Oslanjajući se na klasificiranje uloge intelektualaca, autor se usredotočuje na pitanje kome i za koga intelektualci daju svoj glas. U članku se raspravlja nekoliko kritičnih pitanja: prvo, o pitanju ...jaza između teoretskog znanja i praktičnih kompetencija, drugo, pojmu javnog intelektualca, treće, o Chomskovoj paradigmi odgovornosti intelektualaca i, četvrto, povijesnoj rezonanci intelektualaca u neoliberalnom konceptu društva. Autor suprotstavlja stavove da je kraj povijesti i kraj ideologije dokrajčio istaknutu ulogu intelektualaca i alternativno gradi svoju tezu o mnogostrukom i višestrukom angažmanu u sferi civilnog društva. Neoliberalni poredak u ovom slučaju zaziva brojne izazove i odgovornosti: priliku za otvaranje novih mogućnosti za uloge intelektualaca u ovom nametnutom tržišno-upravljačkom i posljedično strukturno promijenjenom društvu. Intelektualci bi se u ovom povijesnom trenutku trebali okrenuti od pukih tumača zbilja prema zakonodavcima, kao što to očekuje Zygmunt Bauman.
Prispevek se navezuje na moje zadnje srecanje z dr. Vekoslavom Grmicem, ki se je vrtelo okoli vprasanja,kaj danasnjegeneracije dolgujejo prednikomin zanamcem. Kljucni koncept tega sprasevanja se ...osredotoca na afektivni altruizem, ki nalaga odgovornost vsakokratnih generacij, da svoje moraine in druzbene izbire rekalibrirajo z namenom, da sluzijo dobrobiti tako sedanjih kot tudi prihodnjih generacij. V tem smislu bi se moral! znanstveni in politicni akterji prizadevati, da namesto nedemokraticnim in avtoritarnim distopijam dajo prednost do ljudi in druzb prijaznim utopijam.
Uncertain Path Rizman, Rudolf M; Ramet, Sabrina P
2006, 2000, 2006-06-07
eBook
In this case study of the politics of transition in Eastern Europe, Rudolf Martin Rizman provides a careful, detailed sociological explanation and narrative on the emergence of independent statehood ...and democracy in Slovenia, a small state whose experience is of interest to policy makers, scholars, and serious students of Eastern Europe. In his focus on the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic regime, Rizman analyzes social processes and political issues in the context of the Third Wave of democratization, identifying "zones of certainty and uncertainty." Challenging many generally accepted ideas about small states and their transitions to democracy, this book places Slovenia's pattern of democratization in the wider regional context of eastern and central European post-communist transitions. Rizman shows, for example, that a country's size is merely one factor out of many, and while Slovenes considered the influence of larger states, their choices were not particularly circumscribed by them.
Opening with a discussion of the relevant theoretical environment in sociology and political science, Rizman illuminates the complex processes of democratic transition and consolidation. From there, the book analyzes the internal and external processes and factors relevant for Slovenia's successful trajectory from existence as an ethnically defined sub-nation to an internationally recognized nation-state.After careful consideration of religious, political, military, intellectual, and other socio-political stakeholders in the region, including the somewhat disturbing evidence of the salience of a new "radical Right", Rizman concludes that Slovenia is irreversibly set on the course of democratization, with indications of having reached the early stages of consolidation.
