POLITIKON: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science Vol 37 (July 2018) 2 Volume 37: July 2018 ISSN 2414-6633 https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.37 Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief: Max Steuer (Slovakia) Justinas Lingevičus (Lithuania) Andrés Lopez Rivera (Ecuador) Rafael Plancarte (Mexico) Ana Magdalena Figueroa (Brazil) Gergana Tzvetkova (Bulgaria) https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.37 POLITIKON: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science Vol 37 (July 2018) 3 Table of Contents Editorial Note ....................................................................................................................... 4 Articles The Impact of Country Characteristics on Civic Knowledge and Political Participation / Benjamin Tyler Leigh ............................................................................................................ 6 Global Feminism and undecidabilities: Beijing’ 95 and beyond / Tarsis Daylan Brito 19 Rainwater Harvesting to Reduce Water and Economic Poverty in Coastal Bangladesh / M. Rafiqul Islam ................................................................................................................ 39 Imperfect Good and Evil: Savonarola, Soderini, and Machiavelli’s Excusing of Failure / Zachary E. Shufro .............................................................................................................. 60 Call for Papers .................................................................................................................... 74 POLITIKON: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science Vol 37 (July 2018) 4 Editorial Note We live in times when, on the one hand, scientific discoveries in all disciplines are proliferating, with more and more specialized approaches, while on the other hand, the very relevance and benefit of science for societal advancement is questioned, even at the basic level of the existence of a set of objective facts. This means that scientific rigour, if not coupled with valid and thought-through ways of presentation and communication of original research results, might increasingly reach its limits in facilitating progress. Scientific discoveries remain valuable regardless of their practical impact, nevertheless it seems desirable to combine both and, through these means, prevent from staying locked in ‘academic ivory towers’. Academic journals can play a prominent role in the conversation beyond academia, since they often present ground-breaking findings sooner and more rigorously than any other platform. However, it is then important that they are able to reach out beyond specialized academic for a to policymakers and citizens alike. Poitikon, the flagship journal of the International Association for Political Science Students (IAPSS), aims to continue in contributing to this fusion between academia and practice, while not shying away from the commitment to the broadening and deepening of sub-, inter- and multi-disciplinary academic discourses of pertinent questions of politics, broadly conceived. Founded in 2001, it builds upon an extensive tradition of critical peer-to-peer feedback and presentation of high-quality research in Political Science and related disciplines without any restrictions on academic seniority. Politikon is open to authors of any level of academic seniority, but it is particularly welcoming towards contributions of students and early career researchers. Because of its ties to IAPSS, it offers a unique platform where academic excellence is combined with efforts to empower all individuals involved in the publishing process (authoring, editing, reviewing, proofreading, disseminating of academic content) to express their visions on various issues, always based on a sound theoretical and methodological framework, in most cases combined with empirical analysis as well. Vol. 37, as several previous ones, presents four articles on a broad range of subjects, adding to geographical and topical diversity of the journal’s scope. Nevertheless, all are connected by answering critical questions pertaining to individual and collective well-being, policy advancement or the role of principles and rationality in decision-making. In the first article, Tyler Leigh explores whether selected country specifics are able to influence the capacity of civic education to increase levels of political participation, and answers this question in the affirmative with the help of statistical analysis, acknowledging the limitations stemming primarily from the lack of availability of detailed data on POLITIKON: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science Vol 37 (July 2018) 5 this subject. Secondly, Tarsis Daylan Brito applies the concept of undecidability from the philosopher Jacques Derrida on the outcomes of the 1995 Beijing Conference on women’s rights in order to uncover and critically access them from a feminist standpoint. The third article by M. Rafiqul Islam pays attention to the political as well as administrative challenges surrounding the critical issue of freshwater supplies in Bangladesh, arguing that the lack of ‘financing, rules and regulations, technical know-how, and awareness’ is detrimental for the local population, and proposing the investment of resources into rainwater harvesting as a possible solution. Last but not least, Zachary E. Shufro provides a fresh view on Machiavelli’s understanding of intentions and rationality in governing the state by interpreting the actions of three Machiavelli’s political contemporaries in the famous Discourses on Livy. The Politikon Editorial Board encourages its readers to interact with the authors as well as authors with each other, via contacting them by e-mail or proposing to write a reply to their findings. We welcome your feedback and suggestions for further improvements of the journal and for new opportunities that we might be able to offer. As always, we also look forward to receiving and reviewing new manuscripts on all kinds of questions in Political Science and related disciplines. Max Steuer Editor-in-Chief Editorial Note