La denuncia della corruzione in Spagna come mezzo di accesso al potere (1989-1996)

2009 ◽  
pp. 79-94
Author(s):  
Recio Glicerio Sánchez ◽  
Calero Francisco Sevillano

- This article examines the public denunciation of political life in Spain during the second period of the long years of PSOE government, presided over by Felipe González from 1982 to 1996. During those years, with a consolidated democracy in place, the main opposition party, the conservative PP, called on the socialist leaders to deal with the corruption among those holding political office - particularly from the beginning of 1989. Not only did the denunciation of the various cases of corruption and of the "dirty war" against ETA terrorism occupy the political agenda as a means of challeng-ing and discrediting the government, but it also led to a "corrosion" of the political discourse that had characterized the democratic transition in Spain. With regard to these events in recent political life in Spain, the article emphasizes that political scandal is a slightly different phenomenon from corruption, understood as an abuse of the law that undermines the political system.

1962 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-182
Author(s):  
Frank C. Darling

The seizure of the government by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat in September, 1957, was more than the assumption of political power by another military leader in Thailand, and the overthrow of the former regime headed by Field Marshal Phibun Songkhram marked a definite turning point in the evolution of the Thai political system. After experimenting with constitutional democracy for almost twenty-five years, Thailand turned to a new form of political rule. The purpose of this article is to survey briefly the development of the Thai political system since the beginning of the constitutional regime in June, 1932, and to assess the present trend of the Sarit government in a country where military officers have long played a pre-eminent role in the political life of the nation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (44) ◽  
pp. 73-98
Author(s):  
Regina Solová

Political Mechanisms of the Selection of Literary Texts for Foreign Readers. Example of the Monthly Polska: czasopismo ilustrowane in the 1950s The monthly Polska: czasopismo ilustrowane [Poland: an illustrated magazine] was created in 1954 as a tool to promote the achievements of the People’s Republic of Poland abroad. It was translated into English, French, Spanish, German and Russian. The article presents an analysis of the mechanisms of the selection of literary texts for the magazine in the context of changes that took place in the country’s socio-political life in the 1950s. The freedom of choice allowed to the publishers remained within the limits defined by the authorities. The selection of texts depended, among others, on their authors’ state awards and on the plain fact that they had been formerly accepted for printing in the domestic market. The „thaw” in Poland led to changes in the way of selecting texts in the monthly. From 1956, the magazine began to present previously banned authors, who criticized the political system and wrote works in opposition to socialist realism. However, the propaganda goals of the authorities were not abandoned. The orientation of the contents was supposed to show the authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland in a positive light, discredit the government in exile and emphasize the friendship between Poland and the USSR.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 171-181
Author(s):  
Upul Abeyrathne

There is a voluminous literature on poverty alleviation efforts of Sri Lanka. The present engagement with discourse on evolving political discourse on poverty alleviation touches a different aspect, i.e. instrumental utility of policy in keeping and maintaining the status quo. The study is based on examination of the content of public policies depending on the major strand of thought associated in different eras since colonial presence in Sri Lanka. It helps to identify the continuities and discontinuities of policy discourse. The discussion on the evolution of public policy on poverty alleviation revealed that issues of the poor has occupied a priority in the political agenda of the government whenever a political movement is active in politicizing the poor. However, the very objective of such policies were not aimed at empowering the poor but keeping them subordinated. The study concludes that poverty remains unresolved due to poverty of politics.


Author(s):  
E. V. DUNAEVA

The article is devoted to the role of Shiite clergy in the Islamic revolution and in the political life of Islamic Republic of Iran. The author attempts to analize the possibilities of the Islamic regime’s survival in the context of modernizing society. IRI is a special model of the state system that embodies the idea of the Islamic rule of Imam Khomeini. Its political, socioeconomic, legal spheres are based on Islamic principles. The clergy managed to establish almost absolute control over secular institutions. At the same time, the Iranian regime can not be regarded as the only theocratic. It combines Islamic ideas with republican principles and admits democracy as a form of political participation. Iran’s political system combines elements of the modern Islamic theocracy with republican principles. Over nearly 40-years of its existence (since 1979), the political system underwent certain transformations which were caused by the economic and sociocultural development of the society and external factors. The liberalization of the economic sphere and the development of political parties put on the agenda political changes. Liberal-minded clergy relying on the ideas of religious modernism support the strengthening of democratic elements within the Islamic Republic. Some of them are ready to abandon the principle of “velayat-e faqih” or to reduce the authority of the leader in political sphere. They initiated reforms in political and public sphere.However, the clergy standing on the positions of fundamentalism, is not ready to reduce the Islamic component. They condemn the modernization trends intensified in Iranian society in recent years and are trying to bring the country back to the first post-revolutionary decade. However, the society is not ready to share such approaches. During the recent election campaigns Iranians have supported the liberal forces. The events of early 2018 demonstrated the protest potential of the society.This shows the desire of the citizens for further democratization of the political system and secularization of the public life. Although, there are calls for overthrowing the dictatorship of the clergy among the opposition groups in the West and inside the country. Hopes for the democratisation of the regime have not been lost. If external factors do not have a destructive effect, then the implementation of the Iranian model of modernization can become a reality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 80-89
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Skiperskikh ◽  

