Political Goals Research Articles

Русско-персидские школы как элемент реализации политики «мягкой силы» Российской империи в Северной Персии в конце XIX – начале XX в.

Introduction. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries witnessed an intensified Russia–UK confrontation in Persia, which was paralleled by penetrations of other great powers (France, Germany, USA) into the Near and Middle East. Under those conditions, Russia’s traditional economic methods of influence in Persia became insufficient. Goals. The study seeks to examine the phenomenon of Russian educational institutions in Northern Persia as another way of pursuing own national political goals in the designated country. The work aims at confirming — with evidence from archival documents — the activities of Russian-Persian schools during the specified period were to shape a positive image of Russia in Persian society. Materials and methods. The most important sources characterizing the process of opening Russian-Persian schools in Northern Persia (their goals and objectives, training agenda, certain results) are documents of both central authorities and diplomatic, economic and military institutions of the Russian Empire to Persia discovered at the Russian State Historical Archive. Analytical and generalization methods — with comparative into historiographic and archival materials — have proved most instrumental therein. Results. The article identifies some prerequisites for the emergence of Russian-Persian schools in Northern Persia, determines the validity of their activities in this particular region of the country, clearly outlines the context of Russia’s competition with other governments in this matter to conclude as follows: the Russian government was perfectly aware of the need to open such schools that would disseminate the Russian language and Russia-related ideas among Persia’s population; graduates of those educational institutions would serve an important element in pursuing Russia’s interests both in trade, economy, and politics; despite various difficulties — primarily financial ones — the schools were popular enough among ethnic Persians both in Tehran and in other cities of Northern Persia.

State-owned enterprises after the market turn: Hybridisation and the historical development of nested paradoxes in the case of Norway

The article studies the recent history of state owned enterprises (SOEs) in Norway through the lens of paradox theory. A tension between business goals and political goals lie at the heart of SOEs, and I analyse processes of partial privatisations in the 1990s and early 2000s as attempts to overcome this original paradox. Through the public listing of major SOEs, the Norwegian state became the largest owner on the Oslo stock exchange and a new corporate governance setup for these entities arose. I propose to see this development as a case of historically developed nested paradoxes, and argue that a new paradox emerged in which the Norwegian state attempted to reach political goals through the ownership of SOEs by not having explicit political goals. I find two main equilibrating mechanisms for this paradox, and discuss some of the ways paradoxical tensions of SOEs still persist despite attempts to overcome them.

Navigating the Waves of Health Transformation Program of Turkey: A Critical Examination of the Shifting Landscape for Private Sector

Over the last two decades, Turkey has experienced significant shifts in its healthcare system through the implementation of the Health Transformation Program (HTP) led by the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Initially closely tied to AKP's political goals, the HTP has evolved, displaying different phases at its journey and, thus, prompting a reflective look. The recent controversial initiative by the AKP government, the establishment of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) hospitals, commonly known as şehir hastaneleri (city hospitals) in Turkey, has underscored a need for a reflective examination that considers various actors to comprehend the formation of health policies. This study critically delves into the HTP's transformation, noting a reduced emphasis on healthcare policy within the AKP's priorities, by exploring how private sector players respond and position themselves in Turkey's healthcare reform scene. Using official reports and declarations, the research investigates private actors' views on AKP's healthcare strategies, their satisfaction levels, policy adjustments, and financial impacts. The aim is to unravel the narratives and strategies of the private sector in the changing landscape of the HTP.

The recent Sino-Danish film co-productions: soft power and transnational talent development

ABSTRACT In May 2017, Denmark and China signed a film co-production agreement, marking Denmark as the first and only Nordic country to establish such a treaty with China. Taking two recent China-Denmark film co-productions as examples, Bille August’s The Chinese Widow (2017) and Lin Jianjie’s Brief History of a Family (2024), this paper investigates why China chose to sign a film agreement with Denmark and vice versa. It also examines the cultural and film policies that catalysed the emergence and development of this new co-production partnership. This paper aims to address two emergent trends in transnational screen studies: conceptual engagement with soft power and transnational talent development. It discusses how cinema serves as an instrument for states, institutions, and corporations to mediate diplomatic and political goals, generate soft power, and engage in nation branding. This paper argues that the transformation in geopolitical relationships between these two countries and their respective film and cultural policies over the past decade has led to this new collaborative partnership. Furthermore, it suggests that the latest European cultural policies supporting Sino-European co-production and transnational talent development have facilitated Sino-Danish film co-production.

