Socio-political Order Research Articles

The Journalist's Action in Socialist Yugoslavia

In this paper, we analyse the language game “the journalist as a socio-political worker”, which was the professional label for journalists’ action in the former socialist Yugoslavia. The text is divided into two main parts. The first part uses a historical-conceptual method to analyse the mentioned formulation in normative texts, covering programmatic and engaged texts produced at the time. This approach seeks to enter into the meaning of the term from the inside, into the pulse and spirit of the time, and above all to understand what its creators wished to achieve and communicate with this expression. We find that journalism and the journalist’s action as a socio-political worker were understood as an important political factor, as a political force on one hand contributing to the development and implementation of a new socio-political order, i.e., a socialist community based on self-management and, on the other hand, the journalist who through their own products tried to influence the broader consciousness of the masses, as manifested through the idea of the education for the new man: the self-manager. The second part of the paper complements the first since through the qualitative method of in-depth semi-structured interviews with former journalists who had been professionally active in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and via their recollections, we continue to internally reconstruct the meaning, understanding and use of the formulation at that time. In particular, we observe the relationship with politics that the concept essentially contains. Empirical analysis thus led us to different conclusions: some interviewees (the minority) described the term affirmatively, that the journalist as a socio-political worker had a special mission, while most approached the use and meaning of the expression with a critical distance, namely, that the journalist as a socio-political worker was harnessed to the needs of daily politics and thereby seen as non-autonomous in their labour and actions.

Ridiculing the unreasonable: The political aesthetic ofZondag met Lubach

This article analyses the highly popular and critically acclaimed Dutch satirical TV show Zondag met Lubach (2014-2021), using the approach of political aesthetics. Through this approach, which focuses on the form, style and rhetoric of cultural artefacts, and the way in which these elements perform politics, it is shown that Zondag met Lubach was much less critical and progressive than is often thought. Overall, the show mainly defended the existing liberal status quo. It did so by depoliticising its own viewpoint, which was presented as simply reasonable, while ideas and practices that did not fit within this viewpoint were framed as irrational and ridiculous. It also turns out that the solutions it proposed for current social issues were strongly inclined towards individual responsibility, much less towards structural changes. This is another way in which the show acted as a defender of the given socio-political order.

The Co-Production of National and Technological Orders

Abstract This paper will follow the birth of Israel’s first military research organization, the Israeli Science Corps (“Hemed” in Hebrew), and present a glimpse at a formative moment in the creation of Israel’s military R&D system which is responsible for Israel’s leading role as an arms exporter and high-tech center. The article presents the historical context of Hemed’s establishment, explores the different actors involved in the struggle over its creation, and points to some of the reasons for Hemed’s success in becoming an important participant in arms production. The emergence of a new military R&D organization marked the rise and institutionalization of a new weapon-production culture promoting research, experimentation, and technological innovations. The outcome of this coalition between a group of scientists, a political leader, civilian industry, and academic institutions provides a case study in the co-production of new socio-political and technological orders.

The Phenomenon of Far-Right Extremism in Pakistan: A Myth or Reality?

The world has witnessed an increase in far-right extremism, particularly in Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, India, and the U.S. where far-right political parties have assumed power. However, the term "far-right extremism" is not frequently used in Pakistan and is generally considered synonymous with religious extremism or radicalization. This study explores the applicability of the term in the context of Pakistan to determine which political entities in Pakistan can be labeled as far-right political parties. The study observes increasing electoral support for far-right political parties in Pakistan, especially in the last general election held in 2018. Though the support increased, it failed to materialize in a tangible form as the far-right political parties could not win any National Assembly seat in the election. The paper concludes by arguing that the increase in the vote bank of far-right political parties in the last general elections was a temporary and politically-motivated phenomenon that capitalized on people's disillusionment towards the mainstream political parties. Nonetheless, the phenomenon has seriously disrupted the socio-political order in Pakistan, as witnessed in the recent violent standoff between the Government of Pakistan and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) protesters.

The Phenomenon of Far-Right Extremism in Pakistan: A Myth or Reality?

