scholarly journals Estimating and examining the replicability of belief system networks

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark John Brandt

Belief system structure can be investigated by estimating belief systems as networks of interacting political attitudes, but we do not know if these estimates are replicable. In a sample of 31 countries from the World Values Survey (N = 52,826), I find that country’s belief system networks are relatively replicable in terms of connectivity, proportion of positive edges, some centrality measures (e.g., expected influence), and the estimates of individual edges. Betweenness, closeness, and strength centrality estimates are more unstable. Belief system networks estimated with smaller samples or in countries with more unstable political systems tend to be less replicable than networks estimated with larger samples in stable political systems. Although these analyses are restricted to the items available in the World Values Survey, they show that belief system networks can be replicable, but that this replicability is related to features of the study design and the political system.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark J. Brandt

Belief system structure can be investigated by estimating belief systems as networks of interacting political attitudes, but we do not know if these estimates are replicable. In a sample of 31 countries from the World Values Survey (N = 52,826), I find that countries’ belief system networks are relatively replicable in terms of connectivity, proportion of positive edges, some centrality measures (e.g., expected influence), and the estimates of individual edges. Betweenness, closeness, and strength centrality estimates are more unstable. Belief system networks estimated with smaller samples or in countries with more unstable political systems tend to be less replicable than networks estimated with larger samples in stable political systems. Although these analyses are restricted to the items available in the World Values Survey, they show that belief system networks can be replicable, but that this replicability is related to features of the study design and the political system.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 434-458
Author(s):  
Ainur Rofiq Al Amin

The proponents of Hizbut Tahrir (HT) claim that the structure of HT’s political system has been the sole best system and it is deemed as a single compatible system to deal with all problems faced by the modern people in this modern age. The political system has been claimed as being capable to replace all existing political systems in the world nowadays. They call this political system khilāfah coupled with khalīfah as the central elements. To the proponents of HT, the khilāfah system they promulgate among the Islamic communities throughout the world has been a legacy of the Prophet Muhammad. Therefore, the Muslim communities have to uphold this system regardless of their geographical boundaries. This article seeks to track roots of thought, which provide the political system called khilāfah and khalīfah propagated by HT foundation for its existence. In doing so, I will refer to authoritative references written and published by the proponents of HT. The study finds that the model of election, appointment, impeachment, and power of khalīfah along with obedience upon him leads to autocratic governance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 188-198
Author(s):  
Lidiia Kostetska

Transformational changes have been taking place in the political systems in many countries of the world over the last few decades. This issue arouses the great interest of scientists and researchers. In the article, I pay particular attention to the study of the “traditional” and “new” party systems and their role in the country’s contemporary political life. Given the challenge of the day, I see populism as a problem with its impact on democracy along with such issues as the role of populist parties and the citizens’ attitude to them; the analysis of problems developing in the political process, particularly, in parties and movements of the populist type; the formation and development of multi-party systems and democracy as a whole.Populism is considered in the article as a political ideology. This phenomenon is investigated as a component of the political parties’ activities, especially, of the Ukrainian parties. A comparative analysis of populist parties in the European Union and Ukraine has been carried out.I analyze the main factors of populism’s influence on the party-political system on the examples of the European countries and Ukraine. I also prove that populism has always occupied a special place in the implementation of programs of political leaders and parties. It is noted that populism remains the current day phenomenon of both the party-political system and the socio-economic life of the countries in the world. Having a considerable influence over the politics of the countries, where functioning of democratic institutions is relatively inexperienced, populism has a rather clear manifestation in the modern political space and the “old” democracies. There is a clear link between increasing populism and exacerbating socio-economic problems. The inability of the political establishment, including the democratic one, to respond effectively to new problems and challenges is an important factor contributing to the emergence and growth of populist influence.The in-depth analysis of the populist rhetorical and political effects on the development of modern democracy is particularly important, i. e. the margins between the reality and virtuality, truth and falsehood are leveling; facts lose their value; deconstruction of truth takes place; traditional ideologies are destroyed; moral relativism, hypocrisy and  double standards are spreading out.


