scholarly journals Old Questions, New Techniques: A Research Note on the Computational Identification of Political Elites

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 386-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Hicks ◽  
Vincent Traag ◽  
Ridho Reinanda

This paper presents a new method of identifying a nation’s political elite using computational techniques on digitised newspaper articles. It begins by describing the three most widely used methods of identifying political elites: positional, decisional and reputational. It then introduces the “reported elite method”, exploring the kinds of elites it detects and how well it reflects the composition of political elites in our case study of Indonesia. Compared to the other existing methods, we find that our method casts a much wider net when searching for political elites, resulting in many more people from civil society, far fewer formal politicians, and challenging conventional notions of who is a political elite. The method has two major underlying assumptions: (1) the newspapers from which the texts are drawn are free and fairly representative and (2) political power can be inferred from frequent appearance in newspapers alongside other frequently appearing individuals in computational “communities” of political elite.

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 53-68
Author(s):  
Mihai Murariu

This article deals with the movement known as “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the Occident,” or Pegida, focusing primarily on the nativist dimension which often takes centre stage in its ideological discourse. Pegida describes itself as a defender of Western Civilization and of its Christian legacy from what it sees as the perils of Islamisation on the one hand, and of globalist political elites on the other. In the context of the political changes and rise of alternative visions of civil society, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, Pegida should arguably be seen as a representative of a growing European nativist wave. Lastly, the article looks at the “Prague Declaration,” a document which was signed in 2016 by Pegida and a number of allied movements from outside of Germany.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Mahmudah

Abstract. This study examines the origin,  existence, and development of Islamism group in Indonesia since pre-independence until now. Islamism is a group of Muslims who are obedient to the teachings of Islam, but they are very extreme, literal,  static and rigid in understanding the teachings of Islam (Alquran), and reject to the other Muslims who disagree with Islamic ideology that they have embraced. The group of Islamism existed and emerged in Indonesia, it was not apart from the influence of the spread of Islamic teachings from al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun that was founded by Hasan al-Banna in Egypt in 1928. The group of Islamism was the first Muslim group before the other Muslim groups in Indonesia; such as the Pos-Islamism group, the Liberal Islam Group, the Moderate Islamic Group, the Progressive Islam Group. The group of Islamism in Indonesia—as al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun in Egypt who aspires to spread the ideology of Islam for all of the world—seeks  to spread  their ideology with the movement of "creeping up" for all of the area in Indonesian, since before independence until now. Islamist groups succeeded in spreading Islam and Sharia through mosques, schools, ta'lim majlis. The existence and development of Islamist groups in Indonesia today are flattered. They have very much support from the political elite. However, they are not aware that their hands are being borrowed or exploited by political elites to seize or get the  power in irrational ways. Keywords: Islamism, Emergence, Existence, Development, Indonesia. Abstrak. Studi ini membahas tentang asal usul, eksistensi dan perkembangan kelompok Islamisme di Indonesia sejak pra-kemerdekaan sampai sekarang. Kelompok Islamisme adalah kumpulan Muslim yang patuh terhadap ajaran Islam, namun mereka sangat ekstrem, literal, statis dan kaku dalam memahami ajaran Islam (Alquran), serta menolak golongan Muslim lain yang berbeda dengan faham Islam yang sudah mereka anut. Kelompok Islamisme ada dan muncul di Indonesia tidak terlepas dari pengaruh penyebaran ajaran Islam ala  al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun yang didirikan oleh Hasan al-Banna di Mesir pada tahun 1928. Kelompok Islamisme merupakan kelompok Muslim yang pertama ada sebelum adanya kelompok-kelompok Muslim lain di Indonesia; seperti kelompok Pos-Islamisme, Kelompok Islam Liberal, Kelompok Islam Moderat, Kelompok Islam Progresif. Kelompok Islamisme di Indonesia –sebagaimana al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun di Mesir yang bercita-cita menyebarkan faham berislam ke seluruh dunia—berupaya menyebarkan paham Islamisme dengan gerakan “merayap” ke seluruh bumi Indonesia sejak sebelum Indonesia merdeka sampai sekarang. Kelompok Islamisme berhasil menyebarkan faham Islam dan Syariah melalui, antara lain:  masjid-masjid, sekolah-sekolah, majelis-majelis taklim. Eksistensi dan perkembangan kelompok-kelompok Islamisme di Indonesia zaman ini sedang merasa tersanjung, karena banyak mendapat dukungan dari para elit politik. Namun sebaliknya, mereka tidak sadar bahwa tangan-tangan mereka sedang dipinjam atau pun dimanfaatkan oleh para elit politik untuk merebut atau pun mendapatkan sebuah kekuasaan dengan cara-cara yang tidak rasional. Kata Kunci: Islamisme, Eksistensi, Kemunculan,  Perkembangan, Indonesia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter E. Mulherin ◽  
Benjamin Isakhan

