Political Questions Research Articles

Transformations and transitions: The social and political life of the dead

Death is often considered the end of the story, and indeed the end of politics. The papers in this special issue demonstrate however that this is far from the case. They probe the transformations and transitions of the dead across varying cultural and social contexts, and time periods, and reckon with how human remains are repurposed, mobilized, represented, and integrated into larger narratives, including evidentiary, memorial, political, and emotional. They also understand the dead as complex and lively actors in the various ways they provoke the living and impact the way we think about larger political, cultural, and ethical questions. Collectively, the papers raise critical questions about how we understand the social, cultural, communal, religious, and political significance of human remains and of what remains in the aftermath of violence.

Imaginary of Post-National European Constitutionalism: Lessons from Central European Philosophy, Sociology and Jurisprudence

Abstract The article focuses on the paradoxes of constitutional identity and the impact of constitutional sovereignty on post-sovereign European society and politics. It uses post-1989 constitutional and social transformations in Central European countries, the rise of constitutional populism and identitarian politics to argue that the nation state continues to operate through the principle of constitutional sovereignty even in the EU’s post-sovereign constitutional constellation. It thus proves that democratic politics is identity politics even in post-sovereign and post-national politics and the EU’s supranational organisation has to respond to the constitutional and political identity question through its own structures and semantics. The central argument, therefore, revisits classic notions of social and constitutional theory such as the distinctions between community and society, ethnos and demos or authenticity and alienation to outline the persistence of nationalism and its varieties in contemporary constitutional populism in Central Europe. While recognising that the nation state continues to be the only organisation to successfully combine rational efficiency and communal bonds constituted by the national identity, the EU’s response to the challenges of constitutional populism and nationalism needs to enhance its democratic legitimation and constitutionally integrate the imaginaries of European public spheres and demoicracy to promote an anti-explosive alternative to the explosive nationalist imaginaries.

The Unquiet Pedagogy of Harold Pinter’s Mountain Language : Topical Lessons from India

Abstract: In teaching Harold Pinter’s Mountain Language , I have observed how Indian postgraduate students see for themselves the institutionally sponsored biases and the hierarchized linguistic-racist ideologies these biases spawn. Political questions occur naturally to them: Why even democratic regimes should fear language itself? Why they feel driven to deploy a state language as a weapon in their war games? If English silences dissidence and considers BIPOC narratives devious and defiant, then Pinter would ask us to think differently about English and its potential linguicidal threat. The politics of interdiction that besets communities is another topic that students engage with in reading Pinter. This Note concludes with a reflection on the impossible task of translating Mountain Language for the simple reason that it stages English as at once its theatre and topic. Brought into dialogue with this conundrum is Brian Friel’s Translations , a play that stages another cultural scenario where English bespeaks colonial violence without quite letting an audience see the dubious logic of endorsing that violence.

Thinking with and beyond Castoriadis: Conversation with Peter Wagner

Abstract This conversation between Peter Wagner and members of the Social Imaginaries Collective addresses two aspects of Wagner’s project. First, it enquires into the significance of Cornelius Castoriadis’s project for Wagner’s social theory and historical sociology. Second, the conversation turns to Wagner’s reflections on the ongoing significance of Castoriadis’s thought to the pressing political questions of our times, including the ecological crisis and post-communist societies.

Que estandardização para o português: pluricêntrica ou panlusófona?

Portuguese is a pluricentric language with two well-established national varieties – European Portuguese (EP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP) – and varieties in development, such as Mozambican Portuguese (MP) and Angolan Portuguese (AP). In the present study, we aim to address the normative and political question of whether the most appropriate path of standardization for Portuguese in the 21st century is a pluricentric model of several norms combined, each with its own dynamics, or a pan-Lusophone model consisting of one supranational standard norm, a sort of global Portuguese, or even a combination of the two models. We will start by analyzing past and current processes of both formal and informal standardization in Portuguese, focusing on the endo(exo)normative standardization of BP and the role of Globo TV in the strengthening of informal endonormativity, the lectometrically confirmed divergent BP-PE bicentrism and its (a)symmetries – including the more advanced endonormativity of EP and the greater global influence of BP – and the processes of nativization of African varieties, characterized by contacts with Bantu languages and EP exonormativity, with particular emphasis on the more advanced stage of nativization of MP as well as the strong population increase projected for Angola and Mozambique. We will then discuss the two models of a pluricentric or pan-Lusophone path of standardization for Portuguese, along with their opportunities and threats, and point out guidelines for their operationalization. By adopting the Cognitive Sociolinguistics’ view on pluricentricity and based on previous socio-cognitive and lectometric studies on the pluricentricity of Portuguese, we will argue for the adequacy and necessity of a socio-cognitively oriented, fully pluricentric standardization of Portuguese, which could potentially serve as a basis for the development of a pan-Lusophone norm, especially useful for the internationalization of Portuguese.

