scholarly journals Redeveloping history in postsocialist Poland

Focaal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (81) ◽  
pp. 72-85
Author(s):  
Jaro Stacul
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Public Memory ◽  
The State ◽  
Memory Space ◽  
Socialist State ◽  
The Social ◽  
Memorial Landscapes

This article analyzes the reorganization of public memory space in postsocialist Poland and how the state and municipal councils use it to legitimate themselves. Drawing on research conducted in Gdańsk, the birthplace of the social movement (Solidarność) that questioned the legitimacy of the socialist state in the 1980s, it examines the proposed redevelopment of the shipyard where the movement was formed. While the redevelopment sets out to create a public memory space, it is rife with contradictions, for it involves demolishing many buildings associated with the movement. What legitimated the municipal council’s authority over its memorial landscapes was not so much its rediscovery of complex local histories as it was its ability to define the local past in “material” terms.

Political Opportunity Structure, Contentious Social Movements, and State-Based Organizations: The Fight against Solidarity inside the Polish United Workers Party

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 359-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Bloom
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
The State ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government

Studies of social movements have often focused on the role of the state vis-à-vis social movements—in recent times using the concept of political opportunity structure to understand the options available to social movements. This article examines the internal conflicts within the ruling party in Communist Poland to show that a reciprocal process proceeded, in which both the social movement and the state found the choices of action available to them limited by the other, rather than just the social movement. The social upheaval that impacted the entire country brought about the rise of a reform movement within the ruling Polish United Workers Party, which prevented the government from acting as it preferred for a significant period of time. That reform movement, which would not have existed without Solidarity and certainly would not have brought about intraparty changes by itself, saw itself as connected to and dependent upon Solidarity. Party conservatives had to respond to and overcome the reformers before they could turn their full attention to ending the challenge Solidarity presented to the Communist system. In effect, for a time, Solidarity limited the political opportunity structure of the state, while the reverse was also true. While social movement scholars have long considered the possibilities and the limits on possibilities available to social movements because of the state or other external circumstances, this experience demonstrates that similar considerations must sometimes be contemplated with respect to the state.

Identity Politics, Social Movement and the State: ‘Pan-African’ Associations and the Making of an ‘African community’ in Belgium

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Grégoire
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
The State ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Pan African ◽  
The Social ◽  
African Community ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Drawing on a social movement theoretical framework, the paper explores the collective action desires and attempts expressed within the African associational milieu in Belgium to improve the social, economic and political being of the African-rooted people in Belgium. It thus focuses on the emergence of non-profit organisations aiming at mobilising people of sub-Saharan African descent under a common ‘Pan-African’ banner. It analyses the link between the context for the emergence of these associations ‐ in which the state played an important role ‐ their working modes and their members’ affiliation strategies, as a way to address a ‘lack of mobilisation’ frequently deplored by many African associational leaders. Secondly, it shows how a certain African elite tries to go beyond old rivalries and previous failures, by shaping a Pan-African community, symbolically located both in the African life ‘here’ (in Belgium and by extension Europe) and ‘there’ (in Africa).

Le róle de l'administration publique dans la réalisation des taches politiques de l'Etat socialiste

Res Publica ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-117
Author(s):  
Zygmunt Rybicki
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
The Political ◽  
Socialist State ◽  
State Administration ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Authority ◽  
The Law

1. In the circumstances of the overgrowth signs the scientific-technical revolution the following events in essential way are influencing the activities of public administration : 1° the establishing, under thepressure of the technical progress and specialization, of the big economic units ; 2° the acceleration of the processus of urbanization ; 3° the increasing threat of the biological environment and the appearance of newpossibilities for its protection; and 4° the leveling of differences between the living standards of the population in town and in countryside. In that situation the socialist state has first of all to develop its organizationalfunctions.2. The organizational functions of the socialist state are implemenied above all by the supreme and local representative organs of the state authority and by the subordinated to them organs of the state administration. In the result of this organizational activity the scope of civic rights is extending. The state apparatus therefore is responsible for calling into being and for activities of the public institutions and facilities being used by the citizens at their choice. The regulating role (dirigism) of the state has hence respect more to these public institutions and facilities, and it is addressed more seldom directly to the citizens. That takes place especially in the sphere of the administration of national economy, the organization of technical public services as well as the services rendering administration.3. The social and economic assumptions of the socialist system are putting into effect by the organizational activities of the state apparatus.  One of the fundamental features of this system is to gain the conscioussupport of the overwhelming majority of the society for actions of the socialist state and to consolidate this support. Such support is possible to reach only by the development of the democratic principles of thestate activities. The democratic institutions are established by the law, and the law is one of instruments of the realization of the political tasks of the socialist society being organized into the state. The state apparatus' function is to embody in action the tasks established by the law. And this therefore makes the role of the state apparatus very important as welt as provides to the necessity of permanent improvement of this apparatus.4. The social and economic plans create the substantial basis for the state administration activities. In the both national and local plans, voted by representative organs of the state authority, there are determined theeconomic and social tasks as welt as the aims concerning in advancement of the living standards of the population. In the state enterprises plans are voted by the organs of the workers' self-government. The principles of socialist democracy and democratic centralism are reflected in the procedure of planning.5. The processus of the administration in the contemporary state becomes more and more complicated. This processus demands an improvement of th social nature, but not of the technocratic one. And that improvement, realized in conformity with the social necessities, is safeguarded by the fact that the state machinery in the socialist country is inspired and vivified by the political leadership of the working class' party.

