Political Relations Research Articles

Turkey’s ‘Return’ to Central Asia in a Shifting Global and Regional Context: New Opportunities and Limitations

ABSTRACT Turkey has been becoming more active in Central Asia recently. This activism entails increasing linkages in the economic, energy, and transport areas, as well as deepening cultural and political relations. Although there are some continuities, Turkey’s new engagement with the region differs from its previous engagements in important ways. The region has also changed, as have extra-regional actors and their roles. This article illustrates the shifting global and regional contexts, and how these shifts have motivated the AKP government’s renewal of interest in Central Asia. The new regional constellations provide both opportunities and challenges for Turkey’s Central Asia engagement. For example, competition among the major powers and regional countries’ quest to diversify their foreign policies provide Turkey with new opportunities, yet Turkey’s complex relations with each of these actors and the challenge of balancing limits its return.

Biopolitics and Governmentality During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Authoritarianism in Turkey

This article aims to show the relationship of Turkish pandemic politics with the concepts of biopolitics and governmentality. It argues that Turkey’s pandemic policy should be considered under the concept of authoritarian governmentality. In this context, the first part of the article theoretically evaluates the relationship between biopolitics and governmentality. The second part shows how Turkey’s COVID-19 policy is related to biopolitics and governmentality. The last part shows how and why biopolitics and governmentality have an authoritarian character in Turkey. In this way, the character of the policy pursued by the Turkish government becomes clear.

Agriculture against the wall: barriers and opportunities for agroecological transitions in California’s industrial agricultural landscapes

ABSTRACT Agroecology emphasizes a shift from low diversity, high chemical input farming to more biodiverse agroecosystems cultivated in conjunction with natural ecosystem processes and embedded in socially just relationships. Yet achieving such agroecological transitions presents enormous challenges in industrial agricultural landscapes dominated by consolidation and overproduction. We examine both the challenges and the opportunities for agroecological transition in one particular industrial agricultural context: the fumigant-dependent strawberry production of California’s Central Coast. We do so by exploring adoption of Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD), an agroecological alternative to fumigation which has shown considerable promise but has been historically underutilized. Building on previously identified “domains of agroecological transformation,” we characterize the enabling and disabling conditions for agroecological transitions in California’s agricultural landscape. Through semi-structured interviews with farmers, extensionists, and industry stakeholders we uncover significant regime lock-ins: most prominently insecure land tenure and unequal access to land, unequal systems of exchange, and a culture that favors silver bullet narratives and top-down knowledge transfer; as well as drivers of change. The case of ASD, we conclude, reveals that technology-led agroecological transitions will have difficulty succeeding unless they are embedded in broader efforts to transform the social and political relationships of industrial agriculture.

PENGARUH ROTASI AUDITOR, PROFITABILITAS, LEVERAGE, UMUR PERUSAHAAN TERHADAP ASIMETRI INFORMASI DAN PERAN HUBUNGAN POLITIK DI PERBANKAN INDONESIA

This research aims to determine the effect of audit rotation, profitability, Leverage and company age on information asymmetry with political relations as a moderating variable in banking in Indonesia. The data studied is 32 banks registered on the IDX from 2016 to 2022. This research found that auditor rotation did not influence information asymmetry. Even though political relations were added as moderation, auditor rotation did not affect information asymmetry. Profitability and Leverage have a negative influence on information asymmetry, and company age has a positive impact on information asymmetry. The results of this research imply that investors need to consider company characteristics in detecting information asymmetry in financial reports.

Polish-Türkiye cooperation in the area of technology and innovation: Conditions and development directions

