Political Inclinations Research Articles

Worldless futures: On the allure of ‘worlds to come’

AbstractThis paper is concerned with the conceptual, discursive, and political inclination within spatial and social thought towards enacting ‘new worlds’, ‘worlds to come’, and ‘possible worlds’. Against the backdrop of this diffuse habit, which I refer to as ‘worldly futuring’, the paper calls attention to the ongoing challenge posed by worldlessness. It asks: what is lost, existentially or politically, in prioritising world‐building over world‐ending? Articulating a response to this question, the paper examines how the investment in future worlds functions, what it secures, and what it indemnifies against. Definitionally, ‘world’ lacks the ethical designation required to explain its signalling function as a positive horizon of futurity. Worldly futuring instead relies on three connected affirmations: world presents the promise of (meta)stability, of commonality, and of meaning. In prioritising these affirmations, worldly futuring immunises itself against the possibility of their radical absence or violent undoing, thereby working around, against, or sublating the threat of worldlessness. However, building on the scholarship of Derrida on worldless alterity and theorists of black negativity's political calls for the ‘end of the world’, the central argument of the paper is that working‐away worldlessness is neither inherently possible nor necessarily desirable. Despite any attempt at immunisation, worldlessness haunts any project of worldly futuring, showing us that the assumed connection between world and futurity may well be an obstacle to radical futures.

A tale of two Americas: Socio-economic mobility gaps within and across American cities before and during the pandemic

We examine differences in mobility outcomes between residents of highest and lowest socio-economic index (SEI) at the Census block group (CBG) level in nine major US cities prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. While low-SEI groups generally traveled shorter distances but visited more city-wide CBGs before the pandemic, high-SEI residents universally reduced their mobility to a greater extent during the pandemic. Although high-SEI residents were making more trips to parks and health-care providers, and fewer subsistence trips to retail stores already before the pandemic, COVID-19 significantly widened these differences thereby exacerbating “mobility gaps” between low-SEI and high-SEI groups. We further examine how such “mobility gaps” can be mitigated by spatial advantages of home locations, controlling for political inclination. We find that living in better transit-served or more walkable neighborhoods generally benefited high-SEI residents more than low-SEI residents, with some variation across cities. This suggests that built environments not only impact mobility outcomes during “normal” times, but also influence how different socio-economic groups are able to adapt during times of crisis.

Between Heaven and Russia: Religious Conversion and Political Apostasy in Appalachia by Sarah Riccardi-Swartz

