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This paper analyzes how a structure of Weberian rational domination has been built and consolidated in Spain since 1959, the year when the so‐called Economic Stabilization Plan was approved. This sort of economic constitution represents one of the most important foundations of a technocratic regime that survived the death of a dictator (General Francisco Franco), not only transcending the traditional differentiations between autocratic and democratic regimes but also offering a different perspective to the debate about the degree of continuity and rupture attained by the Spanish political transition in the 1970s. We analyze the institutions, leadership, most influential networks, political discourse, and historical myths through a theory of power and elites to examine the Spanish case. With this remarkable example of structural transformation and institutional resilience over decades, we also propose a more complex and multidimensional approach that could be fruitful to understanding some of the problems of political representation that current democracies are undergoing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is becoming increasingly common for authoritarian regimes to leverage digital technologies to surveil, repress and manipulate their citizens. Experts typically refer to this practice as digital authoritarianism (DA). Existing definitions of DA consistently presuppose a politically repressive agent intentionally exploiting digital technologies to pursue authoritarian ends. I refer to this as the intention-based definition. This paper argues that this definition is untenable as a general description of DA. I begin by illustrating the current predominance of the intention-based definition (Section 2). Section 3 then presents four counterexamples to this definition: benign surveillance; digital sovereignty; attention-harvesting algorithms; and tech-induced loneliness. In each case, we witness authoritarianism being promoted by digital technologies without any evidence of this being intentionally caused by politically repressive agents. Based on these observations, I contend that the intention-based definition is underinclusive and is therefore unsustainable. Section 4 outlines an improved definition of DA – what I call the promotion-based definition. Since this more expansive definition does not posit intentional, politically repressive agency as a precondition of DA, it can accommodate the counterexamples discussed in Section 3. Moreover, it enables us to catch a broader spectrum of cases of DA, such as tech-induced loneliness, which those adhering to the intention-based definition are prone to overlook. After outlining further practical benefits of the promotion-based definition, I argue that we still need to distinguish between intentional and unintentional forms of DA since they call for distinct types of remedial action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconsiders liberal nationalism in light of the current autocratic nationalist threat. I argue that liberal nationalism cannot redress the social ailments which acclimatize people to the sorts of no-holds-barred political contestation favoured by autocratic nationalists – excessive polarization. I then argue that liberal nationalists do not recognize the degree to which 'in-group' racial solidarity motivates members of the racial/ethnic majority to preserve their status, and that the liberal nationalist approach to defending minorities' rights therefore risks either emboldening the majority to embrace autocracy or consolidating social hierarchies between the majority and minorities. On these bases, I show that democrats must seek to not only detach race/ethnicity from nationality but also redress those problematic racial/ethnic hierarchies. This suggests the need to develop liberal nationalism into multiculturalist nationalism. Multiculturalist nationalism, however, promises a sort of bounded solidarity that does not include all citizens: it makes use of targeted political antagonism against anti-democrats like White supremacists and Identitarians to help diffuse any social antagonism that might exist among minorities, inclusive members of the majority, and cultural conservatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the symbolic political phenomenon of Karaeng power in Jeneponto, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The main objective of this research is to understand how Karaeng traditional symbols of power are maintained and utilized in the local political context. Qualitative research methods are used by conducting in depth interviews with community figures and content analysis of related primary and secondary data. The research results show that traditional Karaeng symbols of power still have strong relevance in influencing local political dynamics, even in the modern era and ongoing democratization. The discussion in this paper highlights the importance of understanding the role of symbols in the local political context, as well as its implications for power dynamics and community political participation in Jeneponto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a democracy, when a group of deliberators have a set of differing (and contrary) views and beliefs about a particular policy or action, p, a recommended course of action is for them to pursue, and ultimately reach, a consensus on p. The pursuit of consensus allows deliberators to 'reach over the aisle' in accommodating dissenting views through rational dialogue until a consensual agreement is reached by all the deliberators. What fuels this pursuit of consensus is the 'will to consensus'—a 'frame of mind' or a 'disposition' to resolve disagreements into a consensus. In this paper, I will raise some conceptual problems with positing a 'will to consensus' that is prior to, and supervenes on, the rational discussion of deliberators. Instead of a 'will to consensus', democratic theorists should be content with the minimal claim of a 'will to dialogue'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is undergoing a rapid decline in social and political cohesion at various scales. This paper explores Cape Town's experience of socio-territorial messages and identities deployed by the City administration and the leading party, the Democratic Alliance. I focus on relational constructions of the subjectivity of the 'ratepayer' and the deserving Capetownian as constructed in the City and the DA's discourse and policy measures in juxtaposition to 'street people' and other supposedly deviant urban subjects and how, as such, the wilful ignorance of the first remains both unchallenged and in service of an exclusionary and unjust spatial order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Judicial and political power are inextricably linked, but at this point in time that link seems more important, more pervasive, and more fragile than ever before. Courts are now under stress in many, even consolidated, democratic countries, becoming one of the