The Polish-Ukrainian Bulletin in Piłsudski’s Poland — or, how to create space for dialogue and build trust in an authoritarian state

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Stephan Stach
Keyword(s):  
Authoritarian State

scholarly journals Spaces of Dependence and Emancipation in Architectural and Urban Narration, a Case Study: Plac Żołnierza Polskiego and Plac Solidarności in Szczecin

Arts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Izabela Kozłowska ◽  
Eryk Krasucki
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Urban Structure ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Urban Narratives ◽  
Eastern European Countries

Central and Eastern European countries were subjugated to the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century. In this new political environment, defined as the period of dependency, the concept of space gained a new denotation as a space of dependence, in both social and physical terms. The political changes that took place after 1989 enabled these spaces to be emancipated. In this work, we aim to delineate the complex relationship between architecture and politics from the perspective of spaces of dependence and their emancipation. Through a case study of two squares, plac Żołnierza Polskiego (the Square of the Polish Soldier) and plac Solidarności (Solidarity Square) in Szczecin, we gained insights into the processes and strategies that promoted their evolution into spaces of emancipation within architectural and urban narratives. Szczecin’s space of dependence was created by an authoritarian state that had a monopoly on defining architecture and urban planning in the country and the state as a whole. In a process orchestrated by economic factors, as well as the scale of architectural and urban degradation, the squares under discussion have transitioned from spaces of dependency to spaces of emancipation. As a result, an architectural-urban structure characterized by new cultural and identity values has been created.

scholarly journals A War of (Mis)Information: The Political Effects of Rumors and Rumor Rebuttals in an Authoritarian Country

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haifeng Huang
Keyword(s):  
Political Trust ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Experimental Procedure ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Information Politics ◽  
The Government ◽  
To Come

Despite the prevalence of anti-government rumors in authoritarian countries, little is currently known about their effects on citizens’ attitudes toward the government, and whether the authorities can effectively combat rumors. With an experimental procedure embedded in two surveys about Chinese internet users’ information exposure, this study finds that rumors decrease citizens’ trust in the government and support of the regime. Moreover, individuals from diverse socio-economic and political backgrounds are similarly susceptible to thinly evidenced rumors. Rebuttals generally reduce people’s belief in the specific content of rumors, but often do not recover political trust unless the government brings forth solid and vivid evidence to back its refutation or win the endorsement of public figures broadly perceived to be independent. But because such high-quality and strong rebuttals are hard to come by, rumors will erode political support in an authoritarian state. These findings have rich implications for studies of rumors and misinformation in general, and authoritarian information politics in particular.

scholarly journals Elite associations and the politics of belonging in Cameroon

Africa ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 320-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Nyamnjoh ◽  
Michael Rowlands
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Level ◽  
State Control ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Prime Movers ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Formal Distinction

The development of elite associations has been a consequence of the growth of multi-partyism and the weakening of authoritarian state control in Cameroon in the 1990s. The attachment of electoral votes and rights of citizenship to belonging to ethnicised regions has encouraged the formal distinction between ‘natives’ and ‘strangers’ in the creation of a politics of belonging. The article argues that this development has also led to the replacement of political parties at the local level by ethnicised elite associations as prime movers in regional and national politics.

The Making of a Revolution in Tunisia

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 68-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laryssa Chomiak
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Repression ◽  
Political Liberalization ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Tunisian Revolution

In their search for explanations for the so-called Tunisian paradox under Ben Ali –a country with comparatively high levels of socio-economic development, yet plagued by the absence of a civil society that could push for political liberalization–analysts primarily investigated the gradual co-optation of political institutions and actors. As research and analytical agendas were consumed by the robustness of Ben Ali’s authoritarian state, little attention was paid to the development of informal and extra-institutional political activities that existed even under deepening political repression. In hindsight, many of these informal activities clearly contributed to the December 2010-January 2011 nation-wide campaign, which eventually led to the Arab World’s fi rst bottom-up revolution ousting an unpopular and illegitimate ruler. Th is article will engage two stories about the Tunisian Revolution that later inspired protests and contentious activities across the Middle East and North Africa. First, it will tell a back-story of contentious activities preceding the January 2011 events that surprised observers, scholars and analysts–even those familiar with the Tunisian case. Second, this article will discuss some of most pressing political dynamics that have emerged in the post-revolutionary (and pre-October 2011 election) environment. The concluding section will subsequently identify avenues for short and long-term research on the subject of contestation, resistance, and the construction of a new political order.

How do policy transfer mechanisms influence policy outcomes in the context of authoritarianism in Vietnam?

