The Palestinian Authority (PA) has perhaps never been so embattled, polarizing, or internally fragmented. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), the PA has cut itself off from Gaza, and reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah continues to be elusive. Regionally, the PA has never been as alienated from its Arab allies. New leadership in key states, such as Saudi Arabia, eager to kowtow to the Trump Administration and find common ground with Israel on the issue of Iran, has led to disastrous shifts in Arab policy and discourse on Palestine. The rush to normalize with Israel is on, emboldening the Israeli occupation forces. Increased repression in these normalizing states also means a near systematic state-level campaign of repression aimed at curtailing pro-Palestinian voices. Internationally, the rise of right-wing fascistic elements in a number of countries has narrowed the opportunities available to the PA to apply pressure on Israel. Moreover, the frequent charge of anti-Semitism, so often a disingenuous red herring, has become a useful tool to silence voices of opposition regarding the Israeli occupation, leading to unprecedented attacks on free speech and freedom of assembly in the US, UK, Germany, and elsewhere. Thus, even though the Israeli occupation is increasingly unpopular amongst the public, "lawfare" strategies have had the effect of chilling activism on Palestine, including sometimes successful attempts at passing anti-BDS legislation. Most important in these current conditions is the further rightward shift of the US in regard to Israel-Palestine, with Donald Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, at the reins. Together they have decimated international institutions and allowed Israel to behave with even more impunity than it had enjoyed previously. As such assaults on Palestinians intensify, the PA finds itself losing key reservoirs of support. Yet in the face of these myriad challenges, the PA has not sought to repair or strengthen relations with its own people or those who advocate for them. Rather, it has become increasingly authoritarian, to the detriment of Palestinians and their relationship with those claiming to represent them. Though the PA may continue to operate and be recognized as the de facto authority in the occupied West Bank despite the local, regional, and international geopolitical transformations described above, as this state of affairs continues it may lose all relevance in the negotiation process and as a representative of the Palestinian people. This commentary first discusses the disconnect between the PA and the Palestinian citizens under its control. It then examines how international involvement, in particular increasingly harmful US policy, has helped to shore up this disconnect, as such involvement has rendered the PA progressively repressive and divisive. This has made political activism in the OPT more difficult. However, while the PA is at a critical and daunting juncture, this moment can be used to restructure state-society relations between the PA and Palestinians, both in the OPT and the diaspora. Palestinian civil society also has the chance to unify in its fight against both the occupation and the harmful PA leadership. Unless such developments occur, dynamics of stagnation and futile politics will likely continue.
Die Untersuchung ging der Frage nach, ob es der Politik mittels Veröffentlichungen in den sozialen Medien oder den führenden Printmedien Österreichs besser gelingt, die jeweils andere Seite in deren Themensetzung stärker zu beeinflussen. Des Weiteren sollte auch erfasst, werden, welche Problem- und Lösungsverantwortlichen die jeweiligen Seiten nennen. Die Überlegungen beruhen auf der Agenda-Setting Theorie (McCombs & Shaw 1972) und auf der Framing-Theorie, die mit einbezieht, welche Aspekte eines Themas als Problem präsentiert und welche Lösungen vorgeschlagen werden. Dabei sollte auch die Rolle rechtspopulistischer Politkommunikation in den sozialen Medien näher untersucht werden: Erwartet wurde, dass FPÖ und Strache mehr erfolgreiches Agenda-Setting bei Medien betreiben als andere Parteien und häufiger Zuwanderung als Problem nennen. Zur Beantwortung der Fragen wurde über den Zeitraum von 24 Tagen eine Inhaltsanalyse der Facebook-Einträge der wichtigsten Parteien und PolitikerInnen, sowie ausgewählter Tageszeitungen Österreichs durchgeführt. Erfasst wurde, wie viele Aussagen zu bestimmten Themen pro Tag veröffentlicht wurden. Zusätzlich dazu wurde für ein Thema erhoben, wie oft die Quellen bestimmte Gruppen als Problem- bzw. Lösungsverantwortliche nannten. Es konnte kein Einfluss der Medien- auf die Politagenda nachgewiesen werden. Abseits der NEOS, bei denen ein signifikanter Beitrag zur Medienagenda nachgewiesen werden konnte, blieb auch der Einfluss der Politik auf die Medien gering. Die Politagenda war als Ganzes nicht in der Lage, zur Erklärung der thematischen Zusammensetzung der Medienagenda beizutragen. Ein Ergebnis der Untersuchung war, dass sich bei Beschränkung auf das Thema Einwanderung ein Einfluss von FPÖ und Strache auf die Medienagenda nachweisen ließ. Die Auswertungen zu den von Politik und Medien identifizierten Problemen und Lösungen beim Thema Einwanderung bestätigen auch die vermutete populistische Kommunikationsstruktur von FPÖ und Strache. ; The study addressed the question of whether politics, through postings on social media, or the leading print media in Austria better manage to influence the other side in their agenda setting. Furthermore, it should also be measured which problem definitions and treatment recommendations were stated by the respective sources. These considerations were based on the agenda-setting theory (McCombs & Shaw 1972) and the framing theory, which considers which aspects of a topic are presented as a problem and which treatment recommendations are proposed. At the same time, the role of right-wing populist political communication in social media should be examined in more detail: It was expected that the FPÖ and their party leader Strache would achieve more successful agenda-setting in the media than other parties and that they also would more often call immigration a problem. In order to answer these questions, a content analysis of the Facebook entries of the most important parties and politicians as well as selected daily newspapers of Austria was carried out over a period of 24 days. It was recorded how many statements were published on specific topics per day. In addition, for one topic It was measured how often the sources called certain groups a part of the problem or responsible for the solution. No influence of the media on the political agenda could be proven. Apart from the party NEOS, for which a significant contribution to the media agenda could be demonstrated, the influence of politics on the media remained weak. The political agenda as a whole was unable to contribute to the explanation of the thematic composition of the media agenda. One result of the study was that, when restricted to the topic of immigration, an influence of the FPÖ and Strache on the media agenda could be demonstrated. Evaluation of the problems and solutions identified by politics and the media on immigration also confirm the assumed populist communication structure of the FPÖ and Strache. ; Mag. Manfred Herzog, BA ; Zusammenfassungen in Deutsch und Englisch ; Abweichender Titel laut Übersetzung des Verfassers/der Verfasserin ; Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Masterarbeit, 2019 ; (VLID)3531388