Prispevek zavrača optimistična pričakovanja, da bo v primerjavi s prejšnjim stoletjem, v katerem so o ljudeh in njihovih družbah odločali totalitarizmi in avtoritarni voditelji, v 21. stoletju ...nasprotno dokončno zavladala demokracija. Zanje nosi glavno odgovornost poenostavljena modernizacijska paradigma, ki je usodo demokracije povezala z rastjo bruto družbenega proizvoda. Po »tretjem valu« demokratizacije v svetu pred dobrima dvema desetletjema prevladujejo danes pesimistične ocene o njenem »zatonu«, ki pa se ne nanašajo samo na komaj vzpostavljene demokracije, temveč tudi na etablirane demokracije, ki so se še ne tako dolgo ponujale kot vzorne. Vzroki za recesijo demokracije so številni, večina jih je povezana z globalno hegemonijo neoliberalizma, v kateri korporacije, najbogatejši sloj in politika, ki je podrejena interesom finančnega kompleksa, spodjedajo srednji razred in socialno državo ter ju nadomeščajo s socialnodarvinistično zamišljeno tržno družbo. Avtor svoj prispevek sklene z dvema ugotovitvama: prvič, da živimo v vmesnem času, ki ga informira ciklična kriza demokracije; in drugič, da stanje postdemokracije prinaša nove priložnosti in tveganje za teritorialno (nacionalno) in nadnacionalno demokracijo, kar zahteva alternativno teoretično in politično imaginacijo na tem področju družboslovne refleksije.
The article rejects overoptimistic expectations that contrary to the previous century, when totalitarisms and authoritarian leaders decided about the fates of people and societies, the 21
st
century will eventually establish the rule of democracy for good. Main defender of this simplified view belongs to modernization paradigm, which tied democracy to the growth of gross domestic product (GDP). Today, after the "third wave" of democratization in the world more than twenty years ago, we are witnessing rather pessimistic assessments about its "decline", which are not limited only to newly established democracies, but as well to the old ones. There are many reasons for the recession of democracy, most of them are linked to the global hegemony of neoliberalism in which corporations, the rich class and politics, subordinated to the financial complex, ruin both the middle class and welfare state by replacing them with imagined market society based on Social Darwinism. The author concludes his article with two assessments: first, we are leaving in in-between times, which are in-formed by the cyclical crisis of democracy; second, the state of post-democracy brings new opportunities and risks for territorial (national) and supra-national democracy, which requires alternative theoretical and political imagination in this area of reflection in the social sciences.
ABSTRACT IN SLOVENE: Opirajoc se na klasifikacijo vlog intelektualcev se avtor osredinja na problem, komu ali za koga govori intelektualec. Prispevek v tem smislu razpravlja o razlicnih kriticnih ...temah: o problemu prepada med teoreticnim znanjem in prakticnimi kompetencami, o konceptih »javnega intelektualca« in »odgovornosti intelektualcev« pri Noamu Chomskem ter o »zgodovinski resonancnosti« intelektualcev v neoliberalno zamisljeni druzbi. Avtor nasprotuje tezam o »koncu zgodovine« in »koncu ideologije«, ki predpostavljajo »konec izpostavljene vloge intelektualcev«, ter nasprotno niza argumente v prid njihovi vecstranski in pluralni vlogi v civilni druzbi. Neoliberalna vladavina v tem pogledu ponuja intelektualcem stevilne nove izzive in odgovornosti, tj. priloznosti za novo vlogo v trzno dirigirani in strukturalno spremenjeni druzbi. Intelektualci se morajo v tem zgodovinskem casu preusmeriti od vloge »razlagalcev« k vlogi »zakonodajalcev«, kot to od njih pricakuje Zygmunt Bauman. // ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: Drawing on the classification of the roles of intellectuals, the author focuses on the issue to whom and for whom intellectuals are investing their voice. The article discusses several critical issues: firstly, the issue of a gap between theoretical knowledge and practical competences, secondly, the concept of `public intellectual, `thirdly, Chomsky's paradigm of the `responsibility of intellectuals,' and fourthly, the `historical resonance' of intellectuals in the neoliberal imagined society. The author opposes the views that `the end of history' and `the end of ideology' terminated the salient role of intellectuals and alternatively builds his argument on their manifold and multiple commitments in the spheres of civil society. The neoliberal order invites in this regard a number of challenges and responsibilities: an opportunity to open up new opportunities for the roles of intellectuals in the imposed `market-managed' and consequentially structurally changed society. Intellectuals at this very historical moment should turn from mere `interpreters' to `legislators,' as Zygmunt Bauman expects them to. Reprinted by permission of European Institute for Communication and Culture
Opirajoč se na klasifi kacijo vlog intelektualcev se avtor osredinja na problem, komu ali za koga govori intelektualec. Prispevek v tem smislu razpravlja o različnih kritičnih temah: o problemu ...prepada med teoretičnim znanjem in praktičnimi kompetencami, o konceptih »javnega intelektualca« in »odgovornosti intelektualcev« pri Noamu Chomskem ter o »zgodovinski resonančnosti« intelektualcev v neoliberalno zamišljeni družbi. Avtor nasprotuje tezam o »koncu zgodovine« in »koncu ideologije«, ki predpostavljajo »konec izpostavljene vloge intelektualcev«, ter nasprotno niza argumente v prid njihovi večstranski in pluralni vlogi v civilni družbi. Neoliberalna vladavina v tem pogledu ponuja intelektualcem številne nove izzive in odgovornosti, tj. priložnosti za novo vlogo v tržno dirigirani in strukturalno spremenjeni družbi. Intelektualci se morajo v tem zgodovinskem času preusmeriti od vloge »razlagalcev« k vlogi »zakonodajalcev«, kot to od njih pričakuje Zygmunt Bauman.
