The role of Western NGOs in the transition of postcommunist nations to democracy has been well documented. In this study, Paulina Pospieszna follows a different trajectory, examining the role of a ...former aid recipient (Poland), newly democratic itself, and its efforts to aid democratic transitions in the neighboring states of Belarus and Ukraine.
While the social-cultural conflict has been examined at the level of sociopolitical actors, less is known about how this division operates at the level of ordinary citizens and their participation in ...politics. Using originally collected nationally representative public opinion surveys, this study connects the ideological cultural dimension of politics and citizens’ political participation in five post-communist countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. Specifically, the article (1) maps the mobilizing potential for culturally liberal and conservative issues; (2) examines the profile of people (sociodemographic characteristics, political attitudes, democratic norms, and membership in organizations) in these two camps; and (3) demonstrates how the mobilizing potential of the two ideological camps translates into actual types of political participation (voting; protesting; petition signing; and Internet activism). The analysis shows relatively high mobilizing potential for culturally liberal issues in five post-communist countries and a relatively weak link between culturally conservative mobilizing potential and civil society engagement.
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3.
In Search of Academic Excellence Klichowski, Michał; Pospieszna, Paulina; Sakson-Boulet, Anna
2022, 2022-03-09, Volume:
II
eBook
Open access
All papers of this edition give an opportunity for reflection on the chances, challenges and difficulties associated with the long-term transformation of higher education and scientific activities. ...Therefore, the concept of “scientific excellence” has been perceived as a guiding idea in the academics’ efforts. On the other hand, it seems to be an ideal that can never be achieved but towards which one ought to strive persistently. Furthermore, the pursuit of excellence is accompanied by contradictions which have been pointed out many times in the history of academia in Poland. This publishing series embodies the belief in the existence of the so-called invisible college, i.e., the research community, exemplified by young scientists starting their academic path inspired by recognized professors.
Democratic backsliding in Central and Eastern European countries is on the rise. Independent judiciaries, other institutions of liberal democracy, as well as civil liberties and media freedom are ...being undermined, coupled with the human rights and dignity of certain groups being curtailed or even violated. In these difficult political and legal circumstances, non-state actors, such as interest groups, face many challenges. The goal of this research is to explore how interest groups in Poland perceive their position, what tactics they use in order to influence public policies and decision-makers, and whether they search for networking strategies in order to strengthen their position vis-à-vis the government. By placing our research in the Polish context, we fill the gap in the current literature on the situation of interest groups that face democratic backsliding. We base our analyses on new survey data collected from Polish interest groups in 2017–2018, conducted within the Comparative Interest Group Survey.
How has the post-2015 democratic rollback in Poland impacted its support for the democratization of Ukraine and Belarus? Conventional wisdom is that countries undergoing autocratization would abandon ...democracy promotion. In contrast, we provide evidence that even as democracy was undermined at home, Poland continued to provide democracy support abroad, albeit less enthusiastically. We further document that it was not the normative commitment of Polish elites to democracy but the instrumental embeddedness of democracy promotion in Polish foreign and security policies that ensured its survival. Lastly, we find that Poland's support for democracy abroad now is closer to the new conservative values promoted at home, implemented mostly through state-run or state-controlled programs and less focused on supporting civil and political society abroad. Our paper contributes to the literature on regime promotion by analyzing and theorizing the overlooked question of how foreign policy, including democracy promotion, shifts for countries undergo autocratization.
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This article analyses activists' attitudes towards using social media for civic actions in authoritarian and democratising countries. Specifically, it examines whether civic activists in Belarus and ...Ukraine perceive social media as 'liberation technology' or as unhelpful and overhyped, a 'net delusion'. We compare the ways in which civic activists use social media for the purpose of spreading information, networking and mobilisation. We find that social media is used by them for civic activism in order to campaign for civil and political liberties in their countries. Civic activists are generally enthusiastic about the use of social media, however we highlight challenges arising from socio-political conditions as well as negative consequences of activists' online engagement.
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Democracy promoters around the world cling to the hope that assistance given to civil society organizations decreases the risk of civil war and will lead to democracy in post-conflict societies. A ...particularly promising segment of civil society in peacebuilding is women. Inspired by Welzel and Inglehart's "human empowerment: path to democracy" this study places democracy assistance to women in a broader mechanism which forms a theoretical foundation of this study. The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the author's insights from the fieldwork demonstrate that in order to assess the impact of democracy assistance on women's political empowerment the comprehensive women's political empowerment mechanism should be employed. The statistical examination, however, reveals that women's political activism is largely the function of legal empowerment and a country's political and socio-economic characteristics. The study also shows the limitations of current impact evaluation methodologies, and suggests better evaluation tools.
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Wspieranie demokracji, czyli szczególny rodzaj pomocy zagranicznej mający na celu promowanie idei i postaw demokratycznych, było dotychczas domeną demokracji zachodnich. Dlatego badania w dziedzinie ...wspierania demokracji zazwyczaj koncentrowały się na programach prowadzonych przez międzynarodowe organizacje, bądź rządowe i pozarządowe organizacje, fundacje ze Stanów Zjednoczonych, jak również z Europy Zachodniej. Jednakże niedawno do grona darczyńców dołączyły również młode demokracje z Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej takie jak Polska, Czechy, Słowacja bądź Węgry, które same tak niedawno były odbiorcami tego typu pomocy. Biorąc jako studium przypadku działania Polski na Ukrainie i Białorusi niniejszy artykuł analizuje działania polskich organizacji pozarządowych na rzecz wspierania demokracji w krajach partnerskich w latach 1990–2015. Celem badań było zbadanie przyczyn zaangażowania się polskich organizacji pozarządowych we wspieranie demokracji, metod promowania idei i postaw demokratycznych oraz charakteru współpracy ze społecznością obywatelską z krajów partnerskich.
Celem przedstawionych badań jest analiza procesu decyzyjnego w UE w odniesieniu do nakładania i rozszerzania sankcji wobec Rosji oraz ocena przyczyny trwałości decyzji i porozumienia między państwami ...członkowskimi UE, pomimo odmiennego stanowiska. W szczególności artykuł analizuje proces decyzyjny, dynamikę oraz zmiany zachodzące w ramach grup roboczych Rady, takich jak COEST (Grupa Robocza ds. Europy Wschodniej i Azji Środkowej) dla Ukrainy, Białorusi oraz Rosji. Badania pokazują, że czynniki geopolityczne oraz ekonomiczne mają bardzo duże znaczenie w tworzeniu dynamiki, jaka zachodziła w grupach doradczych Rady Europejskiej, niemniej jednak pomimo tych różnic jednomyślność jest w dużej mierze wynikiem działań Francji i Niemiec.
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