Political Periphery Research Articles

“Pous van die Kaap”

“Pope of the Cape”: Koot Vorster and ultra-right politics in the 1960s The Dutch Reformed Church (DRC), with an entrenched relationship with Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid, had to face socio-political changes in Afrikaner society in the 1960s. International pressure on the state, economic prosperity of Afrikaners, cultural exposure to the West, and internal criticism from cultural and academic spaces began to crack the bastion of Afrikanerdom during this decade. While the state had so-called dangers from outside under control at the time, it was the DRC’s focus to strengthen the people from within against unseen dangers such as liberalism and communism. In this context, Dr Koot Vorster emerged from the Cape NG Church as a leading national figure of Afrikaner anticommunism when he became head of the newly established National Council for the Fight against Communism in 1964. This article shows how Vorster was in fact a foreman for an ultra-right political pressure group from the Transvaal. Vorster is therefore considered here as a churchman and “organisation man”, as termed by N.P. van Wyk Louw, within verkrampte ranks. As the political winds blew against the verkramptes under the leadership of Koot’s brother, Prime Minister John Vorster, Koot also stood more and more on the periphery of popular politics as he tested the boundaries at the right of Afrikaner politics. As an organization man he would then stand on the periphery, but as a church man he did not lose his prestige.

Support for Partisan Violence among the Political Fringe: The Case of Antifa and QAnon Supporters

ABSTRACT Recent surveys have shown that significant numbers of partisans in the United States harbor violent attitudes towards out-party politicians and out-party members. This finding has corresponded with the increased visibility of political fringe groups, such as Antifa on the political left and QAnon on the political right. Fringe groups such as these take ideologically extreme political positions and defy political norms, including prohibitions on political violence. Are partisan supporters of these fringe groups more likely to hold violent political attitudes? Using survey data from the Understanding America Study (UAS), we test whether Antifa supporters and QAnon supporters are more likely to report violent attitudes compared to non-fringe group supporters. We find supporters of both groups are more likely to wish harm towards out-party members, support violent protest, and support various forms of interpersonal violence towards out-party members. The results hold even when controlling for ideological extremity, personality, and affective partisanship.

At the Fringes of Pride Politics

This paper draws attention to the tensions generated within LGBTQ+ movements in Portugal. Although recent legal developments have put Portugal on the map as a European country welcoming LGBTQ+ people, on a local scale, movements have been less ready to expand their notions of inclusion within the LGBTQ+ spectrum.
 Drawing on two studies carried out through twenty qualitative interviews between 2017 and 2020, the authors focus on the tensions that emerge in the narratives of two groups of people: bisexual activists and chronically ill people who also identify as LGBTQ+. Both studies explore to what extent practices of exclusion are at play in Pride politics in Portugal and what forms of (in)visibility are privileged over others. The analysis uses the concepts of middle ground (Hemmings 2002) and boundary work (Egner 2017) to show how Pride politics are often oriented towards a normative definition of able-bodied, white gay and lesbian people. They also tend to exclude from public space some intersectional subjectivities, through active opposition or indirect discrimination. The paper offers a relevant perspective to reflect on the tensions generated by public action within LGBTQ+ communities, compromises between care and belonging, and the future advancements that will need to be made.

Why Do Issues “Whose Time Has Come” Stick Around? Attention Durability and the Case of Gun Control

In any healthy democracy, myriad policy issues compete for the public’s attention. Most remain on the periphery of politics, either because they achieve salience only in narrow communities of interest or because they grab headlines only for brief periods of time. But sometimes issues become what we term “durable attention items”—they capture public attention and sustain it over many years. Why? We focus on one such newly durable issue—gun control in the United States. Using an original dataset of roughly 4,500 letters to the editor over a 40-year period, we demonstrate that this once-episodic issue, long dominated by a narrow constituency of pro-gun advocates, has become a mainstay of mass politics. We show that the gun issue’s growing agenda status is due entirely to pro-regulation people mobilized by a combination of contextual factors, namely regularized mass shootings and efforts to relax gun policy, working in tandem with partisan polarization. Besides offering novel evidence of a fundamental shift in American gun politics, the study contributes to our theoretical understanding of how episodic issues come to command consistent political engagement over the long term.

