Opposition Political Parties Research Articles

Environmental protest outcomes in austerity-era neoliberalism: perseverance and politics

ABSTRACT This paper explores environmental protest outcomes during the decade of the 2010s in the UK. In doing so, it presents the results of a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of all 54 major environmental protest campaigns during the period. The study explores alternative causal conditions relating to a number of strategic and tactical options that environmental movements typically face. It finds that two alternative routes were sufficient for environmental protest campaigns to be successful: perseverance over time, in which longstanding campaigns staged a relatively large number of protest events; and instances where opposition political parties drew on, and supported, the demands of protesters. Interestingly, some of the more contested tactical options, including whether to adopt more or less disruptive methods, were inconclusive in explaining the successful outcome of protest-led campaigns. The article argues that this supports the case for tactical diversity. The findings show how in a context of austerity-era neoliberalism, where the government was (ostensibly) committed to tackling climate change, then protests (regardless of the organisational form or type of protest) proved able to exert effective pressure upon the government and firms, to ensure some degree of concession to the climate movement, provided that the protest campaign was able to persevere over time and/or secure the support of opposition political parties. This suggests a susceptibility, by both the state and firms during austerity-era neoliberalism, to (considerable) popular and political pressure arising from protest, but in the absence of which economic interests would otherwise take priority over environmental concerns.

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.

Politics at Play: TikTok and Digital Persuasion in Zimbabwe's 2023 General Elections

Zimbabwe's August 2023 elections were held against the backdrop of outcry over the outcomes of previous elections, which opposition political parties accusedthe ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party of rigging. Access to the public media is among the issues of contestation. Opposition political parties claim that they are not given equal space for campaigning purposes. Social networking sites such as X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook have recently provided spaces for political communication, where all parties have unfettered access to the electorate. Recently, TikTok has emerged as a popular social networking site, rivaling established applications in terms of its uptake, particularly among youths. Research on the social media application suggests that it is largely used for trivial purposes and does not contribute to critical dialogue. However, lately there is evidence that TikTok is being used for “serious” purposes, including activism. The study sought to find out how political actors in Zimbabwe used the TikTok platform for political communication in the run-up to the 2023 elections. The paper also examines the nature of digital persuasion on TikTok and how this enriches or trivialises political discourse. Findings show that TikTok was used to urge Zimbabwean youths to register to vote as well as to provide visual evidence of the good and the bad associated with particular political parties, as they competed for voters. It was used as a politainment tool, combining political messaging with the entertainment affordances of TikTok.

A Reply To My Critics

Abstract: Frustrated by persisting inequality, oppression, and corruption in liberal societies, and disillusioned with liberalism's failures, many are stepping away. Yet liberal societies are still admirable because they offer refuge from the very people they empower . They require rulers to accept limitations on their power and provide escape hatches from the worst parts of political life. Offers of refuge may be found in opposition political parties, independent institutions, reasonably autonomous local communities, powerful civil society organizations, and the market economy. There is a nobility in offering refuge, in the safety and opportunity it presents for building something new.

The Liberalism of Refuge

Abstract: Frustrated by persisting inequality, oppression, and corruption in liberal societies, and disillusioned with liberalism's failures, many are stepping away. Yet liberal societies are still admirable because they offer refuge from the very people they empower . They require rulers to accept limitations on their power and provide escape hatches from the worst parts of political life. Offers of refuge may be found in opposition political parties, independent institutions, reasonably autonomous local communities, powerful civil society organizations, and the market economy. There is a nobility in offering refuge, in the safety and opportunity it presents for building something new.

