Right-Wing-Authoritarianism

National and European policies aim to facilitate the integration of Roma people into mainstream society. Yet, Europe’s largest ethnic group continues to be severely discriminated. Although prejudice has been identified to be at the core of this failure, social psychological research on anti-Gypsyism remains scarce. We conducted a study in six countries using student and community samples ( N = 2,089; Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Norway, Italy, Spain) to understand how anti-Gypsyism among majority-group members predicts unfavorable acculturation preferences toward Roma people. Openly negative stereotypes predicted acculturation preferences strongly across the countries. However, stereotypes about the Roma receiving undeserved benefits were also relevant to some degree in East-Central Europe, implying that intergroup relations are framed there as realistic conflict. Stereotypes about traditional Roma culture did not play a central role in acculturation preferences. Our findings highlig...

Was nützt eine jede Gedankenfreiheit, wenn es keine Gedanken gibt? Alle Bürgerlichen Rechte und Freiheiten also haben doch nur dann einen Sinn, wenn sie auch politisch realisiert, sind: Religionsfreiheit bedeutet: freie Klärung der Ursprungsfrage/Gottesfrage. Meinungs/Gedankenfreiheit: sich seines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen ohne Anleitung eines anderen: also keine Bevormundung durch einen König, Fürsten oder such sonst eine andere Form der Obrigkeit. Auch eine Partei, die immer recht hat, ist Teil und Ausdruck der fürstenherrlichen Obrigkeit. Recht auf freie Bildung und Arbeit: hier liegen überhaupt keine politischen Realisierungshorizonte im Wesen vor: ein jeder Arbeitsvertrag ist heute prekär: auch die Tarifverträge: welche Perspektiven haben die Jugendlichen heute? Kurzum: Diese elementaren "Bürgerlichen Rechte und Freiheiten", diese höchsten Produkte der Europäischen Aufklärung und Philosophie gelten im Westen immer nur reinformal: wenn es um den Inhalt geht, oder um politische Realität liegt außer viel Papier kaum etwas Materielles vor. Die Kluft zwischen Idealismus und Materialismus ist immens. Und genau das ist die innere Struktur und Verfassung aller westlichen Demokratien: Im Kapitalismus kann es mehr nicht geben als Rechte auf dem Papier: denn das Kapital ist eine eigene Macht, die sich um Rechte nicht kümmert: der Kampf um die politische Wirklichkeit dieser Rechte ist immens: und genau aber um diesen Kampf geht es: dieser Kampf ist heute elementar. Weltweit. • Der Westen ist nicht das Maß aller Dinge.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s election propaganda is surveyed with a focus on the election speeches given by Narendra Modi. The empirical finding is that campaign speeches given by the Prime Minister routinely included multiple references to the past. Given that elections are often understood in transactional or material ways, references to abstract historical topics require interpretation. The attention paid to history is consistent with other initiatives to reshape symbolic and ceremonial politics in India since 2014.

"To ignore photojournalism is to ignore history."-Howard Chapnick Photographs articulate history. In the last few decades, photographs have become a numero uno means of conveying news. Capturing moments, photographs become visual testimonies of the bygone events, that can be re-looked and re-engaged with from time to time. Photographs are physical entities that furnish proofs of the past events. This paper studies two important photographs from Raghu Rai's book 'A Tale of Two: An Outgoing and An Incoming Prime Minister', published in 2014. The book contains a collection of Rai's works covering the 16th Lok Sabha elections. By using the theories of visual culture, the paper analyses the two photographs for a nuanced understanding of their technical, sociocultural and emotional aspects. Furthermore, these photographs, as visual documents of the elections, are studied for the effect they create by using the insights provided by affect theories. The paper highlights the importance of studying photographs to gain a nuanced understanding and profound perspective into historical events.

This article attempts to understand how the idea of India has evolved from ancient times till the present. The founding fathers of the nation-Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar had different visions and action plans for India, after obtaining independence. The death of the father of the nation immediately after independence, the part-failure of combining democracy with planned economy, the politics of caste and religion and apathy of a significant section of educated people who perceive themselves as middle class are among the factors, which made it easier for the traditionally ruling elite to come to the foreground of Indian politics riding on majoritarianism, culminating in the current government led by a Hindu nationalist party, which has already started showing totalitarian tendencies. In a bid to hold onto power for its second term, the ruling party's leader Narendra Modi, is resorting to divisive politics using a language familiar to him, which has reaped rich dividends for him, the language of hatred.

