Populism From Below and Social Movements: A Case of Zimbabwe’s #ThisFlag Movement

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110345
Author(s):  
Theophilus Tinashe Nenjerama ◽  
Shepherd Mpofu
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Digital Ethnography ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Analyse Data

This study examines a new wave of populisms arising in the digital era using Pastor Evan Mawarire’s #ThisFlag movement: What are they, and how do they express themselves? How does the hegemony react to them? Non-mainstream, digitally born movements, especially in dictatorships, are dismissed by the political elite as ill-mannered disruptors whose political interventions are detrimental. To analyse the cleric’s populism and its meaning to the Zimbabwean body politic, we use three specific themes: (a) personality and influence of movement leader(s); (b) populist communication and messaging; and (c) recreating an involved citizenry. We used digital ethnography to gather and analyse data.

Reconsidering social movements in Turkey: The case of the 1968-71 protest cycle

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 63-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emin Alper
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Balance ◽  
Social Protests ◽  
White Collar Workers ◽  
The Masses

AbstractThe years between 1968 and 1971 in Turkey were unprecedented in terms of rising social protests instigated by students, workers, peasants, teachers and white-collar workers. However, these social movements have received very limited scholarly attention, and the existing literature is marred by many flaws. The scarce literature has mainly provided an economic determinist framework for understanding the massive mobilizations of the period, by stressing the worsening economic conditions of the masses. However, these explanations cannot be verified by data. This article tries to provide an alternative, mainly political explanation for the protest cycle of 1968-71, relying on the “political process” model of social movement studies. It suggests that the change in the power balance of organized groups in politics, which was spearheaded by a prolonged elite conflict between the Kemalist bureaucracy and the political elite of the center-right, provided significant opportunities to under-represented groups to organize and raise their voices.

Selectieve uitsluiting in het Belgisch politiek systeem : Innovatie en protest door nieuwe sociale bewegingen

Res Publica ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-21
Author(s):  
Marc Hooghe
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Response Strategy ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
New Social Movements ◽  
Elite Strategy

The Belgian political system is generally portrayed as being closed for outsiders. In this article we ascertain how the system responded to the challenge of the new social movements. The Belgian political elite developed a response strategy, based on thematical openness and actorial closure. The issues of the new social movements were admitted on the political agenda, but the movements themselves were excluded from access to the decision making process. Only those actors were allowed which were willing to accomodate themselves to the traditional elite consensus, based on neo-corporatism, pillarisation and a politically passive population.  Confronted with this elite strategy, the new social movements were able to fulfil their agenda function (bringing new issues on the political agenda), but they had little opportunity for introducing new cultural codes into the political decision making process. This lack of innovation enhances the legitimation crisis of the Belgian political system.

scholarly journals Constitutional Reforms in the Digital Era: the Iceland’s Experience

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Татьяна Васильева ◽  
Tatiana Vasilieva
Keyword(s):  
Stress Test ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Sense Of Ownership ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Financial Costs ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Digital era creates new opportunities for citizens for participation in political and legal decision-making process at various levels. Currently, the practice of involving citizens in drafting of laws and even constituent acts is spreading in foreign countries. The draft of the Constitution of Iceland of 2011 was adopted by the Constitutional Council, which included ordinary citizens, not representatives of the political elite. By the use of social media and the official website, the Council was able to establish direct contacts with the population and promptly respond to suggestions and comments of citizens. Not only citizens, but also foreigners could submit their proposals on issues which should be reflected in the text of the Constitution, comments on the wording of certain articles and participate in the stress test of the constitutional draft. This approach has legitimized the process of the Constitution drafting and created a sense of ownership among those who participated in the discussion. Although this draft has not become the Constitution because of the lack of the Parliament’s support, the Iceland’s experience may be interesting as a new approach to drafting laws in the digital era. The Icelandic experience was considered unprecedented and revolutionary. It showed that the process of Constitution drafting could be more open and democratic without incur-ring significant financial costs.

