scholarly journals Definition issues of concepts of social cleavages in Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nkaka Raphael
Keyword(s):  
Social Cleavages

Bicameralism

2019 ◽  
pp. 60-71
Author(s):  
Cecilia Testa
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Constitutional Choice ◽  
Legislative Power ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
Important Purpose ◽  
Two Bodies

In modern democracies, the legislative power is vested in parliaments with diverse organizational structures. Bicameral legislatures, requiring concurrent deliberation by two bodies, are present in about one-third of the world’s countries. Bicameralism typically serves the important purpose of accommodating the representation of heterogeneous interests from distinct social cleavages or geographic entities, but it is also associated with advantages such as greater stability of policies, increased accountability, and better quality of legislation. These benefits, however, only arise under specific circumstances, and the greater procedural complexity brought about by two chambers is not without costs. Disagreement between the two chambers often leads to costly legislative gridlock. Bicameralism can also open the door to pressure groups advancing their requests for favorable legislation when the chambers do not have time to carefully consider its consequences. The constitutional choice of bicameralism and its optimality ultimately rest on the subtle balance between its costs and benefits.

scholarly journals From Illiberal Democracy to Military Authoritarianism: Intra-Elite Struggle and Mass-Based Conflict in Deeply Polarized Thailand

2018 ◽  
Vol 681 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prajak Kongkirati
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Major Part ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Class Structure ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Illiberal Democracy ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Popular Nationalism ◽  
The Masses

Thailand fits the pattern of pernicious polarized politics identified in this volume, where a previously excluded group successfully gains political power through the ballot box, governs unilaterally to pursue radical reforms, and produces a backlash from the traditional power elites. In Thailand, elite conflict has been a major part of the story, but this article argues that political polarization there cannot be merely understood as “elite-driven”: conflict among the elites and the masses, and the interaction between them, produced polarized and unstable politics. Violent struggle is caused by class structure and regional, urban-rural disparities; elite struggle activates the existing social cleavages; and ideological framing deepens the polarization. While the Yellow Shirts and traditional elites want to restore and uphold the “Thai-style democracy” with royal nationalism, the Red Shirts espouse the “populist democracy” of strong elected government with popular nationalism and egalitarian social order.

The Estate Origins of Democracy in Russia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomila V. Lankina
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Professional Class ◽  
Soviet Russia

A devastating challenge to the idea of communism as a 'great leveller', this extraordinarily original, rigorous, and ambitious book debunks Marxism-inspired accounts of its equalitarian consequences. It is the first study systematically to link the genesis of the 'bourgeoisie-cum-middle class' – Imperial, Soviet, and post-communist – to Tzarist estate institutions which distinguished between nobility, clergy, the urban merchants and meshchane, and peasants. It demonstrates how the pre-communist bourgeoisie, particularly the merchant and urban commercial strata but also the high human capital aristocracy and clergy, survived and adapted in Soviet Russia. Under both Tzarism and communism, the estate system engendered an educated, autonomous bourgeoisie and professional class, along with an oppositional public sphere, and persistent social cleavages that continue to plague democratic consensus. This book also shows how the middle class, conventionally bracketed under one generic umbrella, is often two-pronged in nature – one originating among the educated estates of feudal orders, and the other fabricated as part of state-induced modernization.

Complexities, Misconceptions, and Context

2018 ◽  
pp. 5-34
Author(s):  
Anthony Ware ◽  
Costas Laoutides
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
International Community ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Power Struggle ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Advocacy Campaigns ◽  
Per Se

This chapter introduces the complexity of Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ conflict, and address a series of misconceptions widely held about it in the international community. It discusses the scale of recent violence, extent of displacement and degree of international condemnation, including discussion of Aung San Suu Kyi’s failure to adequately address the conflict. It also expresses serious concern about international advocacy campaigns, arguing many undermine any chance of cooperation by the very actors who are most required to implement any solution. The chapter then deals with three misconceptions about the conflict in some detail, arguing that the conflict is not recent, not merely oppression of a despised ethnoreligious minority, and not about denial of citizenship and statelessness per se. Instead, it notes profound social cleavages dating back more than a century, with multiple bouts of devastating violence. It identifies the conflict as tripartite, between the Burman-led state, local ethnic Rakhine and the ‘Rohingya’. And it argues that citizenship and statelessness is a by-product of a deeper power struggle over Myanmar polity and political power. The chapter concludes with an introduction to the geographical, historical, economic and socio-political context.

Who Gets What, When, and How from Chinese Social Health Insurance Expansion?

2020 ◽  
pp. 160-189
Author(s):  
Xian Huang
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Social Health Insurance ◽  
Social Health ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Welfare Benefits ◽  
Social Divisions ◽  
Cleavage Lines ◽  
Public Versus Private ◽  
Line P ◽  
Urban Versus

Chapter 7 examines the stratification of Chinese social health insurance in the first decade of the 2000s. Based on analyses of administration data and national social survey data, it examines the variations in social welfare benefits across social strata, addressing who got what, when, and how as a result of China’s social health insurance expansion between the years of 2003 and 2011. It shows that social health insurance expansion did significantly broaden Chinese citizens’ access to basic health care. However, the expansion not only reinforced existing social divisions but also generated new ones within both urban and rural groups. Chinese social health insurance is highly stratified along three cleavage lines among recipients: (1) urban versus rural; (2) labor market insiders versus outsiders; and (3) public versus private sectors. These multiple social cleavages are interwoven to fragment society and privilege elite groups over others without fracturing society along a single and deep class line.

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