Political Aspirations Research Articles

The intelligibility and adequacy of late-stage utopian games

ABSTRACT In Bernard Suits’ The Grasshopper and Return of the Grasshopper, game-play is claimed to be the ‘ideal of existence’ and the only activity that could sustain us through the ‘endless and endlessly boring summer’ of utopia. Christopher Yorke has challenged these claims by way of a constructive dilemma. If these games are sufficiently akin to the games we play, then they are not adequate to the task of rendering immortality tolerable. If these games are importantly different than the games we play, then, in being ‘unknown and unknowable’, they would characterize a form of life that is importantly different from our own and, so, would be inappropriate objects of social and political aspiration. Against Yorke’s skepticism, I argue that the games that constitute the ideal of existence are intelligible to us because we already play what the Grasshopper calls ‘open games’. Steffen Borge concedes that utopian games are intelligible, but argues that such games would fail to ‘grab our minds and imagination’. In the second half of the paper, I contend, against Borge, that such open games are adequate to the task of sustaining the interest of an immortal community.

A Servant of the Authorities or an Ally of Civil Society? The Role Perceptions and Role Performance of Local Interloper Media

ABSTRACT The study explores the journalistic role perceptions and role performance of local interloper media practitioners in Finland. The examined media include non-commercial outlets funded by a city administration or other local authorities as well as commercial online-only outlets. The outlets are conceptualised as interlopers because they apply journalistic forms, styles and methods in their content but do not necessarily consider themselves as journalists or adhere to the ethical guidelines of journalism. The outlets’ role performance is analysed in their published content, while the practitioners’ role perceptions are analysed via semi-structured interviews. The analysis reveals that the non-commercial practitioners primarily perceive and perform the loyal facilitator role, whereas the commercial practitioners serve the disseminator role. The watchdog role is virtually absent among all the examined outlets. The lack of critical perspectives indicates a selective and strategic adoption of journalistic roles aimed at enhancing public relations efforts and appearing more trustworthy and interesting to audiences or advertisers. The investigated outlets and practitioners therefore challenge the monopoly of local legacy news media over local news. Their adoption of certain journalistic roles while abstaining from critical scrutiny of local authorities shows a tendency to disguise political or private ambitions as public interest news.

Wizerunek polityki zagranicznej kanclerza Olafa Scholza na łamach dziennika „Gazeta Wyborcza” w kontekście pełnoskalowej wojny Rosji w Ukrainie (2022–2023)

The aim of this article is to reconstruct the foreign policy press image of Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the period from 8.12.2021, i.e. from the day the politician was confirmed by the Bundestag as German Chancellor and on the eve of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine (24.02.2022), to the end of the conference on the future of Ukraine taking place in Saudi Arabia in Jeddah (6.08.2023). The research used a content analysis method, supplemented by elements of text hermeneutics. The image of Scholz in the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper in the area of his foreign policy in the context of the Russian Federation's war in Ukraine reflects conservative and prestige politics (according to Hans Morgenthau's typology). The media portrayal of German-Ukrainian relations furthermore highlights the German Chancellor's attitude of post-classical realism in Robert Gilpin's terms. In the journal analysed, the image of the head of the German government is that of a politician intent on maintaining businesslike relations with Russia and taking up a new business-as-usual policy with the Russian Federation. Scholz represents so-called Realpolitik and consequently does not realistically (apart from the declarative layer) support Ukraine's political aspirations related to its membership of NATO and the European Union. The article increases the cognitive value in the area of research on the media image of European political leaders in the context of the Russian Federation's war in Ukraine.

