Strong Nation Research Articles

Trade Liberalization and the Performance of the Manufacturing Subsector in Nigeria

Trade liberalization is a widely accepted policy for fostering economic growth, particularly in developing countries. Advocates argue that open economies, through increased competition, specialization, and access to global markets, outperform closed economies. However, the short-term effects on developing economies like Nigeria remain debated, especially within the manufacturing sector. Nigeria's trade policy has fluctuated between protectionism and openness, significantly influencing its manufacturing performance. Critics, drawing from dependency theory, argue that liberalization exposes weaker economies to exploitation by stronger nations, leading to trade imbalances and inhibiting industrial growth. This study investigates the nonlinear effects of trade liberalization on Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, addressing a gap in the literature by employing a quadratic approach to determine threshold effects. By incorporating a quadratic form of the trade variable, the study tests the hypothesis that trade liberalization initially boosts the manufacturing sector but results in diminishing returns as openness intensifies. The research is framed within the Laffer Curve of Trade, suggesting that beyond a certain threshold, excessive openness may harm the manufacturing sector. The AutoRegressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is used to assess both short-run and long-run effects, with findings indicating a convex relationship between trade liberalization and manufacturing output, highlighting the critical importance of identifying optimal policy thresholds to maximize industrial growth.

Beyond Ellis Island: Unpacking the Negativity Around Contemporary Migration

The year 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the end of Ellis Island as the welcoming gateway to and for millions of international migrants to the United States. It is also a presidential election year in the same country, where migrants and migration are lambasted, even as the economy cannot have enough of them. This behaviour pattern is not unique. By focusing mainly on the United States, this paper proposes a set of inter-related explanations as to why immigration can become – and persist in being seen – as a negative policy issue in the public eye. First, anti-immigration rhetoric is adopted as a rallying call by at least one mainstream political party. Second, the country’s migration policies are enacted via executive order; and thus, they unwittingly become a proxy scorecard of alleged government inefficiency and incompetence, which, in turn, are projected as risks to national security. Third, in countries with either a relatively short history of independence, or with strong nativist cultures, nourished by a discourse of identity, patriotism, and a proto-ethnic sense of ‘the nation’, immigrants are seen to pose an existential threat; at best, any migrants have an obligation to ‘fit in’ via assimilation into their host community.

Crisis Reporting and Professionalism in Journalism: An Analysis of Reporting Practices in Cameroon and Nigeria

ABSTRACT This study examines the dynamics of journalistic professionalism in crisis reporting in Nigeria and Cameroon: countries which have experienced sustained violent secessionist crises since 2015 and 2016 respectively. These crises have led to new approaches to crisis reporting, in which local journalists cover events amid severe violence and the strong nationalist ideologies typical of secessionist movements. Using an innovative mixed method that combines regression analysis and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the article explores the nuances of journalistic professionalism in the reporting of these crises through a survey of 302 journalists from the secessionist regions in these countries. With professionalism operationalized through objectivity, the regression analysis revealed the use of emotions, the inclusion of ideologies on nationalism/secessionism, the freedom of journalists, their use of multiple/variety sources in reporting, and the inclusion of opposing views as factors affecting journalistic objectivity in crisis reporting in Cameroon and Nigeria. The FsQCA results further stress the nuances in the independence of these factors and the complex circumstances where their presence or absence could enhance objectivity in reporting. In this way, the study reveals the dialectics of existing literature on media systems using an innovative methodological approach.

Opportunities and Challenges of China’s Economic and Political Development under the Third Term of Xi Leadership: A Viewpoint of India

China’s economic and political development under the third term of Xi Jinping’s leadership presents both opportunities and challenges, viewed by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While there are potential rooms for cooperation and diplomatic engagement between India and China, there are also significant disagreements related to border disputes, trade imbalances, and geopolitical tensions. Navigating these dynamics requires careful diplomacy, strategic arrangements, and a balance of interests among the leaders in both countries. However, the conflict between India and China is potentially and geopolitically inevitable because of several key factors inherent in the international system. Since both are rising powers, seeking to assert their influence and interests either regionally or globally; moreover, both states have strong nationalist sentiments that can be mobilized by ambitious leaders to justify assertive policies and provocative tongues, making it difficult to compromise on unresolved problems and easier to ignite a destructive blaze.

