We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
Bulgarian lawmakers ban women from wearing the burqa and niqab in public; those who do will be fined and lose their social benefits.
More...
Od kilku lat w najpopularniejszych polskich filmach można zauważyć nowy trend: eksplorowanie ekranowej przemocy. Mamy dziś do czynienia z nadprodukcją obrazów gwałtu, cierpienia i zabijania; konstruowaniem fabuł wokół sadyzmu, masochizmu i innych sposobów zadawania bólu.
More...
Sigmund Freud was a passionate collector of Egyptian, Greek and Roman artifacts. Though at the time the acquisition of ancient antiques was within the reach of people other than millionaires or world famous conductors, tennis champions and mafia bosses, buying them meant not a small hardship for Freud, who was far from rich. Not surprisingly, he tried to acquire works of art as cheaply as possible.
More...
The main question of the article concerns Maidan as a social movement three years after the February 2014. Is there still a room for citizen-oriented social actions? How is it possible to build an Ukrainian civil society at the state of war officially named ATO (“anti-terrorist operation”)? The frame of reference for Maidan analysis is the social movement Solidarity as described by Alain Touraine and his research team at 1981. Analysis is focused on the ATO veteran volunteers’ potential of social nonviolent activism. Are they ready to cooperate to construct an independent and self-governed trade unions? The lack of “workers dimension” or union dimension at Maidan movement makes difference if we compare it with Solidarity.
More...
The increasing number of Muslim population in Europe affects the growth of antiMuslim attitudes and development of islamophobic political parties. From the beginning Islam has been inextricably linked with the history of the European continent and Muslim population became a part of the landscape of Western Europe especially since the mid- twentieth century; on the one hand, enriching the cultural heritage of the continent, on the other hand, becoming a source of tension and conflict at the junction of two civilizations. Radical Islam has even become a terrorist threat.
More...
Based in part on the results of a unique, comparative research project, the aim of this article is threefold: (1) to provide a comparative summary of racist extremism in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE); (2) to compare the situation of racist extremism in CEE to that in Western Europe; and (3) to come to some further insights about racist extremism in the region. It concludes, in contrast to many of the alarming statements on the topic, that CEE is neither a hotbed of racist extremism nor a safe haven for racist extremists. In fact, if one compares the state of racist extremism in CEE to that in Western Europe, the differences seem less striking than is often assumed. Yet while the impact of racist extremism in CEE might not be as great as is often assumed, a lot remains to be done, particularly now that these countries are or will soon be members of the European Union.
More...
Berendt reads Joanna Rajkowska’s work, specifically her interventions in public spaces, in the context of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s theory of radical democracy and their key concepts of antagonism and hegemony. She reflects on whether the category of weakness as applied to Rajkowska’s art is an adequate definition of her artistic strategies. The discussion of the projects Minaret (2009-11), Oxygenator (2007) and Trafostacja (2016) is accompanied by a reflection on the artist’s hegemonic power while acting in public space and the social effects of her artistic projects.
More...
Analysing the new types of transnational terrorist organisations, this article compares Al-Qaeda and ISIS and offers a brief review of the origin and the evolvement of these organisations along with the view of the ways in which these were countered in the last three decades, all in the context of new significant players that have emerged in international relations. International terrorism which Al-Qaeda adopted as its brand name and placed onto the world scene, and was later further developed by ISIS, has had a substantial impact upon the international relations as a disturbing factor and it has itself created new actors and has changed the flows of international economy, traffic, communication, security, in simple words – it had an enormous impact upon the entire world, to such an extent that many authors now take the September 11th as a turning point in the worlds history. The essential difference between Al – Qaeda and ISIS lies in the fact that the first was a net of terrorists and organisations which used the host’s country as the bases for its activities and was managing its activities throughot the world with the assistance, more ideological than practical, of its loyal affiliates; whereas ISIS, after it actually emerged out of the Al – Qaeda, fromed its affilate in Iraq precisely, and broke up with its mother organisation to spread its activities within the war affected territories of Syria and managed to establish a territory, its own population and borders – which for the certain time period gave it traits of a state. Using a historically – comparative method this article takes an analytical view of American and generally world strategies of countering these organisations which, even though beheaded are still not completely annihilated, and it attempts to estimate to what extent the blanders in this, now two decades, mission could bring about creation of fertile ground for an emergence of some new and perhaps even more dangerously reactionary ideologies and terrorist organisations within the areas of conflicts.