The Political Economy of Shock-Responsive Social Protection: Analysis from Malawi

Using social assistance systems to address acute needs arising from wide-scale shocks – commonly known as ‘shock-responsive social protection’ (SRSP) – raises significant political economy questions. Previously, acute needs caused by disasters across sub-Saharan Africa have primarily been met by humanitarian actors alone. SRSP disrupts the status quo by reducing humanitarian actors’ access to and control over humanitarian funding. This raises significant political questions; likewise, the introduction by SRSP of greater accountability and transparency into the implementation of humanitarian responses. This article addresses a current gap in the literature: the politics of SRSP. Referencing the concept of political settlements, the article asks what explains the evolution of SRSP in Malawi by examining the actions of domestic and international actors. It finds that there is scant evidence of national ownership of SRSP and that lack of consensus among international actors is a key obstacle to the concept becoming embedded within the political settlement.

The ultimate political question? Realism and omnicide

ABSTRACT Realist political theory purports to prioritize the goals of order, security, and ‘political survival’. In spite of these concerns, it has not yet addressed the growing risk that humanity might be lurching towards self-extinction. This contribution considers what omnicidal risk means for contemporary realism, making two arguments. First, we argue that omnicidal risk poses a political problem in a distinctly realist sense of the term. In doing so, we demonstrate that omnicide is a relevant concern for all realists, while ordorealists in particular hold an unrecognized commitment to mitigating omnicidal risk. Second, by demonstrating the extent to which capitalism can be considered a cause of contemporary omnicidal risk, we argue that this concern and commitment should draw realists – and, in particular, ordorealists – into a critique of contemporary political economy. Realism should not ignore omnicidal risk; instead, its consideration should work to radicalize realism.

Re-Proportioning, Re-Framing, Re-Purposing: Foreign Experience in Russian Disability Organising After the Retreat of Foreign Funding

Russian civil society has experienced a retreat of foreign funding and NGOs. However, where foreign, formal organisations leave, Russian individuals remain. Exploring the pathways of these individuals shows how they navigate a shifting organising environment. Foreign experience is recognised as formational; it continues to inform action and moves into new spheres. However, some actors perceive overt publicisation of foreign connections and experience as heightening risk, and may disavow or obscure these experiences. Where foreign experience is associated with political threat, actors respond with strategies of apparent depoliticisation. Investigating how foreign experience is obscured thus provides a route into examining the political question of who, or what, is perceived as belonging.

The perils of ‘tech for good’ lie in its politics of helping

Vexing political questions of power, inequality and coloniality permeate the tech sector and its growing use of global ‘virtual’ assembly lines that see them penetrate even refugee camps in efforts to extract value. As a response, tech companies have been expanding non-commercial activities within a presumed framework of humanitarianism, in part, trying to outweigh the negative implications of unjust business practices often characterised by third-party avoidance of responsibility. This commentary focuses on tech companies’ engagement with people in the Global South – not as recipients of tech beneficence – but as labourers who make tech possible. First, we document why companies are brought into humanitarian crises, and then we briefly chart examples of the practices of tech companies in the Global South. Then, we argue that ‘tech for good’, often presumed as altruistic, instead reproduces an expansive history of questionable corporate social responsibility efforts that sustain inequalities more than assuaging them. We conclude by reflecting on the impact of commodifying compassion for humanitarian helping and argue that tech companies should stop trying to ‘help’ through self-perceived altruistic activities. Instead, corporations should focus on remaking their core business practices in an image of justice, protection, and equal value creation, particularly in contexts characterised by vulnerability.

The Macassan–Aboriginal relationship and the Commonwealth of Australia 1901–1906

The relationship between Macassan trepangers and Aboriginal people became a political issue for the Commonwealth of Australia between 1901 and 1906. The cultural interchange between these groups, and how their interactions were understood and acted upon by white Australian society, has been the subject of academic investigation. This article builds upon existing research and highlights that in the final years of the trade the Macassan–Aboriginal relationship raised diplomatic, constitutional and political questions for the Commonwealth before the trade was ended in 1906. The Commonwealth’s position has not been widely understood and is noteworthy for its disinterest and unwillingness to act against the trade.

