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The Polish conception of the local government entails the empowerment of local communities. While this empowerment is usually understood only in terms of legal personality, it is crucial for the unimpeded operation of the local government, even in this extremely narrow understanding of subjectivity, that there exist open channels of communication between the representatives of the local authorities and civil servants and the local communities. Regrettably, the communication duties of the local governments have been codified by the legislature in a rather narrow way, and most of them can be only implicitly derived from the tasks of particular institutions and contemporary requirements for the development of a civil society and democracy as such. The article, then, constitutes an attempt at pinpointing the sources of communication responsibilities of local government bodies, from which derive particular tasks which need to be addressed by the communication policies of particular institutions. Moreover, the article briefly characterizes the state of contemporary local communications in Poland as well as provides advice for further development of local authorities in that regard.

The history of Pak-Afghan relations is dominated more by conflicts then by cooperation since emergence of Pakistan. In the ongoing pattern of peace process, it is proposed that Pakistan should pave the way to bring the Taliban on negotiation table for peace and stability in Afghanistan. The recent steps taken in the form of different Confidence Building Measures show flurry of diplomatic relationship in the emerging cordiality between the two countries. Diverse civil society groups of Pakistan are of the view that the drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan will ultimately create a power vacuum and plunge the country again into yet another civil war. Pakistan's efforts to use its influence to bring the Taliban on table talk will smooth the way for peace, stability and prosperity of Afghanistan as well as security of the entire region. Keeping in view the geographical proximity of the two countries, Pakistan's own vital interests are attached to peace and stability in Afghanistan. Pakistan took cognizance of this very fact and played highly constructive role in facilitating dialogue process in Afghanistan and improving bilateral ties of the two countries.

Having performed literary analysis, the aspects of improvement of local self-government in the context of new public governance have been theoretically substantiated. Referring to theoretical insights, the provisions of programmes of the biggest political parties of the Republic of Lithuania related to local self-government have been analysed covering period from December 12, 2012 to March 31, 2014. In addition, the agendas and reports of the meetings of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania have been analysed in order to determine main tendencies of improvement of local self-government that receive biggest attention from the political parties in decision making process. The research has shown that improvement of local self-government in the programmes of political parties is oriented to 4 tendencies: 1) independence/autonomy; 2) strengthening of democracy and civil society; 3) improvement of governance; 4) quality of public sector services. In the agendas of the meetings of Government of the Republic of Lithuania mainly the issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, legitimacy of local self-government, strengthening of abilities of civil servants have been analysed.

Oil production has been a major source of export revenues for many African countries, and yet has played a questionable role in the development of sub-Saharan Africa. Multinational companies in the oil sector have had established operations in the continent for several decades, despite many operational difficulties. In some countries, they endured an institutional environment that was not particularly attractive to business, such as civil wars, famine, lack of safety, disease and widespread corruption. On the other hand, once they were established, they could operate with limited government regulation or social control from civil society, especially with respect to environmental and social standards. Allegations of bribery, environmental degradation, social conflict and lack of integration with the local economy have historically plagued the behaviour of corporations in Africa (Bayart et al. 1999). Recently, however, there appears to be some positive movement towards responsible management of African oil revenues that is gaining attention (Katz et al. 2004). How companies and governments leverage these opportunity costs is particularly important to understand in the context of African development. © 2006 Taylor & Francis.

The article is devoted to the research of the current phenomenon of modern life – the mediatization of the socio-political process. The article deals with the main characteristics of the new social media: information exchange of the elements of the information and communication system, interactivity of communication, availability and speed of delivery of information to the user. The author analyzes the peculiarities of mediatization of policy in the Republic of Bulgaria, the main problems and perspectives of public policy informatization, reveals the main tendencies of the development of social media and civil journalism, defines the role and place of Internet networks in the system of interaction between government and civil society ; Медіатизація політичного простору Республіки Болгарія. Статтюприсвячено дослідженню актуального явища сучасного життя – медіатизації суспільно-політичного процесу. В статті розглянуто основні характеристики нових соціальних медіа: інформаційний обмін елементами інформаційно-комунікативної системи, інтерактивність спілкування, доступність і швидкість доставки інформації користувачу. Автором проаналізовано особливості медіатизації політики у Республіці Болгарія, основні проблеми і перспективи інформатизації публічної політики, розкриті головні тенденції розвитку соціальних медіа та громадянської журналістики, визначено роль і місце Інтернет-мереж у системі взаємодії влади і громадянського суспільства.

