scholarly journals How Water is Reshaping the Political Landscape

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Rood

New Zealanders place great value on the quality of their freshwater rivers, streams and lakes for recreation, conservation and food gathering. But over the last 25 years they have become increasingly concerned at the deterioration in water quality, the loss of swimming holes and fishing spots, and the impact of pollution on native and valued introduced species and their habitat. The issue has deeply divided the community and become more and more acrimonious. Recreational and conservation groups blame industrial agriculture for much of the decline, and accuse central and local government of turning a blind eye to the problem and failing to protect the environment. Scientists have added their voices to the debate, but big agriculture and its lobby groups have responded aggressively, denying the problem exists, attacking their accusers and warning government against tackling the problem with tighter controls. Public frustration at the political paralysis and inaction has seen water quality become New Zealanders’ biggest single concern. The issue is now firmly established on the political agenda and one any political party wanting to govern the country ignores at its peril.

Author(s):  
Laura Oso ◽  
Ana López-Sala ◽  
Jacobo Muñoz-Comet

This article offers a state of the art of research on migration policies, participation and the political construction of immigration in Spain. It starts with an overview of migration policy, addressing the impact of the 2008 economic crisis on the configuration of the political agenda. Secondly, it addresses the political participation of immigrants in Spain and their role as “new” voters. Finally, the appearance of the extreme right political party VOX has shifted the classic debates on the attitudes of the population towards immigration and built a new anti-immigration discourse. The article argues that academic interest and scientific production have been modulated in line with the various phases of Spain’s configuration as a country of immigration. The text ends with some reflections on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, which has opened up a period of major challenge and uncertainty.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-78
Author(s):  
Qamar Abbas Cheema ◽  
Syed Qandil Abbas

Pakistan's confessional parties are re-inventing themselves. The Parties that are carrying a legacy from the time before partition are struggling to keep themselves relevant in mainstream political discourse. Pakistan's political landscape is changing because of the rise of Tehreek-i-Insaf, a progressive center-right political party that has altered the electioneering environment in Pakistan. Two main confessional parties Jamaat Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulma e Islam Fazal Ur Rehman (JUI-F) are trying to develop an inclusive and pluralist political agenda. JI is a hierarchical Islamic party whereas JUI-F is a network Islamic party. Political Islam is in the process of shrinking in Pakistan because of the rise of political alternatives and outdatedness of the political and electoral discourse of confessional parties. Political Islam in Pakistan is changing by improving its ideological, political, and organizational structure in relation to its contemporary rivals. Changes in political Islam are not because of intellectual diversity and growth within confessional parties but to manage and compete for the rise of competing domestic political perspectives. Transnational connections with like-minded Islamist groups have scaled-down as the like-minded religio-ideological partners are termed as extremists and terrorists.


2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahid Hasnan

This paper examines the impact of the political party structure on the incentives for politicians to focus on patronage versus service delivery improvements in Pakistan. By analysing inter-provincial variations in the quality of service delivery in Pakistan, the paper argues that the more fragmented, factionalised, and polarised the party systems, the greater are the incentives for patronage, weakening service delivery improvements. Fragmentation and factionalism both exacerbate the information problems that voters have in assigning credit (blame) for service delivery improvements (deterioration), thereby creating the incentives for politicians to focus on targeted benefits. Polarisation, particularly ethnic polarisation, reduces the ability of groups to agree on the provision of public goods, again causing politicians to favour the delivery of targeted benefits.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 868
Author(s):  
Suryo Gilang Romadlon

Coalition can be the effective way to collect the power for struggle in the competitive politics. In Indonesia, after the reform era, the coalition system being the most popular system that granted by the constitution. Phrase ”coalition of political parties” in the article number 6A point (2) UUD 1945 shows us that the coalition system is the constitutional and the fix way. From all the historical story about the coalition of political parties in Indonesia, we can make a conclusion that the coalition system wich is exist in Indonesia is just coalition made by interest, not ideology. Coalition only to reach the “threshold”. Political parties only thinking about how to complete the mission to propose the candidate. Surely, That’s all the problem. We can see that the coalition system in Indonesia just make some paradox. For example, in presidential election 2014, in one hand we can see the batle between “KMP” and “KIH”, but in the other hand, we cand find a different situation in local politic competition. On 9 December 2015, The simultaneous regional election was completed held, and I saw that the battle between KMP and KIH wasn’t happened in that moment. Based on the fact from KPU, we can find in some region, the inconsistence coalition was built by the political parties which is member of KMP join with member of KIH. That condition shows us that the coalition system in Indonesia is just based on interest. There is no linear/consistence coalition between central and local, so automatically we can find a question, “where is the platform, vision and mission of political party in Indonesia? And How about the impact to the bureaucratic system between central and local government?. Finally, The Author is trying to answer the questions in this paper.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  

