Digital Commons Network^™

France In The Middle East: A Democratic Justification For Military Interventions In Iraq And Beyond., Nicolas Demeure, Brice Tseen Fu Lee

Journal Of Middle East and Islamic Studies

How did France’s refusal to take part in the war on Iraq in 2003 has created the conditions that legitimizes its future military interventions abroad? In this paper, a discourse analysis of the official French Foreign Policy Discourse is done to show why saying no to war in 2003 paradoxically allows France to carry out military interventions in 2015. This paper argues that France, while perpetrating an existing discourse of democracy opposing the civilized against the uncivilized that legitimates Foreign policy as a security tool, by its refusal, transformed military intervention a latent policy andlegitimized the French Self as …

Press Freedom Under Threat In Europe: Slapps And Democracy, Maya Oleary-Cyr

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

This paper critically examines the legal systems of European countries and their relationship to press freedom, particularly the vexatious legal threats used by government officials and corporations to silence journalists. These legal threats are known as SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation) and their use has increased exponentially in the last decade. Although the issue is global, this research analyzes the issue through the lens of Greece, Italy, and Hungary. As member states, each one of these countries has an obligation to uphold the democratic standards put forth by the EU. Journalists are a vital aspect of the democratic process …

Review Of Democratic Backsliding In Africa? Autocratization, Resilience, And Contention, Robert Press

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Islamic Political Parties And Election Campaigns In Indonesia, Colm A. Fox, Jeremy Menchik

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Islamist political parties are a structural feature of politics across the Muslim world, raising persisting questions for scholars of democracy. Under what conditions will Islamists moderate to support democracy and pluralism? Under what conditions will they adopt more exclusive behavior? Taking a fresh approach, we focus on electoral competition and the conditions under which Islamic party candidates campaign using either inclusive nationalist appeals or exclusively Islamic appeals. Using a unique data source, we coded the appeals contained on the campaign posters of 572 Islamic party candidates in Indonesia. We found that demographics, urban–rural differences, and the level of government office …

Democratic Commitment In The Middle East: A Conjoint Analysis, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Polls from the Middle East/North Africa show high support for democracy. However, the veracity of this support has been called into question. This study uses a conjoint analysis to show that citizens support democratic institutions, as well as favoring an effective welfare state and a state religion. The results demonstrate that support for elected governance is not contingent on the state's providing economic benefits; citizens are more likely to favor participatory government at each level of economic outcome. Interest in incorporating religion in the state, however, is contingent on the political and economic profile described; the contingent effects suggest interest …

Why Democracies And Autocracies Go To War: Comparing The Cases Of Iraq And Ukraine, Ketevan Chincharadze

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

History shows that both democratic and nondemocratic countries wage wars to advance their strategic interests. This study has comparatively analyzed two conflicts – the 2003-2011 U.S. invasion of Iraq and Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine – to identify the trends that motivate both democratic and autocratic leaders to behave similarly by launching an invasion. The interpretive research of various memoirs, books, interviews, academic articles, news reports, and speeches, has uncovered that personal biases, particularly confirmation biases, play a significant role in motivating leaders to start a war. Leaders’ confirmation biases are often shaped by three prominent factors – historical memory, …

Cardinal Cahal Daly: A Vatican Ii Bishop Seeking The Kingdom Of God, Maria Power

The Journal of Social Encounters

Cardinal Cahal Daly (1917-2009) was the only member of the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland to hold office from the beginning of the conflict there in 1969 to the paramilitary ceasefires in 1996. He was well known for his pronouncements on the causes of the conflict and his use of Catholic social teaching to offer solutions. Political structures have played a key role in stabilising Northern Ireland since 1998 and Daly used Catholic concepts of democracy and statecraft to explore alternative possible futures for Northern Ireland in the years prior to their implementation. This article will show how much of his …

Explaining Suharto's Rise And Fall: International And Domestic Variables, Julia Batanghari

Undergraduate Honors Theses

For three decades (1968-1998), Indonesia was led by President Suharto, whose authoritarian military regime is remembered for its corruption and brutality. This paper offers an analysis of Suharto’s rule through the lens of two events: his 1965 purge of local ‘communists’ and the riots of May 1998. Drawing comparisons between the two, I delve into systemic causes by considering the influence of domestic and international variables. Exploring links between intergroup accommodation and democracy reveals that Suharto’s lack of ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious inclusivity paved the way not only for the anti-Chinese sentiment which pervaded Indonesian society during his presidency, but …

