India and the pandemic: democratic governance at crossroads

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Sujay Ghosh
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Lower House ◽  
Bharatiya Janata Party ◽  
Policy Communication ◽  
The World

Abstract Covid-19 seems to have unlocked the reality of democracy's ongoing tension in many parts of the world, including India. The present government, led by Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, enjoys absolute majority in the lower House of Samshad (Indian Parliament); thus satisfies WHO requirement of strong political leadership for meeting the challenge of Covid-19 pandemic. Through analysis of various acts, rules, notifications, social media behaviour, media-representations and reports, two aspects of governance become relevant: the process of policy-communication on the pandemic, particularly while declaring and extending lockdowns, through widely publicised speeches of the Prime Minister, packed with emotive appeals and policy-propaganda. However, government's several omissions and commissions have defied the norms of democratic accountability. In response, opposition political parties and civil society activism have continuously contested these trends, for stretching the democratic space wider and achieving better governance outcomes.

scholarly journals Analisis Pergeseran Makna Partisipasi Politik Perempuan Berdasarkan Karakteristik Feminitas dan Maskulinitas dalam Kepemimpinan Perempuan: Studi Kasus Penanganan COVID-19 di Jerman, Selandia Baru, dan Taiwan

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-108
Author(s):  
Bella Aprilia ◽  
Florencia Maria Surya ◽  
Mentari Svarna Pertiwi
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
International Health ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The World ◽  
Femininity And Masculinity ◽  
Angela Merkel ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Impact

 ABSTRAK                COVID-19 merupakan salah satu permasalahan global yang sedang dihadapi oleh banyak negara di seluruh dunia. Selain menyebabkan krisis kesehatan internasional, pandemi COVID-19 juga mengancam dinamika kehidupan masyarakat secara luas, baik itu di tingkat lokal, regional, hingga internasional. Tak hanya memberikan ancaman multidimensional, besarnya dampak yang diakibatkan oleh pandemi ini juga turut menguji kepemimpinan para pemimpin negara dalam mengendalikan rantai penyebaran COVID-19 secara efektif. Lebih jauh, berbagai pihak pun mengaitkan kesuksesan seorang pemimpin negara melalui kacamata gender. Pasalnya, terdapat stigmatisasi pada karakteristik perempuan yang kerap kali dianggap tidak mumpuni untuk memimpin dan membuat keputusan secara rasional. Dengan menggunakan perspektif feminisme, tulisan ini akan membahas bagaimana karakteristik feminitas dan maskulinitas yang tercermin dalam preferensi kebijakan Kanselir Jerman Angela Merkel, Perdana Menteri Selandia Baru Jacinda Ardern, dan Presiden Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen, secara efektif dapat mengendalikan penyebaran COVID-19 dan pemulihan kondisi multidimensi negara. Keberhasilan ketiga pemimpin perempuan dalam menangani COVID-19 ini menunjukkan adanya perspektif baru dalam kepemimpinan politik yang tidak dapat dibatasi oleh stigma gender terhadap kemampuan perempuan. Kata Kunci: pemimpin perempuan; kepemimpinan politik; pandemi COVID-19; feminisme; kebijakan publik ABSTRACTCOVID-19 is a global problem that is being faced by many countries around the world. Apart from causing an international health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic also threatens the dynamics of people's lives, be it at the local, regional, and international levels. Not only provide a multi-dimensional threat, but the impact caused by this pandemic also tests the leadership of state leaders in controlling the spread of COVID-19 effectively. Furthermore, various parties try to associate the success of a state leader through a gender perspective. This is due to the stigmatization of women's characteristics who are often considered incompetent to lead and make rational decisions. With a feminist perspective, this paper will discuss how the characteristics of femininity and masculinity reflected in the policy preferences of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, can effectively control the spread of COVID-19 and multi-dimensional recovery of the country. The success of the three female leaders in dealing with COVID-19 shows a new perspective in political leadership that cannot be limited by gender stigma on women's abilities.

Cambodia’s main opposition could split

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Content Type ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
People's Party ◽  
Lower House ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Trade Sanctions

Subject Cambodia's banned opposition. Significance The National Assembly last month passed an amendment to a law on political parties, enabling the prime minister to request the king to lift court-imposed bans on politicians. Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won all 125 seats in parliament’s lower house in last July’s election. The Supreme Court in November 2017 dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and gave 118 senior party officials five-year bans from politics. Impacts Indicted CNRP leader Kem Sokha could receive a royal pardon as part of efforts to appease foreign critics. EU trade sanctions will hit Cambodia’s export-oriented garments industry, threatening Hun Sen’s support base. Increasing Western hostility will push Cambodia further into China’s orbit.