‘Behold, it’s new’: Photojournalism and political communication in Zimbabwe

Visuals hold a special place in the field of communication. Politicians, in a move to position themselves or market their activities, use visuals that stand as a testimony to their principles. However, their importance and value in political communication are not highly reflected in academic literature. This article is built from this understudied field by looking at the role photojournalists play in framing opposition political parties in Zimbabwe. Photographs are important tools in politics as evidenced by experimental research on political communication that found that ‘a single photograph can have a clear impact on voters’ judgements regarding a candidate’s demeanour, competence, leadership ability, attractiveness, likeableness, and integrity’. This study seeks to analyse photographs that were used by photojournalists to frame the newly formed political party, amidst the power struggles within the party, and political repression from the authoritarian regime. Informed by visual framing, the study found that photojournalists framed Nelson Chamisa as youthful and vibrant while his party was seen as resembling the new dawn. However, photographs also showed that Chamisa and his party had nothing to offer as they did not have a constitution, guiding policy nor a clear ideology.

СОВЕТСКИЙ СОЮЗ В НАРРАТИВАХ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ПАРТИЙ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ РОССИИ: ПРИЧИНЫ И СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ ОСНОВАНИЯ

The purpose of the work is to determine the reasons and social foundations for using the image of the Soviet Union in the narratives of political parties in modern Russia. The publications of the four largest and oldest parties were taken as the object of analysis. Based on the results of the study, it was found that despite the positioning of party ideologies as irreconcilable and conflicting, nothing of thr kind is in reality. There are different versions of the same narrative, the main elements of which are as follows: the Soviet Union is a continuation of the thousand-year tradition of Russian statehood; October 1917 is an important event in Russian history, but it is not given the status of “beginning of times”; there is an overt or covert conciliatory position; rejection of revolutionary social changes in favor of reformist solutions to societal issues; focusing on the subjective factors of the emergence and disappearance of the USSR. The reason for the convergence of narratives between the ruling and opposition political parties is seen in the similarity of the social positions of their leaders (representatives).

Paul, the prisoner (Acts 23:34-35): An insight into 2018-2022 political prisoner’s rights in Zimbabwe

Undisputed letters of Paul and Acts of the Apostles are replete with details of the Gentile Missionary’s multiple imprisonments, so much as to qualify him a ‘jailbird’ description. Paul’s incarceration in Herod’s palace for 2 years (Ac 23:34–35), his arraignment before Governor Felix and subsequent detention for 5 days before plea (Acts 24) on charges of inciting public violence, being a ringleader of a cultic faction and causing disturbances in the Jerusalem Temple, resonate with the contentious arrests and imprisonment without bail and trial of members of opposition political parties in Zimbabwe. Consistent with New Testament passages that exhort caring for prisoners and the need to grant justice to those facing trial, this study seeks to understand how inmates in Zimbabwean prisons have been on the receiving end of relics of the ancient Roman Legal system in the country’s Human Rights history between 2018 and 2022. The article demonstrates how the New Testament can be deployed to grapple with distress calls emerging from Zimbabwe’s prison walls as part of advocacy for judicial reforms in the country’s quest for rule of Law. At the end, the article recommends ways in which Churches in Zimbabwe can tap from New Testament passages how to operate an effective prison ministry in liaison with the Prisons and Correctional Services Department of the Government of Zimbabwe. The article employs qualitative methods of Socio-Historical and Ethnographic Analyses to discuss how human rights pitfalls in Paul’s imprisonments present remedial lessons in Zimbabwe’s quest for judicial reforms.Contribution: Deployment of the Bible to redress Human Rights issues in Zimbabwe. Demonstration of how Early Christian Literature can dialogue with contemporary African Sitz im Leben for social transformation.

Strategie wyborcze głównych partii opozycyjnych Turcji w okresie rządów Partii Sprawiedliwości i Rozwoju

Electoral strategies of Turkey’s main opposition parties during the rule of the Justice and Development Party This paper aims at analyzing the evolution of the electoral strategies of the main oppositional political parties to the Justice and Development Party, which has been in power since 2002. Assuming that due to the increasing autocratization of Turkey’s political system, the opposition’s options for action remain limited, and any eventual victory depends on the ability to form electoral coalitions, the paper will trace the political path taken by the AKP itself and the political parties opposed to it until the elections in 2023. At the same time, the question will be asked about the reasons for the defeat of the opposition parties in 2023. The basic assumption here is that the internally diversified National Alliance failed to construct a comprehensive programmatic offer capable of attracting voters of the ruling party on a massive scale and at the same time it failed to deliver a sufficiently satisfactory offer to its own electorate.

