‘Slovak, not Brussels Social Democracy’

Europeanization/De-Europeanization and the Ideological Development of Smer-SD Before 2020 Parliamentary Elections in Slovakia

Author(s): Juraj Marušiak / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

This paper is focused on the evolution of the ideology of Smer - Social Democracy (Smer-SD) party and its positions on European integration before the political elections in Slovakia in February 2020. As the ‘social-democratization’ of Smer-SD was the result of party’s Europeanization, the article explores the dimensions of de-Europeanization in the politics of this party in 2017–2020. Since 2006, Smer-SD has occupied a dominant position among political parties in Slovakia. However, a substantive decline in the electoral support of the party took place after 2016. Smer-SD faced a significant political challenge during the political crisis after the assassination of the journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová in February 2018. The result was the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico. The appointment of party vice chairman Peter Pellegrini as Prime Minister created a new situation within the party, as for the first time the positions of Prime Minister and head of the party were separated. The political crisis in 2018 revealed the presence of internal conflicts within the party and the weakening of the authority of its chairman, Robert Fico. The establishment of two centres of power within the party resulted in competition between Fico and Pellegrini and, finally, in June 2020, a split, as Pellegrini announced the founding of a new political party.

‘The Slovakebab’: Anti-Islam Agenda in Slovak Parliamentary Elections and Beyond

Author(s): Michaela Grančayová,Aliaksei Kazharski / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2020

The article examines discursive framing of Muslims during the 2020 Slovak parliamentary campaign, putting it in the broader context of the four-year period since the previous 2016 elections, which took place in the shadow of the European migration crisis. We adopt a social constructivist framework to argue that, despite very low numbers of Muslims in Slovakia, Islam remains a politically divisive issue. Competing discourses strive to redefine Islam for their own political purposes, making use of politicized symbols such as the ‘kebab’ or the ‘minaret’ in the process. This makes Islam a floating signifier of Slovak politics to which multiple meanings can be attached. In the absence of actual problems with Muslim minority integration, axiological conflicts over Islam can be seen as representing broader struggles between more culturally conservative and liberal-multiculturalist forces.

“E is for Ernest who choked on a peach”:

food, death, and humour in the works of Edward Gorey

Author(s): Nikola Novaković / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

In Edward Gorey’s numerous scenes of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and afternoon teas, food and drink often feature with more or less prominence and are sometimes even found in the titles of his books, such as in The Fatal Lozenge (1960) or The Unknown Vegetable (1995). Their seemingly innocent appearance is often tied to violence or death: a head is discovered in a breadbox, a woman murders her husband by lacing his tea with atropine, a boy dies of exposure after being punished for “splashing his soup”, and several characters are consumed by more or less fantastic creatures. And yet, throughout all such gruesome events, Gorey’s characteristically playful and absurd humour adds levity to scenes of food-related death, misery, downfall, and even murder. Whether much attention is drawn to such events (such as in The Unknown Vegetable, where the entire story revolves around the discovery of a giant turnip-like vegetable that leads to a woman being buried alive) or whether they are merely mentioned in offhanded comments, Gorey couches them in a frame of the ridiculous and the nonsensical. It is therefore the aim of this paper to explore how Gorey achieves this curious combination of the grotesque and the humorous in scenes revolving around food, and how this approach extends to a general confusion of tone in his darkly funny, seriocomic creations in which any manner of horror may be lurking in peaches, cakes, crackers, boiled turnips, a recipe for fudge, a family picnic, or under a haunted tea cosy.

“I Learned All by Myself”: Romanian Young People's Self-Perception of Their Digital Competence

Author(s): Gyöngyvér Erika Tőkés,Anca Velicu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

Following the theoretical framework and analysing the empirical data of the EU Kids Online III (2013) project, in this study, we have followed the digital competence of Romanian children and adolescents. We have studied the online activities they undertake, their attitudes towards the Internet and the perception they have of their digital competence. Romanian children and adolescents are very present in the digital world, which they perceive as a social space distinct from that of the adults, where they can retreat and where they can meet their needs for communication, information (not just for homework but also questions of their own concern), leisure, etc. However, the situation is far from ideal. The modest implication of parents and teachers in the online life of children and adolescents has a detrimental impact on their level of digital competence.

