Political Paths Research Articles

The rise of the penguins: analysing the trajectory of a peripheral elite in Argentina (1991–2003)

ABSTRACT In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of research on subnational policies and multilevel studies. Nevertheless, much remains to be understood about how peripheral elites enter central institutions and succeed in exerting an influence in national politics. The present article illustrates these dynamics through the case of the so-called ‘penguins’ – that is, the group of leaders from the coalition called ‘Front for Victory’ (Frente para la Victoria [FPV]) from Patagonia that has been ruling Argentina since 2003. After analysing the profile of this marginal group led by Néstor Kirchner, we reflect on the reasons for its success. The present study makes three contributions to the literature. First, it shows how Argentina’s territorial reconfiguration of power facilitated a renewal of political elites. Second, it illustrates the fact that political paths in territorial tiers of government can be analysed collectively. And lastly, it highlights the role of social crises in stimulating changes that affect the very nature of political elites.

Female Gazes in the Communist Movement: Women Photographers in the Interwar Period and World War ii

Abstract Women participated in communist movements and contributed to communist culture. At the intersection of women’s history, visual arts, gender studies, history of socialism, and the history of communism, this article focuses on six women photographers—Tina Modotti, Elizaveta Mikulina, Gisèle Freund, Lisette Model, Julia Pirotte, and Gerda Taro—analysing the circulation of their works in the communist press and in circles sympathetic with the communist cause. The research on women photographers’ gazes contributes to a deeper understanding of both the lager networks of communist movement and the multifaceted aesthetics of communist culture. By crossing women’s lives and works, their subjectivity and political paths, the documental and artistic legacy of the images they have produced, the article demonstrates why and how women photographers’ production intersects communist culture during the Comintern and World War ii.

Research on integrating ideological and political elements into college Chinese teaching

The “Guidance Outline for the Construction of Ideological and Political Curriculum in Colleges and Universities” clarifies the relevant guidance requirements for the reform and construction of ideological and political courses in various courses in colleges and universities. “Ideological and Political Curriculum” requires that the concept of education be run through the teaching process, education elements should be integrated, and education should be designed Plan, take educational actions to achieve the effect of educating people, and then achieve three-dimensional education, rather than solely attributing the responsibility of educating people to ideological and political courses. In this context, “College Chinese”, as a public basic course, needs to give full play to its instrumental, humanistic and aesthetic qualities, explore educational elements, reconstruct the teaching content with ideological and political issues as the main line, and connect with the educational goals of vocational colleges. Construct multiple subjects for educating people in university Chinese courses; optimize multi-dimensional ideological and political paths for university Chinese courses; and enrich student- centered ideological and political practice channels .

Building distributive populism: basic income and political alternatives to ethno-nationalism

Abstract Left-behind places face linked economic and political problems that must be resolved jointly. This paper examines the potential contribution of basic income programs to that goal. Consisting of regular, no-strings-attached payments to citizens, basic income programs ensure resources and stability for poor and economically precarious households who comprise a significant share of left-behind places’ populations. Advocacy for basic income emphasizes social and ethical commitment to individuals who have paid the price for economic decline. Thus, even though the goal of national and universal basic income remains distant in the UK, activism for basic income has succeeded in creating alternative paths for populist sentiments originating in the decline of left-behind places. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews with advocates in the UK and elsewhere, I demonstrate that activism for basic income diverts potential support for ethno-nationalism and European withdrawal to alternate, place-contingent and variegated regional political paths.

Politics and the Public Health Workforce: Lessons Suggested from a Five-State Study.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the shortcomings of the United States public health system. High on the list is a public health workforce that is understaffed, underpaid, and undervalued. To rebuild that workforce, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) appropriated $7.66 billion to help create 100,000 new public health jobs. As part of this initiative, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) distributed roughly $2 billion to state, local, tribal, and territorial health agencies for use between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2023. At the same time, several states have enacted (or are considering enacting) initiatives to increase state funding for their local health departments with the goal of ensuring that these departments can deliver a core set of services to all residents. The differences in approach between this first round of ARP funding and theseparate state initiatives offer an opportunity to compare, contrast, and suggest lessons learned. After interviewing leaders at the CDC and other experts on the nation's public health workforce, we visited five states (Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, New York, and Washington) to examine, by means of interviews and documents, the implementation and impact of both the ARP workforce funds as well as the state-based initiatives. Three themes emerged. First, states are not spending the CDC workforce funding in a timely fashion; although the specifics vary, there are several organizational, political, and bureaucratic obstacles. Second, the state-based initiatives follow different political paths but rely on the same overarching strategy: gain the support of local elected officials by providing funding directly to local health departments, albeit with performance strings attached. These state initiatives offer their federal counterparts a political roadmap toward a more robust model of public health funding. Third, even with increased funding, we will not meet the nation's public health workforce challenges until we make public health a more attractive career path (with higher pay, improved working conditions, and more training and promotion opportunities) with fewer bureaucratic barriers to entry (most importantly, with less reliance on outdated civil service rules). The politics of public health requires a closer look at the role played by county commissioners, mayors, and other local elected officials. We need a political strategy to persuade these officials that their constituents will benefit from a better public health system.

