Demagogues and Demagoguery in Hellenistic Greece

This paper introduces scholars of Greek political thought to the continued existence of the phenomenon of demagoguery, or ‘(mis-)leadership of the people’, in the Hellenistic period. After summarizing Classical elite discourse about demagoguery, I explore three areas in which political leaders continued to run afoul of elite norms in Hellenistic democratic poleis: 1) political persecution of the wealthier members of a political community; 2) ‘pandering to’ the people in a way considered infra dignitatem; and 3) stoking bellicosity among the common people. I show that considerable continuities link the Classical and Hellenistic periods and that demagoguery should be approached as a potential window onto ‘popular culture’ in Greek antiquity.

A VIP (Very Important Pig)

In addition to working in the fields, Yuan-tsung helped in the office of Red Flag Village’s Party secretary, Old Xu, who eventually took her into his confidence. He let her in on an almost comical attempt to smuggle a fat pig past starving peasants, so that the Party bigwigs could feast on it. It opened her eyes to the corruption and shenanigans of village politics, which mirrored the state of affairs nationwide. Meanwhile it brought her close to the victims and she became their friend. One of them, Lotus Boy, talented and gentle, would soon die of starvation and political persecution.

Older and Younger Brothers: Su Shi and Su Zhe

Here we have a pair of brothers whose relationship is known to us primarily through the hundreds of poems they exchanged with each other through their lives, during which they spent more time apart than together. To have a relationship rooted in literary work this way was not unusual in Chinese life. What was unusual was the fame these particular brothers attained, even while still alive. This article explores the nature of the brothers’ relationship as best we can discern it through their actions and what they wrote to each other, including their mutual affection, disagreements, and competition. Their lives were played out against a backdrop of high office, empire-wide renown, and political persecution. We see that their relationship to each other was in some ways the most enduring and sustaining aspect of their lives, even when their ultimate ideal of spending their final days together went unrealized.

Products of Counterfactual Imagination:The Healing Life of Literature

My papers investigates two of the latter volumes by Romanian author Monica Pillat, Invitație la vis (An Invitation to Dream, 2014), and Croitorul de cărți (The Book Tailor, 2019), in which the literary experience elevates and transcends life itself, as a form of rewriting/healing the past and, maybe, of projecting one’s dreams into the future. It relies on criticism of two stories from the respective volumes, which investigates the sites of memory, such as the family mansion, which is the central piece around which the fantasy world woven by the author gravitates. Since Monica Pillat descends from a whole line of literary masters, her gift for writing is in fact a form of recuperating and also compensating for the family past, in which especially her father (Dinu Pillat) was very much afflicted by political persecution during Communist times. In my paper, I will dwell upon the less factual connection between life and literature – that of a mutual mirroring and influencing – in the attempt to prove that the experience of writing can make up for the losses encountered in reality. In this sense, being a literary author may offer one the chance of re-inventing one’s self (or imaginatively amending the life of your loved ones) and – for Monica Pillat – it certainly offers the greatest reward of all: a continual dwelling inside the family lineage, in the company of the kindred spirits that have guided and protected her since she was born.

Ramaz Kobidze – “From Prison to Prison”- about the "Stalinist Cohort"

Documentary prose with a direct description of the author's contemporaneous epoch-making problems, historical-political events or the development of public thought is always the subject of the reader's interest. Although for works of the documentary genre, to some extent, the subjectivism of the narrator is not foreign, at least its main dignity is the real beginnings.The book of memoirs "From Prison to Prison" by Ramaz Kobidze, one of the victims of the "Stalinist cohort" is very interesting.The author of the book pays special attention to the necessity of documentary prose before recollection. He considered it obligatory not only for writers, but also for state figures, to keep the last few years for the production of documentary-type works, namely memoirs. In his view, if a statesman did not leave a documentary-type work to his descendants, it would always be a cause of unrest, strife, and sometimes even civil war.From the title, a very interesting documentary based on Ramaz Kobidze's "From Prison to Prison" memoirs prepares the reader to get acquainted with and understand the work of the "Stalinist cohort", the victim of which was the author of the work as a member of the "Secret Anti-Soviet Youth Organization".In addition to the specific facts of political persecution in the Book of Memoirs, which not infrequently took place not only in the life of the writer, but also in the lives of his friends and relatives, they also provide you with inspiring images of cruelty and disorder typical of the Stalinist regime.Ramaz Kobidze's book of memoirs "From Prison to Prison" is an extremely interesting source for studying not a single important event of Soviet existence. It contains a number of cases of ideological pressure typical of the Stalinist regime, which zombified a large part of the intellectual community at the time, made them worthy representatives of the "Stalinist cohort." And they destroyed a large part of the Georgian intelligentsia, but the "Soviet generation intelligentsia" was trained, raised and handed over the future of the country.

