Идеологията като комплекс от структури и идеологиите като разкази

Author(s): Iva Kuyumdjieva / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 5/2016

This article discusses the problem of “deideologization” as an element of modern ideological production in Bulgaria after the fall of state socialism. It systematizes different theoretical approaches to conceptualizing the term “ideology” and presents an overview of two models of interpreting how ideology works: in terms of multiple narratives and in terms of ideology as a power structure. The emphasis of the article is on the analysis of the structural path to dealing with the problem of ideology in the works of post-Marxists such as Althusser, Foucault and Bourdieu. In situating their theories in the contemporary context, the author aims to create an instrument for the analysis of the working of ideology today as a set of formalized ideological apparatuses of the government and as informal networks of institutions and individuals whose actions are not determined by a homogenized and “canonized” ideological narrative.

Изкушен? Относно обвързването на Фуко с неолиберализма. Коментар върху неотдавнашната „теза за съблазняването“

Author(s): Magnus Paulsen Hansen / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2016

The essay questions the recent wave of authors claiming that Foucault became ‘seduced’ by neoliberal thought and ended up endorsing it. It does so by a thorough examination of two books that makes the claim, but with radically different explanations for the fact that Foucault engaged himself with neoliberalism. By analyzing the textual ‘evidence’ of the proponents of the ‘seduction theses’ the essay shows that its premises are rather flawed. Firstly, the lack of normative denunciations in Foucault’s writing on neoliberalism cannot be taken as an endorsement, but as integral to a specific way of conducting ‘non-normative critique (Hansen 2016). Secondly, Foucault’s supposedly anti-statist position is questionable when one reads his lectures carefully. In fact, Foucault’s explicitly distanced himself an “inflationary” critique of the state, identifiable on the extreme left as well as in neoliberal thought.

Биовластта днес

Author(s): Paul Rabinow,Nikolas Rose / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2016

Една различна биополитика: Фуко чете Мойо

Author(s): Luca Paltrinieri / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2016

This article discusses the concept of “biopower” in the light of Michel Foucault’s courses at the Collège de France, especially his lectures between 1978 and 1980. After having offered a definition of “biopower” and “biopolitics”, I will discuss in more details Foucault’s reading of the great book of the French protodemography Recherches et Considérations sur la population de la France [Researches and Considerations on the Population of France] by Jean-Baptiste Moheau. I will try then to answer the question: Why has Foucault defined this book being “the first great text of biopolitics”? My answer points out that in Moheau the government of the human life is not restricted to a technique of intervention in the vital human milieu; it rather formulates explicitly the principles of a “government of morals” – one that addresses particularly the human reproduction. As a result, it is getting clear that the “biopolitical governmentalization of life” must have already been a response of another project of mastering one’s own body and one’s own descendance – a project that was visible namely by the extension of the contraceptive techniques in the popular milieus in France, starting in the middle of the 18th century. To sum up, my thesis has not been designed as a discussion of the Foucauldian thesis; it is rather an extension of his theorizing on biopower, and it has been made possible namely through the lectures Foucault had done at the Collège de France.

Биополитика на раждането: Мишел Фуко, Групата за здравна информация и борбата за правото на аборт

Author(s): Stuart Elden / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2016

This piece is an edited and abridged excerpt from Chapter Six of Foucault: The Birth of Power, Polity Press, 2017. It discusses the work of the Groupe Information Santé, an activist organisation established in France in 1972 on the model of the more famous Groupe d’Information sur les Prisons. The GIS comprised doctors, sociologists and philosophers, and its most famous member was Michel Foucault. There were many projects that the group worked on, including industrial accidents and sickness, the health of immigrants, and the struggle for abortion rights. Drawing on their publications, pamphlets, archival material and news reports, this piece discusses the importance of the group, especially concerning reproductive rights and sexual politics more generally. One of the group’s key aims was to provide people with free access to information so they could make informed choices. The piece therefore provides another example of Foucault’s involvement in radical activism in the early 1970s, though his was only one voice in the movement and it stresses the collaborative nature of the project.

