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Strong foreign relations among nations are crucial for fostering global stability, economic growth, and cross-cultural understanding. A stable global system that resolves conflicts through dialogue rather than confrontation benefits from positive foreign relations. This paper examines Turkiye's changing foreign policy approach towards Sub-Saharan African regional blocs, with an emphasis on their political, cultural, and economic facets. Turkiye's strategic involvement with influential regional bodies such as the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), among others, reflects its broader objective to expand its influence and cultivate multifaceted partnerships across the African continent. The scope of this paper is limited to the AU and ECOWAS. Through a comprehensive analysis, the paper evaluates Turkiye's economic initiatives, including trade agreements and investment flows, as well as its contributions to infrastructure development. The findings established Turkiye's peacekeeping roles, cultural diplomacy, diplomatic efforts, and educational exchanges. Through the investigation of these diverse aspects, the conclusion outlines a comprehensive understanding of Turkiye's place in geopolitical dynamics and regional integration in Sub-Saharan Africa. Keywords: Foreign Policy, Foreign Relations, Turkiye, Sub-Saharan Africa, Regional Blocs, Introduction Following the end of the Cold War, a new concept emerged to deal with international and foreign affairs. This concept was dubbed the 'New World Order.' (1) However, the [...]

This study is the first to analyze the impact of domestic political unrest on Kuwait’s stock market. Our data indicates a daily market decline of 0.16 percent during periods when the parliament is suspended. This translates to a 7.1 percent loss in the value of the Kuwait Stock Exchange for each period of suspension. Our findings suggest that Kuwait, despite having a more democratic political system, experiences greater economic instability than Saudi Arabia. This research highlights the nuanced relationship between the political structure and economic performance, particularly in emerging markets, challenging the notion that more democracy invariably leads to better economic outcomes.

In 1873, the Serbian government proposed to abolish corporal punishment from the Criminal Code. (Since 1860, it existed in the form of beating of up to 50 strikes.) While the parliamentary committee supported this amendment, listing five arguments in favour of the abolishment, the opinions in the plenum were divided. Some MPs supported it, seeing corporal punishment as anachronistic, or underlining inequalities and abuse involved in its application. However, some thought that prison could not serve as a sufficient deterrent to potential offenders, and they feared that abolishing beating would lead to an increase in crime rates. The discussion was concluded by a long speech of Đorđe Cenić, Minister of Justice (and author of the amendment), after which the proposal was accepted with a prevailing majority. This article will analyse the MPs' attitudes towards this form of punishment, Cenić's influence both as a political figure and as an expert on criminal law, and the arguments given by both sides, while attempting to place the analysed case into a broader legal-political framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looking at the recent cases of security force defection in Belarus and Venezuela, this paper develops a theory of security force 'confidence' to supplement the existing literature on security force defection. Security forces' confidence (or lack thereof) in the regime, other security forces, the opposition, and their future prospects in a transition help to explain why security forces in both countries have stayed cohesive and loyal to the regime during crisis. Our research found little data to support some of the other arguments that are popularly used to explain these cases, namely external support, differences in protester tactics, and counterbalancing by the regime., In February 2019, hundreds of Venezuelan military officers deserted across the Colombian border on foot during the humanitarian convoy crisis, and over the following two months officers joined political opposition [...]

