scholarly journals The Pragmatics of Political Claims and Social Responses amidst Covid-19 and EndSARS Saga in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 102-118
Author(s):  
Chioma Onwubiko

There have been few stand-alone linguistic studies on the Covid-19 virus and the 2020 EndSARS protests in Nigeria. The present study intersects these two critical events with particular focus on the political claims made by the ruling class and the corresponding social responses in line with the contextual affordances shared by the participants. Searle’s speech act theoretic approach is adopted to analyse the pragmatic intentions of the illocutionary acts which political claims perform while Juvenalian satire is used to discuss the satirical elements embedded in the social responses in a bid to ridicule leadership follies and abuses. Three popular Nigerian online Newspapers and few comments from Facebook are selected for this study. Their selection is based on their coverage of these events, coverage of these political claims and popular readership evidenced in the social responses. In all, a total of 6 political claims and 25 social responses relevant to this study are analysed. The study revealed that the pragmatic relevance of these claims is embedded in its political functions of wielding undue influence over the populace, making promises driven by rhetoric and short of initiative and calculated reticence in response to social issues. Consequently, the social responses highlight and criticise leadership vices and the weak efforts of the government in dispensing its leadership interventions. It also fulfils communicative purposes of the contextual space, promote solidarity among the people while prompting change in the political class and the society at large.

2006 ◽  
pp. 54-75
Author(s):  
Klaus Peter Friedrich

Facing the decisive struggle between Nazism and Soviet communism for dominance in Europe, in 1942/43 Polish communists sojourning in the USSR espoused anti-German concepts of the political right. Their aim was an ethnic Polish ‘national communism’. Meanwhile, the Polish Workers’ Party in the occupied country advocated a maximum intensification of civilian resistance and partisan struggle. In this context, commentaries on the Nazi judeocide were an important element in their endeavors to influence the prevailing mood in the country: The underground communist press often pointed to the fate of the murdered Jews as a warning in order to make it clear to the Polish population where a deficient lack of resistance could lead. However, an agreed, unconditional Polish and Jewish armed resistance did not come about. At the same time, the communist press constantly expanded its demagogic confrontation with Polish “reactionaries” and accused them of shared responsibility for the Nazi murder of the Jews, while the Polish government (in London) was attacked for its failure. This antagonism was intensified in the fierce dispute between the Polish and Soviet governments after the rift which followed revelations about the Katyn massacre. Now the communist propaganda image of the enemy came to the fore in respect to the government and its representatives in occupied Poland. It viewed the government-in-exile as being allied with the “reactionaries,” indifferent to the murder of the Jews, and thus acting ultimately on behalf of Nazi German policy. The communists denounced the real and supposed antisemitism of their adversaries more and more bluntly. In view of their political isolation, they coupled them together, in an undifferentiated manner, extending from the right-wing radical ONR to the social democrats and the other parties represented in the underground parliament loyal to the London based Polish government. Thereby communist propaganda tried to discredit their opponents and to justify the need for a new start in a post-war Poland whose fate should be shaped by the revolutionary left. They were thus paving the way for the ultimate communist takeover


Urban History ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 568-588
Author(s):  
Frederik Buylaert ◽  
Jelten Baguet ◽  
Janna Everaert

AbstractThis article provides a comparative analysis of four large towns in the Southern Low Countries between c. 1350 and c. 1550. Combining the data on Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp – each of which is discussed in greater detail in the articles in this special section – with recent research on Bruges, the authors argue against the historiographical trend in which the political history of late medieval towns is supposedly dominated by a trend towards oligarchy. Rather than a closure of the ruling class, the four towns show a high turnover in the social composition of the political elite, and a consistent trend towards aristocracy, in which an increasingly large number of aldermen enjoyed noble status. The intensity of these trends differed from town to town, and was tied to different institutional configurations as well as different economic and political developments in each of the four towns.


