Political Science Research Articles

Embracing collaborative research in political science in Australia and beyond

ABSTRACT This article explores the potential of collaborative research methods to address challenges in political science, such as those related to environmental sustainability, governance, and social justice. It discusses the growing rise of collaborative research in political science globally and in Australia. Furthermore, it examines collaborative research's ethical, moral, and epistemological dimensions. By drawing on experiences in natural resource management, the paper illustrates how collaborative research can improve governance and decision-making through reflexive interactive design and social learning. The article suggests that to advance political science, collaborative research offers (1) innovative methodologies such as living labs instead of case study approaches, (2) a praxeology for decolonising research within a post-truth context, and (3) new ethical standards for responsible research practice.

Introduction: The North Atlantic Triangle: ‘For and Against?’

This introduction provides some necessary background to the origins of John Bartlet Brebner’s North Atlantic Triangle: The Interplay of Canada, the United States, and Great Britain, published in 1945, which is the subject of this special issue of the London Journal of Canadian Studies. The author – and guest editor of this issue of the journal – also reflects upon the differing views of the journal’s eminent contributors on the significance of the ‘North Atlantic Triangle’ concept that has been regularly debated by historians and political scientists – Canadian, British and American – ever since the book was first published.

The Politics of Platform Technologies: A Critical Conceptualization of the Platform and Sharing Economy

This paper offers a political analysis of the platform and sharing economy—an economic model in which digital platforms facilitate social and economic interactions. Its two central models, mainstream and cooperative platforms, offer similar applications and services (e.g., home-sharing, food delivery), but fundamentally differ in their ownership and governance structures, economic models, and technical designs. Building on literature from the politics of technology (PoT), the paper develops an approach for the political analysis of platform technologies, combining central components from the works of Winner, Feenberg, and Pfaffenberger. This approach is then applied to analyze the platform and sharing economy, highlighting the political significance of platform technologies. The analysis reveals three key insights. First, when incorporated into particular social arrangements, digital platforms become means for shaping social realities rather than mere tools for specific uses. Second, mainstream platforms perpetuate capitalist conditions in the digital sphere and therefore necessitate platform capitalism to function, whereas cooperative platforms resist and undermine it. Third, the dynamics between the platform models embody a struggle over the question of the good life in the digital economy. Additionally, the paper uncovers a philosophical weakness in Winner’s definition of “inherently political technologies” that warrants further attention in PoT literature.

Slow‐Moving Welfare State Change in Quebec and “Movements From Below”

ABSTRACTRecent discussions of policy change in political science have been heavily influenced by historical institutionalist typologies of gradual institutional change and of the ideal‐typical agents producing them. The key agents are those within the state who implement and interpret the rules, while the agency of social movements is treated as largely contextual. One way of enriching these accounts is to consider the offensive and defensive strategies of “social movements from below” contesting the dominance of the “social movement from above” over time. This is illustrated by the case of Quebec, where the shift away from a liberal welfare state in the 1990s is explained in part by the social movement project of the women's and community movement.

Czasy napoleońskie widziane oczyma podmiejskiego plebana. Notatki księdza Bonawentury Najgrakowskiego w księdze chrztów parafii św. Michała w Gnieźnie

In 1791-1811, Rev. Bonawentura Najgrakowski would record events which were important for the town and the Polish nation in the margins of the Baptismal Register of the St Michael parish in Gniezno. In his brief notes, he placed particular emphasis on political developments which, in his opinion, were to culminate in independence of the Republic. Much of his attention focused the figure of the first French consul and later Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. To date, Rev. Najgrakowski’s notes have not become the subject of scholarly inquiry.

A frustratingly easy way of extracting political networks from text.

This study demonstrates the use of GPT-4 and variants, advanced language models readily accessible to many social scientists, in extracting political networks from text. This approach showcases the novel integration of GPT-4's capabilities in entity recognition, relation extraction, entity linking, and sentiment analysis into a single cohesive process. Based on a corpus of 1009 Chilean political news articles, the study validates the graph extraction method using 'legislative agreement', i.e., the proportion of times two politicians vote the same way. It finds that sentiments identified by GPT-4 align with how frequently parliamentarians vote together in roll calls. Comprising two parts, the first involves a linear regression analysis indicating that negative relationships predicted by GPT-4 correspond with reduced legislative agreement between two parliamentarians. The second part employs node embeddings to analyze the impact of network distance, considering both with and without sentiment, on legislative agreements. This analysis reveals a notably stronger predictive power when sentiments are included. The findings underscore GPT-4's versatility in political network analysis.

