Citizen Cynics

2021 ◽  
pp. 153-172
Author(s):  
Scott Radnitz
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Political Information ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The People ◽  
Wide Range

This chapter uses focus groups in Georgia and Kazakhstan to examine not only how ordinary people respond to conspiracy theories, but how they think about power more generally. Participants were receptive to a wide range of conspiracy claims, whether promoted by governments or not. Georgians endorsed a wide array of plots and perpetrators, an openness that reflects the country’s unbridled intrigue and wealth of political information available. Kazakhstanis speculated about how power operates in their opaque political system and delivered Russian-inflected geopolitical analysis. Citizens who accepted conspiracies were motivated by cynicism toward political authority, which came from personal experience. The analysis suggests that politicians who aim to win support by claiming conspiracies face a dilemma: the people who are most willing to agree with conspiracy claims are also suspicious of those who seek advantage by spreading them.

Public Spectating and Political Undertones in Durbar The Emirate Court Art of Northern Nigeria as Instrument of Governance

Matatu ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 373-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Inuwa Umar–Buratai
Keyword(s):  
Western World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
The Public ◽  
Performance Artists ◽  
The People ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Many ◽  
Public Exhibition

The discourses of nationhood and nation-building in the developed Western world have been facilitated by the prevalent cultures of writing and documentation. The situation in the developing world has remained largely fragmented because of the absence of such coherent, broadcast, and comprehensive forums for a discourse on 'nationhood'. Different societies articulate their perception of the priorities of nationhood in a range of forms – manifest in ritual visual displays, entertainment and formal rhetoric such as poetry, religious sayings and quotations – which were not dependent on literacy, including the ceremony of durbar. The ordinary people construe the durbar as a spectacle, perhaps because it encompasses a wide range of performance artists drawn from the many groupings within society. However, durbar functions, through its display of martial strength, to reinforce the political and religious power of the ruling elite: durbar within society. The focus in this essay is to examine political undertones of durbar, specifically the ways in which localized participation in the reinforcing ritual of relationships of power provides the people with an opportunity for the public exhibition of individual skills and for the elites an avenue for containing any nascent – or potential – articulation of resistance in society.

Looking Back at Milošević’s Antibureaucratic Revolution: What Do Ordinary Participants Now Think of Their Involvement?

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 613-627
Author(s):  
Marko Grdešić
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Novi Sad ◽  
The Town ◽  
Looking Back ◽  
Blind Spots

AbstractMost scholarship on Serbia’s antibureaucratic revolution of the late 1980s has emphasized elite actors while ignoring the motivations of ordinary participants. How do ordinary people describe their involvement? Moreover, given the antibureaucratic revolution’s dark side—such as exclusionary nationalism and political authoritarianism—it is important to investigate whether participants are willing to critically engage their personal political histories. What do they now say about their roles in this episode? In order to provide answers to this question, six focus groups with a total of 34 participants were organized in the town of Novi Sad, the location of one of the best-known rallies of the antibureaucratic revolution, the so-called yogurt revolution. Most people see their involvement in a rather negative way and regret taking part. However, two blind spots also appear that lessen their sense of personal responsibility: conspiracy theories and notions of urban superiority. The former shifts blame onto secret forces and the latter onto nonurban outsiders. Overall, the long-term legacies of the antibureaucratic revolution are negative: they are associated with cynicism and apathy.

Spirituality and Hope in Africa: A Study in Five Countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 336-346
Author(s):  
Anthony Balcomb ◽  
Sophie Chirongoma ◽  
Ini Dorcas Dah ◽  
Seblewengel Daniel Woldegiorgis ◽  
Paul Deouyo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Religious Tolerance ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Everyday Experience ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Research Project ◽  
The People ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
African Spirituality ◽  
The Everyday

This article documents a research project in five African countries related to African spirituality and hope. The methodology of the research was based on the need to recognize that spirituality could not be separated from the everyday experience of ordinary people and that the people should be given maximum opportunity to express their experiences and beliefs without outside interference. Over seven thousand pieces of data were gathered concerning a wide range of issues that informants raised as being important. Five of these are discussed: marriage, divination, the sacred environment, work and business, and religious tolerance.

scholarly journals Who Owns Tonga: Dialogues with Sefita Hao’uli, Kalafi Moala, and Melino Maka