most stimulating topics for understanding European politics. Indeed, bringing Courts back to the centre of political analysis is a privileged perspective for understanding how and why democracies change. By highlighting the characteristics of the complex political context of conflicting actors, institutions and political processes, this special issue of European Politics and Society reveals the different dynamics and patterns of the role of Courts in contemporary European politics. This paper presents the phenomenon of 'Courts under stress' and the related research questions. In addition, it introduces the articles that make up this special issue, which are indicative of the maturation of Courts as a crucial topic in European political science. Indeed, each article emphasizes different aspects of their role, bringing out new perspectives and complementary theoretical approaches and methodologies, thereby advancing comparative studies of judicial behaviour and constitutional jurisprudence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes Rawls's moral psychology and the claim that a just society must foster a sufficiently strong sense of justice. When Rawls investigates the development of the sense of justice under a just basic structure, he tacitly narrows down the focus: he only demonstrates the development of a sense of justice on the premise that all members of society are already in possession of a full‐fledged sense of justice, save the one individual under investigation. This begs the question, largely presupposing what needs to be explained, namely, how citizens at large develop a sense of justice. Rawls's narrowing of perspective leads to distortions in the analysis of stability, particularly with regard to a property‐owning democracy. However, in lesser known parts of his work, Rawls offers clues for a more plausible account. Here, the idea is that institutions must be structured such that they enable all of us to nurture the sense of justice of each of us. With this idea of collective self‐transformation in place, it becomes clear that economic institutions must be broadly democratized because of their profound educational role. Thus, the choice between a property‐owning democracy and liberal socialism falls more strongly upon the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, health pandemics, structural decline, and more – the challenges of solving political problems are daunting, particularly when the political institutions addressing them are not trusted. This article tests the economic theory that residents of high-income regions are more likely to trust political institutions, given their positive experiences with services and opportunities, against the rival argument that predicts a negative effect of regional disadvantage within a country on political trust. Using European Values Study and World Values Survey (2017–2020) data, combined with socioeconomic data for 606 regions in 42 countries, this paper analyses samples of regions both in and outside the EU. The results suggest that people living in wealthy EU regions – both in absolute and relative terms – trust national government more and the EU less. In the global sample, the evidence is more variegated and corroborates economic theory only in democracies. The article sketches implications for regional inequality, political trust, and legitimacy research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent financial crisis caused by corruption and opacity has led us to examine how the informal economy and other factors affect tax revenues using a three-pillar theoretical analysis. Empirical research has not thoroughly explored the shadow economy's impact on direct and indirect taxes, tax revenues, and the central bank's independence from the shadow economy and tax collection. This paper used 2010–2018 data from 129 countries. The shadow economy and tax revenues had a substantial negative relationship. The shadow economy also changed the fiscal authorities' policy mix by reducing direct taxes and increasing indirect taxes. Finally, the central bank's independence mitigated the shadow economy's negative effects on tax revenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to assess the effects of social inequality, democracy, and economic growth on the climate justice performance of a nation. To achieve this goal, the research technique Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS‐SEM) was applied to a sample of 133 countries selected based on indicators available in international databases in 2019. The main results of the analysis were: (a) the effect of democracy on the performance of climate justice is positive; (b) the moderating effect of inequality on the relationship between democracy and climate justice is negative; and (c) economic growth has a U‐shaped relationship with climate justice performance, which indicates the existence of a Kuznets curve for climate justice performance. Based on these results, the main theoretical implications of this study were the discoveries that: (a) the weakening of democratic institutions may be associated with increased social inequality, which reduces the implementation of climate policies aimed at guaranteeing justice; (b) forms of cooperation and financing of climate actions at the global level may be ineffective only if the quality of democracy in vulnerable countries is observed, which can be explained by the persistence of high social inequality; (c) allowing women access to income, education and health might be ways of reducing gender inequality and improving the level of adaptation of countries vulnerable to climate challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various electronic voting channels have been introduced across a range of countries. In some countries these new channels have proved uncontroversial, while in others, they remain contentious and have even been abandoned. Relatively little is known about whether and why voters have confidence in new and old voting channels. Australia provides a useful case for researching these issues, since it is a mature democracy in which election processes and outcomes are widely accepted. The 2013 Australian Election Study results show that in this context, voters have most confidence in paper-based voting and least in voting via smartphones. Positive political attachments, ease of voting and familiarity with technology are all associated with higher levels of confidence in voting channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to reflect on the essence (nature) of democracy, which is widely considered the best form of government. Although democracy is generally considered to be a kind of unquestionable value, there is no agreement on the answer to the question of its essence. The author seeks to outline the answer to that question in the light of the philosophy of Jacques Maritain, a great French philosopher and one of the most famous Thomists and personalists of the 20th century. Maritain also considered democracy to be the best form of government because it