Understanding Environmentally Conscious Behaviour Through Environmental Identity

This paper argues that the strongly established connection between identity and consumer behaviour may not be necessarily applicable in examining environmentally conscious behaviour through an identity lens due to several other factors that may especially influence environmental identity formation; (1) the continuously evolving nature of environmental identity in the context of complexities (i.e., political debates, climate change science) of climate change; (2) the challenges of expressing inner connection with nature (i.e., instrumental value vs. intrinsic value); (3) the various cultural and symbolic meanings associated with environmentally conscious behaviour (i.e., functional benefits vs emotional benefits) and (4) different forms of behavioural practices (i.e., environmentally conscious behaviour vs. anti-consumption). Therefore, this paper recommends utilising insights and measurements unique to environmentally conscious behaviour as opposed to that of general consumer behaviour because the antecedents of the former, especially environmental identity projections can be multifaceted.

EUTHANASIA - A CHOICE BETWEEN DEATH AND DEATH (THE VIEW OF EUROPE AND RUSSIA)

В современном научном дискурсе появляется много интересных тем, рассматривающих самые острые проблемы социума, и одна из них - табуированная тема - эвтаназия. Эта проблема носит междисциплинарный характер. Философы, в рамках биоэтики, осмысливают нравственные аспекты, психологи «решают» дилемму «хорошо/плохо», «убийство/самоубийство/гуманный акт помощи», юристы прорабатывают нормативно-правовые акты по защите, зачастую трудносовместимых, прав пациентов/врачей/выгодополучателей, медики, сталкиваясь с «невыносимой физической и психологической болью» пациентов и близких родственников, предлагают свои варианты решения проблемы, физики, химики, генетики не остаются в стороне, развивая нейротехнологии, регенеративную медицину, фармакологию, био- и генные технологии. Политики, разворачивая широкие дискуссии о морально-этической стороне этого вопроса, российском традиционализме, либеральных ценностях, устраивая политические дебаты, разрабатывают дивиденды. Социологи, рассматривая эту социальную проблему, замеряют «градус общественного мнения». Общество, как живой сложносоставной организм, опираясь на свои ментальные программы, реагирует по-разному: от полного неприятия («человеческая жизнь - божественный дар») до однозначной легализации процедуры «достойной смерти, качественной смерти». Одна из важных проблем медицинского профессионального сообщества - проблема обеспечения «достойной смерти» неизлечимо больных пациентов и связанная с ней проблема эвтаназии. Мнение полярно. На понимание медиками проблем легализации эвтаназии оказывают влияние разновекторные факторы: во-первых, ценностные установки, во-вторых, опыт и место работы (врачи паллиативных отделений, хосписов, онкологи, имеющие большой стаж работы, более склоны к легализации эвтаназии), в-третьих, техническое, технологическое, фармакологическое обеспечение медицинского учреждения, в-четвертых, нормативно-правовая составляющая. Many interesting topics appear in the modern scientific discourse. They consider the most acute problems of society and one of them is a taboo topic - euthanasia. This problem is of an interdisciplinary nature. Philosophers within the framework of bioethics comprehend the moral aspects. Psychologists "solve" the dilemma of "good/bad", "murder/suicide/humane act of assistance". Lawyers are working on regulatory legal acts to protect the rights of patients/doctors/beneficiaries, which are often difficult to replace. Doctors, facing the "unbearable physical and psychological pain" of patients and close relatives, offer their own solutions to the problem, physicists, chemists, geneticists do not stay away, developing neurotechnologies, regenerative medicine, pharmacology, bio and gene technologies. Politicians also do not stand aside, unfolding broad discussions, arranging political debates, developing dividends. Sociologists considering this social problem measure the "degree of public opinion". Society as a living complex organism relying on its mental programs reacts in different ways: from complete rejection to legalization of this procedure. One of the important problems of the medical professional community is the problem of ensuring a “dignified death” of terminally ill patients and the related problem of euthanasia. The opinion of doctors is polar. Doctor`s understanding of the problems of legalizing euthanasia is influenced by various factors: firstly, values, secondly, experience and place of work (doctors of palliative departments, hospices, oncologists with long work experience are more inclined to legalize euthanasia), thirdly, technical, technological, pharmacological support of a medical institution, and fourthly, the regulatory component

