scholarly journals An undisclosed story of roses: church, state, and nation in contemporary Georgia

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 694-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tornike Metreveli

Since the Rose Revolution (2003), Georgia has encountered an unprecedented scale of institutional reforms concomitant with the rise of American and European involvement in the “democratization” process. Various scholars have suggested that Georgian nationalism developed from an ethno-cultural basis to a more civic/liberal orientation after the Rose Revolution. This paper analyzes Georgian nationalism under President Mikheil Saakashvili to demonstrate the significant divergence between political rhetoric on national identity, the selection of symbols, and state policy toward the Georgian Orthodox Church versus state policy toward ethnic minorities. The aim of this article is to examine the at times conflicting conceptions of national identity as reflected in the public policies of Saakashvili's government since the Rose Revolution. It attempts to problematize the typologies of nationalism when applied to the Georgian context and suggests conceptualizing the state-driven nationalism of the post-Rose Revolution government as “hybrid nationalism” as opposed to civic or ethno-cultural.

Genealogy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Jovan Jonovski

Selecting national emblems is crucial for the development of a national identity. This paper presents all official proposals for the coat of arms of the Republic of Macedonia, starting in 1992, with the proposals of the public competition for the selection of the coat of arms, flag, and anthem of the Republic of Macedonia, and finishing with the last Government proposal in 2014. All of the proposals are categorized according to their main symbol, a sun or a lion. The long and complex process of creating national symbols shows that there is a deep division regarding which one to use.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-232
Author(s):  
Sam Abede Pareno ◽  
M Rif’an Arif

ABSTRACT Religious traditions in Indonesia are known to be very moderate and tolerant abroad is a reflection of the character of a great noble nation. Between religion, tradition and culture are able to perform compounds so as to create a genuine religious harmony. Because of this reality Indonesia is regarded as the largest Muslim majority country in the world that almost without conflict, in the midst of reality Muslim countries in the Middle East that impressed the dispute into the daily menu. However, the reality of Indonesia as a moderate nation is injured by the act of a group that is fond of terrorism and radicalism by riding Islamic religious teachings. Thus, this reversed religion is assumed as a source of cruelty.   It is through that phenomenon researcher, feel the need to examine the strategy of disseminating moderate Islam by Nahdlatul Ulama. The selection of this Islamic organization according to the authors due to its success in moderating Islam in Indonesia. In this study, the study using a qualitative approach or method as well as adopting the theory of Van Dijk discourse analysis as a scalpel to peel the discourse of moderate Islam published by PWNU East Java through the website. As for this research, the findings are important, among others are: 1) moderate Islamic discourse campaigned by Nahdlatul Ulama East Java is categorized into three segments, namely social, religious and nationality. 2) the text structure that builds moderate Islamic discourse NU East Java in Van Dijk perspective constructed in three domains, namely text, social cognition and social context. 3) the principles of Public Relationship implemented by NU through cyber (online media), among others; News publications and expert opinions, production of image and video-based information, and updating official NU information to the public about their attitudes and views on the phenomena that occur by promoting the values of Islamic moderatism. Key Word : Islamic Moderatism, Nahdlatul Ulama, Cyber Public Relationship


Author(s):  
E.V. Troshina

In modern conditions of market relations and a labour market the great value as the public status of the worker varies, character of its relations to work and conditions of sale of a labour is given to selection and hiring of shots especially.


Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts

This chapter presents a model of the interaction of media outlets, politicians, and the public with an emphasis on the tension between truth-seeking and narratives that confirm partisan identities. This model is used to describe the emergence and mechanics of an insular media ecosystem and how two fundamentally different media ecosystems can coexist. In one, false narratives that reinforce partisan identity not only flourish, but crowd-out true narratives even when these are presented by leading insiders. In the other, false narratives are tested, confronted, and contained by diverse outlets and actors operating in a truth-oriented norms dynamic. Two case studies are analyzed: the first focuses on false reporting on a selection of television networks; the second looks at parallel but politically divergent false rumors—an allegation that Donald Trump raped a 13-yearold and allegations tying Hillary Clinton to pedophilia—and tracks the amplification and resistance these stories faced.


