scholarly journals Maidan and the Politics of Change: Meaning, Significance, and Other Questions

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Bohdan S. Kordan

<p class="EW-abstract"><strong>Abstract:</strong> Responding to a regime that failed to meet the needs of society, the Maidan materialized as a genuine expression of civic resistance and democratic renewal. Placing the individual at the centre of political life not only marks the revitalization of Ukrainian civil society but also serves as a legitimate basis for the transformation of the political order. The Maidan—its values, principles and ethos— offers a framework by which Kyiv might meet the twin challenges of reform and war.</p><p class="EW-Keyword"><strong>Keywords:</strong> Euromaidan, European Union, Geopolitics, Russia, Ukraine</p>

Author(s):  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Nicolai Von Eggers

In this text, Giorgio Agamben argues that the concept of democracy attests to a political, ontological amphibology: on the one side, democracy describes a constitution of a political order (and in this sense it belongs to public law); on the other side, democracy is a certain form of administration (in which case it belongs to administrative practice). It is argued that this amphibology can be located in the political theories of Aristotle and Jean-Jacques Rousseau who have been instrumental in forming our present conception of politics. Consequently, we misunderstand the fundamental nature of politics, and any hopes of genuine political life must therefore break with this tradition of Western political philosophy.


1997 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 899-920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Kingsley Malarney

Recent Research On The Emergence Of civil society in Asia has illustrated that a range of nonstate actors have begun exercising a demonstrable influence on the politics of many countries in the region. Whether it be such grand manifestations as urban white collar workers or students mobilizing in South Korea to end the rule of Chun Doo Hwan (Lee 1993, 351); the urban Thai middle class uniting in the spring of 1992 to end the authoritarian Suchinda regime (Paribatra 1993); the more assertively political groups such as nongovernmental organizations in Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan working to protect the environment (Lee 1993; Paribatra 1993; Weller and Hsiao 1998); or the more prosaic groups of Chinese factory workers, entrepreneurs, crime syndicates, or qigong devotees slowly reworking the state's boundaries (Chamberlain 1993; Madsen 1993; McCormick, Su and Xiao 1992; Perry 1993; Wank 1995), nonstate actors are challenging the state's control over political life and attempting to redefine the political realm in ways that accommodate their own needs and interests. In Viet Nam, as Carlyle Thayer notes, the development of civil society is at a “nascent” stage in which there is still “little scope for the organisation of activity independent of the party-led command structures” (Thayer 1992, 111). However, despite their relative organizational weakness, Vietnamese citizens have begun asserting their own voice in politics. Emboldened by the 1986 Renovation (Dô'i Mó'i) policy's agenda toward “‘broadening democracy’” (Turley 1993a, 263), many Vietnamese have taken advantage of this opportunity to participate more directly in the political process.


Author(s):  
Ilya Kiva ◽  

The article considers the peculiarities of the introduction of high moral aspects of the political and social system of the European Union in the national system of public influence on the activities of law enforcement agencies. It is established that the implementation of legislative norms and provisions of the European Union in the legal system of Ukraine is the basis of the European course and further effective application of the principles of state regulation of law enforcement. It is substantiated that the activity of the police is subject to clear regulation both in the member states of the European Union and in Ukraine. Therefore, the organizational and legal support of public authorities in determining the procedure for recruitment, dismissal, receiving incentives for professional tasks corresponds to the principles of civil society. The public and its influence on law enforcement are correlated with law-centrism. It is noted that the influence of the community on the activities of law enforcement agencies is identified with respect for legal norms and regulatory framework. It is emphasized that decentralization, which is being introduced in the member states of the European Union, aims at equal distribution of powers between police bodies and, as a consequence, improvement of public law enforcement communication. In Ukraine, on the other hand, there are similar transformations in the legal framework of civil society cooperation with the police: the idea of decentralization corresponds to the Euro-Atlantic course, which is the guiding one, in the context of shaping state policy for Ukraine. It is pointed out that the process of perception by the police and structural units of law enforcement agencies of the European Union member states of the influence of civil society on the style of their functioning is a process of democratization of the socio-political system.