An Exploration of the Reasons Why Right-Wing Populist Parties in Europe are Anti-Immigration: The Case of Italy

Populism has become a prevailing political phenomenon in Europe, as evidenced by the repeated electoral victories of right-wing populist parties, which have transitioned from the political periphery to the centre stage. These parties frequently espouse anti-immigration rhetoric, which poses significant obstacles to European integration and globalization while simultaneously fueling racism and xenophobia. Such sentiments may foster political polarization within Europe and destabilize the global political economy. Despite Italy's former status as a leading destination for migrants in Europe, it has recently implemented increasingly restrictive immigration policies and experienced notable electoral gains for right-wing populist parties. The xenophobic tenets of right-wing populism account for these developments, making it crucial to investigate the reasons for their anti-immigrant stance. Accordingly, this study will examine the interplay between the tightening of Italy's immigration policy and the rise of right-wing populist parties, specifically investigating the underlying reasons for the anti-immigration stance of such parties by analyzing the cultural dilemma and economic crisis. By scrutinizing the origins of right-wing populist anti-immigration claims, this study seeks to uncover the driving factors behind the heightened stringency of immigration policies in countries like Italy in the wake of the rightward shift in European politics.

Indonesian Peasants in the Constellation of Power and the Trajectory of Capitalism

As an agricultural nation, Indonesia has a paradoxical situation where its peasants have never been a dominant political force. This condition can be seen from the lack of regulations in favor of peasants, the rampant criminalization of peasants in land conflicts, to the absence of peasant-based movements and political parties. This article explains the position of peasants in the constellation of power and the trajectory of capitalism in Indonesia. The article concludes that peasants have always been in a marginal political position at various periods, starting from the feudal era to the era of capitalism introduced by the Dutch colonial government. This position continued in the era of independent Indonesia where peasants remained on the periphery of Indonesian politics which was dominated by the bureaucracy and military during the New Order and oligarchy during the Reformation era.

“With Iron We Conquer”: Deindustrialization, Settler Colonialism, and the Last Train out of Schefferville, Quebec

The Iron Ore Company of Canada announced the closure of its mine in Schefferville, Quebec, on 2 November 1982, throwing the town’s future in doubt. Its slow agony made headlines across Canada for weeks, months, and even years. This article considers how the politics of deindustrialization got bound up in the national project of the settler-colonial state and the political ambitions of politicians, given that the company was led by Brian Mulroney, who became Canada’s prime minister soon thereafter. Due to its perceived symbolic importance, a Quebec parliamentary commission of inquiry was named to inquire into the fate of the town, offering us the opportunity to consider the ways in which race and settler colonialism structured the process and how white residents and politicians as well as Indigenous leaders understood the significance of what was going on. The mine’s closure had devastating economic consequences for the Innu and Naskapi communities, as well as the white residents, but it also marked a recentring for Indigenous people displaced from the socio-economic and political periphery to the centre of what remained behind in deindustrialization’s aftermath.

US Policy in Latin America in the Coverage of Spanish Press of 1824—1836

Under the influence of significant changes in the system of international relations caused by the wars of independence in Spanish America, Spain found itself on the periphery of world politics and was adapting to its new role. The politics of the United States, the leading power in the Western Hemisphere, became one of the topics of public discussion that unfolded on the pages of Spanish press during the Restoration (1823—1833) and the liberal revolution of the 1830s. Spanish assessments of US international activity revealed the views of politically active elite on the principles of foreign policy in the New World, and their perception of the North American republic as a regional leader with whom it is necessary to communicate. Spanish public opinion, with all characteristics of its ideological state and evolution, perceived the United States as an important actor in the regional system of international relations, which was increasing its influence, relying on its economic resources and taking advantage of the absence of active rivals. The ideological division between Spanish political groups affected their assessments of US policy, but in the 1830s it turned out to be less pronounced than during the Restoration. The conflict between Mexico and Texas caused a sharp critical reaction from the progressist press, which condemned the aggressive territorial expansion of the United States. The growth of US activity contributed to the concept of a new role for Spain in the New World — the role of the patron of its former colonies.