Drawing on the classification of the roles of intellectuals, the author focuses on the issue to whom and for whom intellectuals are investing their voice. The article discusses several critical ...issues: firstly, the issue of a gap between theoretical knowledge and practical competences, secondly, the concept of public intellectual, thirdly, Chomsky s paradigm of the responsibility of intellectuals, and fourthly, the historical resonance of intellectuals in the neoliberal imagined society. The author opposes the views that the end of history and the end of ideology terminated the salient role of intellectuals and alternatively builds his argument on their manifold and multiple commitments in the spheres of civil society.The neoliberal order invites in this regard a number of challenges and responsibilities: an opportunity to open up new opportunities for the roles of intellectuals in the imposed market-managed and consequentially structurally changed society. Intellectuals at this very historical moment should turn from mere interpreters to legislators, as Zygmunt Bauman expects them to.
This article critically discusses & focuses on the question of how successfully sociology has confronted theoretical, conceptual & methodological challenges while researching the novel social & ...complex phenomenon of globalization. A key advance in this regard involves giving up methodological nationalism & relying instead on a more open paradigm. This paradigm offers more valid & in-depth research findings concerning sociological parameters & social consequences caused by the accelerated compression of space & time. The theoretical agenda that is introduced exposes the dialectical & complex nature of the interconnections between globalization & the following socially relevant & transformed concepts: national, nation-state, democracy, cosmopolitism, global governance & others. Adapted from the source document.
The centennial of Joze Goricar's birthday (1907-1985) was observed at a special meeting held at the U of Ljubljana, 28 February 2007. This brief speech delivered at this gathering remembers him as a ...courageous Slovene scholar who pointed out to his students that there is also a non-Marxist sociology, contrary to what the dogmatism of the post-WWII Yugoslavian communist regime would make them believe. Personal reminiscences are shared of conversations with Goricar in which he talked about current trends in Western sociology & recommended readings of American authors. His mentoring work broadened the perspective of postgraduates' dissertations with a comparative, worldly purview. Goricar's integrity & dignity are praised as universal values that all critical intellectuals should strive for. References. Z. Dubiel
The article deals with the issues of Slovenia's democratic transition & consolidation in framework of a broader & comparative context. The author is well aware of the manifest diversity in ...post-communism & of subsequent significant research limitations, however through analysis he tries to clarify the possible types of democratic achievements & transformations in the studied geopolitical environment. Although the author finds that Slovenia faces similar issues to other transitional countries, there are also significant differences with regard to the "costs" of social, economic & political transformation in these countries. Further analysis focuses on the demanding issues of explaining & measuring transition & on determining the areas of certainty & uncertainty in Slovenia. The conclusive evaluation offers a sound basis for optimism regarding the path Slovenia is on as well as the transition of other "avant-garde" states in the region towards a stable level of development & more or less consolidated democracy. References. Adapted from the source document.