In the article, the author shows how the government and the opposition interact in the political process. Actors representing opposition constantly produce political texts illustrating their alternative views. The existence of the opposition subject in a critical state in regards to the existing institutions of power is historically predetermined, which proves an active reflection from prominent theorists of political thought. A free dialogue of the government and the opposition is hardly possible in every single political system. In the case of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, this dialogue may be difficult. The consequences of free will for the subject of opposition can be quite severe. The author analyzes the political discourse of opposition as exemplified by the Soviet culture. The author is interested in the metaphors of opposition and their political context, which seems to be an inevitable condition and framework limiting creativity of one or another intellectual. The author studies a number of texts of the Soviet culture representatives, who used metaphors of opposition, and had a reputation of troublemakers. Such position of an intellectual generates sanctions of the repressive machine and predetermines very specific forms of presenting texts of opposition and apophasis. For convincing his own arguments, the author constantly turns to the heritage of the USSR representatives of unofficial culture in.


2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 500-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Itzhak Galnoor

AbstractJudicialization in this article is the predisposition to find a solution in adjudication to types of dispute that had been settled previously in a socio-economic-political framework. “Legislative judicialization” (or over-legalization) is also a predisposition according to which the variegated spheres of our lives need to be regulated through a formal code of laws. In the political arena the questions relating to judicialization are: Is the assumption that legal decisions are able to save politics – mainly democratic values and abiding by the derived rules of the game – a valid one? Can one institution of the political system (broadly defined) – the law court – rescue the two other, the parliament and the government, in difficult times? Assuming that “successful” intervention by the judicial institution will cause the other two to abide strictly by the rule of law, could it at the same time curb their effective steering capacity, which is their main task? And conversely, if the steering capacity and the leadership ability to make “good” decisions are so flimsy – would it not be desirable to have judicial review to ensure that the political institutions at least make “proper” decisions that are not extremely unreasonable? These are the main questions discussed in this article.The findings regarding the judicialization of politics point out not only to the eagerness of the law courts, but mainly to the weakening of the political system, to the point where the Knesset, the Government and the political parties find it most difficult to function without the assistance given them by the law courts. And yet, did the judicial branch “save” the other two branches? Obviously, this has not happened thus far. In Israel, a profound democratic deficit exists in the political system due to the fact, among other things, that the political institutions are incapable of coping with the continuing internal and external crises. In Israeli society, judicialization is but a symptom of a wide-ranging predicament that requires a richer bill of fare than more laws and more adjudication. It consists of: the social grounding of democratic values; renewal of trust and confidence in the political institutions; strengthening the political parties; recognition of the contribution of civil organizations and the media; strengthening the local authorities, and more. This is the real arena, because there is a breaking point to the over-judicialization of the public sphere beyond which lies total anarchy.


Res Publica ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-155
Author(s):  
Guido Dierickx

Most attempts at parliamentary reform in Belgium are prompted by the desire to support a Parliament which is being marginalized by political actors such as the government and the parties. These efforts are inspired by traditional constitutional thinking. Initially parliaments were designed as democratie bodies which should challenge the aristocratie government. Nowadays, parliament has quite another function. It has to facilitate the political information and to counteract the incompetence (and alienation) of citizens who are willing but unable to participate in an increasingly complex political system.Reform should aim at restoring the significance ofpublic debates in parliament.In order to be informative these debates should focus on important issues of the political agenda and catch the attention of the general public. Within the constraints of our political system it should be possible to upgrade the early debates on budget allocations and the late debates on the evaluation of public policy effectiveness.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2 (16)) ◽  
pp. 123-132
Author(s):  
Samvel Abrahamyan

Peculiarities of British parliamentary discourse are largely conditioned by context models of its participants, which influence the style and linguistic forms of their speeches. As context models are culturally predetermined, linguistic means used in parliamentary discourse have also certain linguocultural peculiarities. Centuries-old traditions of British parliamentary system find their reflection in the language and form an essential part of British parliamentary discourse. The adherence to these communicative norms, including different rituals, ceremonies and traditions peculiar to British political life and British political discourse, has a special symbolic meaning and is aimed at maintaining stability of the political system, respect for the state power and its authority.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 20-33
Author(s):  
Moeketsi Kali

Bureaucracy represents an ideal form of public administration. Its robust structure facilitates the attainment of public goals. It introduces fairness, rationality, discipline and equity into the public administration. Regardless of its desirability, it is not conveying the expected outcomes in Lesotho. This paper is largely based on secondary data and content analysis to unearth the causes of the poor performance of bureaucracy in the country. It found out that the rent-seeking behaviour of elected public officials taints the merits of bureaucracy so that scholars are lured to believe that it is dysfunctional. The behaviour of the political office-holders in Lesotho demonstrates that they are determined to intimidate technocrats who hamper their interests. Such practices overshadow the desirability of bureaucracy. Top political office-bearers in the country prefer infiltrating the bureaucracy with unqualified civil servants for political gains. They have even coopted the judges so that they can manipulate the public administration with impunity. However, the government of Lesotho can correct these abnormalities by reinforcing the existing laws and strengthening the impartiality of the judiciary.


2017 ◽  
pp. 110-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Kużelewska

This article analyses the impact of constitutional referendums on the political system in Italy. There were three constitutional referendums conducted in 2001, 2006 and 2016. All of them have been organised by the ruling parties, however, only the first one was successful. In the subsequent referendums, the proposals for amending the constitution have been rejected by voters. The article finds that lack of public support for the government resulted in voting „no” in the referendum.


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