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Plus, Yerevan and Baku trade more barbs over helicopter shootdown and Uzbekistan lays claim to a sliver of Afghan territory.
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Plus, EU’s Albania justice mission faces corruption probe, and Orban tacks back toward Europe.
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This article examines the rise of Podemos in 2014 and its trajectory since then. Podemos was born right after the rise and fall of the Indignados movement, which was responding to the global economic crisis and subsequent austerity policies. Hassan argues that Podemos successfully avoided Indignados’ weaknesses, the traps of anti-political and anarchistic sentiments. The essay argues that Podemos’ political activity is more than an instinctive populism, as the party consciously and directly uses Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s post-Marxist theory of populism. However, Hassan formulates a fundamental criticism of both Laclau and Mouffe’s theory and of the politics of Podemos. As he follows the political trajectory of Podemos from 2014 to 2016, Hassan reveals that the party’s politics based on the theory of populism gave up its anti-capitalist stance, weakened its own internal democracy and consequently detached the party structure from the mass movement.
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In this paper I study how populism gained political weight in Italy in the past decades. I argue, partly in opposition to rationalist political science, that the underlying logic of populism is intelligible, and that ultimately, this logic is the articulation of the complex phenomenon in which the realm of politics stops reflecting the social realm. I address this problem through the study of the early political careers of the four times Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the Italian politician appearing in the second half of the 2000s Giuseppe Grillo. First, I reconstruct the political and social background in relation to what the two paths become meaningful. Then, I briefly compare and contrast the mainstream and the leftist literature on populism, according to the following points: their approaches to the concept of populism; the modus operandi of the populist leader; the exact context that animates populism; and the terms in which the relation between populism and democracy can be understood. Finally, using the theoretical tools of the leftist literature on populism, I analyse the context in which the two politicians started their career, the politics they argued in favour of and the democracy they proposed. I finish my argument by concluding that if we take the crisis articulated by the populist logic seriously, we must adjust the realm of politics according to the needs of the social realm, and not the other way around.
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The article engages with several basic features of public values and studies them as a primary field of responsibility of public sector and public administration. Recognizing that public values’ fulfillment is a complex and sometimes controversial process, nonetheless it is accepted that it is the needed common ground for collective action.
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The text examines the legal nature of the science of policy creation – Public Policy Analysis. Public Policy Analysis is what the experts do to determine what is best to be done under the circumstances in solving individual social problem (sometimes very significant) in particular area of life (such as education, health, security, foreign affairs etc.). They recognize as priority the long-term political impact and social consequences of future actions without underestimating the financial parameters, risk etc. of any actions that will be taken. Ultimately, it’s about creating and considering options for future actions which are examined in details in order to find the best among them. Public Policy Analysis has a value- oriented starting point of a particular client and undertakes specific steps to formulate the grounds for a future course of action. Thus, the analysis turns into a professional advice, building logical and practical connection between policy and governance, between self- determination based on values and solving of public problems.
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This paper analyzes the media and political reactions in Bulgarian online media to the Government’s 2016 Annual Report on the State of National Security of the Republic of Bulgaria, subsequently approved by Parliament, in the period from 1 September to 30 November 2017. References to the Report were subjected to content analysis according to the timeline of the reactions and the intensity of their occurrence, according to the different categories of institutional and non-institutional speakers, as well as according to the basic messages they were carrying. The findings show a strong disproportion in the representation of different opinions and the lack of public debate on the subject. From the very beginning of the researched period, there was a visible disparity between the dynamic of reactions to the Report and their media coverage. Media attention was almost exclusively focused on the passages in the Report describing the role of Russia for Bulgaria’s national security, which were the most debated political issue on this topic. It is highly likely that the next national security topic that will get extensive coverage will revolve around the state of security in the Black Sea.
