The Political Role of the Press in Spanish Transition to Democracy, 1975–1978

ABSTRACTThis article examines the major role that newspapers played in Colombia, as central components of its political system, between 1830 and 1930. After some introductory remarks, the first section offers a general characterization of the Colombian press during the period, underlining its volatile existence, its national significance despite limited readership levels, and its overwhelming political nature in the hands of partisan editors. The second section analyses the political role of the press, by focusing on the crucial electoral functions performed by newspapers in launching candidates and providing them with platforms, serving as party organs, and measuring the amount of public support for candidates and parties. The article also explores the extent to which the press played a wider democratic role in supporting the suffrage, in instructing voters about rights and duties, and, by doing so, in forming an enduring sense of citizenship.

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The role of the written press during the Spanish transition to democracy

International Journal of Iberian Studies ◽

10.1386/ijis_00026_1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 33 (2-3) ◽

pp. 157-176

Author(s):

José Reig Cruañes ◽

Cristina Perales-García

Keyword(s):

Transition To Democracy ◽

Spanish Transition ◽

Political Actors ◽

The Public ◽

Daily Newspapers ◽

News Stories ◽

The Press ◽

The Media ◽

Key Events

This study describes the relations between the press and political power, during the Spanish transition to democracy in the late 1970s, focusing on discursive relations between political actors with power or challenging power and the media which interpreted their developments. It analyses how the main media, in the discourse of their news stories and editorials, framed events to construct a ‘reality’ for the public, aiding or impeding the construction of a democratic public sphere. The study is based on an analysis of journalistic discourse in ABC, La Vanguardia, El País (daily newspapers) and Triunfo (a weekly political magazine) in their coverage of key events in the period between the death of Franco (November 1975) and the approval of the Basque and Catalan statutes (November 1979).

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The Press as Opposition: The Political Role of South African Newspapers

The International Journal of African Historical Studies ◽

10.2307/217595 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 349

Author(s):

Newell M. Stultz ◽

Elaine Potter

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

The Political ◽

Political Role ◽

The Press

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Something Gleaming

Theoria ◽

10.3167/th.2020.6716505 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 67 (165) ◽

pp. 92-117

Author(s):

Bronwyn Leebaw

Keyword(s):

The Political ◽

Political Role ◽

Common Concern ◽

The Way

What kinds of lessons can be learned from stories of those who resisted past abuses and injustices? How should such stories be recovered, and what do they have to teach us about present day struggles for justice and accountability? This paper investigates how Levi, Broz, and Arendt formulate the political role of storytelling as response to distinctive challenges associated with efforts to resist systematic forms of abuse and injustice. It focuses on how these thinkers reflected on such themes as witnesses, who were personally affected, to varying degrees, by atrocities under investigation. Despite their differences, these thinkers share a common concern with the way that organised atrocities are associated with systemic logics and grey zones that make people feel that it would be meaningless or futile to resist. To confront such challenges, Levi, Arendt and Broz all suggest, it is important to recover stories of resistance that are not usually heard or told in ways that defy the expectations of public audiences. Their distinctive storytelling strategies are not rooted in clashing theories of resistance, but rather reflect different perspectives on what is needed to make resistance meaningful in contexts where the failure of resistance is intolerable.

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DEMOCRACY AT THE SERVICE OF FOREIGN POLICY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Political Science Issues ◽

10.35775/psi.2019.32.2.013 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

A. FREDDIE

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Human Rights ◽

Foreign Policy ◽

Transition To Democracy ◽

The Political ◽

Political Activities ◽

Foreign Policy Change ◽

The Republic ◽

Apartheid Regime

The article examines the place and role of democracy and human rights in South Africas foreign policy. The author analyzes the process of South Africas foreign policy change after the fall of the apartheid regime and transition to democracy. He gives characteristics of the foreign policy under different presidents of South Africa from 1994 to 2018 and analyzes the political activities of South Africa in the area of peacekeeping and human rights on the African continent.

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