Social Explosion Research Articles

The things they are a-changin': reinventing daily objects during the chilean 2019 revolt

In October 2019, fuelled by a collective discontent with the lifestyles and inequalities generated by the capitalist model, social protests took place in the Chilean streets. People staged massive demonstrations in every city demanding profound changes to the system. Known as the ‘Estallido Social’ (Social Explosion), the demonstrations paralysed an important part of the country and, after a few weeks of revolt, managed to initiate a new Constitution-making process. These events triggered a process in which the country was re-imagined, subjectivities were rewritten and objects and the environment were heavily transformed. This study places its focus on a set of industrially produced objects, whose original functions were subverted in the streets to enable new uses and meanings aligned with the Social Explosion. Kitchen items such as pots and ladles were used to make a lot of noise; road signs and pieces of urban furniture were re-located to block the streets; and gas cylinders and oil drums were reshaped for protection against police forces. While specialized literature generally seeks to recognize the new social forms and models that emerge from the crisis, this essay aims to reflect on the ways in which the relationship with the everyday environment is transformed in the midst of a social crisis, and how operations of resignification and reinterpretation may also be necessary to bring about more profound changes. As such, this study aims to characterize these operations of mutation (of bending, crumpling, scratching, wetting, moving, cutting, twisting, hitting, breaking, cracking, tricking, whipping, throwing, crushing, dragging, drilling and burning), and from there to move towards elucidating the practical and symbolic repercussions that this new material reality has had on the social body and daily life.

The Spatial Impact of Crowds in the Chilean Social Explosion: A Case Study of Postpolitical Democracy

This paper introduces an innovative methodology for estimating crowd sizes at significant events, particularly focusing on protests. This method combines aerial photography with urban mapping to enhance accuracy in measuring participant numbers. Originating from the analysis of extensive social protests in Chile, this approach was notably applied to what was reported as the largest march, where mainstream media claimed attendance exceeded one million. However, utilizing this new methodology, we recalculated the figure to be 354,167, challenging previous estimations. This research offers a reliable, repeatable tool for quantifying attendance at large gatherings, shedding light on the dynamics of public mobilization and space utilization. It provides a framework for assessing the comparative mobilization strength of various social movements and can extend to other large public events like concerts and sports, helping to gauge public engagement levels. Accurate crowd size estimations can inform policymakers, leading to more informed decisions and fostering a dialogue-based relationship between authorities and the public. By understanding protest scales and impacts, policies can be more aligned with societal needs, promoting a more inclusive and participatory democratic environment. This article, therefore, not only presents a methodological advancement but also underscores its applicability in enhancing democratic governance and public policy formulation.

Revolts Against Neoliberalism in the Southern Cone: The Argentine Crisis of 2001 and the 2019 Chilean Social Explosion in Comparison

In the current century, mobilization and revolt have represented key events in Latin American politics.The 2001 Argentine crisis and the 2019Chilean social explosion represent revolts that emerged from social discontent generated by neoliberal models of accumulationand the operations of existing political systems. The form and temporality of their developments depended on the transformations of and continuities with the previous period, on the intensity of social unrest, the political opportunities available to nonconformists, and the dynamics of confrontation with the state. En el presente siglo, la movilización y revuelta han representado acontecimientos clave para la vida política de América Latina. El presente trabajo analiza comparativamente los episodios de acción colectiva conocidos como la crisis de 2001 en Argentina y el estallido social chileno del año 2019. Nuestra hipótesis sostiene que los mismos representan revueltas que emergen del malestar social generalizado con modelos de acumulación basados en el neoliberalismo y con el funcionamiento de los sistemas políticos existentes. La forma y temporalidad de sus desarrollos dependen de las transformaciones y continuidades con el período previo, de la intensidad del malestar social, de las oportunidades políticas disponibles para los disconformes, así como de la dinámica de la confrontación con el Estado.

