Joanna Rak

After the multidimensional financial crisis of 2008, the member states of the Eurozone imposed a set of economic policies to save their economies. Socially unpopular cuts contributed to the occurrence of violent movements that both opposed austerity policies and created animosity towards the politicians who implemented them. Combining qualitative and quantitative comparative analyses from anti-austerity movements in 14 Eurozone states from 2007 to 2015, Joanna Rak develops an original typology of patterns of a culture of political violence to explain why some anti-austerity movements turned to violence and others did not, despite having shared goals and political values. She uncovers the very nature of the differences and similarities between cultures of political violence, identifies their sources, and determines their differing results. Simultaneously, she opens a discussion on the exploratory and explanatory utility of the category of a culture of political violence in the Social Sciences. Theorizing Cultures of Political Violence in Times of Austerity casts new light on the scholarly debate on cultures of political violence and anti-austerity violent behavior, making it a compelling read for scholars of political sociology, political behavior, comparative politics, European politics, and sociology.

Studying Social Movements in Comparative Perspective

Theorizing Cultures of Political Violence in Times of Austerity

Youbin Chen

Chaoqun Shen

This is an open access book.Culture is the spiritual activity and product of human society relative to economy and politics. The traditional concept of human beings believes that culture is a social phenomenon, a product created by human beings for a long time, and at the same time a historical phenomenon, which is the accumulation of human society and history.The technical, economical and cultural nature of art design determines that only with high social and economic development can art and culture flourish. Art design is the product of the combination of art and technology. Art design is also a kind of productivity, which promotes the development of social economy. As a driving factor for social and economic development, design art will also better serve the social economy with its own more perfect operating system.The purpose of CDSD 2023 is to provide an international platform for experts, scholars, engineers and technicians, and technical R&D personnel engaged in related fields such as "culture", "design" and "social development", to share scientific research results, broaden research ideas, collide with new ideas, and strengthen academic research, and to explore the key challenges and research directions faced by the development of this field, and promote the industrialization cooperation of academic achievements. Experts, scholars, business people and other relevant personnel from universities and research institutions at home and abroad are cordially invited to attend and exchange.

Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Culture, Design and Social Development (CDSD 2023)

Roman Bäcker

This book examines contemporary militant democracies in post-communist states in the European Union. Examining, through case studies, their broader relevance to political, legal, and social structures, this book looks in revealing detail at the struggles between these democratic and anti-democratic actors that share similar historical experiences of contentious politics, communism, and political transformation. It importantly unravels the tension between them, determining which are already authoritarian, and which are teetering on the brink of an anti-democratic breakthrough. Analysing regimes’ continuance trajectories to capture how and what shaped the neo-militant aspects of democracies (neomilitancy) over time, the book accounts for why particular post-communist European neo-militant democracies emerge while others decline or transform into quasi-militant democracies despite transformation, how they differ from each other, what brings about the differences and similarities between them, and how and why they change over time. With right-wing populist parties coming to power on the back of fears associated with economic, social, and cultural globalisation and the misuse of state authorities to strengthen protective measures against threats to democratic institutions, the book represents a timely and important contribution. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of Post-Soviet/Communist/East European Studies, Democratic Backsliding, European and Comparative Politics, Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict, Democracy and Dictatorship, Public Comparative Constitutional Law, Human Rights Law and Political Theory.

Joanna Rak

Books

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