scholarly journals The Syrian Crisis (2011–2021): Development of Conflict

Islamovedenie ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Boris Vasilyevich Dolgov ◽  

The author analyses the course of the conflict, the composition and the actions of the armed opposition. The methods of the media war against the Syrian Arab Republic are examined. The role of Russia in the suppression of ISIS and the political solution of the Syrian crisis is demonstrated. The academic novelty of the author’s approach is its focus on the new stage of the Syrian crisis in the years 2018–2021, i. e. after the downfall of ISIS. The internal situation in SAR, the activity of the Constitutional Committee, the Presidential elections in 2021 are examined and analyzed. The author concludes that after the defeat of ISIS and its affiliated radical Islamist groupings, the main factors of the conflict continuation are the external actors illegitimately presented in SAR and the armed groups under their control, as well as the Kurdish factor. The author maintains that the polit-ical solution of the Syrian crisis is possible after the transformation of the armed groups of the moderate opposition into a political force and under the condition of the territorial integrity and sover-eignty of Syria that would guarantee the free creed of all its confessions.

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hou Yuxin

Abstract The Wukan Incident attracted extensive attention both in China and around the world, and has been interpreted from many different perspectives. In both the media and academia, the focus has very much been on the temporal level of the Incident. The political and legal dimensions, as well as the implications of the Incident in terms of human rights have all been pored over. However, what all of these discussions have overlooked is the role played by religious force during the Incident. The village of Wukan has a history of over four hundred years, and is deeply influenced by the religious beliefs of its people. Within both the system of religious beliefs and in everyday life in the village, the divine immortal Zhenxiu Xianweng and the religious rite of casting shengbei have a powerful influence. In times of peace, Xianweng and casting shengbei work to bestow good fortune, wealth and longevity on both the village itself, and the individuals who live there. During the Wukan Incident, they had a harmonizing influence, and helped to unify and protect the people. Looking at the specific roles played by religion throughout the Wukan Incident will not only enable us to develop a more meaningful understanding of the cultural nature and the complexity of the Incident itself, it will also enrich our understanding, on a divine level, of innovations in social management.


Author(s):  
Seyedmohammad Seyedi Asl ◽  
Hazar Leylanoğlu ◽  
Ataollah Bahremani ◽  
Shalaleh Zabardastalamdari

In this study, using the descriptive-analytical method, we discuss the main factors in the formation of the Yemen crisis, as well as the attitudes of the two Arab states and of the two neighboring countries, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, in the Yemen crisis. It is concluded that this crisis stems not only from the role of local actors, but also from the role of regional and global actors, who played a decisive role in shaping and exacerbating the Yemen crisis. Regional players in the post-2015 crisis include the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which showed contradictory behavior. Saudi Arabia's targets in its attack on Yemen have a greater military and security dimension. The political and economic objectives of the United Arab Emirates, which is Riyadh's most important ally in this war, have been at a different level from those of Saudi Arabia. This can be seen in Abu Dubai Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed's aspirations to expand his country's influence, to become a major player in the region.


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1031-1038
Author(s):  
Robin Van Leeckwyck ◽  
Pieter Maeseele ◽  
Maud Peeters ◽  
David Domingo

Belgium was one of the first European countries to establish a local ‘national’ branch of the global Indymedia network. The diversity of those involved in this ‘national movement’ ultimately turned out to be both the strength of the original website and the cause of its decline. Indeed, due to political and organizational disagreement, many activists decided to create their own ‘local’ Independent Media Centre (IMC). This article distinguishes two perspectives on the role of Indymedia: the political activists saw Indymedia as a means to an end, as an instrument to discuss strategies and tactics, and to coordinate social movements and grassroots movements. The media activists, on the contrary, saw Indymedia as an end in itself, as a platform for civil society organizations to make their voices heard and facilitate democratic debate – in this vein, the experience of Indymedia.be was transformed into the alternative news site DeWereldMorgen.be.


