The Dynamics of Voters’ Left/Right Identification: The Role of Economic and Cultural Attitudes

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. de Vries ◽  
Armen Hakhverdian ◽  
Bram Lancee
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Longitudinal Data ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Cultural Attitudes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Economic Attitudes

The mobilization of culturally rooted issues has altered political competition throughout Western Europe. This article analyzes to what extent the mobilization of immigration issues has affected how people identify with politics. Specifically, it analyzes whether voters’ left/right self-identifications over the past 30 years increasingly correspond to cultural rather than economic attitudes. This study uses longitudinal data from the Netherlands between 1980 and 2006 to demonstrate that as time progresses, voters’ left/right self-placements are indeed more strongly determined by anti-immigrant attitudes than by attitudes towards redistribution.These findings show that the issue basis of left/right identification is dynamic in nature and responsive to changes in the political environment.

De-Orientalizing the Western Gaze on Eastern Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-162
Author(s):  
Barbara Christophe
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The Political ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
The Past ◽  
Soviet Occupation ◽  
Publishing Houses

Comparing narratives of the Soviet occupation in 1940 in current textbooks by two leading Lithuanian publishing houses, I claim that Lithuanian textbooks offer diverging accounts, which mirror to a large extent the opposing mnemonic frames supported by two rival political camps. I also show that the same textbooks tame those differences by transcending the politically charged frames they have chosen in the first place, presenting, for example, the USSR as both villain and victim of the war. Considering the relevance of these findings for our understanding of dynamics of remembering in general and in the Lithuanian culture of memory in particular, I point out that embracing the political inherent in all acts of recalling the past does not necessarily lead to politicized, i.e. narrow-minded memories, and I reflect on what these mnemonic practices mean for reevaluating the traditional role of Eastern Europe as the backward other of Western Europe.

scholarly journals Court Presidents: The Missing Piece in the Puzzle of Judicial Governance

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 2031-2076 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Blisa ◽  
David Kosař
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Power Index ◽  
Legal Culture ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Media Power

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to provide a new comprehensive understanding of roles of court presidents in judicial governance in Europe. It argues that in order to better understand the role of court presidents in comparative perspective it is necessary to unpack their power into smaller components that can be analyzed separately. We define seven such components: judicial career, jurisprudential, administrative, financial, ambassadorial, and media power, and ancillary powers as a residual category. Subsequently, we zero in on 13 European jurisdictions and rate them according to the strength of their court presidents' powers. By doing so we are developing a Court President Power Index. Based on this Index we question the claim that Western court presidents are always weaker than their Eastern European counterparts and argue that powers of court presidents diverge both within Western Europe and within Eastern Europe, and hence it is difficult to draw the easy line along the West/East axis on this ground. Finally, we problematize our Court President Power Index and show that powers in the meaning of faculty do not necessarily translate into influence since various contingent circumstances (such as the length of court presidents' terms of office, information asymmetry, the structure of the judiciary, the existence of competing judicial self-governance bodies, the role of individuals, the proximity of court presidents to political leaders, the legal profession, legal culture, and the political environment) affect to what extent court presidents may exploit their powers in practice.

Germany and Russia Since Reunification: Continuity, Change, and the Role of Leaders

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Image Analysis ◽  
International Relations ◽  
The Political ◽  
German Reunification ◽  
The Past ◽  
Personal Relations ◽  
Economic Trends ◽  
Economic Ties

How can we understand German-Russian relations since German reunification? Both the geopolitical positions of the two states and the political and economic ties between them have been transformed over the past twentyfive years. This paper will argue, however, that the role of the two countries’ leaders in shaping these relations has been surprisingly important. Building on the tradition of “first image” analysis in international relations, this paper shows that, along with larger political and economic trends, personal relations between these leaders have helped to set the tenor of bilateral ties. When the leaders were able to build trust and personal friendships, relations improved. Yet more recently, since 2012, relations have soured sharply. While there are obviously larger reasons for this, more negative personal ties between leaders have also played an important role. In short, just as issues of trust and friendship matter in personal ties, they also matter in International Relations.

