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1970s and 1980s. Cyclical pattern of Nigeria's external relations, in relation to changes in its political constitution and petroleum production.

This article explores the possibility of examining a storytelling platform, which has largely been ignored by scholars of visual politics about Southeast Asia: comics. It particularly describes how comics can serve as a discursive mechanism for visual representation within the purview of the Rohingya refugee crisis in the region. Drawing from post-structuralism and visual discourse analysis as the theoretical and methodological basis of the research, the article considers a case of a long-form online comic's engagement withthe refugee crisis,with particular attention to the criticisms about Aung San Suu Kyi and the bloody military campaign against the Rohingya minorities in Myanmar. By specifically looking into the text-image discourses and inter-textual components of the comics, this article attempts to demonstrate that the ability of comics to "speak" politics is still dependent on international news sources and wider debates, which shape the ways in which the comic artists are able to frame their work. In this case, the use of comics as a story-telling platform, however, also suggests the agency of refugees to be portrayed as political-security actors. Although the article generally focuses on the case of the Rohingya refugee crisis, it also draws attention to the contention that scholars of Southeast Asian visual politics can most profitably engage with other regional issues by turning their attention to the dynamic role of comics as an alternative medium and source of data towards the analysis of threat construction and political-security discourse about Southeast Asia.

RICO is nearing its twentieth birthday, but it may not be a happy one. In fact, 'tis the season for critics of RICO to be, if not jolly, at least highly active. A House subcommittee and the Senate Judiciary Committee have held hearings on RICO reform, the popular and business press has published numerous debates and criticisms involving fairly arcane points of civil and criminal law, scholars and lawyers have filled law reviews and legal newspapers with articles often critical of the statute, and the pressure has been building for statutory changes. As the pressure for change has intensified, and the debate has moved away from judges and law professors into newspaper columns and the political arena, increasingly dubious claims have been heard on both sides of the reform issue. It may be useful to give a kind of consumer's guide to the arguments frequently heard during these debates. In particular, I would like to focus on the RICO reform bill that has progressed the farthest in Congress, with a view to answering two related questions: What are the strengths and weaknesses of that bill, and why has that bill had greater political success than more conceptually sound reforms? Before turning directly to those questions, however, I would like to address some of the mythology that surrounds the debate over RICO because the arguments of both proponents and opponents of RICO reform are either inaccurate or irrelevant or both.

RICO is nearing its twentieth birthday,' but it may not be a happy one. In fact, 'tis the season for critics of RICO to be, if not jolly, at least highly active. A House subcommittee and the Senate Judiciary Committee have held hearings on RICO reform, the popular and business press has published numerous debates and criticisms involving fairly arcane points of civil and criminal law, scholars and lawyers have filled law reviews and legal newspapers with articles often critical of the statute, and the pressure has been building for statutory changes. As the pressure for change has intensified, and the debate has moved away from judges and law professors into newspaper columns and the political arena, increasingly dubious claims have been heard on both sides of the reform issue. It may be useful to give a kind of consumer's guide to the arguments frequently heard during these debates.In particular, I would like to focus on the RICO reform bill that has progressed the farthest in Congress, with a view to answering two related questions: What are the strengths and weaknesses of that bill, and why has that bill had greater political success than more conceptually sound reforms? Before turning directly to those questions, however, I would like to address some of the mythology that surrounds the debate over RICO because the arguments of both proponents and opponents of RICO reform are either inaccurate or irrelevant or both.

In the past decades there has been considerate advances of political far-right parties in Europe. Some far-right populist parties have strengthened their political position among youth, the working class, women and gay-and-lesbian rights people in the recent electoral moments by including gender issues and 'sexual emancipation' in their political programmes and public discourses. They have been progressing towards a new type of nationalism in which women's rights and sexual minorities' rights support are seen as advanced and progressive in opposition of immigrant communities, particularly from Muslim countries. This dissertation aims to explore the use of gender and gay-and-lesbian issues through a qualitative analysis of anti-Islam political documents and speeches used by far-right parties in France (Rassemblement National/Front National) and The Netherlands (The Party for Freedom), where gender and sexual minorities issues have been explicitly visible in their political discourse in recent years. ; Nas últimas décadas, têm-se observado avanços de partidos políticos de extremadireita na Europa. Alguns partidos populistas de extrema-direita nos momentos eleitorais mais recentes têm fortalecido a sua posição política entre os jovens, trabalhadores, mulheres e pessoas gay e lésbicas, incluindo as questões de género e de "emancipação sexual" nos seus programas e discursos políticos. Os partidos em questão têm progredido em direção a um novo tipo de nacionalismo no qual os direitos das mulheres e o apoio aos direitos das minorias sexuais são vistos como progressistas em oposição às comunidades de imigrantes, particularmente vindas de países muçulmanos. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo explorar a utilização das questões de género e das pessoas gay e lésbicas através de uma análise qualitativa de documentos e discursos políticos anti-islão, usados pelos partidos de extrema-direita na França (Rassemblement National/Front National) e nos Países Baixos (The Party for Freedom), onde as questões de género e das minorias sexuais têm sido explicitamente visíveis.

