EXAMINING DEMOCRACY: WHICH OF ITS TWO CLASSIC FORMS – LIBERAL OR DIRECT IS BETTER SUITED FOR SETTLING THE PRESENT-DAY DEMOCRATIC CRISIS?

Author(s):  
Galyna Mandra

Democracy represents an increasingly fragile construction, which, in the contemporary ultra-globalised political environment, is constantly faced by an amalgam of challenges and threats, both merely social, rather economic and mixed — socio-economic. As of the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, democracy is undergoing a particularly complex period, in which political traditions find themselves disposed to systematic reconsiderations driven by steady conversions in civilian interests and values, as well as irregular perils of explicitly global significance, including the rise of populism and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Concentrating upon the conditions of the current democratic crisis, the given article provides a comprehensive evaluation of the applied viability of the two classical forms of democracy — liberal and direct.

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 295-296
Author(s):  
Peter Pabisch

Abstract The three scholarly works of recent years illuminate the versatility of their main editor Albrecht Classen in the interdisciplinary world of comparative studies, in literature and language studies. Together with his colleague Eva Parra-Membrives he offers insights on trivial literature also in view of bestsellers concerning the first two works under discussion here. The third work on multilingualism in the middle ages he edited alone. For all the works he found an impressive number of contributors who fill the chalice of offerings in a most versatile canon of topics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 1043-1055
Author(s):  
Gaby Umbach

This article1 offers reflections on the use of data as evidence in 21st century policy-making. It discusses the concept of evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM) as well as the governance and knowledge effects of data as evidence. With this focus, it interlinks the analysis of statistics and politics. The paper first introduces the concept of EIPM and the impact of evidence use. Here it focusses on science and knowledge as resources in policy-making, on the institutionalisation of science advice and on the translation of information and knowledge into evidence. The second part of the article reflects on data as evidence. This part concentrates on abstract and concrete functions of data as governance tools in policy-making, on data as a robust form of evidence and on the effects of data on knowledge and governance. The third part highlights challenges for data as evidence in policy-making, among them, politicisation, transparency, and diversity as well as objectivity and contestation. Finally, the last part draws conclusions on the production and use of data as evidence in EIPM. Throughout the second part of the reflections, reference is made to Walter Radermacher’s 2019 matrix of actors and activities related to data, facts, and policy published in this journal.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-224
Author(s):  
B. Setiawan ◽  
Tri Mulyani Sunarharum

Of the many important events that occurred in the two decades of the 21st century, the process of accelerating urbanization—especially in third-world countries—became something quite phenomenal. It's never even happened before. In the early 2000s, only about 45 percent of the population in the third world lived in urban areas, by 2020 the number had reached about 55 percent. Between now and 2035 the percentage of the population living in urban areas will reach about 85 percent in developed countries. Meanwhile, in developing countries will reach about 65 percent. By 2035, it is also projected that about 80 percent of the world's urban population will live in developing countries' cities.


Author(s):  
YEW MENG LAI

This article analyses the trends and developments in Malaysia-Japan relations since its inception in 1957. It begins with a brief historical overview of their bilateral interactions, followed by a scrutiny of the developments and shifting trends, from the early decade of the establishment of official diplomatic relations between independent Malaya and Japan that coincided with the Cold War to the introduction of Malaysia’s Look East Policy (LEP) in the early 1980’s that saw Malaysia-Japan ties taking-off to new and unprecedented heights. In doing so, the article reveals the major impetuses/drivers of their ‘special relationship’, which among others include complementarities in their national economies, perceived sociocultural affinities underpinned by the so-called ‘Asian values’ and idiosyncrasies of key leaders like Mahathir Mohamad, as well as the given regional strategic environment, which contributed to a congruence of strategic thought and mutual interests between the major actors from both countries that led to Malaysia’s admirable relations with Japan before the turn of the 21st century. This article also assesses the contemporary trends in and prospects for their bilateral ties, by identifying the changing dynamics that have brought a qualitative shift in the Malaysia-Japan bilateral relationship which is moving towards strategic partnership and beyond.


