Political Practice Research Articles

Gendering and slow violence as mundane political practice in early childhood education

ABSTRACT For many years, researchers have attended to gender in early childhood education (ECE) from an equity perspective, framed initially by feminist and feminist poststructuralist theories. More recently, researchers have adopted feminist new materialism and feminist posthumanist perspectives to consider gender in ECE. Here we think with the concept of slow violence to contemplate how, in combination with extra-sectionality, gendering is a cumulative and an integral part of the mundane political practices occurring in ECE contexts, lurking in the everydayness of busy settings and ‘hidden in plain sight’. We show how the talk of educators forms an integral part of the practices occurring daily in ECE settings, and how the ways gender is discussed becomes one of the mundane political practices that are cumulative and part of slow violence. This article was prompted by nuances that emerged when probing data from interviews with Australian early childhood educators and by noticing differently, how gender can be constructed in the everyday talk and actions of educators.

Seachange Migration, Outer Metropolitan Suburbanisation, and Marginality: The Electoral Politics of the Central Coast of New South Wales, 1949–2001

Seachanging and the expansion of suburbia led to important changes in Australia's human geography during the second half of the twentieth century. However, the implications of domestic migration on electoral politics have received only limited study. The Central Coast of New South Wales was one place where these two patterns of movement converged and which came to be routinely identified in public debate as electorally marginal. In reviewing this discursive positioning across both federal and state politics over several decades, the article examines how the region's marginality was often linked to the social mix created by migration primarily from Sydney, among which retirees and long distance commuters received particular attention as cohorts of voters. The analysis then turns to electoral competition in what was thus seen as a contestable space. This spanned national, state, and local issues and the major parties sometimes pre‐selected candidates offering very distinct value propositions. Overall, the Central Coast's regional political discourse reflected wider understandings of voting realignment seen around Australia, including changing perspectives on class, but also highlights how migration created new, formative communities where marginality was viewed as an important part of local political identity and practice.

Coalitions of care: Strategies for expanding substantive urban citizenship in U.S cities during the COVID-19 pandemic

In this paper we investigate and analyze the elevation of localized practices of migrant belonging, social inclusion and refuge in U.S. cities during the COVID-19 pandemic using the lens of citizenship rights and evolution as proposed by T.H. Marshall. While Marshall's focus was national, we argue that this framework can be adjusted to analyze practices of substantive urban citizenship. Our study draws on interviews conducted during 2021 with local government officials as well as leaders of local immigrant-serving NGOs in 16 U.S. cities. We analyze the successes and failures of local governments as well as civil society organizations in treating migrants within their jurisdictions as ‘citizens’ who belong regardless of their legal status. We pay particular attention to the inter- and multiscalar practices of local, state, and national politics and policies in responding to the immediate needs of non-citizen migrants. The study concludes that Marshall's model has merit but the order he proposed is switched, so that social citizenship is prioritized. The study also emphasizes the importance of strengthening institutional coalitions, especially with migrant organizations in cities. These diverse and expanded partnerships underscore the expansion of citizenship-like practices in many jurisdictions for migrants during the pandemic.

Tracing Diplomatic Tutelage: (Post)colonial Pedagogies and the Training of African Diplomats

Abstract Throughout the twentieth century, colonies emerged from the so-called tutelage of European imperial powers to represent themselves as sovereign states. One consequence of this change was an expansion in overseas diplomatic training, aimed at inducting into international life the hundreds of diplomats required to staff new foreign services. This paper interrogates the pedagogical and (geo)political practice of tutelage—where guardianship and instruction are held in tension—in order to shine a critical spotlight on programs training African diplomats, hosted in Britain, France, and Switzerland, and later in Cameroon and Kenya. In exploring practices of tutelage both within the classroom and at the international scale, we bring to the fore hitherto overlooked relational and temporal dimensions of tutelage that provide new insights into enduring paternalistic power relations as well as possibilities for agency and resistance. We trace the legacies of colonialism within these training programs but are also attentive to the ways trainers problematized the generalizability of their knowledge and pedagogy, and how African diplomats-in-training resisted relations of tutelage. In dialogue with scholarship on socialization and international education, we develop an enhanced conceptualization of tutelage that provides analytical purchase on inter-scalar relationships in world politics during and beyond formal decolonization.

