Voting for Apartheid: The 2009 Israeli Elections

2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Yiftachel
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Class Politics ◽  
The West ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Economically Marginalized ◽  
Economic Elites ◽  
Election Results ◽  
The Military ◽  
Palestinians In Israel

Focusing primarily on Israeli voter attitudes with respect to the Zionist-Palestinian conflict, this paper argues that the results of the 2009 elections highlight the structural entanglement of Israeli politics within a colonialist process of ““creeping apartheid”” not only in the West Bank but in Israel proper. The elections also demonstrated the continuing relevance of identity and class politics among Israeli voters and the trend among culturally and economically marginalized groups to support the colonialist agendas set mainly by the settlers, the military, and parts of the globalizing economic elites. In parallel, election results among Palestinians in Israel reflect their growing alienation from a political system that structurally excludes them from political influence.

Balancing the Checks: Thailand's Paralyzed Politics Post-1997

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan McCargo
Keyword(s):  
Political Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
Election Results ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
The Military ◽  
Rules Of The Game ◽  
Constitutional Changes

Since 1997, following the twin transformations of economic meltdown and comprehensive constitutional changes, practically every area of Thailand's public sphere has undergone significant reordering. New checks and balances have been created, new institutions established, old institutions abolished and merged, and new rules of the electoral game put into place. A major new political party has emerged that currently dominates the parliament, civil society is flourishing, and dozens of mass protests are thriving all over the country. Yet beneath this veneer of change, the old Thailand is recognizably intact. Politicians of doubtful integrity still flourish; social cleavages are as evident as before; corruption is endemic and accountability weak; election results are contested and contentious; and the military, though lying low, retains an inordinate number of privileges. Despite the reform process, the Thai political system remains in a feeble state; new institutions designed to improve the functioning of the parliamentary and party political orders have thus far failed to change the rules of the game.

The 1980 Us Election and after

1982 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. M. Williams ◽  
S. J. Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Target Group ◽  
The West ◽  
The Future ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Rapid Shift

This article seeks to put the 1980 election in perspective, to discuss its significance for the future of US politics, and to estimate the likely impact of, and some possible reactions to the rapid shift of population, wealth, and political influence towards the west and south. Analysis of the 1980 election results shows a heavy defeat for the Democratic party and not merely for President Carter, but no positive mandate for conservatism. However, if a Democratic recovery were based only on Republicans over-estimating their support, it would be short-lived. For it to be lasting, the party needs to regain the intellectual initiative that it has lost, and to extend its appeal in the increasingly powerful sunbelt states. Mexican-Americans, being numerous, neglected, and strategically placed, form a likely target group. They may be harder to attract than Democratic optimists suppose.

scholarly journals The Role of the Cultural Context in the Russian Military Revolution

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Olzacka
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Political System ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Socioeconomic Conditions ◽  
The West ◽  
Cultural Narrative ◽  
Military Revolution ◽  
Russian Military ◽  
The Military

This article examines military transformations in Russia between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries within the framework of the Military Revolution concept. This concept, introduced by the British historian Michael Roberts in 1955, was originally used to link changes in the purely military sphere (the introduction of gunpowder and the increased number of troops) with changes in state structures in western European countries. However, the concept can also be used to describe modernisation processes in non-European countries. Some historians have pointed out that military reforms often led to a holistic transformation of the socio-economic system. Others, including those dealing with the Military Revolution in Russia, focus primarily on the role of economic, social, and educational backwardness, which resulted in the construction of a modern military system and state different from that found in the West. This article attempts to complement this historical perspective by highlighting the importance of the cultural context in Russia’s military modernisation. It explores the traditional cultural narrative – rooted in Orthodoxy and a patrimonial socio-political system – which resulted in the emergence of specific beliefs about waging war and achieving victory, as well as practices which differed from those in the West. As a result, it is argued that the introduction of similar technological and organisational solutions in the state of the tsars was accompanied not only by different political and socioeconomic conditions, but also by different values, which were reflected in the various ways of reforming the troops and their subsequent use on the battlefield.

