Political Players Research Articles

The Turkish Constitutional Court and Turkey’s Democratic Breakdown: Judicial Politics Under Pressure

Abstract Under Turkey’s democratic breakdown, the Turkish Constitutional Court offers a case study to identify the dynamics of judicial politics in electoral autocracies. Although the Court has been subject to criticism regarding its low commitment to the political pluralism and rights-based approach previously, the current situation presents itself differently. It is marked by a massive erosion in democratic qualities including an abuse of the judiciary against dissents in an unprecedented manner. Yet, the Court is still formally independent and empowered through constitutional norms such as the fixed tenure, retirement age, and jurisdiction in crucial matters. Since the institutional guarantees of the Constitutional Court are untouched, it has still the potential to become a major political player. Therefore, its study may also contribute to the comparative scholarship on the role of constitutional review under new pressures of the third wave autocratization that contraction and expansion dynamics of judiciaries can be better understood. The present study aims to feature the judicial politics of the Court under Turkey’s current democratic regression by conceptualizing a resistance-deference paradox on the ground politically significant cases.

Refusal to serve in the Israel Defense Forces reserves in an era of anti-democratic judicial reform

ABSTRACT In Israel, most citizens are obligated to serve in the military for a mandatory period and subsequently in the reserve forces for about 21–45 days per year up to the age of 44. Many veterans continue to serve in the reserves for even longer periods. However, uncharacteristically, during 2023, reservists were linked to the social protest in Israel. The ever-widening public protest in Israel was unprecedented. Every Saturday night, from January 2023 until the War of October 7th began, 5–10% of the Israeli population headed out to demonstrate in the streets of various cities and regions against the anti-democratic legislation that was under consideration or had been passed. Among the protesters were many citizens serving in the reserve forces. These opponents of government policy voiced their protest, saying loud and clear that if the legislation continued, they would not serve, unless a war would erupt; indeed, many of them had already quit the reserves only to rejoin when the October War started. And thus, without intending to do so, the army has become a political player in the political struggle currently taking place in Israel. The wide-ranging protest in Israel and the massive number of reservists who had voiced a decision not to show up for reserve duty are indications of an unprecedented social phenomenon that is worthy of scholarly attention. How do we, as critical scholars, put an identity on the military? How do we interpret situations in which the military is more democratic than the government?

‘Changed to another form’

Abstract This article demonstrates how dramatic censorship in London's public theatres necessitated a kind of collaborative playwriting with extra-authorial labourers. In the playbook manuscript of Sir John van Olden Barnauelt, the Master of the Revels, Sir George Buc, and the playhouse scribe, Ralph Crane, engaged in a collaborative process that resulted in the most censored extant dramatic document of the early modern English theatres. The censorship is revealing of how political drama was interpreted by its first readers – it was Buc's exegetical interpretation of Barnauelt as anti-monarchical that led to his collaborative revisions and the play's restructuring. This style of censorship also has wider implications. If almost every play was read and revised by the Master of the Revels and perhaps edited by a scribe, then most early modern drama was collaboratively written.

Article: Anti-Avoidance Jurisprudence in Direct Taxation: The CJEU Between Politics and Certainty

Over a span of several years, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) developed a framework for anti-abuse in the context of European law and particularly established criteria for justifying restrictions on the fundamental freedoms in the tax context. In tax cases on anti-avoidance that are more recent, however, the court has demonstrated a notable change in its stance towards this issue that represents a disruption in the consistent development of its jurisprudence on abuse. While the court covers the contradictions in its case law by passing an impression of continuity between disparate decisions, it is remarkable how recent rulings draw from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) language. This reliance on concepts from a non-EU institution, however, leads to legitimacy concerns. The increasing importance of international organizations and public opinion – for example, in reaction to the Panama Papers – in shaping the international tax landscape is undeniable. While high-profile projects like Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) highlight international tax issues, they also exert political pressure on judicial bodies such as the CJEU which leads to less methodological decisions that will align the court with political interests. In this context, the CJEU’s acting as a political player at the borderline of its competences is to be viewed critically, especially regarding the recent shift in its case law on abuse and tax avoidance that leads to concerns over legal certainty. Anti-abuse principle, anti-avoidance jurisprudence, CJEU, international organizations, international taxation, legal certainty, legitimacy, political influence

