scholarly journals West Africa: The Formation Of National Statehood

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-165
Author(s):  
Zinaida N. Sokova
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
Political Modernization ◽  
Expert Assessments ◽  
Politically Active ◽  
Specific Influence

The article is devoted to the study of the dynamics of political modernization in West Africa in the first decade of independent development. The author analyses the formation of political systems, the emergence of democratic institutions, and the causes of their crisis as well as the emergence of military and civilian authoritarian regimes. The author draws on legislative acts, documents of state authorities and governing bodies, evidence of contemporaries, expert assessments and explores national mechanisms of political leadership and governance using the examples of Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone. The national specifics of political systems and the characteristics of political culture exclude the possibility of highlighting the “universal” model of power relations that is valid in all countries of the region. At the same time, a comparison of these processes with similar phenomena that took place in other parts of the post-colonial world allows concluding that the development of the political space of West Africa had regionally special features. At the same time, the country approach to the topic made it possible to identify the specific influence of the state and its institutions on the life of society, as well as to form an idea of the variety of forms and methods of political rule. The significance of the scientific analysis of the formation of national statehood rests upon the incompleteness of our ideas about the ruling groups and their role in the system of public administration in West Africa. The article shows that many politically active groups of society — professional politicians, military men, officials, technocrats, and leaders of religious organizations — joined the struggle for control over state structures. Social conflicts, coupled with ethnic, regional, confessional contradictions, shook the fragile political regimes that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Democratic revival of political culture

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 39-43
Author(s):  
D.D. Omirzakova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems

In this article, a political culture is studied in conjunction with the cultural and spiritual ties formed in the course of history. The author reveals the essence of the concept of "democracy" and considers its versatility. Based on this, the essence of "democracy" is studied in combination with modern values, and its role in society is analyzed. Therefore, the fact that the form of power is also measured by culture has been examined in comparison with the political systems of history.

scholarly journals Brazil-Russia: similarities, parallels, differences. Paradoxes of the phenomenon of transition 68

2015 ◽  
pp. 68-90
Author(s):  
L. S. Okuneva
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Political Modernization ◽  
Political Structures ◽  
Radical Transformation

In the article are considered criteria and possibilities of comparative analysis of the processes of political modernization of Brazil and Russia that unfolded there at the turn of the 1980s-1990s. The article deals with the features of the formation of civil society and political culture on the stage of a radical transformation of political structures in both countries (party system, the role of political leadership, etc.). Also the article investigates character of the differences in the development of the both countries at the beginning of the XXI century.

Which Government’s Policy Style is More Conducive to Prevention?

2020 ◽  
pp. 64-86
Author(s):  
Paul Cairney ◽  
Emily St Denny
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Prevention Policy ◽  
Consensus Democracy ◽  
Majoritarian Democracy ◽  
Policy Style ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Scottish Politics

We have demonstrated that many governments face the same ‘prevention puzzle’, caused partly by universal drivers associated with multi-centric policymaking. Further, they face contradictory pressures to share power for pragmatic reasons or centralize power to seem in control. However, what if policymakers in different political systems try to solve these dilemmas in fundamentally different ways? For example, are some systems more conducive to long-term planning and more likely to facilitate central governments trying to ‘let go’ and encourage localism? This question is often central to comparative political studies involving the UK. The UK’s Westminster model often represents the archetype of a ‘majoritarian’ democracy with a top-down policymaking style and adversarial political culture. Lijphart contrasts it with ‘consensus’ democracy characterized by coalition-building between parties and political culture built on ‘inclusiveness, bargaining and compromise’. In theory, this distinction could guide our analysis of UK and Scottish preventive policymaking, since some ‘architects of devolution’ envisaged ‘new Scottish politics’ as the antidote to ‘old Westminster’, to produce a consensus democracy with greater emphasis on pragmatic policymaking. However, their reputations are inaccurate caricatures that provide a misleading way to compare UK and Scottish prevention policy.