Exclusion or Empowerment? A Critical Analysis of Women’s Roles in Somaliland’s Electoral Politics in 2021

This research examines the complex obstacles exclusionary and empowerment factors that impact women’s participation in parliamentary elections in Somaliland. By utilizing qualitative method with in-depth interviews with female candidates from the 2021 elections, the study delves into the intricate relationship between cultural, structural, and psychological exclusion, alongside educational, supportive, and strategic empowerment, in the unique political atmosphere of Somaliland. The results indicate that deeply ingrained cultural norms, entrenched political barriers, and significant financial constraints severely limit women’s political engagement. These barriers are compounded by psychological factors that diminish women’s political aspirations and efficacy. On the other hand, empowerment through higher education, robust supportive networks, and effective strategic planning emerges as key to overcoming these obstacles. The study employs theoretical frameworks such as Strain Theory, Social Identity Theory, and Resource Mobilization Theory to provide a deeper understanding of these dynamics. The implications of this research are far-reaching, suggesting that comprehensive interventions encompassing policy reforms, educational programs, and community dialogues are essential for enhancing women’s political participation. This study not only enriches the academic discourse on gender and politics in understudied contexts but also provides practical recommendations for stakeholders aiming to foster a more inclusive political landscape in Somaliland and similar settings.

Equality at the Polls: Female Representation Challenges in Musi Banyuasin Regency in 2019-2024

In Musi Banyuasin Regency, the quest for gender equality in political representation faces multifaceted challenges. This study explores the barriers hindering female participation and representation in local electoral processes. Through qualitative analysis, interviews with key stakeholders including female candidates, local officials, and community leaders were conducted to uncover underlying issues.The findings reveal several critical challenges. Firstly, structural barriers such as entrenched patriarchal norms and limited access to financial resources significantly impede women from contesting elections on an equal footing with their male counterparts. Secondly, despite legal frameworks promoting gender equality, cultural perceptions and societal expectations often undermine women’s political ambitions. Thirdly, the role of political parties emerges as pivotal, with varying levels of support and nomination opportunities affecting women’s candidacy viability. Moreover, the study highlights community attitudes towards female leadership, where biases and stereotypes persist, shaping voter preferences and electoral outcomes. These dynamics perpetuate a cycle of underrepresentation and marginalization of women in decision-making bodies like the local legislative council. Ultimately, achieving gender equality at the polls in Musi Banyuasin Regency necessitates concerted efforts from various stakeholders to dismantle barriers, reshape cultural narratives, and advance inclusive governance practices

“Politics of racism” and BrexLit: Questioning the racially labelled entities in Ali Smith’s Autumn

ABSTRACT Racism sits at the centre of the UK’s debates about Brexit and BrexLit. Contemporary commentators have tended to reduce to racial issues the intricate economic and political aspirations of Brexit supporters in 2016. Ali Smith’s Autumn, for example, a prominent example of Brexit fiction, is generally believed to represent racist bias in dealing with Brexit, through two encounters – the fence scene and the passport episode – seen as embodying working class racism against immigrants in rural England. This article argues instead that such earlier interpretations of Autumn are limited by the so-called “politics of racism”, used to define working class worries about uncontrolled immigration unleashed by global capitalism. Referring to the aesthetic style of the collage created by Pauline Boty, an avant-garde painter of 1960s Britain, whose work is elevated in the novel as an illuminating discovery by the protagonist, Elisabeth, it proposes an alternative interpretation that highlights inclusiveness above all.

Medical specialists’ use and opinion of video consultation in Denmark: a survey study

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of telemedicine which is seen as a possibility to reduce the pressure on healthcare systems globally. However, little research has been carried out on video as a consultation medium in medical specialists’ practice. This study investigated the use of and opinion on video consultation among specialists in Denmark.MethodsAn online survey on use of video consultation, as well as relevance of and opinion on video consultation, was distributed to all 963 medical specialists in private practice in Denmark throughout May and June 2022, resulting in 499 complete answers (response rate: 51.8%). Data were analysed using descriptive and logistic regression analyses, and data from open text fields were analysed using thematic network analysis.ResultsAmong the respondents, 62.2% had never used video consultation, while 23.4% were currently using video consultation, most particularly among psychiatrists. A total of 47.3% found video consultation medically irrelevant to their specialty, especially radiologists, plastic surgeons, ophthalmologists and otorhinolaryngologists. According to the specialists, video consultation was most suitable for follow-up consultations and simple medical issues, where the patient had an established diagnosis. In these cases, mutual trust remained present in video consultations. Better access for the patients and fewer cancellations, especially for psychiatrists, were highlighted as benefits. IT problems were reported as obstacles hindering optimal use of video consultation.ConclusionThe political aspiration to digitization in healthcare systems should be rooted in professionals’ and patients’ perceptions and experiences with video consultation which emphasize that it is not a standard tool for all consultations.