Journalism ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 146488492095950
Author(s):  
Jefferson Lyndon D Ragragio

Editorials are a political force used by news media to fulfil its watchdog function in fragile democracies like the Philippines. However, they also serve as a platform to invite a more positive reading of strongman administration. Against the backdrop of media populism, the article will problematize how the Fourth Estate articulates its political stance by examining the tensions and complexities in editorials. It will highlight the ways the media deals with subjects and stories surrounding Rodrigo Duterte. Through an analysis of editorials of four leading dominant news outlets (Bulletin, Inquirer, Rappler, and Star), three meta-thematic categories of media frames are uncovered. First, character degradation frames delineate how the media denounces the ties of Duterte with other political actors, particularly the Marcoses and China’s Xi. Second, pro-establishment frames echo the optimistic mantra of the government amid crisis. And third, non-editorial frames exhibit the failure of media to publish watchdog-inspired editorials. Each of these categories has underlying frames that are indicative of the democratic potential, or lack thereof, of news media.


2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie Gingras

Résumé.Dans ce texte, nous tentons d'évaluer le rôle sociopolitique des journalistes en posant les éléments fondamentaux d'une conceptualisation du rôle des médias en démocratie et en analysant les résultats d'une recherche empirique sur l'engagement des journalistes envers la démocratie menée de l'été 2008 au printemps 2010. Notre étude prend appui sur la dichotomie entre un rôle actif des médias et un rôle instrumental face au système politique, dichotomie que nous faisons porter sur les journalistes. Nous prétendons que les médias et les journalistes jouent le rôle de « médiateurs » dans les sociétés libérales, c'est-à-dire d'agents individuels ou collectifs par qui transitent des messages explicites ou implicites; ces agents ajoutent une couche de sens par diverses méthodes dont la sélection des nouvelles, la hiérarchisation des sujets ou le cadrage de personnes ou d'événements.Abstract.This paper aims to assess the sociopolitical role of journalists through a conceptual approach linking media and democracy and through an analysis of the data resulting from an investigation of journalists' commitment to democracy that was conducted from the summer of 2008 to the spring of 2010. Our study is founded on the dichotomy between an active role for the media and an instrumental one in the face of the political system, and this dichotomy is applied to journalists. We believe that the media and journalists function as “mediators” in liberal societies, that is, as individual or collective agents through whom explicit or implicit messages pass; these agents add a layer of signification by diverse methods, among which are the selection of news, the categorization of issues or the framing of individuals or events.


2020 ◽  
pp. 175063522095036
Author(s):  
Kajalie Shehreen Islam

This article explores the role of the media as a discursive tool in the commemoration of Bangladesh’s war of liberation. The author critically engages with the notion of mediated memory in the foreground of corporate nationalism. Through a discourse analysis of print advertisements published in Bangladeshi newspapers on the country’s Independence and Victory Days over five decades, she traces the use of nationalism in advertising discourse and the shift from a development-oriented approach to corporate nationalism, with the underlying theme of glorification of war. The study found that nationalistic-based discourse is a key theme of Bangladeshi advertisements published on its days of national significance – history and its heroes, symbols and images, poetry and song, are all used to invoke a banal nationalism. These discursive constructions depend largely on the political context but, as long as the political line is adhered to, advertisers are free to use nationalistic discourse to promote their brands, products and services.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 299
Author(s):  
Patricio Dugnani

