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The Fear to Talk

Author(s): Adriana Sotirova / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

This paper deals with one of the most controversial phenomena of modern society – political correctness, manifested in language and behaviour. It focuses on the restrictions which it imposes on people’s social and cultural life, the bans that are enforced against a particular language and the possible prosecution in case of refusal to use politically correct language. It deals with facts that show arising dominance of minority groups over the majority.

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STUDENT AND PARENTAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS VOUCHERIZATION OF EDUCATION

Author(s): Admir Čavalić,Damir Bećirović,Amela Bešlagić / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2018

Voucher system of education implies the use of vouchers as instruments of financing public and private education. Unlike the traditional ways of financing education, the voucher system creates the assumptions for increasing the freedom of choice regarding educational programs within different levels of education. Paper will use scientific methods of systematization and analysis of existing literature regarding school vouchers, in order to give a critical review of the influence of vouchers on increasing the competitiveness of education. The paper will also present the results of the research of student and parental attitudes about towards voucherization of education. Research sample includes respondents from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Croatia and Republic of Serbia. Along with the conclusion, the paper also offers some recommendations regarding the use of vouchers for the improvement of local education systems.

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Konkurencja, zagrożenie czy ratunek dla gospodarki? Postawy Polaków wobec imigrantów

Author(s): Joanna Konieczna-Sałamatin / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2019

This article presents the attitudes of Poles towards immigrants and analyses the factors that co-exist with these attitudes. Data come mainly from the European Values Study (2017). The analyses have shown a clear impact of media discourse on the social perception of immigrants, which leads to a split image of the immigrants: „real” ones, whom Poles meet in various public places or at work and who are generally accepted, and „imagined” immigrants - „aliens”, more often causing a sense of threat. Attitudes towards real immigrants are not connected with political views and are to a small extent related to opinions on the European Union. The assessment of the „imagined” immigrants’ impact on the development of Poland is an element of a broader set of axiological orientations, the essential element of which is trying to order the social reality in the framework of traditionally understood roles and hierarchy and which are associated with a negative relationship with the European Union and even with scepticism towards democracy as a form of government and civil liberties.

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Individual-Level Evidence on the Relationship between Trust in Political Institutions and Generalized Trust: An Analysis in the Case of Vietnam

Author(s): An Nguyen Huu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

The relationship between political and generalized trust has been placed in the centre of academic debate for several decades. Recent studies have found a positive link between the two constructs in democratic countries and Asian nondemocratic settings,but no correlation among them in post-communist countries. This paper extends the understanding of the link in nondemocratic settings by taking Vietnam as a case to investigate conditions behind the relationship. Using data of Vietnam from the fourth wave of Asian Barometer Survey, results of logistic regressions reveal that different types of trust in political institutions differently affect generalized trust. Trust in partisan institutions is positively associated with generalized trust, while there is no relationship between trust in checking institutions and generalized trust. Furthermore, partisanship and voluntary associational membership are demonstrated as two prominent conditions under which the variation of the link between trust in political institutions and generalized trust can be observed.

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NIGERIA’S REGIONAL AMBITIONS: CHANNELS AND CHALLENGES

Author(s): Aslam Khan,Lawan Cheri / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world, member of the UN Security Council and largest economy of Africa. In addition to its globally acknowledged qualitative oil, it also has large deposits of mineral resources including tin, coal and gypsum, gold and lead. The country is not only engaged in a passionate competition with South Africa to attain the position of a continental superpower preparatory towards becoming a globally acknowledge giant but also comfortably playing a big-brother role among Africa nations. This paper uses documentary analysis to examine Nigeria’s social, economic and global potentials of fulfilling its dreams vis-a-vis the potentials of its competitor(s). The paper found out that Nigeria faces multidimensional challenges on its path towards continental leadership ranging from domestic problems of rising crime, incessant insurgency, dilapidated infrastructure, growing unemployment, over-reliance on dwindling oil income and leadership crises among others to intense competition from other strong African countries like South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia. The paper concludes that the country’s goal of a regional superpower status is achievable but Nigeria must address its domestic challenges to win the race of attaining continental hegemony.

