Party Leaders Research Articles

A learning-based granular variable neighborhood search for a multi-period election logistics problem with time-dependent profits

Planning the election campaign for leaders of a political party is a complex problem. The party representatives, running mates, and campaign managers have to design an efficient routing and scheduling plan to visit multiple locations while respecting time and budget constraints. Given the limited time of election campaigns in most countries, every minute should be used effectively, and there is very little room for error. In this paper, we formalize this problem as the multiple Roaming Salesman Problem (mRSP), a new variant of the recently introduced Roaming Salesman Problem (RSP), where a predefined number of political representatives visit a set of cities during a planning horizon to maximize collected rewards, subject to budget and time constraints. Cities can be visited more than once and associated rewards are time-dependent (increasing over time) according to the day of the visit and the recency of previous visits. We develop a compact Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation complemented with effective valid inequalities. Since commercial solvers can obtain optimal solutions only for small-sized instances, we develop a Learning-based Granular Variable Neighborhood Search and demonstrate its capability of providing high-quality solutions in short CPU times on real-world instances. The adaptive nature of our algorithm refers to its ability to dynamically adjust the neighborhood structure based on the progress of the search. Our algorithm generates the best-known results for many instances.

An Examination of the Policy Content of Scott Morrison's and Anthony Albanese's 2022 Federal Election Campaign Materials

This Research Note reports on an analysis of the speeches, media releases, opinion pieces, and transcripts of the utterances of both major party leaders, Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese, during the 2022 federal election campaign. We undertake a reflexive thematic analysis of these documents to identify the key messages of the two campaigns.

Identity Construction, Reverse Discourse and the Amhara Nationalism in Ethiopia

This paper examines how anti-Amhara ethnonationalists have constructed derogatory epithets to rationalise their mistreatment of Amhara, and delves into how Amhara nationalists endeavour to reclaim these epithets by imbuing them with positive connotations, contrasting with what the former has attached to them. It is a qualitative study that draws data from interviews with leaders of Amhara-based political parties, scholars, and victims of genocide, as well as review of social media content and scholarly literature. Foucault’s concept of reverse discourse, which entails resistance to prevailing discourse without altering the language and categories of the dominant group, was employed as an analytical tool. The findings reveal that ethnonationalist movements, emerging since the 1970s, utilised the imagery of ‘Amhara as enemy’ to spur political mobilisation. They construct disparaging epithets like neftegna (gun-holder) and timkhtegna (chauvinist) to justify their mistreatment of Amhara. This led to widespread killings and evictions of the people. In response, Amhara youths have formed a resistance movement since 2015. They strive to mobilise the populace by repurposing these derogatory labels as a tactic to resist discursive defamation and genocidal acts.

The Oppositional Writer Paul Goma and the Assassination Attempts by the Securitate (1977–1982)

In the political-diplomatic context of the preparations for the Belgrade Follow-up Meeting to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and of Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia, inspired by the former, the initiative by the Romanian writer Paul Goma to start a human rights movement in Romania, at the beginning of 1977, was seen as an open declaration of war by the communist regime. All those who joined the Goma Movement were subject to repression. The writer would be in danger of losing his life because of the attempts to assassinate him by the secret police. A sudden death was preferable to a public trial, which would have seriously damaged the image of the regime in Bucharest, especially since in 1977 provisions dealing with political crimes had been removed from the Criminal Code. Released from prison under pressure from the West, the dissident writer, banned in Romania, continued to be one of the leading critical voices against the Ceaușescu regime while in exile. When he was forced to leave the country in November 1977, the writer was warned by the Securitate general Nicolae Pleșiță that the long arm of the secret police would reach him no matter where he was. In the 1980s, at the behest of the party leaders, the secret police were still working out ways to silence him. Just as he survived the first assassination attempt (in the Rahova prison in Bucharest, April 1977), Paul Goma would survive two more attempts, in 1981 and 1982, planned by the Securitate, under direct orders from Ceaușescu, the first attempt being carried out by the international terrorist Carlos the Jackal, the second one by the Securitate officer Matei Haiducu, based in Paris.

Czech Footprints in the Bioenergetics Research.

