Contemporary Global World Research Articles

Re-examining the Relevance of Michael Porter’s ‘Five Forces Framework’: Business Strategy and Competitiveness in the Contemporary Globalised World

Re-examining the Relevance of Michael Porter’s ‘Five Forces Framework’: Business Strategy and Competitiveness in the Contemporary Globalised World

Diaspora and Diasporisation: Slovene National Identity in the Contemporary Globalised World

Abstract After a brief presentation of the history of the concept of diaspora and its derivatives, and a critical review of the relevant literature, the article explores the phenomenon of diasporic Sloveneness, with a particular focus on the contemporary Slovenian diaspora. The concept encompasses, but is not limited to, Slovenes and members of Slovene national communities (with an emphasis on Carinthian and Trieste Slovenes) who have dispersed around the world since Slovenia’s independence in 1991. The author concludes that the contemporary Slovene diaspora consists mainly of young, highly educated people who are actively striving to establish themselves in the global world. Even though they have emigrated from their country of origin, they remain - especially through modern communication technologies - connected to it. The article provides an insight into the complex and multifaceted process of diasporic grouping and long-distance nationalism, which also includes processes of transculturation and sheds light on Slovene national identity in the contemporary globalised world.

Knowledge Society and Information Technologies in the 21st Century

The prosperity that gives greater credit to society, in terms of quality of life, is that which is based on knowledge. Information technologies (IT), particularly those applied in the field of education, play a crucial role in shaping innovative, creative and competitive actors in the contemporary global world. ‘The utilization of information and data, as well as the knowledge, skills, and talents present within communities, as well as their views, commitments, and motives for making wise judgments, are among the fundamental components of knowledge management’ (Stevenson-Perez, 2009, U.S. Patent Application No. 11/904,120). It has been argued by several eminent social scientists on this subject that organizational knowledge ought to be viewed as a strategic advantage. To solve issues and take advantage of opportunities, communities are being pushed to create effective and efficient means of assembling, identifying, capturing and distributing their collective knowledge and expertise. This understanding of the significance of doing so is developing. People all around the world are interested in putting knowledge management practices and technology into practice, and many of them have made knowledge management an essential component of their overall growth plans. Management of knowledge is becoming more and more crucial to the growth of the world economy. Organizations should not neglect knowledge management and developing technologies if they want to stay relevant in the current world.

Value factor of the countries uneven development

The authors consider reasons for the countries uneven development, provide sociological foundations for the study of this phenomenon, examine countries’ sociodynamics, reconstruct a map of countries development in the contemporary global world, and explore the trajectory of Belarus. The authors argue that the vector of sociodynamics is not predetermined, it depends on internal factors, and culture plays a key programming role. Value choice is an important factor determining the pace and direction of the contemporary society evolution. The article is based on the available data of international projects - European Values Study (EVS) and World Values Study (WVS). The period covered by these studies is forty years - from 1981 to 2021, and in Belarus surveys have been conducted since 1990. Authors’ generalizations are based on the Inglehart-Welzel model, and they confirm the hypothesis that the dynamics of value orientations in the Belarusian society follows the trajectory of changes that took place in Western Europe and North America in previous decades. The authors argue that social-demographic groups of the Belarusian society can be placed at different stages of the values transformation, i.e., urban and more educated population of Belarus (mainly the younger and middle-aged groups) are close to contemporary Czech Republic and Slovakia and slightly differ from Austria and Germany in terms of the value orientations.

Savremeni izazovi i pretnje za međunarodnu i nacionalnu bezbednost društveno-ekonomskog razvoja evroazijskih država

The uncontrolled, destructive development of civilization has sharply sharpened contemporary global world contradictions, primarily interstate and intrastate relations, society's attitude toward the environment, the violation of the sovereignty of independent states under the pretext of "peacemaking and world security," etc. Experts are alarmed by a growing number of various challenges and threats (geopolitical, food, demographic, climatic, ecological, raw material, energy, etc.) and natural and technogenic emergency situations, the constant improvement of scenarios and methods of terrorist activity, unforeseeable political, socio-economic, ecological and other consequences that hinder the organization and execution of rescue and humanitarian operations, and the sustainable development of countries. Among the possible means of terrorist activity, terrorist acts using "dirty bombs" and biological agents are regarded as the most dangerous due to their medical, biological and socio-psychological consequences.