The study of language allows for the close connection between, on the one hand, the problems of communication in politics, questioning the imaginary fantasy of a civil society based on a well-informed public made up of citizens seeking the common good and, moreover, discussions on how we acquire or not a true knowledge through natural sciences or humanities; so that these issues must be understood in its political implications; but analyzed from a distance, we call Contra-Political. ; El estudio del Lenguaje permite establecer la estrecha conexión entre, por un lado, los problemas de la comunicación en política, al cuestionar esa fantasía imaginaria de una sociedad civil basada en una opinión pública bien informada, conformada por ciudadanos que buscan el bien común y, por otra parte, los debates sobre cómo adquirimos o no un verdadero conocimiento a través de las Ciencias exactas y naturales o de las Humanidades; de tal modo que estas cuestiones deben entenderse en sus implicaciones políticas; aunque analizadas desde una cierta distancia, que nosotros denominamos Contrapolítica.

Abdurrahman Wahid was appointed by MPR (the Indonesian People's Representative Assembly) as the President of the Republic of Indonesia because of his idea of democracy, convincing the prevailing two opposing groups, namely the nationalist groups and Islamist groups (it is well- known as Poros Tengah/ the Central Axis). Indeed, he was able to adapt democracy to the Islamic tradition by employing the fiqh-plus paradigm to the relationship between Islam and the state. He made uses of the presidential office to consolidate the democratic transition such as by supporting civil society, establishing civil supremacy and establishing law enforcement. From beginning it was not easy for him to socialise his fiqh-plus paradigm to other Islamic groups. Moreover, Central Axis, the determining force contributing to the win of Wahid's presidential election, felt upset with Wahid's policies which did not align with their interests. The nationalist groups were also anxious about occupying the presidential office for themself. Last but not the least, the military also agreed with the idea of impeachment of President Wahid in order to save their political interests.DOI:10.15408/insaniyat.v1i2.5473

According to the triple helix model, the dynamic of the innovation system development of a region or sector is determined by the closeness and intensity of state - company - university collaborations. The fourth spiral assumes the importance of the civil society. The appearance and acceptance of the third and fourth spiral model means the birth of the concept of social innovation and the beginning of its research. The fifth helix, that is the ecological approach, strengthens further the possibility of the interpretation of social innovation as the knowledge-based development, the social, political and civil dimensions can be expanded by the issue of sustainability. In 2015 a research was carried out focusing on the tender and corporate relationships of a major university. It was intended to determine these relationships on the basis of social innovation capabilities and the areas of the helix-s theory were also sought in these interactions. In conclusion, the universities are not only determinative in case of the triple helix model, but they also have an outstanding role in the development of social innovation. This work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The paper assesses democratic governance in the Nigerian fourth republic. Most Nigerians expected the return to democratic governance on May, 29 1999 to set the stage for the socio-economic and political transformation of the country. The paper contends that the democratic experience has been problematic for Nigerians. The paper, underpinned by the elite theory, is descriptive, historical and analytical in nature and employs the secondary source in the gathering of data. The paper argues that the uninterrupted character of the democratic transition, improvement in civil and political rights and some economic development dividends are positive outcome of the democratic experience. Yet, the successes associated with the democratic experience seem to have been overshadowed by poor governance, the problems of poverty, de-industrialization, widespread unemployment, large scale collapse of infrastructure, illiteracy, insecurity of lives and property, political corruption, and weak governance institutions. Consequently, public trust in the democratic process, institutions and actors is in decline. The paper suggests amongst others, responsible and effective political leadership and civil society as critical to a productive democratic performance in Nigeria.

