Coming Out, Going Home

Despite the historical centrality of Western cities as sites of queer cultural settlement, larger global economic and political forces have vociferously shaped, dispersed, and altered dreams of mobility for gay Taiwanese millennials in the age of globalization. While Taiwanese gay millennials follow a seemingly universal “rural-to-urban,” “East-to-West” movement trajectory, this study also explicates local nuanced ramifications running against the common trend. Drawn upon five-year ethnographic studies in Taiwan, this study examines how parents could to some extent conform to societal pressures by co-creating a life narrative to the society. Parents/family appear to contribute to how participants' decision on spatial movement but gay male millennials with supportive parents are eventually “going home.” However, the concept of home is configured by multiple economic and social forces involving (1) the optimal distance with the biological family and (2) the proper performances of consumption policed and imposed by the gay community in the neoliberal Taiwanese society.

ON THE INTERACTION OF EURO PARTIES WITH PARTIES FROM THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES. PART 1

The article analyzes the results of cooperation between two leading pan-European political organizations – the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Party of European Socialists (PES) with their counterparts in the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership program (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine), except Azerbaijan. It is considered with which political forces and why the EPP and the PES have established interaction and even accepted them into their membership. The profiles of these political organizations were studied, including the results of their participation in the national parliamentary and presidential elections and interaction with other political forces of their countries on the formation of ruling coalitions. Information is provided on when these parties joined, respectively, the EPP and the PES, and what status they have today in these European structures. The main provisions of the resolutions of the governing bodies of the EPN and the PES concerning the situation in the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership program and the support of their partner parties in these countries are presented. It shows how the foreign policy course of the Eastern Partnership member countries changed after political organizations that closely cooperate with their European counterparts came to power. It is noted that in almost all of these countries there has recently been a steady desire to strengthen political and economic partnership with the European Union and Western countries in general. And only one country. Georgia is still trying to maintain a balance in relations with Western countries and Russia. Key words: European parties, party system, Eastern Partnership program, elections.

COVID-19 AND POLITICAL PROCESS IN ITALY IN 2021

The paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the political process in Italy in 2021. The author analyzes the change of government in February 2021 and the country’s economic recovery and resilience plan, as well as changes in the party-political landscape that occurred in the second year of the pandemic. The study showed that there is an increase in the factors of personalization of power and the strengthening of the executive branch and stagnation of the party landscape in the absence of a clear leader among political forces. The center-right and center-left coalitions are comparable in terms of citizens’ support, but at the same time the level of frustration is growing, reflecting the dissatisfaction of citizens with any of the parties. We can say that there is a certain feeling of the lack of alternative to the proposed development model and the absence of the very request for an alternative. Against this background, the ideas of sovranism so popular recently, it seems, no longer have any prospects.

On the academic freedom in the times of crisis of liberal democracy

Motivation: The crisis of liberal democracy reveals a new dimension to the dispute over the role of the university. Declining trust in elites and the growing uncertainty during the pandemic challenge the belief that the key aim of the university reform should be to subject it to the global mechanism of competition as well as to introduce modern management principles. In the American society, there is a growing belief that the higher education system in the United States is heading in the wrong direction and that universities are politically biased. Despite this, the American system inspires higher education all over the world, including Poland. Even during the pandemic, the attention of the academic community in Poland is focused on the lists of journals constituting the basis for the evaluation of universities and academics. Aim: The aim of the article is to demonstrate the threats posed by a higher education system governed by the dominant economic and political forces. The author evaluates the economic forces behind the parameterisation and ranking system, challenging the rationality of the Polish higher education reforms. The source of the arguments for academic freedom is the political economy that places economic goals in the perspective of long-term universal goals and examines the complex relationships between the economic, political and moral aspects. Results: Academic freedom is not a privilege of the academic world, but one of the foundations of the successful development of a democratic society because science and education cannot be subject to existing patterns of thinking and current economic and political forces. But modern universities are driven to act like firms in competitive market places and they are following trends set by short-term economic and politic interests. Political economy is an effective tool for analysing functioning of higher education operating in quasi-market conditions, imposed by the dominant market players and the state. Understanding the forces underlying the reform of universities requires an analysis of the processes of interpenetration of economic and political processes, which means that the paradigm of political economy is gaining importance. In view of the requirements imposed on universities, dictated by short-term interests, the most important thing is the awareness that the necessity of state financing means that no solution will guarantee autonomy, if there is no responsibility of the academic community and self-discipline of its members.