scholarly journals Participation of the Turkish Military in the Economy of the State: Case of Indirect Praetorionism

Politologija ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-40
Author(s):  
Valerij Špak
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
The State ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Institutional Autonomy ◽  
Civilian Control ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
New Phenomena ◽  
The Military ◽  
State Case

Based on the example of the Turkish military’s involvement in the country’s economy, this article seeks to complement the concept of praetorionism and to highlight the mechanisms of indirect praetorionism. The Turkish army plays an important role in the country’s economy, while the military pension fund OYAK is considered one of the country’s business giants. It provides an opportunity to maintain disproportionate institutional autonomy and weakens civilian control mechanisms. This provides the military with additional instruments of political influence and encourages the emergence of hidden mechanisms of praetorianism. The article seeks to understand new phenomena and trends in the interaction between the society and the military, as the involvement of the Turkish army in the country’s economy changes the concept of praetorianism and provides new, indirect ways of intervening in public policy. Because of how the Turkish military controls business companies using a privileged position in the country’s economy, corruption mechanisms that influence the mechanisms of the redistribution of economic resources and the pursuit of rents have an indirect impact on the political system of the state. In this way, military entrepreneurship has transformed the conceptual structure of praetorians and complemented interventions with indirect forms of influence, such as corruption, economic dominance, and the distortion of economic reforms.

Thailand's Missed Opportunity for Democratic Consolidation

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMY FREEDMAN
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Vote Buying ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
Economic Elites ◽  
Internal Pressures ◽  
The Military ◽  
Policy Shifts ◽  
Missed Opportunity

The year 1997 was critical for Thailand. A severe economic crisis hit in July calling into question years of economic growth and increasing prosperity. A few months later Thailand adopted a new Constitution that aimed at reforming the political system, and at making corruption and vote buying less prevalent. While this article shows that the economic turmoil was a prime catalyst for political change, it was not as simple as saying that public outcry over the economic crisis forced conservative parliamentarians into voting to accept the proposed constitution. While public outcry did matter, what is vitally important is that elite political leaders, the heads of the major parties, ministers, and generals, were renegotiating their alliances and ties both with one another, and with various groups in society that were pushing for change. Elite resignation to political pressure and policy shifts among the top leaders is what ultimately allows for the passage of the constitution and for Prime Minister Chavalit's departure. This article takes a closer look at Thai politics and tries to answer the following questions: Did the economic crisis lead to (meaningful) political reform and why or why not? Since the codification of the 1997 constitution has Thai politics become more democratic? It is my analysis that the consolidation of democracy was in reach in 1997 but today has slipped further from Thai citizens' grasp. The explanations, or the independent variables for both the successful reforms of the political system in 1997 and the backsliding away from democratization, are largely the same. When both internal and external pressures prod democracy along, reforms take place. When pressures are pushing in different directions democratic reforms become threatened. Internal pressures include the military, civil society, and the behavior and power of political and economic elites; and external ones are the IMF, national security concerns, and globalization in general. When conditions or variables change, and when elite priorities or preferences shift, as this article will show, we can see the results in Thai politics.

Ein Ende mit Schrecken – Frankreich nach den Wahlen

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (188) ◽  
pp. 495-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Syrovatka
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
Crisis Of Representation ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Deep Crisis

The presidential and parliamentary elections were a political earthquake for the French political system. While the two big parties experienced massive losses of political support, the rise of new political formations took place. Emmanuel Macron is not only the youngest president of the V. Republic so far, he is also the first president not to be supported by either one of the two biggest parties. This article argues that the election results are an expression of a deep crisis of representation in France that is rooted in the economic transformations of the 1970s. The article analyses the political situation after the elections and tries to give an outlook on further political developments in France.

