Political Success Research Articles

Political Existence and Question of Historical Agency: Performance of Pakistan People’s Party in Punjab (1999-2018)

Pakistan People’s Party has gone through difficult times since 1999. They went through split in the parliamentary party by giving birth to ‘parliamentarians’, lost leadership, attained power and experienced the lowest electoral score in the political history between 1999 and 2018. These two decades have been crucial not only for the Pakistan People’s Party but also for the overall political development in Pakistan. Enforcement of emergency, introduction of ‘enlightened moderation’, war on terror, charter of democracy, eighteenth amendment and above all the slogan of ‘tabdili’ accredit this era for a deeper analysis of the events. Plethora of work has been done on the political, social and economic aspects of this period in the political history of Pakistan. This paper analyses the relationship of political existence with the historical agency to understand the events of political success and failure in the light of historical standards of existence. It defines the historical standards on the basis of sociocultural dynamics of society and on the basis of these standards analyses the performance of Pakistan People’s Party. It argues for the deterministic presence of History as an agent in the social and political development. This paper extends the argument, while answering the question of nature of socio-cultural and historical relevance of a political party, to the understanding of existing material on political development, understanding of socio-cultural transitions and by understanding the emerging socio-cultural realities. It concludes the discussion with linking the performance of Pakistan People’s Party with the historical dimension.

Operacja URIC – największa zagraniczna operacja militarna Republiki Zimbabwe Rodezji

Operation URIC, which lasted from 1 to 7 September 1979, is the largest military involvement of the Republic of Zimbabwe Rhodesia abroad. It was carried out together with the South African Air Force. The aim was to prevent further guerrilla action by the combined forces of Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and Forcas Populares de Libertação De Moçambique. Operation was a failure in military, but there was a political success.

Tibor Valuch. Everyday Life under Communism and After: Lifestyle and Consumption in Hungary, 1945–2000

Tibor Valuch. <i>Everyday Life under Communism and After: Lifestyle and Consumption in Hungary, 1945–2000</i>

Electing Women in Ethnically Divided Societies: Candidates, Campaigns, and Intersectionality in Bihar, India

What factors influence women’s political success in ethnically divided societies? Using an original survey experiment in the Indian state of Bihar, supplemented with qualitative interviews, we explore the impact of two factors—intersecting gender and caste identity, and the interaction of campaign appeal with voter experiences of caste discrimination—on women candidates’ success in state-level elections. We find, first, that women voters prefer women candidates, and that Scheduled Caste and Muslim voters also prefer candidates from their in-groups. At the same time, we identify evidence of intersectional effects, namely, that Muslim women candidates suffer from a disadvantage vis-a-vis women candidates from other backgrounds. We also show that women voters prefer candidates who offer security, especially when the candidates are women. Finally, we demonstrate that personal experience with caste discrimination increases support for women candidates. These results indicate that voters see women leaders as well-placed to ameliorate their security vulnerabilities.

Study of Political Campaign on TikTok

Minnesota State Senate candidate Matt Little uses an app that few other politicians use, TikTok, to try to distinguish himself from other politicians and often devotes a lot of time to "branding" efforts. This article looks at how Matt Little is using this new app that has emerged in recent years - TikTok - to communicate and civilly educate people in a new way. The results of the study show that Matt Little has achieved good results by communicating with young people on their favorite platforms during the campaign, gaining many fans and growing in popularity. It made him turn from an obscure candidate to an internet celebrity. But in the end Matt Little did not win the election, showing that success on TikTok does not automatically translate into political success. This study helps us gain a deeper understanding of the impact of social media on political elections.

Talking with racists: insights from discourse and communication studies on the containment of far-right movements

The rise of the far right is threatening the antifascist consensus that helped rebuild Europe and the world following World War II. Discourse studies have done much to further the understanding of the success as well as the fallacies of the discourses of far-right movements and have provided the means by which to comprehend right-wing communicative strategies. However, it has also been said that the reactions of the democratic majority and the mainstream media have contributed—mainly involuntarily—to the success of right-wing politics. The role of the reactions of society, the democratic majority and the mainstream media in trying to counter right-wing discourses is widely underexplored. The aim of this contribution is to understand the diverse material and symbolic effects of certain practices of political contestation. It aims to help elaborate counterstrategies against the threat of the far right and to present communicative strategies against hate. With the help of such diverse authors as Foucault, Goffman or Habermas, we will show how democratic positions seem to be in an ideological dilemma in which the speech acts that try to counter far-right discourses very often produce the opposite effect. The article can help to overcome the pitfalls and performative contradictions of some discursive practices especially in public communications.

