Political Instrument Research Articles

Beyond Order and Progress: Legitimacy and Nation-Building in Military Brazil

Abstract Between 1964 and 1985, a military dictatorship in Brazil combined an arsenal of political instruments—surveillance, violent repression, and propaganda, among others—to justify its illegal rule. How did the Brazilian military regime attempt to justify its claim to power for more than two decades? What discursive strategies did it use to win popular support, despite the violence it perpetrated? This paper investigates how discourse is used to legitimize power and create meaning in authoritarian regimes. Using ethnographic content analysis of archival materials, I pinpoint and analyze three key discursive frames employed in regime propaganda: “defenders of democracy,” “Great Brazil” and “model citizenship.” I argue that the Brazilian military regime used these frames to justify its authority, forge national values and social norms, and redefine the boundaries of the national community. These findings not only contribute to our understanding of authoritarian power that is wielded and legitimized through discourse, but also speak to the enduring consequences of authoritarianism in sociopolitical subjects.

„Keď zomrie tyran, zomrie s nim aj jeho vláda. Keď zomrie martýr, jeho vláda začína.“ Ku vzniku štátu Kráľovstva Srbov, Chorvátov a Slovincov na pozadí niekoľkých myšlienok existencialistov

The chilling events of World War I were a test for all of humanity, which until then could not even imagine such horrors. For many people, they meant death, suffering, or a fight for mere survival. Not even the nationals living on the Balkan Peninsula were an exception, which became the scene of the infamous trigger squeeze that started four and a half years of war frenzy. The work analyzes selected episodes preceding, concerning, or following the end of World War I and confronts them with an existentialist view of the world. In this context, it opens the question of objectivity, historical memory, political instrumentalization of fact, and the diversity of interpretation of the history of this segment of history.

Sustainability Management Accounting in Urban Development: A Case Study of an Egyptian State-Owned Enterprise

The public sector literature on sustainability management accounting (SMA) has grown significantly in recent years, with numerous theoretical and empirical studies examining the purported link between management accounting and corporate sustainability within organisations. However, despite this surge, prior studies have largely confined their analytical scope to traditional SMA issues, such as corporate social, environmental, and governance responsibilities. Their analyses have predominantly concentrated on largely investigated elements such as situational linkages, transformational dynamics, agency issues, resistance, and conflicts. This study aims to address these limitations by examining corporate SMA systems within the burgeoning field of urban development. It utilises institutional theory and a case study from Egypt, a developing country, to explore how urban development could impact adopting a corporate SMA system in politically sensitive state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Contrary to existing literature, the findings indicate that urban development has created financial pressures for national governments, which have used these as a political instrument to implement a corporate SMA system within related SOEs. Additionally, the findings highlight the significant role of management accountants as central figures in integrating and standardising a corporate SMA system into the daily practices of current executives through advanced enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology. Moreover, as a development of institutional theory, the findings demonstrate the influence of corporate SMA reports on the decision-making processes of national governments in the context of urban development.

SANCTIONS POLICY IN THE WORLD: EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE

The author of the article aims to highlight the specific features of the application of sanctions in the international community in the context of the evolution of political discourse on sanctions policy. In his work, the author relies on the concept of the “three great debates” of the researcher Peter Wallensteen, applying it to the analysis of changes in the political situation around the use of sanctions and the reasons that lead to them. As main examples, the author analyzes sanctions of the League of Nations and the UN, as well as individual states. The author considers the change in political reasons leading to sanctions, as well as their transformation into an effective political instrument that is actively used primarily by international organizations. The issues of the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of sanctions are analyzed. The conclusions that the author comes to indicate that the successful implementation of sanctions policy requires the support of a sufficiently wide number of states. Thus, in the matter of using sanctions against certain states, the role of international organizations is undeniable. The development and formation of world politics and its trends bring new reasons for the use of sanctions. One should also not fail to take into account the leading world powers that are quite actively using sanctions policy for their own purposes.

