Radical Political Action Research Articles

Globalization and Nation State

Globalization has introduced new and diverse challenges for the nation state not only in terms of managing rapid economic and cultural integration, but also with respect to governance and decision-making. Globalization, as a concept, contradicts the traditional understanding of the primacy of the nation-state in the world order and introduces a possibility for parallel existence of various non-state actors such as Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and International non-governmental organizations (INGOs). In recent decades, the growth of transnational groups - both political activist groups and dangerous terrorist organizations - also shows the ways in which modern technologies and globalization can challenge and possibly undermine the state’s ability to protect its borders and pursue its goals. In other words, the sovereign state has been continuously challenged, both internally and externally. Therefore, globalization has a serious influence on the concept of sovereignty, which is a basic element upon which the existence of the nation-state depends. The present paper examines how globalization has impacted nation states on various fronts.

A Contested Script: Conjuring Security through Registration in Italy

This article aims to map out the various meanings of security entailed by the different uses and misuses of registration in Italy. As will emerge from this analysis, population registers have been employed either as tools for observing the population and its dynamics or, on the contrary, as devices for identifying its “deserving” members. By drawing this map, this article contributes to the analysis of the “technical shaping of social outcomes” that is at the center of the special issue on the continuum between contingency and obduracy in sociotechnical practices of securitization. Theoretically, population registers are framed in the article as socio-technical and socio-legal devices which embed scripts. As will emerge, they have been historically sub-scribed, de-scribed, or de-inscribed by their users. Methodologically, this analysis relies on a research path focused on registration as a bordering device which has been conducted over the last ten years through several methodological approaches and on a research/action experience which was launched in 2020. Through the author’s participation in a group of political activists, nongovernmental organization members, lawyers, and scholars who are committed to combatting discriminations, original ethnographic, documentary, and discursive data have been collected.

Between Reformism and Revolution: the Muslim Brotherhood and the Student Movement in Egypt in the 1930s and 1940s

Abstract The article presents an overview of the formation, organisation and political role of the Muslim Brotherhood student movement in the Egyptian contentious political scene of the 1930s and 1940s up to the 1952 military coup, by combining the rich secondary literature of the period with the Brotherhood’s internal sources. The reconstruction focuses on the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood – as any mass organisation – was far less homogeneous than what is normally claimed by both internal and external sources, both sharing a general overstating of internal discipline and absolute obedience, especially during Ḥasan al-Bannā’s charismatic leadership (1928–1949). The students of the Muslim Brotherhood were clearly channelling bottom-up pressures for more radical political action, sometimes ignoring directives from above and influencing the trajectory of the larger movement. In the warming political context of the late 1940s, Islamist students were acting independently, for instance taking the initiative to build tactical alliances with other student organisations even those belonging to the antagonist leftist/progressive camp, thus actively contributing to creating the momentum that led to the 1952 Revolution. However, and despite the clear message from its base, the Brotherhood leadership ended up by always opting for a moderate and cautious course, avoiding head-on confrontation with the government even at the cost of multiple crises and defections.

The Political Lives of Infrastructure

Abstract This issue explores the historical production of infrastructures as places of resistance and world-building for workers, villagers, and migrants across the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries—a period when narratives about the role of infrastructure as a conduit for modernization, development, and the centralizing capacities of the state had broad purchase. Contributions invite consideration of two questions. First, what struggles do histories of infrastructural power reveal if infrastructures are delinked from master narratives tying them to state and state-backed centralization? While development, nation building, and extraction are often state-sponsored or state-backed projects, the articles here demonstrate that modern states are not the only wielders of infrastructural power. Second, how does this decentering of the state in infrastructural analyses transform the stakes of radical political activity and the work of radical historical actors? In highlighting a different, more localized scale of infrastructural production and relation building—both within and beyond the bounds of the nation-state—contributors to this issue resituate ostensibly disparate, small sites as key to larger political struggles and frame everyday forms of “getting by” as resistance.

