Political Causes Research Articles

Between Blocs And Blockades: Qatar’s Diplomatic Dilemma And Strategic Maneuvers

The article aims to analyze the dynamics of the 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis in the context of the transforming geopolitics of the Gulf. The goal of the article is to examine the political causes of the crisis, which are directly related to regional competition and the change of power balance in the Gulf region, and to reveal why Qatar's diplomatic crisis was resolved years later without any concessions from Qatar. The article focuses on Qatar's foreign policy ambitions, Saudi Arabia's harsh opposition against it, and Doha's further expansion, which ultimately led to Qatar's five-year blockade. The study also examines the resolution of the crisis and the normalization of the relations between Saudi Arabia and its allies with Qatar, which was conditioned by the imperative to stabilize the security environment in the region. Saudi Arabia wanted to demonstrate that Riyad will continue to be the most influential player in the Gulf region. Qatar did not make tangible concessions but accepted the rules of the game.

An Empirical Study on Fake News Menace and Misinformation with Special Reference to India

Fake news are the news, cooked up stories or hoaxes that are created to deliberately misinform or deceive the consumers/readers. Usually, these stories are created to either influence people’s views, push a political agenda or cause confusion and it's a profitable business for online publishers in most cases. Fake news has been in existence from the beginning of the printing press but in the age of the internet and social media, it has found a tremendous application. Fighting against fake news menace is of importance concerning the platforms like Facebook, Google, the news media, the government and an informed citizenry. The objective of the study is to understand the Motivation behind the creation of fake news and it’s financial gain and to study the concept and nature of the creation of fake news. The independent variables are Age, gender, educational qualification and occupation. The dependent variables are Whether the motivation to create fake news include financial gain and agreeability towards that fake news is any information that is deliberately meant to be wholly or largely false or misleading. The Sample Size collected is 204 responses. The results observed from the analysis is that The respondents working in public sectors between the age of 37-60 years have agreed that the motivation behind the creation of fake news includes financial gain than the respondents between the age of 37-60 years who own businesses. Thus, the paper suggests that Quality in journalism is the solution to curb fake news and money's the motivation behind the creation of fake news, the journalists are also ought to have the responsibility of not creating fake news and media hoaxes just for the views instead must focus genuine news and earn people's belief. The author in this paper concludes that fake news menace is a global issue and has to be controlled and monitored by the government

From Erasure to Restoration: Antisemitism and the Visual Reverberations of a Revolutionary Pedagogy

Abstract A set of rediscovered revolutionary posters by the Reprint Collective (which was presented as part of Documenta fifteen) in Brussels provided an incredibly moving window into times past. Notwithstanding how the events addressed by those political artefacts now lie in the historical past, the revolutionary reverberations of the posters remain something to treasure. They bring to life political causes that underline the importance of radical solidarity and activist alliances. To understand why such artefacts were banned, we need to recognise the role of contemporary racism – the projection of the figure of a Palestine-radical left-Muslim subject that encompasses everything the liberal mainstream supposedly is not. This article argues that the New Anti-Semitism is a merely ideological manifestation that has no contribution to make toward the struggle against antisemitism. The posters remind us that 1) the struggle against antisemitism cannot be separated from the struggle against Islamophobia, but also that 2) the erasure of a particular Jewish and Left revolutionary subjectivity is intrinsic to the workings of hegemonic forces that maintain contemporary politics. Going against the account in which antisemitism has conventionally been framed, this article aims to come to terms with the erasure of a left epistemology that had emerged from the region in the 1970s. Moroccan revolutionary Abraham Serfaty is an example of how the erasure of the radical history of Arab and Jewish progressives was no coincidence. Reversing this erasure not only helps in understanding progressive Jewish interventions in liberation politics but also that the flattening of complex histories and Arab, Left, and Jewish subjectivities is in fact a prerequisite for Zionism. Arab Jews do not fit neatly within a pro-Israel ideological framework that itself systematically feeds off anti-Arab racism. This article furthermore reflects on New Anti-Semitism as a key political instrument and as a powerful moralistic force that muzzles the expression of political context and social ambiguity. The notion ‘Arab Anti-Semitism’ arose against the backdrop of Israeli state terror and regional warfare. This article also provides insights into important intellectual interventions of the left between the 1960s and the 1980s. In combination with the rise of counter-revolutionary forces and major anti-left crackdowns, this emancipatory approach building on a critique of imperialism and capitalism, and solidarity politics based on progressive universal values, was undermined. Finally, coming to terms with the erasure of a left epistemology that had emerged from the region and recovering this very legacy serve as an antidote against historical amnesia. This spirit of a progressive universalism – as, for instance, illustrated in Mahmoud Darwish’s rejection of the opportunistic dictum ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ on the grounds that one can readily speak of a ‘world’s enemy’ – is born from the belief that our ethical and moral constellations carry universal value.