Reviewed by: Between Heaven and Russia: Religious Conversion and Political Apostasy in Appalachia by Sarah Riccardi-Swartz Aram G. Sarkisian Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, Between Heaven and Russia: Religious Conversion and Political Apostasy in Appalachia (New York: Fordham University Press, 2022) Published just weeks after Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Sarah Riccardi-Swartz's book offers a timely and discomfiting lens into two, interconnected Russian Orthodox Christian communities perched among the mountain hollers of rural Appalachia. Located in pseudonymous Woodford, West Virginia, St. Basil's Monastery and St. John's Parish belong to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR). Founded in 1920 by clergy and laity displaced by the Russian Civil War, ROCOR sought to preserve pre-revolutionary Russian Orthodoxy outside Soviet borders until such time as a post-communist Russia could be evangelized. In 2008, under the watchful eye of Vladimir Putin, ROCOR reunited with the Moscow Patriarchate, widening the reach of a global Russian Church closely allied with Putin's authoritarian regime. Formerly a mostly urban church in the United States, ROCOR by then was expanding into suburban and rural areas like Woodford, where a community formed in the early 2000s. This growth came from an influx of ideologically-motivated converts seeking a traditional and conservative faith, and one which aligned with their values on "culture war" issues like abortion, sexuality, gender roles, and perceived moral decline. ROCOR stood athwart shifting social, moral, and political tides, with its nostalgic emphasis on Holy Orthodox Russia. For some, aligning with [End Page 125] ROCOR led to affinities with Putin, a self-professed Orthodox Christian. In time, the community began to attract far-right converts drawn to ROCOR's conservatism because it spoke to their political inclinations, including some with white nationalist views. Riccardi-Swartz endeavored to discover what might compel twenty-first-century Americans in rural Appalachia to embrace this iteration of Russian Orthodoxy, much less identify with an autocratic leader usually seen as a geopolitical foe. "Why Russia?" she asks. "Why now? Why Appalachia?" (12). Riccardi-Swartz has done exceptional work in setting a much-needed cornerstone in an emerging scholarly literature on Orthodox Christianity in North America. Yet this is not only a book about Orthodoxy. Rather, it also offers a perceptive snapshot of the United States during the age of Donald Trump. Riccardi-Swartz arrived in Woodford shortly after the 2016 US presidential election, a seismic event which placed the US within a global, right-wing project that posed authoritarianism and traditionalism as antidotes to liberalism and progressivism. Having come to study the digital reproduction of icons, Riccardi-Swartz instead found her interlocutors stuck on the Trumpian moment, interested not so much in discussing iconography as they were their spiritual geopolitics, and too their concerns over the "culture war" issues upon which Trump built his electoral appeal. At first glance, a community of religious traditionalists and social conservatives in borscht-red West Virginia might appear tailor-made for MAGA Nation, eager to embrace a president who promised to reflect their values, and who made Christianity a central, if paradoxical, component of his political persona. Yet many interlocutors expressed indifference, even disdain, for Trump and showed general dissatisfaction with US politics. Riccardi-Swartz shines in her exploration of these nuances, explaining that understanding Orthodox practice in Woodford necessitates navigating both the oft-misunderstood complexities of Appalachia and the tensions of fostering transnational faith. Her interlocutors expressed keen awareness of the stereotypes often assigned to Appalachia, and as Russian Orthodox Christians, they were sensitive to being perceived as un-American. All the same, they had inverted the Cold War perception of the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" to instead argue that Putin's Russia was their last, best hope for making America great again. For these converts, Russia was "their only hope for social salvation, for reclaiming America for God, and for preserving the status quo of Christian hegemony in an increasingly diversifying Western world" (3). Gender hierarchies are critical in Woodford. The abbot of St. Basil's Monastery required verbal consent from Riccardi-Swartz's husband before she could begin interviewing the monks, educated autodidacts who sought the ascetic rigidity of ROCOR monasticism...

A Widespread Phenomenon in Social Networks of Using Pseudonyms. The Motives and Effects of the Phenomenon on University and Institute Students in Kurdistan Region of Iraq

This descriptive study is about the use of pseudonyms, which is a widespread phenomenon in social networks. The aim of this study is to reveal the motives and effects of the phenomenon on university and institute students in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The researcher relied on Google forms to collect data, the form was available for 48 hours to be filled out by a random sample of students, from public to private universities and institutes in the region. During this period, 699 respondents answered the questions. After collecting and analyzing the data, the researcher reached several results, which are: Facebook; an effective platform which students express themselves as they wish. The result also confirms that the respondents’ resort to using pseudonyms is an embodiment of Hoffman’s hypothesis that individuals want to express their activities and present themselves behind the scenes According to the results, )13.30%( of the total sample uses a pseudonym on Facebook, while most of them only have a pseudonym, but their profile pictures and information are real. As for the purpose of their use of this type of names, the results show that the respondents’ names do not reflect their political inclinations, while )5.37%( of the names carry religious connotations. With regard to the motives for using the pseudonym, the results show that the motives are diverse, as )35,48%( of them believe that there is no need to reveal their real names. In addition, despite the widespread misuse of social networks, a very small percentage of them rely on pseudonyms for negative purposes such as ridiculing or discrediting celebrities by putting their names on their Facebook accounts. The results also show the most prominent positive effects of the phenomenon on the respondents, where the nickname replaced their real name by )37.63%( of the total sample, while )34.40%( of them lost their real friends because of their use of these names.

