Power Struggles Research Articles

The Impact of Power Struggles Between the Ming Dynasty Monarchy and Bureaucratic Groups on The Qing Dynasty Power Structure

The Impact of Power Struggles Between the Ming Dynasty Monarchy and Bureaucratic Groups on The Qing Dynasty Power Structure

Gender Inequalities in Academia: Multiple Approaches to Closing the Gap

This special issue aims to contribute to the debate on gender inequalities in academia and the gender equality policies that address them. In this introduction we offer an overview of the debate and of the main research issues and theoretical perspectives, showing how a multiplicity of approaches are needed for both understanding and transforming higher education institutions. Macro, meso and micro level approaches illuminate the gendered individual, cultural and institutional factors that constrain and enable academic life, with special attention paid to how the neoliberal turn, and its organizational consequences, exacerbates gender inequalities. Women, gender, care, and intersectionality approaches allow scholars to focus on the different gendered or intersectional relationships within academia. Policy-oriented approaches allow us to analyse and assess progress in institutional efforts to close the gap on gender inequalities in academia. Actor-centred studies expose the power struggles between actors that oppose or promote gender equality policies in academia.

The Ukraine War: Impacts on the International System and Türkiye

This article argues that the Ukraine war is the first major conflict since the end of the Cold War to bring the two major nuclear powers, the U.S. and the Russian Federation, into conflict with one another. The intense U.S. support for the Zelenski Administration in the power struggle in Ukraine and the heavy American sanctions against Russia have pitted Washington and Moscow against each other at a level never seen since the end of the Cold War. The U.S., which was silent on Russia’s intervention in Georgia in 2008, reacted very harshly against Moscow in Ukraine, leading to tension similar to that of the Cold War period. Therefore, this article argues that the impact of the Ukraine war on the international system has been enormous. As a close neighbor of Russia and an ally of the U.S., Türkiye is also significantly affected by this war.

Power Struggle liberating Class Consciousness: A Marxist Analysis of the Novel "The Verdict" by Osman Hanif

The study is an exploration of Osman Hameed’s novel "The Verdict" through a Marxist lens. The study aims to investigate the conflict between the proletariat and the bourgeois class, as well as the power struggle between them, which results in class consciousness. The research follows a transformative paradigm.The research is qualitative in nature. We analyze the textual lines using a Marxist lens. The findings reveal contrasting differences between classes, with the bourgeoisie class maintaining hegemony and marginalizing the proletariat class through legal, physical, psychological, and economic oppression. Furthermore, this class struggle contributes to the development of class consciousness in the proletariat. The study is significant as it contributes to understanding the power structures and the class struggle in society.

Challenges faced by CEOs in executing turnaround strategies in state-owned enterprises in South Africa

Purpose: Building on theories of the firm, this research examines the challenges faced by chief executive officers (CEOs) in executing a turnaround strategy in the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in South Africa.Design/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative study conducted within 10 of the 21 SOEs classified as Schedule 2 (major public institutions) in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) that previously embarked on a turnaround. The study comprised 24 semi-structured interviews with CEOs, chief financial officers (CFOs), chief operating officers (COOs), boards, union representatives, regulators, and shareholders as the key players in a turnaround of a SOE. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data.Findings/results: This research suggests that political landscape and power struggles, inappropriate practices of board, politicians and shareholders, inefficient internal operations, leadership instability, legislation and corporate governance hinder the execution of turnaround strategies in the SOEs. This research is consistent with public choice, agency and resource dependence theories.Practical implications: State-owned enterprises need to be free from political interference to be able to turn around. Government, board, shareholders, communities, regulators, service providers and unions need to relook at how they portray the CEOs of SOEs, and rethink how they deal with them.Originality/value: This research contributes to policy, theory, practice, economy and society by expanding the theories of the firm, capturing real-life challenges the CEOs of SOEs face in executing a turnaround strategy and solutions to tackle the challenges. A roadmap to assist SOEs in executing a turnaround strategy successfully is recommended.

