Corruption – Poverty Nexus: Evidence from Panel ARDL Approach for SAARC Countries

The article intends to investigate the relationship between corruption and poverty based on the panel data of SAARC countries over the period 1996–2019. We employed the panel ARDL of pooled mean group (PMG) technique to analyze the data and focus on capability poverty, using the human development index (HDI) as a proxy for poverty. The empirical findings of PMG of the ARDL model suggest that an increase in corruption score (COC) (i.e. decrease in corruption) and increase in women’s labor force participation rate (WLFPR) seem to have a significant impact either in eradicating poverty or increasing social welfare in the long run as well as in the short run. A random effect (RE) model also identified a significant positive relationship between corruption score and HDI, and WLFPR and HDI. A Dumitrescu-Hurlin pairwise panel Granger non-causality test detected a bilateral causality relationship between COC and HDI, and WLFPR and HDI, while unilateral causality ran from WLFPR to COC. The article contributes to examining the dynamics between corruption and poverty from the governance aspect, taking South Asia as a case study.

Myths of nationhood: Cultural nationalism, political Islam, and the movement against sculptures in Bangladesh

In November 2020, the government of Bangladesh announced plans to erect a 25-foot-tall sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the national memorial located in the country's capital, Dhaka. This announcement caused a massive uproar among the religious ulema and quickly turned into a quasi-mass scale movement, sparking a torrent of political and religious rhetoric from both sides. This article argues that behind the religious rhetoric, the true cause underlying this fracas was purely political in nature, and tied to the clash of two contrasting nationalist dogmas. The country's Islamic political parties and the Qawmi madrasas leaders face a clear and perceived threat from the nationalist narratives expounded by the ruling political party, the Bangladesh Awami League, and this movement was a retaliatory attempt and will not be the last.

Unveiling China's digital diplomacy: A comparative analysis of CGTN Africa and BBC News Africa on Facebook

This study explored social media use by CGTN Africa and BBC Africa under the concept of digital diplomacy. Digital diplomacy has been seen recently as an important component that international media adapt to set agendas, expand their online presence and create, engage and sustain relationships with their foreign audience. A content analysis was employed to analyse 1200 posts from Facebook accounts of the media. The study's findings show that the media set an agenda through actively posting stories that promote African values and culture to generate interaction among their readership. Also, findings indicate that foreign media prioritized reporting on specific issues in Uganda, Sudan, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia over others. The audience engaged more with reports on sports and less with those on tourism and wildlife. CGTN Africa rarely engages in conversation with its audience. Thus, there is a need to build the capacity of its staff, which might help China's media perform better on social media.

New media and political protest: Framing analysis of news content on Twitter

This article examines the frames used by Pakistani news media while covering a political protest in 2019 on Twitter. The study deploys quantitative content analysis based on thematic framing, episodic framing, genre, types and subject matter of tweets. In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the use of Twitter in political and protest communication. Twitter is a platform with the potential to manage and coordinate protest activities and movements effectively. The current study is carried out to demonstrate the importance of one of the aspects of political protest communication. Tweets (N = 498) posted between 20 October and 20 November 2019 by three mainstream Pakistani media organizations ( Dawn, The News, Express Tribune) were collected and analysed. Results show that straight news was used more in episodic frames by the media organizations on Twitter. Results of the study add to the increasing body of studies showing that media outlets have also embraced modern media to use frames while covering political issues.

Economic security in Southeast Asia: An introduction

The subject of economic security has always been bandied about in academic discourse since the emergence of an interconnected world economy. With ASEAN states getting increasingly enmeshed in free trade agreements, and common market like arrangements, it is imperative to explore what economic security means for national governments today. The shocks of the 2017-20 Donald Trump presidency of the USA and the COVID-19 pandemic impart timely momentum for inquiring after economic security. If the USA currently embodies the idea of zero-sum economic logics as the way forward into the twenty first century, it becomes even more urgent that Asians re-examine the degrees of openness needed to sustain growth and prosperity. Contributors to this Special Section will not only examine government-to-government trade interactions, the prospects of Islamic Finance and gender inequalities will also be analysed in terms of how they can make or break conventional notions of economic security.

