Political Significance Research Articles

“The Citizen” as a Ghost Subject in Co-Producing Smart Sustainable Cities: An Intersectional Approach

The importance and benefits of engaging citizens as co-producers of urban transformation have been increasingly recognised. However, the mere implementation of citizen co-production does not guarantee more legitimate or inclusive policy decisions and outcomes, especially when power inequalities that shape local decision-making remain unaddressed. This article examines the transformative potential of citizen co-production in smart sustainable city initiatives using two successive citizen panels in Trondheim, Norway, as cases. The study aimed to understand the role of citizen co-production in these panels, and the notion of “the citizen” within their frameworks. Three challenges with co-production were identified. Firstly, the ad-hoc nature of citizen engagement emphasised individual participation rather than facilitating collective spaces from which political agency could emerge. Secondly, citizens’ viewpoints were perceived as uninformed preferences that could be transformed through professional guidance. This, coupled with the closed nature of the initiatives, raises questions about the transformative potential of the processes, particularly in challenging the underlying premises of citizen co-production shaped by a neoliberal discourse of smart sustainable cities. The article concludes with a call to analyse citizen co-production spaces through an intersectional lens that attends to relational understandings of power dynamics and identities. This analysis should not only consider who participates, but also how “the citizen” as a subject is conceptualised and mobilised, how citizens’ interests and knowledge are taken into account, and the political significance of their involvement.

Under the banner of heritage conservation: The gentrification of dilapidated low-income neighborhoods in the Daming Palace Protection and Renovation Project

Understanding the dynamics and implications of urban redevelopment projects, particularly in the context of China's rapid urbanization, could inform sustainable and inclusive urban development strategies. This abstract provides an overview of the Daming Palace Protection and Renovation Project (DPPRP). Unlike other redevelopment projects that prioritize economic benefits, the DPPRP is predominantly driven by political interests, with cultural and economic factors playing supporting roles. As part of the broader integrated conservation and redevelopment program, the DPPRP holds political significance, and its implementation demonstrates clear state involvement, led by the local government. The response from residents reflects the failure of China's attempts to promote citizen participation in local governance, suggesting challenges even for participatory authoritarianism. These developments have negative implications for Chinese citizens' pursuit of their right to the city, hindering their ability to shape urban spaces and participate meaningfully in decision-making processes. The purpose of this study is to analyze the Daming Palace Protection and Renovation Project (DPPRP) in China, providing insights for policymakers and urban planners to enhance the effectiveness and inclusivity of urban redevelopment projects.

Fertility Trends and Population Policy in the Canton of Sarajevo

The demography of Bosnia and Herzegovina fits into the Southeast-European trends with sub-replacement fertility and high emigration rates. At the national level, natural decline started in 2007, while migration is influenced by the war and its aftermath, as well as several economic and political push factors (low wages, corruption, high unemployment, etc.), and also has a serious impact on birth and death rates. On the other hand, demographic trends in the Canton of Sarajevo differ from the national pattern. It reached sub-replacement fertility more than a decade later (2019), and migration still has a positive balance: besides significant emigration rates, immigration to the Canton, especially from the other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is higher. Since migration involves younger generations, it is also a factor behind the more favourable fertility rates, and can be evaluated as a consequence of better socio-economic development in the capital and its gravitational area. In the Canton, there have been several factors that contributed to the decline of birth rates in the past decades. Changing functions of family and children in the society, increasing women's employment, educational level and career aspirations, growing individualism and rationality, the changing social climate in relation to children, higher personal standards, and other socio-psychological factors should be mentioned. Birth rates were also (positively) influenced by other factors. One of the most important points is that the Canton has certainly one of the best support policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina including financial support and allowances for newborn children, subsidies in preschool education, primary and secondary schools as well as scholarships for pupils and students. Positive economic trends such as new constructions of residential buildings, business, and shopping centres, as well as an even stronger concentration of attractive institutions and activities should be emphasised. In 2021, the total fertility rate accounted for 1.38 in the Canton, while it has shown a great variation among the municipalities. The municipality with the lowest total fertility rate (Novi Grad) had the highest total number of live births in the Canton, while the municipality with the lowest total number of live births (Trnovo) was the only one with total fertility rate values above the replacement level. Due to its demographic, economic and political significance, the Canton of Sarajevo is a key area for population revitalisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, local measures have national significance, and can act as a model for the rest of the country in terms of population policy as well.