Traditionalism and politics: A case study of Northern Nigeria

1967 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. O. Dudley
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
High Time ◽  
The Political ◽  
Northern Nigeria ◽  
The North ◽  
The Right

In the debate on the Native Authority (Amendment) Law of 1955, the late Premier of the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, replying to the demand that ‘it is high time in the development of local government systems in this Region that obsolete and undemocratic ways of appointing Emirs’ Councils should close’, commented that ‘the right traditions that we have gone away from are the cutting off of the hands of thieves, and that has caused a lot of thieving in this country. Why should we not be cutting (off) the hands of thieves in order to reduce thieving? That is logical and it is lawful in our tradition and custom here.’ This could be read as a defence against social change, a recrudescence of ‘barbarism’ after the inroads of pax Britannica, and a plea for the retention of the status quo and the entrenched privilege of the political elite.

PaReSoGo: Dataset on party representation of social groups for 25 countries, 2002–2016

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406882110238
Author(s):  
Olga Zelinska ◽  
Joshua K Dubrow
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dissimilarity Index ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Measure Representation ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
The Masses

Whereas social scientists have devised various ways to measure representation gaps between the political elite and the masses across nations and time, few datasets can be used to measure this gap for particular social groups. Minding the gap between what parties social groups vote for and what parties actually attain seats in parliament can reveal the position of social groups in the political power structure. We help to fill this gap with a new publicly available dataset, Party Representation of Social Groups (PaReSoGo), consisting of 25 countries and 150 country-years, and a method for its construction. We used the European Social Survey 2002–2016 and ParlGov data for this time span to create a Dissimilarity Index. To demonstrate the utility and flexibility in the combination of cross-national surveys and administrative data, we chose social groups of gender, age, and education, as well as intersectional groups based on gender and age, and attitudinal groups. We conclude this research note with empirical illustrations of PaReSoGo’s use.

Political corruption in Zimbabwe: News media, audiences and deliberative democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 174165902110224
Author(s):  
Mthokozisi Phathisani Ndhlovu ◽  
Phillip Santos
Keyword(s):  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
News Media ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Audiences ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Ruling Party

Even though corruption by politicians and in politics is widespread worldwide, it is more pronounced in developing countries, such as Zimbabwe, where members of the political elite overtly abuse power for personal accumulation of wealth. Ideally, the news media, as watchdogs, are expected to investigate and report such abuses of power. However, previous studies in Zimbabwe highlight the news media’s polarised and normative inefficacies. Informed by the theoretical notion of deliberative democracy developed via Habermas and Dahlgren’s work and Hall’s Encoding, Decoding Model, this article uses qualitative content analysis to examine how online readers of Zimbabwe’s two leading daily publications, The Herald and NewsDay, interpreted and evaluated allegations of corruption leveled against ministers and deputy ministers during the height of factionalism in the ruling party (ZANU PF). The article argues that interaction between mainstream media and their audiences online shows the latter’s resourcefulness and, at least, discursive agency in their engagement with narratives about political corruption, itself an imperative premise for future political action.

scholarly journals Returning urban political elites to the research agenda: the case of the Southern Low Countries (c. 1350 – c. 1550)

Urban History ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 568-588
Author(s):  
Frederik Buylaert ◽  
Jelten Baguet ◽  
Janna Everaert
Keyword(s):  
Special Section ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
High Turnover ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

AbstractThis article provides a comparative analysis of four large towns in the Southern Low Countries between c. 1350 and c. 1550. Combining the data on Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp – each of which is discussed in greater detail in the articles in this special section – with recent research on Bruges, the authors argue against the historiographical trend in which the political history of late medieval towns is supposedly dominated by a trend towards oligarchy. Rather than a closure of the ruling class, the four towns show a high turnover in the social composition of the political elite, and a consistent trend towards aristocracy, in which an increasingly large number of aldermen enjoyed noble status. The intensity of these trends differed from town to town, and was tied to different institutional configurations as well as different economic and political developments in each of the four towns.

FACTORS OF THE FORMATION OF THE POLITICAL ELITE IN THE ARAB COUNTRIES IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ASPECT

2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 274-285
Author(s):  
A.Sh. Abhari ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Colonial Expansion ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
Second World

Antagonism with Western civilization in the course of colonial expansion and the subsequent struggle for independence, had a significant impact on the formation of the political elite of the Arab world. At the level of mass public consciousness and perception of historical reality, a transformation of worldview occurs with the active influence of Islam and its spiritual leaders. how the suppression of communist, socialist and other left-wing and reformist political movements in the region after the Second World War influenced and continue to influence the economic and political development of the region.

Prospects for China in 2022

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type

Significance All the signs are that Xi will take a third term, though the secrecy of the political elite means alternatives cannot be ruled out completely.

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