ELECTION OF THE NEW PRIME MINISTER OF SWEDEN

The article examines the situation in Sweden around the election of a new Prime minister of the country. Describing it as a political crisis, the author points to the causes that gave rise to it, the course of the crisis itself and the interim results. The reasons are seen in the self-destruction of the former two-block party-political mechanism, which turned out to be unable to find adequate answers to new challenges, the appearance of which is predetermined by both internal political processes and global events and phenomena. The restructuring of this mechanism proceeds in complex contradictory forms, which was shown by the election of the chief executive. The weakening of the old traditional rivals in the struggle for power, which also affects their internal unity, is accompanied by the activation of forces on the extreme flanks, especially the right part of it, where nationalists are strengthening from year to year. The election of a new leader of the SAP as the new prime minister with the changed, and probably not for the last time, configuration of political forces has become a fragile compromise, for which the Social Democrats will have to pay dearly – they will have to fulfill the budget of the right-wing parties. There was a temporary reconnaissance before the new battles, the main of which will be the election of a new composition of the Riksdag in 2022.

establishment and development of political parties in the Republic of Turkey

This article discusses the origins and development of political parties in the Republic of Turkey, the political forces in Turkey during Ataturk's period, and the political turmoil in Turkey during the second half of the XX century. The article includes detailed research on the struggle for the survival, in some cases, the forced closure of certain political parties and groups in Turkey, a country with a distinctive Islamic and Western oriented society. In this regards, this article aims to explain in detail, how the method of operation was followed, what political parties and groups have been emerged, what positions do they occupy in the political system, how did they affect social and political spheres, structure, organizational characteristics of Turkey. The topic was selected explore the following facts and factors: at first, to show the reasons and historical circumstances of the formation of the first political party, to identify the role and places of parties in the political and social life, thirdly, to clarify the reasons for the formation of a multi-party system; Fourth, it sets out the specifics of the development of major political parties in Turkey since 1990s. Бүгд Найрамдах Турк Улс дахь улс төрийн намын үүсэл, хөгжил Хураангуй: Энэхүү өгүүлэлд Бүгд Найрамдах Турк улс (БНТУ) дахь улс төрийн намуудын үүсэл, хөгжлийн талаар тэр дундаа Бүгд Найрамдах улс байгуулсан цаг үе буюу дотоод улс төрийн амьдралд М.К.Ататуркээр удирдуулсан улс төрийн хүчнээс гадна үзэл, хандлагаараа ялгаатай нийгмийн бүлгүүд үүсэж, оршин байхын төлөө тэмцэж, зарим тохиолдолд хүчээр хаагдах хүртэл олон үйл явдал өрнөсөн, өвөрмөц үеийг сонгон судлахыг зорив.Исламын шашинтай боловч барууны чиг баримжаатай хөгжлийн зам сонгосон Турк улсын хувьд чухамхүү улс төрийн нам, олон намын тогтолцоо бүрэлдэн бий болсон түүхэн үйл явцтай холбогдох архив болон судалгааны мэдээлэл түлхүү ашиглалаа.Ингэхдээ БНТУ-ын түүхийн чухам хэдий үед улс төрийн ямар нам, бүлэг бий болж, дотоод улс төрийн амьдралд ямар байр суурь эзэлж, хэрхэн нөлөөлж, ямар нийгмийн бааз суурь, бүтэц бүрэлдэхүүн, зохион байгуулалтын шинж төрх, улс төрийн үйл ажиллагааны арга хэлбэрийг мөрдөж байсан талаар тайлбарлалаа.Сэдвийг сонгож авахдаа: нэгдүгээрт, Турк улсад сонгодог утгаараа улс төрийн анхны нам үүссэн шалтгаан, түүхэн нөхцөлийг харуулах, хоёрдугаарт, ХХ зууны Туркийн улс төрийн намын үйл ажиллагааг зохицуулж байсан хууль, эрх зүйн орчны онцлогийг харуулах гуравдугаарт, олон намын тогтолцоо үүсэн, бүрэлдсэн нөхцөлийг тодотгох, дөрөвдүгээрт, 1990 оноос хойших Туркийн улс төрийн намын тогтолцооны төлөвшил, онцлогийг харуулах зорилтуудыг дэвшүүлсэн болно. Түлхүүр үгс: Улс төрийн нам, үзэл суртал, хөгжлийн хандлага, сэтгэлгээний түүх, түүхийн үечлэл

Shadows of the Past in Spain: Historical Policy and Collective Memory of Civil War and Francism

