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European Populism and the War in Ukraine: Populist Narratives in Support of Vladimir Putin
Full text linkEuropean illiberal populists have not been very shy about their association with the Russian Federation’s Vladimir Putin. Many of them have even hailed the Russian President as a stalwart example against the liberal democratic institutions that define the European Union. However, it’s been almost two years since Russia invaded Ukraine and some of Putin’s previous supporters in Europe have dialled back their stance on Putin. This article seeks to create an overview of populist narratives in European Union member states regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine, in order to assess whether European illiberal discourses fluctuate according to external events. The analysis covers 8 European Union member states: France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. The period of analysis covers the full year since the Russian invasion in Ukraine in February 2022, up until February 2023, and is contrasted to statements and positions held prior to February 2022. The analysis will be based on public statements made by key populist actors and parties from the 8 member states. The working hypothesis is that the populists’ support and admiration for Vladimir Putin varies across the 8 countries. In some, support has been diluted after the start of the invasion due to pre-existing anti-communist sentiment, while in others it hasn’t seen a significant drop
Assessing Labour Migration Policies From the Incorporation Perspective. The Case of Romania
Full text linkMigrants play an important role in shaping today’s EU, both in terms of the labour market, and society as a whole. The analyses of the migration policies, including the labour sector, are generally focused on the control and, respectively, on the security dimension, while a third branch includes the researches on the broader term of incorporation of migrants into the fabric of the host societies. This paper starts from the questions “why does the EU labour market need migrants?” and “what role can migrants play in community development?”, and it argues that using an incorporation approach in public policies concerning migrants could provide a theoretical and actional solution to overcome challenges posed by various other policy and political positions aimed against migrants. An assessment of labour-connected incorporation policies and practices is presented as a study case, using evidence-based policies and practices from Romania. The main findings of the paper indicate that there is a huge gap between stated aims of written strategies, actions being implemented and the perception of intended target groups. The article argues that this deviation is due, at least in the case of Romania, to a weak administrative capacity to manage migrant flows and the challenges they bring to traditional and rigid legal and administrative systems. The gap is also due to poor operationalisation of the concept of incorporation in policy practice, with contradictory simultaneously policy narratives of adaptation, assimilation, inclusion, or integration, and without a clear goal that should shape a national labour migration policy
On the False Representation of the Present-Day Crisis Society in the Global Corporate Media
Full text linkThere is a legitimate expectation that the global media should accurately reflect and positively assist the democratic political process. The great crises that are shaking the world today show there is no chance of this happening. The global media has been a major contributor to inadequate response of the West to the flows of forced migration from the wars in the Middle East and North Africa. In the period of the global pandemic, they spread ominous panic predictions and contributed, in fact, to justifying the curtailment of human rights. At present the energy and the environmental crises are deepening as a result of media propaganda.
It seems natural and justified to explain the disappearance of independent journalism and the tendency of the global media to offer false pictures of the world with the reflex to serve the ruling elites and with the financial and political dependencies of the owners.
However, there is one perspective for revealing manipulativeness of the media that is usually lost. It is possible that journalists isolate themselves from reality for epistemological reasons, misconceptions and prejudices, that make them unable to understand and give meaning of it. The failure to understand today’s extremely complex and confused world can be a more serious source of delusions and fake news than financial and political addictions or serving political and economic interests. In the presented paper I will analyse some subjective obstacles through cognitive and creative thinking that have been analysed by philosophers and social scientists and inevitably impact the depiction of the world in the media. They outline a rich tradition that raises serious doubts about the attainment of reliable knowledge and true media information
The Ongoing Democratic Revolution in Bulgaria: Failure of a Change Model Under an External Scenario
Full text linkThe paper analyses the dramatic vicissitudes of the political change in Bulgaria over the last three years. On July 9 2020 the President of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, with a raised fist and the slogan “Mutri (Mafia) out!” led a democratic revolution against the 10-year rule of Boyko Borissov. Mass protests began, which in the elections of April 4th 2021 for the first time took away the majority of his party. We were faced up with an incredible paradox: the process of change started as a people’s protest against corrupt governance and led to three years of sleeping of the political system, powerlessness and even more corrupt governance by a populist group tied to oligarchs and a financial pyramid. The US ambassador coordinated all attempts to resolve the crisis. The Party of the Change came to power with a shady financial and political support, and made a successful quadruple coalition at the end of 2021. It deepened the crisis with a chaotic six-month rule.
