The Consequences of Digitally Driven Changes in Political Campaigning for Democratic Societies: A Case Study of the 2020 US Presidential Election

The effect from COVID-19 pandemic has changed how presidential candidates do their political campaigns. The restriction to do social distancing makes the usual campaign not doable. That’s why presidential candidates need to find another way for their political campaign, which is by doing things digitally. This digitally driven changes can have its advantages and disadvantages. In this paper we discuss about the consequences of the changes in political campaigns in digital form or through social media for democratic societies in US presidential election. We use qualitative descriptive with case study method. In this paper we use secondary data such as research journals that’s related to this topic, documentation and articles. We find that the changes to digital campaigning have its own pros and cons that can affect how politicians do their campaigns on their social media platforms.

Сучасна українська література в об’єктиві студій пам’яті: жіночі виміри

The article is dedicated to a very important topic, which belongs not only to literature but also to Ukrainian history, culture and social life. Speaking about memory, we mean the experience of the past, which very often influences the main aspects of our modernity, in particular, if we are talking about traumatic experience of the history, which was not rethought and did not become a socio-cultural discourse. In the context of the mentioned research problem, the fact that women experience cruelty, humiliation, and injustice is one of those questions, which were not solved during the last decades of developing of democratic societies. Contemporary Ukrainian literature tries to find a solution of unfair reception of the past using a very important method of rethinking traumatic memory. That is why it becomes the subject of different researches, one of which is in the suggested article.

Groteska kroppar i folkhemmets sverige

Grotesque bodies in the Swedish folkhem: Improper aesthetic and rhetoric in the magazine PUSS 1968–1974 In an analysis of the Swedish satirical magazine PUSS (1968–1974) this article explores what is considered as improper rhetoric and aesthetic in the public sphere. It draws on theories of representation and the culture of carnival laughter and the grotesque as well as research on the Swedish folkhem and satire and democracies. I coin the concept demogrotesque-atic in order to capture how PUSS, by using comics, grotesque bodies and carnivalesque, improper rhetoric and aesthetics, makes visible fundamental challenges to democratic societies. I argue that the magazine’s representational practices highlight the function of what is often considered ‘filth’ in the public sphere and the central role the grotesque body plays in upholding – and breaking – boundaries of propriety. I interpret this as important democratic work, and demonstrate that while the satire in PUSS is situated in a specific time and place, it is also part of a longstanding literary and artistic tradition.

From Datafication to Data State: Making Sense of China’s Social Credit System and Its Implications

We live in an age of datafication wherein nearly all aspects of our lives can be transformed into data and evaluated. The authors seek to make sense of the heightened datafication-enabled social control under China’s Social Credit System (SCS) by developing the concept of the data state. A “data state” is defined as a governance model enabling the state to comprehensively monitor, evaluate, and control its subjects through datafication, leaving them little room to defend their autonomy. We identify the multiple functions of the SCS in its development up to 2020 and analyze its inherent defects, including the decontextualized evaluation of individuals and the semi-automated imposition of disproportionate punishment. We argue that, if the SCS were to fully integrate its functions and connect to other data-driven governance initiatives, it would eventually allow the data self, carefully groomed by the state, to dominate the bio-self and turn China into a data state. Whereas China’s SCS may be unique and not easily replicated elsewhere, understanding its intricacies helps to enable the citizens of democratic societies to guard against the relentless growth of datafication that may result in an invincible and irreversible ecosystem for the emergence of a data state.

Populism as a threat to the rule of law

The aim of this paper is to bring the reader closer to what the term populism means, what are its defining elements, in which parts of the world and in what forms is this phenomenon present today, and, finally, what consequences it has on modern democracies and the rule of law. The introductory part of the paper deals with the issue of defining the term populism, presenting the theories that are most common in the literature and setting out the constitutive elements of the term. The paper further provides an overview of the regions in which populism is most present today, with a general inspection of its manifestations and a brief historical outline of its origins. Finally, the paper concludes with the analysis of the negative and positive consequences that the populism has on today's democratic societies, as well as of its impact on the rule of law – i.e., by answering the question of whether the founding pillars of the 21st century rule of law manage to withstand the onslaught of a strong, all-coming, populist wave?

