Political Future Research Articles

Encounter, Critique, and Postcritique: A Play in Two Acts

What’s at stake in debates over critique and postcritique in International Relations (IR)? To subvert that question, this article is written in the format of a theatre play that stages a repeated encounter between scholars who are invested, or not, in that debate. At the centre of the conversations that take place are questions linked to academic responsibility, the nature of reflexivity, and the possibility of different political futures. The play and its characters are fictions, though they are hoped to reflect the ‘narcissism of small differences’ that often pervades academia. In doing so, we seek to (1) foreground how small changes in context (here, from an academic to a practitioner conference) force radical changes on how intellectual controversies are debated, (2) emphasize that the true stakes of debates such as those between critique and postcritique are often obscured by the combative nature of academic discourse, and (3) advocate for a refusal of, or active withdrawal from, the arbitrary classification of scholars into particular intellectual camps or positions. This process of fixing identities, the false idea that we are simply our academic personas, very rarely reflects either our personal-political realities nor the complex, polyphonic, and sometimes happily contradictory qualities of our evolving intellectual lives.

Women Politicians, Social Movements, and Misogyny in Democratic Struggles

In this essay, I investigate the relationship among women in politics, social movements, and misogyny through an examination of public discourse surrounding women politicians—in particular, Carrie Lam, the former chief executive of Hong Kong. The participants in a series of protests in Hong Kong against an anti-extradition bill that began in 2019 generated a large volume of audiovisual materials for the purpose of raising social consciousness, conducting civic education, and creating networks for solidarity. Many of these protest materials contained blatantly misogynistic messages targeting pro-establishment women politicians. I focus on women leaders to explore gender politics in social movements. In assessing the public discourse about Lam during the 2019 movement, I demonstrate that gender politics is consistently inscribed within social movements in postcolonial Hong Kong, in which context the progressive pursuit of democracy, self-determination, and freedom remains imbued with patriarchal culture, including paternalism. This patriarchal culture, unsurprisingly, combines seamlessly with sexism, misogyny, and a gendered imagination of the city’s possible political futures.

Why Are There More Atheists in the Muslim World?

Why Are There More Atheists in the Muslim World? For many years, Muslim countries were outside the secularization trend experienced in different parts of the world. This situation seems to have changed in recent years. Surveys in many Muslim countries show that Muslim societies are rapidly moving away from religion, trust in religious leaders and Islamist parties is declining, and fewer people want religion to have an impact on politics. Yet, it seems that none of the explanations provided by secularization literature, such as revised modernization theory or religious markets theory, can help us adequately understand the decline in religiosity in Muslim countries. I claim that there could be a relationship between people's well-being and religiosity and argue that governments' declining economic performance can explain the recent developments taking place in Muslim countries. Various authors have already shown that politics can influence religion just as religion and religiosity influence politics. With this study, I tried to provide details about conditions under which politics can affect religion and religiosity in Muslim countries. Considering that religion affects every part of Muslims' lives, results from this study may give us an idea about the future of politics in the Muslim world.

THE FACTORS LEADING TO OUTWARD MIGRATION OF THE CHAKMAS FROM CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS

Chittagong and its hill tracts has been historically the homeland of various tribal groups. Such that when the British annexed the tracts, to suit their administration various laws were promulgated to protect and declared excluded it from generally laws applicable to the plains. These same laws were more or less similar to the hills tribal areas in different parts of British India. In fact, the tribal leaders of CHT having feared to be part of Islamic state choose to be with the liberal side, India. However, partition came with different story leaving the tribals to struggle for their political future. Unlike India, the then East Pakistan choose to subdue, if not abolished, the British protectionist policy for the Hill Tracts. Following the extremist policy, the new Pro Islamic State chose development policies harming the tribal demography. The Chakma being the largest tribal communities faced the atrocity of State the most. There, the present study analysed on how various state sponsored programmes had affect the tribal in CHT leading to outward migration as a result of - dam projects, non-tribal resettlement in tribal areas, counter insurgency programme.

Три уровня международного политико-экономического анализа: новая перспектива для исследования международных проблем в эпоху многополярности

One of the key issues in current international relations studies is the structure of knowledge. The epistemological foundations of political and economic theories of international development are losing their relevance as the influence of theory on the practice of international relations wanes. The declining ability of international analysis to predict the future of world politics and economics emphasizes the need for a broader, interdisciplinary approach to the study of international relations. This study aims to explore the possibility of creating a new, practical and interdisciplinary model of analysis to address the problems of the modern international system. This approach to the systemic analysis of international relations involves broadening the scope of the study by integrating international political and economic (IPE) analysis and including three analytical levels: explanatory, normative and critical. The article defines the terminology, structure, principles and criteria of such an analysis based on the problems of modern political science. The author also points out the main difficulties in the formation of theoretical and methodological basis of the three-level analysis. Examples of analyzing problems, namely the impact of trade barriers on the instability of global supply chains and the international dimension of the energy crisis of the Federal Republic of Germany (2022 – present) are given, demonstrating the quality and consistency of the results of such analysis.

