Looking to the Past to Survive the Future: The Hungarian Minority in Slovakia

2021 ◽  
pp. 088832542095349
Author(s):  
Susan Divald
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Reproduction ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
Cultural Survival ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Minority Identity ◽  
Local Newspaper ◽  
Elite Interviews ◽  
Cultural Rules

This article belongs to the special cluster, “Here to Stay: The Politics of History in Eastern Europe”, guest-edited by Félix Krawatzek & George Soroka. With reference to the Hungarian minority’s overarching concern over its declining population in Slovakia, this article reveals how different elements of the past are activated, remembered, and renegotiated to ensure the minority’s cultural survival. Using elite interviews, party documents, and a detailed analysis of two local newspaper archives in Hungarian, I unpack how memory and politics interact in the post-EU accession period. First, I uncover how political and civil society actors use acts of commemoration as a conduit to circulate certain narratives of the Hungarian minority identity. Through remembering historic Hungarian leaders and events, elites affirm and construct the minority identity, thus enabling its cultural reproduction. The Habsburg and Austro-Hungarian Monarchy period is referred to most frequently with the celebration of national heroes. Events spanning the twentieth century are generally mourned as painful and detrimental for the Hungarian minority. While the acts of commemoration are “soft” measures to ensure cultural survival, Hungarian political actors also desire “hard” guarantees through institutional measures, best encapsulated by their desire for autonomy arrangements. However, the Slovak nation’s own past of claiming autonomy and their eventual secession from Czechoslovakia in 1939 conditions the cultural rules around language and the appropriate vocabulary that Hungarian elites can use. Consequently, Hungarian minority elites appropriate the past strategically in two ways. They readjust their tactics through using different vocabulary to claim autonomy and second, they pursue policy reforms across areas such as education and regional development, thus making the de facto possibility of autonomy more palatable to their Slovak counterparts.

Performance Assessment Study of Indian Railways – Case of Low Efficiencies in Large Government Monopoly

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110255
Author(s):  
Sabyasachi S. Roy ◽  
Mukul Kulshrestha
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Management Planning ◽  
Rail Network ◽  
The Past ◽  
Assessment Study ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Global Population ◽  
Financial Losses

Indian Railways is the world’s largest government-owned monopoly, annually carrying passenger numbers that surpass the global population. It is world’s fourth largest rail network after the U.S.A., China, and Russia, and is managed by a separate Ministry of Railways. The operating ratios have consistently been around 90% in the past several years, indicating that that the capability to generate operational surplus is low. Further, its expenditure on staff and their pensions has been increasing. Consequently, capacity growth is increasingly being funded through borrowings, which threatens to further worsen the financial situation. Thus, railway services in India are often perceived as being inefficient and unsatisfactory. However, this perception of inefficient services has no scientific basis as mid- and micro-level efficiency analyses of Indian Railways have never been carried out. This paper adopts a data envelopment analysis (DEA)-based approach to evaluate the performance efficiencies of the 69 divisions of Indian Railways. Six models that deploy a range of performance indicators like operating expenditures, numbers of staff employed or passengers carried, freight carried, rail network length, and revenues generated have been employed to assess efficiencies. The results demonstrate the existence of significant inefficiencies that may possibly be attributed to lack of proper management, planning policies, and mis-governance, resulting in significant financial losses. The paper discusses these issues and the policy reforms needed in the developing country context, while suggesting some reforms that may lead to improved sector performances.

