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The controversy over vaccines has recently intensified in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with calls from politicians, health professionals, journalists, and citizens to take harsh measures against so-called “anti-vaxxers,” while accusing them of spreading “fake news” and as such, of endangering public health. However, the issue of suppression of vaccine dissenters has rarely been studied from the point of view of those who raise concerns about vaccine safety. The purpose of the present study was to examine the subjective perceptions of professionals (physicians, nurses, researchers) involved with vaccines through practice and/or research and who take a critical view on vaccines, about what they perceive as the suppression of dissent in the field of vaccines, their response to it, and its potential implications on science and medicine. Respondents reported being subjected to a variety of censorship and suppression tactics, including the retraction of papers pointing to vaccine safety problems, negative publicity, difficulty in obtaining research funding, calls for dismissal, summonses to official hearings, suspension of medical licenses, and self-censorship. Respondents also reported on what has been termed a “backfire effect” – a counter-reaction that draws more attention to the opponents’ position. Suppression of dissent impairs scientific discourse and research practice while creating the false impression of scientific consensus.

PurposeThis paper examines the decline of the largest working parliamentary democracy in India overtime, but accelerating since 2014 as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Center (as the federal government is commonly known).Design/methodology/approachIt is eclectic. Original constitution, along with commentaries, are studied. News outlets, government pronouncements, journal articles, and other media outlets — electronic and print — are also sourced.FindingsThe findings show how three important features in democracy — elections and their outcomes, control of information, and suppression of dissent are widely used to undermine constitutional democracy.Originality/valueDemocracy can be undermined without altering the Constitution itself. It also explains the irony of Modi’s popularity, given the undemocratic practices. As he may continue in office for some time to come, commanding a log-rolling majority, the need of the hour is a united, constructive and effective opposition to ensure a healthy working democracy.

\"Tells the story of East Timor, a half-island that suffered genocide after Indonesia invaded in 1975, and which was again laid to waste after the population voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999. Before international forces intervened, more than half the population had been displaced and 1,500 people killed. Geoffrey Robinson, an expert in Southeast Asian history, was in East Timor with the United Nations in 1999 and provides a gripping first-person account of the violence, as well as a rigorous assessment of the politics and history behind it. Robinson debunks claims that the militias committing the violence in East Timor acted spontaneously, attributing their actions instead to the calculation of Indonesian leaders, and to a \"culture of terror\" within the Indonesian army. He argues that major powers--notably the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom--were complicit in the genocide of the late 1970s and the violence of 1999. At the same time, Robinson stresses that armed intervention supported by those powers in late 1999 was vital in averting a second genocide. Advocating accountability, the book chronicles the failure to bring those responsible for the violence to justice. A riveting narrative filled with personal observations, documentary evidence, and eyewitness accounts, [this book] engages essential questions about political violence, international humanitarian intervention, genocide, and transitional justice\"--From publisher description.

In Brennan and Democracy, a leading thinker in U.S. constitutional law offers some powerful reflections on the idea of \"constitutional democracy,\" a concept in which many have seen the makings of paradox. Here Frank Michelman explores the apparently conflicting commitments of a democratic governmental system where key aspects of such important social issues as affirmative action, campaign finance reform, and abortion rights are settled not by a legislative vote but by the decisions of unelected judges. Can we--or should we--embrace the values of democracy together with constitutionalism, judicial supervision, and the rule of law? To answer this question, Michelman calls into service the judicial career of Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, the country's model \"activist\" judge for the past forty years. Michelman draws on Brennan's record and writings to suggest how the Justice himself might have understood the judiciary's role in the simultaneous promotion of both democratic and constitutional government.

Burbridge suppressed dissent, interfered in state and local elections, imposed unpopular controls on Kentucky’s economy, and jailed or banished critics of the war and the Lincoln administration. The people on the receiving end of these actions were mostly fellow Unionists who found the decision to enlist black troops—and the entire emancipationist turn of war policy—repugnant. They rallied white Kentuckians to oppose the decision, petitioned the Administration to suspend it, and campaigned for George McClellan when it became evident that Lincoln was not listening. Burbridge treated such critics harshly. Emancipation changed the nature of what it meant to be loyal to the Union, and Burbridge enforced the new definition rigorously.

This chapter contains sections titled: The Administration's Response to Dissent Explaining Nixon's Anti‐dissent Policies References Further Reading

Objective. National elections have long been viewed as important \"politicizing\" events, intricately connected with the process of democratization. Varying opinions have been put forth within the literature, however, as to what national elections do to citizens' rights. Some authors suggest that national elections increase respect for citizens' political and civil rights, others suggest that national elections decrease rights, and some argue that elections have no effect at all. The purpose of the research is to shed some light on this relationship. Methods. A pooled crosssectional time-series design is used on 49 countries from 1948 to 1982 (N = 1,715). Results. I find that national elections diminish the restrictions placed upon the mass media as well as those placed upon individuals and groups. These results hold while controlling for system type, conflict, economic development, dependency, and lagged repression. Conclusions. I conclude that while national elections decrease repression and thus should be actively pursued by those who wish to increase the respect for political and civil rights, additional research is still necessary. I provide several areas that might prove worthy of further research.

This study focuses on how Korean women's labor activism in the 70s shaped the democratic struggles of the 80s an examines the spillover impact of the former on the latter. Women's labor protests contributed to the movement of the 80s by promoting (1) the rise of the opposition consciousness, (2) the growth of radical ideology, (3) the mobilization and consolidation of opposition groups, and (4) the expansion of the concept of human rights and democracy. These findings provide evidence that runs counter to the assumption that the democratic movement was a new wave, disconnected from earlier social movements. In addition to the movement to movement influence, overlooked in previous research, state suppression of labor protests ironically played a key role in fostering the democratization process in South Korea. By producing a group of full-time activists and by transforming labor issues into political problems, state repression unintentionally enhanced the strength of the democratic movement in the long run. This suggests that the authoritarian government s suppression of women s resistance through violent measures was not very effective over time.

This is a book review of Ebenezer Obadare’s “Humor, Silence and Civil Society in Nigeria.” It examines conceptual issues around the role of civil society in Nigeria, the nexus (or lack thereof) between ngo’s and civil society, and the roles that humor and silence play as roles of agency in how a population responds to oppression and the suppression of dissent.