University of Hradec Králové Journals
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Political Interference in Election Administration and Electoral Irregularities in Nigeria
Full text linkThe extant literature is replete with fine-grained explanations of problems of electoral irregularities in Nigeria. However, how political interference in election administration contributes to these problems has largely remained unacknowledged. The Nigerian Constitution establishes the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a relatively autonomous electoral body and, also, empowers the president to appoint its principal officers subject to Senate confirmation. These provisions that allow interested parties to determine INEC membership composition delink INEC’s institutional design from its operational independence and, therefore, incapacitate it from asserting its independence in order to guarantee credible elections in Nigeria. The present study relies on a triangulation of qualitative research techniques such as documentary sources, key informant interviews, and personal observations. Premised on descriptive statistics and content analyses, this study reveals that political interference in INEC membership composition and financing considerably accounts for recurring lethal electoral irregularities; shows that whoever controls the human and financial elements of INEC is in firm control of its operations for favourable electoral outcomes; and suggests the need for voter-determined reforms for a workable electoral system in the context and content of Nigeria
Discourse of Resistance through Digital Activism: A Rhetorical Criticism of Nigerian Politics
Full text linkAmid widespread disillusionment marked by governance failure, insecurity, and economic hardship, many ordinary Nigerians turned to social media as a space for political resistance. The present article explores the ways in which citizens engaged digital platforms, particularly X (formerly Twitter), to contest power and reframe the national political discourse during the 2023 presidential elections. Drawing on purposively selected posts, messages, and texts, the study interrogates how Nigerians deployed language as a tool of resistance against dominant political narratives. Anchored in Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the article identifies four key strategies employed in this digital resistance: (1) emotive appeals and affective language, (2) strategic discursive maneuvering, (3) rejection of the (ab)normal, and (4) propaganda and counter-narratives. In mapping these discursive acts, the article foregrounds the agency of citizens in shaping political meanings
Sailing to European entrepôts: Romanian farming and the Antwerp international grain market (1881–1914)
Full text linkPlavba do evropských entrepôtů: Rumunské zemědělství a mezinárodní trh s obilím v Antverpách (1881–1914)Článek zkoumá expanzi obchodu s obilím na konci 19. a na počátku 20. století optikou přínosu východní Evropy, konkrétně Rumunska. Jedná se o vítané doplnění, neboť dosavadní studie obvykle zdůrazňují roli severoamerického obilí, přitom význam východní Evropy byl rovněž impozantní. Na konci 19. století bylo vytvořeno spojení mezi přístavy na dolním Dunaji a entrepôtem v Antverpách, které bylo nezbytné jak pro oba konce sítě, tak pro širší obchodní prostředí. Autor v tomto původním příspěvku kombinuje diplomatické prameny z belgických i rumunských archivů.The paper contributes to the research on the expansion of the grain trade in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, by looking at the contribution of Eastern Europe, more specifically, Romania. This would be a welcome addition, since existing studies often emphasise the contribution of Northern American grain, while that of Eastern Europe was also impressive. At the end of the nineteenth century, a connection was created between the ports of the Lower Danube and the entrepôt in Antwerp, a connection that was indispensable for the two ends of the network but also for the business environment. The paper has an original approach, since the author does not (only) use published quantitative sources but combines diplomatic archival material from both Belgium and Romania
Jana LOSOVÁ – Vojtěch KESSLER – Veronika KRŠKOVÁ, Babičky očima vnoučat, Praha 2023
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Britain and the Association Internationale du Congo, January 1884 - February 1885
Full text linkIn 1884, Britain was concerned with negotiations surrounding three agreements that were closely related to the Berlin West Africa Conference, which began in November 1884 and ended in February 1885; the Anglo-Portuguese treaty signed on 26 February 1884, which sparked the diplomatic crisis that resulted in the conference; a pre-emption agreement, signed between the Association Internationale du Congo and France on 23 April 1884; and the recognition of the Association as a sovereign power by Britain after the conference had begun on 16 December 1884. During the period under examination, there was an emphasis on territorial negotiations regarding the lower Congo River between Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, and the Association Internationale du Congo. The present article focuses on the background to these agreements thereby providing an important contextual framework for what was discussed at the Berlin Conference
Comandante Pedro Pires. Memórias da luta anticolonial em Guiné-Bisssau e da construção da República de Cabo Verde. [Commander Pedro Pires. Memories of the Anti-Colonial Struggle in Guinea-Bissau and of the Construction of the Republic of Cape Verde]. Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV/ Praia: Instituto Pedro Pires, 2022, 218 pp.
No full textThe Post-2018 Ethio-Somaliland Relations and Factors Behind its Dynamics
Full text linkThis article examines post-2018 Ethio-Somaliland relations and some major factors shaping them. The study utilised a qualitative approach, involving key informant interviews, archival materials, and published documents. The findings indicate that the post-2018 Ethiopian government’s policy of re-unifying Somalia and of non-intervention in Somalia’s domestic affairs harmed Ethiopia’s previously friendly relations with Somaliland. Furthermore, tensions were increased by tripartite agreements between Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia; Ethiopia’s re-unifying attempts; and Ethiopia’s hosting of an anti-Somaliland clan meeting. However, a gradual modest shift in Ethiopian foreign policy towards the region and Somalia due to regional factors, as well as the focus placed on Ethiopian access to the sea, altered the trend. The shift reflects that external regional and global factors, next to domestic factors, influenced Ethiopia’s foreign policy, and the dynamics of Ethio-Somaliland relations
Modest Progress Within the Limits of the Law: The "Experiment" with Preferential Voting in Municipal Elections in 1938 on the Example of Moravia and Silesia
Full text linkPrvní československá republika proslula coby „stát stran“. Jedním z aspektů, který k tomu výrazně přispěl, byla i absolutní nemožnost voličů ovlivnit pořadí kandidátů na kandidátních listinách. Jedinou odchylkou od tohoto pravidla byly od roku 1933 obecní volby, v nichž volič mohl udělit jeden přednostní hlas. Předkládaný text z různých aspektů přibližuje, nakolik této novinky v prvorepublikovém volebním zákonodárství využili voliči v obecních volbách v roce 1938 na Moravě a ve Slezsku a jaké dopady měla na složení jednotlivých obecních zastupitelstev.Modest Progress Within the Limits of the Law: The "Experiment" with Preferential Voting in Municipal Elections in 1938 on the Example of Moravia and SilesiaThe First Czechoslovak Republic was famous as a „state of parties“. One of the aspects that contributed significantly to this was the absolute impossibility for voters to influence the order of candidates on the lists. The only exception to this rule was municipal elections from 1933 onwards, in which voters could cast one preferential vote. These study presents various aspects of the extent to which this novelty in the First Republic’s electoral legislation was used by voters in the 1938 municipal elections in Moravia and Silesia and what effects it had on the composition of individual municipal councils
