Pub Date : 2023-05-16DOI: 10.1177/20578911231170436
Sugandha Sharma, P. Bangur
The political event-related literature has been growing over the past decades, generating a continuous stream of research and journal publications. This article aims to systematically review the impact of the political events on stock market literature to outline its current state, trends, gaps, and discrepancies. To this end, 111 political events-related articles published in 68 finance, economic and political journals were extracted. The retrieved pieces of literature were thoroughly examined using a comprehensive classification framework that emphasized broadly conceptual, theoretical, and methodological aspects. Finally, building on this literature, the paper proposes an extensive research agenda to help move the political event literature forward.
{"title":"A literature review on political uncertainty and stock market behaviour","authors":"Sugandha Sharma, P. Bangur","doi":"10.1177/20578911231170436","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231170436","url":null,"abstract":"The political event-related literature has been growing over the past decades, generating a continuous stream of research and journal publications. This article aims to systematically review the impact of the political events on stock market literature to outline its current state, trends, gaps, and discrepancies. To this end, 111 political events-related articles published in 68 finance, economic and political journals were extracted. The retrieved pieces of literature were thoroughly examined using a comprehensive classification framework that emphasized broadly conceptual, theoretical, and methodological aspects. Finally, building on this literature, the paper proposes an extensive research agenda to help move the political event literature forward.","PeriodicalId":43694,"journal":{"name":"Asian Journal of Comparative Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44977000","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 : 2023-05-11DOI: 10.1177/20578911231172197
Muhammad Akram, Dania Mohamad, Adeela Arshad-Ayaz
The Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan took the world by surprise. This article investigates how this event was seen differently in varied contexts, such as neighboring Pakistan. Our research shows epistemological pluralism in Pakistan, i.e. how different groups use different ways of knowing (epistemology), being (ontology), and valuing (axiology) to explain and analyze Taliban 2.0. Conceptually, the paper draws on insights from the relationality theory to demonstrate the reasons behind such epistemological pluralism. The theory of relationality provides the grounds for epistemological pluralism, i.e. the mixed sentiments and feelings among respondents about the Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan. Our research reports the perspectives of nine selected civil society activists about Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan and its implications for Pakistan. The respondents were interviewed during the second quarter of the Taliban administering Afghanistan. Some called it the victory of Islam, the freedom of Afghans from foreign occupation, and the protection of the Pakistani border from Indian proxies. Others were worried about the risks of increased extremism and terrorism in Pakistan, including the rise of banned organizations like Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. This study intends to document the interviewee civil society activists’ suggestions to the State of Pakistan for dealing with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
{"title":"How was the Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan seen in Pakistan?","authors":"Muhammad Akram, Dania Mohamad, Adeela Arshad-Ayaz","doi":"10.1177/20578911231172197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231172197","url":null,"abstract":"The Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan took the world by surprise. This article investigates how this event was seen differently in varied contexts, such as neighboring Pakistan. Our research shows epistemological pluralism in Pakistan, i.e. how different groups use different ways of knowing (epistemology), being (ontology), and valuing (axiology) to explain and analyze Taliban 2.0. Conceptually, the paper draws on insights from the relationality theory to demonstrate the reasons behind such epistemological pluralism. The theory of relationality provides the grounds for epistemological pluralism, i.e. the mixed sentiments and feelings among respondents about the Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan. Our research reports the perspectives of nine selected civil society activists about Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan and its implications for Pakistan. The respondents were interviewed during the second quarter of the Taliban administering Afghanistan. Some called it the victory of Islam, the freedom of Afghans from foreign occupation, and the protection of the Pakistani border from Indian proxies. Others were worried about the risks of increased extremism and terrorism in Pakistan, including the rise of banned organizations like Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. This study intends to document the interviewee civil society activists’ suggestions to the State of Pakistan for dealing with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.","PeriodicalId":43694,"journal":{"name":"Asian Journal of Comparative Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41663282","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 : 2023-05-11DOI: 10.1177/20578911231172885
J. Saravanan, Vineeth Thomas, Aviini Ashikho
Political communication refers to developing and exchanging political ideas and opinions among the general public, elected officials, political parties and affiliated organisations like the media. Recent years have seen an enormous amount of literature in the area of political communication owing to the growing interest of academics in the subject. Using the R package bibliometrix and the Visualisation of Similarities viewer programme, this study aims to enhance graphical mapping of the bibliographic data for political communication publications in select countries of Asia. The results show that, especially since 2016, scholars have been paying more and more attention to the study of political communication in the age of fake news, hyperpolarization, etc. They also show that research publications on the topics of communication, China, Taiwan, India, the USA, social media, articles, politics, the internet, decision-making, democracy, governance and elections are gaining momentum in recent years. Additionally, the findings show that the top three nations for publishing articles on political communication are the USA, China and Russia. The findings also reveal that even scholars from non-democratic or less democratic countries have made substantial attempts to improve political communication studies, despite the fact that political communication is one of the most crucial components in democratic countries.
