Pub Date : 2023-04-17DOI: 10.1177/2336825X231169476
Anni Roth Hjermann
This article investigates the role of discourses in processes of deepening authoritarianism and war. By bringing Jacques Rancière’s works on politics and depoliticisation into dialogue with poststructuralist discourse analysis, the article argues that discursive depoliticisation contributes towards authoritarian consolidation and shows how authoritarianism deepens in a co-dependent nexus of domestic and international politics. Focusing in particular on Rancière’s concept of gaps, the article argues that the core mechanism of depoliticisation is to neutralise the gap constitutive of politics proper and that this neutralisation unfolds in discourse, through the logics of archipolitics, parapolitics, metapolitics and ultrapolitics. The article (1) develops a framework for unpacking discursive depoliticisation empirically by conceptualising Rancière’s logics as ideal-typical depoliticising discourses and (2) applies that framework in an analysis of Russian official discourse in recent years (2015–2023). The article thereby explains how discursive constructions have strengthened Russian autocracy: entrenched depoliticising discourses, produced and reinforced in a co-constitutive internal/external sphere, made possible authoritarian consolidation in Russia under Putin and its war on Ukraine. The article puts forward the concept of discursive depoliticisation as a novel perspective on ‘hybrid’ and authoritarian regimes, as well as Russia’s intensified war on Ukraine and full-on autocracy from 2022 onwards.
{"title":"Depoliticising democracy through discourse: Reading Russia’s descent into autocracy and war with Jacques Rancière’s political theory","authors":"Anni Roth Hjermann","doi":"10.1177/2336825X231169476","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X231169476","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates the role of discourses in processes of deepening authoritarianism and war. By bringing Jacques Rancière’s works on politics and depoliticisation into dialogue with poststructuralist discourse analysis, the article argues that discursive depoliticisation contributes towards authoritarian consolidation and shows how authoritarianism deepens in a co-dependent nexus of domestic and international politics. Focusing in particular on Rancière’s concept of gaps, the article argues that the core mechanism of depoliticisation is to neutralise the gap constitutive of politics proper and that this neutralisation unfolds in discourse, through the logics of archipolitics, parapolitics, metapolitics and ultrapolitics. The article (1) develops a framework for unpacking discursive depoliticisation empirically by conceptualising Rancière’s logics as ideal-typical depoliticising discourses and (2) applies that framework in an analysis of Russian official discourse in recent years (2015–2023). The article thereby explains how discursive constructions have strengthened Russian autocracy: entrenched depoliticising discourses, produced and reinforced in a co-constitutive internal/external sphere, made possible authoritarian consolidation in Russia under Putin and its war on Ukraine. The article puts forward the concept of discursive depoliticisation as a novel perspective on ‘hybrid’ and authoritarian regimes, as well as Russia’s intensified war on Ukraine and full-on autocracy from 2022 onwards.","PeriodicalId":42556,"journal":{"name":"New Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78642069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-10DOI: 10.1177/2336825X231164309
Piotr Sula, Kamil Błaszczyński, M. Madej
Linkages between political parties and society have been considered weak from the very beginning of the political transformation in Central and Eastern Europe, including in Poland. One result has been the employment of clientelistic strategies by political parties across the region. Clientelism in Polish politics has been present for three decades, however, the way it manifests itself today varies significantly from how it appeared in the past in terms of its scale but also because it has “thickened” by incorporating Catholic, national, and patriotic symbols. Furthermore, the number of contracting parties is not limited to the patron (PiS) and their clients (voters); a crucial role seems to be played by the organisations supported financially by the PiS government whose task may be to entice citizens to vote for the party. It can be argued that the financial standing of these organisations was built with support from the state budget and that their operations are highly dependent on these resources. We conclude that PiS has created a clientelistic machine formed by populist, nationalist, and religious ideological discourses.