Implications of the existence of opposition political parties as checks and balances in the implementation of democracy

The opposition plays an important role in monitoring government policies and programs or in fulfilling checks and balances. However, the opposition parties in parliament have always been in the minority along the long road of Indonesian populist democracy. This situation weakens the control function and widens the gap to uphold the will of the people. There are opposition parties which have always been a minority group in parliament which is even worse if the decision-making cannot be resolved by a joint decision. If this happens, the minority opposition forces cannot influence government policies. Consequently, when the votes of the parties in a coalition supporting the government have dominance in determining public policies, this will result in policies that are usually authoritarian in nature.

Troublemakers and game changers: how political parties stopped democratic backsliding in Bulgaria

ABSTRACT Democratic backsliding has been halted in different countries around the world through various types of accountability. However, it is unclear what happens in political settings in which the usual accountability characteristics are absent. This article aims to explain how backsliding was stopped in 2021 in Bulgaria, which is an illustrative example of such a political setting. We illustrate how opposition political parties played a crucial role in halting democratic backsliding, through collaboration with each other and isolation of the government party. Our qualitative analysis uses data from media reports and public statements from the elites belonging to the parliamentary parties in the three Bulgarian parliaments of 2021. The novelty of our analysis lies in identifying a particular way of addressing democratic backsliding in countries in which the incumbent enjoys strong support and has been in office for a long period of time, and in presenting an alternative strategy to those which are often discussed in the literature. Instead of competing, political parties can cooperate to neutralize a common opponent and amplify the impact of other factors.

Legislating to Control Online Hate Speech: A Corpus-Assisted Semantic Analysis of French Parliamentary Debates

This corpus analysis of linguistic and semantic features in French parliamentary debates concerning online hate speech regulation, highlights tensions between state powers and private rights. Two key themes are identified: first, the problem of definition: how such online content is defined in the debates, and second, the problem of regulation: how the debates negotiate the supra-jurisdictional and individual jurisdiction issues involved, in regulating both the global online content and the responsibilities of the owners of the platforms who manage the content. For this analysis, the authors created a corpus of French National Assembly Examination Committee discussions and public sessions between July 2019 to January 2020 discussing the Loi Avia (Avia Law). The corpus was analysed using quali-quantitative methods. Overall, the study combines a top-down (global) and a bottom-up (local) analysis of the data, applying corpus semantic approaches (Lecolle et al. in Langages 210(2):35–54, 2018; Rastier in The Routledge handbook of semantics, Routledge, pp 507–522, 2015) to contextualize the analysis of the meta-discourse (Hyland in Meta-discourse: exploring interaction in writing, 1st ed. Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury Collections, 2018. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350063617). The analysis highlights the linguistic features revealing the power dynamics inherent within the discourse and counter-discourse of the dominant and opposition political parties respectively.

Walking rallies: opposition party’s new campaigning approach in Tanzania’s 2020 election

ABSTRACT Rally-intensive campaigns have been one of the main characteristics of elections and political parties’ communication and organising practices in Tanzania (Paget, 2019). However, due to a changing political landscape – intensified authoritarianism from 2016 – opposition political parties have had to think of new ways of mobilising and organising. These new ways of political mobilising and organising had an impact on opposition parties’ election ground campaign. In this article, I explore and analyse the campaigns of Chadema, the main opposition party in Tanzania, in the 2020 general election. Through participant observation, personal experiences, interviews, and documentary sources. I examine the new campaigning activity, which I describe as a walking rally, deployed by Chadema’s parliamentary candidates. The article contributes to the studies on electioneering and campaigning in sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, the study adds to relatively sparse analyses of African opposition parties’ mobilisation, organising, and campaigning practices.

