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 The Relationships among Self-Worth Contingency on Others’ Approval, Appearance Comparisons on Facebook, and Adolescent Girls’ Body Esteem: A Cross-Cultural Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Prieler ◽  
Jounghwa Choi ◽  
Hye Eun Lee
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Body Esteem ◽  
Asian Country ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Self Worth ◽  
Appearance Comparison

The present study examined the relationship between appearance-related social comparison on social networking services (SNSs) and body esteem in a cross-cultural context (three European countries, i.e., Austria, Belgium, and Spain, versus one Asian country, i.e., South Korea). The role of self-worth contingency on others’ approval was considered to be a psychological and cultural factor. Utilizing a large-scale cross-national survey of early and middle adolescents in 2017, the responses of female adolescents (N = 981) were analyzed. The results generally support the findings from previous studies but also reveal cultural differences. Appearance comparison on Facebook negatively influenced girls’ body esteem in all European countries, but not in South Korea. Self-worth contingency on others’ approval negatively influenced girls’ body esteem across all four countries. Finally, a positive relationship between self-worth contingency on others’ approval and appearance comparison on Facebook was found in all European countries, but not among Korean girls. These findings suggest the importance of self-worth contingency on others’ approval and cultural contexts can be used to study the effects of body image-related SNS use.

The Role of the M.P. in Tanzania

1970 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 754-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond F. Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Authority Relationships ◽  
New States ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
The Military ◽  
National Legislatures

The study of politics in “developing” countries has tended to focus on the less formal organs of government, such as political parties, the military, the bureaucracy, and even the educational system. National legislatures have often been ignored or rated of little significance in the political processes of these states. This practice contrasts markedly with the attention paid to legislatures in Western states. The most obvious explanation for it is that legislatures in new states tend to have little influence. Important decisions and shifts in power are usually made or recorded elsewhere in the political system.The Bunge, or National Assembly, of Tanzania is no exception to this general phenomenon. Nevertheless, an examination of the role of M.P.'s in Tanzania can be illuminating. The Bunge contains most of the major political leaders and has, at least constitutionally, broad authority. As a consequence, if the Assembly is to be only a weak political body, then informal norms limiting the powers of the M.P.'s role must exist. Moreover, these norms should prescribe authority relationships between the legislature and other policy shaping bodies in the political system, particularly the Party. Thus, an analysis of the roles of these men can provide important insights not only into the functions of the Bunge, but also into the elite political culture of Tanzania and the pattern of politics which this culture supports.

Lebanon: A Military in Politics in a Divided Society

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Barak
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Divided Society ◽  
The Military

Since Lebanon’s independence in the mid-1940s, its military—the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)—has played a pivotal role in the country’s politics. The political role of the LAF in Lebanon might seem surprising since the Lebanese state did not militarize, and its political leaders have continuously managed to keep their military relatively weak and small. Indeed, in this respect Lebanon has been markedly different from its close neighbors (Syria and Israel), but also from several other Middle Eastern states (especially Egypt and Iraq), where the military, which was large and powerful, was continuously involved in politics. Additionally, both Lebanon and the LAF have persistently striven to distance themselves from regional conflicts since 1949, particularly in relation to the Palestinian issue, albeit not always successfully. Still, and despite these ostensibly unfavorable factors for the military’s involvement in politics in Lebanon, the LAF has played an important political role in the state since its independence. This role, which has been marked by elements of continuity and change over the years, included mediation and arbitration between rival political factions (in 1945–1958, 2008, 2011, and 2019); attempts to dominate the political system (in 1958–1970 and 1988–1990); intervention in the Lebanese civil war (in 1975–1976 and 1982–1984); attempts to regain its balancing role in politics (in 1979–1982 and 1984–1988); and facilitating the state’s postwar reconstruction (since 1991). The political role of the military in Lebanon can be explained by several factors. First, the weakness of Lebanon’s political system and its inability to resolve crises between its members. Second, Lebanon’s divided society and its members’ general distrust towards its civilian politicians. Third, the basic characteristics of Lebanon’s military, which, in most periods, enjoyed broad public support that cuts across the lines of community, region, and family, and found appeal among domestic and external audiences, which, in their turn, acquiesced to its political role in the state.

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.

Neutralising the Use of Force in Uganda: the Rôle of the Military in Politics

1995 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Brett
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political System ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Ethnic Conflicts ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
The Military

Bullets rather than ballots have dominated politics in Uganda since independence, where two governments have been removed by coups, one by a foreign invasion, and another by an armed rebellion. Force has not only dominated the formal political system, but also threatened the economic and social basis on which democratic processes and progressive development depends. For 25 years predatory military rule and civil war have destroyed lives, skills, and assets, undermined institutional competence and accountability, caused widespread per sonal trauma, suppressed autonomous organisations in civil society, and intensified ethnic hostility and conflict. And Uganda is not alone in this – the middle of the twentieth century was dominated by fascism and war, while sectarian or ethnic conflicts in Bosnia, Ulster, Sri Lanka, Somalia, the Sudan, Angola, Liberia, Zaï, Burundi, and Rwanda have inflicted untold damage on people and property.1

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