Sustainable Democracy Research Articles

The state, hate speech regulation and sustainable democracy in Africa: a study of Nigeria and Kenya

ABSTRACT The debates on hate speech regulation have divided scholars and practitioners. While the liberals largely argue that hate speech ban is anti-democratic and counter-productive for preservation of fundamental human rights, the humanists posit that hate speech is harmful and its regulation is relevant in order to avert the collateral damage/harm it inflicts on human dignity and equality of human beings. Despite the significant efforts in Africa to regulate hate speech, its debates focus on United States and Western Europe. Thus, the account of hate speech regulation in African context is largely understudied. This study therefore examines the impact state regulation of hate speech on sustainable democracy in Africa. Using the qualitative dominant mixed methods approach and data generated from Nigeria and Kenya, the paper argues that state regulation of hate speech presents an opportunity for fostering order, advancing national cohesion, reducing hate speech and promoting inclusive governance for all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion and economic status. The paper concludes that implementing hate speech legislation alongside other non-legal, dialogue-based, egalitarian, voluntary approaches are relevant for diminishing hate speech and the harms it engender as well as promoting sustainable democracy in Africa and beyond.

Pendidikan Politik di Perguruan Tinggi : Sebuah Konsepsi

As an effort, political education becomes an investment in sustainable democracy. The result is citizens’ political awareness and active involvement democratically in national matters. With an opportunity of demographic bonus in the future, the best political therapy must be implemented to young people as a guarantee of the well-functioning of democracy, in which some of them are higher education students. Political education in higher education is constructed in both formal and non-formal forms. In the formal form, it is carried out through political teaching, while the non-formal form is related to the way individuals summarize political knowledge through reflection on a political system. It can be carried out together between teaching through Pancasila and Citizenship Education in the curricular domain and social learning through student organizations in the non-curricular domain.

More Democratic Sustainability Governance through Participatory Knowledge Production? A Framework and Systematic Analysis

This paper investigates how participatory knowledge production may contribute to more democratic sustainability governance. It develops an analytical framework in order to perform a systematic analysis of the GammaSense project in the Netherlands, on the measurement of gamma radiation by citizens. The paper first of all concludes that the way in which participation takes place throughout each and every stage of the knowledge production process, including technically complex issues such as the design of the measurement system and analytical toolset, has consequences for (a) which aspects of the gamma radiation decision-making process can potentially be democratized; (b) who gains a voice on the issue; (c) which form of democratization process is potentially facilitated. Secondly, the democratizing effects of setting the purpose of knowledge production, defining the research object and developing the methodological toolset are closely intertwined. Finally, providing space for multiple epistemologies and being attentive towards the role of material objects—the issue at hand and the methodological devices—are of crucial importance to realize the democratizing ambitions that the GammaSense project aimed to contribute towards.

A Theoretic Perspective on Critical Communications, Mass Media and Effectual Democracy in Nigeria

In contemporary times, democracy has become the political buzzword and, indeed, the basic acceptable form of government with the emergence of liberalism which links democracy with freedom, consent, and political and legal equality. The mass media – which include newspapers, radio and television – play a prominent role in governance and democratic sustainability of any state. In fact, it is a truism that the media serve as the watchdog of governmental activities, ensuring that quality information with which the governed can hold their leaders accountable is made available. The mass media were actively involved in the struggles against colonialism and military rule, as well as the eventual restoration of democratic government in Nigeria. However, in Nigeria, the mass media are fast becoming a pawn in the hands of the government and party in power in particular, and are found in conspiracy with the political elite class in general. This article takes on the contributions of the mass media to effectual democracy in Nigeria. Using agenda setting theoretical framework, it x-rays the effectiveness and shortcomings of the media in delivering on its mandate as the fourth estate of the realm towards ensuring that democratic practices in Nigeria produce the intended result of promoting good and inclusive governance. The paper adopts qualitative research design with data drawn from secondary sources only. It equally uses descriptive and content data analysis. It is found that the mass media have indeed been the middlemen in entrenching democracy in Nigeria but these efforts are being undermined by pecuniary, ownership, political and structural-institutional influences. It is concluded that while the mass media strive to ensure the general inclusion of the populace in the process of governing which fulfills a core democratic tenet, they can do more to overcome the challenges. Among other things, this paper recommends that the government should be deliberate in guaranteeing the freedom of the press to allow for free transmission of information between the government and the people without fear or favour, and likewise, the press should be professional, objective, critical and independent in their reportage, embracing the virtue of investigative journalism.

