Transformation Of Political Institutions Research Articles

The political path of independent Ukraine from the national-state revival to its place in the modern historical process

The relevance of the stated research subject is conditioned upon the fact that at the beginning of 2022, Ukraine faced new challenges that threaten its sovereignty and territorial integrity and are related to russia's armed aggression. The full-scale invasion is frequently justified by russian politicians as a “fall from grace” and a historical misunderstanding. However, there are hundreds of facts that confirm the thesis that Ukrainian statehood is the result of the centuries-long struggle of the Ukrainian people for independence from the empire. The purpose of this research is to analyse the political path of Ukraine from the period of national and state revival to the present stage of historical development. To address the tasks set, the author used a range of general scientific and special research methods, including historical and genetic, political and legal analysis, and comparative and institutional analysis. The results obtained in the course of the study should be considered as the identification of the main stages of the establishment of Ukrainian statehood and the analysis of the events that established and strengthened Ukraine's independence. In addition, the author identifies the reasons for the strengthening of national-democratic movements and ideas during the Ukrainian Revolution in the late 1980s and in independent Ukraine, explains the content of national revival processes in different historical periods, and analyses the prospects for the development of the state against the backdrop of the war with russia. The materials of this study can be used in research and applied fields, and to explore the issues of Ukrainian state-building, nation-state building in the context of independence and transformation of political institutions

In the Name of the Conservative People: Slovakia’s Gendered Illiberal Transformation

Over the past decade, Slovakia has witnessed the dismantling of public human rights institutions and gender equality policies and incessant efforts to limit sexual and reproductive rights. While these processes have been mostly discussed in relation to the transnational anti-gender movement, this article conceptualizes them as part of an illiberal turn. We argue that recent rhetorical, institutional, and policy processes in Slovakia have been enabled by a discursive shift positing a new subject: conservative people and their rightful demands. Our argument is bolstered through two analyses. Quantitative content analysis of media articles published between 2002 and 2020, firstly, traces the increased emphasis on the signifiers “conservative” and “liberal.” This examination demonstrates that the anti-gender discourse in the 2010s accelerated and normalized this specific discursive frame. Furthermore, it underscores how the carriers of the conservative label shifted away from institutions towards individual politicians and, more importantly, toward a collective subject—people. Qualitative discourse analysis, secondly, focuses on the anti-gender discourse, understood here as a Laclauian populist practice. It posits three types of demands entangled in an equivalential chain—demands dealing with cultural recognition, material redistribution, and political representation. This analytical approach enables us to show how the construction of the conservative/liberal divide goes beyond the struggles for so-called traditional values, but is embedded in broader socioeconomic processes, and how it led to calls for political representation of the “conservative people” and for a “conservative” (in fact illiberal) transformation of political institutions.

Impact of Political Annexation on Urban Primacy: A natural experiment on Mexico City testing the institutional origins of primacy

Institutional theories of urban primacy suggest centralized urbanization can be decentralized through political reform. Despite this potential, rectifying primacy and its attendant inefficiencies attracts sporadic interest. Perhaps this is because the disruption of primacy is rarely observed, rendering the potential of decentralization a nebulous concept. Missing cities are a defining feature of primacy yet rarely figure in empirical cost-benefit analyses. To explore this dimension, we examine the history of urbanization in a large country renowned for primacy before and after it was invaded and divided into two countries. In the invaded part of the country, we observe the disruption of primacy following the transformation of political institutions, highlighting the importance of addressing institutions in the redress of urban primacy.

On Identification, Identity, and Security Issues in Modern Armenia

In the current era of constant change, it is necessary not so much to rely on the past with its value system but to surmise the development tendencies of the civilization and clarify one’s place and role. In the modern world, it is a shift of identification crisis followed by identity crisis as values change due to the global economy, creating a consumer character for whom identification and identity issues are secondary. A human strives to be in a security zone where a free-market economy and better living and working conditions are possible. The authors of the article aim to propose and substantiate the idea that the above-mentioned makes the observation of security, identification, and identity issues in Armenia relevant. The following methods have been used parallelly during the study: general-worldview, dialectical, general-scientific (of analysis, combination, comparison, and systematic, logical and historical), private-scientific, and descriptive. The authors have concluded that the achievements that withstood the test of time should be preserved while upgrading the national identity in modern Armenia. The Armenian society should be transformed with the right measured steps priorly. Afterwards, the transformation of political institutions will proceed more naturally and properly.

E-democracy: an urgent need or a tribute to fashion? Legal analysis

The development of the information society and the strengthening of e-democracy have already become an important priority for many countries around the world at the present stage of development. The implementation of this priority implies open and transparent public administration, and thus the transformation of political institutions and processes and the introduction of new forms of government. It is meaningful to analyze the concept of “e-democracy” and to understand the importance of ensuring this in the mechanism for the democracy of each individual state. The object of research is the legal analysis of e-democracy in view of the legal realities of foreign countries. The aim of the article is a legal analysis of the concept of "electronic democracy", including problematic issues of implementation of this mechanism, in order to understand whether this mechanism is an urgent need, or is a tribute to fashion and trends in the world practice. During the study, the following methods were used: systemic, systemic-functional, comparative, sociological, analysis, synthesis, analogy, observation, classification, statistical analysis. The article analyzes the phenomenon of e-democracy, identifies the main approaches to understanding it. On the example of international experience the mechanisms of e-democracy and the peculiarities of e-government are identified. There are propositions to improve the domestic legal mechanism for e-government in the article.

