scholarly journals Varieties of Neoliberalism in Brazil (2003–2019)

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo Saad-Filho
Keyword(s):  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Developmental Outcomes ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Class Relations ◽  
The Media

The main feature of capital accumulation in Brazil during the administrations led by Luís Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party—PT) was the continuity of neoliberalism of two varieties: inclusive (2003–2006) and developmental (2006–2013). The PT’s attachment to neoliberalism was mitigated by the party’s (shifting) commitment to (mild) developmental outcomes, redistribution of income (at the margin), social inclusion (within narrow limits), and democratization of the state (bounded by the 1988 Constitution). Achievements in these areas were further constrained by the inability or unwillingness of the PT to confront the institutionalization of neoliberalism in the fields of economics, politics, ideology, the media, and class relations. The political crisis unfolding in Brazil since 2013 and the imposition of authoritarian neoliberalism after Rousseff’s impeachment can be examined from the perspective of the contradictions in the dominant varieties of neoliberalism under the PT and the limitations of the party’s political ambitions. A principal característica da acumulação de capital no Brasil durante os governos ûiderados por Luís Inácio Lula da Silva e Dilma Rousseff do Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) foi a continuidade do neoliberalismo de duas variedades: inclusiva (2003–2006) e desenvolvimentista (2006–2013). O apego do PT ao neoliberalismo foi mitigado pelo compromisso (inconstante) do partido com resultados de desenvolvimento (moderados), redistribuição de renda (na margem), inclusão social (dentro de limites estreitos) e democratização do estado (limitado pela Constituição de 1988). As realizações nessas áreas foram ainda mais limitadas pela incapacidade ou falta de vontade do PT em enfrentar a institucionalização do neoliberalismo nos campos da economia, política, ideologia, mídia e relações de classe. A crise política que se desenrola no Brasil desde 2013 e a imposição do neoliberalismo autoritário após o impeachment de Dilma podem ser examinadas sob a perspectiva das contradições nas variedades dominantes de neoliberalismo sob o PT e as limitações das ambições políticas do partido.

Afars of Ethiopia in the system of ethnic federalism

2018 ◽  
pp. 126-146
Author(s):  
Roza Ismagilova
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Ethnic Relations ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
State Structure ◽  
Ethnic Federalism

The article pioneers the analyses of the results of ethnic federalism introduced in Ethiopia in 1991 – and its influence on Afar. Ethnicity was proclaimed the fundamental principle of the state structure. The idea of ethnicity has become the basis of official ideology. The ethnic groups and ethnic identity have acquired fundamentally importance on the political and social levels . The country has been divided into nine ethnically-based regions. The article exposes the complex ethno-political and economic situation in the Afar State, roots and causes of inter- and intra-ethnic relations and conflicts with Amhara, Oromo, Tigray and Somali-Issa, competition of ethnic elites for power and recourses. Alive is the idea of “The Greater Afar”which would unite all Afar of the Horn of Africa. The protests in Oromia and Amhara Regions in 2015–2017 influenced the Afar state as welll. The situation in Ethiopia nowadays is extremely tense. Ethiopia is plunging into serious political crisis. Some observers call it “the beginning of Ethiopian spring”, the others – “Color revolution”

scholarly journals The State of Human Rights and Political Freedoms in Belarus: Was the Crisis Inevitable?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Kolarzik ◽  
◽  
Aram Terzyan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Political Freedoms

The rule of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus has created one of the most resilient authoritarian regimes in post-communist Europe. Meanwhile, the turmoil triggered by the 2020 presidential election has put in the spotlight the mounting challenges facing Lukashenko’s authoritarian rule. This paper investigates the state of human rights and political freedoms in Belarus, focusing on the main rationale behind the turmoil surrounding the 2020 presidential election. It concludes that the political crisis following the elections is the unsurprising consequence of Lukashenko’s diminishing ability to maintain power or concentrate political control by preserving elite unity, controlling elections, and/or using force against opponents.

