Political Oppositions

This article examines the use of social media by the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), which is one of the oldest parties in Europe. The origins of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) date back many years, and its most loyal constituency is already aging. The SPÖ appeals to its voters primarily through its Facebook and Twitter accounts on social media. In recent years, the SPÖ, whose online activities and use of social media have increased, has sought to move away from traditional politics and become a modern and progressive party. The opposition party SPÖ's critical attitude toward other parties and especially the government is also reflected in its content on social media. Although the SPÖ targeted the bourgeois-conservative electorate, conservatives remained loyal to the Christian-social ÖVP rather than changing to the neo-capitalist SPÖ. This article has attempted to determine whether there is a democratic tolerance for the use and sharing of social media th...

The aim of this study is to describe the different political and social conditions of opposition activity in Hungary and Poland between 1956 and 1989, and to map the relations between the various opposition groups. It starts from the premise that after 1956 radically different political, economic, and social conditions developed in the two countries. While in Poland the situation was relatively favorable for opposition activity, in Hungary the possibilities were limited; and only in the late 1970s, and especially after the birth of the Polish Solidarity movement, did the scope for action increase. In this article, I argue that the political, ideological, and generational determinants of Hungarian opposition groups in Hungarian-Polish opposition relations have been decisive in their choice of Polish partners. Hungarian opposition groups contacted Polish groups whose worldview corresponded to their own as this aspect was more important to them than the oppositional attitude itself. The article points out that the East-Central European opposition movement was a transnational phenomenon-not only because the task of all oppositions was to formulate and represent responses and reactions to the socialist system but also because they converged and interacted through their internal relations, channels, and mutual interactions.

The opposition in Poland and Hungary (an attempt at comparing and mapping of relations) The aim of the study is to describe the different political and social conditions of opposition activity in Hungary and Poland between 1956 and 1989, and to map the relations between the various Hungarian and Polish opposition groups. The author starts from the premise that after 1956 radically different political, economic and social conditions developed in the two countries. While in Poland the situation was relatively favourable for opposition activity, in Hungary the possibilities were limited and only in the late 1970s, and especially after the birth of the Polish Solidarity movement, did the scope for action increase. On the other hand, the author argues that activity in opposition was not sufficient for the development of Hungarian-Polish relations, but that the political, ideological and generational differences of Hungarian opposition groups had a decisive influence on the relations. Thus, for the Hungarians, the worldview and political strategy of the opposition in Poland were more important than the only opposition’s behaviour.

The Dutch government had once launched the Ethical Policy in Indonesia, leading to the birth of the national movement. Indonesia implemented the national movement as an effort to build nationalism spirit of the people. The aim of this study is to analyze the nationalism spirit of Boedi Oetomo organization members during the movement period. This employed historical method, in addition to using literature study to analyze the data. Boedi Oetomo was the first organization established during the national movement in Indonesia. This organization is engaged in social and education, as a result of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia. This organization was run by scholars or students consisting of various ethnic backgrounds in Indonesia. From studies of literature, it is found an analysis of the nationalism spirit that appears on the members by joining Boedi Oetomo organization. The diversity of tribes, races and religions within the organization had never been a reason for dispersion, however,...

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The article reveals the role of advocates during the political trials over the Ukrainian
dissidents. It shows how the advocates were turned into the state-dependent figures and
Rola adwokatów w politycznych procesach sądowych w latach 1960–1980 w sowieckiej Ukrainie
399
how their functions were reduced in the defense process. The article highlights two stances
of the advocates toward a defense of dissidents: conformist and non-conformist ones.
Key words: advocates, dissidents, conformism, Soviet Ukraine, court trials, the Ukrainian
Helsinki Group.
W artykule uwzględniona jest rola adwokatów podczas procesów sądowych
w  sprawach ukraińskich dysydentów. Wyświetlone zostały mechanizmy uzależnienia
adwokatów od  państwa oraz ograniczenia możliwości obrony oskarżonych. Ukazano
dwa modele pozycjonowania przedstawicieli środowiska adwokackiego: konformistyczny
i nonkonformistyczny.
Słowa kluczowe: adwokaci, dysydenci, konformizm, Ukraina Radziecka, procesy sądowe,
Ukraińska Grupa Helsińska

This article contributes to the growing body of literature on opposition coordination within competitive authoritarian regimes (CARs). Defining oppositional unity as the ability of key opposition parties to select one joint candidate for elections, it introduces the concept of an intermediary party that facilitates such unity. An intermediary party is perceived less threatening by other opposition parties in their opportunistic and ideological conflicts and has the potential to offer a more agreeable joint candidate or a more conciliatory method of selecting the joint candidate within the opposition bloc. The article illustrates this argument by examining the Budapest and Istanbul mayoral elections held in 2019 in Hungary and Turkey. Drawing on data from 30 anonymized elite interviews and media statements of the opposition leaders in each country, the article demonstrates the significance of an intermediary party that facilitates oppositional unity in CARs, adding that the participation of intraparty actors with strong communication skills during the negotiations further reinforces this outcome.

