Political Consolidation Research Articles

Iron Swords and Ancient Echoes: Ancient Jewish History in the Israeli Far‐Right Rhetoric for Unity After October 7

ABSTRACTThis study provides a comprehensive analysis of the rhetorical strategies and narrative techniques employed by Israeli far‐right political figures during the early months of the Iron Swords War (October–December 2023) in Gaza. Utilising a qualitative discourse analysis approach, the research focuses on televised speeches and public statements made by key far‐right figures within Netanyahu's coalition, amidst the crisis following the October 7 attacks and the contentious jurisdictional reforms. These narratives served as a pivotal tool for political consolidation and public persuasion. Central to this analysis are concepts that elucidate how historical narratives are employed to shape collective identity and behaviour. The study reveals that, in response to accusations against Netanyahu's coalition for failures related to the events of October 7, there was a strategic emphasis on fostering national unity. This was achieved by invoking ancient Jewish historical narratives and symbols, with the aim of transcending religious and political divides and instilling a sense of shared heritage and purpose. The findings suggest that these rhetorical strategies were not only a response to the immediate crisis but also a critical tool for consolidating power and bolstering the coalition's legitimacy. The study contributes to the understanding of political discourse in times of national crisis, highlighting the role of historical narratives in shaping national identity and the dynamics of power within contemporary Israeli politics.

Snake queens and political consolidation: How royal women helped create Kaan: A view from Waka’ – CORRIGENDUM

Snake queens and political consolidation: How royal women helped create Kaan: A view from Waka’ – CORRIGENDUM

Social Crisis and Islamist Transformation: Iraq’s Sadrism Through Bourdieu’s Homology

Abstract This article theorizes Islamist transformations by mapping the evolution of Sadrism in contemporary Iraq through a period of state collapse, war, and political consolidation. Using Pierre Bourdieu, this perspective emphasizes how field-based crises can synchronize and amplify homological relations between the deep-lying structures which differentiate religious from political spheres of Islamist activity. The article identifies these homological processes and structures and explains how they have patterned underlying morphologies of Sadrist politics. This differs from existing literature on Islamist movements where religion has often been contextualized in terms of material social conditions, or priority ascribed to political struggles and structures and emphasis placed on surface-level symbolic practices. By contrast, a Bourdieusian lens provides a theoretically robust approach to study the relationship between religion and politics, and an evaluative framework for Islamist transformations which is less normative than some alternatives and more generalizable beyond the context of Islamism and Islam.

In pursuit of power: Land tenancy contracts and local political business cycles in Indonesia

This study examines whether strategic delegation of land tenancy contracts is linked to local-level political business cycles in the context of a village institution – bengkok land – prevalent since the Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia. Bengkok land refers to communal village land that incumbent village heads receive usufruct rights over until their term in the office ends. We test whether incumbent village heads utilize time-bound access to bengkok land for political consolidation. Based on a novel cross-sectional household survey fielded in 2018 across 130 Javanese villages, we find robust evidence of a positive correlation between the percentage of total tenancy contracts as sharecropping and proximity (before or after) to the village election. As vulnerability of the sharecroppers makes them a pro-poor target for the incumbent village heads, these results implicate political capture.

Policy implementation and strategic effects: Assessing the impact of parliamentary thresholds on Indonesia’s political system and governance

This study examines the impact of parliamentary thresholds on the Indonesian political system through the lens of the Routine Policy Implementation Model and the Strategic Policy Implementation Model. The main objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of parliamentary thresholds in managing political fragmentation, assess their impact on stability and representation in the legislative system, and understand their implementation’s technical and strategic implications. Using a qualitative approach supported by interview studies and field observations, this research combines analysis of election data in the 2009, 2014, and 2019 elections with a qualitative assessment of policy changes and political dynamics. The Routine Policy Implementation Model focuses on the technical aspects of threshold implementation, including vote counting procedures and seat allocation efficiency. Meanwhile, the Strategic Policy Implementation Model examines the broader implications of these thresholds for political consolidation, government effectiveness, and the representation of minor parties. The results show that the parliamentary threshold has significantly reduced political fragmentation by consolidating the number of parties in Parliament, resulting in a legislative system that is cleaner and easier to administer. However, this consolidation has also marginalized small parties and limited political diversity. The novelty of this study lies in its comprehensive analysis of how parliamentary thresholds affect administrative efficiency and strategic political stability in Indonesia, compared to democratic countries in transition, such as Slovenia and Montenegro. In conclusion, although parliamentary thresholds have increased political stability and government effectiveness, they have also raised concerns about the reduced representation of small and regional parties. The study recommends maintaining balanced thresholds that ensure stability and diversity, implementing mechanisms to review thresholds periodically, and involving diverse stakeholders in adjusting policies to reflect evolving political dynamics. This approach will help balance the need for a stable legislative environment with broad representation.

