Political Issues Research Articles

TURKISH-RUSSIAN RELATIONS FROM THE COLD WAR TO 2002 AS THE BEGINNING OF CURRENT RELATIONS

In this study, Turkish-Russian relations in the Cold War period and the Post-Cold War time till 2002 are discussed. Since 2002 is accepted as the beginning of current relations and a breakthrough year in relations, a separate analysis is required for the next period. It is seen that the relations between Türkiye and Russia were tense between the years 1945-1965, and then went through a soft period until the end of the Cold War period. It is clearly understood that Turkish-Russian relations gained a new dimension after the collapse of the USSR. Economic-commercial relations constituted the most important area of this period, in which competition also predominated. In the first part of this study, the historical development of Turkish-Soviet relations in the Cold War period is tried to be discussed. Economic and commercial relations assumed the locomotive role in the cooperation between the two countries, giving a different quality to the political, military and security issues and relations with third countries. In the second part, the new era for the affairs is analyzed and, in this regard, it should be noted that the leaders of the two countries have made great efforts since the beginning of the 1990s. In these years, many strategic projects were signed and implemented in the context of bilateral relations. It is obvious that the relations between the two countries reached a strategic dimension in areas such as economic-commercial and energy. It is also analyzed that the momentum gained in Turkish-Russian relations and the good level of relations also served regional stability and common interests. Finally, it may be assumed that the years examined by this paper is also a period that helped to create strong relations between two countries in the 21st century.

The History and Future of Ceramic Sculpture: From Ancient Clay Figures to Modern 3D Printing

This research aims to examine the history and future of ceramic sculpture, evaluating the development of this significant art form. It observes the role and evolving face of ceramic sculpture art from ancient times to the present, discussing its potential in the future. In ancient times, people used ceramic sculptures to express their religious and mythological beliefs. Civilizations such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire reflected their beliefs and cultures through ceramic sculptures. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, artisans produced ceramic sculptures to enhance the aesthetic and religious aspects of churches' interior decoration. The sculptures from these periods stood out for their traditional craftsmanship and handmade techniques. With the onset of the modern era, technological advancements have fundamentally transformed ceramic sculpture art. Artists have observed diversity and change in the artistic expressions of ceramic sculptures as they address societal, political, and environmental issues, creating new and contemporary works. The relationship between ceramic art and technology has continued to grow, especially with the recent advancements in 3D printing technology, which provide artists with greater creative freedom and allow for the creation of more complex forms and details in sculptures. While ceramic sculpture art remains an essential part of our cultural heritage, artists will continue to shape the thoughts and societal consciousness of people through ceramic sculptures in the future. As a form of art that has evolved throughout history, ceramic sculpture art will persist in representing the creativity and freedom of expression of artists, enhancing the artistic experiences of individuals with the conveniences brought about by technology.

Goethe’s Early Historical Dramas

In this essay, Goethe’s early historical plays, Götz von Berlichingen, published in 1773, and Egmont, published only in 1787, are compared. So far, scholarly work has not recognized enough of the differences between both works. Goethe’s intellectual development from the young Storm and Stress writer of Götz to the publication of Egmont fourteen years later has not been considered sufficiently. Goethe’s development is clearly reflected in his protagonists’ deeds and intentions. Goethe’s Götz fights predominantly for his own rights and his family. Egmont aims higher; he is more concerned with the welfare state of society and reflects on political issues Götz is unable to consider. Moreover, Goethe takes, in both cases, poetic license to create a different picture of his protagonists’ failures than historical sources provide. This finally leads to the introduction of the term preclassic to differentiate between Götz and Egmont.

THE UNCERTAIN STUFF OF HISTORY: OUTLINE OF A THEORY OF INTENTIONALITY—THING BY THING

ABSTRACTThis article addresses the issue of historical knowledge in relation to material evidence. More specifically, it asks, What objects capture the historian's attention and what knowledge is gained from those objects? What does the historian's gaze select as “things of history” and thus as removed from a world of object assemblages and fluid matter? Is it the case that only artifacts deliberately produced or modified by humans (regardless of the purpose) count as “things of history”? Or do physical entities produced by unintended human and nonhuman factors also display temporal endurance or alteration occurring over time and resonate with humans? Are “things of history” only entities endowed with shape, or do formless materials qualify too? In this article, I outline a theory of intentionality in relation to material items for two main reasons. First, it allows for a “critique of material evidence,” which is still missing in the historical discipline. Second, it enables us to address any remaining epistemological, ethical, or political issues, biases, or contradictions associated with the multifaceted research on material culture that affect the way we do history.

