Do Disabled Candidates Represent Disabled Citizens?

Whether citizens are better represented by politicians ‘like them’ has been the subject of much debate and analysis. Yet, this scholarship has largely ignored the 1 in 5 people who are disabled and experience economic, social and political marginalization. Linking voter and candidate data from the 2015 British general election, this study examines whether disabled citizens are better represented by disabled elites. It analyses the effects of disability on both preferences and preference congruence. The findings reveal that disabled citizens and candidates are more supportive of healthcare and general public spending, even within parties. At the same time, the views of disabled citizens are rarely more congruent with the positions of disabled candidates than those of non-disabled candidates, except on healthcare spending. The study provides ground-breaking insights into the role of disability in policy preferences and political representation while also highlighting broader implications of how the descriptive–substantive representation link is analysed.

Long before the Arab Spring

The Arab Women Solidarity Association United (AWSA United) emerged as an outlet for Arab women in the diaspora to express solidarity and support for women in the Arab world. It pioneered transnational Arab women’s groups that connected Arab women in all six continents. In this chapter, Rita Stephan explores the impact of AWSA United on Arab women activists who, between 1999 and 2011, used cyberfeminism to share their ideological and political marginalization, and how AWSA United helped them foster their collective identity, strengthen their connectivity, and increase their activism.

Three Usurpers in Rome

Although most emperors from Diocletian onwards no longer resided in Rome, the city continued to be held in high regard throughout the fourth and fifth centuries. During this period, three usurpers once again established the Urbs Aeterna as their capital: Maxentius (306–312 CE), Nepotian (350 CE), and Priscus Attalus (409–410 CE). This article examines how each of them sought to employ the unique prestige of Rome as an asset to strengthen their claims to the purple. It argues that Rome was a flexible ideological concept that could be employed in a variety of ways to suit the circumstances of different rulers and appeal to various audiences. While Maxentius made some efforts to present himself as a civilis princeps, he mostly favored an exalted style as conservator Urbis suae, associating himself closely with Rome's aeternitas. Nepotian and particularly Attalus were more inclined to present themselves as senatorial emperors. As all three cases show, ambitious men could exploit the discrepancy between Rome's high status and political marginalization, yet a Rome-based emperorship also confronted them with hazards and limitations, such as the expectations of a huge volatile crowd and a long-established, powerful aristocracy.

Prelude: Sounding Social Identity

Opening with a description of a Roman oyun havası (Roman dance tune), this chapter describes the gestures, movements, and self-identifying references that this genre evokes. While European, Ottoman and Turkish literature seem to have a rich body of information regarding “Gypsies,” those representations are largely presented in the absence of actual Romani voices. Given the historical experiences of social exclusion political marginalization and discrimination by Turkish Roman, the struggle for control over self-naming was also channeled through and refined in the ongoing creation of their own narratives in commodified and mass-mediated Roman oyun havası. The philosophical concepts of iconicity, metaphoricity, and mimesis as applied to Roman oyun havası suggest one means for examining the dynamic relationship between cultural practices, performances, and their social effects. This chapter also discusses issues of representation in historiographic research, provides an outline of the book and chapter topics, and describes the author’s field work and positionality.

Political Marginalization of Women in Pakistan: Issues and Challenges

Women constitute almost half of the worlds population but are politically marginalized and underrepresented in the third-world countries. The long-lived traditional structures as well as socio-economic factors adversely affected their mobility, socialization, political and electoral participation and representation in policy-making forums. Being low in effectiveness, they are unable to make any significant change in the patterns of sociopolitical development. In Pakistan, the traditional patriarchal approach and the growth of Islamic fundamentalism adversely affected their political emancipation and domesticated them. Although, women in Pakistan successfully struggled to overcome the said challenges and their representation in the parliament has significantly been increased but still need a lot to become an effective part of the policymaking process. The instant study investigates the challenges faced by the women of Pakistan to overcome their political marginalization and suggests the measures to develop a more inclusive and representative society.

Understanding Insurgency in Nigeria: Interrogating Religious Categories of Analysis

In analyzing the motivations behind the formation of insurgent groups and their activities against the state, academic debates have been sharply divided. On the one hand are scholars who emphasize insurgency as fallout of religious activities, while on the other hand are those who prioritize geostrategic politics or political marginalization as the root cause. Either claim, however, is only valid in part and obscures a holistic understanding of insurgency as a political phenomenon. Using Boko Haram as a case study, this article interrogates literatures on the aforementioned perspectives and highlights the empirical inadequacies in emphasizing one perspective at the expense of the other. This study suggests that only a synergized and balanced consideration of both perspectives can broaden the understanding of the motivations behind the emergence of Boko Haram as one of the world’s deadliest insurgent groups.