Suchergebnisse

This article focuses on the use and significance of social media in the Arab region, particularly among Arab journalists within the context of the events known as 'the Arab Spring'. Besides describing the social media tools preferred by the public and by Arab media professionals,
the article assesses the relative use and trust of new versus old media tools. The article also explores the relationship between the use of social media in the Arab region and the political and social uprisings in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Syria. The main research question is: what is the
relation between social media and Arab discourse in these countries? The article uses a multi-method approach, combining survey data with qualitative data from interviews. Surveys were distributed to 1000 people across the UAE, and 789 surveys were received back. The interviews were drawn
from Arab media experts from various media organizations in the relatively understudied UAE. The research concludes that, although social media cannot be said to have been the sole cause for social change, certain social media outlets have indeed complemented old media and served as a catalyst
for the uprisings that have swept several Arab states in the Middle East.

While neo-imperialism is becoming increasingly discussed within academia and by public intellectuals this paper hypothesizes that due to resource needs of social movement organizations, neo-imperialism is not be a major diagnostic frame used by international solidarity organizations in the Global North. We tested this hypothesis by examining diagnostic collective action frames used online by 30 organizations across three solidarity movement issues: climate justice, refugee solidarity, and debt relief. While the frame was infrequently used across the organizations, results reveal that those organizations that did utilize the frame with some regularity had constituencies that have suffered from historical forms of imperialism. A qualitative analysis was used to locate the contexts in which the frame was used and the prominence these uses had within the organizations' public broadcasting.

Perception and interpretation of risks do not always come from a direct experience but are filtered by the mass media and political discourse. The message they spread and the interpretations of reality they suggest have a profound impact on the (mis)perceptions developed by citizens. Currently all over the European Union the Islamic threat, as linked to terrorism, is conceived and perceived as a fundamental threat to security. But is there a real threat? By means of a discursive analysis, this paper aims at exploring the dynamics of threat construction as related to the framing of Islam as an issue of security concern, by focusing on the role of public discourse and by providing some insights from Czech Republic (CZ). Czech Republic is an interesting case to study misperceptions, insecurity complexes and the manipulation of public discourse, as the percentage of Muslim population in the country is tantamount to zero but Islamophobic feelings are gathering momentum and rising consistently. The fundamental question driving the research aims at explaining why a country with a numerically negligible Muslim minority is experiencing growing public hostility, manifested through the raising mobilization of citizens against Islam. The hypothesis suggests that the exposure of public opinion to specific media representations and political rhetoric may induce misperception and the development of Islamophobic sentiments. The paper will firstly go through an overview of the literature on the topic; it will then analyze the general trends in Islamophobic discourse in CZ, through the lens of the securitization theory.

Background information: The international conference "SustEcon Conference – The contribution of a sustainable economy to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals" took place on 25 and 26 September 2017 at the Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany (organised by the NaWiKo project). The focus of the conference was on the contributions of the sustainable economy to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This contribution can be observed on a number of different levels: Innovations toward achieving the SDGs are to be as much a topic at the conference as methodological questions about measuring sustainability. In addition to that, the differences between various discourses and concepts and their respective contributions to the sustainable economy were also featured prominently in the conference. A further topic of interest was the (political) framework conditions and barriers to a sustainable economy as well as the contribution of science to the SDGs.

Based on review of articles appearing in the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and Scientific American, and on State of the Union addresses; 1945-89.

This study offers a reflection about the ongoing debate on "degrowth" and "green growth", as depicted in the Norwegian mass media. It addresses the following two interrelated research questions. How do the topics of public debate, where the concepts of degrowth and green growth are used, connect and overlap? In these connections and overlaps, how do the two concepts relate to each other? We read all the articles published in Norway on ten newspapers and magazines, which have mentioned "degrowth" or "green growth" since January 2018, to identify recurring interpretations of the two concepts and related social and political dilemmas. Then, we isolate elements in the articles, which may represent sources of discord and misunderstanding, and synthesize them into "core" topics, to provide a simplified basis for future debates. ; publishedVersion