Life manifests as growth, movement or heat production that occurs thanks to the energy accepted from the outside environment. The basis of energy transduction attracted the Czech researchers since the beginning of the 20th century. It further accelerated after World War II, when the new Institute of Physiology was established in 1954. When it was found that energy is stored in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) that can be used by numerous reactions as energy source and is produced in the process called oxidative phosphorylation localized in mitochondria, the investigation focused on this cellular organelle. Although the Czech scientists had to overcome various obstacles including Communist party leadership, driven by curiosity, boldness, and enthusiasm, they characterized broad spectrum of mitochondrial properties in different tissues in (patho)physiological conditions in collaboration with many world-known laboratories. The current review summarizes the contribution of the Czech scientists to the bioenergetic and mitochondrial research in the global context. Keywords: Mitochondria, Bioenergetics, Chemiosmotic coupling.

Promoting socio-religious rights of Tibetan Buddhists in China in the 21st century: Legislators and political realities

Relevance. The study of the formation of relations between the Chinese political elite and Tibetan Buddhism in this period is critical for understanding the main aspects of political, interfaith and intercultural interaction in the region both in the 21st century and today. Purpose. The study aims to analyse how the social and religious rights of Tibetan Buddhist followers are ensured in modern China, taking into account the existing laws and political situation in the 21st century. Methodology. The study employs historical, comparative, and systematic methods to analyze legislative documents, official policies, and scholarly literature in order to examine the socio-religious rights of Tibetan Buddhists in China in the 21st century, considering both legal frameworks and political realities. Results. The study demonstrates the role and importance of international law in the context of the complex religious policy of the Chinese Communist Party. The author shows the influence of the reforms of the communist government on the process of changing the role of traditional religious institutions in public life. The study revealed the impact of reforms on the nature of interethnic relations in the region. The study examines aspects of the ethnic policy of the Communist Party of China on the subsequent process of formation of civil and religious identity in the region. Conclusions. The study concludes that relations between the Chinese Communist Party and Tibetan Buddhist leaders are complex, focusing on lama reincarnation, while government policies significantly impact Tibetan demographics, ethnicity, and culture. Keywords: international law; freedom of religion; conflict; soteriology; regional autonomy; soft power politics

A question of truth: accusations of untruthfulness by populist and non-populist politicians on Facebook during the COVID-19 crisis

ABSTRACT Online environments can foster opportunities for political engagement but can also hinder democratic deliberation by promoting hostile and polarizing communication. A prominent concern revolves around the attacks on political actors’ truthfulness in public discourse. Such discourse is expressed through anti-elite and antagonistic attacks on perceived (un)truthfulness employed by some politicians toward political opponents in public debates, and it is argued to maintain a close affinity with populist politics. During crises, when people seek guidance from elites, discourses of untruthfulness can lead to further uncertainty by eroding trust in political leadership. Relying on the extensive claims analysis of 7,109 Facebook posts published by political party leaders between March 2020 and February 2021, this study investigates how accusations of untruthfulness unfold in the social media posts of populist and non-populist political leaders in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings show that populist leaders are generally more prone to utilize accusations of untruthfulness in their social media posts than non-populist politicians, but the extent of attacks is context-dependent.

ЖИЗНЬ И СМЕРТЬ ВЛАДИМИРА ЗАЗУБРИНА

The purpose of research is to study the life and work of the first Soviet writer Vladimir Yakovlevich Zazubrin. His biography is described in detail and a brief description of his works is given. It is shown that the life of this person was full of bright and dynamic events. Zazubrin managed to be an underground revolutionary, a participant in the Civil War on both sides, a political worker and a Soviet writer. Impressed by the events of the Civil War, Zazubrin published his first novel, “Two Worlds,” which immediately gained popularity among Red Army soldiers, workers and peasants. After this, the writer becomes the editor of the Sibirskie Ogni (Siberian Lights) magazine and heads the Simbirsk Writers Union. However, in his works the writer tried to raise pressing problems of our time and, being a convinced communist, he remained an artist, trying to capture and show the unsightly picture of Soviet reality during the NEP (New Economic Policy) period. Many of his works, such as Shchepka (Sliver) and Blednaia Pravda (Pale Truth) raised the question of the appropriateness of revolutionary terror, the problem of unresolved social problems after the revolution, as well as the place and role of man in a post-revolutionary society. Unfortunately, the realistic picture of the post-revolutionary world by V.Ya. Zazubrin was negatively perceived by many Soviet party leaders, writers and literary critics. This became the reason for constant attacks on the writer’s work. In addition, in 1928, Zazubrin became a victim of group intrigues in the writing community and the beginning of the fight against the opposition, because of which he lost his post as editor of the Sibirskie Ogni (Siberian Lights) magazine and was expelled from the party. In all subsequent years, Vladimir Yakovlevich tried to rehabilitate his name before the party. Thanks to the intercession of M. Gorky, he managed to become a member of the USSR Writers' Union and publish his novel Gory (Mountains) about collectivization. However, despite his efforts, Zazubrin was never able to fit organically into the Soviet system, and then was crushed by it as an alien element.