The article is dedicated to researching the 25th anniversary of the restoration of free Lithuanian press in Latin characters, celebrated in 1929. The research is aimed at elucidating the initiators of celebrating the anniversary, finding out who the organizers were and how the celebration in question succeeded. The conducted research showed that the very first initiators were the Kaunas city intellectuals, who established the special committee, named Komitetas spaudos atgavimo 25-mečio minėjimui. The main members of the committee were widely known persons – Vaclovas Biržiška, Petras Ruseckas, Vincas Vileišis, Juozas Žiugžda and Balys Žygelis. The Committee started to spread the idea of the celebration. One of the most important publications published by the Committee was the P. Ruseckas Proclamation for the Society, which presented appropriate ways to commemorate the anniversary of free press. After all organizational procedures had been finalized, the Committee organized a great celebration on May 9th, 1929. As the Committee started to organize the anniversary, another organization emerged. On March 22nd, the Association of Lithuania's Journalists separated from Writers' Association. From the first day journalists decided to organize press anniversary celebration – The Press Ball. Aided by the right political wing, including the President of the Republic Antanas Smetona and the Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras, the Lithuanian journalists organized an even greater ceremony. It was held on May 18th, with the Prime Minister attending as an honourable guest and delivering an opening speech. During the ball, the journalists expressed an idea to publish four issues of a 4 page newspaper, covering the information about the ceremony and guests. Unfortunately, only 2 issues were published. However, it is difficult to compare these two celebrations, because the Committee had no political support and no financial foundation while the journalists were supported by the government. The two previously mentioned celebrations were held in Kaunas, but the idea to celebrate anniversary gradually spread in the whole country. Various organizations in smaller cities and even in the then occupied Vilnius organized celebrations. In the Šiauliai central city square, 4 Press Oaks were planted as a memorial of the period when press was prohibited. In Vilnius, the memorable part of the celebration was a huge exhibition with a great number of publications issued during the press prohibition times. Thus, a widely commemorated anniversary began a new traditional celebration. ; Straipsnyje nagrinėjamas Nepriklausomos Lietuvos metais įvykęs pirmasis lietuviškos spaudos lotyniškais rašmenimis atgavimo minėjimas, jo organizavimas, eiga ir rezultatai. Gilinamasi į Komiteto spaudos atgavimo 25-mečio minėjimui veiklą, Lietuvos žurnalistų sąjungos indėlį spaudos atgavimo šventės minėjimo tradicijos atsiradimui. 1929 m. įvykęs lietuviškos spaudos atgavimo minėjimas, nors ir nesulaukė kryptingos valstybės paramos ir buvo surengtas vien iš visuomeninių paskatų, vyko gana sklandžiai. Organizatorių sugebėta atkreipti ir tarptautinį dėmesį. Lietuvos žurnalistų sąjunga sudarė konkurenciją kairiųjų politinių jėgų inspiruotam Komitetui, ėjo į glaudesnį kontaktą su Antano Smetonos autoritariniu režimu, tikėdamasi atkreipti dėmesį į tuometes Lietuvos žurnalistikos problemas. Lietuvos provincija, okupuotas Vilniaus kraštas ir lietuviškoji diaspora emigracijoje kūrė savo spaudos atgavimo minėjimo tradicijas.
Exit, Voice and Political Change: Evidence from Swedish Mass Migration to the United States. During the Age of Mass Migration, 30 million Europeans immigrated to the United States. We study the long-term political effects of this large-scale migration episode on origin communities using detailed historical data from Sweden. To instrument for emigration, we exploit severe local frost shocks that sparked an initial wave of emigration, interacted with within-country travel costs. Because Swedish emigration was highly path dependent, the initial shocks strongly predict total emigration over 50 years. Our estimates show that emigration substantially increased membership in local labor organizations, the strongest political opposition groups at the time. Furthermore, emigration caused greater strike participation, and mobilized voter turnout and support for left-wing parties in national elections. Emigration also had formal political effects, as measured by welfare expenditures and adoption of inclusive political institutions. Together, our findings indicate that large-scale emigration can achieve long-lasting effects on the political equilibrium in origin communities. Mass Migration and Technological Innovation at the Origin. This essay studies the effects of migration on technological innovations in origin communities. Using historical data from Sweden, we find that large-scale emigration caused a long-run increase in patent innovations in origin municipalities. Our IV estimate shows that a ten percent increase in emigration entails a 7 percent increase in a muncipality's number of patents. Weighting patents by a measure of their economic value, the positive effects are further increased. Discussing possible mechanisms, we suggest that low skilled labor scarcity may be an explanation for these results. Richer (and Holier) Than Thou? The Impact of Relative Income Improvements on Demand for Redistribution. We use a tailor-made survey on a Swedish sample to investigate how individuals' relative income affects their demand for redistribution. We first document that a majority misperceive their position in the income distribution and believe that they are poorer, relative to others, than they actually are. We then inform a subsample about their true relative income, and find that individuals who are richer than they initially thought demand less redistribution. This result is driven by individuals with prior right-of-center political preferences who view taxes as distortive and believe that effort, rather than luck, drives individual economic success. Wealth, home ownership and mobility. Rent controls on housing have long been thought to reduce labor mobility and allocative efficiency. We study a policy that allowed renters to purchase their rent-controlled apartments at below market prices, and examine the effects of home ownership and wealth on mobility. Treated individuals have a substantially higher likelihood of moving to a new home in a given year. The effect corresponds to a 30 percent increase from the control group mean. The size of the wealth shock predicts lower mobility, while the positive average effect can be explained by tenants switching from the previous rent-controlled system to market-priced condominiums. By contrast, we do not find that the increase in residential mobility leads to a greater probability of moving to a new place of work.
