Political History Research Articles

“We Are Alone Here Like Orphans”: Leningrad Students’ Rural Practice in the Initial Period of Collectivisation

In this article, the author explores the problems of collective farm construction in the north-west of the RSFSR. The purpose of the article is to introduce into the academic circuit a set of ego-documents, reflecting household and economic peculiarities of everyday life of the Leningrad region peasantry during the period of continuous collectivisation. The study draws on the texts of two industrial practice diaries of Leningrad branch students of the Communist University of National Minorities of the West for December 1929 – January 1930, which are part of a set of similar documents identified in the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, previously unknown to researchers and not reflected in the historiography. The texts are prepared for publication according to the accepted archeographic rules. The publication of the diaries’ contents is intended to familiarise the academic community with this type of historical sources and to show their information potential. Student diaries make it possible to expand the source base of research in the field of the history of everyday life in the Soviet rural areas and the Bolshevik cultural revolution. These documents can also be used in prosopographical studies on the lives of political workers and educators of the 1920s–1930s.

Peter III’s Relatives at Petersbourg Сourt

The author examines the political history of the eighteenth-century Russian Empire and its relations with members of the royal family from the Holy Roman Empire. Based on the study of unpublished sources, mainly in Austrian and Russian archives, as well as published Russian, British, and French sources, he presents a new interpretation of Peter III’s relations with members of the House of Holstein. The research aims to answer the following questions: What role did Peter III’s “German kinsmen” play at the St. Petersburg court and in the administrative system of the state? What impact did their actions have on the Russian elite’s perception of the Tsar’s rule? Did Peter III’s personnel policy, which favoured the Holstein dynasty members for key positions in the state apparatus, differ from the previous practice of Russian monarchs? A detailed analysis of the sources eads to the following conclusions: Peter III’s Holstein relatives exerted considerable influence on the policy of the St. Petersburg court, occupying key positions in the military and political establishment of the Russian Empire in the early 1760s. At the same time, most of them did not speak Russian and did not try to adapt to their new cultural environment. The behaviour of some “Holsteinites”, as well as the preferential treatment they received at the expense of members of the royal family and St. Petersburg nobles, caused an extremely negative reaction in Russian society, contributing to the growth of hatred towards the Germans. Peter III’s decision to surround himself with relatives from Central Europe was reminiscent of the reign of Anna Ivanovna, whose closest confidants were of non-Russian origin. On the other hand, Anna Ivanovna’s cronies came from different parts of the Holy Roman Empire.

Approaching a National Film History through Data. Network Analysis in German Film History

The present paper is an attempt at importing network analysis as a method and applying it to a field that has hitherto been examined in different ways: the study of national cinema. The approach was motivated by the perceived conundrum in the existing studies of German cinema that filmhistorical and political history usually do not match. The aim is to open up another perspective on the problem of periodization by looking at the data of film production, more specifically of collaboration. By using a comprehensive data set which is made availavable by the Filmportal, the central internet platform on German film, the approach in this paper is to look at the key creatives involved in the production of a film in the period from 1919 to 1939 and to conceptualize collaboration and connectivity in a (national) film culture through the use of network research methods.

27 May 1977 in Luanda. The Novels of José Luis Mendonça –(Collective) Violence and its Affective Memory

José Luis Mendonça is a journalist and writer, based in Luanda, Angola. He is primarily a poet and has published at least eighteen poetry volumes until now. Mendonça also wrote two novels, in which (collective) violence and its affective memory in Luanda play a crucial role. In O reino das casuarinas (2014), he expands on the urban scenario in 1987 during one month in times of the Cold War, repeatedly looking back to the decade before. And in As metamorfoses do elefante (2022), he describes ten days in 2020, when a mysterious epidemic stagnates quotidian routines in Luanda. The author’s hyperbolic style and irony, together with his almost encyclopedic knowledge of popular music, give to his texts most varied and grotesque insides into the city’s cultural and political history. It is not a coincidence, that his plots are organized around the occurrences of 27 May 1977, an important date for signaling the path toward peaceful democratization in Angola.