Philosophical Intuitions about Socially Significant Language

Abstract As we theorize about philosophy of language that bears on social and political issues, it is worth revisiting the methodological question of how we as theorists rely on our philosophical and linguistic intuitions, and what assumptions underlie our justification of such a reliance. Two threads in the philosophical literature are relevant to this question: the discussion of situatedness in feminist epistemology and the debate about philosophical expertise and philosophical intuitions. I argue that philosophers examining social and political philosophy of language should be careful—perhaps more careful than we have been—when we rely on our intuitions to draw conclusions about socially significant language, such as racist, sexist, homophobic, and other derogatory speech. I don’t claim we should give up relying on our intuitions. Instead, I argue that we should be more explicit that our intuitions are limited, and open to the possibility that they might not align with the intuitions of those who have more experience with the kinds of speech we are analyzing. As a result, we might find that the conclusions we draw from our intuitions have to be revised or qualified.

Decolonization of health care in Tanzania

Geographical location of residence and socioeconomic status are two primary factors determining one’s access to health care, which often derail the common goal of affording equal accessibility of health-care resources to all individuals. The authors, comprising three physicians from Tanzania and two from the United Kingdom (UK), share a common commitment to understanding and addressing the consequences of colonization on health-care provision. Drawing on extensive experience in both clinical and academic capacities in East Africa, we define decolonization from the perspective of building sustainable and independent clinical and academic services in Tanzania, supported by experienced UK clinicians. In this opinion piece, we describe and discuss workforce and political issues that have shaped the historical and present influences of the UK in Tanzanian health care. In addition, we highlight certain successful initiatives that are already improving outcomes in Africa and offer further examples of practices that might improve clinical and academic outcomes for marginalized populations in the future.

Intraindividual Conflicts Reduce the Polarization of Attitudes

Societies are increasingly divided about political issues such as migration or counteracting climate change. This attitudinal polarization is the basis for intergroup conflict and prevents societal progress in addressing pressing challenges. Research on attitude change should provide an answer regarding how people might be persuaded to move away from the extremes to take a moderate stance. However, persuasive communication often most strongly affects those who hold a moderate attitude or are undecided. More importantly, barely any research has explicitly aimed at mitigating extreme attitudes and behavioral tendencies. Addressing this gap, this article summarizes research demonstrating that (different types of) intraindividual conflicts might be a means to mitigate polarized attitudes. Goal conflicts, cognitive conflicts, counterfactual thinking, and paradoxical thinking facilitate cognitive flexibility. This, in turn, seems to initiate the consideration of alternative stances and mitigate the polarization of attitudes. We discuss the limitations of the existing research and the potential of this approach for interventions.

“Radicals” and “Racists”: Morality and Identity in U.S. Elite Political Communication

This study examines how elite political and media actors strategically leverage moral claims for partisan ends, transforming political identities, issues, and campaigns into zero-sum moral contests against their opposition. Here, I develop a framework for and approach to the study of morality as a strategic and identity-based tool in political communication, in the process developing a way of studying powerful and pervasive forms of political discourse often overlooked by scholarship. I show how partisan actors have identity-based motivations for employing particular forms of moral political communication, including religious, social, and civic morality. I then apply this framework to the case of the U.S. 2020 election, conducting context-sensitive computational and qualitative content analyses of elite political communication across political talk shows, op-eds, and campaign Twitter discourse. Results reveal the pervasive nature of moral political communication in these spaces. This work shows how, as U.S. political parties increasingly represent divergent and less cross-cutting groups of people, elite actors draw upon moral claims to attract and perform for particular ideological, religious, racial, and ethnic identity coalitions—often drawing from the same moral vocabulary to articulate opposing visions of democracy and civic life.