The Political Trajectories that Preceded the Russian Invasion of Georgia in 2008

The political paths that preceded the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 were based on the fears that resulted from the occurrence of armed clashes between Georgia and its separatist regions for nearly two decades. Those fears included the Russian Federation, Georgia and the West in general and the United States in particular, depending on the interests of each of those parties; Therefore, the political side took a great deal of preserving the status quo, avoiding the use of force and the occurrence of an armed clash, However, the Georgian side torpedoed all these international, regional and local efforts. Because of the political recklessness he enjoyed, as well as the American encouragement to him; it was impossible for it to curtail the Russian role globally and regionally, but the Russian side refused to submit to those Western methods, and the political pursuit of those parties was joint and vigorous.

Wartime’s “Undeniable Linkages”: Feminist Studies of Everyday Militarisms across Time and Space

Feminist scholars and social movements have long been important voices against war and empire. Yet the era of global “endless wars” stretches behind and before us, challenging both our longstanding intellectual theories of violence and our political strategies for combating entrenched imperialism. This essay reviews three monographs in the emergent field of “everyday militarisms,” a new direction forward for understanding and criticizing global war in the past, present, and future. Threading connections between feminist science studies, cultural studies, and women of color and transnational feminisms, these texts ask us to more closely consider how elements of war show up in ordinary formations. I highlight how these books and the field of everyday militarisms more broadly makes us question what is understood as feminist work in both theory and method, through their shared and novel feminist theories of temporality. Together they open new understandings of ongoing systemic and state violence in the world today and different political paths forward in the face of seemingly intractable conflict.

Institutional-cultural coherence and economic development: The case of the Spanish regions

We explore how cultural traits coherent with liberal institutions affect economic performance. The matching between cultural traits and institutions is what we refer to as cultural-institutional coherence. We study how cultural-institutional coherence influenced the paths followed by Spanish regions after Spain's liberal reforms in the 19th century. We argue that these liberal reforms brought important changes to Spain's institutions and contributed to inducing a major rearrangement in the distribution of economic development across the country's regions. This process favored regions with cultural traits that were more coherent with liberal institutions. We address endogeneity issues using the disparate political paths that the regions followed in their distant pasts. We characterize political paths in terms of Municipal autonomy in the Middle Ages, as well as Constraints on the executive in the early modern period which, we argue, are good instruments for these cultural traits.

Features s from life's Abdul Hussain Al-Hilli and his Intellectual role

This research is about some parts of the life of the (Islamic) jurist, textual criticizer and judge, Shaikh Abdul Hussein al-Hilly (1882-1956(. The research concentrates on the first part of his life before his emigration to Bahrain in 1935, after being elected to the position of a distinguished judge in the Islamic courts. This part is of great importance not only in terms of its length of time (53 years), but also because it is the main stage that has shaped his character and formed the beginning of his journey in the social and political paths after his emigration from Iraq.

The Politics of Toys: What Potential for Inter-Korean Reconciliation?

ABSTRACT This article focuses on toys that are associated with war, weapons and violence (‘conflict toys’), which hold particular salience in parts of the world that have undergone conflicts, such as the Korean peninsula. Using sources ranging from economic reports to defector testimonies and field research in both South and North Korea, the article shows that despite largely different economic and political paths, the two Koreas have developed toy markets that address shared histories. The article suggests that conflict toys can perform an important function in inter-Korean relations: they allow the two Koreas to experience and potentially transcend the status quo. The article further argues that both Koreas can polarise their populations quickly through a controlled propaganda machine in the North, and an omnipresent globalised culture in the South: in both cases, a political message of either conflict or reconciliation could reach many children quickly via toys, and thus be a driver for change for anyone who was willing to use such levers.

