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In a contemporary political sociology, experiencing a renaissance in political leadership studies, the populism – defined as a specific type of anti-establishment leadership – is quite well known not only from current „rises”, but also from former cyclic „tidal waves”. Even if there are visible parallels to former waves of populist politics, few socio-political analyses of the current „third wave” sweeping across Europe and the US benefit from the theoretical body of researches of previous waves. The current approach focuses on a shallow theoretical-historical approach to populism as a sui generis novum, as a critical backlash to contemporary development trends (ie. globalism, centralized government, neo-liberal politics, etc.). Thus this paper aims at reminding three important analyses relating to three consecutive waves of populism. All three point at populism as a manifestation of democratic trends and focus attention on leadership groups. Alexis de Tocqueville viewed populist campaigns of Louis Napoleon in France as manifestations of a „despotic democracy”. Max Weber judged European populisms he witnessed as manifestations of a „plebiscitary democracy”. Contemporary neo-elitists focus their attention both on leaders and on the structure of leadership groups as well as on relations between leaders and their „electorate”. Such leadership focused perspective is a necessary addendum to the research on contemporary populism.
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As some researchers note, national identity is probably the only form of identity forwhich people are ready to give their own lives. Deprived of the experience of personalcontact, the strong sense of belonging to the national group must consist of imagining oneself as entwined with crowds of anonymous compatriots in an invisible, butrealistically experienced bond. Though, the concepts of national identity and national identification are often treated interchangeably. they are not equivalent. Group identitymeans the fact of belonging to a specific group, combined with having its cognitive representation. Identification refers to the individual-group personal relationship, and describes the strength of the emotional bond felt with other members and the importance of a given group identity. This paper presents psychological origins of national identification, linking them to the deepest and most basic epistemic, motivational and existential human needs. Awareness of identification with the national group determines the whole range of psychological phenomena from various levels of analysis. From relatively simple manifestations of affect to complex ideological orientations – they all have specific relationships with how people understand democracy and what type of democracy they prefer. The empirical evidence cited in this text proves that the strengthening of the liberal democracy and its cultural values is accompanied by the devaluation of national/patriotic identification in the utilitarian (as a socially dysfunctional phenomenon) as well as in moral sense (as a source of hostility and intolerance). However, other empirical results show national identification as a necessary component of social bonds, and a basis of social mobilization around important collective goals.
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The Arctic has been affected by the climate change stimulated institutionalisation of cooperation among ‘Arctic nations’, and the Arctic Council has been influential toward a peaceful future. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the Council as a regional intergovernmental organisation facilitating nonviolent cooperation and collaborative solutions toward the Arctic, preserving its ecosystems and natural environment. The research questions are how the Council deals multidimensionally with the Arctic and what is conflict potential due to security developments. The thesis is that the Council is effectively performing its missions as a cooperation forum despite differing agendas among members and observes. One of the reasons is that the military aspect is not included in the agenda. The paper is based on qualitative research founded on academic papers and official documents, including member states and observer nations’ perspectives and positions toward the region and Council. The assumption is that the Council must distinguish between individual national and shared goals to preserve peaceful cooperation. The teamwork is essential but is increasingly complicating as of differing nations’ agendas. The paper is contributing to systematise the perception of the Council and the challenges it is facing.
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The article presents the conditions of the policy towards the minority inhabiting the area of Gdansk Pomerania in the years 1900-1939. The focus was on determining the reasons for conducting a different policy by the German Empire and the Polish state established after the end of World War I towards Pomeranian indigenous people. It was shown that the main factors determining the manner of conducting this policy were the characteristics of individual national groups, the way the countries of origin influenced, and the reaction of this population to the actions of administrative authorities, which were considered a violation of their sense of security.
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The paper deals with the public sociologists of the former Julian Hochfeld’s circle in the time of the political system change in Poland. Among the sociologists of that school Jerzy J. Wiatr played the most important role as both a traditional and an integral public sociologist involved in the Left-wing party politics. The paper depicts his activities as a public intellectual who became an eminent political leader, as well as his work as a social and political analyst. The paper confronts his vision of the political system change, as presented in the writings of the 1989–1991 period, with the work of another eminent sociologist of that school, Zygmunt Bauman. The latter did not play any political role and was much less involved in commenting the political change that was happening at that time, being a lot more skeptical about its result.