Transformations in participation, creative and political practices in the punk scene in Bogotá during the COVID-19 pandemic

This article studies the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic through its different phases by looking at the case of Bogotá’s punk scene and analysing the activities of different collectives involved in the organization of music shows and other types of gatherings. We contribute to understanding those effects by answering the question of how the pandemic has transformed the creative, collaborative and political practices of its participants. We consider four periods of analysis: pre-pandemic, lockdown, new normal and post-peak reactivation. We use a mixed methodology comprising interviews with members of the collectives and the analysis of secondary data obtained from the social media posts made by these collectives. We use the latter to compare audience participation and reactions before, during and after the COVID-19 lockdown period with data from 2019, 2020 and 2021. A network analysis confirms the existence of a network of collectives identifiable as a central node of the punk scene. We find that remote activities were never considered more than a temporary and imperfect alternative from creative, political and economic perspectives. Economic impacts were severe and led to the closure of several collectives. Though a political discourse was not articulated as such by the scene, political thought and action aligned with social protests in Colombia and unified in opposition to market-oriented government policies in the cultural field. A slow return to in-person activities took place in the scene, leaving remote events behind, re-establishing live music at the centre of the scene and allowing for informal socialization among creators, producers and audiences. By looking at the three effects globally, we conclude that the punk scene did not recover completely and did not reach the level of organization it had before the pandemic.

On the Institution of Public Hearing – An Analysis from the Theoretical Point of View and the Perspective of the State’s Political Practice (Fifth to Ninth Term of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland)

On the Institution of Public Hearing – An Analysis from the Theoretical Point of View and the Perspective of the State’s Political Practice (Fifth to Ninth Term of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland)

Iqbal's Spiritual Democracy and Habermas's Deliberative Democracy: A Comparative Study

The current study is written in the context of the civilizational dialogue between the West and the Muslim world with reference to Jürgen Habermas and Muhammad Iqbal's political views. It explores the congruence and contrasts between Habermas's discourse theory of democracy or deliberative democracy and Iqbal's theory of spiritual democracy. This research strives to find out the extent to which the core values of Habermas's theory and that of Iqbal’s are compatible. For Habermas, the core values of social order are liberty and equality, whereas Iqbal upholds liberty, equality, and solidarity. It has been investigated whether they both mean the same phenomena by the same terms or not. For Habermas and Iqbal, democracy is the best form of government but neither one is satisfied with the existing democratic practices. In principle, they accept democracy as the best political system. The research paper also sheds light on the historical and cultural influences that have shaped the political ideologies of both Habermas and Iqbal, considering the impact of Western Enlightenment ideals on Habermas and the role of Islamic jurisprudence and spirituality in shaping Iqbal's democratic theory. Through critical analysis, this study aims to deepen the understanding of complexities inherent in the dialogue between Western and Muslim civilizations and offers insights into potential avenues for collaboration in political theory and practice.

Interactional and convivial possibilities at war: Ukrainian students’ home-making on a multicultural campus

This article examines Ukrainian students’ home-making at London’s multilingual and multicultural universities, contrasting the ways in which students’ idea of themselves and their sense of belonging developed after their arrival in London, and the ways in which this experience was altered by the outbreak of war on 24 February 2022. For international students in the UK, making themselves at home on a university campus is a relational process in which cultural, linguistic and political ideas and practices, brought together from the students’ former homes, are negotiated and transcended in newly established social networks. In this article, we explore the ways in which students’ networks, old and new, are altered as a result of their experience of war. Our findings indicate that when imagined personal life trajectories are disrupted as a result of the social and political crisis that accompanies the war, the possibilities of articulating the individual experience and the social interactions that provide such affordances are existential processes, which allow (or not) individuals to (re-)engage in home-making and to find new meaning in their emplacement and sense of self.

О соотношении государственного (политического) режима с иными элементами формы государства

The article is devoted to doctrinal issues of the relationship between the state (political) regime and other elements of the form of the state: the form of government and the form of government. The author comes to the conclusion that, despite the mutual influence of all elements of the form of the state, the determining factor for the characteristics of a particular state is still the state (political) regime. It is the methods of power, the current political practice that determine the specific objective and subjective varieties of the corresponding forms of government and government structure, determined by various reasons. It can be stated that the state regime makes it possible to implement the legal characteristics of the form of government in different ways, taking into account the real situation of government bodies of different branches of government in a particular period, as well as the implementation of the actual form of government in the corresponding state.