우리나라 기초학력보장정책에 대한 비판적 고찰

Objectives This study attempted to suggest an improvement strategy for the design of the basic academic skills guarantee policy by examining the basic academic skills related policies implemented in each period in Korea, and by investigating the problems that appear in the implementation of basic academic skills policies. Methods Research methods employed in this study were literature review related the basic academic skills guarantee policy implemented in each period in Korea. Results The problems that appear in the basic academic skills policies in Korea are as follows. First, rather than continuous policy planning and implementation based on objective data and scientific methods, the implementation and reversal of basic academic skills policies are repeated according to the political inclinations of policy makers. Second, there are insufficient measures for students with normal academic skills or higher, and policies for low level basic academic skills guarantee are being implemented. Third, without legal and institutional supplementation, a heavy responsibility is placed on the unit school. Conclusions Accordingly, the following improvement measures are suggested. First, it is necessary to create a system that can diagnose and prescribe basic academic skills through objective and scientific diagnostic tools. Second, it should be possible to design the national curriculum flexibly and to design and implement the basic academic skills guarantee policy within the broad framework of the national curriculum. Third, the Ministry of Education, the Offices of Education, and the Offices of Education Support should prepare plausible project plans and provide practical support so that the unit school can get them implemented.

Global Sport Protest Activism Is Exclusive to the Global Elite: A Case Study of #boycottqatar2022

Toward better understanding the nature of sport global protest, this article examines the profiles of users of the #boycottqatar2022 ( N = 111,172), a global initiative calling to boycott the 2022 World Cup on grounds of Qatar’s alleged breach of human rights. A social network analysis identified that 82% of users of the hashtag were from North America and Western Europe, that 88% of the uses of the hashtag were on Twitter (and a minority on Facebook and Instagram), and that the users’ political inclination was mostly liberal in comparison to random users. Overall, the findings indicate that the hashtag was used almost exclusively by activists from the so-called Global North on the more elitist Twitter platform, thus portraying a picture as an act of the global elite rather than a truly inclusive and overarching global initiative. We discuss further theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

What is Fascism Without a State?: Countering Claims of Bataille’s Left Fascism

ABSTRACT The recent increased prominence of far-right movements and nationalism has led to a renewed focus on the political thought of the early twentieth century. This era is defined by large strands of anti-liberalism, fascism, communism, and other political inclinations and practices that have largely fallen out of favour. Nevertheless, there are a multitude of thinkers that occupy unique niches that avoid these classifications but are associated with these movements to categorise and minimise their heterogeneous thoughts. This paper counters arguments that claim that Georges Bataille is a fascist or left-fascist thinker. Specifically, these arguments claim that his “anarchism” is founded on a valorisation of violence and reckless usage of social effectivities. However, these arguments often misinterpret his writings or force his thought into easily understandable categories in which it does not fit.

The Struggles of the Indian Constitution in the Face of Autocratic Legalism: Constitutionalism at Crossroads?

In this article, we seek to delineate the nature of India’s ongoing constitutional struggles against a grave crisis, considering the threat that such crisis poses to the functioning of the country’s constitutional democracy. Using the acceptable definitive models of such a crisis, we then try to examine the extent to which India’s constitutional struggle might have been necessary in order to confront such a crisis. The role played by the deliberate usage of the legal and prima facie constitutional routes to render the very spirit and safeguards of the constitutional system redundant, or the concept of autocratic legalism, as a singular symptom displayed by such a crisis, is focused upon in this context. We draw analogies from multiple jurisdictions with myriad political legacies, including the USA, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Russia and the Latin American nations. Increasing the judicial burden to cripple the adjudicating machinery; appointment of judges exhibiting specific political inclination; emergence of a charismatic political leader commanding mass support — the potential impact of these factors on liberal constitutionalism is examined. The article delves into the Indian narrative, citing instances from the past such as the Nehruvian legacy of superseding the judiciary as watchdogs of constitutional values, emergency and relevant constitutional amendments, as well as from the present, such as abrogation of special status of Indian states like Jammu and Kashmir, introduction of national population register and modification of citizenship norms, passing contentious legislation via the Money Bill route to avoid close scrutiny and constitutional debates, reservation on economic grounds and introducing new tax structures impinging on the federal relationship. We assess the role played by the Indian judiciary in each of these instances, along with instances of judicial (pro)activism, and their impact on the overall stability of the judicial institution.

