Liberal Character Research Articles

Evolution of the women’s movement in Ukraine and Europe in the 20th century: The path to gender equality

The relevance of this study lies in the fact that the analysis of the development of the women's movement in Ukraine and the determinants of the influence of women's views on their own place in society in the context of various historical events helps to reduce the number of stereotypes about the role of women in Ukrainian society in the 21st century. Accordingly, the purpose was to provide a historical overview of the reasons for the emergence and development of the Ukrainian movement in the period 1901-2000 and the barriers to gender equality in comparison with the women's movement in European countries. This study was based on a retrospective and systematic analysis of the literature as the main research methods. It was established that the emancipation of the women's movement in Ukraine began at the beginning of the 20th century. In general, the path to gender equality for Ukrainian women consisted of three main stages. The development of women's views was influenced by various economic, social, and political events, as a result of which the ideology of feminism was established, which is separately formed for each stage of the women's movement. Thus, during the first stage until 1919, national feminism was observed. Then, until 1991, feminism had a liberal character. Later, until 2000, social feminism was observed in Ukraine. The results of the study provide consistent information on specific actions of women on the path to gender equality in the last century under the influence of various factors and historical events, which contributed to the development of a unified system of views on the development of the evolution of the women's movement for the period 1901-2000 on the path to gender equality. The results of this study are of practical importance, since they can be used both by women's organisations for information campaigns, and in academic communities for further research on the topic of the women's movement in Ukraine and Europe

The Human Rights and Freedoms in Constitution of Romania of 1866

The purpose of the article is the analysis of the provisions of the first Constitution of Romania of 1866 in terms of guaranteeing of Human Rights and freedoms by the state. The article points out that the adoption of the Constitution of 1866 became a fateful state legal act for the entire Romanian people, since it meant a radical change in the ratio of external and internal factors in the state-building process of the Romanian state. To achieve this goal, general scientific and special-scientific methods of cognition were used, in particular, dialectical-legal-comparative, legal-formal. It has been determined that the accepted Constitution in 1866 in terms of guaranteeing Human Rights and freedoms has had a truly liberal character and has become the progressive state-legal act for the state-building process of Romania; the need to follow the norms of the Basic Law gradually have made constitutionalism as the form of thinking, which has contributed to the further expansion of democratic rights and freedoms and the development of the democratic views in the country.

The Constitutional Importation and the Political Modernization of the Romanian State

"This article has as its starting point the genesis of Romanian constitutionalism. Developed according to the Belgian model, the Constitution of 1866 allowed the birth of a democratic system of government and consolidated the autonomy of Romania, in the context where, after the abdication of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, there was an inherent need for governmental stability. However, the decision to adopt a prestigious constitutional model was guided by the idea of international legitimacy. The predominantly liberal character of the Belgian Constitution of 1831 influenced the process of drafting fundamental laws in several European states, not only in Romania (Greece, Italy, Prussia, etc.). The constitutional import process is inevitable, but extremely difficult and rarely impossible. The inevitability of this process stems from the fact that overarching constitutional ideas and mechanisms are generally limited. This type of transfer occurs when constituent assemblies face a particular problem and choose to focus on already functioning constitutions. Keywords: constitutional import; the Belgian Constitution of 1831; the Romanian Constitution of 1866; foreign prince; modernization and political independence; modern liberal constitutionalism. "

Reviewing John Locke’s Concept of Power From the Perspective of Al-Maududi

The concept of power today is much influenced by the thoughts of John Locke. The power shaped by John Locke gives this country a liberal character. Individual rights are at the centre of all interests. In the history of Islam, some concepts have been very important in shaping Islamic perceptions of democracy. This research is library research because it is library research. The approach used is a historical-philosophical approach. This paper dissects John Locke's democratic thinking, which is analysed using the democratic thinking of a contemporary Muslim intellectual, namely Abu A'la Maududi. Theo-democracy is a system of government initiated by Al-Maududi by combining the concepts of monotheism and trias politica. The Al-Maududi Islamic State must be built on the basis of Islam, which is the main foundation of Tawhid. According to Maududi, power in the form of sovereignty is based primarily on God's sovereignty rather than the sovereignty of the people. The theo-democratic system is divided into three institutions: the legislature, executive, and judiciary.

