The Hobbesian Moment

This chapter reviews how once in power, populist leaders try to assert their political dominance, which is invariably contested by some societal and institutional actors, and shows how this moment of decisive political confrontation determines the ulterior trajectory of the populist government. If populist chief executives succeed during this moment, an aggrandized executive emerges and electoral democracy will transition to a hybrid regime; if they are defeated or constrained, the possibility of regime change is averted. The chapter identifies the permissive and productive conditions that explain the failure or success of populist leaders in emerging victorious from this inflection point. The key permissive condition is voters’ support for radical institutional change. The key productive condition is the ability of populist leaders to use the state’s repressive apparatus to impose their political will. An additional productive condition is sometimes present: the organization and mobilization of low-income voters to support the populist project.

Geopolitical Thinking behind the US Policy-Making toward China and the Diplomatic Choice of Japan

The roots of US policy toward China are laid in the geopolitical thinking mode of its strategic culture. This mode of thinking first originated in Britain and later evolved into geopolitics. Bearing such thoughts, the United States sees China as a country at the southeastern rim of the Eurasian continent, and the rise of China is a threat to its dominance as a maritime state in the Eurasian continent. No matter the rotation of governing parties in the United States, containing the development of China is not merely an expedient for electoral politics but an inevitable choice for maritime states to contain continental states and an objectively necessary national security strategy aimed at retaining the global hegemony of the United States. As China further develops, such intention will become more and more apparent. In order to achieve the goal of slowing down China’s development pace and maintaining US’s political dominance over Eurasia, it seems that the United States has to build a maritime alliance system. The alliance between Japan and the United States will be further strengthened since Japan is a strategic pivot of this system. However, Japan’s perception of interests and strategic thinking are not fully aligned with those of the United States, and as a result, Japan will choose strategies with a certain degree of autonomy, thus eventually limiting the implementation of US’s geopolitical strategies. From the viewpoints of power transfer, geopolitics and ideology for the confrontation between maritime and continental states, this paper focuses on the limitations of the geopolitical thinking behind US’s policy-making toward China and the relatively autonomous strategy of Japan to analyze the status quo and underlying trends of China–US–Japan relations.

On Borders and Expansion: Egyptian Imperialism in the Levant during the Ramesside Period

This paper aims to define the way Egyptians perceived the boundaries of their land and reassesses the impact of Egyptian colonialism during the Ramesside period (c. 1292–1069 BCE). During this era, expansive wars, diplomatic action and land administration/governance reforms led Egypt to control a large part of modern Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. To refer to this period, historians often use the terms Egyptian “empire” and Egyptian “imperialism”, extending terminology coined in the 19th century to describe modern cases of political dominance to Late Bronze Age Egypt. Furthermore, traditional scholarship also presents Egypt’s borders in such a way that Egypt appears as a solid territory with fixed borders, despite evidence pointing to a different model of geographical division. Seeking to explore whether the use of modern terms on ancient Egypt may be an anachronism, this paper reviews the scholarship on a) Egyptian records documenting conquests and b) contextual archaeological evidence from the southern Near East itself. This review highlights differences between modern and ancient conceptions of land domination. Finally, Egyptian border-related terms are used in a strictly local symbolic cultural context but not in the one of international diplomacy. As for Egypt’s boundary, it was mostly formed as a buffer zone rather than a borderline.

Hispanic Toponymy of Equatorial Guinea: Structural and Semantic Aspect

Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish speaking country on the African continent with Spanish being one of the official languages. The linguistic situation in the region has been closely studied by Russian and foreign linguists, however, toponymy as a whole linguistic layer has never been covered in numerous works on the functioning of the Spanish language in this state. The article presents the first attempt at a linguistic description of the Hispanic place names of Equatorial Guinea. By means of modern electronic systems, Hispanic geographical names of the region have been identified and structured. Along with indicating the historical prerequisites for the formation of toponyms of this type in this African state, the author pays attention to the linguistic situation in the country. Since gaining independence in 1968, the country’s domestic policy has largely focused on returning to African roots and replacing in the 1970s colo-nial geonames by African geonames at the expense of the so-called “authenticity” campaign. However, despite such renaming and the end of the era of Spanish political dominance in the region, the toponymic corpus of Equatorial Guinea in the 2020s contains a large number of Hispanic names, often showing linguistic contacts as blended names with elements from the languages of local African tribes. Calculating the percentage of Spanish toponominations from the total number of geographical units of the region, the author characterizes from a linguopragmatic point of view lo-cal hydronyms, oronyms, insulonyms, limnonyms and other units, both at the macro and micro levels. Numerous examples are given for each of the identified groups. It is noted that descriptive toponyms with a Spanish component, contrary to the tendency common for Spanish conquerors in other regions of the world, is not the most numerous group in Equatorial Guinea. Assumptions are made regarding the etymology of some units. The article contributes to toponymic research in the region and is the first step towards the creation of a toponymic dictionary for Equatorial Guinea.

