This book explores the challenges that disinformation, fake news, and post-truth politics pose to democracy from a multidisciplinary perspective. The authors analyse and interpret how the use of ...technology and social media as well as the emergence of new political narratives has been progressively changing the information landscape, undermining some of the pillars of democracy.The volume sheds light on some topical questions connected to fake news, thereby contributing to a fuller understanding of its impact on democracy. In the Introduction, the editors offer some orientating definitions of post-truth politics, building a theoretical framework where various different aspects of fake news can be understood. The book is then divided into three parts: Part I helps to contextualise the phenomena investigated, offering definitions and discussing key concepts as well as aspects linked to the manipulation of information systems, especially considering its reverberation on democracy. Part II considers the phenomena of disinformation, fake news, and post-truth politics in the context of Russia, which emerges as a laboratory where the phases of creation and diffusion of fake news can be broken down and analysed; consequently, Part II also reflects on the ways to counteract disinformation and fake news. Part III moves from case studies in Western and Central Europe to reflect on the methodological difficulty of investigating disinformation, as well as tackling the very delicate question of detection, combat, and prevention of fake news.This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of political science, law, political philosophy, journalism, media studies, and computer science, since it provides a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of post-truth politics.
This is an introduction to the Special Section on Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe. Apart from this introduction, the Section includes four articles, which explore the nature and conditions ...of think tanks operating in Belarus, Ukraine, Czech Republic, and Poland. Think tanks are usually understood as institutions claiming autonomy whose main aim is to influence policy making based on the social analysis they produce. The most apparent blind spot in extant think tank research is its predominant focus on the English-speaking world. We argue that by focusing on think tanks in non-Western contexts, we can better understand think tanks. When studying the diffusion of the organizational form of think tanks to new contexts, it is not enough to maintain the “sender” perspective (the formulation of the institutional characteristics of think tanks in the contexts in which they first emerged). We need to complement or even modify that perspective by also taking into account the “receiver” perspective. In other words, internationally circulated ideas and institutional patterns are always interpreted and translated in local “receiving” contexts, which coproduce, reformulate, and readjust the blueprint. Our focus in this Section is therefore on the translation and local adaptation of the think tank institution in the context of Central and Eastern Europe, a region that has undergone deep changes in a relatively short period.
Liver organoids (LOs) are of interest in tissue replacement, hepatotoxicity and pathophysiological studies. However, it is still unclear what triggers LO self-assembly and what the optimal ...environment is for their culture. Hypothesizing that LO formation occurs as a result of a fine balance between cell-substrate adhesion and cell-cell cohesion, we used 3 cell types (hepatocytes, liver sinusoidal endothelial cells and mesenchymal stem cells) to investigate LO self-assembly on different substrates keeping the culture parameters (e.g. culture media, cell types/number) and substrate stiffness constant. As cellular spheroids may suffer from oxygen depletion in the core, we also sought to identify the optimal culture conditions for LOs in order to guarantee an adequate supply of oxygen during proliferation and differentiation. The oxygen consumption characteristics of LOs were measured using an O2 sensor and used to model the O2 concentration gradient in the organoids. We show that no LO formation occurs on highly adhesive hepatic extra-cellular matrix-based substrates, suggesting that cellular aggregation requires an optimal trade-off between the adhesiveness of a substrate and the cohesive forces between cells and that this balance is modulated by substrate mechanics. Thus, in addition to substrate stiffness, physicochemical properties, which are also critical for cell adhesion, play a role in LO self-assembly.
The article considers how Russia has reacted to the pandemic, especially in terms of foreign policy. Although internally the management of the pandemic has led to a further limitation of citizens’ ...freedoms, externally it has been exploited to improve the country’s image and strengthen its leverage through tactical activism and political generosity. Russia’s strategy has been articulated in two phases: first, immediate aid to countries in need in order to channel the idea of a benevolent state, directly or indirectly discrediting other countries or organisations; second, the geopolitical use of vaccines. The article stresses the relationship between science and foreign policy and analyses Russia’s health diplomacy strategy, underscoring its opportunities and challenges through the analysis of two case studies (Italy and Belarus). From a methodological perspective, the article mainly refers to foreign policy analysis (FPA), using concepts such as soft power, health diplomacy, and geopolitics.
This article examines how the European Union (EU) reacted to the protests that erupted in Belarus against the re-election of Alyaksandr Lukashenka in 2020 and the repressive measures he took against ...his political adversaries, using the conceptual lens of resilience and pragmatism, two concepts endorsed in the 2016 European Union Global Strategy (EUGS) that seem most appropriate for our analysis. However, while resilience is less demanding than the promotion of democracy, it can face obstacles created by a political leadership hostile to external influences, repressive measures against opposition forces and the support of a powerful external actor, in this case, Russia. The EU has thus designed a three-level strategy targeting the current leadership, the leaders of the opposition and the people. This tripartite approach may confer various different meanings on resilience, including resistance. The article reflects critically on resilience in complex situations, highlighting its features, advantages and limitations.
