scholarly journals Political and Civic Identity of Libertarians in Contemporary Russia: Problems and Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 560-569
Author(s):  
Denis A. Dumler

Libertarianism is a new ideological trend, popular among young people. We try to find out whether libertarianism rises as independent political movement or it is the reaction on the fall of popularity of traditional political parties. For that purpose, the author made the comparative analysis of the program documents of the Libertarian Party of Russia with the classical works of the American libertarians and analyzed the published interview both of the party leaders/activists and of the experts. The author used the interview which he took from some activists in order to clarify the political identification of the Russian libertarians. The political identity of libertarians is characterized by the broadest possible interpretation of personal and economic freedom. Libertarians believe that such freedom is compatible with law and legality and is opposite to anarchy. At the same time, they avoid definitions and norms that could constrain freedom by both the state and the adherents of certain, including liberal, values and slogans. This broad approach makes it difficult to politically identify libertarians, but contributes to their attractiveness among young people.

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-165
Author(s):  
Amanda Jeanne Swain

In the aftermath of the street demonstrations in Kaunas in May 1972, Communist Party leaders developed a narrative of the events that downplayed nationalism or political dissent as motivating factors for the unrest. Initially, Soviet authorities blamed marginal elements in society, specifically hooligans and hippies, for instigating what they called a ‘disturbance of public order’. However, the demographics of participants forced Party leaders to explain why young people who were students, workers and even Komsomol members would take to the streets shouting slogans such as ‘freedom for Lithuania’ and ‘freedom for hippies’. As a result, the Communist Party focused on the failure to inculcate Soviet youth with proper ideological values, making them susceptible to manipulation by ‘hostile elements’. In doing so, Party leaders were able to use the political practice of self-criticism to keep the events of May 1972 within acceptable ideological bounds. However, the recognition of its own weaknesses did not stop the Lithuanian Communist Party from blaming other groups, such as parents, schools and cultural organizations, for failing to provide a proper upbringing for Soviet Lithuanian youth. Although cultural and intellectual organizations were only one of the factors blamed for the political immaturity of youth and their susceptibility to corrupting influences, they were the ones to suffer the consequences of the Soviet authorities’ crackdown after the street demonstrations. Through a process of applying and discarding various discursive options, Lithuanian communist officials were able to use Soviet ideological narratives to protect themselves from criticism and to eliminate disruptive cultural and intellectual leaders in Kaunas.


Author(s):  
Özgür Erden

This article embarks on making a political analysis of Islamist politics by criticizing the hegemonic approach in the field and considering a number of the institutions or structures, composing of either state and its ideological-repressive apparatuses, political parties and actors, intellectual leadership and ideology, and political relations, events, or facts in political sphere. The aforesaid approach declares that the social and economic factors, namely class position, capital accumulation, market, education, and culture, have been far better significative for a political study in examining any political movement, party, and fact or event. However, our study will more stress on political structures, events and struggles or conflicts produced and reproduced by the political institutions, the relationships and the processes in question. Taking into account all these, it will be argued that they have been more significant as compared to class position, capital accumulation, market in economic structure, or culture and education, in a political study.


Author(s):  
Tüge T. Gülşen

This chapter explores the political potential of social media widely used as a means of communication by Turkish young people and examines how they perceive social media as alternative social environments, where they can manifest their political identities. In addition, the study conducted aims at understanding whether the political situation in Turkey before the “Resistanbul” events, beginning toward the end of May 2013, created fear among young people that could cause them to hesitate to express their political thoughts or feel the need to veil their political identities. The results of the survey reveals that Turkish young people, despite having a high sense of freedom, tend to be politically disengaged in social media, and they seem to be hesitant to reveal their political identities in this alternative democratic social space, but they do not mind “others” manifesting their political identities.


Author(s):  
Tuuli-Marja Kleiner ◽  
Reinhold Melcher

This study investigates how moral values structure the left/right identification of citizens. Specifically, this chapter reconnoitres how moral attitudes relate to the political fringes on both sides compared to economic attitudes. Using pooled data drawn from the World Value Survey (WVS) and the European Value Survey (EVS), this chapter calculates point-biseral correlation coefficients for 12 European countries at different points in time (1982-2014). The findings indicate that (1) both cultural and economic aspects determine mass political identification, (2) the significance of cultural aspects seems higher in traditional countries, (3) all influences remain largely stable over time. In addition, (4) this chapter identifies an unexpected pattern: while the economic dimension structures the political realm quite evenly, moral orientations seem to be divided into the ‘moral universalists' on the left pole and the ‘moral conservatives', who consider themselves as either moderate or rightist.


