Political Change Research Articles

History of Resistance and Intertwinings: A Post-Colonial Sample Present in 'Orphans of the Eldorado,' by Milton Hatoum

The present study has the scope to carry out an interdisciplinary approach that combines literature and history, in order to explore themes regarding identity resistance, family conflicts and social and political changes in the Amazon region, present in the work Órfãos do Eldorado by the novelist manauara Milton Hatoum. The general objective is to present how the configuration of resistance marks intertwined with the postcolonial bias occurs throughout the work Órfãos do Eldorado. Specific objectives are based on investigating how identity issues are addressed in the context of family history in the Amazon. To describe the sociocultural and historical context of the Amazon portrayed in the work, demonstrating that the relationship between the place and the characters portray marks of the fight against colonial dominance, and to analyze the political themes present in "Órfãos do Eldorado", pointing out that they are related to historical events and social aspects of the Amazon. The methodology will be through the application of the presuppositions of the bibliographical research, and the analytical method will be the north of the interpretation of the plot and the story. Bhabha (1998) in the Local of culture, Said (2011) with the work Cultura e imperialismo, in addition to Nenevé and Sampaio (2016) are the main theoretical guidelines. The result of the research showed that "Orfãos do Eldorado", by Milton Hatoum, stands out with a literature of relevance to the understanding of the social and historical reality of the Amazon, and that presents intertwined marks to the resistance and dynamics of a postcolonial protagonism. 

The first modern health communication campaign in Europe: explicit and implicit strategic intents

PurposeThe main aim of this article is to broaden the notion of strategic intent in public relations. It also develops an understanding of the social value of what can be defined as the first modern health communication campaign in Europe based on strategic intents and the development of modernity.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on both historical research and empirical material from the Norwegian tuberculosis campaign from 1889 up to 1913, when Norwegian women achieved suffrage. The campaign is analysed in the framework of modernity and social theory. The literature on lobbying and social movements is also used to develop a theoretical framework for the notion of strategic intent.FindingsThe study shows that strategic intent can be divided into two layers: (1) the implicit strategic intent is the real purpose behind the communication efforts, whereas (2) the explicit intent is found directly in the communication efforts. The explicit intent may be presented as a solution for the good of society at the right political moment, giving an organisation the possibility to mobilise for long-term social changes, in which could be the implicit intent.Originality/valueThe distinction between explicit and implicit strategic intent broadens our understanding on how to make long-term social changes as well as how social and political changes occur in modern societies. The article also gives a historical account of what is here defined as the first modern health communication campaign in Europe and its social value.

The role of trust in Belarusian societal mobilization (2020–2021)

Social trust is believed to be beneficial to societal mobilization and the participation in protests. At the same time, state performance, notably of state power structures during instances of social and political protest and change, has an impact on the public perception of and trust in these institutions as well as the assessment of their legitimacy. The police are the most visible manifestation of state authority, which has become particularly apparent during post-electoral protests in Belarus in 2020, when their performance directly influenced and determined further societal mobilization. Based on a mixed-methods design, drawing on interview and survey data, this contribution seeks to shed light on the role of trust in societal mobilization during instances of protest and change in Belarus between 2020 and 2021. One of the main findings is that repression by the regime and its police forces affected both institutional trust and the level of protest mobilization. Protest participation in turn correlates with an increase in social trust.

Phenomenology and empowerment in self-testing apps.

Although self-testing apps, a form of mobile health (mHealth) apps, are often marketed as empowering, it is not obvious how exactly they can empower their users-and in which sense of the word. In this article, I discuss two conceptualisations of empowerment as polar opposites-one in health promotion/mHealthand one in feminist theory-and demonstrate how both their applications to individually used self-testing apps run into problems. The first, prevalent in health promotion and mHealth, focuses on internal states and understands empowerment as an individual process. However, this version of empowerment has been accused of paternalism and responsibilisation. The second, feminist version considers structural conditions and foregrounds collective, political change, whose realisation is not obviously attainable for an individually used app. By pointing out the flaws of the positions that focus on either internal states or external conditions, and by engaging with theory from critical phenomenology, I argue that the interplay between them is where empowerment can take place. I propose to formulate empowerment in phenomenological terms as a shift in being-in-the-world and discuss how this conceptualisation of empowerment would avoid the criticism of previous empowerment narratives while being realisable by self-testing apps.