{"title":"Law and Justice and its allies: Clientelistic links in Poland after 2015","authors":"Piotr Sula, Kamil Błaszczyński, M. Madej","doi":"10.1177/2336825X231164309","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X231164309","url":null,"abstract":"Linkages between political parties and society have been considered weak from the very beginning of the political transformation in Central and Eastern Europe, including in Poland. One result has been the employment of clientelistic strategies by political parties across the region. Clientelism in Polish politics has been present for three decades, however, the way it manifests itself today varies significantly from how it appeared in the past in terms of its scale but also because it has “thickened” by incorporating Catholic, national, and patriotic symbols. Furthermore, the number of contracting parties is not limited to the patron (PiS) and their clients (voters); a crucial role seems to be played by the organisations supported financially by the PiS government whose task may be to entice citizens to vote for the party. It can be argued that the financial standing of these organisations was built with support from the state budget and that their operations are highly dependent on these resources. We conclude that PiS has created a clientelistic machine formed by populist, nationalist, and religious ideological discourses.","PeriodicalId":42556,"journal":{"name":"New Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73482200","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-04DOI: 10.1177/2336825x231168366
{"title":"Corrigendum to “Redefining the Russian Empire: The turn to liberal imperialism through the letters of Prince Nikolay A. Orlov at the height of the Great Reforms”","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/2336825x231168366","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825x231168366","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42556,"journal":{"name":"New Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136187251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-03DOI: 10.1177/2336825X231164559
Branislav Mičko
This paper analyses how a state produces new internal borders. It selected 1668 newspaper articles on the COVID-19 internal bordering case in Slovakia to answer this question. These articles were then analysed using the thematic trajectory analysis (TTA) through the conceptual prism of structurationism. The results suggest states apply methods during the production of internal borders similar to those used during the (re-)production of an international border. In particular, it shows the application of a military-testing nexus and economic tools to ensure compliance with the new border. Results also revealed that such a border is heavily dependent on popular support for the government and open to re-negotiations by relevant societal groups. From the border production perspective, this study offers a preliminary step into the area of internal borders imposed on a generally homogenous population, especially regarding the borders produced under COVID-19 conditions.
{"title":"COVID-19 and New internal bordering: The case of Slovakia","authors":"Branislav Mičko","doi":"10.1177/2336825X231164559","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X231164559","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyses how a state produces new internal borders. It selected 1668 newspaper articles on the COVID-19 internal bordering case in Slovakia to answer this question. These articles were then analysed using the thematic trajectory analysis (TTA) through the conceptual prism of structurationism. The results suggest states apply methods during the production of internal borders similar to those used during the (re-)production of an international border. In particular, it shows the application of a military-testing nexus and economic tools to ensure compliance with the new border. Results also revealed that such a border is heavily dependent on popular support for the government and open to re-negotiations by relevant societal groups. From the border production perspective, this study offers a preliminary step into the area of internal borders imposed on a generally homogenous population, especially regarding the borders produced under COVID-19 conditions.","PeriodicalId":42556,"journal":{"name":"New Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82597467","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-23DOI: 10.1177/2336825X231165469
Judas Everett
This article addresses the contradictory behaviour of the Russian Federation in reacting to the events of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. The Russian response saw significant aggression, but also seemingly involving inaction or even restraint in other areas. The question is what are some plausible explanations for this contradictory behaviour. In order to answer this question, relevant terminology is defined, then the subnational level is focused on and Most Similar System Design is utilised. Then cases involving significant aggression are considered, before moving on to those seemingly involving inaction or even restraint. Finally, these two elements are reconciled, producing a clear picture of the overall similarities, the inconsistencies and the crucial differences. The article finds the crucial differences to be the level of loyalty to the Kremlin and willingness to engage in collaboration or cooperation. The focus on loyalty to the Kremlin and the issue of willingness to collaborate is revealing.
