Western Liberal Democracies Research Articles

Political Communication Research is Unprepared for the Far Right

ABSTRACT In this introductory piece to a special issue of the Forum, we explore the inadequacies of the field of political communication in addressing the rising threats posed by illiberalism and the far right. We argue that the discipline’s frameworks, developed within the context of Western liberal democracies, are ill-equipped to tackle the complexities and self-reflexive strategies of contemporary far-right movements and actor types. These formations exploit liberal norms and practices to ultimately undermine and dismantle democratic values. We call for more “democratic clarity,” urging political communication scholars to adopt a clear stance in defense of democratic principles and to develop more robust conceptual tools to accurately classify and understand far-right actors. We introduce the other discussion pieces featured in this special section and ultimately point to actionable items meant to move the field forward.

The arsenal of democracy? An examination of political regime types’ success in the global sporting arms race following the collapse of the iron curtain

ABSTRACT Over the years, international elite sport has developed into an ‘arms race’ with the success of national elite sport systems becoming a symbol of regime superiority. During the Cold War, the Eastern and Western Blocs battled for success in various sports disciplines. The former nations were dominating in terms of medals, symbolising the force of the socialist autocratic system. However, because of the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, Western liberal democracies had the opportunity to gain more strength. In this paper, we aim to test whether this has happened by analysing the association between political regime type and international sporting success at the Winter and Summer Olympic Games in the post-Cold War Period. We do this by deploying data on the political regime types to a set of regression models, finding that democratic nations have taken over the international sporting arms race at the Summer Olympic Games. For the Winter Games, our results indicate that less democratic countries (anocracies) are in the lead. Our results add to existing research by suggesting that political regime type still matters to international sporting success. Implications for stakeholders, sports managers, and politicians are that they must decide to what extent they want to be part of this game in the coming years.

Reconceptualizing Journalists as a Fractured Interpretive Community: Updating the Journalistic Interpretive Community Framework for the 21st Century

Taking a discursive approach, this study applies the concept of metajournalistic discourse to the study of press freedom debates in a postcolonial context stretching from 1993 to 2023 between the Zimbabwean public and private press. Based on a textual analysis of press freedom debates, combined with interviews with various news media stakeholders held between December 2022 and January 2023 in Harare, the study finds support for the previous argument that the idea of journalistic interpretive communities does not really hold under contested contexts beyond liberal Western democracies. The study extends this idea by reconceptualizing journalistic communities beyond liberal Western democracies as fractured interpretive communities. The study further argues that rising polarization and epistemic contests under liberal Western democracies now threaten journalistic interpretive communities as previously understood. This is especially so for those journalists who operate under a contested and polarized news media and political environment, without a single dominant national ideology.

Desiring Omelette Not Breaking the Egg: Democracy, Elections and Good Governance in Africa

The quest for good governance, development, and good life for the people which African leaders hoped will be propelled by democracy prompted them to embrace western liberal democracy However, the objective condition in many African countries reveals fundamental gap between expectations and the realities. In line with these actualities, this paper examines the differences between Africans desire for democracy and the attendant expectations and the present reality and reasons for the chasm. It examines election and electoral issues as factors in democracy and good governance. In doing this, the paper adopts content analysis of data gathered essentially from secondary sources and adopts good governance theory. The paper contends that although African leaders and people are desirous of good governance and has put in place democratic structures expected to achieve good governance, these democratic institutions, and structures; the contents and processes have not vivified good governance. It argues that the challenges of democracy and good governance in many African countries are poor election and electoral system. This is because the democratic structures and the manner of conduct of elections characterized by corruption, violence, lack of adequate ideological depth on the part of political parties and service-oriented approach to politics, personalization of, and under-performing institutions among other factors negate the principles of democracy and cannot produce good leadership and good governance. The paper concludes that though multi-party elections have been held in many countries in Africa since 1990, the quality of these elections for the advancement of democracy and by extension good governance has generated concerns and query the sense of optimism for multi-party elections. It therefore argues that for African countries to achieve the desirous goals and benefits of democracy, good governance and development, elections must be free, fair, and conducted regularly. Also, political parties and democratic institutions and structures must be adequately strengthened to function properly.

