The great dichotomy: How experiences of history and transcendence explain Ukraine’s political life

2021 ◽  
pp. 2336825X2110664
Author(s):  
Ostap Kushnir

The article uses Eric Voegelin’s ontology to address domestic processes in contemporary Ukraine. It explains how interpretations of experiences of history and transcendence evoke political order and justice. It also outlines the nature of political symbols deriving from these experiences. The article argues that Ukraine’s social architecture is constructed according to a set of arrangements that are generally regarded as moral and functional under given circumstances. As a result, it provides political elites a platform from which to build a plan of action and gain legitimacy. The article not only shows how Voegelin’s ontology can be used to explain Zelensky’s 2019 presidential election victory but also highlights its interpretative advantages over competing analytical approaches from within the frameworks of institutionalism and behaviorism.

Author(s):  
Мохаммад Исаак Шафак

Аннотация: В данной статье автор исследовал феномен победы действующего президента Мохаммада Аршаф Гани, выигравшего во второй раз президентские выборы у своих оппонентов, его персональные качества в отличие от его оппонентов, проигравших выборы на пример Абдуллы Абдуллы. Названы глубинные причины возникновения политического кризиса, как недоговороспособность политических элит Афганистана, разрозненных личными и местечковыми интересами своих кланов. Сделан анализ, почему годами оставаясь у власти, оппоненты Ашрафа Гани, не использовали свои властные полномочия не улучшили политическую ситуацию Афганистана. Автором приведены аналитические выводы их отрицательного влияния на развитие политических процессов, это связано большей частью для сохранения собственных корыстных интересов и благ. Автор на примере анализа деятельности президента и его оппонентов на выборах, выразил собственное экспертную оценку вокруг сложившийся политической ситуации вновь избранного действующего президента Ашрафа Гани Ахмадзая, как политической персоны, выделив его слабые и сильные стороны и оппонентов. Ключевые слова: феномен победы, политический кризис, выборы. Аннотация: Автордун бул илимий макаласында, Мохаммад Ашраф Ганидин экинчи мөөнөткө 2019 -жылы 28-сентябрда болуп өткөн президенттик шайлоодо атаандаштарын утушу, Абдулла Абдулла жана да башка оппонентеринин президенттик шайлоодогу жеке сапаттарын изилдеген. Ооган саясий элитасынын ар түрдүү жеке жана ичи тардык, кызгануу сыяктуу эле кызыкчылыктарын, саясий башаламандык кыймылы жөнүндө жана ошол себептер менен саясий кризис курчуунун негизги себептерин атады. Алардын (эски элитанын) бийликте калуу максатында кыймылдарынын терс таасири тууралуу аналитикалык корутунду көрсөттү, бул инсандар негизинен өздөрүнүн жеке керт башынын кызыкчылыктары менен пайдасын сактоо менен байланыштуу, шайлоодо президенттин иш-аракеттери жана оппоненттери боюнча сереп-талдоо жазылган. Ооганстандагы саясый кырдаал жакшырган жок, саясий жараяндар таатал боюнча калууда, Ашраф Гани менен оппоненттеринин күчтүү жактарын жана кемчиликтери касиеттери жөнүндө, учурдагы Ооганстанда саясий кырдаал тууралуу өзүнүн серебин билдирди. Түйүндүү сөздөр: жеңүүнүн феномени, саясий кризис, шайлоо Annotation: In this article, the author explored the phenomenon of victory of incumbent President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, who won the second time the presidential election against his opponents, his personal qualities, unlike his opponents, who lost theelection by the example of Abdullah Abdullah. The underlying causes of the political crisis are identified as the lack of maturity of the political elites of Afghanistan, fragmented by the personal and local interests of their clans. An analysis is made of why staying in power for years, opponents of Ashraf Ghani, did not use their power, did not improve the political situation in Afghanistan, the author gives analytical conclusions of their negative impact on the development of political processes, this is mainly due to preserving their own selfish interests and benefits. The author, using an example of analysis of the activities of the president and his opponents in the elections, expressed his own expert assessment around the current political situation of the newly elected incumbent president Ashraf Gani Ahmadzai as a political person, highlighting his weaknesses and strengths and opponents. Keywords: the phenomenon of victory, political crisis, elections.


2002 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony McGrew

Globalization – Simply The Growing Intensity, Extent And deepening impact of worldwide interconnectedness – poses anew the classic questions of political life, namely: who rules, by what means, in whose interests and to what purpose? This is not to suggest, as some do, that the forces of globalization are eclipsing sovereign states but it is to acknowledge that the necessary conditions for sovereign and democratic self-government are undergoing a significant transformation. This is especially evident in Europe where, at the great intersection of regionalism and globalism, a novel continental political order is crystallizing: not quite federalism in its orthodox form but clearly something more than classic intergovermentalism. Caught between two worlds – a Europe of nation-states and a Europe of Citizens to use Joschka Fischer's construction – the future political trajectory of the continent, in part, will depend upon how effectively regionalism mediates the dynamics of globalism and localism.


