Trends of Power Devolution in South Asia: A Comparative Appraisal of Pakistan’s Local Government System under the Civil-Military Regimes

In the South Asian countries, the trends of power sharing, decentralization and power evolution have not only always remained a pertinent debate for the consolidation of democracy and good governance, but also static political systems due to their multiethnic realities, multilingual differences, multicultural diversification, and their authoritarian orientation in the respective countries. Historically, the transfer of power through the local system of government (LGS) was seen as an important tool to accelerate the transition to representative democracy on the subcontinent. However, it was largely aimed at creating a new political class that would support colonial rule and meet the political demands of the local population for power sharing within the boundaries of the colonial government structure. Due to their embedded interests, the colonial legacies in South Asian states offered non-representative state institutions such as the military enough space to influence the transformation process of democracy. The paper has two main objectives: (1) to explore the concepts of power devolution and their associative nomenclature; (2) to analysis of the political and administrative dimensions of decentralization to underpin the structure of decentralization in South Asia in general and Pakistan in particular. The results of the study are that the lack of the weakest local government system in the South Asian region in general, and in Pakistan in particular, is due to the colonial legacy of an ongoing controlled political mindset in the form of bureaucracy, frequent military coups, a lack of political will to develop a welfare state in Pakistan. It uses the qualitative research methods of phenomenology and correlation, which sheds light on the meaning of relative terms often used to explain delegation of authority for political and administrative purposes.

Wizyta Josepa Borrella w Moskwie

Josep Borrell’s visit to Moscow was a substantial political failure of the EU’s diplomacy still it was not an accident neither a surprise. The EU’ policy towards Russia has been based on illusions and the European wishful thinking since the very beginning of the mutual relations that started in 1991-1993. The Borrell’s visit to Moscow rather showed the nature of the Russian attitude towards the EU than produced it. Russia prefers to act within the “great powers concerto” i.e. to deal with both - the leading EU member states (Germany, France) and the non-EU great powers (UK, USA) and not with the EU institutions and representatives who are not respected neither treated seriously in Moscow. There is a deep division within the EU between the Eastern flank member states whose perception of Russian threat is strong and well founded and the western and southern countries the political interests and priorities are focused on other problems. Russian capacity to corrupt the numerous prominent members of the European political class makes the EU policy vis a vis Russia even less coherent and realistic. The article shows the history of the EU-Russia relations in the last 30 years and proves the fiasco of the Borrell’s visit to Moscow was not just an accident still a logical consequence of the ill based EU policy towards Russia.

Private Experience and Public-Spirited Critique: Brexit-Era Britain in the Recent Poetry of Vidyan Ravinthiran and Nicholas Hagger

Two starkly different aspects of the Brexit phenomenon may be seen in the recent work of two British poets, Vidyan Ravinthiran and Nicholas Hagger. Ravinthiran’s most recent book consists of love sonnets composed for his wife. These are addressed to an intimate “you” which, upon publication, is expanded to vicariously include his readership. In the course of their everyday life as a mixed-race couple in northern England, the context of Brexit occasionally intrudes. When it leads him to communicate something to his wife, the poet organically transcribes these experiences. While ultimately a secondary (if often inescapable) theme in Ravinthiran’s sonnet sequence, the Brexit negotiations are the leitmotif of Hagger’s Fools’ Paradise. Taking his cue from the sixteenth and seventeenth century mock epic, the poet offers an erudite satire excoriating a short-sighted political class. Hagger appears to move easily in such circles, presumably due to the diplomatic and intelligence contacts in his past. Assuming the guise of an insider or pundit, “your poet” provides a meticulous, tactical critique of the inefficacy of foolish parliamentarians.

Identity and Identity Politics in Nigeria: A Reflection on the Indicators

Nigeria is a nation with plural ethnic, religious, lingual and cultural identities that are constantly exploited by the political class to promote their selfish interest. Although not a determinant forconflict, diversity in Nigeria has unjustifiably sparked identity-based conflicts which necessitateseparatism, insurgency and ethnic restiveness – among others, which threatens to drive the country to a perpetual state of fragility. This paper thence sought to assess Nigeria’s tortuous experience with identity and identity politics with particular reference to ethnic, religious, and lingual challenges. The paper furthers the discussion on identity politics in Nigeria to proffer practicable solutions. It argues that identity consciousness has overtaken national consciousness and engendered a relationship characterized by domination, superiority and hegemony by the various groups. It reveals that the currency of politics is an ethnic-hegemony-rivalry sentiment that threatens national integration. The paper reviews available literature on the subject matter from peer-reviewed journal articles, reports of reputable international organizations, working papers and newspaper articles. It concluded that identities have become powerful manipulative instruments in the hands of the political elites used to divide the Nigerian populace. It recommended the promotion of justice, equity and fairness in governance to ameliorate the chances of identity dissension and identity-based conflicts.