Background: The year 2023 is a special time for Polish-Türkiye diplomatic relations. It is the 100th anni-versary of the proclamation of the Republic of Türkiye and the 100th anniversary of its recognition by Poland. One area of this public and economic diplomacy is the debates on the different dimensions of the experiences, practices or frameworks of mutual cooperation between Poland and Türkiye, organised by the Foundation for Research on Türkiye in cooperation with the Regional Centre for International Debate in Krakow. The article is a synthesis of considerations undertaken in the area of Polish- Türkiye economic cooperation, with a particular focus on technology and innovation. Research objectives: The article aims to describe the potential pathways for enhancing mutual eco-nomic and political relations between Poland and Türkiye. Methods: The paper is based on content analysis of the debate on Polish-Türkiye cooperation in the area of innovation and technology, the potential of both countries in this respect, and the possibilities for its development. The debate took place in March 2023, and the authors were one of the panellists. The find-ings enrich statistical data coming from the Polish Central Statistical Office. Results: The paper highlights the strong economic ties between Poland and Türkiye, underscoring their joint endeavours across various industries. Both governments have ambitious plans to significantly boost their trade balance by 2023, with a particular emphasis on sectors like energy, mining, IT, automotive, and textiles, showcasing a mutual commitment to growth and partnership. Conclusions: Establishing and developing economic cooperation between Poland and Türkiye can ben-efit both countries. The mechanisms and initiatives mentioned above can help to increase trade and investment flows, create new business opportunities, and promote mutual learning and innovation.

Digital denizenship: Hindu nationalist architectures of digital closings and unbelonging in India

This paper examines the sociodigital experiences of political and religious minorities in contemporary India to understand matters of voice and power, as well as feelings of belonging, identity and citizenship. It builds out from research conducted in New Delhi between February and June 2019 during and after the Indian national elections and focuses on WhatsApp as an everyday space where Hindu nationalism is (re)produced and articulated through memes, forwarded messages, videos and political talk. In the shadow of right-wing nationalisms, it examines how civic and political relationships are being transformed. Drawing on experiences and narratives of political and religious minorities we contend that the ‘digital denizen’ represents a new digital-political subject, one who is increasingly outcaste within a global conjuncture of exclusionary politics, technological affordances and local histories of power and coercion. Digital denizenship represents the regression of citizenship which connects ways of acting and articulating within intimate and digital storytelling infrastructures shaped by the articulation and defence of ‘truth’. We show how being a digital denizen means recognising, anticipating and navigating the oppressive expressive power of exclusionary sociodigital practices in order to quietly resist difference, disorientation, danger and unbelonging in everyday life.

Perspectives of successes and challenges in collaborations between non-governmental organization and local government on urban forest management

Governments increasingly collaborate with residents and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in urban forest management because of the underlying belief that these groups improve the delivery of local forest services. However, in practice, the successes, challenges, and outcomes vary drastically by collaborative arrangement; solely documenting positive outcomes in NGO-government collaborations may hinder the ability to mitigate their associated downsides rather than biasing collaborative behaviours towards success. This study draws on the experiences of urban forest professionals across nine Canadian cities who have participated in or observed NGOs and local governments engage in collaborative urban forest management. We employed semi-structured interviews with 32 participants from three groups: leaders of NGOs, municipal government officials, and urban forest experts who have observed the two parties interact. Our results demonstrate that the addition of NGOs in municipal forest management is associated with positive outcomes and the characteristics of relationships, individual personnel, and community support contribute to their success. We also characterize the barriers that collaborators are tasked with navigating in order to achieve positive outcomes, including high employee turnover, siloed departments, competing priorities, shifting politics, and precarious funding and contracts. Our recommendations for successful NGO-government collaborations include arming stakeholders with a thorough knowledge of civic processes, diversifying political relationships, fostering “champions” among a greater number of involved parties, and participating in longer-term contracts and funding agreements. Further, involved parties should ensure they work towards the equitable distribution of the benefits and outputs of urban forest collaborations. Moving forward, because of the insular nature of NGO-government collaborations and a low capacity among NGOs to share the outputs of these collaborations, we recommend researchers continue to study the successes and shortcomings under varying governance arrangements so that groups may benchmark their collaborative activities against others and determine the most effective means of participating in co-management.