Pandemic challenges and models of democracy

This article examines the impact of a pandemic on democratic societies. The central research question is the extent to which a pandemic can alter the trajectory of social and ethical democratic development nationally and internationally. Therefore, the article examines contemporary controversies in democratic society in the aftermath of a pandemic. The leading hypothesis is that the pandemic should reinforce the need for social solidarity, but it is unclear what political form this need will take: populism or deliberative/nonconsensual democracy.

Authentic Expertise: Andrej Babiš and the Technocratic Populist Performance During the COVID-19 Crisis

This article studies how a technocratic populist can visually perform the authenticity and connection to ‘the low’ that is key to a populist performance while also maintaining the performance of expertise that is central to technocratic populist success. It relies on the case study of Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš and uses Facebook data from his profile in March and September–October 2020, the two peak moments of the crisis in the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. After offering a timeline of the Czech COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, it applies a dramaturgical analysis to four representative photos from Babiš’ Facebook page. It finds that Babiš was able to simultaneously articulate both expertise and authenticity, thereby both creating a connection to ‘the people’ while also articulating himself as an expert capable of handling the pandemic. He articulated expertise through a technocratic bodily performance, presenting himself as a cosmopolitan leader with international symbols of power like neutral-colored suits and elegant surroundings. At the same time, he also articulated himself as an authentic politician by showing his Facebook followers backstage imagery like a disorganized table and by showing himself as a busy man and an exceptionally hard worker. By illuminating the visual performance of technocratic populism, it offers insight into how technocratic populists constitute the expertise that their success rests on and that can also pose a threat to democratic societies, especially in a time of crisis.

Covid-19 and freedom

This article examines the multifaceted nature of freedom in relation to the world’s efforts to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim is to show that in democratic societies, increasing societal regulation to stop the spread of the virus does not necessarily curtail all possible conceptions of freedom. On the contrary, we can even construct new institutional realms or community-strengthening mechanisms through which some forms of freedom can materialise in an unforeseen manner. The heuristic model that informs the analysis is composed of six different embodiments of freedom.

The Future of Democratic Civil Societies in a Post-Western Cybered Era

This chapter discusses cyberspace’s evolution in terms of technical shoddiness and misperceptions. Once cyberspace left the confines of the consolidated democratic societies, their legal systems, and the controls of Western regulated telecommunications firms, it moved beyond the power of Westernized nations’ to keep the world both deeply cybered and guided by the rule of law. With commercialization as it occurred, the Internet was never going to be the utopia. Rather, the globalized Internet became a resource rich frontier and substrate over which nations and organizations would fight overtly, covertly, and in every other way possible. The chapter then identifies two available remediating strategic responses to this new cybered reality (recognition of sovereignty and balancing scale), and offers three possible interstate futures depending upon which of these two responses is chosen. It argues that achieving the best possible future will rest on pursuing strategic well-being and international influence through a ‘cyber operational resilience alliance’ across consolidated democratic civil societies.

Good governance: meaning, principles, characteristics and limitations in democratic societies

A new concept has been introduced in public administration - good governance. The term good governance is difficult to define. But in the 1980s, researchers have been working hard to achieve the lofty ideal of good governance, and by the turn of the 21st century, the concept of good governance has become an integral part of public administration. Good governance is considered today as a paradigm of public administration, because it is committed to regulating political power, to supporting governance aimed at ensuring the general well-being of citizens and less so of representatives of political parties. The term has broader implications and includes both the activities of government and other organizations, public or private. The premise is that public policies and objectives require cooperation actions between different actors.It is mentioned that the current era (21st century) can be aptly called an era of good governance. Thus, this article examines the essence of the concept of good governance, the principles, characteristics and limitations of good governance in democratic societies.