{"title":"Mapping the research trends on political communication in Asia: A bibliometric analysis using R package and VOS","authors":"J. Saravanan, Vineeth Thomas, Aviini Ashikho","doi":"10.1177/20578911231172885","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231172885","url":null,"abstract":"Political communication refers to developing and exchanging political ideas and opinions among the general public, elected officials, political parties and affiliated organisations like the media. Recent years have seen an enormous amount of literature in the area of political communication owing to the growing interest of academics in the subject. Using the R package bibliometrix and the Visualisation of Similarities viewer programme, this study aims to enhance graphical mapping of the bibliographic data for political communication publications in select countries of Asia. The results show that, especially since 2016, scholars have been paying more and more attention to the study of political communication in the age of fake news, hyperpolarization, etc. They also show that research publications on the topics of communication, China, Taiwan, India, the USA, social media, articles, politics, the internet, decision-making, democracy, governance and elections are gaining momentum in recent years. Additionally, the findings show that the top three nations for publishing articles on political communication are the USA, China and Russia. The findings also reveal that even scholars from non-democratic or less democratic countries have made substantial attempts to improve political communication studies, despite the fact that political communication is one of the most crucial components in democratic countries.","PeriodicalId":43694,"journal":{"name":"Asian Journal of Comparative Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43668831","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 : 2023-05-11DOI: 10.1177/20578911231174731
Fakhar Hussain, Zakar Hussain, Muhammad Ikram Ullah Khan, Ali Imran
This research, based on a review of secondary information, explores how the government of China and the country's leading technological enterprises are working together to develop infrastructure for next-generation digital technologies, e.g. artificial intelligence, cloud computing, quantum computing, 5G networks, navigation satellites, and fiber optic cables; to establish technical norms and standards; and to provide services and digital content, e.g. digital messaging applications, mobile payment systems, and e-commerce platforms, to emergent markets; as well as how digital corporate giants of China like Alibaba, Huawei, Baidu, ZTE, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and Tencent have been challenging the prevailing status quo. Beijing seeks to assert its dominant role in world affairs through the Digital Silk Road (DSR) to globally influence and control a sizable part of the digital economy. The DSR has significant potential for enhancement of digital interdependence with the underdeveloped and some advanced economies by bridging the gap created by the absence of a critical infrastructure of global digital technology. There is no viable competitor to the DSR's exciting and long-term vision of a globally connected digital future for facilitating mutual growth and collaboration that will ultimately push for a dependency of other countries on DSR under the Belt and Road Initiative.
{"title":"The digital rise and its economic implications for China through the Digital Silk Road under the Belt and Road Initiative","authors":"Fakhar Hussain, Zakar Hussain, Muhammad Ikram Ullah Khan, Ali Imran","doi":"10.1177/20578911231174731","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231174731","url":null,"abstract":"This research, based on a review of secondary information, explores how the government of China and the country's leading technological enterprises are working together to develop infrastructure for next-generation digital technologies, e.g. artificial intelligence, cloud computing, quantum computing, 5G networks, navigation satellites, and fiber optic cables; to establish technical norms and standards; and to provide services and digital content, e.g. digital messaging applications, mobile payment systems, and e-commerce platforms, to emergent markets; as well as how digital corporate giants of China like Alibaba, Huawei, Baidu, ZTE, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and Tencent have been challenging the prevailing status quo. Beijing seeks to assert its dominant role in world affairs through the Digital Silk Road (DSR) to globally influence and control a sizable part of the digital economy. The DSR has significant potential for enhancement of digital interdependence with the underdeveloped and some advanced economies by bridging the gap created by the absence of a critical infrastructure of global digital technology. There is no viable competitor to the DSR's exciting and long-term vision of a globally connected digital future for facilitating mutual growth and collaboration that will ultimately push for a dependency of other countries on DSR under the Belt and Road Initiative.","PeriodicalId":43694,"journal":{"name":"Asian Journal of Comparative Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47388651","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 : 2023-05-09DOI: 10.1177/20578911231170116
M. Shoaib, Muhammad Ali Baig, Z. Shulan
Soon after its independence from the British in August 1947, Pakistan's socio-political culture became entangled into a monopoly of the right-wing with feudal lords, especially in the Punjab province. The pseudo right-wing political parties exploited Pakistan’s religious foundations and established a cultural hegemony. Historically, Punjab had remained the epicentre of political bargains since its inception; therefore, it retained strong alliances for stable government in the centre. Somehow, dissident voices and views from any other political ideology were deemed to be anti-state or anti-religious. This paper analyses through Antonio Gramsci's Theory of Cultural Hegemony how the right wing manipulated the opinion of the masses to legitimize their rule, which ultimately led to the decline of socialism. This paper illustrates the underlying ultra-religious campaigns in the electoral manoeuvring of the right wing from 1977 to 1997, thereby gaining the consent of the people. This study also outlines the systematic othering and demonizing of the left wing in society by pseudo right-wing factions.