Secular–Religious Competition and the Exclusion of Islam from the Public Sphere: Islamic Welfare in Western Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Kortmann
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Service Delivery ◽  
Religious Competition ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Islamic Organizations

AbstractThis paper deals in a qualitative discourse analysis with the role of Islamic organizations in welfare delivery in Germany and the Netherlands. Referring to Jonathan Fox's “secular–religious competition perspective”, the paper argues that similar trends of exclusion of Islamic organizations from public social service delivery can be explained with discourses on Islam in these two countries. The analysis, first, shows that in the national competitions between religious and secular ideologies on the public role of religion, different views are dominant (i.e., the support for the Christian majority in Germany and equal treatment of all religions in the Netherlands) which can be traced back to the respective regimes of religious governance. However, and second, when it comes to Islam in particular, in the Netherlands, the perspective of restricting all religions from public sphere prevails which leads to the rather exclusivist view on Islamic welfare that dominates in Germany, too.

scholarly journals STRATEGI DAKWAH SIASYAH PARTAI PERSATUAN PEMBANGUNAN DI JAWABARAT

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-36
Author(s):  
Ridwan - Mubarok
Keyword(s):  
World Politics ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Sphere ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
Missionary Movement ◽  
Or Organization

For every Muslim, the role of civilization is identical to authentic mission as a leader as a leader in this earth, whose role is greater than leading a province or country. The participation of ulama, dai or da'wah movements in the political sphere is his right, but the missionary movement or organization must also be aware of and be aware of people or persons who want to manipulate da'wah as a vehicle for world politics. Da'wah movements or dai must be able to use various life instruments that exist today for the sake of da'wah. Ulama and the da'i who join in the organization movement or da'wah movement, must realize that they are part of the chain of struggle of the people. Now is the time for da'i or ulama to proclaim themselves from the past fetters that castrated the political life of the scholars.Bagi setiap muslim, peran peradaban identik dengan misi otentik sebagai pemimpin sebagai pemimpin dimuka bumi ini, yang perannya lebih besar dibandingkan memimpin sebuah provinsi atau negara. Keikutsertaan para ulama, dai atau gerakan dakwah dalam ranah politik merupakan haknya, akan tetapi gerakan atau organisasi dakwah juga harus menyadari serta mewaspadai terhadap orang atau oknum yang hendak memperalat dakwah sebagai kendaraan politik dunia. Gerakan dakwah ataupun para dai harus dapat menggunakan berbagai instrument kehidupan yang ada saat ini untuk kepentingan dakwah. Ulama maupun para da’i yang bergabung dalam gerakan organisasi atau gerakan dakwah, harus menyadari bahwasanya dirinya merupakan bagian dari mata rantai perjuangan umat. Kini sudah saatnya para da’i ataupun ulama dapat memproklamirkan diri dari belenggu masa lalu yang mengebiri kehidupan politik para ulama, PPP menjadi salah satu alternatif.

The Political Economy of Easy Credit Policies

2016 ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Karim Azizi ◽  
Thibault Darcillon
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Consumer Credit ◽  
Majority Voting ◽  
The Political ◽  
Aggregate Consumption ◽  
The Past ◽  
Marginal Effects

During the past thirty years, U.S. economic growth has disproportionately benefited the richest percentiles of the American population, i.e., the top income earners. Although this phenomenon is difficult to explain from a “standard” political economy perspective (i.e., majority voting), recent literature emphasizes the role of consumer credit as a means of circumventing costly public redistribution. According to this theory, most OECD and, notably, American policymakers should have facilitated middleclass and low-income households’ access to consumer credit to cushion the effects of increased income inequality (i.e., an increased share of GDP held by top earners). Our contribution to this literature is to argue that increases in inequality (as measured by expansions in the share of GDP held by top income earners) should be associated with aggregate consumption increases. Indeed, in response to increased inequality, easy credit policies stimulate low-income and middle-class consumption, which contributes to an increased aggregate consumption level. Using a panel dataset of 20 developed OECD economies between 1980 and 2007, we show that such increases in inequality are actually associated with expansions of aggregate consumption. Finally, when computing marginal effects, we conclude that these expansions increase with the size of the financial sector.