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Review of: Thomas Schmidinger, Rojava: Revolution, War and the Future of Syria’s Kurds, London: Pluto Press, 2018, 298 pp., (ISBN: 9780745337722). Nazand Begikhani, Aisha K. Gill and Gill Hague, Honour-Based Violence: Experiences and Counter-Strategies in Iraqi Kurdistan and the UK Kurdish Diaspora, Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, 2015, 189 pp., (ISBN: 9781409421900). Mehmet Orhan, Political Violence and Kurds in Turkey: Fragmentations, Mobilizations, Participations and Repertoires, Oxon: Routledge, 2016, 294 pp., (ISBN: 978-1-317-42044-6) H. Akin Ünver, Turkey’s Kurdish Question: Discourse and Politics since 1990, Oxon: Routledge, 2015, 196 pp., (ISBN: 978-1-138-85856-5). Veli Yadirgi, The Political Economy of the Kurds of Turkey – From the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp. 334, (ISBN: 9781316848579). Burak Bilgehan Özpek, The Peace Process between Turkey and the Kurds: Anatomy of a Failure, London: Routledge, 2017, 80 pp., (ISBN: 9781138564107).
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The presented article is an attempt to determine the main memorial traces in the literary and cultural studies of Ukrainian post-totalitarian trauma after the World War II. The author of the article constructs her own concept around the generational transmission of trauma as well as the role and importance of this trauma for the processes of shaping the common Ukrainian identity.
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The study is focused on the development of advertising in the context of social changes in the US. Its main goal is to point out how advertising reacted to some historical events and important social, economic, political or cultural changes in the US. The study is based on the concept of four crucial moments in the advertising history stated by Holm. He speaks about four phases in the general development of advertising: 1. origins, industrialisation and development, 2. professionalization, consolidation and redemption, 3. manipulation, creativity and globalisation, 4. digital advertising, algorithms and ‘dataveillance’. In this study, the attention is paid to the first phase; however, it is applied to the US historical development and cultural environment. Therefore, the first part of the text points out the nature of advertising from the colonization to the American Revolution; the second and much more extensive part of the study focuses on significant events of the 19th century, which crucially influenced and changed the history of the US, i.e. the Industrial Revolution and the Civil War. Those historical events also affected the ways of promotion; advertising mirrored the situation in society remarkably. The study’s conclusion explains the necessity of regulation and the need for the professional approach towards advertising at the turn of the 20th century.
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This article offers an analysis of the ways creation of a community influences the activity of users expressed in their network behaviour. It has been assumed that a varied choice of used tools and channels of communication characterising societies with a high level of technological development simultaneously influences fragmentation of network communication processes. Inclusive culture of participation becomes limited, which is the result of the degree of engagement of users which influence participation in a virtual community. This leads to their differentiation in relation to content and choice of the used channels during network communication. Another factor limiting participation is also communication activity of administrators of a virtual community who impose the dominating content of messages. The research results are a part of scientific research concerning the role of leaders in network communication as well as the creation of network communities that accompany political protests and demonstrations.
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The article deals with the prohibited activity of the clergy specified in can. 285 § 4 and can. 286 of the Code of Canon Law. It follows from the canons that it is against canon law for clerics to manage goods belonging to lay persons, to hold a secular office which entails an obligation of making financial statements (rendering accounts), or to conduct trade and transactions solely for profit. This prohibition, however, cannot be considered effective under Polish law, and legal acts carried out by a cleric who holds such an office or performs a function will be valid. The regulations of canon law in question are neither the sources of universally binding law of the Republic of Poland nor internally binding law (art. 87 and art. 93 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. In other words, although the Catholic Church, in the name of the principle of autonomy, has the right to self-organization and self-government, its own law (canon law) is foreign to Polish law. As a consequence, a cleric who, against canon law, is member of the board of a joint stock or limited company or for example a state-owned enterprise, should be considered to act rightfully. A different interpretation of Polish law would call into question the principle of certainty and security in business transactions.
