A Republic of distrust, fear and division. Rethinking contemporary Polish Experience

2021 ◽  
pp. 312-324
Author(s):  
Ryszard Piotrowski
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
European Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
European Institutions ◽  
Polish Experience ◽  
Constitutional Identity ◽  
Ways Of Life

The system of governance in contemporary Poland is founded mainly on a negative narrative of distrust. That narrative brought to power the country’s present scaremongering rulers. They continue feeding the public with frightening stories of an influx of refugees, threats of war and terrorist attacks, evils of globalisation and a loss of cultural identity to foreign ways of life. A balance between distrust of rulers and trust in them is part of democracy’s constitutional identity. Those currently in power sow distrust in liberal democracy and its values – they violate the constitution, stir up distrust of elites, and make attempts at bringing the judiciary to heelwhile staging judges bashing propaganda campaigns. Distrust of European law and European institutions is part and parcel of this process. The negative narrative weakens and threatens to disenfranchise civil society, blurring the line between law and lawlessness. It also weakens those in power.

Polens illiberale Revolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (190) ◽  
pp. 115-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Müller
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Regional Heterogeneity ◽  
Law System ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
Communist Countries

The recent populist wave that swept Eastern Europe put an end to the illusionary victory of liberal democracy across the region. This applies especially to Poland, the country with the most impressive civil society movement, Solidarnosz, and the frontrunner of radical market reforms. Despite the best economic performance of all post-communist countries, the populist party Law and Justice (PiS) came to power for a second time in 2015, only to impose its reactionary national-catholic model on the media, the law system, and the public sector. The success of PiS cannot be explained by the immanent strength of its populist rhetoric but points to the wilful neglect of its liberal predecessors of regional heterogeneity, precarious working conditions, and sharpened inequalities. While the electorate supports the valid points of PiS’s socio-economic programme, it is not inclined to follow its internally divisive and externally confrontational anti-EU ideology.

Islamist Conceptions of Civil Society

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Roy
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
The State ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Islamic Society

This chapter presents a conceptual framework for ideas about Islamic civil society and explores the meaning of civil society to Islamists themselves. An Islamic civil society does not differ in certain ways from a non-Islamic or secular civil society but embraces some of the same values (e.g., civility, tolerance) and roles (e.g., independent entities compensating for the deficiencies of the state). Another prominent theme is that Islam, both as a religion and as an expression of cultural identity, should not be relegated solely to the private sphere but should also be situated squarely in the public sphere. A third theme stressed compatibility between Islam and civil society, arguing that Islam contains all the requisite elements to form a civil society and that traditional Islamic society was indeed a version of civil society.

scholarly journals Media’s Role in Televised Media Coverage and Its Influence on Terrorist Attacks in Nairobi County, Kenya

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 81-86
Author(s):  
Kenwilliams Nyakomitah ◽  
Panuel Mwaeke ◽  
Lydia Mareri
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Global Media ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
The Public ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
The Media

With the turn of the century, Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, has had its share of terrorist activity. Due to their nature, global media houses have centred on these occurrences as they have formed the focal point during their immediacy. This has led to the rise of media; in all its variety, as a reliable ate truthful source of information: on the other hand, terrorists have used the media as a veritable and strong propaganda tool. This is in line with the main aim and intent of terrorism; the spread of fear and it also feeds to the belief by various terrorist groups that media is one of their biggest investments. This study sought to examine media’s role in televised media coverage and it’s influence on terrorist attacks in Nairobi County, Kenya. The sample size for the study was derived from 110 officers from the Anti-Terror Police Unit, a section of the Directorate if Criminal Investigations and informants numbering to 14 from television editors, freelance reporters, and across civil society. The data was collected through questionnaires and interview guides for the officers from ATPU and respondents from the media and civil society respectively. It was further analysed using SPSS and presented through the use of frequency distribution tables and bar graphs; other modes include inferential statistics of linear regression and Chi square. The study revealed that there was a significant effect on the security situation in Nairobi due to televised media coverage of terrorist attacks. The study revealed a significant relationship between media coverage of terrorist incidents and increased insecurity in Nairobi. (χ2 = 9.499a, p = 0.023). The recommendations include the development of proportionality in the reporting on terrorist attacks. This is because an overemphasis on terrorist threats has an inadvertent advancement of terrorism and terrorist activities. There is therefore a need for care by journalists lest they be used as vehicles of propaganda by terrorists. This is due to the power that is inherent in misinformation in denying the general public independent reporting and the resultant understanding that comes with it. It is recommended that there be a limit as to the amount and type of information released to the media and eventually to the public in the event of a terrorist attack; this helps in averting the spread of terrorist propaganda and the misinformation of the public.