Purpose: The objective of this research is to propose a framework which is apt to assess how a nation branding campaign could promote cultural identity by ultimately curbing political polarization. Design/Methodology/Approach Methodology summary: By relying on a multidisciplinary approach that blends theoretical constructs from different fields the methodology is based on a mixed-method approach whereby the qualitative data stemming from a set of interviews with key-informants is coupled by a survey of Colombian citizens in order to gain in-depth insights over the impact of nation branding on political polarization. Findings: From the findings, it emerges that a campaign based on nation branding and targeting domestic citizens could curb political polarization within Colombia, by also fostering cultural identity. Research limitations/Implications: The study considers only Colombia. To fully assess the robustness of the framework it would be useful to extend the analysis to a broader range of countries and to a wider set of domestic issues. Practical Implications: The research not only provides in-depth insights on how nation branding can be used effectively in order to curb political polarization but also practical guidance on how a nation branding campaign effective can be effectively designed. The findings are relevant to policy-makers that have the opportunity to implement informed and educated nation branding campaigns not just overseas, but also to strategically address important domestic issues by engaging the domestic stakeholders. Originality/Value: While country branding has been extensively investigated within the context of international business, we have a relatively limited understanding of its domestic impact. In contrast to traditional country branding literature, this paper aims to theoretically advance our understanding of nation branding and its effect on political polarization, as well as gauging its impact on cultural identity.

Reports new findings about how political scientists in the US assess the quality & importance of scholarly journals. Data were obtained from a questionnaire completed by 559 political scientists serving on the faculties of both PhD- & non-PhD-granting departments. The focus was on quality & degree of exposure for 115 journals of interest to political scientists. Impact scores, mean evaluation ratings, & familiarity proportions are given for each of the 115 journals, noting that American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, & Journal of Politics received the top three rankings. Surprisingly, the results of rank-ordered mean evaluations showed the top three journals were not political science publications but American Economic Review, American Sociological Review, & the American Journal of Sociology. Attention is called to significant differences of opinion about which journals offer the best outlets among scholars who are in different subfields or favor different methodological approaches. The implications for the field of political science are discussed. 10 Tables, 4 Figures, 8 References. J. Lindroth

Since the last three decades, immigration is one of the major phenomena that have been affecting Western Europe, bringing about several important consequences. Indeed, the issue is plenty of implications, both from a societal and political point of view. Does the immigration issue occupy a central position in the European political system? Even in years in which economic questions captured much of the attention of the principal actors (the institutions, political parties, media and public opinion), does this issue remain a constant presence on the public agenda? It should not of course be excluded that the economic crisis and the concerns linked to it, though not completely overshadowing immigration, may have contributed to changing in part its significance, reshaping the definition of the problem in the eyes of the actors. The paper intends to explore the dynamics that immigration has triggered inside the political system. First, we will examine some data and interpretations of the orientations of public opinion. Secondly, we will analyze the policy offerings that political parties formulate in response to the questions posed by public opinion, related to the issue of immigration. To this end, we will examine the principal electoral programs presented by major political parties for the general elections of five countries (France, Greece, Netherlands: 2012; Italy, Germany: 2013), with a focus on the attention received by the specific issue of irregular immigration and the question of the human rights.

The paper is based on a research project that engaged with and intervened in flood risk management in national policy and in two localities. Building on recent work in STS, we develop a framework for political analysis that complements existing understandings of environmental governance by focusing on the materiality of an issue and the ways in which it is articulated through various sites, shifting between different political modalities (its political trajectory). Each modality represents a different way in which an issue is framed such that it is opened to questioning and contestation, or subject to closure and containment. We conclude that differing understandings of what makes an environmental issue political mean that researchers need to pay close attention to how their own work is political and to different meanings and constitutions of 'the public', as well as looking for more ways of engaging with the politics of environmental issues in different modalities.

Political parties require polls designed for their purposes. Popularity polls not only fail to provide suitable information for planning campaign strategy but may cause inappropriate responses on the part of campaign workers who become overconfident or too discouraged to perform effectively. Analysts attached to a political party must explain away poll results. Sampling methods used by pollsters are generally not adaptable to campaign strategy. Useful information has to be obtained on ward and precinct levels, rather than by usual geographic breakdowns. Voting statistics, supplemented by information on the local level is most useful; supplementary information may be obtained from national and state polls. Specific recommendations are made io improve the utility polls have for planning strategy. Continuous polling between elections would be desirable. To implement this the author recommends setting up a research organization independent of the party, and separately financed. I. F. Lukoff.

The article is devoted to the traditional ceramics of Bukovyna – one of the ethnographical regions of Ukraine, where in the XIXth–XXth centuries the pottery of high-quality technology and high artistic level was developed. The historical and cultural processes, which occurred on this territory and influenced the development of handicraft are considered. The pottery centers are highlighted and the creative works of leading potters are analyzed. The peculiarities of manufacturing technology, the local names and the purpose of clay products are recorded. The characteristic features of the traditional pottery of Bukovyna are researched: the typology and the main shapes of wares, the artistic qualities of ceramics decoration, the dominant motifs of the ornaments, the characteristics of individual techniques and of expressive methods. On the basis of art-critical analysis, by comparing the pottery vessels from Bukovyna with the ones from neighboring ethnographic regions of Ukraine (Prykarpattia, Podillia), as well as with the pottery ware from foreign countries, the local peculiarities of traditional ceramics of Bukovyna are determined and common features with the samples of pottery ware from Moldova, Romania are found. Previously unknown artworks and names of craftsmen are introduced in the scientific circulation.

The Brexit is a term used to explain about the withdrawal of Great Britain from the European Union. Brexit is an important political development in the recent political scenario of Europe. It has its impacts on the economic and political future of the UK and the EU. In mid of 2016, a referendum was held in the UK to decide whether they should remain in the EU or exit. The British decided in favour of exit. In this study, descriptive analysis study covers the impacts of Brexit on the EU, possible post-Brexit challenges, and way forward for the EU. The post-Brexit challenges for the EU such as rise of anti-EU political forces spreading anti-migrants' sentiments in member states and economic challenges such as Budgetary gap, impact of Brexit on the structures of the EU institutions have been observed. It has also been observed that the EU will remain stable despite of the challenges. If it deals the situation with unity and harmony among its member states, the challenges can be turned into opportunities.