Socio-political Position Research Articles

Общественно-политическое и правовое положение осетин Южной Осетии как подданных Грузинского государства (XII–XVIII вв.)

The article examines a little-known historical and legal problem related to the citizenship of the South Ossetians of the Georgian feudal monarchy and Georgian kings. The little-researched problem raised seems not only relevant from the point of view of Russian history and jurisprudence, but also interesting from the socio-political position of today, when relations between Georgians and Ossetians have significantly deteriorated not only because of the genocide organized by the Georgian authorities against South Ossetians in 1920, 1989-1992 and 2008, but also the complete separation of South Ossetia from genocidal Georgia. The article is debatable, but the facts presented here seem convincing and reasoned.

Development of linguistic critical consciousness of multilingual preservice teachers of color

ABSTRACT To ensure equitable access to education for emergent multilingual learners, teachers should hold certain beliefs (Lucas et al., 2015) about language, including sociolinguistic consciousness, a value for linguistic diversity, and knowledge of the sociopolitical positioning of language (Lucas, 2011). This study examines possible effects of critical language awareness (CLA) (Fairclough, 1992) coursework on the development of critical consciousness related to language, identity, ideologies and culturally sustaining pedagogies multilingual preservice teachers of color. The research question is: What are some effects of the CMLA coursework on multilingual preservice teachers’ perceptions about the following measures: language ideologies, supporting students’ multiple languages outside the classroom, advocating for students’ multiple languages in the classroom, and critical perspectives? ANOVA analyses on pre- and post-survey data from 48 preservice teachers suggest that CLA coursework had a significant impact on three of the four critical consciousness measures, at varying levels of significance. This study shows that critical content delivered through well-designed pedagogical treatments can help improve preservice teachers’ understanding of the language use in their future classrooms, empower them through reflection on their language, identities, and ideologies, and guide them toward more asset-based approaches to teaching and learning.

Are You Our Sisters? Resistance, Belonging, and Recognition in Israeli Reform Jewish Female Converts

The religious conversion process is a significant expression of an individual’s intention to gain a new religious identity and be included in a particular religious community. Those who wish to join the Jewish people undergo giyur (conversion), which includes observing rituals and religious practices. While previous research on Jewish conversions in Israel focused on the experiences of persons who converted under Orthodox auspices, this study analyzes the experiences of female immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) and the Philippines who chose to convert through the Reform Movement in Israel. Based on qualitative research, we discovered that the non-Orthodox process, which is based on liberal values, not only grants converts under the aegis of Reform entry to the Jewish people, but promotes their affiliation with the Reform Movement and advances their acculturation into Jewish Israeli society. Their choice is a political decision, an act of resistance against an Orthodox Israeli religious monopoly, and an expression of spiritual motivations. The converts become social agents who strengthen the Reform Movement’s socio-political position in Israel, where it struggles against discrimination. Furthermore, since most converts are women, new intersections between religion, gender, and nationality are exposed.

From speculation to revolution: Edward Dembowski’s unrealised potentials on the verge of the Spring of Nations

In the article, we reflect on why the philosophy of Edward Dembowski (1822–46), who has been described in historical literature as a Marxist avant la lettre, has theoretically unrealised potential. In order to achieve this goal, we will undertake a contextualist reading of Dembowski's published work, identifying in it a multiplicity of potentialities rather than the prospect of a one-sided development. Thus, we argue that there were at least four seeds that could have flourished in his intellectual biography: (1) Hegelian, (2) a critic of liberalism, (3) a utopian, and (4) a standard-bearer of the Polish revolutionary movement(s). We conclude by arguing that his specific socio-political position in the borderlands of East Central Europe prevented him from realising any of these potentials or developing a framework to unite them into a coherent theoretical position.

Leading to Literature Review for Scientific Research

Literature reviews are closely related to the results of previous studies (articles) published by researchers in journals of national and international repute. A literature review is conducted to connect research with a larger, ongoing dialectical space in the literature on a subject matter, fill gaps, and expand previous research. To disseminate scientific knowledge, it can provide researchers with an additional framework for determining the importance of research and benchmarks for comparing a study’s results with other findings. This study model is based more on the results of previous research relating to public perceptions of female ulama in Aceh. The position of ulama in the society concerned is seen as a status (socio-political position) that allows Muslims to achieve the achievements of charismatic, traditional, and rational authority. The issue of the position of ulama in this community has increasingly received attention from many social levels, especially since the politics of Islamic law were socialized and used as a means to change the image and views of the outside community towards Islamic practices in society that is undergoing a transitional process. This includes groups of women who have the potential to occupy ulama positions.