Place of living at end-of-life according to cause of death: a comparative analysis of all decedents 70 years or older in 2009-2013 in Finland and Norway.

Time at home at end-of-life is perceived as valuable to individuals. Increasing home care is therefore often a political goal. Yet, little is known about where individuals live towards their end-of-life. Our aim was to describe where individuals reside their last 6 months of life in Finland and Norway, and how this differed by cause of death, sex, age, marital status, and income. We used individual-leveled national registry data on all decedents aged >70 years in 2009-2013 to describe the number of days individuals spent at home, in hospital, in long-term care (LTC) and short-term care (STC) facilities. We described the place of residence for all and by causes of death: cancer, diseases of the circulatory system, disease in the respiratory system, and mental and behavioral disorders (primarily dementia). We analyzed how age, marital status (indicating informal care), and income associated with place of residence. Analyses were stratified by sex and country. During the last 6 months of life, decedents in Finland (n=186,017) and Norway (n=159,756) spent similar amounts of days in hospital (8 and 11 days) and in STC facilities (15 and 13 days). Finnish decedents spent more days at home (96 vs. 84 days) and fewer days in LTC facilities (64 vs. 80 days). Living arrangement differed similarly by cause of death in the two countries, e.g., decedents from cancer and mental and behavioral disorders spent 123 [113] vs. 29 [21] days at home in Finland (Norway). In both countries, for all causes of death, lower age and marital status were associated with more days at home, for both males and females. While those with higher income spent more days at home in Norway, the opposite was found in Finland. Older individual's living arrangements in the last 6 months of life were similar in Finland and Norway but differed by cause of death. Younger individuals and those with access to informal care spent more days at home, compared to their counterparts. With aging populations, more individuals will likely need LTC at their end of life. Policies should align with these needs when developing future health care services.

POLITICAL CULTURE AND INTRA-PARTY SECURITY IN MONGOLIA

In any democratic country, political parties play an important role in the development of society and are a participating institution with a special role in representative democracy. In this context, parties play a major role in supporting fair competition in politics and also have an important influence on ideological and state regulation of politics. Therefore, political parties are obliged to fulfill their obligations to the society strictly within the legal and legal framework, to report on their financial support in accordance with the established procedure and to be able to be accountable to the society. In this context, how will Mongolias political parties influence the formation of the following functional approaches - the will of the people and the formation of public opinion improving citizens political education how to ensure citizens active participation in political life preparing citizens capable of performing public service and taking responsibility participating in elections as a candidate how to harmonize their political goals and agenda with the governments policies and decisions In this article, we have sought to clarify the following functional approaches. The results of the main and additional studies selected and conducted by the authors themselves are used, analyzed and presented.

Ethnic politics via digital means: Introducing the Ethnic Organizations Online dataset

With the increasing relevance of ethnic groups as political actors, the literature has attempted to identify and study the ethnic organizations representing these groups. How do these organizations use digital communication channels to reach their domestic and international audiences? To enable research on these questions, this article introduces the Ethnic Organizations Online dataset, a new data collection focusing on the online channels that ethnic organizations use. The dataset includes four types of channels: Twitter (since July 2023, rebranded by Elon Musk as X); Facebook; Instagram; and regular websites. It relies on the Ethnic Power Relations – Organizations database, and is therefore compatible with an entire family of datasets on ethnic politics. Featuring more than 2000 online channels used by 265 groups, it allows researchers to study a wide variety of questions related to digital ethnic mobilization. The article presents three examples of how the dataset can be used. We study: (a) how a group’s political goals influence social media adoption; (b) how elections impact the organizations’ communication frequency and how this differs between democracies and autocracies; and (c) how the power status of a group affects the content of their communication. We provide replication codes facilitating the use of the dataset in applied research.

The Effectiveness of Campaign Digital Politics in Increasing the Electability of Prospective Candidates: A Analysis General Election of President and Vice President 2019

In this digital era, political campaigns have experienced significant changes with the emergence of various social media platforms and digital technology. This phenomenon is no exception in the context of the 2019 presidential and vice-presidential general elections in Indonesia. Digital political campaigns have become an integral part of candidates' strategies in winning the hearts of voters and increasing their electability. In this analysis, we evaluate the effectiveness of digital political campaigns in increasing the electability of prospective candidates in the 2019 presidential and vice-presidential general elections. We identify the strategies and tactics used by candidates and their campaign teams in utilizing digital technology to achieve their political goals, as well as the impact digital political campaigns on public perception and the final results of the general election. Using qualitative analysis methods, we collect data from various social media platforms and apply content analysis to understand the influence of digital political campaigns. The research results show that digital political campaigns have a significant impact in increasing the electability of prospective candidates, by increasing visibility, recognition and interaction with voters through social media. In addition, we also discuss other factors that influence election outcomes, such as the participation of young voters, the potential for polarization, and the influence of dynastic politics. Thus, this analysis provides in-depth insight into the role of digital technology in contemporary politics and its implications for democracy and the general election process in Indonesia.