Do Experiences with Civil War Affect the Acceptance of the Use of Violence After War Ends? The Case of Post-War Nepal

ABSTRACT What are the effects of civil war violence on individual attitudes regarding the acceptability of the use of violence in politics after civil wars end? Using data from Nepal, we test several hypotheses about the relationship between the exposure to civil war violence and the acceptability of the use of violence for a variety of political goals after civil wars end (namely noble political causes, equal rights, and electoral advantage). Overall, we find that individuals more exposed to civil war violence are less likely to embrace the use of violence than the individuals who were less exposed to civil war violence.

Collective Identity and Ethical Dilemmas Among College Students in Chinese Anonymous Online Communities: Sensory Stimulation and Media Effects of Online Exposure Discourse

This paper explores the dynamics of viral social media exposure posts within anonymous online communities in China, specifically concentrating on college students. Based on theories of effervescence and collective frenzy, this research probes into the emotional triggers and functions of group polarization and social identity reconstruction in the digital sphere. Adopting a mixed-methods approach that integrates semi-structured interviews and surveys, it evaluates participants' interactions with online exposure. The anticipated findings are expected to shed light on how factors like group identity, anonymity, and virality cultivate a carnival-like ambiance in social media exposure. These posts function as instruments for mobilization, provide support for social and political causes, and act as platforms for community building and identity formation. They also offer psychological and emotional outlets, aiding users in processing and expressing personal and societal grievances. The paper aims to deepen people's understanding of how digital interactions influence collective identities and social behaviors.

Political Giving by Retired U.S. General and Flag Officers

Why do retired U.S. General and Flag Officers (GOFOs) donate to political causes? I argue that retired GOFOs likely sort between nondonors, partisan donors, and corporate political action committee donors. Using a novel data set of all former members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Combatant Commanders from 1979 to 2022 and drawing on data from the Federal Election Commission, I examine the conditions associated with increased likelihood of GOFO political giving. The results suggest that the majority of retired GOFOs are nongivers. However, retired GOFOs are more likely to donate to Republicans than to Democrats, and GOFOs are more likely to donate to Republicans during U.S. presidential elections. I find strong partisan trends in GOFOs’ political giving, and the results provide new insights into the conditions under which retired American GOFOs take domestic political action.

FACTORS OF TENSION IN SOCIETY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NORTHERN IRISH CONFLICT

The article is devoted to the study of the causes of social tension in Northern Ireland in the 60s of the XX century. The author analyzes the social, economic and political causes of disunity and instability in the region. Special attention is paid to the problem of the existence of two ethno-religious communities: Irish Catholics and British Protestants. The economic heterogeneity of society, disproportions in representation in legislative and executive authorities, and the lack of mechanisms for protecting the rights of minorities are considered. These factors, according to the author, contributed to the growth of social tension and radicalization of communities.

A day for preserving things: Activism, technology and the politics of preservation in the Sarah Records archive

Sarah Records was an independent label active in Bristol from 1987 to 1995 famous for its many contributions to the UK indie pop scene from bands like Heavenly, the Field Mice and the Orchids. In 2015, the same year that NME named Sarah as the second-best independent label of all time, the founders launched a digital archive to share photographs, press-clippings and other artefacts. While Sarah releases were often dismissed by the popular music press at the time as ‘twee’ – perhaps due to the label’s name and the gender of one of its founders – the archive provides a compelling counterstory (Martinez) of the label as an activist organization advancing political causes through its releases, advertisements and more. This article examines the political legacy of Sarah Records, a label that regularly advocated for feminism and socialism through its releases, by considering how its engagement with the press, its use of technology, and now its archive have worked to enact its political ideals and subvert dominant cultures.

