ORCID Profile
0000-0002-2171-9319
Current Organisation
Deakin University
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Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 12-07-2018
DOI: 10.1093/PA/GSY027
Abstract: Constitutional conventions are fundamental to the operation of Westminster democracies. However, despite their political significance, there have been few attempts to analyse and theorise their internal dynamics. This article aims to address this gap by identifying the triggers of constitutional ‘softening’, when the opportunity for convention change emerges and examining how such moments interact with the particular properties of a convention to determine its change trajectory. We argue that the change trajectories of constitutional conventions are not entirely unpredictable but can be traced to particular kinds of change events and the particular set of features inherent to that convention.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-2015
DOI: 10.1111/POLP.12124
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 26-05-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-04-2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2016
DOI: 10.1111/POLP.12188
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 25-09-2017
Abstract: The term ‘party system’, explained Giovanni Sartori, refers to the pattern of interactions among relevant parties. That pattern can be represented as a type and treated as a proper unit of analysis. When ‘party system’ is defined in this way, it becomes clear that the scholarship lacks a direct measure of ‘party system change’. The Sartori approach to party system change is not the only legitimate way to understand this concept, but it does target an undoubtedly important feature of political systems – namely the stability of interactions among relevant parties. This article develops a new indicator, the index of fluidity, which measures the extent of such stability. Applying the index to Africa, we show that there is significant cross-national variation in fluidity and weak correlation between fluidity and (Pedersen) volatility.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 23-05-2019
Abstract: The 2016 US presidential election, which brought Donald J. Trump to power, raised concerns that his ascendency could undermine US democracy promotion and enable illiberal regimes to resist calls for reform. This article seeks to hold this argument up to empirical scrutiny via a framing analysis of coverage of the US election in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). To some extent, the analysis supports the claim: throughout the election, the KSA media offered several substantive criticisms of democracy. However, Trump’s c aign also served as a catalyst for a discussion about the merits of democracy, revealing some admiration for its key principles, and an acknowledgement of the challenges it faces in the 21st century.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-2022
DOI: 10.1093/ICON/MOAC030
Abstract: Over time, a constitution may become suboptimal for the political system that it is meant to support and yet remain in place, largely unchanged. Thus, we might ask how a constitution might be designed to remain ideal for a democracy as it evolves, and indeed whether this is even possible. This practical dilemma has not been rigorously analyzed in the literature on constitutional design, however, because this research agenda has tended to downplay the potential for democracies to transform over time. To remedy this gap, this article sketches an explicitly temporal approach to design, which takes account of a wide range of political system dynamics. The framework contributes insights into the various ways that constitutional structures can be designed to operate over time the alignment between these setups and different political system dynamics and the means by which a constitutional design process might be reconfigured to give more weight to the prospect of fundamental political change.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-2018
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyze Africa’s progress along the developmental path in the past few decades, to understand what factors were responsible for such success and to identify the risk factors that may compromise further development in the region in the years to come. We advance three basic claims: that Africa has experienced an almost unprecedented (by its standards) level of economic success in the first 15 years of the new millennium, that this success was made possible by a combination of domestic and supranational conditions, and that some of the enabling conditions that supported Africa’s growth and development in the new millennium may be disappearing. The study also suggests that while African countries may not be able to influence the global conditions on which their economic success depends, they do have the ability to influence the domestic conditions. This is why, we suggest, in addition to ensuring longer and healthier lives for their citizens, African countries should consolidate democracy and promote good governance.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 27-05-2015
DOI: 10.3390/EN8064899
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 10-08-2022
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-05-2018
DOI: 10.1111/POLP.12255
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-01-2022
DOI: 10.1111/GOVE.12671
Abstract: The transformation of governance in Westminster democracies is well documented. However, one aspect of their change that has not received much attention is the creation and publication of cabinet rulebooks. The few studies of cabinet rulebooks have focused on their potential constitutional implications, leaving unclear how their emergence fits within the broader development of Westminster governance. We address this gap in the literature by examining cabinet rulebooks in five Westminster democracies: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. We analyze their features and emergence, and then set out a framework to analyze their potential effects on cabinet dynamics. We find that the appearance of cabinet rulebooks can be tied to several forces of change in Westminster systems, but most especially the growth of government. Furthermore, we find that these rulebooks project an account of prime ministerial power that is favorable to the prime minister.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 17-04-2019
Abstract: The relationship between Chinese soft power and Chinese media has been a focus of a growing body of literature. Challenging a resource-based conception of soft power and a transmission view of communication that inform much of the debate, this article adopts a discursive approach to soft power and media communication. It argues that their relationship is not just a matter of resource transmission, but one of discursive construction, which begs the questions of what mediated discursive practices are at play in soft power construction and how. Addressing these oft-neglected questions, we identify a typology of three soft-power discursive practices: charm offensive, Othering offensive, and defensive denial. Focusing on the little-understood practice of Othering offensive, we illustrate its presence in Chinese media through a critical discourse analysis of China Daily’s framing of Donald Trump and the United States, and argue that the Othering offensive in Chinese media that portrays Trump’s America as a dysfunctional and declining Other serves to construct a Chinese self as more responsible, dynamic, and attractive. Adding a missing discursive dimension to the study of soft power and the media, this study has both scholarly and practical implications for analysing a nation’s soft power strategy.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 19-08-2023
