Ideological Opposition Research Articles

Media Portrayal of EU Commission and Its Leaders: A Content Analysis of Spanish Press (1976–2024)

The role of the media is key in mediating civil society and its political representatives in EU institutions. In this context, this paper aims to describe the representation of the European Commission, one of the EU’s most important institutions, and its leaders by two leading Spanish newspapers. In order to address this objective, an automated content analysis was carried out on 13,340 news items published between 6 June 1976 and 15 February 2024 in El País (social democratic media) and ABC (conservative, monarchist media). The sample was subjected to a sentiment analysis as well as topic modeling. The latter method made it possible to identify five predominant issues on the agenda: Economy, Foreign Affairs, Internal Politics, Spanish Politics, and the Future of the EU. The average sentiment, which is close to neutral, has tended slightly toward the negative over the years, although the current president, Ursula von der Leyen, has the highest rating of all the leaders studied. Both El País and ABC provide more negative coverage of the EU when leaders of their ideological opposition govern, a phenomenon that can weaken the European model and encourage political drifts with consequences that are difficult to predict in the medium term.

Global Governance under Populism: The Challenge of Information Suppression

abstract: Populists’ ideological opposition to global governance is well recognized, yet whether and how these actors systematically undermine international organizations remain unclear. The authors argue that a key means by which populists warp global governance is by distorting scientific information, which is necessary for global responses to many public health and environmental issues. Populists are motivated to withhold or misreport scientific information due to their anti-elite, prostate sovereignty views. Using new data on the source and quality of information provided to international organizations (ios), the authors find that populist leaders are significantly less likely to provide scientific information to ios than are other types of leaders. When they do offer such data, they are less accurate than the information that other sources supply. The authors’ findings suggest that populism may stymie international institutions’ ability to govern in areas of pressing international concern.

Conceptual Metaphors and Image Schemas in the conceptualization of Neoliberalism and Socialism in Presidential Inauguration Speeches. An infometric approach

Introduction: This study explores how neoliberalism and socialism are conceptualized through image schemas in political discourse. These conceptual frameworks are best analyzed using the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, specifically its analytical tool of image schemas. The metaphorical structures identified in the analyzed texts reflect a polarized stance, particularly opposing right-wing ideologies. Neoliberalism is metaphorically framed as something negative, associated with darkness, evil, and positioned downward. Objective: To analyze how neoliberalism and socialism are conceptualized in political discourse using image schemas. Methods: The study employed a bibliographic review to collect and analyze political texts, focusing on metaphorical language. Articles were selected based on relevance and discarded if they lacked clear metaphorical usage or did not align with the research focus. The analysis utilized the Conceptual Metaphor Theory to identify image schemas in the discourse. Development: The study highlights that the conceptual metaphors present in political discourse shape public perception by framing neoliberalism as inherently negative, using metaphors of darkness and downward movement. Conversely, socialism is portrayed through positive metaphors, symbolizing light and upward movement. This metaphorical polarization reflects broader societal and political divisions, where language reinforces ideological opposition. Conclusions: The study concludes that political discourse consistently uses conceptual metaphors to portray neoliberalism negatively and socialism positively. These metaphors contribute to reinforcing ideological divisions, emphasizing the role of language in shaping political perspectives. The objective of understanding these conceptualizations was met through the identification of recurring metaphorical patterns

Modes of Cosmopolitanism in Waguih Ghali’s Egypt in Beer in the Snooker Club

Abstract This paper examines the different expressions of nationalism and cosmopolitanism in Waguih Ghali’s semi-autobiographical Beer in the Snooker Club (1964). It defines two different forms of cosmopolitanism in the novel (colonial versus imperial) and their influence on the identity of the main characters. The paper also examines the obsession with defining ‘Egyptianess’ in the novel in the wake of Egyptian nationalism during Nasser’s regime. The paper argues that cosmopolitanism and nationalism are two opposite ideologies that hold each other in balance but when the balance tips off in favour of one pole, an immoderate ideology raises its ugly head: racial or class-based nationalism, on the one hand, or colonial hegemony, on the other. Finally, the paper concludes that Ghali favours imperial cosmopolitanism which boasts of multiple communities that interact together and still preserve their uniqueness and specificities.

