Abstract. The article presents an attempt to make sense of Adolf Bibič's oeuvre as a whole. It reveals his broader intellectual (and also political) project along with his coherent and systematic analysis of what may also be understood as the 'possibilities' of political science. We claim that Bibič's various analyses and interventions actually pivot on the question of the future or, even better, the role and position of political science in it. We name this aspect of Bibič's oeuvre the 'political science of the future', which necessarily returns to the history of political ideas and political history to even be able to understand the current political relations and their contradictions. The ambition and capacity of the 'political science of the future' is not merely an explanation of what exists since, as Bibič states, political science is the key science for facing the challenges of the future and, accordingly, vital for our existence – political and physical. Keywords: Adolf Bibič, political science, future, state, democracy, citizenship.
Concerns have been raised over the possible link between the growing political polarisation and fears of autocratisation in Slovenia. Faced with a lack of empirical data, we seek to answer two questions. First, how has political polarisation developed in Slovenia? We show that Slovenia has experienced massive increases in both ideological and affective polarisation on the levels of the citizenry and political parties. Second, what has been the effect of political polarisation on liberal democracy in Slovenia? A GLS (generalised least squares) model for the period 1992 to 2022 confirms negative effects only for affective, but not ideological polarisation regarding V-Dem's liberal democracy and judicial constraints on the executive indices. Keywords: Slovenia, affective polarisation, ideological polarisation, autocratisation, SJM
My thesis is based on the premise that the change of the political system from socialism to post-socialism was not based on the otherwise branched out political education in socialism, but rather, on other factors of which the essential one is the third wave of democracy that swept across the Central, South and East European countries. (Inter)active citizenship can develop synergistically together with a positive attitude towards one's own country and with a stimulative influence on the citizens; with co-operation among the various (civil) groups and with modern education for citizenship (not only as the school subject of Citizenship Education and Ethics) as well as with its alternative goals together with the democratic and spiritual political culture. In view of the projected deadline for stability of democracy, which is expected to last 50 to 60 years, both types of culture are only at the initial phase of development in the new Slovenian state. ; Izhajamo iz teze, da spremembe političnega sistema iz socializma v postsocializem niso temeljile na sicer razvejenem političnem izobraževanju v socializmu, temveč na drugih dejavnikih, med katerimi je bistven tretji val demokracije, ki je zajel tudi srednje-, južno in vzhodnoevropske države. (lnter)aktivno državljanstvo se lahko razvija sinergično s pozitivnim odnosom do lastne države in spodbudnim vplivom na državljane, s sodelovanjem med različnimi (civilnimi) skupinami, s sodobnim izobraževanjem za državljanstvo (ne le s šolskim predmetom državljanska vzgoja in etika) in njegovimi alternativnimi cilji hkrati z demokratično in duhovno politično kulturo. Obe vrsti kulture sta v novi slovenski državi glede na predvideni rok za stabilnost demokracije, ki naj bi trajal 50-60 let, šele na začetni razvojni stopnji.
