Koncepcja „demokracji zakorzenionej” Wolfganga Merkela w kontekście współczesnego populizmu i kryzysu demokracji

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-82
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Guczalska
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Functional Model ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Proper Functioning ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
The Impact

Wolfgang Merkel’s concept of rooted democracy in the context of contemporary populism and the crisis of democracy: The article presents the concept of “rooted democracy” by Wolf‐ gang Merkel, which was presented in the context of the democratic crisis. The German poli‐ tical scientist indicates what democracy is — specifying the proper functioning of the regula‐ tions of the democratic system (regimes). Speaking of the weakness or strength of democracy, we must have a well‐described set of system principles that determine the degree of strength of democracy or its erosion. The above set of principles of the democratic system is thoroughly discussed in the article. In particular, the functional model of civil society is analysed. The text also explores how the crisis of democracy is understood and Merkel’s view of the impact of global capitalism on democratic institutions, which contributes to the transformation of democracy into an oligarchy. The topics discussed in the article also concern alternative, non‐ ‐liberal forms of democracy and populism. The question is whether Merkel’s concept is useful in explaining populism and its political consequences.

The Impact of Civil Society on Governance in Lesotho

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-144
Author(s):  
Mphonyane Rakhare ◽  
Tania Coetzee
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Independent Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Democratic Country ◽  
Civil Societies

The article acknowledges that Lesotho governance has been characterised by unstable democracy since its attainment of independence in 1966, which makes civil society and other democratic institutions unable to pursue their roles as expected. The proposed solution to overcome predicaments that Lesotho faces was to have active and vibrant democratic institutions such as civil societies, ombudsman, political parties, independent media, independent electoral commissions and the legislative, executive and judiciary. The article aims to bridge the gap by examining published literature and documentary review, which clearly elucidate how good governance can be achieved in a democratic country with the help of active democratic institutions. The article highlights the importance of active and vibrant civil society in governance and public policy. The article concludes by justifying that in deed the government of Lesotho should accept and allow participation of civil society so as to be able to realise its contribution and the important role played by it. Also, civil society in Lesotho must distance themselves from suspicions that they are political parties in disguise.

scholarly journals Participation and implementation in the decisional: procedure of basic criteria of participative democration

2021 ◽  
pp. 98-105
Author(s):  
Ludmila Rosca ◽  
◽  
Valentina Ursu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
Democratic Participation ◽  
Direct Involvement ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Fundamental Values

Considering that the participation of individuals and communities in public life at all levels – national, regional and local – is part of the fundamental values of democracy and that the direct involvement of the population, by virtue of its civic rights and obligations, is the essence of any democratic system. We conclude that the impact of participatory democracy in ensuring involvement is a matter of the impact of local and national authorities, which must assume a recognised leadership role in promoting population participation, and that the success of any process of democratic participation depends on the real commitment of these authorities. Recognition and strengthening of the role played by civil society, the main actor and driving force through groups and associations, in the development and support of a genuine participatory democracy.

GLOBAL POPULATION MIGRATIONS AS A THREAT TO THE EXISTENCE AND PROPER FUNCTIONING OF CIVIL SOCIETY INSTITUTIONS. SELECTED ISSUES

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (XX) ◽  
pp. 45-55
Author(s):  
Karolina Radlak
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Population Migration ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Proper Functioning ◽  
Population Migrations ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Global Population

The aim of the article’s author is to reflect on the essence of civil society in the context of social migration. There are many concepts in the literature on the description of citizenship and the definition of the phenomenon of population migration, which the author cites in the article, however, the assumption of this publication is to induce reflection on the impact of population migration on the implementation of citizens’ rights and obligations. It is impossible not to notice the huge range of impact of migration on many areas of life, and in particular on the functioning of civil society. Nowadays, social and economic changes are constantly occurring, causing society to mix, and in addition to the fact that they obviously become theoretically unified in the community, it should be noted that in practice the situation of civil society in individual countries is becoming increasingly complicated. Migration of the population should therefore be considered as a factor limiting the citizen in terms of his civil rights and obligations, without which the institution of civil society collapses.

scholarly journals Depression and repression: Global capitalism, economic crisis and penal politics in interwar Greece

2021 ◽  
pp. 147737082110531
Author(s):  
Leonidas K. Cheliotis
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
External Interference ◽  
State Punishment ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Liberal Government ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
The Impact

