Are There Lessons for Us to Learn?

2020 ◽  
pp. 127-134
Author(s):  
Daniel Chirot
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
The Third ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Essential Change ◽  
Political Alignments ◽  
Intellectual Elites ◽  
Powerful Interest

This chapter draws eight conclusions from previous chapters for contemporary use. The first is that a kind of “blockage” has occurred, whereby powerful interest groups grow stronger and defend their wealth and privileges by blocking essential change and innovation. The second conclusion points out that it is possible to overcome a crisis if there are strong institutions that can be used by a self-aware political elite capable of understanding that change is necessary. The third is that moderate liberals usually emerge in the early stages of revolution, but are apt to be marginalized later on. The fourth adds that people from other political alignments also fall into the same trap. The fifth argues that wars invariably enhance the power of the radicals. The sixth reminds us that we all need to pay attention to what political leaders write and say, and never assume that what sounds like extremism is just opportunistic exaggeration. The seventh remarks on how ideas were also shaped by cultural and intellectual elites who were not identical to political ones. Finally, the eight: if you want a revolution, beware of how it might turn out.

scholarly journals Beijing's Policies for Managing Han and Ethnic-Minority Chinese Communities Abroad

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 183-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
James To
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Cooperative Groups ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Vast Network ◽  
Powerful Interest

The overseas Chinese (OC) form a vast network of powerful interest groups and important political actors capable of shaping the future of China from abroad by transmitting values back to their ancestral homeland (Tu 1991). While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) welcomes and actively seeks to foster relations with the OC in order to advance China's national interests, some cohorts may be hostile to the regime. In accordance with their distinct demographic and ethnic profiles, the CCP's qiaowu ([Formula: see text], OC affairs) infrastructure serves to entice, co-opt, or isolate various OC groupings. This article summarises the policies for managing different subsets of OC over the past three decades, and argues that through qiaowu, the CCP has successfully unified cooperative groups for China's benefit, while preventing discordant ones from eroding its grip on power.

Render unto Caesar Just a Little Bit Longer: The Relationship between Constitutional Reforms and Executive Survival

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Tofigh Maboudi ◽  
Ghazal P. Nadi ◽  
Todd A. Eisenstadt
Keyword(s):  
Term Limits ◽  
Institutional Constraints ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Constitutional Order ◽  
The Third ◽  
Constitutional Reforms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Since the third wave of democracy, term limits have become a popular fixture of most constitutions intended to constrain the executive. Yet, recent constitutional reforms around the world show that presidents seeking re-election sometimes overturn the entire constitutional order to extend their power. What is the impact of these constitutional manipulations on the longevity of the executive in office? Using survival analysis of all political leaders and national constitutions from 1875 to 2015, this article demonstrates, for the first time, that when ‘authoritarian-aspiring’ presidents remove constitutional term limits, they increase their stay in office by more than 40%. Our findings contrast with a widely held position in the comparative authoritarian literature suggesting that dictators survive longer under institutional constraints. On the contrary, we argue that by removing constitutional barriers, rulers consolidate more power at the expense of their most ambitious allies and can stay in power longer.

Firepower

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Lacombe
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Mass Shootings ◽  
National Rifle Association ◽  
Powerful Interest ◽  
Active Base

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is one of the most powerful interest groups in America, and has consistently managed to defeat or weaken proposed gun regulations — even despite widespread public support for stricter laws and the prevalence of mass shootings and gun-related deaths. This book provides an unprecedented look at how this controversial organization built its political power and deploys it on behalf of its pro-gun agenda. Taking readers from the 1930s to the age of Donald Trump, the book traces how the NRA's immense influence on national politics arises from its ability to shape the political outlooks and actions of its followers. The book draws on nearly a century of archival records and surveys to show how the organization has fashioned a distinct worldview around gun ownership and has used it to mobilize its supporters. It reveals how the NRA's cultivation of a large, unified, and active base has enabled it to build a resilient alliance with the Republican Party, and examines why the NRA and its members formed an important constituency that helped fuel Trump's unlikely political rise. The book sheds vital new light on how the NRA has grown powerful by mobilizing average Americans, and how it uses its GOP alliance to advance its objectives and shape the national agenda.

scholarly journals The birth of minority legislation in the newly independent Finland and Estonia (1918–1920): a comparative analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-84
Author(s):  
Kari Alenius
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Ethnic Minorities ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
The Third ◽  
International Trends ◽  
The Relationship

This article analyzes how ethnic minorities were taken into account in the Finnish and Estonian constitutions, and why account was taken precisely in a certain way. At the same time, it approaches what kinds of views were presented by different political parties and interest groups, what kind of debate was being held in Parliament and how the matter was dealt with in the leading media. The outcome of the process in both countries was that exceptionally broad linguistic and cultural rights were given to minorities if the situation was compared with the rest of Europe. There were several factors behind the process. One factor was the relationship between ethnic groups in Finland and Estonia in the historical perspective. Another factor was each country's internal debate on what kind of social order in general was to be built. The third factor was how the politics in Finland and Estonia was influenced by international trends and theories about how ethnic minorities should have been treated.