The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of public memory about the civil war of 1936 – 1939 and the Francoist dictatorship in Spain. Another focus of the research is an analysis of the difficulties and contradictions associated with the transformations of the Spanish state historical policy, including the problems resulting from the adoption of a new law on democratic memory in the country. For twenty years, issues of memory have invariably been present in the Spanish political discourse and affect the daily life of Spaniards. This situation has been accompanied by significant media attention and wide media coverage. Numerous references to the themes of memory and the difficult past are often superficial and do not reveal the essence of the problem, forming a horizontal informational reflection that gives the illusion of saturation. The authors, analyzing the relationship of the Spaniards with their past, apply the comparative method in the context of four historical stages — the period of the Francoist dictatorship, the stage of democratic transition, democratic Spain in the 1980s – 1990s, and Spain of the 21st century. The conducted research allows us to assert that one important characteristic of the Spanish case is the lack of social consolidation and acceptance of the policy of public memory on a democratic basis. This reveals the difficulty of building a social and political consensus around the policy of memory. Turning to the history of the issue of the return of memory and noting the desire of the left political forces for a historical revenge, the authors of the article conclude that it is impossible to present a single correct presentation of democratic memory. Using the example of the denial of both the Francoist memory and the revolutionary memory of the anarchist movement, the article argues the specific character of democratic memory as a cultural phenomenon: democratic memory is multiple, it reflects and presents various interests of many social actors and does not have an exclusively liberal-democratic character.

GAMES OF HUNGER: THE POLITICS OF FAMINE, STATE-BUILDING PROCESSES AND CONTEMPORARY HUNGER STRIKES IN EUROPE – THE CASES OF NORTHERN IRELAND AND UKRAINE

The famines and periods of prolonged hunger that took place in Europe in the last centuries had a complex social dynamics and substantial transformative potential that still influence European politics. Dramatic cultural representations of hunger and starvation became deeply engaged in various modern nationalist narrations in order to open up new sources of political legitimacy for newly arising nation states. The periods of the Great Famine and Holodomor were at the same time moments of an extremely intense consolidation of Irish and Ukrainian national identities and the collective mindsets of multiple communities. Those identities became major political forces on the peripheries of the Old Continent. Hence, some strategies of transforming the experience of hunger into politically beneficial strategies of civic resistance were developed. Those tactics determined the future roles of both political and civil actors in sovereignty conflicts. Using a comparative approach, this paper explores the way in which the state-building processes in Ukraine and Northern Ireland in the 20th and 21st centuries were framed by famines, the raise of civic society, hunger strikes, and how the mindset of food scarcity grew into the nations’ characters. The mindset has turned into a serious drive for some political projects in Ukraine and Ireland to become modern nation states integrated with increasingly globalized European societies. The compelling and enchanting cultural narrations on hunger are profoundly up-to-date and political, as well as European phenomena, and as such should be analyzed – through the conceptual lens of modernity and postmodernity, and the international forms of political and economic coercions.

Problems of Foreign Policy Choice of the State Center of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1939–1940

The Second World War was viewed by Ukrainians abroad and in Ukraine as a potential chance to restore Ukraine’s independence. At the beginning of the war, the main political forces of the Ukrainian emigration interfered in a state of mutual confrontation. Each of them tried to attract international contacts for support. The article examines the process of finding foreign policy allies by the State Center of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in exile at the first stage of World War II (1939–1940). The main attention is paid to the political processes in this part of the Ukrainian emigration, the disunity and the presence of three governing centers (in France, Czechoslovakia and Poland) and the foreign policy orientations of the emigration government of the Ukrainian People’s Republic. For the first time, the document”Letters from the leading circles of the UPR” is published, which attempts to justify the need for a foreign policy alliance with Germany and criticizes the “francophilism” of some figures of the State Center of the UPR in Europe and America. The hypothetical circle of emigration politicians who could be the authors of these documents and their addressees is outlined. Attention is drawn to the fact that the conclusion of foreign policy agreements with Germany in the interwar period was a well-established practice for many countries at that time (France, England, the USSR, etc.). The reasons for the disinterest of the main players in world politics at this stage in the restoration of Ukraine’s independence are emphasized. As the government’s emigration status and military actions did not help preserve the archives, documents belonging to this period of Ukrainian history and diplomacy have come down to us in limited numbers. Publication and analysis of documents of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in exile, which relate to the foreign policy concepts of the Ukrainian emigration government, allow to more fully reveal the vision of ways to restore Ukraine’s independence after its territories were part of the USSR, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia.

Особенности проявлений популизма в странах Восточной Европы

The article examines the features of manifestations of populism in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine. The origins of right and left populism in these countries are investigated. The activities of populist leaders and political parties, their influence on the political development of each country are analyzed. It is shown that the triumph of populism in most countries is associated with the crisis of traditional politics and the disappointment of citizens in the systemic political forces. The author substantiates the conclusion that the formation of a developed political culture of an activist type can become effective in countering the spread of populism.