Food security in a food self-sufficient economy: A review of China's ongoing transition to a zero hunger state

In a contemporary globalised world, assuring food security in the conditions of developing a food self-sufficient economic structure represents not only a challenge in terms of the changing agricultural paradigm, but also an important instrument in assuring, in a long-term manner, societal resilience. However, while achieving self-sufficiency in food, China still faces challenges in terms of establishing sustainable food security and transitioning to a zero hunger state. Rapid economic growth and urbanisation have resulted in shifting food consumption patterns from crops towards more nutritious meat and dairy products and higher-qualitative imported foods. In this study, the current state of food security and production and trade in food and agricultural products in China during 2000–2020 have been analysed and an overview of the strategic directions of the domestic sustainable development, food security, and zero hunger policies are highlighted. The main aim of the study is dedicated to identifying the critical shortcomings and gaps in combating hunger and food insecurity in China and proposing policy recommendations regarding improving the stability of the food supply in the country and deigning new possible strategies to achieve it. The results highlight the major trends and shifts of the food security paradigm in the process of developing a food self-sufficient economy.

Introduction: The Olympic Scholarship of John J. MacAloon

Introduction: The Olympic Scholarship of John J. MacAloon

The Commonwealth of Nations: Interrogating Its Present Relevance and Exploring Its Strength for The Future in The Contemporary Globalised World

The Commonwealth of Nations: Interrogating Its Present Relevance and Exploring Its Strength for The Future in The Contemporary Globalised World

The role of language attitudes and ideologies in minority language learning motivation

AbstractThe present article examines the importance of language attitudes and ideologies for studying motivation to learn minority languages by adults. In the contemporary globalised world, proficiency not only in English, but also in other languages, is necessary in order to communicate internationally and find employment. These may be other ‘major’ state languages, such as French or Spanish. However, in many linguistically diverse or multilingual regions, the local languages are important for increasing one’s own social and cultural capital, social cohesion and occasionally also for their economic values. Hence, it is important to study what motivates people to learn minority and minoritised languages. The L2 Motivational Self System has been developed and used for explaining the motivation to learn English in homogenous educational settings. However, this is only one context in which languages are learned. Drawing on qualitative data obtained among Polish post-2004 adult migrants in Wales, this article discusses the relevance of Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System and integrativeness (Gardner & Lambert 1972) in learning minority languages and the role of more subtle, social aspects of (minority) language learning such as language ideologies. It is proposed that integrativeness and language ideologies are vital in the motivation to learn minority languages.

Netflix and National Literature: Focusing on Anne with an E (2017-19)

Lucy M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables (1908) has been continuously adapted to films and TV series, often with great success. The most recent example is the critically acclaimed CBC/Netflix’s Anne with an E (2017-19). The show’s creator Moira Walley-Beckett, also famous for her writing of the “Ozymandias” episode of AMC’s Breaking Bad (2008-13), made some major changes to the original book. In doing so, Walley-Beckett not only renewed the quintessential Canadian icon for the twenty first century TV audience more attuned to the dark anti-heroes in contemporary TV shows, but also re-created an ideal Canadian image and nationality. As Elizabeth A. Galway points out, children’s literature in Canada was nationalistc from its beginning as “a means of promoting and constructing specific ideologies of national identity” (5). In the fields of cultural politics and literary nationalism, Anne with an E actively engages with the nation’s history and imagination so as to project a vision of Canada often with more liberal ideas and values. However, despite the show’s popularity in Canada, Netflix canceled it after its three seasons in 2019. Many fans, including CBC’s CEO Cathereine Tait, criticized Netflix for cultural imperialism, and ran revival campaigns for Anne with an E. The show’s cancellation also raised questions and controversies over the power and influence of Netflix, or such transnational media platforms in a nation state. After examining the way Anne with an E recreates Montgomery’s Canadian classic, this paper explores its critical resonance in the contemporary global media world, epitomized by Netflix.