How Israel's Illiberal Democracy Became a Model for the Right

ABSTRACT: Amid the mass slaughter and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, it is easy to forget the political drama that gripped Israel only one year ago. After assuming power in December 2022, a new far-right government led by Benjamin Netanyahu had proposed a slate of judicial and administrative reforms that prompted a wave of anti-government protests. Concerned journalists, former U.S. and Israeli government officials, and major American Jewish organizations issued ominous warnings about democratic backsliding. Israel, it seemed, was heading in the direction of illiberal Hungary.

Is feminism an asset or a burden? Media coverage of an Israeli feminist woman politician

ABSTRACT In the context of the current high visibility of feminist discourse, this study focuses on the media coverage of Merav Michaeli, a female Israeli politician who led a feminist campaign during the 2021 parliamentary elections. Based on a quantitative and interpretative analysis of Michaeli’s media coverage in the 2021 election, the study examines whether and how feminist ideas have become media values in political coverage. The quantitative analysis suggests that issues of feminism featured prominently in the coverage and, moreover, that the overall positive sentiment of the coverage was evident mostly in items on feminist issues. The interpretive analysis indicates that Michaeli’s newsworthiness derived from her being the only female party leader: this itself became a feminist issue. Additionally, Michaeli’s newsworthiness was based on her being a known feminist, and her feminist campaign was represented as a political asset. The media represented her as a strong female political player, showing her feminism as a main component of her political strength. However, her media representation also straddled the line between masculinity and femininity by portraying her as strong but pleasant, demonstrating the double bind that many female politicians find themselves in.

Destructively Independent. The Russian Central Bank Leadership in the Runup to the 1993 Constitutional Crisis

Abstract Attempts to get control over the Russian Central Bank are often seen as a key driver of the conflict between the Supreme Soviet and the Russian government in 1993. We argue here that the bank and its leadership were not only an instrument of other power centers but should be considered as active and fairly independent political players with their own interests, stakes, and strategies. In the struggle over monetary policy in the early years of the newly founded Russian Federation, inherited Soviet networks of power were more decisive than legal competences on paper. To the extent that ideas played a role at all in these transitional power struggles, their distinction was not between neoliberal shock therapy and social democratic gradualism, but between different notions of the future realm of Moscow’s financial power. Our paper is based on an assessment of biographical literatures and legal texts as well as a survey of the scholarly literature in economics and history. It shows how, in a phase of post-imperial institutional reconfiguration, different groups of the former Soviet elite competed to preserve their status in the emerging Russian nation state.

International control in the field of anti-corruption:yesterday, today, tomorrow

The global processes of world politics in recent years have led to a shift in emphasis in the field of combating corruption at the interstate level away from the basic principles of international cooperation and, as a result, to the leveling of one of the directions of ensuring international security. The current situation can lead to the destabilization of the global economy, a decrease in the level of public confidence in the activities of public authorities, and often to social tension in society. These trends have become the subject of research by the authors of this work, and its purpose is to identify prospects for the development of international cooperation in the field of ensuring compliance with international treaties to minimize the impact of corruption on political, economic and social processes, opportunities and mechanisms for eliminating emerging contradictions in relations between states and political blocs, determining the place and role of the Russian Federation in these processes. Such studies have not been conducted to date. The paper examines paradoxical phenomena in international relations and recent attempts by political elites in a number of Western countries to destabilize the political situation, including by excluding Russia from the spheres of international cooperation, including those related to ensuring compliance with international law aimed at minimizing corruption manifestations. The role of the most powerful players in world politics, their experience in establishing international relations, as well as in developing national traditions of combating corruption, which led to conclusions about the need to consider the Russian Federation as the most likely initiator of the creation of an international organization to ensure compliance with anti-corruption legislation standards, was studied and evaluated.