2019 ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
Anna M. Yakovleva ◽  
◽  
Alexey V. Volobuev ◽  

. The review deals with the problem of Orthodox fundamentalism in the discussion of Englishspeaking authors of different denominations, representatives of canonical and non-canonical Orthodox churches, which took place in theological discussions, in journalism and at scientific conferences mainly in recent years. The main materials are first introduced into the scientific circulation in Russian. The concepts of fundamentalism in Orthodoxy in the foreign press are presented; the definitions of Orthodox fundamentalism, the main theses of opponents and their argumentation are given. Frequently, the word “fundamentalism” in relation to Orthodoxy is used as a banal nickname for those opponents who have traditional or conservative beliefs, are prone to “ritualism”, shows intolerance and lack of readiness for dialogue, including ecumenical. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, theologians, priests and scholars have been trying to give a stricter definition of such fundamentalism as a phenomenon of the modern era, especially in its demise. It is primarily about the attitude to the works of the holy fathers of the Church. It is expressed, in particular, the opinion that the veneration of patristic writings, along with the resolutions of the Councils (which constitutes the Holy Tradition) should be revised. However, the concept of “Orthodox fundamentalism”, as follows from the given review, has not yet been formed. But one can speak of such signs of it, connected, in particular, with a wide exit to the public sphere of mass consciousness, as the striving to minimize theological provisions, absolutization of some provisions of dogma to the detriment of others, and the logos (modern) reading of the myth.


Author(s):  
Ella ZADOROZHNYUK

The attitude of Vaclav Havel, the first head of the post-Communist Czech Republic, towards NATO went beyond just Atlanticism and included some reverence for the Atlantic bloc. Havel moralistically encouraged the bombing of Yugoslavia and the interventions in Iraq and Libya; he urged to bring NATO closely to Russian borders and to punish Russia for the USSR's sins and potential imperial ambitions. Such views, though not shared by most Czech citizens, have long defined foreign policy priorities of some Czech political elites. Their traces are being found at the brink of the third decade of the 21st century. However, Havel's approach, always in praise of NATO, has been recognized as futile even by his strong supporters.


Author(s):  
Samruddhi Nelson Chauhan

“The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith”. Evangelist Billy Graham.Dining together each night my father- in -law converses with us on how he was born and brought up by his parents long back. having his mother alive all hail and hearty, an old lady of 100 makes him recall his childhood each time he sees her. he flips back on how his father gave him valuable advices on lessons of life, and continues to walks on the principals that his father has imbibed on him as a young boy and he carries a strong impression of his fathers teachings, he expects that the coming generation should live a life as they then lived. childhood in itself is a sweet memory for each one of us, we all have our own bunch of memories to share. childhood is even the most correct time to mould a raw person into a fine personality. living in the 21st century world, things have seemed to be changing a lot. parenting, raising children has become a far more different aspect. since parenting is also an ethical and moral issue, perspective may vary according to the culture and civilization for different people belonging to different set ups. as health personals we too come across many cases that arise merely due to maladjustments or psychological impairments that many a times lead to serious psychiatric problems. the third important thing is that parenting as a complete process and according to the changing time parenting is not the same as it used to be in the past. in the previous years we have been undergoing tremendous technological advancement which in terms is a boon for us. our lifestyles have heavily changed, we no more live in an joined family, we all are working parents and our outlook for a settled life has changed the world around us. we all live in the a world that is modernly civilized. leaving our civilization far behind. raising kids in this advanced world is a challenge indeed. since technology has brought curses as well as boons to our lives. we need to balance them both. things may be difficult but not impossible.


2021 ◽  

The importance of regional cooperation is becoming more apparent as the world moves into the third decade of the 21st century. An Army of Influence is a thought-provoking analysis of the Australian Army's capacity to change, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Written by highly regarded historians, strategists and practitioners, this book examines the Australian Army's influence abroad and the lessons it has learnt from its engagement across the Asia-Pacific region. It also explores the challenges facing the Australian Army in the future and provides principles to guide operational, administrative and modernisation planning. Containing full-colour maps and images, An Army of Influence will be of interest to both the wider defence community and general readers. It underscores the importance of maintaining an ongoing presence in the region and engages with history to address the issues facing the Army both now and into the future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-529
Author(s):  
Luigi Filieri

AbstractIn this paper, I discuss Kant’s concept-less schematism (KU, 5: 287) in the third Critique1 and make three claims: 1) concept-less schematism is entirely consistent with the schematism in the first Critique; 2) concept-less schematism is schematism with no empirical concept as an outcome; and 3) in accordance with 1) and 2), the imagination is free to synthesize the given manifold and leads to judgements of taste without this meaning either that the categories play no role at all or that these judgements are full-fledged cognitive determining judgements. While most commentators read the freedom of the imagination as its independence from the understanding, I argue that the freedom of the imagination is based on a non-determining employment of the pure concepts of the understanding. The freedom of the aesthetic imagination consists in the temporal schematization of the categories without any complementary determination of the empirical concept.


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