The system functions of direct democracy - a ranking of 103 countries in the world

We introduce a new framework of the functions of direct democracy within a democratic political system. These are: (1) channeling political input into the decision-making arenas by circumventing organized interests (input function), (2) channeling political issues out of the representative decision-making system (exit function), and (3) producing decisions about political questions (decision function). Based on the analysis of 277 instruments of direct democracy on the national level in 103 countries around the world, we find that the input and exit functions are rather unbalanced in their dynamics. The exit function shows a tendency to strengthen the concentration of power, whereas the input function rarely allows for access to both decision-making arenas. However, once issues reach the referendum, the impact is often strong, and only a small minority of states conduct referendums without any formal consequences. Beyond these results, the presented approach allows to start long-time observations of the state of direct democracy in democratic systems.

Quoting and well-being: researching social media posts of two mental health campaigns in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT Residents in Hong Kong have recently faced more severe mental health challenges due to the 2019 social unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic, among other social, economic and political issues. The situation has given rise to more local public mental health campaigns which mobilise different linguistic, cultural and discursive resources. This article critically examines a common type of social media discourse by two public mental health campaigns in Hong Kong which respectively adopt Chinese and English as the main language. Through a comprehensive, critical multimodal discourse analysis, it illustrates how this type of discourse (1) draws attention to multiple dimensions of mental well-being beyond mental illness/disorder, (2) strategically re-appropriates words and voices from different individuals, cultures and domains and (3) tacitly reinforces neoliberal and Confucianist ideologies through public mental health communication. The article ends with a discussion that can deepen our critical understanding of public mental health communication in contexts featuring digitalisation and linguistic and cultural diversity.

Invisibility and (Dis)Integration: Examining the Meaning of Migrant Inclusion in Everyday Lived Experience in Rural Areas

The settlement of migrants in rural areas that are facing population decline has gained increased attention in recent years as an economic, social, and political issue, as well as an opportunity for development for local communities. Studies have primarily focused on investigating whether and how migrants are integrated and included within these areas. This article adopts a fresh perspective by examining how the meaning of “integration” and “inclusion” is given shape by residents and migrant workers themselves. Our research centres on a small rural town in Sardinia, where individuals from Romania and West Africa have relocated to fill job positions traditionally held by Italians. Based on participant observation and in‐depth interviews, we examine the everyday experiences of residents and migrants to develop an understanding of the lived realities of integration and inclusion. In doing so, the article calls into question the perceived value of these processes for the very individuals that are supposed to benefit from them.

The Impacts of Political Internet Memes on Opinions: The Moderating Role of Political Party Identification

ABSTRACT Using memes on two political issues, an online experiment was conducted among a convenience sample of American adults to explore people’s reactions to political internet memes and the memes’ impacts on political opinions while considering the moderating role of political party identification. It found that memes on immigration had a significant main effect on opinions but those on gun control did not. Nonetheless, the memes on both issues produced more meme-consistent thoughts among partisans whose party shares the memes’ views than among those whose party opposes the memes’ views. Moreover, the memes supporting one’s party’s views had significant positive impacts on political opinions; but those challenging one’s party’s views had little impact. The political implications of these findings are discussed.

Duality in Political Discourse: A Critical Analysis of the Constitutional Union Party in Morocco

This article critically examines the discourse of the Constitutional Union party (CU) in Morocco, focusing on uncovering discursive duality within its political communication. Drawing on Critical Discourse Studies, the study adopts Van Dijk’s (2008) mental model approach to illuminate the party’s ideological perspectives and evaluate its consistency with declared liberal principles, specifically investigating how liberalism is cognitively reflected in CU’s discourse. Through analysis of CU’s discursive strategies claimed to embody ideological connotations across political, economic, and gender issues, the study identifies linguistic anomalies that point to a divide between liberal and non-liberal elements in the party’s disseminated discourse. This observed linguistic duality prompts critical inquiries into the consistency of the party’s ideological stance throughout a variety of contexts, a fact that stresses the necessity for further exploration of the social legitimacy of Moroccan political parties in relation to their circulated discourse.