Notwithstanding the significant advances made over the last twenty years in terms of charting and explaining the ways in which state punishment is influenced by economic and political forces, little is still known about the penal effects of conditions of economic crisis and about the role the incumbent government's political orientation plays in this regard. Because the few available studies on these questions have been preoccupied with the Anglo-American sphere and only in the context of recent decades at that, even less is known either about the implications that different types or experiences of economic crisis carry for state punishment, or about the influence exerted in this respect by government political orientations other than those found in established democracies. Irrespective of geographical or temporal scope, moreover, the impact that different extranational factors and actors may have in terms of economic, political or directly penal matters domestically remains poorly understood. With a view to helping fill these gaps in the literature, this article explores the effects on state punishment that economic crisis and government political orientation had in interaction with one another in the context of interwar Greece. Attention is first paid to various ways in which global capitalism was decisive in creating within Greece an environment conducive to increased punitiveness on the part of the state. The focus is on the economic, social and political consequences of the Wall Street crash of 1929 and Britain's exit from the gold standard in 1931, as these were exacerbated by Greece's long-term exposure to predatory lending, speculative investing and external interference in her domestic affairs in the context of engaging international capital markets. The article then proceeds to discuss how the Liberal government of 1928–1932 sought to handle the situation, particularly the approach it took towards punishment.

Conclusions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piero Ignazi
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Present Condition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Democratic System

The Conclusion addresses the parties’ present condition in the European political systems. Indeed, at the dawn of the new century parties have become Leviathan with clay feet: powerful in the political arena thanks to control of state resources, but very weak in terms of legitimacy in the eyes of public opinion. Only by abandoning the citadelle in which they are entrenched, recasting societal linkages, relinquishing all their privileges, and dismissing their self-referential attitude might they recover the confidence of the electorate. Maintaining a state-centred status will only lead to a dead end, and this will also harm the democratic system itself. The collapse of parties’ legitimacy inevitably affects democratic institutions: the mounting populist and plebiscitary wave suggests how pervasive is the crisis and how dramatic the challenge.

Modern Slavery and Supply Chain Transparency

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve New
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Weak Response ◽  
Modern Slavery ◽  
Labor Exploitation

The scourge of modern slavery has led to legislation in various countries requiring firms to engage in a particular form of supply chain transparency. However, these regulatory initiatives have been widely perceived to be, by themselves, a weak response to such a serious challenge. This chapter argues that assessment of these initiatives hinges on the interpretation of modern slavery itself: Are extreme forms of labor exploitation aberrations of an otherwise blameless system, or are they intrinsic to the functioning of contemporary global capitalism? If the latter, then new types of transparency might be needed that go beyond firms reporting on their policies and efforts. The chapter introduces the idea of interrogational transparency as a mechanism by which civil society actors (including consumers, activists, and researchers) can develop accountability dialogues with powerful corporations. To illustrate these points, the chapter examines emergent patterns of transparency within the food giant Nestlé.

scholarly journals Empirical Stochastic Model of Multi-GNSS Measurements

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (13) ◽  
pp. 4566
Author(s):  
Dominik Prochniewicz ◽  
Kinga Wezka ◽  
Joanna Kozuchowska
Keyword(s):  
Stochastic Model ◽  
Density Ratio ◽  
Functional Model ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite Systems ◽  
Unknown Parameters ◽  
Short Baseline ◽  
Stochastic Parameters ◽  
Dependent Model ◽  
The Impact

The stochastic model, together with the functional model, form the mathematical model of observation that enables the estimation of the unknown parameters. In Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), the stochastic model is an especially important element as it affects not only the accuracy of the positioning model solution, but also the reliability of the carrier-phase ambiguity resolution (AR). In this paper, we study in detail the stochastic modeling problem for Multi-GNSS positioning models, for which the standard approach used so far was to adopt stochastic parameters from the Global Positioning System (GPS). The aim of this work is to develop an individual, empirical stochastic model for each signal and each satellite block for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou systems. The realistic stochastic model is created in the form of a fully populated variance-covariance (VC) matrix that takes into account, in addition to the Carrier-to-Noise density Ratio (C/N0)-dependent variance function, also the cross- and time-correlations between the observations. The weekly measurements from a zero-length and very short baseline are utilized to derive stochastic parameters. The impact on the AR and solution accuracy is analyzed for different positioning scenarios using the modified Kalman Filter. Comparing the positioning results obtained for the created model with respect to the results for the standard elevation-dependent model allows to conclude that the individual empirical stochastic model increases the accuracy of positioning solution and the efficiency of AR. The optimal solution is achieved for four-system Multi-GNSS solution using fully populated empirical model individual for satellite blocks, which provides a 2% increase in the effectiveness of the AR (up to 100%), an increase in the number of solutions with errors below 5 mm by 37% and a reduction in the maximum error by 6 mm compared to the Multi-GNSS solution using the elevation-dependent model with neglected measurements correlations.

