International Studies. Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal
In a joint decision between Lodz University Press and The Department of International and Political Studies at the University of Lodz, we have decided to close International Studies. Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal. The journal was published in the years 2007–2022. International Studies. Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal, is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal devoted to political and cultural studies in the international context. It is one of the first journals of this kind, not only in Poland. but in Central and Eastern Europe. Its scope, however, is not limited to the region; on the contrary, we aim to bring our readers the most interesting perspectives and voices of opinion about current global issues and the most topical and innovative research in the area of international, cultural and political studies. To this end, IS publishes essays that vary in focus and methodology. In pursuit of the goal of continued excellence, we have inevitably been dependent on the contributions of our colleagues working in other disciplines, such as philosophy, communication and media, literature and anthropology.
Situation of Khmer Minority in Vietnam. Policy of the Vietnamese Authorities and Durability of the Khmer Tradition
This article aims to analyze the current socio-economic situation of the Khmer minority in Vietnam and to present the evolution of the Vietnamese government’s policy towards this ethnic group since the period of division to present days. In order to realize this goal, the following research questions were asked: 1) What is the status of the Khmer community in Vietnam regarding social and economic level?; 2) Has the Khmer minority developed a sense of a strong, separate identity?; 3) What is the policy of the Vietnamese authorities towards the Khmercommunity? The analysis aims to verify the hypothesis that declarations of the Vietnamese government regarding the implementation of a policy respecting cultural diversity, improving living conditions and material situation of the Khmer people are not fulfilled. There are still many neglected spheres, and the Khmer people suffer discrimination, maintaining a strong sense of national identity by cultivating Khmer traditions and customs.
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Sport for Development and Peace in the United Nations: An Empirical Study on the Development of the Role of SDP in the UN in the Context of the Closure of the UNOSDP
In 2017, it was decided that the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) is to be closed. This qualitative study aims to analyse the reasons for the closure as well as its effects on Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) in the United Nations. Against the background of the systems theory, we conducted interviews with participants from relevant organisations. It is shown that the way the UNOSDP worked underwent a change and that the new tasks as well as their fulfilment were viewed controversially. Additionally, broader changes in development policy set a new frame for SDP.
United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace
Copyright (c) 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Critical Review: The Impact of Political Prisons on Political Participation (The Case of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood)
Many revolutionary figures throughout history proved their corrupted intention whenever they reached authority (e.g., the Iranian revolution, Burma’s Aung Suu Kyi). Some political leaders in Egypt claim they own it all depending on whom they represented in the latest major social uprising, and they define what is moral or who shall be the target for future political manoeuvres of the ruling military regime. With no one taking the lead for democratising the system, and the ex-minister of defence, incumbent President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi allegedly caught up in an internal fight with a corrupt government, the country’s better future seems to be a long and arduous struggle away. This paper addresses the overlapping and misleading media and political utterances of Egyptian opposition, who either takes a popular stand or loses followers through democratisation itself.
Copyright (c) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Escalation Ladder and the Game of Chances in the Ukraine war of 2022
The paper refers to the most recent developments during the 2022–2023 Ukraine war, analysed from the perspective of selected insights derived from deterrence studies, most notably the escalation ladder. The reason for the publication is to point out dangerous escalatory steps in the context of Putin’s Russia-Ukrainian war, including the abolishment of strategic arms control and tactical nuclear weapons deployment in the EU neighbourhood. V. Putin’s regime’s steps towards seizure or control of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant were discussed internationally as a severe humanitarian hazard. The pre-1989 deterrence debate could add a vital research perspective missing in the analytic frames of the New Cold War. Notably, the developments of the 2023 conduct of the Ukraine war with the support of the West countering the impact of a nuclear crisis scenario (tactical arsenal employment) could be analysed in the context of earlier concepts of limited war (1960s), as well as further elaborations on conditions of mutual vulnerability.
Governance, Health Financing and Health Outcomes in Nigeria: A Quantitative Assessment
Good health is essential to achieve sustainable development in any economy. Nigeria is no exception. No wonder it is the third goal in the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. Achieving good health also needs to be well funded with institutional quality, hence this study. This paper examined the effect of health financing and governance quality on health outcomes in Nigeria from 1980 to 2018 using secondary data sourced from World Development Indicators (WDI). A co-integration test and a vector error correction model (VECM) were employed to analyse the data. Short- and long-term results of an analysis based on life expectancy and infant mortality as a measure of health outcomes and dependent variables demonstrate that institutions empowered with good governance could produce positive health outcomes in the country.