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DETERMINANTS AND IMPACTS OF POLITICS OF GODFATHERISM AND REGIONALISM IN THE YOBE STATE

Author(s): Mustapha Alhaji Ali,Hadiza Mali Bukar,Abdulkarim Babagana / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

The politics of godfatherism and regionalism has become a phenomenon in the political development of many nations Nigeria inclusive. The paper examined the determinants and impacts of politics of godson and regionalism in Yobe state. Indeed, the politics of godson or the elites have entered every hook and crannies of the state and have affected the political arrangement of the political system. The paper is qualitative in nature, data were generated from secondary sources where several related articles, newspapers, magazines, books were consulted etc. In explaining the topic under study, the researcher adopted Elite theory. This theory was propounded by Vilfredo Pareto in 1935, the postulation of the theory is that elites could only be replaced by another set of elites, meaning that the majority are unavoidably governed by the minority. The study found that the politics of godfatherism courses and affect the political development of Yobe state by restricting power in the hands of the few, in a specific geopolitical zone of the state. This has leads to inter-party and intra-party defections, decamping and conflicts among the party members. Therefore, the study recommends the adoption of the direct primary election in chosen candidate in all level of governance. INEC should also make a law that will discourage money politics and punish culpritinvolved in such an illegal act. To minimize the politics of Godfatherism, there is a need for political awareness campaigns on the effects of political godson on the political development of the state.

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THE REFUGEE CRISIS, BREXIT AND THE RISE OF POPULISM: MAJOR OBSTACLES TO THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION PROCESS

Author(s): Valeri Modebadze / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

This article describes the main challenges that the European Union is facing over the last years. It also analyzes the European Integration process and the emergence of the European Union. European integration process began after the Second World War. European politicians realized that “the old continent”, which was destroyed and razed to the ground, needed unification in order to play more important role in the bipolar international system. The European integration was a step by step process, which reached its culmination after signing the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, when the European Union was formally established. The European Union created very favorable ground for free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the internal market. Despite these positive developments, new threats emerged over the last years that can put an end to the European integration process. From these threats and challenges, particular attention is dedicated to Britain’s exit from the European Union (Brexit), rise of radicalism and populist parties, migration crisis and a heightened terrorism threat.

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NEO-OTTOMANISM IN TURKEY'S FOREIGN POLICY: A POLISH PERSPECTIVE

Author(s): Artur Adamczyk,Goran Ilik / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

The main objective of this article is to analyze the impact of Ankara’s reference to the legacy of the Ottoman Empire on contemporary Turkish foreign policy and the attitude of Poland towards such a reversal in Turkish diplomacy. Turkey is now more aware that it has no chance of gaining European Union membership. In this situation, Ankara has begun to emphasize its Eurasian character and is trying to build its influence in the region, in particular among eastern and southern neighbors. To have a greater impact on its neighbors, Turkey refers to the legacy of the Ottoman Empire. The weakening of Ankara's political relations with the western world is particularly worrisome for Poland, which appreciates Turkey's geostrategic position and its role in the European security system. The greatest concern among Poles is caused by the political and economic rapprochement between Ankara and Moscow. What also disturbs Poles is the fact that Turkey, which had made pro-democratic efforts, is departing from the principles fundamental to Europeans.

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Can Self-organized Criticality Theory help identify Political Mobilization on Social Media?

Author(s): Natalia Barabash,Dmitry ZHUKOV / Language(s): English Issue: 25 (1)/2020

One of the challenges of monitoring political mobilization on social media is the setting of formalized mobilization criteria to identify early symptoms of political mobilization across different groups. We propose and test a tool for identifying groups that display a high level of political mobilization. This tool is based on the hypothesis that strong engagement of users in group activities and discussions is common to groups in a state of self-organized criticality (SOC). An attribute of SOC, known as pink noise, can be observed in time series. To test this hypothesis, we sourced data on activity in 200 Facebook groups in France and Germany.

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SOFT POWER CONTEXT OF CHINESE INVESTMENTS TO THE EUROPEAN UNION: CHALLENGES VS. OPPORTUNITIES

Author(s): Daniela Cvetanovska / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

This paper presents a constructivist take on soft power, by analyzing the contextual factors which influence Chinese investments (COFDI) to the EU as a relevant soft power resource. The contextual analysis shows which constraining and stimulating (internal and external) factors condition COFDI in leveraging soft power for China. Additionally, the article provides solutions for soft power optimization, since soft power resources aim to entice and foster cooperative relations toward a ‘win-win’ behavior. The issues presented here have profound implications for future studies on soft power and the political economy of Chinese investments in the EU.

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THE PROBLEM OF THE ‘OLD’ WORKING CLASS DEPRESSION ESPECIALLY THROUGH THE PRISM OF THE USA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 2016 AND 2020

Author(s): Slavejko Sasajkovski / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

Digital economic and overall social transformation does not shape the future in an economic-sociological/socio-economic direction and with content that contributes as an important factor for raising the level of social integration and cohesion that is social capital. In reality, the economic-sociological/socio-economic problem of the ‘old’ working class, a working class that is not optimally involved in the structures of digital technology, economy and society, is imposed as a key problem. The most provocative expression of the significance of this class, in particular the American white working class, that ‘old’ white working class, is its impact on the outcome of the presidential election in the US in November 2016. The decisive factor for Trump's victory was the acquisition of an economically-sociologically/socially-economically disadvantaged or even depressed American white working class concentrated in several major states in the US West and the Midwest, which carry a large number of electors in the electoral college. Therefore, the primary goal of potential democratic presidential candidates is to take, that is, to restore this American white working class as its electorate. То this end, ideological and political variants of the concepts of democratic socialism (exclusively Bernie Sanders) and democratic capitalism (practically all other Democratic presidential candidates) are being created.