Linguistic change in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: a corpus linguistic comparison of language contact phenomena in Romance languages

Abstract The radical social, political, and economic changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are clearly reflected in language use through the appearance of numerous neologisms, most of which can be considered borrowings from English. In this article, we take a contrastive linguistic approach and focus on the emergence of new lexemes in the press language of four Romance languages (European Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian and European French) with a special focus on language contact. Since no press corpora were available with specific data on the COVID-19 pandemic, we created our own corpora for the entire year 2020 using Python in order to compare how lexical innovation is dealt with in the four languages. Our results show that conceptual innovation, especially when it occurs abruptly, can lead to equivalent, often phonotactically adapted neologisms in the case of neighbouring languages. However, the integration of foreign words and the formation of neologisms also show language-specific peculiarities which are not only related to structural characteristics of the respective languages, but also to sociolinguistic and sociocultural factors. Our study elaborates on the relationship between these factors and shows the potential of contrastive and computational approaches for the study of lexical repercussions of language contact.

Annulment Actions and the V4 Member States: Taking EU Legislative Conflicts Before the Court of Justice

<p>The EU Member States have been using the action for annulment to challenge the legality of EU measures while pursuing a range of non-legal, essentially political motivations. This also holds true for the V4 Member States, which have also resorted to annulment actions to judicialize their legislative conflicts within the EU before the Court of Justice. Among the V4, Poland has been the most frequent litigant, using this institutional tool increasingly actively during the last ten years. Poland’s behavior appears to confirm expectations of differentiation among this group of Member States. It also coincides with a period of political change marked by deep conflicts with the EU. The V4 annulment challenges against EU legislative measures usually made a genuine effort to achieve the legal objective of annulling the challenged legal act. However, there is evidence that they also pursued certain political motivations or a combination of them. These could include the securing of gains in domestic politics, avoiding the local costs of an EU policy misfit and/or promoting a preferred policy position, and/or the influencing of EU competence arrangements. In a few cases, the litigant Member State aimed to avoid concrete material disadvantages. Securing a legal interpretation from the Court of Justice that would influence the behavior of other EU actors, or clarify the law affecting the position of the applicant Member State also motivated some of the V4 legal challenges.</p>

Overcoming the Barrier to Cross-Strait Trade to Advance Taiwan's Economic Growth

Abstract The purpose of this research is to present a comprehensive framework for studying and finding a solution to the cross-strait dilemma between China and Taiwan, which goes beyond the political aspect. China has become a global economic powerhouse, significantly affecting trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Taiwan has become increasingly dependent on China for its economic growth, with 40% of our reliance on the mainland. However, recent political changes and opposition to China have led to strained relations, which are now impacting our exports. To ensure the well-being and interests of the Taiwanese people, our leaders need to recognize the current situation and adjust our national strategy accordingly. Our focus should be on stabilizing cross-strait relations, promoting economic and trade cooperation, and working towards a mutually beneficial partnership based on equality, cooperation, and trust. The most important thing is to prioritize the Taiwanese people's welfare and create a strategic plan that benefits both. JEL classification numbers: D72, F10, F17. Keywords: Mutual Trust, Mutual Benefit, Equality, Cooperation, Relationships.