Subjective destitution, love, and rebellion in pandemic times: Theorizing with Hot Skull

Dystopian visions of global pandemics, political crises, and human suffering abound, from fictitious television shows to the ongoing ravages of COVID-19. When we witness isolated instances of suffering and collective struggle, and identify their relationship to large-scale social crises, we are unveiling pieces of the totality. Things which might otherwise be portrayed as a local problem are instead viewed as a part of a larger social system. The Turkish Netflix series Sıcak Kafa (English title: Hot Skull) offers a story of pandemic lockdowns, rebellion, love, and subjectivity, touching upon important issues of radical political theory and action. This article connects key moments in Hot Skull to several important Marxist and psychoanalytic concepts, showing how the collective struggles in this Netflix series can help us identify concrete instances and attempts at overcoming violence in the modern world-system. By comparing the events of Hot Skull to our current predicament of living through a deadly pandemic, this article reaches an important conclusion: Our ability to radically change our circumstances through chance encounters with love and political rebellion remains real, potent alternatives to living in a persistent state of isolation and despair.

QAnon Beliefs, Political Radicalization and Support for January 6th Insurrection: A Gendered Perspective

ABSTRACT This study measured political radicalization and support for the January 6th riot alongside a measure of QAnon conspiracy beliefs in an online survey of 429 U.S.-based participants. The study aimed to investigate how conspiracy theories associated with the QAnon movement relate to support for the January 6th Capitol Hill riot and political radicalization, as well as explore the contribution of the Big 5 personality traits. Additionally, the study explored the gender dimension of QAnon-related radicalization. Belief in QAnon conspiracy theories correlated with intentions for radical political action, and with support for the January 6th insurrection. Agreeableness negatively correlated with QAnon beliefs. In our sample, more women reported believing QAnon conspiracy theories, and their average endorsement of QAnon conspiracies was higher than that of men. In women in our study, support for January 6th riot was positively related to Openness to Experiences, and activism and radicalism were positively related to extraversion; these relationships were reversed among men. These gender differences suggest a different psychology underlying QAnon’s appeal for men versus women, and radicalization stemming from beliefs in QAnon conspiracy theories.

To imagine the end of capitalism – commons utopias now

ABSTRACT Utopian texts function not only as representations of alternatives to the manifold crises of the present, but educate their readers in the ways such alternative futures might become concrete utopian presents through radical political activity. Utopian critical theory in the last two decades has suggested that this educational and transformational role of utopian literature is on the wane at a time when the power of late capitalism seems all-encompassing. In response, this essay offers a new periodisation of utopian literature from the 1990s to the present, suggesting that the critical utopias of the 1970s and critical dystopias of the 1990s have, in the last decade, inspired a new tendency in utopian literature: commons utopias. These texts are assiduously of the present moment, refusing to escape from a precarious ongoing present, but engaging prefiguratively with utopian imaginaries to bring them into being today – particularly the radically anti-capitalist idea of the commons. By depicting realistic utopian spaces in opposition to capitalism, commons utopias educate and inspire their readers to transform their own present.

The Politics of Legal Theory Revisisted

Most legal positivists today hold that legal positivism is a morally neutral and purely descriptive account of the nature of law. This article considers this claim by examining Brian Leiter’s intriguing claim to the contrary. While I welcome examining the political presuppositions of jurisprudential theories, I show that the association of legal positivism with radicalism is not true. Examining the works of prominent legal positivists, I show that there is no basis for thinking of any of them as a political radical. I also show that many legal positivists were politically conservative. Beyond the historical question, I also argue that there is no basis for the claim that legal positivism is necessary for radical political action. On the contrary, I show that many radical political movements aligned with natural law theory and offer a possible explanation for this phenomenon. The latter point serves as the basis for an alternative way of explaining the political component of legal theory. I propose that we stop thinking of competing theories of law as descriptive or conceptual claims about the nature of law and think of them instead of grounded in different political ideas of legitimate authority.