‘Expression is power’: Gender, residual culture and political aspiration at the Cumnock School of Oratory, 1870–1900

AbstractThis article investigates the ways in which late‐nineteenth‐century students at Northwestern University's Cumnock School of Oratory mobilised elocution training and parlour performance to foster mixed‐gender public discourse. I use student publications to reconstruct parlour meetings in which women and men adapted traditions of conversational speech to allocate artistic and political participation equally across genders. Women expanded their expressive range and political aspirations, while men gained new understandings of manliness and women's rights. With the onset of muscular masculinity in the 1890s, oratory students reworked their performance culture into an act of campus resistance and a blueprint for social reform.

Abortion Rights Without Law: A Constitutional Reflection

Abortion rights in Canada seem both too small and too big for law, or perhaps we only think so because of how we think about law, which confirms the view that we are better off without it. Maybe then we should ask a different question: is there an abortion rights law to which we would say yes? Can we imagine a statutory scheme, or, more provocatively, a legislative package, with a radically reimagined role for the state and its power? Could law assemble the diverse experiences of abortion into something material rather than abstract? Could law create a care infrastructure to support people in all their reproductive decisions and throughout their reproductive lives: the right to end a pregnancy, the right to continue one, and the right to parent your child in a safe and healthy environment? Wouldn’t we say yes to a law that holds space for this political future? In Canada, this is no speculative imagination. Our Supreme Court accepts that constitutional futures can take shape in innovative laws that affirm and reach ahead to our political aspirations. We need only make them.

Political rhetoric vs practical reality of ‘Taking Back Control’: is the UK’s agri-food sector ready to break free from EU standards in the global arena?

ABSTRACT In the vortex of the Brexit discourse, the phrase ‘taking back control’ emerged as a resonant mantra, encapsulating a desire for enhanced sovereignty and self-direction. Despite its widespread usage and political importance, the phrase’s practical implications remain underexplored in academic literature. This study introduces a novel analytical framework that conceptualises the notion of taking back control as an outcome of de-Europeanisation and aims to analyse its practical implications. It uses two case studies, Pathogen Resistance Treatment (PRT) or ‘chlorinated chicken’ and neonicotinoid pesticide bans, to investigate the intricate interplay between political aspirations and economic realities in the UK’s attempt to diverge from EU standards. It reveals that the process of ‘taking back control’ is not a straightforward assertion of sovereignty but is mediated by complex negotiations that consider the trade-offs between regulatory autonomy, market access, and environmental and health standards. The findings underscore the persistent influence of the EU on the UK’s regulatory landscape and the strategic considerations that underpin the UK’s approach to de-Europeanisation. This study contributes to the broader discourse on Brexit by offering empirical insights into the practical challenges and opportunities that the UK faces as it redefines its regulatory standards in the global political economy.

Caste, gig-economy, and youth: the resurgence of a new age caste politics in urban Gujarat

ABSTRACT This article interrogates the connections between caste and gig economy, and how these connections play out in the political actions by youth in the erstwhile mill-neighbourhoods in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat. It asks, how do the gig-economy workers from the lower castes navigate in the highly caste segregated urban spaces of Ahmedabad? What drives them to join their own caste collectives while looking for gig work in the city? The article explains through ethnographic inquiries that while the recent emergence of the gig economy provides the young jobseekers from the lower castes an escape route from the caste-based occupations in the rural, their caste identities are strategically masked and highlighted in informing their choices, political aspirations and economic anxieties while navigating in the urban. The unpredictable and uncertain nature of the contractual work consolidates caste and kinship networks to get work and information about available work in the urban gig economy. This in turn facilitates a renewed political activism of the youth in the urban neighbourhoods that strengthens caste politics in the region.

