Political Science Research Articles

Какая гендерная теория нужна российской социальной психологии

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objective</strong>. The article problematizes the theoretical field of gender studies and the concept of “gender”, which are currently vulnerable in the socio-political context. The aim of the article is to determine the range of theories of Russian psychologists capable of solving topical issues in the field of gender social psychology outside of a politically conflicting discourse. <br><strong>Background</strong>. According to political theory, psychological knowledge can become a guide for political practice, this area of political science is called biopolitics. The constructivist theoretical field of gender studies belongs to the field of biopolitics; in Western gender theory, the deconstruction of gender is allowed not only as a social phenomenon, but also as a change in biological sex. Moreover, the possibility of deconstructing gender and sex is currently determined by political practice, not by psychological or psychiatric indications. The use of Western gender theory and the concept of “gender” in political conflicts pushes Russian social psychology to search for a theory based on the concepts of Russian psychologists focused on the analysis of the socio-psychological reality of gender relations. <br><strong>Results</strong>. The article emphasizes the impossibility of the reverse movement of science and the choice of the gender-role approach as outdated, not responding to the needs of modernity. Three theories are called productive and adequate to modern problems: the cultural-historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky, the subject-activity approach of S.L. Rubinstein, the theory of relations by V.N. Myasishchev. The concept of gender relations by I.S. Kletsina, one of the most popular modern concepts of gender in Russian psychology. <strong>Conclusions</strong>. Gender psychology is a new branch of social psychology, which turned out to be vulnerable to political initiatives in a period of socio-political instability. The search for new theoretical constructs and the educational activity of psychologists in the biopolitical field will help gender psychology overcome the crisis period.</p>

Best Practices and the Need for Research on MA Degree Programs in Political Science

ABSTRACT Recent research suggests that master’s (MA) education in the United States could be restructured to better meet the expectations of students who seek nonacademic careers. This article considers the state of terminal MA degree programs in political science to assess whether they are preparing students to enter the workforce. We examine programs across various dimensions and supplement this analysis with survey data to gain additional information about the purpose of terminal MA degree programs. The results suggest that their reconceptualization is needed in the discipline of political science.

Review: Masagutov R.F., Ibragimov M.Kh. (eds.) Western Urals in the light of the formation of the Tatar and Bashkir Republics in 1917–1922: hopes and realities: collection of documents and materials. Kazan: Redaktsionno-izdatel’skii tsentr «Shkola», 2023, 256 p.

The publication presents an analysis of the work «Western Urals in the light of the formation of the Tatar and Bashkir republics of 1917–1922: hopes and realities: collection of documents and materials». The reviewer emphasized that the documents and materials contained in the collection reflect the goals set by its compilers. The historical materials included in the collection fairly fully characterize the processes of delimitation of the borders of the Tatar and Bashkir republics in 1917-1922, and also show the stages of the struggle of political groups of this time. The authors carried out comprehensive work to search for archival materials, organize and systematize them. The work under review is a significant contribution to the development of Tatar historiography and allows us to expand the scope of research on the history of Tatar statehood. This collection will be of interest not only to historians, political scientists, local historians, but also to lawyers involved in research into the development of Tatar statehood.

Scientific knowledge in pedagogy about learning tools

A scientific review of the problems that are relevant for researchers in the field of education in the last decade is presented. The issues of the content of education and its impact on the surrounding reality were considered by researchers from different fields of scientific knowledge: sociology, cultural studies, history, philosophy, political science, psychology. Scientific publications note that changes in education and its impact on personality occur due to various tools of the educational process, which can be identified in the generalized definition of «learning tools». The analysis of scientific literature and regulatory documents in the field of educational services in the Russian Federation allowed us to identify research areas that are of priority importance for pedagogical practice. It is significant for the authors to use a set of exercises, educational courses, design methods, situational tasks, and game technologies to form professional competencies of specialists. Most researchers note the need to justify the use of digital technologies to solve innovative pedagogical tasks. The scientific publications included in the review attempt to develop criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching tools used in educational practice, their ranking and classification on various grounds, as well as the didactic potential of digital educational resources.

Enhancing tourism’s role in alleviating poverty: a bureaucratic approach to implementing SDG1 in China

ABSTRACT By adopting bureaucratic concepts from political science, this study seeks to identify effective strategies within the tourism industry to enhance the implementation of SDG1 in China’s governmental policies. Through a critical discourse analysis of policy documents from two county governments in Western Hunan Province and semi-structured interviews with local cadres, the study proposes a unified dual policy implementation model. This model encompasses two key dimensions: ‘hard’ institutional mobilisation and ‘soft’ relational governance. Furthermore, the study offers insights into a potential pathway for developing countries engaged in tourism-based poverty alleviation, especially those grappling with the challenges of implementation capacity traps.