Can Ethnic Minority Political Parties Influence the Policy Process in Fragmented Societies? Insights from Sri Lanka

Existing scholarship from developing countries explores the dynamics of identity/ethnocentric politics and finds that in fragmented societies, politicians’ identities tend to influence government policies to favour their own community or group. Against this backdrop, the article explores how the Hill Country ethnic minority community of Sri Lanka influences the policy process through electoral politics. Findings reveal that ethnic minority parties systematically use rational choice theory to influence policy processes to gain material and welfare benefits. The study highlights the fact that ethnic parties tend to induce strong ethnic feelings using ethno-populism to mobilize voters, provide unconditional support, maintain an ever-changing coalition with the ruling administration and have political bargaining based on ethnic headcounts to influence policies. The article informs that this pattern is harmful to post-conflict societies striving for sustainable peace and reconciliation and highlights the necessity of inclusive and impartial policies and institutions, political consolidation and inter-ethnic justice to accommodate ethnic minorities in the mainstream politics and development to prevent deepening ethnopolitical cleavages in the guise of electoral politics.

Non-state campaigning: Islamic State’s guerrilla warfare doctrine

ABSTRACT We trace the influences and evolution of Islamic State’s guerrilla warfare doctrine, how it fits into a larger insurgency strategy, and how its military leaders sequenced the employment of military forces in time and space to achieve operational and strategic effects in its patient and successful campaign to establish its so-called caliphate in 2014. Applying Mao’s three phases of guerrilla warfare, we used a database of Islamic State movement attack claims from 2008 to 2014 to determine the character and patterns of guerrilla tactics during each of these three phases. We found that the group maintained a disciplined and patient approach to achieving political consolidation, eschewing any reliance on popular uprising or conducting large-scale military operations. This knowledge better helps us understand both non-state campaigning and the identification of early warning indicators of insurgent success.

Early Uses by Ancient Hawaiians, and Environmental, Geographical, and Ecological History, of Haleakalā Crater, East Maui

This research assesses the environmental uses of Haleakalā Crater, and adjoining east Maui areas, by native Hawaiians during recent centuries, and evaluates the modern utilization of this volcanic depression. The study methods examine, and focus on, numerous historical and modern accounts and reports. Three historical periods were identified as follows: (1). A phase, from the ~1400s until contact with foreigners in 1778, characterized by the development of settlements, population expansion, the intensification of traditional agriculture, and the political consolidation of Maui. The construction of the Kiha-a-Pi‘i-lani trail across the crater enhanced travel between distant island areas. (2). Following the collapse of Maui’s human populations during the late 1700s, and until the 20th century, came a period distinguished by scientific exploration of the crater, and intentional or accidental introductions of animals, including goats, horses, cattle, and wild dogs. (3). After Haleakalā became a National Park in 1916, efforts to eradicate introduced animals and to encourage the reproduction of silverswords and other plants were initiated. Unfortunately, in retrospect, construction of a modern paved road, improvement of hiking trails, and building of facilities allowed swift access to the Park and substantially increased tourist numbers, up to ~2 million yearly visitors. Faced with such crowds, the long-term planning of Park resources appears to be a formidable task.

Local circulation of elites punctuated by transregional mobility enabled steppe political consolidation in the Xiongnu nomadic state.

The Xiongnu polity (ca. 200 BC- 150 AD) emerged out of indigenous community-centered socio-political structures to forge a powerful state that commanded the Mongolian steppe and beyond. Underpinned by a highly mobile pastoralist population, accustomed to seasonally rhythmic moves and embedded in an equestrian culture that facilitated rapid transport over long-distances, it remains unclear precisely how the movement of commoners, local aristocrats and regional elites abetted the formation and organization of Xiongnu state structures. Here, we evaluate Xiongnu movement and dietary intake through multi-stable isotopic analyses of tooth enamel from directly dated Xiongnu intermediate elites recovered from the mortuary center of Baga Gazaryn Chuluu-a prominent granite outcrop set in the Gobi Desert. Carbon isotope (δ13C) analysis indicates millet was consumed by some individuals, but whether or not this C4 cultivar contributed to the diets of most elites remains ambiguous in this C3/C4 desert-steppe environment. The effectiveness of oxygen isotopes (δ18O) to establish mobility appears much reduced in steppe environments, where geospatially sensitive information appears disrupted by extraordinary seasonality in meteoric water oxygen isotopes, pronounced oxygen isotopic variation in potential drinking water sources, and culturally mediated drinking practices. Most revealing, strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) indicate circulation of local elites around this central place and beyond, a mobility format that helped leaders cement their own position through political consolidation of spatially dispersed mobile pastoralist communities. The consistent presence at Baga Gazaryn Chuluu of extra-local intermediate elites also points toward the importance of transregional mobility in binding together the Xiongnu polity over the vast distances of the eastern steppe.

