Modes of Comparative Studies of the Communist States in Eastern Europe – Towards a Theory of Detotalitarization
Regime and Society in the Countries of Eastern Europe (1956–1989)
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Regime and Society in the Countries of Eastern Europe (1956–1989)
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The article considers public monuments in a rhetorical perspective – as manifestations of local identity, or statements about the nature and mission of the city. It is demonstrated that there exist two competing monumental rhetorics in the urban environment of Perm. The industrial-military rhetoric unites an extensive group of monuments dating back to the Soviet era and those newly erected. Such monuments inscribe Perm into the heroic discourse of the Soviet epoch. Although the soviet memorial policy used to be universal for the whole state, in Perm it is not lacking for local individuality. Here, in particular, instruments of production and sample armament are displayed in the function of monuments. An alternative to this industrial-military rhetoric could be viewed in that of ‘Perm the Great’ (Perm’ Velikaya). It aggregates monuments appealing to the archaic heritage and ancient history of Perm Krai. This group of monuments suggests an image of Perm as a successor to the ancient culture, a city that made a special contribution to the history of Russian culture. Rhetoric of ‘Perm the Great’ was actively developed in the 2000-s. One of its distinctive features is the motive of Permian animal style. These are employed both in sculpture and in architectural decorum. The article establishes that the urban environment development highlights the multi layered and multidimensional nature of the city identity and its irreducibilty to a common denominator. Likewise, territory images construction, though sometimes acquiring a form of the search for a metaphysical substance of a city, such as Genius Loci, is in fact a ground for struggle and competition of various social, professional and political groups.
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The article is about a relevant issue of national identity formation. The author is aiming to trace the mechanisms of national myth creation and construction of historical memory. The author considers it appropriate to research these processes using the memory of World War I as an example. Specifically, the ways in which the war was covered in Soviet press. The empirical material used includes: issues of the Soviet newspapers «Pravda» and its Perm counterpart — newspaper «Zvezda» that were released in the period from 1924 to 1948. The key evidence is the thesis that government discourse was used to affect the memory construction by speech influence on the general public. The author suggests that the Soviet government, which had the the print media production monopoly, formed the identity of Soviet people by giving emotional context to the events and characters of the past. The analysis showed that the Soviet newspapers provided significantly more coverage to the periods of anniversaries of the beginning of WWI than to those of its end. The end of WWI was replaced by the memory of the Great October Revolution and, later, of the civil war. The images of war in different periods are dissimilar to each other, they are constructed by newspaper columnists with consideration of the current situation in order to reflect the reality.
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Judicial hegemony or juristocracy can be defined as the use of caste within the state to reach the strategic objectives of the judges and prosecutors who are the members of illicit organization. This study aims to explore and analyze the organizational structure of the terrorist organization, which is called PDY, and understand how this terrorist organization terrorized the judicial structure in Turkey. Based on the theoretical framework of elitism and bureaucratic elitism, the study also aims to analyze the relationship between PYD terrorist organization and judicial system by using the case study as a method of data collection method.
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To understand contemporary geopolitics, especially Polish geopolitics you have to refer to the history. Polish geopolitical philosophy has flourished in a crucial period in the history of the country - the To understand contemporary geopolitics, especially Polish geopolitics you have to refer to the history. Polish geopolitical philosophy has flourished in a crucial period in the history of the country - the time of the fall of the First Republic and partitions. Sketch of Polish geopolitics is well composed into the broader plan of European thought. This is not just a simpple analitycal exercise. Article contains the suggestion, that the events, experiences and geopolitical configurations may exhibit amazing repeatability.
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Kurczewska explores how communities of local and national memory are formed. Working on the assumption that they are emotional communities, she diagnoses them from a socio-institutional perspective, drawing on numerous empirical studies on local communities and their basic collective agents, such as associations, clubs and other initiatives. She proposes that the years 1989-2015 (i.e. the Third Republic) saw the formation of communities of memory, which functioned on the meso level of Polish society. They shaped the content and forms of collective memory, becoming an essential social and cultural resource for Polish memory. Kurczewska points out that these communities are a necessary element to diagnose the national memory of Polish society as a complex structural entity. Last but not least, they are a factor in a ‘grassroots’ social and cultural interpretation on the level of the macrosociety of the state.
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The article presents one of the tragic stories that took place during the World War II in occupied Poland. It describes the fate of one rural family playing an important role in Markova and its surroundings by engaging it in various public initiatives. The article describes the situation in occupied Markova, the chronology of the crime against Jews and Poles, the efforts to punish the perpetrators, and the actions aimed at perpetuating the heroic life and death of the Ulma family.
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Considering that making a comprehensive overview of the role of comics in all former socialist regimes would imply a research adventure per se, i.e. an adventure that largely goes beyond what was written in this text, this piece of work will try in a lapidary fashion to present relationship between the socialist establishment and comics in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia throughout different periods of its existence. In the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the comics threaded its way through being characterized as disputed mass culture capitalistic media, over to proselyte educational literature, and finally to the media that completely legitimately, in creative and emphatic way, stands shoulder to shoulder with the greatest cultural achievements.