Social Policies and Center-Right Governments in Argentina and Chile

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (03) ◽  
pp. 72-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Niedzwiecki ◽  
Jennifer Pribble
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Left Turn ◽  
The Past ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
Left Party ◽  
Spending Cuts

AbstractLatin America's “left turn” expanded cash transfers and public services, contributing to lower poverty and inequality. Recently, right-leaning candidates and parties have begun to win back seats in the legislature, and in some cases have captured the executive branch. This shift has sparked debate about the future of Latin America's welfare states. This article analyzes social policy reforms enacted by two recent right-leaning governments: that of Sebastián Piñera in Chile (2010–14) and Mauricio Macri in Argentina (2015–). It finds that contrary to neoliberal adjustment policies of the past, neither Macri nor Piñera engaged in privatization or deep spending cuts. Instead, both administrations facilitated a process of policy drift in some sectors and marginal expansion in others. Policy legacies and the strength of the opposition help to explain these outcomes, suggesting that Latin America's political context has been transformed by the consolidation of democracy and the experience of left party rule.

scholarly journals Beijing's Policies for Managing Han and Ethnic-Minority Chinese Communities Abroad

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 183-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
James To
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Cooperative Groups ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Vast Network ◽  
Powerful Interest

The overseas Chinese (OC) form a vast network of powerful interest groups and important political actors capable of shaping the future of China from abroad by transmitting values back to their ancestral homeland (Tu 1991). While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) welcomes and actively seeks to foster relations with the OC in order to advance China's national interests, some cohorts may be hostile to the regime. In accordance with their distinct demographic and ethnic profiles, the CCP's qiaowu ([Formula: see text], OC affairs) infrastructure serves to entice, co-opt, or isolate various OC groupings. This article summarises the policies for managing different subsets of OC over the past three decades, and argues that through qiaowu, the CCP has successfully unified cooperative groups for China's benefit, while preventing discordant ones from eroding its grip on power.

Stabilizing or Challenging Patriarchy? Sketches of Selected “New” Political Masculinities

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henri Myrttinen
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Social Transitions ◽  
Ways Of Being

Although it has come under multiple attacks and pressures over the past decades, patriarchy has proven itself to be highly resilient and adaptive. However, new ways of “being men” have started to emerge over the past years that at least seemingly question dominant masculinities. I examine here four “new” forms of political masculinities: violently fratriarchal masculinities, “softer” militarized masculinities of peacekeepers, the less violent masculinities promoted by global antidomestic violence campaigns, and lastly what I term the “He4She” masculinities of international political actors. These four manifestations of political masculinities underscore on the transitional and temporal nature of gender roles and identities. All have arisen out of political and social transitions in which previously dominant notions of masculinity have been challenged. These changes, however, do not necessarily mean an end to patriarchy. Indeed, the new somewhat more egalitarian masculinities may serve to shore up and stabilize patriarchy.

Historiographical facts and political practice in Russia in the XVIII – beginning of the XXI centuries

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Г.Н. Ланской
Keyword(s):  
Control Strategies ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Historical Science ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Past ◽  
And Control ◽  
Coordination And Control ◽  
Development And Evolution

Статья посвящена истории связи между развитием исторической науки и политической практики в России. В контексте этого развития представлены, с одной стороны, эволюция исторических исследований и их координации и, с другой стороны, трансформация подхода институциональных структур государства к выбору управленческой стратегии в руководстве работой историков. В качестве примера для исследования обозначенной проблемы выбран период с начала XVIII до начала XXI века, потому что в его рамках была сформирована практика профессиональной деятельности в сфере историографии как процесса человеческой деятельности. Особое внимание в статье адресовано к роли идеологии в формировании различных моделей связи между работой историков и политических деятелей по конструированию образа прошлого, настоящего и будущего развития российской истории. The article reveals the connection between the historical science development and evolution of political practice in Russia.In that context shown are the course of the historical research and the coordination and control strategies implemented by the state, including institutional transformations.As a subject of current research was taken the period from the XVIII – beginning of the XXI centuries, when historiography became a profession and was institutionalized.Special attention is driven to the role of ideology in adopting different models of interaction between historians and political actors, while framing the image of the past, the present and the future of Russia.

scholarly journals Problematizing the presentation and reception of political brands

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Pich ◽  
Guja Armannsdottir ◽  
Dianne Dean ◽  
Louise Spry ◽  
Varsha Jain
Keyword(s):  
Conservative Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Young Voters ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Brand Meaning ◽  
Elite Interviews ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Internal Stakeholders