Exploring the insight of the butterfly effect from chaos theory, this article shows how technological transformation influences legal change. The argument is developed from a sociological and a historical perspective, comparing and contrasting social customs since the seventeenth century until today and showing the transformation of criminal offenses. In societies with a strict moral code, adultery, fornication, and sodomy were sexual crimes, even if victimless. After the sexual revolution, these conducts are no longer criminal. Explaining this phenomenon, the article identifies the change of attitude towards human nudity as an important factor and considers this change of legal culture to be a consequence of technological innovations related to personal hygiene, public health, and cleanliness. The taboo against nudity persisted because bathing was not considered healthy and there were no separate bathrooms in residences until the end of the nineteenth century. Examining nudism, the possibility of divorce and human rights protection, the article emphasizes the role of technology for the cultural revolution, and of culture for legal change. Another interesting example of the relationship between law and technology comes from the development of the automobile industry and the emergence of a series of laws to regulate exhaustively individual transportation. Moreover, the invention of antibiotics altered the expectation of the sick individuals who expect to be cured and, as a consequence, affected also the practice of torts and civil liability. The flap of wings of various butterflies led to the current setting. ; Tendo como ponto de partida o efeito borboleta desenvolvido através da teoria do caos, este artigo evidencia como a transformação tecnológica influencia a mudança do direito. O argumento é desenvolvido a partir de uma perspectiva sociológica e histórica, comparando e contrastando os costumes sociais desde o século XVII até os dias de hoje e como os tipos criminais foram sendo transformados. Em sociedades com código moral rígido, adultério, fornicação e sodomia eram crimes sexuais, ainda que não houvesse uma vítima. Após a revolução sexual, tais condutas não são criminosas. Explicando tal fenômeno, o artigo identifica a mudança de atitude com relação à nudez humana como fator importante e atribui essa mudança na cultura jurídica como sendo uma consequência de inovações tecnológicas relacionadas a higiene pessoal, saúde pública e limpeza. O tabu da nudez persistiu porque tomar banho não era considerado saudável e inexistiam banheiros separados nas residências até meados do século XIX. Examinado o nudismo, a possibilidade de divórcio e a defesa dos direitos humanos, o artigo enfatiza o papel da tecnologia na revolução cultural e da cultura para a mudança jurídica. Outro exemplo interessante da relação entre tecnologia e direito provem do desenvolvimento da indústria automobilística e do surgimento de uma série de leis para regular exaustivamente o transporte individual. Além disso, o advento dos antibióticos alterou a expectativa de doentes que esperam ser curados e, por consequência, afetou também a prática da responsabilidade civil. O bater de asas de diversas borboletas conduziram ao cenário atual.
The article "The Consequences of the WWII in the Memory Culture of Lithuania: Contexts, Evaluations, and Tangles" seeks to disclose tendencies and problems in a political, academic, and popular discourses related to the immortalization and evaluation of the WWII and its consequences in the memory culture of Lithuania and Central and Central East Europe (CCEE). These historical and methodological problems – first of all linked to the perception of totalitarianism and Stalinism – in this paper are named as an entangled memory. In order to mark the sharpest angles of an entangled memory, this paper proposes some reflections from different academic and institutional perspectives in Lithuania. First of all, what methodological tensions originated in the academic discourse after the Prague declaration (2008) and the various subsequent charters of the EU Parliament when the communist (Stalinist) crimes were compared to the Nazi crimes by politicians and academics from the CCEE region? Why this conception was ignored by the prominent Western (leftist and liberal) scholars, and what different roles the narrative of the Holocaust plays in Western and CCEE memory cultures? Secondly, why an attempt "from bellow" to immortalize the cultural memory about the Soviet crimes in Lithuania and the CCEE is perceived as a manifestation of the ultra-nationalism but not as anti-Communism, and vice versa, how the Communist experience, the resistance movements, and the cultural memory of the Soviet victims became the object of political manipulation within the CCEE countries (both in the Left and the Right wings)?I argue that an attempt to create the homogeneous "great historical narrative" about the Communist past has failed, but this is not seen as a disadvantage. Moreover, it is a consequence of the natural heterogeneity of the collective memories when different social agents (victims, collectives, nations, etc.) are competing due to the management of the various memory places (memorials, museums, commemorations, etc.) which could be perceived as a "dissonant heritage" (Tunbridge and Ashworth). The homogeneity of the post-war Europe's memory culture (Nazism and Holocaust vs. Communism and Stalinist repressions) is an unattainable goal, but a convergence towards the more intimate knowledge in the scientific discourse about these asymmetric totalitarian regimes is possible. The final chapter suggests that the critically re-evaluated concept of the totalitarianism paradigm is the most appropriate methodological instrument in order to understand the experience and history of Nazism and Communism in the 20th century. ; Straipsnyje siekiama apžvelgti pagrindines istorinės atminties kultūroje slypinčias įtampas ir problemas Lietuvoje, susijusias su traumine XX a. antros pusės Lietuvos ir Vidurio bei Vidurio Rytų Europos istorija. Straipsnis suskirstytas į penkias problemines dalis, jose analizuojamos Europos Sąjungos politiniu lygmeniu priimtos rezoliucijos ir deklaracijos, skirtos sovietinio ir nacistinio režimų vertinimui; nacionalizmo ir antikomunizmo santykiui Lietuvos ir Europos atminties kultūroje žlugus SSRS. Analizuojamos komunikacinės atminties ir gyvų totalitarinius režimus išgyvenusių žmonių liudijimų validumo ribos ir disonuojančios šių režimų įpaveldinimo tendencijos bei kylantys iššūkiai viešajame diskurse ir įamžinimo erdvėse. Paskutinis poskyris skirtas metodologinei totalitarizmo paradigmos kritikai ir jos galimybėms atminties kultūros tyrimuose unikalios XX a. epochos patirties kontekste.
