Political Power Research Articles

INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL POWER ON INDIAN NEWS CHANNELS COVERAGE: A STUDY OF HATHRAS CASE 2020

This study investigates how political power influences the coverage of the Hathras 2020 case in Indian news media. They use a qualitative content analysis to investigate how political interests influence the framing, emphasis, and tone of cases in media reports. The study focuses on agenda-setting through political goals, prejudices, and sensationalism, all of which are linked to media integrity in India. A thorough examination of the coverage of the Hathras-Fall demonstrates the need of maintaining journalistic independence and transparency in the face of political interference. Keywords: Political hegemony, Media representation, Hathras tragedy, Broadcast journalism, Dalit women victimization, Societal impact

Becoming Changemakers: How Social-Emotional Learning Can Enhance Civic Agency Development

To better prepare students for active and thoughtful participation in a democratic society, civic education should foster an array of civic competencies. Cultivating student civic agency—an under-studied civic competency—is of particular importance to equip students to authentically use their voice in their communities. But what does it look like to foster student civic agency in a classroom setting? This article leverages a social and emotional learning (SEL) framework to uncover the active curricular ingredients and educational mechanisms through which a student-led civics curriculum has fostered civic agency. In this multi-site case study, we analyze the implementation of an eighth grade student-led civics curriculum in a northeastern U.S. state. We outline how implicit SEL processes in these classrooms, stemming from a pedagogical focus on “changemakers,” supported development of civic agency. We found that the changemakers theme facilitated student exploration of their own civic identity and values, while prompting students to critically examine political power structures. Notably, the theme also helped students to develop a narrative of self as changemakers and to envision themselves actively engaged in civic spaces. This study adds insights to growing evidence on the multi-faceted benefits that civically-oriented SEL may offer to preparing young people to engage in democracy.

Covering the ‘Scottish position adequately’: Planning Civil Defence in Post-war Scotland, 1948–59

Abstract This article brings together the histories of post-war Scottish policymaking, local civil defence governance, and the British security state in the first decade of the Cold War, 1948–59. The article addresses three themes: organizational responsibility, evacuation and shelter, and nuclear radiation to show that Scottish cultural, social, and political contexts were distinct from the English precedents set by Whitehall. In the context of developing Cold War security measures, and regional differences, the article argues that Scottish policy-makers negotiated independence over early civil defence planning, while exercising a conciliatory relationship with the central government. Issues raised around regionality posed important questions in Whitehall about the implementation of nuclear era civil defence nationwide. In assessing how this occurred the article augments the debate around Scottish autonomy and administrative distinction in the post-war era and makes a wider contribution to understandings of civil defence cultures in Britain’s Cold War. While studies of civil defence have provided important context to the history of the British Cold War state, local responses to such policy have not been adequately interrogated. This study shows that civil defence is not only an invaluable window onto local government perceptions of Cold War policy but is also a lens onto regional expressions of Second World War memory, post-war recovery, political power, and social organization.

The Expansion of the Bureaucratic Structure and Financing Regional Development in Indonesia

This study is about an expansion as a goal used by local elites to expand the bureaucratic structure for politicizing the position of political support and obtaining central funding. The existence of soft requirements which tends to be determined by the local government makes the provisions and process of expansion only for the fulfillment of formal aspects without substance related to the urgency of expansion strategically and economically. This study used a mixed-method that emphasizes a meaningful approach to the situation faced in the expansion by administering a survey on communities’, government administrators, and stakeholders’ opinions in assessing the expansion success. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with community leaders, especially those involved in the initial expansion as well as prominent community leaders to find out the expansion plan achievements. This study found that the expansion carried out at the village and sub-district levels had a positive impact on community perception, increased financing, and development. The expansion has allowed each new region the opportunity to finance development through various schemes and the availability of positions for the bureaucracy to gain support for the political power of politicians.