Imaginaries of trauma and victimhood: The role of the ‘China threat’ in Trump’s populism of the privileged

This article speaks to an established interest of International Relations scholars in the construction of the ‘China threat’ in US political discourse. We advance recent works which have argued that the rise of China has contributed to the success of populism in the United States and Western liberal democracies more widely. Specifically, we transpose the concept of the ‘populism of the privileged’ to the international realm to understand how narratives of status loss nurture perceptions of collective trauma and victimhood. We argue that the concept helps explain why Trump’s anti-China populism is centred on the counterintuitive articulation of an American underdog identity at the domestic and international levels. It sheds light on why populist narratives of unjust suffering have grip even if supporters stem from comparatively privileged groups. Victimhood-centric narratives are always relational and, as we show, the imaginary of lost status is a powerful device in the populist toolbox.

China as a ‘systemic challenge’ for NATO strategic interests

NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept views China as a “systemic challenge” to the Alliance. Joint statements regarding China began to appear several years before the adoption of the new Concept on the official NATO agenda in response to increasing pressure from the Trump administration. The military-political, technological and discursive power of the PRC is perceived by the bloc as a threat to their strategic interests. The greater military-political presence of China in the Arctic and in the Middle East and North Africa is regarded by NATO countries as strengthening the hegemonic aspirations of the PRC. Technological dependence on supplies from China harms the Alliance’s operational capabilities and military mobility. NATO has set itself the goal of adapting to strategic competition with China, particularly in the areas of advanced technologies, artificial intelligence and 5G. China’s influence on the media agenda, as well as its ability to promote its own narrative, threatens transatlantic solidarity and the “soft power” of the Alliance countries. Moreover, China is accused of systematically seeking to sow divisions in transatlantic relations and exploit differences between Western countries to its own advantage. China’s efforts to forge a multipolar world order pose a direct challenge to Western liberal democracies and the rules-based international order. European NATO states have begun to regularly encounter the “China factor” when interacting with the United States. However, there remains disagreement over what policies should be pursued toward Beijing. Those who see China as a security threat advocate general policy coordination with the United States. Those who recognize Beijing as a necessary economic partner and participant in global governance insist that Europe pursue independent policies that distance itself from US strategy. All this suggests that practical steps within the Alliance to counter China, especially outside the Euro-Atlantic region, will face resistance from the United States’ European allies.

Confrontation versus Coexistence: The Dynamics of Australia-China Ideological Relations 1996-2022

ABSTRACT Many Western democracies, including the U.S. Australia, France, Canada, and Lithuania, confront the shared challenge of managing their ideological relationships with China, a powerful authoritarian state. This issue is particularly pressing as they consider ways to uphold or promote freedom amidst the perceived decline of American influence. Western liberal democracies frequently embrace a confrontational approach, demoting peaceful coexistence, which can have dire consequences for international or bilateral relations. Using Australia and China as a case study, this paper critically examines the dynamics and complexities of these competing political and ideological relationships—confrontation and peaceful coexistence—between 1996 and 2022. It examines how Canberra has pursued a strategy of ideological taming towards China, how China has adopted countermeasures against Australian taming, and the interaction between Australian taming and Chinese counter-taming. It describes and explains how the China-Australia relationship has shifted from ideological coexistence towards ideological confrontation since 2016–2017. It also critically examines the issues linked to the confrontational model, discusses conditions for a modus vivendi liberalism and better management of value differences.

Beyond the board: a thematic analysis of political actions from 4chan’s /pol/ board

This article aims to understand the organisational practices of digital political actions on 4chan’s /pol/ (Politically Incorrect) board, as well as the underlying worldview within which those actions were nested. By using a qualitative thematic analysis of 21 threads, several themes were identified regarding preferred goals, methods, content, dissemination strategies, and worldview of intentional, orchestrated political actions with supposed real-world effects. Results show that the observed political actions were bottom-up, non-hierarchical, and collective actions, through which collective identity was established despite the almost complete anonymity of the /pol/ board. Additionally, the political actions were marked by the negative perception of Western liberal democracy, extremely negative attitudes toward the Left, minorities, and progressive liberals, antisemitism, and racism - values closely related to the far-right. Although the goals of /pol/ political actions differ, the dominant broader goal is to “redpill the normies” - indoctrinate the general population into denouncing liberal democratic ideology and accepting the far-right worldview.