A Success Story: How Botswana is Winning the War against Coronavirus?

As at March 20, 2020, the four nations bordering Botswana; Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, had recorded outbreaks of the Coronavirus, without a single case in Botswana. There is low probability of an outbreak of COVID-19 in Botswana considering the nation’s preparedness through prevention strategies and strict adherence to WHO directives on COVID-19. Botswana has many success stories; their stable economy, peaceful and sustained democracy, long history of respect for human and animal rights etc. Another of Botswana’s success stories, which the rest of the world can emulate is their ability to maintain zero-case of Coronavirus in the midst of the pandemic. In this article the author articulates public health structures and systems implemented by Batswana and the Botswana government, which may have helped to maintain a COVID-19-free nation. Primary data was sourced through direct observation, phone calls, e-Mails and minimal face to face interview. Secondary data was sourced from relevant published and un-published documents. Speculations linking the COVID-19 outbreak to bioterrorism or divine punishment on mankind were debunked using reviews of scientific evidences. COVID-19 is known to thrive in temperatures below 26 degrees Celsius. The author projects that winter season in Botswana, (May to August) with temperatures between minus to 23 degrees Celsius, may favor outbreak of the virus. Consequently, author recommends some personal and national preparedness strategies for Batswana and the government to help maintain a COVID-19-free nation

Democratization and Violent Conflict: Is There A Scandinavian Exception?

The notion that the paths to democracy in Scandinavia were exceptionally peaceful remains a popular argument, but an equally large number of studies opposes this view. This research note provides the first systematic attempt to compare records of violence during democratization in Scandinavia with other regions and countries. By using Varieties of Democracy data, I construct novel measures of democratization and violent conflict that align with extant propositions on Scandinavian exceptionalism and conflict‐democratization research while appreciating multiple dimensions of democratization for a global sample of countries from 1789 to 2018. The results show stable support for a substantial Scandinavian exception of peaceful democratization, but only evidently so for moves toward greater executive constraints and civil and political liberties. The exception is less clear for democratization considering competitive elections and suffrage. On this basis, I propose that we may improve the understanding of the causes of Scandinavian democratic exceptionalism and democratic sustainability more generally by studying the origins of peaceful democratization in Scandinavia compared with Western Europe in the ‘age of liberalization’ from approx. the mid‐eighteenth to the mid‐nineteenth century.

PUBLIC SPHERE OF POLITICS AND DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY: DEMARCATION CRITERIA

The prospects of development of modern political theory in the context of filling the new semantic values of concepts of political discourse, political communication and public political representation are considered. The network of newly established democratic institutions, which required firm defenition, practicing public political debate and not distorted political communication defined. With the help of the comparative method, the common and different conceptual views of political debate in interpreting deliberative democracy and the public sphere of politics studied. The content of the concept of the public sphere of politics as a factor of coverage of the transition of democratic public institutions of transformational countries from the state of declarative to a state of sustainable democracy is discussed. Public sphere of politics as mainly unifying concept that determines the possibility of various aspects of joint interpretation of political realities and possibilities of the political participants’ appearance for any topic studied. The subject areas of the concepts of deliberative politics and the public sphere of politics regarding the ways of personal and institutional self-presentation are determined. The specifics of the reflection of political conflict and political decisions within the limits of the values of the public sphere of politics and deliberative democracy are revealed. The features of common approaches to the interpretation of political pluralism and political competition in the semantic structures of the public sphere of politics and deliberative democracy are explored. It emphasizes the flexibility of the concept of the public sphere of politics as a concept that encompasses a large number of events and phenomena of political communication. The possibility of a non-idealist approach to public political presentations on the Internet is substantiated. The political meaning dimensions of political deliberation and political manifestation which differ in explanations background of individual behavior, based on the ancient principle of political pragmatism and defending of selfish interests considered.The explanatory potential of a deliberative policy and the public sphere of politics is singled out. The peculiarities of crossing the subject areas of the public sphere of politics and deliberative democracy in the context of the functioning of modern civil society are established.

