Progressive Elements Research Articles

Towards Greater Freedom of Expression for Judges. The Rejection of a Culture of Judicial Silence and Its Benefits for Liberal Democracy*

The current study asserts that the rejection of a culture of judicial silence is beneficial to the architecture of liberal democracy, as judicial expression outside a courtroom assists in maintaining a balance between its components. On the one hand, this can create defence mechanisms against the alienation of the law from society (which appropriately appreciates the democratic component), while on the other, it aids in the actualization of the constitutionally determined role of the judiciary within the political system (safeguarding the liberal element). The discussion, which is essentially based on an analysis of international soft law, commences by examining two areas pertaining to judicial expression outside a courtroom: public discussion on the law and generally understood social life involvement. Subsequently, the limits of judges’ expression during such activities are analysed, and three proposals for their definition are put forward. As a next step, the paper highlights the diversity of judges as relevant to the problem at hand. The work concludes by outlining its findings, which also include the potential risks associated with the proposed project.

Authoritarian environmentalism 2.0: An incremental transition of environmental governance in China

The recent policy practice in China has shown nuanced differences from previous accounts of authoritarian environmentalism. The emerging discourse of green transformation shows dual tendencies for (re-)centralizing and decentralizing environmental institutions. Our understanding of authoritarian environmentalism in China requires an update. We review the recent policy practice and the scholarly literature to advance a modified framework of authoritarian environmentalism. Using the Central Environmental Inspection Teams and emissions trading schemes as examples, we highlight the coordinated practice of strengthening state control while strategically using mass mobilization and market mechanisms. We argue that non-state actors and bottom-up tools are being absorbed into the politics of (re-)centralization. The centralizing state accommodates a limited range of participatory and decentralizing elements in an attempt to modernize the governance system. Our modified framework recognizes the mutually reinforcing authoritarian and liberal elements, and sheds light on the broader trends of environmental governance in China.

1834년 신빈민법의 이데올로기적 양면성과 그 실제

This paper seeks to trace the ideological trends surrounding the enactment of the New Poor Law and explore the essence of the act itself and the changes it brought about. The Swing Riots of 1830 sparked a substantial demand for reforming poor laws, resulting in the organisation of the Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws. Edwin Chadwick, a Benthamite, and Nassau Senior, a liberal political economist, played key roles in leading the compilation of the final report of the commission that served as the foundational material for the New Poor Law. Their divergent ideological orientations translated into the dual nature of the act. Utilitarian Benthamites prioritised expanding government functions, the growth of bureaucracy, and the restructuring and rationalisation of administrative structures as needed. On the other hand, advocates of classical liberalism, who championed laissez-faire, emphasized minimizing government intervention, local autonomy, and economic individualism. The specific legal provisions of the New Poor Law and the socio-economic changes following its enactment were an exquisite compromise between these two ideologies. According to the act, a central authority specialising in poor administration was established. Locally, the parish-based Old Poor Law system was dismantled, and poor law unions took the place of parishes, establishing large joint workhouses. These structural changes clearly aligned with the direction pursued by the Benthamites. At the same time, in specific matters, the New Poor Law, however, embodied elements of classical liberalism. The newly established central authority performed only a passive supervisory role, and the operation of local unions still remained under the influence of local elites. The ultimate goal of the union workhouses was not the expected rehabilitation of or care for the poor but rather a deterrent effect. In conclusion, the 19th-century New Poor Law system encapsulated elements of classical liberalism within the Benthamite framework.