Innovative Technologies in Countering Extremism and Terrorism

Terrorism and extremism are distinct concepts often interconnected in discussions about political, religious, or ideological violence. Terrorism mentions to the use of vehemence, pressure, or force to attain party-political, spiritual, or conceptual areas, disrupting normal life and exerting pressure on governments or societies. Extremism, characterized by extreme political or religious views, often involves radical ideologies and intolerance towards opposing beliefs, often seeking dramatic changes in society or politics, rejecting moderation. Extremist ideologies can sometimes lead to terrorist acts, but not all extremists resort to violence. It's crucial to differentiate between extreme beliefs and violent actions, as not all terrorists are driven by extremism. Recommendations to safeguard against security threats are proposed.

Local Governments’ Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change in Ghana: Evidence From Bongo District

Global environmental policies require strong local actions to make an impact. However, the capacity for local action and impact are often taken for granted. This paper examines the institutional capacity of the Bongo district assembly to support the livelihood adaptation capacity of rural smallholder farmers. Twenty key informant interviews were done, and five focus group discussions were also conducted in five communities. The paper finds that the local government is too weak to facilitate climate change adaptation at the local level due to four institutional barriers: politics of climate change, barriers relating to centralized planning, limited funding stream, and absence of skilled manpower.

Gender and Expertise in the Mixed Economy of Mental Welfare in Greece

The late 1970s and the 1980s were a time of political and social change in Greece, following the collapse of the seven-year military dictatorship, as well as a time of rupture in mental healthcare: new approaches were being developed, including those implemented by the Society of Social Psychiatry and Mental Health, a voluntary, nonprofit scientific association, founded in 1981 (officially in 1986). This article places the initiatives undertaken by the society within the international context of postwar mental healthcare, and within the national postdictatorship framework. It uses the analytical concept of the “mixed economy of welfare”, demonstrating that the society’s work was based on the synergy between the private and the public. Furthermore, the article discusses how concepts of gender were embedded in and shaped by the work of the society in the 1980s, arguing that the society reproduced the traditional gender hierarchies of the mental health field while reworking the hierarchies within its personnel – psychiatrists and other professionals, experts and nonexperts, and, by extension, to some degree at least, men and women mental healthcare providers.

Childhood in foster care institutions in Central Pomerania between 1945 and 1975

The study provides an overview of the situation of children, victims of the war nightmare, who found themselves in foster care institutions in Central Pomerania after the end of the Second World War. The post-war period of development of these institutions was very diverse. It was associated with the social, political, administrative and economic changes that were taking place in Poland at the time. In the difficult conditions of life in the Recovered Territories, care activities for abandoned children were carried out by childcare and educational institutions, health care, daycare, and aid institutions of different natures. The aim of the study is to show the theoretical assumptions and practical contexts concerning the child and childhood in the space of foster care institutions in Central Pomerania in the years 1945–1975 and the transformations taking place in these institutions, which had an impact on the quality of childhood of the pupils/foster children.The main research problem of this study is contained in the question: How did the areas of childhood (economic, social-emotional, learning, preparation for independent living) change in foster care institutions in Central Pomerania in the context of the State’s welfare policy between 1945 and 1975?Verifying the research assumption was mainly done using archival document analysis and interviews. The study fills a gap in the regional literature in this scope and provides a basis for further in-depth research.

Activists and activism success: towards a grounded conceptualisation

AbstractSuccess is an important aspect of evaluating activism because the latter is a vehicle for political change. However, the idea of ‘success’ has proved difficult to capture in easily measurable ways. This has led some analysts to overlook its complexities and others to avoid the idea altogether, instead focusing on impacts, consequences and other seemingly less loaded terms. The definition of activism success therefore remains unsettled and under-studied. This article argues that an important perspective in evaluating activism is that of the activists themselves. What constitutes success (or not) for them must be an important consideration in defining and analysing it because it underpins the sense of purpose and value they put on what they do and helps to sustain them in the longer term. A workshop conducted with grass-roots activists in Liverpool provides useful insights towards this. The analysis of their reflections on successful activism suggests that it is still an important idea, but a complex and nuanced one that is multi-dimensional, political and contested. It reflects attitudes to a wider range of outcomes, the value of participation and attitudes to power, factors that analysts should consider incorporating into future studies.