Digital Revolution and the Prospects for Online Political Communication

A revolution in information and communication technology has introduced social media as alternative platforms through which political parties can interact with the public. Political parties’ success in using these avenues depends on the online strategies applied. Tanzania has not been an exception in the use of social media as political parties have been using them for political activities. However, little is known regarding the way political parties have established themselves on social media platforms. Using the equalization, normalization, and hybrid perspectives as an analytical framework, this paper examines the status of Tanzania’s political parties in social media. The data obtained through the review of social media pages, key informant interviews and documentary analysis reveal that although political parties have been using social media for political activities, the profile of their social media status is low. The findings further show that social media have not altered the balance of power among political parties in Tanzania as the social media profile of opposition political parties does not significantly differ from that of the ruling party CCM as revealed by the number of their social media pages, followers and posts as well testimonies through interviews regarding social media usage. Several factors including political parties’ limited awareness of the potential of social media, the unpredictability of the political system as well as resource constraints are attributed to this status. To overcome these challenges, a call is made for policy and capacity building interventions to empower political parties and the citizenry for effective online engagement.

On the forms, contributions and impacts of community mobilisation involved with Kerala's COVID-19 response: Perspectives of health staff, Local Self Government institution and community leaders.

Kerala, a south Indian state, has a long and strong history of mobilisation of people's participation with institutionalised mechanisms as part of decentralisation reforms introduced three decades ago. This history formed the backdrop of the state's COVID-19 response from 2020 onwards. As part of a larger health equity study, we carried out an analysis to understand the contributions of people's participation to the state's COVID-19 response, and what implications this may have for health reform as well as governance more broadly. We employed in-depth interviews with participants from four districts of Kerala between July and October, 2021. Following written informed consent procedures, we carried out interviews of health staff from eight primary health care centres, elected Local Self Government (LSG, or Panchayat) representatives, and community leaders. Questions explored primary health care reforms, COVID responses, and populations left behind. Transliterated English transcripts were analysed by four research team members using a thematic analysis approach and ATLAS.ti 9 software. For this paper, we specifically analysed codes and themes related to experiences of community actors and processes for COVID mitigation activities. A key feature of the COVID-19 response was the formation of Rapid Response Teams (RRTs), groups of lay community volunteers, who were identified and convened by LSG leaders. In some cases, pre-pandemic 'Arogya sena' (health army) community volunteer groups were merged with RRTs. RRT members were trained and supported by the health departments at the local level to distribute medicine and essential items, provided support for transportation to health facilities, and assisted with funerary rites during lockdown and containment period. RRTs often comprised youth cadres of ruling and opposition political parties. Existing community networks like Kudumbashree (Self Help Groups) and field workers from other departments have supported and been supported by RRTs. As pandemic restrictions eased, however, there was concern about the sustainability of this arrangement as well. Participatory local governance in Kerala allowed for the creation of invited spaces for community participation in a variety of roles as part of the COVID 19 response, with manifest impact. However, the terms of engagement were not decided by communities, nor were they involved more deeply in planning and organising health policy or services. The sustainability and governance features of such involvement warrant further study.

Habermasian Ethical Discourses in the Ethno-polarized Ethiopia

ABSTRACT This paper explored the practices of Habermasian Ethical Discourses. It focused on three Ethiopian television programs: the EBC's ETV Medrek, the FBC's Zuria Meles, and the LTV's Sefiw Mehidar programs. It aimed to examine the extent these programs constitute engaged debate and discussion that provided features of deliberative communication. Results showed that the televised debates constituted the Discourse Quality Index (DQI) criteria. Though there were certain incivilities, the debates were conveyed mainly with respect. The EBC's ETV Medrek and FBC's Zuria Meles debates successfully managed the deliberations as the debaters mainly were from academia, experts, and government authorities. But the LTV's Sefiw Mehidar debates created conflicting interests resulting in positional politics. Most of the debaters on LTV's Sefiw Mehidar were opposition political parties who came out with their party's initial motions. The findings of this study become central for public forum participants to adhering ethical and moral principles of deliberations. Also, it is valuable to recognize how the news media shape and construct public debate/discourse in Ethiopia.