Ice memorial

This text serves as ‘vehicular medium’ or thought projection towards the existence of an ephemeral Ice memorial on a stretch of intermittently frozen sea ice in the Bering Strait at 168° 58’ 37” W. This ‘work’ is offered as a memorialisation to the consequences of collectively imagined fear—in this case the (first) Cold War. Through this text, I seek to demonstrate that this location’s historical, political and aesthetic significance can be augmented through the imagination. In short, this text is an invitation to project our thoughts towards a small but significant stretch of water in the North Pacific Ocean.

A Imagem como Identidade Política: os selos régios do reino de Portugal

In this text, the author contextualizes the use of Portuguese royal seals in the medieval centuries, observing their aesthetic composition and the political and symbolic significance of the respective imagery, predominantly heraldic, a discourse that is only broken in the seals of some queens. Portuguese royal seals are pieces that project notions and meanings that are strongly symbolic and have a consistent abstract representation about the conception and nature of majestic power in the monarchy of medieval Portugal. The structural lines of Lusitanian royal sigilography are exposed, in which the non-existence of the seal of majesty stands out, and conjunctures or cycles of originality are defined, compared to the European royal chancelleries of those centuries, and exceptions, as is the case with the conjunctural use of the seal equestrian only between the reigns of kings Afonso III and Fernando I (1248-1383).

Rethinking the American Industrial Policy Debate: The Political Significance of a Losing Idea

AbstractIn the early 1980s “industrial policy” seemed to be emerging as the American left’s answer to supply-side economics. Yet soon after, supply-side economics was triumphant and industrial policy back in the political wilderness. This article investigates why the American left rejected industrial policy in the 1980s but appears to be reembracing it under the Biden administration. Via reviewing the history of the industrial policy debate, I argue that the American left rejected industrial policy proposals for several reasons including disunity within the Democratic party coalition, the growing strength of the venture capital industry, and the perceived incompatibility of industrial policy with American political institutions. Despite the defeat of industrial policy movement in the 1980s, however, I argue that a process of adaptation and reworking during the Clinton administration allowed industrial policy ideas to survive in “hibernation,” ultimately reemerging in the changed policy environment which followed the 2008 financial crisis.

When Rural Resilience Came to the City: Libanios on Villagers Moving through Fourth-Century Antioch

In the fourth century AD, the relation between the city of Antioch and its hinterland underwent significant change. In response both to environmental transformation and the consequences of human intervention, resilient rural communities in the Amuq plain north-east of the city took on new political, economic, and religious significance. From a distinctively urban perspective, the sophist Libanios criticized and deplored this development, most famously in his oration 47 from around the year 390 with regard to the emerging political and judicial independence of larger villages in the Antiochene. The same phenomenon was addressed roughly 50 years later by the Christian author Theodoret of Kyrrhos, who, however, appreciated the new rural self-confidence as a religious revival spearheaded by holy men. But just as the late antique realities of villagers and city-dwellers rarely met, neither physically nor intellectually or culturally, also the contrasting perspectives represented by Libanios and Theodoret remained largely disconnected. In one instance, however, Libanios related an account of hinterland representatives that moved through Antioch’s urban space, confronted the city with a specifically Antiochene type of rural resilience, and challenged, according to Libanios, much of what Antioch stood for. As such, this episode highlights the importance of mobility in city-hinterland relations and, pointedly, its significance for the study of rural resilience in late antiquity.

‘The sanctuary of them all’: the politics of manpower and nationality in the armies in exile in the United Kingdom, 1940–4

Abstract Historians have long remarked upon the political significance of the Allied armies from Continental Europe which were established on British soil during the Second World War. Much less attention has been devoted to the implications of maintaining and expanding these forces amid the very particular circumstances of wartime exile. This article examines three aspects of the tension between the imperatives to secure as many men as possible for military service while maintaining the distinctly ‘national’ character of the force as a whole. The failure to mobilize emigrants and expatriates is examined in the first section, while the second section shows how soldiers could use national identities to their own advantage and pass between foreign armies. The final section examines the far-reaching political consequences of the often-obscured ethnic diversity within the ranks, focusing particularly on Jewish soldiers.