The article suggests an exegesis of the conceptual tenets introduced by the EUGS. By focusing on the two disruptive concepts that have come forward in the document – principled pragmatism and ...resilience – it aims at unveiling the new role the EUGS allocates to the EU, especially in its neighbourhood. This recalls the Socratic maieutic method, blending the cognitive, aspirational and performative aspects suggested by principled pragmatism and resilience. Instead of spreading norms especially in its neighbourhood, the EU would rather engage selectively in a wider space, pragmatically supporting the others becoming resilient. While recognizing local agency and disowning the ‘one size fits all’ principle, this new role still legitimates the EU to influence the outside, although not structurally. This shift tends to de‐politicize external actions, with the risk of obfuscating the question of accountability and responsibility while maintaining the capability to influence.
The article explores how museums have responded to the COVID-19 crisis, referring to the concept of resilience and critical juncture. Whereas the first relates to a system's ability to recover or ...resume its original form after stress, perturbation, or shock, the latter refers to extraordinary conditions produced by unexpected and dramatic events that are able to enact profound and deep changes. The case of the Uffizi museum, which has suffered many lockdowns, shows that resilience measures have been accompanied by innovative actions redesigning the role of the museum. Some new projects could in fact be enacted because the pandemic was treated as a critical juncture. Any innovation, however, originated from the need to manage and decentralise tourism flows and revitalise local communities. The Uffizi has forged and implemented projects that value sustainability, community welfare, city decongestion, economic development, and inclusiveness, producing transformations on nature and vocation of the museum itself as well as on the neighbouring areas, becoming a propulsive fulcrum for other museums and cultural institutions.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine has sent shockwaves across Europe and the world. While the current war is a geopolitical turning point, it remains unclear whether it will trigger a quantum leap forward ...for European defence policies and for the role of the European Union as a security provider. This Report investigates whether we can expect a further convergence of European strategic cultures, and on collaboration among Europeans to generate the required military capabilities and integrate their forces. Most importantly, it finds that the timely implementation of the EU’s Strategic Compass will be a decisive test to establish whether Europeans are rising to the challenge of taking more responsibility for their security and defence.
This article seeks to analyse the Italian diplomatic response to the Ukrainian crisis. To this end, the article relies on role theory to understand how Italy's diplomatic posture during the war was ...influenced by the expectations deriving from its EU and NATO membership, but also by the different role conceptions emerging in the public debate. Though Italy under its Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, not only responded to but effectively led European strategy towards Ukraine during the crisis - including supporting Ukraine's membership bid - on the internal front the country was polarized, unwilling to push for further punishment of Russia in view of its economic reverberations, but also questioning military involvement in the war in Ukraine. After a failed attempt to reconcile external expectations and domestic preferences, centred around Italy's sponsorship of a 'peace plan' for Ukraine, the tension between the two sets of influences intensified to the point of precipitating the end of the Draghi government in July 2022, with Italy's response to the Ukrainian crisis invoked as one of the main causes of the government's fall. Although the right-wing alliance of political parties that won the ensuing general elections campaigned on a populist and nationalist, 'Italy first', platform, the country's posture towards the war in Ukraine has not really changed - under its current Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, Italy has continued to align with the multilateral expectations set by the EU and the US. The differences in foreign policy outlook within the current governing coalition, however, are not insignificant, and public opinion continues to be divided. This suggests that the tension underlying Italy's foreign policy in the Ukraine crisis has not been resolved - in fact, it could still potentially undermine the country's diplomatic posture, as well as the government's own stability, in the months to come.
Introduction Jezierska, Katarzyna; Giusti, Serena
East European politics and societies,
08/2021, Volume:
35, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This article is part of the special section "Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe" guest-edited by Katarzyna Jezierska and Serena Giusti.This is an introduction to the Special Section on Think ...Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe. Apart from this introduction, the Section includes four articles, which explore the nature and conditions of think tanks operating in Belarus, Ukraine, Czech Republic, and Poland. Think tanks are usually understood as institutions claiming autonomy whose main aim is to influence policy making based on the social analysis they produce. The most apparent blind spot in extant think tank research is its predominant focus on the English-speaking world. We argue that by focusing on think tanks in non-Western contexts, we can better understand think tanks. When studying the diffusion of the organizational form of think tanks to new contexts, it is not enough to maintain the "sender" perspective (the formulation of the institutional characteristics of think tanks in the contexts in which they first emerged). We need to complement or even modify that perspective by also taking into account the "receiver" perspective. In other words, internationally circulated ideas and institutional patterns are always interpreted and translated in local "receiving" contexts, which coproduce, reformulate, and readjust the blueprint. Our focus in this Section is therefore on the translation and local adaptation of the think tank institution in the context of Central and Eastern Europe, a region that has undergone deep changes in a relatively short period.
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