Modi has many ploys up his sleeves when it comes to propaganda. On one hand he is turning many a pronouncements of Congress in the communal direction, on the other he is claiming that whatever has been achieved during last ten years of his rule is phenomenal, but it is still a 'trailer' and the bigger things are in the offing as he claims to be coming to power yet again in 2024. While his admirers are ga ga about his achievements, the truth lies somewhere else.

Social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) are ideological attitudes that predict lower concern for the environment and less willingness to act on climate change. Research generally shows that SDO and RWA exhibit moderate, negative relationships with environmentalism. We examine the longitudinal influence of SDO and RWA on people's willingness to change their behaviour to benefit the environment in a national probability sample over five years. We show that both ideological attitudes relate to lower environmentalism across time and that the SDO effect was stronger than the RWA effect, yet the association from environmentalism to later endorsement of SDO is stronger than the reverse. Interestingly, these findings suggest that the more likely temporal association flows from environmentalism to SDO.

Scholars studying the electoral breakthroughs of right-wing illiberalism arrived at two general conclusions: while they largely rejected the hypothesis that said phenomenon is grounded in voters' attitudinal shift, they showed that those voting for the illiberal Right have distinguishing socioeconomic and attitudinal characteristics. My analysis reconciles these two sets of supporters, e.g., are more supportive of limiting democratic procedures when the Right is in power. PiS also politicized in the first decade of the 21st century the lack of political consensus on the expansion of the welfare state. PiS incorporated this demand in its stance legitimizing the expansion of the welfare state through what was available in its ideological repertoire: national solidarity, national victimhood and the idea of a sovereign nation-state joined under the umbrella of Catholic symbolism. This post-consensus polarization and asymmetrical political radicalization resembles the "illiberal moment" in the Western Europe that followed the convergence between center-left and center-right parties but lacks a crystallized class-based political identity and social-democratic understanding of political economy to build on.

Pakistan is no stranger to an authoritarian legalist approach in its lawmaking and practice. The approach is characteristically a protracted legacy of law and legality of British imperial formation in South Asia. The influence of the imperial legacy chronically shapes the ideating milieu, political order, and legal framework that underpins the state structures, forms, and ideas permeating into the expression and exercise of power, authority, and liberty in the post-colony. It decisively shaped and structured Pakistan’s approach toward information and society in favor of protecting and preserving public order at the expense of individual liberty. The study intended to examine the influence of the authoritarian legalist approach in the drafting and application of three digital laws in Pakistan: the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (2016), the Personal Data Protection Bill (2023), and the E-Safety Bill (2023). In particular, it seeks two research objectives. First, how the authoritarian legacy in law and legality shapes Pakistan’s digital legal regime, and second, how that authoritarian legalist approach in digital lawmaking erodes constitutional rights and protections. It applied a content analysis methodological approach in seeking to answer the following research questions: How do these laws enable and strengthen executive aggrandizement in Pakistan’s approach to information management and control? How do these laws contravene the fundamental rights enshrined in the national constitution? And what role do these laws play in the fortification of authoritarian legalism in Pakistan? The study found that the persistent influence of colonial continuity in the post-colonial context of political order and legal framework has empowered the Pakistani state to adopt an authoritarian legalist approach toward lawmaking, especially concerning citizens’ constitutional rights and protections. Adhering to an executive model of exercising power and authority in law and legality, the state has ensured with this legalist approach to continually reinforce the executive-minded model and consolidate the centralizing tendencies in state structures and institutions at the price of individual rights and constitutional protections. The processes, structures, and policies underpinning Pakistan’s mechanisms toward information management and social control decidedly shift the political order toward the centralization of power and authority.

