Political Decay Research Articles

Bulding a democratic state the DRC from concept to conception of power

The article addresses the challenges facing the Democratic Republic of Congo, highlighting the exploitation of resources by foreign actors. It advocates for a historical analysis to understand the foundations of the state and democracy, emphasizing the gap between Western political practices and African values. Proposing a democratic state rooted in Congolese society, the text explores the failures of successive regimes, notably the period of Mobutu, marked by economic and political decay. Discussing rebellions and conflicts, it argues for a restructuring of the state based on African reality, the promotion of collective identities, and the necessity of an engaged elite. The conclusion underscores the need for a change in mentality, questioning negative values, and a thoughtful approach to build a democratic state that meets the needs of Congolese society.

Einige Bemerkungen zur Wirtschaft Siebenbürgens am Ende des Fürstentums und am Anfang des Großfürstentums

Transylvania between the Principality of Transylvania and the Grand Principality, as part of the Habsburg Empire suffered a series of economic experiences that led to a considerable extent to its economic as well as social and political decay and recovery. The small Principality on the edge of Central Europe has experienced appreciable changes in its status for two centuries, as well as in the economic perception of those who lived there and also of the other states. The 17th century was one marked both by rich periods from an economic point of view, but also by periods generating economic crisis, due to various natural cataclysms. It is a century of continuous balance between princely absolutism and the noble regime, between the enslavement process and the protection of free structures. Transylvania was hit by the economic crisis of the Habsburg Empire in the middle of the 18th century. The strategies to revitalize the Treasury through internal sources hit hard on the province's financial strength. The economic life of these 200 years is marked by the historic collapse of the guild system. The first who act to limit the monopoly of the guilds are the Princes of Transylvania. The forms of manufacturing production that appeared precisely in the important areas of the guild economy such as those of Sibiu or Braşov are also a significant, but insufficient factor, leading to the weakening of these corporations.

The kids are not alright: Children as objects, audience, and agents in the 2022 Canadian convoy protests

AbstractChildren figure prominently in far‐right movements, ideologies, and conspiracy theories as innocent targets of nefarious and decadent forces, unwitting symbols of social and political decay, and potentially dangerous objects of moral panic. Far‐right movements thus map a wide‐ranging network of concerns about immigration, race, public health, education, and globalization onto children's bodies and spaces. Yet children and youth also actively participate in these movements or are otherwise socialized into them, inhabiting and making the everyday geographies of the far right in numerous ways. Children's presence at and participation in a series of protests and occupations in Canada in early 2022 demonstrates well their place in far‐right movements as symbols and agents, and connects the Canadian far right to broader spatial and temporal perspectives shared across the transnational landscape of such movements. These protests, dubbed the “Freedom Convoy” by participants and ostensibly aiming to end vaccine mandates in the Canadian trucking industry, quickly turned to more general antigovernment demands and became far‐right networking events. This paper examines more closely children's presence at and participation in the Canadian protests and how the movements behind them position children as object, audience, and agent in the spatiality of the far right's current transnational resurgence.

The Future of Christian Realism: International Conflict, Political Decay, and the Crisis of Democracy, edited by Dallas Gingles, Joshua Mauldin, and Rebekah L. Miles

The Future of Christian Realism: International Conflict, Political Decay, and the Crisis of Democracy, edited by Dallas Gingles, Joshua Mauldin, and Rebekah L. Miles

A Historical-Structural Understanding of Political Decay

The past few years have seen severe political decay in a number of countries across the world, having attracted wide attention from the international community. While existing research has delved into the causes of political decay from both internal and external perspectives, there has been a notable lack of attention given to the disproportionate influence wielded by armed forces, political parties, and bureaucrats. Taking the case of Egypt as an example, we demonstrate how the interplay between the military, parties and bureaucrats created a stable nexus that contributes to prolonged political decay. Furthermore, we draw comparisons between the well-known case of civil–military relations in Thailand and that of Egypt, highlighting how the social cognition forged in the historical process may contribute to the political power imbalance that makes it difficult for some countries to escape political decline. This research provides novel insights into understanding political decay in certain countries, shedding light on the complex dynamics at play and offering potential avenues for addressing this pressing issue.