Victorians and Numbers: Statistics and Society in Nineteenth-Century Britain, by Lawrence Goldman

This is a commanding book. Having maintained an interest in Victorian statistical thought for nearly forty years, Lawrence Goldman must have been tempted to produce an encyclopaedia. Instead, he has delivered a (relatively) compact, closely argued monograph. Specialist historians of statistics and social science will have plenty to say about it, but they are only a subset of the book’s intended audience. The arguments made by Goldman about the rise and fall of statistical modes of thinking hold general significance for our understanding of the Victorian mind, and the character of nineteenth-century liberalism. There is a vast existing scholarship on matters statistical in nineteenth-century Britain and Europe, as Goldman’s full-to-bursting footnotes underline. His book challenges it in several ways. Goldman’s methodology, in the first place, is ‘largely sociological and contextual rather than discursive’ (p. xxxv). He asks how and why specific individuals and groups sought to develop and deploy statistical modes of reasoning. The protagonists include Charles Babbage, William Farr, Ada Lovelace and—as part of a significant international cohort—the Belgian Adolphe Quetelet and the German Alexander von Humboldt. Beyond these headline names, and other figures of middle rank, Goldman also draws deeply on the well of scholarship on lesser-known statistically minded Victorians that he helped to dig as editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The point of adopting this approach is to reconnect internal developments in statistics with their wider environments. The result is a fresh, newly tangible picture of the social networks within which statistics came to appear the discipline of the future.

Challenging scalar fallacy in state‐wide welfare studies: AUKsub‐state comparison of civil society approaches to addressing youth unemployment

AbstractHere we make an original, empirical contribution to debates on welfare pluralism, the mixed economies of welfare and territorial rescaling by comparing civil society approaches to tackling youth unemployment in England, Scotland and Wales. Our core finding is that academic and policy literature's frequent characterisation of the UK as a single Liberal welfare regime is based on methodological nationalism privileging state‐wide analyses. In short, a scalar fallacy pervasive in international welfare studies. In the context of the global rise of meso‐government and so‐called ‘stateless nations’ pressing for greater autonomy, our case‐study challenges the dominant paradigm. Our analysis shows the liberal characteristics of work‐first policy orientation and marketised civil society are concentrated in England then tempered by devolved (social) policy. Based on contrasting, left‐of‐centre and civic nationalist governing traditions, grounded in multi‐level electoral politics, we show the devolved nations taking a different approach to Westminster, partially eschewing the market and incorporating collectivism and co‐production.

Adam Smith’s Cosmopolitan Liberalism: Taste, Political Economy, and Objectification

The cosmopolitan character of liberalism has been debated since its beginnings. The status of mercantilism, colonialism, and market relations is central to this debate. While most scholars agree that among eighteenth-century thinkers in the liberal tradition, Adam Smith is remarkably anti-colonial on both moral and economic grounds, they do not engage his theory of taste as part of his normative critique of the mercantilist and colonial projects and argument for free trade. Smith’s theory of taste, largely developed in Theory of Moral Sentiments and History of Astronomy, highlights the importance he placed on connecting with distant others despite the limitations of sympathy. I argue that for Smith, aesthetic judgment acts as an impetus to moral judgment because taste can overcome barriers to sympathy. However, taste has a dual-nature in Smith’s political economy. Bad taste widens the sympathetic gap. I show that the framework of taste in Smith’s moral theory applied to mercantilism and colonization demonstrates that substituting poor aesthetic judgment—love of order instead of true beauty—for sympathy objectifies distant others and prevents them from developing moral judgment through freely engaging in the market and sympathetic interaction.