President and Assemblies—25 Years After Shugart and Carey’s Book: Introduction to Special Issue

Why are some institutions capable of enhancing democracy, while others struggle under pressure? Shugart and Carey wrote their seminal book Presidents and Assemblies at a crucial time in modern history in an effort to answer these fundamental questions. Because of bold claims and huge theoretical and conceptual contributions, their timely publication became the starting point for a new way to think about institutional specifications and types of political systems. And although their examples are by now dated, the idea of “trade-off” or “balancing efficiency and representativeness” still speaks to the fundamental questions of regime change and democratic sustainability. While their study made clear that there are distinctions between system types, they also argued that not a specific type is more conducive or damaging to democracy; rather specific institutional configurations lead to a vulnerability of a political regime. Twenty-five years after the first publication of Presidents and Assemblies, this special issue uses this argument and reconnects Shugart and Carey’s book with the recent debate on individual attributes of legislative–executive relations and their effect on democracy. This article serves as an introduction and highlights the rationale and the major themes that run through the contributions to the special issue.

Миротворчество в Израиле: на пути к открытому обществу в условиях устойчивой демократии

Миротворчество в Израиле: на пути к открытому обществу в условиях устойчивой демократии

Перспективи розвитку законодавчого регулювання системи безоплатної правової допомоги в Україні в контексті європейської інтеграції

The article focuses on the peculiarities of free legal aid in Ukraine and the European Union. The article reveals the prospects of legislative regulation of the free legal aid system in Ukraine in the context of European integration, reveals the role and place of free legal aid in the mechanism of protection of human and civil rights and freedoms, the principles of its provision in Ukraine and the European Union; the subjects of free legal aid and their legal services in the mechanism of ensuring human and civil rights and freedoms are analyzed. The article pays special attention to clarifying the peculiarities of the activities of free legal aid entities in Ukraine and the countries of the European Union. Scientific interest in this issue is due to the need for in-depth study of European law in the integration processes taking place in Ukraine, mutual convergence of national legal systems, improving the legal framework for cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union. Analysis of foreign experience in the organization and operation of the free legal aid system allows to identify certain features of this institution, directions and trends of its development, which are not yet inherent in the Ukrainian bar, objectively and critically evaluate the activities of this institution in Ukraine, identify advantages and disadvantages, outline ways its reform, which will address issues that have long been settled in most countries with sustainable democracies. The need to outline the prospects for the development of legislative regulation of free legal aid in Ukraine in the context of European integration is due to the need for a comprehensive theoretical and legal study of the effectiveness of advocacy in the mechanism of constitutional rights, creating a conceptual model of new relations with public authorities, civil society role and importance in the administration of justice.

The Cold War and the Crises of Political Transition and Sustainable Democracy in Africa: The Failed Elections in Nigeria, Algeria and Angola

The Cold War and the Crises of Political Transition and Sustainable Democracy in Africa: The Failed Elections in Nigeria, Algeria and Angola

