Political Objectives Research Articles

What’s the Future for Science in the New Zealand Curriculum?

AbstractThis commentary article considers the current contentious debates over the national school science curriculum in Aoteaora New Zealand. The co-authors of this commentary are members of a group of science teacher educators and science education researchers who met recently to discuss concerns over aspects of these debates in the context of a wider political contest over the control and direction of education policy.

Economic sanctions and trade dynamics: Analyzing U.S. unilateral and EU autonomous economic sanctions (1950–2019)

This study investigates the role of economic sanctions within contemporary national security strategies, focusing on their impact, motivations, and implications for sender states. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the research combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies to comprehensively analyze unilateral and autonomous economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the EC/EU between 1950 and 2019. The comparative and descriptive analysis examines 97 sanctions episodes, including 60 unilateral U.S. sanctions and an original dataset of 37 EC/EU autonomous economic sanctions episodes. The findings reveal that economic sanctions imposed by both entities generally yield positive economic outcomes for sender states. Endogenous motivations such as economic security concerns, geopolitical interests, and domestic political considerations emerge as significant drivers behind the deployment of sanctions. Economic sanctions are perceived as a strategic tool serving political objectives while enhancing economic security of sender states. Tangible benefits, including strengthened negotiating positions and domestic support, underscore the instrumental role of sanctions in advancing sender states’ interests globally. In summary, this research contributes valuable­ insights into the complex dynamics of economic sanctions and their implications for sender states. The study offers pertinent guidance for policymakers­, scholars, and practitioners navigating global security and economic governance challenges by examining economic sanctions’ motivations, impacts, and implications within contempo­rary national security strategies.

Effects of trilemma policies patterns on monetary policy credibility

The open economy trilemma refers to the impossibility of a country fully and simultaneously achieving three political objectives: monetary policy independence, exchange rate stability and financial openness. However, corner configurations related to the three policies of the trilemma are increasingly rare. In fact, countries tend to choose a policy combination composed of partial financial integration, managed exchange rate flexibility and partial monetary independence. Given the possibility of intermediate choices, there exists an index able to measure the relative divergence (or convergence) regarding the policy choices of the trilemma. The index identifies whether countries are adopting similar (or divergent) policy mixes in relation to the trilemma policy options. However, the consequences of adopting a more (or less) convergent policy arrangement on monetary policy credibility are unknown. Hence, this study investigates the effects of trilemma policies convergence patterns on monetary policy credibility. The idea is to verify whether a more convergent arrangement of policies related to the trilemma in open economies helps build monetary policy credibility. Our database is formed by 94 (developed and developing) countries with different characteristics. Thus, we run estimates based on a family of Tobit models for different sub-samples of countries, and also considering different periods – before and after the Global Financial Crisis. The study brings important practical implications. In general, the findings show that a convergent strategy increases credibility. The estimates corroborate the idea that countries adopting divergent policies from the global standard tend to be more exposed to economic instability and, as a result, have difficulties in anchoring inflation expectations.

Tiktok, Instagram and Presidential Election: A Study to Understand How Politainment in Indonesian Political Campaigns 2024

The development of technology has brought about various transformations in the lines of people's lives, one of which is in political contestation. A political contestation in Indonesia has just passed namely the 2024 General Election. The Indonesian people elected 4 Legislative Members and 1 Pair of Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates in that election. There were three candidate pairs in the 2024 presidential election. Candidate Pair Prabowo-Gibran, Candidate Pair Anies-Muhaimin and Candidate Pair Ganjar-Mahfud. In the campaign process, something was interesting, namely that the discourse battle had shifted to a non-discourse battle. One is politainment, which the candidate pairs presents to the public on social media. Politainment itself refers to the equivalent of the words politics and entertainment. This is interesting because political contestation is very close to the battle of ideas and discourse in the campaign process. However, in the 2024 presidential election, this has shifted. Therefore, this is interesting to examine further. This study uses a qualitative approach to dig deeper into politainment in the 2024 Presidential Election political campaign. The data will be selected using purposive sampling techniques, and then the data that has been obtained will be analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis techniques. This study found that politainment is used by presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs to wrap messages in political campaigns