Problems of military-political interaction between the countries of the West and Central Asia at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
Boris G. Koybaev
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Bases ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The West ◽  
Regional Environment ◽  
Western Influence ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Political Interaction ◽  
The Military

Central Asia in recent history is a vast region with five Muslim States-new actors in modern international relations. The countries of Central Asia, having become sovereign States, at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries are trying to peaceful interaction not only with their underdeveloped neighbors, but also with the far-off prosperous West. At the same time, the United States and Western European countries, in their centrosilic ambitions, seek to increase their military and political presence in Central Asia and use the military bases of the region’s States as a springboard for supplying their troops during anti-terrorist and other operations. With the active support of the West, the Central Asian States were accepted as members of the United Nations. For monitoring and exerting diplomatic influence on the regional environment, the administration of the President of the Russian Federation H. W. Bush established U.S. embassies in all Central Asian States. Turkey, a NATO member and secular Islamic state, was used as a lever of indirect Western influence over Central Asian governments, and its model of successful development was presented as an example to follow.

Church and State in the Byzantine Empire: A Reconsideration of The Problem of Caesaropapism

1965 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deno J. Geanakoplos
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Byzantine Empire ◽  
Roman Emperor ◽  
The West ◽  
Latin West

In the medieval theocratic societies of both the Byzantine East and the Latin West, where the influence of Christian precepts so strongly pervaded all aspects of life, it was inevitable that the institutions of church and state, of sacerdotium and regnum to use the traditional Latin terms, be closely tied to one another. But whereas in the West, at least after the investiture conflict of the eleventh century, the pope managed to exert a strong political influence over secular rulers, notably the Holy Roman Emperor, in the East, from the very foundation of Constantinople in the fourth century, the Byzantine emperor seemed clearly to dominate over his chief ecclesiastical official, the patriarch.

Legitimizing Transformation without Calling it Change:Tajdīd, Iṣlāḥ, and Saudi Arabia’s Place in the Contemporary World

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 55-70
Author(s):  
Sean Foley
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Political System ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
The West ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The People ◽  
Diverse Society ◽  
Oil Revenues

For decades, many scholars have contended that Saudi Arabia is a fixed political system, where a conservative monarchy uses advanced technology, oil revenues, and religion to dominate the people. Such a system is often portrayed as inherently unstable, a seemingly never-ending series of collisions between an unchanging traditional political structure seeking to hold on to power at any cost and a dynamic modernity—a view encapsulated in a phrase expressed at virtually every public discussion of the Kingdom in the West: ‘you must admit that Saudi Arabia must change’. Ironically this phrase confirms what this article argues is a secret to the success of Saudi Arabia in the contemporary era: the ability to legitimize transformation without calling it change. No society is static, including Saudi Arabia. Throughout the Kingdom’s history, the defining social institutions have repeatedly utilized Tajdīd (Revival) and Iṣlāḥ (Reform) to respond to new technologies and the changing expectations of a diverse society. While Muslim scholars are most often entrusted to arbitrate this process, ordinary Saudis use this process to guide their actions in the various social spaces they encounter both at home and abroad. Critically, this process reflects the response of King Abdulaziz and the founders of the third Saudi state in the early twentieth century to the factors that had brought down previous Saudi states in the nineteenth century.

Israel's Military Aid to Africa, 1960–66

1971 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel Jacob
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Donor Country ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Assistance ◽  
Military Aid ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recipient Government ◽  
The Military

DURING the late 1950S and early 19605, Israel mounted an active campaign of aid to Africa, which took three main forms: technical help in agriculture, joint commercial ventures, and military assistance. Of the three, the military and quasi-military programmes made the most considerable mark in Africa;1 they were also an important part of Israel's overall foreign policy, in an attempt to gain political influence through military aid, and thus to help overcome her isolation in the Middle East. Israel's military assistance to Africa illustrates several important aspects of foreign aid. This article deals mainly with the political motives of the donor country, and the various ways in which it may be concerned to influence the actions of the recipient government. Later, there is some discussion of the social and cultural barriers to the transfer of military and para-military organisations from one culture to another.

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