{"title":"Right wing cultural hegemony and the decline of socialism in Pakistan: A case study of Punjab – 1977–1997","authors":"M. Shoaib, Muhammad Ali Baig, Z. Shulan","doi":"10.1177/20578911231170116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231170116","url":null,"abstract":"Soon after its independence from the British in August 1947, Pakistan's socio-political culture became entangled into a monopoly of the right-wing with feudal lords, especially in the Punjab province. The pseudo right-wing political parties exploited Pakistan’s religious foundations and established a cultural hegemony. Historically, Punjab had remained the epicentre of political bargains since its inception; therefore, it retained strong alliances for stable government in the centre. Somehow, dissident voices and views from any other political ideology were deemed to be anti-state or anti-religious. This paper analyses through Antonio Gramsci's Theory of Cultural Hegemony how the right wing manipulated the opinion of the masses to legitimize their rule, which ultimately led to the decline of socialism. This paper illustrates the underlying ultra-religious campaigns in the electoral manoeuvring of the right wing from 1977 to 1997, thereby gaining the consent of the people. This study also outlines the systematic othering and demonizing of the left wing in society by pseudo right-wing factions.","PeriodicalId":43694,"journal":{"name":"Asian Journal of Comparative Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41675909","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 : 2023-05-08DOI: 10.1177/20578911231173599
M. B. Bani Salameh, Khaled Mufadi Aldabbas
This study attempts to reveal the impact of distribution inequality of electoral districts on the election outcomes in Jordan. Since 1993 elections, electoral laws and regulations have been adopted that underestimate population density in Jordan, meaning that some regions with lower population densities have obtained more parliamentary seats than regions with high population density, including the governorates of Amman, Irbid and Zarqa. Successive Jordanian governments’ strategies have intentionally ignored electoral geography, which reduces the chances of mainly the Palestinian component obtaining significant numbers of seats in the Parliament. Governments have also sought to mitigate the chances of Islamic, Leftist and Nationalist parties obtaining a majority of seats in the Parliament, and thus being able to exert effective pressure to hold the executive authority accountable and responsible for its actions. In addition, low levels of confidence of most Jordanian citizens in Parliament have resulted in a lack of true desire to vote, which has led to an increase in the percentage of wasted votes compared with the cast votes. The study concludes that the executive authority's domination in drawing and dividing electoral districts as part of its hegemony and control over the general policy of elections has purposefully neglected population density and geographical criteria. In light of the study results, an urgent need arises to endorse an election law that accomplishes the standards of distributive justice, maximizes the role of supportive and opposition parties, raises citizen confidence in Parliaments, reduces the percentage of wasted votes and finally activates a truly representative Parliament.