No Overactivism: Robert Lewandowski’s Use of Gentle Protest to Avoid National Political Backlash
The last few years have seen the return of athlete activism into major international sports events held worldwide as a mindset based on social responsibility and political freedom of speech has spread into the selfperception of many current top athletes. However, while these athletes may have experienced a recent personal transformation, the national political backlash accompanying activism remains set in a long tradition condemning political interference in sports. This article provides a background on the tradition of castigating political athlete activists, a theory on why and how national political backlash occurs, and evidence on the successful use of gentle activism to avoid such scenarios. The research examines a case study of Polish international footballer Robert Lewandowski’s ‘pointing the finger’ during a World Cup qualifier in 2022 to illustrate how alternative moderate forms of activism can be adopted. This study aims to introduce the term ‘overactivism’ into the politics of sport as a concept where the athlete prioritises retaining long-term political relevancy over maximising the political impact of a single event.
Fear as a Political Tool: A Critical Analysis of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Fearmongering Narratives
This paper examines the fearmongering narratives employed by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia in her political strategy. By analyzing sources, such as campaign materials, legislative proposals, and press releases through a content analysis method, the paper identifies three primary fear-based narratives this politician uses: threats to the country, threats to freedom, and threats to children. Moreover, the impact of fearmongering in Rep. Greene’s electoral strategy and its success in Georgia’s 14th congressional district, known for its conservative leanings, are also explored. By understanding the effectiveness of fearmongering, this research sheds light on the dynamics of contemporary political discourse in the United States and its potential consequences.
The Democratisation Failure in the Middle East: Causes and Prospects
It has almost become conventional wisdom among analysts and experts on Middle Eastern politics to relate the fate of the democratisation process and its failure in the region to the foreign policy platforms of the USA and its Western allies. Contrary to the prevailing interpretations of democratisation failure in the Middle East, it will be argued that the historical proclivity of leftist organisations and parties to conflate anti-imperialism with fostering hostility towards liberal values, the limited scope of industrialisation, and culturally and religiously ingrained competing loyalties are factors that have cumulatively made a significant contribution to the cultivation of a socio-political environment that is not receptive to democracy.
The Political Economy of the Kafala Abolishment in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia – an oil-rich rentier state, receives a large number of guest workers, and they were maintained under the controversial Kafala system. Recently, Saudi Arabia announced to abolish this system to come into effect in March 2021, but excluded domestic workers. Such observations show that there are political-economic incentives for the authority in abolishment apart from the humanitarian ground. Again, the current regime is willing to reduce its dependency on oil by diversifying its economy. Crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman announced massive reform plan – “Saudi Vision 2030” – to bolster FDIs and develop the public sector and service industries, where they need skilled labourers and experts to run their economy, where Kafala is not suitable. In this context, this paper would like to follow the political economy of migration policy as an analytical framework to provide a political-economic analysis of Kafala abolishment in Saudi Arabia by looking at the current transformation and Kafala abolishment.
The Geopolitical Context of Migrant Routes and Its Impact on Organised Crime in the Republic of North Macedonia
As a country with a specific geopolitical and geostrategic position, North Macedonia, positioned in the centre of the Balkan Peninsula, is subject to illegal migration and is located at the crossroads of migrant routes leading from Asia and Africa to Central and Western Europe. Therefore, the article makes an effort to answer two related questions. The first question refers to the geopolitical context of migrant routes and their impact on the increase in migrant smuggling, while the second one is the focus of migrant smuggling within organised crime groups. In terms of time, the research covers the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The methodology of this paper is based on an analysis of policy documents from open sources. Also, the authors surveyed more than one hundred Macedonian police officers who work directly on the borders and engage in the suppression of smuggling migrants, and an in-depth interview with the head of the National Unit for Combating Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking in North Macedonia.
Cultural Orientations of the Politics of Education in Ukraine (2010–2013): Ideology Strikes Back
In this article, the author has analysed educational reforms and educational policy in general, which was implemented in Ukraine during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych. A few political cases were analysed, in particular the opposition of the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” to the educational trends implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine under the leadership of Dmytro Tabachnyk. The manifestations of colonial policy in Ukrainian education, which were aimed at the rapprochement of Ukraine and Russia and the positioning of Ukraine as a colonial part of the imperial body, have been outlined. It has been discussed in what implicit way the colonial strategy was implemented in the educational reforms in Ukraine, in particular in the aspect of teaching humanitarian disciplines, e.g. Ukrainian literature. Forms of possible resistance to colonial strategies in the educational field, the principles of overcoming imperial pressure and intensifying the narrative of resistance, which made it possible to avoid further splitting of the Ukrainian identity in the imperial body, have been analysed. The legislative activity, which was focused on strengthening the status of the Russian language as a regional language, has been outlined. Linguistic colonial approaches at the level of legislative initiatives in language policy have been spotlighted, in particular in the Kivalov-Kolesnichenko Law.