An Affirmation That Is Entirely Other

The aim of this article is to juxtapose the notion of refusal in Maurice Blanchot, Herbert Marcuse, and the Invisible Committee. The article opens by considering Blanchot's 1958 notion of a radical refusal and then turns to Marcuse's idea of a “great refusal” against one-dimensional society. It then concludes with a consideration of the Invisible Committee's theory of destitution, which aims to rethink revolution in light of an analysis of the contemporary cycle of insurrections. Although Blanchot's and Marcuse's notions of the refusal might appear dated, trapped within the agitated political climate of the 1950s and 1960s, in their time they each signaled a conscious rupture with a certain Marxist-Leninist theory of revolution that could not imagine the transformation of social relations except through the seizure of state power. For both thinkers, the proto-revolutionary gesture of refusal sought to respond to a historical conjuncture in which the integration of the working class into the circuitry of capital was a fait accompli. For Blanchot, refusal was a withdrawal from, and abandonment of, politics and representation, whereas for Marcuse it involved a transformation both of one's immediate social relations and of social relations more broadly. It is these aspects of refusal that anticipate and overlap with more recent theories of destituent power emerging from the new cycles of protests. Over the last decade, the notion of destitution has come to prominence as one of the most important reformulations of radical political action. In response to a new insurrectionary wave, characterized by new forms of action, destitution signals an attempt to reimagine the emergence of a new revolutionary force in the wake of the disappearance of Marxist dialectics and the established working-class movement.

Children’s self-control as an antecedent of adolescent prosociality and adult civic engagement

Guided by the ecological model of civic development, this study examined the extent to which the growth in children’s self-control during middle childhood predicted their civic engagement at age 26 directly and indirectly via their prosociality at age 15. We used data from 1,042 children (50% female, 77% White) in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Children’s self-control at 3rd grade and growth in self-control from 3rd to 6th grade were significantly and positively associated with voting at age 26. In addition to these direct links, children’s self-control at 3rd grade and growth in self-control during middle childhood positively predicted children’s prosociality at age 15, which, in turn, positively predicted engagement in environmental causes, political or social action groups, and volunteering at age 26. These findings indicate that children’s self-control during middle childhood may be an important foundational asset for later prosociality and unique types of civic engagement and may be a key factor for nurturing the development of well-rounded citizens.

Factors Influencing Community Participation of Youth Affairs Committee Members in Mon State

There are many ways for young people to get involved with their communities, but Community participation is one of the most important ways. As a way of expressing their commitment, young people form political and social action groups, devise educational initiatives tailored to their interests, and serve as community activists. This study was carried out in Myanmar prior to the military takeover in 2021. A military coup protest was organized by CEC (Chief Executive Committees). In addition, the majority of the committee members advocate for democratic values in this era. For the purpose of this study, researchers looked into which factors had the greatest impact on the participation of youth affairs committee members in their communities. Mon State was chosen as the study site because the median age of the population there is 26.7 years old. The 2014 Census revealed a range of median ages that is lower than this one. It shows that the median age of Mon state's youth affairs committee members is lower than the state's overall median age. In addition, the state of Mon was home to three major ethnicities: the Mon, the Kayan, and the Burmese. This situation demonstrates that young people have settled in Mon state with a wide range of viewpoints and ideas. The 131 members of Mon state's youth affairs committee were selected from each of the state's three levels of youth affairs committee. The data collected was analyzed using linear regression and descriptive methods. It was discovered that the community involvement of young leaders is positively influenced by social, political & legal factors.

Industrializing Nationalist Dissent: Music Censorship, 2 Live Crew, and the Politics of Performance at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards

This article considers how performances at the Video Music Awards (VMAs) have been central to constructing the cultural brand of MTV by fusing debates around nationalism, anticensorship, and consumer activism. When the rap group 2 Live Crew performed their single “Banned in the U.S.A.” during the 1990 VMAs telecast, they drew from their experience of being arrested in Florida for violating the state’s obscenity standards, thus drawing attention to how rap music was being censored on racial grounds. This public relations effort reflected a response to earlier pressure campaigns by consumer and political activist groups like the Parents Music Resource Center. 2 Live Crew’s criticism of censorship was not unique, as other moments in the telecast represented how MTV’s partnerships with music trade organizations, and the later Rock the Vote campaign, worked to industrialize performances of dissent as part of a broader method of handling political regulatory threats over obscenity in music. Through these performances of nationalist dissent, the 1990 VMAs telecast can thus be read as a form of “industrial reflexivity” that worked to brand the consumption of MTV’s youth culture as a legitimate citizenship practice.