THE ESSENCE AND SCOPE OF UKRAINE'S VICTORY IN THE CONTEXT OF RUSSIA’S TOTAL WAR AGAINST THE UKRAINIAN STATE

The purpose of this article is to clarify the essence and scope of Ukraine's victory in the context of Russia's total war against the Ukrainian state. A system-situational approach, historical analysis, and modeling methods were employed to address the research questions. The article demonstrates that a military victory in the physical realm becomes less significant than its representation in virtual space, where it can be shaped through propaganda in the public consciousness. The factors influencing the dynamics of scientific and official discourse regarding perceptions of victory in modern warfare are identified. It has been established that the essence of Ukraine's victory in the total Russian-Ukrainian war is as follows: in the military context – the defeat of Russia and Ukraine's achievement of the political and military-strategic objectives of its national and just war; in the political context – subordinating Russia to the goals and objectives of Ukraine's diplomatic and strategic efforts aimed at restoring its territorial integrity; and in the praxeological context – Ukraine's achievement of a peace superior to that which existed before the war. Ukraine's victory in the total Russian-Ukrainian war, in substantive terms, consists of: in the military context – the defeat of Russian armed forces and the cessation of hostilities within Ukraine's borders; in the political context – the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity; and in the international political context – achieving victory with guarantees of state sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the inviolability of borders from NATO and the EU, as well as securing peace without Russia's geopolitical dominance, a peace based on the rule of international law rather than the rule of force.

In the labyrinth of ideological search: ways to construct a memory of an uncomfortable past (on example of events of the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War)

This article is devoted to the problem of constructing a collective memory of the "inconvenient past" by modern elites of Russia on the example of the events of the 1917 revolution and the subsequent civil war. The conflict aspects of commemoration (installation of monuments and memorial signs) in the process of constructing an official historical narrative are considered. Concidered changes in the official historical narrative regarding the "difficult past" in different periods of time. The preservation of historical memory largely depends on the political objectives of the current government, which not only supports collective memory through various commemorative practices, but also constructs a modern historical narrative. This narrative does not imply the restoration of Soviet historiography; it combines a variety of interpretations of the events of the Revolution and the Civil War in the context of building the historical continuity of Russian statehood. Therefore, the images of some Soviet figures coexist with the figures of their opponents, forming ideas among the mass audience about patriotic service to the Russian state, regardless of ideological and political views. The "lost memory" is not being restored; current generations of Russians have not accepted the political experience of supporters of democratic socialism, who rejected Bolshevism and did not support the "white movement" in the civil war. The attitude towards the losers in the fight against the Bolsheviks today is negative, as towards weak and incapable politicians. Considering historical memory as an integral part of collective memory, it is concluded that only those events of the past that are perceived by society as extremely useful for modern generations are integrated into the structure of collective consciousness. In addition, the inertia of public consciousness affects the "selection of event material". For this reason, during the entire post-Soviet period, it was not possible to completely replace the former Soviet ideological cliches with a new historical narrative.

Exploration of Ideological and Political Education in Veterinary Microbiology Experimental Technology

The veterinary microbiology experimental course plays a key role in education and practice, integrating “knowledge, skills, and qualities” into the talent cultivation program. The syllabus has been revised to emphasize the course’s ideological and political education objectives. The extraction of ideological and political elements focuses on developing a curriculum that includes ideological and political teaching materials and cases, ensuring coherence across classroom teaching, social practice, and online courses. By organically integrating ideological and political elements within stories, along with professional knowledge, operational skills, and social practice, the course aims to enhance the appeal and effectiveness of ideological and political education in the experimental course.