Recent years have seen significant developments in the relationship between the Federal Government and the charitable sector in Australia. In particular, considerable growth in the income of charities has afforded them the possibility of engaging more closely with two key areas of non-traditional influence. The first of these areas is that of political advocacy. The second is the undertaking of business-like activities to raise funds for charitable causes, an approach termed 'social enterprise'. These developments have placed significant strain on the charitable sector's relationship with a Federal Government that is generally critical of and actively resistant to such expansion. With respect to the political activities of the charitable sector, the Government has pursued a number of different approaches to minimising its impact. The most overt of these means has been through direct correspondence between government ministers and members of parliament threatening to strip charities that engage in political advocacy of their deductible gift recipient (DGR) tax status. More subtle means have also been used. On top of proposed legislative restriction through the Draft Charities Bill 2003, the Government has recently commissioned a new peak representative body of the charitable sector to be known as the Not-For-Profit Council of Australia, comprised of more compliant and less politically vocal charities. In addition to this, the Howard Government initiated the Charities Definition Enquiry and another inquiry by the right wing think tank the Institute for Public Affairs (IPA), to help support its claim for advocacy undertaken by charities to be minimised. Similarly, the Government has been particularly active in undermining the development of social enterprise within the charitable sector. By way of intense regulation through the Australian Tax Office (ATO) overflowing into the court system, social enterprise has been actively discouraged. Moreover this opposition has also taken the form of preferential support of the competing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) model, in which charities and business are kept distinct. The motivations behind this Government opposition are diverse and complex. The resistance to political advocacy by charities in essence stems from both a desire to maintain its public reputation and a misguided view of the charitable sector as being self-interested, in line with public choice theory. In contrast, the motivations behind regulation of social enterprise have their foundation in maintaining the support of for-profit businesses. Additionally, suppression of social enterprise is justified on the grounds that favouring the for-profit model of business is the most effective manner in which to assist those in need. The implications for the charitable sector are overwhelmingly, though not exclusively, negative. The diminished political voice of the charitable sector effectively excludes those with relevant expertise and understanding from engaging in the formation of effective public policy. Moreover, the political voice of those in need is lost through the silencing of those that speak on their behalf. The Government's antagonism toward social enterprise may however open the door to financial independence for the charitable sector. Charities that are forced to rely on revenue from social enterprise in place of government grants may enjoy a greater degree of autonomy from government regulation and control.
Defence date: 11 December 2015 ; Examining Board: Professor Dirk Moses, EUI; Professor Alexander Etkind, EUI; Professor Martin Kohlrausch, KU Leuven; Professor Mitchell G. Ash, University of Vienna. ; Psychiatry, Society, and Psycho-Politics in the German-speaking Countries, 1918-1939 Since the emergence of the discipline, the diagnostic concepts of psychiatry, more than those of any other medical field, have always been closely connected to normative debates about society at large. This link never was more apparent than in the two decades between the world wars. Amidst the political and social unrest, German-speaking psychiatrists attempted to directly interpret, diagnose, and treat society and politics from the perspective of their own clinical experiences. Leading members of the discipline redefined its boundaries and its area of authority to target larger populations beyond the mentally ill, and even the body politic as a whole. While this expansion of psychiatry's area of expertise in the first third of the twentieth century has been noted by numerous scholars in the field, this is the first study that analyzes this process systematically and comprehensively. Using the concept of "psycho-politics" to describe the changing relation between psychiatrists and society in the period between the world wars, I maintain that these developments were neither monolithic nor disembodied processes. By situating different approaches in historical context, the thesis demonstrates how the social and political expansion of psychiatric expertise was motivated by very different reasons and took very different forms. I discuss three examples in detail: the overt pathologization of the 1918/19 revolution and its protagonists by right-wing German psychiatrists; the project of professional expansionism under the label of "applied psychiatry" in interwar Vienna; and the attempt to unite and implement different approaches to psychiatric prophylaxis in the German-speaking branches of the international movement for "mental hygiene." Throughout these three interconnected case studies, I make a point for the importance of individual agency in the history of the psy-disciplines. I use the example of a number of eminent psychiatrists to show how the projects mentioned above were linked to their individual biographies and careers, and how their approaches were shaped by individual experiences of the political events in the first third of the twentieth century. Moreover, the study contributes to a broader understanding of the twentieth-century history of the psy-disciplines in at least three ways. First, I unearth the almost forgotten histories of some of the most important scholars and ideas that defined psychiatry in the first half of the twentieth century. Second, I explore the early history of some the concepts that still shape the field to the present day, namely mental health, deinstitutionalization, and psychiatric prophylaxis, as well as the history of psychiatric notions of social and political life that still circulate today. Third, I also examine psychiatry's utopian promises, and show how the idea that the knowledge of the maladies of the human mind could pave the way to a better society could cut across contemporary political divides. The loftiest promises and the worst abuses of psychiatry were more closely connected than one might expect.