The concept of performative national identity: the theoretical methodological framework

   Modern social and political changes emphasize the particular relevance of the problem of forming national identity in the context of often contradictory sociocultural processes. Leveling out negative social phenomena that exploit the category of national identity and developing its potential for the formation of civic values and harmonization of interethnic relations in Russian society necessitates a deep understanding of this phenomenon, which is considered primarily as a result of its construction by social institutions.   However, this process also takes the form of assimilation of elements of nation-building, passed through the filters of personal attitudes, representation of individual national identity in various social situations, which constitutes the problem of this research.   Based on the study of theoretical data, the author proposed a category of performative national identity based on the application of the approaches of social constructivism and symbolic interactionism. The methods of theoretical research were theoretical analysis and synthesis, induction and modeling. As a result, the category of performative national identity has been developed, which includes technologies, features, resources for construction and conscious and unconscious representation of national identity in everyday practices. The results of the research develop the theory and methodology of constructing national identity, expand the understanding of the process of formation of national identity as a result of the assimilation of collective memory through the prism of personal attitudes, and also allow us to study the features of the representation of national identity in various situations from the point of view of the dramaturgical approach.

Local passion and national apathy: investigating the phenomenon of selective voting behaviour

ABSTRACT Although there is a substantial difference in turnout between local and national elections, a significant number of citizens are locally mobilised yet they do not vote in national elections. While some previous studies have predominantly attributed this pattern to a municipal size, this study ascertains that locally bound motives and attitudinal factors also exert influence, independent of the municipality size. The research reveals that citizens who report personal acquaintance with local councillors also express an overall satisfaction with the local election outcomes and perceive a notable change in council politics are more inclined to vote only in local elections. Although displaying lower support of central government, these locally mobilised citizens exhibit greater satisfaction with the state of democracy and local political dynamics in comparison to non-voters. Consequently, these significant findings offer an optimistic outlook from a democratic theory perspective.

Global Climate Change Politics: Critical Appraisal of India’s Changing Role

Global warming and consequent climate change have emerged as serious issues and have started featuring on almost all multilateral forums with statements warning the global leadership to get increasingly proactive about addressing the issues. In world politics, countries are viewing climate change as an issue to gain influence in international politics. India is no exception to this rule and has been shaping its role as a rule-shaper and policy advocate and is an active participant in climate change negotiations. This article traces India’s role since the talks on climate change began as part of wider environmental concerns. It also enumerates the way global leadership viewed and addressed this pressing issue from time to time. The article provides a brief but critical account of India’s policy interventions at global and national levels to appraise India’s growing role and relevance.

Progress in Access and Oral Polio Vaccine Coverage Among Children Aged

Warfare has long impeded vaccination programs in polio-endemic Afghanistan. We aimed to describe progress in access to children under 5, oral polio vaccine (OPV) coverage among children under 5 in nationwide polio campaigns, and polio surveillance performance indicators after the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan collapsed to Taliban forces in August 2021. Trends in the number of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases and surveillance indicators from 2015 to 2023, and trends in the OPV coverage in the November 2020-June 2022 polio campaigns, were described. From 2015 to mid-July 2020, 74 of 126 (58.7%) WPV1 cases were reported from inaccessible areas. In November 2020, 34.1% of target children under 5 were inaccessible; in November 2021 (the first postchange polio campaign), all were accessible. From November 2020, under-5 OPV coverage of 69.9% rose steadily to 99.9% in the May 2022 campaign. The number of cVDPV cases fell from 308 (2020) to zero (2022). June 2022's house-to-house OPV coverage was 34.2% higher than non-house-to-house modalities. Nonpolio acute flaccid paralysis and stool adequacy rates rose from 18.5/100 000 and 92.6% in 2020 to 24.3/100 000 and 94.4% in 2022, respectively. Children's inaccessibility no longer vitiates polio eradication; polio surveillance systems are less likely to miss any poliovirus circulation.

