Public political narratives: developing a neglected source through the exploratory case of Russia in the Putin-Medvedev era

The place of narrative in political science is an issue that resurfaces with regularity, usually focusing on the questions of generalisability, evidence and causality which lie at the heart of the discipline. Most such debate concerns the use of narrative by political scientists. Far less attention has been devoted to the use of narrative by political actors, despite its relative ubiquity. Even where such attention has been given, it concentrates less on the narrative per se, and more on its performance and impact. However, the nature of public political narratives means that analysis of them facilitates a holistic understanding of their narrators' politics. A public political narrative consists of a sequential account given by political actors connecting selected, specific developments so as to impose a desired order on them. Taking contemporary Russia as an exploratory case, narrative analysis draws out the motivations, world view and inconsistencies within the Putin-Medvedev regime. Recurring motifs and symbols identify the regime's political priorities, explaining policy choices and revealing future concerns. Narrative has a predictive aspect, identifying likely policy responses to unexpected events. Narratives capture time, and shifts in their temporalities indicate changes in self-conceptualisation and political priorities. Temporal appropriations include or exclude particular agential and causal explanations. The relationship between their plots and subplots represents a political signalling process. Public political narratives provide temporally and spatially specific exceptionalist accounts, but their combinatory quality also facilitates comparative analysis. The approach essayed here provides methodological generalisability, arguing that the neglect of public political narratives merits correcting

Understanding Russia's return to the Middle East

Over recent years, there has been a significant resurgence of Russian power and influence in the Middle East, which has been evident in the diplomatic and military intervention into Syria. This article identifies the principal factors behind Russia’s return to the region. First, there are domestic political influences with the coincidence of the uprisings in the Middle East, the so-called ‘Arab Spring,’ with large-scale domestic opposition protests within Russia during the elections in 2011–2012. Second, there is the role of ideas, most notably the growing anti-Westernism in Putin’s third presidential term, along with Russia’s own struggle against Islamist terrorism. These ideational factors contributed to Russia’s resolve to support the Assad government against both Western intervention and its domestic Islamist opposition. Third, Russia has benefited from a pragmatic and flexible approach in its engagement with the region. Moscow seeks to ensure that it is a critical actor for all the various states and political movements in the Middle East

Bumiputera's non-performing loans (NPLs) : a case study of Sarawak economic development corporation, (SEDC Sarawak)

The study focuses on the managerial deficiencies, financial factors, and the personal attributes and degree of each of these factors in contributing to the financial stress that led to the financial failures of the Bumiputera participants in the two selected schemes, namely the Small Scale Enterpises (SSEs) and the Small Scale Industry Loan Scheme (SPIKS

Enhancing health policymaking, governance and research management in Ghana

Suggested citation - Atengble K, Insor-Brown A. Enhancing health policymaking, governance and research management in Ghana. 2019. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.10319297 Within this workshop, participants from the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Ghana Ministry of Health gathered at the Accra Marriott hotel for a training workshop that aimed to enhance health policymaking, governance and research management within the health sector in Ghana.The workshop was facilitated through a collaboration between experienced trainers from the Clinical Informatics Research Unit of the University of Southampton and PACKS Africa, a Pan-Africa think tank working to improve the uptake of research and other forms of evidence in policy processes.The event was funded by the University of Southampton.</div