The conducted analysis is based on the application of the concept of disease to the explanation of political crisis in Bulgaria. It is expressed in the subordination of institutions and parties to the interests of financial oligarchs and in the failure to resolve the problems of the citizens. The paper argues that the model of political change in the interests of democracy and citizens based on an outside scenario is predestined to failure if there are no mature democratic institutions and the parties serve only the financial oligarchy. The analysis is carried out from the point of view of J. Buchanan’s project of constitutional political economy in order to make sense of the present-day political and social crisis in our country
Gender Equality from International Commitments to National Realities – the Case of Romania
Full text linkIn this paper, we will look over some of the most important and widely spread international commitments in terms of achieving gender equality and empowering women such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Istanbul Convention, with a particular focus pointed towards the issues in implementing these ground-breaking gender equality treaties and initiatives. The paper offers an overview of the way a specific state, Romania, manages to implement these kinds of commitments in general terms, if and how the Romanian Government has succeeded in implementing the legislative packages necessary for the harmonisation of the national legislation with the international commitments taken by the government, what statistic position among European countries does Romania occupy in terms of gender equality and what are the recommendations provided by the United Nations for dealing with Romania’s gender equality issues. Lastly, a more in detail examination of the current framework used to teach gender equality in the national education system will be provided, touching on subjects such as gender balance among education staff, the cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural learning objectives set by UNESCO and how they apply to gender to gender issues in the school curriculum for all ages in Romania
The Paradox of Climate Change Migration
Full text linkTemporary or long-term movements, within the country of origin or abroad, voluntary or forced, individual, in the family or in communities, today migrations that have as their primary cause climate change represent an intensely discussed topic in international debates. Whether it is discussed as environmental refugees, climate migrants, or any other related name, the problem of migrants of this type is still too little present and understood in international law and national and global public policies. Europe seems the most protected from climate change of all the world’s continents, which could create climate crises that force its inhabitants to leave their homes in search of better places to live. Europe has stated many better-performing economies than the world’s most vulnerable countries and regions. Paradoxically, the world’s wealthiest areas can deal with climate impacts on migration through adaptation policies and measures. Still, they are the ones that pollute the most and therefore worsen the climate situation. On the other hand, the most vulnerable countries, usually those in Sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia, are the poorest, from where the inhabitants migrate the most, and yet they contribute the least to the emission of greenhouse gases. The issue of migration caused by climate change is discussed through the latest findings, academic, and scientific writings, considering different facets of climate migration that decision-makers need to contemplate and act accordingly
Delegitimisation of the Bulgarian Parliamentary System. A Local Political Crisis in Times When the World is changing its Economic Paradigm
Full text linkThe impossibility of forming a stable parliamentary majority in the last two years in Bulgaria adds additional weight to the arguments of various organizations supporting the idea of changing the form of government to a presidential republic. While the quality of the debate in the parliamentary process tends to follow a downward gradation, the presidential institution maintains a consistently high public approval. Meanwhile the official governments issued by the Presidential institution are characterized by a fundamentally different public communication from the traditionally accepted one. All this has one effect – it makes Bulgarian Parliamentary system seem not valid and not acceptable. The participation of the presidential institution in stimulating this process is indisputable. In the present paper will be analysed the process and reasons for the delegitimisation of the Bulgarian parliamentary system in the light of the current political crisis and the beginning of changing the main political and economic paradigm in the world
The Welfare State. Myths and Realities