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Lipset and Rokkan’s theory of cleavages as well as its interpretation and continuation of Bartolini and Mair became the basis for formulating the concept of the communist and post-communist cleavage. The concept of the post-communist cleavage gained solid empirical confirmation for the period from 1989 to the middle of the parliamentary term of 2001–2005. However, significant changes have taken place on the Polish political scene since then. The article, referring to the indicated authors, attempts to answer the question whether the post-communist cleavage in Poland lasts and if it will stay. The analysis focuses on the crisis of the post-communist side and the conflict on the post-Solidarity side of the cleavage. Empirical analyses show that as a result of the political conflict, the electorates of the two post-Solidarity parties – Civic Platform and Law and Justice – have clearly grown apart, and that the post-communist side is also divided, certainly on the level of political parties. The article describes various possibilities of a further development of the socio-political situation, but does not propose a definitive answer to the question of what to do with the post-communist division in Poland.
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The East-West divide within the EU has deep roots in history. It has been reflected also in the Visegrad Four’s specificity and in its conflictual relations with several EU institutions and governments of several Western European members. As Brexit showed the V4 resistance to the EU federalization positively contributes to the EU longevity as a loose confederation. The real problem for the EU are illiberal regimes in V4 states and the phenomenon of elective authoritarianism which is not confined to Eastern Europe. The EU will have to learn to manage tensions created by these phenomena.
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The article aims to present the specificity of counterinsurgency operations carried out by specialized units of the British Army in Northern Ireland. It describes the principles of operations of the first specialized unit conducting anti-guerilla operations in Belfast and Londonderry. The article also shows the failure of the MRF activities which contributed to the decommissioning of the unit. Additionally, the study answers the question did Brigadier F. Kitson's counter-insurrection strategy, developed during the operations in Kenya, proven successful in Northern Ireland? What kind of elements were crucial for the failure of COIN activities in the initial period of ‘troubles’?
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The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for many marginal political groups to increase their popularity and enter the mainstream with their narrative. This is also the case with the Polish far-right. The research discussed in the following text concerned the message of the Polish extreme right during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), both what changed in this message and what remained unchanged. Using data from social media, online and offline publications, reports from events, and interviews with key informants, the author sought to understand how COVID-19 has changed the behaviour and narratives of far-right groups in Poland. The analysis was structured around two meta-narratives: one anti-liberal and the other geopolitical, each containing several sub-narratives. As a result of this analysis PiS and its closest allies from the world of politics and media turned out to be one of the leading promoters of various anti-liberal concepts and social and systemic solutions, especially those concerning reproductive and LGBT rights created in the far-right circles. PiS politicians often drew their slogans and ideas from the ideological resources of the far-right, directly copying their language and rhetoric and often even immediate solutions.
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knowledge. Today this process is driven by the new information and communications technologies. While digitisation is permeating all areas of life, it has become clear that technological revolution is not just a purely technical (or economic) process, but also a social one and it is not gender-neutral. Technology can help women and girls access new opportunities, means of expression and channels for participation. However, technological boom can also cause imbalances in the convergent environment. People will need a variety of skills to be able to contribute on an equal footing to the digital transformations but these skills are not equally distributed across all social groups. Debates nowadays extend even further to encompass artificial intelligence and experts have repeatedly underlined that advanced automation technologies can bring about not only great opportunities for humanity but also risks. Challenges can stem from the accelerated use of artificial intelligence without respecting such categories like gender, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity. International bodies raise the admonition that “transparency and accountability for the data behind AI is critical to reducing bias, but very difficult to govern or enforce.” The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [1] embody a human rights’ based roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind. Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is a crucial goal among others in this important set of priorities for humanity. Only by ensuring the rights of women and girls across all the goals will we get thriving economies, a sustaining environment now and for future generations and genuine social inclusion for a smart society. The article will present a new elaborated version of the summary of the research on gender issues in the converged environment done in the period 2018 – 2020 within the EC COMPACT project.
