The role of communication in the restaurant crowdfunding’s success

PurposeIn recent years, crowdfunding is assuming an increasingly central role in the development of business projects as an alternative financing tool to traditional sources. This study analyses the role of communication in the success of crowdfunding campaigns in the restaurant sector in the European context.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducts a regression analysis on a sample of 442 European restaurant crowdfunding projects launched on the Kickstarter platform in a time period spanning from 2014 to 2021. More specifically, this study uses a logistic regression model to test the impact of communication on the success of restaurant crowdfunding projects.FindingsEmpirical results suggest a strong impact of communication, declined in its different forms, on the success of restaurant crowdfunding campaigns. More specifically, they highlight a positive impact of the number of images, number of videos, readability and community orientation of the project description, number of comments and number of updates on the success of restaurant crowdfunding projects.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first research that examines the effect of the communication on the success of restaurant crowdfunding projects conducted in the European context.

The Architectural Typology of Contemporary Façades for Public Buildings in the European Context

In contemporary architecture, a border between an exterior and an interior—a façade—is variously designed in terms of form, style, response to climate or culture, individual approach or tools used. Despite the diversity and multi-tread theoretical and practical discourse, the Authors propose the typology of contemporary façades for public buildings (open to society) in the context of European cities by extracting comprehensive architectural features. The term systematic reflects the complexness of the issue by the newly proposed element. Namely, it is a representation of a particular architectural feature with the use of scale. The elaboration consists of (1) an introduction with a literature review and thesis, (2) our aim and method, (3) a historical background; case studies, and systematics introduction (4) conclusions with typology proposal.

Romantyzm krańców Europy. Portugalia, Polska i Chrystus narodów

This article tentatively provides acomparative outlook on Polish and Portuguese Romanticism. Taking as a starting point the famous parallel between the opposite ends of Europe sketched by the 19th-century historian Joachim Lelewel, the author claims that Polish and Portuguese literature, although they had almost no direct contact with each other, participated in the same system of cultural coordinates established by European Romanticism. At the same time, both nations had some sort of dispute or clash with Europe, developing syndromes of inferiority, as well as megalomaniac visions of their moral superiority. Almeida Garrett and Alexandre Herculano tried to provide a solution, harmonising their country with its European context. The conclusion accentuates the uttermost victory of this harmonising vision, presenting the contemporary Portuguese culture as fully Europeanised and contrasting it with the doubts concerning European identity that may be observed in contemporary Poland.

Word and Image. Polish Medieval and Renaissance Religious Writings in the European Context

The article presents the Polish religious writing of the Middle Ages and Renaissance as an expression of correspondence between the word and image. It also demonstrates the impact of European graphics, including Albrecht Dürer’s woodcuts, upon Polish religious works of the period (such as the works by Pseudo-Bonaventura in his rendering of Baltazar Opec’s Żywot Pana Jezu Krysta and Jan Sandecki’s Historie biblijne or Rozmyślania dominikańskie. The article also emphasizes that it was Dürer who paved the way for the book illustration, thus turning woodcuts into an art form in their own right. The fifteenth century was a watershed in book culture. As new illustration techniques at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries encouraged the growth of illustrated printed books, the codex became obsolete.

Trumpism and the European Far Right: An Analysis of Trumpism’s Impact on the Post-2016 AfD, Lega Nord, and Fidesz

The paper aims at investigating the relationship between Trumpism and the European far-right parties. The combination of shared ideological cores with the confrontation of similar “enemies” has resulted in the creation of an unprecedented relationship, wherein Trump takes the role of “international godfather” and inspiration for the European far right. To examine this relation, the paper focuses on references to Donald Trump and his policies and statements from 2016 to 2020 in the discourse of Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), Hungarian Civilian Alliance (Fidesz), and Lega Nord (Lega). The examination of the discourse of the three parties about security, immigration, foreign policy, and corruption shows that these parties have utilised Trumpism in three manners. Firstly, they have employed Trumpism to normalise certain pre-existing far-right ideologies and practices within their national and European context. Secondly, they have emulated Trump’s discourse and policies to capitalise on his popularity and support their national endeavours. Thirdly, they have used Trump’s fight and ideas to justify national measures, beliefs, criticism, or political goals. This paper thus aims to establish the leitmotifs governing the use of Trumpism by European far right to set the framework for future more critical analyses and a better understanding of this unprecedented relationship.