Rule-ranking method based on item utility in adaptive rule model

BackgroundDecision-making is an important part of most human activities regardless of their daily activities, profession, or political inclination. Some decisions are relatively simple specifically when the consequences are insignificant while others can be very complex and have significant effects. Real-life decision problems generally involve several conflicting points of view (criteria) needed to be considered and this is the reason recent decision-making processes are usually supported by data as indicated by different data mining techniques. Data mining is the process of extracting data to obtain useful information and a promising and widely applied method is association rule mining which has the ability to identify interesting relationships between sets of items in a dataset and predict the associative behavior for new data. However, the number of rules generated in association rules can be very large, thereby making the exploitation process difficult. This means it is necessary to prioritize the selection of more valuable and relevant rules.MethodsTherefore, this study proposes a method to rank rules based on the lift ratio value calculated from the frequency and utility of the item. The three main functions in proposed method are mining of association rules from different databases (in terms of sources, characteristics, and attributes), automatic threshold value determination process, and prioritization of the rules produced.ResultsExperiments conducted on six datasets showed that the number of rules generated by the adaptive rule model is higher and sorted from the largest lift ratio value compared to the apriori algorithm.

고려말 박위(朴葳)의 생애와 군사·정치 활동

Park We is the progenitor of the Milseong Park clan Jeongguk faction, and his birth year is unknown. It was confirmed that Park We started his post as Udalchi at the late Goryeo, served as the chief of four regions, and served four times as a military officer in the southern provinces. He was also the person who led the construction of the fortress as an alternative solution during the period when Japanese invasions did not cease. By quickly reading the characteristics of the region and the flow of the times, he was well aware of the importance and necessity of the fortress. The fact that Park We served as the head of the Gyeongsangdo region and supervised the 4 constructions of the fortifications is the part that shows a big difference from the heads of other regions. In 1388, when the conquest of Yodong began, Park We went to the head of Gyeongsangdo Sangweonsu, and joined the Wihwadohoe army in agreement with Lee Seong-gye. At the late Goryeothe period, the first conquest of Daema-do was carried out by Park We. The conquest of Daema-do is of great significance as it was the first active response of Goryeo in about 40 years after the invasion of the Japanese in the year of Gyeongin (1350). After that, Park We raised King Gongyang to the throne of the dynasty and rose to a meritorious retainerthe, he was involved in the Kim Jong-yeon conspiracy and became the target of purges, and in 1390 he was exiled to Pungju. Park We’s exile was a result of his political inclinations not being revealed, and it could be said that it meant a confrontation between Lee Seong-gye, who believed that he shared the same thoughts with Park We, and the forces that had no choice but to weigh Park We’s political views. After the founding of the Joseon Dynasty, in 1393, Park We was reinstated into politics, but the following year, he was sacked after being involved again in a conspiracy of the Wang clan. After that, there is no record of Park We’s actions for three years. Park We, who was impeached for his involvement in political events even though he rose to a meritorious retainerthe, must have had great conflicts with his activities in politics. In 1398, Park We was reinstated to Chamchanmunhabusa and seemed to be recovering from his political activities, but he died in the first prince’s rebellion in Lee Bang-won in the same year. Park We was not a person who led a faction or actively established his position by putting his political views at the fore. It is not known whether the process of being impeached for being involved in an unsavory incident is true, but it seems certain that Lee Seong-gye and his soldiers returned from Wihwado and shared the will to establish a new dynasty. As a military officer who served as a high-ranking officer at the late Goryeo, he took the lead in the Japanese subjugation and made a major achievement, but his life came to an unfortunate end. This thesis restores the life and activities of Park We as a whole and intends to conduct an in-depth study on the construction of fortresses and the conquest of Daema-do among the activities that were focused on as an alternative to the Japanese subjugation. In particular, by tracing and examining the background and process of the construction of the fortress, it is intended to re-evaluate his appearance as a military commander in relation to the military activities of Park We.

