Political Movements Research Articles

Between the Religious and the Secular: Latin American Neo-Pentecostalism in a Context of Multiple Modernities

This article seeks to understand neo-Pentecostalism in Latin America as a religious and political movement within the framework of multiple modernities, based on an ethnographic study in evangelical churches in Chile and Mexico. The study focuses on two main axes: the discourse of the “Kingdom of God” and the experience of the Holy Spirit. The former explores the conception of public space, while the latter examines the experiential dimensions, both individual and collective, that confer meaning and legitimacy to this religious movement. Neo-Pentecostalism emerges as a complex phenomenon where religion and politics intertwine in novel ways, responding to the intricacies of the region. Contrary to the notion of a monolithic and reactionary movement, this article demonstrates how neo-Pentecostalism is a movement that navigates the interstices between the religious and the secular.

"El Primer Grito de Independencia" en los ensayos históricos de Francisco Gavidia: la invención de un mito fundacional de la "nación salvadoreña"

In 1911, the centenary festivities of the political movements that took place in the Municipality of San Salvador in 1811 were celebrated with great sumptuousness. The commemorations-celebrations of 1911 were part of a set of rites, symbols, anniversaries, monuments, places of civic memory that the Salvadoran State needed to invent in order to instill feelings towards the country in the population. To achieve this, it was also necessary to create a history based on historical facts that would become a canon and give support to nationalist inventions. To pursue this, in 1912 the President of the Republic Manuel Enrique Araujo commissioned three intellectuals to write an official history. Francisco Gavidia was asked to write about the independence of El Salvador. The result of that request was the publication of the book Modern History of El Salvador. In this book, Gavidia included two chapters on what was called “First Cry of Independence.” Thus, the movements of 1811 became one of the founding myths of the Salvadoran nation. Along with the date —November 5—, the myth of the hero / father of the country José Matías Delgado was created. The third link in the myth was the bell tower of the La Merced Church. In this way, the story to create a “cradle of the country” was resolved. Along with Gavidia, other intellectuals completed that company. This work intends to analyze the context of the invention of “The First Cry of Independence”. Realidad, Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, No. 164, 2024: 39-88.

O herói improvável e o elixir das concórdias

The reproduction of pleasant myths, the fabrication of heroic predecessors for present political movements and the upkeep of useful lies for the defence of noble causes should not constitute the aim of legal historians. On the contrary, it is their scientific duty to point out the inappropriateness of such conducts and the lack of plausibility of narratives produced this way. Showing how the legal community of São Paulo has reconstructed its memory, the article offers a new interpretation about the path of Goffredo Telles Junior as a political militant and State theorist. Re-examining forgotten remains of such path and reinterpreting the already known sources, we aim at demonstrating that his adhesion to Integralismo, far from having been an insignificant and episodical juvenile whim, was a decisive moment which affected his ideological views along four decades. From the thirties to the hardest times of the Military Dictatorship, his texts abounded with typical elements of the far-right antidemocratic thought: the obsession with corporatism as a supposed antidote against class struggle, the repugnance for liberal democracy, the disdain for the opinions of the average citizen, the strong attachment to hierarchy and to the “Principle of Authority”, the rejection of individualism and the belief that small élites, superior to the “mass”, should show the Nation its way. Obvious as well in the first integralist party as in its postwar successor, Goffredo’s longstanding loyalty to that far-right movement tends to be disregarded by his admirers, thus wiping out decades of the jurist’s political activity.

A Historical Perspective Through the Lens of the Islamic City Theory: Konya Example

The concept of the Islamic city elucidates the spatial structures specific to Islam religion and civilization, deeply influencing the lives of Muslims. Despite geographical, ethnic, and cultural diversities, it has been observed that the fundamental influence of the religion shaped similar urban formations in the Islamic geography. A key determining factor in the transition from traditional bedouin tribal life to urban civilization is the need for more suitable settlements to meet the multifaceted requirements and rituals of Islam. Societies embracing Islam have restructured their ways of life, with mosques becoming centers of worship, simultaneously reshaping legal, administrative, educational, and commercial structures, thereby becoming central to urban life. Islamic cities, reaching their zenith during the Golden Age of Islam, gradually weakened over time during the processes of modernization/secularization, with the rise of rational/bureaucratic powers diminishing their role as the primary shaping force of space. Konya, representing the characteristics of the Islamic city during the Seljuk and Ottoman Empires, underwent significant transformations approaching the modern era, affecting its physical, social, economic, and administrative fabric. Particularly in the Republican era, the Islamic city features were sidelined due to modernist spatial shaping, but have recently regained importance with the emergence of Islamic political movements and approaches by National Vision (Milli Görüş) municipalities. This study examines the Islamic city from a historical perspective, highlighting common characteristics of Islamic cities worldwide, scrutinizing the erosive effects of secularization/modernization trends on the Islamic city, specifically focusing on Konya, and finally evaluating recent revitalization policies directed towards the Islamic city in Konya.