Keywords: Authoritarian Legalism, Power, Constitutionalism, Digital Legal Regime, Pakistan

The aim of this study was to examine the role of socio-political attitudes (rightwing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation) of observers and social group memberships of law-violators in criminal justice judgments. The thesis is composed of two studies. In the first study, the Penal Attitudes Scale was adapted to Turkish with a translation/back translation method. Participants (N=389) voluntarily participated in this study and completed the Penal Attitudes Scale, Moral Foundations Questionnaire, and Perceptions Toward Criminals Scale, respectively. The results showed that the validity and reliability of the six-factor structure (just deserts, deterrence, incapacitation, moral balance, rehabilitation, and moral balance) of the scale were confirmed in the Turkish sample. In the second study, participants (N=408) were presented with a vignette depicting a crime scenario in which the offender's social categorization was manipulated based on ethnic identity, and then punitive judgments and attitudes were assessed. Although there was no main effect of social categorization of offender, except restorative justice attitudes, there was an interaction between authoritarianism and social categorization on restorative justice and moral balance attitudes. It was shown that when crime was committed by an out-group member or a person whose ethnicity was unidentified, authoritarianism positively predicted moral balance attitudes. Moreover, restorative justice scores were predicted positively by authoritarianism in the out-group condition, while they were predicted negatively in the in-group condition. In addition, social dominance orientation negatively predicted vi perceived intent in the ingroup condition when demographics were controlled. The findings were discussed in the theoretical framework of the black-sheep effect, outgroup leniency, and in-group favouritism.

Whether being discussed in the media, by intellectuals, or among political elites, illiberal narratives enjoy a significant presence and impact in Russia and Latin America alike. As a result of the conflict between Russia and the West over the invasion of Ukraine, the role of Russian media as a source of disinformation for the Latin American population has drawn attention. The presence of these mass media allows the Kremlin to question the democratic model in place in most of Latin America and defend the official positions of the Russian government while aligning itself with illiberal forces on the regional political spectrum—especially on the radical left.

We are very glad to present this special edition of Educazione Aperta resulting from the Ninth Annual Conference of the International Conference on Critical Education (ICCE) held in Naples in July 2019. The struggle on behalf of the oppressed is an ongoing global struggle- with particular local characteristics and manifestations. The global and local context of struggle are the eruption of cruel, xenophobic, right-wing authoritarian populism and populist leaders- such as Boris Johnson in UK, Bolsonaro in Brazil, Salvini in Italy, Trump in the USA, Erdogan in Turkey, Orbán in Hungary - and many others through Europe, Latin America and Asia.

This book is being published on the first anniversary of the Gezi protest
in Istanbul. The Gezi Resistance has been one of the notable turning
points in the history of twenty-first century class struggles, alongside
mass protests globally which have taken various forms such as Occupy,
dead-in, work-in, sit-in etc. It is, co-incidentally, also published in the
wake of the May 2014 Soma mine disaster, where more than 300 coal
miners died in the worst industrial disaster in Turkish history, a result of
privatisation, neoliberalisation, lack of adequate safety measures in the
mine, and a callous disregard for human life. A callousness expressed in
the prime minister Erdogan’s dismissal of the tragedy as `just another
cal mining accident’. The Turlish state response to the protests by
relatives and friends of the dead miners- at Soma and elsewhere- tear
gas, water cannon, arrests, brutality- echoed the response to Gezi.
When capitalism meets protest, then the response, at Soma, at Gezi and
worldwide, is a ratcheting up, an intensification, of repression

The hegemonic rise of Hindu nationalism and Hindu populism in India has trapped Indian Muslim minorities. The secular Indian state appears to be developing into a Hindu authoritarian state, and one where violence against Muslims is normalised, argues Amit Singh

I was asked to elaborate some thoughts on the topic of “The future of liberal democracies: The rise of populism”. The title of the topic suggests that populism is and will continue to be on rise. It also implies that the future of liberal democracy is intertwined with the populist phenomenon. Although I am uncertain about the growing prospects of populism, my prediction is that it will indeed stay with us for some more time, and I agree that it will impact liberal democracy, for better or worse. Therefore, I focus on the second implication of the topic title. I share those wide-spread concerns which consider populism a potential threat to liberal democracy and I will point to a specific consequence of populist politics which is the polarization of the polity and the erosion of democratic norms. However, I also argue that populism is more than simply a threat to liberal democracy: it is also a warning sign of some deep, structural problems of today’s socio-political systems and, as s...