History and features of formation of the system of civic-patriotic education in Trans-Dniester in condition of an unrecognized state

Civic-patriotic consciousness and education is an integral element of any state claiming sovereignty and independence. With its help, the self-awareness of the population is formed, trust in the authorities and the state, and the legitimacy of power is ensured. The imperatives of the concept of civil-patriotic education in states with a “deficit” of international recognition, history of statehood, and financial resources actualize the mobilization nature of civil-patriotic ideology and its differentiation into the mother state and the patron state. This ideological position is relevant for Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Trans-Dniester, where the patron state (represented by Russia) is the support of the unrecognized state in ideological opposition to the mother state. In the article the history of formation and development of the system of civic-patriotic education in Trans-Dniester is viewed. It is closely connected with the history of the development of state, the construction of national security system and emerging threats to the statehood of the self-determined republic. The research was carried out using methods of historical, historical-political analysis, essential-substantive, chronological and system-structural methods. Analysis of civic-patriotic education in Trans-Dniester showed that it is a complex system of legal, institutional and functional elements that are closely included in the national security system of the Trans-Dniester Moldavian Republic.

Beyond Double Identity, beyond Periphery: Chinese Ethnic Korean Poetry as Borderland Literature

Abstract In East Asia, Chinese ethnic Korean literature has drawn scholarly attention from Chinese, South Korean, and Japanese scholars. They mostly situate the literature within a “double identity” (ijung chŏngch’esŏng 이중정체성) that is both Korean and Chinese and examine how the literature sheds light on the relations and tensions between the two sides of the identity. This article explores the critical potential of the literature beyond the limits of a double identity and within a borderland milieu. The Yanbian Ethnic Korean Autonomous Prefecture is located along the northeast border of China and is adjacent to the Korean Peninsula, Russia, and Japan. Through a close reading of the early postwar poetry produced in the region by the representative Chinese ethnic Korean poet Ri Uk, the article examines how Chinese ethnic Korean literature may serve as a nexus of connection and negotiation among multiple cultures. Those who are familiar with the region know that these cultures have been deeply alienated from each other during multiple rounds of imperialization by regional and global powers. A close examination of the multilateral connection of a borderland ethnic literature with regional power holders offers insights into the ways cultures connect despite historical conflicts and ideological opposition.

FEATURES OF THE EVOLUTION OF REGIONAL CAPITALS IN THE USA’s AND THE KAZAKHSTAN’s ARCHITECTURE

The article deals with the interpretation of regional specifics in architectural and artistic forms. Special attention is paid to the order compositions. It is shown how the images of plants characteristic of the region were reflected in the capitals of the columns of various buildings from ancient times to the present day. The originality of approaches to this problem is emphasized on examples from the architecture of the USA and the Kazakhstan. Examples of the use of regional themes in the architecture of the USA and Kazakhstan show a significant difference. The architecture of the United States since the 18th century, on the one hand, is a struggle for the independence of territories from the colonial claims of England, France and Spain, with a corresponding cultural and ideological opposition to European traditions. On the other hand, it is a literal reproduction of European architectural styles from the Middle Ages. In Kazakhstan, the emphasis on regional features of architecture is indeed constant. Special attention is paid to the interpretation of the motifs of the national ornament. The beginning of the 20th century led to the emergence of a special trend of the national neoclassical style, which also spread and evolved into a postmodern interpretation.