The after rights of the Citizen of the UK and its Colonies: who is the subject of the rights of the citizen in Britain’s hostile environment?

ABSTRACT Radical democrats highlight the emancipatory potential of citizenship rights insofar as they enable the enactment of political subjectivity by those who lay claim to them. However, the conjuncture(s) within which citizenship rights originate (and are rearticulated) matters for the kind of political subjectivity they afford. This article traces the articulation of citizenship rights in Britain in relation to three historical conjunctures: 1948 (in which the introduction of the status of Citizen of the UK and its Colonies (CUKC) coincided with imperial decline); 1981 (in which the status of CUKC was displaced by that of British Citizen as Britain reinvented itself as a nation-state) and; 2012 (in which the hostile environment for irregular migrants was instituted amidst sustained austerity for its citizens). This conjunctural analysis enables us to recognise the good character requirement (that underpins the deportation of Black Britons to former colonies) and the Right to Rent (that deputises immigration control to landlords) as after rights of the CUKC, that is, rights depleted of their political significance as belonging to a free and equal member of the polity. This, I argue, significantly limits any emancipatory potential that enacting citizenship rights in Britain might otherwise enable.

The animal agriculture industry, US universities, and the obstruction of climate understanding and policy

The 2006 United Nations report “Livestock’s Long Shadow” provided the first global estimate of the livestock sector’s contribution to anthropogenic climate change and warned of dire environmental consequences if business as usual continued. In the subsequent 17 years, numerous studies have attributed significant climate change impacts to livestock. In the USA, one of the largest consumers and producers of meat and dairy products, livestock greenhouse gas emissions remain effectively unregulated. What might explain this? Similar to fossil fuel companies, US animal agriculture companies responded to evidence that their products cause climate change by minimizing their role in the climate crisis and shaping policymaking in their favor. Here, we show that the industry has done so with the help of university experts. The beef industry awarded funding to Dr. Frank Mitloehner from the University of California, Davis, to assess “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” and his work was used to claim that cows should not be blamed for climate change. The animal agriculture industry is now involved in multiple multi-million-dollar efforts with universities to obstruct unfavorable policies as well as influence climate change policy and discourse. Here, we traced how these efforts have downplayed the livestock sector’s contributions to the climate crisis, minimized the need for emission regulations and other policies aimed at internalizing the costs of the industry’s emissions, and promoted industry-led climate “solutions” that maintain production. We studied this phenomenon by examining the origins, funding sources, activities, and political significance of two prominent academic centers, the CLEAR Center at UC Davis, established in 2018, and AgNext at Colorado State University, established in 2020, as well as the influence and industry ties of the programs’ directors, Dr. Mitloehner and Dr. Kimberly Stackhouse-Lawson. We developed 20 questions to evaluate the nature, extent, and societal impacts of the relationship between individual researchers and industry groups. Using publicly available evidence, we documented how the ties between these professors, centers, and the animal agriculture industry have helped maintain the livestock industry’s social license to operate not only by generating industry-supported research, but also by supporting public relations and policy advocacy.

Casting History in Bronze: Delving into the Political Mosaic of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Sculptures

Statues within urban landscapes serve as powerful instruments shaping the collective ethos of communities and ethnic groups, functioning as identity markers and emblematic embodiments of power and ideology. Crafted as vehicles for political messaging throughout history, statues endure as relics, actively participating in societal discourse. They represent collective imprints, embodying a community’s history and broadcasting its traditions, institutions, beliefs, and ideologies. This study explores the commemorative practices and visual rhetoric of monuments and statues, focusing on the iconic status of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Punjab. Analyzing statues in Amritsar and Ludhiana, it delves into their symbolic allure, guided by Mitchell’s Picture Theory, Roland Barthes’ conception of images as political subjects, and Stuart Hall’s “Encoding-Decoding” discourse. Unearthing the interplay of images in shaping collective memory, this research illuminates the contemporary political and cultural significance of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s statues.