Context matters: The signaling role of foreign bidders’ reputation in cross-border acquisition contests

Existing research offers limited understanding of how foreign acquirers enhance their chance of success in cross-border acquisition (CBA) deals. Engaging and extending signaling theory, this paper argues that during the bidding stage of an acquisition deal wherein information asymmetry is heightened between the bidder and seller, reputation of foreign bidders can serve as a signal of quality, increasing their likelihood of winning a deal over domestic bidders. Importantly, this signal is only effective when there is strong nationalist sentiment in the seller's country. Analyses of 580 bidders in 275 cross-border multi-bidder acquisition contests between 1994 and 2016 support our predictions.

They shall not pass? The role of supply-side factors in the electoral breakthrough of VOX and Chega

ABSTRACT No country is immune to the electoral success of populist radical right (PRR) parties: Spain and Portugal seemed to be the exception to this rule because, for decades, PRR parties remained relegated to the margins of the Iberian political systems. However, in 2019 VOX and Chega gained parliamentary representation: how did they manage to obtain their historic electoral breakthrough? From a supply-side perspective, we use the Party Manifesto dataset to show that VOX and Chega chose to position themselves within the existing political space and cleavages in ways that set them apart from the competition. VOX exploited the Spanish centre-periphery cleavage insisting on strong nationalist elements while advocating for increased centralization, while Chega insisted on personal freedom and welfare limitation to break the ties with the political system born out of the Carnation Revolution.

Revisiting the ideological negotiation of Indonesian identity, 1900–1942

ABSTRACT This paper examines the discourses on Indonesian identity as they were negotiated by Indonesian intellectuals in the late colonial period, 1900–1942. During this period, ethnic diversity and Islamism constituted key issues in which different intellectuals exchanged their thoughts as to what it meant to be an Indonesian. This paper argues that, while various ideological discourses for the formation of Indonesian national identity had developed in the early twentieth century, the depth that these discourses were debated and agreed upon by the Indonesian intellectual elite was asymetrical. Strong nationalist discourses had promoted a key political instrument by which to unite a people of diverse ethnicity, race, and religion. On the other hand, the debates on the discourse of Islamic identity during the same period lacked consensus among Muslim scholars and between Islamists and secular nationalists, especially concerning the concept of unity, nationalism, and independence, and the role of women and polygamy. Notwithstanding this, Javanese Islamic syncretism and the colonial containment policy towards Islam also contributed as external factors which served to constrain Islamists from positing an overt Islamic identity. Concurrently, it raised the nationalists’ racial transcendence as a shared value of being Indonesian.

The Influence of Nationalism and Realism on Shaping of the Political Thought in Russia with Special Emphasis on the Putin Era

Nationalism as an idea, movement and ideology denotes tendency of members of an ethnic group towards the establishment of an ethnically pure territory. Achieving this political goal, with superiority in relation to others as a guiding idea, often leads to jeopardizing sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppression and exploitation of other people. Nationalism has been a significant feature of the Russian society for centuries. Traditionally, the focus of Russian nationalism has been the preservation and strengthening of a large and powerful multi-ethnic state. Opposed to this imperial nationalism stands ethno-nationalism focused on the struggle for the interests of ethnic Russians. One of the main drivers of the Russian nationalism in the past couple of decades has been the country’s economic situation and the political tensions with the West. The Russian nationalist sentiment grew stronger after the annexation of Crimea and the beginning of war in Ukraine, being justified with a strong nationalist political narrative focused on ethnic Russians and the protection of their rights. Contrary to nationalists, realists advocate a more pragmatic approach to international relations, focusing on economic and social development. The aim of this paper is to research to what extent nationalism and realism have shaped political thought in Russia.