Solidarity For Myanmar: #Milkteaalliance Indonesia’S Transnational Activism In Pressuring The Government Of Indonesia And Asean, Muhammad Anugrah Utama

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

The military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, carried out by the Tatmadaw against top officials from the newly elected-government–in which National League for Democracy (NLD) Party made the majority–brought strong backlashes from civil society, one of which was the Milk Tea Alliance. This paper discusses the activism of Milk Tea Alliance Indonesia in pressuring the Indonesian government and ASEAN, especially during the ASEAN Special Summit. This paper is based on qualitative method using literature review on the case study of Milk Tea Alliance activism in Indonesia. By referring to the ‘Boomerang pattern’ framework on transnational advocacy network, this …

Visualizing Politics In Indonesia: The Design And Distribution Of Election Posters, Colm A. Fox

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Where studies have shown that visuals are the primary means of political communication, research continues to focus largely on text-based information. To add to our understanding of visual-political communications, this article analyses Indonesian election posters since the 1950s. Drawing on historical materials and on a content analysis of 4,000 election posters, it asks why election posters have been designed and distributed in particular ways. Findings indicate that in the past, posters used singular, though powerful, social symbols to mobilize demographic groups behind political parties. However, contemporary posters are more visually complex and more candidate-centered, making arguments as to what the …

Dismantling New Democracies: The Case Of Tunisia, Hannah M. Ridge

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

After a decade as the stand-out democracy of the Middle East, Tunisia took an anti-democratic turn in July 2021 with President Kaïs Saïed’s self-coup. Using a survey fielded in the weeks after these reforms, this article documents the substantial support for liberal institutions and civil rights in Tunisia. Democracy itself, on the other hand, is not so strongly supported. The study thus identifies potential for democratic backsliding in Tunisia through the strategic implementation liberal but anti-democratic actions. Other would-be authoritarians could follow Saïed’s model of strategic regression to autocratize their regimes.

Diagnosing The Health And Outlook Of Democracy In Benin, Daniel Bălțoi

Senior Theses

Academics and journalists have characterized the West African state of Benin as a democracy in decline under President Patrice Talon, elected in 2016 and reelected in 2021. This thesis explains that trend and its historical background. After comparing Benin with other African democracies of varying strengths, it is concluded that despite setbacks experienced under Talon, in the long run, Benin’s democratic institutions will hold firm and survive.

What Role Do Women In Politics Play For Democratic Erosion?, Emelyn Rodriguez

Politics Honors Papers

Research has found that women in politics are important for representation and women’s rights, but can women’s increasing involvement in politics also stabilize fragile democracies? This research analyzes the relationship between women in politics and democratic consolidation, asking whether and how women help consolidate democracies and prevent the erosion of democratic institutions. I show initial quantitative evidence suggesting that under some conditions, women in politics reduce the probability of democratic erosion. In the main part of the project, using a case study of the Dominican Republic, I take a closer look at the work women have done for a newly …

Unconventional Avenues For Public Participation: A Case Study From Rural Egypt, Hassan Hussein

The Journal of Social Encounters

When traditional avenues for learning and participation become inaccessible for less-advantaged people to learn and participate, people tend to develop other unconventional avenues to learn and participate in decisions that affect their lives. There are two distinct research approaches in the study of political participation. One approach, which had been historically predominant, focuses on individual characteristics such as education level, income and class, and the other, social network approach focuses on the influence of context and social networks in the political socialization and mobilization of men and women in democracies and authoritarian polities. This paper fits into the second approach …

Women’S Rights In Kenya Since Independence: The Complexities Of Kenya’S Legal System And The Opportunities Of Civic Engagement, Gail Presbey

The Journal of Social Encounters

Since Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963, women’s rights in the country have made slow gains and suffered some setbacks. However, the rights of women and their guaranteed participation in politics was outlined in Kenya’s 2010 Constitution. This paper will survey some of those gains as well as describe the social backlash experienced by women leaders who have been trailblazers in post-colonial Kenyan politics.

