Protest Wave and Countermeasures of Fear: Lebanese Act of a Global Drama

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-192
Author(s):  
A. V. Sarabiev
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Political System ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Subsequent Change ◽  
Political Bias ◽  
Social Protests ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
The Government ◽  
Restrictive Measures

The paper examines the dynamics of social protests in Lebanon from October 2019 till March-May 2020 when the government imposed unprecedentedly rigorous restrictive measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 infection. The paper identifies the underlying causes of the protests. The author stresses that from the very beginning socio-economic demands of protestors addressed to the executive power (particularly, to grapple with the rising income inequality) were accompanied by calls for democratization on the secular principles and elimination of political confessionalism. At the same time, the author outlines certain specifics of popular uprisings in Lebanon that distinguish them from simultaneous protests in other countries, namely their supra-ethnic, supra-religious and non-partisan character and their remarkable coherence and coordination, given the lack of overall leadership. The author emphasizes that the subsequent change of government has not brought, however, significant changes the protestors hoped for. The new Cabinet was not free from traditional confessional and political bias, whereas legal and administrative measures undertaken by the new government to combat the pandemic were, apparently, also aimed at ‘freezing’ the current situation favorable for both the parliamentary majority and the government. In particular, the recent laws and regulations reflect the Government’s desire to prevent the resumption of protests equivalent to those of the fall of 2019. All these measures did not face serious resistance, even though the economic situation of the population has worsened, and many people have lost their livelihoods. However, the fear of the COVID-19 has proved to be a more efficient means of preventing protests than any punitive measure. The author concludes that the dynamics of inter-party competition even under strict quasi-quarantine measures shows that the hopes of protestors for a genuine transition from a traditional clan and confessional structure of the Lebanese political system to the standards and principles of a developed democracy proved futile.

THE IMAGE OF THE FUTURE IN THE MASS CONSCIOUSNESS OF CITIZENS AS A FACTOR OF SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY

2021 ◽  
pp. 64-77
Author(s):  
Nataliya M. Velikaya ◽  
◽  
Irina S. Shushpanova ◽  
Vladimir A. Afanas’ev ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Political System ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Data Series ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Mass Consciousness ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
High Level

The article analyzes the socio-political views of Russian citizens about the future of the Russian state and Russian society. Analyzing the dynamic data series of the monitoring “How do you Live, Russia?” and its last wave of November–December 2020, the authors consider the changes in mass consciousness in terms of assessing the effectiveness of the government’s efforts to ensure the most important rights, freedoms and norms of the social state and the democratic regime, which manifests itself in the attitude to the existing political system and affects the level of trust in the government, where the executive power traditionally leads. Identifying the expectations of Russian citizens about the possible development of the country in the political, economic and cultural spheres, the authors conclude that the level of socio-political optimism allows one to describe the existing political system as fairly stable, on the one hand, with a high level of legitimation, on the other with a high level of alienation of citizens from power

Referendum konstytucyjne we Włoszech. Jak głosowanie ludowe wpływa na system polityczny państwa?

2017 ◽  
pp. 110-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Kużelewska
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

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.

Formation of the research tradition of studying the institute Parliamentarism as a mechanism for the establishment of democracy

2017 ◽  
pp. 187-198
Author(s):  
Akil Ibrahim Al-Zuhari
Keyword(s):  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
The State ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Research Tradition ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
The People ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Government ◽  
Parliamentary Regimes

The article defines the features of the process of forming the research tradition of studying the institute of parliamentarism as a mechanism for the formation of democracy. It is established that parliamentarism acts as one of the varieties of the regime of functioning of the state, to which the independence of the representative body from the people is inherent, its actual primacy in the state mechanism, the division of functions between the legislative and executive branches of government, the responsibility and accountability of the government to the parliament. It is justified that, in addition to the regime that fully meets the stated requirements of classical parliamentarism, there are regimes that can be characterized as limited parliamentary regimes. The conclusions point out that parliamentarism does not necessarily lead to a democracy regime. At the first stage of development of statehood, it functions for a long time in the absence of many attributes of democracy, but at the present stage, without parliamentarism, democracy will be substantially limited. Modern researchers of parliamentarism recognize that this institution is undergoing changes with the development of the processes of democracy and democratization. This is what produces different approaches to its definition. However, most scientists under classical parliamentarianism understand such a system, which is based on the balance of power. This approach seeks to justify limiting the rights of parliament and strengthening executive power. Keywords: Parliamentarism, research strategy, theory of parliamentarism, types of parliamentarism

