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In 2011, European politicians, diplomats, media, and publics enthusiastically embraced the so-called Arab Spring. The EU pledged to generously support trans-formation processes initiated in the region with a "3 M" approach, which would combine monetary support, market access, and increased mobility, as well as through a reinvigorated European Neighborhood Policy (ENP). Yet, Europeans have not lived up to these promises. Against the backdrop of the Middle East and North Africa descending into ever greater levels of chaos and violence, the EU and its member states have been largely reduced to being bystanders, dealing with the symptoms of crises rather than impacting – let alone shaping – the path of developments. Yet, in view of an increasingly reluctant US government to provide regional stability, Europe has no choice but to address instability in its southern neighborhood. To be more effective actors, Europeans should revisit their priorities, underlying assumptions, policy frameworks, and instruments. (Autorenreferat)

AbstractMotivated by the difficulty of ensuring gender equality and the chaotic state of democracy, we analyze the effects of gender political inclusion and democracy on environmental policy performance. The study uses a panel of 45 African countries over the period 2012–2018 and employs the method of moments by quantile regression. The results show that gender political inclusion and democracy positively affect environmental performance in all quantiles. These positive effects tend to be stronger at higher quantiles. The magnitude is larger for gender political inclusion. When performance is decomposed into the sub‐indices of environmental health and ecosystem vitality, positive effects of gender political inclusion and democracy are observed in all quantiles. The effects are larger for the gender dimension than for the democracy dimension, regardless of the sub‐index used.Related ArticlesBingham, Natasha. 2016. "Fighting for Our Cause: The Impact of Women's NGOs on Gender Policy Adoption in Four Former Soviet Republics." Politics & Policy 44(2): 294–318. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12155.Hankivsky, Olena. 2013. "Gender Mainstreaming: A Five‐Country Examination." Politics & Policy 41(5): 629–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12037.Nchofoung, Tii, Simplice Asongu, Vanessa Tchamyou, and Ofeh Edoh. 2022. "Gender, Political Inclusion, and Democracy in Africa: Some Empirical Evidence." Politics & Policy 51(1): 137–155. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12505.

A number of interpretations have been put forward regarding the social uprising that occurred in Chile in late 2019. This article situates the events within the global climate of populism, a phenomenon understood as a response to the democratic deficits of contemporary liberal democracies. While the liberal literature on the subject is critical of populism, accusing it of undermining typically liberal principles and institutions, authors nonetheless recognize its democratic potential. This tension recreates the canonical distinction between liberalism and democracy. In this context, we go beyond a normative appraisal of the Chilean uprising to argue that it presents characteristics identifiable as populist within both the liberal and radical conceptual frameworks, and that the unrest can be interpreted as a denouncement of the current workings of liberal democracy, seen as incapable of properly processing the will of the people. ; Se han postulado distintas interpretaciones del estallido social chileno de 2019. Sin perjuicio de ello, este artículo sitúa la protesta y movilización en el marco de un clima populista global, entendido como una reacción al déficit democrático de las democracias liberales contemporáneas. Si bien la literatura liberal es crítica del fenómeno populista por su desprecio a una serie de principios e instituciones del liberalismo, le reconoce de todas formas su potencial democratizador. Esta tensión, recrea la distinción canónica entre liberalismo y democracia. A partir de lo anterior, se concluye que más allá de su evaluación normativa, el estallido social chileno trasunta elementos que son populistas tanto en la conceptualización liberal como en la radical, y admite una lectura como reclamo en contra del funcionamiento de la democracia liberal por su incapacidad de procesar correctamente la voluntad popular.

In recent years, the economic, political and social situation in Venezuela has become an interesting topic for researchers around the world, including those studying democracy. Since this topic is also interesting from the point of view of my research and personal interests, I read with interest the scientific work entitled Venezuela – democracy at the crossroads?, prepared in Polish by Justyna Trubalska (Trubalska, 2021). The monograph was published in 2021 by Episteme Publishing House in Lublin, Poland. In her analysis, the author focused on the processes of Venezuela's political transformation from 1999 to December 2020. The adoption of this period is justified due to the qualitative change in the systemic transformation process that began when Hugo Chávez took office in 1999 and the continuation of the process during the tenure of President Nicolás Maduro since 2013.