The Waste Landfill Policy in Israel: Economic and Political Perspectives

The consistent and continuous growth in the world’s population is creating many challenges for public policymakers in the different life areas, including dealing with the increasing amounts of waste that are generating problems involving air and land pollution and a shortage of land for waste disposal. This study presents the effects of public policy on managing municipal waste, measured as the quantity and rate of waste collected throughout Israel in recent years and disposed of in various landfills. An analysis of the political and economic factors affecting this policy is also conducted. The study combines a quantitative and qualitative approach, where the quantitative study includes the analysis of statistical data based on information from the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Finance, and others, and the qualitative study relies on reading and analyzing the primary documents of different government ministries on Israel’s waste disposal policy and information in the media on this issue. The research findings attest to an increase in the amount of municipal waste dumped in Israel, a merely slight decrease in the rate of landfilling as a proportion of all municipal waste disposal, and a merely slight increase in the rate of municipal waste recycled in recent years. The research conclusions stress the effects of the landfill levy and the Cleanliness Maintenance Fund on one hand and of government instability in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the positivist policy embraced by decision makers in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the power struggles between Israel’s different ministries on the other hand, as the respective economic and political factors affecting Israeli policy on municipal waste management. The article contributes to understanding the dynamics of municipal waste management policy in Israel by providing empirical data, analyzing influencing factors, and offering insights into the challenges and opportunities in this area. This study can serve as the basis for future studies that will examine the waste landfill policy in Israel in the context of pressing global challenges such as climate change, the advancement of novel waste treatment technologies, and the potential stabilization of Israel’s political system.

Doxa in international research collaboration: a critical collaborative autoethnographic account

ABSTRACT Funders are increasingly requiring international collaboration for research projects and such projects add to the reputation, rankings and research gravitas of institutions and individual researchers alike. The power asymmetries in global knowledge production means that international research collaboration comes with a range of taken-for-granted and unquestioned rules and rituals. These have become naturalized in international research collaboration and shape researcher identity, development and career progression. In this paper, we operationalize the term ‘doxa’ as a methodological tool through a critical collaborative autoethnography to examine how researchers negotiate the opportunities, tensions, and power struggles emerging from their varying possession of symbolic capital and (dis)positions in a globalized research landscape. In doing so, the paper considers how global power structures play out in individuals’ lives and identities, and suggest that international research collaboration contributes to the reproduction of inequalities in the highly competitive and unequal field of academic research.

‘Could have been a god but chose to be a Devil’. The 2004 European Championships and Wayne Rooney’s departure from Everton Football Club

ABSTRACT The world of elite football is woven from complex and intriguing relations informing the identities of players, clubs and supporters, across local, national and international boundaries. Often, key players with a global presence become a catalyst informing such relations. This paper considers one stark example of this: the case of Wayne Rooney, a local Liverpool lad and football protégée who raced through the ranks of Everton’s youth academy to establish himself in the first team aged sixteen before being transfered to Manchester United in the summer of 2004 for a fee of £30 million. The paper describes how, set in the wider context of tense dynamics between club and country and between local and national sentiment, the specific manner in which the transfer unfolded pitched Rooney at the centre of an identity defining power struggle between clubs, agents and fans.

Licensed to Rock (or so they say). How Popular Music Programmes at Higher Music Education Institutions Create Professional Musicians

Due to technological innovations, the music industries have become more accessible for outsiders over the past two decades. Yet, over the same period we have seen an increasing number of popular music programmes at higher music education institutions (HPME programmes). Drawing from interviews with teachers, focus groups with students and a content analysis of policy documents at three Dutch HPME programmes, we investigate whether and in which ways students and teachers perceive such programmes to contribute to the career development of their students. Results indicate that the main benefits that these programmes are perceived to offer concern the development of a set of necessary competences, the establishment of industry relationships and the acquisition of symbolic resources. Second, we consider whether these benefits are understood to contribute to a form of professionalism. In line with the ‘normative value’ perspective on professionalism we find that a norm of expertise is promoted, and in line with the ‘power struggle’ perspective we find that these symbolic resources help to foster a professional identity, both of which are believed to help students to stand out from musicians without forms of formal education entering the market.

