Current Politicians Research Articles

Precedent name: from the source spheres “literature” and “cinema” in the target sphere “political discourse” (based on the material of the Spanish-language media)

The article is devoted to the consideration of the metaphorical use of precedent names from the source spheres “literature” and “cinema” in the political discourse of modern Spanish-language mass media. The names of heroes of ancient mythology, works of classical Spanish and foreign literature, including children’s literature, as well as movie characters, carriers of certain qualities and properties, are widely used as precedents. As a result of the study, the grounds for metaphorical transfer from the named source spheres to the target sphere are established. The function of precedent names is also revealed not only as actualizers of the precedent situation, but also as a means of characterization of political opponents in the sphere of political discourse in the context of the struggle of political forces for the possession, preservation and disposal of power. The modern political discourse of the Spanish-language media as an arena of political confrontation is characterized by intolerance, agonality, the “language of hostility” marking opponents as “alien” in the “friend”– “alien” binary opposition with the predominance of discrediting characterization of political opponents aimed at debunking claims to leadership of a politician, demonstrating his incompetence and hanging labels. In the context of the language game, precedent names are used as a metaphorical definition of the names of current politicians. For characterization, precedent names are taken with both negative and positive connotations, but imparting a negative connotation to the object of characterization due to the emerging phenomenon of enantiosemia when using them as a metaphorical definition of proper names. Thanks to the atmosphere of the language game created in journalistic texts by means of well-known precedent names from works of mass culture, through the game connection of the name of a politician with the precedent name of a characteristic hero, such texts acquire the property of information and entertainment journalism, they implement the pragmatic function of precedent names aimed at manipulating the addressee, at encouraging him to act for the purposes of one political actor or another, and a sign of political technologies is revealed with full evidence of the author’s intentions.

The Meaning of Silence and its Functions in Politics

This study deals with one of the essential topics in English linguistics and politics silence, which plays a significant role in politics given the numerous functions it serves. Particularly, it examines and analyses the meaning and function of silence of some well-known current politicians, namely former US presidents, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. The rationale behind this choice stems from that these political figures tend to have silent pauses for particular purposes such as disagreement, and insulting. Drawing on Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's "Spiral of Silence" paradigm and van Dijk's Critical Discourse Analysis, this study also seeks to answer the following main question: what types of silence can be deduced from former US presidents and how can we explain silence from this and other perspectives. It also reviews the interpretation of silence in different contexts and discusses the functions and types of this concept. Results this study has obtained from analysing the data show that silence can showcase a range of categories of communicative functions. This study presents evidence for a number of functions that can be conveyed by the use of silence in speech in political discourse. These include face-saving, affecting, evaluating and linking. Results also suggest that since speakers (politicians) do not identify specific victims by name, they may want to achieve victim equity. This is due to the possibility that bringing up a certain name could bring up issues related to race, religion, politics, etc. Additionally, a speaker could appear depressed while attempting to avoid mentioning the name of a certain family member. As a result, that family’s sorrow can deepen.

Public politicians electoral potential in social media

The object of the study are representatives of Russian political elite and their electorate in social networks. The aim of the study is to assess the impact on the electoral potential of politicians of their online communications with their audiences. The main quantitative indicators of the presence and activity of the Russian public politicians on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube, successful interaction forms between government representatives and the society, indexes of popularity, activity, audience loyalty, as well as visual features of the accounts’ content were analysed. Feedback in the accounts of current politicians was assessed, including containing critical discourse. According to the results of the study, the author concluded that the creation of a full-fledged feedback channel with a potential electorate positively affects the image of a public politician, allows reducing the feedback amount with negative comments, is a successful interaction form between a politician and the electorate and increases his electoral potential. However, the Russian politicians are not sufficiently prepared to establish communication with the potential electorate via social media.

Мнение экс-канцлеров Германии о Крымском кризисе и санкциях против России

2014 brought about significant changes in bilateral relations between Russia and Germany. The actions of the Russian Federation on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula caused a violent reaction on the world stage. The European Union, and, in particular, Germany came out with sharp criticism, and also decided to gradually impose sanctions against Russia. In this article, the author examines the reaction of the former German chancellors - Helmut Schmidt, Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schroeder to the position and actions of Angela Merkel in relation to the Russian Federation after the annexation of Crimea, as well as statements by current politicians regarding the positions of the ex-chancellors. The author concludes that all former German chancellors criticize the actions of Germany and the European Union, emphasizing the senselessness of the sanctions and pointing out that European countries do not pay enough attention to the current situation.

