Political Repression Research Articles

DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The history of humankind is closely tied to the problems of population reproduction, changes in its size, and patterns of human settlement. Population in all countries has been growing for millennia. However, in the 20th and 21st centuries, the situation began to change. The article examines certain aspects of the influence of demographic factors on economic processes. An attempt was made to outline the problems of the demographic crisis and demographic explosion in the 21st century. While there is a demographic crisis in the West, the countries of the Global South are mainly experiencing rapid population growth. In modern Europe, the percentage of people of working age is decreasing, while the share of people of non-working age is increasing. A similar situation is observed in Southeast Asian countries, for example, in Japan and South Korea. The demographic situation in Ukraine can also be characterized as a crisis. During the last decades, the population of Ukraine has been rapidly decreasing. On the other hand, in many countries of Asia and Africa, the population continues to grow rapidly. For instance, Africa is the region with the highest total fertility rate. Examples of countries with very high population growth are Niger, Uganda and Mali. Typically, these countries face significant issues with education. The article uses examples from some African (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Asian (Bangladesh) countries to demonstrate the varying demographic situations in different regions. It is shown that rapid population growth can contribute to increased crime rates, which often depend on the level of material well-being of the population. Terrorist groups often exploit poverty to recruit young people into illegal activities. It is noted that young people are often prone to radicalism, making a high proportion of young people in the population a risk factor. Rapid population growth in poor countries leads to an increase in the number of migrants, both legal and illegal ones. Wars, famine, and political repression are among the number of factors causing mass displacement of people. In European countries that receive migrants, social dissatisfaction often grows. Imperfect migration policies are often the reason for the rise in popularity of Eurosceptic parties, such as “Alternative für Deutschland” or “Lega Nord”. Using Poland as an example, it is demonstrated that anti-migrant movements can also be directed against Ukrainians. The failures of European countries in their migration policies should be a warning for Ukraine. We believe that our country will have a labour shortage after the end of the war. Therefore, we suggest considering the difference in mentality between ethnic Ukrainians and potential migrants. After all, the priority of the state should be to ensure the safety of Ukrainian citizens.

Covering Environment and Climate Change in Turkey: Transformative Journalisms Face Competitive Authoritarianism

ABSTRACT As the climate crisis deepens, journalistic interventions aimed at engaging citizens with news that raises public awareness and promotes climate solutions are gaining significance throughout the globe. Drawing on the conceptual framework of transformative journalisms, this study focuses on professional discourses, practices, emotions, and challenges of climate journalists in Turkey to improve our understanding of their operations in a highly polarized and oppressive political atmosphere. The research is based on qualitative, in-depth interviews with 21 journalists from different regions of Turkey who identified as climate journalists or environmental journalists prioritizing the climate crisis. The findings suggest that journalists go beyond solely reporting on climate science and undertake the mission of advocacy for the transformation toward ecological sustainability despite constant political oppression, financial restraints, and polarization traps. Although inspiring hardly any policy change under the circumstances demotivates the journalists, niche outlets invest in raising community-level awareness of climate change and forging broad alliances with local journalists, actors of environmental movements, and civil society, keeping hopes alive for bottom-up transformation. The most urgent needs are dedicated training programs for emergent journalists, generating sustainable income models, and challenging the discourse of pro-government media through local stories with a climate angle.

Role of Inclusive Entrepreneurship Educators: An Actor Network Theory Perspective

This paper integrates our autoethnographic narratives as entrepreneurship educators affiliated with higher education institutions located in different parts of the world with the theoretical concepts of Actor-Network Theory (ANT). We provide insights on how educators’ identities are constructed and how these identities can inspire curriculum and pedagogical interventions that transform marginalized entrepreneurship students into inclusive entrepreneurs, capable of handling political oppression, racial and ethnic discrimination, stress, and the inequities existing within society. Empirical analysis utilizing Callon’s model of translation comprising of four phases: problematization; interessement, enrollment, and mobilization, reveals that educators enact four roles encompassing: (1) Critical Educators; (2) Devil’s Advocates; ( 3) Critical Investigators; and ( 4) Pedagogy Shapers while engaging with their respective academic networks. The identities of educators are not distinct nor isolated outcomes. Instead, their epistemological, ontological, pedagogical, and axiological underpinnings are shaped by the networks with which they engage with over the duration of their career spans. The educators enact roles which possess the power to remedy existing inadequacies within the existing entrepreneurship curriculum making it more pluralistic, pragmatic, and comprehensive.