Author(s):  
Elin Haugsgjerd Allern ◽  
Tània Verge

How parties structure their interaction with social groups is a key determinant of their capacity to provide linkage between the institutions of government and the public at large. This chapter investigates the extent to which modern political parties use formal measures to connect to relevant societal interests and strengthen their anchorage in society. The analysis centres on parties’ use of formal rules governing affiliation and representation to link with externally organized interests and parties’ establishment of sub-organizations with representation rights within the party. The chapter authors develop and test several hypotheses concerning cross-country and within-country sources of variation in formal linkage and test them empirically. In addition, they examine whether formal status and representation rights shape parties’ ability to represent descriptively the associated latent social interests focusing on the case of women and ethnic minorities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Rinaldi ◽  
M P M Bekker

Abstract Background The political system is an important influencing factor for population health but is often neglected in the public health literature. This scoping review uses insights from political science to explore the possible public health consequences of the rise of populist radical right (PRR) parties in Europe, with welfare state policy as a proxy. The aim is to generate hypotheses about the relationship between the PRR, political systems and public health. Methods A literature search on PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar resulted in 110 original research articles addressing 1) the relationship between the political system and welfare state policy/population health outcomes or 2) the relationship between PRR parties and welfare state policy/population health outcomes in Europe. Results The influence of political parties on population health seems to be mediated by welfare state policies. Early symptoms point towards possible negative effects of the PRR on public health, by taking a welfare chauvinist position. Despite limited literature, there are preliminary indications that the effect of PRR parties on health and welfare policy depends on vote-seeking or office-seeking strategies and may be mediated by the political system in which they act. Compromises with coalition partners, electoral institutions and the type of healthcare system can either restrain or exacerbate the effects of the PRR policy agenda. EU laws and regulations can to some extent restrict the nativist policy agenda of PRR parties. Conclusions The relationship between the PRR and welfare state policy seems to be mediated by the political system, meaning that the public health consequences will differ by country. Considering the increased popularity of populist parties in Europe and the possibly harmful consequences for public health, there is a need for further research on the link between the PRR and public health.


2018 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-156
Author(s):  
Corneliu C. Simuț

In December 1989, Communism died in Romania—if not as mentality, it surely met its demise as a political system which had dominated almost every aspect of life in the country for over four decades. Thus, at least in theory, an ideological vacuum was created and concrete steps towards filling it with different values and convictions were supposed to be taken as early as possible. The Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church seized the opportunity and initiated a series of measures which eventually created a distinct perception about what culture, ethnicity, and religion were supposed to mean for whoever identified himself as Romanian. This paper investigates these ideological attempts to decontaminate Romania of its former Communist mentalities by resorting to the concept of ecodomy seen as ‘constructive process’ and the way it can be applied to how the Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church dealt with culture, ethnicity, and religion. In the end, it will be demonstrated that while decommunistization was supposed to be constructive and positive, it proved to be so only for the Romanians whose national identity was defined by their adherence to the Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church and its perspective on culture, ethnicity, and religion. For all other Romanian citizens, however, decommunistization was a process of ‘negative ecodomy’ because their cultural ideas, ethnic origin, or religious convictions were perceived as non-Romanian and non-Orthodox. In attempting to reach decommunistization therefore, the Romanian majority still tends to be xenophobic and even anti-Muslim, as plainly demonstrated by the Bucharest mosque scandal which rocked the country in the summer of 2015.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Vanessa Rodríguez-Breijo ◽  
Núria Simelio ◽  
Pedro Molina-Rodríguez-Navas

This study uses a qualitative approach to examine what political and technical leaders of municipalities understand transparency and public information to mean, and what role they believe the different subjects involved (government, opposition, and the public) should have. The websites of 605 Spanish councils with more than 100,000 inhabitants were analysed and three focus groups were held with political and technical leaders from a selection of sample councils. The results show that the technical and political leaders of the councils do not have a clear awareness of their function of management accountability or of the need to apply journalistic criteria to the information they publish, defending with nuances the use of propaganda criteria to focus on the actions of the local government, its information, the lack of space dedicated to public debate and the opposition’s actions. In relation to accountability and citizen participation, they have a negative view of citizens, who they describe as being disengaged. However, they emphasize that internally it is essential to continue improving in terms of the culture of transparency and the public information they provide citizens.


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