Political Self-consciousness of Captured White General Staff Officers Based on the Materials of Soviet Questionnaires of the Early 1920s

Based on Soviet questionnaires of captured White General Staff officers of the early 1920s kept in the funds of the Russian State Military Archive, this article considers the problem of political self-identification of the “former” officers in Red captivity. The survey of former Whites was carried out to account for them. Sections of questionnaires about the prisoners’ attitude to the events of the February and October Revolutions, as well as about their current beliefs were of particular importance for assessing their views. The analysis of questionnaires as a mass historical source makes it possible to get an idea of the sociopolitical position of the group of captured White General Staff officers. On most issues, the prisoners’ views converged. As a rule, they accepted the February Revolution and did not accept the October Revolution. Also, they were highly critical of the old regime. Explanations of the reasons for the rejection of the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks are of considerable interest. For many, an acceptable answer was an indication of a lack of understanding of the tasks of the new revolution. At the same time, some pointed out the real reasons for such rejection, i.e. the Red Terror, the collapse of the old army, and the hard Brest peace treaty. The strategies used by the questionnaire compilers in answering acute and potentially dangerous questions draw the researchers’ attention. Often, the answers indicated that the revolution was of a popular nature, and the author of the questionnaire sought to serve the people or welcomed the rule of the people and was in solidarity with the policy of the RCP(b). Some authors, not wanting to express their true views, declared the need to work honestly for the benefit of society. The “former” tried to give answers that would appeal to the new superiors and regulatory authorities, which would allow them to integrate into the command structure of the Red Army more quickly and remove from themselves the discriminatory status of former White officers who were on special registry.

The Constructed and the Real in Mediatization: Interpretation of the Second World War by the West and Russia

The construction of discourse as a method of influence in the modern media space is becoming increasingly widespread. The influencing potential of discourse is revealed through modelling the evaluative interpretation of a discursive attractor event in the mass media space. This study identifies and demonstrates the features of constructing new value systems of an attractor event in media discourse to shift ideological values and rewrite historical facts from a given ideological position. The object of the study is the referent of the events of the Great Patriotic War (World War II), the anti-Russian interpretation of which is presented in the resolution of the European Parliament “On the importance of preserving historical memory for the future of Europe” and the statement of M. Morawiecki to the response statement of V. V. Putin at the informal CIS summit. Axiological analysis, interpretive analysis in line with inference, cognitive modelling, critical discourse analysis and the deconstruction method have been used as the research methods. The study demonstrates how this resolution and Morawiecki's statement construct a false interpretation of the historical facts of the Second World War to shift the addressee's values, activating linguistic-cognitive mechanisms: spin-doctoring, focusing, defocusing, framing, reframing, positioning, imagineering. As a result of the study, conclusions are drawn about the potential of discursive tools for ideological influence on the addressee.
 It has been revealed that the renomination and revaluation of catastrophic events in the past, which are the addresser’s imagination, are presented as reality. An alternative scenario of the past is constructed, which is presented as the real state of affairs, which can confuse the recipient with a reduced level of criticality when perceiving the suggested information. Consequently, it is assumed that the addresser’s manipulative influence is aimed at changing the addressee’s values. The development of discursive technologies to change the socio-political positions of the uncritically thinking addressee and the formation of anti-Russian axiological orientations of the younger generation contribute to the displacement of higher values, and the arbitrary interpretation of historical facts in the West is becoming regular. The presented cognitive models of new constructed political positions contain axiological attractors, linguo-cognitive mechanisms and discursive strategies identified in the process of analysis.

Countervailing Claims: Pro-Diversity Responses to Stigma by Association Following the Unite the Right Rally

Why do firms take positions on divisive social issues? In this article, I draw on theories of stigma by association to explain why firms’ mere proximity to controversial political actors may lead stakeholders to presume that firms silent on social issues are misaligned with the stakeholders’ sociopolitical preferences. Firms, in turn, countervail these presumptions of misalignment by eschewing silence and claiming sociopolitical positions. Substantiating this theory in the context of employee recruitment following the 2017 Unite the Right White supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, I show that Charlottesville’s employers combated presumptions that they shared demonstrators’ anti-diversity positions by making countervailing pro-diversity claims in their online job postings. In supplementary analysis, I show that the rally was associated with a newfound wage premium in job postings by Charlottesville’s employers but that this premium was lower when employers made pro-diversity claims. This study advances understanding of strategic sociopolitical positioning whereby firms make calculated appeals to stakeholders. It contrasts with related research showing that firms use social claims to combat negative evaluations resulting from their own actions or to differentiate from competitors. In doing so, it suggests opportunities for further research investigating, for example, additional motivations for firms’ sociopolitical positioning, how positioning might evolve in the context of growing political polarization, and how positioning might relate to workplace inequality and diversity.