SEARCHING FOR NEW AUTHORITARISM IN THE CONDITIONS OF GEOPOLITICAL TURBULENCE

The main factors of the growing popularity and influence of undemocratic regimes are considered. In the modern world, in the context of geopolitical turbulence, the geopolitical centers of power and actors in the adoption of global management decisions are changing. But there is a need to manage socio-political and economic processes for the stable development of society. Therefore, the conditions of chaos only strengthen the attempts to search and create fuses for the uncontrollability of the development of the political regime. Especially in the conditions of the crisis of the formal institutions of liberal democracy, a clear proof of which was the emergence of post-democracy as a phenomenon and process of evolution of «modern» democracies. Several factors reinforce this trend. First of all, the reverse wave of democratization (S. Huntington), which lasts several decades. Secondly, the crisis of American hegemony and the completion of the next cycle of political hegemony. We must add the completion of the macrohistorical cycle of the internal political development of the political system of the USA itself (A. Schlesinger) with a number of crises throughout the entire first half of 2020. The weakening of the global hegemon resulted in the process of easternization and the emergence of new geopolitical centers (primarily, Asia, namely China with a powerful economy, which is a prerequisite for the formation of a new hegemon). The third factor is the growth of right-wing extremism and right-wing populism in countries of sustainable democracies and new democracies. The wave of populism is supported by a conservative turn in the form of legal consolidation of nationalism, the legitimation of the dominance of the collective over the individual. Another factor of destabilization is the crisis of traditional institutions of democracy, primarily political parties, party leaders who can refuse program promises and turn into lawyers of the «expression of the will of the people». Amid growing mistrust of traditional democratic institutions and the values of liberalism, there is a growing demand for leaders and institutions that can ensure the safe and stable development of society. And the actual uniqueness of the current development is the search for new forms of coexistence of authoritarian and democratic institutions within the same political regime.

Facets of Democracy: An Overview

Democracy allows the expression of political preferences of citizens in a state. It advocates the rule of law, constraints on executive’s power, and guarantees the provision of civil liberties. It also manages to ensure human rights and fundamental freedoms of people. In democracy, people are supposed to exercise their freely expressed will. Ordinary people hold the political power of the state and rule directly or through elected representatives inside a democratic form of government. Democracy is a participatory and liberal way of governing a country. Different countries in the world have been practicing various models of democracy. There remains the participation of people in government and policy-making of the state under democracy. But when the majority can pull the strings of the society without there being legislation for protecting the rights of the minority, it may create a severe risk of oppression. Many countries of the world at the present time are facing democratic deficits. In several countries, the democratic practices are not adequately regulated and governed, as a result, the rise of violations of rules of law is observed. Even a few countries practicing democracy are not living peacefully. This situation has put a significant question about the need and sustainability of democracy. Democracy is a widely used system of governance beyond having several challenges. Here the concept, origin, models, dimensions, practices, challenges, solutions, and future of democracy are dealt to understand the structure of ideal democracy.

Citizenship Education for Adults for Sustainable Democratic Societies

Adults have a key role in ensuring that society is democratic and sustainable, by making decisions about the permanence and continuity of the world/society, and as role models to the new participants in a democratic society. In this context, the purpose of this research is to determine the citizenship education needs of adults in a sustainable democratic society. The study was designed in a qualitative research pattern and was carried out using the case study method. The study group consisted of adults, who were determined by criteria sampling method. Demographic data, a semi-structured interview form, and scenario texts were used to obtain data. The data obtained were analysed by using the content analysis method. Perspectives on adult citizenship education were presented according to the themes created. It was found that participants have a citizenship tendency in line with the traditional national citizenship approach and behaved accordingly. In conclusion, this study proposes that citizenship education should be organized for adults, who are today’s decision makers and role models for tomorrow’s decision makers, in order to improve their political literacy, legal literacy, and political, social, civic engagement and democratic values, which will contribute to the goal of a sustainable democracy in society.