Abstract. In the article, we discuss how the political communication and interpersonal influence found in discussion networks add to fragmentation of the political space and the strengthening of political parties at the extremes of the political continuum. To this end, we analyse the mobilisation potential held by discussion networks of people who position themselves on the margins of the left–right political spectrum and compare them with the networks of those positioned in the centre and those who do not align themselves politically. The analysis focuses on four features of discussion networks: size, homogeneity, frequency of political discussion, and frequency of trying to persuade others. The results of the analysis show the most extensive mobilisation potential is found among people in the centre of the political continuum, while people on the far right and far left have networks that are the basis of intense political communication with people holding different political views but lack opportunities for the broad network dissemination of their political views and attitudes. Keywords: discussion networks, political communication, left-right political orientation
The democratisation and economic growth of the Asian Tigers, specifically South Korea and Taiwan, brought structural changes to the academic systems of these countries, particularly in the fields of political science and international relations. The article aims to provide a comprehensive and hybrid view on the regularity of political science in the academic environments (university systems) of East Asian countries with a focus on South Korea and Taiwan through the observational analysis method and a historical-sociological mechanism. The findings are summarised, where it is argued that the pentagonal democratic citizenship system (legal, political, cultural, social, economic) as well as the establishing of structural and updated political-economic relations with the main powers in the international system are the two crtitcial factors that have contributed to the adjustment of political science in East Asian countries, including South Korea and Taiwan. The article concludes that, along with the international and domestic developments in South Korea and Taiwan, political science underwent structural changes and is becoming more regulated and structured. Keywords: South Korea, Taiwan, political science, democracy, institution
Abstract. The article explores the significance held by political myths for legitimacy and politics. To that end, we examine political myth in line with the contemporary theory of political myth, which understands political myths as an integral part of all political communities that is not inherent to just authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. Every political community has their own stories/narratives that are accepted by most of the population and form the base of the legitimacy of the political order, whether it be a democratic or a non-democratic political order. In the final part of the article, we examine which narratives had such a legitimising power by analysing the political speeches of Franjo Tuđman while he was in office. Keywords: legitimacy, politics, political myth, political speech analysis, Tuđman.
Abstract. This study considers how today's growing consumer culture affects political trends in representative democracies. In recent years, a significant populist upsurge has been seen around the world. While political approaches are vital, to properly understand populism it is also necessary to take sociological perspectives into account. The questions considered in the study are therefore examined from both political and sociological perspectives. The results of the study show that today's increasing consumer culture is paving the way for the rise of populism in representative democracies. Should the consumer culture experience a significant crisis, populism is likely to become stronger through the support provided by abstaining, blank and pragmatist voters. Keywords: Populism, democracy, consumer society, consumerism, politics
We find ourselves in a time that has brought significant changes to the way we communicate. The technological progress and rise of social media have shaped both the news media and the contemporary political landscape, impacting and altering political discourse. As a result, the role of social media in political communication has become pervasive, and politicians now tend to communicate more directly with the public without the intermediary of traditional media. The position of the mainstream media as a neutral actor in reporting the news has also been tainted as the media has become increasingly dependent on advertising and thus more vulnerable to the pressures of corporate or state sponsors. Combined, we find ourselves situated in an era where more people are turning to social media for their news, while terms such as disinformation, fake news, post-truth, hate speech and conspiracy theory have become commonplace. In this new public square of communication, it often happens that one person's conspiracy theory is another person's truth, one person's facts are another's fake news, and one person's hate speech is someone else's freedom of speech. ; We find ourselves in a time that has brought significant changes to the way we communicate. The technological progress and rise of social media have shaped both the news media and the contemporary political landscape, impacting and altering political discourse. As a result, the role of social media in political communication has become pervasive, and politicians now tend to communicate more directly with the public without the intermediary of traditional media. The position of the mainstream media as a neutral actor in reporting the news has also been tainted as the media has become increasingly dependent on advertising and thus more vulnerable to the pressures of corporate or state sponsors. Combined, we find ourselves situated in an era where more people are turning to social media for their news, while terms such as disinformation, fake news, post-truth, hate speech and conspiracy theory have become commonplace. In this new public square of communication, it often happens that one person's conspiracy theory is another person's truth, one person's facts are another's fake news, and one person's hate speech is someone else's freedom of speech. ; We find ourselves in a time that has brought significant changes to the way we communicate. The technological progress and rise of social media have shaped both the news media and the contemporary political landscape, impacting and altering political discourse. As a result, the role of social media in political communication has become pervasive, and politicians now tend to communicate more directly with the public without the intermediary of traditional media. The position of the mainstream media as a neutral actor in reporting the news has also been tainted as the media has become increasingly dependent on advertising and thus more vulnerable to the pressures of corporate or state sponsors. Combined, we find ourselves situated