Construction and validation of an instrument to identify barriers to implementing pharmaceutical care

BackgroundPharmaceutical Care is a professional practice in high demand for implementation in Primary Health Care within the Public Health System. Consequently, it was necessary to develop and validate an instrument to assess the obstacles to this process. MethodsA methodological study was conducted in three stages: first, the questionnaire was developed based on the APOTECA framework, which includes Attitudinal, Political, Technical, and Administrative domains. Second, the content was validated using the Delphi Technique, with a content validity coefficient greater than or equal to 0.8 considered acceptable. Third, a pre-test was conducted with pharmacists working in Primary Health Care within the Public Health System. After validation, the instrument was administered to pharmacists participating in a training and support project for the implementation of Pharmaceutical Care. ResultsThe results indicated that the instrument was validated after two rounds of evaluation, with the first round involving 33 experts achieving a total content validity coefficient of 96 %, and the second round involving 18 experts achieving a total content validity coefficient of 98 %. In the third stage, the pre-test with Primary Health Care pharmacists resulted in a total content validity coefficient of 91 %. The final version of the questionnaire, which incorporated suggestions for improvements, included 19 questions. When answered by pharmacists, the responses indicated that Technical questions were the most significant barrier to implementation, followed by Political, Attitudinal, and Administrative questions. ConclusionThe validation of this instrument provides an important tool for identifying factors that hinder the implementation of Pharmaceutical Care within the Public Health System.

The fiscal effects of immigration on local governments: Revisiting the Mariel Boatlift

Immigration raises important political and economic questions, yet there remains considerable disagreement about its short- and long-term consequences. This paper examines the fiscal consequences of immigration for local governments. Previous work has highlighted the gap between the long-term economic benefits of immigration and the short-term fiscal burden posed by recent arrivals, however several influential estimates based on cash-flow accounting suffer from potential bias. I use a quasi-experimental approach to re-examine a famous case: the large wave of Cuban refugees that landed in Miami in 1980, otherwise known as the Mariel Boatlift. Using a synthetic control design, I find that per-pupil education costs increased in Miami in the aftermath of the Boatlift, financed by an increase in state transfers. These effects persisted for at least ten years. The results shed light on the heterogeneous impacts of immigration over time and space.

Politics and power in the global tennis circuit

Abstract Like most global sports, professional tennis is eager to claim that politics has no place on its playing field. On closer investigation, however, this ‘myth of autonomy’ soon cracks. In addition to adding tennis as a much-needed case to the study of sport and international affairs, this article develops the concept of ‘the circuit’ to approach phenomena that criss-cross traditional levels of analysis in international relations. In its first part, the article zooms in on the practice of writing celebratory messages onto the lenses of TV cameras as an example of the power relations that exist in and around professional tennis courts today. In its second part, it zooms out to map the themes and questions that have framed tennis as a political activity around the world and over time. The analysis identifies and characterizes the global tennis circuit as a site within which many of the most pressing political questions of our time are contained, focusing on the prestigious tournaments which make up the Grand Slam, and the elite athletes that participate in them.

An EU external relations political question doctrine that suffers no human rights exception: Joined cases C-29/22 P and C-44/22 P KS and KD on the Court’s jurisdiction in CFSP matters

An EU external relations political question doctrine that suffers no human rights exception: Joined cases C-29/22 P and C-44/22 P KS and KD on the Court’s jurisdiction in CFSP matters

Jurisdictional imaginaries as contested geographies: A metaphor analysis of reference cases about Canada's Impact Assessment Act

Jurisdictional imaginaries, defined as constitutive and productive fictions with real world effects, serve a distinct purpose in the context of debates over Canadian environmental impact assessment. Metaphors are one way in which jurisdictional imaginaries are maintained and contested. In creating associations between entities, metaphors mark storytelling about jurisdiction with the imprints of history and place, and shape thinking about arrangements of authority within contested geographies. In Canadian reference cases (questions posed by governments to courts to seek advice on legislation), the judiciary settle conflicts over jurisdiction through case-by-case assessments based on interpretations of the Canadian constitution in which debates about federalism loom large. Our analysis of two reference cases on Canada's Impact Assessment Act (IAA) evidenced disagreements in court decisions about the scope and significance of provincial and federal authority, which hinged on metaphors of separation and conflict, and drew on two competing imaginaries: a classical imaginary which envisions dualist, hierarchical, and exclusionary orders of authority between provincial and federal governments; and a modern imaginary which emphasizes jurisdictional overlap and flexibility in constitutional interpretation. Reading these divergent imaginaries against a backdrop of legal pluralism and ongoing settler colonialism, we argue that both imaginaries normalize, rather than unsettle, colonial political logics predicated on the replacement of Indigenous sovereignty by European legal orders. The IAA reference cases, far from mere technical assessments of the constitutionality of legislation, highlight political questions about what kind of society Canada is and could become.