Rhetoric, violence, and the subject of civility

ABSTRACT While critical scholars often focus on the ontological boundaries of rhetoric and violence, this article analyzes the rhetoric/violence relationship from the perspective of cultural governance. It builds upon earlier work in rhetoric and civility to analyze how authorities and institutions cultivate deliberative rhetorical norms as a means of regulating citizens’ political conduct. The rhetoric/violence opposition is used as a police logic to suppress radical political action. This police logic is used to suppress physical violence and to expand violence’s conceptual domain. As a result, certain subjects are marked as violent and are, therefore, singled out for suppression and criminalization.

Belief in conspiracy theories and attitudes toward political violence

AbstractIn the last decade, political protest events have been rising in Western democracies. At the same time, there has been a steady increase in the diffusion of conspiracy theories in political communication, a phenomenon that has captured the interest of scholars for its growing political relevance. However, while most research focuses on the reasons why citizens believe in conspiracies, studies looking at the political-behavioral implications of such beliefs, in particular their connection to political radicalism, have been more limited. In this paper, we investigate the association between people's belief in conspiracies and their propensity to endorse political violence or to legitimate radical political action. Building on pathway theories of radicalization, we argue that conspiracy theories provide narratives that might help people channel their feelings of resentment toward political targets, fueling radical attitudes. We provide some correlational evidence using survey data of US respondents collected on MTurk. We observe attitudes toward political violence using two multi-item batteries, one developed by us. Our results show that people who score higher on a scale of generic conspiracy belief are also more likely to endorse violent political actions.

Clowning around a polarized issue: Rhetorical strategies and communicative outcomes of a political parody performance by Loldiers of Odin

For decades, political activist groups have used humor for ridiculing their opponents and attracting media attention. This study analyzed the online presence of the Loldiers of Odin, a clown-disguised activist group created as a parody of the anti-immigration group Soldiers of Odin. By analyzing the rhetorical strategies of Loldiers’ performance, we show how absurd and naïve parody stunts were used to criticize anti-immigration street patrolling, distort radical right-wing discourses, and mobilize like-minded progressives. Furthermore, by analyzing Facebook commentary of the performance, we trace its communicative outcomes: support and legitimization, but also problematization and delegitimization. Our results highlight the unpredictable and ambivalent nature of humor in facilitating a political protest. We argue that while humor offers a compelling way for citizens to discursively engage with political issues such as the immigration question, the polysemic nature of parody paradoxically works to amplify and support existing polarized positions in online discussions.

Psychological transformation of youth after engaging in non-radical and radical political activities

Although the links between political attitudes and political participation have been extensively studied, there is limited understanding of attitudinal transformation following different types of political engagement. This study differentiates between non-radical and radical political participation and explores their respective impact on political interest, external political efficacy, and internal political efficacy. A three-wave dataset collected from a sample of Hong Kong youth was adopted to assess three cross-lagged models. Regarding the link between attitudes and participation, we only found that internal political efficacy played a positive role in predicting radical political participation. Regarding the link between participation and attitudes, the results showed that radical political engagement positively predicted political interest and negatively predicted external political efficacy; non-radical political engagement promoted internal political efficacy. Our findings offer valuable implications for Hong Kong policy makers, educators, and social workers who care about the positive development of local youth following their engagement in political activities and hope to promote effective political communication.