Challenging the status quo of polity is the basic and foremost characteristic of radical reforms and if this is done in a charismatic way, there are obviously elements of rhetoric in it. The Indian State in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken several decisions which depict some kind of charisma; the first major example was demonetization, the second was surgical strike on Pakistan and third the bill for stopping Teen Talaaq. These decisions provided force for a radical reform. These idealized forces of change attributed the leadership as visionary and charismatic. The elements of rhetoric in these decisions were emphasizing collective identity of citizens through demonetization, emphasizing sense of security and pride through surgical strike on Pakistan and emphasizing on self esteem of the followers by introducing bill to criminalize Triple Talaq. The aim of this study is to identify the consensus creating elements of rhetoric in the messages of radical reforms...

Challenging the status quo of polity is the basic and foremost characteristic of radical reforms and if this is done in a charismatic way, there are obviously elements of rhetoric in it. The Indian State in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken several decisions which depict some kind of charisma; the first major example was demonetization, the second was surgical strike on Pakistan and third the bill for stopping Teen Talaaq. These decisions provided force for a radical reform. These idealized forces of change attributed the leadership as visionary and charismatic. The elements of rhetoric in these decisions were emphasizing collective identity of citizens through demonetization, emphasizing sense of security and pride through surgical strike on Pakistan and emphasizing on self esteem of the followers by introducing bill to criminalize Triple Talaq. The aim of this study is to identify the consensus creating elements of rhetoric in the messages of radical reforms...

Public attitudes towards lawbreakers shape the tone and tenor of crimecontrol policy, and the desire for retribution seems to be the main motivation underpinning punitive attitudes towards sentencing. Yet, there is some confusion in the research literature over what retribution really means. In this paper we distinguish between retribution as revenge (as the desire to punish criminal offenders to retaliate a past wrong by making the offender suffer) and retribution as just deserts (as the preference to restore justice through proportional compensation from the offender). Results from an online survey (n = 176) provide evidence of two distinct dimensions of retribution. But we also show that these two dimensions have different ideological and motivational antecedents, and have different consequences in terms of the treatment of criminal offender. We find that retribution as revenge is associated with the motivation to enforce status boundaries with criminal offenders, as well as ideological preferences for power and dominance (as expressed by social dominance orientation) and in-group conformity (as expressed by right-wing authoritarianism). Endorsement of retribution as revenge also predicts the support of harsh punishment and the willingness to deny fair procedures. By contrast, retribution as just deserts is mainly predicted by a value restoration motive and by rightwing authoritarianism. After controlling for revenge, retribution as just deserts predicts support for procedural justice in the criminal courts. We conclude with the idea that beliefs about proportionality and compensation work as a buffer against the negative effects of revenge.

Challenging the status quo of polity is the basic and foremost characteristic of radical reforms and if this is done in a charismatic way, there are obviously elements of rhetoric in it. The Indian State in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken several decisions which depict some kind of charisma; the first major example was demonetization, the second was surgical strike on Pakistan and third the bill for stopping Teen Talaaq. These decisions provided force for a radical reform. These idealized forces of change attributed the leadership as visionary and charismatic. The elements of rhetoric in these decisions were emphasizing collective identity of citizens through demonetization, emphasizing sense of security and pride through surgical strike on Pakistan and emphasizing on self esteem of the followers by introducing bill to criminalize Triple Talaq. The aim of this study is to identify the consensus creating elements of rhetoric in the messages of radical reforms...

This scholarly article indicates threats to the stability of political systems of consolidated democracies resulting from disinformation. The article presents threats resulting from the effects of disinformation in four areas: state, society, politics and law. The authors demonstrate the exposure of society to manipulative effects of fake news, which affects  human emotions, reasoning and behaviour due to the use of created images of reality. It has been pointed out that fake news as a targeted manipulation tool, while aiming to achieve its goals, exploits the imperfections of the human mind. For this reason, the individual and thus the society need support to protect themselves from the manipulative threat coming from this phenomenon. Protection from fake news must be provided with the respect of freedom of expression, the values of society, the individuals’ liberties as well as legal rights. Disinformation is not a new phenomenon in itself, but the development of the Internet and ...