Elections in Belarus have become “potemkinism” with the sole purpose of reinforcing the authoritarian system. During the 2020 presidential election, however, the electoral process turned from meaningless to meaningful as formerly apolitical residents actively participated en masse throughout the whole electoral process. What circumstances contributed to this unexpected development? The election clearly illustrates what the theory about electoral authoritarianism refers to as the “politics of uncertainty.” Three types of uncertainty in particular contributed to the processes which gave the election and its aftermath its remarkable character. First, the Belarusian regime was haunted by inherent institutional and informational uncertainty, which made it vulnerable. Second, until 2020, the regime had successfully neutralized the routine uncertainty stemming from the election itself, but this time they failed. The electoral situation opened a window of opportunity for latent threats to authoritarian legitimacy to surface and become the backbone of antiregime mobilization. Finally, this would not have happened without the extreme uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. The perceived lack of governmental response to the crisis intensified the impact of the inherent and routine uncertainty to the extent that it resulted in societal mass mobilization and repoliticization.

Este artículo analiza la oposición partidista en Colombia durante el período 2010-2018: los tipos de oposición que se dieron en Colombia durante los dos gobiernos de Juan Manuel Santos, sus características, los factores que explican estos tipos de oposición y los efectos que tuvieron sobre la democracia colombiana. Se trata de un análisis documental y de interpretación con base empírica que recurre a fuentes hemerográficas y a documentos institucionales. El argumento central es que hubo dos tipos de oposición: una de derecha radicalizada, con acciones y prácticas desleales, así como un componente personalista; y otra de izquierda moderada que se caracterizó por su carácter ideológico, deliberante y confrontacional. Ambos tipos son explicados por factores diferentes y tuvieron efectos importantes sobre la democracia colombiana.

Because of their integration in the elaboration of national positions in the European decision-making process, Belgian subnational entities have since the 1990s favoured collaborative paradiplomacy. This has been particularly the case for Wallonia and the Brussels Region since they have a stronger stake in keeping Belgium together. Cooperative paradiplomacy has therefore been their default option, only interrupted by the crisis over the signature of the CETA Treaty, refused by these two regions. This contribution therefore analyzes the dynamics of the conflict over the signature of the CETA treaty and the specific contribution of the two regions, Wallonia and Brussels.

The COURAGE country reports provide nation-specific data in a European frame of reference to categorize and compare the various collections on cultural opposition in the former socialist countries. In principle, each former socialist country in Europe is treated in one report. To produce comparable data and categories for further analytical work, the country reports provide answers to a standardised set of questions. These questions are designed to produce comprehensive information on the collections. Questions address how the institutions which collected the records and products of cultural opposition in the former socialist countries were established, the concepts on which they were based, and the ways in which they have evolved from the late socialist period to the present day. Major actors, goals, and strategies are mapped, and major changes are put in the context of the political, legal, financial, and cultural conditions of the collections.

Despite a growing body of literature on the advancement of autocratic tactics and toolkits in competitive authoritarian regimes (CARs), we lack sufficient knowledge on the strategies that the opposition builds against populist-authoritarian governments. Using two top autocratizing cases – Turkey and Hungary – this article singles out ‘transnationalization’ as one such novel strategy. ‘Transnationalization’ is defined as a strategy through which opposition-led subnational executives transform local and global boundaries by consciously forming a link with the liberal-democratic world in order to expand their space for manoeuvre. Conducting a qualitative content analysis of the Istanbul and Budapest mayors' international Twitter accounts and using evidence from elite interviews with officials from Istanbul and Budapest municipalities, we demonstrate the material, symbolic and political means of this strategy and the rationalist and normative motivations behind it. By discussing the what, how and why of a transnationalization strategy, we fill an important gap in the scholarship regarding opposition strategies in CARs.