El análisis de la Guerra Civil Española es un tema relevante en la historiografía actual, por sus repercusiones, por su legado que inspiró obras inmortales y por convertirse en un referente para entender el tránsito de las dictaduras a las democracias. La lectura de esta guerra se divide en: los años de conflicto que corresponde a la historiografía del combate y aquella que cuestiona a esta historiografía. Una tercera lectura o emergencia de la historiografía científica, lectura actual, preocupada por la recuperación de los gastos y la memoria de la guerra y de la dictadura. Dentro de esta última lectura se busca reflexionar sobre el impacto de la Guerra Civil Española en los grupos de la sociedad peruana, ya que ella influenció en la configuración de la identidad social y política entre las élites y vastos sectores medios y populares peruanos. Lo anterior, a través de una bibliografía actualizada y abundante. España como referencia y el hispanismo como ideología, son vectores de cohesión dentro de una sociedad peruana multiétnica y católica. Lo ocurrido con la guerra no es indiferente entre los grupos sociales peruanos, lo que explica que los diarios limeños la difundieran y comentaran cotidianamente; de tal manera que estos grupos lograron configurar su situación y destino, dotando a su clase de un contenido especifico, para lo cual enfatizaron en las semejanzas entre la situación peruana y española, manipulando ideológicamente las consecuencias reales y potenciales del desenlace de la guerra, combinando realidades y fantasmas en la afirmación de su ideología de derecha. ; The Spanish Civil War analysis is a relevant topic in current histori aography because of its aftermath, its legacy which inspired immortal works and because it became a benchmarck for understanding the transition from dictatorship to democracy. The interpretation of this is divided into: the conflict years that correspond to the combat historiography and the interpretation that questions this historiography. A third reading or emergence of the scientific historiography, current reading, is concerned about cost recovery and the memory of the war and the dictatorship. Within this last reading it is important to reflect about the impact the Spanish Civil War had on the Peruvian social groups since it influenced in the social and political identity configuration between elites and vast Peruvian media and popular sectors. This can be done through an updated and abundant bibliography. Spain as a reference and Hspanism as an ideology are cohesion vectors in a multiethnic and catholic Peruvian society. What happened with the war is not indifferent between the Peruvian social groups which explain that Lima newspapers disseminated and commented it rutinarily in such a way that these groups were able to set their location and destiny, providing their class with a specific content for which they emphasized the similarities between the Peruvian and the Spanish situation, ideologically manipulating the real and potential consequences of the war outcome, combining realities and ghosts in the assertion of the right-wing ideology.
В постсоветский период членство в НАТО было для стран Балтии одной из основных задач евроатлантической интеграции. Политическое руководство Латвии, Литвы и Эстонии рассматривает участие в блоке как важный элемент евроатлантической солидарности, позволяющий претендовать малым со всех точек зрения странам на участие в решении глобальных проблем. Оно удовлетворяет запросам политических элит и вик-тимизированного общественного сознания на обеспечение безопасности, позволяет элитам позиционировать свои страны как форпост против России. Подобное мышление на протяжении всего десятилетия находило отражение в доктринальных документах и выступлениях политиков прибалтийских государств. Вступив в НАТО, страны Балтии стали наиболее активными сторонниками углубления интеграции в военной сфере и политики «открытых дверей» альянса. Они продолжают реформирование вооружённых сил, обновление военной инфраструктуры, приобрели «специализацию» в составе НАТО, создав центры передового опыта, участвуют в международных операциях. Наиболее значимой с точки зрения демонстрации евроатлантической солидарности являлось и продолжает оставаться участие в операции в Афганистане в составе Международных сил содействия безопасности. Однако только Эстонии удалось достичь уровня расходов на оборону в размере 2% от ВВП. В условиях «украинского кризиса» тема членства стран Балтии в НАТО приобрела особую актуальность. Конфронтационная риторика и апелляции к «российской угрозе» в Латвии, Литве и Эстонии, с одной стороны, позволяют руководству этих государств постоянно демонстрировать их значимость в глазах западных партнёров и требовать расширения присутствия альянса на их территории. С другой стороны, такой курс позволяет политическим элитам прибалтийских государств консолидировать электорат во время выборов и даёт возможность правоконсервативным силам обеспечивать своё пребывание у власти. ; In the post-Soviet period participation in NATO was one of the major goals of euro-atlantic integration for the Baltic states. Political leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have considered participation in the alliance as an important element of euro-atlantic solidarity which allows small from all viewpoints states claim decision-making over global issues. This satisfies demands of the political elites and victimized public consciousness for more security, makes it possible for elites to consider their states as bulwark against Russia. Throughout the whole decade, such reasoning has been reflected in doctrines and speeches of Baltic politicians. After joining NATO, the Baltic states became the most active supporters of a deeper integration in the military area and "open door" policy. They have continued reforming their armed forces and renovating military infrastructure. They have acquired "specialization" within NATO by establishing centers of excellence. In terms of euro-atlantic solidarity, the participation in the International Security Assistance Force in Afganistan has become the most important international project for the Baltic states. However, only Estonia managed to mount their defence expenses to the level of 2% GDP. During the "Ukranian crisis" the issue of Baltic membership in NATO acquired special importance. Confrontational rhetoric and appeals to "Russian threat" in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, on the one hand, make it possible for their political leaders to constantly demonstrate their importance in the eyes of Western partners and demand more activity of the alliance and, on the other hand, make ground for the political elites to consolidate the electorate, by that ensuring that the right-wing conservative forces remain in power.
This dissertation explores political representation and its manifestation within the European Union (EU). The main purpose is to examine the representative roles of Members of the European Parliament (MEP) in the context of cross–pressure between the national level and the EU level. This involves an analysis of how the MEPs under-stand their roles, how they organize their work, and how they have voted in the European Parliament (EP) in 1999-2002. It also includes a study of how national party organizations adapt to the EU environment and how this influences the MEPs link to the national arena. The study is based on various sources, such as interviews, formal documents and voting data. The most under-researched part of the cross-pressure has been the national link and the empirical focus of the thesis is on that link. It is a comparative study of parties in Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. In each country, three parties were selected (social democratic, right-wing and green parties). By using a focused comparative method, and by controlling for certain independent variables, the ambition is to go beyond description and identify explanations for why MEPs adopt certain roles. The overall picture that emerges is of a relatively weak link between MEPs and the national level. To a certain extent, MEPs express frustration over their limited role in the national arena and over the lack of input from the national arena in their work at the European level. Most of the parties struggle to include MEPs in their organizational set-up, and the MEPs experience a growing hostility within the parties toward them. In general, the lack of interest and knowledge in the national arena, concerning the EU in general and specifically the work of the MEPs, obscures the role of the MEPs. They become EU ambassadors at the national level, rather than elected representatives at the EU level. The dissertation also tests variables that are thought to influence MEPs' roles: the type of electoral system, popular opinion on EU issues, whether their party is in government, the party's ideological heritage, and if the party organizes more advanced coordination mechanisms. The main result is that the working assumption that MEPs are influenced by characteristics in the national arena is shown to be largely correct. That is, some of the identified aspects of the national political context do influence how the MEPs understand their roles. For example, the character of the electoral system influences attitudes among the MEPs. However, that relationship is not as simple and straightforward as much of the literature suggests. Rather, the results in this study suggest that the most important aspect of the relationship between the national level and the MEPs is whether parties or others (such as national parliamentarians) actively engage in the work of the MEPs. It matters how parties design the relationship between the levels, especially for how and where MEPs direct their main attention, but also in terms of how MEPs vote in the EP. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of further research into how parties facilitate the link between the national and the EU level.