Author(s):  
Luana Faria Medeiros

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND THE MINERAL SECTOR: the legislative propositions that impact the management of the territories with mining in the state of Pará – 2011 to 2016GEOGRAFÍA POLÍTICA Y EL SECTOR MINERO: las proposiciones legislativas que impactan la gestión de los territorios con la minería en el estado de Pará – 2011 a 2016O presente trabalho tem o objetivo de resgatar o campo da política na Geografia, no contexto da atividade mineral no estado do Pará, principalmente diante de vários entendimentos de que os conflitos de interesses nas sociedades e nos territórios se resolvem também pelo viés político; partindo de uma leitura teórica do conceito de território, poder e política, onde essa tríade será determinante para o entendimento das proposições legislativas dos anos de 2011 a 2016 voltadas para a mineração, e da análise da gestão política e territorial no setor mineral paraense e seus impactos na sociedade a partir das políticas públicas. A relevância da pesquisa está no aspecto político que envolve a tomada de decisão que é essencialmente importante nas relações sociais de poder do Governo do Estado do Pará que, materializadas, causam impactos no território com mineração, sobretudo na utilização da taxa mineral, instrumento regulador de ação no território.Palavras-chave: Território; Poder; Política; Mineração.ABSTRACTThe present work aims to redeem the field of politics in geography, in the context of the mineral activity in the state of Pará, mainly faced with various understanding that conflicts of interests in societies and territories also resolve by bias Political; Starting from a theoretical reading of the concept of territory, power and politics, where this triad will be decisive for the understanding of the legislative propositions of the years of 2011 to 2016 focused on mining, and the analysis of the political and territorial management in the mineral sector Pará and Its impacts on society from public Policy. The relevance of the research is in the political aspect which involves the decision making which is essentially important in the social relations of the Government of the state of Pará that, materialized, cause impacts on the territory with mining, especially in the use of the mineral rate, Action-regulating instrument in the territory.Keywords: Territory; Power; Policy; Mining.RESUMEN El presente trabajo pretende redimir el campo de la política en geografía, en el contexto de la actividad minera en el estado de Pará, frente principalmente a diversos entendimientos de que los conflictos de intereses en sociedades y territorios también se resuelven por sesgo Política. A partir de una lectura teórica del concepto de territorio, poder y política, donde esta tríada será decisiva para la comprensión de las proposiciones legislativas de los años de 2011 a 2016 se centró en la minería, y el análisis de la gestión política y territorial en el sector minero de Pará y Sus impactos en la sociedad de la política pública. La relevancia de la investigación está en el aspecto político que implica la toma de decisiones que es esencialmente importante en las relaciones sociales del gobierno del estado de Pará que, materializadas, causan impactos en el territorio con la minería, especialmente en el uso de la tasa mineral, Instrumento de regulación de la acción en el territorio.Palabras clave: Territorio; Poder; Política; Minería.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saptorini Listianingsih

This study uses van Dijk’s version of Critical Discourse Analysis perspective to examine the news construction of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia’s disbandment in two online newspapers. The two online newspapers used in this study are the Jakarta Post and Jakarta Globe. From the analysis, it shows us that based on textual analysis, the government and HTI are portrayed as two opposing parties. The government is described as ruling regime having authority to maintain national interests that is Pancasila as well as national unity, diversity, and security, while HTI is described as the organization against national interest. Thus, the disbandment of HTI is a correct step to defend national interests. This is in accordance with the developing discourse in society that the existence of HTI is considered to endanger Pancasila. Furthermore, this research revealed that the history, vision mission, previous experience and the political interest of special political elites in media has had decisive influence in transforming reality into news texts.


Author(s):  
Марина Іванівна Тімофєєва

The paper discusses the issues of social projects development to meet the citizens’ needs or to resolve certain social problems by changing the social situation. The reason for designing social projects is responding to the challenges with conflicting, multi-vector development trends or those to be adequately addressed. Social projects demonstrate their specifics. In this context, the principal expert in their assessment is not the government or the project contractor but the society. In modern realia, it is critical to build a strong social state which can not be achieved through the government’s policies alone, however the combined efforts and close cooperation between the community and the state contributes to the desired effect. evidence revealed that such partnerships have gained great significance, although it is argued that there is a need to clearly demarcate the roles of each of the parties. An appropriate information platform was created in Ukraine that optimizes the process of selecting the best projects and accessing the results after their testing. Social projects have a large variety of forms, dimensions, sources of funding and terms of execution. The issue of project feasibility remains paramount. The key criteria to evaluate the social project implementation expediency are the following: harmonization of project proposals, business goals and the overall government strategic development plan; identifying the significance of the project results for the government; specification of the social project capability to adapt for most regions of the country; social project effectiveness. Social projects have become an essential element within the social protection framework, since modern society have no more expectations as to the government assistance, but ultimately seek to search for their own tools to resolve social issues through developing social projects and programs, attracting investment, etc.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
GIANNA ENGLERT