М.Х. Бунге – видатний вітчизняний учений, педагог та державний діяч-реформатор (до 200-річчя від народження)

The article presents the significance of M.H. Bunge in Ukrainian history and the development of economic science. It reveals the main achievements of this reformer from a contemporary perspective. The role of Bunge in the development of university education, the creative and critical development of economic theory in the second half of the 19th century, the expansion of the domestic market infrastructure, and the scientific justification and practical implementation of economic reforms is demonstrated. The formation of the Kyiv School of Political Economy is discussed in the context of the theoretical and methodological synchronization of domestic economic theory with the defining trends of global economic science, combining the elements of economic liberalism and state intervention in the transformation of the economic environment. The uniqueness of the Kyiv School of Political Economy is argued based on the characterization of its methodological foundations. The practical activities of M.H. Bunge are presented in the historical dimension of social transformations. In particular, it discloses the social-market orientation of the economic reforms that Bunge developed and implemented. The influence of political factors on the success of economic reforms and their social outcomes is highlighted. Emphasis is placed on the role of economic science in social progress. The author presents M.H. Bunge's relevant warnings regarding social populism and political radicalism. In conclusion, it is asserted that the figure and scientific legacy of M.H. Bunge serve as an ideological and spiritual compass for today.

Mind the gap! UK employment policy both during and beyond EU membership: from policy layering to policy drift

ABSTRACT This article interrogates the impact of EU employment policy on the UK both during and after EU Membership. To do so, it adopts insights from both historical institutionalism and discursive institutionalism. The argument made is that integration in the area of employment policy resulted in a process of ‘layering’ whereby EU policy ultimately tamed some of the more liberal elements of the UK’s employment model. Such layering, however, failed to generate a more fundamental change within the UK’s path dependency owing to the emergence of a powerful discourse within British politics. This discourse portrayed EU legislation as a threat to the UK’s ability to generate growth and jobs. As an ‘independent’ country, however, overtime UK employment policy is likely to experience policy drift from the EU, albeit the extent of such remains unclear.

Fair trial and due process: European and American doctrine

The relationship between due process and the "right to a fair trial" in the sense of the European Convention on Human Rights or other international documents is not equivalent. The principle of due process, combined with the right of access to justice, an adversarial and broad protection, closes the cycle of procedural guarantees. In this way, the process is guaranteed, with the appropriate instrumental forms, so that judicial security, when it is carried out by the state, gives to each what is his. Due process of a substantive lawsuit concerns the limitation of the exercise of powers and authorizes a judge to question the validity of a given law and the fairness of state decisions, establishing material control over constitutionality and proportionality. It should be noted that the substantive theory means a fair legal process based on the principles of justice. For this purpose, it mentions the duties of proportionality and reasonableness. This similarity between proportionality and substantive due process is, in our view, very interesting for our analysis, for several reasons: a) it helps to clarify the meaning of substantive due process, which, considered in the abstract, is vague and imprecise; b) helps to eliminate the erroneous opinion that the essential content of due legal procedure will not be applied in the countries of the Romano-Germanic system, with less freedom for the judge than for the judge of the law...; c) reinforces the idea of ​​balance, which permeates the entire judicial process. As in the classic dilemma between speed and security. Given the great concern of modern constitutionalism in ensuring fundamental rights through constitutional process, it has been demonstrated that due process is an expression of democracy and citizenship by gathering in its content the numerous guarantees of the constitutional procedural order.
 This relationship is political and intellectual because due process and the right to a fair trial are elements of institutional liberalism that tend to make judicial moderation initially dependent on a certain number of procedural requirements. This relationship is normative, since both Due Process and the right to a fair trial have a scope that goes beyond the scope of the courts stricto sensu to be applied, including to court decisions.

“A sinister creature is on the loose”: Anti-Jesuit Conspiracy Allegations as Political and Poetological Strategies in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century in Tyrol

Abstract The restoration of the Jesuits in Tyrol in 1838/39 shocked the region’s liberals and this shock found expression in the medium of poetry as exemplified by the polemical “Jesuitenlieder” (Jesuit songs) that circulated throughout Tyrol and southern Germany. A few years later a debate developed in German newspapers about the influence of the Jesuits in Tyrol. While older, but also more recent studies often only focused on the literary quality and the liberal elements of the debate, the affinity of this discourse for the tropes of the conspiracy theory has been overlooked until now. Ultimately, the appeal of invoking such tropes was the possibility it afforded of branding the so-called “Jesuitism” and, in doing so, covertly criticizing the government.