Re-activating “feel-good” effects as an intangible hosting vision

ABSTRACT Purpose This article connects conceptual discussions of “legacies” and intended “feel-good” effects in the case of the men’s UEFA 2024 European Championship (Euro 2024) that Germany will host. Approach The article draws upon insights from the existing literature, bid documents, and other web sources to explore the re-activation of feel-good effects and social impacts of hosting. Findings Euro 2024 helps us understand how feel-good effects from the standpoint of mega-events offer insight into propositions of collective pride, passion, and joy. Event promoters then can focus on re-activating this notion of feel-good for socio-political effects. This remains crucial because the pre-event discourse which facilitates a celebration and festivity takes up a political and social significance. Practical Implications The article can provide lessons for event stakeholders and organizers on the ideas of “legacies” and “feel-good”. Research Contributions The article contributes with new insight into the persuasive use of promoting social and intangible impacts. It speaks to considerations event organizers are taking to make efforts to socially engage people during the pre-event phase. It launches a number of future considerations that help us think about the intended event experience as destinations seek to deliver events that are more meaningful for locals and visitors.

The Status and the Role of the Cabinet Secretary A. V. Makarov in the Process of Forming the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty as a State Institution

This article focuses on the evolution of functionality of the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty Peter the Great during his reign. Based on an analysis of materials from the collection of documents of the Cabinet stored in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts it indicates the scope of competence of the Cabinet Secretary A. V. Makarov (1674–1740) and the Cabinet of Peter the Great. The Cabinet of Peter the Great was engaged in financial support of administrative projects, building activities all-around Russia, military companies, diplomatic missions and many other things. In fact, it replaced and duplicated the functions of other institutions of central or local governments, more effectively solving the tasks since its head, Cabinet Secretary A. V. Makarov, had direct access to the monarch and had stable business ties with all state institutions without exception. The author also investigates how the role of this institution in the administrative system changed over time. The study shows the evolution from one clerk position, intended to be a personal royal secretariat, to an independent state institution with a broad scope of competence. The article concludes by arguing that the political significance of the Cabinet of Peter the Great directly depended on the place of A. V. Makarov in the system of public administration. Around the turn of the 1710s and 1720s, A. V. Makarov completely monopolized the intermediary function, through which the ruler was connected with other figures and institutions.

The politics of tech responsibility: Understanding companies’ responsibility as representative claims

This article explores responsibility claims by private tech companies. While the business literature has extensively discussed the notion of corporate social responsibility, it does not fully grasp the political significance of responsibility claims. This article proposes a novel conceptual understanding of responsibility by drawing on the concept of representative claims. It argues that by claiming responsibility for an issue or a community, companies are claiming to act on behalf of someone or some purpose—while avoiding democratic oversight. Thereby, responsibility claims not only provide reputational benefits but help companies legitimize and demarcate their political role. Empirically, it uses a representative claims analysis to compare responsibility claims of three companies—Meta, Microsoft, and the NSO Group. Companies either embrace, reorient, or refuse responsibility but frequently define the criteria to measure it. This article thus contributes to our understanding of the political significance of responsibility and tech business power.

The toponym $n-nxn and its connotation till the end of the middle kingdom of Egypt

The present research paper focuses on the term $n-Nxn as a sign of a geographical region located in Upper Egypt and its connotation in the royal and non-royal texts. It highlights the political and religious significance of the toponym. Moreover, it explores the definable territorial divisions in Upper Egypt that were created in the second half of the Fifth Dynasty since upper Egypt was divided into three administrative unites in conjunction with Agricultural areas, therefore, some high elite titles linked with a specific regions such as,spAwt 9( the ninth provinces).and imy-r spAwt Hryw-ib an overseer of the Middle provinces of Upper Egypt, and consequently , by the second have of sixth Dynasty, the provinces of $n -Nxn was referred from Archaeological records regarding it as an administrative sector included some Nomes, but it would appear that they didn't give any crucial information on its extensions or its location. moreover ,by the Middle Kingdom, $n -Nxn attested for the first time in literary texts as An important geographical region associated with legitimacy of of the throne, the notion of centralization and the power and authority of the King. Nevertheless, it wasn't An independent administrative sector, and it designates to A geographical area situated in wart rsy “the southern administrative sector.

The Dominican National Pastime

Baseball has a long history in the Dominican Republic, where it is a matter of national pride and identity, and invested with political significance.

