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Can the State Carry Out Such a Thing as a Digital Transformation
No full textCan the State Carry Out Such a Thing as a Digital Transformatio
Preface: From the Editor-in-Chief
No full textIt is my honour and pleasure to introduce the first issue of this new journal The aim of the journal is to bring together specialists on various social studies such as philosophy, law, psychology, international relations and potentially also other social sciences whose interests go beyond one geographic region. Although Estonia is a European country and member of the European Union and other European institutions, it is one of the easternmost members of these bodies. Therefore it is only essential that in our country we study not only Estonian and European but also global issues, including East-West relations and problems.
Book Review: Moral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands
No full textMoral Economic Transitions in the Mongolian Borderlands: A Proportional Share by Hedwig Amelia Waters, 2023, UCL Press.
Book Review: Urban informality: An introduction
No full textUrban informality: An introduction by Melanie Lombard and Philipp Horn, 2024, Bristol University Press
The Paradox of Political Imprisonment in Myanmar: Military Entrenchment and Repression During the 2010s
No full textThe 2011 political transition in Myanmar, following decades of military rule, heralded prospects for democratic reform, yet political imprisonment persisted, revealing a paradox of liberalisation juxtaposed with repression. This study investigates why the criminalisation of dissent endured under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government (2016–2020). Employing a qualitative methodology that encompasses systematic document analysis and 25 semi-structured interviews, the paper applies a combined framework of political repression and the criminalisation of dissent to analyse this continuity. Findings indicate that the political reforms have reduced overt violence but political imprisonment persists through legal mechanisms. This tension reflects Myanmar\u27s oscillating transition, marked by phases of openness and heightened repression. The entrenched power of the military, enshrined in the 2008 Constitution, coupled with a repressive legal framework, enabled the suppression of dissent, posing a significant barrier to genuine democracy. These findings illuminate the fragility of Myanmar\u27s transition, particularly in light of the 2021 military coup, and offer insights into political transitions in military-dominated regimes
New Era of Uncertainties: How US Foreign Aid Works in Times of War
No full textRussia’s full-scale military aggression against Ukraine in February 2022 has brought immense damage to the people of Ukraine and Europe, their critical resources and infrastructure, and the whole idea of sustaining peace based on democratic principles. Rebuilding peace and democracy in this challenging time requires a lot of effort; foreign aid serves as the instrument for achieving this goal. It is noteworthy that since the invasion in 2022, Ukraine has become the top European recipient of US Foreign aid for the first time since World War II. This article examines the foreign aid relationship between the US and Ukraine in the years 2022 and 2023 and suggests that foreign aid is an important foreign policy tool despite certain criticisms regarding the effectiveness of the aid, its oversight mechanisms, and the diverse range of critical approaches, which argue that aid is perceived as a capitalist instrument serving the interests of a strong capitalist West rather than those of developing countries. Contrary to criticism, this article suggests that US aid to Ukraine in this difficult time is important in illustrating that democracy can survive in the global arena, undermining Russia’s future aspirations of attacking others, and supporting a secure environment for cooperation among states. Th is article studies the determinants of US foreign aid from the perspective of the donor and the recipient country, as a two-way and complex process, through the prism of liberalism. Based on the liberal tradition, we can assume that US assistance in Ukraine is focused on aiding Ukraine in countering authoritarian Russia and safeguarding democratic principles but is also influenced by the recipient’s commitment to liberal values, including the promotion of peace, a robust economy, and a thriving democracy
Õiguse piirist postmodernistlikus keeleparadigmas
No full textRadical changes in modern society have also brought about changes in the paradigm of language – how we see and explain the world. Paradigms are important in society and culture, including in research, because they help to paint a picture of all possible or known ways of thinking, and thereby to develop a logic that helps to address the same facts, including legal facts, within different paradigms, and to see their differences and commonalities. At the same time, a paradigm is not an unchanging linguistic-cultural framework, but a model of thought and language that depends on the key principles, interests, and knowledge of the time, and which helps to better understand and interpret major changes in light of the generally accepted ideologies and values of the time. The linguistic paradigms of the time determine the possible questions and answers in argumentation, including legal argumentation.