Variegated digital state repression in Central Asia

AbstractExisting research on digital activism in autocratic regimes tends to treat Central Asia as a homogenous entity with similar approaches to how new digital technologies are used for the purposes of state repression. Drawing on Feldstein's taxonomy of digital repression and new empirical evidence, this essay shows that digital state repression varies across the region. The presented findings add to current scholarship in three ways. First, we consider different forms of autocracies within Central Asia as a differentiated geography. Second, we examine the factors which led to a shift in how technologies could be used by autocracies as policy instruments to control their citizens. Third, given the growth of technological innovations that can sustain autocracies, we examine the specific mix of technologies within the different types of autocracies that shape the strategies of repression in Central Asia. The research presents a variegated picture of digitally‐enabled deepening autocratization in Central Asia.

Raising and Lowering Awareness in the Digital Space

Abstract Since the wave of repressions targeting primarily Muslim minorities in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), minorities in danger resorted to various online platforms in order to increase awareness about the situation they face and to archive available evidence for future use. Thus, the narrative was created that portrays ill-treatment, forced assimilation, unlawful detention, and cultural erasure. Most Muslims and activists started using the online video platforms of Douyin, which is native to China, and TikTok, its international equivalent, to share videos aimed at domestic and international audiences. These videos vary in production quality and messages, but almost all of them are designed to mobilize viewers to learn more about the human rights crisis in the XUAR and take action. Similarly, Chinese officials started using Douyin and TikTok to create counternarratives via their own videos. Videos by Chinese authorities (e.g., local police departments in Xinjiang) or by China-sponsored content creators depict Muslims enjoying their culture, language, and religion, and the region is often shown as peaceful and rapidly developing, thanks to the efforts of the Chinese government. This article aims to look at examples of Douyin and TikTok videos by both Muslims and human rights activists and pro-CCP (Chinese Communist Party) content creators through the lenses of multimodal discourse analysis to identify potential trends and shared approaches. The theoretical framework includes digital activism, oppositional media resource mobilization, and surveillance studies, focusing on how digital activism emerges as a response to digital repression. The article concludes with findings of how video content by pro-Muslim minority and pro-CCP creators battle on the online spaces of Douyin and TikTok for a dominant narrative, which can be categorized as reactive and proactive measures against state (digital) repression.

Twitter and Fake News: Implications for National Security in Nigeria

The emergence of new social media platforms such as Twitter has revolutionized the means of communication and dissemination, providing unprecedented networking avenues for immediate news spread. But this ease has also increased the spread of fake news which is a concern faced by many nations including Nigeria. Fake news simply deceives, suppresses facts relevant to political life or spreads information intended only to harm, having a direct impact on national security. For Nigeria, a country rich in ethnic, religious and political prejudice, the effects of fake news can go as far as inciting violence, destroying the social fabric or even causing instability. This study investigated the prevalence, characteristics and consequences of fake news on Twitter during critical events in Nigeria, using a qualitative methodology to understand how false information is spread and what potential threat it poses to national security. The paper uses secondary data from the extant literature and Twitter-Archive for investigating how fake news spreads, consequently shaping public opinion, damaging social solidarity and threatening national security. It lists the top drivers of misinformation in Nigeria – including poor media literacy, political divisiveness and over-dependence on social media as sources of news. It also puts forward solutions to address the risks posed by this kind of content on Twitter, including government legislation, fact-checking mechanisms, media literacy initiatives and consumer take-backs. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between Twitter, fake news, and national security in Nigeria, highlighting the urgent need for proactive measures to protect the country’s stability and well-being.

მედეას მითის თანამედროვე ლიტერატურული ინტერპრეტაციები მარგინალიზაციიდან დომინაციამდე (კრისტა ვოლფის რომანი: „მედეა – ხმები“ და ნინო ხარატიშვილის პიესა „ჩემი და შენი გული [მედეა]“)

The article presents modern interpretations of the Medea myth based on Nino Kharatishvili's play "My Heart [Medea]" and Christa Wolf's novel "Medea-Voices". In particular, using a compa­rative analysis, it is discussed how different passages or motifs of the Medea myth change within the fra­mework of two different texts and, accordingly, how Medea's identity is constructed/formed. In the position of the male characters of both novels (Creon, Jason, Acama), we can examine the masculine perspective, accor­ding to which, the woman was primarily understood as a being obedient to the will of the man, with a strictly defined role and behavioral models. In both texts, Medea disrupts the dominant discourse. Medea's identity as a vengeful and destructive woman, in contrast to Christa Wolff's novel, is preserved in Nino Khara­tish­vili's play. Her confron­tation with Creon and Jason's punishment are perceived by the patriarchal system not as an attempt to protect dignity and restore justice, but as an irrational and spontaneous act of revenge by a desperate woman, which is why the system tries to demonize and marginalize her. From a feminist pers­pective, Me­dea's struggle is perceived as a successful attempt to move the female character from the periphery to the center and to dominate men in a stric­tly defined socio-cultural role and free herself from masculine constraints. In Christa Wolff's novel, Medea experiences complete frustra­tion after exposing the system. Medea becomes a victim of sexism, brutal political interests and repression of the system.