India's ruling party will lose support in north-east

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
The Other ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Lower House ◽  
Bharatiya Janata Party ◽  
Ruling Party

Subject Politics in India's north-east. Significance In the forthcoming general election, 25 seats in the parliamentary lower house will be contested in the north-east. Four of the region's eight states have chief ministers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while the other four have ones representing parties aligned with the BJP. However, BJP policies aimed at appeasing certain ethnic communities have provoked protests across the area. Impacts Muslim Rohingya refugees in India will increasingly attempt to cross into Bangladesh, further damaging relations between Delhi and Dhaka. Delhi will encourage Tokyo to increase investment in India's north-east, hoping to push back on Beijing's ambitions in the region. Modi, if re-elected, will step up his 'Act East' policy, seeking enhanced connectivity between the north-east and South-east Asia.

The Recent Parliamentary Elections in Sweden

1941 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-108
Author(s):  
Ben A. Arneson
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Scandinavian Peninsula ◽  
The People ◽  
Lower House ◽  
The Social

With the tense international situation as an ominous background, the regular quadrennial parliamentary elections for the lower house were held in Sweden in September, 1940. Four years ago, the autumn of 1936 witnessed spirited and warmly contested parliamentary elections in both Sweden and Norway. Because Norway's constitution was amended in 1937 to provide for quadrennial rather than triennial elections, the autumn of 1940 would—save for the German invasion of the Norwegian democracy—have seen nation-wide parliamentary elections in both countries of the Scandinavian peninsula. With Sweden as the only Scandinavian nation remaining free and independent, it has been interesting to note what effect, if any, the tremendous pressures from the surrounding totalitarian states has had on democratic processes in the Swedish state.Over a year ago, the Swedish cabinet was reorganised into a National Cabinet with all leading political parties represented. As the time for the elections approached, some of the minority parties expressed willingness to postpone the contest, even to the extent of ignoring the constitutional provision for quadrennial elections. The remarkable expression of confidence by the smaller parties in the largest party—the Social Democrats—was countered by an equally remarkable stand taken by the leader of the Social Democrats, Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson, who insisted that the democratic processes of a popular election should be continued. The prime minister's view was accepted by all parties, since it was felt by all leaders that in such a time of stress it would be an indication of democratic strength for the parliament to go to the people. All were agreed also that the parties which would, in normal times, be in opposition should continue as vital going concerns.

Modi’s party will not yet seek uniform civil code

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Hindu Nationalism ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Communal Violence ◽  
Lower House ◽  
Bharatiya Janata Party ◽  
Marriage Contract ◽  
Personal Law ◽  
Cow Protection

Subject Indian government's efforts to criminalise triple talaq. Significance India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking to outlaw Muslim men’s right to terminate a marriage contract by thrice pronouncing “talaq” (divorce). The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in December mobilised its majority in parliament’s lower house to pass the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, though the legislation was blocked in the upper house last month. The bill, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi championed personally, is regarded by some as overdue protection for Muslim wives and by others as an attack on Muslim personal law. Impacts The BJP’s Hindu nationalism will help it to win upcoming polls in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and hold power in those states. Elections in states with sizeable Muslim populations are likely to see outbreaks of communal violence ahead of polls. Further attacks on Muslims by cow protection vigilantes are likely.

One Smart Politician: Gendered Media Discourses of Political Leadership in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelia Wagner ◽  
Linda Trimble ◽  
Shannon Sampert
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Party Leader ◽  
National Party ◽  
Leadership Qualities ◽  
Women Candidates ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Political Experience ◽  
Media Discourses

AbstractWhich leadership qualities are most likely to be emphasized in news reports about leadership competitions, and are they attributed differently to women and men candidates? To answer this question, we conducted content and discourse analyses of 2,463 articles published by theGlobe and Mailnewspaper on 10 women and 17 men seeking the leadership of Canadian political parties since 1975. Our results show that women candidates were subjected to more negative and gendered assessments of their communication skills, intellectual substance and political experience than were men candidates. We also found little evidence that gendered media discourses about political leadership have changed over time, especially in the case of women in the strongest position to become the country's first national party leader or prime minister.

