The Structure of Communist Politics

1972 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Conceptual Development ◽  
Political History ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
East European ◽  
The Past ◽  
Restricted Sense ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
General Advancement

The past decade has witnessed a general advancement in comparative studies of communism. Yet, in comparing the conceptual development of the Soviet-East European and Chinese Communist fields, one is struck by the peculiarly arrested state of the Chinese side. By comparison, the “Kremlinologists” have produced a veritable storehouse of analytical tools with which they have contributed to the explanation of the nature and functioning of the Soviet political process and Soviet-East European interrelationship. Relatively little conceptual development is discernible in the China field. In this brief essay on comparative developments in the study of communism, I will attempt to compare the concepts which Western scholars have evolved to analyze the politics of the Communist world, account for different approaches, and analyze Chinese political history to determine the most meaningful approach. I speak of the nature and functioning of the political process in a restricted sense—the ways in which leaders interact, how political positions are attained and maintained, and, in general, the structure of leadership politics in the Communist world.

scholarly journals Common concern for the global ecological commons: solidarity with future generations?

2021 ◽  
pp. 004711782110362
Author(s):  
Marianne Takle
Keyword(s):  
Political Process ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Agenda 2030 ◽  
Collective Orientation ◽  
Scholarly Contribution ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
Normative Content

This article elaborates on ideas concerning future generations and whether they are useful in understanding some aspects of the concern for the global ecological commons. The article’s main scholarly contribution is to develop analytical tools for examining what a concern for future generations would require of current generations. It combines the scholarly literature on future generations with that of solidarity. The ideas concerning future generations are interpreted in terms of an ideal typical concept of solidarity with future generations. This concept is divided into four dimensions: the foundation of solidarity, the objective of solidarity, the boundaries of solidarity and the collective orientation. By applying these four dimensions in the context of the political process leading to Agenda 2030, the potentials and limitations of the concept are evident. The article concludes that the absence of reciprocity between current and future generations and uncertainty about the future are both crucial issues, which cut across the four dimensions. We cannot expect anything from people who have not yet been born, and we do not know what preferences they will have. This shows the vulnerability of forward-looking appeals to solidarity with future generations. Nevertheless, such appeals to solidarity may give global political processes a normative content and direction and can thereby contribute to understanding common concerns for the global ecological commons.

Frozen Negotiations: The Peace Process in Chiapas

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raúúl Beníítez Manaut ◽  
Andrew Selee ◽  
Cynthia J. Arnson
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Democratic Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
Better Than

Mexico's democratic transition has helped reduce, if not eliminate, the threat of renewed armed conflict in Chiapas. However, absent more active measures from the government and the Ejéército Zapatista de Liberacióón Nacional (EZLN) to seek a permanent peace agreement and come to terms with the legacies of the past, the conflict will linger on in an unstable déétente, which we term ““armed peace.”” While this situation is far better than the open hostilities of the past, it also belies the promise of a fully democratic society in which all citizens are equally included in the political process. La transicióón democráática en Mééxico ha contribuido a reducir, si no eliminar, la posibilidad de que el conflicto armado en Chiapas se reanude. Sin embargo, sin esfuerzos mas activos por parte del gobierno y del Ejéército Zapatista de Liberacióón Nacional (EZLN) para buscar un acuerdo de paz permanente y saldar cuentas con el pasado, el conflicto permaneceráá en un estado inestable que llamamos ““paz armada””. Aunque esta situacióón es mucho mejor que las tensiones y agresiones del pasado, no cumple los requisitos de una sociedad plenamente democráática en que todos los ciudadanos participan en condiciones de igualdad en el proceso políítico.

scholarly journals Chasing the green buck? Environmental activism in post-communist Baltic States

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timofey Agarin ◽  
Miķelis Grīviņš
Keyword(s):  
Political Process ◽  
Past Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Economic Resource ◽  
International Networks ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
National Environment ◽  
Collapse Of Communism

The paper investigates the dynamics and volution of issues on the agenda of Baltic environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) since the collapse of communism. The past research on Baltic environment activism suggests that these enjoy high visibility because they tapped the core societal views of natural environment as a crucial asset of a nation. As we demonstrate in this paper, the changes in agendas of Baltic environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) make clear that the rhetorical toolbox of ‘national environment’ is often used to mainly achieve greater financial gains for individual members, rather than for society at large. We illustrate how the dearth of economic opportunities for domestic public has impacted perceptions of ‘nature’ advocated by the environmental activists, focussing specifically on national perceptions of ownership and the resulting actions appropriating ‘nature’ as a source for economic development, only tangentially attaining environmental outcomes on the way. The vision that the ‘environment’ is an economic resource allowed ENGO activists to cooperate with the domestic policymaking, while tapping international networks and donors for funding. Throughout the past decades they worked to secure their own and their members’ particularistic economic interests and, as we demonstrate, remained disengaged from the political process and failed to develop broader reproach with publics.

Anti-Colonialism

2018 ◽  
pp. 416-452
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Political History ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Empirical Content ◽  
Rhetorical Device ◽  
The Past ◽  
Significant Phenomenon ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Phenomenon

Anti-colonialism as a historical phenomenon defies easy categorization. Despite its use as an expression across a range of academic disciplines, it resists simple definitions of practical form, political scope, and empirical content due to the ubiquity of anti-colonial thought and activism across time and geography. It is arguably one of the oldest forms of political conduct in the basic sense of opposing foreign domination. Yet, in most cases, it has primarily served as a generic rhetorical device to describe that which is against colonialism. This chapter offers a reassessment of anti-colonialism. Its reservations about monolithic approaches to colonialism and anti-colonialism reflect a common appraisal formulated by many scholars over the past several decades. Anti-colonialism must be recognized and understood as a significant phenomenon in defining the political history of the modern world. However, it must also be considered in many cases as indiscrete from the colonialism it confronted.