Indian representation in Singapore’s national politics

ABSTRACT The 2020 Singapore General Election stood out on a number of counts, the most important being the decline in national votes for the ruling party, the People’s Action Party, and its historic loss of three wards, one single member seat and two group representation constituencies. Of its 27 new candidates, there were no Indian candidates. This article analyses the representation of Indians in Singapore’s politics, tracing this since the onset of general elections in 1948. Indian political presence in the ruling and opposition political parties will be looked at, and what this means for Singapore’s politics discussed in this article.

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as a De Facto and Limited Recognized State: From Federal Solution to Two State Model

This study covers the history of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as a de facto state, a status it has held since 1983 after having established its institutional structure in 1975 under the name of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus (TFSC). The TRNC has unique characteristics when compared with other de facto states. While it is home to EU citizens, it enjoys the support and in fl uence of Turkey as its patron state, which is not member of the European Union. Although the TRNC has been declared an independent state, TRNC leaders pursued a federal solution to reunify the island until E. Tatar was elected president in 2020. The TRNC has another unique characteristic: its civil society tradition is more powerful than opposition political parties and non-governmental organizations, which sometimes clash with the government of Turkey concerning the latter’s policies in the TRNC and the Cyprus question. As the TRNC’s patron state, Turkey shapes its stance on the island in parallel with its relations with the European Union. The lack of any progress on Turkey’s EU membership and uncompromising position of the Greek Cypriot leadership at negotiations in recent decades have pushed Turkey to shift its position on the Cyprus problem. Therefore, after coming to power, Tatar stated that a federal solution is not possible on the island and insisted that a two-state model be implemented with the support of Turkey.

Как железнодорожное сообщение во второй половине XIX – начале XX века помогало распространять революционерам антиправительственную литературу (на примере Курской губернии)

Importance. In the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries, an unstable internal political situation was observed in Russia. The activation of the oppositional political forces was facilitated by unresolved topical problems for society (for example, the peasant and workers’ question). The «awakening» of the population was facilitated by agitation and propaganda activities organized by left-wing political parties, such as the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party and the Socialist Revolutionaries. At the same time, the spread of anti-government literature across the country was, as a rule, by rail. The study of the experience of agitation and propaganda work (on the example of a typical Russian province) will not only enrich the historical sphere of scientific knowledge, but also assess the effectiveness of the implemented mechanisms for the dissemination of revolutionary literature in the historical conditions. This is the purpose of this study. Materials and methods. In the process of working on the topic, the following methods of scientific cognition were used: analysis, synthesis, generalization, chronological and comparative-historical methods. Results and Discussion. It is determined that oppositional political parties used railway lines as an effective «means» of delivering revolutionary literature to provincial regions. Conclusion. However, such propaganda and agitation activities did not always lead to the desired result, and the local population was wary of the discovered «finds» in the form of revolutionary leaflets, appeals, proclamations, pamphlets, etc.

Factors of the Fall of the Russian Empire and their Evaluation in Historical Science

Periods in the life of a country, when it radically changes its civilizational trajectory, cannot but attract the attention of researchers. For the Russian Empire, the First World War turned out to be the zone of such crucial revolutionary turbulence: the empire ceased to exist. What circumstances led to this turn of events? Was the wrong economic policy of the state authorities the main reason for the fall of the monarchy? The issues of state regulation of national economy of Russia during the First World War in the context of possible factors that caused the death of the empire are discussed in the monograph “On the Threshold of the Catastrophe. State and Economy of Russia in 1914–1917” by Irina V. Potkina, Dr. Sci. in History. The logic of the analysis led the scholar to the conclusion that the economic policy of the Provisional Government proved to be destructive for the country. The atmosphere of mutual distrust and suspicion in the Russian society also played an important role. This article continues this theme and shows that some mental and behavioral characteristics of Russian people contributed greatly to the country’s path to the disaster. Some people were involved in illegal activities under the influence of technologies for manipulating public consciousness practiced by opposition political parties. The Bolsheviks, whose activities, from the standpoint of modern Russian legislation, falls under the definition of “extremism”, enjoyed the greatest success. The author of the article concludes that it is necessary to correct the evaluation of historical events in the academic and educational literature.