К 80-летию профессора В.А. Китаева

The article was prepared for the 80th anniversary of the doctor of historical sciences, professor Vladimir Anatolyevich Kitaev. Student of the outstanding soviet historian P.A. Zaionchkovsky, graduate of Gorky State University V.A. Kitaev is an authoritative expert in the field of social movement and public thought in Russia of the 19th century. V.A. Kitaev revealed and convincingly proved that the Russian thought of the 19th century sought answers to topical political and socio-economic issues on the path of ideological synthesis. Conservatism contained elements of liberalism (slavophiles); Russian liberals have not escaped the influence of conservative ideas (K.D. Kavelin, B.N. Chicherin); the journal “Bulletin of Europe” became the ancestor of social liberalism in Russia; one of the leaders of the decembrists, P.I. Pestel, in his constitutional draft attempted to combine liberalism, conservatism, and socialism. The article suggests that such an ideological synthesis could be a reflection of the ideas of the Russian people, which contained the age-old dreams of freedom and the pursuit of it, commitment to traditional national and state values, thirst for social justice. In 1983–1999 V.A. Kitaev worked at Volgograd State University. He was the first dean of the Faculty of History and permanent head of the Department of Russian History. Under his leadership the traditions of the Faculty of History (now the Institute of History, international relations and social technologies) were laid. Now V.A. Kitaev is a professor at Nizhny Novgorod State University.

Świat ideowy amerykańskiego neokonserwatyzmu

The present article presents a complex and ideological-twists-loaded history of American intellectuals environment, mainly of Jewish origin, with Jews having become over the past half century became one of the most influential groups among the power elite of United States. The starting point for most of them was the fascination with Trockist ideology, (however combined with anti-soviet attitude); with the target being point being, on the other hand – the views referred to as “neoconservatism”, which is in fact a combination of some elements of classical political liberalism, the criticism of the overgrowth of “welfare state” and new-leftist “counterculture”, anti-communism launched from demoliberal positions, and in the second generation of this group: not only anti-islamism but also “democratic imperialism”.

Ayn Rand’s Philosophical Concepts as the Basis of the Radical Opposition Discourse in the Russian Federation

The paper examines the specifics of using the philosophical concepts of Ayn Rand as the basis of political discourse by the radical opposition of the Russian Federation in its political goals and perceptions of the target audience. The study used descriptive, structural and comparative analyses. The authors reveal the prerequisites for the synthesis of elements of liberalism and objectivism in the opposition’s discourse and the dispersion of its results among the mass protest audience.

Democracy challenged: how parties politicize different democratic principles

ABSTRACT Scholars have paid increasing attention to how questions of multi-level governance have become politicized in the domestic political arena. Issues surrounding democratic government itself have received surprisingly little attention in this debate. In this article, we ask how political parties politicize the principles of liberal democracy within advanced democracies. We expect that challenger parties are most likely to question existing principles. The targets of their criticism, however, should vary according to their ideological origins. Conducting automated quantitative text analysis of Swiss, German and Austrian party press releases between 2006 and 2018 using a multidimensional dictionary of liberal democracy, we confirm that left-libertarian and populist radical right parties are the main challengers of the democratic status quo. The foundation of criticism, however, differs fundamentally. While left-libertarians focus on principles that strengthen individual autonomy in politics, populist radical right parties demand more forms of participation and fewer constraints by liberal elements of democracy.

