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Political Opposition (political + opposition)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	83%
Law and Criminology	16%

Selected Abstracts

Political Opposition in Civil Society: An Analysis of the Interactions of Secular and Religious Associations in Algeria and Jordan1

GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 4 2008
Francesco Cavatorta
The lack of effective political parties is one of the dominant characteristics of modern Arab polities. The role of opposition to the authoritarian regimes is therefore left to a number of civil society organizations. This study examines the interactions among such groups in the context of the traditional transition paradigm and it analyses specifically how religious and secular organizations operate and interact. The empirical evidence shows that such groups, far from attempting any serious coalition-building to make common demands for democracy on the regime, have a competitive relationship because of their ideological differences and conflicting policy preferences. This strengthens authoritarian rule even in the absence of popular legitimacy. The article focuses its attention on Algeria and Jordan. [source]

Five Ways of Institutionalizing Political Opposition: Lessons from the Advanced Democracies

GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 1 2004
Ludger Helms
ABSTRACT Legitimate political opposition constitutes a key component of any form of liberal democracy, which has, however, received surprisingly scant attention in the more recent political science literature. In an attempt to revitalize the debate about the various forms of political opposition, this paper starts with distinguishing five different ways or models of institutionalizing political opposition in liberal democratic systems. It goes on to look at how these different models have worked in the constitutional practice of selected western democracies. In the second part of this article, the focus is on the possible lessons that constitution-makers in democratizing countries could draw from this experience. Whereas there is no best model of opposition in general, some models would seem to be better suited to meet the particular needs of new democracies than others. [source]

The Politics of Pension Reform: Lessons from Public Attitudes in Greece

POLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 2 2003
Owen O'Donnell
While the construction of a rational case for pension reform is often straightforward, the political implementation of such reform can be somewhat more difficult. In large part, this can be attributed to sceptical public opinion. The precise role played by public opinion in constraining the political feasibility of pension reform is, however, unclear. The purpose of this paper is to distil the ways in which public attitudes influence pension reform. This is done through examining survey data from Greece, where progress with the implementation of pension reform has been particularly modest. Political opposition to pension reform appears to be rooted in a general lack of public appreciation of the case for reform combined with the desire to protect interest group privileges. Public ignorance and insecurity breed attitudes not conducive to reform. Public attitudes do not simply act as a given constraint on reform but are a product of the structure of the pension system and the reform process itself. In this path-dependent process, implementation of a reform agenda of rationalisation is more difficult from the starting point of a severely fragmented and distorted system. [source]

Five Ways of Institutionalizing Political Opposition: Lessons from the Advanced Democracies

Henry Neville and the toleration of Catholics during the Exclusion Crisis

HISTORICAL RESEARCH, Issue 222 2010
Gaby Mahlberg
While the Popish Plot of the later seventeenth century is commonly seen as a fabrication by the political opposition employed to root out Catholicism and secure a Protestant succession in England, this article shows that there were also voices within the opposition that exposed the scapegoating of Catholics as a political ploy, backed the succession of the duke of York and even argued for a toleration of Catholics. Using the example of the republican Henry Neville, his political writings and correspondence with Cosimo III, this article calls for a reassessment of the political and religious divisions of the so-called Exclusion Crisis. [source]

Risking Security: Policies and Paradoxes of Cyberspace Security

INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
Ronald J. Deibert
Conceptualizations of cyberspace security can be divided into two related dimensions, articulated as "risks": risks to the physical realm of computer and communication technologies (risks to cyberspace); and risks that arise from cyberspace and are facilitated or generated by its technologies, but do not directly target the infrastructures per se (risks through cyberspace). There is robust international consensus, growing communities of practice, and an emerging normative regime around risks to cyberspace. This is less the case when it comes to risks through cyberspace. While states do collaborate around some policy areas, cooperation declines as the object of risk becomes politically contestable and where national interests vary widely. These include the nature of political opposition and the right to dissent or protest, minority rights and independence movements, religious belief, cultural values, or historical claims. The contrast between the domains has led to contradictory tendencies and paradoxical outcomes. [source]