Este artículo considera las representaciones de la Transición democrática española propuestas por la televisión en España desde 1995 hasta hoy. Sin pretender la exhaustividad, analiza tanto la recuperación como la recreación de escenas y figuras que ya pertenecen a la Historia estando todavía presentes en la memoria colectiva. El análisis de algunos programas, tanto de ficción como de información, nos permitirá esbozar una cartografía de las representaciones televisivas de la Transición. Veremos cómo se organizan en términos de formatos y géneros televisivos (series y miniseries, biopics o thrillers políticos), cómo se inscriben en la filiación de otros programas anteriores o al revés, cómo intentan deconstruir el mito televisivo de la Transición forjado a lo largo de sus innumerables representaciones televisivas. También nos preguntaremos hasta qué punto dicho mito, elaborado a partir del extraordinario fondo de archivo de imágenes televisivas de la Transición, llega a esconder la realidad histórica más que a revelarla. Todos estos mecanismos están muy lejos de concernir tan sólo al universo de la pequeña pantalla, su calendario específico y sus particulares modos de producción, creación y difusión. Nos permiten percibir, más de 40 años después del inicio de este proceso, la permanencia de memorias conflictivas, de cuestiones tabúes y la ausencia de un imaginario colectivo consensual y sereno sobre el período. Las imágenes del (o sobre el) pasado, si no nos proporcionan grandes revelaciones sobre el pasado, sí que resultan elocuentes sobre el presente y su complicada relación con la Historia reciente. ; This article deals with the representations of Spanish transition to democracy shown by television in Spain from 1995 to nowadays. Without claiming to be exhaustive, it analyses the recycling as well as the re-creating of scenes and figures which already belong to History although they are still present in collective memory. The analysis of a few fictional and informative programmes will enable us to sketch out a cartography of the representations of the transition on television. We will see how they get organized around TV formats and genres (series and mini-series, biopics and political thrillers), how they are related to other previous programmes or, on the contrary, how they attempt to deconstruct the television myth of the transition built up with its innumerable television representations. We will also wonder to which extent such a myth, drawn up from the amazing archives collection of TV pictures of the transition, comes to hide historical reality rather than disclose it. All these mechanisms are far from concerning only the small screen and its specific schedule and modes of production, creation and broadcasting. They enable us to perceive the persistence of conflicting memories, of taboo subjects and the lack of a consensual, dispassionate collective imagination over this period, more than 40 years after the beginning of this process. The pictures from (or about) the past, if they do not bring great revelations to us about the past, turn out to be meaningful about the present and its complicated relationship with recent History.

A post-Bourdieu version of field theory can produce nuanced analyses of the relationship between media change, the new citizen movements and ongoing struggles for democratic renewal. Through the case of Spain's indignados (15M) movement and its political offshoots, I explore the potential uses of a range of field concepts and propose a conceptual distinction between «field of civic action» and «dispersed civic space». Spain's recent political changes are not a continuous flow of events but rather a series of discrete, ephemeral fields of civic action separated by a long hiatus of dispersed civic space. These complexly mediated fields are socio-political «games» in which civic players with technopolitical and other skills interact with other players in pursuit of specific goals and rewards. As a result, new citizen-led initiatives (e.g. PAH, Podemos, Barcelona en Comú) have bridged the alternative vs. mainstream media divide to great social and political effect.Una versión de la teoría de campos post-Bourdieu puede producir análisis matizados de la relación entre el cambio de los medios de comunicación, los nuevos movimientos ciudadanos y las luchas por la renovación democrática actuales. Partiendo del movimiento de los indignados en España (15M), exploro los usos potenciales de una serie de conceptos de campo y propongo una distinción conceptual entre «campo de acción cívica» y «espacio cívico disperso». Los recientes cambios políticos en España no son un flujo continuo de acontecimientos, sino una serie de campos discretos y efímeros de acción cívica separados por un largo período de dispersión del espacio cívico. Estos campos complejamente mediados son «juegos» sociopolíticos en los que actores cívicos con habilidades tecno-políticas y de otra índole interactúan con otros jugadores en busca de metas y recompensas específicas. Como resultado, las nuevas iniciativas dirigidas por los ciudadanos (por ejemplo, pah, Podemos o Barcelona en Comú) han sido capaces de salvar las distancias entre los medios de ...