Anchoring voices: The news anchor’s voice in China from television to AI

This paper takes the recent introduction of AI-powered television news anchors in China as an invitation to explore the technologies and techniques that have long been used in the anchor’s voice production. Analyzing Chinese Broadcasting Science, the first pedagogical standards for broadcasters across mainland China, published in 1993, this paper demonstrates how the perception of the anchor’s voice as something that can be measured, manipulated, and programmed has predated the AI industry. We examine guidelines, diagrams, and figures used to instruct news anchor wannabes on training their physiological voicing “engine,” tracing the continuities between this model of television anchoring and AI-generated news anchors. We propose technovocality as a conceptual framework for considering the various social, political, and ethical questions arising from the intersections between voices and media, past and present and Western and non-Western cultural contexts.

A Critical Review of Medemer from Ideological Perspectives

Medemer, both as a book and as an idea, is trapped between two extremes: admiration and rejection. Writers from both ends offer their thoughts, criticisms, and reviews of Medemer. The aim of this article is to analyze Medemer from an ideological perspective. Raising some political and policy questions about Medemer’s application is also the aim of this article. This article used a qualitative research approach and comparative and critical research methods. Secondary sources of data were used to compare Medemer with various political ideologies. Ideologically, Medemer meets the three criteria (critics of the present order, vision of the future society, and theory of change). Medemer is a “blended ideology” that combines concepts, principles, and ideas from liberalism, socialism, conservatism, and fascism. Furthermore, Medemer ideology attempted to combine concepts from opposing political ideologies and proposed it as a solution to Ethiopia’s complex sociopolitical and economic problems. Despite the government’s claim that Medemer is Ethiopia’s redeemer, several political questions remain unanswered given the country’s current situation. Therefore, the country’s complicated sociopolitical and economic problems under the regime of the Prosperity Party challenged the applicability of Medemer. Is Medemer thus the sole (or perhaps the only) instrument, policy framework, ideology, and mechanism for resolving Ethiopia’s multiple, dynamic, and complex socio-political problems? These remain a point of contention among academics and politicians.

Latour and the Question of Politics: A Constitutional Reading

This article traces a path through Bruno Latour’s reflections on politics to propose a constitutional reading, which makes ontological and normative lines of investigation intersect. It starts with a discussion of a central theme in Latour’s work, that of war and, more generally, opposition and conflicts, and connects it with questions of representation, delegation and decision-making. The preoccupation with land and territories found in Latour’s latest work is an invitation to extend his notion of constitution and turn it into a situated matter of critical inquiry. The paper builds on debates and controversies surrounding mineral resources to show the analytical and critical value of constitutional analysis, and the way it can illuminate the ontological and normative issues associated with contemporary problematizations of land and territories.

Semiotics and Symbolic Politics in the Reception of Seventeenth-Century Art: Reflections on Guercino's <i>Prometheus</i>

As happens in almost all eras, contemporary thinkers have been able to prepare new tools for understanding the historical phases that preceded them. Tools that have led to new disciplinary directions and new interpretative methods: think of semiotics which in relation to the artistic field has highlighted alternative exhibition languages for reading paintings; or to the philosophical question of symbolic politics. With these tools it has been possible to read the timeless myth of Prometheus with a decidedly original key and in the modern age we see a clear revival in the use of this myth, both in political essays, in philosophy, in literature and in art. Also because Prometheus brings with him many messages also based on how one wants to think of him, whether free to grant the flame to humanity or chained due to the punishment of Zeus. With this essay, we try to read the interpretation of Prometheus by one of the most important painters of the European seventeenth century, Giovan Francesco Barbieri known as Guercino who at the age of 25 decided to open the Academy of the Nude in his hometown, Cento between Bologna and Ferrara, for very young aspiring painters, and it is precisely in the rooms of that art school that he frescoed his first and only Prometheus in the act of granting flame to the inanimate clay statue. A gesture that marks the meaning of art considered one of the highest human virtues.

Nationalism in the Judicialization and Culturalization of Religion: The Case of Religious Education in Greece

Religious education (RE) is frequently a topic of intense political debate and a focal point of party politics in the Greek context. This article presents the latest chapter in political contestation over the teaching of religion in Greek public schools, one which entails a new dimension—that of intense judicialization. Since 2015, the issue of religious education in Greek public schools has been the subject of multiple court cases addressed by the Greek high court, the Council of State, with one case addressed by and one case pending before the European Court of Human Rights. Beyond teasing out links between Greek Orthodoxy and nationalism underpinning each of these cases, this article also seeks to locate this example of judicialization of politics and religion in a broader theoretical context. It engages with another phenomenon at play in the Greek case as in many other cases globally, the culturalization of religion. Through the example of the Greek legal battles over religious education, we see how the judicialization of a particular political question on religion (policy on RE) rests on a culturalization of religion, which, in the legal domain, entails a rebranding of ‘religion’ as ‘culture’ so as to protect ‘religion’ from limitations placed on it by expectations of liberal state neutrality. The inherent difficulties in defining religion and culture, both individually and in relation to one another, are fundamental to both the theoretical and the practical, socio-legal challenges arising from such developments.