Re-Engaging Critical Communication Studies With Social Classes

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-97
Author(s):  
Gökhan Bulut
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Class Struggle ◽  
Capitalist Society ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Homogeneous Structure ◽  
The Political ◽  
Class Relations ◽  
The Media ◽  
Communication Practices ◽  
The Relationship

This article is an attempt to reestablish the linkage of the political economy of communication with the field of social classes and class relations. Studies in the field of political economy of communication are mostly shaped within the scope of instrumentalist explanation: Social communication institutions such as communication and media are perceived as a very homogeneous structure and these institutions are directly considered as the apparatus of capital and capitalists. However, in this study, it is argued that in capitalist societies, communication, and media should be understood as a field and medium of class struggle loaded with contradictions. Another point is that the political economy of communication is mostly limited to media studies. However, in today's capitalist societies, the media is not the only structure and actor in which communication forms. In this study, communication practices in capitalist society are discussed in the context of class discussions and the relationship between class struggle, culture and communication is discussed.

scholarly journals THE RIGHTS OF NATIONAL MINORITIES TO INFORMATION

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-53
Author(s):  
Aid Mršić ◽  
◽  
Larisa Softić-Gasal ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Pressure ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Trends ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Guardian

The public service, which should be the guardian of the identity of national minorities, fell under the political pressure. In this way, it came out of the scope of its actions. Leading people in independent media believe that the role of the public service is crucial in protecting national minorities.But the media can not do it alone. First of all, the state must regulate, and respect what it has brought. With strong strategies and the inclusion of national minorities in all social trends, it is possible to achieve, not fully, but partially, the equality of all those who liveon the territory of BiH.On the other hand, the public service must respect what the state says. The Communications Regulatory Agency is obliged to impose rules in an adequate manner and at the same time to monitor how much the media (public service) meets its obligations.

scholarly journals The Media Industry’s Structural Transformation in Capitalism and the Role of the State: Media Economics in the Age of Digital Communications

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manfred Knoche
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
Digital Communications ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Media System ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Media

Abstract: This paper discusses how the capitalist media industry has been structurally transformed in the age of digital communications. It takes an approach that is grounded in the Marxian critique of the political economy of the media. It draws a distinction between media capital, media-oriented capital, media infrastructure capital and media-external capital as the forms of capital in the media industry. The article identifies four capital strategies that media capital tends to use in order to try to maximise profits: a) The substitution of “old” by “new” media technology, b) the introduction of new transmission channels for “old” media products, c) the definition of new property rights for media sectors and networks, d) the reduction of production and transaction costs. The drive to profit maximization is at the heart of the capitalist media industry’s structural transformation. This work also discusses the tendency to the universalization of the media system in the digital age and the economic contradictions arising from it. It identifies activity fields of the media industry’s structural transformation and shows how the concentration of the capitalist media markets is an essential, contradictory and inherent feature of the capitalist media system and its structural transformation. The paper identifies six causes of why capital seeks to employ capital strategies that result in the media industry’s structural transformation. They include market saturation, overaccumulation, the tendency of the profit rate to fall, capital-concentration, competition pressure, and advertising. The paper finally discusses the role of the state as an agent of capital in general and media capital in particular. It discusses the role of the state in privatisations, neoliberal deregulation, the formation of national competitive states, and various benefits that the state provides for media capital. This contribution shows that capital and capitalism are the main structural transformers of the media and communications system. For understanding these transformations, we need an approach that is grounded in Marx’s critique of the political economy.Translation from German: Christian Fuchs and Marisol Sandoval

Political crisis threatens Brazil's tentative recovery

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Construction Company ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government

Significance The requests are based on plea bargains from former executives of construction company Odebrecht. While the names in ‘Janot’s list’ have not been disclosed, several of them have leaked to the media. They include six ministers in the government of President Michel Temer, two former presidents, ten state governors, and the heads of both houses of Congress. If confirmed, this would make the list a potent bombshell for the Brazilian political class. Impacts The corruption scandal looks set to disrupt next year’s presidential election. Politicians’ disdain for accountability will fuel outrage with the political class. The ground could be fertile for a candidate claiming to be an ‘outsider’.