Mode of candidacy, electoral prospects, and the ideological deviation of candidacy-seeking politicians from their party leadership

Politicians who seek their parties' nomination as candidates for public office start communicating their ideological profile to the selectorate months before the party decides on who will run as candidates. However, some politicians tend to steer away from their party leadership, while others stick closer to the party line. We argue that not only the mode of candidacy but one's expected chances of winning the election during the candidate selection period are defining factors in understanding why some candidates deviate further from their party leadership position than others. We use novel data on the degree of intra-party competition among the main German parties in all 299 electoral districts and on the ideological positions of candidates, measured using their Twitter statements in the run-up to the 2021 Bundestag election, to evaluate our expectations. In line with existing studies, we find that candidates who seek only their party's nomination via lists deviate less from party leadership than candidates who seek nomination as a district candidate. In contrast to our expectations, candidates who seek their nomination in an electoral district do not deviate more ideologically from their party when they can expect to win the district seat on election day based on published polls during the candidate selection period.

Crowds and Smiles: Visual Opportunity Structures and the Communication of European Political Leaders During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT The growing interest in political leaders’ visual communication often emphasizes specific visual features without focusing on the driving factors behind these strategies. Our study introduces the Visual Opportunity Structure (VOS) theory, aiming to explain the use of specific visual elements based on their suitability within the socio-political context. We examined the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing a large dataset (N = 73,379) of Instagram posts by 28 European national party leaders coded through automatic facial and emotional recognition algorithms. The findings reveal a negative link between the use of inappropriate visual features during pandemic waves, like depicting happiness and groups of people, and the severity of the pandemic’s impact. Political leaders significantly reduce these inappropriate visuals during severe waves, reintroducing them in calmer periods. This trend is particularly pronounced among government party leaders. Our research not only unveils a pattern in the visual communication tactics used by political figures during the pandemic but also provides deeper insights into how visual strategies align with the broader context. By shedding light on these nuances, the study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of visual political communication online.

Personalized Politics in Traditional and Social Media: The Case of the 2019 Finnish Parliamentary Elections

Personalization of politics is a well-established field of research, yet not much is known about how the phenomenon has been influenced by the increased use of social media as a tool for political communication. In this research we analyze media personalization in newspapers and on social media posts of parties and party leaders during the 2019 Finnish parliamentary elections. Combining quantitative and qualitative content analysis, we find that a) personalized content was more common in newspapers than on social media, and b) the contexts of personalized content were largely similar regardless of media type, suggesting it may be more relevant to speak of “hybrid media personalization” rather than “traditional media personalization” and “social media personalization”. These findings are linked to broader discussions on personalization of politics and the use of social media as a political communication tool.

Social Network Analysis: Political Elite Actors #DemokratLawanBegal on Twitter

This research explores the impact of the #DemokratLawanBegal hashtag on Twitter, focusing on its role in shaping political discourse and influencing party leaders' alignment. It aims to uncover relationships among elite actors and identify influential figures within the Twitter network using this hashtag. Drawing on concepts like political communication, political elites, Twitter's importance, and Social Network Analysis (SNA), the study adopts SNA methodologies with tools like Netlytic and Gephi Apps. Data collection occurred throughout 3-10 April 2023 to maintain relevance. The findings highlight the significant impact of the #DemokratLawanBegal hashtag in shaping political discourse and the power struggle within the Democratic Party. AHY emerges as a more influential figure than Moeldoko, and Twitter, particularly through this hashtag, plays a central role in political communication and framing strategies. Social Network Analysis reveals a closely interconnected network of actors, with the official Democratic Party account (@pdemokrat) central to information dissemination. Some actors facilitate swift information sharing (closeness centrality), while others serve as key connectors (betweenness centrality). These insights deepen our understanding of contemporary political communication dynamics, offering implications for political campaigns, policy advocacy, and digital strategies.