is the most adequate to the dignity of the human person, which is created in the image of God. For Maritain, democracy therefore reflects trust in human nature, and he sees the Gospel’s spirit of freedom and the hope of the Gospel’s brotherhood as the essence of democracy. The paper assumes that the true knowledge about the nature of democracy is a kind of antidote to antidemocratic and totalitarian aspirations. Maritain calls for democracy of a personalistic and pluralistic type, and opposes it to the modern, liberal and individualistic understanding of democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined good governance as a panacea for the citizens’ well-being. The well-being of the citizens is the essence of government. In other words, government exists to ensure the well-being of the citizens. The well-being of the citizens can only be assured and guaranteed when there is good governance and reverse would be case in the midst of bad governance. Of all the forms of government, democracy has the greatest potential to offer good governance because it is people’s government and as such people have greater opportunity to participate one way or the other in the governance process making it possible for them to influence decisions that would be to their favor. It therefore means that for good governance to be enthroned in a polity; the people have great responsibility to bring it about by not being docile but to be seriously interested in participating in the governance process and system. Secondary method of data collection was adopted in this paper and analysis of data collected was done through the descriptive method. The paper found out that bad governance is responsible for the lack of the citizen’s well-being. The theoretical framework adopted in this paper is structural functionalism. The paper recommended among other things that for the well-being of the citizens to be guaranteed there should be the encouragement of good governance by all and sundry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I consider the question of self-governing in relation to MacIntyrean practices. It is not uncommon to discover MacIntyrean practices being described as self-governing in at least some sense. However, while there are seemingly valid reasons for why this might be thought the case, in my paper I argue that there is something very different visible in MacIntyre’s writings here. Indeed, what I want to emphasise regarding MacIntyre’s position in relation to the governing of practices is that rather than self-governing, at most MacIntyrean practices are self-directing or self-guiding. Therefore, although for MacIntyre governing of practices is fundamentally important, what I draw attention to is how, on the whole, this governing happens from outside, and that direction and guidance if and when it does happen, happens in a very specific, internal way aside from governing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Constitutional Court of Kosovo, envisioned as a cornerstone institution for upholding constitutional order and safeguarding fundamental human rights and freedoms, has assumed a pivotal role in the nation's legal landscape. Since its establishment, it has become a prominent figurehead in addressing claims of constitutional violations, often surpassing the expectations of its drafters and the governing law. This paper aims to delve into the court's transformation and its influence on Kosovo's political landscape, focusing on key cases that have shaped its evolution. It examines the court's pivotal role, the challenges it faces, and its lasting impact on Kosovo's legal and political landscape by analyzing the constitutional provisions and other legal acts that govern the Court's competencies. Additionally, it explores the main court decisions and its practices to illustrate how its work manifests in practice. This paper aims to explore the mechanisms and entities responsible for assessing the constitutionality of legal measures, constitutional amendments, and statutes within the context of Kosovo's legal system. It concludes that the Constitutional Court of Kosovo has emerged as the most influential entity in the institutional landscape of Kosovo. It has assumed the primary role in upholding constitutional order, the rule of law, and democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper contains a theoretically inspired discussion of recent Norwegian controversies related to the management of public library space as a civil public sphere. Design/methodology/approach: This study engages with theories of civil public spheres and their application within a Nordic context. The theories are applied in discussions of recent controversies related to the management of Norwegian public libraries as civil public spheres, as represented in professional journals and press articles. Findings: Through the discussion, it becomes apparent that the value of neutrality and librarians' inclusive practices on the part of societal minorities might be conflicting when managing public libraries as civil public spheres. Originality/value: This paper engages with recent library controversies in Norway and discusses them in light of recent scholarly work on library activism in a Nordic context, as well as recent theorizations of civil public spheres in the Nordic countries. It thus connects ongoing discussions among Norwegian librarians with recent library research and ongoing theorization of civil public spheres within the Nordic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-2000s, democratization has slowed, stopped, and even reversed across the world. At the same time, societies have become more oriented toward free markets as measured by indexes of economic freedom. Relying on a panel sample of 141 developed and developing countries between 2006 and 2017, this paper is the first to investigate whether the two phenomena are related by employing economic freedom data. It finds that there is no net-negative relationship between aggregate economic freedom and democracy in this time-period. Instead, mixed findings of both an overall positive and overall neutral (but not negative) association are uncovered in between-country and within-country analyses, respectively. In between-country analyses, using the disaggregated index shows that the legal system/property rights component drives most of the positive relationship between aggregate economic freedom and democracy in the developed world. The same between-country analyses in the developing world show that freedom of international trade is positively associated with democracy, while modest regulation has a negative relationship. However, additionally controlling for omitted variable bias using country-fixed effects, the paper does not find evidence for either a positive or negative relationship between subsequent changes in levels of economic freedom and democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective Impact, a framework for improving social service provision first articulated in 2011, promises to