The Tricontinental Revolution

The Tricontinental Revolution provides a major reassessment of the global rise and impact of Tricontinentalism, the militant strand of Third World solidarity that defined the 1960s and 1970s as decades of rebellion. Cold War interventions highlighted the limits of decolonization, prompting a generation of global South radicals to adopt expansive visions of self-determination. Long associated with Cuba, this anti-imperial worldview stretched far beyond the Caribbean to unite international revolutions around programs of socialism, armed revolt, economic sovereignty, and confrontational diplomacy. Linking independent nations with non-state movements from North Vietnam through South Africa to New York City, Tricontinentalism encouraged marginalized groups to mount radical challenges to the United States and the inequitable Euro-centric international system. Through eleven expert essays, this volume recenters global political debates on the priorities and ideologies of the Global South, providing a new framework, chronology, and tentative vocabulary for understanding the evolution of anti-imperial and decolonial politics.

“Rapport Duclert” and France’s Responsibility for the Genocide in Rwanda

In March 2021 the Duclert Commission, a commission of French experts appointed by President Macron, presented their report which immediately became the subject of academic and political debates. The Report examined the French involvement in Rwandan genocide in 1994, and pointed to the major ethical, legal and political dilemmas accompanying states’ involvement into the affairs of other states. We seek to identify major topics raised by the French media in relation to the report, and how possible reconciliation between France and Rwanda was presented in French periodicals. Through post-colonial lenses to the study of states’ foreign policy, we examine how the French role in the genocide was seen in media discourses, and how the media addressed such painful questions as accepting/avoiding state responsibility for its actions. Using qualitative content-analysis, we studied articles from French media outlets Le Monde, Libération and Le Figaro in the period of late March 2021 ‒ July 2021, as well as a few randomly selected articles from other French outlets to have a more complete picture of public debates across a political spectrum. The article concludes that while the media stressed the importance of the Committee’s work for bilateral relations, still, there is no consensus in the French society over France’s responsibility for the genocide: whether acknowledging state responsibility would be a manifestation of weakness and a threat to state security, or masking of certain colonial inclinations.

Editorial

Populism, like nationalism, can be found on the right as well as on the left-wing of the political spectrum. However, current political debates demonstrate how in recent years, nationalist and populist movements have advanced the preservation of Christian “roots” against a global cosmopolitanism. Right-wing populism thus tends to present itself as a guardian of Christian culture, or Judeo-Christian culture. However, there is a struggle over the definition and the ownership of this religious heritage. Whilst it is certainly possible to identify sources within the Protestant tradition that may legitimise support for right-wing populism, the questions this struggle raises often relate to particular intersections of culture, theology, perspectives on history as well as political thought. This special issue explores and critiques these intersections, employing theological, historical, and sociological methods. While the main perspective is that of cross-disciplinary reflections on the fraught relationship between Protestantism and right-wing populism, it also examines the evolution of broader connections between Christianity and nationalism through time.

Defence, Doubt, and Gracelessness (1904–9)

In this chapter, sources from Tillich’s student days (1904–9) are compared with Tillich’s later autobiographical narratives. Tillich’s father Johannes defended the conservative stance in church-political debates in Wilhelmine Prussia concerning the doctrinal orthodoxy of its pastors. Student Tillich’s determination to defend confessional standards at the national Wingolf conference 1906 shows his commitment to the same cause. Yet privately, Tillich was struggling with doubt about historical revelation, brought on by historical criticism, but chiefly his philosophical studies. Despite Tillich’s later insistence that Martin Kähler (1835–1912) taught him the centrality of justification, there was no grace in Tillich’s uncompromising stance as Wingolf leader, of which Kähler may have been quite critical. Furthermore, Tillich’s Monismusschrift (1908), influenced by his study of Fichte and others under Fritz Medicus (1876–1956), offers criticism of Kähler’s anti-metaphysical stance. Justification is merely a subordinated locus of his attempt to express Christianity in terms of idealist philosophy.