Abstract In light of the 2019 European Parliament elections, signs of a deteriorating public health and the rise of populist radical parties elected in office in some Western countries, this urgent workshop focuses on making sense of the impact of politics on public health. There is a clear need for in-depth understanding and more effectively engaging with political processes that affect health. Political science articulates the understanding and improvement of the conditions under which politics is able to produce effective and legitimate solutions to policy problems. It involves a systematic inquiry into basic features of the political economy such as institutions, partisanship and the organization of labour markets. Understanding this political landscape of public health helps to define the political options for organizing effective influence on healthy policies and outcomes. One component in this health political landscape is that of political parties and partisanship. Political parties structure modern politics because they are the teams on which politicians compete for power. They mattered enormously in the post-war years of stable party systems, and their more recent crises and reconstitutions also matter enormously (as a quick look around Western Europe should show). Politicians, and parties, are motivated by the electoral imperative to seek and stay in office. Once elected, politicians on any issue will be looking to claim credit for good outcomes and avoid blame for bad outcomes. If the issue is one that lacks ‘traceability’ such that it produces no obvious credit or blame, politicians will take positions that please their followers and target voters. This workshop presents five studies on political parties and health, asking the questions ‘Do political parties matter to health? What do political parties talk about when they talk about health? And what do they actually do to health?’ In three studies a health screening was performed on political party manifestos and electoral programmes with additional explorative interviews. Two other studies dive into the academic literature on political parties and partisanship and their presumed effect on health and welfare policies. After these five presentations the panel, consisting of dr. Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, dr. Holly Jarman and prof Scott Greer, will briefly reflect upon the findings and implications for public health policy and politics. The participants of the workshop will be engaged in an interactive discussion with the panel and presenters focusing on the questions of (a) whether and how, in participants’ home countries, (radical and other) political parties address and affect health and welfare policies; (b) how participants can analyse this themselves; and (c) how they can act upon this evidence. We end the workshop with five key messages for follow up research and strategy. Key messages The 2019 European Parliament elections, signs of a deteriorating public health and the rise of populist radical parties provide opportunity and necessity to understand and influence health politics. Political party manifesto screening detects possible public health opportunities and threats, but party influence on policies is mediated by party system requirements varying across countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 632-638
Author(s):  
Stephanie A Bryson

This reflexive essay examines the adoption of an intentional ‘ethic of care’ by social work administrators in a large social work school located in the Pacific Northwest. An ethic of care foregrounds networks of human interdependence that collapse the public/private divide. Moreover, rooted in the political theory of recognition, a care ethic responds to crisis by attending to individuals’ uniqueness and ‘whole particularity.’ Foremost, it rejects indifference. Through the personal recollections of one academic administrator, the impact of rejecting indifference in spring term 2020 is described. The essay concludes by linking the rejection of indifference to the national political landscape.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1683
Author(s):  
Nandini Menon ◽  
Grinson George ◽  
Rajamohananpillai Ranith ◽  
Velakandy Sajin ◽  
Shreya Murali ◽  
...  

Turbidity and water colour are two easily measurable properties used to monitor pollution. Here, we highlight the utility of a low-cost device—3D printed, hand-held Mini Secchi disk (3DMSD) with Forel-Ule (FU) colour scale sticker on its outer casing—in combination with a mobile phone application (‘TurbAqua’) that was provided to laymen for assessing the water quality of a shallow lake region after demolition of four high-rise buildings on the shores of the lake. The demolition of the buildings in January 2020 on the banks of a tropical estuary—Vembanad Lake (a Ramsar site) in southern India—for violation of Indian Coastal Regulation Zone norms created public uproar, owing to the consequences of subsequent air and water pollution. Measurements of Secchi depth and water colour using the 3DMSD along with measurements of other important water quality variables such as temperature, salinity, pH, and dissolved oxygen (DO) using portable instruments were taken for a duration of five weeks after the demolition to assess the changes in water quality. Paired t-test analyses of variations in water quality variables between the second week of demolition and consecutive weeks up to the fifth week showed that there were significant increases in pH, dissolved oxygen, and Secchi depth over time, i.e., the impact of demolition waste on the Vembanad Lake water quality was found to be relatively short-lived, with water clarity, colour, and DO returning to levels typical of that period of year within 4–5 weeks. With increasing duration after demolition, there was a general decrease in the FU colour index to 17 at most stations, but it did not drop to 15 or below, i.e., towards green or blue colour indicating clearer waters, during the sampling period. There was no significant change in salinity from the second week to the fifth week after demolition, suggesting little influence of other factors (e.g., precipitation or changes in tidal currents) on the inferred impact of demolition waste. Comparison with pre-demolition conditions in the previous year (2019) showed that the relative changes in DO, Secchi depth, and pH were very high in 2020, clearly depicting the impact of demolition waste on the water quality of the lake. Match-ups of the turbidity of the water column immediately before and after the demolition using Sentinel 2 data were in good agreement with the in situ data collected. Our study highlights the power of citizen science tools in monitoring lakes and managing water resources and articulates how these activities provide support to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets on Health (Goal 3), Water quality (Goal 6), and Life under the water (Goal 14).


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
MANOJ KUMAR SHUKLA

Present study points out the impact of Lockdown on the health of the Yamuna river at Delhi stretch by comparing prelockdown and Post-lockdown period by studying the reports of pollution monitoring agencies. Delhi segment of the Yamuna is highly polluted, where alongwith domestic sewage a huge quantity of industrial waste is being discharged continuously without proper treatment. Pre lockdown (March 2020) water quality parameters at three sampling stations named as Palla, Nizammuddin Bridge and Okhla barrage U/s in Delhi were, pH were 8.7, 7.3 and 7.2, DO were 17.1 mg/L, not detected in later two sites, BOD were 7.9 mg/L, 57 mg/L and 27 mg/L and COD were 28 mg/L, 90 mg/L and 95 mg/L respectively and postlockdown period (April 2020) the pH was 7.8, 7.2 and 7.1, DO was 8.3 mg/L, 2.4 mg/L and 1.2 mg/L BOD was 2 mg/L, 5.6 mg/ L and 6.1 mg/L and COD were 6 mg/L, 16 mg/L and 18 mg/L respectively. The study of these parameters at three sampling stations reveals that the lack of industrial pollutants discharging due to nationwide lockdown for COVID-19 pandemic had positive effect on water quality of this river. Water quality could be maintained by planned establishment of industries and setup of ETP with without gap between generation and treatment.


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