Power distance orientation as an antecedent of individuals’ intentions to engage in radical political action

The cultural dimension of power distance refers to individuals’ acceptance of power inequalities in society. Countries characterized by high power distance at the collective level face more domestic extremism. However, research has yet to examine how individual differences in power distance orientation may affect individuals’ intentions to engage in radical and violent political action. In this research, we test the hypothesis that stronger endorsement of power distance values makes people more prone to express their intentions to engage in radical and violent political action. To test the hypothesis’ generalizability across contexts, we sample from 2 countries characterized by different levels of power distance at the collective level, South Korea (higher power distance) and the United States (lower power distance). Studies 1a and 1b were surveys ( N = 1,214) demonstrating an association between power distance orientation and radical political action over and beyond other known predictors of political participation, including political efficacy, perceived justice, emotions of anger and contempt, political orientation, and social dominance orientation. In Studies 2a–2c ( N = 430; 2c preregistered), priming a higher (vs. lower) power distance orientation heightened individuals’ propensity to express the intentions to engage in radical political action. Theoretical implications of the findings, and future research directions, are discussed.

One of five genius of the world microbiology and immunology - Volodymyr Aronovych Haffkine

Actuality. The anniversary of his birth and significant achievements for world science and the fight against especially dangerous infections by Volodymyr Aronovych Haffkine prompted the authors to recall the glorious pages of history associated with his life and work. An outstanding scientist and inventor, according to the results of his research, saved thousands of people from diseases that, in the modern world, pose a serious threat to humanity.The aim of the work was to establish the historical role of V.A. Haffkine in the development of both microbiological science and medicine in general.Material and methods are based on the analysis of historical data and literature sources associated with the biography of V.A. Haffkine.Results. The end of the XIX and the beginning of the XX centuries is a time of monumental reorganizations in politics, economics, public life, as well as times of scientific discoveries, the emergence of new sciences, and grandiose changes in scientific thought. All this is reflected in the biography of V.A. Haffkine. Radical political activity in his youth and the anti-semitism of the Russian Empire virtually completely closed the possibilities for his work in the scientific field. Emigration to Europe with his teacher I.I. Mechnikov allowed not only to get promising work but also to form a scientific direction for further research by the scientist - protecting the human body from infectious diseases through the use of vaccines and immune serums. The first significant scientific achievement of V.A. Haffkine is considered to be the development of the first attenuated live vaccine against cholera, which in an improved form exists and is used in the modern world. The same decisive step was the creation of an anti-plague vaccine during an epidemic in Bombay.Conclusions. Life story of V.A. Haffkine remains an example for many scientists, bacteriologists and epidemiologists of our time. His scientific achievements have become one of the largest steps in the fight against infectious diseases.

Corruption as Shared Culpability: Religion, Family, and Society in Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan (2014)

This article engages in close analysis of how Andrey Zvyagintsev depicts corruption and its various manifestations: moral, familial, societal, and institutional, in Leviathan (Leviafan, 2014). While other post-Soviet films address the problem of prevalent corruption in Russia, Zvyagintsev’s work is the first to provoke strong public reactions, not only from government and Russian Orthodox Church officials, but also from Orthodox and political activist groups. The film demonstrates that the instances of legal and moral failings in one aspect of existence are a sign of a much deeper and wider-ranging problem that affects all other spheres of human experience. By elevating corruption from a well-known and accepted mundane problem to a religio-philosophical one, Leviathan creates a sense of shared culpability that underpins contemporary Russian society.

The Pathway Toward Radical Political Participation Among Young People in Hong Kong: A Communication Mediation Approach

Radical political activities can harm social stability and economic performance. With a three-wave dataset for a sample of young people in Hong Kong, this study evaluated a cross-lagged model to evaluate the development of radical political participation. The results showed that social media use significantly increased the online political communication of the young people and that this significantly promoted their radical political participation. This was mediated by a significant increase in the heterogeneity of their social media network. These findings contribute to the further development of communication mediation theory in the field of political behaviors. They provide an in-depth understanding of the development of radical political behavior among young people and offer practical suggestions for policy makers and educators who are striving to reduce mass radical political engagement.