in an era where more people are turning to social media for their news, while terms such as disinformation, fake news, post-truth, hate speech and conspiracy theory have become commonplace. In this new public square of communication, it often happens that one person's conspiracy theory is another person's truth, one person's facts are another's fake news, and one person's hate speech is someone else's freedom of speech. ; We find ourselves in a time that has brought significant changes to the way we communicate. The technological progress and rise of social media have shaped both the news media and the contemporary political landscape, impacting and altering political discourse. As a result, the role of social media in political communication has become pervasive, and politicians now tend to communicate more directly with the public without the intermediary of traditional media. The position of the mainstream media as a neutral actor in reporting the news has also been tainted as the media has become increasingly dependent on advertising and thus more vulnerable to the pressures of corporate or state sponsors. Combined, we find ourselves situated in an era where more people are turning to social media for their news, while terms such as disinformation, fake news, post-truth, hate speech and conspiracy theory have become commonplace. In this new public square of communication, it often happens that one person's conspiracy theory is another person's truth, one person's facts are another's fake news, and one person's hate speech is someone else's freedom of speech. ; We find ourselves in a time that has brought significant changes to the way we communicate. The technological progress and rise of social media have shaped both the news media and the contemporary political landscape, impacting and altering political discourse. As a result, the role of social media in political communication has become pervasive, and politicians now tend to communicate more directly with the public without the intermediary of traditional media. The position of the mainstream media as a neutral actor in reporting the news has also been tainted as the media has become increasingly dependent on advertising and thus more vulnerable to the pressures of corporate or state sponsors. Combined, we find ourselves situated in an era where more people are turning to social media for their news, while terms such as disinformation, fake news, post-truth, hate speech and conspiracy theory have become commonplace. In this new public square of communication, it often happens that one person's conspiracy theory is another person's truth, one person's facts are another's fake news, and one person's hate speech is someone else's freedom of speech. ; Današnji čas je prinesel pomembne spremembe v načinu, kako komuniciramo drug z drugim. Tehnološki napredek in razmah družbenih medijev sta vplivala tako na informativne medije kot na sodobni politični prostor, kar ima pomembne posledice za politični govor. Vloga družbenih medijev v politični komunikaciji se je povečala, saj politiki čedalje bolj neposredno komunicirajo z javnostjo brez posredništva tradicionalnih medijev. Poleg tega je čedalje bolj pod vprašajem nevtralnost osrednjih medijev pri poročanju, saj so vedno bolj odvisni od oglaševanja in tako pod posrednim ali neposrednim vplivom različnih korporativnih ali državnih sponzorjev. Tako smo se znašli v času, ko vse več ljudi informacije pridobi v družbenih medijih, medtem ko so izrazi dezinformacija, lažne novice, postresničnost, sovražni govor in teorije zarote postali vsakdanji del govora. V novem javnem prostoru komunikacije se pogosto zgodi, da je to, kar kdo dojema kot teorijo zarote, za koga drugega resničnost, da so to, kar kdo dojema kot dejstva, za koga drugega lažne novice, in da je to, kar kdo dojema kot sovražni govor, za koga drugega svoboda govora.
This paper analyzes the issue of nations without states in contemporary Europe between the Atlantic and the Urals. The political map of the continent comprises forty-seven countries, most of which are nation-states. However, the cultural mosaic of Europe is far more complex; there are around fifty ethnic groups (in addition to historical, territorial, or indigenous ethnic minorities and an enormous number of immigrant ethnic communities) lacking a state-based organization. Together, these people add up to 78 million, or almost 15% of the European population. Twenty-seven groups can be considered nations without states; they are culturally and ethnically based and have various forms of territorial integrity and political organization. However, they did not create a state organization, despite many attempts by some through history. Without a state organization, those communities have poorer opportunities to protect their folk culture and to reproduce various elements of ethnic identity. This is why they seek territorial autonomy or independent statehood through nationalist movements. In many cases, these ambitions are encompassed in regional movements. These movements have been popular in Europe, particularly because the idea of a "Europe of regions" as part of the European Union has had broad political support and acceptance. However, it has not actually succeeded. The EU and Europe as a whole are still a Europe of (nation)-states. In general, regional movements have been successful and through this some nations without states have attained part of their political ambitions in the form of territorial autonomy. The regionalization of former centralist states (e.g., Spain and the United Kingdom) increased the chances of ethnic survival for the Catalans, Basques, Scots, and Welsh. On the other hand, the regionalization of nations without states represented territorial division, a kind of "divide and rule" strategy serving to reduce their ambitions towards national independence. The territorial and political reconstruction of nation-states has been successful, but it did not solve all ethnic problems. The European political map reveals another interesting phenomenon: a double state for some nations. These are particularly typical for the Balkans. Because of political and territorial development after the Second World War and during the transition period in the 1990s and beyond, the principle of immutable political borders (logically encompassing the creation of new nation-states as well) led to further political and territorial divisions and (in fact, paradoxically) fragmentation. Some of these "inner" autonomous territories are functioning as de facto states. The cases of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus or Republika Srpska in Bosnia-Herzegovina are good examples of these processes. This development has not garnered much political support in most European countries or at the EU level. However, it is an undesirable reality and is certainly one of changes among the political and territorial (or even greater) challenges for the Europe of tomorrow. It forces a reexamination of the phenomenon and value of nations. The existence of nations without states represents a potential for the creation of new (nation) states.