The world has witnessed an increase in far-right extremism, particularly in Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, India, and the U.S, where far-right political parties have assumed power. However, the term ‘far-right extremism’ is not frequently used in Pakistan and is generally considered synonymous with religious extremism or radicalization. This study explores the applicability of the term in the context of Pakistan to determine which political entities in Pakistan can be labeled as far-right political parties. The study observes increasing electoral support for far-right political parties in Pakistan, especially in the last general election held in 2018. Though the support increased, it failed to materialize in a tangible form as the far-right political parties could not win any National Assembly seat in the election. The paper concludes by arguing that the increase in the vote bank of far-right political parties in the last general elections was a temporary and politically-motivated phenomenon that capitalized on people’s disillusionment towards the mainstream political parties. Nonetheless, the phenomenon has seriously disrupted the socio-political order in Pakistan, as witnessed in the recent violent standoff between the Government of Pakistan and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) protesters.

Freedom‐amelioration, transformative change, and emancipatory orders

Abstract“Freedom” is a fundamental political concept: contestations or endorsements of freedom‐conceptions concern the fundamental normative orientation of sociopolitical orders. Focusing on “freedom,” this article argues that the project of bringing about emancipatory sociopolitical orders is both aided by efforts at engineering fundamental political concepts as well as required by such ameliorative ambitions. I first argue that since the absence of ideology is a constituent feature of emancipatory orders, any attempt at bringing about emancipation should leverage genealogical approaches in order to debunk existing ideological freedom‐concepts, which can occur only by exposing the discursive functions these have come to serve for the (re‐)production of dominant power relations. I then suggest that establishing and sustaining an alternative, ideology‐free conception of “freedom” is a steeper task. Ensuring widespread uptake of any ameliorated concept is contingent on effective change in the relevant social environment. Where fundamental political concepts such as “freedom” are concerned, effective intervention in the relevant social environment requires radical sociopolitical change. But if such change can be brought about and enables the widespread uptake of an “improved” freedom‐concept, the concept's content comes to reflect changed social facts, thereby stabilizing the particular emancipatory sociopolitical order which has newly arisen.

Sexual Violence Within the Socio-Political Order

Sexual Violence Within the Socio-Political Order

«A school gives knowledge. Knowledge gives strength. Strength gives power...»: on the history of the activities of the Borys Grinchenko «Prosvita» Society in the Salzwedel camp for Ukrainian captives in Germany (1916-1917)

The article reveals the specifics of the activities of the Borys Grinchenko «Prosvita» Society,which led to the establishment of the People's School with the same name in the Salzwedel camp (Germany). The initial phase of its activity was marked by significant difficulties due to the reluctance of some captives to visit it due to fear of reprisals from the Russian tsarism (after their returning home). But in consequence to the explanatory work of the members of the Educational Department Union for the Liberation of Ukraine and the Ukrainian most active members in the camp, this fear was overcome, after which the number of students began to increase steadily. During 1916-1917, hundreds of Ukrainian captives graduated from the Borys Grinchenko People's School, who received not only basic knowledge (writing, reading, arithmetic) within its walls, but also gained the understanding of many phenomena of political and social life and, in addition, mastered the basics of agronomic and exact sciences. The school initiated profound changes in their consciousness, making school graduates an integral part of the Ukrainian world, the political component of which was mercilessly persecuted in Russia, and therefore forced to choose their «place under the sun» on German soil. The Borys Grinchenko People's School became one of the most powerful system-forming national factors in the camp, which created the Ukrainian environment through its very work. Within its walls - sometimes even against their will – the prisoners began to realize the injustice of the socio-political order in tsarist Russia and to understand the ultimate need to separate Ukraine from the imperial centre with its subsequent acquisition of the sovereign status. In this way, all the time the School and its pedagogical staff significantly participated in the process of forming the national-state worldview of those Ukrainian captives who sought education, fully fulfilling their patriotic duty to their Motherland.

