Search Results

Cameroon

Andreas Mehler

in Elections in Africa: A Data Handbook

This chapter on elections and electoral systems in Cameroon follows the same format as all the other country chapters in the book. The first section is introductory and contains a historical ... More

This chapter on elections and electoral systems in Cameroon follows the same format as all the other country chapters in the book. The first section is introductory and contains a historical overview, discussion of the evolution of electoral provisions, an account of the current electoral provisions, and a comment on the electoral statistics. The second section consists of ten tables. These are: 2.1 Dates of National Elections, Referendums, and Coups d’Etat (there have been no coups d’états); 2.2 Electoral Body 1964–1997 (data on population size, registered voters, and votes cast); 2.3 Abbreviations (abbreviations and full names of political parties and alliances used in tables 2.6, 2.7, and 2.9); 2.4 Electoral Participation of Parties and Alliances 1956/1959–1997 (participation of political parties and alliances in chronological order and including the years and number of contested elections); 2.5 Referendums 1960–1972 (details of registered voters and votes cast); 2.6 Elections for Constitutional Assembly (not held); 2.7 Parliamentary Elections 1956–1997 (details of registered voters and votes cast in the Territorial (French Cameroon) and Legislative (Republic of Cameroon) Assemblies 1956–1960, the House of Assembly (British Cameroon/West Cameroon) 1959–1961, and the National Assembly 1964–1997); 2.8 Composition of Parliament 1956–1997 (Territorial and Legislative Assemblies 1956–1960, the House of Assembly 1959–1961, and the National Assembly 1964–1997); 2.9 Presidential Elections 1965–1997 (details of registered voters and votes cast); and 2.10 List of Power Holders 1958–1998.Less

A Model of Conduct from the Age of Chivalry? Honour, International Decline and the End of the Bourbon Monarchy

Hamish Scott

in The Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy: France from Old Regime to Revolution

The decline of France as a European power is an established eighteenth-century development and one that was laid at the Bourbon monarchy's door by its critics during the ancien régime. Within a ... More

The decline of France as a European power is an established eighteenth-century development and one that was laid at the Bourbon monarchy's door by its critics during the ancien régime. Within a worldview shaped by the aristocratic honour code, Louis XV and Louis XVI were seen as having dishonoured themselves and the country they ruled, by their political failures and especially the Austrian alliance concluded in 1756. These arguments were then adopted in the early stages of the French Revolution. Restoring that same honour, now increasingly attached to the nation and not the Bourbon dynasty, was a central objective of the members of both the National and Legislative Assemblies, and was integral to the Brissotin campaign for war against Austria, declared in spring 1792. This chapter reinforces the importance of continuities in political culture after 1789 and demonstrates the ways in which foreign policy was more central to the early Revolution than sometimes appreciated, contributing to the ‘nationalisation of honour’ (Hampson), as the nation and not the monarchy, became its focus.Less

Challenges and Threats to Traditional Associations

Annie Lee Shuk Ping

in Gaming, Governance and Public Policy in Macao

This chapter reflects on the decline of traditional associations, the success of representatives of gaming interests in recent Legislative Assembly elections and the emergence of other new groups in ... More

This chapter reflects on the decline of traditional associations, the success of representatives of gaming interests in recent Legislative Assembly elections and the emergence of other new groups in the political arena. Under conditions in which rapid growth is causing social problems and with a casino-driven economy which has specific needs, the ability of the Macao government to deliver goods and services effectively and efficiently has become an issue of major concern.Less

1791: Provincial Life Has Lost Its Charms

Siân Reynolds

in Marriage and Revolution: Monsieur and Madame Roland

Mme Roland returns to the Beaujolais with new friend, Sophie Grandchamp. Against expectation, Roland on his return is not elected to the Legislative Assembly by the Lyonnais. The inspectorate is ... More

Mme Roland returns to the Beaujolais with new friend, Sophie Grandchamp. Against expectation, Roland on his return is not elected to the Legislative Assembly by the Lyonnais. The inspectorate is abolished, so he loses his job. After hesitation, the couple return to Paris for the winter, with their daughter, to request a pension, and explore publishing ventures so as to eke out their income. Lanthenas despairing of the rural commune has invested in the important Cercle Social printing-house; and they may follow suit. Their future, although likely to be centred on the capital, now seems destined to be outside politics.Less

Home and Hearth

Haimanti Roy

in Partitioned Lives: Migrants, Refugees, Citizens in India and Pakistan, 1947-65

The common assumption after the Partition was that minorities were ‘natural’ citizens of the country where their co-religionist lived. Thus Hindus were expected to remain or migrate to India while ... More

