Nation, national remembrance, and education — Polish schools as factories of nationalism and prejudice

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 1046-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Żuk
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Educational Reform ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Hard Power ◽  
Polish Society ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
Programs Of Study

This article describes and attempts to explain the reasons for the conservative and nationalist character of Polish schools. The author uses data from surveys, analyzes political programs, postulates concerning education put forward by conservatives, and quotes poems emphasizing national identity from textbooks used at schools to teach reading skills. According to the author, it can be observed that nationalists build an atmosphere of aversion to immigrants, which affects racism in the school hallways. The article also presents the phenomenon of so-called school chambers of national remembrance, which are part of patriotic rituals practiced by Polish society. The author emphasizes that nationalism is the basis for changes in history programs of study, which are part of the educational reform implemented by the Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość — PiS) government. The cultural soft power, which is used to make reality more “national,” complements the administrative and political hard power of the PiS party — both tools are used to create an authoritarian-nationalist vision of social order.

Introduction to The Indonesian Legal System: Major Developments in the Past Decade

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-72
Author(s):  
Hesti Setyowati ◽  
M. Harris S. Toengkagie
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
The Past ◽  
Legal Foundation ◽  
National Ideology ◽  
Customary Laws ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law And Justice

Abstract Indonesia is an archipelagic country that has endured 350 years of western colonization. Its people comprise diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds, all living in more than 17.000 islands spread throughout the archipelago. The development of the Indonesian legal system are considered as unique since it comprises the legacy of colonization, combined with the customary laws of various tribes. It is heavily infl uenced by Islam-the religion of the majority of its citizens, and the people’s own perception of law and justice following the colonial era. The undisputable fact on the variety of ethnic groups, cultures and religions formulate the desire for national ideology which promotes a unity of such diversity. As the result, each of the laws is formulated with reference to the principle of unity and democracy carried out in accordance with the national ideology. 60 years after its independence, the Law in Indonesia has shown great strides in its development. All of the developments are claimed to fulfi ll its goal of achieving a modern nation with solid legal foundation, without sacrifi cing its national identity.

The Day of Remembrance of the “Cursed Soldiers”: commemorative practices in contemporary Poland

2019 ◽  
pp. 269-288
Author(s):  
Anna Lagno
Keyword(s):  
Political Struggle ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Additional State ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
Rewriting History ◽  
Key Questions

Since 1 March 2011 Poland has marked the National Day of Remembrance of the „Cursed Soldiers” (Narodowy Dzień Pamięci “Żołnierzy Wyklętych”) — members of the anti-Communist underground in the 1940s and 1950s who tried to prevent Poland’s sovietisation and subordination to the USSR. The idea of establishing such a state memorial day was expressed in 2010 by Lech Kaczyński, the then President of Poland and one of the leaders of the Law and Justice Party (L&J). During the debates on the Bill of the National Day of Remembrance in the Sejm, the deputies of the two main opposing parties voted in favour almost unanimously and the Senate approved it without making any changes. After President Bronisław Komorowski signed it on 1 March 2011, Poland acquired an additional state holiday. In 2015, after the Law and Justice Party won both the presidential and parliamentary elections, the issue of the „cursed soldiers” turned into one of the key questions in historical policy. The „Civic Platform” party, forced to move over to the opposition benches in parliament, sounded the alarm, accusing the L&J party of rewriting history and primitivising the image of the anti-Communist underground. Thus, the memory of the “cursed soldiers” transformed from an issue that united political opponents to a topic for arguments and political struggle. The article attempts to show how the L&J party used the preservation of the memory of the “cursed soldiers” for its own political purposes, including its fight against the opposition.