Abuse, Torture, Frames, and the Washington Post

JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, Issue 2 2010
Douglas V. Porpora
W. Bennett, R. Lawrence, and S. Livingston (2006, 2007) argue that the press,and the Washington Post in particular,acquiesced to Bush administration framing of the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The administration, they say, framed the events as the isolated abuse of prisoners by "a few bad apples" unreflective of higher responsibility or administration policy. Absent,or near absent, Bennett et al. maintain, was a Post counterframe of the mistreatment as a systematic effect of high level policy, better captured by the word torture. Such pattern of framing, Bennett et al. conclude, supports the Indexing model of U.S. press behavior. This article shows that Bennett et al. understate the strength and consistency of Post counterframing. When articles in the Post are searched not for individual words but for more extended frames, it becomes clear that the Post did in fact engage in considerable counterframing even in the absence of elite political opposition. This case, it is therefore concluded, does not in fact support the Indexing model as Bennett et al. maintain but is rather the kind of case described by R. M. Entman (2004) in which the press exercises greater independence of elite political opinion than the Indexing model admits. W. Bennett, R. Lawrence et S. Livingston (2006, 2007) soutiennent que la presse , et en particulier le Washington Post, ont accepté le cadrage qu'a offert l'administration Bush des mauvais traitements infligés aux prisonniers d'Abou Ghraib. L'administration, disent-ils, a cadré les événements comme étant des actes isolés d'abus de prisonniers par quelques « pommes pourries », sans engager la responsabilité d'instances plus élevées ou de politiques administratives. Ce qui était absent (ou presque absent) des reportages, soutiennent Bennett et al., était un contre-cadrage par le Post des mauvais traitements comme étant plutôt un effet systématique des politiques de haut niveau, ce qui se reflète mieux dans le terme « torture ». Un tel cadrage, concluent Bennett et al., soutient le modèle d'indexation du comportement de la presse américaine. Cet article montre que Bennett et al. sous-estiment la force et la cohérence du contre-cadrage du Post. Lorsque l'on cherche, dans les articles du Post, des cadres plus étendus que des mots individuels, il devient clair que le Post a en fait réalisé un contre-cadrage considérable, même en l'absence d'opposition de la part de l'élite politique. Nous concluons donc que ce cas ne soutient pas le modèle d'indexation, comme Bennett et al. l'affirment, mais qu'il est plutôt du type de cas décrit par R. M. Entman (2004), un cas où la presse exerce une plus grande indépendance par rapport à l'opinion de l'élite politique que ne l'admet le modèle d'indexation. W. Bennett, R. Lawrence und S. Livingston (2006, 2007) argumentieren, dass die Presse , und insbesondere die Washington Post , das Framing der Bush-Regierung bezüglich der Misshandlung von Gefangenen in Abu Ghraib duldete. Die Regierung, so die Autoren, framte die Ereignisse als den isolierten Missbrauch von Gefangenen durch einige wenige und reflektierte dabei eben nicht die übergeordneten Verantwortlichkeiten oder die Verwaltungspolitik. Gänzlich oder fast gefehlt hat laut Bennett et al. ein Gegenframe der Post zum Missbrauch als ein systematischer Effekt übergeordneter Politik, welcher besser mit dem Wort Folter gefasst wäre. Derartige Framing-Muster, so Bennett et al., stützen das Indexing-Modell des Verhaltens der amerikanischen Presse. Vorliegender Artikel zeigt, dass Bennett et al. das Ausmaß und die Kontinuität des Gegenframings durch die Post unterbewerten. Durchsucht man die Artikel der Post nicht nur nach Einzelwörtern sondern nach erweiterten Frames, zeigt sich deutlich, dass die Post sehr wohl Counterframing betrieben hat, und das obwohl eine politische Elite-Opposition gefehlt hat. Dieser Fall stützt also das Indexing-Modell wie Bennett et al. es darstellen gerade nicht, sondern ist eher ein Fall wie R.M. Entman (2004) ihn beschreibt, in dem die Presse größere Unabhängigkeit von der politischen Elitemeinung äußert als das Indexing-Modell zulässt. Resumen W. Bennett, R. Lawrence, y S. Livingston (2006, 2007) sostienen que la prensa,y el Washington Post en particular,acordaron con la administración de Bush en el encuadre sobre el maltrato de los prisioneros de Abu Ghraib. La administración, dicen, encuadró los eventos como abusos aislados de los prisioneros por parte de ,,un par de manzanas podridas" acríticos de la responsabilidad superior o de las políticas de la administración. La ausencia,o casi ausencia, Bennett et al. sostienen, fue el contra-encuadre del Post sobre el maltrato como un efecto sistemático de las políticas de alto nivel, mejor capturado por la palabra tortura. Esa pauta de encuadre, Bennett et al. concluyen, apoya al modelo de Indexación del comportamiento de la prensa de los EE.UU. Este artículo muestra que Bennett et al. subestimaron la fuerza y la consistencia del contra-encuadre del Post. Cuando los artículos en el Post son buscados no por las palabras individuales sino por los encuadres más extendidos, resulta claro que el Post en realidad participa en contra-encuadres considerables aún en la ausencia de la oposición política de elite. Este caso, por lo tanto se concluye, que en realidad no apoya al modelo de Indexación que Bennett et al. sostienen pero es el tipo de caso descrito por R.M. Entman (2004) en el cual la prensa ejercita una gran independencia de la opinión política de elite que lo que admite el modelo de la Indexación. [source]

