HYBRID DISCOURSE AND THE EMERGENCE OF CONTEXT IN BBC’S QUESTION TIME

This paper explores how hybrid discourse, instantiated in talk and interaction, can be shaped not only by a situational context (TV panel show) and cultural context (TV’s increasing democratisation of laity), but also by human volition in pursuit of recognizable to others and allowed within the confi nes of the setting. It does this by examining the emergence of context in light of a non-mainstream hybrid and refl exive activity. Specifically, it examines a non-normative interview format that has arisen in contemporary broadcasting through the analysis of three transcribed segments which were taken from two key episodes of the BBC’s fl agship political program: Question Time. Using a range of analytical concepts from symbolic interactionism, pragmatics, and conversational analysis, such as frames and footings, activity types, discourse types, and turn-taking, the analysis shows how institutional (political) and non-institutional (normative) practices can come together in the pursuit of individual goals and contemporary media’s goal for increasingly partisan journalism and confrontainment. Overall, the paper highlights the importance of a multidimensional approach to context, whereby meaning both emerges from and is constitutive of the forms and functions of an activity’s discourse, whilst further highlighting the role of hybridity in contemporary discourse.

Perspectives of public administration’s development: International experience

The purpose of this article is to reveal the urgent state of affairs in the sphere of public administration in Ukraine and the world. The most relevant problematic issues in regard to the functioning of public administration area have been also studied. The current prospects for the development of public administration are characterized. In particular, successful examples of international experience in this field are analyzed. Methods of public administration in a number of developed countries are also compared. The meaning of the terms "public administration", "implementation of public administration" and "development of public administration" is revealed. It is noted that the importance of understanding exactly how to carry out public administration within a particular state or a particular region or municipality is a key factor in the success and effectiveness of a political program of any political force. The importance of active cooperation of state authorities of Ukraine, as well as the public, with Ukraine's international allies and partners is emphasized. After all, it is fruitful interaction with such states that will help Ukraine to develop faster and acquire the useful qualities and properties that it must possess in order to effectively carry out public administration.

The Black Atlantic Metaphysics of Azealia Banks: Brujx Womanism at the Kongo Crossroads

Controversial Harlem-born rapper/singer, songwriter, and provocateuse Azealia Banks is the most (in)famous, vocal, and visible proponent of Black Atlantic traditions in recent times—making a critical reckoning well overdue. I begin here by tracing Banks's engagement with Afro-Diasporic religions (including Caribbean Espiritismo, Afro-Cuban Lucumí, and Dominican “21 Divisions”) as a trajectory from vamp to bruja [witch]/santera to mayombera. A review of Banks's public statements reveals her growing commitment to championing “so-called voodoo” and urging other African Americans to do so as well. I argue that the release of Beyoncé's Lemonade in 2016 catalyzed Banks's advocacy for Kongo-inspired Palo Mayombe, long overshadowed by Yorùbá-based orisha worship. I further demonstrate that Banks's espousal of Palo Mayombe has been bound up with her identity as a Womanist and dark-skinned, cisgender femme fatale. More than a political program, however, Banks's discursive constructions amount to a Black Atlantic metaphysics. Drawing on Irene Lara's formulation of “bruja positionalities,” I propose that the theoretical scaffolding for her metaphysics should be designated Brujx Womanism. Missteps notwithstanding, Banks emerges as a metaphysician, aspiring to repair Black bodies by re-membering Kongo traditions. In closing, I suggest that Banks's Brujx Womanism may contribute to the conceptualization of Conjure Feminism in four crucial respects.

“Nova Revija” Magazine as a Catalyst for Socio-political Changes (to the 30th anniversary of Slovenia’s declaration of independence)

The article tells about the activities of the Slovenian literary-critical magazine “Nova Revia” (1982–2010), which united representatives of the democratic intelligentsia – writers, critics, philosophers, sociologists – and became “the intellectual center of the ‘Slovenian spring’” (N. Grafenauer). In the late 1980s on its pages were discussed not only topical problems of culture, literature and art, but were conducted polemics on internal political and national issues, was openly sounded criticism of socialist ideology and ethics. The magazine published the first national political program of the opposition, in which were expressed the demands for the state independence of the Republic of Slovenia. Its authors played an important role in the formation of a multi-party system in the republic and in the political life of the young state after the proclamation of sovereignty.

Institutionalized forms of radical Islam in Indonesia in the 2010s

The author analyzes the formalized dimensions and forms of radical Islam in Indonesia, which in the 2000s were active within Indonesian political space. It is assumed that radical Islam develops as a heterogeneous phenomenon, and its feature of being secondary comes as systemic. The author believes that the radicals were unable to offer an original political program. Three Islamist organizations such as “Islamic Defenders Front”, “Indonesia without the Liberal Islam Network” and “the National Anti-Alcohol Movement” are analyzed in the article. The author studies various forms of Islamic radical activities, including anti-liberal demonstrations, criticism of ideological opponents, educational and social initiatives, anti-alcohol raids. The article reveals that the Front was an institutionalized form of Islamic radicalism, and the anti-liberal and anti-alcohol movements represented formally moderate organizations dependent on the Front, which cultivated a radical discourse. The author believes that after the prohibition of the Front in December 2020, anti-liberal and anti-alcohol movements can become the main exponents of radical sentiments in Indonesian Islam. The formal prohibition of the Front does not exclude the possibility of activization of Islamic fundamentalism supporters and their further radicalization.

