Polit Journal Scientific Journal of Politics

Influence of Political Billboard Advertising on Non-Literate Electorates’ Voting Intentions in 2022 Governorship Election

Oladipo Mary Oluwaferanmi — 2026-07-03

Political campaigns are planned endeavours by political parties to win over the public. The purpose of a political billboard campaign is to create awareness, persuade and remind voters of the political party’s programmes and candidates. Since billboard uses large graphics and pictures, they are on the basis of the findings, the study concluded that, though billboard can serve as a reminder to the non-literate electorates. This study thus sought to find out whether billboard adverts influenced the intention to vote among non-literate electorates in Osun State. This work was anchored on political mobilization, rational choice, and agenda-setting theories. Political mobilization theory explains the strategies political parties use to mobilize electorates, rational choice assumes that individuals have preferences out of available choices of alternatives, agenda-setting theory examines how the media influences the importance and salience of various topics in public discourse, on the basis of the attention paid to them. The survey method was used to gather data from 389 Ede respondents from North and South Osun state. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts, and the result was presented in percentages and tables. Findings revealed that the non-literates had a pre-determined candidate of choice on the basis that the candidate was from the same area as the respondents. However, findings further revealed that political billboard adverts reinforce the predetermined choice and constantly remind them of the political party/candidate to vote for. This research recommended to political parties since they are focusing on non-literates that there should be the use of clearer pictures and more visible graphics for easy identification of political parties as this may encourage these non-literates to vote for them when they see the billboard.

Protestantism: A State Religion during the Malagasy Monarchy

Rafenomanantsoa Emilson — 2026-07-08

Emerging from the sixteenth-century European Reformation, Protestantism expanded dynamically, leading to the nineteenth-century insertion of the British Presbyterian movement into Madagascar. This article examines the institutionalization of Protestantism and the systemic transformations catalyzed by the strategic convergence between British missionaries and Malagasy sovereigns. Employing a qualitative, historical-critical methodology, this study analyzes an extensive corpus of administrative treaties, ecclesiastic archives, and historical documents to elucidate how this religious movement functioned as a primary mechanism of state modernization and political centralization. The empirical findings reveal that the London Missionary Society (LMS) systematically introduced scriptural literacy and a Western-style educational apparatus in Imerina from 1820 onward, utilizing pedagogical networks to accelerate evangelical conversion. Despite a three-decade period of aggressive state-enforced suppression under Queen Ranavalona I, the Protestant apparatus demonstrated profound structural resilience. Following the diplomatic liberalization of 1862, this socio-religious movement culminated in its historic elevation to the rank of de facto state religion under Queen Ranavalona II in 1869. The state-church alliance generated sweeping civilizational advancements, including the formation of native administrative cadres, the implementation of robust biomedical and hospital infrastructures, and significant innovations in material architecture. Simultaneously, this study highlights the dialectical tensions produced by social polarization, alongside the eventual emergence of a stable socio-cultural synthesis, exemplified by the integration of traditional ancestral customs within Christian liturgical practices. This undisputed Protestant hegemony permanently altered the island's institutional trajectory until 1896, when French colonial rule under Governor-General Gallieni systematically dismantled its structural privileges to favor Roman Catholicism.

The Fractal Polity: Macrocosm, Microcosm, and the Co-Creation of Communal Heaven or Hell

Belay Sitotaw Goshu — 2026-07-14

Political science has long struggled to explain why some nations achieve sustained flourishing (“heaven on Earth”) while others descend into systemic predation, distrust and suffering (“hell on Earth”). Existing institutional, economic and cultural theories overlook the recursive, self similar relationship between macro scale governance and micro scale citizen consciousness. This paper introduces the fractal polity framework, drawing on the Hermetic principle “As above, so below,” to theorize governance and citizen practice as co creative, bi directionally causal and self similar across scales. The study synthesizes political philosophy, complexity theory and comparative case analysis. Four cases are examined using a novel Fractal Diagnostic Tool that assesses macro micro alignment on three dimensions: justice, truth and compassion. Fractal alignment produces heavenly outcomes (Costa Rica); pathological fractal alignment produces self reinforcing hell (Mobutu’s Zaire); radical macro reform can catalyze micro change (post Soviet Georgia); but macro liberalization without micro civic trust can trigger collapse (post EPRDF Ethiopia). Transmission occurs via institutional signaling, resource allocation, enforcement, collective action, norms diffusion and leadership selection, with tipping points at critical minority thresholds. Heaven and hell on Earth are emergent products of fractal alignment or misalignment. Durable transformation requires simultaneous top down institutional reform and bottom up cultivation of civic virtue. Policymakers should adopt fractal audits; citizens should organize at neighbourhood scales; researchers should employ multi scale longitudinal methods, agent based modelling and QCA.

Constitutional Transformation and Public Power: Reinterpreting the Separation of Powers in Contemporary Indonesia

Marzuki — 2026-05-01

The transformation of constitutional governance in the twenty-first century has fundamentally altered the distribution and exercise of public power. The classical doctrine of the separation of powers, originally designed to prevent the concentration of authority among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, is increasingly challenged by the emergence of independent constitutional institutions, administrative agencies, decentralized governance, and collaborative policymaking mechanisms. In Indonesia, constitutional reforms following the 1998 democratic transition have significantly reshaped institutional relationships, expanding the architecture of public authority beyond the traditional framework of trias politica. These developments raise fundamental constitutional questions regarding whether the classical doctrine of the separation of powers remains adequate for explaining the contemporary structure of state power. This study aims to reinterpret the doctrine of the separation of powers within the context of Indonesia's contemporary constitutional system by examining the transformation of public power in the modern administrative state. Employing a normative legal research approach, the study analyzes constitutional provisions, statutory regulations, Constitutional Court decisions, and comparative constitutional theories alongside contemporary scholarship on constitutional governance and administrative constitutionalism. The findings demonstrate that Indonesia has experienced a significant constitutional transformation in which public power is no longer exercised exclusively through the interaction of the three classical branches of government. Instead, constitutional authority is increasingly distributed across independent institutions, regulatory agencies, decentralized governmental entities, and collaborative governance networks that perform constitutionally significant public functions. Consequently, the traditional doctrine of the separation of powers requires reinterpretation to accommodate these institutional developments while preserving the fundamental principles of constitutionalism, democratic accountability, and the rule of law.