The Impact of the Anglo–Boer War on Russian Marxists before the October Revolution

ABSTRACT Various political movements in Russia followed the Anglo–Boer War of 1899–1902 (also known as the South African War). The reasons why the Russian Marxists, who later carried out the first socialist revolution in history, sympathised with the Boers and ignored the reactionary and exploitative nature of their regimes in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State remained unexplored. Russian Marxists were reluctant to join the mass pro-Boer effort. However, they participated in the pro-Boer campaign conducted by the Second International. Poorly informed about the oppression of Africans in the two republics, the social democrats regarded the Boers as freedom fighters whose experience deserved to be studied and applied to the confrontation with tsarist autocracy. Russian Marxists used information on Boer commando tactics and other aspects of the South African War for instruction, training, and dissemination of their ideas. They campaigned for an introduction of a militia in Russia and studied the methods and organisation of Boer military units. Although Russian Marxists had little in common with members of burgher commandos, lessons of the Boer resistance to British imperialism served the cause of a Russian revolution.

Can Mindful Politics Be Meaningful Politics? Socially Engaged Buddhism as a Political Project within a Liberal Political Order

Throughout the Western political world, and particularly in the United States, contemporary Buddhist political thought has largely become synonymous with the movement of mindful politics, also known as Socially Engaged Buddhism. Focusing primarily on issues of social, economic, and environmental justice, mindful politics has found a natural ally in Western left-wing and progressive movements to the degree that Buddhist political thought in the United States is now seemingly indistinguishable from these Western political positions as a practical matter. While the practical alliance of Socially Engaged Buddhism and progressivism is well established, what is less clear is what the movement of mindful politics brings to this relationship beyond its Buddhist veneer. By basing its political project on the secularization of Buddhist compassion (karuṇā), mindful politics fails in creating a political project which can be compelling to those outside of the confines of Buddhist religious belief and practice. While the mindful politics movement and contemporary liberal progressivism share an overlap in policy commitments, the religious roots of Buddhist mindful politics ultimately preclude it from properly aligning with the pluralistic requirements of the prevailing liberal political order. This article will examine the foundations of Socially Engaged Buddhism and explore the standing of the possibility of Socially Engaged Buddhism as the foundation for a political project within the confines of a liberal political order.

Globaloney: Extended Party Networks and the Dissemination of Anti-Globalization Insults

From where does discontent against globalization originate? Current explanations emphasize material conditions and the emergence of globalization-skeptical parties. We argue that party-affiliated factions play a critical but underappreciated role. Such factions provide foundational support for elite appeals, acting entrepreneurially to construct new narratives that are later invoked by elites. We test this by studying a unique case: the “globalist” insult on Twitter. We find that “globalist” mentions co-occur with hashtags and terms associated with right-wing conspiracies, “alt-right” media figures, and Donald Trump. We further find that the most consistent correlate of the “globalist” insult is its use by the alt-right media organization Breitbart, not by traditional political elites or in response to changes in economic conditions. The results suggest that a conceptualization of political parties as organizers of political conflict, specifically ones that incorporate factions and non-elite entities like partisan media, helps make sense of anti-globalization political movements.

Dinamika Transformasi Tasawuf Era Modern: Neo-Sufisme dan Gerakan Islam Transnasional

This article examines the dynamics transformation of Sufism in the modern era. Sufism in the modern era appears running into transformation both in terms of its concept and movement. From the aspect of the concept of Sufism, modern Sufism is running into a transformation, namely neo-Sufism. Likewise, in the network aspect of the Sufism movement in the modern era, Sufism moves dynamically, from a local movement to becoming a network of transnational Islamic movements. This research is qualitative research using transnationalism theory as an analytical tool and historical studies as an approach. In this research, at least two findings were found. First, the presence of neo-Sufism is a form of transformation of classical Sufism teachings. The concept of neo-Sufism tends to be balanced (tawazun) between exoteric and esoteric aspects and can be a spiritual alternative for urban Muslim communities. Second, modern Sufism can be categorized as a representation of a transnational Islamic movement, as a non-governmental movement structured across countries in terms of thought, spiritual and political movements. The main route behind the transnational Islamic movement of Sufism is through da'wah, trade and immigrants. Keywords: Sufism, Neo-Sufism, Transnationalism, Transformative