According to the triple helix model, the dynamic of the innovation system development of a region or sector is determined by the closeness and intensity of state - company - university collaborations. The fourth spiral assumes the importance of the civil society. The appearance and acceptance of the third and fourth spiral model means the birth of the concept of social innovation and the beginning of its research. The fifth helix, that is the ecological approach, strengthens further the possibility of the interpretation of social innovation as the knowledge-based development, the social, political and civil dimensions can be expanded by the issue of sustainability. In 2015 a research was carried out focusing on the tender and corporate relationships of a major university. It was intended to determine these relationships on the basis of social innovation capabilities and the areas of the helix-s theory were also sought in these interactions. In conclusion, the universities are not only determinative in case of the triple helix model, but they also have an outstanding role in the development of social innovation. This work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar las obras publicadas en España en torno a la gimnástica, la educación física y el deporte en el ámbito del ejército entre 1808 y 1919. El análisis de contenido in situ (fuentes primarias) de las obras más significativas sirve para (re)contextualizar los textos en la configuración de las actividades gimnásticas y deportivas en el ejército, y sirve también para valorar el discurso ideológico y social de los mismos textos. Concluimos que de estas obras se desprende un discurso institucionalizado y nacionalizador dirigidos a la subordinación y encuadramiento de la sociedad civil ; This article presents the works of gymnastics, physical education and sport that were published in Spain between 1808 and 1919 in the field of the army. The analysis of the content in situ (using primary sources) of the most significant works serves to (re)contextualise the texts in the configuration of gymnastics and sports activity in the army, and also enables the ideological and social discourse of the texts themselves to be appraised. We conclude that these works project an institutionalised and nationalistic discourse aimed to the subordination and management of civil society

With global warming and climate change, the demands for food and water have challenged governments and civil societies. In environmental democracy, governments' transparent processes will see positive citizen-centric developments. Through quantitative research design 384 questionnaires were administered to residents in Johor Bharu, Johor, Malaysia. The findings revealed significant, positive attitude towards environmental democracy. From the three variables, community knowledge is rated the most influential predictor towards environmental democracy. The implication from this study showed that the communities are concerned with environmental issues in the district as participation and volunteerism will ensure the wellbeing of their flora and fauna.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: environmental democracy; sustainable development; civil society; attitude

UNDERSTANDING WOMEN'S WORK DURING THE GREAT WARThe article deals with the intersection of war economy and women's workforce during World War I and pays a special attention to the Slovenian population. Using a variety of sources, the author tries to synthesise the generalities and specifics of the women's involvement into the war economy in the so-called Slovenian lands. War economy is understood in the broadest sense and includes not only armament and war-related production, but also the acute issue of supplies for the military and civil sphere.The economic role of the Slovenian lands, peripheral within the Habsburg Monarchy, and the social structure of the Slovenian population profoundly affected the way how women were being included into the activities at the home front. The author argues that the sensational images from Western Europe, presenting a massive inclusion of women into the war industry, are not typical for the Slovenian space. However, the role of women in the war economy should not be underestimated, for they represented the majority of economically active population, supporting not only the civil society but also the army.

State surveillance programs often operate in direct tension with ideals of democratic governance and accountability. The fraught history of surveillance programs in the United States, for instance, illustrates that government agencies mobilize discourses of exceptional circumstances to engage in domestic and foreign spying operations without public awareness or oversight. While many scholars, civil society groups, and media pundits have drawn attention to the propensity of state surveillance programs to violate civil liberties, less attention has been given to the complex trust dynamics of state surveillance. On one hand, in justifying state surveillance, government representatives claim that the public should trust police and intelligence communities not to violate their rights; on the other hand, the very act of engaging in secretive surveillance operations erodes public trust in government, especially when revelations about such programs come to light without any advance notice or consent. In order to better understand such trust dynamics, this paper will analyze some of the competing trust relationships of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 'fusion centers,' with a focus on the role of these organizations in policing the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011 and 2012.

Der Beitrag bettet das Verhältnis von Religion und Politik in den systematischen Rahmen der Theorie funktionaler Differenzierung ein. Dabei wird betont, dass die Grundkonstellation der Trennung zu unterschiedlichen Mustern des In-Be- ziehung-Setzens von Religion und Politik im nationalen und globalen Rahmen geführt hat, die von staatskirchlicher Indienstnahme der Religion, parteipo- litischer Organisation religiöser Interessen über eine fundamentalistische Po- litisierung der Religion bis zum Handeln aus dem Glauben im zivilgesellschaft- lichen Rahmen reichen. Der Beitrag verweist darauf, dass es aus religions- soziologischer Perspektive gute Gründe gibt, den seiner politischen Dimen- sion gewissen christlichen Glauben auf die Zivilgesellschaft als primären Ort des Handelns zu verweisen. The article incorporates the relationship of religion and politics into the syste- matic frame of the theory of functional differentiation. It is highlighted that the fundamental constellation of separation led to different patterns of relating religion and politics in the national and global frame. Those patterns range from state clerical usage of religion, party political organisation of religious interests to fun- damental politicisation of religion and even to acting out of faith in a civil societies' frame. The article states that there are good reasons from a religious sociological perspective to refer the in its political dimension kind of Christian faith to civil society as the primary place of acting.