CONTINUITY IN POLITICAL AUTHORITY OF THE PRC: FEATURES OF THE FIRST GENERATION FOREIGN POLICY

The issue of succession to political power in the People's Republic of China is a frequently discussed topic in academic research. The fifth generation of Chinese power, the Xi Jinping administration, without opposing the political views of previous generations, continues its political course adhering to the basic foreign policy principles since the time of Mao Zedong. Therefore, the issue of continuity of China's foreign policy concepts is of particular interest. The main goal of the work is to consider the conceptual foundations of the foreign policy of the first generation of Chinese power and its evolution of development associated with changes in international relations of that time. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that foreign policy concepts formed during the time of Mao Zedong create optimal conditions for rationalizing the foreign policy of today's China. Objectives include assessing certain historical events in Chinese foreign policy and diplomacy and determining how they influenced the subsequent development of Chinese foreign policy. The research topic was considered based on the theory of political realism using methods of historical-comparative, structural, content analysis, and systematization methods. These methods helped to consider the problem and systematize the research results comprehensively. The results of the study provide an opportunity to deeply understand the issues of succession of Chinese political power and China's current foreign policy positions in a historical context. In addition, the results of the study can be widely used in research in the field of international relations, political science, Chinese studies, and history.

Developments of the Romanian State and Law in the Period of Communism

The establishment of the communist regime in Romania began in the immediate aftermath of World War II, with the seizure of power by the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) and the elimination of political opposition. The communist regime imposed a totalitarian ideology based on full state control over all aspects of social, economic and political life. During the communist period, the Romanian state was transformed into a totalitarian state with an authoritarian and centralized regime. Political power was concentrated in the hands of the Communist Party and the state became an instrument of its control. State institutions were subordinated to the party, and the separation of powers in the state was abolished in favour of an executive power dominated by Communist leaders. As far as the legal system is concerned, the communist period brought significant changes in legislation and judicial procedures. The law was used as a tool to control and suppress political opposition and all forms of dissent. Judicial proceedings were politicised and the independence of the judiciary was undermined in favour of the political interests of the communist regime.

Perceptions of yellow fever emergency mass vaccinations among vulnerable groups in Uganda: A qualitative study.

Yellow fever (YF), a mosquito-borne viral hemorrhagic fever, is endemic in Uganda and causes frequent outbreaks. A total of 1.6 million people were vaccinated during emergency mass immunization campaigns in 2011 and 2016. This study explored local perceptions of YF emergency mass immunization among vulnerable groups to inform future vaccination campaigns. In this qualitative study, we conducted 43 semi-structured interviews, 4 focus group discussions, and 10 expert interviews with 76 participants. Data were collected in six affected districts with emergency mass vaccination. We included vulnerable groups (people ≥ 65 years and pregnant women) who are typically excluded from YF vaccination except during mass immunization. Data analysis was conducted using grounded theory. Inductive coding was utilized, progressing through open, axial, and selective coding. Participants relied on community sources for information about the YF mass vaccination. Information was disseminated door-to-door, in community spaces, during religious gatherings, and on the radio. However, most respondents had no knowledge of the vaccine, and it was unclear to them whether a booster dose was required. In addition, the simultaneous presidential election during the mass vaccination campaign led to suspicion and resistance to vaccination. The lack of reliable and trustworthy information and the politicization of vaccination campaigns reinforced mistrust of YF vaccines. People in remote areas affected by YF outbreaks rely on community sources of information. We therefore recommend improving health education, communication, and engagement through respected and trusted community members. Vaccination campaigns can never be seen as detached from political systems and power relations.

The Political Settlements Dataset: Power Configurations and Political Blocs in the Global South, 1946-2018

Political scientists have long sought to understand power dynamics across the Global South, but efforts to systematically capture political power have been limited, and existing datasets have faced conceptual and measurement challenges. The Political Settlements (PolSett) dataset was developed to address these issues. This original expert survey-based dataset includes over one hundred political economy variables coded for forty two countries from 1946 or independence to 2018 (totalling 2,718 country years). It allows for a detailed mapping of countries’ power configurations, capturing information on the relative size, power and social composition of competing political blocs in society, as well as their internal cohesion, accountability relations and distribution of benefits. The dataset is expected to enable more direct and rigorous analyses of power differentials in the Global South and their impact on political and economic developments. This letter describes the conceptual background of the dataset, how it was constructed, discusses its validity, and highlights some of its key features.