GRAND KNEZ STEPHEN VUKANOVIĆ AND THE MORAČ A MONASTERY

The Morača Monastery was built in the mid-13th century by Grand knez (prince) Stephen Vukanović, a member of a cadet branch of the Nemanjić dynasty (1166–1371), as his burial place. Interpreting the actions its founder reveals interesting details about the relationship of the center of power with the political periphery, ruling ideology, and the monk’s place in society. The completion of the frescoes and other ornamentation at this monastic church of the Dormition of the Mother of God and Stephen’s withdrawal from his political life to take monastic vows partially coincides with the action of King Uroš I (1243–1276), who consolidated his royal power during this time by eliminating the principalities in the Serbian coastal regions. Prince Stephen’s transition to life as a hermit may have gone through two stages that included tonsuring and then admission into the Great Schema. These actions were motivated by his personal piety and his age or by a desire to emulate the Nemanjić dynasty’s model of sanctity–which was a key feature of the ruling dynasty’s political ideology–or were possibly the result of political upheaval.

Cultivating Peace: The Virgilian Georgic in English, 1650–1750

Cultivating Peace: The Virgilian Georgic in English, 1650–1750

The 2021 municipal elections: rise of the volatile voter or disaffected citizen?

ABSTRACT South Africa's 2021 municipal elections present something of a paradox. The results suggested a highly competitive environment, especially in the urban metropoles, with an unprecedented number of hung councils where no single party was able secure 51 percent. The larger parties suffered losses while smaller parties made gains, suggesting voters had abandoned old political homes for new ones. In contrast, while previous local elections enjoyed modest but steady increases in participation, the 2021 municipal elections also witnessed a sharp decline in voter turnout. Less than a third of eligible voters participated. This paper argues that these paradoxical features are likely to remain a feature of South African electoral politics in the medium-term. While many who participated were likely to be volatile voters, switching their votes to a party different from previous choices, their participation was insufficient to compensate for a higher numbers of abstentions, which are a result of growing political system disaffection with electoral actors. These disaffected citizens are positioned at the periphery of politics and will be difficult to entice back to the polls, leaving the competitive aspect of South Africa's elections reliant on a diminishing number of engaged and unpredictable voters.

France and the moral panic of “islamo-leftism”

Since the fall of 2020, the debate on “islamo-leftism” (“islamo-gauchisme” in French) has taken on an important place in both the media and academia. This debate was encouraged by two ministers and has had the effect of highlighting the timid emergence of intersectional work in France, particularly on the topics of race, gender, and class. In this public controversy, a small group of conservative scholars founded the “Observatoire du décolonialisme,” which used the scientific legitimacy of its authors to publicly attack scientific work in a non-scientific manner, as well as grassroots activism movements. If the controversy has since been replaced by ongoing discussions about “wokism,” it has also revealed the construction of a relatively violent discourse on the part of a certain political fringe, on the left as well as on the right, which positions itself in defense of a universalist republican model. This version of the republican model does not support the criticism fed by scientific works using the epistemological framework of intersectionality, which represents a minority in France. The purpose of this article is to study a corpus of press articles, comments from social networks, and texts written by members of the “Observatoire du décolonialisme,” in order to report on the issues and social and political implications of the controversy over “islamo-leftism.”

ON THE INTERACTION OF EURO PARTIES WITH PARTIES FROM THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES. PART 5

The article analyzes the cooperation of three pan-European political organizations – the Party of the European Left (PEL), the European Free Alliance (EFA) and the European Christian Political Movement (ECPD) – with their partners in the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership program (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine). All these European parties, since 2014, have sought to establish cooperation with ideologically close parties from these countries and even accepted them into their ranks as full members. The profiles of these organizations and their leaders, the results of participation in national parliamentary, presidential and local elections, interaction with other political forces of their countries on the formation of electoral and ruling coalitions were studied. The main provisions of their program documents, which reflect the pro-European choice, as well as press releases and statements by the leaders of the PEL, the EFA and the ECPM, concerning the situation in the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership, are given. It is shown that all three European parties supported this program and their partners, regardless of their electoral results. It is noted that in Belarus and Moldova, the local PEL member parties, and in Ukraine, the ECPM member party initially achieved good results in national and local elections, but in recent years most of them have found themselves on the political periphery. The reasons for this phenomenon vary from country to country. Nevertheless, European leftists, Regionalists and Christian Democrats are confident that as the situation stabilizes, issues of social justice, strengthening sovereignty and preserving traditional values will return to the political agenda and become in demand again. It was noted that two more European parties, Identity and Democracy and the European Democratic Party, which have official registration in the EU, currently have no ties with parties from the Eastern Partnership member countries.