The United States And Its Coercive Democratization Attempts In Japan And Iraq, Noah Shepardson

College Honors Program

The United States engaged in coercive democratization (bringing democracy to a country via coercive measures such as occupation) endeavors in both Japan and Iraq, achieving drastically different results. The democratization of Japan is typically regarded as the gold standard of coercive democratization due to Japan’s rapid social and economic development following the United States’ occupation of the country in the years after World War II. The United States’ democratization effort in Iraq, on the other hand, has failed to create such prosperous conditions and has arguably made Iraq more unstable. This thesis seeks to identify why coercive democratization worked in …

Gender Equality And Democratization: How Greater Gender Equality Helps Explain Tunisian Success In The Arab Spring, Hannah Miller

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

The Developmental State And Public Participation: The Case Of Energy Policymaking In Post-Fukushima Japan, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the Japanese government tried to democratize energy policy-making by introducing public participation. Over the course of its implementation, however, public participation came to be subordinated to expert committees as the primary mechanism of policy rationalization. The expert committees not only neutralized the results of public participation but also discounted the necessity of public participation itself. This trajectory of public participation, from its historic introduction to eventual collapse, can be fully explained only in reference to complex interactions between the macroinstitutions and microsituations of Japanese policy-making at the time of the nuclear disaster: the macroinstitutional …

Indonesia: Twenty Years Of Democracy By Jamie S. Davidson [Book Review], Colm A. Fox

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In Indonesia: Twenty years of democracy, Jamie S. Davidson looks back over the two decades since Soeharto’s fall, focusing on the ‘tensions, inconsistencies, and contradictory puzzles of Indonesia’s democracy’ (p. 4). Refreshingly, the book moves beyond the common approach of studying the similarities and differences between the contemporary democratic period and the Soeharto era. Davidson identifies, labels and skilfully guides the reader through three separate eras in Indonesia’s recent democratic history: the innovation period (1998–2004), the stagnation period (2004–14) and the period of polarisation (2014–18). Each era is analysed in parallel fashion, with subsections on politics, political economy and identity-based …

Bill 10, If Enacted, Will Install A Constitutional Dictatorship And Undermine Democracy In Zambia, Muna B. Ndulo

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

Zambia has made several attempts to elaborate a democratic constitution that promotes good governance, inclusiveness, citizen participation, accountability, and the separation of powers between the three arms of government-parliament, the judiciary, and the executive. Success has been elusive largely because the processes used have been inappropriate for consensus building. The latest attempt, the Constitution Amendment Bill No. 10 of 2019, which came out of a ruling party dominated constitutional conference, is presently before parliament. The constitutional conference excluded key stake holders such as the main opposition party and civil society. The paper critically examines the contents of Bill 10 and …

Islamic Revivalism And Democracy In Malaysia, Ashton Word, Ahmed Abd Rabou

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

The paper examines democracy and secularism in Malaysia, a state rooted in Islam, and how it has been implemented in a country with a majority Muslim population. It briefly outlines how Islam was brought to the region and how British colonialism was able to implement secularism and democratic practices in such a way that religion was not wholeheartedly erased. Indeed, peaceful decolonization combined with a history of accommodating elites served to promote a newly independent Malaysia, to create a constitutional democracy which declares Islam as the religion of the Federation, and simultaneously religious freedom. Despite the constitution, the United Malays …

U.S. Democratization In Post-Cold War Russia: A Critique, Franklin T. Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

States are path dependent entities that deviate solely in the face of catastrophic failures in the pursuit of axiomatic ends by conventional means. The inertia of bureaucratic institutions, a foreign policy consensus within a self-reproducing elite of experts, the self-interest of political elites and a sense of “national self” or identity lead states to understand themselves in light of a history and a relative level of status on the world stage. Since the end World War II, the U.S. has a certain path that places the spread of democracy and laissez-faire capitalism extremely important if not vital foreign policy goals. …

The Erosion Of Press Freedom: An Examination Of Hong Kong’S Book Publishing And Journalism Industries Post-Handover, Salonee Goel