The fluctuations in the style of German barracks complexes in referenceto the national style on selected examples from the 1930st

The national-socialist movement widespread in Germany in the 1930s influenced all areas of life. Investments in facilities related to the military were of particular ideological significance. At the same time, regardless of the state ideology and propaganda, in the period following World War I,a huge transformation is taking place in the formation of barracks complexes. In terms of the distribution of rooms in accordance with cross ventilation and insolation requirements, as well as the urban arrangement on the plot, military architecture uses the achievements of residential architecture: social housing, patronage estates, prefabrication and functionalism. In formal terms, it is also influenced by the international style. For example, in Polish military architecture (during the Second Polish Republic), the use of cosmopolitan modernism progressed, being a manifestation of patriotic care for the modernization of the country in accordance with the example set by the world powers and Western countries. However, it didnt take long before German military architecture diversified from this trend. The Third Reich, under the influence of the national--socialist movement, briefly before the outbreak of World War II, abandons modernism in favour of a specific local form of vernacular national style - Heimatstil. In the field of construction of government buildings, its nationalist variant prevails "Heimatschutz" which is a retreat to tendentious historical forms and regionalisms. This transformation is illustrated by three examples of barracks from19351938. The historical barracks from the 1880s represent a style saturated with romanticism. They are multi-storey blocks full of gloomy interiors spanning deep from the corridor, which encompasses the building. At the beginning of the 1930s, they are being replaced by objects derived from the white modernism: ascetic, functional, cubist, with a functional layout solved with attention to ventilation and insolation. However, with the tightening of the rhetoric of the ruling NSDAP, evidenced by the exhibition of modern art under the depreciating title "Degenerated Art", organized in Munich in 1937, a strong nationalist course in Germanys politics leads to the rejection of cosmopolitan patterns. This results in the return to the simplified vernacular style in the design of barrack complexes. This then gives way to objects in an approachable native style.

Media, digital sovereignty and geopolitics: the case of the TikTok ban in India

TikTok, one of the most downloaded apps in the world, has been banned in India since June 2020, following military clashes on the India-China border. This article focuses on government narratives of the TikTok ban in the Indian media and situates the issue within the broader geopolitical framework of deteriorating Sino-Indian relations and attempts for digital sovereignty. At a time of strong nationalist discourses dominating the political and social communication in India, it is perhaps unsurprising that the narratives have been seen outside India as protectionism. However, this paper argues that the digital sovereignty in the Indian context is not exclusionary but aims to create a robust digital infrastructure that is critical for economic development and self-reliance. Highlighting the lessons from India, this paper concludes the following: (i) digital sovereignty is a form of discourse which does not imply any specific policy, (ii) digital sovereignty relates to user control over their data, however, the role and limits of the State is not clearly defined and (iii) digital platforms are highly vulnerable to changing geopolitics in which their existence is not determined by user-platform interactions but by international relations.

MIGRATION PROCESSES AND UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE FUNCTIONING

Objective. The objective of the article is to analyze the migration processes of Ukrainians and their influence on the development and functioning of the language. Methods. The main scientific results are obtained by analyzing the statistical data of surveys of various sociological institutes in the period from 2011 to 2022, based on the survey data conducted by the sociological service of the Razumkov Center together with the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation. Results. The issue of migration of Ukrainians is constantly in the scope of interest of scientists, because migration processes affect various spheres of society’s life. Socio-political changes in the country have a two-pronged nature: on the one hand, Ukrainians got the opportunity to cross the border without a visa, on the other hand, this also simplified the employment process. Now it is enough to cross the border and spend money on a visa, and you can already look for a job in Europe without intermediary agencies. The outflow of the working-age population has a negative impact on the economy of Ukraine, wage earners do not pay taxes and spend their money in European countries instead of investing in their own economy. In the process of researching migration flows of Ukrainians over a rather long period since 2011. by 2022, it is found that their vector affects the functioning of the Ukrainian language. It is determined that the highest demand and recognition of the Ukrainian language as a native language falls on the periods associated with the growth of the percentage of migrants in 2014 and 2022. After the full-scale invasion, Ukrainians prefer those countries that are culturally close to Ukrainian culture, where the language is as similar as possible — Poland, the Czech Republic, and where, accordingly, it is already possible to be in labor migration. It is also indicative that migration processes have affected the global status of the Ukrainian language, because the number of people wishing to learn the language of the world’s strongest nation has increased.