Inside the State

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Ann Banaszak ◽  
Anne Whitesell
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Women's Activism ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government

This chapter focuses on women’s activism within government, particularly in national and state legislatures, as well as in the government bureaucracies at the national and state level. It begins by defining women’s activism in these arenas, and then discusses whether the type of activism of these groups fits with the understanding of activism in the social movement literature, drawing connections to issues of substantive and descriptive representation. A second section introduces the different tactics and strategies that these insider activists might utilize. The chapter then examines insider activists within the bureaucracies and legislatures separately, summarizing current understandings of insider activism in each branch and highlighting how institutional forms might influence their activism. We also analyze various definitions of women insider activists in detail, discussing how definitional differences might lead to different conclusions about the roles these women play. Finally, the chapter points to some directions for future research.

Combining Powers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Sopranzetti
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
The State ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
State Security ◽  
The Core ◽  
Military Forces ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Figure ◽  
Do So

This chapter follows the association of motorcycle taxis after the end of the Red Shirts protest. It explores the attempt by military forces to cut off the drivers from the social movement and include them into the state security apparatus. The chapter shows how the association was divided between two conceptions of power—barami and amnāt—and positions this tension at the core the Thai political conflict in the last decade. We are not facing a binary, but rather the unresolved tensions and the failed attempts to combine two conceptualizations of power that need to coexist, even with their contradicting features. To govern Thailand, one needs to needs to have both amnāt and barami, both to claim moral charisma and institutional power, juggling both of them. The conflict, this chapter argues, emerged because, since 2006, no political figure has been seen able to do so.

Doing Bodhisattva’s Work

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 4-32
Author(s):  
Le Hoang Anh Thu
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The State ◽  
Ho Chi Minh City ◽  
Class Identity ◽  
The Social

This paper explores the charitable work of Buddhist women who work as petty traders in Hồ Chí Minh City. By focusing on the social interaction between givers and recipients, it examines the traders’ class identity, their perception of social stratification, and their relationship with the state. Charitable work reveals the petty traders’ negotiations with the state and with other social groups to define their moral and social status in Vietnam’s society. These negotiations contribute to their self-identification as a moral social class and to their perception of trade as ethical labor.

SOCIAL INSURANCE IN RUSSIA: STATE, CURRENT CHALLENGES AND RESPONSES TO THEM

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-95
Author(s):  
Lyudmila A. Migranova ◽  
◽  
Valentin D. Roik ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Insurance ◽  
Pension Fund ◽  
The State ◽  
Insurance Fund ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
Social Insurance Fund ◽  
Subsistence Minimum ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mandatory Health Insurance ◽  
Insurance Funds

The article deals with the issues of functioning of the social insurance institution, the organizational-legal and financial forms of which are presented by the state extrabudgetary social funds - Pension Fund of Russia, Mandatory Social Insurance Fund and Mandatory Health Insurance Fund. It considers the main characteristics of social insurance: a) scope of covering the employed population by insurance protection; b) contribution rates as related to wages; c) level of protection of population incomes (pensions and benefits as related to wages and subsistence minimum); d) availability of quality medical assistance and rehabilitation services. There are analyzed the present social risks and problems of the RF insurance system. The main problem is that the amount of financial expenditures on all types of social insurance per beneficiary is about half that of most developed and developing countries. The primary cause is lacking motivation of both employees and employers to participate in the mandatory social insurance and to legalize their earnings. In the conclusion there are formulated a number of proposals for improvement of the institution of social insurance in Russia. It is proposed to expand the range of insurance cases concerning unemployment insurance and care for elderly people, to increase the total amount of compulsory contributions to extrabudgetary insurance funds from 30.2% up to 42.5% from three sources - employees, employers and the state.

FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF PROTECTING SYSTEMOF PRIVATE PROPERTY IN UZBEKISTAN IN THE YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-67
Author(s):  
Bakhtiyor Khalmuratov ◽  
◽  
Madina Bakhriddonova
Keyword(s):  
Private Property ◽  
The State ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
The Social

In the article the process of privatization of state property in Uzbekistan in the first years of independence, mechanisms of carrying out it, the influence of privatization processes on the social,economical life of the population and the activities of the privatized organizations in providing the population with work are analyzed. Also, legal basis of privatizing the state property are focused on

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