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This paper examines two different understandings of professional autonomy among journalists currently and formerly working at Mafra, a Czech media house acquired in 2013 by Andrej Babiš, who in 2017 became the Czech Prime Minister. We build on existing research of local trends in media ownership and journalistic autonomy to ask the following questions: What differentiated the experience of journalists who exited the organization after the ownership change from that of those who stayed put? How did the two groups understand professional journalistic autonomy? Based on the thematic analysis of twenty semistructured interviews with ten journalists who stayed in the media house after Babiš's acquisition and ten journalists who left, we argue that in the journalists’ narratives, the two decisions reflect two different notions of autonomy: autonomy-as-a-practice and autonomy-as-a-value. While our findings add to the scarce empirical research on journalists’ lived experiences of the region's mediascape marked by growing comingling and concentration of political, economic and media power, we also suggest that the autonomy-as-a-practice and journalists’ agency should be further studied as a possible way how to perform and promote journalistic autonomy even in illiberalizing contexts—in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.

In May 1944, Dorothy L. Sayers exchanged letters and had a phone conversation with William Lyon Mackenzie King, the prime minister of Canada. Sayers's letter made such an impression on King that he saw mystical and prophetic significance in its arrival and used it in a speech he gave in the Canadian House of Commons. This study uses the digitised archives of King's diaries and the parliamentary records of his speech, as well as Canadian media accounts from the time. It will be shown that Sayers played an underappreciated role in helping the Canadian prime minister rally his country during the war, as the speech that used her letter met with acclaim across the political spectrum and received positive notice in Canadian newspapers. In the weeks leading up to D-Day, Sayers played an integral role in building up the morale of Canada's prime minister, as he endeavoured to inspire his country. Finally, King's diaries offer first-hand testimony of how one important contemporary figure reacted to the radio broadcasts of The Man Born to Be King, as he particularly enjoyed Sayers's portrayal of the masculinity of Jesus.

We study the benefits of political connections on firm performance by analyzing the effects of the early support to Silvio Berlusconi, a TV tycoon who in three months in 1993 founded a party, won the elections and became Italy’s Prime Minister. We find that the 101 companies who supported Berlusconi from the start did better than controls in terms of sales and employment, while the effects on productivity are less clear-cut. Results are confirmed when we instrument the decision to support Berlusconi with electoral outcomes in the 1921 Italian elections, which had similarities both in terms of electoral voting and ideological competition. We also find suggestive evidence that the supporters’ superior performance is stronger in sectors with high advertising intensity.

Military interference in politics in Turkey resumed with an outright military coup on July 15, 2016, but the Coup failed. The Turkish military has always successfully conducted coups, both directly and indirectly, which occurred in 1960, 1971, 1980, and 1997. From these problems, The study aims to analyze the causes of the failure of the 2016 coup and describe the causes of the Coup and compare the 2016 coup with the 1960 and 1980 direct coups. A qualitative method was used in this research by conducting literature studies and data sourced from scientific journals, news reports, articles, and other related sources. The results showed that the failure of the military Coup in 2016 was due to rejection from the community but also the failure of the coup group to arrest key government actors such as President Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. The failure to arrest these key actors enabled them to mobilize the masses against the coup group, as did President Erdogan, who announced his rejection of the Coup through FaceTime broadcast by CNN Turk and invited the public to reject the Coup. Binali Yildirim also rejected the same problem. This is one of the factors that led to the descent of Turks to the streets against the coup attempt. Even though seeing the previous Coup, the military always received support from the Turkish people. In addition, there is also the role of technology that connects key actors with Turkish society. This research explains the important role of key state actors in countering military coups and provides an overview of ways for civilian governments and the general public to resist military coups.

Funder: Cambridge Trust, Funder: National Research Foundation Singapore, Funder: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Funder: China Scholarship Council, In this paper, the ability of three selected machine learning neural and baseline models in predicting the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) using molecular structure information as an input is assessed. The bidirectional long short-term memory (gFSI/BiLSTM), attentive fingerprints (attentive FP), and simple graph neural networks (simple GNN) as well as baseline support vector regression (SVR), random forests (RF), and high-dimensional model representation (HDMR) methods are trained to both the large and computational Harvard clean energy project database (CEPDB) and the much smaller experimental Harvard organic photovoltaic 15 dataset (HOPV15). It was found that the neural-based models generally performed better on the computational dataset with the attentive FP model reaching a state-of-the-art performance with the test set mean squared error of 0.071. The experimental dataset proved much harder to fit, with all of the models exhibiting a rather poor performance. Contrary to the computational dataset, the baseline models were found to perform better than the neural models. To improve the ability of machine learning models to predict PCEs for OPVs, either better computational results that correlate well with experiments or more experimental data at well-controlled conditions are likely required.