More...
The paper details an analysis of the marital metaphor and its variations, used by the authors of works in socialist feminism and related approaches during the lastfourty years, to describe the relationship of Marxism and feminism. By analysing individualexamples, the paper provides an explanation of the subtle differences and connectionsbetween the socialist, Marxist, materialist, and 99% feminisms; as well as an interpretation of the various nuances invoked by the choice of this metaphor, its advantagesand limitations, when used to describe a relationship of two theoretical concepts,such as feminism and Marxism. In addition to the fact that they use or mention the keymarital metaphor, the works analysed in this paper were also chosen by their publication date, so that each couple of texts were published in each of the surveyed decades,which is important for tracking down the development of leftist feminist theories during this period. Apart from works by the Anglo-American authors, an important spot is given to the study by Blaženka Despot, one of the most profound Yugoslav Marxist feminist authors. Thus, by analysing the variations of the key metaphor, the paper aims at a better understanding of the historical development of socialist feminism and related approaches, as well as of the changes (or lack thereof) in the relationship of Marxism towards feminism in the last four decades. At the same time, the paper tackles the question of the relationship of Marxism and feminism today; what kind of a metaphor is the most suitable – if neccessary at all – for us to conceive this relationship today.
More...
We can approach the issue of prostitution from different ideological positions. Approaches to this problem that are most often discussed are liberal, Marxist, and feminist.The first part of the paper will critically present the liberal approach to the issue of prostitution, together with legal models of regulation of prostitution which are based on values generated within liberal politics. This paper aims to show the inadmissibility of defining prostitution as a legitimate profession that needs to be decriminalized or legalized.With this in mind, a correlation between the Marxist and radical feminist approaches will be presented, with the idea of showing that left-wing should adopt an abolitionist approach to the issue of prostitution. (MacKinnon 1982). The Marxist approach to prostitution primarily highlights class issues related to this phenomenon.Prostitution is defined as a social phenomenon that is a consequence of capitalist exploitation of labor, which enables the Marxist relation towards prostitution to be characterized as abolitionist. Accordingly, most space will be left to show the place that prostitution, along with other forms of commercialized sexual activity, has within radical feminist theory.The paper will adopt the categorization of prostitution as sexual exploitation, which further entails the acceptance of an objective approach to the phenomenon of prostitution (Barry 1997).An objective approach implies an evaluation of the inherent harmfulness of prostitution, which will be presented on an individual and collective level.The evaluation of the harmfulness of prostitution emphasizes the connection between prostitution and two types of exploitation, capitalist exploitation of labor, and sexual exploitation.The paper comes to a normative conclusion about the activity of the left political scene, which should be aimed at eliminating commercialized forms of sexual activity.
More...
We can approach the issue of prostitution from different ideological positions. Approaches to this problem that are most often discussed are liberal, Marxist, and feminist.The first part of the paper will critically present the liberal approach to the issue of prostitution, together with legal models of regulation of prostitution which are based on values generated within liberal politics. This paper aims to show the inadmissibility of defining prostitution as a legitimate profession that needs to be decriminalized or legalized.With this in mind, a correlation between the Marxist and radical feminist approaches will be presented, with the idea of showing that left-wing should adopt an abolitionist approach to the issue of prostitution. (MacKinnon 1982). The Marxist approach to prostitution primarily highlights class issues related to this phenomenon.Prostitution is defined as a social phenomenon that is a consequence of capitalist exploitation of labor, which enables the Marxist relation towards prostitution to be characterized as abolitionist17. Accordingly, most space will be left to show the place that prostitution, along with other forms of commercialized sexual activity, has within radical feminist theory.The paper will adopt the categorization of prostitution as sexual exploitation, which further entails the acceptance of an objective approach to the phenomenon of prostitution (Barry 1997).An objective approach implies an evaluation of the inherent harmfulness of prostitution, which will be presented on an individual and collective level.The evaluation of the harmfulness of prostitution emphasizes the connection between prostitution and two types of exploitation, capitalist exploitation of labor, and sexual exploitation.The paper comes to a normative conclusion about the activity of the left political scene, which should be aimed at eliminating commercialized forms of sexual activity.
More...