Great Game in Central Asia: Humanity at Venture

Purpose: Great game, a political attitude adopted by great powers to achieve geo-strategic and geo-economic benefits in the Central Asian and the Caspian region. The main thrush hold of current strategic and economic relations in the region are Afghan crisis. Throughout the nineteenth century, Great Britain was obsessed by the fear that one of the other European powers would take advantage of the political decay of Central Asia. From 18th century till date great powers are vulnerable to bump with each other to have hold on the central Asia. A new force after disintegration of USSR is trying and mending its shoulders to have control over central Asia. This economic hub is politically very important where almost all great powers from British to Russia, US and China have interest prone to collision. In such circumstances other regional states like Saudi Arabi, Iran and Turkey, nuclear states like Indian and Pakistan have sway in the region in order to have major control over the gigantic economic resources which can flow through their countries. This study will try to explore the overall complexity of contemporary strategic and economic relations in Central Asia, but also to identify the main characteristics of these relations, and the most important players and their strategies.
 Methodology: The study used desttop literature review. It involves review of existing literature
 Findings: The multifarious relations between the great and regional powers having interests in Central Asia work against tide of development instead revived great game. The war against terrorism by US and allies is observe by regional contenders as interference in the region and engaging for cold war. This resulted also to provide another major reason discontinuitiesin Central Asia’s future development.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommend that Russia, China, and the United States along with regional contenders have to build strong and trustworthy cooperation in the region.

Insurgency and national security: a perspective from Cameroon’s separatist conflict

This study examines the nature and factors associated with the onset of the conflict in Cameroon’s North West and South West regions to contribute to conceptual, theoretical and methodological debates in war/conflict studies. It used an explorative approach, examining the immediate political tensions prior to hostilities and major government policy areas. It shows that teachers’ and lawyers’ protests (beginning in 2016) and strategic miscalculations by the government and rebels are the immediate factors associated with the onset of the conflict. The underlying factors include greed, colonial heritage, a history of insurgencies, an internal geography conducive to group conflict and guerrilla warfare, poor macroeconomic performance, the ability to finance authoritarianism without relying on taxes, political decay, slow political development, a turbulent regional neighbourhood and unfavourable international relations. The results enable four main contributions to longstanding debates in war/conflict studies. First, an insurgency is a distinct type of war. Second, insurgencies occur due to several immediate and underlying factors unique to each case. Third, studying insurgencies requires a holistic approach, examining immediate and underlying factors. Finally, although rebel victory is impossible in an insurgency, multiple and widespread insurgencies can nullify the essence of a state, making insurgencies important national security threats.

WINO, MIŁOŚĆ, HEDONIZM, MIASTO I „ODGŁOS WIOSEŁ ŁODZI CHARONA”1. ŚWIAT POSŁAŃ I PIEŚNI CARLA MICHAELA BELLMANA

In the satirical works mentioned above, Carl Michael Bellman shows an unscripted image of the world and man of the Enlightenment in Sweden. In fact, the author showed the difficult condition of mortality. In the collection of works analyzed in this essay, the Swedish poet repeatedly pointed out problems that are permanently embedded in the human condition and provoke various behaviors in order to survive in the space of powerlessness of the human experience of mortality. This entire realistic world of Bellman’s texts turns out to be extremely pessimistic, because it exposes the true condition of reality, which is defined by endless loneliness, sadness and death. The second half of the 18th century revealed the pathological nature of the Swedish city functioning in the era of “moral corruption, political decay, economic ruin and desperate revelries that helped to forget about the unbearable everyday life”. In the collection of his Epistles and Songs, the Swedish poet repeatedly pointed out problems that are permanently embedded in the human condition and provoke various behaviors in order to survive in the space of powerlessness of the human experience of mortality. Bellman’s clear aversion to predetermined social rules, conventions, internal models and patterns that limit personal freedom echoes the assumptions of Cyrenaic philosophy, according to which, apart from antipathy to the rules of social functioning, bodily pleasures are the most important and are a manifestation of pure good. The author does not avoid describing the disease and the disintegration of the body as a result of it (Epistle No. 30), and a meticulous description of the changing parts of the body affected by the disease and disintegration. According to the author, to alleviate this condition, the only consolation is a sip of wine and waiting for death in full reconciliation with the absolutely just laws of nature. The author lists representatives of various social classes, enumerates their merits, titles, wealth, and psychological types, in order to make it clear in the refrain that everyone, without exception, will face the same final act of existence – “one path written for us” – death.