Teacher training to address differences in higher education

The article aims to analyze teacher training focused on the inclusion of differences in higher education. We have noticed that the public authorities have been devaluing teacher training, especially when it comes to teaching work. The research question: Is initial training in undergraduate programs successfully preparing new teachers to work in regular schools? Objectives: To analyze whether the initial training we are receiving in undergraduate programs is adequately preparing new teachers to work with differences; To evaluate whether undergraduate programs have contributed to the preparation of teachers who will teach in basic education schools; To understand the political causes behind the processes of precariousness in undergraduate programs, especially when the focus is on differences. The methodology was qualitative, relying on bibliographies, documents, and exploratory materials. References indicate that in higher education, training in undergraduate programs has been undergoing processes of precariousness. Our considerations make us reflect on the urgent need to invest in the initial and ongoing training of teachers, especially when it aims to include differences in higher education

Can Two Opposing Narratives Be Equally Valid? Reflections on Zreik’s Reflections on the War in Gaza

Abstract The article critically examines the arguments of Raef Zreik regarding the 2023 war in Gaza. It first analyzes the use of the concept of narrative in defending political causes and actions. It shows that due to their subjective nature two opposing narratives can be equally valid as long as they satisfy conditions of internal coherence and fidelity to the facts. It then shows that Zreik’s argument of ‘fragmentation’ is double edged and cannot be used for laying full responsibility on Israel. It then proceeds to criticize the claim that Zionism is a colonialist enterprise and shows that Zionism does not consist of all the basic characteristics of colonialism. Finally, it analyzes the common argument of self-defense as the only justification of starting a war and shows the limitation of such an argument in a theory of war, mainly because in most wars both sides have the right to defend themselves, including the allegedly unjust party. All that remains after showing the weakness of most arguments for this or that side to the conflict is the conclusion that compromise is the only way out of the deadlock, having the virtue of being pragmatic rather principled.

Exploring intersectional approaches to waste through grassroots innovations in the U.K.

ABSTRACT Waste is an urgent global challenge. Patterns of excessive resource consumption and disposal are causing immense environmental and social damage. This paper argues that solutions to the waste crisis must be intersectional – addressing the ways in which multiple, overlapping forms of oppression are embedded in resource consumption and the generation of waste. Existing approaches to reducing waste in the U.K. and other Global North contexts have largely failed to take such an approach, but we identify grassroots innovations as a movement which may be well positioned to confront waste challenges in an intersectional way. Drawing on 19 interviews with practitioners and experts in the field of Grassroots Waste Innovations (GWIs), as well as analysis of select documents relating to key waste prevention projects, the article investigates the extent to which GWIs are taking an intersectional approach, and what this looks like. The research finds that GWIs are not generally understood in an intersectional way, but some compelling examples can be found. Framings, project design, and coalition-building emerge as key features of an intersectional approach. However, there are also some significant constraining factors. These include concerns that placing too much emphasis on multiple political causes will be off-putting to participants, lack of capacity, unhelpful funding structures, and the risk of tokenising people from marginalised groups in an attempt to increase diversity.

Dissociation and Loss: a Challenge for Sustainable and Inclusive Conservation

ABSTRACT The agents of deterioration (AoD) offer a structured categorization of hazards to collections: they are a basis for risk-informed preservation management. In drawing up the AoD their creators were not ignorant of wider societal issues of concern to conservators, but they envisaged them to be part of a broader institutional activity located beyond the scope of preventive conservation. Within conservation, there have been discussions about additional agents: social, cultural, or political causes of loss. Their continued exclusion from the AoD may mistakenly be interpreted as a lack of consideration of such concerns. There are reasons to limit the scope of an institution’s preventive conservation system but not everyone agrees that those reasons are sufficient to justify this limitation. This paper is a discussion and disagreement by two authors. Henderson argues that dissociation should capture any loss of meaning resulting from any aspect of conservation practice, including cleaning, documentation, failure to respect beliefs, etc. She argues that dissociation from context may stop preventive conservators from identifying and respecting optimal traditional sustainable methods and techniques. Waller argues that the threat of losing context information about collection items should be managed as part of the wider cultural heritage institution’s role and resolved through its engagement with the community. He acknowledges that preventive conservation can contribute to understanding and mitigating this form of loss, but advocates that primary responsibility must be situated at a higher level than the preventive conservation remit.