The Iranian policy advisory system: Contained politicisation and emerging technicisation

AbstractA lot of literature on policy advisory systems (PASs) is based on Western liberal democracies, with scant attention paid to policymaking systems in authoritarian regimes. This paper examines the Iran's PAS and how it has changed between 1989 and 2023. The paper documents four distinctive phases in Iran's PAS: in‐house ‘institutionalisation’, transitional ‘politicisation’, technocratic ‘externalisation’, and ‘technicisation’. We examine 16 representative advisory organisations (1989–2023) and show that while the Iranian PAS is well institutionalised and increasingly becoming externalised, there is still a tradition of centralisation and limited bureaucratic openness. Further, Iran's PAS has become less political due to constitutional preferences preventing advisory organisations from dealing with politically sensitive issues, as well as the decline of political party traditions and institutions. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the emerging ‘technicisation’ of Iran's PAS, indicating an expansion of and reliance on technology‐assisted tools and instruments by advisory organisations.Points for practitioners Regardless of differences in political systems, policy advisory systems are an indispensable part of public policymaking machinery. To enhance the quality of public policies, policymakers should support a diversified and competent advisory system. To keep externalised organisations alive and effective, they must be supported by public measures and protected by a legal framework. A form of technocratic‐political balance in PAS is necessary. A well‐developed policy advisory system not only includes non‐partisan and technocratic advisory institutions, it also consists of politicised institutions providing political advice for policymakers too.

Well-Being, Harmony, and Deference: Toward a Confucian Case for Empowered Mini-Publics

Nearly all debates within contemporary Confucian political theory regarding the full or partial adoption of democracy have understood democracy as electoral representative democracy. Almost no attention has then been paid to how Confucian democracy or Confucian meritocracy would relate to randomly selected deliberative bodies increasingly considered by democratic theorists amid an ongoing reconceptualization of democracy. In this article, I explore such a relationship by presenting a Confucian case for empowered mini-publics. My central claim is that the adoption of this institution can be interpreted in Confucian terms and embraced by Confucian democrats as well as Confucian meritocrats, on the basis of several key Confucian values which they have already employed in defending their respective political proposals. By making this claim, I also demonstrate that one of central institutional innovations originally proposed to alleviate ills facing Western liberal democracies has a broader application and appeal than it has been assumed.

RUSSIA'S RECENT MIDDLE EAST ENGAGEMENTS: HITTING MULTIPLE BIRDS WITH A SINGLE STONE

During the early post-Cold War period, the global order witnessed a significant shift, with Western liberal democracy emerging as the predominant force. However, this ascent of the United States in pursuit of global dominance gave rise to a Security Dilemma, fostering the emergence of alternative powers in various regions worldwide. Among these, Russia has played a prominent role, notably in the Middle East. This study seeks to examine Russia's historical and contemporary objectives in the Middle East, analyzing its political, economic, and security pursuits. Through the lens of the "Security Dilemma," the article underscores Russia's transformation into a potent regional counterbalance to Western influence in various respects. The article concludes that the sustainability of Russia's gains depends on the fluid Middle East landscape, the continuation of Putin's leadership, and the influence of potential Western sanctions.

Minorities Confront Ethno-Religious Nationalism in an Ethnic Democracy: the Case of Georgia

This article examines the developments of ethno-religious nationalism in Georgia under the presidencies of Gamsakhurdia, Shevardnadze, and Saakashvili, with a focus on Muslim minorities. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Georgia faced numerous challenges, including ethnic conflicts, civil war, and economic unrest, which hindered the state- and nation-building efforts of the political elite. The ideological vacuum was filled by the Georgian Orthodox Church, which, in addition to its historical role in uniting Georgians, further strengthened the role of religion, resulting in the deep interweaving of ethnic and religious identities. Consequently, being ethnically Georgian and belonging to the Georgian Orthodox Church became prerequisites for being considered a "proper Georgian," overshadowing the civil understanding required by Western liberal democracies. Based on interviews conducted in Georgia in 2016 and 2017, the study argues that Georgia operated as an ethnic democracy, posing a significant obstacle to civic integration and inclusive nation-building. Furthermore, Islam, as a minority religion associated with past "invaders" and neighboring countries, faced security-driven policies, leading to discrimination against Muslim minorities such as Adjarians, Meskhetian/Ahıska Turks, Azeris/Borchalı Turks, and Kists, who do not align with the Georgian Orthodox Church.

