scholarly journals The Rise of Populism and the Reconfiguration of the German Political Space

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eckehard Olbrich ◽  
Sven Banisch
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
Political Space ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Spatial Metaphors ◽  
Political Talk ◽  
Class Divisions

The paper explores the notion of a reconfiguration of political space in the context of the rise of populism and its effects on the political system. We focus on Germany and the appearance of the new right wing party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD). The idea of a political space is closely connected to the ubiquitous use of spatial metaphors in political talk. In particular the idea of a “distance” between “political positions” would suggest that political actors are situated in a metric space. Using the electoral manifestos from the Manifesto project database we investigate to which extent the spatial metaphors so common in political talk can be brought to mathematical rigor. Many scholars of politics discuss the rise of the new populism in Western Europe and the United States with respect to a new political cleavage related to globalization, which is assumed to mainly affect the cultural dimension of the political space. As such, it might replace the older economic cleavage based on class divisions in defining the dominant dimension of political conflict. An explanation along these lines suggests a reconfiguration of the political space in the sense that 1) the main cleavage within the political space changes its direction from the economic axis towards the cultural axis, but 2) also the semantics of the cultural axis itself is changing towards globalization related topics. In this paper, we empirically address this reconfiguration of the political space by comparing political spaces for Germany built using topic modeling with the spaces based on the content analysis of the Manifesto project and the corresponding categories of political goals. We find that both spaces have a similar structure and that the AfD appears on a new dimension. In order to characterize this new dimension we employ a novel technique, inter-issue consistency networks (IICN) that allow to analyze the evolution of the correlations between the political positions on different issues over several elections. We find that the new dimension introduced by the AfD can be related to the split off of a new “cultural right” issue bundle from the previously existing center-right bundle.

Winning the Argument and Moving the Fight: The Legacy of a Grassroots Humanitarian

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Mary Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Winning Strategy ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
The United States ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Trade Offs

The author of this article argues that the two-decades-long litigation struggle was necessary to push the political actors in Mississippi into a more virtuous than vicious legal/political negotiation. The second and related argument, however, is that neither the 1992 United States Supreme Court decision in Fordice nor the negotiation provided an adequate riposte to plaintiffs’ claims. The author shows that their chief counsel for the first phase of the litigation wanted equality of opportunity for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), as did the plaintiffs. In the course of explicating the role of a legal grass-roots humanitarian, Coleman suggests lessons learned and trade-offs from that case/negotiation, describing the tradeoffs as part of the political vestiges of legal racism in black public higher education and the need to move HBCUs to a higher level of opportunity at a critical juncture in the life of tuition-dependent colleges and universities in the United States. Throughout the essay the following questions pose themselves: In thinking about the Road to Fordice and to political settlement, would the Justice Department lawyers and the plaintiffs’ lawyers connect at the point of their shared strength? Would the timing of the settlement benefit the plaintiffs and/or the State? Could plaintiffs’ lawyers hold together for the length of the case and move each piece of the case forward in a winning strategy? Who were plaintiffs’ opponents and what was their strategy? With these questions in mind, the author offers an analysis of how the campaign— political/legal arguments and political/legal remedies to remove the vestiges of de jure segregation in higher education—unfolded in Mississippi, with special emphasis on the initiating lawyer in Ayers v. Waller and Fordice, Isaiah Madison

scholarly journals IMBRICAÇÕES ENTRE CULTURA POLÍTICA E RELIGIÃO: UM COMPARATIVO ENTRE A ÁREA ANDINA E O BRASIL

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Airoso da Motta
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Pentecostal Movement ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
Sociedad Civil ◽  
America Latina ◽  
Role Of Religion