The Ethnic History And Composition Of Uzbek People: On The Example Of Two Languages, Settlement And Livestock Tribes

2021 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 24-27
Author(s):  
Safarali Kushakov ◽  
◽  
Sardor Akhmedov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Third ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Ethnic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Language Type

The third of requirements in this article on the question of origin of people is to keep in mind that the anthropological type and language of the ancestors of an ethnos never coexist with the language and type of the ethnos. This is because in the early stages of the history of ethnogenesis, ethnic units, especially their language and type, have not been formed yet. The concepts of language, type, and ethnic unity are realities of different periods, and it has been argued that the process of their formation did not take place at the same time.

The Paradox of Reparations

2016 ◽  
pp. 159-188
Author(s):  
Greg Robinson
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Japanese Americans ◽  
Japanese American ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Redress Movement

This chapter offers a more complex and multiracial view of history by revisiting the narrative of the Japanese American redress movement and discovers a paradox at its core: while the campaign by Japanese Americans for reparations for their wartime confinement started at the end of the 1960s as part of a wider antiracist coalition, and received key support in its early stages from African American political leaders, Japanese Americans increasingly distanced themselves from their black allies as the goal of redress grew nearer, even as African Americans became increasingly public in their opposition. The chapter also shows how the victory of the redress movement in 1988 offered a major precedent, and a model, for reparations efforts by blacks.

Voicing the Voiceless

2020 ◽  
pp. 197-210
Author(s):  
Tamilselvi Natarajan
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Minorities ◽  
Visual Representation ◽  
Future Generation ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Future ◽  
Third Gender ◽  
Tamil Cinema

Cinema always represented the society, and any visual representation about ‘not so commonly discussed' topics becomes crucial as they are the image blocks for the future generation. The power of cinema is high among Tamil audience, which is evident from the emergence of two great political leaders who are byproducts of it. It is essential to understand how sexual minorities are represented in a culture-specific society. In India, representation of the third gender was insensitive, and Tamil cinema is no exception. These representations cannot be ignored as ‘just in screen' as screen represents reality. Nevertheless, few fair images are making a significant impact on the audience about transgender. Studying representations about sexual minorities in Tamil cinema is important in today's context, where young minds are exposed to digital platforms. This chapter explains the description of the transgender community in Tamil cinema and analyses its impact on society.

Studia dziejów i kultury Żydów w Polsce po 1945 roku

2003 ◽  
pp. 548-549
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Keen Interest ◽  
The Third ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
History Of ◽  
Jewish Emigration

This chapter discusses the book Studia z dziejów i kultury Żydów w Polsce po 1945 roku (Studies on the History and Culture of Jews in Poland after 1945), which was edited by Jerzy Tomaszewski. This volume consists of three short monographs by Polish graduate students in the early stages of their professional development. Two were originally written as MA theses: one by Maciej Pisarski on Jewish emigration from Poland from 1945 to 1951, and the other by Albert Stankowski on Jewish emigration from western Pomerania from 1945 to 1960. The third, by August Grabski, on the organization of Jewish religious life in Poland during the communist and (primarily) post-communist eras, originated as a seminar paper. On the whole, postgraduate writing of this type, if it is published at all, appears in limited-circulation journals for an audience of academics. The fact that these studies were published in book form, especially in paperback with the aid of a subsidy from the Polish Ministry of Culture, offers further testimony of the keen interest in the history of Jews in Poland evident among the Polish public in recent years.

scholarly journals The Choice of Constitutional Amendments in a Young Democracy – from Indirect to Direct Election of the President in Taiwan

2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-131
Author(s):  
Da-chi Liao ◽  
Hui-chih Chang
Keyword(s):  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Loss Minimization ◽  
Constitutional Amendments ◽  
Direct Form ◽  
Power Maximization ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Masses

This paper attempts to determine the kind of constitutional rule preferred in a young democracy when an institutional opportunity for constitutional change occurs. It adopts the standpoint of collective decision-making. This approach involves two crucial theoretical elements: the calculation of the interests of the political elite and the masses' comprehension of what democracy is. The case studied here is Taiwan's constitutional choice between the direct and indirect election of the president during the period from 1990 to 1994. The paper first examines how the political leaders might have used both the logic of power maximization and of power-loss minimization to choose their position on the issue. It then demonstrates that survey results indeed showed that respondents better understood the direct form of electing the president and therefore supported it over the indirect one. This support helped the direct form to eventually win out.

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