The Role of Public Participation in Governance towards Achieving Sustainable Development. Part 1

Public participation aimed at improving the effectiveness of governance by involving citizens in governance policy formulation and decision-making processes. It was designed to promote transparency, accountability and effectiveness of any modern government. Although Kenya has legally adopted public participation in day-to-day government activities, challenges still cripple its effectiveness as documented by several scholars. Instead of reducing conflicts between the government and the public, it has heightened witnessing so many petitions of government missing on priorities in terms of development and government policies. Results show that participation weakly relates with governance hence frictions sustainable development. Theoretically, public participation influences governance efficiency and development, directly and indirectly, thus sustainable development policy and implementation depends on Public participation and good governance. However, an effective public participation in governance is has been fractioned by the government. Instead of being a promoter/sponsor of public participation, the government of Kenya has failed to put structures that would spur participation of citizens in policy making and other days to activities. This has brought about wrong priority setting and misappropriation of public resources; The government officials and political class interference ultimately limit public opinion and input effects on decision-making and policy formulation, which might be an inner factor determining the failure of public participation in Kenya. The study suggests the need for strengthening public participation by establishing an independent institution to preside over public participation processes.

Enhancing Politicians’ Persuasiveness: Some Remarks on the Importance of Rhetorical Figures of Repetition in Political Discourse

The modern political class, which has been established on democratic principles both in Europe and America, is keen to use rhetoric and tools it provides. Any attempt to define the influence of these tools principally refers to the essence of rhetoric which is persuasion. Persuasion, on the other hand, is core to political discourse which, according to Teun van Dijk (1997, p. 14) is contextual, therefore must be recognized by its functions and/or goals. The functions of the discourse are often expressed in rhetorical devices and therefore play an important role in achieving political goals. The pieces of information presented in this article depict rhetorical devices as useful in increasing persuasiveness. Attention is paid to figures of repetition which constitute a universal category of rhetorical devices and thus need to be examined in a greater detail, especially in a discourse whose users focus their efforts on constructing effective persuasion.

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

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.

Sex, Gender and Women's Rights

Despite legislation proposing sex self-identification being deferred in early 2019, numerous government departments and agencies have implemented self-identification in their policies and practices. If a man can declare himself to be a woman, what, then, is a woman, and how can women’s rights as a political class be maintained? This article explores the tensions between women’s sex-based human rights and the claims of transgender advocates. In so doing, it discusses the nature and implications of gender ideology and highlights the failure of public sector institutions, in embracing key tenets of this ideology, to follow well-established policymaking processes.

Războiul de pe Nistru versus conflictele înghețate din spațiul post-sovietic / The war on the Dniester versus the frozen conflicts in the post-Soviet space

The article discusses the issue of frozen conflicts in the post-Soviet space. According to the author, conflicts are a product of the disintegration of the USSR, the declaration of the independence of the former union republics and the adoption of the direction of foreign policies for European integration. In most cases, the conflicts are artificial, because the ex-Soviet space is considered the sphere of interest of the Russian Federation, and the secessionist regions are interested in maintaining subordination to Moscow. Failure to resolve conflicts leads to the consolidation of the status quo in the territories. Resolving the Transnistrian conflict, but also other conflicts in the ex-Soviet space requires the internationalization of the process by actively attracting G-7 states, UN structures, the EU and the internationalization of peacekeeping missions. An important requirement for the Republic of Moldova is the change of the political class, which will want to solve the problem of territorial integrity.

Violence in Mexico: the politicides in Puebla from 2010-2020

This paper argues that the decision making of the political class is one of the main causes of violence and poverty, by presenting statistics that show the evolution of violence in the state of Puebla, Mexico, evidencing manifestations of violence: kidnappings, extortions and murders in the political class. The method used in the process is of a mixed type, used to collect and present statistical data and, through inferential analysis, project their future behavior, thus seeking a change in their behavior, which gives it a normative character. Among the main results, there is evidence of a rise in politicides in Puebla, normalizing violence within the population, this leads to identify a dystopia, following Lorenzo Meyer "the negative aspects of the exercise of power dominate to an extreme degree "(Meyer, 2017, p. 13). There remains for discussion the need to reinterpret the scope of violence, which, although it may reflect a sense of defense, the evidence shows the opposite. In this way, a reflection is drawn on the risks of such violence and the possibilities of turning the state apparatus into a failed one.