CMC Senior Theses

Hong Kong was once touted for the openness of its press and its vibrant independent publishing scene. Now, seemingly reputable news organizations, such as the South China Morning Post, are undergoing editorial shifts and engaging in self-censorship while independent book publishers are being replaced by Chinese state-owned companies. These changes are a result of years of direct and indirect pressure on these industries by the Chinese government, which began even before the 1997 handover. In the past decade, these tactics have become more overt and their effects on the city’s news organizations and book publishers are increasingly visible. Through interviews …

Thailand’S 2019 Vote: The General’S Election, Jacob Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Thailand's March 2019 ballot was the first for the country since 2011, and for many it signaled the potential end of the military junta's five-year rule. But was it truly a return to democracy? This essay argues that the election was far from a democratization event. Instead, it was a highly orchestrated exercise to ensure authoritarian longevity. The junta employed techniques of institutional engineering as well as managing the election's outcomes in an effort to extend the premiership of Prayuth Chan-ocha despite increasing pressure for a return to civilian rule. The results of the election suggest that Thai society continues …

Youth And Politics: Is There Space For Youth In Cabo-Verdean Politics?, Aleida Mendes Borges

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

All over Africa young people face serious economic, social and emotional challenges in their everyday lives as the generation hardest hit by the failures of neoliberalism (Honwana 2012). In the absence of political role models, this so-called ‘waithood generation’, has rejected traditionally understood notions of political participation associated with representative democracy and are taking the role of active citizens moving away from the ‘myopic obsession’ over voting and party systems.

In Cabo Verde in particular, where politics are characterised by vertical relations of everyday political life and citizen-state interactions, this paper analyses young people as a window to understanding broader …

Local Democracy And Education Policy In Newly Federal Nepal, Jack Shangraw

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In 2017, Nepal held its first local elections in twenty years. These were the first elections held under Nepal’s new constitution, ratified in 2015, which transitioned the country from a unitary state to a Federal Democratic Republic. This case study analyzes the effect of the transition to federalism on decision-making and community representation in local governance in Annapurna Rural Municipality in West-Central Nepal. This study focuses specifically on education policy, one of the more public and contentious policy responsibilities devolved from the federal level to the local units under the new constitution. This research is based on interviews with government …

In Pursuit Of ‘Twin Toleration’: Democracy And Church–State Relations In Serbia And Montenegro, Marko Veković

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This paper explores the relationship between church and state in Serbia and Montenegro by examining the development of ‘twin toleration’. In particular, it aims to explain why there is still no ‘twin toleration’ in these states, and why it is important to impose such institutional arrangement in church–state relations. The ‘Twin toleration’ concept suggests that institutional arrangements between the state and religious communities in a democratic society should be based on mutual autonomy, in which the state should not interfere in the matters of religious communities, and vice versa. However, since the fall of communism and resurgence of religion, both …

Democracy And Civil Society In Latin America And The Caribbean In A Time Of Change, Susan Appe, Daniel Barragán, Anabel Cruz

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

No abstract provided.

When The State Turns Against Its Own Citizens: Revisiting Police Brutality As An Obstacle To Peace And Development In Zimbabwe, Tendaishe Tlou

Young African Leaders Journal of Development

This analysis comes at a strategic yet uncertain period in Zimbabwe when the nation is going through a political transition. A lot ofuncertainty surrounds the outcome of this transition. Since the 1980s, Zimbabwe has been entrenched in a plethora of crises including vast human rights abuses hinged on pervasive police brutality. The police have increasingly become predatory against the Zimbabwean populace, followed by disappearances of human rights defenders and activists. Elections have always been marred by political violence perpetrated by both State and non-state actors to the detriment of human rights and good governance. Whilst the leadership in the governing …

Candidate-Centric Systems And The Politicization Of Ethnicity: Evidence From Indonesia, Colm A. Fox

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

When and why do electoral candidates politicize ethnicity? From the literature, we might expect this behaviour to occur during democratic transitions or under proportional rules. However, empirical support for these arguments is mixed. This article presents a new approach, arguing that candidate-centric rules offer candidates incentives to politicize ethnicity. The argument is tested in Indonesia with empirical evidence drawn from coding newspaper reports on campaign events, endorsements and group appeals. Indonesia used party-centric rules from 1997 to 2004, and even though the country democratized during this period, the politicization of ethnicity actually declined. I show how party-centric rules, coupled with …