Party polarization in digital fingerprints: Tracing politicians’ social media posts on the George Floyd protests

Under what conditions do politicians express their views on social media? How do politicians express their opinions around a given issue on social media? This paper contends that issue ownership and electoral accountability are critical factors that drive politicians’ attitudes toward a politically salient issue. It conducts a case study on the 2020 George Floyd protests in the United States, using an original, computationally-gathered dataset of posts on Twitter. The multi-level analysis results suggest that politicians’ race and party affiliation, in conjunction with their constituencies’ partisan orientation and racial composition, played significant roles in determining the frequency of Floyd-related Twitter posts they shared. Additionally, topic modeling results demonstrate a disparity in how the political movement is phrased between Democrats and Republicans. These findings shed light on the motivations behind social media posting behavior by public officials and carry significant implications for party polarization in contemporary democracies.

Introduction: Esperantists in the Twentieth Century: Making Connections in an Age of Division

The transcending of borders marked a large part of the political experience of the 20th century. This aspiration took shape in a century that strengthened and multiplied national barriers and that witnessed two world wars. In response to growing nationalism, many individuals, political movements and communities adopted an enlarged identity bound up with cosmopolitanism, internationalism, pan-Europeanism or, more recently, globalism. These categories, often part of a broader political frame of reference, established a connection between estranged nations but still referred to national divisions. Transnational history has shown how these tendencies were experienced not as a withdrawal of the border framework but as a link between nations-states. In this context, a particular and powerful way of abolishing national constraints has remained unnoticed by historians: the community of Esperanto speakers. They emerged at the end of the 19th century as an alternative to internationalizing models. With this aim, they developed a linguistic and cultural space that would not be marked by one specific culture to the detriment of the others. Nevertheless, the international language and the social movement created around it had to face the dominant ideological trends of the time. Through three case studies from the history of the Esperanto movement we propose to deepen the debate on the links between ideology and transnationalism. The first investigates the epistolary relationship between two communists, one Bulgarian and the other Japanese, discussing the trajectory of their political life and most notably their rejection of Stalinism. The second focuses on the link between Esperanto and anticolonial thinking in East Asia during the 1930s and early 1940s. Based on the study of literature and in particular of post-war Esperanto poetry, the third contribution examines the reasons that led a number of authors to choose the international language Esperanto to formulate their own account of WWII and to perpetuate the memory of the collective tragedy.

Impure blood: specialists, institutions, and cultural authority in the context of AIDS in Brazil

In this article, we examine the concept of cultural authority in the context of the professionalization/corporatization of medicine at the end of the 20th century, and its political and moral contours since the HIV/AIDS epidemic in São Paulo. Based on journalistic articles collected from the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo (1986-1989), we seek to highlight the place of medical expertise, examining the discourses produced about the disease in Brazil, in bases that show the emergence of social actors, disputes for credibility and the clinical authority under challenge. We analyze public narratives about AIDS, situating the place of authority. We argue that such discourses, in the context of sexual panic, did not occur outside a dynamic of therapeutic/clinical authority and the profession's own norms, which also immediately made visible the role of physicians, specialists and other health professionals, in dialogue with the moral grammar of the socially current illness. The conclusions illustrate the link between Brazilian medicine at the end of the century and the local-global history of AIDS, concentrating historical and political movements that disputed the scientific and moral meanings of the disease, fractured by the clash between authorities in the scientific, sanitary and clinical fields.

Legal Feminism: Wang Ruqi and the 1950 Marriage Law

Abstract This article analyses Wang Ruqi’s 王汝琪 (1912–1990) contribution to the drafting of the 1950 Marriage Law, the first codified law promulgated by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It argues that Wang–who had been a legal specialist and a female political activist dating back to the 1930s and 1940s–was the actual author of the law’s first draft. In rehabilitating Wang’s long-forgotten contribution to the making of the Marriage Law, this study highlights that, first of all, lawmaking in the early years of the PRC was characterized by legal “professionalism,” rather than the “vernacularism” that scholars in recent years have tended to ascribe to this period. Second, Wang was an exemplary figure of a new breed of “state feminists” in the PRC, which we term “state-legal feminists.” State-legal feminists, like state feminists in general, were brought into the PRC state apparatus and took advantage of their role in the state to advance sociopolitical agendas. However, they differed from their fellow state feminists because they firmly believed that the state’s will and intent could be best articulated and exercised through codified laws and legal institutions. The making of the Marriage Law thus exemplifies the state-legal feminist approach insofar as it resorted to a codified law to push for the political agendas of women’s emancipation and restructuring families in China. While recent scholarship highlights the politicization of the law in the 1953 campaign to promote the Marriage Law, this study inverts this by addressing the legalization of political and social movements.