This study using a prison sample to explore Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), socially dominant inmate behaviour, index offence, age and length of time served in secure environments. A sample of 397 adult male prisoners completed the Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist-Scaled (prisoner behaviour towards other inmates and staff) and the Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) Scale. It was predicted that prisoners would report higher SDO than non-incarcerated populations and that among inmates those with approach orientated index offences would be higher in SDO than those whose offenses were more remote. It was also predicted that SDO would be related to younger age, higher lifetime rates of incarceration, more negative behaviour towards other inmates and staff, and more resource focused behaviour. The results broadly supported predictions, and possible implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

At a time when authoritarian regimes are on the rise around the world, higher education in general and political science in particular are facing declining support and sharper political pressures in many places. Political scientists have long promised that their discipline can add to knowledge about politics and educate citizens. However, doubts have grown about whether our increasingly pluralistic discipline collectively generates useful knowledge and communicates it effectively in teaching and in broader public communications. Political scientists need to do more to place their particular studies within big pictures of how politics and the world work, and to synthesize their results. They must focus more on the politics of identity formation that has generated resurgent nationalisms and deep social divisions. They must strengthen their understanding and their community contributions through civically engaged research. They must also place greater emphasis on improving teaching. In...

After the fall of the Berlin Wall the vision of a world based on emancipatory pro-
gressivism, multilateralism, liberal democracy and post national border crossing
seemed within reach. This vision is history now in the third decade of the millen-
nium. Prospects of universal democracy and global peace, as conveyed in 1992 by
Francis Fukuyama withered away, whereas the picture of an emerging “clash of
civilizations” drawn at the same time by Samuel Huntington, has been able to take
shape. Fukuyama’s and Huntington’s anticipations appear as utopian dream versus
dystopian nightmare of a world in which national borders either merge into a globally
shared cultural space or into a century of culturally and religiously fueled conflict.
Initially, these outlooks were taken up more in Fukuyama’s optimistic sense. This
turned out to be—from today’s perspective—a serious misinterpretation. What we
have now is a neo-nationalist turn towards authoritarian illiberal values worldwide.
This course of things raises questions, calls for explanation and has already led to
various interpretations in academia and beyond.

The rise of Hindutva ideology in contemporary India is posing great threats to the minorities in India and to the countries in the region as well. This research article first gives an insight of what the Hindutva ideology basically is, how it stemmed roots in India's socio-political landscape with the inception of RSS and then its political extension-the BJP. The paper then unfolds the contemporary politics of India led by BJP and how Modi's antagonistic policies are promoting Hindutva and posing great threats to Indian Muslim and its neighbor-Pakistan. Then its implications on the region are being discussed and lastly the article is concluded with an insight of future of South Asian countries especially India and Pakistan keeping relevant the current scenario.

Hathras and Aftermath-A Frankenstein haunting UP Irfan Engineer and Neha Dabhade Hathras gang rape and the response to the crime by the state of Uttar Pradesh and various sections of the society is an interesting reflection on the times we are living in, also reflecting our moral goals and collective ideals. It also exposes out the chinks in our democracy and democratic institutions. Hathras gang rape was not only about the ghastly violation of a woman's body which resulted in her death which in itself should be condemned in no uncertain terms, but also state's approach to this incident has revealed existing faultlines in the society and polity based on caste, gender and religion. The response of the state is located in the overall ecosystem created by the ideological tilt and policies pursued by the state over a period of time. In this article, the authors would like to map this very response and the ecosystem has contributed to perpetuate these violations. Response of the state to Hathras: To begin with, the State officials instead of believing the statement of the 19 year old Dalit victim who died shortly after giving the statement identifying the four accused and recounting the horrors of the gang rape went in a mode of denial. Based on the forensic examination report which found no evidence of rape, the administration and the local BJP leaders claimed that no rape had taken place in this case. There have been glaring and unpardonable lapses in the investigation, which is evident from the fact that the forensic examination of the victim was conducted only on 22 nd September, 8 days after the rape took place and the police sent vaginal swabs from the victim 11 days after the occurrence of rape. Semen can be found in the vaginal swabs only in the first 72 hours or in four days after the rape. What can possibly explain this procedural delay? After the obvious lapses in investigation, what has come under wide criticism from all quarters is the way the body of the victim was cremated without the consent of the family. It is important to note here that the victim came from a poor Dalit family. The family was outraged and in grief after the death of their daughter. The victim was allegedly dragged with her dupatta from the field she had gone to cut grass with her family. She was dragged by the alleged four accused and assaulted till her spine broke and tongue was cut. The family was not handed over her body for a

