Political Inclusion Research Articles

Community-Based Social Capital: The Key to Inclusive Political Initiatives from Gender Equality, Disability, And Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Perspective

This research aims to develop social capital through a political education model that involves urban female cadre communities in increasing political involvement based on Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI). The research method employs a qualitative approach. This research involved 2 informants responsible for implementing political education regulations and 4 urban female cadre informants. Data collection methods include in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, which are subsequently analyzed through coding. The findings reveal that GEDSI-based women's political education serves as a benchmark for increasing the social capital of women’s mobilization partners, enabling them to acquire the abilities, skills, and political acumen necessary to boost confidence and empower women in formulating policies addressing the needs, challenges, and solutions for their communities. This research contributes by emphasizing that GEDSI-based political education for women encourages the development of political competence among female mobilization cadre partners advocating for gender justice, accessibility for people with disabilities, and the welfare of marginalized groups.

The Invincible Gender Gap in Political Ambition

ABSTRACTWhen we uncovered a large gender gap in political ambition in the early 2000s, our research highlighted how far the United States was from gender parity in politics. Given marked increases in women’s numeric representation throughout the past two decades, many might expect the gender gap in political ambition to have begun to close. Results from our new study of potential candidates, however, reveal that the magnitude of the gender gap is just as large 20 years later, and two primary explanations persist as well. We posit that even though candidate recruitment has propelled more women into electoral politics, patterns of traditional gender socialization persist. These dynamics, coupled with negative perceptions of how female candidates are treated, continue to depress women’s interest in elective office. As long as running for office is a more remote endeavor for women than men, women’s full political inclusion will remain a distant goal.

Imperative practices: The political inclusion of diasporas in Poland, Hungary and Lithuania

AbstractThis paper aims to present an in‐depth comparative analysis of how three states in Central and Eastern Europe—Hungary, Poland and Lithuania—ensure the political inclusion of their diaspora members by providing citizenship and electoral rights. The authors promote a broad understanding of diaspora that includes both emigrants and descendants as well as kin minorities. The analysis is based on a three‐dimensional analytical model (Lesińska & Popyk, CMR Spotlight 2, 2021) of diaspora policy. The paper examines the ‘thickness’ of political inclusion based on the relationship between citizenship and electoral rights at two stages: de jure and de facto. It reveals that the democratic rights of citizenship and voting are grounded not only in formal inclusion but, more importantly, in the accurate procedures involving those rights and access to them. The analysis demonstrates that extensive citizenship and voting rights are not necessarily associated with the factual political inclusion of all diaspora groups equally.

POUR UNE JUSTICE COMMUTATIVE DANS LES PLANS NATIONAUX DE DEVELOPPEMENT

After the period of structural adjustment, whichhad no positive impact on development or national finances, we are now in the era of National Development Plans. At the risk of these national plans telescoping and scuttlingeachother, giventhat countries in the same zone produce the samethings and have the samenaturalresources, wewould like to use ourwork to propose an inclusive regional plan in the light of the commutative justice advocated by Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle. This regionaldevelopment plan willtakeintoaccount not only the specificity of each country, but also the region as a whole, so as not to give in to the manipulations of the usualdivide-and-rulecommonalities. Wewill focus on three main areas. These are the ecological question, economic and political inclusion, and the security question. This plan must bedrawn up in the light of commutative justice, a justice thatfocuses on the distribution of goodsaccording to equivalence, where nature obeys the order of chance. In fact, the distribution of wealth, births and social affiliations from the outsetis the result of chance, and it can neverbe right thatwhat nature gives for free shouldbekept for oneself. A regional plan for inclusive developmentwouldbe the place to repairwhat nature has disposed of at random.

Neuromyths about neurodevelopmental disorders in Chilean teachers

Misconceptions about how the brain works (neuromyths) are shown to be common among educators, but little is known about neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) neuromyths. Here, we explored the prevalence of both general and neurodevelopmental disorders neuromyths in Chilean teachers and other educational professionals. One hundred forty-four participants answered an online neuroscience knowledge, interest, and training questionnaire. Regression analysis showed that both teachers and non-teachers endorsed more neuromyths related to NDDs compared to general neuromyths and that familiarity with the NDDs but not necessarily neuroscience training or interest plays an important role in the endorsement of these neuromyths. The findings indicate that dyscalculia is the least known neurodevelopmental disorder. Although inclusion politics demand training for all educational actors, the current findings suggest effective translational efforts between neuroscience and education fields should continue.