Emigration and the Limits of Public Policy in Quebec and Nova Scotia, 1867–1900

In the nineteenth century, many regions of Canada faced a crisis that sometimes seemed existential: uneven economic growth resulted in sustained emigration to the United States. Far from being unique to French Canadians in the St. Lawrence River valley, whose story is better known, the exodus touched Nova Scotia and intersected with debates over industrialization and federal-provincial relations. Everywhere the issue posed a challenge to elected officials. However, diagnosing the problem differently and wielding a variety of policy tools, these officials could not agree on means of generating opportunities comparable to those of the US Northeast. Whereas Quebec recommitted itself to an agrarian vision of domestic colonization, a vigorous critique of Confederation emerged in Nova Scotia. The debates in these two provinces should inspire scholars to study emigration as the foremost national challenge of the late nineteenth century and integrate historical voices who exemplify the many political paths available to Canadian electors.

Robert C. Austin. Making and Remaking the Balkans: Nations and States since 1878.

Robert C. Austin. Making and Remaking the Balkans: Nations and States since 1878.

EHealth policy processes from the stakeholders’ viewpoint: A qualitative comparison between Austria, Switzerland and Germany

ObjectivesThis study aimed at the construction of what the core of eHealth policy making is, offering new perspectives about high priority procedures along the policy making process MethodsFollowing Grounded Theory methodology, 59 qualitative telephone interviews with a broad variety of stakeholders from Austria, Switzerland and Germany were conducted ResultsThe findings hinted at five priorities of eHealth policy making: strategy, consensus-building, decision-making, implementation and evaluation that emerged from the stakeholders’ perception of the eHealth policy. Hereby strategy, consensus-building and implementation gained the highest attention ConclusionsThese findings suggest three high priorities in eHealth policy: 1) developing and pursuing a consistent eHealth strategy, 2) investing time and resources into consensus-building to clear up difficulties early on in the process, 3) governing implementation towards serving patient care through systems fit for practice. Public Interest SummaryDigitalisation is playing an increasingly crucial role in providing high quality health care. However, different countries have pursued different political paths. In this study, we wanted to know how the stakeholders perceived the political process in their country to identify strengths and weaknesses. We, therefore, conducted interviews about digital health policy with experts from Austria, Switzerland and Germany covering the full spectrum of stakeholders. The findings suggest three political musts: 1) a convincing and coherent strategy followed throughout the entire process, 2) consensus-building among the stakeholders, 3) using “fit for practice” as the yardstick to measure political success.

Biopolitics in the Time of Coronavirus

The article focuses on emergence of panoply of genres of quarantine noticed by author Joshua Clover in a blog post and mentions notion of biopolitics mentioned by philosopher Michael Foucault Topics discussed include concept of biopolitics to address the coronavirus pandemic, issue for political decision-making to be addressed by the government and city disciplinarization with inhabitants during plague pandemic

Mário Pedrosa e José Carlos Mariátegui

Este artigo pretende investigar e problematizar acerca dos diferentes níveis de proximidade e similaridade dos percursos intelectuais e políticos de dois pensadores latino-americanos: Mário Pedrosa, no Brasil, e José Carlos Mariátegui, no Peru. Eles provavelmente sejam parte de uma mesma geração de militantes e intelectuais latino-americanos que buscava na interpretação crítica da realidade, traduzida em trajetórias comuns das metodologias e práticas de investigação, da reflexão teórica, além de suas atividades políticas, os caminhos para construir perspectivas de superação dos limites estreitos do desenvolvimento econômico e cultural em seus países. E, nesse sentido, busca-se referências para esta investigação não apenas nos debates historiográficos, mas no diálogo entre as correspondências e obras mais significativas de Mariátegui e Pedrosa. Após uma breve exposição biográfica e comparativa dos dois autores e de suas atividades políticas, pretende-se expor os pontos de contatos de suas reflexões e atividades nos campos da economia e do pensamento político e de suas contribuições comuns no terreno da crítica cultural.

