Social networks, civil society, and the prospects for consolidating Russia’s democratic transition

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-300
Author(s):  
Jana Šujanová ◽  
Renata Nováková ◽  
Gabriela Pavlendová ◽  
Dagmar Cagáňová ◽  
Natália Canet

The article presents the results of the qualitative research of social media, managed by the Institute of the Civil Society, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, in cooperation with the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. The research aimed to analyse different areas of the current management challenges and their perception of the selected social networks. The study concentrates on the presentation of the chosen manufacturers of the automotive industry and furniture industry on social media. The content analysis was based on the VADER (Valence Aware Dictionary and Entiment Reasoner) lexicon that was explicitly tuned to sentiments expressed in social media and QDA software.


Author(s):  
Kamil Demirhan

This study finds out the use of Facebook by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Turkey to engage the social and political events of the country. NGOs are civil society organizations aiming at promoting participation of citizens in social and political issues. They are a part of democratic system and they have important role to struggle with corruptions and improve the legitimacy of political-legal organization in political system. NGOs work using social networks and promoting civic culture. Therefore, the use of new communication and interaction channels is necessary for NGOs to develop social networks and civic participation. Social media can be a new channel to promote social and political life. This study focuses on Facebook activities of 40 NGOs selected from eight different activity fields: politics, environment, woman rights, economy, emergency, education, human rights, and democracy. It uses content analysis method to understand the NGOs' activities in Facebook, in terms of social and political issues realized in the year of 2012.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-319
Author(s):  
Mounah Abdel-Samad

AbstractThe primacy of the Tunisian revolution and the country’s successful democratic transition (Stepan 2012, “Tunisia’s Transition and the Twin Tolerations.”Journal of Democracy23:89–103) make Tunisia an exemplar for analyzing legislators’ demand for advocacy by civil society organizations or CSOs. Several researchers (Cavatorta 2012, “Arab Spring: The Awakening of Civil Society. A General Overview.”http://www.iemed.org/observatori-es/arees-danalisi/arxius-adjunts/anuari/med.2012/Cavatorta_en.pdf, Benoit 2011, “The Counter-Power of Civil Society and the Emergence of a New Political Imaginary in the Arab World.”Constellations: an International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory18:271–283. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8675.2011.00650.x, Kubba 2000, “Arabs and Democracy: The Awakening of Civil Society.”Journal of Democracy11:84–90) have explored the role of Tunisian civil society in the democratic transition; however, no study examined legislators’ demand for CSOs’ legislative advocacy in Tunisia. By exploring factors influencing legislators and their demand and need for legislative advocacy, this study sheds light on the inner works of policy makers and ways to influence them. This study finds that, contrary to the idea that governments in developing countries do not want civil society participation in politics, Tunisian legislators are open to and eager for legislative advocacy. Based on 40 survey conducted face to face with Tunisian legislators in the National Constituent Assembly, and archival analysis of the National Constituents Assembly sessions’ minutes from 2011 until 2014, this study finds that Tunisian legislators have a high level of trust in CSOs, want their expertise, and are influenced by them when voting in parliament. These results have several potential impacts on understanding of the relationship between CSOs and government and more specifically legislature.


Author(s):  
Ana Stela Câmara

Although many efforts were taken until now, the fact is that environmental questions are still challenging governments and civil society, what is evidenced by the continuous tendency of pollution´s growth, depletion of resources and loss of biodiversity. Considering that considering that anthropocentric conduct, reflected particularly by capitalism, as economic system, and industrialism, as production method, would have led to this disastrous and generalized level of environmental degradation, Klaus Bosselmann has purposed the Ecological State, a theoric model of State (re)organization, ethically based on ecocentrism. The present work intends to introduce the economic assumptions of the Ecological State, to understand in which way it can contribute to improve the notion of strong sustainability. The study points out that economic modern standards, seen as dogmas, are a difficult obstacle to changes and brings some of Tim Jackson´s purposes to reach prosperity without growth to a democratic transition to an Ecological State. The methodological approach is qualitative, pure and the main source of research is bibliographical.


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