Back to the Westminster model? The Brexit process and the UK political system

2021 ◽  
pp. 019251212096737
Author(s):  
Gianfranco Baldini ◽  
Edoardo Bressanelli ◽  
Emanuele Massetti
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Westminster Model ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Quantitative Indicators ◽  
The Impact

This article investigates the impact of Brexit on the British political system. By critically engaging with the conceptualisation of the Westminster model proposed by Arend Lijphart, it analyses the strains of Brexit on three dimensions developed from from Lijphart’s framework: elections and the party system, executive– legislative dynamics and the relationship between central and devolved administrations. Supplementing quantitative indicators with an in-depth qualitative analysis, the article shows that the process of Brexit has ultimately reaffirmed, with some important caveats, key features of the Westminster model: the resilience of the two-party system, executive dominance over Parliament and the unitary character of the political system. Inheriting a context marked by the progressive weakening of key majoritarian features of the political system, the Brexit process has brought back some of the traditional executive power-hoarding dynamics. Yet, this prevailing trend has created strains and resistances that keep the political process open to different developments.

Chile: Christian Democracy to Marxism

1971 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-341
Author(s):  
Michael J. Francis ◽  
Hernan Vera-Godoy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political System ◽  
Christian Democracy ◽  
The World ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Government ◽  
Basic Alternative

Increasingly alone as a stable republican nation in Latin America, Chile has long been a favorite subject for North American scholars and journalists. Every six years, as it faces a presidential election, the world press breathlessly rediscovers that this long slim country confronts its public problems within the framework of a developed, democratic political system. When in 1964 Chile placed a young idealistic party in power behind Eduardo Frei, an unquestionably intelligent figure of austere but charismatic bearing, this country became a favorite model for the advocates of democratic reformism in Latin America and soon was receiving the highest United States foreign aid per capita in Latin America. Thus it came as a shock that the Chilean electorate could turn its back on Frei's administration in 1970 by favoring the rightist and Marxist candidates. For those who saw in the government of Frei a basic alternative to Marxist models for Latin America, the free election of an avowed Marxist as the President of Chile presents additional problems.

Zambia's Second Republic —the Establishment of a One-Party State

1974 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Pettman
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Political System ◽  
The State ◽  
Second Republic ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Common Enemy ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Party State

Zambia inherited a system of government and administration in 1964 which was ill-suited to the tasks of political development to which her new leaders were dedicated. What little national unity and mobilisation had been achieved in the independence struggle declined with the removal of the common enemy. The Government rested on a fragile base, without the support of agreed rules and practices to limit and contain conflict, and without adequate instruments available for the implementation of its policies. So the search began for a more suitable political system, which could cope with the new needs of independence, and provide for the stability of the state and the survival of the Government.

From Hell to High Water: The Life of Rohingya Refugee Women in Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Mahanam Bhattacharjee Mithun
Keyword(s):  
High Water ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
Refugee Women ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
The Government ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Community Decision

Abstract Bangladesh is currently hosting nearly a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and more than half of the refugee population comprises women. In Myanmar, due to the government-imposed securitization and relatively conservative culture, Rohingya women were not able to enjoy their rights and freedom and were mainly confined to their homes. Upon arriving in Bangladesh, they are facing additional challenges. This article aims to find the underlying causes that alienated women from enjoying their rights and whether the life of the Rohingya women has improved or not in Bangladesh. This article shows that, due to the lack of a women-friendly environment inside camps, gender norms and malpractices, breakdown of family ties, and increased number of gender-based violence against women, they are more vulnerable than ever. This paper argued that humanitarian organization and the government should promote gender mainstreaming towards bringing refugee women into the community decision-making process along with raising awareness among the Rohingya community.