Drawing on Children’s Mobilisation in the Chinese Soviet Republic, 1933–1934

Abstract After the White Terror of 1927, the Chinese Communist Party relocated from Shanghai to the border region between Jiangxi and Fujian; one of the major challenges that the new Chinese Soviet Republic faced was transition from urban to rural. While political historians explored the ensuing conflicts between Soviet and Chinese influences, the lens of children’s history indicates that children’s organisations—and children themselves—freely adopted Soviet influences for their own local needs. By examining the visual and textual representation of children and by children in two major periodicals, this article suggests that children participated in the creation of a new political culture and imagination with important legacies for wartime propaganda.

The Cultural Life of Democracy: Notes on Popular Sovereignty, Culture and Arts in Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya

This paper explores the emergence of a demotic style of politics alongside demotic forms of cultural and esthetic expression during Sri Lanka’s 2022 political struggle dubbed the aragalaya (struggle). It argues that the aragalaya opened up a discursive space to reimagine democratic politics in Sri Lanka and the role of aesthetics and culture in such popular-democratic political mobilization. However, the paper also argues that such popular political mobilization and its attendant cultural expression needs to be considered cautiously because its potential is politically and culturally ambiguous. By tracing a critical genealogy of the notion of the “people” in Sri Lankan political history and extending this genealogy to how the “people” was reimagined as an agential collective during the aragalaya and by looking at aesthetic and cultural practices that were foregrounded during the aragalaya—particularly the music of Ajith Kumarasiri—the paper argues that the demotic understanding of the people and the demotic cultural forms that gained prominence within the aragalaya offer a counterpoint to the deeply corrupt and exclusionary mainstream political culture of the country. A central concept used to frame this argument is the analytical and methodological heuristic of the “cultural life of democracy.”

Earth deity shrines of the Greater Taipei area: A first edition curated dataset

Community tutelary shrines in Taiwan have been identified as excellent resources for grassroots-level heritage. As community ritual assemblages, they are able to encode data about a settlement’s social, political and economic history in their material composition, aesthetic choices, artefacts, displays and orientations. This data paper previews a first edition dataset related to 752 such shrines found throughout the greater Taipei area in northern Taiwan. It explores the basis for such a dataset, how it can be used and what has been produced. This dataset is available on the depositar research data repository, operated out of the Institute of Information Sciences at Academia Sinica in Taipei and is publicly available for download.

Specific features of constructing the memory and identity politics in modern Kyrgyzstan

Objectives. The relevance of studying this topic is that memory and identity politics, or historical politics, affect the awareness of the national, cultural, civic identity of the population, which is an important factor in the consolidation of society. The purpose of this study is the analysis of political activity which is aimed at the development of national identity. Methods. When writing the paper, the following methods were used: structural and functional, dialectical, and logical. Results: As a result of the study, it was found that at present the Kyrgyz political elite needs to create a political programme for long-term memory, since there is no specific national policy regarding this. Such a programme should be created in the form of a single political and legal document at the state level. It will be able to ensure systematic, progressive growth based on an understanding of common goals, assuming spiritual unity, which will contribute to the development of a sense of national identity. Conclusions. Due attention should be paid to the development of the museum sphere. It is also important to investigate interethnic relations and the development of terminology of ethno-national identity. The practical significance of this study lies in the fact that all theoretical provisions, conclusions, and recommendations can be used to create a programme that will be aimed at developing collective memory and a sense of national identity

A Reappraisal of Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah and the Independent Geo-political Entity of Sonargaon

This article proposed a fresh reading of the coins of Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah to reappraise the political history of this ruler. In the light of recent numismatic sources the present research challenges all the earlier calculations of the reign period of Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah. In doing so this study makes an intervention in the political chronology of Bengal and proposes 205 (1333 to 1538 CE) years of Independent Sultanate Period instead of 200 (1338-1358 CE) years. What was the force behind the rise of Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah? What facilitated him to become an independent authority? In attempting to answer these question this article analyses the multi-dimensional factors - manmade and natural- that acted as catalysts in the making of Sonargaon as the first independent geo-political entity in the trans-Meghna region. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (Hum.), Vol. 69(1), 2024, pp. 67-87