East versus West in Europe: Enchantment and Disenchantment

ABSTRACT This article addresses the issue of the fragility of Western liberal democracies, the divisions in Western society as a whole and within particular countries, and the loss of faith in the Western model of civilization. My focus will be (1) on the initial enchantment of the Eastern European countries (with special emphasis on Romania) with the West European models of freedom, democracy, lifestyle, and living standards, which explains why these countries overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining the European Union after the fall of Communism; and (2) on their subsequent disenchantment with how far liberal democracies could go, and their general discontent with the restrictions and preconditions imposed on them for obtaining EU funding for their economic development. In dealing with the issue of globalism, nationalism and identity, I will elaborate on the role of identity, personal and national, in the creation of roots, stability, self-esteem, hard work and progress, with reference to the manifestations of populism in Europe. Finally, I will consider the positive effects Eastern countries with their traditionalism and religious values could have on their Western counterparts, in order to revive and sustain their initial enchantment and diminish their disenchantment with Europe, the European Union, and Western civilization.

All roads lead to Rome? Analysing the electoral performance of populist radical left parties in Europe (2008-2018): a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

ABSTRACT In the last decade, there have been numerous studies on the rise, characteristics, and consequences of the emergence of populist parties in Western liberal democracies. However, most analyses of European populist parties have focused on the right-wing populist parties. Although some scholars have made valuable efforts to understand left-wing populism in Europe, these studies have paid attention to their ideological-organizational idiosyncrasies or the characteristics of their electoral bases. This paper aims to fill the gap in the economic and political contexts in which Radical Left Populist Parties have achieved significant electoral results putting into practice a fsQCA analysis and examining their uneven electoral performance in Europe. Following some previous work applying QCA techniques, this paper tests the theory on the importance of economic and political factors. Findings indicate that the electoral performance of radical left populism cannot be explained in a univocal way, highlighting the crucial role of equifinality in understanding this political phenomenon.

No Such Thing as Free Speech? Performativity, Free Speech, and Academic Freedom in the UK

AbstractThe relationship between academic freedom and freedom of speech features prominently in public and political discussions concerning the role of universities in Western liberal democracies. Recently, these debates have attracted increased attention, owing in part to media framing of a ‘free speech crisis’, especially in UK and US universities. One type of response is to regulate academic expression through legislation, such as the UK’s 2023 Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act. This article offers a critical analysis of the assumptions concerning the performativity of speech in this kind of legal intervention. It extends Judith Butler’s discussion of the concept of ‘harmful speech’ as reported by Butler (Excitable speech: a politics of the performative, Routledge Classics, London, 1997) to conceptualize speech-acts as performative not only when it comes to populations, but also when it comes to institutions. Reconceptualizing universities as producing as well as being constituted by speech-acts, the article argues that the effects of free speech legislation need to be considered in the context of the transformation of universities and other political actors (including governments and student unions) in the second half of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. It argues that legal enforcement of free speech at universities further obscures the distinction between negative and positive liberties identified by Isaiah Berlin (Two Concepts of Liberty, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1958), and considers this shift as part of the reconfiguration of political ontology in late modernity.

Media Accountability: Global Trends and European Monitoring Capabilities

This article summarises the global state of the art of research into media accountability, using this overview as a framework for an analysis of 14 European countries’ structures and the possibilities for monitoring their media accountability landscapes. The first step shows that a model developed purely in the context of liberal Western democracies struggles to explain the diversity of media accountability instruments, actors, proceedings, and the effectiveness of these systems in different countries. When a broad understanding of media accountability is applied, different models of media accountability frameworks can be identified globally, and even within Europe. These findings on structures and actors in the field function as guidelines for the second part of the article, which analyses monitoring capabilities in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden—with a special focus, not only on the status quo, but also the capability to monitor changes and trends over time. Even in countries with generally well-developed monitoring and research structures in the media sector, much of the available literature focuses on normative questions, and available data is not necessarily comparable longitudinally or cross-nationally. International efforts have inspired key publications in a number of countries, but they are rarely followed up by continuous monitoring of developments in the field. Several cases describe a common reason for monitoring deficits: Weak professional culture among journalists leads to ineffective and often neglected media accountability measures, which in turn limits research activity and funding opportunities.