Case Study: Language Politeness in Preschool Children at Ar-Rahman School

Purpose of the study: This research aims to investigate how preschool children use language politeness. The method used is a pragmatic approach with a qualitative approach. Language politeness is usually part of adult human abilities. Adults will be better able to judge whether an utterance is considered polite or not, depending on various factors such as social distance, culture, and power relations. Methodology: The data that has been copied and grouped is then analyzed using the politeness theory of language developed by Brown and Levinson. In qualitative research, data analysis begins with reducing data, categorizing data, presenting data, drawing conclusions from findings, and verifying. Main Findings: The research results show that language politeness can be divided into four main strategies. However, the results show that preschool children, especially those aged 3-5 years, do not fully understand the concept of politeness. The data obtained showed considerable variation in children's understanding of politeness strategies, without any clear consistency. Novelty/Originality of this study: The novelty of this research is the methodological approach that uses direct observation in various activity situations at school as well as in-depth interviews with teachers and parents, which provides a comprehensive picture of language politeness practices. This makes a significant contribution to academic literature and educational practitioners in understanding and developing language politeness from an early age.

A critical analysis of India and Pakistan’s terrorism discourse in the context of geopolitics and imperialism

ABSTRACT Why do India and Pakistan always quarrel over terrorism? The prevailing arguments more often implicate intriguing South Asian geopolitics surrounding the unresolved Kashmir dispute or pathological partition of British India in 1947 to explain this puzzle. Surprisingly, why and how the two countries verbalise terrorism has hardly been investigated in a comparative framework as a potential underpinning of this historical syndrome. This void has deprived South Asia’s existing literature and public and policy debates of an understanding of the underlying determinants of the terrorism discourse. Namely, how has the discourse originated, what are its distinct metaphysics, and how it has shaped and normalised discursive practices at significant moments in the history of these two countries, and with what consequences? This article responds to these broader questions. It argues that among other vital underpinnings, the Indo-Pakistan terrorism discourse, with its origins in colonialism, functions to institute and enable rival practices of exclusionary politics, doublespeak and propaganda. More importantly, it nurtures self-fulfilling concepts of statehood deriving from a constructed “real” reality characterising an imagined geopolitical pathology that, in turn, perpetuates Indo-Pakistan imperialism. In addressing this argument, the paper makes multiple original contributions, including identifying research avenues and indicating various intersecting causes of friction that afford reconciliation possibilities to the stakeholders.

Ibn Khaldūn and Kınalızāde’s Concept of Dāʾirat al-Siyāsah: A Rethinking of Modern Politics from A Civilisational Perspective

This paper demonstrates that Islamic civilisation is characterised by a unique circular model of political and administrative system as articulated by Ibn Khaldūn and his Ottoman successor, Kınalızāde, in the concept of the circle of politics (dāʾirat al-siyāsah). It offers a new perspective to the current quest for good governance from a Khaldunian perspective by presenting an alternative way of restructuring contemporary politics and society in a circular order for a more effective and egalitarian system open to citizen participation. The pyramidal governance structure, having no roots in Islamic political theory and practice, positions the subjects at the bottom of the political hierarchy and the ruler at its pinnacle, which leads to significant disparities. Conversely, the circular system espouses an egalitarian and participatory political order rooted in the sunnah of Prophet Muḥammad. This model, embraced by Muslims for centuries until the era of colonisation, engenders a more inclusive and engaging approach to governance. Furthermore, this study contends that the circular model of governance is applicable beyond political institutions to a larger range of social entities as a method of reforming and improving them.

Influence of Political Ideology on Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Adults in the United States.

Political ideologies have emerged as one of the risk factors driving healthcare decisions, including colorectal cancer screening in US adults. Previous links between conservative viewpoints and lower awareness of preventive health services have been established. We aimed to evaluate how differences in political ideology affect CRC screening practices using a nationally representative sample of US adults. Using data from the 2020 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), we compared compliance with CRC screening guidelines between conservative, moderate, and liberal political groups. Survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression models were employed to ascertain the relationship between political ideology and CRC screening. Of the 3368 respondents, 71.0% (95% CI: 67.8, 74.0) were screened for CRC. A total of 1026 (30.5%) were liberal, 1148 (34.1%) were moderate, and 1194 (35.4%) were conservative. Out of the conservatives (78.8%) were non-Hispanic Whites compared to moderates (61.4%) and liberals (64.0%). There was no significant difference in age, level of education, or income group by political ideology. In adjusted models, there was no significant difference in CRC screening by political ideology. Contrary to previous ties, we found no significant differences in compliance with CRC screening guidelines among these groups, concluding that CRC screening remains a significant health concern for all individuals, irrespective of political ideologies.