National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme. CONACYT Cambridge Scholarship Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. Gates Cambridge Scholarship (OPP1144). Alexander von Humboldt foundation. EPSRC (grant number: EP/R029369/1) ARCHER - Consortium on Turbulent Reacting Flows (www.ukctrf.com).

The article focuses on Camilla Cavendish, a well-known journalist and former head of the Downing Street policy unit under prime minister David Cameron (and later baroness) published an independent review into healthcare assistants and support workers in the NHS and social care settings.

A key part of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s effort to promote the development of civil society is a new law, proclamation 1113/2019, which significantly expands the allowed activities of civil society organizations (CSOs) – especially in comparison to the earlier 2009 law. We examine the genesis of the new law, which was promulgated after the wave of protests in 2016–2019, as well as its impact on the ability of CSOs to work on advocacy of human rights and democracy promotion. The article concludes with an assessment of the new law’s role in the possible expansion of the development of CSOs in the country.

Close relations with Europe, especially but not only with the United Kingdom, have long been a consensual tenet of Canadian foreign policy, which has supported European integration since the 1970s. The UK's withdrawal from the European Union threatens to upset this consensus. While Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has consistently cast Brexit in a negative light, Conservative leaders Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole have commented positively on the UK's leaving the EU. Did their polarized views resonate in the population? To answer this question, this article analyzes the results of an original survey of voting-age Canadians. Findings show a strong degree of correspondence between positions expressed in party discourse and preferences in the Canadian population. This raises the possibility that the difference between two models of transatlantic relations, which we call Eurosphere and Anglosphere, could emerge as a new fault line in Canadian foreign policy.

The Czech 2020 regional elections were won by ANO, a party led by prime minister Andrej Babis. ANO received a plurality of votes in 10 of the 13 regions, but joined the regional government in only ...

Background/Purpose: Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT & BPM) Industry is considered to be one of the topmost service sectors in India with respect to the economic growth of the country, the job opportunities created and various other factors. With the changing scenario in the digital world, there is a need for the IT & BPM Industry to enhance its capabilities and take this sector forward to sustain the existing economy of the country and also increase employment opportunities. After being identified as one of the sectors to come under the ‘Make in India’ mission proposed by Prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi, this concern has taken a big leap towards improvement. Objective: To study the growth and contribution of the IT & BPM Industry towards realizing ‘Make in India’ proposed by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Sri Narendra Modi. Design/Methodology/Approach: Presentation of information collected from various scholarly articles, web articles and also and analysis using SWOC framework. Findings/Result: Based on the analysis of facts and figures and also by looking at the various scenarios of expansion of IT & BPM industry in India, it is seen that this industry has seen considerable growth and progress in various avenues such as creating employment opportunities and country’s economy. Few recommendations are also suggested to take the concept further. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited to the IT & BPM Industry, though a total of 25 Industry sectors have been identified under ‘Make in India’. Originality/Value: This paper focuses on the growth of the IT & BPM Industry and the factors that helped towards making ‘Make in India’ a reality. It also tells about the support given by Government to achieve the same. Paper Type: A Research Case study paper on the growth of the IT & BPM Industry and realization of the ‘Make in India’ concept.

In the administration and development of the Malaysian nation-state, each prime minister has contributed and exhibited his distinct leadership style. Abdul Razak Hussein and Mahathir Mohamad’s contributions and leadership, especially in the nation-state’s development and modernisation, are well-recognised by Malaysians. They referred to Razak as the Development Father while Mahathir is known as the Father of Modernisation. Their leaderships’ effectiveness is also evident in their outstanding achievements based on the policies and actions during their tenure as the nation’s leaders. Therefore, this study aims to discuss the achievement-oriented aspects of Razak-Mahathir leadership in Malaysia’s nation-state development. A qualitative historical descriptive design was used as the research methodology where the primary source of this study was the texts of the two prime ministers’ speeches. These sources are qualitatively analysed to explore the qualities of leadership they practised to develop and modernise the country. The results showed that leadership qualities such as stimulating people’s intellectual capacity, motivating people, good planning, demonstrating influence, emphasising togetherness, emphasising good values, exhibiting firmness, demonstrating self-confidence, being considerate, envisioning the future and acknowledging people’s contribution were practised by Razak and Mahathir in conducting their duties as prime ministers. It showed that a country can achieve remarkable development and modernisation when it is led by leaders who incorporate the aforementioned leadership qualities. This study’s social implications are as follows: first, underlining the importance of achievement-oriented leadership that can inspire the people and the government to foster a steady national development and secondly, implying the essential roles of leaders in defining and shaping a suitable nation-state concept that should be adopted in a nation-state. This study innovatively introduces a leadership model framework based on Razak-Mahathir’s achievements during their administration. It gives an overview of their successful leadership styles in governing the country, which can be applied or practised by leaders or related parties with similar roles, aspirations and goals.

