The use of emotions in 2019 European Elections campaign materials

This research analyses three fundamental questions to determine how, when and by whom emotions are used in campaign materials (political propaganda). Focusing on the 2019 European elections we carry out a three-phase analysis. Firstly, we check the use of rational content against content that appeals to voters’ emotions. Secondly, we observe which of these emo tions are channelled towards the use of negative strategies and, therefore, identifying who is the object of this attack. And lastly, we determine which party families make the most use of humorous content since this resource is believed to be part of an appeal to voter’s feelings and, therefore, it is essential to know if there are differences between political groups. Considering this analytical strategy, the structure of the work begins with the contextualisation of the 2019 European elections to focus, later, on highlighting the importance of electoral campaigns as a given time when communicative activity intensifies. Once the importance of electoral campaigns has been defined the article analyses how campaign materials, in a general context of political propaganda, are one of the most powerful tools. In this sense, the analytical strategy of political parties’ campaign materials can be said to focus on the use of emotions. Data from the European Elections Monitoring Center (EEMC) has been used not only for theoretical contextualization, but throughout the whole paper.

EUROPOL’S NEW MANDATE: BETWEEN SECURITY AND CIVIL FREEDOMS

The article presents the EU Commission’s legislative initiative to amend the current Regulation of 2016, which defines powers and functions of the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol). The author cites the arguments used by the EU Commission in its decision to expand the functions and powers of the agency: the successful acquisition of new technologies by criminal gangs, the challenges of digital threats for law enforcement and judicial agencies of Member States, which find it difficult at the national level to properly process big data for the investigation of cross-border crimes. The article analyses the main thematic blocks of the new Regulation: enabling Europol to cooperate in the fight against criminal offenses with private parties; empowering the agency to carry out preliminary processing of big and complex databases; strengthening the role of Europol in the field of research and innovation; enabling Europol to enter alerts into the Schengen Information System, etc. The author believes that the expansion of Europol's operational powers brings it one step closer to the «European FB», i.e., an organization of a supranational nature. At the same time, the author cites the arguments of the reform’s opponents, including the political groups of the European Parliament and human rights organisations, which can be divided into two groups: a) under the pretext of ensuring security, the Commission legalises the current practice of Europol, which has gone beyond its current mandate, b) the new functions of the agency for processing a big data pose a threat to the citizens’ rights.

COVID-19 and the Conspiracy Theories

The first known use of the term conspiracy theory dated back to the nineteenth century. It is defined as a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators. It is commonly used, but by no means limited to, extreme political groups. Since the emergence of COVID-19 as a global pandemic in December 2019, the conspiracy theory was present at all stages of the pandemic.

15. European parties:

The party system of the European Parliament (EP) has been dominated by the two main European party families: centre-right conservatives and Christian democrats, on the one hand, and centre-left social democrats on the other, which controlled the majority of the seats until the 2019 elections. In the early 1950s, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) decided to form party-political groups, instead of national blocs, to counterbalance the dominance of national interests in the Council. Over the decades, the shape of the EP party system has become more stable, and traditional levels of group cohesion and coalition formation have not really been affected by the rise of populism and the increasing politicization of European integration. National parties remain influential within party groups, not least through their control of candidate selection. Outside of the Parliament, Europarties—parties operating at the European level—influence both the broader development of integration and the choice of the Commission president.

Building Legitimacy

After the collapse of the communist regime in Eastern Europe, political parties were faced with the necessity of building political legitimacy. This research aims to find out how political myths were instrumentalized by political leaders during the presidential campaigns in order to gain popular support. In the first part, the article focuses on defining “myth” as a legitimizing political instrument. In the second part four political myths used in the early 1990s in Romania are being analyzed: the myth of the interwar period, the myth of original democracy, the myth of political reform and the providential man. The method used is political discourse and party platform analysis. The results suggest that, during the early 90s, different political groups tried to build their legitimacy using political myths instead of rational politics, which ended up in their failure to address the real issues of a changing society.