Author(s):  
Michelle Belco ◽  
Brandon Rottinghaus

The president serves dual roles in the political system: one who “commands” by pursuing his or her agenda using unilateral orders and one who “administers” and who works to continue proper government function, often with the support of Congress. In a reassessment of the literature on unilateral power, this book considers the president’s dual roles during the stages of the policy-making process. Although presidents may appear to act “first and alone,” the reality is often much different. Presidents act in response to their own concerns, as well as assisting Congress on priorities and the need to maintain harmonic government function. The authors find support for both the model of an aggressive president who uses unilateral orders to push his or her agenda, head off unfavorable congressional legislation, and selectively implement legislation, and they find support for a unifying president who is willing to share management of government, support Congressional legislative efforts, and faithfully implement legislation. At the same time, presidents self-check their actions based on the ability of Congress to act to overturn their orders, through a shared sense of responsibility to keep government moving and out of respect for the constitutional balance. The shared nature of unilateral orders does not preclude an active president, as presidents remain strong, central actors in the political system.


Author(s):  
Chris G. Pope ◽  
Meng Ji ◽  
Xuemei Bai

The chapter argues that whether or not the world is successful in attaining sustainability, political systems are in a process of epoch-defining change as a result of the unsustainable demands of our social systems. This chapter theorizes a framework for analyzing the political “translation” of sustainability norms within national polities. Translation, in this sense, denotes the political reinterpretation of sustainable development as well as the national capacities and contexts which impact how sustainability agendas can be instrumentalized. This requires an examination into the political architecture of a national polity, the norms that inform a political process, socioecological contexts, the main communicative channels involved in the dissemination of political discourse and other key structures and agencies, and the kinds of approaches toward sustainability that inform the political process. This framework aims to draw attention to the ways in which global economic, political, and social systems are adapting and transforming as a result of unsustainability and to further understanding of the effectiveness of globally diffused sustainability norms in directing that change.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamall Ahmad

The flaws and major flaws in the political systems represent one of the main motives that push the political elite towards making fundamental reforms, especially if those reforms have become necessary matters so that: Postponing them or achieving them affects the survival of the system and the political entity. Thus, repair is an internal cumulative process. It is cumulative based on the accumulated experience of the historical experience of the same political elite that decided to carry out reforms, and it is also an internal process because the decision to reform comes from the political elite that run the political process. There is no doubt that one means of political reform is to push the masses towards participation in political life. Changing the electoral system, through electoral laws issued by the legislative establishment, may be the beginning of political reform (or vice versa), taking into account the uncertainty of the political process, especially in societies that suffer from the decline of democratic values, represented by the processes of election from one cycle to another. Based on the foregoing, this paper seeks to analyze the relationship between the Electoral and political system, in particular, tracking and studying the Iraqi experience from the first parliamentary session until the issuance of the Election Law No. (9) for the year (2020).


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-87
Author(s):  
James C. Schopf