Kuhn then began referring to such thought structures as paradigms. By ‘paradigm’, Kuhn meant the set of values, principles, and beliefs adopted by a group of researchers. In his view, the linguistic paradigm is understood as linguistic-ideological structures of the world that help to better understand the linguistic relations between humans and the world in terms of the generally accepted principles and values of the time. The language paradigm is thus not a fixed linguistic-cultural framework, but a way of thinking that depends on the essential principles, values, and knowledge of the time, to better understand radical changes in the world.Paradigms can therefore be found not only in the natural sciences, but also in the social sciences and humanities. In social sciences and humanities, language paradigms as linguistic-cultural frameworks differ from each other in what is called socio-cultural reality. Ultimately, they are ‘determined by social and political ideologies’.
Paradigms, as sets of linguistically closely related assumptions about the surrounding world, are important in research because they help to paint a picture of all possible or known paradigms and thereby to develop a logic that helps to address the same facts, including legal facts, within the boundaries of different paradigms and see their differences and commonalities. The paradigm that shapes the theoretical framework of a study is closely related to a set of four types of philosophical assumptions or presuppositions – ontological, epistemological, methodological, and axiological – about the world around us.
A language paradigm is not a fixed framework, but a model of thought and language that depends on the key principles, interests, and knowledge of the time, and which helps to better understand and interpret major changes in light of the generally accepted ideologies and values of the time. It also defines which problems cannot be raised and which answers are excluded. Let us take Bohr’s principle of complementarity as an example here. In one sense, it can be discussed, but in another, it cannot.Bearing in mind the dynamics of society and the aim of trying to explain and understand it through linguistic paradigms, we can distinguish between the three major linguistic paradigms already mentioned: semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic. In ancient and medieval times, the dominant linguistic framework was the semantic language paradigm. The syntactic language paradigm began to emerge with the development of theoretical physics and mathematics in 19th century modernist culture and society, where the essentialist approach to the world became more important in research, for example, in the creation of formalised language models of the world. This linguistic phenomenon also spills over into other fields, such as technology
Kaasamisest säutsumiseni: noorte osaluse erinevad tahud
No full textFrom engagement to tweeting: Different facets of youth participation
Abstract
Numerous recent studies refer to the fact that the understanding of youth political participation is changing. The concept itself is more diversified than in the past - in addition to participating in top-down organised activities such as occasional participation in demonstrations, influencing social issues in fan clubs, expressing opinions on social media and general consumer behaviour are considered participation amongst other things. However, a decrease in conventional political engagement among young people is a general trend and in post-socialist countries, youths are even less likely to participate in conventional ways compared to peers in mature democracies. Democratization in Estonia fell to a period when the influence of parties and mainstream media began to decline throughout Europe. It is said that there has been a transition from dutiful citizenship to so-called actualizing citizenship. If a dutiful citizen preferred government-centred activities and expressed interests through parties and other organisations, an actualizing citizen favours a loose network of community action and mistrusts both the mainstream media and politicians. Presumably, dutiful citizenship has never been a prevailing trend in Estonia due to the socio-political context. Therefore, we cannot talk about its replacement, but rather about the formation of ways of being a citizen. The introductory article opens up the participation of young people in Estonia who stay away from party politics and explains a little about the context of the articles in the special issue: political participation in social media; the participation of different young people and supporting the participation of young people
«Придумайте что-нибудь и приезжайте сюда»: Переписка Виктора и Любови Залкиндов с Алексеем и Серафимой Ремизовыми [“Think of Something and Come Here”: Victor and Liubov Salkind’s Correspondence with Aleksey and Serafima Remizov]
No full textThis annotated publication of letters to and from Jerusalem is part of the larger project “Aleksei Remizov in the Cultural Space of Eretz Israel” (cf. Slavica Revalensia, vol. 11). The present selection covers the period from August 6, 1922 to June 15, 1939 (with two additional letters written during the final months of World War II).