‘The Fall of Afghanistan: An American Tragedy’

ABSTRACT The conventional view has been that Trump and Biden made the correct decision to withdraw the US from Afghanistan, but the actual departure was flawed. On the contrary, the US should not have withdrawn and the actual departure was not a failure. The withdrawal was against the US’ larger strategic interests beyond counterterrorism. If it withdrew, it should not have done so unconditionally, for both its interests (including humanitarian) and assets were substantial. The US should not have negotiated with the Taliban absent the Afghan government, thereby undermining the government’s and its security forces’ will to fight. Thus, the success of the Taliban’s revolution owed more to the Afghan government’s collapse than its revolutionary mobilization. In withdrawing from Afghanistan, the US showed that it failed to learn lessons from its withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, which led to internal political decay in Iraq, the re-emergence of terrorism, and larger strategic setbacks for Washington. More broadly, the US failed to appreciate how its withdrawal of support for regimes dependent on it often facilitates the coming to power of hostile revolutionary movements.

Mahatma Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj and Indian National Movement

Hind Swaraj was published in Gujarati language in the journal Indian Opinion under the title Hind Swarajaya in 1909, and its English version as Indian Home Rule by Mahatma Gandhi was published in Phoenix, Natal, 1910. This extraordinary work possesses an authority of its own. It is the seed from which the Gandhian thought has grown. He considered the views expressed in the ‘Hind Swaraj’ as sacred as ‘almost part of his being’. Gandhi, through the expressions in this, spelt out his strategy for future action which was to be rooted in the belief of the pre-eminence of ancient Indian civilisation, which in contrast with the western ‘represents the best that the world has ever seen’. The high point of the book is the virtue of non-violence as against violent revolution and the need to use ethical means to attain independence by means of educational reforms and adoption of technology suitable to Indian conditions. He advised the revolutionaries to follow the righteousness of Indian culture by reverting ‘to their own glorious civilisation’. The core of the book, as conveyed through the title is an analysis of the nature of British rule in India and its manifestations, its consequences in the political and moral decay of Indian society. Hind Swaraj is the prescription to pull India out of this muddle.

The state of American democracy after Trump

Democracy is retreating worldwide. As Freedom House reports, the US has not escaped this trend. The system of checks and balances of American democracy managed to thwart Trump’s assault on democracy. But together with longstanding institutional and structural defects, his presidency clearly indicates that American democracy is on the verge of political decay. Political polarisation, inequalities, identity politics and the inability of the two political parties to reach compromises are further testing the American democratic institutions. To avert decay, the US needs a reform coalition to bring about institutional changes; and more importantly, to establish inclusive economic policies and a renewed focus on citizenship, duty and a shared purpose.

Public-Private Partnerships Development Finance Model in Zimbabwe Infrastructure Projects

The economic meltdown and infrastructure decay in Zimbabwe over the past two decades has been strongly attributed to the absence of public-private sector partnerships amid political decay. The rapid intervention by government in the last two years to undertake PPPs has been more pronounced in road network re-construction although not so many projects have been done to date. The financing model of these PPPs has taken centre stage hence the main objective of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of the PPP development finance model on infrastructure projects in Zimbabwe. PPPs are an alternative source of funding on infrastructure projects and have proved to ease pressure on governments as far as funds for capital intensive projects are concerned. The paper recommends the adoption of different PPP models for each sector given the differential requirements in each sector. It was found that a blanket model for all sectors does not work properly as different sectors have their unique characteristics. In addition, the paper recommends a speedy finalisation of the already initiated policy and institutional framework process to govern PPPs, which would also include putting measures in place centred on risk analysis and management during the process, issues on financing and issues on the mobilisation and incentivising of the private sector to participate in the process.