Europe 2020: The EU Commission and Political Entrepreneurship
This study deals with the European Commission and Communication Europe 2020, which was a result of the global economic crisis of 2007–2008 and forward. Europe 2020 was an initiative to deal with the crisis by promoting smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth. The Commission addressed the crisis as an existential threat to Europe, but also as a window of opportunity to build a new prosperous region. This study explores the political entrepreneurial efforts taken by the Commission as well as assesses the outcome of reforms implemented. The Commission has achieved many targets, although some challenges remain unsolved.
Several Remarks on Contemporary Ukrainian Lyrical Poetry under Fire Attacks
In the paper, the author, referring to the real situation in the contemporary poetry during the new round of the Russian-Ukrainian war refutes the famous Cicero’s saying “Inter arma, silent Musae” (En. “When arms speak, Muses are silent”). After February 24th, a powerful rise of the mobile genre happened due to the emergence of the psychotype of the passionary, who, nourished by historical and ethnomental memory, motivates historically-justified resistance to the Moscow aggressor, defending his home, family, land, and human and national dignity. He became the main lyrical hero of the contemporary Ukrainian poetry, among the authors of which there are many soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukrainian, Territorial Defence troops, hospitallers, volunteers, as well as exiles and eyewitnesses of the national verge of life and death due to heroic actions and suffering. The primary importance is given to the resistive energy of the Word, which can be journalistically appealing and formulaically rhetorical. However, it is deeper and more important when it focuses on understanding the specific features of military reality, personally experienced by each author, which often acquire convincing generalisations, philosophical meditations, which in poetic form comprehend the passionate ontology of the inalienable Ukrainian people with the intention to eliminate the destructive forces of Moscow. The author states that it does not matter which verse forms are chosen – faceted quatrains or flexible verlibriums. In the paper, the author has highlighted the panorama of the contemporary Ukrainian poetry, analysing its specific genre and style features, clarifying the creative potential of the poetic word in the harsh circumstances of the war, a new thoroughly filled page of Ukrainian literature. The poetry in Ukraine in the situation of the Russian-Ukrainian war, refuting Cicero’s aphorism, acquired a new paradigm of senses and expectations. Immersed in the objective specifics of everyday life at the front, suffering, trials on the border of life and death, it testified to a new psychotype of the lyrical hero, analogous to his real prototype, who, defending his home, his family, his land, and human and national dignity, is motivated to resist the Moscow aggressor. The panorama of contemporary Ukrainian lyrics in its genre and stylistic diversity highlighted in the article gives reason to assert not only the inexhaustible creative potential of the most mobile genre-genre variety, but also a thoroughly filling new page of Ukrainian literature. The lyrical poetry on war discussed in this article is a part of the new cultural narrative of Ukraine that is oriented to re-think and reinforce the concepts of war and connected with this concept notions, e.g. pain, human catastrophe, human powers, dignity, human values, democracy, etc. The new narrative models and stylistic peculiarities of the contemporary Ukrainian lyrical texts have been analysed and systematised in this paper.
The interview on Today’s Ukraine with Professor Dmytro Drozdovskyi conducted by Krystyna Kujawińska Courtney on 28th of March, 2022
Analysis of Compliance with International Labour Law Standards on the Employment of Women in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand
This article presents international labour law standards on women’s employment and analyses their compliance in selected Southeast Asian countries: Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Issues concerning equal rights in employment and maternity protection were discussed. The compliance of national regulations with the acquis of international labour law, particularly with the standards developed in the conventions of the International Labour Organization, was assessed. This article considers two areas of women’s employment. The first, related to gender equality, compares women’s and men’s salaries in the Southeast Asian countries in question and presents national laws prohibiting gender discrimination. The second develops issues related to maternity protection, such as the length of maternity leave, maternity allowance and breastfeeding breaks during work.
Situation of the Singaporean LGBT Community
The aim of this article is to present the perception of the homosexual minority in Singapore, to summarize its history dating back to the presence of the British Empire in the Southeast Asia and to describe the current situation regarding the rights of the LGBT community. Legal changes related to the acceptance of people belonging to sexual minorities will be shown. The work consists of section on the past of the city-state and its legal code and describes the attempts by activists to influence the Singaporean government until November 2022, when sexual relations between men were decriminalized. The work demonstrates that the homosexual minority still faces problems in the legal aspect, however, thanks to the activists and the increase in social awareness, it is gradually increasing the level of acceptance of homosexuality in Singapore.