{"title":"Electoral districts’ distribution in Jordan: Political geographical analysis","authors":"M. B. Bani Salameh, Khaled Mufadi Aldabbas","doi":"10.1177/20578911231173599","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231173599","url":null,"abstract":"This study attempts to reveal the impact of distribution inequality of electoral districts on the election outcomes in Jordan. Since 1993 elections, electoral laws and regulations have been adopted that underestimate population density in Jordan, meaning that some regions with lower population densities have obtained more parliamentary seats than regions with high population density, including the governorates of Amman, Irbid and Zarqa. Successive Jordanian governments’ strategies have intentionally ignored electoral geography, which reduces the chances of mainly the Palestinian component obtaining significant numbers of seats in the Parliament. Governments have also sought to mitigate the chances of Islamic, Leftist and Nationalist parties obtaining a majority of seats in the Parliament, and thus being able to exert effective pressure to hold the executive authority accountable and responsible for its actions. In addition, low levels of confidence of most Jordanian citizens in Parliament have resulted in a lack of true desire to vote, which has led to an increase in the percentage of wasted votes compared with the cast votes. The study concludes that the executive authority's domination in drawing and dividing electoral districts as part of its hegemony and control over the general policy of elections has purposefully neglected population density and geographical criteria. In light of the study results, an urgent need arises to endorse an election law that accomplishes the standards of distributive justice, maximizes the role of supportive and opposition parties, raises citizen confidence in Parliaments, reduces the percentage of wasted votes and finally activates a truly representative Parliament.","PeriodicalId":43694,"journal":{"name":"Asian Journal of Comparative Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42520488","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 : 2023-05-08DOI: 10.1177/20578911231170208
A. Khaled, A. Ansar
Thousands of ready-made garment (RMG) workers, frequently seen as Bangladesh's lifeline for economic growth and poverty alleviation, were sacked arbitrarily just weeks after the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. The widespread cancellation of existing orders, followed by factory closures and worker layoffs, triggered an unprecedented crisis for RMG workers, the vast majority of whom are women. As the industry is slowly recovering from the initial upheaval and on its way to rebound, this article revisits the impacts of the pandemic on the RMG workers in Bangladesh, who predominantly hails from impoverished rural regions of the country. Using first-hand data and secondary literature, this article offers a compelling account of the pandemic outbreak's disproportionate impact on female RMG workers. As we examine the effects on workers, we also look back at the structural hierarchies and power asymmetries embedded in this sector—a quintessential feature of the contemporary global economy. The article offers three distinct contributions to the emerging literature on the Covid-19 pandemic and its impacts on the changing labor spectrum in the global South. First, it explores the pandemic's broader gendered implications, revealing how it unevenly affected women. Second, it underlines how the pre-existing power dynamic within the global supply chain further exacerbated inequality, marginalization, and workers' precarity in Bangladesh's RMG industry. Lastly, it underscores the unequal interdependence between "core" and "peripheral" countries in the global production and labor landscape, highlighting the asymmetrical nature of their relationship.
{"title":"Bangladesh's ready-made garments sector rebound: Revisiting gendered labor precarity and dependency","authors":"A. Khaled, A. Ansar","doi":"10.1177/20578911231170208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231170208","url":null,"abstract":"Thousands of ready-made garment (RMG) workers, frequently seen as Bangladesh's lifeline for economic growth and poverty alleviation, were sacked arbitrarily just weeks after the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. The widespread cancellation of existing orders, followed by factory closures and worker layoffs, triggered an unprecedented crisis for RMG workers, the vast majority of whom are women. As the industry is slowly recovering from the initial upheaval and on its way to rebound, this article revisits the impacts of the pandemic on the RMG workers in Bangladesh, who predominantly hails from impoverished rural regions of the country. Using first-hand data and secondary literature, this article offers a compelling account of the pandemic outbreak's disproportionate impact on female RMG workers. As we examine the effects on workers, we also look back at the structural hierarchies and power asymmetries embedded in this sector—a quintessential feature of the contemporary global economy. The article offers three distinct contributions to the emerging literature on the Covid-19 pandemic and its impacts on the changing labor spectrum in the global South. First, it explores the pandemic's broader gendered implications, revealing how it unevenly affected women. Second, it underlines how the pre-existing power dynamic within the global supply chain further exacerbated inequality, marginalization, and workers' precarity in Bangladesh's RMG industry. Lastly, it underscores the unequal interdependence between \"core\" and \"peripheral\" countries in the global production and labor landscape, highlighting the asymmetrical nature of their relationship.","PeriodicalId":43694,"journal":{"name":"Asian Journal of Comparative Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48133852","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 : 2023-05-02DOI: 10.1177/20578911231171697
Perla Polanco Leal
{"title":"Corrigendum to Special issue, Volume 8 Issue 1","authors":"Perla Polanco Leal","doi":"10.1177/20578911231171697","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231171697","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":43694,"journal":{"name":"Asian Journal of Comparative Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42471426","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 : 2023-05-02DOI: 10.1177/20578911231166709
Miaad Hassan
Secular nationalism grew over 50 years to become a compelling force for political, social, and cultural change in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), but it was Islamism that rose to be its chief rival and, in many Middle East countries, eventually replaced it. The question is: why? And how did Islam gain political momentum? Since independence, the diktat of most single-party countries in MENA has been to implement modernization and secularization. Unlike the secular elites, which sought to overthrow colonialism and the monarchies, the early Islamic reformers sought to establish an Islamic state. MENA's secular regimes led to the massive institutionalization of national identity by nationalizing economies and education, to create a unified ideology from which people could draw a common identity. While eliminating competing ideologies, governments ignored the conservative right in the form of Islamism, which was not expected to pose a serious challenge to them. However, since MENA regimes were mostly authoritarian and forestalled a viable opposition, a social cleavage from below grew as an Islamic movement and eventually presented a serious challenge to them. This article provides an empirical analysis to support the argument that social cleavages in MENA have cultural implications that relate to identity rather than to territory. Hence, latent political cleavages, such as Islamism and ethnic nationalism, served as opportunities to reinforce or reactivate cleavages.