The Impact of Social Media Use for Elected Parliamentarians: Evidence from Politicians' Use of Twitter During the Last Two Swiss Legislatures

AbstractNotwithstanding growing research on how using social media for political campaigning impacts politicians' chances of winning votes, we still have limited knowledge about whether and how the use of social media and online styles of communication affect political success over successive legislatures. We address this deficit by analyzing a panel dataset about the Twitter activity of politicians who have had a parliamentary mandate at least once. We first demonstrate that politicians' interaction with specific online audiences (e.g. in terms of replies and mentions) is still evolving, thus pointing to possible strategic adaptations of politicians' communication as social media are mastered. Then, we show that Twitter‐based activity moderately impacts politicians' political success, both in terms of political ranking and media coverage. This success, however, strongly depends on the style of political communication and on the legislature under scrutiny.

The relationship between the virtual and real success of BiH parties

Politicians from the Western Balkan region are seeing the advantages of the Internet more and more for their presentation and overall success in politics, especially the usage of social networks. We researched the participation of political parties in the House of Peoples of BiH (in the mandates 2014-2018 and 2018-2022) and the number of seats won by parties along with popularity on social networks - Facebook as a representative example of online / virtual presentation of each political party. Research has shown inconsistencies with the popularity of political parties “online” with their actual success - winning a certain amount of delegates in the state parliament. Overall, when it comes to traditional, larger parties that voters choose the most (such as SDA, SNSD, and partially HDZ / 2014-2018 and 2018-2022), virtual and actual results are approximate, while “a huge gap between two worlds” applies for the rest. Political parties that are most represented on the Internet, are actually least represented in the Parliament. At the same time, lousy Internet results for a few parties are resulting in “big cake” in the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina.When politicians address voters through a TV spot, their marketing teams cannot choose exactly when they want to consume content. The Internet, and especially social networks, have the opportunity that today is the “alpha and omega” of all promotional actions.However, these new opportunities for domestic politics are closed! Why? Because domestic politicians have not yet understood / accepted the new fact that they can not only broadcast but also need to make their products available to recipients.In BiH, there’s currently only “political communication using the Internet” topic rather than “networked political communication” one. Interactive possibilities of the Internet have been limited to the ones of old mass media, which have been distancing the individual from the public sphere over the decades, making him/her a mere consumer of the mass culture product and an observer of the political events. The Internet is still partially seen as classic or mass media in the political communication of BiH. The audience doesn’t have a chance for systematically arranged interaction, but it’s primarily focused on one-way communication. In the meantime, politicians are accessing the Internet as just another option from the list, not seeing a new fact - not only that they can broadcast, but they need to make their products available to the recipients at the same time.

Listening to Loving

Richard and Mildred Loving are widely recognized as revolutionaries of social change, responsible for the landmark civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, which led to the abolition of state laws forbidding mixed-race marriage in America. The Lovings’ act of resistance is often (rightly) viewed as radical, but few scholars have focused specifically on Mildred Loving in particular as a revolutionary figure, because she was soft-spoken and reserved. This paper argues that in her quietness, Loving engaged in a deliberate form of resistance: She fought for her inalienable rights without ever raising her voice. With the assistance of Kevin Quashie’s The Sovereignty of Quiet and Tina Campt’s Listening to Images, this paper examines Mildred Loving as embodying an alternative form of Black activism. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates that Mildred Loving’s political success was a result of her commitment to quiet activism. Loving’s quiet resistance is equally—if not more—productive than larger, louder forms of resistance to white supremacy and racism in America, and this form of resistance can be translated for use in our current moment where loud acts of protest often seem like the most effective option for activism and engagement.

The Political Image of Left-wing Leaders in Poland: How Young Voters Evaluate the Politicians from Different “Political Generations”

In recent decades political activity has become more and more personalized. Thus, to achieve political success, it is necessary to have a recognizable and popular party leader. Polish left-wing parties have adopted a different strategy. Instead of betting on one leader, they promote “three tenors” from different political generations (Robert Biedroń, Włodzimierz Czarzasty, and Adrian Zandberg). The aim of our study (N=379) is to diagnose how voters perceive the political images of these left-wing leaders and what feelings they have towards them. We confirm the findings from other studies suggesting the effect of political preferences and ideological orientation on the perception of political image and emotional attitudes to party leaders.