Women’s Participation in Protests Against the Military Junta in Myanmar in 2021
The article aims to present the events related to the coup d’état in Myanmar in 2021 and the role of women participating in the protests against this coup. The Burmese state has been struggling with many problems since its independence from the colonial rule. One of them is the continued activity of the military junta in the country’s politics. The junta ruled the country continuously from 1962 to 2011, when a democratic party took power and a civilian leader was appointed. However, the time of democracy did not last long, because on February 1, 2021, the junta staged a coup d’état and took power again. This met with discontent among the citizens, who began organizing pro-democracy protests and resisting the regime. One of the leading groups of protesters were women. They accounted for more than half of the protesters and were often the leaders of protest marches. Their high activity in protests results not only from the desire to overthrow the junta, but also from the need to fight for equality rights in a patriarchal country.
Between Multiculturalism and National Unity – Social Problems in Malaysia at the Turn of the 20th and 21st Centuries
Malaysia is a culturally and ethnically diverse country in Southeast Asia. The aim of the work is to examine the causes and impact of the lack of cohesion and integrity in Malaysian society, as well as to check whether the local government counteracts divisions among the discussed nation. Basic information about Malaysia and an analysis of indicators relevant to the assessment of the social development of the country in question are also presented. The paper also describes selected socio-economic problems occurring in this country. Opportunities for economic and social development of Malaysia in the coming years were also presented. The text is mainly based on research: Budowa państwa w warunkach wieloetniczności. Przypadek Malezji [State Bilding in Multi-Ethnic Conditions. The Case of Malaysia] by Ewa Trojnar, Problem nierówności dochodowych i ubóstwo w wieloetnicznym społeczeństwie Malezji [The Problem of Income Inequality and Poverty in the Multi-Ethnic Society of Malaysia] by Paweł Glinik and Sexuality Education in Malaysia: Perceived Issues and Barriers by Professionals by Zahra Fazli Khalaf, Wah Yun Low, Effat Merghati-Khoei, Behzad Ghorbani. Conclusions were presented that Malaysia, due to its intensive economic evolution, is perceived as a strong ally in the international arena. It was also noted that the country in question could be a role model for partners and poor countries in this region of Asia. Unfortunately, differences in the legal situation of individual ethnic and racial groups, economic disproportion or lack of quality education (even sex education) lead to social stagnation. The solution may be the implementation of selected Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations, which will consolidate the further development of Malaysia and improve the general well-being of citizens. Implementation of these measures may be the way for Malaysia to become a leader in Southeast Asia, but it requires many social changes that should be implemented as soon as possible.
Selected Social Issues of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
As an object of Western public and media interest, Laos still appears to be an overlooked and unnoticed country. In a sense, it remains in the shadow of its larger neighbours Vietnam and Thailand, who capture the world’s attention in the context of the Indochina region, and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic itself remains rather on the sidelines of world politics. This state of affairs also relates to Western observers’ recognition of the social problems facing the country. I focus this article on providing an insight into the specific characteristics of Laos and defining the social problems the country has had to face over the past three decades. It answers questions about the characteristics of Laos, how it fares in the HDI ranking and what social challenges it faces. The thesis put forward by the authors is that the LRLD, as a moderately developed and ethnically diverse country, is confronted with the resulting social problems. The authors used the monographic method to conduct their research, which they based on an analysis of collected scientific publications, statistical data and internet sources. The research succeeded in confirming the hypothesis. The social problems plaguing the Lao People’s Democratic Republic have their origins primarily in the poor material situation of the majority of the population, the lack of infrastructure and the ethnic diversity that the authorities in Vientiane are unable to cope with. However, looking at the general trend of development in Laos, the scale and incidence of the issues described in the paper should gradually decrease.
Social Issues of Modern Cambodia in the 21st Century. The Problem of Violating Children’s Rights
The article contains the most important information about the population of Cambodia, its history from ancient times to the present day, the political situation including freedom of expression, the economic situation and the issue of violations of children’s rights. The main objective of this article is to provide the reader with basic information about Cambodia and to analyse the main problems of this Asian country in the second decade of the 21st century, with a special focus on the violation of children’s rights. The aim of the analysis is to answer the question: how does the political-economic situation and the history of the country affect the situation of children in Cambodia. The main part of the article deals with social problems such as poverty, lack of freedom of expression, persecution of political opponents by the authorities, prostitution and human trafficking, including violations of the rights of the youngest and the stigmatisation of orphanage residents.