The Role of Social Forgiveness and Non-Forgiveness in Shaping the Political Discourse Around Gustavo Petro during the 2022 Colombian Presidential Elections

Objective/context: This article examines the use of emotional argumentation patterns of social forgiveness and non-forgiveness regarding Gustavo Petro’s past in the M-19 movement in the context of the 2022 Colombian presidential elections. Methodology: An inductive media framing analysis of selected Colombian newspapers was carried out. The frames analyzed exemplify the relevance different newspapers have attributed to Petro’s past in their pre-election coverage. Conclusions: This analysis demonstrates that those frames that project a negative view of Petro’s past carried especially marked patterns of non-forgiveness and an accompanying delegitimization of his person and political ambitions. The negative portrayal in a particular newspaper presented clear patterns of emotional argumentation of politically ideological opposition to Petro in contrast to the media landscape in general. The other newspapers analyzed, however, revealed a predominantly neutral pattern of argumentation that paid attention to Petro’s past but did not use it judgmentally against him. In relatively few cases, the argument of social forgiveness was even used in his favor. The results show that, especially for the ideological opposition to Petro, reference to his past in the M-19 was considered a legitimate means to undermine his political ambitions. However, considering the general overall coverage of the newspapers, Petro’s past was of marginal importance. Originality: This analysis provides insights into how Colombian media framed the past of the current Colombian president in the M-19 during the 2022 presidential campaign, potentially influencing public opinion-making processes. The results can serve as a reference for more comprehensive analyses to better understand the role of forgiveness and non-forgiveness in the context of political discourses in post-conflict states.

S/Z in the Hispanic Context: Castration and Otherness in the Female Characters of Miguel de Cervantes and María de Zayas

In S/Z (1970), an ambitious semiotic study of Honoré de Balzac’s “Sarrasine,” Roland Barthes analyzes the ideological oppositions behind this graphic differentiation based on observing an unexpected deviation from the norm in the male protagonist’s name. This article reveals that Barthes’s analysis is applicable to Cervantes’s and Zayas’s novellas, abounding as they are in female Moorish characters whose names begin with the letter Z. The presence of this Z is best understood, not in phonological terms, but from the perspective of the cultural fabric of seventeenth-century Spain, where the Z becomes the stamp that unequivocally denounces the otherness and social castration of the female characters.

Editors’ introduction to the Special Section: The ethics and politics of the Anthropocene

Editors’ introduction to the Special Section: The ethics and politics of the Anthropocene

The role of ideological and intergroup mechanisms in predicting opposition to redistribution and discrimination against the lower social class

In light of the continuing rise of economic inequality, understanding why even individuals who are concerned about it often still oppose redistributive policies is crucial. This research investigates two mechanisms that may contribute to this phenomenon. Across two studies (N1 = 172; N2 = 232), we find that capitalist ideology strongly predicts opposition to redistributive policies, above SDO as a measure of anti-egalitarianism. This provides support for an ideological perspective whereby opposing redistribution is understood as the result of an endorsement of capitalism with its rejection of government interference in the economy. On the other hand, we did not find support for an intergroup approach whereby, akin to discrimination, opposition to redistribution is understood as a harmful act against its would-be recipients. Classism, referring to negative stereotypes about the lower social class as the beneficiaries of redistribution, predicted only interpersonal discrimination but not support for redistributive policies. We conclude that when it comes to the issue of economic inequality and how to remedy it, the crucial obstacle to redistributive policies appears not to lie in negative perceptions of their recipients but a more fundamental ideological opposition.

‘It came from China; it’s a Chinese virus’

This study examines the negotiations of racism by Twitter users in the representation of the COVID-19 crisis during the first wave of the pandemic. We focus on expressions that target China as the place where COVID originated such as ‘Chinese virus’ and ‘Kung flu’. The repeated use and discussion of these terms on social media serves to create, establish and reinforce indexical links (Silverstein 2003) to social values, which relate to ideological conceptions of China and Chinese culture. Additionally, Twitter users’ crisis processing involves the renegotiatation of indexical links to social values that coincides with the engagement in sociopolitical debates that frequent online media environments, resulting in sociological fractionation (Agha 2007); the ideological opposition between Twitter user groups involves statements such as ‘Kung flu is racist but COVID originated in China’s dirty markets.’ We see such disclaimers as examples of ‘liquid racism’ (Weaver 2011) that, while they are difficult to pin down as racist, they naturalise Sinophobia as the dominant discourse in our dataset. We conclude that racism in our data is a resource embedded in blame attribution that is compatible with crisis processing.