Being Green in the East: The success and impact of Green parties in post-socialist countries

This article examines the presence and activities of Green parties in governments of Central and Eastern Europe. In recent years, many ecologist parties and movements gained considerable electoral and general political success, especially in developed democracies of Western Europe. However, their ideological counterparts in new democracies tend to remain out of power and often out of parliament, albeit with a few notable exceptions. In this study, success of the Greens in CEE is operationalised through their impact on public spending and direct investments allocated to environmental protection. The hypothesis regarding the Greens’ impact on spending is tested within the regression models, along with other potential predictors of government expenditure. The research results demonstrate a low significance of Greens in government participation and also their impact on budgetary allocation, contributing to the debate about the Green politics’ position in the context of social and political cleavages in post-socialist societies.

When Fake News and Personal Experience Contradict: Limits to Post-Truth in Turkey

ABSTRACT While many studies examine Erdoğan’s growing control over the Turkish media sector, there are hardly any studies that look at how post-truth affects the low-income urban consumers of partisan media in Turkey, which this article aims to do. This focus group study reveals that the partisan media has a significant impact on the views and behaviour of the relatively less educated urban poor, but personal experiences prove a significant factor in the success of post-truth politics. If interviewees are locked into a relation of interest with Justice and Development Party organizations, particularly if they are recipients of social aid, their loyalty to Erdoğan and inclination to believe fake news from partisan media are stronger. However, when their personal experiences are diametrically different from the claims made in fake news, these individuals are harder to be persuaded by partisan media.

THE ANTI-OLIGARCHY POPULAR CONSTITUTION

THE ANTI-OLIGARCHY POPULAR CONSTITUTION

Effectiveness of African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance in Rwanda and Uganda

Peaceful, credible, consensual change of power through democratic practices is considered a factor in sustainable peace and development of countries globally and in Africa. The promotion of democracy, election, and governance in Africa has been suffering from different problems, particularly those related to the non-consensual change of constitution and unconstitutional change of government (s). Problems related to this are due to some leaders who do commit themselves to the effective implementation of some continental instruments, including the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance (ACDEG). The study interest was looking at the weaknesses of the ACDEG while identifying the electoral democracy practices in Rwanda and Uganda in view of the ACDEG. The study used an explorative approach in order to discuss the weaknesses and the effectiveness of the aforementioned instrument toward electoral democracy in Rwanda and Uganda. The study used the documentary analysis technique in order to analyse the collected data. The analysis showed that provisions of the ACDEG are not respected in some countries. Rwanda and Uganda do not comply with the electoral democratic practices provided by ACDEG due to their historical background and due to some weaknesses identified in the instrument. To this end, the study proposed solutions including the empowering of ACDEG by ratifying and implementing it. By considering the historical contexts of some countries, the study suggested that political succession as a democratic practise should be given its value. It means that principles in the instrument should be effective from the time countries have signed and ratified it.

Examining the Effect of Ethical Awareness on the Relationship between Political Skill and Subjective Career Success

This study examined the relationship of political skills of high school teachers to their subjective career success and the moderating role of ethical awareness in this relationship. The findings demonstrated that the participants' ethical awareness and political skill scores were relatively higher than career and life satisfaction scores. Career and life satisfaction were found to increase with professional experience. Despite being a significant predictor of career satisfaction, ethical awareness had no significant effect on life satisfaction. That said, political skill was a significant predictor of both career satisfaction and life satisfaction. Moreover, ethical awareness did not moderate the effect of political skill on career and life satisfaction. Based on these findings, implementing formal methods such as the use of vision and mission statements and in-school guidelines to make the ethical provisions mentioned in the legal regulations visible in the school environment, and school administrators’ creating an ethical working climate through implementing the ethical rules fairly for all teachers and students were recommended.

Does sports success increase government support? Voter (ir)rationality in a multiparty context

A growing number of studies discuss the impact of non-political factors on the political success of incumbents. Theoretically, this literature addresses core ideas about electoral accountability and voter rationality. Scholars have explored factors such as shark attacks, weather, natural disasters, and sports results. So far, the evidence has been inconclusive and almost exclusively from majoritarian contexts, where government accountability is easy for voters to assign. We contribute with an analysis of whether nationally important sports success, such as Olympic gold medals, affect support for coalition governments in a multiparty context. We use monthly polling from Finland for a 28-year period from Jan 1994 to Dec 2021, which we combine with data on sports success. Our analysis shows that nationally important sports success has no impact on government popularity. The finding holds while controlling for traditional drivers of government popularity and across different operationalizations of government support and sports success. With this finding, the study joins several previous analyses, which have been supportive of voter rationality.