Georges Sorel and the Naissance of the Fascist Political Myth
Georges Sorel is a Franco-Italian thinker, famous as the creator of the theory of modern political mythology. In Poland Sorel is seen only as a Marxist thinker. In reality, Sorel was a nonorthodox Marxist, but in the last decades of his life he constructed a political mythology of revolution from the Left and the Right. Sorel can be seen in collaboration with communists and sindicalists in Italy and nationalists and monarchists in France. His mixture of communist and nationalist ideas is the ground for the fascist movement of Benito Mussolini.
Past – Present – Future (?) Between the Ape Ancestor and the Artificial Intelligence
The article discusses the genesis of man, the human nature and the vision of the future of mankind. In a synthetic way it presents the main stages of the process of anthropogenesis. It describes the dual nature of modern man (biological and cultural nature). The article refers to the emergence of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) as a challenge for humanity.
Marcus Valerius Maximianus: the Hero of the Marcomannic Wars
The article provides a reconstructed biography of an outstanding Roman, M. V. Maximianus who became famous for his many heroic deeds in the period of the so-called Marcomannic wars. The reconstruction is undertaken on the basis of two sources of major importance, both of them inscriptions. The first of them was discovered in today’s Slovak town of Trenčin, the other in Zana in Algieria. Significantly, their content is mutually enriching and complementary. A pretext for the discussion was the conversation with the Jubilarian on the authenticity of the character of Maximus created by Russel Crowe in the film “Gladiator”, contrasted in the article with the historical figure of Maximianus.
Jerzy Grobicki (1891–1972). From the Foreign Legion to the Polish Army General. A Cavalryman’s Biography
The article discusses the figure of Jerzy Grobicki (1891–1972) who served as an officer of the imperial and royal army and became the Polish Army colonel in the Second Polish Republic. He participated in World Wars I and II and after the war migrated to Canada.
Polish-Romanian Cooperation in Nicolae Iorga’s Political and Adacemic Work
Nicolae Iorga is a person of much significance in the history and culture of Romania. He very often spoke about Polish matters in a broad sense pertaining both to academic and political issues. Nicolae Iorga’s involvement with Poland is noticeable almost constantly during his scientific and political career. From the time of primary school to his tragic death, Poland and its affairs were present in his activities also through the influence of his teachers, professors or later political partners,. Thanks to his historical education, Iorga saw Poland as an important partner of Romania on the international stage; moreover, as a guarantee of political security; but also an important partner in the context of cultural development. The initiator of the Romanian language and culture courses at the Jagiellonian University, Nicolae Iorga was given a honorary doctorate by Wilno University in 1931 for his important role in strengthening relations between Poland and Romania.
The Repatriation of Polish Orphanages from USSR to Poland in 1946
The Committee for Polish Children in the USSR operated in the years 1943–1946. It was established on June 30, 1943 in Moscow following a political left-wing initiative. The Committee was a care-giving institution, fully in line with the Soviet system ideals. One of the most important matters tackled by the Committee was the repatriation of the youngest Polish citizens to their homeland. It was the subject of meetings, discussions and many hours of talks with the Soviet authorities. This issue was one of the most difficult tasks carried out by the Committee employees. The repatriation of orphanages to Poland lasted from January to August 1946.
Committee for Polish Children in the USSR
Sports Versatility of Polish Footballers, Participants of League Games in 1927–1939
The players who played in the Polish football league in the interwar period were very versatile and talented, therefore they were also successful in other sports. The aim of the study was to assess the scale of this phenomenon. The mass development of football in Poland meant that there was a shortage of talented players in the struggle involving sports games, athletics or winter sports. The high level of physical fitness of the players predisposed them to participate in the competitions in sections of sports clubs other than football. The author presents detailed lists of footballers, participants in league competitions in the years 1927–1939, who became medallists of Polish championships in ice hockey, athletics, basketball, volleyball and handball. In addition, the biographies and achievements of the most versatile athletes are included.
The Polish Committee for Sports Events in Berlin on the Road to Normalisation of Polish-German Political Relations (1932–1934). The Political Background of the First-Ever Football Match between the Polish and German National Teams
The article discusses a unique Polish-state institution functioning in the interwar period, the Polish Committee for Sports Events in Berlin (PKISB). Through sport, its representatives channelled the ambition to shape Poland’s favourable image in the German Reich which was hostile to the Second Polish Republic. In the long run, the Committee proved to be an instrument for improving general Polish-German relations. The article focuses on an initial phase of PKISB activity, when, after Adolf Hitler came to power, the future of political relations between the hitherto antagonised neighbours was at stake. The activities of this institution have been analysed mainly with reference to football as the most popular sport in Poland and Germany.