The common assumption after the Partition was that minorities were ‘natural’ citizens of the country where their co-religionist lived. Thus Hindus were expected to remain or migrate to India while Muslims were expected to move to Pakistan. This chapter looks at the experiences of those minorities who continued to remain in their homeland instead of migrating to a new country. Through an examination of the Evacuee Property Legislation in East Pakistan which primarily impacted Hindu minorities there, I examine how property ownership and continued residence became one of the conditions of national citizenship.Less

What Touches All: Equality, Parliamentarism, and Contested Authority

Andrew Sabl

in Hume's Politics: Coordination and Crisis in the History of England

This chapter addresses the horizontal biases of coordination: the ability of those holding government office to systematically favor some over others in the distribution of public goods or even of ... More

This chapter addresses the horizontal biases of coordination: the ability of those holding government office to systematically favor some over others in the distribution of public goods or even of legal protection. It argues that the main guarantor of equality, in the face of the inequality that governing elites would otherwise prefer, is parliaments: legislative assemblies, grounded on a franchise that became more equal over time. A Humean approach to horizontal bias most productively starts by modernizing the medieval roots of parliamentary theory. According to this theory, legislative assemblies exist to demand that state officials ask the people's representatives what shall be done before doing it. Legislatures exist to discuss not whether the benefits of authority are greater than zero but how they are, and ought to be, distributed.Less

Terror before “the Terror”: June 1789–August 1793

Ronald Schechter

in A Genealogy of Terror in Eighteenth-Century France

This chapter makes four arguments. First, between 1789 and 1793 revolutionaries followed pre-revolutionary habits of terror speech. Specifically, they repeatedly spoke or wrote in praise of the ... More

This chapter makes four arguments. First, between 1789 and 1793 revolutionaries followed pre-revolutionary habits of terror speech. Specifically, they repeatedly spoke or wrote in praise of the terror of the laws, frequently expressed the wish to impose terror on their military enemies (including domestic rebels), and praised generals as “the terror of [their] enemies.” Second, the military discourse of terror gained strength as France waged war on an increasingly formidable array of foes and left the idea of the terror of the laws in the background, though it was never fully discarded. Third, terror speech was not a monopoly of the Left. It was the common property of Montagnards, Girondins, and even monarchists. Indeed, its ecumenical character was a large part of its appeal. Fourth, terror speech was therapeutic. Revolutionaries imputed terror to their enemies as a means of reducing their own terror. The ecumenical character of terror speech and its therapeutic benefits, combined with longstanding positive emotional connotations associated with the word “terror,” help to explain why the Montagnards called their cherished political platform la terreur.Less

A Democratic Priest: “Padre David has the word”

Peter M. Sánchez

in Priest Under Fire: "Padre David Rodríguez, the Catholic Church, and El Salvador's Revolutionary Movement"

Chapter 6 tells the story of Rodríguez’s move to democratic political leadership. Victory for the FMLN meant that they could now finally participate politically and bring necessary changes via the ... More

Chapter 6 tells the story of Rodríguez’s move to democratic political leadership. Victory for the FMLN meant that they could now finally participate politically and bring necessary changes via the ballot box. Rodríguez tried to return to the church but conditions were placed on his that he found unacceptable and thus he returned to the FMLN to help establish it as a legal political party. Owing to his popularity and his longstanding struggles representing the interests of the campesinos, Rodríguez was nominated as a candidate for a legislative seat in the Department of La Paz, which was part of the diocese of San Vicente, a region in which he was well-known. He was elected in 1997 and re-elected in 2000; and then again in 2009 and in 2012, meaning that he will serve as a legislator until 2015. This chapter will highlight the difficulties in trying to bring structural changes to El Salvador via the electoral process. Part of the problem lies in the leaders themselves, who often become complacent once they win political office.Less

The Ascendancy of the Girondins and the Path to War

Marisa Linton

in Choosing Terror: Virtue, Friendship, and Authenticity in the French Revolution

This chapter focuses on the relatively small group of figures who were around Brissot during the life of the Legislative Assembly. Brissot grew rapidly in stature to become one of the leading figures ... More

This chapter focuses on the relatively small group of figures who were around Brissot during the life of the Legislative Assembly. Brissot grew rapidly in stature to become one of the leading figures within the Legislative Assembly. Around him a group of new Jacobin deputies began to form, that had a profound influence on the direction of politics in the Assembly. Brissot's group eventually took on the name of the ‘Girondins’. The core of the Girondin group was made up of several overlapping friendship networks. Firstly, there was the group of friends that Brissot had made before the Revolution, including Pétion, the Rolands, Lanthenas, and Clavière; then there were the Rolands' Lyonnais connections; thirdly, a group of deputies from Marseilles; and fourthly, the group from the Gironde who gave their name to the ‘Girondins’. The Gironde group were particularly radical, and were early supporters of republicanism.Less