improve efficiency while creating win–win cross-sector collaborations to solve the root causes of pressing community needs. This paper argues that in its current articulation, Collective Impact might deliver efficiencies but not transformative change. Positioning Collective Impact within the tradition of US democratic traditions, starting with Alexis de Tocqueville's observations about the importance of US civil society for building an engaged citizenry, highlights specific ways to augment the framework's transformative potential. In contrast to the neoliberal insistence that marketized social service providers are best suited for delivering efficient social service provision, this paper argues that Collective Impact leaders can take responsibility for strengthening civil society for real transformative change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent use of public libraries as political symbols by the radical right in their challenge of the established consensus in Swedish cultural policy is part of an ongoing (re)politicization of the field of cultural policy. This paper frames this development as part of a post-political condition of Swedish cultural and library policy. Through an analysis of previous research, policy, and policy debates, a conceptual understanding of the post-political condition is offered. The paper also provides an analysis with empirical examples of how this condition unfolds in librarians’ accounts of everyday public library practices. This composite analysis furthers our understanding of the enactment of Swedish cultural and library policy and contributes to a broader discussion of the current challenges facing these policy fields following the rise of the radical right in several countries. The findings point to a need for more nuanced and ideological discussions concerning the relationship between politics and culture and where public libraries are situated between autonomy and democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on inclusive education often derives from a broader understanding of inclusion, namely as a radical change in schooling. Within this strand of research, several authors in the field have envisioned this change to be materialised in the image of schools and classrooms as communities with various characteristics where differences are seen as resources. Nevertheless, the word 'community' can carry a variety of meanings, especially when used in the field of education in which multiple theoretical traditions co-exist. The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of the meanings of the word 'community' throughout influential educational research and in relation to the different theoretical traditions that inform it. The meanings are analysed through a reading of the 50 most highly cited educational research papers in the database Web of Science that are concerned with communities in schools and classrooms. Through a thematic analysis of the definitions and descriptions of community in the sample, four metaphors were identified – community as Idealised-Home, Idealised-Academia, Idealised-Polis, and Power-Resisting Space. These meanings are discussed in relation to the theoretical traditions discerned and their implicit societal purposes. Moreover, implications of the review for research on inclusive education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate whether a country's youth cohort size and quality of democracy, independently and jointly predict young people's propensity to support democracy as a political system. We use pooled data from World Values Survey Waves 5–7, comprising 81 country-waves with 25,125 observations from 39 established and new democracies, in multilevel binary logistic regression analyses. The paper finds evidence that firstly, against conventional expectations, a large youth cohort exerts a positive influence on young people's support for democracy as a political system. Secondly, the effect of youth cohort size depends on the quality of democracy of countries: young people growing as part of the youth cohorts in established democracies show stronger propensities to support democracy than their peers in new democracies. This has implications for both theory and empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decades, several grassroots movement organisations across the world have tackled the issue of corruption with the aim of mobilising knowledge on this widespread problem. In our paper, we look at three bottom-up civil society organisations and collective actors fighting for greater transparency and curbing of corruption in Indian society, highlighting how they employ visuals to debate on these issues and to communicate their mission to their audiences. The focus is on how the initiatives employed visuals to discuss a particular anti-corruption policy of the central government. In particular, our paper sheds light on the dynamics between the three initiatives and the government especially at a time when democratic credentials of the country are in decline. Inspired by Rodriguez and Dimitrova's four levels of visual framing, we propose a revised schema for visual framing analysis, taking into account contextual dimensions, in our study of visuals as tools enhancing public debates on corruption and anti-corruption practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an increasingly global society, public administration and public policy students must be equipped to respond to policy issues in culturally and contextually appropriate ways. It is also essential that MPA and PhD programs produce engaged global citizens with an understanding of public administration systems across boundaries. This paper presents an experiential learning method for achieving these goals. The special topics course Public Administration, Civil Society, & Democracy has been adopted by the Master of Public Administration (MPA) and the PhD in Public Administration and Public Policy (PAPP) programs at Auburn University. The course embraces a comparative perspective by physically positioning the students in global contexts, enhancing their awareness of cultural and administrative similarities and differences. Student learning objectives include research (international fieldwork), teaching (short courses and workshops for local partner organizations), and service/outreach (international service-learning projects). Although the course has been facilitated in several African countries, this paper focuses on Liberia during summer 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main questions that has resurfaced in the post-2011 Arab Uprisings era has been to what extent these public protests and the popular calls for political opening would result in democratization in the MENA region. Despite the conventional arguments that explain the persistence of authoritarian regimes as a derivate of cultural authenticity and patriarchy, the Arab Uprisings have unlocked the threshold of fear, and given rise to a new moment of political activism in the region. In light of this, one of