Ukraine’s ‘muddling through’: National identity and postcommunist transition

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 439-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mykola Riabchuk
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political System ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Alternative Policy ◽  
Special Concern ◽  
Postcommunist Transition ◽  
National Reconciliation ◽  
Identity Issue ◽  
The Way

The paper argues that the profoundidentity split strongly influencesUkraine’s postcommunist development, precluding effectively consolidation of any political system – either democratic or authoritarian. In most cases, the identity issue supersedes all other issues on the agendas of political parties and largely determines the character and results of electoral rivalry, and the way in which both domestic and international politics is viewed and articulated. The paper examines historical roots of competing identities in Ukraine, their essence and impact on two different visions of Ukrainian past, future, and “Ukrainianness” itself. The use and misuse of identity issues by Ukrainian authorities is a special concern of the paper that stresses the need of alternative policy aimed at a national reconciliation.

Ideological Attempts to Build a Sustainable Program of Ecodomical Decommunistization in Post-1989 Romania by Promoting the Notion of National Identity

2018 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-156
Author(s):  
Corneliu C. Simuț
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Political System ◽  
Ethnic Origin ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Constructive Process ◽  
Religious Convictions ◽  
The Way ◽  
Eastern Orthodox Church

In December 1989, Communism died in Romania—if not as mentality, it surely met its demise as a political system which had dominated almost every aspect of life in the country for over four decades. Thus, at least in theory, an ideological vacuum was created and concrete steps towards filling it with different values and convictions were supposed to be taken as early as possible. The Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church seized the opportunity and initiated a series of measures which eventually created a distinct perception about what culture, ethnicity, and religion were supposed to mean for whoever identified himself as Romanian. This paper investigates these ideological attempts to decontaminate Romania of its former Communist mentalities by resorting to the concept of ecodomy seen as ‘constructive process’ and the way it can be applied to how the Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church dealt with culture, ethnicity, and religion. In the end, it will be demonstrated that while decommunistization was supposed to be constructive and positive, it proved to be so only for the Romanians whose national identity was defined by their adherence to the Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church and its perspective on culture, ethnicity, and religion. For all other Romanian citizens, however, decommunistization was a process of ‘negative ecodomy’ because their cultural ideas, ethnic origin, or religious convictions were perceived as non-Romanian and non-Orthodox. In attempting to reach decommunistization therefore, the Romanian majority still tends to be xenophobic and even anti-Muslim, as plainly demonstrated by the Bucharest mosque scandal which rocked the country in the summer of 2015.

scholarly journals Political Polarization in Taiwan: A Growing Challenge to Catch-all Parties?

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cal Clark ◽  
Alexander C. Tan
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
New Parties ◽  
Identity Issue

For the last decade, politics in Taiwan have become increasingly polarized over the national identity issue. Yet, the bitter division between the two major parties is not really reflected in the electorate. We seek to explain this paradox by examining the changing nature of political parties, in particular the growing role of ideological activists in campaigns, the rise of cultural and identity issues, the difficulty for new parties to emerge, the decline of catch-all parties, and the tendency for major parties to engage in cartel activities.

How not to deal with the past: lustration in Poland

1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara A. Misztal
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
The Political ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Postcommunist Transition

By looking at the history of the Polish lustration — the policy of checking the past of candidates for important positions — this article argues that although the lustration law has been finally passed at the end of 1998, Poland's dealing with the past is still full of unresolved and deeply ambivalent problems due to the nature of its postcommunist transition and the nature of the newly constructed political institutions. These conditions were shaped by the relative strength of the Polish anti-communist opposition, which credibility within the society permitted it to accept a compromise with the old regime. The undetermined character of many of Poland's political institutions have accelerated the use of the issue of retrospective justice in the partisan politics, which in turn has limited the opportunity for consensual policy, and therefore has reduced societal trust of the political parties, while at the same time increased the demand for the purification of the political system.

Paraguay political finance law will not go far enough

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Money Laundering ◽  
Political System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Finance ◽  
Finance Law ◽  
Terrorism Financing ◽  
The Way

Subject The new Political Financing Law. Significance A new law has been passed to regulate the financing of political parties. The move aims to counter growing infiltration by narcotics gangs of Paraguay’s political system through introducing mechanisms requiring all candidates to reveal the source of financing of their individual campaigns. Impacts The new law will do little to improve citizens’ minimal trust in politicians. The way in which it is implemented may see the law’s effectiveness further watered down. Washington will continue to press Asuncion for progress on combating money-laundering and terrorism financing.

The Republic after Berlusconi: Some reflections on historiography, politics and the political use of history in post-1994 Italy

Modern Italy ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Orsina
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
First Republic ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact

The Italian political crisis of 1993–1994 and the new political dynamics to which it gave rise, and which persist today, have strongly shaped both public debate and historiographical reflection on the Italian Republic. This article assesses the impact of the political changes of the post-1994 period (and notably Berlusconi's entry into politics) on the debate over the so-called First Republic, with regard to: Italian national identity in the post-Fascist period; the functioning of the political system, especially in relation to the role of the political parties; anti-Fascism and its internal divisions; communism and anti-communism.