Nesse artigo vamos analisar a questão do medo, e o uso político do medo, comparando dois casos dessa utilização da estratégia do medo no discurso político da mídia televisiva, os quais foram efetuados em dois momentos diferentes, nas campanhas eleitorais das eleições presidenciais de 2002 e 2014. Além disso, busca-se relacionar o discurso do medo na mídia, às condições de incertezas, a busca do prazer, o consumo e o individualismo instauradas na pós-modernidade. A partir de uma análise crítica das condições sociais, pretende-se investigar como o medo, potencializado pela mídia, é capaz de produzir um efeito de alienação capaz de criar um discurso que acaba se repetindo mecanicamente, reproduzindo ações e ampliando conceitos artificiais introduzidos socialmente, produzindo, mesmo, a proliferação de preconceitos, discursos fáceis e estereotipados. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Comunicação, Medo, Política, Mídia, Sociedade de Consumo ABSTRACTIn this article we will examine the issue of fear, and the political use of fear, comparing two cases of such use of the strategy of fear in the political discourse of the television media, which were carried out in two different moments, in the election campaigns of the presidential elections of 2002 and 2014. In addition, we seek to relate the speech of fear in the media, the conditions of uncertainty, the pursuit of pleasure, consumption and individualism brought in post-modernity. From a critical analysis of social conditions, it is intended to investigate how fear, potentiated by the media, is capable of producing an effect of alienation that can create a speech that ends up repeating themselves mechanically, reproducing and extending artificial concepts introduced actions socially, producing even the proliferation of prejudices, easy and stereotyped discourses. KEYS WORDS: Communication, Fear, Politics, Media, Postmodernism, Consumer society  ResumenEn este artículo examinaremos la cuestión de miedo y el uso político del miedo, comparación de dos casos de uso de la estrategia del miedo en el discurso político de los medios de televisión, que se llevaron a cabo en dos momentos diferentes, en las campañas electorales de las elecciones presidenciales de 2002 y 2014. Además, buscamos relacionar el discurso del miedo en los medios de comunicación, las condiciones de incertidumbre, la búsqueda de placer y el individualismo en la postmodernidad. Desde un análisis crítico de las condiciones sociales, el objetivo es investigar cómo miedo, potenciada por los medios de comunicación, es capaz de producir un efecto de alienación que puede crear un discurso que termina repitiendo mecánicamente, reproducción y el aumento de conceptos artificiales introdujeron acciones socialmente, produciendo incluso la proliferación de prejuicios y estereotipos de discursos. Palabras clave: comunicación, miedo, política, medios de comunicación, sociedad de consumo. Disponível em:Url:http://opendepot.org/2781/Abrir em (para melhor visualização em dispositivos móveis - Formato Flipbooks):Issuu / Calameo 


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-53
Author(s):  
Aid Mršić ◽  
◽  
Larisa Softić-Gasal ◽  

The public service, which should be the guardian of the identity of national minorities, fell under the political pressure. In this way, it came out of the scope of its actions. Leading people in independent media believe that the role of the public service is crucial in protecting national minorities.But the media can not do it alone. First of all, the state must regulate, and respect what it has brought. With strong strategies and the inclusion of national minorities in all social trends, it is possible to achieve, not fully, but partially, the equality of all those who liveon the territory of BiH.On the other hand, the public service must respect what the state says. The Communications Regulatory Agency is obliged to impose rules in an adequate manner and at the same time to monitor how much the media (public service) meets its obligations.


Author(s):  
Manfred Knoche

Abstract: This paper discusses how the capitalist media industry has been structurally transformed in the age of digital communications. It takes an approach that is grounded in the Marxian critique of the political economy of the media. It draws a distinction between media capital, media-oriented capital, media infrastructure capital and media-external capital as the forms of capital in the media industry. The article identifies four capital strategies that media capital tends to use in order to try to maximise profits: a) The substitution of “old” by “new” media technology, b) the introduction of new transmission channels for “old” media products, c) the definition of new property rights for media sectors and networks, d) the reduction of production and transaction costs. The drive to profit maximization is at the heart of the capitalist media industry’s structural transformation. This work also discusses the tendency to the universalization of the media system in the digital age and the economic contradictions arising from it. It identifies activity fields of the media industry’s structural transformation and shows how the concentration of the capitalist media markets is an essential, contradictory and inherent feature of the capitalist media system and its structural transformation. The paper identifies six causes of why capital seeks to employ capital strategies that result in the media industry’s structural transformation. They include market saturation, overaccumulation, the tendency of the profit rate to fall, capital-concentration, competition pressure, and advertising. The paper finally discusses the role of the state as an agent of capital in general and media capital in particular. It discusses the role of the state in privatisations, neoliberal deregulation, the formation of national competitive states, and various benefits that the state provides for media capital. This contribution shows that capital and capitalism are the main structural transformers of the media and communications system. For understanding these transformations, we need an approach that is grounded in Marx’s critique of the political economy.Translation from German: Christian Fuchs and Marisol Sandoval


Author(s):  
Alan B. Krueger

This chapter considers the consequences of terrorism. This is the area where with the least research. The chapter offers the author's interpretation of the literature, referring along the way to some of the work that has been done. It focuses first on the economic consequences of terrorist attacks. Then the chapter turns to their psychological consequences, followed by some comments about the role of the media. It also puts the threat of terrorism into perspective by comparing it with other risks that we as a nation have faced and placing it in historical context. Finally, the chapter discusses the political impact of terrorism on the target country.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document