the arguments of this paper is centred on the idea that during and after the 2011 Arab Uprisings, regimes did not travel similar trajectories in this region; as a result, it is not possible to talk about an 'Arab path' and/or an 'Arab regime typology'. This work draws its data from the opinion surveys conducted between 2017 and 2020 by the World Values Survey Wave 7, and aims to shed light on the current demands for and perceptions of democracy and elections in the MENA region. To that end, this paper will scrutinize the various trajectories in the post-Arab Spring era through the lenses of three selected countries. These countries are Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transnational political communication today is being reconfigured by digital technologies and global power transition. Authoritarian state actors such as China are increasingly active on global social media platforms such as Twitter to directly advance their preferred frames with foreign publics in Western democracies, most notably in what could be called Chinese Twiplomacy contesting narrative globally over contentious issues. This paper problematises such Twiplomacy from authoritarians to Western democracies as 'networked transnational frame contestation', arguing that the political and cultural distance between the sending and target countries, the networked affordance of social media, and the national prism of the target countries, all contribute importantly to the complexity of such frame contestation. Through a case study on China's Twiplomacy in contesting coronavirus narrative in the UK, this paper further provides empirical evidence on how 'networked transnational frame contestation' works between politically and culturally distant countries. Using a mixed-method approach combining social network analysis and discourse analysis, this study finds that China's emotion-evoking discursive strategy draws traction but the authoritarian nature of the highly centralised networkedness and that of its discursive strategy, together with the strong cultural discordance with British publics, lead to networked recontextualisation of its intended frames in Britain. British publics, heavily relying on British political elites and press for foreign affairs, invoke shared cultural reference to recontextualise Chinese frames into culturally resonant counterframes. This study proposes a paradigm of 'networkedness within cascades' to understand frame contestation between politically and culturally distant countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which the “wishes produced” by the constitution are consistent with the practices of democratic transformation in Morocco after more than ten years of its entry into force. The study is based on the hypothesis that this supreme law bears the seeds of developing political life and qualifying actors even before its implementation, but only practice helps activate its perspective for managing power and ensuring rights and freedoms. Although the link between the constitution and its context does not appeal to some constitutional jurists, the paper argues that attributing the 2011 constitutional reform to a specific party rather than another involves a narrow perception, and attention must be paid to the inconsistency of its arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the study of corruption has become one of the most prominent in the social sciences. If there is corruption, however, it is because something has been corrupted; something pure has been sullied. This pure element serves mainly as a normative reference: It may never have constituted a social and political reality. However, the purpose of this article is to try to define what its components might be. In this way, theoretical considerations can be used to provide a more solid basis for the fight against corruption. The position of this paper is that the opposite of corruption should be explicitly defined without the use of abstract categories such as good governance or integrity. The paper will begin with a discussion of the concept of "non-corrupt government" and then proceed to a theoretical analysis of the main issues involved. It will conclude with some practical remarks on how to build, in the most parsimonious way, the benchmark of quality that corruption undermines. The contention is that a "non-corrupt government" is based on four principles: (1) equality (input side), (2) reasonableness (input side), (3) impartiality and professionalism of the administration (output side), and (4) accountability of the office (output side). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, South Africa has experienced a consistent wave of local protests rooted in impoverished residential areas. Given the centrality of ideas about community within these protests, and building on Gramsci and Katznelson, this paper characterizes low-income residential areas as the "community trenches" of contemporary working-class struggle. Drawing on 29 months of ethnographic fieldwork and 287 interviews, I probe the meaning of community within local protests and its relationship to possibilities for building democracy from below. I argue that current manifestations of community have both benefits and limits: they help protesters to build solidarity across division and infuse their struggles with moral weight, but they also encourage localization, geographic isolation, and internal conflict. With reference to both historical and contemporary South African examples, the paper offers three possible rearticulations of community that—when woven together through interscalar connections—may facilitate democracy from below: community as participatory democracy; community as a right to the city; and community as national citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of growing concern with violence in Latin American and Caribbean cities this paper offers an analytical synthesis of urban securitisation which involves the construction of issues, spaces and populations as security threats. The synthesis contributes to debates on urban studies and critical security studies, which focus on neoliberalism as the driver of urban securitisation and militarisation as its main expression, by highlighting the embedded, contextualised and historically situated nature of securitisation and its multiple manifestations. The paper proposes a framework for the socio-spatial analysis of securitisation processes focusing on their causes, manifestations and consequences, while capturing their dialectic relation with cities' spatial characteristics. Bringing together Lefebvre's conceptualisation of the social production of space with Wacquant's analysis of the penal-assistential state, and using secondary sources complemented by primary data from our research, the paper shows that urban securitisation in this region is contingent to four socio-spatial dimensions common to Latin American and Caribbean cities – segregation, territorial stigmatisation, overlapping insecurities and territorial struggles. Using a multidimensional