Competitive Clientelism and the Political Economy of Mining in Ghana

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Bebbington ◽  
Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai ◽  
Denise Humphreys Bebbington ◽  
Marja Hinfelaar ◽  
Cynthia A. Sanborn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Resource Extraction ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Mineral Rents

This chapter highlights the centrality of clientelist political pressures in explaining why over 100 years of mineral resource extraction has failed to translate into broad-based development in Ghana. Contrary to studies that highlight the role of inclusive political settlements for the effective management of mineral rents, we find that broad-based elite inclusion also risks undermining the effective management of rents for long-term development in contexts where rents are deployed with the aim of ‘buying-off’ elites who can potentially undermine the stability of ruling coalitions. All ruling coalitions have allocated significant shares of mineral rents to chiefs not necessarily for the socio-economic development of mineral-rich communities, but mainly because political elites want to avoid provoking resistance from a group that brokers land and votes in rural areas. Under such circumstances, inclusive political settlements may at best result in unproductive peace, as substantial mineral resources are shared for consumption rather than development.

Social Cohesion, Breaks, and Transformations in Italy, 535–600

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Pohl
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Religious Context ◽  
Ancient Society ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Term Change ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Classical Culture

When the Gothic War began in Italy in 535, the country still conserved many features of classical culture and late antique administration. Much of that was lost in the political upheavals of the following decades. Building on Chris Wickham’s work, this contribution sketches an integrated perspective of these changes, attempting to relate the contingency of events to the logic of long-term change, discussing political options in relation to military and economic means, and asking in what ways the erosion of consensus may be understood in a cultural and religious context. What was the role of military entrepreneurs of more or less barbarian or Roman extraction in the distribution or destruction of resources? How did Christianity contribute to the transformation of ancient society? The old model of barbarian invasions can contribute little to understanding this complex process. It is remarkable that for two generations, all political strategies in Italy ultimately failed.

scholarly journals Authoritarian Populism in Indonesia: The Role of the Political Campaign Industry in Engineering Consent and Coercion

2021 ◽  
pp. 186810342110278
Author(s):  
Inaya Rakhmani ◽  
Muninggar Sri Saraswati
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequalities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Campaign ◽  
Power Struggle ◽  
Young Voters ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
Authoritarian Populism ◽  
The People

All around the globe, populism has become increasingly prominent in democratic societies in the developed and developing world. Scholars have attributed this rise at a response to the systematic reproduction of social inequalities entwined with processes of neoliberal globalisation, within which all countries are inextricably and dynamically linked. However, to theorise populism properly, we must look at its manifestations in countries other than the West. By taking the case of Indonesia, the third largest democracy and the largest economy in Southeast Asia, this article critically analyses the role of the political campaign industry in mobilising narratives in electoral discourses. We use the Gramscian notion of consent and coercion, in which the shaping of populist narratives relies on mechanisms of persuasion using mass and social media. Such mechanisms allow the transformation of political discourses in conjunction with oligarchic power struggle. Within this struggle, political campaigners narrate the persona of political elites, while cyber armies divide and polarise, to manufacture allegiance and agitation among the majority of young voters as part of a shifting social base. As such, we argue that, together, the narratives – through engineering consent and coercion – construct authoritarian populism that pits two crowds of “the people” against each other, while aligning them with different sections of the “elite.”

Forty years of rural reform in China: retrospect and future prospects

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 460-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiwen Chen
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Agricultural Policies ◽  
Timely Manner ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rural Reform ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Government