1965 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotte Glow

It has been said that the Civil War was won by committees. Recent writers on this subject have begun to show how parliamentary policy and its execution was forged in the committee chambers rather than on the crowded floor of the House of Commons. This article is concerned with the personnel of these committees, in particular with those men who were not famous for their political activities and attitudes. Obviously, a core of leaders was needed in order to direct the business of the committees, to give continuity to their proceedings and to ensure that their work was in accord with the policy of the Commons. But the political ‘parties’ were relatively small, and with all the enthusiasm in the world their members could not attend personally to all aspects of government, civil and military. This study is concerned with the men who had no known political views but who contributed a great deal of time and effort to the running of parliamentary affairs. Because of their relative obscurity in the House it will be useful to ask why they were chosen to serve on certain committees, how their background and activity compared with that of their more ‘political’ colleagues, and how they reacted to situations where they were required to take a political stand. Above all, it will be possible to judge whether these men formed a coherent group rather than a random collection of individuals. These men owed their positions to their administrative skill rather than to their political affiliations. As administrators they were responsible to the legislature, and during a time of intensified state intervention, they became analogous to a non-political civil service, ready to execute the policy decisions of the party leaders.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (01) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Elpeni Fitrah

This paper discusses how the political identity becomes a motive of Israel state formation. Identitypolitics is a part of cultural politics which consisted by race, religion, ethnic and culture. TheAuthor identified identity politics as a concept or political movement which focusing into diversity.The main argument of this paper is Israel has succeed utilize its cultural identity narrative to unitethe perception of the Jewish around the world to reproduce as a historical justification as well asthe tools of politics for the sake of the embodiment of national ideals in establishing their ownnation state. Keywords: Identity Politics, Narrative, Perception, Israel


Author(s):  
Антонина Владимировна Селезнева ◽  
Наталья Валентиновна Смулькина ◽  
Александра Федоровна Яковлева

В статье исследуются психологические и социально-политические особенности молодого поколения россиян, определяющие основные черты, пути и способы формирования гражданского самосознания молодежи. Категория «гражданское самосознание» понимается как комплекс ценностных, когнитивных, рефлексивных, мотивационных и эмоциональных особенностей личности, определяющих ее устойчивую и осознанную самоидентификацию в качестве гражданина и выражающихся в ее взаимоотношении с государством и обществом. Структурно-содержательные характеристики образа России в сознании молодежи даны с позиций теории политического восприятия и разработок политических психологов в области изучения политического сознания молодежи, различных положений теории идентичности в аспекте понимания гражданской идентичности как основы политического самоопределения индивида. Присущий современной молодежи образ России (комплекс представлений о ней как стране и государстве) исследуется в его визуальном измерении – через рисунки молодых людей, репрезентирующие их представления о России в виде изображений. В исследовании использована проективная рисуночная методика «Россия в виде дома», которая, как и любая другая подобная диагностическая техника, направлена на выявление глубинных и слабо осознаваемых особенностей восприятия окружающей действительности и себя в этом мире. Основное внимание уделено смысловому содержанию представленных в рисунках сюжетов, их символическому наполнению, эмоциональному знаку изображений. Обобщение данных осуществлялось по параметрам когнитивной сложности и конгруэнтности образов. Целевую группу исследования составили молодые российские граждане в возрасте от 15 до 30 лет в рамках трех возрастных групп: 15–17 лет, 18–23 лет, 24–30 лет. В ходе исследования было собрано и проанализировано 540 рисунков (по 180 рисунков респондентов каждой возрастной группы) в Москве и Санкт-Петербурге, в Краснодарском и Приморском краях, в Московской, Тверской, Липецкой, Омской областях, в республиках Крым и Северная Осетия – Алания (не менее 50 рисунков в каждом регионе). По результатам исследования выделены как общие тенденции восприятия страны, определяющие гражданскую идентичность молодежи, так и особенности образа России у разных возрастных групп в структуре молодого поколения. Выделены несколько взаимосвязанных направлений (контуров) структурирования образа своей страны, включающих в себя разные аспекты представлений о России молодых россиян: личностно-эмоциональный, властно-государственный, цивилизационный. Отмечено, что наибольшие сложности формирования гражданской идентичности проявляются у младшей возрастной группы исследуемых россиян. Рассмотрение образа страны в структуре гражданского самосознания молодежи на визуальных данных – материалах проективных рисунков – позволило подтвердить наличие зависимости гражданской идентичности от соотнесения молодыми людьми себя с воспринимаемой общностью – Россией как социокультурным и политическим образованием. Сделан вывод о том, что использование визуальных методов в исследованиях молодежи представляется перспективным в том числе в силу особого «клипового» характера восприятия ею социально-политической реальности и значительной роли визуальных средств в ее коммуникации в социальной среде и виртуальном пространстве. The article examines the psychological and sociopolitical features of Russia’s young generation, which determine the characteristics, ways and means of forming the civic consciousness of the youth. The category “civic consciousness” is understood as a complex of value, cognitive, reflexive, motivational and emotional characteristics of a person that determine their stable and conscious self-identification as a citizen and are expressed in a person’s relationship with the state and society. The structural and substantive characteristics of the image of Russia in the minds of young people are given from the standpoints of the theory of political perception and developments of political psychologists in the field of studying the political consciousness of young people, various aspects of the theory of identity in terms of understanding civic identity as the basis of the political self-determination of the individual. The image of Russia, which is a complex of ideas about it as a country and a state, the modern youth has is explored in its visual dimension through young people’s drawings representing their ideas about Russia in the form of images. The study used the projective drawing technique “Russia in the form of a house”, which, like any other similar diagnostic technique, aims at identifying deep and poorly perceived features of the perception of the surrounding reality and oneself in the world. The main focus is on the semantic content of the plots presented in the drawings, their symbolic content, the emotional sign of the images. Data were generalized according to the parameters of the cognitive complexity and congruence of the images. The target group of the study consisted of young Russian citizens aged 15 to 30 within three age groups – 15 to 17, 18 to 23, and 24 to 30 years. In the course of the study, 540 drawings were collected and analyzed (180 drawings by respondents of each age group) in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in Krasnodar and Primorsky krais, in Moscow, Tver, Lipetsk, Omsk oblasts, in the Republics of Crimea and North Ossetia-Alania (at least 50 drawings in each region). Based on the results of the study, the authors identify general tendencies of the perception of the country, which determine the civic identity of young people, and the distinctiveness of the image of Russia in different age groups in the structure of the younger generation. Several interrelated directions (outlines) of structuring the image of their country are also described, including different aspects of young Russians’ ideas about Russia: personal-emotional, power-state, civilizational. The authors note that great difficulties in the development of civic identity are manifested in the younger age group of the studied Russians. The analysis of the image of the country in the structure of the civic consciousness of youth based on visual data, particularly materials of projective drawings, made it possible to confirm the existence of the dependence of civic identity on how the young correlate themselves with the perceived community – Russia as a sociocultural and political entity. The conclusion is made that the use of visual methods in youth research seems to be promising, including due to the specific “clip” nature of the youth’s perception of the sociopolitical reality and the significant role of visual means in the youth’s communication in the social environment and the virtual space.