The Origins and Dynamics of Inequality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon D. Wisman
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human History ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Role

Whereas President Barack Obama identified inequality as “the defining challenge of our time,” this book claims more: it is the defining issue of all human history. The struggle over inequality has been the underlying force driving human history’s unfolding. Drawing on the dynamics of inequality, this book reinterprets history and society. Beyond according inequality the central role in human history, this book is novel in two other respects. First, transcending the general failure of social scientists and historians to anchor their work in explicit theories of human behavior, this book grounds the origins and dynamics of inequality in evolutionary psychology, or, more specifically, Darwin’s theory of sexual selection. Second, this book is novel in according central importance to the critical historical role of ideology in legitimating inequality, a role typically ignored or given little attention by social scientists and historians. Because of the central role of inequality in history, inequality’s explosion over the past 45 years has not been an anomaly. It is a return to the political dynamics by which elites have, since the rise of the state, taken practically everything for themselves, leaving all others with little more than the means with which to survive. Due to elites’ persuasive ideology, even after workers in advanced capitalist countries gained the franchise to become the overwhelming majority of voters, inequality continued to increase. The anomaly is that the only intentional politically driven decline in inequality occurred between the 1930s and 1970s following the Great Depression’s partial delegitimation (this should remain delegitimation globally) of elites’ ideology.

Laws, Liberties, and the Will of the People

2021 ◽  
pp. 155-177
Author(s):  
Sarah Mortimer
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dutch Revolt ◽  
Development Of Resistance ◽  
The People ◽  
The Will ◽  
Role Of Religion

From the 1560s, tensions between Protestant and Catholics escalated and this was accompanied by a wave of writing on political and religious ideas, especially in France and the Netherlands. There was a renewed interest in the nature and origins of authority within the political sphere, particularly the importance of the ‘people’ and the ways in which their will could be both represented and controlled. This chapter considers some of the key texts of resistance theory written in the 1560s and 1570s, including Francogallia and the Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos in France, and George Buchanan’s De Jure Regni apud Scotos in Scotland. Discussions of liberty and privileges in the Netherlands during the Dutch Revolt are also considered; here historically based arguments began to be supplemented by appeals to wider principles of morality and natural law. The election of Henry of Valois to the Polish throne provides one example of elective monarchy in practice. This chapter discusses the role of religion and of legal arguments in the development of resistance theories. It also highlights some of the practical and conceptual difficulties in appealing to popular sovereignty, especially in a period of deep confessional divisions, and shows how the authority of magistrates could be understood in different ways.

A Retrospect on the Limits of Postcolonial Studies

CounterText ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benita Parry
Keyword(s):  
Crucial Role ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Purpose ◽  
New Form ◽  
Raymond Williams ◽  
Different Order

Benita Parry here examines the political horizons of postcolonial studies, arguing for the crucial role of Marxism in sustaining the revolutionary impetus of postcolonialist thought. Addressing the career of the late Edward W. Said, Parry points out that while Said's approach to criticism may initially have been philological, political purpose and direction were ‘thrust upon him’ through the situation of his native Palestine in the 1970s, together with the retreat from radicalism within academia. The Said of this period thus urged upon intellectuals the need to engage with injustice and oppression. Parry writes of Said's ‘circuitous journey’ that returned him, in his later works, to a critical approach that eschewed the political, and aimed to contain conflict through his notion of the ‘contrapuntal.’ While Said, with many postcolonial critics, did not subscribe to Marxism, Parry suggests that his work retained a thoughtful and complex respect for Marxists such as Lukács, Goldmann, Raymond Williams, and Adorno. For Parry, Said's repudiation of Marxism is ‘of a different order’ from that of other postcolonial critics who drag revolutionary figures such as Fanon and Gramsci into their own agenda by attempting to stabilise and attune their thought to the ‘centre-left’. Parry goes on to criticise the editors of The Postcolonial Gramsci, for positing Marxist thinking as a restricting framework from which the editors aim to liberate Gramsci's writing. For Parry, these reappraisals of revolutionary thinkers constitute a new form of recuperative criticism that she terms ‘the rights of misprision’. If this is a strategy for ‘draining Marxist and indeed all left thought of its revolutionary impulses and energies’, Parry insists, ‘it is one to be resisted and countered, not in the interests of a sterile rigour, but – in Benjamin's words – to rescue the past and the dead, and a tradition and its receivers, from being overpowered by conformism’.

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