An Analysis of UN Peacekeeping as Pakistan’s Soft Power Asset

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ume Farwa ◽  
Ghazanfar Ali Garewal
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Protective Role ◽  
International Community ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Hard Power ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
The People ◽  
Peacekeeping Missions

The power of attraction and admiration is soft power. Generally, it is perceived that hard power cannot generate soft power, but the protective role of military in humanitarian crises and conflicts negates this prevailing misperception by specifying their contexts and effective utilizations; hard power assets can be transformed into soft power resources. This paper argues that the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions are the source of soft power and Pakistan, being an active participant in this field, can utilize this asset for shaping the preferences of others. Overall, it did earn admiration from international community and managed to build its soft image abroad through peacekeeping missions. Pakistani blue helmets not only earned the admiration and appreciation of the people of the conflict-zones and earned praises, but from international community also. However, to what extent has the country utilized this asset of soft power to exercise its influence in the global arena remains debatable. Although Pakistan’s UN Peacekeeping missions have been an instrument of building the country’s soft image, it is publicized in a far less productive manner. Peacekeeping can be used as a means to enhance the country’s presence and the level of participation in both international and regional organizations. By effective application of soft power strategy in tandem with public diplomacy, Pakistan’s UN peacekeeping can provide the country with the platform where its narratives can be projected effectively and its influence can be exercised adroitly.

Tamils and the Haunting of Justice

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Willford
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Kuala Lumpur ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Land Use Patterns ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law And Justice

In 2006, dejected members of the Bukit Jalil Estate community faced eviction from their homes in Kuala Lumpur where they had lived for generations. City officials classified plantation residents as squatters and questioned any right they might have to stay. This story epitomizes the dilemma faced by Malaysian Tamils in recent years as they confront the collapse of the plantation system where they have lived and worked for generations. Foreign workers have been brought in to replace Tamil workers to cut labor costs. As the new migrant workers do not bring their whole families with them, the community structures need no longer be sustained, allowing more land to be converted to mechanized palm oil production or lucrative housing developments. Tamils find themselves increasingly resentful of the fact that lands that were developed and populated by their ancestors are now claimed by Malays as their own; and that the land use patterns in these new townships, are increasingly hostile to the most symbolic vestiges of the Tamil and Hindu presence, the temples. This book is about the fast-approaching end to a way of life, and addresses critical issues in the study of race and ethnicity. It demonstrates which strategies have been most “successful” in navigating the legal and political system of ethnic entitlement and compensation. It shows how, through a variety of strategies, Tamils try to access justice beyond the law-sometimes by using the law, and sometimes by turning to religious symbols and rituals in the murky space between law and justice.

“To Maintain the Biological Substance of the Polish Nation” : Reproductive Rights as an Area of Conflict in Poland

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-381
Author(s):  
Michael Zok
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Reproductive Rights ◽  
World War ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Polish Society ◽  
Constitutional Tribunal ◽  
Biological Substance ◽  
The Law ◽  
Almost All

On October 22, 2020, the long-term dispute about reproductive rights in Polish society had a comeback. The Constitutional Tribunal declared the embryo-pathological indication of abortions guaranteed by the law of 1993 to be unconstitutional. The tribunal’s ruling was met with widespread protests, as it effectively forbade almost all reasons for terminations of pregnancies. While members of the Church’s hierarchy and pro-life activists celebrated, politicians began once again to discuss the law, and different suggestions were made (including a draft law similar to laws in effect in other European countries like Germany, and a law which would allow the termination of a pregnancy if the fetus were likely to die, or a law forbidding them in the case that the fetus had been diagnosed as having down’s syndrome). The debates are hardly new to Polish society and history. On the contrary, they date back to the recreation of the Polish state after World War I. This article concentrates on the developments in the Communist People’s Republic that led to the legislation of 1993, which is commonly referred to as a “compromise.” It focuses on the main actors in this dispute and the policymakers and their arguments. It also contextualizes these discursive strategies in a long-term perspective and highlights continuities and ruptures.

Biało-ruskij mir. Reaktywacja reintegracyjna w relacjach rosyjsko-białoruskich White-Russian world.

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-80
Author(s):  
Denys Sviridenko ◽  
Marcin Orzechowski
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Social Legitimacy ◽  
Hard Power ◽  
Gradual Loss ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Sphere Of Influence ◽  
Choice Of Instruments ◽  
Strategic Goal

The relations between the Russian Federation and Belarus in the 21st century are characterized by dynamics and volatility. The integration processes of both countries, initiated in the 1990s, are an element of the strategy of domination in the post-Soviet area, which is consistently implemented by Russia. The authors conclude that this strategy in the case of Belarus is a kind of mixture of soft power and hard power, and the choice of instruments depends on the stability of the authoritarian regime, which is embodied by Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The rigged presidential elections triggered a wave of protests, leading to the gradual loss of social legitimacy by the Belarusian president. Russia has a dilemma: whether to continue to support Lukashenka, who is losing support, or to look for a “new personal alternative”, a politician that would guarantee the implementation of a “pro-Russian vector” in Belarus’s domestic and foreign policy. Regardless of how the situation develops, Russia’s strategic goal remains to keep Belarus in its sphere of influence using the already existing mechanisms of cooperation between the two countries.