Migration as an effect of russian aggression against ukraine: understanding the consequences

It has long been no secret that migration processes have a great impact on the number and composition of the population of all countries. These processes have always played and will play a multifaceted role in the development of mankind, acting as a form of human adaptation to the changing conditions of its existence. The war between Russia and Ukraine, which began back in 2014 with the occupation of Crimea along with some areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, has serious far-reaching consequences, one of which is significant migration flows. As a result of hostilities, occupation, and invasion of Russian troops in February 2022, many Ukrainians were forced to seek refuge in other regions of the country or beyond. This led to the emergence of mass internal migration to relatively safe regions of Ukraine and unprecedented in the history of our country external migration to neighboring European states. Accordingly, these migration processes have a great impact on the demographic structure and social situation both in the receiving regions of Ukraine and in the countries that received Ukrainian refugees. It has been demonstrated that the main demographic risks faced by Ukraine pose a threat to stable socio-economic development and have become a serious challenge for Ukrainian society. The most urgent task of Ukrainian migration policy today is the development of political instruments that would encourage and facilitate the return of Ukrainian refugees to their homes. The article uses a systematic analysis based on statistical data of international and public organizations, and statesmen to determine the peculiarities of migration flows in war conditions; induction and deduction - to systematize the key causes and consequences of the migration of the population of Ukraine. The main emphasis is on the analysis of the impact of migration processes on the economic development of Ukraine, social stability and cultural identity of the population.

Power, Politics, and the Supernatural: Exploring the Role of Witchcraft Beliefs in Governance for Development

Belief in evil and hidden supernatural forces, generally referred to as witchcraft, is widespread in many parts of the African continent. In addition to affecting individual health, perceived security, and social relations, witchcraft allegations may be used as covert political instruments, resulting in governance challenges such as lack of trust, transparency, administrative delegation, and political accountability. Since witchcraft is commonly associated with physiological and psychological violence, some citizens may be less willing to participate in political activities, including seeking elected office or criticizing political elites for fear of falling victim to witchcraft. The focus of our study is Malawi where large groups in the population believe in the power of witchcraft. We aim to unpack how local witchcraft beliefs have a bearing on governance – whether, and the extent to which, witchcraft influences how citizens understand and practice transparency and accountability in everyday life. Particularly, the belief in witchcraft among Malawian elites’ warrants closer scrutiny, especially since existing literature and local discourse on the impact of witchcraft tend to largely focus on rural and less educated groups in the population. As the highly secret and complex dimensions of witchcraft resist clear-cut definitions, representations, and analysis, it is not our intention to describe witchcraft in everyday life. Rather, we explore the potential political implications of not addressing elite discourses of and belief in witchcraft. We find that belief in witchcraft can influence citizens’ perceptions of power and authority and can potentially undermine the legitimacy of democratic institutions and processes.

Rhythm as a Counter-cultural Political Instrument of Empowerment in James Brown’s ‘Say it Loud, I‘m Black and I’m Proud’

Rhythm as a Counter-cultural Political Instrument of Empowerment in James Brown’s ‘Say it Loud, I‘m Black and I’m Proud’

Instrumentalization of Fake News and Fake News Laws: A Content Analysis of Hong Kong Newspapers in Transitional Times

ABSTRACT The debate around disinformation has shifted to the political instrumentalization of the term fake news, a growing global trend affecting both democratic and less-democratic countries. While researchers have paid much attention to the consequences of disinformation or how fake news allegations could harm journalism and democracies, few have examined how the term may be instrumentalized to restrict press and political freedoms in non-Western contexts under an authoritarian turn. Through a quantitative content analysis, this paper explores how the term fake news is used in Hong Kong’s newspapers with diverse political inclinations. The paper goes on to analyze how the discursive uses of the term may be connected to the framing of fake news as an existential threat and to the legitimization or critique of fake news laws. The findings show that uses of the term as an attack to adverse media outlets and political opponents are most frequent in state-owned newspapers. State-owned newspapers are also most likely to frame fake news as an existential security issue and legislation as a solution. Implications of the findings as well as theoretical and empirical contributions are discussed.