Brazil’s viewpoints on international organizations: Political aspects

Recent (geo)political tensions, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of nationalism worldwide have brought to the forefront processes of (de)globalization both in social, political, and economic terms. In this context, we place questions: How have Brazil’s views on international organizations changed over the years and why does it matter when it comes to understanding the country’s recent contribution to the processes of (de)globalization? To answer the aforementioned questions, this article discusses some of Brazil’s main points of view on international organizations (IOs) from a historical perspective. Therefore, we aim to analyze the criticism and political positions of Brazil regarding the most relevant IOs over time, from the League of Nations to the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions. Additionally, this paper addresses Jair Bolsonaro’s (de)globalization positions, especially in view of his peculiar foreign policy oriented towards the contestation of the system. As a concluding point, we provide sufficient evidence on Bolsonaro’s political inclination towards processes of (de)globalization based on his contempt for the so-called ‘globalism’, as well as his nationalistic rhetoric.

Perspective towards North Korean Defectors according to the Educational Background, Rank, and Job Acquisition Path of South Korean Security Police Protecting North Korean Defectors

Purpose: In this study, after the North Korean defectors enter into South Korea and undergo education and training for a certain period, they are transferred to the police and take the first step towards their settlement in the South Korean society under the protection of the security police for a certain period of time. This means that the security police officers are playing and performing such a crucial role in the process of their settlement and social adaptation for the North Korean defectors. Hence, the purpose of this study is to analyze the perception and attitude of the security police towards the North Korean defectors and explore a policy related plan for the impact on the North Korean defectors successful settlement in the South Korean society. Method: In this study, the perception and attitude towards the safety awareness of the North Korean defectors was analyzed through the Self-Administration Method applied survey of 100 police officers in the security department of the Police Human Resources Development Institute, which is the police educational institution of South Korea. Among the main variables for measurement, educational background, rank, and job acquisition path were used. In particular, among the various characteristics of security police, the study has focused on how the safety awareness of the North Korean defectors varies according to the educational background and rank job acquisition path of the security police department. Results: As a result of the analysis performed, it turned out that the higher the educational background of the security police, the higher the safety awareness of the North Korean defectors. Across most of the questions which demonstrated statistical significance in terms of the job acquisition path, it turned out that the security police officers from the executive candidates evaluated the safety awareness of the North Korean defectors far more positively than the general police officers or special recruits. Conclusion: In order for the security police officers from the relatively low educational background and the general police officers to renew more voluntary and active safety awareness of the North Korean defectors, it is first necessary to improve the overall job acquisition path of the entire police organization, including the security police. The negative evaluation of the North Korean defectors by the security police officers with a relatively low educational background and general police officers may be a kind of negative reaction to the problem which the security police organization is constantly undergoing changes according to the government s political inclinations. Hence, in the future, the government, political circles, and the police leaders should not make abrupt changes to the security police organization according to the government s political orientation and microscopic changes in terms of the inter-Korean relations.

History of Seoul’s Parks and Green Space Policies: Focusing on Policy Changes in Urban Development

Globally, urban areas have been expanding rapidly since industrialization. In South Korea, urban policy has evolved according to urban development, but the change in parks and green spaces policy for a pleasant urban environment is insignificant. The purpose of this study is to present the direction of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s parks and green spaces policy in terms of green infrastructure, by examining urban policies and changes in the parks and green spaces policy of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The research method established the concepts of urbanization, green park areas, and green infrastructure, focusing on a literature review. The trends in urban development in South Korea and abroad, the correlation between urban development and green park areas, and changes in the parks and green spaces policy of Seoul are examined. The study found that urbanization in South Korea has augmented since 1960, and the parks and green spaces policy has also focused on quantitative expansion. As the era of local autonomy passed, there were remarkable policy changes tailored to citizens’ needs, and major policy directions were determined according to the political inclinations of policymakers. The era of low growth adopted the policy of introducing green park areas as green infrastructure to solve urban environmental problems, and parks and green spaces policies as strategic plans to re-naturalize smart green cities and urban infrastructure, and to increase urban resilience using advanced technology. Future research is expected regarding consistent policy implementation measures linked to the state-regions, such as analyzing citizens’ perceptions of policies to solve urban problems and taking practical measures for the implementation of parks and green spaces policies to expand green infrastructure. The implication of the study is that the green infrastructure strategy is important as a solution to urban environmental issues such as climate change. Therefore, there should be a will of policymakers and strong institutional support for continuous policy promotion.