The development of Western European military affairs as a factor in the transformation of political institutions in England 1485-1547

The development of Western European military affairs as a factor in the transformation of political institutions in England 1485-1547

Соціокультурні фактори інституційної модернізації суспільства

The article analyzes the possibility of creating inclusive development institutions. The authors aim to define certain elements of the institutional environment that directly influence the process of creating inclusive development institutions in Ukraine. Attention is focused on individual social phenomena and processes that are closely related to the economy, affect the processes of modernization of the economy and society. The question of the content and nature of internal institutional transformations, the sociocultural aspect of institutional construction, which has acquired new features, is considered. The results of changes in the sphere of everyday consciousness, in the system of existing culture and values that led to deideologization and transformation of the sociopolitical dominant are reflected. It is proved that the prospects for further transformation of the post-Soviet economy and society are increasingly determined by the transformation of political institutions towards greater pluralism. Changes in the social structure of society that have increased the number of groups capable of influencing sociopolitical relations are defined. It is determined that the emergence and strengthening of interconnections of new types of value layers and subcultures based on heterarchy led to the formation of sociocultural heterogeneity of Ukrainian society and the ability to build cross-cutting channels of social mobility between the top and the basis of the social pyramid, to unite different social groups of society. The role of digitalization and informatization in the processes of sociocultural institutionalization and in the formation of inclusive political and economic development institutions is reflected. A weakening of disintegration processes in the public consciousness as a result of the unification of sociocultural signs is noted. It is determined that the sociocultural unity of society becomes the basis for social development and the formation of the collective identity of the Ukrainian nation.

Political science and digital society: some issues of modern education in higher education (experience of the EU countries)

The course of political science in higher education is often read, to a large extent, as a theoretical course and affects the study of issues and problems of the formation and development of political institutions, processes and technologies. The focus is usually on the history of politics, the state as the central institution of the political system, political parties, political consciousness, culture, political relations, etc. However, it is very important that, when studying a course in political science, listeners understand the current political processes taking place around them. Some of them are well established, democratic processes, such as the electoral process. Others are associated with the impact of modern innovation processes on the political sphere of society. And in this case, political science as a science once again demonstrates its value in an applied format. For a deep understanding of this kind of political processes, additional aggregated information is needed, knowledge that should differ in such characteristics as relevance, novelty, compliance with modern development. In the modern digital era, it is necessary to additionally acquire knowledge about the digital transformation of political institutions, processes and technologies, including types of state policy, the most important of which is social. And it's not just the digital economy. This, first of all, digitalization of public administration (State-web) — Big Date management, blockchain, etc., as well as digitalization of business — the emergence and development of digital enterprises, etc. It is obvious that the use of digital technologies will become possible for the development of predictive political science. This article is largely a translation of German publications by scientists dealing with the development of modern political science education in the countries of the European Union, in particular, in the Federal Republic of Germany. The focus is on the impact of digitalization on the teaching of theoretical and applied political science.

Transformation of political institutions in the context of political reality of Ukraine

Transformation of political institutions in the context of political reality of Ukraine

Inventing tradition in central Nigeria: a study of changing political institutions among the Igede, 1900 – 1976

This study examines the transformation of political institutions among the Igede of Central Nigeria between 1900 and 1976. It finds that the political institutions of the Igede exhibited dynamism in every epoch of the people's history. It therefore argues that although the Igede political institution began as a decentralized political system, it had already evolved into a semi-centralized political system at the eve of the colonial contact. It further argues that although the colonial government restructured the political institutions in line with the indirect rule policy, it nonetheless obstructed the course of the pre-colonial efforts at the emergence of semi-centralized political institutions and destroyed the social basis of power among the Igede. It was in the post-independence era that the Igede political institution attained full centralization with the people, once again returning to play an active role in the process under democratic dispensation. It therefore concludes that political institutions among the Igede witnessed fundamental changes across all historical epochs and therefore disagrees with the Eurocentric conception of the pre-colonial past of African societies in terms of static and unchanging processes. It also concludes that the Igede have shown that giving a democratic environment they are capable of reinventing their traditional political institutions to meet the demand of socio-economic development and contributing to the evolution of a Nigerian legacy. This study is based on content analysis of oral and written source materials, which were subjected to the rigour of historical criticism.

The Transformation of Political Institutions: Investments in Institutional Resources and Gradual Change in the National Party Committees

Institutional theorists have made major progress in recent years examining gradual processes of endogenous institutional change. Building on this line of theorizing, this article highlights an often overlooked source of incremental change in political institutions: investments ininstitutional resources. Unlike path-dependent processes, which are relatively open at the front end and relatively closed at the back end, resource investments made in one period serve to widen an institution's path and enhance its capacity to undertake a broader range of activities in subsequent periods. Drawn out over time, these investments can gradually transform institutional operations and purposes. To illustrate these dynamics, this article reconsiders the transformation of the national party committees into “parties in service” to their candidates. The most influential theoretical explanation for this change is supplied by actor-centered functionalist accounts that either ignore the parties' institutional forms or treat them as mere reflections of actors' preferences. As an alternative, I suggest that investments in two types of institutional resources—human resources and information assets—were integral to the process through which each party changed. Piecemeal investments in these resources gradually enabled each national party committee to provide a wider range of campaign services to its candidates, thereby producing ostensibly new “functions” over time. Though the process of institutional change unfolded at very different times in each party, the same dynamics were on display in both cases.