Publisher Note

This paper explores power dynamics and symbolic power struggle in organizational transition in a Scandinavian telecommunications company. Our ethnographic study examines middle-managers’ efforts filling their allotted role as leaders of neoliberal transformation in a competition of force with their subordinates and the trade union. We develop a Bourdieu-inspired conceptualization of managerial pedagogy as a mode of control and reality definition to advance knowledge on how we can understand subtle uses of power and managers’ struggles gaining control, while simultaneously foregrounding how power is multidirectional when subordinates successfully attain and use power. Our results highlight neglected aspects of managerial power use and power deficits as we show how power dynamics in organizational change are anchored in institutions of the field.

Domination criticism and freedom criticism on flood news in online media from a Foucauldian view

This article discusses the issue of flood disaster polemics in online media using McKerrow’s critical rhetorical theory analysis, with the main aim of getting closer to discourse formations that have not been discussed in previous research on political interest contestation. This research uses Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis method to reveal flood news articles from 2019-2021 on Tirto.id. Meanwhile, the Foucauldian perspective in this study is used as a review of McKerrow’s critical rhetoric to analyze power, right and truth. Furthermore, this triangulation is explained in two criticisms, namely, criticism of domination and freedom in the online media Tirto.id in reporting on the flood. This study found that in terms of power, Tirto.id discusses criticism of power as a struggle for power in the social status of the upper and lower middle classes. Dominance tends to appear in social disparities and discrepancies in the effects of development on poor communities and the surrounding ecosystem. In terms of rights, Tirto.id discusses demands for ecological justice for lower middle class society. Finally, in terms of truth, the discourse about flood victims includes the lower classes as a result of land grabbing. This study concludes that criticism of domination shows that the government is not very serious about the concept of ecological justice for all groups. Criticism of freedom shows that Tirto.id expresses satire that floods are only suffered by poor people, not rich people.

Navigating the theories in the nexus between war and peace

This research examines the relationship between war and peace within the realm of international relations, drawing from a diverse array of theories. It investigates conflict, ranging from power dynamics to ideological disputes, while also evaluating the ethical dimensions of the Just War theory. Through the application of the Just War theory to the dynamic interplay between war and peace as a theoretical framework, this study underscores the vital significance of fostering peaceful dispute resolution, upholding ethical standards in warfare, and undertaking comprehensive post-conflict reconstruction efforts. Employing a historical research design, the study gathers data from secondary sources including journals, books, and ancient encyclopedias, ensuring the credibility of its analysis. Utilizing a descriptive method of data analysis, the research employs deductive logic to maintain a coherent framework and ensure balanced interpretation. Despite disagreements among theories, the study prioritizes accuracy to draw appropriate conclusions. The findings of this study reveal the profound interconnectedness between war and peace, highlighting how conflict arises from a myriad of factors including power struggles, ideological differences, and diplomatic failures. Furthermore, the ethical evaluation of war through the Just War theory provides valuable insights into the moral complexities surrounding armed conflict and its implications for peace-building efforts. Considering these findings, several recommendations are proposed to address the persistent challenge of achieving lasting peace amidst armed conflicts. Emphasizing diplomacy as a primary approach to conflict resolution, prioritizing ethical standards in warfare, and fostering peace education to cultivate values of tolerance and non-violent conflict resolution from an early age are key strategies identified for promoting sustainable peace. By offering recommendations for proactive conflict prevention and strategies in international cooperation, this research aims to contribute to the global pursuit of a more equitable, harmonious, and peaceful world order. Through its rigorous analysis and actionable insights, the study seeks to inform policymaking and advocacy efforts aimed at fostering sustainable peace on a global scale.

An Interpretation of The Dumb Waiter from Foucault’s Disciplinary Power Theory

Harold Pinter is one of Britian’s greatest playwrights in the 20th century. He is famous for his “Comedy of Menace” which discloses the menace theme in people’s daily life and the power discipline and resistance behind the great menace. In the one-act play The Dumb Waiter, the subtle power struggles are revealed through the closed space, absurd dialogues and repetitive actions. Michel Foucault, one of the greatest French philosophies, points out that power occurs everywhere and it is related to body, knowledge and discourse. Thus this thesis attempts to explore the discipline punishment and resistance in the power struggle in The Dumb Waiter, and then reveal the plight of human being in the 20th century.