Evaluating the impact, implementation experience and political economy of primary care networks in Kenya: protocol for a mixed methods study

BackgroundPrimary care networks (PCNs) are increasingly being adopted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to improve the delivery of primary health care (PHC). Kenya has identified PCNs as a key reform to strengthen PHC delivery and has passed a law to guide its implementation. PCNs were piloted in two counties in Kenya in 2020 and implemented nationally in October 2023. This protocol outlines methods for a study that examines the impact, implementation experience and political economy of the PCN reform in Kenya.MethodsWe will adopt the parallel databases variant of convergent mixed methods study design to concurrently but separately collect quantitative and qualitative data. The two strands will be mixed during data collection to refine questions, with findings triangulated during analysis and interpretation to provide a comprehensive understanding of PCN implementation. The quantitative study will use a controlled before and after study design and collect data using health facility and client exit surveys. The primary outcome measure will be the service delivery readiness of PHC facilities. We will use a random sample of 228 health facilities and 2560 clients in four currently implementing PCNs, four planning to implement and four control counties at baseline and post-implementation. We shall undertake a preliminary cross-sectional analysis of the data at baseline from October to December 2023, followed by a difference-in-difference analysis at the endline from October to December 2024 to compare the outcome differences between the intervention and control counties over a 12-month period. The qualitative study will include a cross-sectional process evaluation and political economy analysis (PEA) using document reviews and approximately 80 in-depth interviews with national and sub-national stakeholders. The process evaluation will assess the emergence of PCN reforms, the implementation experience, the mechanism of impact and how the context affects implementation and outcomes. The PEA will examine the interaction of structural factors, institutions and actors/stakeholders’ interests and power relations in implementing PCNs. We will also examine the gendered effects of the PCNs, including power relations and norms, and their implications on PHC from the supply and demand sides. We shall undertake a thematic analysis of the qualitative data.DiscussionThis evaluation will contribute robust evidence on the impact, implementation experience, political economy and gendered implications of PCNs in a LMIC setting, as well as guide the refining of PCN implementation in Kenya and other LMICs implementing or planning to implement PCNs to enhance their effectiveness.

Ancient Tyranny and Modern Dictatorship

Abstract This article traces the conceptual history of key terms used to describe and criticize bad political regimes, focusing on the displacement of “tyranny” by “dictatorship” and “authoritarianism.” Classical Greek thought understood tyranny primarily in terms of the character of rulers, whereas the modern idea of dictatorship emerged from a Roman conceptual framework that focused on authority and its legitimation. New problems of legitimation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries diminished the utility of the character-centric concept of tyranny and increased the fruitfulness of dictatorship for political analysis. The emergence of the modern state in the nineteenth century shaped the conceptual field by increasing the salience of problems concerning the appropriation or usurpation of sovereignty, the distortion of popular legitimation and accountability, and the incentives for submission to illegitimate orders. I conclude that the use of “authoritarianism” is likely to increase in prominence, but that retaining multiple regime concepts enriches analysis.

Mapping Government Budgeting Research: A Systematic Literature Review

ABSTRACT Government budgeting is a classic and multidisciplinary field of research, making it challenging to keep track of its development. This article reviews the literature on government budgeting in three fields: public administration, political science, and public economics. We conducted a systematic literature review of 615 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1939 and 2021. We examine the questions of who, where, what, and how in government budgeting research. Government budgeting research shows stable patterns historically and has addressed emerging issues in recent years. This literature review maps the intellectual growth of government budgeting research and sheds light on future research directions.

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CLASS IN SHAPING CITIZENSHIP: AN ANALYSIS OF THOMAS MARSHALL'S WORKS

In the era of 21st-century disruption, fostering national character to strengthen identity and nationalism is crucial for forming inclusive citizenship. This research aims to deepen and broaden the understanding of how social class affects individuals' access to citizenship rights. This study employs a qualitative approach using the library research method, which involves compiling various references from previous studies relevant to the research subject to draw conclusions. The collected data are processed, analyzed, and presented descriptively and qualitatively in a logical and systematic manner, yielding inductive conclusions that begin with specific observations and lead to general conclusions. Inequality in access to education, disparities in employment opportunities, and limited political participation are challenges that need to be addressed to achieve inclusive and equitable citizenship. The challenges in Indonesia's education system encompass three main aspects: unequal access to educational, varying quality of education, and inconsistent allocation of budgets along with a lack of commitment from local governments to improve educational standards. These inequalities present significant challenges in realizing a fair and equitable citizenry system. This work is an essential reference for sociological, political science, and legal studies in discussing the dynamics of citizenship and social equality.