Through information gained from interviews with key political actors, archival research and close examination of biographical material, this article aims to provide the first detailed account of what it means to be the British First Secretary of State. Sometimes regarded simply as a synonym for Deputy Prime Minister, it will be demonstrated that the reality is far more complicated. Not all First Secretaries have been regarded as the Prime Minister’s second-in-command, indeed there have been many years where the post has ceased to exist. Yet, at other times, First Secretaries have led the country, albeit briefly. The main argument to be made is that the office of First Secretary of State is only as important as the person holding that office is perceived to be important, but there is potential for that to change.

In 1964, the president of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson, prevented the planned Turkish invasion of Cyprus by sending the Turkish prime minister a letter so tough that the secretary of state, ...

This study discusses the types of impoliteness strategies and their realization found on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Twitter account on Twitter. The idea is used to identify and categorize different sorts of impoliteness methods, as well as how they are implemented. A descriptive qualitative technique was employed for the investigation. According to the findings of this study, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu employs a variety of impoliteness tactics, which are (1) Bald on record impoliteness, (2) Positive impoliteness, (3) Negative impoliteness, and (4) Sarcasm or mock politeness. While withholding politeness was not found in the Prime Minister of the Republic of Indonesia, Benjamin Netanyahu's tweet. Imprudence is the most common category, with 11 tweets accounting for 57.90 percent of the total. Negative impoliteness is ranked second, with 5 tweets (or 26.31 percent) on the list. Next, sarcasm or fake politeness received two tweets, accounting for 10.52 percent of the total. Only one tweet, or 5.26 percent, had a positive impoliteness.

Very few studies have examined discourses about Heads of State who have been pregnant whilst in office. In January 2018, Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand, announced her pregna...

The prime minister of Japan (日本国内閣総理大臣, Nihon-koku naikaku sōridaijin, or shushō (首相)) (informally referred to as the PMOJ) is head of the government of Japan, the chief executive of the National Cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Japan; he is appointed by the emperor of Japan after being designated by the National Diet and must enjoy the confidence of the House of Representatives to remain in office. He is the head of the Cabinet and appoints and dismisses the other ministers of state. The literal translation of the Japanese name for the office is Minister for the Comprehensive Administration of (or the Presidency over) the Cabinet. The current prime minister of Japan is Yoshihide Suga. On 14 September 2020, he was elected to the presidency of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). After being confirmed in the Diet, he received an invitation from Emperor Naruhito to form a government as the new prime minister, and took office on 16 September 2020. Japan's parliament has elected Yoshihide Suga as the country's new prime minister, following the surprise resignation of Shinzo Abe. After winning the leadership of the governing party earlier this week, Wednesday's vote confirms the former chief cabinet secretary's new position. It happened because the needed of political interest for Japan.

The Musharraf formula refers to the resolution formula of the Kashmir conflict which was reportedly agreed upon during the one-to-one backchannel dialogue between Mr. Tariq Aziz, the former civil servant and close aide of the then President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf and Mr.Satinder Lambah, a special envoy of the Prime Minister of India. We now know some of the details of this formula from the article of the American journalist, Steve Coll which he had published in New Yorker inMarch 2009 and the book of Mr.Khursheed Mahmud Kasuri, ‘Neither a Hawk nor a Dove’which was published in 2015. Prior to this Mr.Musharraf and Mr.Kasuri had already claimed in their TV interviews and press talks that by March 2007 India and Pakistan were very close to resolving the Kashmir conflict. This paper takes the details of that non-paper agreement and tries to study what exactly that agreement holds for the future resolution of the Kashmir conflict. The basic understanding is whenever the Pakistani and the Indian governments will take up the negotiations on the Kashmir conflict in future, this agreement is bound to come up in the talks as a starting reference point. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully look at this agreement and discuss what it entails for the resolution of the Kashmir conflict.

Turkey’s membership process to the European Union has been a ‘long, narrow and uphill road’, as former Turkish Prime Minister, and later President, Turgut Özal once stated. This study analyses the representation of the European Union–Turkey negotiation process in the Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet from 1959 to 2019 with the aim of understanding the changing meaning of ‘Europe’ and the ‘European Union’ in Turkish news discourse. There is comprehensive literature on the representation of Turkey’s membership process in the European press. This article aims to contribute to the field by assessing the representation of the same process from a different angle. For this purpose, Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet newspapers’ front page coverage of selected 10 key dates in the European Union–Turkey relations is analysed through critical discourse analysis.

