The Political Organisation of the Masses

2020 ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
M. Beer
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
pp. 135406882110238
Author(s):  
Olga Zelinska ◽  
Joshua K Dubrow

Whereas social scientists have devised various ways to measure representation gaps between the political elite and the masses across nations and time, few datasets can be used to measure this gap for particular social groups. Minding the gap between what parties social groups vote for and what parties actually attain seats in parliament can reveal the position of social groups in the political power structure. We help to fill this gap with a new publicly available dataset, Party Representation of Social Groups (PaReSoGo), consisting of 25 countries and 150 country-years, and a method for its construction. We used the European Social Survey 2002–2016 and ParlGov data for this time span to create a Dissimilarity Index. To demonstrate the utility and flexibility in the combination of cross-national surveys and administrative data, we chose social groups of gender, age, and education, as well as intersectional groups based on gender and age, and attitudinal groups. We conclude this research note with empirical illustrations of PaReSoGo’s use.


2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-343
Author(s):  
Francis Dupuis-Déri

Résumé.L'étude des discours des «pères fondateurs» du Canada moderne révèle qu'ils étaient ouvertement antidémocrates. Comment expliquer qu'un régime fondé dans un esprit antidémocratique en soit venu à être identifié positivement à la démocratie? S'inspirant d'études similaires sur les États-Unis et la France, l'analyse de l'histoire du mot «démocratie» révèle que le Canada a été associé à la «démocratie» en raison de stratégies discursives des membres de l'élite politique qui cherchaient à accroître leur capacité de mobiliser les masses à l'occasion des guerres mondiales, et non pas à la suite de modifications constitutionnelles ou institutionnelles qui auraient justifié un changement d'appellation du régime.Abstract.An examination of the speeches of modern Canada's “founding fathers” lays bare their openly anti-democratic outlook. How did a regime founded on anti-democratic ideas come to be positively identified with democracy? Drawing on the examples of similar studies carried out in the United States and France, this analysis of the history of the term “democracy” in Canada shows that the country's association with “democracy” was not due to constitutional or institutional changes that might have justified re-labelling the regime. Instead, it was the result of the political elite's discursive strategies, whose purpose was to strengthen the elite's ability to mobilize the masses during the world wars.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-81
Author(s):  
Mubarra Javed ◽  
Naushaba Haq

This research paper explores the factors behind the political instability and economic inequality in Pakistan, especially during General Zia’s military regime as reflected in Nadeem Aslam’s novel ‘Season of the Rainbirds’ (1993), in the light of the theory of New Historicism. The study highlights that the military intervened in political affairs and imposed martial law in 1977. The parliamentary democratic process in Pakistan did not get stability due to certain factors, such as feudal dynasty, social and economic inequalities, exploitation of masses, and low literacy rate. The feudal elites have always supported the military in this process to seek their vested interests, as their dominance over political affairs has been great. On the other hand, the masses’ dependency on their land for economic survival has worsened the situation. This study is based on a qualitative research approach and has been carried out by doing a textual analysis of the selected excerpts from the novel ‘Season of the Rainbirds’. The findings reveal that the social composition of the feudal class has undermined the institution of democracy and caused political, social, and economic disintegration. It monopolized the institution of politics and made a way for the military to intervene in the political affairs of the country. Without the provision of social and economic justice, democracy cannot get stability in Pakistan.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 309-314
Author(s):  
Kirill A. Solovyov

In the center of the article author’s attention is the book “Twilight of Europe” by G. A. Landau, which is sometimes regarded as direct predecessor of O. Spengler’s works. The article is devoted to G. A. Landau’s views on the nature of political, social, and legal processes in Europe after the First World War. The special attention is paid to the circumstances that Landau believed to be the signs of European civilization ill-being: the collapse of empires, nationalism, and the inclusion of the masses in the political life. Accordingly, the emphasis is placed on Landau’s evaluation of such concepts as “militarism”, “empire”, “nation”, etc.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamall Ahmad

The flaws and major flaws in the political systems represent one of the main motives that push the political elite towards making fundamental reforms, especially if those reforms have become necessary matters so that: Postponing them or achieving them affects the survival of the system and the political entity. Thus, repair is an internal cumulative process. It is cumulative based on the accumulated experience of the historical experience of the same political elite that decided to carry out reforms, and it is also an internal process because the decision to reform comes from the political elite that run the political process. There is no doubt that one means of political reform is to push the masses towards participation in political life. Changing the electoral system, through electoral laws issued by the legislative establishment, may be the beginning of political reform (or vice versa), taking into account the uncertainty of the political process, especially in societies that suffer from the decline of democratic values, represented by the processes of election from one cycle to another. Based on the foregoing, this paper seeks to analyze the relationship between the Electoral and political system, in particular, tracking and studying the Iraqi experience from the first parliamentary session until the issuance of the Election Law No. (9) for the year (2020).