The phenomenon of frustration in the information sphere

This article is devoted to the study of the influence of information on consciousness, psyche and human activity in modern conditions. The role of information in the further development of modern society and the state is shown, the basis of which is the formation of an information society with the development of computing and information technology. It is noted that currently information is an important source of the formation and functioning of power, a necessary condition for which is the collection, analysis, processing, selection and effective use of information. Today's mass media broadcast information about the processes in the regions, the country, and the world, with the help of which different ideological visions are literally imposed on the population, and which can act as a force that can both stabilize society and become a detonator of a social explosion. At the same time, information becomes a real, almost physically tangible force that can increase power projection, reducing the adversary's will and ability to wage war. Attention is focused on the fact that, as a weapon, information can be related to the emergence of such a category as “information trauma”, i.e., as a consequence of the effect of a certain type of information on the human psyche and which accompanies all other types and forms of collective trauma and is their mandatory component. It is emphasized that the problem of informational influences on the psyche of people has become more acute in the modern world in connection with terrorist and hybrid wars, in particular in Ukraine – in connection with the informational war that Russian propaganda has purposefully waged in recent years. At the same time, the influence of information technologies in various spheres of life is constantly growing. Modern wars are fought in the information space with the help of specific information types of weapons. Information can be both a means of defense and an offense, depending on whose resource and propaganda will be more powerful. The success of their implementation depends on the successful implementation of information and psychological campaigns (information and psychological operations), the essence of which is to influence public consciousness in such a way as to lead people and force them to act against their interests. It has been determined that the use of information as a weapon directed against a probable or potential adversary, primarily against the psychological and mental state of a person, with the aim of causing the population a state of distress, disappointment, anxiety, irritability, despair, as well as a sense of hopelessness and despair, i.e. one of the forms of psychological stress is called frustration, the result of which can be a person's depression. It is noted that if we look at frustration purely through an information prism, then as a result of targeting information to a person, society or country, it is possible to achieve a kind of paralysis of any activity of the object of such information action when it falls under the influence of the subject of information influence. That is, the goal is to paralyze or minimize the relevant activity (military, political, cultural, etc.), and, thereby, to “neutralize” the ability of the object of such informational influence to resist the subject of informational influence. At the same time, its various forms are given: trolling; IPSO, their content and features are revealed, and examples of fake recognition mechanisms are given. It has been established that frustration, in addition to being a negative factor, plays a certain constructive role in the behavior of many people, when, thanks to its positive influence on the subject's psyche, achievement motives often become dominant in his motivational sphere, and the attractiveness of the set goal increases. The definition of the term “informational frustration” is provided – directing relevant information to a certain range of objects, with the aim of influencing (positively or negatively) their psychological state, which will contribute to the achievement of a certain goal for the subject of the dissemination of such information. Examples of the action of frustration in the political life of current Ukraine in its negative sense are given, which is a peculiar form of political struggle, and which leads to the activation of a peculiar affect of the so-called “existential frustration” – a negative phenomenon characterized by subjective experiences, apathy, inner emptiness, cynicism, does not contribute to the consolidation of society in the fight against the enemy.

Reparation Policy in Gendered Political Violence: Gendered Torture During the Dictatorship and the Recent “Social Explosion” in Chile

This study explores the gendered violence dimension present in the torture exerted in Chile and the problems that continue to affect the reparation policies. The analysis covers the cases of political prisoners during the Chilean dictatorship (1973–1990) and that of the people detained within the context of the social protest of October 18, 2019. The methodology used for this study includes desk research on secondary sources on gendered political violence and torture such as scholarly books, journalistic and academic articles, and non-governmental organization reports, analyzing their contents from a perspective based on human rights and gender. We argue that the crystallization of gender-based violence exerted by Chilean State agents is linked to the biases present in post-dictatorship reparation policy and reflect on the impact of these biases on the assurances of non-repetition of human rights violations.