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In the article are researched peculiarities of mass celebrations setting in 60-80's of the XX century in Kyiv. There is established that mass celebrations in Kyiv had mainly state and official character of the period. In this regard the setting of celebrations (posters, banners, portraits, stands, musical accompaniment and theatrical performance) subordinated to the ideological content and had propagandistic trend.The article outlines that the Soviet past of Ukraine further largely continues to define our mentality, mode of life, pattern of behavior in society. One of those Soviet "remnants" in Ukrainian society is some mass celebrations. It is states that in general the phenomenon of mass celebrations is an important part of social and cultural realities of our time and used as a communication technology, as a method of consolidation of various communities and way of broadcasting a variety of social ideas.The aim of the article is the study of specific setting of mass celebrations in Kyiv during Soviet period in 60-80 years of the XX century.The most developed in domestic scientific researches is ethno-cultural aspect of holiday phenomenon (V. Borysenko, M. Havryluk, M. Zakovych, S. Zubkov, O. Kurochkin, P. Sokolov, I. Sukhanov). Holiday as a social phenomenon studied Y. Belousov, D. Genkin, K. Zhyhulskyy, A. Mazaev, E. Kaverina, A. Nekrylova, O. Nemyro, A. Piotrowski, V. Propp, S. Turin, D. Uhrynovych, N. Hrenov, O. Shcherbynin, and L. Shumikhina. Specificity of holiday as a symbolic form of culture reveals O. Popravko. In scientific studies of T. Gayevska and J. Slutskaya holidays analyzed as a part of Soviet culture. Some aspects of mass celebrations setting in Eastern Ukraine in the 60's and 80's of the XX century studied O. Penkova.At the beginning the article proved that mass celebrations played an important role in Soviet culture. Besides the entertainment function they had ideological significance. Soviet ideologists V. Lenin, N. Krupska, A. Lunacharsky and others emphasized the importance of consolidation official and national celebrations as a part of cultural state development and ideological activities. Since the early 60's of the XX century began a new stage in the development of mass celebrations, which were caused by profound political changes in the Soviet Union after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party. According to the O. Penkova’s research in this period, "the state returns to human beings at the first time". However, mass celebrations in the USSR kept its state and political character. The state established official holidays and was trying to turn them into public tradition. According to the Decree of the USSR Supreme Soviet "About the holidays and memorable dates" from the 1st of October 1980 to the category of nationwide celebrations were included the anniversary of the October Revolution – on 7–8 November, V. Lenin's Birthday – on 22 April, International Day of Worker's Solidarity (Labour Day) – on 1–2 May, Victory Day of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 – on 9 May, USSR Constitution Day – on 7 October, National Day of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – on 30 December, Day of the Soviet Army and Navy – on 23 February, International Women's Day – on 8 March.Then the article passes to the statement that the state established official holidays and was trying to turn them into public tradition. The special feature of these key holidays was a clear organization that carried out by apparatus structures of the Communist Party. Commissions were engaged in preparation for the holiday, which were created in all steps of the party vertical. The trade unions, The Young Communist League (komsomol), the administrations of enterprises and institutions also carried out decisions of the party apparatus. The basic forms of the mass celebrations were meetings and demonstrations during the 60-80's of the XX century in Kyiv. Together with parades of various kinds (military, sports, etc.) they were the main forms of expression festive aesthetics of the Soviet era. Involvement to the celebration of state holidays began with early childhood. The main form of mass state holidays in Kyiv were demonstrations of workers that took place on the 7th of November and the 1st of May. The celebration of the 1500th anniversary of Kyiv in 1982 became a significant mass celebration in Kyiv in the Soviet period as well.In the conclusions is revealed that setting of mass celebrations is closely associated with ideological content of the Soviet period (the 60-70's of the XX century). In Kyiv such mass celebrations as Victory Day, May Day, Day of the October Revolution and others necessarily were held in the form of meetings and demonstrations. At the time of the events constantly were used state symbols, portraits of leaders and senior communist party leaders, Heroes of the Great Patriotic War and the Socialist Labor. In order to ensure solemnity and emotionality in the setting of mass celebrations were applied large stands depicting the Kyiv emblem or symbols of Kyiv enterprises. Banners with slogans, posters, music of patriotic character, elements of theatrical performances involving athletics and choreographic groups were also widely used.
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The article examines the Catholic answer to such modern challenges such as industrialisation, urban sprawl, the accelerated growth of the working class and migrations in the territory of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy at the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century. From the perspective of Social Catholicism, which is understood primarily as a collective social practice present in society in various forms, the article contributes to the debate around the secularisation thesis and the role of religion in modern society. The study looks at the adaptation process from the first Kolping's movement, through the usage of the Social Catholic language by the political parties, to the establishment of the network of social catholic associations and trade unions. It analyses the transformation of Catholic participants that took part in debates about the ideal social order, as well their motivations, goals and interaction with society. Based on the role played by the Social Catholics in society, the conclusion offers possible limits and weaknesses of the secularisation approach.
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The first part of the text reconstructs the key elements of Birmingham school theory of culture in the context of Gramsci’s conception of hegemonic power. the second part of the text focuses on applying the above mentioned interpretative tools to the selected case study – events which took place in Krakowskie Przedmieście after the Smolensk plane crash. The main purpose is to show how “the cross conflict” can be understood as a routine hegemonic practice. I will focus on: the role of the Polish Catholic Church in constructing hegemonic power; defenders of the cross as a counter‐hegemonic resource; “the cross conflict” in the context of other “culture wars” which took place in Poland; the role of religion as a way of constructing resistance in symbolic realm.
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Taboo issue of the public sphere, understood as the “inarticulate” prohibition of the reflection of fundamental foundations of social discourse itself, is one of the principal elements that prevent conclusive analysis of the mechanisms of power in the symbolic space. Therefore, the main aim of the present paper is to reveal – by using the paradigm of methodological cosmopolitanism (Ulrich Beck) – the problematic areas of – what Pierre Bourdieu has called – symbolic violence, and what the proposed approach here is synonymous with the subtle and often di cult to articulate mechanism of power in a broad sense.
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