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Tranzycja demokratyczna z „fałszywej demokracji”. Czy nowy paradygmat tranzycyjny?.

Author(s): Bartłomiej Nowotarski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2020

„The third wave” of democratization had a real challenge: to disarm brutal dictatorships and enable the process of building the institutions of the liberal democracy. Political scientists scrutinized the process of democratization and created its transitional paradigm. Unfortunately, as the paradigm and the democratization process failed (the so called „fake democracies” emerged), the proponents of the liberal democracy faced a new challenge: to turn back the trends of democratic erosions and to build a more sustainable,post-liberal democracy in the future. The important question remains: what kind of a new paradigm would best encompass contemporary challenges? This essay aims at drawing such a new paradigm referring to likely transitional strategies that may end up in new kind of democratic settings (also in a form of „fake democracies”). To come up with new schemes failed transitions and new trends are discussed.

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Забраненият смях

Author(s): Bogdan Dichev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2020

The text presents the ideas about the uselessness of the political correctness as a social act and analyses the comic mechanisms of several types of politically incorrect jokes. The author argues that laughter in this short contemporary folk form could quite often be happy, constructive and good-willed as far as the minority joke characters are concerned as representatives of differing and presumably oppressed communities. Several examples certifying for the semantic reflections of self-irony, overcoming of pain, re-ordering of the well-known world and mutation of the already known, turning the otherwise insulting meanings and plots into sincere and lively laughter. Finally, the author deals with the dilemma if the politically incorrect jokes should give way to silencing.

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VIETNAM AND INDIA’S APPROACH TO THE INDO-PACIFIC REGION: IMPLICATION FOR BILATERAL RELATION PROMOTION

Author(s): Nguyen Thi Oanh,Pham Thuy Nguyen / Language(s): English Issue: 03/2021

There have been tectonic shifts in the Indo-Pacific region, impacting relations among international actors, including traditionally close partners like Vietnam and India. By using the approach of realism and constructivism in international relations, this paper discusses Vietnam and India’s approach to the Indo-Pacific region to expand their substantive strategic relationship. The paper finds out that geopolitical changes in the Indo-Pacific directly influence the bilateral relation and create challenges as well as opportunities. By using the SWOT model, the paper analyzes driving factors and challenges to the Vietnam- India relations. Through the findings, it suggests both countries need to take advantages of the regional cooperation to further Vietnam-India’s strategic comprehensive partnership.

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CHINA’S PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: EVOLUTION, CHALLENGES, AND THE GREEK CASE

Author(s): Georgios Zacharias / Language(s): English Issue: 03/2021

The construction of a positive international image is profoundly correlated with advancing one’s national interests abroad. Influencing foreign audiences and creating multisided links with countries of interest, is the main objective of public diplomacy. In the highly interconnected XXI century, countries have increasingly invested in that practice, assisted by major technological advancements. China is not an exception. The current paper will examine in which ways the latter conducts public diplomacy and through which actors. The study will also try to showcase the evolution and challenges that took place in this domain. Afterward, the case study of Greece will be considered, presenting the Chinese actors engaging in the country, the practices they use, and how the bilateral relationship has been affected. The essay will conclude with estimating the total effectiveness of the practices, possible challenges that exist, and several insights for future reference.

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AI AND DIPLOMACY: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Author(s): Marta Konovalova / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

This article focused on two distinct areas: diplomacy for AI and AI for diplomacy. The first point investigated challenges faced by diplomats associated with creating stability in cyberspace and diversifying objects of cooperation. The second point sought to identify the threats and opportunities associated with AI in diplomacy; to explore the impact of digital tools on diplomatic capacity, technological limitations through digital diplomacy, and uncertain future demand for the diplomatic profession; to investigate the necessary competencies of civil servants in managing alternative reality and collaborating with technical specialists. The research utilized a qualitative approach, employing analysis of existing literature and diplomatic practices related to AI and its effects on diplomacy. The research underscored the importance of diplomats’ readiness for change and their understanding and utilization of new technologies. It highlighted the need for interdisciplinary training programs incorporating innovative thinking, big data management, and machine learning to foster effective collaboration between diplomats and technical specialists. We concluded that embracing AI and digital capabilities can empower diplomats and enhance the effectiveness of diplomatic instruments in achieving national goals in times of peace and hybrid war in the real world and the metauniverse.