UNIFICATION OF EDUCATIONAL AND PEDAGOGICAL FORECASTING IN THE UKRAINIAN SOCIALIST SOVIET REPUBLIC OF THE PERIOD 1930-1940

The article is devoted to the problem of the unification of educational and pedagogical forecasting in the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic of the period 1930-1940. The author emphasizes that the unification of educational and pedagogical forecasting in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the period 1930-1940 hid the threat of a social explosion, led to the strengthening of the national course to build a communist society. All this affected the invariant component of the content of educational and pedagogical forecasting in the context of dominant socio-economic (industrialization, collectivization) and political (monopolization, curtailment of Ukrainization) factors. During the studied period, we focus on the spread of state institutions of higher pedagogical education, in particular, industrial-pedagogical institutes, institutes of social education, pedagogical technical schools, which determined new conditions for staffing higher schools. We also emphasize the search for the optimal model of the functioning of the education system and the development of numerous teacher training projects.

Young People in Iranian Socio-Political Landscape of the Modernization Era: 20th –21st Centuries

The article, based on materials from various sources and studies in Russian, English, French, and Persian, considers for the first time in modern Iranian studies in Russia the place and role of youth in the socio-political life of Iran in 20th–21st centuries. This period of the country's history was marked by a consecutive modernization of all the foundations of the state and society, in which the author identifies three stages: the struggle for the restoration of sovereignty and choosing ways to renew the country (1905-early 60s); modernization via “revolution from above” (early 60s – 1979); systemic crisis, social explosion, change of the State system; continuation of modernization under external pressure (1979 – early 20s of the XXI century). Contradictions and conflicts generated by this long and uneven process stimulate mass involvement of the younger generation of Iranians in political struggle, where they generally choose the most radical ways of civic self-realization. They played a prominent, sometimes crucial part in major events of Iran’s modern history, such as the movement for natinalization of the Iranian petroleum Industry (1949–1953); engagement in several reforms of 1960s–70s; revolutionary actions that brought to an end the Iranian monarchy; the Iran-Iraqi War. The young people’s potential for political activism to a considerable extent is due to their large and steadily growing share of population and relatively high level of education and professional competence of many among them. The literate and active young people still remain both the main generator of opposition sentiments and а basic resource of Iran’s dynamic development.

Інститут Президента України: динаміка сфер компетенції

The article analyzes the process of formation and the role of the president’s institution in the structure of the executive power of Ukraine. The activity of the Institute of the President of Ukraine, as well as the specifics of its functioning in the conditions of a hybrid and full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, were studied. It has been proven that in the course of the establishment of the presidential institution, a number of problems arose regarding the limits of presidential powers, as well as the spheres of responsibility of the head of state. The adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine in 1996 ensured the establishment of presidentialism in Ukraine – the personified power of the president. The institution of a strong president provoked a permanent conflict both in the structure of the executive power along the „president-prime minister” line, and between the president and the parliament. After the Orange Revolution of 2004, the presidential-parliamentary republic was transformed into a parliamentary-presidential one. However, the strengthening of the role of the prime minister and the parliament did not become the reason for the impossibility of conflict between the branches of the Ukrainian government, which became the trigger for the restoration of authoritarian tendencies with the coming to power of V. Yanukovych and the return to the so-called presidentialist model of executive power. As a result, this led to the uncontrolled growth of the influence of a narrow group of representatives of pro-presidential financial and industrial groups and became the cause of a social explosion in 2014 – known as the Revolution of Dignity. The return of the parliamentary-presidential model of the Constitution optimized the powers of the president, balancing his influence with strengthening the role of the parliament. However, the provision of constitutional reform regarding the optimization and balancing of presidential powers was made impossible both by the lobbying of the personal interests of the president and his entourage, and by the start of a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022.