Rigidity in public contracts: Implications for renewal dynamics

We investigate how the rigidity of public contracts influences the frequency of their renewal. Using a dataset of contracts for public–private car parks and employing machine-reading techniques to assess contract rigidity, we find that heightened contract rigidity, particularly in litigation clauses, significantly raises the probability of contract renewal. Our findings indicate that procedural sunk costs and the competitive advantage conferred to incumbents by contract rigidity are key factors contributing to more frequent renewals. This study enhances our comprehension of public contract renewals by emphasizing the significance of political contestability and rigidity, providing valuable insights into optimal strategies for contract renegotiation.

Diversity in Civic Engagement: Political Priorities and Protest Behavior of Arizona College Students

A core function of higher education is to prepare students to be active and informed citizens who are prepared to make sustained contributions to civic life and democratic society. However, past research on college student civic engagement has disproportionately focused on students at traditional 4-year universities and on a narrow range of political activities. In this study, we analyzed online survey data ( N = 1,159) collected before the 2020 presidential election from young adults throughout Arizona who were attending 2-year and 4-year postsecondary institutions. Results show significant differences between community college, transfer and university students in terms of political identities, background characteristics, and participation in Black Lives Matter protests. Yet, across these postsecondary pathways, young adults expressed a strong commitment to active citizenship and ranked combating climate change and dismantling systemic racism as top political priorities. We call for more research on underserved students’ political identities, outlooks, and behaviors as part of a broader and more inclusive conceptualization of civic engagement.

Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems and Automation Bias

Autonomy in weapon systems is already a genuine concern. States try to come up with their own definitions of these systems and pay utmost effort to impose their own understanding of these systems upon other states. For a fairly high number of states barring a total ban on such weapons would be the ideal solution; however, such states that are anxious about the increase in autonomy in war-making capabilities, as adopts a second-best scenario to contain risks created by the deployment of such systems. To this end, placing them under meaningful human control emerges as an important political and legal objective. The author believes that placing autonomous weapons under human supervision, despite its initial promise, will yield negative results. This is due to the fact that humans tend rather to be too willing to follow the solutions generated by autonomous systems. First observed in other industries of civilian nature like aviation or health, automation bias has the potential to negate most if not all of supervision measures expected to ensure proper implementation of international humanitarian law.

Governance in multi-system transitions: A new methodological approach for actor involvement in policy making processes

Multi-system interactions associated with the decarbonisation of energy and mobility systems represent a complex phenomenon in the acceleration phase of net-zero transitions. In this paper, we present a novel methodological approach to examine actor involvement in the governance of multi-system transitions, with a focus on the UK's net-zero energy-mobility transitions from 2008 to 2021. Utilising Named Entity Recognition (NER), a natural language processing technique, we systematically map actors and their interactions within policy consultations and how these have changed over time. Our analysis differentiates between single-system and multi-system policy making processes; identifies weak and strong links among actors as two types of multi-system interactions; categorises actors into business, policy, academia, and society groups; and examines the evolution of engagement across multiple governance levels. Our findings indicate an increasing trend of multi-system interactions, suggesting the UK's progression towards the acceleration phase of net-zero transitions. Our analysis further reveals the predominance of policy actors, particularly from the national level, in governing such multi-system transitions processes, followed by business actors. Despite some limitations, our approach offers a scalable method for analysing large volumes of text, providing valuable insights into the governance dynamics of multi-system transitions. We conclude with implications for policy making and offer suggestions for future research, emphasising the importance of understanding actor involvement and political contestations around net-zero trajectories for ensuring the achievement of sustainability goals.

Research on the Innovative Path of Ideological and Political Education Psychology

Ideological and political education psychology is a discipline that applies psychological theories and methods to study the psychological activity patterns of ideological and political education teaching objects, and belongs to a branch of applied psychology. Due to the late start of ideological and political education psychology, there are still unresolved issues in its current development status. How to achieve innovative development of ideological and political education psychology is a problem that ideological and political education workers in the new era should consider.