A Political Ecology of Food Security in La Guajira, Colombia

Inspired by my experiences while studying abroad in Colombia, in this paper I seek to explain the environmental, social, and political causes of widespread food insecurity in the Colombian department of La Guajira, a rural, isolated desert region with a high percentage of indigenous peoples. I first perform a literature review of geographic research on food security in peripheral regions, followed by a comprehensive case study analysis of La Guajira, drawing together sources from a variety of disciplines, in English and Spanish, in order to provide a new perspective on the region’s crisis through a multiscalar political ecology lens specifically focused on human-environment interactions, marginalization, social difference, and discourses. I find that from racialized frontier capitalism in the early 1900s to contemporary neoliberal extractivism, decades of attempts to integrate the region into national and global economic markets have weakened traditional food systems and substantially increased food insecurity. More broadly, I explore how food security, local agency in food systems, and environmental sustainability can be increased by rethinking our conventional ideas of “development,” “progress,” and “isolation.”

What Drives Anti-Shia Framing in Indonesia?

As a global phenomenon, the Anti-Shia movement in Indonesia is damaging the moderate characteristics of Indonesian Islam. Even though previous literature showed the role of state actors in Anti-Shia movement in Muslim-majority countries and uncovered religious, economic, and political causes, this current study focused on Anti-Shia framing and the contributing factors. Furthermore, fieldwork and library studies on MIUMI (the Indonesian Council of Young Intellectuals and Ulama) and ANNAS (National Anti-Shia Alliance) showed Shia was framed as a heretical sect and a source of conflict in Muslim society. To address this issue, a nationally applied fatwa and the prohibition of Shia organizations, institutes, and foundations were required, in addition to exercising jihad against Shia. This was due to interconnected factors between religious ideology, majoritarian mindset, and perceived threat. Therefore, cultural and socio-psychological dimensions were significant in social movement studies.

Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method

Domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence, constitutes a major social scourge recorded in virtually every country in the world. Despite the fact that previous studies investigating this societal phenomenon have evaluated it from various perspectives, little is known about how it is experienced by victims. However, the lack of knowledge of this experience prevents us from understanding that despite the fact that they are involved in relationships marked by violence, many women do not leave them, thus putting their physical and psychological health at risk. To help fill this gap, this research constructs and validates a new scale specific to experienced domestic violence. After formulating and verifying its items, a validation study was conducted with a sample of 406 female participants, aged between 18 and 61 years (M=29.63; SD=8,688). Factor analyses report that this measure has a one-dimensional factor structure with 12 items. The reliability indices are satisfactory (α=.95). The same goes for convergent, discriminant and predictive validity. The scale of experienced domestic violence has a general scope which will allow researchers to carry out an in depth investigation into the psychological, social, economic and political causes and consequences of experienced domestic violence with a view, in particular, to considering interventions for the recovery of the victims.

Temporal repertoires in contemporary activism: The cases of Fridays for Future, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence and ‘It’s Thursday Again!’

ABSTRACT This paper proposes the novel concept of ‘temporal activist repertoires’ (TAR) defined as the intentional and meaningful selection and use of temporal elements, such as time frame, timing, tempo, duration, and temporality in collective action’s tactics and frames. Collectives thereby draw on culturally resonant temporal references to interweave the symbolic and strategic choices in making their demands, organising political action and/or sustaining commitment to the political cause. To answer the question of how social movements use TAR and how these are positioned alongside other repertoires of contention, the paper analyses: the global Fridays for the Future and 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, and the Austrian ‘It’s Thursday Again!’. The paper shows that the innovative potential of TAR is linked to the use of technologically advanced media tools for the purposes of coordination, pressure, recruitment, mobilisation and visibility, as well as for the adaptations that these movements require, which include strategies to build on past traditions and/or to connect with currently existing allied movements.