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FASHIONABLE POLITICS: HOW ITALIAN LEADERS TRANSFORM INTO SUCCESSFUL BRANDS IN CONTEMPORARY COMMUNICATION

Author(s): Daniele Battista / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

Political communication is inherently intertwined with social dynamics and cannot be considered a separate field of study. Symbolic elements, slogans, and the leadership of political figures have permeated human history, influencing and often determining political action. This study has analyzed the phenomenon of personalization as compelling evidence in the field of contemporary political communication. The analysis is based on a study of Italian cases, aiming to provide an in-depth insight into the strategies adopted by political parties to personalize their leaders’ image and engage voters. In particular, the focus has primarily been on party symbols incorporating the leader’s name. The research was conducted to identify party personalization mechanisms and their impact on public opinion. The result highlighted the role of political communication in asserting the individual as a brand at the expense of the party organization, with significant implications for democracy and political participation.

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Нова политическа фразеология в българската публична реч

Author(s): Nadezhda Stalyanova,Elena Krejčová / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2024

This text explores the potential for updating the phraseological fund of the Bulgarian language in the Bulgarian public discourse and examines the influence of different types of updates on the specifics of the functioning of the given phraseological units in public speech. The most visible updates are those that clearly introduce new elements into the meaning of the original sustained phrase, but at the same time retain the obvious connection to the original language unit. Phraseological units, which are generally distinguished by semantic indivisibility, stability of their lexical composition, invariable structure, imagery, emotionality and expressiveness, are subject to dynamic changes occurring in Bulgarian language in recent years. We direct our interest to stable expressions, in the composition of which a new component appears as a manifestation of lexical dynamics, which replaces an already established one, or an additional element appears in the structure of a phraseology, i.e. our attention will be directed mainly to the so-called lexical updates of the phraseological fund. In the text, we trace the change (structural and semantic) in a number of phraseological units in the Bulgarian language, in which the entry of the lexical component kopeyka is observed. The excerpted material is from two corpora – CLASSLA-web.bg (Bulgarian web) and the corpus of parliamentary speech ParlaMint corpus: https://www.clarin.si/ske/#concordance. The examples extracted from the corpora are relevant for tracking the changes we are interested in in the phraseological fund of the modern Bulgarian language.

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STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION AS A TOOL FOR COUNTERING HYBRID THREATS. A FOCUS ON NATIONAL RESILIENCE AND PUBLIC TRUST

Author(s): Elena MÂRZAC / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

This paper examines strategic communication's important role in countering hybrid threats through early detection, real-time response, and collaboration among government, civil society, and technology sectors. Hybrid threats, such as foreign information interference, disinformation, cyberattacks, and political influence campaigns, present challenges to national security, particularly in the digital age. By fostering societal resilience and enhancing public trust in institutions, strategic communication frameworks are essential to safeguarding national interests. This paper explores how strategic communication frameworks can detect, respond to, and mitigate the impacts of hybrid threats, rapid and coordinated responses. Strategic communication can prevent the spread of disinformation, help build national resilience. By creating collaborative networks and using digital technologies, strategic communication protects national security and underscores their role in safeguarding national resilience. It aligns messaging across agencies, reinforcing government credibility during crises and fostering societal resilience through transparent, accurate information. By engaging with diverse audiences, StratCom adapts messages to influence positive public behaviors and build social cohesion. Additionally, it supports national interests by unifying government and societal efforts under clear objectives, while protecting information channels to secure communication. This proactive, coordinated approach strengthens democratic values and national security against hybrid threats.

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ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT OF CYBERTERRORISM IN THE CONTEXT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Author(s): Cristina Ejova / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

This paper examines the concept of cyberterrorism through the lens of political science, focusing on its origins, development, and impact on global security. With the exponential growth of information technology, cyberterrorism has emerged as a significant threat, utilizing advanced technological means to destabilize political and social frameworks. The rapid increase in internet access has introduced new opportunities for both communication and crime, including the use of digital platforms for extremist and terrorist activities. The study emphasizes the complex methodologies required for analyzing cyberterrorism, including systemic, institutional, and comparative approaches, each contributing to a nuanced understanding of this phenomenon. Based on a systemic approach, the specifics of various definitions of the phenomenon of “cyberterrorism” will be revealed. It is argued that modern cyberterrorism, aimed at creating threats to international and national security, serves as one of the effective tools for achieving political goals on the global stage. Utilizing theories such as the information society and network society, the article underscores the importance of international cooperation in combating cyberterrorism.

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