“Signs of Times” – A Semiotic Content-Analysis of ‘Apocalypticizing’ Rhetoric on Hungarian Conspiracist Websites

Author(s): László Attila Hubbes / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2010

There is an ever stronger interconnection between various forms of social anxieties, be they religious, political, national or even environmental and online forms of expression. People’s fears and resentments (along with hope) precipitate in mythical narratives structured on the ancient oppositions of Good and Evil. Apocalyptic rhetoric represents the most crystallized form of verbal warfare against the evil forces (mundane or supernatural). In the processes of secularization and globalization these narratives have somewhat lost their religious character, but at the same time penetrated new reaches of the Irrational, and impregnated many beliefs and ideologies, from academic and philosophic heights down to popular mythology and urban legends. The easiest way for ancient sacral stories of antagonisms to get into the modern narratives was through symbols, mainly purported by visual signs. Although anxieties have always been present, showing certain patterns of rise and decrease, the electronic media of the past century have definitely contributed both to the perpetuation of a higher tension and to the wide spreading of such story-bearing visual symbols. Today, the Internet offers an excellent hotbed for both processes mentioned above: not only through unidirectional web pages but also, or even better, through the self-organizing virtual net-communities. There are countless such groups, religious or ethno-political, each with its own symbolic iconography, but most of these signs are quasi universal, same as the stories they bear. I have chosen some Hungarian websites through which I wish to present these symbols and narratives at work, with a hint to their universal character.

“Society, you Need to Grow Up!”

Popular Literature Made by Hungarian Teenagers on Instagram

Author(s): Rita Glózer / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

One of the most disputed phenomena of the information society is the expansion of personal space with the help of web 2.0 tools. An important interface for this purpose is Instagram. Through analysing the self-disclosure and fan-community gathering methods of adolescents living in Hungary, Rita Glózer finds that in essence, online social communication has similar objectives to offline social communication.

“They Already Know Everything.”

Computer Use by Teenagers and Associated Perceptions in Rural Communities

Author(s): József Gagyi / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2014

The statement highlighted in the title, “they already know everything”, refers to a small group of Generation Z, rural children and teenagers in three communities in contemporary Transylvania. It is not them who describe themselves so, but a grown-up, a representative of Generation Y, Zalán M., an expert in the maintenance and use of digital devices who is recognized as such in the communities. Because of the recognition of his competence as an expert and the legitimacy this brings him, his views, which he proclaims vehemently and publicly, are shared by others as well.The cases presented in this paper come from a long-term field work with lengthy interruptions. The location is the communities of Vărgata commune in Mureș county (Vărgata, Valea, Mitrești, as well as to a lesser extent Grâușorul and Vadu). I have been present as an ethnographer in the field since 2004, conducting observations focusing on various topics. My goal was the holistic understanding of the cultural behaviour and the creation of interpretations using knowledge from anthropological literature. Since the appearance and proliferation of digital and new media devices, the elements of knowledge needed to operate them and the attitudes associated with them are a new phenomenon that has been brought into the crosshairs of public attention in these last few years (since 2009), this paper draws on the contextual knowledge I have developed throughout the years of fieldwork to understand the computer use of the young members of Generation Z and the general perceptions the computer engenders, as well as opinions and ways of behaviour associated with it.

“Three-fold Identity?” The Ethnical and National Identity of the Hungarian Boyash Gypsies

Author(s): Mátyás Binder / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

The Roma are possibly the largest minority group in the European Union. Yet this group is composed of communities with varying languages, cultures and identities. The obvious cause of this variety is that the Gypsies1 compose a large diaspora stretching across five continents, and accordingly, among every community living in a minority, different processes of adaptation led to the formation of distinct identities. In my opinion, three factors – all generated by living in a diaspora – influence the ethnical and national dimensions of the Romani identity: social categorization, national socialization and ethnical identity. Society’s perception, the socialization processes in the nation state institution systems, and the Gypsy community’s own ethnical culture are all factors, which supposedly have or have been an influence on most Romani identities.