Battered by Geopolitical Winds, Bulgaria Struggles to Restart Much Needed Reforms

Battered by Geopolitical Winds, Bulgaria Struggles to Restart Much Needed Reforms

On the Educational Significance and Value of Visual Arts

Abstract There can be little doubt, from the enduring contemporary popularity of art galleries and museums, that such visual arts as painting and sculpture are sources of perceptual and emotional satisfaction and pleasure to a large viewing public. Still, given the contemporary unfamiliarity of much of the subject matter of past art and the absence of any clearly comprehensible subject matter in much modern (abstract and other) art, it may be less clear what younger or older viewers might come to learn from their viewing of much or any educational value. This paper first offers an overview of the complex history of development of visual art from past to present in light of the shifting standards of artistic and aesthetic evaluation that have variously guided such development. However, it is argued that, while any educated appreciation of visual art cannot be had without some understanding of such history, it also requires a clear grasp of conceptual relations between the artistic and the aesthetic and of the significant interplay of diverse criteria of evaluation in any and all serious artworks past or present. Given this, visual arts may provide a unique route to educational understanding of the broadest liberal character.

USING VYGOTSKY’S THEORY ON THE ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTION OF A SCHOOL FILM CLUB - AN ACTION RESEARCH

<p>Lev Vygotsky's theory states that individuals' development is a result of socializing. Individuals are influenced by other individuals in the social environment. In this way, individuals’ internal cognitive functions are formed. At the same time, they create a social status and gradually build their personal appreciation for the world and the social reality around them. In this learning process, the active participation of a student himself/herself is necessary, while teachers’ role is also important. Teachers contribute to knowledge's acquisition of knowledge by students. They encourage their students, while knowing the students’ needs and abilities, and using the declining support method within a group of peers. In this study, action research was used as a form of self-reflective inquiry, known for its distinguished and liberating character. Teachers who participated studied and tried to understand their social or educational practices, to improve them. On the other hand, the critical friend and teachers’ facilitator contributed to this process of intertwining research with action and theory with practice. This study used action research and Vygotsky’s theory on the organization and function of a school film club. Using active learning strategies, elementary school students of the 5th & 6th grades, discussed, shared emotions and creatively wrote. Τhey developed their social, cultural and linguistic abilities. Also, relationships within the school community were developed. </p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0957/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Основные направления деятельности чешского правительства после парламентских выборов в октябре 2021 г.

The article examines the results of the parliamentary elections (to the Chamber of Deputies) in the Czech Republic. The elections were held on October 8–9, 2021. 20 political parties and movements and 2 coalitions took part in them. Voter turnout was over 60%, the third highest result in the history of Czech elections. The Czech government was formed by representatives of two coalitions, one of which consisted of three parties, and the second of two. These parties managed to conclude a coalition agreement. Based on the content analysis of the coalition agreement of the Czech government formed as a result of the elections, its Euro-Atlantic orientation is revealed. At the same time, the intention of the new government to pay special attention to social issues is shown. The multi-membership of the current Czech government is noted. A brief description of the political parties whose representatives formed the government is given. Liberal character is emphasized.

Wakefield's Offspring

Wakefield's Offspring

Списание „Промишленост“ (1887-1890 г.) в историята на българската икономическа мисъл

The paper reconstructs the views of the first professional Bulgarian post-liberation economists. The primary source of this information is the “Industry” journal, which was published in the Danube port-town of Svishtov over the period from 1887 to 1890 by several teachers at the local School of Commerce. The authors’ thesis is that the papers in the “Industry” journal carry the main characteristics of classical economic liberalism. However, the early history of economic thought in Bulgaria is characterized by some important nuances and specifics. Among them should be noted: a lack of original theoretical contributions, eclecticism, an orientation towards solving the specific problems of economic backwardness and limited knowledge of the theoretical innovations in economic thought around the world at the time.