Война в контексте проблемы социокультурного порядка

Introduction. The philosophical reception of the foundations of the social and the principles of war act as connected processes. A historically specific type of socio-cultural being generates a unique way of philosophical articulation about the nature of the order of society and culture, war and peace. The purpose of the study is explicating the connection between the type of conceptualizing war (classical, total, new war) and understanding the principles of social order. Methods. The author uses methods of the historical and constructivist approach as the leading methodology in studying the problem of the war and the sociocultural order connection. Scientific novelty of the research. By highlighting the strategic principles of different theories of war (classical trinitarian war, the concept of total war and mobilization, the theory of “new wars”), the connection between the order of war and the fundamental foundations of society and culture at different stages of historical development is shown. Results. Consideration of the three theories of war allows us to present them as different projects for understanding the socio-cultural order of the Art Nouveau philosophy. The author highlights and analyzes the leading provisions of historically different theories of wars: “war as a continuation of politics”; “the totality of war and mobilization” as the basis of the socio-political order; “new war” as a concept of cultural turn. Conclusions. Modern studies of war are distinguished by an active appeal to understanding the connection between armed clashes and the concreteness of cultural life, which sets the context, way of thinking and actions of potential actors in military operations. The article shows that current theories and practices of war are characterized by a kind of coexistence of layers of social reality that are different in their historical depth.

ПРОБЛЕМА МОЖЛИВОСТІ ДІАЛОГУ І ВЗАЄМОРОЗУМІННЯ З «РУССКИМ МИРОМ»

In the article, the Author analyzes the problem of "deafness" and "blindness" in relation to the realities of the Russian-Ukrainian war. These phenomena are characteristic of everyone involved in the "Russian world", regardless of origin, including ethnic Ukrainians. They cannot be explained only by powerful propaganda. The author believes that it should be about the inability of individual "functionalists" of the "Russian world" to think independently, to understand the positions of the bearers of other worldview paradigms, to fully communicate. The Internet contains tens of thousands of examples that clearly confirm the validity of the theses outlined above. Telephone conversations of Russian soldiers between themselves and with their loved ones, which were intercepted, testify to the same. Adequate assessment of the situation is often characteristic of representatives of the Russian so-called "opposition elite". The results of sociological polls, regularly conducted by the independent "Levada Center", also testify to the inability of the absolute majority of the population of Russia to understand reality, replacing such an understanding with the reproduction of the dogmas of the "Russian world". The author believes that this is explained primarily by the nature of the existing social order in Russia. This system is often called authoritarian or "extreme version of authoritarianism". From this, it is concluded that it is enough to achieve a change of power, the dismantling of the repressive apparatus and the cessation of propaganda, so that Russia moves on the path to democracy. Such a theoretical position seems wrong, since it should be about totalitarianism. Authoritarianism is a political regime, and totalitarianism is a comprehensive socio-political order, and this concept is much broader than a regime. The main difference here is that a totalitarian mythological reality has established itself in Russia, which cannot be rationally deconstructed and abolished by some political act; it can only be destroyed together with the Russian/Soviet Empire. The bulk of Russians are completely immersed in this mythical reality, which is both their external and internal world. Therefore, not only a full-fledged dialogue, but even any communication is impossible, neither with Putin personally, nor with the "collective Putin", which makes up the majority of the population of Russia. What Ukraine and the world need is not the preservation of imperial Russia, even in a simplified version, but its final and complete dismantling.

Konceptualizacja „powinnego” ładu socjo-politycznego w państwach zachodnich w dobie XIX-wiecznych przemian w myśli krakowskiego konserwatysty Henryka Lisickiego

The article presents the views of the representative of Krakow conservative – Henryk Lisicki on the subject of nineteenth-century socio-political changes in Western Europe. His reflections focused on the search for stability of the internal order of those countries, conducted from a moderately conservative position. This meant criticizing the extreme models of socio-political orders that he believed the experience of personal monarchs, an egalitarian republic or authoritarian military dictatorships had brought. In the context of his reflections, the "should" political model was the constitutional monarchy, ensuring the balance of society (even within a strongly diversified one, under the influence of contemporary economic changes), guarantees of civil rights as well as centers of power: the monarch and the representation of the general public, i.e. parliament.

УЧАСТИЕ РЕЛИГИОЗНЫХ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЙ В ПРАЗДНОВАНИИ ДНЯ ПОБЕДЫ КАК ЭЛЕМЕНТ ГРАЖДАНСКОЙ РЕЛИГИИ В РОССИИ

The study focuses on the interaction between the state and religious associations in the Russian Federation at the present stage. The subject of the study is “civil religion” / “civil cult” as a special set of practices and ideas that serve to reinforce and justify the existing socio-political order. The article raises the question of the presence of civil religion in Russia and the degree of integration of traditional religious denominations into its established practices. The main objectives are to consider the main characteristics of “civil religion” and “celebration” as key categories of research, to give a historical overview of the institutionalization of Victory Day celebration, to investigate the degree of integration of traditional religions in Victory Day celebrations. The article considers some events organized and held as part of the Victory Day celebrations at the Victory Park memorial complex on Poklonnaya Hill in May 2022.