Globalization Posing Challenges to Examine the Relevance of Postcolonial Criticism in Future

It has become very difficult today to assume that we are living in a world which is postcolonial just in the sense that the curse of colonialism is over. The questions of how one nation is dominating the other and how such dominating forces can be resisted have become the salient issues of the anti-colonial movements worldwide. The postcolonial studies are focusing on the contemporary neocolonial tendencies especially after when America has invaded Afghanistan and has also attacked Iraq for building a New American Empire. Globalization seems to have changed the world so radically that it has become meaningless if we try to perceive the world either from the perspectives of how the European colonizers wanted it to be or as totally decolonized from any exploitative networks. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri in their seminal work, Empire (2000) have argued that they have used the term ‘Empire’ to refer to the emergence of a new sovereign power in the world politics which is predominating over all the other nations in contemporary times. According to them, one can understand this present-day power structure best by comparing it with how the European powers had maintained their sovereignty and empires during the colonial period. Simon Gikandi has accurately observed that, what is very new in globalization is that it has appropriated certain identical postcolonial terms like ‘hybridity’ and concepts like the ‘other’. All these different postcolonial terms and concepts had always been ignored by the former social scientists. This paper will be exploring why it is irrelevant to assume that this new postcolonial globalized culture, as it is reflected in some postcolonial literary images and narratives, does not seem to have any functional impact in changing the socio-cultural relationships of the people of this contemporary global world. This paper will also focus on why in the contemporary globalization the native is found to be contaminated by the west and therefore dangerously ‘un-otherable’ and no longer available as the pure. This paper will also address as to how globalization apart from carrying the overwhelming connotations of cosmopolitanism and evaporating the geo-political centres and margins, is intensifying the pre-existing global asymmetries and pre-empting the postcolonial critics from analyzing the operative networks of the contemporary neoimperial forces.

Między tożsamością etniczną a marką globalną. Antropologiczna analiza klubu FC Barcelona jako katalońskiej marki etnicznej

Between Ethnic Identity and Global Brand: An Anthropological Analysis of FC Barcelona as a Catalan Ethnic BrandThe article describes a very interesting phenomenon: connections between identity, ethnicity, sport (especially football) and marketing – being used to create an ethnic brand in the contemporary global world. The author examines the example of the “nation without a state”, Catalans, and their famous football club, FC Barcelona, to indicate how they use their ethnic and cultural heritage to make an interesting market “product”, binding local features with global openness. Contemporary reality seems to put ethnic identity in danger. However, the case of Catalans and FC Barcelona shows that it is possible to link identity and culture with global market’s needs.

Logo as a Tool of European Union Countries’ Destination Branding

Developing a coherent and comprehensive brand of a country is of vital importance for a destination in the contemporary global world. There seems to be a recognizable gap in the literature regarding the application of visual signs practiced in country branding. The subject of the study: The research identifies the logos of the European Union countries used in place branding. The purpose of the study is the exploration of the logo content from the senders’ perspective, i.e., the structures and organizations responsible for the country branding. There are many reasons why logos are used in place branding practice. The authors decided to focus on the logo as a form of controlled and projected message communicated via media and ICT. Cognitive gap: The research conducted so far has focused on the reception of logos by the recipients. The presented research attempts to examine the visual message contained in logos from the senders’ perspective. Research methods and data collection techniques: The content analysis method was used to study the visual identity of the countries. The authors collected logos and scrutinised them using Beyrow and Vogt as well as Mollerup’s taxonomy. The results of the study illustrate how governmental institutions, which are responsible for country branding, portray countries using visual identity on the Internet, social media, and their own media.