Perception of socio-economic and political situation in Russia by student youth of the southern region (based on regional studies)

The relevance of researching the perception of socio-economic and political processes in the country by the youth is driven by a social demand to understand the readiness of young people to participate in the country’s economic development, its political life, acceptable forms of migration and civic behaviour, and the level of protest potential. The aim of this article is to identify the interconnection of trends in evaluations by student youth regarding the socio-economic and socio-political situation with characteristics such as dependence on socio-psychological well-being, financial status, trust levels in political institutions and the political course, migration and protest attitudes. The empirical basis of the analysis comprises data from studies conducted among student youth of the Southern region of Russia from 2017 to 2022 by the Southern Russian branch of the FCTAS RAS. The analysis revealed the ambivalence of the state of public consciousness among student youth, both in their assessment of the socio-economic situation and the socio-political position in the country. Despite students’ uncertain future perceptions, their migration attitudes have hardly changed compared to 2017, aligning with nationwide tendencies. It was established that the student youth of the Southern region of Russia does not display significant interest in politics (similar to the broader Russian population), yet concurrently expresses a higher level of personalised trust in the President of Russia and the military, more so than in the overall political direction of the authorities. Ideas of social justice, freedom of speech, and expressing political stance resonate with students from the Southern region of Russia, as well as fostering friendly relations with the West. A trend was identified over the last 5 years of reduced ratings in the ability to express political views while having a high level of legal consciousness, alongside a growth in the acceptability of unlawful forms of protest due to increasing distrust in the government and its political course.

Niger Delta Subaltern Agency and Resistance in Obari Gomba’s The Ascent Stone and Stephen Kekeghe’s Rumbling Sky

This article applies the theoretical positions of some scholars from the Subaltern Studies Collective to the reading of poetry by Niger Delta writers. I argue that the Niger Delta people are subaltern in the Nigerian national space due to their disadvantaged sociopolitical position as well as the resource conflict that has left the region at the mercy of the state and its agents. With insights from the writings of Ranajit Guha, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Gyan Prakash, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Partha Chatterjee, I read the subaltern themes of agency and resistance in Obari Gomba’s The Ascent Stone and Stephen Kekeghe’s Rumbling Sky. In adopting this framework, I draw from Guha’s original theorisation of peasant insurgency and the structure of power as well as later theorisations of relational power discourse and subaltern agency. My close reading of selected poems reveals the figure of the Niger Delta subaltern as the architect of their own destiny and whose resistance haunts the dominant discourse of the nation. The notions of insurgency, the nation and its fragments, failed revolutions, and relational power discourse are deployed as hermeneutical strategies. My adoption of this theoretical approach recovers its insights for the reading of literary works by writers from minority groups.

Network human capital formation in the conditions of digital transformation of economy

The article reveals the pattern of network human capital formation. Network human capital has been proved to be closely connected and conditioned by digital transformation. On this basis, the relationship between network human capital formation and digital human capital has been substantiated. The purpose of the article is to consider a number of basic theoretical, methodological, and empirical foundations in the field of analysis of network human capital formation. Based on the analysis of a number of key studies in the area, it has been concluded that in the modern network economy, network human capital is determined by one of the most important strategic assets of organizations. It has been proposed to use the methodology of the Network Readiness Index to quantify network human capital. The theoretical and practical value of the proposed approach lies in the application of a methodology that gives priority to the human factor of network readiness and reflects the impact of individuals’ choices regarding technologies and management methods on innovative networks creation in the process of innovative technologies development and implementation. The emerging concept of network human capital is aimed at overcoming the digital inequality and using the Internet to implement positive social changes. This concept considers digital education in the context of the formation of an active socio-political position of human influence on society development.