Efforts of Different Regimes in Kenya Toward National Cohesion and Integration, 1963-2022

Kenya like many states in the African continent is a multi-ethnic nation. Since its independence in 1963, Kenya has had challenges in putting together its communities. Conflict always arises as a result of the unequal distribution of resources among communities. This article will strive to unravel the efforts of different regimes in Kenya since its independence in achieving national cohesion and integration. The article argues for a rethinking of socio-economic policies through political goodwill and instilling national ethos, otherwise, the initiatives for national cohesion and integration will be in vain, stillborn, and frustrated across the nation. To adequately answer the above question, the researcher will be guided by this sole objective which is to examine the efforts of different regimes in Kenya toward achieving national cohesion and integration. The assumptions of the study will be, ethnic conflict is influenced by the context, typology of actors, and nature of the divergent interests sought for. The study is expected to offer a unique opportunity for policymakers to understand the political context and varied interests of various political players to not only predict the outcome but also determine the agenda-setting for national cohesion and integration in Kenya. The article adopted a qualitative approach by going through available literature on the subject matter to reach a logical conclusion. The author concludes by offering policy recommendations necessary for achieving national cohesion and integration in Kenya.

Important Drivers of European Monetary Integration The Game Between the German Central Government and the Bundesbank as an Example

An independent central bank constitutes a veto actor in the political process itself and has the potential to limit the autonomy of the State (Government). In cases where the preferences of the state and the central bank diverge, the resulting authoritative actions will be influenced by the political structure of the respective country. Where changes in the domestic political system are difficult to achieve, the state can change the existing equilibrium between the central bank and the government by engaging in international regimes and international negotiations and evolving this equilibrium in the direction of greater state autonomy. This paper adopts a case study approach to propose a domestic political logic for international monetary policy choices by analyzing the relationship between international monetary co-operation, central bank independence and national autonomy, and uses the political game between the central central bank and the central government within Germany and the outcome to verify this view, thus providing a political science explanation for the relationship between German monetary politics and European monetary integration. The European Central Bank after the formation of the Union inherited the independence of the German central bank, and while assuming its responsibility for monetary stabilization and economic development, it gradually transcended the scope of its monetary functions and transformed itself from a purely technical institution to an important political player in the regional political and economic arena in the process of the already existing institutional constraints and changes in the economic situation.

INFLUENCE OF PEACEBUILDING STRATEGIES ON INTERNAL DEMOCRACY OF ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS IN NIGERIA

This research looked at the relationship between the All-Progressive Congress's internal democracy in Lagos State, Nigeria, and peacebuilding strategies. To provide direction for the investigation, two hypotheses (tested at the 0.05 level of significance) were established. All political players in the state were included in the population, which was stratified into senatorial districts to provide a sample size of 289 using correlational and descriptive research techniques. Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation Analysis was used to evaluate the data. Findings indicate that there is no significant relationship between peacebuilding strategies in terms of conflict transformation and internal democracy of All Progressives Congress in Lagos State (r = .004, ρ>0.05), and the study also further found that that there is a positive, moderate and significant relationship between peacebuilding strategies in terms of conflict-sensitive policies and internal democracy of All Progressives Congress in Lagos State (r = .537, ρ < 0.05). It is found that internal democracy in political parties has had favourable results in Lagos State.

Results of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China: a new message to the world

China is rightfully recognized as one of the largest economies in the world and an important political player in the international arena. The dynamic and continuous development of the country's economic component, even in the post-COVID period, gives China a powerful impetus to further maintain the country's stability and image throughout the world. Today it is impossible not to listen to the events taking place in China. Every five years, China hosts congresses of the ruling Communist Party, at which important vectors of development for the coming years are traditionally determined, urgent tasks are set, and ideological decisions are made. Given the importance of the PRC in the world community, party congresses are increasingly attracting attention and are being vigorously discussed on the sidelines of foreign governments. The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China has become a resonant and historic event not only for the entire Chinese people, but also for countries that have close ties with China. In this study, we applied the method of modern structural functionalism, as well as political science, historical and sociological research methods. The article attempts to analyse the opinions of foreign experts, through the prism of which it is possible to see the situation in China in more detail. As a result of the research, an understanding of the main priorities of the new administration was reached, which carry important aspects of China's political landscape.