Nogai muhajirism to the Ottoman empire during the Caucasian war

This article is devoted to tragic circumstances of the major Nogai migration to the Ottoman Empire in the end of the Caucasian war. The first part says about the term “hijra”, its meaning, conditions and other characteristics according to the Quran. Then it comes to the historic context of this event, the political position of Nogai in this period. Particular attention is paid to the economic, political and religious causes of the nomads’ relocation which are not dictated by just the result of the war given their minor participation in the military operations. The author made an attempt to consider theological justification of the terms “hijra” and “muhajirism” as well as their appropriate usage in Russian historical science.

Lessons Learned from Argentina's Struggles for Legal Abortion

This essay argues that abortion, as a practice and a political cause, challenges traditional and hegemonic health frameworks and contributes to the development of a feminist approach to health. The essay focuses on experiences and activism for legal abortion in contemporary Argentina, drawing some examples from other contexts. First, it argues that abortion reveals the extent to which health and sickness are entangled with symbolic and localized processes, including marked stigma, which influence the lived experience of health care. The essay analyzes how feminist activism in Argentina gradually changed these processes. Second, it contends that abortion as a health practice contributes to the deconstruction of traditional dichotomies between prevention and intervention and health and sickness, as well as to modifying hierarchical decision-making mechanisms. In the Argentine case, ensuring abortion access in public health institutions, with the help of activist professionals, allowed for the broadening of biomedical frameworks and a move toward more holistic approaches. Third, the essay analyzes how increasing access to medication abortion challenged monopolistic and exclusionary processes in the production and institutionalization of legitimate knowledge about health.

Stop stunting-A misguided campaign by well-meaning nutritionists.

"Stop stunting" is the central focus of the national Indonesian campaign to improve child health. We provide an autoethnographic statement on the currently practiced strategy that commits 23 ministries and an estimated $3.9 billion per year to coordinating nutrition interventions that are supposed to address the underlying causes of stunting. We visited six community health posts (posyandus) in West Timor and in Java and participated in routine child health examinations. We documented our impressions and discussed them with Indonesian colleagues, health officials, and local physicians. Routine health checks for children include anthropometry (height, weight, head, and mid-upper arm circumference), immunizations, and documentation in the children's health records. The examinations do not include a physical examination, vision and hearing tests of the child, health questionnaires, or information on nutrition. No specific information or recommendations are given to the mothers. Stunting is highly prevalent in Indonesia and "Stop-stunting" campaigns have become a national issue. Yet, their impact is disillusioning. Stunting is associated with a way of life that differs from that in developed Western countries today and was prevalent in feudal and other nondemocratic societies. We do not want to throw away policies that try to improve growth in children, but instead of spending money for dubious interventions as we have encountered in Indonesia, we rather suggest spending thoughts on the political and emotional causes of poor growth in otherwise healthy Indonesian children.

The impact of regional and international variables on the Russian-Ukrainian war 2022

The Russian-Ukrainian war was not a momentary and instantaneous result, but rather goes back to historical roots and military, economic, and political causes and motives. Relations that historically extend over hundreds of years have witnessed many tensions and lulls at different points in time. Perhaps the most prominent stages of lulls are the relations that existed during the days of the Cold War between the United States and the Union. The Soviet Union had on its territory the largest nuclear arsenal of the Soviet Union when it was part of it. However, this calm in relations did not last long. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine quickly sought to join NATO. This was considered by Russia to be a return to the containment policy pursued by the United States during that period, and it repeatedly stated that Ukrainian joining NATO represented a threat to its vital and national security.The war affected the reality of the world in general and Europe in particular. The world today operates in a very interconnected manner. Russia and Ukraine, the largest food exporters in the world, were negatively affected by the war. Which led to the European decision being politically dispersed, militarily tense, and economically damaged.As a result, the above-mentioned reasons led to war, and since war often affects the security, safety, and interests of surrounding and even distant regions; The positions of countries regarding the war varied as a result of different points of view, especially between those that insinuate Russia’s right to maintain its security from NATO and the United States’ encirclement of it. These countries often seek in one way or another to change the form of the existing international order, such as China, and on the other hand, those countries Which tends to maintain the existing international system in its current form, such as the United States of America. Moreover, the positions of some countries have fluctuated as a result of their exposure to economic pressure due to their close economic relations with Russia on the one hand, and political pressure from the United States on the other hand.