scholarly journals How and Why Armed Groups Participate in Elections

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 710-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aila M. Matanock ◽  
Paul Staniland
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Electoral Strategies ◽  
Develop Theory ◽  
Comparative Case Studies ◽  
Complex Relationships

Armed actors are often involved in electoral politics, from the fusing of ballots and bullets in armed political parties to insurgents covertly backing politicians. We develop new concepts and theory to better understand these complex relationships between violent actors and democratic practice. We first offer a novel conceptualization of armed groups’ electoral strategies that systematically maps out variation in the organizational directness and public openness of groups’ involvement in elections. We then use comparative case studies to develop theory about the conditions under which each of these electoral strategies is most likely, and what can trigger changes between them. The interaction of armed groups’ power and expectations of popular support with governments’ policies of toleration or repression determines the strategies of electoral participation that groups pursue. These concepts and arguments lay the foundation for a systematic research agenda on when and how “normal” and armed politics become intertwined.

scholarly journals Between Frontline and Parliament: Ukrainian Political Parties and Irregular Armed Groups in 2014–2019

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Kostiantyn Fedorenko ◽  
Andreas Umland
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Political Careers ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Political Realm

Abstract The short-lived Ukrainian armed volunteer movement and its interaction with electoral politics, in some regards did, and in other regards, did not fit patterns observed in research into irregular armed groups (IAGs). The brief life span of most Ukrainian IAGs as more or less independent actors, and their swift integration into Ukraine’s regular forces during the years 2014–2015, were both unusual. They were also one of the reasons for the relatively low political impact of the IAGs as such - a repercussion that is in contrast to the partly impressive individual political careers of some IAG commanders in 2014–2019. There were various forms of interpenetration of parties with IAGs in post-Euromaidan Ukraine. Certain parties, political activists, and MPs took part in the creation and development of IAGs in 2014. Some – to that point, mostly minor - politicians became soldiers or commanders of IAGs. Subsequently, a number of IAG members transited into the party-political realm, either joining older parties or creating new political organizations.

Dilemmas of Inclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafaela M. Dancygier
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Political Incorporation ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Muslim Communities ◽  
Equality And Diversity

As Europe's Muslim communities continue to grow, so does their impact on electoral politics and the potential for inclusion dilemmas. In vote-rich enclaves, Muslim views on religion, tradition, and gender roles can deviate sharply from those of the majority electorate, generating severe trade-offs for parties seeking to broaden their coalitions. This book explains when and why European political parties include Muslim candidates and voters, revealing that the ways in which parties recruit this new electorate can have lasting consequences. The book sheds new light on when minority recruitment will match up with existing party positions and uphold electoral alignments and when it will undermine party brands and shake up party systems. It demonstrates that when parties are seduced by the quick delivery of ethno-religious bloc votes, they undercut their ideological coherence, fail to establish programmatic linkages with Muslim voters, and miss their opportunity to build cross-ethnic, class-based coalitions. The book highlights how the politics of minority inclusion can become a testing ground for parties, showing just how far their commitments to equality and diversity will take them when push comes to electoral shove. Providing a unified theoretical framework for understanding the causes and consequences of minority political incorporation, and especially as these pertain to European Muslim populations, the book advances our knowledge about how ethnic and religious diversity reshapes domestic politics in today's democracies.

scholarly journals New Forms of Political Activism in Indonesia

Asian Survey ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 557-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Tomsa ◽  
Charlotte Setijadi
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
The Future

This article argues that new personality-centric movements have redefined the nexus between activism and electoral politics in Indonesia. It illustrates how these movements have challenged the role of political parties and consultants in electoral campaigning, and how their growing prominence may affect the future trajectory of Indonesian politics.

scholarly journals On methods of coverage of sociopolitical aspects of urban development by social disciplines

2018 ◽  
Vol 193 ◽  
pp. 05020
Author(s):  
Igor Andreev
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Social Regulation ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
State University ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Moscow State University

The author has identified a trend towards the politicization of urban planning in Russia, caused by a set of factors. The author believes that students should be timely taught to adequately respond to the attempts of the leading political parties and movements to influence the urban planning industry. These attempts represent the imposition of particular urban plans for their benefit, the resolution of urban planning conflicts in the best interests of particular parties, etc. According to the author, who has accumulated an extensive lecturing experience, this goal is attainable by offering social disciplines, including Sociology, Sociology of Urban Development, Bases of Social Regulation and Public Relations, to bachelor students, majoring in urban planning at the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering. The author has considered several issues of teaching methods, in particular, he has identified the list of political problems to be analyzed and the type of classes to be organized, etc. In the report, the author makes a conclusion that the focus on the sociopolitical aspects of urban planning in the courses of social disciplines improves the students’ understanding of the nature of urban planning as a democratic practice.