Dramaturgy of "Hamlet"(s) in Czech Theatre between 2000 and 2023

The paper focuses on five Czech productions of Hamlet that attracted the most critical and public attention between 2000 and 2023. Namely, the productions directed by Miroslav Krobot (2006), Jan Mikulášek (2009), Daniela Špinar (2013), Michal Dočekal (2021) and finally the most recent version by Jakub Čermák (2022). All five performances could be seen as contemporary reinterpretations of a classical text using a (post-)modern stylistic approach, as examples of post-millennium Hamlets. The paper discusses dramaturgical choices (such as the conceptualisation of the ghost, the mousetrap scene, or the character of Fortinbras) in order to identify and analyse possibilities for interpreting Hamlet as a political drama in the context of Czech performance tradition and the current political situation. The results show that performances generally present variations of Hamlet as a family drama, foregrounding different issues of memory and body, while the political reading is obsolete.

Multimodal Pencitraan Anies Baswedan dalam Akun Instagram @aniesbaswedan Menjelang Pemilihan Presiden 2024

The aim of this research is to analyze the visual depiction of Anies Baswedan on Instagram and highlight the role of social media in political campaign strategies. The method used is a qualitative approach with an interpretive paradigm, with a multimodality research method with a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) research design. The results of this research are an analysis of three photos uploaded to the Instagram account @aniesbaswedan which depict Anies Baswedan's political activities and campaign as a presidential candidate. Ideation, interpersonal, and textual analyzes are used to study the use of language and images in the context of political drama via social media. In conclusion, this research provides an understanding of the content and interactions that occur in @aniesbaswedan's Instagram uploads, and these photos receive a positive response from social media users. Anies Baswedan uses Instagram as a stage to show his existence in the world of politics, and he uses these uploads to achieve the goal of being accepted by other users. The photos uploaded by Anies show characteristics that match the purpose of the scene regarding his dream of becoming president. Via Instagram, Anies Baswedan appears as a candidate who is ready to become President 2024 with a serious, warm and humanist image.

The republican Manuel de Arriaga – ‘the people’s representative’

ABSTRACT Poet, teacher, and parliamentarian (1882–1892–1911), Manuel de Arriaga (1840–1917) was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Coimbra and President of the Portuguese Republic. He stood up for democratic principles and he cultivated dialogue and republican values. His thought and actions reflect the ideas of federal republicanism, philosophical eclecticism, secular spiritualism, scientism, and a critique of positivism. His fellow party members remembered him as a leader, a political player, and a politician of the people. As a parliamentarian, he discussed relevant issues such as education and teaching, electoral reform, constitutional reform, penal reform, foreign policy, and regional problems. His parliament speeches highlight his skills as a ‘fighter for the Republic’.

THE UN AND UKRAINIAN DIPLOMACY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE AND TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

The article highlights the activities of the United Nations and the UN Security Council during the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2014-2023 and the activity of Ukrainian diplomacy in defending Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity. The author analyses, in particular, the voting processes at the UN General Assembly and Security Council meetings on issues related to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and points out their ineffectiveness. The author emphasises the need to reform all UN activities in accordance with the current challenges of the global world in the context of the formation of a new, multipolar system of international relations. Particular attention is paid to the acute problem of transforming the most influential body of the United Nations - the Security Council, its structure and decision-making mechanisms, which have been based on the principle of division into permanent and non-permanent members since 1945. The principle of division into permanent and non-permanent members and veto power for the former - the United States, the USSR (and today its illegal successor, the Russian Federation), the People's Republic of China, France and the United Kingdom - no longer corresponds to current realities, as the exclusive possession of veto power by the leading players in world politics is a direct violation of the principle of equality of UN member states. The article also examines the active work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine during the Russian war against Ukraine. It is not only about the realisation of the complex current tasks of expanding an effective pro-Ukrainian coalition in the world, restoring universal respect for the UN Charter and the equal rights of independent states and peoples, but also about the prospects for post-war arrangements in Europe and the world with Ukraine's active participation. It is concluded that Ukrainian diplomacy, in the difficult conditions of martial law and the crisis of the UN and the entire international security system, is quite adequately fulfilling its responsible mission of protecting Ukraine's national interests in the modern global world.