This paper examines the wardrobe of the first prime minister and president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, to show how he created a set of “suits” or “looks” to mirror his overlapping traditional, modern,...

New Zealand’s Pacific Reset, a significant shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy towards the Pacific Islands region, was launched in 2018 by the government of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The Pacific Reset emphasises engagement, partnerships, and collaboration, and a greater focus on soft power, public diplomacy and people-to-people measures. It has resulted in an increase in New Zealand public diplomacy in the Pacific, including a new broadcasting initiative, and enhanced domestic public diplomacy. The language and objectives of the Pacific Reset replicate key characteristics of the New Public Diplomacy, which is frequently distinguished from the ‘old’ on the basis of two way engagement. This article argues that whilst the Pacific Reset seeks to reflect the ethos of the New Public Diplomacy, in practice, New Zealand’s Pacific public diplomacy is a mixed bag. In a contested and crowded strategic and public diplomacy environment, putting into practice a New Public Diplomacy demands a greater focus on listening.

This analysis questions the dominant view of the role played by Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies in the early stages of the 1956 Suez Canal crisis. Tasked with the responsibility of discuss...

In 2014, Spain’s then prime minister Mariano Rajoy declared: ‘La crisis ya es historia’. This proclamation of recovery was based solely on macro-economic indicators and reinforced a flawed hegemoni...

When the first and second terms in office are combined, the total duration that Abe Shinzo served as Prime Minister of Japan exceeded that of all his predecessors. This article reviews and assesses...

Japan's leaders began 2020 with grand ambitions to make it a historic year. Tokyo was set to welcome the world for the Summer Olympics, Japan's first since 1964, and Abe Shinzō, the powerful prime minister, planned to realize his party's 65-year-old dream: revising Japan's never-amended, US-drafted 1947 constitution. By spring, however, it was clear that COVID-19 had other plans. Despite public health outcomes better than in any other G7 member, daily life was severely disrupted, and the domestic political and economic fallout for Japan was significant. By late summer, circumstances were improving, but both Abe's popularity and his personal health had suffered. He resigned in September, ending the longest prime-ministership in Japanese history. Though COVID-19 and the end of the Abe Era were the major storylines of Japan in 2020, a subplot was, paradoxically, remarkable continuity in national politics and foreign affairs. © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California.

The article analyzes the specificity of the Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King’s attitude to the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The study analyzes the frequency of the Prime Minister referencing the USSR in his diary from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945, as well as his reaction to a number of the most significant events of the Second World War associated with the Soviet Union: the German attack on the USSR, the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Canada, the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, the victory over Germany. In the course of work, both general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, inductive method, comparative method) and special methods (historical-chronological and content analysis) have been used to study the materials of the diary. The use of the historical-chronological method is due to the need to correlate information from the diary with the overall historical picture of the studied period, and the use of content analysis helps to create a more reliable picture of Canadian Prime Minister’s perception of the Soviet participation in World War II. The article has made allowances for the fact that Mackenzie King sought to create his own positive image in his diaries, planning their posthumous publication. But, since the USSR was not a key topic for the Prime Minister (as evidenced by keywords statistics), it can be stated that the leader of the Canadian liberals was quite frank, at least as frank as a person who, in his lifetime, was known as an extremely cautious politician could be. It is clear, that King was well aware of the significance of the events on the Eastern Front. But throughout the war he retained both a negatively neutral attitude towards the USSR (due to its communist nature) and his perception of the Soviet Union as part of Asia and thus a step below the Anglo-Saxon world, which had a higher level of culture and moral principles. The objective reality, i.e. absence of hostilities in Canada, its maneuvering between Great Britain and the United States, and priority of economic and domestic policy for King, explains that a lesser part of his attention was paid to the events in the USSR in comparison with processes associated with England and the United States.

One of the characteristics of the system of government in the Fifth French Republic is the strengthened position of the head of state, but also the existence of the first minister as a constitutional category with a significant role. The constitution provides the political responsibility of the government with the Prime Minister and ministers before parliament. Certain French writers have opinion that the Prime Minister appears as the central figure of the constitutional structure. The Prime Minister shall direct the actions of the Government. This is 21 of Constitution. Also, there are specific powers that put the Prime Minister in the position of its real head of government. Among the prime minister's most important powers is his right to elect members of the government. It is the right to propose to the President of the Republic the appointment but also the dismissal of members of the government. The Prime Minister is authorized to re-sign certain acts of the President of the Republic. In case of temporary impediment of the head of state, the Prime Minister chairs the councils and committees for national defense, as well as the Council of Ministers. The paper analyzes the constitutional provisions that lead to the conclusion that the position of the Prime Minister is institutionally constructed as strong. Political practice, with the exception of periods of cohabitation, has indicated that most prime ministers have been overshadowed by mostly powerful heads of state. For that reason, it is necessary to analyze the political practice of all eight presidential governments. A review of the already long political life that has lasted since 1958. points to the conclusion that in its longest period, presidents of the Republic dominated the public political scene. The Prime Minister has a more pronounced role in the executive branch during cohabitation periods. However, nine years in three cohabitations cannot change the central conclusion of this paper that the dominant political practice of the Fifth Republic has led to the Prime Minister being essentially in the shadow of the head of state.