Mental Representations of Political Discourse in an Authoritarian Society

After the Second World War Albania was left under the Eastern Bloc. In 1967 Enver Hoxha, the leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985, decided to implement the Chinese Cultural Revolutionary model. This article analyzes his speech, on February 6, 1967, before his comrades, who were supposed to be his eyes, ears, and mouth. It was in this way that his face, his thoughts and his words became ubiquitous throughout the country. In a highly authoritarian society political discourse has a direct and pervasive impact on peoples’ lives and all aspects of the society. This article is organized by analytical themes based on aspects of discourse analysis, but we have also applied the cognitive approach and imagology as auxiliary theories in order to achieve a better understanding of mental representations, especially the ones used to reinforce stereotypes about rural people. Given that these mental representations are still fostered by current politicians in order to establish power, we note how important it still is to analyze them. Considering that political discourse is a product of individual and collective mental processes it is important to show, especially to younger generations, where these mental schemas come from.

Інституційні перешкоди для інвестиційно-інноваційного розвитку фірми в кланово-олігархічній економічній системі

The purpose of the article, taking into account mainly the normative nature of most domestic studies of the problems of investment-innovation development of the national economy, as well as the latest foreign studies of the firm theory, and based on the institutional methodology, is to carry out a positive analysis of this problem, which, on the one hand, will bring the theoretical analysis of innovative processes in the Ukrainian economy closer to modern realities, and on the other hand, will be aimed at developing more adequate ways to solve existing problems. As result of the study, it is concluded that systemic institutional obstacles to the innovative development of the Ukrainian economy are present. During the years of independence, a powerful system of informal institutions of influence on all aspects of public life was formed in the country. In fact, the lion’s share of property and power is concentrated in the hands of a small number of the most influential families of both former and current politicians, placed in key positions of law enforcement officials and the judiciary in close contact with criminal circles. The real motivation of the activities of oligarchic circles fits into the feudal-mafia mental model of thinking, making and implementing managerial decisions. Promising directions of further research on this issue are the search for conditions and factors for dismantling the clan-oligarchic system, including the following components: demonopolization of political life and balanced political representation of the main social strata; real support on the part of the State for small and medium-sized businesses on the basis of maximum deregulation; priority development of health care, education and science on the basis of at least 10 years of allocation of 5% of GDP for these needs; proper reform of the law enforcement and judicial systems

Political leaders and young people: interaction in social networks

In modern Russian society, there is a deep gap between political activity and active political communication with young people, bringing information to this target audience. Political leaders are the force that is able to convey to people values and guidelines, the meaning of life, to show the way to the future, to lead for the implementation of the necessary changes in the social, political, and economic life of society. However, the established methods of communication are not effective, as a generation has grown up with different social ideas about political leaders and other communication needs. This article is devoted to the study of the interaction of political leaders with young people through the mass media at the current stage of development of Russian society. The paper considers the theoretical foundations of the research of the youth audience. As a result of a comprehensive study, the author revealed the awareness of young people about current politicians. The article takes as a basis the names of politicians from the top 100 most influential politicians in Russia, according to the Agency for Political and Economic Communications. The first part of the research is devoted to the study of the value orientations of modern youth. The paper reveals the problems in communication between modern politicians and young people, investigates the information channels used by young people to receive current political news. The most important source of political information for the youth audience is the Internet and social networks. This is due to the increasing role of social networks in the global communication processes in general, as well as the involvement of the youth audience in the media consumption of social network content. Young people see the greatest communication problems in the status and financial gap between current politicians and youth groups, as well as the difference in value orientations and the age barrier. For a comparative analysis of the data, the sample was divided according to the criteria of age (respondents were divided into three age groups) and gender.

New world order and India, S policy toward protection of human rights in Afghanistan

The traditional attitude of India's social reformer, political leader, current politicians, diplomatic and policy makers are having the habits of cooperating to international order, if it seems fair and applicable to world justices. India have been participating in so many world affairs with material assistances as part and parcel of human rights protector than any other country in the contemporary history with the permission of powerful countries. Very notably, since dawn of 2001 as focus light of south Asia peace as well as Afghanistan peace even after death of Taliban rule in Kabul. India interest sprang at high level to strengthen Afghanistan political institutions with goal to protect human rights. Since soviet invasion in 1979 to 1989, there were sporadic chaos, commotion and bomb blast due to supper power politics, rivalry and regional countries politics. This had created so many economic damages, unrest and human rights lost. After end of Russia invasion Taliban ruled Kabul again about ten years with so many human rights violations as unanswerably as unaccountably. Therefore, as big power of south Asia India could not have prevented and involved in Afghanistan for protection human rights against Talban rule unless U.S bring new anti-terrorism law as a new world order. So, after initiated new world order by U.S as to destroy terrorist has been as most useful to India in number of ways such as, rapprochement with Muslim people protecting human rights gaining good name from the Afghanistan people andfortifying India's growing power beyond the South Asia.