The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (1970) by Shulamith Firestone is one of the earliest and fundamental texts that posits the postulates of radical feminist theories within the second wave of feminism. The theory that Marx and Engels based on the historical analysis of the material reality of productive relations in class society is, for her, only one part of that reality. For Firestone, as well as for radical feminists, the basic class division is the one based on sex, and not on economic classes. The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to present how Firestone, while criticizing historical materialism, expounds sex classes division as the basis of social inequalities, as well as a critique of such a stance, primarily from the perspective of biological determinism. Second, the aim of this paper is to outline, based on Shulamith Firestone theory and the criticisms addressed, the extent to which radical feminist theory is responsible for articulating the legal protection of women on the basis of sex, and what significance and influence do the theory of the sex class system has in the present moment, when part of the women’s movement demands reconfirmation of women’s sex-based rights. Finally, the paper will contribute to the debate as to why the postulates of radical feminist theory – the sex class system and the concept of sex-based women’s rights – are relevant today, and what are the possible criticisms of such women’s organizing.
More...
The role and importance of religion in many countriesʼ foreign policy seem to be rising again. Many scholars have shown that Saudi Arabia uses the spread of religion, specifically Salafi Islam, as a tool for its foreign policy and to strengthen its influence. Saudi Arabia is a crucial player in the MENA region and the entire Islamic world, and its regional and international importance is constantly increasing. The author considers understanding Saudi Arabia’s activities and its foreign policy strategies, mechanisms, and tools in Africa as very important, as Africa is becoming an arena for new powers once again. The article aims to identify how Saudi Arabia penetrates African states and spreads Salafism. It focuses on analyzing Saudi foreign policy, emphasizing the role of religion and its export. The author analyzes Saudi Arabia’s relations with five selected African states, where Salafism is spreading, in the period from 2015 to the present.
More...
The subject of the article is criticism of democracy in selected trends of radical political thought in Europe at the beginning of the 21st century. The aim of the article is to identify anti-democratic and radical trends of political thought and their basic assumptions concerning the critique of the Western European type of democracy. The description of their definition of "true democracy" is also an aim of the study.The author formulated the following hypothesis: the selected trends of radical political thought were based on the criticism of democracy, in which Western European democracy is interpreted as a "fiction" of democracy, "undemocracy" or a system contrary to nature and religion. "True democracy" or some other desired political system should be based on values other than those of liberal democracy. In order to verify the hypothesis, the author analyzed the political programs, journalistic texts and propaganda manifestos of selected radical political movements, including informal groups, organizations and political parties active in European countries in the two decades of the 21st century. They were: nationalists, legitimist monarchists, Leninist Marxists, Trotskyists and anarchists.
More...
The article examines the possibility and role of society in counteracting radicalization. The Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy for Combating Radicalization and Terrorism was evaluated. A proposal has been made to criminalize the act of „incitement to terrorism“ and to legally regulate de-radicalization as a process.
More...
The paper discusses the dissemination of conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 vaccines in the Slovak political discourse. The paper analyses the posts of selected Slovak political actors on Facebook. It aims to determine which political actors most often spread conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 vaccines, what image of vaccines these theories create, and whom they present as enemies. The content analysis method is used to achieve these aims; this method helps obtain quantitative and qualitative information about the research sample. During the research, the CrowdTangle application is used. The application monitors and gathers data about selected politicians’ public communication from Facebook. The research shows that in their Facebook posts, conspiracy theories about vaccines are most often used by politicians we can classify as far-right or far-left. Conspiracy theories negatively portray the vaccines and their manufacturers (except for the Sputnik V vaccine). This may ultimately affect people’s willingness to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
More...
Ian Parker and David Pavón-Cuéllar (2021). Psychoanalysis and revolution: critical psychology for liberation movements. 1968 Press.
More...
The aim of this article was to define the fundamentalist character of the environment concentrated around Radio Maryja the radio station. In the course of consideration an attempt was made to answer the question about the tools and methods which Tadeusz Rydzyk as a charismatic leader used to build one of the biggest fundamentalist Catholic circles not only in Poland, but also in Europe. The author attempts to define the essence of fundamentalism in the ideological dimension, pointing to religion as a sphere of exceptional susceptibility to the formation of circles of this nature. In connection with the specificity of the Polish political scene and the exceptionally strong politicization of religion in recent years, the article also attempts to characterize the Polish social mentality as a phenomenon conducive to the development of religious fundamentalism. A critical analysis of media and political speeches, or press articles related to the activities of Radio Maryja, allowed at the same time to analyze the real consequences of uncritical acceptance of the ideological messages coming from the Torun radio station.
More...