Модели этносоциального мониторинга: проблемы научного прогнозирования этнических процессов

Ethnological monitoring organization models, tested since the early 1990s in the subjects of the Russian Federation, are considered in the article. Particular attention is paid to the problem of scientific forecasting algorithm forming of the ethno-social situation change, using the principles of three methodological approaches - process, systemic and selective. The systematic approach is determined by the fact that the object of monitoring is a dynamic complex and multi-level system (complex) of social communications - political, socio-economic, socio-cultural. Only some of them are traditional (stochastic). The ethnic component of the structure of social relations (between social institutions) manifests itself in an extremely wide spectrum: from the ethnic sectors of the rural and urban economy with elements of network organization to the system of communications of cultural and confessional associations with local governments. The process approach has a two-component sructure. On the one hand, monitoring itself should be considered as a complex of interdependent processes with clearly expressed actors (participants) of the process, their social attitudes, the algorithm (sequence) of research of the current situation. Based on the algorithm of the structural-functional analysis, the persons involved in this process (both legal and physical) are divided (by function) into three groups: a) "responsible" for organizing the process and implementing its results in political practice; b) "executors" - organizers of the ethno- social situation investigation - representatives of the expert community; c) "participants" - persons and organizations indirectly involved in the monitoring deployment/ The persons (both legal and physical) involved in this process, based on the structural-functional analysis algorithm, are divided (by function) into three groups: a) "responsible" for organizing the process and implementing its results in political practice; b) "executors" - organizers and representatives of the expert community; c) "participants" - persons and organizations indirectly involved in monitoring. According to the author, the object of modern monitoring (as a procedure) is not so much social processes that initiate the national (state) and group (ethnic) interests clash, but indicators of socio-economic, ethno-social and ethno-cultural situation (environment). The use of these indicators does not expand the possibilities of scientific forecasting of the ethnosocial situation change, but on the contrary, narrows them. In this regard, it is proposed to consider the materials of monitoring studies as an independent group of sources to identify the intersection of latent forms of ethnic processes - ethnic structure and settlement system changes, traditional social organization and subsistence systems transformation, political consolidation, migrant adaptation, assimilation, and traditional culture commodification. Reorientation of the object of ethnological monitoring on ethnic processes objectively promotes: applied anthropology of the subject area change; expansion of chronological framework (up to two centuries); principles of sampling approach. With the change of the subject area there is a prospect of the formation of databases to analyze the relationship of political history and ethnic history of the peoples of Russia.

Snake queens and political consolidation: How royal women helped create Kaan: A view from Waka’

AbstractClassic Maya history was rife with shifting political coalitions and disputes with the key antagonists, Tikal and the Kaan regime, at the center. Understanding how power dynamics and political shifts were experienced among subordinate polities is best viewed from multiple perspectives. We employ elements of Graeber and Sahlins' (2017) stranger-king model, focusing on exogamous marriage practices in relation to two Snake Queens ruling at Waka’. They served as direct links between the Kaan regime and the subordinate Wak polity. We focus on the political and diplomatic nature of their roles in crafting Waka's place in the overarching narratives of alliance and conquest during the sixth through the early part of the eighth centuries. The pairing of archaeological and textual data surrounding Ix Ikoom in the sixth century and Lady K'abel during the seventh century permit interrogation of women's prominence with respect to Kaan regime-building strategies during these centuries.

La movilidad del paisaje mexicano decimonónico

Nineteenth-century Mexico offers a confluence of factors that have received critical attention: visuality, public display, order, progress, consumer culture, political consolidation, and modernization. During this period, the proliferation of landscape references by institutions such as the Academy of San Carlos and the National Institute of Geography and Statistics in the form of paintings, postcards, maps, and statistics links the fields of aesthetics and science, which, in their emerging stages and shared role as agents in the creation of a modern Mexican culture, served as instruments for measuring progress at the national level and status at the international level. While the great master of Mexican landscape painting, José María Velasco, has been recognized in several studies for his creation of a visual language for Mexican landscape heritage that registers the increasing speeds associated with modernization, his works also obscure a darker reality: the privatization of Mexican land under the Porfiriato. In this article, I first explore the conceptual frameworks through which the interfaces between land and landscape can be understood as parallel representations. Next, I consider the development of a Mexican landscape aesthetic and its implications for the creation of a class of consumer-citizens who are apparently at odds with the surrenderist land policies of the Porfiriato. Finally, I explore the connection between Velasco’s works and correspondences during the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition (1876) and the World’s Columbian Exposition (1893) and the incorporation of the Mexican landscape into the surrenderist politics of national land that marked Mexico’s entry into the modern era.