This study off ers a discussion of the dangers to the stability of political systems in consolidated democracies posed by contemporary populism, with a particular focus on the dynamic development of extreme right-wing populism. The author considers the consequences of efficient populist campaigns, such as Brexit in Great Britain, lowered trust towards the United States under Trump's administration and practices followed by the Law and Justice party (PiS) under the leadership of Ja-rosław Kaczyński in Poland, which seem especially destructive for liberal democracy. Further examples are those of Hungary and Turkey, where the political systems have eroded into semi-consolidated democracy in the case of the former and an authoritarian system in the latter case. A comparative analysis of freedom indices indicates some dangers related to de-consolidation of the democratic system in Po-land. Furthermore, the study points out dangers arising from the transformation of soft populism, understood as communication rhetoric oriented towards the concentration of power in the hands of populist leaders, which clearly paves the way for the dismantling of consolidated democracy in favour of an authoritarian system. Th e conclusions of the study outlines a variety of actions which can be undertaken to protect the achievements of liberal democracy. Keywords: security of the political system, right-wing populism, destabilisation of the rule of law, liberal democracy, consolidated democracy, semi-consolidated democracy, authoritarianism.

As a defining moment, the twenty fifth of June of 1975 has more than secured its position on the timeline of Indian history. While the Congress prays hard to just forget the ignominy of Emergency, the prime beneficiaries of this tragic phase, namely the Yadav-led socialist parties, are burping after feasting on power for several decades.

Abstract: The years 1975 and 1977 witnessed a wave of de facto military
regimes in Bangladesh and Pakistan, respectively. In Pakistan, General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq operationalized the country’s preexisting Islamic
identity from emblematic to substantive at both domestic and international levels. General Ziaur Rahman and General Ershad of Bangladesh revived the country’s Islamic identity at the domestic and international levels and reopened the space for religious fractions that were banned from politics constitutionally in the previous regime. Focusing on military regimes in Bangladesh and Pakistan between 1975 and 1990, this paper aims to bridge that gap by specifically examining the use of Islam. This study argues that dictators in both countries used Islam to support their survival strategies of legitimacy, repression, and social control. Authoritarian rulers did not have to use Islam to maintain military coherence, because of the military’s culture of subordination to superiors

"Significantly, the two most enduring authoritarian experiences in Brazil originated  from the establishment of anti-communist coalitions.  Rodrigo Patto Sá Motta describes in  detail the political
movements, its leaderships and organizations, that gathered  around the fight against communism. The work also has a solid international  dimension, providing insights into
the comparative study of authoritarianism  in the modern world.” From the Series Editors’ Preface

This book focuses on the values, beliefs, fears and actions of Brazilian groups that  throughout the twentieth century fought the “red menace”. It is based on broad and diversified documentary sources, including police files, archives of political leaders, traditional press periodicals, newspapers and brochures of right-wing organizations, monuments, caricatures, and photographs. The work is a major contribution to better understanding the political impact of right-wing movements in Brazil and the justifications made for the authoritarian coups of 1937 and 1964.
The author explains the intricacy of the political movements, leaderships and organizations that gathered around the fight against communism, as well as the ideas and images used to disseminate their arguments, including international sources of inspiration. The argument presented is not one of mere condemnation, but as dictatorship has reared its head post 1964 an assessment is long overdue in order to understand the political impact of anti-communist movements which have contributed to enable the longstanding police-military repressive machine
of the Brazilian State. The current return of anti-communism to the Brazilian political scene is evidence of the book’s thesis that this phenomenon took root in Brazilian society during the first
decades of the twentieth century. On Guard Against the Red Menace helps to understand why a candidate of military origin who promises to rid the country of the reds won the October 2018 elections in Brazil, by adopting a discursive strategy that represents the appropriation of the  anti-communist tradition analyzed in this book.

