From Crisis Management to Realignment of Forces

In 1969, after a series of large-scale border clashes, the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Soviet Union finally decided to enter negotiations to prevent a wider military confrontation. The de-escalation process that ensued gave Soviet and Chinese leaders two options: either to compromise and reach a settlement or to go back to a strategy of delay. This article shows that the choice between the two options depended on whether either state believed it could improve its relative position in a better political environment or could gain certain political advantage by immediately settling the dispute. Ultimately, both sides chose to return to a strategy of delay. The Chinese decision was influenced by the strategic configuration of U.S. “triangular” diplomacy and the hope that it would enhance the PRC's relative position. For Soviet officials, the outcome stemmed from a lack of trust in their Chinese counterparts.

State Bastardisation And Terrorism In Nigeria: A Discourse

This paper seeks to unearth and analyse the variables which promote and sustain primordial groups’ identities and their linkages to the emergence and sustenance of terrorist groups in Nigeria. Grounded in the pluralist theory of sovereignty, the study adopts historical research design. It relies solely on data from secondary sources, which are presented qualitatively, and the finding is analysed using content analysis techniques. The study reveals that the promotion of primordial identities above national identity for political advantage by the political elites leads to state bastardisation in Nigeria. Besides, it identifies the apostolical promotion of some neoliberal values without corresponding citizenship education, as responsible for the emergence of Boko Haram and other such groups that challenge the sovereignty and legitimacy of the Nigerian state. It also questions the continuous promotion of religion in the public domain in a secular state and concludes that genuine integration policy is an urgent imperative. The study recommends that ethno-religious politics be buried; religion should be returned to the private lives of the citizenry. Besides, citizenship education and societal development should be prioritised in order to strengthen the state, and weaken the capacity of primordial groups to challenge the Nigerian State with violent outbursts.

Juju and Statecraft: Occult Rumors and Politics in Ghana

<p>Religion plays an integral role in all aspects of Ghanaian life, including politics. In recent years, many scholars have commented upon the spectacular rise of Pentecostal Christianity in Ghana since the 1970s, noting its particular influence in politics and in shaping the Ghanaian public sphere more generally. Curiously, though less often noted, rumors about “the occult” and occult influence have also flourished during this same period. Despite Pentecostal hostility to the occult and Pentecostal influence in public life, such rumors have become prevalent to the point that they represent a distinctive feature of Ghanaian politics. This thesis addresses the phenomenon of rumors about the occult in contemporary Ghanaian politics. It argues that the flourishing of political-occult rumors and the strength of Pentecostalism are related. Focusing on the period between the late 1970s and present, and drawing on data from fieldwork interviews and newspaper reports, the thesis examines the force of occult rumors in modern Ghanaian politics. It demonstrates some of the ways in which Ghanaian political elites deploy occult rumors for political advantage and some popular attitudes of the Ghanaian electorate to the rumors. The project proposes that the occult, far from being a phenomenon existing on the margins of modern Ghanaian society, is powerful, public and mainstream.</p>

Juju and Statecraft: Occult Rumors and Politics in Ghana

<p>Religion plays an integral role in all aspects of Ghanaian life, including politics. In recent years, many scholars have commented upon the spectacular rise of Pentecostal Christianity in Ghana since the 1970s, noting its particular influence in politics and in shaping the Ghanaian public sphere more generally. Curiously, though less often noted, rumors about “the occult” and occult influence have also flourished during this same period. Despite Pentecostal hostility to the occult and Pentecostal influence in public life, such rumors have become prevalent to the point that they represent a distinctive feature of Ghanaian politics. This thesis addresses the phenomenon of rumors about the occult in contemporary Ghanaian politics. It argues that the flourishing of political-occult rumors and the strength of Pentecostalism are related. Focusing on the period between the late 1970s and present, and drawing on data from fieldwork interviews and newspaper reports, the thesis examines the force of occult rumors in modern Ghanaian politics. It demonstrates some of the ways in which Ghanaian political elites deploy occult rumors for political advantage and some popular attitudes of the Ghanaian electorate to the rumors. The project proposes that the occult, far from being a phenomenon existing on the margins of modern Ghanaian society, is powerful, public and mainstream.</p>

Political Purposes, Anti-entrenchment and Judicial Protection of the Democratic Process

The legality of decisions made for political purposes is a recurring issue in administrative law. In this article, it will be argued that generalisations should not be made about ‘political’ decisions as a single category. Instead, there are different types of political consideration, which raise different issues when assessing the legality of a decision. This article singles out a particular type of political decision for condemnation: decisions made to gain a political advantage by deliberately changing the systems of democratic accountability. Examples include the engineering of the electoral system to produce favourable results, the use of public power to punish critics and the use of public resources to publish partisan propaganda. The article will argue that the legality of such political decisions should not be assessed solely within the ordinary administrative law framework, but under a constitutional principle of anti-entrenchment and process protection.