Policy amnesia and the promise of housing cooperatives: Finnish housing cooperativism from 1920 to 2020

Finland seems to suffer from a kind of ‘policy amnesia’ when it comes to the topic of housing cooperatives. Tracing back from 1920 to 2020, this article analyses waves of experimentation and political debate with housing cooperativism across both housing production and consumption. Supplementing a document analysis with expert interviews, it investigates which cooperatively-organized modes of housing provision were able to institutionalize in the Finnish housing system, when, and why this did (or did not) happen, and what roles they have played in the broader housing regime. It argues that, whilst building cooperatives grew into large and powerful actors in the Finnish housing system, cooperative tenure has never managed to expand beyond a niche mode of housing provision. This article investigates why, and suggests three interrelated factors: the relationship between housing cooperatives and Finland’s ideologically fragmented cooperative movement, the pragmatic and piecemeal reform of Finnish housing policy and politics, and the co-optation and ‘companization’ of cooperative identity.

Political Talk Shows and Prioritization of Political Movement Issues in Iraq

Political talk shows, in their various forms, are among the most eagerly presented programs by contemporary media outlets, as they are considered one of the most effective means of conveying the media message to the audience. It is well-known that political movement issues have a significant impact on the lives of Iraqi citizens in various aspects—political, economic, social, and cultural, among others. Consequently, these issues have become a priority for media outlets in general and talk shows in particular, as they seek to find specific solutions to the discussed issues and achieve specific agendas and objectives through the talk show. Given the importance of the topic, the researcher in this study aimed to understand the role of political talk shows in shaping and constructing the audience's agenda regarding political movement issues in Iraq. This study is classified as a descriptive study, and the researcher employed the survey method to collect information and data from the respondents. A questionnaire was used to gather data, and it was administered to a purposive, multi-stage sample consisting of 294 respondents from the audience in Baghdad Province.

The Local “Salad Bar” of Hate: Global Hegemonic Masculinity in Australia’s Extreme Right

This paper examines a local manifestation of extreme right political mobilisation in Australia from the standpoint of Connell and Messerschmidt's (2005) global hegemonic masculinity. Using Messerschmidt and Rohde’s (2018) methods for analysing violent extremists’ public statements, we examine public blog posts by “The Lads [sic] Society” to scrutinise the relationship between local advocacy for a white ethno-state in Australia and global hegemonic masculinities. The analysis finds that localised white nationalism is both a response to, and constituted by, the tensions of global hegemonic masculinity and is, in part, an attempt to reclaim localised white hegemonic masculinity in the face of a multitude of perceived global societal failures. Through the analysis, this paper contributes to Messerschmidt and Rohde’s (2018) claim that various global hegemonic masculinities simultaneously coexist and compete, while pointing to how discursive processes continue to redefine masculinities at the local level. The paper also responds to a broader invitation to incorporate gender analysis into the study of extreme political movements, enabling a more critical understandings of the motivations and experiences of those that participate in them.

Satellite Political Movements: How Grassroots Activists Bolster Trump and Bolsonaro in the United States and Brazil

We develop the concept of the satellite political movement (SPM), a form of movement-party interaction that emerges in support of a particular political leader. We theorize SPMs as grassroots movements that seek to empower a formal political figure by engaging in activism on that individual’s behalf. Examining the cases of Donald Trump in the United States and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, we suggest that SPMs may serve as a valuable resource for insurgent political leaders by engaging in year-round campaigning, activating new supporters, and providing political cover for more controversial tactics. We analyze social media content, legal documents, and contemporaneous reporting to illustrate the actors within SPMs, their relationships to the formal political leader they support, and three theoretical mechanisms through which SPMs may bolster political leaders: permanent campaign, radicalism by proxy, and strategic separation.