DOI: 10.1177/14789299231193570
Abstract: The attention to and concerns about conspiracy theories have increased in recent years, fuelled by a surge in conspiratorial discourse during the Donald Trump presidency in the United States. Responding to this development, the scholarship on how democracies should deal with conspiracy theories has focused on what new regulations and institutions ought to be introduced to tackle its threats to democracy. In this article, I consider this practical question from a different angle by exploring the discursive strategies that are available to political elites when they encounter a conspiracy theory. I flesh out three general strategies – ignore, rebut and embrace – and identify the circumstances that shape when each strategy should be used in order to maximize the effects of discourse as an anti-conspiracy mechanism. This perspective thereby aims to reveal the elements of skill and nuance that are required of a politician who seeks to engage a conspiracy theory in a way that advances democratic values.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 09-09-2023
DOI: 10.1093/PA/GSAD017
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2022
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 10-10-2013
Abstract: Despite the success of his party systems theory, Giovanni Sartori's predominant party system is a type that is consistently avoided by party systems scholars, yet the reasons for this have been unclear. This article exposes the flaws in Sartori's predominant party system, but we also argue that it remains a useful concept and, consequently, that the literature's rejection of predominance and retreat to the cruder dominance notion is unnecessary. Instead, we amend predominance to ensure its coherence within Sartori's typology and consistency with his party systems theory. We show that our amendments improve the value of predominance as a category for empirical analysis of the effects of party systems.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 23-10-2012
Abstract: This article presents a unified theory explaining several conflicting empirical observations in the politics of c aign finance. It identifies those circumstances that foster or frustrate the enactment of financing laws that increase the competitiveness of elections. I argue that the competitiveness of financing laws is a result of three strong incentives when they operate in differently structured party systems. First, lawmakers have an incentive to make laws to protect their incumbency from competitors. This incentive generally overwhelms the (weaker) incentive to enact popular, competition-enhancing reforms. Secondly, lawmakers, when they act through political parties, have an incentive to cooperate with rivals to reduce the costs of political defeats. Thirdly, lawmakers seek to enact reforms that are consistent with their normative goals. These incentives combine with several party system variables to determine when c aign finance reform is likely to occur and how it will impact on the competitiveness of elections.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-06-2023
DOI: 10.1177/10659129221107567
Abstract: Historical accounts of American presidential nominating contests suggest that candidates jockey over ideology and policy in ways that shape the outcomes of these races. Yet this aspect of competition has been difficult to analyze with the formal and statistical methods that dominate this research agenda. To address this gap, this article presents a computational agent-based model (ABM) of candidates’ ideological maneuvering during the invisible primary. We extend the framework developed by Michael Laver to study dynamic party competition in Europe, but recast it for the different context and to enable model fit to be more rigorously determined. Our analysis of data from the 2012 Republican invisible primary suggests the importance of ideological jockeying in this contest. Moreover, its dynamics can be well-explained by a basic version of the ABM in which candidates select between three strategies (aggregator, hunter or sticker) and then maintain that strategy over time. The fit of this model, particularly in the short run, can be improved by introducing a “momentum effect” that allows the candidates’ standing in the race to rise or fall without any accompanying ideological change.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-09-2014
Abstract: Women, Peace and Security (WPS) scholars and practitioners have expressed reservations about the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle because of its popular use as a synonym for armed humanitarian intervention. On the other hand, R2P’s early failure to engage with and advance WPS efforts such as United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 1325 (2000) has seen the perpetuation of limited roles ascribed to women in implementing the R2P principle. As a result, there has been a knowledge and practice gap between the R2P and WPS agendas, despite the fact that their advocates share common goals in relation to the prevention of atrocities and protection of populations. In this article we propose to examine just one of the potential avenues for aligning the WPS agenda and R2P principle in a way that is beneficial to both and strengthens the pursuit of a shared goal – prevention. We argue that the development and inclusion of gender-specific indicators – particularly economic, social and political discriminatory practices against women – has the potential to improve the capacity of early warning frameworks to forecast future mass atrocities.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 12-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-02-2019
DOI: 10.1111/AJPH.12534
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 27-07-2016
Abstract: The first debate in 2008 was a turning point in the presidential election c aign: a race that was close before the debate turned decisively in Obama’s favor following it. This article explores how the media reached their verdict that “Obama won.” We examine two aspects of this problem: how, in practice, the media reached this verdict and whether they made the right decision from a normative standpoint. Based on content analysis of debate transcripts, we argue that the media interpreted the debate by synthesizing three pre-debate narratives in roughly equal proportions. Crucially, two of these narratives favored Obama. We also find that the “Obama won” verdict was consistent with what we might expect had the debate been judged by a public-spirited umpire.
No related grants have been discovered for Zim Nwokora.