The liberation of nature and knowledge: a case study on Hans Reichenbach’s naturalism

Our main goal in this paper is to present and scrutinize Reichenbach’s own naturalism in our contemporary context, with special attention to competing versions of the concept. By exploring the idea of Reichenbach’s naturalism, we will argue that he defended a liberating, therapeutic form of naturalism, meaning that he took scientific philosophy (or philosophy of nature, Naturphilosophie) to be a possible cure for bad old habits and traditional ways of philosophy. For Reichenbach, naturalistic scientific philosophy was a well-established form of liberation. We do not intend to suggest that Reichenbach acted as an inventor of naturalism; nonetheless, invoking the term and the idea of ‘naturalism’ is more than a simple rhetorical strategy for rehabilitating Reichenbach as a forerunner of this field. We think that his ideas can make a valuable contribution to contemporary debates, and that he presents an interesting case among the other scientifically oriented proponents of his time. After presenting a short reconstruction of the meaning of naturalism—or, more appropriately, naturalisms—in order to be able to correctly situate Reichenbach within his own as well as a systematic context, we discuss Reichenbach’s naturalism against the background of his scientific philosophy, his views on the relation of common-sense knowledge to science, and his efforts at popularization. To delve deeper into this topic, we present a case study to show how Reichenbach argued that in both scientific and philosophical discussions (assuming their naturalistic continuity), it is necessary to move from the request and value of truth to probability. And, finally, we argue that the liberation of knowledge and nature was a socio-political program for Reichenbach, who talked about his own scientific philosophy as “a crusade.” By emphasizing this aspect of Reichenbach’s naturalism, we may be in a better position to situate him in the history of analytic philosophy in general, and in the yet-to-be-written narrative of the naturalistic movement in particular.

The rule of law and the role of courts

What role do courts play in advancing or upholding the political ideal that we call ‘the rule of law’? Does the rule of law require that courts should have authority over all other branches of government, including the legislature? And does it impose constraints on the sort of reasoning and decision-making that courts engage in? This article explores an array of possible answers to these questions, and considers the possibility that the ascendancy of courts in a constitution may represent a form of judicial supremacy that looks remarkably like the uncontrolled rule of men, which the rule of law is supposed to prevent. To preclude that possibility, it is particularly important for courts to recognize that their authority is limited in scope and that they should not be guided by any overall political program other than the program of seeing that constitutional constraints on government are upheld.

Dostoevsky as a Member of the Petrashevsky Circle: Was Young Dostoevsky a Revolutionary?

The article examines the question if the authors in the Soviet era, both literary critics and ideologues, were right to believe that young Dotoevsky, as a member of the Petrashevsky circle, was a revolutionary. It is shown that the Petrashevsky circle was not actually a revolutionary one. It membership was too heterogeneous, the circle did not have a common socio-political program, its participants did not start any practical political actions, and its radical members were few. Dostoevsky also belonged to the moderate wing of the Petrashevite circle: he always advocated only peaceful transformations and the abolition of serfdom «by the upper strata», and was not Republican-minded. In the article the author considers the views of young Dostoevsky on socialism. It is stated that, nevertheless, being in this circle gave Dostoevsky first-hand knowledge of revolutionary psychology and metaphysics, because some members of the circle, including M. V. Petrashevsky himself, were very radical, and in a certain sense, the Petrashevists and their conditional leader could be considered the predecessors of S.G. Nechaev and Nechaevtsy.

The Mexican Revolution

Beginning in 1930, Frank Tannenbaum pioneered what came to be known as a populist (or post-revisionist) interpretation of the Mexican Revolution, arguing that the mass mobilization of the revolutionary decade (1910–1920) forced state builders and intellectuals to find a place in political life for the poor and indigenous of the periphery. Although not a wholesale reversal of the “effects of the Conquest” that Tannenbaum claimed it to be, this “new attitude toward the Indian” represented a national (if unevenly experienced) cultural revolution. More mosaic than monolith, this Revolution was not imposed by a unified state but negotiated in the conflict between high and low politics.The call for democratic restoration through armed revolution liberated a multitude of disparate political groups that had previously been controlled through the political system, particularly the rural masses, and brought them into the political sphere in distinctly undemocratic terms, through violent direct action. Rather than a unified movement with a clearly defined political program, popular mobilization during the revolutionary decade (1910–1920)—characterized by localized and disparate revolts only nominally bound to a national program—represented a cultural awakening and a broad, collective demand for class and often ethnic inclusion. The collapse of the state in 1914 forced revolutionary state-builders to recognize this demand and negotiate pacts with collectively organized and identified local and regional groups of rebels. In so doing, the revolutionary state constructed a national imaginary capable of integrated Mexico’s indigenous heritage.

“Preamble” to a Constitution for New Confederation of European nations: text and context

The idea of protecting the European essence from collapse due to modern challenges (migration, terrorism, tensions between the EU and Asia, threats from the Middle East, discord in relations with Russia) is not new and has been discussed many times by many researchers. The author offers his solution for these and many other challenges. His vision of united Europe is offered in the preamble to the Constitution of a new confederation of European nations. This text is not an official position for political action or propaganda. This message is necessary to broaden the horizons for those Europeans who are accustomed to living for the sake of modern realities, without looking back at the great past of Europe. The author sees the solution to the impending challenges of our time in the history of European states, their economic and social development. The author proposes to Europe - if it wants to survive in the 21st century as a civilization, it needs to return to historical values and traditions that shaped it since the Middle Ages, and moreover, sharply reduce Brussels’ tendency towards centralism. Wherein a close partnership should be maintained between European countries in key policy areas. The proposed preamble appears to be a unifying political program that can act as gathering point for politicians and citizens with different views.