Design in Iraq: Discourse and its Contextual Transformation

ABSTRACT This study tackles the topic of design in Iraq: its emergence and its signification of modernity since the post-independent era, during which Iraq was a regional center of pioneering Arabic movements in modern literature, arts, and architecture. Emergent design practices are visible in architecture and urban planning, which were delivered by key international architects. This study presents a historical account and contextual analysis of the vital contributions that these designs made to supporting the Iraqi modernity project. Moreover, it indicates the significant role and strategic domination of the sociopolitical order in shaping design practices and education in the country. Methodologically, this study draws from unstructured conversations with members of the Iraqi design community, followed by thematic and context analysis to identify design discourses transformation. The analysis demonstrates that in Iraq design: (a) is a signifier of modernity; (b) contributes to the enhancement of cultural identity and industrialization; (c) has been redirected toward patriotism; and (d) now suffers from decline and chaos.

Urbanisation at Sannati (c. 300 bc–c. 300 ad): An Early Historic Buddhist Settlement in North Karnataka, India. A Comparative Perspective

Urbanisation has been studied almost from the middle of twentieth century by historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists and city planners who have interpreted it variously. An urban centre would engage with specific functions particularly with regard to the hinterland. In urbanisation comparatively small settlements and simple communities develop into specialised centres and complex societies. As the process of urbanisation is examined from an archaeological or historical viewpoint, the major parameters frequently applied to situate urbanisation are location and size of settlements, large structures, art, writing and standardised medium of exchange. The issue of urbanisation has been studied in detail with respect to Northern India as compared to Deccan and particularly Karnataka. Sannati (Taluk Chittapur, district Gulbarga) in North Karnataka is the main site of investigation. It is a Maurya-Satavahana settlement with some remains belonging to the megalithic Iron Age. Sannati and the nearby settlements of Kanaganahalli are rich in Buddhist structures, sculptures and other antiquities. The author has made an effort to understand if the early historic material culture showed maturity when compared with the antecedent cultures. How did the external powers, such as Mauryas and the Satavahanas influence local development? Did the socio-political order meet the benchmarks of urbanisation? The author in this study has tried to locate urban contours in North Karnataka, especially at Sannati even when compared with other urban landscapes in northern India and the Deccan.

Life Uprooted. Social and Moral Challenges of Woe

Entering into dialogue with Simone Weil, this article contributes to the identification of woe as a social and psychological phenomenon that should not remain hidden and minimized anymore. Affliction is described as a kind of extreme suffering that causes a partial or total loss of self-appropriation (the possibility of inhabiting the own self and the world), self-blame and self-shame. Moreover, it is accompanied by social degradation, marginalization, guilt and shame, such that institutions and even social theories can feed its perverse inertia. Woe has such overwhelming destructive power that any socio-political order that causes it should be completely reformed. Because of its opacity, it poses a considerable moral challenge too, one that I propose to tackle by exploring the possibilities of compassion, care and attention as resources for moral agents. Finally, only by restoring the conditions for a re-rooting in life and in the world is it possible to re-appropriate one’s self lost in malheur.

Ecologies of ‘Dead’ and ‘Alive’ landmines in the borderlands of Myanmar

AbstractThis article deals with a question foregrounded by historian Willem van Schendel in his seminal 2002 article ‘Geographies of Knowing, Geographies of Ignorance’: how do arms, arms flows, and associated regulatory practices reshape the geometries of authority and power in borderlands? The rich transdisciplinary literature on borderlands has fruitfully deployed van Schendel's insights to re-spatialise areas and states but has devoted scant attention to such question. Drawing from ‘new materialist’ scholarship in IR and the concept of scale in political geography, the paper argues that fluid and fractionally coherent combinations of weapons as technical objects that come from somewhere, rationalities, and techniques of arms control reproduce multiple scales of territorial authority and struggles over scaled modes of governing violence in borderlands. Such struggles of scales and about scale constantly reconfigure the territorial arenas of authority on violence at the edge of the state. Based on fieldwork in Ta'ang areas of northern Shan State, Myanmar, the article develops an empirical analysis of encounters between explosive devices/landmines and the subjects and spaces they target. Delving into the processes and practices of ‘making’ and controlling the ‘landmine’, I find that different socio-political orders confront themselves through rationalities, techniques, and practices of humanitarian arms control via which they navigate/jump across scales, forge new ones, or mobilise multi-scalar alliances. Different types of ‘dead’ and ‘alive’ landmines nonetheless defy these attempts at rescaling territorial authority over violence by acting in unforeseen manners at the scale of their own ecologies of violence.