2015 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
KARA MOSKOWITZ

AbstractThis article examines squatter resistance to a World Bank-funded forest and paper factory project. The article illustrates how diverse actors came together at the sites of rural development projects in early postcolonial Kenya. It focuses on the relationship between the rural squatters who resisted the project and the political elites who intervened, particularly President Kenyatta. Together, these two groups not only negotiated the reformulation of a major international development program, but they also worked out broader questions about political authority and political culture. In negotiating development, rural actors and political elites decided how resources would be distributed and they entered into new patronage-based relationships, processes integral to the making of the postcolonial political order.


2020 ◽  
pp. 247-270
Author(s):  
Brian Holden Reid

This chapter details how the year 1864 allowed William T. Sherman to operate for the first time not as a subordinate commander but as director of a series of armies in the field. His contribution to overall Union strategy would be significant and thus he began to exercise command at the level military analysts currently refer to as the operational level of war. Such a level links tactics and methods of fighting with strategy, in the overall scheme. It defines the manner in which armies organize in discrete campaigns and seek to fulfill the object of strategy by winning victories. Sherman’s performance overall needs to be considered by taking all aspects into account. As he began to work at the higher levels of the military art, he began to change the way in which people think and talk about war, and he propounded an individual philosophy of war. The higher he progressed, the more Sherman could not avoid confronting the harsh realities of political life, for his campaigns increasingly had an impact not just on American political discourse but indeed in 1864 on the outcome of the presidential election. Sherman expressed clear-cut political views and expounded them perhaps too forcefully. This complex mix worked as a catalyst in developing his ideas about war and his ability to put them into practice.


Author(s):  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Nicolai Von Eggers

In this text, Giorgio Agamben argues that the concept of democracy attests to a political, ontological amphibology: on the one side, democracy describes a constitution of a political order (and in this sense it belongs to public law); on the other side, democracy is a certain form of administration (in which case it belongs to administrative practice). It is argued that this amphibology can be located in the political theories of Aristotle and Jean-Jacques Rousseau who have been instrumental in forming our present conception of politics. Consequently, we misunderstand the fundamental nature of politics, and any hopes of genuine political life must therefore break with this tradition of Western political philosophy.


2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 634-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Schoenbrun

AbstractRich vernacular traditions about the aftermaths of the social trauma of a major famine, sometime in sixteenth-century eastern Africa, narrate the founding of a new dynasty in Bunyoro, one of the region's oldest monarchies. Scholars often understand such traditions about the founding of new dynasties as chartering the new political order. Whether traditions credit that order with the aura of antiquity or strengthen it by excluding social elements discordant with the new orchestrations of power, they are exercises in legitimation. When scholars recognize that such traditions were set in the aftermath of widespread violence, a spirit of mourning emerges in them. Spirits of mourning, joined to those of legitimation, shape traditions about the founding of a new dynasty by deftly inflecting the problem of accountability. In Bunyoro, traditions about its founder depict him as a barbarian cultural neophyte, of fluctuating emotional stability, improvising a new political order. These unflattering, realistic representations of the founding dynast's affective comportment were designed to appeal to emotional repertoires in the different life experiences of audience members, enlisting their participation in the project of reviving sovereignty in the aftermaths of traumatic violence. Mourning and legitimation run through historical narratives initiating an aftermath to structural violence, and reveal that loss and worry shape narratives of transformed sovereign authority, and revive it in the aftermaths of structural violence. Mourning lends emotional depth and counterpoint to matters of bureaucracy, economy, gender, and so forth, in crafting satisfying accounts of transformation and accountability in political life. That emotional depth, in turn, helps explain the durability of traditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-81
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Zackiewicz ◽  

By law, the president of modern Estonia is elected indirectly by parliament or, in the absence of a decision in three consecutive votes, by a specially appointed electoral college. In 2016, Estonia experienced an unprecedented political crisis resulting from the impossibility of appointing the head of state according to the procedure specified in the constitution. It was determined both by more general factors related to the electoral system itself, as well as the specificity of Estonia's political life in the second decade of the 21st century. The 2016 presidential election proved to be a complicated game involving major political parties, going well beyond simply appointing a new head of state. The purpose of this article is to discuss the origins, course and immediate effects of these events, culminating in the unexpected election of Kersti Kaljulaid to the office of President of the Republic.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 819
Author(s):  
Durmuş Ali Arslan ◽  
Ahmet Çağrıcı ◽  
Mustafa Albayrak

