Search results

This research focuses on the role played by youth religious organizations in the shaping of young people's social capital in Romania. Based on a series of interviews and focus groups with young people engaged in religious organizations and the leaders of those organizations, we find that youth religious socialization is an important process in creating or reinforcing social and political values, and thus, it may be conducive to social capital. Although nuanced comparisons across denominations are difficult to make due to the unavailability of data, a distinction seems to appear between Orthodox and Catholic religiously active youth. For example, while young people in Catholic organizations are encouraged to forge relationships with people outside their organizations (bridging social capital), those belonging to Orthodox groups tend to keep to themselves, and, at times, even employ a strict access policy for newcomers wanting to join (bonding social capital). Conclusions suggest the need to approach the effects of youth religious socialization in a nuanced way.

Higher social capital is often associated with better quality of democracy (Putnam 1993, Warren 2001). Social capital is a unique type of resource in the sense that the more it is used, the more it becomes available, and therefore it is important to explore how social capital can be generated. In this paper, we evaluate the potential that churches and religious organizations present in creating social capital. We identify structural constraints faced by churches and religious organizations engaged in this process. We argue that institutional survival concerns and social understandings of the roles played by religion and church in democratic societies may influence the potential for social capital to be constructed in the context of religious participation as well as the type of generated social capital. Moreover, we also discuss the implications of epistemological choices on measuring the relationship between church participation and social capital, and advocate methodological diversity and interdisciplinary research initiatives, at times, in the detriment of generalizability.

This article asks if the measures of human capital, ethnic diversity, and gender equality from 1930 explain current levels of human capital in Romania, while also assessing the role of macro-regional differences in the manifestation of historical legacies. We focus on human capital, measured by educational attainment and by conscientiousness, a personality trait we estimate using a behavioral measure. The analysis is based on a recent large-scale national survey from 2019–2020 and census data from 1930. We find that contemporary human capital levels are influenced by a combination of factors, including historical human capital levels, ethnic diversity, and gender equality. Additionally, we show that the long-term impact of these factors can vary by region. Specifically, our study identifies four distinct long-term effects within the historical region of Transylvania and two in the rest of the country. In Transylvania, the present educational attainment is shaped by both the 1930 literacy rate and gender equality, while in the other regions, only the literacy rate exerts a statistically significant influence. Similarly, when it comes to current levels of conscientiousness, Transylvania's levels are affected by both the 1930 literacy rate and ethnolinguistic fractionalization, whereas in the rest of the country, only ethnolinguistic fractionalization has a statistically significant impact.

AbstractObjectiveThis study investigates how transnational families function as advocates, channels, and iterators of children's rights in the context of digital communication.BackgroundTransnational parents are involved in practices of doing family through digital copresence, in doing rights toward society and coagency among family members, creating a rights context.MethodData were collected in Moldova and Ukraine through 102 semistructured interviews and 10 focus group discussions with adults and children in transnational families and caregivers, and 24 interviews with experts from local and national authorities as well as NGOs.ResultsTransnational parents represent their children by engaging in digital communication practices with institutions and maintain family togetherness through involvement and support of children within transnational family relationships. Communication with institutions is burdened by distrust of and constraints regarding information and communication technologies (ICT) access, the limited availability of adults as interlocutors for daily communication, and deliberate nontransparency of communication at both ends.ConclusionDigital communication offers families the capability to represent children's rights externally, and to create internal family togetherness as a potentially new register of presence, articulated by the limits and specificity of the mode of communication employed.ImplicationsInclusive digital communication capacities of transnational family members necessary for the practice of family togetherness, exercise of parental responsibilities, and support for children's participation should be enhanced on both ends as well as within and without the family.

Illiberalism recently became a favorite catchphrase of several political actors around the world. Although not necessarily precise, the term conjures alternative understandings of democracy, by contesting the inherent need of a democratic political system to be intimately tied to liberal values. This lack of precision is often instrumentalized to boost popular support for taking measures leading to discrimination and resisting or even fighting pluralism. This text aims to familiarize the reader with the existing conceptual debates surrounding the concept of illiberalism, while also offering a glimpse into the causes responsible for its popularity. Theoretical knowledge is then juxtaposed with information regarding an awareness raising project aiming to fight illiberalism in countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The conclusion stresses the need for communication and education campaigns regarding the perils of illiberalism, especially in the more fragile democratic contexts of post-communist Europe. Citizens need to be aware of how illiberalism endangers democracy and have at their disposal mechanisms for raising awareness regarding illiberal measures taken by various governments. Keywords: illiberalism, Central and Eastern Europe, post-communism, democracy, awareness-raising project, civil society