Development of political and legal ideas regarding the concept of protective democracy

The article examines the evolution of the concept of protective democracy and ways of its implementation in political and legal practice. It is emphasized that in the course of historical development, the concept of democracy as one of the oldest means of organizing political power underwent significant changes caused by the evolution of society, legal and political systems, which affected its interpretation and implementation. The ideas that arose around this concept were studied, considering them from different perspectives - from historical to modern. It is shown that the primary and consolidated ideas about protective democracy arose at the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries, when democracy began to be considered as a means by which citizens can protect themselves from excessive state control. It is noted that in the process of formation of the concept of protective democracy, political and legal ideas about the right to vote as a tool for the implementation of government accountability played a significant role, since democratic institutions and procedures need protection from abuse of power to ensure their stability and effectiveness. It is emphasized that the right to vote, as a key element of democracy, plays a significant role in this concept, as it is the main mechanism for expressing the will of the people and establishing the accountability of the government to the citizens. It is noted that ensuring wide access to voting ensures a higher level of government legitimacy and reduces the likelihood of its authoritarian tendencies. It is shown that political and legal ideas about the right to vote played a key role in the formation of the concept of protective democracy, emphasizing the need to protect and support this fundamental right to ensure the stability and effectiveness of democratic systems. Attention is paid to the contribution to the concept of defensive democracy by such outstanding thinkers and politicians as John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, James Mill and James Madison. The implementation of certain aspects of protective democracy in the US Constitution is considered, and attention is drawn to the role of the republican form of government in this context. Certain milestones in the development of the concept of protective democracy in the 20th century are shown, as well as some ideas regarding this issue in the 21st century, namely the types of protective democracy and its identification as an indirect form of democracy, are explored. Characteristic features of protective democracy and its definition are proposed.

Forum: Infrastructure

It was Europe’s wake up call: the news reported that a huge gas pipeline running across the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany had exploded (Oltermann 2022). The explosion caused a release of gas and ruptured the pipeline, abruptly stopping the flow of gas. In the aftermath of the Russian attack and war on Ukraine, we have seen time and again how infrastructure becomes the main stage for power struggles and politics (infrastructure destroyed for various reasons) on the one hand, and how today’s infrastructures scale up to a global level and then back down to local arenas, affecting the lives of millions of people, on the other. While the pipeline explosion is only one recent example of the impact and mobilisation of infrastructures in today’s fragile global context, it well illustrates the ways in which infrastructures create and dismantle relationships, politics, connections, and disconnections, sometimes on a massive scale.

Women's Love in Antigone by Sophocles and The Tale of Kiều by Nguyễn Du

Abstract Comparative studies have identified “Antigone's sisters” across the globe, excepting for Southeast Asia. Yet in Vietnam, there exists Kiều, the protagonist in Nguyễn Du's The Tale of Kiều, whose cultural significance is comparable to Antigone. What insights can be gained about feminist political power by comparing Antigone to Kiều? Proposing a shift in focus on Kiều and Antigone's love from the questions of who and why to how, the paper argues that their love shares three fundamental commonalities related to their living conditions, actions, and choices. First, they are women who live a life full of love in worlds where love is forbidden. Secondly, they are women who practice love during dark times. And third, they choose to love in unconventional ways, and in doing so, they engender possibilities, particularly in terms of contemplating the interplay between life, death, and freedom. This analysis demonstrates a multiplicity of women's love and the experiences that possess a transcultural dimension, one that signals a type of harmony in the resistance of war through love. Therefore, Antigone and Kiều represent a different direction of a feminist world-building project—that of constructing a world through love.

Cultural globalization at sea: the rise of the modern Caribbean cruise industry

ABSTRACT Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian—the largest cruise lines today—emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, advertising their packaged vacations to a growing audience of middle-class Americans interested in encountering cultural difference. This article argues that, beginning in the late 1970s and continuing into the following decade, the cultural representations that these mass-market companies leveraged drew on Eurocentric understandings of Caribbean societies, homogenizing those countries despite attempts to showcase difference. These companies also reimagined global cultures Eurocentrically in onboard themed experiences. As both a product and agent of globalization, the mass-market cruise industry selectively deployed referents in ways that increased the appeal of cruising as escapism while reducing the likelihood of cultural confusion and reassuring passengers of their comfort. Through these processes, companies produced cruise ships as metaspaces while simultaneously expanding the construction of metaspaces to ports as they gained economic and political power in the Caribbean. This process resulted in the erasure of cultural difference.