{"title":"The contradictory behaviour of Russia in response to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution","authors":"Judas Everett","doi":"10.1177/2336825X231165469","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X231165469","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses the contradictory behaviour of the Russian Federation in reacting to the events of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. The Russian response saw significant aggression, but also seemingly involving inaction or even restraint in other areas. The question is what are some plausible explanations for this contradictory behaviour. In order to answer this question, relevant terminology is defined, then the subnational level is focused on and Most Similar System Design is utilised. Then cases involving significant aggression are considered, before moving on to those seemingly involving inaction or even restraint. Finally, these two elements are reconciled, producing a clear picture of the overall similarities, the inconsistencies and the crucial differences. The article finds the crucial differences to be the level of loyalty to the Kremlin and willingness to engage in collaboration or cooperation. The focus on loyalty to the Kremlin and the issue of willingness to collaborate is revealing.","PeriodicalId":42556,"journal":{"name":"New Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77253188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-17DOI: 10.1177/2336825X231164313
Uroš Lazić
Methodological uniformity and the relatively small number of studies concerning election turnout in Serbia strikingly detract from the social importance of the topic. The goal was to reduce this disparity by studying turnout in the 21st century under a statistically atypical approach that uses objective, publicly available data at the municipalities/cities level. Beginning in 2012, the trend of a worrying, almost linear decrease in turnout was found. Canonical correlation analysis showed that socio-demographic-economic variables are highly predictive of voter turnout. Six pairs of statistically significant canonical factors were isolated from the space of socio-demographic-economic characteristics and corresponding variables of electoral participation. It was indirectly established that the analytically extracted types of environments whose inhabitants exhibit specific electoral-participative behavior also show specific constellations of electoral preferences. The findings were then discussed in light of the regression to Vučić’s hybrid regime.
{"title":"Turnout in Serbian parliamentary elections during the two decades after the end of Milošević’s rule","authors":"Uroš Lazić","doi":"10.1177/2336825X231164313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X231164313","url":null,"abstract":"Methodological uniformity and the relatively small number of studies concerning election turnout in Serbia strikingly detract from the social importance of the topic. The goal was to reduce this disparity by studying turnout in the 21st century under a statistically atypical approach that uses objective, publicly available data at the municipalities/cities level. Beginning in 2012, the trend of a worrying, almost linear decrease in turnout was found. Canonical correlation analysis showed that socio-demographic-economic variables are highly predictive of voter turnout. Six pairs of statistically significant canonical factors were isolated from the space of socio-demographic-economic characteristics and corresponding variables of electoral participation. It was indirectly established that the analytically extracted types of environments whose inhabitants exhibit specific electoral-participative behavior also show specific constellations of electoral preferences. The findings were then discussed in light of the regression to Vučić’s hybrid regime.","PeriodicalId":42556,"journal":{"name":"New Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85499337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-13DOI: 10.1177/2336825X231164311
Marton Gera
This paper analyzes how the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán uses social categorization and populist rhetoric in an anti-LGBTQ campaign. Drawing on social identity theory and the scholarship on populist rhetoric and anti-LGBTQ politics, the article examines 46 interviews, press statements, public speeches, and op-eds by Orbán. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA) and Wodak’s discourse-historical approach, it shows how the prime minister frames LGBTQ communities as an out-group that poses a threat to Hungarian values and way of living. Similar to the issue of immigration and existing anti-LGBTQ frames in other countries, Orbán presents LGBTQ groups within his well-established anti-Western narrative. In addition, he connects LGBTQ communities to other out-groups that have been portrayed as a threat for a long time. The study sheds new light on the linguistic strategies of Orbán and shows how populist rhetoric and social categorization complement each other in a political campaign.
