scholarly journals The conflict market polarizing consumer culture(s) in counter-democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 146954052110260
Author(s):  
Sofia Ulver

At the beginning of the millennium, consumer culture researchers predicted that people would increasingly demand that marketplace actors subscribe to contemporary ethics of liberal democracy. Although their prediction indeed came true, they did not foresee that an algorithm-powered media ecosystem in combination with growing authoritarian movements would soon come to fuel an increasingly polarized political landscape and challenge the very fundament of liberal democracy per se. In this macroscopic, conceptual article, I discuss three assumption-challenging logics—counter-democratic consumer culture, de-dialectical algorithmic manipulation, and growing illiberal consumer resistance—according to which the market increasingly monetizes the conflicts accompanying this polarization and, thereby, reinforces it. I call this new logic a conflict market and illustrate it through three, historically situated and currently conflicting, consumer ideoscapes—the neoblue, the neogreen, and the neobrown—between which consumers engage in marketized conflicts, not in a de-politicizing way, but in an increasingly un-politicizing, de-dialectical, and polarizing way. At the technologically manipulated conflict market, the role of marketers is to monetize politically sensitive topics by creating conflict, knowingly renouncing large groups of consumers, and giving fodder to the political extremes.

2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Giancarlo Visconti

ABSTRACTVoters’ ideological stances have long been considered one of the most important factors for understanding electoral choices in Chile. In recent years, however, the literature has begun to call this premise into question, due to several changes in the Chilean political landscape: the current crisis of representation, the high programmatic congruence between the two main coalitions, the decline in the political relevance of the dictatorship, and the rise of nonprogrammatic electoral strategies. In addition to these transformations, Chile switched to voluntary voting in 2012. This article studies whether ideology still informs electoral choices in Chile in an era of voluntary voting. It implements a conjoint survey experiment in low-to-middle-income neighborhoods in Santiago, where voters would be expected to be less ideological. It shows that candidates’ ideological labels are crucial for understanding the electoral decisions of a large part of the sample, particularly among likely voters.


ZARCH ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Ténez Ybern

Si asumimos que el paisaje es el resultado perceptible de la relación dinámica entre un determinado grupo humano y su medio; esa definición que se cuenta entre las de más consenso entre aquellos que dicen hacer paisajes, suscita de inmediato ciertas preguntas: ¿Cuál es el papel de aquel que pretende crear paisajes, si el paisaje es un proceso que se da por si solo? ¿Hasta qué punto incide cambiar el aspecto de un lugar en esa relación entre la gente y su entorno cotidiano?El texto pretende explorar las consecuencias de esas paradójicas preguntas, a partir de una primera hipótesis: la del carácter intrínsecamente político del proyecto del paisaje. De esta hipótesis parte la intención de mostrar la evolución de la reflexión sobre ese papel político del hacer paisajes, en el que el hacedor de paisajes que está siempre situado entre los equilibrios de poder que se establecen entre las instituciones y la gente. A partir de aquí, se analizan algunos momentos clave de la historia de ese paisaje político, donde el “hacedor de paisajes” intenta encontrar su lugar.En el horizonte del texto, aparecen también imágenes de la historia reciente de mi ciudad, a modo de ilustración de lo dicho. If we accept that landscape is the perceptible result of the dynamic relationship process between a specific human group and an environment, this definition, which enjoys the most acceptance among those people who ‘make landscape’, immediately raises certain questions: What is the role of the person who aims to create landscapes, if landscape is a process that takes place on its own? To what point does this affect the relationship between people and their daily setting?This article initially aims to explore the consequences of that paradox through a first hypothesis: the intrinsically political nature of the landscape project. This hypothesis springs from the intention of describing the evolution of the reflection on this political role of making landscape, in which ‘landscape makers’ constantly find themselves affected by the balance of power established between institutions and people. Subsequently, analysis will be conducted on a series of key periods in the history of the political landscape in which landscape makers endeavour to find their place.Pictures of the recent history of my city appear interspersed within the text, in order to illustrate what has been described.


2021 ◽  
pp. 13-23
Author(s):  
Lainey Collins ◽  
Wendy DuCassé ◽  
Rachel Forsyth

This chapter examines the unique internal and external political landscape of public schools and its relevance to the practice of school social work. The chapter focuses on four key concepts essential for new school social workers to navigate the politics of schools: (1) developing an understanding of the internal and external systems in which they interact; (2) clearly defining the role of school social worker, often within systems that are unclear or are new to the social worker’s role; (3) collaborating across all of the disciplines; and (4) sharing resources and information. Navigating the political landscape in schools is never easy and requires school social workers to be attuned to all of the nuances and complexities of the political landscape both inside and outside of schools.


2020 ◽  
Vol V (IV) ◽  
pp. 41-48
Author(s):  
Kausar Shafiq ◽  
Abdul Basit Khan ◽  
Ali Shan Shah

The denial of the institutionalization of political power by various civilian as well as martial law regimes has been a constant problem in Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the first person who could do so in an effective manner, but his eternal departure in the early phase of the history of Pakistan changed the entire course of the country, and the successor leadership had to pursue self-serving politics just to prolong their rule. The same is the case with the rule of General Pervaiz Musharraf (1999-2008), which converted the parliamentary system envisaged by the 1973 constitution of Pakistan into a quasi-presidential system just to prolong the military dictatorship. The subsequent rule of the Pakistan Peoples' Party (2008-2013) was a tough period for the political leadership since the preceding dictatorship had completely altered the socio-political landscape of the country; however, the political wisdom of Mr. Asif Ali Zardari helped the country to sail smoothly during the aftershocks of the martial law regime. In that perspective, the current study intends to analyze the political developments in Pakistan during the third rule of the Pakistan Peoples' Party over the country during the period 2008-2013.