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The research goal is to reconstruct selected aspects of the legal position of the religious minister on the basis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The analysis includes 33 judgments and decisions on the admissibility of complaints made by the bodies of the European Convention on Human Rights in 1976-2017. Based on them, it can be concluded that the ECtHR case law in this area is grounded in many years of practice.The religious minister as such has no guarantees other than those of any other person professing religious beliefs, but he benefits from the indirect strengthening of this protection by virtue of the guarantees of corporate freedom of conscience and religion. It is the autonomy of a religious organization that differentiates his position in both positive and negative respects. The autonomy of a religious organization is, in the light of ECtHR jurisprudence, an important component of pluralism in democratic societies, and it also includes determining the requirements for the religious minister. For this reason, the religious minister obtains strong protection against the interference of state power in matters relating to his appointment and removal from the office. The cost of obtaining this protection is a significant limitation of his personal freedom of conscience and religion, and indirectly also other rights while in the office of a priest, in relation to a religious organization. However, it should be remembered that the assessment of matters related to the performance of the office of a priest depends on the formal relations between a religious organization and the state. In the case of state churches, it is possible, for example, to submit certain church matters to state jurisprudence, and a religious organization can perform its self-limitation by shaping relations with the religious minister on the basis of a regular employment contract. As a rule, however, the ECtHR clearly indicated that matters concerning the religious minister lie outside the jurisdiction of the state and its organs. Nevertheless, the controversy surrounding the ruling in Károly Nagy v. Hungary indicates that the religious minister’s status may undergo some changes in the future.
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Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-1921) was one of the unique states in the first quarter of XX century. Despite the historical relations between the Church and the State in Georgia, the social-democratic government changed its official policy and chose French secularism, which was very unusual for the country. This was incorporated in the Constitution of 1921. This article is about the Georgian church-state relations during 1918-1921, the positive and negative aspects of the chosen form of secularism and the challenges that the newly independent State faced in the sphere of religious freedom until the Soviet occupation.
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This paper examines the interrelationship between the State, freedom of association and sectarian violence among faith communities in Nigeria. It specifically discusses the role of the State in maintaining peace, and the government’s official response to sectarian violence among religious associations. In modern African states, sectarian violence has been prevalent and deadly among religious group movements. It is deployed as the most preferred means of attracting recognition, affirming feasibility and proclaiming existence among other religious associations in the State. This trend is associated with the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. It is against this background that this paper historicises sectarian violence, the myth and reality of religious freedom, the interrelationship between religious freedom, the State and secularism in Nigeria while discussing the constitutional provisions of religious freedom and religious associations in Nigeria. The paper concludes that religious freedom and freedom of association are integral features of the Nigerian Constitution and, therefore, all religious associations are permitted to live in peaceful coexistence.
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The author analyses contemporary historical discourse on Communism from the perspective of narratology. Applying the tools most often used in the discussions of fiction, the author describes the construction of historical actors and the patterns of employment (sensu H. White), as well as characteristic strategies and tendencies of mainstream historical narratives.
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This paper elaborated clauses of corporate social responsibility as government policy and its implication to the international investment agreement. It is also explore the main sets of ideas and the theoretical framework that form the basis of CSR as introduced in article 15 of Investment Law. The analysis exposes the role of social responsibility and environment management as an obligation in protecting the interest of the states; investors; peoples and comparing it with the Prohibition of Performance Requirement (PPR) as mostly introduced in international investment agreement, particularly in investment chapter under FTA.
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The article touches upon the issue of the need to study the myth in artistic practices as special phenomenon in the modern social life of Europe countries. The novelty of the study is as follows. We assert that among the newest myths, which significantly affect the value orientations and life standards of modern society, a special place is occupied exactly by the myth of ancient state in newest artistic practices. Such newest myth gives a new interpretation of cultural heritage. We analyses the animation blockbusters all created the newest artistic myth about Rus. We have focus on analyzing the artistic myth as special product of contemporary artistic practices and phenomenon of East-Central Europe culture which was formed as result of post-totalitarian practices and cultural policy of the state. The analysis of its features, as the social and cultural phenomenon, is carried out in our study taking into account problem of post-totalitarian practices in East Europe countries. As result, this myth transposed an idea of “cradle of fraternal nations” in East-Central Europe, and it created the other artistic myth about the Lord of Kiev Vladimir as a naive, capricious and ridiculous ruler of an ancient country.
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