THE RELEVANCE OF THE LIBERAL IDEA IN UKRAINE: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FIRST POLITICAL PARTIES

This study aims to highlight and analyze the liberal principles in the context of Ukrainian political parties’ activities in the early XXth century, clarifying the conditions under which the liberal idea found its expression in the Ukrainian reality of the time. The research methodology comprises general scientific methods (program document analysis, generalizations, systematic approach) as well as special-historical methods, in particular historical-genetic, anthropological, and comparative analyses. The scientific novelty is found in the role and significance of the liberal idea in the formation of Ukrainian political thought, which led to the emergence and development of political concepts that served as the foundation for various parties’ activities on the main stages of statehood. Conclusions. The liberal idea in Ukraine has undergone several stages of development, finding expression in the programs of newly formed Ukrainian parties and serving as a response to the challenges of political life and the requirements of progressive intellectuals in the early XXth century. The implementation of liberalism in the Ukrainian political sphere was also unique in that it was combined with socialist demands and the struggle for Ukrainian national rights. During the Ukrainian National Revolution and the establishment of Ukrainian statehood in 1917–1921, liberal ideas, manifested in a number of democratic demands, were renewed. Even though the liberal doctrine does not receive widespread support in Ukraine, we believe that combining elements that stimulate private initiative and the formation of civil society with moderate and well-defined state regulation can help Ukraine progress.
 Further research is required in order to study the psychological, cultural and mental aspects of the rejection of liberalism in its "pure" form, as well as the current political field of Ukraine and the presentation of liberal elements in the activities of Ukrainian governments, especially after 2004.

Thomas Sinclair and the Political Representation of Presbyteria 1892–1912

AbstractThomas Sinclair was a Belfast merchant who exercised a crucial influence on the formation of Ulster Unionism in the period 1886–1912. He had been a leading Presbyterian Liberal; but on Gladstone's conversion to Irish home rule became president of the Liberal Unionists, and worked over the next decades to secure the alliance of Presbyterian Liberals and Conservatives to resist home rule. This article will consider the extent to which a Presbyterian Liberal element remained within this unionist alliance by examining a series of elections, in which former Liberals challenged the policy of Thomas Sinclair and the unionist candidates he backed. It will focus on two pressure groups, the Presbyterian Unionist Voters Association (PUVA) and the Russellites, on the links between them, and on the role of one‐time Liberal Unionist MP, T.W. Russell.

General education in Taiwan’s universities: Development, challenges, and role

General education is closely tied to universities because the holistic and liberal elements of modern general education are key ideals of both traditional Chinese and Western universities. General education plays a key role in the sustainable development of universities and the realization of their educational ideals. This study discusses the development and challenges of general education in Taiwan’s universities, and the role of general education in the sustainable development of universities. According to a literature review, this study explores the following roles: (1) general education as the foundation of university professional education; (2) general education reform as the foundation of university education reform; (3) general education as the educational ideal of universities; (4) general education as a solution for the “knowledge-only” and “dehumanization” problems of universities; (5) general education as a buffer between technology and humanities in universities; (6) general education as a tool for the enrichment of university culture; and (7) general education as a means to achieve the goals of universities and promote their sustainable development.

THE POLITICAL VERSUS THE STATE? THE RELEVANCE OF CARL SCHMITT’S CONCEPT OF THE POLITICAL

Abstract. The aim of the article is to examine the relationship between the state, democracy and the Carl Schimitt’s concept of the political. That is going to be done by reconstructing the concepts of Schmitt’s political theory and finding out whether they can be used to explain the ideology of the new right-wing populism and illiberal democracy. As it turns out, the Schmitt’s reduction of the political to the friend/enemy antagonism makes the core of the illiberal democracies’ ruling narrative. The Schimtt’s understanding of the political doesn’t defend the state as a political space but by cancelling of the liberal elements of democracy ruins the state institutions. The analysis shows that Schmitt’s notion of the political cannot be used to build effective democratic state institutions. Namely, in his definition of the political, politics actually exists only on the outwards, towards some other nation, some other political unity, but not within the state itself. Keywords: state, the political, Carl Schmitt, illiberal democracy

Koloniálny rozvoj: počiatky, príčiny, diskurz, prax, kontinuity a následky

The aim of this theoretical consultation is to set the beginning of colonial development using two seemingly contradictory concepts that often appear next to each other in history – the authoritarian and the liberal governmentality. Within this framework, the paper follows the transformation from immanent to intentional development, which is the basis of authoritarianism and the shift of the term development to its social content, which is the basis of the liberal governmentality. The paper also analyzes the reasons for the origin of development during colonialism and asks the question of the continuities and discontinuities between the colonial and postcolonial era to show elements of authoritarianism and liberalism that coexist until today.