The Académie and Its Dictionary from the Beginning of the Revolution until the End of the Monarchy

Michael P. Fitzsimmons

in The Place of Words: The Académie Française and Its Dictionary during an Age of Revolution

The French Revolution ushered in a remarkable change in language, with both neologisms and new meanings for existing words. Supporters and critics of the Revolution often utilized a dictionary format ... More

The French Revolution ushered in a remarkable change in language, with both neologisms and new meanings for existing words. Supporters and critics of the Revolution often utilized a dictionary format for new or existing words to portray it in either a favorable or a pejorative manner. Provisionally funded in 1790, the Académie, rooted in the traditional high French of the court and elite, ignored the linguistic innovations, leading François-Urbain Domergue to attempt to form a body that would codify Revolutionary language, although it never came to fruition. Ultimately, partially because of its closeness with the monarch and in part because of the lateness with which Talleyrand presented a plan on educational reform, the Académie survived the reform agenda of the National Assembly, enabling it to continue work on the fifth edition. However, it disregarded not only linguistic innovations but also the societal transformation brought about by the National Assembly.Less

Afterword: Future directions

Sonja Tiernan

in The History of Marriage Equality in Ireland: A Social Revolution Begins

The history of marriage equality in Ireland concludes with a note for the future regarding Northern Ireland. The law extending marriage to same-sex couples came into effect in England and Wales on 29 ... More

The history of marriage equality in Ireland concludes with a note for the future regarding Northern Ireland. The law extending marriage to same-sex couples came into effect in England and Wales on 29 March 2014. On 29 April, a third attempt was made to pass a bill in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The vote lost by 51 against to 43 in favour. The opposition once again was predominantly from by unionist parties including the Democratic Unionist Party, Ulster Unionist Party and Traditional Unionist Voice, with all nationalist MLAs voting in support of marriage equality. This afterword provides an assessment of the current situation.Less

Leader of the Opposition

B. R. Nanda

in The Nehrus: Motilal and Jawaharlal: With a New Preface

This chapter introduces the Swaraj Party, which defeated the British Indian Government with the help of the Legislative Assembly. The discussion starts with the Legislative Assembly, which reflected ... More

This chapter introduces the Swaraj Party, which defeated the British Indian Government with the help of the Legislative Assembly. The discussion starts with the Legislative Assembly, which reflected the transitional stage in the unsettled conflict between Indian nationalism and British imperialism. It identifies several colourful personalities in the Legislative Assembly, including M.A. Jinnah and the Assembly president, Sir Frederick Whyte. It considers the resolutions and catalogues presented by Diwan Bahadur Rangachariar, Sir Malcolm Hailey, and Motilal Nehru. From here the discussion shifts to the Swaraj Party, which emerged in India the same time the Labour Government was introduced in Britain. It also looks at the letters Motilal wrote to and received from S.R. Bomanji, a Bombay politician who was able to communicate with some British ministers, such as Ramsay MacDonald.Less

Assemblies I: Performing Democratic Roles

John R. Parkinson

in Democracy and Public Space: The Physical Sites of Democratic Performance

This chapter focuses on legislative assemblies as stages for the performance of democratic roles: first as symbolic statements of national identity (narration); second as stages for the performance ... More

This chapter focuses on legislative assemblies as stages for the performance of democratic roles: first as symbolic statements of national identity (narration); second as stages for the performance of grand national rituals; and third as sites for deliberation and decision-making. Along the way, it engages further with arguments about the alleged behavioural effects of assembly buildings. While some of these claims are clearly nonsense, buildings and their interiors nonetheless send behavioural cues because of the symbolic associations that have built up around certain formats and layouts in particular contexts. This implies two things: first, that democrats should value assembly buildings for their role in cueing onlookers to take the proceedings inside — binding collective decision-making — seriously; and second, that the symbolic associations of buildings and rooms can be changed, often simply by changing, visibly, what goes on in them. The chapter also argues that certain kinds of spatial effects genuinely are physical and not symbolic.Less

Constitutional Politics (1922–29)

Jagannath Prasad Misra

in Madan Mohan Malaviya and the Indian Freedom Movement

This chapter examines Madan Mohan Malaviya’s involvement in constitutional politics during the years 1922–29, particularly in the constitutional programme of contesting elections and carrying on the ... More