The Rhodesian Front and the African National Council

1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 32-41
Author(s):  
Tony Kirk
Keyword(s):  
Political Life ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
National Council ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Bad Faith ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Flexible Response ◽  
The Government

In most countries ordinary people do not appreciate the sheer guile of their political leaders. Rhodesia is no exception. The dealings between the government and the African National Council confirm it. The government interrupted its dialogue with the ANC by detaining thirty-three senior ANC officials without trial, effectively destroying the cohesion of the only black political organization in the country. To the white voter, who sees no further than the surface of events, the detentions represented a simple exercise of executive power. In fact the government could not act in as sudden and arbitrary a fashion as that. It had to choose the time for its action with care, and to some extent it had to prepare the white electorate to accept what happened without question. The government also had to conceal its true intentions from the ANC without resorting to outright falsehood. Finally, it had to leave itself free to make a flexible response to the sort of unpredictable events which inevitably occur in political life and which often wreck the most carefully drafted plans. Formulating a policy to meet these contradictory objectives without giving the appearance of bad faith required much guile. The outcome, in the short term at least, was success.

Export of vegetable oil is the driver of the agro-industrial complex economy

2021 ◽  
pp. 40-44
Author(s):  
Vladimir D. Goncharov ◽  
◽  
Sandzhi V. Koteev ◽  
Vladimir V. Rau ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Exchange ◽  
Vegetable Oils ◽  
Sunflower Oil ◽  
Dairy Products ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Processing Industry ◽  
Livestock Breeding ◽  
Technical Base ◽  
The Government ◽  
Restrictive Measures

The growth in the production of vegetable oils in recent years has created an opportunity to increase their exports. Exports in 2020 increased in all major groups of goods that Russia supplies abroad: grain, fat and oil, meat and dairy products, as well as food and processing industry products. Foreign supplies of fat and oil products increased by 12%, to 8.1 million tons, in physical terms and by 22%, to $ 5 billion, in monetary terms. The growth was provided primarily by the export of sunflower oil, of which 3.7 million tons (+ 19%) were shipped for $ 2.8 billion (+ 28%). Sales were particularly strong in the first half of 2020 after a record sunflower harvest in 2019. In 2020, foreign exchange earnings from the export of sunflower and rapeseed oils could have been higher, if not for the restrictive measures taken by the government. Foreign exchange earnings from the export of vegetable oils from Russia can be significantly increased by reducing the sale of oilseeds. At the same time, additional jobs can be created in Russia, and most importantly, the most valuable by-product (meal) will remain to ensure livestock breeding in the country. This requires the modernization of the material and technical base of the processing industry and the restoration of domestic seed production of oilseeds.

the presidential and the semi-presidential system

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peshraw Mohammed Ameen
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Realistic Model ◽  
The Political ◽  
Kurdistan Region ◽  
Political Responsibility ◽  
Parliamentary System ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
Presidential System ◽  
The Government

In this research we dealt with the aspects of the presidential system and the semi-presidential system, and he problematic of the political system in the Kurdistan Region. Mainly The presidential system has stabilized in many important countries, and the semi-presidential concept is a new concept that can be considered a mixture of parliamentary and presidential principles. One of the features of a semi-presidential system is that the elected president is accountable to parliament. The main player is the president who is elected in direct or indirect general elections. And the United States is a model for the presidential system, and France is the most realistic model for implementing the semi-presidential system. The French political system, which lived a long period under the traditional parliamentary system, introduced new adjustments in the power structure by strengthening the powers of the executive authority vis-à-vis Parliament, and expanding the powers of the President of the Republic. In exchange for the government while remaining far from bearing political responsibility, and therefore it can be said that the French system has overcome the elements of the presidential system in terms of objectivity and retains the elements of the parliamentary system in terms of formality, so it deserves to be called the semi-presidential system. Then the political system in the Kurdistan Region is not a complete parliamentary system, and it is not a presidential system in light of the presence of a parliament with powers. Therefore, the semi-presidential system is the most appropriate political system for this region, where disputes are resolved over the authority of both the parliament and the regional president, and a political system is built stable. And that because The presence of a parliamentary majority, which supports a government based on a strategic and stable party coalition, which is one of the current problems in the Kurdistan region. This dilemma can be solved through the semi-presidential system. And in another hand The impartiality of the head of state in the relationship with the government and parliament. The head of state, with some relations with the government, can participate in legislative competencies with Parliament.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document