Author(s):  
Laura Cervi ◽  
Carles Marín-Lladó

TikTok, already widely used before the pandemic, boomed during the quarantine that locked down large parts of the world, reaching 2 billion downloads and 800 million monthly active users worldwide by the end of 2020. Of these 800 million users, 41% are aged between 16 and 24 years. This social network, widely known for its entertainment videos, is increasingly becoming a place for political discussion and therefore a unique opportunity for political actors to (re)connect with young people. Acknowledging that the political uses of TikTok are still understudied, this paper aims to explore whether and how Spanish political parties are including TikTok as part of their communication strategy. Through an affordance-centered content analysis of all the posts published by the five most important Spanish political parties (PP, PSOE, Ciudadanos, Podemos, and Vox), the current results show that, although all Spanish political parties have adopted this platform, their usage is unequal. From a quantitative perspective, PP was the first party to open a TikTok account, but its usage has been discontinuous; Podemos and Ciudadanos are the parties that publish the most and most constantly, while Vox has only published nine posts and the PSOE one. Nonetheless, from a qualitative perspective, Podemos and Vox generate more engagement and seem to understand and exploit TikTok’s specific affordances better. The findings allow it to be concluded that, although globally Spanish political parties do not fully exploit the platform’s affordances and tend to use it as a unilateral tool for promotion, the most engaging posts are those favoring interaction and geared toward politainment.


Society ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 372-389
Author(s):  
Kustiawan Kustiawan ◽  
Rumzi Samin

This research aims to examine primordialism and voting behavior of Malay ethnic during the 2005-2015 Riau Islands governor election (Pemilihan Gubernur or Pilgub). The political phenomenon in Riau Islands seems to be different from other areas where other Malays dominate since non-Malay ethnic candidates won the governor election. This research used a qualitative method with a descriptive technique. The data were collected using in-depth interviews and direct observation. Informants were selected using a purposive sampling technique. The result found that people of Malay ethnic are open-minded. The candidates elected also can prove qualified personal and successfully leading the Malay ethnic people in moving ahead. Non-Malay ethnic won the Riau Islands (known as Kepri (Kepulauan Riau)) governor election determined by 1) The political identity of Malay ethnic people is open-minded, coexisting Islamic identity, speaking Malay language, practicing Malay culture, and committing to build and develop Malay ethnic people, so the candidates identified as part of Malay ethnic people and considered by the Malay ethnic people as a candidate for leader of the Malay people in a broadening sense; 2) the figure of candidates can socialize with people of Malay ethnic; 3) other minority ethnics and political parties supported the candidates. Native Malay candidates were failed due to the lack of contribution to the people of Malay ethnic in particular and the Riau Islands in general.


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