Full text linkSocial assistance (or the welfare state) is one of the most important characteristics of developed societies, but this institution must be studied in connection with the larger changes that influence in the current economic and demographic context the lives of citizens. Understanding these developments, especially in the phenomenon of aging of the European society, raises complex issues that give rise to questions like “how wide should the state support be to solve the problems of those in need and of the elderly?”, “the assistant state has the appropriate tools to do this?”, are the expectations of citizens met for the state assistance, when they reach the third age are entitled?”. This paper aims to explain and clarify the contemporary myths regarding the welfare state as a provider of social and pension services, in relation to the obligation of the state to deliver, to the age of inactive life, pensions and other social aids to their own citizens. In the first section of the study, we will present an analysis of the historical, economic and social context in which the problem of the pension system in Europe must be located. In the second part, we will address the stakes from the perspective of the debates and policies in the European Union and in Romania regarding the minimum wage level which will ensure a decent standard of living, the public pension systems and the reforms in this field, establishing some landmarks for future public policies and decisions
Knowledge, Science, Intellectuals and Crises
Full text linkWhether we surf the internet, watch the news on television, or listen to more or less academic lectures, we are familiar with a phrase that has become a public label associated with the Romanian society and, at least in recent years, equally to the international one. The world is in crisis and so is Romania. At least we are better from this perspective, as many of those who talk about Romania consider it to be in a deeper crisis, facing more problems and having fewer solutions. Overlooking the trivial remark according to which it is questionable whether a crisis constantly characterizing a society is a crisis indeed, in this article I propose an epistemological perspective on the problem of the crisis and an X-ray of the mechanisms of knowledge that regulate and manage it. This article deals with four main themes. Firstly, I will depict a typology of knowledge, distinguishing between three types: common knowledge, public knowledge, and scientific knowledge. I will detail the concept of public knowledge and show the special role played by public intellectuals and public communicators in this type of knowledge. The former are specialists who choose to transmit information from their specialty fields to the public space, while the latter are public experts who have notoriety without being specialists in the fields in which they communicate. They propose a knowledge to say “superficial”, but extremely important on a social level. I will insist on the role of this type of culture of superficiality, a major role in the functioning of societies. Also, in this part I will describe the ideological mechanism behind all these types of knowledge whose management is provided by the structures of power. The second theme is the role of knowledge communities and intellectuals as members of these communities in supporting and disseminating labels applicable to social change. Moreover, I will show that in the field of sociology there is even a clearly defined professional dimension in the area of social activism, that is, public sociology. In fact, any intellectual in the public space is a propagandist of some values, sometimes we are talking about the values generally accepted in society, but not always. The third theme is the role of the paradigm of negative labelling of change, a paradigm that underlies many knowledge communities in today’s world, a paradigm according to which social reality is evaluated and interpreted as a continuous suite of social problems. In other words, the world is represented as a universe of problems to be solved. This paradigm is based on the modern cultural model of the necessary positive evolution of history, according to which any stagnation or negative evolution is interpreted as a social problem. The fourth part of the article deals with crises and the mechanism by which they are generated by knowledge communities, as well as their main characteristics. Finally, I am trying to answer the question of why crises cannot be solved
Communication between publishers and the public: the magnetic effect of social media
Full text linkIn the contemporary dynamic and turbulent economic environment being present and up to the minute becomes a necessity for almost any business. Social media is a communication infrastructure that allows and concomitantly sets the rules for information and message dissemination. Just as most organizations nowadays, publishing houses need to establish a strong online presence through posts on social media platforms. As they are both economic and cultural agents, the messages shared by publishers on social networks imply a higher degree of social responsibility and their content is particularly important. The present paper aims to explore how Romanian publishing houses are communicating with their current and potential customers on social platforms. The posts on various social media such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, etc. from the last two months of 2022 and the first two months of 2023 are investigated through the content analysis research technique. As the book industry is strongly linked to the concept of knowledge, the analysis is performed from the perspective of the Theory of Knowledge Fields. The findings of this study could prove useful to various actors involved in the book industry and other cultural organizations, as it provides insights into cultural promotion via social platforms practices. The subject is topical since book consumption is an essential part of a healthy cultural and social life of a country