How to Read James Fitzjames Stephen: Technocracy and Pluralism in a Misunderstood Victorian

This paper offers a new reading of the political thought of the mid-Victorian jurist and intellectual James Fitzjames Stephen. Contrary to impressions of Stephen as a conservative or religious authoritarian, this article recognizes the liberal character of Stephen’s thought, and it argues that investigating Stephen’s liberalism holds lessons for us today about the structure of liberal theory. Stephen, the paper demonstrates, articulated robustly both technocratic and pluralistic visions of politics. Perhaps more stridently than any Victorian, he put forward an argument for the necessity and legitimacy of expert rule against claims for popular government. Yet he also insisted on the plurality of perspectives on public affairs and on the ineluctable conflict between them. Because both of these facets existed in his work, he fit within the liberal ranks, but he did not show how the two dimensions fit together. The tension that we discover from reading Stephen is, the article concludes, not peculiar to him, but a permanent feature of liberal theories, which always include both technocratic and pluralistic elements.

Party positions over international human rights treaties in the United States in the Post-Cold War

This article aimed to verify the occurrence of convergence and congruence in the positions that the Democratic and Republican parties express about human rights treaties in the Electoral, in the Executive, and the Legislative arenas, in the Post-Cold War (1992-2016). The use of the comparative method guided the study of six specific cases, analyzed using qualitative techniques. The results point to two trends. The first is that the possibility of convergence between the Democratic and Republican parties tends to diminish when their positions on human rights treaties are anchored by ideological perspectives, and the second is that a party’s position on a treaty tends to be congruent among political arenas. Moreover, the divergence of positions between the parties clarifies the liberal internationalist character of the Democratic positions and the conservative isolationist approach of the Republican positions.

Complex transformation of divorce in Vietnam under the forces of modernization and individualism

AbstractAfter more than four decades since its reunification since 1975, Vietnam has achieved remarkable results in social and economic development. With the rapid speed of recent modernization, society has loosened numerous old values related to the family and promoted individual freedoms. Marriage and family affairs, including divorce, have modernized with liberal characteristics. The paper examines the trends of divorce and reasons for divorce using statistical data from the Vietnam People's Supreme Court and from the government's annual population statistics. The analysis compiled and analysed a database of every divorce case at six urban and rural districts in Can Tho province. The analysis highlights changes in the reasons for divorce in the South in comparison with previous divorce studies in the North of Vietnam, discussed in relation to modernization, individualism and gender equality. The analysis is supported by interview data with thirty male and female divorcees.

Metaphysics, Political Philosophy, and the Process of Liberal Political Justification

Metaphysics, Political Philosophy, and the Process of Liberal Political Justification* Daniel A. Dombrowski I The present article is an attempt to explicate two largely neglected ideas from a past president of the Metaphysical Society of America, Charles Hartshorne. The first is the thesis that, although political questions are much harder than metaphysical ones, due to entangling influences in the former, mistakes at the metaphysical level ensure that political disasters will follow. Hence, the most important function of metaphysics is to help us in any way possible to enlighten ourselves and to encourage us in our agonizing struggles in politics.1 The second is the claim that a political liberal is one who knows that he or she is not God.2 This explication will borrow widely from the thought of the greatest political liberal, John Rawls, and another great liberal thinker, Alfred North Whitehead. That is, my article can be termed an exercise in process liberalism in which I will be arguing for both the processual character of political liberalism and the politically liberal character of process metaphysics. How can people live together in a free yet peaceful manner in a condition of pervasive pluralism of religious, moral, and metaphysical comprehensive doctrines? It is precisely this question that will be the focus of the present article. I will start with two assumptions that deserve more attention than I am able to give them at present. The first is that the best available [End Page 345] method in both political philosophy and metaphysics (indeed, the only available method, according to Thomas Scanlon3) is that of reflective equilibrium or Aristotelian dialectic. We should be wary of the proof paradigm in these disciplines in that any attempt at deductive rigor or finality is always met with further questions and qualifications. As should be evident from Plato’s dialogues, attempts to move beyond dialectic are themselves to be located within a dialectical context. Or again, the results of other proposed philosophical methods (for example, the transcendental method) are nonetheless subject to the dialectical criticisms that other thinkers typically offer. Nonetheless, there are relatively fixed points such that to neglect or reject them is to put into disequilibrium everything else that we consider important. Reflective equilibrium is thus compatible with a sort of weak foundationalism, as in Lincoln’s claim often quoted by Rawls to the effect that slavery is wrong if anything is wrong. In this regard, it should be noted that the relative fixity provided by the principles agreed to in the Rawlsian original position is itself part of the overall dialectical process of reflective equilibrium in which agreement is sought between our ordinary unreflective political beliefs and some theoretical structure that might unify and justify these beliefs. Or again, in the method of reflective equilibrium we do not have to choose between moral particularists, who think that morality should be based on particular intuitions concerning which we are most certain (for example, that the killings at Auschwitz were immoral), and moral generalists, who think that what is most important is that we get clear on the general principles that justify political beliefs and behavior. Rather, we ought to be engaged in the process of finding the most appropriate fit between intuition and theory so as to do justice to both. At times we have to criticize theory, and at other times we have to alter or even abandon intuition. Three moments can be isolated in this method: identifying initial beliefs or intuitions about justice, trying to account for these from some objective point of view, and trying to reach equilibrium when the previous two moments diverge. The second assumption is that political liberalism is one of the greatest discoveries in the history of philosophy as a result of its ability [End Page 346] to solve, both theoretically and practically, the wars of religion in Europe in the early modern period. Preliberal political philosophy or political theology concentrated on two major tasks: (a) to figure out the characteristics of the good (the definite article is crucial here), and (b) to figure out how to get those who understood the good into power and to make sure that they were succeeded by...