Die Regulierung eines Marktes ist das Ergebnis eines komplexen Prozesses, der sowohl von politischen als auch wirtschaftlichen Kräften beeinflusst wird. In drei sich ergänzenden Essays wird die Frage ökonometrisch untersucht, wie die Wirkungen und die Leistungsfähigkeit von Regulierungen neu zu bewerten sind, wenn die betroffenen Unternehmen ihrerseits die Regulierung beeinflussen können. Der erste Teil behandelt die Liberalisierung des Markteintritts im Mobilfunkmarkt in OECD Ländern in den neunziger Jahren. Insbesondere wird analysiert, wie politische und bürokratische Institutionen und die politische Umgebung im Deregulierungsprozess gewirkt haben. Hier werden relevante, "stilisierte Fakten" herausgearbeitet: Länder mit Mehrheitswahlsystemen, rechenschaftspflichtigen Regulierungsbehörden und rechtsorientierten Regierungen haben den Liberalisierungsprozess stärker vorangetrieben, während Länder mit einer Consensus-Demokratie, einem Präsidialregime, einer Koalitionsregierung und einem starken ex-monopolistischen Anbieter eher weniger oder langsamer dereguliert haben. Der zweite Teil der Arbeit konzentriert sich auf das strategische Verhalten der Unternehmen und auf die Frage, inwieweit dieses Verhalten von der politischen und bürokratischen Umgebung beeinflusst wird, in der die Unternehmen operieren. Diese Problematik wird anhand des US-amerikanischen Mobilfunkmarkts am Ende der achtziger Jahre empirisch untersucht, wobei die Beziehung zwischen der Entscheidung über das Regulierungssystem und die Preisentscheidungen der Unternehmen im Mittelpunkt der Betrachtung steht. Es wird gezeigt, dass es den Unternehmen durch Ihre Lobbyingaktivitäten gelang, die Wahl des Regulierungssystems zu beeinflussen. Überprüft man die so getroffene Selektion, dann zeigt es sich, dass die Regulierung zwar im allgemeinen in die gewünschte Richtung gearbeitet hat, aber nicht sehr signifikant wirkte. Das Lobbying mancher Unternehmen war hierbei so erfolgreich, dass gerade solche Märkte nicht reguliert wurden, in denen es am effektivsten gewesen wäre. Im dritten Essay zusammen mit Astrid Jung wird die Beziehung zwischen dem Marktverhalten von Unternehmen und ihren Spenden an politische Parteien untersucht. Die empirische Analyse findet eine signifikante, starke und negative Verbindung zwischen Lobbyingausgaben und der Fähigkeit der Unternehmen Marktabsprachen abzuschließen. Das Ergebnis ist ein Hinweis darauf, dass geheime Absprachen auf dem Produktmarkt eine stärkere Gleichschaltung der politischen Ziele unter den Unternehmen fördert und damit weniger Lobbying nötig ist, um die so koordinierte Ziele zu erreichen. ; Regulation, like many other policy decisions, results out of a complex process that is shaped by political as well as economic forces. Therefore, regulatory decisions must be endogenized when studying their impact on the market outcome. This thesis offers various econometric approaches to study this issue. In the first contribution, I analyze how a country's political and bureaucratic institutions, as well as its political environment, affect the entry liberalization of the mobile telecommunications industry in OECD states during the 1990s. I found that majoritarian countries, countries with more accountable regulators, and countries with right-wing governments liberalized more intensely, whereas countries with consensus-type of democracies, a presidential regime, coalition rather than one-party governments, and a strong incumbent firm liberalized less. Next, I focus on the firms' strategic behavior and analyze how this is influenced by the political and regulatory environment. I use data from the U.S. mobile telecommunications industry in the late 1980's, which can be seen as a natural experiment because of its particular market and regulatory structure. The second essay studies the relation between the choice of a regulatory design and firms' pricing behavior. I show that, through their lobbying activities, firms endogenously influence the price-regulatory regime under which they operate. Accounting for this endogenous selection, price regulation is observed to decrease cellular tariffs. However, regulation is not particularly effective in reducing prices because firms prevent it from occurring where it would be mostly successful. In the final contribution together with Astrid Jung, we investigate the link between firms' political decision, i.e. their lobbying expenditures, and their product market conduct. The relationship between collusion and the industry's lobbying expenditures is strongly significant and negative: Higher lobbying expenditures foster a more competitive industry and collusive conduct reduces firms' contributions to the political system. The interpretation is that, if firms' political goals are not perfectly aligned, collusion in the product market reduces industry's total campaign contributions by enhancing firms' coordination in lobbying.