Биополитики на дискурса за превенцията на ХИВ

Author(s): David M. Halperin / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/2016

Foucault, the History of Truth and the Genealogy of the Modern Subject

Author(s): Daniele Lorenzini / Language(s): English Issue: 3-4 EN/2016

This article explores the articulation between two of the main projects that characterise Michel Foucault’s work in the 1970s and the 1980s: the project of a history of truth and the project of a genealogy of the modern subject. After addressing the meaning and ethico-political value of Foucault’s history of truth, focusing above all on the shape it takes in 1980 (namely, a genealogy of a series of “regimes of truth” in Western societies), it offers an analysis of the related project of a genealogy of the modern (Western) subject, and more precisely of Foucault’s account of the processes of subjection (assujettissement) and subjectivation (subjectivation) within the Christian and the modern Western regimes of truth. It eventually argues that the essential political and moral issue that Foucault raises is not whether the subject is autonomous or not, but rather whether he or she is willing to become a subject of critique by opposing the governmental mechanisms of power which try to govern him or her within our contemporary regime of truth and striving to invent new ways of living and being.

Защо марксистите станаха путинисти?

Author(s): Momchil Badzhakov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 3/2018

The article discusses the process of strange transformation of Marxists into Putinists and Marxism in Putinism. This process is traced as a transformation of communist utopia and ideology into Orthodox fundamentalism and neo-eurasianism; the transformation of the totalitarian regime into a regime of "rival authoritarianism" and the communist nomenclature in a pseudo-capitalist oligarchy. The conclusion is that post-communism in Russia resembles Nazism rather than former communism.

Новата теория на справедливостта на Джон Ролс като опит за ревизия на либералната доктрина

Author(s): Nikolay Alexandrov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 6/2019

The article examines the basic principles of John Rawls’ theory, which not only explores the problems of justice, freedom, and equality, but also attempts to revise liberal teachings in following the work of such prominent representatives of socio-philosophical thought as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The article presents John Rawls’ views on a number of key concepts of liberal theory, such as “natural state”, “civil society”, “negative and positive liberty”, “political society”. It is underlined that Rawls examines justice not only as a theoretical concept but also in the context of the activities of major public institutions. The concept of practical reason, which is fundamental to the acceptance of the principles of justice as a basis of public interaction, is analyzed.

Editors’ introduction

Author(s): Nicoleta Corbu,Peter Maurer,Agnieszka Stępińska / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2019

Hyperlink networks as a means of mobilization used by far-right movements

Author(s): Ina Fujdiak,Petr Ocelík / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2019

The article provides an analysis of the mobilization strategies of far-right movements from the Czech Republic and Germany based on the content they provide via hyperlinks on their websites. Vertical and reticular characteristics of the hyperlinked pages have been analyzed, two aspects which form central parts of the mobilization strategies of social movements. The vertical level refers to territorial relations, while the reticular level refers to relations with other actors. The analyses confirmed that the movements focused on the vertical level to their countries of origin. With respect to reticular characteristics the type of hyperlinked content neither differs significantly throughout countries, nor throughout segments of the far-right movement. Additionally, the analysis of the type of hyperlinked content provides insight into the general mobilization strategies employed.

Nonverbal components of the populist style of political communication: A study on televised presidential debates in Poland

Author(s): Dorota Piontek,Małgorzata Tadeusz-Ciesielczyk / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2019

While much of the scholarship on populist political communication focuses on its content and a verbal style, less is known about the nonverbal cues accompanying populist messages. This paper aims in filling that gap by providing findings of the study on characteristics of nonverbal communication of two Polish presidential candidates: Bronisław Komorowski and Andrzej Duda, traced during two debates broadcast on television before the second round of the presidential elections in 2015. The results revealed that both candidates employed nonverbal cues such as appearance, eye contact, facial expressions, or gestures that emphasized their references towards the people or negative attitudes towards elites expressed in their verbal messages. The study also proved that the methods used previously in research on nonverbal content on television observational protocols and analysis of facial expressions may be successfully employed in studies on nonverbal components of the populist style of communication.

Famous women yearn for Putin, and other unlikely tales: Glamorizing right-wing populist actors in the Bulgarian editions of Cosmopolitan and Elle

Author(s): Miglena Sternadori / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2019

This analysis identifies the dominant media frames in the coverage of four right-wing populist actors — Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Silvio Berlusconi, and Roman Abramovich — by the Bulgarian editions of Elle and Cosmopolitan. Although the political platforms of these men are not, in fact, anti-establishment, which is the core characteristic of populism, they are referred to as populist actors because of their use of populist tools and discourses to practice so-called “neo-populism from above.” The four men were framed as: a carriers of a “golden touch”; b sources of profound/problematic wisdom; and c admirable collectors of “trophy” women. The findings are discussed as illustrative of the tabloidization of U.S. women’s magazine brands in the post-communist context of Bulgaria.