This essay was occasionated by the death of two outstanding personalities - Helene D'Encausse, member of the French Academy and author of the book "Le Malheur russe" and of a Romanian neurologist, descendant of a former family of local boyars but well-known for his consistent cooperation with the national Security services. At first, I have distinguished between boyars, noblemen, inlellectuals and intelighentsia to show that descending from a family of boyars does bot qualify anybody as a noble, sophisticated intellectual. In the second part I tried to dig into the Leninist type of thinking to show how the "relative" morality, decision to kill - physically  or mentally - go hand in hand with lack of adaptation, of ability to learn and evolve, with a full rejection of change.

In large cities, clandestine journals in workplaces is a daily bread. It may be similar with us – the „Solidarny” of Wadowice in the years 1984-1990

In the years 1984-1990, in Andrychów, Kęty and Wadowice, an independent periodical „Solidarny” was published by activists of the banned NSZZ „Solidarność”. The magazine was created by Wiesław Pyzio from Andrychów. From 1985 till 1990 the magazine was illegally printed in Wadowice and distributed locally thanks to a network of distributors. In the years 1984-1990, 25 issues of the magazine were published. The journal discussed topics related to the political and economic situation in Poland, political repressions, stigmatized abuses of power, and revealed cases of mismanagement and nepotism. „Solidarny” became an important tool in breaking the information monopoly of the communist party.

Little is known about how legislative actors engage with social movements in framing contests over conflictual policy issues. This
article investigates the case of Myanmar and enquires into how such framing activity can play out in a resurgent legislature. It focuses on two megaprojects that generated intense public debate during the country’s decade of liberalisation (2011–2021): the Letpadaung mines and the Myitsone dam. It builds on the analysis of the Union legislature’s plenary records across two legislatures to uncover how legislators contextualised and framed such large-scale infrastructure projects and the social conflicts they have caused. The findings reveal that legislators sought to position themselves as informed policy actors, eager to highlight the misconduct of past regimes, while deploying three major frames involving good governance, environmental damage, and injustice related to land
expropriation. Yet legislators addressing such megaprojects largely avoided emotionally loaded narratives and nationalistic tropes that other social actors in Myanmar typically mobilised. The findings make a threefold contribution: they enhance our theoretical understanding of how public officials engage in competitive framing processes, advance knowledge of how issue framing was deployed in policymaking during Myanmar’s decade of democratisation, and provide evidence of how its political elites construed controversial megaprojects.

Colombia es uno de los países más desiguales de América Latina, que es a la vez la región más desigual del mundo. Aunque este desalentador panorama no es nuevo, si ha cobrado un lugar relevante en la agenda política nacional, despertando numerosas expectativas entre los ciudadanos que han sido los perdedores de siempre: los pobres. Este trabajo indaga por los retos que tiene el recién posesionado gobierno de Gustavo Petro para hacer frente a las condiciones persistentes de desigualdad y pobreza padecidas por más de la mitad de la población. Se parte de la pregunta por los retos y propuestas gubernamentales para disminuir la desigualdad, a la vez que se contextualiza el caso colombiano en las coyunturas socioeconómicas globales y regionales que inciden en la posibilidad de llevar a cabo cambios estructurales en la política social. Aunque este trabajo reconoce una variada gama de desigualdades presentes en el territorio como las brechas de género, etarias, étnicas y raciales; sin emba...

Les relations franco-allemandes apparaissent en 2022 particulièrement dissonantes en particulier dans les domaines économiques, financiers, militaires et stratégiques alors que les instruments mis à la disposition des gouvernements des deux pays devraient leur permettre de définir une politique commune au service de l'Europe. Le tandem franco-allemand reste nécessaire à la construction européenne mais n’apparaît plus suffisante alors que dans le cadre d’une Europe ne cessant de s’élargir on assiste à une multiplication des alliances intra-européennes possibles.

This article considers the lifeline of the Anglo-American imaginary in news. It tracks its evolution, consolidation during the Cold War era and centrality in the UK/US coverage of Brexit and Trump in 2016-2017. It argues that not only has the imaginary prevailed but it continues to shape contemporary coverage to the detriment of public understanding of current events.

Der Beitrag geht der Frage des Verhältnisses des Staates zur Kategorie Geschlecht nach und reflektiert, wie die Kategorie Geschlecht Staat und Gesellschaft strukturiert und hierarchisiert hat.
The article explores the question of the state's relationship to the category of gender and reflects on how the category of gender has structured and hierarchised state and society.

Conference 'Spoudógelos. Forme del ridere nel mondo antico' to be held on 11th and 12th May 2023. The talk focusses on the traditional portrayal by the ancient literary sources of the way Claudius tackled three cases of opposition to his rule in the first half of his principate: only by demystifying the ridicule are we able to realise the actual, very political motives that Claudius himself had for condemning Appius Silanus (42), Valerius Asiaticus (47), and Gaius Silius and Messalina (48).