Purpose There are explicit calls for research devoted to how political actors present their brand to the electorate and how this is interpreted. Responding to this, the purpose of this paper is to build an understanding of how political brand messages and values are received and aligned with voter expectations, which in turn shapes the consistency of a political brand. Design/methodology/approach Using an interpretivist perspective, this two-stage approach first focuses on semi-structured interviews with internal stakeholders of the UK Conservative Party and second uses focus group discussions with external stakeholders (voters) of age 18-24 years. Data was collected between 1 December 2014 and 6 May 2015. Findings The findings suggest that the UK Conservative brand had recovered from the “nasty party” reputation. Further, the Conservative brand was perceived as credible, trustworthy and responsible, with positive associations of “economic competence”. However, while the nasty party imagery has declined, the UK Conservative brand continues to face challenges particularly in terms of longstanding negative associations perceived by both internal and external markets. Research limitations/implications It must be acknowledged that all research methods have their own limitations, and acknowledging these will strengthen the ability to draw conclusions. In this study, for example, due to time constraints during the election campaign period, 7 participants supported stage one of the study and 25 participants supported stage two of the study. However, participants from stage one of the study represented all three elements of the UK Conservative Party (Parliamentary, Professional and Voluntary). In addition, the elite interviews were longer in duration and this provided a greater opportunity to capture detailed stories of their life experiences and how this affected their brand relationship. Similarly, participants for stage two focussed on young voters of age 18-24 years, a segment actively targeted by the UK Conservative Party. Practical implications The brand alignment framework can help practitioners illuminate components of the political brand and how it is interpreted by the electorate. The increasing polarisation in politics has made this a vital area for study, as we see need to understand if, how or why citizens are persuaded by a more polarised brand message. There are also social media issues for the political brand which can distort the carefully constructed brand. There are opportunities to evaluate and operationalize this framework in other political contexts. Originality/value The brand alignment model extends current branding theory first by building on an understanding of the complexities of creating brand meaning, second, by operationalizing differences between the brand and how it is interpreted by the electorate, finally, by identifying if internal divisions within the political party pose a threat to the consistency of the brand.

The collective memory of dominant parties in parliamentary discourse

2019 ◽  
pp. 135406881986013
Author(s):  
Reut Itzkovitch Malka ◽  
Shaul R. Shenhav ◽  
Gideon Rahat ◽  
Reuven Y. Hazan
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
National History ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Parliamentary Democracies ◽  
Dominant Party ◽  
The Past ◽  
Dominant Parties

When the past is contested by political actors, it can play a notable role both in present and in future politics. This is especially true when it comes to the memory of dominant parties, which are part and parcel of political and national history. Focusing on dominant parties in parliamentary democracies, this article examines the memory dynamics of a dominant party after its demise and highlights the importance of memory modes in understanding these dynamics. Using theories of collective memory, it identifies four possible modes of memory in a post-dominance era, suggesting discursive and power-related indications for each mode. The article then utilizes this framework to examine the memory of Mapai, the once-dominant party in Israel. On the basis of this analysis, the authors propose hypotheses concerning the comparative cases of Sweden, Italy, and Japan.

Books of Laughter and Forgetting: Satire and Trauma in the Novels of Il'f and Petrov

Slavic Review ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 334-353
Author(s):  
Maya Vinokour
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Period ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Golden Calf ◽  
The Past ◽  
Heated Debate

The Soviet 1920s and '30s saw heated debate around the issue of laughter, with writers and political actors alike asking, should the Soviet person laugh at all, and if so, how? This article considers the birth of Soviet laughter as reflected in Il'ia Il'f and Evgenii Petrov's popular satirical novels,The Twelve Chairs(1928) andThe Golden Calf(1931). I argue that Il'f and Petrov's relatively consistent critical unassailability throughout the Soviet period rests on two techniques. First, they acknowledge trauma without dwelling on it—it is always already in the past, with dramatic focus placed instead on the socialist future. Second, they encourage collective, outward-oriented laughter, stimulating Soviet citizens to unite themselves against the possible enemies of socialism. Thus, despite its inclusion of some subversive elements (like the ideologically volatile trickster Ostap Bender), Il'f and Petrov's satire was at the vanguard of what became official literary ideology.