Five Republics and One Tradition: A History of Constitutionalism in Chile 1810–2020 by Pablo Ruiz-Tagle

<i>Five Republics and One Tradition: A History of Constitutionalism in Chile 1810–2020</i> by Pablo Ruiz-Tagle

Strategi Kepala Sekolah dalam Mengelola Konflik Internal di SMP NU Bululawang Kabupaten Malang

Conflict in an organization is something that cannot be avoided because it will always exist in every cooperative relationship between individuals, groups and organizations. Conflict is actually something natural which is within a certain time limit can be positive for school development, but it must be managed properly and carefully. If it crosses the line, the conflict can have fatal consequences. The principal as the highest leader in the school must be able to manage the conflict, so that it can provide positive benefits and avoid negative consequences. Likewise at SMP NU Bululawang, the principal is required to be able to manage the conflict well. This study aims to determine the principal's strategy for managing the conflicts that occur at SMP NU Bululawang. The method used in this study is Field Research by using a phenomenological design. The results showed that the principal in managing conflict was carried out through three strategies, namely the strategy of collaboration, accommodation, and compromise. With the three ways of handling conflict in SMP NU Bululawang Malang Regency, it has the ability to reduce or avoid the possibility of a social explosion in the school environment.

Transient Political Infrastructures: Toward an Atlas of the Chilean Uprising

The Chilean uprising has been defined by detractors and sympathizers as an “estallido social” or social explosion, alluding to its perceived transient character. Assumptions about spontaneity have similarly underpinned diagnoses of its political significance. It is either a problem to be pacified or limited for generating alternatives. This article problematizes this perceived transience, focusing instead on the event’s rhythms, atmospheres and materialities. The article seeks to contribute to projects of collective knowledge production that underline the need to archive, map and theorise events as lived history. Studying the uprising as lived history does not elicit a particular response but rather initiates an investigation into what it makes possible. The figure of the atlas is developed for such an investigation. An atlas curates the emerging archive by composing images and text, not to close off meaning but rather allow for imagination to enter the realm of knowledge.

Georg B. Michels. The Habsburg Empire under Siege: Ottoman Expansion and Hungarian Revolt in the Age of Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü (1661–76).

Georg B. Michels. <i>The Habsburg Empire under Siege: Ottoman Expansion and Hungarian Revolt in the Age of Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü (1661–76)</i>.

LEGAL COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CONSUMER LENDING REGULATION (EXPERIENCE OF EUROPE, RUSSIA AND KAZAKHSTAN)

On May 24, 2021, Kazakhstan adopted the Law on amendments and additions to certain legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the regulation of banking, microfinance and collection activities in the Republic of Kazakhstan. This caused by increasing role of consumer lending, involvement of a large amount of the population in it and the potential danger of a social explosion in the context of an economic crisis and pandemic. The same reasons determined the choice of the declared topic of this research. The methodological basis of the article is a generalized view of the new basic trends in some aspects of lending in modern economic conditions, entailing fundamental changes in the policy of credit institutions, understanding of credit availability and, accordingly, new rules of behaviour for all participants in this process. There is no doubt that the newly set trends in this important branch of economic activity will also have an impact on the features of the legal settlement of this area, as well as the consideration of disputes arising from credit obligations by courts. As examples, we refer to the comparative experience of Europe, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. This article examines the continuity of the European Union's regulatory principles for consumer lending, implemented in the legislation of Kazakhstan and Russian Federation.

The double impact of deep social unrest and a pandemic: Evidence from Chile.

This work studies the impact of the Social Explosion and COVID‐19 crisis on the household sector in Chile. The Social Explosion in October 2019 represented a mass protest, much larger than similar events in other nations such as the yellow jackets. Using delinquency models calibrated with survey data, I show that household debt risk increased substantially after the Social Explosion across all income backgrounds but fell slightly with the COVID‐19 pandemic due to the public policies implemented. The expansion of the public support policies in August 2020 decreased the debt risk to levels similar to before the two crises.