Peran Adam Malik dalam Perkembangan Politik Indonesia pada Awal Kemerdekaan

Adam Malik was a pivotal figure in Indonesia's political history at the dawn of independence. As a journalist, diplomat, and politician, Malik played a key role in significant events that shaped the modern Indonesian state. This article explores Adam Malik's contributions to Indonesia's political development during the early independence period, highlighting his role in international diplomacy, national political movements, and efforts to defend Indonesia's independence from internal and external threats. This research employs a historical approach, examining various primary and secondary sources to provide a comprehensive picture of Adam Malik's influence on Indonesian politics.

Novelistic heteroglossia in Khwabnama and its aesthetical ventures in reshaping historical narratives

ABSTRACT The present article critically appreciates the novel Khwabnama by the famous Bengali writer Akhteruzzaman Elias. I have carried out a reading emphasizing the artistic possibilities the novel can provide in re-viewing history. Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of the novel, I have shown that Khwabnama provides a picture of collective human existence in tandem with a particular moment in political history through its primary focus on subaltern lives, often omitted or “misrepresented” in mainstream history. In this respect, it is consistent with some of the main assumptions of Subaltern Studies. However, the novel is more interested in discovering the form of actual living than in formulating a fixed structure for the history of the underprivileged. To this end, the book skillfully uses some of the techniques of fiction—such as magical realism—in its style. The essay shows that the novel hints at some structural propositions about history and human existence, which can only happen through the mediation of literary aesthetics.

The household, the citizen and the city: towards a social history of urban politics in the late Middle Ages

ABSTRACT Histories of politics in the late medieval European town present a struggle between town oligarchs and town citizens. While the conclusions that historians draw differ, the stakes of politics are the same: exclusion, participation and representation in town government. Politics is the ‘public’ domain of officeholding, elections and voting, its actors exclusively male, its locations the council chamber, the craft guild, the workshop. Starting and ending with the evidence of a 1532 ‘insurrection of women’ in the English city of Norwich, this article seeks to reconceptualise town politics in the late Middle Ages. Its premise is that urban citizenship was a social and performative practice as much as a formal legal and political status. It argues that the relationship between home, household and family was fundamental to the lived experience of citizenship. The urban household was a complex source of political agency, where the official separation between citizen and non-citizen was difficult to sustain. The 1532 insurrection of women allows us to connect the politics of the household to the politics of the town hall and to write a social history of town politics, in which women were political actors.

Dissenter Diplomacy: Sub-Diplomatic Efforts in the Making of the Anglo-American Alliance, 1850–1918

ABSTRACT This article considers the efforts of sub-diplomatic actors in building the Anglo-American alliance during the long 19th century. Particular attention is given to the role of Dissenting churches, the use of common heritage, joint building projects, and trans-Atlantic tours as a form of public diplomacy in pursuit of this goal. The ‘Pilgrims’ in particular became a useful device for promoting closer Anglo-American relations – symbolising a common history and common values, civil liberties, the rule of law, and religious toleration, all in a world where these were not common. This brought British and American voices and values closer to many ordinary people, strengthening the increasingly complex and not always visible web linking Britain and the United States, creating personal relationships and group networks, together with a sense of common political values and history.

K voprosu sozdaniya Karlukskogo kaganata v Srednej Azii

The article examines the problems of statehood formation among the Karluks, their political history as part of the Turkic Khaganate, and relations with neighboring Central Asian states. The issues of expanding the limits of the Karluks in the region and their impact on the ethnopolitical situation in Central Asia are studied. The study focuses on the relationship of the Karluk tribal confederations with the Arab and Chinese conquerors.