The Discourse of Post-capitalism as a Reflection of the Crisis of Globalization

The primary objective of this article is to construct a comprehensive conceptual definition of "post-capitalism." The contemporary global landscape, characterized by postmodernity, is currently undergoing a profound institutional crisis. This crisis impacts both its economic underpinnings, rooted in the dominance of financial capitalism, and its societal foundations, which revolve around a universal model of social development built upon a universalist model of consumption.Discourses surrounding post-capitalism within Russian and Western academic and expert circles exhibit unique characteristics. However, they share common traits. On one hand, these discourses reflect an acknowledgment of the impasses inherent in existing models of globalization. On the other hand, they recognize the transformation of capitalism as a universal socio-economic system that forms the bedrock of international relations. This article underscores the inescapable rise of non-economic factors influencing socio-economic systems' development, including their role in shaping international relations.Post-capitalism is best understood as a collection of principles guiding spatial organization and the establishment of economic and political relationships within these spaces, rather than a specific developmental model. Positioned as an element within the broader return to a spatiality, post-capitalism is predominantly discussed within the context of international processes, serving as a transitional phase in international political and economic relations.

The Game Process and Achievement of EU and US Cross Border Data Flow Rules

In today's data-driven era, the governance of data rules has become a focal point for countries worldwide. This paper elucidates the significant differences between the United States and Europe, both major players in this domain, in terms of legislation and value positions. They also operate within distinct social data environments and possess varying national interest needs. These influence the direction and results of the game between the two sides in the data privacy framework. The paper also encompasses many far-reaching factors involved in this process, such as the political relationships between the United States and Europe, and the economic conditions on both sides. In the contest for dominance in data governance rules, the United States and Europe have been constantly interacting, refining regulations through ongoing friction, and to some extent, driving the development of the data industry. Meanwhile, the world still needs a more mature and stable regulatory framework for data governance rules, indicating the necessity for further significant progress in this area.

The economic and political development of African states in the historical context of the decolonization process

The study of decolonization has long been dominated by political history, focused on formal emancipation of nations at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, societies subject to European colonial administration. The article reveals the reasons for the emancipation of colonised nations and the construction of a new social and economic order in the world. It also presents the relationship between decolonisation and the new global economic hierarchy. In fact, decolonisation did not change anything in the economic and political relations between former metropolises and former colonies, similarly at the cultural level, where the language of the coloniser still dominates in the official sphere and in education.

The People’s Republic of China -ASEAN Political and Security Relationship (2003-2021): A Review and Prospects

The People’s Republic of China -ASEAN Political and Security Relationship (2003-2021): A Review and Prospects

The implication of the technology and chronology reflected in the metal assemblage from the middle‐class Xiongnu burials at Tamiryn Ulaan Khoshuu, Mongolia

AbstractBronze and iron objects from the middle‐class Xiongnu burials at Tamiryn Ulaan Khoshuu were examined for technology and chronology. The bronze objects were made from copper–tin–lead alloys, mostly for ornamental purposes, while the iron objects were household items made of cast iron. Radiocarbon measurements dated the site to the 4th century bce to the 1st century ce. The results revealed two key factors: (1) Xiongnu style material culture established by incorporating various contributions from across Eurasia at an earlier date than previously supposed; and (2) the emergence of regionally stratified material culture suggesting intimate political relationships consistently maintained between geographically distant Xiongnu communities.

The Italian-Yugoslav Rivalry for Political-Economic Influence in Albania 1929-1934