The international system and the clash of world orders

In 1945, humanity came together to create the Charter International System. It expressed the hope that after the most catastrophic war the world had yet seen, a superior system of international relations could emerge. The ‘spirit of 1945’ gave rise to the United Nations and its foundational Charter, reinforced subsequently by numerous declarations, protocols and conventions. The system delivers many public goods, including the system’s specialised agencies, but above all by establishing the normative and legitimate framework for the conduct of international politics. The Charter system today faces unprecedented challenges. The tension between the multilateralism and normative aspirations for peace and development represented by the Charter system and the competitive practices of international politics has become a contradiction and possibly an antinomy—an irreconcilable difference. The creation of competing blocs (world orders) in Cold War I prevented consensus on fundamental matters, however, all sides proclaimed their allegiance to the Charter system. When the Soviet bloc disintegrated in 1989–1991, the Charter system faced a new challenge—the quest for global hegemony of the remaining world order, the Political West led by the US. This bloc claimed certain tutelary privileges, formulated initially in terms of a ‘liberal international order’ and later in the form of the ‘rules-based order’, over the Charter International System. This resulted in conflicts and even wars, but is today countered by the emergence of a Political East. Cold War II today is more challenging and dangerous than the first, primarily due to the threat posed to the very existence of the Charter systems and its norms.

Formation of national image and translation practice of Chinese political discourse in the context of the digital age - on the example of Chinese diplomatic communiqués

This study aims to analyze the impact of Chinese political discourse translation practices on the formation of state image in the digital era, using Chinese diplomatic documents as illustrative material. Diplomatic documents, including diplomatic communiqués, play a crucial role in political propaganda and international communication, holding significant strategic value in international relations. Analyzing the processes and strategies involved in translating diplomatic documents allows for a deeper understanding of how different translation methods influence the portrayal of a state. The accuracy and cultural adaptation of diplomatic translation directly affect the perception of Chinese policies and the image of the state by foreign audiences. While literal translation may preserve the accuracy of the original, it does not always convey cultural context and political intentions. In contrast, free translation and cultural adaptation contribute to a better understanding and acceptance of political information and the state's image by the target audience. Thus, the translation practice of diplomatic documents is not only a linguistic process but also a crucial strategy for shaping the state's image. This study employs textual analysis methods and is grounded in translation theory to analyze the use of vocabulary and sentence structure in the translation of diplomatic documents. The research aims to identify translation strategies used and to uncover hidden national images. The findings indicate that different translation strategies significantly influence the formation of the national image. Literal translation maintains the accuracy of the original but may miss cultural nuances. Paraphrasing enhances the perception and understanding of the text. Cultural transformation facilitates better adaptation of the text to the local audience. The scientific novelty of this research lies in its empirical investigation based on the translation of political discourse to reveal the formation of the state's image. The research results can be applied in diplomacy, international communications, and intercultural interactions, providing empirical support and guidance on translation strategies to enhance the national image. The study underscores the importance of translating political discourse for shaping the national image in the digital era. Under the influence of national ideology, the translation of political texts requires reevaluation and a forward-looking approach. In the digital era, the translation of political texts should aim to maintain and strengthen the national image.

POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND VOTER PARTICIPATION IN THE 2020 REGIONAL HEAD ELECTIONS IN BANGLI REGENCY

This research analyzes political communication in voter participation during the 2020 simultaneous regional head elections in Bangli Regency amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. It examines forms of political communication, underlying ideology, and implications. Using a qualitative approach, data were collected through in-depth interviews and document studies, applying theories such as persuasive communication, critical hegemony, social practice, and power-knowledge relations. Findings indicate that online political communication during the pandemic facilitated interaction between election actors and voters but had drawbacks. Issues included limited election information, outdated voter data, and inaccurate permanent voter lists. Additionally, budget constraints, insufficient personal protective equipment, and health protocol violations were significant challenges. The ideology behind political communication was the hegemony of community figures, political elites, and successful teams over voters, resulting in power-knowledge relations and transactional political practices. Elderly and disabled voters in mountainous areas were particularly marginalized. Practical findings show that online political communication limited voter references, reducing freedom in choosing candidates. Theoretical findings indicate that online political communication disrupts social interaction during Covid-19, and hegemony theory is effectively applied in the Bangli community, which practices local culture. However, power- knowledge relation theory cannot be universally applied, as traditional figures dominate voters and the central executive board determines coalitions and candidate pairs. Keywords: political communication, participation, regional elections, Bangli Regenc