ON THE INNTERACTION OF EURO PARTIES WITH PARTIES FROM THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES. PART 4

The article analyzes the cooperation of one of the leading pan–European political organizations – the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR) – with its partners in the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership program (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova). Since 2014, European conservatives and reformists have sought to establish partnerships with the conservative parties of these countries and even accepted them into their ranks as full members. The profiles of these organizations and their leaders, the results of participation in national parliamentary, presidential and local elections, interaction with other political forces of their countries on the formation of electoral and ruling coalitions were studied. The main provisions of their program documents, which reflect the pro-European choice, as well as press releases and statements by the leaders of the AECR concerning the situation in the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership, are given. It is shown that the AECR actively supported this program and its partners, regardless of their electoral results. It was noted that in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova, local AECR member parties initially achieved good results in elections, including in national parliaments, but in recent years some of them have found themselves on the political periphery. The reasons for this phenomenon vary from country to country. Nevertheless, European conservatives and reformists are confident that as the situation stabilizes, the issues of strengthening sovereignty and preserving traditional values will return to the political agenda and become in demand again.

Sustainable and resilient political strategies. Determinant parameters that ensure effectiveness

IntroductionWho cares about 'realist strongholds'? Who cares about the 'land of Thucydides'? In the first place, is there such a land and what would it mean? More or less obviously, the term is used for a hopefully eloquent reference to Greece. However, it is not in the intention of this article's author to offer a geoculturally reified concept, taking into account the multiplicity of 'Hellenisms' in terms of identity formation (Zacharia, 2008). With all its complexity and border variability, indeed, this piece of land -like several others- has emerged as the milieu for a variety of forms of socio-political organization: e.g. an inter-state system of city-states (the ancient classical era), an imperial system with broad cultural interaction (the Hellenistic world), an imperial system comprising it as both a political periphery and a cultural core (the Greco-Roman Synthesis), another one consisting of it eventually as both socio-political and cultural core...

ПОЛИТИЧЕСКАЯ ДЕПОПУЛЯЦИЯ МУНИЦИПАЛЬНОЙ ПЕРИФЕРИИ: ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИЕ И ЭЛЕКТОРАЛЬНЫЕ ПОСЛЕДСТВИЯ ОБЪЕДИНЕНИЯ МУНИЦИПАЛИТЕТОВ НА ПРИМЕРЕ ПЕРМСКОГО КРАЯ

Introduction: the process of municipalities’ unification in the Perm region is nearly completed, resulting in establishing one-level system of urban and municipal districts to replace the two-level local government system that included both urban and rural settlements. The abolition of settlements is accompanied by reducing the number of local deputies and reconfiguration of local political space. Regardless of fairly large amounts of statistical data we know very little about any concrete political and electoral consequences of municipalities unification for political actors in ex-settlements. Objectives: to find answers to the following research questions: did the layer of municipal politicians acting at ex- settlements level remain after the reform? To what extent have they been able to integrate into the representative bodies of the unified municipalities? Methods: analysis of quantitative data contained in elections statistics covering 43 unification voting campaigns in the Perm region between 2012 and 2021. Results: the research concludes that, of several thousands of local politicians previously active in the Perm region, the vast majority chose exit strategy and quit politics. Local residents of the unified settlements representing political periphery make up only a small proportion of the new deputies. Residents of most urbanized and centralized peripheral settlements were least active and least successful. It is very rarely that local politicians resisted the unifications and liquidations. After the territories unification, the competition at municipal elections in the Perm region showed a certain reduction rather than expected growth. Conclusions: the unification of rural and urban settlements in the Perm region has led not only to the formal liquidation of municipalities and their local governments, but also to the actual dilution of municipal political class on a rural level. What happened, in fact, was the political depopulation of rural peripheries in the newly formed municipal districts. Following the liquidation of the local governments, politics quit the ex-regions and politicians followed the suit. Of all deputes elected as ex-settlements residents to the representative organs of the newly formed urban and rural municipal districts, only few still participate in politics, but mostly only on administrative center issues. Centralization of local politics, limiting local political space to administrative centers and actual abolition of political subjects at its periphery are some of the most significant consequences resulting from local government optimization in the Perm region.