State capacity and the unplanned decline of Venezuela’s petro-state: reflections for sustainable transitions and the Green New Deal

Venezuela has historically been one of the world’s largest oil producers and has the largest crude reserves. However, the country has experienced a dramatic political and economic crisis over the past decade that has decimated its oil industry. Venezuela’s production shrunk sharply in the past six years, oil exports have declined and the country is now a marginal producer in global markets. This crisis has taken place amid a process of autocratic political consolidation and the establishment of a predatory political economy. This article focuses on this crisis and interrogates to what extent it can pave the way to a sustainable move away from oil dependence in dialogue with recent debates on sustainable transition processes. Building on the intersections of Global Political Economy and environmental politics, we highlight the importance of interconnecting links across state, society and international actors in viable sustainability transitions, such as proposals for Green New Deal(s) in different national contexts. Our analysis of the Venezuelan case subsequently highlights the absence of these capacities. We argue that contemporary Venezuela underscores the risks and costs of post-oil energy transitions in rentier states. Contemporary Venezuela is thus a cautionary tale for resource-dependent economies that may also undergo post-oil transitions in the future due to shifting global conditions but likewise lack the necessary state capacity to respond and adapt.

Clientage, debt, and the integrative orientation of non-elites on the East African Swahili coast

Ceramic trends on Unguja Island in Zanzibar, Tanzania provide insights into non-elite political strategies on the East African Swahili Coast. Synthesizing imported ceramic data from two seasons of systematic field survey across rural Unguja with historical, ethnographic, and archaeological evidence from coastal East Africa, this paper argues that an integrative orientation toward power characterized bottom-up action on the Swahili Coast over the second millennium CE. While theories of bottom-up action have emphasized commoner autonomy and resistance to clientage, debt, and social inequality, evidence from the Swahili Coast attests to efforts by non-elites to seek entrance into cycles of reciprocal obligation as a means for recognition and social mobility—a specifically non-egalitarian orientation toward power. In response, elites competed with one another to accumulate wealth-in-people, resulting in a competitive patron-client system that prevented political consolidation. Elucidating these dynamics contributes to an understanding of how non-elite political strategies have shaped sociopolitical systems globally.

THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC AND ITS FIRST PRESIDENT IN THE ASSESSMENTS OF M. SLAVINSKY

The article is devoted to the perception of the Czechoslovak Republic and the personality of its first president, T.G. Masaryk, by the famous Ukrainian socio-political, cultural and educational figure Maksym Slavinsky (1868-1945). The research methodology is based on the study and critical analysis of M. Slavinsky's official addresses to the top leadership of Czechoslovakia, his interviews and publications about T. G. Masaryk, essays on international relations and other political journalism. The use of the research principles of historicism, scientific objectivity and systematicity contributed to the study of the peculiarities of M. Slavinsky's perception of the Czechoslovak Republic and the figure of its first president, T. G. Masaryk. The author of the article notes that one of the priority objects of study for Ukrainian emigrants in the interwar period was the Czechoslovak Republic and the figure of its first president T. G. Masaryk. To a large extent, this is explained by the unique support of the authorities of this country for the cultural needs of Ukrainian refugees. In their writings, teaching staff and students of educational and cultural-scientific institutions established in the Czechoslovak Republic repeatedly paid attention to various aspects of T. G. Masaryk's activities, thus expressing gratitude to the Czechoslovak Republic and its leader for their support. It was noted that the peculiarity of the coverage of this topic by M. Slavinsky was that he touched it not as a scientist, but as a statesman, being in 1919-1923 the head of the Extraordinary Diplomatic Mission of the Ukrainian People's Republic in the Czechoslovak Republic, in 1923-1939 - as an emigrant. It was established that as the head of the diplomatic mission of the Ukrainian People's Republic and later as an emigrant, M. Slavinsky evaluated the figure of T.G. Masaryk from the point of view of his political successes. A certain glorification is noticeable in the assessments of the president of Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak Republic was mentioned in the context of a successful state-building experience, in particular, its democracy, political consolidation of the country, peaceful foreign policy were noted. He assessed the attitude towards Ukraine as neutrality, noted Prague's support for Ukrainian military emigration. The high evaluations of the Czechoslovak Republic were not determined only by the diplomatic tact of the representative of Ukraine. They reflected the serious domestic and foreign political achievements of the young state. As an emigrant, M. Slavinsky did not change his high assessment of the Czechoslovak Republic and its first president, he emphasized their support for the cultural life of Ukrainian emigrants. However, after the destruction of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1938-1939, M. Slavinsky mentioned the unresolved national issue and stated the problems of the country's foreign policy orientation.