“She Trafficked On Her Own Account”: Black Women’s Abolitionist Geographies in Robert Wedderburn’s Horrors of Slavery (1824) and History of Mary Prince (1831)

ABSTRACT Robert Wedderburn self-published Horrors of Slavery (1824) within ultraradical networks in London, so his life narrative was not shaped by the political ambitions of white, middle-class abolitionists. By celebrating the communal, place-based resistances of his enslaved mother and grandmother as the source of his own emancipation from slavery, Horrors reworked the Romantic figuration of sorrowful, enslaved Black mothers. Wedderburn’s mother, Rosanna, demanded that his enslaver father manumit him. His grandmother, Talkee Amy, was a higgler and obeah woman who “trafficked on her own account.” Wedderburn’s description of Rosanna and Talkee Amy’s place-based abolitionist geographies then serves as an illuminating intertext for History of Mary Prince (1831). Like Wedderburn’s mother and grandmother, Prince entered and navigated spaces in a way that asserted her humanness by rebelliously claiming kinship and higglering in unofficial local economies. In both narratives, Black women cultivated communal, material, and place-based forms of liberation from slavery, and their stories supplement and even challenge current understandings of Romantic-era abolition and women’s activism.

Arabic Language Implementation Viewed from A Social and Cultural Perspective at Maitreechit Withayattan School Bangkok

This research explores the implementation of Arabic language learning at the Maitreechit Withayattan School in Bangkok, Thailand. With a population dominated by a Muslim minority, this research aims to understand the challenges and potential for developing Arabic language education in this context. The research background reflects Thailand's uniqueness as an ASEAN country with a Muslim minority that is recognized and regulated by national law. The focus of the research is on issues of student interest, teaching methods, hidden learning goals, and the role of teachers in the learning process. The research method uses modern ethnographic studies at Maitrechit Wittaayathan School Bangkok. Research findings show that students' low interest is influenced by less innovative teaching methods and a need for more variety in learning. Hidden learning goals, which include students' political aspirations to support the position of Muslims in government, become a complex dynamic in Arabic language learning. The importance of Arabic in the government context was a significant finding, with students being taught that Arabic language skills can provide a competitive advantage in careers in the government sector. Despite challenges regarding student interest, school administrators' high enthusiasm for Arabic creates the potential for solid collaboration between education and religious identity development. Implications for Arabic language education management include the need for more exciting learning strategies, teacher training, and collaboration with external parties to increase the relevance of learning to careers. This research provides in-depth insight into the complex dynamics of Arabic language education in Muslim minority school environments in Thailand. However, it should be acknowledged that the research findings are limited to one school in Bangkok, and generalization of the findings must be done cautiously.

THE ROLE OF WEST LAMPUNG GENERAL ELECTION COMMISSION (KPU) IN FULFILLING THE POLITICAL RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES FROM THE SIYASAH TANFIDZIYAH PERSPECTIVE

The West Lampung Regency General Election Commission plays an important role in fulfilling the political rights of people with disabilities. Problems in fulfilling the political rights of disabilities include limited accessibility which makes it difficult for people with disabilities to participate in general elections or express other political aspirations. There are still many people with disabilities whose rights have not been fulfilled. This research uses qualitative research with the type of field research or field research. The data sources used are primary data sources and secondary data with data collection techniques using interviews, observation and documentation. The research results show that the role of the West Lampung Regency general election commission is in fulfilling the political rights of people with disabilities, such as making it easier to participate in general elections. West Lampung KPU provides accessibility according to the type of person with disabilities. The Role of the West Lampung Regency General Election Commission in Fulfilling the Political Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Siyasah Tanfidziyah's perspective has carried out its obligations as a general election implementing agency which is responsible for implementing and making efforts to fulfill the political rights of persons with disabilities.

