The Rise and Fall of a Populist Contender in Albania

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Blerjana Bino
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Secondary Resources ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
The Public ◽  
Electoral Performance

In light of populism surging in Southeastern Europe, this paper investigates the rise and fall of the Red and Black Alliance (rba), a populist political party in Albania with hard-line nationalism and anti-establishment feelings at its core. The paper investigates the initial breakthrough and the subsequent non-success of the rba by analysing the specific contextual settings for the emergence of populist parties in Albania, the party’s political discourse and its electoral performance in the general parliamentary elections of 2013. By adopting a qualitative methodology of discourse analysis and review of secondary resources, this paper argues that the insignificant electoral results of the rba in the general parliamentary elections in 2013 were determined by a group of interrelated supply and demand factors as well as institutional and contextual factors, with party credibility and the availability of the public being the two most important explanatory variables.

scholarly journals Living, Doing, and Learning from Politics in a Youth Wing of a Political Party

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Malafaia ◽  
Isabel Menezes ◽  
Tiago Neves
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Ethnography ◽  
The Public ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Effort Regulation

The field of civic and political participation has been studied mostly from individual, psychological approaches rather than collective, relational perspectives. Here we address this gap through a political ethnography in the youth wing of a major Portuguese political party, conducted during the fervent months right before and after the Portuguese parliamentary elections of October 2015. Investigating the meaning-making of doing politics in real-life contexts, we assess the collective learning processes involved in political participation. This paper shows that youth wings can provide quality participation experiences. Indeed, collectively envisioning and constructing a more democratic society and working for the public good are guiding principles of the wing. Debatement politics and pedagogical politics thus play a fundamental role in the wing's activity, even if they are accompanied by the more mundane, festive party politics and the backstage politics. Through their activity, the wing's members acquire and display high levels of political efficacy, critical thinking and effort regulation regarding political involvement. Methodologically, this paper shows that ethnography is well equipped to study the experience of participation, foregrounding activities and perceptions of wing's members in order to make sense of their learning processes and outcomes.

Provincial Governance of Education—The Western Cape Experience

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron Robert ◽  
Brian Levy
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Political Party ◽  
School Level ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Education Department ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Public Education System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Bureaucracy

The focus of this chapter is the management and governance of education at provincial level—specifically on efforts to introduce performance management into education by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), and their impact. Post-1994 the WCED inherited a bureaucracy that was well placed to manage the province’s large public education system. Subsequently, irrespective of which political party has been in power, the WCED consistently has sought to implement performance management. This chapter explores to what extent determined, top-down efforts, led by the public sector, can improve dismal educational performance. It concludes that the WCED is a relatively well-run public bureaucracy. However, efforts to strengthen the operation of the WCED’s bureaucracy have not translated into systematic improvements in schools in poorer areas. One possible implication is that efforts to strengthen hierarchy might usefully be complemented with additional effort to support more horizontal, peer-to-peer governance at the school level.

Summary and conclusions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas F. Babor ◽  
Jonathan Caulkins ◽  
Benedikt Fischer ◽  
David Foxcroft ◽  
Keith Humphreys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Drug Supply ◽  
The Public ◽  
Balanced Approach

Among the 47 options reviewed in this book, most show some evidence of effectiveness in at least one country, but the evidence is less than definitive for many others, either because the interventions are ineffective, or the research is inadequate. Unfortunately, policies that have shown little or no evidence of effectiveness continue to be the preferred options of many countries and international organizations. The evidence reviewed in this book supports two overarching conclusions. First, an integrated and balanced approach to evidence-informed drug policy is more likely to benefit the public good than uncoordinated efforts to reduce drug supply and demand. Second, by shifting the emphasis toward a public health approach, it may be possible to reduce the extent of illicit drug use, prevent the escalation of new epidemics, and avoid the unintended consequences arising from the marginalization of drug users through severe criminal penalties.

scholarly journals Re-defining gender as a heinous crime: A case study from the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies

2020 ◽  
pp. 095792652097721
Author(s):  
Janaina Negreiros Persson
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Gender Ideology ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Public Hearing ◽  
Rhetorical Invention ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core

In this article, we explore how the discourses around gender are evolving at the core of Brazilian politics. Our focus lies on the discourses at the public hearing on the bill 3.492/19, which aimed at including “gender ideology” on the list of heinous crimes. We aim to identify the deputies’ linguistic representation of social actors as pertaining to in- and outgroups. In addition, the article analyzes through Critical Discourse Analysis how the terminology gender is represented in this particular hearing. The analysis shows how some of the conservative parliamentarians give a clearly negative meaning to the term gender, by labeling it “gender ideology” and additionally connecting it with heinous crimes. We propose that the re-signification of “gender ideology,” from rhetorical invention to heinous crime, is not only an attempt to undermine scientific gender studies but also a way for conservative deputies to gain more political power.