Ultimately, 2020 turned out to be an ordinary year for Papua New Guinea. Other than the COVID-19 crisis, much remained the same in the country. Any expectations that the new prime minister, James Marape, would change its direction fell apart quickly when it was clear that “business as usual” would continue. Despite their best efforts, Australia and its allies failed to stop the rising Chinese influence in the country. © 2021 by The Regents of the University of California.

Der Brexit stellt eine Herausforderung für das Vereinigte Königreich dar: für die Identität der Einwohner; für die Kohärenz der „ungeschriebenen“ Verfassung; für die Idee einer freiwilligen Vereinigung der Vier Nationen; und für die territoriale Integrität des Landes. Die Verfassung kommt unter Druck z.B. durch die versuchte Aussetzung des Parlaments; durch den Einsatz des kgl. Vorrechts; sowie mit der Bestätigung der Übermacht des Premierministers (PM). Die Verletzung der Normen der Rechtsstaatlichkeit wie in der Gesetzgebungsgeschichte des Internal Market Act vorexerziert, passt ins Bild einer Verformung der Verfassung. Das Handels- und Kooperationsabkommen rundet dieses Bild ab: ein Abkommen, das 2019 als „Oven-Ready“ Lösung vom PM angepriesen, dann 2020 unterschrieben, und 2021, vor der Umsetzung, vom demselben PM als „lächerlich“ abgetan wurde. Die Lehren daraus werden in Edinburgh und Belfast gezogen: in diesem unseriösen Königreich gibt es kaum Platz! Brexit poses a challenge for the UK: for the identity of its residents; for the coherence of the “unwritten” constitution; for the idea of ​​a voluntary association of the four nations; and for the territorial integrity of the country. The constitution comes under pressure, e.g. through the attempted suspension of parliament; through the use of royal prerogative; as well as confirming the superiority of the Prime Minister (PM). The violation of the norms of the rule of law, as exemplified in the legislative history of the Internal Market Act, fits into the picture of a deformation of the constitution. The trade and cooperation agreement rounds off this picture: an agreement that was touted by the PM in 2019 as an "Oven-Ready" solution, then signed in 2020, and in 2021, before implementation, was dismissed as "ridiculous" by the same PM. Lessons will be learned in Edinburgh and Belfast: there is little room in this dubious kingdom!

This article discusses the ethnopolitics of Vladimír Mečiar’s government in Slovakia in the period of years between 1994-1998, with a particular focus on the Hungarian minority. The introduction outlines ethnic heterogeneity in Slovakia, giving a brief historical background for some minorities. The next part covers the result of the 1994 parliamentary election, which led to the formation of the HZDS-SNS-ZRS coalition government headed by Vladimír Mečiar as Prime Minister. The study also includes the ideological profiles of the governmental parties, which are linked by strong accentuation of nationalism and statism. The article seeks to analyse the ethnopolitics of the government in the above-mentioned election term, evaluate its positive and negative aspects. In particular, the affairs, new legislation adopted and its impact on the largest Hungarian minority living in Slovakia.

New history is created in Malaysia. After over six decades of Federal rule, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has been replaced by a coalition of opposition parties, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the most recent general election. PH also managed to form several state governments traditionally held by BN in Peninsular Malaysia. This study aims to seek the perception of the Malays in West Malaysia in accepting the return of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad into power. It focuses on the so-called political comeback of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad – the first leader to be appointed Prime Minister twice considering this rarely happens in Malaysia. This study was conducted in West Malaysia involving eighty-eight respondents using the 5-point Likert-scale survey questionnaire. Respondents were given an option to answer the questionnaire in Bahasa Malaysia or English. The general result showed that perception towards political issues in Malaysia, especially with regard to Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s comeback drew mixed reactions. On the same note, it showed that people could have lost their hopes and direction of Malaysian politics.