Threading the Needle: Jacques Maritain’s Defense of a Christian and Liberal Democracy

Some of the key oppositions tearing apart American public life in the early 21st century are related to issues explored in the mid-twentieth century political philosophy of Jacques Maritain. Supporters of liberal democracy, then and now, insist that it is a political system that privatizes religion and all concepts of a common good. Supporters of an integralist alternative demand official state support for religion as the vision underlying political goals. And, of course, arrayed against both are authoritarian movements that threaten democracy altogether. In this context, Maritain’s nuanced political philosophy is far from dated. He thoughtfully defends liberal democracy’s protection of human rights, while also demonstrating that democracy is strengthened by a Catholic vision of the ultimate human good. His political wisdom provides a way through our current impasses and points to a path that will support the survival of this fragile experiment in democracy and the even more fragile hope that democratic processes could be a means to create a more just world.

The power of words in political discourses of the general election campaigns in Kenya

This paper examines the power of words in political campaign discourses in Kenyan media. The study focuses on the several meanings of concepts employed by politicians in the run-up to the general elections of August 2022. Discursive practices and linguistic tactics are employed in discourses to achieve a particular political, social, psychological or linguistic goal. Critical theories of language see the use of language as a form of social practice. Critical discourse analysis claims that major social and political processes and movements have a partly linguistic and partly social and political character. Social relations of power are linguistic and discursive in nature. They are exercised and negotiated in discourse. The study utilised Mitchel Foucault’s approaches to political discourse and Norman Fairclough’s critical approaches to discourse analysis. Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis was employed in the study. First is the analysis of text; words are a part of the community, and texts contain interpretation. Secondly, language is viewed as a discursive practice, which is the production or the constitution of text and, finally, the analysis of language as a social practice, which includes the analysis of norms. The study sought to contribute to studies dealing with the discursive construction of power and ideology in political discourses. The study demonstrates that Kenyans do not vote independently; rather, they are persuaded to vote through the power exerted by the rhetoric of the politicians and the professional media practices that assist their presentation.

Navigating Between National Unity and Political Expediency: The Federal Government’s Response to Substate Identity Policy in Nigeria and Canada

What factors shape the federal or national governments’ responses to substate identity policies within deeply diverse federal systems? This article answers this question by analysing the role of the President or Prime Minister as ‘bearers’ of national unity, when confronted with (exclusivist) identity policies that may threaten the inclusion of all citizens, in particular minorities residing in jurisdictions dominated by a dominant (ethnocultural, linguistic or religious) group. The empirical evidence draws on the experiences of Canada and Nigeria, focusing in particular on the tension over secularism and the Muslim veil in Québec public institutions, and the adoption of Sharia by twelve Muslim-majority states in Nigeria. The paper demonstrates that while the need to uphold cultural diversity could explain the federal government’s responses to the identity policies implemented in these regions, the primary driver of the responses was the president and prime minister’s political goal of re-election and retaining power. The paper contributes to the literature by stressing the similarities in the political reflexes and strategies utilized by political actors in managing the tension between the constitutional principles of self-rule and shared rule in two federations that are often thought to be so different and, hence, incomparable.

Statistical Analysis of Terrorist Attacks in the World: An Islamic Perspective

Terrorism has become a common phenomenon in the modern world, but often in various scientific works and media there are attempts to find a correlation between terrorism and Islamic law. This article provides a statistical analysis of terrorist acts in the world on the basis of which it aims to identify the major tendencies, as well as to highlight important conclusions backed by the information obtained. Islam’s view of the crime under investigation is also important within the research frame.An institutional approach came as the methodological basis of this scientific article. It allowed the author to assess the influence of terrorism on the modern socio-political and economic situations.In the course of statistical analysis of terrorist attacks in the world it was found that Muslim countries suffer the greatest damage from the harmful effects of terrorism, although Islam has radiant arguments for banning violations against the population as means of casting terror and achieving political goals. An important conclusion of the paper is the fact that there are various terrorist groups in the world that do not act for religious reasons. Moreover, the most important conclusion of the article is in understanding the necessity of addressing and solving social problems, which are considered to be the key factors of economic growth and the absence of which cultivates terrorism expansion.