ICTs for Afghan women's empowerment in the pre‐ and new‐Taliban era: Roles of gender, education, and crises

AbstractIn this paper, we explore women's use of ICTs in urban Afghanistan in the period between 2015 and 2022 to examine the changing gender dynamics of ICT access and usage in the context of expanding opportunities for women's education and employment (2015–2020) and different forms of crises, including the COVID19 pandemic (2020–2021) and political takeover by the fundamentalist and violent Taliban regime (2021–2022). Drawing on feminist theorization of empowerment and using a mixed methods study of 817 questionnaires (2015) and observation data (2015–2022) allows us to make visible the contingent and unintended dynamics of the relationship between women's empowerment and ICTs, especially in conflict zones. These findings contribute to ongoing debates on gender, empowerment and ICTs by emphasizing the multifaceted nature of technology adoption and usage, the significance of education in overcoming barriers, and the evolving role of ICTs, especially for women, in the face of radical political changes and crises.

Two Counties in Crisis: Measuring Political Change in Reconstruction Texas

Robert Dillard’s Two Counties in Crisis explores three decades of political culture in two divergent Texas counties. Collin County, a frontier county largely home to emigrants from other Southern states, is contrasted against Harrison County, a cotton growing county with 145 planters who each owned more than 20 enslaved peoples. Dillard claims that these counties, and Texas more broadly, did not neatly align with the political culture of the rest of the Confederacy. In a combination of political science and history, Dillard argues that a culture of backlash and resistance to federal authority defined Texas state politics in the Civil War era. While the author’s claims of exceptionalism are unconvincing and unsubstantiated, Two Counties in Crisis demonstrates the contentious state level politics of Reconstruction.

Field Hockey in China: An Exploration of Socioeconomic and Political Changes, 1900–2024

Field hockey’s development in China, mirroring its socio-political shifts over a century, unfolds in four phases. The first phase began in 1900; field hockey was introduced into China because Westerners played in Foreign Concession in Shanghai. With the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, field hockey gained official recognition, marking the second phase. Following the Cultural Revolution, field hockey gained significant prominence in the third phase, particularly women’s field hockey, peaking with a 2008 Beijing Olympics silver medal, reflecting China’s strategic Olympic ambitions. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games led the development of field hockey into the fourth phase. Youth field hockey received more and more attention. While this has elevated China’s field hockey population, it also underscores potential imbalances between promoting elite sports and grassroots development. The professionalisation of field hockey remains in its nascent stages, with state-driven growth overshadowing broader public participation. The development of field hockey in China reflects the intricate interplay between China’s sports policies, national identity, and international ambitions and offers researchers a window to develop critical perspectives on the power dynamics and policy-making processes in sports.

A multiplex network approach to the self-organizing bonding and bridging social capital fostered among local residents: A case study of community currency in Korea under the Hanbat LETS

A variety of community currency systems have been adopted, implemented, and terminated among the local communities of Korea over the last two decades. Despite its volatility due to the economic, social, and political environmental changes occurring in Korean society, the Hanbat local exchange trading system (LETS) is regarded as an innovative practice in grassroots community currency schemes based on trust and cooperation among local residents and plays a critical role in promoting community rebuilding and the formation of a sharing economy in this area. This study is aimed at empirically investigating the microprocesses underlying the formation of multiple types of social capital—bonding, bridging, and linking social capital—that were observed in the transactions among the Hanbat LETS members through inferential network analysis. The findings show that bonding and bridging social capital coexist in both a singular (or uniplex) type and in distinct (or multiplex) types of transactional tie developments among the participants through this community currency system. By examining the ways in which these multiple types of social capital are fostered through a bottom-up approach focused on a community currency system, the results of this study suggest the potential roles played by peer-to-peer support exchanges and the sharing economy in a local community.