COURSE OF COMMUNISM: COMPETENCY OR MERE COSMETIC SHOW? A STUDY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO NEPAL’S POLITICAL DECAY AND DEADLOCK

Communism (Marxism) is a prominently powerful proposition. People may deposit delight or deepening disgust then denigrate it but it is inexorable and ineluctable to understand the gist of Marxism before aligning at either of the sides. Despite having cross-cutting arguments and series of theses and anti-theses in academic fraternity from centre to circumference, the paper synthesizes the gravity and assesses the validity of such a tantalisingly wheedling discourse. Marxism has cajoled and coaxed many across the globe. Nonetheless, it has neither been remained immune from full fiasco and grossly unsuccessful scenario in most country nor seemingly it is going to be an else example in Nepal. Eventually, it has even been an epitome of political decay and betrayal too. Marxism has now lost both the political compass and public credibility induced competence as well. Probably, the most corrupt and condemnable choreographing is being experienced in Nepal at present. Ergo, in essence, this paper presents an argument that Marxism has been a useless cosmetic which initially embodied a transitory glow but ultimately has turned an utterly unhelpful and non-pragmatic utopian envisioning in the globe; and the incontrovertibly heightened form of it is currently on stage in Nepal. 
 
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Book review: : Fukuyama F. Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy. NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014. 672 p.

The review of Francis Fukuyama’s book “Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy” examines the processes of political development and modernization. “Political Order and Political Decay” is the second volume of a large-scale study. Both books adhere to the paradigm that a successful liberal democracy combines three main elements: the state, the rule of law, and accountability - and the balance between them is crucial. Fukuyama recognizes that there is a link between economic prosperity and democracy but does not claim that one automatically leads to the other. Fukuyama believes that Chinese phenomenal economic growth combined with an authoritarian government will not be able to persist, but does not conclude that a democratic revolution in China is inevitable. Fukuyama also became disillusioned with the possibilities of exporting democracy. The author warns that political decline is more pronounced in the United States than in other democracies, because the latter have demonstrated a greater ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

The Birth of a Character

AbstractIn Iran—as never before in the history of the country—prostitutes gained notorious visibility in twentieth-century Persian literature. Fixation on the image of the prostitute created a wealth of literature beginning in 1924 with the first Persian urban social novel, The Horrible Tehran, by Murtiza Mushfiq Kazimi. Associating prostitution with economic corruption, political and administrative decay, and religious hypocrisy, Iranian male writers directed their attention toward representing the sexually wayward woman. By scrutinizing the image of the prostitute in The Horrible Tehran as well as her inflationary and unparalleled presence in Iranian literature in the early twentieth century, this article not only sheds light on the reasons behind the birth of the prostitute character in the Persian novel but also problematizes the period’s tangled legal, social, and moral attitudes toward female sexuality.

Disinformation Trends in Southeast Asia: Comparative Case Studies on Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines

The past decade saw a changing political landscape in Southeast Asia. From a promising turn towards democracy, marked by episodes of backsliding and authoritarian tendencies, and recently threats of democratic regression and political decay in most parts of the region, have dominated current discourse. Central to these changes is the evolution of information and communications technology, and the ubiquity of social media platforms as sources of news and information, as well as shaping public opinion. The paper looks into three cases in Southeast Asia: online hate along ethnic lines in Myanmar; Duterte populism and broad forms of disinformation in the Philippines; and increasing fake news and online radical Islamism in Indonesia. Trends, common areas of concern, and possible patterns would be gleaned from the case studies; and from there, distil prospects for engagement and better approaches against the growing concern for disinformation in the region. The research recommends that a more concerted and inclusive regional approach would help turn the tide against an increasingly deceived public. Keywords: Southeast Asia, disinformation, social media, democracy

The Colonial Genealogies of Political Decay and Legitimation Crises: An Enquiry into the Predicament of State-construction in Post-colonial South Asia