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This study is aimed at identifying the most noticeable Slavic elements in the calendar rites of Bukovyna. It analyzes material collected by Romanian researchers in the second half of the 19th – early 20th century (E. Niculiță-Voronca, T. Pamfile, L. Bodnărescu, А. Fochi, A. Zașciuc), documents from the Central Scientific Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova, the New Linguistic Atlas of Romania, Moldova and Bukovyna (1987), as well as personal observations recorded by the authors of the study in Ukraine and Romania during ethnographic expeditions. In the calendar rites of the Romanians of Bukovyna, some clear Slavic elements can be identified, such as some names of calendar holidays, Ukrainian elements in such rites as koliada, the Christmas star, shchedruvannya. Ukrainian motifs of musical folklore in winter rites, as well as the use of the names of Ukrainian opryshky and haidamaky, the adaptation of the “walking with vertep”, the use of the term vidma of Ukrainian origin, the penetration of the name and main text of the Ukrainian Malanka, etc.
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The article presents the methods of influencing particular groups of the revolutionary “Supraciu” movement in Belarus. The subject of the research is to verify the goals of the "Supraciu" movement as an opposition to the Belarusian regime and to define its status in the structure of national liberation organizations. The main research method is the analysis of materials from various media, including social media. The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the activities of these groups. The adopted thesis is that the "Supraciu" movement is a national liberation movement that uses terror to weaken the dictatorial regime of Alexander Lukashenka. Following this assumption, the methods and effectiveness of group members of the "Supraciu" movement were presented, and the prospects for the development of this movement in Belarus were assessed.
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The article traces the emergence of the smart city concept, and how it has developed in the global North and the global South. The article further explores the discourses around smart cities as found mentioned in the scholarship, and in several attempts to define a rather ambiguous term smart city, exploring different aspects/dimensions/components of a smart city in general, and in relation to citizenship and rights, in particular. The discourses are broadly categorized under the themes of urban governance, citizenship rights and technology-society nexus. An understanding of the genealogy of the smart city concept and discourse would be helpful in understanding how the idea has taken space in urban governance with implications including on citizenship rights.
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The article explores the impact of the miner strike movement in Donbas on the post--communist transition in Ukraine from 1989 to 1994. By focusing on the Donbas strike movement, its relationship with the nationalist intelligentsia, and a later co-optation of its mobilizing potential by regional elites, it provides an analysis of the agency of bottom-up social forces operating within a particular cultural framework during the transition period. The striking miners played a significant role in the reclamation of Ukrainian independence in 1991. Building on this momentum, Donbas politicians were able to politicize the already existing socio-cultural diversity of Ukrainian society and to define the fundamental political cleavage in Ukraine in self-serving, regionalist terms.
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The late 1990s, when censorship was introduced in China, was a watershed moment for many Chinese companies. At that time, as many Western applications became banned in China, Chinese entrepreneurs began to develop their products at a much faster pace. An example is Tencent company which launched the WeChat application, which revolutionized the E-commerce market in China within just a few years. Chinese E-commerce differs from the Western Internet markets by the characteristics of consumer behavior, shopping platforms, or brands, which is a new co-creation model among consumers and brands. The given research paper presents a fragment of the results of own research conducted among the entrepreneurs and individuals who use the WeChat application for business or/and private purposes in China. The aim of the following study is to present the Chinese E-commerce market, and the difference between the Western and Chinese customer approaches in the example of the WeChat application. The research method used is a WeChat application case study in China. The source of the work is an analysis of the literature query in the field of E-commerce, analysis of the statistical data, and primary data, i.e., a fragment of the results of the pilot own research.
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After 1517 the Holy Places of Jerusalem, Palestine and Sinai as well as the three ancient Eastern Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antiochia and Jerusalem were included into the imperial domain of the Sublime Porte thus connecting its Orthodox subjects in Rumelia, Greek islands, Asia Minor and the Danubian Principalities to the most worshipped common Christian shrines. In the following two centuries the number of the pilgrims to the Holy Land from the Ottoman Balkan provinces was permanently increasing. The South Slav pilgrims’ glosses and travel notes reveal the shaping of the common orthodox space, the parts of which were the visitors’ living places, sacral centers, monasteries and travel communications. The pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the return back lead them across administrative, canonical, ethnic and territorial metes and bounds creating in their minds the image of the Ottoman Empire as mighty world power with multinational and multi-confessional population thus laying foundations for the development of protonational identities.
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