Il soggiorno di Caterina da Siena a Pisa nel 1375

Abstract This essay aims to shed light on the period spent by Catherine of Siena in Pisa during the year 1375. Catherine was not only a woman of faith and devotion, but also a leading political player in late 14th-century Tuscany, in direct contact with the Apostolic See through the members of her clique. Why did the lord of Pisa, Pietro Gambacorta, summon her to his city? What networks of relations did Catherine’s arrival fit into? What were the tangible consequences of her stay in Pisa?

Relations between Sofia and Moscow against the background of domestic political processes in Bulgaria

The article analyses the development of Russian-Bulgarian relations after February 24, 2022. The author draws attention to the fact that in the post-socialist period Sofia has developed a practice of viewing bilateral relations with Moscow not as an independent direction of foreign policy, but as a secondary part of a more general task of integrating the country into Euro-Atlantic community. Because of that the reaction of the Bulgarian political mainstream to the beginning of a special military operation of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine does not represent anything fundamentally new, but rather looks like a logical development of the traditions of Bulgarian diplomacy of recent decades. At the same time, the article emphasizes the presence of political players in Sofia who are interested in adjusting the course of Bulgarian-Russian relations by reducing their dependence on ideological and geopolitical factors.

The dark side of entertainment? How viral entertaining media build an attention base for the far-right politics of The Epoch Times

To amplify their audience reach, far-right outlets need a calculated and coordinated array of acts to set the stage for audience attention and to build a communication network that spreads their messages. We examined the Facebook newsfeed history of The Epoch Times ( N = 117,274 posts from 2013 to 2020), which transitioned from a niche anti-China publication to an influential player in US far-right politics. We found that US partisan issues helped the outlet attract immediate audience engagement, but such content did not invite audience growth and engagement with future content. In contrast, viral entertaining videos, while seemingly benign and mundane, demonstrated superb effects in getting audience responses, accumulating followers, and boosting engagement with subsequent posts. We argue that entertainment media is a crucial component of the extreme politics landscape that directs the flows of political attention, which could exert a “ripple effect” on assembling audience networks.

Parasitical elitism in a sectarianized political system with a rentier economy: The power and practice of the Iraqi political elite after 2003

AbstractThis article theorizes the role of the elite in a sectarianized political system with a rentier economy. It argues that by virtue of the sectarian and ethnic representation of the sub‐identities, the long‐term interests of society are neglected. The reliance on natural resources creates a competition within the elite to seize the state's revenue for narrow interests. Finally, in such a setting, the elite attempts the monopolization of the flow of information to the public to shore up its legitimacy. The case study is Iraq since it is one of the few, if not the sole, sectarianized political system with a rentier economy. The political elite, despite an abysmal performance for nearly two decades, has been resilient and garnered more power. The continuous malpractice encompasses all the political players who agree on the governing rules by which they maintain their position within the system, and with limited circulation of the elite.Related ArticlesAli, Hamid E., and Shahjahan Bhuiyan. 2022. “Governance, Natural Resources Rent, and Infrastructure Development: Evidence from the Middle East and North Africa.” Politics & Policy 50(2): 408–40. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12451.Howie, Peter. 2018. “Policy Transfer and Diversification in Resource‐Dependent Economies: Lessons for Kazakhstan from Alberta.” Politics & Policy 46(1): 110–40. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12239.Khodr, Hiba. 2014. “A Preliminary Comparative Study of Policy Making in Two GCC Countries—Qatar and Kuwait: Processes, Politics, and Participants.” Politics & Policy 42(2): 271–310. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12068.