A Matter of Respect: A Review Essay about Respect and Loathing in American Democracy: Polarization, Moralization, and the Undermining of Equality

Abstract In their new and theoretically innovative book, Respect and Loathing in American Democracy, Jeff Spinner-Halev and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse argue that the nation's politics suffers from a lack of respect among political opponents. In making their argument, they build a lot of bridges: between the normative and empirical sides of Political Science, between qualitative and quantitative research, and between contemporary scholarship and many of the seminal works from an earlier era. To address the respect deficit, they call for greater attention to civic education and—perhaps counterintuitively—less attention to politics.

A COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF IDEOLOGICAL POSITIONS, EMOTIONAL STANCE, AND SUPPORT FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN TURKEY

Using artificial intelligence, this article explores the intricate dynamics between ideologies, emotions, and political preferences of the electorate in Turkey. Utilizing a dataset of one billion posts from X (formerly Twitter), the study maps out political opinions, focusing on support for presidential candidates, ideological stances, and collective emotions around the pivotal 2023 Turkish presidential elections. We discuss the limitations of conventional survey techniques and introduce an ERC‐funded Politus project that processes digital trace data to offer timely insights into social and political trends. The study's findings, particularly around the “prayer rug (seccade) crisis,” underscore the complexity of electoral politics and the potential of digital trace data in capturing the evolving sentiments and ideological orientations of voters. Through this computational approach, the research provides a granular depiction of Turkey's ideological map and electoral behavior, contributing significantly to the discourse on political analysis in the digital era.

Religious references in political campaigning: a comparative analysis of Latin America and Western Europe on social media

The relationship between religion and politics is receiving increasing attention in political science, although the focus is often on voter attitudes. Despite secularization trends, scholars expect a resurgence of religion in Western European party politics, where Christianity as a native identity is opposed to non-native Islam by populist radical right parties. In this context, it is primarily hostility toward other religious groups that structures religious elements in political communication. In most Latin American societies, religiosity plays a much greater role for individuals, which is reflected in the discourses of political elites who use genuine religious references to appeal to religious voters (“sacralization of politics”). Using data from my own recent research on content analysis of parties’ and candidates’ Facebook profiles, this article compares how political actors in Latin America and Western Europe use religious references in electoral campaigns and how salient these discourses are. The results help to explain the different prominence of religious discourses in different democratic regions and religious markets. The article contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of religion in 21st century politics.

EcolRxC: Ecological inference estimation of R × C tables using latent structure approaches

Abstract Ecological inference is a statistical technique used to infer individual behavior from aggregate data. A particularly relevant instance of ecological inference involves the estimation of the inner cells of a set of R × C related contingency tables when only their aggregate margins are known. This problem spans multiple disciplines, including quantitative history, epidemiology, political science, marketing, and sociology. This paper proposes new models for solving the problem using the latent structure theory, and presents the ecolRxC package, an R implementation of this methodology. This article exemplifies, explains, and statistically documents the new extensions and, using real inner cell election data, shows how the new models in ecolRxC lead to significantly more accurate solutions than ecol and VTR, two Stata routines suggested within this framework. ecolRxC also holds its own against ei.MD.bayes and nslphom, the two algorithms currently identified in the literature as the most accurate to solve this problem. ecolRxC records accuracies as good as those reported for ei.MD.bayes and nslphom. Besides, from a theoretical perspective, ecolRxC stands up for modeling a causal theory of political behavior to build its algorithm. This distinguishes it from other procedures proposed from different frameworks (such as ei.MD.bayes and nslphom) which model expected behaviors, instead of modeling how voters make choices based on their underlying preferences as ecolRxC does.

Enhancing predictive accuracy of electoral outcomes: A comparative study of dimension reduction techniques in linear regression models

The effectiveness of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Factor Analysis (FA) in enhancing the predictive accuracy and interpretability of linear regression models for electoral outcomes is examined in this study, with a focus on the Croatian presidential election. Challenges such as multicollinearity and model complexity were addressed through the application of PCA and FA to socio-demographic and political variables, resulting in their transformation into a simpler, more manageable form. Multicollinearity was significantly reduced by PCA, and model stability was improved. Deeper insights into voter behavior were provided by FA through the identification of latent variables. Improvements were noted; however, issues with homoscedasticity were identified, which affected the predictive reliability of the models. The optimized linear regression model, specifically designed to address homoscedasticity (LR2), was found to demonstrate superior performance in terms of predictive accuracy and stability when compared to models that utilized PCA and FA alone. The importance of maintaining homoscedasticity in regression models is underscored by the findings, and the potential of dimension reduction techniques to improve electoral predictions is highlighted. The integration of these techniques in forecasting models is advocated for, with the aim of assisting political analysts and policymakers. It is suggested that future research could explore the combination of these methods with other advanced modeling approaches to further enhance predictive capabilities.