Recent evolution of housing finance policy and development agendas in Mexico

ABSTRACT Political and economic reforms to open and liberalize Mexico’s economy drove federal administrations to promote mortgage expansion and mass housing production at an unprecedented pace since around the turn of the millennium. This allowed a select group of housing development companies to grow considerably through the construction and sale of homes for lower-middle income households. The country’s housing finance and development model was eventually rendered unsustainable given onerous mortgage terms for households, substandard housing production in remote locations, leverage issues and speculative practices on the part of developers. Subsequent administrations modified their approach to managing, promoting, and restricting housing finance and production, highlighting the influence of political actors and regimes in addressing the tensions between economic pressures and social concerns. Shifting sociopolitical dynamics have continued to transform housing finance policy agendas. While the reach and implications of recent changes have not fully materialized, this paper highlights the fluctuating and unstable nature of housing finance and its contingency on the different political and ideological inclinations of national (and subnational) governments – and the push of their constituents.

Przemysłowcy żydowscy związani z przemysłem cynkowym w Będzinie w świetle materiałów kontrwywiadu wojskowego z 1934 roku

The article consists of four parts. The first shows the history of three zinc white plants in Będzin: Polskie Zakłady Przemysłu Cynkowego in Będzin, Zinc White Production Plant and "Huta Feniks" Sp. Akc. In Będzin and the Zinc White Production Plant and the "Leontyna" Zinc Steel Works in Będzin. All three companies were owned by Jews. Then, the circumstances of the accusation of "Huta Feniks" and "Leontyna" for activities to the detriment of the Polish state are presented, which resulted in the collection of material about the owners and members of the Audit Committees by military counterintelligence (presented in appendices 1 and 2). Attention was paid to the specific features of industrialists: origin, education, political inclinations, loyalty to the Polish state, reputation in the local environment, social engagement and family ties. In the final part, the counterintelligence material was confronted with the police material and with the company's description from the business information bureau. The method of cooperation between officials and counterintelligence is also noteworthy.

Feature Set Selection for Sentiment Analysis

Abstract: With proliferation of online blogging web sites, hundreds of thousands of text posts are generated. Using this rich information facilitate educated purchasing of objects, discovering and public developments involving more than a few merchandise in the market, discovering political inclination of societies previous to a country wide election, and many others. Considering that the final decade, Sentiment evaluation has received increased attention from many researchers as a procedure for addressing subject matters, such as the a fore mentioned ones. This paper specializes in Sentiment evaluation and use of sentiment Features. In this paper we have created the feature set and given input to svm and result verified for sentiment. Keywords: Sentiment analysis, support vector machine, maximum entropy, with features, without features, artificial intelligence.

Interpretation of Political Inclination in Online Newspapers: An Ideological Disposition through Transitivity Analysis

The language of newspapers depicts the ideology of news institutions. The online alternative Malaysian newspaper, ‘Malaysiakini’, and mainstream online newspaper ‘The New Straits Times (NST)’ had shown different stances through grammatical terms during 100 days of Pakatan Harapan (PH), which leads to uncovering the news institutions’ ideology by observing their past performances and current representation. Norman Fairclough’s (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was employed on hard news reports, which were analyzed with the Halliday Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) tool. ‘Pakatan Harapan (PH)’ as a political party was found as main ‘doer’ in ‘100 days’ performance after winning election 2018 in both newspapers through their linguistic stances, which were collected from 5 (3,334 words) news reports from ‘Malaysiakini’ and 3 (2,478 words) from ‘NST’ based on social actor’s performances on 17th and 18th August 2018. ‘Malaysiakini’ had maintained its neutral stance, while ‘The New Straits Times’ had shifted its stance towards PH in their ruling government.