scholarly journals Foreign investment in emerging legal medicinal cannabis markets: the Jamaica case study

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Rychert ◽  
Machel Anthony Emanuel ◽  
Chris Wilkins
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Production Quality ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Organic Cultivation ◽  
Enhanced Production ◽  
Political Interference ◽  
Medicinal Cannabis ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Introduction The establishment of a legal market for medicinal cannabis under the Dangerous Drugs Amendment Act 2015 has positioned Jamaica at the forefront of cannabis law reform in the developing world. Many local cannabis businesses have attracted investment from overseas, including from Canada, US and Europe. Aim To explore the opportunities and risks of foreign investment in an emerging domestic legal cannabis market in a developing country. Methods Thematic analysis of semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 22 key informants (KIs) from the Jamaican government, local cannabis industry, academia and civil society, and field observations of legal and illegal cannabis cultivators. Results KIs from the Jamaican public agencies and domestic cannabis entrepreneurs saw foreign investment as an essential source of capital to finance the start-up costs of legal cannabis businesses. Local cannabis entrepreneurs prioritised investors with the greatest financial resources, brand reputation and export networks. They also considered how allied an investor was with their business vision (e.g., organic cultivation, medical vs. recreational). The key benefits of partnering with a foreign investor included transfer of technical knowledge and financial capital, which enhanced production, quality assurance and seed-to-sale tracking. Some KIs expressed concern over investors’ focus on increasing production efficiency and scale at the expense of funding research and development (R&D) and clinical trials. KIs from the local industry, government agencies and civil society highlighted the risks of ‘predatory’ shareholder agreements and domestic political interference. Concerns were raised about the impact of foreign investment on the diversity of the domestic cannabis sector in Jamaica, including the commitment to transition traditional illegal small-scale cannabis cultivators to the legal sector. Conclusion While foreign investment has facilitated the commercialisation of the cannabis sector in Jamaica, regulatory measures are also needed to protect the domestic industry and support the transition of small-scale illegal cultivators to the legal regime. Foreign investments may alter the economic, social and political determinants of health in transitioning from illegal to legal cannabis market economy.

scholarly journals Attrition as a bottom-up pathway to subnational democratization

2021 ◽  
pp. 019251212110192
Author(s):  
Trix van Mierlo
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Causal Process ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
System A ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Democratic System

Oftentimes, democracy is not spread out evenly over the territory of a country. Instead, pockets of authoritarianism can persist within a democratic system. A growing body of literature questions how such subnational authoritarian enclaves can be democratized. Despite fascinating insights, all existing pathways rely on the actions of elites and are therefore top-down. This article seeks to kick-start the discussion on a bottom-up pathway to subnational democratization, by proposing the attrition mechanism. This mechanism consists of four parts and is the product of abductive inference through theory-building causal process tracing. The building blocks consist of subnational democratization literature, social movement theory, and original empirical data gathered during extensive field research. This case study focuses on the ‘Dynasty Slayer’ in the province of Isabela, the Philippines, where civil society actors used the attrition mechanism to facilitate subnational democratization. This study implies that civil society actors in subnational authoritarian enclaves have agency.

scholarly journals The Impact of Neoliberalism on Civil Society and Nonprofit Advocacy

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Alexander ◽  
Kandyce Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Political Advocacy ◽  
Critical Inquiry ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Civic Space ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Nonprofit Advocacy

AbstractThe following manuscript employs critical inquiry to analyze the effects of neoliberalism on nonprofits in the U.S. and their capacity to engage in political advocacy and the production of meaning, a pivotal role for civil society institutions. Three false narratives of how nonprofits support democracy are presented followed by a discussion of how neoliberalism and the economization of the sector has delimited their capacity to fulfill their roles of engaging in emancipatory projects or social change. The manuscript concludes with a discussion of how nonprofits can reclaim civic space and empower citizens in a representative democracy.

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