R&D investments in knowledge intensive sectors in developing countries and the role of host country political uncertainty

R&D investments in knowledge intensive sectors in developing countries and the role of host country political uncertainty

Constitutive metaphors and legislator reasoning: the case of domestic violence

ABSTRACT Metaphors are crucial in politics, conveying complex information in simple terms. Research in political science often focuses on how elites strategically use metaphors to frame issues and how citizens rely on them to reason about unfamiliar topics. However, what happens when legislators face novel problems they must attend promptly yet lack profound knowledge about? How do they reason about such issues? Building on research concerning how scientists employ metaphors (constitutive metaphors) to develop scientific theories, this paper contends that legislators can turn to metaphors when grappling with unfamiliar legislative issues. Constitutive metaphors give legislators the terminology needed to adapt their understanding of such issues. By creating a ‘theory’ of the problem, constitutive metaphors influence where legislators believe intervention is needed, ultimately shaping their policy decisions. However, metaphors inherently oversimplify, emphasizing certain aspects while ignoring others. The paper illustrates this argument using the first congressional debates in the U.S. on domestic violence legislation (1977–1978). It demonstrates how the epidemic metaphor emerged and guided policymakers, transforming their approach from victim-focused initiatives to a criminal justice perspective. Revealing the impact of constitutive metaphors on legislative reasoning offers valuable insights into unexpected dynamics within the policymaking process, including unexpected transformations in issue framing.

Seven million tweets of violence: gendered analysis of Black women representation on social media platforms

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the gendered linguistic patterns of tweets discussing state-sanctioned and vigilante violence against African American women. The paper considers representations of Black women and Black death as engaged on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. We utilize the theoretical frameworks of Patricia Hill Collins’ (2022. Black Feminist Thought, 30th Anniversary Edition: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. London: Taylor & Francis) conceptualization of Black feminist epistemology and controlling images and Kimberle Crenshaw’s (2018. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics [1989].” Feminist Legal Theory 1: 57–80) intersectionality to understand the ways that Black women are discussed, remembered and advocated for on social media platforms in relation to their Black men counterparts. The analysis of over seven million tweets utilizes both qualitative content analysis and computational tools. The paper’s findings concluded that there were differences related to passive and active language based on the gender of the victim of state-sanctioned or vigilante-race-based violence, as well as homophily, specifically name events most frequently used within the context of the state-sanctioned killing of Black women versus Black men.

PROMISING DIRECTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF RUSSIAN-MONGOLIAN RELATIONS FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF CIVILIZATIONAL POLITICAL SCIENCE

Russia’s current confrontation with the collective West forces us to pay attention to the countries of the East, in whose fate Russia once played a key role and which, unfortunately, it has decided one day to leave. One such power is Mongolia. The history of Russian-Mongolian relations is a clear illustration of the influence of the civilizational factor on the course of political processes. In order to take into account this factor for more effective development of bilateral relations at the current stage, it is necessary to identify the main directions of bilateral cooperation development, resorting both to the analysis of key bilateral political and legal regulatory documents and the provisions of the civilizational approach, which is the purpose of this article.Using the methodology of civilizational political science, the article examines and defines the main and possible directions for the development of RussianMongolian relations in the near future, identifies the main problems and suggests ways to solve them. Special emphasis is placed on those areas of cooperation that can be considered «civilizational». Interaction through public diplomacy is considered. It establishes the need to involve representatives of business, a number of government departments, as well as the public in order to achieve significant results. The inertia and inconsistency in the attitude of the Mongolian side towards bilateral projects are stated, the contours of the problem of Mongolia’s benevolent neutrality towards the countries of the Third Neighbor, and above all the United States, are determined. Based on the results of the study, the prospects of using the civilizational factor in the development of bilateral relations between Russia and Mongolia and the role it can play in the formation of a multipolar world order are assessed. The conclusion is made about how effective Russia’s return to Mongolia and strengthening of the Russian presence can be when giving bilateral relations a new civilizational dimension. It is specified that the fundamental acts of the two countries, which determine the main directions of foreign policy and build the contours of national security, can serve as a basis for this.

Causes and consequences of intellectual migration of human capital in the context of national security: Public administrative aspect

The article considers theoretical and practical approaches to processes of the international intellectual migration and investigates modern processes of this phenomenon, their feature, the precondition and the reason at the present. The special attention is given to the role of intellectual migration of human capital on the landscape of national security of countries. It is shown that although the problem of intellectual migration of human capital, “brain drain”, previously attracted economists and sociologists, today it is in the center of attention of political scientists and researchers of international relations. The relationship between intellectual migration of human capital and soft power is considered.Potential vectors of public administration combatting negative consequences of intellectual migration of human capital within the plane of national security.