Informality as an approach to claiming the right to resettlement and achieving inclusive rural-to-urban resettlement for landless villagers: The case of Hangzhou, China

ABSTRACT This article discusses how to achieve inclusive resettlement for landless villagers amid China’s promotion of urbanization through resettlement. This research conceptualizes the right to resettlement in China by synthesizing the literature on resettlement, the right to the city, and informality. This research captures four subsets of rights to resettlement based on a review of existing resettlement literature, including rights to economic enhancement, spatial adaptation, social stability, and political inclusiveness. While state-led resettlement policies should have prioritized inclusive resettlement, our case study reveals the significant role played by villagers’ bottom-up approaches, utilizing informality and collective strategies, in enhancing inclusiveness. The research adopts an explanatory-sequential approach that uses principal component analysis, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaire surveys to investigate post-resettlement adaptation in 12 resettlement communities in Hangzhou, China. The empirical evidence suggests informal economic activities, spontaneous spatial transformation, hybrid governance structures, and non-institutionalized participation have contributed significantly to villagers claiming their right to resettlement. We conclude with recommendations for achieving inclusive resettlement.

Wartime legislative political inclusivity and the likelihood of negotiated ends to civil wars

ABSTRACT Many scholars have argued that political inclusivity helps pre-empt civil war incidence and helps build peace and democracy after a civil war ends. However very little work has been done on assessing the effects of the inclusivity of war time legislatures on how civil wars end. This paper addresses this lacuna using the ‘diversity in leadership’ approach to explain the likelihood of negotiations initiated to end civil wars. This approach holds that the inclusion of different political viewpoints leads to innovative solutions to intractable political challenges (such as efforts to end civil wars). Using data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) and the Database on Political Institutions (DPI) from 1975–2020, I find that relatively more political fractionalised war time legislatures are significantly more likely to lead to attempts at negotiated ends to conflicts, when compared to less fractionalised legislatures. However, the size of the opposition in the wartime legislature, and the presence of legalised political wings of rebel groups, are unrelated to whether a negotiated settlement occurs (a finding that questions the idea that representation of anti-government views help bring about efforts at peace).

Does Gender Based Representation Matters in Fostering Political Inclusion of Women in Local Governments? A Case of India

How does the legally established gender quota in local self-government bodies affect the level of representation of women in power? How does the representation of women in power increase effective political participation? Previous studies were devoted to studying the consequences of gender quotas in the authorities and management, but the issue of the model of gender political participation remained neglected. The introduction of gender quotas as a mechanism for ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women in politics and the decision-making process increases women’s political participation and political leadership. The success or failure of planning and decision-making largely depends on the level of political participation. The issues of this work correspond to Goal 5 of Sustainable Development, which provides equal opportunities for women’s leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life. The paper analyzes the representation of women in the authorities and management in different regions of the world. The study’s main goal is to determine the relationship between the representation of women in rural local self-government bodies and the consequences of this representation. The data sources were the results of local elections, reports of government ministries and agencies, United Nations reports on gender equality and the empowerment of women, as well as surveys of women representatives of political power in three Indian states (Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra ) — state election data analyzed over the past three decades. The results of this study show that the level of female representation increases annually, although this is not entirely related to political participation. Women’s electoral participation indicates that despite growing women’s participation in local elections, the expression remains unchanged within the established gender quota of 33 to 50 percent. Addressing the gender imbalance in the political environment of three states in India is a result of the introduction and enforcement of gender quotas in politics. The results of this study have practical value for local self-government bodies when developing state gender policy.

In or out? Citizenship outcomes of working sexual and gender minority people of Canada

AbstractDespite the greater visibility of sexual and gender minorities, due to data limitations, the quantitative literature on their citizenship outcomes is very limited. Using a large original survey of Canadian sexual and gender minorities and the Canadian General Social Survey, this article first examines the extent of political inclusion of sexual and gender minorities, as measured by sense of belonging to Canada and the province of residence, likelihood of voting, and confidence in the police and the justice system. Sexual and gender minorities are generally found to have a markedly weaker sense of belonging to Canada and confidence in its institutions. Next, these patterns are re‐examined accounting for the degree of outness. The results indicate considerable discrepancies across sexual and gender minorities in how outness affects their citizenship outcomes. In particular, it seems that the sociopolitical profile of these groups plays an important mediating role in the effects of outness on their citizenship outcomes.Related ArticlesBurnett, Craig M., and Aaron S. King. 2015. “The Personal Politics of Same‐Sex Marriage.” Politics & Policy 43(4): 586–610. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12126.Lewis, Gregory B., Marc A. Rogers, and Kenneth Sherrill. 2011. “Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Voters in the 2000 US Presidential Election.” Politics & Policy 39(5): 655–77. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2011.00315.x.Winburn, Jonathan, and Amanda Winburn. 2020. “The Role of Political Ideology in Public Opinion toward Enumerated Antibullying Policies in Public Schools.” Politics & Policy 48(3): 442–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12355.