Rahul Bajaj spoke at the right time, the right thing and voiced his opinion candidly without mincing what he wanted to say. This is him who as a citizen of India for long contributed to the economy both in the pre and post-independent India. Bajaji's family is known for their commitment to the nation immensely. He voiced during UPA regime and also he expressed now during the NDA regime. He voiced whatever he wanted to say that 'fears' is looming business fraternity and unable to speak freely. He did not hide anything and he spoke daringly when top union ministers were present including the Minister of Home and Minister of Finance along with others. Amit Shah in a matured way responded that there should not be any fear others joined the fray offering all sorts of things. Bajaj expressed the current climate of 'fear' that prevails amongst the business community who in one sense not free to express what they wanted. Though if we read the statements between the lines that statements or opinions such as these we hinder the nationalistic spirit which means many things however it was indeed guarded one because Bajaj cannot be questioned on that or anything of that sort would create more controversy. Let those in the Government at the Centre take it in positive way and think about what can be done to do away with the fear syndrome. The following write up once again opens up the current context: Tuesday, December 3, 2019 Mr Bajaj speaks again: In 1993, he voiced business's 'concerns', today he voices its 'fears' In 1993, the then finance minister, Manmohan Singh, was publicly dismissive of the concern Bajaj and friends articulated about the threat to domestic business from external economic liberalisation.

PM Modi has begun his 2.0 with 49 signatories-a composition and known celebrities in the country, representing diverse vocations, regions, communities, religion and persuasions within 50 days of PM Modi's tenure. A high profile of personalities known for their works in different fields bravely expressed their concern over the growing display of lynching in various parts of the country. The fringe elements belonging to right-wing fanatical and fundamentalist ideological tenets once again surfaced after PM Modi's 2.0 landslide victory. Now, they seem to have come with added vigor, power and confidence that for another 5 years 2019-2024 they are the 'law and order' and 'their notion of governance' will have to be followed by all. This is the message they sent, despite PM Modi's repeated warnings. PM Modi's open exhortation and assurance to those 'insecure' constituencies, he urged them to have faith (sabka viswas) seem to be failing. If this is the state of affairs of our democracy and governance in about 50 days, the political map in the months and years to come shows bleak picture-horrendous one. And yet, the 49 celebrates wrote to PM Modi expressing their concern which needs our appreciation. In democracy, it is the people who should rein in, failing which the lumpen and lynchers would take over. It is this minuscule who seems to have taken the country as the custodians of India's culture, citizenship and democracy. Their moves would by all means be thwarted not by our silence, hiding, ducking and evading, but expressing our defiance in varied formats. Democracy and Constitution are still alive in India because of some who dare the religious fundamentalists, castests and other criminals who exist in different cloaks and attires. We need to handle them and expose them democratically. Citizens are at the center of democracy, and if we fail, then democracy will fail us. A tiny organized minority is much better than unorganized lumpenized majority. A country that survived against all odds which continues to stand for cultural plurality, religious diversity and constitutional democracy and political morality shall once again come out victoriously, provided the citizens raise their voice in unison. Those who stood for justice, democracy, liberal values and host of others have been booked under sections that prevents them not to get engaged in matters that deals with the civil society. This is how the present dispensation created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity in the minds of the citizens. More such things can be expected in the days and months to come, but certainly the concerned citizens, conscientious objectors and others who believe in basic rights shall ever budge and be cowed down. The following write up deals with the same:

In the discourse produced by the social media accounts of the Bharatiya Janata Party, its leaders, and the Prime Minister, Hindutva masculinity incorporates ideas of technological progress, military might, and physical strength, all deployed towards the protection and progress of the nation. Through such use of social media, technology becomes a site of and tool for producing violence against those considered as the other of the Hindu male, particularly women and Muslims.

Most of countries in the world either being ruled on the ideal principle of democracy or formally declare democratic state. Democracy has age old evolutionary process, grow roots in certain environment and conditions it also depends on the history of state formation. It is perceived that the ideal forms of democratic governance are Western countries and that’s why they developed in every sense. The developing countries have far reaching task to be at that level, it have their own challenges. In the case of India, it has been governed over by British Empire from centuries like many others it also came into being as a separate state as most of third world states in post de-colonization phase. So, there are many deformities exist in those states because of their state formations, the artificial construction of boundaries, the conflicting materials and the western styled democracy, inefficient governance, transitional societies, ethno-centric politics instead of citizens centric. These are some relevant factors which diminishes the democratic functioning of Indian State. This paper tries to ascertain the problem and prospects of Indian democracy in the context of minority Muslim rights.