Purpose Bottlenecked by rural underdevelopment, China’s overall development is bound to be inadequate and unbalanced. Through a brief retrospect of the reform directed against the “equalitarianism (egalitarianism)” in China’s rural areas, as well as the Chinese Government’s conceptual transformation and systemic construction and improvement thereof, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the panoramic significance of rural reform; the necessity, priority, and long-term nature of the current rural development; and the important role of public policy in doing so. It also looks ahead to consider the prospects for future rural reform. Design/methodology/approach This paper first reviews the rural reforms that were carried out in 1978. Second, it introduces the government’s conceptual change regarding rural reform and the establishment and improvement of the system that underlies it. Finally, the future of rural reform is envisaged. Findings The initial rural reforms brought extensive and profound changes to China’s rural areas. The experience of rural reform has been referred to and escalated by other fields of study. Hence, rural reforms have become something of global significance. Moreover, since the government can undertake reforms well beyond the reach of farmers, its views must be modified in a timely manner, and only then may it reasonably construct and improve the system pertaining to the “three rural issues (agriculture, rural areas, and farmers).” Originality/value This paper reviews the rural reforms carried out in 1978. It introduces the government’s change of concept with respect to rural reforms and the establishment and improvement of the system based on the “three rural issues,” thus looking forward to the future of rural reforms. The findings of this paper are of significance to the formulation of future agricultural policies.

How encompassing is the effect of negativity bias on political conservatism?

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 320-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariel Malka ◽  
Christopher J. Soto
Keyword(s):  
Political Engagement ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Negativity Bias ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Political Conservatism ◽  
Ideological Conflict

AbstractWe argue that the political effects of negativity bias are narrower than Hibbing et al. suggest. Negativity bias reliably predicts social, but not economic, conservatism, and its political effects often vary across levels of political engagement. Thus the role of negativity bias in broad ideological conflict depends on the strategic packaging of economic and social attitudes by political elites.

Natural Resources and Problems of Development

1974 ◽  
Vol 9 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 179-184
Author(s):  
Per Antonsen
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Third World ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
World Market ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Industrial Enterprises ◽  
The Third World

The author focuses on problems in the economy of the developing countries likely to arise as a consequence of mineral exploitation in the new territories. A general shortage of mineral resources, although predicted, should not uncritically be adopted as a sufficient explanation of the demonstrated interest of industrial enterprises in undertaking heavy investments in the new territories. The economic security claimed by institutions financing large-scale investments, may just as likely force the companies to seek options for long-term supplies from these areas, unhampered by the politically caused instabilities perceived in the Third World. This development may tend to push the developing countries into the role of subsidiary suppliers in the world market. The committees preparing the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea have so far taken no realistic measures to counteract this possibility, which may prove detrimental to the economies of several developing countries. The Conference will, in the opinion of the author, provide little but a settlement of disputed interests among the coastal states.

Conservation and Conservatism

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Orr
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Political Field ◽  
Modern Conservatism ◽  
The Devil

The philosophy of free-market conservatism has swept the political field virtually everywhere, and virtually everywhere conservatives have been, in varying degrees, hostile to the cause of conservation. This is a problem of great consequence for the long-term human prospect because of the sheer political power of conservative governments. Conservatism and conservation share more than a common linguistic heritage. Consistently applied they are, in fact, natural allies. To make such a case, however, it is necessary first to say what conservatism is. Conservative philosopher Russell Kirk (1982, xv–xvii) proposes six “first principles” of conservatism. Accordingly, true conservatives:… • believe in a transcendent moral order • prefer social continuity (i.e., the “devil they know to the devil they don’t know”) • believe in “the wisdom of our ancestors” • are guided by prudence • “feel affection for the proliferating intricacy of long-established social institutions” • believe that “human nature suffers irremediably from certain faults.”… For Kirk the essence of conservatism is the “love of order” (1982, xxxvi). Eighteenth-century British philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke, the founding father of modern conservatism and as much admired as he is unread, defined the goal of order more specifically as one which harmonized the distant past with the distant future. To this end Burke thought in terms of a contract, but not one about “things subservient only to the gross animal existence of a temporary and perishable nature.” Burke’s societal contract was not, in other words, about tax breaks for those who don’t need them, but about a partnership promoting science, art, virtue, and perfection, none of which could be achieved by a single generation without veneration for the past and a healthy regard for those to follow. Burke’s contract, therefore, was between “those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born . . . linking the lower with the higher natures, connecting the visible and invisible world” ([1790] 1986, 194–195). The role of government, those “possessing any portion of power,” in Burke’s words, “ought to be strongly and awefully impressed with an idea that they act in trust” (ibid., 190).