Godfatherism and Democratic Reconstruction in Nigeria: A Review of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

Much of the contemporary discourse on Nigeria's democracy and politics from 1999 till date has at its centre, the phenomenon of 'godfatherism' in the leadership of political parties, and in running the affairs of our multi-nation-state. As a result of the corruption of the electoral and political processes, governmental structures, electoral politics and state power are skewed towards satisfying the self- regarding interests of the dominant political mentors otherwise known as 'political godfathers'. Relying on their wealth and their political machines, they secure party nomination for candidates of their choice by any means, sponsor their election, including manipulating the electoral process. This paper is intended to examine critically the crisis of political godfatherism in Nigeria and its implications for the future of the nation's democracy. It suggests ways the gods of Nigerian democracy and politics can be checked and confronted if the country is to deepen democracy and strengthen democratic institutions.

Indonesia, an offshore balancer in Southeast Asia?

AbstractObservers generally characterize Indonesia's foreign policy as non‐aligned, hedging between the great powers. Indeed, Indonesian noncommittal behavior and seeming disinterest in regional power politics appear at odds for a country of that size. To explain that puzzle, I apply the concept of offshore balancer, traditionally used to describe British and US foreign policy. An offshore balancer is a state separated from continental politics by a body of water. Theory predicts that an offshore balancer will generally avoid continental commitments when the balance of power is stable. However, it will join the power competition fray if a threatening potential hegemon arises. Offshore balancers turn aggressive only if continental states are so weak that crossing the sea and expanding onshore becomes easy. First, I present the concept and its importance and justify its generalizability through a short overview of American, British, and Japanese foreign policies. Second, I review Indonesian history to check whether its behavior corresponds to that of an offshore balancer. Finally, I lay out what offshore balancing implies for understanding Indonesian foreign policy and its future.

The Politics of Blame-Seeking: Strategic Antagonism, Effective Alignment and Benefitting From Backlash

Why would a politician ever want to be blamed? Under what contextual conditions might blame-seeking behaviour emerge as a rational strategy? What tactics, tools and strategies might they deploy? Where is the empirical evidence of blame-seeking in action and why does it matter? These are the questions this article engages with as it challenges the long-standing ‘self-evident truth’ within political science that blame-is-bad. We argue that a new ‘blame game’ has emerged in which blame generation is deployed not solely to taint opponents but also to demonstrate the blame-seeker’s willingness to challenge convention, break the rules, or side with the marginalized. In a broader context characterized by democratic dissatisfaction, anti-political sentiment and affective polarization, we suggest that blame-seeking assumes a powerful symbolic and performative dimension. Antagonizing certain sections of society and then harnessing the backlash provides a powerful political strategy which challenges traditional scholarly assumptions about credit and blame existing in a zero-sum relationship. We illustrate these arguments using the case of Boris Johnson’s rise to the British premiership. A focus on blame-seeking, we suggest, expands our understanding of what politicians say and do to achieve their goals in polarized political contexts.

Oppression Towards Main Female Characters in Rao’s Girls Burn Brighter

The perception of the women's inferiority in society has created significant issues in the form of oppression of women. Furthermore, literary works portrayed these issues to raise awareness because it has an important role as one of the means to address the issue of oppression against women. Shobha Rao's novel Girls Burn Brighter is a feminist literary work that highlights the oppression of women. This study aims to examine the oppression of main female characters as revealed in the novel through literary devices. This study used a sociological approach since the novel raise the social phenomena of female oppression which is examined through the perspective of feminist literary criticism. The researcher applies Iris Young's theory of oppression to explore the forms of oppression and Kimberly Crenshaw's theory of intersectionality to look out the factors of oppression experienced by main female characters. The results of this study found that the main female characters, namely Poornima and Savitha, experience oppression in the form of marginalization, exploitation, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. Their experiences of oppression manifest in the form of marginalization of job opportunity, sexual and labor exploitation, powerlessness to speak up, cultural imperialism of the dowry system, and physical and sexual violence. These forms of oppression are influenced by intersecting factors such as gender, social class, political power, skin color, and dominant culture. Keywords: oppression, intersectionality, feminist literary criticism

The Campaign of the Solomonic Monarch Yǝsḥaq (r. 1414–1429/30) as a Turning Point in Betä Ǝsraʾel History: Its Commemoration in Solomonic and Betä Ǝsraʾʾel Sources and Holy Sites