This article assesses the link between the state and the media in their coverage of foreign policy decisions. It holds up to empirical scrutiny the claim that genuine press criticism can only occur within the bounds of political-elite debate. Taking the Australian government’s 2014 decision to fight the Islamic State as its case study, it explores areas of consensus and dissensus between political discourse and the media. Conducting a qualitative analysis of three media frames used by major newspapers, it tests the “indexing hypothesis” and concludes that some press coverage went beyond the parameters of political-elite debate. This finding of independent criticism has implications beyond the present case study, as it helps us better understand the role of the media in democracies—specifically, holding governments to account when sending their nations to war.


Fractals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (06) ◽  
pp. 2050135
Author(s):  
HECTOR A. TABARES-OSPINA ◽  
FABIOLA ANGULO ◽  
MAURICIO OSORIO

This paper proposes a method to calculate the degree of fluctuation of the daily electrical load-curve using fractal dimension, which is a quantitative estimator of spatial complexity. The conventional methods for forecasting have not studied such a variable, being a new parameter that can be included to characterize the electrical load. The method of fractal dimension also allows us to propose a new numerical method to calculate the integral of a function, using the trapezoid rule, but splitting the curve with fractal segments, to discover other observations, which allows the elevation of new theoretical approaches. The results are compared with the other methods such as the conventional trapezoid rule and the box-counting. It is then a new contribution that expands the universal knowledge on the subject. The case study is the daily electrical load-curve, where the energy demanded corresponds to the area of the [Formula: see text] region bounded by the curve.


Author(s):  
D. I. Yefremov

The article establishes the relationship between the interests of the Ukrainian establishment and the foreign policy vector of Kyiv. The author identified the main actors who determined the specifics of the transformation of the strategic course of Ukraine. On the one hand, the author revealed the critical problems of European integration and on the other hand, the improvement/ degradation of relations with the Russian Federation. The author evaluated the strategic doctrines used by the Ukrainian elite and analysed main changes in the approaches of the Ukrainian establishment. This article considers the reaction of Russian and Ukrainian political elites to the correction of the foreign policy imperatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, respectively. Also, the author, using the theory of the “heavy” and “light” fractions of Ukrainian political elites as an example, identifies specific features of the correlation between the replacement/renewal of key elite groups and the adaptation of the strategic vector, including a qualitative rethinking of the approaches inherent in the replaced establishment. On the other hand, the author compared between the declared positions/slogans and specific doctrines/concepts, initiated, for example, by individual actors of the political elite. The author analyses the main reasons for the soft dismantling of the so-called multi-vector diplomacy in favour of the Euro-Atlantic course. Also, in the article, concerning the realities of Ukraine, the influence of the political model of “shapeless pluralism” of hybrid regimes on the transformation of the foreign policy’ agenda.


2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 567-587
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Hicks ◽  
Vincent A. Traag ◽  
Ridho Reinanda

This paper introduces the Elite Network Shifts (ENS) project to the Asian Studies community where computational techniques are used with digitised newspaper articles to describe changes in relations among Indonesian political elites. Reflecting on how “political elites” and “political relations” are understood by the elites, as well as across the disciplinary boundaries of the social and computational sciences, it suggests ways to operationalise these concepts for digital research. It then presents the results of a field trip where six Indonesian political elites were asked to evaluate the accuracy of their own computational networks generated by the project. The main findings of the paper are: (1) The computational identification of political elites is relatively successful, while much work remains on categorising their relations, (2) social scientists should focus on capturing single dimensions of complex social phenomena when using computational techniques, and (3) computational techniques are not able to capture multiple understandings of social concepts.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-25
Author(s):  
Szilveszter Csernus-Lukács