scholarly journals Basic Principles Committee Reports: An Uneven Journey towards Constitutionalism in Pakistan

2017 ◽  
Vol II (I) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Muhammad Rizwan ◽  
Manzoor Ahmad ◽  
Usha Rehman
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
The State ◽  
National Language ◽  
Interim Report ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Constituent Assembly ◽  
Lower House ◽  
Modified Formula

The First Constituent Assembly of Pakistan framed a number of committees in order to run the state affair; however, the Basic Principles Committee was one of the most important bodies that were assigned to prepare a draft for the future constitution of Pakistan. The main objective of the committee was to suggest the directive principle of the state policy. This 24-member committee submitted its first interim report on 28 September 1950 that suggested a federal configuration for Pakistan and the incorporation of the Objective Resolution in the upcoming constitution. However, when this report was presented, it criticized by the majority political parties of the Eastern Wing who were demanding more representation in the legislature and the declaration of Bengali as the national language of Pakistan. In order to satisfy the demands of the stakeholders, another report was presented by the then Prime Minister Khawaja Nazim-ud-Din in 1952 with some changes in it. The committee suggested equal representation for both wings, but this time the report was rejected by the Panjabi elites. Finally, Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Bogra presented a modified formula according to which contrary to the representation in Lower House the Upper House was weighted so as to secure parity between East and West wings of the country.

The Presidential Preference Primary

1915 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 467-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis W. Dickey
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
The United States ◽  
Party Leader ◽  
Administrative Authority ◽  
Seventeenth Amendment ◽  
Natural Result ◽  
Decisive Action ◽  
The Mind

The presidency, intended by the framers of the Constitution to be almost exclusively an executive and administrative office, has, in the course of a century and a quarter, not only augmented its executive and administrative authority, but also has acquired a marked political significance. To his constitutional powers the President has added the prerogatives of party leadership, which constitute him the organ for giving effect to the policies of his party at the same time that he exercises a potent influence in the formulation of those policies. The amazing growth of political parties in the United States and the perfection and strength of their organization have been the causes of astonished comment on the part of foreign observers. Moreover, ours has been, in the main, a country of two parties. In view of these facts, the President as party leader becomes a personage of incalculable political consequence. He possesses the political leadership of an English prime minister with the titular dignity which the prime minister lacks.Since Jackson's time the presidency has achieved a representative character which is the natural result of the President's assumption of political leadership. He perhaps more accurately reflects the mind of the country at large than either of the houses of Congress. The Senate has been wanting in representative character, until the passage of the seventeenth amendment, because of the indirect mode of its election; while the Representatives, because the center of their interests is local rather than national and because their number has been a hindrance to decisive action, have distinctly lost in prestige. The President is able, and finds it to his advantage, to cultivate a nationalistic conception of his office.

scholarly journals Political control and perceptions of corruption in Icelandic local government

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Democratic Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Number Of Authors

Political control is an important value of democratic governance and without it democratic accountability can hardly mean much. This is why a number of authors have seen politicization of public service appointments and greater control by the centre as a potential counterweight against trends in in recent decades towards more networked and less hierarchical organizational forms of directing public policy. It may help to reassert democratic control. The option of strengthening political control, however, has not been much studied with regard to its likely effects on corruption. Power has the potential to corrupt unless adequately controlled and strengthening political power in a networked environment may create a structure of temptation which conventional deterrents to corruption are unable to curb. The impact of strong political leadership on corruption is here studied in the context of Icelandic local government, making use of institutional variations in the office of Mayor, which provide a unique opportunity for testing the effects of strong political control on corruption. The analysis indicates that municipalities with strong political mayors are likely to be associated with perceptions of corruption even when other factors, such as the structure of temptation and deterrents, are accounted for.

The Development of Tourism and Ecotourism in Cambodia

2011 ◽  
pp. 89-100
Author(s):  
Thong Khon
Keyword(s):  
Political Leadership ◽  
Consensus Building ◽  
Mass Tourism ◽  
Alternative Tourism ◽  
The World

This paper analyses the development of tourism and ecotourism in Cambodia. The paper shows that tourism not only helps the country to earn foreign income but also helps raise its identity in the eyes of the world. Alternative tourism including ecotourism has recently been introduced in Cambodia. For Cambodia, ecotourism is seen as a better option for tourism than conventional or mass tourism. Ecotourism development in Cambodia requires informed participation of all relevant stakeholders, as well as strong political leadership to ensure wide participation and consensus building.

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