Series Under Threat

Lockdown has given us an occasion to discover new television series and to revisit others. TV series accompany us in our ordinary lives, but they can also be a resource or refuge in extraordinary situations. As the enduring success of Friends proves, they provide us with universes of comfort. TV series provide strong common cultural referents, which populate both ordinary conversations and political debates. TV series, by virtue of their aesthetic format (their duration, weekly and seasonal regularity, and the fact that they are, or were until recently, usually viewed in the context of the home), the attachment they inspire to their characters, the democratization and diversification of modes of viewing them (internet, streaming, discussion forums), make possible a specific form of education and constitution of a public. TV shows are hence a medium for political and ethical discussion. The article studies two series, Homeland and The Bureau, which are paradigmatic examples of a genre that has grown exponentially since the beginning of the century, and which we refer to as the “security series” genre. These series are great works of art and can also be seen as powerful tools for educating and informing the public.

Legislation on Same-Sex Partnerships in the Post-Communist Area: Case Study of the Czech Republic

In the Czech context, the issue of same-sex partnerships can be viewed as a “hot potato”. After long political debates, a law allowing civil unions was adopted in 2006. In the post-communist area, there has been a political struggle over the marriage. The Czech Constitutional Court recently published two key decisions that moved this debate forward. At the same time, two major legislative bills were tabled in the Chamber of Deputies: the first extending marriage to non-heterosexual couples, the second preserving the current status quo with regard to marriage. In the article, we explain these recent Czech legal events in the broader context of the perception of marriage in the post-communist area. We argue that if the Court decides in the future on the constitutionality of same-sex marriages, it should take into account the principles of human dignity and the best interest of the child.

Historical Sociology in Poland: Transformations of the Uses of the Past

The development of Polish institutional sociology since the 1920s reflects the combined effects of domestic political and cultural factors, along with international interdependencies. Historical sociology shares in the vicissitudes of the whole discipline. Although historical sociology was only weakly institutionalized before 1989, some of the best sociological studies produced in Poland under socialism display the keen use of historical imagination, inspired both by the pre-1939 domestic tradition and by Marxist theory. This article examines the path of historical sociology in Poland after 1989 and the connection between the sociological uses of history and the experience of post-communist transformation. We posit that the social transformation experience and how it was addressed by social science directly translate into the use of history in Polish sociology after 1989. We argue that the role of historical sociology in Poland since the end of the 1990s was a function of the potential of the past as a symbolic resource in the growing interdependence between Poland and Western Europe. However, the post-1989 research agendas of historical sociology were forged according to the mode of responsiveness to political agendas predating 1989. An overview of the development of Polish historical sociology demonstrates that the ahistorical transitological thinking after 1989 has been challenged by critical agendas in historical sociology, but it was, in the first place, a reaction to the increased potential of the past as a symbolic resource in political debates. Thus, the rationale for the passage to the third wave of historical sociology was primarily political.

How Does the Concept of Resilient City Work in Practice? Planning and Achievements

In the past decade, resilient cities (RCs) have gained extensive attention in academic and political debates as a vision of urban futures. In particular, with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Resilient City 100 Program (RC100), a number of cities worldwide have pushed this concept forward from theory to practice through their RC plans/strategies. However, there is widespread doubt regarding how much this holistic idea of the future built environment contributes to urban practice. After developing a scoring evaluation matrix based on the synthesis of existing RC assessment frameworks, this review scrutinizes the plans, reports, city leaders’ speeches, official websites and academic reviews of five representative resilient cities and investigates their motivations, planning and achievements. The results demonstrate a huge theoretical and practical gap in RC: while RC plans attempt to expand as comprehensively as possible from cities’ initially narrow motivations, their achievements in implementation are limited. Although RC provides more holistic solutions to the cities, the limited resources mean that cities have to prioritize their urgent issues in their everyday practice. This paper calls for designating more feasible and specific features in RC visions and maintaining regular alignments from planning to actions in future RC practice.