A History of Marriage Market in Kiambu County Kenya, 1960 to 2000

This study sought to analyse and investigate the history of Marriage market in Komothai, Kiambu County Kenya. The underlying objectives of the study were; To investigate the historical factors that led to the growth of Marriage market to 1960, to analyse how the relationship between the traders and locals led to the transformation of Marriage market between 1961 to 1978, to investigate the relationship between the various market policies and how the they impacted on the growth of Marriage market between 1979-2000 and to analyse the relationship between the urbanization in neighbouring towns and the fall of Marriage market. The study was based on the Structural Functionalism Theory by COMTE (1984) . The research utilized both primary and secondary sources which will be used to acquire data on issues of development of Marriage market in Komothai, Kiambu County, Kenya. The study was done in Marriage market in Komothai, Kiambu County, Kenya. This area was picked in light of the fact that it contains people of assorted tribes carrying out various economic activities in the region and some have been born and raised in the area, hence familiar to the historical changes the market has undergone. The study utilized interviews questions as the main instruments to collect data. The study also relied on both secondary and primary written sources to gather information which was utilized to gather data on issues of development of Marriage market in Komothai, Kiambu County, Kenya. From the findings it is clear that Marriage market thrived to national status by 1960s and 70s, was by the year 2000 an abandoned place with minimal or no activities. A trader who used to bring commodities such as salt from Magadi or tobacco from Meru in the 1970s, who would happen to visit the area by the year 200, would only be welcomed by cows and goats grazing on the overgrown grass, a sign of an abandoned and alienated place. Several factors had contributed to the growth of Marriage market as explained earlier; which included; the population of the surrounding villages, agricultural activities such coffee farming and cattle keeping, peaceful coexistence of locals, strategic location and infrastructure. That factors that led to the collapse of the market on the other hand include rural to urban migration, the collapse of the coffee industry and the rise of new urban centres in close proximity to Marriage market. Among the recommendations that have been offered by the current research include the need of having developments based on merit as opposed to political inclination. Another key recommendation is that the government should come up with policies for rural industrialization. The current study also recommends for the government and non-state actors raise infrastructure standards in rural areas. The need for a policy by stakeholders in the agricultural sector guaranteeing minimum returns to farmers of such crops, to bar them from unfair trade deals and competitions that always kill their hard work has also been offered as a recommendation of the current study.

A critical discourse analysis of the Pakistani newspaper headlines on the federal budget for FY 2021-2022

This research study is based on the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of news headlines of different Urdu and English newspapers on the federal Pakistani budget for the fiscal year 2021-2022. This research is descriptive qualitative in its nature. Fairclough (1995a) model of three dimensions (text, discourse and social practice) was used to analyse text. 21 different headlines from renowned Pakistani national Urdu and English newspapers on June 12, 2021, were collected through purposive sampling techniques of data collection. The study highlights the concealed ideology of newspaper editors who aims to arouse masses by using stirring vocabulary. The significance of this study lies in the vocabulary of news items of newspapers headlines which serve as an important medium of presenting ideologies. Thematic and the linguistic analysis of newspaper headlines highlight those newspapers are concealed with important orientations for readers. The study draws the conclusion that news headlines represent editors’ ideologies on their political inclinations and alignment in spite of their claim to be impartial. The newspaper editors exploit headlines to form a way of thinking on issues of national concern to achieve their political interests.

Sixth International Congress of Entomology, Madrid (1935): politics and science

Using the Sixth International Congress of Entomology (Madrid, 1935) as an example, we present a representative case of science as a social construct and its importance to the history of the winning side of a war to construct a memory that supports its own version of events. The Congress was held prior to the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939); however, the proceedings were not published until 1940. An examination of the proceedings and of archival documents show the exclusion of contributions initially intended for publication, particularly those by Spanish entomologists who were politically aligned with the Second Spanish Republic, the losing side, and who, as a result, suffered reprisals after the military conflict. These documents suggest that their contributions were rejected for reasons unrelated to their scientific investigations but due to the political inclinations of the editor.