International organisation law as a political instrument and indonesia's experience in case studies

International organisation law as a political instrument and indonesia's experience in case studies

The Ohrid Framework Agreement in North Macedonia between its institutional implementation and political instrumentalization

The Ohrid Framework Agreement in North Macedonia between its institutional implementation and political instrumentalization

Embedded memory wars: Italy’s 2019 Armenian Genocide recognition

Scholars often associate the political instrumentalisation of memory with right-wing populists. But this focus somewhat obscures the fact that elected officials across the political spectrum instrumentalise memory in their efforts to shape perceptions and influence behaviours. In fact, the success of memory laws often depends on the fact that MPs from diverse political parties support the same projects not only to validate their own views but also to delegitimise those of others. I refer to the conflicts resulting from different political actors’ support of the same memory laws as embedded memory wars. Based on documentary analysis and fieldwork interviews, this article examines embedded memory wars through the illustrative case of the 2019 recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Italy's Chamber of Deputies. In supporting Armenian Genocide recognition, Italian MPs from both right and left-wing parties developed competing narratives to debate contemporary topics related to European integration, multiculturalism, and Turkey.

Community water debts in Colombia: Financialisation from below?

Drawing on the recent experience of community water finance in Colombia, this paper contributes to a diversification of the literature on the financialisation of water and the commons governance by focusing on the perspective of grassroots organisations. It highlights the inclusion and exclusion mechanisms of water access in the rural Colombian context. As water communities continue to seek autonomy from state agencies and private providers and to affirm their own management model, the paper examines the ambivalent effects of finance and the use of the credit as a political instrument. In a context of public policies that pressurise communities to adopt water management and financing strategies based on profitability and efficiency, the paper considers how access to credit from local financial institutions contributes to this quest for autonomy. It highlights how the effects of these new financial practices are starting to bring about social change within communities, such as the redefinition of leaders’ roles, or the transformation of relations with the state. The paper concludes by demonstrating how, in adopting entrepreneurial forms of management, the community water organisations assume the risks associated with the market-based model and thus expose themselves to significant change.

Ethical challenges in health care during collective hunger strikes in public or occupied spaces.

Public collective hunger strikes take place in complex social and political contexts, require medical attention and present ethical challenges to physicians. Empirical research, the ethical debate to date and existing guidelines by the World Medical Association focus almost exclusively on hunger strikes in detention. However, the public space differs substantially with regard to the conditions for the provision of health care and the diverse groups of healthcare providers or stakeholders involved. By reviewing empirical research on the experience of health professionals with public collective hunger strikes, we identified the following ethical challenges: (1) establishment of a trustful physician-striker relationship, (2) balancing of medico-ethical principles in medical decision-making, (3) handling of loyalty conflicts and (4) preservation of professional independence and the risk of political instrumentalization. Some of these challenges have already been described and discussed, yet not contextualized for public collective strikes, while others are novel. The presence of voluntary physicians may offer opportunities for a trustful relationship and, hence, for ethical treatment decisions. According to our findings, it requires more attention to how to realise autonomous medical decisions in the complex context of a dynamic, often unstructured and politically charged setting, which ethical norms should shape the professional role of voluntary physicians, and what is the influence of the hunger strikers'collective on individual healthcare decisions. Our article can serve as a starting point for further ethical discussion. It can also provide the basis for the development of potential guidelines to support health professionals involved in public collective hunger strikes.