Narrative, the Chilean social explosion, and affective geography: on the catharsis of the ‘artistic candlelight vigil’ of Valparaíso

In response to State violence during the so-called ‘Chilean social explosion’ [ estallido social], the Valparaíso Coordinator of Cultural Action [ Coordinadora acción cultural Valparaíso] (CAC) in collaboration with other cultural groups of Valparaíso as well as other artists who spontaneously improvised during the performance organized on 31 October 2019 an ‘artistic candlelight vigil for human rights’ that passed through the center of the Chilean coastal town of Valparaíso, one ostensible effect of which was to rewrite the affective geography of Valparaíso in response to the violence that had erupted in the city during the 2 weeks prior. This article examines the relationship between this candlelight vigil, the revolutionary autonomist foundations of the Chilean social explosion, and the affective geography of Valparaíso, in addition to developing a broader theorization of the relationship between narrative, revolution, the politics of autonomy, and affective geography through this analysis. In the end, this article makes a double intervention: (1) The ‘artistic candlelight vigil’ in Valparaíso on 31 October 2019 memorializing the victims of State violence was an effective catharsis of the discordant affects held by Chilean protestors during the social explosion. (2) This example of catharsis demonstrates a new resolution to the relationship between narrative, revolution, and affective geography by proposing that art can work through the discordant affects of a polity in order to arrive at an autonomous urban communality from below.

СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ НАСТРОЕНИЯ ЖИТЕЛЕЙ МОНОТЕРРИТОРИЙ ХАКАСИИ

The socio-economic development of any single-industry territory mainly depends on the prosperity of the city-forming enterprise, and this makes the city vulnerable, especially in crisis times. During such periods, social well-being of the population worsens, protest moods increase, social tension accrues, which can lead to open conflicts. The main problem lies in the timely detection of potentially dangerous hotbeds of social explosion. Therefore, it is important to monitor changes in the social moods for regulating the factors of social tension. As a hypothesis, it was suggested that the social moods of residents of single-industry territories depend on the current socio-economic situation: the mood is more optimistic in single-industry territories with a stable situation and is pessimistic in single-industry territories with a difficult situation. There was conducted a survey among the residents of single-industry territories of Khakassia (n=1,000). The results confirmed the main hypothesis of the study. Social moods are more depressive in single-industry territories with the most difficult economic situation. This is evidenced by negative assessments given by the residents with regard to their life, low satisfaction, the lack of prospects for the situation to improve, and dependent psychology — the expectation of help from the state. Despite the tense situation on the labor market, social mood is more optimistic in single-industry territories only being at risk, which may be due to more attractive living conditions. However, the results show that subjective assessments have a more significant impact on social moods than quantitative indicators of living standards. It proves the importance of non-economic mechanisms for regulating the factors of social tension, which can be more effective, especially in times of crisis.

From de Chilean Social Outbreak to the Covid-19 Pandemic: Approaches of a Deep Change

In October 2019 Chile began to experience a process of deep social, political and economic crisis that was triggered by the rise in the price of public transport. One of the most frequently quoted phrases during the beginning of the crisis was "it's not 30 pesos, it's 30 years", indicating that the crisis is not only explained by the increase in transport, but by the overwhelming sum of inequalities that the Chilean people have been experiencing for more than 30 years, this is expressed by the extreme indebtedness of households, high defaults and low salaries, the detestable distribution of wealth. In this way, this article will be a descriptive review which aims to review and analyze the main facts that Chile has experienced since the social explosion of October 2019, and how the COVID-19 has shown the inequalities of a political-economic system that needs to be transformed.