The Linguistic Construction of Political Identity: the Case of Catalonia

In the last decades much research has been carried out on discourse as a form of social practice from the Critical Discourse Analysis perspective. The Vienna school of CDA led by Wodak and her associates has developed a discourse-historical approach to discourse which investigates the linguistic construction of national identities through a method of description and analysis which posits three categories –topics, strategies and linguistic devices– employed in the construction, perpetuation, transformation and dismantling of nations and national identities. Following this approach, the present paper aims to analyse the linguistic construction of Catalonia’s present and political future in a corpus of public discourse fragments produced by Catalan pro-independence leaders and activists during the so-called Catalan crisis. The analysis reveals that the linguistic construction of the Catalan present and political future relies on constructive, justification and dismantling strategies that seek to support self-determination and construe Catalonia as an independent Republic.

The border as temporal horizon: a borderlands massacre and the contested futures of federalism in eastern Ethiopia

AbstractIn 1995, a coalition of former rebel groups redrew Ethiopia's map, establishing an ethnic‐federal system. By 2017, internal border conflicts signalled federalism's potential unravelling. This article analyses expectations about federalism's future among Somalis in Ethiopia, drawing on anthropologies of time to understand how everyday processes of border‐making orient around the ‘future in the present’. Anthropologists and historians concerned with political time have focused largely on how the ‘past in the present’ shapes state‐building and political identity formation. Meanwhile, political scientists and commentators, as well as many Ethiopians living amid uncertainty, prognosticate about the future of identity politics in Ethiopia and attempt to discern whether decentralization is paving the way to state fragmentation. Foregrounding how people work to manage time at borders and through borderwork, this article analyses the roles borders play in people's collective constructions of political futures – and the role anticipations about the future play in people's engagement with borders.

Embracing the Status Hierarchy: How Immigration Attitudes, Prejudice, and Sexism Shaped Non-White Support for Trump

It is well established that Donald Trump’s rhetoric and actions during his candidacy and presidency endorsed existing group-based social hierarchies, helping to boost his support among white Americans, especially men and those without a college degree. But how did these endorsements shape support for Trump among non-white Americans? Extant theories suggest that these actions should have pushed racial and ethnic minority voter support for the GOP candidate to its lowest observed levels in contemporary political history. Yet Trump outperformed these expectations in 2016 and in 2020 among Black, Latino, and Asian American voters. We propose the same embrace of social hierarchies that motivated white support for Trump also motivated the political preferences and behaviors of a significant number of non-white Americans. Using several national large-N surveys conducted between 2011 and 2021 with large samples of Black, Latino, and Asian Americans, we explore how support for existing status hierarchies—both gender and racial—engendered support for Trump across racial and ethnic groups and discuss implications for the future of electoral politics in a rapidly diversifying United States.

A Polish Patriot in Paris: Albert Sowiński, Essayist, Anthologist and Lexicographer

If there was one musician in mid-nineteenth-century Paris who diligently promoted Polish accomplishments, it was Albert Sowinski (Wojciech Sowiński). From his arrival in France in 1828 until his death in 1880, he championed the Polish cause as a performer, composer and scholar. Sowinski was a prolific writer, but with the exception of his Les musiciens polonais et slaves, anciens et modernes, Dictionnaire (1857), his studies of Polish repertoire rarely receive more than passing attention in modern scholarship. In this essay, I investigate Sowinski’s developing paradigms of Polish nationalism and Polish identity across the entirety of his major writings about and collections of Polish music: Chants polonais nationaux et populaires (1830), Chants de la révolution du 29 novembre 1830 (1830), Mélodies polonaises album lyrique (1833), ‘Chants populaires de l’Ukraine’ (1842), ‘De l’état actuel de la musique en Pologne’ (1842), Dictionnaire (1857) and Chants religieux de la Pologne, Op. 93 (1859). The four works from the 1830s, which focused on Polish folk music and revolutionary songs, were closely tied to Sowinski’s work with Léonard Chodzko (Leonard Chodźko) and his circle in Paris. Especially in the Chants polonais, Sowinski followed Chodzko and Joachim Lelewel in emphasising the exceptional geographic, linguistic and even ethnic diversity of the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, viewing this diversity as the basis for a glorious musical and political future. By contrast, in his critical writings of the 1840s, Sowinski interpreted Ukraine’s folk traditions as speaking largely to regional experience; he cast Warsaw and its musical institutions as the basis for a modern Polish musical identity. By the time of his Dictionnaire and Chants religieux de la Pologne, Sowinski de-emphasised Poland’s musical exceptionality in favour of delineating its long tradition of exchange with Western Europe, facilitated particularly through courts and the Roman Catholic Church.