V tomto zväzku som sa pokúsil o rozšírenie v štyroch smeroch, počnúc oblasťou zriedenej právnej teórie. V úvodnej kapitole som načrtol niektoré základné črty vývoja stredovekého a novovekého európskeho práva; v ďalších kapitolách - a to je aj názov zväzku - som analyzoval hlavné etapy vývoja európskej jurisprudencie za posledných tisíc rokov; napokon v posledných dvoch kapitolách som sa pokúsil stručne zhrnúť vývoj hlavných kategórií dogmatiky súkromného práva a dogmatiky trestného práva. Posledné dve otvorenia môžu teoretikom teórie práva a týchto dvoch právnych odvetví umožniť vytvoriť spoločné diskusné fóra, a tak oživiť diskurzy právnej filozofie/trestného práva a právnej filozofie/teórie súkromného práva, ktoré už mnoho desaťročí zanikli. Treba zdôrazniť, že toto štvorstranné otvorenie prinieslo do analýzy také množstvo literatúry, menej maďarskej ako nemecká, angloamerická a francúzska právnická literatúra, že v tomto prvom kole som sa musel obmedziť na jednoduchý výťah v niekoľkých prípadoch týkajúcich sa nových tém. Tak je to najmä v kapitolách o glosátoroch a komentátoroch, kde som vychádzal najmä z analýz Hermanna Langeho a Coing-Handbuchu, a v kapitole o vývoji súkromnoprávnych doktrinálnych kategórií som sa zameral najmä na monografiu Hansa Hattenhauera na túto tému.

This book is dedicated to the history of the struggle for power in the Russian Empire between the secret services, the army command and the political opposition on the eve and during the First World War. The main object of research is the police department of the Ministry of the Interior, the gendarme corps and military counterintelligence. The author explores the hidden mechanisms of the interdepartmental conflict that led to the crisis of the Russian state security system in 1913-1917. Separate chapters of the book are devoted to the organization of the Russian occupation administration in the territories of Western Ukraine and Eastern Turkey occupied by the law of war. The book describes the mechanism of spy mania and the implementation of a mass repressive policy against imaginary spies. In 2020, the monograph was nominated for the Gaidar Prize "for outstanding contributions to the field of history".

Colombia es uno de los países más desiguales de América Latina, que es a la vez la región más desigual del mundo. Aunque este desalentador panorama no es nuevo, si ha cobrado un lugar relevante en la agenda política nacional, despertando numerosas expectativas entre los ciudadanos que han sido los perdedores de siempre: los pobres. Este trabajo indaga por los retos que tiene el recién posesionado gobierno de Gustavo Petro para hacer frente a las condiciones persistentes de desigualdad y pobreza padecidas por más de la mitad de la población. Se parte de la pregunta por los retos y propuestas gubernamentales para disminuir la desigualdad, a la vez que se contextualiza el caso colombiano en las coyunturas socioeconómicas globales y regionales que inciden en la posibilidad de llevar a cabo cambios estructurales en la política social. Aunque este trabajo reconoce una variada gama de desigualdades presentes en el territorio como las brechas de género, etarias, étnicas y raciales; sin emba...

This article compares the dynamics of polarization in the eleven case studies analyzed in this special issue to draw conclusions about antecedents of severe political and societal polarization, the characteristics and mechanisms of such polarization, and consequences of severe polarization for democracy. We find that the emergence of pernicious polarization (when a society is split into mutually distrustful “Us vs. Them” camps) is not attributable to any specific underlying social or political cleavage nor any particular institutional make-up. Instead, pernicious polarization arises when political entrepreneurs pursue their political objectives by using polarizing strategies, such as mobilizing voters with divisive, demonizing discourse and exploiting existing grievances, and opposing political elites then reciprocate with similarly polarizing tactics or fail to develop effective nonpolarizing responses. We explain how the political construction of polarization around “formative rif...

This article argues that a common pattern and set of dynamics characterizes severe political and societal polarization in different contexts around the world, with pernicious consequences for democracy. Moving beyond the conventional conceptualization of polarization as ideological distance between political parties and candidates, we offer a conceptualization of polarization highlighting its inherently relational nature and its instrumental political use. Polarization is a process whereby the normal multiplicity of differences in a society increasingly align along a single dimension and people increasingly perceive and describe politics and society in terms of “Us” versus “Them.” The politics and discourse of opposition and the social–psychological intergroup conflict dynamics produced by this alignment are a main source of the risks polarization generates for democracy, although we recognize that it can also produce opportunities for democracy. We argue that contemporary examples ...