Expanding Ethics

2018 ◽  
pp. 167-211
Author(s):  
Craig Bruce Smith
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Early Republic ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Job Applicants ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
The French Revolution

From the aftermath of Yorktown through the rise of political parties in the early republic, this chapter shows that legislation and policy (from the Treaty of Paris to the Constitution to attempts at abolitionism) were based on these new concepts of honor and virtue. It also shows the institutionalizing of egalitarian honor in schools, organizations (like the Society of the Cincinnati), occupations, and politics. It charts the development of business ethics in the form of professional honor for lawyers, doctors, and even job applicants. Most importantly, this chapter engages the new conceptions of honor that developed during the early republic, including the rise to prominence of Franklin’s ascending honor (which in part was adapted into the notion of republican womanhood) and Thomas Jefferson’s version that made honor entirely internal and akin to modern ethics. The chapter examines how these new ideals impacted all classes of society including women and African Americans. While most citizens agreed that honor and virtue were defining elements, they differed greatly on how these concepts related to governance, policy (especially the French Revolution), and society. Contestations over the interpretation of national and personal honor would in turn spark in-fighting, dissention, and revival belief systems, highlighted by the development of political parties.

Uncertainty Perpetuated? The Pitfalls of a Weakly Institutionalized Party System in Kyrgyzstan

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asel Doolotkeldieva ◽  
Alexander Wolters
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
Political Pluralism ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Current State ◽  
Electoral Strategies ◽  
The Republic ◽  
State Of Affairs

The parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan in October 2015 garnered widespread approval from commentators for the level of fairness and freedom maintained throughout the campaign. However, the results of the vote do not provide a clear indication of the current state of affairs of parliamentarism in the republic. Focusing on the commercialization of party lists, we argue that neither identity politics nor the logic of neopatrimonialism adequately explain the dynamics of political competition in Kyrgyzstan. Instead, we see perpetual uncertainty emerging from contradicting yet increasing attempts to harness the capital of privatized party lists and to impose discipline. Eventually, and beyond short-term threats of an emerging super-presidentialism, Kyrgyzstan risks suffering from hollow parliamentarism, with political parties persistently failing to supply legislative initiatives with substantial agendas and adequate professionals. The weakly institutionalized political parties and their short-sighted electoral strategies undermine both the parliamentary system and its political pluralism.

Chremacracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 184-197
Author(s):  
Debasish Roy Chowdhury ◽  
John Keane
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Campaign Spending ◽  
Special Interests ◽  
Indian Politics ◽  
Quantum Leap ◽  
Private Money ◽  
Electoral Democracy

This chapter studies how Indian politics is becoming a chremacracy—a system in which big money rules supreme. In 2018, the already shady party finances system took a quantum leap towards absolute chremacracy when the Modi government introduced electoral bonds, an instrument that allows individuals, corporations, and other legal entities such as trusts and associations anonymously to channel unlimited amounts of money to political parties. Under this new measure, anyone is allowed to buy tax-free bearer bonds for specified amounts via the state-owned State Bank of India (SBI) and then deposit them into the registered bank accounts of political parties. Like political violence, the organized secrecy over money irreversibly distorts the spirit and institutions of electoral democracy. The misallocation of resources that results from poorly regulated campaign spending ensures that elections and governments are captured by special interests. Ultimately, the grip of private money on electoral politics is detrimental to the quality of representation as it skews the field of available choices, and a system of free choice is gamed into one of prompted selection.

“We are all republicans”: Political Articulation and the Production of Nationhood in France's Face Veil Debate

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 938-967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Laxer
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Boundaries ◽  
The Face ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIn July 2010, following a year-long nationwide debate over Islamic veiling, the French government passed a law prohibiting facial coverings in all public spaces. Prior research attributes this and other restrictive laws to France's republican secular tradition. This article takes a different approach. Building on literature that sees electoral politics as a site for articulating, rather than merely reflecting, social identities, I argue that the 2010 ban arose in significant part out of political parties’ struggles to demarcate the boundaries of legitimate politics in the face of an ultra-right electoral threat. Specifically, I show that in seeking to prevent the ultra-right National Front party from monopolizing the religious signs issue, France's major right and left parties agreed to portray republicanism as requiring the exclusion of face veiling from public space. Because it was forged in conflict, however, the consensus thus generated is highly fractured and unstable. It conceals ongoing conflict, both between and within political parties, over the precise meaning(s) of French republican nationhood. The findings thus underscore the relationship between boundary-drawing in the political sphere and the process of demarcating the cultural and political boundaries of nationhood in contexts of immigrant diversity.

scholarly journals Hijacked Direct Democracy: The Instrumental Use of Referendums in Romania

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 778-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergiu Gherghina
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Electoral Strategies ◽  
The Relationship

This article is part of the special cluster titled Political Parties and Direct Democracy in Eastern Europe, guest-edited by Sergiu Gherghina. The relationship between political parties and referendums has been receiving increased attention in the literature. While most research has focused on the challenges faced by political parties, little attention is dedicated to the ways in which they can use referendums to serve their purposes. This article analyzes the seven national-level referendums organized in post-communist Romania between 1991 and 2012 and shows how referendums were not used primarily as a means to reflect citizens’ opinions on policy issues. Instead, they were primarily used as electoral strategies for legitimacy purposes or to augment the popularity of the initiators or main supporters. In isolated instances, they were oriented against other competitors.

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