The sources of territorial resilience in Putin’s Russia

ABSTRACT This article aims to explain the sources of territorial resilience in Russia. It demonstrates that the basis of territorial resilience is the “power vertical,” i.e. the current model of center–regional relations. This model ensures political centralization and, consequently, political uniformity. The model is supported by several formalized institutions, including the selection of governors, the guidance and monitoring of governors by the presidential administration, and the interactions of governors with the United Russia party leadership. In addition, regional governors are included in patronage networks organized around the highest state officials and “state oligarchs.” This additional informal subsystem provides center–regional relations with a flexibility that is important for maintaining resilience.

Study on the Identity of Rule of Law China and Party Leadership

Party leadership is an essential feature of the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, and the study of the homogeneity between the rule of law in China and Party leadership is of profound significance to the understanding of the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. This paper stands in the field of Marxist scientific methodology, firstly, through the method of social cognition and evaluation, we answer the question of what the rule of law in China and the Party leadership are, and then, through the method of four Marxist social sciences, we argue why the two have the same nature. Then, through four Marxist social science methods, the paper argues "why the two have the same nature", namely: building a rule of law China and adhering to the Party's leadership are both based on the people's nature as a solid cornerstone; both have a strong socialist color with Chinese characteristics; in which building a rule of law China is an important content of the practice of adhering to the Party's leadership and the way to realize it; and adhering to the Party's leadership is a necessary principle of building a rule of law China and a strong guarantee. Finally, this paper also answers the question of "how to recognize and ensure the homogeneity of the two" from a practical point of view, i.e., to promote scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, fair justice and law-abiding by all people under the leadership of the Party.

Choosing legislative candidates via primaries: The pivotal role of executive incumbency

How much influence does incumbency have on the way parties nominate candidates? I address this question in the context of Argentina, examining how political parties decide on candidate nomination methods for National Deputies. I argue that holding the governorship creates an imbalanced distribution of resources within a party, leading party factions to lean toward consensus in candidate selection and reducing the likelihood of choosing a primary election. Conversely, when a party lacks the governorship, its provincial party leader may have a weaker influence in deterring primary elections. I also theorize the various situations and resources governors can employ to discourage primary elections, including potential coattail effects, the option of seeking reelection, control over the primaries’ selectorate, and control of the electoral calendar. To test my expectations, I employ a regression discontinuity design, focusing on governors and those who finished as runners-up in lower chamber elections from 1985 to 2023. My findings reveal that governor incumbency decreases the probability of holding a primary election. I conduct further analyses by examining subgroups, considering the governor’s circumstances and the resources I previously theorized as factors influencing primary deterrence. I find that incumbency only deters primaries when the governor and National Deputies elections are concurrent, when the governor is not term-limited, and when they have control over the electorate and the electoral calendar.

Shocking Experience: How Politicians’ Issue Strategies Are Shaped by an External Shock During Campaigns

In this article, we focus on how the issue strategies of political leaders are influenced by an external shock that completely changes the public agenda of the election campaign. The 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election campaign is a unique case to investigate this question, as Russia attacked Ukraine six weeks before the election day (April 3, 2022). The study aims to investigate whether the campaign’s issue strategies changed due to this shocking event, and if so, what are the main directions of the changes. The examination relies on a manual content analysis of Hungarian party leaders’ Facebook posts during the campaign, covering both the period before and after the outbreak of the war. First, based on the literature, we distinguish between different issue strategies such as issue ownership, issue stealing, “riding the wave,” and multi-issue and issue-poor strategies. We categorize political leaders’ issue strategies based on their issue focus before and after the external shock. Our results show that while war, economy, and foreign policy play a greater role in the communication of most political actors after February 24, there are remarkable differences between political actors. The communication of opposition party leaders seems to persist with their original issue strategies (issue-poor and multi-issue campaigns), while Viktor Orbán clearly changed his focus immediately after the invasion of Ukraine and ran a “riding the wave” campaign with a focus on war.