Henry (Harry) Gullett, the press liaison for the Australian delegation at the Paris peace conference in 1919, was convinced that the valour and sacrifice of Australian soldiers had earned the nation the right to have its voice heard. In this, he was in complete agreement with the Australian prime minister Billy Hughes. Both were equally certain, however, that Australian interests were now ‘grievously imperilled’. These fears were framed not by the potential future actions of Australia's recent enemies, but by a suspicion that its allies were either ignorant of Australian concerns, or dismissive of them. Britain, America and Japan personified Australian fears about the post‐war world, as the correspondence between Gullett and his wife Penelope will attest. Furthermore, this article will show that though the war had been a seismological catastrophe, Gullett saw in it a further validation of his pre‐war commitment to immigration, which bordered on an obsession. Similarly, for the nation as a whole, the years between 1914 and 1918 heightened the strategic and economic concerns that had driven the nation to sacrifice so much of its human and financial treasure. White Australia, the Australian/British relationship and the concern over the nation's strategic vulnerabilities appeared as pressing in 1919 as they had been in 1914.

John Campbell’s (1708-1775) biographer, Guido Abbattista, has argued that Campbell sought to publish a pamphlet, Thoughts on Public Affairs, in 1761. However, a review of Campbell’s private correspondence in 1761 with the future prime minister, John Stuart, 3rd earl of Lord Bute (1713-1792), indicates that the historian sought not to publish a pamphlet, but newspaper articles that promote the king’s new reign and his administration. Six of these articles have been found in the London Evening Post, and they use ideas and language from Henry St. John, 1st viscount Bolingbroke to represent George III as a Patriot King, to advance the Tory policies of Bute’s future administration, and to encourage a prospective peace to the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). These six, new attributions to Campbell not only expand his extensive canon, but also portray his significant role in offering the rhetoric and depicting the ideas of George III’s early reign and Bute’s ascendency to premiership.

In 1959–62, relations between Greece and the USSR entered a new phase. The tactics of the Soviet Union regarding Cyprus in 1955–9 did not pay off, as the rift between Greece, Turkey, and NATO was largely bridged in the aftermath of the 1959 Cyprus agreements. However, the search for a Cold War détente engendered pervasive insecurity in a frontline state like Greece, always afraid that its larger allies might abandon it. Nuclear intimidation, Greek anti-communism on the one hand; on the other, the impressive development of trade relations, created a complex environment. This article, based on the archives of the Greek Foreign Ministry, and the personal archive of the Greek prime minister, Constantine Karamanlis, discusses Athens’ response to the new Soviet policy.

This article aims to analyze the frame of the government official statement in Mosque Christhurch Attack in New Zealand (March 2019) and Easter Sunday Attack in Sri Lanka (April 2019). The two cases were chosen because they place Muslim in contradictory positions: as victim in New Zealand and as perpetrator in Sri Lanka. This study uses framing analysis method to examine the official statement uploaded in the official websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, within seven days after the incident. The data gathered from the text analysis is then followed by data triangulation using expert judgement technique. The result shows that there are differences in information content. The New Zealand government emphasizes their own actions in the country, while the Sri Lankan government focuses on the activities carried out abroad and the supports, they receive from other countries. In doing so, the New Zealand government highlights the presence of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern while the Sri Lankan government presents information from many state officials, instead of the head of state. These differences show that the content of official statement is highly influenced by the socio-political condition in the country.

The SNC-Lavalin affair ranks among the most spectacular cases of ministerial resignations and party discipline in Canadian history. In 2019, discord plunged Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government into turmoil amid explosive news stories, cabinet shuffles, committee testimony, an ethics investigation and party discipline. SNC-Lavalin, a Quebec-based company, faced criminal charges and urged the Trudeau government to negotiate an alternative, or else jobs might be lost. The Prime Minister’s Office, the clerk of the Privy Council and the minister of finance were at loggerheads with Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould over her refusal to do so. This chronicle situates the political events among antecedent cabinet crises of the Manitoba schools question in 1896, the conscription crisis in 1944 and nuclear armament in 1963. The 2019 episode was the first involving women ministers and social media, and the only one to erupt over a relatively obscure policy issue. All cases were a prelude to the governing party losing seats in the next election. L’affaire SNC-Lavalin figure parmi les cas les plus spéculaires de démissions ministérielles et de discipline de parti de l’histoire canadienne. En 2019, des désaccords ont plongé le gouvernement libéral de Justin Trudeau dans la tourmente, où se sont mêlés reportages explosifs, remaniements au sein du Cabinet, témoignages devant les commissions parlementaires, enquête sur l’éthique et discipline de parti. Menacée de poursuites pénales, SNC-Lavalin, entreprise basée au Québec, a fait pression sur le gouvernement pour négocier un accord de poursuite suspendue qui éviterait la perte de milliers d’emplois. Le Cabinet du Premier Ministre, le greffier du Conseil privé et le Ministre des Finances se sont opposés à la procureure générale Jody Wilson-Raybould, hostile à un tel accord. Cette chronique compare cet évènement politique avec les crises précédentes au sein du Cabinet, telles que la question des écoles du Manitoba en 1896, la crise de la conscription en 1944 et le désaccord sur les armements nucléaires en 1963. L’épisode de 2019 a été le premier à impliquer des femmes ministres et les réseaux sociaux, et le seul à émerger à propos d’une question politique relativement obscure. Tous ces épisodes ont mené à une perte de sièges parlementaires pour le parti au pouvoir lors des élections suivantes.

