Analysis of Conflicts in the Use of Space in Mining Basin “Kolubara”

Author(s): Marija Živković / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2012

Consequence of impact of the surface exploitation on the enviroment is manifested in the form of physical, social, and environmental conflicts. The dominant conflicts of the Kolubara lignite basin space occurs between mining and agriculture, which indicates the importance of the process of rehabilitation and revitalization of contaminated land and its effective bringing to the original purpose. Another significant conflict appears between the existing settlements and mining, infrastructural, water management and other facilities, which are located in areas of mining works, so the solution is in their displacement. As consequence of development of the mining-energyindustrial system there is an adverse impact on the enviroment, which is reflected in the pollution of air, land, groundwater and surface water. Ecological dimension of this conflict presents clear and limiting factor for the mine development, which directly points that the economic development of mining basin “Kolubara” is directed toward the rational exploitation of natural resources (coal, water, land, ect.). In the process of harmonization of these conflicts, it is necessary to take into account that the energy policy acts at the national level, as the public interest, and therefore has priority over all other interests.

Brownfield Redevelopment As A Measure For Climate Changes Mitigation

Author(s): Jasna Cizler / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2013

This paper explores brownfield renewal as a measure of sustainable land use. The aim was to highlight the brownfield redevelopment as a strategy for mitigation of negative effects of climate changes. Emphasis was put on innovative concepts in brownfield redevelopment, which involve land recycling, application of ecological and sustainable solutions. Main case studies are from Austria. Their analysis and evaluation show which concepts and strategies are used in successful redevelopment projects, and which strategies give the best results. This shows that brownfield renewal can have positive effects on regulation and mitigation of climate changes. Finally, guidelines for climate changes accountable and redevelopment will be derived. Research methodology is qualitative and combined, comprising of data analysis, case studies (field work, interviews with relevant actors), analysis of case studies and evaluation according to previously defined criteria, synthesis of results and generalisation and interpretation of results.

KÜRESEL İKLİM DEĞİŞİKLİĞİ VE TÜRKİYE’DE KANAL TİPİ HİDRO-ELEKTRİK SANTRALLERİN FOUCAULT’NUN BİYO-İKTİDAR, YÖNETİMSELLİK VE GÜVENLİĞİN BİYOPOLİTİKASI KAVRAMLARI BAĞLAMINDA ANALİZİ

Author(s): Nahide Konak / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 1/2019

By drawing on Foucault's concepts of bio-power, liberal governmentality and the biopolitics of security, this study aims to analyze the transition to green economy in the name of global climate change mitigation as well as the development of run-of river channel-type hydro-electric (HEPP) projects, public debates and controversies over these projects in Turkey. It consists of two main arguments: 1) It argues that the global climate change, which came into effect as a result of the second contradiction of capitalism (O’Connor, 1994), falls into the realm of bio-power, and the official name for the new security dispositif that is presented as a solution to the climate change crisis is transition to the green economy. It further argues that in this transition, the biopolitics of security has been realized through the neo-liberal governmentality of climate change, which began to define and transform the relationship between carbon gas and human beings. 2) It argues that the HEPP projects, which have been shaped by the global climate change, green economy and renewable energy discourses and practices, fall into the realm of bio-power as well as reflect a bio-power conflict.

Kapitalocinema

Author(s): Annamária Hódosy / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 25/2019

The analysis of the interrelationship of ecological problems and the dominant economical system of the North is nothing new and is beginning to seep into films, even into Hollywood blockbusters. However, in movies that seem to be the most open and indignant about the destruction of nature, there is a certain conservative „latent content” underlying the „manifest content” of straightforward criticism. Two films of the three that are examined in this paper – Big Miracle (2012) and the Danish Skytten (2013) – seem to make an equation between ecological degradation and the capitalist exploitation of „free nature”. Excessive radicalism is nevertheless avoided, when the antagonism between the environmental activists and the executives of profit-oriented corporations/governments in the films is reconciled through the representation of the personal motives and life-stories of the protagonists. The third film, Downsizing (2017) chooses a more complicated strategy to maintain the status quo. Although both the ecological problems and the social inequities entailed by the current phase of global capitalism are highlighted, the grotesque representation of the practical implementation of what may be thought of as the theory of no-growth or de-growth economy becomes an exculpation of the present economical system instead of making an attack on it.