Fifty-four thousand deaths, zero electoral impact

Abstract The February 2023 earthquake in Turkiye resulted in 54,000 fatalities and over $100 billion in economic losses. We examine whether this catastrophic event influenced incumbent-party support in the subsequent election. In contrast with previous researchers, we find no significant effect on voter turnout or the incumbent party’s vote share, even after accounting for population displacement and infrastructure damage. We argue that this null effect is due to several factors: effective electoral management policies that reduced voting costs despite significant population displacement; a compressed timeline between disaster and elections, which constrained politically motivated aid distribution; extreme political polarization, which led the public to filter their interpretation of the disaster response through partisan lenses; different information flows in state-controlled media and social media; and offsetting electoral responses across regions. Our results offer valuable insights for policy makers, political scientists, and economists studying the political consequences of natural disasters.

Gulf Donors in the MENA Region: Unravelling Motivations, Aid Strategies and Geopolitical Objectives in the Case of Tunisia (2011-24)

ABSTRACT Since the 2011 Arab uprisings, Gulf Arab states have increasingly used foreign aid as an instrument of economic statecraft in the MENA region. By combining insights from both neoclassical realism and constructivism, we can better understand why Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have implemented a range of aid strategies to pursue different strategic and normative objectives during Tunisia’s political evolution. Qatar aimed to increase its regional influence and gain allies by supporting Islamist movements, while aid from the UAE and Saudi Arabia was used to promote authoritarian stability and counter the influence of political Islamist groups at both home and abroad. The analysis highlights the limitations and opportunities of economic statecraft, the intersection of material and ideational factors in its formation, and how the aid strategies employed by Arab states are similar to those of Western donors in terms of prioritising stability and security. Relatedly, it shows how Gulf countries take into consideration competing religious agendas and the influence of political Islam when allocating their aid.

Democratization and its Impact on Foreign Relations in Turkey

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the democratization and its impact on foreign relations in Turkey. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Turkey’s democratization has significantly influenced its foreign relations, shaping both regional and global engagements. Periods of reform aimed at aligning Turkey with Western standards improved ties with the European Union and fostered diplomatic dialogue, yet political setbacks and civil liberties concerns have strained these relationships. At the regional level, democratization has contributed to a more proactive foreign policy, balancing Turkey’s roles in NATO and the Middle East. However, internal power shifts and fluctuating democratic practices continue to affect Turkey’s credibility and negotiation power, underscoring the interdependence between domestic political evolution and international diplomacy. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Modernization theory, dependency theory & democratic peace theory may be used to anchor future studies on democratization and its impact on foreign relations in Turkey. In practical terms, a solid democratic framework provides political stability, which is key for building credible and reliable foreign alliances. Policy should focus on institutional reforms that consolidate democracy, thereby enhancing international confidence.

Analysis of Max Weber's Perspective on the Dynamics of First-Time Voter Participation in the 2024 Presidential Election (A Case Study on Students of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Slamet Riyadi University)

The presidential election is a significant political event in Indonesia that involves all voters, including young voters. Students, as first-time voters, play an essential role in casting their votes in the presidential election. However, research on the profiles and factors influencing first-time student voters' decisions remains limited. This study analyzes the dynamics of first-time voters' participation in the 2024 Presidential Election using Max Weber's social action theory. Employing a qualitative approach, the study focuses on students from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Slamet Riyadi University (UNISRI), as the research subjects. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, non-participant observation, and document studies. The main findings reveal that emotional and value-oriented actions dominate the political participation of first-time voters. Social media significantly shapes emotional narratives and issues relevant to the younger generation, while the campus environment fosters rational-instrumental actions through critical discussions. Family traditions also play a crucial role in shaping the political decisions of first-time voters. The implications of this study highlight the importance of social media-based political education to enhance critical and value-driven political participation.