Volviendo de la diáspora: liberando un nuevo homo juridicus desde el derecho a la comunicación

En el presente documento se discute sobre la necesidad de crear un nuevo homo juridicus con carácter emancipatorio y liberador a partir de la fundamentación de un derecho humano a la comunicación que sitúe sus bases filosóficas y de reflexión desde el lugar de las mayorías oprimidas y empobrecidas en el mundo, considerando que aquel es el espacio privilegiado que da verdad para tales fines. Para ello, utilizando lo que nos ofrece el paradigma cualitativo de la investigación, se realiza un ejercicio de pesquisa inscrito en el alcance descriptivo que se reduce a un trabajo de revisión documental y se hace desde un enfoque histórico hermenéutico. Finalmente, se trata de confrontar la hegemonización del discurso, con consecuencias en la identidad, producido por el contexto de neoliberalismo actual, reconociendo que las identidades se dan en contextos determinados, contradictorios, situados y de manera relacional en un marco estructural que las posibilita y disputa de manera constante. En ese orden de ideas, se recurre al concepto del “lugar que da verdad” propuesto por Ignacio Ellacuría en su lucha por la justica y se opta por una concepción materialista de la cultura.

Kalitenin Standardını Belirlemek: Türk Üniversite Sıralama Sistemlerinin Berlin Prensiplerine Göre İncelenmesi

The increasing competitive environment arising from the commercialization and internationalization of higher education (HE) and the increasing influence of the liberal character of educational policies have led to the emergence of HE ranking systems which have become an inevitable part of HE with the effect they have created. The lack of unambiguous methodological processes is one of the oft-cited critical problems in the HE ranking system literature. These systems vary due to the particular methods they adopt in creating their ranking results. This variation requires a set of principles on how best to perform these rankings. The principles established under Berlin Principles in 2006 aimed to address this need. This study aims to determine to what extent Turkish ranking systems comply with the basic tenets determined in the Berlin Principles. The study was designed as a methodological assessment study and the data were obtained from the websites and printed and electronic publications related to Turkish ranking systems. The data obtained were scored according to an evaluation form consisting of the tenets set out in the Berlin Principles. The findings show that the majority of the Turkish university ranking systems were not designed to be fully compliant with the Berlin Principles and instead they evaluate HE institutions by their research approach and quality definitions.

Review: Black Rights / White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism, by Charles W. Mills

Review: Black Rights / White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism, by Charles W. Mills