Political parties and political elites are the basic elements of the democratic system. These two political and social phenomena play a decisive role in shaping the political and social structure of the country as well as in the shaping of individual political attitudes and behaviour. The most common forms of social political organization in contemporary societies are political parties. In this respect, political parties can be shortly defined as political organizations organized around the ideal of playing a decisive role in political and social life and whose ultimate goals are to reach power. In democratic societies, political parties are the most important means of political socialization and participation in the political process.In the western societies, the elite word that has been used in daily life since the 17th century. Its sociological meaning is rather different than daily life meaning. In essence, the elite can be defined as individuals who have institutional power, are in a position to control social resources, have the ability to directly or indirectly influence the decision-making process, and can fulfill their wishes and objectives in spite of their opponents. There are many elite groups in society. Political elites also form one of the most active elite groups in the social structure. Deputies and political leaders are also the most basic components of this elite group.The Democratic Party is one of the most important political parties of Turkish political life. This party holds the privilege of being the most important representative of the right of center-right politics in Turkey; Adnan Menderes also has a privileged political identity in Turkey as being the most important leader of the center-right politics tradition. Even the Democratic Party is regarded as a representative of the transition to multi-party political life in Turkey. The Democratic Party, legendary leader Adnan Menderes and the Democratic Party MPs, identified with the name party, have not only remained the pioneers of multi-party democratic life in the country; With the transition to multi-party life, they have played a decisive role in Turkey's change process and in the social and political life of the country.The Democratic Party as a political institution and Adnan Menderes, a political elite-leader have to be well known in order to understand and explain the political-social change and transformation that Turkey has experienced since about three quarters of a century. It was aimed to sociologically examine Adnan Menderes as an important political leader and political elite, and the Democratic Party, one of the most important political institutions of Turkish political life, from a historical perspective. The research is mainly designed as a descriptive sociological study type. ÖzetSiyasi partiler ve siyasi elitler, demokratik sistemin en temel unsurlarındandır. Bu iki siyasal ve toplumsal olgu, bireylerin siyasi tutum ve davranışlarının şekillenmesinde de olduğu kadar ülkenin siyasi ve toplumsal yapısının şekillenmesinde de belirleyici rol oynar. Günümüz toplumlarında en yaygın toplumsal siyasal örgütlenme biçimi siyasi partilerdir. Bu yönüyle siyasi partiler kısaca, siyasal ve toplumsal hayatta belirleyici rol oynamak ideali etrafında örgütlenmiş ve nihai hedefleri iktidara ulaşmak olan siyasi örgütler olarak tanımlanabilir. Demokratik toplumlarda siyasi partiler, en önemli siyasi sosyalizasyon ve siyasal sürece katılım araçlarıdır.Batı toplumlarında, 17. yüzyıldan bu yana günlük dilde kullanılmaya başlanan elit sözcüğü ise sosyolojik olarak günlük dilde kullanıldığında daha farklı anlam ifade eder. Çok öz olarak elit, kurumsal iktidara sahip, toplumsal kaynakları kontrol edebilecek konumda bulunan, karar verme sürecini doğrudan veya dolayı olarak ciddi bir şekilde etkileme yeteneğine sahip, karşıtlarına rağmen istek ve amaçlarını gerçekleştirebilen birey(ler) olarak tanımlanabilir. Toplumda çok sayıda elit grubu vardır. Siyasi elitler de toplumsal yapı içindeki, en etkin elit gruplarından birini oluştururlar. Milletvekilleri ve siyasi liderler de bu elit grubunun en temel bileşenlerini oluştururlar.Demokrat Parti (DP), Türk siyasal hayatının en önemli siyasi partilerinden biri konumundadır. Bu parti Türkiye’de merkez sağ siyaset geleneğinin, Cumhuriyet döneminde ilk ve önemli temsilcisi olma ayrıcalığını elinden tutarken; lideri Türkiye’de merkez sağ siyaset geleneğini temsil eden önemli bir siyasal elittir. Dahası Demokrat Parti, Türkiye’de çok partili siyasi yaşama geçişin temsilcisi olarak da kabul edilir. Demokrat Parti, ismi partisi ile özdeşleşmiş efsanevi lideri Adnan Menderes ve Demokrat Parti milletvekilleri, yalnızca ülkede çok partili demokratik hayatın öncü isimleri olmakla kalmamışlar; çok partili yaşama geçişle birlikte Türkiye’nin değişim sürecine yön vermiş ve ülkenin toplumsal-siyasal hayatında belirleyici rol oynamışlardır.Bir siyasal kurum olarak Demokrat Parti’yi ve bir siyasi elit-lider olarak Adnan Menderes’i iyi anlamadan, Türkiye’nin yaklaşık üççeyrek asırdan beridir yaşadığı siyasal - toplumsal değişim ve dönüşümü anlamlandırmak ve açıklamak mümkün değildir. Bu realiteden yola çıkarak çalışmada, önemli bir siyasi lider ve bir siyasi elit olarak Adnan Menderes ile Türk siyasal yaşamının önemli siyasi kurumlarından biri olan Demokrat Parti’nin, tarihsel bir perspektiften, sosyolojik olarak incelenmesi hedeflenmiştir. Araştırma ağırlıklı olarak betimleyici - deskriptif bir sosyolojik çalışma türünde tasarlanmıştır.


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