Some remarks on the comparative experiment as a method in assessing populist political communication in Europe

Author(s): Dominika Kasprowicz,Agnieszka Hess / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2019

In this paper fundamental information concerning the designing and conducting of comparative experiments, as methods which are able to be employed in the field of media studies, will be successively delineated. On the basis of the large-scale online experiment conducted in 15 countries in 2017, the assessment of the populist message impact as well as methodological challenges to such a project will be presented. We discuss challenges and lessons learnt from this type of research design.

The Hungarian media system under political pressure

Author(s): Péter Bajomi-Lázár,Agnieszka Stępińska / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2019

Toril Aalberg, Frank Esser, Carsten Reinemann, Jesper Strömback, Claes H. de Vreese Eds. 2017. Populist political communication in Europe. New York-London: Routledge, pp. 402, ISBN 9781138614826, 9781138654792

Author(s): Jakub Jakubowski / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2019

Authority Legitimation In Campaign Discourse Of American Presidential Candidates

Author(s): Boryana Kostova / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

This article addresses legitimation in discourse seen as a complex and multifaceted concept. The specific focus is on authority legitimization which is understood not simply as ethos construction but rather as a claim to rightness, i.e. the claim to be normatively right to perform the speech act. Building upon work on legitimation by van Leeuwen and van Dijk, the article studies intertextuality as one aspect of authority legitimation. The presence of elements of one text in other texts can take various forms and degree of visibility and intensity. Therefore the main purpose of the article is to identify the types and functions of intertextuality. A framework within the scope of Critical Discourse Studies is proposed by which a small corpus of acceptance speeches of contemporary American political leaders is analyzed. The results from the quantitative and qualitative analysis have shown that speakers of different political backgrounds use intertextuality similarly. It is revealed that the most common source of intertextuality is the voice of the political opponent. The main functions of intertextuality in the analyzed speeches are solidarity and credibility building as well as downgrading opposing points of view.

The European Union Hydrogen Strategy as a significant step towards a circular economy

Author(s): Florin Bonciu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

The paper is structured in three parts: the first contains some reflections on the essence of the circular economy concept; the second reviews the European Union positions vis-à-vis the circular economy and the large scale utilization of hydrogen, with reference in particular to the most recent strategic documents (European Green Deal, EU New Industrial Strategy for Europe, EU Strategy for Energy System Integration, EU Hydrogen Strategy, European Clean Hydrogen Alliance); the third part evaluates the feasibility and implications of the transition to a hydrogen based economy and the relation of this transition to the circular economy. The conclusions state that the adoption by the European Union of a hydrogen strategy represents a significant step towards a true circular economy

Disinformation campaigns in the European Union: Lessons learned from the 2019 European Elections and 2020 Covid-19 infodemic in Romania

Author(s): Radu Magdin / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

Against the backdrop of the current Covid-19 challenges and their long-tailed effects, the article uses lessons learned from Russian disinformation in the period 2014-2020, including the European Parliament 2019 campaign in Romania and the Covid-19 infodemic, to discuss possible future Russian disinformation approaches and narratives against the European Union (EU). The accent of the analysis and recommendations falls on the instrumentalization by Russian disinformation of the EU’s internal strivings for sovereignty against the backdrop of the economic fallout due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and how European leaders are pushed in directions contrary to continental strategic interests. Early opinion surveys seem to indicate an increased favourability of Europeans towards Russia as a result of soft power campaigns during the Covid-19 outbreak in Spring 2020 – in what we reveal was, in fact, a staged media show orchestrated by including lessons learned from the Chinese ways of strategic communication.

Chinese backed energy projects in the Western Balkans: where supply and demand could meet

Author(s): Dániel Gábor Csapó / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

Although China attempts to present itself as a leader of the fight against climate change – and, in some aspects, is taking initiative in this respect – through the Belt and Road Initiative the country has lent support to many ‘dirty’ projects in the energy infrastructure sector. This is also the case in the Western Balkans, where Chinese banks and energy companies have invested in coal power plants. Western Balkan countries need to improve their energy infrastructure and build new capacities. An obvious solution to this issue is the extension of their coal mines and plants, but this comes with complications. They do not have the capital to invest in these projects themselves, and international monetary institutions do not support these types of investments. In contrast to this, China can offer soft loans and expertise to realise the projects. Although many of the projects that Chinese banks have invested (or intend to invest) in are delayed or only in the planning phase, it seems that some of them can be realised despite the resistance of the Energy Community and various environmentalist groups.