ІСТОРИЧНІ АСПЕКТИ СУЧАСНОЇ СОЦІОЛОГІЇ ВІЙНИ

Author(s): Oleksandr Yurievich Panfilov,Olga Oleksandrivna Savchenko / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 4/2019

Problem setting. Humanity entered the era of globalization, which is characterized by a number of factors - national economies have melded into a single global system where the capital can easily move, new information opportunities have made the world more open, the technological revolution has led to a qualitative change in the means of production and consumption, the planetary scientific revolution has become a reality; developed industrial countries are striving to liberalization of the movement of goods and capital, the world is moving closer together on the basis of modern means of communication; new international social movements, new modes of transport, new telecommunication technologies are being implemented, education is being internationalized. However, all these innovations have not made the issue of war less burning. World society has faced the trend of increasing wars and armed conflicts in the world over the past decades and in the total number of killed and injured have grown as a result of hostilities.Recent research and publications analysis. Numerous works written on the target topic indicate that the issues of war as a specific phenomenon in the life of human society have always been and remain in the focus of attention of thinkers, scientists, researchers of the past and the present time. In particular, the thorough analysis of the essence, content, forms of war, its features and laws have been carried out in the works written by V. F. Hegel, F. Engels, C. von Clausewitz, B. Liddel-Hart, N. Machiavelli, V. Mandragel, H. von Moltke, C. Moscos, J. Friedman, F. Fukuyama, S. Huntington, R. Aron, K. Hajiyev, M. Gareev, V. Slipchenko, V. Smolyanyuk, E. Toffler, M. Trebin, I. Panarin, V. Serebryannikov and so on.Paper objective. The goal of this paper is to specify the historical background of the formation of modern sociology of war.Paper main body. The article deals with the views on the war in a historical perspective, focuses on the methodological grounds of the armed confrontation, which started after the Second World War when the most developed countries developed a powerful military-industrial complex dominating in politics and economics. Potential opponents sought to overtake each other, to shift the developed military-strategic parity pursuing own benefit. They begin to develop nuclear missile weapons, which radically changed the concept of war over a short time. Due to the increase in the power of nuclear weapons, the leading authorities in the world military sphere and subsequently the military-political leaders of the countries-members of the nuclear club gradually started to understand that one of the long-term tasks is to contain the use of nuclear weapons by the enemy.The article emphasizes that the late 1950s - early 1960s are characterized by a significant increase in attention to the theoretical problems of war and peace. This is due to the creation of the military-political blocs of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Since then many publications have appeared which focus the primacy of politics over the military sphere. Military theorists understand that the outbreak of war to solve political goals could lead to irreversible consequences. At the end of the 20th century with the beginning of globalization, many concepts arose to search for the causes of wars. The confrontation of the West with the rest of the world in the face of growing multi-polarity can become a cause of war and conflict at the beginning of the third millennium.The article also highlights the concept of mutiny war, which is seen as a new form of armed conflict, in which the future wars would be waged by small terrorist cells and special forces, gaining influence by subversion and organized revolutions rather than through traditional warfare.Conclusions of the research. Numerous theoretical and practical issues related to determining the laws of war, its essence and features as well as to transforming the goals, scope, nature and means of armed struggle and the importance of the human factor for the consequences of hostilities for a particular country and humanity as a whole should be considered on the basis of recognizing the fact that the phenomenon of war is eternal, inevitable and unavoidable. The views and concepts that were formed in the second half of the 20th century have not rejected and condemned armed violence but also approved and legitimized it, adapted to the needs of foreign policy and even have rationalized it. Political and military leaders have sought to make people consider the war in all its forms and violence as a common phenomenon that states and people can tolerate in their relations. The probability of using armed violence in the system of the modern world order can easily become a reality.