framework, the paper illustrates how unaddressed legacies of colonialism and notions of state power in the context of struggles with criminal actors have driven urban securitisation and diversified its targets and techniques beyond militarisation. Under a securitising logic, programmes which often appear progressive are also shown to prejudice marginalised groups and undermine democratic values. The paper concludes with a call for further multidisciplinary analyses that account for the socio-spatial and historical particularities of contemporary forms of urban securitisation in this and other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ignorance about political related issues has long been considered a threat to democracy. This paper revolves around the concept of political ignorance, focusing especially on Ilya Somin's book Democracy and Political Ignorance and going beyond his standpoint in two ways. First of all, it moves away from the notion of factual knowledge by showing that political ignorance cannot be limited to a matter of information quality. On the contrary, it shows that ignorance concerns the formation of opinions about political facts, which are the bricks with which disagreement is built. Then, using the insights of the Moral Foundation Theory by Jonathan Haidt and his colleagues, the paper argues that moral intuitions represent an additional source of bias that current research on the problem of voters' ignorance should address. While Somin argues that biased moral values are the outcome of ignorance, Moral Foundation Theory suggests that moral intuitions are a robust determinant of people's political views as they make factual knowledge partially irrelevant and also make people with different moral minds unable to understand the basis of reciprocal factual argumentations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how musicians sympathetic to MDC appropriate, exploit, and ultimately seem to fall victim to the narrative traps present in Chimurenga music and its role in Zimbabwe's political history. In this paper MDC's Chimurenga music videos and songs are analyzed to bring out deep lying meanings and placed in a historic context. The paper analyses how the visual and lyrical content contest the 'authorized' version of Chimurenga to the extent of creating a new understanding of Chimurenga discourse and Chimurenga music. The selected video text helps identify lines of appropriation and contamination/mutation as it traces and contextualizes the evolution of the MDC war song up to a point it generically becomes similar to the traditions of Chimurenga established in the 70s. It is crucial to look at how a sense of 'memory' is 'extracted' as well as how it is re/packaged, re/distributed and received or contested in the service of MDC's counter hegemonic propaganda. In this vein, we do not seek just to point moments or points of appropriation but also instances of mutation/violation that the MDC music videos usher into the narrative of the Chimurenga discourse especially in a post-colonial context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the fracturing of civic and moral virtue within curricular policies pertaining to Citizenship in England since the late 1990s. A longstanding aim of education and schooling, the teaching of citizenship gained a more secure base in the English curriculum with the introduction of Citizenship as a statutory subject for 11–16 years olds from 2002, which owed a great deal to the Report of the Advisory Group on Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools (Crick Report). The report drew intimate connections between civic virtue, moral virtue, and personal character. These connections have become seriously fractured over the years since the Crick Report. In charting this fracturing, the paper will examine how the character-influenced direction taken in the early/mid-2000s was replaced by, at first, a more general emphasis on British Values before morphing into a more specific, though no less problematic, concentration on Fundamental British Values. While character education has gained significant policy attention in England over the last six years, the civic dimensions have been at best underplayed, with little connection to education for citizenship. It is argued that without greater clarity and consistency about how the moral – including moral virtues – intersects with the civic in contemporary Britain, official curricular policy (whether for Citizenship education, character education or more generally) will restrict rather than encourage the education of young citizens who are informed, wise, responsible and active participants in their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2011, Egypt saw one of the largest protest movements in its modern history: the 25th of January revolution. One of its major demands was the call for democracy and end of dictatorship after 30 years of Mubarak's rule. After ousting Mubarak, the Egyptian public sphere witnessed an openness. Even with increasing levels of oppression and violence, there were open spaces for freedom of association, expression, and demonstration, etc. Yet, in 2013 and with the intense protests against the elected Muslim Brotherhood (MB) president, the military interfered and ousted the elected president. In light of these events, Egypt witnessed a backlash against democracy under the pretext of fighting 'terrorism'. Since then, Egypt has been seeing manifestations of this relapse on almost all levels, in terms of legislations, decrees, practices that closed the public space to any protesting voices, with higher levels of oppression and violence against the opposition and not only the so-called 'terrorists'. In this context, this paper proposes to dissect the Egyptian stumbling road to democratisation since 2011. It examines internal factors as well as the role of regional and international actors in orchestrating developments in Egypt. The paper proposes that the process of democratisation in Egypt has faced multiple drawbacks, not only related to regime type (military rule) but also with respect to social movements, the involvement of regional actors, etc.