Temperature influence on the sensitivity of Artemia franciscana to globally used pesticides – Oxyfluorfen and copper

Climate change further the world's human population increase is a mainstream political issue, and it's critical to search for solutions to produce enough food to feed everyone. Pesticides and fertilizers have been used as an easy solution to prevent pests and increase food production. Nevertheless, their overuse has dangerous effects on the ecosystems and communities. Oxyfluorfen (Oxy) and copper (Cu) based formulations are used as pesticides and widely applied on agricultural fields for crop protection. However, they have shown negative effects on non-target species. So, this work proposes to: a)determine the lethal concentration of Oxy and Cu to the zooplankton, Artemia franciscana, at different temperatures (15 °C, 20 °C and 25 °C); b)understand the biochemical impacts of these chemicals at the different temperatures scenarios, on A. franciscana and c)evaluate the impact of the climate changes, particularly the temperature increase, on this species sensitivity to the tested pesticides. Acute and sub-lethal bioassays with Oxy and Cu were performed at different temperatures to determine the lethal concentration of each chemical and to understand the effects of the compounds at different temperatures on the biochemical profiles of A. franciscana. Results showed an increase in chemicals toxicity with the temperature, and Oxy was revealed to be more noxious to A. franciscana than Cu; at a biochemical level, significant differences were observed among temperatures, with the biggest differences between the organisms exposed to 15 °C and 25 °C. Overall, a decrease in fatty acids (FA) and sugars was observed with the increase in Cu and oxyfluorfen concentrations. Different trends were observed with temperature increase, with FA increase in the organisms exposed to Cu and the opposite was observed in the ones exposed to oxyfluorfen. Sugar content decreases in the organisms exposed to oxyfluorfen with temperature increase and showed a non-linear behaviour in the ones exposed to Control and Cu treatments.

Application of the Naive Bayes Algorithm in Twitter Sentiment Analysis of 2024 Vice Presidential Candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka using Rapidminer

In the current era of digital democracy, social media sentiment analysis has become a relevant method for understanding public views of political figures. As one of the leading social media platforms, Twitter provides a public space for sharing opinions and expressions regarding political issues. This research aims to classify and measure the accuracy of people's responses to the positive and negative sides. Sentiment analysis was carried out using the Naïve Bayes method using a dataset of 3223 tweets. The final results of this research show that implementing the Naïve Bayes Method in sentiment analysis regarding political dynasty polemics, especially regarding the 2024 Cawapres Gibran Rakabuming Raka, provides an accuracy value of 82.19%. Of the 1696 negative and 112 positive sentiments predicted, there were 462 harmful and 953 positive predicted data. These results indicate that most public responses tend to be detrimental to the Constitutional Court's (MK) decision, which grants political legitimacy to Gibran Rakabuming Raka as the 2024 vice-presidential candidate.

Perspektif Islam Tentang Dinasti Politik (Studi Kasus Isu Dinasti Politik Tahun 2023-2024)

Dynastic politics is a phenomenon that is currently being discussed by Indonesian people amid the 2024 presidential election campaign. This dynastic politics became a trending topic after the Indonesian president's son ran for vice president. The importance of finding a balance between political stability and justice is a major concern in addressing this issue. There are efforts from several elements of society and political activists to advocate for political reform that creates a more transparent and fair system. Therefore, the study of political dynasties that occurred in Indonesia needs to be studied more deeply. The article aims to describe and analyze the issue of political dynasties in Indonesia with a focus on the Islamic political context. This research is a qualitative literature review research with a phenomenological approach to research phenomena that are currently occurring. This research includes an analysis of the historical, structural, and ongoing social impacts of political dynasties within the framework of Islamic politics. The results of this research show that the issue of dynastic politics in Indonesia in 2023-2024 presents complex challenges, especially when viewed from an Islamic political perspective. By understanding these dynamics and seeking solutions that are in line with the principles of justice and democracy, Indonesia can steer itself toward a more inclusive and sustainable political system. In dealing with the issue of dynastic politics, aspects of accountability and transparency become a significant focus from an Islamic political perspective. These principles are considered crucial in protecting power and ensuring political action is by Islamic values. Through this research, it is hoped that it can open people's views to raise calls for political transformation and reform that reflects Islamic values ​​and leads to more just, transparent, and participatory political governance.