Easton's systems theory greatly contributed to the field of political science by providing a useful holistic framework, demonstrating how the political system functions, by meeting societal demands with policy outputs. Easton's interest lay in the political system's persistence, which in his model, merely required the existence of community. Communities, however, require state-provided security to survive in a hostile international environment. Hence, this paper builds a sub-systemic governance model able to explain domestic political system and state persistence. The model argues that large input generating groups require sufficient allocation of public goods for the long term maintenance of the domestic political system. Application of the model to the successful South Korean case demonstrated that the share of public goods increased along with the size of the input generating group. Long term disruption of this critical subsystem in countries with large input generating groups, however, can destabilize the state and its domestic political system with increased pressure from unmet societal demands. This new sub-systemic model seeks to advance understanding of the operation of the system and open up new areas of research into the persistence of the domestic political system. The systems approach has greatly contributed to the study of politics. David Easton's seminal Systems Theory drew attention to important aspects of political life and provided a critical framework with which to understand and analyze inputs into the political system and policy outputs to the social environment. The advancement of systems theory in political science was hobbled, however by methodological shortcomings. Easton failed to operationalize key concepts, and as a result, the theory was neither applied nor tested. In addition, Easton's all-inclusive system design was unable to give insight into several systems-related questions areas of interest to social scientists, including the survival or collapse of states and their domestic political systems, regime change, and variation in the nature of policy outputs or societal inputs. Combining Easton's policy process framework with methodologically rigorous approaches sharing key system's theory assumptions helps to deepen understanding of these issues. By narrowing Easton's system to a critical subsystem comprised of the leader and his/her supporters, it becomes evident that changes in the size of the input-generating group can markedly affect the quality of government policy outputs. This new sub systemic model yields the prediction that leader's seeking to maintain power will allocate an increased ratio of public goods to private goods, the larger the size of the input generating group. After operationalizing the size of the input-generating group and the share of public vs. private goods allocated through economic policy, this paper applies this sub systemic hypothesis to explain recent changes in economic policy making in South Korea. Modernization theory provides the added insight that the forces of industrialization and economic development are increasing the size of the input-generating group in societies throughout the world, which are calling for public policy goods, in the form of democratic political rights as well as improved overall living standards. Leadership failing to respond to these increased demands over a prolonged period not only provokes regime change, but, in certain circumstances, can destabilize and trigger the collapse of states and of domestic political systems. Research into underdeveloped institutions, economic power concentration, sectarian division and other factors impeding delivery of public goods to large input generating groups, can offer further insight into the question of systemic persistence, the central concern of Easton's systems theory. The article first critiques the strengths and weaknesses of Easton's systems theory. A sub-systemic model is offered to ameliorate the methodological shortcomings of Easton's systems theory while making it applicable to questions concerning the persistence of domestic political systems and state maintenance. Applied to two cases of Korean industrial restructuring, the predictions of the sub-systemic model hold true: small input generating groups under authoritarian rule were associated with provision of private goods, whereas larger input generating groups under democracy produced policies that allocated public goods. The final section of the paper then explores the possible collapse of the domestic political system in cases where leadership is unable to provide public goods to large input generating groups.


Author(s):  
Bilge Yesil

This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, namely to provide a systematic analysis of Turkey's media system, its reconfiguration under domestic and international dynamics, the political and cultural tensions it harbors, and the trajectories it shares with other media systems around the world. The book highlights the push-pull forces of a centralized state authority and its democratization demands, the interpenetration of state and capital, and the overlapping of patronage structures with market imperatives. The remainder of the chapter discusses Turkey's media industry, its political system, and its authoritarian neoliberal order. These are followed by descriptions of the scope of the present study, the theoretical framework and methods, and an overview of the subsequent chapters.


1959 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seymour Martin Lipset

The conditions associated with the existence and stability of democratic society have been a leading concern of political philosophy. In this paper the problem is attacked from a sociological and behavioral standpoint, by presenting a number of hypotheses concerning some social requisites for democracy, and by discussing some of the data available to test these hypotheses. In its concern with conditions—values, social institutions, historical events—external to the political system itself which sustain different general types of political systems, the paper moves outside the generally recognized province of political sociology. This growing field has dealt largely with the internal analysis of organizations with political goals, or with the determinants of action within various political institutions, such as parties, government agencies, or the electoral process. It has in the main left to the political philosopher the larger concern with the relations of the total political system to society as a whole.


1965 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 656-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth F. Johnson

Evaluations of single-party democracy in Mexico have yielded a substantial literature from the researches of contemporary scholars. Their primary subjects of treatment have been the institutionalized agents of moderation and compromise that have made Mexico one of Latin America's more stable political systems. In prosecuting these studies, however, only scant attention has been given to political groups outside the officially sanctioned “revolutionary famity” of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional. The PRI has maintained a virtual monopoly of elective and appointive offices since 1929 and traditionally has been thought of as affiliating to itself the only politically relevant groups in Mexico.Modern Mexican political life has always had its “out groups” and splinter parties. Mostly, they have come and gone, leaving little or no impact upon the political system which they have attempted to influence. Howard Cline has contended that opposition groups in Mexico find it impossible to woo the electorate away from the PRI and thus feel forced to adopt demagoguery and other extreme postures which serve only to reduce their popular appeal.


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