Contemporary Sunni-Shia Dynamics: Conflict or Competition?

This article delves into the power competition between Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Contemporary Shia) by examining their involvement in shaping Middle Eastern influence expansion through fundamentally different ideological approaches, namely Sunni and Shia. The author takes the cases of Syria and Yemen as focal points to narrow down the scope and gauge the efforts of both countries as balancing forces in the Middle East region. The paper adopts an ideological approach to identify conflict patterns and strategies employed by both nations. The objective of this paper is to explore the background of the conflict between these two countries, utilizing ideological approaches to achieve their political goals. Employing a descriptive-analytical approach, this article aims to address the research issues at hand. It reveals that Saudi Arabia and Iran play significant roles in Middle Eastern conflicts, particularly in Syria and Yemen, through various means such as funding and providing military logistical support. The ideological approach is inseparable from the missions carried out by both nations. Iran has succeeded in building alliances with local governments, thus securing victories in Yemen. However, Saudi Arabia, despite employing various alliance-building strategies, has yet to achieve success.

Komunikasi dan Partisipasi Perempuan Dalam Politik Elektoral

This research aims to investigate the background of women's participation in general and specifically, women who participate in electoral politics as legislative candidates. Using phenomenological methods, the study states that the backgrounds of women who are involved in electoral politics include following in the footsteps of other people who have already entered the world of politics, wanting women to play more roles, and being encouraged by other people. The participation of women in politics still mostly comes from external sources, rather than being purely driven by a desire to change women's conditions due to patriarchal relations in society. Meanwhile, the most common obstacles experienced by women in politics are the double burden of having to play both domestic and public roles, social and cultural inequality, and being underestimated as women. Regarding the communication strategy used by female legislative candidates, they stated that they communicate more with female prospective voters, explain programs related to women, children, and teenagers, and discuss issues related to women to attract votes. They believe that gender similarity helps them communicate effectively and achieve their political goals.

PECULIARITIES OF THE APPLICATION OF FINANCIAL DIPLOMACY SANCTION TOOLS BY STATES

The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the modern practice by states of the sanctions toolkit of financial diplomacy and an assessment of its political and economic effectiveness. The role of economic sanctions in the system of financial instruments of diplomatic activity of states and their achievement of strategic goals related to accelerating macroeconomic growth and improving the material well-being of the population are defined. Considerable attention is paid to identifying the functional purpose of economic sanctions and revealing their place in the modern regulatory toolkit of international organizations, regional integration groups, and national governments. It has been proven that economic sanctions have been actively implemented in recent decades as one of the means of political pressure on those states that violate the system of international order and threaten the national interests of a significant number of sovereign states. Economic sanctions are also qualified as an important mechanism for states to achieve a number of political and economic goals, de-escalation of global and regional conflicts, as well as deterring countries from aggressive behavior in the international arena. It was found that recent years have been characterized by a significant increase in the attention of researchers to the issue of increasing the effectiveness of the sanctions tools of financial diplomacy used by states.

Religion in modern projects: between alarmism, political expediency and utopia

The permanent shift of modernity, the epistemological crisis, and the politicization of all social spheres determine an atmosphere of global political anxiety. The ever-expanding security deficit becomes an attribute of modernity, as a fragmentation as a response to globality and the emergence of alternative ways of political genesis reflects new socio-cultural semantic nodes. Existential threats raise a persistent appeal to religion. The loss of epistemological certainty in political constructions contributes to the theoretical confusion about the future. The diffusion of political and value contexts forces people to turn to religion while developing projects and setting the goals of modernity. This creates cognitive and political- instrumental difficulties in using legitimizing and, at the same time, mutually exclusive religious meanings. The simultaneous truth in different types of discourses and in theory makes it impossible to find a common denominator. We argue that the projects and goal settings of modernity, claiming to be universal, but not achieving it, are structured primarily based on the logic of alarmism and eschatology. A positive project, trying to overcome the limitations of politicization, moves to the value plane. We consider three perspectives of the teleology of modernity, including religious meanings: theoretical, metaphysical, and instrumental. The research methodology is based on the problems of political goal setting in the logic of, traditional/ modern, explaining the religious coloring of political strategies and the splitting of future visions. The othering based on religious differences as a tool of political goal setting, the political instrumentalization of religious identities, simultaneously with religious creation of the world, puts two possible projects of modernity at opposite poles - the World of Religions and the World of Faith. Among the possible projects arising at the intersection of religion and politics, the author suggests three large clusters: alarmism, political expediency, and utopia.