In this paper, I present the circumstances of the birth of the first more significant national socialist party represented in the Hungarian parliament too, and the life and work of its founder and leader, Zoltán Meskó (1883-1959). Although the almost-unknown National Socialist Party held meetings in Hungary as early as the spring of 1922, and fascist, national, national socialist micro-parties and small movements proliferated like mushrooms in the late 1920s and the early 1930s, Zoltán Meskó, MP was the first to “raise the flag” in the Hungarian parliament on 16 June 1932. This article outlines the life of this strange and unconventional politician, who had once seen better days, was a former military officer, a hero of the First World War, a member of parliament since 1917, and briefly held several posts as a state secretary. I pay special attention to his speeches in parliament in 1932, to the articles in the daily newspaper of the party, the “Nemzet Szava” (Word of Nation), and to the early period of this peculiar “pro-government” organisation loyal to Governor Miklós Horthy1, the National Socialist Hungarian Agricultural Labourers’ and Workers’ Party. From the end of 1933, Meskó was in a downward spiral, losing his seat in parliament in 1935, but was re-elected as a deputy in 1939. From this period onwards, however, Meskó was almost insignificant in Hungarian domestic politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the 1789 French Revolution, the concept of "participation of the people in the system of governance by voting" or "politicization of society" was introduced in the Ottoman Empire with the Constitutional Monarchy I in 1876 and the "Parliamentary System" started to be implemented. In this context, the first political parties became possible with the Constitutional Monarchy II in 1908. From 1908 onwards, political parties -as in Europe-continued their activities within the framework of the Law on Associations and were defined as "associations for political purposes". However, the environment created by World War I created an environment of economic, political and social chaos in Europe and facilitated the establishment of "parties with totalitarian tendencies" in the period between the two General Wars and even brought them to power. This situation accelerated the efforts to enact a separate Political Parties Law in order to prevent the establishment of such totalitarian parties, especially at the end of the war. In Turkey, this issue was taken more seriously after the coup d'état of May 27, 1960 and the provisions of the 1961 Constitution stipulated that certain laws, including the Law on Political Parties, should be enacted within two years. However, the draft law, which came to the agenda of the Parliament on October 3, 1963, was blocked by the opposition. This situation caused discomfort, anxiety and even anger in the ruling circles where May 27th was felt with all its weight. Upon the deadlock in the negotiations, on November 26, 1964, the Chief of the General Staff, Org. Cevdet Sunay sent a "warning letter" to the Speakers of the Parliament and Party Presidents. Following this intervention, the law was quickly adopted first by the National Assembly and then especially by the Republican Senate and published in the Official Gazette on July 16, 1965, and our first Political Parties Law entered into force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan, after its creation, has witnessed many hurdles in establishment of democracy. Although the opposition parties tried their level best to strengthen democracy but the hybrid democratic rule and direct military rule has hampered the process of democratization in the country. It is evident that the military rule in Pakistan is driven by political motives i.e., to seize political power and disrupt political development. Significantly, democracy faced a blow by the unconstitutional and undemocratic actions of the nonpolitical forces for political control. Despite all these challenges the opposition has had its crucial role in the restoration of the democracy. It’s their effort which has prevented the complete elimination and subversion of democracy in Pakistan. The democratic transition in Pakistan took place in 2008 election resulting in a peaceful transition of power to the elected representative. This situation paved the way for a better and more reliable democratic system in the country. It was for the first time that the opposition and government emerged on the same page. Consensus politics between the two major political parties feared the deep state, which in return disturbed their partnership by backing a third political party and religious groups and judiciary as non- political oppositions. The paper examines the role of opposition parties in the democratization process in the said particular period in a chronological way and highlighting the constructive and destructive approach of the two important entities inside and outside the parliament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The foreign policy of Romania throughout the first decades of the 20th century was neither unplanned nor spontaneous. It was pursued by the Kingdom’s leadership within the framework of the idea of establishing the “Greater Romania”. Generally, the policy of official Bucharest during the war period and the period of the formation of the Versailles system of international relations was concentrated on defending national interests and gaining the status of a regional leader in the Balkans. The purpose of the article is to analyse the political struggle around the “Bessarabia” issue at the Paris Peace Conference throughout December 1919 — March 1920. Indeed, exactly this time frame became decisive for the Romanian Kingdom in terms of the recognition by the international community of its sole priority to rule Bessarabia. Great amount of relevant information and materials enabled authors of the article to analyse a comparatively short-term period of proceedings of the Paris Conference as it clearly demonstrates the tense atmosphere of the process of creating a new geopolitical map of post-war Europe. As a whole, Alexandru Vaida-Voevod’s activities in solving the “Bessarabia” problem had positive outcomes for Romania. On March 12th, the National Assembly directed the decision on this issue to the government in Bucharest. Taking into account preliminary conclusions and “yearning” of Bessarabia population the Allies in general declared for the reunification of Bessarabia and Romania. At the same time, they demanded that official Bucharest guarantee legitimate interests of Bessarabia on the same conditions as for other parts of the Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In the late 1980s, as a result of the Velvet Revolutions, the political systems of most Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries underwent significant changes. This process also affected the Hungarian Republic, where the change in the social system was more intense and successful than in many other CEE countries. Hungary, thanks to these processes, distinguished itself as a leader among the CEE countries in achieving significant accomplishments in political and economic transformation. The political system of society underwent significant changes. The one-party regime was replaced with a pluralistic political system based on the Constitution, amended in 1989. A parliamentary-presidential system of governance was introduced, granting the government broad powers and obligating it to ensure conditions for the country's economic and democratic development. A reform of the judicial system was also carried out, and a Constitutional Court was established. From 1990 to 2010, there was significant liberalization of society, but the achievements of these years were controversial and ambiguous. The commercialization of all spheres of life significantly changed the general cultural context, led to new tensions in relations between different social groups and generations, and to some extent exacerbated the problem of interethnic relations. Everything changed in 2010 when the FIDESZ-KDNP coalition came to power in the parliamentary elections, gaining a constitutional majority of votes. This right-conservative coalition successfully implemented conservative ideology, skillfully manipulated public consciousness, carried out effective economic reforms, strengthened state administration, and reformed the public sector, directing it towards centralization and the restoration of conservative traditions in the Hungarian state. This was also accompanied by a rollback of democratic governance principles and an intensification of authoritarian tendencies. As a result of these actions, the right-conservative coalition managed to win the parliamentary elections in 2014, 2018, and 2022. This led to the multiparty system, created as a counterbalance to the one-party totalitarian regime, becoming bipolar with the dominant role of the FIDESZ-KDNP coalition. Thus, the country with established democratic traditions transformed into a state with an authoritarian government headed by Prime Minister V. Orban, who many in the EU call a dictator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The delivery of public services in South Africa is dependent on good governance and decisive leadership. Furthermore, the success of government programmes depends on the size of the budget that has been allocated to a given government department or entity. When the Minister of Finance delivers the budget speech in the National Assembly, there is a clear indication on how much is going to be allocated to each government department over the next financial year. It is up to the government departments to ensure that the allocated budget is used as efficiently and effectively as possible. Each government department is guided by the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA), 1999. The PFMA seeks to regulate financial management in the national government and provincial governments; to ensure that all revenue, expenditure, assets and liabilities of those governments are managed efficiently and effectively; to provide for the responsibilities of persons entrusted with financial management in those governments; and to provide for matters connected therewith. Given the objectives of the PFMA, accounting officers are tasked with the responsibility of enforcing the PFMA in all procurement processes. According to Section 36 of the PFMA, an accounting officer is the head of a department. These accounting officers play an important role in ensuring that services are delivered, while they must ensure that public funds are spent responsibly and in accordance with the relevant government policies and the PFMA. This paper analyses the role that accounting officers need to play in ensuring responsible public financial management, especially because of the limited resources available to our government. By employing a qualitative study, this paper looks at instances where accounting officers did not act in accordance with the PFMA and the implications of this failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]