Taking a longer historical view of America’s renaming moment: The role of Black onomastic activism within the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Renaming practices are increasingly deployed as a political technology in USA campaigns to do greater justice to the rights, histories, and identities of historically marginalized groups. African American social actors and groups have been especially active in this onomastic or naming activism. To fully make sense of this renaming moment, which is often popularly misrepresented as brand new, we outline an approach that takes a longer view of the history of Black naming by drawing together ideas from the field of Black geographies, specifically Katherine McKittrick’s ideas about Black livingness, and our work in critical place naming studies. As an illustration, we conduct a study of SNCC and the way civil rights workers and mobilized communities valued names and deployed onomastic tactics—the (re)naming of people, places, and institutions as part of their creative and grass-roots activism. These onomastic tactics facilitated and accompanied SNCC’s gathering of antiracist intelligence, constructing a subaltern transportation system, and carrying out a revolutionary remaking of place and affective atmosphere in the face of oppression. We not only seek to add a needed racial genealogy of ongoing naming struggles in America, but also use SNCC’s onomastic tactics to tell a story of the Civil Rights Movement generally not well understood and to expand what counts as activism and who counts as activists beyond canonized celebrations of the Movement in popular media and education. As an important guide to current naming struggles, the SNCC experience is instructive of the fact that renaming alone cannot count as liberation. Rather, the efficacy of naming as a civil rights practice comes from the assembling and mobilizing of names with the broader capacities of people, material places, and political practices and discourses.

Leaving the “Discomfort” Zone: The Correlation between Politics and New Artistic Practices at the Beginning of the 19th Dynasty

At the end of the Amarna Period, a process of political and religious restoration began. This attempt at recovery went beyond the strictly official, as the Egyptian society seemed to demand a moral reparation. It was a much-needed change that would encompass all aspects of society and it was imperative that the changes be visible. It is for this reason that visual art would be one of the main means of communication. The artistic image was the propaganda necessary to reconstruct historical memory and religious sentiment. This was most evident in the early years of the 19th dynasty, when, in addition, the need to legitimize the new royal lineage was reflected in private tombs. The Egyptian artist used art to visually consolidate these changes, and the owner of the tomb was keen to do so. This article aims to analyze the artistic changes, mainly in the private sphere, that occurred in funerary art in opposition to the religious changes that had been made during the Amarna Period and that were most evident from the reign of Horemheb until the first half of the reign of Ramesses II. Politics and art intermingled at a time when reconstructing the past and the relationship with divinity was an urgent necessity.

From Novels to Figures, Themes and Strategies of a Political Practice PART II: Sexual Difference: An Occasion for Being

The present paper is the last of a series of three papers, constituting a whole project of translation and commentary composed of translated extracts from the “Catalogo no. 2 – Le madri di tutte noi”, published by the Milan Women’s Bookstore in 1982. The idea for the project was conceived by Silvia Niccolai and Angela Condello, who selected the extracts and provided the written commentaries on the original texts. The Yellow Catalogue, in which we find collective discussions, pages of personal diaries and, overall, the enterprise of a group of women debating over their literary symbolic mothers (who to read? And why?), is an interesting example of a political use of literature. After four decades from its publication, it still proposes inspiring and fresh suggestions for feminist political action and critique, while representing an interesting occasion for researching the philosophical roots of feminism. In particular, the debate on the literary “mothers,” i.e. on the female authors that can contribute to the formation of a feminine symbolic, shows the kind of concerns of difference feminism in Italy (especially during the Seventies). The text offers, in other words, the opportunity to enter a world that nowadays – with the new, varied streams of feminism and the battles over the neutralization of sexual identity – is less frequent, and nevertheless we find it important in order to understand the social, political and cultural power of feminism. The project is composed like follows: Paper No. 1, In search of a feminine symbolic, by Angela Condello, already published on Law& Literature and Paper No. 2, From Novels to the Figures, themes and strategies for a political practice. Paper No 2 is structured in two parts. Part One, entitled “Interest in Reality.” For every woman’s autobiography, by Silvia Niccolai, is already published in Law & Literature; Part Two is the present paper: coauthored by Angela Condello and Silvia Niccolai, it addresses issues of sexual difference, identity and ambiguity, and the theories behind the idea of body and life at the core of the Catalogue.

‘Sometimes they achieve a good life, sometimes they come back in a coffin’ – exploring social worlds of mobility at the communities of origin in Chiapas, Mexico

ABSTRACT Based on ethnographical and collaborative research conducted in the South Mexican region of The Lacandon Jungle, my paper explores how Indigenous peasant communities deal with the effects that various forms of mobility have on their social worlds. Combining decolonial work on Indigenous communality and transnational perspectives with a situational analysis approach, my research specifically focuses on collective processes of meaning-making in light of the increasing mobility among these communities’ members. By analyzing how the people who stay collectively organize the community’s social world, I position myself against approaches that reduce Indigenous movements to cultural policies, since such approaches overlook the relevance of anti-colonial resistance. My research shows that within the ‘Indigenous communal governance systems’, the departure of individual members plays a formative role for the entire community, shaping the resulting social relations and political practices. To ensure collective access to territory as a means of communal self-determination, a ‘transnational continuum of communality’ emerges between the communities of origin and their absent members.