Challenges of implementing transitional justice in the Lake Chad Basin and the integration/reintegration of displaced persons

This work contributes to the few case studies that have examined the challenges of implementing transitional justice in displacement contexts by using the specific case of the displacement trend in the Conventional Basin of Lake Chad to further underscore the dynamics of the problems involved in the issue. The work finds that lack of commitment to the implementation of regional policy frameworks and also the numerous weaknesses of the demobilization, deradicalization and reintegration (DDR) programmes implemented in the region have all had specific hindrances, especially in the social and political (re)integration of displaced persons in the region. The work therefore calls for more regional efforts that take into account clearer screening methods, accountability measures, as well as the (re)integration of displaced persons in the study area into the wider systems of their various home countries.

Belt and Road projects in Tajikistan: Opportunities to strengthen the ties between Pakistan and Tajikistan

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects in Tajikistan are significant due to Tajikistan's geostrategic importance in the region. Tajikistan has channeled its geo-strategic values and established diplomatic and economic relations with regional and extra-regional states. China and Tajikistan's diplomatic relations were started in 1997, which marked another milestone when countries resolved their border disputes bilaterally in 2021. Since China introduced its BRI, its existing diplomatic relations with Tajikistan have changed to close economic ties. Hence, it uplifted the pace of existing economic projects between China and Tajikistan, with the introduction of new projects, some branded as BRI projects, and others are complementing it. In this scenario, China through the BRI provides an opportunity for Pakistan and Tajikistan to enhance and strengthen their economic and diplomatic ties. Both Pakistan and Tajikistan need a great deal of cooperation for further progress of both states in contemporary times. It is important to identify the ongoing process in the region to pinpoint the future policy options for further development. This article analyzes the geostrategic importance of Tajikistan and its relations with regional and extra-regional states. It also focusses on the concluded, ongoing, and planned projects regarding enhancing the geostrategy of the states that are in line with the BRI. Further, it explores the existing Pakistan–Tajikistan relations and new prospects, along with the challenges in future prospects.

Failure of the semi-authoritarian system: Losing ways of absorbing public voices into the post-handover Hong Kong government

In the past decade, Hong Kong has undergone various large-scale protests, such as the 2014 Occupy Central and the 2019 Anti-Extradition Protests. One of the reasons for such popular grievance was that the government could not grasp the change in public sentiment and opinion. Before the handover, although the governor held the centralized power, the colonial authorities still had ways to collect public opinions to avoid departing from the citizens’ views. The model was called the ‘administrative absorption of politics’. The Chinese authorities attempted to preserve the original advisory system to depoliticize the policy-making process after the handover. This article contributes to the understanding of the development of the cooptation system in Hong Kong and its failure in the 2010s based on the insights of legislators. It also highlights the importance of participation and salient control in the cooptation system to balance public views in a semi-authoritarian society.

The determinants of Jordan's stability case study: The arab spring (2011–2019) and the COVID-19 pandemic

Why was Jordan able to survive the Arab Spring revolutions and the COVID-19 pandemic despite lacking financial capabilities compared to other monarchies? Based on the political system and a comparative case study approach, this article argues that during the Arab Spring, the absence of internal pressure for change and the presence of internal and external support led Jordan's state practice to change into a balanced approach of both authoritarianism and revolution to sustain stability. However, in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, Jordan faced a more imminent economic and health threat, coupled with a change in the positions of its external allies. The findings confirm that, in both cases, Jordan faced critical internal and external threats. During the Arab Spring, international assistance supported Jordan. However, during COVID-19, a global pandemic and changing international positions, Jordan did not receive international assistance. Consequently, the Jordanian monarchy had to control the political system through authoritarian policies. Therefore, in a changing environment with shifting international positions, the more the threat is imminent to Jordan's stability, the more Jordan's internal inherited elements sustain its stability.