Ensuring the rights of refugees in case of bringing administrative responsibility as a guarantee of realization of their legal status in Ukraine

Problem setting. One of the important factors that play a key role in the observance of human rights and freedoms, including such categories of foreign citizens and stateless persons as refugees in case of administrative prosecution - is the functioning of state institutions to guarantee these rights, the use of all. The decisive place in this problem belongs to the activities of the state of Ukraine, which in connection with the formation of social relations related to the stay of refugees on its territory, protection of this category of persons from political persecution , should ensure the adoption of relevant legal acts aimed primarily at the protection of rights and freedoms. administrative penalty. As a result, there are real risks of violating the rights and freedoms of the person to whom these penalties apply. Analysis of recent researches and publications. Problems of protection of rights and freedoms of refugees in case of bringing them to administrative responsibility were devoted to the work of such scientists as: V. Averyanov, O. Bandurka, O. Bezpalova, Yu. Bityak, O. Dzhafarova, A. Komzyuk, V. Komzyuk, D. Lukyanets, O. Muzychuk, D. Priymachenko, O.S. Pronevich ect. The purpose of the article is to investigate and analyze the importance of ensuring the rights of refugees in case of bringing them to administrative responsibility, to consider this issue as one of the guarantees of legal status of refugees in Ukraine. Article’s main body. The article considers the issue of observance of the rights and freedoms of this category of foreign citizens and stateless persons as refugees in case of committing offenses and bringing them to administrative responsibility. The issue of ensuring both international legal acts approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and legal documents on behalf of the state of Ukraine gives grounds to believe that in case of involvement of this category of persons (if they are in Ukraine legally) to administrative responsibility, they have the same rights as citizens of Ukraine. Conclusions. The peculiarities of the relevant provisions of the administrative legislation of Ukraine on the peculiarities of bringing foreign citizens and stateless persons, including refugees to administrative responsibility, are analyzed. The significance of the ratio of observance of the rights and freedoms of refugees in case of bringing to administrative responsibility and necessity of non-alternative fulfillment of requirements of legal norms of the current administrative legislation of Ukraine is determined.

Economic Development, Political and Socio-Political Violence Crisis in the Sub-Saharan Africa: An Economic Panel Study

Social and political instability threatens the economic and social development of nations. Political persecution is therefore characterized by socio-political instability as a barrier to development that creates economic difficulties, limited public and private investments and hinders national development. This article describes political persecution and economic development through a close examination of the African ministry which covers key issues such as welfare and drug trafficking. We use various measures to measure political violence and economic development, and we use the crisis management strategies of Driscoll and Kraay and a comprehensive time-based approach to measure (GMM) for a sample of Sub Saharan African countries in the period 2000-2014. In the example of political persecution, we find that the combination of individual achievement, education, capture, and health has a negative impact on politics, but GINI, unemployment, drugs and homeless people that have a positive impact on violence. In the example of the economy, political violence, armed with bribery and corruption, has a negative impact on economic development, but population, security, employment, political participation, housing have a negative impact on production and on economic progress. Positive impact on economic development. The findings underscore the importance of implementing social policies and guidelines against political violence to increase economic growth and development, productivity, political participation and human security in the regions of Africa.

The Political Penal System in the Honecker Era Prison system, detention conditions, political prisoners and the Ministry of State Security in the GDR (1970–1989)

In the German Democratic Republic (GDR), both political and criminal prisoners after their conviction were kept together in prisons under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior. Formally, the same rules applied to them, but opponents of the regime (as in many dictatorships) were often treated more strictly. Supervision by the public prosecutor’s office was mostly limited to formal questions. Compared to the 1950s, detention conditions improved until the era of Erich Honecker: assaults by the guards became less frequent and contacts with family were more often tolerated. However, after phases of liberalisation, the conditions of detention also tightened time and time again. Basically nothing changed in the degrading treatment and omnipresent regimentation. Compared to the early years, work assignments were even better organised, which led to an increased workload for the inmates. The surveillance measures of the State Security (Stasi), which employed many informers among the prison staff as well as among the inmates, were also perfected in the later years. As a form of “disruptive measures”, the secret police occasionally saw to it that the very persons who did not cooperate but appeared to be particularly “dangerous” to the secret police were thought of as informers. Concealing political persecution in this way was the result of a subtle regard for public opinion in the West, which had a comparatively strong impact on the penal system of the GDR. Another peculiarity was the ransom of political prisoners, which from 1963 led to the early release of an average of 1200 prisoners per year.

Straightening History

In the aftermath of the attempted 1965 coup, many dissidents, leftists, and suspected Communists were either ‘eradicated’ or incarcerated in prisons all over Indonesia. Since their release, these political prisoners continue to face state-enforced discrimination and stigmatisation. The marginalization of ex-political prisoners by both the state and local communities has continued through Indonesia’s democratic transition following President Suharto’s downfall in 1998. This is compounded by the presence of right-wing groups who continue to harass them, labelling them as neo-Communists inimical to the Indonesian body politic. Through direct engagement with former political prisoners, I aim to understand rehabilitative efforts through support groups. In preliminary interviews, many eks-tapol refer to the need to ‘straighten’ history. This discourse highlights their need to be recognized as ‘whole’ citizens of Indonesia. I explore the state’s struggle to address this dark chapter in Indonesian history, what it means to ‘straighten’ history and how eks-tapol engage with support groups to re-define their position within the community, denoting a strengthened sense of dignity and humanity. It is hoped that this research will contribute to efforts to understand and protect the rights of eks-tapol and other victims of political persecution in Southeast Asia.