‘Musahar’, in Uttar Pradesh: A Caste Searching for its Identity in Contemporary India

Caste-class nexus, a discourse which never gets old in a highly stratified country like India. Within every level of stratification, a dominant caste had formed its class and a mechanism for discrimination within caste and social groups. From the 1950s onwards in India, voting and identity politics played a crucial role in the strong caste-class phenomenon. This discourse had forced some caste groups to remain at the bottom of the hierarchy, and one such caste is Musahar. They are one of the most discriminated social groups, a marginalised dalit caste, (dalit among dalits), officially ex-untouchables, sufferers of extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition and commonly known by the name ‘Musa-har’, which means rat-eaters, they are primarily found in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Among the dalit fold, they are at the lowest rung of the caste hierarchy mostly agricultural labourers. This article is an ethnographic study conducted in four villages in Jaunpur district. This article will be focused on the sociopolitical and cultural aspects of the Musahar in their day-to-day lives. A section of this article is dedicated to the identity crisis among Musahar castes occurring as a result of their lower sociopolitical position in the caste hierarchy. After the pandemic, the socioeconomic status of Musahar is more deteriorated due to the unavailability of essential services in their locality, and a section of this article assessed the implementation of government policies before and after the pandemic.

Global Health Initiatives: The University of Minnesota Experience in Karnataka, India

Features| April 2023 Global Health Initiatives: The University of Minnesota Experience in Karnataka, India James V. Harmon, MD, PhD, FACP, FACS; James V. Harmon, MD, PhD, FACP, FACS Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Kanchi Muralidhar, MD, PhD; Kanchi Muralidhar, MD, PhD Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Twinkle Agrawal, MBBS, MD; Twinkle Agrawal, MBBS, MD Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Kumar G. Belani, MBBS, MS, FACA, FAAP, SAMBA-F Kumar G. Belani, MBBS, MS, FACA, FAAP, SAMBA-F Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar ASA Monitor April 2023, Vol. 87, 20–21. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ASM.0000924976.71277.4d Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Cite Icon Cite Get Permissions Search Site Citation James V. Harmon, Kanchi Muralidhar, Twinkle Agrawal, Kumar G. Belani; Global Health Initiatives: The University of Minnesota Experience in Karnataka, India. ASA Monitor 2023; 87:20–21 doi: https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ASM.0000924976.71277.4d Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll PublicationsASA Monitor Search Advanced Search Topics: india, world health The University of Minnesota (UOM) established the Office of International Medical Education and Research (IMER) in 1998 to fulfill its mission of international health to promote medical student education, clinical experiences, and research for graduate, postgraduate trainees, and faculty. Due to the wide-reaching impact of the specialty, an anesthesiologist was appointed to the executive committee. India is currently the largest world democracy and was chosen for partnership sites given its rich culture, economic and sociopolitical position, large rates of fluency in English among health professionals, and relative safety for trainees and faculty (asamonitor.pub/3JVem2k). Strong relationships between institutions in India and the Department of Anesthesiology at the UOM facilitated collaboration between the Indian College of Anaesthesiologists (ICA), ASA, and the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia (SAMBA), fostering partnerships between these professional societies. This report provides valuable information for anesthesiologists interested in global health. It provides an example of sharing and... You do not currently have access to this content.

Феномен абречества на Северном Кавказе как форма социального протеста в конце XIX – начале ХХ вв.

Introduction. The article examines the features of the abrek movement in the North Caucasus in the second half of the 19th century, which is interpreted as one of the forms of social protest. The author casts doubt on the scientific perspective of attempts to determine the beginning of the abrek practice in the region. At the same time, the hypothesis about its origin and connection with the custom of blood feud is supported. Materials and Methods. The author shows how the ideology of abrechestvo changed depending on the socio-political and economic situation in the North Caucasian region, and emphasizes the ambiguity of the perception by the local population of people who took the path of robbery. The study is based on the analysis of texts by domestic and foreign Caucasian scholars and materials obtained from the archival funds of the Central State Archive of the North Ossetia-Alania. Retrospective, illustrative and personal biographical methods were used as methods of historical and political research. Analysis. The author of the article draws attention to the ambiguous perception of the phenomenon of abrechestvo and the attitude towards it by various social strata of the population of the North Caucasus, as well as the discord in its assessment by Caucasian scholars who occupied various socio-political positions. In the eyes of the poor, the doomed were defenders of justice, while for the official authorities and local elites they were bandits and criminals. Abreks are assessed by Russian revolutionaries (E. Eshba, A. Sheripov), who shared the ideals of Marxist teaching and defined abreks as fighters against oppression and defenders of the social lower classes of society. The author also examines the image of the «noble robber» in folklore, where the abrek is endowed with the most revered traits by the general public - generosity, courage, selflessness. However, for the most part, real abreks did not always correspond to the qualities that were attributed to them. Often, the arbitrariness of the robbers forced people to get rid of them, including helping the official authorities track down and eliminate abreks. Results. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that as a result of a fundamental change in the socio-political, economic and cultural paradigm in the North Caucasus, there are noticeable transformations in the practiced protest forms used by the population defending their right to identity. In the historical period under review, the abreks acted as defenders of «traditional values», sought to prevent the introduction of elements of capitalist modernization into everyday life, a certain part of the mountain society, the least prepared to accept the changes that were taking place.