Understanding the floating ummah in neoliberal Indonesia

ABSTRACT In recent decades, politicians – particularly of the conservative kind – have been influential in binding together political support based on identity. Taking the case of the most populous Muslim country in the world and the largest democracy in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, this study analyses how Islamic identity has been instrumental during moments of political consolidation. It focuses on the way the political campaign industry uses social media to appeal to an otherwise fragmented ‘floating ummah’ (Hadiz, V. R. (2018). The ‘floating’ ummah in the fall of ‘Ahok’ in Indonesia. TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, 7, 271–290), is an assemblage of believers unified momentarily against an abstract oppressor. The mobilisation of the floating ummah with social media, this article argues, has provided opportunities for marginal politicians to gain standing in an intra-elite struggle over power dominated by the oligarchy.

Patriotism of Generations in Modern russian society

The article deals with various aspects of Russian studies of patriotism within the framework of the theory of generations. The subject of the analysis was the patriotic values and attitudes of Russian citizens in the context and conditions of the reorganization and restructuring of the world order. Based on the sociological research data, the author comes to the conclusion about the high level of political consolidation of the Russian society and significant differences between generations in the content of patriotism. The prospects for further research of patriotism in Russian society are connected with the application of a complex methodology that reveals not only values and attitudes, but also frames, motivation, and models of behaviour in extraordinary conditions.

Why Chalans Resistance? Protests by the Tea Plantation Labourers against the Britishers in the Nineteenth Century

The occupation of Assam by the British in the first half of the nineteenth century led Assam to be connected with the rest of India. Assam under the Company’s rule had seen its political consolidation by the British and economic expansion with new industries. The Company did not waste time to look into the economic prospects of the region and initiated explorations to search for new possibilities, tea industry being one of them. The success of the experiments with the tea plantations largely depended on the quality of labour which is employed. The tea companies had to brought labourers from outside as Assam was highly depopulated at that time. This with other developments in the region had transformed the economy and society of Assam and in course of time the people of Assam developed a feeling of being exploited by the colonial rule. The tea plantation labourers were not the one to be left alone by this consciousness of anti-imperialism. There emerged a strong anti-colonial and political awareness amongst the plantation labourers which culminated into a series of protests by them in the nineteenth century.

Soviet experience: Ressentiment, pattern or actual course of scientific research

The paper considers of scientific research issues of the so-called strengths of the USSR. The author states aim difficulties when addressing this topic, demonstrates its actual presence not only in the sphere of public space but also in modern foreign analytical works, even those that are not directly related to the history of the Soviet Union. The research noted the dialectic of the formal chronological limitation of this problem and its semantic going beyond the Soviet period. The author postulates the relativity of the definition of the strengths of the USSR and often their direct connection with those aspects of reality that can be defined as weak. The strengths of the USSR are considered through a general message about their commonality, at least partially, within the framework of the Russian civilizational model and partial continuity in relation to modern Russia. The author outlines several characteristics relevant to the definition of the strengths of the USSR: the actual continuity of the Soviet state education (its historicism); the size of the territory; population; stable ideological and propaganda patterns that provide support for the Soviet Union abroad; ideocracy, international composition and a high degree of elites’ political consolidation, their focus on modernization, raising the general educational level of the population.

Religious and political consolidation in Southern Dagestan in 2010-2020: the inclusion of local communities in the general Dagestan Muslim space

This article analyzes a little-studied aspect of the consolidation of Dagestan society in 2010-2020: how the process of religious and political unification took place in Southern Dagestan. The paper traces the process of alternation of political and administrative-coercive methods in the unification of local Islamic communities in the region. The author proves that the murder of Sheikh Sirazhudin Khuriksky, who had maintained the religious independence of Southern Dagestan since the 1990s, was a turning point in the process of eliminating the religious autonomy of this sub-region. These changes coincided with the coming to the post of the head of Dagestan Ramazan Abdulatipov, who actively interfered in local politics. The Dagestan Muftiate took advantage of this situation to extend its influence to Southern Dagestan. The described processes led to the consolidation of political power in the republic and the unification of the Muslim space. The former fragmentation and complication of religious and political life have been stopped. Because they threatened the emergence of uncontrolled processes associated with the radicalization of Dagestan Muslim society.