5. The Consequences of Democracy and Authoritarian Regimes

2019 ◽  
pp. 70-96
Author(s):  
Andrea Kendall-Taylor ◽  
Natasha Lindstaedt ◽  
Erica Frantz
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Regime Type ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Key Questions

Key themes 72 Regime type and conflict 74 Regime type and terrorism 78 Regime type and economic performance 81 Regime type and quality of life 86 Regime type and corruption 89 Regime type and repression 92 Conclusion 94 Key Questions 94 Further Reading 95 So far we have focused on defining different types of political systems. We discussed how to distinguish democracy from autocracy and the rising prevalence of ...

Brokers of hope: Extractive industries and the dynamics of future-making in post-colonial Greenland

Polar Record ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Sejersen
Keyword(s):  
Extractive Industries ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Human Welfare ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Foreign Companies ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Constant State ◽  
New Beginnings ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activities ◽  
Future Work

Abstract In the ambitious strategy of Greenland to attract foreign companies to engage in extractive industries as a means to create increased national independence the question of minerals emerges as pivotal. The article investigates how two prominent Greenlandic premiers (2009–2014) translated hard rock into soft human welfare in a complex post-colonial context. The article develops the concept of “brokers of hope” which points the analytical attention to the entrepreneurial activities of future- and people-makers in a dense field of indigenous politics. By linking this concept to the idea of “resource materialities” it becomes possible to see resources as relational assemblages that are in a constant state of becoming and also to examine how different engagements with substances can make certain political struggles and political systems legitimate. Furthermore, the article investigates how these “brokers of hope” use the Chinese interests, and ideas of new cooperation with Chinese partners to underpin the intrinsic motivation to create new beginnings and thus to transform existing asymmetrical relations between Denmark and Greenland. This process is conceptualised as “double orientalism”. The article points out how hope and promise in two quite different ways are creatively used to make the future work in the present and how people and nations are made up in that process.

scholarly journals Porous Borders and Increasing Human Trafficking in West Africa: Issues and Challenges

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Omolara Akinyemi
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Money Laundering ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Illegal Migration ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Material Resources

The porous nature of West Africa’s borders, which owes its origin to the hasty way the colonialists carved up the African continent as well as the nature of their management by post-colonial states, has become serious issue in human trafficking, money laundering and other related crimes. Thus, one of the major consequences of porous borders in West Africa today is the rise of trans-border crimes. The problem lies in the complexity of these organizations and their activities, the global penetration and the threat they pose to democracy and legitimate economic development. Some of these trans-border crimes include: the narcotics trade and money laundering, illegal migration and people’s trafficking, smuggling (small and light weapons, food items, vehicles) among others. Nevertheless, the never-ending business of trafficking in humans across borders today is organized by individuals and groups, it is colluding with government officials and its devastating impact on exasperated individual victims is the major concern of this study. Data obtained from primary and secondary sources (literature review and content analysis) were deployed to carry out the study with an analytical and narrative historical method. The study concludes that human trafficking can be reduced to the barest minimum in the region, if West African human and material resources are combined together to expand regional capacity for border security.

scholarly journals Regime legitimation, not nation-building: Media commemoration of the 1917 revolutions in Russia’s neo-authoritarian state

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Precious N Chatterje-Doody ◽  
Vera Tolz
Keyword(s):  
Nation Building ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Aligned Media ◽  
Russian Identity

Scholars predicted that official Russian commemorations of the centenary of the 1917 revolutions would prioritise ‘reconciliation and accord’ between pro- and anti-communists. Such a frame might help construct a new post-Soviet Russian identity. Yet, in 2017, state-affiliated political and media actors gave accounts that contrasted with their previous narratives and with each other. Domestic state-aligned media were unprecedentedly negative about the revolutions’ events and enduring legacies, while Russia’s international broadcaster, Russia Today, emphasised the revolutions’ positive international legacies. We explain this paradox by arguing that regimes of commemoration are directly related to political systems: in neo-authoritarian regimes such as contemporary Russia, history is not used primarily for nation-building, but to build legitimacy for the ruling regime. Referencing similar practices in other neo-authoritarian regimes, we show how state-affiliated actors selectively co-opt interpretations of historical events that circulate in the global media ecology, to ‘arrest’ the ‘memory of the multitude’. Simultaneously, they reinforce core messages that legitimise the existing government.

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