Gujarat is Indian PM Modi’s home State and training ground. Modi’s ‘Gujarat Model’ is projected as growth and development oriented. I show the actual Gujarat model as top-down, favouring big business, and undergirded by violently practiced Hindu nationalism. The cult of the strongman leader-- directly attuned to his people, and above the corruption of politics as usual-- rounds off the authoritarian populist playbook. While the antecedents of this playbook are found in recent history, natural and political crises entrenched the Gujarat model under Modi. The leader and his New Gujarat have since been popularised across scale. The paper traces aggressively promoted business, and violently repressed dissent, in a sub- sub-national district. Then in the village hinterland, I engage those who witness and occasionally participate in the politics and economics of the Gujarat model. Yet here, capitalist development built on 1 precarious labour and jobless growth, as also the much-feted Hindu nation that is riven by contradictions of caste, class, region and gender, reveal deep fissures. Despite such cracks, deepening state authoritarianism, and the populist connect with a larger than life leader endure—for now-- in the absence of political alternatives.

The article focuses on the prominent stylistic devices of the language, gives their definitions, and examines the effectiveness of their use in the political speeches of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Presidents of Ukraine, and the President of the United States of America. It studies the rhetorical strategies that help the speakers to achieve the desired goal effectively, and add persuasiveness to the addresses. The article aims to reveal the similar tendencies in rhetorical speeches used by the political leaders. The research method, which includes two stages, has been presented. The first stage consisted of material collection. The second stage consisted of two sub-stages of the study and included the description, and the systematization of the obtained data. The significance of the research lies in the fact that the similar traits in political speeches in different countries have been defined. The further studying of the political speeches of the political elites can enable to deepen the knowledge about rhetorical strategies in the sociolinguistic aspect.

As parliamentary debates increasingly display rising levels of political conflict, the polarized and aggressive polemical exchanges in Prime Minister’s Questions are impacting the current agenda-setting and consequently public perceptions and assessments. To get a deeper understanding of the discourse strategies and argumentation practices used in the conflict-driven interaction between opposition MPs (particularly the Leader of the Opposition) and the Prime Minister, the present investigation has been carried out at macro- and micro-levels in an interdisciplinary perspective integrating Dascal’s (1998, 2008) typology of polemical exchanges and Ilie’s (2015a, 2018) pragma-rhetorical approach. At the macro-level, the aim is to account for the context-specific functions of three main types of polemical exchanges, i.e. discussions (focused on establishing the truth), disputes (focused on winning the argument) and controversies (focused on persuading the adversary/audience). At the micro-level, the aim is to examine the interplay and the extent to which the three polemical exchanges crisscross, overlap and/or complement each other through the use of three recurring metadiscourse strategies, i.e. definitions, quotations and parentheticals.

Sven Backlund (1887–1953) was a Swedish journalist who worked for the Social Democratic Party leader and Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting, and wrote for several left-wing newspapers. In the interwar...

This article examines the publicly discussed 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal and its impact on Malaysian domestic politics. Following this case, Najib Razak as prime minister of Malaysia was under pressure. This is because of the strong allegation of Najib Razak’s involvement in the 1MDB scandal. This issue became public discourse after the widely report made by New York-based media Wall Street Journal concerning Najib’s abuse on the corporate asset. The scandal not only shakes Najib’s political coalition but also indirectly has provoked public distrust against him including from his political Guru, Mahathir Muhammad. Dr Mahathir openly accuses Najib’s behaviour and declare to quit from his longest loyal party, UMNO. Later on, this scenario has created a new political landscape in Malaysia. Therefore, this article attempts to examine the new Malaysian political landscape specifically the relationship of BN and the opposition vis-à-vis Mahathir political alliance. Nevertheless, history has witnessed that in the last election, Pakatan Harapan won the most dramatical election ever since the independence of Malaysia and UMNO-BN has lost the power. Yet, the political scenario surrounding 1MDB scandal and the relationship between UMNO-BN vis-à-vis other parties became one of the stories that always trigger public discourse, even until today.