First field in the Croatian coat of arms: (re)constructing the contested symbol in online news

The sphere of new media, particularly in European post-socialist societies, often reflects controversies around the meanings of symbols related to the past. This paper analysed controversy in online news caused by the photo in which an unofficial Croatian coat of arms with a white upper left square was publicly presented. This symbol is sometimes seen as problematic since it was, besides other historical contexts, used by the Ustashe, a political movement that established the Nazi-collaborator regime during the Second World War. A qualitative analysis of 195 online news articles revealed that two general meanings are presented to the audiences. The first meaning emphasizes its totalitarian nature, while the other presents it as complex because of its multiple historical uses. Subsequent quantitative analysis of 180 articles compared four groups of online news and established differences regarding the dominant meanings of the symbol that are presented to the audiences. Croatian media predominantly present it as complex/historical. Serbian and Bosnian and Herzegovinian media present it as Ustashe, while global/other news almost fully present it as (pro)Nazi. The differences are also established with regard to content diversity and Croatian media exhibit much greater diversity in the presentation of the symbol compared to the other three groups.

Municipal Politics and the PKK in the early 1970s: A citizenship perspective

This paper examines the Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) municipal politics in the late 1970s through the lens of citizenship politics. The article introduces two concepts—activist citizenship and fugitive citizenship to analyse the PKK’s mobilisation in this period, before the 1980 military coup in Turkey. Activist citizenship challenges the restrictive boundaries of state-sanctioned citizenship, while fugitive citizenship creates alternative political spaces for marginalized groups. Both concepts highlight how individuals and groups, such as the PKK, can assert their political agency in contexts where they are denied formal citizenship. The research questions linear understandings of the PKK’s emergence as a political movement inevitably destined to become an insurgent movement.

Moral responsibility of russian citizens for aggression against Ukraine as a factor of pressure on their political will

The article focuses on the need to actualize the issue of bringing russian citizens to moral responsibility for violation of universal human values and other moral obligations of a person, which is expressed in their support for a large-scale war against Ukraine and the aggressive policy of the russian federation in general. In this vein, the author rethinks the concept of moral responsibility, argues for the inclusion of both individual and collective moral subjects, and highlights the impact of the means of moral responsibility on the formation of consciousness and, especially, the political will of the moral subject. In the discussion with other scholars, the author proposes that the subjects of collective responsibility include those structures, communities, and social groups that act as a collective actor, demonstrate their internal identity and are mutually responsible. The article argues that the russian public, which politically supports the current regime, is objectively a direct subject of the war and, accordingly, bears the full measure of direct political and moral guilt for the actions of its state and their consequences. It is proposed to call the supporters of the war “agents of war”, which will highlight their moral culpability. Therefore, it is important that not only the leadership of the russian federation, but also the entire russian public realise their part of the blame for the russian-Ukrainian war. It is proposed to incriminate moral and political culpability of russian citizens for the military aggression against Ukraine and to carry out information activities in order to make them aware of their personal and solidarity share of guilt and responsibility for this aggression. In order to give the moral condemnation of russian citizens a targeted and universal impact, the author argues for the establishment of a special international moral tribunal to encourage moral actors to fulfill their moral obligations, which will simultaneously contribute to the improvement of the security sphere of humanity. It is not about creating an official administrative structure, but about introducing a single humanistic information space that will counter this aggression. It is believed that it is in the form of a moral and ethical tribunal that the efforts of civilized countries, political, national and religious movements can be effectively united in the general condemnation of the russian aggression, its violation of human norms of goodness and justice, peace and secure existence. The central paradigm of the tribunal should be the phenomenon of safe human existence, human life as a value that excludes aggressive state policy and encroachment on human rights and freedoms. We believe that today, in counteracting russian information and psychological operations, we should focus more on the moral collective guilt and responsibility of all russian citizens who still stand in the position of not resisting evil.

Local councils as movement resource: Post-anti-extradition movement district councils in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT This paper studies the short-lived reform experiment on grassroot democracy by the District Councils of Hong Kong in 2020–2021, following the landslide victory of candidates who supported the 2019 Anti-Extradition Movement of Hong Kong. It argues that the institutional positions and resources of local elections can serve as movement resources to support social and political movements, promote civic participation and community-building, and strengthen civil society. By a study of meeting documents and in-depth interviews with 50 pro-movement councillors, this paper recounted how movement activists made use of the local councils to support the movement, change funding allocation to counter clientelism, encourage grassroot participation and network with civil society. The window of political opportunity was quickly shut down with the imposition of the National Security Law for Hong Kong, but it showed the possibility of using local councils to further movement causes and grassroot democracy in a much-constrained non-democratic institutional setting.