Women, the Parliament and Political Participation in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cholpon Turdalieva ◽  
Medet Tiulegenov
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Professional Status ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
The Public ◽  
Women's Participation

This paper explores women’s participation in parliamentary elections in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. Using various methods, it offers an interdisciplinary perspective on factors that affect the likelihood of women participating successfully in parliamentary elections. This study supports the general literature on the effects of gender quotas and proportional representation, but its results on other factors are mixed. The factor of financial resources is significant, though its impact has been reduced with the introduction of gender quotas, while other factors—such as social status—may not be particularly important. The public perception of a woman in politics is not the greatest obstacle to women’s representation, and a female candidate’s professional status may often be attractive to party leaders.

scholarly journals Voting Behavior in Parliamentary Elections in Slovakia

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 392-408
Author(s):  
Miroslav Řádek
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
University Students ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Exit Poll ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
The Future ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Final Question

Abstract Department of Political Science at Alexander Dubcek University in Trencin prepared its own exit poll during election day on March 5, 2016. The survey asked seven questions that were aimed at determining the preferences of the respondents concerning not only the current but also past general elections. Interviewers surveyed the choice of political party or movement in parliamentary elections in 2016 as well as preferences in past elections. Followed by questions concerning motivation to vote - when did the respondents decide to go to vote and what or who inspired this decision. The survey also tried to found out how many preferential votes did the voters give to the candidates of political parties and movements. Final question asked about expectations for the future of individual respondents. This article is the information output of the survey. The interviewers were 124 university students and its return was 1,612 sheets. The aim of this paper is to communicate the findings of this unique survey, which is unprecedented in the Slovak political science.

Has Anyone Seen It?

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Radin ◽  
Aleksandar Džakula
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys ◽  
Health Care Performance ◽  
Policy Arena ◽  
Care Performance

Over the past decade, public opinion surveys have shown that Croats are deeply dissatisfied with their health care system and asses it to be one of the most important issues. However, health care hardly makes it into any political discourse in Croatia. This study analyzes the results of a public opinion survey conducted before the 2007 parliamentary elections to find out what the public sentiment on health care performance in Croatia is and to analyze the reasons why health care is not addressed by political actors. Evidence suggests that while health care is the most salient issue today, the public often understands it poorly. Thus, in a political environment of competing issues, and given the complexity of tacking health care in the policy arena, politicians strategically avoid discussing the issue.

Rhetorical strategies of political parties and organized movements

2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Nugus
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Political Language ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Republic

Research on the Australian monarchy—republican debate has considered arguments for and against the republic, the 1999 referendum and interpretations of the republic. Little attention has been paid to the debate’s discursive construction. Therefore, this article analyzes the rhetorical strategies with which political parties and organized movements sought to persuade the public to adopt their position in the debate in the 1990s. The article discerns and analyzes various rhetorical strategies in terms of the patterns in their use among these elites. In contrast to the cognitive bias of much research in political communication, the article accounts for the embeddedness of these strategies in their public political, national-cultural and popular democratic contexts. It shows that the use of such strategies is a function of the socio-political context of actors’ statuses as parties or movements. The article recommends combining deliberative democracy with discourse analysis to comprehend the dynamics of public political language.

Questions of style: notes on Italian hip hop

Popular Music ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Rock Music ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Slow Process ◽  
Explosive Material ◽  
The Public ◽  
Music And Politics ◽  
The Relationship

In his article ‘Rock music and politics in Italy’, Umberto Fiori deploys the example of an open-air concert by Genesis in Tirrenia in the province of Pisa, promoted in the summer of 1982 by the Italian Communist Party (PCI) as part of its annual Feste dell'Unita, as a summary example of de-politicisation of the consumption and production of rock music in Italy, and the institutionalisation of the oppositional, dissenting aspects of rock music that had previously been so potent there throughout the 1970s. To Fiori, the Genesis concert representedan unmistakeable step forward in the slow process of the ‘normalisation’ of the relationship between rock and politics in Italy. Explosive material until a few years before, rock music in the 1980s seems to have returned to being a commodity like any other, even in Italy. The songs are once again simply songs, the public is the public. The musicians are only interested in their work, and the organisers make their expected profits. If they happen to be a political party, so much the better: they can also profit in terms of public image and perhaps even votes. … Italy now learnt how to institutionalise deviation and transgression. An ‘acceptable’ gap was re-established between fiction and reality, desire and action, and music and political practice. (Fiori 1984, pp. 261–2)

scholarly journals The DEA Method and its Application Possibilities for Measuring Efficiency in the Public Sector—The Case of Local Public Employment Services

Economies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Ewa Cichowicz ◽  
Ewa Rollnik-Sadowska ◽  
Monika Dędys ◽  
Maria Ekes
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Public Employment ◽  
Employment Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
Measuring Efficiency ◽  
Dea Method ◽  
The Unemployed

Public Employment Services (PES) are identified as important institutions in the process of improving the match between supply and demand in the labor market, which, despite their importance, still do not achieve the desired efficiency. The indicated problem is partly due to the lack of appropriate evaluation methods for the applied labor market policy instruments. This paper aims to verify the possibility of using the two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method in measuring the efficiency of public sector entities. The authors focused on 39 PES operating in Mazovia province, Poland in 2019. In the first stage, the model of technical efficiency of local PES included six variables (four inputs and two outputs). Only seven PES obtained full efficiency. The inefficiency of analyzed PES varied from about 1% to 80%. In the second stage, the attention focuses on the relationship between true unknown efficiency and its determinants (five environmental variables, both demand and supply oriented). Then, the regression coefficients and confidence intervals showed that three out of five variables influence the efficiency results, the share of the long-term unemployed, the share of the unemployed under 30, and the share of the unemployed over 50 in the total number of unemployed.

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