Икономическите неравенства и бюджетът на Европейския съюз

Author(s): Irena Nikolova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2019

Inequality, either economic or social, has been a major issue for the societies from ancient times and there is no equality reached for all the possible dimensions so far. Moreover, the existence of inequality and its enlargement leads to instability and conflicts in certain countries and regions. Thus, more and more attention is paid to the diversities in the society and to their possible aspects. The economic inequality is reviewed according to the income, wealth and living standard (well-being). These three indicators are analyzed in the paper, as well as the EU budget possibilities for their reduction.

Кръговата икономика в България – перспективи и предизвикателства

Author(s): Vanya Ivanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 5/2019

The study presents the systematic response of fiscal policy to public debt developments, aiming to reveal its crucial importance in determining whether the debt-to-GDP dynamics leads to a desired equilibrium or not. On this basis, we will show that the values ??of the debt-to-GDP ratio in Bulgaria close to 55-60% are an acceptable boundary where debt can be considered as manageable and sustainable. These calculations contribute as they give new directional ideas when measuring the fiscal effects of fiscal policy, they can also serve as an anchor for various stress testing scenarios as well as an analysis of the social expenditures outweighing in the future.

„Ненужното“ като изследователски проблем

Author(s): Velislava Petrova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2020

The paper analyses the construction and transformation within the academic studies of the materialities related to the “wasted” or the “useless” and more precisely the phenomena of waste and garbage. The main thesis is that if we abandon the definition of waste and garbage through the notion of “uselessness” and „dirtiness, the categories of waste and garbage change. Reapplying a definition of waste as a resource transforms its status into the one of an economic phenomenon. That transformations produces its own impacts, which could be positive and related to a better treatment options or negative and related to hazardous effects on health and welfare.

Djelatnost u doba antropocena

Author(s): Bruno Latour / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 25/2020

Kako bismo trebali reagirati kada se suočimo s vijesti poput one iz Le Mondea od utorka, 7. svibnja 2013.: »U petak, 3. svibnja, koncentracija CO2 na Mauna Loi dosezalaje 399.29 ppm«? Kako možemo upiti neobičnu novost naslova: »Količina CO2 u zraku najvećaje u posljednjih 2.5 milijuna godina - prag od 400 ppm CO2, glavnoga čimbenika globalnog zagrijavanja, bit će prijeđen ove godine«? To širenje kako razmjera daleke prošlosti, tako i učinka našega kolektivnog djelovanja zabrinjava još i više u podnaslovu u istome članku, koji tiho navodi: »Najveća dozvoljena granica CO2 prijeđenaje tik pred 1990-u«. Dakle, ne samo da moramo progutati vijest daje naš nedavni razvitak izmijenio stanje stvari značajno starije od samoga postojanja ljudske vrste (dijagram u članku podsjeća nas da su najstarija ljudska oruđa razmjerno vrlo nova!), već moramo upiti i uznemirujuću činjenicu da je drama dovršena i da je glavni revolucionarni događaj iza nas, jer već smo prešli nekoliko od devet »planetarnih granica« koje neki znanstvenici smatraju krajnjim barijerama koje se ne smiju prijeći!

Sociology and climate change

Author(s): Vesna D. Miltojević,Ivana Lj. Ilić Krstić / Language(s): English,Serbian Issue: 4/2020

This paper showcases the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach to the examination of causes and effects of climate change, particularly the necessity of greater involvement of sociologists in the investigation of the causes and the offering of solutions to mitigate the effects. Accepting the view that present-day climate change is socially conditioned, the discussion relies on the assumption that climate change has indeed found its place in sociological research, only not to a sufficient extent. Based on the review of available literature, it was determined that the study of climate change was triggered by social ecologists and that climate change became a full-fledged subject of theoretical considerations and investigations into specific causes and effects. Since agriculture is one of the causes of climate change, the paper emphasizes the necessity of sociological research of the agricultural sector and its relation to climate change and proposes other potential research fields.