#MbokodoLeadUs: the gendered politics of black womxn leading campus-based activism in South Africa’s recent university student movements

ABSTRACT South Africa has a patriarchal tendency to treat womxn as beneficiaries of protest and activism rather than as agents in the construction of a new socio-political order and as drivers of change through protest. This paper examines the internal gender tensions within South Africa's 2015-2016 student movements including how these tensions materialised publicly; in a sample of university campuses and in the media. The complex particularities of young black womxn who are agitating for an intersectional approach to protest - one that privileges gender - and an end to patriarchy and misogynoir in these movements is observed. Content analysis of self-articulated goals, mission statements on various media and case studies are detailed where black womxn activists constitute majority membership in movements even as they remain disenfranchised in their operationalising. To counter marginality, black womxn student activists' interventions demonstrate a new radical political autonomy that embraces an inclusive feminist ideology.

The Adat Aceh

ABSTRACT After the fall of Melaka to the Portuguese in 1511, Aceh began to assert itself as a formidable Malay sultanate. After annexing Pasai and its neighbouring polities in 1524, Aceh gradually replaced Melaka as the centre of the Malay world. The Aceh sultanate held elaborate ceremonies and celebrations, which involved the playing of music in street processions as part of its royal adat or customs. This was seen as an important visual and aural representation of the ruler’s authority and presence towards not only its people and other regional sultanates, but also foreign visitors. The nobat, a court musical ensemble, was central to a Malay royal institution, revered for its mystical powers and ability to consolidate and maintain socio-political order. The use of the nobat and other instruments in the Acehnese court ceremonies was documented in a 17th-century text called the Adat Aceh (Customs of Aceh). This article looks into the text and its musical content, supported by European accounts, in analysing the important role of music in the adat and istiadat of the Acehnese court.

The Legal Implication of Political Defection on Nigeria’s Democracy

The prevalence of cross-carpeting in Nigerian politics continues to threaten the consolidation of democracy in the country. It is strengthened by the proliferation of political parties devoid of entrenched ideology or political philosophy besides attaining political and economic powers. The unusually delayed justice in defection related matters sometimes occasioned by the pile of cases before the scanty judicial umpire in the country is another block of stumbling over. The technical approach of these umpires to cases of defection or constitutional matters may not be far from being a cloak on the wheel of justice. While the elected executives at the detriment of their electorates enjoyed the freedom of assembly and association in changing their political parties after the election, the exercise of the same right by the elected members of legislative houses are subjected to certain occurrences in justification or else vacate their seats on the pronouncement of their respective leaders in the house. This historical political menace persistently thrives in the country's fledgling democracy without adequate legal instruments for effective redress. Through the conceptual approach, the study reveals that the elected executives persistently swindle the mandate of their voters with impunity while the principal officers of the parliaments freely decide who remains or exits the house on the ground of defection. It is clear that the Nigerian Anti Defection Law is inadequate in the changing political landscape of the country. This paper recommends a law reform to affect some enactments, particularly in the Constitution whereby machinery for the vacation of a seat in the parliament after defection can be beyond the powers of the principal officers, which is necessary for the attainment of socio-political orders in the country.

Внутреннее варварство как фактор упадка цивилизации

The study aims to determine the essence of internal barbarism and formulate its typology. Novelty lies in identifying the role of internal barbarism in the crisis of the civilised society and its further destruction under the influence of external barbarism. This mechanism operates according to the same principles in any era. As a result of the study, such types of internal barbarism have been identified as the corrupt elite and the impoverished common people consumed with unrestrained acquisitiveness, countercultural movements and revolutionary factions that are unable to accept the existing socio-political order.