Słoweński patriotyzm w okresie socjalistycznej Jugosławii

Slovenian Patriotism in the Socialist Yugoslavia The article presents an analysis of the essence and form of Slovenian patriotism in the socialist Yugoslavia, with particular emphasis on the 1980s (when the crisis of the Yugoslav idea becomes evident). It deals with issues related to the forms and manifestations of the patriotism of a small nation such as the Slovenes, who for most of their history were under the domination of larger and stronger nations. The argument is divided into five parts. The first, introductory one contains a brief outline of the ideological foundations of the Yugoslav federation, which were also important for the Slovenian patriotism at that time. For this purpose, the most important ideas and values promoted by Titoism in politics and education are recalled, and the progressive national and cultural emancipation of Slovenes is indicated. The second part discusses the views and positions of Slovenian intellectuals (Edvard Kocbek, Primož Kozak and Drago Jančar) fundamental to the understanding of the discussed issue. They are an expression of a deep reflection on the condition and position of a small nation in the specific conditions of a multinational federation, but also with reference to a wider (i.e. European and American) framework. The third part shows the Yugoslav background of discussions on Slovenian patriotism, which, in the rest of Yugoslavia in the 1980s, was considered nationalism shattering the federal unity. In the fourth part, the symbolic forms of “love for the homeland” in Slovenia (including those in tourism and sports) are cited, emphasizing their importance in the process of shaping the national awareness. The last part outlines the contemporary perception of Slovenian patriotism in the period of socialist Yugoslavia. The conclusion emphasizes, above all, the departure from patriotism based on the universalist ideology of socialism in favor of patriotism understood as love for the native land.

Lower Carbon, Stronger Nation: Exploring Sociopolitical Determinants for the Chinese Public's Climate Attitudes.

Although numerous studies have examined the Chinese public's attitudes towards climate change, few have shed light on how sociopolitical factors related to the policy and the state have shaped such attitudes. This constituted our research goal. Against the background of China's Dual Carbon Goals, a national survey (n = 1469) was conducted to investigate the relationships between climate attitudes and climate benefit perception, institutional trust, policy familiarity, nationalism, and environmental values. Findings showed that respondents shared a high score of nationalism and a high level of trust in Chinese institutions. Their national benefit perception of climate action, nationalism, and trust in national institutions were strong determinants of their attitudes towards climate change. The findings suggested that for many Chinese, a lower-carbon future will be accompanied by a coming stronger nation, which is a key driver for people to adopt positive attitudes towards addressing climate change. As such, the current study revealed an alternative landscape of the determinants underlying people's attitudes towards climate change. To our knowledge, this is the first scholarly effort in China to empirically demonstrate the predictive role of nationalistic value in shaping climate attitudes and is one of the earliest efforts in climate communication to test the impact of the policy on such attitudes.

‘A League of Minds’? Uses and abuses of the League of Nations’ internationalism by Fascist Italy

ABSTRACT This article aims to shed light on the rationale behind Fascist Italy’s participation in the League of Nations’ (L.o.N.) cultural organizations, as well as on the strategies and diplomatic tools it adopted with a view to setting the intellectual cooperation agenda in the 1920s and 1930s. Although inspired by a strong nationalist ideology, the Fascist regime, at least initially, successfully adapted its cultural diplomacy strategies to the multilateral context of the L.o.N., embracing the language and tools of internationalism. In the long run, however, this delicate balance between nationalist and internationalist attitudes proved untenable: Mussolini’ project aiming to convey a positive and tolerant image of Fascism to the outside world was firstly tainted by the measures taken in 1931 to regiment Italian intellectuals, and then finally collapsed with the aggression to Ethiopia. However, this article shows that the involvement in the L.o.N.’s cultural organizations, while providing Fascism with international channels for circulating its propaganda, also determined instances of real cooperation: the most emblematic case is represented by the development of cinematography, which can be considered Italy’s long-term contribution to the enhancement of intellectual cooperation within the L.o.N. in the interwar period.