Author(s):  
Boris P. Guseletov ◽  
◽  

The article is dedicated to the analysis of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership program in the post-COVID period. It considers the main features of that program in modern conditions and further prospects for its de- velopment, taking into account the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for the European Union and the countries participating in this program. The author analyzes the EU leadership attitude to the individual participants of the program and identifies priorities in relation to the various countries represen- ted in it. To overcome the social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission decided to provide financial assistance to the participating countries, but the amount of the assistance for individual countries depended on the state of relations between the European Union and the leadership of those countries. It is proved in the article that the European Union currently has the most favorable relations with three countries parti- cipating in the program: Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, which have openly declared a policy of rapprochement with the European Union in the political and economic fields. The author outlines positions of all the countries and their expectations of participating in the program in the nearest future as well as in the longer term.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Gelles ◽  
Mariusz Kozerski ◽  
Joanna Trajman

A comprehensive study analysing the problem of political scandals in FRG from the political, historical, sociological and media perspective. The publication pinpoints the causes and the consequences of political scandals in the country established as a mature democracy with a well-functioning civil society. It analyses the influence such scandals exert on the political scene and stability in the country and shows the dynamics of political careers, linked to the mechanisms of scandalizing inappropriate behaviour of those participating in political life.


Author(s):  
Mason W. Moseley

The fifth chapter introduces the case of Argentina, a country where protest has taken root as a common characteristic of everyday political life over the past two decades. The chapter begins by analyzing the history of protest from Carlos Menem’s election in 1989 to the current Fernández de Kirchner government, arguing that it has indeed crystallized as a routine form of political participation in this regime. I attribute this trend to the weakness of political institutions and strength of Argentine civil society: the two pillars of the protest state. I then proceed to utilize survey data and protest events count data to support this argument, demonstrating that not only has protest become more common over the past two decades, but that it has consolidated as a common mode of political voice for Argentine citizens across demographic groups and the political spectrum.


2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Ashmore ◽  
Jeremy A. Sabloff

Ancient civic centers materialize ideas of proper spatial organization, among the Maya as in other societies. We argue that the position and arrangement of ancient Maya buildings and arenas emphatically express statements about cosmology and political order. At the same time, the clarity of original spatial expression is often blurred in the sites we observe archaeologically. Factors responsible for such blurring include multiple other influences on planning and spatial order, prominently the political life history of a civic center. Specifically, we argue here that centers with relatively short and simple political histories are relatively easy to interpret spatially. Those with longer development, but relatively little upheaval, manifest more elaborate but relatively robust and internally consistent plans. Sites with longer and more turbulent political histories, however, materialize a more complex cumulative mix of strategies and plausibly, therefore, of varying planning principles invoked by sequent ancient builders. We examine evidence for these assertions by reference to civic layouts at Copán, Xunantunich, Sayil, Seibal, and Tikal.


1977 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-382
Author(s):  
Rollin W. Workman ◽  

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mona Khneisser

The Lebanese scene has witnessed important developments since the onset of the garbage crisis, particularly in the translation of ‘civil society’ activism and political disaffection into ‘alternative’ realms of political mobilization and participation. The social movement scene witnessed for the first time on such a large scale the multiplication of campaigns denouncing the political order. However, groups’ contending strategic and ideological orientations raised tensions between tendencies hoping to focus singularly on the garbage crisis and others hoping to place the crisis within its larger structural context. The Hirak’s (movement) inability to affect change compelled several activists towards reformist agendas through the electoral process and logic of gradual ‘change from within.’ The most prominent electoral initiative sought to reclaim the city and representative politics under the name (‘Beirut, My City’). The municipal electoral campaign, however, sidelined contentious political issues and structural inequalities vested in the city in favor of an accommodating developmental programe. Following months of deliberation, Beirut Madinati decided to ‘remain at the local level’, while some of its members joined force with other groups to form nationwide parliamentary electoral alliances, alongside a nascent ‘political party experiment,’ Sabaa (Seven). Exploring the recent developments in ‘alternative’ collective action in Lebanon, this research makes use of a content analysis of Facebook campaigning posts and interview data to study actors’ contending relations to ‘the political.’ The research concludes that rather than reconcile citizens with political participation, nascent groups that claim to represent ‘alternatives’ to the ‘corrupt’ political parties and sectarian political order, instead advance a consensual understanding of politics and social change that is more techno-moral and less contentious.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Machiel Karskens

With the help of J. Habermas and M. Foucault, it is argued that the idea of Europe is, first of all, the ideal of an unlimited civil society. Human rights, the rule of law and the legal European institutions are its political backbone. The European Union itself is somehow the realization of this ideal conception of a borderless, unlimited society. It is argued that the European Union in this respect is a heterotopia within the bordered and sovereign member states themselves. Seen from the outside, however, and in the world of geopolitics, Europe is a political power with closed borders and excluding frontiers. In this respect the European Union is a continuation of the old European Balance of Power.


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