The purpose of the study is to analyze in a substantive manner the circumstances in which Albanian-Italian and Albanian-Yugoslav relations have developed and in particular to reflect the causes and consequences of the Italian-Yugoslav rivalry for economic and political dominance in Albania. Although the objective and clear reflection of the Italo-Yugoslav rivalry affects the exact recognition of the specifics and challenges that these countries faced in extending their influence over Albania through the economy during the above-mentioned period. As a result of the essence of these challenges, we are able to create a clearer perspective in the development of more intensive economic and political relations between Albania and the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia, on the one hand, and Italy and the countries of the former Yugoslavia on the other. Though today Italy does not focus on the Albanian area due to the common European market, the countries of the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia continue to have tendencies for dominance in the economy of the Albanian state. The real reflection of the specifics and challenges in the period 1929-1934 and the analogy with the specifics of today, are another essential goal.
 Scientific novelty: it was concluded that the characteristic of the Italian-Yugoslav rivalry in the period 1929-1934 is the dominance of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the political and to some extent also the economic life of Albania, in particular in the years 1933-1934, although Italy was much more powerful and more present in political and economic life. But the reason for this favorable position of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia only in this period of time was the crisis in Albanian-Italian relations, as a consequence of the refusal of the Albanian side to renew the Pact of Friendship in 1931 and Italy’s request for customs union with Albania in 1932. The rivalry between these two countries was exacerbated by the geographical proximity of the two countries to Albania, and the small cost of benefits, so their interest was extremely high.
 Conclusions. In 1929-1934, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Italy had fierce competition for political and economic dominance in Albania. However, despite the temporary advantage of the first one and its constant efforts, Italy managed to be dominant and challenge its main competitor in Albania: the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It even managed to remove Albania from Yugoslav influence, turning it in its entirety on its side. In addition to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia’s economic and military powerlessness in comparison to Italy, the Italians throughout the 1920s had invested a great deal of time and resources in establishing the state of Albania, which sought support from some power of the time, such as Italy, in its efforts to attain overall development. The political and economic life of Albania was also dominated by Italy due to its proximity to Albania and the fact that neither Greece nor the Kingdom of Yugoslavia had territorial claims towards Albania, at least not until the mid-1930s.

Making sense of Ethiopian journalists’ prison experiences during Meles Zenawi’s administration: a phenomenological inquiry

This study investigated the agony, tribulations, and trials that private press journalists in Ethiopia experienced firsthand in several detention facilities in Ethiopia for engaging in journalistic activity. The study used the period of the late Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s administration, and it employed a qualitative phenomenological research approach to examine the lived experiences of 12 private press journalists. Alfred Schutz’s “Life World” theory and the Italian fascist political theorist Giovanni Gentile’s Authoritarian Democracy theory were used as lenses to provide a “pure” description of the subject under study. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured in-depth interviews. The data were examined using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis as the participants shared their narratives. The main finding indicates that journalists lacked professional and civic freedoms to carry out their duties since the government interjected into their daily lives, imprisoning them and limiting their capacity to have the ultimate say over their work and lives. We suggest that the government should revise impending laws and regulations that hamper freedom of expression in Ethiopia and create a policy requiring its officials to provide information to journalists without regard to their political, social, or other relationships with the media.

Pengaruh Identitas Etnis Politik Terhadap Perilaku Pemilih

This research is entitled The influence of ethnic identity politics in the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Medan 2020. What will be studied in this research is to see the involvement of ethnic identity politics in the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Medan 2020. This research uses political anthropology methods with a functionalist approach where the approach This is built on ethnic lineages which allow for political relations with ethnic groups and organizations. Data collection techniques were carried out using in-depth interview techniques, observation and documentation. Meanwhile, the data analysis technique in this research uses qualitative descriptive data analysis. The technique for determining informants in this research is Purposive Sampling, where the selection of informants is chosen deliberately based on predetermined criteria, namely people who experience and feel directly the influence exerted by candidate pairs using ethnic identity. So the informants in this research were people living in Medan Perjuangan, namely 10 informants, namely 2 people each from the Malay, Javanese, Batak, Acehnese ethnicities, and 2 people from the Chinese ethnicity. The research results show that political ethnic identity does have an influence, but the people of Medan also consider other factors in determining their choices. Full community participation in elections is related to awareness of the importance of community contributions, while the assessment of candidates is not only focused on ethnic identity, but involves performance, vision and mission and leadership behavior. Overall, the results of this study indicate that while political ethnic identity is not an important factor, the people of Medan prefer to understand and evaluate candidates based on performance and leadership criteria.