“The Revolution Will Be Feminist—Or It Won’t Be a Revolution”: Feminist Response to Inequality in Chile

This article argues that gender inequality, which in Chile is superimposed on a societal and economic structure characterized by deep inequalities that cut across every aspect of society, has been sustained by a political and legal system that has severely limited women’s access to economic power and equality. The neoliberal policies implemented by the Pinochet dictatorship and maintained by the democratically elected regimes after 1990—generally characterized as an elitist democracy—have sustained this pattern of inequality. We argue that this gender inequality gave urgency to the regeneration and evolution of Chile’s feminist movement and drove the movement to develop claims against “the precarity of life,” uniting Chileans in a common struggle, contributing to the October 2019 “social explosion” and now the writing of a new constitution. We believe the current climate is rooted in the social mobilization that was the response to Chile’s economic and political system, and the feminist movement’s ability to put the rights of women at the forefront of the political and socio‐economic agenda. In conclusion, we reevaluate the current climate to consider what a significant feminist presence means and how women can be effectively included and benefit from Chile’s economy and influence its progress.

Sotsialni superechnosti v Ukrainskii kozatskii derzhavi ta sotsialno-ekonomichna polityka hetmanskoho uriadu Doby Ruiny

In the middle of the XVII century and during the liberation struggle, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytskyi carried out important changes in the political system and social structure of Ukrainian society. Conditions were created for the development of the productive forces and the emergence of bourgeois relations. However, Hetman Ivan Vyhovskyi radically changed the direction of social policy, which led to the beginning of the civil war in the Cossack state. In his article, the author finds out that, despite the aggravation of the socio-political situation in Cossack Ukraine, the hetman’s government in the late 50’s — early 60’s of the XVII century tried to pursue a balanced domestic political activity. In particular, Yuri Khmelnytskyi abandoned the course taken by Ivan Vyhovskyi to renew the pre-revolutionary model of socio-economic relations and continued the main directions of his father’s policy. Hetman provided land to monasteries, but restrained the growth of land ownership of the nobility and Cossack officers. The peasants retained the property won at the beginning of the National Revolution: the right to inherit land, personal freedom and the right to join the Cossack class. The feudal class continued to seek out the peasantry mainly through the state apparatus. The government supported the development of trade and fishing; regulated conflicts between certain classes of society (sergeants and burghers, sergeants and clergy, etc.). Trying to prevent a social explosion, Yuri Khmelnytskyi, contrary to the decision of the Warsaw Sejm in 1661, ordered the removal of the gentry and the Polish administration from the estates. However, despite these measures, the socio-economic situation continued to deteriorate. In Right-Bank Ukraine, the population suffered from the presence of soldiers and Tatar hordes, which plundered and ravaged towns and villages, and the influx of gentry in a hurry to occupy their estates. Social tensions increased after the Sejm in 1662 banned Cossacks from living in noble and royal lands in the Kiev and Bratslav provinces and forced Cossacks, burghers and peasants to perform feudal serfdom. On the Left Bank, social contradictions, in addition to the arbitrariness of the Russian voivodes, also had internal causes: the intensification of the exploitation of peasants, burghers and ordinary Cossacks by Cossack officers; education among the foremen of several groups fighting each other and using demagogic slogans to attract the lower classes to their side. All this together complicated the political situation of the Cossack state and weakened the government’s strength in the struggle to preserve territorial integrity, which ultimately led to its split into two hetmanates and loss of independence.

The optimality of the option of abolishing serfdom in Russia, implemented in 1861

The article discusses the controversial issues related to the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861: its causes, features of preparation and implementation. The authors focus on the question of whether the implemented version of the abolition of serfdom in Russia was optimal. For this purpose, a comparative analysis of the abolition of serfdom in Russia is carried out with similar reforms in European countries, which could serve as a reference point, primarily in Austria and Prussia. It is concluded that the peasant reform in Russia in 1861 (in the final version) was carried out primarily in the interests of the state and not of individual social groups (landowners and peasants). It is the state that has benefited most from the implementation of this particular version of the reform, both financially and politically. Among the losers there were both peasants (to a greater extent) and landowners (to a lesser extent). The main thing was that the reform provoked the problem of the lack of land of the majority of peasants, which in the future became one of the main reasons for the social explosion and revolutions at the beginning of the XX century.