Litmus Test for a Democratic Public Sphere? Discussion on the Abortion Issue on Polish Twitter

The paper’s aim is to present key findings of the analysis of the discussion on the abortion issue on Polish Twitter. Social media are believed to be a tool serving the political periphery to participate in political discourse and with the COVID- 19 pandemic they have become crucial in our everyday communication. In this context, the Twitter discussion on abortion issue and Women’s Strike protests that took place in October 2020 in Poland was analyzed. The discussion on the abortion issue itself in many countries brings broader questions on the state of public discourse and democratic processes, and the protests brought even more inquiries about freedom of speech or the right to protest. In total, 68,716 tweets were collected from October 20 till November 15, 2020, and analyzed with MAXQDA software to answer two main research questions: RQ1: Who was shaping the discussion in the analyzed period? RQ2: Were the two sides of the conflict represented in the discussion? The analysis showed great potential that Twitter has for Polish public discourse, but also many obstacles, problems, and even social cleavages manifesting in the analyzed discussion.

The Fourth Phase of Palestinian Arab Politics in Israel: The Centripetal Turn

The article argues that the politics of the Arab minority in Israel has entered a new phase since the mid-2010s: centripetalism. Whereas the preceding two decades or so (the third phase) were characterized by claims in the name of Palestinian nationalism and organizational fragmentation, the centripetal phase is characterized by (1) a decline in the political salience of minority nationalism and a shift in focus to social and civic issues; (2) an aspiration to move from the fringes of politics; and (3) greater organizational convergence, eclipsing intra-communal ideological divisions in the service of shared objectives. The advent of this phase is attributed to unintended consequences of changes in the electoral rules (specifically the 2015 rise in the election threshold) combined with pressure from the electorate, empowered by the raised electoral threshold.

Assessing the Extent and Types of Hate Speech in Fringe Communities: A Case Study of Alt-Right Communities on 8chan, 4chan, and Reddit

Recent right-wing extremist terrorists were active in online fringe communities connected to the alt-right movement. Although these are commonly considered as distinctly hateful, racist, and misogynistic, the prevalence of hate speech in these communities has not been comprehensively investigated yet, particularly regarding more implicit and covert forms of hate. This study exploratively investigates the extent, nature, and clusters of different forms of hate speech in political fringe communities on Reddit, 4chan, and 8chan. To do so, a manual quantitative content analysis of user comments ( N = 6,000) was combined with an automated topic modeling approach. The findings of the study not only show that hate is prevalent in all three communities (24% of comments contained explicit or implicit hate speech), but also provide insights into common types of hate speech expression, targets, and differences between the studied communities.

Narrating a Nation Left Behind: The Innocent Child in Two Novels of Zimbabwe

Child narrators and protagonists have been a recurring feature of much of the literature produced in and of Zimbabwe since independence 1980. Their experiences of growing up have often been seen as mirroring that of the nation itself, such as in Nervous Conditions (1988) and We Need New Names (2013), depicting childhood as inherently political and directly involved in social and historical transition. This article asks what happens when the child is not an explicit embodiment of the nation’s growth and development through painful historical phases, and examines the child narrator in The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam (2008) by Lauren Liebenberg and Peace and Conflict (2014) by Irene Sabatini. Instead of being placed centre stage in the midst of turbulence, war and social change, the child narrator in Sabatini’s novel remains at the periphery of repressive politics, acting as a spectator, commentator and investigator. Liebenberg’s narrator is more politically informed than Sabatini’s, and family tragedy converges with the end of white rule in Rhodesia. Both narrators depict the disconnect between past, present and future through their innocence and naivety. This position enables an instructive approach in the novels to the nation’s past and present. Through their separate trajectories, the novels channel a nation left behind, stagnant in its repressive measures and unable to move forward. Instead of representing the nation and its development, the child narrators in the two novels suggest that the colonial past and violent present of Zimbabwe cannot be reconciled.