ECONOMIC-INSTITUTIONAL PROBLEMS OF EUROPEAN REMILITARIZATION

This article is dedicated to the examination of the economic-institutional problems and prerequisites for the reconstruction of the European military-industrial complex. During the consideration of this issue, the following tasks were set and addressed: – to find out the economic factors determining the ability of European economies to provide the Ukrainian army with a sufficient amount of weapons and ammunition; – to identify barriers to capital involvement in the military-industrial complex; – to study the institutional prerequisites for changing motivations for investing in the military-industrial complex. On one hand, the remilitarization of Europe appears inevitable due to the formation of an anti-Western axis of evil, consisting of Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran. On the other hand, remilitarization for formerly pacifist Europeans is not an easy matter. We believe that the problem of remilitarization has at least three aspects: price, investment, and civilization. If we were to depict the problem of European remilitarization as an iceberg, the price aspect would be the most superficial, obvious part of the problem, while the civilization aspect would be its foundation. Price aspect: This has manifested, in particular, in the rapid increase in procurement prices for weapons. The anomaly is that even with a fourfold increase in prices, which apparently promises manufacturers profits in the hundreds (!) of percent, demand saturation through increased supply does not occur. Investment aspect: It is evident in the relatively insufficient investment activity in the European military-industrial complex compared to what it should be. The issue lies in the unacceptably high risks of possible investment projects in the defense sector, namely, the risk of a decrease in demand for manufactured goods. Considering the normal profitability of production assets in developed countries, successful remilitarization could involve guarantees of extensive and stable state purchases of weapons and ammunition from producers for the next ten to fifteen years. Civilization aspect: Maintaining consistently high demand for military goods for one to two decades requires a fundamentally different approach from European societies and states to issues of war and peace than is currently the case. It turns out that for the remilitarization of Europe, a series of colonial wars is needed. Colonialism, in any of its manifestations, involves the institutionalization of inequality between Europeans and those outside Europe. Remilitarization means that the “flower generation,” the people who tried to “love, not war,” must acknowledge their defeat, and more than half a century of conscious rejection of making military violence a significant political instrument, which has always been reckless, is regarded as a terrible mistake that must not be repeated. European elites see and understand the consequences of this choice. Therefore, we can argue that the million shells for Ukraine cost Europeans significantly more than a few pitiful billion euros. It costs dreams of humanism, of a bright communist future, dreams of a time when the bright, rational, human will ultimately overcome all that is dark, primitive, and bestial.

Assessing progress towards smart governance in Saudi Arabia

Smart governance is a powerful political instrument to enhance the quality of public decision-making. Saudi Arabia has established smart city strategies using Information Communication Technologies to improve the quality of life and facilitate sustainable development. This study assesses smart governance, based on identifying five distinct areas by means of sixteen indicators for smart governance performance. To this end, data was collected from public and international sources, as well as from the literature. The findings reveal that Saudi Arabia has achieved solid progress in this field. Two factors, the e-service system and spending on public services, have highly contributed to this improvement. Other factors, such as citizen participation, governmental organization, and political domain have also played an important role; however, there are still some challenges that need to be addressed.

Conspiracy Theories and Populism: Analyzing the Trumpian Embrace of Conspiracy Narratives as a Political Instrument

The attack on its Capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented event in the history of the United States. It was made more peculiar by the fact that the conspiracy theory (CT) that the election had been fraudulent was spread by the outgoing president, Donald Trump, too. The purpose of this research is to show that CTs are suitable political tools for populists, as both are based on the division of society and appeal to alienated, dissatisfied groups. The main conclusion of the research is that populism and CTs spread because of political polarization, which, in turn, these narratives themselves deepen. For this reason, the populist use of conspiracy theories is almost inevitable.

International Political Dynamics and Islamic Jurisprudence: Understanding the Roots of Terrorism

This paper critically examines the intricate challenges involved in defining terrorism, emphasizing the political instrumentalization of Islam as a perceived threat. It delves into the multifaceted nature of terrorism by exploring various definitions and the underlying political motivations. The study then transitions to an in-depth analysis of Islamic jurisprudence's unequivocal stance against violence and terrorism, highlighting the consistent and unanimous condemnation by Islamic scholars. By scrutinizing the ethical principles that govern warfare in Islam, including the protection of non-combatants and the conditions under which violence is permissible, the paper offers a nuanced and comprehensive perspective on how Islamic teachings fundamentally oppose terrorism. This analysis is supported by references to primary Islamic texts (Quran and Hadith) and classical jurisprudential sources, ensuring a thorough understanding of Islamic legal principles. Furthermore, the paper addresses the broader socio-political implications of framing Islam as synonymous with terrorism. It examines the impact of this narrative on public perceptions, policy-making, and the rise of Islamophobia. The study also considers the strategic motivations behind this framing, particularly in the context of post-9/11 geopolitical dynamics and the subsequent "War on Terror." This paper aims to explore Islamic teachings that prohibit violence and terrorism, the debates among Islamic scholars regarding the punishment for such acts, and the geopolitical motivations behind portraying Islam as a threat. By doing so, it seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of this framing on international relations, public perceptions, and counter-terrorism strategies. The paper concludes with a set of strategic recommendations aimed at promoting accurate representations of Islam. These recommendations emphasize the importance of nuanced and informed public discourse, the role of educational initiatives in dispelling myths and stereotypes, and the need for collaborative international efforts to enhance global counter-terrorism strategies. Additionally, the paper calls for fostering international cooperation to address the root causes of terrorism, such as political repression, socio-economic inequalities, and foreign interventions, thereby promoting a more just and peaceful global order.