Reasons and consequences of historical buildings and structures fragments' reuse

The article examines the peculiarities of the use of secondary raw materials in architectural and urban planning activities. The conducted research showed that the use of secondary raw materials is an established practice in architectural and urban planning activities. Surviving but no longer needed buildings and structures, their ruins, individual fragments of former architectural and urban planning objects, and construction materials extracted from them are subject to reuse. Pragmatic saving of time and materials is not the only reason for the integration of used elements in new buildings. Among the other conditionally positive driving motives of this practice: attempts to strengthen the political ambitions of modern powerful people, to draw symbolic parallels between different religions, to realize their own creative ambitions, to preserve the fragments of destroyed culture, and to perpetuate the collective memory of the inhabitants of certain territories. Unfortunately, the history of architecture preserves evidence that the re-use of architectural fragments can also be motivated by opposite, conditionally negative goals, such as contempt for the conquered state; contempt for another religion; superiority to the destroyed culture; fear of deposed but creepy mythical creatures; hatred of the persecuted people. The outlined motives determine the nature of behaviour with secondary raw materials and the result of its use. Respect and willingness to study lost objects of cultural heritage leads to the emergence of new interesting and meaningful architectural and urban planning solutions. Indifference, self-assertion, and aggression increase chaos and insensitivity to beauty and cause inappropriate project decisions, for which descendants are later ashamed. Because of the application of recycling practices in architectural and urban planning activities, historical buildings and structures do not lose their identity, acquiring a new symbolic meaning; turn into archaeological artefacts with an unknown past, or as depersonalized raw materials dissolve into newly created objects.

Language of Political Campaign: Unraveling the Linguistic Landscape in Billboard Advertisements

Billboard advertisements for legislative and senatorial campaigns are integral to the cityscape leading to the general elections, reflecting local political dynamics. This study examines the linguistic landscape in billboard advertisements for legislative and senator campaigns heading for the general election in Indonesia. A qualitative method was employed, gathering data from billboard advertisements across various city areas. Analysis was conducted on the language usage, stylistic features, word choice, sentence structure, and visual representations in these billboard advertisements. Findings indicate a variation in language usage, with standard Indonesian predominating but also a presence of local language mixtures. Stylistic features range from persuasive to informative, while word choice tends toward positively connotated terms. Sentence structures tend to be simple and direct, while visual representations emphasize the candidates and symbols reflecting political aspirations. These results depict candidates' complex communication strategies influencing voter opinions and attitudes. A profound understanding of this linguistic landscape is crucial for political observers and candidates to comprehend local political campaign dynamics and effective communication strategies. This study added a new dimension to understanding how political communication is manifested in public spaces. By focusing on billboards as an outdoor media, which often serves as a daily backdrop for many people, this study explores how language can effectively capture voters' attention and influence their political attitudes. Thus, this study is expected to significantly enrich the understanding of political linguistics and communication strategies in the context of election campaigns.

Leaders’ desires to lead: progressive ambition and norms around gender balance in the Swedish parliament

ABSTRACT While women citizens have less political ambition than similarly situated men across a wide range of contexts, we know less about gender differences in progressive ambition – elected politicians’ desire to achieve political leadership positions. This study analyzes leadership ambition among Swedish legislators. To understand the relationship between progressive ambition and the proportion of men and women in leadership positions, the political-institutional context is paramount. The gender-equal context of the Swedish Parliament allows us to investigate the relationship between progressive political ambition and informal rules, norms, and practices that promote the presence of women in political leadership. Drawing on interviews with nearly all top parliamentary leaders and party gatekeepers as well as a survey with MPs, we find that women leaders and MPs are less interested in political leadership in comparison to men. We describe the rules, norms, and practices that stipulate gender balance in decision-making in this context and show how gender-equitable informal institutions have contributed to creating gender balance in leadership. While such institutions have not closed the gender ambition gap at the individual level, they mitigate its consequences by incentivizing less ambitious women to accept leadership positions and prompting gatekeepers to search for and persuade competent women.

