Archive 2/2021

Jakub Dopieralla
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9486-9799
e-mail: Jakub.dopieralla@fsv.cuni.cz

Abstract

Procedural change in Congress, especially in the United States Senate, has been studied quite extensively over the last thirty years. One of the most remarkable aspects of Senate procedural change is the extremely low likelihood that any proposals to change the way the Senate conducts its business will actually pass the relevant procedures and become part of either the Standing Rules of the Senate, or other sources of the procedural outlay. Being fully aware of this, however, senators continue to introduce scores of proposals that deal with many different aspects of the procedural environment, despite the negligible chance of any of them being accepted or even gaining attention from fellow lawmakers or the public. This paper looks at these ‘dead on arrival’ proposals, and tries to provide an explanation for the proposals, grounded in theories that deal with legislators’ building of their personal brands, aimed at helping their chances of re-election.

Key words

United States Senate; procedural change; legislative procedure; legislative process; filibuster; United States Congress

Zora Hesová
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
ORCID: 000-0001-7760-7941
e-mail: zora.hesova@ff.cuni.cz

Abstract

Since the ‘migration crisis’ in 2015 at the latest, the politics of a broadly conceived Central Europe has been marked by conflicts over symbols, values and norms. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Austria, and the Czech Republic have witnessed divisive debates and campaigns over refugee quotas, women’s and gay rights, abortion laws and public monuments. As the term ‘culture wars’ was becoming ubiquitous, it remained ambivalent in its meaning and usage. The aim of this article is to identify a political logic of recent Central European cultural conflicts without leaning solely on the ideological explanation, e.g. the anti-liberal backlash thesis of Rupnik, and Krastev and Holms. By borrowing R. Brubaker’s conceptualizations of identity and populism, the article contends that it is possible to analyze culture wars as a repertoire of a populist political style. To do so, the article develops a critical perspective on culture wars, defined as polarizing conflicts in the arenas of the politics of memory, politics of identity and politics of morality. Culture wars are analyzed as a strategy of re-politicization of memory (especially of World War II), (civilizational) identity and public morality and a code used in struggles for political and cultural hegemony.

Key words

Populism; culture wars; Central Europe; culturalization; polarization

Artur Laska
Kazimierz Wielki University, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0002-0046-8098
e-mail: noam@ukw.edu.pl

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to determine an objective definition of social justice as a category in political science. The author draws attention to the fact that since the times of ancient Greece, this has been a central concept accompanying in–depth analyses of politics. Making references to classical approaches, the author tries to determine the main formal elements common in publicly postulated interpretations. The concept proposed by the author relies on differentiation between two perspectives on the idea as part of a discursive understanding of politics. Within this framework, solely integration of distribution and recognition allows for capturing the phenomenon of overlapping economic inequalities and hierarchical status orders in societies. Both mechanisms are united by the fact that the starting point for implementing the principles of social justice is the sanctioning of equal moral significance to every member of a political community.

Key words

theory of politics; integral theory; political philosophy; social justice; human nature

Arkadiusz Lewandowski
Kazimierz Wielki University, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0002-8161-2257
e-mail: a.lewandowski2@gmail.com

Abstract

The 2019 Polish parliamentary elections were the last in a series of three elections held within 12 months (chronologically: local elections, European Parliament election, elections to the Sejm and the Senate). The three consecutive elections opened up the possibility for cooperation within the parliamentary opposition with the aim of political victory. This article examines the relations between opposition groups in 2018–2019. Each election is analyzed in terms of the nature of relations within the opposition as well as cooperation and interparty competition. The hypothesis assumes that the types of relations among parliamentary opposition groups were shaped by the character of the given elections and the decisions taken by individual parties choosing between maintaining their independence and steps to potentially increase their electoral chances. The analysis shows that during the period in question the opposition did not develop a stable unified model of cooperation and that relations between individual groups were dominated by competition; however, depending on the election, cooperation was possible and was pragmatically pursued by the parties, as in the case of the European Coalition. The only stable cooperation was between Civic Platform and Modern.

Key words

pre-electoral coalitions; parliamentary opposition; political party; election; Civic Platform; election in Poland

Juhan Saharov
University of Tartu, Estonia
e-mail: juhan.saharov@ut.ee

Abstract

The literature on the resistance and protest movements of Czechoslovakian dissidents and intellectuals during the communist period is abundant, but little attention has been devoted to close rhetorical analysis of the texts by the leaders of these movements. In conducting a case study of the rhetoric of the Czechoslovakian social movement Charter 77 during its early period of activity (1977–1978) as embodied in the early political essays of its leader Václav Havel and in the declaration of the movement, this article highlights the need to combine two theories in studying the rhetoric of social movement leaders: Laclauian discourse analysis and social movement framing theory. The article claims that, in order better to explain the choice of rhetoric of social movements, the two theories can be used in a single framework as an empirical method for analyzing social movements’ strategies. The study shows how combining Laclauian discourse analysis with framing theory expands social movement analysis; in combination, this framework explains the inception, emergence and choice of strategy of the Charter 77 movement.

Key words

Charter 77; collective action frames; dissidence; framing theory; Laclauian discourse analysis; Václav Havel

Abstract

Frank A. Stengel, David B. MacDonald and Dirk Nabers (eds.): POPULISM AND WORLD POLITICS: EXPLORING INTER- AND TRANSNATIONAL DIMENSIONS. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 2019. 381 pages.

Key words