U radu se raspravlja delo Houstona Stewarta Chamberlaina kao najvažniji pokušaj da se razvije i sistematizuje rasistička teorija u Nemačkoj. Francuski rasizam, koji je imao dugu i bogatu tradiciju još iz starog režima, kanonizovan je u delu grofa Gobineaua polovinom 19. veka i u tom obliku je počeo da vrši uticaj na nemačku misao, prvenstveno kroz muziku i spisateljstvo Richarda Wagnera, kao i kroz raznovrsne aktivnosti njegovog, tzv. Bajrojtskog kruga. Iako će Gobineauov rasizam u mnogim ključnim segmentima odmah biti modifikovan i prilagođen nemačkim političkim, naučnim i umetničkim prilikama, nemački rasizam će se kao celovita i ideološki utemeljena teorija ('svetonazor') javiti tek kod Chamberlaina na prelasku iz 19. u 20. vek. Kasnije, ona će postati sastavni deo tzv. 'revolucije iz 1914.' i ratno-huškačke podrške nemačkom caru u Prvom svetskom ratu. Međutim, iako će izvršiti veoma jak uticaj na samog cara i - u izvesnoj meri - na javno mnenje, Chamberlainov diletantski svetonazor neće imati nekog većeg političkog značaja tokom Prvog svetskog rata. Prava recepcija Chamberlainovih ideja otpočeće nakon rata u radikalnim nacionalističkim krugovima Vajmarske republike. Njegova teorija o politici kao veštini pretvaranja nemogućeg u moguće bila je veoma popularna i uticajna među nacionalsocijalistima (naposletku, nju će iskoristiti Hitler radi legitimiranja prvo svoje borbe za vlast, a zatim i svojih ratnih ciljeva). Takođe će biti politički veoma značajno Chamberlainovo poimanje Jevreja kao 'totalnih' rasnih neprijatelja, veoma sličnih Sataninim ratnicima, koje mogu poraziti jedino Nemci u jednom apokaliptičnom 'konačnom obračunu'. ; The Work of Houston Stewart Chamberlain is discussed in the article as the most important attempt to develope and systematize racist theory in Germany. French racism, having long and rich tradition in ancient regime, has been canonized in the work of count Gobineau by the middle of the 19th century. In that shape, it begun to exert influence on the German thought, primarily through the music and writings of Richard Wagner, as well as through the various activities of his so-called Beyreuth-Circle. Although Gobineau's racism was immediately modified in many key segments and adapted to the German political, scientific and artistic circumstances, German racism was transformed into the comprehenisve and ideologicaly founded theory ('Weltanschauung') first by Chamberlain on the eve of 20th century. Later it became the part of so-called 'revolution of 1914' and warmonger support to Wilhelm II in the World War I. Although Chamberlain's dilettante 'Weltanschauung' made strong impression on the Kaiser, and - to a certain degree - on the public opinion, it failed to be of a great political importance during the war years. True reception of Chamberlain's ideas has begun after the war, in the radical right-wing circles of Weimar Republic. His theory of politics as the art of transforming impossible into the possible was especially popular and well-accepted among the Nazis (finally, Hitler made use of it first in legitimating his struggle for power, and later, his war ends). Politically important was also Chamberlain's view of the Jews as 'total' racial enemy, very similar to the satanic warriors, who could only be defeated by Germans in one apocalyptic 'final fight'.
When Flight Lieutenant J.J. Rawlings and a group of junior officers seized power in December 1981 from the corrupt Peoples National Par ty, their action was widely celebrated throughout Ghana. Their policies for progressive reforms and programme for the revolutionary transfor mation of Ghanaian society marked a high point in the politics of the country, comparable only perhaps with the heyday of Kwame Nkrumah and the Independence Movement.* But now, six years on, many of those involved in the 'December In tervention' have been forced into exile and others have been imprison ed, while national debate and criticism of the Provisional National Defence Council's (PNDC) government (a feature of the early regimen) is being stifled, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is gaining influence over economic policy. The most significant gesture of the PNDC's early commitment to working people was the proclamation of People's and Workers' Defence Committees in the cities and countryside. And it is their radicalising impact that has been slowly eroded since 1983. Initially, these committees, similar to the dynamising groups in Mozambique and Cuba functioned as social and economic units, setting in motion waves of radical popular action aimed at improving living conditions and confronting exploitative foreign companies and local bureaucracies. The consolidation of the popular committees was hindered by the ac tivities of right-wing infiltrators and by ultra-leftist initiatives — pro blems further compounded by numerous attempts, in 1983, to over throw the government. (The committees posed a serious threat to the neo-colonial order and the interests of foreign companies. The US, in particular, made a number of efforts to destabilise the PNDC and the revolutionary process.) Attempts to overthrow the PNDC were followed by government purges and the flight into exile of leading cadres of the Intervention. The popular committees were then restructured and deradicalised, with the emphasis being placed on economic productivi ty and 'national reconciliation'. The national secretariat of the popular committees was also dissolved. All this meant that the organisational base of the progressive movement in the government had been weaken ed. And the corporate power of the army, which Rawlings, particularly, had been so keen to transform into a popular political force, was re- affirmed. Within the PNDC and the Left serious disagreements emerged over a broad range of issues — the nature and pace of social and political change, the role of the army and its corporate power. But the most vex ed question was how to save an economy on the verge of collapse. After the failure to raise capital from non-western sources, appealing to the IMF appeared to most members of the reconstituted PNDC to be the most pragmatic option. Yao Graham, one of the leading figures of the 'December Interven tion', and author of the following article on Ghana's relationship with the IMF, in which he raises central issues about radical transformation in the Third World, is in jail. He has been detained without trial or even official acknowledgement since July 1987. Detained with him are pro minent journalist and broadcaster Kwame Karikari, trade union leader Adu Amankwa, former Secretary for Agriculture Ndebugre, Akoto Ampaw and Kwesi Pratt.