Democratic Malaise: A Proposed Theoretical Conceptualization for Marketing Malaise

Commercial marketing is a business philosophy that places the needs of the consumer at the beginning of the sales process rather than at the end, and its practises include the development, pricing, promotion, and distribution of goods and services. The decades following the 1960s were characterized by the intrusion of marketing into politics around the world, with Western liberal democracies being early adopters of this mode. Political marketing is the adaptation of the philosophy, principles, concepts, and techniques of commercial marketing to the political world. Research shows that citizens living in democratic regimes are critical and skeptical of democratic practices. Political marketing raises ethical questions, which has led researchers to pose the hypothesis of a “marketing malaise,” connecting political marketing with citizens’ malaise about political representation. Building on these concerns and relying on the existing literature, this article proposes the first theoretical conceptualization for the marketing malaise hypothesis. As citizens’ perceptions and understanding of politics go through the media, we propose a conceptualization of marketing malaise by mobilizing an intermediate variable: the media coverage of politics. The theoretical conceptualization includes the integration of political marketing by political organizations and the media and its impacts on citizens and democracy.

Comparative Exceptionalism? Strategy and Ideology in the High Court of Australia

Abstract This Article provides a rare comprehensive empirical assessment of oral argument outside of the United States. Drawing on a novel dataset over twenty-six years (1995–2019), comprising nearly one million speech episodes at oral argument in Australia’s apex court, the High Court of Australia, we are able to compare patterns of judicial behavior found in the U.S. Supreme Court to a comparable Western liberal democracy with a long tradition of judicial independence. There are a number of highly significant institutional differences between the Australian context and the U.S. Supreme Court, including a Chief Justice with additional power at oral argument, unlimited time for the length of argument, and variable panel sizes. Nevertheless, the Article finds evidence of similar patterns between Australian High Court and U.S. Supreme Court Justices. Importantly, this includes engaging in judicial advocacy on behalf of the side of the case that they ultimately support, contradicting the jurisprudential orthodoxy that the Australian judiciary is apolitical. In addition, numerous other factors that have been shown to be highly influential in the American context are also shown to be powerful in the Australian context, most notably judicial ideology, gender, and experience. This suggests that while striking institutional differences can impact oral argument and make arguments look very different, we can nonetheless discern similar underlying patterns of judicial behavior that can be recognized as strategic advocacy. All this suggests that neither system is “exceptional”—judicial advocacy may simply be part and parcel of having a strong independent judiciary.

Cringe

ABSTRACT While shame and embarrassment have received significant attention in philosophy and psychology, cringe (also sometimes called ‘vicarious embarrassment’ and ‘vicarious shame’) has received little thought. This is surprising as the relatively new genre of cringe comedy has seen a meteoric rise since the early 2000s. In this paper, I aim to offer a novel characterization of cringe as a hostile social emotion which turns out to be closer to disgust and horror than to shame or embarrassment, thus disclosing ‘vicarious shame’ and ‘vicarious embarrassment’ to be misnomers. The closing part offers an explanation as to why cringe and cringe comedy in particular have become recently more relevant: cringe allows one to express hostility and disgust (often at other forms of life) in a nonviolent manner which fits perfectly well within the permissible boundaries of tolerance set up in liberal Western democracies since the second half of the 20th century.

China's Leninist State and strategic relations with the United States: Chiang's KMT in Nanjing Decade and implications for the Chinese Communist Party after 1949

AbstractThis article revisits Chiang Kai‐shek's Kuomintang (KMT) party‐state during the Nanjing Decade (1927–37) of the Republic of China (ROC) and assesses how the actions and ideological propensities of the Nationalist regime affected prewar China's external relations with the United States. While both the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were constituted as Leninist parties in the 1920s, due to the Soviet Union's military and economic aid for Sun Yat‐sen's republican revolution, they had very different political objectives and socioeconomic perspectives on China's state/nation‐building. Consequently, the KMT's and CCP's respective attitudes towards the United States also differed. Though Leninism is an antithesis to Western liberal democracy, it is not inevitable for a Leninist dictatorship to engage in confrontations with Washington, as the central leadership's inclinations and actions would determine how China approaches America. Chiang's Confucian Leninism opened up the friendly ties with the United States in 1928, which eventually consolidated into a strong U.S.‐ROC alliance during WWII and beyond, despite the KMT's autocracy. The essay will contrast briefly with the post‐1949 People's Republic of China (PRC), as the CCP experienced from Mao Zedong's radical Leninism, Deng Xiaoping/Jiang Zemin/Hu Jintao's consultative Leninism, to Xi Jinping's expansionist Leninism today. The evolving CCP positions have also affected the extent of cooperation and hostility between Beijing and Washington and illustrated how the changing attributes of the Chinese Leninist regime are crucial in determining U.S.‐PRC strategic trajectories.