Mother’s Intricacy in Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood

This paper examines mothers’ perceptions, challenges the institution of marriage’s blessings, and primarily focuses on the complexity of the mother. The goal is to investigate, from a feminist perspective, whether or if the “motherhood” body can eventually grant women the authority to be recognized in important spheres of human activity. The topic of motherhood has been explored by numerous African writers. The term “motherism” was created by Catherine Obianuju Acholunu as a counter to Western feminism. The Joys of Motherhood,1979 written by Buchi Emecheta explores how motherhood in Ibo society functions as a power struggle between control and desire. Nnu Ego aspires to be a perfect mother but discovered nothing beyond the glimpse of motherhood.

Creationism and climate skepticism: power and public understandings of science in America

This FORUM article is written in response to ‘Evolutionary Stasis: creationism, evolution and climate change in the Accelerated Christian Education curriculum’ by Jenna Scaramanga and Michael J. Reiss published in CSSE in 2023. Starting from a sociological rather than pedagogical standpoint, the article aims to situate Accelerated Christian Education’s curriculum in relation to evolution and climate change in its broader context. This broader context comprises a national situation of Culture Wars where views on science and religion are politically polarized and morally inflected. Creationism and climate change denial/skepticism occur together and connect to right-wing politics. Climate change denial also clearly connects to corporate interests. Struggles for political, economic, ideological, and epistemic power all pertain. Reference is then made to recently collected focus group data to illustrate how non-creationist publics may also define science narrowly and inaccurately and yet still support it. The influence of evolution and climate change denialists must not be overstated. However, the harm of inaccurate, pseudoscientific education also requires examination. Nothing less than the Earth’s future is at stake, and education is a key battlefield. Science educators have an important role to play, working with patience, empathy, and awareness.

Modernizing Urban Food Provisioning: The 1936 Shanghai Fish Market

Abstract The Shanghai Fish Market (1936), initiated by Republican China’s Ministry of Industry, was briefly a linchpin for producers and distributors, facilitating state intervention in the supply chain of the treaty port city. The market’s modernist design by Su, Yang & Lei Architects departed from the Beaux-Arts-inspired practices often associated with Nationalist China’s self-presentation. Influenced by foreign precedents, it incorporated rationalized trading procedures into its spatial layout. This article examines the market’s construction, which was guided by fishery expertise and aimed to harness natural resources for societal and national benefits. Technopolitical dynamics surrounding the reconfiguration of food provisioning logistics generated power struggles among stakeholders at the local and international levels. Despite the obstacles that constantly challenged the technocrats’ ambition to revolutionize the fishery industry, the Shanghai Fish Market’s historical and architectural significance lies in its efforts to integrate the built and natural environments into a national system of governance.

LOCAL POLITICAL DYNAMICS IN THE GENERAL ELECTION DIRECTLY CONDUCTED TO VOTE FOR DISTRICT HEADS (PILKADA) IN BADUNG REGENCY IN 2005

The general election directly conducted to vote for the regent and vice regent (Pemilihan Kepala Daerah, abbreviated to Pilkada) by the people in Badung Regency in 2005 was the first one. The people’s direct involvement in the local political life moved highly dynamically. The struggle for power by various strengths affected various dimensions of the people’s lives; therefore, it is interesting to investigate the local political dynamics in the Pilkada directly conducted in Badung Regency in 2005 in the perspective of cultural studies. There are three problems formulated in this study. They are (1) what was the dynamics of the Pilkada directly conducted in Badung Regency in 2005 like?; (2) how the relation of strengths affected the local political dynamics in the Pilkada directly conducted in Badung Regency in 2005?; (3) what were the implications and meanings of the local political dynamics of the Pilkada directly conducted in Badung Regency in 2005?
 The results of the study show that fluctuative changes took place continuously with regard to the form and functions of societal structure. Culturally, the people’s ideology changed from being mono centric into being multi centric. The relation of strengths became segmented into three main strengths forming a new formation of strength referred to as trisula. This led to an institutional configuration, differentiation of power and locality sedimentation, and provided meanings to competition and tolerance, emancipatory, political comodification, adaptive leadership and local democratic cultural strengthening.
 Keywords: dynamics, local politics, and direct pilkada in Badung Regency