Colonialism, Domestication, & Extinction: A Pre-Mortem for Our Ecological Futures

This paper engages with Ghassan Hage’s concepts of ‘ungovernable waste’ and ‘generalized domestication’ to think critically about the sociopolitical position and futures of farmed animals in the context of ongoing climate and ecological crises. Against the erasure of farmed animal subjectivities, we posit that there is much to learn by turning to farmed animals as sources of wisdom, as unique knowers with lessons to teach us about extinction. We consider how Andil Gosine’s radical suggestion to embrace animality as a refusal of the civilizing discourses of colonialism, and as an act of solidarity with nonhuman animals, constitutes a critical step towards realizing multispecies justice and a move towards interspecies solidarity with farmed animals. Here Gosine provokes us to reconsider our attitudes towards animals facing extinction in varying contexts under colonial-capitalism.

Литературная личность А. М. Ремизова в сибирской периодической печати 1910-х гг.

Based on the material of publications published in the central Siberian periodicals, the article examines critical reception of Alexei Remizov’s works. Particular attention is paid to the analytical reviews of Elena A. Koltonovskaya, a Moscow columnist who collaborated with the Tomsk newspaper Sibirskaya zhizn’, and Nikolai F. Chuzhak-Nasimovich, a leading journalist and critic of the Irkutsk newspapers Vostochnaya zarya, Sibirskie otgoloski, Irkutskoe slovo. Remizov’s works “The Indefatigable Tambourine” and “The Cross Sisters” are analyzed in the context of the realistic and modernist approaches of critics to art, critics’ dialogue with representatives of the literary environment of Central Russia. As an example of a lively reaction to Remizov’s works, the author of the article presents the view of an anonymous reader, who opposed the Irkutsk critic on behalf of the local intelligentsia, called “The Indefatigable Tambourine” “the delirium of a madman” thus demonstrating not only an absolute rejection of the writer’s artistic style, but also unwillingness to perceive new literary trends. The author devotes a separate analytical section to the reviews of Remizov’s works, presented sporadically and written without interest in the writer’s personality and works; Remizov’s legacy was analyzed in the context of the creative approaches of his contemporaries. Particular attention is paid to the parodies published on the pages of the newspapers Sibirskie otgoloski (Tomsk) and Vechernie izvestiya (Irkutsk) in 1910 and 1918. In line with the editorial policy of the newspapers, oriented mainly towards the mass reader, who got an idea of the writer from publications in the press, parodies of contemporary authors’ works were perceived as a vivid characteristic, a kind of a literary portrait. The texts dedicated to Remizov ridiculed the specificity of his language and style, the peculiarities of his creative manner. His socio-political position, which was voiced in one of the key and iconic texts of the revolutionary time, “The Commandment to the Russian People”, was presented to the reader in an absolutely destructive ironic manner, distorting Remizov’s idea. As a result of the analysis, the author came to the conclusion about the formation of a controversial opinion about Remizov’s art, which developed both among the profane readers and the intellectuals. On the one hand, the analytical performances of Koltonovskaya and Chuzhak- Nasimovich contributed to the emergence of a deep and conscious appreciation of Remizov’s works; on the other hand, sporadic parodic critical responses deprived the reader of the opportunity to form a holistic view of the constants of the writer’s artistic world. Unlike numerous reviews published in St. Petersburg and Moscow, where Remizov’s artistic practices were perceived in the context of the contemporary historical and literary atmosphere, and the critics were analyzing the genesis of the author’s creative world, the publications of Siberian journalists aroused in readers feelings of antipathy, misunderstanding and rejection of Remizov’s manner rather than a desire to comprehend the specifics of the writer’s gift.