V pričujoči raziskavi smo preučili strukturo, dejavnike in posledice politične kulture in državljanske participacije v postjugoslovanskih družbah. Uporabljenih je bilo več virov kvantitativnih podatkov, med drugim raziskava 2.178 študentov družboslovja v osmih postjugoslovanskih entitetah (M starost = 19,8 leta, SD = 1,89) ; reprezentativni vzorci Evropske raziskave vrednot (2008) ; pretekli valovi Svetovne raziskave vrednot (1995/8) in podatki raziskave jugoslovanske mladine (Jupio, 1986). Analiza na agregatni ravni je pokazala, da so v socioekonomsko manj razvitih okoljih (Kosovo, BiH in NJR Makedonija) v večji meri prisotni elementi podložniške politične kulture (Almond in Verba, 1963), v okviru katere so se kot ključni elementi na individualni ravni izkazali avtoritarnost, splošni tradicionalizem, tradicionalni pogled na spolne vloge in nacionalizem. Medentitetne razlike na merah ekonomske kulture (ekonomski egalitarizem in državni paternalizem) so povečini majhne in statistično neznačilne, saj vse entitete na obeh indikatorjih dosegajo visoke povprečne vrednosti. V skladu s predvidevanji dopolnjene modernizacijske teorije je demokratična politična kultura bolj koherentna v socioekonomsko bolj razvitih postjugoslovanskih državah, v nasprotju s teorijo pa manj razvite države dosegajo višje povprečne ravni državljanske participacije. Starost in socioekonomski status sta se izkazala za najmočnejša sociodemografska dejavnika politične kulture in državljanske participacije. Višje stopnje učinkovite demokracije (Inglehart in Welzel, 2007) dosegajo socioekonomsko bolj razvite države, ki izkazujejo tudi najvišje stopnje demokratične politične kulture. Longitudinalna analiza ni pokazala enotne smeri političnokulturnih sprememb ; slednje so v zadnjih dveh desetletjih bile v smeri večanja tako demokratičnih kot tudi nekaterih podložniških orientacij (npr. avtoritarnosti). Avtorji sklenejo, da proces demokratične konsolidacije, tako političnokulturne kot tudi institucionalne, v večini postjugoslovanskih družb še ni končan. Na koncu so predstavljene implikacije raziskave. ; The present study examined structures, determinants and consequences of political culture and citizen participation in post-Yugoslav societies. Several empirical data sources were employed, among others a survey of 2,178 social science students in eight post-Yugoslav entities (M age = 19.8 years, SD = 1.89) ; representative samples from European Values Study (2008), earlier waves of World Values Survey (1995/8) and a study of Yugoslav youth Jupio carried out in 1985. The aggregate level results indicated that socio-economically less developed entities (Kosovo, BiH, and FYR Macedonia) scored higher on subject political culture (Almond and Verba, 1963), which was at the individual level found to be characterized by its four core components: authoritarianism, general traditionalism, traditional gender roles attitudes, and nationalism. Between-country differences on measures of economic cultural orientations (economic egalitarianism and state paternalism) were largely minor or insignificant, since all entities scored high on both measures. As predicted by revised modernization theory democratic political culture was found to be more coherent in socioeconomically more developed post-Yugoslav countries. Inconsistent with modernization approach results demonstrated higher levels of citizen participation in less well-off countries. Age and socioeconomic status proved to be the most potent sociodemographic predictors of political culture and citizen participation. Finally, democracy was found to be more effective (Inglehart and Welzel, 2007) in socioeconomically more developed countries, which also scored highest on measures of democratic political culture. Longitudinal analysis did not uniformly confirm substantive political culture changes with changes in the last two decades taking place in both democratic as well as authoritarian direction. Authors conclude that the process of democratic consolidation, both political-cultural as well as institutional, is far from over in the majority of post-Yugoslav entities. Implications of the results are discussed.