HearHere: Mitigating Echo Chambers in News Consumption through an AI-based Web System

Considerable efforts are currently underway to mitigate the negative impacts of echo chambers, such as increased susceptibility to fake news and resistance towards accepting scientific evidence. Prior research has presented the development of computer systems that support the consumption of news information from diverse political perspectives to mitigate the echo chamber effect. However, existing studies still lack the ability to effectively support the key processes of news information consumption and quantitatively identify a political stance towards the information. In this paper, we present HearHere, an AI-based web system designed to help users accommodate information and opinions from diverse perspectives. HearHere facilitates the key processes of news information consumption through two visualizations. Visualization 1 provides political news with quantitative political stance information, derived from our graph-based political classification model, and users can experience diverse perspectives (Hear). Visualization 2 allows users to express their opinions on specific political issues in a comment form and observe the position of their own opinions relative to pro-liberal and pro-conservative comments presented on a map interface (Here). Through a user study with 94 participants, we demonstrate the feasibility of HearHere in supporting the consumption of information from various perspectives. Our findings highlight the importance of providing political stance information and quantifying users' political status as a means to mitigate political polarization. In addition, we propose design implications for system development, including the consideration of demographics such as political interest and providing users with initiatives.

Drawing the line: public attitudes towards warranted and unwarranted government surveillance in European countries

AbstractThis article investigates public attitudes towards government surveillance for law enforcement and national security in different European countries, considering the broader context of citizens' security concerns. These concerns encompass crime within individual countries, potential terrorist attacks, activities of foreign agents, and even inter-state conflicts, such as the Russian Federation's military aggression against Ukraine. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme, we examine opinions about various types of government surveillance. Regression analysis is employed to determine which variables influence these opinions. Notably, there is a tangible hesitation among citizens regarding such surveillance, stemming from fears of privacy invasion and potential misuse of collected data. Our findings indicate greater support for government surveillance in Western and Nordic countries compared to post-Communist countries. Respondents with a comprehensive understanding of political issues and those advocating for government spending on security generally held a more positive view of government surveillance rights. On the other hand, perceptions of higher corruption were linked to negative views on surveillance.

Does electoral behavior change after a protest cycle? Evidence from Chile and Bolivia

Can protests produce changes in electoral behavior? In this paper, we examine variations in voter turnout and electoral preferences at the local level after a protest cycle. Using data on protest occurrence during the 2019 social mobilizations in Chile and Bolivia and a difference-in-differences design, we assess the impact that street demonstrations had on voting behavior in the elections that took place the following year. We found that turnout was higher in municipalities that had protests, while the incumbent vote was lower. We argue that the effect on turnout is explained by the surge in political efficacy that emerged from the protests. Furthermore, we suggest that the protests enabled more effective blame attribution and heightened the salience of political issues, leading to changes in voter preferences. These results demonstrate the effect of protests on electoral dynamics, highlighting their role not only in mobilizing voters but also in shaping electoral preferences.

Analisis Daya Pikir Masyarakat Dalam Pengambilan Keputusan Guna Menangkal Berita Hoax Mengenai Pemilihan Umum 2024

Indonesia will hold general elections to elect the president in 2024. Hoax news regarding the election cannot be avoided. The spread of hoaxes is increasingly widespread due to laws that are not yet effective, the use of online media that is not balanced by the abilities of the users, and a lack of public literacy. This research aims to provide solutions in reviewing and developing people’s thinking in overcoming and responding to the challenges of hoax information related to elections and future political issues that are more complex. This research used qualitative methods and data collection techniques through literature studies. This paper uses Herbert Simon’s theory of rational decision making which shows three steps in decision making, namely identifying problems, finding and developing alternative solutions, selecting and choosing each alternative solution. The result of this research is that problem the spread of election hoax news aims to reduce public trust in election management institutions, election participants, and the government. The author provides several solutions that the public can use as a basis for making decisions regarding the circulation of hoax news, namely: (1) self-criticism; (2) increasing digital literacy; (3) involvement of community leaders; and (4) participatory political education. The author chose the second solution, namely increasing digital literacy, as a solution to minimizing the spread of hoaxes. Digital literacy is the basis for other solutions that can help people develop skills for selecting news on social media.