Elimination Politics

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilana Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Political Community ◽  
Political Capacity ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Double Move ◽  
Enemy Combatants

Focusing on punishment and imprisonment across three time periods, this essay explores the two-pronged attack on Palestinian politics that has characterized the settler-colonial project in Palestine over the past one hundred years. This double move entails an attempt to deny or destroy Palestinian political community, while simultaneously identifying Palestinians as political actors, specifically as bad actors. The aim is to undermine Palestinian political capacity by disrupting connection and organizing, while still deploying the weapon of categorizing Palestinians, individually and collectively, as enemies—under labels such as insurgents, terrorists, and enemy combatants. The struggle over elimination in Palestine has continued through multiple changes in governing regime and across territorial reconfigurations. The different tactics deployed against Palestinians over these decades are a product both of these changes and of the continuing Palestinian refusal to acquiesce to their elimination.

Croatia and the European Union

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pero Maldini
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The Other ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
Investment Funds ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
The Eu

Croatia’s accession to the European Union (EU) meant, in political terms, the recognition of its political and normative-institutional achievements in the establishment of a nation state and the democracy. At the same time, for the vast majority of Croatian citizens EU membership also had a symbolic meaning: a departure from the troubled past and a return to the Western, European cultural circle, which they have always felt they belong to. This feeling is the source for the strong pro-European orientation, which, as state independence was being achieved, and democracy established—as an expression of the strong political will of Croatian citizens for freedom and autonomy—helped achieve those historical and political goals. The EU was perceived as a framework that would enable those goals to be realized, so there was a general political consensus about joining it among all relevant political actors, and the vast majority of Croatian citizens granted their consent. The path to full EU membership was long and arduous, primarily because of the specific conditions that marked the process of establishing a Croatian state and a democratic order. On the one hand, these are endogenous structural and socio-cultural factors: the structure and activity of political actors and the functioning of institutions, which were significantly marked by their authoritarian political and historical legacy. On the other hand, was a war of aggression and a struggle for freedom and independence with long-lasting and difficult social and political consequences. These specific conditions—which none of the other acceding countries had—slowed down the process of democratization and, consequently, hampered the EU accession process. All these reasons are why Croatia had the most comprehensive and longest accession negotiations, including the most extensive body of pre-accession conditions. Although the extent and duration of negotiations, as well as the lack of expected support from the EU (especially during the war) have led to an increase in Euroskepticism and criticism of the EU—and consequently to the low turnout in the referendum for accession—the pro-European orientation remained dominant in Croatia. In general, public support for EU accession in Croatia was based on a set of mutually connected factors: identity-based (cultural affiliation), institutional-political (democracy), and utilitarian (socioeconomic benefits). In the period after joining the EU, due to insufficient preparation, Croatia has relatively slowly used the opportunities (especially economic) provided by EU. Nevertheless, EU membership has accelerated the increase in institutional capacity and better use of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF). At the same time, the free movement of people, goods, capital, and services, and the opportunities brought by the open EU market, had a double impact: strengthening the economy due to greater orientation toward the EU market, but also slower economic growth, due to structural problems (the lingering power of the state, and regulations to the economy and the market) and increased emigration of the highly educated younger population (chronic labor-force deficit). Nonetheless, through Croatia’s participation in the EU institutions, the real benefits of full membership are becoming increasingly visible, and the sense of integration in the EU’s social, political, cultural, and economic space is growing stronger. At the same time, EU membership affects further improvement of the normative-institutional framework of Croatia.

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