The impact of new global and regional trends on the national economic security of Russia

The article examines how the transforming picture of the world and the changing balance of political forces in the Eurasian space affect Russian economic security. The authors make an attempt to assess this influence, first of all, in the light of changes in the geopolitical situation in the world, when the concept of a polycentric world was put forward in contrast to the economic and political dominance of the West. The sanctions imposed by Western European states and their consequences have given a certain impetus to the development of the Russian economy and its movement towards overcoming dependence on imports. This vector of the national economy, in turn, provided significant support to Russia in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing that at present, estimates of how the Russian economy has overcome the consequences of the coronavirus crisis are only conditionally objective and much depends on the current information policy, the article provides data from major international organizations and agencies on the impact of the pandemic on the economic growth of Russia, developed countries and the EAEU countries. Considering the events on the southern borders of the post-Soviet space that have worsened regional security, the authors determine the position of Russia in its relations with the Central Asian republics, as well as priorities in the development of Eurasian integration to ensure its national security.

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC AND THE TRANSITION TO THE ERA OF DIGITAL CAPITAL DOMINANCE

The COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the triggers for the further growth of the global influence of digital capital and high-tech companies. The market value of the world's largest technology giants, which set long-term trends in the development of the world economy within the framework of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has sharply increased. During the pandemic, digital capital declared its claims to political dominance, as shown by the US presidential election in 2020. During the elections, there was a coordination of the actions of digital corporations and the "new elite" within the Democratic Party, whose ideological and economic views were formed by the values of the new technological era.

Acceptance of Political Parties about the Revocation of Article 370

Article 370 of Indian Constitution that offered a special status to the state of Jammu Kashmir .It is also divided the state of Jammu Kashmir in to Union territories, Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of Ladakh .The demand for abrogation of Article 370 was a part of chauvinistic nationalist discourse that wanted to rid Kashmir of its unique status, This anti Kashmir politics has been much part of Jammu‘s political vocabulary. In some ways, to the residents of Jammu Article 370 implied Kashmir’s political dominance as Kashmiri Leadership used it to denied resident status to many group such as West Pakistan Hindu refugees of Punjabi Dalits who had settled in Jammu back in 1950s.On 5 august 2019 Indian government took a strong decision by moved a resolution to effectively abolish Article 370, which gives special powers to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The government also introduced a Bill to divide the state into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh. The emphasis of this research is that what are the positive Impact on Growth & Stability and The Negative Impact of revocation of 370 and how different political parties reacted to the revocation of Article 370 from Kashmir. Analysis and concrete viewpoint of politician have been amalgamated in this paper.

The Impact of Coastal–Highland Interactions and Population Movements on the Development and Collapse of Complex Societies in Nasca, Peru (AD 500–1450)

Coastal–highland relationships were important in the development, expansion, and collapse of ancient societies in Nasca, Peru. Connections between the regions began with the earliest occupants and extended through Inca rule; they consisted of the exchange of goods, sharing of ideas, migration, and political dominance. By the end of the Early Intermediate period (Late Nasca, AD 500–650), highland relationships intensified, and during the Middle Horizon (AD 650–1000), Nasca for the first time came under highland control as the Wari Empire brought transformations to the region. By the end of the Middle Horizon, Wari had collapsed, and much of the Nasca drainage was abandoned. People emigrated from the region, probably because of drought coupled with political and social instability. When Nasca was repopulated (ca. AD 1200) in the Late Intermediate period, a new type of society developed that was likely the result of large numbers of highland immigrants.

Rape as an Element of Power Dominance in Nampally Road by Meena Alexander and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

In the subaltern countries such as India and Africa, the form of government adapted or infused was that of the Colonial or European form of governance. For instance, during the colonial invasions in India and Africa the governance was changed or forced from the feudal system to the constitutional form of government. While the colonial form of governance has many positive aspects, the inhumane practice of rape was prominent to exhibit political dominance. In order to prove this practice of inhumane act two novels have been chosen for this research. One is Nampally Road by Meena Alexander that talks about the societal imbalance caused during the period of “Emergency act” and the other is Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi that deals with a period of three centuries starting from the “Slave Fugitive act” to post independence, where the plots depict the prominence of rape to exhibit power and control the natives.

Angola's onshore oil gamble unlikely to pay off

Significance A BP project will deliver a temporary production boost when it comes onstream later this year, but Angola needs other foreign energy companies to sanction new greenfield developments if it is to avoid output falling below 1 million b/d by 2025. Impacts Declining oil revenues will weigh on debt sustainability, raising the risk of Angola defaulting when its debut Eurobond matures in 2025. Tourism will suffer fallout from government plans to allow drilling in national parks, delaying the sector's post-COVID-19 recovery. The oil sector's decline is an existential threat to the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA)'s political dominance.