Changing Trees, Enduring Forests: Institutional Bricolage, Gradual Change and Community Forestry among Yucatec Mayans in Mexico

ABSTRACTThis article seeks to understand why community forestry enterprises in the Mayan rainforest of Mexico are losing ground, while middlemen and manufacturers are regaining control over forestry resources. It focuses on the case of the Ejido San Felipe Oriente where an NGO codesigned a commercialization platform with the objective of bringing together local cooperatives to negotiate in the market from a position of strength. The project was hampered by an internal rupture in the ejido; in investigating this rupture, the authors use the concept of institutional bricolage to understand local power struggles, and the theory of gradual change to search for historical causal mechanisms. They find that the proximate causes of the rupture were family rivalries, suspicions of embezzlement, unfair exclusions, and the disruption of customary practices regarding the distribution of monetary benefits. However, historical continuities lay beneath the power struggle: ejidos in the Yucatan Peninsula have used their function as intermediaries to subordinate local interests rather than promote endogenous development. The authors advocate for an institutional design process that takes account of the unconscious and taken‐for‐granted meanings that influence institutional adaptation; they encourage development practitioners promoting community forestry enterprises in the Mayan rainforest of Mexico to address historical continuities in local institutions as a focal target of development interventions.

Crime and violence on the margins of society: How justice‐based power vacuums create deprived neighbourhoods

AbstractHow have crime, conflict, and violence shaped the social structure of neighbourhoods across diverse spatial and temporal landscapes in marginalised urban communities? To address to this central question, this study examines the socio‐political dynamics of New York City and Palermo, as well as the role of authoritarian actors, by juxtaposing different historical periods and contrasting the influences of political institutions with extra‐legal entities such as gangs and mafias. Utilising visual images, archival documents, and geographical mapping, the study introduces the concept of ‘justice‐based power vacuums’. This novel theoretical concept elucidates the mechanisms through which coercive power fosters social environments susceptible to extra‐legal domination, effectively entrapping vulnerable groups, be they ethnic or racial minorities or economically disadvantaged groups. I argue that while crime, conflict, and violence, especially under the auspices of gangs and mafias, often become the focal point, it is the obscured role of political authorities that stands as the genesis of such complex social problems. The present comparative historical social research indicates that recognising and addressing these obscured political influences is essential for a holistic understanding and subsequent mitigation of the structural challenges in urban social life that create deprived neighbourhoods across time and space similarly and perpetuate marginalisation in these communities.

An Analytical Investigation of Politico-Economic Effects of Gwadar and Chabahar Ports on Pak-Iran Relations

This paper aims to explore the geostrategic importance and implications of Gwadar and Chabahar ports for the entire region. Drawing upon a multidisciplinary approach, this study integrates political, economic, and geopolitical perspectives to assess the complex dynamics at play. It delves into the historical context of Pak-Iran relations, examining the factors that have shaped their interactions over time. Furthermore, it scrutinizes the geopolitical implications of Gwadar and Chabahar ports in the context of regional power dynamics, considering the interests and interventions of key stakeholders such as China, India, and the United States. Economically, the paper evaluates the potential synergies and competition between Gwadar and Chabahar ports, exploring how their development may impact trade patterns, investment flows, and economic development in both Pakistan and Iran. Additionally, it examines the role of infrastructure connectivity in enhancing regional integration and fostering economic cooperation among neighboring states. Through a critical analysis of existing literature, empirical data, and expert insights, this paper aims to offer valuable insights into the evolving dynamics of Pak-Iran relations in the context of the Gwadar and Chabahar ports. The theory of the struggle for power among regional powers is applied in the paper to identify the political rivalry between China and India and their possible implications for Gwadar and Chabahar ports on Pak-Iran relations. Most importantly, the paper aims to address the questions: what are the policy options for Pakistan and Iran to skip the exploitation of regional and international powers with respect to both ports and avoid disturbance in their bilateral relations?