This article is an attempt to conceptualise and theoretically explain the colonial genealogies of the processes of state-making and state-construction in post-colonial South Asia. In pursuit of this, the article seeks to theorise the colonial ways of providing a sense of fixity of political territoriality, held together by colonially crafted institutions of metropolitan governance, as an independent variable in determining the nature of the processes of state-making and state-construction in the region. On this count, an enquiry into the complex trajectory of these post-colonial political processes, which are the dependent variables for this article, is the fundamental problematic of analysis. This problematic would be decoded with the help of a dual conceptual framework, involving what Samuel Huntington designates as political decay and the legitimation crisis given by Jurgen Habermas. In the context of South Asia, the predicaments of political decay and legitimation crisis, according to this article, manifest as after-effects of engagement on the part of the region’s post-colonial polities with the imported values of colonial modernity and neoliberal economic reforms. By drawing instances from two countries of the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the article tries to show how these after-effects have played out in the form of a tumultuous political history of the processes of state-making and state-construction. The article, in this way, is an attempt to theorise the inter-sectionalities between the colonial and post-colonial periods of South Asia. This has been done here by problematising such a historical inter-sectionality from the perspective of the two intervening variables—the received values of colonial metropolis and the morals of modernity—mediated through neoliberal economic reforms.

Pakistan in 2019

Relatively prudent foreign policy maneuvers stole the headlines in 2019, overshadowing Pakistan’s downward economic spiral and political decay. The Imran Khan government made the most of extra-regional strategic opportunities with the US and China while weathering a collapsing bilateral relationship with India. Officials struggled to arrest a mounting economic crisis. The state further accelerated the long-term corrosion of Pakistan’s political institutions with threats to federalism, suppression of opposition elements, and greater space for the military at the expense of civilians.

Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment

Over the last sixty years the principal agency of underdevelopment of Africa has been the international capitalist countries. Before the advent of the Europeans in Africa, the continent had robust economic, social and political structures because it was endowed with numerous inexhaustible both human and natural resources. These were seriously disrupted by the colonialists in the course of creating wealth for themselves through the means of exploitation. It is imperative to assert that the debate on the unprecedented political decay created by African political elite (the agents of colonialists) in power has dominated the political discourse among scholars from the region. Africa’s environment has been shrouded in political violence, poor electoral system, incessant military intervention, ethnic/tribal segregation and unity in diversity, rising political cleavages resulting from multi-party system, bad political culture, corruption, alienation of African women from politics, greed and sit-back leadership, dictatorship, foreign influence, religious diversity, administrative mediocrity, secession threat resulting from marginalization of minority, and bad governance. The political instability in the sub-Saharan African States has been the function of political environment, manifesting itself as a chronic symptom of the underdevelopment of political life within the imperialist context. Political environment in the sub-Saharan African States can be explained based on the legacy of political authoritarianism inherited from the colonialists, a factor which resulted to political conflicts, instability and dictatorship. The political authoritarianism of the colonial states is a direct source of the authoritarianism that has plagued Africa. Colonialism created and shaped identities and cleavages in dysfunctional way as political centralization involves one clan dominating another. The conjunctivitis created by the underdevelopment trajectories has called for in-depth investigation into Africa’s underdevelopment in the light of political advancement of the ‘Asian Tiger’ so that efforts towards experiencing political environment with high propensity of political advancement in the sub-Saharan African States could be attained. The study intended to apply the theories of modernisation and dependency to explain Africa’s underdevelopment. Qualitative method will be utilised in the study.

Great Game in Central Asia: Causes and Consequences

Great game, a political attitude adopted by great powers to achieve geo-strategic and geo-economic benefits in the Central Asian and the Caspian region. The main thrush hold of current strategic and economic relations in the region are Afghan crisis. Throughout the nineteenth century, Great Britain was obsessed by the fear that one of the other European powers would take advantage of the political decay of Central Asia. From 18th century till date great powers are vulnerable to bump with each other to have hold on the central Asia. A new force after disintegration of USSR is trying and mending its shoulders to have control over central Asia. This economic hub is politically very important where almost all great powers from British to Russia, US and China have interest prone to collision. In such circumstances other regional states like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey, nuclear states like Indian and Pakistan have sway in the region in order to have major control over the gigantic economic resources which can flow through their countries. This study will try to explore the overall complexity of contemporary strategic and economic relations in Central Asia, but also to identify the main characteristics of these relations and the most important players and their strategies.