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Dupuis-Déri

An examination of the speeches of modern Canada’s “founding fathers” reveals that they were openly antidemocratic. How did a regime founded on anti-democratic ideas come to be positively identified with democracy? Drawing on similar studies of the United States and France, this analysis of the history of the term democracy in Canada shows that the country’s association with democracy was not due to constitutional or institutional changes that might have justified re-labelling the country’s political regime. Rather, it was the result of discursive strategies employed by the political elite to strengthen its ability to mobilize the masses during the World Wars.


Author(s):  
Tang Bingyu

On the basis of Conceptual Metaphor Theory proposed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, this paper conducts a cognitive analysis of conceptual metaphors in Donald J. Trump’s State of the Union Address in 2020, aiming to explain the metaphors in the State of the Union Address, reveal the political intentions hidden behind the metaphors, and construe the relationship between politics and metaphor. It is found that the metaphors in this State of the Union Address are: CONFLICT metaphors, BUILDING metaphor, JOURNEY metaphors, ORIENTATIONAL metaphors, and PLANT metaphors. Through the analysis, this paper concludes that conceptual metaphor has the function of persuading the masses and shaping the image of politicians. At the same time, this paper also finds that politics restricts the choice and application of metaphor.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 248-265
Author(s):  
Michael Wedekind

ON BOUNDARIES AND GAPS: DISCOURSES ON MOUNTAINS AND SEPARATION IN AREAS AFFECTED BY ETHNIC CONFLICTThe author examines the reasons behind the political instrumentalisation and ethnicisation of tourism as a private social practice, allegedly far removed from politics. Using the example of the Austrian Alpine Region specifically, the Duchy of Tyrol during the late Habsburg Monarchy, he demonstrates that this political sphere of action was a promising starting point for the nationalisation of the masses of the masses, especially wherever national circles of various communities had no access to the state apparatus and to classic socialisation organs and, therefore, had to resort to auxiliary measures to socialise nationality. In addition to issuing calls to visit areas close to linguistic and national borders and projecting ethnic partly racial models of segmentation and exclusion, tourism was used as ground for the building of national identity, for strategies of social integration and mobilisation, for establishing new mental maps and links of loyalty.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 919-930
Author(s):  
Hanan Afzal ◽  
Masroor Sibtain ◽  
Zafar Iqbal ◽  
Hina Saleem

Purpose: The present study investigates the violations of SOPs regarding the spread of COVID19 during the political processional campaigns in the Gilgit Baltistan and Senate elections in Pakistan held just before the second and third waves of COVID-19. For instance, during the first wave Pakistani government employed a smart lockdown along with persuasive awareness campaign. However, in the second and third waves, it seemed that SOPs were not influential due to violations by politicians themselves. Method: The researchers analyze the journalistic text both verbal and pictorial by employing the qualitative and interpretive paradigm to understand the policies and strategies of political parties in their political gatherings. Data regarding political campaigns have been collected from the print media through the purposive sampling technique. The secondary data has been collected from various research publications to establish the background. Main Findings: The study analyzed political response to COVID-19 SOPs on the part of Pakistani political parties during the political campaigns in Gilgit Baltistan and senate elections. Referent pictures (see Figures), taken from authentic, official newspaper websites, showed that during ‘Political congregations and rallies’, individuals and politicians attended the events without requiring social distance and masks. Both the opposition and ruling party and their workers have taken approximately equal parts to violate the SOPs to gain political gains and benefits. Application of the Study: The study suggests that the political parties would not conduct these types of political events that cause the spread of the virus, especially when it is considered a worldwide pandemic. The study would be both socially and politically beneficial for the organizations and groups to learn how a pandemic may affect the masses if precautionary measures are not followed adequately. The Originality of the Study: According to the researchers' best knowledge, the research gap of the present study is contemporary and innovative, i.e., integrating the conceptual model of political discourse with political events.


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