Contemporary changes of liberal democracy affect different countries of the world. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, known as the Visegrad Group countries (V4), are among them. Although the countries seemed to be on a good way to consolidated democracy, about a decade ago the first symptoms of deterioration of liberal democracy became apparent. In the text, attention is focused on the institutional level, which should resist certain challenges in mature democracies. The institutions in V4 were weak and liable to be subordinated by strong political leaders and populist parties, and not strong enough to fight off illiberal tendencies. The analysis reveals that Poland and Hungary were more prone to compromise liberal democratic achievements, while the Czech Republic and Slovakia less so. This paper answers the questions of the institutional causes behind the deterioration of liberal democracy and the effects it brings. ; Šiuo metu įvairiose pasaulio valstybėse galima matyti liberaliosios demokratijos pokyčių. Čekija, Vengrija, Lenkija ir Slovakija, žinomos kaip Višegrado grupės valstybės (V4), yra vienos iš jų. Nors šios valstybės atrodė galinčios būti geru demokratijos konsolidacijos pavyzdžiu, prieš daugiau nei dešimtmetį jose išryškėjo pirmieji demokratinių institucijų irimo požymiai. Šiame tekste atkreipiamas dėmesys į institucinę šio proceso raidą. V4 šalių valstybės institucijos yra silpnos ir linkusios pasiduoti stiprių politinių lyderių ir populistinių partijų įtakai, šitaip nebūdamos pakankamai stiprios, kad atsispirtų neliberalioms tendencijoms. Analizėje atskleidus, kad Lenkija ir Čekija yra labiau linkusios kompromituoti liberalios demokratijos pasiekimus, o Čekija ir Slovakija– mažiau, klausiama, kokios yra liberalios demokratijos irimo institucinės priežastys ir padariniai.

Não há evidência clara de como o ambiente democrático afeta os resultados sobre corrupção a partir da transparência fiscal. Este estudo objetiva verificar a influência do fator democracia nos resultados de combate à corrupção a partir da perspectiva da transparência fiscal. A revisão de literatura sobre governança pública focou sobre os temas transparência fiscal, instituições democráticas e percepção da corrupção. Sobre os aspectos metodológicos, a pesquisa é ex-post-facto, baseada em regressão multivariada de dados em painel de 110 países com 6 anos e 524 observações. Conclui-se que, conforme a condição democrática de um país, a transparência fiscal pode impactar de maneira diferente o resultado da percepção da corrupção. Nos países não democráticos praticamente não se nota alteração do grau de percepção da corrupção mesmo com as mudanças do nível de transparência. Por outro lado, nos países democráticos apresentam variações diretamente proporcionais, significativas e com alto grau de explicação entre as variáveis transparência fiscal e percepção da corrupção. ; There is no clear evidence of how the democratic environment affects corruption based on fiscal transparency. This study aims to verify the influence of the democracy factor in combating corruption from a fiscal transparency perspective. The literature review on public governance focused on fiscal transparency, democratic institutions, and perception of corruption. Regarding the methodological aspects, the research is ex-post-facto, based on multivariate regression of data in a panel of 110 countries with six years and 524 observations. It is concluded that, according to the democratic condition of a country, fiscal transparency can have a different impact on the result of perceived corruption. In non-democratic countries, there is practically no change in perceived corruption level, even with changes in the level of transparency. On the other hand, there are significant direct, proportional variations in democratic countries and a high degree of explanation between the fiscal transparency and perception of corruption variables.

Digital platforms, such as Google and Facebook, are under increased scrutiny as regards their impact on society. Having prompted concerns about their capacity to spread misinformation, contribute to filter bubbles and facilitate hate speech, much attention has been paid to the threat platforms pose to democracy. In contrast to existing interventions considering the threats posed by interactions between platforms and users, in this article, I examine platforms' impact on the democratic work of other bodies. Considering the relationship between platforms and the media, I reveal how platforms affect journalists' ability to advance their democratic goals. Using a case study of journalistic coverage of digital campaigning at the 2019 UK general election, I show how platforms have hindered journalistic efforts to inform citizens and provide a watchdog function. These findings are significant for our understanding of platforms' democratic impact and suggest policy makers may wish to regulate platforms' inter-institutional impact upon democracy.