From Colonial Order to Decolonial Future: Colonial Mimesis and Identity among the Papua Besena Movement

ABSTRACTDuring the 1970s and 1980s, a nationalist movement called Papua Besena emerged in Papua New Guinea. On the one hand, the group believed that the Papuan people were neglected by Australian colonisation and campaigned for Papuan sovereignty, either by creating an independent state or joining Australia as a state. On the other hand, as some scholars and politicians have pointed out, Papua Besena's rhetoric of colonial neglect failed to appreciate that Papuan people received more investment in colonial economic development, training, and infrastructure than most Papua New Guineans due to their proximity to the colonial centre. The Australian colonisation of the territories also changed due to pressure from the United Nations visiting mission. Yet despite the Papuan people's access to development, they still felt neglected and humiliated being so close to the colonial centre. To answer this paradox, the concept of mimesis, particularly the idea of colonial mimicry and mimesis as a source of identity, might shed new light on the political history and consciousness of Papuans. This paper suggests that Papuans' access to space, training, and positions was restricted in and around Port Moresby. Many Papuans took up the colonial moral order and mimicked the colonial perspective visible in the capital, projecting it into their decolonial future and their relationships with New Guineans and Australia. In other words, the Papuans' proximity to the colonial space and process contributed to their experiences of neglect and their identity simultaneously.

Same old story with a different ending: Homophily and preferential selection of information within the US climate policy network.

The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act has been perceived as a substantial shift away from the history of more contentious climate politics in the US. We apply social network methods to interrogate an updated dataset that assesses the degree to which recent policy outcomes are a shift away from earlier policies and positions. We empirically test for homophily, a building block of polarisation, analysing four waves of survey data collected over 12 years from the community of political elites engaged in the issue of climate politics. Using Exponential Random Graph (ERG) modeling, we provide clear evidence that the stances of the top policy actors working on climate change have not shifted substantially. Instead, we document how the policy was successful due to its ability to combine the Administration's desire to support clean energy along with fossil fuel interests' aims of expanding extraction and profiting from a transition away from fossil fuels.

Professor Nikolaos Louros, a concerned scientist in twentieth-century Athens

The personal papers of Nikolaos Louros present an invaluable source of information on Louros’s place in the medical, social, cultural and political history of twentieth-century Greece. A royalist, liberal and keen observer of scientific and social developments, he participated actively in the shaping of the country’s post-war progress in medical education, institutions and ideas.

Pasta, Pizza and Propaganda: A Political History of Italian Food TV, Francesco Buscemi (2022)

Review of: Pasta, Pizza and Propaganda: A Political History of Italian Food TV, Francesco Buscemi (2022) Bristol: Intellect, 170 pp., ISBN 978-1-78938-406-2, h/bk, £85.00

Fundamentals of the Strategy of the State National Policy of the Russian Federation and Improving the Conceptual Framework for Regulating Interethnic Relations

An important aspect of the political history of post-Soviet Russia is the search for and formulation of the doctrinal foundations of state national policy. In this regard, the analysis of conceptual documents related to this area is of great importance. These include the Concept of State National Policy of the Russian Federation, adopted in 1996, and the Strategy of State National Policy of the Russian Federation for the period until 2025, approved in 2012. One of the key concepts in the latest document is the conception of “Russian nation”, meaning a community of all citizens of Russia, regardless of their ethnic origin. It seems important to consider the possible trends of evolution of this document, the adoption of which was an important milestone in the implementation of Russia’s nationality policy. Despite the civil, political and legal nature of the Russian nation, the ethnic Russian cultural core plays an important role in maintaining its unity. This circumstance was noted in the article “Russia: The National Question” (2012) written by V.V. Putin, many of the provisions of which formed the basis of the Strategy. In the future, it seems that the role of the ethnocultural factor in ensuring civil unity will be analyzed in more depth. A deeper study of the issue of the spiritual and moral foundations of a civil nation is also inevitable. The adoption of the Strategy has also become an important incentive for improving the institutional framework of state national policy, the development of which is given a large place in the program document.

Charismatic Leadership in South Asian Political History: A Comparative Analysis of Jinnah and Gandhi

Charismatic Leadership in South Asian Political History: A Comparative Analysis of Jinnah and Gandhi