Following the rise to power of the Christian Solomonic dynasty (1270–1974) in Ethiopia, Christian rule expanded to encompass the regions inhabited by the Betä Ǝsraʾʾel (Ethiopian Jews). This process was accompanied by military campaigns (fourteenth–seventeenth century), during which the Betä Ǝsraʾʾel gradually lost their political autonomy. The Betä Ǝsraʾʾel oral tradition remembers the campaign waged by the Solomonic monarch Yəsḥaq against them as the most decisive in their history—because of it, their political power was greatly reduced, and their continued existence was jeopardized. This campaign is also commemorated in Solomonic texts, and both Christian and Betä Ǝsraʾʾel holy sites are associated with it. This article will examine the ways in which this campaign and its aftermath are depicted by the two respective communities and reflected their religious sites and in landmarks in Wägära and the Sǝmen Mountains. Based on the sources at hand, it will attempt to trace the geographical aspects of the campaign.

Border-making as illiberal politics

Abstract Radical Right-wing populism frequently involves ‘divide and rule’ strategies as a means to attain and consolidate political power. In the cases of Viktor Orban’s political regime in Hungary and Donald Trump’s four-year presidency (and its aftermath), we find a pronounced attempt to create narrative hegemony of a sense of nation built upon Christian civilization and foundationalist understandings of national identity. Moreover, both cases reveal processes of social border-making that are reflected in norming and the creation of distinctions based on degrees of national authenticity. Applying an ontological security and critical borders studies approach, this paper will specifically focus on the different ways in which border-making processes, or bordering, are implicated in the exercise of illiberal political power in the Hungarian and US cases. Despite many similarities, the actual mobilization of popular support reflects local conditions and has resulted in rather different political outcomes.

The contradictions of unconventional monetary policy as a post-2008 thwarting mechanism: financial dominance, shadow banking, and inequality

AbstractThe global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008 has triggered profound changes in the macro-financial regulatory architecture. Ever since, the interplay between political, institutional, and macroeconomic developments has received increasing attention in political economy, as in the evolutionary macro-financial approach of institutional super-cycles with its concept of thwarting mechanisms. While these institutional structures aim to stabilise the macro-financial system, they may also contradict each other due to unintended side effects. This paper argues that the understanding of thwarting mechanisms can be enriched by further integrating it with political economy literature on finance within the post-GFC institutional setup. It conceptualises unconventional monetary policy as a novel thwarting mechanism and analyses the contradictory implications for overall macro-financial stability with a particular focus on aggregate demand. It suggests three reasons why this thwarting mechanism failed to restore sustained economic growth in the post-crisis decade: First, sustained large-scale asset purchases perpetuate the structural drivers of financial dominance in political power relations, entrenching the role of the shadow banking system within the macro-financial order and impairing the development of other thwarting mechanisms. Second, unconventional monetary policy maintains the tenets of the inflation targeting regime and thereby sustains neoliberal macroeconomic governance with restrained fiscal policy. Third, it exacerbates preexisting wealth and income inequality by redistributing wealth towards asset owners, undermines consumer demand, and thus contributes to stagnation tendencies. Thus, this paper suggests that the contradictions of this novel post-GFC thwarting mechanism contribute to weaken economic growth and thus fail to restore macro-financial stability.

Regulating Transgenic Soybean Production in Argentina: The Role of Agro-Associations

Argentina's economy is organized mainly around the export of transgenic soybeans. This production is associated with several environmental and social costs. This article investigates transgenic soybean production regulation possibilities, which fulfills efficiency, acceptability, and feasibility by directly controlling production levels. Production quota markets are promising because they make it possible to implement cost-effective production. However, Argentina's agricultural sector is organized into large agro-associations with significant political power. The exercise of market power could challenge the attractive properties of production quota markets. This article considers the possibility of these organizations manipulating the quota market to capture a larger share of production. The production quota market could give rise to "raising rivals' costs" behavior. Contrary to the existing literature, this article shows that this strategy is profitable, even though the price of transgenic soybeans is fixed on international markets. To restore efficiency in production levels while preserving policy acceptability, we propose to auction production quotas with an adequate rebate revenue. Alternatively, initial quota allocation can be hybrid. The initial allocation chosen will depend on the trade-off between efficiency and acceptability of the environmental policy. Thus, while proposing a specific and adapted regulation for transgenic soybeans in Argentina, this article contributes to the knowledge of tradeable production quotas, which are almost less analyzed in the economic literature.