Boroism as a Fundamental Philosophy in the Niger Delta Struggle

Boroism has come to be associated with the fight for political recognition and resource control for the Ijo ethnic group in Nigeria's Niger Delta. A deep respect for the person of the late Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro, especially in the face of injustice, poverty, exploitation, and persecution, gave rise to this belief system. Today, activists and militant groups fighting for resource control, political recognition, and equitable treatment from the federal government and other major tribes like the Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa/Fulani have made Boroism a core tenet of their beliefs. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to demonstrate how the principles and beliefs of the man known as Boro developed into a potent ideology that is currently serving as a symbol for hundreds of groups and individuals in the Niger Delta region in the struggle against political inequity, exploitation, and oppression. The study reveals that there has been a shift from the fundamental principles of Boroism as some individuals and groups have started to use the Niger Delta struggle as a vehicle to further their own personal agenda and self-serving goals, by spiritedly pursuing the fight against the government, international oil companies, and private individuals that oppress and exploit the Niger Delta, those who sincerely adhere to the ideas of Boroism have managed to preserve the legacies of Boro. This study utilizes secondary sources of data for its analysis and would be descriptive and analytical in nature.

Nationalist Erosion after Protest and Repression

Abstract The leaders of authoritarian regimes often invoke nationalist themes to garner support from their populations. However, negative experiences with the regime may effectively inoculate individuals against nationalist campaigns, reducing the ability of the regime to sway public opinion. In this paper, we study the long-term effects of mobilization and repression on nationalist attitudes. We exploit a discontinuity in exposure to a student movement, by comparing alumni who were in college and on campus during the movement with alumni who only enrolled after the movement was suppressed. We find that alumni who were in college during the movement are substantially less nationalistic than those who enrolled shortly thereafter. Our findings are consistent across a range of specifications and show that exposure to mass mobilization and state repression is associated with lower support for nationalism. These differences are observable more than twenty-five years later, despite sustained state censorship.

Echoes of Dissent: The Transformative Power of Sound in Iran's Urban Nightscapes

The suppression of public dissent in Iran has catalysed alternative forms of resistance, most notably Nocturnal Rooftop Slogan Chanting (NRSC). This study explores NRSC as an urban phenomenon, illuminating its role in reshaping nightscapes under an authoritarian regime. How can politically disenfranchised citizens reclaim urban spaces and assert their voices under oppressive conditions? It is argued that NRSC creates alternative sonic geographies, challenging conventional narratives of nightscapes and expanding spaces of dissent. Combining theoretical analysis with empirical observations, this study includes a thematic analysis of 158 videos of NRSC from 2021 to 2023 and provides insights into the characteristics and content of these protests. The findings reveal that NRSC fosters communal identities and challenges state control through the creation of dispersed, anonymous, yet interconnected acts of sonic occupation. It thus transforms urban nights into platforms for collective expression and symbolic resistance. The study also demonstrates that NRSC's effectiveness lies in its ability to leverage the urban nightscape, particularly the vertical dimension of rooftops, to create a pervasive soundscape of dissent. It invites further research into the role of sensory experiences in shaping political landscapes and suggests a re-evaluation of urban nights as crucial spaces of identity formation and resistance.

(Im)mobile intimacies: Commodities and marriage at the crossroads of Asia

AbstractThis article follows traders and entrepreneurs that live and work between Kyrgyzstan and China's northwestern region of Xinjiang. Looking specifically at Islamic marriage and business partnerships forged between persecuted Uyghurs and their Uzbek partners, it argues that commodity‐mediated forms of transnational intimacy create spaces of safety and possibility in the face of political oppression, carceral violence, and gendered limitations. These transnational mobilities are forged in spite of structural immobilities. Taking seriously the imbrications of objects and people, it advances a view of intimacy as a multi‐scalar, trans‐subjective, and multiply entangled field of relationality.