Facebook Campaigning in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian Federal Elections

Canada’s federal elections in 2019 and 2021 produced a similar outcome—a minority Liberal government. These back-to-back elections provide an ideal context to understand trends in digital campaigning strategies and assess how the pandemic influenced campaigns’ use of social media. We examine how the three leaders of the major parties used Facebook in 2019 (<em>n</em> = 712) compared to 2021 (<em>n</em> = 979). The Conservative leader O’Toole posted more frequently than other candidates in 2021, fitting with the equalization theory of digital campaigning. In 2019 and 2021, the incumbent prime minister, Trudeau, received the most user engagement on his Facebook posts despite calling a snap election during a pandemic and less than two years into his mandate. These findings support normalization theories of digital campaigning with evidence of an accumulating incumbent advantage. The Covid-19 pandemic sidelined attention to climate change. We argue that the Liberal government owned both issues; we expected Trudeau to have greater attention to and user engagement for these policy posts. In general, Facebook posts about the pandemic yielded greater user engagement than posts that did not mention the pandemic. Candidates tested new campaign strategies in 2021, particularly making calls to interact with them; these posts yielded higher user engagement than posts that did not include a call to interact. While candidates used new social media campaign strategies, voter turnout declined from 2019 to 2021. These findings have implications for other democratic systems and the future of digital campaigning.

Godfatherism and Democratic Reconstruction in Nigeria: A Review of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

Much of the contemporary discourse on Nigeria's democracy and politics from 1999 till date has at its centre, the phenomenon of 'godfatherism' in the leadership of political parties, and in running the affairs of our multi-nation-state. As a result of the corruption of the electoral and political processes, governmental structures, electoral politics and state power are skewed towards satisfying the self- regarding interests of the dominant political mentors otherwise known as 'political godfathers'. Relying on their wealth and their political machines, they secure party nomination for candidates of their choice by any means, sponsor their election, including manipulating the electoral process. This paper is intended to examine critically the crisis of political godfatherism in Nigeria and its implications for the future of the nation's democracy. It suggests ways the gods of Nigerian democracy and politics can be checked and confronted if the country is to deepen democracy and strengthen democratic institutions.

Intra-party democracy: the intra-party election of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 2012–2013 and its outcome for the party and overall democracy in Pakistan

ABSTRACT Political parties are considered the basic institutions in a representative democratic system. It engaged the party members through internal and external party activities. The members of established political parties have gained more power to select candidates and party leadership in developed democracies. Pakistan is a developing democratic country; Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf announced an intra-party election in 2012 to elect candidates for the general election 2013 in Pakistan. However, it is a fact that intra-party participation promotes equality and increased vote bank, party membership and turnout in general elections. The main aim of this paper is to examine the consequences of the intra-party election of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf held in 2012. Hence, this study concludes that the membership and vote bank of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has increased, grass-roots members promoted through proper channels and many candidates elected first time as members of parliament, as well as impacted the turnout in general elections of Pakistan. This study is an attempt to examine the impact of intra-party elections on the party membership, vote bank and turnout in general elections held in Pakistan before and after this intra-party election.

Failed hereditary succession in comparative perspective: The case of Senegal (2000–2024)

Abstract Contrary to enduring theoretical expectations on neopatrimonialism, family successions are rare in sub-Saharan Africa. This article demonstrates that family successions are difficult to set up and might fail when rulers attempt to implement them. Building on the scholarship on political dynasties and family successions in broader comparative politics, I demonstrate that the study of failed attempts helps unveil the specific mechanisms of such failure. While scholarship documents how formal rules (such as term limits) constrain the ruler’s succession agenda, I contend that other types of constraints -party politics, opposition coalition, and public opinion-might also strongly impact it but have remained underexamined. The Senegal case study helps uncover these constraints. The article begins by emphasizing the theoretical importance and empirical challenges of studying non-cases of family successions and, more specifically, failed attempts. Then, the article examines the Senegalese failed hereditary succession between former President Abdoulaye Wade and his son Karim. Through a longitudinal single-country case study (2000–2024), this article employs process-tracing to uncover the three main interrelated mechanisms, which led to this failure: Popular resentment towards the succession attempt, a succession crisis due to the ruler’s not leaving power, and elite defection leading to party split. In mutually reinforcing each other, these dynamics converged to block the transfer of power from the ruler to his son. Therefore, this single case study of a failed attempt enhances our empirical and theoretical understanding of what drives variation in the success or failure of family succession. I argue that the role of actors (party elites and voters) in the succession process and how they engage with the rules of the game (mainly over party leadership selection and elections) impact the succession outcome.