Representation of Women and Class in Shakespeare’s <i>Othello</i>

Shakespeare’s plays reflect his society by imitating events that shaped the socio-economic, historical and political development of the Elizabethan era. This study examines the representation of women and class in the tragic play; Othello. Shakespeare juxtaposes male and female characters to understand their roles seeking to understand the complexities that shapes gender and class in society. He lived in a patriarchal society where women were subjugated, relegated, and oppressed. They were only good as daughters or wives; Shakespeare in some of his plays creates strong female characters that exhibit a new perspective in the representation of women who break away from the norm by their actions or inactions in Elizabethan England. The theory used for the analysis is New Historicism which seeks to reveal and challenge the depiction of women and class during the reign of Queen Elizabeth the first. New historicism is a practice of interpreting texts in their historical context or concerning the time and place in which they were written according to Greenblatt. Women and class have often been misrepresented in Shakespeare’s time but in his play Othello, they are found to break down the shackles of patriarchy to make choices and stand by it.

From agents of the people to agents of authority? How illiberal populism impacts interactions between regulatory agencies and external stakeholders

AbstractThe decline in democratic quality and the increasing electoral popularity of illiberal populist parties are among the most notable global phenomena in the past 20 years. This article builds a bridge between the growing body of political science literature addressing how democratic backsliding impacts linkages between governments and organized interests and the public administration literature exploring how illiberal populists reshape the bureaucracy. Focusing on regulatory agencies in four post‐communist countries that have recently experienced varying degrees of democrating backsliding, we explore whether and how interactions between bureaucrats and interest groups have changed amid democratic decline. We find that even in the context of backsliding, professionalization (i.e. internal organizational development) and expertise provision are strong positive predictors of interest groups' access to regulators. However, our analysis unequivocally shows that exclusion by illiberal populist incumbent parties has a profound and negative effect on organizations' ability to reach bureaucracies. We draw on a new survey dataset, which grasps relationships between organized interests and political institutions (i.e. governments, parties, regulatory agencies, parliaments) in the region.

Why path dependence leads to a fossilized Alberta: regionalism and the climate transition in Canada

ABSTRACT Canada is the world’s fourth largest producer of oil and fifth largest producer of natural gas. Yet, the country faces a ‘twin’ challenge in tackling the climate crisis. On the one hand, Canada’s federal climate goals state that it must achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. On the other hand, regionalism stronghold in fossil-producing provinces lead to difficult trade-offs between an ambitious climate transition and reluctant actors supporting the fossil fuel industry. This situation is characterized as ‘fossilized’ petro-provinces by political scientist Angela Carter. This article explores how Alberta, Canada’s largest oil and natural gas producer, became fossilized. The article develops a path dependence argument organized around the role of regionalism in Alberta’s political development. Regionalism is a crucial persistent feature of Alberta to explain its fossilization because it influenced the formation of an interdependence between the government and the industry, a distinct political culture, and a conservative-led party system.

Party Competition Over Democracy: Democracy as Electoral Issue in Germany

Elected leaders increasingly undermine liberal democratic institutions with the support of their voters, openly challenging liberal democratic institutions in election campaigns. However, political scientists thus far have lacked the theoretical and empirical tools to study the role of elections in democratic backsliding. This article theorizes the degree to which democracy in general and liberal democracy more specifically can and should be conceptualized as valence and positional issues in multiparty electoral competitions of established liberal democracies. By investigating how German citizens and parties of the postwar period spoke about democracy per se and liberal democracy in their regional and national election manifestos, this article shows that democracy per se and liberal democracy, in particular, have been issues of different qualities in German postwar elections. While parties have used references to democracy in general as a mixed issue, showing both signs of valence and positional issues, parties’ emphasis on liberal democracy is shaped by a positional logic. Social and direct democracy have also been positional issues. Studying democracy and its various conceptions as electoral issues will help us address many important questions concerning the stability of democracies, shifting researchers’ focus to the competition of parties over citizens’ support for reforms that undermine or stabilize liberal democracy.

Evidential pluralism in the social sciences: What can be established in case study research?

This article responds to Yafeng Shan and Jon Williamson’s 2022 volume Evidential Pluralism in the Social Sciences, focusing on the applicability of Evidential Pluralism in the field of case study research through the use of examples from political science. The article argues that Shan and Williamson’s guidance on (a) what evidence one needs to establish causation in singular case studies and (b) what one may conclude at the population level once one has done so is lacking in some important respects. Therefore, this article will speak to the wider community of social scientists and methodologists who are sympathetic to using a plurality of evidence in case study research, but who still want guidance of how to do so in a philosophically grounded manner.