This chapter examines Madan Mohan Malaviya’s involvement in constitutional politics during the years 1922–29, particularly in the constitutional programme of contesting elections and carrying on the fight for swaraj within the councils. It first considers the elections of 1923, focusing on Malaviya’s opposition to the candidature of C.Y. Chintamani of the Swaraj Party, and goes on to discuss his participation in the second Legislative Assembly. It then explores the Kanpur Congress session of 1925, along with the formation of an Indian National Party in 1926 to prepare for and accelerate the demand for swaraj based on the dominion-status model by all possible means. It also analyses Malaviya’s proposals for educating voters and his renewed negotiations with Motilal Nehru in hopes of avoiding a confrontation between the Responsivists and the Swarajists. Finally, it looks at Malaviya’s formation of the Independent Congress Party in 1926 and Swaraj Party’s dismal performance in the elections held that year.Less

Subterfuges of “Respectable” Citizenship: Marriage and Masculinity in the Discourse of Devadāsī Reform

Davesh Soneji

in Unfinished Gestures: Devadasis, Memory, and Modernity in South India

This chapter examines the issues of citizenship, marriage, and masculinity that were associated with the discourse on devadasi reform in South India. It discusses the shifting moral economies of ... More

This chapter examines the issues of citizenship, marriage, and masculinity that were associated with the discourse on devadasi reform in South India. It discusses the shifting moral economies of colonial modernity that fundamentally could not accommodate the social and aesthetic practices of women from devada communities. It relates the story of the Madras Legislative Assembly debates up to 1947 and offers an alternative view of the anti-nautch debates that highlights the tacit tensions of nationalist masculinities in Tamil Nadu.Less

: A Nation of Electors:: Sieye's Model of Representative Government

in Representative Democracy: Principles and Genealogy

This chapter examines the main tenets of electoral democracy as formulated by Sieyes, the theorist and political leader who brought Rousseau's perspective into the representative context. From a ... More

This chapter examines the main tenets of electoral democracy as formulated by Sieyes, the theorist and political leader who brought Rousseau's perspective into the representative context. From a theoretical viewpoint, the metamorphosis of the citizen into the elector corresponds to the application of the power of the sovereign-people to the sovereign-nation represented in the legislative assembly.Less

The Civil Disobedience Movement

Jagannath Prasad Misra

in Madan Mohan Malaviya and the Indian Freedom Movement

This chapter examines Madan Mohan Malaviya’s involvement in the civil disobedience movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi. It begins by focusing on Malaviya’s resignation from the Congress Working ... More

This chapter examines Madan Mohan Malaviya’s involvement in the civil disobedience movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi. It begins by focusing on Malaviya’s resignation from the Congress Working Committee and his disenchantment with the politics at the Legislative Assembly. It then considers Malaviya’s decision to quit the Legislative Assembly and join the civil disobedience movement, along with the popular uprising in Peshawar. It also looks at Malaviya’s arrest and subsequent six-month imprisonment in 1930, the picketing at the Banaras Hindu University, and the Indian government’s pressure on the university in response to Malaviya’s role in the nationalist struggle. Finally, it analyses the Gandhi–Irwin Pact signed on 5 March 1931, in which the Indian National Congress agreed to ‘discontinue’ the civil disobedience movement and ‘take part in the second session of the Round Table Conference’.Less

Against the State

Duncan McCargo

in Fighting for Virtue: Justice and Politics in Thailand

This chapter studies the trial of Jon Ungpakorn and his nine codefendants, who were accused of violating national security. Their crime was having entered the compound of the junta-appointed National ... More

This chapter studies the trial of Jon Ungpakorn and his nine codefendants, who were accused of violating national security. Their crime was having entered the compound of the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly (the NLA: in effect, a puppet parliament) in December of 2007 to stage a peaceful protest that briefly halted proceedings. A group of prominent non-governmental organization (NGO) leaders and civil society activists involved in the protest were later charged with trespass and sedition. Unlike most of the freedom of expression defendants during this period, these defendants were not aligned with the pro-Thaksin redshirt movement: many were in fact well known for their anti-Thaksin views. However, the authorities seemed confused about the aims of the NLA protests, mixing up Jon Ungpakorn with his more radical younger brother Giles Ji Ungpakorn, who had been named on the military's 2010 lom jao organogram. Ultimately, the defendants were found guilty, and their chosen mode of protest was declared illegal by the Supreme Court, in a binding precedent that had major negative ramifications.Less