Polarization of COVID-19 Vaccine Discourse on Twitter: Implications for Vaccine Policy (Preprint)

UNSTRUCTURED Since COVID-19 vaccines became broadly available to the adult population, sharp divergences in uptake have emerged along partisan lines. Researchers have pointed to a polarized social media presence contributing to the spread of mis-/dis-information as being responsible for these growing partisan gaps in uptake. The major aim of this study was to identify and describe influential actors, topics, behaviors, and community structures related to COVID-19 vaccine conversations on Twitter prior to the vaccine roll-out to the general population and discuss implications for vaccine promotion and policy. Using Twitter data on COVID-19 vaccination during July 2020, we found that Twitter vaccine conversations were highly polarized with different actors occupying separate “clusters.” The anti-vaccine cluster was the most densely connected group. Among the 100 most influential actors, medical experts are outnumbered both by partisan actors and by activist vaccine skeptics/conspiracy theorists. Scientists and medical actors were largely absent from the conservative network, and anti-vaccine sentiment was especially salient among actors on the political right. Conversations related to COVID-19 vaccines are highly polarized along partisan lines with “trust” in vaccines being manipulated to the political advantage of partisan actors.

NIGERIA: RELIGIOUS CONFLICT AND THE BOKO HARAM

"Religious conflicts have increased interfaith suspicion between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria with each group being determined to outshine the other in the propagation of its religious beliefs. In fact, even Islamic sect Boko Haram was formed on the belief in the superiority of Islam as a monotheistic religion and with a divine mandate to purge Islam of Western influences. This paper examines the complex issues surrounding the advent of the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria. It argues that religious conflict in Nigeria results from the propagation of radicalized exegeses and the use of religious sentiments for gain political advantage. Government’s failure to act decisively also accounts for religious conflict in Nigeria and the Boko Haram in particular. Keywords: Boko Haram, conflict, religion, ideology, violence, Islam."

The Oxford Handbook of Heracles

The first half of the volume is devoted to the exposition of the ancient evidence, literary and iconographic, for the traditions of Heracles’ life and deeds. After a chapter each on the hero’s childhood and his madness, the canonical cause of his Twelve Labors, each of the Labors themselves receives detailed treatment in a dedicated chapter. The “Parerga” or “Side-Labors” are then treated in a similar level of detail in seven further chapters. In the second half, the Heracles tradition is analyzed from a range of thematic perspectives. After consideration of the contrasting projections of the figure across the major literary genres, epic, tragedy, comedy, philosophy, and in the iconographic register, a number of his myth-cycle’s diverse fils rouges are pursued: Heracles’ fashioning as a folkloric quest-hero; his relationships with the two great goddesses, the Hera that persecutes him and the Athena that protects him; and the rationalization and allegorization of his cycle’s constituent myths. The ways are investigated in which Greek communities and indeed Alexander the Great exploited the figure both in the fashioning of their own identities and for political advantage. The cult of Heracles is considered in its Greek manifestation, in its syncretism with that of the Phoenician Melqart, and in its presence at Rome, the last study leading into discussion of the use made of Heracles by the Roman emperors themselves and then by early Christian writers. A final chapter offers an authoritative perspective on the limitless subject of Heracles’ reception in the western tradition.

Research on the design and application of ideological and political education platform in colleges and universities based on Moodle

Ideological and political education in Colleges and universities is an important feature and political advantage of China’s higher education. For a long time, ideological and political education in Colleges and universities has provided a strong spiritual power and political guarantee for the implementation of the party’s educational policy and the training of qualified socialist builders and successors. However, with the emergence of new situations, such as multi-polarization of world politics, economic globalization, cultural diversity, information networking, diversification of the social organization forms and lifestyles, and diversification of employment positions and forms of employment, the ideological and political education in Colleges and universities is facing severe challenges. Based on the analysis of the feasibility of Moodle, this paper uses the open-source Moodle technology to design ideological and political education platform in Colleges and universities, which has important research significance.

Contact

Beginning in late 1973, there was a step change in communication between the IRA leadership and the British government. The back-channel that hitherto had involved little more than the exchange of political thinking was used increasingly for negotiation on urgent issues including kidnappings, hunger strikes, and the legalization of Sinn Féin. Chapter Four examines the modes of reciprocal exchange and protocols for communication that developed over the course of 1974. It highlights the close involvement of the British Prime Minister and other government ministers in the exchanges and it examines the use of the back-channel to clarify the meaning of public statements. This series of exchanges in 1974 allowed both parties to test whether their interlocutors really had the authority to make commitments and the power to deliver on them. The exchanges contributed to the building of limited trust between the IRA leadership and the British government as each side learned that the other would stand by commitments, respect the integrity of protocols for communication, and not abuse contact for direct military or political advantage. This new communication infrastructure, reinforced by repeated interaction and exchanges, provided a strong foundation for the subsequent intensification and deepening of political engagement.