scholarly journals Civil Society and the Rise of the Radical Right in Poland

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 153-176
Author(s):  
Tihomir Cipek ◽  
Stjepan Lacković
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Direct Connection ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
The Relationship

The influence of the radical right in the whole of Central Europe not only continues to grow, but has reached its apex by gaining power in Poland and Hungary. Its success is often attributed to two factors: a) the weakness of civil society, and b) economic and social crisis. We shall try to dispute these theses by using the example of Poland. We will defend a thesis that contradicts the usual claim that developed civil society also fosters democracy, and will show that the radical right owes its success precisely to its strength in civil society. This text will also show that there is no direct connection between the radical right and economic crisis, and that the real reason for its success is the dominance over the public discourse. The text is divided into three parts: the first will define the concept of the radical right and give an overview of the theories about its rise; the second part will focus on different explanations of the relationship between civil society and liberal democracy; and the third part will discuss the characteristics and activities of the most important organisations of the Polish radical right and their place in civil society and politics.

El patriacado y la estructura social de la vida cotidiana

1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Postigo Asenjo
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
The Public ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Ways Of Life

RESUMENEl sistema patriarcal no afecta exclusivamente al poder político y judicial, sino que afecta a la estructura interna de la sociedad, la identidad y las formas de vida de los individuos que en ella viven. Para comprender mejor como condiciona el sistema patriarcal las formas de vida y la visión que tienen los individuos de la realidad social, hemos de analizar el modo en que se extiende al orden institucional y lo determina mediante "tipificaciones" de hechos y de personas y mediante roles concretos, esteoreotipaciones sexiuales que obstaculizan el acceso a la esfera pública de la mujer, así como su reinserción en el mercado laboral, en suma, todo aquello que afecta al conocimiento común que comparten los miembros de una comunidad. El cambio hacia una mayor igualdad y una real democracia paritaria y compartida no es posible sin una paulatina educación y concienciación de la sociedad en su conjunto.PALABRAS CLAVEPATRIARCADO-TIPIFICACIÓN SOCIAL-IGUALDAD DE GÉNEROABSTRACTPatriarchalism is not only present in politics and the judicial system. It also affects the internal structure of society, above all the life and identitý of individuals. To understand better how it conditions their ways of life and the vision the individuals have of social reality, we should study how patriarchalism r3eaches the system of institutions and how this becomes determined by "typifications" of facts and people, and by certain roles or sexual stereotypes that hinder the access of women both to the public sphere and to tha labor market. It sum, everything that concerns the common knowledge that the members of a community share. The move towards more equality and towards a more egalitarian democracy heavily depends on the spread of civic education to the entire society.KEYWORDSPATRIARCHALISM-SOCIAL TYPIFICATION-GENDER EQUALITY

OBJECTIVES AND FUNCTIONS OF LOBISTRY ACTIVITY IN UKRAINE: REALITIES TODAY AND EVOLUTIONARY FORECAST

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (12) ◽  
pp. 329-339
Author(s):  
Tikhon Sergeyevich Yarovoy
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political System ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Public Interests ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Industrial Groups