International economic and social determinants of the state economic security: A causal analysis

The priority task for ensuring the economic security of a country, which is especially noticeable in the rapidly changing conditions of the contemporary global world, is to forecast challenges and threats. Economic security is one of the necessary conditions for state development, which provides guidelines for making major social and economic decisions. There are a few studies on the determinants of the economic security and no data about security determinants that are required to monitor it. The study aims to identify possible links between leading determinants of the economic security. For this purpose, on the example of Ukraine, causal links between the formation of real GDP (as the leading determinant that characterizes the economic security of the state), 11 determinants that indicate the level of international economic development, and 6 determinants of social development for the period 2014–2020 were determined. With a 5% level significance, the impact on the volume of real GDP of 14 determinants of state economic security was noted and specific time lags were defined. Besides, the bilateral causal effect and lack of causal connection between individual determinants were mentioned. Findings are helpful for effective public administration. In addition, active measures are needed to combat corruption, shadow and criminal economy, and state protection of domestic producers operating in the military, food, information, and energy security sectors. AcknowledgmentAlina Bukhtiarova gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (0120U100473).

“I Lived without Seeing These Art Works”: (Albanian) Socialist Realism and/against Contemporary Art

Abstract This article looks closely at the inclusion of Albanian Socialist Realism in one of renowned Swiss curator Harald Szeemann's last exhibitions, Blood & Honey: The Future's in the Balkans (Essl Museum, Vienna, 2003). In this exhibition, Szeemann installed a group of around 40 busts created during the socialist era in Albania, which he had seen installed at the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana. This installation of sculptures was part of an exhibition entitled Homo Socialisticus, curated by Gëzim Qëndro, and Szeemann deployed it as a generalized foil for “subversive” postsocialist contemporary art included in Blood & Honey. The Homo Socialisticus sculptures occupied a prominent place in the exhibition both spatially and rhetorically, and this article examines how we might read Blood & Honey—and the socialist past in general—through Szeemann's problematic incorporation of this collection of works in one of the key Balkans-oriented exhibitions staged in the early 2000s. The article argues that understanding how Szeemann misread—and discursively oversimplified—Albanian Socialist Realism can help us see not only the continued provincialization of Albania in the contemporary global art world, but more importantly the fundamental misunderstanding of Socialist Realism as a historical phenomenon and a precursor to contemporary geopolitical cultural configurations

“Is Granny Going Back into the Computer?”: Visits and the Familial Politics of Seeing and Being Seen in South African Transnational Families

ABSTRACT Migration is an increasingly common feature of life globally. This article discusses visits in South African transnational families of diverse origins, exploring the importance and meaning of physical co-presence by examining the role of visits in delivering mutual ‘visibility’ – the ability to see and be seen – when family members meet in person. The data come from a qualitative project exploring South African transnational family relationships, and particularly, differences between the experiences of those who migrate and of those left behind. ‘Outward’, ‘return’ and ‘reunion’ visits are considered. One element visits had in common was excitement linked to the planning of the visit and actual visit, but there was also some ambivalence and underlying sadness, because visits provide only a temporary experience of physical co-presence. The multiple meanings attached to visits have implications for how family and care relationships are understood in the contemporary globalised world. Future research should consider the complexities of relationships and care through the transnational family lifecycle.

The city‐island‐state, wounding cascade, and multi‐level vulnerability explored through the lens of Malta

In this paper, we introduce the concept of “city‐island‐state” into a discussion of small highly urbanised islands. We place the “city” at the forefront of our analysis by bringing together the geographies of the “city” and “state,” together with a wider discussion of factors that may cause both the wounding of the city and an increase in the precariousness of the “island.” We apply this concept to the advanced city‐island‐state of Malta (Central Mediterranean), which is a densely populated, urbanised small island archipelago with about 500,000 inhabitants and operates as a single city with an urban core, suburbs, and a rural hinterland that is rapidly decreasing in size. This city‐island‐state is frequently considered as being “safe” from external geophysical, climatic, and anthropogenic wounding, but, in reality, Malta, as a city, an island, and an independent nation‐state, is faced with multiple internal and external pressures that increase its precariousness and vulnerability to such externalities. Some of these are socio‐economic, but others are environmental. We argue that the potential for wounding is particularly marked in Malta, that it is exacerbated by the contemporary globalised neoliberal world of flows and interconnectivities, and that this represents a multi‐level wounding cascade: wounding the city wounds the island and, by extension, the state.