Is facial structure an honest cue to real-world dominance and fighting ability in men? A pre-registered direct replication of

Masculine facial morphology (e.g., larger jaw, prominent cheekbones) have been linked to a suite of social outcomes—including greater wealth, career progress, romantic desirability, and even greater political success. A leading explanation for these links is that dominant facial structures represent honest cues of physical dominance and fighting ability. Třebický et al. (2013) published the first study to demonstrate that masculine facial cues (e.g., large nose, deep-set eyes) similarly predict both dominance judgments and real-world fighting success, but no studies have replicated these popular findings that a large and specific assortment of masculine facial structures are implicated in both fighting ability and dominance perception. Thus, we conducted a pre-registered direct replication and extension of Třebický et al. (2013). Two separate samples of United States MTurk participants rated 516 UFC fighters' facial photographs on perceived aggressiveness (N = 500) and fighting ability (N = 500). Results showed that perceived aggressiveness was associated with masculine facial morphology (e.g., large nose, deep-set eyes) independent of bodily size. There was also some evidence that perceived fighting ability was associated with masculine facial morphology, which disappeared after controlling for bodily size. There was no support for the relation between facial structure and fighting success, and there were often negative relations between perceived aggressiveness and fighting ability on fighting success (i.e., more successful fighters were perceived as less successful and aggressive). We argue that our evolved psychology differentially processes the distinct avenues to victory that constitute overall fighting success (e.g., knockout versus submission wins).

ОПЫТ ГЕРМАНИИ В ПОВЫШЕНИИ СОЦИАЛЬНО-ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОГО СТАТУСА ЖЕНЩИН В СОВРЕМЕННОМ ОБЩЕСТВЕ

An article about the gender equality of women in modern society on the example of Germany. The path of women in public life in Germany was difficult, but today German women have achieved great success in politics. Their number is growing both in political parties and in the country's parliament and in the structure of top leadership positions. For 16 years, the German chancellor was Angela Merkel, who led the country very successfully and is the first woman in this position and the third-longest rule in German history. At the present stage of modern history in Germany, there have been fundamental changes in the socio-political status of women, which can be described as positive. It should be pointed out that not only Germany but also the EU as a whole, has obliged the governments of all participating states to assist in resolving issues of equal rights for women and monitor the observance of their rights.

Peranan Politik Hukum Dalam Penyelenggaraan Pelayanan Publik Untuk Mewujudkan Good Governance

When the law acts as a tool of social engineering (law as a tool of social engineering) inevitably places the rule of law in a very important position in regulating people's lives. Public policy is often understood as an instrument used by the government to solve technocratic public problems. Departing from the above background, the problem to be revealed is the extent to which the success of legal politics in the implementation of public services in Indonesia in realizing good governance. Based on the discussion that has been described above, it can be concluded that the role of legal politics is very much needed in the implementation of excellent public services in order to achieve good governance.

Politics of Prophecy in Java: A Mythological Narrative on Political Succession of Javanese Dynasties in Babad Tanah Jawi

This article is to figure out how Javanese power succession has archetypal structures and relational systems in Babad Tanah Jawi, representing that the past is prophetic prologomena for the future. Using Lévi-Strauss’s structural anthropology of myth as a methodological approach, this study attempts to analyze the relational systems of successive power of Javanese characters (rulers) from pre-Majapahit to early Mataram in Babad Tanah Jawi and to interpret symbols of the prophetic divine during the periods of different Javanese reigns. This study has found that Javanese dynastic succession has been characterized by archetypal structures, in which the Javanese rulers commonly passed through identical phases of life-journeys, ranging from getting divination from fortune-teller (prophecy), getting out of the origins (exodus), to getting political recognition to be the next ruler (legitimacy). This system argues that the mythological prophecy in Babad Tanah Jawi is political because it prevails the logic of the Javanese worldview (weltanschauung) and the precondition of mystical and political legitimacy for Javanese rulers. The narratives of prophetic symbols, in which the different Javanese rulers had been involved in similar forms and structures, also imply the political dimension of prophecy representing the power of their reigns.