Nationalism at Bay: The Chinese Nationalist Policy towards Hong Kong, 1946–1949

The Chinese Nationalist government's Hong Kong policy appeared to be successful from 1946 to 1949. While its official principle was to shelve the matter until civil conflicts ceased, the government adopted tough rhetoric and actions in dealing with any troubles deriving from the colony, which underlined the uncertain political future of Hong Kong that the British could not ignore. However, this tactic was a result of the Nationalists' failure to strike a balance between the public's and local authorities' clamour for the colony's immediate retrocession and the central government's postponement policy. As a result, not only did the matter of Hong Kong remain unresolved but the public discontent against the government escalated and the Sino‐British relationship reached its nadir. Yet the “unintended claim” that the failure in balancing caused posed a serious threat to British rule in Hong Kong and encouraged the latter to rethink the colony's future and how to administrate the colony peacefully in the post‐war era.

Forum on Heikki Patomäki’s World Statehood: The Future of World Politics

In this forum, six scholars discuss Heikki Patomäki’s book World Statehood: The Future of World Politics, published in 2023. The editor’s introduction situates it in the discursive contexts of cosmopolitanism, deep history and functional differentiation. Ian Crawford looks at the concept of world statehood from an astrobiologist’s point of view, putting the debate in the context of research on the possibility of life existing beyond Earth. Eva Erman notes that there are methodological issues that primarily derive from a missing distinction between theoretical and practical normativity in Patomäki’s thought. Oliver Kessler offers a critical perspective on underlying, and possibly unrealistic, assumptions about a universal translatability of specialized knowledges and vocabularies that he argues underlines Patomäki’s project. Jens Bartelson argues that the concept of world community has probably accumulated too much conceptual baggage to be useful in building world statehood. Mitja Sienknecht observes that the evolution of artificial intelligence is insufficiently addressed in World Statehood and probes possible implications in this respect. Heikki Patomäki then replies to these contributions.

From empowering Internet to digital dominance: The past, present, and future of cyber politics in China

From empowering Internet to digital dominance: The past, present, and future of cyber politics in China

Shaping the Future of Politics: Transforming Legislative Candidate Campaigns Through Social Media

Shaping the Future of Politics: Transforming Legislative Candidate Campaigns Through Social Media

Conceptual Justification of the Political Future in the Three-Dimensionality of the Past-Present-Future

The article addresses the complicated issue of political future in a temporally three-dimensional manner. First, an attempt is made to dissect the conceptual contents of the idea of the “end of history” linking its historical evolution to contemporary international relations. Moreover, the article exposes the underlying connection between the “end of history” on the one hand and the “political future” on the other. In this sense, one may conculde that it is necessary to differentiate between the “end of history” as an arguable notion and the “desired end of history” as a universal direction of humankind. Second, an emphasis is made on the interrelationships among the individual, the society, the state and supranational entities revealing the sociocultural dimension of the political future. Finally, the article addresses the proposed matrix of “challenge-response to the challenge-counter-challenge” as a formula of an effective deal with contemporary sociopolitical phenomena. The general representation is, however, the anthropomorphizing effect of the political future in the context of global and local civilizations.

Is Personal Branding The Key To Success In Simultaneous Elections In 2024?

In the context of representative democracy, elections play a central role in determining the direction of a country's policies and leadership. In Indonesia, the moment of general elections, especially the presidential and vice presidential elections, is very important to determine the political future of the nation. With the development of democracy, the phenomenon of first-time voters has emerged-a new generation that is actively involved in the political process. This study aims to examine the impact of personal branding of presidential and vice presidential candidates on novice voters in the 2023 general election. The method used is quantitative with data collection through questionnaires and data analysis using Smart PLS. The results showed that personal attributes such as honesty, professional background, populism, and wealth have a significant positive influence on the perception of personal branding of presidential and vice presidential candidates among novice voters. These findings make a significant contribution to the understanding of how personal branding elements can influence the decisions of novice voters in general elections.