The recent global wave of autocratization is characterized by the incremental subversion of democracy from within by elected governments (democratic erosion). This article explains why democratic erosion is hard to reverse for opposition actors, even though it develops incrementally and often by using formally legal and democratic means. Complex causal mechanisms triggered by what we call regime uncertainty create specific dilemmas dividing opposition actors at elite and mass levels into alarmists, strategic alarmists, and cautioners. The resolution of these dilemmas takes time, learning, and creativity and there is no one-size-fits-all formula: our case studies from Venezuela and Turkey show that opposition actors often experiment and oscillate between normal and extraordinary countering strategies and between preservative and generative political goals. We also offer a preliminary discussion of how opposition actors may manage to address the dilemmas and successfully counter democ...

Since 2011, protests in post-communist Romania have changed their goals. Protesters claim to guard fundamental values of democracy such as the rule of law and fair representation and to rise against institutions crippled by corruption. In similar fashion to the 1989 revolution and the early 1990s protests, students have assumed an active role in these events. They took to the streets in Bucharest, Cluj, Ia?i and Timi?oara, the country's four largest cities, and elsewhere. Over the same period, social media has proven essential for the gathering of information, for coordinating collective action and expressing the young protesters' identity. Yet recent research (Badescu and Sum 2018) canvasses a gloomy picture of Romanian youth, said to have an eroded democratic profile. This situation is not unique. In Hungary, age and the display of authoritarian attitudes are inversely related, unlike in Poland (Fesnic 2015). Eastern Europeans might have finally rejected the remnants of th...

A Kádár-rendszer ellenzékét a ’80-as évekre kialakult meghatározó szellemi irányzatok köré szerveződött csoportosulások alkották, akik majd egy évtizeddel később meghatározó hatalmi tényezővé váltak. A szellemi körök képviselőire jellemző volt, hogy a kultúra, főleg az irodalom területén juttatták érvényre gondolataikat, többnyire az egyes irányzatokhoz és politikai törekvésekhez igazodva, így a tanulmány hangsúlyt fektet a korszak kultúrpolitikai határait elfogadó, illetve azzal szemben lázadó magatartások bemutatására. A hivatalos pártállásponttól eltérő megnyilvánulások, az alternatív gondolatok legális-illegális módon történő nyilvánosság előtti térnyerése adott a korszakban új jelentéstartalmat az ellenzékiség fogalmának. A tanulmány a szellemi irányzatokhoz kapcsolódó, politikai üzenetet közvetítő szerveződések tevékenységét a történelmi emlékezet kérdésével összefüggésben elemzi.
A korszakra jellemző politikai törésvonalat az állampárt-ellenzék szembenállás mellett a reform, illetve rendszerellenzéki gondolatok megosztottsága jelentette, ami egyaránt jellemző volt a másként gondolkodó értelmiség körében és az uralkodó párton belül is. A közbeszéd által „népi–urbánus vitának” nevezett szembenállás jelentőségét érdemes megvizsgálni. A társaságok, az ellenzéki magatartásformák, a társadalmi törésvonalak, és a szellemi áramlatok vizsgálatának célja többek között annak megértése, hogyan válhatnak szerveződések mozgalommá, illetve mi adhatott bizonyos megnyilvánulásoknak ellenzéki jelleget, valamint, hogy indokolt-e és amennyiben igen, mi ad magyarázatot ennek a szűk társadalmi rétegnek, társaságnak a megosztottságára.

Nossa proposta neste artigo é analisar o debate teórico sobre o presidencialismo tendo como eixo central o tema da governabilidade e sua relação com a atuação das oposições partidárias na arena legislativa, brasileira e latinoamericana. Argumentamos que a preocupação com a consolidação das democracias recentes levou os analistas a privilegiarem a governabilidade em detrimento da efetividade da oposição parlamentar,
demonstrando que a evolução dos estudos e dos debates acerca dos desenhos constitucionais mais adequados à consolidação democrática resultou, por um lado, na concepção de que, se forem efetivas, as oposições
parlamentares podem prejudicar a consolidação das novas democracias e, por outro, num déficit de pesquisas empíricas sobre as suas prerrogativas e o seu comportamento. Defendemos a necessidade de superação desse viés normativo e do desenvolvimento de uma agenda de investigações sobre a sua atuação estratégica.
Palavras-Chave: Oposições parlamentares. Presidencialismo. Governabilidade. Executivo e Legislativo.