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Debates over foreign policy have played an unusually significant role in the intra-Republican party debate over the last year. Disagreements over aid for Ukraine were a driving force behind former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy's ouster from his leadership position last October. When Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) endorsed Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, he cited his foreign policy record as the primary reason, and Nikki Haley has made her aggressive brand of foreign policy central to her challenge to Trump.Now, the Republican Party will undergo another meaningful transition. Mitch McConnell, who has led the Senate Republican conference since 2007, announced last week that he will step down from his long-held perch following November's elections and retire from the Senate at the end of his current term. While McConnell's decision is not explicitly about foreign policy, it is a signal that the party's views on a number of major issues, including America's role in the world, are changing."It's a body blow for the establishment, interventionist wing of the GOP," Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of The National Interest and author of two books on Republican foreign policy, tells Responsible Statecraft.To be sure, there are other elements at play. McConnell is 82. He's had a number of health events in public in recent months. A Trump return to the White House looks like a distinct possibility, and, given McConnell's apparent distaste for the former president, the Kentucky Republican may not want to contend with the pressure of working with him for another four years. Nevertheless, there are reports that McConnell is considering endorsing Trump for a second term.The majority leader, however, has said that he will serve out the rest of his term, which expires in January 2027, so the decision was not entirely informed by his personal life. "It suggests to me that some of this does have to do with the changing composition of the Senate Republican Conference," Jim Antle, executive editor of the Washington Examiner magazine, tells RS.The dynamics of that changing composition are clear: During a vote in the Senate last month on legislation that would provide foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel, 18 of the 30 Senators who were first elected before 2016 supported the bill; only four of the 19 who came to office since voted in favor.McConnell's Foreign Policy LegacyThe post-Trump years have been atypical for McConnell. During his nearly 40 years in the Senate and his 16 years as party leader — the longest such tenure in history — McConnell has rarely made foreign affairs a policy priority and has, despite criticism from conservative activists, laboriously tried to avoid inserting himself into intra-party disputes.But after his relations soured with the former president, McConnell became a symbol of the Republican old guard in Washington that was working to reverse Trump's effects on the party — with a focus on one issue in particular."Of all the ways Trump has reshaped the Republican Party, it's clear that McConnell sees the drift toward isolationism as the most pernicious — particularly at a moment when the fate of Ukraine and perhaps even NATO countries could be determined by the resolve of the Republican Party," Politico's Jonathan Martin reported last summer."I didn't really think he was that important on foreign policy until the Republican consensus on foreign policy started being challenged. And he was a leader in pushing back against those challenges," says Antle."McConnell's legacy is often considered domestic. It certainly was his area of interest," adds Curt Mills, executive director of the American Conservative. "But I think, time and again, McConnell showed himself to be essentially a kind of unreconstructed George W. Bush-style Republican on foreign policy, and really did sort of stick his neck out there as the years went on."However, McConnell's brand of conservatism, particularly on the foreign policy front, has been going out of style. It is reviled by more right-wing members of the party, and old Republican purveyors of it are aging out and retiring.The conservative House Freedom Caucus mocked the departing Senate leader after his announcement, focusing on his recent rhetoric on foreign policy. "Our thoughts are with our Democrat colleagues in the Senate on the retirement of their Co-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (D-Ukraine)," the group posted from their account on the social media platform X.What's Next?The Senate can be a slow place to transform. Six-year terms mean that Senators are not as subject to the whims of the voter base as their counterparts in the House. The most oft-mentioned replacements for McConnell are the so-called "Three Johns" — Thune of South Dakota, Cornyn of Texas, (the third, Barrasso of Wyoming, has announced on Tuesday that he was forgoing the opportunity to replace McConnell to run for the second leadership spot instead). They are more in the mold of the current majority leader in that they have a more temperamentally conservative approach to politics, unlike some newer GOP politicians who are willing to overthrow institutional norms in Washington.Even though the Senate was a place for more establishment Republicans to have some level of power during the Trump years, Mills argues that the more "America First" wing of the party is more aware of and prepared to push for control of these levers of power. "I do think we're getting to the point now, where the Senate Leader is high profile enough that they can't be this major outlier on the policy," he tells RS. In addition, he says, anybody in the party who has national aspirations will have to advocate for some degree of foreign policy restraint.In terms of policy, the most crucial question confronting Congress is the future of aid to Ukraine. McConnell has been a strong advocate for continuing aid and, for the time being, the spending package is stuck in the House of Representatives. If the House blocks passage of the bill or passes a different version of it, the Senate GOP's position on the issue will once again be tested. The Republican conference had largely been supportive of aiding Ukraine, but the most recent bill passed with support from fewer than half of the members.Despite facing criticism from conservative activists, McConnell has rarely been on the losing side of any debates within the Republican Party during his time as leader, says Antle. Ukraine aid could prove to be a significant exception. And perhaps, given his stance on the issue, McConnell may feel that his voice is better placed elsewhere in the caucus."Maybe now he wants to play more of a Mitt Romney role. Where he's seen as this elder statesman within the party, but he has the freedom to criticize Trump," Antle tells RS. "This is me speculating. But I think it's informed speculation. He may feel that he's reached a point where herding cats in private is less important than speaking out against some of these things in public."The Trump FactorWhere the next Senate GOP leader falls on this and other related issues will depend largely on the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. Trump has reportedly already been involved in the jockeying over McConnell's successor behind-the-scenes, urging Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to run. Regardless of who the leader ends up being, they will likely need to be loyal to Trump personally, but the former president may be more flexible when it comes to his policy agenda."If Trump really wanted to push somebody who was different from McConnell on foreign policy, I think he could have an impact, but I don't think that those are the kinds of considerations that he's going to make," says Antle. "But it does suggest, I think, that that wing of the Senate Republican Conference is only going to get bigger and the kinds of pressures McConnell was resisting, are going to become more difficult to resist."Heilbrunn, on the other hand, contends that if Trump is elected, the battle for Republican foreign policy will effectively be over. "The one thing he actually cares about is foreign policy," he tells RS, adding that Trump will not settle for a Senate advocating for a different approach, and will be "pushing for someone who will be subservient to him."If Trump loses, however, there will be a more contested battle over how the Republican Party may understand the country's role in the world. While Cold War-era hawks have definitely lost the power they once had within the party, they could make the case that Trump represented a short-term outlier if he loses another election.Even if Trump loses, Mills says, "I'm still pretty bullish on the restraint end of the Republican Party," because the momentum in the party's base is aligned with that movement. Foreign policy, he says, is only growing more salient for GOP primary voters.In addition, younger and more recently elected Republicans' views on foreign policy can harken back to the GOP from before the Cold War, which often opposed foreign intervention. In this telling, Cold Warriors like McConnell and the neoconservatives that populated the George W. Bush administration are actually the outliers in the party's history."I think that what Trump represents is an older and probably more durable tradition," says Heilbrunn.