“A bloodless social revolution”: Land reform and multiple cropping in Cold War Taiwan, 1950–1979

Societal Impact StatementMultiple cropping, the cultivation of several crops on the same land in a year, occupied an important part of Taiwan's agricultural research from 1950 to 1970. This research originated in the context of Taiwan's land reform and diversification programs and their connections to the government's political ambition to maximize food production. The study of how multiple cropping was politicized and depoliticized by different actors helps to expand the narratives of the Green Revolution in Asia, analyze their legacies, and highlight Taiwan's role in the international exchange of visions of agricultural development during the Cold War.Summary Scholars have recently expanded the history of the Green Revolution to move beyond the narrative of North–South technological diffusion. This article enriches the scholarship with the case of multiple cropping in Taiwan and its connection to Cold War geopolitics. Rice productivity in postwar Taiwan was boosted through a land reform launched by the Sino‐American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction (JCRR) in the 1950s. Backed by American aid and staffed by scientists from the Republic of China (ROC) government, the JCRR envisioned to turn tenant farmers into landowners so as to encourage labor input and adoption of seeds and fertilizers. By 1960, the JCRR presented its reform as a “bloodless social revolution” and extended its focus to multiple cropping through a diversification program. The JCRR further created the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) in 1971 to spread Taiwan's breeding and cropping techniques. The ROC's diplomatic isolation in the 1970s, however, prompted the center to reinterpret Taiwan's success in multiple cropping from a political achievement to a technological triumph, thus reinforcing the technology‐driven narrative used by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Through Taiwan's influences on IRRI's rice breeding and multiple cropping research, this paper illustrates that the history of the Green Revolution requires more complex narratives. In addition, with Taiwan's political and economic transition since the 1980s, farmers began to reclaim their voice and influence agricultural policies. The case thus highlights the need of democratic participation in agricultural research, a concern that remains relevant today.

Secession, Right to Decide and the Constitutional Model of Militant Democracy

Advocating democracy and the right to decide over forceful union in the Spanish and European contexts, this paper makes modest theoretical proposals to protect the right to decide and to self-government of sub-state nations or peoples. The peaceful solution of conflicts involving contested claims over territory and national sovereignty calls for a pluralist concept of democracy, recovering the centrality of self-determination as the self-assertion of a people, a political community that has been systematically denied the freedom to decide on its own political status and aspiration. Constitutional law based on popular sovereignty often neglects the question of the definition of the demos as the prefigured and axiomatic constituency. If the Constitution is further interpreted as precluding any claim to self-determination by a constituency, and any debate about that claim then an undemocratic model of militant constitutionalism ensues. That militant scheme is not so much about protecting democracy as it is about imposing a national model, a pre-defined demos. This contribution seeks to revisit the claim of sovereignty of the Catalan process and the constitutional doctrine of the Spanish judiciary precluding the Catalan Parliament from engaging in political debates on the right to decide, in relation to the issue of the militant democracy model

Complexities of State-Building in Somaliland

Abstracts Since the mid-2000s, state-building in Somaliland has emerged as a complex mixture of coexisting, competing programs, political aspirations, and foreign agendas. This article applies a dialectical approach to focus on the scalar relations among actors and models of capacity-building, from programs’ design to their implementation. Drawing on science and technology studies, I use the term “complexities” to describe the “multiplicities” of programs, actors, and different ways of ordering that coexist and overlap, sometimes in tension among them, other times in coordination. Specifically, this article examines two approaches to state-building in Somaliland: the United Nations Development Program’s institution-building and US Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded stabilization programs. Going beyond fixed binaries, such as international and local, homogenous and hybrid, state-building and state-formation, this article observes how these dichotomies are formed and how, rather than being separate, they combine together, generating techno-political arrangements. Somaliland’s complexity is made up of techno-political arrangements that are coproduced by both technical expertise and national political aspirations. Technical capacity-building programs, such as the redesign of the Somalia Institutional Development Project (SIDP), the creation of Somaliland’s National Development Plan (NDP), and the allocation of USAID’s grants, have become the terrain for political claims over the redistribution of resources and the control of state institutions.