A fundamental challenge. Are the affordances of political science being wasted?

The author recalls the reveries of the times of the creation of the journal Polis. He critically assesses three decades of attempts to nurture the achievements of world political science. He admits that the results of these efforts are far from expectations. The reasons are the haste to act and our miopic vision of the standards of world political science, as well as the awkward backwardness of these standards themselves. The generic trauma of the newly emerging political science goes with the reductive adjusting of evolving practices of political goal- attainment to the straitjacketing models of jurisprudence, philosophy and history. As Ch. Tilly has shown, the corresponding pernicious postulates were questioned only during the glorious twenty years of political science renewal in the 60s and 70s of the last century. These pernicious postulates are related to the reduction of evolving political phenomena to simplistic mechanistic schemes and abstractions. They continue to dominate mainstream political science. As for the alternative possibilities of political science, they require taking into account the spatio-temporal variability of political phenomena and using an expanding and increasingly complex researchapparatus. The author gives a number of examples of such sophisticating renewal, including the treatment of the existence of nations as everyday referendum (Renan), of diverse polities as mestorazvitiya (evo-localizings, lit. place-developments) (Savitsky), of political institutions as conceptual variables (Nettl), of crises as alternating phases of dissynchronization and resynchronization (Almond and colleagues), of center-periphery polarization (Rokkan). The article also mentions the efforts of R. Dahl and F. Schmitter to “save” modern democracy from various kinds of reductions by reinterpreting it in terms of polyarchy and accountability. It refers to the geochronopolitics of G. Modelski and further similar ventures of V. Tsimburski. It also cites efforts of A. Melville and his colleagues in correcting the reductive rendering of the global community of states by extending the factual scope multidimensionality of its analysis. Further cases include the fuller and more multidimensional consideration by G. Tsebelis and R. Putnam of alternative policies and aspirations in terms of nested, two- and multidimensional games, and finally, the efforts of W. Patzelt to instigate an evolutionary morphology of politics.

A Genre-Based Analysis of Political Speeches of Selected Pakistani Prime Ministers in The UN General Assembly

This study consists of gender-based exploration of two political speeches that have been delivered by Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan at the UN General Assembly. This research aims to investigate the cognitive structure of political speeches and uncover the typical strategies employed by selected politicians to achieve their communicative goals. Bhatia's (1993) genre analysis model is taken as theoretical framework. This research is qualitative in nature and it argues that political addresses at the UN Assembly are followed by certain protocols, which distinguish them as a political subcategory. The findings demonstrate that selected prime ministers conform to this genre's structure to advance their political agendas. Additionally, it reveals that both chosen speakers employ similar strategies for the argumentative aspect of their speeches, choosing strategies based on their respective communicative objectives. It is anticipated that this research will pave a road for upcoming scholars by providing novel insights about usefulness of genre analysis in multiple contexts and it also helps them to get a lucid understanding of the political goals and the projected perception of Pakistan on the global stage.

HOẠT ĐỘNG CỦA TRƯỜNG TƯ THỤC Ở TRUNG KỲ TỪ NĂM 1917 ĐẾN NĂM 1945

Under the French colonial period, in addition to the public school system, the French government has allowed the opening of many private schools to serve political goals and meet the learning needs of the people. To contribute to clarify the current situation of private schools in Annam during the French colonial period, based on documents of the French government including Decrees, Yearbook Reports, statistical documents... the article focuses on clarifying the The colonial government's private education policy from the second educational reform (1917 to 1945), at the same time restoring the private school system in Annam in terms of schools, programs, and studies, etc. On that basis, the author presents a few comments on private education in Annam since the second educational reform (from 1917 to 1945) and compare it with private education in Tonkin, Cochinchina during the same study period.

The gender-affirming model of care is incompatible with competent, ethical medical practice.

To examine the compatibility of gender-affirming care with the principles and practices of psychiatry. The assumption that there is no pathology involved in the development of gender diversity is a necessary precondition for the unquestioning affirmation of self-reported gender identity. Cases where psychosis is the undeniable cause of gender diversity demonstrate this assumption is categorically false. To protect this false assumption, gender-affirming guidelines forbid the application of the core psychiatric competencies of phenomenology and psychopathology to the assessment of gender diversity. They substitute the political goal of expanding personal liberty for the evidence-based medicine processes of clinical reasoning, rendering them incompatible with competent, ethical medical practice.