We explain the referendums on British membership of the European Communities and European Union from a principal–agent perspective between the Prime Minister and the rank-and-file. We show that announcing a referendum on the Prime Minister’s membership proposal helps the incumbent party to win the general election when the rank-and-file is divided on the terms of membership. When the Prime Minister overcomes the rank-and-file’s mistrust of her effectiveness in negotiating new membership terms with other member states, the voters are more likely to follow her proposal. However, when intra-party controversies reveal principal–agent problems, the initially uninformed voters can learn about the dysfunctionality of the terms and are more likely to reject the Prime Minister’s proposal.

In this article, we examine Chinese assessments of Western democratic systems in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research is based on an up-to-date case study of how Chinese Internet users discussed the UK Prime Minister – Boris Johnson’s infection with COVID-19 in late March and early April 2020. The research collected original data from the Chinese community question-answering (CQA) site – Zhihu. Using a mixed-method approach, consisting of content analysis (CA) and thematic analysis (TA), we show how Zhihu users evaluate the incident (1) as a way to express their sentiments towards Boris Johnson, (2) as a case to assess British politics and (3) as a vehicle for rationalizing their views on Western democratic systems in relation to China’s domestic politics. The research findings shed new light on a Chinese gaze at Western democratic systems in the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

The collapse of Malaysia’s multiethnic reformist government by a party coup in February 2020 – called the ‘Sheraton Move’ – can be assessed along at least three dimensions: first, a personality-cla...

The rule of law sets as an important principle entrenched in the Constitution of Malaysia and Indonesia. This principle stand as a guardian against abuse of power by the government as nobody shall be above the law. This paper examines the practices of the executive power relating to decision-making policy, execution of power and enforcement activities in Malaysia and Indonesia. It also analyses how the executive branch perfoms the powers in accordance to the rule of law. It mainly focuses on the institutional framework of the head of the government and head of state. The analysis allows for identifications of issues and proposals on the enhancement of the executive branch in both countries that would increase the quality of state administration as well as promoting the rule of law. The study adopts a normative method where the fundamental discussions are based on normative approach with content analysis approach on the constitutional and legal provisions, legal cases, circular and directive. The data acquired through doctrinal study is supported by semi-structured interviews with respondents that have been selected through purposive approach. This article concludes that the executive branch plays important roles in promoting the rule of law in both countries. The Constitution, in this case, provides constitutional limitation for the institutional branch of the executive to perform its powers. In the age of rule of law, the executive powers has to be limited. There is no power without limits. The laws has to provide a clear legal direction and reliable mechanism of checks and balances to govern the exercise of the executive powers.

This article argues that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has established a monarch-like celebrity status and exploited it to systematically dismantle the checks and balances of democratic pol...

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's 1984 privatization of British Telecom was a landmark moment for neoliberalism. It served to popularize and vindicate the sale of state utilities around the world. This article shows how computer models of the future were central for British telecommunications', and thus for Britain's, transition from social democracy to neoliberalism, from monopoly to market. The British telecommunications network was a key interest in both the social democratic and neoliberal British state's plans for the digitalization of Britain. I argue that computers were crucial to the rise of neoliberalism, both as a managerial tool that simulated futures of free markets and as a technology that symbolized and supported the contraction of the British state. This article traces the history of the British telecommunications system's Long Range Planning Department, which was at the heart of British Telecom's privatization. In doing so, it argues that the history of technology is in a unique position to study how tools such as computers both forecast and symbolize the political power of the future.

This article sets out to explain how the relatively unremarkable 2018 by-election result in which a sitting Labor candidate held her seat with a mediocre swing towards her resulted in the panicked removal of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull from office and his immediate resignation from the parliament. The combined Queensland state Coalition party, the Liberal National Party, convinced itself that it could win the marginal outer-metropolitan seat of Longman in Queensland but when its expectations were dashed, it became spooked and set in train a chain of events that ousted Turnbull and installed Scott Morrison as prime minister. Turnbull was widely seen by the Coalition party room as having run a lack-lustre campaign in the 2016 federal election, and not having performed well in the 2018 by-election campaigns. Perhaps unwisely, Turnbull made the Longman by-election a direct leadership contest between himself and opposition leader Bill Shorten. However, Labor’s tactics in the by-election ‘outmanned, outspent and out-campaigned’ the Coalition’s faltering campaign in the seat, causing the relatively unremarkable outcome in Longman to become a catalyst for a challenge to Turnbull’s leadership. When parliament reconvened, Peter Dutton became the ‘stalking horse’ who resulted in the rise of Scott Morrison to the top office.