Hollywood and the Spanish Civil War: The Hidden Anti-Fascist Ideology of Love Under Fire (1937)

When the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) began, Hollywood immediately rushed to create screenplays about the conflict. However, only three fiction films were made during the course of the war: The Last Train From Madrid (James Hogan, Paramount Pictures, 1937), Love Under Fire (George Marshall, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1937) and Blockade (William Dieterle, Walter Wanger/United Artists, 1938). This article examines Love Under Fire, a production that has scarcely been studied and which remains commercially unavailable. The research has made it possible to establish that, despite its appearance as an inoffensive film that adheres to the Hays Office guidelines of impartiality, Love Under Fire is neither apolitical nor neutral, but has an anti-Franco, anti-Fascist and anti-Nazi ideological subtext. In fact, archival material from the MPAA/PCA Records reveals that the film was deliberately conceived from the outset to be anti-Axis powers. Finally, the article endeavours to explain why a commercial Hollywood production company persisted in its efforts to infiltrate this ideology into the film, at the risk of undermining its box-office performance, and will demonstrate that this was due to the overwhelming mass rejection of The Siege of the Alcazar, a frustrated personal project of Darryl F. Zanuck, which was to be produced by the same company and had a completely opposite ideology.

Ends Against the Middle: Measuring Latent Traits when Opposites Respond the Same Way for Antithetical Reasons

AbstractStandard methods for measuring latent traits from categorical data assume that response functions are monotonic. This assumption is violated when individuals from both extremes respond identically, but for conflicting reasons. Two survey respondents may “disagree” with a statement for opposing motivations, liberal and conservative justices may dissent from the same Supreme Court decision but provide ideologically contradictory rationales, and in legislative settings, ideological opposites may join together to oppose moderate legislation in pursuit of antithetical goals. In this article, we introduce a scaling model that accommodates ends against the middle responses and provide a novel estimation approach that improves upon existing routines. We apply this method to survey data, voting data from the U.S. Supreme Court, and the 116th Congress, and show that it outperforms standard methods in terms of both congruence with qualitative insights and model fit. This suggests that our proposed method may offer improved one-dimensional estimates of latent traits in many important settings.

Battle in the Village: The Agrarian Ideology of Opposition in the Early Showa Period

Efforts by Japanese proletarian writers to forge class consciousness among urban industrial workers during the 1920s and 1930s are well documented. Long overlooked, however, are writers who viewed rural laborers as potential engines of revolutionary change. This article examines self-styled agrarian author Inuta Shigeru (1891–1957), who took up literature as a weapon against fascism, imperialism, capitalism, and urban-centric Marxism. It looks closely at Inuta's journal Nōmin (The farmer, 1927–33) and his suppressed novel Mura ni tatakau (Battle in the village, 1929). It also addresses Inuta's conflict with entrenched proletarian writers, which determined his legacy for nearly a century.

КИЇВСЬКА ФІЛОСОФСЬКА ШКОЛА ДРУГОЇ ПОЛОВИНИ ХХ СТОЛІТТЯ І ВИТОКИ КРИЗИ МАРКСИЗМУ-ЛЕНІНІЗМУ У ВИШАХ УРСР: ДОСВІД КИЇВСЬКОГО ДЕРЖАВНОГО УНІВЕРСИТЕТУ (КІНЕЦЬ 40-Х – СЕРЕДИНА 60-Х РОКІВ ХХ СТОЛІТТЯ)