From Cuba to the World: The Ripple Effect of US Sanctions

This paper explores the complex and enduring application of U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba, the longest-standing sanctions regime in modern history. Economic sanctions, a prominent tool of international diplomacy, are designed to influence or penalize states to achieve specific political objectives. The study offers a comprehensive historical overview of the sanctions imposed on Cuba since the Cuban Revolution of 1959. It examines the key phases of the embargo, including its escalation under various U.S. administrations and its multifaceted impacts on Cuban domestic affairs and international trade. Through a detailed analysis, this paper reveals that, while the sanctions aimed to induce regime change, their effectiveness has been ambiguous. Domestically, U.S. political dynamics, particularly the influence of Cuban-American voters and shifting political agendas, have significantly shaped the persistence and intensity of the sanctions. Furthermore, the study highlights how the sanctions have impacted global trade dynamics, illustrating that the U.S. has maintained a quasi-monopolistic advantage in the Cuban market while ostensibly addressing humanitarian concerns. The findings indicate that the sanctions on Cuba, rather than being a straightforward case of failure, have provided strategic benefits to the U.S. despite their limited success in achieving their primary political goals. This nuanced perspective sheds light on the broader implications of economic sanctions and their role in international relations.

Surviving and Resisting Retrenchment: US Resettlement Organizations’ Responses to Trump-era Anti-refugee Policy

Abstract Retrenchment and erosion of refugee protections have been on the rise in multiple contexts around the world. In the United States, the Trump Administration’s refugee policies threatened the very survival of domestic resettlement institutions. The administration reduced the number of refugees, cut funds, and sewed confusion. In the face of restrictionist policies, how did refugee advocates respond? Leveraging a case study of resettlement organisations’ responses to Trump-era anti-refugee policies, this article demonstrates that administrators not only adapted creatively to survive the barrage of attacks but also engaged in meaningful political contestation. In circumscribed moments, administrators defied theoretical expectations: they placed the collective above the individual and challenged exploitative dynamics fundamental to US refugee programmes. This article draws on critical theory to analyse administrative resistance, repositioning bureaucrats as advocates in the process. In doing so, the article makes three main contributions. First, it elucidates the unseen role of bureaucrats as agents of progressive institutional change. Next, it offers new analytic purchase into puzzling organisational behaviour by foregrounding social relations of power. Finally, the article provides tools and resources for resettlement organisations navigating retrenchment globally.

Two Supreme Court Judgments on the Fairness of Elections in India

The commentary looks at the two landmark judgements delivered by the Supreme Court in recent months on the electoral process in India which is the lifelines of liberal democracy. The judgements deal with the appointment of CEC and other election commissioners along with the funding of elections. In the Anoop Baranwal case, The Supreme Court has tried to insulate the election commission from control of the government of the day in order to make it a neutral institution. In the Electoral Bond case, the court has tried to create a level playing field among political contestants during the election. But the judgements have not been able to plug all holes in the electoral process as many lacunae remains. The judgements of the Supreme Court will go a long way in ensuring free and fair election in India.

The Atrato River as a Bearer and Co-creator of Rights: Unveiling Black People’s Legal Mobilization Processes in Colombia

Abstract In 2016, Colombia’s Constitutional Court recognized the Atrato River as the first water body in Latin America to have its own rights. This article interrogates the historical roots of the judicial decision declaring the river a rights holder. Drawing on my long-term engagement with social organizations as an activist, lawyer, and then researcher, I illuminate the influence of Black people from the Atrato River in the transformation of law in at least three areas: ethnic territorial rights, transitional justice, and river rights. To do so, I combine interdisciplinary theoretical critique with socio-legal research using community-based and autoethnographic approaches to trace the community methods and historical practices of political contestation deployed along the rivers. Thus, I conceptualize how an organic and distinctive style of claiming and creating rights has been constructed in the basin. Moreover, by listening to the voices of the riverine representatives, I argue that the river is a nonhuman existence that has participated in the processes of rights-making in conjunction with local communities and a broader mosaic of allied actors. However, I also outline how legal systems still function to overlook crucial socio-legal claims of marginalized and resistant communities.