The nature of the political system in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 300-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhad Hassan Abdullah ◽  
Hawre Hasan Hama
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political System ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Kurdistan Region ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Presidential System ◽  
The Way

The Kurdistan region of Iraq has a substantial number of the customary signs of political system, including the various main branches of the state institutions such as executive, courts, and assembly. Since 1991, the Region has established as certain political system that adheres to a commonly acknowledged type of system of government. Some contend that the political system in the region is a presidential system, however with parliament having had the ability to vote the President in or out for quite a while. Political division, explicitly between the political parties, has ended up being a veritable obstruction to the political advancement and strength of the Region and to concocting a bound together type of political system. The region has suffered from lack of constitution; this has caused political conflicts over the law of the presidency of the region and the ways of electing the President. Therefore, when Barzani's presidency term ended in August 2015, the political parties except the KDP attempted to amend the presidential law and make another law to elect the president inside the parliament until writing the constitution for the Region in which the political parties can agree on the form of the political system and the way of electing the President. This article contends that there is a connection between the nature and structure of the political parties and the political systems that have been proposed as a ruling model for the region. The article also concludes by identifying potential systems of government available to the KRI and the potential consequences of each.

A la recherche d'une méthode d'analyse des partis et des groupes d'intérêt

1969 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Léon Dion
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Systems Analysis ◽  
Political System ◽  
Input Function ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
The Social ◽  
Number Of Authors ◽  
The Way

After indicating that no rigorous political theory of groups exists, chiefly because interest groups are not genuine groups in the sense of “real collective units,” the author examines the disadvantages and advantages of using the systems analysis approach for the study of political parties and interest groups. Three correctives are suggested to systems theory, as it has been developed by a number of authors and more especially by David Easton, to make it better suited for the analysis of parties and interest groups. First, the environment must be made operational by the introduction, in addition to the political system, of a social system, providing constraints on the analyst comparable to those of the political system itself, and by the identification within both systems of a social and a political dynamic. Second, greater attention must be given to the way in which parties and interest groups, inasmuch as they act as input mechanisms, permit interactions between the social and the political systems. Third, a sharper focus must be put on the way the input function of political systems throws light on the life of groups.

Remembering the Past in Nineteenth-Century Scotland

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
National Identity ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Collective Memories ◽  
The Past ◽  
Prevailing View ◽  
The Way

At a time when the Union between Scotland and England is once again under the spotlight, Remembering the Past in Nineteenth-Century Scotland examines the way in which Scotland’s national heroes were once remembered as champions of both Scottish and British patriotism. Whereas 19th-century Scotland is popularly depicted as a mire of sentimental Jacobitism and kow-towing unionism, this book shows how Scotland’s national heroes were once the embodiment of a consistent, expressive and robust view of Scottish nationality. Whether celebrating the legacy of William Wallace and Robert Bruce, the reformer John Knox, the Covenanters, 19th-century Scots rooted their national heroes in a Presbyterian and unionist view of Scotland’s past. Examined through the prism of commemoration, this book uncovers collective memories of Scotland’s past entirely opposed to 21st-century assumptions of medieval proto-nationalism and Calvinist misery. Detailed studies of 19th-century commemoration of Scotland’s national heroes Uncovers an all but forgotten interpretation of these ‘great Scots’ Shines a new light on the mindset of nineteenth-century Scottish national identity as being comfortably Scottish and British Overturns the prevailing view of Victorian Scottishness as parochial, sentimental tartanry

The Beginnings of Islam in Afghanistan

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arezou Azad
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Political System ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Religious Context ◽  
Early Islam ◽  
History Of ◽  
Initial Conversion ◽  
The Way

Covering the period from 709 to 871, this chapter traces the initial conversion of Afghanistan from Zoroastrianism and Buddhism to Islam. Highlighting the differential developments in four regions of Afghanistan, it discusses the very earliest history of Afghan Islam both as a religion and as a political system in the form of a caliphate.  The chapter draws on under-utilized sources, such as fourth to eighth century Bactrian documents from Tukharistan and medieval Arabic and Persian histories of Balkh, Herat and Sistan. In so doing, it offers a paradigm shift in the way early Islam is understood by arguing that it did not arrive in Afghanistan as a finished product, but instead grew out of Afghanistan’s multi-religious context. Through fusions with Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, early Abrahamic traditions, and local cult practices, the Islam that resulted was less an Arab Islam that was imported wholesale than a patchwork of various cultural practices.

Diasporic and Gendered Identities in Moroccan Transnational Cinema: Mohammed Ismail’s Ici et là (Here and There)

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-33
Author(s):  
Mouhcine El-Hajjami ◽  
Souad Slaoui
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Female Subject ◽  
Transnational Cinema ◽  
Visual Discourse ◽  
Gendered Identities ◽  
Feminist Discourse ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Way

The present paper aims at examining the extent to which Moroccan cinema could establish a diasporic visual discourse that cements national identity and contests the impact of westernization on migrants. Moreover, through the analysis the way in which independent identities are constructed in the host land, the article tries to incorporate a feminist discourse to highlight the role of the female subject in retrieving its own agency by challenging patriarchal oppression. Therefore, we argue that Mohammed Ismail’s feature-length film Ici et là (Here and There) has partially succeeded in creating a space for its diasporic subjects to build up their own independent identities beyond the scope of westernization and patriarchy.

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