Hand Firearms in 15th-Century Poland. Why Did the Breakthrough Happen?

The first mention of the use of artillery in Poland comes from 1383. Information on hand firearms is slightly later. In 1410, the use of one handbuchse by municipal guards in Kraków was recorded. However, over the next decades, hand firearms in Poland did not play a significant role. According to the records of mercenary infantry from the 1470s, less than 1% of soldiers owned firearms (simple handgonnes and hackbuts). Small arms started to play a bigger role only in the 1490s. According to the lists of mercenary infantry from 1496, 27% of shooters had firearms, while the rest still used crossbows. In the following years, the percentage of soldiers with firearms increased, exceeding 80% in 1500. It should be noted that in the late 15th century in mercenary censuses there is a new type of weapon called rusznica, a term that should be associated with matchlock handgonnes. The weapon quickly gained recognition from mercenaries. After 1498, matchlock handgonnes also appeared in the equipment of mounted mercenaries and members of the court banner. Matchlock handgonnes almost completely replaced crossbows in the armament of mercenary infantry. The author tries to present these changes in a European context, and explain how such changes in the armament of foot soldiers were possible in such a short time.

Loneliness and its Predictors in Lithuania and the European Context

Loneliness as a subjective consequence of social exclusion has a negative impact on both individual and public health, and impedes societal development. Even though Lithuania has one of the highest rates of loneliness among EU countries, it has not been closely studied. This paper presents for the first time the analysis of the prevalence and factors of loneliness in Lithuania, covering all age groups, and provides the European context. Data from the European Social Survey 7th Wave (2014) were analysed using binary logistic regression. Contrary to our expectations, (older) age is not a predictor of loneliness in Lithuania. Lonely people are more likely to be of other nationality than the majority and the main minorities (i.e. not Lithuanian, Russian or Polish); are less likely to live with a spouse or partner, but more likely to live with children in the same household; more often experience serious financial difficulties; have a history of financial instability in their childhood; tend to have poor subjective health. Not having a partner/spouse and lower economic status are well known risk factors of loneliness from previous international studies. In the context of European countries, the share of lonely people in Lithuania is about average and living without a spouse/partner is a common characteristic of loneliness across all countries. However, other factors of loneliness, such as financial difficulties (current and during childhood), living with children in the same household and poor subjective health appear to be more pronounced in Lithuania.

“In the First Place, We Don’t Like to Be Called ‘Refugees’”: Dilemmas of Representation and Transversal Politics in the Participatory Art Project 100% FOREIGN?

100% FOREIGN? (100% FREMMED?) is an art project consisting of 250 life stories of individuals who were granted asylum in Denmark between 1956 and 2019. Thus, it can be said to form a collective portrait that inserts citizens of refugee backgrounds into the narrative of the nation, thereby expanding the idea of national identity and culture. 100% FOREIGN? allows us to think of participatory art as a privileged site for the exploration of intersubjective relations and the question of how to “represent” citizens with refugee experience as well as the history and practice of asylum. The conflicting aims and perceptions involved in such representations are many, as suggested by the opening sentence of Hannah Arendt’s 1943 essay “We, Refugees”: “In the first place, we don’t like to be called ‘refugees’”. Using 100% FOREIGN? as an analytical reference point, this article discusses some of the ethical and political implications of representing former refugees. It briefly considers recent Danish immigration and asylum policies to situate the project in its regional European context and argues that, similarly to its neighbouring countries, Denmark can be described as a “postmigrant society” (Foroutan). To frame 100% FOREIGN? theoretically, this article draws on Arendt’s essay, Trinh T. Minh-ha’s concept of speaking nearby, as well as the feminist concept of transversal politics (Meskimmon, Yuval-Davis). It is hoped that this approach will lead to a deeper understanding of what participatory art can bring to the ethical politics of representing refugee experience.