UNEVEN EUFICATION, THE SPATIAL FIX AND THE DOMINANCE OF ECONOMIC OVER SOCIAL POLICIES

Author(s): Enikő Vincze / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

I am proposing to use the term EUfication to define the process of creating the EU as territory out of the geographical disparities (re)produced across the core and periphery of Europe. The article contends that EUfication is a manifestation of the phenomenon of spatial fix. In a first step, it describes the dynamics of territorial unevenness within the EU: on the one hand, by some relevant socio-economic cohesion data compiled from Eurostat indicators, and – on the other hand – through the diagnosis on spatial injustice in different Member States, as it was revealed by a comparative research conducted between 2017-2019. Furthermore, my analysis explains territorial unevenness by reconstructing the well-known historical formation of the union through a less acknowledged perspective, i.e., in the context of the changing regimes of capital accumulation. The article concludes that the theory of spatial fix allows us recognizing: the position and timing, from which and when different countries took part in the process of EUfication is a factor leading to the persistence of uneven territorial development among the European core and periphery. My contribution to theorizing on this process consists in bringing together the perspective of the spatial fix with the critical analysis of how is the social dimension paradigm overshadowed by the economic concern of capital accumulation in the socio-economic governance of the European Single Market, including the politics of territorial cohesion.

Andreas Malm, Fosilni kapital: Uspon parnog pogona i korijeni globalnog zatopljenja

Author(s): Mirela Holy / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 11/2020

Review of: Mirela Holy - Andreas Malm, Fosilni kapital: Uspon parnog pogona i korijeni globalnog zatopljenja , Zagreb, Fraktura / Institut za političku ekologiju, 2018., 590 str.

Климатът и средната класа в страните от Югоизточна Европа

Author(s): Arjen Siegmann / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2020

Sustainable development is connected to socio-economic development. Because of this, the position and development of the middle class in Southeastern European countries is crucial in understanding the challenges for climate policies. From the outset, it seems that the middle class in the Southeast is more concerned with living standards and jobs than with climate change, as voiced by political leaders. However, in this paper I argue the middle class in the Southeast is seriously worried about climate change. The nature of the climate problem has a tragic element, that is rooted in its long time span and potential catastrophic impact. The middle class is typically associated with long-term thinking and responsibility across generations. Because of this, I argue that it would be surprising for it to not be a concern to the middle class. This is backed up by the data, which shows a great concern for climate change among the population of the Southeastern countries. Hence, support for climate policies might be much larger than indicated by the statements from politicians, including the role of the EU in this process.

Protecting the right to clean air through criminal law: a perspective from economic law analysis and the case of Poland

Author(s): Mateusz Podhalicz / Language(s): English Issue: 29 (1)/2020

The aim of this paper is to examine whether Polish criminal law efficiently criminalises acts that harm air quality (most notably emissions of toxins to the air through, among others, the improper processing of waste). The relevance of this research stems from the notorious fact that air-quality in Poland is one of the worst in Europe, and it is no secret that this situation is caused largely by private actors infringing on rules concerning the emissions of toxins into the environment. As the author establishes through legal analysis, the collection of empirical data, and on the basis of an economic-law-analysis crime model, Polish criminal law fails thoroughly when it comes to combatting this phenomenon. Relating the current legal regulations and, most importantly, their employment in practice to the prerequisites of effective crime policy (as envisaged by G. Becker), it is doubtless that for the poor air-quality in Poland to change, the state should aim at reaching a better detection rate when it comes to environmental crimes, as well as inflicting more severe penalties on the perpetrators of those crimes. This, coupled with proper educational campaigns directed at citizens and law enforcement authorities at large, should bring about higher levels of deterrence when it comes to these crimes, and by extension, enhance air quality in Poland.