The Context, Logic, and Perpetuation of Violence

Abstract This article attempts to explain why the current conflict in Gaza has happened through a brief history of conflicts in Gaza since 2005 and a discussion of more recent events, focusing on conditions such as inequality, dependency, political repression, ethnic divisions, and previous incidents of violence. The article also reflects on the US response to the situation, concluding that domestic political agendas and the influence of special interests have perpetuated the Gaza crisis.

Digital dissent: How Indonesian and Filipino journalists converge with virtual communities to face state repression

Online protest movements have facilitated researchers to access real-time data of microblogging, user metadata associated with accounts, message content, and enabled insights into complex links between social media use and protest movements. Employing emerging computational techniques and conventional qualitative approaches, this study examines the effectiveness of online protest movements in Indonesia and the Philippines. Simultaneously deployed, these protests were organized by journalist groups against repressive state actions that muzzled the press in these countries. The study compares the strategies of the two movements to illustrate the success factors in social media usage that bolstered the participation of the national and global publics, and marshalled international support.

The imaginaries of the city of Norilsk, from the Soviet industrial utopia to the contemporary nickel legend

Norilsk is a polar city in Russia, located to the South of the Taimyr Peninsula in the Arctic Circle. The city’s surroundings are rich in unique deposits of polymetallic ores, and life in the city is organised around metal extraction. This is a reason why Norilsk is an interesting object for analysis of the social representation of the city’s image. Social representation is a fairly new socio-philosophical concept. By the word ‘representation’ we mean perceptions that are formed on the basis of reality. In the case of Norilsk, it is the result of all perceptions of the city and its environment. The study is based on contemporary documentary films, geographical, historical and journalistic documents. The analysis of perceptions of Norilsk allows us to understand the reasons for ideological debates around the history of Russia, such as discussions about memorials to victims of political repressions. Statements about Norilsk are contradictory. Negative statements are related to negative perceptions of the city, while positive statements are related to the residents’ love for their city. The analysis of representations related to the architecture of Norilsk allows us to identify gaps in the official discourse about the foundation of the city and explore its historical background. The study has revealed that the Soviet architectural heritage is well-preserved and documented, while statements about buildings associated with the Gulag are relegated to a marginalised space. Consideration of external and local representations of Norilsk allows us to understand the process of rewriting the history of the city.

Left Atheist Activism and Crime of Genocide in Francoist Spain

Abstract This article examines whether the mass killings of people with leftist ideology by the Franco regime can be interpreted as genocide in accordance with the provisions of international law. The present study underscores the influence of religion on the configuration of Francoist criminal policy and provides evidence that allows Francoist repression to be considered as genocide. Individuals with leftist ideologies were presented not only as a political group but also as a religious group with atheist and non-Catholic beliefs. In this sense, the mass political repression conducted by the Franco regime fulfils the objective elements (actus reus) of genocide due to the fact the religious element played a significant role in justifying the annihilation of Republicans. The victims of Francoist repression were in fact selected not only because they belonged to a certain political movement or party but also because they belonged to a certain religious group.

Dissemination in Social Media and Blogs of Public Health Information and Misinformation on Covid-19 Containment in Switzerland

Future epidemics are perceived as inevitable. Dissemination of information can enhance awareness, serving as an initial stride towards fostering desired epidemic-controlling actions among the public. In this study, a qualitative content analysis of Covid-19- and Switzerland-related social media and blog contributions points at a limited adoption of public health key messages and a negative reputation of the informing authorities. The authorities are to a marginal extent the source of information and a controversial sentiment towards vaccination emerges. In addition, we find a large share of disseminated information that is not conducive to pandemic containment. Within this, a substantial volume of misinformation emerges in statements on Covid-19-related issues. The misinformation consists primarily of unsubstantiated health consequences of the Covid-19 vaccination (both efficacy and side effects), and, less often, of trivialisation or denial of the pandemic. Furthermore, in a phase of political campaigning on a Covid-law referendum in Switzerland, social media contributors often portray pandemic containment as an undue, unlawful, or autocratic imposition on individual and collective freedom, and as a tool deployed for political repression. In addition, the pandemic or its containment are embedded in various conspiracies by users and containment measures are contested with religious, naturopathic or esoteric arguments.