Христианская истина и политика в романе Ивлина Во «Елена»

The novel Helena (1950) is analyzed as Evelyn Waugh’s profound statement on his most significant problems: the possibility to resolve the crises of the 20th-century consciousness through Christianity and on the nature of power. Cradle Anglo-Catholics were always suspicious of Waugh, seeing him as an errant Catholic; the paper uses the work of Waugh’s biographers and interpreters to pinpoint his personal reception of Catholicism as the most sophisticated, strictly logical system, firmly grounded in historical fact. Waugh’s story of St. Helena is simultaneously a biography of half-legendary Saint, known for her discovery of the Cross of Golgotha, who thus proved the truthfulness of the founding Christian narrative, and an ironic modern historical novel on the decline of the Roman Empire. Many parallels between the period of Helena’s husband and son (Constantius Chlor and Constantine the Great, respectively) and the catastrophic history of the 20th century are suggested through the devices of anachronism, grotesque, figurative style. The author depicts the persistence of paganism, the use of religious cults as political instrument by cynical persons in their pursuit of individual power. High dose of irony prevents the novel from going in the direction of hagiography; nevertheless the author’s concept of his title character brings to life the most positive and optimistic text in Waugh’s whole oeuvre. By the end of her long life, by converting to Christianity, Helena finds her vocation, her providential mission, completes it, and gains in the fact satisfaction and peace.

English as a subtle technology of distraction in postcolonial contexts: undoing linguistic colonialism by linguistic coloniality

ABSTRACT This paper discusses how the political interplay between English-in-society and English-in-education policy in the Global South(s) facilitates what I term ‘English as a subtle technology of policy distraction’ in postcolonial spheres that were colonised by languages other than English. ‘English as a subtle technology of policy distraction’ is conceptualised and operationalised as a theoretical and analytical framework through which current issues in language planning and policy within postcolonial contexts where colonial languages such as French, Spanish, Russian and German, etc function as the first or second language are framed, justified, enacted, contested and critically examined. I unpack how the state, politicians, officials and stakeholders make use of the political instrumentalization of English to assign credibility to their discourses that overshadow the core issues and root causes of the crises in the Moroccan education sector such as contract teachers, lack of infrastructure, classroom crowdedness and successive unsuccessful reforms. Political instrumentalization enables scholars to deconstruct the process of gaining access to the political implications of a technical subject (language in education) and its intersection with wider social problems (coloniality, dependency, insufficient quality of education …) which previously had not been treated politically.

Право, информационное общество, цифровой суверенитет

Introduction. The rapid development of digital technologies has led to significant changes in various spheres of public life. The species classification of the modern world is based on the fact that the era of the information society is coming. Its characteristics were defined in the Okinawa Charter of the Global Information Society. Empirical analysis. The author presents an overview of the strategies for innovative technological development adopted in the Russian Federation under the influence of the development of digital technologies. The relevance of the formation of the concept of digital sovereignty is shown. The researcher conducted a comparative legal study which indicated that digital sovereignty was originally presented in the legal systems of the European Union countries. Foreign approaches to the formation of a new legal order, conditioned by the development of digitalization, are outlined. The article highlights the features of the German concept “Industry 4.0”, the Japanese concept “Society 5.0”, and the Chinese concept “Made in China 2025”. Theoretical analysis. The main trend of digitalization is decentralization, which affects not only the economies of countries, but also the public administration system. Its general consequences are highlighted: the emergence of competition between states (which leads to the expansion of axiology, and not just technology); a change in the concept of public administration in the context of growing horizontal connections (the emergence of the concept of “the state as a platform”); priority of data (in electronic form) as a condition for the economic, political and social development of the state. Results. The acceleration of the technological process has an impact on the socio-political sphere. The law does not have time to react to changes; the formed reality itself dictates those rules that are formed outside of political instruments. This also leads to the transformation of traditional state institutions, which forces us to rethink the very understanding of the modern state.