demographics, social values and immigration attitudes of these groups, which descriptive and regression analysis suggests may underpin these divergent political behaviours. However, a fuller understanding of electoral behaviour must take account of ideas of national democracy and sovereignty. The electoral impact of both the characteristics of English identifying voters and ideas associated with English identity constitute ‘political Englishness’.

When the Powerpolis Paused: Representations of Political Trauma of Indian Emergency in Delhi Calm

ABSTRACT Indian emergency is a period that is often counted among the dark days of post-Independent Indian history. Apart from the repeal of fundamental rights, this period also witnessed an autocratic rule by state-aided machinery that mostly affected the underprivileged sections. While censorship prevented narratives of these twenty-one months, literature took up the task of producing counter-narratives of common man’s experiences like slum demolition, mass arrests, curfew and vasectomy. Political trauma related to the period is two-fold; the first one being the trauma of abandonment and second one being the trauma of revelation. The current study proposes to analyze how Vishwajyoti Ghosh’s graphic novel sketches the political trauma of Emergency in Delhi. Referring to Delhi as the Powerpolis and Indira Gandhi as Mother Moon, Ghosh has employed a number of techniques to narrate the tale of silence. With flex boards, newspapers, and slogans lining up the pages, this tale in sepia presents the reader with a rather disturbing version of emergency through the eyes of a group of young activists. The study focuses on Ghosh’s character selection, narrative techniques, caricatures to understand the dynamics of representation and how Ghosh’s choice of graphic medium aptly conveys the trauma of state-aided oppression during times of emergency. Jenny Edkins’ idea of the trauma of betrayal will also be employed to analyze how the autocratic regime destabilized the Indian ideal of a democratic nation.

Decomposed Impact of Democracy on Indonesia’s Economic Growth

Indonesia's democratic performance is still classified as a 'moderate' and 'flawed democracy' according to the latest report, even though the ongoing progress of national democracy continues to advance every year. This study addresses the issue by offering a more comprehensive perspective and distinguishes itself by employing a decomposition approach that incorporates 25 indicators of the Indonesian democracy index to assess their individual effects on economic growth, which no prior Indonesian study has explored. The study classifies these indicators into six distinct categories: freedom and civil rights issues, discrimination issues, political and electoral issues, social and cultural issues, law and justice issues, and demonstration and community participation issues. The findings reveal that five out of the six categorized indicators have a crucial role and significantly impact economic growth. This evidence suggests that policymakers should prioritize a multifaceted approach, which includes bolstering the protection of civil rights and freedoms, combating discrimination, as well as reforming electoral and political processes. If implemented with transparency and inclusivity, this approach can pave the way for a more robust and prosperous democracy, leading to better and sustainable economic growth in Indonesia.

Parliament Overshadowing Supreme Court Judgements in India: A Game of Ethics

The Principles of separation of power form the backbone of most democratic nations in the world. This system of governance also incorporates checks and balances. Parliament, Executive, and Judiciary have well-defined powers and functions within the consti

Access to Public Documents and Its Restrictions: a Reflection from the Perspectives of Brazil and Sweden

Abstract The access to public documents is currently perceived as a human right among democratic nations worldwide. While Sweden has a long background of transparency in the core of the government, in Brazil the regulations concerning this matter are very recent. This article compares Swedish and Brazilian law regarding the right to information and its restrictions, particularly when in conflict with privacy and data protection. As a result of the utilization of objective criteria, the Brazilian regulation is considered better, mainly because it has a broader scope and provides for more promotional measures than the Swedish regulation. However, when analyzing the quality of the implementation of the regulations, it is suggested that in both jurisdictions there is still room for improvements in order to have a better balance between openness and secrecy.

‘The American Look’: The transformation of women’s sportswear in 1930s and 1940s America

This article will suggest that the American sportswear style reflects the unique historical and cultural influences on American dress from the birth of the new democratic nation in the eighteenth century to the dominance of New York City’s ready-to-wear industry in the 1950s. Focusing on the key decades of the 1930s and 1940s, this article will explore the marketing campaign of Dorothy Shaver, vice-president of the luxury retailer Lord & Taylor, who in 1932 coined the phrase ‘the American Look’ to promote American fashion designers’ collections. The legacy of sportswear designer Claire McCardell, arguably the best known of the New York-based ready-to-wear designers will be examined. McCardell’s combination of nostalgic American prairie style with the use of everyday workwear fabrics of cotton plaid, denim, wool and jersey created an unpretentious casual American style based on comfort, ease and flexibility, which is reflected today in the contemporary American ready-to-wear market. The article will maintain that the promotion of the American Look via photographic shoots, magazines, advertisements, visual merchandising, exhibition and film influenced the style and taste of dress that the female American body ought to ‘fit into’. This style, it will be argued, encouraged the development of a cultural memory of American dress by establishing a material link between national identity and clothing.