Political inclusion without social justice: South Africa and the pitfalls of partial decolonisation

The increasing social and political instability in South Africa and an emergent view that links it to the negotiated political settlement invite for a critical review of the ‘South African political miracle’. A central question such a review should attempt to address is whether the political settlement dealt fundamentally with the legacy of colonialism and apartheid, which came to define so much of social, economic and political life in South Africa. This article attempts such a review. Unlike critics of the negotiated settlement who tend to dismiss it totally, I contend, following on Mamdani's Neither Settler nor Native ( 2021 ), that its major achievement was establishing an inclusive political order in which civil and political rights were extended to all South Africans. The article begins by providing a broad outline of the colonial and apartheid orders in South Africa. While Mamdani (2021) details the political dimensions of these two exclusionary political orders, especially the divisive political identities they fostered and enforced, this article summarises the social and economic dimensions, focusing in particular on land and cattle dispossession. By highlighting these two dimensions, the article seeks to demonstrate the limitations of the negotiated settlement and the risk these limitations pose to the sustainability of inclusive democracy in South Africa. The article then examines what Mamdani calls the ‘South African moment’, which was marked by a challenge to the logic of apartheid and colonialism and the transformation of the political identities those orders had imposed. The third section of the article discusses the promise and limitations of the negotiated settlement. Overall, the article questions the desirability of the ‘South African model’ where social justice is compromised to achieve political inclusion.

The Politics of Demographic Change: Addressing the Youth Bulge in Ivory Coast

This research explores the relationship between youth bulge and political instability, using Ivory Coast as a case study. Despite being one of the world's poorest continents, Africa is experiencing a quick and considerable youth bulge, posing difficulties to political stability. The youth bulge phenomenon, which is defined by a disproportionate increase in the youthful population compared to other age groups, has historically been linked to political upheaval, as evidenced by events such as the Arab Spring. Lack of democracy, economic restrictions, and ethnic or religious discrimination are among the factors that contribute to political instability during a youth bulge. This study uses a qualitative research approach and secondary data analysis to investigate the impact of the youth bulge on the Ivory Coast political scene. The findings suggest a high youth unemployment rate of 35.7%, as well as considerable differences in educational access and political participation among young people. This lack of political engagement exacerbates the confusion, resulting in rebellion and instability. The study emphasizes the significance of tackling socioeconomic difficulties and increasing political inclusion to counteract the negative consequences of the youth bulge on political stability in Ivory Coast and other contexts.

From women’s presence to feminist representation: second-generation design for women’s group representation

Feminist democratic representation is a new design for women’s group representation in electoral politics. We build on the design principles and practices of the 1990s’ presence theorists, who conceived of political inclusion as the presence of descriptive representatives and advocated for gender quota. Our second-generation design foregrounds women’s ideological and intersectional heterogeneity, and details a representative process that enacts three feminist principles: inclusiveness, responsiveness and egalitarianism. A new set of actors – the affected representatives of women – play formal, institutionalised roles in two new democratic practices: group advocacy and account giving. Together, these augmentations incentivise new attitudes and behaviours among elected representatives, and bring about multiple representational effects that redress the poverty of women’s political representation: elected representatives now know more, care more and are more connected to diverse women, including the most marginalised; and the represented are now more closely connected with, more interested in and better represented through democratic politics.