2021 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 210-235
Author(s):  
Nihal UMAR ◽  
Gencay SAYLAN

In this century, representative liberal democracy is universally considered as the most perfect political regime. However, it is emphasized that the same political regime is exposed to a major crisis for the last 10-20 years as well as looking for ways out. Pursuant to many political scientists, the representative liberal democracy has the authoritarianism tendency that is defined as populism, and they relate it post-truth politics. It is also underlined that due to the politics with such negative elements, democracy contains paradox in terms of practice and discourse. Political regimes become functional within a certain social structure and it is obvious that democracy as a type of political system becomes functional within global world order, namely capitalism. In the research, political methodology, which studies the quantitative and qualitative methods, has been. This study aims to clarify how global capitalism throws representative liberal democracy into major functionality crisis, and the political and administrative rise of populist authoritarianism through post-trust. The sample of the study consists of academics working as lecturers in universities in Northern Cyprus. The results show that, there is a difference between demographic charecteristics of the participants responses to representative liberal democracy, know about populist authoritarianism and post truth politics. There is also a relationship between the political scientists’ authoritarianism tendency and authoritaritarianism defined as populism, as well as between liberal democracy role over the major crisis and role of global capitalism throws representative liberal democracy into major functionality crisis.


Politik ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Blach-Ørsten

This article presents an overview of the political scandal in Denmark from 1980 to 2010. The article focuses on two kinds of scandal: The political scandal that concerns a minister or a politician’s transgressions within the realm of politics, and the norm scandal that concerns a minister or a politician’s personal transgressions either in the role of minister/politician or as a private person. The article concludes that there has been a dramatic rise in the number of political scandals from 2000 and onwards, but also that this rise – with some exceptions – may be viewed as a sign of Denmark as a healthy liberal democracy. 


2021 ◽  
pp. 233-247
Author(s):  
Polina Khmilevska

Far-right extremist groups in Poland have undergone the substantive evolution over the course of last thirty years – from being marginalized, small in number group to being one of the most developed and numerous movements in civil society, as well as on the political landscape. The article examines the history of this movement, its stages of development and demonstrates how pivotal is the role of far-right groups in Euroscepticism in Poland.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. e160722
Author(s):  
Charles Klein ◽  
Milena Mateuzi Carmo ◽  
Alessandra Tavares

This article examines political subjectivities, community engagements and voting practices among residents of São Paulo’s Zona Sul peripheries in the three years preceding Brazil’s 2018 presidential election. Building on a 398-person household survey, 46 in-depth interviews, and extensive participation observation over the course of a four-year study, we argue that although most residents of our study communities across the political spectrum are disenchanted with institutional politics, many maintain political engagement through their everyday lives, including activism centered on intersectional identities and state-sponsored violence/genocide. Our discussion combines statistical analysis and auto-ethnographic inflected vignettes and is in dialogue with two common themes present in recent analyses of the Brazilian political landscape: the role of urban periphery voters in the election of Bolsonaro, and the complex connections between moralities and political subjectivities. In conclusion, we reflect on opportunities and challenges for progressive political engagement in the (post)Bolsonaro era.


The publication is devoted to the analysis of the UK exit from the European Union as a manifestation of the systemic crisis of the liberal democracy model. The causes and difficulties of this process are analyzed under the conditions of the failure of the political system to make political decisions. The problematic issues of liberal ideology and the model of liberal democracy were examined. The differences in the ideological convictions of the two founders of liberalism – Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, as well as the role of these differences in the modern functioning of liberal democracy in the United Kingdom. The role of globalization processes in the world in the context of the development and functioning of liberal democracy is analyzed. Some features of the course of globalization processes in the world are highlighted. The features of the existence of the European Union as an international supranational organization in the context of its influence on the functioning and stability of the political system of the United Kingdom are examined. The features of the functioning of the model of liberal democracy under conditions of strengthening the international way of making political, economic and legal decisions are emphasized. Particular attention is paid to the political motives of organizing of start of the process of the UK’s exit from the European Union, as well as the consequences of such a decision. In addition, the role of populist movements in this process, that have Euro-skeptical positions, has been established. The features of the functioning of populist movements are highlighted. The essence of the crisis of the model of liberal democracy in the United Kingdom is determined. The author analyzes the risks of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union in the context of a peace settlement of the conflict in Northern Ireland as one of the indicators of the crisis of the liberal political system. In conclusion is performed analysis of some results of the referendum on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.


Author(s):  
Sofia Idris

The chapter is a study of the democratic challenges faced and the local governance structures in Pakistan; how these two are intertwined and influenced by one another. The importance of local government elections and the issue of reinstatement of local government system in the current political scenario has also been the focus of the research. The role of political parties both in the government and in the opposition, in holding the local government elections that is also affecting the mainstream politics up to a significant level. Thus, the resultant situation is definitely affecting the democratic process in the country. The chapter will therefore study this cause and effect phenomenon occurring in the political landscape of Pakistan.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document