In many of the established democracies of Europe and North America, populist alternatives to democratic governance are gaining popularity and political power. In attempting to make sense of these developments, I argue, unlike many, that the rise of populism is not simply a passing response to fluctuating circumstances such as economic recession or increased immigration and thus a momentary retreat in the progress toward ever greater democratization.  Instead I suggest current developments reflect an underlying structural weakness inherent in democratic governance, one that makes democracies always susceptible to the siren call of right wing populism.  The weakness is the relative inability of the citizens of the modern, multicultural democracies to meet the demands the polity imposes upon them. Drawing on a wide range of research in political science and psychology, I argue that citizens typically do not have the cognitive or emotional capacities required.  Thus they are typically left to navigate in political reality that is ill understood and frightening.  Populism offers an alternative view of politics and society which is more readily understood and more emotionally satisfying.  In this context, I suggest that as practices in countries such as the United States become increasingly democratic, this structural weakness is more clearly exposed and consequential, and the vulnerability of democratic governance to populism becomes greater. The conclusion is that democracy is likely to devour itself. In the hope that it may not, I briefly consider the kinds of institutional changes that are necessary to facilitate the development of the citizenry democracy requires.

We investigated the connection between moral exclusion of outgroups and on the one hand, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and social dominance orientation (SDO) on the other. We assumed that both RWA and SDO would increase the tendency to place other groups out of the scope of justice. However, we also tested whether negative stereotypes about an outgroup's threatening and norm-violating misbehavior would serve as a justification for moral exclusion. These assumptions were tested in connection with Roma, Jewish, and Muslim people as target groups in the Hungarian context (N = 441). In line with our hypotheses, we found that both RWA and SDO had an indirect effect on moral exclusion mediated by negative stereotypes about the particular target group. Our findings suggested that negative stereotypes were more important legitimizing factors for RWA than for SDO. Our results highlight the benefits of interpreting the process of moral exclusion as an outcome of motivated social cognition.

In recent years right-wing populism has risen significantly across the west. In 2017, Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front, came very close to winning the French presidential election. She eventually lost out to Emanuel Macron, a man dedicated to maintaining the neoliberal consensus but smart enough to voice the usual progressive liberal platitudes during his election campaign. If this was a victory for liberalism over an increasingly virulent and regressive nationalism, it rang rather hallow. The huge strides made by the National Front under Le Pen, quite clearly, do not augur well for the continuation of liberal values in Europe. However, it seems quite important to ask why a representative of the dominant yet ailing politico-economic order was presented to the electorate as the alternative to the ethnocentric nationalism currently pulling France to the right. Is it feasible that Macron's unmitigated neoliberalism can assuage the anger and anxiety that underpin the new French nationalism? Does the invidious choice between Le Pen and Macron not tell us something about the parlous state of liberal democracy and the chains that have been placed upon our collective political imagination? Might the continued dominance of neoliberal capitalism – which has throughout the west concentrated wealth in the hands of an oligarchic elite and permeated economic insecurity throughout the rest of the population – have in some way influenced the development of this new right-wing populism? Could the current crisis in fact be an outcome of neoliberalism's continued political dominance? And perhaps more to the point, shouldn't we be asking searching questions about why the political right has been the principal beneficiary of post-crash economic insecurity, stagnating wages, declining lifestyles, austerity and the gradual breakup of the west's welfare states? Why has there not been a resurgence of interest in traditional left-wing politics rooted in political economy and committed to advancing the interests of the multi-ethnic working class? Why have we not seen a new generation of strident leftist politicians, keen to control the brutal excesses of market society, bursting onto the stage? There is no doubt that the new right has prospered in the vacuum created by the traditional left's decline. Focusing on 'Brexit Britain', the task we have set ourselves here is to identify why the historical relationship between the working class and left-wing politics has become fragile, strained and at risk of coming to an end altogether.