Te Kaharoa ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teena Brown Pulu
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political System ◽  
Economic Cost ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Democratic Reform ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
The People ◽  
Registered Voters

“Who owns Tonga?” asked Sefita Hao’uli.  “We do.  The people,” I quickly pitched back.  But do we really?  Quietly I second guessed myself after blurting out an idealistic reply.  It might have sufficed the correct response in a liberal democracy where by one general election registered voters elected all their members of parliament.  But in the Kingdom of Tonga’s 2014 election year the dread squatting on my conscience murmured the monarchy and nobility owned Tonga, while ordinary people leased meagre pieces from the upper class for a price. What social and economic cost did the country pay for not having a liberal democracy?  By having nine nobles’ seats in parliament where thirty-three title and estate holders, all male, elected their class representatives to Tonga’s legislative assembly, did this impede the political system from democratic reform?  This last essay in a series of four dialogues with Sefita Hao’uli, Kalafi Moala, and Melino Maka prods a recurring sore in the side of democratic politics and liberal notions that all citizens are created equal by modern constitutional arrangements.  How can these principles be practiced under a parliamentary structure that starkly exhibits partiality towards noblemen over and above commoners?

LEADERS AND TIMES OF CRISIS: JEREMIAH 5:1–6 A CASE IN POINT

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 657-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilhelm J. Wessels
Keyword(s):  
Ordinary People ◽  
Covenant Theology ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Book Of Jeremiah ◽  
Definitive Role ◽  
Ethical Obligations ◽  
Moral Demands ◽  
The Way ◽  
Crisis Situations

The book of Jeremiah reflects a particular period in the history of Judah, certain theological perspectives and a particular portrayal of the prophet Jeremiah. Covenant theology played a major role in Jeremiah’s view of life and determined his expectations of leaders and ordinary people. He placed high value on justice and trustworthiness, and people who did not adhere to this would in his view bear the consequences of disobedience to Yahweh’s moral demands and unfaithfulness. The prophet expected those in positions of leadership to adhere to certain ethical obligations as is clear from most of the nouns which appear in Jeremiah 5:1–6. This article argues that crisis situations in history affect leaders’ communication, attitudes and responses. Leaders’ worldviews and ideologies play a definitive role in their responses to crises. Jeremiah’s religious views are reflected in his criticism and demands of people in his society. This is also true as seen from the way the people and leaders in Judah responded to the prophet’s proclamation. Jeremiah 5:1–6 emphasises that knowledge and accountability are expected of leaders at all times, but in particular during unstable political times.

PERAN ULAMA SELAKU PEWARIS NABI DALAM KONTESTASI PEMILU-PILPRES TAHUN 2019 DI INDONESIA

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
abdul muiz amir
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Archival Data ◽  
Political Event ◽  
Online Social Media ◽  
The People ◽  
Religious Issue ◽  
The Face ◽  
Religion And State

This study aims to find a power relation as a discourse played by the clerics as the Prophet's heir in the contestation of political event in the (the elections) of 2019 in Indonesia. The method used is qualitative based on the critical teory paradigm. Data gathered through literary studies were later analyzed based on Michel Foucault's genealogy-structuralism based on historical archival data. The findings show that, (1) The involvement of scholars in the Pemilu-Pilpres 2019 was triggered by a religious issue that has been through online social media against the anti-Islamic political system, pro communism and liberalism. Consequently create two strongholds from the scholars, namely the pro stronghold of the issue pioneered by the GNPF-Ulama, and the fortress that dismissed the issue as part of the political intrigue pioneered by Ormas NU; (2) genealogically the role of scholars from time to time underwent transformation. At first the Ulama played his role as well as Umara, then shifted also agent of control to bring the dynamization between the issue of religion and state, to transform into motivator and mediator in the face of various issues Practical politic event, especially at Pemilu-Pilpres 2019. Discussion of the role of Ulama in the end resulted in a reduction of the role of Ulama as the heir of the prophet, from the agent Uswatun Hasanah and Rahmatan lil-' ālamīn as a people, now shifted into an agent that can trigger the division of the people.