New dissidence in contemporary Russia: Students, feminism and new ethics

The essay is devoted to the specifics of the contemporary Russian opposition and civil society. We describe the characteristics of contemporary ‘intellectual activism’ and the growing network of small civil and political groups in today’s Russia. We show that Russian civil society remains fragile and fragmented; the public discussion is not focused on strategies of resistance to arbitrariness but on constructing moral categories such as the wide and vague concept of ‘new ethics’. We also show how outsiders appear among contemporary Russian dissidents, who are not supported by most independent leaders and intellectuals – these are young ‘new leftists’ and feminist activist groups. These political activists find themselves under pressure from both the siloviki and the authorities, and in the focus of criticism of opposition leaders, becoming, in fact, dissidents among dissidents in contemporary Russia.

Deputies of the General Sejmik Ruthenian Voivodeship at the Coronation Sejm of 1669

Studies of Sejmiks or local parliaments and their influence on the political, military and socio-economic life of the early modern Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth are widely represented in modern European historiography. Pre-Sejm sejmiks were convened by the king who sent a writ to each sejmik, outlining the reasons the next Sejm would be held.In August 1669, the General Sejmik of the Ruthenian Voivodeship took place in Vyshnia, at which elect six representatives (traditionally two deputies, each from the Lands of Lwow, Przemysl, and Sanok) to the Coronation Sejm of Michael I. The main idea of the article is to show biographies of the six deputies of the Ruthenian Voivodeship. The paper is based on the source materials of the General Sejmik the second half of the 17th century demonstrates the place of their representation in their public and political activities. Sejmiks gave the opportunity for the career development of local nobility for politician’s beginners and experienced public figures. The role of the deputies was honourable and responsible, as the elected represented the interests of the whole voivodeship. Participation in the work of the Sejm provided an opportunity to join the discussion of important issues of the domestic and foreign policy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, authority in the local noble society was not the only criterion for election to the embassy, no less important factor was the client-patron relationship. Lot of nobility belonged to family and political groups led by senators and magnates and defended their interests at the Sejmik and Sejm. Among the six ambassadors elected at the General Sejmik, there were representatives of magnate families and experienced parliamentarians who regularly participated in the Sejm.

Algorithmic amplification of politics on Twitter

Content on Twitter’s home timeline is selected and ordered by personalization algorithms. By consistently ranking certain content higher, these algorithms may amplify some messages while reducing the visibility of others. There’s been intense public and scholarly debate about the possibility that some political groups benefit more from algorithmic amplification than others. We provide quantitative evidence from a long-running, massive-scale randomized experiment on the Twitter platform that committed a randomized control group including nearly 2 million daily active accounts to a reverse-chronological content feed free of algorithmic personalization. We present two sets of findings. First, we studied tweets by elected legislators from major political parties in seven countries. Our results reveal a remarkably consistent trend: In six out of seven countries studied, the mainstream political right enjoys higher algorithmic amplification than the mainstream political left. Consistent with this overall trend, our second set of findings studying the US media landscape revealed that algorithmic amplification favors right-leaning news sources. We further looked at whether algorithms amplify far-left and far-right political groups more than moderate ones; contrary to prevailing public belief, we did not find evidence to support this hypothesis. We hope our findings will contribute to an evidence-based debate on the role personalization algorithms play in shaping political content consumption.

REASONS FOR EXISTENCE OF VARIOUS COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF THE JIHAD

This article discusses the emergence of fiqh and political groups in Islam, explains the significance of jihad and the direction in which it was used. The article analyzes the reasons behind the use of jihadist concepts by these groups for their own purposes, and provides the reasons for the appearance of misconceptions related to jihad. The article also explains how the verses and hadiths of the Quran were used as tools to protect the interests of fiqh and political groups.

Kształtowanie pamięci i polityki historycznej na przykładzie przestrzeni miejskiej Budapesztu

Shaping of the Memory and Historical Policy in Hungary. The Case of Urban Space of Budapest Naming or changing street names (the same applies to monuments) means that certain political groups or communities can control the city. Activities in the urban space have great potential as they can lead to both community empowerment and fragmentation. Since 1989, the canon, or historical epochs to which the changing political elites at the helm of power tried to refer to by building a new urban space, also changed. The actions of Hungarian governments in the area of collective memory formation after 1989 can be described as incoherent. They leave their mark on the shape of the city, sometimes arousing consternation and sometimes the suspicion that certain decisions have a political overtone.