The European Dimension of Minority Political Representation

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Spirova ◽  
Boyka Stefanova
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Political Process ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
The Political ◽  
East European ◽  
European Dimension ◽  
Challenging Tasks ◽  
The Eu

The political integration of ethnic minorities is one of the most challenging tasks facing the countries of post-communist Europe. The roads to their political representation in the mainstream political process are numerous and diverse. The EU accession of the Central and East European countries has expanded the scope of the political participation of minorities by adding an electoral process at the regional level: the elections for members of the European Parliament. This article presents a comparative study of the ways in which EU-level electoral processes affect the scope and quality of minority representation on the example of the participation of ethnic political parties in Bulgaria and Romania in the 2007 and 2009 electoral cycles of the European Parliament.

scholarly journals De BMGN als platform voor vernieuwing van de politieke geschiedenis

2021 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-149
Author(s):  
Dirk Jan Wolffram
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Political History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
History Writing ◽  
Dutch Politics ◽  
Cultural Approach ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
History Of

De politieke geschiedenis van Nederland en België zoals bestudeerd in de BMGN had verschillende gezichten. Aanvankelijk domineerde een zekere traditionele geschiedschrijving over beide landen, die als een steeds dunner wordende rode draad door de inhoud van de afgelopen vijftig jaar loopt. Vanaf het midden van de jaren tachtig verschoof de nadruk naar de geschiedschrijving over de Nederlandse politiek, en ontwikkelde de BMGN zich tot platform voor de vernieuwing van de politieke geschiedenis van de moderne tijd. Deze politieke-cultuurbenadering manifesteerde zich vanaf het midden van de jaren negentig in een aantal baanbrekende artikelen en bracht ook de moderne Belgische politieke geschiedenis opnieuw onder de aandacht. In het afgelopen decennium ontpopte de BMGN zich tot podium voor een jonge generatie politieke historici. Studies of the political history of the Netherlands and Belgium as examined in the BMGN had various manifestations. Initially a somewhat traditional historiography about the two countries dominated, surfacing in the content of the past fifty years, albeit progressively less pronounced. From the mid 1980s the focus shifted to the historiography of Dutch politics, and the BMGN evolved into a platform for innovating political history writing of the modern period. This political-cultural approach manifested from the mid 1990s in several pioneering articles and restored interest in modern Belgian political history. In the past decade the BMGN has become a platform for a young generation of political historians.

scholarly journals A Critique of the Concept of “Non-Western Political Process”

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1(50)) ◽  
pp. 5-31
Author(s):  
Dmitry V. Mosyakov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Active Phase ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Universal Mechanism

The article is devoted to criticism of the concept of the so-called “non-Western political process”. Author expresses the opinion that this concept, formulated back in the mid-50s of the 20th century, is outdated today. The fact is that after the active phase of the globalization process and huge changes in the political, economic and social structure of Eastern societies over the past 60 years, the differences between how politics is done in the West and the East have virtually disappeared. The article provides evidence that now we can see a certain universal mechanism of power, which is equally intensively used in both Western and Eastern societies and states.

scholarly journals Presidential Address: Doctoral Theses and the Discipline of History in Canada, 1967 and 1985

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
William Acheson
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
History Of ◽  
Doctoral Programmes ◽  
The University ◽  
Doctoral Candidates

Abstract A comparison of doctoral theses in progress in 1967 and 1985 reveals a number of trends in historical studies in Canadian universities during the past two decades. In 1967, 58 per cent of all doctoral candidates chose topics in Canadian history and the largest number ― fully 36 per cent of all candidates ― were writing theses at the University of Toronto, which offered the broadest range of fields of any Canadian university. Much smaller programmes existed at McGill and the University of Western Ontario; aside from these three institutions, no other university in English-speaking Canada enrolled more than four students. Two-thirds of all francophone candidates were enrolled at Université Laval, where only five candidates were writing on topics other than Canadian history. The political process led the field of interest in all fields of study, while social history of the Annales school held little interest for either linguistic group. More than half the dissertations in Canadian fields were supervised by only eight senior scholars. By 1985, marked changes in this pattern were evident. The number of active doctoral candidates had increased from 236 in 1967 to 294, and Canadian history was the field of choice for 72 per cent. Doctoral programmes and hence supervision had decentralized in anglophone Canada, however, and the University of Toronto's dominance had been challenged by Queen's and York; specialized programmes of some size existed at a much larger number of institutions. Among francophone schools, enrollment had doubled and Laval had achieved a situation rivalling Toronto's in 1967. Laval and the Université de Montréal now had the largest doctoral programmes in the country. In terms of topic, policy and administration had replaced the political process as the subject of choice for both language groups; economic history experienced a modest degree of growth, while the history of ideas retained its traditional level of interest. Social history had become much more popular in both linguistic groups, while less European history was being studied. These developments pose both problems and possibilities for the profession as a whole. Doctoral studies have been enriched by the diversity of interests, but the potential for academic sectarian strife is troubling. The need now is for syntheses and paradigms which will permit the findings of subdisciplines to be integrated into a broader and more sensitive understanding of the past.

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