{"title":"Secular authoritarian regimes and their Islamist rivals in the Middle East and North Africa: Emerging trends in Turkey's party system","authors":"Miaad Hassan","doi":"10.1177/20578911231166709","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231166709","url":null,"abstract":"Secular nationalism grew over 50 years to become a compelling force for political, social, and cultural change in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), but it was Islamism that rose to be its chief rival and, in many Middle East countries, eventually replaced it. The question is: why? And how did Islam gain political momentum? Since independence, the diktat of most single-party countries in MENA has been to implement modernization and secularization. Unlike the secular elites, which sought to overthrow colonialism and the monarchies, the early Islamic reformers sought to establish an Islamic state. MENA's secular regimes led to the massive institutionalization of national identity by nationalizing economies and education, to create a unified ideology from which people could draw a common identity. While eliminating competing ideologies, governments ignored the conservative right in the form of Islamism, which was not expected to pose a serious challenge to them. However, since MENA regimes were mostly authoritarian and forestalled a viable opposition, a social cleavage from below grew as an Islamic movement and eventually presented a serious challenge to them. This article provides an empirical analysis to support the argument that social cleavages in MENA have cultural implications that relate to identity rather than to territory. Hence, latent political cleavages, such as Islamism and ethnic nationalism, served as opportunities to reinforce or reactivate cleavages.","PeriodicalId":43694,"journal":{"name":"Asian Journal of Comparative Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42823535","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 : 2023-04-25DOI: 10.1177/20578911231168206
Patrick Hein
It has been widely acknowledged that Japan is a full and equal member of the international legal order as it stands, asserting its postwar identity as a responsible and law-abiding member of the international community. However, this essay argues that Japan's external compliance with a rules-based order and international legal norms is not reflected in corresponding domestic practices. The article provides a social constructivist grounded in-depth analysis of the various interests and constraints that have shaped Japan's domestic response to international legal norms. The selected five comparative case studies—Non-proliferation Treaty obligations, whaling policies, the detention and deportation of asylum seekers, the dumping of radioactive waters into the high seas off Fukushima and sovereignty claims over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands—suggest that pragmatic nationalism and cultural norms undermine Japan's commitment to the rules-based order.
{"title":"When domestic interests and norms undermine the rules-based order: Reassessing Japan's attitude toward international law","authors":"Patrick Hein","doi":"10.1177/20578911231168206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231168206","url":null,"abstract":"It has been widely acknowledged that Japan is a full and equal member of the international legal order as it stands, asserting its postwar identity as a responsible and law-abiding member of the international community. However, this essay argues that Japan's external compliance with a rules-based order and international legal norms is not reflected in corresponding domestic practices. The article provides a social constructivist grounded in-depth analysis of the various interests and constraints that have shaped Japan's domestic response to international legal norms. The selected five comparative case studies—Non-proliferation Treaty obligations, whaling policies, the detention and deportation of asylum seekers, the dumping of radioactive waters into the high seas off Fukushima and sovereignty claims over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands—suggest that pragmatic nationalism and cultural norms undermine Japan's commitment to the rules-based order.","PeriodicalId":43694,"journal":{"name":"Asian Journal of Comparative Politics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48331518","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}