“Untouched by your Do-gooder Propaganda”

How Online User Comments Challenge the Journalistic Framing of the Immigration Crisis

Author(s): Jana Rosenfeldová,Lenka Vochocová / Language(s): English Issue: 31/2022

The role of the media in polarizing the debate on immigration has been subject to a growing amount of research; yet little is known about whether and how online comment sections related to news articles on immigration reshape the journalistic narrative. This study examines readers’ reactions to the media coverage by employing a quantitative content analysis of over 6,000 users’ comments responding to 128 online news articles on immigration. It concludes that generally the discussants’ perspective does not differ significantly from the medium’s framing of the issue with one important exception: the human rights frame accentuated by the medium is strictly refused by the discussants. The discussants also bring the economic and cultural aspects of immigration into the debate. The article thus contributes to a more general understanding of the role the users’ discussions play in shaping the debates on controversial political issues.

ЈАВНО МИСЛЕЊЕ

Author(s): Renata Treneska-Deskoska / Language(s): Macedonian Issue: 14/1997

The term publicity in it's wider- nonpolitical and its narrower- political meaning, the term opinion, the origin, the different understandings and characteristics of these terms have been an object of interest of the political philosophy, political and other sciences for а longer period of time. In it there have been different understandings: from exaggeration of their importance, up to questioning their validity and relevance. The contemporary understanding of the notion and the process itself acknowledges that the relation between the public opinion and the authorities is two sided: The public opinion is modeling the politics, but the politicians are modeling the public opinion аѕ well. That determines the role of the public opinion in the political system аѕ well аѕ the mode of its formation and еxpression.

ЈАЗИКОТ И НАЦИЈАТА

Author(s): Marija Tasheva / Language(s): Macedonian Issue: 05-06/1994

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Јасна Милошевић-Ђорђевић, Човек о нацији. Схватање националног идентитета у Србији, Институт за политичке студије, Београд 2008, 193 стр.

Author(s): Aleksandar Kostić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1/2009

Један осврт на нови историзам

Author(s): Milica Radulović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 02/2011

This paper is concerned with the emergence of New Historicism, its basic features and conditional division into Leftism and Rightismorientated New Historicism. The paper also presents a theoretical base on New Historicism - Geertz’s symbolic anthropology and Foucault’s social model, as well as the sociohistorical and both scientific and professional causes of its origin. Special attention is devoted to new historicist studies in Renaissance literature and, additionally, to the causes that led to scholars’ being attracted by this era. Furthermore, what is taken into consideration is the methodological and conceptual similarity between New Historicism and feminism, revised Marxist theories and cultural materialism.

ЈУГОСЛАВИЈА БЕШЕ РАЗБИЕНА ОД ВНАТРЕ

Author(s): Latinka Perović / Language(s): Macedonian Issue: 05-06/1994

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Југославија, највећа српска ухронија

Author(s): Petar M. Anđelković / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 4/2018