Encroachment and Reaction of Civil Society in Non-liberal Democracies: The Case of Israel and the New Israel Fund

Abstract Recent decades have seen a major political shift in many nations, manifested in democratic regression, rise of populist non-liberal democracies, resurgence of extreme right, infractions against democratic watchdogs, and increasing nationalism and unilateralism. A central manifestation of this process is the active encroachment by governments on civil society, and particularly on its liberal elements. These manifestations allegedly emanate from resistance to the liberal world order and to threats from pressures imported by national NGOs, and are made possible by changing political opportunity structures. We explore the case of Israel, through an analysis of the New Israel Fund (NIF), as a particular yet demonstrative example of these dynamics. The manifestations of civil society encroachment in Israel include concerted and coordinated actions meant to weaken and delegitimize left-wing civil society actors and their supporters and donors, by Israel’s right-wing governments and their NGO allies, through legislation and rhetorical assaults; attempts to curb international funding of human rights organizations; and differential treatment of civil society organizations according to political stance. Interviews with former and current leaders of the NIF show that the attacks have galvanized liberal civil society actors to counteract, and drove them from passive response to active and strategic engagement, professionalization of media work and program evaluation, adjustment of public relations and legal strategies, and even adjustment of programmatic choice, shifting focus to supporting the infrastructure of civil society and democracy. The discussion stresses pressures by international illiberal forces, alongside the backlash to liberal world society, as causes for encroachment, and highlights the less explored reactions of civil society actors to such encroachment.

Boris N. Chicherin and the Problem of the Political Identification of His Legacy

ABSTRACT This article examines a still contentious question: how conservative and liberal elements are combined in Boris N. Chicherin’s worldview and political doctrine. It considers several points of view on this issue (expressed by Nikolai Berdyaev, Petr Struve, Georgii Plekhanov, Vasilii Zen’kovskii) and analyzes Chicherin’s works of the 1850s–1860s that have provoked the most heated debates. The author attempts to show that assessing the conservative element in Chicherin’s worldview is not as straightforward a task as is commonly assumed. His concepts of conservatism and “protective principles” do not fit within broader understandings of conservatism. This article pays particular attention to analyzing the dramatic experience of Chicherin’s cooperation with the authorities and the reasons his political position radicalized.

Premise Disputes and Political Ideology

AbstractA substantial body of scholarship highlights the role of core values as elements of liberalism–conservatism. However, researchers have yet to fully appreciate the contribution of premises, or abstractdescriptivebeliefs. This disjuncture has occurred despite the fact that for centuries, philosophers have used premises about human nature and society to ground their religious, political and economic theories. In the observational and experimental studies described in this article, the authors examine the extent to which such premise disputes stand independently from value conflicts as ideological ingredients. The findings suggest that premises are distinct and meaningful elements of political cognition, analogous in importance to several well-worn values.

An Adornian ideology critique of neo-liberal reforms to the English NHS

ABSTRACT In this article, I undertake an ideology critique of reforms to the English NHS within the neo-liberal era. The critique draws primarily on the writings of the Frankfurt School philosopher Theodor Adorno. I use the method of ideology critique to explain the influences on and reasons for the reforms, the contradictions in government discourse and policy and the potential reifying effects of the reforms. I also use the method as a basis for conceiving alternatives. Adorno thought that ideology was becoming more positivistic, thereby rendering critique more difficult. I identify both liberal and positivistic elements within the discourse of successive governments pertaining to healthcare. Liberal norms (such as freedom and equality) within government discourse, and the law, concerning healthcare, continue to enable the critique of ideology and are a basis for conceiving alternatives to current neo-liberal policies, which have the potential to reify healthcare and undermine the solidarity underpinning the NHS.