Representative Democracy as Kitsch, and Artificial Intelligence’s Promise of Emancipation

The chapter explores relations between modernity and the decentralization of authority, kitsch and partial centralization, the avant-garde and social media. Decentralization is identified as an important expression of modernist philosophy in current technology. As a characteristic of current directions of social progress, authority-opposing trends of modernism and post-modernism find significant support in new technology via less falsifiable decentralization based on crypto-currencies, blockchain, social media, search engines, and other products of the internet era. The scalability of classic athenian democracy to large societies is not yet accomplished by technology. Against the early modernity tendency to cheaply give the masses an almost effortless sense of participation (features associated with kitsch), the system of representative democracy promises to become more genuine through opportunities for electronic civic involvement.

Entanglements of art and memory activism in Hungary’s illiberal democracy

This paper explores how art contributes to the articulation of memories that counter the official historical narrative of Hungary’s self-proclaimed political and ideological system, illiberal democracy. Amid deepening polarization between Europe’s post-colonialist and post-socialist countries, the Hungarian government promotes a Christian conservative national identity against the “liberal” values of Western Europe. Systematic appropriation of historical traumas is at the core of such efforts, which largely manifests in removing, erecting and reinstating memorials, as well as in the re-signification of trauma sites. Insufficient civic involvement in rewriting histories generates new ways of resistance, which I demonstrate through the case study of a protest-performance organized by the Living Memorial activist group as a response to the government’s decision to displace the memorial of Imre Nagy in 2018. I seek to understand the dynamics between top-down memory politics, civil resistance and art within the conceptual apparatus of the “memory activism nexus” (Rigney 2018, 2020) and “multidirectional memories” (Rothberg 2009). I argue that artistic memory activism has limited potential to transform the dynamics of memory in a context where a national conservative political force has gradually taken control over historical narratives, triggering inevitably polarizing responses in the society. Although profoundly embedded in local histories, the case-study may offer new ways of negotiating traumatic heritages through the entanglement of art and memory activism.

Dialogue and social participation in the context of education and development of youth in Poland

Background: The development of civil society is based on dialogue and participation. Young people are characterized by low interest in social activity and building a civil society, therefore it seems crucial to look at what education for participation looks like. Objectives: The authors considered the issue of dialogue and social participation in the context of education and development of young Poles. The authors drew attention to the forms and importance of civic dialogue, as well as diagnosed the goals, functions and deficits of civic education. Methodology: The topic was presented on the basis of the literature on the subject, the results of sociological research and hard data on the forms and scale of civic involvement in Poland, especially in Warsaw. Data analysis in the form of desk research was used. Results: Research by CBOS and KBPN shows that only 40% of young people who could take part in the 2018 elections for the first time in their lives intended to exercise their right. Also in the parliamentary elections in 2019, the youngest eligible respondents voted least frequently. Young Poles significantly less often than adults in general show involvement in the affairs of the local community, and are also characterized by an above-average lack of trust in others and increasing individualism. Conclusions: Civic involvement of young Poles and their participation in building a civic society are low and are accompanied by a high level of individualism combined with a lack of trust in others. Therefore, a more effective education for participation seems to be of key importance. Examples of good practice in this area, although still carried out on a small scale, are classes conducted for students in the field of public transport and tools for social participation developed and used by some local governments, such as the Civic Budget or Local Initiative.

Dreams and desire. The cinema of Pier Paolo Pasolini and Federico Fellini: A conversation with Roberto Chiesi

In this interview, Roberto Chiesi talks about the personal and professional relationship between Pier Paolo Pasolini and Federico Fellini. He describes their experience with neorealism and how each of them moved past it to develop an original and unique cinematographic style. He focuses on specific elements of their cinema, such as the importance of the oneiric dimension and their conception of the sacred. Chiesi explains the central role civic involvement had in the work of Pasolini; his last movie Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom) (Pasolini 1975) is centred on the dramatic process of degradation caused by the new consumeristic ideology. Fellini, instead, was primarily concerned with the corruptive vulgarity of the new commercial television. Highlighting the importance of Pasolini and Fellini’s legacy, Chiesi concludes the interview by saying that the two artists had the foresight to imagine the dreadful long-term consequences the events of their time would produce, consequences we are experiencing in today’s society.

Paul ANGHEL (1869 – 1937) - a reputed surgeon, an empathetic teacher and a poetic spirit

Paul Anghel was an outstanding surgeon of the Iași Faculty of Medicine illustrating its first decennia of existence. He contributed to the development of the Romanian medical school by his activity and disciples. Trained in Iasi, Bucharest and also in Paris, as was the case with many of his remarkable compatriots, Anghel practiced general surgery but specialized in orthopedics, where his creative mind and experience enabled him to imagine and achieve new surgical techniques, including bone transplant, and prosthetic devices. He was a university professor at the Iași Faculty of Medicine, head of clinic at the ‟St. Spyridon” Hospital in the same city and member of important scientific societies. Dr. Anghel equally dealt with basic topics such as antisepsis and asepsis, wound treatment and war medicine that continued to be main concerns at the dawn of the XX-th century. A silent introspect with a poetic spirit, a cultivated and knowledgeable analyst of his time, Paul Anghel was interested in medical history, too. His scientific reviews always included retrospective glances into history. He pointed out some aspects of the history of the Faculty of Medicine of Iași and of the national medical tradition, and sketched the portraits of several Romanian medical and cultural personalities, proving his affective attachment to their memory. A skilled doctor, an innovative specialist, an empathetic teacher, and an emotional character, Professor Anghel was awarded medals and orders in recognition of his human qualities and civic involvement. He remained a personality of the Iași surgical school, a forerunner of modern orthopedics in his country and a role model.

Contemporary Urban University Presidents and an Emerging Paradigm for Strategic Planning and Civic Engagement

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the elements of urban university presidents' strategic planning and priority-setting. The chapter attempts to profile the contributions of urban universities to their cities, and the specific agenda that urban university presidents establish in order to do so. The author considers two primary ideas for presidential strategies: visible presidential leadership in urban environments and the prioritization of civic-based initiatives. The chapter explores shifting patterns in strategy, leadership, and civic involvement at urban universities in the United States, setting the analysis in context to better understand how college presidential planning and leadership influence postsecondary education in America's urban core.

Passive, Indifferent, Engaged? The Faces of Local Civic Activity in Finland

Among European states Nordic countries, including Finland, are often set as examples of countries with high social capital, in which citizens willingly engage into decision-making process. The aim of the article is to verify this assumption and to present diverse attitudes of citizens towards local engagement. The article is based on quantitative data (statistics on civic involvement) as well as qualitative research (interviews with councillors from selected Finnish municipalities). The conclusion points at transformation of Finnish democracy and the fact that paradoxically developed institutions of representative democracy may have a negative influence on the wiliness to apply further, non-electoral mechanisms of civic involvement.