"1989 erwies sich als Schlüsseljahr für das zivilgesellschaftliche Engagement in Polen. Die Demokratisierung der polnischen Gesellschaft ermöglichte es den BürgerInnen, sich in vielen Bereichen der Gesellschaft zu engagieren. Eine öffentlichkeitswirksame Hauptströmung der sozialen Bewegungen ist heute die LSBT-Bewegung (Lesben, Schwule, Bi- und Transsexuelle), die zwar keine Massenbewegung darstellt, aber das Thema der Anerkennung von Schwulen-, Lesben-, Bisexuellen- und Transgenderrechten in den öffentlichen Diskurs einbringt. Der Beitrag fragt nach dem Problem der 'Unsichtbarkeit' polnischer Lesben und bisexueller Frauen in den sozialen Bewegungen und im öffentlichen Raum. Genannt werden hierbei auch Ereignisse, die für die Entwicklung der lesbischen Identität und die Frauenemanzipation in Polen eine Schlüsselrolle spielten." (Autorenreferat)

This study investigates the overlaps between political discourse and literary and cinematic fiction, arguing that both are informed by, and contribute to, the cultural imaginary of terrorism. It explores the ways in which clandestine political violence stimulates the collective imagination, a fact that has received little attention despite its cultural prominence. Whenever mass-mediated acts of terrorism occur, they tend to trigger a proliferation of threat scenarios not only in the realm of literature and film, but also in the statements of policymakers, security experts, and journalists. In the process, the discursive boundary between the factual and the hypothetical can become difficult to discern. To illuminate this phenomenon, this book proposes that terror is a halfway house between the real and the imaginary. For what characterizes terrorism is less the single act of violence than it is the fact that this act is perceived to be the beginning, or part, of a potential series, and that further acts are expected to occur. This gives terror a fantastical dimension, a fact reinforced by the clandestine nature of both terrorist and counter-terrorist operations as well as by the general reluctance to engage with the actual causes and circumstances of political violence. Supported by contextual readings of selected texts and films from The Dynamiter and The Secret Agent through late-Victorian science fiction to post-9/11 novels and films, this study argues that literary scholarship can make a genuine contribution to the interdisciplinary field of terrorism studies.

The 2005 election of Evo Morales as the president of Bolivia marked a moment of celebration for the social movements who backed the rise to power of the Movimiento al Socialismo party (MAS – Movement for Socialism), with Morales as its leader. Morales adopted discourses derived from popularly supported Buen Vivir, alternatives to development, social and solidarity economies, and other forms of localized political and economic autonomy, creating a politics of possibility around such proposals. However, despite initial commitments and actions taken by Morales to improve well-being without replicating historically unsustainable and destructive pathways to industrial development, Bolivia continues to be characterized by fiscal dependence and macroeconomic prioritization of growth-centric policies sustained by extractive activities. In addition, the country is now rife with socio-environmental conflict. This paper will explore Morales' neglect of longer-term political goals for economic independence, self-sufficiency, and sustainability by considering competing theories of social movements, political parties, and the state that provide different lenses for understanding MAS' abandonment of its original political platform for change, Twenty-First Century Socialism (Socialismo del Siglo XXI). The paper reveals how the current scenario creates new barriers for the social movements that continue to uphold proposals for sustainable futures, including deepened structural entrenchment in extractivism, the cooptation of alternatives to development proposals by government, the division of once-unified popular fronts, shifting electoral constituencies, and the emergence of new economic elites. Lessons from the Bolivian case are significant for guiding wider efforts at building sustainable alternatives to capitalist development.

The genesis of the "Katyn Massacre" from the propaganda action of J. Goebbels to modern (2000-2020) historical and legal assessments in scientific works of Russian and foreign authors is presented. As a special direction of the hybrid war against the USSR and Russia, politicized assessments and actions in connection with the "Katyn case" are presented. The results of the analysis of the content of scientific works, little-known facts and versions of which are summarized in the article, the course and results of the international conference held in 2020 in the Tver region, confirm the growing interest of Russian society in the history of the Fatherland in general and its Soviet era in particular, the desire in the name of a worthy future for Russia, to defend the historical truth.