Identity overlap and context-dependent instrumentation of territorial belonging: an interrogation of multiple levels of indigeneship mobilisation in Nigeria

ABSTRACT The subject of territorial belonging remains one of the regular flashpoints of conflicts in contemporary politics. With identity overlap and context-dependent instrumentation of belongingness, the question of how one identity classification attains preponderance over others in the overlap and the character of the associated conflicts compel studying every instance as a unique case. This paper interrogates the instrumentation of multiple levels of indigeneship mobilisation in inclusion politics in tertiary education institutions in Nigeria. Qualitatively drawing from vice-chancellor’s selection politics in University of Nigeria, this paper found that four incentives drove the preponderance of ethno-territorial indigeneship mobilisation over other levels of indigeneship mobilisation in the institution. First, politically, the collective interests of the dominant Igbo ethnic group were held paramount in the ethnic territory. Second, the rationales for the collective interest of the ethnic group were widely acknowledged by all communal settlements on the ethnic territory. Third, democratically, the phenomenon ensured the rule of the majority in vice-chancellors’ selection politics. Fourth, the merit prerogative of the academy, breached in inter-ethnic struggle, remained sacrosanct in intra-ethnic competition for the choice position. These exemplify the situation of many federal tertiary education institutions in Nigeria and become their prominent trademarks.

Memorialisation of COVID-19 stories

Oral history is more than an epistemology of the subaltern who do not have any other avenues of narrating and preserving their ontologies. It transcends the academic domain and ventures into the field of therapy as it heals the broken hearted, the subjugated, the bereaved and in the process oscillating to an archive of memory and feelings. It is an epistemology that offers therapeutic healing not only to the downtrodden of the earth but also to the affluent members of the community. In this era of COVID-19 where people have suffered untold and unbearable pain, oral history comes handy as an epistemic memorialisation tool that can be used to offer therapeutic healing to the survivors, the affected, the infected and the nations. The article is based on the author’s views on how South Africa may memorialise COVID-19 through oral history and memorials among others. The article reviews literature on the world’s intentions in memorialising the pandemic and how South Africa can learn or unlearn from the proffered examples. The article also interrogates how oral history approaches, such as crowdsourcing of COVID-19 stories, can be manipulated so that it accommodates the pandemic’s narratives of the commoners found in the locations of South Africa. Research findings reveal that South Africa can learn a lot from the countries that have started to memorialise the pandemic in the sense that it has the experience, skills and infrastructure to do so.Contribution: The study contributes to the ongoing debate about how to memorialise the COVID-19 pandemic taking into consideration the memory politics of inclusion and exclusion. The study is linked to the scope of the journal in the sense that it touches on the national memorialisation of the COVID-19 pandemic through oral history and memorials among others.

Toward a Politics of Inclusion: Prospects and Problems of Civic Participation in Indonesia’s Government Decentralization

This article assesses the shortcomings and possibilities of deepening civic participation in Indonesia’s government decentralization. Applying an expositive-critical-reconstructive approach and using Habermas’s theory of law and democracy, this study addresses the main question: “What democratic principles must be adhered to by Indonesian citizens to achieve the purpose of government decentralization?” This article argues that government decentralization in Indonesia has brought democracy closer to the people; however, it did not necessarily result in the active participation of citizens in local government affairs and in crafting local regulations. This deficit requires the local governments to institutionalize the ideal lawmaking procedures and inherit democratic ethos. The local people must be educated and capacitated to maximize the benefits of government decentralization, while civil society groups step in to practice democratic principles in civic participation and lawmaking.

Worlds from the Periphery: A Multilingual Reading of Saurav Kumar Chaliha and Anjum Hasan

The paper examines the Assamese short story “Xomoi-Xeema” (2005) by Saurav Kumar Chaliha and the English poetry collection, Street on the Hill (2006), by Anjum Hasan to propose an expanded notion of Anglophone writing through multilingual readings of regional Indian literature and offer alternative modes of political inclusivity. It examines the role of English in Northeast Indian literary texts in articulating cosmopolitanism from a marginalized space and probing the linguistic frontiers of the postcolonial nation-state. Through this comparative reading, the essay envisions the relationships between region, nation, and world through a series of overlapping linguistic exchanges and provides an alternative understanding of world literature to current models focused on the English-language novel.