The article is devoted to the research of goals and functions of lobbying activity. The author has processed the ideas of domestic and foreign scientists, proposed his own approaches to the definition of goals and functions of lobbying activities through the prism of public administration. As a result, a generalized vision of the goals and functions of lobbying activities as interrelated elements of the lobbying system was proposed, and a forecast for further evolution of the goals and functions of domestic lobbying was provided. The analysis of lobbying functions allowed us to notice the tendencies in shifting the goals of this activity. If the objectives were fully covered by functions such as mediation between citizens and the state, the information function and the function of organizing plurality of public interests, then the role of strengthening the self-organization of civil society and the function of compromise become increasingly important in the process of formation in the developed countries of civil society and the development of telecommunication technologies. Ukrainian lobbyism will not be left to the side of this process. Already, politicians of the highest level, leaders of financial and industrial groups have to act, adjust their goals (even if they are — declared), taking into account the reaction of the public. In the future, this trend will only increase. The analysis of current research and political events provides all grounds for believing that, while proper regulatory legislation is being formed in Ukraine, the goals and functions of domestic lobbying will essentially shift towards a compromise with the public. It is noted that in spite of the existence of a basic direction of action, lobbying may have several ramified goals. Guided by the goals set, lobbyism can manifest itself in various spheres of the political system of society, combining the closely intertwined interests of various actors in the lobbying process, or even — contrasting them.

Fuzzy Lines: Using the Best-Selling Novel to Illustrate the Blurring Boundaries of “Public”

Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Nolan J. Argyle ◽  
Gerald A. Merwin
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Contracting Out ◽  
The Public ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Civic Community ◽  
Additional Area ◽  
Do So

Privatization, contracting out, and a host of other current trends blur the line between public and private—they create what at best is a fuzzy line. This study examines yet one additional area where the lines between public and private have gotten even fuzzier—the best selling novel. It uses the writings of Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler,two authors whose names on a novel guarantee best-seller status. It will do so in the context of what a civic community and civil society are, and how they relate to the public-private question, a question that has renewed life in public administration.

The Myth of a Migration Crisis in France

2018 ◽  
pp. 126-144
Author(s):  
Isabelle Rigoni
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
National Security ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Modes Of Action ◽  
Security Context ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Institutional Actors

France is an old immigration country but has been slow to recognize itself as such. Since 2000, the Western security context has produced a new stage in migration and asylum policies. The tragic and traumatic nature of terrorist attacks in France and other European countries has legitimized the strengthening of national security laws, fueled more conservative attitudes regarding cultural and ethnic diversity, and fed into debates on communitarianism, multiculturalism, and universalism. This chapter analyzes how migratory dynamics have been constructed as a crisis in contemporary France and examines the initiatives of civil society towards what politics and media consider to be a migration crisis. Finally, it analyzes the modes of action used by various social and institutional actors in the context of an imagined migration crisis.

scholarly journals Does the Law Determine What Heritage to Remember?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Sophie de Clippele
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Political Will ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Law ◽  
Ideological Manipulation

AbstractCultural heritage can offer tangible and intangible traces of the past. A past that shapes cultural identity, but also a past from which one sometimes wishes to detach oneself and which nevertheless needs to be remembered, even commemorated. These themes of memory, history and oblivion are examined by the philosopher Paul Ricoeur in his work La mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli (2000). Inspired by these ideas, this paper analyses how they are closely linked to cultural heritage. Heritage serves as a support for memory, even if it can be mishandled, which in turn can affect heritage policies. Memory and heritage can be abused as a result of wounds from the past or for reasons of ideological manipulation or because of a political will to force people to remember. Furthermore, heritage, as a vehicule of memory, contributes to historical knowledge, but can remain marked by a certain form of subjectivism during the heritage and conservation operation, for which heritage professionals (representatives of the public authority or other experts) are responsible. Yet, the responsibility for conserving cultural heritage also implies the need to avoid any loss of heritage, and to fight against oblivion. Nonetheless, this struggle cannot become totalitarian, nor can it deprive the community of a sometimes salutary oblivion to its own identity construction. These theoretical and philosophical concepts shall be examined in the light of legal discourse, and in particular in Belgian legislation regarding cultural heritage. It is clear that the shift from monument to heritage broadens the legal scope and consequently raises the question of who gets to decide what is considered heritage according to the law, and whether there is something such as a collective human right to cultural heritage. Nonetheless, this broadening of the legislation extends the State intervention into cultural heritage, which in turn entails certain risks, as will be analysed with Belgium’s colonial heritage.

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