Politična korektnost predstavlja velik problem v današnji družbi, ki skuša biti inkluzivna. V inkluzivni družbi je namreč pomemben jezik, ki ga uporabljamo, saj ne želimo nikogar diskriminirati ali izključiti iz družbe. Magistrsko delo se osredotoča na politično korektne in nekorektne izraze, ki se pojavijo na socialnem omrežju Twitter v času predvolilne kampanje v ZDA in v Avstriji. Zanimal me je predvsem jezik štirih predsedniških kandidatov: Donalda Trumpa in Hillary Clinton iz ZDA ter Norberta Hoferja in Alexandra van der Bellena iz Avstrije. S pomočjo izbranih objav na socialnem omrežju Twitter sem skušala poiskati povezave med Avstrijo in ZDA. V teoretičnem delu sem navedla vse potrebne definicije in prikazala politično korektnost v povezavi z drugimi jezikovnimi fenomeni, kot so tabuji, stereotipi in predsodki. Ločeno sem obravnavala politično korektnost v Avstriji in politično korektnost v ZDA. Zanimala me je tudi povezava politične korektnosti s svobodo govora. Raziskala sem, s katerimi zakoni je urejena pravica do svobode govora v Avstriji oz. Evropi ter v ZDA. V empiričnem delu sledi analiza izbranih objav. Vse politično nekorektne in politično korektne izraze, ki so se pojavili v času predvolilne kampanje, sem razdelila v kategorije in jih analizirala tako statistično kot tudi jezikovno. Rezultati so pokazali razliko med ZDA in Avstrijo glede rabe politično korektnega jezika in zmage na volitvah. V ZDA je namreč zmagal kandidat, ki je med kampanjo uporabil največ politično nekorektnih izrazov. V Avstriji pa je zmagal politično najbolj korekten kandidat. Največ različnih politično nekorektnih izrazov se je pojavilo na področju rasnega/etničnega razlikovanja, kar sem tudi pričakovala. ; Political correctness matters for inclusive society. Language that we use is very important in an inclusive society because we do not want to discriminate or exclude anyone from society. This master's thesis focuses on politically correct and politically incorrect terms that appeared in the social network Twitter during the election campaign in the USA and Austria. I was interested in the language of the four presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton from the USA, and Norbert Hofer and Alexander Van der Bellen from Austria. I tried to find similarities and differences between Austria and the USA with the help of selected posts on Twitter. The theoretical part, contains the definition of political correctness and show political correctness in relation to other linguistic phenomena, such as taboos, stereotypes and prejudices. Political correctness in Austria and political correctness in the USA are compared and political correctness is associated to the freedom of speech. The legislation regulating right to the freedom of speech in Austria and in the USA is discussed. The empirical part presents an analysis of selected Twitter posts. All politically incorrect and politically correct terms that were found during the election campaign were divided into categories and analyzed both statistically as well as linguistically. I have found out that politically correct language is not necessary for an election victory. In the USA a candidate who used the most politically incorrect expressions during the campaign won. In Austria, on the other hand, the most politically correct candidate won. Most politically incorrect expressions appeared in the category racial/ethnical discrimination, which was expected.