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid growing academic discourse on teenagers' political rights, this paper argues that the inclusion of teenagers in the decision-making process at the municipal level has positive effects. Based on qualitative and quantitative research on three municipalities in Greece and Sweden, this paper concludes that a level of awareness of the critical issue of climate change leads to a greater propensity for action from municipal councils aimed at restoring the environment. The findings demonstrate that including teenagers in the decision-making process at the local and regional level could lead to a greater focus on forward-thinking policies, particularly in areas concerning young people, such as environmental preservation efforts and democratic rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains the circumstances where economic growth increases the likelihood of interstate war. Optimism created by high and sustained economic expansion permeates a state, increasing elite and mass optimism for the use of deadly force. Without relief, such unbridled sanguinity can lead states to war. However, other forces reduce the probability of war. Regional democracy, bilateral trade, and trade openness slow down the process where states go to war. This paper hypothesizes that key factors raise the temperature of disputes, increasing the likelihood of a political dispute combusting to war, while other attributes inhibit the process to war. Economic growth catalyzes such reactions, while regional and joint democracy impede the probability that a war sparks. This paper produces monadic and dyadic results demonstrating that economic growth increases the likelihood of war, while other factors such as interstate trade openness, bilateral trade, dyadic democracy, and regional democracy slow down the process of war, making war less likely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an analytical reflection on our experience as adscriptas a la investigación, a term used in Spanish to describe the role of those who volunteer as students to be in an apprenticeship relationship with experienced professors-researchers at our public university (School of Humanities) in the metropolitan area sorrounding the city of Buenos Aires. We have analyzed and written our piece in two voices, as we are both apprentices. Methodologically, we start from our work logs, audio recordings and photographs to make an analytical description of the assignment, which is divided into three sections: the place of others in the construction of knowledge, word in dispersion and resistance, and spaces and bodies that communicate in themselves. Our reflection accounts for the learning and transformation opportunities generated from the implementation of a new pedagogical practice for us. Thus, we observe that a space was created in connection with others that favored parity, horizontal communication, and, together with it, the collective construction of new knowledge based on local epistemologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the methodological principle of symmetry as developed in science and technology studies (STS). However simple in its formulation, this principle is unexpectedly complex in practice and has far-reaching consequences. Adherence to the principle of symmetry in the study of religion(s) is one promising avenue through which practical solutions to many theoretical and methodological problems may be formulated in response to postmodern and postcolonial critique of the study of religion(s) as well as of the modern scientific practice in general. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the promises of the symmetrical approach, the ways of its practical enactment, the complications of this enactment, and some solutions for these complications. The arguments and demonstrations provided here show that: (1) demarcating the research field of the study of religion(s) through the concept "religion" in itself creates asymmetries which contradict the aims of the discipline as an objective empirical and theoretical study; (2) the practical enactment of the principle of symmetry demands taking important ethical and political decisions in order to prepare the practical conditions for research and analysis, analogical to the practical conditions actively fostering democratic negotiation and handling inequalities through affirmative action; (3) making these decisions and maintaining these conditions is necessary in order to achieve theoretical objectivity and build good and transparent theories; and (4) being faithful to these decisions during the process of data analysis is extremely complicated and can only be more or less successfully achieved on the basis of (a) high degree of ethical commitments towards the participants in research which empower them politically in relation to the researcher and the research itself, and (b) by analysing the process of data collection and analysis in exactly the same way (i.e. symmetrically) as the activities of all other actors engaged in the research. In this sense modernist ideas concerning moral and political disengagement as the condition for neutrality, objectivity and truth are reversed with reference to postcolonial criticism and show how proclaimed neutrality, objectivity and truth justifications are based on and foster power domination, suffering and exploitation of the marginalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the importance of people and modern citizenship in the functioning of democracy. Topics include politics and morality, political autonomy, risks in capitalistic economic system, feminism, racial discrimination, and minority protection. The concept of peopleness has been discussed.

The answer to the dilemma in the title is evident: artificial intelligence cannot be decommissioned, just as states or multinational corporations will continue to invest in artificial intelligence. This paper, far from having a technical approach due to considerations related to the competence of the authors, actually aims to highlight the now immutable character of artificial intelligence through the spectrum of the indisputable benefits it generates in the most varied fields of activity, excluding, however, the thaumaturgic character promoted by the apostles of technology. It is an analysis of democracy marked by the intervention, if not sometimes the intrusion, of artificial intelligence, but also a review of the attempts to regulate artificial intelligence precisely so as not to cancel the progress made by the democratic evolution of society, with concrete reference to human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democracy is upheld through the principle of majority rule. To validate the application of democracy, it is imperative to assess the sincerity of voter decisions. When voter sincerity is compromised, manipulation may occur, thereby undermining the legitimacy of democratic processes. This paper presents a general version of a symmetric dichotomous choice model. Using simple majority rule, we show that when a voter receives one or more private signals, sincere voting is an equilibrium behavior. A slight change to this basic model may create an incentive to vote insincerely. We show that even in a more restricted model where every voter receives only one private signal whose level of precision is the same for all the voters but depends on the state of nature, voters may have an incentive to vote insincerely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper clarifies Havel's perception of post-democracy through his various writings and speeches, in comparison with the concepts of post-democracy as proposed by C. Crouch, J. Rancière, R. Rorty, S. Wolin, J. Habermas, and Ch. Mouffe. Consequently, Havel's critique of the then Western parliamentary democracy and the very essence of his notion of post-democracy will be thoroughly