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hang Duong
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
National Context ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Convergence And Divergence ◽  
Transfer Mechanisms

The literature on policy transfer shows that it may result in simultaneous policy convergence and policy divergence. However, little is known about how such results happen when transferring from multiple and possibly contrasting sources. This study finds that civil service reforms in Vietnam’s merit-based policies are influenced by both western and Asian models of meritocracy. This makes them both closer to universal ‘best practices’ and at the same time sharpens the distinctiveness of Vietnam’s policy. The calculations of political actors in combination with the context of a one-party authoritarian state have led to policy transfer through mechanisms of translation and assemblage which brings about a hybrid of convergence and divergence. This study enhances understanding of policy transfer in the context of Asian authoritarianism. In finding hybridity in transfer outcomes in this national context, the article shows the uniqueness of resultant policy change and develops an analytical framework for the influence of policy transfer on policy outcomes.

Unrevolutionary Mexico

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Gillingham
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
Cultural Control ◽  
Partido Revolucionario Institucional ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Entry Points ◽  
Low Culture ◽  
New Generation

Unrevolutionary Mexico addresses how the Mexican Revolution (1910-1940) turned into a capitalist dictatorship of exceptional resilience. While soldiers seized power across the rest of Latin America, in modern Mexico the civilians of a single party moved punctiliously in and out of office for seventy-one years. The book uses the histories of the states of Guerrero and Veracruz as entry points to explore the origins and consolidation of this unique authoritarian state on both provincial and national levels. An empirically rich reconstruction of over sixty years of modernization and revolution (1880-1945) revises prevailing ideas of a pacified Mexico and establishes the 1940s as a decade of faltering governments and enduring violence. The book then assesses the pivotal changes of the mid-twentieth century, when a new generation of lawyers, bureaucrats and businessmen joined with surviving revolutionaries to form the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, which held uninterrupted power until 2000. Thematic chapters analyse elections, development, corruption and high and low culture in the period. The central role of military and private violence is explored in two further chapters that measure the weight of hidden coercion in keeping the party in power. In conclusion, the combination of provincial and national histories reveals Mexico as a place where soldiers prevented coups, a single party lost its own rigged elections, corruption fostered legitimacy, violence was concealed but decisive, and ambitious cultural control co-existed with a critical press and a disbelieving public. In conclusion, the book demonstrates how this strange dictatorship thrived not despite but because of its contradictions.

Tweeter-in-chief: Rwandan president Paul Kagame’s use of Twitter

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan Sobel Cohen ◽  
Karen McIntyre
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Technology Revolution ◽  
Twitter Account ◽  
Positive Sentiment ◽  
Global Affairs

Rwanda has received international praise for its rapid development and is said to be undergoing a ‘technology revolution’ at the hands of President Paul Kagame who has been described as a ‘Digital President’. This quantitative content analysis of Kagame’s official Twitter account analysed the first ten years of his tweets and found that he primarily tweets in English, with a positive sentiment about cross-government and cross-border interactions and, in doing so, presents Rwanda as a progressive, democratic player that is connected multilaterally to both African and global affairs. Throughout the decade, Kagame’s tweets evolved from being domestically focused on self-promotion to more globally focused on foreign engagement. While these findings could be indicative of a semi-authoritarian state, they also point to the presence of ‘Twitter diplomacy’ and the use of soft power tactics, which become stronger and clearer in the latter part of the decade.

The time–space tactics of Chinese Buddhist and Taoist believers under state–religion tension

2021 ◽  
pp. 0920203X2110609
Author(s):  
Wing Chung Ho ◽  
Lin Li
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
Religious Revival ◽  
State Regulations ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Ethnographic Observation ◽  
Communist China ◽  
Ruling Party

This study explores the experience of elderly rural Buddhist and Taoist believers in communist China where the ruling party has maintained decades-long regulatory control over religion. Based on ethnographic observation and oral histories, the analysis begins with how the actors made sense of and coped in their relationship with the state during the fieldwork period (May–June 2020) when state regulations restricted public religious practice because of COVID-19. The analysis then looks back on how practitioners experienced tightening state ideological control from the early 2010s to before COVID-19; further back at the religious revival during the opening and reform (1980s–2010s); and finally, the Cultural Revolution period (1960s–70s) when strict atheistic measures were imposed. Their narratives reveal the practical logic (habitus) which practitioners used to mediate their resistance against and compromise with the authoritarian state. Specifically, four logical modes that involve actors’ different time–space tactics were identified, namely state–religion disengagement, state–religion enhancement, religious (dis)enlightenment, and karma. The implications of these ostensibly conflicting modes of thinking in mediating the actors’ resistance–compliance interface in contemporary China are discussed.

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