Serge Moscovici's "Réflexions sur la popularité des conspiracy mentalities"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Klein
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Representation Theory ◽  
The Masses

This is a pdf of the original typed manuscript of a lecture made in 2006. An annotated English translation will be published by the International Review of Social Psychology. I this text, Moscovici seeks to update his earlier work on the “conspiracy mentality” (1987) by considering the relationships between social representations and conspiracy mentality. Innovation in this field, Moscovici argues, will require a much thorough description and understanding of what conspiracy theories are, what rhetoric they use and what functions they fulfill. Specifically, Moscovici considers conspiracies as a form of counterfactual history implying a more desirable world (in which the conspiracy did not take place) and suggests that social representation theory should tackle this phenomenon. He explicitly links conspiracy theories to works of fiction and suggests that common principles might explain their popularity. Historically, he argues, conspiracism was born twice: First, in the middle ages, when their primary function was to exclude and destroy what was considered as heresy; and second, after the French revolution, to delegitimize the Enlightenment, which was attributed to a small coterie of reactionaries rather than to the will of the people. Moscovici then considers four aspects (“thematas”) of conspiracy mentality: 1/ the prohibition of knowledge; 2/ the duality between the majority (the masses, prohibited to know) and “enlightened” minorities; 3/ the search for a common origin, a “ur phenomenon” that connects historical events and provides a continuity to History (he notes that such a tendency is also present in social psychological theorizing); and 4/ the valorization of tradition as a bulwark against modernity. Some of Moscovici’s insights in this talk have since been borne out by contemporary research on the psychology of conspiracy theories, but many others still remain fascinating potential avenues for future research.

The Many-Colored Cloak

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Malik Mufti
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Electoral Participation ◽  
Critical Questions ◽  
Ibn Rushd ◽  
The People ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
The Many ◽  
Religion And Democracy

This articles argues (a) that democratic discourse has already become hegemonic among mainstream Islamist movements in Turkey and the Arab world; (b) that while this development originated in tactical calculations, it constitutes a consequential transformation in Islamist political thought; and (c) that this transformation, in turn, raises critical questions about the interaction of religion and democracy with which contemporary Islamists have not yet grappled adequately but which were anticipated by medieval philosophers such as al-Farabi and Ibn Rushd. The argument is laid out through an analysis (based on textual sources and interviews) of key decisions on electoral participation made by Turkey’s AK Party and the Muslim Brotherhoods in Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Particular attention is focused on these movements’ gradual embrace of three key democratic principles: pluralism, the people as the source of political authority, and the legitimacy of such procedural mechanisms as multiple parties and regular elections.

Determinanty wewnętrzne polityki zagranicznej Ukrainy pod rządami Wołodymyra Zełenskiego

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-141
Author(s):  
Tomasz Stępniewski
Keyword(s):  
Market Economy ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Political System ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Stable State ◽  
Free Market Economy ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The People ◽  
Internal Politics ◽  
Research Questions

The present paper discusses the following research questions: to what extent did errors made by the previous presidents of Ukraine result in the country’s failure to introduce systemic reforms (e.g. combating corruption, the development of a foundation for a stable state under the rule of law and free-market economy)?; can it be ventured that the lack of radical reforms along with errors in the internal politics of Ukraine under Petro Poroshenko resulted in the president’s failure?; will the strong vote of confidence given to Volodymyr Zelensky and the Servant of the People party exact systemic reforms in Ukraine?; or will Volodymyr Zelensky merely become an element of the oligarchic political system in Ukraine?

Impact of Environmental Degradation on Human Health

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
_______ Archana ◽  
Charu Datta ◽  
Pratibha Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The People ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Economic Institute ◽  
Day By Day

Degradation of environment is one of the most serious challenges before the mankind in today’s world. Mankind has been facing a wide range of problem arising out of the degradation of environment. Not only the areas under human inhabitation, but the areas of the planet without human population have also been suffering from these problems. As the population increase day by day, the amenities are not improved simultaneously. With the advancement of science and technologies the needs of human beings has been changing rapidly. As a result different types of environmental problems have been rising. Environmental degradation is a wide- reaching problem and it is likely to influence the health of human population is great. It may be defined the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water, and soil. The destruction of ecosystem and extinction of wildlife. Environmental degradation has occurred due to the recent activities in the field of socio-economic, institute and technology. Poverty still remains a problem as the root of several environmental problems to create awareness among the people about the ill effect of environmental pollution. In the whole research it is clear that all factors of environmental degradation may be reduced through- Framing the new laws on environmental degradation, Environment friend policy, Controlling all the ways and means of noise, air, soil and water pollution, Through growing more and more trees and by adapting the proper sanitation policy.  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document