Inclusion and Exclusion during the Left Turn

2021 ◽  
pp. 133-156
Author(s):  
Carew Boulding ◽  
Claudio A. Holzner
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Left Turn ◽  
Turn On ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Leftist Parties

Chapter 6 takes a closer look at the impact of Latin America’s left turn on the political activism of poor people, and on political equality more generally. This chapter shows a surprising pattern: while the election of leftist governments did spark more political activity across the board, it did not produce more equal patterns of political participation. On the contrary, political participation is most stratified by wealth where radical-left parties or candidates govern. This chapter argues that the ideology of ruling parties matters less than expected for a number of reasons. First, due to their electoral and institutional dominance and weak organizational structure, ruling leftist parties in places like Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela had neither the capacity nor the incentives to mobilize poor citizens outside of election. This is in contrast to European contexts where leftist parties face stiff electoral competition and have strong linkages to groups in society. Second, most research based on advanced democracies assumes that poor people are core constituents of leftist parties. In Latin America, in contrast, poor people are just as likely to hold right-of-center views as left-of-center views.

Patterns and Puzzles

2021 ◽  
pp. 44-80
Author(s):  
Carew Boulding ◽  
Claudio A. Holzner
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Vote Buying ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter describes in detail patterns of political participation in Latin America with a particular focus on the political activity of poor citizens. It also introduces the book’s measures of poverty and political participation and engages in some preliminary statistical analysis in order to rule out alternative explanations. We identify three important findings: first, the poorest individuals in Latin America now participate in politics at least as much as, if not more than, more affluent individuals; second, the relationship between wealth and political activism is not uniform across countries or acts: in some places poor people participate more than the affluent, in most countries there is no difference in overall levels of participation across social classes, and in a few countries political stratification by class continues; third, the chapter shows that poor people do vote and protest a bit less than more affluent people but contact government more. It is the frequency with which poor people contact government officials that accounts for much of the equality in political participation that the book identifies. The analysis finds little evidence that individual-level factors explain these patterns. Instead, poor individuals participate as much or more than more affluent individuals despite possessing lower levels of education, political interest, and wealth. The chapter also explores the effect that efforts at vote buying and clientelist mobilization have on poor people’s activism, showing that although clientelism is common, it not the only mechanism through which poor people are mobilized into politics.

VALUE ORIENTATIONS AND CIVIL-POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF YOUNG RUSSIAN PATRIOTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 62-70
Author(s):  
ANTONINA SELEZNEVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Values ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Patriotic Education ◽  
High Level

Purpose of the study. The article is devoted to the analysis of value orientations, forms of civic engagement and political participation of young Russian citizens who consider themselves patriots. In accordance with the conceptual and methodological provisions developed within the framework of the political and psychological approach, the author examines how the cognitive and behavioral components of the personality structure, which determine the patriotic orientation of youth, relate to each other. Research results. Based on an analysis of the data of an all-Russian survey of young people aged 15 to 30, the author comes to the conclusion that young Russian patriots are interested in politics and identify with Russia. They demonstrate a fairly high level of social activity and have a wide repertoire of forms of civic participation and political behavior. They have attitudes towards conventional forms of political participation (primarily electoral). In the system of values of young patriots, the most significant are human rights, peace, order, legality, security, freedom and justice. Young Russian citizens who consider themselves patriots differ in their political values and behavioral orientations from «non-patriots». The author comes to the conclusion that young patriots have a connection between values and behavioral practices of their implementation, which determines their focus on interaction with the state and society. But this is not typical for young people in general. It is noted that in the future, patriotism can become a factor in the serious intragenerational demarcation of young people. Therefore, significant efforts are required from various institutions of socialization in the field of political education and patriotic education of youth.

International processes in Latin America: the legacy of the Comintern and new challenges

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-125
Author(s):  
Anton Andreev ◽  
◽  
Daria Pravdiuk
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Third ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
The Impact

The activities of the Third (Communist) International left a noticeable mark on the political history of Latin America. His ideological, organizational legacy remains a factor in shaping the theory and practice of contemporary leftist governments in the region. This article examines the impact of the legacy of the Comintern on international processes in Latin America, the development of integration projects, foreign policy projects of the left forces of the region. On the basis of archival documents, media materials, documents of parties and governments, the authors show which of the foreign policy guidelines of the Comintern are relevant for the region in the 21st century.