This article is the first of a series of publications about the place and role of the Kyiv Philosophical School of the second half of the 20th century in the process of the destruction of Marxism-Leninism in the philosophical education, science and culture of the Ukrainian SSR. This process, which began at the end of Stalin era, is explored in the illustrative example of the Faculty of Philosophy of Kyiv State University. The author has classified four main stages of this process, of which he studies the first and the second ones: 1. the initial one or the stage of the beginning of the critical revision of the Stalinist version of Marxism-Leninism (late 1940s – 1950s); 2. the stage of the beginning of a systematic critical revision of this version in the context of postmodern philosophy (late 1950s – mid 1960s). The main object of study is the memoirs of the creators of this school, primarily their interviews conducted as part of projects on the Oral history of philosophy. Their example is the conversation of Y. Golovakha with the Student Society for the Oral History of Philosophy of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. The development and content of these two stages are studied on the basis of an analysis of a series of interviews by T. Chayka with graduates of this faculty and the creators of this school S. Krymskyi, M. Popovych, V. Horskyi in her author's project "Oral Histories of Philosophers". We also studied the memoirs of their university mates, colleagues at the school, such as A. Horak, V. Tabachkovskyi, V. Lisovyi and M. Bulatov. The ideological opposition of M. Zlotina together with the rehabilitated figure of the "philosophical front" of Ukraine in the 1920s – 1930s M. Yushmanov to the so-called "old guard" professors of philosophy at the Kyiv State University like Y. Bludov, F. Yenevich and etc. is considered. The significant reformatory contribution of the deans of this faculty P. Kopnin and V. Shynkaruk to its progress during the Khrushchev's thaw is outlined. The contribution of these two scholars, already as directors of the said institute, and their predecessor in this position D. Ostryanin and their colleagues at that university and institute, to the progress of neo-Marxist and post-Marxist foundations of Ukrainian philosophical education, science and culture is also highlighted.

“How I like English Lords...” Perception of British Culture by Ukrainian Local Nobility of the 19th Century: The Case of the Galagan Family

The article deals with the attitude of the Ukrainian nobility (the landowners of Poltava and Chernihiv governorates) to the British culture of the Victorian era on the example of the Galagan family. Based on the study of diaries, correspondence, and memoirs, it was found that the perception of British culture by the Ukrainian nobility took place thanks to learning English and getting to know English literature and art. In particular, the aesthetics of English romanticism was attractive, which was perceived in a wide range, from admiration for J. G. Byron's poetry to affection for "English parks", according to the model of which the park in Sokyryntsy, the ancestral seat of the Galagans, was laid out. The British were invited to Ukrainian noble families as mentors of children. Communication between tourists from Ukraine and Britain was of great importance while travelling in continental Europe. After all, Ukrainian travellers visited Great Britain, where they could directly get acquainted with its economic achievements and sociocultural structures. Based on these communications Anglomania spread among the highest layers of the Ukrainian nobility, to which the Galagans belonged. It was an idealization of the socio-political system of Victorian Britain, which seemed attractive as an alternative to the bureaucratic absolute monarchy that existed in the Russian Empire. Thus, the Anglomania of the nobility was one of the forms of opposition to absolutism. At the same time, Anglomania could combine with other oppositional ideologies platforms, in particular with Slavophilism, as shown by the example of Hryhorii Galagan.

For a Research Agenda on Negative Politics

This thematic issue deals with the “negative” side of politics, more specifically with dynamics of political aggressiveness and ideological opposition in voters and elites. Why do candidates “go negative” on their rivals? To what extent are voters entrenched into opposing camps parted by political tribalism? And are these dynamics related to the (dark) personality of candidates and the expression of emotions in voters? A series of contributions written by leading and emerging scholars provide novel and groundbreaking empirical evidence along three main lines: (a) the evolution, causes, and consequences of political attacks and incivility by political elites; (b) the drivers and dimensions of affective polarization and negative voting in the public; and (c) the dynamics of candidate’s personality and perceptions, the affective roots of attitudes and behaviors. This thematic issue aims at setting the stage for a new research agenda on negative politics, able to generate new insights by triangulating evidence and approaches from strands of literature that have mostly evolved on separate tracks.

Psychoanalysis of “Lust, Caution” in the Context of Femme Fatale and Fetishism

This paper focuses on the women’s agency under the Hong Kong movie’s spectrum by using Eileen Chang’s “Lust, Caution” as an example, reassuring the importance of a father figure in a woman’s childhood. The paper first introduces Chang’s female fatale’s figure and puts forward the reason it can be a classic figure. This paper ends with the conclusion of the women’s agency, focusing on human desires and temptations as well as the dilution of ideological opposition.