Israeli Democracy and its System of Checks and Balances: The Testimony Derived from Two Supreme Court Opinions by President Asher Grunis

ABSTRACT: This essay examines two separate but related cases in which President Asher Grunis of the Israeli High Court of Justice wrote opinions that overturned two decisions made by the Central Elections Committee of the Knesset. The first decision disqualified Balad party MK Haneen Zoabi from running for office while the second censored advertisements by both the Arab Party Balad and the right-wing Jewish Party Otzma l'Yisrael during the 2012 election campaign. The substance of these decisions speaks to the commitment Grunis and the Court had to the principles of liberal democracy. The opinions also testify to the power the Supreme Court possesses to protect the civil rights of candidacy and free speech and assure equal rights for culturally, religiously, and politically marginalized groups. The views expressed in them are particularly relevant at a moment when the system of checks and balances that have historically defined Israel as a liberal democratic nation is endangered by proposed legislation.

Israeli Democracy and its System of Checks and Balances: The Testimony Derived from Two Supreme Court Opinions by President Asher Grunis

ABSTRACT: This essay examines two separate but related cases in which President Asher Grunis of the Israeli High Court of Justice wrote opinions that overturned two decisions made by the Central Elections Committee of the Knesset. The first decision disqualified Balad party MK Haneen Zoabi from running for office while the second censored advertisements by both the Arab Party Balad and the right-wing Jewish Party Otzma l'Yisrael during the 2012 election campaign. The substance of these decisions speaks to the commitment Grunis and the Court had to the principles of liberal democracy. The opinions also testify to the power the Supreme Court possesses to protect the civil rights of candidacy and free speech and assure equal rights for culturally, religiously, and politically marginalized groups. The views expressed in them are particularly relevant at a moment when the system of checks and balances that have historically defined Israel as a liberal democratic nation is endangered by proposed legislation.

Freedom of Speech and Expression: A Comparative Analyses of USA and India

The majority of people in today's world believe that democracy is the ideal form of government and that the degree to which a sovereign nation's citizens are able to exercise their rights determines the status of that nation's democracy. Both India and the USA have proven to be among the largest democracies in the world. Both countries have adopted right-based jurisprudence, with India emphasizing the state is responsible to maintain and promoting to justice as a welfare state and the USA mainly focusing on securing rights of its citizens. Whereas, India’s focused on ensuring to individual freedoms of its citizens social justice. In both India and the USA, the fundamental rights freedom of expression has received in their Constitutions. However, the extent of these rights as they are governed by the separate governments and decided by the respective judiciaries. In both of these countries this right is not absolute. The boundaries between citizens' freedom to express their emotions and their liability if they do so outside of those boundaries vary in both. These differences as well as the factors that influence them in both of these countries is important to understand. After overall examining the status of this right in both nations, it has been observed that the expansion of this right for citizens in India is much wider than that of the citizen of the USA.

An Exploration of the Link Between Civic Engagement and Community Development in Lusaka District Zambia

In a democratic nation like Zambia, Civic engagement is expected to improve the wellbeing of the people in the community. Given the expected outcome of Civic engagement, this article explored the link between Civic engagement and community development in Lusaka district, Zambia. The study rids on case study design to generate evidence on the link between civic engagement and community development. The objective of this article was to explore the link between civic engagement and community development. Data was generated from a total sample of 23 participants. Finding of this research were that civic engagement act as a reflection of citizen’s ownership of community development, interface in solving community problems and facilitator in preferential option for those in absolute poverty. Findings also revealed that civic engagement helps to strengthen national governance. Therefore, this article concludes that in order to make democracy a reality and meaningful, civic life should result into community transformation. The article recommends that there is need for Ministry of local government and rural development to enhance and create more structures were citizens can interface more often with civic leaders.

Insurgent movements and paths to negotiation: a case study of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) in India’s northeast

ABSTRACT What drives insurgent groups to negotiation? The paper examines the conditions that facilitate insurgents to negotiate with governments. It examines the case of National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), in Assam, India’s northeast. Factors that may have contributed to the process of negotiation were change in relative costs and capabilities of insurgents. The paper argues that state’s unwillingness to concede to the insurgent demands of territorial separation affect the outcomes of insurgencies that further contribute to the fragile peace process. Drawing on qualitative interviews of former insurgents, civil society organizations and government officials, this article contributes to studies on peace negotiations.