illuminated. The historical and intellectual circumstances that shaped his thinking on the topic will be analysed as well. Some misinterpretations of Havel's thinking that have emerged in the meantime will also be clarified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We propose a new estimator of the Democracy Effect that overcomes selection effects. • It weighs the behavior of each type of voter by its prevalence in the whole population. • We derive the distribution of this new weights-based estimator of the democracy effect. • Applications to two experiments find a significant effect in one but not the other. Dal Bó et al. (2010) show experimentally that the effect of a policy may be greater when it is democratically selected than when it is exogenously imposed. In this paper we propose a new and simpler estimation strategy that does not require information on the vote of subjects in the exogenous treatment. The new estimation strategy is based on calculating the average behavior under democracy by weighting the behavior of each type of voter by its prevalence in the whole population (and not conditional on the vote outcome). We derive the distribution of this new weights-based estimator of the democracy effect and show it eliminates selection effects under certain conditions. We apply the new estimation strategy to the data in Dal Bó et al. (2010) and to the data from a new experiment for which we cannot use the previous estimation strategy as we do not have information on how subjects would have voted in the exogenous treatment. We find a significant democracy effect in the former but not on the latter application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes three basic positions that have been held in relation to the place of religious ideas and reasons in public square deliberation by outlining the arguments of major representatives of each position. The three positions are: 'obligatory relegation' (Robert Audi); 'willing translation' (John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas), and 'unreserved declaration' (Nicholas Wolterstorff and Charles Taylor). I conclude by offering an observation from the survey. Even as the question of the place of religious ideas in public square deliberation can be approached from either broader domains of the secularisation/post-secularisation of societies or the essence of liberal democracy, it is not the domain itself but rather specific conceptions of key ideas or notions within each domain that push the representatives to take the position that they do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between the rise of populist support and increasing rates of abstention in European democracies. Empirical studies have shown that populist parties are gaining traction among voters, while abstention rates are also on the rise, particularly among “temporary” abstentionists who refrain from voting due to situational factors. We delve into this matter by utilising an original survey on a representative sample of the Portuguese population conducted in 2020. The findings suggest that there are similarities between voting for populist radical right parties and abstention, particularly in terms of “protest” attitudes, which set them apart from supporters of non-populist parties. Additionally, the study indicates that both phenomena are influenced by short-term factors related to the supply side of politics. However, abstentionists are more likely to belong to lower socio-economic strata and exhibit lower levels of political interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by Critical Race Discourse Analysis and Grounded Practical Theory this paper analyzes interaction during classroom dialogs to examine how democratic inclusion is undermined by color-evasion. Too often color-evasion as a discursive technique perpetuates exclusion, inhibits democratic values under the guise of inclusion, and consequently, protects whiteness and puts undue burden on non-white participants. Thus, we argue that democratic facilitators who are concerned with inclusion should listen for and disrupt color-evasiveness. We offer a practical theory to guide facilitators recognizing and challenging color-evasion through questions that encourage the group to contend with why evading talk about race undermines democratic dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue that because of the advent of Artificial Intelligence, the secret ballot is now much less effective at protecting voters from voting related instances of social ostracism and social punishment. If one has access to vast amounts of data about specific electors, then it is possible, at least with respect to a significant subset of electors, to infer with high levels of accuracy how they voted in a past election. Since the accuracy levels of Artificial Intelligence are so high, the practical consequences of someone inferring one's vote are identical to the practical consequences of having one's vote revealed directly under an open voting regime. Therefore, if one thinks that the secret ballot is at least partly justified because it protects electors against voting related social ostracism and social punishment, one should be morally troubled by how Artificial Intelligence today can be used to infer individual electors' past voting behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the normative dilemma raised by the constructivist turn in representation theory by focusing on a neglected aspect of such dilemma: under which conditions representation − taken in its existential and symbolic senses − can enhance democracy. By developing sustained readings of Laclau and Voegelin, it shows how stylistic/formal features such as a figurative and evocative language and a capacity to persuade both rationally and extra-rationally can be key elements for making representation democratic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the social dynamics behind the rise and resilience of today’s authoritarian regimes? This paper seeks to answer this question by focusing on the longest lasting elected autocracy of our era, the AKP (Justice and Development Party) regime in Turkey. Building on the authoritarian neoliberalism literature’s criticism of the scholarship on competitive authoritarianism, I point out the seeds of authoritarianism in the pro-market reforms of the 1980s–2000s. However, both literatures fail to address the popular embrace of authoritarianism. In critical engagement with analyses of fascism, I develop the concept ‘democratic autocracy’: a parliamentarised, individualised, personalistic, and relatively more market-oriented, twenty-first century version of fascism. The democratic autocracy in Turkey organises and mobilises the people through parties, youth and aid associations, paramilitary organisations, and unions. However, both unresolved economic crises and democratic autocracy’s sociopolitical dynamics set limits to its resilience, as well as to the sustainability of its parliamentarism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]