Cultural Autonomy in Hungary: Inward or Outward Looking?

AbstractSince the late 1980s, the interpretations of policy toward Hungary’s minorities—most notably the country’s 1993 minority law and the minority self-governments established as part of a system of nonterritorial autonomy (NTA)—have been the subject of debates in politics and academia in at least two critical respects. Aside from the declarative character of the law, foremost has been the question of Hungary’s kin-state activism toward Hungarians abroad and the implications this has carried for domestic minority issues. A second—and related—question has concerned the extent to which cultural autonomy and minority rights are in accordance with the needs of the Roma, by far the country’s largest ethnic minority group. A growing number of scholars have accepted the argument that the minority law was enacted because of concerns regarding Hungarian minorities living in the neighboring countries. In our view, it is more appropriate to ask instead how Hungary’s kin-state policies have influenced the opportunities for domestic groups, and, in particular, how Hungary fits into the broader context of post-Communist state- and nation-building projects. This is the approach we take in this article, which aims to unpack and reconcile the complex and seemingly contradictory findings on the Hungarian case. Our conclusions are drawn from a content analysis of parliamentary debates on the minority law—something that has never previously been undertaken. This is supplemented by semi-structured interviews with former and current politicians and minority activists.

Printed political advertising: methods and forms of socio-communicative influence on the electorate

The purpose of the article is to investigate the diversity of printed political advertising during the 2020 local elections to determine the methods and forms of its socio-communicative impact on the electorate. The source base – printed campaign materials distributed in the Sumy region. The relevance of the chosen theme determines the study of dialogue between candidates, current politicians and voters. Іn the process of research, іt was identified the diversity of printed political advertising during the election campaign, it was found that political advertisements in leaflets, booklets, newsletters, brochures was dominated in this period. The peculiarity of print political advertising is that political parties and their leaders tried to use it to form the communication desired by the political candidates themselves, thus influencing the consciousness, opinion and choice of the electorate.

Network content as a factor of information aggression

The purpose of the article is to investigate the diversity of printed political advertising during the 2020 local elections to determine the methods and forms of its socio-communicative impact on the electorate. The source base – printed campaign materials distributed in the Sumy region. The relevance of the chosen theme determines the study of dialogue between candidates, current politicians and voters. Іn the process of research, іt was identified the diversity of printed political advertising during the election campaign, it was found that political advertisements in leaflets, booklets, newsletters, brochures was dominated in this period. The peculiarity of print political advertising is that political parties and their leaders tried to use it to form the communication desired by the political candidates themselves, thus influencing the consciousness, opinion and choice of the electorate.

The Underappreciated Loss of Political Office

The experience of politicians leaving elected office is under-researched. This paper examines the experience of leaving political office drawing on empirical research in the United Kingdom with 30 elected politicians, including 20 who had left office, either having been defeated in election or having chosen not to stand for election, and where possible their partners. The sample also included 10 interviews with current politicians about their expectations of transition from elected office. The paper considers the findings from a psychological and a sociological perspective and suggests features that predict a problematic adjustment to the loss of political office.

Dzieci – ideologia – indoktrynacja. Czasopismo „Płomyczek” w okresie II Rzeczypospolitej, PRL i III RP

The main purpose of this article is to answer the following questions: did the current sociopolitical situation determine the contents of kid’s Płomyczek magazine and if so, how. These questions suggest a hidden agenda of the periodical as a tool of indoctrination. The study was conducted on issues ofPłomyczek from the period of the Second Polish Republic, the Polish People’s Republic and the Third Polish Republic. The research shows similarities between the ideology in the said period and the content of Płomyczek, however indoctrination took place only during the Second Polish Republic and the Polish People’s Republic. Issues from the Third Polish Republic, unlike the earlier ones, criticized current politicians and stimulated reflective thinking.