Cultural competence in modern global world: Applications for mental health

IntroductionCultural competence and related terms began to appear in the 1960s in the context of the development of civil rights movements in many countries. The importance of research of cultural competence among mental health professionals is raised with the globalization trends of the modern world, when the growth of ethno-cultural diversity, internal and external migration, temporary movement of people lead to intensification of intercultural interaction.ObjectivesThe current study aims to reveal contemporary tendencies in cultural competence understanding and development.MethodsTheoretical analysis and systematization of research publications in order to clarify concepts, models and applications of cultural competence.ResultsThe following tendencies were revealed. Cultural competence continues to attract significant attention of researchers and practitioners, especially among the mental health specialists (psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists) who work with representatives of different cultures. A number of similar concepts and their components have been proposed: cultural competence, intercultural communicative competence, cross-cultural competence, cultural intelligence, cultural awareness, cultural acceptance, intercultural sensitivity, intercultural adaptation, multicultural competence, multicultural orientation. The difficulties and limitations of existing models noted: a shift of attention to a specialist, but not to a client; borrowing static and absolutistic ideas about cultures, without consideration of cultures development and interaction.ConclusionsThere is a trend in contemporary global world for broad research and development of cultural competence that improve professional qualities of healthcare professionals and provide psychological assistance to representatives of different ethnic and culture groups, confessions and minorities. The reported study was funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project number 17-29-02506.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Поэт как субъект языка: онтологические основания знаков и трендовые значения социума

The article reveals the problem of the ontological meaning of the life and functioning of the poet in its relationship with the communicative practices of contemporary global world. As a result of comparing the two ways of thought (globalism — antiglobalism, traditionalism — neoliberalism, modern — postmodern), the authors come to a preliminary conclusion that it is unacceptable for the creative industries of branding and PR to displace ontological adequations of poetic values as a part of classic art. The article clearly differentiates the concept of symbolic identity and the category of existential selfhood of a poet - poet as a PR hero and poet as a subject of language as a house of being. We make a hypothesis about a possibility of rational reconciliation of the priorities of the academic tradition as an inalienable context of the aesthetic value of art-work and postmodern digital technologies of art-promotion (including network platforms in the aspect of exclusively their correlation as the aim and maens: the ontology is primary strategy and the representation is secondary tactics. The methodological tool for the substantiating of this hypothesis is the idea of a structural balance between the vertical centripetal dynamic axis of the paradigm (metaphor) and the horizontal centrifugal static axis of the syntagma (metonymy) in classical semiotics. Within the frames of the signifier and signified as the Selfness and the Other, dynamics and statics, history and structure, imagine ideal meanings pass into a real-symbolic language, focusing in the inner world of the poet, turning personal creativity into the property of cultural memory. Thus, the hypothesis is confirmed through a synthesis of classical semiotics and non-classical psychoanalysis. If we liken the semiotic axes of intersection of vertical and horizontal to the R. Descartes coordinate system, the point of intersection of horizontal and vertical turns out to be a poet who translates personal metaphors into cultural-semantic invariants, replenishing the civilizational memory of culture, confirming his existential value, which is different from his or her purely communicative image. From a philosophical point of view, the article analyzes the concept of a poet's status as his/her existential state in comparison with criticism of symbolic capital (prestige, reputation, brand).

Processes of Cultural Memory in Contemporary Lithuanian Culture

The article explains what cultural memory is and what processes of cultural memory are most noticeable in today’s Lithuanian culture. The works by Aleida Assmann and Jan Assmann, which continue research on memory started by Maurice Halbwachs and Pierre Nore and supplement them with new insights into the contemporary global world of today, were chosen for the theoretical basis. The concept of cultural memory, which is defined as texts, images, and rituals, is particularly important. This theoretical basis underlies the study of works by Lithuanian authors. It has been noticed that modern Lithuanian culture is moving from local to global memory, contemporary artists aim at creating for an international audience, and new ways of expression are being sought. On the other hand, frequent succumbing to the commercialisation of art is observed. Thus, culture is at its turning point and is shifting from one cultural environment to another. While confusion is particularly evident in the creation of political memory, cultural memory is much more open to today’s challenges. It is in a living relationship with its history that still raises questions about the Holocaust, resistance, and exile, and this relationship maintains its significance.