Formation and Creation of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijani SSR (1920–1945) in the Works of Azerbaijanian and Foreign Scientists

In this article the author examines the historiography on the problem of formation and creation of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1920-1945. The aim is to summarise the available literature on the subject, to analyse the works on the history of the foundation and the first years of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan and to show the development of the research interest in this field. This article examines the works of Russian, Soviet, and international historians of science. Soviet historiography was based on communist methodology. Soviet publications were characterised by the use of a large number of published documents and statistical materials. The issues of the development of science, the scientific intelligentsia, scientific personnel, research work; the activities of public organizations of the intelligentsia; the organization of science in various branches and periods of the development of Soviet society were actively studied. Particular attention was paid to the system of Party and state management of science, policy in the field of its organisation, the attitude to the old scientific intelligentsia, the composition of scientific employees and the conditions of their work were analysed, and changes in their socio-political position were noted. During the Perestroika and post-Soviet periods, the tasks of studying the history of the organisation of science in the USSR expanded, new documents were introduced into academic circuit, many facts, events and names were restored, and the methodology and methods of research were improved. The author shows that post-Soviet Azerbaijani historiography of the formation and establishment of the Academy of Sciences, although it inherits the Soviet one, in many ways offers not only new approaches to understanding the history of its foundation, but also a new research topic. By the quantity and quality, time range, geography of publications by Azerbaijani, Russian and international historians, it can be argued that the problem of the formation of the Academy of Sciences is one of the areas of Azerbaijani historical scholarship.

Общественно-политические воззрения Е. Замятина

The aim of the study is to identify the evolution of the socio-political views of Ye. Zamyatin, a Russian writer of the first three decades of the XX century. The paper attempts to formulate the writer’s views in their entirety, to explain the reason for his internal contradictions that appeared under the influence of the historical epoch and political cataclysms; to substantiate the emergence of the author’s main worldview ideals. The study is novel in that it determines the singularity of the writer’s socio-political views and their evolution on the basis of his journalistic writings, correspondence and prose fiction, considers Ye. Zamyatin’s creative work in the context of Russian history, culture and literature, identifies the writer’s connections with socio-political and literary groups, global philosophical thought. As a result of conducting a comparative analysis of Ye. Zamyatin’s works of various genres, letters, the researcher has determined the author’s holistic worldview position reflected in his articles and letters, in prose fiction, which became a continuation of the writer’s socio-political position.

ФІЛОСОФІЯ ФУНКЦІОНАЛЬНИХ ОСНОВ ДЕМОКРАТІЇ: ДЕЛЕГУВАННЯ ТА ВИБІР

The functional foundations of democracy, elections, and referenda as essential components of these foundations have been studied. The study of the phenomenon of democracy through the prism of disciplinary models, criteria, and priorities of philosophy is emphasized. The formation of «democracy» as a philosophical concept and a state management tool is analyzed. The meaningful place of the narrative of democracy in modern world order realities in general and in socio-political positioning in particular. The importance of the concept of «social contract» for modern democracy is substantiated: even though this concept was popularized by John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau during the Enlightenment, in our time, it has not lost its criterion significance and instrumental effectiveness. It has been proven that the logic of the transformational evolution of democratic procedures will, in the future, lead to the spread of the practice of electronic voting, the services of which are already used in many countries. It was found that the Ukrainian electoral system still needs to be ready for the full implementation of electronic voting. However, many significant steps have already been taken in this direction. A comparative analysis of election technologies and their application in pre-election and post-election political struggles was carried out. The difficulties of Ukraine’s democratic transition are summarized — in particular and, first of all, through the prism of the mechanism of delegation of powers and the tools of elections.

Refugee Education under International NGOs: A Major Shift from National Institutions to Patron–Client Relations

What happens when a group of structurally powerless refugees exist within a nation-state’s territory but outside its regulatory institutions? An empirical study of the education of Pakistani Christian refugees in Bangkok, Thailand, identifies an entrenched gap between the education provided by INGOs and Pakistani Christian refugee expectations of the academic education of their children. We generalise from the specific problem of the entrenched educational discrepancy to a deeper structural inequality by using a ‘realist conceptual methodology’ characterised by the type of co-dependency found in the historical form of patron–client relations. The patron–client relationship is the outcome of being placed outside a nation-state’s institutions and the co-dependence that the relationship itself creates between the INGO providers and the refugees. We suggest that patron–client theory is a useful conceptual tool with which to explain the sociopolitical position of groups today who find themselves placed outside a modern nation-state’s institutions.