Heterogeneous Effects of Liberal Institutions on Economic Development: The Role of Cultural Coherence with Formal Institutions

This article explores the heterogeneous effects of liberal institutions on economic performance depending on the existence of coherent cultural traits. The matching between cultural traits and institutions is what we refer to as cultural-institutional coherence. We study the role played by cultural-institutional coherence on the paths followed by Spanish regions after the country’s liberal reforms in the 19th century. Specifically, we show that liberal reforms induced major changes in Spanish institutions and triggered a significant rearrangement in the distribution of economic development across regions, favoring those regions with cultural traits more coherent with liberal institutions. Endogeneity issues are solved resorting to the different political paths that the regions experienced in their distant past. Political paths are assessed in terms of municipal autonomy in the Middle Ages and constraints on the executive in the early modern age which, we argue, are good instruments for culture.

O Programa Escola 10 no contexto da educação alagoana

RESUMO: Este trabalho tem como objetivo reconstituir caminhos históricos e políticos, desde os anos finais da década de 1980 até o presente, que definiram as condições atuais da educação no estado e que levaram Alagoas a adotar o Escola 10 como política pública educacional. O Programa Escola 10 se constitui em uma política pública do estado de Alagoas e consiste em um pacto pela educação, de iniciativa do governo estadual, unindo estado e municípios, e busca garantir os direitos de aprendizagem dos estudantes, fortalecendo o regime de colaboração entre os entes federativos envolvidos. Tem suas ações direcionadas para estudantes do Ensino Fundamental (3º, 5º e 9º anos), com metas relacionadas à aprendizagem e fluxo escolar. A fim de reconstruir analiticamente a formulação e a implementação do Escola 10, foram utilizadas ferramentas da análise de políticas públicas e o ciclo de políticas proposto por Stephen Ball e Richard Bowe. O recorte efetuado neste artigo contempla parte do contexto de influência que delimitou a formulação do Programa, sendo sublinhados traços políticos que repercutem nos altos graus de municipalização e em relações entre estado e municípios na educação.
 PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Política pública de educação, análise de políticas públicas, pacto pela educação.

Respecting and circumventing presidential term limits in sub-Saharan Africa: A comparative survey

Abstract This article offers a survey of political dynamics surrounding the issue of presidential term limits in a large sample of Sub-Saharan African countries over a long period of time. It examines empirically how political regimes have dealt with this issue by observing or circumventing limits, and it links these developments with the democratic quality in the countries at the time they occurred. Beyond legal texts, this study examines the empirical reality of term limits. It finds that effective term limits are less prevalent in practice than in constitutional texts. This is followed by an analysis of the incumbency bias, showing that incumbents who run often win at the election, but that transfers of power are more frequent in the absence of an incumbent. The article then considers the cost-benefit analyses leaders engage in when deciding to stay or to go, as well as the risks of overstaying. Domestic protest and international pressure generally have a limited impact on this choice. The article finally makes clear that political paths across Africa are very divergent, a feature also seen in the longevity of presidents.

Sino-Russian negotiation styles: A cross-cultural analysis of situated patterns

China and Russia have transitioned from centralised economies to mixed markets, they have developed institutions and economic sectors and they joined hands in the strategic partnership in economic and political paths through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Most writers compare or contrast their political and economic powers and preferences vis-a-vis Western cultures and countries; none assess the cultural and contextual styles between the two partners. We build on this question to assess whether and how the two neighbours differ in negotiation style rather than how their institutions shape their behaviour. Based on the behavioural negotiation framework proposed in the early 1990s, we gathered evidence through two surveys: one in Russia and the other in China. We received 988 responses from China and 708 responses from Russia, which we analysed in correlational statistics. The statistical analysis shows negative correlations for four styles of negotiation and positive correlations for six styles of negotiation. We interpreted the negative correlation as divergence between the two cultures and positive correlation as convergence between the two cultures on those styles. The magnitude of the correlation further supports the competing positions of the two cultures on the semantic spectrums. We offer theoretical and policy suggestions at the end of the article. In concluding remarks, we draw attention to multiple gaps which can be filled in future research.

Rev. Dr. Trinity Ordona, A Queer Filipina American Activist Scholar

This essay includes an interview with Rev. Dr. Trinity A. Ordona, a recognized revolutionary political activist, community organizer, college teacher, and spiritual adviser. The interview highlights the political, academic, and spiritual paths of her journey as it relates to Ethnic Studies—past, present, and future.