scholarly journals Cooperation and Security: Examining the Political Discourse on Natural Gas Transit in Ukraine and Slovakia

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 5969
Author(s):  
Kateryna Yakovenko ◽  
Matúš Mišík
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nord Stream ◽  
Under Construction ◽  
The Eu

The COVID-19 pandemic appeared in the midst of developing the European Green Deal, the most ambitious project to decarbonise the EU’s economy to date. Among other issues, the project highlighted the challenges connected to the long-term role of natural gas as a fossil fuel in the European economy. Moreover, the changes to the gas architecture caused by the development of new import infrastructure (especially Nord Stream and its extension, which is currently under construction) put additional pressure on the transit countries, mainly of which are linked to the Brotherhood pipeline. These have been strong supporters of natural gas utilisation and harsh critics of new pipelines that circumvent their territories, as they consider energy transit to be an important part of their energy sectors. This research examines the political discourse on gas transit in Slovakia and Ukraine in order to identify the main arguments connected to these positions. The paper examines a total of 233 textual units from both countries for the period 2014–2018. It concludes that, while Ukraine sees transit predominantly through the lens of cooperation with the EU and other actors, the Slovak political discourse considers gas transit in terms of energy security and the availability of gas for the national economy.

The role of cultural production in celebrity politics: Comparing the campaigns of Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura (1999) and Donald Trump (2016)

Politics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-153
Author(s):  
David S Moon
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Production ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Protest ◽  
Political Campaign ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Celebrity Politics

This article draws out the significant similarities between the political insurgencies of Jesse Ventura in 1999 and Donald Trump in 2016, charting their own premillennial political collaborations as members of the Reform Party, before identifying wider lessons for studies of contemporary celebrity politicians through a comparison of their individual campaigns. Its analysis is based upon the concept of the ‘politainer’, introduced by Conley and Schultz, into which it incorporates Mikhail Bakhtin’s conception of the carnival fool. The heterodox nature of both Ventura and Trump’s political campaign styles, it argues, is in part explained by the nature of the cultural spheres within which their public personas were produced; specifically, the fact that these personas, which they carried over from the entertainment to political spheres, were produced within genres of popular culture generally positioned as having ‘low’ cultural value. This, it argues, furnished both with an anti-establishment ethos as ‘no bullshit’ straight-talkers, marking them as outsider candidates able to act as conduits for political protest by an electorate alienated from mainstream political elites. It concludes by emphasising the potential importance that political celebrities’ specific cultural production can play in shaping a subsequent political campaign in general.

Silvio Berlusconi and the Italian presidency: accordions, triangles and constitutional change

Modern Italy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Furlong
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Status ◽  
Long Term Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Silvio Berlusconi

This article considers the changed role of the Italian presidency and the impact and legacy of Silvio Berlusconi on this. After consideration of some of the methodological difficulties raised by these issues, the article looks at the role of the presidency up to 1992, when the presidency was interpreted in narrow terms set by the framers of the 1948 constitution and by the predominance of the party leaders of the period over the political direction of the State. The article considers how presidents from Sandro Pertini (1978–85) on, sought in different ways to expand the political role of their office. The article analyses the different ways that Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Giorgio Napolitano used their formal and informal powers both to maintain the status of the office and to promote political goals, and concludes with an assessment of the likely long-term impact of these changes and of Berlusconi's role in them.

scholarly journals The role of carbon-based materials in enhancing the stability of perovskite solar cells

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1377-1407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahboubeh Hadadian ◽  
Jan-Henrik Smått ◽  
Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Perovskite Solar Cells ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Carbon Based

Enhancing the stability of perovskite solar cells is crucial to the deployment of this technology. Carbon-based materials are promising candidates for providing long-term stable perovskite solar cells suitable for commercialization.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document