Politics, sport mega events and grassroots mobilization. Anticipated triumph and unexpected failure of political elite in Poland

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech Woźniak

Sport mega events are the most prominent manifestations of the multidimensional and global interrelation between sport and politics. The purpose of the paper is to present the contrasting cases of two Polish SMEs: UEFA European Championships in football (Euro, 2012) and the bid for Winter Olympic Games Cracow 2022. This article pays special attention to the role of Polish political elite in promoting both events and to the grassroots movement that effectively ended the bidding for the latter event. It also discusses how the allegedly successful Euro 2012 tournament was presented in the public discourse in order to avoid conflicts and debates about the very idea of hosting the games. This proved unsuccessful in the latter case. This case deserves scrutiny as it is an unusual example of effective bottom up mobilization of civil society against the whole political elite.

1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald N. Jacobs ◽  
Philip Smith

Contemporary social theory has turned increasingly to concepts such as civil society, community, and the public sphere in order to theorize about the construction of vital, democratic and solidaristic political cultures. The dominant prescriptions for attaining this end invoke the need for institutional and procedural reform, but overlook the autonomous role of culture in shaping and defining the forms of social solidarity. This article proposes a model of solidarity based on the two genres of Romance and Irony, and argues that these narrative forms offer useful vocabularies for organizing public discourse within and between civil society and its constituent communities. Whilst unable to sustain fully-inclusive and solidaristic political cultures on their own, in combination the genres of Romance and Irony allow for solidaristic forms built around tolerance, reflexivity, and intersubjectivity.


Author(s):  
Tikhon Sergeyevich Yarovoy

The article is devoted to the research of goals and functions of lobbying activity. The author has processed the ideas of domestic and foreign scientists, proposed his own approaches to the definition of goals and functions of lobbying activities through the prism of public administration. As a result, a generalized vision of the goals and functions of lobbying activities as interrelated elements of the lobbying system was proposed, and a forecast for further evolution of the goals and functions of domestic lobbying was provided. The analysis of lobbying functions allowed us to notice the tendencies in shifting the goals of this activity. If the objectives were fully covered by functions such as mediation between citizens and the state, the information function and the function of organizing plurality of public interests, then the role of strengthening the self-organization of civil society and the function of compromise become increasingly important in the process of formation in the developed countries of civil society and the development of telecommunication technologies. Ukrainian lobbyism will not be left to the side of this process. Already, politicians of the highest level, leaders of financial and industrial groups have to act, adjust their goals (even if they are — declared), taking into account the reaction of the public. In the future, this trend will only increase. The analysis of current research and political events provides all grounds for believing that, while proper regulatory legislation is being formed in Ukraine, the goals and functions of domestic lobbying will essentially shift towards a compromise with the public. It is noted that in spite of the existence of a basic direction of action, lobbying may have several ramified goals. Guided by the goals set, lobbyism can manifest itself in various spheres of the political system of society, combining the closely intertwined interests of various actors in the lobbying process, or even — contrasting them.


2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. M. Stewart

AbstractThe deconstruction of what is termed “the public sphere” in recent decades has resulted in an important shift in scholarly attention towards networks and forms of association. This article explores how greater sensitivity to the unstable and ephemeral nature of “publics,” combined with a stronger awareness of the role of cultural exchange, has undoubtedly enriched our understanding of early modern politics. Some analytical precision has, nonetheless, been lost. A justifiable emphasis on the artificiality of the territorial borders that have defined units of enquiry has occurred at the expense of deeper consideration of the cultural boundaries that dictated the terms on which people could participate in and shape public discourse. Study of the British archipelago can offer new ways of thinking about these problems. Linguistic and ethnic differences, the search for religious concord as well as the reality of confessional division, institutional variation, and the consequences of London's increasing dominance of the archipelago, are key facets of the reassessments undertaken here. The article concludes by reflecting on how interactions between varieties of “public” and other forms of association can nuance our understanding of early modern state formation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-98
Author(s):  
Dionysia Mylonaki ◽  
Panagiotis Tigas

Computational censorship in the form of fake news and toxic comments regulation is a subject that comes up quite often in the public discourse, as a result of the volatile political circumstances on a global scale and due to the unquestionable impact of journalism on these circumstances. Public attention has been directed to the role of mainstream and other media in the formation of public opinion, either in the form of articles or in the form of usergenerated comments. The purpose is to analyse and allow a deeper understanding of a project that is under development, namely, computational-censorship and to show that algorithmic regulation is not a solution, but rather another layer to a more fundamental problem. This article examines the implicationsof developing Machine Leraning/Artificial Iintelligence (ML/AI) which aims to regulate the internet and we attempt to allow a glimpse into the technical aspect of the problem as a way to back arguments that could be re-jected by the ML/AI research community as “non-pragmatic”. Finally, it aims to highlight the absurdity of the current approach to research in this area, which is the exact opposite of the rationalism that the field claims to be embracing.