The Humanitarian Space as the Object of the Hybrid War: the Consequences for Ukraine

The purpose of the article is to study the state of the humanitarian space in the temporarily occupied territories of Lugansk and Donetsk regions, as well as state policy measures to overcome the destructive effects of the hybrid war in the humanitarian sphere in this part of Ukraine. It was stressed that all responsibility for the functioning and maintenance of the occupied territories and their population, according to the norms of international humanitarian law, rests with the occupying state, but the undeclared war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine impedes the application of these norms, so Ukraine supports the citizens and fulfills its positive obligations. before them, take appropriate measures. It is proved that today the history of Ukraine remains an instrument of ideological manipulation, which creates threats to the internal consolidation of society. The promotion of national values through the restoration of historical memory is an important tool in shaping public relations and developing a sustainable democracy. The findings emphasize that overcoming the effects of hybrid aggression against Ukraine implies the presence of political will and state-administrative decisions to strengthen the protection of the state and society from existing and potential threats, the formation and implementation of a holistic humanitarian policy as a complex of educational, linguistic, cultural policy, political history memory and a balanced policy in the field of state-confessional relations. Education of patriotism, psychological and physical readiness to defend the Fatherland, encouragement to participate in socio-political processes, stimulation of independent economic activity – become relevant goals for all age groups of the population and the tasks of educational and educational activities of state authorities, non-governmental organizations and associations.
 Keywords: humanitarian policy, hybrid war, culture, education, religion, consciousness manipulation.

Election, International Election Monitoring Groups and Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

A representative democracy can be achieved through a free and fair electoral environment. It is at the instance of ensuring free and fair election that observation has emerged as a fundamental principle in restoring people’s confidence, trust and appraising electoral integrity for democratic development. The participation and involvement of international election observers in electoral matters aim to ensure that elections are conducted in accordance with conventional democratic ethical standards across the globe. Premised on this background, this paper seeks to examine the role of international election observers in major elections conducted in Nigeria’s fourth republic. Six international election observation bodies were sampled: National Democratic Institute (NDI), The Commonwealth Secretariat (CS), European Commission (EC), International Republican Institute (IRI), Human Right Watch (HRW) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The study unravels the essential roles of international election observers in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 elections in Nigeria. The paper therefore avers that international election observers have performed more than expectation in correcting previous electoral malfeasances through their dynamic reports and recommendations. Their monumental roles discerned the 2011 general election from the preceding 1999, 2003 and 2007 elections which were marred by miscellaneous electoral flaws in Nigeria. Thus, the paper recommends ultimate cooperation of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), civil society, security agency and electorate with International Electoral Observers for the realization of sustainable democracy in Nigeria.

Effect of Electoral Malpractices on Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria

Effect of Electoral Malpractices on Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria

Obama’s sustainable democracy promotion: assessing 7 years of policy performance

A decade ago, presidential candidate Barack Obama called for “sustainable democracy promotion” and pledged to double US investment on the intersection of development and democracy. This article, a follow-up on a similar one published early in the Obama Administration, looks at the rhetoric, policies, initiatives, spending, and outcomes of the Obama Administration’s democracy promotion efforts, with a special focus on the greater Middle East following Obama’s June 2009 Cairo speech extolling democracy and democratic institutions. The data suggest that despite the rhetoric, few new programs were initiated, some existing programs were allowed to wither and that the status of the world is less free and less democratic than it was at the beginning of the Obama presidency.

Democratisation and the British Empire

ABSTRACTThis article responds to the statistically established finding in democratisation studies that British rule seems to have been good for the survival of democracy in its former empire, and that the longer a nation spent under British rule, the likelier it is to have sustained democracy since independence. This is a finding which puzzles political scientists because they think of democracy and empire as opposites. The article considers the uses made of democratic innovation by the British and the responses anti-colonial nationalists made to the offer to ‘lead them to democracy’. It places democracy and empire in a different, more complex relationship. It also considers the contribution of anti-colonial protest to the working of democracy.

Mediating Structures: Their Organization in Civil Society

AbstractThis paper explores a counter-weight to anti-democratic trends suggested by civil society theory: mediating structures (also known as ‘intermediate’ or ‘intermediary’ organizations). We look briefly at the range of ways in which the concept has been used in social science and then focus on literature which employs the concept specifically in the context of debates about sustainable democracy We discern from the theoretical literature four distinct functions said to be performed in democracies by mediating structures and we offer case examples of organizations which perform those functions in the contemporary real world. We conclude by providing pointers to how mediating structures might be identified, supported and sustained in the face of anti-democratic trends today.