{"title":"“Here, the Hungarian people will decide how to raise our children”: Populist rhetoric and social categorization in Viktor Orbán’s anti-LGBTQ campaign in Hungary","authors":"Marton Gera","doi":"10.1177/2336825X231164311","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X231164311","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyzes how the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán uses social categorization and populist rhetoric in an anti-LGBTQ campaign. Drawing on social identity theory and the scholarship on populist rhetoric and anti-LGBTQ politics, the article examines 46 interviews, press statements, public speeches, and op-eds by Orbán. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA) and Wodak’s discourse-historical approach, it shows how the prime minister frames LGBTQ communities as an out-group that poses a threat to Hungarian values and way of living. Similar to the issue of immigration and existing anti-LGBTQ frames in other countries, Orbán presents LGBTQ groups within his well-established anti-Western narrative. In addition, he connects LGBTQ communities to other out-groups that have been portrayed as a threat for a long time. The study sheds new light on the linguistic strategies of Orbán and shows how populist rhetoric and social categorization complement each other in a political campaign.","PeriodicalId":42556,"journal":{"name":"New Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78852761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1177/2336825X231151251
Nicholas Michelsen
{"title":"Editorial: Debating ecological security in new perspectives","authors":"Nicholas Michelsen","doi":"10.1177/2336825X231151251","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X231151251","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42556,"journal":{"name":"New Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75039360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1177/2336825X221143625
Dahlia Simangan
Based on the premise that security discourses are constructed along political and ethical contes-tations, Ecological Security: Climate Change and the Construction of Security traces the contours of ecological security — a normatively defensible and politically plausible approach to climate change. Matt McDonald (2021) eloquently weaves together security, ecology, and ethics in de fi ning ecological security ’ s commitment to the resilience of ecosystems and the rights and needs of vulnerable beings, including future generations and nonhuman nature. At a glance, a security discourse that includes all living beings, at present and in the future, is nothing more than a utopic vision given the state-centric and anthropocentric institutions, norms, and practices dominating the discussions on climate security. However, the book carefully laid the sociological groundwork on how these discourses are contested and constructed, and therefore can be challenged and changed by possibilities that are not just critical, but also emancipatory. Security is constructed through negotiation and contestation; it is also political because it rests on who drives the negotiation and who gives meaning to contestation, and it draws on ethical conceptions and commitments. Such grounding convinces the readers that not only is ecological security possible, it is also desirable and ethical given growing uncertainties and cascading risks due to climate change. It is this uncertainty about the future that makes McDonald ’ s proposal to integrate dialogue, re fl exivity, and humility into ecological security compelling in the context of the Anthropocene.
{"title":"Responsibility and agency in securitizing climate change in the Anthropocene","authors":"Dahlia Simangan","doi":"10.1177/2336825X221143625","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X221143625","url":null,"abstract":"Based on the premise that security discourses are constructed along political and ethical contes-tations, Ecological Security: Climate Change and the Construction of Security traces the contours of ecological security — a normatively defensible and politically plausible approach to climate change. Matt McDonald (2021) eloquently weaves together security, ecology, and ethics in de fi ning ecological security ’ s commitment to the resilience of ecosystems and the rights and needs of vulnerable beings, including future generations and nonhuman nature. At a glance, a security discourse that includes all living beings, at present and in the future, is nothing more than a utopic vision given the state-centric and anthropocentric institutions, norms, and practices dominating the discussions on climate security. However, the book carefully laid the sociological groundwork on how these discourses are contested and constructed, and therefore can be challenged and changed by possibilities that are not just critical, but also emancipatory. Security is constructed through negotiation and contestation; it is also political because it rests on who drives the negotiation and who gives meaning to contestation, and it draws on ethical conceptions and commitments. Such grounding convinces the readers that not only is ecological security possible, it is also desirable and ethical given growing uncertainties and cascading risks due to climate change. It is this uncertainty about the future that makes McDonald ’ s proposal to integrate dialogue, re fl exivity, and humility into ecological security compelling in the context of the Anthropocene.","PeriodicalId":42556,"journal":{"name":"New Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77009463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1177/2336825X221143620
M. McDonald
There’s always a sense of relief as an author when written work years in the making has been read by anyone. This extends to something closer to joy when colleagues whose work you respect and have drawn on engage seriously with that work, and I am so grateful to contributors to this forum for doing just that. I almost certainly won’t do justice to the many important points they raise in the below response. I’ve organized my response to their analysis of Ecological Security along the line of what I see to be key themes of engagement and points necessitating some degree of clarification and response. These concern clarification of the aims of the book, a discussion of the important role of agency, and the application of the themes of the book to particular empirical contexts.
{"title":"In defence of ecological security","authors":"M. McDonald","doi":"10.1177/2336825X221143620","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X221143620","url":null,"abstract":"There’s always a sense of relief as an author when written work years in the making has been read by anyone. This extends to something closer to joy when colleagues whose work you respect and have drawn on engage seriously with that work, and I am so grateful to contributors to this forum for doing just that. I almost certainly won’t do justice to the many important points they raise in the below response. I’ve organized my response to their analysis of Ecological Security along the line of what I see to be key themes of engagement and points necessitating some degree of clarification and response. These concern clarification of the aims of the book, a discussion of the important role of agency, and the application of the themes of the book to particular empirical contexts.","PeriodicalId":42556,"journal":{"name":"New Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80798939","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：