Przywództwo w Unii Europejskiej

The current financial crisis has significantly highlighted the issue of leadership in the European Union. The topic is both timely and worthy of analysis. The author tries to outline the theoretical approach to political leadership with regard to the current political scene in the European Union. A politician has to meet four criteria to be deemed a leader: his decisions are strategic, they exert permanent influence, he has a sufficient political background, and he has the highest position in a given political composition. The author makes the following hypothesis: on the basis of factor analysis (as regards the four factors above) only two current politicians are the true leaders of the EU, namely the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, and the President of France, Francois Hollande. Both politicians meet the four attributes presented gabove to at least the minimum degree, thus becoming (international) EU leaders. The paper also discusses the issue of distinguishing between an (international) statesman and (international) leader.

Exiting the political stage: exploring the impact on representative democracy

Political exit is relatively under-researched. This paper examines the experiences of politicians leaving political office through different routes, the impact on individual politicians, their partners and family, and crucially examines the implications for representative democracy. The paper explores the experience of the transition from political office drawing on empirical research in which 41 interviews were conducted with politicians who had left office, either having been defeated or having chosen not to stand again, their partners, and with current politicians about their thinking on their own future exit from office. This paper then focuses on the wider implications of political exit. It argues that the conditions into which politicians are elected and the smoothness or otherwise with which they can leave office have wider implications for representative democracy. It argues that for a healthy, sustainable democracy, the route into and out of political office should be less problematic.

The Analysis of Theresa May and Justin Trudeau's Twitter Accounts Media Constituent

The following research aims to analyze the media constituent of the two prime-ministers twitter accounts which are: Theresa May, the prime minister of the United Kingdom and Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada. By means of this research, it is planned to find out some key features of the communication ways of each politician. As a result, all differences will be analyzed along with taking into account all special characteristics of both prime ministers. The data for this research was taken from the current politicians’ Twitter accounts. In order to explore how the prime ministers of Canada and the UK position themselves through social media, 70 photos of each on their official Twitter pages were examined (140 in total) through some criteria. The two politicians were selected due to the fact of their such high commands and the contrary held ideologies: Theresa May positions herself as a one-nation conservative and Justin Trudeau is the Leader of the Liberal Party. The vested interest of these prime-ministers made them reliable resources: each politician has a different approach to their Twitter accounts.

Law & Culture

This edited collection features 16 essays penned by activists, experts, insiders and unionists. The array of authors should be enough to attract readers to this book including current politicians Adam Bandt, Andrew Leigh, Scott Ludlam, Ellen Sandell and Felicity Wade. Others such as Van Badham, Carmen Lawrence and Peter van Onselen are spread throughout and make this a book any progressive will want to read, cover to cover.

Intellectuals, Politicians, and the Public in Chinua Achebe's <i>A Man of the People</i>: A Postcolonial Critique

This paper sheds light on the possible hope for the Nigerian situation in Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People (1966), away from bankrupt intellectuals, corrupt politicians, and an ignorant public. This novel portrays two schools of ineffectual native educators who seem to be antagonists: the traditional old school and the new modern intellectuals. Postcolonial/race theories of Fanon, Appiah, Du Bois, and Woodson as well as Gramsci’s notion of the “organic intellectual” are employed to get a clearer image of the role of intellectuals and politicians in shaping the future of a country in the post-independence era. The article concludes that intellectuals with European education may contribute to the corruption of their country due to reasons like divided loyalties, miseducation, and lack of communication with the public. Additionally, Achebe is critical of the current politicians and the excluded public. So, our analysis employs Woodson’s concept of “the miseducation of the Negro” because such “miseducation” produces incompetent politicians like Chief Nanga, weak intellectuals like Odili Samalu, and ignorant people like the public in the novel. Real hope against governmental corruption in Achebe's satirical novel can be found in integrating the class of intellectual/political leaders and the public and in a different kind of indoctrination, neither colonial nor neo-colonial. The truly educated class and the “organic intellectuals” produced from the public are key solutions for a better “Nigeria.” Hence, this article highlights the role of politicized education in post-independence nation building and tackles the mishaps of nascent nationalism.

Intellectuals, Politicians, and the Public in Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People: A Postcolonial Critique

This paper sheds light on the possible hope for the Nigerian situation in Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People (1966), away from bankrupt intellectuals, corrupt politicians, and an ignorant public. This novel portrays two schools of ineffectual native educators who seem to be antagonists: the traditional old school and the new modern intellectuals. Postcolonial/race theories of Fanon, Appiah, Du Bois, and Woodson as well as Gramsci’s notion of the “organic intellectual” are employed to get a clearer image of the role of intellectuals and politicians in shaping the future of a country in the post-independence era. The article concludes that intellectuals with European education may contribute to the corruption of their country due to reasons like divided loyalties, miseducation, and lack of communication with the public. Additionally, Achebe is critical of the current politicians and the excluded public. So, our analysis employs Woodson’s concept of “the miseducation of the Negro” because such “miseducation” produces incompetent politicians like Chief Nanga, weak intellectuals like Odili Samalu, and ignorant people like the public in the novel. Real hope against governmental corruption in Achebe's satirical novel can be found in integrating the class of intellectual/political leaders and the public and in a different kind of indoctrination, neither colonial nor neo-colonial. The truly educated class and the “organic intellectuals” produced from the public are key solutions for a better “Nigeria.” Hence, this article highlights the role of politicized education in post-independence nation building and tackles the mishaps of nascent nationalism.