Taxation, democracy, and inequality in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Relevant linkages for sustainable development goals

AbstractGiven that the linear linkage between taxation and income inequality remains unclear, especially in Sub‐Saharan African countries, it is critical to explore how the redistribution channel of the tax system could mitigate income inequality within democratic institutions. Using the instrumental variable approach for robust analysis, this study explores the panel dataset of 42 Sub‐Saharan African countries from 1996–2014. The following findings are documented. First, both unconditional linkages between taxation and democracy overwhelmingly reduce income inequality. Second, harnessing democracy with taxation has a net effect that reduces income inequality. Overall, this study establishes that a strong democratic system strengthens the tax system for an income redistribution strategy to enhance income equality. This study is relevant for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SGD) 1 on poverty reduction, SDG 10 on inequality, and SDG 16 on strong institutions.Related ArticlesGatchair, Sonia D. 2015. “Ideology and Interests in Tax Administration Reform in Jamaica.” Politics & Policy 43(6): 887–913. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12139.Nchofoung, Tii, Simplice Asongu, Vanessa Tchamyou, and Ofeh Edoh. 2022. “Gender, Political Inclusion, and Democracy in Africa: Some Empirical Evidence.” Politics & Policy 51(1): 137–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12505.Wang, Yingyao. 2017. “Why Tax Policy Is Not Politics in China: Public Finance and China's Changing State‐Society Relations.” Politics & Policy 45(2): 194–223. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12200.

Keeping or Building Peace? UN Peace Operations beyond the Security Dilemma

AbstractOne of the most consistent findings on UN peace operations (UNPOs) is that they contribute to peace. Existing scholarship argues this is because UNPOs' peacekeeping troops solve the security dilemma that inhibits combatant disarmament and prevents their political leaders from sharing power. We argue that existing scholarship's focus on peacekeeping troops overlooks UNPOs’ role in enabling governments to implement redistributive power‐sharing reforms contained in peace agreements, along with their broader peace processes. While peacekeeping troops can help belligerents refrain from violence, military force alone cannot explain how political elites implement redistributive reforms that threaten their status. We argue that UNPOs that have predominant peacebuilding (as opposed to peacekeeping) mandates help sustain political elites’ commitment to implementing peace agreement reforms and, thus, contribute to inclusive peace (increased political inclusion and reduced violence). We test our argument using a data set on UNPO mandates and original fieldwork on three sequential UNPOs in Burundi.

Prototyping the Design for "I See, I Think, and I Feel" Project: An SDG 10-Inspired Positive Psychology on Gay Narratives of Resiliency

The scaffolds of the "I See, I Think, and I Feel" capability-building project was built first by the results of a qualitative inquiry of 10 gay preschool teachers whose experiences yielded resiliency with the themes as persona duality, vicarious experiences as an anxiety trigger, innate creativity, adaptability, the need to feel respected, the difficult choice of living alone, and dealing with children's gender typing; and second by the extension project cycle of Central Mindanao University. Further, the Sustainable Development Goal on Reduction of Inequalities towards the empowerment and promotion of the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, regardless of age, sex, or other status, thereby paving for laws that are non-discriminatory and sustainable development-related policies has been the main ingredient throughout the project development leading to the conceptualization of the main objective that is to reach out to gay preschool teachers in Bukidnon who have been experiencing the struggles, and thereby pave positive psychology for them. Hence, the underscored capability-building method is the process approach covering five main topics: intensifying the utilization of arts in gay preschool teachers' pedagogy, effective handling of children's curiosity about gays, positive use of resiliency in dealing with the challenges of being gay preschool teachers, self-love, and the importance of positive mental health, which will undergo 5-year monitoring and evaluation to ensure the sustainability and magnify the impact.

Athenian Women as Anti-War Heroes, Role Reversal and Power Play in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata

This research focuses on Athenian women as an epitome of female authority which challenges the male supremacy and strive for their struggle of political empowerment. Role reversal aspect is found in Aristophanes’ play Lysistrata hidden under the mask of erotic humor and this play aims to highlight that facet. For this purpose, this research will use frameworks regarding gender and power from the book Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics by Raewyn Connell. 411 B.C. Greece was a democratic state ruled predominantly by males and hence the society was affected by the phallic roles. So, this paper will analyze the play Lysistrata from the perspective of gender inequality faced by women and will attempt to observe the limited female involvement at the state level and male opposition to female struggle for political inclusion. This article will study the play on multiple differing interconnecting facets which are female struggle against the predetermined societal roles, the motive of using sex strike as a tool to challenge male dictatorship and its modern day application. It will also explore that how the dominant personality of Lysistrata and the how the comparison of domestic households to the state affairs was used as political tools for challenging the male authority. This research concludes with a comparison of Athenian women with the modern day women and the message it instills for the modern world. Although women are socialized to stay the subservient and nurturing gender for males, but this article calls for an equal division of labor amongst all without any discrimination and prejudice.