Apart from the relation between the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen and the other realms of the Habsburg Empire, the primary issue of the 1860s Hungary and Transylvania to handle was the nationality equality — accordingly, the recognitions of a nation and the language policy. As soon as the national question came into view, both the Hungarian and non-Hungarian political élites formulated their outlines on how to adjust regulations, intended to be epoch-making, regarding the national and language affairs, while the emperor temporarily coordinated the case with royal decrees until the definitive Nationality Act of 1868. The Act and its preceding drafts administered many domains regarding all branches of power, with the special role of the declaration of nations, namely the recognition of such as a legal entity, a juridicial person, which would (have) allow(ed) further entitled rights, deriving from a declaration in the era. The Hungarian and non-Hungarian acts and drafts examined in the study show decisive discrepancies regarding the number of nation(alitie)s recognized as legal entities, how the minorities were defined, and what concept of a nation each draft laid down. In my study, I examine the dissimilarities of the 5 draft plans (and the Act) made by the Hungarian élite, 8 draft plans (and acts of the 1863—1864 national assembly of Transylvania) related to the nationality political élite, draft plans and royal decrees associated to the emperor and the Royal Hungarian Lieutenancy, and a joint independence opposition — nationality draft plan.


Africa ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Maxwell

AbstractThe article examines relations between pentecostalism and politics in post-colonial Zimbabwe through a case study of one of Africa’s largest pentecostal movements, Zimbabwe Assemblies of God, Africa (ZAOGA). The Church’s relations with the state change considerably from the colonial to the post-colonial era. The movement began as a sectarian township-based organisation which eschewed politics but used white Rhodesian and American contacts to gain resources and modernise. In the first decade of independence the leadership embraced the dominant discourses of cultural nationalism and development but fell foul of the ruling party, ZANU/PF, because of its ‘seeming’ connections with the rebel politician Ndabiningi Sithole and the American religious right. By the 1990s ZAOGA and ZANU/PF had embraced, each drawing legitimacy from the other. However, this reciprocal assimilation of elites and the authoritarianism of ZAOGA’s leadership are in tension with the democratic egalitarian culture found in local assemblies, where the excesses of leaders are challenged. These alternative pentecostal practices are in symbiosis with radical township politics and progressive sources in civil society. Thus, while pentecostalism may renew the process of politics in Zimbabwe, it may itself be renewed by the outside forces of wider Zimbabwean society.


2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasiwan Nasiwan

Before the General Election to choose the legislative members, that is held on April 5, 2005 and President General Election, that is held on June 5 and September 20, 2004, there was a political phenomenon, which then popularly said "a political contract. " The political contract was initiated by some elements of 'the civil society', which were the important components of the political power of pro-reform community. Looking at the cultural side, the existence of the political contract in the development of Indonesian politics implied that there was a change in cognitive, affective and evaluation  orientation of some of Indonesian people in their attitudes and political habits to be more rational.  The emergence of the more-rational political orientation was also pushed by the previous political experience of ''being betrayed by the political elite ', just like in 1999 General Election at the reform era. The chance also rose after the changes in the system of General Election that introduced the district and proportional system, and the direct president election that rose up the important of people's vote and aspiration. The changes had pushed the political elites to approach the people, fit themselves with the people's rhythm and dynamism, including the aspiration for political transparency and political accountability by willing to sign the political contract. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 113-118
Author(s):  
Bekim Baliqi

Abstract This research aims to explore the relationship between the universities and political elite formation based on the case study of Kosovo. The key questions raised throughout the research are; how do the universities influence the formation of the political elites and how were the elites changed throughout time? Analysing these relationships in different periods, each with a different impact on the elite building processes, namely from the establishment of the University of Prishtina until recently. Central assumption here is that higher education institutions were the catalyst in the transformation of the political elites. Being a vital source of power, a control over it represents also a struggle for power between the rival forces with different political outcomes. Theoretical framework consists of John Higley approach on the elite formation, based in the context of post-conflict and divided society, such as Kosovo case.


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