RESUMO O presente artigo trata da relação entre cultura política e religião, com ênfase na América Latina, especialmente na área andina e no Brasil. De forma incidental, é realizado também um superficial cotejamento entre o panorama latino-americano e o mundo desenvolvido, o ocidente representado por Europa e Estados Unidos, em relação ao peso da religiosidade na formação da cultura política desses locais. O papel da religião na América Latina, outrora substancialmente católica, hoje presenciando o crescimento do movimento neopentecostal, é avaliada tanto no cenário dos populismos andinos, quanto no jogo político brasileiro. Ainda em termos de Brasil, é feita uma referência especial ao papel da Igreja Católica na formação de uma sociedade civil engajada e atuante, principalmente durante o regime ditatorial pós-1964. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Cultura política. Religião. América Latina.   RESUMEN Este artículo aborda la relación entre cultura política y la religión, con énfasis en América Latina, especialmente en la región andina y Brasil. Por cierto, también se lleva a cabo un examen superficial entre el panorama de América Latina y el mundo desarrollado, representado por Europa occidental y los Estados Unidos, el peso de la religión en la formación de la cultura política de estos lugares. El papel de la religión en América Latina, antes sustancialmente católica, ahora viendo el crecimiento del movimiento pentecostal, se evalúa tanto en el escenario de los movimientos populistas de los Andes, como en el juego político en Brasil. Incluso en términos de Brasil, se hace una referencia especial al papel de la Iglesia Católica en la formación de una sociedad civil activa y comprometida, especialmente durante la etapa post-1964 la dictadura. PALABRAS-CLAVE: Cultura política. Religión. América Latina.   ABSTRACT This article deals with the relationship between political culture and religion, with emphasis on Latin America, especially in the Andean region and Brazil. Incidentally, is also carried out a superficial examination between the panorama of Latin America and the developed world, represented by Western Europe and the United States, the weight of religion in shaping the political culture of these places. The role of religion in Latin America, substantially Catholic before, now seeing the growth of the Pentecostal movement, is evaluated both in the scenario of Andean populist movements and the political brazilian game. Even in terms of Brazil, is made a special reference to the Catholic Church's role in the formation of an active and engaged civil society, especially during the post-1964 dictatorship. KEYWORD: Political culture. Religion. Latin America.

Explaining Peasant Conservatism: The Western European Case

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Lewis-Beck
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Third World ◽  
Agrarian Struggles

What is the political role of the peasantry? Is it a source of revolution or reaction? For the Third World nations, where this is an issue of special importance, the answer is by no means clear. In the advanced capitalist countries, however, the political impact of peasants has become less ambiguous. Although Lipset once argued that radical consciousness in the United States had shown itself primarily through agrarian struggles, farmers have now evolved into perhaps the most conservative occupational group in America. Harrington Moore, considering the historical place of peasants in the modernization of France, England and Germany, details their revolutionary contribution. But, concerning more recent times, Huggett indicates that, in general, the peasants of Western Europe have expressed themselves politically through the parties of the Right. The contemporary evidence presented here demonstrates that these strong right-wing sentiments on the part of the peasantry persist.

Profiting From the “Trump Bump”

2019 ◽  
pp. 375-391
Author(s):  
Sergei A. Samoilenko ◽  
Andrey Miroshnichenko
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Deliberation ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Media Ecosystem ◽  
Contemporary Media

This chapter contributes to scholarship in the fields of media ecology and political communication by investigating the effects of the Trump bump in media-driven democracy. Specifically, it explains how the media's obsession with Donald Trump allowed them to capitalize on his political brand, which in turn contributed to changing the tone of political discourse in the United States. The effects of mediatization, including click-bait framing, increased negativity, and person-centered media coverage, had a distinct impact on the behavior of political actors and the political system as a whole. The dominance of marketing logic in contemporary media democracies provides a compelling argument for critical investigation of brand appropriation in political communication and its impact on the state of democracy. This chapter advocates for the further investigation of the current media ecosystem in order to move toward a public deliberation model that would support enhanced media literacy and citizen engagement in public policy debates.

Council of Europe

1952 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-142
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Session ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Eastern And Western Europe

Responding to an invitation issued in May 1951, fourteen members of the Congress of the United States met in Strasbourg on November 20, 1951 in a special session with twenty members of the Council of Europe. The United States delegation included Senators Benton, Green, Henrickson, Hickenlooper, Humphrey, McMahon and Wiley and Representatives Cox, Ellsworth, Judd, Keating, O'Toole, Reams and Smith. Council representatives were Mssrs. Spaak (Belgium), Brentano (Germany), Boothby (United Kingdom), Crosbie (Ireland), Gerstenmaier (Germany), Glenvil-Hall (United Kingdom), Jacini (Italy), Kieft (Netherlands), Mercouris (Greece), de Menthon (France), Moe (Norway), Mollet (France), Ohlin (Sweden), Parri (Italy), Reynaud (France), Schmid (Germany), Treves (Italy), Urguplu (Turkey), de VallePoussin (Belgium), and Lord Layton (United Kingdom). The session was to discuss “the European Union, its problems, progress, prospects, and place in the Western world”; specifically the agenda included: 1) the economic aspects of rearmament; 2) the political aspects of European defense; 3) the dollar gap and trade between eastern and western Europe; and 4) the problem of refugees and emigration.