Politicization of Science

Politicization of Science

Synthetically generated text for supervised text analysis

Abstract Large language models are a powerful tool for conducting text analysis in political science, but using them to annotate text has several drawbacks, including high cost, limited reproducibility, and poor explainability. Traditional supervised text classifiers are fast and reproducible, but require expensive hand annotation, which is especially difficult for rare classes. This article proposes using LLMs to generate synthetic training data for training smaller, traditional supervised text models. Synthetic data can augment limited hand annotated data or be used on its own to train a classifier with good performance and greatly reduced cost. I provide a conceptual overview of text generation, guidance on when researchers should prefer different techniques for generating synthetic text, a discussion of ethics, a simple technique for improving the quality of synthetic text, and an illustration of its limitations. I demonstrate the usefulness of synthetic training through three validations: synthetic news articles describing police responses to communal violence in India for training an event detection system, a multilingual corpus of synthetic populist manifesto statements for training a sentence-level populism classifier, and generating synthetic tweets describing the fighting in Ukraine to improve a named entity system.

Religion, Culture, and Peace: The Social Doctrine of Benedict XVI

This article situates the papacy of Benedict XVI at the crossroads of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, focusing on theological, cultural, and political developments. It brings out his subtle critique of modernity, his opposition to relativism, and his appeal for a renewed dialogue between Christianity and Enlightenment rationality. It is his sense of faith and reason that, in mutual purifying, forms his support of the public role of religion in peacemaking and moral order. Through moments like the Regensburg Address and his inter-religious dialogues, Benedict XVI emerges as a defender of the place of religion in society while rejecting both religious fundamentalism and secularist reductionism. The paper also examines how Benedict grounded human rights in natural law, thereby differentiating those from other fundamental rights emanating from more contemporary sociopolitical claims. The article places his papacy within the larger frame of Catholic social doctrine, focusing on the role of the Church in promoting peace through cultural and interreligious dialogue, particularly with Islam.

The Struggle between Civilian and Military Elites: Impacts on Political Development in Pakistan (2002–2013)

The Struggle between Civilian and Military Elites: Impacts on Political Development in Pakistan (2002–2013)

European labour law as part of an economic union, monetary union and community of values—between harmonization and subsidiarity

Abstract The development of European labour law was neither straightforward nor continuous but followed the development of the European single market for a long time. Today, European labour law is an essential part of the social market economy in the European Union, even if there is no uniform European social model. The European Pillar of Social Rights is a commitment to a social Europe and accelerated regulatory practice. From a political science perspective, the development of European labour law was and is dependent on the legitimacy of its actions of the European Union. Therefore, unlike in nation-states, no clearly defined concept of (European) labour law has emerged. Rather, three central areas can be identified: (1) transnational labour law, primarily the free movement of workers, as nucleus of European labour law, (2) European labour law as a result of the interference of business-related fundamental freedoms with the welfare states in the Member States, and (3) European labour law as a result of a proactive social policy. However, the European Union has and will have to continue to organise its legislation in coordination with the welfare states in the Member States. Politically, it must prove that its measures are necessary because it can regulate the issues in question better than the Member States would be able to. Crises affecting several Member States are often the main driving force behind the deepening of the cooperation in the field of social policy. In addition, new developments can give the Member States reasons to take a standardised approach from the outset. Furthermore, the European Union should act primarily in connection with such social standards regarding which all Member States have already ratified international conventions without reservations and have thus agreed on a uniform standard.

A climate change talanoa: exploring creative possibilities for a hopeful future

This article explores creative possibilities for climate action through talanoa (a form of dialogue practised in the Pacific Islands). Built on inter-subjective empathy, the dignity of persons and reciprocal justice, engaging in a talanoa creates a relational space for reflecting on the profound questions of planetary life. While a talanoa is usually produced “face-to-face”, this article demonstrates how a talanoa can also be achieved across space between a political scientist in Sweden and the Archbishop emeritus of Polynesia in Fiji. Together, we reveal the value of talanoa as a powerful medium for empowering climate change action. The content of the talanoa is critical of a scientific worldview that maintains a gap between humans and nature. Instead, emphasis is placed on relationality-as-knowledge, the importance of integrity and actively listening to the voice of nature. Values are thus taken seriously as a form of transformation and a source of hope and justice.