Marginalized: Southern Women Playwrights Confront Race, Region, and Gender by Casey Kayser

Reviewed by: Marginalized: Southern Women Playwrights Confront Race, Region, and Gender by Casey Kayser Susan N. Mayberry MARGINALIZED: SOUTHERN WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS CONFRONT RACE, REGION, AND GENDER, by Casey Kayser. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2021. 218 pp. $99.00 hardback; $30.00 paperback. Casey Kayser's new book, Marginalized: Southern Women Playwrights Confront Race, Region, and Gender, counters the "deep, historical prejudices against every term of the label 'Southern Woman Playwright'" (p. 5). She positions her work as a response to the call by Robert McDonald and Linda Rohrer Paige for scholars to expand their 2002 collection Southern Women Playwrights: New Essays in Literary History and Criticism, the first and hitherto only book-length study of female dramatists with attention to their southern roots. Agreeing with McDonald and Paige that the works of women playwrights have been omitted from the history and criticism of southern literature, Kayser widens her critical scope to include dramatists well beyond the "artistic Trinity" of Lillian Hellman, Beth Henley, and Marsha Norman (p. 5). Marginalized represents Kayser's detailed intervention into the twenty-year silence that followed Southern Women Playwrights as she outlines "the factors that affect the prejudice and the problems" these artists face, "which are rooted in geographical, ideological, interpretive, and genre-based challenges" (p. 5). Her study of their works unearths a pattern of the playwrights' conscious strategies to counter their marginalization. Kayser responds to Gary Richards's claim that "the South's relation to theater remains a troubled one," explaining this "fraught relationship" most simply as "a departure geographically from the northern center of American theatre culture, New York City" (p. 17). She acknowledges, however, an ideological opposition as well: The South is often seen as an aberration alongside the rest of the nation, for which New York City serves as an iconic symbol. I argue that the uneasy relationship Richards describes is also rooted in factors related to the nature of the dramatic genre, which is marked by unique features that present a challenge for depictions of the South, especially on stage. (p. 17) Kayser employs Una Chaudhuri's theory of "geopathy"—which delineates places as problematic for dramatists and the characters they create—to illuminate the particular restraints on southern women playwrights. Kayser demonstrates the deliberate attempts of Hellman, Henley, and Norman to avoid assumptions based on the regional identity of their characters or their own southern roots (p. 5). As Kentucky-born Norman mentioned in a 1986 reading at Alfred University and emphasizes in her prescript notes to her 1983 Pulitzer Prize-winning play 'night, Mother, "Under no circumstances should the set and its dressing make a judgment [End Page 367] about the intelligence or taste of Jessie and Thelma. . . . Heavy accents, which would further distance the audience from Jessie and Thelma, are also wrong" (qtd. p. 3). Norman clarifies the rationale for her approach in a 1987 interview: When you are even remotely from the South, there is always this judgment: People in the South talk funny and they aren't very smart, and they sit around on the porch all the time. One has to fight that. I want to give the characters a real chance at getting through to the audience. To do that, I had to get rid of all the things that stood in the way, like locale, accents, dialect. (qtd. pp. 3-4) Kayser establishes in clear, relatively jargon-free prose that southern female playwrights are quite aware of the South's identity in the national imaginary as a "backwards" region. They also recognize their critical audience to be what Jill Dolan describes as "the privileged, visible, speaking 'majority,' widely known as white, middle-class, and male" (and, Kayser would add, not southern) and their theatrical success to be reliant on the staging of a play in an American city most antithetical to the South, New York City (p. 4). Ultimately, Kayser asks, how can their marginalized position as female playwrights within American literary and theater culture, in some cases lesbians or women of color, not affect their dramatic choices? While she draws from a broad theoretical basis, including American drama and theater scholarship, feminist and queer theory, performance studies, and southern...