Opposition weakness will help Polish ruling coalition

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Independent State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Party Control ◽  
State Of The Economy ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law And Justice

Significance At the beginning of 2021, the ZP coalition of the Law and Justice (PiS), Accord and United Poland (SP) parties is stable, but not as strong as it has been in previous years. This weakening in the PiS-led government’s condition is due to many factors, among which the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important. Impacts The process will continue of subordinating any independent state institutions still left to party control. PiS will take further, similar steps regarding the media, academia and NGOs. After months of pandemic lockdown, the state of the economy is stable if not ideal, and will not lead to early elections.

The impact of Political Parties Law no. 36 of 2015 on requlatinq political parties pluralism in Iraq

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurdistan Saeed
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
The Law ◽  
Lack Of Commitment ◽  
The Impact

This study deals with the political parties’ pluralism in Iraq under the Parties Law No. 36 of 2015. The importance of the study lies in the fact that it looks at a topic that is at the heart of democracy and it is necessary for the success of any democratic processes. The study focuses on parties’ pluralism in Iraq since the establishment of the Iraqi state in 1921 until the end of the Baath Party regime in 2003, it also covers the period after 2003 and pays particular attention to the Parties Law No. 36 of 2015. It focuses on the legal framework of political parties after the adoption of the Political Parties Law and studies the impact of this law on parties’ pluralism in Iraq after its approval in 2015. The study concludes that Law No. 36 of 2015 is incapable of regulating parties’ pluralism for reasons including: the lack of commitment by the political parties to the provisions of the law, the inability of the Parties Affairs Department to take measures against parties that violate the law the absence of a strong political opposition that enhances the role of political parties, the association of most Iraqi parties with foreign agendas belonging to neighboring countries, and the fact that the majority of Iraqi parties express ethnic or sectarian orientations at the expense of national identity.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF MARTIAL COURT IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT IN INDONESIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (22) ◽  
pp. 66-73
Author(s):  
Mahfutt Mahfutt ◽  
Khairil Anwar ◽  
Billi Belladona Matindas
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Data ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Court System ◽  
Criminal Offenses ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Military

The position of the Military Court is a body that executes the judicial power in the circle of the Indonesian National Armed Forces to enforce the law and justice with due observance of the interest in the state defense and safety. The Military Court is authorized to try the crimes committed by someone who when committing such crime is a soldier of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, a member of a group or office or body or equal to a soldier pursuant to the Law and someone is not included in the said group as set forth in the Law Number 31 of 1997 on Military Court. Following the reform of 1988, the existence of the Military Court is developed by some activists and the public that observe the Military Court, insisting the Parliament of the Republic of Indonesia to revise Law Number 31 of 1997 on Military Court, with the focus point for a soldier of the Indonesian National Armed Forces who commits a general crime to be tried in the General Court with the reason that the Military Court practice is closed in nature, and another reason is the equalization of rights before the law. The method used in this research is the normative law research that is carried out to obtain the necessary data relating to the problem. The data used is secondary data consisting of primary law materials, secondary law materials, and tertiary law materials. In addition, primary data is also used as the support of the secondary data law materials. The data is analyzed by the qualitative juridical analysis method. The results of the research show that the Military Court is one of the mechanisms that are always tried to be maintained. The outcome from the research discovers that the role of the Martial Court in Indonesia remains effective, fair, and democratic to this date realistically marked by fair punishment within the jurisdiction offended, which corresponds to the need of TNI institution in the aspects of Culture, Benefit, Assurance, and Fairness. It is recommended that the RI Government continuously develop and improve the same by maintaining the role of the Martial Court in punishing criminal offenses committed by military members on the Martial Court system currently in force.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document