Analisis hubungan kekeluargaan dalam perilaku politik masyarakat pada pemilihan Kepala Desa Aro tahun 2022

This research aims to determine family relationships in community political behavior during the 2022 Aro Village Election. A descriptive qualitative approach was used in this research. It can be concluded that the sociological approach is influential in this research, namely that family relationships have a strong relationship in politics. Researchers found in the field that the people of Aro Village made their political choices during the village elections based solely on family relationships. The level of kinship/kinship in Aro Village is based on three (3) levels, namely the first kinship level, the second kinship level, and the third kinship level. Of the three levels of kinship, the one that has the most influence on vote acquisition is the second type of kinship, namely kinship/kinship based on the descent of the paternal and maternal grandmothers. The family of candidate one will be used as the winning team for the 2022 Aro Village Election. Likewise with candidate two. When compared with candidate two, the family of candidate one has a strong influence on vote acquisition. So that candidate one succeeded in winning the 2022 Aro Village Election. The public considers when choosing based on Subjective Emotional, namely making a choice because they have family ties, kinship, even friendship.

Revisiting the establishment of the legal system in Dagestan in 1920–30s

The Relevance of the research topic. Contradictory and diverse problems of the national-state structure in a federal state, involving consideration of national characteristics and cultural experience of the peoples included in it, make it relevant to study the historical experience of the formation of the Soviet legal system in Dagestan in 1920–30s.Problem statement. With the establishment of the Soviet power, the Dagestanis were offered a new model of social development. The transformation of the political, economic and social structure was accompanied by changes in the system of values, ideological attitudes, beliefs and norms that the majority of society had to share. Since the «outdated» value-normative system, regulating family, social, economic, and political relations, was focused on maintaining the existing development model, the approval of the new paradigm was difficult and contradictory.The Research objectives. To highlight the process of approval of the Soviet legal system in Dagestan in 1920-30s using reliable documentary material and accumulated historiographical experience.The Research methods. To solve the tasks set, the following methods were used: objectivism, historicism, historical-systemic and historical-typological.The Results and key conclusions. The legitimization of the Soviet legal system in the first years after the establishment of Soviet power required the preservation of the traditional elements of law for the Dagestanis – Muslim (Sharia) and customary (Adat) law. Since the late 1920s, the time of the «forced» construction of socialism in the country, the traditional legal structures in the Republic have been liquidated. Under the control of party bodies by the time of the adoption of the Constitution of 1937, the legal system of Dagestan acquires all-Russian structural and functional features. The establishment of a new legal system and a socialist sense of justice was promoted by the policy of indigenization (korenization) and promotion, which in Dagestan had its own specific features, due to the multinational nature of the republic.

The Effect of Profitability, Debt Policy, Political Connections, Economic Crisis on Tax Aggressiveness

The primary goal of this study is to analyze the impact of economic and political power, debt policy, and political influence on tax aggressiveness during times of economic uncertainty. In this study, we choose as examples health and pharmaceutical firms trading on the Indonesia Stock Exchange between the years 2018 and 2021. To test for the predicted difference between before and after the covid 19 epidemic, researchers utilized multiple regression and other tests (paired sample t-test) in SPSS version 23. This research backs up the notion that fiscal stability and profitability affect tax aggressiveness. There was no difference in the prevalence of tax evasion strategies either before or after the Covid 19 pandemic, and neither debt policies nor political relationships seemed to have any influence on tax aggression. Using research findings to inform decision making or policy implementation may boost a company's future success. In addition to building on earlier replication attempts, this work also puts to the test comparisons made before and during the COVID-19 epidemic, making it a significant piece of research.

Network Approach in the Study of Political Relations: Ontological and Methodological Aspects

Network Approach in the Study of Political Relations: Ontological and Methodological Aspects

Dialectical critical realism, complexity and the psychology of blame

AbstractThis essay considers the question of how to frame social complexity from the point of view of critical realism as it was developed in the direction of dialectics by Roy Bhaskar. One of the main objectives of dialectical critical realism (DCR) was to see dialectics as offering a more open and flexible way of handling social reality. I begin by outlining the main aims of DCR and its general orientation, before outlining some key concepts which afford it greater flexibility in handling complexity. In particular I look at ideas of totality, holistic causality, four planar social being and dispositional identity. I then use these ideas to explore in more detail two particular issues which relate to my own interests in thinking about the place of moral psychology in a dialectical critical realist setting. Here I focus on the complexity in understanding what it means to be responsible for an act in the light of the four planar social being/dispositional identity argument, and on how psychological phenomena animate social and political relations in light of ideas of totality and holistic causation.