IMEMO in Early 1990s (continued)

2015 ◽  
pp. 101-110
Author(s):  
P. Cherkasov
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Central Government ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Social Liberalism ◽  
The Government ◽  
Soviet Russia

The article analyzes IMEMO activities in 1992–1993, when in Russia, under the influence of both radical economic reforms and drastic weakening of the central government, a deep political crisis emerged and gained a dangerous traction, fraught with the death of a young democracy and even the collapse of the state. Under these conditions, along with economic issues, the politological research came to the fore in IMEMO – the analysis of the country's new political system, the definition of its development vector. The Center of Socio-economic and Socio-political Research of IMEMO headed by German Germanovich Diligenskii played the major role in this work. Analysts of the Center prepared a number of recommendations for public authorities concerning the creation and development of a new democratic political system in Russia. IMEMO experts paid the utmost attention to the nature of the political crisis that arose in the post-Soviet Russia in late 1991, and the ways to overcome it. In January 1993, the results of the study were presented to the discussion at the Academic Council. It was agreed that one of the main causes of the political crisis in the country was the social tensions worsening, as a consequence of the “shocking therapy” conducted by the government of Gaidar in 1992. In the discussion on the political outlook German Diligenskii, rejecting the possibility of the old command-administrative system restoration, substantiated a probability of transformation of the "market democracy" not yet established in Russia into the "authoritarian monopoly or monopoly-bureaucratic system". Noting the disunity of democratic forces, weakness of the entrepreneurial class, largely dependent on the state, Diligenskii formulated a program for uniting all adherents of “arket democracy” under the slogan of "social liberalism", which would take into account Russian specifics. Consolidation of democracy and market economy in Russia is impossible without preservation of the state territorial integrity and consolidation of the central government, with a clear division of functions and powers of its constituent branches. Monopolization (usurpation) of all power by one of the branches – legislative or executive – should not be allowed. The victory of any of them in any case would mean the defeat of democracy. Such was, in general terms, the position of IMEMO in the face of the 1992–1993 political crisis. Acknowledgement. The publication was prepared as part of the President of Russian Federation grant to support the leading scientifi c schools NSh-6452.2014.6.

The Role of the Media in the Process of “Color Revolutions” in the Cis

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-127
Author(s):  
Zhao Yonghua
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Color Revolutions ◽  
The Media ◽  
Cis Countries ◽  
The U.S

The main cause of "color revolutions" in the Commonwealth (CIS) countries is the political and economic crisis. The media policies, an-ti-government opinion and western media precipitaed the event. This article discusses the importance and influence of media on the pro-gress of "color revolutions" based on patterns of media and political reforms in the state, industrial development of mass media and media strategy of the Western States (as an example the U.S.) in relation to Commonwealth (CIS) countries.

The Political Crisis of the European Nation‐State

1974 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-27
Author(s):  
Max Beloff
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
European State ◽  
European Nation ◽  
Complete Breakdown ◽  
Western European ◽  
External Intervention

THE CRISIS OF THE EUROPEAN NATION-STATE IS OBVIOUSLY A subjective notion. Objectively it would mean a complete breakdown in the capacity of the state to provide the minimum assurances for individual and collective endeavour and a situation in which the choice was between total anarchy and external intervention. Such situations have been known in some states outside Europe; it was at the origin of the Congo crisis of 1960–61. No Western European state has been in this situation since the re-establishment of selfgovernment in West Germany. Even when there has been a challenge to a regime verging on the revolutionary as in France in 1958, the only question was what alternative force of order would emerge to enable the life of the French state to continue.

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