Radio Free Europe’s Polish Broadcasting Service vis-à-vis the Millennium and Church - State Relations (1965-1966)

This article presents an analysis of selected broadcasts by Radio Free Europe’s Polish Broadcasting Service on the 1966 celebration of the Millennium of the Christianisation of Poland, against the background of the relationship between the Church and state. The source material consists of programmes available online on the Radio Liberty website and articles published in the monthly magazine Na Antenie/On Air from 1965 to 1966. The author's intention is to show the role and meaning of radio broadcasts vis-à-vis the Millennium Poloniae celebrations, which were of a religious and political nature. The radio station, under the direction of Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, defended the authority of Primate Stefan Wyszyński against communist propaganda, while serving as the only source of information for audiences in the country with respect to the Novena initiated in 1956, which culminated in the Millennium. Aside from RFE’s political objectives, the broadcasts served to counter the propaganda and the campaign against the Church and to break the media monopoly in the People’s Republic of Poland. Having a formative and integrative character, they also contributed to the preservation of the listeners’ religious identity.

Categories of Political Contestation in Public Libraries

Public libraries in the United States have historically been sites of political contestation. This ranges from contestation surrounding library funding to the content of library collections. Recently, activism within and against public libraries has become more frequent. This begs the question: how does political contestation in public libraries look today? Using a media analysis of U.S. public library contestation and controversy from 2014 to 2023, this paper presents a framework to categorize library contestation. This framework situates public libraries within an ongoing context of efforts to polarize local political institutions.

Discursos periodísticos de la represión estatal en Colombia y México, 1968-1982. Un estudio comparativo

This article analyzes the role of the political press in the construction of public opinion during the processes of state repression in Mexico and Colombia between 1968 and 1982. Its objective is to analyze the types of discourses through which the major political press influenced the way in which readers interpreted the dynamics of state repression in both countries. A historical-comparative analysis of two cases is carried out to review the journalistic positions of the primary sources, in this case, the newspapers Excélsior, El Sol de México, El Informador, El Tiempo, El Siglo, El Espectador and La República. The results reveal that the press promoted seven main discourses on state repression: 1) youth and university co-optation, 2) public order violated, 3) subversion and terrorism, 4) institutions, security and the state, 5) the external enemy, 6) human rights as a violation of national sovereignty and 7) the press as a guarantor of public opinion. These discourses positioned newspapers as actors in the political contest and in the construction of public opinion in the context of recent history.

Traditional Authorities and Strategies in Demands for Self-Determination

Abstract Ethnic groups employ different strategies to pursue demands for self-determination. While some act within conventional channels of political contestation, others choose non-conventional strategies, including violence and rebellion. We conceive of this as a result of bargaining between group and state and argue that both sides’ institutions affect the likelihood of escalation. Specifically, groups with traditional authorities have the capacity and incentives to escalate conflicts. Only when such institutions are matched with internal accountability mechanisms can groups credibly commit so that bargaining failure and violence less likely. Similarly, states with open elections can tie their hands more effectively, and constitutional regulations of traditional authorities formalize state-group interactions, which also mitigates the effect of traditional authorities on conflict. We use new global data on groups that demand self-determination, their traditional political institutions, and their strategy choice from 2005 to 2015. We find support for our argument using various identification and estimation approaches. Groups with traditional authorities are much more likely to use violence, a finding that is not sensitive to the omission of unobserved confounders. Furthermore, this relationship is moderated by group-level audience costs and the strategic environment provided by the state. Our findings advance new perspectives on the interactions of customary and national institutions in determining subnational conflict.