Social Media as Alternative Public Sphere for Citizen Participation and Protest in National Politics in Zimbabwe

2018 ◽  
pp. 17-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collen Sabao ◽  
Tendai Owen Chikara
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact

The chapter examines and discusses the role and communicative potential of social media based platforms in citizen political participation and protests in Zimbabwe specifically focusing on the #thisflag movement on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp. #thisflag is a social media-based platform that rose to challenge the Zimbabwean government over the political and economic decay as well as rampant corruption characterising the country contemporarily. While a new phenomenon to Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean politics, the impact and communicative potential of social media as an alternative public sphere was recently tested in nationwide protest stayaway organised through the Facebook and Twitter movement under the #thisflag handle/brand. This chapter discusses the manners in which such social media platforms impact national politics in Zimbabwe as well as globally, specifically looking at the #thisflag movement as a case study.

Social Media as Alternative Public Sphere for Citizen Participation and Protest in National Politics in Zimbabwe

2020 ◽  
pp. 772-786
Author(s):  
Collen Sabao ◽  
Tendai Owen Chikara
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Impact

The chapter examines and discusses the role and communicative potential of social media based platforms in citizen political participation and protests in Zimbabwe specifically focusing on the #thisflag movement on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp. #thisflag is a social media-based platform that rose to challenge the Zimbabwean government over the political and economic decay as well as rampant corruption characterising the country contemporarily. While a new phenomenon to Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean politics, the impact and communicative potential of social media as an alternative public sphere was recently tested in nationwide protest stayaway organised through the Facebook and Twitter movement under the #thisflag handle/brand. This chapter discusses the manners in which such social media platforms impact national politics in Zimbabwe as well as globally, specifically looking at the #thisflag movement as a case study.

What Shapes Political Participation of the Poorest Citizens?

2021 ◽  
pp. 23-43
Author(s):  
Carew Boulding ◽  
Claudio A. Holzner
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Theoretical Explanation ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Poor People ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Democratic Rights

This chapter presents the theoretical explanation that links core institutional features of democracy (political parties, competitive elections, civil society, and protection of democratic rights) to the political behavior of the poorest citizens. The focus is not only on those factors that boost the political activity of the poor, but those that have a disproportionately strong positive impact on poor people’s activism. The chapter argues that where civil society is strong, where political parties have the capacity and incentives to focus mobilization efforts on the poor, and where democratic institutions are strong, poor people will be able to participate at high levels.

Democracy, Political Participation, and Latin America’s Poorest Citizens

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Carew Boulding ◽  
Claudio A. Holzner
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The Political ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Civil Society Organization ◽  
High Poverty ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Core Questions ◽  
Very High

This chapter introduces the core questions the book seeks to answer. What explains the political participation of poor people? What changed during the past two decades to enable such widespread participation by poor people? How have some Latin American democracies reduced gaps in participation across income and wealth groups? What role does clientelism play in mobilizing the poor? Despite persistently high poverty rates and high economic inequality, poor people in Latin America participate in politics at very high levels. This chapter lays out this puzzle and introduces the main argument of the book: that civil society organization, political parties, and competitive elections have an enormous impact on whether or not poor people turn out to vote, protest, and contact government officials. This chapter also briefly summarizes the research design and plan of the rest of the book.

Business and the Pushcart Vendors in an Age of Supermarkets

1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda A. Bergthold
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Medical Care ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Medical Care System ◽  
Business Power ◽  
State Policymaking ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Care System

The subject of this article is the impact of the political participation of business on the substance, process, and power of State policymaking about medical care in the 1980s. The article focuses on organized business coalitions, how and why they emerged to participate in the health policy debate, and the impact of these interests on health policy itself. It asks the question, How and to what extent has the emergence of business as an actor in health care politics changed both the process by which health policy is formulated at the state and federal level and the substance of health policy itself? It comes to the conclusion that business involvement has varied in impact and intensity from state to state, that business participation ultimately reinforces the control of the private sector over medical care resources, that business power can be used to decrease the autonomy and power of medical providers and is consistent with and reinforces current trends toward privatization and corporatization of the medical care system, and that the political participation of business has produced a degree of structural change in the medical care system. These changes have profound implications for unorganized consumer constituencies and their access to the policy process.

Democracies without Citizenship: Crime and Punishment in Latin America

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Iturralde
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
The Political ◽  
Free Markets ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Economic Exclusion ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this article is to show how, despite the political and economic reforms of the last three decades, which have embraced the ideals of free markets and democracy, social and economic exclusion, as well as authoritarianism, are still the main features of most of Latin American societies. For this reason, they may be considered democracies without citizenship. The article focuses on the impact that these features have had on the configuration of Latin American crime control fields, which in most cases are highly punitive. It also discusses how Latin American crime control fields have contributed in turn to the advancement of such reforms.

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