Embracing Democracy: Hermann Broch, Politics, and Exile, 1918 to 1951 by Donald L. Wallace

Reviewed by: Embracing Democracy: Hermann Broch, Politics, and Exile, 1918 to 1951 by Donald L. Wallace Vincent Kling Donald L. Wallace, Embracing Democracy: Hermann Broch, Politics, and Exile, 1918 to 1951. Bern: Peter Lang, 2014. 268 pp. Any carefully developed scholarly study merits a full reading in detail, but the introductory chapter of Wallace’s book (1–26) has the practical merit of presenting with enough cogency and focus the points expanded later that it could serve on its own as a clear orientation to the subject at large, a lucid short piece outlining all the issues the broad topic of Broch’s political thinking would ever be likely to engage. Not to minimize the value of those later chapters, which support the introduction in relevant detail and forceful polemic, but Wallace’s opening strikes this reader as a valuable stand-alone essay touching on the whole range of Broch’s thought in its origins and modifications, seen from several perspectives. From the start, Wallace stresses the contradictions and paradoxes at the heart of Broch’s thinking—“optimism pessimistically proclaimed, the individual and the absolute, the death of God and the permanence of God, humanism for an inhumane time” (2). Only the ideals of liberalism equipped Broch to address fascism; only the experience of exile equipped him to universalize the sense of rootedness he found essential to humanity; only his sense of human freedom led him constantly to stress human responsibility. Wallace’s emphasis, which efficiently characterizes the tensions in Broch’s thinking, also anticipates the author’s concluding arguments about the apparent tragedy, if not futility, of Broch’s death with so many projects left incomplete and hardly even taken to cognizance. Anyone pondering Broch must reach the point of—citing the title of Wallace’s last chapter—“Reconsidering Failure in Hermann Broch’s Exile Narrative” (213–47), with its retrospective summary (239–47), of evaluating from what standpoint or under what criteria Broch’s life’s work “succeeded” or “failed.” If these ever-present antinomies perennially keep Broch relegated to the margins of the many disciplines in which he toiled with such staggering effort to such comparatively small effect, they also explain what many readers view as the near-futility of at empting to place him. After all, Broch’s aesthetic was highly distrustful of aesthetics, and it kept changing its fundamental premises, especially in Hugo von Hofmannsthal und seine Zeit, as Wallace demonstrates (102–14). Not for nothing did Hannah Arendt, in the booklet accompanying the Zurich edition of his work in 1958, term Broch a Dichter wider Willen. Though that judgment has been subjected to refinement, it captures the contradictions of a novelist whose work, especially [End Page 114] The Death of Virgil, indicted in aesthetic form the ethical mendacity of esthetic perfection. Wallace’s first chapter covers Broch’s attempts “to create a stable, open democracy in which the individual’s human rights and dignities were protected and to guide the individual towards an ethical value system” (9). Frequently dismissed as “old-fashioned” (8), naive, or simplistic (16)—Wallace is citing the judgments of others, not his own—Broch was nonetheless nothing short of prophetic in worrying in the early 1940s whether “the democratic traditions of the United States could survive the growing irrational forces of modernity with appeals only to the Bill of Rights” (16). That degree of prescience in anticipating current politicians’ requisition of the Bill of Rights to stifle individual freedom instead of advancing it may help account for a recent spate of publications on Broch’s political thought. While Wallace is not so crude as to make Broch “merely” prophetic of current crises, that aspect inevitably informs his work, as it does a recent study by Patrick Eiden-Offe (Das Reich der Demokratie). Wallace registers objections to and inconsistencies within Broch’s work but defends his author while conceding the “tragic nature” (213) of Broch’s life and his fervent but unfulfilled quest for a feasible plan of actual governance. The sections on “Total Democracy” (195–212), with its emphasis on the role of the individual citizen, and on “Judging Broch” (234–238), arguing that his early death prevented his influence...