Geografie ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Grabkowska

Urban regeneration has become a key issue in the development of contemporary cities. The paper discusses bottom-up regeneration practices performed by inhabitants of a decaying inner-city neighbourhood under post-socialist conditions, which differ notably from the widely researched Western European context. Results of a qualitative study in Wrzeszcz Dolny, Gdańsk, have indicated the leading role of newcomers to the area in animating bottom-up regeneration efforts, which in turn translate into an activation and integration of the local community. Thus, it is argued that an in-migration into the inner city, usually interpreted as gentrification, does not necessarily generate losses for the indigenous inhabitants but can also bring a desired social change and significantly contribute to the building of inclusive civil society. The presented case study therefore signals the need for a careful investigation and precise labelling of the post-socialist inner-city transformation processes, as well as demonstrates how increasing participation might be employed as the potential antidote to ills associated with gentrification.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-89
Author(s):  
Ahmad Yasid ◽  
Moh Juhdi

Abstract   Islam, religion of tolerance and love of peace is one of Habiburrahman El Shirazy’s, it is a study indicating the values ​​of love and tolerance of Islam in the modern public space area. This study used the underlying theory of the values ​​of love and tolerance as well as the role of Islam in modern times that has been developing in the public discourse that in the history of human civilization there are several things that must be understood that humans have the sense to differentiate between humans and other creatures. From this reason humans can do something to explore and explain things that are not known by others. The method that is used in data collection technique is documentation technique, because this study is descriptive qualitative. This study examines several things including the values of love and tolerance because accepting differences is a distinct pleasure for each particular societies in other words, not seeing other people as deviants or enemies but as partner to complement each other by having an equal position and equally valid and valuable as a way of managing life and living life both individually and collectively. Acceptance of differences demands changes in the legal rule in people's lives so that the role of religion in the modern public space area becomes a middle way to build diversity and a nature that must both appreciate and respect one another, this diversity is seen in the portrait of everyday life which then creates peace, and harmony in interacting with all elements of society.    


Author(s):  
Eva NAGYFEJEO ◽  
Basie Von SOLMS

Nowadays, many cyber users do not understand how to protect themselves and their information within cyber space. One reason is that cyber users are unaware of possible cyber risks and threats that may occur within cyber space. The second reason is that citizens, businesses and users within the public sector may be aware of relevant cyber risks but do not really understand the seriousness of such risks and the consequences if they do realise. Therefore, cybersecurity awareness campaigns are an integral part of improving cybersecurity awareness. Based on in-country reviews conducted as part of the Global Cybersecurity Capacity Centre (GCSCC) programme, we observed that the campaigns to raise cybersecurity awareness throughout the country are often led by different ‘owners’ without co-ordination and adequate resources therefore creating fragmentation in the national cybersecurity awareness raising programme. This paper suggests that the development of a coordinated and coherent national cybersecurity awareness program is critical for building a basic level of aware-ness at the national level. We will examine the requirements needed to develop a coordinated national awareness raising programme by reviewing the existing literature, best practice approaches and the role of different stakeholders such as the government, private sector and civil society. We will draw conclusions on the main obstacles to ensure overall coherence between the actions of stakeholders and the efforts countries should prioritise in order to increase awareness of cyber risks at the national level.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 844-864
Author(s):  
Eric Linhart ◽  
Oke Bahnsen

The German electoral law to the federal parliament was reformed in 2011 and in 2013 . While political scientists have extensively evaluated consequences of these reforms, the role of the public discourse has been largely neglected . We analyze articles from three leading German newspapers (FAZ, SZ, Welt) on this topic and find the debate around the reforms to be dominated by parties and political institutions . Scientists, interest groups, and journalists have only played minor roles . Regarding content, the discourse largely focused on surplus seats, reform speed, and a proposal by the CDU/CSU‑FDP coalition government in 2011 . A broad public debate in which multiple social groups could participate has not taken place . From a normative perspective this is problematic since the lack of a public debate might have contributed to the poor quality of the reform’s result .


Author(s):  
Anil Kumar Nauriya

There is one aspect of Libraries that needs particularly to be highlighted, namely the role of the public library as a par excellence site that upholds the public intellectual space when contrasted to the more restricted academic space. It is a primary means by which public intellectuals and, through them, civil society, may hold even academia to account when the latter becomes confined by dead habits or restricted by institutional, bureaucratic, elitist or other, structures. It needs to be emphasized that academia and scholarship are not necessarily congruent. The interplay between academia and scholarship is crucial and that is made possible by the public library. Open libraries, especially public libraries, are at least as vital as the academia. The importance of a library or a museum is not necessarily related to its location or its size. “Preservation” and “intellectual heritage” need to be decolonized in order to realize epistemic justice.


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