Ethnophotography, Nation Branding, and National Competition in Transylvania: Emil Sigerus’ Durch Siebenbürgen

Abstract Scholars have treated images from the golden age of Transylvanian photography, recently elevated to prominence through the digitization of archives, as “authentic” portrayals of peasant culture. However, Hungarian, Romanian, and Saxon nationalists in Transylvania utilized photographs to brand place and nation in the global market, as well as to make claims to territory and assert competing national hierarchies. I examine here Saxon historian, folklorist and travel writer Emil Sigerus’ Durch Siebenbürgen: eine Touristenfahrt in 58 Bildern (Through Transylvania: a Tourist Trip in 58 Pictures), published repeatedly between 1905 and 1929. Sigerus’ photographic survey of Transylvania’s natural landscape, built environment and diverse populations branded Transylvania in general and Transylvanian Saxons in particular as a tourist destination unspoiled by the passage of time. Sigerus also projected an ethnically stratified social hierarchy on Transylvania’s heterogeneous population, with Saxons at the apex; asserted Saxon ownership of urban centers, thereby reinforcing Saxon claims to a “civilizing mission” in Transylvania; and laid claim to territory, simultaneously redirecting tourism from other parts of Transylvania to Saxon nationalists’ benefit. By careful curation, then, Sigerus projected a strong nationalist message often overlooked in the analysis of individual images as “objective” sources of evidence.

Thucydides in China

At the turn of the twentieth century, Chinese historiography went through a revolution in that traditional historiography was replaced with nineteenth-century Western historiography with Rankean doctrines at its core. This set the stage for the reception of Thucydides, who was seen as the model of an objective historian. At the same time, appraisal of Thucydides was also dictated by the political ideology of the times. More recently, as China emerges as a global power, the importance of international relations has been elevated and Thucydides appeals to many because of his realpolitik interpretation of history popularized by Graham Allison’s theory of “Thucydides’s Trap.” At the same time, the extremely influential Chinese Straussians, mindful of China’s rise and contemplating a leading role for her, see in Thucydides the value of political education for the future elites. Underlining all these trends is a strong nationalist tone.

Lessons for Left-Wing Populism from the 2010s Austerity Wave in Europe

Lessons for Left-Wing Populism from the 2010s Austerity Wave in Europe

Visual Art and Propaganda Ecologies in the Basque Country: A Sample of Guernica Motifs from the Benedictine Sticker Archives (1978–1989)

The Benedictine Archives at Lazkao contain a multitude of propaganda stickers and related visual media that provide a snapshot of the Basque region’s artful political culture in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of the most compelling examples include several items that remix Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, referencing the famous antiwar painting to become a form of mass-circulated pastiche. This move was somewhat unusual amid the strong nationalist bent of public discourse and art in the Basque Country during this period. Almost entirely unknown outside the region, these materials capture political performance during the decade-long period between the instauration of Spanish democracy (1978) and the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989), when separatist sentiment reached a peak in the Basque Country. This artful visual platform, rendered in the small, focused format of stickers, constitutes a useful index of rhetorical currents within the Basque Country and Spain, as well as an interesting analogue prototype of what we might call, in the twenty-first century, meme culture. Circulated in bars and other public places across the Basque region, and frequently worn upon clothing, the stickers demonstrate a propaganda principle described by Jonathan Auerbach and Russ Castronovo, whereby participants in movements of mass persuasion actively partake in the dissemination and consumption of propaganda. The stickers normally refer to very concrete events (for instance, a one-day celebration, a protest for a concrete situation, etc.). When organized on topics and themes, they create a nonlinear visual account of post-Franco Basque history, providing propaganda narratives that invite performative acts from the audience. This account documents the significance of the vast Benedictine collection for future scholars, analyzing, in detail, four stickers that employ Guernica in their design. It also considers several other representative items from the collections that play on other art forms, as well as pop culture, in their attempt to influence public opinion, politics, and media consumption.

National Identity and the Limits of Chinese Public Diplomacy in the Philippines

ABSTRACT Despite a rise in Chinese public diplomacy efforts in the Philippines, Filipino perceptions of China have mainly remained negative during the Duterte period. This article examines why and how China’s public diplomacy efforts have primarily failed despite President Duterte’s pro-China position. It draws on constructivist approaches to demonstrate how national identity mediates the impact of Chinese influence. In particular, Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea, and an influx of China-based offshore gaming businesses in the country, have elicited a strong nationalist response from Filipinos, perpetuating perceptions of China as untrustworthy and threatening. Evidence is drawn to determine correlation between an increase in Chinese public diplomacy and a decrease in public trust towards China. This is followed by process-tracing how national identity dampens any positive effect Chinese public diplomacy may have on Philippine attitudes towards China.

Introduction

Introduction