Bearing in mind the warning Crnjanski made '[that] things should be considered from a Serbian point of view', this paper represents a critical overview of a social phenomenon, the creation of Yugoslavia, (the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes) and which has, in various forms (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and the Slovenes, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro) lasted from 1918 to 2006. In the creation of the idea of Yugoslavia and its realizations, the external and internal factors were co-operating. When it comes to internal (Serbian) factors, the fact that the 'call' of Yugoslavism started with the elite (both intellectual and political) is undeniable, and therefore, it is most responsible for the birth of this idea and for all the consequences that have arisen from it. When after a century from the creation of Yugoslavia we sum up the balance, we find that it was most devastating for the Serbs. In the past 100 years, Serbia-from The Kingdom of Serbia once crowned with glory after The Balkan Wars and World Wars I and II-transformed its position to a losing party in FRY and SFRY, and after the breakup of these countries. The basic idea of this paper that we are trying to prove is that the Yugoslavian idea has been devastating for the Serbian people, as the most dangerous virus, because the Serbs have renounced their national identity for the interest of the common state, on the principles of fraternal equality, bringing in it all of their victories, and ultimately becoming the victim of the ideology. Therefore, Yugoslavia is the largest Serbian uchronia and should serve as a warning to guard against false utopias. Serbia didn't even recover from this drunken euphoria of the creation of the first Yugoslavia during the Second World War. Moreover, due to the British and communist games behind the curtain, Serbia came out this war with at least a million lives lost and without a true social elite that would have foreseen the events in Serbia. The new revolutionary government especially sought and very much succeeded in crafting a break with old historical values, built on traditional religious and cultural principles-especially characteristic for Serbs-which severely damaged the integration of the Serbian people and led to the loss of national identity. After a century of wandering, Serbia has faced new challenges, uncomfortable and incompetent, 'without historical awareness and awareness of evil' to answer them in the right way.

ЈУГОСЛОВЕНИТЕ ВО 1945 ГОДИНА: РУСОФИЛИ ИЛИ СОВЕТОФИЛИ?

Author(s): Ivan Gjurić / Language(s): Macedonian Issue: 11/1996

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Јужна Србија и Лесковац на историјској периферији: један социо-економски поглед

Author(s): Jovica Cvetković / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 01/2013

In this paper a new socio-economic paradigm has been tested on the example of the City of Leskovac in Southern Serbia. The paradigm claims that the system of values in a community can produce different developmental consequences if it is in agreement or in collision with the target function of a social system. The universal validity of this paradigm was tested in the space of one local community. Historical sources about the City of Leskovac, as one of the centres of Southern Serbia migrated toward by its surrounding population, were used to provide a closer insight into socio-economic winding of this region of Serbia through the process of adaptation of the structures of values to different social and historical environments. The typical “disjointed” path of development of the City’s local economy is seen in this paper from a different perspective when analyzed in terms of methodology introduced to the classical economic analysis by Douglass North. Possible causes were found for cyclical ups and downs of the local economy as well as of Southern Serbia as a socio-economic space.

Љубов, сексуалност и казна во македонската традиционална култура

Author(s): Vesna Petreska / Language(s): Macedonian Issue: 08/2015

The love, sexuality and the punishment in the Macedonian traditional culture is considered on the basic of the ethnological-anthropological analyze. The analyze is based on the oral stories, ritual practices and oral poetry, which I take as means of communication. The love and the love emotions were in accordance with social and cultural criteria of the community in which occurred. This means that the love emotions, primarily the sexual emotions, had to be controlled, or to be shown as much as the traditional culture allowed. In general this was meant for the women and the maidens, „a woman’s chastity”, that implies the women’s purity and innocence. Otherwise the punishment commences. The betrayed young woman that has totally surrendered to the love emotions or the unjustly accused wife of infidelity is reaching towards the curse in order to satisfy the justice.

ЏИХАД У САВРЕМЕНИМ МЕЂУНАРОДНИМ ОДНОСИМА

Author(s): Miroljub Jevtić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 04/2007

The Jihad system of all actions and activities that Muslims perform in pursuit of the triumph of their religion has become especially interesting for its warrior version. In European horizon it obtains the characteristics of the world war. Under the influence of the ideas of globalization the Muslims should also be involved in that project and the idea of Jihad consequently became an obstacle. Therefore the Euro-US media trend was to ignore and neglect that idea. There was also a misapprehension that neglecting would make this problem disappear. The situation in Yugoslavia was similar. The Muslim media advocated that idea, as well as the majority of the non-Muslim population. As a result, this phenomenon remained completely unexplored or misinterpreted which finally yielded bad results of the globalization itself.

ისტორია, არქეოლოგია, ეთნოლოგია

Frequency: 2 issues / Country: Georgia