Corporate Influence and World War II: Resolving the New Deal Political Stalemate

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Waddell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
State Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
The New Deal

Since many scholars focus on the New Deal as the foundation for modern U.S. governance, it is widely assumed that the United States is characterized by a weak state as compared to the welfare states of Western Europe. Yet, in the wake of World War II, the United States established a national security “warfare state” that rivaled the welfare states of Western Europe in scope of authority and operations and in its isolation from popular forces. The wartime redirection of U.S. state power also resolved the political stalemate stemming from the executive-congressional and business-government tensions roused during the New Deal. In fact, the course of wartime statebuilding was in many ways a response to the political tensions of the New Deal and to the expectation that the organization of wartime mobilization would indelibly define the postwar organization of U.S. state power. As this article argues, wartime mobilization resolved the New Deal political stalemate in large part by granting various segments of the corporate community the opportunity to influence the shape of U.S. national state power.

The Political Geometry of the Gulf War

1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-209
Author(s):  
Theodore Caplow
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
The Soviet Union

In the course of World War II, the seven great powers of 1939 – Germany, the Soviet Union. Britain. France, Italy, Japan and the United States – were temporarily reduced to two. each commanding awesome strength, and each posing a realistic threat of world domination. The huge forces of the Soviet Union at the edge of western Europe were positioned to move all the way to the Atlantic, thus achieving the control of the Eurasian heartland that, according to geopolitical doctrine, would confer world domination. There were fifth columns prepared to assist them within most European and Asiatic nations.

scholarly journals Judicial Supremacy, Judicial Power, and the Finality of Constitutional Rulings

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 1067-1081
Author(s):  
Scott E. Lemieux
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Judicial Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Functions ◽  
Political Empowerment ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Judicial Supremacy ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Constitutional Meaning

It is widely assumed that the Supreme Court of the United States has established supremacy over contested constitutional questions, with the power to make final determinations of constitutional meaning. Since the 1960s, most scholars have assumed that legislatures and courts are engaged in a power struggle in which countermajoritarian courts can assert their will over majoritarian legislatures. More recently, a new generation of scholarship has demonstrated that judicial power often expands as a result of the willful empowerment of the judiciary by actors in other branches. Most scholars working with the latter framework, however, do not dispute that the United States has a regime of judicial supremacy—they simply see the political empowerment of courts as an explanation for why judicial supremacy has emerged despite the initially weak position of the judiciary. I argue that the insights of the political empowerment literature should be pressed further. It makes little sense to use the general label “judicial supremacy” for a system in which judicial power remains dependent on choices made by other political actors. Examining several cases that are generally seen as canonical examples of assertions of judicial supremacy, I find that courts were unable to settle constitutional debates, and in addition often either were unable to achieve their policy aims or did not actually require other political actors to do anything. The logic of new empirical findings about the sources of judicial power should compel scholars to question whether aggressive assertions of supremacy in judicial opinions are in fact accurate descriptions of how judicial power functions in the United States.

Conclusion: Political Philosophy and Political Change

2019 ◽  
pp. 265-278
Author(s):  
Burke A. Hendrix
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Ethical Choices ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
Political Choices

The political environment to which Aboriginal people must respond has been constructed by others, and it does not respond easily or quickly to deliberative calls for change. Rather, it must be navigated instead, despite the difficulties and discomfort associated with doing so. The concluding chapter revisits the central claims of the book as a whole, arguing for the importance of careful normative analysis where the political choices of disadvantaged political actors are involved. It defends the importance of strongly contextualized work on the ethics of political action by groups facing particular patterns of persistent injustice and responding to particular political opportunity structures, while recommending nuanced comparative work on the ethical choices available to groups facing different patterns of injustice than those experienced by Aboriginal peoples (e.g., African Americans in the United States).

The Isolated Periphery

2019 ◽  
pp. 127-168
Author(s):  
Daniel W. Bromley
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Meaningful Work ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Managerial Capitalism ◽  
Sectarian Conflict ◽  
The Rich ◽  
A Minor

Possessive individualism afflicts countries at the periphery of the rich metropole that are also trapped by economic isolation, dysfunctional governance, and social alienation. Households in these countries are precariously isolated relative to the political and economic power of international commerce. Managerial capitalism has rendered millions of these households as little more than residual suppliers of cheap labor. Why are these poor countries unable to offer compelling livelihoods to their citizens? Their colonial past is a part of the explanation, but contemporary capitalism continues to bear down on their economic prospects. In the absence of meaningful work, there can be no mystery why sectarian conflict emerges. And then such conflict both encourages the emergence of authoritarian leaders and reinforces it. The political climate in many countries of the isolated periphery is a minor variant of what is now occurring in parts of western Europe, Great Britain, and the United States.

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