ORGANIZING STATE INTERVENTION IN AN AUTHORITARIAN STATE: FROM FASCIST IMPORT SUBSTITUTION TO FRENCH DEVELOPMENTALISM IN POSTWAR SPAIN

Author(s): Cornel Ban / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

The economics of the authoritarian regime of Francisco Franco in Spain are often narrowed to a bespoke form of fascism. This paper suggests that this regime’s rather inchoate economic regimes were in fact a series of experiments that blended varieties of statism and liberalism. Thus, a form of import-substitution industrialization colored by Italian fascist features (1939-1959) lasted fifteen years longer in Spain than in the country of importation. In contrast, a local version of French developmentalism (1964-1975) was largely in sync with what was being tried in France at the time. However, this French developmentalist template imbued with fiscal Keynesianism was layered with liberal economic projects, particularly in the monetary policy arena. But while fascist import substitution (the so called “autarky”) collapsed mostly due to its internal problems, Spain’s translation of French developmentalism was associated with economic growth and was only extensively damaged by the crisis of the global capitalist core ushered by the 1973 oil shock. Critically, while in the symbolic terrain of Spanish politics the liberal economic projects that accompanied the local translation of French developmentalism were always associated with reformist and even “dissident” elite circles, the stigma of developmentalism’ association with the core elites of authoritarianism removed developmentalism as a source of alternatives to the liberal economic reforms ushered by Spain’s transition to liberal democracy in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Political Responsibility for Climate Change

Author(s): Alice Roberts / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2020

Global structural injustices are harms caused by structural processes, involving multiple individuals, acting across more than one state. Young develops the concept of ‘political responsibility,’ to allocate responsibility for structural injustice. In this paper, I am going to argue that when considering the climate crisis Young’s model needs to be adapted— to have agency as a basis for allocating political responsibility instead of contribution. This is a more intuitive way to allocate responsibility for the climate crisis given its nature as a threshold problem, and the subtle structural positions occupied by the individuals involved.

Uziemienie. Filozoficzne marginalia do The Stack i O antropolizie Benjamina Brattona

Author(s): Jakub Wolak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 41/2021

The presented text is a commentary on a Polish translation of Benjamin Bratton’s On anthropolysis. I introduce Benjamin Bratton, a Californian design theorist attempting to create a new model of political geography, to the Polish public. I delve mostly into Bratton’s The Stack: On Software and Sovereignty (2016) and critically discuss the content of this book, particularly the author’s notion of The Stack, with which he aims to revolutionize how power and sovereignty are conceived. I identify Bratton’s position in the newest intellectual history and discuss his most important theoretical inspirations. Finally, I comment on his notion of anthropolysis, in which I see a potential to solve some serious theoretical difficulties which result from The Stack.

Нови книги

Author(s): Sociological Problems / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2021

Environmental Law In Urban Climate

Author(s): Mihaela Aghenitei,Jafar Samdani / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

According to the report of the Brundtland Commission (1987), the true universal balance of environmental policies, there was a clear need to combine development with environmental protection, a precondition of the concept of sustainable development and the new principle of "sustainable development". This principle was also proclaimed within the "Rio Declaration" (point 3), a declaration signed by most of the states of the world, including Romania and Kuwait, at the UN Conference for Environmental Protection and Development of June 1992. In accordance with the principle 3 of the Declaration regarding the environment and development, "the right to development must be realized so as to equitably meet the needs regarding the development and the environment of present and future generations".

Greta Thunberg – obraz aktywistki i strategie wyciszania stosowane w prawicowych mediach

Author(s): Jan Radomski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 20/2021

In recent years Greta Thunberg has become a symbol of the global climateprotection movement. The aim of the article is to analyse how this Swedish activist is portrayed in the right-wing media on the basis of press articles published between August 2018 and November 2020, and content appearing on social networks. The material shows that the central category used to describe Greta Thunberg is age, while the negativity of the narrative is supplemented by the category of disease. In accordance with the methodological assumptions of critical discourse analysis, the article aims to elaborate on the political purpose for which these categories are used. The article indicates three strategies employed in political disputes: chauvinist, liberal, and conservative. Studying how Thunberg is described seems particularly significant because the language used against her is not only an element of communication but is first and foremost a mechanism of the right’s political struggle against its ideological opponents.