As part of Benjamin Constant's academic “revival,” scholars have revisited the political and religious elements of his thought, but conclude that he remained uninterested in the nineteenth century's major social and economic questions. This article examines Constant's response to what would later become known as “the social question” in his Commentary on Filangieri's Work, and argues that his claims about poverty and its alleviation highlight central elements of his political liberalism, especially on the practice of citizenship in the modern age. By interpreting social issues through his original political lens of “usurpation,” Constant encouraged skepticism of social legislation and identified the political implications of a “disinherited” poor class. The lens of usurpation ultimately limited the scope of Constant's solutions to poverty. But his attention to social and economic issues prompts us to reexamine the category of “the social” and its uses in the history of liberal thought, particularly the place of class concerns in the French liberal tradition.


Author(s):  
Ron Formisano

Almost all studies of the nation’s extreme inequality of income and wealth have overlooked a critical, overarching cause of the creation of The New Gilded Age. The permanent political class has driven and sustained economic and political inequality not only with the government policies it has crafted over the past four decades. It has created inequality by becoming a self-dealing, self-serving nepotistic oligarchy that is enabling the One Percent and the .01 Percent to create an American aristocracy of wealth. American Oligarchy describes a multifaceted culture of self-dealing and corruption reaching into every sector of American society. The political class’s direct creation of economic inequality by channeling the flow of income and wealth to elites, has been described extensively; less exposed has been how its self-aggrandizement indirectly—but hidden in plain sight—creates a culture of corruption that infects the entire society.


1988 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Opoku Agyeman

Praetorianism has been authoritatively defined as a situation in which ‘the military class of a given society exercises independent political power within it by virtue of an actual or threatened use of military force’.1 A praetorian state, by elaboration, is one in which the military tends to intervene and potentially could dominate the political system. The political processes of this state favor the development of the military as the core group and the growth of its expectations as a ruling class; its political leadership (as distinguished from bureaucratic, administrative and managerial leadership) is chiefly recruited from the military, or from groups sympathetic, or at least not antagonistic, to the military. Constitutional changes are effected and sustained by the militaty, and the army frequently intervenes in the government.2


1994 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-245
Author(s):  
Okechukwu C. Iheduru

Oneof the intriguing paradoxes of Côte d'Ivoire is that while the political class has become famous for its ‘open-door’ capitalism, the Government headed by Félix Houphouët-Boigny consistently heightened its rhetoric of ‘Ivoirianisation’ through which it purported to indigenise the economy. The fact is that capitalism controlled by foreigners has generally gained the upper hand with state connivance or approval. Where local capitalism exists, it is often spearheaded by the state as participant and competitor, rather than as a facilitator of indigenous enterprise. Shipping offers a good example of this dual approach, where the state became the vanguard of a vigorous national and regional drive for maritime independence, but at the same time pursued its self-declared ‘open-door’ strategy which ensured continued domination of the sector by foreigners.


Author(s):  
Anara Kamalova

Today one of the most important problems of the Kyrgyz economy is the involvement of business to the social issues of society and social marketing. The main goal of social marketing is to raise the company's image, because it can promote a brand by solving social problems. Also compliance with the principles of social marketing in activity provides the conditions for the creation of a positive image of a company, political party or a public figure. Despite the fact that global social marketing is growing rapidly, unfortunately, in Kyrgyzstan, it has not yet received adequate development and only some businesses take responsibility for the performance of these functions and occasionally solve social issues. Analyzing the social marketing technologies in Kyrgyzstan, it should be noted that, their use is very unpopular. This is due to the lack of effective support from the government. In our opinion, it is necessary to provide tax breaks for companies that address social issues as well as provide moral and legal support to these enterprises.


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