The 2024 Presidential Election's Political Dynamics: The Changing of Governments and Dynasties

This article examines the political dynamics taking place during the presidential election of Indonesia in 2024, with a focus on the transition to a new government and the potential emergence of political dynasties. It analyzes the political changes that occurred during the campaign, election, and post-election, and how these changes affected political stability and the country's policy direction. Changes in public opinion, political communication tactics used by candidates and political parties, difficulties encountered during the transition to a new government, and the potential emergence of political dynasties—a phenomenon in which political power is concentrated in the hands of families or power circles—are all included in the analysis. The research method used is qualitative research with a literature study design. The data collection technique uses secondary data from reference sources such as legal products, research articles, and journals collected from Google Scholar, Portal Garuda, and news portals such as BBC Indonesia, BBC News, Kompas.com, and Bawaslu. The literature study technique uses a traditional review. This article seeks to offer a clearer understanding of the political processes influencing the 2024 presidential election result and its consequences for Indonesia's political future by exploring these dynamics.

Hallucinating a political future: Global press coverage of human and post-human abilities in ChatGPT applications

In November 2022, the tech company OpenAI launched a groundbreaking chatbot model, ChatGPT. This unprecedented chatbot, characterized by an ease of use for lay internet users, gained immediate popularity and attracted extensive media attention. This article examines global press coverage of ChatGPT in peak reporting dates over the first full year of its existence. Based on a qualitative holistic narrative analysis, our findings point to two narrated scapes of political fear in the coverage of ChatGPT: The fear of the machine and the fear of the human. These attest to the collective imagining of an intensified future, where post-humanist interaction with political information is associated with exploitation, propaganda, and polarization of existing political rifts. We draw on the case study to articulate journalists’ role in signaling instability in the current political media ecosystem, and their construction of a techno-moral framework for society. We discuss an important blind-spot in journalists’ fulfilment of their normative role in fostering technology-informed citizens globally.

Hasan al-Turabi's Pragmatic Approach to Establishing an Islamic State in Sudan

This research examines the pragmatic approach of Hasan al-Turabi, a key figure in the Sudanese Islamic movement, in fighting for an Islamic state. Using qualitative analysis that combines the concepts of pragmatism and social movement theory, this study reveals al Turabi's strategy in translating Islamic ideals into political action, including building alliances with various religious factions and exploiting revolutionary momentum. Findings demonstrate al-Turabi's success in advancing Islamization and shaping Sudan's socio-political landscape but also faced challenges in the consistent implementation of Sharia and protection of the rights of marginalized groups. Comparisons with Islamist figures such as Rached Ghannouchi and Recep Tayyip Erdogan highlight the particularities of the Sudanese context and variations in the strategies and outcomes of political Islamist movements. This study deepens our understanding of the complex dynamics between political pragmatism and religious idealism in Muslim countries, with important implications for inclusive governance. Through a critical exploration of al-Turabi's legacy, this research contributes to discussions about the future of Islamic politics that accommodates diversity and protects the rights of marginalized groups.

‘A Return, a Mirror, a Photograph’: Return Journeys, Material Culture and Intergenerational Transmission in a Greek Cypriot Refugee Family

During times of war, displaced families carry various material items that later serve as means for preserving the memories of lost homes and maintaining a sense of identity. In divided Cyprus, the use of material objects by people displaced before and during the 1974 Turkish invasion has been influenced by the opening of checkpoints between the two sides in 2003. This paper explores how different generations in my family reacted to and interpreted the rediscovery of a lost material item—a handmade mirror piece—during the return journey. It discusses how my mother located the item, photographed it, and placed its photograph in the family’s photographic archive. During the research project upon which this paper follows from, both items re-emerged through my mother’s storytelling about her experience of return, transforming the project into a form of intergenerational transmission. The paper portrays how the storytelling about the mirror piece and its photograph was interpreted differently by me and my mother, influenced by the different politics of memory. The paper also showcases the resourcefulness of refugee families in maintaining the memory of their lost homes, which simultaneously reveals their views and hopes regarding the political future of the island.

Forging Frontline Russians

This article considers efforts by the de facto authorities of non-governmental-controlled areas (NGCAs) of eastern Ukraine to shape regional identity from 2014 through 2021. It focuses on the paradoxes of top-down identity construction in an environment of mixed popular sentiments, fluid borders, and an uncertain political future. It argues that nascent identity construction projects in the NGCAs were often inconsistent and unclear, emphasizing different layers of “candidate Fatherlands,” be it the individual self-declared republics, the Donbas, Novorossiia, the Russian Federation, or a broader Russian civilization. While internally inconsistent and contradictive, however, the various initiatives often took antemurale political myths as a point of departure. These myths spin around the idea that regional inhabitants constitute a particular brand of “frontline Russians”—hardened warriors protecting a western outpost of the Russian civilization. Even as “candidate Fatherlands” came and went, this ideational core manifested not only in policy and aloof declarations, but also in a persistent growth of so-called military-patriotic education in the region. Militarized ideas of political identity became mainstream within the occupied areas—reflecting both influences from Russia and the ongoing war.