Between Hermes and Themis: An Empirical Study of the Contemporary Judiciary in Singapore

JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 4 2001
Ross Worthington
Drawing upon interviews in 1995 and 1998 and analyses of judicial appointments from 1975,1998, the article offers a new explanation of judicial-executive relations in Singapore. It attempts to explain how the judiciary in Singapore actually functions, partly by using the concept of the core executive to locate the judiciary more accurately within its political context. The study demonstrates that the judicial system has been hegenomized by a number of political and bureaucratic strategies, and interprets its role in terms of the overall goals of the political executive. The lower judiciary is an amateur judiciary and forms part of the executive government. Despite this, the contemporary superior judiciary is not wholly a creature of the political executive, as is often postulated, but rather the result of a compromise which balances the need for a reputable judiciary with the requirement by the political executive for the judicial system to assist with the control of political opposition. This negotiated balance is qualitatively different from the relationship that characterized that between the Lee Kuan Yew governments and their Supreme Courts until 1991 and reflects the maturing of hegemonic control strategies under Goh Chok Tong. The analysis was completed in 1999. [source]

Towards a Better System for Immigration Control

JOURNAL OF REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2002
Gordon M. Myers
We study different methods of immigration control using a simple model of a congested world. Our main comparison involves quotas, the predominant instrument of immigration control, and a proposed system of immigration tolls and emigration subsidies. We show that the equilibrium of the proposed system is Pareto superior to the quota system. This is consistent with the tolls and subsidies creating a market for international migrants. When countries are price-takers the market becomes perfect and the exploitation of gains from trade complete. From a normative perspective, an open- borders policy is preferred to both control methods but will meet political opposition because it hurts the residents of the rich country. [source]

Restructuring "Germany Inc.": The Politics of Company and Takeover Law Reform in Germany and the European Union

LAW & POLICY, Issue 4 2002
John W. Cioffi
The reform of German company law by the Control and Transparency Law (KonTraG) of 1998 reveals the politics of corporate governance liberalization. The reforms strengthened the supervisory board, shareholder rights, and shareholder equality, but left intra-corporate power relations largely intact. Major German financial institutions supported the reform's contribution to the modernization of German finance, but blocked mandatory divestment of equity stakes and cross-shareholding. Conversely, organized labor prevented any erosion of supervisory board codetermination. Paradoxically, by eliminating traditional takeover defenses, the KonTraG's liberalization of company law mobilized German political opposition to the European Union's (EU) draft Takeover Directive and limited further legal liberalization. [source]

People's Exit in North Korea: New Threat to Regime Stability?

PACIFIC FOCUS, Issue 2 2010
Kyung-Ae Park
As suggested in a growing literature that securitizes the phenomenon of refugee migration and analyzes it as a national as well as a regional security issue, the growing number of North Korean border-crossers has far-reaching political implications for both North Korea and the international community. Studies have argued that refugees could contribute significantly to democratic change in their home countries by assisting and actively participating in the struggle of the domestic opposition, even sparking regime instability and eventual regime breakdown. Much of the North Korean refugee research has focused on the human rights issues faced by the refugees, but a largely unexplored area of the refugee research concerns the political consequences of the refugee flight for the current regime in Pyongyang. This article examines whether North Korean refugees are expected to play the role of political opposition in exile by raising the following four questions: (i) Are the refugees political dissidents? (ii) Are they a resourceful critical mass? (iii) Does exit always lead to regime instability? and (iv) Would China and South Korea encourage exile politics against the current North Korean regime? The article contends that the North Korean refugee community does not currently represent a critical mass that can trigger instability of the Pyongyang regime. Most of the North Korean refugees are not political dissidents, nor have they organized into any resourceful critical mass capable of generating a threat to their home country. In addition, people's exit does not necessarily destabilize the regime as it can sometimes yield a positive political effect by driving out dissidents' voices. Furthermore, several of the receiving countries, in particular, China and South Korea, would not encourage exile dissident movements against North Korea for fear of Pyongyang's collapse. The North Korean regime's stability does not seem to be threatened by the current refugee situation, although the potential of refugees becoming a critical threat should not be discounted should people's exit ever reach the point of developing into an uncontrollable mass exodus. [source]