From Humanitarian Intervention to Regime Change in Libya: Human Agency in the Production and Transformation of Global Security Assemblages

The paper examines human agency in the production and transformation of global security assemblages. A situated conception of human agency is elaborated theoretically through the reincorporation of key concepts from Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s original oeuvre, such as ‘bodies’ ‘desire’ and ‘affect’. Through this Deleuzoguattarian assemblage framework it becomes possible to distinguish between human/non-human and active/reactive forms of agency, while not losing sight of how human actions invariably take place within broader structures of signification. To showcase the utility and analytical potential of this approach, the paper returns to a paradigmatic case of global security cooperation in recent times: the military intervention in Libya of 2011. Through the assemblage framework advocated it is illustrated how the agency of the governments of the United Kingdom, France and the United States is crucial for making connections with other bodies in the production of a Libyan humanitarian intervention assemblage, and later bringing about its transformation into a Libyan regime change assemblage. More than this, it becomes possible to grasp how in fact both these processes form part of a single Western-led biopolitical-geopolitical strategy. The paper concludes by emphasising the political and ethical significance of an appreciation of human agency in global security assemblages. De l’intervention humanitaire au renversement du régime en Libye : l’agentivité humaine dans la production et la transformation des agencements de la sécurité mondiale

WITHDRAWN: Does stock return affect decomposed energy shocks differently? Evidence from a time frequency quantile-based framework

We study the interconnections and consequences of fluctuations in energy prices on the returns of stocks within both highly optimistic and pessimistic market conditions, considering both short and extended timeframes. The research follows a two-part methodology: initially breaking down energy price shocks into components of demand, supply, and risk using the Ready method, and subsequently applying a quantile frequency connectedness technique. The outcomes demonstrate that the correlation between energy price shocks and stock returns in the enlarged BRICS markets is substantial during extremely bullish and bearish periods, but comparatively lower during normal circumstances. Among the various types of energy price shocks, those driven by shifts in demand exhibit a more pronounced influence on stock returns compared to supply and risk-induced shocks. The transmission of effects from energy price shocks to stock returns becomes evident over extended periods, i.e., beyond five days, particularly in the context of extreme bullish and bearish market conditions. Notably affected by these shocks, mainly in the long term, are the oil-exporting countries such as Russia, Brazil and the upcoming joiner Saudi Arabia (KSA), as well as China – an oil-importing nation. Given the economic and political significance of the inclusion of the heavyweight oil-exporting nations in BRICS is likely to make in minimising the gap between the global North and the South, these findings hold significant implications for both investors and policymakers, guiding them in making well-informed investment choices and crafting effective strategies for managing risks.

Colonial Factions and Pamphlet Warfare

Abstract Two Paris-based factions offered the reading public competing histories of the French and Haitian Revolutions as they vied to settle old scores and secure influence over future imperial policy in Thermidorian France. One, a colonial faction, sought to restore as much as possible of Saint-Domingue's pre–slave rebellion structure and identity; the other was more mixed but consisted of individuals who were reconciled to working with the emancipated Black majority in the colony to secure the French republic's strategic and economic interests. The two groups disseminated printed pamphlets offering starkly different visions of the upheaval in France's prized Caribbean colony, as well as opposing interpretations of how revolutionary events in Saint-Domingue and the metropole had been enmeshed since 1789. What both factions shared was a belief in the political significance of controlling this narrative and an emphasis on the shared nature of Saint-Domingue and France's recent history: a dual revolution spanning the Atlantic.

가상박물관 플랫폼을 활용한 DMZ의 문화적 확장성 방안 연구

The purpose of this study is to use a virtual museum platform to expand the cultural and artistic experiences related to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). The DMZ, with its historical, political, military, ecological, and geographical significance, has gained global attention, vividly illustrating the unique geopolitical characteristics of the Korean Peninsula involving peace, confrontation, and coexistence. It is noteworthy that existing cultural and artistic activities in the DMZ often rely on direct participation. However, due to the challenges of accessibility, limited information, and cultural differences over time associated with the DMZ, there are difficulties in expanding cultural and artistic content.Therefore, in this study, we assume that digital platforms such as virtual museums utilizing 3D laser projection mapping or 3D scanning will play a crucial role in addressing these limitations. We aim to analyze the current situation and potential solutions by examining existing cultural and artistic activities within the DMZ, considering the role of these digital platforms in overcoming the identified challenges.