Value-driven Contention in China: Forms, Tactics and State Responses

Abstract This research challenges the conventional wisdom that value-driven protests in China are exceedingly rare and face harsh state repression. Drawing on a hand-coded, multi-source dataset of over 3,100 protests in three Chinese megacities from 2014 to 2016, we identify 67 protests that reveal a hitherto unknown underbelly of everyday, value-driven contention. Qualitatively, we identify three main forms of contentious performances. Quantitatively, we show how value-driven protesters combine non-disruptive tactics with ambitious targets and virtually never extract concessions. Surprisingly, we find that such protests are less often policed and repressed than other protests. They are also never met with violence from non-state actors. We provide three interpretations for the counter-intuitive finding on repression. This study shows that the Chinese state coexists with a non-negligible amount of explicitly regime-critical contention. It adopts a containment strategy, tolerating a certain extent of value-driven performances when the risk of spill-over into wider society is limited.

Visible wounds of invisible repression: A perspective on the importance of investigating the biological and psychological impact of political repression.

Exposure to psychological trauma is a well-accepted risk factor for the development of mental and somatic diseases. However, chronic stressors not fulfilling the criteria of traumatic experience can have similarly adverse health consequences. While the harmful impact of chronic stressors is generally recognized among researchers, there is a lack of acknowledgment within clinical, political, and societal entities. This becomes evident in the experiences of victims of political repression in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), an authoritarian state in East Germany. Repression in the GDR included covert measures, such as "Zersetzung" (engl: disintegration), consisting of wiretapping, spreading rumors, or provoking failure in professional and social domains. It aimed to systematically undermine the psychosocial integrity of individuals, inducing anxiety, social isolation, and confusion. This article integrates findings on repression in the GDR with existing trauma and chronic stress literature. "Zersetzung" shares key features with severe psychosocial chronic stressors. Like trauma, experiencing "Zersetzung" likely dysregulated the biological stress systems, thereby predisposing victims to the health consequences they frequently experience to the present day. Certain severe chronic stressors, such as "Zersetzung," do not appear to differ in their negative health consequences from Criterion A traumatic events. Identifying the biological and psychological impact of political repression techniques is essential, not only for public acknowledgment, and proper health care of victims of GDR repression, but also for those individuals suffering from similar repression methods today. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

In search of a new vanguard

This study explores the historical relevance social movement vanguards within the framework of Marxian scientific socialism, while ascertaining the emergence of women as drivers of connective action in digitally enabled movements (DEMs). While the rhizomic structures of social movements have thrived on the spontaneity of emerging cells of social activist leaders, this study contests the claims of contradictions between spontaneity and vanguardism in DEMs. The study adopts the case study methodology to establish how technology affords more visibility to female icons of social movements by drawing examples from Sudan, Lebanon and Nigeria. Data was sourced from primary literature, digital archives and newspaper reports to tease out the history and current dynamics of women’s roles in social movements. It uses vanguardism as the conceptual framework for teasing out the intersections of gender, age, identity and technology as observed in DEMs. The study thus contends that technology plays important roles in restructuring the power dynamics of social action by showcasing how women such as Alaa Salah (Sudan), Malak Alawiye Herz (Lebanon) and Aisha Yesufu (Nigeria) emerged as icons of DEMs. It concludes that the weaponization of female bodies has become a potent form of resistance against the gendered biopolitics of sexual objectification and the necropolitics of state repression. The study thus advocates an all-inclusive approach to understanding the structures of social movements in recentring the iconic roles of women during connective action and physical protests. This is to enable the balance between vanguardism and spontaneity that is requisite for effective social action in the digital age.

Exploring the Limits of Transgression and Violence within the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

ABSTRACT Transgression and violence, when intertwined, challenge societal norms and provoke moral dilemmas within democratic frameworks. This is particularly evident in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a significant case study for this research. Transgression, breaking or exceeding societal norms, can manifest through civil disobedience or defiant behavior to challenge oppressive systems. Violence, conversely, refers to the deliberate use of physical force or authority to cause harm or destruction. The escalation from transgression to violence occurs when individuals or groups resort to aggression to restore order or assert power. This shift is particularly evident in protests or riots triggered by social injustices or political oppression. Such events can intensify due to radical democratic possibilities and the influence of technology. Digital platforms, with their crucial role in shaping public opinion, mobilizing individuals, and strengthening collective fears about social change, significantly contribute to the escalation of conflict. They also facilitate the production of panic and misinformation, complicating the landscape of public discourse and protest. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, deep-rooted historical and political complexities mark the intersection of transgression and violence. Territorial disputes and competing national narratives drive both Israeli and Palestinian actions. Resistance to the Israeli occupation often involves transgressive acts such as protests or violent resistance, while Israeli security measures, perceived as transgressions by Palestinians, exacerbate tensions and contribute to ongoing violence.